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Thread: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

  1. #101
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    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Brought MOST to the local weekly tournament again last Wednesday and was rewarded with a 4-0 win. This gives the deck a surprisingly good 13-2-1 result over the last 6 months. Some luck is involved in those results, for sure. It was, like always, terrific fun. I played the same list as in my last post. [Actually I played maindeck -1 Meddling Mage and +1 Sanctum Prelate; sideboard -1 Sanctum Prelate, -1 Fire Covenant, +2 Leyline of Sanctity]

    My matchups for the evening were the following, not sure about the order of them though.
    R1: BU Pox, 2-0
    Cool Pox version with Stifles, Strixes and Ashiok. Managed to Clique away his Toxic Deluge game 2. Pox is usually a good matchup due to Vials, Meren and lots of acceleration with mana dorks and ways to deal with his win conditions.
    R2: Merfolk, 2-0
    G1 was won with an early Jitte. I think Selfless Squire managed to win me game 2, he was hitting for lethal but Squire killed him on the back swing.
    R3: BURG Delver (I think), 2-0
    Don't recall anything other than that a vialed in Merieke killed three of his creatures before he could bolt or decay it.
    R4: Storm, TES-ANT-hybrid, 2-1
    Got a bit lucky in winning this round. I boarded in 13 cards and mulliganed 6 or 7 times. I thought Leyline of Sanctity would be great in this matchup but he actually boarded in Chain of Vapors to deal with Prelates so it's not necessarily forcing the opponent into the goblins route.

  2. #102
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    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    I've played two more tournaments this week, the regular weekly event with 40-ish players and an FNM with 10. Went 3-1 in each which gives the deck a solid 19-4-1 result over about six months. Like I've pointed out before I've been lucky often, on the other hand I'm playing in a meta where me and my decks are well known, in other metas [or rather groups] people should be quite taken by surprise by a deck such as this.

    In the larger tournament I played against Death and Taxes three times, losing one of them, and won against bUrg control. The loss was a 0-2 with the first due to mana flooding and the second perhaps due to a play mistake (forgot about Revoker being colorless which allowed my opponent to get Jitte counters ignoring my Mother when I could have played Pithing Needle).

    In the smaller tournament I lost vs Turbo Depths (1-2) and won vs Elves(2-1), BR Reanimator (2-0(?), opponent's first legacy event) and 5-color Fauna Shaman Brew (2-1). For this event I experimented with an Ooze combo package over 4 combat and card advantage creatures; it was a bit clunky but I've been intending to play Necrotic Ooze for a long time, it has superb synergy with the creatures in the deck. Perhaps next time I'll try Rofellos and a Craterhoof or Loyal Retainers with Emrakul.
    Last edited by pettdan; 01-28-2017 at 05:28 PM.

  3. #103
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    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Ok, so I started to test this deck again, played against Punishing Jund, ANT Storm & UB Tezzeret last night and kept D&T, BGx, Eldrazi, Miracles in mind.
    I was missing cards since they're still in the mail. My goal is a list similar to pettdan's - Vials - Decays + dorks + opposition + 4th mother + maybe crystal shard. Random pile here we go.
    After looking through my binder, I came up with this funny pile:
    17 lands
    4 misty rainforest
    4 windswept heath
    1 forest
    2 bayou
    2 savannah
    2 tropical island
    1 taiga
    1 tundra

    31 creatures
    1 dryad arbor
    4 birds of paradise
    4 deathrite shaman
    4 meddling mage
    2 fauna shaman
    1 quirion ranger
    1 scryb ranger
    1 spellskite
    1 qasali pridemage
    1 reclamation sage
    1 scavenging ooze
    1 phyrexian revoker
    1 izzet staticaster
    1 leovold, emissary of trest
    1 vendilion clique
    1 glen elendra archmage
    1 sower of temptation
    1 merieke ri berit
    1 meren of clan nel toth
    1 sigarda, host of herons
    1 genesis


    12 spells
    4 force of will
    4 green sun's zenith
    2 opposition
    1 birthing pod
    1 crystal shard

    sideboard
    3 faerie macabre - Reanimator, Dredge, Lands
    2 pithing needle - Lands, D&T, Miracles, Reanimator
    2 mindbreak trap - Reanimator, Storm, Belcher/Oops
    1 opposition - Eldrazi, midrange, Infect, Lands?
    1 containment priest - Reanimator, Dredge, Elves, S&T
    1 gaddock teeg - Miracles, Storm, Dredge, Elves, S&T
    1 magus of the moon - Eldrazi, Lands, Infect
    1 orzhov pontiff - Elves, D&T, Infect
    1 selfless squire - Elves, Eldrazi, Merfolk, Infect
    1 domri rade - D&T, Maverick, Miracles, Stoneblade
    1 keranos, god of storms - Miracles, ...? Help me out

    - 4 Meddling Mage was insane. Naming Abrupt Decay or Punishing Fire is clutch in a lot of matchups. They also give you a really good combo matchup.
    - FOW was interesting, but only good in the storm matchup. Seems good if you expect a lot of Reanimator but I'll cut them for Mothers now.
    - Pod was bad, but still good because Meren of Clan Nel Toth is insane in this deck! I won't cut her soon and maybe play 2 of her.
    - Crystal Shard is interesting: Good with Merieke, infinite blocks ala Wirewood Symbiote in Elves, reused ETB creatures (gilded drake, selfless squire, rec.sage, glen elendra, pontiff), saves creatures from removal, bounces opposing creatures if tapped out. Worth testing 2 maybe just to see how it goes. I think it's fine vs BGx, D&T, Maverick and Miracles.
    - Opposition locked out each Jund and Tezzeret when I resolved it.
    - Spellskite was really good against Punishing Fire, especially good with Leovold and I imagine vs. Infect as well.
    - Izzet Staticaster killed all the Thopter Foundry tokens at once, amazing. This guy has a lot of game for just a pinger. Killed Confidants vs. Jund with it.
    - Though my list was a mess, I really like the SB for this metagame!
    - I still want to try Collected Company. Too clunky? Probably.
    - Do you prefer TNN or Sigarda without Vials?

    maindeck changes for now:
    -4 FOW -1 Sower of Tempation -1 Vendilion Clique -1 Genesis -1 Birthing Pod -1 Phyrexian Revoker
    +4 Mother of Runes +2 Fauna Shaman +1 Gilded Drake +1 Sanctum Prelate +1 Shriekmaw

  4. #104
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    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Great to see you decided to revisit the deck, Alexeezay! I can really use some help with testing different strategies, there are so many routes this deck can take. I'll try to answer your questions and comment on a few card choices. There are a lot of intricacies in deck building with this type of deck and to make any meaningful comment I must touch on a few of them, hence the long answers.

    --- Comments to your comments and on the maindeck:
    - Crystal Shard: this can be valuable in pressuring the opponent who must keep 2 mana up, can also save your own creatures. But it seems to me like it will be too slow, have too little impact and Mother of Runes does the important part of protecting your creatures with added benefits of offensive capabilities for 1 mana only. How did it work for you?
    - Birthing Pod: This card is great with expendable creatures with CIP-effects. I tend to think it may be worth looking into if you play a couple of Strixes or have persist creatures (podding Glen Elendra into Sigarda is an example of a good Pod chain). Can you explain your strategy with playing this card? You mentioned the synergy with Meren, but actually you have the same synergy with Fauna Shaman [which is cheaper and tutors for anything] so I don't think that's enough reason to motivate playing it.
    - Genesis: I would settle for playing Meren I think, Genesis does the same thing but costs a lot of mana to use. Better to utilize the decks high tutorability by adding a creature with a unique ability or a lockpiece [than doubling up on this type of card, especially considering the prevalence of Deathrite Shaman].
    - Opposition: This is a great card but I haven't really felt a need for it lately. The fair, slow matchups where it shines seem to be favored [even without it]. And it is really bad vs Terminus.
    - Izzet Staticaster: since I found this card by searching for wizards I think, some 3 years ago (?) he's been an MVP of my versions of the deck.
    - Keranos, God of Storms: I tend to put him in the board for slow, grindy decks with a lot of removal such as Miracles and Nic Fit. He's a flexible sideboard slot to me.
    - Collected Company: let me know how it works if you try it! Personally I'm not really attracted by the idea of putting two random creatures into play and at 4 mana it's pretty clunky. And Aether Vial adds the instant speed element for 1 mana while providing mana efficiency and interacting relevantly on the stack by getting Prelate, Leovold or Glen Elendra into play when they hurt the most.
    - True-Name Nemesis/Sigarda, Host of Herons: I like that TNN adds a defensive capability to the deck which mostly consists of rather weak creatures. If the opponent is attacking with Goyfs, Eldrazi or whatever it's very nice to have a 3 mana stone wall that is quite easy to tutor for and play during the same turn. TNN also works very well with equipment and the Shaman of the Great Hunt - Sigarda can be blocked after all, so that's a slight advantage too for TNN. What speaks in favor of Sigarda then? Well, stopping sacrifice effects can be game winning at times and blocking flyers can also be relevant. If you play FoW's, which I think I did when I added the TNN, then the blue count is another factor. Of course Sigarda can be GSZ'd for which is very relevant and valuable. If I was playing Rofellos or Gaea's Cradle I would consider Sigarda.

    --- Sideboard comments:
    - Meddling Mage: I changed my mages into Sanctum Prelate, I think they have more application. Vs lands you get Punishing Fire and Loam in one go. Vs cantrip based decks you block all cantrips with one card, and if their removal is also at CMC 1 then Prelate is a potential gamewinner. With Fatal Push seeing play this is now a reasonable scenario vs not only Grixis and Miracles but also vs BUG-decks. So Prelate seems more valuable to me than Meddling Mage. If you're playing Force of Will then I can see how you may prefer Meddling Mage.
    - Containment Priest: I really like Leylines right now since they provide faster interaction. Gaddock Teeg already offers tutorable protection vs Elves' threats in GSZ and Natural Order.
    - Faerie Macabre: the few times I played it I was disappointed. I prefer Leyline, it's a more definitive answer to all the fast graveyard based decks.
    - Pithing Needle, Gaddock Teeg, Magus of the Moon, Selfless Squire, Orzhov Pontiff: these are all great cards and/or bullets in certain matchups, I fully agree on their inclusion.
    - Mindbreak Trap: really well positioned card, especially when playing Leovold(s).
    - Domri Rade: a very interesting card but it never stood out as good enough to me. A main problem with the card is that you need to play really large creatures if it's going to be good enough [and we tend to play rather few creatures at 3/3 or larger]. How do you intend to fight against an opposing Goyf? And TNN just ignores Domri.
    - Opposition: too slow vs Infect, can't be relied on vs Lands post g1 when they have Krosan Grips but vs Eldrazi I can imagine it being a game winning card.
    Last edited by pettdan; 02-02-2017 at 03:17 PM.

  5. #105
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    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Thanks for the input!
    I'm going to play the deck on Saturday again at a local tournament with ~25-40 players and let you know how it went!
    I'm going to play with 8 mana dorks 0 vials again, 1-2 collected company, gilded drake, sanctum prelate alongside medddling mages & true-name nemesis as you suggested.
    That way, company hits every creature besides Meren, Shriekmaw & Glen Elendra Archmage (which I consider cutting for another removal creature, 2nd prelate or revoker). I might put in a Bone Shredder somewhere to compliment Shriekmaw vs Midrange and Eldrazi.

  6. #106
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    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Ok, so the tournament yesterday was 5 rounds long. I was still really sick and not in great fitness to play, but damn it was a lot of fun!
    R1: Draw vs. BW Death and Taxes. Really complicated and tense match, he had Zealous Persecutions maindeck! Would've won game3 easily with more time. Needed to concede earlier in game2.
    R2: Draw vs. Miracles. It was my friend and I gave him the win, so he went 1st place in the end.
    R3: 2-1 vs. Miracles. Meddling Mage on STP + Gaddock is good. Kozilek's Return/Pyroclasm are their only real outs, you often have some protection like Mother/Spellskite/Counter as well. I think it's a good matchup. I could ignore counterbalance most of the time.
    R4: 1-2 vs. Canadian Threshold. Yes, some people still play this in 2017. I got rekt in 2 games really quickly by multi-bolt&wasteland&daze draws. Tough stuff. But I love to see Stifle back in Legacy!
    R5: 2-0 vs. Maverick. I thought he's on Aggro Loam after G1 because he only showed DD combo, Knight, Maze, Karakas, Wasteland, GSZ. So I sideboarded completely wrong, brought in 3 Faerie Macabres (I drew all of them early and it eas really bad). Nonethless, I won the match thanks to Mother+Scryb Ranger+DRS fights. I did a few mistakes in G2 because we were timing out already.

    Overall I had a great experience! My sickness didn't help because all the matchups were a grind. This deck is super hard to play and I need to practice it more!
    I'm playing RG Lands and other decks usually, but this deck is perfectly viable for higher level tournaments.
    I can only recommend it to other players reading this. Also you get to play all these colours and sweet sweet creatures! :)

    < This deck is complicated and can lead to very long rounds/games. You need to play fast.
    < it's often really mana hungry. I really want to play Aether Vials next time! pettdan is probably right with his Vials.
    < Meren is super powerful. Maybe even 2 of her is the way to go.
    < same with Scryb Ranger. Especially with Marit Lage decks around, it's a great blocker with Mother. pettdan already got 2 in his list.
    < Opposition was meh. I will slot the dork/Vialdistribution in here,too. Overall, it feels better to have more creatures instead of spells like Oppo/Decay etc.
    < Still not sure about Collected Company. It seems unnecessary although gives you another angle of attack and the opponent will never ever be prepared for it. There can be insane hits with Merieke
    < There were several spots in my games where Crystal Shard would`ve been insane! I might try 1 Rider 1 Shard soon.
    < Sanctum Prelate is insane, gonna fit a 2nd one in the sb. Also great combo with Meddling Mage.
    < Mindbreak Trap is solid SB combo-hate with Leovold now. Maybe a split with Invasive Surgery is optimal.
    < obviously, most painful cards are: Zealous Persecution, Engineered Explosives, Pyroclasm, Kozilek's Return, Terminus if they get around your bears. Kozilek's Return is the absolute worst for you, all of the others can be dealt with by Mother/Gaddock/Mage/Prelate. A Miracles player blew me out once with SB Blood Moons while I didn't have any dork or Forest on the field. Something to keep in mind (I just think that Moon is a really bad line against this deck with dorks/vials etc.)
    Last edited by Alexeezay; 02-06-2017 at 08:04 AM.

  7. #107
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    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Great to hear that you had fun and I hope you get better soon! Yes, the deck is pretty complex to play and I'm still trying to improve my skill with the deck. It takes a while to get a good grip of all the options.

    I'll update this post with a few comments later, I started writing some yesterday but - life...

  8. #108
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    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Here is a little tournament report from today, it's pretty straightforward but hopefully someone will find it interesting. I think it's quite nice myself actually to be able to go back and review my old events.

    I played our local legacy league final competition today, with the top 16 from the autumn/winter season. I basically qualified to it due to the last months of playing with this deck, and more mediocre results playing some other decks (experimenting with Leovold Maverick and Sneak Attack Nic Fit). The final 16 players were well known and most have spent the week speculating on what the other 15 are going to play, which is a really interesting kind of competition. Everyone is very motivated to do well, I think. I spent some time trying to build a version of the Rock since I expected a lot of Miracles and fair decks but in the end gave up on it and decided to bring the fun deck again. Actually my first decision when choosing a deck was to definitely NOT bring this deck since I feel that I need more experience with it before playing it at an important event; with it’s controllish nature, lots of effects, lots of tutors and lots of interactions there is a lot to learn and I would like to improve some. With that said in the end I decided to have fun, I very much had and ended up with a decent result.

    Anyway, I played the following list, with a few tweaks due to expected meta such as no Reanimator or Dredge and therefore I didn’t use Leyline of the Void in the board and moved the maindecked Gilded Drake to the sideboard. Also I expected an abundance of creature based decks and TNN in particular, hence the maindecked Orzhov Pontiff and a second copy of Izzet Staticaster in the board. I added a copy of Opposition to the sideboard for shutting down some heavier decks such as MUD and Eldrazi, last minute call. I also changed the sole Kolaghan’s Command back to the third Abrupt Decay in order to reduce dependence on red and deal with Counterbalance.

    (Basically the same list as the last posted by me with the changes mentioned above, may add later.)


    --- R1: vs Goblins
    I’m happy to face this deck since I’m very used to the matchup and have a couple of tutorable tech cards that can win such a matchup as well as a maindecked Orzhov Pontiff (or rather Izzet Staticaster and even Jitte).

    R1, G1: I get to start and get a clunky start hand, mulligan and keep a 6 card hand (he does too) with no one drops, this unfortunately was a trend for today, I mulliganed a lot of games looking for one drops. He opens with Goblin Lackey and I’m really lucky to keep my Ooze around to prevent Lackey from attacking. He goes t2 Mogg War Marshal which dies next turn and I start growing my Ooze. Next turn Warchief which I Decay. He next goes for a Ringleader which hits 4 goblin cards including a Tar Fire, I get a Scryb Ranger and then Izzet Staticaster into play which with Mother backup (no such luck this time) usually clears the board but he manages to double Tarfire my Staticaster and Gempalm my Ooze in response to my EOT tapping of Staticaster to kill half of his board. I had the information but was too stressed to figure out his response, he was building a board and I felt pressed to deal with it. Perhaps I could have waited it out and kept playing other threats, don’t remember what else I had in hand or play. Next turn he plays Goblin Warchief and Krenko and gets 6-7 tokens with haste. On to game 2.

    Sideboarding:
    In: 1 Izzet Staticaster, 2 Pithing Needle, 1 Selfless Squire?
    Out: 2 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Glen Elendra Archmage, 1 Leovold Emissary of Trest?

    G2: I mulligan twice, first hand was probably clunky and second with no lands. I open up with Mother of Runes, Fauna Shaman and I think Meren gets stuck in my hand as he play a turn three Blood Moon. I think I drew zero fetches and Vials so not much to do.
    Results: 0-1 in matches, 0-2 in games this round

    Edit: You can find his report here: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...l=1#post991245



    --- R2: Sneak and Show
    G1: I go first and he FoW’s a Fauna Shaman then Show and Tells an Emrakul and I don’t have an answer, on to game two.

    Sideboard:
    In: 2 Gilded Drake, 2 Pithing Needle, 2 Invasive Surgery, 1 Mindbreak Trap, 1 Vendilion Clique, 1 Opposition, 1 Gaddock Teeg
    Out: 1 Orzhov Pontiff, 1 Izzet Staticaster, 1 Scryb Ranger, 1 Stoneforge Mystic, 1 Umezawa’s Jitte, 1 Shaman of the Great Hunt, 1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth, 1 True-Name Nemesis, 1 Scavenging Ooze, 1 Abrupt Decay

    G2: I open with Deathrite and he Ponders. Next turn I play Fauna Shaman which resolves and he Show and Tells. He puts in Emrakul and I put in Vendilion Clique, making sure the coast is clear for t3 tutoring for Gilded Drake with Fauna Shaman and exchanging control of the Emrakul and Drake. He didn’t want to give me several rounds with an active Fauna Shaman and found it better to just go off at once.

    G3: He plays Jace around t3 and I EOT Clique which meets FoW. I untap and play Pithing Needle, thinking for a while and then naming Sneak Attack since I think I can beat an active Jace but not an active Sneak Attack. Then follows about 10 turns of me fighting the Jace with everything I can and him cantripping 2+ times per turn, using sideboard cards to keep my creatures from taking Jace. At some point he Show and Tells and I put Shriekmaw into play with a Qasali on the board so that the CIP-trigger from Shriekmaw would let me deal with an eventual Omniscience. Eventually a Qasali Pridemage deal the last points of damage.

    Results: 1-1 in matches, 2-1 in games this round

    - Ok, this is taking too much time, I’ll try to speed it up a bit from here on.



    --- R3: BUG with True-Name Nemesis and Fatal Pushes (didn’t see any Leovold)

    G1: I get a bit lucky this game, after a couple of rounds he has a Baleful Strix and a TNN and I topdeck and get to resolve an Orzhov Pontif, sweeping the board, Shriekmaw for his Tarmogoyf and next turn Stoneforge getting a Jitte and winning the game shortly after.

    Sideboard:
    In: 1 Magus of the Moon, 1 Mindbreak Trap?, 1 Vendilion Clique?
    Out: 1 Qasali Pridemage, 1 Abrupt Decay?, 1 Merieke?

    G2: A t2 Thoughtseize grabs my Magus of the Moon and reveals a strong hand with removal and control, he scoops soon after.
    Results: 2-1 in matches, 2-0 in games this round



    --- R4: Death and Taxes
    This is usually a pretty good matchup and today I have an extra Staticaster, hoping for good draws.

    G1: No notes from game 1, I mulliganed once and probably had a slow start.

    Sideboard:
    In: 1 Izzet Staticaster, 2 Pithing Needle, 1 Vendilion Clique?
    Out: 1 Scavenging Ooze, 1 Shriekmaw, 1 Atraxa

    G2: I misplay by putting a third counter on a Vial and then miss out on getting Meren + Qasali recursion every turn. I can’t hardcast the Qasali either because he starts tapping down my Savannah with a Port. A bit sad to die to a Batterskull with Jitte and Sword of Fire and Ice [a True-Name on blocking duty was ignored due to the sword].

    Results: 2-2 in matches, 0-2 in games in this round



    --- R5: Counter Deathrite-Mentor
    This matchup can get rough because he usually plays loads of removal.

    G1: He plays an early Counterbalance, I didn’t get an early Aether Vial and don’t draw into Abrupt Decay or Green Sun’s Zenith for the next 12-13 turns.

    Sideboard:
    In: 2 Pithing Needle, 1 Mindbreak Trap, 1 Vendilion Clique, 1 Gaddock Teeg (changing it into Magus of the Moon in the third round)
    Out: 1 Orzhov Pontiff, 1 Atraxa?, 1 Meren?, 1 Ooze?, 1 Merieke?

    G2: I get Sylvan into play, draw a lot of extra, probably Clique away a Mentor and he Deluges at somepoint, plays a Jace which I get to kill with a hasty Shaman of the Great Hunt and the game ends a few rounds after.

    G3: seems to have been pretty similar to game 2, he Deluges a Fauna Shaman and Mother of Runes and I get to vial in Shaman [of the Great Hunt] EOT and then untap and vial in Glen Elendra to counter further removal. May have played all three Abrupt Decays in this game.

    Results: 3-2 in matches, 2-1 in games in this round



    I got last of the top 8 and get to play against…

    --- Top8, quarter finals: Mono Red Painter
    G1: He opens with Grindstone and then Blood Moons on turn 2? I play three Vials but can’t find meaningful interaction.

    Sideboard:
    In: 2 Pithing Needle, 1 Leyline of Sanctity, 1 Vendilion Clique, 1 Mindbreak Trap?
    Out: 1 Orzhov Pontiff, 1 Scavenging Ooze, 1 True-Name Nemesis, 1 Merieke, 1 Leovold?

    G2: I Decay his early Painter and his t2 Blood Moon causes some trouble. I have a Forest, Scryb Ranger [and Deathrite with 3 fetches in the graveyards] and play a Glen Elendra to try to beat him down with Scryb Ranger and Glen but he manages to weld (using Goblin Welder) in the combo at 8 life. I misplayed allowing it to happen but in the end it probably wouldn’t have mattered.

    Results: 3- 3 in matches, 0-2 in games in this round

    Edit: You can find his report here: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...l=1#post993062



    Conclusions: Blood Moon caused problems today with game losses vs both Goblins and Painter and I was worried that it should land vs Sneak and Show too. Maybe I should add a third Qasali, which can be put into play with Vial even if I have only mountains in play, or GSZ’d for with a single Forest. I’ll remember to consider more alternatives. Thoughtseize is one, Aura Shards another or a fourth Decay or GSZ.
    Last edited by pettdan; 02-28-2017 at 04:20 AM.

  9. #109
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    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Nice report! As you stated, Goblins and Death & Taxes should be good matchups, so if it went a little better you might have gone 4-0 in rounds. Funny how Blood Moons screwed you as it did me vs Miracles a few times. I think the way to go is MB 4 Vial 4 GSZ 1 Qasali 1 Rec.Sage. The Rec.Sage is better than the 2nd Qasali because you can also cast it with just a green mana and is better against Counterbalance and Omniscience.
    I've liked a 17th land Tundra recently. Combines well with Bayou, fetchable by Misty & Heath & helps cast sb countermagic, meddling mage, prelate.
    I will need more testing to analyze stuff further. Starting tomorrow :)

  10. #110

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Awesome report, Dan


    Skickat från min iPhone med Tapatalk

  11. #111

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Opening the Source after months and seeing this thread in the top of the page has given me an heart attack =)
    Anyway, i'm not been playing very much in the last 6 months: but the Meta hasn't changed much, so i'll try to take this wonderfull deck again in the future.
    Later i'll read the last posts more carefully, anyway what i was brainstorming is:

    -Opposition, for me, is a very strong card right now. Eldrazi (here is well spread) should be a bad MU and Opposition is fuc*ing insane against them, and it's always good against midrange, tempo and some rogue decks.
    -Vial is a very good card that, unfortunately, works bad with Opposition, Fauna shaman and so on: i encourage you to try it, it has many props and many cons.
    -I hate FoW: i think we have to accept to lose against fast/hard combo in g1 if OTD, they are too clunky in too many MU, a bad topdeck and so on: moreover, it limits you very much in the deckbuilding phase
    -I think that Prelate is the best card for this deck in the last 4 years or so. I would play the 4x of it, being able to play it a t2 very often with 8 dorks (another cons about vial).
    -If we will stick with 0 vial and many dorks i think that some Gaea's Craddle and a Mirror Entity would be amazing
    -Vial and GSZ are contro-synergic
    -Leovold! Another creazy card we have to play!

  12. #112
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    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Thanks Alexeezay and JackaBo! Great to have you back, Memories!! Looking forward to all of your posts, from all of you!

    Regarding Eldrazi, it's fading out of fashion it seems and I think it means we will need to pay some extra respect to fast combo again. Recently I tested double Leylines of Sanctity and the Void which cover most of the fast combo decks, at least slowing them down enough that we get a chance to interact. Except for Sneak and Show but we have other tools for that matchup. ... It also means we may not need Opposition that much after all, depending on local meta of course.

    You may be right regarding Prelates, I think I will get a third one to see how it goes.

  13. #113
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    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Ok, so I tested a tiny bit more yesterday
    > Vials are not for me I think. Mana dorks set your game up faster. Most common/best starts are dork into GSZ X=2 or like Mother/2-drop, t2 prelate/leovold or similar...I'm also happy to draw dorks later on to discard them for Fauna, activate Opposition or clog up the board. Vial clearly has minus points here.
    > Meren overperformed, but I like Sigarda vs Karakas. Thoughts on 2nd Meren?
    > Red is still worth it. Enough tools vs Lands/Eldrazi now so Magus of the Moon got cut after bad experiences with Moons, but I like Keranos/Domri over Garruk (Keranos is untouchable and Domri comes early as 3-drop). Izzet Staticaster is more versatile than Orzhov Pontiff #2.
    > Peacekeeper > Selfless Squire. I tested versus Infect and you need the faster answer versus some decks.
    > I have only 1 Prelate so still on 4 Mages but that might switch up in the future.
    > Is 3 Opposition one too many? Should I cut 4th Mother and/or 8th Dork to fit in Bone Shredder or Decay? Shredder would be sweet with the Merens.
    > that leads me to: how necessary is Gaddock Teeg today with all the other hatebears? He hinders your own Opposition/GSZ/MBTrap. I like how he stops Engineered Explosives, Jace and Terminus at once...
    > 17th land Tundra, yes/no? Isn't only 16 lands too greedy? Maybe we need 1-2 Cradle as @Memories mentioned.
    > I realized that Scavenging Ooze is not the best in this deck because it`s so mana hungry. Maybe we should cut Ooze? I never searched for it so far.
    > Rishkar, Peema Renegade might be good here. He canget creatures out of kozilek's return/pontiff/persecution range and push our mana household for Meren/Zenith.
    > still don't know if I should and how to fit in some Abrupt Decay.
    > Note that this +sideboard is built mainly expecting these decks: Death&Taxes, Reanimator/Dredge, Miracles, Eldrazi, BGx, some Lands, some Infect, some Elves.
    Maindeck
    1 Forest
    2 Bayou
    2 Savannah
    2 Tropical Island
    1 Taiga
    1 Tundra
    4 Misty Rainforest
    4 Windswept Heath

    4 Green Sun's Zenith
    3 Opposition

    1 Dryad Arbor
    4 Birds of Paradise
    4 Deathrite Shaman
    4 Mother of Runes
    4 Fauna Shaman
    4 Meddling Mage
    2 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
    2 Qasali Pridemage
    1 Quirion Ranger
    1 Scryb Ranger
    1 Scavenging Ooze
    1 Gilded Drake
    1 Izzet Staticaster
    1 Gaddock Teeg
    1 Shriekmaw
    1 Sanctum Prelate
    1 Merieke Ri Berit
    1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
    1 Tradewind Rider

    Sideboard
    3 Faerie Macabre
    3 Pithing Needle
    1 Invasive Surgery
    2 Mindbreak Trap
    1 Domri Rade
    1 Keranos, God of Storms
    1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
    1 Orzhov Pontiff
    1 Peacekeeper
    1 Flex slot - Abrupt Decay or Collected Company. Thoughts? Gaddock here would give me Bone Shredder or Pontiff main.
    Last edited by Alexeezay; 02-16-2017 at 01:32 PM.

  14. #114
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    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    I wrote a sideboard guide for the list above. Maybe it will be useful for you!

    Fauna Green (MOST) – Sideboardplan 15.02.2017
    Miracles: +3 Pithing Needle +1 Keranos +1 Domri Rade +1 Invasive Surgery +1 Collected Company
    -3 Opposition -1 Gilded Drake -1 Merieke -1 Scavenging Ooze 1 Quirion Ranger

    Death & Taxes: +3 Pithing Needle +1 Orzhov Pontiff +1 Domri Rade +1 Keranos
    -3 Meddling Mage -1 Sanctum Prelate -1 Gaddock Teeg -1 Gilded Drake

    Grixis Delver: +1 Peacekeeper +1 Orzhov Pontiff +1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
    -1 Gilded Drake -1 Gaddock Teeg -1 Tradewind Rider

    Shardless BUG: +1 Keranos +1 Collected Company +1 Needle -1 Gilded Drake -1 Qasali Pridemage

    Lands: +3 Faerie Macabre +3 Pithing Needle +1 Invasive Surgery(on the play)
    -1 Shriekmaw -1 Gaddock Teeg -1 Gilded Drake -1 Izzet Staticaster -1 Meren -1 Tradewind Rider

    4C Loam: +2 Faerie Macabre -1 Gaddock Teeg -1 Tradewind Rider < Overboarding here seems bad

    Maverick: +3 Pithing Needle +1 Keranos +1 Domri Rade +1 Orzhov Pontiff
    -4 Meddling Mage(depends on their version) -1 Gaddock Teeg -1 Sanctum Prelate

    Dark Depths: +3 Pithing Needle +1 Peacekeeper
    -1 Gaddock Teeg -1 Izzet Staticaster -1 Leovold -1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth

    Eldrazi: +1 Peacekeeper +1 Collected Company -1 Gaddock Teeg -1 Sanctum Prelate

    BR Reanimator: +3 Faerie Macabre +3 Pithing Needle +2 Mindbreak Trap +1 Surgery +1 Peacekeeper
    -4 Mother of Runes(not sure though) -2 Qasali Pridemage -2 Meren -1 Izzet Staticaster -1 Gaddock Teeg (mind Sneak Attack)

    Dredge: +3 Faerie Macabre +1 Invasive Surgery +1 Peacekeeper (+3 Needle vs. Manaless Dredge)
    -3 Opposition -1 Shriekmaw -1 Merieke (-3 Meddling Mage vs. Manaless Dredge)

    Show & Tell: +3 Pithing Needle +1 Invasive Surgery +1 Peacekeeper +1 Collected Company
    -2 Meren -1 Izzet Staticaster -1 Scavenging Ooze - some Rangers or Dorks. No idea what to cut lol :(

    Storm: +2 Mindbreak Trap +1 Invasive Surgery +1 Kambal +1 Orzhov Pontiff (+3 Faerie Macabre)
    -2 Meren -1 Shriekmaw -1 Gilded Drake -1 Merieke (-3 Opposition)

    Elves: +1 Invasive Surgery +1 Orzhov Pontiff +1 Peacekeeper +2 Pithing Needle (Wirewood Symbiote)
    -2 Qasali -1 Meren -1 Merieke -1 Gilded Drake

    Infect: +3 Pithing Needle +1 Peacekeeper +1 Orzhov Pontiff +1 Domri Rade
    -2 Meren -1 Gilded Drake -1 Scavenging Ooze -2 Green Sun’s Zenith

  15. #115
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    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Vial:
    Mana creatures are there for mana accelleration, Vials are there for utility, uncounterability, mana fixing and "mana advantage" (investing 1 mana to get 10-20 mana back over a game). Also most answers to Vial cost more than Vial so it's often a tempo advantage. Vialing in an important creature at end of turn is super valuable, for example a common situation is to Vial in Mother of Runes which gives her pseudo-haste. Do the same with Merieke and you have a potential game winner. Also Vialing in Glen Elendra when you have a favorable board state is another potential game winner. Perhaps of equal importance to that of the utility aspect, allowing us to come back after a sweeper is also very relevant (Vial is not affected by most sweepers, Jokulhaups aside). And Miracles being a top deck makes this so important, I think. Vial does so much in this deck and costs so little. What you give up is the speed, but even with the 3 Vials in my list I still have 5 mana dorks + 4 GSZ's that can potentially grab Dryad Arbor. That's effectively more than the 8 mana dork TNN-BUG-decks, which are playing loads of mana acceleration. If you want to go the Opposition route then I understand if you want to maximize your cheap creatures, but I think it's wrong due to a) Terminus, b) the Tabernacle at Pendrell vale, c) Toxic Deluge, d) Golgari Charm, e) Pyrokineses, f) Zealous Persecution, g) Pyroclasm etc.

    2nd Meren:
    This deck is good, partly, because we can use the Demonic Tutor Bear to tutor for any creature in the deck, so we want to maximize the amount of unique creatures with abilities that are game breaking in certain scenarios. Meren is not particularly good in your starting hand, if your opponent plays Terminus/Swords to Plowshares, or if there is efficient graveyard hate around such as the omnipresent Deathrite Shaman. Furthermore Meren no 2 is not needed if you haven't used your Meren no 1. Usually when I reach the game state where I need Meren no 1, the opponent is out of removal in hand or I have an active Mother of Runes. Meren has worked great for me too, but the times I need a second one, so far, are relatively scarce. Make sure you use the first Meren effectively. Every once in a while you won't be able to, for me this hasn't happened very frequently. It's definitely a powerful strategy, at any number of copies. I would consider a copy of Eternal Witness before the second Meren - getting back Vial, lands or Jitte (or Opposition for you) as well as the first Meren could be great.

    Peacekeeper > Selfless Squire
    Peacekeeper is definitely a very strong card, the effect is stronger than that of the Squire. What I like about Squire is that he can turn a loss into a win. Yes, he can single-handedly win you a game, out of nowhere. What I don't like about Peacekeeper is that it shuts down the game, until either you have built up a board that can win or, quite often, until the opponent finds enough removal, bounce, a sweeper or land destruction. Peacekeeper also helps create drawn out games, draws and depending on the meta I try to choose cards that help you win fast rather than lose slowly. It's partly why I finally skipped Tradewind Rider who tended to work the same way and also incidentally I usually used together with Peacekeeper to reach that favorable winning board state (or bouncing Peacekeeper eot, attacking and then Vialing in again). If Infect is all over your meta I can understand you feel a need for Peacekeeper.

    3 Oppositions?
    I never played more than 2 Oppositions (not even sure i played 2) so I have a hard time commenting on that, but Abrupt Decay is extremely useful in removing opponents' game-winning cards such as Jitte, Counterbalance, Mother of Runes, Delver, Goyf, Tracker, Sylvan, KotR, Mentor, Confidant, Vial vs Tribal, etc.

    17th land Tundra?
    I rarely feel like playing more than 16 lands, Vial probably helps with that. I heard the Brainstorm Show [sorry, actually it was Legacy Breakfast - I hope no one tried finding the episode yet] discuss a similar deck, and actually referencing this thread (which was nice, great podcast by the way), and they even thought 16 lands seemed way too much. With the 4 Meddling Mages in your list I can understand the need, perhaps it's worth it. My WW-cards and UU can be tough too, but Vial helps.

    Scavenging Ooze:
    I like it a lot, life gain is very relevant, one of the few large creatures in the deck (regularly goes to like 8/8), good lifegainer for damage races and crucial graveyard-interaction vs e.g. Lands. And GSZ-able at that. I encourage you to try other choices but be aware that he fills a couple of roles in the deck and does it very well with superb tutorability.

    Rishkar:
    I've been considering him too. I've been thinking that if you have a Knight of the Reliquary and a Karakas in the deck then you can use Vial + Karakas to boost your creatures every turn. Which is not one of the stronger Karakas-Vial interactions but may be enough to make him a valid choice. I was also thinking of playing some expensive card that Rishkar lets you hardcast rather than cheat in. If choosing either of those strategies then I can see playing Rishkar. But if he's only giving 2 counters and the mana ability I don't think it seems strong enough. Actually, you can compare him to Shaman of the Great hunt and the latter brings a lot more to the table for one mana more.

    Will need to get back to you with other comments (and corrections to this post) later.
    Last edited by pettdan; 02-17-2017 at 03:30 AM.

  16. #116
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    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Thanks for your comments!
    Alright, going to give 3 Ather Vial 4 Birds 1 DRS a shot tomorrow.
    Gonna cut Tundra+Oppo #3 for 2 Decays.
    Meren #2 will probably be TNN. Sigarda with Vials and less mana guys seems amibitious :D
    If I get my hands on Rishkar tomorrow I'll try him out. I might try Crystal Shard and Karakas in place of Decays then :D this way you have another card for S&T and even D&T. Also Meren and Merieke are legends :)
    You convinced me to keep Selfless Squire sb.
    I'm not convinced of Glen Elendra anymore, but it might be worth it just for the recursion with Meren which is also good against grindy decks.
    The thing about Vial and all these Leylines is that they suck if they aren't in your starting hand. Well, they are too slow then. Vial is still fine on t2/t3 in grindy matches I suppose.

  17. #117
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    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Just to be clear, I'm not really trying to talk you out of anything, rather motivating my own card selections. I'm sure you can find even stronger synergies. Though I suggest you try my list once.

    Regarding Glen Elendra it's great when you have a good start and can keep a Fauna Shaman in play and tick Vial up to 4. At that point your basically unbeatable since instant speed tutoring up and vialling in Glen Elendra to answer the next two topdecks your opponent needs to turn your favorable board state into an unfavorable one makes it very hard for them. Especially good strategy vs Miracles, but also can be a good enough soft lock vs combo decks once you reach 4-5 mana (depending on if you have Ranger to untap a mana dork during opponent's turn).
    With that said do as you feel like! :)

    Cards I want to play include Spell Queller, Goblin Welder, Grand Architect, Krenko and Grenzo...

  18. #118
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    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Spell Queller might just be better than the Vendilion Clique in your list.
    Grenzo, wow. Never thought about that. It can put basically every creature you reveal with it into play. This would probably be in your Shaman of the Great Hunt slot.
    Hmm...what is Goblin Welder going to achieve? The only artifacts are Vial and maybe 1 Jitte.
    Krenko seems clunky and weird without any other Goblins. Maybe it's fine alongside Goblin Sharpshooter or similar?
    Grand Architect is a cheaper lord than the Lieges for your blue creatures. But again, the mana ability for artifacts doesn't really find any use here unless you were to include something like Verdurous Gearhulk lol.

  19. #119

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Ok, i haven't retaken the deck yet, but some points:

    The biggest one is Vial/Dorks/other mixes.

    -Vial is a 4x, playing less than 4 is nosense, you want it t1 or its utility decreases.
    -Vial is a strange card here: has some big synergies, first of all the ability to istant play the tutored card: this is awesome, i have tons of memories (lol) about some weird and game-breaker plays you can do.
    -At the same time it could be awkard: doesn't recycle itself with Fauna, doesn't boost your mana and doesn't interact with Quirion ranger ecc.

    What i'm saying is that there are two major ways to build this deck:,

    -Tap/stap effect, swarming creature, 8x dorks and almost no other spells: great with Opposition, Mirror Entity, Gaea's Craddle, Domri rade, CoCo, Sublime Archangel, GRENZO
    Props: most beautifull, tricky, very strong if doesn't fall in the first 3/4 turns
    Cons: very fragile, miracle is hard as every mass removal. Probably the only version where FoW has a sense

    Vial version:
    17/18 lands, 4 vial 4 Drs 1 Bop (26 cards in total, roughly).
    Istant effect, Miracle is a very good mu, a tons of tricky things
    Cons: Said above + bad topdecks - creatures ecc

    With vial GSZ is a big no, at least as 1x could be ok but it's antisynergic: Eladamri's Call is way better

  20. #120
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    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    I aired my opinion on the amount of Vials to be played in the post referenced below, and my views haven't changed. There is no synergy between Vials encouraging the play of more copies, no other cards that depend on it, deck strategy isn't depending on it (no Rishadan Ports), I wouldn't play 5+ copies if I could.... Change any number of Vials into dorks until you reach the explosiveness/creature count you prefer; it's a trade-off between various properties of the deck. Compare this choice with Nic Fit usually playing 3- SDT, Maverick often playing 3 Thalia GT's or MoR's, even Miracles playing 3 Termini occasionally (probably not a very good example). I have never felt a problem with playing 3 Vials and 3 GSZ's, it's because of the high creature count. I could try Eladamri's call as a one of, but I think the mana acceleration of GSZ is too valuable to miss out on.

    http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...l=1#post856704

    Krenko:
    With a Ranger in play you have 8 goblins after 1 turn and 64 after 2 turns.

    Grand Architect & Welder:
    The deck must be changed, of course. G.A.with a Ranger and random blue creature in play give 6 mana for casting artifact creatures (!) while also boosting your creatures. Pretty sweet. Welder can play a role in such a deck because it's an extremely resource effective way to cheat in a huge beast. Would play 1 Wurmcoil (loves Welder) and 1 artifact monster (sphinx? Inkwell Leviathan?). Strix actually works with both Welder and G.A., usually it seems too low impact to find place for it but in an artifact centered build it gets better. Meddling mage seems great with G.A., well lots of work remains to create such a list, I just wanted to share a few ideas.

    Mirror Entity is probably a reason to do a Cradle build and Grenzo probably fits there too. Sounds like KotR could go there too, making Cradle less random and then you may want a Karakas too. I tried adding KotR and Karakas/Cradle a few times but failed.

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