I have been playing the updated list that was posted on SCG this week. Basically it cut the blood moons from the main deck and the firewild borderpost and added a steam vent and two detention spheres. I was extremely encouraged by the changes since two of the changes were exactly what I did after playing the original version. Thus far my results have been good. I have easily been winning 60+% of my games. The issue is that I do not think that the winning percentage is legit due to the competition I have faced. I mainly played on cockatrice and it seems like half my opponents don't know how my deck works and make errors when playing against it. Thus far in the past two days I have had to explain to several players how gargadon is not affected by summoning sickness after coming in off suspend, how as foretold allows me to cast restore balance instead of suspend it, and multiple people have countered my cascade spell instead of the spell I find off of it.
My buddy got on yesterday and played some Esper Death Shadow against it and it didn't seem like a great matchup. The problem was that his creatures hit so hard and are so cheap that I could find myself in situations where I needed back to back restore balances on consecutive turns to survive.
Overall, my results have been encouraging and the deck is insanely fun to play. I doubt I would play it in a large tournament but I am considering taking it to a few small local events and putting it through its paces.
I've been building an As Foretold stompy deck in Legacy with a friend and we decided to try and port it into Modern. It's been performing fairly well so far, I played it at the MKM event in Prague recently and started off well not dropping a game in the first four rounds, but then faced Faeries twice and Burn twice, two really horrible matchups. I'm going to play it at GP Birmingham this weekend. The maindeck I'm pretty happy with, it's got a lot of cards many decks have trouble answering in game one, but I'm struggling with a sideboard. I've been considering just reactive cards like Abrade, By Force, Negate, Pyroclasm, Pithing Needle etc, leylines, Jace VP, Gifts Package, Saheeli + Guardian combo, Chalices, Wurmcoils...there's a lot of options. I think the harder matchups post board will be affinity, shadow with a lot of permission and Ux control with a lot of permission.
Wondering if anyone else is toying with this kind of shell?
Since Chandra is the only win con in the md, it's important to have something else in the sb in case of Surgical, Needle etc. Jace fills that role quite nicely in theory as they'll side out removal.
I've been building an As Foretold stompy deck in Legacy with a friend and we decided to try and port it into Modern. It's been performing fairly well so far, I played it at the MKM event in Prague recently and started off well not dropping a game in the first four rounds, but then faced Faeries twice and Burn twice, two really horrible matchups. I'm going to play it at GP Birmingham this weekend. The maindeck I'm pretty happy with, it's got a lot of cards many decks have trouble answering in game one, but I'm struggling with a sideboard. I've been considering just reactive cards like Abrade, By Force, Negate, Pyroclasm, Pithing Needle etc, leylines, Jace VP, Gifts Package, Saheeli + Guardian combo, Chalices, Wurmcoils...there's a lot of options. I think the harder matchups post board will be affinity, shadow with a lot of permission and Ux control with a lot of permission.
Wondering if anyone else is toying with this kind of shell?
Since Chandra is the only win con in the md, it's important to have something else in the sb in case of Surgical, Needle etc. Jace fills that role quite nicely in theory as they'll side out removal.
I would look to change those pyro out for anger of the gods maybe? Anger's extra damage does work against lord strategies like merfolk. You could also run a split of a 2-1 combo and cut an abrade. Another look would be to cut the abrades for some combination of dispel or negate since resolving an ee on 1 or a bridge against death's shadow and protecting it is paramount. Sadly bridge dies to k-command and is probably why i'd suggest dispel against that deck because you have the tools to fight it in chalice bridge and ee but no way to protect them from smashing them.
Agreed, also I think mission briefing works in the same way as Jace when it comes to as fortolds and balances which should open up some new possible plays. (Also in theroy works with a gy electrodominace and a in hand balance for instance speed 4 mana balance without as fortolds)
briefing works in the same way as jace which is not the way u think it works
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
Hey guys, this is just a rough draft of my take on what I like to call ElectroBalance. It is definitely more of an all in version of Restore Balance, dropping most of the control elements for lots of redundancy. I run plenty of sac outlets in Devastating Summons and Gargadon, while having Tolaria West and Restore Balance as well as Electrodominance and As Foretold to help cast the balance. An ideal play with this deck would be to cast Devastating Summons, sacrificing all of my lands, holding priority to cast Electrodominance to flash in a Restore Balance, making our opponent sacrifice all their creatures and lands and ideally discard most of their hand, followed by us getting 2 X/Xs.
I've yet to test with the deck and have been thinking of possibly adding cards like Sleight of Hand, Chandra or the 3CMC Sarkhan as alternate win conditions. Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
My buddy got on yesterday and played some Esper Death Shadow against it and it didn't seem like a great matchup. The problem was that his creatures hit so hard and are so cheap that I could find myself in situations where I needed back to back restore balances on consecutive turns to survive.
Overall, my results have been encouraging and the deck is insanely fun to play. I doubt I would play it in a large tournament but I am considering taking it to a few small local events and putting it through its paces.
More to come.
Wondering if anyone else is toying with this kind of shell?
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Restore Balance
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Spreading Seas
4 Blood Moon
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Serum Visions
2 Izzet Charm
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Mountain
7 Islands
4 Sulfur Falls
2 Tolaria West
The sideboard I'm leaning to at the moment is
4 Chalice of the Void
3 Abrade
2 Pyroclasm
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Tormod's Crypt
Since Chandra is the only win con in the md, it's important to have something else in the sb in case of Surgical, Needle etc. Jace fills that role quite nicely in theory as they'll side out removal.
I would look to change those pyro out for anger of the gods maybe? Anger's extra damage does work against lord strategies like merfolk. You could also run a split of a 2-1 combo and cut an abrade. Another look would be to cut the abrades for some combination of dispel or negate since resolving an ee on 1 or a bridge against death's shadow and protecting it is paramount. Sadly bridge dies to k-command and is probably why i'd suggest dispel against that deck because you have the tools to fight it in chalice bridge and ee but no way to protect them from smashing them.
Now we have a much better option than Expertise in the form of Electrodominance.
Maybe it is the time to revisit this (non-borderpost) build ?
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
I've yet to test with the deck and have been thinking of possibly adding cards like Sleight of Hand, Chandra or the 3CMC Sarkhan as alternate win conditions. Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
4 Restore Balance
3 Tolaria West
4 As Foretold
3 Greater Gargadon
4 Faithless Looting
4 Serum Visions
4 Devastating Summons
2 Quicken
3 Ancestral Vision
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Sulfur Falls
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Remand
4 Simian Spirit Guide
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Platinum Emperion
2 Madcap Experiment
4 Dispel
2 Defense Grid