[Modern] Ajani, Harbinger of the Trials

[Mostlynotgay]

Ajani, Harbinger of the Trials

I have a RW land burn deck which... burns lands.  It was fun, but it didn't really do much.  Also, it seemed everytime I played it I'd get somebody pissed and like "oh another Nahiri net deck.  Faggot."  so I looked her up, and was like "oh, wow.  she's actually cool."

It just so happened that I mainboard Emrakul in all my decks because I have a friend who plays a looooot of burn.  So I can see she just puts him out.  So I threw her in. 

Also, I saw in Playtesting that Blood Moon never really hurt me that much, but frequently destroyed decks.  So I'm trying a few in there. 

I'm currently tryin gto decide between Oust and Condemn.  They both seem good, but it's a tough call which one is better. 

I kept the basics of the deck the same, because while it never really won, it definitely was oppressive and good at locking people out.  so Scepter of Dominance and Gideon are kept in. 

[grollm]

I like the idea of it. I think you need Chalice of the Void in here. At least a 3 of. I would also run Boom // Bust in addition to or in place of Stone Rain.  Also Condemn is just a better version of Oust. They aren't drawing the card immediately and it's instant speed. I would also find room for Elspeth somewhere. I like what you're trying to do with Scepter, but I'm not a fan of double white in a deck that's trying to slam turn 3 Blood Moon.

[Mostlynotgay]

I like the idea of it. I think you need Chalice of the Void in here. At least a 3 of. I would also run Boom // Bust in addition to or in place of Stone Rain.  Also Condemn is just a better version of Oust. They aren't drawing the card immediately and it's instant speed. I would also find room for Elspeth somewhere. I like what you're trying to do with Scepter, but I'm not a fan of double white in a deck that's trying to slam turn 3 Blood Moon.

I like your suggestions, and would like to inquire a bit more. 

I actually ran boon//bust in it for a bit, but it's real power seemed to only come out when you combo'd it with Goblin Dark-Dwellers.  It's actually why I have 8 fetchlands in the deck. 

For Chalace of the Void, I was looking at that but to this day I'm still confused as to the proper play for it.  If you can slam it down with X=2, then you hose a lot of control.  But by the time you get 4 lands out, would they already have the ability to counter?  I've had people say you should always cast it X=1 or X=0 for disruption, but i Don't know.  Thoughts?

Elspeth is a card I hadn't thought of.  Which one were you thinking of?  I saw Elspeth Tirel and thought it might have some synergy, but I don't like the thought of losing everything EXCEPT land in a deck where your whole purpose is to burn land XD. 

As far as Scepter, that is the card I've been thinking of cutting if I was going to replace anything.  It is very, very good at controlling the board combined with Ajani, it can keep your opponent stale for several turns.  Coupled with Nahiri, you can get rid of a lot of things.  But it's not a game-winner.  It's just an oppressive control card. 

[grollm]

If you're going to run Chalice of the Void, you definitely want to be running some Simian Spirit Guides. You almost always want to slam it on 1. I meant, big sexy lady Elspeth, Sun's Champion. I think you know already, but just to make sure; you know the trick to Boom // Bust right? You have a fetchland, cast Boom // Bust, chose your fetch, maintain priority, crack the fetch. Your opponent loses a land, you don't. I can definitely understand the scepter idea, but I just think it puts you into an awkward fetching situation. Like your deck almost always wants to slam Blood Moon on 3. Also another thought is Tectonic Edge. A trick that might not be initially apparent with Tec Edge, but is SUPER relevant. So if you have two Tec Edges in play and your opponent plays their 4th land for turn, you can activate one Tec Edge, maintain priority, then activate the second Tec Edge. You end up hitting 2 of their lands on 4. I was running a similar deck to this, but I was America Control. I was running Boom // Bust, Spreading Seas, Ajani, Nahiri and Emrakul combo. The same basic idea as this, but I was just f*cking up their colors, tapping down relevant sources, meanwhile Nahiri was ticking up, I was drawing a bunch of cards off Ancestral Visions and Serum Visions. Really fun deck!

[Mostlynotgay]

If you're going to run Chalice of the Void, you definitely want to be running some Simian Spirit Guides. You almost always want to slam it on 1. I meant, big sexy lady Elspeth, Sun's Champion. I think you know already, but just to make sure; you know the trick to Boom // Bust right? You have a fetchland, cast Boom // Bust, chose your fetch, maintain priority, crack the fetch. Your opponent loses a land, you don't. I can definitely understand the scepter idea, but I just think it puts you into an awkward fetching situation. Like your deck almost always wants to slam Blood Moon on 3. Also another thought is Tectonic Edge. A trick that might not be initially apparent with Tec Edge, but is SUPER relevant. So if you have two Tec Edges in play and your opponent plays their 4th land for turn, you can activate one Tec Edge, maintain priority, then activate the second Tec Edge. You end up hitting 2 of their lands on 4. I was running a similar deck to this, but I was America Control. I was running Boom // Bust, Spreading Seas, Ajani, Nahiri and Emrakul combo. The same basic idea as this, but I was just f*cking up their colors, tapping down relevant sources, meanwhile Nahiri was ticking up, I was drawing a bunch of cards off Ancestral Visions and Serum Visions. Really fun deck!

I know the boon trick. It's actually why I run 8 fetches. Tec edge too. But I never liked that one because you're burning your own land, too. I have a death/taxes variant that just does that. Burns lands and tithes everything.

I think I'm gonna try a few games with chalice in the deck. Losing scepter for it might make games a little easier. Getting it out on one with one helps with the quick decks, which I'm not good against. They seem like they both can be effective against the same decks, so maybe I main board chalice and have moon as side?

[grollm]

Check this out. Todd Stevens wrote a pretty good article about Sun and Moon. It's basically a WR prison deck. I actually went a little bit further in my version and I splashed blue to add some card draw. That's the major draw back to this kind of deck is if you fall behind or don't get your combo lock early enough it can be hard to get back in the race. I don't remember exactly what I did with my list, but if you're interested I'm sure I could brew something up. The stock list is pretty good though.
 
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/33919_Your-Guide-To-Sun-And-Moon-In-Modern.html

[Mostlynotgay]

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/33919_Your-Guide-To-Sun-And-Moon-In-Modern.html

That's actually an interesting deck, and brings up a few good ideas for mine.  I think the land control/destruction aspect of mine melds really well with the lockout/control of that deck.  I generally try to avoid copying/netdecking/using other people's decks, though this is modern so there really is no such thing as an "original" deck anymore (with maybe one exception https://deckstats.net/decks/42006/444997-you-re-picking-up-what-you-re-/en).  But I am curious to know how you were able to splash blue in a deck that slammed Moon down? 

I'm definitely going to try to work that deck in, though.  And I like the idea of chalice on 1.  Seems like it would hose a lot of the stuff that's hard to deal with.  I've never really had the chance to play it, but it seems like slamming it with X=1 would destroy a lot of the fast aggro or combo decks.  Especially turn one on the play. 

[grollm]

Yeah for sure. I like to look up deck ideas that I have to see if anyone else has tried it. Sometimes you can get some really cool ideas. I saw a Legacy list that was a BUG control shell, but it had 4 Crop Rotation, Thespian Stage, and Dark Depths. So it was like, oh you're a Deathrite, Leovold, True-Name deck... lawl jk get Marit Laged end step! To answer your question about splashing Blue it was a VERY light splash. I think I was running 3 Ancestral Visions, 3-4 Serum Visions, I was running 8 or 9 fetches, 1 Island, 2 Hallowed Fountains, 2 Steam Vents..something like that. You had to be very careful with your fetches and a lot times you would turn off your lands, but you wouldn't really care. Because you would go like turn 1 fetch Steamvents, suspend Ancestral Vision. Turn 2 play fetchland, hold back Lightning Helix, endstep fetch, probably grab plains, turn 3 fetch Island slam Moon. I dunno, I'm really good at mana fixing. I ran Czech Pile for months and never had an issue with getting my manabase messed up, even fighting through Wastelands.

[Mostlynotgay]

Revision 2

Added/removed cards:
-3 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
-4 Lightning Helix
-3 Mana Tithe
-4 Oust
-3 Scepter of Dominance
+3 Chalice of the Void
+3 Collective Effort
+4 Simian Spirit Guide
+4 Temple of Triumph
+2 Wrath of God
-2 (SB) Boil
-3 (SB) Ensnaring Bridge
-2 (SB) Kor Firewalker
-2 (SB) Terminus
-3 (SB) Wear
+3 (SB) Chandra, Torch of Defiance
+3 (SB) Crumble to Dust
+3 (SB) Leyline of Sanctity
+3 (SB) Stony Silence

Changed amounts:
+1 Anger of the Gods
+3 (Main) -3 (SB) Blessed Alliance
+1 Blood Moon
-1 Mountain
-3 Sacred Foundry

[Mostlynotgay]

another revision

Revision 3

Added/removed cards:
-3 Collective Effort
+3 Rule of Law

Changed amounts:

[grollm]

ohhh spicy! I like this! The Rule of Law is LIT