kamarupa
Vampiric Eidolon -
Thanks so much for making the extra effort to throw me some praise, Andramalech! I think I have to try extra hard to be a total jerk, so I've dedicated myself to the minimum of thanking people :)
April 8, 2025 7:01 p.m.
Andramalech says... #3
you always take the time to thank user's personally for their upvotes, and that's really sweet- thanks for your sincerity with interactions, kamarupa.
April 5, 2025 10:22 a.m.
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Martyr Life...
#1
Yes, I counted each soul sister as .5 and each Giver as 1.
I think at 36 creatures, you're beyond creature heavy. Cutting 3x for good draw card should make the deck faster, not slower. Since, as you said, the deck relies on speed, draw card should make the deck not only faster, but "better." I didn't bother mentioning Tezzeret's Gambit as the phyrexian mana (that makes casting it a turn faster) works against your lifegain strategy. That, and it's barely card advantage. It is, however, another 'option' so to speak. Anecdotally, I've loved Tocasia's Welcome with 'sisters and repeatable token generators like Thraben Doomsayer, which allows me to draw cards on my opponents' turns in addition to my own. Granted - that's trying to get 2x 3MV spells into play isn't a "fast" strategy, but it does help to gain gobs of life.
Of course - it's your deck and you should definitely do what you like. I'm just speaking from my own experiences, preferences, strategies, etc and only because while I not only like to try to be helpful, I also enjoy chatting about such things (experiences, strategies, preferences, etc) and also like arguing a bit, too ;)
April 16, 2025 8:41 p.m.
Said on
The Orphan Crushing …...
#2
You can probably add "budget" to the deck's hubs.
I don't think you should necessarily, but adding black would open up quite a few nice spells such as Viscera Seer and Bone Shards or even Flesh Allergy as a wincon
April 10, 2025 8:09 p.m.
Just to be "clear" (lol), Silent Clearing is not card advantage. It would have to draw at least 2 cards to qualify as card advantage. I'd probably go with with Sword-Point Diplomacy or Night's Whisper. Esper Sentinel would probably come in as a very distant 3rd choice for me, being too conditional and easy to remove for my taste.
Given how integral The Sibsig Ceremony is to your deck, I would count on opponents sideboarding every enchantment removal spell they have in the second game. In my experience, getting a Hall into play makes opponents feel completely defeated before they can even cast enchantment removal.
April 10, 2025 7:33 p.m.
-2x Instants +2x Card Advantage
April 10, 2025 5:14 p.m.
Said on
Atarka's Atacka (group …...
#5
Big thanks for the +1, BotaNickill!
April 10, 2025 12:22 a.m.
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List of Bugs …...
#6
legendofa - maybe I'm just stupid, but I've never found the deck search function to be work well. I have better luck using google to search for decks on Tappedout than I do using Tappedout's own search. Even typing in the exact name of deck doesn't find it.
April 9, 2025 10:57 p.m.
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Chillin out...
#7
I wouldn't play any of that strategy, but if you like it, god won't stop you.
April 9, 2025 10:54 p.m.
Said on
Assemble the Allies!...
#8
I so wish Wizards would give us some more quality Allies to brew with.
April 8, 2025 10:02 p.m.
Thanks so much for making the extra effort to throw me some praise, Andramalech! I think I have to try extra hard to be a total jerk, so I've dedicated myself to the minimum of thanking people :)
April 8, 2025 7:01 p.m.
Said on
Chillin out...
#11
I'm so confused. You don't have any 1MV spells? White is so good at 1MV spells! And you only have 16 lands? Where the lands at??
April 8, 2025 6:59 p.m.
Said on
Martyr Life...
#12
I like this deck a lot. My own experience and preference leads me to suggest 3 things:
1) having lots of a weenies is better with card draw. Tocasia's Welcome does that well, Esper Sentinel less well but for less MV.
2) While technically you meet my rule of thumb of 8 disruption spells (Rune sisters count for 6 + 2 Path), I think 4x removal is really a minimum. I'd cut 2 Rune sisters for 2x more Path to Exile (or perhaps some other removal like Winds of Abandon.
3) If Martyr of Sands is really so great (and I do think it is, then something like Patch Up or Raise the Past should make it even better.
4) 1xCastle Ardenvale is nice with Soul Sisters and also Tocasia's Welcome. Oops. I guess I had 4 suggestions, lol.
April 7, 2025 9:17 p.m.
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Devoted Fans...
#13
Andramalech - thanks for taking the time to throw out some suggestions! I should have thought of Boros Charm myself! The other spells are a bit less compelling, given the devotion theme and wincon.
April 5, 2025 7:04 p.m.
Said on
Devoted Fans...
#15
Balaam__ - I was really disappointed when i couldn't find a spell like Fire Servant that would trigger off a red creature. Much thanks for the +1 and for referencing what is probably the exact spell I was looking for, even if it does come at a too-high MV for any serious play. Maybe I'll fork this and add Geosurge to help make that casting cost more realistic...
April 5, 2025 7:18 a.m.
Oh boy. I have... uh... a lot of thoughts.
I'm going to start with ramp and mana base. I've been commenting something along these lines on a lot of decks lately. Ramp isn't much of a ramp if you're missing land drops regularly. Getting to, say 3 available mana on t2 is nice, but if you don't hit a land drop or dork on the next 3 turns, the ramp didn't really help. I'm generally not a fan of spells like Arboreal Grazer and even less a fan when there aren't a substantial number of lands in a deck to start with. At a mere 20 lands, you're going to be have to be very lucky to get both Arboreal Grazer AND 2+ lands in an opening hand. And even if you do, the likelihood of you continuing to draw lands just isn't very high. Basically, any effect that lets you "play an additional land" is just way too conditional to be consistent in my view, and therefore, I prefer to run with dorks and enchantments and rarely, rocks. You do have an enchantment that tutors you 2 lands, but at a pretty steep 4MV, I think it's going to function as much as a 'thinner' as it will a ramp spell. I do see some redundancy there with Prime Time, so I could see it be a useful spell. I should state that Prime Time isn't a creature I have much experience with, so I don't know much about what other spells synergize with it best, but I have a gut feeling that what you've brewed could have better synergy with it. It seems like it might be getting included because it's a well known and feared threat more than being a perfect fit. You also have Flare of Cultivation, which seems like your 3rd best ramp spell after your two dorks. While I like that you can cheat it into play, I don't like the required sac cost to do so as the only really good target is the Arboreal Grazer and that's just too conditional to be consistent. It's not a spell I have lot of experience with, and while I'm not a big deck thinner, I can't deny it has a lot of powerful potential. But I want more good targets for it, preferably ones that actually WANT to be sacrificed. The best part of your ramp is that you have 8 1MV dorks. Given your EXTREMELY high average MV of 4.35, I think 8-10 is probably the right number. To sum up, I would cut Arboreal Grazer and possibly reconsider both Prime Time and Encroaching Dragonstorm, either leaning into Prime Times most classically defined deck elements or cutting it. I'd try to find another 1MV creature for your Flare of Cultivation to target (6-8x 1MV non-dorks that want to be sacced) or I'd look for some other ramp choices. I'd also consider adding in something like Fertile Ground, or maybe Utopia Sprawl, as you do already have a good number of lands with the basic Forest type. If you do go for the Sprawl, then perhaps Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth might be a smart add. Finally, I'd like to see this deck reach for at least 22 lands if not 24. You've just got a hell of a lot of very high MV spells and these days I strive for 22 lands as my minimum. It's just more consistent.
Next, I want to follow up on some of what Balaam__ brought up - disruption. Disruption doesn't do much good in a sidebaord. It needs to be mainboarded or else your deck will not only end up unbalanced when sideboarding, but you'll also be tempted not to sideboard as much as you struggle to choose what spells to swap out of the mainboard. I believe almost all decks need at least 4x disruption spells in the mainboard, with 8 being best. Disruption comes in a lot of forms - counterspell is great, but I don't like tieing up mana playing the waiting game. Removal is classic for reason. Usually half of 8 disruption spells are a form a removal. Sideboards offer us different methods of removal so you can get past all the defenses opponents might use to prevent that removal. That makes sideboarding a lot easier to pull off, swapping removal for removal. I really like protection spells Heroic Intervention - while defensively, it can function like a counterspell, offensively it can do things counterspell can't. It largely comes down to preference, but disruption beyond removal is almost always essential. Of course, there's also discard, which is a solid choice, too, though I don't prefer it because it misses cards drawn after it's cast and so isn't as foolproof as a pre-emptive defensive play. I also like squeezing in 1x Fog spell when I can. I love the comedic flavor of it, but again, that's just my preference/sense of humor. Assuming you cut Arboreal Grazer, Flare of Cultivation, and at least a few copies of Encroaching Dragon Storm, even after adding 2x land, you should have room for at least 4x disruption spells in your mainboard. Incidentally, all these changes should also help bring down your average MV, which will make the deck not only faster, but more resilient as it will be able to respond to opponents.
One thing I do think you have right here is the number of creatures. But I'd like to see tighter choices that play off each other a bit more. I get that Prime Time and Flare of Cultivation support Ureni, the Song Unending, but at 3 copies and Legendary status, I'd want to solely focus on that creature or abandon that whole strategy - it's all or nothing with spells like that - run 4x of Ureni to maximize its odds it comes up when Breaching Dragonstorm when that hits. Maybe even look for spells that let you tutor it to the top of your library - Scheming Symmetry comes to mind, though I don't think that's exactly the right spell for this brew. Brainstorm might be a good option - not really a path to card advantage, but it would be useful in setting up Breaching Dragonstorm.
To return to Balaam__'s feedback, I also agree with him that Breaching Dragonstorm, especially at 5MV is too easy a target for opponents to thwart. I do think you've got enough ramp to hardcast some of your threats at least some of the time, but adding in a secondary (or even primary?) cheat-in spell would almost certainly make the deck more consistent. Elvish Piper, for example might be just as fast or even more consistent, though it wouldn't help with your big sorcery spells. Although I think this would be a significant departure from your current brew, Maelstrom Archangel would be a nearly identical backup to Breaching Dragonstorm. I'd probably go for 6-8 total "cheat-in" spells.
Overall, I feel like this deck isn't quite focused enough. It's not clear what it really wants to accomplish and doesn't seem completely committed to any one goal. At the same time, it also seems a little over-gunned - I sometimes say, "you don't need to bring a tank to a water-pistol fight to get a win" - when it comes to successful brewing, it's not the biggest threat that wins, it's the fastest fully effective one. So my broadstroke advice is to try to narrow the deck down to the core you really want to win with and try to support that core as much as you can.
I do love me some card advantage and I can see how Up the Beanstalk could have been useful here. As alternatives, you might consider Garruk's Uprising, Tribute to the World Tree, or even just plain old Harmonize
Sometimes I find I'll start a brew like this and realize I might have tried to squeeze 2 or more decks into one. It might be useful to fork this once or twice and explore different aspects in each fork. Make one with a lot more disruption mainboard, one with different ramp spells, one that really focuses on Prime Time, etc etc.
I hope some of this is helpful. I'm just spitballing off the top of my head. Don't take it as me being too critical. I'm really just throwing out the first thoughts that came to mind and I'm very likely to have missed nuances, etc.
April 4, 2025 11:08 p.m.
Said on
Consuming Exploitation...
#18
I can't deny 5 is a pretty steep MV, but I've been pleasantly surprised and even downright enamored with the results I've gotten, perhaps largely because Bloodrush can be used at Instant speed, which means we use it after opponents have declared [zero] blockers, and then it's too late. And if you run any pumps, Wrecking Ogre is actually pretty decent on battlefield in their own right.
April 2, 2025 3:39 p.m.
Said on
Consuming Exploitation...
#19
This is very similar to my deck, Hidetsugu Shakedown (Ogre tribal!) in which I bloodlust a Wrecking Ogre onto either a Vessel of the All-Consuming Flip or an unblocked Shakedown Heavy. It's been a surprisingly successful brew, especially considering it's an Ogre Tribal theme, for which there is basically no reason, lol. But ya, I definitely recommend Wrecking Ogre as a means of achieving Vessel's wincon.
April 1, 2025 2:38 p.m.
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Modern - Budget, Modern - Multiplayer
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Joined | 11 years |
Andramalech says... #1
Acknowledgement is the first moment where positive reinforcement solidifies good intentions into great habits. <3
April 8, 2025 7:06 p.m.