If I have a Pyromancer Ascension in play and Tezzeret's Gambit in my graveyard, if I cast Tezzeret's Gambit, will that activate my Ascension (cast the spell. Ascension triggers on the stack, adds a counter, spell resolves, I draw two and proliferate to add the second counter)?
Will he have to pay the Diffusion cost twice (despite the fact the creature has already been targetted but before an opportunity was given to pay costs (or did I skip his priority to pay the cost?))
Or does the Image effectively just replace the Diffusion (provided the opponent pays the cost and the original is exiled)?
Fetches feed Become Immense and handle your fixing, thin out your deck of land topdecks, let you flash in Dryad Arbor to block or sacrifice. Hierarchs can speed up your clock by a turn or more, though, making T2-T3 kills more likely (unless you never ever draw them).
You basically need at least three Hierarchs to make them really worthwhile, though, so I guess fetches first.
I'm tempted bySedge Sliver or Adaptive Automaton, I just worry about trying to build a five-color manbase that would still support Sedge (I've seen a few, but I don't feel confident in them). Automaton I could just slot in, but I'm not sure what to pull.
I'm pretty unsure about the landbase in general. There's tons of Blood Moon here so I'd like to include some fetches and up the basic count.
Gabriel Joglar achieved 24th place at GP Oklahoma City.
I love the inclusion of echoing truth as a way to beat chalice of the void and it also hurts everyone else in the field. Bounce a creature, a problem enchantment or artifact, tokens ect. It's funny when you see these things. It seems so simple seeing it running this card to fight chalice and having a great versatility against the rest of the field but i guess a lot of the community was focused on fighting chalice at the artifact destruction level. It pays to look outside the box.
I think it definitely has good utility. It's really good against Lingering Souls, Bridge, Chalice. But if I'm on the draw and they drop Chalice T2 I would probably rather have a Naturalize or DD. ET is nice, though. In a tight SB, it can hit almost anything.
So i think his 60 is right on the money. His sb im not 100% sold on though. Im not sure i like 4 kitchen finks. It feels like overkill but i guess he wanted to have the ability to switch up game plans and go a traditional aggro game plan.
spellskite also seems like a less then stellar choice. It just dies to removal all day when i feel like it can be replaced by things like shaper's sanctuary or dispel where you are either going to draw a lot or just stop the kill spell in the case of dispel or stop someone from starting or finishing a combo. Im not sure if spellskite is to try and facilitate an angle against scapeshift kind of decks but it kind of feels like its trying to sure up a match up that we are already favored in.
What does everyone think about the list and my thoughts ?
I showed up at my LGS at the last minute this week, so I too had Spellskites in my SB out of pure indecision. However, I found out later that there were two other Infect decks and an abundance of Red that week, which (particularly had I faced the mirror) made it not the most terrible choice sort of.
I have tended to not like Finks at all. To me Burn is a close match that I prefer to try and race. Turn 3 should be where you're killing them or setting up to do so. I could be very well wrong on that, but it is how I feel.
Last week I went 1-3, losing to Burn, Jund and RDW with my only win against a homebrew deck. Every match was competitive (except the one I won) and I certainly made a lot of mistakes, particularly with mulliganing.
This week I went 1-1 and then dropped. I beat Affinity 2-1 in some very tight games (lost G1 due to having) three Glistener Elves, no evasion and he dropped Etched Champion.
Then I played the mirror match. I think it was only my second time every playing the mirror. both games went the same: he got Nobles, I didn't, so he outraced me. Game 2 I hit him for 5 infect T3, then on his turn he activated Inkmoth and pumped with Might. I jumped the gun and counted with Vines, to which he counted with Blossoming and double Mutagenic to kill me. I was so disgusted with myself I dropped on the spot, barely even shook my poor opponent's hand before I signed my slip, grabbed my stuff and ran. I still feel sick about it - literally nauseous. I've been playing this deck since Zen/Scars, I should absolutely know better. Whatever. Anyway, sorry for the rant.
Round 1 vs Fuse Combo:
Game 1 I kept a slow start and he combo'd out before I knew what hit me. 0-1
-1 Distortion Strike, -1 Apostle's Blessing, -1 Dryad Arbor -1 Viridian Corrupter, +2 Grafdigger's Cage, +2 Spell Pierce
Game 2 he didn't get a mana dork and I killed him T3 with Elf. 1-1
Game 3 he beat me to Kari Zev's but whiffed and I killed him next turn. 2-1
Round 2 vs 8Rack: 1-0
Game 1 T1 Inquisition my Elf, T2 Thoughtseize my Agent, never drew a creature. 0-1
-2 Distortion Strike -1 Viridian Corrupter, +3 Spell Pierce
Game 2 I have to mull twice and keep a hand with Defiance, Inkmoth, Breeding Pool, AB and BD. I keep and he sits back until T3 when he drop Lili. I play Defiance T3 to set up for the kill, but Wrench Mind T4 wrecks my hand and Shrieking Affliction grinds me out.
Really need to work on the SB for this deck. 3 Leyline of Sanctity I think.
Round 3 vs UR Storm: 1-1
Game 1 I played Elf right away while he went digging. Hit him for 5 T2 in case he wanted to try to remove it on his turn. He went digging again on his turn, couldn't find what he was looking for and offered Game 2. 1-0
-1 Distortion Strike -1 Viridian Corrupter, -1 Dryad Arbor, -1 Apostle's Blessing, +1 Spellskite, +1 Grafdigger's Cage, +2 Spell Pierce
Game 2 Pretty much the same thing. Elf T1, D-strike T2, T3 Round, Might, Mutagenic, BD in response to Vapor Snag 2-0
Round 4 vs Ad Nauseam: 2-1
Game 1 Had No idea what I was up against, kept a God Hand and played T1 Elf. He went T1 Tarn > Steam Vents > Serum Visions. T2 Might, Groundswell, Mutagenic for lethal. 1-0
Game 2 I didn't bother boarding though I'd thought about Spellskite. I had Elf, BP, Inkmoth, Might, Vines and Harbor. He T1 Thoughtseized my Vines. I topdecked Agent, BP > Elf and passed. He played Serum Visions on his turn. I played Harbor, cast Might on Elf and swung for 5. Next turn I swung for 1 to bring him to 6, played Inkmoth and Agent. He'd been filtering the whole time, but leaving a B/x mana open so I was playing carefully. T4 he was tapped out but I was worried he had his combo. I played an Island, used it to activate Inkmoth, swung with all three, then used Mutagenic on Agent (probably should have been Elf). He killed it with Slaughter Pact and then saved himself with Angel's Grace. Next turn I swung with Elf and Inkmoth, but he bounced Elf and countered my BD with Pact of Negation. He couldn't combo out next turn though, so I replayed Elf on my turn and killed him with Inkmoth. 2-0
So, mainly I want to up my game against counterspells and targeted discard. Leyline of Sanctity seems good there. Oddly, that Ad Nauseam game made me think hard about Angel's Grace and Pact of Negation as well. A white splash also gives us access to Condemn, though I still want to find room for Unsummon and possibly Withstand Death.
Yeah, the "Flipwalkers" don't really work with Moonmist.
You might want some way to play more copies of Moonmist as it is the key card of the deck.
Maybe Snapcaster Mage (or Eternal Witness) can be a good idea.
The above isn't optimal. Without Moonmist it's just a poor Humans build, though Moonmist antics can catch players off guard. CoCo might well be more removal or some protection. Manabase could use work.
I could be wrong on a lot of things, but I like this idea. Maximizing use of Burning-Tree Emissary is worthwhile. Giving you another way to T2 flip Kytheon ain't nothing, even if it means running Lightning Mauler.
I was even tempted to go -1 Path, -1 Lieutenant, +1 Command, +1 Mayor.
I'm not a big fan of Twisted just because it is pretty limited in what it can remove. I guess it is good for mana dorks, but Nature's Claim will kill a Spellskite and Dismember will kill almost anything.
I'm thinking about running Vapor Snag, and it would basically assume the TI slots of my sideboard, except I rarely ever ran TI and always use the slots for other things.
Round 1: RG Tron (2-0)
Really easy matchup. Game 1 he ramped into Wurmcoil which I just avoided, game 2 he dropped Spellskite when I had Nature's Claim and lethal combo in hand.
Round 2: Jeskai (0-2)
Only match of the night where I couldn't take a game. Between removal and counterspells, he had an answer for everything, and when I bemoaned in game 2 that I should have cast my spells differently to lure out his removal, he mentioned he had a Spell Pierce and the mana to back it up anyway, so oh well.
Round 3: Jund (1-2)
Same thing here. Thoughtseize and removal kept any infectors off the board. Game 1 I combo'd out when I topdecked a Blighted Agent to cover the one he's Inquisitioned, game 2 he dropped a Spellskite T2 and I never came up with an answer. Game 3 he got rid of all my infectors. I almost beat him to death with Wild Definace and two Hierarchs, but he topdecked Fatal Push when I had no protection left.
Round 4: Burn (1-2)
Every game was razor close, and I probably could have won game 3 but I made two critical play mistakes (played Breeding Pool, Elf T2 with an Elf already in ploay instead of playing Inkmoth. I didn't have any evasion spells and he had a Lavamancer to block, and then when he played Goblin Guide I forgot it let me look at my top card.) All in all though it was a straight race and I felt a good matchup. I never saw any Eidolons or anything, though.
Round 5: Bye
I guess there was an error about dropped ploayers, because a bunch of us got a random bye.
Round 6: B/G Elves (1-2)
Very tough matchup. The speed of Elves plus removal and hand disruption. I think all night long, I only won one game where I got Seized/Inquisitioned. It really wrecks us hard. Game 2 I caught him when he tapped out for Coco T3 (well he had an Llanowar Elf open).
Round 7: Naya (2-1)
So it was deckcheck time, and I had forgotten that when I had arrived at the event, I was missing a Misty and had to slap in a Forest to replace it and forgot to update my list. While they were checking, my opponent went to the bathroom. They couldn't start us until he got back, so we got an 128 minute extension. We didn't need it. In fact out match ended with 18 minutes left to go. God, I love Infect for that.
So game 1 was my loss, game 2 he started with Birds and held onto some removal, but I had lots of protection and hit him for 5 T2 and T3.
Game 3 he played Birds T1, tried to remove my Elf T2, then played Huntmaster T3 and I killed him again.
Round 8: Elves (1-2)
The mono-G version. He took game 2 and 3 by dropping Melira T2 both games and I never saw a Dismember. I tried to combo out with Wild Defiance, but without any defense, Ezuri makes a very short clock.
Round 9: Death's Shadow (1-2)
I think. It was Rakdos, and hand disruption and removal kept my from applying any serious pressure. G3 I tried going wide when he took away both my pump spells, but when I swung with Elf and Inkmoth he hit me with that command and I was done.
So the night went poorly, but at least every match was competitive (decks like Jund and Abzan were crushing me easily at FNMs).
The Vines trick was never relevant, and paying GG to kick it was often problematic. Blossoming Defense would have been better in every situation I ran into. Distortion Strike is a necessary evil, but Apostle's Blessing really does it all, so I'd like to go 4 Defences and 4 Blessings.
I never saw those Explosives, so Withstand Death was never a factor. I might cut it and move the Vines to the board.
I also might swap Dismember for Vapor Snag, or try to find room for it. Truthfully, we don't really need to kill things so much as we need to get them out of our way. Snag would deal with Melira and Spellskite long enough for us to kill them. Of course the problem with Dismember isn't that it cost me life or it couldn't hit certain things, the problem was I only put two in the board, and so I never saw them when I needed them. At least Claim and Pierce were there for me (though Abrupt Decay made Pierce moot a few times).
Is everyone really having success with Become Immense? I was literally running Revenge of the Hunted since I found the Miracle cost was more attainable than the Delve cost.
I'm still pretty new to Modern. I find there's a ton of black and white removal in my meta, so Wild Defiance loses a bit of value. I'm honestly debating trying Livewire Lash. It is mana-intensive, but I find sticking one on a creature is more decisive that sticking a Defiance. At the very least, if there's a removal exchange and you lose, they take a hit from it. I also thought about adding Blossoming Defense or upping my Blessings to 4. With 3 Defiance maindeck, getting the damage there isn't too hard, if I can stick a creature and hit my land drops.
I know I should go back to 4 Comet Storm, but Make a Wish is so fun. I'd like to run 4. Maybe drop Chandra. I mainly just ran Chandra Ablaze for a little reach, making dead cards useful and -2 when your hand is empty or your opponent's is full. Also her cost isn't terribly onerous. Firebrand is more just being cute.
It seems to be different for different people. I'm playing the PC version and have beaten Innistrad, Theros and Ravnica and cleared out the Explore modes for all three, but still only have access to my Golgari Starter deck.
Of course I've farmed enough packs I've built five more, but still can't access any other starters. A friend says some (but not all) of the others unlock after beating the game.
Will he have to pay the Diffusion cost twice (despite the fact the creature has already been targetted but before an opportunity was given to pay costs (or did I skip his priority to pay the cost?))
Or does the Image effectively just replace the Diffusion (provided the opponent pays the cost and the original is exiled)?
You basically need at least three Hierarchs to make them really worthwhile, though, so I guess fetches first.
Frenetic is good against sweepers, and a good backup, but Diffusion is stronger against spot removal, especially in multiples.
I'm working on putting a deck together. I'm starting with Fast(-ish) Slivers but keeping my options open for a more toolbox build later.
4 Sidewinder Sliver
4 Virulent Sliver
2 Striking Sliver
4 Sinew Sliver
4 Predatory Sliver
4 Leeching Sliver
4 Diffusion Sliver
2 Gemhide Sliver
2 Blur Sliver
2 Dismember
4 Sliver Hive
4 Mutavault
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Unclaimed Territory
2 Mana Confluence
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Plains
2 Syphon Sliver
2 Frenetic Sliver
2 Darkheart Sliver
2 Venom Sliver
2 Grafdigger's Cage
I'm tempted bySedge Sliver or Adaptive Automaton, I just worry about trying to build a five-color manbase that would still support Sedge (I've seen a few, but I don't feel confident in them). Automaton I could just slot in, but I'm not sure what to pull.
I'm pretty unsure about the landbase in general. There's tons of Blood Moon here so I'd like to include some fetches and up the basic count.
I think it definitely has good utility. It's really good against Lingering Souls, Bridge, Chalice. But if I'm on the draw and they drop Chalice T2 I would probably rather have a Naturalize or DD. ET is nice, though. In a tight SB, it can hit almost anything.
I showed up at my LGS at the last minute this week, so I too had Spellskites in my SB out of pure indecision. However, I found out later that there were two other Infect decks and an abundance of Red that week, which (particularly had I faced the mirror) made it not the most terrible choice sort of.
I have tended to not like Finks at all. To me Burn is a close match that I prefer to try and race. Turn 3 should be where you're killing them or setting up to do so. I could be very well wrong on that, but it is how I feel.
Last week I went 1-3, losing to Burn, Jund and RDW with my only win against a homebrew deck. Every match was competitive (except the one I won) and I certainly made a lot of mistakes, particularly with mulliganing.
This week I went 1-1 and then dropped. I beat Affinity 2-1 in some very tight games (lost G1 due to having) three Glistener Elves, no evasion and he dropped Etched Champion.
Then I played the mirror match. I think it was only my second time every playing the mirror. both games went the same: he got Nobles, I didn't, so he outraced me. Game 2 I hit him for 5 infect T3, then on his turn he activated Inkmoth and pumped with Might. I jumped the gun and counted with Vines, to which he counted with Blossoming and double Mutagenic to kill me. I was so disgusted with myself I dropped on the spot, barely even shook my poor opponent's hand before I signed my slip, grabbed my stuff and ran. I still feel sick about it - literally nauseous. I've been playing this deck since Zen/Scars, I should absolutely know better. Whatever. Anyway, sorry for the rant.
4 Blighted Agent
4 Glistener Elf
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Viridian Corrupter
Spells (24)
4 Groundswell
4 Might of Old Krosa
4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Blossoming Defense
2 Distortion Strike
1 Vines of Vastwood
2 Apostle's Blessing
2 Become Immense
3 Wild Defiance
Land (19)
2 Breeding Pool
2 Forest
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Pendelhaven
2 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Hinterland Harbor
1 Island
3 Spell Pierce
2 Nature's Claim
2 Dismember
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Spellskite
2 Shaper's Sanctuary
1 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Viridian Corrupter
4 Breeding Pool
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Hinterland Harbor
2 Pendelhaven
2 Forest
1 Island
1 Dryad Arbor
Creatures 13
4 Noble Heirarch
4 Glistener Elf
4 Blighted Agent
1 Viridian Corrupter
3 Wild Defiance
Spells 24
4 Might of Old Krosa
4 Groundswell
4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Blossoming Defense
3 Apostle's Blessing
2 Distortion Strike
2 Become Immense
1 Vines of Vastwood
3 Spell Pierce
3 Nature's Claim
2 Dismember
2 Spellskite
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Wild Defiance
1 Vines of Vastwood
1 Twisted Image
Round 1 vs Fuse Combo:
Game 1 I kept a slow start and he combo'd out before I knew what hit me. 0-1
-1 Distortion Strike, -1 Apostle's Blessing, -1 Dryad Arbor -1 Viridian Corrupter, +2 Grafdigger's Cage, +2 Spell Pierce
Game 2 he didn't get a mana dork and I killed him T3 with Elf. 1-1
Game 3 he beat me to Kari Zev's but whiffed and I killed him next turn. 2-1
Round 2 vs 8Rack: 1-0
Game 1 T1 Inquisition my Elf, T2 Thoughtseize my Agent, never drew a creature. 0-1
-2 Distortion Strike -1 Viridian Corrupter, +3 Spell Pierce
Game 2 I have to mull twice and keep a hand with Defiance, Inkmoth, Breeding Pool, AB and BD. I keep and he sits back until T3 when he drop Lili. I play Defiance T3 to set up for the kill, but Wrench Mind T4 wrecks my hand and Shrieking Affliction grinds me out.
Really need to work on the SB for this deck. 3 Leyline of Sanctity I think.
Round 3 vs UR Storm: 1-1
Game 1 I played Elf right away while he went digging. Hit him for 5 T2 in case he wanted to try to remove it on his turn. He went digging again on his turn, couldn't find what he was looking for and offered Game 2. 1-0
-1 Distortion Strike -1 Viridian Corrupter, -1 Dryad Arbor, -1 Apostle's Blessing, +1 Spellskite, +1 Grafdigger's Cage, +2 Spell Pierce
Game 2 Pretty much the same thing. Elf T1, D-strike T2, T3 Round, Might, Mutagenic, BD in response to Vapor Snag 2-0
Round 4 vs Ad Nauseam: 2-1
Game 1 Had No idea what I was up against, kept a God Hand and played T1 Elf. He went T1 Tarn > Steam Vents > Serum Visions. T2 Might, Groundswell, Mutagenic for lethal. 1-0
Game 2 I didn't bother boarding though I'd thought about Spellskite. I had Elf, BP, Inkmoth, Might, Vines and Harbor. He T1 Thoughtseized my Vines. I topdecked Agent, BP > Elf and passed. He played Serum Visions on his turn. I played Harbor, cast Might on Elf and swung for 5. Next turn I swung for 1 to bring him to 6, played Inkmoth and Agent. He'd been filtering the whole time, but leaving a B/x mana open so I was playing carefully. T4 he was tapped out but I was worried he had his combo. I played an Island, used it to activate Inkmoth, swung with all three, then used Mutagenic on Agent (probably should have been Elf). He killed it with Slaughter Pact and then saved himself with Angel's Grace. Next turn I swung with Elf and Inkmoth, but he bounced Elf and countered my BD with Pact of Negation. He couldn't combo out next turn though, so I replayed Elf on my turn and killed him with Inkmoth. 2-0
So, mainly I want to up my game against counterspells and targeted discard. Leyline of Sanctity seems good there. Oddly, that Ad Nauseam game made me think hard about Angel's Grace and Pact of Negation as well. A white splash also gives us access to Condemn, though I still want to find room for Unsummon and possibly Withstand Death.
4 Breeding Pool
4 Inkmoth Nexus
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Windswept Heath
2 Pendelhaven
1 Temple Garden
1 Flooded Strand
1 Plains
1 Forest
1 Dryad Arbor
3 Wild Defiance
Spells 24
4 Might of Old Krosa
4 Groundswell
4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Blossoming Defense
3 Apostle's Blessing
2 Distortion Strike
2 Become Immense
1 Vines of Vastwood
3 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Spell Pierce
3 Nature's Claim
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Unsummon
1 Spellskite
1 Twisted Image
Any thoughts?
Oops, that makes a lot of sense.
Still, you're right, there's plenty of good creatures and a few ways to go about it.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Village Messenger
2 Reckless Waif
4 Mayor of Avabruck
2 Hanweir Militia Captain
3 Lone Rider
2 Kindly Stranger
3 Hanweir Watchkeep
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Path to Exile
4 Moonmist
4 Collected Company
Land 20
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Mutavault
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Mana Confluence
1 Mountain
1 Island
4 Ancient Ziggurat
Still could be a lot better. I'll test it out soon
Of course most of the good ones were Delver or Werewolves.
With all the new Humans roaming around though, maybe a Humans build might work.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4 Reckless Waif
4 Mayor of Avabruck
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
3 Lone Rider
2 Kindly Stranger
3 Lilliana, Heretical Healer
2 Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Moonmist
4 Collected Company
Land 20
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Mutavault
4 Reflecting Pool
4 Mana Confluence
1 Plains
1 Island
4 Ancient Ziggurat
The above isn't optimal. Without Moonmist it's just a poor Humans build, though Moonmist antics can catch players off guard. CoCo might well be more removal or some protection. Manabase could use work.
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
2 Lightning Mauler
2 Mayor of Avabruck
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Voltaic Brawler
Spells (10)
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile
3 Atarka's Command
2 Arid Mesa
3 Cavern of Souls
1 Forest
2 Inspiring Vantage
2 Mountain
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
3 Wooded Foothills
3 Windswept Heath
1 Grim Lavamancer
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Boros Charm
2 Deflecting Palm
1 Destructive Revelry
1 Dromoka's Command
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
2 Lead the Stampede
I could be wrong on a lot of things, but I like this idea. Maximizing use of Burning-Tree Emissary is worthwhile. Giving you another way to T2 flip Kytheon ain't nothing, even if it means running Lightning Mauler.
I was even tempted to go -1 Path, -1 Lieutenant, +1 Command, +1 Mayor.
Heck part of me wants to try
4 Experiment One
4 Warden of the First Tree
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
2 Hamlet Captain
2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
3 Lightning Mauler
3 Mayor of Avabruck
4 Voltaic Brawler
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Atarka's Command
2 Apostle's Blessing
Land (20)
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Copperline Gorge
4 Forest
2 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
It's not nearly as strong, but more direct. Could be fun.
I'm thinking about running Vapor Snag, and it would basically assume the TI slots of my sideboard, except I rarely ever ran TI and always use the slots for other things.
Ended up 3-6 (2-6-1 truthfully)
4 Breeding Pool
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Hinterland Harbor
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Pendelhaven
2 Forest
1 Island
Creatures 12
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Glistener Elf
4 Blighted Agent
1 Vridian Corruptor
4 Might of Old Krosa
4 Groundswell
4 Mutagenic Growth
3 Apostle's Blessing
2 Distortion Strike
3 Vines of Vastwood
3 Blossoming Defense
Enchantments 4
4 Wild Defiance
3 Spell Pierce
3 Nature's Claim
2 Dismember
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Withstand Death
2 Spellskite
Round 1: RG Tron (2-0)
Really easy matchup. Game 1 he ramped into Wurmcoil which I just avoided, game 2 he dropped Spellskite when I had Nature's Claim and lethal combo in hand.
Round 2: Jeskai (0-2)
Only match of the night where I couldn't take a game. Between removal and counterspells, he had an answer for everything, and when I bemoaned in game 2 that I should have cast my spells differently to lure out his removal, he mentioned he had a Spell Pierce and the mana to back it up anyway, so oh well.
Round 3: Jund (1-2)
Same thing here. Thoughtseize and removal kept any infectors off the board. Game 1 I combo'd out when I topdecked a Blighted Agent to cover the one he's Inquisitioned, game 2 he dropped a Spellskite T2 and I never came up with an answer. Game 3 he got rid of all my infectors. I almost beat him to death with Wild Definace and two Hierarchs, but he topdecked Fatal Push when I had no protection left.
Round 4: Burn (1-2)
Every game was razor close, and I probably could have won game 3 but I made two critical play mistakes (played Breeding Pool, Elf T2 with an Elf already in ploay instead of playing Inkmoth. I didn't have any evasion spells and he had a Lavamancer to block, and then when he played Goblin Guide I forgot it let me look at my top card.) All in all though it was a straight race and I felt a good matchup. I never saw any Eidolons or anything, though.
Round 5: Bye
I guess there was an error about dropped ploayers, because a bunch of us got a random bye.
Round 6: B/G Elves (1-2)
Very tough matchup. The speed of Elves plus removal and hand disruption. I think all night long, I only won one game where I got Seized/Inquisitioned. It really wrecks us hard. Game 2 I caught him when he tapped out for Coco T3 (well he had an Llanowar Elf open).
Round 7: Naya (2-1)
So it was deckcheck time, and I had forgotten that when I had arrived at the event, I was missing a Misty and had to slap in a Forest to replace it and forgot to update my list. While they were checking, my opponent went to the bathroom. They couldn't start us until he got back, so we got an 128 minute extension. We didn't need it. In fact out match ended with 18 minutes left to go. God, I love Infect for that.
So game 1 was my loss, game 2 he started with Birds and held onto some removal, but I had lots of protection and hit him for 5 T2 and T3.
Game 3 he played Birds T1, tried to remove my Elf T2, then played Huntmaster T3 and I killed him again.
Round 8: Elves (1-2)
The mono-G version. He took game 2 and 3 by dropping Melira T2 both games and I never saw a Dismember. I tried to combo out with Wild Defiance, but without any defense, Ezuri makes a very short clock.
Round 9: Death's Shadow (1-2)
I think. It was Rakdos, and hand disruption and removal kept my from applying any serious pressure. G3 I tried going wide when he took away both my pump spells, but when I swung with Elf and Inkmoth he hit me with that command and I was done.
So the night went poorly, but at least every match was competitive (decks like Jund and Abzan were crushing me easily at FNMs).
The Vines trick was never relevant, and paying GG to kick it was often problematic. Blossoming Defense would have been better in every situation I ran into. Distortion Strike is a necessary evil, but Apostle's Blessing really does it all, so I'd like to go 4 Defences and 4 Blessings.
I never saw those Explosives, so Withstand Death was never a factor. I might cut it and move the Vines to the board.
I also might swap Dismember for Vapor Snag, or try to find room for it. Truthfully, we don't really need to kill things so much as we need to get them out of our way. Snag would deal with Melira and Spellskite long enough for us to kill them. Of course the problem with Dismember isn't that it cost me life or it couldn't hit certain things, the problem was I only put two in the board, and so I never saw them when I needed them. At least Claim and Pierce were there for me (though Abrupt Decay made Pierce moot a few times).
Is everyone really having success with Become Immense? I was literally running Revenge of the Hunted since I found the Miracle cost was more attainable than the Delve cost.
4 Breeding Pool
4 Hinterland Harbor
2 Misty Rainforest
4 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Pendelhaven
1 Dryad Arbor
2 Forest
3 Island
Creatures 13
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Glistener Elf
4 Blighted Agent
2 Ichorclaw Myr
3 Wild Defiance
Spells 22
4 Groundswell
4 Might of Old Krosa
4 Mutagenic Growth
3 Apostle's Blessing
3 Distortion Strike
2 Revenge of the Hunted
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Pierce
3 Spellskite
3 Dismember
3 Nature's Claim
2 Withstand Death
2 Grafdigger's Cage
I'm still pretty new to Modern. I find there's a ton of black and white removal in my meta, so Wild Defiance loses a bit of value. I'm honestly debating trying Livewire Lash. It is mana-intensive, but I find sticking one on a creature is more decisive that sticking a Defiance. At the very least, if there's a removal exchange and you lose, they take a hit from it. I also thought about adding Blossoming Defense or upping my Blessings to 4. With 3 Defiance maindeck, getting the damage there isn't too hard, if I can stick a creature and hit my land drops.
I would like to try Heroic Intervention instead of Withstand Death
4 Pyromancer Ascension
Ramp (8)
4 Explore
4 Cultivate
Burn (24)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Pyroclasm
4 Burt Lightning
4 Lavaball Trap
4 Reverberate
4 Comet Storm
Land (22)
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
6 Forest
12 Mountain
So, I thought I would update it for Modern. I'm pretty new to Modern, so I'm sure there's better card choices, but I'm looking at:
4 Pyromancer Ascension
Ramp (8)
4 Explore
4 Explosive Vegetation
2 Make a Wish
Burn (24)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Pyroclasm
4 Flame Javelin
4 Incendiary Command
4 Reverberate
2 Comet Storm
Land (22)
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4 Stomping Grounds
4 Forest
10 Mountain
I know I should go back to 4 Comet Storm, but Make a Wish is so fun. I'd like to run 4. Maybe drop Chandra. I mainly just ran Chandra Ablaze for a little reach, making dead cards useful and -2 when your hand is empty or your opponent's is full. Also her cost isn't terribly onerous. Firebrand is more just being cute.
Of course I've farmed enough packs I've built five more, but still can't access any other starters. A friend says some (but not all) of the others unlock after beating the game.