I wanted to build an Ally deck since the first time I saw Kazandu Blademaster in Zen, and now WWK spoiler reveals Hara Freeblade, decent 1-drop, and Stoneforge Mystic, who finds the best equips to make Blademaster insane.
Now the juicy part: Mirror Entity is Ally and all allies have +1/+1 counters, wich means they work great together. So now the deck plays Equips andcard that wants as much mana as possible. The first cards that came to mind to power this are
-lands and Mox, so I read through some Angel Stompy threads and took the idea of Aven Mindcensor. In the end I came to this list :
MANA (12)
4 Ancient Tomb
12 Plains
4 Chrome Mox
2 Tithe
1-DROPS (12)
4 Hara Freeblade - Decent 1-drop, the initial 0/1 stats make her very effecrive when you pump her with Entity. Possibly 3 Hara Freeblade/1 Figure of Destiny split
3 Mother of Runes - MVP white creature, maybe I'll try to sneak the 4th one in
4 Swords to Plowshares - Obv.
1 Basilisk Collar - Seems to be absolutely insane with Blademaster or Mother of Runes.
2-DROPS (11)
4 Kazandu Blademaster - The reason to even try to play Allies (IMHO)
3 Stoneforge Mystic - The so much needed card advantage, allows to run less equips and still be able to find one when you need it. Also, uncounterable equips are good.
3 Ethersworn Canonist - Mainly to fight Storm, also hurts some other strategies, but overall the weak link, I'll try different options here...
1 Umezawa's Jitte - Obv., only 1 'cause of Stoneforge Mystic.
3-DROPS (11)
4 Aven Mindcensor - Turn 3 is usually a little late, but with the help of Tombs and Moxes this guy becomes a huge buttheart for opponent
3 Oblivion Ring - Obv.
3 Mirror Entity - Works extremely well with Allies 'cause it's an ally itself and all allies have low initial stats and +1/+1 counters, thus the outcome will be better.
1 Sword of Fire and Ice - Obv., only 1 'cause of Stoneforge Mystic.
4-DROPS (4)
3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant - Obv.
1 Ranger of Eos - Another piece of card advantage, gives 2 Allies or sideboarded Burrentons.
SIDEBOARD (very rough)
4 Thorn of Amethyst - Against Combo and Control
3 Pithing Needle - Against Deed, 40+ Lands.deck and other stuff.
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender - Against red and Dredge
3 Relic of Progenitus - Obv.
1 Retribution of the Meek - Against Tombstalker, Progenitus, Goyf, Dreadnought and Aggro-Loam monsters.
2 Sword of Light and Shadow - If you need more lifelink or if opponent plays onlyremoval (say, UWx Landstill will have 6+ StP/Paths in games 2 and 3 or Eva Green with Smothers, Snuff outs and Vampire Nighthawks)
The deck plays like the agressive builds I saw in Angel Stompy threads (like Digital Devil's build - I took lots of ideas for this deck from his thoughts on Angel Stompy) - tries to lay early creatures (some with build-in disruption), give them some equips and bash for the win, clearing the way with removal/ignore blockers with Flying.
The main difference is that I don't run any Angels. I just feel like they are to much hit or miss cards - sometimes turn 3 Angel wins the game, sometimes they just kill it on sight and I'm far behind 'cause I've put all resources into it.
The Angels were a) big, b) evasive and c) had Lifelink. I tried to spread their abilities on other cards to make the deck less hit or miss:
a) Big: Allies powering each other, Entity wich works great with Allies, Elspeth for better beats
b) Evasive: mainly Elspeth, but also Basilisk Collar gives you kinda evasion (especially if it's on Blademaster)
c) Lifelink: Collar, Jitte, SoLaS from SB and Stoneforge Mystics to find equips.
I'll be thankful to anyone who helps me to improve this deck.
Last edited by eq.firemind; 01-28-2010 at 05:14 AM. Reason: Added links to cards
Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.
Pretty standard manabase, also similar to the one I'm playing atm (except for 2x Flagstones of Trokair and 1x Ancient Den). Nothing to say. Except that it's solid.MANA (12)
4 Ancient Tomb
12 Plains
4 Chrome Mox
2 Tithe
Basilisk Collar is nice, but I wonder why didn't you put in a singleton Mask of Memory. Turn 1 Mystic (via Mox) fetching for Mask, turn 2 equip and attack makes it a nice card advantage engine, available since the beginning of the game.1-DROPS (12)
4 Hara Freeblade - Descent 1-drop, the initial 0/1 stats make her very effecrive when you pump her with Entity
3 Mother of Runes - MVP white creature, maybe I'll try to sneak the 4th one in
4 Swords to Plowshares - Obv.
1 Basilisk Collar - Seems to be absolutely insane with Blademaster or Mother of Runes.
I like the mono Jitte idea, because weenies are not easily encountered. Imagining this is the standard 2 drops-base, only tailored to fit the Ally theme, I have nothing bad to say.2-DROPS (11)
4 Kazandu Blademaster - The reason to even try to play Allies (IMHO)
3 Stoneforge Mystic - The so much needed card advantage, allows to run less equips and still be able to find one when you need it. Also, uncounterable equips are good.
3 Ethersworn Canonist - Mainly to fight Storm, also hurts some other strategies, but overall the weak link, I'll try different options here...
1 Umezawa's Jitte - Obv., only 1 'cause of Stoneforge Mystic.
Looks like a pretty good decklist: with a third Ring to deal with blockers you shouldn't have problems.3-DROPS (11)
4 Aven Mindcensor - Turn 3 is usually a little late, but with the help of Tombs and Moxes this guy becomes a huge buttheart for opponent
3 Oblivion Ring - Obv.
3 Mirror Entity - Works extremely well with Allies 'cause it's an ally itself and all allies have low initial stats and +1/+1 counters, thus the outcome will be better.
1 Sword of Fire and Ice - Obv., only 1 'cause of Stoneforge Mystic.
I'd drop 1x Elspeth for another Ranger. +2 is a nice thing.4-DROPS (4)
3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant - Obv.
1 Ranger of Eos - Another piece of card advantage, gives 2 Allies or sideboarded Burrentons.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The build looks smooth and reactive, although I find Collar to be useless. The lifegain seems irrelevant (you have Jitte which does it better and can also machinegun creatures); Deathtouch is cool, but there's a reason people don't play Thornweald Archer. You already have Rings/Swords to deal with blockers. I'm only suggesting a singleton Mask of Memory because it's fast and few decks tend to play creatures on turn 1 (besides Nacatl/Cursecatcher/Lackey, but then you're not attacking except against Merfolk, maybe), making it a nice way to improve your card quality (just like Ponder/Brainstorm to adjust your hand). I don't see any Serra Avenger at all, but seeing that I'm probably removing them from my build when Mystic is going to be released, I don't have nothing to complain.
0.05.14 [Digital Devil] <Digital Devil> Ach! Hans, run! It's the Tarmogoyf!
0.05.17 [Hans (GER)] <Hans (GER)> ...
0.05.20 [<System>] <System> Player Lost
Well, I don't run Cataclysm/E-Tutor/Geddon, so just Plains...Originally Posted by Digital Devil
I just want to try something new. If Collar will be bad, I'll try Scepter's Shroud. If both fail, I'll go back to Mask.
Well, Elspeth herself is Angelic Blessing each turn (i.e. card advantage), but I'll try more Rangers...
One thing I like about Elspeth is evasion, Ranger can't do that.
Thanks.
Yeah, I wanted to fit her in, but looks like there's just no space...
Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.
Where are the allies??? Only 11 of them in your deck. Definitely not enough.
Join the ranks
Talus Paladin
But playing ally in monoW prevents you from playing Jwari Shapeshifter which is absolutely awesome. Other colours worth trying allies:
Agadeem Occultist
Harabaz Druid
Kazuul Warlord
Sea Gate Loremaster
I'd play more a deck like this:
Mana: (25)
6 fetches
2 Plains
1 Island
4 tundras
4 wastelands
4 ports
4 Vials
1-DROPS (9)
4 HaDa Freeblade - Descent 1-drop, the initial 0/1 stats make her very effecrive when you pump her with Entity.
1 Basilisk Collar - Seems to be absolutely insane with Blademaster or Mother of Runes.
4 Brainstorm
2-DROPS (19)
4 Kazandu Blademaster - The reason to even try to play Allies (IMHO)
4 Stoneforge Mystic - The so much needed card advantage, allows to run less equips and still be able to find one when you need it. Also, uncounterable equips are good.
4 Jwari Shapeshifter (cool with mirror entity making Ranger of Eos an ally)
2 Shapesharer (cool with vial and +1/+1s)
1 Umezawa's Jitte - Obv., only 1 'cause of Stoneforge Mystic.
4 Daze
3-DROPS (5)
3 Mirror Entity - Works extremely well with Allies 'cause it's an ally itself and all allies have low initial stats and +1/+1 counters, thus the outcome will be better.
1 Sword of Fire and Ice - Obv., only 1 'cause of Stoneforge Mystic.
1 Sword of Light and Shadow - Obv., only 1 'cause of Stoneforge Mystic.
4-DROPS (2)
2 Ranger of Eos
Well, I called the thread White Ally 'cause I wanted to develop mono-white aggro with Ally subtheme.
I just took the Allies I think are the best, took an already decent deck, checked if the guys fit in the deck and mix 'em.
I don't think so. She's good only when you have Blademaster or some bigger Allies in play. But Allies with cmc>3 are all bad ('cause a card with cmc 4 should do something huge without other cards... Like Elspeth, for example). Mirror Entity and Hada Freeblade are bad targets to copy...
Last edited by eq.firemind; 01-27-2010 at 05:10 AM.
Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.
With mirror entity, you'll make Jwar also the copy of a non ally creature (Stoneforger or Ranger). And being a copy of Hada is not that awful. If you have a strong ally theme, Hada is really a great card.
That needs 3 cards and 2-3 mana to activate Entity ('cause you want to attack after the trick).
Ofcourse the outcome of this trick is nice, but IMHO this will happen too rare to be taken into consideration...
Also, looks dangerously cool.
Well, I don't want strong Ally theme... And even if I did, why not just play more 'real' allies instead of Jwari Shapeshifter?
I mean, at the beginning of the game you have only Freeblade to copy... then it's overcosted Freeblade. And as the game goes on, I guess it's better to curve out and cast more powerfull allies instead of copying the lesser ones. And when you have lots of dudes, you a) win, b) walk into mass removal. In both cases, Jwari Shapeshifter is unneeded/bad.
Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.
They swords your only creautre in response to Jwari Shapeshifter.
Jwari dies.
Seems like Jwari might just end up in hand too often.
With vial it might happen more often. It can also copy Shapesharer that has copied another non-ally creature. Tricks all over the place. Dangerously cool OK, but I would give it a try.
But I understand your point, Freeblade and Blademaster are good on their own and get stronger as long as the game goes on when others allies happen to come into play.
Vial/daze/manadenial are good to avoid this. Maybe not enough.
Why not splash it with Green instead?
Then add some Vials. Kabira Evangel is a good white ally as well.
I am convinced that WotC is "dumbing" the game because of all the stupid posts they come across on MTG-related forums
Not to put too fine a point on it, but I'm struggling to work out how ally tribal is ever going to be able to outperform Goblins or Slivers without some explosive additions. Without the tribal interactions, your deck is likely to go ally-less relatively quickly.
That said:
The allies you like look like they're mostly low-cc, so Vial is probably a better fit than 2-mana lands.
Allies are a tiny tribe. You'll want to splash some color to get more +1/+1 token generator options. Agadeem Occultist's ability seems like it could be very strong in a format that's rife with 2 cc beasts like Tarmogoyf and Bob, blue and green are also plausible pairings.
Allies (for now) just aren't going to win with being pure aggro. They're going to be outclassed by nearly every other type you can imagine. So I decided to put them into an UW aggro-control shell:
Creatures(18):
4 Hada Freeblade
4 Kandazu Blademaster
4 Umara Raptor
3 Jwari Shapeshifter
3 Kabira Evangelist
Artifacts(4):
4 Aether Vial
Instants(15):
4 Force of Will
3 Daze
4 Brainstorm
4 Swords to Plowshares
Lands(23):
4 Wasteland
4 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Windswept Heath
1 Arid Mesa
4 Tundra
4 Island
4 Plains
Just some crazy idea I came up with. I'm dropping the equipment/changeling shenanigans idea for a mild counter/draw/removal package. Let me elaborate a few choices:
18 creatures, allies only: Seriously, the biggest asset of allies is their ability to grow to dangerous proportions with the help of eachother. they're basically their own lord. Also Kabira Evangelist + Aethervial = win.
4 AEther Vials: Hur. Growing your allies at instant speed (or giving them protection no less) is good I heard.
Instant package: You're running enough blue cards to run FoW. BS to create some sort of engine and Daze to deal with early, must answer theats. Oh an StP is always nice.
Land base: Plenty of fetches to guarantee maximum use of BS. You're only bi-colored so you can afford to run Wasteland to punish other multi-color decks.
Comments? Could this work?
I see a distinct lakc of Peel From Reality and/or AEther Tradewinds in that UW Ally deck.
The cool part is how a "White Ally" thread has suddenly become athread, just like other "White" threads. There's no reason to just not play Nogoyf instead, if you're running blue duals. Of course it doesn't mean "if you have Tundras there is only one deck you should play", it means "if the thread's title is *White* Ally, why are we bothering splashing a color?". Am I the only one who sees Parallax Wave as a good 4 drop? It helps equipped creatures connect, and Wave + Mystic also make you get an additional equipment piece.
0.05.14 [Digital Devil] <Digital Devil> Ach! Hans, run! It's the Tarmogoyf!
0.05.17 [Hans (GER)] <Hans (GER)> ...
0.05.20 [<System>] <System> Player Lost
The next part is "If you play blue, why not play Force of Will?", followed by "Add green for some Tarmos adn K-Grips"The cool part is how a "White Ally" thread has suddenly become a
I have an idea for
I tested it a little.
Elspeth lets your equipped dudes fly, produces new equip carriers (if needed). My main argument for Elspeth is the +3 punch power. Ofcourse I'd like to have both cards, but you can play only a number of double-
I guess Elspeth is better if you need more things to fight control and Wave is good to wreck aggro/tribal.
The possible change from my list in op could be -1 O-Ring, -1 Elspeth, +2 Parallax Wave. I'll try it a little more
Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.
Let's remain on topic then. MonoW!
Now, I'm not sure about quite a lot of your choices. Not meaning I'm sure they don't fit neither. Random ideas. Each point is independent from the others. Applying all of them would not make any sense. They all propose a direct change from the list in the OP. Do what you want with them.
1/ The stompy mana base. I guess you copied somehow the Angel Stompy mana base, but I don't see why. If you play with basic plains, you might be able to play awesome WW creatures that are awesome equipment wearer. Serra Avenger and Silver Knight for instance.
2/ All the non-ally creature slots are questionnable actually except for Stoneforger Mystic which has to be a 4-of.
3/ Spectral Procession is combo with equipment. I would not play less than 4 of these.
4/ What do you think of Humility as a surprise guest of the deck? Good with allies, Elspeth and equipements. Probably not MD but awesome in SB.
5/ I would play more equipments MD 1 SoLaS for sure and maybe also Mask of Memory and/or Fireshrieker. Even Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang would deserve a try.
6/ What are the ORings for?
7/ With such an equippement toolbox, is STP required? If it is, wouldn't Path to Exile be better?
8/ Cataclysm looks great, even if it's not combo with Elspeth (Cataclysm does not destroy and kills all Planeswalkers). You might prefer armageddon in this deck though.
Yes, it's Angel Stompy manabase. Tombs are for Mindcensor/Elspeth/Wave/Ranger/Entity and for faster equipment.
And check Kazandu Blademaster. When alone, he is right in between Silver Knight and Serra Avenger. When powered with other allies, he becomes better than both.
Time will show how good is Mystic. Full 4 may be the right call.
I want to stick with AS manabase, so thriple
Parallax Wave is plain better in this deck.
I guess 3 equips+3 Stoneforge Mystics are enough.
Umm... RFG target nonland permanent...
With Aven Mindcensor's help, Path can be better than StP in this deck. Good Point.
I don't feel good about >5 4-costed cards in this deck and I like my Elspeths. I'll try 2 Flagstones in MD and 2-3 Geddons in sideboard.
Thanks for ideas!
Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before. He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way.
I know that. Just notice that him being better does not invalidate playing more of cards in this theme.
You don't need WWW to play Spectral Procession (omg this bbcode is neat).I want to stick with AS manabase, so thriple
I'm not sure at all.About Humility
Parallax Wave is plain better in this deck.
That's your call. Test it. I don't have the same intuition.I guess 3 equips+3 Stoneforge Mystics are enough.
And what for?Umm... RFG target nonland permanent...
I guess it depends on how many slots you want to dedicate to equipments. Lately, I've been playtesting with 3x Stoneforge Mystic proxies and a 1-1-1 equipment split (Jitte/SoFaI/Mask), and I decided to cut Serra Avenger. Is it reasonable?
I'm afraid playing lots of 1x will make you sometimes draw the wrong equipment, and it will look like those Survival builds with the only 4x being Survival itself (and maybe lands). I guess some piece of equipment can fit the toolbox theme, but if it does, then it should be SB. Sword of Light and Shadow, maybe some uncastable Tatsumasa or Unscythe. Zilla's 2-2-2 SoFaI/Jitte/Mask split was pretty good, because effectively it granted 4x equipment slots for removal, and 4x for card draw (since Sword does both). Now we have Stoneforge Mystic. If we pack 3 Mystics, going down to 1-1-1 is acceptable. You still have to be worry about drawing the wrong piece of equipment in a critical situation, but a 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1 deck with all-purpose equipments is toorisky to play.
They're in to help winning the game.
Nice idea. Aven Mindcensor kinda stops Path to Exile's drawback, although STP doesn't need him in order to be good. I guess it could somehow deserve 2-3 slots, but Oblivion Ring still doesn't give life, and hits other permanents, too.
0.05.14 [Digital Devil] <Digital Devil> Ach! Hans, run! It's the Tarmogoyf!
0.05.17 [Hans (GER)] <Hans (GER)> ...
0.05.20 [<System>] <System> Player Lost
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