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BMoor's Magic The
Gathering
Deck Garage
This E-mail comes at a strangely opportunistic time for me-- I've been tinkering with my own Simic graft deck lately and I seem to have hit a wall. Hopefully what I've learned with my own Graft deck will translate to yours, and maybe fixing yours will help inspire my own. That's one of the things I love about my job here: like an Izzet mentor, I learn something from every lesson I teach.
Now, first and foremost your deck has 70 cards. We'll start with bringing that number down. But honestly it won't be easy-- Simic has so many good creatures, and they're all so synergistic, that I don't blame you for wanting to throw everything in there. But we'll have to.
The first thing I want to cut is Simic Initiate. It just doesn't do enough. Next to go is Aquastrand Spider, the "spider" ability just isn't important enough in a deck with access to so many solid flyers. I'm on the fence about Simic Ragworm if only because it isn't a Graft creature; it's basically just a Hill Giant with psuedo-vigilance. But it does serve a purpose in this deck, if you can get it and Experiment Kraj out, and put a counter on the Ragworm, then Kraj will gain "U: Untap [this]." Which means you can repeatedly tap and untap Kraj to load up +1/+1 counters onto whatever ecasive attacker you may have. That's what we in the business call a "machine gun". In my Simic deck, I do this with Vigean Graftmage instead of Simic Ragworm-- the only difference is that it is Kraj who must have a counter on it to become a legal target for the Graftmage's ability. Also the Graftmage requires 1U to untap a creature while the Ragworm only needs U, but the Graftmage can untap ANY creature with a +1/+1 counter on it. I'm currently in the middle of an inner debate as to whether the Ragworm would work better-- it is larger and has a cheaper ability, but has a higher mana cost and doesn't have Graft. I may end up using both.
Next to undergo scrutiny is Sporeback Troll. I like the Troll; the ability to regenerate almost any creature on the board is a great boon to a creature-heavy deck. Trouble is, once I get a Troll out, the second Troll I draw just looks stupid. If you already have the ability, what's another Troll but a 2/2 for four mana? Four mana should get you more than a 2/2, but the Troll definitely has a place in this deck. My advice is to go down to two copies-- with Momir Vig in the deck, that should be enough.
Then there's Helium Squirter. Currently with my deck I'm in a quandary over this point: Surveilling Sprite vs. Silkwing Scout vs. Snapping Drake vs. Helium Squirter. The Sprite is very cheap to cast and lets me draw a card when it dies, but it is small. The Scout is one mana more for an extra point of power, and can search for a land when it dies IF you pay G. A savvy opponent could destroy the Scout when you're tapped out to deny you of that. The Drake is one more mana, for an extra point of power and toughness. It gives you nothing when it dies, but 3 power is solid for a flier. The Drake could effectively come down on turn 5 or 6 and acquire 2 or 3 Graft counters, putting it into Dragon-range stats. But with my mana base (and yours as well), it'd be unlikely that you could cast Snapping Drake but not Assault Zeppelid. And if the Zeppelid is just as easy to cast as the Drake, then the Drake is strictly worse. I recommend the Drake for you only if 4 Assault Zeppelid doesn't seem like enough. Finally, the Helium Squirter. The most expensive of the group, it's a 3/3 for five mana (therefore also the biggest). But five mana is a lot for a 3/3, especially one that has to pay 1 to jump up into the air. But the Squirter's advantages are twofold-- it can grant flying to other creatures besides itself, and it has Graft, making it an additional source of +1/+1 counters.
 These reasons are enough to keep it, but replacing it with the Drake or, my current choice, the Scout would bring your mana curve down, if not give you more air supremacy.
One more creature I have had my eye on for a while but don't own and isn't in your deck is Trygon Predator. The Predator is also a solid, well-costed flyer, but also provides maindeck answers to troublesome artifacts and enchantments. But then I still haven't cut 10 cards, so maybe reccomending cards to add isn't the best idea. Let's see about your noncreature spells.
The Signet is good, Biomantic Mastery is good, Elemental Resonance is good (especially in a deck with Simic Guildmage), but I have my doubts about Evolution Vat. It takes an awful lot of mana. If you're just using it to tap creatures of your opponent's, then just use Icy Manipulator. Or if all you want is a source of +1/+1 counters, Dragon Blood will work. Oh, but wait, Icy and Dragon Blood aren't in Ravnica Block, which you specified you wanted. Oh well. Evolution Vat isn't essential anyway, but you can try to make it work if you find you have suitable mana for it. In my Simic deck, I find mana is usually at a premium. That's why I don't use Helium Squirter. Maybe I should use Signets instead of Utopia Sprawl....
That's about all I can do here. You've already built the deck fairly well, so if you have any further doubts about what to do from here, all I can say is take a cue from the Simic biomancers and experiment with it! Have fun!
~BMoor
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