Thanks for the writeup! Do you think Nettle sentinels are still needed? Do they help enough when playing lead the stampede?
And what about having any singles in the main like Selfless spirit or Spellskite? Or are we ok to just stick with our plan game one, then side in the Chords and bullets games two and three?
congrats on the top8! Can you recommend a abzan mana base if I do not have access to cavern and horizon canopy?
I'm currently thinking of the following:
6x Forest
4x Gilt-Leaf Palace
1x Pendelhaven
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Windswept Heath
1x Temple Garden
1x Overgrown Tomb
I'm considering cutting the overgrown tomb and maybe some fetches for blooming marshes and razorverge thickets as I feel the fetches hurts me more in a lot of games.
congrats on the top8! Can you recommend a abzan mana base if I do not have access to cavern and horizon canopy?
I'm currently thinking of the following:
6x Forest
4x Gilt-Leaf Palace
1x Pendelhaven
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Windswept Heath
1x Overgrown Tomb
I'm considering cutting the overgrown tomb and maybe some fetches for blooming marshes and razorverge thickets as I feel the fetches hurts me more in a lot of games.
This brings up an interesting point regarding the Narnam Renegade: should decks that choose to run it drop some fastlands and run more fetches to more reliably drop the 2/3 on turn one?
congrats on the top8! Can you recommend a abzan mana base if I do not have access to cavern and horizon canopy?
I'm currently thinking of the following:
6x Forest
4x Gilt-Leaf Palace
1x Pendelhaven
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Windswept Heath
1x Overgrown Tomb
I'm considering cutting the overgrown tomb and maybe some fetches for blooming marshes and razorverge thickets as I feel the fetches hurts me more in a lot of games.
This brings up an interesting point regarding the Narnam Renegade: should decks that choose to run it drop some fastlands and run more fetches to more reliably drop the 2/3 on turn one?
I would say so. Another thing worth testing is Eldritch Evolution. Assuming you have four mana. You can sac a dork or Visionary, play EE to fetch whatever you need at the time. And then use your remaining 1 mana to cast Renegade. Or being able to CoCo into a Renegade while declaring blockers is fun also. I like him a lot. Basically a tutored removal spell for 1 mana.
English is my second language so be indulgent with spelling mistakes.
I won a win-a-box with the exact same decklist at my LGS two weeks ago, so I was rather confident with it. I had only lost a round against Lantern Control.
Round 1 vs Junk Game 1 (I won the dice roll): I dumped my hand on the board, he played some 1/1 Spirit Token and I overunned him.
+1 Revoker, +1 Oooze, +1 Chameleon
-2 Essence Warden, -1 Ezuri Game 2: He managed to lock the board with some fatties and removal but I played CoCo and hit 1 Shaman and 1 Dwynen's Elite for 7 damages. Then I played a Lead the Stampede and draw 4 Elves. He scooped. 1-0
Round 2 vs Bant Eldrazi Game 1 (I won the dice roll): I mulled down to 6 cards. He played Seer turn 3 to get my Lead of Stampede then he played turn 4 (and 5) a Smasher but I managed to lock the board. I topdecked a CoCo to hit a Shaman of the Pack and I attacked with all my Elves for exactly lethal.
+1 Revoker, +1 Selfless Spirit
-2 Essence Warden Game 2: He didn't drawn Eldrazi Temple so I just overunned him. 2-0
Round 3 vs Temur Delver Game 1 (I won the dice roll): He played a Delver turn 1, bolt my turn 2 archdruid and bolt my turn 3 Ezuri. His Delver flipped turn 3 and he attacked with him twice but I hitted a second archdruid. I took advantage of his lack of removal to kill him with my army of 2/2.
+1 Selfless, +1 Ooze, +1 Spellskite, +2 Chord
-2 Lead, -2 Essence Warden, -1 Visionary Game 2: I mulled down to a perfect 6 cards hand (1 mana dork, 2 lands, 1 archdruid, 1 heritage, 1 dwynen's) and He kept a hand without removal. Turn 1, he played a Delver. Turn 2, he played a second Delver and he kept one mana up to bolt my archdruid during my turn. Turn 3, he fliped their Delver and he attacked for 6 damages then I played my third land and I kept my Elves and lands up to play CoCo. At the end of his turn 4, I played CoCo. He tried to mana leak my spell but I had 3 extra with heritage. I hitted Ezuri + Dwynen's for lethal during my turn. 3-0
I was hyped with my 3 perfect rounds!
Round 4 vs Infect Game 1 (I won the dice roll, again): He mulled down to 5 cards. He managed to do 8 poison counter before I killed him.
+2 Chord, +2 Melira, +1 Spellskite, +1 Reclamation
-2 Lead, -2 Warden, -2 Visionary Game 2: I kept a slow hand with a spellskite but he killed me with flying and unblockable creature. Game 3: Quick game. I dumped my hand and I chorded to get a spellskite then I overunned him. 4-0
Round 5 vs Eldrazi Tron Game 1 (I LOST the dice roll): He mulled to 6 cards with natural tron. He played turn 4 Ugin. gg.
+2 Chord, +1 Revoker, +1 Selfless
-2 Lead, -2 Warden Game 2: He was unable to have Tron. I won. Game 3: He managed to have Tron to play Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger then Endbringer but I played two Shaman of the pack for a total of 17 damages then I got a lethal attack. 5-0
Round 6 vs Jund Game 1 (I won the dice roll): I mulled to 6 cards. This was a long and grindy game. I played some CoCo and Lead to slowly win the board with small attacks.
+1 Revoker, +1 Oooze, +1 Chameleon
-2 Essence Warden, -1 Ezuri Game 2: He mulled to 6 cards. It was a one sided game and I won easily. 6-0
Round 7 - ID
Round 8 - ID
Finish 4th for the Top 8
Quarter final vs Titan Shift Game 1 (I was on the play): He mulled to 6 cards and he didn't hit Anger of the gods. Easy win.
+1 Thragthusk, +1 Burrenton, +1 Selfless, +2 Chord
-2 Lead, -1 Warden, -2 Visionary Game 2: I downed him to 15 life but he played 1 Anger of the gods then two Titan. gg. Game 3: I kept a 'okay' hand with Selfless Spirit. He had two Anger of the gods in his hand (with 6 lands on the board) but he could not cast them because of my Selfless Spirit on the play.
Semi Final vs Jund Game 1 (He was on the play): I kept a good hand with one land but I never drawn my second land and he used his removal on every elves I played.
+1 Oooze, +1 Chameleon, +1 Burrenton, +1 Revoker
-2 Essence Warden, -1 Ezuri, -1 Sentinel Game 2: Close game. My MVP was shaman of the pack for this game. The board was lock and I've done 10 direct damages with a Shaman of the Pack then I attacked twice for lethal. Game 3: I mulled to 6 cards and he kept a greedy hand with only one land. He topdeck all the lands he needed. It was a one sided game and he won easily.
End of the tournament for me.
The Abzan build with 3x Lead + 1x Chord mainboard is very good. You don't sacrifice a lot of speed and this give you a chance to win the first game versus grindy deck. Shaman of the pack was an MVP throughout the tournament. I won more games because of him than Ezuri. I hoped this tournament report will be useful for you.
Long lives to the Elves!
Great report! Thank you so much for your contribution and a good decklist. This list is making me actually want to try a chord board. I really love the numbers in the maindeck. I will take something similar to Monday Night Magic tonight and test it out.
I think the announcement is good for us. We don't have to fight Infect or suicide zoo nearly as much and focus more on grindy decks. I say Lead of Stampede/GB is becoming even more attractive.
I think the announcement is good for us. We don't have to fight Infect or suicide zoo nearly as much and focus more on grindy decks. I say Lead of Stampede/GB is becoming even more attractive.
I'd say the death of Dredge is pretty good for us.
Hits to infect and dredge help us. Tron just doesn't scare me for some reason, I know it's not a good matchup but with that deck evolving into a GW mainboard, I'd rather deal with that and have infect and dredge taken down a peg.
But won't Tron just evolve back to RG now that Dredge is effectively gone? They went GW mainly to combat dredge. Not to be a naysayer, but the Infect MU is WAY easier than the Tron MU, simply because we can tutor up tools to hate infect out. We can't do so for Tron, not as effectively as with Infect.
Anyways, I am at a loss as to what to play sb in this new meta. I think I'm also on the same maindeck as MasterBouda (Congrats on your finish by the way!), but the sideboard... Idk how much affinity and burn hate I should be packing. To mainboard RecSage, or not to mainboard RecSage? And should we run one in the side?
congrats on the top8! Can you recommend a abzan mana base if I do not have access to cavern and horizon canopy?
I'm currently thinking of the following:
6x Forest
4x Gilt-Leaf Palace
1x Pendelhaven
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Windswept Heath
1x Temple Garden
1x Overgrown Tomb
I'm considering cutting the overgrown tomb and maybe some fetches for blooming marshes and razorverge thickets as I feel the fetches hurts me more in a lot of games.
It's a good mana base if you don't have cavern an/or horizon canopy. I've played something like this in the past but your matchup versus burn will be very difficult. Essence warden will be essential in the mainboard or you can try Blooming Marshes/Razorverge Thickets.
congrats on the top8! Can you recommend a abzan mana base if I do not have access to cavern and horizon canopy?
I'm currently thinking of the following:
6x Forest
4x Gilt-Leaf Palace
1x Pendelhaven
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Windswept Heath
1x Temple Garden
1x Overgrown Tomb
I'm considering cutting the overgrown tomb and maybe some fetches for blooming marshes and razorverge thickets as I feel the fetches hurts me more in a lot of games.
There's really no reason to run more than four Forests, I feel, and even then I only run four because I don't have Caverns. You should definitely pick up a Blooming Marsh and Razorverge Thicket and probably could go to two of each, cutting another Forest and one of the fetches.
But won't Tron just evolve back to RG now that Dredge is effectively gone? They went GW mainly to combat dredge. Not to be a naysayer, but the Infect MU is WAY easier than the Tron MU, simply because we can tutor up tools to hate infect out. We can't do so for Tron, not as effectively as with Infect.
Anyways, I am at a loss as to what to play sb in this new meta. I think I'm also on the same maindeck as MasterBouda (Congrats on your finish by the way!), but the sideboard... Idk how much affinity and burn hate I should be packing. To mainboard RecSage, or not to mainboard RecSage? And should we run one in the side?
This goes for everyone asking questions like this, but the most important thing is what kind of meta are you expecting. Unless you're taking the deck to a GP or any other major event, you're probably playing in a local meta that you're familiar with and where you know the decks that are most often played.
For example Dredge isn't nearly as popular around here, only one guy plays it every now and then therefore I can leave out most of the dredge hate like Yixlid Jailer or Anafenza, the Foremost. When you're asking for help with sideboard it helps a lot if we knew what kind of meta are you expecting.
So to answer your question about how much Affinity or Burn hate to pack, it depends on the above. I'd say 2x Fracturing Gust and Kataki are enough to combat Affinity along with one copy of Reclamation Sage in maindeck. Although MasterBouda's list runs only one copy of Chord in main which makes Sage as bullet slightly less potent in game 1. Sage also hits a variety of targets outside of these two decks such as Pithing Needle, Oblivion Stone, Grafdigger's Cage, Engineered Explosive, Chalice of the Void etc. If you see a lot of these, then perhaps add one copy to sideboard as well. Stony Silence works wonders but has the downside of not being a creature and therefore cannot be tutored for.
As for Burn, I think Ooze and Finks are enough along with two copies of Essence Warden in your main. If there's a lot of burn, you can even add Kor Firewalker. It's tougher to cast but hard for them to deal with.
For those who are preparing for the SCG Regionals at the beginning of the next month lets talk S/B plans and Meta.
Now with the new banning of G. Probe and GG. Troll, I think we will see a rise in Ad Nauseam and Tron. And I think Bant Eldrazi will be played heavily.
Any thoughts on what your expecting at SCG Regionals?
This goes for everyone asking questions like this, but the most important thing is what kind of meta are you expecting. Unless you're taking the deck to a GP or any other major event, you're probably playing in a local meta that you're familiar with and where you know the decks that are most often played.
Thank you for your answer! But the problem is that I'm not sure what meta I'm up against. I'll be playing at the Dutch Modern Open, which is an event of 100-200 people, and I only know some of them, but other than that it's pretty much just netdecks everywhere. Jund, Tron, Infect, Affinity, nothing is absolutely dominant as far as I know. So my question remains; What kind of sideboard would I pack for an unknown meta? I'm not a 100% sold on the Essence Warden either, but that's maybe because I haven't played with it yet, so only theorycrafting.
This goes for everyone asking questions like this, but the most important thing is what kind of meta are you expecting. Unless you're taking the deck to a GP or any other major event, you're probably playing in a local meta that you're familiar with and where you know the decks that are most often played.
Thank you for your answer! But the problem is that I'm not sure what meta I'm up against. I'll be playing at the Dutch Modern Open, which is an event of 100-200 people, and I only know some of them, but other than that it's pretty much just netdecks everywhere. Jund, Tron, Infect, Affinity, nothing is absolutely dominant as far as I know. So my question remains; What kind of sideboard would I pack for an unknown meta? I'm not a 100% sold on the Essence Warden either, but that's maybe because I haven't played with it yet, so only theorycrafting.
That's why it's important we know what you're expecting to be up against. 100-200 player event is where you can expect a good deal of Tier 1 and 2 decks along with some rogue brews showing up. I'd say check mtgtop8 (ModernNexus is sadly not updating the meta game numbers anymore) for some recent events and see what was played there.
If you're taking the GB route then Thoughtseize can help with a lot of matchups to get rid of problematic cards before going off (Mikeduges wrote a nice piece about it for the new primer).
I've been running 2 copies of Essence Warden in the side recently and I like them a lot. They provide another target for opponents spot removal which sometimes help that Archdruid or Ezuri through. Life gain is very nice against decks like Burn or even Merfolk where that few extra life gained can mean we get that extra turn needed to finally go off. Taking up the 1CMC slot means you can split it with Nettle Sentinel if you feel like adding some in mainboard.
For those who are preparing for the SCG Regionals at the beginning of the next month lets talk S/B plans and Meta.
Now with the new banning of G. Probe and GG. Troll, I think we will see a rise in Ad Nauseam and Tron. And I think Bant Eldrazi will be played heavily.
Any thoughts on what your expecting at SCG Regionals?
I'm not sure dredge is as dead as people are claiming. I don't think as many spikes will pick it up, granted, but the deck can still be quite powerful with golgari thug.
TRON may pick up steam but there may not be many people who can swap quickly from the R to W sideboard package in the short timeframe. With the meta slowing a bit, the need for red's lower to the ground sweepers is alleviated a bit as well with less pull back to GR variants.
I do think grixis stands to gain a ton with the recent bannings as they are picking up fatal push; which is really good against us unfortunately. Grixis can just jam 2-4 ceremonious rejection in the side to deal with TRON, affinity, or Eldrazi. At this point I think enough of my expected meta is colorless than rejection is just a great 2+ card in the sideboard. My hope is that people running cards like izzet staticaster will move them out of the board to make room for push, but who knows.
I don't know if the stock in Ad Naus will change much, I hope not. A single eidolon of rhetoric in the side may be fine if you have access to the chords. I don't expect much else to change.
Decks I hope to dodge will be TRON with red, the new amulet variants, grixis control shells, ad naus. I feel pretty confidant against most everything else and even these matches aren't BAD.
For those who are preparing for the SCG Regionals at the beginning of the next month lets talk S/B plans and Meta.
Now with the new banning of G. Probe and GG. Troll, I think we will see a rise in Ad Nauseam and Tron. And I think Bant Eldrazi will be played heavily.
Any thoughts on what your expecting at SCG Regionals?
I'm not sure dredge is as dead as people are claiming. I don't think as many spikes will pick it up, granted, but the deck can still be quite powerful with golgari thug.
TRON may pick up steam but there may not be many people who can swap quickly from the R to W sideboard package in the short timeframe. With the meta slowing a bit, the need for red's lower to the ground sweepers is alleviated a bit as well with less pull back to GR variants.
I do think grixis stands to gain a ton with the recent bannings as they are picking up fatal push; which is really good against us unfortunately. Grixis can just jam 2-4 ceremonious rejection in the side to deal with TRON, affinity, or Eldrazi. At this point I think enough of my expected meta is colorless than rejection is just a great 2+ card in the sideboard. My hope is that people running cards like izzet staticaster will move them out of the board to make room for push, but who knows.
I don't know if the stock in Ad Naus will change much, I hope not. A single eidolon of rhetoric in the side may be fine if you have access to the chords. I don't expect much else to change.
Decks I hope to dodge will be TRON with red, the new amulet variants, grixis control shells, ad naus. I feel pretty confidant against most everything else and even these matches aren't BAD.
I completely agree with you on Dredge. I think it will still be a thing. Thug will make the consistency a little worse is all, but the deck is essentially the same. But I also think the hit in consistency makes the MU even better for us.
Question. Why do people sideboard Thragtusk? Is that mana cost really worth it when you have Essence Warden at 1 mana?
In a grindy MU Thragtusk has more field presence than Essence Warden. Being able to block an attacking creature and kill it (like a goyf or Kalitas etc..) could be major. Even if Thragtusk does die you still get another 3/3 chump for the next turn. Atleast that would be my reasoning to run it.
Also, which land is more crucial. Cavern of Souls or Horizon Canopy? I currently have 2 Caverns and am working on my third. But now I'm considering selling them and instead get Canopies.
Also, which land is more crucial. Cavern of Souls or Horizon Canopy? I currently have 2 Caverns and am working on my third. But now I'm considering selling them and instead get Canopies.
Age old "what's your meta" question again here. Personally, I feel like the ability to dig with Canopy is more valuable than Cavern right now. If you've got more counterspells in your meta, cavern may be better.
Question. Why do people sideboard Thragtusk? Is that mana cost really worth it when you have Essence Warden at 1 mana?
Thragtusk provides a "big swing" of 5 life in one chunk, a large 5 power clock, and some resilience with the 3/3 token it drops. It fills wants against several different matchups.
Essence Warden can be fine, but can be a poor top deck or lategame hit off CoCo/Lead. Really need Essence Warden early for max effect. Thragtusk as a 1 of in a Chord version provides a lot of what Essence Warden does (life gain) along with a nice clock and resilience. Thragtusk has been pseudo blow out for me against aggro decks and burn decks at times.
And what about having any singles in the main like Selfless spirit or Spellskite? Or are we ok to just stick with our plan game one, then side in the Chords and bullets games two and three?
I'm currently thinking of the following:
6x Forest
4x Gilt-Leaf Palace
1x Pendelhaven
4x Wooded Foothills
1x Windswept Heath
1x Temple Garden
1x Overgrown Tomb
I'm considering cutting the overgrown tomb and maybe some fetches for blooming marshes and razorverge thickets as I feel the fetches hurts me more in a lot of games.
This brings up an interesting point regarding the Narnam Renegade: should decks that choose to run it drop some fastlands and run more fetches to more reliably drop the 2/3 on turn one?
I would say so. Another thing worth testing is Eldritch Evolution. Assuming you have four mana. You can sac a dork or Visionary, play EE to fetch whatever you need at the time. And then use your remaining 1 mana to cast Renegade. Or being able to CoCo into a Renegade while declaring blockers is fun also. I like him a lot. Basically a tutored removal spell for 1 mana.
Great report! Thank you so much for your contribution and a good decklist. This list is making me actually want to try a chord board. I really love the numbers in the maindeck. I will take something similar to Monday Night Magic tonight and test it out.
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4
I think the announcement is good for us. We don't have to fight Infect or suicide zoo nearly as much and focus more on grindy decks. I say Lead of Stampede/GB is becoming even more attractive.
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4
I'd say the death of Dredge is pretty good for us.
WiJ
Peasant 540 Cube
Anyways, I am at a loss as to what to play sb in this new meta. I think I'm also on the same maindeck as MasterBouda (Congrats on your finish by the way!), but the sideboard... Idk how much affinity and burn hate I should be packing. To mainboard RecSage, or not to mainboard RecSage? And should we run one in the side?
As for now, I have the following sb:
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Spellskite
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
2 Chord of Calling
1 Chameleon Colossus
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Fracturing Gust
Please help
WiJ
Peasant 540 Cube
It's a good mana base if you don't have cavern an/or horizon canopy. I've played something like this in the past but your matchup versus burn will be very difficult. Essence warden will be essential in the mainboard or you can try Blooming Marshes/Razorverge Thickets.
There's really no reason to run more than four Forests, I feel, and even then I only run four because I don't have Caverns. You should definitely pick up a Blooming Marsh and Razorverge Thicket and probably could go to two of each, cutting another Forest and one of the fetches.
This goes for everyone asking questions like this, but the most important thing is what kind of meta are you expecting. Unless you're taking the deck to a GP or any other major event, you're probably playing in a local meta that you're familiar with and where you know the decks that are most often played.
For example Dredge isn't nearly as popular around here, only one guy plays it every now and then therefore I can leave out most of the dredge hate like Yixlid Jailer or Anafenza, the Foremost. When you're asking for help with sideboard it helps a lot if we knew what kind of meta are you expecting.
So to answer your question about how much Affinity or Burn hate to pack, it depends on the above. I'd say 2x Fracturing Gust and Kataki are enough to combat Affinity along with one copy of Reclamation Sage in maindeck. Although MasterBouda's list runs only one copy of Chord in main which makes Sage as bullet slightly less potent in game 1. Sage also hits a variety of targets outside of these two decks such as Pithing Needle, Oblivion Stone, Grafdigger's Cage, Engineered Explosive, Chalice of the Void etc. If you see a lot of these, then perhaps add one copy to sideboard as well. Stony Silence works wonders but has the downside of not being a creature and therefore cannot be tutored for.
As for Burn, I think Ooze and Finks are enough along with two copies of Essence Warden in your main. If there's a lot of burn, you can even add Kor Firewalker. It's tougher to cast but hard for them to deal with.
WBG Elves WBG
Cheeri0s
EDH:
RG Omnath, Locus of Rage RG || GWUB Atraxa, Praetors' Voice GWUB
R Zo-Zu the Punisher R || WU Brago, King Eternal WU
UB Gisa and Geralf UB || BGW Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW
Now with the new banning of G. Probe and GG. Troll, I think we will see a rise in Ad Nauseam and Tron. And I think Bant Eldrazi will be played heavily.
Any thoughts on what your expecting at SCG Regionals?
Thank you for your answer! But the problem is that I'm not sure what meta I'm up against. I'll be playing at the Dutch Modern Open, which is an event of 100-200 people, and I only know some of them, but other than that it's pretty much just netdecks everywhere. Jund, Tron, Infect, Affinity, nothing is absolutely dominant as far as I know. So my question remains; What kind of sideboard would I pack for an unknown meta? I'm not a 100% sold on the Essence Warden either, but that's maybe because I haven't played with it yet, so only theorycrafting.
WiJ
Peasant 540 Cube
That's why it's important we know what you're expecting to be up against. 100-200 player event is where you can expect a good deal of Tier 1 and 2 decks along with some rogue brews showing up. I'd say check mtgtop8 (ModernNexus is sadly not updating the meta game numbers anymore) for some recent events and see what was played there.
Although nothing might be too dominant at the moment, try and go for the cards that cover as wide range of decks as possible. For example if you're running Chords, Phyrexian Revoker comes in handy against Tron (Oblivion Stone, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, Karn Liberated), Affinity (Arcbound Ravager, Cranial Plating, Steel Overseer), Ad Nauseam (Lightning Storm), Merfolk (Aether Vial), Abzan Company (Viscera Seer), Kiki-Chord (Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker).
If you're taking the GB route then Thoughtseize can help with a lot of matchups to get rid of problematic cards before going off (Mikeduges wrote a nice piece about it for the new primer).
I've been running 2 copies of Essence Warden in the side recently and I like them a lot. They provide another target for opponents spot removal which sometimes help that Archdruid or Ezuri through. Life gain is very nice against decks like Burn or even Merfolk where that few extra life gained can mean we get that extra turn needed to finally go off. Taking up the 1CMC slot means you can split it with Nettle Sentinel if you feel like adding some in mainboard.
WBG Elves WBG
Cheeri0s
EDH:
RG Omnath, Locus of Rage RG || GWUB Atraxa, Praetors' Voice GWUB
R Zo-Zu the Punisher R || WU Brago, King Eternal WU
UB Gisa and Geralf UB || BGW Ghave, Guru of Spores BGW
I'm not sure dredge is as dead as people are claiming. I don't think as many spikes will pick it up, granted, but the deck can still be quite powerful with golgari thug.
TRON may pick up steam but there may not be many people who can swap quickly from the R to W sideboard package in the short timeframe. With the meta slowing a bit, the need for red's lower to the ground sweepers is alleviated a bit as well with less pull back to GR variants.
I do think grixis stands to gain a ton with the recent bannings as they are picking up fatal push; which is really good against us unfortunately. Grixis can just jam 2-4 ceremonious rejection in the side to deal with TRON, affinity, or Eldrazi. At this point I think enough of my expected meta is colorless than rejection is just a great 2+ card in the sideboard. My hope is that people running cards like izzet staticaster will move them out of the board to make room for push, but who knows.
I don't know if the stock in Ad Naus will change much, I hope not. A single eidolon of rhetoric in the side may be fine if you have access to the chords. I don't expect much else to change.
Decks I hope to dodge will be TRON with red, the new amulet variants, grixis control shells, ad naus. I feel pretty confidant against most everything else and even these matches aren't BAD.
I completely agree with you on Dredge. I think it will still be a thing. Thug will make the consistency a little worse is all, but the deck is essentially the same. But I also think the hit in consistency makes the MU even better for us.
In a grindy MU Thragtusk has more field presence than Essence Warden. Being able to block an attacking creature and kill it (like a goyf or Kalitas etc..) could be major. Even if Thragtusk does die you still get another 3/3 chump for the next turn. Atleast that would be my reasoning to run it.
Age old "what's your meta" question again here. Personally, I feel like the ability to dig with Canopy is more valuable than Cavern right now. If you've got more counterspells in your meta, cavern may be better.
Thragtusk provides a "big swing" of 5 life in one chunk, a large 5 power clock, and some resilience with the 3/3 token it drops. It fills wants against several different matchups.
Essence Warden can be fine, but can be a poor top deck or lategame hit off CoCo/Lead. Really need Essence Warden early for max effect. Thragtusk as a 1 of in a Chord version provides a lot of what Essence Warden does (life gain) along with a nice clock and resilience. Thragtusk has been pseudo blow out for me against aggro decks and burn decks at times.