Puck out! (Flicker deck)

Modern* xaerusblade

SCORE: 7 | 65 COMMENTS | 3431 VIEWS | IN 3 FOLDERS


Oloro_Magic says... #1

What are you aiming to do with the deck. Right now it seems like it is somewhere in between counters and stompy?

May 12, 2017 4:02 p.m.

xyr0s says... #2

How about exchanging the 2 mainboard Qasali Pridemages for 2 Fiend Hunters? Those have a very real kind of usefulness with blinking (that's already from turn 4, if you have eldrazi temple + 3 other lands, Birds of Paradise and Eldrazi Displacer in play). It's the old wording that does it - you blink them with the first part of their ETB-ability on the stack, and the creature exiled by the fiend hunter is now impossible to get back.

Also, you could let go of Gavony Township as +1/+1 counters aren't too great with blinking.

May 12, 2017 4:04 p.m.

xaerusblade says... #3

Hello. How does the fiend hunter work. I dont really get it

I summon fiend hunterFlicker it he gets his monster backI put fiend hunter targeting another.

How is it possible to permanently remove his creature?

Also what is a better replacement for gavony township.

Thank you for the feedback. =)

May 12, 2017 4:12 p.m.

Nemesis says... #4

I'll suggest another possible approach to this deck. I've personally made a g/w flicker deck and had some success with a few possible cards you may want to consider.

First and foremost, you want the prime flicker target: Thragtusk. This card does it all. Gives you board presence, gives you a decent body, stabilizes your health. He's nuts.

My approach to my flicker deck is to ramp for the first couple of turns, then stall the game with Stonehorn Dignitary, then win by swinging wide with my flickered Thragtusks and Blade Splicers.

As for what to possibly remove? I'd consider getting rid of Eldrazi Displacer. You want your creatures to have an immediate impact, and waiting a turn to flicker another creature to get extra value out of it is too slow for modern.

Also, maybe I'm just blind, but how do you plan on casting Akroma, Angel of Fury? Do you need 3/4 of your birds of paradise? Why is it in the deck? It doesn't really synergise with flicker theme. Neither does Sagu Mauler for that matter.

May 12, 2017 4:28 p.m.

xaerusblade says... #5

Nevermind. I have already researched the fiend hunter trick.

Also what cards would make this deck much better and faster?

May 12, 2017 4:29 p.m.

xaerusblade says... #6

Morph plus blink = turn 3 akroma.

Also i have included thragtusk befire and it was really slow..

May 12, 2017 4:31 p.m.

xaerusblade says... #7

So basicallyTurn 1 land + bopTurn 2 land + wall / morphTurn 3 land + morph + cloudshift

May 12, 2017 4:38 p.m.

xaerusblade says... #8

Oloro_Magic im aiming for it tocbe a speedy stompy while maintaining a bit of control throigh Thought knots.

Nemesis i was thinking of Sideboarding some stonehorn its really a good card. Thanks.

xyr0s i have some spare mangara i could have used. But the qasali is really useful in our local as most have the ensnaring control deck which is really annoying.bop attacking at 0/1 plus exalted really solves the Ensnaring Bridge madness. Would love to replace bop with Noble Hierarch but those are really expensive.

May 12, 2017 4:53 p.m.

xyr0s says... #9

A song of zones and triggers, as performed by Fiend Hunter and Eldrazi Displacer

1: play fiend hunter, put its trigger on the stack, targetting whichever creature you want to be rid of. Do not let the ability resolve until you...

2: Put a blink-effect on the stack, targetting fiend hunter. let resolve.

3: fiend hunter leaves the battlefield for a temporary stay in the exile zone, and resets all it's triggers. The targetted creature then leaves the battlefield for exile, but since fiend hunter already has left (and possibly is back again, depending on blink effect), it's effect is no longer connected to the second ability of the fiend hunter. Fiend hunter eventually returns to play, and can exile something else.

Nemesis Akroma is played as a morph, and then flickered. When it comes back to play, it has face up. Same as Sagu Mauler. It's a neat little interaction, that you ought to know if you have made a flicker deck with some success. Thragtusk is a really great card, but it's a bit too expensive for flickering mainboard - too many games are over, before you get to play it. Blade Splicer, on the other hand... 2 of those, please, instead of 1 Eternal Witness and 1 Akroma, Angel of Fury.

May 12, 2017 4:58 p.m.

xaerusblade says... #10

xyr0s my sideboard also needs some help. I was thinking of doing it as i have 4 blade splicer. But would taking out 1 akroma lessen the chance of me drawing an akroma? I would really love a turn 3 or 4 akroma as it makes me win most of the time. =)

May 12, 2017 5:16 p.m.

xaerusblade says... #11

Also the gavony is really for my bop in ultra late game. I was thinking of other replacement for that land but i cant think of another also is my land good or do i need some tweaking?

May 12, 2017 5:26 p.m.

xyr0s says... #12

2 Akroma, Angel of Fury should be enough. It's nice when they come up, but you've got plenty of other win conditions. How about reclamation sage mainboard instead of Qasali Pridemage? They don't have exalted, but they do have an ETB, so they can be flickered for advantage...

I can see the problem of ensnaring bridge. Especially as you don't have any Flickerwisps at all. It's surprisingly effective to be able to blink any permanent (opponents' included) until end of turn, although it's probably also relying on Aether Vial making it possible out of turn.

Lands seem good.

Do you really have the end-game come down to Birds of Paradise so often, that you have to plan around it?

May 13, 2017 3:47 a.m.

xaerusblade says... #13

xyr0s used it once. And also it pumps up all my angels which i dont really plan on flickering. I was thinking of Flickerwisp but the 2 white mana is realy glaring especially on early game were it is hard for me to chose on either placing that Temple Garden or that Eldrazi Temple.

May 13, 2017 3:54 a.m.

xaerusblade says... #14

The problem on placing the Reclamation Sage on tje main is that not everyone plays powerful artifact or enchantment. However the Qasali Pridemage serves as double purpose which is really good and at 2 cmc at that.

May 13, 2017 3:57 a.m.

Firebones675 says... #15

Looks pretty good. Overall idea seems solid, just have a few general things to recommend.

The mana base seems really demanding. Even ignoring the blue and red costs to flip up some of the creatures, 27% of the lands can't produce colored mana. Seeing as how a lot of your spells require colored mana, this can lead to some awkward lands. From the goldfishing i've done, it seems like at present it would be hard to cast a turn 2 Qasali Pridemage. It's possiblei was just getting unlucky hands and I think it's gonna be a bit awkard regardless, but I think the Nephalia Academy should be something else.

Secondly, I think yuor mana curve also needs some work. Turn 1 you only have 4 cards you can play in the form of your birds (not counting using cloudshift on an opponents creature). Even then, you only have a few spells you can play that will affect the board. Turn three is where you start to kick into gear and including morphs have a lot of options. The problem is that if you don't draw your birds in your opening hand, i think you're start will be too slow and your opponents will already have the upper hand. To fix this I think you need to lower your curve a bit and/or include more mana dorks (bant eldrazi (which has similar color needs), for instance runs 5-6 or so mana accelerants. I've seen them include birds of paradise, Noble Hierarch and Talisman of Unity(or other talismans depending on color needs).

Removal: While you do have removal in the form of Dromoka's Command and Selesnya Charm, i think there are better options. I'm not a fan of command as the removal aspect can be a bit situational. To kill a creature you need to both have the command and a creature that you can use to fight. If that creature is too small, you can't kill and if it might even need to trade meaning you have to expend 2 cards to kill one creature. If your opponent has an instant speed removal spell for the creature you are using to fight with the command on the stack, they get to kill your creature, have theirs survive, and have you lose value off the command. Charm is a bit better but it's still awkward as a lot of the cards you need to kill have a lower power. You're going to need removal of some sort as most opponents will be playing things you need to get off the table and fast. I think that as far as removal is concerned, picking up 4 copies of Path to Exile instead is your best bet. Dismember would be my second choice. You are also more likely to be able to kill something with one of these removal spells in the first couple turns of the game too as the restrictions of command and charm mean killing something early is unlikely. This also is a step towards fixing your mana curve issues.

Flickering cards vs cards to flicker. Another thing I noticed in goldfishing is that you have a lot of cards to flicker your creatures. Don't get me wrong that's what you're trying to do in the deck. My worry is that while something like Restoration Angel is good even if you don't have a something good to target (it can flash in during combat and eat an attacking creature) something like Eerie Interlude is a bit more situational. To use interlude effectively, youd probably want to be flickering atleast a couple cards and when you don't have that, it just becomes a worse cloudshift/displacer/anger. I think you have a lot of other ways to flicker and so you can cut the interludes. To put it another way, you have more ways to flicker than you have things that are good to flicker. Statistically speaking hands where you have a bunch of flicker cards with nothing to target for value will occur.

Anways, overall I think it looks pretty good. Those were the only three things that jumped out at me.

May 13, 2017 10:54 p.m.

xaerusblade says... #16

Firebones675 thanks for the feedback. I was going to replace the command/charm with Path to Exile one day. once i have acquired the card. Luckily i have acquired 3.

Now regarding the Noble Hierarch i would really LOVE to have 4 copies of those running 4 and 2 to 3 Birds of Paradise but a copy of noble cost an arm and a leg not to mention 4 copies. I was thinking of puting in Avacyn's Pilgrim as a replacement. What do you think?

Also i think the Talisman of Unity is really good. How about 4 copies of birds then 2 to 3 copies of the taliman rather than the avacyn pilgrim?

I would also like an input in which i can replace my Eerie Interlude. Thanks.

May 13, 2017 11:36 p.m.

xaerusblade says... #17

Also regarding the Nephalia Academy it was just there as a replacement for another colourless mana. But the thing about the nephalia it protects me from discard for free.

May 13, 2017 11:41 p.m.

Firebones675 says... #18

Both pilgrim and talisman work. They have their own strengths and weaknesses but they both get the job done and think either could work.

As for the academy, the discard protection can be nice but the fact that it puts the card on top of your library means that you effectively skip your next draw step as you have to put the card back in your hand which can sometimes be worse than just discarding it. It is a may ability so you can always but it into the graveyard, but i havent been impressed by the card and would personally run Ghost Quarter, Gavony Township, or another land in that slot.

For the interlude replacement, Voice of Resurgence is nice but could be tricky to cast reliably. The Kitchen Finksin your sideboard are also good enough to be maindeckable. Scavenging Ooze doesnt have as much synergy with the rest of the deck but it can be cast early, and the graveyard ability/life gain is often relevant. Reality Smasher could be another choice as if you have some mana accelerants or an eldrazi temple you can bash face pretty quickly. Ancient Stirrings can find a land a talisman (if in the deck), thoughtknot or displacer. (also something to do early game)

May 14, 2017 12:57 a.m.

xaerusblade says... #19

Firebones675 yes, Reality Smasher is really good, but I think that the deck would leaning towards making into a tron eldrazi deck, I have the complete tron lands. but I would like to stick to the flicker theme,regarding the Ghost Quarter, it is really good if I can get my hands on it.

also regarding the pilgrim and the talisman, which do you think is best to replace them with?

so I would go down to 8 instants then 30 creature? main boarding my finks, and replace the Kitchen Finks in the sideboard with Scavenging Ooze.

May 14, 2017 1:43 a.m.

xaerusblade says... #20

or maybe, replace my Eerie Interlude with Blade Splicer then the other 1 with talisman.

May 14, 2017 1:46 a.m.

xaerusblade says... #21

for a 2cmc, I was thinking of Bramblewood Paragon instead, trampling Thought-Knot Seer, Restoration Angel sounds really good.

May 14, 2017 2:52 a.m.

xaerusblade says... #22

scratch that, Bramblewood Paragon only target warrior =(.

May 14, 2017 2:55 a.m.

xaerusblade says... #23

or how about Epochrasite or a Phyrexian Revoker for that 2 cmc.

May 14, 2017 3:23 a.m.

Firebones675 says... #24

Revoker unfortunately has a lot of games where he only is a 2 mana 2/1 and thus is usually a sideboard card.

The trample idea is nice but all of the cheap trample enablers I can think of offhand (Kessig Wolf Run, Archetype of Aggression etc. require red mana or are mono green and have a restriction like having a +1/+1 counter on it.

As for talimsan vs pilgrim, both are decent and I think either could work:

Avacyn's Pilgrim: Can attack and block, only costs 1 mana, and can produce white mana without paying life.

Talisman of Unity: Can produce colorless, or either color of mana, significantly harder to remove as creature removal is common before sideboarding, artifact removal less so (also it's less likely to be brought in against you).

Both are fine options, what it comes down to is which of those qualities you value most. Talisman gives you more flexibility and can be safer for the long game whereas pilgrim allows for a faster start by having accelerant on turn 1. If you want to have a deck that goes off a turn faster, i'd use pilgrim. If you want a safer long term investment i'd go with talisman. I might personally lean slightly towards pilgrim but as it's only a 1 turn difference i'd probably playtest with both and see how it plays.

May 14, 2017 3:55 p.m.

xaerusblade says... #25

Firebones675 i have revamped my deck. I was thinking of placing a Trostani, Voice of Selesnya somewhere there or is it not good? Thanks for the feedback. Regarding the talisman, i think i would stick with Noble Hierarch as i have found 2 copies..

May 15, 2017 8:47 a.m.

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