Against the Odds: Polyraptor (Standard)

[@MTGGoldfish]

To vote for next week's deck, head to the article on the Goldfish site: www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/against-the-odds-polyraptor-standard

[@DrkWhiteWolf]

Nez-ah-hall

[@brewbrewbrewthedeck4138]

I don't even know ... extra turns with the 1/1, I guess? They all don't seem too hot.

[@AquaMarineFBVA]

you could also usesamut voice of dissent as a budget regisuar alpha option

[@JacobSmith-rh2sr]

Yo stop calling yourself saffron olive

[@brewbrewbrewthedeck4138]

Why?

[@WesTheGiant]

For the record if you do "yes yes no yes" instead of "yes yes yes" on the forerunner's triggers then you get 8 raptors instead of 7.

[@conwayddd]

this^^^^^

[@Hanmacx]

WesTheGiant better give the forerunner indestructible and lifelink

[@MegaWojciech]

there's a combat trick from kaladesh that does both of those things for max jank value

[@9449-o4w]

That play is far too obvious.

[@niklasneuendorf2793]

I actually thought people were trolling when polyraptor was spoiled and people actually argued about if you are getting 7 or 8 raptors. Guess not

[@GoblinmasterYT]

(hit our swans, draw some cards) hit our raptors, make some raptors

[@Lotarious]

hi seth, I believe you can actually make 8 polyraptors per combo: if you choose not to do the trigger for the 3rd poly and do it for the fourth.

[@robotetanus]

That is correct!

[@wrennthewizard144]

Yep. I thought it was weird to

[@Jonzin4BeatzNYC]

Joaquín Ossandon Busch Because 40 damage kills some deader than 35?

[@TQDigitalMod]

if I understand playing the stack right and if you have the mana you can make even more, with forerunner out, play poly, do the triggers till forerunner has 1toughness left, play regisaur, stack the triggers so forerunner is after regisaur ETB, have dino token ETB trigger forerunner again, trigger poly making 4 more tokens, which once the full stack resolves would let you have 16 w/ haste right? obviously if I understand it right its christmas magic land right here and super super late game(which would be almost never)

[@skyemcjuary1699]

Joaquín Ossandon Busch

[@zealousdemon]

30:55 "We got it! We got it! The seven hastey... Uh? Ughhhh... Unsummon? Opponent... That is very un-fun."

[@Keinish79]

I think seth could'have replayed the regisaur after that using the treasures

[@adammoldover8769]

Yes! He should have

[@jaelte]

Yes, but not during combat, so he still couldn't've attacked with the raptors that turn.

[@jonatandahlberg4865]

That's why you play abrade instead of Negate on the first God PHaraoes gift when you have 2 abrade and 1 negate.

[@nkari8971]

I laughed so hard.. =)

[@MidgarMerc]

"opponent might have settle" *attacks with excessive amounts of polyraptors* "opponent has settle" *doesnt endless sand the real polyraptor* -_-

[@tomjackal5708]

More significantly doesn't try to draw into Negate with Treasure Cove

[@brewbrewbrewthedeck4138]

Worse still, he did not get rid of Chandra after the Hostage Taker came down in game 1.

[@MTGGoldfish]

But nothing top that pronunciation of Nezahal.

[@couchpotatoe91]

He also could've attacked with fewer raptors, like 5 instead of 8, and it still would've been lethal...

[@MidgarMerc]

You got me there Seth

[@MrJet225]

Games start at 8:20

[@mattszynal9905]

MrJet225 saviour

[@the_snakelicious]

There are timestamps in the description now man.

[@Anynewprovince]

It's never the first seven polyraptors that kill you. It's the hastey clean-up crew two turns later.

[@nickbrokeit9688]

12:16 why did you kill the speaker over the branchwalker?

[@Lukester44]

this deck was sweet, but Seth you made so many punts this video haha. attacking more then lethal polyraptors into a settle the wreckage, as well as negating the God pharaohs gift when you had two abrade in hand were particularly bad :p

[@ToxicallyMasculinelol]

not that there weren't misplays, but if he doesn't negate GPG, opponent can play around abrade by not casting or activating anything until combat step. so seth doesn't get priority again until beginning of combat step, at which point GPG's ability goes on the stack, and abrading GPG does not stop it. also there are hardly any better negate targets. the deck is full of creatures and GPG is the finisher. so 2x abrade can hit most of the rest of the deck. even if he did it on accident, it was probably a better play given the information he had at the moment

[@soupofkings]

Came to the comments to see if anyone told him how to make 8 Polyraptors, was rewarded with a sneak preview of today's Unpronounceable Word of the Day.

[@GreenSkyDragon7696]

30:48 You can just hear the glass tinkling as his dreams shatter. A heart-breaking, beautiful moment in Magic immortalized for posterity

[@jasonoshman1079]

Who would win? Years of the American education system. The letter h.

[@treyconover4107]

Jason Oshman ku"mana" speaker, ku"mana" tyrant of "Orzaka"

[@krisdaschwab912]

Well the American education sucks sooooooo...

[@shaharschwartztagari5167]

Trey Conover Kiyumana tyrant of orazaka

[@Heimrih]

isnt he canadian?

[@MrDerKnofi]

Lol.. Seth tries to speak Nezahal for real, takes a minute, still speaks it wrong. NezaLOL! :D

[@rodrigodepaula4198]

Attention on this, when the second trigger of polyraptor resolves you say NO when the third polyraptor comes into play and yes for the fourth one, so you get one more of it.

[@ianmcabee8036]

Starts at 0:00

[@TheSquirrelbeast]

The real MVP

[@miguelnightingale2668]

Lol! That settle the wreckage fake at 32:38 had me yelling at my screen. Nice deck!

[@petersmythe6484]

(Around 17:20) Couldn't you make 8 polyraptors with that combo?

[@MTGGoldfish]

Yes.

[@stephenlofton5403]

Should have made the deck full enrage combo with Ranging Raptors, ripjaw raptor etc.. The biggest thing is that you really only need to run 1-2 polyraptor when you are running the play set of Forerunners. Forerunner also combos with ranging/ripjaw raptor could easily cut treasure map, 3 polyraptor and Gift of Paradise. I do love the endless sands though!

[@truefregn]

Stephen Lofton The stipulation for against the odds is that he has to play a full play set of the theme card (in this case polyraptor.) I doubt he would have played all 4 otherwise.

[@stephenlofton5403]

truefregn uh neat I guess. Anyway mostly just saying there are other ways to build a Dino ramp deck beyond the three mana enchantments.

[@sendaran]

The choice of Gift of Paradise especially over Ranging Raptors is definitely wrong here. Raptors ramp for each Forerunner trigger and provide early blockers with an upside. Also most of the colored mana deserts seem unnecessary, they make ramp fetching difficult. Seth's obsession with non-basic lands is hurting the build, clearly a sign of overdosing on modern. I'd also trim down 1-2 from Treasure Maps and maybe 1 or 2 Hour of Promise to bring in some amount of Ripjaws. "Why have one raptor when you can have all the raptors" etc. It would be tempting to add 1 Growing Rites of Itlimoc as well for some incidental value. You could setup some fun sequences with the Forerunner.

[@MTGGoldfish]

I think the optimal way to play Polyraptor is to be playing some sort of Dinosaur deck that already has Forerunner, and then just play Polyraptor as a one-of to tutor out when the situation calls for it, but for Against the Odds the unwritten rule is we play the winning card as a four-of and go all-in building around it.

[@Nr4747]

Yeah, an all-out Enrage deck with a playset of Forerunners and only 1-2 Polyraptors seems like the best version of the deck, imho. You can even run 2 Fiery Cannonade main deck and a playset of Ranging Raptors for the ramp.

[@alasanof]

I hope the artist's getting paid nicely for all the art they're making.

[@skaespearesboys5999]

For the record. Since Forerunner of the Empire's ability is a may ability, if you stack the triggers correctly, you can have 8 Polyraptors. This is without indestructible and other extra effects

[@chriswilliams6014]

Hour of devastation the chandra while they are tapped out?

[@davidgoldstein4306]

Neh-Zaa-Hall

[@TheMadManHimself]

I kinda preferred the deck tech and the games being separate. I love the content, just stating my opinion

[@0fof0fo]

Rajiv Ayyagari please explain why it matters either way.

[@LMDS95]

0fof0fo because Seth asked what people thought of it

[@MTGGoldfish]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@the_snakelicious]

It makes no difference man, there are timestamps for you to skip the deck tech if you want to, so in the end nothing changes.

[@Kenku178]

That was a preety cool deck Seth, but why did you keep skipping the tutors. Why not just have another copy of Poly or Regi in your hand?

[@DomcoRadlerLachtan]

Because it doens´t draw it. It just puts tutored card on top of the library meaning you have 100% chance not to draw a sweeper if things went wrong.

[@jsum33]

LVD did one of these on MTGO for his “Friendly Friday” series. His deck was less than half the tix and it did REALLY well. He could create 8 with zero effort.

[@Mx.magius]

The blue elder dino is pronounced NEH-zah-hall

[@Dementia55372]

Trying to get Seth to pronounce something correctly is harder than squeezing blood from a stone. No matter how many times he is corrected it just doesn't take.

[@inaquianallforce4042]

Thank you. Also: Nezzy for short.

[@SpiceWeazel]

Brian I think he has dyslexia.

[@flipwhatthezipp4609]

This is how I've been pronouncing it! Neza-hal!

[@Nr4747]

It's *clearly* pronounced Nah-za-lul - at least according to Seth, better known as SaffronOlive.

[@maizen1335]

You could also quicken this deck up by adding Knight of the Stampede, which is a creature that makes dinosaur spells cost 2 less colorless mana

[@jasonqiu9753]

you probably bombarded by this, but NEZ - A - HAL not NEZ - AL - AL

[@Nr4747]

It's actually Naz-A-LUL, according to Seth. xD

[@stormcrow1685]

Just a weird thought: should wizards have made a dual land in HOU that enters tapped unless you control a desert? That would have been so spicy for this deck

[@Lantalia]

Also look at Raptor Hatchling, sure you need to make it invulnerable, but it makes the biggest piece you need the forerunner.

[@turnipy88]

At 41:00 the opponent should have Field of Ruined at the end of turn to shuffle your library. Saved their Vraska’s Contempts.

[@Keinish79]

Why didn't Seth play the regisaur alpha from his hand using the treasures after the unsummon?

[@Hunttis]

I really appreciate the content! I've been following your stuff for quite long now. One request, if I could: please consider using compression on the sound for the videos, so the volume wouldn't fluctuate so much. The intro animation is much louder than the talking afterwards. It would actually probably eliminate all the highest peaks of volume when you get really excited (which is fun, but sometimes I when using headphones makes me instantly reach for the volume keys :D ). Most video editing tools should have this tool included by default.

[@MTGGoldfish]

Thanks for the suggestion!

[@CryTyped]

is "ping everything, make some raptors" the new "bolt the birds, draw some cards"?

[@nathanswetye210]

I prefer the white instead of blue version of this deck which includes Bellowing Aegisaur, allowing this combo to go infinite.

[@maestergallen]

Seth's two punts against that U/W Gift deck: Negating the GPG instead of abrading it, and then not endless sanding the real polyraptor when opponent settles

[@averagejoebro5206]

You can go infinite in standard using jund or even just aether hubs to splash for the black two drop the gives +1+0 and indestructable til end of turn

[@ianmcabee8036]

DUSTIN RAXTER no, then it adds up to kill the poly raptors cutting it off

[@averagejoebro5206]

Ian McAbee it deals the damage 1 at a time you make 2 then 4 then 8 you will always have a layer to take damage and make more polyraptors

[@averagejoebro5206]

Ian McAbee who cares if you kill 1000 to make 5000

[@zappyice]

The token limit is 200 and there's a better spell in white for 1 that grants indestructible

[@ianmcabee8036]

Jonathan Pittman I think with just the black one every 5 triggers they all die, even with intervention depending on the wording it isn't infinite, you probably right but it hurts my head too much

[@marcoferreira9256]

I think if you put more early creatures that ramp you it will work more softly. like the wayward swordtooth

[@Cripsy85]

What if you would add Bellowing Aegisaur to the combo? :O

[@Dregaz]

If Forerunner and Polyraptor both ETB after being exiled and then returned by Endless Sands, do you still trigger Forerunner's ability and get the combo?

[@luliby2309]

Sweet deck. I think the Magic Gods didn't want you to beat Merfolk. But you probably should play around Settle The Wreckage more. Especially if it's all upside to do so.

[@Spicybaeg]

If you let the last poly raptor trigger.. do you get more polys?

[@ChiisaiRamen]

Because of this i just noticed Forerunner of the empire has a polyraptor behind him in the card art. Hes basically made for this

[@cloysterd]

So, so sloppy Game 2 against UW Gift. I know you had him locked under Scavenger Grounds but walking your whole team into Settle made my head hurt.

[@Orinn000]

Called it, too. He KNEW he was looking at a likely settle, and walked into it anyway. Ugh...

[@I-ONLY-BUILD-MECHS-AND-DUSTERS]

Nez - a - hal There is nothing complicated about this.

[@Stayner]

Seth, thanks for all this videos

[@RoPinh]

31:32 could have played the forerunner in case they setle : search another poliraptor, or abraid to instant speed raptors.

[@odedsayar4345]

Does Heroic Intervention apply to permanents that entered the battlefield under your control after it was played (on the same turn)? If you have Alpha and Forerunner on board and you play Intervention and then Polyraptor, do you get "infinity" of them? Four of them but "infinite" damage to all creatures (with Forerunner, resulting in a Polyraptor with 1 damage, another with 2 damage etc.)?

[@MTGGoldfish]

It only impacts things that are on the battlefield when it resolves :(

[@djelibaebi]

Wait the copies dont keep the damage? That combo is a lot easier than i thought then....

[@eap-yb1co]

On a scale of 1 to "Hit our swans, draw some cards," I give "Ping everything, make some raptors," an 8 out of 10.

[@Rococorico]

A little surprising this ATO doesn't have any Champion of Rhonas for backup.

[@Edricama]

I like this format of joining the Deck Tech and Gameplay videos into one. For that reason, you should adapt the script to not say “thanks for watching the gameplay videos” right before it starts, though.

[@leonardoromano2382]

"Unsommon, opponent, unsommon" is the new "I've got 2 Abrade, but it's better to counter a Gift and waste my onLy protection instead of destroying it"

[@hikkisuki]

This deck is much wombo, such combo. Love it!

[@maxwagner5390]

Using bellowing aegisoar makes this better and if you have 2 you can go infinite with any enrage ability

[@speedybri153]

you can make 8 polyraptors if you do the triggers right, because forerunner's dinosaur entering the battlefield ability is a may ability.

[@BalfazaarSCO]

When that unsummon got cast you could hear every viewer cry out at once 😥

[@tomjackal5708]

40:30 "I don't want a tapped land, I want to pay 3 mana to get a tapped land" ????????????

[@Cheslucky]

Cool deck. Not gonna lie I laughed out loud when he unsummoned your regisaur alpha

[@foxyr4bbit]

you can play etali primal storm and attack with it after playing forerunner to cast polyraptor for free

[@Olorin323]

Yes! Polyraptor time! Thanks Seth!

[@declanboyle5104]

22:31 I also enjoy using hour of devastation to find lands

[@jimmybobobbingo]

That Unsummon was AMAZING lol

[@benjiben223]

19:35 Why didnt you draw cards from lost legacy?!

[@Kingrdude]

Why didn't you use your treasure tokens??

[@averagejoebro5206]

Been waiting for this video since the card was spoiled I'm gonna run polyraptor in standard!

[@showcase0525]

Seth, a small QoL suggestion: Include time stamps of breakdown/ match start timestamps in the description, especially since your combining all aspects of Against the Odds in one video.

[@MrThomasCWest]

Pestilence (or the red equivalent) would have worked better with the Polyraptor. You can use the ability up to four times (five if you want to kill the first Polyraptor) to get up to 16 (31 if done five times) in one turn. The second turn, you can have up to around 256 of them. Give them either Overrun or Titanic Ultimatum (throw in a level 3+ Echo Mage to triple either effect) and you have a lot of overkill.

[@SmartAlec1]

Better than I thought it would honestly.

[@trevorkeysaw3066]

Smart Alec the video is 51 minutes long... this comment was made 3 minutes after it came out....

[@ianmcabee8036]

Rovert Wasyek just a placeholder

[@SmartAlec1]

Rovert Wasyek I can also see the results before the video came out on their website... 60% win percentage as I recall.

[@kezkoal]

you knpw you can create 8 poliraptors instead of 7 if you dont trigger the pin all for the 3rd polyraptor that enters the battlefield

[@glytch5]

gotta love when a standard format has a legit combo that can sometimes win... very funny. I wish people I played with on paper were as enthusiastic and un salty as you lol. try pronouncing it "nez-ah-hall" haha

[@11talic47]

You CAN make way more polyraptors than 7. Remember, each polyraptor also creates copies.

[@CSDragon]

You can get 8 polyraptor if you say no to the 3rd Forerunner trigger and let both raptor triggers resolve before you ping again.

[@TMGTCG]

CSDragon i was thinking max is 8 polyraptors too is this correct?

[@CSDragon]

Yeah, if all permanents were indestructible and you always say no to every forerunner trigger except the one caused by the last polyraptor trigger on the stack you get [2^n] polyraptors where n is the number of times you press yes to forerunner. Doing it Seth's way you only get 1+(1+2+3+...+n) where n is the number of times you press yes to forerunner. Now eventually polyraptors start dying, since you won't always have an Elspeth emblem, so it's not perfect, but you can see how one is muuuuch bigger than the other for the same n.

[@elliotyamamoto38]

It is much better now you have the deck tech at the start :)

[@MTGGoldfish]

Thanks!

[@elliotyamamoto38]

This channel is going from strength to strength 💪

[@lsent3338]

im new to the series.... what is against the odds supposed to be? like what is the theme of the series

[@hoodproductions6794]

Forerunner combos well with Etali ; With him on board, summon forerunner to topdeck polyraptor and attack => free Polyraptor Summon

[@miguelitos]

OMG that unsummon was hilarious

[@niklasneuendorf2793]

Nezal y‘all

[@anhayes25]

Niklas Neuendorf Nezahlol

[@Nr4747]

Nazalul

[@guisseppimelon8224]

31:01 Omg you could have resin mined the regisar if you used the treasure tokens

[@starchild24]

This is SO reminiscent of the Fires standard deck from the Mercadian/Invasion standard era lol Replacing Saproling Burst with Polyraptor & Fires with Alpha.

[@MTGGoldfish]

Ohh, that's a good comparison!

[@dirksaysfichsdich1514]

"We got it! We got it! The seven hasty.. Huh?" Lmao

[@Whiskeymoth]

Why didn't you kill the Chandra with Hour of Devastation at 34:07 while he was tapped out? You got buried by it.

[@MTGGoldfish]

Yeah, the risky line of trying to deal with Chandra with Hour of Promise tokens didn't work out.

[@sensei9767]

What do you think of 1of arch of orazka?

[@MTGGoldfish]

Probably a good addition as a one-of tutor target for Hour of Promise.

[@chemset475]

Nezallal 😂 I love Seth and his speech/reading impediments so much lmao greeeeat deck I loved it Seth you keep doing you playa

[@ericheidgerd1064]

Correct me if I am wrong but if Forerunner's ability was none optional and it could not die (gave it indestructible or something), and one were to adhere strictly to the rules, would the game never end if you get the combo. Obviously yes both players can agree to stop or the opponent can concede but since it's not optional wouldn't it just be an infinite stack of enrage triggers on top of etb triggers that can never resolve. in the end it's just hypothetical but i'm curious

[@Cangaroombi]

If there is an unbreakable loop with only obligatory actions involved, the games ends in a draw (e.g. 3 Oblivion Rings on the battlefield and no other nonland permanent).

[@MTGGoldfish]

Yep, the game would end in a draw if that was the situation.

[@sneakiestsky5338]

Use the jakal that exerts to put creature out Also heroic intervention for infinite

[@nolife874]

I'm really liking endless sands after watching this

[@MTGGoldfish]

Yeah, Endless Sands was one of the most impressive cards!

[@Rogue_Biologist]

The way the triggers were stacked you were actually missing out on getting another Polyraptor by killing the Forerunner of the Empire before the polyraptor triggers were resolved. Otherwise this deck looks like a lot of fun :)

[@Akayakawaka]

WHY DO YOU THINK THERE ARE TWO "L"'s IN NEZAHAL

[@Hero-er9oj]

So dumb question how many polyraptors get made with an anointed procession out?

[@truefregn]

Hero You get 27. But you must be a little careful. The way Seth clones his raptor in this video is suboptimal. What you need to do is only allow forerunner to ping once per cloning generation (not one for each clone) this makes sure that as many clones as posible get pinged every time. With AP out each of your raptors will get multiplied by three for each ping. (the original + 2 tokens) So the first one comes into play and triggers a ping creating two clones for a total of 3 raptors. You let one trigger a ping, creating two clones for each raptor on the board (6 total) together with the ones already out you'll have 9, then repeat one last time for 27, which also kills the forerunner, ending the combo.

[@Hero-er9oj]

truefregn thank you!

[@Stevie28]

There's a combo where you can get 8 Polyraptors on T4 But it's a little weak against removal. T1 Bloodlust Inciter T2 Mana Ramp of some sort T3 Forerunner tutor up Polyraptor. T4 Champion of Rhonas with hast from Inciter, exert it. Profit $$$ Edit: Seth you should choose not to trigger the 3rd poly this way you get the 8 :)

[@MTGGoldfish]

I guess eight is slightly better :)

[@chandir7752]

I don't even need to read the comments to know that literally everybody is going to complain about how Polyraptor and Forerunner make 8 Polyraptors if you do it right. As if it wasn't enough if one person points it out.

[@zy25783]

This is ridiculous i would have added white mainly for a full playset of sheltering light for infinite polyraptor

[@buckethead420]

hey. i don't get how you end up with 7 Polyraptors at the time the empire dude kills himself...i would think someone gets 8 polyraptors. i am very confused

[@mfindley08]

Hey everyone! Get in here! (it maybe had to be done... Probably not, but, ya know)

[@andrewrowe1441]

What's the point of 1 ipnu rivulet in all of your decks right now?

[@truefregn]

Andrew Rowe It's probably there to give you a blue source which comes into play untapped and can be searched for by hour of promise.

[@MTGGoldfish]

Yeah, untapped blue source that supports our Desert synergies like Hour of Promise and Scavenger Grounds.

[@francescomaniscalco251]

It is not nezalal, but neza al

[@Soulryu11]

31 minute mark has the biggest blue balls Seth has ever seen. 😂😂

[@joeullman8112]

Pretty sure you could have won M1G1 if you just played 1 of your tapped lands turn 1. Instead, you played mountain and got stuck with both cycling lands in hand turn 5 when you could have starting jamming Regi's to apply pressure.

[@snakeman830]

I feel like it would be much better to just run 2 Polyraptors and use those two slots for some extra card draw. I suggest Ripjaw Raptor. One of you combo pieces can tutor for the other anyway, so you can get away with fewer copies of the non-tutor.

[@MTGGoldfish]

Yeah, playing Polyraptor as a one-of tutor target might be a more competitive plan, there's sort of an unwritten rule that for Against the Odds the winning card is a four-of though.

[@snakeman830]

MTGGoldfish I said two of, not one of :p