Ninja Pod

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I could replace Aphetto Alchemist with another two Hidden Strings , but Brainstorm is very important for Birthing Pod decks, because it can put a creature from your hand back into the deck for calling it with the pod. If I can find a decent replacement, I'll consider changing the format to Modern. That might get me a few more hits and, more important, hints on how to improve the deck.

Thanks for the tip, thEnd3000.

January 18, 2014 7:12 p.m.

See Beyond should do the trick. It's even better because the creature won't jump right back into my hand after two turns.

January 18, 2014 8:39 p.m.

Tata says... #3

Really creative way to exploit ninjitsu with pod. I especially like pulling ornithopter back with ninjutsu, only to play it for free right away to potentially untap blasting station.

I'd remove Temple of Deceit because it's a slowland and the scry really isn't worth missing your land for a turn. It also doesn't untap Drowned Catacomb .

Why See Beyond ? Aren't there better draw spells? Or is there a card you want to tuck back into your deck for Fabricate?

I'd definitely sideboard removal/counter/bounce of some kind. I'd even recommend maindecking something, like Inquisition of Kozilek .

January 19, 2014 4:40 p.m.

See Beyond is there to send the 6-drops back to the library if I draw one, so the pod can summon it. I also get some cards out of it in the process.

I'm using Temple of Deceit and taplands in general because I'm fed up with getting mana of the wrong color. Now that you mention it, there are indeed not many lands left to untap drowning catacomb. I'll try out if replacing Temple of Deceit with basics or replacing Drowned Catacomb with Darkslick Shores works better.

January 19, 2014 5:17 p.m.

urasa says... #5

counter measures are format dependent but assuming you want to hit most of the common archetypes of modern and legacy I would recommend the following: Mindbreak Trap to shut off storm, Hurkyl's Recall to hate on affinity and artifact dependent decks, Grafdigger's Cage or Ravenous Trap to counter graveyard based decks such as reanimator ,and Pithing Needle or Phyrexian Revoker to name there key cards and combo pieces. That's most of the common stuff i can think of off the top of my head but there is probably more.

January 19, 2014 5:30 p.m.

Thanks, urasa, I'll take a look at those. You're right, I was going for the most versatile cards that work against the most common decks. Mostly fast stuff since I've got the Glen Elendra Archmage + Mikaeus, the Unhallowed combo as late-game counter hell.

I'll have to do a more specialized sideboard myself. Can't expect anyone here to know my local meta better than me. XD

Hm, forgot to tag Tata in the last post...

January 19, 2014 6:31 p.m.

Tata says... #7

Running 4 Creeping Tar Pits makes your manabase very clunky. I think it's a great card, but I don't think your deck needs 4. Does it need any at all, really?

Without the Tar Pits you could run the mirrodin besieged fast lands with ease.

The Theros Scry lands really suck in my opinion. Only good in Standard.

January 19, 2014 8:15 p.m.

@ Tata

Creeping Tar Pit evades sorcery-speed burn and kill, is unblockable, extremely hard to counter, gets +2/+2 from every Glen Elendra Liege , can bring in a ninja to kill or bounce stuff. It's one of the best cards in the deck. If I reduce it , that wouldn't have as much effect on the manabase as not drawing it in time would have on the game.

I am going to drop the temples for basics and replace the basics with fastlands one by one until it is stable.

Yeah, the scrylands are subpar, but not to be underestimated. That scry one can speed your game up by a whole turn if you can put an unwanted card away. They're best used when your hand doesn't allow you to use that one mana this turn anyway. I'd say it's the best of the worst. :)

January 19, 2014 9:49 p.m.

Tata says... #9

There is no sorcery-speed burn in Modern.

But you're right, they get big with the liege, and they do work with the ninja.

Urasa above made some excellent suggestions for your sideboard btw

January 19, 2014 10:21 p.m.

I somehow managed to find the time for playtesting Sunblast Angel , Nacatl War-Pride and Kokusho, the Evening Star , which is quite a feat given my current schedule. As before (see update log), we "saved" the game whenever I called a six-drop and played it out for every candidate.

Sunblast Angel , suggested by urasa
This one was surprisingly clunky. I had a lot of collateral damage as she killed my attackers that were still tapped while sparing untapped creatures my opponent controlled. Now, it would seem that a playset of Hidden Strings and a few unblockables to cipher it on are enough to solve that issue, but strange enough, it didn't work out most of the time. There was always more to tap/untap than i could manage with the current resources, or the opponents important creatures were hexproof so I couldn't tap them. It was good a third part of the time, subpar half the time, okay in the rest. No entry, sorry.

Nacatl War-Pride , suggested by urasa
As expected, it was great for evasion, as it tied and often killed my opponents creatures, allowing me to get the ninjas through. The problem is that the ninjas effects that it enabled were often useless because the opponent had no creatures left to bounce or kill unless he had some fatties out, what usually wasn't the case at that point in the game, except for the treefolk deck that was one of the testing decks. Using it for the purpose of killing lots of small creatures, like for example an infinite token army, is too slow since it has no haste to attack before they do and doesn't multiply when blocking. It's a good card, but would be a lot better if I were running other ninjas with non-removal abilities.

Kokusho, the Evening Star , suggested by Next_rim
This card has a lot of potential. It finished my opponent or brought him near zero half the time, and since I tend to call Gleancrawler before the other six-drop, I managed to call him a second time now and then. Once by hardcasting after it got returned from the yard playing against a stall deck, twice by putting it back in the deck with See Beyond and podding it again for the final blow. Since it likes to be sacrificed, I added a 7-drop so feeding it to the pod isn't a waste. I didn't put much effort into picking it, so I won't elaborate on it. Let's just say that I got it out twice in addition to Kokusho dealing 5 damage, while I usually never get 7-drops out without heavy ramp. This card is awesome with the pod, and Next_rim won the last token.

February 1, 2014 7:07 p.m.

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