watari, thanks for the upvote and the feedback. I haven't considered Dragonscale Boon yet, but I will try playtesting it. I'm still finding new ways to use Den Protector. It's such an awesome card. I lost a very close game 3 to Red Atarka this past weekend, because I got too aggressive, bestowing a Boon Satyr onto a Den Protector, rather than being patient and just casting it and having another blocker, thinking he wouldn't be able to block a 6/3 Den Protector, but it got stoked. In game 2, I had cast two Feed the Clan, with ferocious triggered, and bought one back with a flipped Den Protector, putting my life to almost 30...the guy just tossed up his hands and scooped...lol.
June 4, 2015 7:51 p.m.
Ragon_Wolfbane, I do usually run Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx in a devotion deck, but with this deck, I find myself flooding more often than not, even with the eight fetchlands thinning the deck, so I feel like the few times that they might help will be offset by the times they may hurt.
June 4, 2015 9:41 p.m.
Another combo you might want to playtest is with Servant of the Scale. He's a 1-drop 0/0 that enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter, and can transfer his counters when he's KOed. A favorite little trick of mine is to play one or two of him late game with a Hardened Scales on the field to give them +2/+2 counters. Then I can sacrifice him to transfer the counters to Den Protector or Avatar of the Resolute (and Hardened Scales gives them another counter. So for one mana you can give one of your creatures a +3/+3 power up!
June 4, 2015 9:58 p.m.
TheBlackFed_Aura says... #6
For mono green I'd recommend Whisperer of the Wilds instead of Rattleclaw mystic
June 5, 2015 7:50 p.m.
TheBlackFed_Aura, I feel the Rattleclaw Mystic works better in this deck for a number of reasons. First, with a power of two, it can attack, which can be powerful on turn 3 with Surrak, the Hunt Caller. Second, it can be morphed and flipped to help bring my Deathmist Raptor. Finally, mana isn't a problem, so getting the formidable trigger and getting 2 mana isn't needed. But thanks for the feedback :-)
June 5, 2015 8:59 p.m.
Got my first 4-0 FNM last night. I've been doing well with the deck but I've always seemed to make a mistake here or there that cost me dearly.
Match 1, B/U Control (2-0). By far, the easiest matchup. They couldn't get enough blockers out nor get deep enough into the match to effectively counter my attacks. Both games were over by turn 6.
Match 2, Temur Dragons (2-1). The two wins, I was on the play, and they couldn't match the pressure. The game I lost, I kept a mediocre hand after taking a mulligan, but what really got me was a fairly quick Dragonlord Atarka. Once that beast is out, I don't have anything to effectively deal with it.
Match 3, G/W Mastery (2-0). This was the closest match of the night. Game one, on the play, I put them away fairly quickly. Game 2, came down to the final play. If I hadn't finished them off, they would have finished me off on the next turn.
Match 4, Sultai (2-0). Very favorable draws for me, and unfavorable for them, allowed me to stream-roll them quickly.
So far, the one deck I've struggled to beat has been Atarka Red. After sideboarding in Feed the Clan, it gets much better, but I really struggle to win the first game. Part of that has been my own fault in that for a time, I was playing too conservatively. Every game usually comes down to the last swing, and I'm losing more of them than I'm winning.
June 20, 2015 4:10 p.m.
bretters, I've given that a lot of consideration, but the only time I need life gain is versus mono-red decks, and I find that Feed the Clan works better in this deck due to the lower curve. Typically, I can flash in Boon Satyr at the end of their turn, then drop Feed the clan with ferocious triggered and get 10 life back. With Nylea's Disciple, I can't depend on surviving long enough to play her and even if I do survive long enough, I can't depend on having a decent amount of devotion (I rarely have 10 devotion on the board) to get as much life as I get from Feed the Clan. With the Atarka Red decks, you got to be careful of Atarka's Command, since they can stop life gain for the turn. That's why the Boon Satyr+Feed the Clan combo works well, since I can wait for a moment when they don't have enough open mana to cast Atarka's Command and I can get the full 10 life gain. But thanks for the comment!
June 20, 2015 10:18 p.m.
Gain life and get a blocker all at the same time tho...
June 21, 2015 12:41 a.m.
bretters, I hear what you are saying, but I just did a bunch of play testing against an Atarka Red deck, siding in a full set of Nylea's Disciple and they just didn't work very well. It confirmed what I suspected in that it takes longer to get them out (sometimes too long) and I never got close to the 10 life that I would get from Feed the Clan. As for having another blocker, it has some value, but it seems to be "too little, too late" going against the Atarka Red deck, since they like to go wide with goblin tokens. Plus, Feed the Clan is much easier to buy back and replay using Den Protector.
June 21, 2015 8:55 p.m.
Alright, sweet , just a suggestion since yesterday u said atarka red was a problem... So maybe both? The disciple and feed if it's still trouble?
June 21, 2015 10:07 p.m.
I'm excited about one Origins card in particular, which I think will fit very well into this deck...Managorger Hydra. For one, trample is very powerful in this deck as it makes the pumps much more effective. But the fact that every spell cast by either player pumps it up, plays perfectly into this deck. I'm going to start play testing it with proxies this week to see if it's as sick as I think it's going to be. Not sure what I'm going to take out but Nylea is definitely one. I feel that it'll probably be a combination of other cards...probably one each of Reverent Hunter, Boon Satyr and maybe a Deathmist Raptor, Nissa, or Den Protector. Play testing will probably reveal the best options.
June 27, 2015 11:54 a.m.
This deck has a very big problem called "not playing Collected Company". It could be much more aggressive with it...
besides that, it's really good!
July 30, 2015 1:52 p.m.
I don't understand why you have the fetch lands. Also, I don't think the Elvish Mystics are needed. In testing your deck I never had any mana trouble whatsoever. I would say just about any card could be more useful than the elves.
watari says... #1
I like this deck. Have you considered Dragonscale Boon? You have a lot of quick-strike as it is, powering up Den Protector and having him swing again in an early turn is nasty fun!
June 4, 2015 9:50 a.m.