Trade Pod (Tradewind Rider Birthing Pod)

[pettdan]

I've had some more evolution and innovation of the deck. I have played a few locals with medium results, may add details since it interests at least myself. ;)


In the direction of Wirewood Symbiote I found a new sweet highly synergetic card that helps shore up the deck's natural weaknesses. Perhaps. To some extent, at the very least. Thornscape Battlemage. I'll let that sink in. Play this card, pay one extra mana to destroy Jitte, Chalice, Baleful Strix, Trinisphere, Aether Vial or whatever is bothering you. Alternatively, or additionaly, pay a mana to destroy a Deathrite, another Strix, a Mother, Delver, hit a planeswalker, whatever... With Wirewood Symbiote around you get to do this repeatedly. Bouncing Elvish Visionary seems ridiculous in comparison. Oh well.. What I especially like about it is that it a) gets rid of Deathrites, that prevent the inevitable late game engine of Meren of Clan Nel Toth (well, at least it feels like that when playing it); b) it gets rid of the ever game-ending Umezawa's Jitte; c) it's a sweet card advantage engine that does a lot vs Pile, potentially. Well, we'll see.

Another thing I tried is changing a Fauna Shaman into a Recruiter of the Guard. The idea is that you get some amount of tutoring that the opponent can't interact with, with Vials around you can play it efficiently, i.e. play the tutored card during the same turn or even flash it in (Notion Thief ftw, Clique is good too). And then you get a free 1/1 which is good vs the super attrition deck Pile, the main reason for this change. To accompany Recruiter I added a Flickerwisp, since you basically now get a 1/1 and a flying 3/1 for free while also gaining the potential for sweet tricks with tapping Fauna Shaman and vialling Flickerwisp into play to deal with anything at instant spead.

So, I played that once and it was nice. Then I realized another natural evolution. Like I mentioned a few posts ago I always, and I think most MOST players do, look for a 2-card combo to put into the deck without losing too much synergy. A card that quickly turns into a combo with Recruiter of the Guard is... Aluren. So I changed 2 Fauna Shaman into 2 Recruiter of the Guard, put in a Cavern Harpy and with cards such as Baleful Strix and Coiling Oracle you can put out 10 permanents at instant spead, including tutoring for and playing hatebears that interact with the opponent's plans. I have a kind of combo-esque win too but I'm figuring out other options. Orzhov Pontif being replayed with Cavern Harpy quickly clears the opponents board or works as a Hatred on your entire team to win the game the same turn. I added also an Academy Rector so I can tutor for Aluren when needed. The problem is having the Academy Rector go to the graveyard when needed, and getting rid of opposing Deathrites, but this is work in progress.. Adding a Minister of Pain would be nice due to the exploit.

I went 2-1-1 (LGS weekly event) in practice with an Aluren build, but gave the draw to the opponent since it was a new guy and neither of us would benefit from a draw. I did win a couple of games, at least two, due to the single Aluren, and was close to win a third but couldn't draw the fourth mana source.

Oh well, more to come.. I'll probably add a brief tournament report to this post later.