Noble Hierarch- An early game mana producer who will pump your early game blockers. The exalted triggers that stack off multiple of these guys make some of your creatures able to make massive swings in the early game. He taps for all of our colors too, so he's always gonna be a 4 of. Only downside to him is his price.
Birds of Paradise- A slightly worse noble, he taps for all our colors and helps us ramp just the same. His flying is nice too seeing as he can block in the air or fly over the enemy with a couple exalted triggers or +1/+1 counters from Gavony Township. I'd run 4 of them as well, since this deck wants to be hitting a t1 mana dork as frequently as possible.
Qasali Pridemage- A mainboard answer to problematic artifacts or enchantments, plus he gives more exalted triggers. He strengthens our game 1 matchup a lot, but he's also one that we shouldn't hesitate too much to side out.
Voice of Resurgence- This guy is an absolute must have. He ruins any BG/x deck that wants to kill him, he ruins any U/R control decks that want to counter our guys (or kill him) and he makes control players cry. He's got so many good matchups and he should be run as a 3 or 4 of.
Scavenging Ooze- An amazing creature that has so many uses. He hates on opposing Tarmogoyfs, combo decks that are reliant on the graveyard, he helps against aggro with the capability of gaining 2 life a turn, he's incredibly helpful in a lot of situations. He's slightly worse since we aren't running any kill spells, but our creatures are big and are either going to be killing the opponent's or being targeted for the kill, making scooze a really good creature to keep around.
Knight of the Reliquary- This guys is part 1 of the knightfall combo. Getting +1/+1 for each land in the grave makes him often a 4/4 or a 5/5 for 3 mana, making him a very solid beater. But it's his potential to combo with Retreat to Coralhelm that really makes him interesting. Dropping a knight on t2 with a retreat on turn 3 makes a 3 turn kill possible in this deck, making it very capable of racing some of the fastest of combo decks. While it is a vulnerable combo, it's incredibly effective. The combo is explained a little further down if you aren't seeing it right away!
Geist of Saint Traft
- Easily one of the best cards in the deck. He can't be killed with spot removal, meaning he needs to be blocker or boardwiped and once they do drop a blocker for the geist, I have plenty of ways of clearing the path for him to get through undefended. Being able to cast him as early as turn 2, he provides a solid 4 turn clock, before you start pumping him up and dumping other creatures onto the board.
Reflector Mage- Helps keep the board clear of clutter for your dudes to get through. He's an amazing tempo card and in this deck can be comparable to Remand. He resets opposing Scavenging Oozes, Delver of Secrets
and many other creatures, he's ruins the day of anyone who wants to delve in to Tasigur, the Golden Fang and he's super effective at stopping creatures with activated abilities requiring a tap activation, such as
Grim Lavamancer
, Mangara of Corandor or even a mana dork out of an opposing elf deck. Not to mention they can't cast that spell next turn, setting back their plan by a possible 2 entire turns. Worth running to disrupt a lot of decks.
Eternal Witness- a silver bullet to go grab anything in our grave and throw it back onto the battlefield. He's almost always a first pick when you find him in a CoCo since he can grab that CoCo right back for you and he's really good at grabbing those paths or commands out of your grave. He can be used to help keep the possibility of a knightfall online as well since he can go grab your combo pieces.
Kitchen Finks- He's almost always a 2 for 1, plus he gains you life. A nightmare for any aggro deck, finks is just pure value. if need be he can also be reset by your command by giving him a +1/+1 counter (therefore negating the -1/-1 counter) or be reset with a reflector mage. He's an amazing creature to hold onto in your mainboard and the numbers can very easily be increased should you run into a meta with a lot of aggro or grindy 1 for 1 decks like jund or abzan.
Courser of Kruphix
- Used to be the bane of red decks in standard and is aiming to be the bane of red decks in modern. His 4 toughness means that any aggro deck aiming to kill him will be 2 for 1ed, plus he gains you life. He does give away some information to your opponent, but that downside I think is negated by all the value he brings to the deck. He has good synergy with the retreat since you can dig multiple cards deep by putting a land onto the field, then scrying off the land drop. He also helps you decide if you want to crack a fetch or save it if you really want that CoCo sitting on top. He's all around a tough body to kill mixed with lifegain and some synergies. Worth playing as a 1 or 2 of.
