Daxos of Meletis good or bad for U/W?
Standard forum
Posted on March 13, 2014, 12:30 a.m. by Burl
I am looking for an AEtherling ''replacement'' if you will. Daxos of Meletis ?
Epochalyptik put it nicely.
To expand, AEtherling traditionally fits in a control shell, so you have no problem waiting to drop him until you have U available to flicker after the summon. This also implies that you will have no problem pumping/unblockable every turn thereafter. Daxos of Meletis is just a different kind of creature. I would see him in a sort of UW Heroic deck that wants to run things like Aqueous Form , Hidden Strings , and Crypsis .
March 13, 2014 12:39 a.m.
I tried running Daxos in a W/U midrange devotion deck built around Ephara, God of the Polis and her creature-based card draw. I expected him to be effective at either drawing unfavorable blocks or getting through for lifegain and card advantage.
In reality, there were just too many creatures that would hold him at a standstill. Frostburn Weird, Sylvan Caryatid, Soldier of the Pantheon, etc. It got to the point where I was happy when the opponent would spend a removal spell on him. I found him largely useless against decks that run a lot of creatures.
He is, however, quite effective against control decks. Dropping him the turn after a board wipe, when your opponent thinks they've secured card advantage and you have the land to use the spells you pull from their library, can really upset their game for a few turns.
Daxos is a good sideboard card, but as mentioned above, belongs in a completely different deck than Aetherling.
March 13, 2014 1:09 a.m.
Thanks guys. Well said.
So next question, is there a decent replacement for Aetherling?
March 13, 2014 1:12 a.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #6
Not really. There isn't another card that can avoid pretty much every kill spell and still end the game with three attacks. Right now, AEtherling competes with Master of Waves for the best finisher in blue.
March 13, 2014 1:16 a.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #7
The closest thing to AEtherling in Standard right now is slapping an Aqueous Form onto a Frostburn Weird .
March 13, 2014 1:17 a.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #8
Mutavault , Courser of Kruphix , Nightveil Specter , Ash Zealot , Soldier of the Pantheon , and Frostburn Weird all make it a worse Gray Ogre .
I like him and have tried him in a couple decks but he is just a limited bomb for U/W Heroic.
Mono-blue finishers to use as a replacement are Tromokratis and Prognostic Sphinx . They're a big step down though.
March 13, 2014 1:18 a.m.
The above comment got it about right, but also Obzedat, Ghost Council is a good one, same as Blood Baron of Vizkopa , but they both include black. Elspeth, Sun's Champion is another "replacement" if by replacement you mean late-drop that steals games on its own.
March 13, 2014 2:42 a.m.
ChrisHansonBiomancin says... #11
One interesting idea would be to run him in tandem with Last Breath to take care of some of the pesky creatures hat have been mentioned.
March 13, 2014 7:41 a.m.
If you are looking for a card with similar abilities (except the evasion) that is in blue and is not nearly as expensive (money wise), you can look at Water Servant . Yes, before you jump on me, he is not nearly as good as AEtherling , but he does do a similar thing (pump offensively or defensively as needed).
Just a thought.
March 13, 2014 8:47 a.m.
No, actually, I think that's just what I'm looking for. I do run 2x Tromokratis and 3x Daxos. I needed another creature, as 5 is really not enough for my deck. I think I may use this Water Servant . Aqueous Form and Crypsis may also help as well as Last Breath for Daxos.
Thank you all for the help!!!
Epochalyptik says... #2
Keep in mind that I know nothing about Standard.
They seem to have very little in common. AEtherling is a game finisher, and it's extremely hard to kill. It has built-in evasion.
Daxos of Meletis comes down much earlier, but it's small, dies to burn and removal spells (which is a common argument, but an important one), and doesn't have fantastic evasion. I wouldn't classify it as a game-ender.
March 13, 2014 12:34 a.m.