1 Question:

What will you do If someone Exiles your Venser, the Sojourner with either Memoricide Or Surgical Extraction ??

Then your deck won't be useless, but you will mis your main Idea: Unblockable Creatures. So I would Suggest that you put some Control in your deck, or another way to protect your Venser from exile.

But Still...This deck is Awesome!!when you can put venser into play, You have a variaty of cards to Bounce.+1 Rating

@ ririve Yes thank you for the comment. I had a tough time against Nevermore last night. Once my opponent knew I was playing Venser, it made it really hard to come back. I did end up winning though with a Sun Titan + Phantasmal Image combo. So, the current idea is that the opponent on game 1 plays around what they think is a control heavy deck. I ramp and eek out a Venser. Once they know I am playing Venser, game 2 I side in Negate and/or deck:flash-freeze. They assume I am not playing control and start playing on their turn. I am able to drop Venser and protect him w/ counters. I am not a great control player, and that is why I lean toward ramp in this deck. I was playing with Mana Leak and main board Negate s but I said screw it. It fits with my play style more to ramp to a turn 2 splicer and drop Venser as early as possible. On top of that, I do have responses for exile in case he gets o-ringed or nevermored.

Thank you for the +1 and comments!!

Dude, this deck is basically BantPod, without the pod.I would recommend birthingpod in your version as well.

-1karn, -4 growth, -1 sphinx, -1 slime

+4 birthing pod, +1 elesh norn, +1 wurmcoil engine +1 viridian emissary

Hope this helps make your obviously awesome deck even more awesome!

Also, -2 day of judgment, -1 ponder

+1 blade splicer, +1 oblivion ring, +1 viridian emissary (another)

And take out a ponder for another land, 24 seems minimum for this deck, especially if you take out the rampant growths

And +1, i'll stop now :)

looks great. might want to try it out online.

Thank you for the +1s and Comments! Let me know if you want feedback or +1s for your decks!

@jessetaverne: I have never played with Birthing Pod . I do not fully grasp it I don't think. I mean I understand the rules but the concept is what throws me. I would consider it if it increased overall flexibility. I would not use it if the deck really relied on it. for example Pod essentially takes out the need for Rampant Growth , but if it gets destroyed how do I keep the momentum up? I am partial to ramp and I really do not like playing control. (I only have control in sideboard because of the RDW decks in my meta, and also for an effective mind trick against opponent on game 2)

@myronrocks:

The birthing pod has 2 good advantages to it.

The first is that it lets you choose creatures from your deck you need at that moment. For example, if someone has a sword or angelic destiny on the field, you can sac a 4cmc creature for the acidic slime you need.

The second and more important advantage is just that; advantage. It lets you recycle small beasts into bigger ones. The trick is to play as much ETB or Graveyard trigger creatures as possible, which cycle onwards into eachother. For example: turn 1 birds, turn 2 viridian emissary, turn 3attack, birthing pod, sac emissary to pod for a bladesplicer, leaving you a tapped land, turn 4 attack, sac blade splicer to pod for solemn simulacrum, leaving you a tapped land, a golem token and 3 untapped sources. Turn 5 attack, sac solemn to pod for slime, kill a land, draw a card, turn 6 attack, sac slime for wurmcoil, costing you basically nothing, turn 7 attack, sac wurmcoil for elesh norn.

This sequence of events gives you: 2 free lands, 1golem token, 2wurm tokens, kill a land/enchant/artifact of theirs and their creatures -2/-2.

This all for only 2 cards: viridian emissary and a pod.Now they will usually try and kill your line of creatures before you get there, but if they do they either spend removal on a viridian emissary, which is great for your future plays, or you have already gained great advantage from it, because the creatures have already delivered by coming into play or will deliver when they're killed.

All that for so little cost. And don't forget you have more cards on hand waiting to be played!

Hope this helped explain it a bit!

(oh and also don't forget to work in Skaab Ruinator in there for some sick action on turn 3)

Another option for you here. Sundial of the Infinite . Works amazingly well with Venser, and makes Mimic Vat a fun addition to this deck. All the other parts are there, like #Jessetaverne said. You're really close to a couple different existing combos, and I think either could make your deck a little more substantial, reliable, and dare I say, fun? :)

@bamarter Yes I have thought about Sundial of the Infinite .

If I can step back though about your comment about being close to existing combos: I think you just hit a theme I am going for actually. I am trying to be somewhat original with this deck. The mistake in doing so (which A LOT of people succumb to) is deliberately avoiding cards or combos that will definitively make a deck better just because it has been done before. I definitely don't want to do that. But I do want to do something as differently as possible.

Feedback from my local meta has been positive about this deck in it's non-pod form. I guess that is the space the deck tries to occupy. However I am interested in winning more frequently of course so I will try out some of the suggestions made here. Thanks for the comment and don't forget to +1 !!

That said I do not have a very good argument for NOT trying pod or vat or sundial at the moment, except that the deck will resemble other archetypes or rogues or whatever that include them.

Well, if you're looking to take maximum service and advantage out of your come in, or leave play, effects, the three proven tools are Mimic Vat , Venser, the Sojourner , and Birthing Pod . Fortunately, two of these are pretty versatile as far as color is concerned, so you can do whatever you feel for only a small price, if any. Also, one great thing I've seen with this style is that there are so many choices of 'tools'. From the obvious Acidic Slime , to more specific reasons Master Thief . Keep digging around and find something new. I'm certain it's out there. +1'd already!

Thanks!!!

Birthing Pod would work well in here but by no means necessary. I am certain it has enough power to play as is. For your RDW struggle add Wurmcoil Engine (mainboard one), and sideboard 1-2 Tree of Redemption . Also don't forget about Mirran Crusader , that card alone one me games against anything black/green heavy. I'd consider adding Thrun, the Last Troll into main as well, and maybe a Hero of Bladehold , those cared are really good. Sideboard a Thrun, the Last Troll as well, he is nasty against RDW and all other control match-ups.

Thanks!!! Totally forgot about Tree of Redemption ! Yeah I am not certain pod is necessary. I will try it out to see if it increases flexibility. I like having more than 1-ofs. Thanks!

ok so when I say "I don't really like playing control" I think I actually mean playing instants on the opponent's turn that are designed to counter their spells. Thanks to squire1 for writing a recent article on the topic.

And on the topic of Birthing Pod : I think the thing that bothers me about it is that many of the decks that run it run a ton of one-ofs. I mean pod has obviously proven to be effective but I guess I like probability game of drawing into stuff more than relying on the sac-chain that pod offers.

So, as an alternative to Birthing Pod would you prefer more of a card drawing engine? I mean, running things like card:Tezzeret's Gambit, Think Twice , Ponder etc, help any deck strategy. You need to have some way of gaining card advantage, whether it be as simple as this or not. I see you're already running Solemn Simulacrum , Blade Splicer , Sun Titan and Consecrated Sphinx , so you have some engines there. In my opinion, so long as you have something to dig FOR, you can never have enough shovels. :)

Yeah draw engine, and just being able to increase probabilities by running multiple copies of one card. I leaned more on ramping when deciding about draw cards. But yes I still have tools. Seems to get me where I need to go for now. Hm I might try card:Tezzeret's Gambit

Also don't forget about Rampant Growth etc. Deck thinning is also a good draw strategy!

im confused about your land, you have it set up so that you have 11 green sources, 10 white sources and 13 blue sources, why? shouldn't it be more like 13 green sources 11 white sources 10 blue sources?

Probably. I think I found a good balance throughout multiple iterations of this deck that has been working fairly well. There have been slight changes that have shifted from G heavy to U heavy to W heavy. The current set up works ok. Could be smoother. I will rebalance the land and see if it feels smoother. Thanks or the reminder!

part of me feels like there should be some Druidic Satchel s or Pristine Talisman s in here

For the life gain? Don't get me wrong, Druidic satchel does seem cool. Don't know if it is as competitive as the other 3 drops.