is Ready / Willing really worth splashing a 4th color for?

You really need to update your deck description. There are a bunch of cards in there that aren't in the deck anymore.

OMG it's actually a standard deck I LIKE! and i HATE standard! +1 for dayzzzzzzz

actually, now that I think about it, Ready / Willing does go infinite with boros reckoner

@RedSoxFanKy

I did mention that at the bottom of the description, that, although I board them out for most major match-ups I still felt like they were beneficial in a game one situation where I'm not sure what they are playing and they aren't sure what I'm playing as being more aggressive game one is something I feel is important. After that I'm boarding against their board-in plans which usually make cheap beaters more of a liability than anything else. I'm entertaining different ideas to swap it with but I'm not committed to anything as of yet. If it were to go I would likely choose one of the following to try instead: Judge's Familiar , Hopeful Eidolon , Spirit of the Labyrinth , Precinct Captain , Truefire Paladin , Akroan Hoplite or Frontline Medic should I decide to make that slot even chunkier. As it stands I'm fine playing Dryad Militant but I'm not against trying new things.

@RelentlessRat

I've mentioned Experiment One in the description, and, although he is a great creature and very efficient I feel like Brave the Elements gets much worse very quickly as soon as you start adding creatures that can't be saved/enhanced by it. As for Precinct Captain , I've played him, I'm going to go with a lot in his tenure in Standard and I really like him. My problem with him stems from his getting walled semi-permanently by many creatures across the format: Sylvan Caryatid , Fleecemane Lion , Omenspeaker , Meletis Astronomer , Frostburn Weird and other creatures I can't/don't want to use my removal on but will wall him forever. Still, he is quite good and considering the wave of suggestions that I stop playing Dryad Militant I'll give him another go in this shell.

@TheOnlyGrubski

Yeah, those two guys give me fits at night but when it comes to beating them I usually try and take the 'finish them off' mentality as I've hopefully taken them to a low enough life-total that I can just Brave the Elements past their creatures and hit them for lethal or just try and go in twice against Stormbreath Dragon using Boros Charm to save my field. While, I understand that that is a bit of a weak 'not really dealing with it' answer I thankfully don't have to deal with either of them too often as no-one I've played in some time is playing the Orzhov Midrange list and only one or two people are playing Stormbreath Dragon and, that one at least, doesn't stop me from just swinging into it and losing some guys to get damage through. I'll probably end up playing Mizzium Mortars in the end as I prefer the end game versatility but if the meta shifts enough I could see myself playing Celestial Flare .

@KillTheIslandUser

As ProfessorDucky was so kind to point out we have mentioned this to an extent. As for the idea of siding in lands I feel like I don't have enough 'free slots' in the side to play extra lands just to enable a single card.

@Sam_I_am

I suppose this sort of goes with what KillTheIslandUser was asking about after a fashion but as it stands I don't feel that the 4 basic lands that would otherwise be in the main is enough of a tradeoff to merit not being able to cast Ready / Willing (Willing). And, as you mentioned in your most recent comment (only spotted it as I was about to post this) Ready / Willing does go infinite with Boros Reckoner . I'm considering potentially playing a gamut of potential replacements for Dryad Militant as it is getting a lot of hate at the moment but if Hopeful Eidolon makes it then between Boros Charm , (Ready), and it there will be another way to go infinite. haha

@canterlotguardian

I'm sorry, I don't really understand what you mean. I don't have any cards in the description 'that aren't in the deck anymore.' Perhaps you are talking about the 'Honorable Mentions' section which is full of cards that I'm not playing so as to explain the reasons why I am not.

@ApocryphalSaint, @GamrMan11

Definitely appreciate the comments and +1s. Thanks!

@ProfessorDucky

Woops, forgot to upload Celestial Colonnade and Grisly Salvage will likely do that this evening. haha

My only concern for this deck is if it could compete with Jund removal... I know the Boros Charm s and Brave the Elements will help with the 20+ kill spells... But when you run out... What then?

@DeckinPro

While I cannot say for certain exactly how well this deck would fare against Jund (partially since my meta usually only has one or two players who are big on Jund and they haven't been around recently) I feel like it wouldn't be too bad for my end overall. They have a lot of removal, this is true, but I play a lot of really effecient threats that all demand some sort of attention.

Yes Drown in Sorrow and such really can frustrate this deck to an extent but against a lot of the rest of their removal I'm playing a solid amount of protective spells and they have to have those cards in hand and have them be relevant against the specific creatures I've got out. Apart from that Voice of Resurgence makes removal less painful and likely to be less painfully timed (i.e. in my combat).

Regardless, I can't say for certain what would come of that match-up (although I don't think it would be that bad for me overall, relatively speaking). As for what I do when I run out of protective spells? Well, I suppose I don't really have an answer for that as at that point I'm mostly relying on the resiliency of my own creatures and the hope that they don't get perfect draws.

Not to ask a noob question, but how do you put pictures in descriptions?

@RedSoxFanKy

I recommend using this site as it is pretty clear how to use various tags as they do a decent job explaining most things.

Why the lone Blood Crypt ? What do you have that requires black?

@canterlotguardian

A few of the comments above you relate to this. I'm playing 3x Ready / Willing in the sideboard so I replaced 1x Mountain with 1x Blood Crypt and 3x Plains with 3x Godless Shrine .

Ooh ok that makes sense. I forgot Ready/Willing had black in one of its mana costs. That being said, there is quite a large block of comments to be reading through all of them bonfire commenting. Maybe an update/comment cycle is in order?

And by that, I totally meant "before commenting".

@canterlotguardian

That is a fair suggestion. I'll likely summarize everything and update the comments later today.

Very detailed explanations of your plans! Seems interesting and I wish you luck, but the one piece of advice I feel confident will help this deck remain consistent is adding at least one more land. Not missing that land drop will be important for keeping pace.

@ATLiam

While I do appreciate the value in keeping up tempo I hold a somewhat unique perspective about land-spell ratios. That being that I prefer to be slightly land-screwed than mana-flooded. My reasoning is that should I draw nothing but spells for three turns (from, say, T3 to T6) instead of the third land I need, I will at least have a good chance of being able to cast the cards I'm drawing (as 5/6s of the deck is land or CMC 2 or less) or, that I will at least be able to do so once I hit my third land. This being opposed to the same scenario where I instead have my good early hand but draw a relatively disproportionate number of lands later. Generally speaking I don't need any more than 4 lands at maximum and that is only for two cards' optional costs in the main. Beyond those I never need more than 3 and more than 3 is usually going to detract from my board rather than help.

I used The Vault's probability tool to gauge how often I would have any three lands in hand by turn 3 and this is what it comes up with for the various numbers (bear in mind that this does not count into the fact that I play six (currently) scrylands that can turn a 2 lander into a 3 lander):

21=76%

22=79%

23=82%

24=85%

Now, while I do like the idea of adding just under 10% in my early land draw consistency that extra few land will occasionally play hob with my later draws, especially since I would need to cut three slots to make way for maximum draw consistency down to one slot which nets a relatively paltry 3% increase.

As it stands, although this is an aggro deck, mid-game draws are definitely a part of it as I play nothing with haste and most of my creatures are essentially fat tempo creatures and when I can already cast /work with 83% of the deck and I'm just looking for one more card out of the remaining 19 possible lands I prefer that gambit to the alternative.

Anyway, apologies about my rambley-ness right now. I haven't slept in about two days and sometimes I kinda meander across an idea without actually clarifying things. Hopefully that didn't happen here. :P haha

Regardless, I appreciate the comment, thanks!

+1 coz name :P

Aren't the Blood Crypt s/Godless Shrine s pointless, as you have nothing that costs black?

Edit: Oops, missed the Ready/Willing in the sideboard.

I'd suggest dropping Eidolon of Countless Battles to put a full playset of Loxodon Smiter main board. Eidolon won't be too great for this setup while Smiter is one of the best Selesnya cards hands-down.

@DreamGoddessLindsey

On the one hand, I love Loxodon Smiter and would gladly run 4 in the main, on the other hand I'm a big fan of Eidolon of Countless Battles and I think he pulls his weight pretty well, especially when approaching a match-up blind.

Here's my perspective:

Mono-U match -- Eidolon of Countless Battles can turn small creatures into big ones that demand removal or constant blocking by Thassa, God of the Sea . Loxodon Smiter is still good but is endlessly harassed by Tidebinder Mage . Loxodon Smiter 's other two abilities don't matter here overall.

Mono-B match -- Eidolon of Countless Battles becomes much weaker with all the creature kill here. Before they board into more Drown in Sorrow or Bile Blight it isn't terrible though as it can bestow to pull double duty. Loxodon Smiter does quite well here as his second ability 'could' matter and he isn't dependent on the small fry surviving to do his job.

Control match -- Eidolon of Countless Battles is probably at its worst here as it is a weaker later draw into a post Supreme Verdict board. Still, it can be bestowed which still will leave me a creature post-wrath. Loxodon Smiter is solid gold here, obviously as it is uncounterable and super-effecient.

Gruul Monsters -- Eidolon of Countless Battles is usually too big to fight using Domri Rade and can usually survive a non-overload Mizzium Mortars . It also is one of the few creatures I can play (or bestow) that can naturally tango with Polukranos, World Eater or Arbor Colossus among other things. Loxodon Smiter is also good here (as evidenced by my boarding in both the remaining Eidolon of Countless Battles and Loxodon Smiter s)

Non-burn Aggro -- Eidolon of Countless Battles does a good job keeping my field semi-comparable to a Voltron opponent's field as my removal is better than theirs 9/10 times. Against aggro lacking good removal (or much of it) Eidolon of Countless Battles is a shut-out all star as it will frequently be sitting or bestowing as a 7/7 or bigger. (Biggest it has been in a tournament was a Selesnya mirror where I made Brimaz, King of Oreskos into a 10/11.) Loxodon Smiter is obviously also quite good in this scenario but it is less versatile over-all.

Anyway, I play against a lot of Mono-U, Gruul Monsters and various aggro but not a huge amount of Mono-B or Control so the two 'best' matchups for Loxodon Smiter matter less overall and the fact that the Smiter naturally gets locked out by Tidebinder Mage while the Eidolon can blank it is a big upside.

Apart from that I honestly feel like the Eidolon's bestow versatility is under-appreciated as he is essentially two different spells in one and is a creature that can impact the board pre-wrath and still be there post wrath. (Same with other removal, of course.) Also, one thing that many people I know have seemed to overlook is that Eidolon gets +1/+1 from Chained to the Rocks as it is an Aura as well. Counting those there are 28 things that will always pump him (not counting Brimaz, King of Oreskos ' cat tokens or the potential Selesnya Charm s) which makes him worth-while IMO. He would be better if I were playing Precinct Captain as well but I am more than comfortable playing him as is.

@CrazyMess

Thanks!

@TheKatalyst

Haha, don't worry, you aren't the only person to have missed that.

Thanks for commenting!

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this...

Chained to the Rocks is pretty much useless in this deck .-.You have no Basic Land cards at all.

Cerovlogs, he has 8 mountains in the form of Blood Crypt , Stomping Ground and Sacred Foundry . Remember, they don't have to be basic. Come to think of it, though, 8 is a bit low. Do you often lack the mountain to enchant, Dritz?

Ah! Thank you, ProfessorDucky, I didn't see the subtype in the cards. Thanks for clearing it up!

@Cerovlogs

ProfessorDucky has the right of it. Thanks for commenting!

@ProfessorDucky

Honestly, yes. I only need to hit a single Mountain by turn 3 or 4 once someone mounts a threatening enough creature to be worth using hard removal on it. Leaving aside the scry lands altering draws I have an 80% chance of having the card I need by turn 3. I've played the 4 Chained to the Rocks 8 Mountain equivalents structure for about four or so months now and I feel it is one of the better managable ratios while still playing a white/x oriented deck structure. If I were to add in something else that required more red commitment in the deck I would not be unhappy to play another Stomping Ground or similar but at present I don't feel it is necessary. I very consistently have that Mountain early on and the deck is fat enough to sit and accrue board position while threatening its many protective spells should I need to wait a turn or two to start taking things in for alpha swings.