SavageTheCabbage

Ah, only thing I could think of is using it with Zendruu and/or Phage, or in a creatureless deck, but none are the case here.

Well, there aren't many tutors in Modern, but what it does do is stall Zoo, 12-Post, etc. as well as negate the drawback to Ghost Quarter and Path to Exile, and screw up anybody running fetch lands in mono color aggro or stompy. Ghost Quarter, once again, absolutely messes with Zoo, 12-Post, etc. I've also opened with a few hands with Arbiter and 1 or 2 Ghost Quarter within the first 3 turns. That's some pretty devastating stall already ;) One hand I even drew 3 of the Ghost Quarters by turn 4, but I don't expect to see that happen again any time soon XD

Puresteel Paladin provides excellent card advantage, esp with Flayer Husk also putting a body on the board. I originally had 2x Infiltration Lens and 2x SoLS in there for the proc and creature recursion, but found myself packed tight and wanting to fit Serra Avenger in there. I am still thinking about dropping a Basilisk Collar and ??? something else for the 2x SoLS.

Aether Vial isn't entirely dedicated to rushing out hordes of creatures, though it certainly can. It is included mainly for 1) Serra Avenger, 2) "Flashing" creatures, and 3) anti-counter magic along with Grand Abolisher.

Also just started on the SB with 4x Tec Edge to replace Grand Abolisher against aggro, and LoVoid against Dredge. I don't know how popular Dredge is in modern, so I may or may not drop them once I learn a bit more about the meta.

Thanks for the suggestions ^-^ Glad to hear that in one person's opinion at least, there's not much to change :) It's supposed to be anti-meta / aggro control, which is tough to do when you don't know the meta all that well :P

This is the cheapest deck I've ever seen! Congrats, you are now the Budget King :)

Panoptic Mirror + Scrambleverse + Homeward Path = "God DAMN it! You're so annoying, I quit!" :D??

No, really. What's the Scrambleverse combo?

Glad I could help! I know full well the power of Silence :) My turbo chant deck has become one of my favorite decks running at the moment. I like the choice to run it, it adds a nice twist to such a refined archetype that is almost becomes cookie cutter.

I like the way its shaped up, although I don't think you'll need 4x Lens, imo -1x for +1x Bloodbraid Elf. You've gotta play with her a little bit to realize just how powerful she is. Haste is huge in match ups, because it often denies the opponent time for creature control, and nothing is more painful than cascading into something nasty like Lightning Helix, Goyf, or another KotR ^-^

The Burnwillow combo requires quite a bit of building around, enough that I don't like running it in Zoo. I think it'd work awesomely in just WG though.

I hate shameless plugs, but would you mind checking out my latest modern WW deck? (More Modern Weenie) I just ordered the Arbiters and a few other things for a casual build, and would like a few opinions before I invest in the rest of the cards to finish off the competitive build.

No problem again btw :)

The traditional Shape Anew build runs a single Everflowing Chalice and 4x Trinket Mages for an effective 5x chances to draw Chalice. They do this so when you sac the Chalice, you're not going to Shape into another one. If you prefer Darksteel Relic, that's fine and dandy, but you really should only run one. Likewise, Platinum Emperion won't win you games, should really be 2x Blightsteel. 2x that way in case you draw one you still have another in your library.

Otherwise I like the rest of the deck, very simple straight forward combo deck. IMO, -4x Phantasmal Image and +4x Turn Aside.

Birds of Paradise and Silence don't really fit with Zoo, and I'm not much of a fan of Steppe Lynx but some people swear by it. You're building around Lynx too much, though. I'd drop the Harrow and Expeditions for some other spells, and the BoP for at least 3 Knight of the Reliquary. KotR has self pump, fixes land, and triggers landfall for the Lynx. Silence is an interesting twist, though.

You also absolutely need to be running Arid Mesa to work Zoo. Fetch a Mountain or Plains card allows you to grab Sacred Foundry, Temple Garden, or Stomping Ground. Terramorphic only allows you to fetch Plains, Mountains and Forests.

A few other staples you might want to consider are Lightning Helix, Infiltration Lens (the I-wish-I-was-a-Skullclamp-but-then-I'd-be-banned card). Some Zoo players also combo KotR to fetch Grove of the Burnwillows to combo with Punishing Fire and Kavu Predator. Other players also swear by Bloodbraid Elf, as you'll virtually always cascade into something useful.

That's funny :) I woke up this morning with the intention of designing a bant pod deck, and bam, there's yours XD I'm building mine for Innistrad, though, so no Zen or M11.

Consider running an Archon of Justice in place of one Acidic Slime. It can handle creatures and walkers as well as artifacts, enchantments, and lands. Also, I'd run a Viridian Corrupter as well, for mirror matches.

Master Thief is an awesome idea too, vs WW Blade and other mirror matches. Thanks for the idea ^_^

So I've noticed :P I usually only buy a few booster packs from a set unless I really like it, then I'll buy a box. And *I* have a lot of cards! This time I think I'll be getting two, though.. I have a feeling it's going to be one of those sets that in a few years, like Future Sight, I'll regret not collecting enough of it.

Ironic, here I was thinking "well maybe I could just trade my Vindicates for a goyf instead?" Guess that settles that :P

But dayamn, five boxes? Do you think this set is going to be that big?

Haha, I only have the deck 25% complete and I've already got comments :P I had to stop what I was doing when I saw the spoiler and saw Bloodgift Demon & Olivia, and begin contemplating an EDH deck. As any rational thinking fanatic should

I'm totally stoked for this set! If the set keeps shaping up as it has been, I'm thinking I might trade my Vindicates for a second box.

Imo, Dungrove Elder > Scythe Tiger. You can buff it, it buffs itself, it doesn't cost a land to cast, and with BoP/Arbor/Llanowar wanting to jump in play first turn, Dungrove will be just as effective a second turn play as Scythe Tiger.

If he's not good enough to drop Tiger altogether, at least consider adding 1x for your GSZ and Traps :)

Err.. my numbers are off there, that'd put me at 61 cards.. anywho, something along those lines..

Thanks for the help! I think this will soon be ready for a live test against someone other than my fiance ;)

I looked at Uktabi Drake and Giant Dustwasp for cheap fliers, but I did not like the echo cost nor the 4 turn wait on Dustwasp.

I'll keep a fourth land grant in mind, but so far I haven't had very many issues with my mana base because of the Werebears, the "free" spells, and the "free" sources of mana. The only issues I've had have been with having 1 mana too few to cast GSZ every once in a while, but otherwise it's been a lot more help than it has been trouble.

I dropped one Hollow Trees for Dryad Arbor, which brings me to another idea: Dryad Arbor + Quirion Ranger. The Ranger has provided amazing short term mana accel in my various elf decks, where I had fatal land pockets buried beneath several turns of other spells. I think that'd be more dependent on having the right variety of tutors though. But it's something I might try out after a while. If so it might look like this: -1 Hollow Trees, -1 Rogue Elephant, -1 Harvest Wurm, -1 Werebear, +1 Dryad Arbor, +1 GSZ, +1 Land Grant, +2 Quirion Ranger. ??

I've been toiling quite a bit with extraction, but haven't built anything yet to actually play with. So my experience is limited to second hand knowledge and advice. Also, if you don't mind, check out my modern extractor, called subTraction :) It's on the first page of my profile.

One thing I do know is that extraction relies extensively on stall to slow the opponent from gaining any battlefield advantage before extraction can neuter their deck (Rishadan Port, Trinisphere, etc.) I think Echo Mage will be too slow to accomplish this -- you'll have spent an additional nine mana before you copy your first spell (casting cost 1UU, level up twice 2UU, copy the spell UU, for a total of 3UUUUUU). He is an exceptionally good and fun card to play in casual, but for competition he should be left at home.

IMO, your extractors are too dependent upon graveyard removal. I would drop Surgical Extraction for Praetor's Grasp, Sadistic Sacrament, or Memoricide or the likes.

Regarding discard, drop Cry of Contrition for Thoughtseize. It is hands down the best discard spell along with Hymn, though Hymn is not modern legal :( Also, cards printed in expansion sets (like Commander) are not legal in Modern unless they were also printed in a Modern legal set. I'm talking about Riddlekeeper. Dropping Riddlekeeper, I'd suggest either 1 more Iso and Thoughtseize, or if you like Sadistic Sacrament, a Panoptic Mirror and Thoughtseize. The latter isn't as competitive as it just is fun :) You can pay Sacrament's kicker cost as you copy the spell for free.

Really, I think Joe's idea of combining Thoughtpicker Witch and Bitterblossom is the best place to begin with modern extraction. Milltraction might work as well, using Haunting Echoes as a slower bomb in place of Bitterbomb.

Kazandu Blademaster with Basilisk Collar has become one of my favorite set-ups lately. Never mind his power and toughness, they're irrelevant. It's the combination of deathtouch, first strike, lifelink, and vigilance that makes him so awesome.

You can always get the Magus thereof ;) He's moat on a 0/3 and should only be a buck or so.

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Huh... well there goes my DotH idea, Oath is cheaper and much easier to build around :P

I am, by the way, still experimenting with this; though I'm doing so empirically. Early play tests were a bit skewed, I think, where I added more mana sources because I drew Winter Orb more than averages should allow. However, play tests this morning showed too many hands where BoP were completely useless. I'm dropping them and adding another Werebear and Mutagenic Growth. If a fourth Werebear proves the same as the BoP, I'm thinking about a pair of Spawnwrithes instead.