If I can offer a few suggestions.

First would be in regards to your mana producing artifacts.

4x Traveler's Amulet, 3x Darksteel Ingot, 3x Meteorite

Honestly that seems excessive. Especially if you consider how slow meteorite is. Then to consider the high odds of drawing a mana producer late game when you need a threat or an answer. Most green or green/x decks only run 7 to 8 mana producers on average and this is sufficient. If your dead set on running this many, might I suggest replacing Meteorite with Kor Cartographer? You would get a creature and thin the deck of land witch is far more efficient than meteorite. But if you ran the amulets and cartographers only, you would free up room for a few more win conditions.

If you dropped your Volcanic Geysers to 2 from 3 you would be better off as well. It can be considered a win condition. But 2 of would be sufficient.

As an idea:

4x Traveler's Amulet
3-4x Kor Cartographer

2x Volcanic Geyser

This will free, up to 4x slots for more big threats. Charmbreaker Devils or Inferno Titan for example.



Im curious about your removal choices, I see your theme with Guttersnipe. How often do you find yourself in a situation wishing you had more than a burn spell to deal with a threat? I personally am a big fan of bolt of keranos, the scry 1 is very helpful. I do know how important a shock can be for the early game spot removal. But I cant help but think this build could use something to deal with bigger threats. Especially to insure your aerial assault gets through as Im sure thats the most consistent source of damage in combat.

Hi Neqtan,

Thanks for your input. I'm also conflicted about the removal. I do have the 2x Reprisal to deal with bigger threats, but I agree I'm not sure it's enough. I could replace a shock with either another Bolt of Keranos or another Reprisal or even a Divine Verdict or two. One reason I like the shocks is the ability to deal direct damage to the opponent to finish them off. Also I'm not sure but I feel like the meta game is leaning more towards tokens and armies than bombs. A shock can often remove a lord or whatever is making the army/tokens effective. Reprisal/Divine Verdict often will not be able to deal with these threats. I do think I'll swap the 4th Bolt in for a Shock though.

You had mentioned pulling guttersnipe for something else in a previous post. Also how useful is goblin arsonist for you? Through my play testing I dont find the creature to be of high value in many decks.

If you were thinking of different creature options. A couple ideas could be Wall of Omens for early game defense and card draw. Then Attended Knight fits your theme nicely as well. As does Mausoleum Guard. In fact the guards would help your curve as you have such a high count of 3cc spells.

For your removal dilemma, Arrest may be an option in some cases. But I have come to apprecite the power of Angelic Edict. Yes its 5 mana and yes its sorcery. But to be able to exile a creature or enchantment is big to me.

Simple strategy. Play out your hand as mana efficently as you can and attack each turn with everything you can (apart from Rabblemasters unless they can survive). Stop problem creatures from blocking, kill them with Coordinated Assualt or just throw your troops into them, and finish with a Bushwhacker or a Bombardment.

Thank goodness you didn't reply like Hakeen or Mobius.

And yes, after play testing this build I have come to realize that the Meteorites were a bit too excessive and they don't work with Planar Cleansing. Afterwards, I switched to Creepy Doll as an indestructible creature in place of the Meteorite. Resolute Archangel also left in place of Inferno Titan and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth.

I like my 3x Volcanic Geysers as they also are a win condition for me at times. Kor Cartographer is a 2/2 vanilla that dies to Anger of the Gods and only functions as a Rampant Growth with no upside for double the cost so I never considered it.

I ran a very similar build to yours a while back Gemini. The biggest issue I ran into was card draw and top decking lands seemed to be an issue. May be consider Bolt of Keranos instead of the Skullcrack, the scry is useful in cleaning your top decking plus you can target creatures. Like Neqtan said Charmbreaker Devils are also useful for getting card advantage, assuming they stick.

Oh...I also noticed that 26 lands weren't ideal. Your Traveler's Amulet and Darksteel Ingot are essentially lands themselves so I think you can get away with 23-24 lands in the deck!

With only 4 creatures (win cons) each one will probably eat removal when you put it down. Get some Gods Willing instead of all that color fixing, or just put in more bombs. And switch Darksteel Ingots with Kor Cartographer, it doesn't matter if it dies to Anger of the Gods, its board presence and it can stall decks to make your Anger of the Gods even more effective, since your opponent wont mindlessly attack into a 2/2

In addition to what slodice said.

The other point of the Cartographer is that it thins the deck of lands. Between the amulets and cartographers you can potentially strip the deck of 8 lands. This in itself is "card advantage" being that with every land you strip out of the deck you increase the odds of drawing a business card.



Im wondering if you would be more satisfied with Angelic Edict in place of Dolls. 5cc for a 1/1 indestructible that sometimes kills stuff. Not so sure this is going to pan out? The edicts also give you diversity, as there are plenty of decks out there running some enchantments worth exiling.

But if its a creature your looking for as board presence even Triplicate would work nice for the cost. You get 3 blockers or some aerial threats to buy you time for an anger / cleansing or a stronger board presence.

On the topic of board presence and win cons. It has been brought up a couple times, I do think your build could stand to have a few more threats. 7-9 win cons is a good base number in a control deck. I have seen as few as 5, although It is not recommended. Especially without recursion.

If you can find a way, slip in aerial threats. There is such an over abundance of ground pounders in the meta, that having flyers will help ensure what little threats you do have will have a higher chance of doing crucial damage.



Can I suggest a tweak or two...

-3x Selfless Cathar
+3x Elite Vanguard

Honestly I think you could get away with running only 2 gates. But Im with you on the theory of none. I go dangerous and run zero in my aggro deck. I need every mana that comes in to be usable to be the most efficient as possible.

Lastly Im not sure how you feel about the pegasus but "cant attack or block alone" bothers me.

I gotta say, I like this build.

I'm actually with you on the Cathars. I came here to just now to update the list and remove them. I'm casting every turn and either win when I burn out or have lost, so generally have no time to crack him open as my mana is always in use. I'm torn between Vanguards or Goblin Arsonists currently, but turning towards Vanguards as the extra power turn 1 is relavant and people will just refuse to block the Arsonist over any other goblin, and Rabblemasters won't force a Vanguard attack.

The Pegasus are excellent though. It will never, even be on its own. If I only have 1 creature out past turn 2, then I won't win, regardless of what it is. Likewise if my final strike consists of just a single creature, unless I've got triple raid bombardments out, I've lost too, so its drawback is never an issue. I may go 4 Vanguard and 3 Pegasus though, as they can't do anything on turn 1.

Guildgates are odd here. I'm down to 3 currently and testing. Often missing your 1 drop for a gate isn't too bad, but more often I'll drop a gate turn 3 as I usally go 1 drop, 2 drop, 2 drop, 2 x 2 drop unless I have a Rabblemaster, so turn 3 is fine to lose that mana drop. My only other 3 drop is Raid Bombardment, and as a finisher I never drop it turn 3. Because I'm dropping 2 x 2 drops on turn 4 (often Snarecasters and/or Shortcutters - or alternately double Krenkos or Alarms) I need two mana of each colour just in case.

I find in average you'll deal more damage per game with a Goblin Arsonist compared to Elite Vanguard, because people are scared of blocking the 1/1 (???), whilest everyone will block the 2/1. And Goblin Arsonist is guaranteed damage in most cases

I think Vanguard over Arsonist is a good call. But Im the Savannah Lions type of builder not so much the Mogg Fanatic type.

Good points on the Pegasus and the evasion is a big plus.

Heres my build ( open to debate and has premiums ) :

SWIFT ASSAULT

4x Satyr Hoplite
3x Elite Vanguard

2x Hero of Iroas
3x Truefire Paladin
4x Bloodcrazed Neonate

1x Hail to the King baby
3x Banisher Priest

4x Shock
3x Bolt of Keranos
3x Skullcrack
3x Coordinated Assault
4x Swift Justice
3x Gods Willing

11x Mountain
9x Plains

Pegasus is a fine card but it's not an ideal T1 play so I think two or three is probably correct (I run two in my Selesnya aggro deck). One of my better lines is Vanguard into Squadron Hawk into second Hawk plus Pegasus. Pegasus and Hawk play very well together, actually.

I agree, I wouldn't run all 4 Pegasus (Pegasai? lol). I think 2 is usually enough and in a really low curved aggro build 3 might be good.

Yeah, I'm pretty much sold on 3 (mainly because I'd either need to run a 4th Raid Bombardment or a singleton of something else to fill the final slot) The main debate is Arsonist versus Vanguard. Both have their advantages and disadvantages over each other. I think I need to playtest to decide.

EDIT - Ah crap, Vanguard is Uncommon, meaning if I go 3/3 (with the Pegasus) I'm a card short. Brimaz doesn't work in this deck too well, so that's out. Not sure what else to try, Maybe 2 Pegasus, 2 Arsonists? Hmm... Everything else is solid and locked, and my only option to increase a quantity is Raid Bombardment, and 4 is too much.

I like to keep all of my one-drops the same color in a two-color deck for consistency (especially since you're running Gates). Couple that with the fact you want to win quickly, and I'd choose Vanguard all day. I'd also think about 10/9 in favor of Plains, but with all those red two-drops I'm uncertain which split would be better.

This is my theory too. I've gone for 4 x Pegasus and will see how it goes. As I say, they'll never, ever attack alone, and will never, ever be required to block, so in essence are just a 2/1 flier for 1, with the drawback of not being able to attack turn 2.

My current split is 9/10/3 (Plains, Mountains, Gates) as although It's important to get a 1 drop down, it's more important to get two 2 drops down on turn 4, and they're often both red. Again though, I'll test the alternatives.

I certainly agree with that notion. I think sometimes we can't quite make it that way all the time, but very sound advice.

Go 3 vanguard 4 pegasus.

I need more testing for my build. I got on today and faced 5 orzhov life gain shenanigan decks in a row. I managed to race through a couple of them. Skullwack was helpful. But as it stands the build is a bit of a glass cannon. If I get my satyr combo to go off or get enough truefire damage in early I can get into the burn zone. Otherwise past turn 5 things start looking bleak. Life gain is a blow out.

If anyone has ideas for my build im all ears.

If you're playing Hoplites, Heroes, and Paladins then you should also be playing Nimbus Wings. Hoplite becomes a 3/4 flier, Hero a 4/5 flier, and Paladin a 3/4 Vigilant flier with "firebreathing". Plus the wings are sexy on Brimaz, as well.