MTG Salvation

@Amok: I'm telling you...there may very well be a line of play unseen here: 4 Magma Jet, 4 Tormenting Voice, 4 Bauble, 4 Manamorphose. In a meta where you are dead certain you won't see I say put the pedal to the metal. You'll see that I tried this before, but it crumbled under the pressure of creature swarm decks. Can this be mitigated with the 4 magma jet and 3 sweltering suns?? Who is the contributor here that's been running Manamorphose -- any chance you could craft up a prototype??

Also, Amok brought up some Legacy options. I like Harsh Mentor. I don't know if it really jives with our theme, but the idea of a new Eidolon of the Great Revel is oppressive. He could work in Pyro Prison decks that feature more aggro style of play with higher creature counts.

Regarding Proliferate targets: Chandra, Koth, Ratchet Bomb, Chalice of the Void, Walking Ballista, and being able to kill opponent's creatures with persist counters - go bye bye Kitchen Finks and Wall of Roots -- kinda cool.


Welcome 1nnocentBystander!!! Terrific write-ups on your winning FNMs. A pair of 3-1s is noooice. And, he speaks the truth when he says, "This deck is a Force to be Reckoned with". You asked for some feedback on the deck and how to handle Blue. The maindeck looks tight - similar to what I'm running right now. You're another advocate for the playset of Magma Jet. You're also on board with a Younger Dragon Highlander beside the Rabblemasters and Mutavaults...my man! I dig the land counts.

Question: what do you think of adding that 2nd Magus of the Moon alongside a single pyretic ritual in the mainboard? You mentioned putting a Roast in the maindeck, but I'd advocate against that approach - unless you see a lot of Tasigur/Angler/TKS. It just blanks so hard against Death's Shadow and Tarmogoyf and 1-for-1 removal in the blind is too bland.

Beating Blue: Pressure and more pressure. I just don't see how we beat Blue/X without Goblin Rabblemaster, so I'm glad you have that in strength. The 2 extra Kargans in the SB might be much? Try trading 1 for a Harsh Mentor? May seem odd, but a 3rd Pia and Kiran of Nalaar in the SB could work as they do have a tough time with that card (they bring in a lot of Negate / Spell Pierce type counterspells and they don't play sweepers,
so killing 3 creatures is hard for them. Ricochet Trap - a hoot, huh? Boil gets talked about, and the fact that it's an Instant

Beating Burn/Aggro: I think 1 of those Anger of the gods could become a pyroclasm. I'd probably see the Sword of War and Peace as blanking too often due to a low number of creatures in your deck (compared to most Sword decks), and the fact that you may be sweeping them all away yourself [maybe]. As for Burn, is dragon's claw better than sun droplet? Anyway, deck looks great, and welcome to the Kinship.

So Im too dumb to correctly format a deck list but Ive been running 4 Manamorphose and I love it. it feels like adding draw a card to the text of any spell, and it definitely speeds our deck up. Here's my list


4 Blood Moon
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
1 Magus of the Moon

4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Manamorphose
3 Desperate Ritual
3 Magma Jet
1 Sweltering Suns

4 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Chandra Torch of Defiance
2 Koth of the Hammer
2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar

17 Mountain
2 Mutavault
2 Gemstone Caverns

Ive been thinking about swapping the parents for Siege Gang Commanders but I'm not sure about the 5 cmc.

I really like the idea of going turbo speed, and my first draft drops our average CMC down enough we might be able to drop to 20 lands. Maybe something like this?

4 Blood Moon
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void

4 Manamorphose
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Magma Jet
4 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Tormenting Voice
2 Sweltering Suns

4 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Koth of the Hammer

16 Mountain
2 Gemstone Caverns
2 Mutavault

I'm not sure how to go about fitting any Baubles though. I feel like at this point we either draw the card we need or we redraw. I'm comfortable with that!

@Caligula: Thanks for trying to work up that list with Mishra's Bauble and other turbo arrows on the racetrack. I'm thinking that it may have been a fool's errand. You can only draw and loot so many cards before you need to cast a game affecting spell. I do think we have enough core substance that we don't need to fire through 3 cards a turn looking for a critical combination of spells. But, hey, ya gotta keep throwing lightning bolts at the side of the mountain just to see what sticks.

Siege-gang Commander? Well, it's a thought regarding that 5-cmc slot [I threw up a poll question on this earlier or ] , heretofore unseen in our constructions. I do like that it can operate from behind an ensnaring bridge and its goblins do team up with goblin rabblemaster. I like that pia and kiran nalaar are a 3-for-1 with a shock machine built in. This dude is a 4-for-1 with a shock machine built in. The lack of evasion with the li'l goblins is tough. Huh?

@Valleysdai: That round 1 loss to straight-up Jund is a rough matchup. I prefer to face Death's Shadow Jund any day of the week (even though it's widely considered the superior build to most folks). As for your win against Colorless Eldrazi Tron, Smart and Wily maneuvers out there on the battlefield, dude. Well played.

@Raystack, since you brought up the idea, I've been tweaking here and there, and I think I may be onto something.. here's my rationale;

When we draw a card, we're usually looking for a lock piece or a threat. Lock pieces are always going to be at a count of 12. I'm personally running 3 rituals, 3 jet and 4 ssg, along with 21 lands, and I can't imagine anyone going lower on any of these.


Now let's talk about our threats. We have 3 Chandra and 2 koth, along with 4 rabbles and 2 parents. Not all of our builds are the same, but we'll just call it 11. As we all know, one of the ways we lose is by not finding one of these before our opponent breaks free from our chains. So let's look at the build I've been testing;


4 Blood Moon
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void

3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Koth of the Hammer
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar

4 Manamorphose
2 Tormenting Voice
3 Magma Jet
1 Sweltering Suns

4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Desperate Ritual

17 Mountain
2 Gemstone Caverns
2 Mutavault

As you can see, I didn't lose much in the way of our staples, cutting only a single creature, however I now have 9 cards that dig deeper into my library, and that's not counting sweltering suns. I know this isn't too far off from what you've been running, Raystack, but I definitely feel like this is the way to go, especially because of the nature of our deck, as we can easily be hellbent on turn two.

@Valleysdai: When facing Jund, it's all about nailing that Blood Moon to the board as fast as your sweet rituals can get you there. For that reason, for this deck and others, I'm currently bopped up to (2) Magus of the Moon and a fifth ritual Pyretic Ritual. I know this puts some 'air' in the deck, but an early moon is just so critical to wins that I will trade 2 empty draws pretty easily if it means that I got my critical Turn 1-2 Moon on the board.

For as much as folks talk about control cards and control decks, there is only one true control card in Modern today. As an aside, Once asked about identifying the true masters of painting, Pablo Picasso replied, "All things considered, there is only Matisse." Well, ask me about control. All things considered? There is only Blood Moon.


@Caligula: Have you done it? Have you cracked the code? Let's start by putting your pet card under the microscope: Manamorphose. It costs 2 cmc and gives you 2 red mana as well as a free immediate draw. If you fire one off and it fizzles with unused mana, no harm and no foul. O.K. So, it's a simple cantrip.

Potential Drawbacks:
- Ethersworn Canonist
- Remand by an opponent just to put you off your tempo.
Both scenarios are unlikely.

Actual Potential Drawback:
- It makes it hard to snap down a chalice of the void with 2 counters on it.
- You open a starting hand of a couple Manamorphose, couple Mountain, 1 Simian Spirit Guide, 1 Blood Moon, and a Chandra, Torch of Defiance.
What do you do?
Option 1: you fire off the monkey into a couple morphose and blank on the draws. Now you've lost your Turn 2 Blood Moon play by wasting your monkey play.
Option 2: you wait one turn to do something. In this case, you have to evaluate the manamorphoses as dead cards in your opening hand. You top deck a Desperate Ritual or another monkey, and realize you lost the chance to fire down a turn 1 blood moon.

Review:
As I see it, the main negative interaction with manamorphose is its relationship with (4) 500 pound gorillas. As the old saying goes, "What card selection is made when there is 1 ton of gorilla in the deck?" Answer: Whatever the gorilla says.

Now, is it really that simple? I don't know. I did some testing with manamorphose, but not a lot. I mostly tested Mishra's Bauble which suffered from the same drawback (and arguably more). As for finding a person who can succinctly express the characterization of the deck's operation and threat levels - I turn your attention to Caligula's post above. I would say "there is only Caligula." Ya nailed it, maestro.

Raystack, thanks alot for the kind words, I'm just trying to keep up with you that's all!

As for your evaluation of Manamorphose, I definitely see your point, they can make it hard to evaluate your starting hand. This is the only drawback I've seen to be honest. As far as option 1 or 2, I'm always a probablity guy. I wouldn't ever risk it on t1 without a strong 2 drop in hand in case I whiff.. in a worst case scenario, I have to go morphose-voice, and even then I think we're in a class of our own, as I cant think of a modern deck that draws 3 cards on t1.

Also, regarding chalice on 2.. if I feel the need to slam the cup down x2, then the opponent probably has alot more dead cards than I do, and they're surely more important to them than mine are to me, although I haven't been in that spot yet.

I think I need to re-post this when cantrapping was brought up several pages ago.

"I haven't had a chance to read the updates to the primer yet, yet but I wanted to chime in on the Baubles. I would advise against them like I would fetch lands. Raystack, like you mentioned, there is no secondary benefit. Plus, it is a bad top draw. As a control deck we should not be adding synergistic low value combo-esk like cards to our brew. They have a place in Robots or Gobots but not here IMO. Control is value driven. Lastly, if the Baubles were so good why are they not in far more modern decks? Robots and Gobots do not run them when they are more structured to MD them?"

We can highlight a common topic point like adding fetches. Lets look at Merfolk. It is a mono blue deck. Hey, were mono red. Now, they are an aggro/tempo based deck. Aggro is in the name. They want to fast. Drawing less lands is good for them. So, would it not be a good idea to add more fetches less basic lands so that way I draw less lands. Makes sense right? Then why do you not see 12-16 blue fetches with 4 basic lands in every mono blue merfolk deck?

To focus on our deck we as a community need to understand we are classic control. We value VALUE over cantraps. This is not Twin, Storm, Prowess, or combo in general, which is more or less where you see cantrapping. These are huge distinctions, and mono red control would best served with value cards. Now, please do not take this as me singling you out. I've just keep hearing bout this back and forth issue and I think the community issue struggling seeing the end point.

Spec.Ops comes in to pee hot lava all over our card-drawing party. Geeeez. Thanks a lot, man. But, he's got a point, and I doubted cantrip usage at the outset. Reason: like he said, we have no secondary usage of filling our graveyard and we don't play prowess or storm. We really don't do any of the things that heavy draw decks do. The one thing that we do concentrate upon is 'answer cards'. Not combination of answer cards. Just plain and simple dig and location. Drawbacks of Mono-Red: We do not have tutors. We don't have effective loot spells either.

So, the intent was true. But, is it viable? I won't say yes and I will probably say.....no. Why? I do not play Mishra's Bauble or Manamophose in my tournament competitive deck. Even if this whole exercise of investigation turns out to be fruitless, at least we better understand why. "Behind every failure comes an opportunity for success."

As for the Merfolk / Fetch analogy, the stats on that tell a different tale. Fetching does not equal deck thinning...not effectively anyway. A single fetch at a cost of 1 life gives you less than a 5% better chance of not drawing a land, which ain't all that impressive.

Anyway, since I haven't put up a list lately, here's mine. And, actually, it would be helpful if more players also put up what they are playing these days - keep that conversation going.

My Current Angle:
FIRST, Swap out the Cantrip idea for the more costly draw/loot cards: Tormenting Voice and Tezzeret's Gambit.
SECOND, Swap out the Magma Jet for Sweltering Suns while diminishing the Pia and Kiran Nalaar count. The motivation for this is what appears to be a diminishing number of creature targets for small burn spells. After reviewing the Tier 1 and Tier 2 decklists, I see greater impact resulting from sweep spells. Also, this allows for some sideboard adjustments on creature threats (increased!) and more reasonable inclusion of 4-cmc spells. I know it goes against the current wisdom on Magma Jet counts - jus' playin' about is all.

** Current EXPERIMENTAL Deck --- Much Flame **

Hahaha hot lava. Nice. Well for draw cards, I used a single Reforge the Soul in hyper aggro builds to some success. As for adding to the thread? Well, I just finished foiling out Pyro Prison! I just need to get back to the states to play it to add my input to the thread. lol

Spec.ops, I definitely see your point, and I agree that there's no secondary benefit of cantrips. I only want to make one last point, then we can rest the subject for a while..

So here is the scenario; you and I are playing the same exact build, same number of lock pieces and same number of threats, only I'm running 4 manamorphose, shaving some removal. We play 1000 games vs opponents that can answer a blood moon MD. Every single game, we slam a t1 moon and top deck our way to a threat. Who wins the long race?

There's one thing we can all agree on, and that's the fact that our deck is extremely good. So good that it's a contender in any field. When you're this good, you can't really hope to get a WHOLE lot better. For example, if Usain Bolt wants to improve his race time, he's not expecting to shave a whole second, and probably not even tenths. He's working to shave fractions of a second.

Back to our race. We've each drawn 7 cards on the play, slammed a t1 moon, and begun the dig for a finisher. We each have 53 cards left in our deck, and we each have 10 threats. Drawing 1 card a turn means it should take 5.3 turns on average to find our game winner. But wait! Manamorphose is a free cantrip, so essentially it doesn't exist. I only have 49 cards left, making my magic number 4.9 turns. Over a game or 10, this is clearly not a huge advantage, however, the more games we play, this turns into a bigger advantage.

I understand that we should be value minded, however all of our real value lies in 22ish cards. Finding them a little faster is the most valuable option IMHO. Post SB these slots can be filled with actual value if need be.

With that said, it's obvously meta dependent. If there's more value in packing in some extra removal that's the better choice. Either way, when I see spec.ops or anybody else post a 4-0 or 3-1, we all win!

I have been running that experimental list, Porno for Pyros, a ton. It's my preferred construction now. Other Mountainfolk complain that it doesn't have Magma Jet. For those diehard fans, it's an easy swap of (2) Tormenting Voice for (2) Magma Jet. The deck is pretty unchanged in operation and it gives you some resiliency to folks that run small tricksy creatures.

I prefer the approach of 3 sweepers, 4 bridge, and more draw/acceleration spells - makes for a slightly more linear build, but I do fear things like an early Delver of Secrets or Dark Confidant or Goblin Guide or allowing for G/W decks to combo-creature off.

I can't see dropping a Goblin Rabblemaster. It's our best clock: 1 damage on the turn it drops. 6 damage on the following turn. And, chaining multiples - oh lordy! It gives us the jump on so many creatureless decks or decks that curve high. And, it casts for 3 mana. That's our sweet spot. Pia and Kiran Nalaar costing 4 is rough, and the 4-cmc slot can get crowded (including the sideboard). I'd like to run 2 Piran, so I agree with the suggestion - just no room. Land alteration: I shaved a Mutavault since going up to (6) Blood Moon cards.

I've run the deck with 1 Koth of the Hammer a lot. Again, 1-2, depending on the meta. The logic of my current construction favors 2 Koth:

1. I can ditch an extra to Tormenting Voice.
2. My extra Ritual allows for a faster casting (I do support my Pyretic Ritual inclusion: 1-of).
3. The Tezzeret's Gambit pump up is monstrously strong.
4. When I fire hard rituals to get him out early, his +1 ability provides an extra mana to keep the engine going.
5. He draws a lot of attention which allows you to develop other strategies.
6. His haste attack of a 4/4 surprises opponents a lot. They can smash into unsuspecting Planeswalkers and are impervious to a lot of creature removal spells.

Lastly, I've been trying a couple other decks lately - different archetypes - and I am not seeing near the success that I do with Pyro Prison. Any reports out there from this weekend's FNM?

A hidden gem for consideration: Grab the Reins.

I'm thinking of ditching the 2x Roast from the sideboard to experiment with these. For 1R, Roast deals 5 dmg, at sorcery-speed, to a non-flying creature.

For 2R (the Entwine cost), Grab the Reins allows you to:

• Steal and sacrifice any opponent's creature
• Follow up by dealing a ton of damage to the face OR killing ANOTHER creature
• All that instant speed

Against Eldrazi Tron, that could mean stealing and sacrificing a Reality Smasher to kill an Endbringer. Or removing an Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger and dealing 10 damage out of nowhere.

Against Death's Shadow, it could be instant game over.

Insanely large Knight of the Reliquary? No problem.

If you're feeling ballsy, you can even use it to just sacrifice your own Goblin Rabblemaster after combat, and dealing an extra 5-6 dmg out of nowhere.

What do you guys think?

Quote from valleysdai »

Remember with death's shadow or knight that it will most likely be weaker so won't do as much damage when "thrown".

Good point, didn't realize the change of ownership affected the power of these creatures.

You're still rid of them, at least. ;-)

Quote from jfmajor »

A hidden gem for consideration: Grab the Reins.
...
For 2R (the Entwine cost), Grab the Reins allows you to...

Too good to be true: I didn't catch that Entwine was an additional cost. The way it's phrased on the card made me think it worked like Flashback.

Back to Roast, then.

Yeeeeah, it'd be a bit too powerful otherwise, eh? Without the sacrifice/shotgun mechanic it's just not worth it. I recall someone in this thread was thinking somewhat similarly with the use of Zealous Conscripts. But, the presence of so many bridges in our decks and the lack of a sacrifice outlet seems to render this approach as a non-bo.

3-1 at FNM this week:

Very Brief Account
Round 1: Gifts/Storm - Game 1 had a sweltering suns answer to his goblin electromancer followed by The Parents. Later in the round, I pulled of an injury-free Tezzeret's Gambit off of a gemstone caverns. The key to knocking this deck dead is a chalice of the void on 2.

Round 2: Zoo/Burn - He wins the die roll and comes out quickly with wild nacatl and 2 goblin guides attacking on turn 2. My turn 2 fires off a sweltering suns. He lands a swiftspear and I chalice on 1 and 2. But the prowess triggers on attack drive the win home on the back of a Rift Bolt. Game 2: I just slaughter with moons/chalice/bridge/flamewalkers. Game 3: He draws 3 destructive revelry and I never see a 2nd blood moon. 3 boros charm later...harumph. I may put another lifegaining answer in the sideboard. Undecided.

Round 3: Grixis Death's Shadow - I took it in 2. This is a good matchup for us. They have slow starts. All 3 of our Power Lock Suite hurts them. The same is true of our creature complement. Not much to say here.

Round 4: U/W Control - Again, I took it in 2. Another good matchup. Blood Moon keeps them off their Cryptic Command and otherwise their card economy can't keep up.

The deck played really well. I never got to see a Hazoret the Fervent - Deeeeamn. Chatting with some other players, they were insisting that I add siege-gang commander. Someone in the thread made that same suggestion. Current testing has me swapping that 2nd Koth the Hammer for my first Commander. We'll see....

Tweet, Tweet, Tweet. What follows is a Twitter-Storm of sorts. This morning, I was chatting on IM with fellow MTGsalvation poster and playtest partner of 20+ years, dcovino. I mentioned that I have firmly pivoted one card into a favorable light: Tormenting Voice. He was not a fan of the decision, but asked for some more information. I just babbled on and on and on. This is going to be a rough draft retelling of the logic I shared. But, hey, gimme a break - I'm not writing the next great American novel. Streaming chat to follow regarding my new deck: Porno for Pyros....

A Favor to Ask: For those who are dead set against decks that don't use Magma Jet and see the use of (3) Tormenting Voice as silly, please try to keep an open mind as you read on. I feel like I did a leap of faith in this fundamental transition, and I've been very well rewarded in testing.



dcovino:
You could take pyro prison to an open and probably do very well. three tormenting voice huh??
seems like it would be at odds w needing to turtle up, but given you're bridging more against huge things these days, rather than weenie 1/1 assaults, i can see you being able to sandbag a card in hand and not be totally hellbent.

Raystack:
Regarding Tormenting Voice, there's too much to write to get to how it operates. I do just keep learning about this deck - it's fascinating. Like Scapeshift or Ad Nauseam or Titan Breach or Gifts/Storm, these guys spend a long haul - the life of their game - attempting to reach a single goal. So, it's all-in. Mana acceleration. Dig. Dorks. Artifacts: they win or lose. No walls or counterspells or lifegain.

Raystack:
Similarly, Pyro Prison attempts to reach 2 of about 3 very specific, singular goals as fast as possible. And, I don't need an extra Pia and Kiran Nalaar or a Kargan Dragonlord mucking up the works. So, I'm obviously blasting ahead with acceleration. The trick is to find the right Lock and recover after an acceleration. At 2-cmc, T. Voice can dig and ditch the duplicate lock-piece in hand.

Raystack:
But, the 'next level' reveals that Tormenting Voice and gemstone caverns achieve the same thing at a similar cost.
Like those other decks, I am so focused on my own channel/fireball play that I don't care if I'm losing a resource on having a Tormenting Voice countered [I run 6 Blood Moons for Koth's Sake!]. Obviously, the tossed card is the least needed, and I've at least drawn out a counterspell from the opponent. Nearing hellbent, I might hold an unneeded land and hope for a Tormenting Voice. Truthfully, there aren't that many decks where 1-powered weenies will get me. So, it's all about card consolidation and mini-channel/fireballs for the win.

dcovino:
"I am so focused on my own channel/fireball that I don't care if I'm losing a resource on having a Tormenting Voice countered." This is the absolute key to modern.
You can't afford the mid-rangey flexibility cards in a Pyro Prison - Just like those decks you mentioned, they don't use them either. You need to be focused and execute bc if you don't, the actual midrange decks will tear you apart.

Raystack:
Correct. The other decks need lightning storm or scapeshift and little else.

dcovino:
Say you're ditching a ritual to Tormenting Voice when you have 3 land on board - who cares - and depending on what you face, any one of those lock pieces is nearly game over already.

Raystack:
I need Moon, chalice, bridge. and that's it. Flamewalkers follow. Or, maybe the opponent's deck is creatureless. O.K., let's go Turn 1 goblin rabblemaster and plow Tron right off the f***ing board. It's all about getting over the fear of Tormenting Voice getting either A) countered or B) Hellbent stuck-in-hand.

dcovino:
three T. Voice seems appropriate. as a 1-of you could sandbag some card for 30 turns to use it, and still not draw it! You want to be able to use asap

Raystack:
Either of those cases [ A. or B. ] are O.K. as long as you've put your sights on the right goal that occurred before or after the oh-so-feared event [ A. or B. ]. Neither is all that bad. Card Economy works in very funny ways when you play all-in tactics like Ad Nauseam or Scapshift. You think they give a f*** how many cards are in their hands or were countered before they won??

dcovino:
yep

Raystack:
Yeah, If I Turn 1 chalice and Turn 2 tormenting voice, I'm golden.
If I turn 2-3 a Chandra and then +1 for 2 red mana and then tormenting voice, again, golden.
So much of the deck is duplicate/redundant and the rest is acceleration. You will draw the 'wrong half', so you have to lose ground to gain ground.
I wonder if this is revelatory or just known but not spoken.

dcovino:
nope, the sheer amount of rituals and air to make it work in your early iterations were my primary complaint, so this all makes sense to mitigate it.

Raystack:
Cool! You were very against T. Voice otherwise. Similarly, I was very relieved when one of the posters agreed that he also wanted to go up to 3 Tormenting Voice when I said that 'once you go 1, you almost can't help but see the logic in going 3.' When he agreed, I knew he knew what the s*** was going on. {{that poster was Amok}}

dcovino:
if you dont ritual out some prison piece by t2 then you're way behind - but if you have 12 ritual effects then half your spells do nothing.

Raystack:
The other thing not mentioned is that Tormenting Voice will purposely fail against decks which actually serves to help me. Take blue counterspell decks. Sometimes they see me as 'threat light' - they can pick/choose their counter targets. But, you think they can resist countering a tormenting voice? Nope, and it don't matter to Jesus. When I draw out their counterspell and then drop a Rabble or Moon or Planeswalker after they've exhausted their counterspells, it's on.

>>> End Conversation <<<

Critical Deck Perspective Note regarding Mana Ramp: My deck runs (18) 3-CMC spells and (9) Rituals and (3) Gemstone Caverns. This creates a seeming spare-tire, middle bulge in the mana scheme. You can only cast so many 3-CMC spells, right? Nonetheless, our lack of any 1-cmc spells and lowered counts of 2-cmc is enviable. 3-cmc spells are simply better, pound-for-pound.

That's one more reason why Tormenting Voice works. I can clear out that extra clutter for 2 mana. This frees up more lines of play once I engage the 3-CMC spectrum of spells. Magma Jet helps forecast and manipulate future draws, but it doesn't streamline problematic assemblages of cards in your hand.

Nevertheless, (18) 3-CMC spells...hmmm...is my Jenga tower getting shaky? I think I'm warming up to liquidating some of these spells (Goblin Rabblemaster) into the SB and then increasing 4-CMC spell counts as well as adding (2) Magma Jet to the Maindeck. Quality Compromise???

Alright, take it for what it's worth, Mountainfolk. Some of the talk is loose and not set in stone. Just think how often you'll comment on a line of strategy or card value, and then change your mind the next day. Sufficed to say, I'm in on (3) Tormenting Voice.

I never lost a round, my mountainfolk kin. Not one. There's so much to share - get ready: (2) Youtube videos of the semi-finals and finals, 10 minute online interview about the deck's evolution, Tournament report, and what I hope will be a firestorm in the Modern Magic community - a heretofore completely unknown deck claiming champion standing in a premier event. Ooooooh, Yeah!

But, for now, just the decklist

Quote from Raystack »

Winner: 72 Person 1K Event

I never lost a round, my mountainfolk kin. Not one. There's so much to share - get ready: (2) Youtube videos of the semi-finals and finals, 10 minute online interview about the deck's evolution, Tournament report, and what I have to believe will be a firestorm in the Modern Magic community - a heretofore completely unknown deck claiming champion standing in a premier event. Ooooooh, Yeah!

But, for now: here's the decklist

Porno for PyrosMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
MAIN DECK Creatures (8) 4 Goblin Rabblemaster 2 Magus of the Moon 1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar 1 Siege-Gang Commander Accelerators (12) 4 Simian Spirit Guide 4 Desperate Ritual 1 Pyretic Ritual 3 Tormenting Voice Enchantments (4) 4 Blood Moon	Planeswalker (4) 3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 1 Koth of the Hammer Artifacts (8) 4 Ensnaring Bridge 4 Chalice of the Void Disruption (3) 2 Sweltering Suns 1 Magma Jet Lands (21) 17 Mountains 3 Gemstone Caverns 1 Mutavault	SIDEBOARD 2 Anger of the Gods 2 Shattering Spree 2 Grafdigger's Cage 1 Phyrexian Revoker 1 Torpor Orb 1 Ratchet Bomb 1 Witchbane Orb 1 Ricochet Trap 1 Dragon's Claw 1 Hazoret the Fervent 1 Spellskite 1 Word of Seizing

It's Red Banner Day in the House of the Mountain Folk!!!

Excellent news man. Congratulations on your victory

Yes!!!! This is what we've been waiting for! I can't wait to hear all the details!!

I've been playing a 1-1 split of Siege-Gang/P&K as well, I'm glad to see it in the championship list!

Holy toleto batman beat off my pants for me! LOL Raystacks you just ran the 4 minute mile with this deck! I know great decks when I see it and that's why I bought this whole deck foil! Yes, NMC foil. It's going to take off and Raystack and everyone else is putting it on the map. I just wish I had MTGO up so I could play and add to the decks development, but alas I'll have to wait till fall.

We can't wait to hear all the reports and goodies your good fame has brought Raystack!