dknight27

I'm having trouble finding that card.

I like trimming Daredevil in this build. He's essentially a dead card in the opening hand, and you need at least 3 (probably 4) mana available to make him work, which is no mean thing in a deck with 19 lands. I know Aether Vial helps solve that problem, and goes very very well in builds like this that let you flash in for free every creature in the build, but with 3 copies of Vial and 4 copies of Daredevil, the math is still against you. Maybe drop Daredevil to 2 copies? Basically insures you'll topdeck him when you have the resources to make him work, and frees up 2 more spots for value instants/sorceries.

Look at that, you ruined the troll's flood.

I haven't adjusted to the whole Evoke phase that's going around. Might be time to look into it.

Torpor orb and bloodbraid in the same build seems risky. You've only got 6 targets you want to negate, and 4 targets that are neutered, so not really too much bang for the 2-card buck with the very real chance of hurting yourself. I don't think that justifies the sequence.

Plus, either way you get Kroxa but lose the etb on Kroxa. A 6/6 for 2 is probably worth that exchange, but you lose the delightful discard outlet.

This is damn near perfection in terms of raw efficiency combined with maximized tempo. Bravo.

Only thing that really leapt out at me was that Ephemerate only really has 12 good targets for 4 copies (sentinel does nothing), so there's a chance you'd only be using it as a dodge effect rather than a double duty effect (dodge and/or etb), and since there's only 16 total critters, it might be a dead draw. Maybe drop it down to 3? Basically eliminate it as a dead draw/cut down on undervalued usage?

There's also always the single copy of [[Indatha Triome]] to consider, as its fetchable, fixes colors, is never a dead draw, and pumps Prismatic Ending if necessary.

Just some thoughts. I've been playing around with ideas like this quite a bit.

Are you going for budget casual here?

Any time I play with lands and blue, I try and squeeze in [[gifts ungiven]] as it sets up land combos PERFECTLY, and in this build color fixes and helps the base land count. You can also use it to clear a seismic assault if you've already got one.

You've got a few cards not legal in modern in here.

[[knight of autumn]] seems a good consideration for the sideboard.

I went back and forth with the triomes. My hope was that adding sunbaked canyon and silent clearing would sort of fill that role, but I can most def see the benefit of throwing in a triome that's delightfully fetchable. I'll ponder it some more.

[[muddle the mixture]] comes to mind. Fetches wish and assault formation and isn't a useless counter on its own.

I'm not seeing how nomads takes damage beyond blocking.

I've always been a fan of [[sweltering suns]] over anger of the gods mainboarded, but that's me. Cycling to be ok with control over the grave hate. There aren't really that many critter grave decks working in modern these days, according to my generally quick research.

Just an observation, other than that I love ideas like this. Stormbreath's pro white is such a delightful thing to exploit when you realize that makes it immune from a good portion of regular removal.

The good ol days. Oko sparked my imagination like few cards have before it. Here's the build I was gunna run in May of 2020.

https://www.mtgvault.com/dknight27/decks/legacy-snoko-competitive/

Roger. I see a couple ways to potentially improve the build.

Right now the curve is a bit top heavy, as you've only got 13 cards below 3-drop, so you're gunna tend to be slow off the draw. Consider adding more 2-drops to speed things up, I recommend [[dusk legion zealot]], [[gatekeeper of malakir]], and [[gifted aetherborn]]. All are budget friendly. The 25 lands helped you hit that higher curve, but also means you've got a lot of dead draws once you hit the 3-land-functional mark, and, as you only have 3 cards over 4-drop, 4 lands will hold you. Thus, you want to cut the land count down to 22-ish. On top of that, since its mono-black, you can use some cheap tech lands to get more value. I recommend 4 copies of [[barren moor]], as they'll cut your dead drops down considerably, but won't really slow you down in the build as you can drop them turn 1 tapped and not lose tempo, as this deck will rarely have a turn 1 play.

Just some thoughts, I know its casual budget.

I'd imagine some cycling lands would go a long way in here.

Am I correct in assuming this is a budget modern build? Are you going for casual or competitive?

Another concept I've wanted to look into/have used recently is plugging proliferate mechanics into builds like this/walkers through [[contagion clasp]]. Yes, the 4-drop proliferate is a gigantic pain and probably wouldn't fit into this 18 land build, but its a fun thing to think about it being potentially viable in competitive.

Here's my thought process. It's a 2-drop that can actually remove some major threats when it ETB, cause modern is flooded with weenie value. So you can drop it turn 2 to get rid of that pesky Ragavan/Rage Channeler/Esper Sentinel/Hierarch, then activate it mid-late game when you've built up the mana to get cookin. It's obviously not perfect, as its a 2-drop conditional removal that is easily outstripped by bolt and its ilk, but the potential for mid-late game viability with the early removal is at least of interest to me.

Just my thoughts, not directly connected, but it fits the counter angle of this deck. Proliferate is just fun to me.

Seem's a bit 3 and 4 drip heavy (33% of the deck).

This is the type of deck I'm never comfortable with. I'd much rather play a safe 23 lands with at least 3 cycling lands, and stay far away from those mulligans. But that's me, others seem perfectly fine living dangerous magic lives.