[Standard] Ayli and Drana: Armored Allies

[chief82]

Please comment to help me improve my deck.

Ayli and Drana: Armored Allies

[G. Moto]

     Honestly it's not a bad deck, but if you kept the deck's colors down to 3 instead of 4 then it will be more consistent for you. Try either Abzan (W/B/G) or Mardu (R/W/B) and you'll see faster game play and better card synergy. For example; If you tried Abzan allies and kept the veteran warleader you can add evolving wilds and retreat to emeria to your deck as well for support. This way (along with your Gideon) you can constantly pump out allies and get multiple triggers for their effects.  The W/B is good for the base but try sticking to three colors before moving on to a fourth. What are your thoughts on this?

[chief82]

I'll take this into consideration during the day and remove the Weapons Trainer as well as the Battlefield Forge. Obviously, I was too narrowed down on equipment synergies. Without a look I assume that you are right and that there are better cards for the deck synergy (or even standalone) than the Weapons Trainer.

I have tested the Retreat to Emeria example before but was not very happy with the outcome, because either Gideon, Ally of Zendikar or Captain's Claws or just a general summoning was sufficient to trigger the ally synergies.

Yet, the more I think about leaving the fourth colour out, the merrier the prospect.

Thanks a lot for your comment.

[G. Moto]

It's not a problem. Just remember, look at ALL the allies that fall under your new color scheme and then decide which ones would best serve your purposes. For instance makindi patrol on the field could seriously help you out if you have kor bladewhirl on the field at the same time. Dropping kor tokens every turn would be a sure defense even on your opponent's turns.

[chief82]

You're right about the Makindi Patrol, I thought about it earlier and it proved quite well this morning during some matches. I will further increase the number of Captain's Claws to 4 and possibly rethink the instant spells. Thumbs up for you and thanks a lot. I'm looking forward to new testing during the coming week.

[G. Moto]

     I hope all goes well for you, best of luck.

[chief82]

Recent changes have been done and brought me back to one of my original ideas of including life gain allies. I will probably never get fed up with this deck. I feel that allies have a lot of potential but still there needs some homework to be done.

The deck is prepared for rotation in April and will constantly be worked on until then.

[G. Moto]

As long as it's mostly BFZ stuff you should be good. Are you including death touch as a countermeasure or is it going to be straight life gain/loss?

[chief82]

At the moment Touch of Moonglove has been replaced by Grasp of Darkness because the later one is a more effective counter measure.

[G. Moto]

     You could always add nirkana assassin. Its an ally so it would trigger other ally creature's effects, also its own ability activates when you gain health. If you play retreat to hagra then you can gain life whenever you drop a land and turn him on. Also equipping pathway arrows to him will make him a perfect sniper for your group so that'll be more death outside of combat for you. 

[chief82]

Good idea. I haven't thought about these. Thank you!

[G. Moto]

You're welcome pal.

[chief82]

Latest update done. The deck seems quicker and a bit more aggressive now.

[G. Moto]

     Yeah it does look a nit faster. My recommendations are simple but they're totally up to you depending on how you want to play:

1) add drana's emissary so that you can gain life every turn (this will help trigger your serene steward and cliffhaven vampire more often).

2) Definitely add the retreat to emeria enchantment so that you can also get more allies per turn. This way when you're sacrificing your allies for various card effects you're getting rid of the tokens instead of your vital creatures that you need for effect triggers.

3) Also if you're going to use the lantern scout then definitely add more kor bladewhirl. This way your creatures always hit first, you get the life gain and your troops will live a bit longer. 

    These are just some observations you might want to consider.

[chief82]

Hi G.Moto,

I very much appreciate your feedback and the conversations with you in this forum.

I thought about the Retreat to Emeria and tried it out but I was not happy about it. If I want to count on it I have to put it into my deck at least 3 times which is too much. I rather use 4 Captain's Claws and 4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar.

Leaving out Zulaport Cutthroat and instead including Kor Bladewhirl has its benefits and I will try that. At the very moment Zulaport Cutthroat has better synergies with the sacrifices that the spells need.

Including Drana's Emissary brings me to leaving out Lantern Scout which in turn makes me feel unhappy because of the lost lifelink.

There are plenty of opportunities to put in but the big question is: What to leave out then?