The Retired: Hope Is A Passenger

Sadly this never really did what I hoped. I reworked this deck years ago and then never picked it up again.

4 Well of Lost Dreams
4 Sunbeam Spellbomb
2 Behemoth Sledge

3 Ageless Entity
3 Kavu Titan
4 Quirion Elves
2 Devout Witness
4 Essence Warden
2 Dragonlord Dromoka
2 Sunscorch Regent

2 Armadillo Cloak

2 Blessed Alliance

8 Forest
2 Selesnya Sanctuary
9 Plains
2 Temple of Plenty
1 Blossoming Sands
1 Graypelt Refuge

2 Solar Tide
1 Fumigate

After all that, it's just not engaging. Forgot my own rule: you cannot just gain life-all that does is extend the time it takes to lose. That lifegain has to mean something in the larger context of the game.

Now, the upside is that there are some good cards to mine from this deck to put to use elsewhere, and I have whittled down one more deck I do not need. But it is a bummer that I couldn't get this theme to feel more fun. 

There might be an idea worth revisiting here when Bloomburrow comes out; there are multiple Black and White cards that trigger off life gain and life loss. But for now, let's bin it.

Now's Not Forever

It was only one match against Fuz, but after he mulliganed down to 5 cards, the board state eventually looked like this:

And I don't care what you think, this is pretty damned impressive.

After I made this attack, I was up to 43 life-he untapped, played three lands, and was able to swing for 48.

Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you.

That said, I did end up taking the match: the lifegain, removal and additional Sunscorch Dragon made plenty of difference. I can tell that Hope is going in a good direction.

This streak sustained itself while playing Matt last night; again, I had some consistent, strong showings. I also found myself slowing down, trying to think ahead: what should my next move be if nothing happens? What should it be after he makes a play? What does it suggest about what he's got in his hand?

I don't know how well it's working yet: I've just started this process and there are still lots of decks to play and situations to encounter. It's working so far though, so I'll take that.

In the meantime, I think I'll call Hope Is A Passenger good. I feel like I've improved the deck in every way that matters. When I build a sideboard, Devout Witness might be worth relegating to it but in the meantime, it can stay. I still have Jason decks to beat and the Witness can always carry a Behemoth Sledge.

Here's the final list:

4 Well of Lost Dreams
4 Sunbeam Spellbomb
2 Behemoth Sledge 

3 Ageless Entity
3 Kavu Titan
4 Quirion Elves
2 Devout Witness
4 Essence Warden
2 Dragonlord Dromoka
2 Sunscorch Regent 

2 Armadillo Cloak 

2 Blessed Alliance 

8 Forest
2 Selesnya Sanctuary
9 Plains
2 Temple of Plenty
1 Blossoming Sands
1 Graypelt Refuge 

2 Solar Tide
1 Fumigate

Thinkin' That You're Big

After playing a few games against Matt on Monday, he took a look at Hope.

"I like what you've got going on here," he said.

So what do I have going on here, exactly?

Well, I think it's got a nice curve happening, with the deck nicely front loaded to the 1-3 CC spot, but some nice bombs going at 5+.

Against Matt's deck that wanted to give opponents creatures and make them suffer via Batwing Brume, I actually won out, something I don't often do against that deck.

I've also been testing a single Sunscorch Regent, for similar reasons. The card that has been standing out as unhelpful: Sword of Light and Shadow.

It just never seems to be useful when I need it. Plus, my creatures don't have much in the way of "enter the battlefield" effects, so returning creatures to hand isn't as awesome as I'd like. I'm thinking another Regent might be in order.

I've also added one Fumigate, because after the lessons learned with I Hate It When That Happens To Me,  know that a Fumigate can be REALLY awesome.

Still, I want to keep the Solar Tides in, because they can take on the decks that go wide with a lot of tokens, and leave me with some giant monsters.

Or, if all there are are giant monsters, I can destroy them, equip a tiny elf and go to town. Either way, I like my options.

But what to do about the Sword....

A second Sunscorch Regent is an obvious choice and probably wouldn't be a bad idea. It wouldn't disrupt the curve much and another threat is always a good thing.

Part of me, though, wants to run Deathgorge Scavenger. Because dinosaurs.

I know, I know: consistency is better than power in most of my decks. But dinosaurs!

Show You The Score

When I play Jason, this is often what I deal with. Look at this insanity. Karn, Silver Golem, Mycosynth Lattice, Howling Mine. He's about to drop a Hellkite Tyrant and steal all my stuff.

And the only thing standing in the way of all that is Devout Witness. Even then, I didn't get my play right, hitting Karn instead of the Lattice. Jason just ran me over with 6/6 woke artifacts.

Still, practice makes perfect, right?

Now, I got some excellent suggestions from Reddit user Pumatyger, who went so far as to re-imagine Hope Is A Passenger as a mono-W lifegain deck. You can see his revision here-buuuuuut as interesting as that deck is, I already have one of those that does interesting things and the keys to Hope are Well of Lost Dreams and Ageless Entity.

The suggestions of Blessed Alliance and Serene Steward were especially interesting. However, the Steward just wasn't quiet as helpful as I would like, at least as a replacement for Pulse of the Fields. Especially since what it wants to do (pay W for counters) runs against what Well of Lost Dreams wants to do. Blessed Alliance gave me some options that opponents were surprised by and that was nice. I haven't used it for the lifegain yet: Blessed Alliance might be one of those cards that I really have to play with a lot in order to get used to the options. I tend to lock in on one-the removal aspect in this case-and neglect the uses of the other parts of the card.

I do this a lot and it was even something I brought up to Jason while we played: How to get better and really focus on making the best decisions.

It's going to take some practice. However, there's no time like right now to get on that.

There are a few white cards with lifelink that I should consider as well: Knight of Meadowgrain was a fine suggestion but Bishop's Soldier might make it because the mana requirements are less.

The thing that really has me interested? The replacement for Windbrisk Raptor: Dragonlord Dromoka.

Smoke & A Blindfold

Before I did any examination of Hope Is A Passenger, I did a little road testing against Noah, Matt, and Caitlin. The deck did...badly.

That was OK. To be expected, even. Matt and Caitlin had some suggestions though: Essence Warden and Venser's Journal. I liked both of these lines of thought but had some concerns about the high converted mana cost of the Journal.

Enter: Ivory Tower.

So, what else?

Well, I put this deck through the online analysis and I have to say, I like the stats. 38% mana is definitely solid and means I should have enough to do what I need to do, like cast Ageless Entity in a reasonable timeframe.

However, the available mana has changed since I built this deck, too. I'm not sure Horizon Canopy fits as well as I'd like. The Canopy would probably go better in some kind of draw engine, either via Life from the Loam or maybe with a Crucible of Worlds. Oddly enough, it's Graypelt Refuge that works well here. Gaining a life for playing a land isn't bad and if I have a Well out, I can draw a card, too. Plus, it can synergize a little with the Selesnya Sanctuary.

Next will be to find replacements for Windbrisk Raptor. That card costs eight and doesn't win me the game on the spot. Something that can show up earlier is in order or something that wins when I play it at that converted mana cost is required.

Hope Is A Passenger

I don't even have the CD anymore but I liked this song by Kite-Eating Tree and considering what the theme is, I felt the title made sense for this deck.

4 Armadillo Cloak

3 Staunch Defenders
3 Ageless Entity
3 Kavu Titan
4 Quirion Elves
3 Devout Witness
2 Windbrisk Raptor
1 Warrior Angel

3 Pulse of the Fields

2 Solar Tide

1 Sword of Light and Shadow
4 Sunbeam Spellbomb
4 Well of Lost Dreams

2 Horizon Canopy
2 Selesnya Sanctuary
9 Plains
10 Forest

The idea? Gain life, draw cards via that life gain with Well of Lost Dreams and win out with a massive Ageless Entity. Or just awesome trampling dudes via Armadillo Cloak. That works too. Don't be afraid to use Solar Tide to wipe the board with Sword of Light and Shadow to bring creatures back, and don't be afraid to drop a Kavu Titan on turn 2.

Things have changed a lot since I built this deck, especially in regards to lifegain mechanics, what they can do and where they can come from. Hell, the mechanic has bled into black!

I am not going to add black to the deck.

But I am going to revise this puppy to see how it can be improved. Red decks, be afraid!