Testing around with a small superfriends style midrange build with Nahiri, the Harbinger at the helm of things, comboing the -8 for big 1 of creatures e.g Dragonlord Atarka, Woodland Bellower and even
Linvala, the Preserver
Seems like a pretty solid idea to explore and has so many good creatures to bring into the battlefield for a turn then cast then properly the next turn for the ETB effect all over again.
EDIT: I added more early creatures to the deck that can also help mid-game if drawn, plus it never hurts discarding less good late-game cards or lands later in the game to nahiri's +2 to get the drawing going alongside clues from Tireless Tracker for draw, should allow for a lot of sustain.
Some of my choices and inspiration/reasons for them:
3-4x Nahiri, the Harbinger - This card is obviously the main focus in this deck. I loved this card when it was first spoiled and I love it even more after testing with it. This planeswalker is just so versatile it's unreal, she allows you to discard dud cards in the match-up or excess lands to draw more cards and dig for what you need with her +2, but its a 'may' claused ability, allowing you to get her to 6 loyalty when you cast her even without anything to discard. Her -2 is literally one of the best modes on a planeswalker in a while as it is always relevant. Exiling an encantment can get your creatures back from something like a Stasis Snare or you could get rid of that pesky Always Watching . Exiling a tapped creature is also great with all these aggro decks floating about, not to mention even the tapped artifact is relevant against a deck like U/R goggles! She's just absolutely great and that's why I built this deck around her. Lastly, and most likely the most dirty things I've done in a long time in a midrange deck comes her -8. Including these awesome bigger cards with great enter the battlefield triggers makes this mode absolutely insane. Dragonlord Atarka deals 5 damage, smash face for 8 then does 5 more damage the next turn; Woodland Bellower gives you a creature like
Sylvan Advocate
or Tireless Tracker while swinging in for 6, allowing you to get another free creature the next turn;
Linvala, the Preserver
gains you 5 life and possibly brings a 3/3 angel along with it, smashes face for 5 and gains you another 5 life next turn also allowing you to keep the angel token at end-step. What more could you ask for only 2 turns after casting the planeswalker!
3x Nissa, Voice of Zendikar - Nissa is just great in this current meta. The fact that not that much trample is around except the occasional Reality Smasher makes her 0/1 plants super relevant. Chump blockers are always a good thing to help give you time to get into the mid-game where you can dominate, especially against humans or company shells. Nissa's -2 ability just shines here, the fact we have a lot of 2 drop creatures and alongside those 2drops we have
Lambholt Pacifist
, those +1+1 counters can be a big deal because we get a fair amount of creatures out early and they make our dudes stronger while giving us tons of extra damage in early stages, making us be able to play the agro game if needed. This is alongside possibly turning on the pacifist on herself being a 3/3 with a +1+1 counter. 2 mana 4/4 is nuts. I haven't ultimated nissa in this deck before, you mainly only want to focus on the other 2 modes, the ultimate could be awesome, but it's just a bit hard to accomplish.
4x
Sylvan Advocate
- The best card in a midrange deck, great early and late for obvious reasons - we know how good the advocate is now with it's 4/5 vigilance body and buffs for our lands. 1 advocate makes Needle Spires a 4/3 double strikers, 2 advocates makes it a 6/5 double striker and that's when things get absolutely disgusting. Seriously, this card is amazing.
3x Tireless Tracker - This card was so underrated with the release of SOI, giving clues for every land drop you hit is incredible. It gives you a bit of leverage in situations where you are flooding out, buffing the tracker up and drawing you cards on the clues you crack. A midrange decks wet dream of a creature card, it gives us everything we want except we only run 3 in main because of the aggro white decks running about making it a bit less consistent getting too many in-hand if we run 4.
4x Duskwatch Recruiter
- Another awesome card, allowing us to draw extra creatures if we start falling flat or running out of steam, while on the other side of the card reducing our creatures by 1 is allowing us to cast 2 creatures in a turn much easier or ramping us quicker into our big dudes. Another card that seems to fit so perfectly into this deck it's unreal.
3x
Lambholt Pacifist
- Another underrated card here, a 2 mana 3/3 that can't attack strait away can be great against the agro matches but also amazing when you turn your agro switch on, the pacifist is turned on easily when paired with a surrak, tireless tracker or sylvan advocate. The fact that this card can be activated if she has 4 or more power too, so an easy Dromoka's Command target or the perfect thing to -2 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar onto. This card is just great. Don't get me started if they pass their turn 2 without casting anything, you get a 4/4 body that can attack freely if that's the case.
4x Dromoka's Command - Just such an amazing and flexible card. This command is good against pretty much every deck. If they don't use many creatures but use removals like Stasis Snare /
Silkwrap
you can get rid of an enchantment and give your dudes a +1+1, you can prevent one of your creatures from dying and give them a +1+1 against burn. Vs. Creature decks you can keep it up ready to cast at an optimal time to kill their creature and make yours bigger. White humans use Always Watching the command and nahiri combined just helps destroy that enchantment and allow you to push ahead.
3x
Declaration in Stone
- I wanted to run 3 of these and 4 Dromoka's Command rather than 4 declarations because of the clue drawback being a bigger thing in a midrange deck than these white aggro decks. But including 2-3 of these makes it so I can exile a creature if I have to and gives me great game against token based strategies exiling them all without giving them clues. Too good not to run a couple of at least here especially when you need to exile that annoying indestructible creature like Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger or Ormendahl, Profane Prince
. The Nahiri's and declarations give you plenty of game against these creatures.
2x
Surrak, the Hunt Caller
- This card fits here perfectly too, our heavy focus on early green creatures lets us get surrak online fast or keep him in hand to kill unexpectedly on the crackback against something like white humans. Things just get outright crazy if surrak is left unattended for. I've had him on the board multiple times where he has not been dealt with and the next turn cast creatures like sylvan advocates at 4/5 or something like Dragonlord Atarka or Woodland Bellower to give them haste and swing for lethal. It's just great, only drawback is that he is legendary so 2 seems like a good number.
1x Nissa, Vastwood Seer
- This card is awesome early and late, the only drawback is the fact that we cannot have both Nissa planeswalker's out at the same time. This is why I am only running 1 of these. The forest she gives you when entering is actually really great here as we have so many double green spells it helps us ensure we hit our land drops. The fact that she is good late-game helps make this card great, laying her on turn 6 to get your 7th land and flip her straight away can easily take the game by storm, drawing you tons of cards and giving a 4/4 blocker is the real deal.
1x Woodland Bellower - Probably one of my favorite creatures in this deck which is why we run a 2nd in the side, for good reason too. The fact that you need 6 mana to cast this creature it means if you grab a sylvan advocate alongside it you will be paying 6 mana for a 6/5 and a 4/5 with vigilance that buffs your lands. That sounds like value to me, which is what we are aiming for with this deck! This card combos perfectly with Nahiri, the Harbinger allowing you to fetch for 2 advocates over 2 turns and make that needle spires a 6/5 double striker. Insane.
1x Dragonlord Atarka - This card is just the best thing against agro shells with Nahiri, the Harbinger. I probably fetch this card from my deck the most as I can deal 5 damage to creatures or walkers and swing big in the air in a dash style, which is insane. The thing with aggressive decks, they tend to not really want to smash into your 6 loyalty planeswalker, they want to go face - so getting the -8 off surprisingly isn't even that hard to do and the fact that agro shells tap out every turn for creatures if they can you don't have to often fear buff spells, so you can know exactly how many creatures you can kill with your 5 damage.
1x Archangel Avacyn
- Avacyn is great for obvious reasons, the indestructible is amazing, a 4/4 vigilance flier with that enter the battlefield effect is awesome anyway, but the fact it has flash makes it downright broken. I would typically run 2 of these angels if I could, but I currently only own 1 - but it's still good having 1 in because it definitely has saved me from certain grim situations having flash.
Sideboard cards and my reasoning for maybe picking them (depends on your local meta etc):
2x
Clip Wings
- Just the best anti-flier removal right now as it also hits a flipped Westvale Abbey
and Dragonlord Ojutai.
2x Den Protector - An extra way to re-using our awesome spells or creatures against slower decks like other midrange shells or control.
1x Dragonlord Dromoka - This card typically replaces
Linvala, the Preserver
against decks like control/midrange also, because typically those modes on linvala get a lot worse when you're not against as fast of a shell.
2x
Fiery Impulse
- An excellent removal against humans, but I have gone 2 of these and cut 1
Rending Volley
as the impulse also hits other aggro creatures that are not just white or blue in my meta.
2x
Gaea's Revenge
- The perfect card to slam down against a control shell trying to stabilize.
2x
Lantern Scout
- One of my favourite cards against aggro, us having a lot of strong creatures and fellow ally's in
Sylvan Advocate
makes us gain tons of life and get ahead in a race easily.
2x
Pulse of Murasa
- Another lifegain trick that can also give us back a much needed creature or land.
1-2x Radiant Flames - The best sweeper we have available to us, 3 mana to deal 1-3 damage however we choose, the 3 damage allows us to kill ontop of a Always Watching or things alike, but I have even cast it for 2 sometimes to keep my advocates alive but kill their creatures on turn 3. It's just great.
2x Kozilek's Return - If you expect something like W/B or G/W Tokens with Secure the Wastes to be a big thing, this instant speed board wipe for tokens is definitely great.
2x Tragic Arrogance - This card shines against grindy matchups like other midrange decks or coco decks.
1x Tireless Tracker - Another card that shines against grindy match-up's where 4 would be amazing for clue/draw advantage.
1-2x
Rending Volley
- Just the perfect single target burn spell against these white strategies, but no need to run too many as we already have other burn spells.
1x Woodland Bellower - Just too good against midrange and control strategies to not have another one come in to help you press your advantages against them with value.
Maybe?
4x Avatar of the Resolute - This card is great even on turn 2. a 3/2 body with reach and trample is pretty decent for GG and because we have to focus heavily in green for most of our creatures and nissa anyway this card seems to fit perfectly here. I've had games where my board has 3-4 creatures and a nissa, minusing nissa and laying down an avatar makes him HUGE! Even on turn 4 alongside a creature with a +1+1 counter on it from Dromoka's Command can make him a troublesome 4/3 body. The double green on turn 2 can sometimes ruin the rest of our plays though, i'm still on the fence. the power is there but the consistency may not be.
Let me know what you think and what you might think i could do to help push this deck over the edge, gideon seems good here but the double white can be hard and i don't really want to cut creatures for oath of nissa.
