Been a couple weeks but finally got back to an FNM. Went 5-2 and got mega lucky on my pairings I can't lie. No changes to the list.
r1: colorless eldrazi (serum powder version)
Not much to say this is a decent matchup for me I have good removal and interaction for most of their guys. thing of note was g2 he on the play pitches 2 spirit guides and t1 TKS me...ouch. Thankfully I found removal after a couple turns and was able to turn the corner but my life was super low for the whole game.
1-0
r2: UR thing in the ice
Another easy match for me. I have discard and huge guys. Once I dealt with thing in the ice there's not much he can do to me.
2-0
r3: KCI
UGH this deck...g1 he mulls to 4 and STILL WINS through a scooze and a pulse....what the actual F. Admittedly I punted pretty hard with a wrong sequence of collective brutality and scooze activation so i deserved it but still. It was a mull to 4. G2 I just get wrecked. Deck is so resilient it's really dumb.
2-1
r4: Jund
I get wrecked in this match. All his cards just lined up perfectly for what I was doing. He drew really well and I didn't. That's magic though sometimes these things happen.
2-2
r5: burn
So far I've played burn about 10 times and lost only once. I can't say it's a good matchup as they are almost always close but maybe it's actually pretty good for me. g3 my opponent attacked into my guys for some reason and just threw them away. I can't figure out why. He was in a very bad position, as I have 2 tks in play and a goyf vs his no cards in hand and a swifty+eidolon to my 11 life. Blocking gives him another turn maybe 2 but to just throw it away? I dunno.
3-2
So I was VERY lucky to only lost to undefeated players meaning my breakers were awesome despite my mediocre record. I lucked into top 8. I'm not going to complain. I was the only 9 pointer to make it.
top8: jund
different player but fun games. g1 he does jund things and just buries me. g2 I draw lucky and rip a second temple t3 like a boss and smasher him into another smasher. GG. g3 I was able to strip him of any of him cards and leave him stuck with a couple 4 drops thanks to brutality and TKS. He doesn't draw his 4th land until too late.
4-2
top4: mardu pyro
As expected I lose g1 pretty convincingly. I don't have any good way to deal with spirit tokens and didn't draw any removal for pyro for some reason. g2 and g3 were grindy but liliana last hope was straight up MVP. I have so much in the board to help with this match and I definitely need it.
5-2
We split finals and went home it was like 230 am...ouch. I think I might cut a tracker and play another liliana or something. I'm undecided. I love trackers and I think 2 might be the right amount. I may cut tasigur too but I never saw him once last night. I'll keep him in for now as he's been good in the past.
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Another week, another FNM report no decklist changes
r1: bushwhacker zoo
g1 she doesn't have a blistering start and I'm on the play so after a few removal spells liliana is able to stabilize and then my huge idiots just take over. g2 she plays like a million guys and swings for 14 on t3 putting me to 4. I untap rip an untapped black source like a boss and flaying tendrils the entire board. from there I just had to dodge multiple bolts and TKS cleaned up her hand and stopped anything from coming in.
1-0
r2 grixis control
This was a very hard match tons of removal, counters and interaction. Notably Ashiok from opponent was just a huge beating and it won him g2 pretty convincingly even after I killed it, it just got so much value I couldn't come back. g3 I mull to 5 (ouch) but still end up making good choices and eventually winning the game. At the end he chose not to counter lili of the veil and hold it for something else and that really came back to bite him in the ass as Lili just controlled the entire board after a few turns. I was kinda surprised but I suppose I can't blame him I didn't know what he had in hand at that point but being forced to discard feels like a bad thing in a control deck.
2-0
r3 grixis goryo/breach fury of the horde combo
g1 his deck doesn't do much. My discard takes any key cards and scooze strips the griselbrands from his yard. I guess I was lucky he never drew emrakul or another gdaddy he could through the breach but I had a real deal clock. g2 he also doesn't do much and keeps a mega sketchy hand. My discard takes anything relevant and I eventually land a scooze which takes over combined with goyf. I saw the deck and let me tell you I was lucky to dodge leyline of sanctity. I coincidentally had a pulse in hand but that means I would have had to waste a turn killing that and not disrupting. which is 110% necessary that deck can nut draw you very quick.
3-0
r4 esper control standard....
yes this was a standard deck. AT 2-0-1 WTF?! IS THIS NARNIA what world are we in?! he actually beat real decks too, he drew only to mono white pillow fort. SO long story short my deck has a VERY hard time with teferi and the scarab god when combined with counters, multiple settle the wreckage and fumigates and things like vraska's contempt. He basically got shorted on white mana for too long and I was able to just stomp him but had he had double white when he needed it we would have had an entirely different match. I'm not gonna lie the majority of my deck was from the standard just before this one so who am I to say haha.
4-0
we split top 4 to cube but got to play a Bonus round
bonus: hollow one
game 1 my removal lined up very well for once and his deck didn't do a whole heck of a lot. g2 we have a very long game and both end at 1 life each but he missed an attack for 2 by playing defensive which I can respect but I would have just gone aggro. he went through most of his deck and didn't see many phoenix or bloodghast (2 each) I was able to deal with those albeit poorly and managed to sneak it out with the help of treetop village. I have a lot in the board to help with this match and when they aren't nut drawing me the deck is actually not that ba to beat. That being said, the deck is no joke and it is FAR from ever being a good matchup but it is certainly beatable. I'm now 4-2 vs it.
5-0
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couple week hiatus due to life. small changes to list for testing for FNM.
Main: +1 scooze, -1 goyf.
SB: -1 night of souls betrayal, +1 yahenni's expertise, -1 thrun, +1 obstinate baloth
r1: burn
g1 just had a hand of discard into a bunch of TKS. his hand was kinda meh. g2 I had too many 4 drops and was dead before it mattered. perhaps should have mulled to find discard. g3 came down to me dodging 2 turns of an actual burn spell. I did lucky I guess.
1-0
r2: G tron
g1 he hits tron t4 into karn then into o stone I scoop. g2 I FoR and then surgical his lands. easy. g3 was a close one. He t3 trons me into karn (I made him discard one t1 then dropped goyf t2). I then FoR him and he's unable to find tron again. I play smasher and keep smacking karn. Honestly karn gained him like 15 life or something silly. I was pretty far ahead after karn died but I guess tron into o stone would have changed things.
2-0
r3: mono white pillow fort
These were long drawn out games as one would expect. I won the match basically because he was unable to play t0 leyline. we went to 3 games and in g3 I was able to actually say, fatal push your greater auramancy as he had starfield of nyx out. LOL. Honestly I shouldn't have won this match but this deck does have the problem of consistency. There's not a ton of ways to find what he needs cheaply and quickly.
3-0
We drew into the top 4 and opponent wanted to play commander. I didn't want to play against ponza so I agreed so no more modern for me that night As for the changes I think I like it. scooze allows me to play slightly less GY hate sb. Could be a mistake but we shall see. I'm still unsure of the right configuration for my SB but I know fast aggro decks are still hard. Night of betrayal has been wonderful but I think yahenni's could be more impactful. I do want to find a way to get Thrun back in there. I have a feeling hard control decks are tough still.
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couple week hiatus due to life. small changes to list for testing for FNM.
Main: +1 scooze, -1 goyf.
SB: -1 night of souls betrayal, +1 yahenni's expertise, -1 thrun, +1 obstinate baloth
I checked in on MtG just in time! -1 GOYF?!?!
I haven't played in 2018 at all. How's the scene? I'm thinking about dipping my toe back in. Really pleased to see you've kept up with the deck.
I can't sleep and I've thought about work enough for the day so you get to benefit from my sleepless musings. Again, from the perspective of one that stepped away for a bit.
This was always a deck that was disruptive and could establish a quick clock. That clock was the combination of Goyf and the TKS/Smasher. Goyf was cheap, TKS was disruptive and Smasher had some resiliency. Eldrazi Temple enables the TKS & Smasher as a fast clock. As I recall, when I left, we were discussing the correct number of Matter Reshaper and Scavenging Ooze. Since neither card is part of the Clock piece of the deck it is either part of the Disruption part or a supporting element. I favored Scooze because it was a Disruptive element, although the raw power level was lower by virtue of being more situational.
So fast forward to now. You've moved off of Reshaper in favor of Tireless Tracker, which was emerging as a strong card when I left. So presumably you've identified that the CA potential from Tracker is better than the guaranteed CA from Reshaper even after considering Eldrazi Temple may put Reshaper ahead of curve. Graveyard shenanigans seem to still be a thing (surprise) and you're looking for more MD GY interaction. If you're cutting Goyf over Tracker, then you've identified that Tracker is better than Goyf?
I think that's incorrect. If only in that goyf is one of the reasons you play green at all in modern. If you're not playing 4 then I don't think you play any and that at that point you have to ask yourself why play Green. I'd cut a Smasher before I cut a Goyf.
I think that's incorrect. If only in that goyf is one of the reasons you play green at all in modern. If you're not playing 4 then I don't think you play any and that at that point you have to ask yourself why play Green. I'd cut a Smasher before I cut a Goyf.
The only reason to play Green in Eldrazi decks is Ancient Stirrings.
@D90Dennis14 if you are playing green to play ancient stirrings black adds nothing to the archetype. It's sad but any good black cards make stirrings bad. Which is why I'm playing Oath of Nissa, it digs less but proves WAY more advantages all of which are extremely relevant. I'm pretty sure a GB dedicated eldrazi deck just can't exist and be good.
@Deadkitten -1 goyf is a meta call and I'm glad I made it but it's not a permanent thing I don't think. If anything I'll cut a tracker for another goyf but my meta has a lot of decks that either I NEED the gy hate or they don't fill their gy at all or goyf is a consistent 2/3. Goyf is always great late game so I always want to see at least one. Tracker I dare say is one of the best cards ever printed. She's different than goyf though and provides a much needed advantage. Is she better? I dunno. I will never cut smasher, ever, he is always the best card in my deck.
My philosophy on this deck having played it consistently for over a year is that I want to be playing GB archetype and not trying to push eldrazi on an archetype that doesn't really support it. The GB archetype is proven and is very strong and I love playing it. My manabase is currently solid, not overly painful and always lets me cast my cards. What my version adds over typical GB is larger top end while still doing the things GB wants to be doing. The line of discard into threat/removal or discard on legs into unanswerable smusher has won me a lot of games.
I miss reshaper a lot I'm not gonna lie to you but reshaper only gets value when he dies and if he dies but also means you need to have a manabase that can support him. A GBC manabase is sketchy as hell and or very painful. If the board gets stalled tracker turns flooding into cards, gets bigger doing nothing and provides revolt randomly while drawing a card. The biggest issue of tracker vs reshaper is speed. There are certainly some matches where reshaper is just better where I need the speed. If I can find a way to play reshapers and trackers together sign me up for that.
@D90Dennis14 if you are playing green to play ancient stirrings black adds nothing to the archetype. It's sad but any good black cards make stirrings bad. Which is why I'm playing Oath of Nissa, it digs less but proves WAY more advantages all of which are extremely relevant. I'm pretty sure a GB dedicated eldrazi deck just can't exist and be good.
Black adds interaction to the archetype.
The deck actually used to play pretty well though I haven't really tuned it for a while focusing on the Red version of Eldrazi lately.
r1: Humans
g1 he flooded some and I was able to capitalize and he was too far behind to come back. g2 was close but he ripped a second mantis rider to finish me off. g3 was a slaughter. bunch of removal into a big scooze and tracker then a yahenni's to wipe his board and net me a goyf.
1-0
r2 martyr proc
2 games and both were easily won. He has tiny dudes and a bunch of spells which were all nabbed by discard and then steamrolled over. I haven't played against this much but it felt very good for me.
2-0
r3 G tron
g1 I was able to field of Ruin him off tron long enough to have a smasher into a second smasher get me there. g2 I should have lost honestly he bricked pretty hard for a while but when he did draw stuff I had answers for them and was able to scrape it out in the end. He had tron for basically the entire game. Goyf and eldrazi were MVP as was FoR. I had to battle through a wurmcoil, karn and 2 Oblivion stones.
3-0
r4 hollow one
g1 I have a couple discard and his hand is pure garbage with 2 bloodghast and something else. He rips faithless looting binning both, plays a land plus cycles wraith and plays a hollow boi. Just like that my hand of discard and stuff was completely garbage and I lose. He only saw 2 of my lands so he just assumed I was straight GB, obviously. g2 I am on the eldrazi plan and just straight steam roll him. He was obviously not expecting that. g3 he has the adept but I have removal after he tries to slam in for like 8 with it. I push it and he plays a hollow one which I untap and play a 5/6 goyf. He plays tasigur making my dude a 1/2 but I have a rec sage for the hollow boi and then a pulse for tasigur. From there it was easy.
4-0
r5: counters company
I was in 8th and there was 9 undefeated UGH. I beat him down g1 with a bunch of removal and into huge goyf and TKS. I then play some discard into smasher and that was that. From here the other undefeated player lost to so we were in the clear to ID into top 8! I think this match is pretty good for me especially being up a game going into game 2. I was confident I could have gone 5-0.
We play top 8 tomorrow 9am at GP Providence 3 more matches and it's off to the pro tour, imagine that! The meta here was seriously like 50% humans. There was an absurd amount, it was really stupid. Outside of that it was really diverse as one would expect. I would say UWx was the next most represented deck but no where near the numbers of humans.
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No streaming of it. I beat UW control in the quarters. Was a close but long match as expected. It is certainly tough matchup but he got kinda land screwed so I guess that was good for me g3 and my spells lined up well. I think I played decently enough. I then spoiled it by making a total BONEHEAD play in g3 of semis vs humans. Board was as follows: he has 2 buglers in play with a vial on 3 and I play a TKS with yahenni's expertise in hand. He reveals 2 reflector mages, mantis rider and a hostage taker. I stupidly take the mantis rider as that card is his best card vs me. Turns out I totally miss assessed hostage taker like an idiot and forgot that when he casts it He thoughtseizes me. Well he ticks up to 4 plays taker and casts my tks taking my yahennis. I'm totally boned from here outside a damnation. I'm disappointed in myself for doing that, it was totally dumb but I learned the hard way. oh well what can you do.
I have no interest in standard but given the PTQ top 8 was at the same time as the GP if the players didn't finish before r3 they get an auto game loss. How effed up is that. Didn't matter to me tho but it's still pretty stupid. Overall the deck performed well. Dodging the blood moon matches (there were very few) this deck is a house. Had I played better I know I would have ended up winning. Still I went 5-1-1 over all so I have no complaints I hope I gave a little exposure to it.
4 discard has been fine. Not much to say about them. I would like another but to be honest I'm not sure another discard is better than anything else in my list. They also play a little weird with TKS as if I have too much TKS is actively medium. He's basically my discard 8-10 and brutality effectively filling in where needed.
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Forgot my updates for past 2 FNMs. I went an unspectacular 3-2 in both. I guess that proves it's a modern deck because that's what all modern decks score.
I played poorly in a couple of matches 100% so I think should I have been a better player they would have gone differently. I lost to 2 deskai tempo/control decks. I had wonderful starts from both and then I just, I dunno, stopped drawing stuff and petered out. I'm not going to assume the UWx decks are easy. Maybe I need a choke or cavern or something in the SB...just not sure on another good SB card for control. Pithing needle could help, it's a good catch all too. I also lost to elves due to not playing a land t2 for some reason, smh. I also lost to UW spirits. That also seems like a hard matchup. It's beatable but every guy having evasion is what makes it so hard. Not sure what to do for that deck.
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wow that new assassin's trophy is insane. That will change things in my list for sure. What exactly to cut I'm not sure. I know probably decay and cast down can immediately go. possibly a collective brutality. I feel like I want 3 of these. 3 of these and 3 field of ruin seems awesome. It's possible I want 4 fields and 3 trophies. Hmm.
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depending on your build it's still worth playing 2. The card is just so good regardless if it's just a bad doom blade vs many decks. The ones where it kills a teferi or other 4cmc thing is worth it. Being able to catch manlands and artifacts and enchantments gives us a good bump g1 vs some of our tougher matches. I don't think the card is a 4 of tho.
depending how the meta shakes out tho, giving them a land may not matter when we have smashers and the like. The bigger issue is for combo decks and things like burn or aggro. But these probably free up the fulminator mages in the SB for other things.
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Doesn't seem good enough, it is basically a worse overcosted Maelstrom Pulse most of the time and the deck doesn't exactly fit the +2 ability really well with enough good sac' fodder.
I would agree. Without tireless trackers or something to give you enough fodder, vraska doesn't seem worth it. I would love to try her as a 1 of but I'm not confident in what she does. It's sad I was super hoping for a playable GB or G or B walker but I'm not sure she is the one. Perhaps in other GB decks but this one doesn't have the tools to make the best use of her.
Perhaps out of the SB for really long control or midrange matchups. I can see her being relevant where a TKS would be bad.
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I think Pelt Collector could be a serious consideration for this deck depending on the build. With mine for instance, I can't poop out a bunch of dudes and make him huge very quickly but every one of our guys are huge. It's possible that it being a bad top deck is enough to not include it but I will test a couple. Things could go either way with it.
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I think Pelt Collector could be a serious consideration for this deck depending on the build. With mine for instance, I can't poop out a bunch of dudes and make him huge very quickly but every one of our guys are huge. It's possible that it being a bad top deck is enough to not include it but I will test a couple. Things could go either way with it.
It seems like a lot of hoops for little payoff. Why is this any better than Grim Flayer for instance?
Doesn't seem good enough, it is basically a worse overcosted Maelstrom Pulse most of the time and the deck doesn't exactly fit the +2 ability really well with enough good sac' fodder.
I think you're being too hard on the card. Repeatable, Unconditional card advantage aka "+1: Draw a card," "Tap: Draw a card," or "At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a card" just doesn't exist at 4 CMC in Modern. There's what? Phyrexian Arena Avarice Amulet Bottled Cloister Kumena's Awakening
This deck should operate fine at 4-5 lands. Then, Vraska's +1 hitting lands is virtual CA. Much of Oath of Nissa's benefit is with the ETB effect. Certainly after a planeswalker has hit the board you've gotten all you can expect out of it, so it becomes another target for Vraska's +1. As far as her minus goes, there's more Modern playables at 3 CMC or less than there are at 4+ CMC. I guess it comes down to how much you expect out of her. At a single +1 activation, she becomes a 2 for 1 at the least and a 3 for 1 Virtual CA at best. Seems decent. Not saying she's a 4 of but 1 or 2 over the 75 seems reasonable.
EDIT: Regarding both Pelt Collector and Vraska (and of course Assassin's Trophy), I gotta say this is the most Standard has tempted me since Innistrad/RtR!
Certainly not suggesting cutting Liliana. On Nixilis is prob the most direct comparison, which has seen fringe play as a 1 of, most notably Jeff Hoogland's 5-0 on Moto https://www.mtgtop8.com/search. 4 CMC is generally better than 5 CMC but yes, the more expensive PW definitely do both things better.
I'm gonna test 1 vraska. I would only want her for late game. My meta has a ton of midrange and other gbx or control decks and there's plenty of times I just don't draw relevant things. My biggest problem with vraska is she doesn't pressure opponents. Outside that, she has relevant removal and can usually draw a card. I'll start with in the main but most likely a SB card. Even then maybe Ob is better but we shall see. I guess it depends how relevant abrupt decay is in the meta. Being able to plus on oath, clues and lands is pretty cute.
On the flip side my worst matchups are the more aggro matches and fliers. I get wrecked by fliers a lot.
Well forgot to post last few weeks for my testing at FNM. No changes except added a torpor orb in the SB to help with humans and spirits. Sadly, spirits feels like an abysmal matchup. I played a whole bunch of games vs bant and UW spirits and lost every single one but 1. I'll get to this in a bit. I went 3-2 then 2-3 and went 3-2 again on friday. I lost to elves, humans x2, spirits x3 and kci. Every one of my losses except to elves (chained multiple shaman of the packs every game)and kci were due to fliers and not even close. I have no idea how to even stop fliers to be honest. I think trophy will help a little but then again not really as decay is basically the same thing but better. Any tips on how to better manage fliers that double as counters I am all ears. Perhaps I need a bontu's or something but I feel like that's just bad. Humans at least I can fight and have proven that but jeez the turns they just slam t2 rider into more of them just kills me every time.
Kci still feels fightable but that has also proven to basically feel unwinnable for me. My opponents just always gets it no matter what I do to them. They either just always find a claim and explosives always. Not sure GB has the tools to reliably beat them. I know I can do more, like have more surgicals but still. Leyline I'm sure would help a bit but I'm know it's not enough but maybe it's better than surgical. The issue is surgical also works well with field and trophy...
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Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
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r1: colorless eldrazi (serum powder version)
Not much to say this is a decent matchup for me I have good removal and interaction for most of their guys. thing of note was g2 he on the play pitches 2 spirit guides and t1 TKS me...ouch. Thankfully I found removal after a couple turns and was able to turn the corner but my life was super low for the whole game.
1-0
r2: UR thing in the ice
Another easy match for me. I have discard and huge guys. Once I dealt with thing in the ice there's not much he can do to me.
2-0
r3: KCI
UGH this deck...g1 he mulls to 4 and STILL WINS through a scooze and a pulse....what the actual F. Admittedly I punted pretty hard with a wrong sequence of collective brutality and scooze activation so i deserved it but still. It was a mull to 4. G2 I just get wrecked. Deck is so resilient it's really dumb.
2-1
r4: Jund
I get wrecked in this match. All his cards just lined up perfectly for what I was doing. He drew really well and I didn't. That's magic though sometimes these things happen.
2-2
r5: burn
So far I've played burn about 10 times and lost only once. I can't say it's a good matchup as they are almost always close but maybe it's actually pretty good for me. g3 my opponent attacked into my guys for some reason and just threw them away. I can't figure out why. He was in a very bad position, as I have 2 tks in play and a goyf vs his no cards in hand and a swifty+eidolon to my 11 life. Blocking gives him another turn maybe 2 but to just throw it away? I dunno.
3-2
So I was VERY lucky to only lost to undefeated players meaning my breakers were awesome despite my mediocre record. I lucked into top 8. I'm not going to complain. I was the only 9 pointer to make it.
top8: jund
different player but fun games. g1 he does jund things and just buries me. g2 I draw lucky and rip a second temple t3 like a boss and smasher him into another smasher. GG. g3 I was able to strip him of any of him cards and leave him stuck with a couple 4 drops thanks to brutality and TKS. He doesn't draw his 4th land until too late.
4-2
top4: mardu pyro
As expected I lose g1 pretty convincingly. I don't have any good way to deal with spirit tokens and didn't draw any removal for pyro for some reason. g2 and g3 were grindy but liliana last hope was straight up MVP. I have so much in the board to help with this match and I definitely need it.
5-2
We split finals and went home it was like 230 am...ouch. I think I might cut a tracker and play another liliana or something. I'm undecided. I love trackers and I think 2 might be the right amount. I may cut tasigur too but I never saw him once last night. I'll keep him in for now as he's been good in the past.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
r1: bushwhacker zoo
g1 she doesn't have a blistering start and I'm on the play so after a few removal spells liliana is able to stabilize and then my huge idiots just take over. g2 she plays like a million guys and swings for 14 on t3 putting me to 4. I untap rip an untapped black source like a boss and flaying tendrils the entire board. from there I just had to dodge multiple bolts and TKS cleaned up her hand and stopped anything from coming in.
1-0
r2 grixis control
This was a very hard match tons of removal, counters and interaction. Notably Ashiok from opponent was just a huge beating and it won him g2 pretty convincingly even after I killed it, it just got so much value I couldn't come back. g3 I mull to 5 (ouch) but still end up making good choices and eventually winning the game. At the end he chose not to counter lili of the veil and hold it for something else and that really came back to bite him in the ass as Lili just controlled the entire board after a few turns. I was kinda surprised but I suppose I can't blame him I didn't know what he had in hand at that point but being forced to discard feels like a bad thing in a control deck.
2-0
r3 grixis goryo/breach fury of the horde combo
g1 his deck doesn't do much. My discard takes any key cards and scooze strips the griselbrands from his yard. I guess I was lucky he never drew emrakul or another gdaddy he could through the breach but I had a real deal clock. g2 he also doesn't do much and keeps a mega sketchy hand. My discard takes anything relevant and I eventually land a scooze which takes over combined with goyf. I saw the deck and let me tell you I was lucky to dodge leyline of sanctity. I coincidentally had a pulse in hand but that means I would have had to waste a turn killing that and not disrupting. which is 110% necessary that deck can nut draw you very quick.
3-0
r4 esper control standard....
yes this was a standard deck. AT 2-0-1 WTF?! IS THIS NARNIA what world are we in?! he actually beat real decks too, he drew only to mono white pillow fort. SO long story short my deck has a VERY hard time with teferi and the scarab god when combined with counters, multiple settle the wreckage and fumigates and things like vraska's contempt. He basically got shorted on white mana for too long and I was able to just stomp him but had he had double white when he needed it we would have had an entirely different match. I'm not gonna lie the majority of my deck was from the standard just before this one so who am I to say haha.
4-0
we split top 4 to cube but got to play a Bonus round
bonus: hollow one
game 1 my removal lined up very well for once and his deck didn't do a whole heck of a lot. g2 we have a very long game and both end at 1 life each but he missed an attack for 2 by playing defensive which I can respect but I would have just gone aggro. he went through most of his deck and didn't see many phoenix or bloodghast (2 each) I was able to deal with those albeit poorly and managed to sneak it out with the help of treetop village. I have a lot in the board to help with this match and when they aren't nut drawing me the deck is actually not that ba to beat. That being said, the deck is no joke and it is FAR from ever being a good matchup but it is certainly beatable. I'm now 4-2 vs it.
5-0
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
Main: +1 scooze, -1 goyf.
SB: -1 night of souls betrayal, +1 yahenni's expertise, -1 thrun, +1 obstinate baloth
r1: burn
g1 just had a hand of discard into a bunch of TKS. his hand was kinda meh. g2 I had too many 4 drops and was dead before it mattered. perhaps should have mulled to find discard. g3 came down to me dodging 2 turns of an actual burn spell. I did lucky I guess.
1-0
r2: G tron
g1 he hits tron t4 into karn then into o stone I scoop. g2 I FoR and then surgical his lands. easy. g3 was a close one. He t3 trons me into karn (I made him discard one t1 then dropped goyf t2). I then FoR him and he's unable to find tron again. I play smasher and keep smacking karn. Honestly karn gained him like 15 life or something silly. I was pretty far ahead after karn died but I guess tron into o stone would have changed things.
2-0
r3: mono white pillow fort
These were long drawn out games as one would expect. I won the match basically because he was unable to play t0 leyline. we went to 3 games and in g3 I was able to actually say, fatal push your greater auramancy as he had starfield of nyx out. LOL. Honestly I shouldn't have won this match but this deck does have the problem of consistency. There's not a ton of ways to find what he needs cheaply and quickly.
3-0
We drew into the top 4 and opponent wanted to play commander. I didn't want to play against ponza so I agreed so no more modern for me that night As for the changes I think I like it. scooze allows me to play slightly less GY hate sb. Could be a mistake but we shall see. I'm still unsure of the right configuration for my SB but I know fast aggro decks are still hard. Night of betrayal has been wonderful but I think yahenni's could be more impactful. I do want to find a way to get Thrun back in there. I have a feeling hard control decks are tough still.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
I checked in on MtG just in time! -1 GOYF?!?!
I haven't played in 2018 at all. How's the scene? I'm thinking about dipping my toe back in. Really pleased to see you've kept up with the deck.
This was always a deck that was disruptive and could establish a quick clock. That clock was the combination of Goyf and the TKS/Smasher. Goyf was cheap, TKS was disruptive and Smasher had some resiliency. Eldrazi Temple enables the TKS & Smasher as a fast clock. As I recall, when I left, we were discussing the correct number of Matter Reshaper and Scavenging Ooze. Since neither card is part of the Clock piece of the deck it is either part of the Disruption part or a supporting element. I favored Scooze because it was a Disruptive element, although the raw power level was lower by virtue of being more situational.
So fast forward to now. You've moved off of Reshaper in favor of Tireless Tracker, which was emerging as a strong card when I left. So presumably you've identified that the CA potential from Tracker is better than the guaranteed CA from Reshaper even after considering Eldrazi Temple may put Reshaper ahead of curve. Graveyard shenanigans seem to still be a thing (surprise) and you're looking for more MD GY interaction. If you're cutting Goyf over Tracker, then you've identified that Tracker is better than Goyf?
I think that's incorrect. If only in that goyf is one of the reasons you play green at all in modern. If you're not playing 4 then I don't think you play any and that at that point you have to ask yourself why play Green. I'd cut a Smasher before I cut a Goyf.
The only reason to play Green in Eldrazi decks is Ancient Stirrings.
@Deadkitten -1 goyf is a meta call and I'm glad I made it but it's not a permanent thing I don't think. If anything I'll cut a tracker for another goyf but my meta has a lot of decks that either I NEED the gy hate or they don't fill their gy at all or goyf is a consistent 2/3. Goyf is always great late game so I always want to see at least one. Tracker I dare say is one of the best cards ever printed. She's different than goyf though and provides a much needed advantage. Is she better? I dunno. I will never cut smasher, ever, he is always the best card in my deck.
My philosophy on this deck having played it consistently for over a year is that I want to be playing GB archetype and not trying to push eldrazi on an archetype that doesn't really support it. The GB archetype is proven and is very strong and I love playing it. My manabase is currently solid, not overly painful and always lets me cast my cards. What my version adds over typical GB is larger top end while still doing the things GB wants to be doing. The line of discard into threat/removal or discard on legs into unanswerable smusher has won me a lot of games.
I miss reshaper a lot I'm not gonna lie to you but reshaper only gets value when he dies and if he dies but also means you need to have a manabase that can support him. A GBC manabase is sketchy as hell and or very painful. If the board gets stalled tracker turns flooding into cards, gets bigger doing nothing and provides revolt randomly while drawing a card. The biggest issue of tracker vs reshaper is speed. There are certainly some matches where reshaper is just better where I need the speed. If I can find a way to play reshapers and trackers together sign me up for that.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
Black adds interaction to the archetype.
The deck actually used to play pretty well though I haven't really tuned it for a while focusing on the Red version of Eldrazi lately.
3 scavenging ooze
4 tarmogoyf
3 tireless tracker
4 thought-knot seer
3 reality smasher
spells
2 inquisition of kozilek
2 thoughtseize
3 fatal push
4 oath of nissa
1 cast down
1 abrupt decay
2 collective brutality
2 liliana of the veil
1 liliana, the last hope
1 maelstrom pulse
2 llanowar wastes
2 Blooming marsh
4 verdant catacombs
1 overgrown tomb
3 swamp
2 forest
1 twilight mire
1 treetop village
1 hissing quagmire
4 eldrazi temple
3 field of ruin
2 surgical extraction
2 flaying tendrils
1 damnation
1 yahenni's expertise
1 maelstrom pulse
1 thrun, the last troll
1 Kalitas, traitor of ghet
1 reclamation sage
2 fulminator mage
1 golgari charm
2 damping sphere
r1: Humans
g1 he flooded some and I was able to capitalize and he was too far behind to come back. g2 was close but he ripped a second mantis rider to finish me off. g3 was a slaughter. bunch of removal into a big scooze and tracker then a yahenni's to wipe his board and net me a goyf.
1-0
r2 martyr proc
2 games and both were easily won. He has tiny dudes and a bunch of spells which were all nabbed by discard and then steamrolled over. I haven't played against this much but it felt very good for me.
2-0
r3 G tron
g1 I was able to field of Ruin him off tron long enough to have a smasher into a second smasher get me there. g2 I should have lost honestly he bricked pretty hard for a while but when he did draw stuff I had answers for them and was able to scrape it out in the end. He had tron for basically the entire game. Goyf and eldrazi were MVP as was FoR. I had to battle through a wurmcoil, karn and 2 Oblivion stones.
3-0
r4 hollow one
g1 I have a couple discard and his hand is pure garbage with 2 bloodghast and something else. He rips faithless looting binning both, plays a land plus cycles wraith and plays a hollow boi. Just like that my hand of discard and stuff was completely garbage and I lose. He only saw 2 of my lands so he just assumed I was straight GB, obviously. g2 I am on the eldrazi plan and just straight steam roll him. He was obviously not expecting that. g3 he has the adept but I have removal after he tries to slam in for like 8 with it. I push it and he plays a hollow one which I untap and play a 5/6 goyf. He plays tasigur making my dude a 1/2 but I have a rec sage for the hollow boi and then a pulse for tasigur. From there it was easy.
4-0
r5: counters company
I was in 8th and there was 9 undefeated UGH. I beat him down g1 with a bunch of removal and into huge goyf and TKS. I then play some discard into smasher and that was that. From here the other undefeated player lost to so we were in the clear to ID into top 8! I think this match is pretty good for me especially being up a game going into game 2. I was confident I could have gone 5-0.
We play top 8 tomorrow 9am at GP Providence 3 more matches and it's off to the pro tour, imagine that! The meta here was seriously like 50% humans. There was an absurd amount, it was really stupid. Outside of that it was really diverse as one would expect. I would say UWx was the next most represented deck but no where near the numbers of humans.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
How have the 4 Discard been working out?
EDIT: Oh hey, you got 2 Byes for the main event! That's sort of cool. Except Standard...
I have no interest in standard but given the PTQ top 8 was at the same time as the GP if the players didn't finish before r3 they get an auto game loss. How effed up is that. Didn't matter to me tho but it's still pretty stupid. Overall the deck performed well. Dodging the blood moon matches (there were very few) this deck is a house. Had I played better I know I would have ended up winning. Still I went 5-1-1 over all so I have no complaints I hope I gave a little exposure to it.
4 discard has been fine. Not much to say about them. I would like another but to be honest I'm not sure another discard is better than anything else in my list. They also play a little weird with TKS as if I have too much TKS is actively medium. He's basically my discard 8-10 and brutality effectively filling in where needed.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
I played poorly in a couple of matches 100% so I think should I have been a better player they would have gone differently. I lost to 2 deskai tempo/control decks. I had wonderful starts from both and then I just, I dunno, stopped drawing stuff and petered out. I'm not going to assume the UWx decks are easy. Maybe I need a choke or cavern or something in the SB...just not sure on another good SB card for control. Pithing needle could help, it's a good catch all too. I also lost to elves due to not playing a land t2 for some reason, smh. I also lost to UW spirits. That also seems like a hard matchup. It's beatable but every guy having evasion is what makes it so hard. Not sure what to do for that deck.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
I'm a bit hesitant at moving all in on Assassin's Trophy MD. The land is for real. This is total gas for the Tron matchup.
depending how the meta shakes out tho, giving them a land may not matter when we have smashers and the like. The bigger issue is for combo decks and things like burn or aggro. But these probably free up the fulminator mages in the SB for other things.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
Perhaps out of the SB for really long control or midrange matchups. I can see her being relevant where a TKS would be bad.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
It seems like a lot of hoops for little payoff. Why is this any better than Grim Flayer for instance?
I think you're being too hard on the card. Repeatable, Unconditional card advantage aka "+1: Draw a card," "Tap: Draw a card," or "At the beginning of your upkeep, draw a card" just doesn't exist at 4 CMC in Modern. There's what?
Phyrexian Arena
Avarice Amulet
Bottled Cloister
Kumena's Awakening
This deck should operate fine at 4-5 lands. Then, Vraska's +1 hitting lands is virtual CA. Much of Oath of Nissa's benefit is with the ETB effect. Certainly after a planeswalker has hit the board you've gotten all you can expect out of it, so it becomes another target for Vraska's +1. As far as her minus goes, there's more Modern playables at 3 CMC or less than there are at 4+ CMC. I guess it comes down to how much you expect out of her. At a single +1 activation, she becomes a 2 for 1 at the least and a 3 for 1 Virtual CA at best. Seems decent. Not saying she's a 4 of but 1 or 2 over the 75 seems reasonable.
EDIT: Regarding both Pelt Collector and Vraska (and of course Assassin's Trophy), I gotta say this is the most Standard has tempted me since Innistrad/RtR!
On the flip side my worst matchups are the more aggro matches and fliers. I get wrecked by fliers a lot.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
Kci still feels fightable but that has also proven to basically feel unwinnable for me. My opponents just always gets it no matter what I do to them. They either just always find a claim and explosives always. Not sure GB has the tools to reliably beat them. I know I can do more, like have more surgicals but still. Leyline I'm sure would help a bit but I'm know it's not enough but maybe it's better than surgical. The issue is surgical also works well with field and trophy...
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster