Thank you. I was wondering more of what you take out as I know what to put in. Still tweaking my list and may just stick with mono-black. I will post my decklist before I fly down and make sure I'm not forgetting anything.
Notes:
Just for kicks I tried out a singleton Leechridden Swamp. I saw it a couple times but it didn't do anything for me because I was already winning. It's cute just not "good enough" to make the cut. It's gone for the 4th Buried Ruin. After going 0-2 to the last guy on Earth still playing RG Tron, I crush UWR in the manner we have come to expect form this deck. He gets pretty frustrated and complains that he can't even play. Nice.
Rounds 3 is where things start to get pretty interesting. The real star tonight was the Sideboard. After a solid game 1 win against Storm, Illness in the Ranks completely blanks him out at the start of Game 2. A couple turns later Grafdiggers seals the deal. 2-0 vs Storm. Nice.
Now for Round 4...Assault Loam. Not a good match for us out of the box. He can use loam to fill up his hand at any time. That said, I was able to hold him off in Game 1 until he had only 5 cards left in his deck and less than 9 minutes left on his clock. He beats me by retracing Flame Jab. Game 2 I Surgically extract Life from the Loam at the start of the game. Then with the Grafdigger's. He scoops a few turns later with Racks in play and Lili doing her thing. Game 3 takes a bit more finesse but Surgically extracting Ancient Grudge was a good start. Bitterblossom hits the table. A turn 3 Lili followed soon after by Grafdiggers allowed me to exile all but 1 of his Bloodghasts. In a surprise move he plays Bob and I get worried for just a second. Fae tokens are ticking down his life. He swings with the Bloodghast and I trade a token for it. He is at 7 life when he swings with both Bob and Lavaclaw Reach. I choose to block lava claw with my only untapped Fae token. His hand is empty thanks to Lili. I topdeck a Shrieking Affliction and cast it. Then I swing with the 4 tokens. He dies in his upkeep and virtually flips the table.
Check out the replays guys. I am really sorry for the volume at the end of the Round 4 replay. I turned on my tunes but forgot to set the correct level. Oh well just mute it and check it out.
Wondering what your sideboard plans (what comes in and what goes out) are in the following matchup.
You can't get a hold of any Bitterblossoms? I have a feeling that BB will be very well positioned at GP Richmond. I expect to see a lot of UWR and Twin, and maybe even some Blue Moon and UB Fae. Zoo will be there but I bet it's only a fraction of what it was at PT Valencia. Don't be surprised if Jund resurfaces, but I doubt you will see much Tron until Jund is officioally "back".
I have Bitterblossoms. Just choosing not to play them as the life lose from my land base hurt enough without playing BB. Even if I decided to I don't see where I have room. I realllly like Spellskite at the moment ad there is no room in the side for them. The side board I am using has something for every deck I expect to see. BB also hurts after board is I have to board in Illness or Porphyry Nodes
I played Lingering Souls a while back and while i like it again it doesn't play nice with my sideboard.
UWR and Twin are 2 of the easier match-ups or at least seem so in testing. Zoo is actually the reason for me to splash white as I really like Porphyry Nodes and have for a long time. I do expect to see Jund which made me want to play Spellskite even more. I expect people to try Blue Moon and Fae but I don't see much coming from those decks IMO.
Oh wow, Leechridden Swamp is nice. Between Bitterblossom, Lily, and Affliction, we would have no trouble activating it. I don't know if it's worth running, but I like it.
Funny you mention that. I am running 1 main deck in Richmond.
I tweaked the MD and sideboard in anticipation of what I felt the local meta would be. I expected more quick aggro then long grindy matchups so I kept BB in the board. I really like Drown maindeck as it inproves your game one matchups against Pod, Affinity, Jund, Bears and other weenie strategies.
Round 1 (Everything Pod)
Drown in Sorrows made game one a blow out. Side in Orbs, Needles, and the last Drown and see none of them in the next 2 games. (1-2)
Round 2 (U/R Combo Tron)
Game one was a long match. Once Lili hit the board he had very little he could do. Game to he Mulled agressively for a Leyline but after mulling to three without it he pretty much scooped on the spot. (2-0)
Round 3 (Zoo)
I really had no chance both games he had multiple Loxodon Smiters in hand and may good use of them. (0-2)
Round 4 (Death and Taxes)
Again main deck Drown in Sorrows was amazing. Player never really had a chance to do much. (2-0)
Round 5 (Affinity)
DROWN DROWN DROWN DROWN DROWN...... Yeah he one a match in between but double needle double drown game 3 sealed it (2-1)
So at this point I was waiting on tie breaker to help me. I sneak in by .006.
Top 8 (Kiki Pod
Not as many win cons and Drown wins me game one. But again I see no sideboard help in 2 games and lose a close game 3.
Looking back like Dismember and Victim better. Still need a better way to handle Zoo. Much more tweaking ad testing to do before Richmond.
Jund (2-0) - Surprisingly easy the usual for this matchup. I'm guessing the player didn't draw as well as he would have liked.
Second Round
Domain (2-0) Won the first game handily. Game 2 was not even a game as the player had to mull to 4.
Third Round
Affinity (0-2) This was played but the guy that came to the tournament with me and borrowed my backup deck. I drew horrible game one. He drew nuts game 2.
Fourth Round
Early Harvest (2-0) Another friend whom I know locally. Game one I hit 3 Bridges in a row making in near impossible for him to win. Game 2 the discard was too much.
Fifth Round
U/R Delver (0-2) He had everything he needed at the right moment.
Sixth Round
G/B Aggro (2-1) This was the grindiest match I have ever played with this deck. It went to turn and was close all the way until the end.
After Swiss I was sitting in in 7th.
Top 8
Living End (0-2) Worst match I have have played against this deck. Nothing else to be said lol.
While I like the white splash for LS, I definitely like mono black better. Also had my Blinkmoths not been in use I would have been using them. I am thinking of trying a blue splash for Cloudseeder and a bit of counter to see how it works.
I've been running a one-off Assemble the Legion with a few Infernal Tutors now and I kinda like it. You're able to discard their answers against assemble and you're even able to attack through Ensnaring Bridge (draw one for your turn attack and proceed to discard via Lilly or cast it).
Any thoughts on running Phyrexian Metamorph. Could be an extra rack or creature when you need some defense. Also a backup Bridge to get around removal.
Wondering what your sideboard plans (what comes in and what goes out) are in the following matchup.
Twin
Storm
Affinity
Pod
Jund
I have Bitterblossoms. Just choosing not to play them as the life lose from my land base hurt enough without playing BB. Even if I decided to I don't see where I have room. I realllly like Spellskite at the moment ad there is no room in the side for them. The side board I am using has something for every deck I expect to see. BB also hurts after board is I have to board in Illness or Porphyry Nodes
I played Lingering Souls a while back and while i like it again it doesn't play nice with my sideboard.
UWR and Twin are 2 of the easier match-ups or at least seem so in testing. Zoo is actually the reason for me to splash white as I really like Porphyry Nodes and have for a long time. I do expect to see Jund which made me want to play Spellskite even more. I expect people to try Blue Moon and Fae but I don't see much coming from those decks IMO.
4 Thoughtseize
3 Raven's Crime
3 Wrench Mind
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Surgical Extraction
4 The Rack
4 Shrieking Affliction
3 Spellskite
3 Path to Exile
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Marsh Flats
2 Verdant Catacombs
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Godless Shrine
1 Plains
3 Blinkmoth Nexus
2 Dakmor Salvage
4 Swamp
3 Porphyry Nodes
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Disenchant
3 Illness in the Ranks
Any thoughts?
Funny you mention that. I am running 1 main deck in Richmond.
4x Ensnaring Bridge
4x The Rack
4x Shrieking Affliction
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Thoughtseize
4x Wrench Mind
3x Raven's Crime
2x Bile Blight
1x Victim of Night
1x Dismember
3x Drown in Sorrow
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Blinkmoth Nexus
2x Dakmor Salvage
4x Pithing Needle
1x Drown in Sorrow
2x Dismember
1x Bile Blight
3x Bitterblossom
I tweaked the MD and sideboard in anticipation of what I felt the local meta would be. I expected more quick aggro then long grindy matchups so I kept BB in the board. I really like Drown maindeck as it inproves your game one matchups against Pod, Affinity, Jund, Bears and other weenie strategies.
Round 1 (Everything Pod)
Drown in Sorrows made game one a blow out. Side in Orbs, Needles, and the last Drown and see none of them in the next 2 games. (1-2)
Round 2 (U/R Combo Tron)
Game one was a long match. Once Lili hit the board he had very little he could do. Game to he Mulled agressively for a Leyline but after mulling to three without it he pretty much scooped on the spot. (2-0)
Round 3 (Zoo)
I really had no chance both games he had multiple Loxodon Smiters in hand and may good use of them. (0-2)
Round 4 (Death and Taxes)
Again main deck Drown in Sorrows was amazing. Player never really had a chance to do much. (2-0)
Round 5 (Affinity)
DROWN DROWN DROWN DROWN DROWN...... Yeah he one a match in between but double needle double drown game 3 sealed it (2-1)
So at this point I was waiting on tie breaker to help me. I sneak in by .006.
Top 8 (Kiki Pod
Not as many win cons and Drown wins me game one. But again I see no sideboard help in 2 games and lose a close game 3.
Looking back like Dismember and Victim better. Still need a better way to handle Zoo. Much more tweaking ad testing to do before Richmond.
1 Plains
2 Dakmor Salvage
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Mutavault
4 Marsh Flats
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Godless Shrine
1 Overgrown Tomb
4 The Rack
4 Ensnaring Bridge
Enchantments (4)
4 Shrieking Affliction
Planeswalkers (4)
4 Liliana of the Veil
Creatures (3)
3 Deathrite Shaman
Instants (3)
3 Dismember
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Thoughtseize
2 Raven's Crime
3 Wrench Mind
3 Lingering Souls
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Infest
2 Pithing Needle
4 Leyline of Santity
3 Torpor Orb
First Round
Jund (2-0) - Surprisingly easy the usual for this matchup. I'm guessing the player didn't draw as well as he would have liked.
Second Round
Domain (2-0) Won the first game handily. Game 2 was not even a game as the player had to mull to 4.
Third Round
Affinity (0-2) This was played but the guy that came to the tournament with me and borrowed my backup deck. I drew horrible game one. He drew nuts game 2.
Fourth Round
Early Harvest (2-0) Another friend whom I know locally. Game one I hit 3 Bridges in a row making in near impossible for him to win. Game 2 the discard was too much.
Fifth Round
U/R Delver (0-2) He had everything he needed at the right moment.
Sixth Round
G/B Aggro (2-1) This was the grindiest match I have ever played with this deck. It went to turn and was close all the way until the end.
After Swiss I was sitting in in 7th.
Top 8
Living End (0-2) Worst match I have have played against this deck. Nothing else to be said lol.
While I like the white splash for LS, I definitely like mono black better. Also had my Blinkmoths not been in use I would have been using them. I am thinking of trying a blue splash for Cloudseeder and a bit of counter to see how it works.
I have been running Lingering Souls and Akroan Horse for the same reason
3x Dakmor Salvage
3x Mutavault
4x Thoughtseize
3x Raven's Crime
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Duress
4x Liliana of the Veil
4x Ensnaring Bridge
4x The Rack
1x Necrogen Mists
3x Deathrite Shaman
3x Torpor Orb
3x Grafdigger's Cage
3x Pithing Needle
2x Surgical Extraction
Will edit game note in a few. Btw Top 8'd