[Deck] Death and Taxes

[Barook]

@redtwister: Good post.

While all the tutor targets are fine and dandy, I do wonder if Eldrazi Displacer doesn't become even better now, despite being not tutorable:

1) Potentially a higher number of Cavern and thus, more colorless mana sources.
2) Better quality targets - now we not only have SFM for CA, but also Recruiter. Also resetting Prelate and Revoker on the fly, if necessary, or disabling a permanent with Flickerwisp.
3) Fantastic card in the mirror.
4) Combines with the now tutorable Containment Priest post-board for the creature nuke combo

I think 1-2 copies should be tested in a Recruiter list, even with the limited slots we have.

[drunkenboat]

@Iatee : that's true. Thus, I see two main options :
- A non "curve" game with lot of drop 3. The list should countain at least 3 chrome mox. Why not 1/2 tomb ?
- A "curve" game. No chrome mox or tomb. So you have to maintain a good curve because you won't always get a Vial in opening hand. It means all 2 drop we have played before conspiracy 2 have to be remained. Could mean too play 3/4 other 1 CCM Creatures plus mom like judge and/or Kytheon.

Concerning the issue of drawing a mox in middle or late game : yes it's terrific. In the same time drawing a Vial or a mom after turn 4 is not always good for us...

[Fry]

I've been thinking on the mana acceleration thing and I still really like the Imperial Recruiter, I've been playing the full set of them and have loved every minute of it. I'm thinking of going to a 2-3 split Guard-Imperial and keeping my 3 main board Magus of the Moon, I just think they're too powerful to not abuse.

With the red of Imperial I am thinking of trying out perhaps 1 Chrome Mox and 2-3 Simian Spirit Guides, they aren't dead later on as they wield equipment well and Dread of Night does nothing to them. It's a 1 shot accel, but it can also shock an opponent who plays Daze when you suddenly keep your Magus is you don't have Cavern, or stick turn 1 Vial on the draw.

I'm going to be testing it out on Tuesday (my only weekly Magic night, sadly), and I'm going to work on a revised list for that time. I'm thinking off the top of my head that I will try 2-3 Prelates and have 2 Thalia HC. I've since dropped from my 3 SFM to 2 over the past couple weeks and haven't had any issues with it with my 4 Imperials.

[redtwister]

I'm not worried about it, we have 160 cards left to spoil, I am sure one of them is this (probably basis for the art?):
Shaman Spirit Guide
1W, 2/2
Human Spirit
Exile Shaman Spirit Guide from your hand: Add {W} to your mana pool.

[Barook]

Grab your Burger King crowns, folks!





I know, I know, 4 mana sucks. But then again, it's another removal spell that is tutorable with Recruiter and can be made uncounterable with Cavern on Humans. If they can't damage you in a reasonable timeframe, you draw a crapton of cards. The most important part is that it works very well with Flickerwisp, as the leave trigger doesn't return the creature when Palace Jailer leaves the battlefield. But all of them come back if you lose your monarch token.

Could easily be a SB card, if not MD material, depending how strong it turns out.

Edit: Also yet another card that synergizes extremely well with Displacer.

[LegacyIsAnEternalFormat]

Grab your Burger King crowns, folks!





I know, I know, 4 mana sucks. But then again, it's another removal spell that is tutorable with Recruiter and can be made uncounterable with Cavern on Humans. If they can't damage you in a reasonable timeframe, you draw a crapton of cards. The most important part is that it works very well with Flickerwisp, as the leave trigger doesn't return the creature when Palace Jailer leaves the battlefield. But all of them come back if you lose your monarch token.

Could easily be a SB card, if not MD material, depending how strong it turns out.

Edit: Also yet another card that synergizes extremely well with Displacer.

So you could get this killed and not have the exiled creature come back for the rest of the game?

[Zombie]

So you could get this killed and not have the exiled creature come back for the rest of the game?

If they don't hit you, yes.

[LegacyIsAnEternalFormat]

If they don't hit you, yes.

Actually, what I wanted to know is that if this dies,whether or not there is no way for opponent to get his exiled creature back, because I thought the "exile this creature until you aren't the monarch anymore" ability only lasted as long as this is in play, but apparently not.

[Barook]

In Magical Christmasland, you can play this T4 (of Cavern, of course ), exile a creature, then Vial in Flickerwisp, exile another creature and then draw a card EoT. That's +3 CA right of the bat, and +1 CA for every other turn you stay the Monarch.

That's actually insane when you think about it, as it isn't as Magical Christmasland as you'd think.

[TheRabbler]

I wonder if Palace Jailer could take the place of Banisher Priest when it's run alongside Chrome Mox; it would more than make up for the card advantage lost from Mox and it provides an actual blocker if we're behind. At the very least it seems like a reasonable sideboard option for when we need to actually draw cards in a matchup.

Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk

[iatee]

Banisher Priest is for creature heavy match-ups. This is actually bad in creature heavy matchups because you can just end up tossing them a Howling Mine if you fall behind. You really want the monarch effect against something like Miracles, but you don't care about the Fiend Hunter effect in that matchup. So it's an awkward fit. I don't think this is super far from being playable but is probably a little too high variance. If there's a 3 mana monarch creature in white, it's going to have a lot of potential.

[Jon]

I played and won a small monthly at a local shop. Here is my list.

4x Mother of Runes
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3x Phyrexian Revoker
3x Stoneforge Mystic
2x Serra Avenger
1x Jotun Grunt
1x Mangara of Corondor
2x Thalia, Heratic Cathar
4x Flickerwisp
2x Eldrazi Displacer
1x Umezawas Jitte
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Batterskull
4x Aether Vial
4x Swords to Plowshares
9x Plains
4x Wasteland
4x Rishadan Port
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Mishras Factory
1x Ghost Quarter
3x Karakas
SB:
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2x Pithing Needle
1x Oblivion Ring
1x Cataclysm
1x Crackdown
1x Fiendhunter
2x Rest in Peace
1x PTE
2x Ethersworn Cannonist
1x Containment Priest
1x Seal of Cleansing
1x Blessed Alliance

I will do a real write up after I wake up from the nightmare I am in where Diaz just lost to McGregor.

[monovfox]

What is blessed alliance doing in your sideboard?!

Wait, it's just strictly better celestial flare. Makes sense

[snorlaxcom]

I will do a real write up after I wake up from the nightmare I am in where Diaz just lost to McGregor.

total bs

[klaus]

I've tested Chrome Mox in a myriad of archetypes over the years, and especially wanted to make it work in UG/WB/UB/UBW/UGBW Fish. Why? Because two-drops such as Bob, SFM, SCM, Strix etc. immediately make up for its card disadvantage. And guess what: Chrome Mox never ever really delivered, despite the fact that each deck featured cantrips to filter them away after the early game!
Now with D&T we're talking zero filtering and, while it still looks nice on paper, I guarantee the idea will be dropped altogether soon.

Hierarch is our best bet, if we're geared to support more three-drops. I'm aware that'd warp the archetype a tad, but I guess our new toys have already done that indirectly.

Here's a draft off the top of my head:


4 Cavern of Souls
4 Savannah
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Plains
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
3 Karakas
(-21-)

3 Noble Hierarch (can be cast off 9 mana sources and Vial)
3 Mother of Runes
2 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Recruiter of the Guard
2 Flickerwisp
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2 Sanctum Prelate
1 Mangara of Corondor
1 Banisher Priest
1 Mirran Crusader

4 Swords to Plowshares

4 Aether Vial
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte


SB:
3 Rest In Peace
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Leonin Relic-Warder / Pridemage
1 Sanctum Prelate
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Veteran Armorer
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Containment Priest
1 Faerie Macabre
2 Choke
1 Gaddock Teeg

-

I'm aware we give up a stable mana base that way, but with Hierarch and Vial, I'm happy for other decks to sling their Wastelands.

[LMental]

Hey all,

Longtime reader, infrequent poster. Just did a little write-up about my expectations from Conspiracy 2, especially concerning Death & Taxes. Nothing revolutionary or too different from what I've seen here, but perhaps an accurate summation of what people have been saying? Let me know what you all think!

https://fetchlandformats.wordpress.c...now-be-tier-1/

Thanks,
Ian

[JamesFlipside]

I played and won a small monthly at a local shop. Here is my list.

4x Mother of Runes
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3x Phyrexian Revoker
3x Stoneforge Mystic
2x Serra Avenger
1x Jotun Grunt
1x Mangara of Corondor
2x Thalia, Heratic Cathar
4x Flickerwisp
2x Eldrazi Displacer
1x Umezawas Jitte
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Batterskull
4x Aether Vial
4x Swords to Plowshares
9x Plains
4x Wasteland
4x Rishadan Port
1x Cavern of Souls
1x Mishras Factory
1x Ghost Quarter
3x Karakas
SB:
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2x Pithing Needle
1x Oblivion Ring
1x Cataclysm
1x Crackdown
1x Fiendhunter
2x Rest in Peace
1x PTE
2x Ethersworn Cannonist
1x Containment Priest
1x Seal of Cleansing
1x Blessed Alliance

I will do a real write up after I wake up from the nightmare I am in where Diaz just lost to McGregor.

Dude, kudos on the Jotun Grunt... Never considered that but seems to make total sense!

[LMental]

@Jon - I'd considered Jotun Grunt in the past, but kinda felt like it wasn't great to have a threat that sticks around for a few turns at most. How did he perform?

[JamesFlipside]

Hello all,
"Long time listener, first time caller"
Only been playing magic for the past 18 months after a long break... I was playing standard, they printed JaceTMS... Lets just say i kinda rage quit
Aaaanyway.
Pretty new to D&T after a while playing Miracles variants as a way to get my head round the format and back into the game generally.

Thought id post my amateur opinion after a good six hour play testing session yesterday.
This was my list (no SB, was testing main deck and i really struggle with SB anyway... just never quite know what to include and how to swap)

4 Mother
3 Thalia GoT
4 Stoneforge
2 Revoker
1 Canonist
4 Flickerwisp
2 Mirran
3 Recruiter OTG
2 Prelate
1 Thalia HC
-
4 STP
4 AEther V
1 Jitte
1 Batterskull
1 Sword F&I
-
4 Port
4 Waste
3 Karakas
3 Cavern
9 Plains

My feelings in no particular order.
I felt like we need four Thalia GoT and in retrospect the idea of exchanging for Canonist is just wrong due to inconsistency.
Revoker count felt too low, yes i could recruiter for them when needed but against delver etc i feel like i just wanted them in hand by T2/T3 to stop deathrite.
My general feelings about Recruiter and Prelate:
Prelate is an absolute bomb and often is just T3 i win.
Recruiter is pretty underwhelming in application without a vial on 3. Yes in an idea world you just always have a vial on 3 but i had a lot of games where vial gets forced and i'm in a corner where i need to hard cast Recruiter.
Hard cast its a three mana 1/1 do nothing. Still an amazing card but i think i just had the numbers too high.
The old list works so well that it doesn't need cantrips or filtering and messing with the main deck too much i think screws this up.

I really agree with an earlier poster who eluded to the fact that we now need to chose our game plan before building a list.
With this in mind these are the revisions i made this morning with a jug of coffee and a few **** (that's cigarettes in English, it wasn't "that sort of morning")

4 Mother
4 Thalia GoT
4 Stoneforge
4 Flickerwisp
3 Revoker
2 Recruiter OtG
2 Prelate
2 Thalia HC
1 Mirran
-
4 STP
4 AEther Vial
1 Jitte
1 Sword of F&I
1 Batterskull
-
4 Port
4 Waste
3 Cavern
3 Karakas
9 Plains

My idea is a human tax direction more than an aggro/stompy style.
The human archetype gives the caverns so much consistency and changing the core as little as possible i think will generally maintain the decks original consistency anyway.
I wont get a chance to play test this properly until next weekend most likely and in the meantime ill be looking at a SB plan.
Between Caverns and Vials Magus of the Moon seems easy as well as potentially Meddling Mage and possibly many others.

What I know i'll struggle with now is selecting the utility creatures to bring in from board.
Might sling a third copy of Recruiter in SB for matchups that go a little longer and require consistent answers to specific threats/cards.

Also, random thought...
Anyone got any experience with Sword of Light and Shadow? Just wondering if the option to recycle recruiter targets might be nice.
Though admittedly if I'm connecting with an equipped creature i should be winning anyway...
Just a though.

Look forward to your insights and go easy... I'm a noob

[MasterBlaster]

@JamesFlipSide, I like your list. The changes I would make for myself are -1 SFM, -1 Prelate, +1 Mirran, and +1 Mangara. But I don't know if that would be any better.