OpenFire, thanks for the suggestion. Honestly Hour of Need has been great a as a singleton. A 4/4 flying for 3 at instant speed or two 4/4 for 5 is an useful finisher. It's a versatile card and the deck has between persist, birds and tokens more than enough targets for the spell to be efficient. That being said the card is not without flaws - the chance being two-for-one'ed or the card being a dead draw is there.
When it comes to Cryptic Command it has been something I've considered before. I think that it honestly would be a great replacement for my 5 drop. The deck is all about attacking and Cryptic is a versatile card. If Monastery Mentor sticks, Cryptic seems even better! I've also considered Dig Through Time in this slot.
January 4, 2015 5:50 a.m.
leondal it's a card I've been considering, though I can't add it instead of the Hawks as it will skew the curve. Though I could run it instead of Finks and maybe flex out the Snapcaster Mages. During my testing lately I've started to see the flaws with Hawks with Forked Bolt and Electrolyze running around.
Though what the Hawks does - apart from wielding swords - is that it thins the deck rather nicely, a feature I really like.
January 10, 2015 5:56 p.m.
elpokitolama says... #7
The main deck seems fine to me (even if I'm not convinced about Squadron Hawk utility here, if you want a flyer then you should go for some Delver of Secrets Flip because it's a one drop, and it won't be a problem if he does not flip quickly since you're going to wait for your swords to come up), so I'll just give you some advices on sideboard options: do not try to have cards in order to have a response to any possible option, you're just going to have a lot of one-of-a-kind that you won't draw during g2 or g3. I would cut half of your current sideboard for some more Timely Reinforcements, Disenchant, and add things like Celestial Purge or Flashfreeze to mess win Twin.
About Mirran Crusader: this guy should be in your mainboard. He only dies to bolt, and in my own blade deck I do not count the games when I did a one-hit KO by swingging with this guy, with a Sword of War and Peace equipped to him.
March 22, 2015 2:48 p.m.
elpokitolama thanks for taking your time writing down your opinions regarding the list. At first I wasn't really sure why Squadron Hawk was good and used in old Caw-Blade lists. However, playing with the card made me appreciate its benefits. Hawks are useful for several reasons;
- Draw three for two mana.
- Makes land heavy hands keep able.
- Evasive Sword wielder.
- Filters away bad late game draws.
- Fill your hand against discard strategies and syncs with S of W&P.
- Pendelhaven target.
Apart from these factors, the card isnt too good, and I believe the deck will find a better replacement in the future. Though I do like the idea of trying Delver in the list and did some gold-fishing. It worked in some scenarios but I believe this change will require a bit of work if I want to abuse the card to its full potential. I dont think my current list will work that well, but I did change around my Esper Mythblade list and Delver seems rather interesting in that shell!
When it comes to the sideboard Im not experienced at all. I do use it in my playtesting, but since I dont have anywhere to play the SB tries to hit everything. Though the sideboard is actually surprisingly flexible.
If we take Twin in your example the list have a lot of options;
- Worship stops their gameplan.
- Spellskite
- Negate
- Jace
- Pithing Needle naming Pestermite (or Batterskull if they land it).
- Disenchant
- Valorous Stance
While Flashfreeze and Celestial Purge is interesting, I believe Valorous Stance cover somewhat the same targets Id need them for. Another Disenchant could be good, but here Im really a fan of Pithing Needle maybe Jace should go.
Timely Reinforcements is in my opinion not needed. With a two color mana base Im doing minimal damage to myself and Kitchen Finks + Restoration Angel adds a lot of surviabillity. In the side I have Worship, Spellskite, Negate and a single Timely Reinforcements. During testing burn is a surprisingly easy matchup.
Mirran Crusader is one of my all-time favorite cards. I actually had him in the main before Myth Realized was spoiled, but it was just not good in any matchup running red. To me Brimaz and Mirran is the perfect tag-team as they fulfill each other perfectly maybe I should consider a 1/1 split between those two, though Im worried about the consistency of that plan.
March 23, 2015 6:58 a.m.
Worship does not stop Twin's gameplan, it stops their combo. Although for that niche I prefer Blind Obedience or Imposing Sovereign.
March 23, 2015 4:36 p.m.
kameenook poor choice of wording, but if they can't remove a creature or the enchantment itself they can't win. I used to run Blind Obedience but this effect only delays the combo by a turn. Worship has a much stronger effect on a variety of mach-ups.
March 23, 2015 5:52 p.m.
It feels like some cards here are just meh.
For example, Hawks. It generates you 4 cards, but 4 bad cards. Hawks was good because you could go "Hawks. Get 3 to hand. Brainstorm away 2. Crack a fetch. You have just gone +3 and can do it next turn too.
The side also feels pretty ropey. I would be looking at Wrath of God, Aven Mindcensor, etc.
March 23, 2015 5:56 p.m.
LeaPlath would be nice if you state which cards you finds "just meh", not just give a single example.
Though I agree Hawk is a bad card in a vacum. To me Hawks is more like an amplifier than anything else. It thins the deck for bad late game draws making turn 2+ draws more likely to be something I want or need. It also ensures that I have a target for my Swords, which with only 13 creatures, wouldn't be guaranteed otherwise. I think you need to play with the card to appreciate it. That being said, the spots are flexible so there is a lot of room for experimentation - just this is the list I'm most satisfied with.
Sideboard is something I need to work on, but I'm not sure how I can improve without having any meta to play against - so far the sideboard is just a general mix. Though it's worth mentioning that I've never felt I didn't have anything to board in during playtesting.
I don't see the need for Wrath of Good as I've got Supreme Verdict already - Thrun is taken care of by Mirran Crusader. Aven Mindscensor is nice, but I don't see which decks it'll be great against - it helps my Tron and Scapeshift matchup, anything else?
March 24, 2015 3:25 a.m.
Edit: forgot that Aven Mindcensor hits Bloom Titan as well. Definitely something I could consider. I wonder if, with the Swords mainboard, it's worth testing Aven instead of Kitchen Finks or Restoration Angel. Nearly everyone runs fetches and it makes Path to Exile even better.
March 24, 2015 5:35 a.m.
Deck thinning isn't something you care about. Deck thining is so so rarely a thing, that it takes about 10 turns, from the turn you cast it, to get the advantage. I would rather see something like Judges, if the flying is so important, or a better threat with more utility like Snapcaster, Aven, Clique, Meddling Mage, etc.
Mindcensor is great versus Gifts, Tron, Scapeshift, and isn't too bad versus the rest of the field for being able to deny them threats and being a 2/1 flyer you can land in their end step.
March 24, 2015 8:08 a.m.
LeaPlath that might be the case for Fetch Lands but if it can thin the deck for bad late game draws it's definitely something I would care about. Squadron Hawk might be a worse stand-alone card than anyone you mentioned, but I would never end up drawing them later in the game which facilitate quality draws.
The reason why I find Squadron Hawk valuable in the list is;
- Makes land heavy hands keep able. This deck rarely need to mulligan.
- Makes mulligans better - if they're in the opening hand.
- Evasive Sword wielder.
- Almost guaranties that I will have something to equip a sword to.
- Lowers the amount of bad late game draws.
- Draw three for two mana which fills your hand against discard strategies.
- Synergies with SoWP.
- Pendelhaven target.
- Relevant against the fliers in some strategies, notable Affinity and Infect. (this can be said for any flier though).
Snapcaster is already on the maybe list and is undeniable solid. Though I'm not sure if I have enough valuable spells to make him worth it.
Meddling Mage and Judge's Familiar is something I've tested in the past. With the variance of removal cards in the format it felt like Mage always died without giving any value. Familiar is great early but it's a horrible top deck, it feels so bad drawing this late game when you're looking for threats or answers. Clique (already in the maybe slot) and Aven isn't relevant in the Squadron Hawk slots.
March 25, 2015 5:19 a.m.
Hi there!
This deck looks pretty cool! +1
Have you ever considered running 4 Myth Realizeds?
They trigger each other when casting.. :-)
April 16, 2015 5:03 a.m.
Hi, and thanks for the +1 Telerik! The deck is really fun to pilot so glad it looks that way as well.
I've been a fan of Myth Realized since the spoiler, and strongly believe the card adds to the overall power-level of the deck. I've been back and forth between running two / three / four copies but ended up with two.
My thoughts behind it was;
- As a singleton, it'll be great those times you draw it early, but really bad the longer the games drag on.
- As a four of, it'll most likely see turn one play, but multiple copies might restrict your mana too much.
With two copies the chances of drawing it early-mid is decent enough, and it helps adding threat diversity to the list. I think the problem with four copies is that it'll constrain my mana too much. Though as you said, they'll trigger each other... I might be opted to try four copies - remove four Squadron Hawk and replace them with two Myths and something else.
April 16, 2015 7:53 a.m.
Why no Mana Leak? It stays relevant through out a game of modern.
April 20, 2015 4:33 a.m.
LeaPlath in the past I've considered different configurations of Mana Leak + Remand - 2/2 3/2 3/1 2/3 etc. Personally I think this deck wants Remand more than Leak, mostly due to the card draw. Remand synergize well with Myth Realized and Sword of War and Peace while it also digs through the deck finding removal, sweepers or sideboard cards. Remand into Anticipate is a nice sequence as well.
Though saying Mana Leak stays relevant through out a game of modern is partly wrong, as Mana Leak quickly loose relevance in the later turns - which is where this deck operates. Leak also becomes worse when our main removal is Path to Exile. This is the main reason why i have a singleton Logic Knot as I want the hard counter later in the game.
April 20, 2015 5:02 a.m.
emask It has been considered, though I'm testing Silent Arbiter in this role. I think he has a bit more usage in this list than Ghostly Prison as he can wield a sword and be more effective against BGx decks. But good suggestion!
April 21, 2015 4:53 a.m.
Tonilol99 see my reply to LeaPlath about Mana Leak. I might end up testing a configuration of Mana Leak + Remand , though so far I really value Remand in this list.
April 21, 2015 4:56 a.m.
Arbiter really goes good with the theme of the deck too, never knew about that card!
OpenFire says... #1
How good is Hour of Need for you? Seems Cryptic Command would probably work better.
January 3, 2015 5 p.m.