Hi guys, first of thank you Jordan for all your guides I am really enjoying the deck. I am having a hard time againt's a few decks in my local game store and i am seeking advise or tips againt's Humans specifically. I am using Jordan's Pre-Dominaria list and i have not beaten this guy for a couple of games now. I can't help but feel i always run out of gas and then we always end up in a stand still until he gets his flyers out late game and me having used up my removals on his other creatures or they simply just snowball and grow fast that i can't even attack at all. I have been playing this deck for about a month now and what i use to run before was GX Tron and Eldrazi Tron. I swore to lock them both up inside my cabinet until i get to master Jordan's Serum Eldrazi. All help will be very much appreciated and more power to you all spaghetti lovers!
How are you sideboarding?
-4 Simian Spirit Guide and -4 Chalice of the Void, +3 Spatial Contortion, +1 Gut Shot and +4 Ratchet Bomb, I also +/- Waste and Gemstone Caverns depending if I am on the draw or on the play.
Thoughts on damping sphere? Do we just keep running 2 spyglass?
What has spyglass to do with sphere ? They don't interact with each other.
They fight for the same sb slots basically
Not really. 1 Bomb, 1 Needle/Spyglass, 1 Contortion, and 2 Gut Shot are the flex spots in the sideboard. 1 Needle/Spyglass is locked in, and so are 3 Bombs (updated from 2).
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
I should've specified, fighting for basically the same slots in MY sideboard. I was thinking I didn't want to cut any of the spot removal.
I want the 4 Relic, 1 Surgical, 3 Bomb, 1 Gemstone Caverns, 3 Spatial, 1 Gut Shot, and I'm going with 1 Spyglass. I want to use the last slot to try 1 Damping Sphere. My logic is that I want the 2nd needle effect for tron anyway, and it's less impactful later in the game as well, so damping fills that "slow down tron" aspect, and it theoretically will do the same for storm, burn, and to a lesser extent, snapcaster and bloodbraid decks, thereby having broad application. It may be this is wrong. Not having a 2nd needle and 2nd gut shot makes us weaker to abzan company/elves, and maybe grishoalbrand, and I've already cut the 4th bomb to make room for 3rd gemstone caverns.
When would you want to have a Ghostfire Blade in the SB?
Also, how do you guys side against G/x Tron? I'm currently cutting chalice for 2x Sorcerous Spyglass. My meta is very tron and humans heavy, so I wouldn't mind an optimized SB for those matchups.
Edit: OTP, would you guys keep a hand of: Temple, Relic, MR, Dismember, 2x Eternal Scourge, and a Powder. I ended up powdering it away because it was too land light and the 2 scourges made it seem like it was worth losing the one temple for future hands.
When would you want to have a Ghostfire Blade in the SB?
Also, how do you guys side against G/x Tron? I'm currently cutting chalice for 2x Sorcerous Spyglass. My meta is very tron and humans heavy, so I wouldn't mind an optimized SB for those matchups.
Edit: OTP, would you guys keep a hand of: Temple, Relic, MR, Dismember, 2x Eternal Scourge, and a Powder. I ended up powdering it away because it was too land light and the 2 scourges made it seem like it was worth losing the one temple for future hands.
When would you want to have a Ghostfire Blade in the SB?
Also, how do you guys side against G/x Tron? I'm currently cutting chalice for 2x Sorcerous Spyglass. My meta is very tron and humans heavy, so I wouldn't mind an optimized SB for those matchups.
Edit: OTP, would you guys keep a hand of: Temple, Relic, MR, Dismember, 2x Eternal Scourge, and a Powder. I ended up powdering it away because it was too land light and the 2 scourges made it seem like it was worth losing the one temple for future hands.
As for sb vs Gx tron (using Jordan's updated list http://modernnexus.com/just-a-phase-pt-1-upkeep-and-draw/)
-3 ssg, -1 chalice, +2 spyglass, +1 surgical, +1 spatial. On draw +caverns -wastes.
I had been bringing in a bomb instead of the spatial to try and snipe an o.stone but spatial to increase clock is probably better. Dismember is great vs wurmcoil, even if it doesn't kill it, you can make it trade in combat or kill your dude to fade lifelink.
EDIT: I am starting to think I shouldn't be cutting SSG vs tron because we want to get chalice out ASAP to hit t1 map. So maybe just cut them on the draw and then on the play: -1 serum, -1 copter, -1 SSG, +2 spyglass, +1 surgical.
I have read the SB article and all he mentions about Gx tron is that it is a good matchup.
He also doesn't mention when Ghostfire blade should be a flex spot, only that it can be as a one of, and that it should be MB in a chalice-less build.
I didn't notice that other article that you tagged, so thank you!
EDIT: I already did a search for the ghostfire blade question and didn't find my answer, that is why I asked.
I have read the SB article and all he mentions about Gx tron is that it is a good matchup.
He also doesn't mention when Ghostfire blade should be a flex spot, only that it can be as a one of, and that it should be MB in a chalice-less build.
I didn't notice that other article that you tagged, so thank you!
EDIT: I already did a search for the ghostfire blade question and didn't find my answer, that is why I asked.
TBH I haven't felt like I need it, I just want more dudes, which is why Reshaper is so great, although I'm trying a 3/1 split with an Endless One because I wanted to have a fatter/scaleable body vs tron/RG eldrazi/titanshift/etc. I feel like the 4 dismember are required. So basically screw around with your flex slots. I don't think ghostfire blade is better than copter though.
I tryed ghostfire in a build without chalice and in my small testing it was not good, because i had each turn so many creatures in my hand to play and no time for ghostfire. Dont forget wie play 4 relic without chalice whuch Drews a lot of extracards and without simian i played more creatures too Main. If i won, i did it because a lot of creatures and not because if they are bigger with ghostblade. Against titanshift and tron i play with 4 tectonic edge. But again, i tested only few games ghostfire
I'm sorry, I meant when would we want it in the sb. I am running his build with Chalice but my meta is full of tron, storm, humans, hollow one, mardu and some random decks here and there like ponza, elves, infect, DnT. Usually 20 of us but it isn't uncommon for 3 humans 5 tron and 2 storm.
Any advice for this sb? I'm on Jordan's sb except an extra spatial over gut shot.
I dont think you beat tron and storm with ghostblade and humans, mardu, infect etc.. You need removal to stop their synergies. Only vs hollow one its maybe nice but like i say, only 4-5 testgames i did with ghostblade so maybe Jordan did more then me
I dont think you beat tron and storm with ghostblade and humans, mardu, infect etc.. You need removal to stop their synergies. Only vs hollow one its maybe nice but like i say, only 4-5 testgames i did with ghostblade so maybe Jordan did more then me
Like it says in the primer, Ghost mainly shines in big creature mirrors such as the mirror. I list it as a "general clock improver" because it does improve your clock generally. But if your goal in a certain matchup is to maximize proactivity, the trick is to sideboard very little, since the mainboard is already designed to do that.
For a topical example (since I'm seeing Tron come up in this thread a lot lately), my plan against Tron for a long time was -2 Dismember, +1 Surgical, +1 Needle. Now it's -3 Dismember, +1 Surgical, +2 Spyglass. Very little changes post-board; we just have a better idea of what to mulligan for. I would not want Ghost in this matchup.
I was impressed with the card in creature matchups and not so much elsewhere, which led me to abandon it from the 75 entirely. I would still start with one main if I wasn't on Chalice (purely a thought experiment, since as you all know I would never advocate against cutting Chalice from the mainboard), but only if I filled the other Guide/Chalice slots with utility over creatures. As mentioned by Mtgthewary, even the one-equip cost can prove annoying if we've got a hand full of threats, and equipment is mostly superfluous if we can also spend the turn just playing another guy. I will say that Blade improves alongside cheaper creatures like Endless One that don't demand much of our manabase, and gets worse in builds heavily centered around, say, three-drops (these have a higher chance of clunking out).
For those of you thinking about playing Surgical (?!) in the main alongside Chalice, we already have great game against the decks Surgical comes in against, and no it doesn't come in against "most" opponents. The Chalice build cannot support any one-drops in the main. I have tried Relic in flex spots numerous times to middling results, and that's easily our best option. Try another Scavenger Grounds.
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
When would you want to have a Ghostfire Blade in the SB?
Also, how do you guys side against G/x Tron? I'm currently cutting chalice for 2x Sorcerous Spyglass. My meta is very tron and humans heavy, so I wouldn't mind an optimized SB for those matchups.
Edit: OTP, would you guys keep a hand of: Temple, Relic, MR, Dismember, 2x Eternal Scourge, and a Powder. I ended up powdering it away because it was too land light and the 2 scourges made it seem like it was worth losing the one temple for future hands.
I would always powder this away. Mull to 9? Seems good. I would powder this away even with just 1 scourge and a 1 lander.
just want to post to say that if yall havent tested zhalfirin void ... play it. and play 4... what your cut is up to you... i think im on the same plan as jordan. 1 gemstone in side. 3 GQ 0 sea gates.
sure it just adds a small amount of consistency, but it is much much desired, and go as far to call it a core card after a few leagues even.
If your meta is very tron heavy, do you think I should cut a Scavenger Ground to have 4 GQ? My meta has some graveyard decks and I know of a few midrange decks, but tron is definitely the most heavy archtype on any given night.
Before zhalfirin void was printed I tried 1 tec edge in the 3rd scavenger grounds slot for tron. But with void now, I'd maybe only cut 3rd gemstone grom the sb for the 4th GQ but I don't really like that idea.
The Zhalfirin Voids were exceptionally good in the deck and I think there's little doubt that a playset is correct.
I beat 8 Rack, Mardu Pyromancer, RG Ponza, and Affinity, losing to Humans. Blood Moon is all over my shop so it was fun playing a deck that naturally resists that card so well. I enjoyed playing the deck again, it is so dumb sometimes with its mull-20-cards-into-exile-and-then-play-a-T1-Thought-Knot-Seer draws.
Went 2-1 tonight with a 3 reshaper/1 endless one and 1 spyglass/1 damping sphere split. Didn't see the sphere vs ub control but the single endless one was pretty sweet. I kept this vs elves g3 on the play, might have been wrong: gut shot, 2x dismember, GQ, scavenger, bomb, reshaper. Her t1 was nettle sentinel... I also didn't bring in sphere vs her and I would've if it were legacy elves, maybe I should've
I found it. The search is quite nice.
I tried to search for how you guys board against Ponza and DnT but was unsuccessful. I was wondering if it is unreasonable to board out smasher against RG land destruction/ponza. I feel like the games we lose pretty bad are the ones that our higher CMC cards get stuck in hand. I'm not the most experience with this match up, so I'm asking for thoughts.
So, after a lackluster showing on my part during the Team Open in the Legacy seat, I decided to play this in the Modern Classic the following day.
Short version, 7-2 for 18th place overall. If I had taken my losses later in the day, I likely could have slid in 8th, but there were multiple 7-1-1's and it would be been rather tight. A lock for Top 16, easy, though.
I played Jordan's listed new post-Dominaria 75 with the singleton Gutshot and Surgical in the board.
Affinity 1-0 (2-1 in games)
Game one he does the Affinity thing and I get steamrolled with Infect damage. I board the suggested and win the next two games easily on the back of tons of removal that kill everything. In game three my opponent mulls to 6 with scry to the top on the play and lays out Memnite, Ornithopter, Mox Opal, pass. I Gutshot the Memnite, Dismember the Ornithopter off Temple, and pass. He draws and passes, then I play Temple into Thought-Knot and take the game.
Jund 2-0 (4-1 in games)
If I could play against Jund every round, I would be the happiest boy in the world. These games were extremely one-sided and I just played for a grindy game 1. Game two was even better with all of the Relics I boarded in, keeping Goyf's small and making Eternal Scourge an infinite blocker against Ooze until I found better threats.
Lantern Control 2-1 (5-3 in games)
Misery. I win game two with a very aggressive clock and an Early Chalice + Ratchet Bomb to win the game. Games 1 and 3 were multiple Bridges and Pithing Needles locking me out of the ability to attack. Game 3 ended with him at 1 and my out being Gutshot, but it wasn't in the cards (foreshadowing, not this time, anyway).
UR Breach 2-2 (6-5 in games)
I win game one off T1 Chalice on 1 shutting off all his removal and most cantrips. Games 2 and 3 I get knocked around by Big Sister Eldrazi on turn 5, and then in the very late game in game 3 and it's backed by EOT Ambush Viper with Upside. I do misplay in game three and could likely have had an out due to poor sequencing. It may have been inconsequential, but it did end up with TKS countered and Relic resolved, as opposed to the other way around.
8 Rack 3-2 (8-5 in games)
There's not much to say about these games. Game one was Chalice on 1 on 1, game two I was able to race his Shrieking Afflictions with TKS and Smasher when he didn't have a Bridge to hide behind.
Humans 4-2 (10-6 in games)
I'm not sure what he's on, but I'm on the play with a double Chalice hand. I lay Chalice on 0 and 1, he plays Ancient Ziggurat on 1 and passes. I play creatures, he plays creatures with evasion, and I end up dieing to triple Mantis Rider. Game two I gave a very aggressive draw with Mimic into TKS into Smasher. Game three I play out early removal and he eventually works to stabilize with Hostage Takers in through Vial. On the last turn of the game he has lethal on board at 4 life. I have Copter and Mimic. I cast Scourge trigger Mimic, crew Copter with Scourge and move to attack. He lets me Copter trigger, vials in Hostage taker and steals Copter, then takes three from Scourge. I shrug, confirm he is at one, then place Gutshot on the table and point at him. The look of devastation was evident.
Jund 5-2 (12-6 in games)
Game 1 is long, but boring. My opponent is stuck on 2 lands for a while and takes forever to get going, I aggressively Dismember Bobs and swing in. Game two is long. I go through 2 Relics, 2 Ratchet Bombs, and eventually win with infinite blockers in Eternal Scourge + Relic and a scry'd to the top Smasher breaking through two Bobs.
Affinity 6-2 (14-7 in games)
Game 1 I get rolled over again. It's a tough one out of the gate. Game 2 is Chalice on 0 and 1 in turn 1, then Spyglass on Inkmoth Nexus. Game three I hit multiple Ratchet Bombs to sweep his side and then kill with Scourges.
Ponza 7-2 (16-7 in games)
He shuffles very haphazardly and I see two different copies of Birds of Paradise. I'm on the play, so I shrug into Chalice on 1. He makes a very unhappy face, shrugs, and says okay. I proceed to eventually play a second Chalice on 1 and Smash. He plays Harmonize in the face of my Mimic + Smasher and I am fairly sure it's locked up. Game two is close to the same, but my early TKS sees 2x Molten Rain, Stone Rain, Land, BBE. I have Serum Powder in play and several lands, so I take BBE and let him go to town. He falls behind with me TKS'ing him and using artifact mana to cast Eldrazi through Blood Moon, and I take the win with a Smasher.
End Thoughts: Excellent games. Early Chalice is my Bae and I won't be leaving her for a long time. The only game that really felt close to hopeless was Lantern, and that's just because they had so many angles to account for and the solutions are so few and far between. Culling Scales as mentioned may be a route I take to work through that grind, but its susceptibility to Abrupt Decay and their ability to recur important lock pieces means you generally get one go at things.
Now that the hype from BBE and Jace unbanning has resulted in facing less of those cards, is it correct to go back to the 2-2 split between Endless One and Matter Reshaper? It helps against Thalia in humans and possibly trading with a champion later in the game.
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-4 Simian Spirit Guide and -4 Chalice of the Void, +3 Spatial Contortion, +1 Gut Shot and +4 Ratchet Bomb, I also +/- Waste and Gemstone Caverns depending if I am on the draw or on the play.
They fight for the same sb slots basically
http://modernnexus.com/colorless-eldrazi-stompy-mini-primer-sideboarding/
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
I want the 4 Relic, 1 Surgical, 3 Bomb, 1 Gemstone Caverns, 3 Spatial, 1 Gut Shot, and I'm going with 1 Spyglass. I want to use the last slot to try 1 Damping Sphere. My logic is that I want the 2nd needle effect for tron anyway, and it's less impactful later in the game as well, so damping fills that "slow down tron" aspect, and it theoretically will do the same for storm, burn, and to a lesser extent, snapcaster and bloodbraid decks, thereby having broad application. It may be this is wrong. Not having a 2nd needle and 2nd gut shot makes us weaker to abzan company/elves, and maybe grishoalbrand, and I've already cut the 4th bomb to make room for 3rd gemstone caverns.
Also, how do you guys side against G/x Tron? I'm currently cutting chalice for 2x Sorcerous Spyglass. My meta is very tron and humans heavy, so I wouldn't mind an optimized SB for those matchups.
Edit: OTP, would you guys keep a hand of: Temple, Relic, MR, Dismember, 2x Eternal Scourge, and a Powder. I ended up powdering it away because it was too land light and the 2 scourges made it seem like it was worth losing the one temple for future hands.
Please read through the this whole thread and all of Jordan B's articles http://modernnexus.com/colorless-eldrazi-stompy-mini-primer-sideboarding/
As for sb vs Gx tron (using Jordan's updated list http://modernnexus.com/just-a-phase-pt-1-upkeep-and-draw/)
-3 ssg, -1 chalice, +2 spyglass, +1 surgical, +1 spatial. On draw +caverns -wastes.
I had been bringing in a bomb instead of the spatial to try and snipe an o.stone but spatial to increase clock is probably better. Dismember is great vs wurmcoil, even if it doesn't kill it, you can make it trade in combat or kill your dude to fade lifelink.
EDIT: I am starting to think I shouldn't be cutting SSG vs tron because we want to get chalice out ASAP to hit t1 map. So maybe just cut them on the draw and then on the play: -1 serum, -1 copter, -1 SSG, +2 spyglass, +1 surgical.
He also doesn't mention when Ghostfire blade should be a flex spot, only that it can be as a one of, and that it should be MB in a chalice-less build.
I didn't notice that other article that you tagged, so thank you!
EDIT: I already did a search for the ghostfire blade question and didn't find my answer, that is why I asked.
TBH I haven't felt like I need it, I just want more dudes, which is why Reshaper is so great, although I'm trying a 3/1 split with an Endless One because I wanted to have a fatter/scaleable body vs tron/RG eldrazi/titanshift/etc. I feel like the 4 dismember are required. So basically screw around with your flex slots. I don't think ghostfire blade is better than copter though.
Any advice for this sb? I'm on Jordan's sb except an extra spatial over gut shot.
For a topical example (since I'm seeing Tron come up in this thread a lot lately), my plan against Tron for a long time was -2 Dismember, +1 Surgical, +1 Needle. Now it's -3 Dismember, +1 Surgical, +2 Spyglass. Very little changes post-board; we just have a better idea of what to mulligan for. I would not want Ghost in this matchup.
I was impressed with the card in creature matchups and not so much elsewhere, which led me to abandon it from the 75 entirely. I would still start with one main if I wasn't on Chalice (purely a thought experiment, since as you all know I would never advocate against cutting Chalice from the mainboard), but only if I filled the other Guide/Chalice slots with utility over creatures. As mentioned by Mtgthewary, even the one-equip cost can prove annoying if we've got a hand full of threats, and equipment is mostly superfluous if we can also spend the turn just playing another guy. I will say that Blade improves alongside cheaper creatures like Endless One that don't demand much of our manabase, and gets worse in builds heavily centered around, say, three-drops (these have a higher chance of clunking out).
For those of you thinking about playing Surgical (?!) in the main alongside Chalice, we already have great game against the decks Surgical comes in against, and no it doesn't come in against "most" opponents. The Chalice build cannot support any one-drops in the main. I have tried Relic in flex spots numerous times to middling results, and that's easily our best option. Try another Scavenger Grounds.
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
I would always powder this away. Mull to 9? Seems good. I would powder this away even with just 1 scourge and a 1 lander.
sure it just adds a small amount of consistency, but it is much much desired, and go as far to call it a core card after a few leagues even.
4x Eldrazi Temple
4x Zhalfirin Void
4x Blinkmoth Nexus
3x Ghost Quarter
2x Mutavault
2x Gemstone Caverns
2x Scavenger Grounds
2x Wastes
Creature (24)
4x Eldrazi Mimic
4x Eternal Scourge
4x Thought-Knot Seer
4x Reality Smasher
2x Endless One
2x Matter Reshaper
4x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Serum Powder
4x Chalice of the Void
1x Smuggler's Copter
Instant (4)
4x Dismember
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Sorcerous Spyglass
3x Spatial Contortion
4x Relic of Progenitus
4x Ratchet Bomb
I beat 8 Rack, Mardu Pyromancer, RG Ponza, and Affinity, losing to Humans. Blood Moon is all over my shop so it was fun playing a deck that naturally resists that card so well. I enjoyed playing the deck again, it is so dumb sometimes with its mull-20-cards-into-exile-and-then-play-a-T1-Thought-Knot-Seer draws.
I tried to search for how you guys board against Ponza and DnT but was unsuccessful. I was wondering if it is unreasonable to board out smasher against RG land destruction/ponza. I feel like the games we lose pretty bad are the ones that our higher CMC cards get stuck in hand. I'm not the most experience with this match up, so I'm asking for thoughts.
breach titan crops up occasionally, but humans is prolific. anyone got any hot tech or strats for this one?
Short version, 7-2 for 18th place overall. If I had taken my losses later in the day, I likely could have slid in 8th, but there were multiple 7-1-1's and it would be been rather tight. A lock for Top 16, easy, though.
I played Jordan's listed new post-Dominaria 75 with the singleton Gutshot and Surgical in the board.
Affinity 1-0 (2-1 in games)
Game one he does the Affinity thing and I get steamrolled with Infect damage. I board the suggested and win the next two games easily on the back of tons of removal that kill everything. In game three my opponent mulls to 6 with scry to the top on the play and lays out Memnite, Ornithopter, Mox Opal, pass. I Gutshot the Memnite, Dismember the Ornithopter off Temple, and pass. He draws and passes, then I play Temple into Thought-Knot and take the game.
Jund 2-0 (4-1 in games)
If I could play against Jund every round, I would be the happiest boy in the world. These games were extremely one-sided and I just played for a grindy game 1. Game two was even better with all of the Relics I boarded in, keeping Goyf's small and making Eternal Scourge an infinite blocker against Ooze until I found better threats.
Lantern Control 2-1 (5-3 in games)
Misery. I win game two with a very aggressive clock and an Early Chalice + Ratchet Bomb to win the game. Games 1 and 3 were multiple Bridges and Pithing Needles locking me out of the ability to attack. Game 3 ended with him at 1 and my out being Gutshot, but it wasn't in the cards (foreshadowing, not this time, anyway).
UR Breach 2-2 (6-5 in games)
I win game one off T1 Chalice on 1 shutting off all his removal and most cantrips. Games 2 and 3 I get knocked around by Big Sister Eldrazi on turn 5, and then in the very late game in game 3 and it's backed by EOT Ambush Viper with Upside. I do misplay in game three and could likely have had an out due to poor sequencing. It may have been inconsequential, but it did end up with TKS countered and Relic resolved, as opposed to the other way around.
8 Rack 3-2 (8-5 in games)
There's not much to say about these games. Game one was Chalice on 1 on 1, game two I was able to race his Shrieking Afflictions with TKS and Smasher when he didn't have a Bridge to hide behind.
Humans 4-2 (10-6 in games)
I'm not sure what he's on, but I'm on the play with a double Chalice hand. I lay Chalice on 0 and 1, he plays Ancient Ziggurat on 1 and passes. I play creatures, he plays creatures with evasion, and I end up dieing to triple Mantis Rider. Game two I gave a very aggressive draw with Mimic into TKS into Smasher. Game three I play out early removal and he eventually works to stabilize with Hostage Takers in through Vial. On the last turn of the game he has lethal on board at 4 life. I have Copter and Mimic. I cast Scourge trigger Mimic, crew Copter with Scourge and move to attack. He lets me Copter trigger, vials in Hostage taker and steals Copter, then takes three from Scourge. I shrug, confirm he is at one, then place Gutshot on the table and point at him. The look of devastation was evident.
Jund 5-2 (12-6 in games)
Game 1 is long, but boring. My opponent is stuck on 2 lands for a while and takes forever to get going, I aggressively Dismember Bobs and swing in. Game two is long. I go through 2 Relics, 2 Ratchet Bombs, and eventually win with infinite blockers in Eternal Scourge + Relic and a scry'd to the top Smasher breaking through two Bobs.
Affinity 6-2 (14-7 in games)
Game 1 I get rolled over again. It's a tough one out of the gate. Game 2 is Chalice on 0 and 1 in turn 1, then Spyglass on Inkmoth Nexus. Game three I hit multiple Ratchet Bombs to sweep his side and then kill with Scourges.
Ponza 7-2 (16-7 in games)
He shuffles very haphazardly and I see two different copies of Birds of Paradise. I'm on the play, so I shrug into Chalice on 1. He makes a very unhappy face, shrugs, and says okay. I proceed to eventually play a second Chalice on 1 and Smash. He plays Harmonize in the face of my Mimic + Smasher and I am fairly sure it's locked up. Game two is close to the same, but my early TKS sees 2x Molten Rain, Stone Rain, Land, BBE. I have Serum Powder in play and several lands, so I take BBE and let him go to town. He falls behind with me TKS'ing him and using artifact mana to cast Eldrazi through Blood Moon, and I take the win with a Smasher.
End Thoughts: Excellent games. Early Chalice is my Bae and I won't be leaving her for a long time. The only game that really felt close to hopeless was Lantern, and that's just because they had so many angles to account for and the solutions are so few and far between. Culling Scales as mentioned may be a route I take to work through that grind, but its susceptibility to Abrupt Decay and their ability to recur important lock pieces means you generally get one go at things.