I've been testing this deck and found that I increasingly dislike lotus bloom: It's a terrible draw turn 2 and up. Makes the deck very inconsistent. I think this combo is much better in a control shell. I've replaced blooms with mana leaks instead, aiming for a turn 4 (with pentad prism), turn 5 (with one SSG used) or turn 6 win all with solid counterspell support. Slower? Sure, but much more consistent. Just disrupt their turn 2+3 or 3+4 and you are golden! I'll post my decklist tomorrow.
I like this deck as it's the only combo in Modern that can do instant speed wins
Here is my list without any Lotus Bloom. It's slower, but much more consistent and resilient, IMO. It's in testing right now, but looks promising so far.
Here is my list without any Lotus Bloom. It's slower, but much more consistent and resilient, IMO. It's in testing right now, but looks promising so far.
I had several games against affinity so far. In fact it turned out affinity gives this deck the least trouble. Just look to counter one or two of their key pieces and you are OK. Game two look for an early pyroclasm. Sure, if you keep a bad hand and they draw nuts you are pretty much toast. That's true for any combo deck that's on a clock.
The two bigger problems so far is storm and discard. On paper, you can angle's grace yourself out of storm combo turn, true. However you loose a combo piece and storm most likely ends up with a powered ascension or two in play for the next turn. With discard, loosing a combo piece from your hand early on is a huge setback. In both matchups aggressively mulligan into a leyline for a chance to win.
Control is not a problem for this deck. Grace is not counterable. To protect ad-nauseam look for a pact of negation or even better a boseiju. One more tolaria comes in from the sideboard game two for exacly this reason.
I had several games against affinity so far. In fact it turned out affinity gives this deck the least trouble. Just look to counter one or two of their key pieces and you are OK. Game two look for an early pyroclasm. Sure, if you keep a bad hand and they draw nuts you are pretty much toast. That's true for any combo deck that's on a clock.
The two bigger problems so far is storm and discard. On paper, you can angle's grace yourself out of storm combo turn, true. However you loose a combo piece and storm most likely ends up with a powered ascension or two in play for the next turn. With discard, loosing a combo piece from your hand early on is a huge setback. In both matchups aggressively mulligan into a leyline for a chance to win.
Control is not a problem for this deck. Grace is not counterable. To protect ad-nauseam look for a pact of negation or even better a boseiju. One more tolaria comes in from the sideboard game two for exacly this reason.
Nonsence, storm is soo easy to beat if ypu have any counterspells
Also, you must play against horrible affinity players because your deck doesnt come upto scratch against them
Nonsence, storm is soo easy to beat if ypu have any counterspells
Also, you must play against horrible affinity players because your deck doesnt come upto scratch against them
Apparently you now everything better without even playtesting
I brought this deck to GP Toronto and ended up 4-3 lost to Jund, Poison and bricked against faeries. I'm hoping to try it out at another tournament tonight with a few changes. It's a really fun deck and the look on the opponent's face when you explain how it works is priceless.
If I had to do it again I would add at least one more Phyrexian Unlife since it buys time against any fair decks, I'd remove peer through depths from the deck- I REALLY didn't like this card. Mystical teachings did a better job of what peer was supposed to do: if I'm waiting to combo, mana isn't usually a problem so I found it was better to spend 2 more and get what you need. The Instant/sorcery density in the deck isn't high enough to really warrant peer through depths, too often it would be "great, I'll take a serum visions" or it'll just miss entirely.
Sideboardwise, I think Clique and Ghostly prison could be worth trying since the problem this deck has is buying that extra turn against a super agressive deck.
Lotus bloom in opening allows for explosive turn 4's, but other combo decks easily win that turn too. wondering if there isnt an easier way to get to 3BBW and have both angels grace and AN.
Once again I will be bringing this deck to aa modern PTQ I was able to top 8 the last one I went to. I will post a list in the morning of what I am currently running.
(On a somewhat related note I live in an apartment with very thin walls and the internet meme "Surprise buttsecks!!" isn't just on the internet anymore. Man that girl sounded pissed off.)
Currently playing Standard
:symr::symu::symg::symw:Mid-range:symr::symu::symg::symw: Modern
:symu::symb::symw::symr:AdNauseam:symu::symb::symw::symr:
just tinkering around. streamlined the manabase and added better dig. not liking teachings unless im on a slow clock and cant get both cards i need. It's goldfishing t4 consistently. I dont think its possble for t3 without SSG, PP t2, 3 lands, and ad nauseam and grace for a t3.
I maxed out Phyrexian Unlife just due to how powerful it is. Let's us go off a turn earlier, and can stall the game out longer.
Lands are looking good. Might opt for more basics.
As much as I'd love to add in red for faithless looting and accel. i dunno. it's either go 3 or 4 color, and 3 is consistent. If I added Red,
we need to protect vs discard, so leyline. we can also hardcast it and grind it out. RiP vs eggs, storm variants, reanimator, leyline also helps vs them as well. slaughter pact for hatebears on combo turn. erase for leylines. lightning storm to protect vs extraction effects.
i kinda wanna do echoing truth x4 instead of erase and slaughter pact. time will tell.
all of my opponent's were very kind and i hope i dont misrepresent any of these games.
1, BTE WBg hatebears?
Not sure what this deck is yet, it uses burning tree emissary, mindcensor, manlands, etc.
g1: combo off through thalia. Was at negative life but unlife saved me.
g2: combo off through mindcensor. Killed deathrite and goblin guide with a pyroclasm before they got dangerous.
1-0
2: URb delver
g1: combo off through hate.
g2: forgot i could ad nauseam as an instant. i could have used it but i thought he had a pierce so i play it safe. wrong move. next turn he cryptic commands it next turn and i never find another.
g2: attempt to combo off, he counters ad nauseam. then extracts it. this deck cant handle people exiling ad nauseam!
1-1
3: twin
g1: spellskite is a $#@$#. due to me NOT GETTING A SLAUGHTER PACT, after drawing my deck, i had to redirect everything to him. Damn.
g2: didnt pact the splinter like an idiot. angel's graced twice and never found ad nauseam.
1-2
4: RG tron
g1: bounce wurmcoil t3, kill t4.
g2: slaughter games on lightning storm ruined me. i didnt have a protection piece and nauseamed to 2, got 20 cards in hand, but didnt get a SSG or gold land to drop, no mountains or steam vents mb (needed to get one but forgot it), and punted.
g3: combo off t4 with 2 lands.
2-2
pleased with results, but my g2 was horribly punted and i feel i coulda pulled it off against twin. oh well. i'll grab one, and try my luck next week. need to remember i can win as an instant. let twin combo out and swing for the attack phase, then angel's grace in response, then ad nauseam and kill.
sideboard, thrown together. need a playset of hurkyl's, but echo helps too. need more spell pierces for combo/discard.
Has anyone tried out the Bloom-less list that TDB posted? I've tried it out and tweaked it.
I've been stomping it in days of continuous testing. Seriously.
i can easily see how. game 2 i commonly side in counters like Spell pierce and bounce like echoing truth and it works wonders while we wait for ad nauseam to appear.
in addition, much like the original list, i miss having counter protection, now that im seeing more of it. may need more pacts of negation or bosejiu. im more of a fan of the pacts, despite their insane price.
ive considered dropping 1-2 cantrips. probably sleight of hand for brainspoil to find ad nauseam faster. the problem with that is you transmute as sorcery speed and leave yourself wide open to discard or counters next turn if you dont have bosejiu out, or a pact in hand.
whereas peer through depths you do at the end of their turn to turn off discard and pray they tapped out.
Early Frost is deadly against control decks early on. Becomes less useful, unlike Mana Leak, but did allow me to tapdown manlands, which was a positive.
M1: Mono U tron
Good player who usually does Pod.
g1: I go off without Angel's Grace hoping to find it to go off again next turn as I had 3 Ad Nauseam in hand. He folds when I reveal it, and says that I had it in the bag, when I really didnt as I had to stop there at 6 life.
g2: Side in Echoing Truth and the Swamp, and I side in swamp all games as I need more black without Lotus Bloom and I need to grab a second Watery Grave. Mindslaver lock. I really couldnt find Ad Nauseam at all.
g3: Go off T5 through a leak which I pacted. Luckily I drew an opening hand with both pieces and Pact.
1-0 (2-1-0)
M2: Infect
I play like a moron this round
g1: pierce his probe as i had my pieces in hand and didnt know what he was on. he goes off t3 on the roll.
g2: side in echoing and swamp. should have put pyros in but i felt the extra counters were good enough. they arent. couldnt have won this one in hindsight
1-1 (2-3-0)
m3: WUR control
he knew what i was playing so i was initially very nervous, but luckily my board changed enough to not rely on blooms to his sb artifact hate didnt hurt me.
g1: counter war early on, and i go off t4 when he had one fetch open and no pierce
g2: t2 stony silence, t3 more artifact hate. i made a slight mistake but went off anyway. he tec edged by watery grave, get black in response. go to main and forgot mana went away between phases. I had enough mana left open with a prism to go ad nauseam. He Remands, I pact, he Remands, I pierce and win.
2-1 (4-3-0)
m4: WUR control
newer player to the deck
g1: never find ad nauseam ten turns in, nor a tutor.
g2: go off t4 when he taps out
g3: go off t3 with SSG and PP.
3-1 (6-4-0)
I definitely need to work on my side for better infect and control matchups. I want Bosejiu and another Pact MB. Early Frost for side against control.
Gromgrom, thanks for keeping the thread alive with updates and I appreciate the reports on matchups! I've been tinkering with the deck for a few weeks, but I feel like it just doesn't have the matchup capabilities to survive a bigger tournament.
Edit: Ever thought of running both Lightning Storm and Conflagrate as 1 ofs? You could attempt to win at the end of his turn if you have Unlife out and then actually win on your turn if he counters the win condition thinking that he's won... right?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Modern
Modern Warp / UR Control / UR Storm / Naya Breachshift / ElectroBalance
Legacy
Solidarity / Lands / Sneak and Show / Grixis Delver / Reanimator / Belcher / Storm / Dredge
Nice to see I'm not talking to myself out here! I do follow your posts, glad to see I got you on the wagon.
I do run them both. Forgot my copy that week for the sb. And yep, I do do that Usually they counter Ad Nauseam, so I'm feeling more Pacts are needed in the main deck. Especially in my UWR heavy meta. They're a fairly easy MU with the control route, and much more difficult (like 50/50 or 40/60) in the Lotus Bloom All-in lists.
But the control route is definitely the way to go with a control heavy metal. In an aggro meta, I'd MB pyroclasms and go with lotus blooms perhaps. Infect and Affinity give me my worst matchups, but I only have one player playing each. Pray you dont see them (you will). Unlife doesnt help against them. Your counters, Pyroclasms do however. Not sure what else would be super beneficial.
Boseiju's arent a bad idea either. The creator of the deck ran them, but he didn't run hard counters. I feel the counters are great for tempo when you're digging, and even better on combo turn when you can stop their disruption without needing the land.
Duress, Thoughtseize, and Inquisition are all options as well. May run them over Mana Leaks.
And yeah, I dunno, the creator of the deck went 1st when zoo was big. but that was a different Modern.
And yeah, I dunno, the creator of the deck went 1st when zoo was big. but that was a different Modern.
Makes sense to me - Control wasn't as prominent and his deck was built to explode T3-4 and Zoo isn't exactly known for being interactive with hand or spell disruption! Pact of Negation in hand worked just fine against combo I would imagine since you could just Angel's Grace in response to its trigger and then sculpt your hand (if they fizzled and had to rebuild as well) or simply go off that turn.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Modern
Modern Warp / UR Control / UR Storm / Naya Breachshift / ElectroBalance
Legacy
Solidarity / Lands / Sneak and Show / Grixis Delver / Reanimator / Belcher / Storm / Dredge
Could the new Plasm Capture be any good in this deck?
it would be if we played more gold lands/green. If it was Red, SSG could help. It could work in a diff color build. Problem is, we desperately need one white mana to land protection, and double black for Ad Nauseam or Brainspoil, and Blue mana for dig/counters/bounce. Adding a fourth (beyond the red, which isn't really used with lands), opens us further up for being hurt by aggro as we need critical turn 1-4 plays. It could work. I dont know how well at four mana. Now... if we had access to the actual Mana Drain... it'd be a different story
plays in terms of priority (assuming we hit the land drops we need, i know this tangent doesnt apply too much to the discussion but this is how i play)
t1: serum visions/slight of hand/spell pierce (rarely)
t2: pentad prism/peer through depths or mana leak EOtheirTurn
t3: brainspoil/unlife(depending on hand and boardstate)/prism or leak
t4: ad nauseam angel's grace or ad nauseam with unlife or go off with pierce,
t5: go off with pierce.
the original list and mine play above average lands to not only hit every land drop, but to ensure we can LS for more than 25 generally, especially against WUR which gains life with Helix. G1 is generally autolose to Martyr unless you counter key things. g2, bring in labman kill with his protection suite.
I've been studying the deck a good bit, and I've been wrong countless times trust me. I'm sure i'll see it pop up in a winning list and be proven wrong. I'm still tweaking the list. Remands, once I acquire them, will be a huge boon.
Makes sense to me - Control wasn't as prominent and his deck was built to explode T3-4 and Zoo isn't exactly known for being interactive with hand or spell disruption! Pact of Negation in hand worked just fine against combo I would imagine since you could just Angel's Grace in response to its trigger and then sculpt your hand (if they fizzled and had to rebuild as well) or simply go off that turn.
Yep And I believe you cant Grace during the beginning of your upkeep since it happens before you can have priority as a checkstate. or so it's told to me.
I like this deck as it's the only combo in Modern that can do instant speed wins
Cardsphere MTG Draft Simulator
Cardsphere Blog - Original Content
4 Ad Nauseam
4 Angel's Grace
3 Simian Sprit Guide
1 Lightning Storm
Dig/Tutor
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
2 Mystical Teachings
Acceleration
1 Desperate Ritual
4 Pentad Prism
Protection/Stall
4 Remand
3 Mana Leak
2 Pact of Negation
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Conjurer's Bauble
4 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
4 Reflecting Pool
2 Forbidden Orchard
4 Underground River
2 Adarkar Wastes
1 Tolaria West
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
4 Leyline of Sanctity
4 Pyroclasm
1 Patrician's Scorn
1 Conflagrate
2 Pact of Negation
1 Tolaria West
1 Mystical teaching
1 Echoing Truth
Cardsphere MTG Draft Simulator
Cardsphere Blog - Original Content
Do tell, how do you expect to beat affinity?
My errata'd commons cube
I had several games against affinity so far. In fact it turned out affinity gives this deck the least trouble. Just look to counter one or two of their key pieces and you are OK. Game two look for an early pyroclasm. Sure, if you keep a bad hand and they draw nuts you are pretty much toast. That's true for any combo deck that's on a clock.
The two bigger problems so far is storm and discard. On paper, you can angle's grace yourself out of storm combo turn, true. However you loose a combo piece and storm most likely ends up with a powered ascension or two in play for the next turn. With discard, loosing a combo piece from your hand early on is a huge setback. In both matchups aggressively mulligan into a leyline for a chance to win.
Control is not a problem for this deck. Grace is not counterable. To protect ad-nauseam look for a pact of negation or even better a boseiju. One more tolaria comes in from the sideboard game two for exacly this reason.
Cardsphere MTG Draft Simulator
Cardsphere Blog - Original Content
Nonsence, storm is soo easy to beat if ypu have any counterspells
Also, you must play against horrible affinity players because your deck doesnt come upto scratch against them
My errata'd commons cube
Apparently you now everything better without even playtesting
Cardsphere MTG Draft Simulator
Cardsphere Blog - Original Content
4 ad nauseam
4 angel's grace
1 phyrexian unlife
4 simian spirit guide
1 conflagrate
1 lightning storm
Make it go
4 lotus bloom
4 pentad prism
2 mystical teachings
1 peer through depths
4 serum visions
4 sleight of hand
2 pact of negation
1 echoing truth
2 thoughtseize
4 marsh flats
2 misty rainforest
2 island
1 swamp
1 plains
2 darkslick shores
2 seachrome coast
2 watery grave
2 hallowed fountain
1 godless shrine
1 boseiju, who shelters all
1 Urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
2 erase
2 grafdigger's cage
2 rest in peace
2 disfigure
2 slaughter pact
1 inquisition of kozilek
1 wipe away
1 hurkyl's recall
2 torpor orb
If I had to do it again I would add at least one more Phyrexian Unlife since it buys time against any fair decks, I'd remove peer through depths from the deck- I REALLY didn't like this card. Mystical teachings did a better job of what peer was supposed to do: if I'm waiting to combo, mana isn't usually a problem so I found it was better to spend 2 more and get what you need. The Instant/sorcery density in the deck isn't high enough to really warrant peer through depths, too often it would be "great, I'll take a serum visions" or it'll just miss entirely.
Sideboardwise, I think Clique and Ghostly prison could be worth trying since the problem this deck has is buying that extra turn against a super agressive deck.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
Once again I will be bringing this deck to aa modern PTQ I was able to top 8 the last one I went to. I will post a list in the morning of what I am currently running.
Currently playing
Standard
:symr::symu::symg::symw:Mid-range:symr::symu::symg::symw:
Modern
:symu::symb::symw::symr:AdNauseam:symu::symb::symw::symr:
I maxed out Phyrexian Unlife just due to how powerful it is. Let's us go off a turn earlier, and can stall the game out longer.
Lands are looking good. Might opt for more basics.
As much as I'd love to add in red for faithless looting and accel. i dunno. it's either go 3 or 4 color, and 3 is consistent. If I added Red,
+4 faithless looting
+4 Pyretic Ritual
+4 Desperate Ritual
are my options, possibly ravings, and i dont want ravings due to the fact of the random discard.
since my meta has so few control decks, if any, and only one affinity, i added more dig in place of counters mainboard.
4 Simian Spirit Guide
spells
4 Ad Nauseam
4 Angel's Grace
1 Conflagrate
1 Mystical Teachings
4 Peer Through Depths
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of hand
artifacts
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Pentad Prism
4 Phyrexian Unlife
lands
3 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
3 Hallowed Fountain
3 Island
2 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
4 rest in peace
1 lightning storm
4 Leyline of sanctity
3 erase
3 slaughter pact
sb is mostly for my meta
we need to protect vs discard, so leyline. we can also hardcast it and grind it out. RiP vs eggs, storm variants, reanimator, leyline also helps vs them as well. slaughter pact for hatebears on combo turn. erase for leylines. lightning storm to protect vs extraction effects.
i kinda wanna do echoing truth x4 instead of erase and slaughter pact. time will tell.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
My MD has changed slightly as well. I run singleton pacts, and lightning storm, as going off instant speed is incredible.
4 Simian Spirit Guide
spells
4 Ad Nauseam
4 Angel's Grace
1 Lightning Storm
1 Pact of Negation
1 Slaughter Pact
4 Peer Through Depths
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of hand
artifacts
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Pentad Prism
4 Phyrexian Unlife
lands
1 City of Brass
4 Gemstone Mine
3 Hallowed Fountain
4 Island
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
1 conflagrate
3 Hurkyl's Recall
1 patrician's scorn
4 rest in peace
6 flex slots im working on
Hurkyl's Recall = affinity
patrician's scorn = leyline, blood moon
rest in peace = dredgevine, eggs, reanimator, fringe gy decks
flex slots = Leyline would be great against discard, burn, eggs, etc. not sure what else to include. maybe bounce against aggro?
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
4x rest in peace
3x echoing truth
1x hurkyl's recall
2x spell pierce
1x patricians scorn
1x conflagerate
4x pyroclasm
all of my opponent's were very kind and i hope i dont misrepresent any of these games.
1, BTE WBg hatebears?
Not sure what this deck is yet, it uses burning tree emissary, mindcensor, manlands, etc.
g1: combo off through thalia. Was at negative life but unlife saved me.
g2: combo off through mindcensor. Killed deathrite and goblin guide with a pyroclasm before they got dangerous.
1-0
2: URb delver
g1: combo off through hate.
g2: forgot i could ad nauseam as an instant. i could have used it but i thought he had a pierce so i play it safe. wrong move. next turn he cryptic commands it next turn and i never find another.
g2: attempt to combo off, he counters ad nauseam. then extracts it. this deck cant handle people exiling ad nauseam!
1-1
3: twin
g1: spellskite is a $#@$#. due to me NOT GETTING A SLAUGHTER PACT, after drawing my deck, i had to redirect everything to him. Damn.
g2: didnt pact the splinter like an idiot. angel's graced twice and never found ad nauseam.
1-2
4: RG tron
g1: bounce wurmcoil t3, kill t4.
g2: slaughter games on lightning storm ruined me. i didnt have a protection piece and nauseamed to 2, got 20 cards in hand, but didnt get a SSG or gold land to drop, no mountains or steam vents mb (needed to get one but forgot it), and punted.
g3: combo off t4 with 2 lands.
2-2
pleased with results, but my g2 was horribly punted and i feel i coulda pulled it off against twin. oh well. i'll grab one, and try my luck next week. need to remember i can win as an instant. let twin combo out and swing for the attack phase, then angel's grace in response, then ad nauseam and kill.
sideboard, thrown together. need a playset of hurkyl's, but echo helps too. need more spell pierces for combo/discard.
sb in conflagrate vs surgical extraction and slaughter games. saved me in 2 games!
Pyroclasm helped against hatebears. also there for affinity.
rest in peace in the side should have been more counters.
I typically sided out one of each dig first, gix probe, then a prism/bloom, and eventually one island/gold land depending.
Edit: 4x Tolaria West and 4x Hive Mind would be a good way to avoid surgical extraction or slaughter games.. Side out Ad Nauseam, Lightning Storm, and probably Peer Through Depths.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
I've been stomping it in days of continuous testing. Seriously.
i can easily see how. game 2 i commonly side in counters like Spell pierce and bounce like echoing truth and it works wonders while we wait for ad nauseam to appear.
in addition, much like the original list, i miss having counter protection, now that im seeing more of it. may need more pacts of negation or bosejiu. im more of a fan of the pacts, despite their insane price.
ive considered dropping 1-2 cantrips. probably sleight of hand for brainspoil to find ad nauseam faster. the problem with that is you transmute as sorcery speed and leave yourself wide open to discard or counters next turn if you dont have bosejiu out, or a pact in hand.
whereas peer through depths you do at the end of their turn to turn off discard and pray they tapped out.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
-4 Lotus Bloom
-3 Sleight of Hand
+4 Spell Pierce
+1 Mana Leak
+1 Brainspoil
+1 Early Frost
Early Frost is deadly against control decks early on. Becomes less useful, unlike Mana Leak, but did allow me to tapdown manlands, which was a positive.
M1: Mono U tron
Good player who usually does Pod.
g1: I go off without Angel's Grace hoping to find it to go off again next turn as I had 3 Ad Nauseam in hand. He folds when I reveal it, and says that I had it in the bag, when I really didnt as I had to stop there at 6 life.
g2: Side in Echoing Truth and the Swamp, and I side in swamp all games as I need more black without Lotus Bloom and I need to grab a second Watery Grave. Mindslaver lock. I really couldnt find Ad Nauseam at all.
g3: Go off T5 through a leak which I pacted. Luckily I drew an opening hand with both pieces and Pact.
1-0 (2-1-0)
M2: Infect
I play like a moron this round
g1: pierce his probe as i had my pieces in hand and didnt know what he was on. he goes off t3 on the roll.
g2: side in echoing and swamp. should have put pyros in but i felt the extra counters were good enough. they arent. couldnt have won this one in hindsight
1-1 (2-3-0)
m3: WUR control
he knew what i was playing so i was initially very nervous, but luckily my board changed enough to not rely on blooms to his sb artifact hate didnt hurt me.
g1: counter war early on, and i go off t4 when he had one fetch open and no pierce
g2: t2 stony silence, t3 more artifact hate. i made a slight mistake but went off anyway. he tec edged by watery grave, get black in response. go to main and forgot mana went away between phases. I had enough mana left open with a prism to go ad nauseam. He Remands, I pact, he Remands, I pierce and win.
2-1 (4-3-0)
m4: WUR control
newer player to the deck
g1: never find ad nauseam ten turns in, nor a tutor.
g2: go off t4 when he taps out
g3: go off t3 with SSG and PP.
3-1 (6-4-0)
I definitely need to work on my side for better infect and control matchups. I want Bosejiu and another Pact MB. Early Frost for side against control.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
Edit: Ever thought of running both Lightning Storm and Conflagrate as 1 ofs? You could attempt to win at the end of his turn if you have Unlife out and then actually win on your turn if he counters the win condition thinking that he's won... right?
Modern Warp / UR Control / UR Storm / Naya Breachshift / ElectroBalance
Solidarity / Lands / Sneak and Show / Grixis Delver / Reanimator / Belcher / Storm / Dredge
I do run them both. Forgot my copy that week for the sb. And yep, I do do that Usually they counter Ad Nauseam, so I'm feeling more Pacts are needed in the main deck. Especially in my UWR heavy meta. They're a fairly easy MU with the control route, and much more difficult (like 50/50 or 40/60) in the Lotus Bloom All-in lists.
But the control route is definitely the way to go with a control heavy metal. In an aggro meta, I'd MB pyroclasms and go with lotus blooms perhaps. Infect and Affinity give me my worst matchups, but I only have one player playing each. Pray you dont see them (you will). Unlife doesnt help against them. Your counters, Pyroclasms do however. Not sure what else would be super beneficial.
Boseiju's arent a bad idea either. The creator of the deck ran them, but he didn't run hard counters. I feel the counters are great for tempo when you're digging, and even better on combo turn when you can stop their disruption without needing the land.
Duress, Thoughtseize, and Inquisition are all options as well. May run them over Mana Leaks.
And yeah, I dunno, the creator of the deck went 1st when zoo was big. but that was a different Modern.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown
Makes sense to me - Control wasn't as prominent and his deck was built to explode T3-4 and Zoo isn't exactly known for being interactive with hand or spell disruption! Pact of Negation in hand worked just fine against combo I would imagine since you could just Angel's Grace in response to its trigger and then sculpt your hand (if they fizzled and had to rebuild as well) or simply go off that turn.
Modern Warp / UR Control / UR Storm / Naya Breachshift / ElectroBalance
Solidarity / Lands / Sneak and Show / Grixis Delver / Reanimator / Belcher / Storm / Dredge
it would be if we played more gold lands/green. If it was Red, SSG could help. It could work in a diff color build. Problem is, we desperately need one white mana to land protection, and double black for Ad Nauseam or Brainspoil, and Blue mana for dig/counters/bounce. Adding a fourth (beyond the red, which isn't really used with lands), opens us further up for being hurt by aggro as we need critical turn 1-4 plays. It could work. I dont know how well at four mana. Now... if we had access to the actual Mana Drain... it'd be a different story
plays in terms of priority (assuming we hit the land drops we need, i know this tangent doesnt apply too much to the discussion but this is how i play)
t1: serum visions/slight of hand/spell pierce (rarely)
t2: pentad prism/peer through depths or mana leak EOtheirTurn
t3: brainspoil/unlife(depending on hand and boardstate)/prism or leak
t4: ad nauseam angel's grace or ad nauseam with unlife or go off with pierce,
t5: go off with pierce.
the original list and mine play above average lands to not only hit every land drop, but to ensure we can LS for more than 25 generally, especially against WUR which gains life with Helix. G1 is generally autolose to Martyr unless you counter key things. g2, bring in labman kill with his protection suite.
I've been studying the deck a good bit, and I've been wrong countless times trust me. I'm sure i'll see it pop up in a winning list and be proven wrong. I'm still tweaking the list. Remands, once I acquire them, will be a huge boon.
Yep And I believe you cant Grace during the beginning of your upkeep since it happens before you can have priority as a checkstate. or so it's told to me.
GB [Primer][Competitive][Stax][Combo] Meren of Clan Nel Toth 95% RETIRED
UW [Primer][Competitive][Combo][Stax] Brago, King Eternal RETIRED
BR Rakdos, Lord of Riots (75%)
G Titania - 75%
W SRAM - Welcome to the cheeri0s jam 95%
U Teferi - stax 100%
R Neheb - janky mono red eggs combo 90%
B Gonti - 50% valuetown