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Thread: M.O.S.T. - Merieke, Opposition, (Survival), Tradewind Rider

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    M.O.S.T. - Merieke, Opposition, (Survival), Tradewind Rider


    Note that this primer is also meant to be a resource to help with future brewing of the deck (or other creature-centric decks), that's why there are listed loads of relevant cards and synergies.

    N.b. As of July 2023 I'm working on an update. Unfortunately I had about 3 years of notes to update the primer with that were lost when my phone crashed so it will take some time to get it up to date. Also, I need to figure out which parts of the primer to replace and which to keep to document old deck building ideas that some players still build closer to, while also adding new and more relevant descriptions. I might slowly add updated comments and keep older texts around for a while, before moving them to separate posts that can be linked in the primer to keep it more concise.

    Table of contents

    • Deck name explained
    • Basics
    • Background
    • Why play MOST?
    • Sample deck lists
    • Matchups
    • Core cards of the deck
    • Sideboard
    • Two potential cores
    • Related decks
    • Possible combos
    • Synergies to build upon
    • Packages from above
    • Examples of online playing
    • Discord
    • Podcasts covering the deck
    • Tournament results
    • Modern version of the deck

    MOST (or Vial-archetypes)

    MOST is an acronym for Merieke, Opposition, Survival of the Fittest, and Tradewind Rider. Note that many of these cards have been replaced as they became less relevant, it is a name that was relevant a long time ago.
    More generically, it's a subset of WUBRG Vial and can include WUBG Vial which has been the standard, also Esper Vial, Abzan Vial, Bant Vial, WURG Vial, BUG Vial, etc. However, of course Vial is not an intrinsic part of the deck's strategy and could be replaced.




    With Survival banned it may be more appropriate to call it MOFT, since Fauna Shaman replaced Survival of the fittest. But we won't do that, no. Actually, there are now a bunch of creature tutors that can and often do replace Fauna Shaman.




    Some alternative creature tutors to play include:

    Fauna Shaman: lends itself to tap-effect synergies or creatures that benefit from being in your hand, like adventure cards (see Adventure section below).
    Recruiter of the Guard: great with flickering and bounce effects.
    Imperial Recruiter: great with flickering and bounce effects.
    Fiend Artisan: looks like an updated Fauna Shaman that can be a threat, even a semi-combo threat if you can fill your graveyard. It benefits from having a lot of mana, through for example Gaea's Cradle, or sacrifice synergies.
    Green Sun's Zenith: good for ramping with Dryad Arbor, it's a green demonic tutor and especially suitable for putting a green hatebear into play early in the game.

    Which creature tutor you use will define what creatures you tend to play, since a creature you can tutor for is worth much more in the deck than a creature you can't tutor for. However, it can still be worth playing creatures that you cannot tutor for, this is an evaluation that will need to be done on an individual basis. It is also possible to run a set of parallel tutor packages that can find each other. Like, for example:

    Recruiter of the Guard or Imperial Recruiter -> Spellseeker -> Green Sun's Zenith -> any green creature but also potentially Fiend Artisan or Fauna Shaman


    Basics of the deck

    At its core it's a creature centric control deck or more usually midrange deck, using creatures to try to control the board and to some degree stack and having some amount of selection to help find the creatures needed. Depending on which colours and card selection suit you choose to use, the deck will look a bit differently. The deck is typically focused on the bant colours with a light black splash but any combination is possible and they all have their advantages. An introduction to what the different colours bring, and what different colour combinations look like, could be added to this primer.

    Traditional approach:
    The deck typically tries to (or rather tried to) ramp by playing a large amount of alternative mana sources and fewer lands. In parallel it can deploy a Mother of Runes to secure key creatures and gain board control. The advantage of this is that you develop your board more quickly than most decks, and your late game topdecks improve since a top decked mana producer can be used as tutor fodder for Fauna Shaman. Having Fauna Shaman active and an Aether Vial in play means you can put basically any card from your deck into play at instant speed and uncounterably (well, you need to plan for it and tick Vial up accordingly). This is very useful. Vs combo you can slam a Spell Queller, Leovold, Gaddock Teeg or Gilded Drake at an inconvenient moment for your opponent. Vs control a Glen Elendra can cause some problems, or a Magus of the Moon. Vs aggressive decks a Peacekeeper can give you all the time in the world to build up a game winning board. And vs midrange decks getting Leovold, Merieke Ri Berit or Stoneforge for Jitte can all be game winners. You can also tutor up strong card advantage engines when that is the approach you need to take, or a sweeper. It's all up to you and how you choose to use your flex slots. Just changing a single slot can have a large impact on a matchup.

    Recent approach:
    With the power creep of efficient removal and card advantage built into creatures, the tap effects that have long been central to the deck have become too unreliable. Instead, the core of the deck can be seen to be creature tutors that allow you to play some silver bullet creatures to potentially shore up a specific matchup or to help with specific game states. Also, with a large amount of creatures in the deck, Aether Vial is normally a given, but I wouldn't restrict the deck archetype to decks that include vial, it's just a common choice.

    Background of the deck

    It was created by the user Stinner as a Survival deck in 2008-2009. Already in 2004 the ATS thread was created on the Source. Also in the 90's I was playing 5c Tradewind which can be read about on The Dojo, buried deep in memory.

    The deck, in its post-survival form, has been discussed on the now inactive MtG-forum Tipo1.it since Dec 10th 2011:
    http://www.tipo1.it/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=27255

    I highly recommend using Google Translate when browsing this forum: https://translate.google.com/transla...-text=&act=url

    I've had plenty of good laughs from this thread, I don't know what it is about Italians but apparently they have a more well-developed sense of humor than I have. I remember, 7-8 years later, reading in a discussion on playing Snapcaster Mage something like: "To not play Snapcaster Mage because there is Deathrite Shaman, that's like not making love to a beautiful woman because there is sweat!".

    Previous thread on the source and other forums was the Trade Pod deck, which was high-jacked by the user Buloid to discuss MOST in late 2013:
    Thread: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...-Birthing-Pod)
    Buloid's post: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...l=1#post765777

    Why play this deck?

    Update 2023: I think it's fair to say that the streamlining I suggested below was done very succesfully by Jeff Lin in the Esper Vial deck, allthough he had a different starting point than this deck, and which I have commented further on below. Basically, I would interpret that deck, from a MOST perspective, as cutting all creature tap-effects and replacing them with creatures with etb-effects that can be used to draw a card (i.e. Baleful Strix or flickering or bouncing it or Gilded Drake). Some players splash a fourth color in that deck, some add a combo element, some experiment with tap effects, some experiment with tribal properties, so we see the same kind of experimentation as with MOST/X-color vial. My own deckbuilding has been very influenced by that deck's strategy, but I think a wider perspective is still useful, green and red cards have a lot of potential too so there's no reason to stay away from these colors in brewing.

    Older descripton that still largely applies (pre 2020):
    It is perhaps the most beautiful deck of legacy (not afraid of using big words here), surprising you with its consistency (which is reasonable), efficiency (which is good) and flexibility (which is unparalleled). It is unlike anything most of you have seen or played before, so free your mind of your mental inhibitions and browse on.

    The deck is different in that it doesn't put one single strategy foremost and then does everything to streamline the deck into executing that strategy, it is a deck that tries to execute a multi-faceted strategy by having an efficient and redundant tutor core (maybe it needs to be streamlined, you're welcome to dig in). Due to the last decade's steady increase in efficiency of creatures we can expect this deck to only get better with time. The most crucial aspect seems to be veeeery few people playing it. The learning curve is steep, the deck is difficult to master, the deck building possibilities are endless, but given time and effort the deck will reward you with tremendous fun, even your opponents will enjoy it with you, and correctly tailored for your meta it can be a strong contender.

    The deck has a maindeck hatebear strategy which gives it good game vs combo and control decks, it can pack FoW somewhere in the 75 which helps vs t1-2 combo and it has a redundant card tutoring core that lets you find a multitude of silver-bullets for certain matchups (such as Gilded Drake, Magus of the Moon, Orzhov Pontiff, Merieke Ri Berit, etc).

    It is a very creative deck archetype. The core is flexible and provides a lot of tutoring and protection vs both fair and unfair strategies. It can host basically any creature based combo and will put it together by turn 4-5 if left uninterrupted, and Mother of Runes and Force of Will can help it be uninterrupted if that's what you're going for. FoW’s can also be used to protect your creatures against sweepers if they are rampant in your local meta, the Vials and ramp options give it a good chance vs mana denial strategies (but Canadian Threshold is still a tough matchup in my experience).

    One of the deck’s main disadvantages is that it is very hard to both put together optimally and to master a list; there is most certainly a better list out there and evaluating changes can be hard since it is not a streamlined deck with 4 copies of every card, different games can play out quite differently. Having access to almost any of the cards in your list every turn and figuring out if you need to be defensive, offensive, which threat you should focus on preparing for or which synergies you should deploy and in what order can be quite challenging. Putting an extra counter on a Vial because you want to be guaranteed to put a certain creature in your deck into play may result in your losing the game.

    Sample deck lists

    Links to different lists with notes of color combination and some notable inclusions. Maybe a better characterization should include: creature tutors, combo cards, counterspells.

    01-18-2024 Huntinggjornersen (MTGO 4-1, WUBG Fauna Shaman, manadorks, rangers and a bunch of 1-ofs)
    01-12-2024 Pettdan (MTGO 5-0 list played by huntinggjornersen with WUBG Recruiter otG, Bowmaster/Hullbreacher/Leovold)
    01-10-2024 FTW (WuBG Hushbringer + Dreadnought)
    12-30-2023 Francis York Morgan posted this in the Esper Vial discord (WUBG 4 Recruiter + 3 GSZ, 4 Troll + 4 Reanimate)
    11-18-2023 Shaden (WUbrG Volrath's Shapeshifter, Phage, Witch+Oracle) (report)
    09-18-2023 Shazbok (wubG Fiend Artisan)
    07-11-2023 Pettdan (WURG Imperial Recruiter)02-21-2023 Pettdan (wubg Grief, Animate Dead)
    10-17-2022 Nicksnax (wubG Fauna Shaman)
    05-02-2020 Pettdan (WUBG Enchantments)
    03-27-2020 Pettdan (WUbrG)
    02-17-2020 Vickas (BURG Necrotic Ooze, Lazav) and 122018 (BURG Necrotic Ooze, Lazav), 2018 (WUBG Necrotic Ooze + Lazav)
    06-08-2019 Bobmans (WBG with Archangel + Spike Feeder, Yawgmoth)
    03-24-2019 Memories of the Time (WUBG with 3 Nissa, Stewardess of Elements and Titania)
    02-22-2019 Deragun (WUBRG with 2 Rhythm of the Wild)
    02-21-2019 Bedell (WUBG with 3 Sanctum Prelate)
    02-07-2019 Pettdan (WUBG Setessan Champion)
    02-07-2019 Pettdan (WUBG)
    02-13-2019 Pettdan (WUBG Aluren)
    02-02-2019 AngryBacon (WuBG with 3 Thalia, 2 Volrath's Shapeshifter and Phage)
    01-12-2019 ChristoferV (UBRG with 3 Vengevine, Dack Fayden and Intution)
    12-22-2018 FutureSight2_MTGBoogaloo (WUBG with Kambal and Plaguecrafter)
    11-16-2018 Cermak (WBG Thalia+Wasteland)
    09-20-2018 Demonic Pact (no longer available)
    08-17-2018 Kanti (WUBG with 2 Leovold, 2 Jitte)
    02-22-2018 Stinner (WUBrG with Eternal Witness, Negate, Spell Pierce, Opposition and Tradewind Rider)
    05-12-2017 Shaden (WUBrG with 4 Meddling Mage, Volrath's Shapeshifter and Phage)
    04-14-2017 Hadhod (WUBrG with 4 Spell Queller, Eladamri's Call, Samut)
    02-15-2017 Alexeezay (WUBrG with 4 Meddling Mage)

    Matchups

    (Note updated for a while)
    Running out of space for the primer, moved here: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...=1#post1082090

    Common and a few not so common core cards of the deck (by decreased order of frequency in decklists, subjectively)

    Post 2020 approach:
    I will describe here my personal development in deck building strategy for MOST or 4c/3c Vial. Some still play something very close to the earlier versions.
    In early 2018 I started using the Recruiter of the Guard and Flickerwisp combination of cards from Death and Taxes to get a card advantage aspect while also having a lot of utility and the tutor function. I basically cut 1-2 copies of Fauna Shaman and added Recruiters. It's a less powerful tutor effect, but it's harder for the opponent to interact with and leaves a body.

    When Esper Vial first appeared in the reports of MTGO results using Soulherder (probably with this list: Jeff Lin's Esper Solution later Esper Vial), it seemed clear that the combination of creatures with etb abilities that could translate into card advantage especially with Soulherder could be a powerful approach. This made me reevaluate creatures that don't provide card advantage, especially the manadorks. Well, another reason to reevaluate using manadorks was that I noticed that Jeff was using more lands and no mana creatures to ramp with, Esper doesn't have them, offering a slower start but more stable mana development. And so I figured I'd try the same, being less explosive but more reliable. And it seemed good. I think Delighted Halfling might be worth building with, however, and Dryad Arbor is good if running a GSZ heavy list.

    With the printing of Orcish Bowmasters, the deck takes another turn as it forces you to reevaluate all your creatures.

    I will discuss here some cards that are good in a WUBG version of the deck. However, all cards with draw effects need to be reeavaluated in a format where Orcish Bowmasters is a popular card, which it probably will be as long as Brainstorm is a good card.

    Examples of good cards for a WUBG version:
    Yorion, Sky Nomad
    Endurance
    Force of Will
    Brainstorm
    Swords to Plowshares
    Orcish Bowmasters
    Recruiter of the Guard
    Solitude
    Lagrella, the Magpie
    Charming Prince
    Baleful Strix
    Ice-Fang Coatl
    Plague Engineer
    Samwise the Stouthearted
    Haywire Mite

    Abundant Growth makes a good Arcum's Astrolabe-imitation, it helps smooth out the mana requirements, let you operate more easily on fetching basic lands and gives you a chance to play through a Blood Moon. It also makes Yorion a better follow-up. However, it must be reevaluated how to use Baleful Strix, Ice-Fang Coatl and Abundant Growth with Orcish Bowmasters in the format. An argument heard in the Esper Vial discord is that the deck can more efficiently leverage value from Bowmasters than other decks (tutoring for it when needed, flickering it for extra triggers or to protect it, playing around it).

    Examples of good cards for a WURG version, red additions:
    Imperial Recruiter
    Fury
    Magus of the Moon
    Minsc & Boo
    Pyroblast
    Flame of Anor
    Omnath, Locus of Creation
    Punishing Fire
    Dack Fayden
    Shaman of the Great Hunt

    Pre 2020 approach:
    • Lands: 14-18 cards

    1 Forest
    0-1 Plains
    1-3 Savannah
    1-2 Tropical Island
    1-2 Bayou
    0-1 Tundra
    0-1 Underground Sea
    0-1 Taiga
    6-8 Fetches for Forest type cards
    Not counting Dryad Arbor among the lands.

    • Alternative mana sources: 4-14 cards

    Birds of Paradise, Noble Hierarch, Green Sun's Zenith, Dryad Arbor, Aether Vial, Once upon a Time, Lorien Revealed, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Generous Ent, Oliphaunt, Eagles of the North, Angel of the Ruins
    Comment: there used to be mixed opinions on playing Aether Vial in this deck, as of now it's relatively established in most versions. Here you can find previous discussion on this: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...l=1#post856704

    • Tutors and card selection: 6-12 cards (GSZ included above)
    • Utility: 1-2 cards

    Scryb Ranger, Quirion Ranger
    Comment: These are often key cards of the deck, although if your list is focusing on ETB effects they become a little less useful, still however excellent. They triple up on the activations of each creature with a tap effect in the deck, since you can activate the Ranger's ability during the opponent's turn too. The perhaps most useful applications are Mother of Runes for board control and protection, and using it to get 4 mana out of a single land and mana dork, extremely resource efficient. Other examples of applications are doubling up on tutoring with Fauna Shaman, good if you try to use a graveyard based combo or synergy such as using Volrath's Shapeshifter; the rangers turn Merieke Ri Berit into a killer machine and win condition since you can untap her with her first activation on the stack to put a second copy on the stack, taking control of several creatures; you can use Tradewind Rider (rarely played lately) to bounce 2-3 lands per turn to create a soft lock, keeping your opponent on 1 land for the rest of the game. The Scryb Ranger provides more utility, flashing in to fizzle a Wasteland is common as is blocking Strix/Delver/Clique or carrying equipment, but the Quirion Ranger can be fetched more easily. Adding Soulherder to the deck puts more focus on etb-effects than tap-effects, so depending on which effects you focus on you may want to run 1 or 2 copies.

    • Control: 1-2 cards

    Glen Elendra Archmage, Opposition, Tradewind Rider
    Comment: Tradewind Rider and Opposition have fallen out of favor but are still powerful options, consider if they are right for your meta. Both cards are actually weak to Terminus.

    • Removal: 3-7 cards

    Ertai Resurrected, Qasali Pridemage, Knight of the Autumn, Orzhov Pontiff, Plague Engineer, Swords to Plowshares, Abrupt Decay, Umezawa’s Jitte, Izzet Staticaster, Haywire Mite, Tranquil Frillback
    Comment: You absolutely need artifact removal to get rid of Umezawa's Jitte before it connects, or some other way of dealing with it such as Peacekeeper or Force of Will (less of a problem in 2023 than it was a couple of years ago). More recent considerations are The One Ring and perhaps Up the Beanstalk, Urza's Saga or Staff of the Storyteller.

    • Hatebears: 4-7
    • Finishers: 0-1 cards
    • Protection: 3-8 cards
    • Card advantage: 2-5 cards, Flame of Anor, Sauron's Ransom

    • Boosting your team: 0-2 cards
    • Lifegain or damage prevention
    • Graveyard-interaction
    • Planeswalkers

    Grist, the Hunger Tide, Teferi, Time Raveler, Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes, Venser, the Sojourner, Domri Rade, Nissa, Steward of Elements, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Garruk Relentless, Captain Sisay
    Comments: Planeswalkers will tend to be slightly suboptimal in the deck (unless it's Grist, the Hunger Tide), if you can find a creature with a similar ability that is probably better due to the tutorability provided by Fauna Shaman/Recruiter/Artisan, protection from Mother of Runes, reusing thanks to Meren, and being playable through Aether Vial. There is a way to tutor for the planeswalkers and that is using Captain Sisay to tutor for them since they are legendary, but it's not playable anymore imo.

    Other options to the core cards:

    When considering which cards to add to your list you generally want the card to fullfill as many of the following requirements as possible (basically common sense):
    - The card is a relevant topdeck in a lot of matchups independent of other cards in the deck. The more generally relevant a card is, the better. Fauna Shaman does loosen this requirement but many games will be played without an active Fauna Shaman. Playing Brainstorm in your list, of course, further loosens this requirement.
    - Choose cards that have synergies with as many of the other cards in your deck as possible. A practical way of working with this is consider packages of cards. An example is Scryb Ranger which has synergy with any creature with a tap effect, which is most creatures in the deck, while also having a combo-like synergy with Merieke ri Berit (who's not "supposed to" untap).
    - Cards that don't have much synergies with the other cards should have some very strong effects. Examples are Sylvan Library and Force of Will.
    - When adding a combo element to the deck, the cards included should preferably be as few as possible and individually relevant.

    Removal:
    Artifact and/or enchantment removal:
    Loran of the Third Path, Tranquil Frillback, Outland Liberator, Cathar Commando, Westfold Rider, Tear Asunder, Haywire Mite, Hostage Taker, Kogla and Yidaro (maybe relevant if you can cheat it into play), Dauntless Dismantler

    Hatebears:
    Tutors:
    Discard and hand disruption:

    Vendilion Clique, Riptide Pilferer, Kitesail Freebooter, Tidehollow Sculler, Needle Specter, Gwendlyn di Corci, Dimir Cutpurse, Bloodhusk Ritualist, Ana Battlemage, Distended Mindbender, Thought-Knot Seer
    Comment: there is also the combination of Leovold, Emissary of Trest or Notion Thief with Magus of the Wheel or similar creatures.
    Thought-Knot Seer is pretty hard to cast and playing it would require some innovative choices. Cards that help cast Thought-Knot Seer could be Aether Vial, Magus of the Library, Cavern of Souls

    Card advantage:
    Card draw or filtering:
    Utility:
    Protection:
    Permission:
    Finishers:
    Combat creatures:

    Glissa, the Traitor
    Comments: Glissa can rule the battlefield in some matchups and come in with Vial to block-kill an attacking creature, with the benefit of bringing back Vials, Strixes and Jitte from the graveyard for free. She also has very nice synergy with Walking Ballista.

    Boosting your team:
    Life gain or damage prevention:
    Other mana producers:
    Sideboard considerations

    Vs combo or control:
    Vs combo:
    Vs control decks:
    Vs removal heavy decks:
    Vs mana denial:
    Vs graveyard strategies:
    Vs artifact-heavy decks:
    Vs burn strategies:
    Vs lands strategies:
    Vs big creature strategies:

    Two potential cores of the deck

    To help me in my deck building with this deck I tend to build a core of the deck that contains the most useful cards that are needed to keep the deck together and provide the answers to some of the most common strategies. Let me know if you like a different core of the deck and I'll add it.

    Upd March 2020: Since a while back I've been running Flickerwisph and Recruiter, inspired by DnT, and with recent MTGO success of Esper Vial using Soulherder I decided to try it too, I'll update the shell with Soulherder below. Also the release of OuaT means this card is now competing with GSZ (and Brainstorm) for space in the deck. I think if you're playing a value control version, then Recruiter is better, but if you're playing a combo control version, then Fauna Shaman is relatively better, but I think there is a lot of overlap between the optimal versions of both approaches. Also Collector Ouphe has appeared as a new hatebear for the sideboard, Oko presents a good threat and answer vs fair decks that MOST can ramp into, Uro and Kroxa appear as new Vial+Karakas value engines and late-game grind power. Kunoros has appeared as another relevant hatebear although it's hard to say how it fits, being a bit slow at three mana and not green and competing with Scavenging Ooze and Containment Priest.

    With Soulherder:
    3 Once Upon a Time
    1 Green Sun's Zenith
    3 Recruiter of the Guard
    1 Fauna Shaman

    Non-creatures:
    4 Aether Vial
    1 Sylvan Library

    Green creatures:
    2 Birds of Paradise
    2 Noble Hierarch
    1 Scryb Ranger
    1 Scavenging Ooze
    1 Knight of Autumn

    Non-green creatures:
    3 Mother of Runes
    1 Soulherder
    1 Orzhov Pontiff
    1 Sanctum Prelate
    1 Glen Elendra Archmage
    16 fetches and forests

    Comment: with Soulherder etb effects get better, like Knight of Autumn and Orzov Pontiff. The lower amount of GSZs mean Dryad Arbor, Meren and Leovold are much harder to find consistently. This also means it's less necessary to run black cards and splashing red is more of an option than in the Meren version. An advantage of this version is a lot of built in card advantage and good board presence. The OuaT's could be replaced with Brainstorms, making it easier to build a FoW-version.

    With Meren:
    3 Green Sun's Zenith
    3 Once Upon a Time
    4 Aether Vial
    2 Birds of Paradise
    2 Noble Hierarch
    1 Dryad Arbor
    1 Scryb Ranger
    1 Fauna Shaman
    1 Recruiter of the Guard
    3 Mother of Runes
    1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
    1 Sylvan Library
    1 Qasali Pridemage
    1 Plague Engineer
    1 Scavenging Ooze
    1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
    1 Glen Elendra Archmage
    16 fetches and forests

    Comment: This version seems more relevant for a combo version since Fauna Shaman offers unparallelled tutor ability and puts creatures in the graveyard which is sometimes needed for combos.

    Sideboard:
    1 Carpet of Flowers
    1 Collector Ouphe
    1 Ethersworn Canonist
    1 Gaddock Teeg
    1-3 Leyline of the Void


    Close contenders:
    Peacekeeper

    Motivation for this core:
    These are 43 cards so you have 17 potential one-offs to add to the deck. From this you can go for a FoW version, a combo version, a mana denial version à la DnT, an elves package, wizards, artifact theme or whatever you like.
    The current trend is to play Aether Vial, I think it is too good not to play, but it can be changed for more mana dorks.
    You probably want more answers to Umezawa's Jitte, depending on how popular it is, but answers will help vs Chalice too and that never hurts. That can be in the form of additional Qasalis, Reclamation Sage, Abrupt Decay, Kolaghan's Command, Force of Will and/or Peacekeeper.
    I usually play 2 Scryb Ranger, 0 Quirion Ranger, but I think this depends on how many lands you choose to play. Furthmore, usually there will be 2 Leovolds.
    You also typically want some card draw, either Sylvan Library or Brainstorm. If you want to play FoW's somwewhere in the 75 then Brainstorm is well suited.
    I removed Merieke ri Berit from this list because I've been fine without her, however she's a real game-winning card that's nice to have access to. If attrition based decks are tier 1, then she may be ill positioned.

    I'll add here Stinner's description of his list, it has some general recommendations that can be considered a core:
    Quote Originally Posted by Stinner View Post
    [Had to cut this to free up some space, access the link by clicking Stinner above]

    Decks that share some features with MOST or that can be used for inspiration

    Basically, any creature heavy deck with Vials or tribal deck contains synergies that can be used by MOST too. Below decks are ordered by thread number.

    ATS (Angry Tradewind Survival): http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...al)-Former-DTB
    Cephalid Breakfast: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...alid-Breakfast Also: Intro to updated CB 2020
    Full English Breakfast: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...lish-Breakfast
    Faerie Stompy: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...-Faerie-Stompy
    Grand Architect (modern deck): http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...rand-Architect
    Mono-blue Martyr: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...no-Blue-Martyr
    Stoneybrook's Alarm, Wizard to Opposition: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...to-Opposition!
    Oracle Opposition: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...cle-Opposition
    Trophy Mage control: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...y-Mage-Control
    Stilljutsu, UB Ninja Still: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...UB-Ninja-Still
    Faerie Ninja Still: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...no-Blue-Tempo)
    Humans, 1: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...er-undefeated)
    Humans, 2: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...-Legacy-Humans
    Standing Vial: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...-Standing-Vial
    Spicy Popcorn: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...-Spicy-Popcorn
    Wizards (Eternal Durdles): http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...61#post1042761
    Spirit Tribal: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...-Spirit-Tribal

    Below decks are not Source-threads:
    Vial Wizards (Modern): https://www.channelfireball.com/arti...-vial-wizards/, here is a video explaining the deck: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2Uc9iA...ature=youtu.be
    Esper Vial: Reddit-discussion
    BUG Vial: MTGO 5-0 decklist 041120
    A modern deck: Yorion

    Possible combos

    When considering a possible combo, it's been my experience that it's good to make the combo into a minimal package, say 2 cards preferably, and it's very important to pick a combo where the cards are individually good and have synergy with the rest of the deck. This can be difficult to do. I like Aluren as a combo enabler, because you already play most of the creatures for value and Bowmasters is a good wincon that we already want to play. It's still a dead card by itslef, but the instant speed win is pretty powerful. I have seen Witch+Oracle combo played in BUG and Esper Vial with several copies of cards, and Cephalid Breakfast which is quite similar to MOST/Vial is very dedicated to the combo. Abdel Adrian seems very promising, but it's not available on MTGO for testing yet.

    Thassa's Oracle with Divining Witch, Paradigm Shift (good with spellseeker) or Inverter of Truth, Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
    Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward with Animate Dead, Dance of the Dead or Necromancy. Note that the reanimation enchantments create a card advantage engine when you reanimate Yorion with them (enchant Yorion in the graveyard, when it comes in then exile the enchantment so Yorion goes back to the graveyard and also flicker any other permanent for extra etb triggers, and the loop lets you redo this at every end step).
    Displacer Kitten with Teferi, Time Raveler and Mox Opal or Mox Amber
    Necrotic Ooze or Agatha's Soul Cauldron with any of the following:
    Devoted Druid, Quillspike
    Phyrexian Devourer, Triskelion, Walking Ballista
    Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
    Tree of Perdition, then you need a way to deal the last damage.
    Loyal Retainers or Apprentice Necromancer with any Legendary card
    Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Emrakul, the Aeons Thorn
    • The above combo could be run similarly in a Spellseeker package such as Entomb with Shallow Grave and Emrakul, the Aeons Thorn where the combo could perhaps be tutored up while hiding behind a Teferi, Time Raveler which can even bounce Spellseeker to get both parts of the combo. Also, Fauna Shaman could replace Entomb here.
    Volrath’s Shapeshifter or Vesuvan Drifter, Phage the Untouchable or Vesperlark and a sacrifice outlet for infinite sacrificing (like Carrion Feeder)
    Aluren, Cavern Harpy, Recruiter of the Guard, Imperial Recruiter, Orcish Bowmasters, Orzhov Pontiff, Sedraxis Alchemist. If playing this version it may be a good idea to maximize cards that have synergy with Aluren and Cavern Harpy, such as: Orcish Bowmasters, Orzhov Pontiff, Baleful Strix, Coiling Oracle, Vendilion Clique, Bone Shredder, Spellstutter Sprite, Trinket Mage
    Heliod, Sun-Crowned, Walking Ballista
    Heliod, Sun-Crowned with Scurry Oak or Walking Ballista
    Grand Architect, Pili-Pala
    Zameck Guildmage or Vizier of Remedies or Melira, Sylvok Outcast or Rhythm of the Wild, Varolz the Scar-Striped, Kitchen Finks, Murderous Redcap, Glen Elendra Archmage, Falkenrath Aristocrat
    Varolz, the Scar-Striped, Phyrexian Dreadnought, Death's Shadow
    • Dreadnought as a combo, or rather synergy, threat: Can be run with blue enablers such as Stifle and Tishana's Tidebinder, or with Hushbringer, Stern Proctor.
    Volrath's Shapeshifter, Lazav, the Multifarious, Phyrexian Dreadnought
    Archangel of Thune, Spike Feeder
    Painter's Servant, Grindstone, Trinket Mage
    Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Pestermite, Deceiver Exarch, Necrotic Ooze
    Knight of the Reliquary, Retreat to Coralhelm. Not quite a combo but it allows you to grow the knight huge quickly, while allowing for other tricks with Retreat.
    Chain of Smog, with Witherbloom Apprentice or Sedgemoor Witch or Guttersnipe, where Spellseeker can be used to tutor for Chain of Smog.
    Conspicuous Snoop, Boggart Harbinger, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Sling-Gang Lieutenant
    Amalia Benavides Aguirre, Wildgrowth Walker.
    Devoted Druid with Swift Reconfiguration for infinite mana
    Support cards: Bitter Reunion can be useful for reanimation strategies, since it's both a discard outlet and gives haste to either reanimating creature or the reanimated creature (not both, I believe).

    Protecting your combo
    Synergies to build upon

    • Lands

    Knight of the Reliquary, Elvish Reclaimer, Karakas, Gaea’s Cradle, Cavern of Souls, Ramunap Excavator, Sylvan Safekeeper, Tireless Tracker, Scryb Ranger, Titania, Protector of Argoth, Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Weathered Wayfarer, Flagstones of Trokair, Urza's Saga

    Comment: Karakas is probably the best land and it's an automatic include in any version with white in it.

    There are groups of mainly green creatures with powerful land synergies that are worth considering. You can setup a nice powerful game-winning group of 2-3 creatures that are individually good but collectively great. Sylvan Safekeeper with Titania is game-winning, and Sylvan Safekeeper begs for a Ramunap Excavator to get more lands to sacrifice. Dryad of the Illysian Grove with Ramunap Excavator to replay Wasteland is also potentially backbreaking.

    You can play KotR or the Reclaimer to tutor for any useful lands in your deck, they also tend to improve the previously mentioned synergies. Reclaimer becomes a ramp engine if you play Flagstones of Trokair, but it's better if you have many Flagstones in your deck, and Flagstones is perhaps not great in a deck with heavy color-requirements on the manabase. I've been trying WUBG-lists with 1 Reclaimer and 1 Urza's Saga to get that value in matchups when you're hit by heavy attrition. It also makes the case for a maindeck Nihil Spellbomb to occasionally have t1-interaction vs graveyard-based decks (very common). Saga finding Aether Vial is a pretty good baseline for the card, you're always happy to have another vial in play. I tried something like this: 1 Elvish Reclaimer, 0-1 Knight of the Reliquary, 1 Urza's Saga, 1 Shadowspear, 1 Nihil Spellbomb, 0-1 Retrofitter Foundry. Shadowspear is nice both because of lifelink buying you time to turn games around, trample giving you a little extra offensive power, and for removing indestructability giving you more consistent answers to The One Ring and Kaldra Compleat.
    The user Angelbaka on Discord suggested to use the synergy between Quirion Ranger/Scryb Ranger and Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth to replay lands like Urza's Saga and Mystic Sanctuary. Maybe it's also good with Bojuka Bog and Sejiri Step. Yavimaya also works with Submerge, which is being run with Up the Beanstalk.

    • Legends, Karakas, Aether vial

    Legends, Karakas and Aether Vial are very powerful together for using etb effects of legendary creatures many times.
    Playing Karakas and having a way to tutor for it, or running multiple copies, is very good next to legendary creature bullets such as Venser, Shaper Savant, Barrin, Tolarian Archmage, Ertai Resurrected, Yorion, Sky Nomad, Samwise the Stouthearted, Atris, Oracle of Half-Truths, Lagrella, the Magpie, Loran of the Third Path, Vendilion Clique, Mangara of Corondor, Pia and Kiran Nalaar, Fblthp, the Lost, Breya, Etherium Shaper. Especially if you also play Vial, e.g. you can replay Clique during each of your opponent's draw steps to create an uncounterable soft lock.
    Some other good cards to support legendary builds, also legendary threats that can be protected with Karakas: Delighted Halfling, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Captain Sisay, Gaea’s Cradle, Glissa Sunslayer, Glissa, the Traitor, Mox Amber
    Comments: Note that Captain Sisay can tutor for any planeswalker too, but most tap effects are not so relevant anymore. And Mox Amber allows for playing a combo with Displacer Kitten and Teferi.

    • Graveyard based synergies, reanimation strategies etc (or more generally strategies for cheating a monster into play)

    Necrotic Ooze, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Dimir Doppelganger, Scarab God, Arcane Artisan, Varolz, the Scar-Striped, Loyal Retainers, Goblin Welder, Mimeoplasm, Volrath's Shapeshifter, Apprentice Necromancer, Karador, Ghost Chieftain, Order of Whiteclay, Magus of the Will, Coffin Queen, Hell's Caretaker, Lazav, the Multifarious, Vesuvan Drifter, Priest of Fell Rites, Dermotaxi
    Volrath's Shapeshifter, Generous Ent, Troll of Khazad-dûm, Oliphaunt
    Comments:

    Necrotic Ooze is a fantastic card for this deck, since Fauna Shaman puts anything into the graveyard, most abilities of your creatures are activated abilities so even without trying Necrotic Ooze is likely to be a super creature by the time you get access to it during a game. Meren of Clan Nel Toth is another card slot in the deck that utilizes the graveyard by bringing the creatures back into play. If you look further down you will find that there are a lot of combos and strong synergies with Necrotic Ooze that are worth considering. Some cards provide good enough synergy from the graveyard that you could consider playing them just to get value from Necrotic Ooze, one such option could be Zacama, Primal Calamity (or Minion of Leshrac) who first takes care of any bothersome creatures, then any equipment or lock pieces the opponent may have and then starts gaining you life.

    Agatha's Soul Cauldron works well with Necrotic Ooze, perhaps even better than it. It's slower in the sense that you can only use it with one creature effect per turn, while Ooze potentially wins at instant speed as soon as it enters the battlefield with the correct setup. However, it serves double duty as graveyard interaction, is cheaper to play and doesn't die to creature removal.

    Another card that deservs its own section is Volrath's Shapeshifter. A couple of players devote themselves to Shapeshifter versions, building on the tradition of the deck Full English Breakfast. VS mixes utility and combo potential in a fascinating way that gives the player a lot of opportunity to outplay the opponent. Here are some cards that work well with it: Phage the Untouchable, Sheoldred, Whispering One, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Master of Cruelties, Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger

    Unfortunately, Orcish Bowmasters makes Volrath's Shapeshifter look a little vulnerable. It still has great potential but can be more easily handled, requiring a bit more setup. It's possible that Vesuvan Drifter is a better option although manipulating the top of the library is usually more difficult, Brainstorm and Sylvan Library can do it and otherwise unplayable tutors like Wordly Tutor. Sterling Grove is probably playable in an enchantment-focused list, so if there's an artifact- or enchantment creature that's worth cheating into play (such as Cityscape Leveler, maybe Phyrexian Fleshgorger because it's a nice flip with Charming Prince flickering it once it's played as a card), that could be an approach allthough it's a quite heavy deck-building restriction to get Sterling Grove in there.

    • Tap-effects

    This used to be a deck that could maximize value from tap-effects, but as card design evolved tap-effects have become less viable. Magic is changing from a game where card pieces interact on the board, in a chess-like fashion, and you try to maximize value from the scarce resources you have, to a game more focused on trading resources and out-valuing the opponent where every card comes with card advantage and removal and sweepers are cheap and efficient with few efficient protection options. So, many tap-effects we used to play have become too risky to play. It's probably worth revisiting once in a while, as new synergies can increase their power level. For example, Tyvar not only offers pseudo-haste to creatures which is extremely valuable for tap-effects, he also can circumvent removal by bringing a creature back from the graveyard.

    Some cards that still have very valuable tap effects: Goblin Welder, Goblin Engineer, Fiend Artisan, Dauthi Voidwalker, Divining Witch (beware of Bowmasters though), Patron Wizard (a pet card)

    Cards that allow a deck to maximize value from tap-effects: Scryb Ranger, Quirion Ranger, Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, Agatha's Soul Cauldron, Drumbellower, Prophet of Kruphix

    Tap effect creatures that may be difficult to use due to power creep of creatures, card advantage and removal (including Orcish Bowmasters who machine guns x/1s): Merieke Ri Berit, Tradewind Rider, Mother of Runes, Giver of Runes, Fauna Shaman, Mangara of Korondor, Skrelv, Defector Mite

    • Haste-effects

    Providing haste helps make tap-effects more powerful, since they can't be stopped with removal only.
    Bitter Reunion, Anger, Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei, ,

    • Amplifying etb-effects
    • Adventures

    What separates Fauna Shaman from most of the available creature tutors is that it brings creatures from your library into your hand. This ability is quite useful together with creature adventure cards, so I thought I'd list them here. This is making me think of adding a copy or two of Fauna Shaman back into a list.
    Brazen Borrower, Horned Loch-Whale, Questing Druid, Murderous Rider, Twining Twins, Stormkeld Vanguard, Mosswood Dreadknight, Kellan, the Fae-Blooded, Elusive Otter, Bramble Familiar, Decadent Dragon, Scalding Viper, Heartflame Duelist, Cruel Somnophage, Devouring Sugarmaw, Beluna Grandsquall, Gumdrop Poisoner, Pollen-Shield Hare, Bonecrusher Giant, Guardian Naga, Horn of Valhalla, Virtue of Knowledge, Fae of Wishes, Shrouded Shepherd, Gingerbread Hunter, Threadbind Clique, Spellscorn Coven

    Not creature adventures but still interesting: Virtue of Persistence, Monster Manual, Virtue of Loyalty

    • Changelings

    Changelings fit with most creature type-based synergies. It's also possible to consider some effects that are strong enough that you would include only one creature with that type, and effect, and use multiple changelings in a deck. Some examples are Magda, Brazen Outlaw (there are already Magda decks with no other dwarves in legacy), Najeela, the Blade-Blossom (there are also Najeela decks with a couple of warriors and changelings), Crystalline Sliver (giving all changelings hexproof is pretty good) and Retrofitter Foundry.
    Changelings: Unsettled Mariner, Mirror Entity, Changeling Outcast, Mothdust Changeling, Universal Automaton, Masked Vandal, Valiant Changeling, Roaming Throne
    Comments: Unsettled Mariner is a decent hatebear that protects you against Tendril's of Agony, discard and removal, especially if you combine it with some mana denial like Thalia, Daze and Wasteland. Additionally, it's a changeling that synergizes with any creature type effect you may play. Mirror Entity may be overkill, but the ability to turn all your creatures into a creature type could be very powerful, not to mention boosting all your creatures for a potential immediate win.
    Other potential payoffs: Patron Wizard, Breeches, Eager Pillager

    • Dwarves

    The dwarves are usually only played together with a bunch of changelings to support the theme. Magda has such a powerful effect, putting out lotus petals every time a changeling is tapped, which can be built around. Here's a video of a Magda deck.
    Magda, Brazen Outlaw, Dwarven Recruiter

    • Wizards

    Flame of Anor, Barrin, Tolarian Archmage, Venser, Shaper Savant, Meddling Mage, Snapcaster Mage, Patron Wizard, Step Through, Ertai Resurrected, Spellstutter Sprite, Voidmage Prodigy, Qasali Pridemage, Vendilion Clique, Izzet Staticaster, Glen Elendra Archmage, Grim Lavamancer, Dark Confidant, Sylvan Safekeeper, Thornscape Battlemage, Zameck Guildmage, Mangara of Corondor, Master of Waves, Trinket Mage, Trophy Mage, Aphetto Grifter, Surgespanner, Cursecatcher, Martyr of Frost, Zameck Guildmage, Sage of Fables, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, Boros Reckoner, Aven Mindcensor, Azorius Guildmage Master Biomancer, Marchesa, the Black Rose, Ana Battlemage, Magus of the Library, Mistcaller, Merfolk Trickster, Reflector Mage, Naru Meha, Master Wizard, Naban, Dean of Iteration, Siren Stormtamer, Champion of Wits, Dreamstealer, Nimble Obstructionist, Baral, Chief of Compliance, Harbinger of the Tides, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Disciple of Bolas, Galecaster Colossus (which can be used from the graveyard with a Necrotic Ooze if you don't get to hardcast it), Archivist, Cloudkin Seer, Kess, Dissident Mage, Malevolent Hermit, Mistmeadow Vanisher, Vindictive Flamestoker, Obscura Interceptor, Garth One-Eye
    Comments: The deck already likes to play a lot of wizards, sometimes up to ten wizards in the main deck. At that point, with the inclusion of one specific card, the Patron Wizard, you can effectively lock down many decks or at least prevent them from playing the game efficiently. Note that Quirion and Scryb Ranger help out by untapping wizards. Voidmage Prodigy has a similar effect.

    • Clerics

    Edgewalker, Shadow-Rite Priest, Archivist of Oghma, Orzhov Pontiff, Mother of Runes, Weathered Wayfarer, Containment Priest, Vizier of Remedies, Academy Rector, Ethersworn Canonist, Angus Mackenzie, Auriok Champion, War Priest of Thune, Children of Korlis (this actually answers Tendril's of Agony from turn 1), Mikaeus, the Lunarch, Skirsdag High Priest, High Priest of Penance, Leonin Arbiter, Remorseful Cleric, Weathered Wayfarer, Anointed Peacekeeper, Alms Collector, Kemba, Kha Enduring, Sanguine Evangelist,
    Comments: I'm collecting stuff here, not enough right now but Edgewalker seems so cool if you can put a bunch of creatures into play for free with him. I think these will be moved to some section with ideas that aren't worth going through here.

    • Soldiers

    Personally I feel like Harbin makes soldiers tribal an interesting proposition, considering that if you have 5 of them in play to attack with, that is likely a win, and getting to 5 can be easy with Recruiter, Thalia and Lieutenant counting. At the same time, Harbin by itself is a 2 mana flying 3/2, which is pretty good, and it can be protected with Karakas which seems more like an advantage than a disadvantage. However, you may want to play Wastelands in such a build, but considering it's a white weenie variant you probably would do that anyway. The recentn print Greymond also seems quite powerful. Vial him in, give all your creatures vigilance/first strike and lifelink, then attack for a bunch of lifegain while if you had 3 humans in play before him, you get a +2/+2 boost to them. And he also can be protected with your own Karakas.
    Harbin, Vanguard Aviator, Greymond, Avacyn's Stalwart, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Lagrella, the Magpie, Jirina, Dauntless General, General Ferrous Rokiric, Skystrike Officer, Recruiter of the Guard, Valiant Veteran, Esper Sentinel, Boromir, Warden of the Tower, Thalia's Lieutenant, Brimaz, King of Oreskos, Ranger-Captain of Eos, Grishnákh, Brash Instigator

    • Warriors
    • Rogues

    Earwig Squad, Opposition Agent, True-Name Nemesis,Brazen Borrower, Grenzo, Dungeon Warden, Edric, Spymaster of Trest, Bitterblossom, Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive, Thada Adel, Acquisitor
    Comments: Earwig Squad seems like an interesting addition to the deck, a potential gamewinner vs combo and also good vs control, but it's hard to find enough Goblins and Rogues, that are good enough to play without the Squad, to make it reliable. I'll list some options here.

    • Human
    Most of the above creatures are humans. But here are some other notable mentions:
    Hostage Taker

    • Party (Clerices, Rogues, Warriors, Wizards)

    It would be very interesting to play around with Party cards in for example a humans themed deck where you can get both human-synergy and Party-effects, but unfortunately most Party cards are relatively weak. Archpriest and Linvala are fairly powerful; Zagras could be something but probably not.
    Archpriest of Iona, Linvala, Shield of Sea Gate, Malakir Blood-Priest, Squad Commander, Zagras, Thief of Heartbeats, ,

    • Faeries
    • Elves
    • Cats

    What makes cat tribal appealing to me, besides for obvious reasons, is that I think Kemba's ability to freely attach equipment to a cat is very good. You need to play cat tribal with Stoneforge Mystic, and then any equipment in play, but especially Kaldra Compleat, will make any cat you play quite threatening. Then Kemba's other abilities, to create tokens and to boost equipped creatures, are just bonuses. Interestingly, there is also potential to run a cross-tribal with clerics and cats. I especially like the Shadow-Rites Priest lord effect and ability to put Atraxa into play from the library at instant speed.
    Kemba, Kha Enduring, Alms Collector, Brimaz, King of Oreskos, Kaheera, the Orphanguard, Qasali Pridemage, Lion Sash, Soul of Windgrace, Felidar Guardian, Leonin Arbiter, Cauldron Familiar, Wild Nacatl, Gloomshrieker, Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse, Leonin Warleader, Feline Sovereign, King of the Pride, Skycat Sovereign, Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar

    • Artifacts

    Goblin Welder, Baleful Strix, Sundering Titan, Wurmcoil Engine, Grand Architect, Batterskull, Thopter Spy Network, Thopter Foundry, Walking Ballista, Spellskite, Trinket Mage, Trophy Mage, Noxious Gearhulk, Ethersworn Adjudicator, Padeem, Consul of Innovation, Memnarch, Scarecrone, Muzzio, Visionary Architect, Mirage Mirror, Vedalken Shackles, Masticore, Leonin Abunas, Arcbound Ravager, Basilisk Collar, Trophy Mage (could be played with Vedalken Shackles, Thousand-Year Elixir, Sword of Fire and Ice, Trinisphere, Glissa, the Traitor, Ensnaring Bridge, Urza, Chief Artificer

    It's a bit far off, but Greasfang, Okiba Bosss has a fairly powerful effect. Perhaps it could be used with Goblin Engineer, putting a vehicle such as Parhelion II in the graveyard, then using Fiend Artisan to sacrifice Goblin Engineer for example to tutor up Greasefang.

    • Goblins

    Krenko, Mob Boss, Grenzo, Dungeon Warden, Grenzo, Havoc Raiser, Goblin Welder, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
    Comments: with a Quirion or Scryb Ranger in play a Krenko by itself can generate 7 tokens over your and the opponent's first turn without summoning sickness, over yours and your opponents next turn you can have another 49 tokens. With a Mirror Entity in play this goes even more crazy.

    • Spirits

    Mausoleum Wanderer, Spell Queller, Kira, Great Glass-Spinner, Dimir Cutpurse, Geist of Saint Traft, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Eidolon of Rhetoric, Kataki, War's Wage, Hokori, Dust Drinker, Tradewind Rider, Strangleroot Geist, Phantom Nantuko, Karlov of the Ghost Council (pretty nice with Scavenging Ooze)
    Comments: Mausoleum Wanderer is what creates some extra synergy here. There should be some more things to make this strong enough to be really useful, but a lot of these cards work well in the deck anyway.

    • Mana denial

    Stasis, Winter Orb, Scryb Ranger, Quirion Ranger, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Vryn Wingmare, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, Hokori, Dust Drinker, Archangel of Tithes, Tsabo's Web, Static Orb, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
    Comments: Stasis combos with the Rangers so you can add it to your arsenal to fight various decks with basically zero deck building cost. The problem in my experience is not so much the usefulness of Stasis as that games become slow and your opponents become frustrated when they can't play. The user Vickas was experimenting a lot with Stasis, so message him if interested, or search for his posts.

    • Generating and using a lot of mana
    • Stealing

    Gilded Drake, Merieke ri Berit, Yasova Dragonclaw, Sower of Temptation, Dominating Licid, Grishnákh, Brash Instigator
    Comments: Merieke Ri Berit is super powerful in a list based on tap-effects, while Gilded Drake works perfectly in a list with many bounce and flicker effects, letting you steal another creature during each bounce or flicker.

    • Bouncing
    • Flickering
    • +1/+1-Counters
    • -1/-1-Counters
    • Enchantments

    I've made a rough attempt to group these cards, would need to define these categories better because they overlap. Here's an old attempt at an enchantment-focused list.

    Utility: Up the Beanstalk, Abundant Growth, Utopia Sprawl, Sylvan Library, Oath of Nissa, Courser of Kruphix, Bitterblossom, Sacred Mesa, Klothys, God of Destiny, Sterling Grove, Urza's Saga, Ranger Class, Wizard Class, Paladin Class, Monk Class

    Removal: Oblivion Ring, Banishing Light, Leyline Binding, Touch the Spirit Realm, Ossification, Cast Out, Thin Ice, Swift Reconfiguration, Trial of Ambition, Detention Sphere, Banishment

    Hatebears, interactive creatures: Aegis of the Gods, Callaphe, Beloved of the Sea, Doomwake Giant, Eidolon of Rhetoric

    Card advantage engines: Setessan Champion, Sythis, Harvest's Hand, Enchantress's Presence, Argothian Enchantress, Eidolon of Blossoms, Shigeki, Jukai Visionary (if you have a second card to bring Shigeki back to your hand)
    I prefer Setessan Champion in the deck because it's not only a draw-engine, it's also a significant threat by growing with every enchantment.

    Payoffs, engines: Calix, Guided by Fate, Arasta of the Endless Web, Riptide Chimera, Zur the Enchanter, Archon of Sun's Grace, Recurring Nightmare, Destiny Spinner, Kestia, the Cultivator, Tameshi, Reality Architect, Weaver of Harmony

    Threats: Chromanticore, Paradox Zone, Katilda, Dawnhart Martyr, Kami of Transience, Rancor, Audacity, Armadillo Cloak, Generous Visitor

    Combos, combo-enablers: Aluren, Food Chain, Academy Rector, Curse of Misfortunes, Sneak Attack
    Curse of Misfortunes-targets: Cruel Reality, Curse of Fool’s Wisdom, Curse of Deaths Hold, Overwhelming Splendor, Swift Reconfiguration (with Devoted Druid)
    Synergy with Food Chain: Grief (clears the way and ramps into wincon for zero mana), Soulherder (infinite wincon), Questing Druid (infinite wincon)

    Sideboard cards: Carpet of Flowers, Leyline of the Void, Rest in Peace, Planar Void, Choke, Back to Basics, Blood Moon, Blood Sun, Stony Silence, Engineered Plague, Leyline of Sanctity
    Back to Basics and Blood Moon aren't typically the best cards in the deck, but you can run a basic-heavy list with Prismatic Vista and Abundant Growth if you really want to. Personally, I'm very interested in the idea of turning Choke into a cantrip with Setessan Champion, letting you run it with little cost (if you're lucky).

    Other considerations: Mardu Ascendancy, Second Chance, Shared Animosity, Mirri's Guile, Solitary Confinement, Elephant Grass, Exploration, Serra's Sanctum, Wild Growth, Hall of Heliod's Generosity, Replenish, Karma, Gloom, Nether Void, Chains of Mephistopheles, Brain Maggot, Michiko's Reign of Truth, Nylea, Keen-Eyed, Jukai Naturalist, Sanctum Weaver, City of Solitude, Ghostly Prison, Propaganda, Sphere of Safety, Ground Seal, Spirited Companion, Hallowed Haunting, Royal Treatment
    Mardu Ascendancy is a Najeela, the Blade-blossom without Warrier-requirement and coupled with Doran, the Siege Tower it would be game-ending, but WBRG isn't so easy to build.

    Up the Beanstalk and Abundant Growth can add a critical amount of enchantments to the deck, letting other cards that get value from enchantments become considerations to include. Like Riptide Chimera, a flying 4/3 creature is perhaps not as impressive anymore but it has plenty of targets to draw cards every turn. Setessan Champion has been a favourite card and I built an enchantment nic fit list with it, it has great synergy with Recurring Nightmare I think, RN is already a very powerful card and turning it into a draw engine is pretty sweet. I like Arasta punishing the opponent from playing instants and Sorceries, and you can protect it with Karakas, and there are so many cards here that let you draw a ton of cards, I could see an enchantment build coming together but it may lack some prime threats. Maybe Aluren or Food Chain could top off the list with a potential combo win?

    • Tokens
    • Elementals

    Master of Waves, Risen Reef, Animar, Soul of the Elements, Nivmagus Elemental, Wolfbriar Elemental, Fulminator Mage, Lightning Skelemental, Nissa, Resurgent Animist
    Comments: Master of Waves is good with e.g. Grand Architect and Patron Wizards so I've been looking for other elementals that may be worth adding to that shell, just to make Master of Waves a little bit better. This is more of a bonus synergy than something to build on, but who knows what can be found here. Recently a lot of elementals were printed, not least Risen Reef which gives a lot of extra value to Elemental synergies so it's worth considering (I briefly tried a list and it was nice but I wasn't convinced).

    Packages from above
    Below are some of the packages from above, giving an idea of how the deck can be customized.

    • Blue artifacts devotion

    Master of Waves, Grand Architect, Mausoleum Wanderer, Baleful Strix, Pili-Pala, Walking Ballista, Trinket Mage, Phyrexian Metamorph
    Comments: here is a link to a post discussing Grand Architect: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...l=1#post994288
    This shell works very well with Painter's Servant and Grindstone, with Trinket Mage tutoring for Grindstone and Fauna Shaman tutoring for Painter, and once Painter is in play you can even GSZ for Trinket Mage and you can use Grand Architect to generate all the mana you need to play and activate the combo. It's also sweet how Grand Architect helps you hardcast expensive artifact creatures that alternatively Goblin Welder can weld into play after Fauna Shaman discarded them. You can even play Gaea's Cradle or Rofellos to help out hardcasting them. Batterskull is the best card I found because a) it can be tutored by Stoneforg Mystic which is a strong way of using Aether Vial EoT, b) it's not eaten by Deathrite Shaman (irrelevant post ban), c) it can be played and equiped by Grand Architect, d) welding it in creates a new creature every time.
    Here is a link to some discussion about Grand Architect: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...l=1#post994288

    Ranger of Eos
    Flickerwisp
    Recruiter of the Guard
    • Mono-blue Martyr

    The key cards from the amazing deck Mono-blue Martyr are very possible to play as a package in MOST:
    Sky Hussar, Martyr of Frost, Nivmagus Elemental, Flusterstorm, Ninja of the Deep Hours, Judge's Familiar, Mausoleum Wanderer, Cursecatcher, Skaab Ruinator

    • Ninjas

    This section was created with the introduction of Yuriko, who is probably good enough to be the only ninja in your deck, and with a Mirror Entity in play this gets ridiculously good. See the section for similar decks or Mono-Blue Martyr (just above) for more inspiration!
    Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow

    Doran, the Siege Tower

    Mardu Ascendancy, Spellskite
    Comments: Doran is a very efficient beater by itself at three mana, even if it's usually rather unexciting to play a vanilla beater. It does boost all your 0/1's (BoP and Noble), 3/4's (Meren) and some of your opponent's creatures will lose power (True-Name Nemesis, Delver of Secrets, Young Pyromancer, Vendilion Clique, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben etc). It does make some other cards ridiculously good though. Mardu Ascendancy is a very interesting card, by courtesy of both protecting your team vs sweepers and offering the potential of providing a ton of free attacking goblin tokens every turn. If you have a Quirion/Scryb Ranger around you can use the goblin tokens for chump blocking, maybe you are attacking with fliers, in this case your opponent will have quite some trouble racing you. With Doran around, Mardu Ascendancy sacrifices to give your entire team +3/+3 until end of turn which with your army of creatures probably means you can attack for lethal on the very same turn (you even get extra goblin tokens when attacking, this seems extremely powerful). The disadvantage is that enchantments are hard to find (Zur the Enchanter) and the color combinations is not our favorite.

    Examples of online playing

    Here's my Youtube-channel where I'll try to upload test games on MTGO with commentary and perhaps later on league games: https://www.youtube.com/@FightingPaperDragons-cy6mr
    Andrea Mengucci testing a version of MOST, note that he is rather inexperienced with the deck (April 2017):
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO38jCsXrh0
    Another attempt with a more updated list (Dec 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=RL21PRZMyUg
    Jeff Hoogland playing MOST on stream (30th May 2018):
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjOIPZjMHX0
    Phil Gallagher playing 5c MOST on MTGO (Jan 2019): https://youtu.be/8UqKntsRBgw
    You can watch streams here: https://www.twitch.tv/pettdan

    Discord

    Join the discord: https://discord.gg/a3HRRhH

    Podcasts covering the deck

    The dead format episode 25 with Rodney Bedell on 2018-12-18: https://podtail.com/sv/podcast/the-d...rodney-bedell/

    Tournament results

    A search for Fauna Shaman and Quirion Ranger on Mtgtop8.com results in the following decks that are all based on Survival of the Fittest. Decks for Fauna Shaman have been linked in the old thread but they were from thecouncil.es which is no longer available.

    Survival Bant by Matteo Negrini in 2010:
    https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=530&d=206878&f=LE

    Ooze Survival by Nicola Landoni in 2010:
    http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=844&d=208289&f=LE

    Retainers Survival by Bachiorri Lorenzo in 2010:
    http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=789&d=208052&f=LE

    Welder Survival by Francisco José Gonzalez in 2010:
    http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=772&d=207970&f=LE

    Survival of the Moby Team by Letterio Musolino in 2010:
    http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=546&d=207039&f=LE

    Fauna Shaman-based decklists have been posted on thecouncil.es which is no longer available.

    The user Stinner top8-ed with these lists in 2013:
    http://www.molulo.it/Deck.aspx?dID=4
    http://www.molulo.it/Deck.aspx?dID=24

    User Shaden top16'ed at Nebraska's War in late 2017 (list and tournament report: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...=1#post1031536 )

    User Demonic_Pact top16'ed at MKM Rome in March 2018 (list and tournament report: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...=1#post1040384 ).

    MTGO:
    Dec 2018: A 5-0-list from MTGO was published in December 2018 (list here: http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...=1#post1061231 )

    Jan 2024: A 5-0-list, my list played by Huntinggjornersen, from MTGO was published in January 2024 (list here: https://www.mtgo.com/decklist/legacy...2024-01-127779)

    Modern versions of the deck

    http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...17-Modern-MOST
    Here's a list with huge overlap with what we normally run: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/256981#paper
    Soulherder and Ephemerate seem to have fuelled a multitude of deckbuilding approaches similar to this deck but in Modern, here's a bant example: http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=42938&d=517319&f=MO
    Last edited by pettdan; 01-19-2024 at 09:13 AM.

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