Sword of Fire and Ice in R/g

[bebe]

A few people have been discussing where Sword of Fire and Ice might fit well. I've recently been testing it in this build. I have gone without power but of course it can be easily added.

Mana (25)
4 Taiga
4 Treetop Village
4 Wasteland
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Mountain / Mox
3 Forest / Mox
1 Chrome Mox / Lotus
1 Sol Ring *
1 Strip Mine

Burn (10)
4 Incinerate
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Stormbind *

Creatures (19)
4 Kird Ape
4 Blurred Mongoose
3 River Boa
3 Gorilla Shaman
3 Call of the Herd
2 Grim Lavamancer

Utility (7)
4 Naturalize
3 Sword of Fire and Ice *

sb: (15)
4 Red Elemental Blast
4 Artifact Mutation
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Krosan Reclamation
2 Flametongue Kavu  

The build itself is pretty standard with the exception of the addition of Sol Ring, Stormbinds and the Swords. These fill in slots that have been used by Scrolls,Sylvan and/or hate. Stormbind works well with the Grims and the Swords and the deck has decent game in most matchups. I am wondering if this configuration or one like has been tested by others. One of the problems with the Ontario metagame is its randomness so real tournament testing against tog, Slaver, etc., sometimes just doesn't happen. In our in-store testing the deck was competitive and the Swords worked quite well. My fear was that they might be a little to slow to be effective but Strips and Shamans and Naturalizes were usually enough to hold off an opponent until they kicked in.
I have not worked too hard on the sideboard as I fear Dragon and Workshop most and feel the side can solidify those match ups.

[ReAnimator]

I have a deck together similar to this right now but i approached it a different way, i just threw in more burn and added skullclamps, it just lets you burn out your opp much faster than the sword of F/I.
 The clamp also has wicked synergy with mongrel, stormbind, and lavamancer more so than the sword.  sorry if this is contradictory to the posts idea its just what i found in testing.

[kirdape3]

Sword's place really isn't as a Mana Drain target (which it's an enormous one in this deck), but as a Workshop piece to allow protection from Welders and things.

[TheSupaKorean]

With power the SoF/I is def playable but still on the slower side.  Without power it seems to be way too slow for the current top decks.  I haven't tested it in R/G Stompy yet, but have tried it in other decks and it has been an mvp in mono green land d and fairly good in many different artifact heavy creature base decks.  

Stormbind is an interesting choice in this deck.  Seems to be too slow for what the deck wants to do, gain advantage early

[BreathWeapon]

The problem with the Sword is that Null Rod is more important in 90% of most budget decks. You can't play it in a deck with out acceleration of some sort, which pretty much narrows things down to Suicide and Tubbie decks, and the Rod is probably better in Suicide anyway. Its too slow to be of any signifigance against the match ups Null Rod improves, and short of fueling Stacker I think the card is completely over rated.

[Methuselahn]

The problem with the Sword is that Null Rod is more important in 90% of most budget decks. You can't play it in a deck with out acceleration of some sort, which pretty much narrows things down to Suicide and Tubbie decks, and the Rod is probably better in Suicide anyway. Its too slow to be of any signifigance against the match ups Null Rod improves, and short of fueling Stacker I think the card is completely over rated.

I would disagree.  Null Rod is not more important than the Sword.  First off, Null Rod does something completely different to further a deck towards victory.  Sword gives RG beatdown more control, better odds vs aggro mirrors, and makes all the threats in the deck absolute must counters.  As far as your 2nd and 3rd statement, bebe mentioned: My fear was that they might be a little to slow to be effective but Strips and Shamans and Naturalizes were usually enough to hold off an opponent until they kicked in.


I have to question the Stormbind, but I'll take bebe's sage wisdom on this one.  Is Blurred Mongoose really that kind to you??  Call of the Herd could be replaced with Troll Ascetics.  I've never liked Chrome Mox in RG beats, with or without power.

[Tobi]

I also think the Null Rod does little to help, the deck already has enough artifact hate.

The Scrolls are an important part that provide colorless damage and an alternative to the beatdown mode, which adds to the flexibility of the deck.
Sword of Fire and Ice does what the Scrolls do (more or less) and add the extra bonus of +2/+2, protection red/blue and card draw. It seems ridiculous and just to good to leave it out.
Though, it is slow, costs 3+2 and needs a creature.

slow: Scroll is also slow and needs almost the same mana to operate.
needs creature (that is targetable): Cut one Mongoose, add a Boa.

The deck can support Troll Ascetics despite them needing 2 green (Treetop Villages help, too), though I would not use more than 2. Of course they have awesome synergy with the Sword. A mix of Ascetics and CotH in the 3cc slots is fine, depending on Meta and mood.

Chrome Mox is not one of my favourites, I would play a Lotus Petal if I was lacking power.

I have no experience with Stormbind. It seems to be ok, but does not convince me. When using the Swords I would prefer to have more creatures and less 3cc spells.

On a final note, this deck is not centered on speed. Winning takes several turns and the disruption takes you there. The Sword, in theory, helps a lot to achieve both, but testing has to prove this.

[Rane]

The point is Null Rod is infinitely better for R/G decks and it pretty much HAS to go in.  It doesn't allow sword to be useful at all.  Add to this it's extremely slow speed, being an artifact in the heavy art-hate era, being a mana drain target, being inconsistently useful, ebing a Timewalk if countered, and being a terrible TD in R/G... I wouldn't touch this with a ten foot pole outside of tog mirror.

[Tobi]

Ah right, Tog matchup (not mirror) is another reason to test the Sword.
Counting the Psychatogs in the latest top 8 lists leads to tuning decks against teeth.

[Gothmog]

I tend to agree that Null Rod is much more useful against the difficult matchups for RG decks than Sword, but fortunately if you play Red, you have access to high quality disruption against good decks without playing Null Rod:

Blood Moon & Pyrostatic Pillar

So bebe, I'd consider building around one or both of those if you want to play Sword.  Using those cards as disruption allows you to not play Null Rod and still have some game against Combo.  For Workshop decks, I think you'll have a tougher time Game 1, though not unwinnable, but Game 2 & 3 should be favorable with the very high quality hate you have (Artifact Mutation).

[bebe]

I tend to agree that Null Rod is much more useful against the difficult matchups for RG decks than Sword, but fortunately if you play Red, you have access to high quality disruption against good decks without playing Null Rod:

Blood Moon & Pyrostatic Pillar
 

Both the Blood Moons and Pillars were tested. I know that TPS is going to be rough but other combo decks are manageable after sideboard and not bad before. Naturalizes are powerful equalizers alomg with Shaman. Control has a lot of must counter cards in this build and Tog does not like the Sword.

The point is Null Rod is infinitely better for R/G decks and it pretty much HAS to go in. It doesn't allow sword to be useful at all. Add to this it's extremely slow speed, being an artifact in the heavy art-hate era, being a mana drain target, being inconsistently useful, ebing a Timewalk if countered, and being a terrible TD in R/G... I wouldn't touch this with a ten foot pole outside of tog mirror.

No Rods do not have to go in.
Blood Moon does not have to go in.
Mana Drain is a problem for any deck.
Artifact hate takes out Scrolls too.
Look. The Swords are NOT replacing Rods. I don't know which R/g decks you have faced but Rods are generally not used to allow for Scrolls. Swords is replacing these Scrolls. Certainly I'm concerned with Drains. Most decks are. But I'll play out threats before the Swords that must be countered as well so I can get it through.

The deck can support Troll Ascetics despite them needing 2 green (Treetop Villages help, too), though I would not use more than 2. Of course they have awesome synergy with the Sword. A mix of Ascetics and CotH in the 3cc slots is fine, depending on Meta and mood.

I think you might be right. I did not like the double g but I'll add a Boa and two Ascetics for testing and remove one CotH and two Mongeese. This should spread my threats nicely and might improve a few match ups.
So here is what I'm going to do ...
- 1 forest
- 1 mountain
- 2 mongoose
- 1 coth

+ 1 petal
+ 1 mana crypt
+ 2 troll ascetic
+ 1 river boa

I have a deck together similar to this right now but i approached it a different way, i just threw in more burn and added skullclamps, it just lets you burn out your opp much faster than the sword of F/I.
The clamp also has wicked synergy with mongrel, stormbind, and lavamancer more so than the sword. sorry if this is contradictory to the posts idea its just what i found in testing.

I repect your ability and know you are a capable player but remember who talked you out of blue in FCG? Yes the Clamp is a great card. I would use it in a Goblin Sligh build - I brought a test deck to Vintage and should have played it - but not in this arch type. SoFI has wonderful synergy with this deck. The mana base might need a bit of tweaking though. I'm thinking of dropping a Mountain and a Forest for a Petal and Crypt in the budget version. That should help aqccelerate the deck without compromising the mana base too much.  

I have always found it somewhat amusing that people want a deck that will beat everything. Every deck has weaknesses against one arch type or another. This particular build has game against most of the popular arch types out there.

[Gothmog]

I see where you are going now bebe.  Personally, I hate pretty much conceding any matchup, but you are right, that is sometimes the thing to do if your other matchups can be strong enough.

I like very much the 4th Boa and fewer Mongeese.  The Troll Ascetics are solid additions also.

Do you find the 4 Treetop Villages are too many sometimes?  I've always been leery of running 4, as I hate essentially missing a first or second turn land drop because you had to play Village, but they are great late game.

Last thing, have you tried Meteor Storm in place of the Storm Binds?  Just thinking out loud, but its less of a Drain target, though the 4 mana activation versus 3 may be an issue.

[waSP]

Bebe, how is ths deck functioning in terms of play style.  In which matchups are you the beatdown and in which matchups do you play control?

Are the FtKs for TnT or for aggro in general.

I think that a build with SofI should consider Hystrodon (or another trampler) or Fledgling Dragon (best 4cc beatstick ever) or any other evasive creature (that is reasonably costed).  Evasion makes that card fully effective.

[bebe]

Against any control deck I will initiate the beats as fast as possible. This holds true for tog, landstill and keeper. Against combo and mud I play a little more conservatively as I cannot outrace them and use my mana for wasting their resources with Bolts ( welders ), Naturalizes and Strips supplemented by Shamans. Now against aggro and aggro control I walk a fine line. I want threats with SoFI on board, Grims, and a Stormbind as fast as possible. The deck can burn away a lot of creatures quickly when it gets going and early Bolts and Incinerates just supplement the attack.
FtKs rock against O. Stompy, aggro and TnT. I love them and Specialk showed me their tempo bost when he played UrPhid. They can swing games fast.
Hystrodon is very appealing. I just never thought of it. I like it because game one you don't know what's coming and as a supplement to SoFI it looks very strong. Maybe I can fit two in there. SoFI works with the Boas and Trolls so chumping my creatures will punish my opponent. BTW, the Villages trample but I hate wasting mana on the Swords and activation each turn until mid game when I have resources built up.
I'm glad you responded Wasp as you probably are the king of r/g around here and I am always open to your input.

I will mention this again ... The deck has been tested in-store. We've played a lot of games but it is not the same as a tournament. We tested Belcher in store and I thought I would be walking to top eight but the meta and draws killed me. So until a big tournament test this deck is IN development. Yes, it looks promising and I think SoFI needs further testing in the build to find the ideal mix of cards.

[johnstown713]

Im not sure if this was already asked but why exactly is artifact mutation in the board.  Wouldn't you play it over naturalize?  It seems like the maindeck token advantage would be a big plus for R/G beats.

[waSP]

There are enchantments out there that you don't want to be staying on the board (the most obvious, Survival of the Fittest).  It gives you game against combo decks that you shouldn't have game against (Illusions of Grandeur, Animate Dead and its likenesses, Future Sight).  The cost is much less prohibitive as well (this deck is suprisingly prone to color screw).

Bebe, I'm sure you've seen me saying this before, but the 26 card manaa base is almost unquestionable for me (unless you cut a Treetop).  Your accelerants are suprising in that respect.  I also really dislike Stormbind (a place for excess land, but Cursed Scroll fits in really well as well.  Have you tested the two cards and found Stormbind to be better as a 2 of than Cursed Scroll.  Or is it a reaction to the higher amount of symmetrical draw in the metagame.  I also feel like your burn count is a little low (I like the threat count).

Bebe, have you ever had trouble beating URphid or Landstill, I'm not sure I've lost to either of those decks in about a year (between 20-30 matches).

btw, Sol Ring is unquestionable in this deck, it always goes in.

[GodzillA]

Interesting stuff you're working on Bebe. A few weeks ago I also began considering the Sword's potential usefullness in a Stompy-esque build. I'd been working on a more classic Stompy build, and realized that the Sword could provide the extra punch needed to win certain matchups. The direct damage effect is priceless in aggro, and the pro blue/red is very good both against control and aggro. Further, the Ophid effect provides much needed card draw in a deck which traditionally lacks it.

I decided that the deck needed a better game against control in general, particalarly Landstill. I took a cue from BigO and did some testing with Troll Ascetic, and it proved highly valuable as well. My final product was similar in many ways to your build, although there are some distinct differences. Partially, this is due to the fact that I was developing my build for a 1.5 environment. The reason I felt it relevant to post my build here is because it might give you some ideas for your own build. Also, the majority of the underlying design concepts translate smoothly to a T1 environment.

After deciding to add Sword and Troll, I began realizing that for these threats to be particularly effective against control, they'd have to be accellerated. For decks like Stacker, this isn't much of a problem because of Workshop. Interestingly, R/G has similar accellerants available to it, even in 1.5. My build is running 8 ways to resolve a second turn Ascetic or Sword, in the form of ESG's and Orcish Lumberjacks. At first glance, the concept might seem absurd, but testing has shown the concept to be exceedingly effective. By turn 2, it's quite possible not only to resolve Sword, but to have it equipped as well.

To support this theory, the deck is required to run a higher land count than typical Stompy, and various other card choices were based upon these changes. The end result is a deck that clearly has its roots in R/G Stompy, but is in fact an entirely different deck.

Again, let me say that this deck is 1.5, and is listed here in the hopes that it might provide some ideas. It's had a lot of testing in 1.5, and in general has a very strong game against both control and aggro of all kinds. Landstill, U/R Phid, Keeper, etc. are actually favorable matchups. The deck is untested in T1 and would obviously require some changes to be viable in Vintage. Enough ranting. The decklist:

Sword of Stompy (a.k.a. Sorta Stompy)

// Mana
    6 Forest
    4 Windswept Heath
    4 Wooded Foothills
    4 Taiga
    4 Wasteland
    4 Elvish Spirit Guide
    4 Orcish Lumberjack

// Creatures
    4 Kird Ape
    4 Skyshroud Elite
    4 Grim Lavamancer
    4 Troll Ascetic

// Spells
    4 Lightning Bolt
    4 Rancor
    3 Naturalize
    3 Sword of Fire and Ice

// Sideboard
SB: 4 Red Elemental Blast
SB: 3 Blood Moon
SB: 3 Rack and Ruin
SB: 1 Naturalize
SB: 4 Tormod's Crypt

As soon as you get done laughing, load it up in Apprentice and give it a try. It's surprisingly consistent and versatile.

[bebe]

Have you tested the two cards and found Stormbind to be better as a 2 of than Cursed Scroll. Or is it a reaction to the higher amount of symmetrical draw in the metagame.

The answer is yes and yes. Stormbind works with both the Grims and SoFIs quite well. I like the Scrolls but found Binds better in this deck.

but the 26 card manaa base is almost unquestionable for me (unless you cut a Treetop). Your accelerants are suprising in that respect

The mana base is a work in progress. I have revamped it to 26 sources of mana in the most recent test. Obviously moxen would help. In fact I might use more than just two moxen in powered build to accelerate. That said the Crypt has helped and I do like Chrome Mox, BTW, for a deck without power.  

4 Taiga
4 Wasteland
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Bloodstained Mire
3 Mountain
3 Forest
2 Treetop Village
1 Lotus Petal
1 Chrome Mox
1 Mana Crypt  
1 Sol Ring
1 Strip Mine

Yes the deck is prone to mana screw at times as you need to find the right color source. Treetop's are mid game creatures at their best and I found they slowed the deck down too often. I feel two is the proper the number in this deck.

I also spent part of last night testing the creature base again ...

4 Kird Ape
3 River Boa
3 Gorilla Shaman
2 Troll Ascetic
2 Hidden Gibbon / Blurred Mongoose - meta dependent
2 Grim Lavamancer
2 Hystrodon

I reluctantly dropped CotHs as they really were the weakest creature overall.  I added two Hystrodons which are great when I find them. I  find myself a bit heavy in the two slot so Gibbons became possible replacements for Geese ( and old and powerful main stay of my old stompy decks filled in a few slots ) came in for a one drop threat.

This left me with this utility ...

4 Naturalize
3 Sword of Fire and Ice

I also feel like your burn count is a little low (I like the threat count).

Well my standard burn is ten cards ...

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Incinerate
2 Stormbind

This is supplemented by two more Grims. I rarely am without some kind of burn available.

4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Orcish Lumberjack

Ha. Old School acceleration. I used this in my old school beats deck supplemented by Tinder Walls. I got second turn Shivans on the table. My problem is that with my deck I need permanent mana sources. Playing old School I often used up my mana sources if my opponent dealt with the first threats.

I like the deck for 1.5  Godzilla - well I usually like your decks - but I have reservations about its portability to type 1. First there is really not enough burn. Rancor should be burn to clear a path for your creatures. I like a mix of Trolls and Boas as a more efficient mana curve.  Four Grims seems excessive. I like Grims but often wish I pulled something else. in this deck they do not enhance the SoFI much. Skyshrouds are good in 1.5. In type 1, I think Shamans  are mandatory.

The last Stompy varient i played at a tournament was ...

4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Savannah Lions
4 River Boa
4 Rogue Elephant
3 Hidden Gibbons
3 Quirion Ranger

4 Rancor
4 Giant Growth
3 Wax/Wane

3 Swords to Plowshares
1 Seal of Cleansing

 / 3 Sword of Fire and Ice * ( berserks  and seals )

4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Land Grant
4 Forest
4 Savannah
4 Windswept Heath

Sideboard:
3 Serenity
3 Absolute Law
3 Null Rod
2 Absolute Grace 2 Choke
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Swords to Plowshares

However, i do not know if the deck as well with SoFI as R/g. Repalcing Berserks and Seals in a deck so mana light could be a big problem so I went r/g.

[GodzillA]

Looks like we're on the same page, Bebe. I was kinda tired and didn't have the energy last night to make suggestions concerning the conversion of my build to T1, but it appears we agree on nearly everything.

Namely:

1. Rancor should probably be dropped for Incinerate, unless you've got a very creature-heavy meta.

2. Shaman definitely needs to be in the main. Skyshroud Elite is the right call for replacement here.

3. We disagree somewhat on Grim Lavamancer. Note that my build is running 8 fetches and 4 Wastes. That alone provides fuel aplenty for Lavamancers. Add to that the fact that you're often sending your own Forests to the yard with Lumberjack and he's got plenty of food. Part of the reason for running 4 is for redundancy as well. He's often a prime burn target, so I really don't mind having extras. However, in T1, there tends to be less creature removal, so I could see dropping him to 3.

4. Another place we disagree is Boa over Troll for curve smoothage. I've tested them both and my feeling is this: for all intents and purposes, Boa is 3cc, because you need to have open mana for regen when you cast him. This isn't the case with Troll. As a matter of fact, you almost never need to invest mana in regenerating the Troll because he almost never takes damage. The implied threat of regeneration keeps people from blocking him. After attack phase, you can comfortably tap out and cast more threats, knowing that yout Troll is safe until next turn. Add to that its greater power and it seems like a no-brainer. I mean sure, Boa has Islandwalk, but which does control typically have more of: blockers or targetted creature removal? Ascetic's ability appears to have much more relevance, in my mind.

5. With regards to potential mana problems caused by Lumberjack, note that the deck is running 22 lands, and 4 other accellerants. Compare that to the fact that the vast majority of its threats are in the 1cc range, and you'll find that the curve actually works rather perfectly. You sac a forest to get one or two 3cc threats out early. Even if those threats are removed somehow, you're doing fine as long as you've left yourself a single land to work with.

6. Lastly, for proper T1 conversion, you'll probably want Null Rod in the board. Most decks that Sword isn't good against, Null Rod is. (I presume we agree on this.)

So, for the most part we agree. I'll be building a T1 variant of SoS with the changes listed above, and do some testing in a T1 environment soon. I'll post more info when I have it.

[InsaneScrub]

While I truly believe rancor will go down as the best creature enchantment ever, elephant guide is a true second.  Although sword of fire and ice isn't a creature enchantment, it's an artifact, but the awesome thing about it, is it's ability to keep pumping creatures, even if the creautre it equips dies it can go onto another, and in the mean time that creature is doing extra damage and drawing a card is just too cool.  The true question is what is the best target for sword of F & I?  Well johnny magic of course, Shadowmage Infiltrator. 2 cards 3 dmg and 2 more dmg to a creature or a player, does it get any better than that?

Well, surely I have looked high and low for a good card, it seems like sofi is going to make a hit.    (No Punn Intended)

[waSP]

River Boa's Islandwalk matters against 'Tog, ESPECIALLY when running SoFI.  You can cast him on turn against a good number of decks, are you seeing sligh all day?  That said, Troll Ascetic is insane as well, it gives you game against TnT (if you have the right board).

Bebe, you may be able to replace the Bloodstained Mire with Karplusan Forest.. Just an idea.  Bad synergy with Kird Apes, good synergy with the mana base.

Both Hidden Gibbons and Blurred Mongoose are terribly conditional.  Unless your metagame is filled with instants or old Keeper decks, I don't think either card should be considered.  Maybe you could add a couple of burn spells over that (or maybe something a little more aggressive, like Skyshroud Elite).

[bebe]

The truth of the matter is that all these suggestions are plausible and we need to do some serious testing to be able to say this deck belongs in the meta. I am close to Godzilla's build although I'm very fond of Stormbind and he is not. They replace the Grim and Troll.
I'm growing fonder of the Hystodron as well. As far as burn goes this deck packs a lot as I see it. Grims, Binds, bolts and Cinerates seem a pretty hefty package. I will drop the Gibbons for one extra Grim and Troll though. Godzilla majkes pretty good sense here and I've worked with Zi8lla before on FCG and other builds. We seem to play similar styles.

It's interesting that the SoFI was largely ignored outside of Tog and Workshop as unplayable before we began discussing it here. R/g has always needed a draw engine. I was not thrilled with the Clamp when I tested it ( although in Sligh I love it ) so I just threw together the first rendition for some quick games. The deck has slowly grown on me. I generally play combo - Dragon, Belcher, FCG, Rector. But I miss old school so I really wanted a new r/g build that was potent enough to compete.

[GodzillA]

River Boa's Islandwalk matters against 'Tog, ESPECIALLY when running SoFI.

I must be missing something. Sword gives the equipped creature pro: blue, which makes it unblockable by Tog anyway. How is it especially important to have islandwalk when Sword provides essentially the same ability?

[Gothmog]

Islandwalk matters for that 4-6 damage your Turn 2 Boa is going to get in before your Sword is out and on a guy to give him pro blue.

[GodzillA]

Islandwalk matters for that 4-6 damage your Turn 2 Boa is going to get in before your Sword is out and on a guy to give him pro blue.

At first glance, one might think so, but in practice this simply isn't accurate. With the proper acceleration, this deck can resolve and equip Sword by turn 3 without any kind of a problem. This means your 2nd turn threat will be waltzing by Tog regardless. Furthermore, Tog often doesn't see play until later in the game, because the Tog player wants to spend the first few turns establishing and maintaining board control. This means that your early threats are likely going to go unchecked by Tog's blockers, with or without evasion.

[jpmeyer]

Tog doesn't usually try to control the board...

[bebe]

Boas are a bit better against Tog but I might just use the Trolls instead. Toronto has a lot of aggro and Landstill and if that is your meta I think perhaps Trolls might be better. The mor ei look at them the better I like them. Razor ripped up control and Landstill with them in his O. Stompy. I'm sure Zilla will do more testing and get back with a list that we can optimize for our own metas.

Tog doesn't usually try to control the board...

I figure to race Tog and get the Swords out quick as possible game one. Game two I'll bring in hate. I would have to use Lumberjacks and EsGs in a Tog heavy environment. Another option is to side in three Damping Matrix to replace Grims and another creature which hurt Tog and Welder decks. I think three Matrix and four ReBs and three SoFI and three Crypts might be pretty hard on Tog.

[GodzillA]

Tog doesn't usually try to control the board...

You are correct. This was a misuse of terms on my part. I simply meant that it tends to utilize its early game to disrupt (Duress, Deed, countermagic) and plays Tog after its opponent's resources are depleted and it has a healthy number of cards in the yard to protect the Tog. The point was that the Tog itself isn't usually a factor in the first few turns.

[Phele]

Is using the swords and damping matrixes together such a good idea?

[Tobi]

In an attempt to find more evasive creatures for the Sword, Birds of Paradise came to my mind. They would help mana acceleration and bear a carrier for the Sword.
Xantid Swarm is also flying, and could help set up.

Without the Sword, these two are not that great, but if some Rancors are added...

Just a thought.