Weird harvest is one of my favorite cards in the deck. My opponents always get excited to get creatures till they realize I've won from it

I rather like the GG snake maker. We already have sheltering ancient to tutor for, so I don't feel like I really need the snake maker to be tutorable. The 2cmc bodies work really well with the pump, but the drawback is pretty severe. This will definitely be going into my list for testing.

I'm not entirely sure how to evaluate the new tutor. It looks powerful, will definitely give it a shot. Being able to tutor dreadnought is a huge plus.

Im loving this deck, I think its interesting because although its on the verge of competitive, its definitively an all-in strategy, which in turn substracts a little of it "competitiveness"; a correctly execute counter spell delays us a couple of turns normally. At the same time, I think its the only competitive deck which has the properties of not knowing which is the best route for victory (or even if there is a real one), as some times you may draw 20 cards + infinite mana (which in most decks would equate to victory) and just have your hand filled up with lands + mana dorks (it happened).

Now, to some card discussion:

• Uncage the Menagerie: has anyone done any testing with this; Im seeing this as an expensive tutor, but maybe someone did find some interesting combinations?

• Hashep Oasis: I think this is an auto include; I dont see myself using its sacrifice ability that much, but at the same time this is almost a forest (the only real problem might be Quirion Ranger?).

• Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: most people will think this as another autoinclude and I just removed it from the deck (for a Forest). Early green mana is indispensable, period.

• Rhonas's Last Stand: I was playing Hunted Troll and I think this is going to be in its place. Normally the troll required too much mana and this might not be the best alternative, but its an alternative none the less.

• Sylvan Safekeeper: Im struggling to find a place for this guy, Im having as much trouble with counters as with Path to Exiles; what everyone thinks about it? Yeah, I know shroud is a terrible bummer when we need to untap.

• Im finding that Fast Mana is indispensable: this not only enables early Selvala, but its definitively extra mana on the turn you go off (and draw lots of cards). In my deck this replaces directly lands (the discard faerie and lotus petal come to mind, dont have the list here).

The deck is competitive. Now it's not tier 1 competitive, but it'll win a fair number of games at a competitive table. Where she really shines is the u/x matchup from my experience, as you tend to force their hand in mulliganing for answers.

To address your points:
Uncage - I do want to test this but I think it may be worse than primal command. Best case scenario is X=1 for dreadnought/untapper, but 3 mana tutor is pretty expensive.

Oasis - yep, I will be swapping a forest for that.

Nykthos - I think that cut is fine. It sometimes give you extra mana, but I do agree that colorless is a real drawback.

Rhonas - I'd like to give this a shot as well. My current build has more pump, which these 2 cost fatties work really well with.

Safekeeper - I'm actually testing Savage Summoning instead of safekeeper. Safekeeper is pretty awkward when they try to disrupt you. Savage hopefully leaves people unprepared to answer you. I think if you run safekeeper though, you'll want an untap package of Vitalize, Mobilize, Paradox Engine. Certainly an angle worth exploring.

Fast mana - I actually have gone the opposite direction and cut the fast mana. Not that they were terrible, but they weren't amazing for me and I felt they were worse than lands. Additionally, they're presence was cutting into the pump package, which I felt was reducing the consistency of the deck.

On a side note, JVP is another deck that has that feeling of uncertainty, which I also love to pilot.

asm - any HoD updates? I wonder which slot would Rhonas's Last Stand fit :).

Have you considered inventors fair? To tutor out your mantle/staff?

Rarian testing still. I'm not convinced anything from the set is actually better than what we currently run though.

LeonGraves123 The colorless mana is not worth occasionally being able to tutor out staff/mantle.

Wouldn't Genesis Hydra function as a better Duskwatch Recruiter  ^Flip? You put Sabertooth into play and proceed to recast Hydra any number of times. Or Has Duskwatch proven to be particularly useful without infinite mana?

Duskwatch is fetchable off bellower and yisan and has great synergy with Paradox Engine + Non-infinite Mana. If another outlet was needed, G Hydra would be a fine choice.

Fair enough. Is there a reason for no Greaves?

The main reason is that you have to remove greaves in order to untap Selvala with any targeted untap (symbiote, ranger, etc) or equip her with mantle. This means that most of the time you will give the ipportunity for spot removal even if you have greaves online. I know asm has been testing Savage Summoning with some success as a way to bounce back from the first removal with pseudo haste and be uncounterable.

For me Duskwatch its a pretty clear selection based on this two things:1) When you have infinite mana, you only need one tutor to win (even the tutors that put directly into play). In your assumption, the Hydra would be the tutor and not the Duskwatch... and we need as much good tutoring as we can get.2) It combos with not having initial infinite mana; though it can end there.

Minor Question, is there any real reason you use Snow-Covered Forest instead regular forests, or is it just personal preference?

Andre_Whales

It is only so that we can utilize mouth of ronom which needs snow mana. This is an important removal too for Linvala which shuts us down bad (and other meanies like Spirit of the Labrynth).

Would Scrying Sheets be a worthwhile inclusion?

Too slow and grindy imo. Not where you want to be with this deck.

Why not any of the eldrazi?

Akorndr2 read the primer it says in one of the first paragraphs why.

I read it but couldn't find anything saying no, I might of missed it but I was just curious

Basically it's just that Eldrazi are for a slow, grindy, mid-range game. They don't really win the game in a reasonable amount of time and can easily be stolen, bounced, or killed. This version of Selvala is looking to win close things out with a combo, all in one turn.

Hey i've been messing around with the deck and it works really well, only thing is i was wondering what you'd sub out for Savage Summoning and/or Dosan the Falling Leaf as my meta is pretty much 100% control besides me, also open to what you guys would sub in vs heavy control.

Thank you. I'd recommend removing fierce empath and paradox engine. Both of your swaps are good for battling control.

Sorry if this has been covered, but I'm not seeing the beast within infinite loop. What am I missing?

iLLusion_860

To do a Beast Within loop:

1) Draw you deck and have infinite mana using the means described in the "Winning" section of the primer above.

2) Play Eternal Witness and Temur Sabretooth to the board if not there already

3) Cast Beast Within on an enemy permanent

4) Use your inf mana to activate Sabretooth, returning Eternal Witness to hand.

5) Recast Eternal Witness, returning Beast Within to hand

6) Redo Steps 3-5, destroying each permanent the enemies have

7) Cast Somberwald Stag, killing one of the many Beast tokens (Stag dies too)

8) Repeat Steps 4-5 but instead of looping Beast Within, you loop Stag to kill all the Beast

9) They concede because they have no permanents

tw0handt0uch

Ah, thank you, that makes sense. And for the win condition using concordant crossroads and infinite beast within I assume you do a similar thing just using temur sabertooth and eternal witness to return a creature and beast within to get infinite 3/3's.