I like the Sylvian Cariatid idea. After playtesting a bit with MTGForge, there have already been too many times where I didn't have a target or a simple removal messed it all.
RisingTaide, I was pretty sure about the Faithless lootings but I also wondered about Cathartic. Isn't having both a bit too much? How did playtest go?
Your list obviously doesn't care about original shuffling all the grave, but I wouldn't ever drop the N.1 I-come-I-win creature in such a deck. I also play a singleton Iona, but I'm quite surprised with new Kozilek and ITB. From my playing with Through The Breach decks I can tell the highest annihilator is almost always what you want/need. Your thoughts?
Beck // Call is just a good value option which combines: Tidings + Migratory Route in one card no how the rest of your deck is constructed.
ya but thing is catch // release on turn 4 has the biggest impact on lands. with catch we steal a land and our opponent loses 2 lands, plus other permanents. for a deck like this we won't have very man creatures, enchantments, or artifacts of our own on turn 4 for release to hit, Opponents decks will, making this a well rounded attempt as a shut out.
I've updated my list. The reason I prefer to use creatures like Norn instead of the Eldrazi is because you can't bin them early and reanimate later. You have to combo perfectly on time. I moved on to Goblin+Behemoth. The goblin can chain Breaking/Entering over and over again, finally ending the chain with a Behemoth. Another card I considered is Flame-kin Zealot. You could even Hardcast it after a Beck/Call and swing right away. Overall this list feels really consistent. Sylvan Caryatid was the best idea to give a completely invulnerable target for Kari.
Your only method of reanimation is to "fuse" Breaking // Entering which also puts cards in the GY so there is no need to bin cards in advamce with enough finishers density in the deck (9x gives you a good chance to hit one).
I don't see any reason to go with Craterhoof over Emrakul/Ulamog/Worldspine.
In my build, I need the cards to stay in my graveyard. If I faithless on turn 1, I bin my Goblin ands I need it to stay there until I can reanimate it. I can't count on flipping a fatty on my first B/E. If I bin a goblin and reanimate it, he casts B/E again and you see how the chain goes. It allows me to dig through more of my deck.
I see your argument. Emrakul is a one-card win. But by that logic, why not just play Goryo's Breach? A proven deck that is no doubt more consistent than this.
In my build, I only flip the Behemoth after I've already hit a couple Goblins into play the same turn. Even I get only two Goblins and have no bird tokens, ending the chain with Behemoth swings for 21 dmg trample & haste. And the Goblins have Menace for even more evasion.
I'd just like to chime in with +1 on the goblins. Ive been testing with no shuffle creatures, and use 4 goblins. The real benefit of them is how they act as TTB in a way, a 5 cmc backup plan that hits the spells that were discarded or countered. For note, I run Living End instead of beck/call. I also like sire of insanity here, as it effectively ends the game unless opponent can topdeck an answer.
Anyone running goblin should note you cant fuse spells from the gy. You can keep casting entering on multiple goblins, though.
Here's the list I've been playeing. Just went 3-1 tonight (should have been 4-0 but lost to Esper control amazing draws when I had him at 1 for 6 turns.
Funeralofgod, Goblin Dark-Dwellers are good but can't cast both halves of the "fuse" cards.
The plan of your deck seems slower and requires more cards to work.
About the comparison to "Goryo's Breach", this combo lets you keep the creature and not sac' it (that is why I prioritize resilient Eldrazi finisher) and can go off as fast with many redundant pieces and a better backup plan in Beck // Call, I think that this deck can become the better Reanimaror combo strategy of the two.
Funeralofgod, Goblin Dark-Dwellers are good but can't cast both halves of the "fuse" cards.
The plan of your deck seems slower and requires more cards to work.
About the comparison to "Goryo's Breach", this combo lets you keep the creature and not sac' it (that is why I prioritize resilient Eldrazi finisher) and can go off as fast with many redundant pieces and a better backup plan in Beck // Call, I think that this deck can become the better Reanimaror combo strategy of the two.
Dark Dwellers can cast both halves of a fuse card, but it's still 5 whole mana and if you are running eldrazi in your list the chance of you binning them with something like a faithless looting means he's better left in the binder.
I agree on the comment about the comparison to Goryo's Breach list being inaccurate. The deck is seeking to combo in the none emrakul lists and emrakul isn't even a guaranteed win with one swing against some decks. Lingering souls is back in the meta in a big way thanks to cards like Grim Flayer and Collective Brutality improving Abzan's lot in the meta, and believe me having life above 15 and a bunch of tokens is a great way to survive a one off emrakul attack. Besides, we're improvements on their strategy in many ways. For one we have multiple fuse cards to take advantage off giving us multiple lines of victory through our multiple two card combos. Beck // Call has been hugely underrated thus far. A beck // call off of a Sram's Expertise is likely game over against midrange strategies filled with one for one removal.
After goldfishing extensively with the Saffron Olive / PV list, I found that casting Breaking // Entering was far and away the most powerful thing the deck could do. While occasionally explosive, Beck // Call mostly drew into fatties, mana dorks, and fuse cards and did not provide the necessary cards to combo again. The lack of deck manipulation also made it difficult to assemble the combo in a reasonable time frame and Breaking // Entering and Beck // Call often did nothing on their own. In an attempt to remedy some of these problems, I came up with a variant on Grixis Goryo's Vengeance:
Because the deck isn't running mana dorks or Dryad Arbor, it uses Forbidden Orchard to insure that there is a creature on board for Kari Zev's Expertise. The tokens that Orchard produces can become annoying, especially if we have to tap Orchard for mana before the combo turn, but Yahenni's Expertise cleans them up.
The Breaking side of Breaking // Entering can be used to set up Goryo's Vengeance, although it's best to wait until you have the mana to cast both Breaking and Goryo's in case you hit an Emrakul.
Pact of Negation is a hedge against control decks, but I could see swapping them out for something in the sideboard depending on your meta. Thoughtseize might actually be a better choice because it can be used to bin our own fatties.
At the moment, I'm running Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur as the ninth creature since it acts like a fifth Griselbrand, but I'm considering other options such as Goblin Dark-Dwellers and Narset, Enlightened Master. I originally ran Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre but found that he was a weak Goryo's Vengeance target. Annihilating four permanents and maybe dealing 10 damage was not enough to justify the resources expended on Goryo's Vengeance. As it stands, Griselbrand is usually a better Goryo's Vengeance target than Emrakul anyway because it draws you 7-14 cards and allows you to either combo again the next turn or set a up a second Goryo's Vengeance or Breaking // Entering on the spot. Emrakul is at its best as a Goryo's Vengeance target when your opponent is at 15 or less life or you can annihilate most of their board, giving your self plenty of time to reassemble the combo.
The sideboard is fairly tentative right now until I figure out exactly what the deck's weaknesses are.
So far the deck has preformed very well in testing. It can go off by turn 3 regularly and has the potential for a turn one combo (Forbidden Orchard, Kari Zev's Expertise, 2 SSG, Breaking // Entering). I welcome your feedback and suggestions for improvement.
I must say if the way to go with Fusion Expertise is too exclusively be casting Breaking // Entering, this is probably pretty close to the list we should go with. That said, I think you're discounting the power of Beck // Call. It has a unique ability to alternatively slow down the game and provide massive card draw, and in some cases against decks unprepared, to win the game with multiple flyers. The biggest strength of your list is that it's likely going to be reanimating powerful creatures more often, but without running green for dorks you're simply a lot slower and your Kari Zev's Expertise is a lot worse. Forbidden orchard is literally your only way to give it targets against control decks that will eventually understand that giving you a target is a death sentence, and are well equipt to fizzel your Kari Zev's Expertise with a removal spell. If you're going grixis, dropping green, and making a dedicated reanimator list you should replace some amount of kari zevs expertise with Brain in the Jar, if not all of them. Brain synergies decently well with your higher non creature spell count anyway. Also Defense Matrix is a must have sideboard card for all of these lists.
Dark Dwellers can cast both halves of a fuse card, but it's still 5 whole mana and if you are running eldrazi in your list the chance of you binning them with something like a faithless looting means he's better left in the binder.
The ruling on "fuse" is that it must be cast from hand so GDD can't cast both halves from the GY.
Dark Dwellers can cast both halves of a fuse card, but it's still 5 whole mana and if you are running eldrazi in your list the chance of you binning them with something like a faithless looting means he's better left in the binder.
The ruling on "fuse" is that it must be cast from hand so GDD can't cast both halves from the GY.
It can cast the bigger half from the GY though right?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Legacy:B The Gate // B Pox Modern:RGB Dredge // RBG Goblins // B The Gate // UBR Tezz AoB Control // RBG Prison Pox EDH:RBU Thraximundar // R Norin the Wary // RWB Kaalia of the Vast // BUR Grixis Combos // BU Gisa and Geralf Tribal Tiny Leaders:BUW Sydri, Galvanic Genius // R Feldon of the Third Path
There's a big difference in casting both halfs and casting either half. Gdd seems way to slow imo. Beck//call is by far better than a lot of people are giving it credit for. The fact that this deck can go wide with tokens, reanimate a fatty, or breach one in is what gives it legs, and beck//call just extends upon that while making sure gy hate doesn't just blow you out.
I've been siding in 0 cards vs control and been putting up good results. The only card that is problematic is cryptic and many times by the time it's online it's too late for the opponent. This deck has legs but I think stiff like forbidden orchard is just too cute and easy to interact with.
-EDIT
The ruling on Fuse cards in the graveyard is unfortunate. I'll abandon that list since my whole thought was based on casting both halves from the yard.
Thought I'd give my take on the deck. Goblin Dark Dwellers can't fuse both halves, true but if you're at the stage of the game where you can afford him, then you will be able to cast what you need with a good fatty in the grave. This does mean no Emrakul, though.
I really like the ability to wipe the board with Living End. It's just lights out against midrange and some aggro. Another nice thing is having a Living End in the yard, then reanimating a GDD with the combo, only to cast the LE in the yard where you get all the creatures you've binned. You can get multiple goblin triggers, give your Griselbrand haste by grave-casting either Entering or Kari Zev's expertise.
Another thing I like about this list is going the ability to go the Ponza route. Arbor Elf is fragile, but he does let you cast KZE on turn 2, and ramping with Elf + Utopia Sprawl gets you to Goblin territory pretty quickly. Sprawl can get to black, which has been relevant in hard-casting entering and the like. I think the Madcap package from the board is a good way to both combat aggro and to lessen the graveyard dependence game 2.
I dunno, it's a wonky list, but just goes to show how many directions the expertise model can take.
Thought I'd give my take on the deck. Goblin Dark Dwellers can't fuse both halves, true but if you're at the stage of the game where you can afford him, then you will be able to cast what you need with a good fatty in the grave. This does mean no Emrakul, though.
I really like the ability to wipe the board with Living End. It's just lights out against midrange and some aggro. Another nice thing is having a Living End in the yard, then reanimating a GDD with the combo, only to cast the LE in the yard where you get all the creatures you've binned. You can get multiple goblin triggers, give your Griselbrand haste by grave-casting either Entering or Kari Zev's expertise.
Another thing I like about this list is going the ability to go the Ponza route. Arbor Elf is fragile, but he does let you cast KZE on turn 2, and ramping with Elf + Utopia Sprawl gets you to Goblin territory pretty quickly. Sprawl can get to black, which has been relevant in hard-casting entering and the like. I think the Madcap package from the board is a good way to both combat aggro and to lessen the graveyard dependence game 2.
I dunno, it's a wonky list, but just goes to show how many directions the expertise model can take.
This just loses to yard hate and kill spells is the issue. By kill spells I mean targeting your Kari's target). I really think you want the plan b/c of tokens/through the breach. Decks are getting faster not slower (dispite what wotc wants to do) so ld isn't that useful. Look at cheerios, it's seeing a huge uptick now with seram and is killing t2/3, on top of affinity, infect, burn, dsz (I don't think probe hurt the deck that much and it pressures control to have push right away), dredge is def still viable and fast... this is also why I like elesh norn as it just straight hoses affinity/infect while also doing major work vs burn/coco if they don't have path. By all means test but test more back up plans too.
I played a slightly tweaked version of the list at FNM last night and went 3-1. I beat Infect, Naya Allies, and BR Eldrazi and lost to Grixis Delver due to play error in game 1 and then miss-sideboarding in game 2. The changes to the list were MD -2 Pact of Negation +2 Swan Song, SB -2 Swan Song +2 Dispel. Pact of Negation seemed like too much of a liability since the deck doesn't often win the turn it goes off. Swan Song, on the other hand, is an efficient counter and makes a creature for Kari Zev's Expertise. The meta at my LGS is very fair with lots of midrange decks, so I didn't have any problems finding targets for Kari Zev's Expertise. I could definitely see swapping it for Brain in a Jar in a more controlling meta though.
The MD configuration felt pretty tight. I'm going to experiment with -4 Sleight of Hand, -1 Jin-Gitaxias, +4 Ancestral Vision, +1 Goblin Dark-Dwellers to give the deck more resilience against control and midrange and free up some SB slots.
The SB needs work. Leyline of Sanctity and Wear // Tear preformed well, but Gemstone Caverns, Dispel, Fatal Push did not. I never had a chance to play Ancestral Vision. Going forward I'm going to try -1 Gemstone Caverns, -2 Dispel, -2 Fatal Push, +1 Yahenni's Expertise, +2 Defense Grid (nice call!), +2 Beck // Call (as a hedge against graveyard hate). If I do end of moving Ancestral Vision to the MD, I'll add the other two Beck // Call and either a third Defense Grid or a Living End (as a Wrath of God against creature decks and another way to beat Grafdigger's Cage).
I have had great suckess with the following deck. I have tested quite possetivly vs creature based agro like affinaty and landfall rallier, as well as skred red and blue red controll. More playtesting is needing, as well as the manabase needs some work.
I think I would like to add the scry lands, because it is more about having the right cards then having a critical mass of cards. Once the ball starts rolling I keep flooding in permanents, and my opponent keeps loosing permanents and cards.
Once the deck start running you do very ridicules things. Worst example is resolving a beck call off brain in a jar, and then flashback a lingering souls. Or if you have 5 mana - a beck and call of brain in a jar, followed by sram's expetise into lingering souls. I have drawn 10 cards a turn.
More realisticly thouh you just need to keep playing spells and stall until the game goes your way. Smallpox messes up a lot of decks. Early discard can lett you sett up very good smallpoxes. Smalpox with catch // release is very good.
Yahennies expertise sometimes had bad synergi with our deck, but often it is worth it. Also having yahennies as a sweeper is nice and rounds out the removal very well.
If there are any problematic cards in your opponents deck catch // release can kill it (enchantments, ensnaring bridge etc.)
FuneralofGod,
Why use Elesh Norn and Massacre Wurm when you can end the game with Emrakul/Ulamog ?
I like the Sylvian Cariatid idea. After playtesting a bit with MTGForge, there have already been too many times where I didn't have a target or a simple removal messed it all.
RisingTaide, I was pretty sure about the Faithless lootings but I also wondered about Cathartic. Isn't having both a bit too much? How did playtest go?
Your list obviously doesn't care about original shuffling all the grave, but I wouldn't ever drop the N.1 I-come-I-win creature in such a deck. I also play a singleton Iona, but I'm quite surprised with new Kozilek and ITB. From my playing with Through The Breach decks I can tell the highest annihilator is almost always what you want/need. Your thoughts?
turn 4 catch and release feels like it would cripple most decks. feels like ti does more than beck // call.
Beck // Call is just a good value option which combines: Tidings + Migratory Route in one card no matter how the rest of your deck is constructed.
ya but thing is catch // release on turn 4 has the biggest impact on lands. with catch we steal a land and our opponent loses 2 lands, plus other permanents. for a deck like this we won't have very man creatures, enchantments, or artifacts of our own on turn 4 for release to hit, Opponents decks will, making this a well rounded attempt as a shut out.
plus you can further it by running goblin dark-dwellers to flash release back again.
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Copperline Gorge
1x Forest
4x Mountain
2x Rootbound Crag
2x Stomping Ground
4x Wooded Foothills
Artifact (4)
4x Brain in a Jar
4x Beck//Call
4x Breaking//Entering
4x Cathartic Reunion
4x Faithless Looting
4x Kari Zev's Expertise
3x Turn//Burn
Creature (12)
4x Craterhoof Behemoth
4x Goblin Dark-Dwellers
4x Sylvan Caryatid
2x Alive//Well
3x Ancient Grudge
3x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Massacre Wurm
3x Ray of Revelation
3x Terastodon
I go back and forth between Turn/Burn and Remand but I guess it depends on your meta. Against Tron I really want Remand.
Draft My Cube!
I don't see any reason to go with Craterhoof over Emrakul/Ulamog/Worldspine.
I see your argument. Emrakul is a one-card win. But by that logic, why not just play Goryo's Breach? A proven deck that is no doubt more consistent than this.
In my build, I only flip the Behemoth after I've already hit a couple Goblins into play the same turn. Even I get only two Goblins and have no bird tokens, ending the chain with Behemoth swings for 21 dmg trample & haste. And the Goblins have Menace for even more evasion.
Draft My Cube!
Anyone running goblin should note you cant fuse spells from the gy. You can keep casting entering on multiple goblins, though.
1 Chalice of the Void
Creature (19)
3 Birds of Paradise
2 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Griselbrand
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Sylvan Caryatid
1 Worldspine Wurm
Instant (4)
4 Through the Breach
Sorcery (15)
4 Beck // Call
3 Breaking // Entering
4 Kari Zev's Expertise
4 Sram's Expertise
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
2 Forest
1 Mountain
2 Plains
2 Sacred Foundry
3 Stomping Ground
2 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Anger of the Gods
3 Chalice of the Void
2 Crumble to Dust
3 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Shatterstorm
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Wear // Tear
Goblin Dark-Dwellers are good but can't cast both halves of the "fuse" cards.
The plan of your deck seems slower and requires more cards to work.
About the comparison to "Goryo's Breach", this combo lets you keep the creature and not sac' it (that is why I prioritize resilient Eldrazi finisher) and can go off as fast with many redundant pieces and a better backup plan in Beck // Call, I think that this deck can become the better Reanimaror combo strategy of the two.
Dark Dwellers can cast both halves of a fuse card, but it's still 5 whole mana and if you are running eldrazi in your list the chance of you binning them with something like a faithless looting means he's better left in the binder.
I agree on the comment about the comparison to Goryo's Breach list being inaccurate. The deck is seeking to combo in the none emrakul lists and emrakul isn't even a guaranteed win with one swing against some decks. Lingering souls is back in the meta in a big way thanks to cards like Grim Flayer and Collective Brutality improving Abzan's lot in the meta, and believe me having life above 15 and a bunch of tokens is a great way to survive a one off emrakul attack. Besides, we're improvements on their strategy in many ways. For one we have multiple fuse cards to take advantage off giving us multiple lines of victory through our multiple two card combos. Beck // Call has been hugely underrated thus far. A beck // call off of a Sram's Expertise is likely game over against midrange strategies filled with one for one removal.
~Modern~
BGURWhiteless Death's ShadowRUGB
GWRUSaheeli BlinkURWG
RGBUGood Ole' DredgeUBGR
~Commander~
URWNarset, Enlightened Time-TravelerWRU
UBRWBreya, Etherium ArchitectWRBU
A Prolific Loser To Blood Moon
I must say if the way to go with Fusion Expertise is too exclusively be casting Breaking // Entering, this is probably pretty close to the list we should go with. That said, I think you're discounting the power of Beck // Call. It has a unique ability to alternatively slow down the game and provide massive card draw, and in some cases against decks unprepared, to win the game with multiple flyers. The biggest strength of your list is that it's likely going to be reanimating powerful creatures more often, but without running green for dorks you're simply a lot slower and your Kari Zev's Expertise is a lot worse. Forbidden orchard is literally your only way to give it targets against control decks that will eventually understand that giving you a target is a death sentence, and are well equipt to fizzel your Kari Zev's Expertise with a removal spell. If you're going grixis, dropping green, and making a dedicated reanimator list you should replace some amount of kari zevs expertise with Brain in the Jar, if not all of them. Brain synergies decently well with your higher non creature spell count anyway. Also Defense Matrix is a must have sideboard card for all of these lists.
~Modern~
BGURWhiteless Death's ShadowRUGB
GWRUSaheeli BlinkURWG
RGBUGood Ole' DredgeUBGR
~Commander~
URWNarset, Enlightened Time-TravelerWRU
UBRWBreya, Etherium ArchitectWRBU
A Prolific Loser To Blood Moon
The ruling on "fuse" is that it must be cast from hand so GDD can't cast both halves from the GY.
It can cast the bigger half from the GY though right?
Modern: RGB Dredge // RBG Goblins // B The Gate // UBR Tezz AoB Control // RBG Prison Pox
EDH: RBU Thraximundar // R Norin the Wary // RWB Kaalia of the Vast // BUR Grixis Combos // BU Gisa and Geralf Tribal
Tiny Leaders: BUW Sydri, Galvanic Genius // R Feldon of the Third Path
Projects:
Gisa and Geralf Extreme-Tribal EDH
Esper Eldrazi Processor Control
Brewing with Kuldotha Forgemaster
Primer: "The Gate" - Mono Black in Modern
Modern Prison Pox - building a better plague
I've been siding in 0 cards vs control and been putting up good results. The only card that is problematic is cryptic and many times by the time it's online it's too late for the opponent. This deck has legs but I think stiff like forbidden orchard is just too cute and easy to interact with.
Esper Brain
Esper Brain + Gifts
-EDIT
The ruling on Fuse cards in the graveyard is unfortunate. I'll abandon that list since my whole thought was based on casting both halves from the yard.
Draft My Cube!
4 Arbor Elf
1 Magus of the Moon
3 Avalanche Riders
4 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
2 Sire of Insanity
4 Griselbrand
Permanents:
4 Utopia Sprawl
2 Blood Moon
Instants/Sorceries:
4 Faithless Looting
1 Tormenting Voice
3 Living End
4 Breaking // Entering
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Verdant Catacombs
5 Forest
1 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
1 Overgrown Tomb
2 Pyroclasm
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Anger of the Gods
4 Madcap Experiment
2 Platinum Emperion
2 Ricochet Trap
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
I really like the ability to wipe the board with Living End. It's just lights out against midrange and some aggro. Another nice thing is having a Living End in the yard, then reanimating a GDD with the combo, only to cast the LE in the yard where you get all the creatures you've binned. You can get multiple goblin triggers, give your Griselbrand haste by grave-casting either Entering or Kari Zev's expertise.
Another thing I like about this list is going the ability to go the Ponza route. Arbor Elf is fragile, but he does let you cast KZE on turn 2, and ramping with Elf + Utopia Sprawl gets you to Goblin territory pretty quickly. Sprawl can get to black, which has been relevant in hard-casting entering and the like. I think the Madcap package from the board is a good way to both combat aggro and to lessen the graveyard dependence game 2.
I dunno, it's a wonky list, but just goes to show how many directions the expertise model can take.
This just loses to yard hate and kill spells is the issue. By kill spells I mean targeting your Kari's target). I really think you want the plan b/c of tokens/through the breach. Decks are getting faster not slower (dispite what wotc wants to do) so ld isn't that useful. Look at cheerios, it's seeing a huge uptick now with seram and is killing t2/3, on top of affinity, infect, burn, dsz (I don't think probe hurt the deck that much and it pressures control to have push right away), dredge is def still viable and fast... this is also why I like elesh norn as it just straight hoses affinity/infect while also doing major work vs burn/coco if they don't have path. By all means test but test more back up plans too.
I played a slightly tweaked version of the list at FNM last night and went 3-1. I beat Infect, Naya Allies, and BR Eldrazi and lost to Grixis Delver due to play error in game 1 and then miss-sideboarding in game 2. The changes to the list were MD -2 Pact of Negation +2 Swan Song, SB -2 Swan Song +2 Dispel. Pact of Negation seemed like too much of a liability since the deck doesn't often win the turn it goes off. Swan Song, on the other hand, is an efficient counter and makes a creature for Kari Zev's Expertise. The meta at my LGS is very fair with lots of midrange decks, so I didn't have any problems finding targets for Kari Zev's Expertise. I could definitely see swapping it for Brain in a Jar in a more controlling meta though.
The MD configuration felt pretty tight. I'm going to experiment with -4 Sleight of Hand, -1 Jin-Gitaxias, +4 Ancestral Vision, +1 Goblin Dark-Dwellers to give the deck more resilience against control and midrange and free up some SB slots.
The SB needs work. Leyline of Sanctity and Wear // Tear preformed well, but Gemstone Caverns, Dispel, Fatal Push did not. I never had a chance to play Ancestral Vision. Going forward I'm going to try -1 Gemstone Caverns, -2 Dispel, -2 Fatal Push, +1 Yahenni's Expertise, +2 Defense Grid (nice call!), +2 Beck // Call (as a hedge against graveyard hate). If I do end of moving Ancestral Vision to the MD, I'll add the other two Beck // Call and either a third Defense Grid or a Living End (as a Wrath of God against creature decks and another way to beat Grafdigger's Cage).
Goryo's Fuse Combo UBR
The deck seems pretty good.
#I'm still not convinced about Griselbrand here over Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre or Emrakul, the Promised End/Worldspine Wurm here.
#I don't know if Through the Breach should be prioritized over Brain in a Jar as a backup enabler because Brain is cheaper and lets you cast your expertise spells at instant speed.
I think I would like to add the scry lands, because it is more about having the right cards then having a critical mass of cards. Once the ball starts rolling I keep flooding in permanents, and my opponent keeps loosing permanents and cards.
2 Yahenni's Expertise
4 Brain in a Jar
4 Beck // Call
4 Catch // Release
4 Smallpox
4 Lingering Souls
4 Night's Whisper
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
1 Fatal Push
4 Marsh Flats
3 Shambling Vent
4 Godless Shrine
1 Concealed Courtyard
2 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
5 Swamp
Once the deck start running you do very ridicules things. Worst example is resolving a beck call off brain in a jar, and then flashback a lingering souls. Or if you have 5 mana - a beck and call of brain in a jar, followed by sram's expetise into lingering souls. I have drawn 10 cards a turn.
More realisticly thouh you just need to keep playing spells and stall until the game goes your way. Smallpox messes up a lot of decks. Early discard can lett you sett up very good smallpoxes. Smalpox with catch // release is very good.
Yahennies expertise sometimes had bad synergi with our deck, but often it is worth it. Also having yahennies as a sweeper is nice and rounds out the removal very well.
If there are any problematic cards in your opponents deck catch // release can kill it (enchantments, ensnaring bridge etc.)
https://www.mtgdecks.net/deck/grand_prix_vancouver_2017_trial_winning_decklists/modern/mill_drazi_bryton_kaufman/670632/
Here is a new version I'm looking to try out:
4x Birds of Paradise
3x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1x Worldspine Wurm
4x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Artifact (4)
4x Brain in a Jar
Sorcery (16)
4x Beck // Call
4x Breaking // Entering
4x Kari Zev's Expertise
4x Sram's Expertise
1x Dryad Arbor
4x Wooded Foothills
4x Windswept Heath
2x Arid Mesa
2x Sacred Foundry
1x Temple Garden
2x Stomping Ground
1x Forest
1x Plains
1x Mountain
1x Forbidden Orchard
4x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Defense Grid
4x Path to Exile
3x Wear // Tear
2x Heroic Intervention
In the SB I'm not sure about Heroic Intervention which is basically a better Turn Aside/Rebuff the Wicked/Faith's Shield here as it can protect Brain in a Jar (even against Abrupt Decay) as well as creatures.
Would Grand Abolisher/Vexing Shusher be a better SB option ?