It's been a while since I played this deck. Right now I'm looking for something to deal with my crazy meta, it's all over the place. Lately I've been losing to Grixis Delver, various control decks with Ancestral Vision, Breach Titan, Abzan Coco, but I also have merfolk, tron (GR and U varieties), infect on a regular basis, and the occasional affinity, burn, zoo, Jund, and Ad Nauseum. I've been playing a really off the wall Saultai artifact gifts control, but it's only been doing good against half the stuff I run into. With such a diverse meta, I feel I need a versatile deck choice. Would this be a good deck to run? Here's the last list I played, which dates back to around Septemberish of last year.
Looking at the list, I recall liking the Tidehallows against combo and heavy creature decks, and decks that didn't have tons of removal. They were generally sided out against control decks or jund/abzan that can just remove it easily. Can't remember why there's only 2 Smashers, other than space issues. I didn't care much for Mind Stone either, and just opted for a 25 land, 1 Expedition Map set up instead.
It's my belief that Sculler and C-cost Eldrazi are a tough pairing because of the mana demands. I suspect you don't have quite enough BW sources to reliably cast Sculler on-curve, especially with 3 lands that ETB tapped. I find Smasher to be one of the absolute all-stars in the deck, and personally I can't see myself going below a playset for any foreseeable reason.
I would definitely suggest making some room for Fatal Push and trying to find room for all four Smashers. Against the meta you describe, I would expect my build to be good (in some cases very good) against all of it except for Tron, Breach Titan, and Merfolk, which are all hard matches.
My build was actually pretty good against Merfolk. Tidehallows were really nice in that matchup since they're light on removal, and their counters typically only hit non-creatures, plus they gave me something to process. Blood Baron out of the board also helps in that matchup by being a body that's difficult to deal with and immune to Dismember.
The tidehallows might not have always been online by turn 2, but you also don't always have them on turn 2 either, and most of the time when I did, the manabase to play it on turn 2 wasn't as inconsistent as I thought it would have been. Besides, you can't always rely on Reshaper or Strangler being a turn 2 play. Generally, if an eldrazi wasn't happening on turn 2, then a tidehallow probably was. But meh, I do need to cut something for some fatal pushes and more Smashers if I'm going to be playing this deck again.
So you think this would be a good choice for my meta, or should I try something else (I'm a heavy control player btw)?
If you are playing tidehollows I strongly suggest you go the Blight herder route, instead of smashers, and displacer instead of reshaper. You shuld up two tô three concealed courtyards, cutting maybe a ghost quarter and 1 koilos, perhaps. Also, the New mimic lord from AER and up to 2 sorins... Abusing tokens in general. I would run two to three warping wails in the 75 to deal with scapeshift, tron sweepers, affinity 1/1s and so on, which also can throw a token tô the table.
Deadrift have talk about this angle of attack a few pages earlier, im sure you can find Good info reggarding scullers there
I've only been playing this deck casually but really like some of the new suggestions on the past couple of pages (Lili, Endless One).
New Lili feels much better than Sorin. After playing Sorin I always feel like I need to leave something back to protect him, which conflicts with what you want to do for maximum lifegain. Lili can either protect herself or replace herself. Her ultimate is also much closer to a free win than Sorin's.
It's maybe kind of loose but I've been playing around with a one-of Whip of Erebos. Same CMC as Sorin, same lifelink anthem (that doesn't die on the crack-back) and the buyback ability is not irrelevant.
Hey guys, I've had a very busy first couple weeks of the semester, and haven't gotten to play much since aether Revolt released. I did play an FNM to a disappointing 1-2 record last Friday, where it felt I was always drawing the wrong half of my deck. However this weekend I played two friendly leagues on mtgo, and in the first one I got my first ever 5-0 in a league! The next league I lost the first round and won the next 4 to finish 4-1. Im at work so I can't look up my opponents right now. Fatal Push and new Lili were absolute all-stars, with push it makes using removal early in the game so much easier. Now I can push a dark confidant immediately once it's played without worrying about whether I'll have a path or something else ready for their larger threats. It was extremely nice to be able to throw my removal out there without thinking about whether or not to save it for a larger threat later on. Lili was an absolute house and even ulted once against a merfolk deck. The +1 clawed me back into games against merfolk and some white lifegain deck, the minus was only used once but it was a very strong play that got me a TKS back and I cast it to exile a batterskull. Sorin and Lili as one-ofs feel pretty damn good. I will also say that I advocate 4 paths main deck as I still see it as our primary removal; it is unconditional (don't need to play around revolt on top of the 4 CMC cap push has), exiles problem cards with death triggers/indestructible, powers processing, hits anything up to and including newlamog, and the only downside is it ramps the opponent. I don't put much weight into that because unless its T1 or T2 against infect or burn, im not the slightest bit worried about it because I've got my own ramp, tons of threats and removal to draw.
This is the list I used for the two leagues, I was only running two relics and I must say I did not run into a single game where I had a 'durdley' open with too many relics + mind stones, most of my inconsistencies with the deck occurred when I drew too many of these cards early on. I'm beginning to wonder if maybe 4 artifacts is the ideal number, whether it be a 2-2 split, 3 relics and 1 stone, or 4 relics and zero stone. Here is the list:
Note: I do not own caverns or EE online, if I owned caverns I would have 1-2 mainboard and Fetid Heath would be the first land to go. I would consider a 1-1 split of EE and ratchet in the side, however because of two Damnations maybe the need for a T3 CMC=2 boardwipe isn't as necessary and it's too narrow to have a sideboard slot for EE.
I've only been playing this deck casually but really like some of the new suggestions on the past couple of pages (Lili, Endless One).
New Lili feels much better than Sorin. After playing Sorin I always feel like I need to leave something back to protect him, which conflicts with what you want to do for maximum lifegain. Lili can either protect herself or replace herself. Her ultimate is also much closer to a free win than Sorin's.
It's maybe kind of loose but I've been playing around with a one-of Whip of Erebos. Same CMC as Sorin, same lifelink anthem (that doesn't die on the crack-back) and the buyback ability is not irrelevant.
Why not both? If you look at my previous post I went 9-1 over two leagues on mtgo with one of each walker. It increased the consistency of games where I played a walker, and having both on the field at once is insane! Sorin does need protecting, but he can make a 2/2 flyer to help out with that and it is highly underrated. Lili needs protecting too, if there's already two creatures down when you play her and they both have more than 1 toughness, you're going to need some board presence very fast or she won't last more than a turn or two.
Way back in early 2015 there were a few of us using whip, myself included. It was pretty sweet. But there's to major reasons why it fell off. First is the non-bo with relic, where relic clears our own GY and also whip only brings the creature back for one combat, whereas Lili let's you keep it forever. Secondly, many many decks pack some sort of enchantment hate in the side or main for blood moon, or nature's claim for artifacts. These are the reasons cards like kalitas and Sorin took over the lifegain slot. Walkers are generally much harder for opponents to answer.
Cutting Reshaper and Smasher doesn't make any sense imho.
The Mimic is actively bad outside of a dedicated tribal-aggro deck (where it is just ok) and this deck is more of a midrange-control one.
Mimic into 5/5 thoughknot into 5/6 herder with 3 2/2 tokens os nothing to laugh of. I just pointed that to play scullers with more consistency you need more colored lands, And you need more processors to get extra value from scullers. Both herder And smashers leads to a heavy deck, so you cut smashers and go a token route. In that build, mimics shine, And thw only slot for them os reshapers'.
The situation you described is a win-more situation meaning that M.Mimic is only good when you are doing well anyway.
Cards like M.Reshaper and R.Smasher are (mostly) good enough on their own, Blight Herder is also decent (even without Mimic) and I like 2x copies in the SB against midrange decks.
T.Sculler is a good disruptive card even with "just" W.Stragnger, it doesn't require running more processors to get more value.
The color requirements are indeed quite high: 4x Marsh Flats, 3-4x Godless Shrine, 4x Caves of Koilos and 3x Shambling Vent can cast it almost consistently if not turn 2 then turn 3.
I agree with you - smasher and reshaper are just that good that they deserve a spot on the deck. I just think there is no place to scullers, from my point of view. Lists running up to 6 discards main deck (thoughtseize, inquisitions and brutality) along to 4 TKS, shouldn't need sculler to disrupt. I would all day slot in two to three collective brutality over sculler, or even liliana, the last hope (which is just HUGE on lategame), if i'm playing lots of colorless lands to rush reshaper, TKS and smasher. if I draw a temple, I will really really want to curve reshaper/displacer into TKS into smasher. Playing sculler on T3 after landing a vent on T1/T2 and not having a temple is an awful start, as it can be easily killed (even more now with fatal push) and you simply got timewalked on a critical turn of this deck. Worst if you have to block with it to stay alive. Just my two cents ^^", if he play well for you, go for it. This is why I LOVE this deck!
I prefer to run T.Sculler over discard spells becuase of the synergy with W.Strangler and to have a body so it isn't completely useless when the opponent is top-decking.
Hello everyone! Long time lurker here. I have been following this thread since before the banning of Eye and I have finally assembled the deck myself (I have a limited budget as a student).
My list is largely based on deaddrift's list with only a few minor tweaks. This is my first modern deck and my experience with the format is very limited, though I have always enjoyed playing midrange decks in standard.
My manabase might be wrong. I like running Wastes in the main instead of it taking up a sideboard slot but this might be incorrect. Also, I'm not sure wether or not I should drop the Concealed Courtyard or a Caves of Koilos and add a second Shambling Vent. I might also be too light on basics...
I would love to find room for the last copies of Path to Exile and Fatal Push in the sideboard but I am unsure of what to cut. I feel like the matchups where we need Surgical Extraction are so bad that I am reluctant to go below 3 copies. This might also be wrong though. I haven't fully grasped my local meta yet so I might also make changes later based on that.
Also, I really wish that I could find room for the fourth copy of Relic of Progenitus and Thoughtseize. I feel like they would benefit the deck but the list feels super tight. I would love to try out Liliana, the Last Hope as a one off but I think I'll wait until she rotates to pick her up.
I have a few questions: Is there a specific reason to run Damnation over Wrath of God? And for those of you who do run Damnation, is that why you run 2 Swamp and only 1 Plains?
How has testing with Languish been? Is it worth it to hit Selfless Spirit when losing power against tough creatures?
Also, should we run cards like Endbringer and Elspeth, Sun's Champion in the sideboard? I sometimes feel like I'm running out of cards/things to do in control matchups and I have not liked Sea Gate Wreckage. I've also played around with Eldrazi Displacer but the card seems off. I don't think it fits this deck at all.
Anyway, sorry for the long post. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. I'll hopefully start attending FNM soon and I plan on taking the deck to GP Copenhagen in may.
To answer some of your questions:
If you run an equal number of bw sources it does not matter if you run wrath of god or damnation. Some people run a more B centric sideboard (or mainboard) and have an unequal number of B and W sources therefore it is (very slightly) better to run damnation.
Languish is great because your reality smashers survive. With the rise of bant eldrazi it has been better to run a sweeper.
Running a 1-of late game card that takes over the game (Elspeth, Sun's Champion) is fine. We have a lot of high cmc creatures so you have to be careful not to "top load" the deck.
The situation you described is a win-more situation meaning that M.Mimic is only good when you are doing well anyway.
Cards like M.Reshaper and R.Smasher are (mostly) good enough on their own, Blight Herder is also decent (even without Mimic) and I like 2x copies in the SB against midrange decks.
T.Sculler is a good disruptive card even with "just" W.Stragnger, it doesn't require running more processors to get more value.
The color requirements are indeed quite high: 4x Marsh Flats, 3-4x Godless Shrine, 4x Caves of Koilos and 3x Shambling Vent can cast it almost consistently if not turn 2 then turn 3.
To run tidehollow sculler and cast him on turn 2 you need 20 bw sources. Think of it like this: Assume that all of our lands produce B or W (which they pretty much do). Since all of the lands can produce the same mana, lets just call them all swamps. We have to do the same thing for tidehollow sculler and change its mana cost to BB. If you look at Frank's mana article, to have a 90% chance to cast a BB creature on turn 2 you need 20 B sources. Running 20 BW sources only leaves room for 4 eldrazi temples and nothing else. I've been running tidehollow sculler and wasteland strangler in my CBW eldrazi midrange deck for about a year now and found it to be just okay. Tidehollow is such a bad late game top-deck card that I ended up cutting him for to complete the playset of eldrazi displacer and matter reshaper. It also double-fuels 'goyf which is a horrible thing for modern. Even if we have 4 relics main board.
Liking the Lili idea, gonna have to pick one up I guess. Thinking about trying a single Endless One, too.
Yeah, I really want a new lili but I am waiting until it rotates. Endless one seems okay but with all of the fatal pushes running around I would look for a creature that provides value when it dies. Such as hangarback walker, which somebody brought up a few pages ago. Lingering souls is one of the best cards for us, why no try a card that produces 1/1 fliers when it dies?
Yeah, I really want a new lili but I am waiting until it rotates. Endless one seems okay but with all of the fatal pushes running around I would look for a creature that provides value when it dies. Such as hangarback walker, which somebody brought up a few pages ago. Lingering souls is one of the best cards for us, why no try a card that produces 1/1 fliers when it dies?
Because we have Lingering Souls, is why.
Endless One can do something our deck can't do (make a 6/6 or bigger), while Walker does something our deck already does (make 1/1 fliers, replace itself when it dies).
Endless One has half the casting cost, and benefits from Temple--so it will always be much bigger, at really any stage of the game. And it benefits from from Cavern, so it will land on occasions when Walker would not.
Walker can't pump itself until you can untap with it, nor if you attack with it, and even then it can do so only if you have the untapped mana.
It seems clear to me that Endless One will be much faster pressure overall, while Walker will be much grinder. I want a card that shores up our weak spots, not one that reinforces our strengths. Which one would you rather have in a Gx Tron match (AKA one of our toughest), where you're siding in Stony Silence? Walker might be better, but I am not convinced.
Either way I'd run only one, in a Reshaper slot. And I have no idea where I might squeeze in a Liliana, the Last Hope. Sorin is necessary for lifegain, as far as I'm concerned. (I tried Whip of Erebos for a while, but Sorin is so much stronger.) Soren's a lot easier to cast on-curve than Lili is, and he conflicts with fewer cards for his slot on the curve. And, I'm already at 61 cards (for now) as I debate the role of Relic, Mind Stone, Fatal Push, and Surgical Extraction in the main. Making room for one more seems pretty tough.
Yeah, I really want a new lili but I am waiting until it rotates. Endless one seems okay but with all of the fatal pushes running around I would look for a creature that provides value when it dies. Such as hangarback walker, which somebody brought up a few pages ago. Lingering souls is one of the best cards for us, why no try a card that produces 1/1 fliers when it dies?
Because we have Lingering Souls, is why.
Endless One can do something our deck can't do (make a 6/6 or bigger), while Walker does something our deck already does (make 1/1 fliers, replace itself when it dies).
Endless One has half the casting cost, and benefits from Temple--so it will always be much bigger, at really any stage of the game. And it benefits from from Cavern, so it will land on occasions when Walker would not.
Walker can't pump itself until you can untap with it, nor if you attack with it, and even then it can do so only if you have the untapped mana.
It seems clear to me that Endless One will be much faster pressure overall, while Walker will be much grinder. I want a card that shores up our weak spots, not one that reinforces our strengths. Which one would you rather have in a Gx Tron match (AKA one of our toughest), where you're siding in Stony Silence? Walker might be better, but I am not convinced.
Either way I'd run only one, in a Reshaper slot. And I have no idea where I might squeeze in a Liliana, the Last Hope. Sorin is necessary for lifegain, as far as I'm concerned. (I tried Whip of Erebos for a while, but Sorin is so much stronger.) Soren's a lot easier to cast on-curve than Lili is, and he conflicts with fewer cards for his slot on the curve. And, I'm already at 61 cards (for now) as I debate the role of Relic, Mind Stone, Fatal Push, and Surgical Extraction in the main. Making room for one more seems pretty tough.
I Would try 1 push main, 1 push on side And two lilianas. This is what i will do, as i play displacers (might cut 1 or both) Since i cut 1 relic from main, i feel 4 Path is needed to play stranglers consistently. Also i strongly suggest you guys keep sea gate wreckage in this deck. This Land wins more games for us than Cavern of Souls, which is sided out almost always If you are not facing counters.
FWIW, Blood Moon decks seem to be pretty popular right now; I played eight matches on cockatrice this morning and four of them featured that card from my opponent, all maindeck. I believe Moon is showing up in league results as well. Which is smart, because the card is real good right now. Make sure you are ready for it, is my advice. If you see T1 Temple of Triumph it could as easily be Sun & Moon as Ad Nauseam. Beware of opponents fetching basics in general too, of course.
Gonna hold off on Lili V for now, for the reasons stated above. Also, I definitely do not feel like I want to lose the Relics, as they are a major part of this deck's gameplay. Push remains as a three-of main, with three Paths main, and one more in the side. I took out the maindeck Surgical Extraction, though, as I have been seriously reconsidering the wisdom of running 61 cards. Plus, Extraction is really pretty bad overall; it has a "high ceiling" for sure, but most matchups don't actually put us in the right room for that, so to speak.
Lastly, so far, Endless One has been pretty decent. There really isn't that much Fatal Push running around out there, actually, so it's 0 CMC cost is less of a downside. However, it does get wiped by sweepers like Engineered Explosives and Ratchet Bomb that opponents are likely to bring in for our tokens anyway, so there is that downside.
FWIW, Blood Moon decks seem to be pretty popular right now; I played eight matches on cockatrice this morning and four of them featured that card from my opponent, all maindeck. I believe Moon is showing up in league results as well. Which is smart, because the card is real good right now. Make sure you are ready for it, is my advice. If you see T1 Temple of Triumph it could as easily be Sun & Moon as Ad Nauseam. Beware of opponents fetching basics in general too, of course.
Gonna hold off on Lili V for now, for the reasons stated above. Also, I definitely do not feel like I want to lose the Relics, as they are a major part of this deck's gameplay. Push remains as a three-of main, with three Paths main, and one more in the side. I took out the maindeck Surgical Extraction, though, as I have been seriously reconsidering the wisdom of running 61 cards. Plus, Extraction is really pretty bad overall; it has a "high ceiling" for sure, but most matchups don't actually put us in the right room for that, so to speak.
Lastly, so far, Endless One has been pretty decent. There really isn't that much Fatal Push running around out there, actually, so it's 0 CMC cost is less of a downside. However, it does get wiped by sweepers like Engineered Explosives and Ratchet Bomb that opponents are likely to bring in for our tokens anyway, so there is that downside.
I've noticed and uptick in Blood moon myself as well as skred decks. Celestial purge is a great sideboard card now.
I've noticed and uptick in Blood moon myself as well as skred decks. Celestial purge is a great sideboard card now.
2 of my last 3 match losses on mtgo have been two storm decks that slowed me down immensely with a T2 blood moon. The first time I made the mistake of not pre-boarding for it, but the second time I did pre-board and it didn't matter. The other loss was to eldrazi tron, because they managed to get two Batterskulls on the field at the same time. Batterskull is incredibly difficult to deal with when we don't get an anguished Unmaking to remove it. Both of these things make me think of changing the path/push slot in the SB to a single disenchant. It fairly easily removes blood moon, and other problem enchantments like The Rack, the tokens one that gives white creatures +1/+1, and the one you sometimes see against Valakut decks that gets counters and fetches lands. It also hits b-skull, helps us in a pretty even affinity matchup, and hits tron artifacts (mostly referring to U tron here). I see all of these decks in my local meta, and because mtgo meta is so wide open, I think disenchant almost has to be a better decision than path/push number 7.
Im also going to cut a reshaper and put my own b-skull back in the main deck for a while (my current tappedout.net list has not been updated in a while, I haven't used it recently). It's pretty big that it can be cast through blood moon, and will definitey buy us time to get the lands/mind stones we need thanks to lifelink. It helps us against other Batterskulls because now the opponent won't be swinging away for lifegain and getting ahead because we can compete with them. I'm experiencing games that go well beyond 6 turns and getting a B skull on the field and being able to make it stick will tilt the game in our favor quickly. You guys have any thoughts on these two ideas?
I had a crazy game against 8-whack zoo earlier today, I had to mull to 4 and he kept a 7, but because of a Liliana that only survived until my opponent atarkas commanded it and then played a whack to finish it off on their turn right after I played it and removed a creature with her, and a vault to power my lone creature, a smasher, with lifelink, I out grinded them. Felt amazing to claw back into it from what felt like a very difficult situation at the start.
Edit: disenchant is also sick against merfolk, removing an aether vial is huge for us, as can be removing a spreading seas on an important land (or to prevent island walk AFTER they've declared attacks and catching them in a 'gotcha' moment).
I would definitely suggest making some room for Fatal Push and trying to find room for all four Smashers. Against the meta you describe, I would expect my build to be good (in some cases very good) against all of it except for Tron, Breach Titan, and Merfolk, which are all hard matches.
The tidehallows might not have always been online by turn 2, but you also don't always have them on turn 2 either, and most of the time when I did, the manabase to play it on turn 2 wasn't as inconsistent as I thought it would have been. Besides, you can't always rely on Reshaper or Strangler being a turn 2 play. Generally, if an eldrazi wasn't happening on turn 2, then a tidehallow probably was. But meh, I do need to cut something for some fatal pushes and more Smashers if I'm going to be playing this deck again.
So you think this would be a good choice for my meta, or should I try something else (I'm a heavy control player btw)?
Deadrift have talk about this angle of attack a few pages earlier, im sure you can find Good info reggarding scullers there
The Mimic is actively bad outside of a dedicated tribal-aggro deck (where it is just ok) and this deck is more of a midrange-control one.
4-1-2 with BW Eldrazi's...Match-Report will be soon available
Green @ it's best
New Lili feels much better than Sorin. After playing Sorin I always feel like I need to leave something back to protect him, which conflicts with what you want to do for maximum lifegain. Lili can either protect herself or replace herself. Her ultimate is also much closer to a free win than Sorin's.
It's maybe kind of loose but I've been playing around with a one-of Whip of Erebos. Same CMC as Sorin, same lifelink anthem (that doesn't die on the crack-back) and the buyback ability is not irrelevant.
This is the list I used for the two leagues, I was only running two relics and I must say I did not run into a single game where I had a 'durdley' open with too many relics + mind stones, most of my inconsistencies with the deck occurred when I drew too many of these cards early on. I'm beginning to wonder if maybe 4 artifacts is the ideal number, whether it be a 2-2 split, 3 relics and 1 stone, or 4 relics and zero stone. Here is the list:
4x Caves of Koilos
1x Fetid Heath
4x Eldrazi Temple
3x Ghost Quarter
2x Godless Shrine
4x Marsh Flats
1x Plains
2x Shambling Vent
2x Swamp
1x Vault of the Archangel
Artifact (4)
2x Mind Stone
2x Relic of Progenitus
1x Anguished Unmaking
2x Fatal Push
4x Path to Exile
Creature (15)
4x Matter Reshaper
4x Reality Smasher
4x Thought-Knot Seer
3x Wasteland Strangler
Sorcery (8)
1x Collective Brutality
4x Lingering Souls
3x Thoughtseize
Planeswalker (2)
1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
1x Anguished Unmaking
2x Blessed Alliance
2x Damnation
1x Fatal Push
2x Pithing Needle
2x Ratchet Bomb
2x Stony Silence
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Wastes
Note: I do not own caverns or EE online, if I owned caverns I would have 1-2 mainboard and Fetid Heath would be the first land to go. I would consider a 1-1 split of EE and ratchet in the side, however because of two Damnations maybe the need for a T3 CMC=2 boardwipe isn't as necessary and it's too narrow to have a sideboard slot for EE.
WG G/W Tron GW
BG G/B Tron GB
GG Mono G Tron GG
RG G/R Tron GR
Why not both? If you look at my previous post I went 9-1 over two leagues on mtgo with one of each walker. It increased the consistency of games where I played a walker, and having both on the field at once is insane! Sorin does need protecting, but he can make a 2/2 flyer to help out with that and it is highly underrated. Lili needs protecting too, if there's already two creatures down when you play her and they both have more than 1 toughness, you're going to need some board presence very fast or she won't last more than a turn or two.
Way back in early 2015 there were a few of us using whip, myself included. It was pretty sweet. But there's to major reasons why it fell off. First is the non-bo with relic, where relic clears our own GY and also whip only brings the creature back for one combat, whereas Lili let's you keep it forever. Secondly, many many decks pack some sort of enchantment hate in the side or main for blood moon, or nature's claim for artifacts. These are the reasons cards like kalitas and Sorin took over the lifegain slot. Walkers are generally much harder for opponents to answer.
WG G/W Tron GW
BG G/B Tron GB
GG Mono G Tron GG
RG G/R Tron GR
Mimic into 5/5 thoughknot into 5/6 herder with 3 2/2 tokens os nothing to laugh of. I just pointed that to play scullers with more consistency you need more colored lands, And you need more processors to get extra value from scullers. Both herder And smashers leads to a heavy deck, so you cut smashers and go a token route. In that build, mimics shine, And thw only slot for them os reshapers'.
Cards like M.Reshaper and R.Smasher are (mostly) good enough on their own, Blight Herder is also decent (even without Mimic) and I like 2x copies in the SB against midrange decks.
T.Sculler is a good disruptive card even with "just" W.Stragnger, it doesn't require running more processors to get more value.
The color requirements are indeed quite high: 4x Marsh Flats, 3-4x Godless Shrine, 4x Caves of Koilos and 3x Shambling Vent can cast it almost consistently if not turn 2 then turn 3.
To answer some of your questions:
To run tidehollow sculler and cast him on turn 2 you need 20 bw sources. Think of it like this: Assume that all of our lands produce B or W (which they pretty much do). Since all of the lands can produce the same mana, lets just call them all swamps. We have to do the same thing for tidehollow sculler and change its mana cost to BB. If you look at Frank's mana article, to have a 90% chance to cast a BB creature on turn 2 you need 20 B sources. Running 20 BW sources only leaves room for 4 eldrazi temples and nothing else. I've been running tidehollow sculler and wasteland strangler in my CBW eldrazi midrange deck for about a year now and found it to be just okay. Tidehollow is such a bad late game top-deck card that I ended up cutting him for to complete the playset of eldrazi displacer and matter reshaper. It also double-fuels 'goyf which is a horrible thing for modern. Even if we have 4 relics main board.
Yeah, I really want a new lili but I am waiting until it rotates. Endless one seems okay but with all of the fatal pushes running around I would look for a creature that provides value when it dies. Such as hangarback walker, which somebody brought up a few pages ago. Lingering souls is one of the best cards for us, why no try a card that produces 1/1 fliers when it dies?
CBW midrange deck
CBW eldrazi processor deck
CBW bw eldrazi shadow midrange
Either way I'd run only one, in a Reshaper slot. And I have no idea where I might squeeze in a Liliana, the Last Hope. Sorin is necessary for lifegain, as far as I'm concerned. (I tried Whip of Erebos for a while, but Sorin is so much stronger.) Soren's a lot easier to cast on-curve than Lili is, and he conflicts with fewer cards for his slot on the curve. And, I'm already at 61 cards (for now) as I debate the role of Relic, Mind Stone, Fatal Push, and Surgical Extraction in the main. Making room for one more seems pretty tough.
I Would try 1 push main, 1 push on side And two lilianas. This is what i will do, as i play displacers (might cut 1 or both) Since i cut 1 relic from main, i feel 4 Path is needed to play stranglers consistently. Also i strongly suggest you guys keep sea gate wreckage in this deck. This Land wins more games for us than Cavern of Souls, which is sided out almost always If you are not facing counters.
WG G/W Tron GW
BG G/B Tron GB
GG Mono G Tron GG
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Gonna hold off on Lili V for now, for the reasons stated above. Also, I definitely do not feel like I want to lose the Relics, as they are a major part of this deck's gameplay. Push remains as a three-of main, with three Paths main, and one more in the side. I took out the maindeck Surgical Extraction, though, as I have been seriously reconsidering the wisdom of running 61 cards. Plus, Extraction is really pretty bad overall; it has a "high ceiling" for sure, but most matchups don't actually put us in the right room for that, so to speak.
Lastly, so far, Endless One has been pretty decent. There really isn't that much Fatal Push running around out there, actually, so it's 0 CMC cost is less of a downside. However, it does get wiped by sweepers like Engineered Explosives and Ratchet Bomb that opponents are likely to bring in for our tokens anyway, so there is that downside.
I've noticed and uptick in Blood moon myself as well as skred decks. Celestial purge is a great sideboard card now.
CBW midrange deck
CBW eldrazi processor deck
CBW bw eldrazi shadow midrange
2 of my last 3 match losses on mtgo have been two storm decks that slowed me down immensely with a T2 blood moon. The first time I made the mistake of not pre-boarding for it, but the second time I did pre-board and it didn't matter. The other loss was to eldrazi tron, because they managed to get two Batterskulls on the field at the same time. Batterskull is incredibly difficult to deal with when we don't get an anguished Unmaking to remove it. Both of these things make me think of changing the path/push slot in the SB to a single disenchant. It fairly easily removes blood moon, and other problem enchantments like The Rack, the tokens one that gives white creatures +1/+1, and the one you sometimes see against Valakut decks that gets counters and fetches lands. It also hits b-skull, helps us in a pretty even affinity matchup, and hits tron artifacts (mostly referring to U tron here). I see all of these decks in my local meta, and because mtgo meta is so wide open, I think disenchant almost has to be a better decision than path/push number 7.
Im also going to cut a reshaper and put my own b-skull back in the main deck for a while (my current tappedout.net list has not been updated in a while, I haven't used it recently). It's pretty big that it can be cast through blood moon, and will definitey buy us time to get the lands/mind stones we need thanks to lifelink. It helps us against other Batterskulls because now the opponent won't be swinging away for lifegain and getting ahead because we can compete with them. I'm experiencing games that go well beyond 6 turns and getting a B skull on the field and being able to make it stick will tilt the game in our favor quickly. You guys have any thoughts on these two ideas?
I had a crazy game against 8-whack zoo earlier today, I had to mull to 4 and he kept a 7, but because of a Liliana that only survived until my opponent atarkas commanded it and then played a whack to finish it off on their turn right after I played it and removed a creature with her, and a vault to power my lone creature, a smasher, with lifelink, I out grinded them. Felt amazing to claw back into it from what felt like a very difficult situation at the start.
Edit: disenchant is also sick against merfolk, removing an aether vial is huge for us, as can be removing a spreading seas on an important land (or to prevent island walk AFTER they've declared attacks and catching them in a 'gotcha' moment).
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BG G/B Tron GB
GG Mono G Tron GG
RG G/R Tron GR