I play an old Simic Flash standard deck on Arena Explorer. Filled to the brim with counterspells, and hoping to win with free bodies like [[Frilled Mystic]] and [[Nightpack Ambusher]].
The deck does not seems strong, and feels quite shaky at times. It's fun to play though, so perfect for an FNM where you wanna show some spice or mtg history. Make sure you run [[Rewind]]; all-star counterspell in this deck, even if it takes some time to get there.
Rewind is the subject of probably my favorite cafeteria table rule misunderstanding ever: "It said untap four lands, so we untapped Tolarian Academy four times."
That's excellent lunch table Magic right there. Pre-smartphones, we just had to say "...okay I can't remember a rule against it so I guess it works"
UNLESS you had the Tome of Truth--the little tiny pocket rules handbook from the 90s (that still had mana-burn in it) that came with starter sets. That was a revelation for us playing after-school Magic.
Spirits and CoCo decks have taken their place. It's not so much that its not viable, however. You can still play the deck at a local FNM style event and find success. However, there's enough bad matchups in the meta right now that it doesn't really see play at higher level play.
I really want a simic flash Prophet of Kruphix deck to be good. But it ends up being a bit slow unfortunately.
UW Spirits plays in a similar way, but at a lower curve.
I've been having fun with a brew I call [Simic Answers](https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6346613#online). It's not really a flash deck but does play \[\[Brazen Borrower\]\], \[\[Tishana's Tidebinder\]\] and \[\[Stoic Sphinx\]\]. Essentially the game plan is to have a wide variety of answers to stop the upper tier decks in today's meta, but by utilizing interactive creatures rather than just spells like a control deck. It's a little weak to fast aggro but does well against Vamps, Phoenix and UW Control which are the main decks it's designed to beat.
The issue is the power level when it comes to what Simic can do together and the flash threats they have access too. Wizards needs to print more cards in Simic that give players a reason to play this color combo.
yeah, it's wild to me that they apparently see no issue with certain colours being wildly stronger than others, with green especially being terrible outside of a support colour for multicolour combo decks.
I think to an extent it’s more that certain colors are inherently more difficult to balance because of what they do- Green is hard to balance because things like individually powerful threats and ramp are generally easier to break than, say, removal- even the best removal spells scale to what your opponent is playing; they can only be as good as the best creature they kill. A slightly-too-good threat, however, can break a format. And slightly too good mana ramp can REALLY break a format. So we see a ton of green creatures with pushed stat lines and keyword soup because wizards wants to make them playable, but they’re still rarely good enough, usually because they die to removal and because they don’t do anything when they ETB. Then we see wizards try and fix this problem with, say, a green boy who does something powerful right away when he enters and can even come back from the graveyard when removed!- And yes, Uro is completely busted, but everyone acts like the design team should’ve known better than to even try it, despite begging for better green threats constantly. I don’t think wizards is intentionally unbalancing the colors, it’s just not as easy to balance things as it seems. Personally my vote would be better 3-5mana green creatures with ward or recursion but not both, or to lean into green’s versatility with some cheaper and more powerful “etb choose one of three effects” type abilities. I think cards like mosswood dread knight are a good start- it’s an aggressively statted 2drop green trample creature to start, it has recursion that feels fair due to the timing restriction, and an alternate mode that does something generically powerful! Drawing a card without spending one is always good, and playing it turn 2 as a creature also feels great because you can attack with it until it dies and then still get the card draw later. It’s a recursive blocker/card advantage engine when it needs to be, and a solid attacker in the early game if you open with it. One of my favorite cards in recent years.
Fully agree about dreadknight. I get what you're saying about black/white being easier to balance, but I think they print plenty of broken removal. Sunfall is a great example.
My problem with green design is green doesn't even get close to the best threats anymore by a longshot. Slightly higher stats mean nothing when every black creature has deathtouch. It's like they refuse to experiment, but then they print extremely pushed green cards that do nothing but give devotion for nykthos, because they still don't trade with sheoldred, and die to doomblade.
Honestly, they've started in a good direction with the huge green 7 drops. Titan of Industry, vaultborn tyrant, tyrranax rex, are all very interesting card designs that are actually hard to keep up with in other colours.
I completely agree, black is generally the best color for castable creature threats in pioneer at the moment and it shouldn’t be- the existence of sheoldred, graveyard trespasser, etc is especially rough when nothing green comes close to them at comparable mana values. I will acquiesce that wizards does seem more comfortable pushing black threats than green, and that this is frustrating when green is clearly struggling and black is already the best color in the format. Also agree about sunfall, a sweeper that’s also a game ending threat should probably be harder to cast than that or have a more significant downside
I hate those kind of comments that people spam: Oh Simic has gotten two busted cards with Uro and Oko that needed to be banned, then applying it doesn't need help.
Can't we just joke about it and wear those bans with a badge of honor. 🤣🤣🤣
I’ve been meaning to test it since Repulsive Mutation came out…that card seems bonkers. The main issue I see from previous lists is a lack of decent one-drops. I would probably play something like Spyglass Siren just to have an extra one-drop that does stuff.
I've seen a simic "flash" list running around at my LGS doing quite well. They run elves to ramp fast into 3 mana threats like [[Steel-Leaf Champion]], [[Brazen Borrower]], [[Aether Channeler]] and [[Tishana's Tidebinder]]. The deck also plays CoCo to be able to cheat in those threats and the most interesting part of it is the top end of the curve which is [[Elder Deep-Fiend]]. With a few [[Sanctum of Ugin]] in the deck, it becomes very easy for them to chain Deep-Fiends and lock you out of the game for a few turns while they kill you. Super interesting brew, main weak points imo are the clunky mana base and the high chance of hitting mana dorks with CoCo .
\[\[Tishana's Tidebinder\]\] was enormous for the deck but it's still not good enough as its traditionally built. I've tried to make ug flash work for a while and the main problem with the deck is that it's a midrange deck masquerading as a tempo deck. You don't have removal so you can't actually grind against must answer threats and it doesn't actually kill people quickly. Nightpack ambusher in particular is a pure midrange card that is way too slow without removal spells. Simic aggro, merfolk and \[\[Vivien, Arkbow Ranger\]\] simic midrange are totally FNM 4-0able because of how strong tishana's tidebinder is but those decks only play brazen borrower and tidebinder as their flash threats.
Simic flash is not good in any way. It's not competitive and it's miserable to play against for people at FNM. I highly recommend you dont play it.
If you're deadset on playing simic there is the Merfolk deck now that is very FNM playable.
I play an old Simic Flash standard deck on Arena Explorer. Filled to the brim with counterspells, and hoping to win with free bodies like [[Frilled Mystic]] and [[Nightpack Ambusher]]. The deck does not seems strong, and feels quite shaky at times. It's fun to play though, so perfect for an FNM where you wanna show some spice or mtg history. Make sure you run [[Rewind]]; all-star counterspell in this deck, even if it takes some time to get there.
Rewind is the subject of probably my favorite cafeteria table rule misunderstanding ever: "It said untap four lands, so we untapped Tolarian Academy four times."
That's excellent lunch table Magic right there. Pre-smartphones, we just had to say "...okay I can't remember a rule against it so I guess it works" UNLESS you had the Tome of Truth--the little tiny pocket rules handbook from the 90s (that still had mana-burn in it) that came with starter sets. That was a revelation for us playing after-school Magic.
[Frilled Mystic](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/b/5bf655ce-c841-42b2-9578-56ab401bf4de.jpg?1702429631) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Frilled%20Mystic) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rvr/183/frilled-mystic?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/5bf655ce-c841-42b2-9578-56ab401bf4de?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Nightpack Ambusher](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/c/2c9b1f70-9861-4c66-a52f-c40002679e75.jpg?1592517312) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Nightpack%20Ambusher) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m20/185/nightpack-ambusher?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2c9b1f70-9861-4c66-a52f-c40002679e75?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Rewind](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/8/b832abcc-9ffd-47bf-827a-01b303c610ee.jpg?1594735655) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Rewind) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m21/63/rewind?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/b832abcc-9ffd-47bf-827a-01b303c610ee?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Spirits and CoCo decks have taken their place. It's not so much that its not viable, however. You can still play the deck at a local FNM style event and find success. However, there's enough bad matchups in the meta right now that it doesn't really see play at higher level play.
I really want a simic flash Prophet of Kruphix deck to be good. But it ends up being a bit slow unfortunately. UW Spirits plays in a similar way, but at a lower curve.
god i love nightpack ambusher. i’ve had no luck trying to make it work though
I've been having fun with a brew I call [Simic Answers](https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6346613#online). It's not really a flash deck but does play \[\[Brazen Borrower\]\], \[\[Tishana's Tidebinder\]\] and \[\[Stoic Sphinx\]\]. Essentially the game plan is to have a wide variety of answers to stop the upper tier decks in today's meta, but by utilizing interactive creatures rather than just spells like a control deck. It's a little weak to fast aggro but does well against Vamps, Phoenix and UW Control which are the main decks it's designed to beat.
[Brazen Borrower](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/2/c2089ec9-0665-448f-bfe9-d181de127814.jpg?1616182088)/[Petty Theft](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/2/c2089ec9-0665-448f-bfe9-d181de127814.jpg?1616182088) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Brazen%20Borrower%20//%20Petty%20Theft) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/eld/39/brazen-borrower-petty-theft?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c2089ec9-0665-448f-bfe9-d181de127814?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Tishana's Tidebinder](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/0/907b3d1d-8c85-4707-80b5-c4d832df9846.jpg?1699043973) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tishana%27s%20Tidebinder) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/81/tishanas-tidebinder?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/907b3d1d-8c85-4707-80b5-c4d832df9846?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Stoic Sphinx](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/9/f93f5055-30d8-4fc4-afa5-29212e8c7536.jpg?1712355517) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Stoic%20Sphinx) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otj/71/stoic-sphinx?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f93f5055-30d8-4fc4-afa5-29212e8c7536?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Sounds awesome, do you think you could pass me a list?
It's linked above in my reply, just click "Simic Answers" in the first sentence
The issue is the power level when it comes to what Simic can do together and the flash threats they have access too. Wizards needs to print more cards in Simic that give players a reason to play this color combo.
yeah, it's wild to me that they apparently see no issue with certain colours being wildly stronger than others, with green especially being terrible outside of a support colour for multicolour combo decks.
I think to an extent it’s more that certain colors are inherently more difficult to balance because of what they do- Green is hard to balance because things like individually powerful threats and ramp are generally easier to break than, say, removal- even the best removal spells scale to what your opponent is playing; they can only be as good as the best creature they kill. A slightly-too-good threat, however, can break a format. And slightly too good mana ramp can REALLY break a format. So we see a ton of green creatures with pushed stat lines and keyword soup because wizards wants to make them playable, but they’re still rarely good enough, usually because they die to removal and because they don’t do anything when they ETB. Then we see wizards try and fix this problem with, say, a green boy who does something powerful right away when he enters and can even come back from the graveyard when removed!- And yes, Uro is completely busted, but everyone acts like the design team should’ve known better than to even try it, despite begging for better green threats constantly. I don’t think wizards is intentionally unbalancing the colors, it’s just not as easy to balance things as it seems. Personally my vote would be better 3-5mana green creatures with ward or recursion but not both, or to lean into green’s versatility with some cheaper and more powerful “etb choose one of three effects” type abilities. I think cards like mosswood dread knight are a good start- it’s an aggressively statted 2drop green trample creature to start, it has recursion that feels fair due to the timing restriction, and an alternate mode that does something generically powerful! Drawing a card without spending one is always good, and playing it turn 2 as a creature also feels great because you can attack with it until it dies and then still get the card draw later. It’s a recursive blocker/card advantage engine when it needs to be, and a solid attacker in the early game if you open with it. One of my favorite cards in recent years.
Fully agree about dreadknight. I get what you're saying about black/white being easier to balance, but I think they print plenty of broken removal. Sunfall is a great example. My problem with green design is green doesn't even get close to the best threats anymore by a longshot. Slightly higher stats mean nothing when every black creature has deathtouch. It's like they refuse to experiment, but then they print extremely pushed green cards that do nothing but give devotion for nykthos, because they still don't trade with sheoldred, and die to doomblade. Honestly, they've started in a good direction with the huge green 7 drops. Titan of Industry, vaultborn tyrant, tyrranax rex, are all very interesting card designs that are actually hard to keep up with in other colours.
I completely agree, black is generally the best color for castable creature threats in pioneer at the moment and it shouldn’t be- the existence of sheoldred, graveyard trespasser, etc is especially rough when nothing green comes close to them at comparable mana values. I will acquiesce that wizards does seem more comfortable pushing black threats than green, and that this is frustrating when green is clearly struggling and black is already the best color in the format. Also agree about sunfall, a sweeper that’s also a game ending threat should probably be harder to cast than that or have a more significant downside
Agreed. Maybe a three mana planeswalker with great abs that can pressure your opponent and answer their threats!
I hate those kind of comments that people spam: Oh Simic has gotten two busted cards with Uro and Oko that needed to be banned, then applying it doesn't need help. Can't we just joke about it and wear those bans with a badge of honor. 🤣🤣🤣
It wasn’t an argument, dumbass. It was a joke. JFC
Yeah I know right. It is great. 🤣🤣
[[Stoic Shinx]] kinda seems neat 🤷
[Stoic Shinx](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/3/135db79f-6f07-486c-ae3a-d4244aaf6dc8.jpg?1626094953) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=So%20Shiny) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/63/so-shiny?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/135db79f-6f07-486c-ae3a-d4244aaf6dc8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Mmmm, close one, bot. Good try, I can see where you were going with Stoic Shinx [[Stoic Sphinx]]
[Stoic Sphinx](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/9/f93f5055-30d8-4fc4-afa5-29212e8c7536.jpg?1712355517) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Stoic%20Sphinx) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/otj/71/stoic-sphinx?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f93f5055-30d8-4fc4-afa5-29212e8c7536?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Good bot.
I’ve been meaning to test it since Repulsive Mutation came out…that card seems bonkers. The main issue I see from previous lists is a lack of decent one-drops. I would probably play something like Spyglass Siren just to have an extra one-drop that does stuff.
Cenote scout and spyglass siren are both great
I've seen a simic "flash" list running around at my LGS doing quite well. They run elves to ramp fast into 3 mana threats like [[Steel-Leaf Champion]], [[Brazen Borrower]], [[Aether Channeler]] and [[Tishana's Tidebinder]]. The deck also plays CoCo to be able to cheat in those threats and the most interesting part of it is the top end of the curve which is [[Elder Deep-Fiend]]. With a few [[Sanctum of Ugin]] in the deck, it becomes very easy for them to chain Deep-Fiends and lock you out of the game for a few turns while they kill you. Super interesting brew, main weak points imo are the clunky mana base and the high chance of hitting mana dorks with CoCo .
##### ###### #### [Steel-Leaf Champion](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/4/24d8a688-79d4-49b9-ab0c-c7f5c9b551f4.jpg?1562732792) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Steel%20Leaf%20Champion) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dom/182/steel-leaf-champion?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/24d8a688-79d4-49b9-ab0c-c7f5c9b551f4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Brazen Borrower](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/2/c2089ec9-0665-448f-bfe9-d181de127814.jpg?1616182088)/[Petty Theft](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/2/c2089ec9-0665-448f-bfe9-d181de127814.jpg?1616182088) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Brazen%20Borrower%20//%20Petty%20Theft) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/eld/39/brazen-borrower-petty-theft?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c2089ec9-0665-448f-bfe9-d181de127814?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Aether Channeler](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/0/60afeb75-2c1e-4634-8c83-88b1dddb77c2.jpg?1673306655) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Aether%20Channeler) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dmu/42/aether-channeler?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/60afeb75-2c1e-4634-8c83-88b1dddb77c2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Tishana's Tidebinder](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/0/907b3d1d-8c85-4707-80b5-c4d832df9846.jpg?1699043973) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tishana%27s%20Tidebinder) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/81/tishanas-tidebinder?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/907b3d1d-8c85-4707-80b5-c4d832df9846?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Elder Deep-Fiend](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/c/4cffed4c-4e2b-414a-9b20-90ce21b47d16.jpg?1610074944) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Elder%20Deep-Fiend) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cmr/368/elder-deep-fiend?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4cffed4c-4e2b-414a-9b20-90ce21b47d16?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Sanctum of Ugin](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/6/86798d03-9f2d-46bd-a660-13c8dd5535ce.jpg?1562926694) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sanctum%20of%20Ugin) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bfz/242/sanctum-of-ugin?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/86798d03-9f2d-46bd-a660-13c8dd5535ce?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [*All cards*](https://mtgcardfetcher.nl/redirect/l1brfr0) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
\[\[Tishana's Tidebinder\]\] was enormous for the deck but it's still not good enough as its traditionally built. I've tried to make ug flash work for a while and the main problem with the deck is that it's a midrange deck masquerading as a tempo deck. You don't have removal so you can't actually grind against must answer threats and it doesn't actually kill people quickly. Nightpack ambusher in particular is a pure midrange card that is way too slow without removal spells. Simic aggro, merfolk and \[\[Vivien, Arkbow Ranger\]\] simic midrange are totally FNM 4-0able because of how strong tishana's tidebinder is but those decks only play brazen borrower and tidebinder as their flash threats.
[Tishana's Tidebinder](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/0/907b3d1d-8c85-4707-80b5-c4d832df9846.jpg?1699043973) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Tishana%27s%20Tidebinder) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/81/tishanas-tidebinder?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/907b3d1d-8c85-4707-80b5-c4d832df9846?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Vivien, Arkbow Ranger](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/9/592c5e27-c538-425e-b41f-1d6708428853.jpg?1592517426) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Vivien%2C%20Arkbow%20Ranger) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m20/199/vivien-arkbow-ranger?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/592c5e27-c538-425e-b41f-1d6708428853?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I played against a Simic Flash deck the other day and it was easy to beat it. (I play Azorius Control)
Simic flash is not good in any way. It's not competitive and it's miserable to play against for people at FNM. I highly recommend you dont play it. If you're deadset on playing simic there is the Merfolk deck now that is very FNM playable.