jaredrj22

I thought it was pretty focused, lol. At least, it is as focused as I can make it. It is a Elf token deck, there really isn't much in there to support General damage. The deck is mostly support for token generation or population(ie. Rhys, Lys Alana Huntmaster, Growing Ranks, Trostani), and anthem effects (ie. Collective Blessing, Intangible Virtue, Door of Destinies). I know there are some other cards that may help with this like Doubling Season, but I don't have the budget to get everything so I'm adding to it little by little over time. Most of the Elves in this deck are in support of that in some way, though there are some that I put in just because it was an Elf and those I will replace as I get better cards.

Thanks! :-)

The control match-up is where you really want more counter spells. I face-off against too many fast aggro decks to really warrant putting any more counters in. I have so much control in D-sphere, Azorius Charm, Celestial Flare, Cyclonic Rift and Supreme Verdict that my opponent can play all the creatures they want; I can almost always handle the hordes without taking much damage. If I were playing against more midrange and control match-ups I would put more counters main board but I really do like watching my opponent's face when overloading Cyclonic Rift against my aggro opponents with multiple creatures, planeswalkers, and enchantments out.

Personally, I would take out 1 AEtherling, the Anger of the Gods, and the Stormbreath Dragons for a Spear of Heliod or 2, a couple other control cards, and another Dissolve maybe. That's my preference though since I like a lot of control and this deck looks to be more on the midrange side of control. The Angel of Serenity in sideboard may not the be best choice for this deck though since you have plenty of removal and not many targets for your own creatures. I'm not sure what your meta-game looks like but maybe either some more counter spells for control match-ups or something like Cyclonic Rift to overload for the aggro or permanent heavy decks. I would also suggest to run 2 Mutavaults at most just to smooth out the land, you might run into issues with Chained to the Rocks at times with only 8 Mountains. I personally would probably not run any Mutavaults in a 3 color deck just because of the land. I like the UWx control shells but sometimes I just like sticking to the 2 main colors just for easier land draw.

I hope some of this was helpful and as you playtest you may find you agree or disagree with some of my assessments and that's ok these are just some of my ideas from an initial look at the deck. Overall I like the deck and the idea behind it.

Thanks, I tend to gravitate towards control decks.

A lot of the choices I made in the deck are really based on my local meta-game and the cards I had available to me. The Render Silents are really stand-ins for more Dissolve since I only have 2 of them and I ended up going with Essence Scatter main because of the creature heavy aggro decks I face. If I had a 4th Sphinx's Rev I would definitely put that in as well. The quicken were really more of a play style preference than anything, I like to play as much as possible on my opponents turn and little as possible on my own turn with this deck so I'll quicken into divination or sometimes save them to play a supreme verdict to wipe my opponent's hasty creatures. I could swap them out for other spells that may work just as well, I tend to constantly tweak my deck a little bit here and there.

I like your American deck too, I'll post my comments on your actual deck.

Oh, ok :-) I would definitely throw in a few Resto Angels if I could but yes they are outside my price range right now. The only reason I have the one Snapcaster in there is because I got really lucky on a booster pack, that would have been another Archaeomancer instead. Thanks.

Thanks for the idea, I think I considered that early on but in my experience so far I'm finding that the card draw is more needed than the defender; between the AEther Adept and the Stonehorn Dignitary I'm able to control my opponents well enough that they either have very few creatures or just plain can't attack at all (nice thing about stonehorn is its ability stacks so I can flicker him a few times in a turn and buy myself quite a bit of time if needed). It would definitely be a good sideboard and this deck is likely to change over time so if I start running into issues I'll look at putting it back in.

I don't understand the question here, this is a flicker deck so yes I'm using Cloudshift.

Great analysis, Phantom General and Zealous Strike I am currently working on figuring out replacements for so they won't stay long. Swift Justice is also a holdover from before I put the Field Marshals in and I left in as more of a cheap way to gain some life if I happened to need it, those I can look at replacing too I suppose.

Thanks for the Coat of Arms opinion, I hadn't paid attention to the fact that it would help out my opponents as well, I will take a look at Door of Destinies and see what that does, perhaps that can be utilized as a replacement.

I am not familiar with most of these cards you mention and will definitely look at them to see how they might be implemented. Definitely agree with Spirit Mantle, love that card and use it heavily in my Spirit Deck.

Thanks for the analysis and thoughts!

Interesting deck, I'm guessing from what I see that it is primarily built to build up bonuses through exalted to attack alone while tapping defenders to make sure damage goes through and giving flying to help with that. Looks like an effective deck and a different way to go about it, I probably would have tried to build in enchantments/artifacts that give unblockable but tapping defenders looks to be effective as well as long as your not playing somebody with a ton of token flyers.

This deck looks good, plenty of token generation. One thing that could be useful to add in would be first strike and I'm wondering how often you would be able to play Even the Odds and Timely Reinforcements for added tokens. I know in my deck I usually start getting larger quantities of creatures pretty fast. Really like the use of Alliance of Arms, and Darien can be a nice way to keep people from attacking you until they find a way to deal with him. A few Field Marshal's available to swap in from your sideboard might be a good addition especially since they would also boost your non-token soldiers as well.

Yes, it doesn't happen a lot but one of my favorite combos is to have Cathars' Crusade out, board wipe with Martial Coup, then play Nomad's Assembly on next turn. You make a good point about Intangible Virtue, I think I can find room in my deck for that card. Thanks.

Perhaps it seems unfocused because I'm trying to cram a lot in (tokens, pumping creatures, first strike, vigilance, flight)? I could try narrowing my focus a little and building up more of a side board to handle certain types of decks I suppose. I'm curious about why you are dubious about Coat of Arms as well. I know it is a little expensive on mana cost but I like it because with only 6 soldiers out they are all getting +5/+5 and it increases as I get more out. Of course it is likely to be a target of the first destroy artifact card that comes up so that may be a drawback. I went the token route with this deck because I started out with the Captain's Calls and Cathars' Crusade and have little to no exalted cards. I am interested in building an exalted deck eventually though and I'll take a look at yours to see what you did. Thanks for the input.

Honestly, this deck is just something I threw together with whatever Vampires I had sitting around and haven't given it a lot of thought yet. I'll have to look into the Urge to Feed. I was thinking of going lifelink with this deck and trying to get a hold of some Vampire Nighthawks but I kind of like unblockable idea too, I think I have a Curse of Stalked Prey sitting around gathering dust I could throw in. Thanks for the ideas.

Odric would be a great addition, I will need to take a look at one or two to add in and see what I can pull out for them. I have also run with a few Crusaders and am trying out the Benalish Commanders now instead, I may switch it up again if I need to though. Thanks!

Thanks, I've also found that mana is the one thing that can slow this deck down but I play in a pretty casual environment with friends so I'm usually able to mulligan a couple times and start with about three land.