I think your summary about what Lurrus works with is good. I know our builds are fairly different so I don't include some of those but others I do and I agree being able to "double up" with Karador, to an extent, offers a bit more to the deck.shermanido37 wrote: ↑2 years agoFrankly I'm deliberating whether to include even more low cost things.
I like your redundancy for Diligent Farmhand, but it feels like too much of my creatures want to sacrifice themselves, and not enough are ETB bodies that I can utilize. For that reason I'm not letting go of Dryad yet.
I'll also say that Gary is not only a win condition for me with Reveillark and Karmic Guide, but it's just super clutch in my relatively aggressive meta. I can see excluding it if you have neither of those.
I can see the point of wanting bodies on the field so I will be keeping an eye out for that. My thought is that generally the bodies are good for blocking once which Triber Elder, Elk, and Farmhand still do. Now, the point of course is whether I leave them out there long enough to actually block. I might get a block in for that turn cycle but they aren't going to stick around long after that. It is a valid concern.
Gray Merchant has his uses. Since I don't use Reveillark (I do use Guide) my experience with it might be different enough. I have been finding I am finishing games with cards other than Gray Merchant and 5 mana to drain for 5 life per person isn't ideal. Granted, Kokusho, the Evening Star does that for 6 mana but it also includes a big flying body with it.
I think that is a reasonable assessment. Generally, I care most about being able to control the game and then have some haymakers to finish. And yeah, you might be right in that Archangel might be the more reasonable life gain effect.pokken wrote: ↑2 years agoThis particular build feels more like a Resolute Archangel deck for lifegain than Gray Merchant of Asphodel to me. If you look at the way @WizardMN selects creatures it's more about making sure the Karador cast is really impactful in the mid game I think than lots of little guys.
It's honestly a shame white doesn't have more powerful lifegainers on bodies.
With Crop Rotation and Diamond Valley you might not really need anything else,
Worth noting, I did cut Crop Rotation during the last "testing" changes. That isn't final, and it might be revisited. But the Diamond Valley interaction, more than any other, is one of the bigger issues I had with it. Especially since I also cut Knight. Again, these are not meant to be final or even indicative of a philosophy change; they were made to make room for increasing ramp. As I scale that back, which is likely inevitable, I probably add Crop Rotation back in. And I do agree that Diamond Valley (and Miren, the Moaning Well in a pinch) are the only real life gain I often need.