Just got back from the open, I went 6-3. Not top 64, only 7-2s and up got in. Tourney report + decklist coming soon. (PS: like an idiot, I forgot to write down my sb changes. I can try to guess them? I have the game by game broad notes tho).
I was told that 6-3 is a decent record for my first big tournament. I ended up playing 2 Ghostly Prison in my sb, which seemed quite solid -- bricked Kiki-Chord for a long time, stops the Eldrazi nut draws, seems ok against Zoo. I also had a maindeck Batterskull that is 100% staying in my deck. More info to come soon.
As an aside, my buddy on Jeskai Control went to time twice, when I didn't ever go to time in my rounds. lol
Just got back from the open, I went 6-3. Not top 64, only 7-2s and up got in. Tourney report + decklist coming soon. (PS: like an idiot, I forgot to write down my sb changes. I can try to guess them? I have the game by game broad notes tho).
I was told that 6-3 is a decent record for my first big tournament. I ended up playing 2 Ghostly Prison in my sb, which seemed quite solid -- bricked Kiki-Chord for a long time, stops the Eldrazi nut draws, seems ok against Zoo. I also had a maindeck Batterskull that is 100% staying in my deck. More info to come soon.
As an aside, my buddy on Jeskai Control went to time twice, when I didn't ever go to time in my rounds. lol
6-3 is fantastic for a first big tournie and also with a deck that most people feel is unplayable. Interested in knowing what you lost to. The uw eldrazi list I have a winning record against online. I only lose when they have an eye of ugin in the late game. I would not worry as an esper player since I know something will get banned.
Just got back from the open, I went 6-3. Not top 64, only 7-2s and up got in. Tourney report + decklist coming soon. (PS: like an idiot, I forgot to write down my sb changes. I can try to guess them? I have the game by game broad notes tho).
I was told that 6-3 is a decent record for my first big tournament. I ended up playing 2 Ghostly Prison in my sb, which seemed quite solid -- bricked Kiki-Chord for a long time, stops the Eldrazi nut draws, seems ok against Zoo. I also had a maindeck Batterskull that is 100% staying in my deck. More info to come soon.
As an aside, my buddy on Jeskai Control went to time twice, when I didn't ever go to time in my rounds. lol
6-3 is fantastic for a first big tournie and also with a deck that most people feel is unplayable. Interested in knowing what you lost to. The uw eldrazi list I have a winning record against online. I only lose when they have an eye of ugin in the late game. I would not worry as an esper player since I know something will get banned.
I lost 1-2 to Kiki Chord (it was really close), 0-2 to Abzan Company (I don't know the matchup well enough, and played miserably #punt), and 1-2 to Infect (the last game was on lock if I could just topdeck a land for Verdicting his 2x Hierarchs and Blighted Agent with no hand -- ofc not).
I won another local event beating jund, junk, BR processor eldrazi, and UW gifts tron. The rock matches all went according to plan without anything special happening. I drew cards, traded 1 for 1 and either elspeth or surprise kitties took it down. The only 'interesting' moment was pathing one of my cat tokens in response to a pulse letting me attack for lethal past 2 blockers. The other matches were quite interesting thankfully.
Against eldrazi I mulled to 5 game 1 and got stomped, game 2 I mull to 5 again and manage to logic knot a seer to protect my verdict that put him so far behind I had enough time to esper charm my way to glory. In game 3 he manages GQ ony colonnade, crumble the rest and oblivion sower them all into play on his side along with a basic island, all which turns on hit eye of ugin mana. I keep pace with the board through wrathing 1 creature every turn that the eye tutors up at a time due to a low life total and eventually land a grave titan. He makes an attack with a sower into my titan which screamed dismember so I just chumped with a token. I untap and attack with my titan and he animates my colonnade to block. After damage he goes for the dismember which I cryptic to counter and bounce the last colonnade he has in play on his side and re play it. Time is called and on the last possible turn I have the gravy train rides in with his buddies and seals it 2-1.
On UW gifts tron we played 1 game that took up the entire round and time was called just as we started to board. He starts with natural tron into wurmcoil that gets a path. After many turns of draw go and me killing off colonnades I'm getting very scared of emrakul, but I can't risk throwing off my WSZ without back up when he has 3 cards in hand so I sit on it for a long time, perhaps too long. I didn't see a second esper charm until the very end of the game which lead to my super conservative line because if it was stopped I mill out. But before I could he finally draws the tenticle monster.
He resolves iona on white and then hard casts emrakul triggering the time walk. I cast a doom blade on iona and resolve a rev putting me back to 20 and only 5 cards in deck. I take 15 and go down to 6 lands left. Untap and wrath it away and cross my fingers. He draws a blank and I slam eslpeth to hopefully close it out. She dies to a colonnade and I finally manage to empty his hand and resolve a zenith for 3 which made it there just in time to save me from dying to a colonnade. Surprisingly even against tron logic knot was still a hard counter on turn 15, never going to cut this card.
I'll be playing in the legacy open next weekend, but if I can't manage to skillfully dodge graveyard hate I'll play in the modern classic the next day. Crossing my fingers.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
And on that day, Garfield said unto the world "Go ye forth and durdle!"
I lost 1-2 to Kiki Chord (it was really close), 0-2 to Abzan Company (I don't know the matchup well enough, and played miserably #punt), and 1-2 to Infect (the last game was on lock if I could just topdeck a land for Verdicting his 2x Hierarchs and Blighted Agent with no hand -- ofc not).
Edit: The Abzan Company guy got really lucky too.
I played my first Match against Abzan last night at FNM, and I feel that we have a very solid matchup as long as you can dodge bad luck. Do you run any Shadow of Doubt? It was killer for me in that matchup. In the first game, he had double finks out and I was getting quite low - I go for a path on one of the Finks as he attacks and he responds by trying to Chord out something for 1 (I had no idea what until writing this just now - I'm guessing he was going for a Viscera seer to sac the Finks with). I land a nasty shadow of doubt there, and snapcaster path his other finks and ghost quarter his gavony township all in one turn. That SoD stopped his Chord and allowed 2 "free" paths and a "free" ghost quarter which was just brutal. Since he tapped out for the Chord, I could jam an Elspeth without fear of a Collected Company in response, and she single-handedly ended the game.
That game recap leads to a choice I've been thinking about. SoD is often useless, but has potential for insane upside (like the game above). Much of the time though, I would much rather see a Remand in my opening 7. My deck has 2x SoD 2x Remand at the moment, but I feel like I might want to go up 1 or even 2 Remands. If SoD hadn't been such a grand slam last night in that game, I would probably be strongly considering dropping the pair of them for maybe 1x Remand and 1x Spell Snare (to go up to 3 and 4 total, respectively).
That game recap leads to a choice I've been thinking about. SoD is often useless, but has potential for insane upside (like the game above). Much of the time though, I would much rather see a Remand in my opening 7. My deck has 2x SoD 2x Remand at the moment, but I feel like I might want to go up 1 or even 2 Remands. If SoD hadn't been such a grand slam last night in that game, I would probably be strongly considering dropping the pair of them for maybe 1x Remand and 1x Spell Snare (to go up to 3 and 4 total, respectively).
Personally I've always hated SoD and would always rather it was another piece of permission or a wrath. The times where you get a nice blow out would be just as serviceable as a deprive with way more upside at the cost of being able to just cycle it. Our deck has enough air in it as it is and adding any more just leads to too many games where we're spinning our tires and not going anywhere.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
And on that day, Garfield said unto the world "Go ye forth and durdle!"
I'll strongly consider taking the two out then at some point in the future if they consistently disappoint me. My personal most likely replacements like I mentioned would be the 4th Spell Snare and the 3rd Remand. The drawback on Deprive seems really crippling to me, especially since I'm seeking stability in the turbulent early turns, I want to smoothly transition into my 4 mana turns as well as possible.
I'll strongly consider taking the two out then at some point in the future if they consistently disappoint me. My personal most likely replacements like I mentioned would be the 4th Spell Snare and the 3rd Remand. The drawback on Deprive seems really crippling to me, especially since I'm seeking stability in the turbulent early turns, I want to smoothly transition into my 4 mana turns as well as possible.
I agree that the downside is a big one, but it's still a hard counter at 2 mana which is a big deal in modern. I never use it on turn 2/3 unless there's something especially dangerous like a liliana or a karn in which case I'd gladly pay a much higher price than bouncing a land so that I don't lose on the spot. Unfortunately WotC hates counterspell so deprive and knot are our best options at 2 mana hard counters.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
And on that day, Garfield said unto the world "Go ye forth and durdle!"
Just got back from the open, I went 6-3. Not top 64, only 7-2s and up got in. Tourney report + decklist coming soon. (PS: like an idiot, I forgot to write down my sb changes. I can try to guess them? I have the game by game broad notes tho).
I was told that 6-3 is a decent record for my first big tournament. I ended up playing 2 Ghostly Prison in my sb, which seemed quite solid -- bricked Kiki-Chord for a long time, stops the Eldrazi nut draws, seems ok against Zoo. I also had a maindeck Batterskull that is 100% staying in my deck. More info to come soon.
As an aside, my buddy on Jeskai Control went to time twice, when I didn't ever go to time in my rounds. lol
6-3 is fantastic for a first big tournie and also with a deck that most people feel is unplayable. Interested in knowing what you lost to. The uw eldrazi list I have a winning record against online. I only lose when they have an eye of ugin in the late game. I would not worry as an esper player since I know something will get banned.
I lost 1-2 to Kiki Chord (it was really close), 0-2 to Abzan Company (I don't know the matchup well enough, and played miserably #punt), and 1-2 to Infect (the last game was on lock if I could just topdeck a land for Verdicting his 2x Hierarchs and Blighted Agent with no hand -- ofc not).
Edit: The Abzan Company guy got really lucky too.
Seems like you could have gone to a gokd day 2 if your top decks cooperated more. I really feel like if more folks played this deck it will get respectable day 2 showings. I feel like it is one good printing away ftom being really goof. Most likely in a good anti aggro card.
Also I am enjoying teferi in this format with chord and compsny decks. The only way they resolve stuff is by baiting at instant speed and also living end is having a pick up in popularity due to being reasonable against both eldraxi and chord decks. I also enjoy the teferi esper charm discard interaction that does not alliw your opponent to respond to discard.
To the peeps asking about the Abzan Co match, not only was he lucky but he also played Lingering Souls, making the match much more difficult.
In game one I tap out for a BSkull to stabilize after a while of beats from spirits, a Viscera Seer, and some other threats that got Path'd. At that eot, he companies into Birds of Paradise and Melira (with Seer still on board) and plays Blood Artist into Finks during his turn for infinite. Yuck.
Game two, I able to resolve a Baneslayer and connect with it so I'm at 18 against his Seer, Voice of Resurgence, and some spirits.At my eot, he does a bit of mental math and sacs his Voice for a token. He untaps, flashes back a souls, then plays and flashes back another one for exactsies (huge Voice token) with no cards left in hand. Top card of my deck was a Verdict. smh
Just got back from the open, I went 6-3. Not top 64, only 7-2s and up got in. Tourney report + decklist coming soon. (PS: like an idiot, I forgot to write down my sb changes. I can try to guess them? I have the game by game broad notes tho).
I was told that 6-3 is a decent record for my first big tournament. I ended up playing 2 Ghostly Prison in my sb, which seemed quite solid -- bricked Kiki-Chord for a long time, stops the Eldrazi nut draws, seems ok against Zoo. I also had a maindeck Batterskull that is 100% staying in my deck. More info to come soon.
As an aside, my buddy on Jeskai Control went to time twice, when I didn't ever go to time in my rounds. lol
6-3 is fantastic for a first big tournie and also with a deck that most people feel is unplayable. Interested in knowing what you lost to. The uw eldrazi list I have a winning record against online. I only lose when they have an eye of ugin in the late game. I would not worry as an esper player since I know something will get banned.
I lost 1-2 to Kiki Chord (it was really close), 0-2 to Abzan Company (I don't know the matchup well enough, and played miserably #punt), and 1-2 to Infect (the last game was on lock if I could just topdeck a land for Verdicting his 2x Hierarchs and Blighted Agent with no hand -- ofc not).
Edit: The Abzan Company guy got really lucky too.
Seems like you could have gone to a gokd day 2 if your top decks cooperated more. I really feel like if more folks played this deck it will get respectable day 2 showings. I feel like it is one good printing away ftom being really goof. Most likely in a good anti aggro card.
Also I am enjoying teferi in this format with chord and compsny decks. The only way they resolve stuff is by baiting at instant speed and also living end is having a pick up in popularity due to being reasonable against both eldraxi and chord decks. I also enjoy the teferi esper charm discard interaction that does not alliw your opponent to respond to discard.
I actually won a number of games off of mulls to 5/6 yesterday, surprisingly. Also worth noting that nobody ever expected Baneslayer from the board and it won every game it resolved in (except against Abzan Co).
I am simply not set up for this matchup. After he surgical'd my Cryptics, I died to Ensnaring Bridge. I kinda wish that I had stony silence here but I honestly still think I cannot win. Advice?
In hindsight, I probably should have brought in Extirpate and Surgical over more dead removal.
Round 2 2-0 Vs UB Mill
I thought I was quite dead until I met my lord and Savior: The shuffles into your library text on WSZ. I cast it in my upkeep each turn leaving up counter-magic until my opponent died. Game 2 T2 Snapcaster beats killed him.
Much different match-up than GR. I mean, its almost like my cards matter. I slaughter pacted Iona on white Game 1, to which he (I believe erroneously) conceded. He didn't seem dead to me. At least make me remember my pact! The player was apparently quite tilted as he then conceded the match and dropped from the tournament.
Round 4 Intentional draw. Small tournament, so we decided to lock up two spots in top 4. Less Burn there.
Top 4
We enter-
1st- Abzan Company
2nd- Abzan Rock
3rd- Eper Control (Me)
4th- Lantern Control
2-1 vs Abzan Rock
Game 1 I narrowly dodged dying to Liliana but managed to kill her with the Cryptic trick before rippng Rev for 5.
I died game 2 when I was forced to jam Elspeth into a board of 5/6 Tarmogoyf and Siege Rhino. I minused her, and was utterly destroyed by a Golgari Charm. A similar situation occurred Game 3, but I ripped running Baneslayer Angels into Elspeth and managed to do the Fabled "Race you out".
We then split top two.
I would like to know if anyone has any thoughts on my list or sideboard decisions.
I just started streaming. My second stream was last night. For some reason all of the brewers come out at three in the morning. I lost to a tribal snakes deck (I would also like to mention that I was very tired and had several beers in me). Losing to tribal snakes was the greatest moment of my life. The guy was playing Mystic Snake, Mystic Genesis, and Sosuke, Son of Seshiro. He killed me with a 7/7 Ooze token from Mystic Genesis because I jammed the biggest Sphinx's Revelation I could into his open mana for the lolz. I was expecting a Mystic Snake but the Mystic Genesis tech caught me off guard. Buy your Mystic Snakes now before their price goes up. I think a new tribal snakes meta is just around the corner. SNAKE WINTER IS COMING
Hopefully you guys don't ban me from the forum for losing to tribal snakes haha. Also, congrats @TheAnnihilator0798 that is a great result. I love it when Esper players do well. I plan on streaming again tonight if anyone want to see me get rekt
To the peeps asking about the Abzan Co match, not only was he lucky but he also played Lingering Souls, making the match much more difficult.
In game one I tap out for a BSkull to stabilize after a while of beats from spirits, a Viscera Seer, and some other threats that got Path'd. At that eot, he companies into Birds of Paradise and Melira (with Seer still on board) and plays Blood Artist into Finks during his turn for infinite. Yuck.
Game two, I able to resolve a Baneslayer and connect with it so I'm at 18 against his Seer, Voice of Resurgence, and some spirits.At my eot, he does a bit of mental math and sacs his Voice for a token. He untaps, flashes back a souls, then plays and flashes back another one for exactsies (huge Voice token) with no cards left in hand. Top card of my deck was a Verdict. smh
Do you play dsphere or night of souls' betrayal in the board? I personally play dsphere against tokens and bounce it with cryptic to keep killing tokens.
I just started streaming. My second stream was last night. For some reason all of the brewers come out at three in the morning. I lost to a tribal snakes deck (I would also like to mention that I was very tired and had several beers in me). Losing to tribal snakes was the greatest moment of my life. The guy was playing Mystic Snake, Mystic Genesis, and Sosuke, Son of Seshiro. He killed me with a 7/7 Ooze token from Mystic Genesis because I jammed the biggest Sphinx's Revelation I could into his open mana for the lolz. I was expecting a Mystic Snake but the Mystic Genesis tech caught me off guard. Buy your Mystic Snakes now before their price goes up. I think a new tribal snakes meta is just around the corner. SNAKE WINTER IS COMING
Hopefully you guys don't ban me from the forum for losing to tribal snakes haha. Also, congrats @TheAnnihilator0798 that is a great result. I love it when Esper players do well. I plan on streaming again tonight if anyone want to see me get rekt
I just started streaming. My second stream was last night. For some reason all of the brewers come out at three in the morning. I lost to a tribal snakes deck (I would also like to mention that I was very tired and had several beers in me). Losing to tribal snakes was the greatest moment of my life. The guy was playing Mystic Snake, Mystic Genesis, and Sosuke, Son of Seshiro. He killed me with a 7/7 Ooze token from Mystic Genesis because I jammed the biggest Sphinx's Revelation I could into his open mana for the lolz. I was expecting a Mystic Snake but the Mystic Genesis tech caught me off guard. Buy your Mystic Snakes now before their price goes up. I think a new tribal snakes meta is just around the corner. SNAKE WINTER IS COMING
Hopefully you guys don't ban me from the forum for losing to tribal snakes haha. Also, congrats @TheAnnihilator0798 that is a great result. I love it when Esper players do well. I plan on streaming again tonight if anyone want to see me get rekt
Game One:
I mulled to five, kept a marginal hand that couldn’t do anything against the horde. (0-1)
Game Two
Kept a decent hand, got to wrath his board twice in the game before I played a Batterskull, followed by Baneslayer Angel, and equipping Slayer with said Batterskull. Lol. (1-1)
Game Three:
We played a longer game involving Paths and Condemns into Wraths before Esper Charm began to slowly clear away his hand. After he began aggressively activating Mutavaults into snap-blocks and Condemn, he was on 3 lands and no cards in hand. Time was about to be called in 10 mins, so I picked up the pace and got there with Colonnade beats. (2-1)
1-0 overall
Thinking about this match makes me laugh even now.
Game One:
Game one took 40 mins, which is pretty good considering I had no cards left in deck by the end of it. After a long stint of draw-go action, we started to get into some fights. He’d cast Restoration Angel, and I’d Path it. The issue was that he had threeGhost Quarters on the field, so I couldn’t try to win by Colonnades – and all of my wincons were in the bottom 4 cards of my deck. I was casting Revs for 4-5, which he let resolve because he believed I would deck myself – which I did. However, I kept casting White Sun’s Zenith for 3-4 while holding up counter backup to have a card left in deck. I did this about three times. We even had to have a judge randomize my 2 card deck of Colonnade and Zenith since neither he nor I could shuffle it in good conscience. He got pummeled to death by cats. I had always heard about using Zenith to stop yourself from decking, but I never thought it would actually happen. Best. Game. Ever. (1-0)
Game Two:
Draw-go for a little while, until I Surgical Extraction’d his Resto Angels (so I could save my few paths for his Colonnades). He was stuck on lands for a while, so I thoughtseized him seeing Rest in Peace, Kitchen Finks, Mana Leak, and Cryptic Command. I took Leak, and main-phased an arbitrarily large Zenith. He scooped. (2-0)
2-0 overall
Game One:
We hit the grind for a while, with counters and removal flying, but at the end of the day I lost to the combo with no answers left. (0-1)
Game Two:
It was grindy again. I remember I cut most of my counters in sideboarding (except Logic Knot, so I could counter Chord of Calling) so that I could race in a topdeck war. It eventually came to my Ghostly Prison and Baneslayer Angel against his Blood Baron of Vizkopa and useless board of creatures. An eventual White Sun’s Zenith ensured I had enough damage for lethal. (1-1)
Game Three:
After a Ghostly Prison on turn 3, the game came to a screeching halt. He was getting in for chip damage while I was drawing blanks (lands). I played a Baneslayer that got path’d, had to activate my Colonnades into Ghost Quarters and Paths to block. In the end, he had enough removal to get through – even with both Ghostly Prisons on board at the end of the game. My buddy, who was watching from my opponent’s side, said he got really lucky by topdecking 2 Paths to stop me from blocking with Colonnades. (1-2)
2-1 Overall
I’ve already talked at length about this match, but I’ll put a small summary here anyways.
Game Two:
Again, we grind for a while until all he has left are a few Spirit tokens, a Viscera Seer, and a Voice of Resurgence against my Baneslayer Angel. After swinging in with the Slayer and going to 18, he sacs his Voice for an Elemental token, plays three (!) more Lingering Souls while commenting how badly he’s overextending into a wrath, and swings for exact lethal against my open one mana (I played a Path and flashbacked Think Twice on my turn to avoid Voice triggers). My top card was a Verdict. (0-2)
2-2 Overall
Game One:
I kept a sketchy hand of Logic Knot, Esper Charm, Gideon, and lands on the draw. It went from bad to worse when he played Windswept Heath, fetched into a Forest, and a Noble Hierarch. I knew instantly in my mind that he was on Infect, and I was in bad shape. He played an Infect dude (Viridian Emissary), pumped it up, and I died. (0-1)
Game Two:
I mulled to 5 and kept a hand with two lands (Watery Grave and Ghost Quarter) because it had T1 Thoughtseize into Spell Snare. I cast Thoughtseize, and he said his hand was "Thoughtseize-proof" as he smiled and showed me this: 2x Inkmoth Nexus, Forest, Breeding Pool, Vines of Vastwood, Glistener Elf, and Blighted Agent. I took the Glistener and passed. He plays Inkmoth and says go. I untap, draw Watery Grave #2 and play it tapped before passing. He plays Blighted Agent, which I Snare, and I topdeck… SURGICAL EXTRACTION. Hell yeah. I play GQ and destroy his Inkmoth, then Extraction it mainphase (to avoid counters) getting the other one out of his hand. He’s left with no threats, and I topdeck lands into Baneslayer on turn 5. He can’t come back from it. Thoughtseize-proof indeed. (1-1)
Game Three:
I mulled again, getting stuck on lands, but this time I didn’t have everything I needed. After some back and forth, I'm at 9 infect while he has a Blighted Agent and 2 Noble Hierarchs on the field. It was really frustrating, because I had a Thoughtseize and Go for the Throat (but not enough black mana to cast both – I was on Island, Mystic Gate, Watery Grave), so I had to try the Go for the Throat without any protection for it. He had the Vines. Even more frustrating, I also had a Supreme Verdict in hand but I couldn’t get another land. Even my opponent said it was extremely lucky that he faded a land for multiple turns, since he'd seen my hand via Gitaxian Probe. (1-2)
Overall 2-3
Game One:
My opponent had a weird mix up with seating arrangements and got a game loss for being at the wrong table. (1-0)
Game Two
I kept a 2 land hand with a Godless Shrine and a fetch on the draw, but he plays a turn 2 Suppression Field. Long story short, he’s making 6 mana with a Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx before I hit a 2nd usable land while he also has a Sigil of the Empty Throne on the field. I couldn’t recover. (1-1)
Game Three:
I’m on the play with Remand, Thoughtseize, Spell Snare (I kept them in due to Luminarch Ascension and Runed Halo; I knew he had them even though I didn’t see them G1 since I’ve seen QTwelve’s video against W Enchantments – thank you Q!) and lands. I Thoughtseize away a Sigil and draw a Surgical Extraction to take care of it. I then Snare his Luminarch Ascension, and Snap-Surgical that too. A bunch of remands later, I draw another Surg and counter+Surg his Runed Halos. He was so pissed. I played a Baneslayer Angel, and Cryptic -- bounce Baneslayer and draw -- in response to 2 different Supreme Verdicts. Swinging in with it through 3 Ghostly Prisons got me the win. (2-1)
Overall 3-3
My opponent didn’t show up after 10 mins, so the judges told me I got it 2-0. Having the break was definitely nice.
Overall 4-3
Game One:
I had dodged the boogeyman up until this point, and was a little tense to see T1 Eldrazi temple. Little did I know that he’d kept a hand with T1 Matter Reshaper and a pile of Simian Spirit Guides/Dismembers thinking it would be good enough. I was able to deal with the Reshaper, three Mutavaults, and a Blinkmoth Nexus, then counter some really late game threats and play Batterskull three times, each time drawing out a Dismember and 4 life from my opponent. I saw that he had both Wastes out, so I used GQ proactively to keep him off of Eye of Ugin mana. I won G1 easily off of an arbitrarily large White Sun’s Zenith and Batterskull. Did you know that a 4/4 germ with lifelink favorably blocks Thought-Knot Seer, Matter Reshaper, Mutavualts, and the usual Eldrazi Mimic? =D (1-0)
Game Two:
He plays a T2 Thought-Knot Seer revealing lands, Ghostly Prison, 2x Baneslayer Angels, and a Cryptic (I kept the hand because I thought that Ghostly might slow him down enough for me to draw into it. He takes the Prison so I couldn’t untap and slam it during my turn 3, but he durdles a tiny bit with Relic of Progenitus and such and my Baneslayer double-team hits the board. I keep attacking with one Slayer while keeping the other up to block. He played an Endless One for five, triggering a mimic to attack with it into my open Baneslayer – he didn’t realize that Baneslayer has first strike. He couldn’t find an answer to either Slayer, so it was a very easy 2-0, which seemed extremely unusual to me. (2-0)
Overall 5-3
Game One:
It’s the usual grind into White Sun’s Zenith. I answered his Tarmogoyf on 2 with a Snare, Logic Knotted his Lingering Souls, and took beats from the other two Spirits while he had a pile of removal in hand (so he claimed after the match). I remembered the forum’s advice against mind rotting a BGx opponent in game one, so I used Charms to draw 2 instead. I got there off of the back of 3 Cat tokens and some disruption. (1-0)
Game Two:
We both got stuck on lands, but I drew out of it first. I was able to trick him into swinging with his 4th land (a Stirring Wildwood) by clicking my mechanical pencil like I was about to take the damage from it – my Condemn sent it away. From there, a Gideon Jura into a Baneslayer took it home, mopping up every creature he played and putting my life total far out of reach. (2-0)
Overall 6-3
Ironically, I never played against Affinity when I had decided to play 3x Stony Silence in my board specifically for that matchup. I didn’t side them in the whole day – not even against the Aether Vial deck (Slivers). I also elected not to play Elspeth, Sun’s Champion or Celestial Purge in the board, and I must admit that I don’t really miss them. Ghostly Prison seemed OK; it definitely shores up enough matchups (Kiki Chord, Eldrazi, Aggro) that I think I’ll keep using it. I was impressed very much with Batterskull, and not so impressed with Gideon Jura even though it was great against BGx. It felt like I would always cast Gideon into a lethal board to buy a turn, or he’d take 3-4 damage, and I couldn’t minus him if I wanted to keep him alive. He also has a non-bo with Ghosly, as the opponent doesn't have to pay 2 mana to attack Gideon (since Prison says "attacks you", not "you or a planeswalker you control") He was also terrible to have in the control mirror. I might start playing the 4th Wrath or a 2nd Batterskull over him.
Game One:
My opponent had a weird mix up with seating arrangements and got a game loss for being at the wrong table. (1-0)
Game Two
I kept a 2 land hand with a Godless Shrine and a fetch on the draw, but he plays a turn 2 Suppression Field. Long story short, he’s making 6 mana with a Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx before I hit a 2nd usable land while he also has a Sigil of the Empty Throne on the field. I couldn’t recover. (1-1)
Game Three:
I’m on the play with Remand, Thoughtseize, Spell Snare (I kept them in due to Luminarch Ascension and Runed Halo; I knew he had them even though I didn’t see them G1 since I’ve seen QTwelve’s video against W Enchantments – thank you Q!) and lands. I Thoughtseize away a Sigil and draw a Surgical Extraction to take care of it. I then Snare his Luminarch Ascension, and Snap-Surgical that too. A bunch of remands later, I draw another Surg and counter+Surg his Runed Halos. He was so pissed. I played a Baneslayer Angel, and Cryptic -- bounce Baneslayer and draw -- in response to 2 different Supreme Verdicts. Swinging in with it through 3 Ghostly Prisons got me the win. (2-1)
Overall 3-3
*Thumbs Up* Nice run with the Deck! Definitely need to pick up a Batterskull or Two.
Hello again, everyone! I'm sorry for not posting in a couple of weeks, I have been busy, but I have been paying attention to (most of) what has been going on in the forum. I am going to share my current decklist and try my hand at formatting (thank you Annihilator for posting the guide for that, I immediately bookmarked it), but I will also link everyone to my deck on TappedOut in case I mess up. I also am in the process of foiling out the deck, and I keep the list on TappedOut up-to-date with what foils are in the deck, what set they are from, etc, if that interests you. And so, without further ado, my current list;
I would also talk in-depth about my experiences at FNM over the past couple of weeks, but they weren't very interesting, so I will just summarize it for you. This weekend, there were a lot more newer people playing, and I got matched up against two of them (we had enough people for five rounds, so keep that in mind). For the competitive players that I did get matched up against, I drew against Jund round 2 and won against a budget version of 8-Rack in round 4. I unfortunately could not stay for the fifth round, since by the time we were done with the fourth, it was 11:30, so I went home. The week before that, I was at the second LGS, and I went 1-3. Round one was against Grishoalbrand, round two was against G/R Tron, round two was against Burn, and round four was against G/R Eldrazi. Not much to say about either of the past couple of FNMs for me, except a couple of things;
1) I would like to say thank you again to Annihilator for making the suggestions for what to cut in my sideboard for the Surgical Extractions - I have been loving the card so far, and I can't see myself playing without it in my sideboard in the near future.
2) I am trying out more mainboard wincons. Currently I am testing with the Batterskull and the Elspeth, Sun's Champion, and have been liking them both so far.
3) I am also trying out Doom Blade as well, mostly for against Eldrazi. I am not playing Go for the Throat, even though we have a favorable matchup against Affinity, simply because I don't like siding out any removal against them. I also don't have any Go for the Throats.
4) This one seems like a weird thing to nitpick, but it is about Baneslayer Angel. I have been constantly flip-flopping between running one and two in the sideboard for... well, almost since I started playing the deck. One one hand, I can see where Baneslayer is good, and I love the card. But on the other hand, the second copy is usually one of my first considerations for cuts when I make changes to the sideboard. I'm not entirely sure if anybody else is having this same dilemma, but I would like to hear (or in this case read) your opinions nonetheless.
And here is the link to my deck on TappedOut, in case I messed up any of the formatting;
EDIT: after a grueling, tedious and banging-my-head-against-a-brick-wall-in-sheer-frustration 20 minutes, I have decided to give up trying to format my decklist properly for now and go play Pauper on MTGO.
I was told that 6-3 is a decent record for my first big tournament. I ended up playing 2 Ghostly Prison in my sb, which seemed quite solid -- bricked Kiki-Chord for a long time, stops the Eldrazi nut draws, seems ok against Zoo. I also had a maindeck Batterskull that is 100% staying in my deck. More info to come soon.
As an aside, my buddy on Jeskai Control went to time twice, when I didn't ever go to time in my rounds. lol
UWB Esper Draw-Go Control (clicky)
UW Azorius Control (clicky)
Currently pursuing a degree in Biochemistry.
EDH: I've decided I don't like multiplayer formats.
6-3 is fantastic for a first big tournie and also with a deck that most people feel is unplayable. Interested in knowing what you lost to. The uw eldrazi list I have a winning record against online. I only lose when they have an eye of ugin in the late game. I would not worry as an esper player since I know something will get banned.
I lost 1-2 to Kiki Chord (it was really close), 0-2 to Abzan Company (I don't know the matchup well enough, and played miserably #punt), and 1-2 to Infect (the last game was on lock if I could just topdeck a land for Verdicting his 2x Hierarchs and Blighted Agent with no hand -- ofc not).
Edit: The Abzan Company guy got really lucky too.
UWB Esper Draw-Go Control (clicky)
UW Azorius Control (clicky)
Currently pursuing a degree in Biochemistry.
EDH: I've decided I don't like multiplayer formats.
Against eldrazi I mulled to 5 game 1 and got stomped, game 2 I mull to 5 again and manage to logic knot a seer to protect my verdict that put him so far behind I had enough time to esper charm my way to glory. In game 3 he manages GQ ony colonnade, crumble the rest and oblivion sower them all into play on his side along with a basic island, all which turns on hit eye of ugin mana. I keep pace with the board through wrathing 1 creature every turn that the eye tutors up at a time due to a low life total and eventually land a grave titan. He makes an attack with a sower into my titan which screamed dismember so I just chumped with a token. I untap and attack with my titan and he animates my colonnade to block. After damage he goes for the dismember which I cryptic to counter and bounce the last colonnade he has in play on his side and re play it. Time is called and on the last possible turn I have the gravy train rides in with his buddies and seals it 2-1.
On UW gifts tron we played 1 game that took up the entire round and time was called just as we started to board. He starts with natural tron into wurmcoil that gets a path. After many turns of draw go and me killing off colonnades I'm getting very scared of emrakul, but I can't risk throwing off my WSZ without back up when he has 3 cards in hand so I sit on it for a long time, perhaps too long. I didn't see a second esper charm until the very end of the game which lead to my super conservative line because if it was stopped I mill out. But before I could he finally draws the tenticle monster.
He resolves iona on white and then hard casts emrakul triggering the time walk. I cast a doom blade on iona and resolve a rev putting me back to 20 and only 5 cards in deck. I take 15 and go down to 6 lands left. Untap and wrath it away and cross my fingers. He draws a blank and I slam eslpeth to hopefully close it out. She dies to a colonnade and I finally manage to empty his hand and resolve a zenith for 3 which made it there just in time to save me from dying to a colonnade. Surprisingly even against tron logic knot was still a hard counter on turn 15, never going to cut this card.
I'll be playing in the legacy open next weekend, but if I can't manage to skillfully dodge graveyard hate I'll play in the modern classic the next day. Crossing my fingers.
I played my first Match against Abzan last night at FNM, and I feel that we have a very solid matchup as long as you can dodge bad luck. Do you run any Shadow of Doubt? It was killer for me in that matchup. In the first game, he had double finks out and I was getting quite low - I go for a path on one of the Finks as he attacks and he responds by trying to Chord out something for 1 (I had no idea what until writing this just now - I'm guessing he was going for a Viscera seer to sac the Finks with). I land a nasty shadow of doubt there, and snapcaster path his other finks and ghost quarter his gavony township all in one turn. That SoD stopped his Chord and allowed 2 "free" paths and a "free" ghost quarter which was just brutal. Since he tapped out for the Chord, I could jam an Elspeth without fear of a Collected Company in response, and she single-handedly ended the game.
That game recap leads to a choice I've been thinking about. SoD is often useless, but has potential for insane upside (like the game above). Much of the time though, I would much rather see a Remand in my opening 7. My deck has 2x SoD 2x Remand at the moment, but I feel like I might want to go up 1 or even 2 Remands. If SoD hadn't been such a grand slam last night in that game, I would probably be strongly considering dropping the pair of them for maybe 1x Remand and 1x Spell Snare (to go up to 3 and 4 total, respectively).
Personally I've always hated SoD and would always rather it was another piece of permission or a wrath. The times where you get a nice blow out would be just as serviceable as a deprive with way more upside at the cost of being able to just cycle it. Our deck has enough air in it as it is and adding any more just leads to too many games where we're spinning our tires and not going anywhere.
I agree that the downside is a big one, but it's still a hard counter at 2 mana which is a big deal in modern. I never use it on turn 2/3 unless there's something especially dangerous like a liliana or a karn in which case I'd gladly pay a much higher price than bouncing a land so that I don't lose on the spot. Unfortunately WotC hates counterspell so deprive and knot are our best options at 2 mana hard counters.
Seems like you could have gone to a gokd day 2 if your top decks cooperated more. I really feel like if more folks played this deck it will get respectable day 2 showings. I feel like it is one good printing away ftom being really goof. Most likely in a good anti aggro card.
Also I am enjoying teferi in this format with chord and compsny decks. The only way they resolve stuff is by baiting at instant speed and also living end is having a pick up in popularity due to being reasonable against both eldraxi and chord decks. I also enjoy the teferi esper charm discard interaction that does not alliw your opponent to respond to discard.
In game one I tap out for a BSkull to stabilize after a while of beats from spirits, a Viscera Seer, and some other threats that got Path'd. At that eot, he companies into Birds of Paradise and Melira (with Seer still on board) and plays Blood Artist into Finks during his turn for infinite. Yuck.
Game two, I able to resolve a Baneslayer and connect with it so I'm at 18 against his Seer, Voice of Resurgence, and some spirits.At my eot, he does a bit of mental math and sacs his Voice for a token. He untaps, flashes back a souls, then plays and flashes back another one for exactsies (huge Voice token) with no cards left in hand. Top card of my deck was a Verdict. smh
UWB Esper Draw-Go Control (clicky)
UW Azorius Control (clicky)
Currently pursuing a degree in Biochemistry.
EDH: I've decided I don't like multiplayer formats.
I actually won a number of games off of mulls to 5/6 yesterday, surprisingly. Also worth noting that nobody ever expected Baneslayer from the board and it won every game it resolved in (except against Abzan Co).
UWB Esper Draw-Go Control (clicky)
UW Azorius Control (clicky)
Currently pursuing a degree in Biochemistry.
EDH: I've decided I don't like multiplayer formats.
4 Spell Snare
2 Logic Knot
4 Cryptic Command
2 Remand
Removal-
4 Path to Exile
1 Condemn
1 Slaughter Pact
3 Supreme Verdict
Card Advantage-
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Esper Charm
4 Think Twice
2 Sphinx's Revelation
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Watery Grave
1 Godless Shrine
1 Drowned Catacomb
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Island
2 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Thoughtseize
2 Porphyry Nodes
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Extirpate
1 Negate
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Wrath of God
1 Narset Transcendent
2 Baneslayer Angel
1 Elspeth Sun's Champion
We played 4 rounds of Swiss before Top 8
Round 1 0-2 Vs Lantern Control
I am simply not set up for this matchup. After he surgical'd my Cryptics, I died to Ensnaring Bridge. I kinda wish that I had stony silence here but I honestly still think I cannot win. Advice?
In hindsight, I probably should have brought in Extirpate and Surgical over more dead removal.
Round 2 2-0 Vs UB Mill
I thought I was quite dead until I met my lord and Savior: The shuffles into your library text on WSZ. I cast it in my upkeep each turn leaving up counter-magic until my opponent died. Game 2 T2 Snapcaster beats killed him.
Round 3 2-0 Vs UW Gifts Tron
Much different match-up than GR. I mean, its almost like my cards matter. I slaughter pacted Iona on white Game 1, to which he (I believe erroneously) conceded. He didn't seem dead to me. At least make me remember my pact! The player was apparently quite tilted as he then conceded the match and dropped from the tournament.
Round 4 Intentional draw. Small tournament, so we decided to lock up two spots in top 4. Less Burn there.
Top 4
We enter-
1st- Abzan Company
2nd- Abzan Rock
3rd- Eper Control (Me)
4th- Lantern Control
2-1 vs Abzan Rock
Game 1 I narrowly dodged dying to Liliana but managed to kill her with the Cryptic trick before rippng Rev for 5.
I died game 2 when I was forced to jam Elspeth into a board of 5/6 Tarmogoyf and Siege Rhino. I minused her, and was utterly destroyed by a Golgari Charm. A similar situation occurred Game 3, but I ripped running Baneslayer Angels into Elspeth and managed to do the Fabled "Race you out".
We then split top two.
I would like to know if anyone has any thoughts on my list or sideboard decisions.
Hopefully you guys don't ban me from the forum for losing to tribal snakes haha. Also, congrats @TheAnnihilator0798 that is a great result. I love it when Esper players do well. I plan on streaming again tonight if anyone want to see me get rekt
Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/zdeathblow
Do you play dsphere or night of souls' betrayal in the board? I personally play dsphere against tokens and bounce it with cryptic to keep killing tokens.
Don't forget Painter's Servant + Chaotic Backlash
OMG that was hilarious. I almost forgot about that hahahah
Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/zdeathblow
1x Mystic Gate
1x Drowned Catacomb
4x Celestial Colonnade
3x Ghost Quarter
2x Island
2x Plains
1x Swamp
4x Flooded Strand
3x Polluted Delta
2x Hallowed Fountain
2x Watery Grave
1x Godless Shrine
Wincons (3)
1x Gideon Jura
1x Batterskull
1x White Sun’s Zenith
4x Path to Exile
1x Go for the Throat
3x Supreme Verdict
Counters (11)
3x Spell Snare
2x Logic Knot
2x Remand
4x Cryptic Command
Card Advantage (12)
4x Think Twice
2x Snapcaster Mage
4x Esper Charm
2x Sphinx’s Revelation
3x Stony Silence
2x Baneslayer Angel
2x Condemn
2x Ghostly Prison
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Thoughtseize
1x Timely Reinforcements
1x Wrath of God
Game One:
I mulled to five, kept a marginal hand that couldn’t do anything against the horde. (0-1)
Game Two
Kept a decent hand, got to wrath his board twice in the game before I played a Batterskull, followed by Baneslayer Angel, and equipping Slayer with said Batterskull. Lol. (1-1)
Game Three:
We played a longer game involving Paths and Condemns into Wraths before Esper Charm began to slowly clear away his hand. After he began aggressively activating Mutavaults into snap-blocks and Condemn, he was on 3 lands and no cards in hand. Time was about to be called in 10 mins, so I picked up the pace and got there with Colonnade beats. (2-1)
1-0 overall
Thinking about this match makes me laugh even now.
Game One:
Game one took 40 mins, which is pretty good considering I had no cards left in deck by the end of it. After a long stint of draw-go action, we started to get into some fights. He’d cast Restoration Angel, and I’d Path it. The issue was that he had three Ghost Quarters on the field, so I couldn’t try to win by Colonnades – and all of my wincons were in the bottom 4 cards of my deck. I was casting Revs for 4-5, which he let resolve because he believed I would deck myself – which I did. However, I kept casting White Sun’s Zenith for 3-4 while holding up counter backup to have a card left in deck. I did this about three times. We even had to have a judge randomize my 2 card deck of Colonnade and Zenith since neither he nor I could shuffle it in good conscience. He got pummeled to death by cats. I had always heard about using Zenith to stop yourself from decking, but I never thought it would actually happen. Best. Game. Ever. (1-0)
Game Two:
Draw-go for a little while, until I Surgical Extraction’d his Resto Angels (so I could save my few paths for his Colonnades). He was stuck on lands for a while, so I thoughtseized him seeing Rest in Peace, Kitchen Finks, Mana Leak, and Cryptic Command. I took Leak, and main-phased an arbitrarily large Zenith. He scooped. (2-0)
2-0 overall
Game One:
We hit the grind for a while, with counters and removal flying, but at the end of the day I lost to the combo with no answers left. (0-1)
Game Two:
It was grindy again. I remember I cut most of my counters in sideboarding (except Logic Knot, so I could counter Chord of Calling) so that I could race in a topdeck war. It eventually came to my Ghostly Prison and Baneslayer Angel against his Blood Baron of Vizkopa and useless board of creatures. An eventual White Sun’s Zenith ensured I had enough damage for lethal. (1-1)
Game Three:
After a Ghostly Prison on turn 3, the game came to a screeching halt. He was getting in for chip damage while I was drawing blanks (lands). I played a Baneslayer that got path’d, had to activate my Colonnades into Ghost Quarters and Paths to block. In the end, he had enough removal to get through – even with both Ghostly Prisons on board at the end of the game. My buddy, who was watching from my opponent’s side, said he got really lucky by topdecking 2 Paths to stop me from blocking with Colonnades. (1-2)
2-1 Overall
I’ve already talked at length about this match, but I’ll put a small summary here anyways.
Game One
After some back and forth and removal/counters, I slam a Batterskull to ride away with the game. He Collected Company's into a Melira, Sylvok Outcast (with Viscera Seer already in play), and plays Kitchen Finks and Blood Artist from hand to finish up the combo and kill me on the spot. (0-1)
Game Two:
Again, we grind for a while until all he has left are a few Spirit tokens, a Viscera Seer, and a Voice of Resurgence against my Baneslayer Angel. After swinging in with the Slayer and going to 18, he sacs his Voice for an Elemental token, plays three (!) more Lingering Souls while commenting how badly he’s overextending into a wrath, and swings for exact lethal against my open one mana (I played a Path and flashbacked Think Twice on my turn to avoid Voice triggers). My top card was a Verdict. (0-2)
2-2 Overall
Game One:
I kept a sketchy hand of Logic Knot, Esper Charm, Gideon, and lands on the draw. It went from bad to worse when he played Windswept Heath, fetched into a Forest, and a Noble Hierarch. I knew instantly in my mind that he was on Infect, and I was in bad shape. He played an Infect dude (Viridian Emissary), pumped it up, and I died. (0-1)
Game Two:
I mulled to 5 and kept a hand with two lands (Watery Grave and Ghost Quarter) because it had T1 Thoughtseize into Spell Snare. I cast Thoughtseize, and he said his hand was "Thoughtseize-proof" as he smiled and showed me this: 2x Inkmoth Nexus, Forest, Breeding Pool, Vines of Vastwood, Glistener Elf, and Blighted Agent. I took the Glistener and passed. He plays Inkmoth and says go. I untap, draw Watery Grave #2 and play it tapped before passing. He plays Blighted Agent, which I Snare, and I topdeck… SURGICAL EXTRACTION. Hell yeah. I play GQ and destroy his Inkmoth, then Extraction it mainphase (to avoid counters) getting the other one out of his hand. He’s left with no threats, and I topdeck lands into Baneslayer on turn 5. He can’t come back from it. Thoughtseize-proof indeed. (1-1)
Game Three:
I mulled again, getting stuck on lands, but this time I didn’t have everything I needed. After some back and forth, I'm at 9 infect while he has a Blighted Agent and 2 Noble Hierarchs on the field. It was really frustrating, because I had a Thoughtseize and Go for the Throat (but not enough black mana to cast both – I was on Island, Mystic Gate, Watery Grave), so I had to try the Go for the Throat without any protection for it. He had the Vines. Even more frustrating, I also had a Supreme Verdict in hand but I couldn’t get another land. Even my opponent said it was extremely lucky that he faded a land for multiple turns, since he'd seen my hand via Gitaxian Probe. (1-2)
Overall 2-3
Game One:
My opponent had a weird mix up with seating arrangements and got a game loss for being at the wrong table. (1-0)
Game Two
I kept a 2 land hand with a Godless Shrine and a fetch on the draw, but he plays a turn 2 Suppression Field. Long story short, he’s making 6 mana with a Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx before I hit a 2nd usable land while he also has a Sigil of the Empty Throne on the field. I couldn’t recover. (1-1)
Game Three:
I’m on the play with Remand, Thoughtseize, Spell Snare (I kept them in due to Luminarch Ascension and Runed Halo; I knew he had them even though I didn’t see them G1 since I’ve seen QTwelve’s video against W Enchantments – thank you Q!) and lands. I Thoughtseize away a Sigil and draw a Surgical Extraction to take care of it. I then Snare his Luminarch Ascension, and Snap-Surgical that too. A bunch of remands later, I draw another Surg and counter+Surg his Runed Halos. He was so pissed. I played a Baneslayer Angel, and Cryptic -- bounce Baneslayer and draw -- in response to 2 different Supreme Verdicts. Swinging in with it through 3 Ghostly Prisons got me the win. (2-1)
Overall 3-3
My opponent didn’t show up after 10 mins, so the judges told me I got it 2-0. Having the break was definitely nice.
Overall 4-3
Game One:
I had dodged the boogeyman up until this point, and was a little tense to see T1 Eldrazi temple. Little did I know that he’d kept a hand with T1 Matter Reshaper and a pile of Simian Spirit Guides/Dismembers thinking it would be good enough. I was able to deal with the Reshaper, three Mutavaults, and a Blinkmoth Nexus, then counter some really late game threats and play Batterskull three times, each time drawing out a Dismember and 4 life from my opponent. I saw that he had both Wastes out, so I used GQ proactively to keep him off of Eye of Ugin mana. I won G1 easily off of an arbitrarily large White Sun’s Zenith and Batterskull. Did you know that a 4/4 germ with lifelink favorably blocks Thought-Knot Seer, Matter Reshaper, Mutavualts, and the usual Eldrazi Mimic? =D (1-0)
Game Two:
He plays a T2 Thought-Knot Seer revealing lands, Ghostly Prison, 2x Baneslayer Angels, and a Cryptic (I kept the hand because I thought that Ghostly might slow him down enough for me to draw into it. He takes the Prison so I couldn’t untap and slam it during my turn 3, but he durdles a tiny bit with Relic of Progenitus and such and my Baneslayer double-team hits the board. I keep attacking with one Slayer while keeping the other up to block. He played an Endless One for five, triggering a mimic to attack with it into my open Baneslayer – he didn’t realize that Baneslayer has first strike. He couldn’t find an answer to either Slayer, so it was a very easy 2-0, which seemed extremely unusual to me. (2-0)
Overall 5-3
Game One:
It’s the usual grind into White Sun’s Zenith. I answered his Tarmogoyf on 2 with a Snare, Logic Knotted his Lingering Souls, and took beats from the other two Spirits while he had a pile of removal in hand (so he claimed after the match). I remembered the forum’s advice against mind rotting a BGx opponent in game one, so I used Charms to draw 2 instead. I got there off of the back of 3 Cat tokens and some disruption. (1-0)
Game Two:
We both got stuck on lands, but I drew out of it first. I was able to trick him into swinging with his 4th land (a Stirring Wildwood) by clicking my mechanical pencil like I was about to take the damage from it – my Condemn sent it away. From there, a Gideon Jura into a Baneslayer took it home, mopping up every creature he played and putting my life total far out of reach. (2-0)
Overall 6-3
Ironically, I never played against Affinity when I had decided to play 3x Stony Silence in my board specifically for that matchup. I didn’t side them in the whole day – not even against the Aether Vial deck (Slivers). I also elected not to play Elspeth, Sun’s Champion or Celestial Purge in the board, and I must admit that I don’t really miss them. Ghostly Prison seemed OK; it definitely shores up enough matchups (Kiki Chord, Eldrazi, Aggro) that I think I’ll keep using it. I was impressed very much with Batterskull, and not so impressed with Gideon Jura even though it was great against BGx. It felt like I would always cast Gideon into a lethal board to buy a turn, or he’d take 3-4 damage, and I couldn’t minus him if I wanted to keep him alive. He also has a non-bo with Ghosly, as the opponent doesn't have to pay 2 mana to attack Gideon (since Prison says "attacks you", not "you or a planeswalker you control") He was also terrible to have in the control mirror. I might start playing the 4th Wrath or a 2nd Batterskull over him.
UWB Esper Draw-Go Control (clicky)
UW Azorius Control (clicky)
Currently pursuing a degree in Biochemistry.
EDH: I've decided I don't like multiplayer formats.
*Thumbs Up* Nice run with the Deck! Definitely need to pick up a Batterskull or Two.
Twitch Stream: http://www.twitch.tv/qtwelve
4x Celestial Colonnade
1x Creeping Tar Pit
4x Flooded Strand
2x Ghost Quarter
1x Godless Shrine
2x Hallowed Fountain
3x Island
2x Plains
4x Polluted Delta
1x Swamp
2x Watery Grave
Removal
2x Comdemn
1x Doom Blade
4x Path to Exile
3x Supreme Verdict
4x Esper Charm
2x Sphinx's Revelation
4x Think Twice
Permission
3x Cryptic Command
1x Deprive
2x Logic Knot
3x Spell Snare
Wincons
1x White Sun's Zenith
1x Batterskull
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2x Snapcaster Mage
2x Baneslayer Angel
1x Celestial Purge
1x Dispel
1x Negate
2x Stony Silence
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Thoughtseize
2x Timely Reinforcements
1x Vendilion Clique
1x Wrath of God
I would also talk in-depth about my experiences at FNM over the past couple of weeks, but they weren't very interesting, so I will just summarize it for you. This weekend, there were a lot more newer people playing, and I got matched up against two of them (we had enough people for five rounds, so keep that in mind). For the competitive players that I did get matched up against, I drew against Jund round 2 and won against a budget version of 8-Rack in round 4. I unfortunately could not stay for the fifth round, since by the time we were done with the fourth, it was 11:30, so I went home. The week before that, I was at the second LGS, and I went 1-3. Round one was against Grishoalbrand, round two was against G/R Tron, round two was against Burn, and round four was against G/R Eldrazi. Not much to say about either of the past couple of FNMs for me, except a couple of things;
1) I would like to say thank you again to Annihilator for making the suggestions for what to cut in my sideboard for the Surgical Extractions - I have been loving the card so far, and I can't see myself playing without it in my sideboard in the near future.
2) I am trying out more mainboard wincons. Currently I am testing with the Batterskull and the Elspeth, Sun's Champion, and have been liking them both so far.
3) I am also trying out Doom Blade as well, mostly for against Eldrazi. I am not playing Go for the Throat, even though we have a favorable matchup against Affinity, simply because I don't like siding out any removal against them. I also don't have any Go for the Throats.
4) This one seems like a weird thing to nitpick, but it is about Baneslayer Angel. I have been constantly flip-flopping between running one and two in the sideboard for... well, almost since I started playing the deck. One one hand, I can see where Baneslayer is good, and I love the card. But on the other hand, the second copy is usually one of my first considerations for cuts when I make changes to the sideboard. I'm not entirely sure if anybody else is having this same dilemma, but I would like to hear (or in this case read) your opinions nonetheless.
And here is the link to my deck on TappedOut, in case I messed up any of the formatting;
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/03-01-16-esper-control-modern/
EDIT: after a grueling, tedious and banging-my-head-against-a-brick-wall-in-sheer-frustration 20 minutes, I have decided to give up trying to format my decklist properly for now and go play Pauper on MTGO.