I kind of wonder if the fact Phoenix's wording might actually make Regrowth playable. I mean, spell, Regrowth spell, spell again is three right there. Just thinking it would be something where Snapcaster really wouldn't cut it the same way. If that spell happens to be Bolt, that is a good chunk of damage if you've got a few Phoenix in the grumper.
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
I tried CB out a bunch in the early lists. It's OK, but a bit low power level and 2 mana is a lot for this deck.
I think Regrowth falls into what you quoted actually, it's expensive in the context of the deck and not flexible (unless you're in the very late game, which is not what the deck wants to play for) so doesn't help with its floor or consistency. The deck doesn't really struggle to trigger Phoenixes, it's finding/resolving the Buried Alive (and more specifically on time to race the opponents strategy) which is often the harder part of the two.
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
Mmm this is nice! I'll give it a whirl soon as you say.
Yeah all good, thanks for suggesting it! The deck can play out differently to how it looks on face value and is a bit unintuitive in spots, so a lot of the common suggestions are focusing on either free spells, or something that helps the quota of 3, but in the end those two are mostly covered by the combo of Ritual and Buried Alive themselves, we just want to play towards that.
That makes sense. I guess I was also thinking how it could enable Entomb to get several birds, but like you said, at the cost of 4 mana total for 2 birds, it's likely not worth it. At that point, you really need to be worried that Daze just invalidates the whole line, really.
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
Seems like Mission Briefing is this but better.
"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
Hey Guys! Just wanted to share my card list that I was able to make my first top 8 with at the Seattle 1k this past weekend with. Feel free to tear it apart but here it is!
Creatures & Planeswalker
3 Dark Confidant
3 Young Pyromancer
4 Arclight Phoenix
1 liliana, the last hope
Instant & Sorceries
4 Ponder
3 Preordain
4 Brainstorm
3 Thoughtseize
3 Cabal Therapy
4 Dark Ritual
4 Buried Alive
2 Daze
3 Lotus Petal
2 Lightning Bolt
2 surgical extractions
Lands
4 Polluted Dela
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Underground Sea
2 Volcanic Island
1 Badlands
1 Island
1 Swamp
Sb:
2 tormods crypt
2 dragons claw
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Engineered Plague
1 alpine moon
2 Abrade
2 Goblin Cratermaker
1 spell pierce
1 flusterstorm
2 Echoing Truth
Nice job! How were the Surgical Extractions and Dazes?
I'm not fully on board with cutting discard spells and a Preordain honestly, especially a Cabal Therapy.
Last night I did some exhibition matches with Phil Gallagher of Thraben University, you can find the VOD here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/401193076
We played 5 matches with Phoenix going 3-2, though I feel like I messed up one of the G3s. The was a really cool game in the middle, ~the 50 minute mark, that's well worth watching.
I found that surgicals in the main was a huge bonus. As it’s flexes to combo turn 1 without a lotus petal and allows you to protect your combo from other surgicals in the event you have to rebuild your board state. And it can also allow as another means of discard and gathering hand knowledge of your opponent when you surgical something if there’s. As for the daze, I kept a really proactive side board plan as I was consistently able to bait my opponent to try counter my combo when I’m tapped out on my turn. Or when I’m tapped out on their turn and they try and get an important card down. So I found that both of these in the main proved to be really fruitful
Played the same deck list at our weekly legacy event you can see here against Miracles, surgical and daze won me the game honestly with what I was able to disrupt.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/401301923?t=02h18m50s
You actually cheated in that game :/ You shuffled back polluted delta and cabal therapy when the judge came to tell you that young pyromancers should be on the exile zone
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/401301923?t=02h21m45s
Did anyone else take the birds to GP Niagara? How did it go?
I played a more or less stock Young Pyro/Bob build in a Friday LCQ and the Main Event to some uninspired results.
The roughest matches were against Merfolk & D&T. They each had an early chalice backed up by disruptive dudes and I just couldn't find answers in time.
LCQ: 2-1
2-0: Shared Fate
2-1: Grixis Delver
1-2: Eldrazi
GP: 2-3
2-0: Infect
2-0: Sneak and Show
1-2: Burn
0-2: Merfolk w/Chalice
0-2: D&T w/Chalice
I changed it up to this storm build for the Sunday MCQ: http://www.starcitygames.com/decks/127450
MCQ (storm): 3-2
2-1: BR Reanimator
1-2: Though-knot Affinity
2-0: Stoneblade
2-0: Grixis Delver
0-2: Grixis Delver
I liked the storm build a lot more. It felt very powerful - I had a lot of turn 1/2 Phoenix's, often also with protection. The Tendrils back-up if the phoenix plan gets answered was really strong. It was catching everyone off-guard, and especially easy to pull off if you get in one or two hits with some number of birds.
Sideboarding out the whole phoenix package into Ad Nauseam if they didn't see Tendrils in Game 1 was also pretty spicy. It was able to deaden most of their graveyard hate and creature removal that gets left in.
I also went 3-2 in the Sunday mcq
Storm 2-0
Humans 2–1
UW blade 2–1
Applejacks 1-2
Lands 0-2
The mox diamond decks were brutal in getting lock pieces out early.
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Has anyone tested this deck using Dreadhorde Arcanist in the Bob slot?
Unfortunately due to the timing of the trigger you can't use the Arcanist ability to directly help you to return Phoenixes (because it happens after beginning of combat) but you can use it to sculpt your hand with cantrips to return Phoenixes the next turn
It's getting a lot of hype in Delver decks and here it might be even better, it has synergy with more of the spells in the Phoenix deck because you have all 12 cantrips and 8 discardspells (rather than Fow/Daze).
I wouldn't immediately suggest that the ability to flashback Entomb means that the deck would move away from Buried Alive but that's also possibly something to consider.
The minmax blog also uploaded a video of a league with it but he didn't draw it very often.
I think there is some upside to the fact that Bob gives the card in your upkeep so you can use it to make a phoenix chain immediately, and your graveyard can also sometimes run out of gas, but overall the Arcanist is probably slightly stronger? Unsure
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