Lightning Punches

Let's finish this off.

I have a couple Naya Charms and that does multiple things this deck wants: either recursion or a fog effect, with the added bonus of being able to take out a small creature. Savage Twister also seems like a clear winner, since I can clear the board in cases where Pyroclasm might not do the trick and since mana hasn't been an issue, I expect to be able to board wipe if needed. Finally, another Commune with the Gods, because I have to find my combo pieces. All these cards either to give me more time or dig deeper; sure, the counterspell matchups are difficult but nothing is perfect. 

I continued looking at enchantments in my colors that would allow me to draw cards but they either weren't worth it, or were auras that would go on creatures and thus unsuitable here.

Final listing:

3 Thraben Inspector
3 Skyshroud Elf

4 Pandemonium
4 Saproling Burst
4 Gift of Paradise

2 Seed Spark
2 Naya Charm

6 Mountain
3 Rith's Grove
4 Plains
9 Forest

3 Farseek
2 Pyroclasm
4 Commune with the Gods
4 Cathartic Reunion
2 Replenish
1 Savage Twister

The Last Punch

I don't think I'm breaking any news here by suggesting that Replenish is a good card.

What I didn't expect to happen was for Replenish to change the way I approached games due to its interaction with Cathartic Reunion.

Now, different combinations come alive and questions like "Should I discard a Pandemonium to try and assemble my combo in the graveyard?" come up. Replenish has opened up some new lines of play, which has been both interesting to wrap my head around and good for my win percentage!

It also ups the complexity level, which means I'm going in the tank a lot to figure out what my play should be. The challenge in this instance is that I don't want to ignore what my opponent is doing or has done while I figure out my best play.

I have a lot of cool interactions now: against control decks, I can try to run out all of my pieces to draw countermagic in hopes of getting a timely Replenish in.

Against combo decks, I can try (however unlikely that is) to race them by dumping my combo into the graveyard and going for the kill on turn four.

So I have outs against other archetypes and I don't think I've done anything particularly detrimental to my 'general creatures' based matchup.

Along those lines, I'd worry more about the two-ofs of Pyroclasm and Seed Spark, but they're also easy to ditch to Cathartic Reunion and honestly, they've been pretty clutch. Pyroclasm always helps keep small creatures off the board, Seed Spark eliminating a key piece of an opponent's deck while giving me more time in the form of saproling speedbumps. It's been pretty good.

So far, I've found that I really like where this deck has ended up. It's got more resilience to it and I think I've sped up the timetable where the combo comes online. Maybe not by a lot, but enough that I can tell it's a better deck.

I like the challenge Brawl has presented to me, migrating from a creature-forward deck to one emphasizing the combo. Sure, it's become more linear, but that is a result of focusing it into doing one thing instead of two.

However; what's been not working out has been the Herald of the Pantheon. I like the card but I already have lifegain and mana is never an issue. In a game with Noah, I had the win until he cast Gaddock Teeg. I spent the rest of the game scrambling for removal and couldn't find it in time.

I hate to say it, but I'm 4 cards short...

Wild Flailing

When I make a hard pivot on a deck, it's always challenging to see what will or won't work anymore. This is one such time.

It's especially difficult because Brawl will win from out of nowhere: I lay the Pandemonium down, my opponent does things that don't kill me, passes and bam, I play a Saproling Burst and win. When Brawl doesn't do this, it's usually because I haven't been able to find the combo pieces.

So has the deck improved because of that hard pivot or not? Wins from out of nowhere do feel good.

One thing I finally noticed was: I am not running four copies of Saproling Burst. Why am I not doing that?? 

This is not a blue deck, so I do not have the luxury of sculpting every part of my hand or predicting my draws in order to maximize the odds that every turn four and five will work out the same way. Plus, I have fewer creatures to act as red shirts to give me time to get the combo.

I have to lean in to the numbers! So, let's get further into it and cut more deadwood out.

There's also been some good advice from friends: Herald of the Pantheon was recommended by two different people and is likely a way better choice than Centaur Safeguard and Venerable Monk.

Thraben Inspector has been a solid addition helping create a speedbump for my opponents while also giving me an extra card.

But it was Noah trying to come up with ways for me to tutor up the enchantments (while casting Counterspell on the Pandemonium or Saproling Burst I needed to win) that let me stumble upon what might be my best trick.

Replenish.

Now, I know that Replenish is the kind of card that one ideally wants in a self-mill deck; you run four copies of it and anything that dumps cards into your graveyard, cast it, and voila! you win the game because reasons.

But the card is just north of $40. However, I own two. How is this not a great backup plan? 

Let's find out, because there's no sense in letting good cards go to waste.

Fisticuffs

First thing's first; as always, let's run this through the deckstats.net algo and see how structurally sound it is.

On the upside, the mana looks good.

On the downside, I can see the eight cards that are just flat out bad here, limited chaff that will not do what I need to be done.  Ancient Hydra, Teroh's Faithful and Sparkcaster all need to go-but admittedly, I knew that already.

What might be useful to work out is what the role of each color is here. That might help focus what it is that I should be doing here.

Red exists because Pandemonium is red. Green is there to help me get Saproling Burst out. White is there to extend my life total so I can last long enough to assemble the combo. So with that in mind, that's going be how I guide myself through picking new cards.

Along those lines, I'm starting to realize that if this is a combo deck (and it is) then why am I dinking around with things that don't help me get to or clear the way for my combo?

I need mana, I need to survive, and I need two enchantments. I think I'll start fixating on those things.

That means a lot of slots are going to be freed up allowing for some helpful cards like Pyroclasm and Commune with the Gods, Farseek and Cathartic Reunion to assist with doing what Brawl wants to do; Turn 3 Pandemonium, Turn 4 Saproling Burst.

This is a pretty big shift from what Brawl was doing but I've been playing long enough now to recognize that I shouldn't hold on to mistakes of the past just because. This deck is a combo deck. Let's let it BE a combo deck.

Brawl

Once upon a time, there was a deck called Blackjack, because with the combination of Pandemonium and Saproling Burst, you could do 21 damage to your opponent in one shot.

This was my take on it, named Brawl:

2 Venerable Monk
4 Spitemare
2 Ancient Hydra
4 Sparkcaster
4 Thornscape Familiar
3 Transluminant
2 Centaur Safeguard
2 Scuzzback Marauders
3 Skyshroud Elf
2 Teroh's Faithful

4 Pandemonium
3 Saproling Burst

2 Seed Spark

7 Mountain
3 Rith's Grove
4 Plains
8 Forest
1 Naya Panorama

As with a lot of my early deckbuilding efforts, I spend a lot of time trying to safeguard against my own downfall, in this case by adding in a bunch of lifegain, so that I don't die too quickly. I assumed I'd get a Pandemonium out and then have to endure a full turn without a Saproling Burst before winning.

There are also the obvious 'anti-Jason' countermeasures in Seed Spark, in order to keep me from dying to something as obnoxious as a Shared Fate.

There are a TON of cards that could be upgraded: Ancient Hydra and Teroh's Faithful to start but more as I dig in. It's been awhile since I took on a real combo deck, so I'm looking forward to it!