It's crazy how much the meta has changed since I started playing Modern where I played Assault Loam in all kind of forms for a year or so.
Back then 3x Assault was the norm, now people play 4x Vortex and x Assault. I'm not sold on the 4x/4x Vortex/Assault split that Yuuki runs. But I haven't tested his build either. In my experience Vortex often sits there for several turns in a row without doing anything because you haven't found Loam yet and you want to use your lands for something else or you're up against a creature light deck where you'd rather dig to find a threat because Vortex/Assault is too slow. I guess it helps that he runs 4x Coursers and Crushers to filter through his deck.
Another thing I've found odd is that back then Raven's Crime and Smallpox were complete powerhouses and one of the main reasons to play the deck. Now I've found them rather mediocre and a card like Worm Harvest was complete garbage back then but I've had a lot of success with running a singleton.
I don't know how to process all of this, but there's definitely some major changes.
The main issue with raven's crime now is how slow it works vs the delve decks. Fueling their delve creatures can put you behind and lead to you taking at least a hit or 2 while you set up a kill on it. That was my experience most recently.
The main issue with raven's crime now is how slow it works vs the delve decks. Fueling their delve creatures can put you behind and lead to you taking at least a hit or 2 while you set up a kill on it. That was my experience most recently.
Yeah that's been my experience as well. It also feels like the format is faster now. Back then there were some amount of durdly decks in Pod, 4c Gifts and Jeskai Control who couldn't beat the Crime/Loam/Tec Edge lock. Right now, people either gold fish before Crime hurts them too much or they get to establish a board presence. It actually makes sense that Yuuki cut black entirely, though it limits some sideboard options (mainly Thoughtseize/IoK). But then again I guess there isn't much that Thoughtseize/IoK do that GQ/Tech Edge doesn't do better when it comes to beating combo decks like Bloom Titan, Tron and Scapeshift. Storm and Eggs don't exist anymore so I guess all there's left is Ad Nauseam and Living End who are probably difficult to beat regardless.
Actually Living End seems like a decent matchup. I just 2-0'ed against them. Looting and Loam filling the yard with critters is a nice insurance while you eat away their life total and I managed to keep up with them when it came to filling the GY. I'd imagine it's even better if you're running something similar to Yuuki's list with 12 beaters and 4 of them being ScOozes. I'm growing to like his approach. Still not liking the 8 enchantments though + Terminate and Decay is a good reason to splash black I reckon.
I've cut my Crimes for Countryside Crushers and I really like how it performs now. Before I ran 5 beaters which was at that threshold where I might not run beaters at all, since my opponent usually had removal for all of my threats. With 9 beaters I've reached that soft spot where he often lacks removal at a critical point.
Still pretty rough. Have only played it a couple of days. Verdant Catacombs and Raging Ravine are missing for budget reasons. The sideboard is quickly thrown together. The card I'm most unsure about is Surgical. I'm trying to live the dream where I GQ/Tec Edge a Tron land an Extract it (hasn't happened yet).
That list is pretty streamlined and straightforward..I like it. The surgical idea I don't like so much since ghost quarter lock is usually enough. In legacy I love wasteland, surgical effect because you're usually hitting 3/4 of their 7-9 only actual mana sources. In modern it isn't quote that effective I found since they can still usually fetch around it.
This is my favorite deck in Modern until I can find a good Gifts Rock list. My version of the deck is fairly typical of the old lists except I am running Magmatic Insight instead of Faithless Looting. This card was made for this deck. I use it combined with Bob for a decent draw engine. My meta consists of a lot of artifacts (1 Affinity, 1 U/B Tezzert and 2 Lantern Control). The Lantern control MU gave me some trouble as I was not sure how to play around it. After some much thought, I think I have a decent game plan because I can dedicate so many cards in the board to artifact destruction. Other decks in my meta include Burn, Bogles, Jund, Grixis Twin and Grixis Control. I have added Spellskite to help with the Twin, Bogles and Burn match ups.
What are you all boarding in for the Grixis and Jund match ups if anything? Also do you all consider these match up in our favor. If so, what cards are your all-stars?
Against lantern control you really just need to have assault in hand and from there you can usually just resolve it and win. Loam pretty much makes their deck useless.
Grixis can be shakey. I think roast is necessary for it. Otherwise some form of removal that you can make them tap out for so you can resolve an assault and take their threats on that way.
Jund can be strange. Loam and man lands should help close it out since both decks are grindy and pack a lot of removal. Mostly you need to answer their threats and you want redundant assault effects to offset pulse and decay. Ooze is to be killed on sight. Otherwise you should be able to grind out a win.
Played a small tournament this Monday. Report follows. Borrowed a couple of BG cards from a friend, so I played Jund again. Once more, deckbuilding was a bit rushed, but I applied some knowledge from last Friday.
List performed surprisingly well, were I to run it again would tweak the SB a bit (overloaded against Twin, but that's ok), and add a Murderous Cut maindeck probably in place of Tasigur #3. If I had Tarmogoyfs they'd be there for sure as well. Kolaghan's Command could make into the list, but I'm not into it as much.
Magic Tournament @ Card Addiction - Fullerton, CA
18 players
Field was a bit weird, but varied. Some interesting decks were floating around, and I'm glad I dodged Ad Nauseam.
Game 1 was very interesting. I manage to stabilize after he swarms the board with numerous 1/1s and 2/2s. His build was on a budget (ran Frogmites) but deck behaved quite well. He casts 3 Day's Undoing through this game, I happen to draw poorly and he closes the match with weenie beats + Galvanic Blasts and Shrapnel Blast - he was still at 20 life through all of this, since I had to keep responding to all his threats. Fun game, though - the guy's a sport, and really cool to talk to.
For Game 2 I side in Ancient Grudges, Nature's Claims and one Feed the Clan because why not. I keep an opener stacked with removal, and proceed to massacre a slow opening on his part. After controlling the board, I quickly dispatch him through 2 quick turns of Tasigur and Molten Vortex activation.
Game 3 gets grindy, and I manage to stockpile removal on my hand for the early stages of the game, killing only the key parts of his deck. Even so, he puts on a clock and casts some pretty awesome Day's Undoings. I end up with a horrible hand (multiple Life from the Loam and lands, but no Seismic Assault yet on the board) so I eventually succumb to his pressure while desperately trying to topdeck a damage effect or lootings to no success.
Round 2 - versus UWR Midrange (with the combo)
1-1-draw
Game 1 gets intense. I kill things, he kills things, I resolve Molten Vortex and he burns me down to 2, but I end up drawing the second Life from the Loam and set up a lethal turn. Really amazing game, though - between Snapcaster Mages, Restoration Angels and Wall of Omens he has a ton of CA and makes things really difficult for the deck. We end up having a lot of fun with this.
Game 2 I exchange some bolts for Rending Volleys and prepare myself for another grindfest. This one goes long, really really long. He boards in a Timely Reinforcements that gives him enough chump blockers for my Tasigur, the Golden Fang and Zombie Infestation tokens to lose the race against his Restoration Angel. I feel I misplayed this game badly at some point, but can't really see what was it. Again, we had a blast.
Game 3 starts, and as we are still on the first turns time is called for the round. Opponent keeps playing because he can combo me off, so I just sandbag removal and kill everything on sight. We draw.
Round 3 - Grixis Twin
2-1
End up playing one of my friends. But it's k.
Game 1 I Raven's Crime him away and setup a 16-damage turn. Not much else to say, since Raven's Crime is BRUTAL on this matchup.
For Game 2 I side in the Rending Volleys and 2 of the Nature's Claims to hedge against stuff. He drops a turn 3 Blood Moon that I did not expect, and suddenly I'm on topdeck mode with a resolved Seismic Assault on the field. His Tasigur leads the way, and even after I manage to naturally draw my Forest, Life from the Loam gets countered twice. When I finally manage to kill Tasigur, I get burned away.
Game 3 I keep a hand stuffed with juicy removal, and as we proceed to exchange resources I get access to Raven's Crime and out-value him. After that, he sadly draws very bad cards, and I close the game with my Tasigur and a couple of lands to his face. He got to the point of Serum Visions into land, scry 2 lands to the bottom, and draw 3 lands in a row from that point on. Sucks.
Round 4 - versus 4C Delver
1-2
Game 1 is the story of a Delver of Secrets not flipping for 3 turns, as I manage to assemble the engine and take the game away. I love happy endings.
Game 2 I side in Jund Charms to deal with the token sub-theme and add some graveyard hate (he's playing a ton of delve spells). We grind the game away, he drops Tasigur, kills a lot of stuff, goes for Rest in Peace that gets Abrupt Decayed, goes for a lot of aggro/value/hurray stuff that I manage to respond until... Slaughter Games happens. Goodbye Life from the Loam. Hello weird topdecks.
Game 3 is a repeat of Game 2. Very, very, very grindy - but Slaughter Games wins for him. He manages to cast 2 of them. once for Loam and the second for Lightning Bolt (he was pretty low). Tasigur kills me.
I think if there's a lesson to be learned here, it's that I really should expect less of myself. Back to the drawing board.
Will get back to testing RG variants until I get the cash to purchase my own B stuff.
Against lantern control you really just need to have assault in hand and from there you can usually just resolve it and win. Loam pretty much makes their deck useless.
Grixis can be shakey. I think roast is necessary for it. Otherwise some form of removal that you can make them tap out for so you can resolve an assault and take their threats on that way.
Jund can be strange. Loam and man lands should help close it out since both decks are grindy and pack a lot of removal. Mostly you need to answer their threats and you want redundant assault effects to offset pulse and decay. Ooze is to be killed on sight. Otherwise you should be able to grind out a win.
I like all of this advice, its good stuff. Grixis is a matchup that I think Vortex helps quite a bit because it is easy to resolve. I've personally had more trouble with Jund than Grixis. The games I've won have mostly been grinding with the combo, but Ooze's have just wrecked me a number of times.
I do think we could spend some productive thought on what to side in against Jund, I know I don't have a strong plan at the moment.
Anything that can shut down ooze ability helps like pithing needle. Though the issue with artifact answers is that command and decay hit it. If decay hits it at least your assault effects are usually safe. I suppose it would take a lot of playing around ooze. Never leave loam in your yard if you can't answer ooze on sight, if you have instant speed card draw you should try and save it in response to ooze activations.
Ghost quarter to try and reduce/keep them off green mana early so they either can't cast ooze or can't get multiple activations in.
Crime lock is actually good against them since it is very grindy and we don't want them to be holding decay for assaults, etc.
Keeping answers to goyf is the main goal since goyf is such a quick clock and we offer enchantment while they offer planeswalker to make it even bigger when it gets to the late game. Often you will need 3 land to kill one and that is an entire turn of loam use.
Against jund expect them to board out some discard, maybe even liliana in favor of more threats. You will likely see that fulminator mage and kitchen finks will come in post board. Generally this isn't a huge issue if they destroy land, since we easily get them back. When you have loam be sure to keep a G source in hand so if you are on 1 and they mage it, you are quickly ready to recover. Finks is a pain in the backside because of persist and the 4 life gain that it provides.
On an unrelated note I am considering testing a grixis list that runs G as a splash for the loams and decays. Not sure that it is the best idea, but it could be neat. Remand is certainly an interesting answer to consider vs grixis and other delve decks.
I don't know about Jund but I have been destroying Grixis so far. I already feel that I'm pre-boarded against them. Maybe it's just variance but the matchup have felt like a bye so far. Any deck running Islands except Storm (and probably also Scapeshift though I haven't met them yet) seems like favorable matchups. Can anyone confirm or deny this?
What do you guys think of running Smallpox in the sideboard by the way? It's a tech vs. Tron, Amulet Bloom and Bogles which are all difficult matchups in my experience. I haven't liked them in the main so far but miss them in those matchups.
Re: Jund btw. I haven't played the matchup but i see a lot of lists here running Bolt over Decay or Terminate. I tried out a couple of Bolts at one point but didn't like how they couldn't answer hard to deal with threats (we already have x/2s somewhat covered). With Looting, Insight, Vortex and Crime we already have a pretty low curve and plenty of T1 plays, I feel that with the limited room for removal we have that the spells should answer as much as possible. I get the feeling that ScOoze is a lot more problematic for lists that only have 3-4 ways to answer it after it grows to a 4/4+.
The only issue I had against grixis was that I never got much online due to remand and mana leak allowing him to tempo me out when I couldn't resolve an assault or a loam for a couple turns while angler ate away at my life total.
Yeah you are probably right. I was even thinking of going up to 27 lands just because it runs so much better when you have ample lands. Especially with the 4 of Magmatic Insight and no Tormenting Voice.
I played 6 informal games against Grixis Control before the tourney winning 4. This is one matchup where I really think Vortex instead of Seismic Assault matters because it is so much easier to get Vortex to resolve. I think this matchup is slightly favorable overall, at least in game 1.
Onto the tourney, with regard to some of the card choices, the Knuckleblade is an open slot. I didn't like MD Scavenging Ooze and have been looking for a replacement beater. In the SB, I need to hunt down two more Anger of the Gods over the Bonfire's probably. There is some unintentional Affinity hate with Grudge and Revelry, Grudge is for Affinity of course, Revelry is primarily for decks with enchantment based graveyard hate but hits Affinity too. Wipe Away was the catchall answer to Infect, Wurmcoil, etc.
Round 1 vs Burn (2-0)
He mulligans to five on the play. He runs out of resources and I have a Delver and Tarmogoyf which makes a pretty fast clock. The game gets a little tense, but I win with creature beatdown and Vortex keeping the board clear.
Game 2, I discover I have pretty much nothing in the SB for Burn, which is an oversight that probably needs to be addressed; I take out 1 Ghost Quarter and the Knuckleblade for 2 Bonfires. This game he has a pretty fast open and I am starved for red. Eventually the board state is him at 20 with 2 Young Pyromancer, 2 Elementals and no cards. I have 7 life, a Tarmogoyf and a Courser. I finally draw a fetch that can get red, think for a while and then fetch for a Steam Vents going to 4 to Bolt one on the Pyromancers. He topdecks a land, I get a second red source off the draw and land Vortex kill the second Pyromancer. From there I clear his board and start swinging; he did draw one more burn spell to put me on one at one point, with the Courser life gain keeping me alive. In his final turn he draws a haste phoenix of some kind, which I have a Vortex and land for and I win the game.
Round 2 vs 4-color Control (RWUb it seemed) (1-2)
This control deck revolved around a lot of permission, Snapcaster and Lingering Souls tokens. Game one the combo does a ton of work keeping my life total reasonably safe versus and army of spirit tokens. Meanwhile he is working, relatively successfully, to keep my creatures off the board. I do get some hits in though and win a relatively long game primarily with the combo.
I sideboarded out some of my Simic Charms for Destructive Revelry figuring he's packing Rest in Peace for sure. Game 2, I seem like I'm doing ok, but I am always slightly behind keeping up with killing tokens. He Supreme Verdicts my board at one point and eventually resolves a Gideon ticking him up to 8 loyalty. I have a Lightning Bolt and two Land with a Vortex and am tapped out with 3 red sources. I untap, but there's no line to get 8 points to finish the Gideon. I'm one turn behind essentially with answers and the Gideon quickly finishes the game.
Game 3, I side out the Revelrys and in the creature sweepers because I saw no graveyard hate. Game 3 sets up to be another grind fest, but I get the combo going and some guys and have the initiative most of the game. Eventually he plays a white spell that exiles my Vortex and then a Relic of Progenitus which exiles my yard including the Life from the Loam. I'm actually feeling ok about it because I have another Vortex in hand and a fair amount of business cards to rebuild with. I get a Vortex and a small Tarmogoyf on the board with some protection and proceed with the game. We play another dozen turns or so where I draw mostly land an no Loam and he evetually kills me with spirit tokens. I see at least half my deck, but no sweepers and only one Loam.
So I lose the match, though I think its a pretty fair matchup in general.
Round 3 vs RG Tron
Game one I shuffle up and look at Fetch land, 2 Ghost Quarter, Loam, Tarmogoyf and 2 other cards that would be hard to play. I have no idea what my opponent is playing, but I decide to keep. He plays a Tron piece to open the game and things are looking up. Essentially I Ghost Quarter locked him to keep him off Tron and resolved the Tarmogoyf. He eventually gets an O-Stone, but I have enough pressure to play after the Stone activation and can keep him locked on land enough to easily win game 1.
Game two I go for extreme sideboard action, -4 Vortex, -4 Loam, +3 Ancient Grudge, +3 Destructive Revelry, +2 Wipe Away figuring I'd just play a straight aggro + hate card plan. The plan works well and I crush him, especially because I have a Ghost Quarter in my opening hand. I play out the GQ but don't use it which makes him understandably worried about his mana. He plays out a Crucible of Worlds and Expedition Map, threatening Tron the next turn but I have an Ancient Grudge for both artifacts and win game 2.
He was particularly salty after the match about losing to my "pile" that's "not a real deck".
Impressions
Simic Charm is good.
Magmatic Insight is insanely good in the shell.
Courser of Kruphix is surprisingly useful.
Playing less permission and more card draw for consistency was good. Two weeks ago I struggled to get the combo together, but had no issues this week.
An Assault Loam deck (though more Loam control really) was just on the SCG twitch coverage. The deck had Loam/Vortex, a ton of black control like Lilliana and Raven's Crime and Haakan with Knights of the Reliquary for the kill.
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Back then 3x Assault was the norm, now people play 4x Vortex and x Assault. I'm not sold on the 4x/4x Vortex/Assault split that Yuuki runs. But I haven't tested his build either. In my experience Vortex often sits there for several turns in a row without doing anything because you haven't found Loam yet and you want to use your lands for something else or you're up against a creature light deck where you'd rather dig to find a threat because Vortex/Assault is too slow. I guess it helps that he runs 4x Coursers and Crushers to filter through his deck.
Another thing I've found odd is that back then Raven's Crime and Smallpox were complete powerhouses and one of the main reasons to play the deck. Now I've found them rather mediocre and a card like Worm Harvest was complete garbage back then but I've had a lot of success with running a singleton.
I don't know how to process all of this, but there's definitely some major changes.
Yeah that's been my experience as well. It also feels like the format is faster now. Back then there were some amount of durdly decks in Pod, 4c Gifts and Jeskai Control who couldn't beat the Crime/Loam/Tec Edge lock. Right now, people either gold fish before Crime hurts them too much or they get to establish a board presence. It actually makes sense that Yuuki cut black entirely, though it limits some sideboard options (mainly Thoughtseize/IoK). But then again I guess there isn't much that Thoughtseize/IoK do that GQ/Tech Edge doesn't do better when it comes to beating combo decks like Bloom Titan, Tron and Scapeshift. Storm and Eggs don't exist anymore so I guess all there's left is Ad Nauseam and Living End who are probably difficult to beat regardless.
I've cut my Crimes for Countryside Crushers and I really like how it performs now. Before I ran 5 beaters which was at that threshold where I might not run beaters at all, since my opponent usually had removal for all of my threats. With 9 beaters I've reached that soft spot where he often lacks removal at a critical point.
4 Countryside Crusher
3 Gurmag Angler
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
// OTHER SPELLS (23)
4 Faithless Looting
4 Magmatic Insight
4 Molten Vortex
4 Life from the Loam
4 Abrupt Decay
3 Terminate
// LANDS (28)
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
3 Copperline Gorge
3 Tectonic Edge
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Treetop Village
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Blood Crypt
2 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
3 Surgical Extraction
4 Thoughtseize
3 Pyroclasm
3 Feed the Clan
1 Spellskite.
1 Engineered Explosives
Still pretty rough. Have only played it a couple of days. Verdant Catacombs and Raging Ravine are missing for budget reasons. The sideboard is quickly thrown together. The card I'm most unsure about is Surgical. I'm trying to live the dream where I GQ/Tec Edge a Tron land an Extract it (hasn't happened yet).
What are you all boarding in for the Grixis and Jund match ups if anything? Also do you all consider these match up in our favor. If so, what cards are your all-stars?
Thanks.
Grixis can be shakey. I think roast is necessary for it. Otherwise some form of removal that you can make them tap out for so you can resolve an assault and take their threats on that way.
Jund can be strange. Loam and man lands should help close it out since both decks are grindy and pack a lot of removal. Mostly you need to answer their threats and you want redundant assault effects to offset pulse and decay. Ooze is to be killed on sight. Otherwise you should be able to grind out a win.
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Stomping Ground
2 Blood Crypt
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Raging Ravine
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Swamp
2 Mountain
1 Forest
3 Countryside Crusher
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
//Spells
2 Raven's Crime
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Faithless Looting
4 Magmatic Insight
4 Life from the Loam
3 Abrupt Decay
//Enchantments
4 Molten Vortex
1 Zombie Infestation
2 Seismic Assault
1 Raven's Crime
3 Rending Volley
3 Nature's Claim
2 Ancient Grudge
3 Feed the Clan
3 Jund Charm
List performed surprisingly well, were I to run it again would tweak the SB a bit (overloaded against Twin, but that's ok), and add a Murderous Cut maindeck probably in place of Tasigur #3. If I had Tarmogoyfs they'd be there for sure as well. Kolaghan's Command could make into the list, but I'm not into it as much.
Magic Tournament @ Card Addiction - Fullerton, CA
18 players
Field was a bit weird, but varied. Some interesting decks were floating around, and I'm glad I dodged Ad Nauseam.
Round 1 - versus Affinity +Day's Undoing
1-2
Game 1 was very interesting. I manage to stabilize after he swarms the board with numerous 1/1s and 2/2s. His build was on a budget (ran Frogmites) but deck behaved quite well. He casts 3 Day's Undoing through this game, I happen to draw poorly and he closes the match with weenie beats + Galvanic Blasts and Shrapnel Blast - he was still at 20 life through all of this, since I had to keep responding to all his threats. Fun game, though - the guy's a sport, and really cool to talk to.
For Game 2 I side in Ancient Grudges, Nature's Claims and one Feed the Clan because why not. I keep an opener stacked with removal, and proceed to massacre a slow opening on his part. After controlling the board, I quickly dispatch him through 2 quick turns of Tasigur and Molten Vortex activation.
Game 3 gets grindy, and I manage to stockpile removal on my hand for the early stages of the game, killing only the key parts of his deck. Even so, he puts on a clock and casts some pretty awesome Day's Undoings. I end up with a horrible hand (multiple Life from the Loam and lands, but no Seismic Assault yet on the board) so I eventually succumb to his pressure while desperately trying to topdeck a damage effect or lootings to no success.
Round 2 - versus UWR Midrange (with the combo)
1-1-draw
Game 1 gets intense. I kill things, he kills things, I resolve Molten Vortex and he burns me down to 2, but I end up drawing the second Life from the Loam and set up a lethal turn. Really amazing game, though - between Snapcaster Mages, Restoration Angels and Wall of Omens he has a ton of CA and makes things really difficult for the deck. We end up having a lot of fun with this.
Game 2 I exchange some bolts for Rending Volleys and prepare myself for another grindfest. This one goes long, really really long. He boards in a Timely Reinforcements that gives him enough chump blockers for my Tasigur, the Golden Fang and Zombie Infestation tokens to lose the race against his Restoration Angel. I feel I misplayed this game badly at some point, but can't really see what was it. Again, we had a blast.
Game 3 starts, and as we are still on the first turns time is called for the round. Opponent keeps playing because he can combo me off, so I just sandbag removal and kill everything on sight. We draw.
Round 3 - Grixis Twin
2-1
End up playing one of my friends. But it's k.
Game 1 I Raven's Crime him away and setup a 16-damage turn. Not much else to say, since Raven's Crime is BRUTAL on this matchup.
For Game 2 I side in the Rending Volleys and 2 of the Nature's Claims to hedge against stuff. He drops a turn 3 Blood Moon that I did not expect, and suddenly I'm on topdeck mode with a resolved Seismic Assault on the field. His Tasigur leads the way, and even after I manage to naturally draw my Forest, Life from the Loam gets countered twice. When I finally manage to kill Tasigur, I get burned away.
Game 3 I keep a hand stuffed with juicy removal, and as we proceed to exchange resources I get access to Raven's Crime and out-value him. After that, he sadly draws very bad cards, and I close the game with my Tasigur and a couple of lands to his face. He got to the point of Serum Visions into land, scry 2 lands to the bottom, and draw 3 lands in a row from that point on. Sucks.
Round 4 - versus 4C Delver
1-2
Game 1 is the story of a Delver of Secrets not flipping for 3 turns, as I manage to assemble the engine and take the game away. I love happy endings.
Game 2 I side in Jund Charms to deal with the token sub-theme and add some graveyard hate (he's playing a ton of delve spells). We grind the game away, he drops Tasigur, kills a lot of stuff, goes for Rest in Peace that gets Abrupt Decayed, goes for a lot of aggro/value/hurray stuff that I manage to respond until... Slaughter Games happens. Goodbye Life from the Loam. Hello weird topdecks.
Game 3 is a repeat of Game 2. Very, very, very grindy - but Slaughter Games wins for him. He manages to cast 2 of them. once for Loam and the second for Lightning Bolt (he was pretty low). Tasigur kills me.
Final Result: 1-2-1
Verdict: Scrub
I think if there's a lesson to be learned here, it's that I really should expect less of myself. Back to the drawing board.
Will get back to testing RG variants until I get the cash to purchase my own B stuff.
I like all of this advice, its good stuff. Grixis is a matchup that I think Vortex helps quite a bit because it is easy to resolve. I've personally had more trouble with Jund than Grixis. The games I've won have mostly been grinding with the combo, but Ooze's have just wrecked me a number of times.
I do think we could spend some productive thought on what to side in against Jund, I know I don't have a strong plan at the moment.
Ghost quarter to try and reduce/keep them off green mana early so they either can't cast ooze or can't get multiple activations in.
Crime lock is actually good against them since it is very grindy and we don't want them to be holding decay for assaults, etc.
Keeping answers to goyf is the main goal since goyf is such a quick clock and we offer enchantment while they offer planeswalker to make it even bigger when it gets to the late game. Often you will need 3 land to kill one and that is an entire turn of loam use.
Against jund expect them to board out some discard, maybe even liliana in favor of more threats. You will likely see that fulminator mage and kitchen finks will come in post board. Generally this isn't a huge issue if they destroy land, since we easily get them back. When you have loam be sure to keep a G source in hand so if you are on 1 and they mage it, you are quickly ready to recover. Finks is a pain in the backside because of persist and the 4 life gain that it provides.
On an unrelated note I am considering testing a grixis list that runs G as a splash for the loams and decays. Not sure that it is the best idea, but it could be neat. Remand is certainly an interesting answer to consider vs grixis and other delve decks.
What do you guys think of running Smallpox in the sideboard by the way? It's a tech vs. Tron, Amulet Bloom and Bogles which are all difficult matchups in my experience. I haven't liked them in the main so far but miss them in those matchups.
2 Vengeful Pharaoh
1 Golgari Brownscale
4 Faithless Looting
4 Magmatic Insight
1 Abrupt Decay
4 Life from the Loam
1 Darkblast
4 Lingering Souls
4 Smallpox
2 Seismic Assault
3 Liliana of the Veil
26 Land including at least 1 raging ravine and ghost quarter
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Thoughtseize
2 Raven's Crime
2 Golgari Brownscale
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Worm Harvest
2 Ghost Quarter / Sowing Salts
Thoughts?
This is the list I played:
1 Breeding Pool
2 Copperline Gorge
2 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
3 Ghost Quarter
3 Island
1 Mountain
2 Polluted Delta
2 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
//Spells
4 Life from the Loam
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Magmatic Insight
2 Mana Leak
4 Molten Vortex
3 Serum Visions
3 Simic Charm
2 Spell Snare
3 Telling Time
1 Courser of Kruphix
4 Delver of Secrets
1 Savage Knuckleblade
4 Tarmogoyf
I played 6 informal games against Grixis Control before the tourney winning 4. This is one matchup where I really think Vortex instead of Seismic Assault matters because it is so much easier to get Vortex to resolve. I think this matchup is slightly favorable overall, at least in game 1.
Onto the tourney, with regard to some of the card choices, the Knuckleblade is an open slot. I didn't like MD Scavenging Ooze and have been looking for a replacement beater. In the SB, I need to hunt down two more Anger of the Gods over the Bonfire's probably. There is some unintentional Affinity hate with Grudge and Revelry, Grudge is for Affinity of course, Revelry is primarily for decks with enchantment based graveyard hate but hits Affinity too. Wipe Away was the catchall answer to Infect, Wurmcoil, etc.
Round 1 vs Burn (2-0)
He mulligans to five on the play. He runs out of resources and I have a Delver and Tarmogoyf which makes a pretty fast clock. The game gets a little tense, but I win with creature beatdown and Vortex keeping the board clear.
Game 2, I discover I have pretty much nothing in the SB for Burn, which is an oversight that probably needs to be addressed; I take out 1 Ghost Quarter and the Knuckleblade for 2 Bonfires. This game he has a pretty fast open and I am starved for red. Eventually the board state is him at 20 with 2 Young Pyromancer, 2 Elementals and no cards. I have 7 life, a Tarmogoyf and a Courser. I finally draw a fetch that can get red, think for a while and then fetch for a Steam Vents going to 4 to Bolt one on the Pyromancers. He topdecks a land, I get a second red source off the draw and land Vortex kill the second Pyromancer. From there I clear his board and start swinging; he did draw one more burn spell to put me on one at one point, with the Courser life gain keeping me alive. In his final turn he draws a haste phoenix of some kind, which I have a Vortex and land for and I win the game.
Round 2 vs 4-color Control (RWUb it seemed) (1-2)
This control deck revolved around a lot of permission, Snapcaster and Lingering Souls tokens. Game one the combo does a ton of work keeping my life total reasonably safe versus and army of spirit tokens. Meanwhile he is working, relatively successfully, to keep my creatures off the board. I do get some hits in though and win a relatively long game primarily with the combo.
I sideboarded out some of my Simic Charms for Destructive Revelry figuring he's packing Rest in Peace for sure. Game 2, I seem like I'm doing ok, but I am always slightly behind keeping up with killing tokens. He Supreme Verdicts my board at one point and eventually resolves a Gideon ticking him up to 8 loyalty. I have a Lightning Bolt and two Land with a Vortex and am tapped out with 3 red sources. I untap, but there's no line to get 8 points to finish the Gideon. I'm one turn behind essentially with answers and the Gideon quickly finishes the game.
Game 3, I side out the Revelrys and in the creature sweepers because I saw no graveyard hate. Game 3 sets up to be another grind fest, but I get the combo going and some guys and have the initiative most of the game. Eventually he plays a white spell that exiles my Vortex and then a Relic of Progenitus which exiles my yard including the Life from the Loam. I'm actually feeling ok about it because I have another Vortex in hand and a fair amount of business cards to rebuild with. I get a Vortex and a small Tarmogoyf on the board with some protection and proceed with the game. We play another dozen turns or so where I draw mostly land an no Loam and he evetually kills me with spirit tokens. I see at least half my deck, but no sweepers and only one Loam.
So I lose the match, though I think its a pretty fair matchup in general.
Round 3 vs RG Tron
Game one I shuffle up and look at Fetch land, 2 Ghost Quarter, Loam, Tarmogoyf and 2 other cards that would be hard to play. I have no idea what my opponent is playing, but I decide to keep. He plays a Tron piece to open the game and things are looking up. Essentially I Ghost Quarter locked him to keep him off Tron and resolved the Tarmogoyf. He eventually gets an O-Stone, but I have enough pressure to play after the Stone activation and can keep him locked on land enough to easily win game 1.
Game two I go for extreme sideboard action, -4 Vortex, -4 Loam, +3 Ancient Grudge, +3 Destructive Revelry, +2 Wipe Away figuring I'd just play a straight aggro + hate card plan. The plan works well and I crush him, especially because I have a Ghost Quarter in my opening hand. I play out the GQ but don't use it which makes him understandably worried about his mana. He plays out a Crucible of Worlds and Expedition Map, threatening Tron the next turn but I have an Ancient Grudge for both artifacts and win game 2.
He was particularly salty after the match about losing to my "pile" that's "not a real deck".
Impressions
Simic Charm is good.
Magmatic Insight is insanely good in the shell.
Courser of Kruphix is surprisingly useful.
Playing less permission and more card draw for consistency was good. Two weeks ago I struggled to get the combo together, but had no issues this week.