Dev, i've been subbed on ur channel 4 a lil while now. I've got 2 say, u got the best MtG advise on RUclips. Hands Down. Constrictor is my favorite creature in Standard right now & explore is perfect for it. Love the tech, keep it up.
With snake in the deck you can also get a bit of extra scope with 2 copies of my favourite card the awesome Durable Handicraft which also works with animation module. Also Forerunner of the Heralds is very useful in this deck to search up your explore triggers and an extra snake trigger to boot. Also driven/despair solves one of the big issues with the deck.
Been messing around with Enter the Unknown in several decks, and I definitely agree with you when you say that you'll miss it when you take it out of the deck. I feel like this is a sleeper hit in a variety of decks, not just explore decks.
This is the deck I've been brewing since Rivals was spoiled. I play Panharmonicon x2 in place of animation module, though after your deck tech, I'm strongly considering slotting it in.
It feels janky until you go off with it. It's the most fun you'll have. It nearly makes Growing Rites of Itlimoc playable. Rishkar is a better option for going totally bonkers. One thing Dev fails to mention is that Animation Module can put a Loyalty counter on a Planeswalker. Obviously, that doesn't come up often when playing so few copies, but it has pretty great interaction with both Planeswalkers. You can -3 Liliana twice in a row, ultimate her 1 turn after you play her. It lets you use Vraska's Exile ability twice without Vraska going to the graveyard or speeds up her ultimate from 3 turns to 2 turns. Animation Module earns its place in the deck if you're also running Path of Discovery.
so ive been build an explore deck around panharmonicon, path of discovery and constrictor and using the chupacabra. I can say getting the jadelight ranger out with this setup has wiped my opponents boardstate. and he's left with a 9/8 ranger to deal with.
Tomb Robber was my bomb at RIX prerelease. The explore is great when you draw a land, play it, then explore again with your new mana. It really helps mill through lands on the top of the deck.
I just played a similar build to the deck at my LGS FNM and went 0-4. This deck is great for cycling through your deck and making big creatures. The biggest weakness is against flyers and not being able to push damage through (Trample). I took out Path of Discover in favor Journey to Eternity to focus more on reanimation, but it felt clunky. I also put on Ghatla which I was able to cast for 2 mana due to having big creatures on the battlefield. I also added Rishkar to able to use creatures with counters as ramp. So next iteration, i will be taking out Journey and putting back in Path. I also picked up two copies of Driven / Despair, which give all creatures Trample and card draw @ sorcery speed. Then there is an aftermath effort which gives all creatures menace and discard power. Also thinking about putting in Rhonda to give specific creature trample. First iteration i was using: www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/919665#paper Also, great content and keep it up!
I play a similar deck I loved this deck tech. But I don't use the planes walkers and I use cartouche of strength in a play set. Trample and creature removal a buff. I found that once I added this enchantment my dudes got big and could walk over people and not be chump blocked by a token.
This deck (and variations thereof) has been so fun to play! It's been called the "Oprah" deck, "you get a counter! You get a counter! Everybody gets a counter!" Dev, any chance we can see some variations on this deck for the modern format in an upcoming episode? Maybe something to speed it up a bit? Elves/mana dorks? Idk... Anywho, such a fun deck! Many thanks!
I’m building like a Sultai midrange with Explorer creatures blue for hostage taker and Scarab God. Also looking at a couple Liliana and most importantly the deck is built around journey to eternity, which could have a place in this deck.
Definitely throwing in a couple of walking ballistas. Might consider adding blue for negate. Those pesky Approach decks drive me insane. Thanks for sharing Dev.
I think the discard suite will be plenty to do with Approach. You can always up the Lost Legacy count in the SB. If you're adding blue, you'll definitely want to cut Liliana for The Scarab God. That said, the Jadelight Ranger puts a surprising amount of stress on the manabase. Adding blue definitely adds to the inconsistency. You don't get Aether Hub like the Glint-Sleeve Siphoner variants.
I like this build. I have no planeswalkers and I have 4 Supernatural Stamina with 2 blossoming defense, but using planeswalkers to do the same thing as Super stamina seems more fun. Thx Dev! You Rock!!!
The deck is super fun and has many angles of attack. Sometimes you keep going thanks to Animation Module, others Path to Discovery eventually overwhelms the opponent with insanely large Shadowed Caravel and/or Wildgrowth Walker. I definitely agree that both the Snake and Enter the Unknown are critical to this deck, which would otherwise have too many dead turns.
Just bought this decklist and am loving it I swapped a Lili for a swamp tho cus after watching it be played on sideboard MTG it totally needed another land I think I could even go to 23 but I couldn't think of what I'd remove I also sideboarded lili so I didn't tolally get rid of her I totally got rid of lost legacy tho
I would like to see a Pirate Manace Mono-Black deck with Dire Fleet Ravager. Maybe it's a gimmick deck? I would also like to see a deck focused on Vraska, Relic Seeker.
i'm a huge fan of your content and very exited to mod my B/G explore deck ( not dropping chupa for now) and i play a U/G explore deck w/HERALD super fun good games , CHEERS! ....to a 100000 we go
The best thing to do with Explore in standard imho is to merge it with the "BG Constrictor" shell: Drop all the weak synergy cards like: Shadowed Caravel, Enter the Unknown, Path of Discovery, Animation Module and Tomb Robber. And add: Seeker's Squire, Rishkar, Peema Renegade, Walking Ballista, Verdurous Gearhulk and Blossoming Defense.
How about Journey to Eternity instead of say, Liliana? Protects your boosted creature until they have to remove it, and then they trigger explore and give you an avenue to get your creatures from the graveyard. I also want to try this deck out with Lurking Chupacabra, which I think now has the pieces it needs to see consistent payoff.
Well, yes, but Liliana can ultimate and wipe every non-zombie on the field, which would be everything she hasn't rezzed. It's a good way to overcome stalls.
I'd consider main boarding the heroic interventions and/or blossoming defense against control, which is common at my LGS, and swap Lillian for the G/B enchantment for more consistency and not fear an opponent's vraska's contempt.
CanaDaylen constrictor into panharmonicon into branchwalker = 4 explore triggers and a possible 8 +1/+1 counters unless you have a path out, then it's 6 explore triggers and a possible 12 +1/+1 counters, needs to run blue for herald of secret streams and make it unblockable... That's insane, I didn't think of that before
i had problems against energy mid game before the ban, so a buddy recommended panharm cause i had a lot of ETB triggers. i thought 4 cost would be too high for the deck, but holy shit did it ever do me work. there was a game where i was playing blue black control, and the board stalled, i hit a panharm turn four, played wildgrowth and constrictor turn 5 when he tapped out for scarab, and turn six i played another panharm and a seekers squire: seekers squire triggers 3 times, winding constrictor triggers 3 times for each +1+1 from explore, wildgrowth triggers 3 times for EACH explore the seeker does, then gets 3 winding constrictor triggers in each trigger. it's so hard to keep track of sometimes honestly. not to mention i gain a boatload of life from wildgrowth. i havn't had this much fun in magic in a long time.
I really liked the deck, but where is your Mono Green Stompy deck? I know you've been excited about it and I already have my list up. Looking to see what yours will look like.
Anyone else noticing he his talking to himself more... "come back to me" haha. Gameplay is tonight at 7 mst. Got some testing in with it already. Guys/Gals your going to like this..
As a newer magic player I have tried 2 of your decks and went 0-5 at FNM. Maybe I don't play the deck correctly but it would be cool if you had videos where you play tested the decks against the main standard decks. It would help me and maybe others a lot. Thanks
Ian Mai It is a card game, so there is luck involved in what you draw opening hand, mulligan into, draw. Obviously knowing when and what to play at certain times can make a difference, but also comes in time. Sometimes it's best not to play your entire hand, other times it is. Also, obviously certain decks match up well against others. Usually the more expensive decks have an advantageous edge because they have the best of the best $$$$ can buy. What decks did you struggle against most with?
check out Sideboardmtg... he runs devs decks... can see game play... and meta is not stable right now. plus 2 nights is not enough sample to dismiss a deck.... plus play testing helps you figure out your lines in different match ups
Yeah, I agree with what everyone's saying. SideboardMTG has great videos for play testing on Dev's decks. Also, don't sweat it too much, half of a great deck is an even better pilot. You've just gotta get more experience playing magic. You'll get there.
can you crew before exploring when it enters?, turn 2 vehicle (shadowed caraval) turn 3 jadelight ranger: crew before exploring when it enters for counters on the vehicle and explore 'counters' on the merfolk creature, can you do it and how does it work?
Koen Beeckman Caravel doesn't need to be crewed to get the counters, it's a static effect. If you really want to crew it though, it would be Jadelight trigger, respond with crew ability. Resolves, Caravel is crewed, then Jadelight explores twice.
Dev, I'm not sure cuz I'm on my phone, but in case you didn't already, could you add it so your viewers may add and review subtitles for your videos? I have some friends I'd like to share some of your decktechs with, but they can't make out English that well. Btw, we have a few different brews of budget Explore made up outta our draft fodder, so this was enlightening to say the least.
Maybe play a one of razakhet? If you luckStrike it gets graveyarded by explore triggers or the discard ability of tomb robber. Then if/when lili comes to the battlefield party, reanimate it and go fetch the best card of your deck for the low low price of 2 life. +Flavor win
You're right that Explore can have a hard time finishing games and that could be a solution. The problem is going 3 colors without Aether Hub or Spire of Invention. For the increased inconsistency in your manabase, you had better get something on the level of Scarab God. Other potential sources for those last few points of damage are Walking Ballista, Heart of Kiran or Verdurous Gearhulk for its Trample
Why not go all-in on animation module combo? Between the 2/1 lord and the explore enchantment, you're doing pretty hot. The 1/3 is nuts when you get things going, but I'd consider a mana accelerator (even the stupid 1/3 that taps for G from Kaladesh), as if you untap on turn 4 with the combo, you're going to have a good time.
XMage collapsed on this deck...lol, life total about 200, strongest creature on my side about 66/68 I dont know how many creatures i had, Vraska and Lilliana out, Path and Animation went into a endless loop and that was it :D wish you had a contact email so I could send you a screenshot, it was to funny....
Gilgamesh Gaming no joke, this is full of shenanigans. I think it will have a hard time answering control and board wipes. I've got 3 rangers an 3 robbers and i like the feel better. Robber just combo's so well with wildgrowth. Tried it against a modified merfolk deck and it led to a 7 turn board stall with a bunch of kumena 5 taps. Hedana's climb will help merfolk get out of that particular situation. But honestly, this deck will wet itself when it sees removal. I don't have any liliana's to spare but vital force nissa works as a good placeholder. Have an extra Vraska cuz she's bae lol. My favorite thing is vraska +2, path the pirate, get the +1 or +2 on growth depending on WC, pump with animation, path the servo, +1 or +2 the growth again, repeat animation growth pump till mana id gone. Hey, your up 30 life AND your hand is full? Sounds like a scoop to me XD
Ethan Johnson i have won, but not that many times I would expect, to many cheap removal spells in the format and everybody is running them, also cards that that wipe out the whole board, most success in this format till now I had with sultai aggro, very fun deck
I'm aware that this is trying to be a competitive deck and this is probably more of a Jimmy thing to do, but what do you think of panharmonicon in this deck?
I think the problem with Panharmonicon in a creature deck is that if you do play it on curve, when you want to, then it slows you down. Because you are wanting to put creatures out constantly every turn attempting to explore, I don't think you can afford to slow down for an artifact that does nothing when it comes down. Think back to when Kalitas was in the format, he was a great tell for any deck wanting to play creatures and what par they had to break to be in standard. Because remember Kalitas didn't even make it in to most main decks, usually in side boards but is obviously a great card. I think a good tell for that right now is Bristling Hydra/Hazoret. Is dropping a Panharmonicon against either of those cards on turn 4 profitable enough for you to win? That's up to you to figure out.
Is the Animation Module combo/Enter the Unknown worth dropping Verdurous Gearhulk and Walking Ballista? It feels more fragile and less consistent, but I'm wondering if you tested against this and what you found.
Animation Module pumps Planeswalkers so that's a side benefit. The question is which games are Verdurous Gearhulk going to win you that the rest of the deck will not? With the removal spells most people are playing right now, Verdurous Gearhulk is rarely a card that will turn a neutral board state into a winning board state. It's never a *bad* card, but it doesn't really break board stalls and on an empty board, it's just begging for a black or white removal spell. I think you can definitely make a case for Walking Ballista over Animation Module. It has a lot of flexibility. Animation Module combo lets you go ultra wide to break a boardstall. It helps you rebuild immediately after a sweeper. There are situations where Animation Module will win you games from an otherwise unwinnable situation. Verdurous Gearhulk won't do that, though Walking Ballista might.
Finally got around to playing this at FNM. Went 4-0. Life gain was too much for the two Hazoret aggro decks I faced, not to mention the insanely big Wildgrowth Walkers. Had a close game against an Izzet Enigma Drake deck. He got me down to 1 life in game one before I swung in for lethal thanks to Hashep Oasis (I play 2 of and 2 of Ifnir Deadlands rather than Foul Orchard). Then he mulliganed to 4 in game 2 and I won. Round 1 was against unblockable merfolk, but my lifegain and Walkers kept me in the game until he ran out of gas. The Path of Discovery/Animation Module combo is crazy. Soooo many triggers. I'd probably play this deck more if keeping track of everything didn't make my head hurt.
Kameron Franklin Yeah, I stopped playing it mostly because I was getting tired of going to time most games. It is tons of fun watching people read Animation Module over and over again.
Jade Bearer is very, very good. Enter the Unknown is only really useful if you can typically make use of the extra land drop. Merfolk can't effectively use that acceleration. GB Explore can really use that extra land drop effectively.
David Kadonsky It isnt about the extra land drop. Merfolk could use that. It is just that Enter the Unknown is not a good card - unless you have a payoff for it. And Jade Bearer is mediocre at best. A 1 drop that sucks on turn 1.
Lee Penrose it’s definitely the acceleration I’m thinking of. If you could drop Deeproot Waters on turn 3 and then put down a body the same turn, that would be awesome.
I know it's hard to justify its inclusion (for multiple reasons), but it hurts my soul to think of playing this deck without Lurking Chupacabra. If this deck gets online with Path of Discovery or Tomb Robber, OG Chup becomes a frickin' machine gun. It just kills things every turn and clears the battlefield for your roided up Wildgroth Walkers to swing in. With Tomb Robber, it becomes a repeatable Moment of Craving that you can use mid-combat too, which is just nuts. It's so fun.
dcnole That's a great thought if Merfolk or Vampires are running rampant in your meta. Merfolk won't have any answer to it, though Vampires can probably deal with it. Vraska's Contempt doesn't have a great target in those, so Lurking Chupacabra could settle into those slots after sideboard. I might give it a try!
Hey Dev just watched your deck get played. One question I have is why only 23 lands, especially with the three plainswalkers costing so much. Also how do you feel about Aetherborn Marauder in this build ?
It's just a matter of space. To support the 7 cards that get an effect from Explore, you need to run a lot of Explore cards. Chupacabra just doesn't fit. Could make a case for Walking Ballista.
So I played this deck a lot after watching this and it seems it has one very, very fatal flaw - If you cannot keep Wildgrowth Walker on the board, you just get ransacked by almost every other deck. I literally wen't 0-9 with this deck and it was only close one game when I got a WGW on turn 2 and played a lot of explore creatures. I got up to some absurd life total, around 40, and then got ransacked by pretty basic dinos. Really, the only thing making this deck anywhere close to good is somehow keeping a walker on board and that is a nearly impossible feat. Consistency is definitely 9, but I'd say all else tops out at 5 max. :(
i also destroyed this with my Orzhov artifacts deck at fnm. the problem with the deck is it has no way to play around chump blocks. no trample/flying ect...i did see one game where the same guy went against a spinx's control deck. The control player had like 6 spinxes out and swung with 2 of em every turn. probably did like 80 damage throughout the game, but sadly the 70+ life the explore player still had left made a 10 damage swing each turn incredibly useless. this deck works against people who dont know they gotta focus down the walkers, or against people who draw worse than you do. As for competative, it just isnt...and probably never will be.
Yeah, I played 4 more times and lost all 4 times. Even had 64 life at one point. One removal and the deck is just out of the game. If you do not win pretty much before turn 5, you mostly likely never will. But, as always, awesome video and it was a fun deck to play test with despite it being pretty much useless. Thanks Dev!
Josh Howard too elaborate on the previous comment explore isn’t really a strong enough mechanic to port over to modern there are just much stronger options in the format
Hey man, building a very similar token deck. Have you considered Path of Discovery over Liliana? I like the lower mana curve on it, and feel it's a little more resiliant.
Ornithopter just doesn't do enough to have a place in any deck. There also aren't a whole lot of 3 drops that would be game-breaking on Turn 2. You're aiming for a very unlikely opening hand combo for very little pay off when you get it.
David Kadonsky With any creature getting the ability to explore, there's the quite reasonable result of a 1/3 flyer plus an extra land drop and/or card filtering. Even later in the game where it works with Path of Discovery instead, that's good to have for 0 Mana.
Dev, i've been subbed on ur channel 4 a lil while now. I've got 2 say, u got the best MtG advise on RUclips. Hands Down. Constrictor is my favorite creature in Standard right now & explore is perfect for it. Love the tech, keep it up.
Dev's predictions are fire too.
It's simple: I hear Istanbul being sampled in the intro, I click the like.
pretty sure that was Constantinople
Congrats on getting to 75K! love the channel and the deck techs
Love your techs Dev as do a number of our regulars :) Keep up the great work and massive grats and a well deserved bump in subs!
You deserve to hit that 100k! One of the best magic content providers out there!! You're awesome!!
With snake in the deck you can also get a bit of extra scope with 2 copies of my favourite card the awesome Durable Handicraft which also works with animation module. Also Forerunner of the Heralds is very useful in this deck to search up your explore triggers and an extra snake trigger to boot. Also driven/despair solves one of the big issues with the deck.
Hi max, have you a decklist for this ? :) did you replace enter the unknown with blossoming defence ?
Dev for President.
Been messing around with Enter the Unknown in several decks, and I definitely agree with you when you say that you'll miss it when you take it out of the deck. I feel like this is a sleeper hit in a variety of decks, not just explore decks.
This is the deck I've been brewing since Rivals was spoiled. I play Panharmonicon x2 in place of animation module, though after your deck tech, I'm strongly considering slotting it in.
It feels janky until you go off with it. It's the most fun you'll have. It nearly makes Growing Rites of Itlimoc playable. Rishkar is a better option for going totally bonkers.
One thing Dev fails to mention is that Animation Module can put a Loyalty counter on a Planeswalker. Obviously, that doesn't come up often when playing so few copies, but it has pretty great interaction with both Planeswalkers. You can -3 Liliana twice in a row, ultimate her 1 turn after you play her. It lets you use Vraska's Exile ability twice without Vraska going to the graveyard or speeds up her ultimate from 3 turns to 2 turns.
Animation Module earns its place in the deck if you're also running Path of Discovery.
so ive been build an explore deck around panharmonicon, path of discovery and constrictor and using the chupacabra. I can say getting the jadelight ranger out with this setup has wiped my opponents boardstate. and he's left with a 9/8 ranger to deal with.
Tomb Robber was my bomb at RIX prerelease. The explore is great when you draw a land, play it, then explore again with your new mana. It really helps mill through lands on the top of the deck.
Could you put up a video of you playing this deck online? Really interested to see how these decks match up to others. Great channel man!
I like the build. I was brewing a version pre-rivals with Rishkar to ramp out all those counters.
I just played a similar build to the deck at my LGS FNM and went 0-4. This deck is great for cycling through your deck and making big creatures. The biggest weakness is against flyers and not being able to push damage through (Trample). I took out Path of Discover in favor Journey to Eternity to focus more on reanimation, but it felt clunky. I also put on Ghatla which I was able to cast for 2 mana due to having big creatures on the battlefield. I also added Rishkar to able to use creatures with counters as ramp.
So next iteration, i will be taking out Journey and putting back in Path. I also picked up two copies of Driven / Despair, which give all creatures Trample and card draw @ sorcery speed. Then there is an aftermath effort which gives all creatures menace and discard power. Also thinking about putting in Rhonda to give specific creature trample.
First iteration i was using: www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/919665#paper
Also, great content and keep it up!
I play a similar deck I loved this deck tech.
But I don't use the planes walkers and I use cartouche of strength in a play set.
Trample and creature removal a buff. I found that once I added this enchantment my dudes got big and could walk over people and not be chump blocked by a token.
3:45 "You get Texas ranger," quote of the year.
This deck (and variations thereof) has been so fun to play! It's been called the "Oprah" deck, "you get a counter! You get a counter! Everybody gets a counter!" Dev, any chance we can see some variations on this deck for the modern format in an upcoming episode? Maybe something to speed it up a bit? Elves/mana dorks? Idk... Anywho, such a fun deck! Many thanks!
I know where,my tax money is going, love this deck tech, thanks Dev
Sweet can't wait for Side board MTG to play with this!!!!
I’m building like a Sultai midrange with Explorer creatures blue for hostage taker and Scarab God. Also looking at a couple Liliana and most importantly the deck is built around journey to eternity, which could have a place in this deck.
Definitely throwing in a couple of walking ballistas. Might consider adding blue for negate. Those pesky Approach decks drive me insane. Thanks for sharing Dev.
I think the discard suite will be plenty to do with Approach. You can always up the Lost Legacy count in the SB. If you're adding blue, you'll definitely want to cut Liliana for The Scarab God. That said, the Jadelight Ranger puts a surprising amount of stress on the manabase. Adding blue definitely adds to the inconsistency. You don't get Aether Hub like the Glint-Sleeve Siphoner variants.
Lol. 0:00 I’ve actually played Istanbul in my band. I had to find the fiddle part on reddit.
You made it 75K! congrats my man.
i was looking at this deck when i saw the video was on. thanks dev
I like this build. I have no planeswalkers and I have 4 Supernatural Stamina with 2 blossoming defense, but using planeswalkers to do the same thing as Super stamina seems more fun. Thx Dev! You Rock!!!
I never thought of animation module. Such a great idea. Also, all my friends say I should add a copy of panharmonicon to the deck.
What about trying some Walking Ballistas?
The deck is super fun and has many angles of attack. Sometimes you keep going thanks to Animation Module, others Path to Discovery eventually overwhelms the opponent with insanely large Shadowed Caravel and/or Wildgrowth Walker. I definitely agree that both the Snake and Enter the Unknown are critical to this deck, which would otherwise have too many dead turns.
Literally laughed out loud at the walker Texas Ranger joke.
Eric Hansen me too dude.
Just bought this decklist and am loving it I swapped a Lili for a swamp tho cus after watching it be played on sideboard MTG it totally needed another land I think I could even go to 23 but I couldn't think of what I'd remove I also sideboarded lili so I didn't tolally get rid of her I totally got rid of lost legacy tho
YES! Was eagerly looking forward to this deck
Hi! With the Path/Automation combo as one of your fav's you might consider 1 or 2 Gruesome Fate - either for Main or SB ;-)
I would like to see a Pirate Manace Mono-Black deck with Dire Fleet Ravager. Maybe it's a gimmick deck? I would also like to see a deck focused on Vraska, Relic Seeker.
Loved Explore in Ixalan and I love it even more in Rivals.
i'm a huge fan of your content and very exited to mod my B/G explore deck ( not dropping chupa for now) and i play a U/G explore deck w/HERALD super fun good games , CHEERS! ....to a 100000 we go
The best thing to do with Explore in standard imho is to merge it with the "BG Constrictor" shell:
Drop all the weak synergy cards like: Shadowed Caravel, Enter the Unknown, Path of Discovery, Animation Module and Tomb Robber.
And add: Seeker's Squire, Rishkar, Peema Renegade, Walking Ballista, Verdurous Gearhulk and Blossoming Defense.
Dude you have awesome content.
I'm running this.. thanks Dev
hey Dev... what about Armorcraft Judge
I like wayward swordtooth here to play the extra lands you explores. It gets the city's blessing fast!
Can't wait for Sideboardmtg to play it
Elijah Kleinman monday night 7 mst
I would honestly run some journey to eternity in the deck to get those binned lands back to the field.
How about Journey to Eternity instead of say, Liliana? Protects your boosted creature until they have to remove it, and then they trigger explore and give you an avenue to get your creatures from the graveyard. I also want to try this deck out with Lurking Chupacabra, which I think now has the pieces it needs to see consistent payoff.
Well, yes, but Liliana can ultimate and wipe every non-zombie on the field, which would be everything she hasn't rezzed. It's a good way to overcome stalls.
I'd consider main boarding the heroic interventions and/or blossoming defense against control, which is common at my LGS, and swap Lillian for the G/B enchantment for more consistency and not fear an opponent's vraska's contempt.
Would Blossoming Defense find a spot in here for a little protection to the creatures that have snowballed? What would come out?
I really like this deck had fun with it so many times but I would love to see what you might/could do with a journey to eternity deck hopefully soon.
Sickness as always, thx dev. I'm tapped out
Haven't even watched it and I'm hype af
Adrian Velasco SAME
Same. Explore has brought me back to standard!
I have a pair of tendershoot dryads I run in this so I can explore during my opponents turn
Congrats on 75k
been playing this since ixa launch, gotta try it with panharm, shit is beyond bonkers.
CanaDaylen constrictor into panharmonicon into branchwalker = 4 explore triggers and a possible 8 +1/+1 counters unless you have a path out, then it's 6 explore triggers and a possible 12 +1/+1 counters, needs to run blue for herald of secret streams and make it unblockable... That's insane, I didn't think of that before
i had problems against energy mid game before the ban, so a buddy recommended panharm cause i had a lot of ETB triggers. i thought 4 cost would be too high for the deck, but holy shit did it ever do me work. there was a game where i was playing blue black control, and the board stalled, i hit a panharm turn four, played wildgrowth and constrictor turn 5 when he tapped out for scarab, and turn six i played another panharm and a seekers squire: seekers squire triggers 3 times, winding constrictor triggers 3 times for each +1+1 from explore, wildgrowth triggers 3 times for EACH explore the seeker does, then gets 3 winding constrictor triggers in each trigger. it's so hard to keep track of sometimes honestly. not to mention i gain a boatload of life from wildgrowth. i havn't had this much fun in magic in a long time.
Been waiting for this one. :D
I could not help but to chuckle at the walker texas ranger comment...
I think we need to squeeze in a few copies of rhonas to give our creatures trample
I really liked the deck, but where is your Mono Green Stompy deck? I know you've been excited about it and I already have my list up. Looking to see what yours will look like.
I like this I've been woundering how the explorer deck was going to turn out.
DEV! 75 k Hype
Anyone else noticing he his talking to himself more... "come back to me" haha. Gameplay is tonight at 7 mst. Got some testing in with it already. Guys/Gals your going to like this..
I played this deck and its awesome, but if you want to play more agressive exchange wimding constricor with lurking chupakabra
Where can I find the full art of those images?
Want to build this deck in MTG arena but they only hace ixalan sets, suggestion should I get for this deck insted of the cards from previos set?
As a newer magic player I have tried 2 of your decks and went 0-5 at FNM. Maybe I don't play the deck correctly but it would be cool if you had videos where you play tested the decks against the main standard decks. It would help me and maybe others a lot. Thanks
Ian Mai get dunked
Ian Mai
It is a card game, so there is luck involved in what you draw opening hand, mulligan into, draw. Obviously knowing when and what to play at certain times can make a difference, but also comes in time. Sometimes it's best not to play your entire hand, other times it is.
Also, obviously certain decks match up well against others. Usually the more expensive decks have an advantageous edge because they have the best of the best $$$$ can buy. What decks did you struggle against most with?
check out Sideboardmtg... he runs devs decks... can see game play... and meta is not stable right now. plus 2 nights is not enough sample to dismiss a deck.... plus play testing helps you figure out your lines in different match ups
Were the other players using, say Temur Energy or Red Rush?
Yeah, I agree with what everyone's saying. SideboardMTG has great videos for play testing on Dev's decks. Also, don't sweat it too much, half of a great deck is an even better pilot. You've just gotta get more experience playing magic. You'll get there.
played this deck in hybrid with BG snake and got me third. A hard matchup for me is UW cycling
TheKriskuan nice
since there is no card draw except for "land draw" wraths will be a problem with this deck imo, approach would wreck this easy too
I tweaked my version similar to this build , adding only liliana, death majesty. I already have vraska in the main anyway
can you crew before exploring when it enters?, turn 2 vehicle (shadowed caraval) turn 3 jadelight ranger: crew before exploring when it enters for counters on the vehicle and explore 'counters' on the merfolk creature, can you do it and how does it work?
Koen Beeckman Caravel doesn't need to be crewed to get the counters, it's a static effect. If you really want to crew it though, it would be Jadelight trigger, respond with crew ability. Resolves, Caravel is crewed, then Jadelight explores twice.
Help to upgrade for after rotation?
Any suggestions on Exploring GPG? I've been working on a deck but just feels a step behind.
Please do R/G monsters
Congrats Dev. 100k up next!
This deck needs to fit a couple driven//despair for the turn 4 or 5 swing fill my hand and empty theirs
Dev, I'm not sure cuz I'm on my phone, but in case you didn't already, could you add it so your viewers may add and review subtitles for your videos? I have some friends I'd like to share some of your decktechs with, but they can't make out English that well.
Btw, we have a few different brews of budget Explore made up outta our draft fodder, so this was enlightening to say the least.
Maybe play a one of razakhet? If you luckStrike it gets graveyarded by explore triggers or the discard ability of tomb robber. Then if/when lili comes to the battlefield party, reanimate it and go fetch the best card of your deck for the low low price of 2 life.
+Flavor win
What's would you do with timestream navigator? I am mono blue control and play Jace to provide ascend and card draw. I think this card is a sleeper
Please have some of your music available to listen too!!
it's possible sultai explorer ? with Herald of Secret Streams maybe to be
unblockable my creatures?
Julio Carrasco I disagree, because there would be a hard time trying to color fix, and herald would be the only good blue card for explore
You're right that Explore can have a hard time finishing games and that could be a solution. The problem is going 3 colors without Aether Hub or Spire of Invention. For the increased inconsistency in your manabase, you had better get something on the level of Scarab God.
Other potential sources for those last few points of damage are Walking Ballista, Heart of Kiran or Verdurous Gearhulk for its Trample
Mama luigi 😂😂love it dev
I am making a pioneer explore deck right now, the dream? Turn 1 hardened scales, turn 2 walker, turn 3 ranger = giga value!
Why not go all-in on animation module combo? Between the 2/1 lord and the explore enchantment, you're doing pretty hot. The 1/3 is nuts when you get things going, but I'd consider a mana accelerator (even the stupid 1/3 that taps for G from Kaladesh), as if you untap on turn 4 with the combo, you're going to have a good time.
What about journey to eternity in this deck? For the raw value and to bring back important creatures?
No Chubacabra?
Why are peices of paper so freaking expensive
Dalton Page Because of the things u can do with them.
Do not speak of such things. It is forbidden.
you could ask the same thing about money
Pieces of Paper arent expensive.
You aren't buying cardboard, you are buying the EXPERIENCE OF CARDBOARD - ExclamationPoint, Jul 3, 2017.
XMage collapsed on this deck...lol, life total about 200, strongest creature on my side about 66/68 I dont know how many creatures i had, Vraska and Lilliana out, Path and Animation went into a endless loop and that was it :D wish you had a contact email so I could send you a screenshot, it was to funny....
Gilgamesh Gaming no joke, this is full of shenanigans. I think it will have a hard time answering control and board wipes. I've got 3 rangers an 3 robbers and i like the feel better. Robber just combo's so well with wildgrowth. Tried it against a modified merfolk deck and it led to a 7 turn board stall with a bunch of kumena 5 taps. Hedana's climb will help merfolk get out of that particular situation. But honestly, this deck will wet itself when it sees removal. I don't have any liliana's to spare but vital force nissa works as a good placeholder. Have an extra Vraska cuz she's bae lol. My favorite thing is vraska +2, path the pirate, get the +1 or +2 on growth depending on WC, pump with animation, path the servo, +1 or +2 the growth again, repeat animation growth pump till mana id gone. Hey, your up 30 life AND your hand is full? Sounds like a scoop to me XD
it is a fun deck but now are so any cheap removals in every deck its really difficult to beat them...
Why hadn't you won yet?
Ethan Johnson i have won, but not that many times I would expect, to many cheap removal spells in the format and everybody is running them, also cards that that wipe out the whole board, most success in this format till now I had with sultai aggro, very fun deck
I'm aware that this is trying to be a competitive deck and this is probably more of a Jimmy thing to do, but what do you think of panharmonicon in this deck?
If I am allowed to give my opinion, I think it is an incredible piece but I think the 4 drops out-class it, sadly.
I think the problem with Panharmonicon in a creature deck is that if you do play it on curve, when you want to, then it slows you down. Because you are wanting to put creatures out constantly every turn attempting to explore, I don't think you can afford to slow down for an artifact that does nothing when it comes down. Think back to when Kalitas was in the format, he was a great tell for any deck wanting to play creatures and what par they had to break to be in standard. Because remember Kalitas didn't even make it in to most main decks, usually in side boards but is obviously a great card. I think a good tell for that right now is Bristling Hydra/Hazoret. Is dropping a Panharmonicon against either of those cards on turn 4 profitable enough for you to win? That's up to you to figure out.
I wish Tomb Robber was a 4 mana 2/3. It seems like it would fit the 4 drop slot better.
Is the Animation Module combo/Enter the Unknown worth dropping Verdurous Gearhulk and Walking Ballista? It feels more fragile and less consistent, but I'm wondering if you tested against this and what you found.
Kameron Franklin Animation combo, not really. I tried it while I was building a deck like this. EtU is SO WORTH IT
Animation Module pumps Planeswalkers so that's a side benefit.
The question is which games are Verdurous Gearhulk going to win you that the rest of the deck will not? With the removal spells most people are playing right now, Verdurous Gearhulk is rarely a card that will turn a neutral board state into a winning board state. It's never a *bad* card, but it doesn't really break board stalls and on an empty board, it's just begging for a black or white removal spell.
I think you can definitely make a case for Walking Ballista over Animation Module. It has a lot of flexibility.
Animation Module combo lets you go ultra wide to break a boardstall. It helps you rebuild immediately after a sweeper. There are situations where Animation Module will win you games from an otherwise unwinnable situation. Verdurous Gearhulk won't do that, though Walking Ballista might.
Finally got around to playing this at FNM. Went 4-0. Life gain was too much for the two Hazoret aggro decks I faced, not to mention the insanely big Wildgrowth Walkers. Had a close game against an Izzet Enigma Drake deck. He got me down to 1 life in game one before I swung in for lethal thanks to Hashep Oasis (I play 2 of and 2 of Ifnir Deadlands rather than Foul Orchard). Then he mulliganed to 4 in game 2 and I won. Round 1 was against unblockable merfolk, but my lifegain and Walkers kept me in the game until he ran out of gas. The Path of Discovery/Animation Module combo is crazy. Soooo many triggers. I'd probably play this deck more if keeping track of everything didn't make my head hurt.
Kameron Franklin Yeah, I stopped playing it mostly because I was getting tired of going to time most games.
It is tons of fun watching people read Animation Module over and over again.
Dev, what would you think of putting enter the unknown in the Merfolk deck, possibly instead of Jade Bearer or the Herald?
News and Brews You need payoff cards for it to be good. He explains it.
Jade Bearer is very, very good. Enter the Unknown is only really useful if you can typically make use of the extra land drop. Merfolk can't effectively use that acceleration. GB Explore can really use that extra land drop effectively.
David Kadonsky It isnt about the extra land drop. Merfolk could use that. It is just that Enter the Unknown is not a good card - unless you have a payoff for it. And Jade Bearer is mediocre at best. A 1 drop that sucks on turn 1.
Lee Penrose it’s definitely the acceleration I’m thinking of. If you could drop Deeproot Waters on turn 3 and then put down a body the same turn, that would be awesome.
David Kadonsky what’s your take on jade bearer? I actually do like it. It’s even a good top deck if you have a lord out.
I know it's hard to justify its inclusion (for multiple reasons), but it hurts my soul to think of playing this deck without Lurking Chupacabra. If this deck gets online with Path of Discovery or Tomb Robber, OG Chup becomes a frickin' machine gun. It just kills things every turn and clears the battlefield for your roided up Wildgroth Walkers to swing in. With Tomb Robber, it becomes a repeatable Moment of Craving that you can use mid-combat too, which is just nuts. It's so fun.
dcnole That's a great thought if Merfolk or Vampires are running rampant in your meta. Merfolk won't have any answer to it, though Vampires can probably deal with it.
Vraska's Contempt doesn't have a great target in those, so Lurking Chupacabra could settle into those slots after sideboard. I might give it a try!
Can you do Black/Red non- pirate aggro. I think the deck has a lot of good stuff.
Love this deck.
75k!!! Congrats
I would probably put in a few lurking chupacabras
Hey Dev just watched your deck get played. One question I have is why only 23 lands, especially with the three plainswalkers costing so much. Also how do you feel about Aetherborn Marauder in this build ?
Can enter the unknown work in Dino deck? (Ramp)
NOTIFICATION SQUAD DEV YOU'RE THE BEST
Where is lurking (ballista) chupacabra with constrictor and all that explore?
It's just a matter of space. To support the 7 cards that get an effect from Explore, you need to run a lot of Explore cards. Chupacabra just doesn't fit. Could make a case for Walking Ballista.
0:18 turn on subtitles death confirmed
Thank you dev
Black White Green Tokens with an explore subtheme?
So I played this deck a lot after watching this and it seems it has one very, very fatal flaw - If you cannot keep Wildgrowth Walker on the board, you just get ransacked by almost every other deck. I literally wen't 0-9 with this deck and it was only close one game when I got a WGW on turn 2 and played a lot of explore creatures. I got up to some absurd life total, around 40, and then got ransacked by pretty basic dinos. Really, the only thing making this deck anywhere close to good is somehow keeping a walker on board and that is a nearly impossible feat. Consistency is definitely 9, but I'd say all else tops out at 5 max. :(
i also destroyed this with my Orzhov artifacts deck at fnm. the problem with the deck is it has no way to play around chump blocks. no trample/flying ect...i did see one game where the same guy went against a spinx's control deck. The control player had like 6 spinxes out and swung with 2 of em every turn. probably did like 80 damage throughout the game, but sadly the 70+ life the explore player still had left made a 10 damage swing each turn incredibly useless. this deck works against people who dont know they gotta focus down the walkers, or against people who draw worse than you do. As for competative, it just isnt...and probably never will be.
Yeah, I played 4 more times and lost all 4 times. Even had 64 life at one point. One removal and the deck is just out of the game. If you do not win pretty much before turn 5, you mostly likely never will. But, as always, awesome video and it was a fun deck to play test with despite it being pretty much useless. Thanks Dev!
Erroneous Bosch it just needs a means of getting over chumps. if it had that it would be 3 times better
Journey to Eternity?
Blossoming defence and any of the many creatures have trample this turn makes this deck filthy.
How would you edit this for modern play? CoCo?
Josh Howard dont
Josh Howard too elaborate on the previous comment explore isn’t really a strong enough mechanic to port over to modern there are just much stronger options in the format
Hey man, building a very similar token deck. Have you considered Path of Discovery over Liliana? I like the lower mana curve on it, and feel it's a little more resiliant.
nice tmbg intro
Dev please do mono black flying deck
Hey Dev, do you have any decks in mind that can use Orinthopter and Enter the Unknown for turn 1 ramping?
snakeman830 how does that ramp
Ornithopter just doesn't do enough to have a place in any deck. There also aren't a whole lot of 3 drops that would be game-breaking on Turn 2. You're aiming for a very unlikely opening hand combo for very little pay off when you get it.
David Kadonsky With any creature getting the ability to explore, there's the quite reasonable result of a 1/3 flyer plus an extra land drop and/or card filtering. Even later in the game where it works with Path of Discovery instead, that's good to have for 0 Mana.
It doesn't drop lands, I think you misunderstand Explore or the concept of ramping.
Momo Mikoshiba Enter the Unknown gives you an additional land drop. I think you are the one misunderstanding here.
Guys it's back with the new golgari cards :)