I now feel like you're the kind of person that just gets bored of a deck in a week or two. So no matter what I recommend, you're not going to stick with it. If that's the case, then I'd recommend picking up the blue shell. You can more easily swap it into different archetypes like Storm, Grixis Death's Shadow, etc. It's going to be more expensive and you'll very likely perform worse with it, but your investment will be better.
There's definitely no ideal deck for you among what you've listed. Either the deck is going to be too boring, or it'll be more difficult given your limited knowledge/playtime.
Let's assume you want a competitive deck, we'll start with every tier 1 and 2 deck in the pool and eliminate decks until we're left with an answer.
5 let's us kill off Tron and Burn. 4 lets us kill off every single combo deck, so Storm, Infect, and Ad Nauseam are gone. 2 lets us kill off any deck that can be hated out with pointed hate cards, so no Affinity, Living End, Dredge. 3 let's us kill off every single aggressive deck or aggressive combo deck, so no Titanshift, Merfolk, Elves, or Bogles.
As of now, we're left with:
Grixis Death's Shadow, Humans, Jeskai/UW Control, Company, BGx, D&T, Mardu Midrange, Lantern, Bant Company, and Blue Moon. Time to go look at some matchups:
Company and Lantern are both bad against Burn, so we can kill those. BGx is bad against Tron, so we can kill all of those as well, and Tron is historically favoured in control matchups, so we can kill those too.
The list we're left with is now Humans, GDS, D&T, and Blue Moon
D&T is probably the best option of the bunch there for you. It's favoured against Burn and Tron and doesn't get hated out easily because no single card is that important. It has a plan against combo decks by virtue of various answers stuck in the mainboard.
On a side note, Grixis Death's Shadow has decent game against both Burn and Tron. If you were struggling in those matchups, you're probably not playing the deck optimally to perform well in those matchups. I think this also echoes the sentiment you had with Affinity, which is that some weeks were bad for you. I think what you need to do is play enough reps with a deck to get comfortable with it. I feel like you lack immediate success and move off a deck before you become good enough that your results match the matchup data.
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alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
I've found Death and Taxes (the Mono White version) to be bad against Burn. Also, I don't think that Grixis Shadow or Grixis Control beat Burn. I hear this about GDS all the time and maybe I just played it wrong or kept drawing poorly for an extended time, but my testing shows Burn to beat Grixis Shadow pretty easily if the Burn player has half a brain.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
My results against Burn are mixed, and it's certainly not unwinnable. My own testing puts it at no worse than 40-60 for GDS, and it's more like 45-55 or something, which is basically a neutral matchup. My own testing also doesn't have any cards specifically for the burn matchup in the board. It usually comes down to whether the GDS player draws DS or some other early big creature and whether the Burn player fizzles out. If both of you draw ideally, GDS is going to lose, but if Burn draws a couple too many lands or doesn't have recurring sources of damage, it's easy to put enough pressure.
I've been playing Standard for like three years now. Before that, I played Magic until Torment, so most cards in Modern are like a mystery to me, besides from the ones that see Commander play. I love Standard, but usually when a deck dominates the format, it gets boring, and I need new things to try. So yeah, I want to start with Modern.
Cards I own? Not really a problem here. I'm missing too many but I plan on getting the cards I need in some months, and I'm ready to make the investment. Obviously, I'd prefer to avoid excessive costs.
What do I like? Black and blue, specially the former. Discard, land destruction, black control, suicide black decks. I like more or less all archetypes, but maybe control and midrange more than aggro. I like combo too, but I fear it's too risky.
Some time ago I started to build Ad Nauseam. I love the colors and I like the combo, but now I feel that I'd rather play with something more interactive so I can get to know the environment before started playing combo.
8-Rack seems like a great deck, but my issue is that I understand it's not really competitive. Apart from that one, Grixis Death's Shadow and Dredge look like decks I'd like to play. Maybe old faeries decks, Merfolk could be interesting As I said, I love black, I love Liliana, I like discarding and black control rocks for me. Considering that I don't know much about Modern, it would be better to play a deck with a good learning curve, as I know some decks are really hard to master.
What I'd rather not play? Burn, Affinity, anything Eldrazi, mono white, mono green.
For now, I'd play mainly LGS tournaments and FNM, and for what I've been told, the Modern scene in my LGS is quite competitive.
Thank you!
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Before the glory of Yawgmoth, yes, even this makes sense.
I've been playing Standard for like three years now. Before that, I played Magic until Torment, so most cards in Modern are like a mystery to me, besides from the ones that see Commander play. I love Standard, but usually when a deck dominates the format, it gets boring, and I need new things to try. So yeah, I want to start with Modern.
Cards I own? Not really a problem here. I'm missing too many but I plan on getting the cards I need in some months, and I'm ready to make the investment. Obviously, I'd prefer to avoid excessive costs.
What do I like? Black and blue, specially the former. Discard, land destruction, black control, suicide black decks. I like more or less all archetypes, but maybe control and midrange more than aggro. I like combo too, but I fear it's too risky.
Some time ago I started to build Ad Nauseam. I love the colors and I like the combo, but now I feel that I'd rather play with something more interactive so I can get to know the environment before started playing combo.
8-Rack seems like a great deck, but my issue is that I understand it's not really competitive. Apart from that one, Grixis Death's Shadow and Dredge look like decks I'd like to play. Maybe old faeries decks, Merfolk could be interesting As I said, I love black, I love Liliana, I like discarding and black control rocks for me. Considering that I don't know much about Modern, it would be better to play a deck with a good learning curve, as I know some decks are really hard to master.
What I'd rather not play? Burn, Affinity, anything Eldrazi, mono white, mono green.
For now, I'd play mainly LGS tournaments and FNM, and for what I've been told, the Modern scene in my LGS is quite competitive.
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
I've been playing Standard for like three years now. Before that, I played Magic until Torment, so most cards in Modern are like a mystery to me, besides from the ones that see Commander play. I love Standard, but usually when a deck dominates the format, it gets boring, and I need new things to try. So yeah, I want to start with Modern.
Cards I own? Not really a problem here. I'm missing too many but I plan on getting the cards I need in some months, and I'm ready to make the investment. Obviously, I'd prefer to avoid excessive costs.
What do I like? Black and blue, specially the former. Discard, land destruction, black control, suicide black decks. I like more or less all archetypes, but maybe control and midrange more than aggro. I like combo too, but I fear it's too risky.
Some time ago I started to build Ad Nauseam. I love the colors and I like the combo, but now I feel that I'd rather play with something more interactive so I can get to know the environment before started playing combo.
8-Rack seems like a great deck, but my issue is that I understand it's not really competitive. Apart from that one, Grixis Death's Shadow and Dredge look like decks I'd like to play. Maybe old faeries decks, Merfolk could be interesting As I said, I love black, I love Liliana, I like discarding and black control rocks for me. Considering that I don't know much about Modern, it would be better to play a deck with a good learning curve, as I know some decks are really hard to master.
What I'd rather not play? Burn, Affinity, anything Eldrazi, mono white, mono green.
For now, I'd play mainly LGS tournaments and FNM, and for what I've been told, the Modern scene in my LGS is quite competitive.
Thank you!
Unless I misread you, Grixis Death's Shadow is what you want.
I'm primarily a legacy player and I'm looking into buying into modern. My mainly player 12-post, infect, and Metalworker, but I guess cloudpost is banned, and from what I understand infect isn't positioned that well in modern.
Notable modern cards I own:
4x breeding pool
4x all allied fetchlands (delta, foothills, etc)
4x misty rainforest
4x noble hierarch
2x emrakul, the aeons torn
4x inkmoth nexus
3x chalice of the void
4x primeval titan
What decks I like? Anything with artifacts, ultra fast aggro, control, ramp, pretty much anything that makes people hate me.
Budget is around $700
I'm looking at either infect, affinity, tron, or lantern control. Out of these infect definitely would be the easiest for me to get, although I want to mix things up. I like affinity the most of all of these, with tron being a close second. I prefer g/x tron to eldrazi tron, but whatever is better I can do. The meta at my lgs is a little bit of everything, so I need good matchups across the board. My lgs is very competitive and I want to be as competitive as possible. If anybody has any different ideas, feel free to recommend. Thanks
I played Modern in the beginning of the format, but haven't played since before Kaladesh.
Cards you already own
I have all fetchlands and shocks, and many staples. Notable missing ones are Tarmogoyf, Karn Liberated, Fatal Push, and anything released in or after Shadows Over Innistrad.
Colors you like to play
Don't really care. Typically have played blue.
Style you like to play (control, combo, aggro, midrange, tempo, ramp, rogue)
I played Twin for the longest and Jeskai control when Twin got banned. Open to new stuff. I've been thinking about Storm because I'd like a deck I could practice by myself. I have also considered playing a wacky Battle of Wits deck with all the modern cards I own. Ideally I'd like something that is fun to play, has some interesting choices, and is good vs. the local meta.
Level you want to play at, or aim to build up to (causal, fmn, ptq)
Probably only ever playing in FNM, maybe a PTQ.
Store Meta
UR Twinless Twin (Kiki combo), Storm, Burn, big mana (Tron, Scapeshift), some CoCo.
Looking for a deck with an even to positive match-up with Burn, Tron, Scapeshift, and Storm.
Looking for a deck with an even to positive match-up with Burn, Tron, Scapeshift, and Storm.
Affinity has an even to positive matchup vs. 3 of those. Storm, however, will be very tough.
Now I'm here looking for advice. My meta has 1 Grixis Shadow, 1 5 color Shadow, 2 Tron, 1 E Tron, 1 Jeskai Tempo, 1 Zoo, 1 Storm, 1 Grishoalbrand, 1-3 Junk/Jund, 1 Dredge, 2 Humans, 2 Burn, 2 Merfolk, 1-2 Elves... It's just a super diverse field.
(From me just posting this, I'm also considering Affinity. Seems solid.)
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Long time Modern player, wanting to build a new deck. I'm a Spike/Johnny, and mainly play Storm. Currently want to build a new one, but all the combo decks pretty much suck besides storm. I know Scapeshift is good, but imo its boring to play and really not my style. I dont really like combo decks that are like "get card x and card y together and then win the game," aka , I like engine combo best.
Decks I don't want to build:
GDS- already have built
Storm- my main deck looking for something new
Valukut - not my style combo
Counters CoCo- Nah
Jeskai Control/ Kiki Jiki - just not a huge fan of those decks
Decks I'm looking into:
Affinity - the Johnny in my loves the synergy. I also love Mox Opal and how OP it is
Lantern - Johnny isnt always a combo deck player ;). This deck is super unique
Decks I'm looking into:
Affinity - the Johnny in my loves the synergy. I also love Mox Opal and how OP it is
Lantern - Johnny isnt always a combo deck player ;). This deck is super unique
I think you know what you want. There are a few pieces that are shared among the decks, mainly Mox Opal, so you could piece together both of them or just buy them outright if that's your thing.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I'm primarily a legacy player and I'm looking into buying into modern. My mainly player 12-post, infect, and Metalworker, but I guess cloudpost is banned, and from what I understand infect isn't positioned that well in modern.
Notable modern cards I own:
4x breeding pool
4x all allied fetchlands (delta, foothills, etc)
4x misty rainforest
4x noble hierarch
2x emrakul, the aeons torn
4x inkmoth nexus
3x chalice of the void
4x primeval titan
What decks I like? Anything with artifacts, ultra fast aggro, control, ramp, pretty much anything that makes people hate me.
Budget is around $700
I'm looking at either infect, affinity, tron, or lantern control. Out of these infect definitely would be the easiest for me to get, although I want to mix things up. I like affinity the most of all of these, with tron being a close second. I prefer g/x tron to eldrazi tron, but whatever is better I can do. The meta at my lgs is a little bit of everything, so I need good matchups across the board. My lgs is very competitive and I want to be as competitive as possible. If anybody has any different ideas, feel free to recommend. Thanks
I think you should play Bant Eldrazi. Looks like you like to play colors and you already have a set of Noble Hierarch. If it helps you, a friend of mine has a nice win rate with the deck and plays 4 copies of Eldrazi Skyspawner. The card is very good against Affinity and Grixis Death's Shadow, and can be cast over a resolved Blood Moon most of the time to give you a needed colorless mana token. Good luck!
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"The sparkmage shrieked, calling on the rage of the storms of his youth. To his surprise, the sky responded with a fierce energy he'd never thought to see again."
Hi all, I need another deck to keep modern fresh and to develop my skills as a player.
Cards you already own
I have ample fetches, shocks, a trade binder that needs a clean out and a new disposable income stream. Missing most other staples however.
Colors you like to play
Whilst not technically a colour, Colourless (Tron, Eldrazi and Affinity) I think is boring. A deck with blue in would be good but is by no means a deal breaker.
Style you like to play (control, combo, aggro, midrange, tempo, ramp, rogue)
My current pet deck is Titanshift but before that was burn which I hated. Ideally I would like to play a deck which has some room for skill development/rewards higher skill as I need something to work towards. With respect to play style im open to ideas but enjoy quite unfair strategies.
Level you want to play at, or aim to build up to (causal, fmn, ptq)
Probably only ever playing in FNM, maybe a GP
Store Meta
A lot of burn and GDS. A smattering of brews, jeskai control, scapeshift and tron
Any ideas would be really appreciated.
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EDH BRGKresh the BloodbraidedBRG, A box of lands and ideas.
Modern: RG Titanshift. A deck made of cards too stupid for EDH.
Retired: Lots. More than I feel you should suffer through or I should type out.
Hi all, I need another deck to keep modern fresh and to develop my skills as a player.
Cards you already own
I have ample fetches, shocks, a trade binder that needs a clean out and a new disposable income stream. Missing most other staples however.
Colors you like to play
Whilst not technically a colour, Colourless (Tron, Eldrazi and Affinity) I think is boring. A deck with blue in would be good but is by no means a deal breaker.
Style you like to play (control, combo, aggro, midrange, tempo, ramp, rogue)
My current pet deck is Titanshift but before that was burn which I hated. Ideally I would like to play a deck which has some room for skill development/rewards higher skill as I need something to work towards. With respect to play style im open to ideas but enjoy quite unfair strategies.
Level you want to play at, or aim to build up to (causal, fmn, ptq)
Probably only ever playing in FNM, maybe a GP
Store Meta
A lot of burn and GDS. A smattering of brews, jeskai control, scapeshift and tron
Any ideas would be really appreciated.
Jeskai Control would be a solid choice, but it seems that some already play it. UW Control, like the list a local player ran to 2nd place at the Trios Santa Clara GP would do nice in that meta.
Plus, there's plenty of customization that you can do to the deck. UW Control feasts on Grixis Shadow. Most other matchups are close.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Playing Modern for 4 1/2 years for now, i'm looking for a deck especially for FNM.
My local store is overcrowded with Midrange (Grixis, Junk, Jund), Control (UWx) and Aggro-stuff (Affinity, Hatebears,...).
Cards you already own
i own a complete Bant Knightfall, Affinity, Rg Vengevine and Dredge Deck.
On top i got some other staples (Eldrazi stuff, Fetch-/shocklands, Blood Moon, Thoughtseize, Chord, etc.)
Colors you like to play
Preferably anything that includes G. I'm willing to invest into Jund, Sultai or Naya Manabase (just missing Mesa's and Catacombs).
Style you like to play (control, combo, aggro, midrange, tempo, ramp, rogue)
I prefer to play Creature-centric decks with a couple of interaction (Queller, Thought-Knot Seer, Reflector Mage).
With this deck i want to instead go over the top. Maybe Ramp, combo or rogue (i'm willing to test promising brews because i'm really bored playing against this grind-decks).
My initial thoughts led me towards Gr Tron, Ponza, Tooth and Nail, Living End, Assault Loam and even Gr Eldrazi.
I'm willing to brew in Jund Colors (no Midrange though) with Ramp (Scapeshift?). I don't like Rg Scapeshift though (a pretty stupid deck imo). I played Living End 2 years ago, but don't want to come back to it because i have the feeling i left it behind
Life from the Loam is another pet-card of mine. Idk if Seismic Aussault is what i'm looking for (pretty unsure if this deck is barely playable). Another idea of mine is a deck with Emrakul. Izzet Tron, anything that includes Through the Breach.
Do you have any suggestions?
Level you want to play at, or aim to build up to (causal, fmn, ptq)
Although i'm grinding tournaments whenever i can, this deck is exclusively for FNM's. So don't hesitate to sugest sth. out-of-the-box crazy.
If you don't want to play Titanshift, might I suggest Mono Green Tron? Probably not the best vs. Hate Bears, but does solidly vs. a good portion of that meta.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
If you don't want to play Titanshift, might I suggest Mono Green Tron? Probably not the best vs. Hate Bears, but does solidly vs. a good portion of that meta.
Adding red would be nice, doesn't it? Pyroclasm / Bolt takes care of Leonin Arbiter. The decks have the same core though.
If you don't want to play Titanshift, might I suggest Mono Green Tron? Probably not the best vs. Hate Bears, but does solidly vs. a good portion of that meta.
Adding red would be nice, doesn't it? Pyroclasm / Bolt takes care of Leonin Arbiter. The decks have the same core though.
Yeah, you could do that. You could do GB Tron with Collective Brutality. You could even do GR Tron with Blood Sun, shutting down many of those decks that you just named. At worst, it replaces itself.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Hi there. I'm looking to get back to the game after a 5~ years away, and could use some advice on what to deck to pick up. First, the questions in the OP:
Cards you already own:
I do have a few staples, but not enough to complete a deck (you can see here, please disregard all the Affinity cards)
Colors you like to play:
I may favor blue, but don't have a strong preference really.
Style you like to play:
Control, midrange, creatureless-combo, and tempo in that order. I don't like burn, aggro, creature-combo, all-artifacts (ie Affinity or Lantern Control) and ramp decks.
Level you want to play at:
Mostly for FNM, but it can get pretty competitive (these are pretty much the only tournament we get around here)!
This is the only deck I have built (which I was playing back then):
Needless to say it's far from being a competitive deck in the current meta (nor it was 5 years ago), but it is what I have for now.
My current budget is around U$S 200 for now (I may invest U$S 100 a month after a few months from now). For what I could see, I can transform that Pox Loam into a Dredge deck with that budget, or build a U/R Gifts Storm as well (I do have a few cards for it).
The local meta is extremely diverse, with pretty much at least one copy of each competitive deck, if that helps.
What would you suggest? Thanks for any advice you may have!
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Common sense is the most fairly distributed thing in the world, for each one thinks he is so well-endowed with it that even those who are hardest to satisfy in all other matters are not in the habit of desiring more of it than they already have. - René Descartes
What would you suggest? Thanks for any advice you may have!
You might like UW Control or UWR Queller or UWR Control. I would look into those. There are threads here on mtgs as well.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I'm trying Pieces of the Puzzle control with Refurbish and Zombify. It's mostly just kill everything that lands on the field until you reanimate the big guns and then slam into them.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
You're asking for a pretty tall order. No U/UW Tron and no UR Kiki decks cut out a lot of the possible decks for you. Those would be the two combo-control decks I would have recommended. Fear not though, there are a couple to look at:
1. Blue-based Living End decks. There are a couple of variations but they hinge on playing Living End with As Fortold so you don't suspend it. Combine in cards like Cryptic and Ancestral Visions and it seems like your kind of deck. These tend not to be as controlling as you would like because they have to play a lot of cards to enable the combo.
2. Bant Knightfall. The idea of the deck is a combo revolving around Knight of the Reliquary and Retreat to Coralhelm that allows you to keep untapping Knight. It's more of a midrange deck than a control deck, but it's blue and has a semi-infinite combo that wins you the game.
If neither of these are what you want, probably you might have to expand a bit. There are decks that fit your criteria, but it looks like you want something that just isn't quite there. The Tron decks are the best ones for winning on the spot while playing control, and Kiki is probably second, but as you said they're not for you.
There's definitely no ideal deck for you among what you've listed. Either the deck is going to be too boring, or it'll be more difficult given your limited knowledge/playtime.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
5 let's us kill off Tron and Burn. 4 lets us kill off every single combo deck, so Storm, Infect, and Ad Nauseam are gone. 2 lets us kill off any deck that can be hated out with pointed hate cards, so no Affinity, Living End, Dredge. 3 let's us kill off every single aggressive deck or aggressive combo deck, so no Titanshift, Merfolk, Elves, or Bogles.
As of now, we're left with:
Grixis Death's Shadow, Humans, Jeskai/UW Control, Company, BGx, D&T, Mardu Midrange, Lantern, Bant Company, and Blue Moon. Time to go look at some matchups:
Company and Lantern are both bad against Burn, so we can kill those. BGx is bad against Tron, so we can kill all of those as well, and Tron is historically favoured in control matchups, so we can kill those too.
The list we're left with is now Humans, GDS, D&T, and Blue Moon
D&T is probably the best option of the bunch there for you. It's favoured against Burn and Tron and doesn't get hated out easily because no single card is that important. It has a plan against combo decks by virtue of various answers stuck in the mainboard.
On a side note, Grixis Death's Shadow has decent game against both Burn and Tron. If you were struggling in those matchups, you're probably not playing the deck optimally to perform well in those matchups. I think this also echoes the sentiment you had with Affinity, which is that some weeks were bad for you. I think what you need to do is play enough reps with a deck to get comfortable with it. I feel like you lack immediate success and move off a deck before you become good enough that your results match the matchup data.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer
I've been playing Standard for like three years now. Before that, I played Magic until Torment, so most cards in Modern are like a mystery to me, besides from the ones that see Commander play. I love Standard, but usually when a deck dominates the format, it gets boring, and I need new things to try. So yeah, I want to start with Modern.
Cards I own? Not really a problem here. I'm missing too many but I plan on getting the cards I need in some months, and I'm ready to make the investment. Obviously, I'd prefer to avoid excessive costs.
What do I like? Black and blue, specially the former. Discard, land destruction, black control, suicide black decks. I like more or less all archetypes, but maybe control and midrange more than aggro. I like combo too, but I fear it's too risky.
Some time ago I started to build Ad Nauseam. I love the colors and I like the combo, but now I feel that I'd rather play with something more interactive so I can get to know the environment before started playing combo.
8-Rack seems like a great deck, but my issue is that I understand it's not really competitive. Apart from that one, Grixis Death's Shadow and Dredge look like decks I'd like to play. Maybe old faeries decks, Merfolk could be interesting As I said, I love black, I love Liliana, I like discarding and black control rocks for me. Considering that I don't know much about Modern, it would be better to play a deck with a good learning curve, as I know some decks are really hard to master.
What I'd rather not play? Burn, Affinity, anything Eldrazi, mono white, mono green.
For now, I'd play mainly LGS tournaments and FNM, and for what I've been told, the Modern scene in my LGS is quite competitive.
Thank you!
Before the glory of Yawgmoth, yes, even this makes sense.
Maybe RB blitzkreig would interest you.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/601240-blitzkrieg-b-r-control-shock-and-awesome?page=79
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
Unless I misread you, Grixis Death's Shadow is what you want.
Spirits
I'm primarily a legacy player and I'm looking into buying into modern. My mainly player 12-post, infect, and Metalworker, but I guess cloudpost is banned, and from what I understand infect isn't positioned that well in modern.
Notable modern cards I own:
4x breeding pool
4x all allied fetchlands (delta, foothills, etc)
4x misty rainforest
4x noble hierarch
2x emrakul, the aeons torn
4x inkmoth nexus
3x chalice of the void
4x primeval titan
What decks I like? Anything with artifacts, ultra fast aggro, control, ramp, pretty much anything that makes people hate me.
Budget is around $700
I'm looking at either infect, affinity, tron, or lantern control. Out of these infect definitely would be the easiest for me to get, although I want to mix things up. I like affinity the most of all of these, with tron being a close second. I prefer g/x tron to eldrazi tron, but whatever is better I can do. The meta at my lgs is a little bit of everything, so I need good matchups across the board. My lgs is very competitive and I want to be as competitive as possible. If anybody has any different ideas, feel free to recommend. Thanks
Cards you already own
I have all fetchlands and shocks, and many staples. Notable missing ones are Tarmogoyf, Karn Liberated, Fatal Push, and anything released in or after Shadows Over Innistrad.
Colors you like to play
Don't really care. Typically have played blue.
Style you like to play (control, combo, aggro, midrange, tempo, ramp, rogue)
I played Twin for the longest and Jeskai control when Twin got banned. Open to new stuff. I've been thinking about Storm because I'd like a deck I could practice by myself. I have also considered playing a wacky Battle of Wits deck with all the modern cards I own. Ideally I'd like something that is fun to play, has some interesting choices, and is good vs. the local meta.
Level you want to play at, or aim to build up to (causal, fmn, ptq)
Probably only ever playing in FNM, maybe a PTQ.
Store Meta
UR Twinless Twin (Kiki combo), Storm, Burn, big mana (Tron, Scapeshift), some CoCo.
Looking for a deck with an even to positive match-up with Burn, Tron, Scapeshift, and Storm.
Affinity has an even to positive matchup vs. 3 of those. Storm, however, will be very tough.
Now I'm here looking for advice. My meta has 1 Grixis Shadow, 1 5 color Shadow, 2 Tron, 1 E Tron, 1 Jeskai Tempo, 1 Zoo, 1 Storm, 1 Grishoalbrand, 1-3 Junk/Jund, 1 Dredge, 2 Humans, 2 Burn, 2 Merfolk, 1-2 Elves... It's just a super diverse field.
(From me just posting this, I'm also considering Affinity. Seems solid.)
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)RB seems really interesting, Pokerkingdave. I didn't know the deck, and now I'm even more confused because there's a new option.
I think as you do, idSurge, maybe Grixis Death Shadow is what I should try. I really pick the best options always, as it's a really expensive deck!
I'll try to watch games with these decks so I can see how they really play. Thanks again!
Before the glory of Yawgmoth, yes, even this makes sense.
Decks I don't want to build:
GDS- already have built
Storm- my main deck looking for something new
Valukut - not my style combo
Counters CoCo- Nah
Jeskai Control/ Kiki Jiki - just not a huge fan of those decks
Decks I'm looking into:
Affinity - the Johnny in my loves the synergy. I also love Mox Opal and how OP it is
Lantern - Johnny isnt always a combo deck player ;). This deck is super unique
URStormRU
GRTitanshift[mana]RG/mana]
I think you know what you want. There are a few pieces that are shared among the decks, mainly Mox Opal, so you could piece together both of them or just buy them outright if that's your thing.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)I think you should play Bant Eldrazi. Looks like you like to play colors and you already have a set of Noble Hierarch. If it helps you, a friend of mine has a nice win rate with the deck and plays 4 copies of Eldrazi Skyspawner. The card is very good against Affinity and Grixis Death's Shadow, and can be cast over a resolved Blood Moon most of the time to give you a needed colorless mana token. Good luck!
Cards you already own
I have ample fetches, shocks, a trade binder that needs a clean out and a new disposable income stream. Missing most other staples however.
Colors you like to play
Whilst not technically a colour, Colourless (Tron, Eldrazi and Affinity) I think is boring. A deck with blue in would be good but is by no means a deal breaker.
Style you like to play (control, combo, aggro, midrange, tempo, ramp, rogue)
My current pet deck is Titanshift but before that was burn which I hated. Ideally I would like to play a deck which has some room for skill development/rewards higher skill as I need something to work towards. With respect to play style im open to ideas but enjoy quite unfair strategies.
Level you want to play at, or aim to build up to (causal, fmn, ptq)
Probably only ever playing in FNM, maybe a GP
Store Meta
A lot of burn and GDS. A smattering of brews, jeskai control, scapeshift and tron
Any ideas would be really appreciated.
BRGKresh the BloodbraidedBRG, A box of lands and ideas.
Modern:
RG Titanshift. A deck made of cards too stupid for EDH.
Retired: Lots. More than I feel you should suffer through or I should type out.
Jeskai Control would be a solid choice, but it seems that some already play it. UW Control, like the list a local player ran to 2nd place at the Trios Santa Clara GP would do nice in that meta.
https://mtgdecks.net/Modern/uw-control-decklist-by-vidianto-wijaya-723527
Plus, there's plenty of customization that you can do to the deck. UW Control feasts on Grixis Shadow. Most other matchups are close.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)My local store is overcrowded with Midrange (Grixis, Junk, Jund), Control (UWx) and Aggro-stuff (Affinity, Hatebears,...).
Cards you already own
i own a complete Bant Knightfall, Affinity, Rg Vengevine and Dredge Deck.
On top i got some other staples (Eldrazi stuff, Fetch-/shocklands, Blood Moon, Thoughtseize, Chord, etc.)
Colors you like to play
Preferably anything that includes G. I'm willing to invest into Jund, Sultai or Naya Manabase (just missing Mesa's and Catacombs).
Style you like to play (control, combo, aggro, midrange, tempo, ramp, rogue)
I prefer to play Creature-centric decks with a couple of interaction (Queller, Thought-Knot Seer, Reflector Mage).
With this deck i want to instead go over the top. Maybe Ramp, combo or rogue (i'm willing to test promising brews because i'm really bored playing against this grind-decks).
My initial thoughts led me towards Gr Tron, Ponza, Tooth and Nail, Living End, Assault Loam and even Gr Eldrazi.
I'm willing to brew in Jund Colors (no Midrange though) with Ramp (Scapeshift?). I don't like Rg Scapeshift though (a pretty stupid deck imo). I played Living End 2 years ago, but don't want to come back to it because i have the feeling i left it behind
Life from the Loam is another pet-card of mine. Idk if Seismic Aussault is what i'm looking for (pretty unsure if this deck is barely playable). Another idea of mine is a deck with Emrakul. Izzet Tron, anything that includes Through the Breach.
Do you have any suggestions?
Level you want to play at, or aim to build up to (causal, fmn, ptq)
Although i'm grinding tournaments whenever i can, this deck is exclusively for FNM's. So don't hesitate to sugest sth. out-of-the-box crazy.
Green @ it's best
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Adding red would be nice, doesn't it? Pyroclasm / Bolt takes care of Leonin Arbiter. The decks have the same core though.
Green @ it's best
Yeah, you could do that. You could do GB Tron with Collective Brutality. You could even do GR Tron with Blood Sun, shutting down many of those decks that you just named. At worst, it replaces itself.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Cards you already own:
I do have a few staples, but not enough to complete a deck (you can see here, please disregard all the Affinity cards)
Colors you like to play:
I may favor blue, but don't have a strong preference really.
Style you like to play:
Control, midrange, creatureless-combo, and tempo in that order. I don't like burn, aggro, creature-combo, all-artifacts (ie Affinity or Lantern Control) and ramp decks.
Level you want to play at:
Mostly for FNM, but it can get pretty competitive (these are pretty much the only tournament we get around here)!
This is the only deck I have built (which I was playing back then):
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
2 Copperline Gorge
1 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Graven Cairns
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
1 Mountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Raging Ravine
1 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Bloodghast
4 Faithless Looting
2 Flame Jab
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Life from the Loam
2 Lightning Bolt
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Pyroclasm
3 Raven's Crime
3 Seismic Assault
4 Smallpox
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Jund Charm
1 Nature's Claim
2 Obstinate Baloth
2 Rakdos Charm
2 Torpor Orb
Needless to say it's far from being a competitive deck in the current meta (nor it was 5 years ago), but it is what I have for now.
My current budget is around U$S 200 for now (I may invest U$S 100 a month after a few months from now). For what I could see, I can transform that Pox Loam into a Dredge deck with that budget, or build a U/R Gifts Storm as well (I do have a few cards for it).
The local meta is extremely diverse, with pretty much at least one copy of each competitive deck, if that helps.
What would you suggest? Thanks for any advice you may have!
You might like UW Control or UWR Queller or UWR Control. I would look into those. There are threads here on mtgs as well.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
1. Blue-based Living End decks. There are a couple of variations but they hinge on playing Living End with As Fortold so you don't suspend it. Combine in cards like Cryptic and Ancestral Visions and it seems like your kind of deck. These tend not to be as controlling as you would like because they have to play a lot of cards to enable the combo.
2. Bant Knightfall. The idea of the deck is a combo revolving around Knight of the Reliquary and Retreat to Coralhelm that allows you to keep untapping Knight. It's more of a midrange deck than a control deck, but it's blue and has a semi-infinite combo that wins you the game.
If neither of these are what you want, probably you might have to expand a bit. There are decks that fit your criteria, but it looks like you want something that just isn't quite there. The Tron decks are the best ones for winning on the spot while playing control, and Kiki is probably second, but as you said they're not for you.
Grixis Death's Shadow, Jund, UW Tron, Jeskai Control, Storm, Counters Company, Eldrazi Tron, Affinity, Living End, Infect, Merfolk, Dredge, Ad Nauseam, Amulet, Bogles, Eldrazi Tron, Mono U Tron, Lantern, Mardu Pyromancer