Samurai [Modern] (280 views)

[Tartarus]

I guess I'll post my Samurai deck for everyone's perusal.

Creatures:
Devoted Retainer x3
Isamaru, Hound of Konda x2
Konda's Hatamoto x4
Brothers Yamazaki x4
Kitsune Blademaster x2
Masako the Humorless x2
Nagao, Bound by Homor x1
Iizuka the Ruthless x2
Godo, Bandit Warlord x1
Takeno, Samurai General x1
Konda, Lord of Eiganjo x1

Spells:
Disenchant x2
Intimidation Bolt x3
Oblivion Ring x3
Master Warcraft x3

Artifacts:
Konda's Banner x1
Honor-Worn Shaku x3
Kusari-Gama x1
Oathkeeper, Takeno's Daisho x2
Tenza, godo's Maul
Tatsumasa, the Dragon' x1s Fang x1

Land:
Clifftop Retreat x4
Mountain x8
Plains x8

[Zaxinou]

Love the samurai theme. How many blocks ago is that set? And you only run 20 land?

[Tartarus]

I believe it was about 16 blocks ago, about 32 sets separate Theros and Saviors of Kamigawa, non-inclusive.

No need to run more than 20 land as I have honor-Worn shaku which, combined with the large number of Legendary permanents in the deck (I can have max 13 out at any one time), provides me with ample mana. The main problem with the deck is getting mana early enough to not instantly lose.

[Zaxinou]

So I could run less land because I have two Sylvan Caryatid?

[Tartarus]

Perhaps, you could also run Caravan Vigil to go get more lands (very useful early game).


The reason Honor-worn Shaku is beneficial in that way is because I can use legendary permanents to untap it, thus providing another mana. Sylvan Caryatid only taps for one and while that is a good ability, having only two makes it unreliable seeing as it's impact is greatest early game. However, if you ran 4 Caravan vigils, you could run less land as they go search for a land. That being said, you may want more land anyway depending on the deck.

The only way to find out is to play the deck many times and if you consistently have too much mana and not enough spells to cast, that is a sign that you have too many lands, the opposite is also true.

Remember, it is ideal to have exactly 60 cards in your deck as that maximises the mathematical likelihood of drawing any given card, so you don't want too many lands taking up draws and taking up slots for useful cards.

[Zaxinou]

I could just run Elvish Mystic. But I find people just kill those. So the hexproof on Sylvan Caryatid is good. Another good card is Lay of the Land.

[masamune]

i have a similar deck but with multiple of each legend and a lovely artifact card called 'Mirror Gallery' which allows me to play more than one Legend, Several Kondas and Takenos is extremely overkill rofl

[Tartarus]

I have considered it before, but honestly, i will never get to play them all. Generally how it goes down is: 6-7th turn - Godo, get tatsumasa. next turn, equip tatsumasa, play Master warcraft and kill my opponent with my 2 attack phases that includes at least 1 8/8 thanks to tatsumasa.