Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

Ok, so I played a 5-colour list with 4 Vial 5 Dorks 3 Mother 3 Opposition 1 TNN 1 Rider in a 6-round tournament yesterday.
I had some unusual matchups and faced a Black deck in every round. It's sad because I want serious testing for Eternal Weekend Paris. I'm either going to play my usual RG Lands or this fun one!

BR Reanimator 0-2. He killed me T1 on the play. Game2 I mulled to 5, he revealed Chancellor, Thoughtseized me and killed me T2. Fun. Kind of unlucky since I built my list mainly to beat this. SB had 2 Surgery 2 Trap 3 Faerie Macabre and other stuff next to Prelate/Mages.

Mono B Pox 2-1. This guy was weird, played sloppy and obviously Pox isn't a real deck in 2017.

BG Zombies (Zombardment style without Bombardment) 0-2. This was super frustrating but on the other hand, this guy was new to Legacy and super nice to me. I mulliganed to 5 Game1 and he had mono removal + 2-3 Geralf's Messengers. Game2 he destroyed my hand with Thoughtseize, Hymn, Cabal Therapy and then had 2-3 Messengers and Deathrite Shaman. I tried to defend with Mother of Runes and Izzet Staticaster, but a Fatal Push sealed the deal. Is this a deck? :D

Aggro Loam 2-0. I feel this is a good matchup, especially with Opposition. Prelate and Meddling Mage stopped his removal and Meren/Tradewind ground him out. Keranos was MVP. Game2 I Vialed him in on 5 counters and basically sealed the game alongside True-Name Nemesis. Izzet Staticaster also helped to ping Dark Confidants.

BUG Threshold 1-2. I think this is a good matchup but I lost because he got 3 Deathrite Shamans fast and I couldn't really stop him from draining me out quickly. Double Staticaster wasn't possible because he always double decayed my Vials and Wasted me. Once he even blew me out with Golgari Charm which I named with Meddling Mage G2, but didn't help.

BUG Delver 1-2. Kind of the same as above, but instead of 3 DRS, he played 3 Goyfs in the decisive game. I had Opposition and Keranos to shoot his DRS, but obviously he Ponders into Toxic Deluge, Maelstrom Pulse, X. I had an Ooze, but could not exile both Vials to let his Goyfs die to Deluge X=4. This was really close and after thinking about the match and lines, I didn't do anything wrong really, it was a missing mana here and there and so many creatures entering the battlefield at once for the opponent that lost me the game.

> I was wrong. Vial was the best card, at least in these matches. I think I misunderstood the card in this deck. It's still good if you draw Vials in the next turns or later on.
> Keranos was so strong, especially in these BGx matches.
> Sanctum Prelate was way better than Meddling Mage. I might change the split to 3-2 or 2-3.
> Green Sun's Zenith was really disappointing yesterday. I guess because most of my opponents played Wasteland and lots of removal so I was never in a good spot for GSZ. I mostly searched a Bird or Quirion to develop my mana. X=2 for Fauna or Scryb Ranger did cost too much mana in several spots, lol.
> This is where my friend suggested to cut GSZ for Force of Will/Brainstorm and I might test this out. Without GSZ you probably need Quirion Ranger #2.
> I'm curious about the Dork split. I played 4 BOP 1 DRS because I think that you generally untap a lot with Ranger, especially if you want to ramp out Opposition. But then, opposing DRS were a huge pain in the ass and the best way to combat this might be by playing 4 DRS on your own. Thoughts?
> Glen Elendra Archmage was non-present. Needs more testing.
> Meren was great.
> Tradewind Rider great.
> Izzet Staticaster great!
> True-Name Nemesis really great. Maybe I want a 2nd TNN. This + Keranos can basically do everything.

Tough luck, Alex! Did you feel like you weren't playing the deck optimally at some point? I feel that often, always so many options, and I'm wondering what part suboptimal plays and deck building choices may have influenced. Not that I'm shocked you had a bad run, it can happen for sure.

When it comes to BR Reanimator that G2 loss illustrates one of the reasons why Leyline of the Void is better than Faerie Macabre - it can't be Thoughtseized (when it works well). On the other hand Leyline can be removed by Reverent Silence which they may be playing. I'd suggest changing 1-2 Faerie Macabres into Leylines in the future. They are actually potentially very good vs BUG Threshold too, invalidating Mongoose, to some extent Deathrite and making sure any potential Goyfs are less of an issue too - without their combination of Stifle + Wasteland + Daze/FoW being able to stop your answer. I've been meaning to figure out a plan vs the BUG Threshold lists which beat me 4-0 when I was playing another deck (enchantment based Nic Fit, first time ever playing and may have made loads of mistakes) last week. Vial seems great, at the very least.

Your matchups seem like they don't care much about Opposition, except for the Aggro Loam deck I guess. So you could have had better luck with your matchups in relation to your current build.

BG Zombies - this seems like a matchup where Scavenging Ooze shines, which you were considering skipping. Did you actually skip it for this tournament?

BUG Threshold - Deathrite is one reason I play Izzet Staticaster, I haven't found many other good answers to it. Unfortunately kills our Deathrites too (I play 2 only currently). Merieke is another answer.

BUG Delver - Goyf + Toxic Deluge is one very difficult strategy for this deck, I believe. In my impression we'v always tended to die to either an opponent connecting with Jitte or an opponent managing to disrupt our creatures and outgoyf us. So for this reason I've built my versions to try to maximize chances of dealing with Jitte and Goyf. Here are a few strategies for dealing with Goyf that I currently play.

Different ways to deal with Goyf:
Destroying: Shriekmaw, Meren + Shriekmaw, Decay
Stealing: Merieke (preferably with backup from Mother or at least vialled in EOT)
Graveyard-mgmt: Ooze, Deathrite
Blocking: TNN, Ranger + Dryad, Jitte, Mother, Atraxa
Racing: Shaman of the Great Hunt, Selfless Squire, Atraxa, Jitte (attack+defense)

So if you find you're playing very few of above cards you may need to look into what alternative answers you have.

Sweepers:
- Active Fauna Shaman and Vial @ 4: get Glen Elendra to counter or Meren to rebuild. Deathrite potentially interferes with both these strategies so we want a maindeck answer to it, being Izzet Staticaster. Grenzo is another possible answer.
- Vendilion Clique proactively or Spell Queller reactively
- Avoid playing x/1's or playing cards adding strength (Shaman of the Great Hunt)

Regarding your comments:
- Vial: good to hear. :)
- Keranos: I removed him due to being quite expensive and working very slowly at that, still in consideration though.
- Sanctum Prelate: we all agree then.
- GSZ: it sounds to me like it was the perfect card in the deck if your opponent exerts mana denial and you get to GSZ for BoP/Deathrite. Also regarding your problems vs both Deathrite and Goyf, GSZ for Scavenging Ooze is a perfect way to fight a board of Deathrites and Goyfs with one single card.
- Dork split: I play 2 Deathrites only because he's not a reliable mana source, but he usually does provide some mana while being able to fight graveyard shenanigans and having the valuable 2 toughness (Golgari Charm protection). Actually we have access to the Rangers so I think we can usually end up on top in a Deathrite war even when playing less (thanks to GSZ + Ranger). Also with Izzet Staticaster destroying opposing Deathrites we don't want to many in play ourselves. Well these are my thoughts anyway, there's no right or wrong here.
- Tradewind Rider: I'm curious, what did he do for you during this tournament?

I think I definitely made bad calls/decisions in the BUG Threshold match, but other than that and thinking back about the matches, not really so. Some of my friends watched me play and I asked them about lines, what I could have done wrong or different etc. but I think it was just very close matches. I am definitely going to test this further and try to get faster and better. The BUG matches were the hardest ones.

Ooze: Yes I still played Ooze and it was really good, I just didn't always have the mana to make use of it. I should have considered Ooze more often and more aggressively!! But now I know :) thanks for the comments on Ooze and Goyf wars.

GSZ: I know it's good for ramp or Ooze, but it was hard to utilize. I'm just going to see how it goes next tournament. I might be disillusioned because now that I think about it, my opps always discarded or countered it when they could.

Spell Queller seems good against these Toxic Deluge-esque cards. Going to get one!
Shaman of the Great Hunt would've been great for racing indeed. Need to get one. I just don't know how to fit in Grenzo then :)

Shriekmaw: Yes it's good vs Goyf decks. I destroyed Delvers and Knights. I just always wanted to kill their DRS but that's not possible unfortunately. I think I should get more aggressive in these DRS scenarios. I think I played too conservative sometimes because I'm a Lands player :D

Tradewind Rider: he is just very hard to kill. Like, they can STP him or Fatal Push(revolt) him, but only if you have no protection! He was a good blocker vs Delver and 3/4 Goyf and very good in pressuring the opponent when they saw it in play or in the hand. For example, the Aggro Loam player knew that if I get the active Tradewind + 2 creatures, they can't keep Knight or Marit Lage on the battlefield. This was exactly how they lost Game1. Gilded Drakes taking Knights and bouncing it back to my hand was very sweet. I think Tradewind is a very good defensive and grindy card and might be handy vs Miracles or Marit Lage matchups.

I really like that this deck can easily grind out these decks. They have to Decay your Vial asap, they have to kill your Mothers asap etc. It just becomes really rough for them in the later turns (unless they land-lock you or something like that. My 3 SB Needles were really good to fight Wasteland and Planeswalkers)

Here is a short report with not too much writing effort from this week’s local legacy event; 44 players participated which was really nice. I didn’t take any notes (will try to do that from now on) but thought I’d write anyway, hoping to encourage Alexeezay and Memories to do further experimenting, also it’s nice to be able to go back and read. I also think it would be a good idea to sum up for each game any game-winning cards in my deck or in the opponent’s deck.

An updated list is available below. Here are some comments on my updates this week:

1. Based on our recent discussion a green out to Blood Moon would be good, also I felt that a second maindeck Leovold is, very good indeed, but not in any way required. Thus I changed Leovold no 2 into Reclamation Sage in the maindeck.

2. I wanted to play a card that is good vs BUG decks, seeming very popular, so I added one Mirran Crusader to the sideboard. With four creatures with the exalted ability and one Jitte there is perhaps enough synergy to make him a very good and cost efficient threat. I would prefer to avoid the WW casting cost but not sure what else could be played. I think I removed Kambal to make room for the Crusader. Kambal was added to battle UR decks and Burn, and to some extent helpful vs Storm and I believe BUG decks. May change this back. I never needed Mirran Crusader yesterday so no conclusions yet.

3. I like the mix of cards that are good vs fast decks in the sideboard, that are also mostly good vs control decks, and the Mindbreaks should be good vs both Alluren and Food Chain that are otherwise hard to board against: 2 Invasive Surgery, 2 Mindbreak Trap (pretty useful with Vials in the deck), 1 Leyline of the Void, 1 Leyline of Sanctity.

4. Last, I felt that the potential to destroy True Names and other small creatures using Pontiff and Staticaster is a very strong aspect of this deck that helps in winning a lot of matchups. Playing one of each in the 75 is enough to provide it in the strategic arsenal of the deck, and with Fauna Shaman + GSZ for tutoring it you will often be able to assemble them. However, I think that perhaps they are so good, in so many machups, that it’s worth doubling up on them (in the sideboard). This is also a meta call.

Maindeck:
Alternative mana sources:
3 Aether Vial
2 Birds of Paradise
2 Deathrite Shaman
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Dryad Arbor

Creatures:
3 Mother of Runes
4 Fauna Shaman
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scryb Ranger
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest (-1)
1 Merieke Ri Berit
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Reclamation Sage (+1)
2 Sanctum Prelate
1 True-Name Nemesis
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Atraxa, Praetors' Voice
1 Glen Elendra, Archmage
1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
1 Shaman of the Great Hunt
1 Shriekmaw

Non-Creatures
3 Green Sun's Zenith
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Sylvan Library
1 Umezawa's Jitte

Lands:
8 green fetchlands
2 Tropical Island
2 Savannah
2 Bayou
1 Taiga
1 Forest

Sideboard:

2 Invasive Surgery
2 Pithing Needle
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Gilded Drake
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Mirran Crusader(+1)
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Orzhov Pontiff(+1)
1 Leyline of the Void
1 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Mindbreak Trap(+1)
1 Selfless Squire


R1: Elves
I’m glad to be playing against elves, I won last time I played against them and now with four relevant counterspells (+1 or maybe even 2 Mindbreak Trap) and 4 mass removal creatures (+1 Orzhov Pontiff and maybe an Izzet Staticaster) this should be at least an ok matchup.

G1: I win the die roll but get a clunky start hand with 3-4 lands, a 3-drop and a 4-drop), I mulligan to a no-land hand and keep five cards (not sure which). I think I decay something early, he goes off with Glimpse and GSZ’s for Craterhoof.

G2: I think I mulligan again and settle for a start with t2 Scryb Ranger + Fauna Shaman into a potential t3 tutor for and play Pontiff. He Natural Orders for Craterhoof on t2 I think [or t3], would have needed one of the counterspells or naturally drawing one of the removal creatures (Pontiff/Staticaster). [I also would have had the option to play Jitte, equip and attack with Scryb Ranger the next turn)

Result: 0-2 in this round, 0-1 in matches in total, 0-2 in games in total.
MVP in my list: Pontif and Jitte would have been great in G2 if I had managed to prolong the game 1 turn.
MVP for the opponent: Glimpse, GSZ, Craterhoof, Natural Order (nothing new here, basically the elf deck when working)



R2: ANT (this guy has previously played an ANT-TES hybrid, not sure if that’s still the case)

G1: I win the die roll, and knowing the player is usually on storm I mulligan away an otherwise nice hand with Stoneforge, Fauna Shaman and maybe a Decay. He opens with Gitaxian Probe into Duress, taking my GSZ so no tutoring for Leovold. I draw into a Sanctum Prelate and play it turn two naming 4; he scoops.

G2: What I remember from this game is that he searched for a tutor and never found one, he had Echoing Truths to bounce something, a few cantrips and mana. According to my evening notes I GSZ for Leovold on t3, beat him down.

Result: 2-0 in this round. 1-1 in matches in total, 2-2 in games in total.
MVP in my list: GSZ, Sanctum Prelate
MVP for the opponent: -



R3: Sneak n Show w Omniscience
Well this is usually an ok-ish matchup, I won last time at least.

G1: I play t1 BoP, t2 Scryb Ranger and Fauna Shaman I think. Then pass the turn t3 with everything untapped (except Ranger who attacked), he EOT Cunning Wishes, I let it resolve and then tutor for and play Vendilion Clique, putting his Kozilek's Return on the bottom of his library, he had a Griselbrand too I think but not much else. Think I get a Leovold into play too and manage to win from there.

G2: don’t remember what I had drawn, I think I mulliganed low and started with a few lands, a Deathrite, Vial and Invasive Surgery. He played lands for a few turns and then hardcasted Inferno Titan with the help of a Lotus Petal, which destroyed my board consisting of a Deathrite Shaman, maybe a Gaddock Teeg (along with maybe a Pithing Needle on Griselbrand). This felt a bit unlucky, I will usually have some interaction for large creatures but boarding into combo interaction does leave me vulnerable to hardcast Inferno Titans. An active Fauna Shaman might have solved it.

G3: I think I mulligan to 4 due to double no-land hands. I think I end up with 1 BoP, 1 Taiga, 1 Scryb Ranger and 1 Fauna Shaman so I play it and hope he won’t find a sweeper, with one land only and no counterspells chances are slim. Turns out he had double Cunning Wishes, I get swept.

Results: 1-2 this round. 1-2 in matches in total, 3-4 in games in total.
MVP in my list: Vendilion Clique
MVP in the opponent’s list: Cunning Wish, Kozilek’s Return, Inferno Titan



R4: BU Pox
I know this guy played BU Pox the last times I played him, and I have won some amount of those games thanks to Vial + Fauna Shaman + Meren. Haven’t lost vs it yet.

G1: Not sure about the order here but he wastes a Tropical and then Surgicals it. I play an early Deathrite and maybe Vial so I have access to blue mana anyway. He plays an Ashiok and his lone Mishra’s factory can protect it for several turns as I play Merieke and some other really small creatures with Shriekmaw stuck in hand, making Mishra a huge wall and smashing my 1/1’s into it just isn’t enough, especially with Merieke not able to untap and attack a second time. The first Ashiok uptick reveals three non-creatures (phew!) and the second reveals a Qasali and BoP I think. In the meanwhile I played a Prelate naming 2, he has a lot of CMC 2 spells. He gets a second Mishra and uses Ashiok to play the Qasali, giving me a target for the Shriekmaw which I play having decided to put five counters on Vial which is rewarded since I draw into GSZ, getting Ranger with it which allows me to Vial in Shriekmaw and destroy the Qasali and use the Merieke to control his Mishra’s.

G2: I mulligan to 4 or 5 I think , he plays loads of attrition (Smallpox, Toxic Deluge, Hymn, Sinkhole) and Pithing Needles my Vials. We do lots of topdecking and due to the Needle I can’t play my topdeck, I actually draw a lot of lands and cheap creatures but he just destroys everything. He manages to play a few creatures and is about to win as time is called. Since neither of us would benefit from a 1-2-1 result I don’t offer him the draw..

Results: 1-0-1 this round. 2-2 in matches in total, 4-4-1 in games in total.
MVP in my list: Scryb Ranger, Merieke
MVP in the opponent’s list: Pithing Needle, Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver, Toxic Deluge

Final thoughts:
All matchups were pretty even and I had loads of mulligans today. The large flexibility of the deck means there is room for improvement. Also I tend to do some mistakes every now and then, I'm by no means a perfect player. Which is easy to do when you have access to 50% of your deck every turn and as many interactions as an Elves deck.
I want some discard. Maybe try to add 1 Thoughtseize, 1 Tidehollow Sculler and 1 Spell Queller (not really discard but similar interaction) and see how it goes.
If I've counted correctly, with the last so-so results I'm now 24-9-1 in matches with this deck since October I think.

Brewing:
Also regarding Grand Architect, I like how it not only helps power out Walking Ballista but also keep pumping it up. Also with Trinket Mage you can both use Trinket Mage to tutor for the Ballista and with Architect around it's a 3/3 and helps cast and boost Ballista every turn. Since Architect ignores summuning sickness it means if you have an Architect in play you can use Vial @3 to create tempo by vialling in Trinket Mage and tapping it the same turn to cast the Ballista, effectively generating 2 mana by tapping the Vial.
Edit: Master of Waves is pretty sweet with Grand Architect and random, expensive artifacts. Yes, all those tokens are now 3/2 thanks to architect and each tap for 2 mana. Absurd. Maybe Walking Ballista is enough to make this synergy good enough. Wurmcoil Engine and Batterskull are also both very playable and these have good synergy with the Goblin Welder that I would also like to play (but that is more for fun, powerful but fun).
A genius friend suggested that Pili-pala gives infinite mana with Grand Architect. So that gives as a combo with Walking Ballista for example.

Nice discussion as always: anyway, i've read many suggested ideas, and it's great because it's one of the best part of this deck =) but i think that we should look at 3 points to evaluate them:
-Ease of building combo/synergy
-Intrinsic force of the single cards (by themselves)
-Impact when assembled

For example, is going toward Architect and so on really strong? I mean, we don't have so many small cc blue creatures (only meddling mage, i think?) that you don't want to use for attacking or other abilities. But Trinket Mage could bring Basilisk Collar, which is a nice card by itself and become awesome with Staticaster or Balista, at a very low price. Or Nightshade Paddler in a heavy-gsz build, even more fast and cheaper.

I think that we need to have a solid plan when we don't hit Fauna Shaman: years ago it was built around Tradewind Rider, now?
Something like Nissa, voice + Opposition+ Gaea's Craddle+Equip+Mirror Entity: every card is synergic with the rest of the deck and pretty ok by itself, while having a massive impact on board when together (Craddle+Entity, Entity+ Nissa, Nissa+Oppo/Equip).

- I agree with Memories, Architect requires too much build-around, too many slots not worth the low power level.
- Cradle+Entity are great to close out a game, especially the BGx games which board stall etc. or to finish a Miracle player without instant Terminus.
- Nissa VOZ is interesting. I like how you can curve Nissa into Opposition and have 2 Plant Tokens. Sure, Garruk Relentless is a stronger card but both Garruk and Opposition at 4 Mana might make Nissa more attractive.
I think it's definitely worth testing because it also works with TNN and stuff like Grenzo
- with the strong presence of BGx especially BUG (thanks to Leovold and Fatal Push) and still Eldrazi, I will never play less than 2 Opposition.
- problem is: you can't really fit in both Aether Vial AND Cradle/Entity/Nissa. I really really like the Vial version so I don't want to change a running system. Though Mirror Entity should work well in a Vial list,too.
- Grenzo, Dungeon Warden is really good. If it lives, you don't NEED to commit any hand cards and try to build up the board by itself. Outside of combo matchups this should be fine.

Grenzo is one of my greatest regret about this deck: if only it hadn't been double linked to R and B, two "splash" color for us, it would have been a fu**ing beast and a great power up for us.
I've tried many builds with him, but builds relying on him have to be almost all-creatures or cards that you want in the grave: a Nice build could be with Veteran Explorer, Recruiter, Cabal Therapy, Gaea's craddle and so on. Something we can probably work, i mean, recruiter is the perfect card with Grenzo.

Obviously, Vial and cradle(and zenith, in some ways) are incompatible. I think that Nissa/Opposition/SFM is a good road to explore, but at this point you want Recruiter and not Fauna Shaman.

Very nice to read your comments, thanks to you both for posting! I hope these comments are readable and coherent, it's a (wonderful) mess trying to discuss cards as there are so many aspects of everything but I need some sleep now so this will have to do. And I may have just used up a year's supplies of cards-tags..

Memories, your criteria for evaluating combos are very relevant and I tend to carefully evaluate any combo like this. Unfortunately there are no combos that I'm aware of that are unquestionably strong in all aspects (creature based, each creature strong by itself etc), still I think having an unfair element in the list would be good - having a low power card in the deck may be worth it - or that is for experiments to validate.

Is Grand Architect strong? This is what I'm also asking myself. Or rather, I think it is very strong, but how much do we need to build the deck around him? I prefer not changing more than 3-4 slots or I think we'll lose too much of other strengths and I don't want to change the whole deck right now. I think one of the strongest things about Grand Architect is that he can provide 6 extra mana around turn 3-4. Every blue creature becomes a Sol Ring, without summoning sickness and Scryb Ranger provides an extra. A boost of only 4 mana around turn 3-4 means you can play and equip an equipment - which is usually a back-breaking move. It also makes Batterskull playable, I believe, and in many situations you will be able to both play and equip Batterskull in the same turn. [edit: you have a good point in the need for cheaper blue creatures, however I would consider this as beneficial rather than necessary; just having a Scryb Ranger and GA gives 4 mana already, enough for casting or equiping Batterskull easily or any other equipment or using Ballista. Another approach could be playing a list with 2-3 Prelates and 2-3 Meddling Mages]

As a side effect you get an (arguably) better Lord of Atlantis. I'm not saying the card is broken and I know how to play it, instead I want to say that this card has some potential and we can use it innovatively. It seems to me that the above two effects are good enough to motivate GA by itself. If you add the 2 mana 1/1 flier (Pili-pala) to that you get infinite mana of any colour. This is very easy to tutor up with Fauna Shaman and put into play with Vial (uncounterably). Having a 2 mana 1/1 creature in the deck is less of a dead card, especially with Fauna Shaman often around, than most combo elements in other combo decks. And a 2 mana creature representing potential infinite mana means your opponent may feel pressured to deal with it or play conservatively, this can work towards your advantage. The next question would be what we can do with this mana? Playing all creatures in your hand is already pretty good. In addition to that Walking Ballista wins on the spot while Shaman of the Great Hunt lets you draw and play any number of cards in your deck. And to repeat, all of these cards are seemingly good enough on their own, except for the 2 mana flying 1/1 creature..

Trinket Mage with Basilisk Collar is interesting, it's analogous to Stoneforge Mystic with Umezawa's Jitte but enables tutoring for walking Ballista and Pithing Needle. It's hard for me to let go of the Jitte, but maybe it's worth playing both of them. That would mean replacing probably Shriekmaw and Pontiff. Thanks I'll consider it.

About Opposition, it is a very strong card and if you're convinced it's what you want by all means play it. However, I think it's a bad move in a metagame defined(?) by Terminus and True-Name Nemesis; it's ignored by one of them and interacts negatively with the other. The meta evolves quickly but right now, and considering that I feel that fast decks are a weak spot, I would try other things. Also it's not tutorable in the deck so if you're building the deck on it you need several copies.

I've also thought about Cradle and Nissa VOZ. They have some problems. Cradle can't be tutored for, so I would add KotR if I would play it. Once KotR is in I would also add Karakas. That however means watering the deck down, Cradle takes a creature slot and Karakas puts in a non-forest which weakens the mana base or replaces another creature. It can be done but it has a cost and I'm not sure it's worth it. I was thinking of perhaps playing Cradle, Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary and Grand Architect to have many different ways of providing lots of mana in a list, but I think it will be hard to build a list like that because you just have to take good, flexible, tutorable cards and change them into weaker non-tutorable cards. Karakas + Vial + Clique is really good though...

Mirror Entity is very interesting, I just don't know what I would bring out for it. I didn't put a lot of thought into it but I feel like it does not provide enough control over the game. It's good if you have a lot of creatures in play, but if you have few creatures it does very little [edit: making it a little bit of a win-more card]. I can see how it can result in some blow-outs though so perhaps I should just try it once. I've been trying to find a way to make use of the ability to turn all your creatures into all creatures types, that could be what makes the difference.

It appears someone else started revisiting Grand Architect based builds recently, and there are a lot of interesting ideas in that (modern) thread:

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...rand-Architect

Edit: I'm going to test without red again. The first test games were vs Cloudpost and with Walking Ballista around (in the opponent's deck) I think that can be a tough matchup, so Magus of the Moon is probably going to stay in the sideboard. Edit again: On the other hand, Ballista answers Magus disturbingly well so something else is needed.

I think that the new Vizier of the Menagerie is one of the biggest additions of the recent years to this deck, probably. We have to create something that uses him heavily

I also have my eyes on him. He's similar to Grenzo and Meren in that he generates a lot of card advantage, but preferable over Grenzo since he's green. The disadvantage is that you'll be playing random creatures (similar to Grenzo while Meren lets you reuse certain bullets like Qasali), but that's still pretty good. Works well with Vial, using Vial to put him into play means you will have mana available to put a couple of other creatures into play during the same turn.

He also helps with avoiding bad topdecks is nice (activate Fauna Shaman, play GSZ or fetch to shuffle) and the mana fixing can be useful. The mana fixing effect actually helps us playing around Blood Moon and we had problems with that before, both me and Alexeeezay.

This card looks very promising, I can't wait to play with it once Amonkhet's out and MKM Series Frankfurt is done!
It obviously motivates a mana-dork/Cradle approach instead of Vials. With flash creatures and your usual fetchlands, it seems to be especially powerful.

Yep, it seems good with both Cradle and Vial. The more i try to make lists without Vial, the more i miss them, for the flexibility and the better management of your resources that vials give you.

https://www.channelfireball.com/vide...egacy-m-o-s-t/

Look what we got here! Andrea Mengucci gave this deck a spin. Let's see how it goes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alexeezay

https://www.channelfireball.com/vide...egacy-m-o-s-t/

Look what we got here! Andrea Mengucci gave this deck a spin. Let's see how it goes.

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I'll talk to him if i can, i'm italian too =)
Plus, this new girl too seems interesting
http://media.wizards.com/2017/dw466y...ZwfaTSMgZp.png

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alexeezay

https://www.channelfireball.com/vide...egacy-m-o-s-t/

Look what we got here! Andrea Mengucci gave this deck a spin. Let's see how it goes.

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Holy shit this deck actually looks more amazing when you're actually looking at all the cards at once.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alexeezay

https://www.channelfireball.com/vide...egacy-m-o-s-t/

Look what we got here! Andrea Mengucci gave this deck a spin. Let's see how it goes.

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Hello Guys, I'm new to the forum (and I discovered this tread only a few days ago) in the link on channelfireball you can see the list I passed to Mengucci to make the video. (to be precise I play 61 cards with +1 opposition)
I'm an Italian guy and I play this deck from about 6/7 years.
Unfortunately when I play I'm really a bad player, so I never made important results due to some mistakes...
anyway nice to meet you all!

@Shaden: Great to have you here, Shaden, most welcome! I think I recognize your name from Tipo1.it too, I hope you'll share your thoughts and tournament results with us! :)

@Alexeezay: Sweet find, now we can finally let curious people have a look at the deck in action. I'm very curious to watch it myself. Hopefully we'll get around to streaming games locally soon and then I'll try to get on camera too..

@Memories: Samut seems nice, yes, he (she?) has a lot of relevant abilities. I think I still prefer Shaman of the Great hunt, since it both draws cards and generates +1/+1 counters, it's not legendary and it lets us keep Vial at 4 counters, but Samut packs a lot of utility in one card for sure.

Another interesting card, perhaps not good enough, is Champion of Rhonas:

http://media.wizards.com/2017/dw466y...TFmIznnbAe.png

Edit: I really hope there will be better exert creatures, since we can ignore the drawback (thanks to Scryb Ranger).

@Champion: it's almost Elvish Piper, that otherwise can be used every turn. Long time ago i tried Piper+Emrakul, but the second one was always in my open hand ^^" i don't think it's the better two card combo we can have.

@Shaman of the great hunt: i don't think is enough good for us: spreading +1/+1 counters is good, but it's important especially in the first turn (when a Golgari charm can destroy you) and for creatures like mothers and dorks that can attack and deal damage to player almost never.

@Shaden list: i think that this list is ok, probably i would play at least 1 Eladamri's Call that is perfect with Vial. Then i dunno, i think that Vizier is also very good with vial and i want to try it =)

I watched Andrea's games and it was nice. There were a number of play mistakes, which can also be expected when trying such an unconventional deck, but I wanted to mention it to anyone curious about the deck that it's perhaps not given full justice. Like not boarding in Rhox War Monk vs Delver decks and not using an active Tradewind Rider at eot. Still we're not spoiled with recorded action so that's great. Also 4 Meddling Mages is a controversial deck building decision with the advent of Sanctum Prelate, probably due to the FoW's, right Shaden?

@Samut, Voice of Dissent vs Shaman of the Great Hunt: there are lots of things to consider in this comparison. Like I said I'm interested in Samut too, but the important things making Shaman seem better at first glance are that it isn't legendary (huge disadvantage for any card) + it's a card drawing engine all by itself (huge advantage) + it costs one mana less which means we can leave Vial at 4 where there are lots of other cards too. I'll get a copy to put in my MOST binder and for evaluating.

Samut's advantages are giving haste to other creatures, which is a great ability but at 5 mana it's a bit late in the game, it would be much more useful on a card with CMC 3, or so I imagine; being able to untap other creatures is great, especially on a vigilance creature, but how often will you want to tap it down rather than use it for blocking? Also we already have the rangers for untapping things, paying 5 mana for a large Ranger is relevant but doesn't strike me as the greatest way to utilize a 5 drop. 5 drops should be more powerful, I only use 4 drops myself since they are powerful enough. An advantage is the double strike, with a sword attached or some exalted triggers he has great hitting power with haste. Samut is green and can be GSZ-ed for, which is really nice. Lacking evasion is an issue though, a single goblin token can potentially invalidate him. Shaman will still let fliers grow every turn (while drawing extra cards), so in that way Shaman has a kind of limited evasion.

You mention that Shaman doesn't give counters in the first turns when it's crucial for protection vs Golgari Charm and also doesn't help protect Mothers. I have a couple of responses to that: 1) Samut doesn't give any counters at all right, and comparing Shaman to cards that are played mostly for the token generation need to take into account that it's only a nice side bonus for the Shaman who has other merits; 2) you can play Shaman turn 3 and attack with a Mother to put a counter on it, I wouldn't find that entirely bad, especially if there is a Scryb Ranger around for untapping the Mother if needed; 3) If you keep a Mother untapped and put counters on 4-5 other creatures you quickly enter the situation where you don't need the Mother any more, if it's answered you still have an army of growing beaters that quickly finish the opponent off. In such a situation it may even potentially be to your advantage that the opponent draws the charm, rather than a card that could have dealt with your growing army.

@Champion of Rhonas: I think it may be slightly better than Elvish Piper, I realize that may be wrong but having a 3/3 body is an advantage and having a 1/1 body is more like a liability. Also once you've attacked with the Champion once, then you have already got what you wanted out of it, and your opponent will now need to take care of the attacking creature especially since an attack the next turn can potentially cause some more damage in terms of putting creatures into play. It lets the card interact with the opponent in two ways while the Piper only works in 1 way. With that said I still think it's perhaps not good enough to be played.

@pettdan: Agree about the videos, pretty easy to do mistakes when you are trying this deck for the first time.

@Samut/Shaman: i don't think that these two creatures should be considered togheter at all, they have different functions and utilities ^^ the gsz-able is a big thing if we are playing many of them, anyway.

@Champion: no, i don't think it's better at all. With a scryb you can use piper even twice in the same turn, without the problem of just slamming into a goyf and die.

Anyway, i think that we have to discuss another two really interesting options:
http://mythicspoiler.com/akh/cards/harshmentor.jpghttp://mythicspoiler.com/akh/cards/bloodlustinciter.jpg

@Mentor: i think that it's a good card for Burn, but in a deck with mother like Most? Dunno what mix between main and sideboard, but it may be really great.

@Inciter: I've always thought that haste is the second best ability to give to our creatures, after hexproof. I've tried Thousand-year Elixir (the best, since now), Lighting Mauler and even Concordant Crossroads. I fear that this little human is not what we are searching, one more time, sadly =/

@Samut/Shaman: I'm not so sure, I think they compete for the few (2-3) slots dedicated to attackers/combat creatures. I currently try skipping red and so changed Shaman into Mirror Entity, I also play TNN for attacking into Mazes and Jaces and blocking Goyfs and Gurmags. [edit: oh yeah, Atraxa too] But with all the different effects of Samut maybe a third attacker is even worth it, if a creature can fill several different roles in the deck (such as Thousand-Year Elixir + hasty attacker + equipment-bearer) it makes its inclusion more relevant. Testing needed.

@Harsh Mentor: What can we say about this guy?
- He interacts only in terms of damage which seems to require a different focus of the deck, adding more cards that give up some amount of control in favor of faster damage.
- He prevents Elves from glimpsing off, which seems to me to be his greatest benefit.
- He puts pressure on Miracles topping but they can answer him and they can still cantrip.
- He makes Cavern Harpy in Aluren decks worse, their instant win becomes more costly and card advantage comes at a higher cost.
- He makes opposing Deathrites miserable - that is actually a great thing in a lot of matchups. He deals 4 damage to Walking Ballista before dying himself, same with Jitte. Opposing Vials and Mother of Runes become troublesome. So do Rishadan Ports.
- I think that if he is going to make a difference in the deck it needs to be an aggressive build. He goes really well with Kambal, Consul of Allocation, who I have played in the sideboard recently for Burn/UR Delver/Storm. I've been considering Scab-Clan Berserker in some deck but the double red in the mana cost seems too prohibitive for this one. Sword of Fire and Ice may play along well (extra damage but also control elements in removal and card draw), Mirror Entity generates a win, more easily.

@Bloostlust Inciter: The mana cost of R makes him hard to cast early in the game, we rarely want to fetch Taiga early. Otherwise could be interesting.

Hi to all.

I return to play Most from a lot of years of inactivity.
I select Most for Spell Queller. I think this card can solve the problem against bug in general, but always midrange decks, in particular can solve problem like Toxic, removals, big creatures and involve Meddling in an other way to lock our opponent like call Tarmogoyf, ecc.

Queller, also, can trasform our plane in a tempo plane with Hierarch (our delver :D).

After the select of Queller, I see that I use a lot of U cards: for this reason i try to play FoW MD plus another counter (but is in testing) Unified Will. For now, that card seems very interesting: it's very powerfull against combo/controll (miracle and snt in primis) and is very good for tempo plane, but it's very good against bug. For this reason, I use only 3 of that cspells.

I'm not sure about Atraxa because it's 4 different colors in cmc and i hope a little bit in the new cards (Vizier and Samut) . Maybe, instead Atraxa, I can run the 4th Meddling or another Sensei/Eldrami/Vizier/Strix, but i don't have several test yet.

Also for the SB, I don't have tested well for talk seriously about it, but seems wonderfull xD


4 Aether Vial
1 Sensei's Divining Top

3 Meddling Mage
1 Sanctum Prelate
3 Mother of Runes
4 Spell Queller
1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Gaddock Teeg
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Baleful Strix
2 Noble Hierarch
1 Samut, Voice of Dissent
1 Vizier of the Menageri
1 Atraxa, Praetors' Voice

1 Sylvan Library


4 Force of Will
3 Unified Will
2 Eladamri's Call
2 Abrupt Decay


4 Misty Rainforest
2 Savannah
3 Tropical Island
2 Bayou
1 Underground Sea
1 Taiga
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Scrubland


Sideboard


SB: 1 Umezawa's Jitte

SB: 1 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 2 Faerie Macabre
SB: 1 Spellskite
SB: 1 Peacekeeper
SB: 1 Containment Priest
SB: 1 Reclamation Sage
SB: 1 Scavenging Ooze
SB: 1 Vendilion Clique
SB: 1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
SB: 1 Merieke Ri Berit

SB: 1 Abrupt Decay
SB: 2 Flusterstorm



@called cards:I don't like the "haster" one, because it's red and we don't want taiga at T1 in 90% of case.
The other one is better of Gaddok against miracle? I don't think. I prefer, always, Gaddok in this kind of mu.

Great to have you here, Hadhod, and thanks for posting! Looking forward to hearing how the list works for you.

My first thought is that with zero Fauna Shaman and GSZ's (with Dryad Arbor) you're missing out on a lot of consistency. Your bullets will be appearing almost randomly, but maybe two Eladamri's call are enough.

Unified Will is an interesting find, I think about Counterspell every now and then but it requires a blue-heavy build.

The four Spell-Quellers seem really interesting, I can imagine it being quit a nightmare for most decks to play against someone chaining Quellers.. Fauna Shaman might make that happen more consistently, but finding place for stuff like Strixes and Quellers has its advantages too.

Since you didn't play the list for some time I suggest you at some point try my list. I'm not sure it's representative but I've gone something like 24-9-1 in matches with it the last six months, with a lot of shifting of cards, no previous playing (of MOST) for years and basically no playtesting.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pettdan

Great to have you here, Hadhod, and thanks for posting! Looking forward to hearing how the list works for you.

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My first thought is that with zero Fauna Shaman and GSZ's (with Dryad Arbor) you're missing out on a lot of consistency. Your bullets will be appearing almost randomly, but maybe two Eladamri's call are enough.[/QUOTE]

I don't like Shaman for a lot of reason:

1) it isn't sotf. It's got Summoning Sickness
2) it exposes our plane to spot removal (and obv WoG/terminus and similiar)
3) it doesn't do a card advantage, only a quality advantage

For this reasons, i prefer cut them.

For GSZ, instead, the thing is quite different. I try the White Recruiter + Flickerwisp, Red Reruiter, GSZ and Eladamri's: the first is the best for me but my opponent side me always [card]Dread of Night[/cards] and against that enchantemnt my tutoring package isn't very good and, in second, the double white for flicker is quite bad. The Red Recruiter seems good, but it is red and it isn't in our basic color. GSZ is good for fast starts, but it isn't good in long plane match in my list: it's sorcery (for Queller), it doesn't take Meddling and MoM; it's better if u want base your lock with teeg + leovold, but this isn't my case. Last, for my configuration 2-3x Eladamri + 1-0x Vizier seems the best solution with Vials; also Sensei and Library is very very good with Vials + Queller (and in general with counters)!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pettdan

Unified Will is an interesting find, I think about Counterspell every now and then but it requires a blue-heavy build.

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I did think about counterspell, too, but I found Unified will and it's been good

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pettdan

The four Spell-Quellers seem really interesting, I can imagine it being quit a nightmare for most decks to play against someone chaining Quellers.. Fauna Shaman might make that happen more consistently, but finding place for stuff like Strixes and Quellers has its advantages too.

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Queller is fantasting against midrange, SNT, ANT and quite also vs Miracle. Is very very difficult play around it! Take the 90% of mass removals and the 100% of spot removals. Take also the bombs of all the decks (Leovold, Jace, Mentor, SNT, Sneak Attack, Natural Order, ecc.) and can be protected by FoW!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pettdan

Since you didn't play the list for some time I suggest you at some point try my list. I'm not sure it's representative but I've gone something like 24-9-1 in matches with it the last six months, with a lot of shifting of cards, no previous playing (of MOST) for years and basically no playtesting.

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ok I'll do it! with mine I'm 20-2-0 (approximately) and i'm using basicaly Cockatrice and sometimes Xmage.

Thx for the awnser,
Hadhod - Lorenzo

@pettdan: Hi Pettdan, yes, I'm always the same shaden of tipo1.it
I'm glad to read this thread and see that we are different in cotribute, I also will do my best to share my impressions, although I do not speak english very well.
is only 6 months that I play with vials, and having few opportunities to play I have not done much testing. in any case I prefer have 4 Fow in side VS combo deck because if it is true that the vials greatly improve the matchup with control, midrange and tempo deck, at the same time we lose explosivity and this does not allow us to have the opportunity to search a fast response (cenit for gaddock, fauna for meddling, prelate, vendilion, ecc...)
All this talk is based on my list, where to insert the vials I cut 1 BoP, 1 Hierarch and 2 zenith.
This is why I prefer to play the full set of meddling mage (for the blue count).

For completeness here is the list that I've played in recent months (the one with which andrea recorded was changed because he asked me not to play the FoW)

// Deck: Vial Most (61)

// Lands
1 Bayou
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Forest
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Savannah
1 Taiga
3 Tropical Island
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills

// Creatures
1 Atraxa, Praetors' Voice
3 Birds of Paradise
1 Eternal Witness
4 Fauna Shaman
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
4 Meddling Mage
1 Merieke Ri Berit
3 Mother of Runes
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Peacekeeper
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Quirion Ranger
1 Sanctum Prelate
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
2 Tradewind Rider
1 Vendilion Clique

// Spells
4 Force of Will
2 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
1 Spell Pierce
4 Æther Vial

// Sideboard
SB: 3 Abrupt Decay
SB: 1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
SB: 1 Garruk Relentless
SB: 1 Magus of the Moon
SB: 1 Orzhov Pontiff
SB: 1 Phage the Untouchable
SB: 1 Rhox War Monk
SB: 1 Spell Pierce
SB: 1 Spellskite
SB: 1 Surgical Extraction
SB: 2 Swan Song
SB: 1 Volrath's Shapeshifter

@hadhod: I never tried the spellqueller, but they seem interesting, I think I'll try something cutting them, because with meddling mage look really good
for your list I can not express why I have not tried it, but you don't play fauna shaman, tradewind rider, zenith, Merieke... in short, is another deck.

Talking with Hadhod, he pointed out that the new Nissa could be awesome in an heavy-creature list, without Fow/other counter.
For those who don't know her: when i saw this card for the first time i said "ok, this could be good only in a cradle list", but the point is the opposite. She's expecially good when done a t2/t3, and after have reached 3-4 loyalty counters she can basically put a creature (or a land, one time on three) in play. It's awesome.
http://mythicspoiler.com/akh/cards/n...ofelements.jpg

Funnily I came to a similar conclusion about the new Nissa and preordered a copy yesterday for experimental purposes. At first I neglected her because I don't like to put a lot of money into hyped standard mythics (and maybe I undervalued her abilities), but thinking about it a bit and listening to the Leaving a Legacy-podcast made me think it may very well increase in price thus making it a not so bad purchase at this point. She works well with Vizier of the Menagerie, allowing a look at the top card, but in general I think she's pretty good even if you don't hit a permanent every time. Especially considering the high amount of creatures in any MOST-list. She's kind of like a blue-green Domri Rade hitting creatures as well as ramping, putting it all into play, having a game-winning ultimate and working well as a mana dump late-game. [And working around Counterbalance is a great advantage.] A main disadvantage of Domri was being red, which Nissa doesn't suffer from.

There are a couple of decks around that share some of the elements of MOST. This one for example (link below) utilizes Spellstutter Sprite [and a GSZ-package with similar bullets, TNN's, Decay etc] which had fallen out of my MOST-folder due to being played in the Mono-blue Martyr deck. It synergizes well with Scryb Ranger and Vendilion Clique and is an alternative to Unified Will and Spell Queller.

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/s...l=1#post991362

Now that Miracles is gone, we can probably try something like this:

// 61 Mazzo
// 36 Creature
3 Deathrite Shaman
4 Baleful Strix
4 Spell Queller
3 Mother of Runes
1 Quirion Ranger
1 Vizier of the Menagerie
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Mirror Entity
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Peacekeeper/Spike Weaver
4 Sanctum Prelate
4 Recruiter of the Guard
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Thragtusk
1 Fauna Shaman

// 2 Instant
2 Abrupt Decay

// 17 Land
2 Gaea's Cradle
2 Bayou
2 Tropical Island
2 Savannah
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Windswept Heath
1 Tundra

// 4 Planeswalker
4 Nissa, Steward of Elements

// 2 Sorcery
2 Green Sun's Zenith


// 15 Sideboard
// 7 Creature
SB: 1 Rhox War Monk
SB: 2 Vendilion Clique
SB: 1 Phyrexian Revoker
SB: 1 Orzhov Pontiff
SB: 1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
SB: 1 Gaddock Teeg

// 3 Enchantment
SB: 3 Choke

// 5 Instant
SB: 1 Abrupt Decay
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 2 Swan Song/Seize/Flusterstorm

Revolving around strong cc3 cards to play at t2 without being too much exposed by Golgari Charm and stuff. Nissa here is amazing, since you can play her at t2, make +2 and then start to put into the battlefield creatures with a very good rate: sad antisinergy with Vial, sadly, that could be perfect with Queller.

Edit: I'm also very sad to not being able to play Deadeye Navigator and lock the game with Queller, also going well with Strix and Recruiter

Great to be experimenting for sure, let us know if you play it how it goes! I'll just give a few brief comments.

Spell Queller has good synergy with Vial and mediocre synergy with Nissa (flying Grizzly Bear), still Queller is better with Terminus in check so I like the card (even better now).

Cards that we can now use/experiment with, with Terminus gone, are Opposition and Gaea's Cradle. Cradle is good with Nissa, for sure. If I play Cradle I would like to play a KotR too, and if I do I want to add other lands, probably a Karakas which is great with Clique and Mangara. Would be even better with Vial though.

I would like to try a list with multiple Karakas and Vials, abusing Mangara, Clique, Venser etc. That list will also play Spell Queller. Maybe it could play 1 KotR and 1 Karakas, letting KotR fetch Karakas when needed, and then even a copy of Gaea's Cradle would fit too. I also like the idea of playing 3-4 Qasali Pridemage (cat wizard!) with 1-2 Voidmage Prodigy, together they give strong game vs both the stack and permanents. An Oppositionor two in that list would complement the control of the stack and artifact/enchantments with control of creatures and lands.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pettdan

I would like to try a list with multiple Karakas and Vials, abusing Mangara, Clique, Venser etc. That list will also play Spell Queller. Maybe it could play 1 KotR and 1 Karakas, letting KotR fetch Karakas when needed, and then even a copy of Gaea's Cradle would fit too. I also like the idea of playing 3-4 Qasali Pridemage (cat wizard!) with 1-2 Voidmage Prodigy, together they give strong game vs both the stack and permanents. An Oppositionor two in that list would complement the control of the stack and artifact/enchantments with control of creatures and lands.

---

If u use karakas, u can also use lavinia of the tenth, captain sisay, ecc. Sisay can also tutor all the land u said!

I don't like Qasali, or better, i don't like Voidmage, but only because is UU and is a "different" sorcery speed counter, i.e. u cast prodigy and the choose to what get countered is in hand to your opponent! (and also goes under spot removal xD)

For now, i prefer the list with counters because the meta, for me, will became too aggro/combo.

Cheers,

Hadhod

Great input Hadhod, thanks for that! I got a Lavinia, not sure I will play her but it's an interesting option. Captain Sisay may be better than Knight, worth trying too.


I picked up the list again and played in this week's local legacy event with 31 players, quite respectable for a summer event. As usual I'll offer a few comments for anyone else playing, testing or just being curious. I didn't take notes so will comment briefly on matches, some details of games may relate to other games.

Some experimental cards for today's maindeck were:
Vizier of the Menagerie: I didn't use Vizier today and in previous testing Meren has seemed more powerful. I'll probably keep testing it for a while. [Replaced maybe Shaman of the Great Hunt]
Spell Queller: I've been waiting to try this for some time, as you'll see in previous posts, and now have a first copy. I didn't draw it or tutor for it in any of the games. [Replaced maybe a Decay]
Voidmage Prodigy: I got to play Voidmage in one game and tapped out when I would have needed to counter something. Stays for some more testing. I like the idea of turning Qasalis into counterspells and this can be Vialed in and used from turn 3. [Replaced Glen Elendra]
Knight of the Reliquary: Has been great, getting Karakas for defensive or offensive purposes (bouncing and vialling Clique/Mangara every turn) or Cradle for mana advantage has been very useful.
Karakas: I play this over a second Bayou, trying to play less black spells.
Gaea's Cradle: I play this over a spell. Has been useful so far.
Stoneforge Mystic: I added the second Stoneforge because I feel that vialing in Stoneforge eot to untap with an active Stoneforge is such a great play that I want to have two Stoneforges. And Cradle makes it easier to equip Skull. [Replaced maybe a Decay]
Batterskull: see above, life gain can be very relevant.
Vendilion Clique: I added a second copy to go with the fetchable Karakas. [Replaced a TNN]
Mangara of Corondor: added for the interaction with fetchable Karakas. [Replaced a Decay]

Sideboard:
I packed lots of counterspells in the sideboard and decided to try reducing from 2 to 1 Leyline of the Void. Unfortunately that second copy would have been really useful today. However, in the three matchups where I needed it I could still put up a good fight and won a fair amount. I also played a copy of Linvala, Keeper of Silence, primarily for Elves but with a good ability for some other matchups as well.


--- R1, Elves
I won the dice roll and went t1 Deathrite, t2 Leovold which was of course a very good start, always nice to keep them off t2 Glimpse. Then a t3 Vendilion Clique got rid of his last nonland-spell in hand (Elvish Visionary) during his draw phase so he apparently had a pretty weak hand. I think he may have had a Wirewood Symbiote in play so he was probably betting on that to draw him into action. I win easily from there.

In g2 I think he managed to Natural Order for a Craterhoof with 4 creatures in play, sacrificing one of them and being able to attack with two of them plus the hoof, but I could Stoneforge in a Batterskull to survive the attack and untap, play and equip Jitte to win from there. I also got Linvala, Keeper of Silence into play at some point.

Results: 2-0(?) in games, 1-0 in matches
MVP's: Leovold, Stoneforge with Batterskull and Jitte


--- R2, Zombardment with Vengevines
Tight games. I think I have all the tools needed to make this an ok matchup: lots of tutorable enchantment removal for Goblin Bombardment, tutorable graveyard removal (GSZ + Fuana Shaman -> Sc.Ooze + Deathrite, sb Leyline) and good combat options.

In g1 he played 3 Deathrites and not much more, maybe a bolt. The opponent commented on how the deck usually plays out differently. It was an easy win.

In g2 he gets out some creatures (Vengevine, Bloodghast and Gravecrawler) and I struggle for mana with a Vial ticking up, I think he was bombarding my creatures. I finally get an Ooze into play for some graveyard control but he's been hitting me for several turns so I have to chump block with the Ooze after eating two Zombies and die to the next turn's attack.

In g3 I think I had kept a 6 card hand with land, Vial and GSZ for Arbor. He attacks with Vengevine and some Zombies for some turns and I quickly drop low on life. I draw into Izzet Staticaster and can GSZ for Scryb Ranger which meant taking care of 2 Bloodghasts and 2 Gravecrawlers but I think a Vengevine got through and he could finish me with a bolt.

Results: 1-2 in games, 1-1 in matches
MVP: Izzet Staticaster, Scavenging Ooze, Leyline of the Void (if I'd drawn it)


--- R3, BU Reanimator
Guess what, I probably shouldn't have removed the second Leyline of the Void from the board today.

In g1 I think he opened with t1 Careful Study, dazed my t1 Aether Vial and then reanimated Griselbrand during his t2. That game finished quickly.

G2 starts promising with I believe t1 Karakas into Vial with Deathrite, Fauna Shaman, and maybe an Invasive Surgery in my hand. Really nice interaction. He uses collective Brutality to destroy my t2 Deathrite and making me discard the counterspell. Next turn he proceeds to reanimate Archfiend of Ifnir which means his Careful Study sweeps my board. I get a bit disappointed about the turnout of events and take three hits from his Archfiend. Things turn around when I tick Vial up to three counters and draw a Merieke ri Berit. It is vialled in at eot and he lacks instant speed discard so Merieke gets to steal the show.

I have no idea what happened in g3.. Probably FoW was involved.

Results: 2-1 in games, 2-1 in matches
MVP's: Merieke ri Berit, Leyline of the Void (if I'd drawn it), FoW and Invasive Surgery


--- R4, RG Lands: 2-1
Did I mention that I shouldn't have removed the second Leyline of the Void from the sideboard?

In g1 I think he mulliganed to 5, got a starting hand with Mox Diamond, Thespian's Stage and Loam probably, Gambled for Depths and won from there. I wasn't able to put up much resistance, or maybe this was the game where I used Knight to tutor for Karakas and bounced Marit Lage once and then died after he'd dealt with the Karakas.

In g2 I open with t1 Mother of Runes and he with Tabernacle. Fun times! I refuse to use a dice to remind me of the Tabernacle triggers and somehow succeed, perhaps because I was keeping track of ticking up two Vials that I got to ply. I proceed to play a Leovold on t4, while he dredges Loam a few times and assembles Depths + Stage. On my turn 5 I play a timely Scryb Ranger which with the Mother of Runes around gets protection from black and can then block Marit Lage. I get to GSZ for Scavenging Ooze and get Loam out of the graveyard, but he assembles threshold and uses Barbarian Ring to destroy my Mother. At that point I'm at 21 life from Ooze eating creatures and his Grove of the Burnwillows so I can take a hit from Marit Lage, furthermore I have the Scryb Ranger for chumpblocking. I think I had to take a hit from Marit and dropped to 1 life, and during a turn or two he could have topdecked a burn spell for the win. Anyway I get an active Fauna Shaman [can start feeding ooze to gain life] and tutor for Meren to provide me with more potential blockers (potentially returning a chump blocking Scryb Ranger from the graveyard every turn and recasting it with flash or vial to block again) and I also draw into a second Scryb Ranger just in case. I eventually win this game.

In g3 we are short on time. I have Knight of the Reliquary out in one of the games and tutored for Karakas to bounce Marit Lage, so in g3 he was worried for Wasteland and thus went for Marit Lage during his turn. This allowed me to conveniently steal it by tapping Fauna Shaman, tutoring for and playing Gilded Drake (otherwise I might perhaps have been able to tutor for Scryb Ranger, flash it in to block and then go for Gilded Drake next turn). He had the Drake for chumpblocking though and I untapped with an active Marit Lage during turn 5 of time. I tapped Fauna Shaman to tutor for Mirror Entity, cast it and had two mana to turn all my creatures into 2/2-creatures which just barely dealt the last 8 points of damage.

Results: 2-1 in games, 3-1 in matches
MVP's: Gilded Drake, Knight of the Reliquary with Karakas, Mother of Runes with Scryb Ranger, Scavenging Ooze


With this event I'm now 27-10-1 in matches since October last year, which includes trying a lot of different things and having quite a few lucky wins.

Hi everybody!
after a few months spent playing other decks I've decided to bring Most at the side event legacy at the Nebraska's war in Lucca (Italy)
here you can see the list I played:

// Deck: Most Vial (61)

// Lands
1 Bayou
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Forest
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Savannah
1 Taiga
3 Tropical Island
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills

// Creatures
1 Atraxa, Praetors' Voice
3 Birds of Paradise
1 Eternal Witness
4 Fauna Shaman
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
4 Meddling Mage
1 Merieke Ri Berit
3 Mother of Runes
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Peacekeeper
1 Phage the Untouchable
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Quirion Ranger
1 Sanctum Prelate
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Spell Queller
1 Tradewind Rider
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Volrath's Shapeshifter

// Spells
4 Force of Will
2 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Æther Vial

// Sideboard
SB: 2 Abrupt Decay
SB: 1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
SB: 1 Garruk Relentless
SB: 1 Izzet Staticaster
SB: 1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
SB: 1 Magus of the Moon
SB: 1 Orzhov Pontiff
SB: 2 Rest in Peace
SB: 1 Rhox War Monk
SB: 1 Spell Pierce
SB: 1 Spellskite
SB: 2 Swan Song

At the start 116 players are enrolled, so we will play 7 swiss rounds + Top8, and here a very short recap of my tournament:

R1: Miracle
luckily for me, my opponent is the first time he plays miracle, plus he does not know my deck, this has made both matches a lot easier with aether Vial for Meddling mage (called terminus) and Sanctum Prelate (for 1).
In game 2 a beatdown with spellqueller and Leovol (supported by Garruk) helped to close the game quickly

Results: 2-0 in games, 1-0 in matches

R2: Abzan Maverick
This match up is quite difficult, we play similar cards but his cards are stronger (Stoneforge for Jitte is our death)
In game 1 he play Stoneforge and take Sword of F/I so I play Phyrexian Revoker name Sword but he had in hand also the Jitte (This mistake cost me the game)
In game 2 a recursion of wasteland with Ramunap Excavator it slowed me enough time to allow him to assemble too much advantage on the board.

Results: 0-2 in games, 1-1 in matches

R3: Sneak & Show
finally a positive matchup (unless it closes in turn 1 or 2). With force of will, meddling mage, sanctum prelate, glen, vendilion and spell queller I'm always happy to find some combo decks :-)
I won G1 in 3 minutes, 1 force of will on the first Show and Tell and 2 meddling mage named Show and Tell and Sneak Attack.
In game 2 I'll take a mulligan to 6 but I have anyway I slow hand, I always keep a blue open mana for 3 turns hoping that the opponent plays around counter, he luckily did so and gives me time to load vial and permanently lock it with Vendilion and Merieke.

Results: 2-0 in games, 2-1 in matches

R4: Burn
this is a "combo" where games are always played sipping each resource and every life point is essential.
In game 1 I reach to play Atraxa on turn 3 and on turn 4 I start to gain enought life.
Game 2 he does 21 damage to me on his turn 4 (my turn 3).
in game 3 with scryb ranger, I only have 1 non-basic land in the field in order to make his Price of progress useless, and with force of will I counter his last firesblast remaining at 2 life points but he has no more lands and cards in hand. I can win in the next two turns, before he draws another land.

Results: 2-1 in games, 3-1 in matches

R5: Grixis Delver
Even here all the games are very tight, the real difference makes it by Aether Vial.
G1 was a friction match up, decided when the second vial played was able to get to 4 counters for Atraxa.
G2 very fast decided by two shamans and two delver protected by daze
G3 he has a really strong hand at some point the situation is the following, I: ooze and 1 savanna in play and only 1 card in hand (peacekeeper) him: 2 shamans in play with two lands and two cards in hand; at this point when the next turn I draw atraxa I think I've already lost.... instead he does not draw anything for 4/5 turns and I draw all in a row! :-)

Results: 2-1 in games, 4-1 in matches

R6: Grixis Control
Kolaghan's Command is the best card that can do against us and generally they play 3 copies... so you have to try to stem the problem with meddling mage and in any case always have the answer ready for the eventuality toxic deluge.
In G1 he start putting few pressure with only 2 strix but a deluge manages to solve and brings me to a disadvantage, several turns later he will kill me with shaman's strokes.
G2 and G3 are very similar: vial on turn 1, rest in peace on turn 2 and elspeth on turn 4 let me win quickly.

Results: 2-1 in games, 5-1 in matches

At this point I think I can draw and be automatically in top8, but the luck that until then has assisted me decides to abandon me, and I get matched against a player with fewer points, and then forced to play, and the matchup is orrible for me...

R7: Jund
just too many threats to manage with our little intelligent creatures.... confidant, lightning bolt, brutality, Kolaghan's Command, dreadbore, fatal push, tarmogoyf, liliana, grim flayer and.... PUNISHING FIRE!
it was nice as long as it lasted.

Results: 0-2 in games, 5-2 in matches

I close anyway in top16 so at the end not bad either

It's really nice to see your post and in particular report, thanks! I have a few questions.

How was the combo working for you, Shapeshifter + Phage? I never tried it but think it seems clunky and that the creatures are kind of useless one by one. [edit: Shapeshifter could be useful if it wasn't for Deathrite's meta presence, also most Deathrite decks, or the top ones, play plenty of cantrips and seem to always end up with more Deathrites than I play answers to Deathrite].

You are playing 2 less lands and 1 more alternative mana sources (creatures, Vials, GSZ) than I usually play (16+11 vs 14+12), this may mean you are more vulnerable to sweepers and Wastelands. You didn't have any particular problems with this? Seems risky to me, already need to mulligan for lands every now and then.

I long ago skipped Quirion Ranger in favor of the second Scryb Ranger, was Quirion Ranger ever better than Scryb Ranger for you?

I tend to see Tradewind Rider and Peacekeeper as cards that slow down the game too much and still don't necessarily help you winning (of course they can be game winners but this is my current perspective), you had no such problems? They were working out for you? [Edit: I may need to explain my basic thinking, which follows from playing. With the printing of TNN I don't like Tradewinder, it just barely tipped him out of my preference. If the opponent can play a t3 TNN and beat us down ignoring us I'd rather have a four drop that races TNN. I guess Peacekeeper helps with that, but hiding behind both cards slow games down a lot, getting draws, and exposes us further to sweepers by forcing us to commit heavily to the board while still not necessarily getting us closer to a win. I feel like Shaman of the Great Hunt is a more proactive card in this situation, he brings card advantage in case of a stand off and races almost anything and as a bonus protects the team against sweepers such as Golgari Charm the same turn he comes into play, also great Planeswalker killer, such a fantastic all in one card. If playing Peacekeeper and Tradewind I would hedge vs TNN with an Orzhov Pontiff or more lifegain.].

...

Btw I've played MOST twice this autumn and got my first result worse than X-X in a year, unfortunately, when going 1-3 (FoW-ing Jitte in one game and he plays is second two turns later, argh). I've been preparing a post but it's less fun to post when not doing particularly well. I was trying without Mother of Runes, trying a more red-based list since I wanted some more spells that could interact with Deathrite or combo, such as Kolaghan's Command, Izzet Charm, Dimir Charm. Also trying Goblin Welder and Baleful Strix, and Scarab God which is really juicy for this deck, not sure he can take Meren's place in the list but getting 4/4 copies of any of the utility creatures in the deck is a real treat and he is also blue which is great for FoW AND has the bonus of returning himself to the hand if dying. Too much fun, I may need to get back to a more basic bant version.

Scrab-God seems very spicy, but its ability goes under DRS-> So it's a no-go, for me.

What i think could be very interesting is Kolaghan Command in this deck =)
@Pettdan: mind sharing your list?

@Memories:
Yes, Deathrite prevents any end game graveyard fun, but I tried to get around that in this list. Anyway, Vialing in Scarab God EOT in response to Deathrite activation gives one extra body (using SG's effect) and I think that already is immense value. I think most creatures in the deck will be pretty impressive as 4/4 creatures.. And if they tap Deathrite during their main phase you get to use the Scarab God effect twice. The scry-/damage-effect is btw pretty impressive with a Mirror Entity in play. I also like Scarab God's interaction with Necrotic Ooze. They destroy your Ooze? Fine, put in Scarab God and use him to create a copy of the Ooze. They then destroy your Scarab God? Fine, use the Ooze to create a copy of the Scarab God. Or of course, just let God return to your hand and Vial him in again. Well, too much fun it seems..

Here is the list you requested, or one iteration of it. I've been testing a lot, back and forth, so this is hugely work in progress with the counterspells, charms, no Mothers, etc. I had started writing a tournament report for it, went 3-1 so not too bad. Then I had a 1-3 the week after, I may add that list and brief comments too if I find them. So with this I think I'm like 31-14-1 since October 2016 in local league tournaments with this deck and numerous different variations (I had a remarkable start last autumn, not sure what in the meta made it so ripe to Fauna Shaman).

From 171018 going 3-1 in the local weekly event:

Matchups:
Round 1: ANT
G1: This guy sometimes plays ANT, sometimes Maverick and sometimes other things. I have a starting hand g1 with 2 FoW's, a dual and no other mana creatures. I mulligan it away and he wins t1 through Ad Nauseam with no Probe or Discard. That FoW hand would have done it (I rarely play FoW, maybe that's why he went for it).
G2 he discards my Leovold and Spellstutter Sprite, goes for Ad Nauseam and never gets a LED to empty his hand for Infernal to find a win condition. It was close though, he could go Past in Flames and play three discard spells from the graveyard to discard his own hand but would still end up with 1 card in hand. Qasali beat him down.
G3: Win this one somehow.
Results: 2-1 in games this round, 1-0 in matches.

Round 2: BU Reanimator
G1: He wins somehow.
G2 and G3: I get a t0 Leyline of the Void both games which slows him down. In one of the games I had both Merieke and Gilded Drake in hand for any Show and Tell attempts.
Results: 2-1 in games this round, 2-0 in matches.

Round 3: BUG Delver with hymns and dazes
G1: He wastes, dazes, hymns and pushes stuff and starts going to town with Goyf and a Deathrite. Somehow I manage to turn it around.
G2: I think he wins quickly.
G3: I'm super annoyed that nothing gets through his Dazes, FoW's, Hymns etc but I have a Deathrite and a Scryb Ranger. He has Deathrite, plays Goyf and start attacking, expecting to win in a couple of turns. I get Shaman of the Great Hunt into play and realize that with double Deathrite activations thanks to Scryb Ranger I'm actually racing him. I win in 2-3 turns.
Results: 2-1 in games this round, 3-0 in matches

Round 4: RUG Delver
G1: I mulligan a weak starting hand and settle for a hand with two BoP's and two lands. Get double-bolted out of BoP's, Wasted and Stifled, don't draw a land for about 10 turns while he doesn't draw action, out of frustration I forget to FoW his Stifle once I do draw a fetchland. With all the mana acceleration and Vials this can be an ok matchup (or actually, I've since writing this tested a Stifle+Push+Wasteland matchup a couple of games and lost like 1-4 so this may need some work, getting Mother of Runes back into the deck may be enough), winning the dice roll is valuable though.
G2: I forgot most of this, but he played Izzet Staticaster with a single target I think and Ancient Grudge which probably got a Vial. I lost somehow.
Results: 0-2 in games in this round, 3-1 in matches

List:

Counterspells:
1 Unified Will
1 Dimir Charm
3 Force of Will

Non-creatures spells for the fair matchups:
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull

Creatures for the fair matchups:
1 Qasali Pridemage
2 Baleful Strix
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Merieke Ri Berit
2 Izzet Staticaster
1 Necrotic Ooze
1 Shaman of the Great Hunt

Creatures for the unfair matchups (and fair):
1 Patron Wizard
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Glen Elendra Archmage

Core of the deck, in some sense:
1 Dryad Arbor
3 Birds of Paradise
2 Deathrite Shaman
2 Scryb Ranger
4 Fauna Shaman
1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
3 Aether Vial
3 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Sylvan Library

Lands:
3 Tropical Island
2 Bayou
1 Savannah
1 Taiga
7 Fetches, fetching forests
2 Forests

Sideboard (unfortunately I was unsure when writing this down, pardon the odd comments [edit: the +/- show changes for the next event]):
2 Leyline of the Void
2 Meddling Mage
1 Gilded Drake
1 Force of Will (-1)
1 Invasive Surgery
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
0 Gaddock Teeg (+1)
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Absolute Law
2 Aura Shards
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Selfless Squire (-1)
1 Phyrexian Revoker?
0 Abrupt Decay?

Quick comments:
Necrotic Ooze - never drew or needed it
Patron Wizard - never drew or needed it
Shaman of the Great Hunt: amazing [edit: slight exaggeration, it's my pet-card]

Edit: I think Unified Will, Dimir Charm, Patron Wizard, Izzet Staticaster no 2, and one or both Baleful Strix could go, maybe Necrotic Ooze too. Qasali should be upped to two, 3 Mothers put back in, and the rest is up for testing. But this would be bad for the blue count. I wanted to play Goblin Welder, Krenko, Mob Boss and Grenzo, Dungeon Warden in this list, so that's part of the reason why Batterskull and Strix is in there. Welding Batterskull is pretty nice, brings back a good body and lifegainer while ignoring Deathrite Shaman.

I've tried Grenzo a lot. Really a lot, and as said before it's one of my greatest regret, but i don't think it can work =/
Welder, with 4 Vial and 4 Strix, could work maybe.

I try to answer the questions of all (also those that memories made me in private)

-the combo with Shapeshifter + Phage is played only because are both my pet card, so in only a challenge with myself, no other reason, if you wanna play a more competitive deck I suggest to change those 2 cards with 1 more mother/shaman and 1 more tradewind (or another blue card to maintain 18 blue cards)

-I am almost 5 years (or maybe more) playing with this conformation of 14 lands + Dryad Arbor with 12 possible starter (in the past was 4 Bop 4 Hierarch and 4 Zenith) and now 3 Bop 3 hierarch 4 vial and 2 zenith.
this deck desperately needs to make one of these 12 cards in the first turn, and Deathrite Shaman should not be considered in those 12 cards because as you previous written there are a lot of Shaman in this meta, so it's easy that your opponent would start the game with shaman and you can not use the mana produced by shaman and you inevitably stay back. That's why I think it's really important to play a lot of mana dork unlike the list you posted.

-scryb is definitely much stronger than quirion, but playing a few lands (it happens to hold hands with only 1 land) one of the strongest departures I can make, and I often do, is:
T1: land + mana dork
T2: zenith for quirion, use the quirion ability and I've two mana for play fauna shaman, meddling or mother
they are a bit risky, in the first rounds I often go all in because I need to be present on the board, and therefore it is essential to play 4 fow for a protection (as well as against the combo decks)
the style of play changes radically only if I leave with a vial, where I become reactive to proactive as usal.

-filling the battlefield of creatures and having at least 1 untap effect play tradewind often it leads us in a slow but steady situation of advantage, without consider all the tricks we can do with spellqueller, witness, meddling, ecc...
and peacekeeper is essential to stall the board giving us the time necessary to set up a plan, so it's a card that I always want to have a chance to look for, finally we must say that in game 1 is autowinn against elves & show & tell.

however I believe that these substantial differences are dictated by a very different way of setting up the game we have all this to say that I absolutely do not want to say that my list is better or worse than yours :-)

Right now i'm testing this list, starting from Shaden's one

// Lands

// 61 Mazzo
// 4 Artifact
4 Aether Vial

// 33 Creature
1 Dryad Arbor
3 Birds of Paradise
4 Fauna Shaman
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
4 Mother of Runes
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Peacekeeper
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Quirion Ranger
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Scryb Ranger
2 Spell Queller
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Merieke Ri Berit
1 Baleful Strix
1 Renegade Rallier
1 Sanctum Prelate
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Gaddock Teeg

// 4 Instant
4 Brainstorm

// 14 Land
1 Bayou
1 Forest
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Savannah
1 Taiga
2 Tropical Island
2 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills

// 3 Planeswalker
3 Nissa, Steward of Elements

// 3 Sorcery
3 Green Sun's Zenith


// 15 Sideboard
// 2 Creature
SB: 1 Orzhov Pontiff
SB: 1 Rhox War Monk

// 3 Enchantment
SB: 3 Rest in Peace

// 8 Instant
SB: 2 Abrupt Decay
SB: 2 Swan Song
SB: 4 Force of Will

// 2 Planeswalker
SB: 1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
SB: 1 Garruk Relentless


I'm finding Nissa very good, since she's great on t2 (low amount of really aggresive decks) and in lategame too. Third gsz and Gaddock are a concession to Ant, since i've moved Fow to the sideboard (i fear that Force covers a spot where we are weak and it's a necessary evil for us, but not maindeck).

Ok, so I decided to play MOST again in the last yearly local event for me. Kind of inspired by you two posting, and also it was the final tournament [edit: or rather last] of our local legacy league, which I'm already qualified for the finals for - so I might as well play (or keep playing) an interesting deck.

This time I decided to drop the red-black experiment and head back to a more white-based list with Mother of Runes again, also dropping the blue count to 5 and moving FoW to the board. I was having trouble vs removal heavy decks and Umezawa's Jitte, like always, which motivated bringing back Mothers and Decays.

I decided to try a few things this time (like always). A card that recently caught my interest is Wirewood Symbiote, and the other cards followed from that one decision. I like how Wirewood Symbiote lets you... ok, it's a lot actually, I'll list the reasons below:
- It protects key cards such as Fauna Shaman and Leovold, also Deathrite. Note that this also works with changelings (Chameleon Colossus or Mirror Entity)
- Provides a card advantage engine when coupled with a copy of Elvish Visionary [edit: Coiling Oracle being an elf is an upgrade, adds to blue count too] (I failed to add this in the current list though, so it still needs to be tested)
- Brings untap utility like Quirion Ranger and Scryb Ranger, which is an important feature in the deck,
- Provides a recurrable artifact and enchantment removal when coupled with a Reclamation Sage, which can easily be added over a second copy of Qasali Pridemage. You can never have too much artifact removal. [edit: this is probably the main selling point for me, an easily accessible and recurrable artifact removal which makes it also a card advantage engine, without graveyard dependency]
- Provides blocking utility similar to Scryb Ranger + Dryad Arbor, block then return an elf to your hand
- Card advantage surprise element when playing t1 Vial, t2 Fauna Shaman (or Deathrite), vialling in Wirewood Symbiote in response to removal on Fauna Shaman. Similar to how t2 Scryb Ranger in response to opponent's Wasteland brings card advantage. This can of course be done later in the game too but usually you don't want to keep Vial at 1 for longer than neccessary.

So once I decided to try Wirewood Symbiote to provide extra removal, protection and utility, I also decided to try Rofellos and his extra mana to add an Elesh Norn that can win fair matchups. I decided I also wanted a way to cheat Elesh Norn into play, thus adding a Loyal Retainers.

List from 2017-12-20:

Test cards for this version:
Wirewood Symbiote
Reclamation Sage
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Loyal Retainers
Peacekeeper (well, not a new card per se but I didn't play it for a long time. This basically goes for all cards though.)

Maindeck (60):
Non-creature spells for the fair matchups:
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Batterskull

Creatures for the fair matchups:
3 Mother of Runes
1 Wirewood Symbiote
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Merieke Ri Berit
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Loyal Retainers
1 Shaman of the Great Hunt
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Rhox War Monk[updated]

Creatures for the unfair matchups (and fair):
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Peacekeeper
0 Sanctum Prelate(Can't figure out what the 60th card was, maybe Prelate)[updated]
1 Glen Elendra Archmage

Core of the deck, in some sense: (playing GSZ no 4 and Rofellos over Bird no 2)
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Noble Hierarch
2 Deathrite Shaman
1 Quirion Ranger (due to slightly added synergy with Symbiote)
1 Scryb Ranger
4 Fauna Shaman
1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
3 Aether Vial
4 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Sylvan Library

Lands:
3 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
2 Bayou
1 Taiga
6 Fetches, fetching forests
2 Forests

Sideboard:
- for unfair matchups (with some overlap):
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Gilded Drake
2 Meddling Mage [updated]
1 Sanctum Prelate
2 Invasive Surgery
3 Force of Will(with an admittedly very low blue count, late night deck tweaking)
2 Leyline of the Void
- for fair matchups:
0 Pithing Needle [updated]
1 Absolute Law
1 Orzhov Pontiff
0 Aura Shards [updated]
1 Keranos, God of Storms [updated]


R1: Czech Pile
G1: I mulligan to 6 and then open with a Vial. He t1 discards my Wirewood Symbiote using Inquizition of Kozilek, how typical since I was ready to use the Vial+Symbiote opening to protect t2 Fauna Shaman from his removal. Anyway, as the game proceeds I have 3 Fauna Shamans and a Scavenging Ooze Bolted, Pushed and Kolaghan's Commanded away then die. I need a strategy vs attrition heavy decks, other than Meren. More on that topic at the end of the report.
G2: Similar feeling to g1, everything is destroyed at sight. He plays two Forked Bolt too, which doesn't help. I wasn't expecting as much red removal or I would have boarded in Absolute Law.
Results: 0-2 (0-1 in matches)

R2: BUrg Delver
G1: Looks like I have a starting hand with no acceleration. He opens with a Delver, Dazes my 2-drop and then I think I proceed to die to that Delver in a seemingly slow fashion. Feels slightly bad when you have seven turns to interact with a flying creature or land a lifegainer and you fail to do so.
G2: A TNN comes down and kills me very slowly. I played a couple of Mothers and other creatures but I don't think they got active. Probably a mix of counterspells and removal got to me this game, I lack detailed notes but remember getting crushed.
Results: 0-2 (0-2 in matches)

R3: Bant Fauna Shaman control
This guy is sometimes playing a deck inspired by the ones I've been running but more straightforward and in strict bant colours, sometimes with StP, KotR and Wastelands in a Maverick style of build, this time with some planeswalkers and I'm guessing Spell Quellers. I didn't see much more than Mother of Runes, Scryb Ranger and Fauna Shaman.
G1: He gets Mother and Scryb Ranger quickly, then a Fauna Shaman, while I have a slow start with no mother. I expect to die quickly but he doesn't interact with my Fauna Shaman and I get Peacekeeper into play just before I die, then Meren and Loyal Retainers + Elesh Norn. Turns out he drew three consecutive lands with an active Fauna Shaman so couldn't get his answers. He scoops before G2 due to headache.
Results: 1-0 (1-2 in matches)

R4: 4c Breya control (Breya, Etherium Shaper)
G1: I draw exactly what I need without library manipulation. He opens Mox Diamond, Welder and Strixes and Academy Ruins. I had an early Leovold to prevent him from drawing from the Strixes, Scavenging Ooze to prevent any Academy Ruins recursion of removal or Sword of the Meek, I also get Meren + Qasali online for recursion of artifact removal. Even though I draw perfectly I just barely keep him in check and manage to turn the game into a win at like 5 life from Strix beatdown (never drew relevant fliers to block them and couldn't attack into the Strix left on blocking duty). After the game he lets me know that my first Qasali activation getting his Mox Diamond just barely prevented him from getting I think Breya online to start shooting down my creatures.
G2: Don't remember too much, I think I interacted with Thopter+Sword, he had a Breya that shot down a lot of my creatures but I managed to get rid of it.
Results: 2-0 (2-2 in matches)
Comments: Breya is sweet, I think I'll get one in case I want to try a Welder+Strix-version again.

Conclusion:
So my conclusion from this event is to add some more cards with recilience vs removal heavy decks such as Czech Pile. Leovold is fine, Mother of Runes is a game winner if it manages to survive for a turn, Sylvan Library is great unless opposing Leovold lands. I've been waiting for my ordered copies of Shapers' Sanctuary and I think I'll play at least one from now, maybe two for testing purposes.
And regarding Wirewood Symbiote, I didn't use it much and the few times it was in play I had no elf in play. I may try it one more time. Also would like to add a copy of Elvish Visionary.

I decided to list a few cards that could be good vs Czech Pile, and other attrition heavy decks:
River Boa seems pretty fantastic vs Czech pile, low mana investment, easy to find with GSZ, survives most things except for Liliana, the Last Hope, Marsh Casualties and Diabolic Edict when alone on the battlefield. It is also basically unblockable.
Troll Ascetic
Thrun, the Last Troll
Predator Ooze
Chameleon Colossus (would have some synergy with Wirewood Symbiote and Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary)
Bitterblossom
Thopter Spy Network
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Nissa, Steward of Elements
Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
Domri Rade
Strangleroot Geist (I'd probably want to play this with Zameck Guildmage, but to motivate that card I want some more nice interactions like the Murderous Redcap + sacrifice outlet combo)
Geist of Saint Traft
Masticore This old hero should be able to rule the battlefield all by itself. But 2 mana regeneration means it can be targeted at end of turn and then again after opponent untaps, meaning we will have to keep a lot of mana available.
Mirran Crusader
Recruiter of the Guard with Flickerwisp
Sanctum Prelate
[Edit: perhaps Divert or Misdirection.
Coupling Leovold with Karakas may be a strong and flexible approach.
Also I just realized that Concordant Crossroads might be amazing, Mothers entering the battlefield with haste, ready to protect themselves, even Fauna Shaman tapping for a Mother immediately. ]
If I was able to add a couple of this that might improve the matchup significantly. I think Troll Ascetic seems like maximum benefit for minimal investment, being GSZ-able and relatively low costed, the only problem is that for the card to be more than lacklustre vs other decks it needs to provide some synergy, being safe to equip doesn't seem good enough in that aspect. A copy of Bitterblossom could be good in many matchups, but it does pressure the life total and it's not tutorable so it will have limited effect on the matcup. Any thoughts, anyone?

Next version, perhaps:
Maindeck:
-1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite (it was strong but I had some trouble establishing control in the early game)
-1 Loyal Retainers (can't expect to keep Deathrites away reliably)
-1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary (without Elesh Norn this is somewhat excessive)
-1 Green Sun's Zenith
+1 Troll Ascetic
+1 Orzhov Pontiff
+1 Nissa, Steward of Elements
+1 Birds of Paradise

Sideboard:
-1 Absolute Law [updated]
-1 Orzhov Pontiff (moved to maindeck)
+2 Shapers' Sanctuary (let's see how you like this, RUG Delver and Czech Pile!)