Tituba9, you have to be careful with antisynergy in your sideboard. You can't play Stony Silence and
Engineered Explosives and Ratchet bombs without having issues of them stepping on eachother's toes. They all come in in the same matchup, Affinity. You also have Mind Stone.
As for Smasher sticking to the board way better, I've found that not to be the case. Against counterspells Herder obviously is better. And against a Path to Exile I'd rather have 3 1/1s stick around than have my opponent discard a card.
Tituba9, you have to be careful with antisynergy in your sideboard. You can't play Stony Silence and
Engineered Explosives and Ratchet bombs without having issues of them stepping on eachother's toes. They all come in in the same matchup, Affinity. You also have Mind Stone.
As for Smasher sticking to the board way better, I've found that not to be the case. Against counterspells Herder obviously is better. And against a Path to Exile I'd rather have 3 1/1s stick around than have my opponent discard a card.
I think it is very much worth it to bring in both stony and E.E against affinity. I side out all relics and mind stones, and if having an opening hand with both a stony and EE means I get to jam a T2 stony and have a dead EE in my hand, I'll gladly take that. Stony shuts down basically everything they can do besides activate their moth lands. Shutting down cranial plating alone can swing the matchup greatly in our favor because of souls, herders, and our big bodied creatures. And if they get removal for the stony, by that time I've got the open mana to EE up to CMC=2 on the same turn I play it as a followup, continuing to shut them down. Each time recently that I have played affinity I have crushed post-boarding with this strategy.
Well I run two caverns in my paper version because there are quite a few blue control decks, I have trimmed a ghost quarter for it and have found two ghost quarters to be enough for me. Also, if you get a look at the blue player's hand and find out which counterspells they have, you can play around it and bait them out earlier on the game to make Smasher stick. Once smasher is on the field, you cannot deny he has way more staying power than Blight Herder. The only time I'd prefer a Herder is if they are getting countered and I get the cast trigger scions anyway. Against Path I would much rather have them discard and take a 2-for-1 in my favor to remove it, meaning I just spent 5 mana to have them discard two cards. If they path a Herder after it resolves, I just paid 5 mana for them to discard one and to get 3 1/1s. I prefer to have them discard two, but that just comes down to preference and how you play the deck.
Edit: Forgot to mention that affinity is the only matchup where stony comes in outside of R/G tron, and in both cases the power of the stony is enough to warrant some anti-synergy.
I can address a few of your comments. Vault of the Archangel is an insane card and needs to stay. Just having the threat of that ability to activate on your opponents turn can and will deny them from attacking into deathtouch 1/1 spirits or scions. There's situations where you've got a creature or other spell in your hand, but it's better to activate vault for the lifelink or deathtouch. It eats up land hate, protecting your Eldrazi Temples. The activation might not happen very often, but just the possibility or threat of it means its literally our best colorless producing utility land.
I have definitely had games where I've been praying for a T1 or T2 relic draw to enable my strangler's processor value. I'm sure the Sculler version alleviates this somewhat. The best way to avoid this is to pay close attention to opening hands and their synergy (or lack thereof), and to be content with a vanilla strangler or herder from time to time.
Most of the people posting of late have tried Eternal Scourge in their list, and I think the consensus is that at the end of the day, the recurring didn't really effect many games as they were decided too quickly, or it just was a boring vanilla 3/3 in a format filled with creatures that do more than have power and toughness.
Matter Reshaper is pretty solid and also fights for Scullers for slots in the main 60 in the Sculler + Herder version. If you go with no Scullers and Smashers, you could run 2-3 Reshapers.
Oblivion Sower is literally the card that got me to make this deck, but it was used because the lands were needed to ramp into Newlamog. There is just very little need for those lands when Sower is already at the top of your curve, and a 5/8 body nice but also a bit overkill for modern, smashers are already some of the biggest creatures played. And it's easily dealt with by removal, meaning you spent 6 mana to get extra lands you didn't need.
I would advise against trimming Dismember for a (6th?) discard. That slot is consistently used for instant-speed removal, either an Anguished Unmaking or Go for the Throat.
I went to the FNM at my LGS, went much better this time. 2-1 and felt a lot more comfortable with the deck. Even the Store Owner, who's an experienced player and Tournament judge, told me 'very well played'.
The changes I made for last Friday:
-1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
-1 Collective Brutality
-1 Dismember (moved to SB)
+1 Oblivion Sower
+2 Mind Stone
and the lands mentioned above.
I'm now trying some more changes online, cutting down to 1 Wasteland Strangler, cutting the 2 Mind Stone and playing 2 Oblivion Sower (not for the additional land although it may help a bit, but exile 4 and getting a 5/8 body is quite OK), 3 Matter Reshaper (replaces itself and brings more presence to the table and drawing a card for the same mana Mana Stone does eventually) and 2 Eternal Scourge (just keeps coming back, or when it dies in combat you can Relic > Exile it) just to see how it works.
I think it's keep, mulligan, keep, but that first one is a tough call. T2 removal if they're on aggro, then lingering souls spam into Sorin to catch up, seems reasonable if not great. Plus you have all your "colors" there.
I think it's keep, mulligan, keep, but that first one is a tough call. T2 removal if they're on aggro, then lingering souls spam into Sorin to catch up, seems reasonable if not great. Plus you have all your "colors" there.
Agree. The first hand is the trickiest, because its great if you find the third land before turn three, but terrible if you don't. I would definitively keep it if I were on the draw, but being on the play makes it a closer call.
I wouldn't keep that first hand, especially if you don't know what you're up against. All you would have is a 2 mana spot removal for the first couple turns, and you only have 2 draws to find a third land. If your opponent isn't playing creature threats, then your only plan is to sit there doing nothing hoping you get a 3rd land. Now if one of the other cards was a relic or Inquisition, then I'd probably keep it. That one declaration in stone is not going to save you if you do not draw a third land.
I've got a little starting hand question, as I'm new to the deck and don't know what to keep and what not (sure, I read the posts in the thread, but there are still hands I would keep and some I would not keep that are questionable)
G1T1 on the play:
Windswept Heath, Caves of Koilos, Declaration in Stone, Lingering Souls, Lingering Souls, TKS, Sorin
Keep, mull, keep. For the first situation, if you know what you are playing against it might be a mull. But you have chump blockers for days and a sorin to back it up.
Windswept Heath, Caves of Koilos, Declaration in Stone, Lingering Souls, Lingering Souls, TKS, Sorin
I'd keep this one. Odds are pretty good to draw into a land in time, and if you get two, you are in really good shape.
In my deck, you can draw 23 of the remaining 52 cards for T2 (assuming you fetch on T1, you can hit any of the 21 remaining lands or either of two Mind Stones) for a 44.4% chance; you also have roughly a 7.7% chance of hitting a Relic for another draw chance on that turn.
On T3 you still have a 21 of 51 card chance to hit a land and stay on curve if you bricked on T2, for another 41.2% chance. Ignoring the possible Relic line, you'd miss hitting your mana 55.6% of the time in T2, and then 58.8% of those cases in T3, or (0.556*0.588)=32.8% overall chance of missing altogether. The T2 Relic line gives you a better than 70% overall odds to make your mana on curve.
Spirit tokens, especially backed by Sorin, are a major win condition all by themselves. When I saw that opening hand, I thought, "snap keep". After doing the math, it's not as good as I first thought, but odds are pretty high that it'll convert on time and if it does it's very likely to be a winner.
Saw this list filed under BW Eldrazi Blink and wondered if you guys had any thoughts on it. Been testing this for the last few days and it feels really good, grindy and disruptive in all the right ways.
Here is a quick write up, prior to the GP I was focusing on getting back on a ketogenic diet and it showed up during the course of the day, in the form of being super hazy with my decisions & lots of restroom breaks; the brain wants carbs and I was feeding it fat. I finished 10-5 and 227 out of 1987 I believe.
Started the day with an amazing misplay I sat at the wrong table first time in all the years i've played magic dating back to the dark. There was a Steven Doran and myself as the only two Doran's I sat in his seat match one, had a judge come to me confirming i was Mr. Doran....yup....Steven....nope...luckily they were able to fix it, i didn't get dropped or a game or match loss just a very stern warning..I think the GP gods paid it back 5x throughout the course of the weekend with fish.
Round 1 vs Merfolk (2-0), Great OP, he took 4 life for a dismember on displacer even though he had 'swamps' available to him via urborg... MVP: Displacer, Souls & Ghost Quarter
Round 2 vs Affinity (2-1) game one, i kept a more controlling hand on the draw he had an explosive start, Game 2 Displacer, Wasteland relic lock, game three stony silence and dec in stone are sick, talk about flavor win i 3-1'd with dec in stone vs. Ornithopter.
Round 3 vs Elves (1-2) Game one get ranched, game two cage and displacer go the distance, game 3 keep a questionable hand on the draw, 2x temple, gq, urborg, strangler, tks and souls.
Round 4 vs Burn (2-1) lose game 1 with him at 3, game two and three blessed alliance, collective brutality and sorin do work. Turn 2 game 2, CoBr discarding souls and herder to kill his swift spear, take a searing blaze and gain 2, lose 2.
Round 5 vs Kiki Evolution against Jeff Hoogland (2-1) Here is where this diet began to wreak havoc on me, he takes game 1 eventually comboing me out, game 2 displacer and cage do work even after I ghost quarter myself essentially strip mining after i had pitched my second plains to liliana and had both my other basic's on the battlefield, game three i got a liliana ultimate off at 7 and sorin and vents got there in the end, he top decked inferno titan i had damnation at the ready, i was close to 50 life when it ended, throughout the course of the match i would say things like getting a stomping ground or some other nonsense, this diet was kicking my ass. Jeff was a good opponent though even in top deck mode, had a good conversation with him throughout the match. Got some diet coke and coffee in me after that, switched off the lemon water.
Round 6 vs Bant CoCo Spirts (2-0) game one shred his hand, game two one of my favorite plays of the tourney, I have displacer, he had a naked Spell queller he flashed in hes at three life, he goes to path my displacer, i blink his queller to to make him eat his path get a judge call...yup thats how it works, my turn untap with strangler in hand, process the path kill queller and swing in for the win.
Round 7 vs Ad Nauseam (2-0) game one i get a displacer , tidehollow lock with spoils under tidehollow, his draw step i blink tidehollow revealing he has another spoils and grace, i give him spoils taking grace, he tells me hes going to go for it, spoils naming unlife, first card turned over is lightning storm, moving on to game 2 i can smell the leyline in his hand, but my hand is gq, pithing neede and a displacer, godless and TS and something else. T0 he drops leyline and plays a scry land, T1 i play needle naming lightning storm, t2 i play temple and play displacer, t3 i ghost quarter his godless shrine during his draw step, he drew his one plains, and had basic island in hand which he revealed to me. at this point i'm 6-1 and a lock for day 2.
Round 8 vs Merfolk (1-2) Great games overall, game three i'm playing to an out of damnation i have vents and plains in my hand i even mentally tell myself to play the vents...i play the plains, next turn draw damnation, and play it into spell pierce that i knew he had from an earlier TKS.
Round 9 vs Jund (1-2) Game one TKS and Herder with relic get there, game 2 he junds me out, game three is a mulligan to 5, with relic, and i just draw lands and never see a single lingering souls for the whole match.
Losing two in a row of which the merfolk matchup is a bit better than a coin flip and jund is 70/30 in my favor since this deck plays like a better Abzan deck, sucks but thats why the 30% exists, take it in stride and go get some Chipotle (no shell, no rice, no beans).
Day 2
Round 10 vs RG Tron (2-1) Game on on the draw he natural trons and slams karn, we got time so i let him play out his threats to see what kind of build he is on, no use conceding. Game 2, IoK into Sculler into displacer gets there. Game three gets to a point where i have spellskite out he is low on life and i have needle naming Ugin, he's able to kill skite and blow up needle while i'm drawing lands when he casts ugin, he had sanctum out so he grabs ulamog, i was able to GQ one of his power plants earlier, so i need a top deck GQ, tap the top and the GP gods deliver, GQ his other plant on his draw step to keep him off tron, hes at one life, i need a vents soon or a Collective Brutality...the gods deliver again its a collective brutality, mode drain two gain two. MVP Ghost Quarter and Collective Brutality.
Round 11 vs Merfolk (2-0) Game one he lands Kira and while that is a great card displacer is such a great card in general but lets you counter Kira's ability at the cost of tempo. Game two he kept a mutavault / vial hand and i had disenchant and ghost quarter, the match was over quickly.
Round 12 vs Blue Moon (0-2) typically in my testing this is a great matchup, but game 1 i never drew a relic to shut off his snpacaster, even though he was at 3 life, and game 2 i didn't draw a lingering souls, his deck was interesting it had chandra flame caller, batterskull and consecrated sphinx.
Round 13 vs NayaU Kiki Evo CoCo with pestermite and deciver (2-0) Shred his hand and TKS get there, game 2 Cage, Souls and Damnation close it out.
Round 14 vs Merfolk (1-2) Close games all around, at one point I need to stop giving him draw steps and close it I decide to put down Ghost Quarter protection that is keeping his mutavualt at bay and offering blocks if I blow up my 'island' but he doesn't have any island walk so i tap out for blight herder and he draws a island walk lord to close it down. This opponent was kind of a dick game one as i'm clearly tapped out and can't block he goes to attacks and I go no blocks how much, and he shrieks derived information...of course, I then explain I'm just trying to keep life totals appropriate.
Round 15 vs Merfolk (2-1) against Jon Paton, had the pleasure of making his acquaintance in Omaha over wings before he top 8'd with fish last year. The whole match was a blast with a lot of fun banter and just a great feeling in a REL event when both people are genuinely playing for the win but having a blast doing so. At one point i dec in stone two of his Merrow Reejerey. Match ends and I have my first pro point.
Great weekend with great people and made some new friends along the way. Having a sideboard guide was huge and I recommend anyone that is going to be in a long tourney do the same as you only have so much energy to spend and its better spent in game than figuring out the old cliche of "take the bad cards out put the good cards in" that was a huge help during the weekend.
Nice results I must say for a person that's not feeling well
Do you find Declaration in Stone often hits just a single creature because there aren't multiple copies in play? Or is exiling that creature worth it nonetheless? And how often does your Wasteland Strangler actually kill something with its processing ability? I find the number of times a bit disappointing actually.
Thanks DC, getting back into keto will be worth it in the long run, having your blood sugar level instead of spiking pays dividends over long tournaments; me choosing to goto GP indy was a last minute thing and I paid a bit of price by not being at the top of my game as someone who had previously logged a lot of hours and had good success with this archetype.
Dec even as a 1-1 is still great even with giving them a clue, early game that clue is often going to just sit there and if they crack it you've gained tempo while helping turn on processing. The ability to have a blow out is very real especially against most of the linear tier one decks(Merfolk, Dredge, Affinity, Zoo, Burn). Lastly the opportunity cost is so low it makes sense to run it as a one of.
Wasteland I would put at about 70% because I've often relic'd/path'd/dec'd an early threat or something got removed from their yard. Even if wasteland comes down naked with out processing because of Displacer you will often get repeat value time and time again. On Friday for warm ups I went 3-0 in an 8man single elim and took down both a Drowner and Reality smasher by repeat processing against Bant.
Those are some spicy cards and if your meta is ripe with more controling decks you should be able to spike it.
The changes I'm going to make going forward are cutting MD spellskite and Liliana of the veil for two Liliana, The Last Hope. Virtual card advantage with her -2 is great for creatures in your yard or flipping over a lingering souls, her +1 is well positioned in the current state of the meta and her ultimate closes games. Jeskai Flash and boggles are tier 3 right now so if you have to deal with them you have blessed alliance in the board to deal with them in addition to just stripping their hand or racing.
A few questions I have on some cardsI have found a bit of success with. vendetta has proven quite valuable as a sideboard 1 cmc kill card for me, I have been running two and side them in against speed aggro decks. Hasn't really let me down, but not sure if it can exceed the utlity of blessed aliance/warping wail. I also have used grim discovery as another card against some of the grindy match-ups like jund. I have not had a chance to test the eldrazi displacer varient, but I will tommorow. What is you experience with brain maggot over tidehollow sculler? Better mana cost versus stats? Also I have been looking hard at 1-2 westvale abby as an alternate wincon. Win more or not?
Couple of commentss stormy. I dislike vendetta because my primary deck is zooicide, and vendetta at the wrong time can kill you.
I kind of like grim discovery, getting back a guy and a ghost quarter or something seems good.
The problem with brain maggot is the way it is phrased, which is after the "simplification" wizards has done with those types of cards. If your opponent kills the maggot in response, you get to look at their hand and that's it. If the opponent kills the sculler in response you opponent loses a card to exile for good.
The changes I'm going to make going forward are cutting MD spellskite and Liliana of the veil for two Liliana, The Last Hope. Virtual card advantage with her -2 is great for creatures in your yard or flipping over a lingering souls, her +1 is well positioned in the current state of the meta and her ultimate closes games. Jeskai Flash and boggles are tier 3 right now so if you have to deal with them you have blessed alliance in the board to deal with them in addition to just stripping their hand or racing.
First of all, good job at the GP! It was very interesting to read your report and it sounds like you got a little lucky in that RG Tron match!
Liliana, the last hope is very interesting. First of all, it helps use with decks that go wide (elves, merfolk) and against zoo/burn matchups and I really like the -2 ability. Kolaghan's command has proven itself in modern with the strongest ability to return a creature to your hand. Liliana, the last hope sticks around after it returns a creature to your hand and the ultimate is a game closer. I am interested to hear how it fares in the deck.
The problem with brain maggot is the way it is phrased, which is after the "simplification" wizards has done with those types of cards. If your opponent kills the maggot in response, you get to look at their hand and that's it. If the opponent kills the sculler in response you opponent loses a card to exile for good.
Wizards didn't change those types of cards for "simplification," they changed it because they don't want the interaction that happens when you kill a sculler in response to the ETB trigger going on the stack.
In other news, here's where I'm currently at with the deck. I can tell I need more time playing this deck, because I've been making a lot of mistakes, especially in how to sideboard.
Went to the modern event tonight at my lgs, went 2-2.
Round 1 vs. Infect (2-1)
I was happy playing this deck against infect, a lot of ways to deal with their creatures. Strangler being able to block guys through Apostle's Blessing was big, as was lingering souls. Game 3 displacer's effect prevented him from doing anything while I just kept chipping away at him. Lost game 2 because I kept a really iffy hand with little interaction.
Round 2 vs. Grixis Delver (1-2)
My opening hand had all 3 Scullers in it. While none of them survived and he did get all his cards back, he wasted all his removal doing so and I knew how to play around his hand. I was about to start attacking him next turn with a threat that stuck and a Vault to regain health, but he top decked a bolt and killed me. Game 2 I sided out all my Scullers and when I got a peek at his hand, he had Spell Snare. I wondered why he had it as I looked at my hand and thought about what 2 mana cards were in my deck, and I didn't make the connection with my Scullers until I sat down to type all this up. He later discarded the snare to terminate my smasher. This time I did get a late TKS to stick and use Vault to regain health. Game 3 he Probed my hand early and saw my Collective Brutality and Blood Baron and got really nervous. He had a Delver out and Probed me again. I knew from an Inquisition the turn prior that he didn't have his Mana Leak, so I was hoping he didn't draw it. I go for the brutality on turn 2, pitching an extra land, he didn't have the counter and I killed his delver and took a Kolaghan's Command from his hand. I got another Inquisition a turn or 2 before I played my Blood Baron, took his Mana Leak. Unfortunately he drew another leak when I went to cast the Baron a turn or 2 later. So more back and forth ensued and the game ended much like game one. I stick a TKS with a Vault in play, he topdecks bolt to kill me before I get the chance to swing and gain life.
Round 3 vs. Bant Spirits (0-2)
Game 1 he had a Geist, followed up by Taymio. I'm eventually able to kill both of them after lingering souls and Vault. He assembles some flying spirits and kills me with me just barely not able to gain enough life or block his stuff. Game 2, not only did I sideboard poorly, I played poorly. I only brought in the Hallowed Moonlights, All is Dust, and Blood Baron. Curse would have been insanely useful as the only creatures he ever had that stuck around were Wanderers, Selfless Spirits, and Rattlechains. I'm not sure what else I would have taken out for this matchup though... I also misplayed, could have played TKS on turn 2 but I thought Wanderer could be sacrificed to counter any spell. Despite my errors, we had some back and forth for a while. When everything was settled we were both topdecking, he managed to find a couple Wanderers and a Selfless Spirit to finish me off.
Round 4 isn't really worth mentioning as it was just against a mono-black jank deck that I destroyed without any problems. Despite the issues I've been having, I do still like this deck, and I am seeing a dredge deck or 2, so I want to keep playing this for the 4 main deck Relics against them.
Hangerback, Khalitas, and mutavault are all interesting choices. Could hangerback still be effective without K-command? Would hangerback be better with sorin? MD ratchet bomb is also interesting, as well as the endbringers.
This is the list I'll play tonight, will let you know how it ends up. It's a lot of 1-2-3 off's but so far it has done its job. Any thoughts are welcome.
Hangerback, Khalitas, and mutavault are all interesting choices. Could hangerback still be effective without K-command? Would hangerback be better with sorin? MD ratchet bomb is also interesting, as well as the endbringers.
well i can explain the ratchet bomb from experience. It hoses affinity and merfolk. It is effectivly a 2 mana wratch against those decks, and fills the same hole that declaration in stone has been used for as of late.
I think you reached your own conclusion blessed + PtE, and if you run declaration in stone is more than enough removal. Grim Discovery is is an interesting take, I think the new lili fills a similar role and against the GBx decks they are a very real underdog, we have more ghost quarters, manlands and souls in addition to keeping goyf and flayer in check with a much more consistent manabase. Tidehollow is worded differently than brain maggot and often late game if you have enough mana to double blink you get to permanently exile a card provided you stack the triggers in this order <-Return card <-Take card(placed underneath) <- remove card permanently. Westvale felt win more in my testing.
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Engineered Explosives and Ratchet bombs without having issues of them stepping on eachother's toes. They all come in in the same matchup, Affinity. You also have Mind Stone.
As for Smasher sticking to the board way better, I've found that not to be the case. Against counterspells Herder obviously is better. And against a Path to Exile I'd rather have 3 1/1s stick around than have my opponent discard a card.
I think it is very much worth it to bring in both stony and E.E against affinity. I side out all relics and mind stones, and if having an opening hand with both a stony and EE means I get to jam a T2 stony and have a dead EE in my hand, I'll gladly take that. Stony shuts down basically everything they can do besides activate their moth lands. Shutting down cranial plating alone can swing the matchup greatly in our favor because of souls, herders, and our big bodied creatures. And if they get removal for the stony, by that time I've got the open mana to EE up to CMC=2 on the same turn I play it as a followup, continuing to shut them down. Each time recently that I have played affinity I have crushed post-boarding with this strategy.
Well I run two caverns in my paper version because there are quite a few blue control decks, I have trimmed a ghost quarter for it and have found two ghost quarters to be enough for me. Also, if you get a look at the blue player's hand and find out which counterspells they have, you can play around it and bait them out earlier on the game to make Smasher stick. Once smasher is on the field, you cannot deny he has way more staying power than Blight Herder. The only time I'd prefer a Herder is if they are getting countered and I get the cast trigger scions anyway. Against Path I would much rather have them discard and take a 2-for-1 in my favor to remove it, meaning I just spent 5 mana to have them discard two cards. If they path a Herder after it resolves, I just paid 5 mana for them to discard one and to get 3 1/1s. I prefer to have them discard two, but that just comes down to preference and how you play the deck.
Edit: Forgot to mention that affinity is the only matchup where stony comes in outside of R/G tron, and in both cases the power of the stony is enough to warrant some anti-synergy.
WG G/W Tron GW
BG G/B Tron GB
GG Mono G Tron GG
RG G/R Tron GR
I went to the FNM at my LGS, went much better this time. 2-1 and felt a lot more comfortable with the deck. Even the Store Owner, who's an experienced player and Tournament judge, told me 'very well played'.
I have taken out 1 Caverns of Souls and 1 Ghost Quarter for 1 extra Godless Shrine and 1 Sea Gate Wreckage. Liking it!
I will also take back my comment of cutting Vault of the Archangel; that thing has won me games that night. So that's definitely staying in.
The changes I made for last Friday:
-1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
-1 Collective Brutality
-1 Dismember (moved to SB)
+1 Oblivion Sower
+2 Mind Stone
and the lands mentioned above.
I'm now trying some more changes online, cutting down to 1 Wasteland Strangler, cutting the 2 Mind Stone and playing 2 Oblivion Sower (not for the additional land although it may help a bit, but exile 4 and getting a 5/8 body is quite OK), 3 Matter Reshaper (replaces itself and brings more presence to the table and drawing a card for the same mana Mana Stone does eventually) and 2 Eternal Scourge (just keeps coming back, or when it dies in combat you can Relic > Exile it) just to see how it works.
Agree. The first hand is the trickiest, because its great if you find the third land before turn three, but terrible if you don't. I would definitively keep it if I were on the draw, but being on the play makes it a closer call.
Keep, mull, keep. For the first situation, if you know what you are playing against it might be a mull. But you have chump blockers for days and a sorin to back it up.
CBW midrange deck
CBW eldrazi processor deck
CBW bw eldrazi shadow midrange
In my deck, you can draw 23 of the remaining 52 cards for T2 (assuming you fetch on T1, you can hit any of the 21 remaining lands or either of two Mind Stones) for a 44.4% chance; you also have roughly a 7.7% chance of hitting a Relic for another draw chance on that turn.
On T3 you still have a 21 of 51 card chance to hit a land and stay on curve if you bricked on T2, for another 41.2% chance. Ignoring the possible Relic line, you'd miss hitting your mana 55.6% of the time in T2, and then 58.8% of those cases in T3, or (0.556*0.588)=32.8% overall chance of missing altogether. The T2 Relic line gives you a better than 70% overall odds to make your mana on curve.
Spirit tokens, especially backed by Sorin, are a major win condition all by themselves. When I saw that opening hand, I thought, "snap keep". After doing the math, it's not as good as I first thought, but odds are pretty high that it'll convert on time and if it does it's very likely to be a winner.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-w-b-blink#online
The various displacer/resto angel synergies make grinding out favorable.
My H/W list
Started the day with an amazing misplay I sat at the wrong table first time in all the years i've played magic dating back to the dark. There was a Steven Doran and myself as the only two Doran's I sat in his seat match one, had a judge come to me confirming i was Mr. Doran....yup....Steven....nope...luckily they were able to fix it, i didn't get dropped or a game or match loss just a very stern warning..I think the GP gods paid it back 5x throughout the course of the weekend with fish.
1 spellskite
2 tidehollow sculler
2 wasteland strangler
3 eldrazi displacer
3 blight herder
4 Thought-Knot Seer
Spells 21
4 Lingering Souls
4 Path to Exile
4 Relic of Progenitus
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Liliana of the veil
1 Declaration in Stone
1 Collective Brutality
4 Marsh Flats
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Shambling Vent
3 Ghost Quarter
2 Godless Shrine
2 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
3 Blessed Alliance
2 Damnation
2 Zealous Persecution
2 Stony Silence
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Collective Brutality
1 Disenchant
1 Duress
1 Pithing Needle
Round 1 vs Merfolk (2-0), Great OP, he took 4 life for a dismember on displacer even though he had 'swamps' available to him via urborg... MVP: Displacer, Souls & Ghost Quarter
Round 2 vs Affinity (2-1) game one, i kept a more controlling hand on the draw he had an explosive start, Game 2 Displacer, Wasteland relic lock, game three stony silence and dec in stone are sick, talk about flavor win i 3-1'd with dec in stone vs. Ornithopter.
Round 3 vs Elves (1-2) Game one get ranched, game two cage and displacer go the distance, game 3 keep a questionable hand on the draw, 2x temple, gq, urborg, strangler, tks and souls.
Round 4 vs Burn (2-1) lose game 1 with him at 3, game two and three blessed alliance, collective brutality and sorin do work. Turn 2 game 2, CoBr discarding souls and herder to kill his swift spear, take a searing blaze and gain 2, lose 2.
Round 5 vs Kiki Evolution against Jeff Hoogland (2-1) Here is where this diet began to wreak havoc on me, he takes game 1 eventually comboing me out, game 2 displacer and cage do work even after I ghost quarter myself essentially strip mining after i had pitched my second plains to liliana and had both my other basic's on the battlefield, game three i got a liliana ultimate off at 7 and sorin and vents got there in the end, he top decked inferno titan i had damnation at the ready, i was close to 50 life when it ended, throughout the course of the match i would say things like getting a stomping ground or some other nonsense, this diet was kicking my ass. Jeff was a good opponent though even in top deck mode, had a good conversation with him throughout the match. Got some diet coke and coffee in me after that, switched off the lemon water.
Round 6 vs Bant CoCo Spirts (2-0) game one shred his hand, game two one of my favorite plays of the tourney, I have displacer, he had a naked Spell queller he flashed in hes at three life, he goes to path my displacer, i blink his queller to to make him eat his path get a judge call...yup thats how it works, my turn untap with strangler in hand, process the path kill queller and swing in for the win.
Round 7 vs Ad Nauseam (2-0) game one i get a displacer , tidehollow lock with spoils under tidehollow, his draw step i blink tidehollow revealing he has another spoils and grace, i give him spoils taking grace, he tells me hes going to go for it, spoils naming unlife, first card turned over is lightning storm, moving on to game 2 i can smell the leyline in his hand, but my hand is gq, pithing neede and a displacer, godless and TS and something else. T0 he drops leyline and plays a scry land, T1 i play needle naming lightning storm, t2 i play temple and play displacer, t3 i ghost quarter his godless shrine during his draw step, he drew his one plains, and had basic island in hand which he revealed to me. at this point i'm 6-1 and a lock for day 2.
Round 8 vs Merfolk (1-2) Great games overall, game three i'm playing to an out of damnation i have vents and plains in my hand i even mentally tell myself to play the vents...i play the plains, next turn draw damnation, and play it into spell pierce that i knew he had from an earlier TKS.
Round 9 vs Jund (1-2) Game one TKS and Herder with relic get there, game 2 he junds me out, game three is a mulligan to 5, with relic, and i just draw lands and never see a single lingering souls for the whole match.
Losing two in a row of which the merfolk matchup is a bit better than a coin flip and jund is 70/30 in my favor since this deck plays like a better Abzan deck, sucks but thats why the 30% exists, take it in stride and go get some Chipotle (no shell, no rice, no beans).
Day 2
Round 10 vs RG Tron (2-1) Game on on the draw he natural trons and slams karn, we got time so i let him play out his threats to see what kind of build he is on, no use conceding. Game 2, IoK into Sculler into displacer gets there. Game three gets to a point where i have spellskite out he is low on life and i have needle naming Ugin, he's able to kill skite and blow up needle while i'm drawing lands when he casts ugin, he had sanctum out so he grabs ulamog, i was able to GQ one of his power plants earlier, so i need a top deck GQ, tap the top and the GP gods deliver, GQ his other plant on his draw step to keep him off tron, hes at one life, i need a vents soon or a Collective Brutality...the gods deliver again its a collective brutality, mode drain two gain two. MVP Ghost Quarter and Collective Brutality.
Round 11 vs Merfolk (2-0) Game one he lands Kira and while that is a great card displacer is such a great card in general but lets you counter Kira's ability at the cost of tempo. Game two he kept a mutavault / vial hand and i had disenchant and ghost quarter, the match was over quickly.
Round 12 vs Blue Moon (0-2) typically in my testing this is a great matchup, but game 1 i never drew a relic to shut off his snpacaster, even though he was at 3 life, and game 2 i didn't draw a lingering souls, his deck was interesting it had chandra flame caller, batterskull and consecrated sphinx.
Round 13 vs NayaU Kiki Evo CoCo with pestermite and deciver (2-0) Shred his hand and TKS get there, game 2 Cage, Souls and Damnation close it out.
Round 14 vs Merfolk (1-2) Close games all around, at one point I need to stop giving him draw steps and close it I decide to put down Ghost Quarter protection that is keeping his mutavualt at bay and offering blocks if I blow up my 'island' but he doesn't have any island walk so i tap out for blight herder and he draws a island walk lord to close it down. This opponent was kind of a dick game one as i'm clearly tapped out and can't block he goes to attacks and I go no blocks how much, and he shrieks derived information...of course, I then explain I'm just trying to keep life totals appropriate.
Round 15 vs Merfolk (2-1) against Jon Paton, had the pleasure of making his acquaintance in Omaha over wings before he top 8'd with fish last year. The whole match was a blast with a lot of fun banter and just a great feeling in a REL event when both people are genuinely playing for the win but having a blast doing so. At one point i dec in stone two of his Merrow Reejerey. Match ends and I have my first pro point.
Great weekend with great people and made some new friends along the way. Having a sideboard guide was huge and I recommend anyone that is going to be in a long tourney do the same as you only have so much energy to spend and its better spent in game than figuring out the old cliche of "take the bad cards out put the good cards in" that was a huge help during the weekend.
Do you find Declaration in Stone often hits just a single creature because there aren't multiple copies in play? Or is exiling that creature worth it nonetheless? And how often does your Wasteland Strangler actually kill something with its processing ability? I find the number of times a bit disappointing actually.
Currently testing with 1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, 2 Oblivion Sower and 1 Sorin, Grim Nemesis. Curve goes up quite a bit, but not too shabby.
Dec even as a 1-1 is still great even with giving them a clue, early game that clue is often going to just sit there and if they crack it you've gained tempo while helping turn on processing. The ability to have a blow out is very real especially against most of the linear tier one decks(Merfolk, Dredge, Affinity, Zoo, Burn). Lastly the opportunity cost is so low it makes sense to run it as a one of.
Wasteland I would put at about 70% because I've often relic'd/path'd/dec'd an early threat or something got removed from their yard. Even if wasteland comes down naked with out processing because of Displacer you will often get repeat value time and time again. On Friday for warm ups I went 3-0 in an 8man single elim and took down both a Drowner and Reality smasher by repeat processing against Bant.
Those are some spicy cards and if your meta is ripe with more controling decks you should be able to spike it.
The changes I'm going to make going forward are cutting MD spellskite and Liliana of the veil for two Liliana, The Last Hope. Virtual card advantage with her -2 is great for creatures in your yard or flipping over a lingering souls, her +1 is well positioned in the current state of the meta and her ultimate closes games. Jeskai Flash and boggles are tier 3 right now so if you have to deal with them you have blessed alliance in the board to deal with them in addition to just stripping their hand or racing.
A few questions I have on some cardsI have found a bit of success with. vendetta has proven quite valuable as a sideboard 1 cmc kill card for me, I have been running two and side them in against speed aggro decks. Hasn't really let me down, but not sure if it can exceed the utlity of blessed aliance/warping wail. I also have used grim discovery as another card against some of the grindy match-ups like jund. I have not had a chance to test the eldrazi displacer varient, but I will tommorow. What is you experience with brain maggot over tidehollow sculler? Better mana cost versus stats? Also I have been looking hard at 1-2 westvale abby as an alternate wincon. Win more or not?
I kind of like grim discovery, getting back a guy and a ghost quarter or something seems good.
The problem with brain maggot is the way it is phrased, which is after the "simplification" wizards has done with those types of cards. If your opponent kills the maggot in response, you get to look at their hand and that's it. If the opponent kills the sculler in response you opponent loses a card to exile for good.
My H/W list
First of all, good job at the GP! It was very interesting to read your report and it sounds like you got a little lucky in that RG Tron match!
Liliana, the last hope is very interesting. First of all, it helps use with decks that go wide (elves, merfolk) and against zoo/burn matchups and I really like the -2 ability. Kolaghan's command has proven itself in modern with the strongest ability to return a creature to your hand. Liliana, the last hope sticks around after it returns a creature to your hand and the ultimate is a game closer. I am interested to hear how it fares in the deck.
CBW midrange deck
CBW eldrazi processor deck
CBW bw eldrazi shadow midrange
Wizards didn't change those types of cards for "simplification," they changed it because they don't want the interaction that happens when you kill a sculler in response to the ETB trigger going on the stack.
In other news, here's where I'm currently at with the deck. I can tell I need more time playing this deck, because I've been making a lot of mistakes, especially in how to sideboard.
3 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Matter Reshaper
4 Wasteland Stangler
1 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Reality Smasher
Other Spells (19)
4 Relic of Progenitus
1 Expedition Map
4 Path to Exile
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
1 Collective Brutality
1 Anguished Unmaking
4 Lingering Souls
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
1 Windswept Heath
2 Godless Shrine
1 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Shambling Vent
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Hallowed Moonlight
2 All is Dust
2 Disenchant
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
1 Curse of Death's Hold
Went to the modern event tonight at my lgs, went 2-2.
Round 1 vs. Infect (2-1)
I was happy playing this deck against infect, a lot of ways to deal with their creatures. Strangler being able to block guys through Apostle's Blessing was big, as was lingering souls. Game 3 displacer's effect prevented him from doing anything while I just kept chipping away at him. Lost game 2 because I kept a really iffy hand with little interaction.
Round 2 vs. Grixis Delver (1-2)
My opening hand had all 3 Scullers in it. While none of them survived and he did get all his cards back, he wasted all his removal doing so and I knew how to play around his hand. I was about to start attacking him next turn with a threat that stuck and a Vault to regain health, but he top decked a bolt and killed me. Game 2 I sided out all my Scullers and when I got a peek at his hand, he had Spell Snare. I wondered why he had it as I looked at my hand and thought about what 2 mana cards were in my deck, and I didn't make the connection with my Scullers until I sat down to type all this up. He later discarded the snare to terminate my smasher. This time I did get a late TKS to stick and use Vault to regain health. Game 3 he Probed my hand early and saw my Collective Brutality and Blood Baron and got really nervous. He had a Delver out and Probed me again. I knew from an Inquisition the turn prior that he didn't have his Mana Leak, so I was hoping he didn't draw it. I go for the brutality on turn 2, pitching an extra land, he didn't have the counter and I killed his delver and took a Kolaghan's Command from his hand. I got another Inquisition a turn or 2 before I played my Blood Baron, took his Mana Leak. Unfortunately he drew another leak when I went to cast the Baron a turn or 2 later. So more back and forth ensued and the game ended much like game one. I stick a TKS with a Vault in play, he topdecks bolt to kill me before I get the chance to swing and gain life.
Round 3 vs. Bant Spirits (0-2)
Game 1 he had a Geist, followed up by Taymio. I'm eventually able to kill both of them after lingering souls and Vault. He assembles some flying spirits and kills me with me just barely not able to gain enough life or block his stuff. Game 2, not only did I sideboard poorly, I played poorly. I only brought in the Hallowed Moonlights, All is Dust, and Blood Baron. Curse would have been insanely useful as the only creatures he ever had that stuck around were Wanderers, Selfless Spirits, and Rattlechains. I'm not sure what else I would have taken out for this matchup though... I also misplayed, could have played TKS on turn 2 but I thought Wanderer could be sacrificed to counter any spell. Despite my errors, we had some back and forth for a while. When everything was settled we were both topdecking, he managed to find a couple Wanderers and a Selfless Spirit to finish me off.
Round 4 isn't really worth mentioning as it was just against a mono-black jank deck that I destroyed without any problems. Despite the issues I've been having, I do still like this deck, and I am seeing a dredge deck or 2, so I want to keep playing this for the 4 main deck Relics against them.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/465915#paper
Hangerback, Khalitas, and mutavault are all interesting choices. Could hangerback still be effective without K-command? Would hangerback be better with sorin? MD ratchet bomb is also interesting, as well as the endbringers.
My H/W list
2 Tidehollow Sculler
1 Wasteland Strangler
2 Eternal Scourge
3 Matter Reshaper
4 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Blight Herder
3 Oblivion Sower
Spells - 16
4 Path to Exile
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
Land - 24
1 Plains
2 Swamp
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Caves of Koilos
1 Isolated Chapel
3 Marsh Flats
3 Godless Shrine
2 Shambling Vent
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
1 Vault of the Archangel
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Timely Reinforcements
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2 Celestial Purge
2 Stony Silence
2 Pithing Needle
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Wrath of God
1 All is Dust
well i can explain the ratchet bomb from experience. It hoses affinity and merfolk. It is effectivly a 2 mana wratch against those decks, and fills the same hole that declaration in stone has been used for as of late.