@MrTzoulis I guess I've always felt like the underdog against the removal heavy decks such as Jeskai Control, BGx, and Mardu. Delver dies to everything and so my plan was to take them out and sidestep their removal by moving towards a more planeswalker/enchantment game plan. Against the combo decks like Storm and Ad Nauseam I feel like we had a massive advantage with our low cost threats and plentiful counterspells. GW Company was a strange match up, but they run a very low number of flyers so Delver of Secrets and Spell Queller can put enough pressure on them early so our burn spells can finish them off. Our experiences seem to be different somewhat and I would love to see your build of Jeskai Delver that gives you an advantage over these fair decks.
@CurdBros I've been fiddling with Bedlam Reveler in UR Delver, but haven't pulled the trigger on him in a Jeskai build yet. Definitely worth exploring! Jace, the Mind Sculptor, on the other hand, has been very unimpressive for me when it comes to a viable sideboard slot. He isn't a bad card, but it doesn't provide a resilient game plan on his own that Nahiri, the Harbinger provides to the context of why we're bringing them in. It's still a protect the queen strategy, much like Geist of Saint Traft, but can be used in different functions other than 'attack their face'.
Not sure if I explained it correctly, but little and big mama has been great when backed up Search for Azcanta. To that end I feel that, at least in this VERY reactive version of Delver, we can support Nahiri, the Harbinger along with everything she provides.
The last time I played delver (around Christmas mind you) my list was along these lines:
It's on the aggressive side and hasn't been updated for the new heavy creature meta. Also mardu pyro seems like a train wreck. In general, it was preety good before the bannings, but don't know how it'd fare atm.
Hi guys,
Yesterday I had a blast at FNM.
Didn't change much. Added Helix no. 4 instead of a 2nd Slip and my beloved Elspeth over my 2nd Gideon. Round 1
Opponent played Mono Green Tron. First game I had two flipping Delvers and enough Burn spells to kill him pretty quickly.
I was able to stop his Ugin with Spell Pierce + Snap + Spell Pierce. He resolved a Karn but I ignored it and killed him. Turned out he had another Karn and another Ugin in hand.
I boarded in 7 cards against this opponent: Ceremonious, Disdainful, 2x Stony, Damping, Deflecting P, Clique.
Kept a risky hand with only 1 land but it had Damping and Stony. Turn 4 I had Damping, Stony and Geist in play and he couldn't do anything. Easy 2:0 Round 2
Opponent started with basic Forest and Birds followed by another basic forest. I wasn't sure what he's playing. Then he played Steel Leaf Champion into Steel Leaf Champion into Inferno Titan. I thought he's on a Green Stompy brew... Anyhow, I flipped a delver and was able to delay his second Champion twice with 2 Remands and had a path in hand for his Titan. His Titan killed my board (flipped and unflipped Delver) but I drew into 2 Helixes and finished him.
Second game he played turn 2 Stone Rain into Trinisphere. I couldn't do anything and just died. Of course I hadn't boarded correctly against Ponza after what I saw during game 1.
For the third game I brought my answers to Blood Moon (Purge & Wear) and kept a risky hand with only white and red mana that had Wear//Tear. He actually played a turn 2 Blood Moon but I could answer it. Then he resolved Trinishpere again which slowed me down and we both drew a lot of lands. I don't want to complain about drawing lands against land destruction but at turn ?? I had 8 lands in play. Then, finally, I drew Geist and gave it haste and +2/+0 with Stronghold and smashed for 8. He didn't draw an answer and conceded. Lucky 2:1 Round 3
Opponent cycled a creature into his graveyard so he was actually playing good old Living End. First game I was able to stop his combo with Spell Pierce which he didn't expect. Then Geist killed him. He complained that I was lucky because I told him that I only run 2 copies, but on my first turn I kept it on top with Serum Visions because it's the best life insurance against an unknown deck and it was.
Second game he pulled of turn 2 Living End with SSG and had 7 power in play. I fought through it, killing one creature with Path and one with Bolt + Lavamancer. I stabilized at about 6 life and started attacking. He played another Living End but I remanded it to his hand and then Geist killed him. Grindy 2:0
Before round 4 I had to leave to watch the awesome SPA-POR soccer match at home with my family.
Last week I had another very nice match against Tron on MTGO. If you hate Karn & Ugin & Ulamog as much as I do you need to watch these: Game 1 Game 2
This is why I love my deck. It can be aggro and it can be control and it plays both roles very well.
Both games my opponent resolves Ulamog and both games he dies.
I LOVE these videos Stevomat! Thanks for sharing. Awesome write up as well. I think it's about time I took some notes during FNM and did a write up as well. I will post a write up of my prior Modern Night. I remember most of it, but won't have all of the specifics because I didn't take great notes.
Very cool games on the videos. This deck takes a lot of practice to master, but once you you have mastered the deck it can beat anything. That's what I love about the deck. If feels like post board that we are moderately favored a lot of the time. I never feel super favored except for affinity, infect, and small creature decks, but we are almost always favored post board.
Well I figured out what I’m going to do with my two open sideboard slots - The newly spoiled Alpine Moon
Alpine Moon hoses so many strategies- valakut, tron lands, inkmoth nexus, cavern of souls, and the list goes on. With that said this will also give a boost to jeskai control/midrange bc one of the main reasons to play delver over control/midrange is the tron matchup.
This guy really scares me because my deck already has problems beating Spirits. If they gain popularity the meta will shift in a bad direction -_-
Our burn is great to deal with usual creature decks but not with creature decks that run so much protection (Drogskol, Kira, Queller, Selfless, Rattlechains, Wanderer) while building up as much pressure on the board as we do (without even using red).
That being said, I think that if had the money to build a second deck it would definitely be UW Spirits. They have so many nice techs (Tallowisp + Call to the Kindred, Detention Sphere, Promise of Bunrei, Steel of the Godhead)...
I never had issues with spirits, I think we're slightly favored, a friend of mine was playing them and we got paired many times. Now I don't know what will happen with this lord, but as jeskai with a preety fast clock we shouldn't have a huge issue.
I have mixed results against the spirit decks. However, the builds I have played against have been rather different. Most have Collected Company and some don't. I have had rather good results against the collected company style spirit decks because it makes our remands/spell pierces very good. With that said, they do have some very problematic creatures for us in Geist of Saint Traft, Mausoleum Wanderer, Selfless Spirit, and Rattlechains. It can be a very frustrating deck to play against when they have all of the pieces that make there permanents hexproof.
I have found that racing them is often a good strategy. They really need to build their board with several threats to do some damage so I often try to play the tempo/aggro role. I would say the matchup is 50/50 in my personal opinion. Post sideboard we may be favored but only slightly at best. Spirits is a very fun deck to play against because of all of the instant speed cards that really affect the matchup. Another lord for them definitely will make it tougher. They may just split drogskol captain and these. I literally have never played the spirit deck myself so I have no experience as to how the deck will change. It's definitely worth keeping an eye on.
I had a question on a seperate topic. I was watching Jeff Hoogland play his UR Delver/Fae deck today and he stated that he loves dampening sphere in modern and that he also loves the newly spoiled alpine moon. My question is- Does anyone on here play Dampening Sphere in their board? If so, how has it performed? I'm working on my board right now and have about 4 slots that are currently open. I'm fairly positive Alpine Moon will be taking two of the slots but the other two slots I am not sure of yet.
I am using one Damping Sphere (not Dampening ;)) and so far I am happy with it in my SB. I use it as part of packages.
Against Tron & KCI I board in: 2x Stony, 1x Damping and other stuff
Against Storm & Hollow One: 2x RIP, 1x Damping ...
I think it's a good complement to other SB cards.
I am using one Damping Sphere (not Dampening ;)) and so far I am happy with it in my SB. I use it as part of packages.
Against Tron & KCI I board in: 2x Stony, 1x Damping and other stuff
Against Storm & Hollow One: 2x RIP, 1x Damping ...
I think it's a good complement to other SB cards.
That's kind of what I was thinking. I just haven't heard a bunch of people that were really high on this Dampening Sphere.... just kidding Damping Sphere. KCI still hasn't really picked up a ton in my area, but I want to make sure I'm ready if/when it does.
From personal experience I wan't impressed by Dampening Sph..., errr, Damping Sphere (mind you it was in a Tezzerator build). I think cards like Mindbreak Trap are better suited for both Storm and KCI, since you can play them for free and you can tap out, since they don't play hard counters.
Thanks Mr. Tzoulis and Stevomat. I am going to give a copy of sphere a try. I really want to try out mindbreak trap as well. That looks like a fun spell to have in our deck. I used to run Counterflux, but now with the more aggressive version trap fits my gameplan better. Here is what I am currently running with:
I just recently tried adding the soul-scar mage back in as card 61. I wanted to give it a try again. I also tested Faithless looting in that slot. After some testing I think it's just better off being another opt. I would like to have 4 serum visions as well, but I don't have room. I may cut the one of slip through space for the time being since the midrange decks have really declined lately and that is where the Slip Through Space really shines. However, it's near and dear to my heart so I haven't made the move yet.
Does Spell Pierce seem as good as I think it is lately? I haven't been impressed with Spell Snare when I face vial decks, Mardu Pyro or Hollow One decks. Feel's nice against Jund, Abzan, Jeskai Control, Affinity and probably storm. But I could see spell pierce coming in handy vs most of these decks as well.
Ruther JC- It's serendipitous that you would ask the question. I am in the middle of writing up my last local modern night report and in the second round, Spell Pierce was my MVP card. I think it is super well positioned right now. It definitely can be a stone cold blank some time late in the game, but it's often a huge tempo swing or blow out when it works. I can't tell you how many Karns I have spell pierced when my tron opponent gets tron and sees that I only have one land untapped. I have only finished the first two rounds, but I will go ahead and post them.
FNM report *Notes are incomplete so I will just touch on main points during games*
Round 1 - Rakdos Hollow One
Game 1- on the play- I had a one lander, but it had a delver, two bolts, and a serum visions. I played the delver out and he flipped on turn two to a vapor snag. The opponent played faithless looting so I assumed he was on either goryo's vengeance or hollow one. I attacked and passed back. Once he played a flameblade adept I knew he was on hollow one. With my hand, a flipped delver and him taking 3 damage from a fetch/untapped land, I decided to race him. He didn't find removal early enough for delver and I was able to burn him out with 2 lightning bolts in the end.
This is actually a tough deck to side against because so many of the sideboard cards work here. I typically side out all of the remands on the draw especially even though they can be good sometimes. I cut 2 copies of geist because I want to be a lean deck and utilize burn and deflecting palm to beat them. One helix and boros charm come out because I sided in two deflecting palms and don't want too many RW burn spells or reactionary spells. The final cut is just the one of unsubstantiate because it gets worse in the more grindy matchups.
Game 2- I fell to the hollow one gods in this game rather quickly. By turn 2 the opponent had 10 power on the board with two Hollow Ones and a Bloodghast. He was able to flash in a phoenix from his graveyard and made rather quick work of me. I was able to put up a fight with a few removal spells, but the pressure was too much.
Game 3- I didn't reside at all and had surgical extraction in my opening hand along with three lands, a swiftspear, a Geist, and echoing truth. The opponent played a turn 1 flameblade adept into turn 2 Goblin Lore and I thought about removing all of the lores from his deck, but thought the threats are likely better targets. He discarded a hollow one and souls to the lore so I immediately extracted the hollow ones. I didn't take the souls because I had echoing truth. I helix to the adept allowed swiftspear do do some damage. The opponent did play the souls which were echoing truthed. There were a couple of turns of swiftspear attacking and the opponent discarding cards to several spells. I played the geist to try to finish the game. He did cast Burning Inquiry which was actually fairly decent for me because it discarded a land, a serum visions, and a helix and drew me staticaster, bolt, and negate. The staticaster did work against bloodghasts and additional souls tokens so geist could finally get in. The opponent had a grim lavamancer, but it wasn't able to do a ton against geist. I cast a Bedlam Reveler which drew a Deflecting Palm. With the opponent at 6 life he was effectively just dead. He could't attack with his phoenix because of Geist so I deflected a lavamancer shock. Snap bolt to 1 and the opponent conceded.
The last game was a lot of fun and is likely what WOTC want modern to look like. It was a lot of back and forth and we both got to do what we wanted to do. I think if I were on the draw in game 1 instead I may not have come out on top.
1-0.
Round 2- Naya Burn/Bushwaker Zoo (this one was a bit of a brew)
Game 1- on the draw- I had a swiftspear in my opener which was able to block a goblin guide while I also bolted a Wild Nactl. I hadn't played this matchup in a little while, but was fairly comfortable with what they were doing. I was able to remove a lot of their threats, but never drew into a lightning helix. Lightning Helix is almost a necessity against burnish style decks in game one. In the end the opponent was able to burn me out before I could get enough pressure on him.
I basically want to be come a tempo-control style deck in game two. I want to cast helix as many times as possible and utilize their aggression against them. This is another matchup that is rather hard to side against. If there was a ton of burn in the area I would likely have an additional life gain spell in my sideboard.
Game 2- I had a good 6 card hand with a helix, a delver, a land, serum visions, opt, and path (I think-didn't write it down). The delver was quickly bolted, but that is one less bolt to my face. I waited for him to tap out on turn 2 to helix his burning tree emissary to gain 3 life without him being able to Atarka's Command or that other red spell that stops life gain (I am blanking on it) in response. He set up a rather large attack with a bushwacker, but I was able to path one creature and deflect most of the remaining damage back to him. I was still at a healthy 10 or so life when he was basically out of threats. A Bedlam Reveler drew me into Chandra, Pyromaster which ended the game in card advantage.
Game 3- This was super close one. I will ruin the ending by letting you know that Deflecting Palm got me the win. With that said, Spell Pierce was also an all-star in this game. I pierced an Atarka's Command on a large attack and was able to spell pierce his deflecting palm as well and not take damage from my delver. The spell pierces my like 6-8 life in the game. I actually drew into my one Geist of Saint Traft left in the deck and he did most of the heavy lifting. The opponent continued to send burn to my face, but drew a few too many lands I think. My own deflecting Palm on his Goblin Bushwacker ended the match, but I was in decent control of the game by that point. This was kind of a smashed up version of naya burn and bushwacker zoo. I think it was just bushwacker zoo with a couple copies of lightning helix and lava spike and very few lands.
Welcome to the jeskai way forum topic muelonil! That is a very diverse meta game there. In that case jeskai is a very good choice. The list you provided is more of a midrange/tempo version of the deck. It definitely includes all of the jeskai heavy hitters which is great. It looks like a super solid jeskai list to me. I do think that the colonnade-less list is the way to go currently unless you want to go super heavy control like UW control with Teferi. When Geist is involved he makes burn spells so good because he does so much damaged. I think geist and snap-bolt are enough to finish most games.
If you wanted to through in a few meta specific things or personal one of's I would likely cut 1 helix, queller, and/or logic knot. However, if you are a fan of super consistent draws over variety than the deck looks great as it is.
Mazeron your deck looks sweet. I honestly don't know if I would change a thing. Personally I prefer Monastery Swiftspear over Steppe Lynx, but I don't think one is necessarily better than the other. It just depends on personal playstyle preference. I totally understand what you are saying about swiftspear. Monastery Swiftspear demands a slightly more aggressive approach. I like having information that the opponent doesn't have during combat. I can attack with swiftspear and then play an opt, bolt, etc and change the math. I also play a very low land count so steppe lynx wouldn't have a lot of food from my deck.
The original decklist for jeskai delver which was referred to as BOREMANDOS for Boros Remand played 4 steppe lynx and 4 delver and it was VERY sucessful. We will all be rooting for you to put jeskai delver/prowess back on the map with a top 8 finish in GP Prauge.
I just have a few question?
1. Is Vendillion clique for the combo matchups or when you want to become a more controlling style deck?
2. Against the aggressive voltron style decks like boggles and infect does young pyromancer do a lot of work? I have basically relied on becoming a tempo based deck against them with a bunch of counter magic. I have also relied on Deflecting Palm, but everyone knows how much I love deflecting palm.
3. Is Celestial Purge better now than it has ever been? With the hollow decks popping up everywhere and BGx style decks seemingly doing well at the SCG event I think purge may be as well positioned as it has ever been.
4. Have you got to test Alpine Moon yet? I have tried it in my playgroup but only one match so I don't have any definitive data yet. Because the valakut style decks are a tough matchup for us I was hoping it would be the necessary speed bump we need to kill them. To be honest, in theory our deck should be a perfect candidate for Alpine Moon to be very good. My only concern with the card is that it won't do enough to sway the matchup and will simply be a small nuisance for them. Because it does help with other matchups like tron I think it warrants some major testing.
Finally I would say you should also look into Abrade in your sideboard if a slot opens up. Its really well positioned right now against hollow one and humans. That and deflecting palm are the only major differences in our sideboard. Again, this is likely due to slightly different personal playstyle preferences.
I look forward to rooting for you in Prague and seeing you take home the trophy!
The only I changed before the event was to add 1 Thundermaw to my sideboard. I basically used it against every deck that can possibly run Blood Moon, usually taking out Gideon because I can't cast him once a Moon is in play.
Friday I tried my luck in a Last Chance Qualifier to get 2 Byes but I lost on the spot.
My opponent was playing Cheerios.
G1 He managed to get to a storm count of 18 on turn 2!
G2 He started with the flash Leyline. I kept a hand with Damping Sphere. With Damping Sphere on stack he put like 8-10 equipments in play and on his turn he resolved Ghirapur Aether Grid and killed my Delver. Wear or Purge would have saved me but I couldn't find them...
So, I had to get up early on Saturday to be at the event before 9 am. Thanks to a company party which I had to attend to on Friday night I only got 5 hours of sleep - "perfect" conditions.
Round 1
Blue/Red Breach
G1 Opponent countered everything I tried. Was like Remand, Cryptic, Snap+Remand, Snap+Cryptic...
A resolved Blood Moon slowed me down severly since I could only cast 1 blue spell each turn.
Interestingly he couldn't find Through the Breach and I was wondering what his wincon could be, only seeing red and blue lands. I was already expecting Kiki-Jiki but when he had 15 lands he hardcasted Emrakul and the game ended.
G2 Couldn't find enough counters. His second Through the Breach resolved and Emrakul smashed me from 23 life to 8. I couldn't come back after sacrificing all my lands.
0-2
Round 2
Blue/Red Breach
What are the odds? I checked the metagame today of GP BCN and Blue/Red Breach was 1%!
G1 Got killed by Emrakul for the third time. Achievement unlocked? What a start -_-
G2 T3 Geist resolved and rode all the way to victory.
G3 Grindy game. I was holding Spell Pierce up the entire game so I always had 1 mana less to use. Couldn't risk a Geist but instead chipped away his life real slow with Snapcasters, Bolts and a Clique... and finally won.
2-1
Round 3
GW Value deck with Ramunap Excavator, Knight of the Reliquary, Voice, Courser, CoCo...
G1 I had the advantage until he resolved a perfect Company which found him Excavator and Courser. Voice was already in play.
I drew a Path and had to make a choice. Stop his lifegain and kill him quickly (Path Courser) or prepare for a long game (Path Excavator since he had a Ghost Quarter). I thought I could win fast enough before loosing my lands (I already had 4 or 5 in play) but I couldn't get there.
G2 Beatdown from turn 1 with Delver and Geist.
G3 I brought in Rest in Peace and resolved one. His Goyfs and Finks and Knights and Excavator were all not that scary anymore. We still had a long fight and went to extra turns. Extra turn 3 he was at 12 and thought he could still kill me on turn 5 so he attacked with everything. He underestimated the destructive potential of my deck. For the backswing a hasty Geist appeared (with Stronghold) and he and a Delver dealt 9 damage, just enough combined with the Helix in my hand.
2-1
Until there everything didn't look too bad...
(To be continued)
Sounds like a good start so far Stevomat. It's really a luck of the draw when it comes to GP's. You can face affinity, burn, jund and be well prepared for the matchups or your could draw the cheerios into double UR Breach in rounds 1 and 2 even though those are probably the only two breach players in the room and the only cheerios player in the last chance qualifier. Then you are stuck against matchups you really don't have a ton of experience with (at least I don't). 2-1 is a great start with those matchups. That's why those first 2 or 3 round byes that a lot of pros have are sooooo valuable. By the time round 3 or 4 rolls around the top tables likely don't include a ton of really weird decks. The beauty of modern is that you can play whatever deck you love. It's why I love modern and sometimes it's what makes modern annoying.
Round 4
Living End
G1 Opponent played around my Spell Pierce like he anticipated it. I couldn't commit much to the board and had to watch his graveyard grow. Turn 3 and 4 he killed one of my colors with Fulminator and Beast Within and when he was at 6 lands he pulled the trigger: Living End, putting 24 power into play. He was still at around 10 life so I couldn't win.
G2 Living End on turn 2 using an Ape, putting 9 power into play (Street Wraith & Desert Cerodon). I stayed alive with Path and Gideon. I lost Gideon because he was using Ricochet Trap when I played Snap+Bolt. When I finally resolved Rest in Peace at turn 4 it was too late. He hard-casted Archfiend of Ifnir the next turn and then another one and I was low on life already so I lost the race.
0-2
Round 5
GB Infect (another 0.1% of that GP's metagame)
G1 Couldn't find enough burn spells and died real quick to Become Immense.
G2 I kept a hand with Path, Path, Snap and 3 lands after a mulligan and thought I could be okay.
My opponent played T1 Inquisition, T2 Inquisition, T2 Thoughtseize and I was left with nothing because I only drew more lands.
T4 He played a threat and I drew Lavamancer. I casted it, gave it haste with Stronghold and shot 2 damage to his creature. He kept it alive with a pump spell.
T5 he played his third Hierarch and attacked for 4 Infect without pump, just with Exalted. I was already at 7 poison after that attack and the Delver I drew didn't help.
0-2
Round 6
Hollow One
I didn't wrote notes for this one. But I know that I died both games with 8 (!) lands in play.
That day I was aiming for 6-2 to make day 2 but that last 0-2 put me to a 2-4 score after 6 rounds and I finally had enough and dropped. Then I went to the beautiful Barcelona beach and enjoyed the rest of the day in the sun.
Thinking back about all the games went I am really pissed about the variance (which is a big part of paper Magic). I pile-shuffle once before every game and then I shuffle normally (riffle-shuffle) 4-6 times to perfectly randomize the cards and yet I flooded in about half of all my games that day. There were several games when I died with 7-9 lands in play which is ridiculous for 21 lands. If it would be common I'd play Ugin in my deck!
The thing is that something like this doesn't happen on MTGO where I keep having good results with the deck. They have a good algorithm for shuffling.
Now, again, I am contemplating what to do...
Go up to 22 lands and play more expensive cards like Thundermaw main like this list?
Add a playset of Faithless Lootings and some graveyard interaction like the Pyromancer decks?
Or add stupid cards like Aggressive Mining or Devastating Summons to turn the tide of battle in flooded games?
I think I'll leave everything as is and hope for a better variance at my next event...
I think it just doesn't work anymore with Delver, having only 21 enablers to flip them.
What I really like is the idea of giving my whole team protection from a color with Emerged on Mirrorwing (or Double Strike when I make space for Boros Charm). I am wondering why that card is so rarely used? It basically has hexproof since the opponent has to kill his own board when he plays removal on Mirrorwing and it's bonkers with Emerge or even Mutagenic Growth. I guess to really make it work I'd have to change the deck more fundamentally and run 3 Sarkhans and 2 Mirrorwings...
The merit compared to my current deck is that this deck is not as vulnerable against Blood Moon and Sarkhans filtering is a great help against flooding.
What do you guys think about Sarkhan, Fireblood? What would be a good creature package for a deck with him?
Which dragons would you use? I also like Dragonlord Ojutai & maybe Keiga, the Tide Star - they must be castable even without Sarkhan.
To answer your questions curbros.
The V Clique is, just as you mentioned a tool versus the Combo decks, which is probably the most common MU where we really want to become the Controlling deck. Clique is just so valuable in those match ups, providing us Information and getting rid of the opponents best card. Against decks like storm or goryos vengeance decks (looking at you grishoalbrand) this card is amazing and a 3 power evasive threat cant be ignored for long, considering our reach with burn spells. Its very good in the control match ups as well, providing a decent clock and Information.
As you know, I was always on the Pyromancer Train. Right now one copy is in the board for grindier match ups like jund or mardu pyromancer, but I am considering cutting him entirely as grinding against either of those decks isnt really a winning plan.
Bogles is a MU I am willing to just ignore completely. In my opinion this is one of the worst match ups for our deck and I do not really want to build my Sideboard in a way just to push the winrate up a few percentage Points.
But non the less Deflecting Palm is a card I had in the board for a while and really enjoyed, it even does work against jund, deflecting a big goyf is a pretty neat feeling. D Palm will probably stay in the board as a one off.
Celestial Purge is in my board since I set my foot into modern and found this beaty of a deck.
As we started to get into modern a friend of mine went ham and bought into jund, which is still his favourite deck and so purge was always a very good card to have for me, dealing with his lilians and potentially Bobs was a nessecity.
And yes, I do believe that purge is in a very reasonable Position right now. There are just so many red and black threats that have to be dealt with.
Lilians, Angler, Blood Moon, Bedlam Reveler, DS and the list goes on.
Sadly I havent had the opportunity to see Alpine Moon in Action, but I imagine it slowing down decks we have trouble with, mostly tron and Valakut.
Another deck, or rather 2 other decks I could see moon be good against are Infect and maybe even affinity. Probably not affinity as it is so fast and doesnt rely on poisondamage.
Oh and another deck that could get somewhat crippled is Amulet Titan, which is getting more and more popular again. The question is what land do we Name against amulet, Slayers stronghold, Growthchamber,Sunhome? Probably depends on when we draw it and what Information the Opponent gives us.
As soon as i get to test the card I will give you guys some Feedback.
And abrade is a really nice card. I have thought about playing a copy in the side before but couldnt open up a Slot, maybe its time to give it a shot.
With the printing of Infernal Reckoning and Eldrazi being at an all time low, do you think Ceremonious Rejection can be cut for another more versatile card? Tron is the only deck I really want to board it in against, and disdainful stroke does the same Thing basically, with the benefit off having more match ups where its acutally worth Boarding in.
That's basically what I thought. V.Clique is awesome in combo matchups. A lot of people overlook the value of simply seeing the opponent's hand. Young Pyromancer has shown again and again that it is awesome in the more controlling matchups so I totally understand having a copy in the board. I actually think it's a better sideboard card than mainboard.
You make a good point about Ceremonious Rejection. I have kept it in because of the recent rise in Ironworks Combo. However, locally the deck hasn't really picked up all that much so rejection may need to be cut. It may be better as negate now that eldrazi is so low in the meta.
Round 4
Living End
G1 Opponent played around my Spell Pierce like he anticipated it. I couldn't commit much to the board and had to watch his graveyard grow. Turn 3 and 4 he killed one of my colors with Fulminator and Beast Within and when he was at 6 lands he pulled the trigger: Living End, putting 24 power into play. He was still at around 10 life so I couldn't win.
G2 Living End on turn 2 using an Ape, putting 9 power into play (Street Wraith & Desert Cerodon). I stayed alive with Path and Gideon. I lost Gideon because he was using Ricochet Trap when I played Snap+Bolt. When I finally resolved Rest in Peace at turn 4 it was too late. He hard-casted Archfiend of Ifnir the next turn and then another one and I was low on life already so I lost the race.
0-2
Round 5
GB Infect (another 0.1% of that GP's metagame)
G1 Couldn't find enough burn spells and died real quick to Become Immense.
G2 I kept a hand with Path, Path, Snap and 3 lands after a mulligan and thought I could be okay.
My opponent played T1 Inquisition, T2 Inquisition, T2 Thoughtseize and I was left with nothing because I only drew more lands.
T4 He played a threat and I drew Lavamancer. I casted it, gave it haste with Stronghold and shot 2 damage to his creature. He kept it alive with a pump spell.
T5 he played his third Hierarch and attacked for 4 Infect without pump, just with Exalted. I was already at 7 poison after that attack and the Delver I drew didn't help.
0-2
Round 6
Hollow One
I didn't wrote notes for this one. But I know that I died both games with 8 (!) lands in play.
That day I was aiming for 6-2 to make day 2 but that last 0-2 put me to a 2-4 score after 6 rounds and I finally had enough and dropped. Then I went to the beautiful Barcelona beach and enjoyed the rest of the day in the sun.
Thinking back about all the games went I am really pissed about the variance (which is a big part of paper Magic). I pile-shuffle once before every game and then I shuffle normally (riffle-shuffle) 4-6 times to perfectly randomize the cards and yet I flooded in about half of all my games that day. There were several games when I died with 7-9 lands in play which is ridiculous for 21 lands. If it would be common I'd play Ugin in my deck!
The thing is that something like this doesn't happen on MTGO where I keep having good results with the deck. They have a good algorithm for shuffling.
Now, again, I am contemplating what to do...
Go up to 22 lands and play more expensive cards like Thundermaw main like this list?
Add a playset of Faithless Lootings and some graveyard interaction like the Pyromancer decks?
Or add stupid cards like Aggressive Mining or Devastating Summons to turn the tide of battle in flooded games?
I think I'll leave everything as is and hope for a better variance at my next event...
That was some serious variance in decks right there. Again, this is why I love modern and also what makes modern hard sometimes. Living end is another reason that Simian Spirit Guide needs to be banned. They said they didn't want any decks that "went off" before turn 4 and SSG just gives too many decks the ability to do so. I honestly haven't seen a living end deck in months. I would likely also struggle against them because I would only side in surgical extractions, deflecting palms, negate, and EE.
Infect can be a breeze sometimes and can also just have hands we just can't beat. I have never seen an infect deck with that much hand disruption. I think that's rather unusual. I see a couple of thoughtseizes in the board sometimes. Was it the G/B infect deck?
You can't beat going to the beach. That's a good consolation prize
I too hate flooding. We really don't do well with flooding. Reveler kind of helps smooth that out at the top end because he draws more cards, but sometimes he draws two lands himself. I have played a Faithless Looting in the main deck and it was very good. The only thing I didn't like about it was the fact that it was card disadvantage and my deck really depends on playing a lot of spells. In the more tempo oriented decks faithless looting is likely even better. I currently play 19 lands at 61 cards. With 4 opt and 3 serum visions I have enough filtering to avoid flooding in most cases, but sometimes it still happens. I think in our deck filtering is the best way to avoid flooding. Give different combonations of faithless looting, opt, serum visions, and sleight of hand a try until you find your perfect mix.
My brother is super excited to brew with the new Sarkhan. I really like that list you posted. I always like to have a second list to play when I'm just farting around. Mine is very similar because it's another jeskai prowess deck, but it revolves around monastery mentor instead.
So what does everyone think about Isolate haven't seen much discussion about it seems like it should be put in somewhere.
If this card read "non-land permanent with converted mana cost of 1 mana or less[/c] it might see a little play. Currently I think it's just way to narrow. If death shadow picks up again this card might start to see some play again. However, in most cases Path to Exile will likely just be better. I have other options to get rid of aether vials. I hope it works out, but for me it's just to narrow to play in it's current form.
Where is everyone? There hasn't been much news in terms of modern lately. I did make one change to my list, but it's not a huge one. I added Spell Queller back into the deck. Nothing to fancy, but I like having additional "counter magic" in the deck without lowering the aggressiveness of the deck. I took out the one copy of Faithless Looting I was running. I like faithless looting, but I rely heavily on what I call "spell advantage" which means I want to play more spells than my opponent in a given game. I like to finish the game with no spells in hand with them still having multiple cards. Faithless Looting just seemed like its cost was too high and it didn't achieve what I was going for.
Has anyone else made any changes?
Now onto something I used to do, but have taken a break from- Matchup of the week is back. This week's matchup is BRHollow One.
I will start with my view on the matchup. I have actually had a good bit of luck against the deck. I have beaten it more often than I have lost to it. I feel like game one really depends on the coin flip, but I do feel slightly favored. I would probably say that the matchup is dead even 50/50 and really depends on who is on the play. The most important part is just making sure to path the correct targets. Typically burn is better off going to their face later in the game. Flying threats are also very good against them.
Post board I feel very favored. Surgical Extraction is SUPER against them. Abrade is also extremely good. I typically side in my Chandra, Pyromaster, Deflecting Palm is also an awesome option against them since it turns into somewhat of a race. It's a strange matchup in the sense that it isn't a sprint race, it's more like a marathon race. You slowly chip them down 3-4 life at a time. Being able to deflect damage is awesome. I also bring in Engineered Explosives for board clearing purposes if necessary. I also sometimes bring in Wear // Tear if they are playing Blood Moon. I side out my remands and keep the early counter magic in (spell pierce and spell snare). Stopping them early can be very good, but negate is just a better option post board.
I agree the match up is near 50/50. The deck can be completely random and takes getting familiar with. The play style of the deck can be individualist. The card plays and choices are more subject to change each game. The game comes down to who can hold out longest. G1 hollowones wont care about their own life much G2 this may change, also the GY importance may change also, hollow ones tend to side out the GY relevent cards.
Hollow One decks are still evolving. There are a few versions BR HollowOne, Temur, HollowVine, are exsamples.
The deck wants to play with little mana, so any spell that can mana Leak them will buy a turn. the decks only run a few basic lands(3-4) so pathing them or stone raining the land will net gain you later. They cant search later or bloodghast back from a fetchland (8).
Hope this take on the deck helps.
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The last time I played delver (around Christmas mind you) my list was along these lines:
2x Boros Charm
1x Electrolyze
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Lightning Helix
3x Opt
3x Path to Exile
3x Remand
2x Spell Pierce
1x Vapor Snag
Creature (16)
4x Delver of Secrets
3x Geist of Saint Traft
2x Hazoret the Fervent
3x Snapcaster Mage
1x Vendilion Clique
3x Young Pyromancer
4x Flooded Strand
1x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
1x Plains
1x Sacred Foundry
3x Scalding Tarn
1x Seachrome Coast
3x Spirebluff Canal
2x Steam Vents
Sorcery (5)
2x Chart a Course
3x Serum Visions
1x Anger of the Gods
3x Blood Moon
2x Deflecting Palm
1x Dispel
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Mindbreak Trap
1x Rest in Peace
1x Supreme Verdict
2x Surgical Extraction
1x The Locust God
1x Wear // Tear
It's on the aggressive side and hasn't been updated for the new heavy creature meta. Also mardu pyro seems like a train wreck. In general, it was preety good before the bannings, but don't know how it'd fare atm.
Yesterday I had a blast at FNM.
Didn't change much. Added Helix no. 4 instead of a 2nd Slip and my beloved Elspeth over my 2nd Gideon.
Round 1
Opponent played Mono Green Tron. First game I had two flipping Delvers and enough Burn spells to kill him pretty quickly.
I was able to stop his Ugin with Spell Pierce + Snap + Spell Pierce. He resolved a Karn but I ignored it and killed him. Turned out he had another Karn and another Ugin in hand.
I boarded in 7 cards against this opponent: Ceremonious, Disdainful, 2x Stony, Damping, Deflecting P, Clique.
Kept a risky hand with only 1 land but it had Damping and Stony. Turn 4 I had Damping, Stony and Geist in play and he couldn't do anything. Easy 2:0
Round 2
Opponent started with basic Forest and Birds followed by another basic forest. I wasn't sure what he's playing. Then he played Steel Leaf Champion into Steel Leaf Champion into Inferno Titan. I thought he's on a Green Stompy brew... Anyhow, I flipped a delver and was able to delay his second Champion twice with 2 Remands and had a path in hand for his Titan. His Titan killed my board (flipped and unflipped Delver) but I drew into 2 Helixes and finished him.
Second game he played turn 2 Stone Rain into Trinisphere. I couldn't do anything and just died. Of course I hadn't boarded correctly against Ponza after what I saw during game 1.
For the third game I brought my answers to Blood Moon (Purge & Wear) and kept a risky hand with only white and red mana that had Wear//Tear. He actually played a turn 2 Blood Moon but I could answer it. Then he resolved Trinishpere again which slowed me down and we both drew a lot of lands. I don't want to complain about drawing lands against land destruction but at turn ?? I had 8 lands in play. Then, finally, I drew Geist and gave it haste and +2/+0 with Stronghold and smashed for 8. He didn't draw an answer and conceded. Lucky 2:1
Round 3
Opponent cycled a creature into his graveyard so he was actually playing good old Living End. First game I was able to stop his combo with Spell Pierce which he didn't expect. Then Geist killed him. He complained that I was lucky because I told him that I only run 2 copies, but on my first turn I kept it on top with Serum Visions because it's the best life insurance against an unknown deck and it was.
Second game he pulled of turn 2 Living End with SSG and had 7 power in play. I fought through it, killing one creature with Path and one with Bolt + Lavamancer. I stabilized at about 6 life and started attacking. He played another Living End but I remanded it to his hand and then Geist killed him. Grindy 2:0
Before round 4 I had to leave to watch the awesome SPA-POR soccer match at home with my family.
Last week I had another very nice match against Tron on MTGO. If you hate Karn & Ugin & Ulamog as much as I do you need to watch these:
Game 1
Game 2
This is why I love my deck. It can be aggro and it can be control and it plays both roles very well.
Both games my opponent resolves Ulamog and both games he dies.
Very cool games on the videos. This deck takes a lot of practice to master, but once you you have mastered the deck it can beat anything. That's what I love about the deck. If feels like post board that we are moderately favored a lot of the time. I never feel super favored except for affinity, infect, and small creature decks, but we are almost always favored post board.
Alpine Moon hoses so many strategies- valakut, tron lands, inkmoth nexus, cavern of souls, and the list goes on. With that said this will also give a boost to jeskai control/midrange bc one of the main reasons to play delver over control/midrange is the tron matchup.
Here is to hoping alpine moon isn’t $20+ a copy.
This guy really scares me because my deck already has problems beating Spirits. If they gain popularity the meta will shift in a bad direction -_-
Our burn is great to deal with usual creature decks but not with creature decks that run so much protection (Drogskol, Kira, Queller, Selfless, Rattlechains, Wanderer) while building up as much pressure on the board as we do (without even using red).
That being said, I think that if had the money to build a second deck it would definitely be UW Spirits. They have so many nice techs (Tallowisp + Call to the Kindred, Detention Sphere, Promise of Bunrei, Steel of the Godhead)...
I have found that racing them is often a good strategy. They really need to build their board with several threats to do some damage so I often try to play the tempo/aggro role. I would say the matchup is 50/50 in my personal opinion. Post sideboard we may be favored but only slightly at best. Spirits is a very fun deck to play against because of all of the instant speed cards that really affect the matchup. Another lord for them definitely will make it tougher. They may just split drogskol captain and these. I literally have never played the spirit deck myself so I have no experience as to how the deck will change. It's definitely worth keeping an eye on.
I had a question on a seperate topic. I was watching Jeff Hoogland play his UR Delver/Fae deck today and he stated that he loves dampening sphere in modern and that he also loves the newly spoiled alpine moon. My question is- Does anyone on here play Dampening Sphere in their board? If so, how has it performed? I'm working on my board right now and have about 4 slots that are currently open. I'm fairly positive Alpine Moon will be taking two of the slots but the other two slots I am not sure of yet.
Against Tron & KCI I board in: 2x Stony, 1x Damping and other stuff
Against Storm & Hollow One: 2x RIP, 1x Damping ...
I think it's a good complement to other SB cards.
That's kind of what I was thinking. I just haven't heard a bunch of people that were really high on this Dampening Sphere.... just kidding Damping Sphere. KCI still hasn't really picked up a ton in my area, but I want to make sure I'm ready if/when it does.
For Tron and other decks Blood Moon and/or Alpine Moon should be more than enough.
3 Monastery Swiftspear
3 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Bedlam Reveler
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Helix
1 Boros Charm
1 Vapor Snag
3 Path to Exile
1 Echoing Truth
4 Opt
3 Serum Visions
1 Slip Through Space
3 Remand
2 Spell Pierce
3 Spirebluff Canal
1 Glacial Fortress
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Flooded Strand
2 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Negate
1 Dispel
2 Alpine Moon
1 Stony Silence
1 Wear // Tear
1 Abrade
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Ceremonious Rejection
I just recently tried adding the soul-scar mage back in as card 61. I wanted to give it a try again. I also tested Faithless looting in that slot. After some testing I think it's just better off being another opt. I would like to have 4 serum visions as well, but I don't have room. I may cut the one of slip through space for the time being since the midrange decks have really declined lately and that is where the Slip Through Space really shines. However, it's near and dear to my heart so I haven't made the move yet.
Thanks you very much DarkNightCavalier for the Sig.
FNM report *Notes are incomplete so I will just touch on main points during games*
Round 1 - Rakdos Hollow One
Game 1- on the play- I had a one lander, but it had a delver, two bolts, and a serum visions. I played the delver out and he flipped on turn two to a vapor snag. The opponent played faithless looting so I assumed he was on either goryo's vengeance or hollow one. I attacked and passed back. Once he played a flameblade adept I knew he was on hollow one. With my hand, a flipped delver and him taking 3 damage from a fetch/untapped land, I decided to race him. He didn't find removal early enough for delver and I was able to burn him out with 2 lightning bolts in the end.
Sideboard
In- 2x Surgical Extraction, 2x Deflecting Palm, Negate. Abrade, Izzet Staticaster, and Engineered Explosives
Out- 2x Geist of Saint Traft, 3x Remand, lightning helix, unsubstantiate, and Boros Charm.
This is actually a tough deck to side against because so many of the sideboard cards work here. I typically side out all of the remands on the draw especially even though they can be good sometimes. I cut 2 copies of geist because I want to be a lean deck and utilize burn and deflecting palm to beat them. One helix and boros charm come out because I sided in two deflecting palms and don't want too many RW burn spells or reactionary spells. The final cut is just the one of unsubstantiate because it gets worse in the more grindy matchups.
Game 2- I fell to the hollow one gods in this game rather quickly. By turn 2 the opponent had 10 power on the board with two Hollow Ones and a Bloodghast. He was able to flash in a phoenix from his graveyard and made rather quick work of me. I was able to put up a fight with a few removal spells, but the pressure was too much.
Game 3- I didn't reside at all and had surgical extraction in my opening hand along with three lands, a swiftspear, a Geist, and echoing truth. The opponent played a turn 1 flameblade adept into turn 2 Goblin Lore and I thought about removing all of the lores from his deck, but thought the threats are likely better targets. He discarded a hollow one and souls to the lore so I immediately extracted the hollow ones. I didn't take the souls because I had echoing truth. I helix to the adept allowed swiftspear do do some damage. The opponent did play the souls which were echoing truthed. There were a couple of turns of swiftspear attacking and the opponent discarding cards to several spells. I played the geist to try to finish the game. He did cast Burning Inquiry which was actually fairly decent for me because it discarded a land, a serum visions, and a helix and drew me staticaster, bolt, and negate. The staticaster did work against bloodghasts and additional souls tokens so geist could finally get in. The opponent had a grim lavamancer, but it wasn't able to do a ton against geist. I cast a Bedlam Reveler which drew a Deflecting Palm. With the opponent at 6 life he was effectively just dead. He could't attack with his phoenix because of Geist so I deflected a lavamancer shock. Snap bolt to 1 and the opponent conceded.
The last game was a lot of fun and is likely what WOTC want modern to look like. It was a lot of back and forth and we both got to do what we wanted to do. I think if I were on the draw in game 1 instead I may not have come out on top.
1-0.
Round 2- Naya Burn/Bushwaker Zoo (this one was a bit of a brew)
Game 1- on the draw- I had a swiftspear in my opener which was able to block a goblin guide while I also bolted a Wild Nactl. I hadn't played this matchup in a little while, but was fairly comfortable with what they were doing. I was able to remove a lot of their threats, but never drew into a lightning helix. Lightning Helix is almost a necessity against burnish style decks in game one. In the end the opponent was able to burn me out before I could get enough pressure on him.
Sideboard
In- 2x Deflecting Palm, Izzet Staticaster, Negate, Chandra, Pyromaster, Engineered Explosives, Abrade and Dispel.
Out- 3x Remand, Boros Charm, 2 Geist of Saint Traft, Unsubstantiate, Monastery Swiftspear.
I basically want to be come a tempo-control style deck in game two. I want to cast helix as many times as possible and utilize their aggression against them. This is another matchup that is rather hard to side against. If there was a ton of burn in the area I would likely have an additional life gain spell in my sideboard.
Game 2- I had a good 6 card hand with a helix, a delver, a land, serum visions, opt, and path (I think-didn't write it down). The delver was quickly bolted, but that is one less bolt to my face. I waited for him to tap out on turn 2 to helix his burning tree emissary to gain 3 life without him being able to Atarka's Command or that other red spell that stops life gain (I am blanking on it) in response. He set up a rather large attack with a bushwacker, but I was able to path one creature and deflect most of the remaining damage back to him. I was still at a healthy 10 or so life when he was basically out of threats. A Bedlam Reveler drew me into Chandra, Pyromaster which ended the game in card advantage.
Game 3- This was super close one. I will ruin the ending by letting you know that Deflecting Palm got me the win. With that said, Spell Pierce was also an all-star in this game. I pierced an Atarka's Command on a large attack and was able to spell pierce his deflecting palm as well and not take damage from my delver. The spell pierces my like 6-8 life in the game. I actually drew into my one Geist of Saint Traft left in the deck and he did most of the heavy lifting. The opponent continued to send burn to my face, but drew a few too many lands I think. My own deflecting Palm on his Goblin Bushwacker ended the match, but I was in decent control of the game by that point. This was kind of a smashed up version of naya burn and bushwacker zoo. I think it was just bushwacker zoo with a couple copies of lightning helix and lava spike and very few lands.
Round 3 to follow.
If you wanted to through in a few meta specific things or personal one of's I would likely cut 1 helix, queller, and/or logic knot. However, if you are a fan of super consistent draws over variety than the deck looks great as it is.
The original decklist for jeskai delver which was referred to as BOREMANDOS for Boros Remand played 4 steppe lynx and 4 delver and it was VERY sucessful. We will all be rooting for you to put jeskai delver/prowess back on the map with a top 8 finish in GP Prauge.
I just have a few question?
1. Is Vendillion clique for the combo matchups or when you want to become a more controlling style deck?
2. Against the aggressive voltron style decks like boggles and infect does young pyromancer do a lot of work? I have basically relied on becoming a tempo based deck against them with a bunch of counter magic. I have also relied on Deflecting Palm, but everyone knows how much I love deflecting palm.
3. Is Celestial Purge better now than it has ever been? With the hollow decks popping up everywhere and BGx style decks seemingly doing well at the SCG event I think purge may be as well positioned as it has ever been.
4. Have you got to test Alpine Moon yet? I have tried it in my playgroup but only one match so I don't have any definitive data yet. Because the valakut style decks are a tough matchup for us I was hoping it would be the necessary speed bump we need to kill them. To be honest, in theory our deck should be a perfect candidate for Alpine Moon to be very good. My only concern with the card is that it won't do enough to sway the matchup and will simply be a small nuisance for them. Because it does help with other matchups like tron I think it warrants some major testing.
Finally I would say you should also look into Abrade in your sideboard if a slot opens up. Its really well positioned right now against hollow one and humans. That and deflecting palm are the only major differences in our sideboard. Again, this is likely due to slightly different personal playstyle preferences.
I look forward to rooting for you in Prague and seeing you take home the trophy!
one of us is preparing for a GP and one of is typing a report of his GP at this moment...yep. I am.
Last weekend I played at GP Barcelona with this list:
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Geist of Saint Traft
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Snapcaster Mage
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Gideon of the Trials
Instants&Sorceries (23)
1 Boros Charm
1 Forked Bolt
1 Jeskai Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
3 Path to Exile
2 Remand
4 Serum Visions
1 Slip Through Space
2 Spell Pierce
Enchantments (1)
1 Search for Azcanta
2 Arid Mesa
1 Eiganjo Castle
3 Flooded Strand
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Inspiring Vantage
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Seachrome Coast
1 Slayers' Stronghold
1 Spirebluff Canal
1 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Celestial Purge
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Damping Sphere
1 Deflecting Palm
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Dispel
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
1 Sulfur Elemental
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Wear // Tear
The only I changed before the event was to add 1 Thundermaw to my sideboard. I basically used it against every deck that can possibly run Blood Moon, usually taking out Gideon because I can't cast him once a Moon is in play.
Friday I tried my luck in a Last Chance Qualifier to get 2 Byes but I lost on the spot.
My opponent was playing Cheerios.
G1 He managed to get to a storm count of 18 on turn 2!
G2 He started with the flash Leyline. I kept a hand with Damping Sphere. With Damping Sphere on stack he put like 8-10 equipments in play and on his turn he resolved Ghirapur Aether Grid and killed my Delver. Wear or Purge would have saved me but I couldn't find them...
So, I had to get up early on Saturday to be at the event before 9 am. Thanks to a company party which I had to attend to on Friday night I only got 5 hours of sleep - "perfect" conditions.
Round 1
Blue/Red Breach
G1 Opponent countered everything I tried. Was like Remand, Cryptic, Snap+Remand, Snap+Cryptic...
A resolved Blood Moon slowed me down severly since I could only cast 1 blue spell each turn.
Interestingly he couldn't find Through the Breach and I was wondering what his wincon could be, only seeing red and blue lands. I was already expecting Kiki-Jiki but when he had 15 lands he hardcasted Emrakul and the game ended.
G2 Couldn't find enough counters. His second Through the Breach resolved and Emrakul smashed me from 23 life to 8. I couldn't come back after sacrificing all my lands.
0-2
Round 2
Blue/Red Breach
What are the odds? I checked the metagame today of GP BCN and Blue/Red Breach was 1%!
G1 Got killed by Emrakul for the third time. Achievement unlocked? What a start -_-
G2 T3 Geist resolved and rode all the way to victory.
G3 Grindy game. I was holding Spell Pierce up the entire game so I always had 1 mana less to use. Couldn't risk a Geist but instead chipped away his life real slow with Snapcasters, Bolts and a Clique... and finally won.
2-1
Round 3
GW Value deck with Ramunap Excavator, Knight of the Reliquary, Voice, Courser, CoCo...
G1 I had the advantage until he resolved a perfect Company which found him Excavator and Courser. Voice was already in play.
I drew a Path and had to make a choice. Stop his lifegain and kill him quickly (Path Courser) or prepare for a long game (Path Excavator since he had a Ghost Quarter). I thought I could win fast enough before loosing my lands (I already had 4 or 5 in play) but I couldn't get there.
G2 Beatdown from turn 1 with Delver and Geist.
G3 I brought in Rest in Peace and resolved one. His Goyfs and Finks and Knights and Excavator were all not that scary anymore. We still had a long fight and went to extra turns. Extra turn 3 he was at 12 and thought he could still kill me on turn 5 so he attacked with everything. He underestimated the destructive potential of my deck. For the backswing a hasty Geist appeared (with Stronghold) and he and a Delver dealt 9 damage, just enough combined with the Helix in my hand.
2-1
Until there everything didn't look too bad...
(To be continued)
Can't wait to hear the rest.
Round 4
Living End
G1 Opponent played around my Spell Pierce like he anticipated it. I couldn't commit much to the board and had to watch his graveyard grow. Turn 3 and 4 he killed one of my colors with Fulminator and Beast Within and when he was at 6 lands he pulled the trigger: Living End, putting 24 power into play. He was still at around 10 life so I couldn't win.
G2 Living End on turn 2 using an Ape, putting 9 power into play (Street Wraith & Desert Cerodon). I stayed alive with Path and Gideon. I lost Gideon because he was using Ricochet Trap when I played Snap+Bolt. When I finally resolved Rest in Peace at turn 4 it was too late. He hard-casted Archfiend of Ifnir the next turn and then another one and I was low on life already so I lost the race.
0-2
Round 5
GB Infect (another 0.1% of that GP's metagame)
G1 Couldn't find enough burn spells and died real quick to Become Immense.
G2 I kept a hand with Path, Path, Snap and 3 lands after a mulligan and thought I could be okay.
My opponent played T1 Inquisition, T2 Inquisition, T2 Thoughtseize and I was left with nothing because I only drew more lands.
T4 He played a threat and I drew Lavamancer. I casted it, gave it haste with Stronghold and shot 2 damage to his creature. He kept it alive with a pump spell.
T5 he played his third Hierarch and attacked for 4 Infect without pump, just with Exalted. I was already at 7 poison after that attack and the Delver I drew didn't help.
0-2
Round 6
Hollow One
I didn't wrote notes for this one. But I know that I died both games with 8 (!) lands in play.
That day I was aiming for 6-2 to make day 2 but that last 0-2 put me to a 2-4 score after 6 rounds and I finally had enough and dropped. Then I went to the beautiful Barcelona beach and enjoyed the rest of the day in the sun.
Thinking back about all the games went I am really pissed about the variance (which is a big part of paper Magic). I pile-shuffle once before every game and then I shuffle normally (riffle-shuffle) 4-6 times to perfectly randomize the cards and yet I flooded in about half of all my games that day. There were several games when I died with 7-9 lands in play which is ridiculous for 21 lands. If it would be common I'd play Ugin in my deck!
The thing is that something like this doesn't happen on MTGO where I keep having good results with the deck. They have a good algorithm for shuffling.
Now, again, I am contemplating what to do...
Go up to 22 lands and play more expensive cards like Thundermaw main like this list?
Add a playset of Faithless Lootings and some graveyard interaction like the Pyromancer decks?
Or add stupid cards like Aggressive Mining or Devastating Summons to turn the tide of battle in flooded games?
I think I'll leave everything as is and hope for a better variance at my next event...
My deck looks like this if I only switch a few cards for a Sarkhan package:
4 Delver of Secrets
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Mirrorwing Dragon
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Sarkhan, Fireblood
Instants&Sorceries (21)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
3 Path to Exile
2 Remand
4 Serum Visions
2 Spell Pierce
2 Emerge Unscathed
1 Search for Azcanta
Lands (22)
2 Arid Mesa
3 Flooded Strand
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
1 Wandering Fumarole
1 Slayers' Stronghold
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Inspiring Vantage
1 Seachrome Coast
1 Spirebluff Canal
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
I think it just doesn't work anymore with Delver, having only 21 enablers to flip them.
What I really like is the idea of giving my whole team protection from a color with Emerged on Mirrorwing (or Double Strike when I make space for Boros Charm). I am wondering why that card is so rarely used? It basically has hexproof since the opponent has to kill his own board when he plays removal on Mirrorwing and it's bonkers with Emerge or even Mutagenic Growth. I guess to really make it work I'd have to change the deck more fundamentally and run 3 Sarkhans and 2 Mirrorwings...
The merit compared to my current deck is that this deck is not as vulnerable against Blood Moon and Sarkhans filtering is a great help against flooding.
What do you guys think about Sarkhan, Fireblood? What would be a good creature package for a deck with him?
Which dragons would you use? I also like Dragonlord Ojutai & maybe Keiga, the Tide Star - they must be castable even without Sarkhan.
That's basically what I thought. V.Clique is awesome in combo matchups. A lot of people overlook the value of simply seeing the opponent's hand. Young Pyromancer has shown again and again that it is awesome in the more controlling matchups so I totally understand having a copy in the board. I actually think it's a better sideboard card than mainboard.
You make a good point about Ceremonious Rejection. I have kept it in because of the recent rise in Ironworks Combo. However, locally the deck hasn't really picked up all that much so rejection may need to be cut. It may be better as negate now that eldrazi is so low in the meta.
That was some serious variance in decks right there. Again, this is why I love modern and also what makes modern hard sometimes. Living end is another reason that Simian Spirit Guide needs to be banned. They said they didn't want any decks that "went off" before turn 4 and SSG just gives too many decks the ability to do so. I honestly haven't seen a living end deck in months. I would likely also struggle against them because I would only side in surgical extractions, deflecting palms, negate, and EE.
Infect can be a breeze sometimes and can also just have hands we just can't beat. I have never seen an infect deck with that much hand disruption. I think that's rather unusual. I see a couple of thoughtseizes in the board sometimes. Was it the G/B infect deck?
You can't beat going to the beach. That's a good consolation prize
I too hate flooding. We really don't do well with flooding. Reveler kind of helps smooth that out at the top end because he draws more cards, but sometimes he draws two lands himself. I have played a Faithless Looting in the main deck and it was very good. The only thing I didn't like about it was the fact that it was card disadvantage and my deck really depends on playing a lot of spells. In the more tempo oriented decks faithless looting is likely even better. I currently play 19 lands at 61 cards. With 4 opt and 3 serum visions I have enough filtering to avoid flooding in most cases, but sometimes it still happens. I think in our deck filtering is the best way to avoid flooding. Give different combonations of faithless looting, opt, serum visions, and sleight of hand a try until you find your perfect mix.
My brother is super excited to brew with the new Sarkhan. I really like that list you posted. I always like to have a second list to play when I'm just farting around. Mine is very similar because it's another jeskai prowess deck, but it revolves around monastery mentor instead.
If this card read "non-land permanent with converted mana cost of 1 mana or less[/c] it might see a little play. Currently I think it's just way to narrow. If death shadow picks up again this card might start to see some play again. However, in most cases Path to Exile will likely just be better. I have other options to get rid of aether vials. I hope it works out, but for me it's just to narrow to play in it's current form.
Has anyone else made any changes?
Now onto something I used to do, but have taken a break from- Matchup of the week is back. This week's matchup is BR Hollow One.
I will start with my view on the matchup. I have actually had a good bit of luck against the deck. I have beaten it more often than I have lost to it. I feel like game one really depends on the coin flip, but I do feel slightly favored. I would probably say that the matchup is dead even 50/50 and really depends on who is on the play. The most important part is just making sure to path the correct targets. Typically burn is better off going to their face later in the game. Flying threats are also very good against them.
Post board I feel very favored. Surgical Extraction is SUPER against them. Abrade is also extremely good. I typically side in my Chandra, Pyromaster, Deflecting Palm is also an awesome option against them since it turns into somewhat of a race. It's a strange matchup in the sense that it isn't a sprint race, it's more like a marathon race. You slowly chip them down 3-4 life at a time. Being able to deflect damage is awesome. I also bring in Engineered Explosives for board clearing purposes if necessary. I also sometimes bring in Wear // Tear if they are playing Blood Moon. I side out my remands and keep the early counter magic in (spell pierce and spell snare). Stopping them early can be very good, but negate is just a better option post board.
How do you all feel about the matchup?
I agree the match up is near 50/50. The deck can be completely random and takes getting familiar with. The play style of the deck can be individualist. The card plays and choices are more subject to change each game. The game comes down to who can hold out longest. G1 hollowones wont care about their own life much G2 this may change, also the GY importance may change also, hollow ones tend to side out the GY relevent cards.
Hollow One decks are still evolving. There are a few versions BR HollowOne, Temur, HollowVine, are exsamples.
The deck wants to play with little mana, so any spell that can mana Leak them will buy a turn. the decks only run a few basic lands(3-4) so pathing them or stone raining the land will net gain you later. They cant search later or bloodghast back from a fetchland (8).
Hope this take on the deck helps.