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Ravid Talir

Throne Deck By
Almost
Almost+8760
Eternal Titans

+8

Cost Curve

Type

Faction

Information

Talir Combo with a decent amount of ramp and solid midrange units.
I've played this list in two ECQs for 19-9 and 18-10 finishes, but I unfortunately lost in the first round of the top 64 both times.

For anyone unfamiliar with the combo:
- Talir gives time units destiny.
- Last Chance allows you to draw a merchant from you void which is played immediately because it has destiny.
- The merchant allows you to draw Vodakhan from the market, and it is played immediately because it has destiny.
- With Talir + Vodakhan you can draw your entire deck. Last Chance and Devour don't have destiny, but they can be used to draw cards that have destiny.
- Once you have drawn your whole deck, you should have a full board and have Grinva in hand. it was not played automatically because it is not a time unit. You can play Grinva, and when asked what to sacrifice because the board is full, sacrifice Vodakhan. When vodakhan dies, Grinva will deal more than 25 damage to the opponent. You can also use devour to kill additional units if needed.
- Having an empty deck doesn't cause you to lose until the turn ends, and you can reliably win before the end of the turn.

I cut Initiate of the Sands during testing because of how often it was killed by Vicious Highwayman, Torch, Snowball, or other similar cards. If those cards are not popular, it can be played instead of something like Moonstone Vanguard, Talir's Favored, or Friendly Wisp.

Details

Shiftstone Cost
Does not include campaign cost
45,300
Premium Cost
212,800
Influence Requirements
3 3 3
Power Sources
20 11 12 15
Power Calculator
Shiftstoned Icon View Deck on Shiftstoned
Deck Rarities
20 23 17 11
Card Types
43 1 9 0 27
Contains Cards From Campaigns
Into Shadow [Set1004]
Archetype
Combo
Updated
February 27, 2019
Added
January 13, 2019
Views
4,415
Eternal Version
Balance Changes
BBCode For Comments
Deck URL

Revisions (Since last major patch) February 10, 2019

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Comments

hawo88 Eternal Version: 1.43.0.6161
Man, I want this BS to be nerfed again. Uninteractive stuff like this should not exist in the game.
IanHirst Eternal Version: 1.43.0.6161
Have you thought about Unraveler if Destinies in the place of Ravid, Insect Master? I've tried it in Talir Combo decks before and it's reeeeeeal good at making space on the board.
Almost Eternal Version: 1.43.0.6161
I haven't tried it, but it could be good. You might want it instead of Azindel rather than instead of Ravid though, since Ravid makes tokens that you can sacrifice to the Unraveler while also helping with the ramp-to-11 plan.
IanHirst Eternal Version: 1.43.0.6161
I saw your other comment about Ravid, Insect Master, does he do work in the deck? I have the shiftstone no problem, but I've never played with him, so I don't know if he's worth it. Thoughts? I have ~16k shiftstone, so 2x Legendaries isn't a big deal.
Almost Eternal Version: 1.43.0.6161
I like Ravid, but the deck definitely works without him, so it's up to you.
IanHirst Eternal Version: 1.43.0.6161
Is there anything in particular that he ramps you towards on turn 7, or is he just good at clogging up the board AND ramping? I also just noticed he gets any power card, not just a sigil. I have enough shiftstone that I'm thinking of making a set of Teacher of Humility for other stuff, but Ravid, Insect Master just looks so cool I wanna try it.
Almost Edited Eternal Version: 1.43.0.6161
The deck often wants to get to 11 power to play Talir + merchant on the same turn. Since Ravid can get any power you can get Amber Waystone vs aggro and Crest of Mystery in other situations, and you can get undepleted power if you want to hold up devour.
Also you can curve Auralian Merchant > Eternity Core > Ravid, Insect Master to clog up the board while you ramp.
scavenger Edited Eternal Version: 1.43.0.6161
Hi almost, thanks for sharing and thanks for the detailed explanation. I never played Talir combo but think I am going to give it a go soon.

One question:
I don't have Ravid and would like to avoid crafting such a narrow card. What do you think a useful replacement would be? I am not completely sure I understand the role of this card in the deck.

Thank you in advance!

Edit: Nevermind, saw your answer in an earlier thread below
Tel Edited Eternal Version: 1.43.0.6161
Thank you. So much. I love Talir, and when the Destiny mechanic changed I lost hope.

You brought it back. And it's firing on all cylinders.

<3
Beriadan Eternal Version: 1.43.0.6161
Hey my friend, Given the temporal meta that is emerging as well as times when I feld azindaddy/ravid didn't do enough I tried Mystic ascendant in the deck instead of those two, so far I am loving it as it helps out in the situations where oppt has gained large amounts of life and you don't quite have enough damage with just Voda/talir recursion. It also just wins out of nowhere if you play 2 minotaurs after playing it. What are your thoughts on this?
Almost Eternal Version: 1.43.0.6161
After you've drawn your deck, you can use last chance and/or devour to kill additional units. The sequence of devour + last chance + devour lets you kill vodakhan twice. If you have no devours in hand, you can sac Talir when playing Grinva and use last chance to return low-cost units and sacrifice more stuff to board size. Because of that I almost never have problems with opponents that gained too much life.

For temporal control, you can beat face aegis by killing a small unit before killing vodakhan, and you can beat fast removal by starting the combo with talir + merchant so that there is no response window, and then if you get a second merchant before the board is full you can grab stand together from the market. But if your combo hits spells too soon you can still have trouble vs fast removal + harsh rule.

That said, Mystic Ascendant is a good card if it survives, and it's true that it helps the consistency of the no-response window combo. I just worry that it will die before you can draw more than 1 card with it.
Beriadan Eternal Version: 1.43.0.6161
Thanks for the input! I am familiar with most of the intracacies of the deck. I mostly play it on stream so I'm not as tight with the lines of play as I'd like. I'll continue with the attendants, probably just because I love the grindy value of the card.
Scarecrow9black Eternal Version: 1.42.3
What's your thoughts on Roach instead of Sauropod? I like this deck for sure!
Almost Eternal Version: 1.42.3
Sauropod is primarily there to be traded for market cards since the deck will often play merchants 2-3 times per game. Given that clockroach has echo, it will still fill that role reasonably well. I chose Sauropod over roach because it has 5 attack to trigger Friendly Wisp. I guess the main upside of playing Clockroach instead would be that you can choose to ignore the combo and use last chance to keep playing moderately large clockroaches. I'm not sure how effective that strategy would be though.
Scarecrow9black Eternal Version: 1.42.3
Won a game earlier off the back of a few 9/9 roaches so it works ok. Thanks for the reply
Scarecrow9black Eternal Version: 1.42.3
I am Currently 3-2 with this change and am liking the deck so far. This is definitely a build that takes some practice to get the Mulligan down and can be a drag when hitting too much power. Other than that this really reminds me of the old Talir combo and is definitely a contender in the meta right now.
OnePoint Eternal Version: 1.42.2
I had the pleasure of playing against you and this deck during Stage 1 of ECQ. It was amazing seeing that Grinva finish. What are your thoughts about the deck's match-ups in the the competitive meta?

It would be really cool if you streamed some games with the deck - it would make learning the lines of play a lot easier haha.

Thanks again for sharing
ETrex4240 Eternal Version: 1.42.2
How neccessary is Ravid to this deck? I have literally everything else
Almost Eternal Version: 1.42.2
It's nice as ramp + chump blockers but the deck works without it. You could play more behemoths instead.
ETrex4240 Eternal Version: 1.42.2
*checks shiftstone*

How do you feel about 3 Lunar Magus?
Almost Eternal Version: 1.42.2
If you want to add a nightfall card I would go with the 4/4 that gives temporary power. Other than the merchants and ramp stuff, the rest is just random units that fit into the midrange plan
ETrex4240 Eternal Version: 1.42.2
Quick update, I think I am just bad with the deck, built something between your deck and Y0tta's, and I didn't win a single non-gauntlet game.
SasquatchBrah Eternal Version: 1.42.2
Just curious how long you practiced with this before the ECQ? It's probably the toughest deck I've ever tried to pilot; very easy to make mistakes with everything going on as you fight against the turn timer.
TheExaminer Edited Eternal Version: 1.42.3
The deck is not that hard to play once you figure out the basic strategy. All of your games are either "survive until Talir + Merchant turn" or "win with dumb time creatures". Sometimes you have to play to your outs by casting a naked Talir. Also, you have to learn when to chump with your merchant, because Merchant in the void has much more value than anywhere else.
Almost Edited Eternal Version: 1.42.2
I played a bunch of ladder games to tune the deck and also get practice on it vs common matchups.

I haven't had much of a problem with the turn timer, since you draw through the deck pretty quickly once you know what's going on. For combo turns, I like to count how many "extra" draws I have at the start of the combo from things like Temple Scribe or Friendly Wisp. As long as I have +1 draw I won't fizzle from drawing Grinva so I can confidently draw the whole deck and go for the Grinva kill. Then, while it's going through animations I can think about how many units I need to sacrifice to kill the opponent. Grinva + 2-3 spells left in hand after drawing the whole deck means that you can usually kill 3-4 of your units if you need to. As long as the opponent doesn't have harsh rule, you can usually get away with stopping mid combo if you are unsure about how to finish the combo.

If you end up with Last Chance instead of devour and need to kill extra units, you sac Talir when you play Grinva and then use Last Chance to return time units to hand.