Arab Revolution

[Qweerios]

A WGBR Aggro/Control deck based on the best creatures and spells availlable across all four colors. The idea for the deck first emerged from a desire to play Birds of Paradise over Noble Hierarch. A lot of decks have been getting away with shaky 3color mana bases lately and Wastelands aren't enough to keep those decks down anymore. So why not 4 colors?

Here it is:


Creatures(23)
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Grim Lavamancer
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Dark Confidant

Instants (8)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Swords to Plowshares

Sorcery (8)
4 Thoughtseize
4 Vindicate

Equipments (3)
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Feast and Famine

Lands (18)
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Scrubland
1 Savannah
1 Plateau
1 Bayou
1 Taiga
1 Badlands
1 Forest

Sideboard (15)
4 Gaddock Teeg
2 Phyrexian Metamorph
3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Extirpate
3 Krosan Grip


The manabase has been stable in testing. Two consecutive Wastelands can be difficult to deal with early on but not impossible to overcome (a rare scenario). The beauty of this deck is that it can take on so many different roles depending on your starting hand and the opponent you play against. For example, a Bird, TS, StP, and Vindicate means that you will try to play a control game against a merfolk player while a Grim, Goyf, SFM, Bolt hand means you try to Zoo your way through. I would discuss the deck more but it is still in its infancy. Any suggestions?

[Greenpoe]

Have you tried KoTR instead of Goyf? KoTR can help manafix. 4 BoP in a deck with only six 3-drops seems off, even if they are there just to fix the manabase and allow only 18 lands. Did you consider Wastelands over BoP? Confidant, Goyf, Stoneforge, etc. can all be casted off a Waste and another land, and if you keep a 1-land hand relying on BoP, it could get Missteped.

[Qweerios]

The thing about KotR is that if hes on the field, I don't need colorfixing. I also don't want to cut anything else in the deck in order to add in more lands and make KotR worth it. Right now, replacing Goyf by KotR is basically adding W to Goyfs CMC.

[Goaswerfraiejen]

What about Path rather than Swords? Swords kinda negates the advantage (reach) that Bolt otherwise gives you, and you're not attacking their mana base at all, so it seems like a better choice.

[Freggle]

The thing about KotR is that if hes on the field, I don't need colorfixing. I also don't want to cut anything else in the deck in order to add in more lands and make KotR worth it. Right now, replacing Goyf by KotR is basically adding W to Goyfs CMC.

I fail to see how Goyf can consistently be a 3/3 T3. Whereas I can see Knight consistently doing that.

I'll give you a land, and a sorcery (which is questionable), and your opponent loosing a creature or instant to Thoughtseize maybe.

But to say they will function identically with Knight carrying an additional cost is a bit of a stretch.

Knight is also by far a better mid to late game threat.

Also, with a quick glance at your list I think you want birds to function like squadron hawk in CAW Blade, and I also think that is not the same. The CA that squadron provides is relevant to that strategy. Also running SFM without Batterskull is a mistake.

[Pich]

- Too much 2 drops.
- Manabase sucks
- Zoo is better
- Junk is better
- Team Italia might ALSO be better.

/thread

[Michael Keller]

- Too much 2 drops.
- Manabase sucks
- Zoo is better
- Junk is better
- Team Italia might ALSO be better.

/thread

That's (probably) the most useless post I've ever read on The Source.

How about explaining your completely unwarranted and fruitless list to everyone so they can understand your lack of enthusiasm? Or maybe giving the O.P. some ideas to try?

[Qweerios]

Goyf is always at least a 3/4 and often a 4/5. Goyf is faster than KotR because he costs 2 mana... Not every game starts with a bird and doesn't involve a single early Wasteland. Knight is also usually a 3/3, often a 4/4, but grows past 5/5 on rare ocasions (when stalling). There are only 18 lands in this deck and KotR's ability goes to waste.

Bird acts more like an Aether Vial in this deck than a Squadron Hawk. Its mana ability is a safety point for the manabase. The mana ramping Birds' provides isn't going to waste because I don't pack enough 3drops, it is a tempo boost where I get to cast a 2CMC threat following by 1CC disruption on T2, or cast two 2CMC threats on T3. The fact that Birds can carry equipments is an added benefit and not an active part of my gameplan.

Maybe I should have named this deck Midrange Dark Zoo...

[Final Fortune]

Considering you're playing Vindicate MD, I think replacing either Qasali Pridemage with Wild Nacatl is a fair trade that helps balance your mana curve.