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SpikeyMikey
02-10-2012, 01:19 PM
The Modern metagame has been shaping up in the last few weeks. As of today, the most significant factors in the metagame are Affinity, Jund and Splinter Twin, roughly in that order. While Twin was effectively hated out at Worlds and can still be hated out today, the recent focus on Affinity along with the spanking Twin took at Worlds has caused a lot of decks to cut back on Combusts and Torpor Orbs and towards anti-artifact cards. Even in the face of the hate, Affinity is still a strong option, as most opponents underestimate the strength of the deck and overestimate the strength of the hate they're bringing in. A number of people online have been vocal in their dismissal of the deck entirely (see Matt Sperling's article on Channel Fireball).

While the big 3 are still the top dogs in the paper meta (I'm not discussing MTGO because there's such a massive disconnect between the two), there is a new player that stands to completely change the game. If you're planning on going to the GP in Lincoln, Nebraska next weekend, you'll need to be prepared for this shift because I expect that Lincoln will be the turning point in the metagame. White tokens is a deck that matches up very favorably against Affinity and Jund. It's been seeing an increase in play recently and with Dark Ascension legal and new toys for the deck in the black splash (Lingering Souls and Sorin, Lord of Innistrad) it stands to gain in popularity even more; people are always eager to try out new cards in the hopes of "breaking" the metagame. In this case, that may be exactly what happens.

Tokens runs a number of white token generators including Spectral Procession, Raise the Alarm and Midnight Haunting. It pairs these with cards like Leyline of the Meek and Intangible Virtue to create an army of midsize attackers that simply overwhelm opponents. Unlike other aggro decks, which often cannot compete with the massive evasive damage Affinity can churn out, Tokens runs enough fliers that it can seriously hamper a brown mage's combat plans. It's difficult to pin down a specific listing as "the" Tokens listing, as the deck is still very under the radar, but the two most promising builds, in my opinion, are R/W and B/W. R/W allows the deck to run two very powerful cards; Rally the Peasants and Arc Trail. Arc Trail is a board card, at best, but against decks like Affinity or in the mirror, it is incredibly potent. B/W gives the deck access to the aforementioned Lingering Souls and Sorin, Lord of Innistrad.

The basic construction of the deck varies from player to player and the deck is highly customizable. For players expecting a fair amount of Splinter Twin, maximizing "Soul Wardens" is an excellent option. With Soul's Attendant and Auriok Champion, rendering the Twin combo irrelevant is fairly easy (any Warden wannabe will negate Deceiver Exarch/Village Bell-Ringer and two will negate a Pestermite) and provide the pilot with lifegain reminiscent of the Martyr-Proc decks that popped up around the time of Worlds. Of course, Twin still has a variety of available sweepers, but Tokens presents a respectable clock and can further board hate against Twin decks. In more control-heavy environments, loading up on pump effects (Leyline, Virtue, Honor of the Pure and Signal Pest) allows any token generating spell to be a serious threat. When Spectral Procession nets you 9 power in fliers, it becomes a must-counter spell. Elspeth, Knight-Errant is a popular finisher for the deck as she's easy to protect and can grow your token army each turn. B/W decks will almost certainly switch to Sorin, but Elspeth is still the primary finisher for R/W variants.


Black/White Tokens
by Mike Torrisi

4 Soul Warden
3 Auriok Champion
2 Signal Pest

4 Raise the Alarm
4 Lingering Souls
4 Spectral Procession

4 Honor of the Pure
4 Leyline of the Meek

3 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
1 Ajani Goldmane

4 Path to Exile
1 Oblivion Ring

6 Plains
4 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Windbrisk Heights
3 Marsh Flats
1 Swamp

Sideboard

3 Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 Thoughtseize
3 Beckon Apparition
2 Worship
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Auriok Champion
1 Oblivion Ring

With the Black/White listing above, I chose to go with a heavy dose of pump, making each token generating spell incredibly threatening. In addition to the 8 "Crusade" effects, the deck also packs 4 pumping planeswalkers and a pair of Signal Pests to maximize the size of the tokens as quickly as possible. The deck has less ways to interact with opponents, but as long as you're not facing a lot of non-Twin combo, that's not particularly relevant. I also chose to go with Honor of the Pure over Intangible Virtue because I feel like pumping the "Wardens" was more relevant for this deck than vigilance or the Sorin tokens. However, I think either is an acceptable choice.

While I think red has the edge in a mirror, black is not without options. Moving into black gives you access to Zealous Persecution. As surprise board tech, it can break the mirror wide open by suddenly making favorable blocks unfavorable and pushing through the last bit of damage necessary to finish off an unsuspecting opponent. Worship is also a good piece of tech for the mirror and against any deck that is potentially unable to kill Auriok Champions.

Black is definitely superior in a metagame with a strong combo presence, as red has less ways to fight decks like Hive Mind and Storm. Discard is a key tool against these kinds of decks (along with a respectable clock, of course) and depending on how much combo you expect to see, you can load your board up with it. Don't forget about Tidehollow Sculler, as it's a body that can strip key combo pieces out of an opponent's hand, fulfilling both the role of discard and clock. Against combo decks with red (like the two mentioned earlier), it's very important to bring in Burrenton Forge-Tender. As people realize just how scary Affinity actually is, Pyroclasm is seeing a significant uptick in play. Mid and late-game, your pump effects should keep your tokens out of burn-sweeper range, but you have few 1 drops to play anyway and sacrificing your turn 1 to prevent a blow-out on turn 2 or 3 can be the difference between a one-sided, furry ass-whooping and a long struggle to maintain board presence.


Red/White Tokens
by Mike Torrisi

4 Signal Pest

4 Raise the Alarm
4 Spectral Procession
3 Midnight Haunting
2 Devastating Summons

3 Rally the Peasants
2 Ajani Goldmane
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

4 Leyline of the Meek
4 Intangible Virtue

4 Lightning Bolt
3 Arc Trail

7 Plains
4 Arid Mesa
4 Marsh Flats
2 Windbrisk Heights
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Contested War Zone
1 Mountain

Sideboard

4 Blood Moon
3 Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 Beckon Apparition
3 Disenchant
2 Combust

With the Red/White listing, I tried to go a little more aggressive and all-in on the token strategy. Rally the Peasants becomes deadly very quickly with large numbers of tokens. An EoT Midnight Haunting followed up by a Rally can very easily end a game, especially when backed with burn. The deck is still not as fast as Affinity or my pet deck, Kuldotha Red, but it has the same "win out of nowhere" ability that those decks do while maintaining the endless stream of creatures that makes Tokens so difficult for other red-zone decks to beat. Because it's more aggressive, I'm not running any of the "Warden" effects, which makes this somewhat weaker against both Splinter Twin and Burn. An aggro deck like Boros that's capable of fast starts can also potentialy beat a more all-in strategy like this.

Red gives Tokens access to one of the cards that makes Affinity so scary, Blood Moon. Most Jund listings have significantly better mana bases than the deck could ever dream for in Standard, but they're still incredibly non-basic heavy and shutting the deck off from green will generally end games all by itself. Even if they do manage to get a basic Forest down before you Moon them, it makes it difficult for them to operate; Kitchen Finks and Maelstrom Pulse (your worst enemy) are both nearly impossible to cast under a Blood Moon. Blood Moon also solves the problem of Engineered Explosives combined with Academy Ruins, a serious problem for any Token variant.

Of course, neither of these lists is all-encompassing when it comes to card choices. Time will tell what the best configuration is for the deck, but a number of other viable cards exist for a Tokens deck, including a few off-the-wall numbers like Hour of Reckoning, Rise of the Hobgoblins or Goblin Assault, a sort of poor man's Bitterblossom. Shrine of Loyal Legions is a solid card for any token deck and Mirror Entity can serve as a finisher for players not eager to spend the money on Sorin 2.0. No matter what variant you think is best, if you plan on doing well in Lincoln next weekend, you'd better be prepared for Tokens, because it will be there!

SpikeyMikey
02-20-2012, 11:40 PM
An update. The following is the list I took to the GP in Lincoln. Started off well, finishing 7-2 day 1 and winning my first 2 matches day 2 before the wheels fell completely off and I finished out 9-6 in 75th place. Pretty far fall considering I was 24th in the standings after 11 rounds, 14 places ahead of eventual winner Bronson Magnan.

4 Soul's Attendant
3 Auriok Champion
3 Dark Confidant

4 Raise the Alarm
4 Lingering Souls
4 Spectral Procession
2 Shrine of Loyal Legions

4 Intangible Virtue
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
2 Ajani Goldmane

4 Thoughtseize
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Mortify

6 Plains
4 Windbrisk Heights
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Marsh Flats
3 Godless Shrine

Sideboard

3 Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Worship
2 Angel's Grace
2 Extirpate
2 Disenchant

If I had to do it again, I would definitely run B/W Tokens. The deck has such an amazing matchup vs. a lot of popular decks. The mana was a little too greedy, however; I had issues throughout the tournament with getting stuck on 2 lands. I lost to Tron in round 4 to missing a 3rd land drop in both games, keeping me from getting enough pressure on the board to kill him before Emrakul came down. I should've either ran 61 cards to fit the 22nd land or possibly cut a Bob.

Soul's Attendant should've been a 2/2 split of Attendant and Warden but I couldn't find any Soul Wardens before the tournament. It's not hugely relevant, but it does give you a little more protection against Maelstrom Pulse and Extirpate/Surgical Extraction.

The board needs Aven Mindcensor. Without it, Tron matchups are very, very difficult. I did almost beat Tron in round 9, but I wouldn't want to run this listing again without Mindcensor in the sideboard. Angel's Grace can probably go; I did use it against U/R Storm in round 12 but he had a second Grapeshot in hand and just killed me the next turn. I thought it would be useful vs. Hive Mind and storm, but I never saw a Hive Mind and if the storm player has Past in Flames or a second win-con, it's not going to save you there either; it just buys a turn. Also, the 3 Thalia's could be a 2/1 split with Canonist. I'm not sure on that one. Thalia is great at slowing down their dig and of course, the red rituals are useless for generating mana with Thalia on the board, but she is legendary. I think it's a judgement call.

KevinTrudeau
02-21-2012, 03:17 AM
Congrats on the day two finish.

I just put together your latest list and played a match on MWS against Jund; it didn't honestly feel fair for the opponent, especially after Auriok Champion resolved. Is Shrine too good of a card to cut over Confidant to make room for the 22nd land? Worship in the board also seems like it could be frivolous with the seven Soul Wardens in the maindeck, but I'll definitely test it out before making any assumptions.

SpikeyMikey
02-21-2012, 09:13 AM
Yeah, the Jund matchup is pretty fantastic. Basically anything that relies on attacking to win is. Martyr/Proc is kind of bad just because you're slow and have no real way to interact with their shenanigans G1. Otherwise, you're good against the Bant lists, the Jund lists, Affinity, etc.

Is Worship strictly necessary? Probably not. It might be better off as something else. I just have a hard time cutting it because it's with any of the pro-red creatures (Champion/Forge-Tender), it's an autowin against a number of decks. Burn might be able to handle your lifegain with Rain of Gore, but their only out to Worship is Bump in the Night. Affinity has no outs to it. Storm has Echoing Truth, but that's a 2-3 of and they have to have actually brought it in. Sometimes they will for the utility vs. your tokens, but sometimes they're just going to try and win before you can kill them. With Thoughtseize and Thalia out of board, you can buy time to get Worship down.

I don't think I'd cut a Shrine. It's often a win-more, but when it's relevant, it's amazing. The sheer number of tokens it makes means that a resolved Shrine is a ticking time bomb, sooner or later it's going to kill your opponent if they don't find a way to deal with it. I guess the same could be said for Bob, but Shrine doesn't cost you any life and is a little harder to deal with.

Edit: I started testing and tweaking the same day I posted this mini article, so there are still probably several changes that could be made. I wouldn't normally run a deck that I've only worked on for a week but the Token strategy was too strong to ignore.

Phoenix Ignition
02-21-2012, 07:16 PM
Yeah, the Jund matchup is pretty fantastic. Basically anything that relies on attacking to win is. Martyr/Proc is kind of bad just because you're slow and have no real way to interact with their shenanigans G1. Otherwise, you're good against the Bant lists, the Jund lists, Affinity, etc.

What were the 6 decks that you lost to? Were there that many Tron/combo in the field?


Is Worship strictly necessary? Probably not. It might be better off as something else. I just have a hard time cutting it because it's with any of the pro-red creatures (Champion/Forge-Tender), it's an autowin against a number of decks. Burn might be able to handle your lifegain with Rain of Gore, but their only out to Worship is Bump in the Night. Affinity has no outs to it. Storm has Echoing Truth, but that's a 2-3 of and they have to have actually brought it in.

I've died more times to Affinity's poison counters than life loss. Never underestimate Inkmoth Nexus. And saying that a deck's only out to something is a 4-of that they play maindecked is pretty weak (Bump in the Night) it even has flashback, although I doubt that will ever be relevant.

Did you consider running more lands than the 22 you are mentioning and having mutavaults for additional beaters? It doesn't cutely fit in with the theme but manlands are pretty amazing in this format and with either of your planeswalkers pumping them could get really nasty. Additional benefit being you don't get land screwed as often.

SpikeyMikey
02-21-2012, 10:45 PM
Losses to Tron twice D1, D2 losses were to Storm, Jund, U/B Teachings and Pod. Wins were Merfolk, Second Sunrise, Storm, U/W control, American Stick twice, Bant Hexproof and Jund twice. Honestly should've probably beaten the 3rd Jund as well, but I punted hard. High, end over end kick, through the endzone. I binned a Forge-Tender to a Liliana activation, keeping 2 Champions and a Shrine of Loyal Legions with 7 counters on it. A few turns later, I crack Shrine into the 1 card in his hand, which was Jund Charm. That was the whole reason for bringing Forge-Tender in, so I don't really have an excuse for the misplay. Got greedy and got my wrist slapped for it. Almost recovered, had lethal on the board and he ripped Maelstrom Pulse out of an empty hand to seal the deal.

You could go over 22 lands. You don't mind hitting 5 mana, but everything after that is really overkill. Fair points about Worship. Worship can definitely go for Mindcensors then. Where were you to give me advice before the GP? :P

Originally, I had a basic Swamp in the list, mostly as a hedge against Blood Moon. I found it irritating the number of times that I had issues casting Spectral Procession because of that Swamp, so I cut it. With the exception of Twin, most of the decks that would have Moon in board, I was boarding out Bob and sometimes Thoughtseize or Mortify, so I figured as long as I could get a couple of Plains in play, I was OK. Mutavault seems like it could cause the same problem. However, it does dodge sweepers. The real issue with going past 22 is that you start having issues with the balance of effects.

You absolutely need at least 1 token generator each game, and you really want 2-4. You also want to see at least 1 pump effect every game, whether it's one of the PWers or Intangible Virtue. You also want a Soul Warden effect, although that's not quite as critical, but it makes racing people a lot more comfortable. The removal is already down to a bare minimum. Bob and Thoughtseize are really the flex slots and both are very, very good. So it's hard to find the room.

hi-val
02-22-2012, 12:53 AM
Kibler said Zealous Persecution in his Doran deck was the best card by a mile. He wanted a 2/2 split. I think it's crazy to be running Tokens with none in the 75. I'd put four in the main and cut a whole lot of other things before I touched those. I'd probably want a Mortarpod somewhere, too.

SpikeyMikey
02-22-2012, 01:37 AM
Kibler said Zealous Persecution in his Doran deck was the best card by a mile. He wanted a 2/2 split. I think it's crazy to be running Tokens with none in the 75. I'd put four in the main and cut a whole lot of other things before I touched those. I'd probably want a Mortarpod somewhere, too.

I originally had it in the board. You'll notice I mentioned it in the first post. It eventually got cut because I realized there weren't really any matchups where it was necessary outside of the mirror. You're already favored vs. Boros and Affinity. K Red doesn't see much play. The decks that you're naturally weak to (combo, mostly) don't care about Persecution. It's generally a 1-shot Crusade effect. A surprise one at instant speed. But generally worse than Virtue or Ajani and probably even Sorin. I suppose you can set your opponent up for some bad trades, but I only lost to 1 creature-based deck and that was partly my own stupidity and partly some pretty savage topdecking on his part. I'm all for someone testing it again though, maybe I was missing something with it.

SpikeyMikey
03-03-2012, 08:17 PM
Just got back from the PTQ here in Madison. *Very* disappointing finish. Ended up 6-2 in 13th place. I feel like it's the story of my life; I'm always 1 win out. Lost to U/W Tron round 1 (damn you LSV!), beat the mirror round 2, Affinity in the 3rd, RUG Delver in the 4th, UWR Delver in the 5th, lost to Esper Gifts round 6 (who T8'd), then finished the tournament out beating Burn in back to back matches. Word to the wise, Auriok Champion is *really* good vs. Burn. I would suggest drawing them every game if you can!

I cut a Bob from the listing above for a basic Swamp, the Worships in board for Aven Mindcensors and the 2 Angel's Grace for a third Extirpate and a third Disenchant.

I really feel like this deck is fantastic, but I'm just not good enough to get there. You autowin against basically anything aggro or tempo. Maybe the sideboard needs more tweaking. Something that lets me beat UW Tron. Mindcensor did win me G2 vs. Tron, but not because it shut down searching; because it let me protect a Sorin from a Celestial Colonnade. Timely Reinforcements is a problem. Full Urzatron is a problem. Maybe pack Ghost Quarters in board? The issue is space. I can board out the 7 Soul Warden effects, but after that, everything else is stuff I want. Maybe Ensnaring Bridge? Doesn't stop me from getting locked by Iona, but it stops them from killing me.

Anyone have any thoughts?

HokusSchmokus
03-05-2012, 05:05 AM
This list recently made top4 in a PTQ in Hamburg.

http://thecouncil.es/tcdecks/deck.php?id=7732&iddeck=56265

SpikeyMikey
03-06-2012, 07:20 AM
This list recently made top4 in a PTQ in Hamburg.

http://thecouncil.es/tcdecks/deck.php?id=7732&iddeck=56265

Yeah, the deck that won was a B/W Tokens. I don't know about the rest of the tournament, but I know he ended up missing the U/W Tron that was in the T8. He faced Affinity, Jund and Faeries. I'd have eaten that lineup alive as well. But I need to find a way to handle Tron or I'll never get there, since I seem to see it at least once or twice every Modern tournament I go to.

hi-val
03-07-2012, 01:46 PM
Is Hokori an option against Tron? It's a heck of a lot of mana and they're getting Gifts mana when you're getting Hokori mana, but still... Winter Orb is some hot stuff. Also, I look at tokens decks and I always want to fit in Glare of Subdual. I remember Glare was a huge pain for Tron decks in the past. Pathing their dudes is also profitable, as long as they aren't using Iona on White.

SpikeyMikey
03-12-2012, 10:00 PM
Is Hokori an option against Tron? It's a heck of a lot of mana and they're getting Gifts mana when you're getting Hokori mana, but still... Winter Orb is some hot stuff. Also, I look at tokens decks and I always want to fit in Glare of Subdual. I remember Glare was a huge pain for Tron decks in the past. Pathing their dudes is also profitable, as long as they aren't using Iona on White.

Hmm, Hokori is a pain in my ass because of my high curve, but you're right, it definitely slows things down. They tap 3 lands to Eye up an Eldrazi, I've probably got 3 more turns of beats to seal the deal. I think that could definitely be an option in addition to Aven Mindcensor. Glare could be good. It doesn't stop Unburial-->Elesh, but it can stop the Eldrazi. I'm not sure I want to go into a 3rd color and open myself up to Moon just to avoid Tron though. I'll see more Blood Moons in a day than I will Tron decks. As far as that goes, Rain of Gore would be just fine too; if I can keep Timely and Wurmcoil from reseting my clock, I can win. There's a lot of things that slow down one aspect of the deck or another, the hard part is finding board room to fit half a dozen hate cards. It might not hurt to try and find board space for Ghost Quarter. It pairs well with Mindcensor and can buy me a little time. I just can't squeeze one into the main; it can be a bitch with Spectral Procession. I don't even like having the basic swamp in there, but sometimes you want to Thoughtseize on turn 1 without Lava Axing yourself.

Freggle
03-13-2012, 02:03 AM
This is very interesting. We have been working on a similar Legacy list here (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?23293-W-b-Token-Mania!).

How did you come to the conclusion to run the soul sisters? It has been an avenue I've been running for a while, and I'm not entirely sure it is 100% the best route to take.

It has been working well for me since inception so they were never cut, but I was wondering if you tried other routes beforehand.

I will also add this thread link to the other.

Best of luck. This deck is very powerful, and I'm still hopeful that there is room for better development to squeeze even more out of it.

Phoenix Ignition
03-13-2012, 02:48 AM
If you can afford it in your manabase 2-3 Tectonic Edges can work wonders against tron. Even Ghost Quarters work at slowing them down a lot.

SpikeyMikey
03-13-2012, 02:05 PM
I decided to cut the Extirpates in board for 3 Duress. It's not as useful against Tron as Ghost Quarter and I can't stop them from topdecking, but it's more useful against Storm and Twin. Tron isn't the only matchup I'm soft to, it's just the worst. The flip side of that I crush everything aggro or midrange, so I don't need much in the way of slots there; just the Forge-Tenders to deal with the inevitable sweepers that Jund and Affinity are going to bring in and of course Disenchants, because you always need an answer to artifacts and enchantments if you don't want to get hosed by the odd Worship or Angelic Destiny on a Troll Ascetic, that sort of thing. In any case, I'm hoping that boarding up to 7 discard and 3 Disenchants, combined with the Aven Mindcensors to shut down Gifts, Eye and Map will be enough. If I can't win the matchup after boarding 9 cards, then I'll just have to chalk it up as lost.

The original mini-article was based on two things; a few Tokens decks I'd seen on MWS, updated to include the goodies from DKA and a Martyr/Proc deck I'd faced at a PTQ with Auriok Champion and Soul Warden in it. Martyr was generally a fairly favorable matchup for Kuldotha Red; the only really scary draw they could have was turn Martyr and sac; otherwise the deck was too slow out of the gates to deal with turn 3 kills. But although I beat this particular Martyr player at the PTQ, Auriok Champion was an enormous problem for me. It single-handedly won G2 for him, as I had to pop a Rebirth after he'd landed it on the board. He gains 3 life and has a blocker with protection from my goblin tokens.

The R/W in the article runs more aggressive, but the B/W was a little slower, and I felt that in order to compete with Affinity, the deck would need some sort of life-gain. While Martyr of Sands works, the Soul Warden effects fit a mass-token-generation deck like a glove. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Auriok Champion is immune to 90% of the format's removal.

I feel like that's actually the key to my success with the deck. Because I'm gaining 7 or 8 life off the Soul Wardens on average, I can afford to let my opponent connect early and often, meaning I don't have to throw away tokens chump blocking. It doesn't take long to hit critical mass where your crack back is more threatening to them than their intial beats are. Once they start holding creatures back, you just swarm until you can overwhelm them. Especially with Ajani or Virtue, the fliers can swing in unmolested and still hang back to trade with opposing attackers. Soul Warden effects allow you to be a late-game deck, which is good, considering how high the general curve is.

nwong
03-14-2012, 05:47 AM
How about Elspeth Tirel? I'd imagine it'd be fantastic against Tron since you can drop it and threaten the ultimate next turn.

Freggle
03-14-2012, 09:50 AM
How about Elspeth Tirel? I'd imagine it'd be fantastic against Tron since you can drop it and threaten the ultimate next turn.

Elspeth Tirel has been really good in Legacy testing.

bruizar
03-14-2012, 02:59 PM
How about Elspeth Tirel? I'd imagine it'd be fantastic against Tron since you can drop it and threaten the ultimate next turn.

Wouldn't they just, you know, cast Ulamog and blow up your Elspeth? And even if they didn't, they'd just activate Eye of Ugin and recast Ulamog or Emrakul for GG.

nwong
03-14-2012, 05:12 PM
Wouldn't they just, you know, cast Ulamog and blow up your Elspeth? And even if they didn't, they'd just activate Eye of Ugin and recast Ulamog or Emrakul for GG.

They have one turn after you drop it to deal with it. If they don't, you ulti and they lose all their lands. Considering it costs 5, it seems a bit early for Ulamog.

bruizar
03-14-2012, 05:21 PM
They have one turn after you drop it to deal with it. If they don't, you ulti and they lose all their lands. Considering it costs 5, it seems a bit early for Ulamog.

except for tokens and lands..

http://www.black-lotus.nl/mtg/lg/Scars_of_Mirrodin/Elspeth_Tirel.jpg

nwong
03-14-2012, 05:52 PM
My bad, thought it was non-token permanents.

In any case, it's still worth considering as a token factory, and a possible boardwipe. Just not as great against Tron as I thought.

SpikeyMikey
06-28-2012, 09:08 AM
And B/W Tokens wins the GP in Yokohama, Japan. Those crazy Japanese! To be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of his configuration, but here it is, for those of you keeping track at home:

4 Tidehollow Sculler
3 Thoughtseize

4 Raise the Alarm
4 Lingering Souls
4 Spectral Procession
2 Hero of Bladehold
2 Cloudgoat Ranger

3 Zealous Persecution
2 Honor of the Pure
2 Intangible Virtue

4 Path to Exile
2 Auriok Champion

6 Plains
1 Swamp
4 Marsh Flats
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Windbrisk Heights
2 Godless Shrine
2 Fetid Heath
1 Mutavault

Sideboard

2 Auriok Champion
2 Aven Mindcensor
2 Dismember
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Nevermore
2 Stony Silence
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Zealous Persecution

The inclusion of main deck Zealous Persecution is interesting. It's not something I would've been a fan of around the time of GP Lincoln, but with the effect it has on UW (killing Clique, Spellstutter and Snapcaster in response to Restoration Angel's ability) it seems like it may be a strong option. I think I'm going to pull Bob from my listing and replace him with Persecution. It's definitely a solid card and has been on the edge of playability for me for a while.

Phoenix Ignition
06-28-2012, 05:07 PM
The inclusion of main deck Zealous Persecution is interesting. It's not something I would've been a fan of around the time of GP Lincoln, but with the effect it has on UW (killing Clique, Spellstutter and Snapcaster in response to Restoration Angel's ability) it seems like it may be a strong option. I think I'm going to pull Bob from my listing and replace him with Persecution. It's definitely a solid card and has been on the edge of playability for me for a while.

In that metagame it was probably a complete blowout. So many Melira combo (should we be saying Restoration Angel combo at this point? Maybe Pod combo?) decks it would kill quite a few of their utility creatures. Added bonus obviously of helping you alpha strike, but I think the removal abilities are probably strictly better. Extremely good against affinity too, which I don't know about other people, but my local metagame whenever we have a GPT/PTQ is packed with.

I don't like Cloudgoat Ranger. It just seems so lackluster for how much it costs. No Sorrins or Elspeths at all is surprising, as is the lack of Vault of the Archangel.

SpikeyMikey
06-29-2012, 11:32 AM
In that metagame it was probably a complete blowout. So many Melira combo (should we be saying Restoration Angel combo at this point? Maybe Pod combo?) decks it would kill quite a few of their utility creatures. Added bonus obviously of helping you alpha strike, but I think the removal abilities are probably strictly better. Extremely good against affinity too, which I don't know about other people, but my local metagame whenever we have a GPT/PTQ is packed with.

I don't like Cloudgoat Ranger. It just seems so lackluster for how much it costs. No Sorrins or Elspeths at all is surprising, as is the lack of Vault of the Archangel.

I don't/wouldn't run Vault either. Of course, I also run 22 lands instead of 24 like that listing. But I find that with no dig, the random utility lands aren't worth screwing with my ability to: always generate 2 colors, generate WWW for Procession and have plenty of basics for Blood Moon. Otherwise, I would've run Tec Edge for the Tron matchup back during the PTQ season. I agree on the Ranger though. I feel like a planeswalker is a much stronger choice there. I also don't like Sculler. Yes, it's discard. But you don't have a lot of good removal targets. Except for Hero of Bladehold and Tidehollow Sculler.

Finally, after having played with it, I can't see running the deck without at least 1-2 Shrine of Loyal Legions. More than that gets to be mana-intensive, but it presents a serious threat at all times. If they tap out to wipe your board, you generate 10 tokens at the end of their turn and beat them to death. The pressure is of inestimable value.

bloodted
07-16-2013, 10:29 AM
Hey everyone

I have been playing tokens on MTGO for about three months. I saw a list with deathrite Shaman on the mother ship http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/deck/1272 which I really is something the deck needed. In the early game it makes the deck one turn faster. Late game it gives you tons of reach and gaveyard hate.

Just a thought and an updates list.