[Deck] W/G Life

[TekTik]

Here is my current decklist:

Land (21)
3 x Forest
5 x Plains
4 x Windswept Heath
2 x Flooded Strand
4 x Savannah
3 x Starlit Sanctum

Spells (24)
4 x Worthy Cause
4 x Swords to Plowshares
4 x Aether Vial
3 x Enlightened Tutor
4 x Living Wish
2 x Test of Endurance
3 x Sterling Grove

Creatures (15)
3 x Nomads en-Kor
4 x Shaman en-Kor
3 x Acadamy Rector
3 x Daru Spiritualist
2 x Task Force

Sideboard (6/15)
1 x Starlit Sanctum
1 x Acadamy Rector
1 x Daru Spiritualist
1 x Nomads en-Kor
1 x Eternal Witness
1 x Parallax Wave

I am open to any advice/suggestions and I will respond as fast and as intelligent as humanly possible, or faster if I have Cheetah Blood(tm)!

[Aggro_zombies]

Card choice explanations and matchup analyses would be appreciated. Actually, I think they're required.

You do realize that Solidarity doesn't care if you have eighty bajillion life? No matter how much life you have, not being able to draw a card because your library is empty is a bad, bad ting. So, how do you not auto-lose to them? Also, how do you protect your combo from things like Pithing Needle or creature kill? This deck seems too slow to be competitive, and you can't beat Solidarity before the go off and kill you, Test of Endurance in play or no. Because as soon as you drop that thing, they're going to combo out to kill you before it triggers at the beginning of your next upkeep.

[TekTik]

basic lands: are for wastelands obviously
fetchs: to thin out deck for better draws
Duals: duh
Sanctum: combo piece

Worthy cause: combo piece
Swords: white decks always for protection against creatures
Vials: against counters and gets critters out faster
tutor: for getting vials and enchantments if needed
wish: wishboard if i dont draw
Test: win condition
Sterling grove: protecting and getting win condition

Nomads: combo piece, cheap cc
Shaman: combo piece
Acadamy rector: way to get test out and is affected by spiritualist
Spiritualist: combo piece
task force: backup combo piece

Sideboard is under construction still, the first 5 are wishboard and wave is reg SB. As for Solidarity only one person rarely plays Spring tide, but i can't think of much W/G to stop it. as for needle, i could mainboard a seal of cleansing or a Disenchant or 2. I did however lose to a life from the loam deck via wasteland, more bad playing on my part. anyway thats what i've got so far I'll keep looking at cards and talking to people, hit me back.

[Vardaman]

Is Eladamri's Call total crap now? Maybe I'm just used to looking at old extended builds.

[TekTik]

I was running Eladamri's Call but I also had Living wish so I decided to thin it down and choose one of the, since I wanted a wish board, I chose Living Wish.

[laststepdown]

Worthy Cause-not as useful as Condemn. Same Principle, one saves your ass.

The Fat Man Dance version of Life runs a splash for an actual win condition-

4 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
3 Plains
4 Savanah
2 Plateau
2 Scubland
4 Starlit Sanctum

4 Nomads en-Kor
3 Shaman en-Kor
4 Daru Spiritualist
3 Task Force
1 Academy Rector
1 Mannichi, the Fevered Dream
2 Mother of Runes
1 True Believer

4 Aether Vials
4 Eladamri’s Call
4 Living Wish
4 Condemn
1 Test of Endurance
3 Swords to Plowshares
----------------------
Sideboard
1 Crypt Angel
1 True Believer
1 Viridian Shaman
1 Academy Rector
1 Soltari Monk
1 Soltari Preist
1 Kami of Ancient Law
1 Shaman en-Kor
1 Mother of Runes
1 Mannichi, the Fevered Dream
1 Diamond Vally
1 Task Force
3 Orim's Chant
-------------------------
The Chants are a meta call. Change them to whatever you like. The Diamond Valley is your 5th Sanctum, and it's Wishable.

[TekTik]

Ok, Thanks for the deck list but i do have some questions: First, condemn has a additional condition for the spell to take place which is kind of restrictive but i do see how i could use on the opponents creatures if worst comes to worst(sp?) it also recycles te creature into my deck. Second, the Mannichi guy i could do without because why should i pay 5 mana when i can just pay 1 for the same thing e.g. About Face. Also, for pumping my creatures for more than one turn, i could use Unspeakable Symbol which is +1/+1 counters they last longer but the downside is the only way to play it is with city of brass or acadamy rector. Third, what is the point of some of these SB cards, i mean why should i splash black for one SB creature that only gets me my mannichi back, an eternal witness works much better. And are the soltari guys just so i can hit them w/ unblockables for 10 turns? that sounds like a long game but a win condition nonetheless, I actually kinda like the idea of soltari guys, Good Suggestion! :smile:

I think i will try adding the soltari guys to my SB and I have another thing I could use opinions on, I think running Unspeakable Symbol is a great Alt. win condition but the only way to get it is acadamy rector or if i run city of brass.

[Tosh]

the Mannichi guy i could do without because why should i pay 5 mana when i can just pay 1 for the same thing e.g. About Face.
It's because he can Call for Mannichi.

To improve the match-up against combo, try putting in Rule of Law.

[Vardaman]

@Tektic: Do you really need the 2nd Test of Endurance or any of the Starlight Grove? Taking them out would let you put Call back in and add redundancy.

You probably want one Viridian Shaman/Uktabi Orangutang (either in main or side to wish for) to kill Needles as Aggro Zombies mentioned. Viridian Zealot as a wish target might be ok if you have space. Rule of Law sb is good.

@laststepdown: How much better is Condemn than Worthy Cause? You can't go off at instant speed but I guess you always want to go off as soon as possible anyway. Are the Soltari's there just to beat down ftw? Props on the Mannichi. <3 that guy.

[Tosh]

@Tektic: Do you really need the 2nd Test of Endurance or any of the Starlight Grove? Taking them out would let you put Call back in and add redundancy.

2 Test of Endurance because there are such things as counters and discard and milling... 2 ensures that if one misses hitting the field, you don't automatically scoop because you have poor chances of winning.

Heres another idea: instead of test of endurance; run "Word of __" as a win condition. You deck them! Not very many decks will be able to swing for 3 trillion before their deck runs out and with words, your deck doesn't run out, and it also helps against solidarity: when they go off you're like "sure" then they force you to draw and you're like "I'll skip it" then you take your turn and skip your draw again... you can swing ftw w/ 1/1's if you want... or just deck them. I realize they can cunning wish for some bounce, but then again they can bounce any kind of win condition.


Lets consider an alternate win condition, again!
Splash black and add Transmutation + Starlit Sanctum.
If you add black you can also run some more disruption to keep your combo safer.

[Di]

I've actually been tinkering with Life for some time now, but I've taken a Wb approach as opposed to Wg. Green really doesn't offer anything that black doesn't have, and the green lists completely shit the bed to combo with like a 0% win percentage against Solidarity. Black has disruption, tutors, removal, and even Transmutation(black About Face) which is crazy awesome in random turn 3 kills. Anyway, here is my list:

4 Nomads En-Kor
3 Shaman En-Kor
4 Daru Spiritualist
3 Task Force
2 Academy Rector
4 Dark Confidant

4 Aether Vial
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Worthy Cause
3 Plunge into Darkness
2 Transmutation
1 Test of Endurance
1 Unspeakable Symbol

4 Scrubland
3 Starlit Sanctum
4 Flooded Strand
1 Bloodstained Mire
5 Plains
1 Swamp

Sideboard:
4 Duress
3 Mesmeric Fiend
3 Engineered Plague
3 Disenchant/Vindicate
2 Armageddon


Most of the card choices should be rather self-explanitory, but here are some comments on running black:

- Dark Confidant is the utter nut-high in this deck. He's a card drawing engine on it's own in a deck designed to gain life, and he's a big StP and counter target so your combo pieces don't get touched. A fuckin plus.

- Transmutation is kick ass. It's About Face, but black. How convenient. They technically aren't needed as you have Test/Symbol, but they are win conditions on their own and can allow for some dumb fast wins. I like to see them as Worthy Cause 5 and 6, but in a different sense.

- Eladamri's Call and Living Wish only find creatures and lands, where Plunge can find anything. Although I'll admit it isn't the greatest tutor in the world, it has amazing synergy with this deck. These could possibly become Diabolic Intents.

- Post-board you have 11 disruption spells for control and combo. This should greatly help towards the combo and control game. I honestly have no clue as to how the W/g lists beat Solidarity.

Basically, I like Wb better :p

[TekTik]

Interesting. I am curious, since i am running black would it be worth it to throw in dark rituals? but that also means taking out more cards that would help me win faster and stop other combos. but dark rit means a potential cabal therapy and a dark confidant... ooooo :eek:

I think that i will try roxying this W/B version of life it seems like it would win more at the place where i play.

I also like the words of worship/wilding/waste i could outstall them, but im not sure how it would beat solidarity unless i already had it out or a rector out because they're like EoT go off and say go and then what do ya do? in response i'll "/cry" ... anyway, do you have any of these cards Klaan? if you do call me today.

[Di]

Interesting. I am curious, since im running black would it be worth it to throw in dark rituals? but that also means taking out more cards that would help me win faster and stop other combos. but dark rit means a potential cabal therapy and a dark confidant... ooooo

No. You don't have nearly enough black to make that an option. I was, however, trying to squeeze Chrome Mox into the deck. They'd give it a nice boost, but I think Vials are enough speed. Generally in most scenarios, it won't matter if you gain infinate life on turn 3 as opposed to turn 4.

[blitz]

hey there, i have a question...

how does this deck win? It looks like the nomads have to take some damage at some point in order for the deck to do anything with endurance, but i see nothing in the deck that can do so for you? Am I missing something?

[dahcmai]

How does the deck win?

Easy, you ask them if they would like to concede when you hit a billion life. Most players (excepting the Solidarity guy) will automatically give up.

You can start attacking since you don't care about life totals afterwards and you do have infinite toughness creatures. Also, in that one build it has Unspeakable symbol, you can pay enough life to give qall your critters +50/+50 and just go to town.

As for Solidarity, there's always that new white card in Time spiral, angels something, that let's you become untargetable for a turn.

[blitz]

yes, i gathered that, given there was a way to damage your own creatures, you could bounce it around infinitely and sac it for what might as well be infinite life. The thing is... im not seeing how the combo WORKS. Seriously, I've never seen this thing played, and I can't for the life of me figure the combo out. Does it rely on the opponent for the combo to work? Or is there some catalyst in the deck I'm being oblivious about? Is it some oracle text on the en-kor's? Does sacing a creature to starlit sanctum start the infinite? Cuz as it stands, I just sit there with shaman, daru, nomad, and endurance in play with a worthy cause in hand and saying to myself "... wtf do I do now?"

just fyi: I've never seen or heard about this deck until i saw this thread.

[Di]

The creatures don't need to be damaged for the combo to work. The En-Kor ability allows them to target each other for the next damage that would happen. So, once you have En-Kor + Daru Spiritualist (or Task Force) in play, you can use the En-Kor ability infinate times to target a guy and then infinately boost toughness. From there you sac that creature to Worthy Cause/Sanctum and have infinate life.

[blitz]

ah, so that's how. I thought the text on the en kor's was saying it could take any damage already dealt to it, not a pre-emptive thing.

Ok, makes sense now.

[laststepdown]

Solidarity doesn't bother my list at all. Mother of Runes + True Believer (over Rule of Law, you can Call and Wish for them), done.

I run black in my list as well (in case you just act like you read it), but only to activate Sanctum(you can get scrubland with windswept heath, duh), or cast the crypt angel i wished from the sideboard....condemn is so much better than worthy cause-the beauty behind mannichi(besides the fact you can search for him with your 8 creature tutors) is if they counter your condemn, you can still switch to a 1,000,000/x and win through the counter. i love it. just ask yourself this-how often do you really need to buyback?

lots of questions about why the solatari guys are there. yes. they win in 10 turns. if they play swords, you get crypt angel(hi, nice mystic enforcer guy, i'll just fly right past you).

[laststepdown]

Solidarity doesn't bother my list at all. Æther Vial + True Believer + Mom(over Rule of Law, you can Call and Wish for them, and it's two targets to bounce in one turn), done.

I run black in my list as well (in case you just act like you read it), but only to activate Sanctum(you can get scrubland with windswept heath, duh), or cast the crypt angel i wished from the sideboard....condemn is so much better than worthy cause(just ask yourself this-how often do you really need to buyback?)-the beauty behind mannichi here(besides the fact you can search for him with your 8 creature tutors) is if they counter your condemn, you can still switch to a 1,000,000/x and win through the counter. i love it.

lots of questions about why the solatari guys are there. yes. they win in 10 turns. if they play swords, you get crypt angel(hi, nice mystic enforcer guy, i'll just fly right past you).

[Di]

Solidarity doesn't bother my list at all. &#198;ther Vial + True Believer + Mom(over Rule of Law, you can Call and Wish for them, and it's two targets to bounce in one turn), done.

I run black in my list as well (in case you just act like you read it), but only to activate Sanctum(you can get scrubland with windswept heath, duh), or cast the crypt angel i wished from the sideboard....condemn is so much better than worthy cause(just ask yourself this-how often do you really need to buyback?)-the beauty behind mannichi here(besides the fact you can search for him with your 8 creature tutors) is if they counter your condemn, you can still switch to a 1,000,000/x and win through the counter. i love it.




If you're honestly under the impression that True Believer + Mother of Runes can solve your problems against Solidarity, then you must be delusional. The deck puts almost no pressure on them, so they can sit back and wait for the perfect hand and bounce the True Believer in response to Mom's pro-blue trigger with a 2nd Cunning Wish, then deck you. The only pressure the build has is Mannichi, and that's hardly enough. Also remember they still run 8 counters, so they could just counter the Believer anyway. The only way creature-based decks win against Solidarity is by putting pressure on them. You need to put them on a clock while applying pressure. Know your role in this matchup. You're not playing the combo deck, you're playing the aggro deck.

As for Condemn, I'm not really sure. It's not the buyback that has me playing it, but the fact that it's not conditional. I need to be attacking for condemn, which means the creature that is to be sacrificed had to be played the turn before. So much for topdecking creatures if you can't win with them that turn. It's like adding Suspend 1-- W to Worthy Causes's textbox. Remember you are the combo deck and you're aiming to combo as fast as possible unconditionally. As good as Condemn is as removal as well, it shouldn't matter if you're trying to win.

Also, I was aware that your list had black, although I wouldn't actually consider it part of the deck, what with the sole black card being a wish target.

[laststepdown]

Racing Solidarity is probably the hardest challenge, luckily, the one person who plays it consistantly here moved for college.

As for the suspend-W situation, that's honestly never come up to be a problem. I'll take note of it though. How do you feel about Angel's Grace against Solidarity? They go off when attackers are declared, you let them combo out, at the end, Angel's Grace? Seems ok, but it needs something else.

[Alfred]

I would play the Counter Rebel list, because both parts of the creature part of the Combo are fetchable via the Rebel Chain. There is a new Rebel called Outrider En-Kor, which has the En-Kor ability, and Task Force is a Rebel too. Just run like 1 or 2 of each, and then like, 4 Condemns. Condemn is sort of like a Swords, but it also has the ability to gain you the infinite amount of life, and all the Task Force has to do is attack, so fetch it first.

Then just run 4 Ramosian Sergeants, and like 3 of the Amrou Scouts as the first two parts of the Rebel Chain, and maybe that new flanker guy Knight of the Holy Nimbus too. He seems like he would be good against other aggro decks. So basically:

4x Ramosian Sergeants
3x Amrou Scouts
4x Knight of the Holy Nimbus
1x Outrider En-Kor
2x Task Force
3x Thermal Glider

4x Condemn
Counterspells and brainstorm etc.

[TekTik]

First off, I'm pretty sure that it's decided condemn is too limited in its playability. also, rebels may seem like they get guys out faster but they don't, it's the same or worse even. if i have my 1cc and 2cc en-Kor guys(shaman and Nomads) and either wish or call then i have a high enough proability of top decking those if not starting the game wth 1 in my hand. rebels are also mana costly which slows them down more.

As for an update, I played a 1.5 on friday and went 3-0-1 with this Decklist:
4 x Nomads en-Kor
3 x Daru Spiritualist
3 x Shaman en-Kor
3 x Task Force
3 x Acadamy Rector

4 x AEther Vial
3 x Enlightened Tutor
4 x Swords to Plowshares
4 x Worthy Cause
4 x Living Wish
1 x Sterling Grove
2 x Test of Endurance

2 x Flooded Strand
4 x Windswept Heath
4 x Savannah
3 x Starlit Sanctum
6 x Plains
2 x Forest
1 x Thran Quarry(Don't Ask)

Sideboard:
1 x Starlit Sanctum
1 x Forest
1 x Daru Spiritualist
4 x Disenchant
1 x Seal of Cleansing
1 x Shaman en-Kor
1 x Animal Boneyard
1 x Glowrider
1 x Rule of Law
1 x Eternal Witness
1 x Parallax Wave

[Tosh]

4x Ramosian Sergeants
3x Amrou Scouts
4x Knight of the Holy Nimbus
1x Outrider En-Kor
2x Task Force
3x Thermal Glider

4x Condemn
Counterspells and brainstorm etc.

You may have a good idea here... but you forgot a card: Lin Sivvi - She's like a Vial, but from your deck. Heres a list that I threw together, it seems decent.
// Lands
4 [6E] Island (1)
4 [ON] Flooded Strand
3 [MR] Plains (2)
4 [U] Tundra
4 [ON] Starlit Sanctum

// Creatures
4 [NE] Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
3 [MM] Task Force
3 [MM] Thermal Glider
3 [TSP] Amrou Scout
4 [TSP] Outrider en-Kor

// Spells
2 [JU] Test of Endurance
4 [ARE] Serum Visions
3 [5E] Counterspell
3 [NE] Daze
4 [AL] Force of Will
4 [MM] Brainstorm
4 [DIS] Condemn

[Moczoc]

Well, thats the list I am currently testing.
With 7 tutors the deck has gotten very consistent. True Believer was added to get time against Solidary and to protect from random Cabal T.'s Shuko is worth testing too, because its another 1-mana targeter. Mangara just works great with Karakas, I am thinking about 1 in MD too. He establishes some sort of Softlock with Karakas. The SB may really be a bit overload with wishtargets but i will work on it.


Creatures
4 Task Force
3 Nomads en-Kor
3 Daru Spiritualist
3 Warrior en-Kor
1 Academy Rector
3 True Believer

Spells
4 Worthy Cause
2 Condemn
2 Shuko
1 Test of Endurance
4 Living Wish
4 AEther Vial
3 Eladamri's Call

Lands
2 Miren, the Moaning Well
2 Starlit Sanctum
2 Windswept Heath
3 Savannah
3 Forest
4 Plains
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Karakas
1 Flooded Strand

Sideboard
1 Nomads en-Kor
1 Daru Spiritualist
1 Warrior en-Kor
1 Academy Rector
1 Diamond Valley
1 Outrider en-Kor
1 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Eternal Witness
1 Monk Realist
1 Loaming Shaman
1 Mangara of Corondor
1 Remote Farm
3 Glowrider

[Henk]

I've made this deck some time ago. I'm very impressed how it can ruin aggro decks (goblins) and win against aggro control decks (threshold, deadguy ale). The only problem I have is the combo matchup. That's why I have 8 anti-combo cards (glowrider, sphere of resistance) in the board and a wishtarget (true believer).

I'm thinking of changing the Shaman en-Kors for some Warrior en-Kors. The warrior cost WW, but does mostly 3-4 more damage against combo, wich is very important i think.

The maindeck disenchants are for humility, pithing needle, suppression field and other iritating artifacts and enchantments.

// Lands
4 Savannah
6 Plains
1 Forest
4 Starlit Sanctum
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
4 Windswept Heath

// Creatures
4 Shaman en-Kor
4 Task Force
1 Academy Rector
3 Daru Spiritualist
3 Nomads en-Kor

// Spells
4 Eladamri's Call
3 Swords to Plowshares
2 Worthy Cause
4 Condemn
4 Living Wish
4 AEther Vial
1 Test of Endurance
3 Disenchant

// Sideboard
SB: 1 Daru Spiritualist
SB: 1 Nomads en-Kor
SB: 1 True Believer
SB: 1 Gigapede
SB: 1 Loaming Shaman
SB: 1 Genesis
SB: 1 Diamond Valley
SB: 4 Glowrider
SB: 4 Sphere of Resistance

[Henk]

What is the best anti-combo card for this deck??

A few options are:

Rule of Law
Glowrider
Sphere of Resistance
Chalice of the Void
Trinisphere
Orim's Chant
Angel's Grace

Maybe there are some cards I forgot.
Which one do you think is/are the best cards for this deck in the sideboard against combo?