The Ballista is nuts in the mirror, for sure. I think with how much exposure the deck is getting, the mirror is going to spike in the short-term on MTGO and the Sage is going to be a great card. I'll try 'em out in the next run, I think
Hey been playing the deck for a little while now, and the games i win the most and are the most one sided seem to come from the stax elements, with this in mind any thoughts on Ethersworn Canonist?
So I caught this deck on coverage over the weekend. I was thinking about buying into it but I am on the fencebetween it and a prison deck. Can someone give me the quick pro's and cons?
Hi, I have been testing the deck for a while on modo and it's really enjoyable, I found Signal Pest to be very weak compared to the rest of the cards in the build so I will try Zac's split as I believe we need more 1 drops that are blue, with at least 1 power and a useful ability.
In a deck that needs protection for the enablers in the early game and is able to get value from disrupting our opponent's spells when we have our Lodestone Golem in play, Judge's Familiar seems like an excellent choice. Signal Pest have won me a couple of games thanks to the battle cry but I feel like it's usually not that relevant as those extra points of damage are easy to obtain with Throne of the God-Pharaoh and Walking Ballista. Maybe in the future I will cut the whole Signal Pest package and run a playset of Judge's Familiar, the only reason I haven't yet is that Master of Etherium might be weaker taking those 4 artifacts out.
So, besides that, this card has been spoiled today:
Do you think it's worth a slot in the build? I have been thinking about Phyrexian Metamorph for this kind of effect but I think this new card has the potential to be useful no matter when you cast is where Phyrexian Metamorph must be cast while there is a threat to copy, what do you think?
Tried out Sage of Epityr - the card was awful in the deck. It just doesn't help accomplish what the deck is trying to do, and I hated seeing the card every single time. Heck, during testing, I lost to Living End because of it, which wouldn't have happened had the card been a Judge's Familiar - and that matchup is supposed to be lights-out for us. I'm off it permanently.
On the other hand, the Trinket-Mage-in-SB plan has worked out really well and I've maxed out with 9 one-mana critters in the MD. The past two leagues I've gone 4-1 and even faced some bad matchups that I've won due to the number of Pests and Familiars I've been packing. A turn 1 play is so crucial to the deck, and playing 3-4 Master of Etheriums have helped out a ton against the Burn matchup (which I find to be a nailbiter every single time).
Anyway, I'm 27-18 with the deck (63-50 in games), and learning the ins and outs of what to mulligan, how to sideboard have helped me tremendously in the past 2-3 leagues. Deck's great, and I'll include a photo of the 75 from today's 4-1.
Also: S/O to Zac Elsik for putting up the results he did at GP Vegas with the deck! What a boss.
Tried out Sage of Epityr - the card was awful in the deck. It just doesn't help accomplish what the deck is trying to do, and I hated seeing the card every single time. Heck, during testing, I lost to Living End because of it, which wouldn't have happened had the card been a Judge's Familiar - and that matchup is supposed to be lights-out for us. I'm off it permanently.
On the other hand, the Trinket-Mage-in-SB plan has worked out really well and I've maxed out with 9 one-mana critters in the MD. The past two leagues I've gone 4-1 and even faced some bad matchups that I've won due to the number of Pests and Familiars I've been packing. A turn 1 play is so crucial to the deck, and playing 3-4 Master of Etheriums have helped out a ton against the Burn matchup (which I find to be a nailbiter every single time).
Anyway, I'm 27-18 with the deck (63-50 in games), and learning the ins and outs of what to mulligan, how to sideboard have helped me tremendously in the past 2-3 leagues. Deck's great, and I'll include a photo of the 75 from today's 4-1.
Also: S/O to Zac Elsik for putting up the results he did at GP Vegas with the deck! What a boss.
Odd I've loved sage but good luck to you. I run 4 wanderer, 4 familiar, and 3 sage. Why would run revoker over needle with trinket mages?
I only run 1 Trinket Mage as of right now. I run the Revoker over the Needle because the Needle can't hit mana abilities and doesn't beat down. I value those two aspects in this deck a lot more over the fetchability of Needle via Mage, although I'll concede it's meta dependent.
I've thought a lot about revoker versus needle too, and the benefits of being able to crew random vehicles and also convoking for other creatures comes into play. Not sure if it's worth it though.
Pithing Needle plays an important role costing exactly 1 mana. Many games you will be able to play Trinket Mage on turn 3 and put the needle into play immediately thanks to Etherium Sculptor or Chief Engineer, but with Revoker you lose out on redundancy. Having access to stop the devoted druid combo right away is a big deal imo.
Pithing Needle plays an important role costing exactly 1 mana. Many games you will be able to play Trinket Mage on turn 3 and put the needle into play immediately thanks to Etherium Sculptor or Chief Engineer, but with Revoker you lose out on redundancy. Having access to stop the devoted druid combo right away is a big deal imo.
I agree. Can't tell you how many times I get a 1 mana artifact on t3 and just play it for basically free. I tried revoker for 4 rounds went to needle and never looked back. So after the gp what would your changes be? Did you prefer the 2/2 split pest/judge? What were your losses too?
Yes I love the 2-2 split. four birds was too many, and 4 pests was too many. Often you got into weird situations where the redundancy was annoying, and/or not crewing a copter came up.
I want to write a more extensive report at some point of GP Vegas main event, but I've been awfully busy since getting back.
Round 15 Affinity [2-0 vs. Parson, Kenneth]
Round 14 Eldrazi Tron [1-2 vs. Horspool, Tyler]
Round 13 Dredge [2-0 vs. Tsujikawa, Taiga]
Round 12 Counters Company [1-2 vs. Kanner, Zack]
Round 11 Abzan [2-0 vs. Allard, Jason]
Round 10 Burn [2-0 vs. Delleola, Edric]
Round 9 Mardu Pyromancer [2-1 vs. Aye, Gareth]
Round 8 Bogles [1-2 vs. Ferry, Sergio]
Round 7 Burn [2-1 vs. Gonzalez, Juan Pablo]
Round 6 Eldrazi Tron [0-2 vs. Hiatt, Cody]
Round 5 Eldrazi Tron [2-0 vs. Verdesoto, Daniel]
Round 4 Living End 2-0 vs. Bruce, Adam
Round 3 Burn [2-1 vs. Littles, Charles]
Round 2 BYE
Round 1 BYE
Great run with the deck, shadowgripper, good job!
I'm really happy with all the work you've done to put the deck on the map and want to thank you for it
Great run with the deck, shadowgripper, good job!
I'm really happy with all the work you've done to put the deck on the map and want to thank you for it
I totally agree with Ace1 for sure. Sorry I mistook your motives at first, Shadowgripper. The traffic in this thread has already increased tenfold because of you, and it'll only get better I'm sure. Maybe we'll even get bumped up to the "Developing" eventually
Yes I love the 2-2 split. four birds was too many, and 4 pests was too many. Often you got into weird situations where the redundancy was annoying, and/or not crewing a copter came up.
I want to write a more extensive report at some point of GP Vegas main event, but I've been awfully busy since getting back.
Round 15 Affinity [2-0 vs. Parson, Kenneth]
Round 14 Eldrazi Tron [1-2 vs. Horspool, Tyler]
Round 13 Dredge [2-0 vs. Tsujikawa, Taiga]
Round 12 Counters Company [1-2 vs. Kanner, Zack]
Round 11 Abzan [2-0 vs. Allard, Jason]
Round 10 Burn [2-0 vs. Delleola, Edric]
Round 9 Mardu Pyromancer [2-1 vs. Aye, Gareth]
Round 8 Bogles [1-2 vs. Ferry, Sergio]
Round 7 Burn [2-1 vs. Gonzalez, Juan Pablo]
Round 6 Eldrazi Tron [0-2 vs. Hiatt, Cody]
Round 5 Eldrazi Tron [2-0 vs. Verdesoto, Daniel]
Round 4 Living End 2-0 vs. Bruce, Adam
Round 3 Burn [2-1 vs. Littles, Charles]
Round 2 BYE
Round 1 BYE
How did you feel about the counterspells in your sb? I know you want to do a better write up I've just been meh on spells like rejection and will.
I also got a chance to play this deck at Grand Prix Las Vegas. It was a blast, and I got a chance to talk to Zac a bit on day 2 about his experience with it. Though I won my first three rounds, I didn't do nearly as well as Zac and ended up 4-4-1, which I attribute mostly to him being a much better magic player than I am, to my cutting the Pithing Needle out of my sideboard at 2am the night before the tournament (which cost me a really important match), and to me forcing a tie in round 6, ensuring matchups with decks trying to stall out the game for the rest of the day. I'll throw my poor tourney report up here for the sake of good science.
My lessons -
Don't leave your Pithing Needle at home. It's incredible against Affinity and Counters Company and Bant Eldrazi and you can find it with Trinket Mage.
Academy Ruins is awesome for grindy matchups. When you've run out of gas, ensuring that you'll topdeck a Ballista or a Lodestone Golem is amazing. I definitely prefer it over Cavern of Souls.
Throne of the God Pharaoh won me a bunch of games, and was pretty much never a dead draw thanks to Blinkmoth Nexus. Highly recommend playing two.
Basilisk Collar (and Trinket Mage to find it) is MVP if you get stuck fighting janky creature decks in the loser's bracket.
Master of Etherium is a ******* house. He gives the deck a lot of reach by boosting the fliers. I wished I was playing the 4th one.
Take the loss over the tie with this deck at a big tournament cause prison decks are a nightmare.
Matches -
Round 1 - Racist.deck - 2-0
Got matched with a janky mono-white deck where all the creatures had protection from black, and he was running Painter's Servant to turn everything black. Would actually have been pretty hard to battle through all that unblockable lifelink except that G1 and G2 I got Basilisk Collar on Walking Ballista to shoot first Painter's Servant and then the rest of his board.
Round 2 - Burn - 2-1
G1 he got the nut draw and roasted me and my slow opener. Game 2 I was manascrewed so he dropped the second Eidolon, which totally ended up hosing himself after Judge's Familiar and Blinkmoth got enough hits in. Once I got a third land and dropped architect into double Golem it was over. G3 I had a turn 3 Golem, a turn 4 master and wanderer and T5 Wurmcoil Engine was just overkill. This was the only game I cast one the Wurmcoils in my board.
Round 3 - Jund - 2-0
In both of my games, I don't think I actually hit him for damage with anything except Mausoleum Wanderer, Copter, and Blinkmoth, but between that and Bob it was enough to kill him. Mausoleum Wanderer is great in multiples.
Round 4 - Counters Company - 0-2
Got matched with Eric Severson (7-3 in PT Amonkhet) coming in off his 3 byes. Game 1 I mull to 5 on the play, and I actually have him dead on board when he untaps on turn 6 and proceeds to go infinite. G2 he plays T2 Devoted Druid, T3 Vizier into Duskwatch Recruiter into Walking Ballista. I got him to play me a third game and I ran over him with double Lodestone Golem (the first time I drew one all match) and killed him turn 4.
Round 5 - Bant Eldrazi - 1-2
G1 I mulled to 5 and got ran over by t3 thought-knot t4 smasher. Game 2 I got Golems on turn 3 and 4, a Master of Etherium on turn 5, and wrecked him. Game 3 was a grinder and a huge mistake on my part. I had two Trinket Mages in my opener. Punt 1 - playing a Trinket Mage on turn three with no way to play the Basilisk Collar I searched up that turn when he had both Eldrazi Displacer and Thought Knot on the board so he just blinked Thought Knot on his turn and took the collar. Punt 2 - Rifling through my deck t4 off the second Trinket Mage looking for a Pithing Needle only to realize I'd cut it from my board the night before. RIP.
Round 6 - Abzan Junk - 1-1-1
G1 - he removed everything I cast, and beat me down with Lili and Goyf.
G2 - I stablizhed early with Basilisk Collar and Walking Ballista, then won with Lodestone Golem and Smuggler's Copter.
G3 - He removed everything I played again, and one Grim Flayer went almost all the way. I had repeatedly suggested we play fast when the game was starting, but he said wasn't worried about time, so I somewhat vindictively forced the tie with a Walking Ballista double block. Huge mistake - I hadn't realized that at a giant tournament, when you have a tie, you'll always be matched with people with ties. 2 of my 3 next matches were with prison decks.
Round 7 - Angel Chord - 2-1
G1 he got turn 3 Archangel on Thune, turn 4 Spike Feeder for infinite life and counters on his birds. Game 2 I ground him out with flyers, and game 3 I won on the back of Throne of the God Pharaoh, which did 8-10 damage and killed him through a Worship.
Round 8 - Enduring Ideal - 0-2
Ghostly Prison tribal is a ******* terrible matchup. I got him down pretty low both of the first two games, but failed to draw into a Throne that would have won me the game through his lock in either.
Round 9 - RW Prison - 1-2
Game 1 I ran him over with the usual creatures and Throne, but the next two games I mulled to 5 twice and got locked out with planeswalkers, ghostly prison, and removal.
This is my list. The sideboard is reflective of my fear of Affinity, Eldrazitron, Grixis Shadow, and Dredge, none of which I faced at any point.
Now that GW Vizier is a thing there needs to be a good reason to try the Pili-Pala combo. I decided to max out on the tax effects and run the full 8 Cursecatchers to protect the combo. I think the biggest issue will be finding a win con without access to Chord/CoCo/Duskwatch Recruiter.
ive never tried the counterspells because I just don't ever have mana up to cast them. Were they really that good? Even your examples have you tapped out 3 turns minimum.
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Bant Humans 1-2
Merfolk 2-0
GW Budget Aggro 2-0
Ad Naus 2-0
Abzan 2-0
And GGs regarding the game, Adam!
My list has been:
4 Etherium Sculptor
4 Chief Engineer
1 Basilisk Collar
4 Grand Architect
2 Master of Etherium
1 Trinket Mage
4 Walking Ballista
1 Hangarback Walker
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Smuggler's Copter
1 Judge's Familiar
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Scrap Trawler
2 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Unified Will
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Dismember
3 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Phyrexian Revoker
2 Aethersphere Harvester
In a deck that needs protection for the enablers in the early game and is able to get value from disrupting our opponent's spells when we have our Lodestone Golem in play, Judge's Familiar seems like an excellent choice. Signal Pest have won me a couple of games thanks to the battle cry but I feel like it's usually not that relevant as those extra points of damage are easy to obtain with Throne of the God-Pharaoh and Walking Ballista. Maybe in the future I will cut the whole Signal Pest package and run a playset of Judge's Familiar, the only reason I haven't yet is that Master of Etherium might be weaker taking those 4 artifacts out.
So, besides that, this card has been spoiled today:
Do you think it's worth a slot in the build? I have been thinking about Phyrexian Metamorph for this kind of effect but I think this new card has the potential to be useful no matter when you cast is where Phyrexian Metamorph must be cast while there is a threat to copy, what do you think?
Tried out Sage of Epityr - the card was awful in the deck. It just doesn't help accomplish what the deck is trying to do, and I hated seeing the card every single time. Heck, during testing, I lost to Living End because of it, which wouldn't have happened had the card been a Judge's Familiar - and that matchup is supposed to be lights-out for us. I'm off it permanently.
On the other hand, the Trinket-Mage-in-SB plan has worked out really well and I've maxed out with 9 one-mana critters in the MD. The past two leagues I've gone 4-1 and even faced some bad matchups that I've won due to the number of Pests and Familiars I've been packing. A turn 1 play is so crucial to the deck, and playing 3-4 Master of Etheriums have helped out a ton against the Burn matchup (which I find to be a nailbiter every single time).
Anyway, I'm 27-18 with the deck (63-50 in games), and learning the ins and outs of what to mulligan, how to sideboard have helped me tremendously in the past 2-3 leagues. Deck's great, and I'll include a photo of the 75 from today's 4-1.
Also: S/O to Zac Elsik for putting up the results he did at GP Vegas with the deck! What a boss.
Odd I've loved sage but good luck to you. I run 4 wanderer, 4 familiar, and 3 sage. Why would run revoker over needle with trinket mages?
I agree. Can't tell you how many times I get a 1 mana artifact on t3 and just play it for basically free. I tried revoker for 4 rounds went to needle and never looked back. So after the gp what would your changes be? Did you prefer the 2/2 split pest/judge? What were your losses too?
I want to write a more extensive report at some point of GP Vegas main event, but I've been awfully busy since getting back.
Round 15 Affinity [2-0 vs. Parson, Kenneth]
Round 14 Eldrazi Tron [1-2 vs. Horspool, Tyler]
Round 13 Dredge [2-0 vs. Tsujikawa, Taiga]
Round 12 Counters Company [1-2 vs. Kanner, Zack]
Round 11 Abzan [2-0 vs. Allard, Jason]
Round 10 Burn [2-0 vs. Delleola, Edric]
Round 9 Mardu Pyromancer [2-1 vs. Aye, Gareth]
Round 8 Bogles [1-2 vs. Ferry, Sergio]
Round 7 Burn [2-1 vs. Gonzalez, Juan Pablo]
Round 6 Eldrazi Tron [0-2 vs. Hiatt, Cody]
Round 5 Eldrazi Tron [2-0 vs. Verdesoto, Daniel]
Round 4 Living End 2-0 vs. Bruce, Adam
Round 3 Burn [2-1 vs. Littles, Charles]
Round 2 BYE
Round 1 BYE
I'm really happy with all the work you've done to put the deck on the map and want to thank you for it
How did you feel about the counterspells in your sb? I know you want to do a better write up I've just been meh on spells like rejection and will.
My lessons -
Matches -
Round 1 - Racist.deck - 2-0
Got matched with a janky mono-white deck where all the creatures had protection from black, and he was running Painter's Servant to turn everything black. Would actually have been pretty hard to battle through all that unblockable lifelink except that G1 and G2 I got Basilisk Collar on Walking Ballista to shoot first Painter's Servant and then the rest of his board.
Round 2 - Burn - 2-1
G1 he got the nut draw and roasted me and my slow opener. Game 2 I was manascrewed so he dropped the second Eidolon, which totally ended up hosing himself after Judge's Familiar and Blinkmoth got enough hits in. Once I got a third land and dropped architect into double Golem it was over. G3 I had a turn 3 Golem, a turn 4 master and wanderer and T5 Wurmcoil Engine was just overkill. This was the only game I cast one the Wurmcoils in my board.
Round 3 - Jund - 2-0
In both of my games, I don't think I actually hit him for damage with anything except Mausoleum Wanderer, Copter, and Blinkmoth, but between that and Bob it was enough to kill him. Mausoleum Wanderer is great in multiples.
Round 4 - Counters Company - 0-2
Got matched with Eric Severson (7-3 in PT Amonkhet) coming in off his 3 byes. Game 1 I mull to 5 on the play, and I actually have him dead on board when he untaps on turn 6 and proceeds to go infinite. G2 he plays T2 Devoted Druid, T3 Vizier into Duskwatch Recruiter into Walking Ballista. I got him to play me a third game and I ran over him with double Lodestone Golem (the first time I drew one all match) and killed him turn 4.
Round 5 - Bant Eldrazi - 1-2
G1 I mulled to 5 and got ran over by t3 thought-knot t4 smasher. Game 2 I got Golems on turn 3 and 4, a Master of Etherium on turn 5, and wrecked him. Game 3 was a grinder and a huge mistake on my part. I had two Trinket Mages in my opener. Punt 1 - playing a Trinket Mage on turn three with no way to play the Basilisk Collar I searched up that turn when he had both Eldrazi Displacer and Thought Knot on the board so he just blinked Thought Knot on his turn and took the collar. Punt 2 - Rifling through my deck t4 off the second Trinket Mage looking for a Pithing Needle only to realize I'd cut it from my board the night before. RIP.
Round 6 - Abzan Junk - 1-1-1
G1 - he removed everything I cast, and beat me down with Lili and Goyf.
G2 - I stablizhed early with Basilisk Collar and Walking Ballista, then won with Lodestone Golem and Smuggler's Copter.
G3 - He removed everything I played again, and one Grim Flayer went almost all the way. I had repeatedly suggested we play fast when the game was starting, but he said wasn't worried about time, so I somewhat vindictively forced the tie with a Walking Ballista double block. Huge mistake - I hadn't realized that at a giant tournament, when you have a tie, you'll always be matched with people with ties. 2 of my 3 next matches were with prison decks.
Round 7 - Angel Chord - 2-1
G1 he got turn 3 Archangel on Thune, turn 4 Spike Feeder for infinite life and counters on his birds. Game 2 I ground him out with flyers, and game 3 I won on the back of Throne of the God Pharaoh, which did 8-10 damage and killed him through a Worship.
Round 8 - Enduring Ideal - 0-2
Ghostly Prison tribal is a ******* terrible matchup. I got him down pretty low both of the first two games, but failed to draw into a Throne that would have won me the game through his lock in either.
Round 9 - RW Prison - 1-2
Game 1 I ran him over with the usual creatures and Throne, but the next two games I mulled to 5 twice and got locked out with planeswalkers, ghostly prison, and removal.
This is my list. The sideboard is reflective of my fear of Affinity, Eldrazitron, Grixis Shadow, and Dredge, none of which I faced at any point.
4 Etherium Sculptor
4 Chief Engineer
4 Grand Architect
4 Walking Ballista
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Smuggler's Copter
3 Master of Etherium
2 Throne of the God Pharaoh
1 Trinket Mage
1 Basilisk Collar
17 Island
4 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Academy Ruins
3 Unified Will
3 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Trinket Mage
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Chalice of the Void
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Aethersphere Harvester
It cannot.
My Modern decks:
B/R/G Living End G/R/B
G/R Tron R/G
U/W/G/R Gargageddon R/G/W/U
R/W/G Naya Burn G/W/R
4 Mausoleum Wanderer
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Etherium Sculptor
4 Chief Engineer
4 Pili-Pala
4 Grand Architect
4 Lodestone Golem
4 Walking Ballista
3 Trohpy Mage
4 Thorn of Amethyst
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Staff of Domination
Land 23
16 Island
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Academy Ruins
1 Kessig Wolf Run
Now that GW Vizier is a thing there needs to be a good reason to try the Pili-Pala combo. I decided to max out on the tax effects and run the full 8 Cursecatchers to protect the combo. I think the biggest issue will be finding a win con without access to Chord/CoCo/Duskwatch Recruiter.