Any thoughts on Nylea, God of the Hunt giving trample to all and could be a 6/6 for 4cmc sounds pretty good to me, and most important of all its cheap <$5! =D
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Standard : What is Stand-tart
Modern : Huh?
EDH : UBGW Thrasios / Tymna Combo UBGW // GRW Mayael Big Stuff GRW // GU Edric Timewalkers GU
Cult of the Succubi Eating Kitten and Brotherhood of Hamsters - Zombie One/Hulking One - Brotherhood of Hamsters disapproves of Damage on the Stack amputation, the corruption of Mythics, and the "Major changes to Extended" in July 2010. You aborted our cards., but we approve of the Modern format. Even if it doesn't ha ve Carrion Feeder or Caller of the Claw in it.
Dex: http://deckbox.org/users/Egementium_instructoid
I have found this deck to be very consistent despite the splash and it regularly outraced other aggro decks.
Mostly I wanted to post to say thanks to the people who have contributed to this thread. It helped me a lot. Also, I welcome opinions about the splash. I'm almost considering Vraska to top the curve but I am hesitant to go above 4-drops. I ditched Garruk for this reason early in testing. Every time I push the curve lower I get better results.
I wonder why people think affinity is that bad for us. I faced two decks in the SCG super IQ the games were close, and I had to pull some weird combat tricks out but still won both matches...and that was before I was using creeping corrosion. Even online I don't find them to be too problematic. Sourdough side note...I wasn't using creeping but I was using raking canopy...which hurts them a lot as well.
As far as groundbreaker goes, I have messed around with him in the side for combo decks with little removal like scapeshift, but in the current meta he isn't (imo) main deck material. Uktabi drake is fun choice but usually nothing more than a shock if your lucky..sr geist is far superior for mana to damage ratio. As mono green out l our evasion is trample and coupled with bow(only having to assign one damage to creature Since attackers have death touch)it's pretty good evasion.
I've been running this deck for a few weeks now, playing it over the Merfolk deck I've been running for about a year. I gave the Vial version a shot initially because I had all the pieces and it looked more powerful on paper but it had a hard time getting there consistently, it seems like it needs more disruption or something to shore itself up for when it doesn't open with a perfect hand. I took this version with me to a weeknight Modern event last week and went 3-1:
Round 1 vs Living End: I'd never seen End played before so I wasn't sure why my opponent was cycling a mess of Alara block commons and ignoring what I was doing. I had him dead next turn when he cascaded into Living End, crushing my hopes and dreams. -2 Prey Upon +2 Relic of Progenitus, had a Scooze in my opening hand game 2 and a Relic and Scooze opener game 3 and I ran him over without much resistance.
Round 2 vs Junk: Game 1 the opponent didn't really do much, I don't know if he kept a bad hand or if he was trying to figure out I was playing, but I finished him off by turn 4. +1 Obstinate Baloth -1 Leatherback Baloth, game 2 I was stuck on two lands but fortunately had a handful of Strangleroot Gesits, Rancors, and Vines of Vastwood so his Abrupt Decays were much worse. I knocked him down to three and he died to his Bob trigger.
Round 3 vs Twin: Game 1 my opponent had more Bolts and Snapcasters than I had bodies. +2 Torpor Orb +2 Choke -4 Experiment One, had Orb in my opening hand, it turns out Snaps and Exarch are not very good when they're relegated to flash chumper duty. Game 3 I was able to stick a Choke on turn three but he drew mostly non-Islands so it didn't help much. His Spellskite wrecked my Vines of Vastwood plan and he was able to combo off.
Round 4 vs Infect: Game 1 I was able to Vines in response to his Vines, leaving him out of gas and letting me swing in for lethal the next turn. No sideboard changes, game 2 I had two Strangleroot Geists on the field, turns out they're pretty good chumpers for an unbuffed Glisener Elf and I was able to build up enough of a board presence to finish him off.
Other matches I've played for fun in the last week that are fresh in my mind:
Burn: A very tough race that goes quickly. Out of the 10ish or so games I played against a very skilled burn player I think I won 3-4 of them. A turn 3 Leatherback Baloth on the play was very hard for him to deal with, as were games where his Goblin Guides consistently hit lands. Games without Geist, Scooze, or Leatherback were rough. We didn't run any sideboard games but I'm not sure what I would have brought in, probably Obstinate Baloth and maybe the Relics to keep him off his Lavamancers.
Angel Pod: Putting down a lot of early pressure was key, forcing him to chump before he could start getting value out of Podding things away made things difficult for him, my guys were just bigger faster and the life he spent fetching lands and using Pod early made life very hard for him and the alternative of waiting until he could cast and use Pod without playing life slowed him down too much. I won all but one of the 4-5 games I played. I think Torpor Orb would be quite good against this deck, it shuts off a lot of the value they get out of podding, especially when they need bodies to block.
Merfolk: This one probably isn't an entirely fair representation of how Merfolk matches would go as the matches I played were with a friend who is both new to modern and was borrowing my deck and playing against him to teach it to him before the event started. Knowing that there's not much creature countermagic in my Merfolk deck I was able to run guys out with impunity until I could play around flashed Cursecatchers and Spell Pierces, but a string of early Spreading Seas can be very difficult to deal with. I won every match we played, but I can see a skilled player with a good hand causing a lot of problems for the deck.
This week I'm taking the same maindeck except for the addition of the Wilt-Leaf Liege in place of the Dungrove Elder (so the same as the primer) since I was able to grab one with my store credit winnings. Dungrove Elder was a huge underperformer, seeing him in the first few turns was always a letdown, especially if I saw any Treetop Villages, and drawing him later in the game wasn't all that great because he would either a:) be big enough to pump my E1's at a time in the game where if I still had E1's on the table to evolve I was already winning or b:) would come down on a board where I was out of/low on gas and not do much but threaten to block. I could see him being useful in situations where he could be multi-Rancored and Vinesed, but I think Liege will be able to do a lot more by spreading out the power or immediately eating a piece of removal that would otherwise take out one of my guys who is already swinging in.
Here's my sideboard plan for this week and my rationale for my inclusions:
2 Skylasher- I hadn't considered it against Twin, but I'll give it a try.
2 Choke-Hosing on Blue Decks.
2 Unravel the Aether- General artifact and enchantment hate.
2 Creeping Corrosion- Here for Affinity, I have yet to see an Affinity deck locally but I'd hate to be surprised.
2 Relic of Progenitus- Nice to have against anyone who cares about their graveyard, at worst it cycles for 1.
2 Torpor Orb- It's not my favorite thing in the world to pull out all 4 E1's, but it takes unfamiliar opponents by surprise game 2 if they saw E1 in the first game and it cripples the game plan for a lot of decks.
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon- I'm trying this one out to see how it goes, it will help against the Living End deck and I'm thinking that the benefit of taking away the ability to use the yard for value will outweigh the risk of them getting an extra use out of the card with shuffle or tutor effects.
1 Obstinate Baloth- My least favorite card in the board, it'll be a good surprise for any discard effects where I choose or it's the only legal target and the lifegain will be nice occasionally, but I'm thinking bringing something else up to a 3-of will be better. I may also put Bow of Nylea in this spot to give that a try instead this week.
1 Basilisk Collar- This is a pure meta call, there's one or two other players giving this list a go and this seems like a good way to turn the mirror match around. The lifegain also wouldn't hurt against other aggro/burn strategies.
I quite enjoy this deck, thanks to everyone for putting so much work into developing it!
I wonder why people think affinity is that bad for us. I faced two decks in the SCG super IQ the games were close, and I had to pull some weird combat tricks out but still won both matches...and that was before I was using creeping corrosion. Even online I don't find them to be too problematic. Sourdough side note...I wasn't using creeping but I was using raking canopy...which hurts them a lot as well.
I feel the same; it's a close match, not a bad one. The discrepancy could be due to varying amounts of experience vs Affinity.
As far as groundbreaker goes, I have messed around with him in the side for combo decks with little removal like scapeshift, but in the current meta he isn't (imo) main deck material. Uktabi drake is fun choice but usually nothing more than a shock if your lucky..sr geist is far superior for mana to damage ratio. As mono green out l our evasion is trample and coupled with bow(only having to assign one damage to creature Since attackers have death touch)it's pretty good evasion.
Groundbreaker sideboard is interesting, although probably not an optimal use of sideboard slots.
I know this is a Budget list/thread, but just wanted to get some thoughts on adding 4 Misty Rainforests to the mana base - strictly for the purpose of thinning out the deck a bit and improving the top decks.
What are your thoughts on fetches? How many would you run if any?
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My favorite Magic Card of all time is Traumatize. I don't win very often.
Everyone thinks the thinning from fetches makes a significant difference but it's a myth; the math has been done and it's very much negligible and not at all worth it. And yes, fetches shouldn't be discussed here.
was thinking why is Triumph of ferocity added in the side board other than for draws when wild defiance could be a anti burn and pumps our own creatures when we cast prey upon, vines and aspect on it.
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Standard : What is Stand-tart
Modern : Huh?
EDH : UBGW Thrasios / Tymna Combo UBGW // GRW Mayael Big Stuff GRW // GU Edric Timewalkers GU
3-1 last night at a local modern event with the list above (6th out of 30), I took out the SB Obstinate Baloth and put in Bow of Nylea.
Round 1 vs. UB Mill: I was on the play game 1, ran him down quickly with about half my deck intact. Game 2 (+1 Wheel of Sun and Moon, +2 Skylasher, +2 Relic of Progenitus, +2 Choke, -1 Thrun, -1 Wilt-Leaf Liege, -2 Kalonian Tusker, -2 Prey Upon, -1 Leatherback Baloth.) In retrospect I should have just added the 7 cards in and not taken anything out, but it didn’t really matter as a turn 3 Choke shut him out of the game.
Round 2 vs. UWR Twin: Game 1 was over pretty fast, his early Paths gave me room to drop bigger stuff early and hold up Vines to keep my guys on the board to win. Game 2 (+2 Torpor Orb, +2 Skylasher, +2 Unravel the Aether, +2 Relic of Progenitus, -4 Experiment One, -2 Prey Upon, -2 Kalonian Tusker) Mulled to 6 for an okay hand and was able to maintain a board presence through removal for a long time but didn’t see much gas (I ended up seeing 13 of my 20 forests), and he had enough time to get Celestial Colonnade active and swinging to wear me out. Game 3 I was able to stick turn 2 Torpor Orb into turn 4 Thrun and push through damage before he could respond to it.
Round 3 vs. Melira Pod: Game 1 I had a strong start so he had to focus on defense. A well-timed Prey Upon on Strangleroot Geist screwed up his combat math and he couldn’t block enough power to survive. Game 2 (+2 Torpor Orb, +2 Unravel the Aether, +2 Relic of Progenitus) I kept a very greedy one lander that would have been great with turn 2 land draw, unfortunately I didn’t see the second until turn 4 and it was way over before then. Game 3 was going my way until he had Finks and Township online, he went from 3 to 23 over the course of a few turns and I was beat to death by a Reveillark once he was stable and I was out of cards.
Round 4 vs. Nivmagus Combo: Game 1 I was on the play, t1 E1, t2 Strangleroot with Gut Shot on E1 in response to the trigger. T3 Rancor on Geist, play a second Geist but leave it back to block. On his turn 3 he tried to go off but ended up being 1 spell short, he held back one copy of ground rift to stop Geist from blocking but was only able to pump his Nivmagus to 17/18. He blew most of his life on Phyrexian Mana so my 2 Geists were able to finish him off the next turn. Game 2 (+2 Skylasher, -2 Prey Upon) I mulled to 6 for a Skylasher hand and played t1 Dryad Militant who received a Gut Shot and t2 draw go. On his turn 3 he went off successfully and swung with a 6/6 infect double strike Nivmagus but Skylasher stopped him cold. His hand was empty and I was able to finish him off without any trouble. We played some for fun games after since we were done in about 10 minutes, the rest of them went about the same for him.
I also played more practice games against my friend who runs Angel Pod. This week was much worse for me against him, I lost every game although some were pretty close. Torpor Orbs are great until they Pod into Quasali Pridemage or draw Abrupt Decay so they’re not all that great once they know to kill Orb instead of Rancor. Unravel the Aether ended up being quite irritating as both times I shuffled it away against my friend he topdecked another one after the shuffle, but I still think it’s preferable to Nature’s Claim/Naturalize given that Eternal Witness is a thing and Scavenging Ooze never lives that long on his own.
Mainboard Thoughts: Prey Upon- I was very skeptical of Prey Upon when putting this deck together but it does a ton of work. T1 E1, T2 Geist, T3 Prey upon Geist fighting anything with 2 toughness, return evolve E1 to 3/3 play another Geist swing for 8 is great. On the other hand, there are many times where I would love to fight something at instant speed later in the game with Pit Fight. In response to removal, at the end of turn, killing their attackers with tapped down blockers, and so on. I know the mana is tight but I may give it a go, maybe as a 1-of or maybe replacing Dismember. Bow of Nylea- I’d like to work this in mainboard as a 1 of but I’m not sure where the cut is. Probably a Kalonian Tusker since a lot of other stuff evolves E1 on turn 2. Primal Rage or Nylea, God of the Hunt- Basically I’d like to see more trample in the deck, there are many situations where trample on the whole team would turn games completely around. Another local Stompy player runs Garruk’s Companion over Kalonian Tusker for this purpose, but I’m not convinced it’s worth losing the ability to evolve a Rancored E1 with a counter on it or trading with every utility 2/1.
Sideboard thoughts: Skylasher- A good sideboard card, I can see a meta existing where this would be great as a 3 or 4-of Choke- Performs very well, I’ve found it’s biggest weakness to be the relatively high number of checklands I’ve been seeing. Unravel the Aether- Probably the best we’re going to do in this spot, if Twin wasn’t so common locally I’d consider Oxidize in it’s place. Krosan Grip is also a possibility, but three mana is steep for the minor utility it adds Creeping Corrosion- Still haven’t seen Affinity but I’ll keep it just in case Relic of Progenitus- The utility is wide enough that I don’t mind bringing this in against any match where they’re messing with the graveyard, at worst it’s a two mana cantrip. Torpor Orb- A great sideboard card that is unfortunately susceptible to hate most opponents are bringing in for Rancor anyways. I like it better in the Twin matchup than the Pod matchup, which is the inverse of how I’d feel about switching them out for Grafdigger’s Cage. I may give that switch a go since the local meta seems to have an even distribution of Pod and Twin. Wheel of Sun and Moon- Still want to try this out, it would have been great to play this against the mill deck and has pretty decent game against many other fringe decks I’ve seen here. Bow of Nylea- Want to move this one mainboard, may replace it with an extra Orb, Ooze, Relic, Choke, or Skylasher Basilisk Collar- Still want to try this out, doubt it will be a long term inclusion.
A mix up Prey Upon and Dismember is best I think. I agree Prey does a lot of work but yes it isn't great in all situations, hence the Dismember as well. 2 of each means you're usually covered.
First off, let me give props on the Primer. It's great. So is the deck. I just got into Modern and this deck has been awesome for me. Cheap, easy to play and matches up well against seemingly every deck.
I think the Mainboard list in the Primer works best. I've tried Bow main board and while it's good (especially against Delver and Affinity), it's a bit slow. I'd rather run another creature or a 3rd Aspect of Hydra.
That all said, I wanted to get some takes on Raking Canopy vs. Creeping Corrosion in the sideboard. Raking is great against Delver, Geist Angels, Colonnade and the Affinity Flyers, but Corrosion destroys Vials, equipment, etc. So what's the answer? One over the other, run a combination of both?
Also, thoughts on Eyes of the Wisent... I play in a very Snapcaster/counter heavy meta, so I was thinking of bringing it in over Torpor Orb.
I'm new to Modern, so any insights based on previous experiences would be appreciated.
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My favorite Magic Card of all time is Traumatize. I don't win very often.
First off, let me give props on the Primer. It's great. So is the deck. I just got into Modern and this deck has been awesome for me. Cheap, easy to play and matches up well against seemingly every deck.
I think the Mainboard list in the Primer works best. I've tried Bow main board and while it's good (especially against Delver and Affinity), it's a bit slow. I'd rather run another creature or a 3rd Aspect of Hydra.
That all said, I wanted to get some takes on Raking Canopy vs. Creeping Corrosion in the sideboard. Raking is great against Delver, Geist Angels, Colonnade and the Affinity Flyers, but Corrosion destroys Vials, equipment, etc. So what's the answer? One over the other, run a combination of both?
Also, thoughts on Eyes of the Wisent... I play in a very Snapcaster/counter heavy meta, so I was thinking of bringing it in over Torpor Orb.
I'm new to Modern, so any insights based on previous experiences would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Canopy could be better than Corrosion; I suppose it can be used against more decks, and it's cheaper and adds to devotion. I'll probably try it out again. If I do I may drop Thrun and Liege to smooth out sideboard plans, and to drop forests for more stuff (maybe Slaughterhorn or Aspect). The downside of Canopy is Affinity may better be able to play around it.
Eyes is nice but I'm not sure it's worth it. I think I'd rather just play Skylasher and call it a day.
Thanks for the primer guys, I've built this deck in paper and am enjoying the clear and focused game plan: STOMP FACE. Keep it coming
Yeah but in what condition or against which deck do u wanna bring this into the main?
It's for decks with lots of removal (BGx, UWR); it keeps you at an even keel with all their removal, ensuring you never run out of threats. I've dropped it recently, but that's mainly so sideboarding is smoother. I still like it and it could be ideal in my build and others.
First off, let me give props on the Primer. It's great. So is the deck. I just got into Modern and this deck has been awesome for me. Cheap, easy to play and matches up well against seemingly every deck.
I think the Mainboard list in the Primer works best. I've tried Bow main board and while it's good (especially against Delver and Affinity), it's a bit slow. I'd rather run another creature or a 3rd Aspect of Hydra.
That all said, I wanted to get some takes on Raking Canopy vs. Creeping Corrosion in the sideboard. Raking is great against Delver, Geist Angels, Colonnade and the Affinity Flyers, but Corrosion destroys Vials, equipment, etc. So what's the answer? One over the other, run a combination of both?
Also, thoughts on Eyes of the Wisent... I play in a very Snapcaster/counter heavy meta, so I was thinking of bringing it in over Torpor Orb.
I'm new to Modern, so any insights based on previous experiences would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Canopy could be better than Corrosion; I suppose it can be used against more decks, and it's cheaper and adds to devotion. I'll probably try it out again. If I do I may drop Thrun and Liege to smooth out sideboard plans, and to drop forests for more stuff (maybe Slaughterhorn or Aspect). The downside of Canopy is Affinity may better be able to play around it.
Eyes is nice but I'm not sure it's worth it. I think I'd rather just play Skylasher and call it a day.
I’ll probably be giving Canopy a try since my meta seems to be Affinity light. There are a few Geist of St. Traft and Celestial Colonnade decks floating around so I may get more mileage out of it.
I’ve found Thrun to be a card that can turn games around by himself while Liege is better at turning around games where there’s already a decent board presence, especially if that presence includes more than one Militant. I would think that Liege would be easier cut, but topping out at three would make going down to 19-20 lands more palatable. Even with two 4 drops I think 20 lands is doable, maybe finding a way to work in 2 Slaugterhorn and 1 more Aspect.
I think Eyes might be worth a shot, I’ve come across a few players locally who try to do most of their tricks during my turn at the beginning of my upkeep, presumably to force Vines/Aspect early so I can’t use whatever I draw. Skylasher has been able to fill a good role against blue decks though. Eyes does have the fringe disadvantage of giving Goyf an extra point if it gets blown up.
Thanks for the primer guys, I've built this deck in paper and am enjoying the clear and focused game plan: STOMP FACE. Keep it coming
Yeah but in what condition or against which deck do u wanna bring this into the main?
It's for decks with lots of removal (BGx, UWR); it keeps you at an even keel with all their removal, ensuring you never run out of threats. I've dropped it recently, but that's mainly so sideboarding is smoother. I still like it and it could be ideal in my build and others.
Have you tested it mainboard or sideboard? I rarely run into game 1’s where I don’t have the biggest guy, but I’d prefer to not have something with the potential to be a blank card in the main.
Modern : Huh?
EDH : UBGW Thrasios / Tymna Combo UBGW // GRW Mayael Big Stuff GRW // GU Edric Timewalkers GU
4 Dryad Militant
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Verdant Catacombs
16 Forest
1 Pendelhaven
4 Groundbreaker
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Rancor
4 Dungrove Elder
4 Gut Shot
2 Briarhorn
1 Wolfir Silverheart
3 Viridian Emissary
3 Pithing Needle
1 Creeping Corrosion
4 Eyes of the Wisent
3 Torpor Orb
1 Krosan Grip
2 Oxidize
Then it evolved into this. I don't know if this counts as budget (it is about $300). The really budget version would cost about a $80.
4 Dryad Militant
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Verdant Catacombs
12 Forest
4 Groundbreaker
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Rancor
3 Dungrove Elder
3 Temple Garden
2 Bassara Tower Archer
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Vines of Vastwood
3 Loam Lion
1 Pendelhaven
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Wilt-Leaf Liege
2 Pithing Needle
2 Eyes of the Wisent
3 Torpor Orb
1 Krosan Grip
2 Oxidize
1 Shattering Blow
1 Path to Exile
2 Unflinching Courage
Cult of the Succubi Eating Kitten and Brotherhood of Hamsters - Zombie One/Hulking One - Brotherhood of Hamsters disapproves of Damage on the Stack amputation, the corruption of Mythics,
and the "Major changes to Extended" in July 2010. You aborted our cards., but we approve of the Modern format. Even if it doesn't ha ve Carrion Feeder or Caller of the Claw in it.Dex: http://deckbox.org/users/Egementium_instructoid
My version splashed black for three Abrupt Decay:
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Woodland Cemetery
1 Treetop Village
13 Forest
4 Experiment One
4 Dryad Militant
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Kalonian Tusker
4 Leatherback Baloth
1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
4 Rancor
4 Vines of Vastwood
3 Aspect of Hydra
3 Abrupt Decay
I have found this deck to be very consistent despite the splash and it regularly outraced other aggro decks.
Mostly I wanted to post to say thanks to the people who have contributed to this thread. It helped me a lot. Also, I welcome opinions about the splash. I'm almost considering Vraska to top the curve but I am hesitant to go above 4-drops. I ditched Garruk for this reason early in testing. Every time I push the curve lower I get better results.
WDeath and TaxesW
RWGBurnGWR
WDeath and TaxesW
RWGBurnGWR
2x Dismember
2x Prey Upon
4x Dryad Militant
4x Experiment One
20x Forest
4x Kalonian Tusker
4x Leatherback Baloth
4x Rancor
2x Scavenging Ooze
4x Strangleroot Geist
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
2x Treetop Village
4x Vines of Vastwood
1x Dungrove Elder
2x Choke
1x Creeping Corrosion
1x Nature's Claim
3x Skylasher
2x Unravel the Æther
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Obstinate Baloth
2x Torpor Orb
1x Triumph of Ferocity
Round 1 vs Living End: I'd never seen End played before so I wasn't sure why my opponent was cycling a mess of Alara block commons and ignoring what I was doing. I had him dead next turn when he cascaded into Living End, crushing my hopes and dreams. -2 Prey Upon +2 Relic of Progenitus, had a Scooze in my opening hand game 2 and a Relic and Scooze opener game 3 and I ran him over without much resistance.
Round 2 vs Junk: Game 1 the opponent didn't really do much, I don't know if he kept a bad hand or if he was trying to figure out I was playing, but I finished him off by turn 4. +1 Obstinate Baloth -1 Leatherback Baloth, game 2 I was stuck on two lands but fortunately had a handful of Strangleroot Gesits, Rancors, and Vines of Vastwood so his Abrupt Decays were much worse. I knocked him down to three and he died to his Bob trigger.
Round 3 vs Twin: Game 1 my opponent had more Bolts and Snapcasters than I had bodies. +2 Torpor Orb +2 Choke -4 Experiment One, had Orb in my opening hand, it turns out Snaps and Exarch are not very good when they're relegated to flash chumper duty. Game 3 I was able to stick a Choke on turn three but he drew mostly non-Islands so it didn't help much. His Spellskite wrecked my Vines of Vastwood plan and he was able to combo off.
Round 4 vs Infect: Game 1 I was able to Vines in response to his Vines, leaving him out of gas and letting me swing in for lethal the next turn. No sideboard changes, game 2 I had two Strangleroot Geists on the field, turns out they're pretty good chumpers for an unbuffed Glisener Elf and I was able to build up enough of a board presence to finish him off.
Other matches I've played for fun in the last week that are fresh in my mind:
Burn: A very tough race that goes quickly. Out of the 10ish or so games I played against a very skilled burn player I think I won 3-4 of them. A turn 3 Leatherback Baloth on the play was very hard for him to deal with, as were games where his Goblin Guides consistently hit lands. Games without Geist, Scooze, or Leatherback were rough. We didn't run any sideboard games but I'm not sure what I would have brought in, probably Obstinate Baloth and maybe the Relics to keep him off his Lavamancers.
Angel Pod: Putting down a lot of early pressure was key, forcing him to chump before he could start getting value out of Podding things away made things difficult for him, my guys were just bigger faster and the life he spent fetching lands and using Pod early made life very hard for him and the alternative of waiting until he could cast and use Pod without playing life slowed him down too much. I won all but one of the 4-5 games I played. I think Torpor Orb would be quite good against this deck, it shuts off a lot of the value they get out of podding, especially when they need bodies to block.
Merfolk: This one probably isn't an entirely fair representation of how Merfolk matches would go as the matches I played were with a friend who is both new to modern and was borrowing my deck and playing against him to teach it to him before the event started. Knowing that there's not much creature countermagic in my Merfolk deck I was able to run guys out with impunity until I could play around flashed Cursecatchers and Spell Pierces, but a string of early Spreading Seas can be very difficult to deal with. I won every match we played, but I can see a skilled player with a good hand causing a lot of problems for the deck.
This week I'm taking the same maindeck except for the addition of the Wilt-Leaf Liege in place of the Dungrove Elder (so the same as the primer) since I was able to grab one with my store credit winnings. Dungrove Elder was a huge underperformer, seeing him in the first few turns was always a letdown, especially if I saw any Treetop Villages, and drawing him later in the game wasn't all that great because he would either a:) be big enough to pump my E1's at a time in the game where if I still had E1's on the table to evolve I was already winning or b:) would come down on a board where I was out of/low on gas and not do much but threaten to block. I could see him being useful in situations where he could be multi-Rancored and Vinesed, but I think Liege will be able to do a lot more by spreading out the power or immediately eating a piece of removal that would otherwise take out one of my guys who is already swinging in.
Here's my sideboard plan for this week and my rationale for my inclusions:
2 Skylasher- I hadn't considered it against Twin, but I'll give it a try.
2 Choke-Hosing on Blue Decks.
2 Unravel the Aether- General artifact and enchantment hate.
2 Creeping Corrosion- Here for Affinity, I have yet to see an Affinity deck locally but I'd hate to be surprised.
2 Relic of Progenitus- Nice to have against anyone who cares about their graveyard, at worst it cycles for 1.
2 Torpor Orb- It's not my favorite thing in the world to pull out all 4 E1's, but it takes unfamiliar opponents by surprise game 2 if they saw E1 in the first game and it cripples the game plan for a lot of decks.
1 Wheel of Sun and Moon- I'm trying this one out to see how it goes, it will help against the Living End deck and I'm thinking that the benefit of taking away the ability to use the yard for value will outweigh the risk of them getting an extra use out of the card with shuffle or tutor effects.
1 Obstinate Baloth- My least favorite card in the board, it'll be a good surprise for any discard effects where I choose or it's the only legal target and the lifegain will be nice occasionally, but I'm thinking bringing something else up to a 3-of will be better. I may also put Bow of Nylea in this spot to give that a try instead this week.
1 Basilisk Collar- This is a pure meta call, there's one or two other players giving this list a go and this seems like a good way to turn the mirror match around. The lifegain also wouldn't hurt against other aggro/burn strategies.
I quite enjoy this deck, thanks to everyone for putting so much work into developing it!
I feel the same; it's a close match, not a bad one. The discrepancy could be due to varying amounts of experience vs Affinity.
Groundbreaker sideboard is interesting, although probably not an optimal use of sideboard slots.
I know this is a Budget list/thread, but just wanted to get some thoughts on adding 4 Misty Rainforests to the mana base - strictly for the purpose of thinning out the deck a bit and improving the top decks.
What are your thoughts on fetches? How many would you run if any?
Modern : Huh?
EDH : UBGW Thrasios / Tymna Combo UBGW // GRW Mayael Big Stuff GRW // GU Edric Timewalkers GU
Thanks for the primer guys, I've built this deck in paper and am enjoying the clear and focused game plan: STOMP FACE. Keep it coming
Round 1 vs. UB Mill: I was on the play game 1, ran him down quickly with about half my deck intact. Game 2 (+1 Wheel of Sun and Moon, +2 Skylasher, +2 Relic of Progenitus, +2 Choke, -1 Thrun, -1 Wilt-Leaf Liege, -2 Kalonian Tusker, -2 Prey Upon, -1 Leatherback Baloth.) In retrospect I should have just added the 7 cards in and not taken anything out, but it didn’t really matter as a turn 3 Choke shut him out of the game.
Round 2 vs. UWR Twin: Game 1 was over pretty fast, his early Paths gave me room to drop bigger stuff early and hold up Vines to keep my guys on the board to win. Game 2 (+2 Torpor Orb, +2 Skylasher, +2 Unravel the Aether, +2 Relic of Progenitus, -4 Experiment One, -2 Prey Upon, -2 Kalonian Tusker) Mulled to 6 for an okay hand and was able to maintain a board presence through removal for a long time but didn’t see much gas (I ended up seeing 13 of my 20 forests), and he had enough time to get Celestial Colonnade active and swinging to wear me out. Game 3 I was able to stick turn 2 Torpor Orb into turn 4 Thrun and push through damage before he could respond to it.
Round 3 vs. Melira Pod: Game 1 I had a strong start so he had to focus on defense. A well-timed Prey Upon on Strangleroot Geist screwed up his combat math and he couldn’t block enough power to survive. Game 2 (+2 Torpor Orb, +2 Unravel the Aether, +2 Relic of Progenitus) I kept a very greedy one lander that would have been great with turn 2 land draw, unfortunately I didn’t see the second until turn 4 and it was way over before then. Game 3 was going my way until he had Finks and Township online, he went from 3 to 23 over the course of a few turns and I was beat to death by a Reveillark once he was stable and I was out of cards.
Round 4 vs. Nivmagus Combo: Game 1 I was on the play, t1 E1, t2 Strangleroot with Gut Shot on E1 in response to the trigger. T3 Rancor on Geist, play a second Geist but leave it back to block. On his turn 3 he tried to go off but ended up being 1 spell short, he held back one copy of ground rift to stop Geist from blocking but was only able to pump his Nivmagus to 17/18. He blew most of his life on Phyrexian Mana so my 2 Geists were able to finish him off the next turn. Game 2 (+2 Skylasher, -2 Prey Upon) I mulled to 6 for a Skylasher hand and played t1 Dryad Militant who received a Gut Shot and t2 draw go. On his turn 3 he went off successfully and swung with a 6/6 infect double strike Nivmagus but Skylasher stopped him cold. His hand was empty and I was able to finish him off without any trouble. We played some for fun games after since we were done in about 10 minutes, the rest of them went about the same for him.
I also played more practice games against my friend who runs Angel Pod. This week was much worse for me against him, I lost every game although some were pretty close. Torpor Orbs are great until they Pod into Quasali Pridemage or draw Abrupt Decay so they’re not all that great once they know to kill Orb instead of Rancor. Unravel the Aether ended up being quite irritating as both times I shuffled it away against my friend he topdecked another one after the shuffle, but I still think it’s preferable to Nature’s Claim/Naturalize given that Eternal Witness is a thing and Scavenging Ooze never lives that long on his own.
Mainboard Thoughts:
Prey Upon- I was very skeptical of Prey Upon when putting this deck together but it does a ton of work. T1 E1, T2 Geist, T3 Prey upon Geist fighting anything with 2 toughness, return evolve E1 to 3/3 play another Geist swing for 8 is great. On the other hand, there are many times where I would love to fight something at instant speed later in the game with Pit Fight. In response to removal, at the end of turn, killing their attackers with tapped down blockers, and so on. I know the mana is tight but I may give it a go, maybe as a 1-of or maybe replacing Dismember.
Bow of Nylea- I’d like to work this in mainboard as a 1 of but I’m not sure where the cut is. Probably a Kalonian Tusker since a lot of other stuff evolves E1 on turn 2.
Primal Rage or Nylea, God of the Hunt- Basically I’d like to see more trample in the deck, there are many situations where trample on the whole team would turn games completely around. Another local Stompy player runs Garruk’s Companion over Kalonian Tusker for this purpose, but I’m not convinced it’s worth losing the ability to evolve a Rancored E1 with a counter on it or trading with every utility 2/1.
Sideboard thoughts:
Skylasher- A good sideboard card, I can see a meta existing where this would be great as a 3 or 4-of
Choke- Performs very well, I’ve found it’s biggest weakness to be the relatively high number of checklands I’ve been seeing.
Unravel the Aether- Probably the best we’re going to do in this spot, if Twin wasn’t so common locally I’d consider Oxidize in it’s place. Krosan Grip is also a possibility, but three mana is steep for the minor utility it adds
Creeping Corrosion- Still haven’t seen Affinity but I’ll keep it just in case
Relic of Progenitus- The utility is wide enough that I don’t mind bringing this in against any match where they’re messing with the graveyard, at worst it’s a two mana cantrip.
Torpor Orb- A great sideboard card that is unfortunately susceptible to hate most opponents are bringing in for Rancor anyways. I like it better in the Twin matchup than the Pod matchup, which is the inverse of how I’d feel about switching them out for Grafdigger’s Cage. I may give that switch a go since the local meta seems to have an even distribution of Pod and Twin.
Wheel of Sun and Moon- Still want to try this out, it would have been great to play this against the mill deck and has pretty decent game against many other fringe decks I’ve seen here.
Bow of Nylea- Want to move this one mainboard, may replace it with an extra Orb, Ooze, Relic, Choke, or Skylasher
Basilisk Collar- Still want to try this out, doubt it will be a long term inclusion.
I think Tusker is the better choice even though we'd like the trample. 3 toughness is extremely relevant in this format: you can profitably block a lot of 2 power creatures, kill some 3 toughness creatures, and you don't die to 2 damage red spells (Electrolyze, Pyroclasm, Izzet Charm, Burst Lightning, Forked Bolt, Searing Blood, Whipflare, Jund Charm, Pillar of Flame, Magma Spray, Magma Jet, and Grim Lavamancer). All of this is needed more than trample, in my opinion.
I think the Mainboard list in the Primer works best. I've tried Bow main board and while it's good (especially against Delver and Affinity), it's a bit slow. I'd rather run another creature or a 3rd Aspect of Hydra.
That all said, I wanted to get some takes on Raking Canopy vs. Creeping Corrosion in the sideboard. Raking is great against Delver, Geist Angels, Colonnade and the Affinity Flyers, but Corrosion destroys Vials, equipment, etc. So what's the answer? One over the other, run a combination of both?
Also, thoughts on Eyes of the Wisent... I play in a very Snapcaster/counter heavy meta, so I was thinking of bringing it in over Torpor Orb.
I'm new to Modern, so any insights based on previous experiences would be appreciated.
Yeah but in what condition or against which deck do u wanna bring this into the main?
Modern : Huh?
EDH : UBGW Thrasios / Tymna Combo UBGW // GRW Mayael Big Stuff GRW // GU Edric Timewalkers GU
Thanks!
Canopy could be better than Corrosion; I suppose it can be used against more decks, and it's cheaper and adds to devotion. I'll probably try it out again. If I do I may drop Thrun and Liege to smooth out sideboard plans, and to drop forests for more stuff (maybe Slaughterhorn or Aspect). The downside of Canopy is Affinity may better be able to play around it.
Eyes is nice but I'm not sure it's worth it. I think I'd rather just play Skylasher and call it a day.
It's for decks with lots of removal (BGx, UWR); it keeps you at an even keel with all their removal, ensuring you never run out of threats. I've dropped it recently, but that's mainly so sideboarding is smoother. I still like it and it could be ideal in my build and others.
I’ll probably be giving Canopy a try since my meta seems to be Affinity light. There are a few Geist of St. Traft and Celestial Colonnade decks floating around so I may get more mileage out of it.
I’ve found Thrun to be a card that can turn games around by himself while Liege is better at turning around games where there’s already a decent board presence, especially if that presence includes more than one Militant. I would think that Liege would be easier cut, but topping out at three would make going down to 19-20 lands more palatable. Even with two 4 drops I think 20 lands is doable, maybe finding a way to work in 2 Slaugterhorn and 1 more Aspect.
I think Eyes might be worth a shot, I’ve come across a few players locally who try to do most of their tricks during my turn at the beginning of my upkeep, presumably to force Vines/Aspect early so I can’t use whatever I draw. Skylasher has been able to fill a good role against blue decks though. Eyes does have the fringe disadvantage of giving Goyf an extra point if it gets blown up.
Have you tested it mainboard or sideboard? I rarely run into game 1’s where I don’t have the biggest guy, but I’d prefer to not have something with the potential to be a blank card in the main.