Champions' Call to Arms

Modern* Ayleron

SCORE: 1 | 46 COMMENTS | 1569 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER


Demarge says... #1

It's a good idea to explain the meta for this deck and the budget in your description (it makes for more helpful suggestions).

I'm going to guess this deck is a casual one and your budget is about that of someone who's been playing for a few months and doesn't have an aggressive spending plan. As such I'll give suggestions accordingly.

First of all your inconsistancy you've been having is most likely due to the insane lack of land (mana dorks should never be counted as land). I'd suggest going to 24+ and to get to this number I'd also suggest cutting some of your 5+ cmc drops.

May 10, 2012 9:26 p.m.

Yeah, Demarge makes a great point about the low land count. My main question is what is the focus of this deck? It seems like its trying to be a human deck but there are some cards like VorstclawMTG Card: Vorstclaw, Angelic WallMTG Card: Angelic Wall and (4 of!) Angel of JubilationMTG Card: Angel of Jubilation thrown in that seem rather out of place.

Also, like Demarge said, it is helpful to explain your meta, in other words, do you plan to take this deck to a tournament, or are you just messing around with a group of friends? I will note that currently this deck seems more casual than competitive. That's certainly not a bad thing if that's what you want. But we have to clear that up if you're going to get helpful comments.

May 10, 2012 11:39 p.m.

jemax12 says... #3

I think you should take Gisela out...you have no red mana to spend lol.

But seriously, I agree that some of those bigger guys could come out. There are good (and cheap) smaller dudes that can help this deck out. For example, some of these new soulbond guys can get pretty ridiculous. I'd check those out. Nightshade Peddler gives it's bonded friend Deathtouch, which makes for decent removal. If you really are trying to splash red in there, Lightning Mauler is making its way into human decks (gives it's bonded creature haste).

May 11, 2012 1:29 a.m.

Ayleron says... #4

The meta is going to be for FNM. They are switching from booster draft to type 2 constructed. It's a small group of casual players, or so I am told. Tomorrow will be my first time at the new shop. This deck is based on what I ran in the prerelease. I enjoyed success with the vostclaw soulbound combos. It is funny you would mention red, I originally had red in the deck but thought it was too scattered. Gisela is the last remnant of that build. I was planning on ditching the Commander's AuthorityMTG Card: Commander's Authoritys but am not sure what to replace them with. Angelic WallMTG Card: Angelic Wall is in here because it did so well for me at the prerelease. I don't feel like every creature needs to be human so much as every creature needs to pull their wheight. VorstclawMTG Card: Vorstclaw is pretty good for his mana cost, but maybe Wolfir SilverheartMTG Card: Wolfir Silverhearts would be better...

May 11, 2012 2:20 a.m.

Ayleron says... #5

I have never run more than 22 lands in a deck, I hate drawing them once I have enough it feels like a wasted turn.... I could be wrong though. Would some of the specialized lands be good?

May 11, 2012 2:21 a.m.

Taking a deck from a Limited format and trying to turn it into a Constructed deck is a poor idea, from what I've seen. Limited decks are just that, limited, and Constructed calls for a much more thought out deck building process. If you want your deck to be competitive, it must be focused and you have to use the absolute best cards you can; no more using VorstclawMTG Card: Vorstclaws that will just get chumped by Lingering SoulsMTG Card: Lingering Souls tokens. My advice if you want to start really playing competitively is look up some of the decks that were used in pro tour dark ascension. That will give you an idea of what the pros are playing. Here are some very powerful archetypes that you may want to look into specifically:

W/u Humans U/x Delver Wolf Run Ramp R/G Aggro B/x Zombies U/B Control U/B/w Control Red Deck Wins

All of those are extremely powerful archetypes that will most likely do very well in the current meta.

Of course... If your goal is to stay at a casual level, that's fine too.

Also, about the 22 lands thing, GET OVER IT! I do not mean to sound rude I just want to be very clear. Getting mana is important. Variance is going to get the best of you. 24 land is the minimum I go to for most decks, maybe 23, I will almost never run only 22. I have ran as much as 27 in heavy control that really needs to hit its land drops.

Speaking of variance, drop to 60 cards. You ALWAYS want to play 60 cards, no exceptions.

Erm... unless you want to stay at a casual level. Then just take all of my suggestions with a grain of salt. With casual, its less of a right and wrong thing and more for fun. Which is totally cool if that's what you're into.

May 11, 2012 2:44 a.m.

Ayleron says... #7

I am more into the casual thing but it is nice to know some more hard and fast rules for being competitive. I appreciate your candidness. That's why you ask questions in order to learn. How do you stop any creature from being chumped by tokens?

May 11, 2012 10:06 a.m.

"How do you stop any creature from being chumped by tokens?"

That is a very good question.

As soon as people saw Lingering SoulsMTG Card: Lingering Souls spoiled, they knew it was going to be absolutely format defining. They were right. For one card, you get four flying creature tokens. If they Mana Leak or otherwise disrupt your first attempt at generating tokens, that's okay, because you can flash it back for even LESS mana and not have lost any tempo, hell, you probably gained some.

Lingering SoulsMTG Card: Lingering Souls and, by extension, the wide variety of fast, aggressive tribal decks backed by Cavern of SoulsMTG Card: Cavern of Souls have no problem chump blocking if necessary and have made vanilla creatures, no matter how large, much less effective in this meta.

The key to getting around tokens is playing very high value creatures, such as those with evasion, ETB (Enters The Battlefield) abilities, or abilities that make it hard or not optimal for your opponent to block. Some examples of creatures like this include: Invisible StalkerMTG Card: Invisible Stalker for optimal evasion, flying creatures for more common evasion (though they doesn't stop the Lingering SoulsMTG Card: Lingering Souls problem, they get over the head of most Zombie and Human decks), or creatures with trample. Inferno TitanMTG Card: Inferno Titan and Sunblast AngelMTG Card: Sunblast Angel have ETB effects that can take care of tokens and troublesome blockers, and, as you already know, cards like Champion of Lambholt MTG Card: Champion of Lambholt can make it impossible for your opponent's to block, even if they wanted to. More examples of creatures that negate blocking are Bellowing TanglewurmMTG Card: Bellowing Tanglewurm and Hero of Oxid RidgeMTG Card: Hero of Oxid Ridge.

Those are just examples of the types of creatures that can trump tokens, not necessarily what will fit in your deck. Just know that getting chumped by Lingering SoulsMTG Card: Lingering Souls tokens is a VERY real concern in this meta, and your question is one all competitive (standard) players have been pondering as well.

May 11, 2012 4:19 p.m.

Ayleron says... #9

So what about Pathbreaker WurmMTG Card: Pathbreaker Wurms then? Would they be a worthwhile trade?

May 12, 2012 2:37 a.m.

Ayleron says... #10

Completely reworked the deck. Here is it's current layout. I think another problem I have is I don't find it fun to play similar decks to everyone else.

May 13, 2012 5:21 p.m.

Yes, not wanting to build decks like other people is a problem. I have found emulation to be one of the easiest and most potent ways to learn in Magic. Not the only way, however. Personal experience is necessary as well.

I like the new version. It's a much more straight-forward Human aggro. I would replace . is a human, for example), it's basically +2/+2 for 1W. Which is... not... terrible... but could definitely be replaced by something more effective. How about Thalia, Guardian of ThrabenMTG Card: Thalia, Guardian of Thraben?

You have way too much green mana for only running Champion of Lambholt MTG Card: Champion of Lambholt . I would take out at least three forests for three more plains. Have you checked out the mana pie chart to the right? It shows you the distribution of colors in your land and non-land cards. The inner section represents land while the outer section represents non-land cards that require that color of mana to cast. Right now, the inner section has much more green than the outer section. When you take out land that produces green mana, the inner section of green will become smaller. Try to match the amount of green in the inner section to the outer section for optimal distribution.

May 13, 2012 8:01 p.m.

Ah, looks like you added Ulvenwald TrackerMTG Card: Ulvenwald Tracker as I was typing. Modify my last comment accordingly (you still are running a bit too much green mana, according to the pie chart). Love the card, by the way. I feel like it interacts best with creatures with undying such as Strangleroot GeistMTG Card: Strangleroot Geist, but I'd be interested to see how powerful it is in G/W humans.

May 13, 2012 8:05 p.m.

Ayleron says... #13

I was thinking of adding some Nightshade PeddlerMTG Card: Nightshade Peddlers to go with the Ulvenwald TrackerMTG Card: Ulvenwald Trackers maybe add some Lingering SoulsMTG Card: Lingering Souls for chump blockers and sacrifices

May 13, 2012 10:15 p.m.

Ayleron says... #14

I was thinking of adding some Nightshade PeddlerMTG Card: Nightshade Peddlers to go with the Ulvenwald TrackerMTG Card: Ulvenwald Trackers maybe add some Lingering SoulsMTG Card: Lingering Souls for chump blockers and sacrifices

May 13, 2012 10:15 p.m.

Lingering SoulsMTG Card: Lingering Souls is extremely powerful, but unless you can flash it back, Midnight HauntingMTG Card: Midnight Haunting is better. Hell you might even like Gather the TownsfolkMTG Card: Gather the Townsfolk better, awesome with Champion of the ParishMTG Card: Champion of the Parish.

Also Nightshade PeddlerMTG Card: Nightshade Peddler is not as good as it seems. In constructed, it dies to literally any removal spell, meaning the mileage you get with it will be little to none. It's okay against aggro that doesn't have a ton of removal, but other than that, it doesn't have a lot going for it.

May 13, 2012 10:27 p.m.

Ayleron says... #16

isn't Nightshade PeddlerMTG Card: Nightshade Peddler good at getting them to use their removal on it instead of something else then?

May 13, 2012 10:31 p.m.

Yes, but then you're not using him as a Nightshade PeddlerMTG Card: Nightshade Peddler, you're using him for removal bait. While some cards can't help being removal bait, trying to justify a card's effectiveness by saying "well, it makes them waste removal" is inaccurate. They wont use the removal unless they feel it is a big enough threat. At that point, the removal isn't wasted. Being removal bait is a bad thing, not a reason to run a card.

May 13, 2012 10:45 p.m.

Ayleron says... #18

Fair enough, what about Increasing DevotionMTG Card: Increasing Devotion instead of Gather the TownsfolkMTG Card: Gather the Townsfolk?

May 13, 2012 11:12 p.m.

Ayleron says... #19

CloudshiftMTG Card: Cloudshift is actually in there to reatach unsoulbound creatures and to pump them etb +1/+1 counter creatures at the same time

May 14, 2012 12:52 a.m.

Ayleron says... #20

And now as well won't it?

May 14, 2012 2:19 a.m.

Yes, it will. There's no shortage of interactions. I just wonder if the interactions are as powerful as another card might be in its place.

May 14, 2012 2:47 a.m.

Ayleron says... #22

Ok, swapped out CloudshiftMTG Card: Cloudshifts for Increasing DevotionMTG Card: Increasing Devotions now to test it live this Friday.

May 15, 2012 11:21 a.m.

Best of luck to you! Have you considered recording a play-by-play of your games to post here, so viewers can get a better idea of how the deck should play and how it does against the meta? It can also be a helpful personal tool to assess certain decks.

May 15, 2012 3:30 p.m.

Ayleron says... #24

How do I record a play by play. Just write it down or video?

May 15, 2012 5:27 p.m.

I would write it down. Use a notebook that fits in your pocket if possible and take concise notes like T1-> Champion, T2-> Mayor. Make sure to note your opponent's plays as well. For games that go past the 10th turn or so, it might be best to summarize that game instead of posting the play-by-play. With your deck being fairly fast and all, you shouldn't run into this problem too much (unless your meta is control-heavy, I suppose).

This is a great way to get familiarized with decks in your meta; when you play against someone's deck, sure, you're able to analyze it in game, but what about afterward? Most of the time, i forget the specifics of my games (unless there was an awesome play or something). Multiple games against the same person help, but writing it down commits it to memory much easier, and provides a helpful set of notes to peruse while preparing for a tournament.

This play-by-play will also let us gauge the play style of your deck better, so we can all give better advice. We also get a glimpse of the decks in your meta and the competitive level of your opponents by inferring from their plays.

Finally, make sure to include a small introduction for each game, and also note when and what you sideboard.

May 16, 2012 12:09 a.m.

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