I know it wasn't in my list because I was going for a Death and Taxes/Hatebears hybrid. Leonin Arbiter and Knight are NOT friends. Knight is certainly a great card, but you have to decide whether you want to run search hate or Knight.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
You can't always win, and just because you lose doesn't mean you played badly.
Even if you lose, it is important to remain confident in your ability to make good plays and decisions. Lose that and you are truly lost.
Testing is great, and the better the testing is, the better off you'll be.
It is impossible to tilt and play well.
It is possible to make no mistakes and still lose.
What I really, really want for this deck is a reprint of Sungrass Prairie . That would be so sick, I could definitely see myself being able to run 4 Tec / 4 Ghost and still being able to make my colors with Temple Garden / Razorverge / Prairie.
This is what I just finished playing at Modern FMN, 2nd place, 10 players, 4 rounds then we cutted to the top 4, it was after midnight when I finished, won 5 packs and opened a Voice of Resurgence, so was pretty happy with tonight.
I'm not doing so well with my list. I lost again last weekend, and I don't think this deck is what I should be playing in my local area.
Round 1 - Mono-U Tron
I mulliganed to 5 game 1, and kept land, land, Kitchen Finks, Loxodon Smiter, Wilt-Leaf Liege. I don't think the odds were in my favor to get a better four... I got stuck on those 2 lands but managed to land a Qasali Pridemage, then my white source ate a Spreading Seas.
In Game 2 I managed to fend off 2 Wurmcoil Engines thanks to not drawing a Leonin Arbiter (so the Treasure Mages worked.) The third Wurmcoil did me in. Also, Gaddock Teeg does very little in this match up, since the sweeper costs 3, there are no Karns in this list, and the Condescends get boarded out. Ugh, I thought this was one of the better match ups!
Round 2 - BG Zombies
Yeah, this was basically a Standard deck with most of the BG Modern package added (Deathrite, Lili, Dark Confidant). I lost in three games due to too much pressure from Rancors and recurring threats that I could not handle, plus a Garruck Relentless that I was unable to punch through and kill before too much advantage was gained. Also, none of my hatebears mattered in this MU, so I was just playing, er, "bears"
Round 3 - new player/pile of bad commons
I won this one. Yaay!
I think for my local scene I need some burn spells or more aggression. Voice of Resurgence might actually be good in this deck for my metagame, but I don't want to shell out $240 for them to try and win 3 packs. I also need some better luck, because in theory I am supposed to be able to draw a Leonin Arbiter and a Ghost Quarter at the same time to deal with Tron lands.
Spreading Seas is not a bad idea to go with the rest of the search/land hate. It is another way to lock down an opposing mana base, which intensifies if we are also using Leonin Arbiter and Ghost Quarters. It may just be a sideboard option.
Geist of Saint Traft is not workable in my meta game. There are too many creatures running around to block it, and I have no way of giving Geist evasion in this list without adding Elspeth or Swords.
Kitchen Finks was stellar, and I think I just want that life gain and Persist over the Smiter in my situation. In a larger tournament I expect Smiter to do more work as I face more Lilis and counters and less aggro decks.
If I was going to run this again at my local store, I would play this:
I need an answer for Twin & Affinity, but I also need an answer to Pod. Damping Matrix fits the bill.
Condemn is my additional Aggro removal that also deals with Persist/Undying creatures AND Wurmcoil Engines. I also have more search hate MD with a pair of Avens.
Apostle's Blessing is used over Mutagenic Growth at this point to protect my Damping Matrix from removal while still keeping a hate bear alive.
Last but not least, Spreading Seas seems like a great compliment to Ghost Quarter in a lot of slower and non-Blue match ups. They will also keep Pod in check.
If I had the inclination to buy Voice of Resurgence, what I REALLY want to try is this:
I need an answer for Twin & Affinity, but I also need an answer to Pod. Damping Matrix fits the bill.
I like to have 2 Torpor Orb and 2 Stony Silence against Pod and Twin, and Stony Silence just wrecks affinity, they can't even use their Darksteel Citadel for mana, let alone use the rest of their deck lol (Steel Overseer, Cranial Plating, ect).
Is Aether Vial necessary in your list? It's just my preference but I prefer 4 more creatures rather than vial.
It may not be. I was going off the Death & Taxes shell, which uses Flickerwisp and Vial for lots of neat tricks. I could definitely switch Vial out and run 4 more creatures, like Dryad Militant. I have a GW aggro list that I will be trying next that works along those lines, but it doesn't run as many of the hate bears in place of things like Steppe Lynx and Knight of The Reliquary.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
You can't always win, and just because you lose doesn't mean you played badly.
Even if you lose, it is important to remain confident in your ability to make good plays and decisions. Lose that and you are truly lost.
Testing is great, and the better the testing is, the better off you'll be.
It is impossible to tilt and play well.
It is possible to make no mistakes and still lose.
My advice would be may run 3 or 4 birds instead of the vials. and 4 smiters and only 3 thalias and in that new list. that way you always have a turn 2 three drop. and thalia is legendary, if you find yourself with 2 in hand with nothing else to do youre gonna wanna kick yourself
Agreed on Thalia, but then in practice I didn't see her often enough. I always want her in play. Even in that awkward Zombies match my opponent tapped out to Abrupt Decay her, because she was going to block Geralf's Messenger and all of the Wolf tokens easily.
I guess the decision is: Do I want to risk seeing multiples of Thalia, or none at all in some games?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
You can't always win, and just because you lose doesn't mean you played badly.
Even if you lose, it is important to remain confident in your ability to make good plays and decisions. Lose that and you are truly lost.
Testing is great, and the better the testing is, the better off you'll be.
It is impossible to tilt and play well.
It is possible to make no mistakes and still lose.
Agreed on Thalia, but then in practice I didn't see her often enough. I always want her in play. Even in that awkward Zombies match my opponent tapped out to Abrupt Decay her, because she was going to block Geralf's Messenger and all of the Wolf tokens easily.
I guess the decision is: Do I want to risk seeing multiples of Thalia, or none at all in some games?
Thalia is worth it playing as a 4 of, most opponents find her difficult to deal with so she eats a lot of removal, which is fine, just play the next one if you have it. Playing 3 Thalia is fine is you really need to use that slot for something else, my preference 4.
I know Scavenging Ooze will be great in GW Hatebears once M14 is legal, but does the new Imposing Sovereign card have any applications in modern for this deck that anyone can think of? Slows Twin Exarch decks down which is nice
Imposing Sovereign also cripples Twin Pod, hampers Flash and Haste, and keeps guys from blocking for one turn. I like her more in Smiter-Liege builds because they're more aggressive.
Imposing Sovereign also cripples Twin Pod, hampers Flash and Haste, and keeps guys from blocking for one turn. I like her more in Smiter-Liege builds because they're more aggressive.
I agree with Lectrys, though i would probably try it in the sideboard of less aggressive versions. Sovereign actually reminds me of a problem I've been running into, and that is removal. My meta seems to be packed with decks full of removal, or at least enough to deal with the hatebears i put down. I don't mean to sound like someone who thinks every creature sucks because it dies to removal, but hatebears generally have low toughness and tend to attract more removal because of their abilities.
Now my question is, should I just play cards like Brave the Elements or possibly look into adding a third color like blue for Kira, Great Glass-Spinner and Meddling Mage? Blue also gives access to low cost counters in the form of Spell Snare and Spell Pierce. Just something I am considering and would like to here everyones thoughts on.
I agree with Lectrys, though i would probably try it in the sideboard of less aggressive versions. Sovereign actually reminds me of a problem I've been running into, and that is removal. My meta seems to be packed with decks full of removal, or at least enough to deal with the hatebears i put down. I don't mean to sound like someone who thinks every creature sucks because it dies to removal, but hatebears generally have low toughness and tend to attract more removal because of their abilities.
Now my question is, should I just play cards like Brave the Elements or possibly look into adding a third color like blue for Kira, Great Glass-Spinner and Meddling Mage? Blue also gives access to low cost counters in the form of Spell Snare and Spell Pierce. Just something I am considering and would like to here everyones thoughts on.
If I'm worried about heavy removal I usually put 2 Brave the Elements in my sideboard and always have 2 Spellskite's in my sideboard.
This is what I'm currently playing. Well, actually, the sideboard I don't still fully own yet, but it's what I'd play. I will appreciate any advise (especially: is there any place where you would fit the 3rd aven mindcensor? maybe over the 3rd kitchen finks?)
Some comments, 1) I really fear Blood Moon. I maindeck Qasali but it's obviously a bad answer (burn him first, play Moon afterwards). Should I bring Back to nature in against blood moon decks ? (namely monored decks in my meta)
I reserve space for a FNM report, I'll be testing the list this afternoon (except for some SB cards )
You have plenty of room for more basic lands. You don't need 4 Horizon Canopy or 4 Temple Garden. Cut 2 of each, and add two more Plains and Forests. That should help a little against a Blood Moon.
Some tech I used during PTQ season: Seal of Primordium. You can put it in play and just let it sit there until a Blood Moon is played. Not to mention it still works out fine against Affinity, Pod, Bogle, and Twin decks.
Chromeshell: I'm trying to figure out the removal problem as well. I really think stuff like the midrange decks and UWR with tons of removal are holding us back from a higher rate of success. Not to mention that at my local store my opponents are packing more creatures than my deck can handle (aggro decks, Affinity, RDW, etc.)
The third major issue this deck runs into is that in many match ups where we are already not favored (aggro), we are going to have hate bears in play that are irrelevant. I've played enough aggro games to know that most of these decks do not care about searching their libraries and have close to nothing costing more than 3 or X. At this point we're just playing "Bears" which as you can imagine goes downhill quickly.
Last but not least, this deck runs into the classic "I have the wrong hate bear for this MU." You keep a hand with Leonin Arbiter and lose to a Tron deck that has natural Tron into Karn, or that uses Ancient Stirrings instead of Expedition Map. You have Gaddock Teeg vs. a deck that is filled with 1 and 2 mana removal (UWR.) Your Twin opponent doesn't care one bit about your sweet double Kitchen Finks draw. I could go on.
It sounds like I'm trashing the deck, but I'm not. I swear, I love this style of play, but I have to be realistic and let you know that these are the problems this deck needs to overcome before it is top tier. To summarize:
1. We need to protect the hate bears better.
2. We need answers for Aggro.
3. We need a way to have the right hate bear at the right time.
I don't know if the Modern card pool HAS the answers for all of these problems. Or from what I can see, no one list of this deck will be able to cover all of those bases. We could be better than most aggro decks by going bigger with Smiter and Wilt-Leaf Liege. We could have all of the removal we need by going Naya or Boros colors. We can find the right configuration of hate bears (maybe Samurai of The Pale Curtain is worth considering again?) And we CAN use our limited tutoring abilities (Time of Need) to help.
This is what I'm currently playing. Well, actually, the sideboard I don't still fully own yet, but it's what I'd play. I will appreciate any advise (especially: is there any place where you would fit the 3rd aven mindcensor? maybe over the 3rd kitchen finks?)
Some comments, 1) I really fear Blood Moon. I maindeck Qasali but it's obviously a bad answer (burn him first, play Moon afterwards). Should I bring Back to nature in against blood moon decks ? (namely monored decks in my meta)
I reserve space for a FNM report, I'll be testing the list this afternoon (except for some SB cards )
I like this build quite a bit. The sideboard is the only thing that I think really needs work. I am not sure why you would want both Back to Nature and Spellskite. Pithing Needle is a good option, as is Engineered Explosives.
Yeah, I really like Engineered Explosives. Lingering Souls is a card that owns this deck quite a bit.
As for tomorrow, I played with the mainboard listed above (except for -1 canopy, +1 forest, thanks HorseShoe). The side I used was:
2 Spellskite
2 Rest in Peace
1 Creeping Corrosion
1 Torpor Orb
1 Batterskull
1 Ghostly Prison
3 Dismember
1 Back to Nature
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Kor Firewalker
admittedly suboptimal (I'd use Stony Silence over Creeping Corrosion had I had it), but it worked out. I top3d in an event of 25 players, going 3-1 losing the 3rd round.
First of all, I want to answer DOLZero: Spellskite is easily the card I love more from the sideboard. It is gg against Infect (steal their pumpers and rancors), GW auras (steal their auras), Twin (steal twin), and overall a really important hatebear (even if it's not actually a bear). Back to Nature is a concession to GW auras, a deck you just have to have hate against or can't ever expect to beat.
Round 1 - Living End
So, first round, and I already start thinking that I WANT a 4th Thalia, even if it's in the sideboard. Thalia is quite the game here -comboing costs 2 more to them. She singlehandedly wins game1 along with some pressure from a couple bears. I lose game 2 since I can't find her and he easily comboes on turn 3.
Game 3 is won on the back of Leonin Arbiter's land destruction -I deny him his black source and he looses without being able to cascade.
(sb: -1 sword of feast and famine, -1 path, +2 Rest in peace)
1-0
Round 2 - Infect
I am pretty sure this Has to be a bad matchup. Again, besides Thalia (and, this time, Paths) there isn't much we do that really has any importance for the infect player. He beats me game 1 with a superpumped unblockable guy. I win game 2 by drawing ALL THREE dismembers, my ghostly prison AND a Thalia to deny last turn pump. So overall I felt like Zeus just wanted me to win.
Game 3 is the one he is the slow deck and I'm the beatdown. Starting Hierach into Qasali/Dismember into Wilt-Leaf Liege puts quite a lot of pressure on him, and he doesn't find the 2nd guy soon enough. I really believe this matchup must be terrible though. I drew like the gods.
(sb: +3 Dismember, +2 Spellskite, +1 Ghostly Prison, -2 Swords, -2 Birds, -1 Wilt-leaf, -1 Kitchen Finks)
2-0
Round 3 - Junk
And I'll lose to the discard-based, fair (non-comboish) matchup! He 2-0s me, I played quite bad game 1, but still felt like 2 Inquisition of Kozilek in a row taking out Thalia and Path and leaving Loxodon and Wilt-Leaf were hard to handle. Game 2 is basically inexistent. Deathrite - Liliana - Lingering Souls, and Aven didn't own his land search since he did find a swamp in his 4 top cards Twice.
Is this really a poor matchup, or could my mistakes had been the cause of it feeling so uphillish? I noticed I didn't have much to side in, since I was teorically prepared for such decks. I brought in the Metamorph to copy Thruns (last weeks to do that yeah...) but definetely felt like Enginereed Explosives were sweet. Also he wrathed me with a Zealous Persecution (something like double Hierarch, Thalia and Aven for one freaking card), any advise on that?
2-1
Round 4 - Splinter Twin
Another unfair matchup, another win! I 2-0ed here, and he misplayed quite badly in game 2: In turn 3, with he having 2 mana open (he had just burned an Arbiter), and me having Temple Garden, Forest, Ghost Quarter in play, and Lox and a 2nd Arbiter in hand, I decide to drop the Lox. He untaps, draws and passes the turn. I draw a 2nd Ghost Quarter and thank Zeus again.
"Starting my combat step".
Flashes Pestermite, taps Loxodon. Is he ready to combo? However it is, he hasn't drawn a 4th land.
I tap Forest. I tap Temple Garden.
"Leonin Arbiter"
"Ok."
Play my second Ghost Quarter. Sac them both.
"Those two lands".
I win that last game with my opponent having just an island in play. Pretty cool, if you ask!
(sb: All da hate. Torpor Orb, Dismembers, Spellskites)
I'd love any criticism you can give me, both in sideboarding and ideas for playing against said matchups. Thanks for all, and sorry for my English! I'm from Barcelona.
Also, I'd love to build a better sideboard. I think what I'm inlove with so far is
2 Spellskite (or more?), 2 Rest in Peace, 2 Stony Silence (game against Affinity, cool against Pod), at least 2 Dismember (such a card), and 2 slots against Burn (is Kor Firewalker optimal? I don't like Chalice at 1 since it shuts down our Paths and may come a bit too late, but it's also game against Infect -they've got sooo many 1 mana pumpers. And then, maybe something to beat Jund/Junk a little more reliably. Is Batterskull fine? Enginereed Exp?
I'm listening. Sorry for this looong post. I really loved this deck and built it to enter modern -had never played it IRL-, and I'm quite excited to try and make it work.
What I mean is that you can use Spellskite to steal your opponent's enchantments in the aura match up. Back to Nature is just so narrow in its uses, where EE could fit in and cover the same bases and then some.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
FREE BLOODBRAID ELF
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
~ Brian DeMars
Arbiter and Knight are not good buddies. You're either on the knight or arbiter game plan, as neither of them like each other.
Creatures
2 Aven Mindcensor
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Kitchen Finks
4 Leonin Arbiter
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
4 Loxodon Smiter
3 Mirran Crusader
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Qasali Pridemage
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Voice of Resurgence
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
Spells
4 Path to Exile
Lands
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Forest
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Horizon Canopy
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Plains
4 Razorverge Thicket
1 Stirring Wildwood
2 Tectonic Edge
4 Temple Garden
Sideboard
1 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Spellskite
2 Condemn
3 Creeping Corrosion
1 Stony Silence
2 Torpor Orb
Game 1 Infect, 2-0
Game 2 UWr Midrange, 2-1
Game 3 Melira Pod, 1-2
Game 4 Living End, 2-0
Cut to the top 4
Game 5 Affinity, 2-1
Game 6 Melira Pod, 1-2
Round 1 - Mono-U Tron
I mulliganed to 5 game 1, and kept land, land, Kitchen Finks, Loxodon Smiter, Wilt-Leaf Liege. I don't think the odds were in my favor to get a better four... I got stuck on those 2 lands but managed to land a Qasali Pridemage, then my white source ate a Spreading Seas.
In Game 2 I managed to fend off 2 Wurmcoil Engines thanks to not drawing a Leonin Arbiter (so the Treasure Mages worked.) The third Wurmcoil did me in. Also, Gaddock Teeg does very little in this match up, since the sweeper costs 3, there are no Karns in this list, and the Condescends get boarded out. Ugh, I thought this was one of the better match ups!
Round 2 - BG Zombies
Yeah, this was basically a Standard deck with most of the BG Modern package added (Deathrite, Lili, Dark Confidant). I lost in three games due to too much pressure from Rancors and recurring threats that I could not handle, plus a Garruck Relentless that I was unable to punch through and kill before too much advantage was gained. Also, none of my hatebears mattered in this MU, so I was just playing, er, "bears"
Round 3 - new player/pile of bad commons
I won this one. Yaay!
I think for my local scene I need some burn spells or more aggression. Voice of Resurgence might actually be good in this deck for my metagame, but I don't want to shell out $240 for them to try and win 3 packs. I also need some better luck, because in theory I am supposed to be able to draw a Leonin Arbiter and a Ghost Quarter at the same time to deal with Tron lands.
Spreading Seas is not a bad idea to go with the rest of the search/land hate. It is another way to lock down an opposing mana base, which intensifies if we are also using Leonin Arbiter and Ghost Quarters. It may just be a sideboard option.
Geist of Saint Traft is not workable in my meta game. There are too many creatures running around to block it, and I have no way of giving Geist evasion in this list without adding Elspeth or Swords.
Kitchen Finks was stellar, and I think I just want that life gain and Persist over the Smiter in my situation. In a larger tournament I expect Smiter to do more work as I face more Lilis and counters and less aggro decks.
If I was going to run this again at my local store, I would play this:
1 Eiganjo Castle
2 Forest
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Horizon Canopy
2 Plains
4 Razorverge Thicket
1 Sunpetal Grove
3 Temple Garden
2 Aven Mindcensor
2 Gaddock Teeg
3 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Leonin Arbiter
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
4 Thalis, Guardian of Thraben
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
Spells
4 Path to Exile
4 Aether Vial
3 Apostle's Blessing
3 Condemn
3 Damping Matrix
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Gaddock Teeg
3 Spreading Seas
I need an answer for Twin & Affinity, but I also need an answer to Pod. Damping Matrix fits the bill.
Condemn is my additional Aggro removal that also deals with Persist/Undying creatures AND Wurmcoil Engines. I also have more search hate MD with a pair of Avens.
Apostle's Blessing is used over Mutagenic Growth at this point to protect my Damping Matrix from removal while still keeping a hate bear alive.
Last but not least, Spreading Seas seems like a great compliment to Ghost Quarter in a lot of slower and non-Blue match ups. They will also keep Pod in check.
If I had the inclination to buy Voice of Resurgence, what I REALLY want to try is this:
2 Forest
2 Gavony Township
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Horizon Canopy
2 Plains
4 Razorverge Thicket
2 Stirring Wildwood
1 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden
2 Aven Mindcensor
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Leonin Arbiter
3 Loxodon Smiter
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Thalis, Guardian of Thraben
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
Spells
4 Path to Exile
4 Aether Vial
2 Apostle's Blessing
4 Condemn
3 Damping Matrix
3 Faerie Macabre
3 Gaddock Teeg
~ Brian DeMars
I like to have 2 Torpor Orb and 2 Stony Silence against Pod and Twin, and Stony Silence just wrecks affinity, they can't even use their Darksteel Citadel for mana, let alone use the rest of their deck lol (Steel Overseer, Cranial Plating, ect).
Is Aether Vial necessary in your list? It's just my preference but I prefer 4 more creatures rather than vial.
~ Brian DeMars
I guess the decision is: Do I want to risk seeing multiples of Thalia, or none at all in some games?
~ Brian DeMars
Thalia is worth it playing as a 4 of, most opponents find her difficult to deal with so she eats a lot of removal, which is fine, just play the next one if you have it. Playing 3 Thalia is fine is you really need to use that slot for something else, my preference 4.
I agree with Lectrys, though i would probably try it in the sideboard of less aggressive versions. Sovereign actually reminds me of a problem I've been running into, and that is removal. My meta seems to be packed with decks full of removal, or at least enough to deal with the hatebears i put down. I don't mean to sound like someone who thinks every creature sucks because it dies to removal, but hatebears generally have low toughness and tend to attract more removal because of their abilities.
Now my question is, should I just play cards like Brave the Elements or possibly look into adding a third color like blue for Kira, Great Glass-Spinner and Meddling Mage? Blue also gives access to low cost counters in the form of Spell Snare and Spell Pierce. Just something I am considering and would like to here everyones thoughts on.
If I'm worried about heavy removal I usually put 2 Brave the Elements in my sideboard and always have 2 Spellskite's in my sideboard.
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Leonin Arbiter
4 Voice of Resurgence
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Loxodon Smiter
2 Aven Mindcensor
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Wilt-Leaf Liege
1 Qasali Pridemage
Lands
1 Eiganjo Castle
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Tectonic Edge
4 Temple Garden
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Horizon Canopy
1 Plains
1 Forest
1 Brushland
1 Gavony Township
1 Stirring Wildwood
4 Path to Exile
Artifacts
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Spellskite
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
1 Ghostly Prison
3 Dismember
2 Back to Nature
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Kor Firewalker
Some comments, 1) I really fear Blood Moon. I maindeck Qasali but it's obviously a bad answer (burn him first, play Moon afterwards). Should I bring Back to nature in against blood moon decks ? (namely monored decks in my meta)
I reserve space for a FNM report, I'll be testing the list this afternoon (except for some SB cards )
Some tech I used during PTQ season: Seal of Primordium. You can put it in play and just let it sit there until a Blood Moon is played. Not to mention it still works out fine against Affinity, Pod, Bogle, and Twin decks.
Chromeshell: I'm trying to figure out the removal problem as well. I really think stuff like the midrange decks and UWR with tons of removal are holding us back from a higher rate of success. Not to mention that at my local store my opponents are packing more creatures than my deck can handle (aggro decks, Affinity, RDW, etc.)
The third major issue this deck runs into is that in many match ups where we are already not favored (aggro), we are going to have hate bears in play that are irrelevant. I've played enough aggro games to know that most of these decks do not care about searching their libraries and have close to nothing costing more than 3 or X. At this point we're just playing "Bears" which as you can imagine goes downhill quickly.
Last but not least, this deck runs into the classic "I have the wrong hate bear for this MU." You keep a hand with Leonin Arbiter and lose to a Tron deck that has natural Tron into Karn, or that uses Ancient Stirrings instead of Expedition Map. You have Gaddock Teeg vs. a deck that is filled with 1 and 2 mana removal (UWR.) Your Twin opponent doesn't care one bit about your sweet double Kitchen Finks draw. I could go on.
It sounds like I'm trashing the deck, but I'm not. I swear, I love this style of play, but I have to be realistic and let you know that these are the problems this deck needs to overcome before it is top tier. To summarize:
1. We need to protect the hate bears better.
2. We need answers for Aggro.
3. We need a way to have the right hate bear at the right time.
I don't know if the Modern card pool HAS the answers for all of these problems. Or from what I can see, no one list of this deck will be able to cover all of those bases. We could be better than most aggro decks by going bigger with Smiter and Wilt-Leaf Liege. We could have all of the removal we need by going Naya or Boros colors. We can find the right configuration of hate bears (maybe Samurai of The Pale Curtain is worth considering again?) And we CAN use our limited tutoring abilities (Time of Need) to help.
~ Brian DeMars
I like this build quite a bit. The sideboard is the only thing that I think really needs work. I am not sure why you would want both Back to Nature and Spellskite. Pithing Needle is a good option, as is Engineered Explosives.
FREE BLOODBRAID ELF
As for tomorrow, I played with the mainboard listed above (except for -1 canopy, +1 forest, thanks HorseShoe). The side I used was:
2 Spellskite
2 Rest in Peace
1 Creeping Corrosion
1 Torpor Orb
1 Batterskull
1 Ghostly Prison
3 Dismember
1 Back to Nature
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Kor Firewalker
admittedly suboptimal (I'd use Stony Silence over Creeping Corrosion had I had it), but it worked out. I top3d in an event of 25 players, going 3-1 losing the 3rd round.
First of all, I want to answer DOLZero: Spellskite is easily the card I love more from the sideboard. It is gg against Infect (steal their pumpers and rancors), GW auras (steal their auras), Twin (steal twin), and overall a really important hatebear (even if it's not actually a bear). Back to Nature is a concession to GW auras, a deck you just have to have hate against or can't ever expect to beat.
Round 1 - Living End
So, first round, and I already start thinking that I WANT a 4th Thalia, even if it's in the sideboard. Thalia is quite the game here -comboing costs 2 more to them. She singlehandedly wins game1 along with some pressure from a couple bears. I lose game 2 since I can't find her and he easily comboes on turn 3.
Game 3 is won on the back of Leonin Arbiter's land destruction -I deny him his black source and he looses without being able to cascade.
(sb: -1 sword of feast and famine, -1 path, +2 Rest in peace)
1-0
Round 2 - Infect
I am pretty sure this Has to be a bad matchup. Again, besides Thalia (and, this time, Paths) there isn't much we do that really has any importance for the infect player. He beats me game 1 with a superpumped unblockable guy. I win game 2 by drawing ALL THREE dismembers, my ghostly prison AND a Thalia to deny last turn pump. So overall I felt like Zeus just wanted me to win.
Game 3 is the one he is the slow deck and I'm the beatdown. Starting Hierach into Qasali/Dismember into Wilt-Leaf Liege puts quite a lot of pressure on him, and he doesn't find the 2nd guy soon enough. I really believe this matchup must be terrible though. I drew like the gods.
(sb: +3 Dismember, +2 Spellskite, +1 Ghostly Prison, -2 Swords, -2 Birds, -1 Wilt-leaf, -1 Kitchen Finks)
2-0
Round 3 - Junk
And I'll lose to the discard-based, fair (non-comboish) matchup! He 2-0s me, I played quite bad game 1, but still felt like 2 Inquisition of Kozilek in a row taking out Thalia and Path and leaving Loxodon and Wilt-Leaf were hard to handle. Game 2 is basically inexistent. Deathrite - Liliana - Lingering Souls, and Aven didn't own his land search since he did find a swamp in his 4 top cards Twice.
Is this really a poor matchup, or could my mistakes had been the cause of it feeling so uphillish? I noticed I didn't have much to side in, since I was teorically prepared for such decks. I brought in the Metamorph to copy Thruns (last weeks to do that yeah...) but definetely felt like Enginereed Explosives were sweet. Also he wrathed me with a Zealous Persecution (something like double Hierarch, Thalia and Aven for one freaking card), any advise on that?
2-1
Round 4 - Splinter Twin
Another unfair matchup, another win! I 2-0ed here, and he misplayed quite badly in game 2: In turn 3, with he having 2 mana open (he had just burned an Arbiter), and me having Temple Garden, Forest, Ghost Quarter in play, and Lox and a 2nd Arbiter in hand, I decide to drop the Lox. He untaps, draws and passes the turn. I draw a 2nd Ghost Quarter and thank Zeus again.
"Starting my combat step".
Flashes Pestermite, taps Loxodon. Is he ready to combo? However it is, he hasn't drawn a 4th land.
I tap Forest. I tap Temple Garden.
"Leonin Arbiter"
"Ok."
Play my second Ghost Quarter. Sac them both.
"Those two lands".
I win that last game with my opponent having just an island in play. Pretty cool, if you ask!
(sb: All da hate. Torpor Orb, Dismembers, Spellskites)
I'd love any criticism you can give me, both in sideboarding and ideas for playing against said matchups. Thanks for all, and sorry for my English! I'm from Barcelona.
Also, I'd love to build a better sideboard. I think what I'm inlove with so far is
2 Spellskite (or more?), 2 Rest in Peace, 2 Stony Silence (game against Affinity, cool against Pod), at least 2 Dismember (such a card), and 2 slots against Burn (is Kor Firewalker optimal? I don't like Chalice at 1 since it shuts down our Paths and may come a bit too late, but it's also game against Infect -they've got sooo many 1 mana pumpers. And then, maybe something to beat Jund/Junk a little more reliably. Is Batterskull fine? Enginereed Exp?
I'm listening. Sorry for this looong post. I really loved this deck and built it to enter modern -had never played it IRL-, and I'm quite excited to try and make it work.
Shall the Arbiters be with you.
FREE BLOODBRAID ELF