Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Swaps for Snakes

I removed:
Overrun
Kaysa
Sylvan Bounty
Grim Flowering
Fog
Lifeblood Hydra
Soul of Zendikar
Fangreen Pathcutter
Regal Force
Tornado Elemental
Terastodon
Wolfbriar Elemental
Titania's Chosen
Collective Unconscious
Song of the Dryads
Grave Sifter
Harrow
Loreseeker's Stone
Emerald Medallion
Moss Diamond
Myriad Landscape
Jungle Basin
Gargoyle Castle
and about 9 Forests

Then added:
Kaseto, Orochi Archmage (because the deck isn't a deck without it)
Snakeform
Biomantic Mastery
Colossal Heroics
Wrap in Vigor
Patagia Viper
Broodbirth Viper
Ohran Viper
Mystic Snake
Lorescale Coatl
Coiling Oracle
Orochi Hatchery
Simic Keyrune
Simic Signet
Bident of Thassa
Mirror Match
8 Island
Reliquary Tower
Novijen, Heart of Progress
Thornwood Falls
Simic Growth Chamber
Simic Guildgate
Evolving Wilds
Command Tower
Vivid Grove
Vivid Creek

It doesn't seem like much: I continued going all in on the Snake thing, with blue giving me access to Mirror Match, Bident of Thassa and some of the better multicolor U/G snakes, like Mystic Snake or Lorescale Coatl. There are still questions for me: Orochi Hatchery being a big one. I know Commander is about big spells and dropping a bunch of snakes every turn is a big deal but XX spells are always terrible. Assuming I can get X to equal 4, that's 13 mana for 4 snakes.

I also feel like there are Blue cards I'm overlooking: not just Ophidian (which I don't really have space for) but something else that could be truly beneficial. I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised: I narrowed my focus to what was in the Paragon deck and what I could strip from the Kaseto deck. Some playtesting will help, so that's next.

4 comments:

  1. Sir may I suggest snake basket as opposed to the hatchery

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  2. Also seshiro is pretty good for snakes

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  3. I'd add the hatchery anyways since its only 1 card and you can double the effect with doubling season and throw in sasaya, or mana doubling effects such as mirari's wake. Sure the initial investment may be 20 mana but if you are popping out 10 snakes a turn for 5 mana it adds up quick...then you slap down coat of arms and go to town. Especially if you have the guy that gives all snakes deathtouch

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    Replies
    1. Some interesting ideas!

      Seshiro is in the deck, so I got that covered: I may be using Snake Basket in another deck but it's more thematically appropriate here. I'll have to look.

      The Hatchery, in testing, has been a PITA. I'm waiting for enough mana to cast it, and enough mana to make it worthwhile. That's 8 mana, minimum and then 5 mana every turn to generate vanilla snakes.

      Sasaya I don't think I'd considered. I'll see if I have one! It's not going to be easy to get the trigger to go off but if I do, that's a hell of a trick.

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