Originally Posted by
Arianrhod
So, back to Zenith: conclusions: we need to use Zenith to leverage card advantage engines rather than just grabbing fat. Maybe we should look into Symbiote+Visionary? Probably not, but it's a thought. Most of the times that our deck feels fucking stupid is when we're drawing multiple cards a turn, because we unlike other decks in the format, we have the mana to leverage those cards into physical board advantage, rather than just nebulous hand size advantage. Colorless needs to figure out if it even should be running Green Sun. Green Sun is one of the sacred cows that I'm actually not sure if it should be -- not across multiple versions, anyway. The biggest single advantage of Zenith is that it serves as Explorers 5-8 on turn 2 after a Therapy on 1. After that, yes, getting to cheat on deck space is wonderful -- but Green Sun has several severe costs, too, perhaps most notably that it doesn't interact with non-Green creatures, which is a category that includes some of Nic Fit's best options. It may be that Diabolic Intent needs some more attention.
Abrupt Decay: This is "the" G/B removal spell. But, should it be? Yes, it's uncounterable, which is nice in a world of Miracles and Delver. For 2 mana, it takes out anything <4. Noteworthy dodges of this include Jace TMS, Nahiri Harb, Batterskull, Venser SS, Gurmag Angler, Humility, Sneak Attack, Thought-Knot & Reality Smasher, and basically anything in a Nic Fit mirror. Lately, Decay just hasn't felt that too to cast. It's a decent way to clean up Counterbalances in game 1, and it's...fine? against Grixis. It's best against Shardless BUG, where it can take out abnormally large Goyfs and Liliana of the Veils.
What I'm drifting towards is asking if it's correct, in GBW builds, to run Path to Exile and Maelstrom Pulse / Vindicate / Anguished (some mix thereof) as our removal suite. We would likely need to bring the Qasali / Rec Sage back in to help clean up Counterbalances off of Zenith, but I'm really wondering if the bigger removal is better than Decay at this point, especially for the expected metagame that I laid out yesterday for Columbus. Decay still has its place, certainly, but I'm not sure that it's /as good/ at the moment as combining Path (cheap, fast, exile removal) with the 3s (universal removal, but slower). Running some number of Vindicates also helps push Gitrog and Meren back into the picture, which are both places I want to be with Green Sun Zenith (admittedly Meren might still not be good enough, but she's the type of thing I want to grab), and Vindicate gives us a valid land destruction plan in conjunction with sideboard Tsunamis, which is an axis that I like to attack Miracles on.
Sensei's Divining Top: How many Tops is correct to run at this point? Top has an enormous target on its head going into CBus -- as mentioned, Pithing Needle is everywhere, and I expect to see a fair number of Null Rods and similar effects as well. Probably Grips out of the green decks. Top plays well with Sorin, Death Metal God of Innistrad, but so does Sylvan Library. Painful Truths is absolutely fantastic for us (assuming we have the removal to keep our life total healthy, coupled with some lifegain). Do we really need or want more than 1, maybe 2 Tops at this point? We can refocus around Sylvan and P.Tizzle, run Tireless Tracker, maybe Nissa, Gitrog, etc, and then dodge an entire swath of hate. Just a thought.
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Overall conclusions:
Vet/Therapy engine as as good as ever.
Deed is losing ground unless we force it to regain said ground (more planeswalkers). Backup sweepers are needed at this point.
Zenith lost sight of what made it good for our deck. Need more engines and advantage, less Rhinos to force us into a tempo/beatdown role that we're ill suited to occupy.
Decay might be worse than 3cmc removal, specifically when backed up by Path to Exile.
Top might be correct to scale back on, or even cut, in favor of better Zenith engines, Sylvan Libraries, and Painful Truths.
