[SCD] Fauna Shaman

[(nameless one)]

Fauna Shaman:

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=106878&stc=1&d=1277957032

Look! Its a Survival of the Fittest with legs!

We all know that Survival of the Fittest is one of those cards that have a high power-level. The card itself has its own deck archetype. Fauna Shaman is essentially its homage card with legs. Yes, it will never be quite the same as Survival in a sense that you can only use Fauna Shaman once a turn but the body attach to it could be useful. After all, isn't that one of the reasons why Dark Confidant is so good?

Granted, Fauna Shaman will never replace Survival in its eponymous decks but which decks can it trive on?

Maybe Survival builds can use it as additional Survival of the Fittest. There has been a discussion of this as a way to get around Pithing Needle but there hasn't been an extensive testing to this. Would it work or not, no one knows yet for now.

Maybe Aggro-Bant? Some Aggro-Bant players do not utilize Survival of the Fittest because of the fact that it slows the deck down. I myself have only seen Aggro-Bant from the sidelines so I do not personally cannot say more to this.

What I do know about an Aggro deck utilizing Survival of the Fittest for consistency and 'control' is Elves. Yes, there are some Elf decks out there that use Survival of the Fittest (you might know them as Elves Survival/EPIC Elves Survival). That deck utilizes the full potential of Survival of the Fittest to tutor for any elves/creatures that is needed for a particular scenario (like any other Survival decks). The deck also utilizes Elvish synergies.

One of the problems of Elves Survival is its slow (compared to other aggro-decks) and it does not work without Survival of the Fittest.

Now, Fauna Shaman is not just any creature, its an elf creature!

I myself has never tested it but would it have potential with Elves? Maybe a whole different approach, after all, Elves Survival is still good. What I am suggesting is a typical aggro-Elves that uses Fauna Shaman as card quality/advantage rather than a deck engine. After all, being an elf has its benefit on the said archetype, which range from Lord pump, more mana production (Priest of Titania) and it can be draw to Sylvan Messenger.

What other archetypes can use Fauna Shaman? Would it make a splash in Legacy?

Discuss

[Kuma]

You can't use it for a turn, you can only use it once each turn unless you run inferior cards, and it's vulnerable to creature removal which is far more common than enchantment removal. No Legacy deck will run this.

That said, it's going to be really good in Standard, and I'm sure some EDH decks will find room for it.

[MEATROCKET]

The fact that this guy has legs compared to Survival is hardly relevant. If you attack with him, you can't use his freaking ability. If he blocks, he's dead. With Confidant, at least he can attack and still generate advantage.

[DrJones]

I have to test that creature in my False Cure deck, because I cannot afford to run the enchantment there, and it would be great to replace redundant Quirion, Spirit Guides and mongrels. :smile:

Also, I think it's much better as a creature in that deck, as I need targets for Berserk and can "reuse" it with Quirion.

[Tilde]

The only real role I can see her in is as a 1-of in Survival decks as something to fetch when it looks like your actual Survival is going to bite it.

[Philipp2293]

If you feel that your Survival is gonna get destroyed, you grab Witness, if it gets needled you grab Pridemage in response, so I don't see a need for the Shaman there.

[edgewalker]

I think it's gonna be awesome in standard along with the new baloth. Legacy is another story though, I think it's terrible with the current card pool. I mean survival isn't even that great anymore.

[Antonius]

I think elves is the only deck that would experiment with running it, simply because you can draw it with sylvan messenger. How many they run though, idk.

[extarbags]

I think it's gonna be awesome in standard along with the new baloth.

Obstinate Baloth only comes into play an an opponent makes you discard it, so that doesn't work. I doubt that it will even be playable in Standard much, but I don't think it has any chance in Legacy.

[Tilde]

If you feel that your Survival is gonna get destroyed, you grab Witness, if it gets needled you grab Pridemage in response, so I don't see a need for the Shaman there.

That's a good point. The only advantage I can think of for Fauna Shaman is that it's better than those two against Stifle, and I can't imagine that being enough to justify a slot. I'm not experienced enough with Survival decks to speak with any authority on the matter, to be frank.

[edgewalker]

Obstinate Baloth only comes into play an an opponent makes you discard it, so that doesn't work. I doubt that it will even be playable in Standard much, but I don't think it has any chance in Legacy.

Or you could give me the benefit of the doubt and assume I meant using the Shaman as a means to search it out to counter blightnings. Plus the Baloth is just good by itself. 4/4 for 4 thats gains 4 life? Yes please!

[rufus]

The bigest disadvantages this has over survival is that you can't really use it more than once, and you can't easily use it the turn it comes into play. That means it doesn't combo out immediately, and it can't grab more than one combo piece.

It might be playable in Birchlore Rangers/Nettle Sentinel elf decks, but even there, Summoner's Pact is likely to be a better way to go.

[Offler]

I have to agree that this card is Survival in some way. However the disadvantages which have been added by tapping and fact that it is a creature made the effect balanced.

I like the way how it was done.

[dsg123456789]

What about using this card in Elf aggro? Adding a single Squee or Krovikan Horror (with Bayou and Elves of Deep Shadow) could give a second powerful draw engine to go with the Sylvan Messenger. Also, you can use it to fetch Wirewood Symbiote and other specialty cards.

This could be like Elves' Goblin Matron.

Another possibility, given the high mana-production capability of the elf tribe, is using Genesis as the CA engine, since it would make your Fauna Shaman immune to non-exile removal.

Elves still has the issue where they don't have haste, but this gives them a playable tutor.

[DrHealex]

What about using this card in Elf aggro? Adding a single Squee or Krovikan Horror (with Bayou and Elves of Deep Shadow) could give a second powerful draw engine to go with the Sylvan Messenger. Also, you can use it to fetch Wirewood Symbiote and other specialty cards.

This could be like Elves' Goblin Matron.

Another possibility, given the high mana-production capability of the elf tribe, is using Genesis as the CA engine, since it would make your Fauna Shaman immune to non-exile removal.

Elves still has the issue where they don't have haste, but this gives them a playable tutor.

Looks like someone just got done reading an article on starcity.

In the end, there is no good substitute for good ol' fashioned testing.

[Ando]

What about using this card in Elf aggro? Adding a single Squee or Krovikan Horror (with Bayou and Elves of Deep Shadow) could give a second powerful draw engine to go with the Sylvan Messenger. Also, you can use it to fetch Wirewood Symbiote and other specialty cards.

This could be like Elves' Goblin Matron.

Another possibility, given the high mana-production capability of the elf tribe, is using Genesis as the CA engine, since it would make your Fauna Shaman immune to non-exile removal.

Elves still has the issue where they don't have haste, but this gives them a playable tutor.

Okay, but is it any better than Survival of the Fittest? Well, no. You can land survival and in one turn get squee, anger, a priest/archdruid, play a messenger, maybe get another priest effect or an untap effect (Quirion Ranger/Wirewood Symbiote), get/play another messanger, dudes and swing. With shaman you can... wait a turn to get squee, and get anger the turn after than. Far too slow. The ability to hit it off of Messanger does not make up for the fact that it's brutally slow and dies to every piece of played removal (Well, you'll usually have something else to sac to a Diabolic Edict, so maybe not edict effects).

[Forbiddian]

It's going to be very strong in elves.

Obviously a Survival deck, which wants to use Survival 2-3 times a turn, is not going to want it, but in an Elf deck, it can fetch up the combo pieces that you need.

[ramanujan]

I think that the fact that it is a survival on legs is distracting us to see how well it would function in a survival type deck. I would think that an aluren type deck might be a far better fit personaly. Discuss.

[paK0]

If people want to play tutoring in Aluren, Imperial Recruiter is most likely to get the nod, he doesn't need to get out of summoning sickness and doesn't require an initial input.

I think this might be good in Standart, but I don't follow that enought to actually say something.

Regarding Legacy it will most likely not have a big impact. The awesomeness of Survival is that it brings you very far ahead as soon as you start to pour mana in it. The "tap" is too restrictive to put it on a comparable powerlevel.

[dsg123456789]

Okay, but is it any better than Survival of the Fittest? Well, no. You can land survival and in one turn get squee, anger, a priest/archdruid, play a messenger, maybe get another priest effect or an untap effect (Quirion Ranger/Wirewood Symbiote), get/play another messanger, dudes and swing. With shaman you can... wait a turn to get squee, and get anger the turn after than. Far too slow. The ability to hit it off of Messanger does not make up for the fact that it's brutally slow and dies to every piece of played removal (Well, you'll usually have something else to sac to a Diabolic Edict, so maybe not edict effects).

It's better than survival b/c it allows you to play an extremely aggressive build of elves. Mostly, you will just use it to grab the Wirewood Symbiote or Sylvan Messenger, but it can get you other things you need as well. Genesis is the only "special" card that seems reasonable to run, given that it's in-color and protects the Fauna Shaman. If you play a build with 16-17 lands, you will probably be playing 4 quirion ranger and 4 wirewood symbiote, which have great synergies with Imperious Perfect, Fauna Shaman, and Sylvan Messenger, not to mention the mana elves.

[Ando]

It's better than survival b/c it allows you to play an extremely aggressive build of elves. Mostly, you will just use it to grab the Wirewood Symbiote or Sylvan Messenger, but it can get you other things you need as well. Genesis is the only "special" card that seems reasonable to run, given that it's in-color and protects the Fauna Shaman. If you play a build with 16-17 lands, you will probably be playing 4 quirion ranger and 4 wirewood symbiote, which have great synergies with Imperious Perfect, Fauna Shaman, and Sylvan Messenger, not to mention the mana elves.

Alright, I might be able to see it used to filter extra Llanowar Elves into power houses. Perhaps playing it turn 3 (turns 1 and 2 hopefully being mana elf -> priest effect)? I mean winning turn 4 is usually what I aim for with elves, but disruption usually makes that a bit difficult, perhaps is could add another level of pressure. Although I would NOT run a survival package with it, having to tap it makes it an unreasonable goal. I'd simply use it to, as you said, dig up Sylvan Messangers and such. Maybe throw in a Viridian Zealot for good measure. Perhaps I was too harsh on it initially.

But I don't think it should be used like Survival. I personally think it'd be more productive if people didn't relating the two if trying to figure out how to abuse it.

Also, I'm not so sure non-combo elves really run Symbiote too much at the moment (small point, but I thought I'd mention it briefly).

[Nidd]

It's an Elf, I can see it giving Elf Survival a boost.

When the price goes down, I'll get my playset, wanted to play Elf Survival for a long time.

[Waikiki]

I bet the price goes up seen it hasnt got a standard deck yet but it surely is awesome with vengevine. I think it will be a strong deck.

[Nidd]

I bet the price goes up seen it hasnt got a standard deck yet but it surely is awesome with vengevine. I think it will be a strong deck.
Yeah, I've already seen Naya and Bant lists featuring Fauna Shaman and Vengevine - it seems to be a good deck, but I don't think these brews can keep up with decks featuring Primeval Titan and Grave Titan.

[HAVE HEART]

Yeah, I've already seen Naya and Bant lists featuring Fauna Shaman and Vengevine - it seems to be a good deck, but I don't think these brews can keep up with decks featuring Primeval Titan and Grave Titan.

Or Wildfire 2.0.

The person who mentioned E.E.S. nailed it on the head. That is the only place Fauna Shaman will see play.

[obituary 95]

fauna shaman is in my oppinion two slow for standard.expesially compared two other agro decks who get 16/16s on the board

[Guevera59]

Huh? Fauna Shaman is and will be the nuts in Standard. Sure he can't combo off in the manner that SotF can in Legacy but where he is most valuable is turning bad mana dudes into Vengevines and Rangers/Sphinxes. I predict he becomes a fifteen to twenty dollar card and a staple in Standard.

[Eatatjoes]

Definately the money rare in m11. This was the most purchased card in all the stores in our city. Everyone was looking for a playset. She is a threat, since she turns all your bad creatures into threats.

[joven]

Now that Survival is banned, is Fauna Shaman the new Survival?

Consider the great deck of Stefan in this (http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?20900-SPOD-Worls-Raiding-Tour-Annecy-2011&p=549058&viewfull=1#post549058) thread.

[Tammit67]

Not only did you necro, but you asked a question everyone and their grandmother tried, then found too slow for the format.

No it is not a good replacement for Survival.

[Hopo]

It looks a bit like Dark Confidant: it's a fragile 10 turn clock with the potential to turn games around if not dealt with before your next upkeep or soon after.

I play it with Vengevines and Iona-retainers for some extra minor brokenness but usually just getting a Tarmogoyf or a needed Pridemage will put you in a good position. Then there are times when it just sits in your hand because there are better things to do with your resources. Those games are great, also.

[lavafrogg]

Necro!!

How is this card not have a home?

In GW it wins the game on turn 4, in green white!!

Games two and three the opponent always has to watch for vines from the side and has to bring in grave hate against a weenie deck.

In elves it can be untapped multiple times a turn to finish the combo.

It can ensure that from turn 3 on a hate-bear hits play against control.

In today's format I think a resolved and living shaman is in the same realm as a resolved and living stoneforge mystic.

[UnderwaterGuy]

Necro!!

How is this card not have a home?

In GW it wins the game on turn 4, in green white!!

Games two and three the opponent always has to watch for vines from the side and has to bring in grave hate against a weenie deck.

In elves it can be untapped multiple times a turn to finish the combo.

It can ensure that from turn 3 on a hate-bear hits play against control.

In today's format I think a resolved and living shaman is in the same realm as a resolved and living stoneforge mystic.

Summoning Sickness

and what's up with all the necromancy today...

[Lord Seth]

Necro!!

How is this card not have a home?Because Green Sun's Zenith is generally better.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Is some kind of Fauna Pod viable?

[Richard Cheese]

What is this, night of the living

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Thread?

[TsumiBand]

I'm super sad that the Lava Dart SCD is locked.

[lavafrogg]

Seriously….. loyal retainers/iona is the nuts, protected by mom and immune to thalia….

[mini1337s]

Seriously….. loyal retainers/iona is the nuts, protected by mom and immune to thalia….
But Deathrite shuts that down along with a plethora of spot removal for an unprotected Shaman. It is certainly possible to do that, but I don't think it will be consistent.