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Thread: [Developmental, Primer] Four Color Rhino Pod

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    [Developmental, Primer] Four Color Rhino Pod

    Four Color Birthing Pod



    Rhino Pod, or more generically Four Color Birthing Pod, is an engine deck built to be very versatile and go over the top of your opponents. Attacking different strategies with finesse, Birthing Pod enables many insanely powerful creatures to be used in legacy that otherwise would be too difficult to rely on in your mainboard such as hate bears or specific creatures for a given matchup. At your worst, you are a solid midrange deck that tromps other fair decks. At your best, you are a hatebear-heavy, mana-efficient machine that attacks unfair decks on several angles in order to force them to play a longer game, losing to your eventually unmanageable board presence.

    You should NOT play this deck if:
    • You really, really, really hate losing to turn one/two combo decks that draw the nuts against you. There is a real percentage you give up because you died on their turn one and you don't play Force of Will. Curse you, Goblin Charbelcher!
    • You hate creature-based strategies.
    • You don't like needing to play a long game that has an extraordinarily high number of complex decisions.
    • You can't afford the obnoxiously expensive manabase.
    • You hate Siege Rhino and are a bad person.


    You SHOULD play this deck if:
    • You enjoy flexible and highly controllable game states that allow you to leverage both play and deck construction skill.
    • You like having generally good answers to almost every strategy in the Legacy format.
    • You don't mind having very close games that come down to the wire when you go long.
    • You like playing green-based midrange decks but really want to play blue cards and counterspells anyway.
    • You hate money and want to own ALL OF THE DUAL LANDS.
    • You are really sad Birthing Pod got banned in Modern.
    • You like Siege Rhino and are also a bad person, but for different reasons.


    The core of the deck consists of the following:
    Due to the small number of slots truly required by any of your Birthing Pod chains, the number of silver bullets you can potentially run in the deck is fairly high. This means that there is theoretically no optimal list of the deck - the list that is right for you is entirely dependent on metagame analysis and evolution. The base Birthing Pod chain is to have a one drop and a two drop, then Pod the two drop into Deceiver Exarch and untap Pod. Then Pod the one drop into Phantasmal Image, untapping Pod again. Go get Restoration Angel, untap Pod, get Karmic Guide reanimating Restoration Angel, untap Pod, then get Sun Titan. Reveillark is an anti-wrath safety valve that allows for conservative Pod chains against control decks - simply stop at Reveillark instead of going to Sun Titan and when they wrath get back the two creatures that started the chain and repeat it. It is worth noting that this also works against Terminus due to Reveillark being a "leaves the battlefield" trigger.

    Additional non-creature cards that complement the core cards:
    Essentially any non-red value spells or lands you feel like running can fit in the deck to be tuned to a certain metagame. I find that Abrupt Decay is the only necessary mainboard inclusion due to the high number of silver bullets you can afford in the deck. That being said, here the current list that evolved from many prototypes I have tested - this list has given me the highest win percentages of any of the lists so far and is the starting point for further optimization in the future:

    Main Board:

    One CMC Creatures
    4 [RTR] Deathrite Shaman
    3 [CON] Noble Hierarch

    Two CMC Creatures
    1 [M12] Phantasmal Image
    1 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
    1 [M14] Scavenging Ooze
    1 [NPH] Spellskite
    1 [DKA] Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
    2 [DGM] Voice of Resurgence

    Three CMC Creatures
    1 [KTK] Anafenza, the Foremost
    1 [NPH] Deceiver Exarch
    1 [MIR] Eternal Witness
    2 [SHA] Kitchen Finks
    1 [M15] Reclamation Sage

    Four CMC Creatures
    1 [EVE] Glen Elendra Archmage
    2 [AVR] Restoration Angel
    2 [KTK] Siege Rhino

    Five CMC Creautres
    1 [ULG] Karmic Guide
    1 [AVR] Sigarda, Host of Herons
    1 [LRW] Reveillark

    Six CMC Creatures
    1 [M11] Sun Titan

    Noncreature Spells
    3 [RTR] Abrupt Decay
    4 [NPH] Birthing Pod
    1 [3ED] Sylvan Library

    Lands
    1 [3ED] Bayou
    2 [3ED] Forest
    1 [INN] Gavony Township
    2 [FUT] Horizon Canopy
    1 [LEG] Karakas
    1 [3ED] Plains
    2 [3ED] Savannah
    1 [3ED] Scrubland
    1 [3ED] Swamp
    1 [3ED] Tropical Island
    1 [3ED] Tundra
    1 [3ED] Underground Sea
    3 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs
    1 [STH] Volrath's Stronghold
    4 [ONS] Windswept Heath

    Sideboard
    SB: 1 [JOU] Eidolon of Rhetoric
    SB: 1 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist
    SB: 3 [CMD] Flusterstorm
    SB: 1 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
    SB: 1 [PLS] Meddling Mage
    SB: 1 [GPT] Orzhov Pontiff
    SB: 1 [WTH] Peacekeeper
    SB: 1 [M14] Scavenging Ooze
    SB: 1 [LRW] Sower of Temptation
    SB: 3 [LRW] Thoughtseize


    Notable omissions from the deck:
    • Veteran Explorer - Admiral Ackbar incoming, this card is a trap! It looks like (and, to be fair, is) a very powerful Magic card that can win you games by going over the top of your opponent. The problem with Veteran Explorer is that he requires you to do non-traditional things, use several card slots on tutoring him into play and sacrificing him, and is many times too slow when you want to use discard effect + Flusterstorm in the early game. I'd rather have a Noble Hierarch that helps fix my mana while also letting me hold up Flusterstorm during my early setup.
    • Swords to Plowshares and Council's Judgment - A very reasonable set of cards to run and one that has been in a couple of my own lists. I'd definitely try it, but so far it hasn't felt like it holds its own compared to value creatures in general. Abrupt Decay holds the fort until the late game and is versatile enough not to need these. If you're really worried, I would put these into the sideboard.
    • Knight of the Reliquary - The cost of having a KotR land tutor package is high, and without Mother of Runes (which would be awkward on our curve and we can't really tutor for) I think he is too fragile. It is worth testing more, but I have found it to be far too clunky.
    • Brainstorm and Force of Will - The dynamic duo of Legacy and the glue of the format that doesn't quite fit in our deck - we are a deck that can't afford to be blue enough to play Force. You can try to do it (lord knows, I have tried many botched lists in an attempt to get it to work), but it always ends the same - Force is worse than Flusterstorm a good deal of the time. Force of Will also takes up too many deck slots when you consider the cost of needing blue cards and Brainstorm is too much of a do-nothing in a deck that doesn't have a high reliance on cards in hand and that plays off of the board more often than not.
    • True-Name Nemesis - This guy is sweet. Excellent at all fair creature interactions in a non-interactive way. He stretches the manabase a bit more than I'd like, but he is quite feasible if you want him.
    • Tarmogoyf - Huge, efficient, and overall excellent. The biggest problem with Goyf is that he just doesn't mesh well with what some of the deck is doing at the same CMC.


    Example decklist card explanations:
    • Qasali Pridemage - Great for the curve and a proactive aggressive card that helps nickel-and-dime any control player. Excels against Stoneblade and Miracles.
    • Scavenging Ooze - Great against other midrangey decks, dredge, a couple spells in storm, reanimator, and a couple other decks. Overall a solid graveyard hate card with little downside.
    • Spellskite - When playing hate against combo, or even when protecting creatures in fair matchups, Spellskite makes things awkward for your opponent. He is a great blocker and can redirect artifact and creature removal.
    • Thalia, Guardian of Thraben - Against combo and control this allows you to develop a board since you have slowed them down considerably. It makes their removal more clunky and awkward and makes your Pod activations gain more value the longer she is on the field.
    • Voice of Resurgence - This card blocks Tarmogoyf for days, synergizes with Pod well, and can become a scary threat if your opponent doesn't respect it or have wrath effects. The only downside is that the token dies to decay, but if they are Abrupt Decaying your token you are probably not in a terrible position anyway.
    • Anafenza, the Foremost - This card is a house against Reanimator and Dredge and can turn your small creatures into real threats. This is very powerful due to being such a solid creature and an insane graveyard hate card.
    • Eternal Witness - A great value card. There really isn't anything special about it, but it is nice to be able to buy back any card in your deck at will.
    • Kitchen Finks - The slower Deceiver Exarch that gives you more value in grindy matchups. Turns into two four drops or eats removal and allows you to drop a bigger threat.
    • Reclamation Sage - Legacy is full of targets for this guy. End of turn killing a Stoneforge to have them hardcast a Batterskull is a good feeling when you kill it the turn after. Hits many relevant hate cards as well, such as Grafdigger's Cage and Rest in Peace.
    • Glen Elendra Archmage - This card is resilient and a house against all combo matchups after you have slowed them down and landed any other combination of discard, counterspells, or hatebears. Especially awesome against Elves, where they have no real answers to flying creatures as you gum up the ground with Siege Rhinos or somesuch and never let them resolve a cheated in Craterhoof Behemoth.
    • Siege Rhino - This card is nuts. I can't even begin to describe how much better this card is here than something like Bloodbraid Elf. You trade card advantage on a stick for life gain, a solid creature that beats up everything but Tarmogoyf alone, a trampler that goes over True Name Nemesis, and a difficult to answer clock that conveniently fits right under Karmic Guide on your curve. Add to that the ability to recur and Restoration Angel it and you've got a huge headache for most of your opponents that sometimes is a random Lightning Helix to end the game.
    • Sigarda, Host of Herons - Insane against BUG. They have legitimately zero ways to answer it in their deck. Also excellent against pretty much any fair deck. Sometimes results in hilarious interactions against Emrakul, the Aeons Torn but that is more cute than practical.
    • Gavony Township - This card is way better than you think it is. Makes Tarmogoyfs you copied (or played if you opt to do so) beat other Tarmogoyfs and makes Siege Rhino nigh unstoppable without Swords to Plowshares. Allows you to infinitely chump/attack and recur both Kitchen Finks and Glen Elendra Archmage.
    • Volrath's Stronghold - Great consistency and anti-Jace, the Mind Sculptor tech.
    • Horizon Canopy - For when you flood and when you can set up repeated Eternal Witnesses or Sun Titan attacks. Helps smooth out the deck in general, especially when you don't draw Pod. Gets better the longer the game goes.
    • Karakas- Anti-Sneak and Show and a way to protect Thalia, Anafenza, and Sigarda from wraths and removal.
    • Eidolon of Rhetoric and Ethersworn Canonist - Shuts down cascade against Shardless BUG and halts storm combo in its tracks until they have the Abrupt Decay. This is usually enough to set up a board that makes it very difficult for storm to win as they try and remove the thing from the battlefield. If you have multiples it becomes a nightmare.
    • Flusterstorm - Cheap enough to hold up in tandem with a Thoughtseize after a Noble Hierarch or Deathrite Shaman, this is awesome at stopping combo and forces your opponent to respect the potential of you having it as long as you have a blue mana up.
    • Gaddock Teeg - A clear combo and control hate card. It stops Storm, Elves, Sneak and Show, Miracles, etc. A bit of a non-combo with Birthing Pod, but I'll take it given the power level of the card.
    • Meddling Mage - Often a way to protect other hatebears by naming the removal spell they can cast. If you can get him on Abrupt Decay and another hatebear you can then hold up counters for Massacre and proceed to lock them out.
    • Orzhov Pontiff - Great against Young Pyromancer, True-Name, and most of Elves. It is probably the most narrow answer but is worth having a tutorable removal spell for those threats.
    • Peacekeeper - Stops the attacking part of Sneak and Show and stalls Elves into being unable to attack until they have Abrupt Decay and you don't have a way around the Decay anyway.
    • Thoughtseize - A general answer and great tool to crippling the development of your opponent's gameplan. Excellent card in general against combo and control, and even great in midrange mirrors if you'd like it.
    • Sower of Temptation - A good against BUG and Show and Tell-based decks since.[/CARDS]


    Additional options for the main and sideboard:
    • Eladamri's Call - A card that allows for instant speed search against decks that have hated on your ability to use Birthing Pod to get your silver bullets. Great against a ton of decks and comes in over Birthing Pod in an attempt to make your opponent's hate cards dead. This also allows you to run some better hate cards that are anti-synergistic with Birthing Pod out of the board such as Containment Priest.
    • Living Wish - A slower but more versatile Eladamri's Call that you can play pre-board to improve combo matchups.
    • Chord of Calling and Green Sun's Zenith - Unfortunately hit by much of the same hate as Birthing Pod, these cards are quite powerful. Chord tends to do more powerful plays but GSZ sets up the early game and provides more consistency. If you either you want to find room for Dryad Arbor.
    • Dryad Arbor - If you are really afraid of Dredge, you can run this as an easy way to turn off Bridge from Below in your own deck.
    • Crop Rotation - Makes Karakas more consistently hit the battlefield and can allow for more utility lands in the deck. It is, again, a bit of a stretch on the manabase.
    • Swan Song - A Flusterstorm replacement that improves the Sneak and Show matchup but makes the Storm matchup worse. I generally haven't been a huge fan but it may be a necessary evil if you're playing in a meta where it is better.
    • Aven Mindcensor - Insane against a ton of Legacy decks and one-sided so it doesn't hurt Pod. Makes fetches, Infernal Tutor, and Stoneforge Mystic really awkward.
    • Fulminator Mage - Gives you a real strategy against lands and is phenomenal with Sun Titan, Reveillark, and many other cards in the deck naturally. Good against Lands, Miracles, and more fringe decks like 12/MUD Post. On the play against Sneak and Show can potentially hit a Sol land but probably isn't worth it.
    • Phyrexian Revoker - A tutorable needle effect that is great against Sneak and Show where you need it most. Also can hit Lion's Eye Diamond against storm.
    • Tasigur, the Golden Fang - Great at long midrange battles and easy to cast since you are filling your graveyard with Pod anyhow.
    • Loyal Retainers, Fauna Shaman, and Big Fat Legendary Creatures - If you want to get real cute, you can play the Iona, Shield of Emeria reanimator deck out of the board. It is a bit clunky and slow so I don't like it. Loyal Retainers may be good enough on his own due to the existing legendary creatures, especially if you add Tasigur.
    • Academy Rector - Certainly cute, and very powerful if you can get it to go off.
    • Cabal Therapy - More difficult and slightly more awkward than Thoughtseize in some situations, Therapy interacts very favorably with persist creatures and Voice of Resurgence. You also play enough dorks to flash it back early consistently. Without Veteran Explorer I'm not convinced it is better than Thoughtseize as the first three discard spells and would play it as the fourth-eighth if I wanted them.
    • Venser, Shaper Savant- An alternative card to Sower of Temptation or Glen Elendra Archmage. Good against Sneak/Show and allows you to answer hardcast Craterhoof from Elves.
    • Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker - Because who doesn't like unexpectedly winning the game out of nowhere? The obvious downside is that it is actually uncastable without adding the fifth color or swapping out blue, so I'll let you decide how spicy you want to make your Pod deck.


    Synopsis: There are many options for this deck, and I could probably list card interactions for several pages worth of content. The deck is very powerful and capable of handling most situations in Legacy.

    On the next post I will go over general game strategy against currently popular decks of the format.
    Last edited by winglerw28; 02-19-2015 at 11:31 PM. Reason: Cleaning up some errors and formatting

  2. #2
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    [Deck Matchups and Philosophy] Four Color Rhino Pod

    General Gameplay Philosophy: Before delving into individual matchups, it is worth going over what types of things you want to be doing. I always break the lines in my games down into the following questions:


    1. Is what I'm doing appropriate for the situation, and will it lead to me furthering my board position or diminishing my opponents?
    2. Am I going too deep with Pod to get value and ignoring the chance for a blowout spell from my opponent?
    3. If I get <target> or cast <spell>, what cards do I expect my opponent to have and how do I expect them to react? What can I do knowing that they will react this way in order to mitigate the chance of a random two for one?
    4. Does this play make my mana represent something I might do, and if it is what might my opponent do that I wouldn't think about normally?


    The deck is inherently very difficult to play because of the sheer number of lines any given turn can provide you. On a board with a one drop creature, a Pod, and a Volrath's Stronghold, for example, you have several two drops to fetch, two drops in your graveyard you can get with Pod due to Stronghold, creatures in your yard you may want to shuffle to get with pod later, the ability to do nothing and use your one drop, just getting back a card for next turn with Stronghold, etc, etc. It is even worse the higher up the chain you go since Deceiver Exarch, Restoration Angel, Karmic Guide, Reveillark, and Sun Titan all have their own decision trees and consequences. As simple as the basic questions are, you HAVE to ask them to yourself or you WILL get punished.

    That being said, often your most powerful spells or Pod targets are the most basic. Deathrite is a house, Voice is good against Miracles, Siege Rhino is good against True-Name Nemesis in a race, Sigarda can't be beat by BUG. Game one you should always assume one of four things:


    1. I am going to be the better creature deck than almost any Stoneblade, Delver, Death and Taxes, Jund, etc opponent.
    2. If my opponent is on a control deck, they will try to make me play into their wrath effects and removal spells. I need to nickel-and-dime them and shouldn't overextend in the early game at all.
    3. I should play around combo decks, Daze, and Stifle the best way possible in the early game since my mid-to-late game beats any non-combo deck and I need to conserve my silver bullets for the right moment.
    4. When I sideboard, I will get punished for tweaking the mana curve of my deck too drastically.


    Due to these lines of thought, many games start out with you holding up mana and staving off early things with mana dorks and Abrupt Decay. Once you're sure you're safe to begin podding, you then try and get Pod into play and start the chains. Once you commit to being any one specific deck as the Pod player you will have a hard time switching gears without a turn or so to stall and Pod into a different line. Deceiver Exarch allows you to skip this limitation, but he is vulnerable to removal spells and certainly isn't the perfect three drop for many situations. Now, to move on to individual archetypes...

    Shardless BUG: In this match you will seemingly want to be the aggressor, but this is not necessarily correct. Tarmogoyf and Tasigur trump many of your early removal spells and are very difficult to handle if you assume you are the aggressor. You can afford to be the control deck until you go over the top of them due to the fact that your deck invalidates much of what they are doing naturally. They can't afford to Wasteland colored mana sources because Volrath's Stronghold turns of Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Pod ignores most mana restrictions you have, and Gavony Township makes the game unwinnable for them the longer it goes. The main plan is to Abrupt Decay anything overwhelming and to put as many resilient creatures into play as possible. Deathrite Shaman, Voice of Resurgence, Scavenging Ooze, Kitchen Finks, Eternal Witness, Siege Rhino, Sigarda, and Sun Titan are your best cards in this matchup. They either shut off their cards or just pair well against them. Be careful to remember that opposing Deathrite Shamans turn off persist and play around them if possible. Spellskite is nice in this matchup to protect your early plays and to block early Tarmogoyfs. Sprinkle Phantasmal Image as required by opposing True-Name Nemesis.

    Shardless BUG Sideboarding:

    In:
    +1 [JOU] Eidolon of Rhetoric
    +1 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist
    +1 [EVE] Glen Elendra Archmage
    +1 [LRW] Sower of Temptation
    +3 [LRW] Thoughtseize

    Out:
    -1 [AVR] Restoration Angel
    -1 [SHA] Kitchen Finks
    -1 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
    -1 [NPH] Deceiver Exarch
    -1 [AVR] Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
    -2 Cards of your choosing (depending on their build)


    Post-board, the Shardless matchup is about the same. You can assume they trimmed some number of Abrupt Decay since much of your deck handles it so well and that they will bring in supplemental removal that is much better against you such as Maelstrom Pulse and Dismember. That being said, we want to add the Ethersworn Canonist effects to the deck to disable cascade and to make answering out permanents awkward. We want to take out cards that make us softer to Decay, Dismember, and other instant speed removal, so Restoration Angel and Deceiver Exarch come out. We want to add higher CMC creatures as well, and Sower of Temptation is an excellent Restoration Angel replacement. Glen Elendra also stops Liliana and Jace from hitting the board or Ancestral Visions resolving if needed. Thoughtseize is a good early disruption spell to get some of Shardless's better cards out of their hand as well. If you don't want Thoughtseize you can leave in Qasali, Exarch, and Resto. Overall matchup is about 50-50 pre-board, 55-45 post-board.

    UWR Miracles: A better matchup than you'd expect on paper, this is definitely the deck that Birthing Pod shines the most against. Your creatures make Counterbalance awkard, Jace is very little value, and Reveillark combined with Glen Elendra Archmage can totally prevent the Miracles player from being able to do anything. The general game plan is to simply set up Reveillark + Archmage and slowly beat them down. Don't overextend and always hold up Glen Elendra for Entreat the Angels. Keep in mind you will need to keep open double blue sometimes to counter a Swords to Plowshares that targets Glen Elendra Archmage. Game one you are ahead due to most opponents not knowing about Glen + Reveillark and because our deck lines up with Miracle's answers in a way that is difficult for them.

    UWr Miracles Sideboarding:

    In:
    +1 [EVE] Glen Elendra Archmage
    +1 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
    +2 [CMD] Flusterstorm

    Out:
    -1 [SHA] Kitchen Finks
    -1 [M14] Scavenging Ooze
    -1 [AVR] Restoration Angel
    -1 [KTK] Anafenza, the Foremost


    Post-board, Miracles most likely is going to sideboard out their Counterbalances and will sideboard in Council's Judgment, Containment Priest, Pithing Needle, Rest in Peace, and Supreme Verdict. Continue to play tightly and hold your Abrupt Decays for hate cards when it matters. Make sure you don't Pod too often as Containment Priest can be a blowout in response to you sacrificing the creature. Gaddock Teeg and Thalia make their wraths harder/impossible to cast, Flusterstorm helps against removal and wraths and can help you jam a threat through a Force of Will. Games two and three the Lark/Glen lockdown is much harder to achieve as not only does Pod become less reliable, but Containment Priest shutting down Glen Elendra's persist also ensures that a single Swords to Plowshares will kill it. Games two and three you must never over-extend and have to force them to wrath awkwardly. You win the second or third game by nickel-and-diming them with value. Overall matchup is around 55-45 preboard, 50-50 postboard.Storm: Certainly one of our most difficult matchups, storm has the capability of killing on turn one or two. Since we can't stop a turn one kill on the draw, there isn't much we can do there. Game one isn't very good for us due to the small amount of interaction available. Generally your game plan during game one is to aggressively get Thalia and Glen Elendra Archmage to try and lock them out before they combo off. Unfortunately storm has near-perfect information from Thoughtseizes and Gitaxian Probes, so they will know what is coming and will be prepared. Expect something like 20-80 in storm's favor game one.

    Storm Sideboarding:

    In:
    +1 [EVE] Glen Elendra Archmage
    +1 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
    +1 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist
    +1 [JOU] Eidolon of Rhetoric
    +1 [PLS] Meddling Mage
    +1 [GPT] Orzhov Pontiff
    +3 [CMD] Flusterstorm
    +3 [LRW] Thoughtseize

    Out:
    -1 [KTK] Anafenza, the Foremost
    -1 [M15] Reclamation Sage
    -1 [AVR] Restoration Angel
    -2 [KTK] Siege Rhino
    -1 [AVR] Sigarda, Host of Herons
    -1 [LRW] Reveillark
    -1 [M11] Sun Titan
    -2 [DGM] Voice of Resurgence
    -3 [RTR] Abrupt Decay

    Post-board the deck is almost entirely different. The game plan becomes much more focused on the early game with Thoughtseize, Flusterstorm, and several hate bears. The general idea is to block them out of doing things early and while they are trying to answer your hate just set up a board of Pod, Glen Elendra, Eidolon/Ethersworn, Spellskite, etc. If you play around everything you can and don't die to a turn one combo, you should be able to lock them out. Qasali Pridemage can make Lion's Eye Diamond awkward for them if they play it preemptively, and Orzhov Pontiff is a consideration to stop Empty the Warrens and Dark Confidant. We just remove the heft of the deck in favor of having more finesse to navigate the matchup. Post board it is about 40-60 in storm's favor, closer to 50-50 if you disregard random turn one kills.

    Elves: Craterfhoof Behemoth is a house. You can out-creature everything in Elves and can hold up Glen Elendra or other hate cards for Natural Order, but Gaea's Cradle into a second Cradle into a Craterhoof is game over if you aren't running Venser to bounce it from the stack and then Thoughtseize it out. Even then, that isn't as reliable as I'd like it to be. Barring them having the natural Craterhoof, you just need to get stronger creatures, Spellskite to protect from Reclamation Sage, and Glen Elendra Archmage to stop random Glimpse of Natures and Natural Orders. Fliers are great against Elves in general, so Restoration Angel and Glen Elendra Archmage really shine. Abrupt Decay any important creatures they may have, especially Wirewood Symbiote.

    Elves Sideboarding:

    In:
    +1 [EVE] Glen Elendra Archmage
    +1 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
    +1 [GPT] Orzhov Pontiff
    +1 [WTH] Peacekeeper
    +1 [PLS] Meddling Mage
    +3 [CMD] Flusterstorm
    +3 [LRW] Thoughtseize

    Out:
    -1 [KTK] Anafenza, the Foremost
    -1 [M15] Reclamation Sage
    -1 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
    -1 [AVR] Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
    -2 [KTK] Siege Rhino
    -1 [AVR] Sigarda, Host of Herons
    -1 [LRW] Reveillark
    -1 [M11] Sun Titan
    -2 [DGM] Voice of Resurgence

    You don't really even need Siege Rhino out of the board since all of the creatures in Elves are outclassed relatively easily. Thoughtseize, Gaddock Teeg, and Flusterstorm are very useful at stopping Craterhoof from coming into play via Natural Order. Peacekeeper also can stop resolved Craterhoof beats and is a good post-Progenitus plan if they go that route. Beware of Thoughtseize, Cabal Therapy, and Abrupt Decay out of their board, however. Pre-board the matchup is 40-60 in favor of Elves and post-board the matchup is 55-45 in favor of us. This is one of the matchups I've tested the least so far, so more testing could reveal a much different win percentage spread.

    [More Coming Soon]
    Last edited by winglerw28; 02-19-2015 at 05:57 PM.

  3. #3
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    [Alternative Decklists] Four Color Rhino Pod

    Alternative Decklists: Kiki-Jiki/Orcish Lumberjack Pod

    One CMC Creatures
    4 [CON] Noble Hierarch
    3 [RTR] Orcish Lumberjack

    Two CMC Creatures
    1 [M12] Phantasmal Image
    1 [ARB] Qasali Pridemage
    1 [M14] Scavenging Ooze
    1 [NPH] Spellskite
    1 [DKA] Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
    2 [DGM] Voice of Resurgence

    Three CMC Creatures
    1 [P3K] Imperial Recruiter
    1 [NPH] Deceiver Exarch
    1 [MIR] Eternal Witness
    2 [SHA] Kitchen Finks
    1 [M15] Reclamation Sage

    Four CMC Creatures
    2 [EVE] Glen Elendra Archmage
    2 [AVR] Restoration Angel
    1 [SHA] Murderous Redcap

    Five CMC Creatures
    1 [AVR] Sigarda, Host of Herons
    1 [LRW] Reveillark
    1 [COK] Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
    1 [C14] Titania, Protector of Argoth

    Noncreature Spells
    3 [3ED] Swords to Plowshares
    4 [NPH] Birthing Pod
    1 [3ED] Sylvan Library

    Lands
    1 [3ED] Taiga
    2 [3ED] Forest
    1 [INN] Gavony Township
    2 [FUT] Horizon Canopy
    1 [LEG] Karakas
    1 [3ED] Plains
    2 [3ED] Savannah
    1 [3ED] Plateau
    1 [3ED] Mountain
    1 [3ED] Tropical Island
    1 [3ED] Tundra
    1 [3ED] Volcanic Island
    3 [ZEN] Wooded Foothills
    1 [SHA] Fire-Lit Thicket
    4 [ONS] Windswept Heath

    Sideboard
    SB: 1 [JOU] Eidolon of Rhetoric
    SB: 1 [ALA] Ethersworn Canonist
    SB: 3 [CMD] Flusterstorm
    SB: 1 [LRW] Gaddock Teeg
    SB: 1 [PLS] Meddling Mage
    SB: 1 [GPT] Izzet Staticaster
    SB: 1 [WTH] Peacekeeper
    SB: 1 [M14] Scavenging Ooze
    SB: 1 [LRW] Sower of Temptation
    SB: 3 [NPH] Phyrexian Revoker

    Last edited by winglerw28; 02-20-2015 at 02:42 PM.

  4. #4
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    Re: [Developmental, Primer] Four Color Rhino Pod

    Good work, very nice primer! I'm just not sold on your argumentation against Brainstorm. If your mana base can support it, it's very strong here, with so many one-of and so much non-redundancy. You want to maximize your ability to find pod. In case, you can dig for a silver bullet, look for a non-creature tool even if you already have pod in play, and especially get rid of wood since you play a lot of cards you don't want to draw/to see early game. Pod also synergies well with Brainstorm by giving you other shuffle effects outside of your fetchlands.

  5. #5
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    Re: [Developmental, Primer] Four Color Rhino Pod

    Quote Originally Posted by Morte View Post
    Good work, very nice primer! I'm just not sold on your argument against Brainstorm. If your manabase can support Brainstorm it's very strong here. You want to maximize your ability to find pod. In any case, you can dig for a silver bullet, looking for a non-creature tool even if you already have pod in play, and especially get rid of wood since you play a lot of cards you don't want to draw/to see early game. Pod also synergies well with Brainstorm by giving you other shuffle effects outside of your fetchlands.
    Thanks! I definitely wanted to make the primer readable and concise so that it would be taken seriously.

    I certainly have been testing Brainstorm in the deck here and there, but early builds and this build have all tried it and varying degrees of blue to a floundering result. As much as I love Brainstorm (my main deck that I play is Miracles), I just feel that the four card slots are best used elsewhere and that Birthing Pod provides the consistency you need. Against decks you don't need Birthing Pod you are a very solid midrange deck anyhow and your topdecks are, in general, good enough to make up for the inconsistency not running Brainstorm causes.

    I would run Eladamri's Call before I would run Brainstorm simply because I only play three non-Pod, non-creature spells. Out of the board the non-creature spells tend to be supportive of the creatures I am playing anyhow and are run in multiples to avoid as many bad draws as possible early in the game. One thing to also consider is that post-board my percentage of having a hate card against any given deck is quite high seeing as I trim the only psuedo-dead draws in my deck to double any given matchup's hate.

    Of course, the list has only been through about 100-120 hours of testing and two local tournaments so far. Most of my testing has been with close friends who are intimate with the format and with people on Magic Online. I have tested the following matchups enough to safely say that I did not feel I wanted Brainstorm in them:
    • Shardless BUG
    • UWr Stoneblade
    • UWr Miracles
    • RUG Delver
    • Storm
    • Sneak and Show
    • Elves
    • Burn
    • 12 Post (my local metagame has up to five players if you include myself when I play it...)


    At the end of the day it could still be worth it, but so far I do not feel that way with my current testing. The beauty of this deck, of course, being that you can ignore my opinion and just play it anyway with almost no ill effect. I also have a list that does play brainstorm but it is a combo-oriented list that is entirely untested at this point (it replaces black with red for Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and I play Orcish Lumberjack over Noble Hiererarch).

    Quote Originally Posted by death View Post
    Worst mana base I've seen. Ever.
    I am glad you came to this thread with a good mindset of constructive criticism, and that your expertise has allowed me to see the error of my ways. I will get on fixing the manabase that doesn't work at all because I have put in absolutely no testing right away.

    Seriously though, the manabase is crafted in such a way that you can fetch basics reliably without getting punished. If you want to see a similar manabase, look at the modern Kiki-Jiki pod decks that were successful (particularly, the one that won Grand Prix: Richmond). It may not look pretty on paper but it is quite consistent and surprisingly wasteland-resilient. The philosophy is as follows:

    We are main Abzan colors meaning that we want basic Forests, Swamps, and Plains. From there we can assume we want Abzan fetchlands. Since we need four colors and don't want to be cut off of any one color, we want to run duals for every possible combination. Knowing this, we end up here:
    • Marsh Flats (WB) will get: WU, WB, WG, BU, and BG duals.
    • Verdant Catacombs (GB) will get: GW, GU, GB, BW, and BU duals.
    • Windswept Heath (WG) will get: WU, WB, WG, GU, and GB duals.


    From this we just need to decide what two of the non-fetchable duals are least important to us and play the 7 fetches that don't get those two duals and the fetches that maximize our chances of hitting a basic land. Since our deck is base GWb, we want 4 Windswept and 3 Verdant, giving us a virtual 15 turn one green sources. Normally you would want 16-17, but we can cheat the numbers since Deathrite Shaman can be cast off of black mana.

  6. #6

    Re: [Developmental, Primer] Four Color Rhino Pod

    This looks great. Good luck with it.

  7. #7

    Re: [Developmental, Primer] Four Color Rhino Pod

    I've made a small top with Rhino-Pod, but obv with the Nic Fit base that has pleased me. This is the link http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=15945&iddeck=118872
    I've lost in top 8 by Shardless Bug that is a good MU by my bad luck and a single fuc*ing error by me: happens.

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    Re: [Developmental, Primer] Four Color Rhino Pod

    Quote Originally Posted by beez View Post
    This looks great. Good luck with it.
    Thank you! Hopefully I will have the deck finished on MODO soon so I don't have to borrow the cards online. Then I will be able to stream with it, which could be pretty entertaining (I hope).

    Quote Originally Posted by Memories of the Time View Post
    I've made a small top with Rhino-Pod, but obv with the Nic Fit base that has pleased me. This is the link http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=15945&iddeck=118872
    I've lost in top 8 by Shardless Bug that is a good MU by my bad luck and a single fuc*ing error by me: happens.
    Interesting list. What is Ophiomancer for? Just a solid producer of 1/1 deathtouch creatures for Cabal Therapy and Tarmogoyf chumps?

  9. #9

    Re: [Developmental, Primer] Four Color Rhino Pod

    Where is Green Sun's Zenith?

  10. #10
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    Re: [Developmental, Primer] Four Color Rhino Pod

    Quote Originally Posted by Chaam View Post
    Where is Green Sun's Zenith?
    I mention it in the possible inclusions, but I have chosen not to play it or Chord of Calling because they have their own downsides. Green Sun's Zenith doesn't hit all of my hate cards and takes deck spots from non-green creatures in addition to needing a higher green creature count. Add to that the fact that the most common hate for the deck also hits GSZ and that Dryad Arbor being drawn naturally often ends up being too slow and open to removal that I felt it wasn't worth running any longer. I actually feel an Eladamri's call sideboard is much better than GSZ in this deck.

    GSZ is very powerful, but not worth it as the deck is currently constructed, in my opinion. I'd rather focus (at a simplified level) on having two modes of operation - a fast Pod deck and a solid midrange deck that doesnt require tutors and such to function.

  11. #11

    Re: [Developmental, Primer] Four Color Rhino Pod

    Ophiomancer gives a "recursive removal" (without spot removal, tarmogoyf could be a problem. Not a big one, but still"), food for Cabal and to start pod chain again: in my last list it's been replaced by Hallowed Spiritkeeper, more synergic with Pod.

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    Re: [Developmental, Primer] Four Color Rhino Pod

    Quote Originally Posted by Memories of the Time View Post
    Ophiomancer gives a "recursive removal" (without spot removal, tarmogoyf could be a problem. Not a big one, but still"), food for Cabal and to start pod chain again: in my last list it's been replaced by Hallowed Spiritkeeper, more synergic with Pod.
    Ahh. I've tried Hallowed Spiritkeeper and definitely have not been unhappy with the results. Let me know how it goes for you, I am very interested in more data.

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