Match 1: Jeskai Geist (0-2)
G1 is fuzzy (I vaguely recall having two Dorks hit with Electrolyze) and was over pretty quickly, RIP. G2 I lead with Bird into T2 Courser but hold up mana on T3. On his turn he taps out for Geist and I crack Mesa for Hallowed Fountain and counter it with Unified Will. He was pretty surprised by this, though I'm not sure it would work twice (but maybe if they're playing around Unified Will then it's doing its job anyways?). I started to pull ahead with Courser chipping in until he Path'd it a couple turns later. After that he clawed his way back into the game with triple Cryptic (I am soo unlucky against Cryptic XD) while I flooded. A new Geist, Snap, Queller, and Helix take me out from ~18 very quickly. SB: -3 Evolution, -1 Saheeli || +2 Unified Will, +1 Gaddock Teeg, +1 Forge-Tender
(I did draw the Forge-Tender and it was pretty underwhelming, should've just brought in any threat, even Gearhulk)
Match 2: Storm (1-2)
G1 I mull to 6 and keep a mediocre hand with 2 Cats, Dork, and Path. I Path his first Baral and then durdle around until he can Empty the Warrens for 16 and finish me off a couple turns later. Obviously a bad keep vs Storm in retrospect, and still probably a bad keep going in blind. G2 I live the dream of T1 Hierarch > T2 Saheeli > T3 Felidar Guardian. G3 I lead with Bird, which is Bolted. Because of this both Unified Will and Eldritch Evolution are dead in my hand and I pass T2. I draw into the combo as he plays Goblin Electromancer. I draw Eidolon of Rhetoric off of Oath but don't have enough mana to play it that turn. Next turn he Storms with Grapeshot for the win. SB: -1 Finks, -1 Titan, -1 Lark, -1 Huntmaster || +2 Unified Will, +1 Eidolon of Rhetoric, +1 Gearhulk
Match 3: UG Merfolk (2-1)
I knew this particular player was on Merfolk but wasn't aware that she'd moved to UG (no CoCo). G1 I'm overrun by Vial into unblockable Fish squad backed up by Spreading Seas. G2 I have a slower start pinging her for damage with Hierarch + Bird as she Spell Pierces my Evolution (:<). Luckily, I draw into Fiery Justice, which was a game-changing 3-for-1 against a Lord + Silvergill + Speaker. This prevented me from dying next turn and gave me time to combo out shortly after. G3 she tapped out on T3 while I played T2 Cobra -> T3 Combo ("eww that's grimy"). SB: -1 Glen Elendra, -1 Sun Titan, -1 Lark, -1 Something || +2 Fiery Justice, +1 Reclamation Sage, +1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
Match 4: Lantern Control (2-1)
G1 I'm locked out within a couple turns. Inquisition, Lantern + Codex + Pithing Needle on Saheeli Rai + 2 Ensnaring Bridges. I chip away beneath the bridge with my Felidar until he starts undoing the damage with lifegain from Inventor's Fair, at which point I scoop. G2 I keep a one-lander with 2x Dork, Rallier, Lark, Stony Silence, and Gearhulk. He Inquisitions the Stony Silence, but thanks to T1 Dork sticking, some early topdecked Voices, and Rallier I'm able to get enough beats in before he has the chance to lock me out. G3 he mulls to 4, so we're off to a good start :P. I play a T2 Cobra, T3 he plays Ensnaring bridge, leaving one card in hand and Opal untapped, and passes. I pray it's not an instant and combo out on my T3, living the dream of infinite Felidars creeping under the Bridge. He reveals an uncast Inquisition from his hand ("Man I really wish I would've cast that.."). I definitely got lucky G3 but I'll take it. SB: -3 Path to Exile, -1 Kitchen Finks || +2 Stony Silence, +1 Reclamation Sage, +1 Gearhulk
Overall 2-2
After winning so many of my games to date off the back of T2 Lotus Cobra I'm considering cutting both Hierarchs for a 3rd Cobra and something else, perhaps another 2-drop to better fill in the curve there... likely Wall, Branchwalker (any more testing results on this?), or Spreading Seas. If so I would probably go back to testing a second Rallier since it synergizes so well with Cobra and more 2-drops in general.
Fiery Justice felt awesome and performed better than either Engineered Explosives or Staticaster would have in the same scenario. Unless Fiery Justice is really bad against Humans (testing soon) I will be sticking with this as my sweeper of choice over Explosives.
Speaking of sweepers, I didn't see any decks packing red sweepers this week, nor any Burn. Because of the relative narrowness of Forge-Tender I might play around with these slots a little bit, perhaps trading one out for Selfless Spirit. Or maybe I'm over-tuning.
As with my previous testing, Glen Elendra is just "OK" in the MB, at least for my meta. I might want something a bit more aggressive -- she can be really great value against grindy matchups (esp with Lark) but when I need to put on some pressure the 2 power (for 4 CMC) is kind of sad. I mean, I guess that's technically better than Felidar Guardian (XD) but I still think we could probably do better. As for Lark I never got any crazy value plays but it made things harder for my Lantern opponent so that's good enough for now. Conversely, running Kiki would make it harder to shut off the combo with Pithing Needle and the increasingly relevant Meddling Mage.
For Unified Will I got to see both the wonderful highs (few other spells can efficiently answer Geist) and the terrible lows (holding an inactivated counterspell while Storm combos off). In terms of early interaction Mana Leak would have functioned equivalently in the Geist scenario while also working in the Storm scenario, although this would lose points against matches where it might come in against big mana decks like Titanshift. I might give Mana Leak a shot (or even 1x Mana Leak + 1x Pact of Negation?), but overall I would still prefer to be playing a permanent if possible, ideally at 2-3 CMC for resiliency with Rallier & Titan.
Losses were to Storm and Burn and I beat Eldrazi Tron/Death and Taxes/Random Brew. Got Eldrazi tron off lands from ghost quarter -> renegade rallier. That was gas.
MVPs:
Ghost Quarter
Rallier
Thragtusk
Losers:
Sun Titan (didnt see it once)
Reveillark
Hurtful Manabase
I wish there were a more efficient 4 drop to evolution into. I feel like im usually getting renegade rallier when i eldritch a voice and a medium impact card if i have to sac a wall of omens. The angel card seems good vs. random permanents we cant deal with. Gonna give courser a try also.
Grafdigger's Cage seems a like bad choice for your sideboard, since it negatively affects your own Eldritch Evolution, Renegade Rallier, Sun Titan and Nahiri. Which matchups exactly are the Cages meant for? Are you sure the splash damage is worth it?
Titanshift is a matchup I am conceding. They are fast and have access to sweepers. Brutal. Nissa and Champion are kind of cute, but I will say adding all of that blue gums up the mana base even harder
@U-G-L: Against something like Storm or Dredge you might want a combination of RIP and Loaming Shaman. RIP hits you for some splash damage but prevents them from restocking their GY. Otherwise there’s Relic of Progenitus which cycles and can be recurred by Rallier and Scavenging Ooze which can work if you’re just trying to combat some fair strategies such as Junk or Shadow that make auxiliary use of the GY.
Regarding the rest of your list we have pretty much unamimously settled on only 3x copies of Evolution in the main as it can be risky or foderless in many matchups and drawing too many copies can cause problems.
@Lovds: Many of us are trying Merfolk Branchwalker over both Wall and Oracle. I don’t care for Nissa since she doesn’t interact well with Felidar or curves above 4. Champion of Wits seems sweet to rez but seems overcosted as a Looting effect.
Something I saw somewhere else that I may have to give try. Goblin Rabblemaster. Helps in the matchups where you want pressure really fast and can get nasty with saheeli. Could be bad but gonna at least give it a try. Turn 2 Rabble can be pretty tough to beat.
Keep in mind Coiling Oracle's mana requirement does damage to you and your manabase. Even if you don't have it in hand, you should fetch accordingly, because you can draw it as 4of. Wall and Branchwalker are both on-color, easy to cast and don't require stretching mana. Oracle isn't worth the setup cost, Wall is not good anymore. We'll see about Branchwalker.
Goblin Rabblemaster is not for us, we have enough 3 mana playables fightning for spots that are on theme.
Champion of Wits is also a mana too expensive. At 3cmc we don't want to loot, we're trying to push for card advantage. Eternalize cost is unrealistic for us.
Nissa, Steward of Elements was discussed (and tested) earlier, wasn't impressive. It feels good on T2-3, later it doesn't do enough.
Why Loaming Shaman? I've seen it in lists, but does it actually work? It seems to me the sorcery speed would kill it's effectivness hard. It does nothing to Storm, they would have to fizzle in a very specific way. It can slow down Dredge a bit, but they overcome timed Relics.
Scooze is better for soft hate (lingering souls, snap etc).
I would rather attack storm on the Eidolon/Leyline path. Helixes incidentally help with Storm, too.
Dredge is not always that fast, we can race. The Relic-type hate is ok, but burns at least 2 slots. Getting to board it in Storm is nice, beyond that it's questionable.
The Wooded Bastion and second Temple Garden should be Horizon Canopies.
Short Version:
Round 1: 1-2 vs Burn
Round 2: 1-2 vs Esper Shadow
Round 3: 2-0 vs Merfolk
Round 4: 2-0 vs Grixis Control
Round 5: 2-1 vs Affinity
Round 6: 2-0 vs Affinity
Round 7: 1-2 vs Abzan
Round 8: 2-1 vs Jeskai Tempo
Ended up in 37th, just out of prizes.
Some highlights:
Round 1: 1-2 vs Burn
Game 2, since he only has 1 mana up, I sac Finks to get Thragtusk. Hmmm. Next game.
Game 3, double Eidolon. Good beats. I was groggy during this match, and likely made some mistakes that I didn't even realize.
Round 2: 1-2 vs Esper Shadow
Up against a skilled player and acquaintance who knows my deck well. He's been doing well locally with Titanshift.
So I'm surprised at Street Wraith Game 1. But I T2 Cobra, T3 Saheeli + Evo with him tapped out.
Game 2 I get completely destroyed by a Spell Queller he later tells me is a 1-of.
Round 3: 2-0 vs Merfolk
I combo quick both games, T3 in the second. Match was over in 10-15 minutes. Friends first thought I had the bye, then after I told them what I was up against, gave me their condolences on my loss
Round 4: 2-0 vs Grixis Control
I love playing this type of matchup. He resolves Ancestral Vision both games, but the first game I have enough to cross the finish line, and in the second I go toe to toe with him with Tracker, eventually grinding him down to where I can resolve both Thragtusk and Sun Titan.
Round 5: 2-1 vs Affinity
Game 1, he T4's me on the play. I played 2 lands and a Wall. Plating is lights out G1.
Game 2 he Platings me down low quick, and I'm forced to Path + Helix, and then next turn E-Wit into Path to barely survive. I fade Blast for a turn before comboing.
Game 3 I T3 him.
Round 6: 2-0 vs Affinity
Game 1 I have Bird + 2 lands as well as a Cobra in play, with both combo pieces in hand for several turns, not able to play out Guardian, and not wanting to expose Saheeli. Need to draw any land. Eventually draw Witness, get back a fetch. He attacks me down to 2 and I'm able to surprise combo next turn.
Game 2 was disgusting. I use 2 Evos to turn Bird + Wall into Rec Sage + Staticaster. With the help of a Guardian and Pridemage, over the next few turns I get his board of Mountain, Glimmervoid, and 6 artifacts down to just Mountain. I love playing affinity post-board haha.
Round 7: 1-2 vs Abzan
Long grindy games, he wins in turns.
Game 1, with Cobra in play, I draw the fetch I need to play Rallier, get back fetch, play Titan, get Saheeli, copy Titan, get E-wit, buy back Path, swing with Titan, and path his Tracker. Hmmmmmm.
Game 2, I overextend into Damnation. Stupid.
Only change I made before the tournament was swapping Magus to Teeg. Similar concerns about removal making Magus lackluster.
Eldrazi Tron: This matchup feels like an easier Affinity. They've got the same kind of "just kill you" draws, but their threats are less diverse, and we have a better sideboard plan for them. You're actually capable of standing toe-to-toe with their average draws until they cast All Is Dust. If you can stabilize with a 6/6 or better, they have to start working a lot harder to attack. Upgrading a Voice of Resurgence can often accomplish this. Sun Titan is even better. (It gets better still if you have a Domri Rade in play with 6 loyalty counters!) Game 2, we get to bring in a ton of gas.
SB Out: 2 Voice of Resurgence, 1 Courser of Kruphix, 1 Renegade Rallier, 1 Thragtusk, 1 Domri Rade SB In: 2 Unified Will, 2 Blood Moon, 1 Magus of the Moon, 1 Reclamation Sage
An easier Affinity? That has not been my experience. In fact I'm desperate for any ideas on how to handle this matchup. Is Unified Will the difference maker, or is there something I'm missing? Because what I'm doing is rarely working, and I need a better plan.
Thanks for the report, BanjoCaveman! Glad to see you actively posting again.
I don't have any great advice vs Eldrazi Tron as I haven't gotten enough games in but if it's any consolation a growing number of Tron players are shifting back to traditional Gx builds, possibly to "go over" Ux control. I think this may be good for us as it seems easier to get under traditional Tron, we don't have to deal with as many copies of Walking Ballista or TKS disrupting our combo, and hate cards like Stony Silence and Gaddock are much more useful. Hopefully the meta continues to shift in this direction.
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My thoughts on Branchwalker, Rabblemaster, Loaming Shaman:
Ah, right, I keep forgetting about this as I don't play Relic personally.
Quote from e032 »
Keep in mind Coiling Oracle's mana requirement does damage to you and your manabase. Even if you don't have it in hand, you should fetch accordingly, because you can draw it as 4of. Wall and Branchwalker are both on-color, easy to cast and don't require stretching mana. Oracle isn't worth the setup cost, Wall is not good anymore. We'll see about Branchwalker.
concerning the branchwalker: can you explain why you use it over those other two? the aggressive body?
Essentially for the aggressive body, yeah. 2 for a 2/1 that draws a land is OK (and sometimes perfect if it keeps you on curve). 2 for a 3/2 that puts a bad topdeck into the GY is pretty solid against Control which is great for me as I'm currently flooded with Jeskai and have a regular Lantern player. The other night I even pitched Cobra into the GY and had Titan in hand ready to rez the Cobra. Overall I don't think it's quite a "must-play" card and I'm still watching for 2-drops in Rivals of Ixalan but it's generally solid and helps with a weak point in our curve.
Quote from e032 »
Goblin Rabblemaster is not for us, we have enough 3 mana playables fightning for spots that are on theme.
Agreed. I like Rabblemaster in prison decks that need a way to turn the corner but it here it doesn't seem to synergize very well beyond its interaction with Saheeli.
Quote from e032 »
Why Loaming Shaman? I've seen it in lists, but does it actually work? It seems to me the sorcery speed would kill it's effectivness hard. It does nothing to Storm, they would have to fizzle in a very specific way. It can slow down Dredge a bit, but they overcome timed Relics. Scooze is better for soft hate (lingering souls, snap etc).
I haven't played with Loaming Shaman yet but its main attraction is that its both tutorable and flickerable. Perhaps its in an awkward middle ground between RIP for strong hate and Ooze for soft hate, I don't know.
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Also I jammed a bunch of friendly games against Jeskai Geist and 5c Vial Humans Saturday evening with this list:
I've notably cut Temple Gardens here and went back to the full 12 fetches to support my 3x Cobras and 2x Ralliers. Losing Gardens may hurt me in some niche dorkless scenarios where I can't get a second green or white source off a particular fetch but otherwise I've almost never found myself wanting it due to the high number of basic Forests and Plains in the deck as well as the need to splash Red and occasionally Blue.
I got lucky and had a Bird in hand for the majority of my games so I didn't miss the absence of Hierarch here. However I do acknowledge that cutting Hierarch makes it harder to do T1 Dork -> T2 Evolve Dork into 3 CMC hate card or T2 Blood Moon, so I'm reflecting on this more. Cobra was good enough that my opponent started pathing it on sight. I suppose this is overall OK as it's ramping me and keeping my Cats and Glorybringer safer.
Merfolk Branchwalker was reasonably solid as I said -- it synergizes well enough with the core and does a bit of everything but it's never MVP like Voice & Cobra, either. I think it has a higher floor yet lower ceiling than the other utility 2-drops of Pridemage, Ooze, and Selfless Spirit. I will say that there was a time that I revealed Glorybringer off of Branchwalker's trigger and then my opponent named Glorybringer with Meddling Mage her next turn. That's more of a general problem with Meddling Mage than Branchwalker, though.
When I did get to cast Glorybringer it was really good, though. I got to Exert Glorybringer to kill Spell Queller to get back Rallier. Unfortuantely I didn't have Revolt online so I didn't get my Voice back but it was still a good play.
Jeskai won over half of the matches, but this still felt like my best MB configuration against Jeskai so far thanks to the extra pressure of Branchwalker, Glorybringer, and the second Rallier.
I only got to play two games against Humans but it was ugly. G1 Vial, T2 Champion + Freebooter grabbing Saheeli, T3 Meddling Mage naming my revealed Glorybringer + Freebooter taking my Oath, and from there they just beat down pretty quickly. G2 I had Lotus Cobra T2 with the T3 combo ready but they had a T3 Freebooter or Meddling Mage, followed up by a Big Thalia later. The game went very grindy on beats with me keeping up via Voice / Rallier / Finks until she played Anafenza, The Foremost and Mantis Rider, which overcame my GY-based grounded grind game.
I didn't get a chance to draw Fiery Justice here but I tried to pay attention to how it would've performed if drawn. I think it could've been game-winning in the early game while being OK to mediocre in the late game, especially if you're facing down a bulky Champion or have had a Lieutenant come into play. Gearhulk would've been great -- even if it leaves behind a 5/5 Champion we would probably get a bunch of cards back by killing Meddling Mage or Freebooter, and our deck is pretty good at blocking grounded beefcakes like Champion. The 5c Vial list is heavily centered around 2 CMC, including most of their hate cards, so Engineered Explosives would've been really great here. I may go to a 1/1 split on Fiery Justice and Engineered Explosives.
Moving forward, as I continue to play around with anti-Jeskai technology I may test a copy of Choke and try this with or without bringing in the Blood Moons as well. In addition to being useful vs Jeskai it may come in against Fetch-based Storm and maaaybe UG Merfolk. Also I still want to try Thrun just to form my own opinion. This would make my next testing list look like this:
If you look at the list at the end of my last post I would try something like this against Merfolk:
-1 Selfless Spirit, -2 Voice, -1 Courser, -1 Titan || +2 Lightning Helix, +1 Fiery Justice, +1 Engineered Explosives, +1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
Against UG Merfolk depending on what their manabase and fetch choices look like in G1 I may try bringing in Blood Moon or Choke for G2. My UG Merfolk opponent on Friday got locked out by Blood Moon in the next match after ours. If we have Qasali Pridemage to blow up Vial this becomes more viable. Removal and sweepers are always a sure bet, though.
EDIT: Some notes re: Merfolk Branchwalker in our list - I'm currently on 2 maindeck and have added an extra Renegade Rallier to be able to benefit from putting a <3 cmc card in the graveyard. Has worked surprisingly well. I also switched 2 BoPs for 2 Noble Hierarch which together with the "Branchwalker over Wall of Omens" plan makes a more aggressive build (especially needed vs control and UR Storm where we don't have that much time).
Just finished a Modern league (4-1) with this list:
RecSage can hit Speading Seas, Aether Vial and potentially Smuggler's Copter. I'm usually bringing that in against Merfolk.
Funnily enough, their Lord of Atlantis boosts our Merfolk Branchwalker. That could occasionally become relevant in combat.
Instead of Merfolk Branchwalker I'm just boarding in the best utility 2-drops for each match-up. Pridemage and Spirit are the best for my common fast aggro matchups, with Thalia, Gaddock, and Ooze ready to come in for more interactive games. These 2-drops in conjuction with the Voices and Cobras played really well with the 2x Ralliers, and it was this package overall that gave the best improvement to the deck.
I played several post-board games. G1 I won off of T3 lock-out Blood Moon. G2 my Thrun and Gaddock both got Spell Queller'd, combo got countered, and I died to Geist beats. G3 I baited out Spell Queller with Explosives (X=3) and followed up with Thrun, and later played Blood Moon which didn't lock the opponent out but did turn off Cryptic Command without hurting my mana too much.
Having a Thrun in hand doesn't guarantee a win, but once he resolves I felt like I had a fighting chance. I'll keep him in the board, and also try bringing him in to replace Dorks for BGx midrange and Grixis Shadow.
I got Thalia in play a couple times. Obviously her symmetrical effect is a double-edged sword since it affects half the combo but (1) I sided out more spells than I brought in, (2) the combo is plan-B here, (3) ideally we'd curve Oath before Thalia, and (4) we usually want to push an early tempo advantage with creatures, which she supports. She was decent, stuck for ~3 turns and taxed several counterspells, making it harder to simultaneously interact and animate Colonnade and also kept Geist at bay with first strike. In addition to bringing her in against Ux control I'm interested in testing her against Storm, 8-Rack, Lantern, Gx Tron, Titanshift, Burn, and possibly Grixis Shadow. These are match-ups she usually does well in, the question is how well we break the symmetry and disrupt the opponent more than slowing down our combo. Thoughts?
Blood Moon worked out in G1, but I realize it's a somewhat risky play and not an ideal use-case for BM per VenocStorm's guidelines since our dorks are so vulnerable. If nothing else, turning off Cryptic Command and Colonnade’s animation feels huge, since these are such important parts of Jeskai’s ability to come back from your early gains. I have mixed feelings on Birds here -- Bird usually eats a Bolt and is a poor topdeck outside of chump-blocking Colonnades / Quellers / Angel tokens, but we also have a lot of strong 2-drops (Gaddock, Thalia, Voice) that are happy to see something else clear away Bolts. Overall I was happy with the 75 and will probably continue to test as is.
I haven’t seen any Dredge at my shop in the last couple months (thus the lack of hard GY in my board). Against Burn I would consider mulling a hand that has 2+ shocks, nothing to answer a Guide before turn 3, or a curve that is dependent on a dork sticking to function. My previous list with Walls and Huntmaster was essentially pre-boarded against Burn and performed very well outside of some Burn nut-draws... not sure how much game we lost here, I need to play against it again. Being able to blow up Eidolon with Pridemage is a a nice little consolation, at least.
If I’m playing with Helix I generally try to fetch Stomping Ground followed by Plains unless I have a dork that I believe will stick. I hold the Helix back and develop my board first unless there’s a high priority combo piece or Lord that really needs to be picked off.
I'm mostly happy with the 75 I ran at the 1k, but the GW shell is so robust, I can't help tinkering with different builds ahead of the RPTQ. I know this has come up before, but i want to revisit KoTR. It provides a ton of utility with our land base, and plays well with cards we're already running like Oath, Evolution, Saheeli, Courser, and Sun Titan. Trying to sneak in Retreat naturally follows, and it provides some bonus utility similar to Cobra in that it allows us to go off from a standing position with a mana dork. The most obvious drawback, is we're adding 2 more cards that are individually weak (Retreats). This is purely theorycraft territory, but I wanted to poke at it and see if there's a bit more power to be had going down this road.
Curious to see what y'all think. I keep trying to find a way to slip Lark and Reflector Mage into this build, but I haven't been able to squeeze them in.
I adore Spell Queller but I don't think it's right for this deck. Since you can only Evolve and Blink at Sorcery speed you won't be able to counter anything unless you're hardcasting Queller from your hand, and we usually don't want to hold up 3 mana. Queller is also only good when the opponent has no removal, and in this scenario we would typically be clear to combo out anyways.
For the moment I've cut all blue from my list aside from Saheeli to make casting cards like Glorybringer, Blood Moon, and Fiery Justice more consistent and the manabase overall less painful. If you really want to take advantage of blue the best cards are Reflector Mage, Glen Elendra Archmage, Izzet Staticaster, and Unified Will/Negate. If you want to go really blue (likely at the expense of any RR cards) I've wanted to try Vendilion Clique for a while, which presents flying pressure like Spell Queller but its ETB is more compatible with Evo / Blinking, and its disruption doesn't come undone in the face of a removal spell.
I agree with your point on Titan’s awkwardly niche compatibility with Evo. I’m not sure how much I agree that you need to be winning in card advantage for it to be good.
I do think it’s worth noting that even if Sun Titan 100% whiffs on his ETB a 6/6 Vigilance body is very well positioned in the format of 5/5s. Have you played with Baneslayer Angel yet? It’s more compatible with Evo and doesn’t rely on the GY while still trading well with 5/5s. The flip side is that it’s another 5 CMC card that can die to removal without generating any value.
I board out Sun Titan in ~50% of games, but often, it's just because I have better things to post board as opposed to it being particularly weak. Usually this is because I'm up up against a linear deck that doesn't care as much about Titan's size and efficiency. If you're seeing a lot of linear decks, Titan's value drops, but against many decks in the format, and particularly game 1, Titan can steal games.
Because of how the deck functions, interactive decks are actively encouraged to get our cards off the table ASAP. Voice and Saheeli are often kill on sight. Even Rallier and Witness are subject to removal spells if they're targeted by a flicker or clone effect. The Thoughtseize based control decks (GDS, Mardu, Jund, etc) have very few ways to overcome the Titan once it comes down. Usually they need to find one of 1-2 Terminates or they're out of luck. I think it's reasonable to cut Titan, especially if your meta is flooded with decks like Affinity, Storm, and Valakut, but I don't think it's reasonable to call it a bad Witness effect.
So, I'm tinkering around with the flex slots in the deck, and there are just so many options. The RPTQ is tomorrow and I'm still undecided on 7 of my 75.
A couple of notes. Mostly a traditional build here, with the dorks, combo, evo core. The most interesting thing I have going on is the lack of Cobras, and 2 KoTR. Cobra's come out for the Knights, as I want 1-2 more dorks with the increased emphasis on 3 drops, and Knight is additional ramping for the top of the curve. I tested Knight when I was monkeying around with Retreat, and while Retreat was a dud, KoTR was incredible for me. It jumps us to 5 mana, allows for more flexibility with utility lands, and is a sizable threat on its own. It might look a bit wonky, but I'm sold on it. It's another turn 2 or 3 threat that every fair deck has to interact with to proceed, and it allows us a low cost toolbox option with our lands. T2 Knight, T3 fetch Ghost Quarter, Rallier, Ghost Quarter is a crowbar to the knees of a bunch of decks, this allows us to do it consistently.
On to the openings in the 75.
Maindeck I'm looking at Domri Rade, Noble Hierarch #4, Thalia, Heretic Cathar, Sun Titan, Glen Elendra Archmage, another Rallier, Baneslayer Angel, Glorybringer, and Qasali Pridemage. The lands are also adjustable, particular with KoTR adding so much flexibility.
With less than a day to go I would just fill the flex slots with whatever you’re most comfortable and familiar with for the RPTQ. I have a fear that one of these days I will sac a creature to Evo, search through my deck a couple times, and then realize the creature I want isn’t in my most current version.
Went 3-3 at the RPTQ, but that's a bit misleading. I started 2-0 (beat GDS and Dredge), then lost to Green Devotion when I punted away game 3. My opponent brought in Blood Moon (which hurt him more than it hurt me), but had two Birds, and was doing fine. Turns out, the play here is NOT to target your opponent's Birds with an Izzet Staticaster. This is largely a failure to get sufficient reps leading up to the event. I didn't have much experience with Staticaster outside of the Affinity matchup. Know what your cards do, folks. I cut myself off the mana I needed to combo out and win, then died to a Craterhoof. I was on auto-pilot, sniping all of his dorks one by one, and I botched. No one to blame but myself, but I would have been 3-0, needing to win one of my next two rounds to draw into top 8. I fell into the wild west bracket, and lost to Grixis Control (tons of targeted removal, counters, and sweepers), beat Infect, and lost to Burn. The top tables were populated with Affinity, Humans, GDS, Titanshift, and Eldrazi Tron.
I'm going to be bummed about the punt for awhile, but there are a few big positives for us. Here's the list I ran:
The deck is well positioned in the meta. Lots of linear decks, rock decks without Dark Confidant, and a decided lack of pure control and burn at the top tables. Knight of the Reliquary was brilliant, and I'm considering adding a 3rd copy. Baneslayer only came up once, and was rad, but it might be a sideboard card moving forward. I continue to be "fine" with Sun Titan, but not in love. That slot might be a good candidate for the 3rd Knight.
Could you give any more detail on KotR and Baneslayer’s performance? Roughly what kind of board or game state did they do well in for what matchup, if you can remember?
I really liked the 8 dorks. I was at a critical mass of important 3 drops, and Knight increased my access to Gavony Township, which helps pay off the glut of one-drops later in the game.
Baneslayer was there as a general purpose trump card. It's very good against Affinity, Humans, and Eldrazi, and is a credible bit of action against GDS, Dredge, and many of the B/G/x rock lists due to their limited ways to get it off the board. It also can steal games against Burn, but that wasn't the primary function. I was able to close out a game against Dredge with it and Angel of Sanctions, otherwise it never came up. Either I didn't have access too it, or I wanted to do something else (often just getting Felidar Guardian). I still like what it does, and way to give it a bit more run in the 75.
Knight does a few important things for us. It gives us another credible midrange threat, it gives us more value out of our lands (thinning, Ghost Quarter, Horizon Canopy, Gavony Township, Bojuka Bog), and ramps us. One of the reasons I felt good about 8 dorks, instead of the 6 dork/2 Cobra split I'd run previously, was that Knight could team up with a turn 1 mana dork to help us hit 5 mana on turn 3, like Cobra. Once in play, KotR was a must answer card that warped the game around it. This isn't a new thing for KoTR, but when combined with our ability to just combo off, placed incredible early pressure on decks trying to keep up with our threats. Note, it's a very legitimate Saheeli -2 target. In one game against Dredge, I was able to sit on the threat of Bojuka Bog (he had a sluggish hand) while I clocked him with a Rallier. Eventually I fetched up a Township, and put the game out of reach. Without the KoTR, it's plausible he could have drawn into the action he needed. In testing against Affinity and Eldrazi Tron, just being able to get to my Ghost Quarter on command was huge. KotR, fetch GQ, Rallier, GQ sequences are not uncommon, and can be crippling.
I like Angel of Sanctions in a meta full of Eldrazi Tron, GDS, Big Tron, and Rock decks, but will happily side it out against the likes of Humans, Storm, and Burn. If you feel like your meta doesn't warrant it, cut it.
Tonight's decklist is unchanged from what I posted a couple nights ago.
4x Birds of Paradise
2x Noble Hierarch
2x Lotus Cobra
4x Voice of Resurgence
1x Courser of Kruphix
2x Kitchen Finks
1x Renegade Rallier
4x Felidar Guardian
1x Glen Elendra Archmage
1x Huntmaster of the Fells
1x Reveillark
1x Sun Titan
Spells (14)
4x Oath of Nissa
4x Saheeli Rai
3x Path to Exile
3x Eldritch Evolution
4x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Verdant Catacombs
1x Arid Mesa
1x Flooded Strand
1x Breeding Pool
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Stomping Ground
1x Temple Garden
3x Forest
2x Plains
1x Gavony Township
2x Burrenton Forge-Tender
1x Gaddock Teeg
2x Stony Silence
2x Unified Will
2x Blood Moon
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
2x Fiery Justice
1x Magus of the Moon
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Cataclysmic Gearhulk
G1 is fuzzy (I vaguely recall having two Dorks hit with Electrolyze) and was over pretty quickly, RIP. G2 I lead with Bird into T2 Courser but hold up mana on T3. On his turn he taps out for Geist and I crack Mesa for Hallowed Fountain and counter it with Unified Will. He was pretty surprised by this, though I'm not sure it would work twice (but maybe if they're playing around Unified Will then it's doing its job anyways?). I started to pull ahead with Courser chipping in until he Path'd it a couple turns later. After that he clawed his way back into the game with triple Cryptic (I am soo unlucky against Cryptic XD) while I flooded. A new Geist, Snap, Queller, and Helix take me out from ~18 very quickly.
SB: -3 Evolution, -1 Saheeli || +2 Unified Will, +1 Gaddock Teeg, +1 Forge-Tender
(I did draw the Forge-Tender and it was pretty underwhelming, should've just brought in any threat, even Gearhulk)
Match 2: Storm (1-2)
G1 I mull to 6 and keep a mediocre hand with 2 Cats, Dork, and Path. I Path his first Baral and then durdle around until he can Empty the Warrens for 16 and finish me off a couple turns later. Obviously a bad keep vs Storm in retrospect, and still probably a bad keep going in blind. G2 I live the dream of T1 Hierarch > T2 Saheeli > T3 Felidar Guardian. G3 I lead with Bird, which is Bolted. Because of this both Unified Will and Eldritch Evolution are dead in my hand and I pass T2. I draw into the combo as he plays Goblin Electromancer. I draw Eidolon of Rhetoric off of Oath but don't have enough mana to play it that turn. Next turn he Storms with Grapeshot for the win.
SB: -1 Finks, -1 Titan, -1 Lark, -1 Huntmaster || +2 Unified Will, +1 Eidolon of Rhetoric, +1 Gearhulk
Match 3: UG Merfolk (2-1)
I knew this particular player was on Merfolk but wasn't aware that she'd moved to UG (no CoCo). G1 I'm overrun by Vial into unblockable Fish squad backed up by Spreading Seas. G2 I have a slower start pinging her for damage with Hierarch + Bird as she Spell Pierces my Evolution (:<). Luckily, I draw into Fiery Justice, which was a game-changing 3-for-1 against a Lord + Silvergill + Speaker. This prevented me from dying next turn and gave me time to combo out shortly after. G3 she tapped out on T3 while I played T2 Cobra -> T3 Combo ("eww that's grimy").
SB: -1 Glen Elendra, -1 Sun Titan, -1 Lark, -1 Something || +2 Fiery Justice, +1 Reclamation Sage, +1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
Match 4: Lantern Control (2-1)
G1 I'm locked out within a couple turns. Inquisition, Lantern + Codex + Pithing Needle on Saheeli Rai + 2 Ensnaring Bridges. I chip away beneath the bridge with my Felidar until he starts undoing the damage with lifegain from Inventor's Fair, at which point I scoop. G2 I keep a one-lander with 2x Dork, Rallier, Lark, Stony Silence, and Gearhulk. He Inquisitions the Stony Silence, but thanks to T1 Dork sticking, some early topdecked Voices, and Rallier I'm able to get enough beats in before he has the chance to lock me out. G3 he mulls to 4, so we're off to a good start :P. I play a T2 Cobra, T3 he plays Ensnaring bridge, leaving one card in hand and Opal untapped, and passes. I pray it's not an instant and combo out on my T3, living the dream of infinite Felidars creeping under the Bridge. He reveals an uncast Inquisition from his hand ("Man I really wish I would've cast that.."). I definitely got lucky G3 but I'll take it.
SB: -3 Path to Exile, -1 Kitchen Finks || +2 Stony Silence, +1 Reclamation Sage, +1 Gearhulk
Overall 2-2
After winning so many of my games to date off the back of T2 Lotus Cobra I'm considering cutting both Hierarchs for a 3rd Cobra and something else, perhaps another 2-drop to better fill in the curve there... likely Wall, Branchwalker (any more testing results on this?), or Spreading Seas. If so I would probably go back to testing a second Rallier since it synergizes so well with Cobra and more 2-drops in general.
Fiery Justice felt awesome and performed better than either Engineered Explosives or Staticaster would have in the same scenario. Unless Fiery Justice is really bad against Humans (testing soon) I will be sticking with this as my sweeper of choice over Explosives.
Speaking of sweepers, I didn't see any decks packing red sweepers this week, nor any Burn. Because of the relative narrowness of Forge-Tender I might play around with these slots a little bit, perhaps trading one out for Selfless Spirit. Or maybe I'm over-tuning.
As with my previous testing, Glen Elendra is just "OK" in the MB, at least for my meta. I might want something a bit more aggressive -- she can be really great value against grindy matchups (esp with Lark) but when I need to put on some pressure the 2 power (for 4 CMC) is kind of sad. I mean, I guess that's technically better than Felidar Guardian (XD) but I still think we could probably do better. As for Lark I never got any crazy value plays but it made things harder for my Lantern opponent so that's good enough for now. Conversely, running Kiki would make it harder to shut off the combo with Pithing Needle and the increasingly relevant Meddling Mage.
For Unified Will I got to see both the wonderful highs (few other spells can efficiently answer Geist) and the terrible lows (holding an inactivated counterspell while Storm combos off). In terms of early interaction Mana Leak would have functioned equivalently in the Geist scenario while also working in the Storm scenario, although this would lose points against matches where it might come in against big mana decks like Titanshift. I might give Mana Leak a shot (or even 1x Mana Leak + 1x Pact of Negation?), but overall I would still prefer to be playing a permanent if possible, ideally at 2-3 CMC for resiliency with Rallier & Titan.
Losses were to Storm and Burn and I beat Eldrazi Tron/Death and Taxes/Random Brew. Got Eldrazi tron off lands from ghost quarter -> renegade rallier. That was gas.
MVPs:
Ghost Quarter
Rallier
Thragtusk
Losers:
Sun Titan (didnt see it once)
Reveillark
Hurtful Manabase
I wish there were a more efficient 4 drop to evolution into. I feel like im usually getting renegade rallier when i eldritch a voice and a medium impact card if i have to sac a wall of omens. The angel card seems good vs. random permanents we cant deal with. Gonna give courser a try also.
Regarding the rest of your list we have pretty much unamimously settled on only 3x copies of Evolution in the main as it can be risky or foderless in many matchups and drawing too many copies can cause problems.
@Lovds: Many of us are trying Merfolk Branchwalker over both Wall and Oracle. I don’t care for Nissa since she doesn’t interact well with Felidar or curves above 4. Champion of Wits seems sweet to rez but seems overcosted as a Looting effect.
Keep in mind Coiling Oracle's mana requirement does damage to you and your manabase. Even if you don't have it in hand, you should fetch accordingly, because you can draw it as 4of. Wall and Branchwalker are both on-color, easy to cast and don't require stretching mana. Oracle isn't worth the setup cost, Wall is not good anymore. We'll see about Branchwalker.
Goblin Rabblemaster is not for us, we have enough 3 mana playables fightning for spots that are on theme.
Champion of Wits is also a mana too expensive. At 3cmc we don't want to loot, we're trying to push for card advantage. Eternalize cost is unrealistic for us.
Nissa, Steward of Elements was discussed (and tested) earlier, wasn't impressive. It feels good on T2-3, later it doesn't do enough.
Why Loaming Shaman? I've seen it in lists, but does it actually work? It seems to me the sorcery speed would kill it's effectivness hard. It does nothing to Storm, they would have to fizzle in a very specific way. It can slow down Dredge a bit, but they overcome timed Relics.
Scooze is better for soft hate (lingering souls, snap etc).
I would rather attack storm on the Eidolon/Leyline path. Helixes incidentally help with Storm, too.
Dredge is not always that fast, we can race. The Relic-type hate is ok, but burns at least 2 slots. Getting to board it in Storm is nice, beyond that it's questionable.
Played a FaceToFace 3K yesterday with a list that I haven't touched in 3 weeks. Got off to a rough start, but brought it back decently.
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Noble Hierarch
2 Lotus Cobra
4 Voice of Resurgence
1 Renegade Rallier
4 Felidar Guardian
1 Eternal Witness
1 Thragtusk
2 Wall of Omens
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Sun Titan
Spells
4 Oath of Nissa
4 Saheeli Rai
3 Eldritch Evolution
4 Path to Exile
1 Breeding Pool
3 Forest
2 Plains
2 Razorverge Thicket
1 Stomping Ground
2 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Lone Missionary
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Stony Silence
2 Blood Moon
1 Lightning Helix
1 Eldritch Evolution
1 Fiery Justice
The Wooded Bastion and second Temple Garden should be Horizon Canopies.
Short Version:
Round 1: 1-2 vs Burn
Round 2: 1-2 vs Esper Shadow
Round 3: 2-0 vs Merfolk
Round 4: 2-0 vs Grixis Control
Round 5: 2-1 vs Affinity
Round 6: 2-0 vs Affinity
Round 7: 1-2 vs Abzan
Round 8: 2-1 vs Jeskai Tempo
Ended up in 37th, just out of prizes.
Some highlights:
Round 1: 1-2 vs Burn
Game 2, since he only has 1 mana up, I sac Finks to get Thragtusk. Hmmm. Next game.
Game 3, double Eidolon. Good beats. I was groggy during this match, and likely made some mistakes that I didn't even realize.
Round 2: 1-2 vs Esper Shadow
Up against a skilled player and acquaintance who knows my deck well. He's been doing well locally with Titanshift.
So I'm surprised at Street Wraith Game 1. But I T2 Cobra, T3 Saheeli + Evo with him tapped out.
Game 2 I get completely destroyed by a Spell Queller he later tells me is a 1-of.
Round 3: 2-0 vs Merfolk
I combo quick both games, T3 in the second. Match was over in 10-15 minutes. Friends first thought I had the bye, then after I told them what I was up against, gave me their condolences on my loss
Round 4: 2-0 vs Grixis Control
I love playing this type of matchup. He resolves Ancestral Vision both games, but the first game I have enough to cross the finish line, and in the second I go toe to toe with him with Tracker, eventually grinding him down to where I can resolve both Thragtusk and Sun Titan.
Round 5: 2-1 vs Affinity
Game 1, he T4's me on the play. I played 2 lands and a Wall. Plating is lights out G1.
Game 2 he Platings me down low quick, and I'm forced to Path + Helix, and then next turn E-Wit into Path to barely survive. I fade Blast for a turn before comboing.
Game 3 I T3 him.
Round 6: 2-0 vs Affinity
Game 1 I have Bird + 2 lands as well as a Cobra in play, with both combo pieces in hand for several turns, not able to play out Guardian, and not wanting to expose Saheeli. Need to draw any land. Eventually draw Witness, get back a fetch. He attacks me down to 2 and I'm able to surprise combo next turn.
Game 2 was disgusting. I use 2 Evos to turn Bird + Wall into Rec Sage + Staticaster. With the help of a Guardian and Pridemage, over the next few turns I get his board of Mountain, Glimmervoid, and 6 artifacts down to just Mountain. I love playing affinity post-board haha.
Round 7: 1-2 vs Abzan
Long grindy games, he wins in turns.
Game 1, with Cobra in play, I draw the fetch I need to play Rallier, get back fetch, play Titan, get Saheeli, copy Titan, get E-wit, buy back Path, swing with Titan, and path his Tracker. Hmmmmmm.
Game 2, I overextend into Damnation. Stupid.
Only change I made before the tournament was swapping Magus to Teeg. Similar concerns about removal making Magus lackluster.
An easier Affinity? That has not been my experience. In fact I'm desperate for any ideas on how to handle this matchup. Is Unified Will the difference maker, or is there something I'm missing? Because what I'm doing is rarely working, and I need a better plan.
I don't have any great advice vs Eldrazi Tron as I haven't gotten enough games in but if it's any consolation a growing number of Tron players are shifting back to traditional Gx builds, possibly to "go over" Ux control. I think this may be good for us as it seems easier to get under traditional Tron, we don't have to deal with as many copies of Walking Ballista or TKS disrupting our combo, and hate cards like Stony Silence and Gaddock are much more useful. Hopefully the meta continues to shift in this direction.
----------
My thoughts on Branchwalker, Rabblemaster, Loaming Shaman:
Also I jammed a bunch of friendly games against Jeskai Geist and 5c Vial Humans Saturday evening with this list:
4x Birds of Paradise
3x Lotus Cobra
2x Merfolk Branchwalker
4x Voice of Resurgence
1x Courser of Kruphix
1x Kitchen Finks
2x Renegade Rallier
4x Felidar Guardian
1x Huntmaster of the Fells
1x Glorybringer
1x Sun Titan
Spells (14)
4x Oath of Nissa
4x Saheeli Rai
3x Path to Exile
3x Eldritch Evolution
4x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
3x Arid Mesa
1x Flooded Strand
1x Breeding Pool
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Stomping Ground
3x Forest
2x Plains
1x Gavony Township
1x Gaddock Teeg
2x Lightning Helix
1x Selfless Spirit
2x Stony Silence
2x Blood Moon
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
2x Fiery Justice
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Glen Elendra Archmage
1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1x Cataclysmic Gearhulk
I got lucky and had a Bird in hand for the majority of my games so I didn't miss the absence of Hierarch here. However I do acknowledge that cutting Hierarch makes it harder to do T1 Dork -> T2 Evolve Dork into 3 CMC hate card or T2 Blood Moon, so I'm reflecting on this more. Cobra was good enough that my opponent started pathing it on sight. I suppose this is overall OK as it's ramping me and keeping my Cats and Glorybringer safer.
Merfolk Branchwalker was reasonably solid as I said -- it synergizes well enough with the core and does a bit of everything but it's never MVP like Voice & Cobra, either. I think it has a higher floor yet lower ceiling than the other utility 2-drops of Pridemage, Ooze, and Selfless Spirit. I will say that there was a time that I revealed Glorybringer off of Branchwalker's trigger and then my opponent named Glorybringer with Meddling Mage her next turn. That's more of a general problem with Meddling Mage than Branchwalker, though.
When I did get to cast Glorybringer it was really good, though. I got to Exert Glorybringer to kill Spell Queller to get back Rallier. Unfortuantely I didn't have Revolt online so I didn't get my Voice back but it was still a good play.
Jeskai won over half of the matches, but this still felt like my best MB configuration against Jeskai so far thanks to the extra pressure of Branchwalker, Glorybringer, and the second Rallier.
I only got to play two games against Humans but it was ugly. G1 Vial, T2 Champion + Freebooter grabbing Saheeli, T3 Meddling Mage naming my revealed Glorybringer + Freebooter taking my Oath, and from there they just beat down pretty quickly. G2 I had Lotus Cobra T2 with the T3 combo ready but they had a T3 Freebooter or Meddling Mage, followed up by a Big Thalia later. The game went very grindy on beats with me keeping up via Voice / Rallier / Finks until she played Anafenza, The Foremost and Mantis Rider, which overcame my GY-based grounded grind game.
I didn't get a chance to draw Fiery Justice here but I tried to pay attention to how it would've performed if drawn. I think it could've been game-winning in the early game while being OK to mediocre in the late game, especially if you're facing down a bulky Champion or have had a Lieutenant come into play. Gearhulk would've been great -- even if it leaves behind a 5/5 Champion we would probably get a bunch of cards back by killing Meddling Mage or Freebooter, and our deck is pretty good at blocking grounded beefcakes like Champion. The 5c Vial list is heavily centered around 2 CMC, including most of their hate cards, so Engineered Explosives would've been really great here. I may go to a 1/1 split on Fiery Justice and Engineered Explosives.
Moving forward, as I continue to play around with anti-Jeskai technology I may test a copy of Choke and try this with or without bringing in the Blood Moons as well. In addition to being useful vs Jeskai it may come in against Fetch-based Storm and maaaybe UG Merfolk. Also I still want to try Thrun just to form my own opinion. This would make my next testing list look like this:
4x Birds of Paradise
3x Lotus Cobra
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Selfless Spirit
4x Voice of Resurgence
1x Courser of Kruphix
1x Kitchen Finks
2x Renegade Rallier
4x Felidar Guardian
1x Huntmaster of the Fells
1x Glorybringer
1x Sun Titan
Spells (14)
4x Oath of Nissa
4x Saheeli Rai
3x Path to Exile
3x Eldritch Evolution
4x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
3x Arid Mesa
1x Flooded Strand
1x Breeding Pool
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Stomping Ground
3x Forest
2x Plains
1x Gavony Township
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Gaddock Teeg
2x Lightning Helix
1x Scavenging Ooze
2x Stony Silence
2x Blood Moon
1x Choke
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1x Fiery Justice
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
1x Cataclysmic Gearhulk
-1 Selfless Spirit, -2 Voice, -1 Courser, -1 Titan || +2 Lightning Helix, +1 Fiery Justice, +1 Engineered Explosives, +1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
Against UG Merfolk depending on what their manabase and fetch choices look like in G1 I may try bringing in Blood Moon or Choke for G2. My UG Merfolk opponent on Friday got locked out by Blood Moon in the next match after ours. If we have Qasali Pridemage to blow up Vial this becomes more viable. Removal and sweepers are always a sure bet, though.
EDIT: Some notes re: Merfolk Branchwalker in our list - I'm currently on 2 maindeck and have added an extra Renegade Rallier to be able to benefit from putting a <3 cmc card in the graveyard. Has worked surprisingly well. I also switched 2 BoPs for 2 Noble Hierarch which together with the "Branchwalker over Wall of Omens" plan makes a more aggressive build (especially needed vs control and UR Storm where we don't have that much time).
Just finished a Modern league (4-1) with this list:
11-3-1 @ GP Copenhagen: Top Stories of Grand Prix Copenhagen
Funnily enough, their Lord of Atlantis boosts our Merfolk Branchwalker. That could occasionally become relevant in combat.
4x Birds of Paradise
3x Lotus Cobra
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Selfless Spirit
4x Voice of Resurgence
1x Courser of Kruphix
1x Kitchen Finks
2x Renegade Rallier
4x Felidar Guardian
1x Thragtusk
1x Glorybringer
1x Sun Titan
Spells (14)
4x Oath of Nissa
4x Saheeli Rai
3x Path to Exile
3x Eldritch Evolution
4x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
3x Arid Mesa
1x Flooded Strand
1x Breeding Pool
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Stomping Ground
3x Forest
2x Plains
1x Gavony Township
1x Gaddock Teeg
1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Lightning Helix
2x Stony Silence
2x Blood Moon
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1x Engineered Explosives
2x Fiery Justice
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
1x Cataclysmic Gearhulk
Boarding strategy vs Jeskai was -3 Evo, -3 Path, -1 Saheeli, -1 Cobra || +1 Gaddock, +1 Thalia, +1 Ooze, +1 Thrun, +1 Helix, +1 Explosives, +2 Blood Moon
I played several post-board games. G1 I won off of T3 lock-out Blood Moon. G2 my Thrun and Gaddock both got Spell Queller'd, combo got countered, and I died to Geist beats. G3 I baited out Spell Queller with Explosives (X=3) and followed up with Thrun, and later played Blood Moon which didn't lock the opponent out but did turn off Cryptic Command without hurting my mana too much.
Having a Thrun in hand doesn't guarantee a win, but once he resolves I felt like I had a fighting chance. I'll keep him in the board, and also try bringing him in to replace Dorks for BGx midrange and Grixis Shadow.
I got Thalia in play a couple times. Obviously her symmetrical effect is a double-edged sword since it affects half the combo but (1) I sided out more spells than I brought in, (2) the combo is plan-B here, (3) ideally we'd curve Oath before Thalia, and (4) we usually want to push an early tempo advantage with creatures, which she supports. She was decent, stuck for ~3 turns and taxed several counterspells, making it harder to simultaneously interact and animate Colonnade and also kept Geist at bay with first strike. In addition to bringing her in against Ux control I'm interested in testing her against Storm, 8-Rack, Lantern, Gx Tron, Titanshift, Burn, and possibly Grixis Shadow. These are match-ups she usually does well in, the question is how well we break the symmetry and disrupt the opponent more than slowing down our combo. Thoughts?
Blood Moon worked out in G1, but I realize it's a somewhat risky play and not an ideal use-case for BM per VenocStorm's guidelines since our dorks are so vulnerable. If nothing else, turning off Cryptic Command and Colonnade’s animation feels huge, since these are such important parts of Jeskai’s ability to come back from your early gains. I have mixed feelings on Birds here -- Bird usually eats a Bolt and is a poor topdeck outside of chump-blocking Colonnades / Quellers / Angel tokens, but we also have a lot of strong 2-drops (Gaddock, Thalia, Voice) that are happy to see something else clear away Bolts. Overall I was happy with the 75 and will probably continue to test as is.
If I’m playing with Helix I generally try to fetch Stomping Ground followed by Plains unless I have a dork that I believe will stick. I hold the Helix back and develop my board first unless there’s a high priority combo piece or Lord that really needs to be picked off.
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Voice of Resurgence
1 Ramunap Excavator
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Felidar Guardian
1 Angel of Sanctions
1 Sun Titan
Spells
4 Oath of Nissa
3 Path to Exile
2 Retreat to Coralhelm
4 Saheeli Rai
3 Eldritch Evolution
1 Arid Mesa
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Windswept Heath
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Gavony Township
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Stomping Ground
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Unified Will
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
Curious to see what y'all think. I keep trying to find a way to slip Lark and Reflector Mage into this build, but I haven't been able to squeeze them in.
For the moment I've cut all blue from my list aside from Saheeli to make casting cards like Glorybringer, Blood Moon, and Fiery Justice more consistent and the manabase overall less painful. If you really want to take advantage of blue the best cards are Reflector Mage, Glen Elendra Archmage, Izzet Staticaster, and Unified Will/Negate. If you want to go really blue (likely at the expense of any RR cards) I've wanted to try Vendilion Clique for a while, which presents flying pressure like Spell Queller but its ETB is more compatible with Evo / Blinking, and its disruption doesn't come undone in the face of a removal spell.
I do think it’s worth noting that even if Sun Titan 100% whiffs on his ETB a 6/6 Vigilance body is very well positioned in the format of 5/5s. Have you played with Baneslayer Angel yet? It’s more compatible with Evo and doesn’t rely on the GY while still trading well with 5/5s. The flip side is that it’s another 5 CMC card that can die to removal without generating any value.
Because of how the deck functions, interactive decks are actively encouraged to get our cards off the table ASAP. Voice and Saheeli are often kill on sight. Even Rallier and Witness are subject to removal spells if they're targeted by a flicker or clone effect. The Thoughtseize based control decks (GDS, Mardu, Jund, etc) have very few ways to overcome the Titan once it comes down. Usually they need to find one of 1-2 Terminates or they're out of luck. I think it's reasonable to cut Titan, especially if your meta is flooded with decks like Affinity, Storm, and Valakut, but I don't think it's reasonable to call it a bad Witness effect.
So, I'm tinkering around with the flex slots in the deck, and there are just so many options. The RPTQ is tomorrow and I'm still undecided on 7 of my 75.
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Voice of Resurgence
2 Renegade Rallier
1 Eternal Witness
2 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Felidar Guardian
1 Angel of Sanctions
3 open slots
Spells
4 Oath of Nissa
3 Path to Exile
4 Saheeli Rai
3 Eldritch Evolution
2 Wooded Foothills
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
2 Plains
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Gavony Township
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Stomping Ground
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Unified Will
2 Blood Moon
4 open slots
A couple of notes. Mostly a traditional build here, with the dorks, combo, evo core. The most interesting thing I have going on is the lack of Cobras, and 2 KoTR. Cobra's come out for the Knights, as I want 1-2 more dorks with the increased emphasis on 3 drops, and Knight is additional ramping for the top of the curve. I tested Knight when I was monkeying around with Retreat, and while Retreat was a dud, KoTR was incredible for me. It jumps us to 5 mana, allows for more flexibility with utility lands, and is a sizable threat on its own. It might look a bit wonky, but I'm sold on it. It's another turn 2 or 3 threat that every fair deck has to interact with to proceed, and it allows us a low cost toolbox option with our lands. T2 Knight, T3 fetch Ghost Quarter, Rallier, Ghost Quarter is a crowbar to the knees of a bunch of decks, this allows us to do it consistently.
On to the openings in the 75.
Maindeck I'm looking at Domri Rade, Noble Hierarch #4, Thalia, Heretic Cathar, Sun Titan, Glen Elendra Archmage, another Rallier, Baneslayer Angel, Glorybringer, and Qasali Pridemage. The lands are also adjustable, particular with KoTR adding so much flexibility.
Sideboard I'm considering Gaddock Teeg, Bojuka Bog, Thragtusk, Scavenging Ooze, Ramunap Excavator, Fiery Justice, and Blood Baron (seriously thinking about it).
I'm going to be bummed about the punt for awhile, but there are a few big positives for us. Here's the list I ran:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Voice of Resurgence
2 Renegade Rallier
1 Eternal Witness
2 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Felidar Guardian
1 Angel of Sanctions
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Sun Titan
Spells
4 Oath of Nissa
3 Path to Exile
4 Saheeli Rai
3 Eldritch Evolution
2 Wooded Foothills
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
2 Plains
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Gavony Township
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Stomping Ground
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Unified Will
2 Blood Moon
1 Fiery Justice
The deck is well positioned in the meta. Lots of linear decks, rock decks without Dark Confidant, and a decided lack of pure control and burn at the top tables. Knight of the Reliquary was brilliant, and I'm considering adding a 3rd copy. Baneslayer only came up once, and was rad, but it might be a sideboard card moving forward. I continue to be "fine" with Sun Titan, but not in love. That slot might be a good candidate for the 3rd Knight.
How did you like 8x 1-CMC dorks?
Could you give any more detail on KotR and Baneslayer’s performance? Roughly what kind of board or game state did they do well in for what matchup, if you can remember?
Are you still 100% solid on Angel of Sanctions?
Baneslayer was there as a general purpose trump card. It's very good against Affinity, Humans, and Eldrazi, and is a credible bit of action against GDS, Dredge, and many of the B/G/x rock lists due to their limited ways to get it off the board. It also can steal games against Burn, but that wasn't the primary function. I was able to close out a game against Dredge with it and Angel of Sanctions, otherwise it never came up. Either I didn't have access too it, or I wanted to do something else (often just getting Felidar Guardian). I still like what it does, and way to give it a bit more run in the 75.
Knight does a few important things for us. It gives us another credible midrange threat, it gives us more value out of our lands (thinning, Ghost Quarter, Horizon Canopy, Gavony Township, Bojuka Bog), and ramps us. One of the reasons I felt good about 8 dorks, instead of the 6 dork/2 Cobra split I'd run previously, was that Knight could team up with a turn 1 mana dork to help us hit 5 mana on turn 3, like Cobra. Once in play, KotR was a must answer card that warped the game around it. This isn't a new thing for KoTR, but when combined with our ability to just combo off, placed incredible early pressure on decks trying to keep up with our threats. Note, it's a very legitimate Saheeli -2 target. In one game against Dredge, I was able to sit on the threat of Bojuka Bog (he had a sluggish hand) while I clocked him with a Rallier. Eventually I fetched up a Township, and put the game out of reach. Without the KoTR, it's plausible he could have drawn into the action he needed. In testing against Affinity and Eldrazi Tron, just being able to get to my Ghost Quarter on command was huge. KotR, fetch GQ, Rallier, GQ sequences are not uncommon, and can be crippling.
I like Angel of Sanctions in a meta full of Eldrazi Tron, GDS, Big Tron, and Rock decks, but will happily side it out against the likes of Humans, Storm, and Burn. If you feel like your meta doesn't warrant it, cut it.