DedWards

To be honest, this wasn't meant to be a serious attempt at beating [[Grief]] [[Ephemerate]], just a fun idea with that combo in mind. All I did was search Gatherer for every Modern card with "spell ability opponent controls discard" (Gatherer's search bar has a character limit) and pile them into a playable deck. In reading each card, I remembered [[Ajani's Last Stand]] worked in a similar manner and I know [[Leyline of Sanctity]] is one of the best sideboard options vs discard (and burn), so it was thrown into the mix too.

[[Noose Constrictor]] is cool and all, but doesn't help against a turn 1 [[Grief]]. I believe that if you are aware of the match up, you should aggressively mulligan to only have lands and the discard into play cards. [[Leyline of Sanctity]] could come out, but what non-[[Noose Constrictor]] do I put into the deck that does not get discarded to [[Grief]] and friends?

I could include [[Quagnoth]] in place of the Leyline?

Also, we could add some number of [[Nephalia Academy]] into the mana base. Especially if we add [[Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth]]

FYI, we do have 2 cards in other colours that also have the If an opponent discards this effect:
[[Guerrilla Tactics]] lets you kill the [[Greif]] or just hit the opponent for 4.
[[Orvar, the All-Form]] allows you to copy [[Grief]], or even their land, which ramps you into the other cards you can play.

I don't think the [[Grief]] [[Ephemerate]] combo will be top tier, but it's nice to see how one could combat it should it see a lot of play.

[[Leyline of Sanctity]] will likely see more sideboard play because of [[Grief]]. But just like graveyard hate VS Dredge, how much these hate cards seen play depends on how many of the relevant decks see play.

Sadly, the discard into play effect of [[Wilt-Leaf Liege]], [[Loxodon Smiter]], and [[Nullhide Ferox]] effect only triggers if an opponent's effect makes you discard them, so [[Noose Constrictor]] doesn't really help.

Sorry wikeddarkman, I don't really visit the Vault as often as I used to. To answer your question, I never really got a process as organized as your own down, so no. I also don't know anything about that article.

Most of my MTG experience in the last couple of years has been practically running my LGS MTG events. Not in any official way, just doing most of the work since the TO became a father. I really should look into becoming a TO and / or an official Judge.

[[Drakuseth, Maw of Flames]] is definitely a good dragon to cheat in early. Will consider it.

Sadly, the CMC (or I guess Mana Value now) of [[Response // Resurgence]] is 7 (both sides added together), which it 2 more than [[Velomachus Lorehold]]'s base power, and his ability works off of his power. I did a quick search on Gatherer and I can't seem to find any Pioneer legal extra turn instants or sorceries that grant extra combat steps that Velomachus can cast, as cool as that idea is.

I'm looking at reworking the idea to include more looting effects and possibly other Dragons to tutor.

Looking at reworking the idea around looting [[Dragon's Approach]] into the graveyard. The choice of dragons will depend on the non-dragon, non-[[Dragon's Approach]] cards.

Sadly, [[Simian Spirit Guide]] was banned sometime after that article went up. The article was posted 21 September 2020, and the monkey was banned in February 2021. Vault still shows it as legal in Modern, but if you check Gatherer, it's banned.

I don't know of any card that's as good as the monkey, and you already have the best rituals in the deck, so the next best card I can think of to replace the monkey would be [[Vessel of Volatility]]. Vessel doesn't ramp you the turn you play it, but it can sit on the battlefield while you're trying to accumulate all the other cards for the combo, then you can sacrifice it for the ramp.

An example of a play using Vessel (assuming a land drop each turn):
Turn 2: Play [[Vessel of Volatility]].
Turn 3: Sacrifice Vessel, play [[Irencrag Feat]], play then sacrifice [[Goblin Charbelcher]]

Thanks. Sadly, I don't actually own the cards for this deck (don't own much blue cards), but [[Wand of Vertebrae]] is a great upgrade for this. [[Curious Homunculus]] looks like the weakest link in this list, so it's the best option for removing to make space for the Wand. Thanks for the idea :D

Not sure what Graveyard protection is viable in Pioneer, but that's definitely an idea for a few sideboard slots. The other option is to have a semi transformation sideboard, taking out a number of Dragon's Approach to bring in other cards, thus fighting graveyard hate indirectly.

Main thing that worries me about [[Khalni Garden]] is it enters tapped (as do a LOT of Pauper lands). I will test a few of them next time I play this deck, but won't be editing this list right now.

As for [[Dawn Charm]], as I said, the sideboard is a WIP (work in progress). [[Dawn Charm]], like most charms, is a flexible card and both the fog effect and the counter effect are relvant in my LGS's Pauper meta (Aggro decks, including an infect deck, and burn).

Lol, neither formats that I play. Never got into EDH, and Arena doesn't run on my laptop nor on my cell.

I'll likely still post Standard, Pioneer, amd Modern brews.

I'm aware how good [[Ajani Vengeant]] is in this type of deck. I have a deck based around ramping (through Talisman and it's like) into Ajani and [[Chandra, Torch of Defiance]] and using [[Chandra, Acolyte of Flame]] to accelerate into their ultimates. This deck is kind of a progression of that, and I wanted to try the [[Nahiri, the Harbinger]] + [[Emrakul, the Aeons Torn]] package.

Sad on the [[Simian Spirit Guide]] banning. I was actually planning on ordering a set.

Glad to be back. Hope to stick around a bit longer this time :D

[[Dramatic Entrance]] is a nice way to cheat those big green worms into play a lot sooner.

The mana ramp + mana denial is quite reliable, making these high cmc card pretty good. Dropping an [[Inferno Titan]] on turn 3 off [[Utopia Sprawl]] + [[Arbor Elf]] can be pretty scary for the opponent, especially when you had just cast [[Blood Moon]] or a [[Stone Rain]] on turn 2 to cut them off the mana they needed to answer the very early 6/6.

Ponza is one of those decks that doesn't seem to be good on paper, but in practice does surprisingly well. At least, that's my experience with the deck.

Not to bash on [[Fulminator Mage]], but I feel the deck's LD hate is good enough. Fulminator is a great card, but the double red requirement isn't that easy to reliably cast on turn 2 with this mana base. The double red is exactly why Ponza runs [[Stone Rain]] instead of [[Molten Rain]]. [[Pillage]] is a special case as it allows for a little flexibility as it can be mainboard artifact hate.

I am looking to get [[Klothys, God of Destiny]] to work into this deck.

[[Astral Cornucopia]] and [[Everflowing Chalice]] play into the proliferate plan and ramp you into playing [[Myojin of Cleansing Fire]] easier. Especially the Cornucopia as that one adds colour mana.

I know space is an issue in combo decks relying on redundant pieces, but I feel some number of [[Umbral Mantle]] could be worked in as the 3rd type of enabler.

With [[Training Grounds]] or [[Biomancer's Familiar]] out, you get the same 1 mana to untap loop, just this time you're getting +2/+2 on the equipped creture each time you do the loop.

Using Stuffy this way is interesting. Nice way of abusing a "rules as written" and getting around the "rules as intended" :p

Pumping [[Setessan Champion]] and [[Starfield Mystic]] aren't the only ways to win. [[Doom Foretold]] can make a 2/2 Knight token and drain the opponent for 2, and [[Ethereal Absolution]] can make a small army of Spirit tokens, that are pumped by Absolution.

As for the excessive amounts of removal, most actually have other uses:

[[Oath of Kaya]] can be directed at the opponent's face.

The 2nd chapter of [[Elspeth's Nightmare]] is a "free" [[Duress]], with the 3rd chapter clearing the graveyard. Both of which can be useful, depending on the matchup.

Similarly, the 2nd chapter of [[Elspeth Conquers Death]] taxes the opponent's spells, with the 3rd reanimating any of my creatures or [[Calix, Destiny's Hand]]. In fact, reanimating Calix makes it easier to use his ulti.

Not to mention, both [[Banishing Light]] and [[Elspeth Conquers Death]]'s 1st chapter can target noncreatures, which makes them far more useful.

I am thinking of working in a pair of [[Eerie Ultimatum]] into this list. Almost all the enchantments in here have ETB effects, and getting back multiple [[Doom Foretold]] and/or [[Oath of Kaya]].

Basically, there's a lot of incremental life loss and/or token production in addition to the 2 creatures that can grow to large proportions.

Oath of Kaya can target anything, including planeswalkers and the opponent.
The 2nd and 3rd chapters of Elspeth's Nightmare aren't that bad (depending on match up) and can easily be sideboarded out for more specific options for games 2 and 3.

How to play updated for this. Thanks.

So far it has been a lot of fun to play. Only real trouble I've had is WU control, but even then a fast start into the cheaper enchantments, especially [[History of Benalia]], help me play the aggro game.