Mtg goldfish played against Ponza in an against the odds match on YouTube and Ponza won in less than 6 min. Lol
Ya, I saw that. It was hilarious.
That man's voice made me want to shove pushpins into my eardrums.
Re: Acid Moss, I think 2 is incorrect. It's our best card for pushing into the late game faster. Our topdecks are not very good. We need to close out games as fast as possible. This is a LD/Ramp deck, and no other cards do that job as efficiently as Acid Moss. I would cut to 3 at the MOST. In fact I'd rather find other cards to cut because we want to see Acid early in the game, and reducing its numbers makes that less likely to happen.
Acid Moss is an all star. Sure it is 4 mana but it can grab any of the dual lands which Inferno Titan is thankful for. Think of the rate for just a second, stone rain which is by most people's standards too good is 3CMC and then any ramp spell that can grab a dual is at least 2CMC so 4CMC is a superb rate.
Round 1 -- Esper Control (2-0)
G1- my opponent plays out fetches, then slams a turn 3 Ashiok and +1's me. I follow up next turn with a bloodmoon. He plays a Courser off his Ashiok. I play out more lands and stick a thragtusk and kill him with it. He never sees a basic. G2 - He's on the play and fetches a basic swamp into thoughtseize and sees my hand of 3 blood moons, 3 lands, and 1 stone rain - he takes the stone rain. the next turn i top deck an arbor elf which sets me up for a turn two blood moon. my next turn i draw a stone rain and decide to cast it on his basic swamp then i land a blood moon and the game ends the same was a game 1. I was surprised to not see any counter magic game 2 -- but he told me it was an esper control deck so im just glad I landed blood moon and 2-0'd him.
Round 2 -- Burn (2-0)
I take a mul to 6 he puts me way down on life, but am able to draw a ton of cards / ramp because of goblin guide triggers. I get out a threat and kill him with it and a chandra to take out his creatures. G2 he burns a lot and then skull cracks when I cast a Thragtusk. I regain the boardstate at 4 life. he taps out to bolt me and play a guide. my next turn i primal command, gain 7 Life and bounce his Goblin then attack him with a stormbreath and tusk, the next turn i monstrous the SBD and win.
Round 3 -- UR As Fortold Control (0-2)
Restore balanced happened, I lost the first game. G2 I keep a safe ramp hand with fast threats and beat him down to 3 life, he cast restore balance and sacs everything for the Greater gorg and im dead. ( this match was really tough as I didn't really have a game plan other than to try and land a trinisphere if i see one -- and i did not)
Round 4 -- Mono White Enchantments Combo (2-1)
G1 I stick an early blood moon and realize after a few turns that this deck doesnt play any creatures. because of that I start bolting his face and Primal Command for a SBD and win.
G2 I really got to see what the deck was about as he starts taxing my attacks and then he starts activating nykthos for a ton of mana -- basically this deck gave all its enchants shroud while it cast the white epic enchant that let it tutor for an enchant every turn assembling the new unlife / solemnity combo. though he did not present a win con i concede and hope for a G3 win.
G3 I bring back Blood Moons as i realize it actually did work in game 1 with Nykthos shenanigans -- I get him down to 7 Life w/ help from bolts and multiple SBD. We go to turns and I monstrous the dragon and attack for the win on turn 3 or so of turns.
Round 5 -- Eldrazi Tron (2-0)
G1 I win quickly as she thought I was on a different deck than Stone rain -- I Stone rain some tron pieces then stick a blood moon and finish it off. G2 I get a fast ramp / Blood Moon lock going and then stick a Thrun and almost go all the way putting her down to 3 life -- she casts all is dust and that almost turned the game back in her favor, she taps out for thought not seer and I top deck a SBD to finish her out with haste attack in the air.
Round 6 -- Affinity (0-0-3) Intentional Draw to put us Both in the Top 8.
----Top 8 Matches-----
Round 7 -- Storm (2-0)
My Opponent on Play as the higher seed. I stone rain some basic islands he plays out then after he casts a mana reducer creature i realize what he's on and change my line a bit by bolting the dork then casting Goblin Dark Dwell to bolt his face, I draw more bolts he's low on life and plays a reducer to block dwellers -- but he forgot about menace and dies to the unblockable attack. G2 he mulls down to 5 and keeps a weak hand with only non basics; my hand was something like sRain, bolt, and blood moon but it was a slow safe hand. He taps out for a mana reducer which i bolt on endstep and then follow up my turn with a blood moon which really hurts him with a grip of counters and cantrips he cant really find a line, I beat down with wolf-run / dwellers again.
Round 8 --- SEMIFINALS --- Afinity (1-2)
G1 He looks to be the advantaged quick win with a cranial plate on thopter, but Im able to find a chandra and bolt at the last second and somehow turn the game back around winning with a SBD monstrous. G2 and G3 I basically lost the same way, his hands are really fast and he puts out a bunch of the darksteel lands which cand be destroyed and kills me with multiple blasts and etched champs.
I took 3rd overall with my only losses being As Fortold in the swiss and the Affinity in the Semi-Finals. (5-2-1)
The deck felt really strong -- I know that playing this deck lots of people want to build it their own way and to their own meta so I hope this group doesnt outcast me for completely cutting Inferno Titan from my list. My thoughts on this list were that I wanted to curve low for Lightning bolt + Goblin re-casts as it seemed really strong. I Played the 4 Titan Package for several months and up until this event I was still running 2 in the main. I decided to cut not only for more interaction / evasive creatures, but also because SBD basically does the same amount of damage (minus 3 spread to the board). I felt like Id rather spend less initially on the Dragon to haste them for 4, then follow up with the monstrous which could be sometimes as much as 5 from hand + the 7 damage from the attack. I 2-0'd a lot of my opponents in the tourney and will say that most games were won with some combination of Lightning Bolt, Primal Command, or Storm Breath Monstrous beats. I did get another percentage of wins from Blood Moon -- but really only if my opponent wasnt playing to beat the card / respect that it can cut off lines for them.
I Feel like the Main Board list could use a few tweaks but overall it made my old builds with Titan / Bonfire seem clunky and over the top. I will say that I need to reconsider the sideboard. I really needed trinisphere in the As Fortold matchup // but I mainly need to practice against that deck more cause that was the first in Paper and had to read like every card. I thought I'd play against more Shadow / BGx Decks which is why i had 3x Colossus in the SB. I feel like my first step to the new SB will be clipping the 3balls / Colossus to 2 copies each and maybe adding Gusts or Creeping Corrosion.
The two most underestimated cards in this deck I think are Primal Command and Goblin Dark Dwellers. Primal Command is an amazing catch all card in our deck and if anything you can always gain some life and search up a win con. Also it acts as another Land Destruction card as you can bounce a land and make them shuffle -- you might think its a too cute play but against affinity I definitely bounce/shuffled an indestructible darksteel land -- and his eyes got big -- "I had no idea your deck could do that!!"
Dark Dwellers is really underestimated as it follows up a bolted mana dork / turn 2 stone rain nicely. I know that following up a stone rain with an acid moss is great -- but the dwellers gets you the threat right there and menace won me 2 games at this PPTQ. Also last week at FNM my opponent lost because he left up a lone Death Shadow to block My GDD and because he forgot about menace he lost the match.
The last thing I'll add is about the 1-of's. Hazoret is the TRUTH. As I've said before, we don't hold cards in our hand in this deck, hell most of the cards are sorcery / creatures that we need to play out asap -- (exception is bolt in my build i guess) -- but I've yet to play out Hazoret into a boardstate that it could not attack / block. Courser is also the truth, I dunno how I feel about more copies but I can def say that when it hit the board - it went to work and seemed to stop those weird games where you just draw land / dorks not happen. Sweltering Suns, I guess I may cut it as I think I only cast it once and cycled twice the whole tourney.
anyway, let me know what you guys think, or if any other spice options come to mind that haven't tried. And to the guy that asked about Thornling earlier in the thread, I def considered him at one point, but I just wish his one green for indestructible was hexproof or shroud.... lol
It's surprising how often opponents forget that Goblin Dark-Dwellers has Menace as they seem to only care about the wall of text that lets you recast most of your Instants and Sorceries. I also like how it survives flashing back Anger of the Gods.
I personally don't see a problem with relying more on Stormbreath Dragon than Inferno Titan. I'm actually thinking of trying a dragon heavy build myself, especially after these results.
Awesome write-up. If you aren't in love with Sweltering Suns, you could cut it and maybe 1 SBD to fit the Titans back in. I think the pinging effect is too good to lose entirely. Cleaning up problematic creatures is sometimes crucial. You could even run a 3rd Command for the tutor ability and 1 Titan. Or no Titans I love the 4 Bolt. I wonder if some of those should be Mizzium Mortars for the synergy with GDD?
How did you like the Pia & Kiran? Seems like an oddball to me, really soft to removal in a deck that's pretty removal-resilient. I'd personally rather play more Angers and maybe 2 Colossus. VampireChild85 made an excellent point with the GDD / Anger synergy. Repeatable board wipes?!?
You play only 1 Bird, how did you feel the deck operated with it? Would you rather have more, or would you even consider cutting them entirely?
Yeah increasing 4/4's in the deck and repeat anger etc is a great combo.
Pia and Kira are hard for me to take out of the 75; not a lot of ways to get 3 bodies for only 4 mana. Great vs decks that go wide / more bloackers for Shadow.
I believe 2 primal command is correct and with that said I def stared at my list the night before with a just one of Titan for a really long time before deciding to cut it. So if I do go back it will prob 1-2 copies.
There is just not many other plays I can think of that feel better than the turn two Rain into turn three GDD recast Rain.
I'm not sure where I stand on the one bird. I was thinking that one dude did well by cutting them, alsonthe fact that my list doesn't need to get to 6 cmc and that I at least had a courser. I think I might go back up to 2 again because if you're not dropping a 3 cmc on turn 2 you're gonna have to fight to get ahead in the match.
Taking Turns, U-Tron are reportedly bad. Counters company can be beaten, but it can be bad for us. Some configurations for Hatebears and Merfolk can be very bad for us to name a few.
I def agree; the matchups that seem like an easy 2-0 are not always that way. In my tourney I pretty much realized that I could not beat an online etched champion, so I'm considering Koz return since devoid can hit it.
Though I 2-0'd that esper control deck -- in the past I've found that draw go decks are really hard to beat and was one of the reasons I wanted to cut Titan in the first place. Let's be honest -- we destroy lands but all they need is 1 plains to path our dude
Hatebears (whether W or G/W) and Merfolk are problems in the fact that LD doesn't really work on them (Aether Vial/Mana Dorks/So many basics) and they can disrupt our gameplan effectively (LD of their own, Taxes card (Thalia, Arbiter, Thalia 2 for Hatebears, Cursecatcher, Harbinger of the Tides, Spreading Seas and their sideboard Gut Shots/Counters) while offering a decent clock on their own.
Counters Company and to a lesser extent elves are resiliant creature combo decks that again we have trouble with due to dorks and our primary gameplan of LD not tempoing them long enough for our big beaters to kill them. This you can say is the same thing as affinity although affinity we have a lot more gameplan against in some ways although it is difficult as well.
Taking Turns and U-Tron are big blue decks with a lot of ways to counter and have an combo-esque inevitability to them that our normal combo disruption (trinisphere/cavern) doesn't do much to them. U/W Control can suffer the same problems if we don't get a Blood Moon down with LD and Counters.
Seems like Beast Within and Eidolon of the Great Revel (I know early double red may prove difficult but maybe worth a try) should help in those matchups while the draw backs on both cards shouldn't be too bad for us.
Yeah man; I actually considered 1 of Molten before the tourney; let me know how it goes;
I'm not saying this list is the answer or anything but I've def been winning more with the lower curve etc. the deck just feels like it has more options with bolt and command to get out of sticky situations / keep doing what's working without getting stuck;
I have another PPTQ in two weeks and will post the updated list and results
Round 1: 4-0 v Bye
-Game 1: This was a tough one, but in the end I choose spicy broccoli from the place next door.
-Game 2: The food was good, easy win.
-Game 3: For a drink I just had my water bottle, +1 win for health.
-Game 4: Watched some other games and checked out the meta. Metagaming=win.
Round 2: 2-0 v UW Control
-Game 1: He never untapped with a land
-Game 2: Blood Moon pulled the weight here and I won off Thrun and Stormbreath while he apparently had 3 Path in his hand.
Round 4: 2-1 v NehiriBWR
-Game 1: Solid and typical win off LD and Stormbreath
-Game 2: IOQ my Stone Rain and then Surgical Extraction He follows up with a LOV and locks me out of creatures.
-Game 3: We both hit topdeck but my Chandra pulls me more steam.
1st time trying Courser of Kruphix and I didn't like him when I saw him.
LOVED Goblin Dark-Dwellers I feel like I want more than 2. Maybe next week I will try 3-4 GDDand up the targets for him.
Molten Rain Overperformed. 2 different games my clock was a whole turn faster because of that 2 damage. Never had trouble casting it. I think I'll take it to 2 next week.
Round 1: 4-0 v Bye
-Game 1: This was a tough one, but in the end I choose spicy broccoli from the place next door.
-Game 2: The food was good, easy win.
-Game 3: For a drink I just had my water bottle, +1 win for health.
-Game 4: Watched some other games and checked out the meta. Metagaming=win.
Round 2: 2-0 v UW Control
-Game 1: He never untapped with a land
-Game 2: Blood Moon pulled the weight here and I won off Thrun and Stormbreath while he apparently had 3 Path in his hand.
Round 4: 2-1 v NehiriBWR
-Game 1: Solid and typical win off LD and Stormbreath
-Game 2: IOQ my Stone Rain and then Surgical Extraction He follows up with a LOV and locks me out of creatures.
-Game 3: We both hit topdeck but my Chandra pulls me more steam.
1st time trying Courser of Kruphix and I didn't like him when I saw him.
LOVED Goblin Dark-Dwellers I feel like I want more than 2. Maybe next week I will try 3-4 GDDand up the targets for him.
Molten Rain Overperformed. 2 different games my clock was a whole turn faster because of that 2 damage. Never had trouble casting it. I think I'll take it to 2 next week.
I personally like the fact that Mizzium Mortars hits for 4 instead of Boat's 3 and it can be turned into a one sided sweeper that doesn't rely on targeting the opponent like Bonfire of the Damned. I realise I'm losing the 3 to the face, but that often gets covered by the evasion of Goblin Dark-Dwellers and Stormbreath Dragon.
I've been running 3 Goblins since I first sleaved up Ponza and have tried 4, but found 3 was the perfect amount for me. But I guess your spell selection could affect how many you play too.
I'm still sceptical on Molten Rain's double red for turn two. I have tested it and it doesn't always cause a problem, I just don't want to be in a position where I can't cast it on turn two and that was what cost me the game.
I've been contemplating running a pair of Huntmaster of the Fells, but not sure if I should. Playing them would mean ordering them online._.
I've been running 3 Goblins since I first sleaved up Ponza and have tried 4, but found 3 was the perfect amount for me. But I guess your spell selection could affect how many you play too.
I'm still sceptical on Molten Rain's double red for turn two. I have tested it and it doesn't always cause a problem, I just don't want to be in a position where I can't cast it on turn two and that was what cost me the game.
I've been contemplating running a pair of Huntmaster of the Fells, but not sure if I should. Playing them would mean ordering them online._.
Hey Vampire, I've actually been meaning to ask for your thoughts on GDD regarding my particular build. I played around with them a while ago when I first got into the deck, but they didn't stay for too long. I'm always tweaking my decklist and lately I've been running the standard ponza shell + lightning bolt, Mizzium Mortars / Firespout, Molten Rain, etc. I'm also running some other unconventional tech, but these are just the cards I'm running that'd be relevant to GDD. I've been playing with Eidolon of the Great Revel, but after recently upping the number of Moltens/Bolts I'm playing, I've thought about swapping out 3x Eidolons for 3x GDD since the additions made Eidolon less one-sided. I see you're running three GDD, so that answers the first question I had. I'm also curious how many instants/sorceries w/ cmc </= 3 you run in that build? Thanks!
I'm started doing this deck, I love it, what do you think about of this card of hour of devastation? - Wildfire Eternal
The biggest problem I see with this is that most (that I've seen) lists empty their hands pretty quickly, making its unblocked ability less useful as the game goes on. That said, it might still be worth testing. I currently don't have any, so I can't test it.
I've been running 3 Goblins since I first sleaved up Ponza and have tried 4, but found 3 was the perfect amount for me. But I guess your spell selection could affect how many you play too.
I'm still sceptical on Molten Rain's double red for turn two. I have tested it and it doesn't always cause a problem, I just don't want to be in a position where I can't cast it on turn two and that was what cost me the game.
I've been contemplating running a pair of Huntmaster of the Fells, but not sure if I should. Playing them would mean ordering them online._.
Hey Vampire, I've actually been meaning to ask for your thoughts on GDD regarding my particular build. I played around with them a while ago when I first got into the deck, but they didn't stay for too long. I'm always tweaking my decklist and lately I've been running the standard ponza shell + lightning bolt, Mizzium Mortars / Firespout, Molten Rain, etc. I'm also running some other unconventional tech, but these are just the cards I'm running that'd be relevant to GDD. I've been playing with Eidolon of the Great Revel, but after recently upping the number of Moltens/Bolts I'm playing, I've thought about swapping out 3x Eidolons for 3x GDD since the additions made Eidolon less one-sided. I see you're running three GDD, so that answers the first question I had. I'm also curious how many instants/sorceries w/ cmc </= 3 you run in that build? Thanks!
To add to what I said about the spell selection, the quantity will also affect the number of Goblin Dark-Dwellers you run. My list is surprisingly light on legal mainboard targets (4 Stone Rain, 2 Beast Within, and 4 Mizzium Mortars) and there have been a few times where I held back playing it a turn just to get a target into my graveyard, but I'm not disappointed in playing 3 copies. Despite pointing it out, and maybe because it's one small word on the card, most people forget that the Goblin has Menace, making it a decent threat.
The Goblin's inclusion has affected my sideboard some. I currently have 3 Anger of the Gods and 2 Destructive Revelry in the board. I like how the Goblin survives an Anger and because of its flashback effect, the more versatile Revelry has replaced Ancient Grudge.
Speaking of the board, anyone tried Manglehorn? Affinity relies a bit on mana rocks to play their stuff quickly / gain access to specific colours (Springleaf Drum, Mox Opal), but unless it's a turn two play, it may be too slow for Affinity's speed?
That man's voice made me want to shove pushpins into my eardrums.
Re: Acid Moss, I think 2 is incorrect. It's our best card for pushing into the late game faster. Our topdecks are not very good. We need to close out games as fast as possible. This is a LD/Ramp deck, and no other cards do that job as efficiently as Acid Moss. I would cut to 3 at the MOST. In fact I'd rather find other cards to cut because we want to see Acid early in the game, and reducing its numbers makes that less likely to happen.
https://www.topdecked.me/decks/e31b6803-4b29-4352-a9cb-4ae61f67a461
4 Arbor Elf
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
4 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Thragtusk
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Beast Within
4 Stone Rain
1 Sweltering Suns
3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
2 Primal Command
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Blood Moon
1 Cinder Glade
8 Forest
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Mountain
2 Stomping Ground
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Chameleon Colossus
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Beast Within
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Trinisphere
Round 1 -- Esper Control (2-0)
G1- my opponent plays out fetches, then slams a turn 3 Ashiok and +1's me. I follow up next turn with a bloodmoon. He plays a Courser off his Ashiok. I play out more lands and stick a thragtusk and kill him with it. He never sees a basic. G2 - He's on the play and fetches a basic swamp into thoughtseize and sees my hand of 3 blood moons, 3 lands, and 1 stone rain - he takes the stone rain. the next turn i top deck an arbor elf which sets me up for a turn two blood moon. my next turn i draw a stone rain and decide to cast it on his basic swamp then i land a blood moon and the game ends the same was a game 1. I was surprised to not see any counter magic game 2 -- but he told me it was an esper control deck so im just glad I landed blood moon and 2-0'd him.
Round 2 -- Burn (2-0)
I take a mul to 6 he puts me way down on life, but am able to draw a ton of cards / ramp because of goblin guide triggers. I get out a threat and kill him with it and a chandra to take out his creatures. G2 he burns a lot and then skull cracks when I cast a Thragtusk. I regain the boardstate at 4 life. he taps out to bolt me and play a guide. my next turn i primal command, gain 7 Life and bounce his Goblin then attack him with a stormbreath and tusk, the next turn i monstrous the SBD and win.
Round 3 -- UR As Fortold Control (0-2)
Restore balanced happened, I lost the first game. G2 I keep a safe ramp hand with fast threats and beat him down to 3 life, he cast restore balance and sacs everything for the Greater gorg and im dead. ( this match was really tough as I didn't really have a game plan other than to try and land a trinisphere if i see one -- and i did not)
Round 4 -- Mono White Enchantments Combo (2-1)
G1 I stick an early blood moon and realize after a few turns that this deck doesnt play any creatures. because of that I start bolting his face and Primal Command for a SBD and win.
G2 I really got to see what the deck was about as he starts taxing my attacks and then he starts activating nykthos for a ton of mana -- basically this deck gave all its enchants shroud while it cast the white epic enchant that let it tutor for an enchant every turn assembling the new unlife / solemnity combo. though he did not present a win con i concede and hope for a G3 win.
G3 I bring back Blood Moons as i realize it actually did work in game 1 with Nykthos shenanigans -- I get him down to 7 Life w/ help from bolts and multiple SBD. We go to turns and I monstrous the dragon and attack for the win on turn 3 or so of turns.
Round 5 -- Eldrazi Tron (2-0)
G1 I win quickly as she thought I was on a different deck than Stone rain -- I Stone rain some tron pieces then stick a blood moon and finish it off. G2 I get a fast ramp / Blood Moon lock going and then stick a Thrun and almost go all the way putting her down to 3 life -- she casts all is dust and that almost turned the game back in her favor, she taps out for thought not seer and I top deck a SBD to finish her out with haste attack in the air.
Round 6 -- Affinity (0-0-3) Intentional Draw to put us Both in the Top 8.
----Top 8 Matches-----
Round 7 -- Storm (2-0)
My Opponent on Play as the higher seed. I stone rain some basic islands he plays out then after he casts a mana reducer creature i realize what he's on and change my line a bit by bolting the dork then casting Goblin Dark Dwell to bolt his face, I draw more bolts he's low on life and plays a reducer to block dwellers -- but he forgot about menace and dies to the unblockable attack. G2 he mulls down to 5 and keeps a weak hand with only non basics; my hand was something like sRain, bolt, and blood moon but it was a slow safe hand. He taps out for a mana reducer which i bolt on endstep and then follow up my turn with a blood moon which really hurts him with a grip of counters and cantrips he cant really find a line, I beat down with wolf-run / dwellers again.
Round 8 --- SEMIFINALS --- Afinity (1-2)
G1 He looks to be the advantaged quick win with a cranial plate on thopter, but Im able to find a chandra and bolt at the last second and somehow turn the game back around winning with a SBD monstrous. G2 and G3 I basically lost the same way, his hands are really fast and he puts out a bunch of the darksteel lands which cand be destroyed and kills me with multiple blasts and etched champs.
I took 3rd overall with my only losses being As Fortold in the swiss and the Affinity in the Semi-Finals. (5-2-1)
The deck felt really strong -- I know that playing this deck lots of people want to build it their own way and to their own meta so I hope this group doesnt outcast me for completely cutting Inferno Titan from my list. My thoughts on this list were that I wanted to curve low for Lightning bolt + Goblin re-casts as it seemed really strong. I Played the 4 Titan Package for several months and up until this event I was still running 2 in the main. I decided to cut not only for more interaction / evasive creatures, but also because SBD basically does the same amount of damage (minus 3 spread to the board). I felt like Id rather spend less initially on the Dragon to haste them for 4, then follow up with the monstrous which could be sometimes as much as 5 from hand + the 7 damage from the attack. I 2-0'd a lot of my opponents in the tourney and will say that most games were won with some combination of Lightning Bolt, Primal Command, or Storm Breath Monstrous beats. I did get another percentage of wins from Blood Moon -- but really only if my opponent wasnt playing to beat the card / respect that it can cut off lines for them.
I Feel like the Main Board list could use a few tweaks but overall it made my old builds with Titan / Bonfire seem clunky and over the top. I will say that I need to reconsider the sideboard. I really needed trinisphere in the As Fortold matchup // but I mainly need to practice against that deck more cause that was the first in Paper and had to read like every card. I thought I'd play against more Shadow / BGx Decks which is why i had 3x Colossus in the SB. I feel like my first step to the new SB will be clipping the 3balls / Colossus to 2 copies each and maybe adding Gusts or Creeping Corrosion.
The two most underestimated cards in this deck I think are Primal Command and Goblin Dark Dwellers. Primal Command is an amazing catch all card in our deck and if anything you can always gain some life and search up a win con. Also it acts as another Land Destruction card as you can bounce a land and make them shuffle -- you might think its a too cute play but against affinity I definitely bounce/shuffled an indestructible darksteel land -- and his eyes got big -- "I had no idea your deck could do that!!"
Dark Dwellers is really underestimated as it follows up a bolted mana dork / turn 2 stone rain nicely. I know that following up a stone rain with an acid moss is great -- but the dwellers gets you the threat right there and menace won me 2 games at this PPTQ. Also last week at FNM my opponent lost because he left up a lone Death Shadow to block My GDD and because he forgot about menace he lost the match.
The last thing I'll add is about the 1-of's. Hazoret is the TRUTH. As I've said before, we don't hold cards in our hand in this deck, hell most of the cards are sorcery / creatures that we need to play out asap -- (exception is bolt in my build i guess) -- but I've yet to play out Hazoret into a boardstate that it could not attack / block. Courser is also the truth, I dunno how I feel about more copies but I can def say that when it hit the board - it went to work and seemed to stop those weird games where you just draw land / dorks not happen. Sweltering Suns, I guess I may cut it as I think I only cast it once and cycled twice the whole tourney.
anyway, let me know what you guys think, or if any other spice options come to mind that haven't tried. And to the guy that asked about Thornling earlier in the thread, I def considered him at one point, but I just wish his one green for indestructible was hexproof or shroud.... lol
I personally don't see a problem with relying more on Stormbreath Dragon than Inferno Titan. I'm actually thinking of trying a dragon heavy build myself, especially after these results.
If Solemnity + Phyrexian Unlife becomes a thing, instead of a fringe deck, I think Primeval Light might be worth considering as we don't really want to lose our Blood Moons and Utopia Sprawls to stuff like Fracturing Gust and Back to Nature.
How did you like the Pia & Kiran? Seems like an oddball to me, really soft to removal in a deck that's pretty removal-resilient. I'd personally rather play more Angers and maybe 2 Colossus. VampireChild85 made an excellent point with the GDD / Anger synergy. Repeatable board wipes?!?
You play only 1 Bird, how did you feel the deck operated with it? Would you rather have more, or would you even consider cutting them entirely?
Pia and Kira are hard for me to take out of the 75; not a lot of ways to get 3 bodies for only 4 mana. Great vs decks that go wide / more bloackers for Shadow.
I believe 2 primal command is correct and with that said I def stared at my list the night before with a just one of Titan for a really long time before deciding to cut it. So if I do go back it will prob 1-2 copies.
There is just not many other plays I can think of that feel better than the turn two Rain into turn three GDD recast Rain.
I'm not sure where I stand on the one bird. I was thinking that one dude did well by cutting them, alsonthe fact that my list doesn't need to get to 6 cmc and that I at least had a courser. I think I might go back up to 2 again because if you're not dropping a 3 cmc on turn 2 you're gonna have to fight to get ahead in the match.
Though I 2-0'd that esper control deck -- in the past I've found that draw go decks are really hard to beat and was one of the reasons I wanted to cut Titan in the first place. Let's be honest -- we destroy lands but all they need is 1 plains to path our dude
Counters Company and to a lesser extent elves are resiliant creature combo decks that again we have trouble with due to dorks and our primary gameplan of LD not tempoing them long enough for our big beaters to kill them. This you can say is the same thing as affinity although affinity we have a lot more gameplan against in some ways although it is difficult as well.
Taking Turns and U-Tron are big blue decks with a lot of ways to counter and have an combo-esque inevitability to them that our normal combo disruption (trinisphere/cavern) doesn't do much to them. U/W Control can suffer the same problems if we don't get a Blood Moon down with LD and Counters.
When I try out the GGD I'm going to add 1 Molten Rain just to take the 3cmc LD up to 5.
Yeah man; I actually considered 1 of Molten before the tourney; let me know how it goes;
I'm not saying this list is the answer or anything but I've def been winning more with the lower curve etc. the deck just feels like it has more options with bolt and command to get out of sticky situations / keep doing what's working without getting stuck;
I have another PPTQ in two weeks and will post the updated list and results
Round 1: 4-0 v Bye
-Game 1: This was a tough one, but in the end I choose spicy broccoli from the place next door.
-Game 2: The food was good, easy win.
-Game 3: For a drink I just had my water bottle, +1 win for health.
-Game 4: Watched some other games and checked out the meta. Metagaming=win.
Round 2: 2-0 v UW Control
-Game 1: He never untapped with a land
-Game 2: Blood Moon pulled the weight here and I won off Thrun and Stormbreath while he apparently had 3 Path in his hand.
Round 3: 2-1 v Amulet Titan
-Game 1: Blood Moon MVP
-Game 2: Kept a hand of lands and 3 Moon She Nature's Claimed the 1st and 3rd. Countered the 2nd with Swan Song. I didn't draw steam.
-Game 3: LD and StormbreathFTW
Round 4: 2-1 v Nehiri BWR
-Game 1: Solid and typical win off LD and Stormbreath
-Game 2: IOQ my Stone Rain and then Surgical Extraction He follows up with a LOV and locks me out of creatures.
-Game 3: We both hit topdeck but my Chandra pulls me more steam.
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Arbor Elf
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Courser of Kruphix
Threats (10)
2 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
1 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Thragtusk
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
LD (13)
1 Molten Rain
3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
1 Primal Command
4 Stone Rain
4 Blood Moon
1 Beast Within
3 Lightning Bolt
1 Sweltering Suns
1 Mizzium Mortars
Land (21)
1 Cinder Glade
8 Forest
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
2 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Chameleon Colossus
1 Faerie Macabre
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
3 Trinisphere
Notes:
I've been running 3 Goblins since I first sleaved up Ponza and have tried 4, but found 3 was the perfect amount for me. But I guess your spell selection could affect how many you play too.
I'm still sceptical on Molten Rain's double red for turn two. I have tested it and it doesn't always cause a problem, I just don't want to be in a position where I can't cast it on turn two and that was what cost me the game.
I've been contemplating running a pair of Huntmaster of the Fells, but not sure if I should. Playing them would mean ordering them online._.
I'm started doing this deck, I love it, what do you think about of this card of hour of devastation? - Wildfire Eternal
Hey Vampire, I've actually been meaning to ask for your thoughts on GDD regarding my particular build. I played around with them a while ago when I first got into the deck, but they didn't stay for too long. I'm always tweaking my decklist and lately I've been running the standard ponza shell + lightning bolt, Mizzium Mortars / Firespout, Molten Rain, etc. I'm also running some other unconventional tech, but these are just the cards I'm running that'd be relevant to GDD. I've been playing with Eidolon of the Great Revel, but after recently upping the number of Moltens/Bolts I'm playing, I've thought about swapping out 3x Eidolons for 3x GDD since the additions made Eidolon less one-sided. I see you're running three GDD, so that answers the first question I had. I'm also curious how many instants/sorceries w/ cmc </= 3 you run in that build? Thanks!
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To add to what I said about the spell selection, the quantity will also affect the number of Goblin Dark-Dwellers you run. My list is surprisingly light on legal mainboard targets (4 Stone Rain, 2 Beast Within, and 4 Mizzium Mortars) and there have been a few times where I held back playing it a turn just to get a target into my graveyard, but I'm not disappointed in playing 3 copies. Despite pointing it out, and maybe because it's one small word on the card, most people forget that the Goblin has Menace, making it a decent threat.
The Goblin's inclusion has affected my sideboard some. I currently have 3 Anger of the Gods and 2 Destructive Revelry in the board. I like how the Goblin survives an Anger and because of its flashback effect, the more versatile Revelry has replaced Ancient Grudge.
Speaking of the board, anyone tried Manglehorn? Affinity relies a bit on mana rocks to play their stuff quickly / gain access to specific colours (Springleaf Drum, Mox Opal), but unless it's a turn two play, it may be too slow for Affinity's speed?