How does everyone feel about running a Disdainful Stroke in the place of a Ceremonious Rejection? You're trading 1 Mana for something that hits not only big Eldrazi/Karn/Ugin, but also comes in for Prime Time, Tasigur, and Angler. The only matchup you're really dropping is Affinity which is already an amazing matchup for us.
Thoughts? Meta dependent? Better at 100+ person events?
I prefer stroke to rejection personally, they're both good against eldrazi and tron variants, but stroke comes in against scapeshift and we don't need specialized hate against affinity. I've done fine with the typical damnations plus brutality for affinity so the extra help against scapeshift is very welcome, especially if you're not running a hefty land destruction package. I think stroke is A+ and should be run over rejections currently. If scapeshift drops down in popularity I'll go back to rejections, but as it is stroke is the better card today imo.
EDIT: Also worth pointing out that you can bring in stroke vs jeskai as well. It can tag a logic knot, cryptic command, and any "big dumb thing" they bring in as a late game finisher like elspeth, revelation, or baneslayer angel. Granted that match up is close to a bye for us, but might help you condense SB space.
Round 2- Burn. I did not have high hopes in this match, but managed to sneak it out. He won game 1 easily. Game 2, I managed to win without my life total dipping past 10, as he flooded out badly (we joked that he should've sideboarded in Inferno Titan). Game 3 was close until I dropped down a Gifted Aetherborn and was able to protect it for a few turns. As my life total rose, his started to fall, and I had Spell Snare for the Lightning Helix he aimed at it on the final turn.
Round 3- Mono Brown Eldrazi Tron. another terrible match that I hate playing, though again, I somehow walk away with the win. Game 1 he goes first and assembles Tron on turn 4, but I manage to counter his Ugin with Mana Leak and he bricks on payoff cards, so I race with Bitterblossom (and I counter a couple more payoffs, it's not often Spellstutter Sprite counter Tron spells).
Game 3, I get an early Bitterblossom out and start the beatdowns, until he plays out a pair of Matter Reshaper. I draw and cast Jace, Cunning Castaway (make an Illusion) as well as a Gifted Aetherborn turn 5, leaving a Bitterblossom, Flooded Strand, and Island in my hand. He plays a Thoughtknot Seer (exiles Bitterblossom) then attacks me with one Reshaper and Jace with the other. I chump the one at Jace with a Faerie token, take 3 down from 9 to 6, then he passes. I make a faerie, draw Snapcaster Mage (Opt and Cryptic are the only spells in the graveyard), plus Jace, and swing in with the Aetherborn. He takes it, going to 10 life (I go to 7,), I draw then discard another Bitterblossom, play out the Island and pass. He draws, casts a third Reshaper, and attacks Reshaper and Thoughtknot Seer into Jace. I don't block, letting Jace die, then EOT Snapcaster into Cryptic, bouncing Reshaper and drawing a card. I take my turn and then attack for the win with Snapcaster, 2 Faeries, Aetherborn, the Illusion token, and Creeping Tar Pit.
Round 3- Grixis Death's Shadow. Despite Death's Shadow being among my favorite matches, this one was uninteresting and was plagued with mana issues from my opponent. The most notable moments were the same Death's Shadow being killed 4 times, and getting Kolaghan's Command-ed or Liliana'd back repeatedly. I won this round in 2 short games, mostly off the back of Bitterblossom, though Jace did appear game two, to +1 and eat a Lightning Bolt plus K-Command.
All in all, I found the deck to run smoothly and roughly how I hope it plays all the time. Opt was as good as one would expect (this is the sort of deck Opt is really for), and gave me something to do and to filter through extra Bitterblossoms or such. I was pleasantly surprised by Jace, Cunning Castaway. He provided pressure in ways Liliana, the Last Hope doesn't, and can help keep the momentum going. I'm going to keep testing with him (though I don't think the deck wants to play 2 copies). I don't think there's any changes I want to make to anything quite yet, as the deck seems fairly tuned and correct at the moment.
If anyone has any comments or questions, feel free to ask, and I will try and reply back.
I've been playing Yuuta's list the full summer. I went to a PPTQ this weekend with some new ideas I thought might be good, but without any testing to really know.
I wanted to take advantage of the new planeswalker rule to play both Lilianas in the main. Planeswalkers force you to play a more tap-out game, so discard becomes better than counterspells. I also wanted to try Perilous Research, which has many synergies with some cards in our deck, since we have tons of fodder to its sacrifice effect: chumpblockers, planeswalkers that are being attacked, Bitterblossom that's going to kill us, or creatures you want to get back in hand with Liliana, the Last Hope. However, all these scenarios are very situational and more often than not you'll be holding it with no use; that's what happens to cards you don't want to play more than one copy. I don't know if the right replacement would be a 25th land or an extra cantrip. The manabase is also wrong; if the idea of playing with enough basics to have the (remote) possibility of casting all the spells in your deck under a Blood Moon still makes sense to you, then you should cut a Creeping Tar Pit for an extra fetchland. If not, I'd cut 2 basic lands for dual sources.
On the other hand, I'm happy with the changes I made to the sideboard. Probably it's still not perfect, but it looks better than the one I had been playing before.
The PPTQ didn't go particularly well. I started 0-2, taking some bad mulligan decisions, but kept playing just for fun to win 4 rounds in a row.
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I've been playing Yuuta's list the full summer. I went to a PPTQ this weekend with some new ideas I thought might be good, but without any testing to really know.
I wanted to take advantage of the new planeswalker rule to play both Lilianas in the main. Planeswalkers force you to play a more tap-out game, so discard becomes better than counterspells. I also wanted to try Perilous Research, which has many synergies with some cards in our deck, since we have tons of fodder to its sacrifice effect: chumpblockers, planeswalkers that are being attacked, Bitterblossom that's going to kill us, or creatures you want to get back in hand with Liliana, the Last Hope. However, all these scenarios are very situational and more often than not you'll be holding it with no use; that's what happens to cards you don't want to play more than one copy. I don't know if the right replacement would be a 25th land or an extra cantrip. The manabase is also wrong; if the idea of playing with enough basics to have the (remote) possibility of casting all the spells in your deck under a Blood Moon still makes sense to you, then you should cut a Creeping Tar Pit for an extra fetchland. If not, I'd cut 2 basic lands for dual sources.
On the other hand, I'm happy with the changes I made to the sideboard. Probably it's still not perfect, but it looks better than the one I had been playing before.
The PPTQ didn't go particularly well. I started 0-2, taking some bad mulligan decisions, but kept playing just for fun to win 4 rounds in a row.
Did Liliana the Last Hope change your games pretty significantly? I've been contemplating a split like yours and I just wasn't sure if I wanted to go 3 Lotv/2 LtLH or if I wanted to test the new Jace as he's pretty enticing.
Hey. I've never been one to play with Liliana of the Veil. I never felt that card fit in well with how I wanted to play Faeries (I always wanted to hold up countermagic, not grind out an attrition game). I was playing one Liliana, the Last Hope in the slot Jace is in now, but I feel Jace is better, at least for game 1. Liliana doesn't provide enough pressure in some matchups, where Jace at least puts a body on board. I don't know if there's room for a second one, but the first copy is doing fine.
I made changes from a previous list, where I had Liliana, the Last Hope in place of Jace, Cunning Castaway, 2 additional Secluded Glens, a Murderous Cut, and a flex slot instead of the 4 Opt. As I said in my previous post, this current version of the deck felt like it ran smoother than others, though there is a little bit of tension for turn one plays (Ancestral Vision should be suspended turn one, though if you're on the draw, holding Spell Snare up in some matches is nice, and sometimes you need to snap off a Fatal Push in the right matchup). I'll need to play with it more, but I currently am really enjoying it. Hopefully someone in the professional scene (I'm hoping PVDDR) decides to make a list and try it out in a video series.
Did Liliana the Last Hope change your games pretty significantly? I've been contemplating a split like yours and I just wasn't sure if I wanted to go 3 Lotv/2 LtLH or if I wanted to test the new Jace as he's pretty enticing.
I haven't tried the new Jace to evaluate it, and even the experience with my decklist is pretty limited. Liliana, the Last Hope has the advantage of being not only good in those match-ups in which (almost) any planeswalker is good, but also against small creature decks. Against fair slow decks, not only her ultimate gives you the inevitability, but her -2 is very useful with so many creatures with good etb triggers. I see that against combo decks, at some point you can play Jace, get a body and then start cycling bad cards, while Liliana will be completely useless; but game 2, you should probably be boarding any of them out anyway.
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Currently sleeved: WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
Did Liliana the Last Hope change your games pretty significantly? I've been contemplating a split like yours and I just wasn't sure if I wanted to go 3 Lotv/2 LtLH or if I wanted to test the new Jace as he's pretty enticing.
I haven't tried the new Jace to evaluate it, and even the experience with my decklist is pretty limited. Liliana, the Last Hope has the advantage of being not only good in those match-ups in which (almost) any planeswalker is good, but also against small creature decks. Against fair slow decks, not only her ultimate gives you the inevitability, but her -2 is very useful with so many creatures with good etb triggers. I see that against combo decks, at some point you can play Jace, get a body and then start cycling bad cards, while Liliana will be completely useless; but game 2, you should probably be boarding any of them out anyway.
I've been wanting to move LtLH to the sideboard for a while now since she hasn't been doing much in the main for me, and feels a little lackluster at times when I would rather have a threat (which Jace can provide). My thought process is, start with Jaces in main, and if the list I'm playing against definitely calls for LtLH, then board her in. Jace can easily get sideboarded out as well which is nice when you need options to side out cards.
so i played a suboptimal version of this deck for the first time about a year and a half and went 2-1 with it. the go for the throats main deck really screwed me over in game 1 vs affinity. i cliqued myself twice to bottom the two i ended up drawing. it was pretty miserable. the issue was compounded with running only 3 fatal pushes (because i only own 3). a few observations i had as i was scraping off the rust:
1. river of tears may not be that good of a land. the same goes for secluded glen. but i'm not a huge fan of running 4 fetches, as we tax our life total a decent amount already.
2. i may be off the sword plan in this particular instance of modern. this is strange because abrupt decays are at an all time low, and that's when swords (and bitter blossom) are at their best.
3. cryptic is still amazing and shouldn't be any less than a 4 of. spell snare is also very good.
4. the deck still poops on anything uxx. i really don't think we need help playing against decks that like to go long. therefore things like lily aren't really necessary, in my opinion.
5. serum visions was good in the deck. i haven't tried it with opts yet.
welcome back again. the discord is split on several preferences discard vs opt being the most recent. im curious of where spell snare was great for you as i was considering playing a few again. Can we also see your list?
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Decks I have in my bag of tricks- Needless to say, someone who wants to play will probably have a deck UB/x Faeries UR Storm XURWB Affinity G Elves UW control
I've always liked having at least one Spell Snare in the deck. There's enough two drops in the format that you want to counter, and it's never truly dead. I don't think more than one is good, as it's never a blow out, and decks like Eldrazi Tron don't have any good targets, where as decks like Storm are full of targets. I sometimes even board it out against Affinity and Burn, as even though they have two drops to counter, I prefer something proactive against them.
Just realize it's a good card to have, but it's more of a base hit double than a home run.
The deck piloted exactly the same as I remember it. Games with BB on turn 2 play completely different from games where you don't have it. snare does a lot of work against affinity, storm, d&t, and to a lesser extent, coco. the removal suite is fine if you don't run into affinity, which i unfortunately did. i guess an alternative would be like victim of night or something, but i'm not a big fan of that.
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I speak in sarcasm because calling people ******* ******** is not allowed.
It looks like a good list honestly. Our discord crowd is debating if spell snare's job isnt covered by fatal push and spellstutter sprite, but this looks like a list I could see it being fair with
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Decks I have in my bag of tricks- Needless to say, someone who wants to play will probably have a deck UB/x Faeries UR Storm XURWB Affinity G Elves UW control
I would like to start a debate question. Hypothetically speaking, if you had one flex spot in your Faeries list and you had to choose between Outwit or Turn Aside which would you choose and why???
It depends on the list. If you're playing mistbind cliques, I'd probably play turn aside, otherwise, outwit.
I think both cards are terrible though, and if I had to play something like that mainboard, a countersquall or a dispel would be miles better.
Also, for people playing go for the throat, do you think its better than murderous cut/dismember?
Obviously these arent strictly better, but not being dead against affinity is pretty important sometimes.
Game 3, I mulligan to 6 again. He plays an Eldrazi Temple turn one, I play a tapped Creeping Tar Pit. Turn two, he plays a Plains and Aether Vial, and I tap out for Bitterblossom. He seizes the opening and drops down Mirran Crusader. I can't keep a blue blocker on the battlefield to defend, and the Crusader takes the game for him. This game made me really want access to Liliana of the Veil.
Round 2: Mono Red Goblins (He won the die roll and took the play)
Game 1, He plays Foundry Street Denizen, I play Island into Ancestral Vision (the rest of my hand was Secluded Glen, Bitterblossom, Spell Snare, Mutavault, Spellstutter Sprite). He untaps, plays double Legion Loyalist, and hits for 5. I draw Cryptic Command, play Secluded Glen untapped, and hold up Spellstutter. He untaps, casts a kicked Goblin Bushwhacker, and Lightning Bolts my Spellstutter Sprite when I go to counter it. He hits for 9 and I decide to scoop it up, since I couldn't come back from that board state.
Game 3 was much like game one. He gets on board with a slew of one drops and kills my turn 2 Aetherborn, then finishes the game with double Goblin Grenade.
All in all, a very frustrating couple of rounds. I think I only made one major error, keeping the one land hand in round 1, but I figured I had enough chances at the land that it'd be fine. My round 2 opponent told me he specifically brought Goblins since I kept beating his Death's Shadow deck, and I guess it payed off for him.
I don't think I will make any changes just yet, though I am thinking of playing a 24th land and possibly squeezing in a couple of Liliana of the Veil in the 75 (I at least want to try them, even though I'm not a fan). Hopefully I can make a better showing next week, I'll post the next results as well.
I prefer stroke to rejection personally, they're both good against eldrazi and tron variants, but stroke comes in against scapeshift and we don't need specialized hate against affinity. I've done fine with the typical damnations plus brutality for affinity so the extra help against scapeshift is very welcome, especially if you're not running a hefty land destruction package. I think stroke is A+ and should be run over rejections currently. If scapeshift drops down in popularity I'll go back to rejections, but as it is stroke is the better card today imo.
EDIT: Also worth pointing out that you can bring in stroke vs jeskai as well. It can tag a logic knot, cryptic command, and any "big dumb thing" they bring in as a late game finisher like elspeth, revelation, or baneslayer angel. Granted that match up is close to a bye for us, but might help you condense SB space.
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Cryptic Command
4 Fatal Push
4 Opt
2 Go for the Throat
2 Mana Leak
1 Spell Snare
1 Jace, Cunning Castaway
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Mistbind Clique
2 Vendilion Clique
4 Polluted Delta
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Island
3 Mutavault
2 Flooded Strand
2 Watery Grave
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Swamp
1 Pendelhaven
1 Secluded Glen
2 Collective Brutality
1 Countersquall
1 Damnation
2 Gifted Aetherborn
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Thoughtseize
Round Recap:
Round 1- I played against Storm this round. Game one was very close. I had kept my life total high to avoid being Stormed out from a low count, managed to kill a couple of Electromancers and countered some rituals and cantrips with Spellstutter Sprites. I drew Jace, Cunning Castaway in this game, and made an Illusion with him, so I could increase my clock (my hand was Fatal Push x2 and Mana Leak, with 5 lands, 3 Spellstutter Sprites on board so I felt safe). I pass and my opponent casts a Serum Visions, tries to resolve a Manamorphose, I Mana Leak, then he Grapeshots my board away (he is now empty handed and at 4 life), leaving Jace (I had Tar Pit and Mutavault on board as well. I draw Ancestral Vision, plus up Jace, swing with Mutavault, then draw Bitterblossom off the trigger, discarding the Ancestral and passing. (my hand is 2 Fatal Push still, now with Bitterblossom. He top decks Past In Flames and goes off, stealing game 1
Game 2- Anticlamactic, I get turn 3 Blood Mooned after fetching Swamp Watery Grave to suspend Ancestral Vision turn one and Collective Brutality turn 2.
Sideboard plan; -1 Cryptic Command, -1 Mana Leak, -1 Mistbind Clique, -2 Ancestral Vision, -2 Opt +3 Thoughtseize, +2 Collective Brutality, +2 Nihil Spellbomb
Round 2- Burn. I did not have high hopes in this match, but managed to sneak it out. He won game 1 easily.
Game 2, I managed to win without my life total dipping past 10, as he flooded out badly (we joked that he should've sideboarded in Inferno Titan).
Game 3 was close until I dropped down a Gifted Aetherborn and was able to protect it for a few turns. As my life total rose, his started to fall, and I had Spell Snare for the Lightning Helix he aimed at it on the final turn.
Sideboard plan; -4 Bitterblossom, -1 Mistbind Clique, +2 Gifted Aetherborn, +2 Collective Brutality, +1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Round 3- Mono Brown Eldrazi Tron. another terrible match that I hate playing, though again, I somehow walk away with the win.
Game 1 he goes first and assembles Tron on turn 4, but I manage to counter his Ugin with Mana Leak and he bricks on payoff cards, so I race with Bitterblossom (and I counter a couple more payoffs, it's not often Spellstutter Sprite counter Tron spells).
Game 2, I attempt to aggro him out with Gifted Aetherborn and Mutavault, but he casts Reality Smashers turns 6, 7, and 8 and 'smashes' me.
Game 3, I get an early Bitterblossom out and start the beatdowns, until he plays out a pair of Matter Reshaper. I draw and cast Jace, Cunning Castaway (make an Illusion) as well as a Gifted Aetherborn turn 5, leaving a Bitterblossom, Flooded Strand, and Island in my hand. He plays a Thoughtknot Seer (exiles Bitterblossom) then attacks me with one Reshaper and Jace with the other. I chump the one at Jace with a Faerie token, take 3 down from 9 to 6, then he passes. I make a faerie, draw Snapcaster Mage (Opt and Cryptic are the only spells in the graveyard), plus Jace, and swing in with the Aetherborn. He takes it, going to 10 life (I go to 7,), I draw then discard another Bitterblossom, play out the Island and pass. He draws, casts a third Reshaper, and attacks Reshaper and Thoughtknot Seer into Jace. I don't block, letting Jace die, then EOT Snapcaster into Cryptic, bouncing Reshaper and drawing a card. I take my turn and then attack for the win with Snapcaster, 2 Faeries, Aetherborn, the Illusion token, and Creeping Tar Pit.
Sideboard plan; -2 Mana Leak,-2 Ancestral Vision, -2 Opt, -1 Cryptic Command, -1 Spell Snare, +2 Gifted Aetherborn, +2 Ceremonious Rejection, +1 Damnation, +3 Thoughtseize
Round 3- Grixis Death's Shadow. Despite Death's Shadow being among my favorite matches, this one was uninteresting and was plagued with mana issues from my opponent. The most notable moments were the same Death's Shadow being killed 4 times, and getting Kolaghan's Command-ed or Liliana'd back repeatedly. I won this round in 2 short games, mostly off the back of Bitterblossom, though Jace did appear game two, to +1 and eat a Lightning Bolt plus K-Command.
All in all, I found the deck to run smoothly and roughly how I hope it plays all the time. Opt was as good as one would expect (this is the sort of deck Opt is really for), and gave me something to do and to filter through extra Bitterblossoms or such. I was pleasantly surprised by Jace, Cunning Castaway. He provided pressure in ways Liliana, the Last Hope doesn't, and can help keep the momentum going. I'm going to keep testing with him (though I don't think the deck wants to play 2 copies). I don't think there's any changes I want to make to anything quite yet, as the deck seems fairly tuned and correct at the moment.
If anyone has any comments or questions, feel free to ask, and I will try and reply back.
The new Jace does look promising.
Did you used to play with liliana of the veil? How do you think the deck does without her?
Decks I'm playing in Modern right now:
URB Grixis Reveler (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-grixis-reveler/)
UB Faeries (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/ub-fae-2/)
UW Azorious Control (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-ojutai-control-2/)
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Bitterblossom
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
4 Fatal Push
1 Hero's Downfall
3 Mana Leak
3 Cryptic Command
2 Perilous Research
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Mutavault
4 Polluted Delta
2 Watery Grave
4 Island
2 Swamp
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Collective Brutality
1 Disfigure
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Tectonic Edge
I wanted to take advantage of the new planeswalker rule to play both Lilianas in the main. Planeswalkers force you to play a more tap-out game, so discard becomes better than counterspells. I also wanted to try Perilous Research, which has many synergies with some cards in our deck, since we have tons of fodder to its sacrifice effect: chumpblockers, planeswalkers that are being attacked, Bitterblossom that's going to kill us, or creatures you want to get back in hand with Liliana, the Last Hope. However, all these scenarios are very situational and more often than not you'll be holding it with no use; that's what happens to cards you don't want to play more than one copy. I don't know if the right replacement would be a 25th land or an extra cantrip. The manabase is also wrong; if the idea of playing with enough basics to have the (remote) possibility of casting all the spells in your deck under a Blood Moon still makes sense to you, then you should cut a Creeping Tar Pit for an extra fetchland. If not, I'd cut 2 basic lands for dual sources.
On the other hand, I'm happy with the changes I made to the sideboard. Probably it's still not perfect, but it looks better than the one I had been playing before.
The PPTQ didn't go particularly well. I started 0-2, taking some bad mulligan decisions, but kept playing just for fun to win 4 rounds in a row.
Currently sleeved:
WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
Did Liliana the Last Hope change your games pretty significantly? I've been contemplating a split like yours and I just wasn't sure if I wanted to go 3 Lotv/2 LtLH or if I wanted to test the new Jace as he's pretty enticing.
FULL TIME FAERIES
Selvala
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Cryptic Command
4 Fatal Push
4 Opt
2 Go for the Throat
2 Mana Leak
1 Spell Snare
1 Jace, Cunning Castaway
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Mistbind Clique
2 Vendilion Clique
4 Polluted Delta
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Island
3 Mutavault
2 Flooded Strand
2 Watery Grave
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Swamp
1 Pendelhaven
1 Secluded Glen
2 Collective Brutality
1 Countersquall
1 Damnation
2 Gifted Aetherborn
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Thoughtseize
I made changes from a previous list, where I had Liliana, the Last Hope in place of Jace, Cunning Castaway, 2 additional Secluded Glens, a Murderous Cut, and a flex slot instead of the 4 Opt. As I said in my previous post, this current version of the deck felt like it ran smoother than others, though there is a little bit of tension for turn one plays (Ancestral Vision should be suspended turn one, though if you're on the draw, holding Spell Snare up in some matches is nice, and sometimes you need to snap off a Fatal Push in the right matchup). I'll need to play with it more, but I currently am really enjoying it. Hopefully someone in the professional scene (I'm hoping PVDDR) decides to make a list and try it out in a video series.
I haven't tried the new Jace to evaluate it, and even the experience with my decklist is pretty limited. Liliana, the Last Hope has the advantage of being not only good in those match-ups in which (almost) any planeswalker is good, but also against small creature decks. Against fair slow decks, not only her ultimate gives you the inevitability, but her -2 is very useful with so many creatures with good etb triggers. I see that against combo decks, at some point you can play Jace, get a body and then start cycling bad cards, while Liliana will be completely useless; but game 2, you should probably be boarding any of them out anyway.
Currently sleeved:
WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
I've been wanting to move LtLH to the sideboard for a while now since she hasn't been doing much in the main for me, and feels a little lackluster at times when I would rather have a threat (which Jace can provide). My thought process is, start with Jaces in main, and if the list I'm playing against definitely calls for LtLH, then board her in. Jace can easily get sideboarded out as well which is nice when you need options to side out cards.
FULL TIME FAERIES
Selvala
1. river of tears may not be that good of a land. the same goes for secluded glen. but i'm not a huge fan of running 4 fetches, as we tax our life total a decent amount already.
2. i may be off the sword plan in this particular instance of modern. this is strange because abrupt decays are at an all time low, and that's when swords (and bitter blossom) are at their best.
3. cryptic is still amazing and shouldn't be any less than a 4 of. spell snare is also very good.
4. the deck still poops on anything uxx. i really don't think we need help playing against decks that like to go long. therefore things like lily aren't really necessary, in my opinion.
5. serum visions was good in the deck. i haven't tried it with opts yet.
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
Just realize it's a good card to have, but it's more of a base hit double than a home run.
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
4 Serum Visons
3 Fatal Push
2 Go for the throat
1 Dismember
2 Mana leak
1 Logic knot
2 Spell Snare
4 Cryptic Command
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Mistbind Clique
24 Lands
The deck piloted exactly the same as I remember it. Games with BB on turn 2 play completely different from games where you don't have it. snare does a lot of work against affinity, storm, d&t, and to a lesser extent, coco. the removal suite is fine if you don't run into affinity, which i unfortunately did. i guess an alternative would be like victim of night or something, but i'm not a big fan of that.
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
I think both cards are terrible though, and if I had to play something like that mainboard, a countersquall or a dispel would be miles better.
Also, for people playing go for the throat, do you think its better than murderous cut/dismember?
Obviously these arent strictly better, but not being dead against affinity is pretty important sometimes.
4 Ancestral Vision
4 Cryptic Command
4 Fatal Push
4 Opt
2 Go for the Throat
2 Mana Leak
1 Spell Snare
1 Jace, Cunning Castaway
4 Spellstutter Sprite
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Mistbind Clique
2 Vendilion Clique
4 Polluted Delta
4 Darkslick Shores
3 Island
3 Mutavault
2 Flooded Strand
2 Watery Grave
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Swamp
1 Pendelhaven
1 Secluded Glen
2 Collective Brutality
1 Countersquall
1 Damnation
2 Gifted Aetherborn
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Thoughtseize
Round 1: Mono White Eldrazi/Hate Bears (opponent won the die roll and choose the play)
Game 1, I kept the following hand; 2 Opt, 1 Bitterblossom, 1 Ancestral Vision, 1 Spellstutter Sprite,
1 Polluted Delta. I scy Mistbind Clique to the bottom, and my opponent plays Eldrazi Temple then passes. I draw Cryptic Command, fetch and shock for Watery Grave into Ancestral Vision, then pass. Opponent Ghost Quarters his own land and plays Leonin Arbiter, then passes back. I draw another Spellstutter Sprite, cast Opt to hit my land, scy another Opt to the bottom, draw Jace, Cunning Castaway, then pass back. He plays another Ghost Quarter, blows up my land, then casts Thraben Inspector. I miss the land in my draw step and scoop things up.
Game 2, things go much better. I get out ahead with Bitterblossom while my opponent stumbles on mana. He plays a Vryn's Wingmare and Thraben Inspector turn 5, and traps the Path to Exile for my EOT Mistbind Clique in his hand. I untap and have Spellstutter Sprite in hand to protect the Mistbind, and pull out the victory.
Game 3, I mulligan to 6 again. He plays an Eldrazi Temple turn one, I play a tapped Creeping Tar Pit. Turn two, he plays a Plains and Aether Vial, and I tap out for Bitterblossom. He seizes the opening and drops down Mirran Crusader. I can't keep a blue blocker on the battlefield to defend, and the Crusader takes the game for him. This game made me really want access to Liliana of the Veil.
Sideboard Plan;
-1 Cryptic Command, -2 Mana Leak, +1 Damnation, +1 Liliana, the Last Hope, +1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Round 2: Mono Red Goblins (He won the die roll and took the play)
Game 1, He plays Foundry Street Denizen, I play Island into Ancestral Vision (the rest of my hand was Secluded Glen, Bitterblossom, Spell Snare, Mutavault, Spellstutter Sprite). He untaps, plays double Legion Loyalist, and hits for 5. I draw Cryptic Command, play Secluded Glen untapped, and hold up Spellstutter. He untaps, casts a kicked Goblin Bushwhacker, and Lightning Bolts my Spellstutter Sprite when I go to counter it. He hits for 9 and I decide to scoop it up, since I couldn't come back from that board state.
Game 2, I play a Tar Pit tapped, and he plays Foundry Street Denizen. I Fatal Push it, and play a tapped Watery Grave, then pass. He plays a Goblin Piledriver and passes, so I untap and Snapcaster back the Fatal Push for the Piledriver. He untaps and casts a Goblin Cheiftan, then I play Gifted Aetherborn with Spellstutter Sprite to protect it. I get a few attacks in to bring my life total up, and then a few turn later, he concedes.
Game 3 was much like game one. He gets on board with a slew of one drops and kills my turn 2 Aetherborn, then finishes the game with double Goblin Grenade.
Sideboard Plan
-3 Bitterblossom, -2 Mana Leak, -1 Cryptic Command, +2 Gifted Aetherborn, +2 Collective Brutality, +1 Liliana, the Last Hope, +1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
All in all, a very frustrating couple of rounds. I think I only made one major error, keeping the one land hand in round 1, but I figured I had enough chances at the land that it'd be fine. My round 2 opponent told me he specifically brought Goblins since I kept beating his Death's Shadow deck, and I guess it payed off for him.
I don't think I will make any changes just yet, though I am thinking of playing a 24th land and possibly squeezing in a couple of Liliana of the Veil in the 75 (I at least want to try them, even though I'm not a fan). Hopefully I can make a better showing next week, I'll post the next results as well.