When you are playing infect, the most important thing to remember is to use your removal on your turn, not theirs. This may seem counter intuitive, but you want your opponent to use their pump spells on your turn when they cannot attack. On their turn if you bolt their creature they just pump it and you die. But if you bolt their creature on your turn they will pump their creature to save it. This is huge so then you make your opponents lose the value of their pump spells. Watch GreatNate here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6-d5w0pkhw
This is a matchup that has been favorable for me.
When you are playing splintertwin, the most important thing to remember is that you need to keep mana up. If you are on the play and manage to drop a geist on turn 3 it should be good game. Otherwise you need to slowly win the war of attrition while keeping mana up so they cannot combo out. Post sideboard remember that they most likely will try to out tempo you and will be dropping most of their combo. Watch GreatNate here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9_7xgBly8A
Regarding your list:
Looks solid to me.
I haven't tested the dragonlord out myself, but if you like him he looks neat. Your sideboard could use negate and dispel as cards that are very useful against a lot of decks. I'd recommend also having a grindy win condition like Elspeth or Keranos or even Ajani Vengeant. You need a grindy win bomb to help beat Jund.
Also your list seems more controlling (especially with the 4 of serum visions) so maybe add a mana leak over 1 remand or over 1 serum visions. (I'm not sure you need 4 of them.
I'm still having great success with it in FNMs and XMage. I'm currently boasting a 76% win rate with it. RG Tron, Amulet Bloom, and Blood Moon have been rough and account for the majority of losses. Just wondering who else out there is still rocking the love for crackling doom.
No black splash for me. I tried it quite some time ago, and while cracking doom is certainly cool, I don't think it made the deck better enough to justify the mana base strain.
GreatNate,
I know that the black list you ran awhile back had the crackling dooms (and then you dropped those for valorous stance) but I don't remember you running Tasigur main. Did you ever try running him main?
Crackling Dooms are great, but my favorite part of the black splash is the 2 mainboard Tasigurs that I run. Being able to wall off early aggression from Atarka Red or even a siege rhino from Abzan is huge. And his ability to "draw" cards helps win out the grindy matches. His size, though is clearly his best attribute as he is usually Tarmogoyf size for 1B. I run him instead of the Vendilion Cliques (which I know you like to help against combo).
Yes, with the black splash I am weaker against blood moon, but if I'm anticipating it I do side out some of my black cards anyways.
Yes, I do deal more damage to myself since often I need to fetch shock a godless shrine instead of just a plains. I do have a worse burn matchup as a result, although Tasigur shuts down their creature attacks very well.
Yes, I have lost a game because I fetched the wrong color mana or my opponent had a timely ghost quarter.
Yes, I cannot run ghost quarter no matter how awesome it is.
But the deck is much more threat dense, especially post side-board. And I think that proactive attack is helpful in the current meta. I feel comfortable against the GBx decks with lingering souls (side), crackling doom, and tasigur as great responses. Crackling Doom is amazing versus boggles, infect, etched champion, tarmogoyf, siege rhino, zombie fish or a cheated in emrakul.
I feel that the black splash variant is grindier and more aggressive than the traditional UWR midrange shell. Is it better? Not sure. Depends on the meta. It's certainly not better against Twin.
It could just be that I run it because I really wanted to play with both geist and Tasigur together and was not impressed with Esper midrange (no bolt hurts).
I remember seeing in one of your videos you had a sheet with your win/loss by matchup rate. It encouraged me to make one myself, but mine is only 75 or so matches.
I think it would be beneficial to see what match ups our best player is confident in and what match ups he is struggling in. That information could help metagame and sideboard calls later on. (For example if Affinity is beating the traditional UWR and it sees a huge uptick in play then maybe a second shatterstorm could see play or some new card people aren't using.)
If you don't have the time or don't want to that's ok, but it would be great to know
I will post a link, but ill likely wait to include a video with it as soon as my new computer equipment arrives and I can start making videos again.
I will say that I had a respectable win rate that varied between 62-65% over the first 200 matches. Recently however I am on quite a losing streak, only 44% over the last 60 or so mathches. This has caused the overall win rate to tumble below 60% I am not exactly sure what changed, but I am going to work on adding a feature to my spreadsheet that allows me to filter the matchup counts by date, so I can look more closely at what changed over the last 3-4 weeks.
Also to your comment about "our best player." I appreciate the compliment thank you. That being said, I have no illusions of being the best players here by any means. I would only say I'm a little better than average, and considering how much I'v played the deck I should be a lot better!
When you are playing infect, the most important thing to remember is to use your removal on your turn, not theirs. This may seem counter intuitive, but you want your opponent to use their pump spells on your turn when they cannot attack. On their turn if you bolt their creature they just pump it and you die. But if you bolt their creature on your turn they will pump their creature to save it. This is huge so then you make your opponents lose the value of their pump spells. Watch GreatNate here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6-d5w0pkhw
This is a matchup that has been favorable for me.
I like to do it end of their turn, because it allows to me to keep mana up in my turn, because you never know when they're just going to dump their whole hand and kill you in a single turn.
I have been running this version for 4 months now with a 17-10 record, winless againts Infect 0-2 and 1-3 on Splinter Twin.
Dragonlord Ojutai acts as a 5th Giest, with Minamo and the Angels protecting her she becomes a strong finisher! I just enjoy this deck, I hope to win tomorrows mini GPT.
Please comment on how to play better againts Splinter Twin and Infect.
// Sideboard
SB: 2 Anger of the Gods
SB: 2 Spellskite
SB: 2 Counterflux
SB: 2 Kor Firewalker
SB: 2 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 2 Stony Silence
SB: 2 Wear // Tear (Tear)
SB: 1 Keranos God of Storms
I went 4-1 GPT Melborne (no infect & twin) yesterday loosing only to Tron! Ranking 2nd behind a Dark Jeskai GST with Tasigur B/R command.
I listened to your Mana Leak advise and it worked like a charm againts Lantern and Dark Jeskai. I have gone with a 3 Remand and 3 Serum "version" of my exsisting deck.
My last match-up I had both DL Ojutai and Keranos in play againts Dark Jeskai on game 3, tugging me through a win with 1 life!
But still I placed 2nd (4-1), as I was coming in at 3-1 with Dark Jeskai at 4-0 loosing only due to better tie breaks.
Hey guys, I have been playing geist periodically over the last couple months, but have recently moved off of it in a move towards Monastery Mentor, which plays a bit differently. Is discussion of that build appropriate here?
Hey guys, I have been playing geist periodically over the last couple months, but have recently moved off of it in a move towards Monastery Mentor, which plays a bit differently. Is discussion of that build appropriate here?
So you run Mentor instead of Geist but still run the UWR shell? I'm imagining you also throw some more cantrips in there: maybe even Mishra's Bauble?
My biggest concern with mentor is the old "dies to removal" claim.
this is what i am working currently:
[deck] Jeskai Mentor
4x Serum Visions
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Path to Exile
3x Gitaxian Probe
2x Spell Pierce
1x Spell Snare
1x Vapor Snag
3x Remand
2x Lightning Helix
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Abbot of Keral Keep
2x Young Pyromancer
4x Monastery Mentor
this is what i am working currently:
[deck] Jeskai Mentor
4x Serum Visions
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Path to Exile
3x Gitaxian Probe
2x Spell Pierce
1x Spell Snare
1x Vapor Snag
3x Remand
2x Lightning Helix
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Abbot of Keral Keep
2x Young Pyromancer
4x Monastery Mentor
The low land count and young pyromancer looks more like the UWR delver lists posted in the forums than the UWR midrange lists most people post about here. You might get better feedback there.
Are you also sure that 22 lands is enough?
This is true, and speaks to my preference for the more aggressively slanted lists. I am just concerned that this list is also not appropriate for the delver threads because it doesn't actually contain the card "Delver of Secrets."
In regards to the land count, it feels right, but the list is far from tuned. I compared the mana to my baseline of Twin (which usually plays 23 land), and this deck has a much lower curve and more cantrips. Half of the spells cost one mana and and the only ones that cost more than 2 are Snapcaster and Mentor. Compare this to Twin, which typically plays 18-19 spells that cost 3 or more once you count Snappy. Honestly I am more worried about running out of gas going late than I am hitting early land drops.
A great match indeed, sir Silverback23! Will post my tournament report in a while during the Mini GPT we played at.
Regards,
That Dark Jeskai Geist player
Care to share your list?
Sorry for the late reply, guys! Been busy with work lately haha!
So yeah, I got first place in the swiss after 5 rounds of GPT Melbourne here in my country. Proceeded to advance to the semi-finals, only to be eliminated by an Amulet Bloom deck (such a frustrating matchup)
The key here is to drop Geist as soon as possible. Game 1 while I'm on the play, my opponent passed his second turn with only one mana open, leaving the option of t3 Geist and rode him to victory.
G2, changed my play style and became conservative using V. Cliques and try to win at instant speed as long as possible. Didn't drop a Geist aggresively because I knew if it gets countered or they flashed in a deceiver I might lose.
2-0 Win.
Round 2: vs Lantern Control
Matchup: meh, 50-50. Postboard more favorable.
Game one, my opponent secured the lock at 3 life, I didn't scoop because of the possibility of a luck burn draw (one can dream) but he eventually got there and secured the win.
Game two, secured a stony silence turn 2 and won from there. Game 3, I had Keranos, Geist, Tasigur, Resto and Clique in the field but can't attack because of the ensnaring bridge. we are almost out of cards at that point and out of time. In the last turn, topdeck revealed a kolaghan's command and destroyed the bridge, went for an alpha strike and won.
2-1 Win.
Round 3: vs Living End
Matchup: good, if sb is prepared for it. 40-60 in their favor if not.
Game 1 was tough for him, he already had the instant speed cascade spell at turn 3, but chose to pass priority when Clique's trigger happened. Misplay on his part on what might have been his win during that game.
Game 2, it was just not his day, he kept a hand after a mulligan to 3. Nothing much to say here, Clique happened here and there, resto bounced said clique and secured the win.
2-0 Win
Round 4: RG Tron
Matchup: unfavorable, 30-70 in their favor
G1, He had a very nice keep, able to go online at turn 3, with that in mind, I kept bolting and snap bolting him, just enough for my spells to do a lethal damage even if he stabilized at turn 3. Running snapcaster EOT turn two is not actually a bad thing to do in this matchup. Finished the game by throwing 6 bolt effects to his face.
G2 my opponent mulliganed to 5, which made it easier for me to throw spells with ease. Spell Snare caught the green search spell, future searches was halted by the mindcensor and slowly began chipping his life total. He hardcasted a wurmcoil engine (a very favorable sign for us) which got remanded and rode mindcensor to victory.
2-0 Win.
Round 5: vs UWR GEIST! by Silverback 23!
2-1 Loss.
There were a lot of interactions here and there, G1 I won because of turn 4 GST backed up by a spell snare. Game 2, I couldn't find an answer to his colonnade on time which got me. Game 3 was very intense, with DL Ojutai and Keranos on his side, secured the win for him at 1 life!
SB:
In: Elspeth, Keranos, Negate, 2 Dispels, 2 Kitchen Finks (he might have boarded out a number of paths)
Out: 2 Electrolyze, 1 Geist, 1 Helix, 2 Paths, 1 Kolaghan's
TOP 8:
QTRFINALS: vs (Naya?) Burn
match up: Favorable
G1, I opened a hand with 3 Lands, 2 helix, a bold and a snap. Win.
G2: Kitchen Finks is a really good card, plus dispels are key.
2-0 win.
SEMIFINALS: vs AMULET BLOOM
match up: very, very unfavorable.
*I already knew beforehand that this will be my last round in the tourney, this deck is seriously unwinnable for me, especially given my SB*
0-2 Loss.
Game 1: managed to survive 4 titans back to back, only to die due to a pact trigger off of hive mind.
Game 2: Longer game, but eventually same scenario. This time, I died by 2 pact of negation triggers off of hive mind with one mana short to pay them.
Seriously, this deck doesn't seem to run out of gas. Any help? hahaha!
Overall, it was nice performance by an ambitious 4 color deck. Might tweak it more to better prepare for the amulet match up, but in all honesty, I am starting to accept the fact that it is one of our worst match up, even worse than RG tron.
The deck does not run out of gas, since pretty much every card is capable of going to the face. I too have accepted that RG Tron and Amulet are going to be very tough matches. However, I have found that Shadow of Doubt and Aven Mindcensor are very real cards. I have won games off a turn 2 Shadow of Doubt that effectively was a Strip Mine + Deal 1 Damage + Draw a Card. I have almost always sided them out though since it is a 1 trick pony.
The card I want to recommend to you is: Crackling Doom. It helps vs RG Tron and Amulet (incidentally) but was added to help vs GBx. It is effectively like running extra path to exiles that happen to also be able to kill Emrakul, Boggles, Stormbreath Dragons, Geist of Saint Traft, and other cards while also dealing 2 damage. I won a game off of storm when I cast Crackling Doom even though my opponent had no creatures in play. The shock was all I needed.
I've really enjoyed the maindeck package of Keranos, God of Storms and Thundermaw Hellkite, even though they are liabilities in the aggressive matchups and they are expensive threats that are difficult to resolve against more controlling decks. They just add so much reach that the deck didn't have before in my opinion. I have been wanting to find room for the second Vendilion Clique in the maindeck, possibly swapping it with one of the top ends previously mentioned.
The point I am getting to is: I have a lot of Grixis Control (not Blue Jund) in my meta. Each game I find myself siding differently and I have no idea what the optimal changes are. Using my sideboard package, I usually find myself wanting to side in:
The problem is I have no idea if those are correct cards to side-in, and on top of that, I have no idea what the optimal cards to take out of my mainboard for them would be. Cards that I think are a little lackluster in the matchup:
1-2 Aven Mindcensor, I might keep in 1 if the opponent didn't see it Game 1 as a "gotcha" sort of card, but usually they will already play around it Game 2. It also just eats removal.
0-1 Thundermaw Hellkite, same reasoning as above. It's an expensive threat that's hard to resolve and is extremely easy to remove, although I could see bringing it back Game 3 if your opponent runs Pia and Kiran Nalaar and/or Vendilion Clique.
1-3 Mana Leak, They are usually just rotting in your hand waiting for the impending counter wars and they don't really help push out a Geist of Saint Traft. I could see myself keeping one in to help against an early Tasigur, the Golden Fang or Zombie Fish but I find them to be pretty lackluster.
Some amount of burn spells, I am pretty torn on what to do here. In many games, I find myself to be just a few points off of lethal and I feel like being more aggressive with burn spells and such might be the right move against Grixis Control. But they can be very dead cards against a lot of their big threats (Tasigur, Zombie Fish) which is why I tend to side them out a lot. However, suggestions are highly appreciated on this.
If anyone has any good ideas/opinions on how I should sideboard against Grixis Control using my exact list, I would greatly appreciate it!
EDIT: Also, as a side-note, is anybody else excited about the potential Stoneforge Mystic unban? Seems like an east fit into our deck.
Check out some Magic Gameplay and Commentary videos here, including Modern Grixis, Jeskai, and Esper videos as well as some Standard and Drafts too: My YouTube Channel!
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When you are playing infect, the most important thing to remember is to use your removal on your turn, not theirs. This may seem counter intuitive, but you want your opponent to use their pump spells on your turn when they cannot attack. On their turn if you bolt their creature they just pump it and you die. But if you bolt their creature on your turn they will pump their creature to save it. This is huge so then you make your opponents lose the value of their pump spells. Watch GreatNate here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6-d5w0pkhw
This is a matchup that has been favorable for me.
When you are playing splintertwin, the most important thing to remember is that you need to keep mana up. If you are on the play and manage to drop a geist on turn 3 it should be good game. Otherwise you need to slowly win the war of attrition while keeping mana up so they cannot combo out. Post sideboard remember that they most likely will try to out tempo you and will be dropping most of their combo. Watch GreatNate here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9_7xgBly8A
Regarding your list:
Looks solid to me.
I haven't tested the dragonlord out myself, but if you like him he looks neat. Your sideboard could use negate and dispel as cards that are very useful against a lot of decks. I'd recommend also having a grindy win condition like Elspeth or Keranos or even Ajani Vengeant. You need a grindy win bomb to help beat Jund.
Also your list seems more controlling (especially with the 4 of serum visions) so maybe add a mana leak over 1 remand or over 1 serum visions. (I'm not sure you need 4 of them.
GreatNate,
I know that the black list you ran awhile back had the crackling dooms (and then you dropped those for valorous stance) but I don't remember you running Tasigur main. Did you ever try running him main?
Crackling Dooms are great, but my favorite part of the black splash is the 2 mainboard Tasigurs that I run. Being able to wall off early aggression from Atarka Red or even a siege rhino from Abzan is huge. And his ability to "draw" cards helps win out the grindy matches. His size, though is clearly his best attribute as he is usually Tarmogoyf size for 1B. I run him instead of the Vendilion Cliques (which I know you like to help against combo).
Yes, with the black splash I am weaker against blood moon, but if I'm anticipating it I do side out some of my black cards anyways.
Yes, I do deal more damage to myself since often I need to fetch shock a godless shrine instead of just a plains. I do have a worse burn matchup as a result, although Tasigur shuts down their creature attacks very well.
Yes, I have lost a game because I fetched the wrong color mana or my opponent had a timely ghost quarter.
Yes, I cannot run ghost quarter no matter how awesome it is.
But the deck is much more threat dense, especially post side-board. And I think that proactive attack is helpful in the current meta. I feel comfortable against the GBx decks with lingering souls (side), crackling doom, and tasigur as great responses. Crackling Doom is amazing versus boggles, infect, etched champion, tarmogoyf, siege rhino, zombie fish or a cheated in emrakul.
I feel that the black splash variant is grindier and more aggressive than the traditional UWR midrange shell. Is it better? Not sure. Depends on the meta. It's certainly not better against Twin.
It could just be that I run it because I really wanted to play with both geist and Tasigur together and was not impressed with Esper midrange (no bolt hurts).
I'm excited about you making videos again!
Also try the dispel and negate sideboard! Trust me on that one.
I like to do it end of their turn, because it allows to me to keep mana up in my turn, because you never know when they're just going to dump their whole hand and kill you in a single turn.
I went 4-1 GPT Melborne (no infect & twin) yesterday loosing only to Tron! Ranking 2nd behind a Dark Jeskai GST with Tasigur B/R command.
I listened to your Mana Leak advise and it worked like a charm againts Lantern and Dark Jeskai. I have gone with a 3 Remand and 3 Serum "version" of my exsisting deck.
My last match-up I had both DL Ojutai and Keranos in play againts Dark Jeskai on game 3, tugging me through a win with 1 life!
But still I placed 2nd (4-1), as I was coming in at 3-1 with Dark Jeskai at 4-0 loosing only due to better tie breaks.
What a game!
Regards,
That Dark Jeskai Geist player
So you run Mentor instead of Geist but still run the UWR shell? I'm imagining you also throw some more cantrips in there: maybe even Mishra's Bauble?
My biggest concern with mentor is the old "dies to removal" claim.
Care to share your list?
[deck] Jeskai Mentor
4x Serum Visions
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Path to Exile
3x Gitaxian Probe
2x Spell Pierce
1x Spell Snare
1x Vapor Snag
3x Remand
2x Lightning Helix
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Abbot of Keral Keep
2x Young Pyromancer
4x Monastery Mentor
22 Lands
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Flooded Strand
2x Steam Vents
2x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
3x Sulfur Falls
2x Seachrome Coasta
1x Island
1x Mountain
1x Plains
1x Ghost Quarter
[\deck]
The low land count and young pyromancer looks more like the UWR delver lists posted in the forums than the UWR midrange lists most people post about here. You might get better feedback there.
Are you also sure that 22 lands is enough?
In regards to the land count, it feels right, but the list is far from tuned. I compared the mana to my baseline of Twin (which usually plays 23 land), and this deck has a much lower curve and more cantrips. Half of the spells cost one mana and and the only ones that cost more than 2 are Snapcaster and Mentor. Compare this to Twin, which typically plays 18-19 spells that cost 3 or more once you count Snappy. Honestly I am more worried about running out of gas going late than I am hitting early land drops.
Sorry for the late reply, guys! Been busy with work lately haha!
So yeah, I got first place in the swiss after 5 rounds of GPT Melbourne here in my country. Proceeded to advance to the semi-finals, only to be eliminated by an Amulet Bloom deck (such a frustrating matchup)
Here is my list:
3x Celestial Colonnade
4x Flooded Strand
2x Arid Mesa
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
2x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Watery Grave
1x Blood Crypt
2x Sulfur Falls
1x Island
1x Plains
1x Mountain
2x Ghost Quarter
4x Geist of Saint Traft
4x Snapcaster Mage
2x Vendilion Clique
2x Restoration Angel
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Spells: 21
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Path to Exile
4x Remand
2x Spell Snare
3x Lightning Helix
2x Electrolyze
2x Kolaghan's Command
2x Stony Silence
2x Kitchen Finks
2x Aven Mindcensor
2x Dispel
1x Spellskite
1x Wrath of God
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1x Negate
1x Wear//Tear
1x Celestial Purge
1x Keranos, God of Storms
Round 1: vs Grixis Twin
Matchup: very favorable
The key here is to drop Geist as soon as possible. Game 1 while I'm on the play, my opponent passed his second turn with only one mana open, leaving the option of t3 Geist and rode him to victory.
SB:
In: Keranos, Dispels, Spellskite, Purge and Negate
Out: 1 Remand, 1 Geist, 2 Tasigurs, 2 Electrolyze
G2, changed my play style and became conservative using V. Cliques and try to win at instant speed as long as possible. Didn't drop a Geist aggresively because I knew if it gets countered or they flashed in a deceiver I might lose.
2-0 Win.
Round 2: vs Lantern Control
Matchup: meh, 50-50. Postboard more favorable.
Game one, my opponent secured the lock at 3 life, I didn't scoop because of the possibility of a luck burn draw (one can dream) but he eventually got there and secured the win.
SB:
In: 2 Stony Silence, Wear//Tear, Negate, Keranos
Out: 1 Remand, 4 Paths
Game two, secured a stony silence turn 2 and won from there. Game 3, I had Keranos, Geist, Tasigur, Resto and Clique in the field but can't attack because of the ensnaring bridge. we are almost out of cards at that point and out of time. In the last turn, topdeck revealed a kolaghan's command and destroyed the bridge, went for an alpha strike and won.
2-1 Win.
Round 3: vs Living End
Matchup: good, if sb is prepared for it. 40-60 in their favor if not.
Game 1 was tough for him, he already had the instant speed cascade spell at turn 3, but chose to pass priority when Clique's trigger happened. Misplay on his part on what might have been his win during that game.
SB:
In: Elspeth, Wrath, Negate, Purge
Out: 2 Snares, 2 Electrolyze
Game 2, it was just not his day, he kept a hand after a mulligan to 3. Nothing much to say here, Clique happened here and there, resto bounced said clique and secured the win.
2-0 Win
Round 4: RG Tron
Matchup: unfavorable, 30-70 in their favor
G1, He had a very nice keep, able to go online at turn 3, with that in mind, I kept bolting and snap bolting him, just enough for my spells to do a lethal damage even if he stabilized at turn 3. Running snapcaster EOT turn two is not actually a bad thing to do in this matchup. Finished the game by throwing 6 bolt effects to his face.
SB:
In: 2 Stony, 2 Avens, 1 Wear/Tear, Negate
Out: 2 Electrolyze, 1 Remand, 1 Helix, 2 Tasigurs
G2 my opponent mulliganed to 5, which made it easier for me to throw spells with ease. Spell Snare caught the green search spell, future searches was halted by the mindcensor and slowly began chipping his life total. He hardcasted a wurmcoil engine (a very favorable sign for us) which got remanded and rode mindcensor to victory.
2-0 Win.
Round 5: vs UWR GEIST! by Silverback 23!
2-1 Loss.
There were a lot of interactions here and there, G1 I won because of turn 4 GST backed up by a spell snare. Game 2, I couldn't find an answer to his colonnade on time which got me. Game 3 was very intense, with DL Ojutai and Keranos on his side, secured the win for him at 1 life!
SB:
In: Elspeth, Keranos, Negate, 2 Dispels, 2 Kitchen Finks (he might have boarded out a number of paths)
Out: 2 Electrolyze, 1 Geist, 1 Helix, 2 Paths, 1 Kolaghan's
TOP 8:
QTRFINALS: vs (Naya?) Burn
match up: Favorable
G1, I opened a hand with 3 Lands, 2 helix, a bold and a snap. Win.
G2: Kitchen Finks is a really good card, plus dispels are key.
2-0 win.
SEMIFINALS: vs AMULET BLOOM
match up: very, very unfavorable.
*I already knew beforehand that this will be my last round in the tourney, this deck is seriously unwinnable for me, especially given my SB*
0-2 Loss.
Game 1: managed to survive 4 titans back to back, only to die due to a pact trigger off of hive mind.
Game 2: Longer game, but eventually same scenario. This time, I died by 2 pact of negation triggers off of hive mind with one mana short to pay them.
Seriously, this deck doesn't seem to run out of gas. Any help? hahaha!
Overall, it was nice performance by an ambitious 4 color deck. Might tweak it more to better prepare for the amulet match up, but in all honesty, I am starting to accept the fact that it is one of our worst match up, even worse than RG tron.
I too run the UWRb list. My list is below:
1 Blood Crypt
4 celestial colonnade
4 flooded strand
1 godless shrine
1 hallowed fountain
1 island
1 mountain
1 plains
1 sacred foundry
1 scalding tarn
2 steam vents
1 sulfur falls
1 watery grave
2 crackling doom
1 electrolyze
1 kolaghan's command
4 lightning bolt
4 lightning helix
4 path to exile
4 remand
4 geist of saint traft
3 restoration angel
4 snapcaster mage
2 tasigur, the golden fang
1 keranos, god of storms
1 aven mindcensor
2 lingering souls
2 celestial purge
1 dispel
2 negate
1 supreme verdict
2 wear / tear
2 stony silence
The deck does not run out of gas, since pretty much every card is capable of going to the face. I too have accepted that RG Tron and Amulet are going to be very tough matches. However, I have found that Shadow of Doubt and Aven Mindcensor are very real cards. I have won games off a turn 2 Shadow of Doubt that effectively was a Strip Mine + Deal 1 Damage + Draw a Card. I have almost always sided them out though since it is a 1 trick pony.
The card I want to recommend to you is: Crackling Doom. It helps vs RG Tron and Amulet (incidentally) but was added to help vs GBx. It is effectively like running extra path to exiles that happen to also be able to kill Emrakul, Boggles, Stormbreath Dragons, Geist of Saint Traft, and other cards while also dealing 2 damage. I won a game off of storm when I cast Crackling Doom even though my opponent had no creatures in play. The shock was all I needed.
2 Aven Mindcensor
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Geist of Saint Traft
3 Restoration Angel
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Keranos, God of Storms
Instants (19):
2 Electrolyze
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Helix
3 Mana Leak
1 Remand
1 Spell Snare
2 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Flooded Strand
4 Celestial Colonnade
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Eiganjo Castle
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Celestial Purge
2 Dispel
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Kor Firewalker
1 Negate
1 Rest in Peace
1 Spellskite
1 Stony Silence
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Wear // Tear
I've really enjoyed the maindeck package of Keranos, God of Storms and Thundermaw Hellkite, even though they are liabilities in the aggressive matchups and they are expensive threats that are difficult to resolve against more controlling decks. They just add so much reach that the deck didn't have before in my opinion. I have been wanting to find room for the second Vendilion Clique in the maindeck, possibly swapping it with one of the top ends previously mentioned.
The point I am getting to is: I have a lot of Grixis Control (not Blue Jund) in my meta. Each game I find myself siding differently and I have no idea what the optimal changes are. Using my sideboard package, I usually find myself wanting to side in:
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Dispel
1 Celestial Purge
1 Negate
And, depending on how reliant the deck is on their graveyard and delve creatures, I side in:
1 Rest in Peace
1 Supreme Verdict
Also, I sometimes side in:
1 Spellskite
The problem is I have no idea if those are correct cards to side-in, and on top of that, I have no idea what the optimal cards to take out of my mainboard for them would be. Cards that I think are a little lackluster in the matchup:
1-2 Aven Mindcensor, I might keep in 1 if the opponent didn't see it Game 1 as a "gotcha" sort of card, but usually they will already play around it Game 2. It also just eats removal.
0-1 Thundermaw Hellkite, same reasoning as above. It's an expensive threat that's hard to resolve and is extremely easy to remove, although I could see bringing it back Game 3 if your opponent runs Pia and Kiran Nalaar and/or Vendilion Clique.
1-3 Mana Leak, They are usually just rotting in your hand waiting for the impending counter wars and they don't really help push out a Geist of Saint Traft. I could see myself keeping one in to help against an early Tasigur, the Golden Fang or Zombie Fish but I find them to be pretty lackluster.
Some amount of burn spells, I am pretty torn on what to do here. In many games, I find myself to be just a few points off of lethal and I feel like being more aggressive with burn spells and such might be the right move against Grixis Control. But they can be very dead cards against a lot of their big threats (Tasigur, Zombie Fish) which is why I tend to side them out a lot. However, suggestions are highly appreciated on this.
If anyone has any good ideas/opinions on how I should sideboard against Grixis Control using my exact list, I would greatly appreciate it!
EDIT: Also, as a side-note, is anybody else excited about the potential Stoneforge Mystic unban? Seems like an east fit into our deck.