So I went to SCG Baltimore with this deck last weekend and ended up in 57th place. Much better than I expected, I even recieved a Video Deck Tech from SCG (SCG Link, YouTube Link), so I figured I'd give a bit of a write up for the deck itself as well as a tourney report.
The ones and twos were mostly intentional. The deck is by no means optimal at this point, and could definitely use some improvements. I chose to eschew Tarmogoyf for two main reasons: 1. I have no Planeswalkers in the deck and I can't really controll his growth rate, and 2. while I own a playset of them, I only had access to two at the time of building the deck and Tarmo's really a 4-or-0 card in my opinion. Other changes I'd like to make is to find a way to fit in a second Eidolon of Rhetoric and Scavenging Ooze somewhere in the 75, as well as some number of Inquisitions, and fix the mana base because that thing is atrocious. I completely forgot to plug an Urborg in there, and it's massively vulnerable to Blood Moon, though AEther Vial does help with the creatures, at least.
I'm putting this behind nested spoiler tags so people who don't want to read it aren't forced to scroll through it.
vs Matthew playing Jeskai Geist
Business as usual. Doran SMASH and that was about all she wrote.
vs Ted playing 4c Control
This guy's deck was pretty cool. I lose game 1 thanks to a play mistake. I had a Courser and Hierarch out with a ton of mana and an Abrupt Decay in hand. I tap everything but my Hierarch and a Basic Plains for a Sword, which he counters. I then Swing, knowing he has a Snapcaster as the last card in his hand. He flashes in Snap, blocks, bolts the Courser, and comes back to win the game. Game 2 was no contest. I get double sowered and never come back. I don't think I could have won, anyway, but I was still annoyed with that misplay in game 1.
vs Ryan playing Splinter Twin
My first Twin opponent. Not much to say other than I can't math and run him over pretty quick. Game 2 was somewhat back and forth, but I ended with a Rhino off a Vial with him at 3 life.
vs Luke playing Merfolk
Doran plus Spellskite ends him pretty quickly game 1. He kept a sketchy 1-lander and I Decayed his Vial, punishing him. Game two I get run over pretty quick thanks to his turn 1 and 2 Vials and can't come back. Game three, I start with forest into Hierarch. He plays Island and passes. I try for a turn 2 Choke and he Spell Pierces. He then taps out for an Adept, so I slam the second choke and he never recovers.
vs Clay playing Splinter Twin
Another Twin deck! Yay! Game 1, I quickly smash him with normal beats and no Vial. Game 2 sees turn 1 Vial. He manages to get me down to 1, but I was able to finish him off, since he forgot his Snapcaster only his for 1 damage not 2 while Doran is out.
vs Zack playing Abzan
My first non-Blue opponent of the day! I crush him game 1 pretty handily thanks to Vial and Rhino. Game 2, we go back and forth for a while, but I start falling behing and he kept dropping Rhinos. Game three, he gets Blood Baron and I don't.
vs Sean playing Splinter Twin
Game one goes normal aggro, with me slamming threats every trn and him falling behind. Game two I turn-1 vial, which he never saw game 1, then Choke him and he's done. After finishing this round, I get called over to the booth for the deck tech video.
vs Evan playing Twin
Game 1 was fairly uneventful. I was never able to get much of a presence, though I did keep him off the combo for the entire game. Eventually, he gets me down to 3 and bolts for the win. Game 2, Doran comes out in force smashing him to 4 with the help of Rams and Harbingers. Game 3 I manage to Choke him out fairly early and he never recovers.
vs Kevin playing Abzan
Game 1 was some of the filthiest magic I've done in a while. Turn 1 Vial, he plays tapped Shock. I tick up Vial, vial in Harbinger during Upkeep to fetch Doran. Draw doran, play land, play second Harbinger for second Doran. He plays Bob. I slam Doran turn 3 and swing. The game was over in relatively short order after that. He wins game 2 due to some sequencing errors on my end, but I manage to come back G3 thanks to him getting mana screwed for a good chunk of the game.
vs Ben Friedman playing Splinter Twin
I saw my pairing and got excited. I got to play a pro, and sure enough, we got called up for a feature match. It was the Elspeth table, so we were the backup incase the primary feature match was over too quick. Unfortunately, despite Twin being a very good matchup for me, my deck decided it was time to not draw anything in the proper order, so I never saw Doran game one, and I didn't get my 4th land G2 until around turn 7 or 8. I did, however, have one moment of glory. Game 1, with a board of Spellskite, 2x Temple Garden, and 2x Overgrown Tomb, and only a Abrupt Decay cast before it, I tap my two Gardens for a Nyx-Fleece Ram. He has no idea I'm running Doran. Ben's eye twitches, he cocks his head to the side, and I'm pretty sure his brain crashed and forced a hard reboot. He sits there for a good minute or so before tapping his mana and announcing in the most depressed fashion "Cryptic Command, counter draw...." I consider it a moral victory. I also managed to Choke slam him game 2, locking 7 Islands for a few turns before he dropped an Engineered Explosives. Was not able to draw a Decay for the bombs, so I lost.
vs Alexander playing Tron
This... Was not my proudest moment. While I think he was trying to genuinely complement me on my deck and the fact that I got a deck tech interview, he came across as a complete and utter scumbag during the match. I was so infuriated with him when it was over, I simply signed the slip without checking after he filled it out. He filled it wrong, listing me as winning. I got called up to the judge stand, looked at the slip, gave him some kind of half-annoyed, half-surprised glare while he looked at me with almost puppy dog eyes, pointed at him and said "Yeah, he won, 2-0." and walked right back out into the lobby to talk to my friends. Which led to...
Unintentionally gave my opponent the bye as I never heard the announcement of the round, and didn't reenter the room until 15 minutes into the round. One quick trip to the scorekeeper's stage later and I am undropped.
vs Eric playing Rw Burn
Not much to say here. I had a relatively slow start, seeing only a Courser and a Rhino as lifegain during the round, and he swiftly burns me out.
Got the bye. Yay.
vs Mark playing UR Storm
He storms me out pretty quickly game 1. Game two, though, I get my revenge with a Nyx-Fleece Ram and Doran taking huge chunks of his life total. He's forced to burn both of his Grapeshots to kill a Siege Rhino after bouncing Doran with Echoing Truth. Doran returns and quickly seals the game. Game 3, he plays a tapped Steam Vents. I open with Thoughtsieze, taking his Empty the Warrens, seeing land, Electromancer, Rit x2, Blood Moon x2. He plays his second land and Probes me. I reveal a hand of basic Plains, Fetchland, Path, Golgari Charm, Eidolon of Rhetoric, and Rest in Peace. He balks hard, playing the Electromancer. A few turns later, I have Rhetoric and RiP in play when I slam Canonist. He packs it in.
Grats on your results. Since assault formation and Collected Company were spoiled in DTK I have been on Doran like themes. This is what I am currently testing (posted this over here initially)
The main is more Treefolk than yours. I did this on purpose because it makes Treefolk Harbinger a wonderful tutor spell and it makes Murmuring Bosk a much better land. I spent a lot of time on the SB, and I am pretty pleased with it. Chalice of the Void is probably the odd card in the mix, but just flat wins against boggles, cripples burn, storm and soul sisters, and makes infect have to work a lot. Thrun is for control and twin.
My current thought about the deck is drop 1 collected company for an eidolon of rhetoric.
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I like this list. The problem is none of these lists have card advantage which means it'd insanely difficult to recover from a boardwipe. Dark Confidant maybe? I also feel that Spellskite seems at the bare minimum, mandatory for sideboards.
I like this list. The problem is none of these lists have card advantage which means it'd insanely difficult to recover from a boardwipe. Dark Confidant maybe? I also feel that Spellskite seems at the bare minimum, mandatory for sideboards.
Courser is card advantage and heartwood storyteller is conditional card advantage. I don't have card advantage that is flat draw like with dark confidant (I was thinking about him, but I have too many 3 and 4 drops). I run spellskite x2 main and have been debating a 3rd.
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I like this list. The problem is none of these lists have card advantage which means it'd insanely difficult to recover from a boardwipe. Dark Confidant maybe? I also feel that Spellskite seems at the bare minimum, mandatory for sideboards.
Lingering Souls helps that A LOT. In my top 8 match (read my post on reddit) I got ***'d, then they had to *** away their sigarda b/c of my army of souls tokens I'd rebuilt.
I have been toying around with this card: Sapling of Colfenor as a 1x. It blocks basically anything, gains life, and gives card advantage. My fear is it is a bit slow, but with Leaf-crowned Elder and Treefolk Harbinger it is possible to tutor him or cheat him into play.
What do you guys think? In the mean time I did -2 Collected company and +2 Eidolon of Rhetoric. This deck is starting to form into a light hatebearers deck that beats down hard.
Oh did some testing online, Double scoop against Boggles, Game 1 was turn 2 spellskite. Game 2 was turn 2 chalice on 1. Then played Storm, and Between Eidolon of Rhetoric and Chalice, I managed to go 2-1. I lost the second game due to misplays.
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Just finished some testing, and I am really pleased how this list looks. It is tight, loaded with threats, has tons of main board disruption built into its threats and as far as I can tell hates very hard on 4/5 of the tier 1 decks. Junk is a tough matchup. I've only played a few games, but it seems a lot about if they can draw their answers against you. Anyway, here is the list:
I moved away from the treefolk plan a bit, in favor of more Doran and more Spellskites. Those two together are just gross. The last addition I made was Restoration Angel. This deck needed some flyers and they do a bang-up job in this deck. EoT Angel on Treefolk Harbinger means find your doran or mana fix as needed. Or even grab a Dungrove Elder, which feel like goyfs in this deck. In the late game they are just monsters. In the early to mid game they are big pains. The other main use for the Angel is to trigger rhinos, which is also gross.
This deck feels like it has a lot of synergies and apply pressure very fast. It is not unheard of to do 7 damage on turn 3, followed by 12 on turn 4. (Harbinger --> Spellskite --> Doran)
Honestly that version still looks too gimmicky for my tastes.
I went 2-2 drop at states yesterday. I went 4-0 in games against abzan and 1-4 in games against burn in 4 rounds. My burn games I either mulliganned into oblivion or didn't draw land so not really indicative of the matchup. Anyway, the guy I road with was also 2-2 so we just decided to leave. This is the list I think should be run
A guy at my local game store played this list on Monday night to a 4-0 victory and was on camera twice. Jason Backley said not to pay attention to the SB at the moment because he was still working on it. Really love Skinshifter in this deck too!
Here are the links to the video coverage: Round 2 Round 4
I plan on picking up this deck in the next few weeks to try and give it a go but still need some of the cards. Thoughts on Order over Tasigur for recursion? I was also thinking of increasing Murmuring Bosk to 3 and dropping a forest or Marsh Flats because it is searchable and taps for all 3 of the required colors.
I ended up 4-3 in 18th place out of 66 at my Modern States, losing once to Twin, once to Burn, and again to Robots. I beat GR Aggro, Tron, Twin, and Jund. Changes I would make, -2 Thoughtsieze, -2 SB Creeping Corrosion, +2 Inquisition of Kozilek, +2 SB Stony Silence. As you may notice, I completely excised Tasigur and Rhino from the deck. This is not a mistake. Collected Company offers way too much instead. I also added Fulminator Mage, mainly because forgetting them in the original list was a complete oversight on my part, and also to significantly shore up the Tron and Control matchups.
The biggest problem with this deck is it needs doran or assault formation to win, most of the time, yet they are bad in multiples. Assault formation is a tricky one for me. It is harder to remove, and definitely shifts combat in your favor and is a great mana sink. But at the same time it does not win you games. I am currently playing 2 in my list, but I may bump it up to 3, as it can really swing games in your favor.
Spellskite is a monster mainboard, and can flat out steal games by just breaking up disruption. It basically stops twin, infect and boggles cold, and slows burn down. 4 in the main gives you a great match-up against 3 tier 1 decks. For this reason I feel that 4 is a must. On top of that, it makes it very hard to get rid of Doran outside of board-wipes.
I started testing Skinshifter and he is just a house in this deck. Against burn, he is vulnerable, so you need to play him a turn 3 or later, but man can he just beat people up. Unopposed in my testing, he quickly turns into a 2-turn clock, and opponents can almost never favorably block the guy.
How do you guys feel about Path vs Abrupt? I am currently running abrupt main because the cards I really care about are generally 3 mana or less. Tron has the most notable exceptions, but outside of that, there are very few large threats that bother me.
About Rhinos and Tasigur. I think Tasi is a bad fit for this deck. We are not actively dumping cards into the yard, so consistently casting him turn 2 or 3 is not reliable, and frankly I have much better cards to cast on turn 2 and 3. I am still playing the rhino, and he is just solid every time I play him. The important thing about him too is he gives an alternative win con besides Doran/AF. Because I am playing the rhino I decided to play Restoration Angel too. Angel targeting the rhino is disgusting, and having so airpower is a good thing. The angel also can help protect your guys, as well as target Treefolk Harbinger to tutor up Doran or a land you might need.
I am having a lot of fun with this deck, and I believe it can be a solid tier 1.5-2 deck. The main decks that worry me are both flavors of junk. Lily is hard to deal with (why I use abrupt) but can be somewhat better with Order of Whiteclay around generating card advantage. Wilted Abzan is the one deck that I think can out beat us consistently. I don't have a great strategy against them yet. Do any of you have any experience playing against it?
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The biggest problem with this deck is it needs doran or assault formation to win, most of the time, yet they are bad in multiples. Assault formation is a tricky one for me. It is harder to remove, and definitely shifts combat in your favor and is a great mana sink. But at the same time it does not win you games. I am currently playing 2 in my list, but I may bump it up to 3, as it can really swing games in your favor.
Spellskite is a monster mainboard, and can flat out steal games by just breaking up disruption. It basically stops twin, infect and boggles cold, and slows burn down. 4 in the main gives you a great match-up against 3 tier 1 decks. For this reason I feel that 4 is a must. On top of that, it makes it very hard to get rid of Doran outside of board-wipes.
I started testing Skinshifter and he is just a house in this deck. Against burn, he is vulnerable, so you need to play him a turn 3 or later, but man can he just beat people up. Unopposed in my testing, he quickly turns into a 2-turn clock, and opponents can almost never favorably block the guy.
How do you guys feel about Path vs Abrupt? I am currently running abrupt main because the cards I really care about are generally 3 mana or less. Tron has the most notable exceptions, but outside of that, there are very few large threats that bother me.
About Rhinos and Tasigur. I think Tasi is a bad fit for this deck. We are not actively dumping cards into the yard, so consistently casting him turn 2 or 3 is not reliable, and frankly I have much better cards to cast on turn 2 and 3. I am still playing the rhino, and he is just solid every time I play him. The important thing about him too is he gives an alternative win con besides Doran/AF. Because I am playing the rhino I decided to play Restoration Angel too. Angel targeting the rhino is disgusting, and having so airpower is a good thing. The angel also can help protect your guys, as well as target Treefolk Harbinger to tutor up Doran or a land you might need.
I am having a lot of fun with this deck, and I believe it can be a solid tier 1.5-2 deck. The main decks that worry me are both flavors of junk. Lily is hard to deal with (why I use abrupt) but can be somewhat better with Order of Whiteclay around generating card advantage. Wilted Abzan is the one deck that I think can out beat us consistently. I don't have a great strategy against them yet. Do any of you have any experience playing against it?
I was inspired by a combination of Technomagus's list and some other lists I've seen in Deck Creation and ended up building a Doran-centric deck with 4 Collected Company in it on Cockatrice. 4 Dorans, 2 Assault Formation, 2 Treefolk Harbinger, and 4 CC are generally consistent enough to be able to warp creature choices around Doran.
I've been trying to tune the deck so it's not worse overall than Melira Collected Company Combo (Doran and Melira are better than Collected Company Elves against UWR, so there are reasons to play other Collected Company decks over Elves). It already feels Tier 2, but an awful lot of Collected Company decks do.
I believe 4 Treefolk Harbinger are only acceptable if you stick more Treefolk in the deck (like you do, Complex Pants). Since the only Treefolk in my deck are Doran and Treefolk Harbinger, my Harbinger gets significantly worse if I already have Doran/Assault out and/or have multiple Dorans/Assaults in hand. I sometimes chain Treefolk Harbingers in that case, but Treefolk Harbinger has one of the worst bodies in the deck. Nameless Inversion is removal that Treefolk Harbinger can search for (I haven't found room for it yet in my build, as my 61st card would be another 3--cmc creature because my second CC all game has been underwhelming).
I don't think 4 Spellskite are mandatory--2 have been good to me, though. Spellskites are monsters in current developed metas, but they're still 2-drops that have no offence without Doran/Assault (and having no Dorans/Assaults still happens to me for turns straight against disruptive decks or with enough opening hands).
On the Wilted Abzan match-up:
On paper, it's pretty bad--they have Lingering Souls the flying chump-blockers, Siege Rhino the walls-Doran-and-trades-with-X/5's, Voice of Resurgence the turns-into-a-monster, and Wilt-Leaf Liege the mega-lord-that-makes-nearly-everything-trade-with-X/4's. From the few games I played against them, it is pretty bad. You basically lose to two Lingering Souls (heck, possibly one Souls) if you don't pack quite a few evasive guys, and Rhino/Voice token/Liege-pumped stuff are the monstrous walls they're advertised to be.
I've tried some games against a fast Melira CC Combo deck I built, and the match-up is similarly bad--they often chump with the right guys and take medium amounts of damage, possibly stall us out with "Melira" + Persist, and insist on Decaying Doran/Assault, then eventually combo off through one removal spell.
I believe somewhat similar strategies are needed to combat both decks. I maindeck one Anafenza, the Foremost because I don't want to auto-lose against Melira and I want some beef that's not dependent on Doran/Assault, and I maindeck one Fiend Hunter because X/5's and the Melira Combo suck that much to face. Sideboard Drown in Sorrow and -1/-1 sweepers should help against them and other aggro decks. Evasive maindeck guys definitely help against them.
I used to be on the Order of Whiteclay train, but then I found that Abzan Midrange walled it way too easily. As that's one of the match-ups I want Order of Whiteclay to be good in, I booted Order for Fiend Hunter and haven't regretted it yet.
I'm trying some pretty weird and nifty card choices, some from other Doran decks: Disowned Ancestor: It's a 1-mana "4/4" that doesn't take long to trade with X/5's. Heck, if I can afford to Outlast that long, it can beat X/5's. Disowned Ancestor into Assault Formation is 4 damage on Turn 2, and that's the sort of stuff that wins games against Burn and combo.
Fiend Hunter: Mentioned above, but booting an X/5 really is that good, and Fiend Hunter has also booted some weirder stuff like Pestermite and Ezuri. It swings for 3 with Doran/Assault out, and that's good enough aggro for me. The times Collected Company cheated it in, it was bonkers. Abzan generally guns for Doran, anyway, so Fiend Hunter doesn't die as often as you'd think. Fiend Hunter does die to Bolt and is massive Cryptic Command bait, though.
Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers: It lets Doran beat X/5's, and in my deck, it lets Anafenza trade with X/5's. Shizo, Death's Storehouse is no substitute because two of the premier X/5's (Siege Rhino and Tasigur) are black. Eiganjo Castle could be a substitute, but it doesn't tap for green and it doesn't let Anafenza get X/5's out of the way.
Gavony Township: It screwed me over in one game but helped me win two games so far. Pumping our guys past X/5's is that good. I'll stick with it as a 1-of and not raise the numbers because it DID screw me over in one game.
Do you think that Fiend Hunter is really better than Order even though it dies hard to bolt?
At least from my testing against Junk Midrange/Melira Combo/Elves/Twin/Scapeshift/Wilted Abzan, yes, yes, Fiend Hunter is better than Order of Whiteclay in the match-ups we're weakest to, and it's much better against X/5's than Order is.
Gives me lots of removal for Junk variants, RIP for Finks combo and other GY strategies, Choke for control and twin, Chalice for delver, storm, boggles and burn. Weakest cards are honestly Golgari charm and Illness in the Rank. I am not sure when I would bring in G charm. Illness in the ranks is for twin and decks that use lingering souls. Not sure if I want to drop the 3rd AF and G charm for something else. I had some Restoration Angels in there earlier and they seemed like a fantastic choice, but never really did anything for me. I think they may be a decent SB choice, but I am not sure.
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I have bene playing the deck a good deal on xmage, and I have found that is it in this magic zone of between aggro and midrange. It can do a turn 4 kill semi regularly if an opponent fetches once. I decided to take out the recursive aspects (Witness and Whiteclay) because the deck tends to end games before they become useful. I replaced them with game ending threats (dungrove) and anti-burn/aggro creatures (Courser). I was playing around with Bob, but found I was playing against too many aggressive decks for him to be good.
Against 4/5 tier 1 decks, I think it has a pretty favorable matchup, Junk is the worst matchup, but that is slowly shrinking in its meta share.
Vs Twin:
you almost don't need to change anything. With 4 spellskites, 3 abrupts and 3 paths mainboard, you are already far ahead. This means they are likely going to go the tempo plan. Just be aware that Doran makes their Exarchs hit pretty hard. In general though you hit much harder much faster.
-2x Courser of Kruphix, +2x Choke
Vs. Affinity
Doran >> Affinity much of the time. They have virtually no way to get rid of him, and they try to make their creatures large with Cranial Plating which he nullifies. You also have 4 spellskites main which can block Etched Champion. Their outs are Inkmoth Nexus and Steel Overseer. Fulminators can shred their land base and handles Inkmoth quite well.
-2x Courser of Kruphix -2x Nyx-Fleece Ram, +2x Stony Silence +2x Fulminator Mage
Vs. Burn
Well, if they have the nut draw, they win. You can drop a lot of large blockers down fast and you spellskites can help mitigate some damage. I acutally don't sideboard at all with them. You can out race them quite easily, and you have a decent number of life gaining creatures to help you out. Feed the Clan is a decent card but we never actually have many high power creatures. Although I guess you could make it work with Skinshifters and Elders.
Vs. Infect
Lots of removal and a playset of Spellskites makes infect sad. Normally you can keep them off their game pretty well, but to make sure bring in some hand destruction.
-2x Collected Company -1x Siege Rhino, +3x Thoughtseize
Vs. Abzan
This is a hard matchup. Lily and hand destruction makes this a hard match. I have no great advice here. You can go much faster than they can, but they can grind you out pretty easily. Collected company can be a game winner here. I use the pithing needle here to shut lily down. I also use Rest in Peace to shut down tokens and Goyfs.
-2x Courser and -2x Nyx-fleece Ram, +2 Pithing Needle +2 Rest in Peace
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Hey everyone, glad I found this thread. I've been tweaking a similar build for a few months now. Mine's got a mini Time of Need package that's probably too cute and should just be replaced with Thoughtseize/IoK, but I like how it's been running so far at the kitchen table. Haven't had a chance to take it to any tournaments yet, as my work schedule hasn't permitted. It holds its own vs my friends' White Weenie, Dredgevine, Skred Red and U/B Delver(nothing really tier 1, but it's what's in our playgroup) Any comments or advice would be appreciated. I know the manabase is a bit rough
I'm tentatively calling it Under Siege 2(Siege Tower + Siege Rhino ;))
So I've already shared my list in another thread, but I'll share it here also.
My list is a bit different. I am trying to build a deck that is not just a worse version of other decks.
Just thought I'd drop this here, as I've been working on this deck for a bit.
This is my current list. It can beat most of the top tier decks in the format, but still needs some testing and tuning.
All the games felt close, and I feel like it can be a competitive deck with some tuning.
(Tested against: Affinity, Tron, GBx, Twin, LittleAbzan, Soul Sisters and UWR mostly)
Some thoughts after testing. I like Collected company, but feels a bit slow without mana dorks. You want to cast it turn 3... I board them in in slower matchups.
I will add an Urborg and test a singleton Nameless Inversion.
I want to test with skinshifter.. I've tried to make bolts and helix pretty bad against the deck, but It's for sure worth testing more as it has potential. It's also usefull without doran/formation, and can still attack through it.
The deck feels like a mix of combo, beatdown and hate and has performed well. Some decks fold to spellskites, some fold to ensnaring bridges, giving me enough time to eventually find my win cons. Me being able to attack and noone else is really unfair, which is nice!
First off, the deck:
1x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4x Doran, the Siege Tower
4x Noble Hierarch
3x Treefolk Harbinger
1x Scavenging Ooze
2x Siege Rhino
2x Nyx-Fleece Ram
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
2x Courser of Kruphix
1x Ethersworn Canonist
2x Spellskite
Instants - 7
3x Path to Exile
4x Abrupt Decay
Sorceries - 2
2x Thoughtsieze
Artifacts - 5
4x AEther Vial
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
1x Marsh Flats
1x Verdant Catacombs
4x Windswept Heath
1x Tectonic Edge
1x Reflecting Pool
1x Murmuring Bosk
1x Isolated Chapel
2x Woodland Cemetery
1x Stirring Wildwood
2x Godless Shrine
2x Overgrown Tomb
3x Temple Garden
1x Plains
1x Swamp
1x Forest
1x Blood Baron of Vizkopa
2x Rest in Peace
2x Choke
2x Krosan Grip
1x Zealous Persecution
2x GOlgari Charm
1x Fracturing GUst
1x Thoughtsieze
1x Creeping Corrosion
2x Torpor Orb
The ones and twos were mostly intentional. The deck is by no means optimal at this point, and could definitely use some improvements. I chose to eschew Tarmogoyf for two main reasons: 1. I have no Planeswalkers in the deck and I can't really controll his growth rate, and 2. while I own a playset of them, I only had access to two at the time of building the deck and Tarmo's really a 4-or-0 card in my opinion. Other changes I'd like to make is to find a way to fit in a second Eidolon of Rhetoric and Scavenging Ooze somewhere in the 75, as well as some number of Inquisitions, and fix the mana base because that thing is atrocious. I completely forgot to plug an Urborg in there, and it's massively vulnerable to Blood Moon, though AEther Vial does help with the creatures, at least.
Business as usual. Doran SMASH and that was about all she wrote.
This guy's deck was pretty cool. I lose game 1 thanks to a play mistake. I had a Courser and Hierarch out with a ton of mana and an Abrupt Decay in hand. I tap everything but my Hierarch and a Basic Plains for a Sword, which he counters. I then Swing, knowing he has a Snapcaster as the last card in his hand. He flashes in Snap, blocks, bolts the Courser, and comes back to win the game. Game 2 was no contest. I get double sowered and never come back. I don't think I could have won, anyway, but I was still annoyed with that misplay in game 1.
My first Twin opponent. Not much to say other than I can't math and run him over pretty quick. Game 2 was somewhat back and forth, but I ended with a Rhino off a Vial with him at 3 life.
Doran plus Spellskite ends him pretty quickly game 1. He kept a sketchy 1-lander and I Decayed his Vial, punishing him. Game two I get run over pretty quick thanks to his turn 1 and 2 Vials and can't come back. Game three, I start with forest into Hierarch. He plays Island and passes. I try for a turn 2 Choke and he Spell Pierces. He then taps out for an Adept, so I slam the second choke and he never recovers.
Another Twin deck! Yay! Game 1, I quickly smash him with normal beats and no Vial. Game 2 sees turn 1 Vial. He manages to get me down to 1, but I was able to finish him off, since he forgot his Snapcaster only his for 1 damage not 2 while Doran is out.
My first non-Blue opponent of the day! I crush him game 1 pretty handily thanks to Vial and Rhino. Game 2, we go back and forth for a while, but I start falling behing and he kept dropping Rhinos. Game three, he gets Blood Baron and I don't.
Game one goes normal aggro, with me slamming threats every trn and him falling behind. Game two I turn-1 vial, which he never saw game 1, then Choke him and he's done. After finishing this round, I get called over to the booth for the deck tech video.
Game 1 was fairly uneventful. I was never able to get much of a presence, though I did keep him off the combo for the entire game. Eventually, he gets me down to 3 and bolts for the win. Game 2, Doran comes out in force smashing him to 4 with the help of Rams and Harbingers. Game 3 I manage to Choke him out fairly early and he never recovers.
Game 1 was some of the filthiest magic I've done in a while. Turn 1 Vial, he plays tapped Shock. I tick up Vial, vial in Harbinger during Upkeep to fetch Doran. Draw doran, play land, play second Harbinger for second Doran. He plays Bob. I slam Doran turn 3 and swing. The game was over in relatively short order after that. He wins game 2 due to some sequencing errors on my end, but I manage to come back G3 thanks to him getting mana screwed for a good chunk of the game.
I saw my pairing and got excited. I got to play a pro, and sure enough, we got called up for a feature match. It was the Elspeth table, so we were the backup incase the primary feature match was over too quick. Unfortunately, despite Twin being a very good matchup for me, my deck decided it was time to not draw anything in the proper order, so I never saw Doran game one, and I didn't get my 4th land G2 until around turn 7 or 8. I did, however, have one moment of glory. Game 1, with a board of Spellskite, 2x Temple Garden, and 2x Overgrown Tomb, and only a Abrupt Decay cast before it, I tap my two Gardens for a Nyx-Fleece Ram. He has no idea I'm running Doran. Ben's eye twitches, he cocks his head to the side, and I'm pretty sure his brain crashed and forced a hard reboot. He sits there for a good minute or so before tapping his mana and announcing in the most depressed fashion "Cryptic Command, counter draw...." I consider it a moral victory. I also managed to Choke slam him game 2, locking 7 Islands for a few turns before he dropped an Engineered Explosives. Was not able to draw a Decay for the bombs, so I lost.
This... Was not my proudest moment. While I think he was trying to genuinely complement me on my deck and the fact that I got a deck tech interview, he came across as a complete and utter scumbag during the match. I was so infuriated with him when it was over, I simply signed the slip without checking after he filled it out. He filled it wrong, listing me as winning. I got called up to the judge stand, looked at the slip, gave him some kind of half-annoyed, half-surprised glare while he looked at me with almost puppy dog eyes, pointed at him and said "Yeah, he won, 2-0." and walked right back out into the lobby to talk to my friends. Which led to...
Not much to say here. I had a relatively slow start, seeing only a Courser and a Rhino as lifegain during the round, and he swiftly burns me out.
He storms me out pretty quickly game 1. Game two, though, I get my revenge with a Nyx-Fleece Ram and Doran taking huge chunks of his life total. He's forced to burn both of his Grapeshots to kill a Siege Rhino after bouncing Doran with Echoing Truth. Doran returns and quickly seals the game. Game 3, he plays a tapped Steam Vents. I open with Thoughtsieze, taking his Empty the Warrens, seeing land, Electromancer, Rit x2, Blood Moon x2. He plays his second land and Probes me. I reveal a hand of basic Plains, Fetchland, Path, Golgari Charm, Eidolon of Rhetoric, and Rest in Peace. He balks hard, playing the Electromancer. A few turns later, I have Rhetoric and RiP in play when I slam Canonist. He packs it in.
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I just now got around to writing my own note about the version I'm playing, here:
http://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/comments/30z1ka/modern_2_tournament_reports_in_1_with_doran_abzan/
2x Treefolk Harbinger
4x Nyx-Fleece Ram
4x Doran, the Siege Tower
4x Siege Rhino
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2x Path to Exile
4x Abrupt Decay
2x Dismember
4x Assault Formation
4x Tower Defense
1x Swamp
1x Plains
2x Gavony Township
1x Godless Shrine
2x Temple Garden
2x Overgrown Tomb
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Marsh Flats
3x Treetop Village
1x Stirring Wildwood
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
It's a blowout stall and kill!!
3 Doran, The Siege Tower
2 Courser of Kruphix
4 Treefolk Harbinger
4 Dungrove Elder
2 Leaf-crown Elder
1 Timber Protector
2 Heartwood Storyteller
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Siege Rhino
3 Sylvan Caryatid
2 Spellskite
2 Assault Formation
Spells
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Collected Company
Land
4 Murmuring Bosk
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
6 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Plains
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
2 Choke
2 Thrun, The Last Troll
1 Batterskull
2 Stony Silence
2 Path to Exile
2 Scavenging Ooze
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
The main is more Treefolk than yours. I did this on purpose because it makes Treefolk Harbinger a wonderful tutor spell and it makes Murmuring Bosk a much better land. I spent a lot of time on the SB, and I am pretty pleased with it. Chalice of the Void is probably the odd card in the mix, but just flat wins against boggles, cripples burn, storm and soul sisters, and makes infect have to work a lot. Thrun is for control and twin.
My current thought about the deck is drop 1 collected company for an eidolon of rhetoric.
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
Courser is card advantage and heartwood storyteller is conditional card advantage. I don't have card advantage that is flat draw like with dark confidant (I was thinking about him, but I have too many 3 and 4 drops). I run spellskite x2 main and have been debating a 3rd.
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
Lingering Souls helps that A LOT. In my top 8 match (read my post on reddit) I got ***'d, then they had to *** away their sigarda b/c of my army of souls tokens I'd rebuilt.
What do you guys think? In the mean time I did -2 Collected company and +2 Eidolon of Rhetoric. This deck is starting to form into a light hatebearers deck that beats down hard.
Oh did some testing online, Double scoop against Boggles, Game 1 was turn 2 spellskite. Game 2 was turn 2 chalice on 1. Then played Storm, and Between Eidolon of Rhetoric and Chalice, I managed to go 2-1. I lost the second game due to misplays.
Creatures
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Voice of Resurgence
3 Spellskite
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Doran, The Siege Tower
2 Siege Rhino
Planeswalkers
1 Liliana of the Veil
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Instants and Sorceries
4 Thoughtseize
4 Lingering Souls
4 Path to Exile
3 Abrupt Decay
Land
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
1 Temple Garden
1 Forest
1 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Treetop Village
2 Stirring Wildwood
Sideboard:
1 Darkblast
3 Timely Reinforcements
1 Spellskite
3 Stony Silence
3 Phyrexian Arena
4 Fulminator Mage
I keep updating here
http://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/comments/30z1ka/modern_2_tournament_reports_in_1_with_doran_abzan/
4 Doran, the Siege Tower
4 Siege Rhino
4 Treefolk Harbinger
2 Eidolon of Rhetoric
4 Spellskite
4 Dungrove Elder
3 Sylvan Caryatid
2 Coursers of Kruphix
2 Restoration Angel
Enchantments
2 Assault Formation
Spells
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Golgari Charm
1 Batterskull
Land
5 Forest
4 Murmuring Bosk
2 Temple Garden
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Swamp
1 Plains
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Golgari Charm
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
3 Path to Exile
2 Choke
I moved away from the treefolk plan a bit, in favor of more Doran and more Spellskites. Those two together are just gross. The last addition I made was Restoration Angel. This deck needed some flyers and they do a bang-up job in this deck. EoT Angel on Treefolk Harbinger means find your doran or mana fix as needed. Or even grab a Dungrove Elder, which feel like goyfs in this deck. In the late game they are just monsters. In the early to mid game they are big pains. The other main use for the Angel is to trigger rhinos, which is also gross.
This deck feels like it has a lot of synergies and apply pressure very fast. It is not unheard of to do 7 damage on turn 3, followed by 12 on turn 4. (Harbinger --> Spellskite --> Doran)
Anyway, tell me what you think.
I went 2-2 drop at states yesterday. I went 4-0 in games against abzan and 1-4 in games against burn in 4 rounds. My burn games I either mulliganned into oblivion or didn't draw land so not really indicative of the matchup. Anyway, the guy I road with was also 2-2 so we just decided to leave. This is the list I think should be run
Creatures
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Spellskite
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Doran, The Siege Tower
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Siege Rhino
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Instants and Sorceries
4 Thoughtseize or 3 and 1 LOTV
4 Lingering Souls
4 Path to Exile
3 Abrupt Decay
Land
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats
1 Murmuring Bosk
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
1 Temple Garden
1 Forest
1 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Treetop Village
2 Stirring Wildwood
Sideboard:
1 Darkblast
3 Timely Reinforcements
1 Spellskite
3 Stony Silence
4 Fulminator Mage
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Abrupt Decay
4x Doran, the Siege Tower
2x Eternal Witness
4x Nyx-Fleece Ram
3x Order of Whiteclay
4x Skinshifter
4x Spellskite
4x Treefolk Harbinger
Spells (8)
4x Path to Exile
4x Thoughtseize
Enchantment (4)
4x Assault Formation
4x Forest
1x Godless Shrine
1x Marsh Flats
2x Murmuring Bosk
2x Overgrown Tomb
2x Plains
2x Swamp
1x Temple Garden
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Windswept Heath
4x Abrupt Decay
2x Eternal Witness
2x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Illness in the Ranks
2x Oblivion Ring
3x Qasali Ambusher
Here are the links to the video coverage:
Round 2
Round 4
I plan on picking up this deck in the next few weeks to try and give it a go but still need some of the cards. Thoughts on Order over Tasigur for recursion? I was also thinking of increasing Murmuring Bosk to 3 and dropping a forest or Marsh Flats because it is searchable and taps for all 3 of the required colors.
4x Doran, the Siege Tower
2x Order of Whiteclay
4x Noble Hierarch
3x Treefolk Harbinger
2x Fulminator Mage
2x Nyx-Fleece Ram
2x Eidolon of Rhetoric
2x Courser of Kruphix
2x Spellskite
Enchantments - 2
2x Assault Formation
Instants and Sorceries -
2x Path to Exile
3x Collected Company
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Thoughtsieze
Artifacts - 4
3x AEther Vial
1x Marsh Flats
1x Verdant Catacombs
4x Windswept Heath
1x Reflecting Pool
1x Murmuring Bosk
1x Isolated Chapel
2x Godless Shrine
1x Woodland Cemetery
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Stirring Wildwood
3x Temple Garden
1x Forbidding Watchtower
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Plains
1x Swamp
1x Forest
1x Fulminator Mage
1x Ethersworn Canonist
2x Rest in Peace
2x Choke
2x Krosan Grip
1x Abrupt Decay
2x Golgari Charm
2x Creeping Corrosion
2x Torpor Orb
I ended up 4-3 in 18th place out of 66 at my Modern States, losing once to Twin, once to Burn, and again to Robots. I beat GR Aggro, Tron, Twin, and Jund. Changes I would make, -2 Thoughtsieze, -2 SB Creeping Corrosion, +2 Inquisition of Kozilek, +2 SB Stony Silence. As you may notice, I completely excised Tasigur and Rhino from the deck. This is not a mistake. Collected Company offers way too much instead. I also added Fulminator Mage, mainly because forgetting them in the original list was a complete oversight on my part, and also to significantly shore up the Tron and Control matchups.
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The biggest problem with this deck is it needs doran or assault formation to win, most of the time, yet they are bad in multiples. Assault formation is a tricky one for me. It is harder to remove, and definitely shifts combat in your favor and is a great mana sink. But at the same time it does not win you games. I am currently playing 2 in my list, but I may bump it up to 3, as it can really swing games in your favor.
Spellskite is a monster mainboard, and can flat out steal games by just breaking up disruption. It basically stops twin, infect and boggles cold, and slows burn down. 4 in the main gives you a great match-up against 3 tier 1 decks. For this reason I feel that 4 is a must. On top of that, it makes it very hard to get rid of Doran outside of board-wipes.
I started testing Skinshifter and he is just a house in this deck. Against burn, he is vulnerable, so you need to play him a turn 3 or later, but man can he just beat people up. Unopposed in my testing, he quickly turns into a 2-turn clock, and opponents can almost never favorably block the guy.
How do you guys feel about Path vs Abrupt? I am currently running abrupt main because the cards I really care about are generally 3 mana or less. Tron has the most notable exceptions, but outside of that, there are very few large threats that bother me.
About Rhinos and Tasigur. I think Tasi is a bad fit for this deck. We are not actively dumping cards into the yard, so consistently casting him turn 2 or 3 is not reliable, and frankly I have much better cards to cast on turn 2 and 3. I am still playing the rhino, and he is just solid every time I play him. The important thing about him too is he gives an alternative win con besides Doran/AF. Because I am playing the rhino I decided to play Restoration Angel too. Angel targeting the rhino is disgusting, and having so airpower is a good thing. The angel also can help protect your guys, as well as target Treefolk Harbinger to tutor up Doran or a land you might need.
I am having a lot of fun with this deck, and I believe it can be a solid tier 1.5-2 deck. The main decks that worry me are both flavors of junk. Lily is hard to deal with (why I use abrupt) but can be somewhat better with Order of Whiteclay around generating card advantage. Wilted Abzan is the one deck that I think can out beat us consistently. I don't have a great strategy against them yet. Do any of you have any experience playing against it?
I was inspired by a combination of Technomagus's list and some other lists I've seen in Deck Creation and ended up building a Doran-centric deck with 4 Collected Company in it on Cockatrice. 4 Dorans, 2 Assault Formation, 2 Treefolk Harbinger, and 4 CC are generally consistent enough to be able to warp creature choices around Doran.
I've been trying to tune the deck so it's not worse overall than Melira Collected Company Combo (Doran and Melira are better than Collected Company Elves against UWR, so there are reasons to play other Collected Company decks over Elves). It already feels Tier 2, but an awful lot of Collected Company decks do.
I believe 4 Treefolk Harbinger are only acceptable if you stick more Treefolk in the deck (like you do, Complex Pants). Since the only Treefolk in my deck are Doran and Treefolk Harbinger, my Harbinger gets significantly worse if I already have Doran/Assault out and/or have multiple Dorans/Assaults in hand. I sometimes chain Treefolk Harbingers in that case, but Treefolk Harbinger has one of the worst bodies in the deck. Nameless Inversion is removal that Treefolk Harbinger can search for (I haven't found room for it yet in my build, as my 61st card would be another 3--cmc creature because my second CC all game has been underwhelming).
I don't think 4 Spellskite are mandatory--2 have been good to me, though. Spellskites are monsters in current developed metas, but they're still 2-drops that have no offence without Doran/Assault (and having no Dorans/Assaults still happens to me for turns straight against disruptive decks or with enough opening hands).
On Path to Exile vs. Abrupt Decay:
I think a split is best. Decay actually disrupts some combo decks (Ad Nauseam's mana rocks, UR Storm's Pyromancer Ascension, Amulet Bloom's Amulet of Vigor) and completely screws over Twin, but PtE actually boots some very annoying buggers for Doran decks such as Siege Rhino, Tasigur, Wurmcoil Engine, Primeval Titan, Restoration Angel, Voice of Resurgence, and Wilt-Leaf Liege.
On the Wilted Abzan match-up:
On paper, it's pretty bad--they have Lingering Souls the flying chump-blockers, Siege Rhino the walls-Doran-and-trades-with-X/5's, Voice of Resurgence the turns-into-a-monster, and Wilt-Leaf Liege the mega-lord-that-makes-nearly-everything-trade-with-X/4's. From the few games I played against them, it is pretty bad. You basically lose to two Lingering Souls (heck, possibly one Souls) if you don't pack quite a few evasive guys, and Rhino/Voice token/Liege-pumped stuff are the monstrous walls they're advertised to be.
I've tried some games against a fast Melira CC Combo deck I built, and the match-up is similarly bad--they often chump with the right guys and take medium amounts of damage, possibly stall us out with "Melira" + Persist, and insist on Decaying Doran/Assault, then eventually combo off through one removal spell.
I believe somewhat similar strategies are needed to combat both decks. I maindeck one Anafenza, the Foremost because I don't want to auto-lose against Melira and I want some beef that's not dependent on Doran/Assault, and I maindeck one Fiend Hunter because X/5's and the Melira Combo suck that much to face. Sideboard Drown in Sorrow and -1/-1 sweepers should help against them and other aggro decks. Evasive maindeck guys definitely help against them.
I used to be on the Order of Whiteclay train, but then I found that Abzan Midrange walled it way too easily. As that's one of the match-ups I want Order of Whiteclay to be good in, I booted Order for Fiend Hunter and haven't regretted it yet.
I'm trying some pretty weird and nifty card choices, some from other Doran decks:
Disowned Ancestor: It's a 1-mana "4/4" that doesn't take long to trade with X/5's. Heck, if I can afford to Outlast that long, it can beat X/5's. Disowned Ancestor into Assault Formation is 4 damage on Turn 2, and that's the sort of stuff that wins games against Burn and combo.
Fiend Hunter: Mentioned above, but booting an X/5 really is that good, and Fiend Hunter has also booted some weirder stuff like Pestermite and Ezuri. It swings for 3 with Doran/Assault out, and that's good enough aggro for me. The times Collected Company cheated it in, it was bonkers. Abzan generally guns for Doran, anyway, so Fiend Hunter doesn't die as often as you'd think. Fiend Hunter does die to Bolt and is massive Cryptic Command bait, though.
Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers: It lets Doran beat X/5's, and in my deck, it lets Anafenza trade with X/5's. Shizo, Death's Storehouse is no substitute because two of the premier X/5's (Siege Rhino and Tasigur) are black. Eiganjo Castle could be a substitute, but it doesn't tap for green and it doesn't let Anafenza get X/5's out of the way.
Gavony Township: It screwed me over in one game but helped me win two games so far. Pumping our guys past X/5's is that good. I'll stick with it as a 1-of and not raise the numbers because it DID screw me over in one game.
At least from my testing against Junk Midrange/Melira Combo/Elves/Twin/Scapeshift/Wilted Abzan, yes, yes, Fiend Hunter is better than Order of Whiteclay in the match-ups we're weakest to, and it's much better against X/5's than Order is.
4x Treefolk Harbinger
4x Doran, The Siege Tower
4x Siege Rhino
4x Skinshifter
2x Nyx-fleece Ram
4x Spellskite
2x Eternal Witness
3x Order of Whiteclay
Spells
3x Path to Exile
3x Abrupt Decay
2x Assault Formation
2x Collected Company
2x Temple Garden
2x Overgrown Tomb
4x Murmurimg Bosk
3x Forest
3x Plains
1x Swamp
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Windswept Heath
1x Assault Formation
2x Chalice of the Void
3x Choke
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Golgari Charm
2x Illness in the Ranks
3x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
Gives me lots of removal for Junk variants, RIP for Finks combo and other GY strategies, Choke for control and twin, Chalice for delver, storm, boggles and burn. Weakest cards are honestly Golgari charm and Illness in the Rank. I am not sure when I would bring in G charm. Illness in the ranks is for twin and decks that use lingering souls. Not sure if I want to drop the 3rd AF and G charm for something else. I had some Restoration Angels in there earlier and they seemed like a fantastic choice, but never really did anything for me. I think they may be a decent SB choice, but I am not sure.
4x Treefolk Harbinger
4x Doran, The Siege Tower
3x Siege Rhino
3x Skinshifter
2x Nyx-fleece Ram
4x Spellskite
2x Courser of Kruphix
3x Dungrove Elder
Spells - 12
3x Path to Exile
3x Abrupt Decay
3x Assault Formation
2x Collected Company
1x Maelstrom Pulse
2x Temple Garden
2x Overgrown Tomb
4x Murmurimg Bosk
5x Forest
1x Plains
1x Swamp
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Windswept Heath
2x Choke
2x Fulminator Mage
3x Thoughtseize
2x Illness in the Ranks
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
2x Pithing Needle
I have bene playing the deck a good deal on xmage, and I have found that is it in this magic zone of between aggro and midrange. It can do a turn 4 kill semi regularly if an opponent fetches once. I decided to take out the recursive aspects (Witness and Whiteclay) because the deck tends to end games before they become useful. I replaced them with game ending threats (dungrove) and anti-burn/aggro creatures (Courser). I was playing around with Bob, but found I was playing against too many aggressive decks for him to be good.
Against 4/5 tier 1 decks, I think it has a pretty favorable matchup, Junk is the worst matchup, but that is slowly shrinking in its meta share.
Vs Twin:
you almost don't need to change anything. With 4 spellskites, 3 abrupts and 3 paths mainboard, you are already far ahead. This means they are likely going to go the tempo plan. Just be aware that Doran makes their Exarchs hit pretty hard. In general though you hit much harder much faster.
-2x Courser of Kruphix, +2x Choke
Vs. Affinity
Doran >> Affinity much of the time. They have virtually no way to get rid of him, and they try to make their creatures large with Cranial Plating which he nullifies. You also have 4 spellskites main which can block Etched Champion. Their outs are Inkmoth Nexus and Steel Overseer. Fulminators can shred their land base and handles Inkmoth quite well.
-2x Courser of Kruphix -2x Nyx-Fleece Ram, +2x Stony Silence +2x Fulminator Mage
Vs. Burn
Well, if they have the nut draw, they win. You can drop a lot of large blockers down fast and you spellskites can help mitigate some damage. I acutally don't sideboard at all with them. You can out race them quite easily, and you have a decent number of life gaining creatures to help you out. Feed the Clan is a decent card but we never actually have many high power creatures. Although I guess you could make it work with Skinshifters and Elders.
Vs. Infect
Lots of removal and a playset of Spellskites makes infect sad. Normally you can keep them off their game pretty well, but to make sure bring in some hand destruction.
-2x Collected Company -1x Siege Rhino, +3x Thoughtseize
Vs. Abzan
This is a hard matchup. Lily and hand destruction makes this a hard match. I have no great advice here. You can go much faster than they can, but they can grind you out pretty easily. Collected company can be a game winner here. I use the pithing needle here to shut lily down. I also use Rest in Peace to shut down tokens and Goyfs.
-2x Courser and -2x Nyx-fleece Ram, +2 Pithing Needle +2 Rest in Peace
I'm tentatively calling it Under Siege 2(Siege Tower + Siege Rhino ;))
4x Windswept Heath
2x Marsh Flats
2x Verdant Catacombs
2x Overgrown Tomb
2x Temple Garden
1x Godless Shrine
3x Razorverge Thicket
2x Forest
2x Swamp
1x Plains
1x Gavony Township
1x Vault of the Archangel
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Doran, the Siege Tower
4x Siege Rhino
2x Courser of Kruphix
3x Spellskite
2x Scavenging Ooze
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1x Anafenza, the Foremost
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
3x Abrupt Decay
3x Path to Exile
3x Time of Need
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
1x Illness in the Ranks
3x Nyx-Fleece Ram
1x Abrupt Decay
2x Creeping Corrosion
2x Zealous Persecution
1x Kataki, War's Wage
1x Anafenza, the Foremost
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
Legacy: U/R Delvernought
Jund Pyromancer
Junk Depths (on hiatus)
RDW (on hiatus)
Modern: Under Siege 2(Doran)
Boros Tokens
B/G Ramp
U/W Flash
Mardu Superfriends
My list is a bit different. I am trying to build a deck that is not just a worse version of other decks.
Just thought I'd drop this here, as I've been working on this deck for a bit.
This is my current list. It can beat most of the top tier decks in the format, but still needs some testing and tuning.
All the games felt close, and I feel like it can be a competitive deck with some tuning.
(Tested against: Affinity, Tron, GBx, Twin, LittleAbzan, Soul Sisters and UWR mostly)
2x Forbidding Watchtower
1x Forest
1x Godless Shrine
2x Marsh Flats
4x Murmuring Bosk
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Plains
1x Swamp
1x Temple Garden
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Windswept Heath
4x Disowned Ancestor
3x Doran, the Siege Tower
4x Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
3x Nyx-Fleece Ram
4x Spellskite
4x Treefolk Harbinger
4x Yoked Ox
3x Path to Exile
2x Tower Defense
Artifact (4)
4x Ensnaring Bridge
Enchantment (3)
3x Assault Formation
3x Abrupt Decay
2x Collected Company
3x Golgari Charm
2x Lingering Souls
1x Path to Exile
4x Thoughtseize
Some thoughts after testing. I like Collected company, but feels a bit slow without mana dorks. You want to cast it turn 3... I board them in in slower matchups.
I will add an Urborg and test a singleton Nameless Inversion.
I want to test with skinshifter.. I've tried to make bolts and helix pretty bad against the deck, but It's for sure worth testing more as it has potential. It's also usefull without doran/formation, and can still attack through it.
The deck feels like a mix of combo, beatdown and hate and has performed well. Some decks fold to spellskites, some fold to ensnaring bridges, giving me enough time to eventually find my win cons. Me being able to attack and noone else is really unfair, which is nice!