M.O.S.T. - Merieke, Opposition, (Survival), Tradewind Rider

[pettdan]

I started a new Youtube-channel to upload recorded games, and here's the first video of me playtesting WUBG MOST/Vial on MTGO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqSqrmZKZk4

The above list was with [edit: nope, it wasn't a WURG list as I first recorded, this was a WUBG list:
WUBG version with Lagrella, Leovold/Hullbreacher/Bowmasters, Ephemerate-Spellseeker-Witness and a Passageway Seer. I tried to build to have relevance against Up the Beanstalk decks with extra card drawing-hate and an initiative creature to help with the control matchup.]

The purpose of this right now is to run some tests of different lists to evaluate which colors and which threats and answers seem most promising at the moment. Edit: oh and the purpose of recording this is just to show people who are curious how the deck and different versions play out, how synergies work, and enabling it as a source for further discussion for anyone who is curious about exploring creature-centric control and midrange decks, typically using Aether Vial (but I don't think it's actually central to the archetype) and historically starting with green which had the best creature tutors.

I will be improving the quality as I evaluate some details of this process. This was recorded without proper camera and microphone, around midnight so it's dark and I'm a bit tired. Also, the laptop lags a lot when I record games, so at times my clicks aren't registered by the client. The first upload took 2 hours, then Youtube told me the file was discarded because I hadn't validated my account. For the second upload, I converted the file to make the upload in 15 minutes instead, which probably influenced the quality negatively.

Note that these test games are usually against inexperienced opponents. Or people trying out some new decks. But I think that will do for testing, for now.

Edit:
Uploaded another video then shared the list with a nice player (huntinggjornersen on MTGO, idontknow/abgshb on discord) who just 5-0d with it so here it is: https://www.mtgo.com/decklist/legacy...2024-01-127779
Many other edits too, I keep calling Hullbreacher Hushbringer instead, but it was Hullbreacher I included to fight the card draw from Beanstalk decks.
If someone wants to try the list, here are some md flex slots: 1 Loran, 2 Hullbreacher, 1 StP, 1 Leovold, 1 Seer (the initiative creature, I can never remember its name), 1 Wasteland (maybe add 1 Lorien Revealed), 1 Plague Engineer (seems worth, for Goblins, also Welder, Bowmaster), 1 Gaddock

[FTW]

Looking at your comments about Aluren hybrid and the other Aluren thread, a MOST-Aluren shell could be promising. I'm convinced that MOST cannot absorb the variance inherent to Dreadnought decks, but perhaps it could support an Aluren-type combo.


You can easily support the Recruiter of the Guard 1-card combos, e.g.
Recruiter of the Guard -> Niambi, Esteemed Speaker -> Cavern Harpy -> Orcish Bowmasters -> infinite damage, infinite life, amass infinity

Bowmasters also creates token fodder, which could be useful for black tutors like Diabolic Intent or Beseech the Mirror (which can cast Aluren from library).

Example:

//Lands: 19
4 Flooded Strand
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Tropical Island
2 Tundra
2 Underground Sea
1 Savannah
1 Island
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Karakas

//Spells: 18
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Prismatic Ending
3 Living Wish

//Enchantments: 4
4 Aluren

//Planeswalkers: 3
3 Teferi, Time Raveler

//Creatures: 16
4 Delighted Halfling
3 Orcish Bowmasters
1 Cavern Harpy
1 Niambi, Esteemed Speaker
1 Samwise the Stouthearted
1 Meddling Mage
4 Recruiter of the Guard
1 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath

//Sideboard: 15
1 Acererak the Archlich
1 Collector Ouphe
1 Endurance
1 Solitude
1 Containment Priest
1 Sanctum Prelate
1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Loran of the Third Path
1 Skyclave Apparition
1 Plague Engineer
1 Faerie Macabre
2 Carpet of Flowers
2 Deafening Silence


This version is white-heavy for Teferi protection & premium removal vs hate.

Could try to force Jegantha as a companion.

This could also work as 80-card Yorion. Yorion adds a lot of synergy. But it's also harder to find Aluren in 80-cards. Don't know if it's worth it.

Black-heavy version is also possible, using discard and black tutors instead of white removal and Teferi


//Spells: 20
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
3 Thoughtseize
3 Cabal Therapy
3 Diabolic Intent
3 Assassin's Trophy

//Enchantments: 4
4 Aluren

//Creatures: 16
4 Veteran Explorer
4 Orcish Bowmasters
1 Cavern Harpy
1 Niambi, Esteemed Speaker
1 Samwise the Stouthearted
4 Recruiter of the Guard
1 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath

//Lands: 20
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Polluted Delta
2 Tropical Island
2 Underground Sea
1 Tundra
2 Island
2 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Phyrexian Tower


Does this still count as MOST? It's creature-based and uses creature tutors, ramp creatures, and a singleton toolbox. However it also looks more like generic fair Legacy.

[pettdan]

I'm quite tired after travelling and was thinking of trying to test something new with the all access token tonight. So I won't go into the deck list now. But I was curious to dig up my old Aluren lists and link in the primer, and below.

Here's an old Aluren list. This is from before I dropped Fauna Shaman, but had started using Recruiter of the Guard. There are still many manadorks and they are pretty good for ramping into Aluren. But I would go much lighter on them today, for a more stable manabase.

https://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/...=1#post1064397

I'm convinced that MOST cannot absorb the variance inherent to Dreadnought decks, but perhaps it could support an Aluren-type combo.

Did you check Vicka's lists that are linked in the primer, as I suggested? They run Dreadnought as a 1 of, I think that doesn't influence variance much. But running 4 of Dreadnought and 4 of Hushbringer, that might be a bit difficult, I mean - obviously it is

By the way, I saw a 4 Uro + 2 Dreadnought + 3 Dress Down + 2-3 Stifle list today, not sure about the DD/Stifle numbers. I think it was in the last Legacy Challenge or some other MTGO tournament or possibly in the 5-0 deckdump.

Does this still count as MOST? It's creature-based and uses creature tutors, ramp creatures, and a singleton toolbox. However it also looks more like generic fair Legacy.

I think it's close to MOST, it's obviously not Vial but I would consider this more of an Aluren deck and a Nic Fit deck. Nic Fit since it plays the Nic Fit synergy pair of Therapy + Veteran. Aluren since the deck seems to focus on finding and enabling Aluren, with plenty of discard and cantrips to support it and with an limited alternative gameplan. But with the tutors and a few one ofs to tutor for, it certainly approaches and/or overlaps with MOST-territory.

[FTW]

Yeah, there are many viable blue Dreadnought decks. I've also made Dreadnought + Hushbringer work in mono W (Urza's Saga, Oswald Fiddlebender, artifact aggro). I was just curious if it could work in MOST, but it seems not, at least not beyond a 1-of package.

What would make Aluren more of a MOST hybrid? If it dropped some spells and ran more creature tutors and alternate wins outside of the Aluren combo?

I think Vial does not make sense with Aluren since Aluren achieves a similar effect and Vial does not ramp out Aluren. Delighted Halfling or Abundant Growth seem good. Halfling ramps to Aluren and makes Teferi uncounterable (Teferi is important to protect the combo).

Recruiter is the best creature tutor since it is also a 1-card combo with Aluren, so it would make sense to build the toolbox around 4-of Recruiter.

After that, what would the next natural tutor be? Fauna Shaman does get all the relevant pieces but seems slow for Legacy (1GG, T, pass the turn vs 2W to get a creature in hand). Zenith doesn't find enough relevant cards. OUaT would be good. Maybe Fiend Artisan?

Living Wish is an elegant fit as the 2nd tutor. It works as an Aluren combo piece (find 1-card win like Acererak or Recruiter), it finds a toolbox card, or it can find a fair wincon. It means you start preboarded vs combo.

Edit maybe this GBwu pile:

//Creatures: 23
4 Delighted Halfling
4 Orcish Bowmasters
2 Fiend Artisan
1 Cavern Harpy
1 Niambi, Esteemed Speaker
1 Samwise the Stouthearted
1 Grand Abolisher
3 Recruiter of the Guard
2 Endurance
1 Lagrella, the Magpie
1 Grist, the Hunger Tide
1 Academy Rector

//Planeswalkers: 2
2 Teferi, Time Raveler

//Enchantments: 10
4 Abundant Growth
3 Aluren
3 Leyline Binding

//Spells: 8
3 Brainstorm
3 Living Wish
2 Once Upon A Time

//Lands: 18
4 Misty Rainforest
3 Prismatic Vista
2 Bayou
2 Savannah
2 Tropical Island
2 Forest
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp

//Sideboard: 15
1 Recruiter of the Guard
1 Solitude
1 Endurance
1 Containment Priest
1 Plague Engineer
1 Collector Ouphe
1 Loran of the Third Path
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Leovold, Emissary of Trest
1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
2 Carpet of Flowers
2 Deafening Silence


Lategame Fiend Artisan can 1-card combo with any creature fodder if allowed to untap twice
4GT, sac random creature: Academy Rector
Untap, 3GT, sac Rector: put Aluren & Recruiter of the Guard both uncounterably into play to start the combo chain

Although Aluren is the main plan, Living Wish & sideboarding accessing many toolbox tools and fair wincons.

[pettdan]

Yeah, there are many viable blue Dreadnought decks. I've also made Dreadnought + Hushbringer work in mono W (Urza's Saga, Oswald Fiddlebender, artifact aggro). I was just curious if it could work in MOST, but it seems not, at least not beyond a 1-of package.

I'd like to keep the hope alive that there's a version with Hushbringer where you have some synergies like Uro and Dreadnought but also a good gameplan to grind a bit when there's no Hushbringer. And if Hushbringer is really well positioned, this pays off. And right now, it seems like Hushbringer is really good against Goblins and Initiative, which I hear are popular decks online. Maybe a bant Maverick deck with mana denial, knights and such, also Uro. I know, it's difficult, sure is

What would make Aluren more of a MOST hybrid? If it dropped some spells and ran more creature tutors and alternate wins outside of the Aluren combo?

I've just taken my regular list and added Harpy and 2 Aluren. The Aluren is a surprising late-game (or possible even t3 with ramp) surprise combo that's hard to interact with outside of counterspells. Edit: I think my point here is that each copy of Aluren takes one slot away from utility in some lists, while adding a potential combo win. There's not a whole lot of adjustments needed, but I try to trim down copies of cards that don't have synergy, while adding some that do. And I'm so curious to play with Cavern Harpy again, I think it might be good enough to earn a slot even without Aluren, because it's a 2 mana self-bounce effect, providing lots of card advantage opportunities, it can also block Murktide, for example, every turn, while bouncing other creatures for card advantage. And opponent can't destroy it with removal, they have to discard or counter it. If you have Vial, they basically can't touch this value engine, unless they catch you with some discard and Vial tapped.

Recruiter is the best creature tutor since it is also a 1-card combo with Aluren, so it would make sense to build the toolbox around 4-of I think Vial does not make sense with Aluren since Aluren achieves a similar effect and Vial does not ramp out Aluren. Delighted Halfling or Abundant Growth seem good. Halfling ramps to Aluren and makes Teferi uncounterable (Teferi is important to protect the combo).

I think Aluren is very similar to Vial so rather consider it to be Vial 5-6, for example. Similar to Vial, it lets you flash in any creature. Now unfortunately, it stops at 3, while vial goes to 5+, often for Yorion, Solitude, perhaps Fury. While Aluren gives multiple, even infinite use and enables combo win. Vial enables the same combo, but only once per turn. So, I wouldn't say it's a problem that Vial doesn't cast Aluren, it plays the same role of Aluren. I may need to polish that argument or view.

Recruiter is the best creature tutor since it is also a 1-card combo with Aluren, so it would make sense to build the toolbox around 4-of Recruiter.

After that, what would the next natural tutor be? Fauna Shaman does get all the relevant pieces but seems slow for Legacy (1GG, T, pass the turn vs 2W to get a creature in hand). Zenith doesn't find enough relevant cards. OUaT would be good. Maybe Fiend Artisan?

Living Wish is an elegant fit as the 2nd tutor. It works as an Aluren combo piece (find 1-card win like Acererak or Recruiter), it finds a toolbox card, or it can find a fair wincon. It means you start preboarded vs combo.

Not sure more than 4 Recruiters are needed. In a Yorion list, it's nice to have some Imperial Recruiters as well, I think. Artisan doesn't seem good with Vial or Aluren, they enable casting from hand, but it's ok to test.
Edit: Living Wish, along with other wishes, are always interesting options to try, but it tends to be slow. Otoh, there's Vial to compensate for the lost tempo, in some games. My intuitive first and best target for Living Wish is Karakas, because it's such a great tool for generating card advantage, utility and protecting resources. So it may be worth it to run 2 copies just to be able to have more reliable access to Karakas, a card we don't want to draw multiples (I mean, say 2 md Karakas and 1 sideboard to Wish for seems ok, while I don't like putting 3 Karakas into a 4c deck). Acererak or Recruiter could also be decent targets there, maybe some Fury/Solitude, maybe Tishana's Tidebinder. Maybe Haywire Mite, Faerie Maccabre.

Didn't check the list carefully yet, but I was happy to realize that Lagrella works wonderfully with Cavern Harpy, allowing you to flicker any creature multiple times regardless of colors.

[pettdan]

I played a game with a Beanstalk version yesterday: https://youtu.be/3bu_mc_NlK8?si=wiiC8OoO_WlMi4bj

Quality may have been a bit worse, I have a better camera now but increased the volume a bit too much, I believe. Will try to find my microphone later.

That game was against Cloudpost, which I remember having felt like the most difficult matchup in the past. Basically, we have a slow clock and usually I don't run more than say 1 Wasteland. I sometimes run Magus of the Moon, even sometimes adding it in the 5th color with no land to cast it from (relying on Birds of Paradise, or nowadays Abundant Growth, or Vial to cast it). However, this was a WURG version so no reason not to play it, except for having sold it recently. Anyway, even with Magus in play it can be difficult to win, if they hit 4GG they get primeval titan and then they are close to casting giant eldrazi.

Well, anyway, the Beanstalk version naturally plays Leyline Binding which is an answer to both the giant Eldrazi and the One Ring, quite excellent. And since I last remember playing Cloudpost, there's also Solitude so quite many ways to answer Eldrazi. Free access is over now so I'll have to consider if I'm shopping Leyline Bindings or if the experiment is over for this time.

[pettdan]

Huntinggjornersen tried this list yesterday with a 4-1 result in an MTGO league, losing to BUG Beanstalk. Quite interesting to me that a more oldschool Fauna Shaman list can have good results, been thinking about trying something just to get a feeling for how it feels today.

[FTW]

We were discussing viable (not necessarily Vialable) tutors earlier. Does the new card Archmage's Charm (GGG) work here?

The cost is a bit steep, but the modal nature seems very good for a toolbox deck like this. At instant speed, either:
1) Put any creature in hand from library
2) Put any land from library to play tapped
3) +1/+1 counter and Pit Fight
4) Exile artifact or enchantment

It kills Bowmaster (with any creature, even tapped BoP), exiles The One Ring or Kaldra, or tutors for a silver bullet.

The flexibility seems very good in a deck like this.

Otherwise the above shell witb 4 Vial, 4 OUAT, 4 GSZ seems efficient (surprised Fauna still works without Mother of Runes).

[pettdan]

We were discussing viable (not necessarily Vialable) tutors earlier. Does the new card Archmage's Charm (GGG) work here?

The cost is a bit steep, but the modal nature seems very good for a toolbox deck like this. At instant speed, either:
1) Put any creature in hand from library
2) Put any land from library to play tapped
3) +1/+1 counter and Pit Fight
4) Exile artifact or enchantment

It kills Bowmaster (with any creature, even tapped BoP), exiles The One Ring or Kaldra, or tutors for a silver bullet.

The flexibility seems very good in a deck like this.

Otherwise the above shell witb 4 Vial, 4 OUAT, 4 GSZ seems efficient (surprised Fauna still works without Mother of Runes).

I think it's a card to consider, but 3 mana for a tutor is far too much, I think, and GGG is very hard to make in most versions I've played. The exiling disenchant seems to make it pretty good, having an answer to the one ring is pretty good (edit: I mean, it helps deal with a common situation in the format for a deck that wishes to play a long game, which is difficult to do against an active ring), and it's also potential creature removal, it does quite a lot.

I'm actually working on a flash build now, went through all flash cards on gatherer and well this card could work there, if it wasn't for the GGG casting cost. I mean, when you have many flash creatures in your hand, sometimes you may not want to cast any of them at end of opponent's turn, waiting for a better opportunity, and then this card would be quite useful.

[pettdan]

Here's a list of potential flash cards to include in a flash-focused deck:

Alms Collector
Aven Mindcensor
Bonecrusher Giant
Containment Priest
Dualcaster Mage
Elder Deep-Fiend
Errant and Giada
Faerie Mastermind
Harbinger of the Tides
Horned Loch-Whale
Hullbreaker Horror
Hushwing Gryff
Izzet Staticaster
Kyodai, Soul of Kamigawa
Merfolk Trickster
Niambi, Esteemed Speaker
Nimble Obstructionist
Notion Thief
Obscura Interceptor
Pearl Lake Ancient
Restoration Angel
Scryb Ranger
Slitherwisp
Spellqueller
Spellstutter Sprite
Subtlety
Tishana's Tidebinder
Torrential Gearhulk
Vendilion Clique
Werefox Bodyguard
Wildborn Preserver
Vodalian Hexcatcher
Zareth San, the Trickster

Non-creatures with flash:
Leyline Binding
Necromancy
Omen of the Sea
Swift Reconfiguration
The Wandering Emperor
Ward of Lights

Probably will be using these:
Brazen Borrower
Endurance
Ertai Resurrected
Hullbreacher
Ice-Fang Coatl
Opposition Agent
Orcish Bowmasters
Samwise the Stouthearted
Snapcaster Mage
Solitude
Venser, Shaper Savant
Possibly also including Loch-Whale and Niambi

These cards or card types or abilities have good synergy with flash:
Teferi? Perhaps the playstyle fits rather well with flash cards, enabling you to put up blockers or bounce opponents creatures, untap, play Teferi. Not sure.
Ninjutsu: Fallen Shinobi, etc
Adventure cards with an instant adventure
Any instants:
- flame of anor
- kolaghan's command
- siphon insight
- sauron's ransom
- saw in half
- sheoldred's edict
- deadly dispute, village rites
- test of talents
- cling to dust
- drown in the loch
- veil of summer
- ephemerate
- mindbreak trap
- extirpate
- entomb
- shallow grave
- goryo's vengeance
- cunning wish
- fact or fiction
- spell pierce
- flusterstorm
- counterspell

Edit: made a list and played a test game, here: https://youtu.be/f4_Z0flndbY?si=f05lQ2MltnPzGTeK . I think I'll try to record about 2 games per week, or optimally 1 per day.
Edit: I notice the sound is oversaturated, I'll adjust that moving forward. Just started using a microphone I bought for streaming a while back and it seemed to work great when I tested, but apparently not.

[pettdan]

So, here are links to a few test versions I've run recently, more recent ones at the top. Deck lists are recorded. Recording quality is hopefully improving. There's so much to try, it's nice to be playing and being able to record and share games makes it more fun. Note that these are all test games, opponents not always making good choices and I'm also improving. There's a lot of lag on the laptop when recording, unfortunately, so I need to practice patience when clicking fails, which it does about 70% of the time.

9. Abzan Abdel vs 8cast: https://youtu.be/l9tR3bt9GYQ?si=_zSlWJpFZCYwTc3w
8. Abzan Scam vs Lands: https://youtu.be/jlzLEDQsGfA?si=fS40INQlyI1qtfw0

With Bowmasters so popular, it's interesting to see if a version without cantrips can do well. Unfortunately, Bowmasters still kills most of the hatebears in the deck, but I figured they can still be worth running since few other decks do. Or, probably DnT do, but I haven't seen much of them. There was a very succesful Abzan version run by Cermak around 2018-2019, so I'm curious to try that approach, and now I have 4 Wastelands so this is part of what I'm curious about. Grief has added Scam potential to this archetype as well, so that's one avenue worth exploring in Abzan Scam. A challenge here is how to put some card advantage into the list, without triggering opposing Bowmasters.

It's a bit of a shame I got to play against Lands, since that's a good matchup, I believe, for this type of version. It would be more interesting to try some of the matchups that aren't necessarily improved by this change. Otoh, maybe I'm wrong.

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7. WUBG Scryb Ranger vs ANT: https://youtu.be/E3jSKu6Mn1k?si=aZR8QVA1IWQ5hvju
6. WUBG Scryb Ranger vs RUg Delver: https://youtu.be/pRswVo6mVxw

I decided to add some green elements to see if the ramp is worth it. There's not much ramp, just a few manadorks to GSZ for or hardcast.

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5. WUBG Flash vs UB Ninjas: https://youtu.be/dPw9RqnUzng
4. WUBG Flash vs UB Scam: https://youtu.be/f4_Z0flndbY

I feel like the flashspells are so valuable, being able to wait and see what opponent does before interacting is great and it lets you hold up counterspells which can be really good. So I tried to maximize flash spells and instants.

-

3. WURG Beans vs Cloudpost: https://youtu.be/3bu_mc_NlK8

Up the Beanstalk is a great card advantage engine with Yorion synergy, and we have at least Fury, Solitude, FoW and Leyline Binding to make good use of it. Unfortunately, Cloudpost is usually one of the toughest matchups, you can't win quickly against them and their creatures can easily run you over. Leyline was really good here though.

-

2. WUBG vs RUg Delver: https://youtu.be/dafpftan9do
1. WUBG vs RW Painter: https://youtu.be/sqSqrmZKZk4
Well, just a "regular" starting list. These games were recorded without equipment at my mom's place, so a bit worse quality.

[pettdan]

I'm not sure if I've thought about this before (not since the release, I believe) but with the release on MTGO I realized that Toxicrene, we can now play a decent alternative to Magus of the Moon without splashing red. It's a bit expensive to GSZ for though, and if you want to recruiter for it you need red for Imperial Recruiter anyway. 1 more mana is quite important when the card stops Wastelands, but it survives bolt, Punishing Fire and blocks Delver and DRC.

[pettdan]

While thinking about the meta game during the last 10 days or so, I've noticed what seems to me like a glaring weakness of the current metagame. I think it should be very easy to play a version of any fair deck (Nic Fit, MOST/Vial, Maverick) that should have at least a decent win percentage against the most popular aggro, combo and control decks. I suppose the metagame will correct by introducing a deck with some of these elements soon, or maybe I'm missing something obvious. It will be interesting to see, you can't ever predict changes.

So I've been pretty excited to update my deck with a version based on this, waiting to see someone else beat me to it. I did see a deck built pretty much like I was thinking do well in Modern but still none in Legacy. But, nights go long and I have to go to bed and I never managed to decide on a decklist and get a test game in until last night (finishing around 1 pm).

The second section discusses briefly my metagame observation, it's very straightforward and nothing complicated. The first section discusses how I adjusted my list to exploit this weakness -exploit sounds so aggressive, it's just about picking a couple of cards that are well positioned. I didn't discuss all the aspects, I think especially the Goblins matchup probably needs a couple of more cards for a positive matchup (like Plague Engineer and Blue Elemental Blast).

I'd love to play this deck through a league but I don't think I'm able to talk and record while playing efficiently enough so I'd rather record and share.

Here's a new video with a test game from last night using a WUBG version.
https://youtu.be/EQ26-IaZPOs

[pettdan]

I recorded a new test video the other day. This version is WBGu, just a light blue splash for Leovold and Lagrella. Actually the list isn't as good for flickering as lists with more blue in them, especially considering Coatl or Strix, but I figured I'd try Lagrella anyway, it can usually go some good work and just getting an exile effect for opponent's creatures with GSZ can usually be very important.

This list uses Thoughtseize, Tidehollow Sculler and Stoneforge Mystic as some central cards, trying to disrupt the opponent with discard to create a window where equipment can be deployed to either present a fast clock or take control of the board. That perhaps makes it a bit closer to The Rock and Deadguy Ale, although no Wastelands this time.

The matchup was very interactive, playing a testgame vs Wu Taxes/Vial: https://youtu.be/_5YiLTjc70s?si=89WspXIX4X176YDG

[pettdan]

Here Mark Strassman, or Strassdaddy, plays a nice Fiend Artisan combo list: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1okWcpyPOU

The list is made by the Maverick afficionado who goes by the username Karador. Fiend Artisan is pretty much an upgraded Fauna Shaman, one could say, so I think it fits here. It's also relevant because the combo elements are ones that are relevant to consider for the deck. The deck uses Devoted Druid + Swift Reconfiguration to get infinite mana and then some different ways to use that mana (Duskwatch Recruiter for example).

I've been looking at Swift Reconfiguration for the past 6 months or so because I finally picked them up at a good price on MTGO. I was thinking of playing it with Sythis, Harvest's Hand but the main problem I run into is that Devoted Druid looks so bad being a 2 mana ramp creature and very vulnerable to removal. We'll see, this video was inspiring to see.

The coolest card in the deck is perhaps Hazel's Brewmaster. Maybe we can view this as an updated Necrotic Ooze? Well I'm not sure if it's necessarily an upgrade in all aspects, but it does bring a graveyard exiling effect which can be very relevant, and it's lightning bolt safe. Exiling Devoted Druid with it gives you infinite mana (edit: well that is quite an upgrade over Ooze, isn't it?). It's quite similar to Agatha's Soul Cauldron, which is another card I'm eager to try, since a long time, but it plays so well with Ancient Tombs, I haven't figured out how to play it in a MOST list yet.

Last couple of days I'm leaning towards a list with Cauldron, Goblin Engineer, Painter, Pyroblast. Why? Because maindeck pyroblasts are great against Frog and Tamiyo which are the format's premier threats, and they're played in a mix of aggro, combo and even control decks so if you have maindeck pyroblasts that gives you an edge. And as you know pyroblast is also relevant against a large number of combo and control decks, it's just a great strategic advantage to have it in your maindeck. The downside of course is that you need to play Painter's Servant to enable playing maindeck blasts, but Painter is actually a very well positioned card right now against Eldrazi which is another of the most popular decks, it seems. By shutting off many of their lands. I even heard the Everyday Eternal podcast discuss someone playing Painter in the sideboard just for the effect against Eldrazi. So your Blast+Painter synergy hedges you against both Eldrazi and all Frog AND Nadu decks. In addition, Jeskai Control seemed to gain some popularity and Pyroblast is a great answer to Teferi and Narset.

And then, since MOST tends to win slowly, having a combo win is always an interesting alternative. Goblin Engineer helps finding a single Grindstone, and then you can combine Engineer with Cauldron, maybe also add the Alliances combo artifact to exile with Cauldron (I forget the name now, I'll be back to update - Phyrexian Devourer). Then maybe Strix to Weld/Engineer for card advantage and blocking, Vial's for utility and they can be sacrificed to Engineer when they did their job, StP, Imperial Recruiter to find Painter or Engineer or Strix, Phelie for flickering anything for value, maybe Staff of the Storyteller for more value. We'll see, Nadu is more straightforward and it doesn't mix with the Painter package so well.
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My recent testing of MOST/3-/4c vial are different experiments with Nadu. Nadu can be run as a combo element but I've been running it mostly to get value with Karakas and when opponent removes your creatures, when you flicker it with Phelia, and also being a good defensive and offensive creature, blocking Delvers and DRCs, and pitching to FoW and Endurance. It does very much for the deck. At first I had a Shuko or Lightning Greaves in the list, but they weren't so impactful in a list that isn't super dedicated to combo. However, I'm thinking now that maybe I need some more combo focus now that Eldrazi are so aggressive and it's very valuable to be able to close out a game quickly there, even going from a losing board position to winning. So I first added a Nomads En-kor that can be recruitered for, but I'm thinking of trying Sylvan Safekeeper with more GSZ-focus in the list because it protects the combo and is more efficient to tutor for. Also, I've been trying running less Vials, which is perhaps a mistake, but partly because I want more interaction (Frog decks require quick interaction, I think, and probably Eldrazi too), lowering cmcs (which makes Vial less valuable). We'll see.

[FTW]

I like the build because the combo pieces fill diverse roles.

Swift Reconfiguration is a combo piece but also your Swords to Plowshares: 1 cmc removal stopping Psychic Frog, Tamiyo, Eldrazi, Atraxa, Archon, etc.

Devoted Druid has a lot of ways to make it not bad outside the combo:
-NO fodder (T3 Atraxa)
-Grist fodder (T3 Grist through Daze, sac to destroy something)
-Brewmaster combo (T3 Brewmaster -> infinite mana)
-Fiend Artisan fodder (make GG, sac it to get Brewmaster -> infinite mana)

I wonder if the deck wants 1 Archon of Valor's Reach. There were game states where the infinite combo takes 2 more pieces to set up (can only tutor for 1), Atraxa doesn't win, and you'd rather play something that stops opponent from winning next turn than draw cards. I think Atraxa is better in decks with FoW (where it can draw Force/cantrips to protect itself + an extra copy pitches to Force). Here drawing a couple random green cards seems less decisive. You might get lucky and draw Druid + Reconfiguration + Ballista, but then you still need to pass the turn, then cast and resolve everything without protection, so it's a while before those cards convert to value. Other times you might get Mana Dork + land + OUAT. It's a lot worse than Reanimator drawing Force + Psychic Frog + Ponder + Animate Dead and being basically unstoppable.

For Nadu MOST, look at the Nadu Elves builds:
https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=59643&d=647154&f=LE
https://www.mtgtop8.com/archetype?a=1840&meta=34&f=LE

Green-based creature-heavy deck full of 1 cmc manadorks and creature tutors.

[pettdan]

Devoted Druid has a lot of ways to make it not bad outside the combo:
-NO fodder (T3 Atraxa)
-Grist fodder (T3 Grist through Daze, sac to destroy something)
-Brewmaster combo (T3 Brewmaster -> infinite mana)
-Fiend Artisan fodder (make GG, sac it to get Brewmaster -> infinite mana)

I like your point here about making double mana, it helps not only generating mana with Fiend Artisan but also with getting 2GG for Natural order and playing around Daze. I mean the potential for double mana does have extra synergy with the list. I don't usually play Natural Order though, so that's how I evaluate the combo pieces, but it's always a relevant edge to add. I guess it's rather well positioned thanks to Eldrazi being popular, getting Atraxa into play matters a lot.

For Nadu MOST, look at the Nadu Elves builds:
https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=59643&d=647154&f=LE
https://www.mtgtop8.com/archetype?a=1840&meta=34&f=LE

Green-based creature-heavy deck full of 1 cmc manadorks and creature tutors.

Yeah I heard about this deck but haven't looked at lists yet, thanks!