I could use some input for the manabase...
Toughness is key in this deck. Phenax, God of Deception synergizes with anything that has a high toughness.
That's why the deck is full of cheap, tough guys that get the most out of the key cards.
Tower Defense
and
Triton Tactics
boost them even more.
An average play could look like this:
There are better plays including Sheltering Word or multiple Kiora's Followers depending on the cards you draw, but I wanted to portray a less-than-perfect performance with two turns spent tutoring for pieces.
Tutoring is mainly done through Treefolk Harbinger, which also doubles for mana fixing with the shocks, and transmuting
Brainspoil
.
Since 8 of my 2-drops can ramp, (Sylvan Caryatid and Kiora's Follower) I often jump from 2 to 4 mana. That's the reason there are so few 3-drops in the deck.
Sheltering Word has a nice interaction with
Tree of Redemption
in this deck. You can easily bump the tree's toughness up to 33 (minus any previous life loss).
With the reprint of some fetches in Khans of Tarkir, I've decided to get some. I've already acquired 3 Polluted Delta currently used in a different deck, but any land under 20$ is something I'd consider... How would you build the mana base for this deck? I'm thinking of Breeding Pool, Overgrown Tomb, basics, checks and fetches. Thoughts?
I'm a bit on edge with Consuming Aberration too. It weighs down heavily on the stability of the deck since it's a dead draw most of the time, but is valuable as alternate wincon. I think it works better after I took it out. Just in case, are there faster alternatives you could suggest?