There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
WG Legendary Monument
This is the first deck that I built on my quest to break Mox Amber. I figured I’d want Legendary creatures that cost one and two. Since Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter is the only at one mana (outside of Hope of Ghirapur which doesn’t work as it has no color), it looked like I’d have to build a green deck. I didn't want to play it in a deck that couldn’t utilize its ability properly, so we’re now looking at a tokens deck. Perfect, Shanna, Sisay’s Legacy is another card that works well with Mox Amber and with tokens, we have a shell. I could have easily gone for a ‘’traditional’’ Green/White Legends deck, but then I thought, what’s the best thing I can cast on turn two off Oviya/Mox or Llanowar Elves. The answer seemed to be Oketra’s Monument. That happened to be our source of tokens too! My first attempt at filling out the rest of deck included Rishkar, Peema Renegade and Oketra, the True; they were primarily there for Mox Amber, but were pretty bad on their own so I cut them. I also thought my deck was lacking interaction (in fact it had none) so I added Fairgrounds Warden. It happens to pair nicely with Teshar, Ancestor’s Apostle as well. Aviary Mechanic is the other non-conventional card here. We’ve seen it being played in old Oketra’s Monument decks, yet, I always thought it was a bit of a Magical Christmas Land kind of card. The idea is to have two, one in your hand and one on the battlefield and you loop them to make lots of tokens. I thought it would be much better in this build since I can run out the first one without being scared to lose it and then buy it back later with Teshar. It also works quite nicely with Mox Amber as it essentially will cost you only one mana, or zero if you have Monument. The rest of the spells speaks for themselves really. Legion Conquistador is fantastic with Monument, Lyra is just an amazing card, especially when it costs one less, Shalai is just a solid card all around, plays nicely against Settle the Wreckage. The manabase is pretty straightforward except for those Aether Hubs. If you look at the deck, I’m basically splashing for Llanowar Elves and Oviya, which are both one drops. That is not ideal when building your manabase, especially because the ally colors don’t have access to fast lands. Ideally I’d want a bunch of basic Forests, but the deck is actually fairly heavy on white cards, that is why I opted for Aether Hub and so far it's been fine.
The sideboard is extremely experimental, mostly because Standard is not as streamlined as Modern for example so you can’t just jam a bunch of Rest in Peace and Stony Silence and call it a day. Standard requires you to know your deck inside out, as well as all the matchups, learn how your opponents sideboard against you and so on. I essentially built a sideboard that’s just a bunch of cards I thought about playing maindeck and then I’m figuring out as I play more what makes sense or not. Thrashing Brontodon is a card I wish I could play maindeck since it works perfectly with Teshar, but I can’t find room for it, sadly. To close in on the deck. I would like to point that this is the best Mox Amber deck I’ve played and I’m not even 100% sure that it should be in the deck. It's very good when you do have the early Legendary creatures, but awful when you don’t and atrocious when you have multiple. For those reasons I’m tempted to think that the right number is two Mox. I will have to test it furthermore.
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Previous Articles · Meet the Massdrop Teams: http://dro.ps/mtg-team-announce · *2nd* at Pro Tour Ixalan: http://dro.ps/ixalan · Unclaimed Creature Types: http://dro.ps/ari-creatures · Why I Never Drop From Tournaments: http://dro.ps/eric-nevergiveup · The Art of Sideboard Construction - Sultai Energy: http://dro.ps/jon-sideboard · A Commoner’s View on Pauper: http://dro.ps/mark-pauper · Blue Moon Beach Control: http://dro.ps/scott-bluemoon · Top 5 Modern Decks: http://dro.ps/pascal-modern · Storm in Vintage Cube: http://dro.ps/ben-storm · An Early Look at Rivals for Standard: http://dro.ps/shaun-rivals · A Standard Approach to Evaluating New Cards: http://dro.ps/rob-newcards · Drafting Rivals of Ixalan: http://dro.ps/tim-ixalan · Team Sealed Secrets: http://dro.ps/eric-secrets · Steal My Standard Ideas: http://dro.ps/tommy-secrets · Vexing Devil. Any Questions?: http://dro.ps/jon-devil · Team Massdrop Rivals of Ixalan Limited Primer: http://dro.ps/ari-primer · Gestation of RG Eldrazi: http://dro.ps/ben-gestation · Top Tim Tournament Training Tips: http://dro.ps/tim-tips · What Makes Someone Bogle?: http://dro.ps/tommy-bogle · A Pauper Adventure: http://dro.ps/pascal-pauper · Blue Moon at GP Phoenix: http://dro.ps/rob-bluemoon · Brawling into Dominaria: http://dro.ps/scott-brawling · Looking at The Current Lands(cape) of Legacy http://dro.ps/jarvis-land · Deconstructing Dominaria Limited: http://dro.ps/jon-dominaria · Diving into Dominaria Standard: http://dro.ps/mark-dominaria · What are your.. drives?: http://dro.ps/tommy-drives · Top 10 Cards for Dominaria Modern: http://dro.ps/rob-dominaria