Food Chain Combo

Here is the list I ran last night. I went 3-0, split the final round for cash. I played against Mono-Blue (2-0), Bant (2-0), and Omni-Show (2-1).

Back in the day, the black splash was not worth it simply for Baleful Strix. However, now that we have Abrupt Decay and Deathrite Shaman, I believe the splash is now justified. After playing with the new cards, I feel it performs about the same speed-wise. The UG version allowed for T2/T3 wins out of nowhere, which was pretty explosive, but most of my games went further in the round. BUG doesn't have the capability to go that far, but, due to Strix, you're able to run out cantrips and keep a full grip for the first handful of turns while setting up your board position to win.

I won two games off of Strix beats and Shaman chomping. The utility of the Shaman is quite astounding, as the life gain allows you to absorb a few turns of attacks without worry.

AEthersnipe still deserves main deck support. There was one game where I could have done the old Griselbrand trick with AEthersnipe, but I didn't have the Gris in the deck... I still won, but it took a few more turns. The Snipe, however, is really good against Show and Tell decks and can set back an aggressive deck a few turns, which is usually all we need. Not to mention how it is mana ramp if we have a Food Chain with an empty board.

The Shardless Agents were nice as cantripping creatures. Part of me wants them to be JTMS, as I think Jace is such a solid addition to this deck, but I'm committed to testing them for a bit longer, as every deck I've played sing UG Food Chain has had them in it. Only seems right to keep running with them...

Here's the list I ran:
MAIN:
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Baleful Strix
2 Shardless Agent
3 Misthollow Griffin
3 Fierce Empath
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 AEthersnipe

1 Sylvan Library
4 Food Chain

4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
3 Manipulate Fate
3 Cabal Therapy

1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
2 Tropical Island
3 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant catacombs

SB:
4 Abrupt Decay
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Spell Pierce
1 Flusterstorm
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 ?

I played this Saturday at a Legacy tournament for duals. I lost on the win-and-in against RUG Delver. I had two Abrupt Decays game two, but I just couldn't keep up with how many creatures he pumped out.

I don't believe that Cabal Therapies have a maindeck spot, as they were too preemptive in a lot of matchups where I didn't care what the opponent had in hand. While they're great in some matchups, I would rather have them in the sideboard. I plan on replacing the three with 2 Cliques and 1 Gris (more to come). This turns all of our Shardless Agents into cantrips/Library, as we NEED to dig for the Food Chain. The maindeck Cliques are also great coming down end of opponent's turn, stripping them of their spell we'd want to hit with Cabal Therapy or cycling one of our cards, all while providing a body for the next turn's Food Chain.

I also think that our old AEthersnipe > Gris trick is still work preserving, as I don't like relying on infinite mana to win. The fact that we have a two card combo in the form of Food Chain and Fierce Empath when we have Snipe and Gris in the deck is worth the slot. There were a few occasions where I durdled around and didn't have anything to explode into, as this old trick would've been the solution.

As such, here is my new list:

MAIN:
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Baleful Strix
2 Shardless Agent
3 Misthollow Griffin
3 Fierce Empath
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 AEthersnipe
1 Griselbrand
2 Vendilion Clique

1 Sylvan Library
4 Food Chain

4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
3 Manipulate Fate

1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
2 Tropical Island
3 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant catacombs

SB:
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Spell Pierce
3 Surgical Extraction
4 Cabal Therapy

So I think the maindeck needs a couple more two drops, preferrable of the same color. I am leaning toward another cantrip, but Roots still wants to find its way in. Off the top of my head, the following are worth considering (albeit most of them wouldn't be worth running):

Wall of Roots
Wall of Blossoms
Spellstutter Sprite
Tarmogoyf
Cloud of Fairies

Any one have any other ideas? Now that we're playing with black, maybe there are some two drops there.

I'd consider cutting a Manipulate Fate and a land for this slot. We need more bodies on board once the Food Chain hits.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by metamet

So I think the maindeck needs a couple more two drops, preferrable of the same color. I am leaning toward another cantrip, but Roots still wants to find its way in. Off the top of my head, the following are worth considering (albeit most of them wouldn't be worth running):

Wall of Roots
Wall of Blossoms
Spellstutter Sprite
Tarmogoyf
Cloud of Fairies

Any one have any other ideas? Now that we're playing with black, maybe there are some two drops there.

I'd consider cutting a Manipulate Fate and a land for this slot. We need more bodies on board once the Food Chain hits.

---

I'm running a 2/2 split of Baleful Strix and Wall of Blossoms. I personally think those two are the best two-drops. I'm still running two Mulldrifter so I'm not really looking for more than four two-drops. Wall of Roots is decent, but I prefer cantripping myself. An alternative to WoR I found is: Devoted Druid.

A couple of other potential two-drops I've come upon are: Augury Owl, Arctic Merfolk (to bounce a Cantrip creature) or perhaps even Bramblesnap as an alternative win-con though that seems too cute.

Edit: a couple of other ones I've come across: Quirion Sentinel and Ingenious Thief

Thanks for the ideas nevilshute!

Upon further consideration and testing, we're going to add two Wall of Blossoms to the list. Here's what I'm currently running:

MAIN:
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Baleful Strix
2 Wall of Blossoms
2 Shardless Agent
3 Misthollow Griffin
3 Fierce Empath
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 AEthersnipe
1 Griselbrand
2 Vendilion Clique

1 Sylvan Library
4 Food Chain

4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
2 Manipulate Fate

1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
2 Tropical Island
3 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant catacombs

SB:
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Spell Pierce
3 Surgical Extraction
4 Cabal Therapy


Anyone out there actively playing this deck right now? I took a break from it, but I think the currently list is pretty tuned and I'd like to have more hands on deck. :)

Hi,

I'm playing this deck since a long time and I think it's necessary to have a 2nd NO plan.

But, contrarly to metamet, I want to have this other plan maindeck

Why ?

If you got only 4 Food chain main deck, you'll need 4 cards to win.

If you have a transformal Natural order SB plan, after SB you'll still need 4 cards to win.

That's why we need to combine the 2 plans and be up to 8 cards to win.

Here's the list I made :

MAIN
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Forest
2 Ancient Tomb
2 Island
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Tropical Island
4 Verdant Catacombs

4 Food Chain
4 Natural Order
2 Ancestral Knowledge

1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Maelstrom Wanderer
1 Progenitus
1 Worldspine Wurm

1 Æthersnipe
2 Deathrite Shaman
2 Fierce Empath
2 Mulldrifter
2 Noble Hierarch
2 Shardless Agent
2 Wall of Blossoms
3 Misthollow Griffin

2 Misdirection
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Manipulate Fate

SB
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Krosan Grip
2 Pithing Needle
3 Spell Pierce
3 Moment's Peace
1 Gilded Drake
1 Shriekmaw

I'm gonna explain some of my choices now.

Why have I put Maelstrom wanderer and Worldspine wurm and not just 1 Progenitus ?

Because, with only 1 Progenitus as NO-target, the following situation happened often : got Natural order + Progenitus in hand. And the only card for putting Progenitus from hand to library is Brainstorm.

Having more than 1 NO-target seemed necessary

Maelstrom wanderer : it's a 7/5 Cascade Cascade Haste body, this is just a 3 spells-in-one because when you cast it you'll get 2 other spells free ! The bonus of giving haste to everybody (himslef too !) is just really good too. It allows you when you cast it with infinite mana to block AND attack each turn, cos your Misthollow griffin will now have haste :
1) your turn : attack with griffins, remove em put em back
2) opponent's turn : block with griffins, remove em during damage phase
3) your turn : play griffin then back to 1)

Shardless agent : it's just one of the best Planechase 2012 addings, it's a 2/2 and it'll Cascade, so 2 spells-in-one

Worldspine wurm : a big 15/15 Trample body. He got no protections but even if your opponent comes to get rid of it, it'll be certtainly with Swords to plowshares and you'll have get 15 life. He's a good NO-target and NO-enabler too.
Because you can do the following :
- cast NO, sacrifice Worldspine wurm, you'll get 3 5/5 Trample Wurm tokens and Worldspine wurm 2nd ability will trigger and he's back in your library. NO resolves, Worldspine wurm back on the board ! For :g::g::2:, 3 5/5 Trample + 1 15/15 Trample
- cast NO, sacrifice Worldspine wurm, you'll get 3 5/5 Trample Wurm tokens. NO resolves, search for a Maelstrom wanderer, you got 3 5/5 Trample Haste + 1 7/5 Haste and go for a 22 damages strike !

AEthersnipe : he's here to help if you haven't infinite mana from the Food chain + Misthollow griffin combo.
He can be cascaded by Maelstrom wanderer too, bouncing it for 2 more Cascades !

Deathrite shaman : played for its :g: ability, if your Misthollow griffin get countered, just exile it and he'll be back !

Ancestral knowledge : it's initially here to find a Food chain and exile Misthollow griffin from top 10 cards of your library if needed but it can now serve to prepare your top 10 cards for the Cascade Cascade of the Maelstrom wanderer too !

PS : My SB is not up to date.

From this site
http://www.thecouncil.es/tcdecks/dec...6&iddeck=69728


Creatures [33]
1 Aethersnipe
1 Angel of Serenity
1 Elderscale Wurm
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Isperia, Supreme Judge
1 Progenitus
1 Thragtusk
1 Worldspine Wurm
1 Worldspine Wurm
2 Mulldrifter
2 Wall of Omens
3 Fierce Empath
3 Misthollow Griffin
3 Raven Familiar
3 Wall of Blossoms
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch


Instants [2]
2 Enlightened Tutor

Enchantments [6]
3 Dream Halls
3 Food Chain

Lands [19]
1 Gaea's Cradle
2 Forest
2 Island
2 Savannah
2 Tundra
2 Windswept Heath
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Tropical Island


First place out of 74, best placing this deck has had so far, I believe! So it uses Dream Halls as a secondary engine to cheat, and 8 mana dorks to ramp. I'm pretty sure the fatties can be easily replaced. I don't want to spend for premium standard cards like Thragtusk, haha... Also, I have no idea what the second Worldspine Wurm is supposed to be. It could be the card that allows the infinite mana instant kill.

Congrats on the win! I top 4'd a 30 man a week ago with my last list (+1 more Tropical Island main, making 61 cards).

Your build seems less controllsh than the black splash, or even a list with counterspells. What does your typical game look like? And how to you like Dream Halls?

And I like the Angel of Serenity. It's something I've thought about but haven't played with yet, as I haven't tracked how often I have creatures in my GY worth salvaging, or how often my opponent has creatures on board I need to remove. This would be a pretty stellar answer to Maverick, however...

This isn't my deck, I just saw it on The Council and thought I'd post it here. I have never tested the deck so I can't say anything about Dream Halls, unfortunately, but it looks like it worked very well for him!

I've been placing well with my last build, top fouring the last three tournaments I've played in (16-36 players each).

I've included a Wurmcoil Engine in the sideboard against Burn, Goblins and other aggro decks.

Not quite sure what else there is to tweak, as it's been performing sublimely. I have considered writing another article on it, but I haven't gotten around to it yet since we recently launched some new software over at QS. It's a pricing sell/buylist aggregator - there's a free side, but Insiders have access to other aspects of it. This is the url: http://mtg.gg

Anywho, here's my current list. I think it's a big step above the UG version I was rocking for a long while, as Strix and Deathrite are phenomenal.

MAIN:
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Baleful Strix
2 Wall of Blossoms
2 Shardless Agent
3 Misthollow Griffin
3 Fierce Empath
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 AEthersnipe
1 Griselbrand
2 Vendilion Clique

1 Sylvan Library
4 Food Chain

4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
2 Manipulate Fate

1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Forest
3 Underground Sea
1 Bayou
2 Tropical Island
3 Polluted Delta
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant catacombs

SB:
4 Abrupt Decay
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Spell Pierce
3 Surgical Extraction
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Wurmcoil Engine

With both Cabal Therapy and cantrips in the deck, do you think Gitaxian Probe would a useful inclusion? Similarly, since this deck looking for specific combo cards rather than fixing a hand -- Ponder is better for combo decks rather than Brainstorm. I am not saying to play less than 4 Brainstorm, but maximizing Ponders would likely help too.

All interesting points.

I think Git Probe would work well, but the one drawback that this deck has compared to other combo decks is that it requires bodies to be on the field in order to go off. I currently run Vendilion Clique as a semi-replacement to Git Probe, as it not only enables a clear path and shows me my opponent's hand, but it also doubles as a body that can Chain into Misthollow Griffin immediately.

I run Therapies in the side as I didn't find them very helpful main. If we found room for main Git Probes, it'd make our sideboard Therapies even more appealing. But what would cut? Hm.

And you also bring up more Ponders, which Git Probe would be fighting for slots with. The number of Ponders is also anchored by the fact that we need bodies, and Shardless Agent is as close as we can get to having a Ponder on a stick. :)

Thoughts?

Hi metamet,

I saw you run Ponder, i think it's for finding your Food chain ?

I found a good tutor for the Food chain (or anything else too) : Lim-dul's vault !

As, you play UB, it sure won't be a problem for you, and you'll never lose too much life.

I run 4 Force of will + 2 Misdirection, how can i know if i'm not running too much counterspells ? How to know if 4 Force of will would be enough ?

I'm running 4 Deathrite shaman + 4 Birds of paradise, how to know if i'm not running too much mana dorks ?

Thx for explanations

Grokh

Ah yes, Lim-Duls Vault! I bought a bunch of these when they were $.40 and Mystical Tutor got banned... then sold most of them for $5. I wonder if I still have a few around, because this card would fit the bill quite well. I'll play around with it.

I found that having the threat of counterspells is enough to change the way some people play against you. I have been happy with four FoW maindeck as my primary countersuite, with some Cliques as a way of ensuring the path is clear. I bring in the Cabal Therapies in replacement for the FoWs some matchups, as people are still afraid of the threat of a FoW.

For mana dorks, it's important to make sure you aren't hitting too many lategame dead cards. BoP gets worse the later you draw it, whereas Shaman is almost always good. Are you still running the MD Natural Order package? If so, your build is a little bit different than mine, but I feel like I have a good amount of mid and lategame draws with the way things currently are. It eliminates explosiveness a bit, but it allows for consistency.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by metamet

Ah yes, Lim-Duls Vault! I bought a bunch of these when they were $.40 and Mystical Tutor got banned... then sold most of them for $5. I wonder if I still have a few around, because this card would fit the bill quite well. I'll play around with it.

I found that having the threat of counterspells is enough to change the way some people play against you. I have been happy with four FoW maindeck as my primary countersuite, with some Cliques as a way of ensuring the path is clear. I bring in the Cabal Therapies in replacement for the FoWs some matchups, as people are still afraid of the threat of a FoW.

For mana dorks, it's important to make sure you aren't hitting too many lategame dead cards. BoP gets worse the later you draw it, whereas Shaman is almost always good. Are you still running the MD Natural Order package? If so, your build is a little bit different than mine, but I feel like I have a good amount of mid and lategame draws with the way things currently are. It eliminates explosiveness a bit, but it allows for consistency.

---

Hi,

Concerning Birds of paradise, it's because they can produce :b: mana, useful to cast Baleful strix

Deathrite shaman can be a dead card, without fetchland in gy. It is a dead card when you've no :b: mana open, cos our creatures are often exiled, never in a gy and we rarely kill/counter opponent's creature for its green ability.
So, the ability I use the most is the :b: one and as i need :b: mana for it, Birds of paradise provide it.

For the Natural order package, I don't run it MD anymore because I think we cannot make our opponent believe our deck is a NO RUG one. With Wall of blossoms/Baleful strix it can't be a NO RUG deck, your opponent won't never believe it ...
Another reason, i've noticed there some amount of creatures we must'nt slow down for the Food chain plan stability, i think it's around 20 creatures maybe. And packing NO reduces this amount so the Food chain plan is less stable with it...

BUT I keep my NO plan as a transformal SB plan, cos your opponent never expect you to use NO in G2 and it becomes pretty strong. I generally remove 4 FoW + 2 Misdirection against non-combo decks for 3 NO + 1 Progenitus + 1 Worldspine wurm + 1 SB card against the MU

But i'm still not sure about NO plan having to be MD or in transformal SB ...

Concerning Lim-dul's vault, it's always been a must-have when no Food chain in starting hand cos it's an ABSOLUTE tutor, it can't fizzle, you're ensured at 100% to find what you're searching for. We calculated the general life loss for finding a Food chain and it's around 1 or 2 life, rarely more !

I wonder if i'd play Shardless agent, i feel it too much random ... But it's sure that with Lim-dul's vault, you can Cascade really awesome !

Here's my current list :
// NAME : Food chain NO v2
// CREATOR : grokh (magic-ville.com)
// FORMAT : Legacy

Main
1 Bayou
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Swamp
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Tropical Island
4 Verdant Catacombs

4 Food Chain
2 Lim-Dûl's Vault

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Deathrite Shaman
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Griselbrand
1 Æthersnipe
2 Baleful Strix
2 Fierce Empath
2 Mulldrifter
3 Misthollow Griffin
4 Wall of Blossoms

2 Misdirection
4 Brainstorm
4 Force of Will
2 Manipulate Fate

Sideboard
SB: 1 Terastodon
SB: 1 Progenitus
SB: 1 Worldspine wurm
SB: 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
SB: 2 Carpet of Flowers
SB: 2 Krosan Grip
SB: 2 Moment's Peace
SB: 2 Pithing Needle
SB: 3 Natural Order

+2 Baleful Strix, -2 Wall of Blossoms (or Mulldrifters).

Strix is absurdly good and I would play 10 of them if I could. It's the only form of removal the deck has and it fits with our plan of Food Chaining up. Although it requires two colors, that limitation hardly offsets its benefits.

I'll be testing LDV this week.

Ok, so I'm rocking this on MTGO right now. I quite desperately need sideboard suggestions though, as I just can't think of what to put in there. It seems to me that we either have answers in the deck already (since I maindeck the decays).. cards that are bomby enough to turn common matchups around on their own is what I'm looking for.

For reference my current list is:

4 Brainstorm
3 Ponder
3 inquisition of kozilek
3 manipulate fate
3 abrupt decay
4 force of will

4 baleful strix
4 deathrite shaman
3 misthollow grffin
3 fierce empath
1 emrakul, the aeons torn
1 consecrated sphinx

4 food chain
1 sylvan library

3 underground sea
2 tropical island
1 bayou
1 island
1 swamp
1 forest
4 polluted delta
3 misty rainforest
3 verdant catacombs

SB:
1 abrupt decay
1 sylvan library
2 jace beleren
2 spell pierce
1 trinket mage
1 meekstone
1 relic of progenitus
1 grafdigger's cage
1 pithing needle
2 ravenous trap
1 repeal
1 inquisition of kozilek

A you can see, the SB is random and quite bad... I would also like to know what peoples take on the aethersnipe / griselbrand is.. I would like to try it own but grizzly is a little too expensive but mana and $$$ wise I think. Does he win you guys a lot of games?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by metamet

+2 Baleful Strix, -2 Wall of Blossoms (or Mulldrifters).

Strix is absurdly good and I would play 10 of them if I could. It's the only form of removal the deck has and it fits with our plan of Food Chaining up. Although it requires two colors, that limitation hardly offsets its benefits.

I'll be testing LDV this week.

---

I just did a tournament yesterday with my list and i never needed my 2 Misdirection, 4 Force of will have most of the time been enough ! So I think i'm gonna free 2 slots, for 2 Coiling oracle because of the free land drop possibility.

It's sure 4 Birds of paradise + 4 Deathrite shaman is too much too, i was so bored when i drew a Birds of paradise during combo ...

I'll sure do 4 Birds + 2 Shaman/4 Shaman + 2 Birds dunno yet ..., that will allow me to put more Baleful strix

Wall of blossoms saved me games, when i had 4 Wall of blossoms and my opponent a 3/4 Tarmogoyf + a 4/4 Thrun, the last troll !!

And it was the evening, I was tired and haven't seen i had Griffins in exile for block and lost some games :cry:

Hi,

This is my first post to this forum so please be kind to me =)

Here is my UG-list:

// Lands
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Tropical Island
1 Verdant Catacombs
3 Wooded Foothills
4 Forest
3 Island

// Creatures
3 Misthollow Griffin
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Noble Hierarch
3 Fierce Empath
1 AEthersnipe
2 Mulldrifter
2 Wall of Roots
1 Griselbrand
3 Tarmogoyf
1 Deathrite Shaman

// Spells
4 Food Chain
4 Force of Will
4 Ponder
4 Brainstorm
3 Manipulate Fate
1 Sylvan Library
2 Misdirection

// Sideboard
1 Tarmogoyf
2 Spell Pierce
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Tormod's Crypt
2 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Dismember
3 Krosan Grip
1 Pithing Needle

This list has worked quite well in my small local tournaments. 2 Misdirections have been great because there is a lot of BGx lists with abrupt decays and misdirection is the best answer to them. Also it is nice to make them discard a card from thoughtseize or IOK especially if you have a griffin to pitch. This deck also has a plan b, if they hates the combo for example discard/counter food chain + surgical/extirpate it. I have won many games beating opponent with tarmos, mulldrifters and griffins, and jittes from side. Deathrite shaman has been an all star, so I think I add some more and cut few noble hierarchs (I won a match couple of days ago in a long game when I managed to return a griffin to block opponent's tarmos and attack with another griffin). I could also add black to get full use from shamans and if your tests with lim duls vault are promising, I'll test them also.

Wall of Roots is sometimes nice, but sometimes kinda meh. The last match I played I won because of wall of roots from top deck and I managed to combo off just before opponent could kill me. Krosan grips are in side just because my meta has Nic Fit with humility and MUD (against those naturalize could work, but it is nice to have split second sometimes).

I'll be testing the LDVs tonight. I cut two Ponders (down to one now) in order to squeeze them in, but the cut makes sense when I find myself saving the Ponders for late game digging anyway. I've top foured the last three tournaments I've played with my current list (sans the LDVs), so, assuming I don't have a string of bad luck tonight, I should be have a decent idea of how I feel about em.

I will tell you, though, that I am excited about the card. :) There's something fun about playing a card people have to read (Manipulate Fate, Griffin, LDV)

Obould,

Definitely consider the black splash. Deathrite Shamans and Baleful Strix are just too good to not play, especially since both of them work so well with our strategy.

I played Goyfs in the side for a while, but I decided against that strategy for the time being. It's completely possible to beat down with Griffins and friends (and Deathrite's ability) if the FC plan doesn't work, and while the Goyfs were nice to have for a body, they proved to be a bit too "all in" for my tastes, changing the gameplan as soon as it was in your hand.


grokh,

Definitely go 4 Shaman, 2 Birds. Not sold on the Birds yet, but they definitely have a utility. And make sure to cut room for the Strixes. I agree that the Misdirections main a little too much, like you said, but I don't know how I feel about Coiling Oracle. I've played the card and never liked it... but your mileage may vary. You could also cut any number of Wall of Roots for some Ponders or Sylvan Library, as four is pretty heavy. I run two, but I could see running three paying off, as it's never a *bad* card, especially when prepping time and bodies for the


gottfrid,

I don't know much about the MTGO metagame, but this deck seems just fine to run without Forces. :)

For your sideboard, consider some of my favorites:

• Cabal Therapy
• Wurmcoil Engine (fetch with Empath)
• Maelstrom Pulse (for Jaces)

Re: Grissly and AEthersnipe - I love it. Sometimes I want to cut it for slots, but then I somehow win a game off of casting a turn two Food Chain, turn 3 Empath -> AEtherniping the Empath -> Empath -> Gris, win... without ever having any infinite mana a la Griffins. It's nice to have a two card + mana dork combo that can come out of the gates when the other piece isn't there. And Snipe is such a good card to grab with Empath because it bounces cards that can lock you out.

And I haven't been the biggest fan of Consecrated Sphinx in testing, as I like to resolve my fatty and win. :) If you get the Gris, I'd say cut the Sphinx and something else (maybe a Man-Fate? Hrm) to make room for the two piecer. Definitely worth it for an edge and fun trick, but it's not necessarily worth taking out a second mortgage. What's it going for on MODO right now?