Just a note about Scapeshift: they only need 7 land to kill you most times. 5 mountains and 2 Valakut (which, it's important to note, are NOT legendary) does 30 damage. So be careful when estimating how long they have till they go off.
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Generation 15: The first time you see this, add it to your sig, but add 1 to the number. Call it a social experiment.
Round 1: Burn - sort of. 2-1. My opponent played his Standard format Atarka Red deck with some borrowed Modern lands. He also borrowed Goblin Guide and Lightning Bolt but none of the other staples.
Game 1: Lost. I mulled to five on the play with a onelander (Plains) but still managed to stabilize with three soul sisters and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. The life totals ended up at 5-2, him-me. I actually lost this game to two different misplays - 1) I wasn't being aggressive enough. I had left Thalia back as a blocker but I had forgotten that I could just stick Soul Warden in front if necessary, and I would gain life from her. If I had attacked with Thalia, I would put him at 3 and I could kill him with the bolt in hand in response to him killing me. I also misplayed by 2) not bolting him at EOT. I couldn't doublebolt him in response to lethal because I had three lands and a Thalia out. I still made him very disappointed when he learned I had mainboard Electrickery because I killed five goblin tokens with it.
-2 Purphoros, God of the Forge, -2 Outpost Siege (both CMC4, nuff said)
+2 Kor Firewalker, +2 Mark of Asylum (This makes your soul sisters unkillable. Given that they're bolt-on-sight this is fine. He's also running Searing Blood over Searing Blaze because it's a standard deck and this makes that useless.
Game 2: Won. Turn 1, Soul Warden. Turn 2, Kor Firewalker. Turn three, Champion of the Parish and Thalia. He drew, revealed a hand of mostly lands, and scooped.
Game 3: Won. He couldn't handle two sisters, a Norin the Wary, and a Champion.
Round 2: Affinity. 1-2.
Game 1: Won. He had a very slow hand (Mox Opal, Glimmervoid, cast Springleaf Drum, pass). By turn six or seven I was still above 20 life. Pathed his blocker, swung out with a 9/9 and a 7/7 Ajani's Pridemate for lethal.
-4 Genesis Chamber. Giving him a lot of artifacts to play with is bad. Genesis Chamber also doesn't let me block all that well because many of his creatures fly. Signal Pest, Vault Skirge, Inkmoth Nexus, Blinkmoth Nexus and Ornithoper all attack over the myr tokens.
-2 Purphoros, God of the Forge, -1 Outpost Siege (didn't have quite enough stuff to board in, so one got left behind). CMC 4, designed for grindy games.
+3 Wear // Tear, +2 Mark of Asylum (I'm expecting a post-board Whipflare). +2 Celestial Flare (Extra removal)
Game 2: He stuck two Cranial Plating on an Etched Champion and I found myself playing against Boggles. I was right about Whipflare but unfortunately I didn't have Mark of Asylum. I didn't have Genesis Chamber to block it and I didn't have Celestial Flare in my hand.
Game 3: I didn't topdeck a kill spell to kill Steel Overseer fast enough and everything got out of control. Instead I topdecked the one Outpost Siege I still had inside. Three soul sisters weren't enough to take a 12 damage beating a turn.
Round 3: Won 1-0 by Forfeiture. I would have played against Grixis Twin but my opponent decided to leave without dropping. He wasn't even 0-2; he was 1-1 just like me. Kinda lame.
Round 4: Grixis Twin. 1-1-1. This was a very exciting matchup.
Game 1: Won. I had a hand of three genesis chambers which I just threw at him to make him tap out so I could resolve the Norin I topdecked T2 on the draw. By turn 4 I had three chambers so I drew out a counter by throwing a champion at him. He remanded it. Turn 5 I dropped the champion, which he bolted, followed by Soul's Attendant, which he mana leaked, and at one mana he couldn't counter the Norin I resolved. He couldn't deal with Norin plus triple chamber (even with Kommands) and I ended up winning.
+2 Mark of Asylum (wow)
+2 Rest in Peace
-2 Lightning Bolt
-1 Soul Warden
-1 Soul's Attendant
Rest In Peace is one of those cards that doesn't visibly affect the deck but it puts a lot of strain on Grixis decks. It makes Snapcaster Mage and Tasigur, the Golden Fang unimpressive, Kolaghan's Command worse. Against Twin, gaining tons of life is not very useful so I boarded out two soul sisters. They aren't extremely effective at stopping the combo because they die to every piece removal in the deck.
Also, I boarded out bolt instead of Electrickery because neither of them kill Deceiver Exarch or Tasigur, the Golden Fang and both of them kill Pestermite, Snapcaster Mage, and Vendilion Clique, so there's no real difference other than the Overload cost. Lightning Bolt itself doesn't do all that much in this meta.
Game 2: Lost. On Turn 3 he dropped exarch, untapped a land, and used Inquisition of Kozilek to take Path to Exile out of my hand. Then dropped Splinter Twin next turn. I had no soul sisters.
Game 3: Draw. I was on the play and I dropped a T1 champion. He spent his T1 on Serum Visions so I used T2 to resolve Mark of Asylum. This card worked miracles. It makes Kolaghan's Command, Lightning Bolt and Electrolyze anywhere from mediocre to totally useless. He can't get rid of it without bouncing it off Cryptic Command. It noticeably put his deck under a lot of strain.
We ended up going to time because it required a lot of thought. I got him to 1 life on my Turn 2 and he almost scooped when he topdecked on turn 3. But he played it out very well. He had a ton of lands out, and I had two soul sisters. He had put Splinter Twin on Snapcaster last turn in order to recur his graveyard, which had cryptic (in order to fog). At this point, his graveyard was 2x IOK, 2x Serum Visions, 2x Kommand, +lands. He made a snapcaster token and drew a blank of Serum visions, but then used Scry 2. He then threw another twin on the Snapcaster token and made another snapcaster token targeting the second Serum Visions, which drew the card that he scryed to the top with his first serum visions. Then he cast the Deceiver Exarch that he just drew when it was my turn and tapped down my Soul Warden on upkeep, leaving the exarch as a blocker for my only attacker, the other Soul's Attendant. I couldn't push the one damage through unless I had topdecked a Path to Exile to remove the blocker. Alas, I found a champion and couldn't win. He couldn't win either even though he had a third Twin in hand, because I had two soul sisters and he only had a potential topdeck of Terminate to remove them, which wouldn't have helped. I was disappointed that I drew that but very impressed by the play and was okay with it because that was pretty sweet.
Thoughts on particular cards:
Nobody at my store plays tron and many people play red. Blood Moon should become something else in the sideboard.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben mainboard was a very good idea, at least for me. She's wonderful in many matchups and not terrible in the others (First Strike).
My matchup against Affinity is noticeably awful. I need Stony Silence or Suppression Field in the board. Not sure which is better to have in the board in this deck.
Mark of Asylum is a miracle card. It makes your creatures extremely hard to kill in Grixis decks without Terminate.
I can't say whether or not Outpost Siege is good or compare it to Ranger of Eos because I only drew it twice and in both cases it was not relevant - once against Affinity when I was getting crushed by flying creatures and once against Twin Game 1 when I was absolutely crushing with Norin and triple Chamber. I didn't even bother casting it and instead just constantly held up path and Electrickery while making 0/1s at EOT with Kher Keep if I didn't need to cast them. It needs more testing, at least for me.
@thebombzen Affinity, you must use wear / tear and/or Shattering Spree. Along with Electrickery. Spellskite helps a lot against Grixis Twin. And I think you should've mulliganed to at least a Sister. Anyways, congratulations to your results and thanks for your report.
@thebombzen Affinity, you must use wear / tear and/or Shattering Spree. Along with Electrickery. Spellskite helps a lot against Grixis Twin. And I think you should've mulliganed to at least a Sister. Anyways, congratulations to your results and thanks for your report.
The problem I have with Shattering Spree is that it requires too much red. I like fetching for basic plains against aggro so I'd have a hard time with that. Either Stony Silence or Suppression Field seems good. Suppression field has the added benefit of hating out the twin combo and opposing fetchlands but it's not quite as good against Affinity and hoses myself slightly. Not really sure.
@thebombzen Wear_Tear and Electrickery do a nice job as well.
That's a pretty good point, especially since both of those double as hate for Boggles. It would allow me to dump Patrician's Scorn out of my sideboard.
@thebombzen Wear_Tear and Electrickery do a nice job as well.
That's a pretty good point, especially since both of those double as hate for Boggles. It would allow me to dump Patrician's Scorn out of my sideboard.
It's nice against infect too. They use spellskite and wild defiance.
Edit:
Not quite sure about Electrickery against Bogles. Only the best case scenario to kill opposing hexproof guys and it doesn't kill Kor. A lot of umbras, spirit mantle and ethereal armor on turn two kill our cards.
@thebombzen Wear_Tear and Electrickery do a nice job as well.
That's a pretty good point, especially since both of those double as hate for Boggles. It would allow me to dump Patrician's Scorn out of my sideboard.
It's nice against infect too. They use spellskite and wild defiance.
Edit:
Not quite sure about Electrickery against Bogles. Only the best case scenario to kill opposing hexproof guys and it doesn't kill Kor. A lot of umbras, spirit mantle and ethereal armor on turn two kill our cards.
I already had three W//T in the board. Going to four is probably correct though.
Edit: Pridemate costs two so it's much less effective at drawing out counterspells than Champion of the Parish if we need to resolve a topdecked Norin the Wary.
Another Tuesday, another report (although not as extensive). 2-2
Round 1: Grixis Twin. 1-2
G1: Won. He got stuck on two lands, and then was still missing red. Died to beatdowns.
-4 Lightning Bolt, -3 Ajani's Pridemate, +2 RIP, +2 Mark of Asylum, +3 Kor Firewalker
G2: Lost. Natural Twin on T4. No sisters.
G3: Lost. Natural Twin with Pestermite on T5. One sister.
Thoughts: No longer going to board in Firewalker against twin. They just drop an Exarch and I get sad. I also should reconsider Dismember.
MVP: Return to the Ranks.
Round 2: Ezuri Elves. 2-0
G1: Won. Bolted his combo pieces, successful beatdown.
+2 Celestial Flare (extra removal), +2 Electrickery, -4 Genesis Chamber
G2: Won. Boardstall with humongous champion and Wurmcoil plus Spellskite. He couldn't attack because I'd block with Kher Keep tokens. He almost won when he swung out but next turn I electrickeried and made him sad. I eventually won with Purphoros - doublepumped the Kobolds and swung out.
Thoughts: I need Legion Loyalist. Should have taken out Thalia instead of Chamber.
MVP: Removal
Round 3: URW Control. 1-2
G1: Won. Norin and chamber did the trick.
-4 Lightning Bolt, -3 Ajani's Pridemate, +2 Mark of Asylum, +2 Celestial Flare, +3 Kor Firewalker
G2: Lost. T4 Resto, T5 Kikijiki. Like, who does that. Come on man.
G3: Lost. Same reason. Only had one sister, needed two.
Thoughts: I would like Dismember mainboard probably. Might be able to fit Volley postboard.
MVP: Genesis Chamber.
Round 4: Affinity. 2-1
Game 1: Lost. Boardstall until he stuck platings on his Ornithopter. Lost quickly after that.
-4 Genesis Chamber, -4 CMC4s, +4 W//T, +2 Electrickery, +2 Celestial Flare (kills Champion).
Game 2: T1 champion, pass. T1 Glimmervoid, Springleaf Drum, pass. T2 W//T your drum. Sac glimmervoid. Nuff said.
Game 3: He dropped torpor orb but not before I had a 5/5 Champion. After an electrickery wipe I just played the 5/5 beatdown plus removal game. He didn't get his third mana for Etched Champion. (Flare in hand, didn't matter).
Thoughts: Postboard is so so much better. Even more MB removal would be nice.
MVP: Electrickery.
Thoughts from day: Dismember would be nice. I could run Loyalist as a 1-of and use Ranger to make him Pseudo 3-of.
So I had another thought. Currently I sideboard in Electrickery against Affinity, Boggles, and Elves. I'm not sure if I should replace it with Anger of the Gods. Is it worth it?
sjcelvis: Love the deck list, dude. I've had a soft spot for Lightning Berserker and Impact Tremors for a while now so I'm glad to hear someone's getting results with them!
It is difficult to play colorless lands in this deck. All your one-drops need colored mana. Your best starting plays are always 3 one drops.
I guess if you play the 2-drop version such as Ajani's Pridemate you can afford some colorless lands. Also you always want your 4th land so you dont really want to sac one. Path to Exile was my best bet vs Amulet/Tron, but there are very few of those in my meta. If you are really concerned, go with Blood Moon.
Impact Tremors dies to Abrupt Decay, but it is good enough. You have another big threat in Genesis Chamber already. And some opponents just cant race Norin+Sister+2x Impact Tremors.
Just played against the big decks: Twins, Grixis Control, Abzan Company, etc.
VS Twin, just dont suicide your one-drops into their 1/4.
VS Grixis, your threats go under their Counterspells and they are too slow to react. Path their delve creatures and it should be game.
VS Abzan Company, I think this one is actually tough. I got the nut draw of T1 Champion T2 Champion Norin in G3. I think most of the time the games are between you beating down while guarding against his combo. G1 I got more removals and G2 He got more combo pieces.
Probably dont need the reach to close out the game, but it is something to interact with your opponent. Kill that Steel Overseer or Eidolon of the Great Revel for example.
Don't call me heretic, but I'll be replacing Champion to Serra and I won't use any removal main deck. Also, 3 Ghost Quarter and Flagstones package maindeck.
Maindeck choices: Thalia,Guardian of Thraben: I used to love Thalia in all white creature heavy buildings cause she is good against control decks, infect, buys you time against anger of the Gods and wrecks spell based decks. And of course, she eats removal. Serra Ascendant over champion: Don't get me wrong. I like champion, but he has no evasion on its own. Although I use fetches, shock lands and no martyr of sands, I'd rather have a Serra cause he's much resilient. And champion requires more human creatures and I use Ajani's Pridemate and Suture Priest maindeck and Burrenton and Spellskite sideboard. Also, he's a better top deck than our beloved Thraben champion. 3 Return to the Ranks: A plan against removal decks, my card advantage. I don't like Mentor of the Meek as much as RttR. Suture Priest: Well, it works as a Sister to me and a Impact Tremors to opposing My rs and creatures. I guess it's fine. Auriok Champion: The best Sister, although she has restrictive cmc, but shuts twin combo with exarch and 2 of them, Pestermite combos. And protection against all spot removals (Path says hello, but ok). Outpost Siege I guess this card has 2 nice purposes in this decks.... it comboes with Norin or gives your huge card advantage against a lot of control decks.
Sideboard choices: Spellskite: against many decks, Bogles and Infect Stony Silence : against Affinity, a little Against Tron and random Restore Balance or Lantern or Eggs decks. Maybe I'll replace to Suppression Field. I'm still hesitating Celestial Purge: Against Sorin, Liliana, Night of Soul's Betrayal, Eidolon of the Great Revel and other red/black annoying cards Wear / Tear : Against Affinity, Bogles and annoying enchantments / artifacts Blood Moon and Sowing Salt: Against greedy mana bases and unbeatable lands, like Celestial Colonnade, Inkmoth Nexus and Raging Ravine. Mark of Asylum and Burrenton Forge-Tender: Against Pyroclasms, Whipflares, Anger of the Gods or Firesprouts.
Edit:
About the 21st land, I was keeping a lot of one land hands. With Outpost Siege, 21 is a good number I guess
EDH - GU Kruphix, God of Horizons, WB Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts, GUR Surrak Dragonclaw, WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores, R Purphoros, God of the Forge, RW Archangel Avacyn
i still run impact tremors. it helps to pressure the opponent if they tap out on turn 2 and i drop it with norin already in play on t1.
Active thread contributor of Jeskai Prowess Tempo
The magic numbers are 18 (7 lands: 6 mountains + 1 Valakut) and 36 (8 lands: 6 mountains + 2 Valakut).
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
EDH - GU Kruphix, God of Horizons, WB Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts, GUR Surrak Dragonclaw, WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores, R Purphoros, God of the Forge, RW Archangel Avacyn
EDH - GU Kruphix, God of Horizons, WB Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts, GUR Surrak Dragonclaw, WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores, R Purphoros, God of the Forge, RW Archangel Avacyn
4 Flooded Strand
2 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Plains
2 Mountain
2 Kher Keep
Creatures: 22
4 Norin the Wary
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Soul's Attendant
4 Soul Warden
3 Ajani's Pridemate
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Genesis Chamber
2 Purphoros, God of the Forge
2 Outpost Siege
Spells: 10
4 Path to Exile
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Electrickery
2 Return to the Ranks
3 Wear // Tear
2 Mark of Asylum
2 Kor Firewalker
2 Blood Moon
2 Rest in Peace
2 Celestial Flare
2 Patrician's Scorn
I went 2-1-1.
Round 1: Burn - sort of. 2-1. My opponent played his Standard format Atarka Red deck with some borrowed Modern lands. He also borrowed Goblin Guide and Lightning Bolt but none of the other staples.
Game 1: Lost. I mulled to five on the play with a onelander (Plains) but still managed to stabilize with three soul sisters and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. The life totals ended up at 5-2, him-me. I actually lost this game to two different misplays - 1) I wasn't being aggressive enough. I had left Thalia back as a blocker but I had forgotten that I could just stick Soul Warden in front if necessary, and I would gain life from her. If I had attacked with Thalia, I would put him at 3 and I could kill him with the bolt in hand in response to him killing me. I also misplayed by 2) not bolting him at EOT. I couldn't doublebolt him in response to lethal because I had three lands and a Thalia out. I still made him very disappointed when he learned I had mainboard Electrickery because I killed five goblin tokens with it.
-2 Purphoros, God of the Forge, -2 Outpost Siege (both CMC4, nuff said)
+2 Kor Firewalker, +2 Mark of Asylum (This makes your soul sisters unkillable. Given that they're bolt-on-sight this is fine. He's also running Searing Blood over Searing Blaze because it's a standard deck and this makes that useless.
Game 2: Won. Turn 1, Soul Warden. Turn 2, Kor Firewalker. Turn three, Champion of the Parish and Thalia. He drew, revealed a hand of mostly lands, and scooped.
Game 3: Won. He couldn't handle two sisters, a Norin the Wary, and a Champion.
Round 2: Affinity. 1-2.
Game 1: Won. He had a very slow hand (Mox Opal, Glimmervoid, cast Springleaf Drum, pass). By turn six or seven I was still above 20 life. Pathed his blocker, swung out with a 9/9 and a 7/7 Ajani's Pridemate for lethal.
-4 Genesis Chamber. Giving him a lot of artifacts to play with is bad. Genesis Chamber also doesn't let me block all that well because many of his creatures fly. Signal Pest, Vault Skirge, Inkmoth Nexus, Blinkmoth Nexus and Ornithoper all attack over the myr tokens.
-2 Purphoros, God of the Forge, -1 Outpost Siege (didn't have quite enough stuff to board in, so one got left behind). CMC 4, designed for grindy games.
+3 Wear // Tear, +2 Mark of Asylum (I'm expecting a post-board Whipflare). +2 Celestial Flare (Extra removal)
Game 2: He stuck two Cranial Plating on an Etched Champion and I found myself playing against Boggles. I was right about Whipflare but unfortunately I didn't have Mark of Asylum. I didn't have Genesis Chamber to block it and I didn't have Celestial Flare in my hand.
Game 3: I didn't topdeck a kill spell to kill Steel Overseer fast enough and everything got out of control. Instead I topdecked the one Outpost Siege I still had inside. Three soul sisters weren't enough to take a 12 damage beating a turn.
Round 3: Won 1-0 by Forfeiture. I would have played against Grixis Twin but my opponent decided to leave without dropping. He wasn't even 0-2; he was 1-1 just like me. Kinda lame.
Round 4: Grixis Twin. 1-1-1. This was a very exciting matchup.
Game 1: Won. I had a hand of three genesis chambers which I just threw at him to make him tap out so I could resolve the Norin I topdecked T2 on the draw. By turn 4 I had three chambers so I drew out a counter by throwing a champion at him. He remanded it. Turn 5 I dropped the champion, which he bolted, followed by Soul's Attendant, which he mana leaked, and at one mana he couldn't counter the Norin I resolved. He couldn't deal with Norin plus triple chamber (even with Kommands) and I ended up winning.
+2 Mark of Asylum (wow)
+2 Rest in Peace
-2 Lightning Bolt
-1 Soul Warden
-1 Soul's Attendant
Rest In Peace is one of those cards that doesn't visibly affect the deck but it puts a lot of strain on Grixis decks. It makes Snapcaster Mage and Tasigur, the Golden Fang unimpressive, Kolaghan's Command worse. Against Twin, gaining tons of life is not very useful so I boarded out two soul sisters. They aren't extremely effective at stopping the combo because they die to every piece removal in the deck.
Also, I boarded out bolt instead of Electrickery because neither of them kill Deceiver Exarch or Tasigur, the Golden Fang and both of them kill Pestermite, Snapcaster Mage, and Vendilion Clique, so there's no real difference other than the Overload cost. Lightning Bolt itself doesn't do all that much in this meta.
Game 2: Lost. On Turn 3 he dropped exarch, untapped a land, and used Inquisition of Kozilek to take Path to Exile out of my hand. Then dropped Splinter Twin next turn. I had no soul sisters.
Game 3: Draw. I was on the play and I dropped a T1 champion. He spent his T1 on Serum Visions so I used T2 to resolve Mark of Asylum. This card worked miracles. It makes Kolaghan's Command, Lightning Bolt and Electrolyze anywhere from mediocre to totally useless. He can't get rid of it without bouncing it off Cryptic Command. It noticeably put his deck under a lot of strain.
We ended up going to time because it required a lot of thought. I got him to 1 life on my Turn 2 and he almost scooped when he topdecked on turn 3. But he played it out very well. He had a ton of lands out, and I had two soul sisters. He had put Splinter Twin on Snapcaster last turn in order to recur his graveyard, which had cryptic (in order to fog). At this point, his graveyard was 2x IOK, 2x Serum Visions, 2x Kommand, +lands. He made a snapcaster token and drew a blank of Serum visions, but then used Scry 2. He then threw another twin on the Snapcaster token and made another snapcaster token targeting the second Serum Visions, which drew the card that he scryed to the top with his first serum visions. Then he cast the Deceiver Exarch that he just drew when it was my turn and tapped down my Soul Warden on upkeep, leaving the exarch as a blocker for my only attacker, the other Soul's Attendant. I couldn't push the one damage through unless I had topdecked a Path to Exile to remove the blocker. Alas, I found a champion and couldn't win. He couldn't win either even though he had a third Twin in hand, because I had two soul sisters and he only had a potential topdeck of Terminate to remove them, which wouldn't have helped. I was disappointed that I drew that but very impressed by the play and was okay with it because that was pretty sweet.
Thoughts on particular cards:
EDH - GU Kruphix, God of Horizons, WB Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts, GUR Surrak Dragonclaw, WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores, R Purphoros, God of the Forge, RW Archangel Avacyn
The problem I have with Shattering Spree is that it requires too much red. I like fetching for basic plains against aggro so I'd have a hard time with that. Either Stony Silence or Suppression Field seems good. Suppression field has the added benefit of hating out the twin combo and opposing fetchlands but it's not quite as good against Affinity and hoses myself slightly. Not really sure.
EDH - GU Kruphix, God of Horizons, WB Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts, GUR Surrak Dragonclaw, WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores, R Purphoros, God of the Forge, RW Archangel Avacyn
That's a pretty good point, especially since both of those double as hate for Boggles. It would allow me to dump Patrician's Scorn out of my sideboard.
EDH - GU Kruphix, God of Horizons, WB Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts, GUR Surrak Dragonclaw, WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores, R Purphoros, God of the Forge, RW Archangel Avacyn
It's nice against infect too. They use spellskite and wild defiance.
Edit:
Not quite sure about Electrickery against Bogles. Only the best case scenario to kill opposing hexproof guys and it doesn't kill Kor. A lot of umbras, spirit mantle and ethereal armor on turn two kill our cards.
I already had three W//T in the board. Going to four is probably correct though.
Another thought... boarding in Kor Firewalker against Grixis in place of Ajani's Pridemate or Genesis Chamber in Grixis matchups? I feel that Pridemate never stays alive against a deck that runs Lightning Bolt, Kolaghan's Command, Electrolyze, and Terminate. Kor Firewalker is just an unkillable threat.
Edit: Pridemate costs two so it's much less effective at drawing out counterspells than Champion of the Parish if we need to resolve a topdecked Norin the Wary.
EDH - GU Kruphix, God of Horizons, WB Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts, GUR Surrak Dragonclaw, WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores, R Purphoros, God of the Forge, RW Archangel Avacyn
Round 1: Grixis Twin. 1-2
G1: Won. He got stuck on two lands, and then was still missing red. Died to beatdowns.
-4 Lightning Bolt, -3 Ajani's Pridemate, +2 RIP, +2 Mark of Asylum, +3 Kor Firewalker
G2: Lost. Natural Twin on T4. No sisters.
G3: Lost. Natural Twin with Pestermite on T5. One sister.
Thoughts: No longer going to board in Firewalker against twin. They just drop an Exarch and I get sad. I also should reconsider Dismember.
MVP: Return to the Ranks.
Round 2: Ezuri Elves. 2-0
G1: Won. Bolted his combo pieces, successful beatdown.
+2 Celestial Flare (extra removal), +2 Electrickery, -4 Genesis Chamber
G2: Won. Boardstall with humongous champion and Wurmcoil plus Spellskite. He couldn't attack because I'd block with Kher Keep tokens. He almost won when he swung out but next turn I electrickeried and made him sad. I eventually won with Purphoros - doublepumped the Kobolds and swung out.
Thoughts: I need Legion Loyalist. Should have taken out Thalia instead of Chamber.
MVP: Removal
Round 3: URW Control. 1-2
G1: Won. Norin and chamber did the trick.
-4 Lightning Bolt, -3 Ajani's Pridemate, +2 Mark of Asylum, +2 Celestial Flare, +3 Kor Firewalker
G2: Lost. T4 Resto, T5 Kikijiki. Like, who does that. Come on man.
G3: Lost. Same reason. Only had one sister, needed two.
Thoughts: I would like Dismember mainboard probably. Might be able to fit Volley postboard.
MVP: Genesis Chamber.
Round 4: Affinity. 2-1
Game 1: Lost. Boardstall until he stuck platings on his Ornithopter. Lost quickly after that.
-4 Genesis Chamber, -4 CMC4s, +4 W//T, +2 Electrickery, +2 Celestial Flare (kills Champion).
Game 2: T1 champion, pass. T1 Glimmervoid, Springleaf Drum, pass. T2 W//T your drum. Sac glimmervoid. Nuff said.
Game 3: He dropped torpor orb but not before I had a 5/5 Champion. After an electrickery wipe I just played the 5/5 beatdown plus removal game. He didn't get his third mana for Etched Champion. (Flare in hand, didn't matter).
Thoughts: Postboard is so so much better. Even more MB removal would be nice.
MVP: Electrickery.
Thoughts from day: Dismember would be nice. I could run Loyalist as a 1-of and use Ranger to make him Pseudo 3-of.
EDH - GU Kruphix, God of Horizons, WB Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts, GUR Surrak Dragonclaw, WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores, R Purphoros, God of the Forge, RW Archangel Avacyn
EDH - GU Kruphix, God of Horizons, WB Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts, GUR Surrak Dragonclaw, WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores, R Purphoros, God of the Forge, RW Archangel Avacyn
4 Soul Warden
4 Soul's Attendant
4 Norin the Wary
3 Lightning Berserker
1 Serra Ascendant
3 Ranger of Eos
2 Purphoros, God of the Forge
4 Impact Tremors
4 Genesis Chamber
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile
1 Boros Charm
3 Arid Mesa
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Battlefield Forge
2 Clifftop Retreat
3 Plains
3 Mountain
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Path to Exile
1 Lightning Helix
2 Boros Charm
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Rest in Peace
3 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Wear // Tear
What decks did you play against?
I guess if you play the 2-drop version such as Ajani's Pridemate you can afford some colorless lands. Also you always want your 4th land so you dont really want to sac one. Path to Exile was my best bet vs Amulet/Tron, but there are very few of those in my meta. If you are really concerned, go with Blood Moon.
Impact Tremors dies to Abrupt Decay, but it is good enough. You have another big threat in Genesis Chamber already. And some opponents just cant race Norin+Sister+2x Impact Tremors.
The only card that I'm unsure of is Serra Ascendant. Maybe change it to Burrenton Forge-Tender or the 4th Bolt/4th Path. Boros Charm is likely better than Mark of Asylum as it can save you from Engineered Explosives as well. Or 4 to the face. Or save your big Champion from Terminate.
Just played against the big decks: Twins, Grixis Control, Abzan Company, etc.
VS Twin, just dont suicide your one-drops into their 1/4.
VS Grixis, your threats go under their Counterspells and they are too slow to react. Path their delve creatures and it should be game.
VS Abzan Company, I think this one is actually tough. I got the nut draw of T1 Champion T2 Champion Norin in G3. I think most of the time the games are between you beating down while guarding against his combo. G1 I got more removals and G2 He got more combo pieces.
What do you play in those slots?
Right now I'm trying out Abbot of Keral Keep and Kytheon, Hero of Akros in the Serra Ascendant slot as well.
It'll be something like this:
4 Serra Ascendant
3 Norin the Wary
3 Ajani's Pridemate
4 Soul's Attendant
4 Soul Warden
3 Auriok Champion
3 Suture Priest
2 Purphoros, God of the Forge
2 Ranger of Eos
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Genesis Chamber
3 Return to the Ranks
1 Outpost Siege
Lands (21)
4 Arid Mesa
2 Windswept Heath
2 Flooded Strand
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Mountain
3 Ghost Quarter
4 Plains
3 Flagstones of Trokair
3 Stony Silence
2 Blood Moon
1 Sowing Salt
2 Celestial Purge
2 Wear // Tear
1 Mark of Asylum
3 Spellskite
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
Maindeck choices:
Thalia,Guardian of Thraben: I used to love Thalia in all white creature heavy buildings cause she is good against control decks, infect, buys you time against anger of the Gods and wrecks spell based decks. And of course, she eats removal.
Serra Ascendant over champion: Don't get me wrong. I like champion, but he has no evasion on its own. Although I use fetches, shock lands and no martyr of sands, I'd rather have a Serra cause he's much resilient. And champion requires more human creatures and I use Ajani's Pridemate and Suture Priest maindeck and Burrenton and Spellskite sideboard. Also, he's a better top deck than our beloved Thraben champion.
3 Return to the Ranks: A plan against removal decks, my card advantage. I don't like Mentor of the Meek as much as RttR.
Suture Priest: Well, it works as a Sister to me and a Impact Tremors to opposing My rs and creatures. I guess it's fine.
Auriok Champion: The best Sister, although she has restrictive cmc, but shuts twin combo with exarch and 2 of them, Pestermite combos. And protection against all spot removals (Path says hello, but ok).
Outpost Siege I guess this card has 2 nice purposes in this decks.... it comboes with Norin or gives your huge card advantage against a lot of control decks.
Sideboard choices:
Spellskite: against many decks, Bogles and Infect
Stony Silence : against Affinity, a little Against Tron and random Restore Balance or Lantern or Eggs decks. Maybe I'll replace to Suppression Field. I'm still hesitating
Celestial Purge: Against Sorin, Liliana, Night of Soul's Betrayal, Eidolon of the Great Revel and other red/black annoying cards
Wear / Tear : Against Affinity, Bogles and annoying enchantments / artifacts
Blood Moon and Sowing Salt: Against greedy mana bases and unbeatable lands, like Celestial Colonnade, Inkmoth Nexus and Raging Ravine.
Mark of Asylum and Burrenton Forge-Tender: Against Pyroclasms, Whipflares, Anger of the Gods or Firesprouts.
Edit:
About the 21st land, I was keeping a lot of one land hands. With Outpost Siege, 21 is a good number I guess