Thanks for the reports.
What did you think about the green sun zenith's?
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Thanks for the reports.
What did you think about the green sun zenith's?
I think it's a fantastic inclusion. I very much prefer the proactive nature of playing GSZ over Thoughtseize.Quote:
Originally Posted by Moneymakermich
However, in a combo heavy meta, I missed the higher density of early disruption.
So for this event, I think Thoughtseize would have been better. Once the meta adjusts to the Reanimator crap
(by increasing Deathblades, Delvers, and Miracles, GSZ in this deck will shine).
so... silly idea that might not be terrible: smuggler's copter.
i've been playing BUG aluren with 2 cranes and 1 jitte maindeck (over the 3rd ponder) to have crane be a little better precombo. what if you go one step further and up the artifact count with smuggler's copter? this card only really came on my radar bc of the recent standard ban, but you almost always have a random idiot around to make a 3/3 flying that loots. i slotted in 2 to test it out (over 4th force of will and 4th harpy, which is almost certainly too many copters but want to draw it and see). is this just super dumb? thoughts?
No idea but interested in your test results. I think that if you play the blue version you should already have enough draw. If the goal is to add artifact I would rather play an extra jitte.Quote:
Originally Posted by kaluma
I liked having access to 4 Veteran Explorers, 4 Leovold, 3 Eternal Witness, and 3 Rec Sage. GSZ for all of those targets happened over the weekend, and were stellar every time. This deck can make a lot of mana with Explorer - having GSZ around for utility was awesome.Quote:
Originally Posted by Moneymakermich
I did some testing with Smuggler's Thopter, and I think the card is good in the grindy creature matchups, but otherwise slow. Card might be too slow for Legacy.Quote:
Originally Posted by kaluma
I feel like we should be looking at that new Xantid artifact thing from the new set. Seems good for timewalking against combo, and for ignoring counterspells the turn we cast Aluren.
Yes! Also may warrant Trinket Mage inclusion for more board utility.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cartesian
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Hum... Question.. why should we want to play Hope of Ghirapur over the classic Xantid Swarm? :) what am I missing here...? :-DQuote:
Originally Posted by Cartesian
It can be found off Crane, for one.Quote:
Originally Posted by comix84
That's a good point, I haven't played the BUG version yet (playing the white splash one for the moment) and my mind still doesn't think about that card!Quote:
Originally Posted by Whitefaces
Also, it can beat down :-)Quote:
Originally Posted by Whitefaces
That's a common way of winning with Aluren, beating with small dudes + DRS activations...
so after a number of games here are my thoughts on Copter. I like it. Maybe it's the way i like to play the deck as a grindy creature deck first with combo as a backup plan in most matchups (not the ones where you just need to race). Turning your summoning sick guys or generally weak idiots into a credible flying threat is good, having a legit flying blocker is strong against delvers even if it just trades, and being able to threaten planeswalkers is a big plus as BUG decks generally struggle against them. The looting is also very good when you really need to dig. Anecdotally, crane seems to miss less often and i even pick up copter over things like shardless on occasion. it is also less mana intensive than jitte in an already mana hungry deck. copter also seems to be a lightning rod for bolt/plow/decay, which tells me that it's probably pretty good :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Cartesian
downsides - can force you to overextend a little bit into instant speed terminus. needs another creature to do anything (same as jitte here). it's another grindy card in a deck full of grindy cards, but that's not nec the worst thing. i slotted in 2 of them over ponder #3 and parasitic strix #2 moving my maindeck jitte to the board.
not sure what you want that xantid artifact guy against. are you trying to protect your own combo? i'd rather bring in removal and carpet of flowers against delver, and grindy cards against miracles.
oh another thing - i've shaved a fetchland for a 5th basic land: 2 island, 2 forest, 1 swamp. It's great to be able to ignore wasteland against delver and loam which are abundant on MTGO right now. most people seem to be going the other way on basics though..
using the bug version of the deck (here is the list i am using https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/540537#online) its cartesian latest list
How do I beat miracles? i am 1-5 vs that deck. Thats not where i want to be vs one of the best decks in legacy. Am i boarding wrong?
any help would be appreciated i want to play aluren in the challenge this weekend and need to figure out how to beat that matchup.
here is my take on miracles matchup: pace your threats to apply pressure without leaving you dead to a terminus. usually ~2 cantipping guys is good. save force and decays for their important cards, not their removal spells. the important ones are (1) jace, (2) mentor/ entreat, (3) counterbalance. sometimes you don't even need to worry about counterbalance. I usually don't try to jam the combo unless I need to or have a clear opening.Quote:
Originally Posted by neckfire
the way I would board with that list is add carpet of flowers, needle, decay, kgrip, and plague if you see mentors. in my lists i have a thoughtseize or two i like to bring in also, as well as a miser surgical extraction. the cards i like to cut are 1 land, 2-3 alurens, 1 harpy, 2-3 deathrite shaman. post board you don't need to land aluren to gain a big mana advantage if you have carpets. strategy remains largely the same, except you have less threats that just get swept away without generating value (deathrite) and some better answers to their cards.
matchup should be favorable i think, but there are some miracles draws that are very hard to beat. GL!
has anyone thought about updating the primer for the deck? its been so long. there are a few guys in here who are really knowledgeable about the deck and would help newbies to it.
Played for the first time last night and I had an absolute blast with this deck. The whole time I was playing I felt like the combo was my Plan B, but most of my wins were due to the combo.
0-2 Shardless BUG (I couldn't keep up!)
2-0 UR Delver
1-1 D&T (long games)
2-0 BUG Lands Control aka Dr. Evil
Ended up with this board state against D&T when he had Pithing Needle on Cavern Harpy, and I wasted my last Abrupt Decay on a Jitte (if the picture link doesn't work then I will find somewhere to host it).
https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...b1&oe=58D65315
I was always boarding out my Force Of Wills, but I also played only fair decks. The card I typically liked seeing the least was Ponder, so I'm not sure if I'll keep that in there. It's clear many of you are having success with it in the BUG lists but I feel like I may switch to discard. I also may go up to 4 Cavern Harpy from the 3 I ran last night, as the utility of it was wonderful even without Aluren in play, such as blanking a Jitte or Batterskull attack.
If you're not happy with force of will and ponder, maybe you should try the other version using recruiters and cabal therapy ;-)
It wasn't that I wasn't happy with FOW, it's that I just happened to not need it against the four decks I played. The Ponder was probably the only card I wasn't happy to see.
I leaned towards the BUG version over Recruiter primarily for the better mana base (I have a Wasteland heavy meta), and last night had no issues regarding color screw by fetching all basics first. However, I really love the redundancy of having multiple combo pieces - digging with Shardless Agent, Baleful Strix, and Brainstorm was fine to get the creatures I needed and the only issue I had last night was digging for Abrupt Decay, which Recruiter wouldn't find anyways. Also, Leovold is fun :smile:
I may try Cabal Therapy next time over Ponder, or even toss FOW in the sideboard as the default.
I made some tests with collective brutality in place of my 2 maindeck thoughtseize
Against creature decks it's very good : being able to kill deathrite shaman / white creatures / elves / delvers + sometimes extra discard against counters is good.
But against other decks it's weak and/or slow. So maybe it's more of a sideboard card ?
Now I would like to test gitaxian probe in that slots.
It looks good to know if the way if free to combo + great interaction with cabal therapy.
I've never seen the card in decklists playing recruiters/therapy version, has anyone tested that ?