DedWards

There's a simple rules for including Rancor. Green Aggro = 4x Rancor :P It's similar to how you decide on adding Path to Exile to white decks, if you haven't got a good reason to not include them, you put them in.

To be honest, I've never played with CoCo, so I tend to design without it. Not that I think it's a bad card, and with 8 fetches, the number of lands revealed is significantly less, it's just that without experiencing it first hand, I can't seem to find a reason to include it.

So, I wanted to see if I could make what I feel to be a better midrange-ish cat tribal deck, but ended up with an aggro cat deck instead :/

http://www.mtgvault.com/dedwards/decks/aggro-cats/


Maybe a split between Adaptive Automaton and Metallic Mimic? I understand that you don't like it as a topdeck, but as a early play, Mimic's far superior, imo.

Qasali Ambusher, in my experience, never comes down in a good time. It's conditions for coming in for free are just too conditional.

Are the Ajani working for you? I'm a little concerned that they can't come in off CoCo.

Nacatl War-Pride is one of my favorite cat cards, but at a serious level, the mana cost and lack of haste and / or hexproof make it not as great as one might think.


I know I'm being very negative here, but most of the suggestions I have have already been suggested by ivellios86

Arbor Elf Loves Utopia Sprawl. You can drop Wake the Reflections for them. Wake the Reflections isn't that great as it does nothing if you don't have a token in play. The biggest problem I have with it is it's a sorcery.

To help get around the inevitability to untap your lands because of Rhonas's Last Stand, I'd replace Llanowar Elves and Avacyn's Pilgrim with Voyaging Satyr. Sure, it costs two mana, but if you include the Utopia Sprawls, these become insurance, especially because Arbor Elf can't untap non-forests.

While it doesn't have Populate like Rootborn Defenses, another mass indestructible I like is the Ready half of Ready // Willing as it gives a pseudo Vigilance effect by untapping all your creatures, which is also good with Arbor Elf and Voyaging Satyr. Plus, with Growing Ranks and Wayfaring Temple (and Druid's Deliverance), you should have enough Populate effects.

Speaking of Wayfaring Temple, it NEEDS trample or some other form of combat evasion. Rancor is my favourite for this as it's tougher than most Auras.

You might want to work in a few removal spells like Path to Exile (arguably the best white removal spell in Modern) and Selesnya Charm (Which can also produce a token or give trample to Wayfaring Temple).

Arguably! Legacy / Vintage... I'm not too good with anything older than Modern, but I'll give it a shot.

Firstly, we need to get the best cards we can in each category. Let's start with recession. You want the creatures on the battlefield to sacrifice, not in your hand, so here's a list of creatures that return themselves from the graveyard to the battlefield with little cost to you:
Bloodsoaked Champion
Bloodghast
Dread Wanderer
Nether Traitor
Reassembling Skeleton
Haunted Dead
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death (doesn't return itself, but can return others)
Flamewake Phoenix
Prized Amalgam (enquires a discard outlet as you're not running blue)

Next, sacrifice outlets. Ideally you want the sacrifice outlets to be the ones that give you an advantage, so here's a list of things that give you an advantage for sacrificing creatures:
Indulgent Aristocrat
Plagued Rusalka
Viscera Seer (your best sacrifice outlet as it's free and the Seer costs one mana)
Bloodthrone Vampire
Tymaret, the Murder King
Bontu the Glorified (a little mana hungry, but the scry is useful)
Yahenni, Undying Partisan (Haste and gets bigger for the opponent's creatures dying)

Next, a list of cards that take advantage of all the creatures dying:
Fatal Push
Tragic Slip
Bone Picker (Sometimes called the black Delver)

Lastly, you're going to suffer greatly with only basic lands. In addition to the ?mandatory? dual lands, here's a list of lands that could help further the deck's plan:
Westvale Abbey (requires 5 creatures, but becomes a win condition)
Miren, the Moaning Well (sacrifice outlet on a land)

Ideally you want the cheapest mana effects that give the biggest advantage. I didn't check on prices, but that's why I left a list in each category. Something is bound to be within your budget range. I also didn't list cards you already have in the deck.

Oh, and a note on Tuktuk and his token: Legendary cards generally don't do well at 4x.

What's the limitations on your deck? What format? Is there a budget? Etc. I'd like to make a few suggestions on upgrading and streamlining the deck, but I'd like to know this stuff first.

What about a pair of Unburden? I can turn it on myself to discard the Gearhulks, or I can cycle it. Also thinking of moving Bontu's Last Reckoning to the sideboard and brining Sweltering Suns main, because it has cycling.

Voltaic Key taps to untap an artifact. So for an additional {1} you can turn two things into artifacts. And it being an artifact itself, Ancient Stirrings can "fetch" it too. Also untaps Isochron Scepter.

Lol, you're right. *Fixed*

GW and GR aren't the best colours to search up these combo pieces, but they really the best colours to abuse them.

Deus of Calamity could be worth considering. It's both a beat stick and land control.

Personally, I don't like Mycosynth Lattice because of its cmc. {6} is a LOT of mana for a deck wanting to fire off as quickly as this does. The ideal play is a turn 3 Splinter on something, preferably the land they have most of in their deck.

T1: land, mana dork.
T2: land, Liquimetal Coating, one mana artifact hate.
T3: land, Splinter.

It's great anti flying card that's on theme. I do have a small problem with it though: it's not a creature. This means that I can't cheat it in with Quicksilver Amulet or See the Unwritten.

Myr Landshaper is the backup Liquimetal Coating. It's also why I suggested Ancient Stirrings. But ya, looks like the backup, backup idea is Thraben tokens

I play Ponza as my serious Modern deck. The trick with land oppression is to keep them off a colour... or two... or three :P

While Ponza isn't all in on the oppression, it uses it (and relies on it) until it ramps enough that the opponent will struggle to stablise.

I tweaked this closer to how I would build it:

http://www.mtgvault.com/dedwards/decks/blood-rain/

I really like Goblin Dark-Dwellers, but you're not running much in the way of targets for its etb. In fact, the only targets mainboard is Molten Rain; Lightning Bolt; and Wheel of Fate, and I'm not sure the Wheel is necessary.

I went ahead and designed another Liquimetal + Splinter deck

http://www.mtgvault.com/dedwards/decks/liquimetal-hate/

This one is Gruul, but incorporates most of the suggestions I made here.

> Ancient Stirrings: "Searches" for Liquimetal Coating / Myr Landshaper. If neither are among the 5, just take a land (lands are colourless).
> Birds of Paradise: Far superior to Avacyn's Pilgrim in every way. Pilgrim only interacts with one card: Devout Chaplain, and I think you can do better than it.
> Isochron Scepter: This is a better, imo, option than Devout Chaplain. Plus Ancient Stirrings can "search" for it.
> Eternal Witness: Can return used a Splinter or destroyed Coating / Shaper.
> Elvish Visionary: A deck like this needs all the draw it can ger. Wall of Omens is a must 4x, but this is easily the extra draws, so numbers 5-8 (preferably 8).

Sadly, one can't afford to sacrifice too much in the name of cheap. Make it too cheap and you're the one that suffers.

They're better than the "normal" mana dorks (Birds of Paradise / Noble Hierarch) in some cases. There's a reason Ponza runs 4 of each and only 2 BoP.

Arbor Elf + Utopia Sprawl. Play Mwonvuli Acid-Moss on turn two :}

I also thought of something else. I've tested pure LD before and there's always something that gets through, hence my suggestions for sweepers and Bolt / Push, but a set of Trinisphere could help too. Getting Trini out means you now need to keep them below 3 mana instead of at 0.