Gapminder (in memory of Hans Rosling) Metashaker #9

Key insight: Emerald Salamander lands its buffs/damage after Mistral Guide moves it, and these buffs solve the main problem with comboing Guide + Path to Paradise + low-cost creatures by making you much more resistant to board clearing mass damage. This deck takes advantage of the Mistral-Path-Yak combo, but also lets most of the other cards play off of similar positional synergies, even if you don't have a Mistral Guide in hand. It is fun to make, and look for, gaps where you can launch an Emerald Salamander.

Playstyle: Usually aggressively play up the side, if the opportunity presents itself. Ultimately prioritize tactical positional play for value trades and board control, ideally leading to an unstoppable cluster of creatures near their orb. Open ocean can be nice, since that's the ideal place to land a giant flying ball of 5/4 or 7/4 creatures. That's part of the reason you try to play up one side, if possible. If you get the other elements early enough, a double yak buffed to 7/4 or even 5/4, plus another creature, can be decisive all on its own.


Justification for individual card picks and counts:

Defender of the homeland is a mini-yak combo in a single card. Still rather weak and situational, usually for end game. So there's just one. But it can save you and the synergy is nice when it works. Ideally use with Salamander to make them 3/4s, and the full combo (mistral-path-salamander) makes them 5/4s.

Earthcraft: Helps draw into your yaks/smiles, and smooths out the wonky land issues. Lets you accelerate while saving path for more strategic plays.

Soul Drain: Cleans up after fights and helps keep you alive against red combat control.

Crystal flower: The deck can handle small stuff well enough, but It needs a general solution to big problems like Seifer. Last Nightmare may be preferable, but overall I prefer the cost savings and the way the flower fits with the deck's 2-2-2 land needs. Can also end the game a turn earlier, at times, by removing one of your own creature swarm to make room for another attacker; since you can always have enough faeria for it on a given turn, if necessary, so I prefer it to Nightmare here.

Oradrim Fanatic: Adds to your creature ball, and can also clear itself or another creature off of Path to Paradise/make way for one more attacker from your creature ball. Repositions Mistral for ideal launch location. Repositions for Grappling hooks. Flash Wind may be better in some situations, but the deck is good at harvesting (in part thanks to these guys) so it can afford these guys and the numerous synergies that come with them.

Deepwood stalker: Combos well with path. Often survives its attack, and then becomes reusable with salamander buff.

Sagami Warrior: Great opening harvester. Also synergizes with Salamander and Path thanks to dash. Would also consider Axegrinder, and if you can fit both in the deck that can also be strong. (Axegrinder gains its buff if you land it next to a well with Guide.) Overall, though, I find the dash more useful, and you can play a Yak and a Warrior and a Salamander off of a forest.

Grappling Hook: Fits the 2-2-2 land profile. Only 1 though, mainly as a closer.

Iona's Smile and Mistral Guide x2: 2 seems like the right number of both cards to reliably get 3 Yaks and a guide, without over-drawing on these. If you really want the Yaks (which you do), you've got to restrict the number of other fliers sharply. A third mistral guide substantially interferes with your quest for 3 yaks, but if you only have 1 you can't afford to run any risks with it. So pack a back-up Mistral, but you don't need 3.

Path to Paradise-Sky Yak-Emerald Salamnder: The core combo. Notice that the Salamander +a quadruple Yak can also be very nice on their own. A glob of 4 5/4s with a salamander in the middle usually means a win, if played early enough.

Draw:

Hold Yaks and Smiles. Maybe hold a Sagami warrior, esp if you already have a yak and a smile.

Other:
Oh, and if you haven't heard of Hans Rosling, I highly recommend his work if you care about the humans. He made a fantastic tool for visualizing international development statistics.

http://www.gapminder.org/