bi, trans, poly πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆ
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will either use way too many words or say absolutely nothing
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host of quiz nights & games tournaments
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have agoraphobia & anxiety (as well as sleep problems, caffeine addiction, depression, some undiagnosed stuff...)
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UK-based (unfortunately)


Anime Reviews, but Youtube
www.youtube.com/@YoshiAnimeReviews

Hey, anyone down to help me figure out a 75 for an MH3 release weekend Win-a-Box? πŸ‘€
I'm gonna be super reliant on stuff I can borrow/get from prerelease but I have spicy plans that I think should be good, and is fully designed to catch people off-guard before any (haha) Adaptations can happen.

So, Arcane Adaptation!


4x Llanowar Elves
4x Elvish Mystic
4x Wirewood Symbiote
4x Arcane Adaptation
4x Leyline of Abundance
4x Priest of Titania / Serum Powder
4x Pact of Negation
4x Wild Shape

4x Breeding Pool
4x {G Fetch}
4x {G Fetch}
3x {G Fetch}
6x Forest

Current list is something like this, which gets to 53 cards. Theoretical game plan would be start with a Leyline, t1 Elf, t2 Adaptation + Symbiote = infinite G mana, infinite +1/+1 counters on the t1 Elf. Needless to say, it's a super all-in combo deck that cries vs Bolt. Wild Shape is the best Hexproof option, with that in mind, because it can protect from removal or trample over a t1 DRC/Ragavan.
I think Priest of Titania / Serum Powder is a question of how all-in on the combo I want to be - and in the case of Serum Powder, likely adds Leyline of Anticipation as well. Maybe neither, maybe it's just more dorks/protection spells.
Royal Treatment & Swan Song seem like reasonable options here too, in an effort to protect t1 dorks (and if nothing else, sideboard is likely just a pile of these effects), and on that note, Birds of Paradise (or some other 1-mana dork) could help on consistency too. Preordain probably a pretty valuable option here too, since I'm already going into Blue for Adaptation & need the card quality. London Mulligan does a lot of work here & I'm almost always pushing for a starting Leyline if nothing else.

Obviously this could shift a little based on the rest of MH3, but I want to figure this out before that point so I can try to have some of the pieces in before the prerelease/release weekends. If anyone's got some inspiration to bring to this, lmk?


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in reply to @YoshiKyon's post:

This seems like a deck that Chord of Calling is would be helpful in, it’s really good at tutoring one mana combo pieces. I would also recommend having a Dryad Arbor as a fetchable mana dork combo piece.
eta: also I would recommend spell pierce over pact of negation. Your combo is cheap enough that you’ll likely be able to hold up the mana and spell pierce is useful on turns other than the combo turn.

Hm, not sure on Chord - 4-mana (or equivalent) feels like a lot for a deck that's coming out the gates this quickly - but that does remind me that Summoners Pact is an option for more Symbiotes. πŸ‘€
Not sure on Pierce in the main - if I'm on the play, I want to be all-in on the combo as quickly as possible (which is why I went to Pact of Negation instinctively), and on the draw, the biggest threat is Bowmasters - but I'm definitely going higher on things like Royal Treatment/Blossoming Defense in addition to Wild Shape now that I'm thinking on it more. And Pierce in the board seems to make sense to me, gotta have some response to the Rx decks Bolting~
e: forgot to say, 100% on Arbor, that's going straight in~

You could use Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy as a backup for Leyline maybe?
Pick your Poison and Endurance seem like obvious sideboard cards
e: maybe Force of Vigor too you really want an out for stuff like Pithing Needle

Kinnan would.. probably need testing - my instinct is that Leyline is the main piece I mulligan for, since it's so hard to cast in this deck otherwise, but Arcane Adaptation is the one with no alternatives right now, so maaaybe there's something there~
Was gonna say that I think FoV > Pick Your Poison, although both FoV/Endurance probably depend on how much I want to be reactive vs. proactive - honestly, rn, my sideboard plan is probably just "lots of protection/counter spells" and maaaybe Defense Grids

I like the suggestions of Infect pieces because it means I know I already have them. :P More seriously, though, Pendelhaven feels completely free to include, for sure~ Mutagenic... might actually be a consideration, considering it beats Bowmaster, Heat & Cut Down. Probably sideboard, at the very least.

Mirror Entity is a potential redundant piece to Arcane Adaptation, though since it consumes 2 mana per loop rather than 1, you would need either two Leylines or a Priest of Titania.

I do wonder if you would be better off running this combo package in a more traditional (Legacy-styled) elves build, rather than leaning in so heavily, but catching people off guard is definitely upside

Mm, I think longer-term, a more consistent Elves deck with the potential to combo would be better, but for a day 1 tourn, I think the surprise value has some merit. It's probably part of why I got hung up on Priest of Titania - it's almost certainly better further down the line, but offers a little less explosivity.

Mirror Entity... hm. I think, as a one-of, that's probably nice to have - relies on a second Leyline, as you say, so it's a little awkward to navigate, but if I have one Kinnan & one Entity, Chord can always find a missing piece (although... I still prefer Summoners Pact, which runs into problems with Entity, hm). And both can be cast off Hierarch/BoP, which probably replace some of the other dorks at this point - being Elves isn't actually that relevant in this build.