Page 5 of 9 FirstFirst 123456789 LastLast
Results 81 to 100 of 169

Thread: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

  1. #81
    Member
    Alexeezay's Avatar
    Join Date

    Jun 2010
    Location

    Germany
    Posts

    238

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Hello,
    the decks looks really interesting, not sure if it's actually good in a competitive metagame but I will try it in the next tournament just for fun.
    I will probably play Spell Pierces instead of Force of Will and a 3rd Domri in the 75. Not sure how the lack of FoW will affect it, but I suppose that only the all-in-fast-combo matchup will suffer. I could still play Forces in the Sb though or Mindbreak Trap, but my metagame doesn't even have fast combo sometimes.

    Questions:
    What's the point of playing Murkfiend Liege?

    Why Stromgald Cabal in the SB? Miracles? Pretty cool... what about Anger to go with it and the other tap creatures?

    What about full 4 GSZ and Deathrite Shaman instead of Noble Hierarch? (of course with more fetchlands). It makes cards like Gaddock Teeg and Fauna Shaman more accessible and provides GY hate.

    How to trump decks with Knight of the Reliquary, Tarmogoyf, Nemesis other than Merike? Or has it not been a problem because of Tradewind Rider? I could see running Jittes or Sword of Fire and Ice in the sb, Sword is also good vs control.

    Overall I think this deck needs a little bit more focus, would also play the full 4 Mother of Runes and 2nd Quirion Ranger because that guy is pretty good here.

  2. #82
    Member
    pettdan's Avatar
    Join Date

    Mar 2013
    Location

    Stockholm, Sweden
    Posts

    704

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Hi Alex,
    I'm not an expert with this deck but I've played it occasionally for about a year I think so I'll give some answers.

    Murkfiend Liege:
    The deck sports a lot of creature tap/untap effects, so untapping all your creatures can be like timewalking depending on board state. Tradewind is probably the most effective one, you can go for extra Deathrite activations, Merieke like you mentioned, Izzet Staticaster killing more, your mana often comes from creatures so you get to untap and play flash creatures like Clique/Scryb Ranger, you can attack and keep your creatures around for blocking, force creatures through with mother and still get to untap her to use for blocking (and always with Quirion/Scryb ranger around to deal with any single bolt/sword/decay) even though you are using your Mother.

    In addition to this he's a large creature and turning your hoard of control creatures into a threat that can usually end the game within a few turns: 3/3 Fauna Shamans and Meddling Mages, 1/2 BoP's, 4/5 Derevi, 2/5 Tradewind, 4/4 Edric, 4/2 TNN.

    Stromgald:
    This seems to be an experiment, cool and worth trying but against the white decks I think Swords and Terminus are usually the biggest threats and Meddling Mage who is very flexible and already maindecked does a good job of answering those... at a lower mana cost, and no summoning sickness drawback.

    4 GSZ:
    Yes, this is a good idea. My last build has 4 FoW's and so due to the blue count requirements I'm not playing the full playset. It is a very good card, getting your Ranger in most games or a Qasali/Gaddock/Ooze/Safekeeper/Rhox War Monk as bullets in specific matchups.

    4 Deathrite Shaman:
    Usually you need to get mana from your creatures. With Deathrite you risk running low on lands in graveyards quickly. A mana creature is regularly used 2 times per turn in the early game which will be enabled by a single Quirion/Scryb Ranger. Sometimes the opponent doesn't play a fetch, sometimes you won't, and in those games you don't want to be stuck with 2+ Deathrites.

    KotR, Goyf, TNN:
    The TNN is hard to interact with, you can race it - very possible with fliers, Mothers to make unblockable and often many exalted triggers - Rafiq is great at speeding up your clock by the way, I randomly attacked for 10 with a Clique on turn 3 a while ago.
    - Or you can gain life to just ignore it. Rhox War Monk with a mother and a few exalted triggers is very good at this. Equipment can gain the life needed, or Ooze + Deathrite.

    Usually TNN is the biggest problem since it is likely to have a Jitte equipped to it. Jitte must be stopped at all costs. Qasali does a great job at this, while also giving you exalted to beef your offences and stopping any counterbalance, Aether Vial or other troublesome permanents.

    Otherwise you can use Mother to block a Goyf, Marit Lage or Knight forever. Dryad arbor + Ranger also do the trick. Or Merieke, Tradewind or Scavenging Ooze.

    4 Mothers are usually played, take a look at some of the previous lists posted in this thread.

    I usually play 3 versions of the Quirion Ranger: Scryb Ranger and the rather similar Derevi. They all have their advantages, I like the variation of the three. And the 3-4 GSZ's to help you find them.

    Do try the deck, it is a lot of fun to play but games can go long. Try to pack an aggressive finisher, Sublime Archangel or Rafiq of the Many for example.

    Edit: Regarding Force of Will, it is good vs combo but personally I want it for stopping an early Liliana, or the frustrating Golgari Charms that tend to have a large impact on the board. Not to mention Toxic Deluge. Actually Gitaxian Probe + Meddling Mage could probably do this job too, some versions host that combination..

  3. #83
    Member
    Alexeezay's Avatar
    Join Date

    Jun 2010
    Location

    Germany
    Posts

    238

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Ok, thanks for your answers. Makes sense! Here is my list & I know I need something vs Elves, Orzhov Pontiff or Izzet Staticaster. I'm just not sure, they are very hard to cast!

    Creatures (34)
    • 4x Birds of Paradise
    • 1x Deathrite Shaman
    • 1x Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
    • 1x Dryad Arbor
    • 1x Edric, Spymaster of Trest
    • 4x Fauna Shaman
    • 1x Gaddock Teeg
    • 4x Meddling Mage
    • 1x Merieke Ri Berit
    • 4x Mother of Runes
    • 1x Murkfiend Liege
    • 2x Noble Hierarch
    • 1x Phyrexian Revoker
    • 1x Qasali Pridemage
    • 1x Quirion Ranger
    • 1x Scavenging Ooze
    • 1x Scryb Ranger
    • 1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
    • 1x Squee, Goblin Nabob
    • 2x Tradewind Rider
    Land (16)
    • 1x Bayou
    • 2x Forest
    • 4x Misty Rainforest
    • 2x Savannah
    • 1x Taiga
    • 2x Tropical Island
    • 4x Wooded Foothills
    Instant (4)
    • 1x Collected Company
    • 3x Spell Pierce
    Sorcery (4)
    • 4x Green Sun's Zenith
    Planeswalker (2)
    • 2x Domri Rade
    Sideboard (15)
    • 1x Collected Company
    • 1x Ethersworn Canonist
    • 2x Flusterstorm
    • 1x Gaddock Teeg
    • 2x Mindbreak Trap
    • 1x Null Rod
    • 1x Pithing Needle
    • 1x Reclamation Sage
    • 2x Rest in Peace
    • 1x Sower of Temptation
    • 1x Stromgald Cabal
    • 1x Winter Orb

    I like to test out the new DTK card Collected Company because it's similar to Chord of Calling but also very different. It's pretty good to find Hatebears or to use it as CA in attrition matchups! I'm also looking at Lead the Stampede.
    The sideboard is constructed versus Combo, Miracles, Blade.
    The 2 RIPs are for GY decks because I want to have a chance in those matchups.
    I could see cutting RIPs or MBTraps for Elves hate!

    What do you think?
    Last edited by Alexeezay; 03-21-2015 at 12:25 PM.

  4. #84
    Member
    Alexeezay's Avatar
    Join Date

    Jun 2010
    Location

    Germany
    Posts

    238

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Also, have you thought of Vengevines or is it just bad in the face of Terminus? I mean it's good against everything else.

  5. #85
    Member
    pettdan's Avatar
    Join Date

    Mar 2013
    Location

    Stockholm, Sweden
    Posts

    704

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    It's hard to say how a list is going to perform. I didn't try Domri yet, I'm intending to but never managed to fit him into a list. Collected Company also seems like it may be worth a slot or two, allowing recovery after sweepers alternatively getting a stronger board position. It lacks in that both Fauna Shaman and GSZ lets you find the exact creature you want. Will be interesting to see if it performs well, please come back with your comments!

    I usually try to stick to a bant list with only a small splash for a few red or black cards. But it can be played with 5c I think with 4 bops and the ability to fetch a single taiga or bayou. Aether Vials might help too, more on that below.

    Murkfiend Liege I didn't play for a while. It tends to be slight overkill I think, but do try it.

    Vs Elves you can start with a Meddling Mage for Glimpse and then next turn hopefully GSZ for Gaddock to stop any Natural Order. Or the other way around, depending on how soon the opponent can play Natural Order I guess. A good card vs elves is Peacekeeper, elves usually don't have an answer for it so it will allow you to get a Merieke or Tradewind into play and then bounce or take control of everything. Similarly Angus McKenzie is good, slightly slower but can be GSZ'ed for (even slower, getting Gaddock is probably better).

    I do recommend you to eventually try out Aether Vial, it helps since you can ignore color requirements, helps you sneak a Mother into play end of turn so it survives until it loses the summoning sickness, it lets you stop miracle-effects with Meddling Mage/Gaddock, makes counterspells irrelevant. It's harder to kill than a regular mana creatures and it makes you less vulnerable to sweepers. And it's a lot of fun with an active Fauna Shaman. Slightly slower though.

    Squee sees little play since Deathrite is so common. Still you don't actually lose any cards by having it removed from the graveyard so it may be worth it; if not prevented it's a superb card advantage engine with Fauna Shaman.

    Vengevine I haven't tried. It's a bit uninspiring since it doesn't add any control element to the deck, packing four of them takes up a lot of space and it isn't that big compared to e.g. Goyf and Tasigur. But still worth testing, it's a bit slow getting 3-4 of them into the graveyard but once there it will be hard for an opponent to get rid of them. Maybe it could be a sideboard option vs removal heavy decks and control decks...

    Good luck with your list!

  6. #86
    Member
    Alexeezay's Avatar
    Join Date

    Jun 2010
    Location

    Germany
    Posts

    238

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Okay so I tried this list on a private tournament yesterday (perfect chance to test):
    • 4x Birds of Paradise
    • 2x Noble Hierarch
    • 1x Dryad Arbor
    • 1x Edric, Spymaster of Trest
    • 4x Fauna Shaman
    • 1x Gaddock Teeg
    • 4x Meddling Mage
    • 1x Merieke Ri Berit
    • 4x Mother of Runes
    • 1x Murkfiend Liege
    • 1x Peacekeeper
    • 1x Phyrexian Revoker
    • 1x Qasali Pridemage
    • 1x Quirion Ranger
    • 1x Scavenging Ooze
    • 1x Scryb Ranger
    • 1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
    • 1x Spellskite
    • 2x Tradewind Rider
    • 1x Collected Company
    • 1x Negate
    • 2x Spell Pierce
    • 4x Green Sun's Zenith
    • 2x Domri Rade
    Lands (17)
    • 1x Bayou
    • 2x Forest
    • 4x Misty Rainforest
    • 2x Savannah
    • 1x Taiga
    • 2x Tropical Island
    • 4x Wooded Foothills
    • 1x Windswept Heath

    Sideboard
    1x Collected Company
    1x Ethersworn Canonist
    2x Mindbreak Trap
    1x Izzet Staticaster
    1x Null Rod
    1x Pithing Needle
    1x Reclamation Sage
    1x Relic of Progenitus
    1x Faerie Macabre
    1x Sower of Temptation
    1x Stromgald Cabal
    1x Swan Song
    2x Winter Orb

    1) Storm. It seemed really easy...but only because I had drawn the Izzet Staticaster Game2 when he made 14 Goblins.
    2) Death and Taxes. This match took way too much time because my opponent tried the deck for the first time and Merieke gives headaches.
    With more time to play I would have won 2-1 I think, Game1 I lost to his Sword of Fire and Ice even though I destroyed Umezawa's Jitte with Pridemage. Can't deal with them all...SoFi gives Pro Blue so even Tradewind and Merieke don't help.
    Conclusion: I might need RecSage or Q.Pridemage #2 in the main for 2nd/3rd equipments.

    3) Lands. Seriously, this matchup is super bad I think. He had 2 god hands with T3 Marit Lage kill...but even Tabernacle is huge.
    We played some more test games where the 1st was really interesting. I had Meddling Mage on Loam that attacked him for 3 each turn with Exalted, since he didn't have anything else. While I unfortunately stumbled because of Tabernacle upkeep costs, he found Punishing Fire eventually and that's game. Still, there were interesting spots vs Lands.
    Conclusion: I need Magus of the Moon & Winter Orbs stay or become Blood Moons.

    4) Miracles: I think it's a good matchup as long as they don't topdeck Entreat the Angels. He was really struggling in the games but the one he miracled Terminus miracled Entreat, no chance obv. Tradewind, Meddling, Gaddock Teeg & Revoker are MVP here. Another deck why you would want Vial, Orb, Moon.

    Other conclusions: - Peacekeeper in the Maindeck seems to be too narrow. Izzet Staticaster is really good in a meta with DnT/Elves/TES and so on, better maindeck choice now.
    - Mindbreak Trap also too narrow.
    - During testing I figured what Derevi would have done. Absolutely nothing other than vs DnT/grindy creature games where you're already fine. Not needed
    - The 3-4 times I got to cast Collected Company (I always boarded in the 2nd copy), it was bad. Maybe I was just unlucky, I only got 1 creature most of the time and a Meddling Mage or Mother isn't so insane.
    More testing is needed here with both copies MD.
    - Stromgald Cabal is too hard to cast and narrow.
    - The deck can have problems with big creatures of flyers sometimes
    - Spellskite was useless
    - Spell Pierce & Negate were Meh, not impressed, I think we're better off with creatures or Aether Vial.
    - Quirion/Scryb Ranger are really important, play a 3rd.
    - Sigarda while an untouchable big guy was only good when I was in a winning position already & all the other times it was just too expensive/bad. I think Vendilion Clique is better.
    - Domri Rade felt clunky because of Red Mana but might be a house. It makes fetch lands awkward and you don't always have Birds available.
    - 4 Meddling Mages are awesome!

    Changes:
    Sideboard -2 Mindbreak Trap, -1 Stromgald Cabal, -1 Collected Company, -1 Reclamation Sage
    +2 Flusterstorm, +1 Swan Song, +1 Peacekeeper, +1 Magus of the Moon,

    Maindeck -2 Spell Pierce, -1 Negate, -1 Spellskite, -1 Peacekeeper,
    +1 Collected Company, +1 Reclamation Sage , +1 Vendilion Clique, +1 Scryb Ranger, +1 Izzet Staticaster

    That's it for now. Before I try Vial I want to test Domri & Company. Let's see!
    Last edited by Alexeezay; 03-30-2015 at 07:22 AM.

  7. #87
    Member
    Alexeezay's Avatar
    Join Date

    Jun 2010
    Location

    Germany
    Posts

    238

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Btw...is this the apropriate thread for this now or do we need a new one called MOST?

  8. #88
    Member
    pettdan's Avatar
    Join Date

    Mar 2013
    Location

    Stockholm, Sweden
    Posts

    704

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    I suggested a new thread a while ago too. I think it would be more appropriate for Memories to have it created but it's not that important who creates it. Still..

  9. #89

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Quote Originally Posted by pettdan View Post
    I suggested a new thread a while ago too. I think it would be more appropriate for Memories to have it created but it's not that important who creates it. Still..
    I would like to write it, but a complete New Thread will be a great effort due to its intricacy, expecially in english...
    Anyway, i leave to you my last list: i think it's the most efficient and solid Most list possibile. I've had to cut some techs because... the meta demands it. Plus, No+prog is a dumb but strong option that could win the game vs midrange alone, and... we need it. As any top legacy deck, sadly.

    4 Misty Rainforest
    4 Verdant Catacombs
    2 Savannah
    2 Tropical Island
    1 Windswept Heath
    1 Birds of Paradise
    1 Forest
    2 Bayou

    4 Deathrite Shaman
    4 Fauna Shaman
    1 Qasali Pridemage
    1 Scavenging Ooze
    1 Peacekeeper
    1 Tradewind Rider
    1 Gaddock Teeg
    4 Meddling Mage
    1 Vendilion Clique
    1 Scryb Ranger
    4 Mother of Runes
    3 Abrupt Decay
    1 Sylvan Library
    4 AEther Vial
    2 Eladamri's Call
    1 Merieke Ri Berit
    2 Mirri's Guile
    1 Spirit of the Labyrinth
    1 Eternal Witness
    4 Natural Order
    1 Progenitus
    1 Dryad Arbor

    SB: 4 Thoughtseize
    SB: 3 Surgical Extraction
    SB: 1 Glen Elendra Archmage
    SB: 3 Pithing Needle
    SB: 1 Containment Priest
    SB: 1 Spellskite
    SB: 1 Abrupt Decay
    SB: 1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed

  10. #90
    Member
    Alexeezay's Avatar
    Join Date

    Jun 2010
    Location

    Germany
    Posts

    238

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    I'm not sure about NO. If feels like a bad Elves deck then...

  11. #91

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Quote Originally Posted by Alexeezay View Post
    I'm not sure about NO. If feels like a bad Elves deck then...
    Nah, NO here plays the same role as Elves: a rude way to go when the sophisticated one can't go on.

  12. #92
    Member
    pettdan's Avatar
    Join Date

    Mar 2013
    Location

    Stockholm, Sweden
    Posts

    704

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Not too well written but we're back in action! :)

    I was lucky enough to go 3-1 in our local weekly tournament. Good showing with ~40 players I think. Extremely fun deck to play..

    Main deck:
    2 Meddling Mage
    1 Patron Wizard
    1 Glenn Elendra Archmage
    1 Merieke Ri Berit
    1 Vendilion Clique
    1 Tradewind Rider
    1 Leovold
    1 Izzet Staticaster
    3 Mother of Runes
    1 Stoneforge Mystic
    2 Umezawa's Jitte
    3 Qasali Pridemage
    1 True Name Nemesis
    1 Rhox War Monk
    1 Scavenging Ooze
    4 Fauna Shaman
    1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
    3 Abrupt Decay
    1 Sylvan Library

    3 Greens Sun's Zenith
    2 Deathrite Shaman
    3 Birds of Paradise
    3 Aether Vial
    1 Quirion Ranger
    1 Scryb Ranger
    1 Dryad Arbor

    3 Tropical Island
    2 Savannah
    2 Bayou
    1 Forest
    8 fetches

    Sb:
    1 Magus of the Moon
    1 Peacekeeper
    1 Meddling Mage
    1 Gaddock Teeg
    2 Orzhov Pontiff
    2 Aura Shards
    2 Absolute Law
    2 Pithing Needle
    1 Retribution of the Meek
    1 Opposition
    1 Zur's Weirding

    G1: pox
    Won over pox, Meren + Vial great. He was late so I got a game win.

    G2: MUD
    Won 2-1, stars were Merieke, Aura Shards. Also Clique getting a threatening Karn out of his hand and a Gaddock to stop Ugin/Karn from ruining the party.

    G3: Reanimator 0-2
    He won the die roll and eot entombed Griselbees with my summoning sick Deathrite watching lazily.. Second game I mulliganed to 5 trying to get quick interaction but failed to find something: ramp, Deathrite, GSZ for Arbor/Ooze. Had a start with Vial + 2 Fauna Shamans which was to slow for his t2 Grisel t3 Elesh Norn. Wasn't too far from being able to get Merieke or Peacekeeper into play using Fauna + Vial, will put a Gilddd Drake into the sb as an out to Elesh. I was kind of gambling on not meeting fast combo whfn putting the sb together which hurt in this matchup.

    G4: 2-1 Maverick
    It turns out Thalia, Heretic Cathar is very difficult to play against. He drew pretty badly, drawing loads of lands in G1 which he eventually sacked to his Safekeeper to keep my Merieke from stealing his Thalia HT, he ran out of lands with me at 2 lifepoints. Second game he plays Thalia HT and then some equipment; I die before I hit 3 mana to play Aura Shards and then a creature.. or much else for that matter. True-Name was great, Aura Shards too.

    So much fun to play this deck again, I stopped during the Treasure Cruise era since cruise + bolt + stp felt miserable. However I think this deck has a pretty good Miracles matchup and can be tweaked to have a good Eldrazi matchup. Or if it's the other way around..
    Last edited by pettdan; 10-06-2016 at 04:33 PM.

  13. #93

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    No love for a singleton Sanctum Prelate? :) Also, has anybody every experimented with Retreat to Coralhelm in such a shell?

  14. #94
    Member
    pettdan's Avatar
    Join Date

    Mar 2013
    Location

    Stockholm, Sweden
    Posts

    704

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Quote Originally Posted by Philipp2293 View Post
    No love for a singleton Sanctum Prelate? :) Also, has anybody every experimented with Retreat to Coralhelm in such a shell?
    Retreat is interesting but a main feature of the deck is that Fauna Shaman basically turns every creature in the deck into kind of a Demonic Tutor. So you want to have creatures. Still it's very synergetic, with the Rangers you're usually playing a land every turn so there'll be lots of tapping/untapping. It should be tried. Opposition does it slightly better, probably, without being decayable.

    I think you may be right about Prelate. I didn't include it because a) vs Miracles Vials are great so don't want it at one (probably still worth it though); b) vs gb decks you want to put it at two but that will stop my Decays, Jittes and Sylvan so may not be worth it (but still great at 1); c) the main reason is silly but I really enjoy playing Patron Wizard and want to see how often he'll lock down games (Meddling Mage is a wizard). And d) could be for the FoW's blue count (again referring to Meddling Mage), I'm not currently playing them.

  15. #95
    Member

    Join Date

    Dec 2014
    Location

    Philly area
    Posts

    97

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Quote Originally Posted by pettdan View Post
    I think you may be right about Prelate. I didn't include it because a) vs Miracles Vials are great so don't want it at one (probably still worth it though)
    How about at 6?

  16. #96
    Member
    pettdan's Avatar
    Join Date

    Mar 2013
    Location

    Stockholm, Sweden
    Posts

    704

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Quote Originally Posted by mgrinshpon View Post
    How about at 6?
    That is ok but at that point you're just playing an expensive Meddling Mage.

    I realized that Meddling Mage coming into play on turn two is pretty important too, for a lot of matchups. With that said Prelate definitely is interesting.

  17. #97
    Member
    pettdan's Avatar
    Join Date

    Mar 2013
    Location

    Stockholm, Sweden
    Posts

    704

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    I made some small changes to the list (sideboard more updated) and went 3-0-1 in this weeks local legacy event, had tremendous fun again and this time we were 46 players - nice to see we're growing again. Felt very lucky with matchups, plays and topdecks. Thought I'd write a few comments about the games in case someone is interested, at least I know Memories is coming back here soon but any comments are welcome. Sorry for the inexact comments on games, usually so much happening and so clogged up boardstates that I can't even remotely remember it all.

    Changes:
    Main:
    +1 Sanctum Prelate
    -1 Patron Wizard
    +1 Shriekmaw (great with Meren)
    -1 Umezawa's Jitte(nr2)
    Sb:
    1 Patron Wizard
    2 Pithing Needle
    2 Invasive Surgery
    1 Magus of the Moon
    1 Aura Shards
    1 Orzhov Pontiff
    1 Faerie Macabre
    1 Leyline of the Void
    1 Absolute Law
    1 Gaddock Teeg
    1 Umezawa's Jitte
    1 Peacekeeper
    1 Gilded Drake

    R1: Mentor Miracles
    G1: grindy game 1 were I get out Meddling Mages on StP I think and slowly beat him down. After a Terminus I get Leovold into play and he forgets about it and tries to draw during his turn then gives up out of frustration while at like 5 life and me with favorable board position. I got to ignore Counterbalance due to an active Vial.
    G2: Also grindy game. I think he 3-for-1's me with Engineered Explosives blowing up Fauna, Stoneforge and Jitte. I Invasive Surgery an Entreat and then put on reasonable pressure with TNN. He gets out Mentors and 2 tops and I have Pithing Needle on SDT. Izzet Staticaster gets rid of some monk tokens, he hits me down to 1. My turn Vendilion clique hits him down to 1 and I have barely enough to chump block 2 Mentors and a Snapcaster while tapping Staticaster to kill the two monk tokens since he didnt draw a noncreature spell for the turn. He offers the hand, very intense game.
    Win 2-0
    Great cards: TNN, Vial, Meren, Meddling, Pithing Needle, Leovold

    R2: Worldgorger combo
    G1: He's playing a Worldgorger combo deck that can only draw. He entombs Worldgorger and I play t2 Prelate on 2 to prevent Animate Dead and (?) Dance of the Dead. He draws an out after a few turns but I have active Deathrite at that point.
    G2: Get out Meddling I think, then Glen Elendra and Patron Wizard.. Another uneventful win.
    Win 2-0
    Great cards: Meddling Mage, Sanctum Prelate

    R3: Stiflenought
    G1: Meddling Mage on Dreadnought is pretty great. He finds his out, some blue instant phasing out Mage so he can cast his Dreadnought but I have Decay for it.
    G2: pretty similar.
    Very favorable matchup due to 3 Abrupt Decays, 3 Qasalis (and 6 cards to help find the Qasalis, Meren to bring them back), 2 Meddling Mages, Merieke, Gilded Drake, Tradewind, etc..
    Win 2-0
    Great cards: Meddling, Decay, Qasali

    R4: Reanimator
    I lost 0-2 last week vs this guy, who happens to be finalist of the 93/94-format's world championship (I think) which granted doesn't attract an enormous crowd but still.
    G1: I mull an otherwise nice hand with BoP, TNN, 2 Qasali and mana.. stop at 4/5 cards involving fetch + Deathrite. He FoW's the Deathrite and wins from there after a few tutns of cantripping into action.
    G2: I keep a hand with Faerie Macabre but he plays around it playing Exhume with one mana open and Entombs for a new creature. He thinks and goes for Grave Titan. I think I had managed to play Pithing Needle on Grisel and a Leovold so he avoided the Grisel. He attacks once and I lose ten lifepoints, untap and draw Peacekeeper. We draw for a couple of turns and I'm glad to have Leovold. He Ponders after 4-5 turns and keeps the three on top. I Clique during his draw phase hoping to get a Massacre but he responds with Brainstorm, hiding two cards on top and drawing 0. Then Clique resolves and I put something irrelevant on the bottom of his library. 3 cards up thanks to Leo this turn! Next turn he Massacres and attacks, bringing me to 6 with his 4/4 Titan. My turn I play some creature, equip Jitte and attack to get two counters, then equip on another creature and get to block kill Titan using the jitte counters during his next attack while the zombie tokens bring me down to 1/2. I use Fauna Shaman to get an Ooze out and can boost it while gaining just enough life to expect to survive at 1 life point after his next attack. He reanimates an Elesh Norn which and during his attack step I vial in a Shriekmaw to destroy the Elesh boost ooze and stay at 1 life. Untap and I think attack for the win about turn two of time (a lot of thinking during this game and I didn't want to stress it since it's a pretty bad matchup, he's a very passionate player who didn't play much lately and Reanimator is usually a pretty fast matchup).
    Draw 1-1
    Great cards: Peacekeeper, Shriekmaw, Vial, Leovold., Ooze and Faerie Macabre obviously.
    Last edited by pettdan; 10-13-2016 at 04:09 PM.

  18. #98
    Member
    pettdan's Avatar
    Join Date

    Mar 2013
    Location

    Stockholm, Sweden
    Posts

    704

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    I decided to have fun with the Fauna Shaman deck again in the local weekly legacy event and it went pretty well, I went 3-1 again (giving me a total record of something like 9-2-1 during this autumn), had a lot of fun and in the lost game I felt unlucky. I was playing a birthday tournament last weekend and decided to have some fun and play all 5 colors. It went well so I decided to try it in a more competetive environment.

    Some general comments on the current list (further down you'll find the whole list):
    - I feel that Aether Vial is one of the best cards in the deck, it's possible to play without it but I'm not about to do that any time soon. They are valuable in doing all kind of tricks coupled with Fauna Shaman and in fighting mana denial strategies. I've been happy with playing 3 copies but it's a card I always want to see in my starting hand except for when playing against a fast combo deck so I should probably try 4 copies soon.
    - Meren of Clan Nel Toth has been a very strong addition, I'm not about to play without it anytime soon.
    - Currently playing two Leovold, Emissary of Trest, one may be enough since there's a lot of tutoring in the deck but I wanted to see if he's strong enough to motivate playing two copies.
    - Atraxa, Praetors' Voice is an obvious upgrade over Rhox War Monk, worked well with Jitte, Ooze and Meren's experience counters.
    - I added Gilded Drake to the sideboard as an out to Elesh Norn from Reanimator a while ago. I've been really liking it and decided to put one copy in the maindeck and a second copy in the sideboard while replacing the Quirion Ranger in the maindeck with a second Scryb Ranger (making the Opponent's Gilded Drake less of a threat).
    - Selfless Squire is a great card for this deck, flash creatures are great with Fauna Shaman and it's a neat game winning trick to have in the deck. Not least vs popular decks such as Eldrazi who want to run you over with huge attacks and also decks playing Marit lage.
    - Other cards I tested this time were Shaman of the Great Hunt which combines a good hasty attacker with card draw and beefing up all small creatures.
    - Since I was trying red I wanted to experiment with Kolaghan's Command over a third Abrupt Decay. Getting a key creature back from the graveyard can be very important, destroying artifacts is important in a lot of matchups and killing a Deathrite as a bonus is great.
    - Due to the maindeck Taiga I also wanted to test a Fire Covenant in the sideboard, a one sided sweeper can't be bad. Didn't draw it.
    - Kambal, Consul of Allocation was added to the sideboard as another test, I've been losing against UR Delver and Burn lately (playing this, Nic Fit or Maverick which are my favorite decks) and Kambal is good vs those while also being a hatebear vs Storm. I played him once today, vs BUG Delver, and he drew removal or a counter and cleared the way for a Leovold so he was efficient.
    - Regarding Sanctum Prelate I'm slowly catching up with Philipp293's comment, he can do a lot of damage to a lot of decks I believe so now I'm playing 1 in the main and 1 in the sideboard. Being able to randomly wreck Grixis Delver, or so I assume, when naming CMC1 seems great.

    R1: BW Pox 2-0
    This is usually a very good matchup, lots of mana accelleration and the Vials in particular are hard for most Pox decks to get rid of and Fauna Shaman tutoring for Meren tends to end the game. Also Qasalis getting rid of opposing win conditions.
    This version splashed white for Vindicate and Lingering Souls.
    Boarded in: 1 Pithing Needle, 2 Invasive Surgery, 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Keranos God of Storms, 1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
    Boarded out: 3 Mother of Runes, 1 Shriekmaw, 1 Merieke Ri Berit, 1 Gilded Drake

    R2: MUD 0-2
    G1: Mulligan to I think 5 g1, which isn't necessarily a problem with this deck. But he plays a turn two Metalworker, I can't respond to it and he untaps and plays I think a Blightsteel Colossus or similarly, I fail to topdeck my out, Gilded Drake.
    G2: I have Decay for his Metalworker and things are looking really bright because I have Scryb Ranger, Jitte, Merieke Ri Berit and Gilded Drake in my hand. I play t4 Scryb Ranger and Jitte expecting to get full control of the game next turn as my Scryb Ranger will attack with flying getting me two Jitte counters for ultimate board and combat control as well as the Gilded Drake for backup in case he plays some huge, threatening creature. He untaps, plays his one of Phyrexian Metamorph, equips it to a Mishra or Revoker and attacks, getting two Jitte counters and ultimate board control. I fail to draw artifact removal (2 Decay, 1 K's Command, 2 Qasali, 3 GSZ).
    Boarded in: 1 Pithing Needle, 1 Selfless Squire, 1 Gaddock Teeg, 1 Gilded Drake, 1 Magus of the Moon, 1 Fire Covenant
    Boarded out: 3 Mother of Runes, 2 Leovold Emissary of Trest, 1 Shriekmaw

    R3: BUG Delver 2-1 (blurry games in my memory, may have mixed them up, sorry!)
    G1: I think I mulligan to 5 and fetch into a Stifle, still manage to put up a little fight but lose.
    G2: Forgot the details, I won this game. I think a Selfless Squire may have been involved.
    G3: When this game starts we don't have too much time, maybe 10 minutes so we both try to speed up a bit. The game goes a bit long, time is called and I manage to put a Magus of the Moon into play, equip Jitte and attack for two Jitte counters during round 4 of time. He graciously concedes as his only out in the deck is one remaining copy of Dismember (which isn't really an out at this point).
    Boarded in: Fire Covenant, Selfless Squire, Kambal, Consul of Allocation, Magus of the Moon (in g3 only, which he "won")
    Boarded out: 1/2 Qasali Pridemage, 1 Gilded Drake, Meddling Mage

    R4: Grixis Delver 2-1? (also blurry games in my memory, sorry!)
    G1: 2 Delvers didn't flip for a couple of rounds.. It gave me enough time to win this game.
    G2: I think Jitte wins this game, he didn't see it first game so he wasn't prepared for dealing with artifacts.
    He empties my hand with Pyromancer + Probe + Therapy turn 3 and another one on turn 4. I have lots of mana by this time and a Vial on 2, untap and draw an Ooze which grows to something like 6/6 before he gets to untap.
    G3: I manage to win this game big, Atraxa gaining life and attacking, an large Ooze keeping opposing Gurmags back, Meren giving me back creatures every turn..
    Boarded in: 1 Kambal Consul of Allocation, 1 Fire Covenant, 1 Orzhov Pontiff, 1 Sanctum Prelate
    Boarded out: 2 Qasali Pridemage, 1 Gilded Drake, 1 Shaman of the Great Hunt


    The deck list below is sorted by order of CMC first and quantity second. Let me remind you that this is the fun version with 5 colours, it can get by with 4 colours which may be better. But sometimes fun is good. And for this specific deck, I think there's a fair chance that fun is actually better.

    Maindeck:
    Alternative mana sources:
    3 Aether Vial
    2 Birds of Paradise
    2 Deathrite Shaman
    1 Noble Hierarch
    1 Dryad Arbor

    Creatures:
    3 Mother of Runes
    4 Fauna Shaman
    2 Qasali Pridemage
    2 Scryb Ranger
    1 Gilded Drake
    1 Meddling Mage
    1 Scavenging Ooze
    1 Stoneforge Mystic
    2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
    1 Merieke Ri Berit
    1 Izzet Staticaster
    1 Sanctum Prelate
    1 True-Name Nemesis
    1 Vendilion Clique
    1 Atraxa, Praetors' Voice
    1 Glen Elendra, Archmage
    1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
    1 Shaman of the Great Hunt
    1 Shriekmaw

    Non-Creatures
    3 Green Sun's Zenith
    2 Abrupt Decay
    1 Sylvan Library
    1 Umezawa's Jitte
    1 Kolaghan's Command


    Lands:
    8 green fetchlands
    2 Tropical Island
    2 Savannah
    2 Bayou
    1 Taiga
    1 Forest

    Sideboard:

    2 Invasive Surgery
    1 Pithing Needle
    1 Gaddock Teeg
    1 Gilded Drake
    1 Fire Covenant
    1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
    1 Magus of the Moon
    1 Orzhov Pontiff
    1 Sanctum Prelate
    2 Leyline of the Void
    1 Mindbreak Trap
    1 Selfless Squire
    1 Keranos, God of Storms


    This deck is so much fun, if you consider playing it, then try it!
    Last edited by pettdan; 12-10-2016 at 01:37 PM.

  19. #99
    Member

    Join Date

    Nov 2007
    Location

    Germany, RLP, KO
    Posts

    445

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    This deck started with Birthing Pod (see its name), but it seems that it has been replaced by Fauna Shaman.

    Why that? Birthing Pod seems much less vulnerable and faster for me (creatures enter the battlefield immediately).

  20. #100
    Member
    pettdan's Avatar
    Join Date

    Mar 2013
    Location

    Stockholm, Sweden
    Posts

    704

    Re: Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

    Hi Scooter,
    I can give you an answer, not sure it's the best one.

    Birthing Pod is slower, puts a lot of limits on your deck design and prospers when each podded creature adds a value (using comes into play effects usually) since you will be replacing the creature for several consecutive turns using the Pod.

    Due to the constraint on CMC of cards in a Pod deck you need to build your deck with usually an expensive finisher or two and in the other CMC's you usually need to have answers to what your opponents are doing. I have built BUG, BUGW and BUGWR Nic Fit Pod lists and they are a lot of fun but creeping up a pod chain takes a lot of turns. Playing and activating a Fauna Shaman once costs 3 mana and one turn giving you the game winning card or the answer you're looking for at the very first activation (limited by available mana of course, but you always take the best card for the situation). Casting and activating Pod costs 4 mana and 4 life points so it costs at least one mana more. Add to that that the card you need may take 2-3 turns to pod into.

    The MOST/Fauna Shaman lists initially played Survival of the Fittest and play creatures that are very strong in their certain applications and/or have strong synergies. Pod lists in my experience tend to play rather low impact creatures but with valuable cip effects.

    I hope that provides some answer to your question.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)