It's true it's not really a rogue deck but it is also not one that anybody knows about. Pack Rat, Persecutor, Grunt, and Wargear are all surprises every time.
Bah, I got my butt kicked today, 1-4 in a field of 50. (Dropped out before the final round.) This was my first event at a level above FNM and it showed. Lost to UW Control, RG Tron, and also Abzan twice, all 1-2. Beat Affinity 2-1. I felt outclassed in the UW Match but the others felt like they could have gone either way if I hadn't had to mulligan so much today. Made a couple of really bad misplays as well, which is a regular issue for me.
Sorry to hear about your performance, was it a SCG modern 5k? I played in one a few weeks ago and went 2-4 before I dropped. Three of my game losses were really close and it was primary due to me not hitting my 4th land drop even though I run 24 lands in my deck. I was able to beat tron with the beat down plan of bob and wargear, which is usually a pretty bad matchup for us. My 4th game lost was against storm, which I have never played against before. He beat me on turn 3 both games. I might of been able to take game 1, but I held off on my IoK on turn 3 because I thought that I was playing against twin.
Why are you running celstial purge and go for the throat over 2 copies of vicitim of night? Vicitim of Night is the best black removal out there right now and celstial purge is more of a sideboard card against twin (for Keranos).
I still think that our biggest problem is that we a are lacking a 2 drop beater. Joton Grunt is great against grixis, but it is pretty dead in almost every other matchup. Unless you play it late game.
I play dark blast and slaughter pact and wouldn't recommend cutting either. They are really easy to sideboard out and phenomenal in the correct matchups.(affinity for dark blast, twin for pact
Twin is a pretty good matchup for us. We have discard, liliana, and a lot of kill spells. I look forward to playing against twin or any grixis deck.
I don't have much experience against affinity though, therefore I cannot comment about that. But I believe that playing 1 card main board against a deck that you might face will make your deck weaker overall. Our deck, BW midrange, is far from figured out, but I have not had a good experience with darkblast. It was only good for me when I had it in my opening hand. But now there people are playing a lot more two toughness creatures which makes darkblast horrible. Darkblast doesn't do much against a lot of our problematic matchups: zoo, burn, abzan midrange, merfolk, tron, and combo decks. I don't see affinity as being a bad game 1 matchup, but I definitely see it being in our favor after sideboarding.
Edit: I would like to add that everytime that I play percy, people are definatly afraid of it. It is the biggest creature in modern right now (other than Tron's creatures) and it closes out games fast. Since our deck is built around this beater he is pretty efficent. Our deck is more of a turn 6 kill deck in a turn 4 kill format.
Hey herfs, good to see you. I was just getting on tonight to mention that I'll run a singleton Vampiric Link tomorrow, and to see if anyone else has had experience with this card. Thoughts, anyone? Hey davemo88, did you try Percy and Wargear for a few games yet?
That play report was the SCG Modern 50 States event. It was a high level of competition and though I took at least one game each match I also got outplayed. I also made some mistakes. There's a certain element of luck as well, especially after boarding; not seeing hate can make it pretty challenging. But it was my first time at a higher level event, and I never play my best in those situations.
Celestial Purge is a new maybe card right now. I see lots of Grixis, and Purge hits lots of stuff Victim does not, but you're right, it's dead in some matchups. Though Go for the Throat is easier to cast T2 and in general, Victim is largely the best of the three for critters; but Purge oftentimes has a target, and versatility has its plusses too. It works on Bob and Percy so I thought I'd give it a try.
Affinity feels favorable to me for sure, especially post-board, and I've played against it a bunch, relatively speaking. I have had my butt kicked a few times by other aggro decks, though, so I am side boarding Damnation x2 AND Engineered Explosives x2 as an experiment. Grixis _____ in general has been tough for me, and I face a lot of skilled players running all variants of these decks. I was considering Defense Grid vs. Snapcaster and all his targets but I seem to be all alone on this, since I can't find anybody else running it anywhere, maybe because of Kolaghan's Command.
Wait wait, coldtonight, we don't hurt ourselves with Rest in Peace? I have not been running it because Lingering Souls has proven to be one of my best cards (especially with Wargear attached). RiP also neuters my Jötun Grunt, which not everyone is playing, I know. I am going to try a 3-of Leyline of the Void; there will be a 50% chance (total) to see it in either the opening hand of the first seven or a mull to six. Might be too slow, though.
What was your experience with Grunt, davemo88? Also, are you still liking the full commitment to Shambling Vent even in the absence of Elspeth? I am thinking about bringing it back in as a 1- or 2-of after a couple of grindy losses to opposing man lands.
I've been playing on cockatrice lately as well as at the shop once or twice a week. Liking the extra practice.
I think Elspeth is just icing on Shambling Vent so I'd still play 4. Jotun Grunt was bad. Mostly I wanted to sacrifice it to Disciple of Bolas but it never happened. It is way too unreliable. The best matchups for it are probably Living End and Grixis Control. Living End can easily wait it out or go off before it makes a big difference. Grixis Control can delve away their yard to kill your guy for free. It's too bad Scavenging Ooze isn't a black card. If you want maindeck graveyard hate I'd go with Relic of Progenitus or Nihil Spellbomb.
Wait wait, coldtonight, we don't hurt ourselves with Rest in Peace? I have not been running it because Lingering Souls has proven to be one of my best cards
I believe every single Grixis Control deck I've played against sideboarded Night of Souls Betrayal vs me.
Which is great because I side out the souls for RiP and they just can't play if it ressolves. And it does ressolve often because they too think we can't win without souls, which is absolutely wrong.
Jotun Grunt was bad. Mostly I wanted to sacrifice it to Disciple of Bolas but it never happened. It is way too unreliable. The best matchups for it are probably Living End and Grixis Control. Living End can easily wait it out or go off before it makes a big difference. Grixis Control can delve away their yard to kill your guy for free. It's too bad Scavenging Ooze isn't a black card. If you want maindeck graveyard hate I'd go with Relic of Progenitus or Nihil Spellbomb.
It's true Grunt is often a dead card in some matches. However I've had him a draw a lot of removal over the months. He has also put in serious work against Dredgevine, other Grixis builds, Scavenging Ooze and Goyf in BGx, random mill builds, etc. Artifacts don't provide any pressure, has been my thinking.
Wait wait, coldtonight, we don't hurt ourselves with Rest in Peace? I have not been running it because Lingering Souls has proven to be one of my best cards
I believe every single Grixis Control deck I've played against sideboarded Night of Souls Betrayal vs me. Which is great because I side out the souls for RiP.
I suppose I could side out some copies of Lingering Souls if I sided in RiP, I've had blinders on about that I guess. But in my build it would not be enough to overcome Night because that card also neutralizes Bob, and also Rat unless we have Mutavault plus five other lands and a card to discard. I also see plenty of Grixis Twin and Grixis Delver as well. Lingering Souls is good in those matchups and I want graveyard hate there. Rest in Peace is definitely the best graveyard hate in the format but the symmetrical nature is still pushing me away from it.
I don't run Gatekeeper, my list is pretty much still the last one I posted here because there hasn't been any competitive Modern in my city lately and while I've stayed on edge testing my list, I haven't had to update much since I don't know what the meta will be like when the next local Modern league starts.
The lands are a mess right now I haven't done enough testing to get a feel for the right distribution. I'm only splashing red because I feel like the deck's biggest weakness is life gain and the right removal. terminate helps get rid of cards like victim of night/dismember, that can't hit everything. lightning helix is still removal with added life gain that can also be thrown at the opponents face. splashing red also opens up our sideboard for Kolaghan's command and crumble to dust against tron which feels like our worst match up. I think pack rat, in our attrition based strategy, is our best wincon. I used to run mutavault, but it wasn't always necessary to get the rat train rolling... I also kinda agree with siriusB that though i did like the percy wargear combo, it wasnt always reliable to get the pieces together. would love to hear any feedback you guys have with a small splash for red
With our lists running Liliana of the Veil, Lingering Souls, and (for some) Grafted Wargear, I don't think we have room for another 3-Drop, especially one that dies to Lightning Bolt, and doesn't do much of anything if it does manage to stick.
I agree that Adaptive Automaton doesn't look like the right call, at least for my build. I think it would work amazingly IF it could pump BOTH Rat and Spirit tokens. But you have to choose one. And it dies to loads of different removal spells. And, as mentioned, my 3-drop slot is already full (at 8 cards.)
I am trying Leyline of the Void as my sideboard graveyard hate as a 3-of. I boarded it in for one match so far against a Grixis Twin build and despite having to hard cast it on T5 it definitely factored into the game, and it still gave my Grunt some breathing room for a few turns. I will report when I have more play experience.
Leyline of the Void against Grixis faces the same problem Leyline of Sanctity does against Burn. In your opening hand, it's nearly unbeatable. Outside of that, it's too slow and may not even have much of an impact, (and unlike Rest in Peace, it doesn't exile graveyards on ETB, so whatever is in the graveyard beforehand is there to stay.) It's still very good in the right situations though, so keep testing it and see how it works.
I agree that Adaptive Automaton doesn't look like the right call, at least for my build. I think it would work amazingly IF it could pump BOTH Rat and Spirit tokens. But you have to choose one. And it dies to loads of different removal spells. And, as mentioned, my 3-drop slot is already full (at 8 cards.)
I am trying Leyline of the Void as my sideboard graveyard hate as a 3-of. I boarded it in for one match so far against a Grixis Twin build and despite having to hard cast it on T5 it definitely factored into the game, and it still gave my Grunt some breathing room for a few turns. I will report when I have more play experience.
Yeah, Adaptive Automaton is probably not at all the right choice. I'm just happy to see some out-of-the-box thinking. Feel like this deck is in a bit of rut.
Well, maybe. A deck is a deck is a deck, each one does what it does, to my way of thinking. I like this build because it's interactive and demands attention and thought about lines of play and has a decent match-up against a lot of the field. A new card from Oath would be rad.
This deck is missing Innocent Blood and Vindicate. I was so excited when they spoiled Utter End, but that ended up being not good enough.
I'm currently playing Junk but Deadguy Ale will always be a pet deck for me, so i'm always testing some builds even though i don't post in here very often. I recently started trying Hangarback Walker. This card is really great on grindy matchups, but it is kinda slow sometimes. The one card that i'm really starting to like is Elspeth, knight-errant. She can close up games so fast against decks like Jund and she is hard to deal with as well. And as someone already mentioned, she also plays really well with Shambling Vent.
I wish we had another strong 2-drop! Pack Rat is good but really clunky sometimes Especially when i'm used to casting Tarmogoyf on turn 2, haha. I tried Seeker of the Way for some time, but i felt it was too weak. Too bad we can't have Stoneforge Mystic
I lote Rest in peace in this deck. I side it in against grixis, jund, junk, and an esper control deck that is around here. Not to mention living death and dredgevine or life from the loam strategies. I usually leave lingering souls in anyway since I only have two RiP it is not a guarantee I will get it, sometimes against jund/junk I will just wait until after I play souls to drop it, and worst case scenario souls still makes two fliers with one card.
I have won my last two modern FNMs with this deck. I am running shamling vents as a two of but I am not in love with it. It is crazy slow.
Flying lets it push through damage where my bears get stuck on the ground by unfavorable trades. Even a Brimaz can get stuck on the ground relatively easily.
Vigilance keeps it up to hold off their bears and dorks. Also can block Pestermites and Affinity's fliers.
Low mana cost helps pick up tempo by being able to potentially cast Inquistion, Path, or an additional creature the turn it comes out.
Doesn't die to pyroclasm the way almost everything else in the deck does.
No drawback that applies while in play, so it fits with the long game the deck tries to play.
The first downside is that it does die to bolt. But I already have a lot of targets they want to bolt anyway, the removal might be saturated.
And second, I can't play it on the first three turns. But it seems likely I'll have other action to play on those turns.
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Sorry to hear about your performance, was it a SCG modern 5k? I played in one a few weeks ago and went 2-4 before I dropped. Three of my game losses were really close and it was primary due to me not hitting my 4th land drop even though I run 24 lands in my deck. I was able to beat tron with the beat down plan of bob and wargear, which is usually a pretty bad matchup for us. My 4th game lost was against storm, which I have never played against before. He beat me on turn 3 both games. I might of been able to take game 1, but I held off on my IoK on turn 3 because I thought that I was playing against twin.
Why are you running celstial purge and go for the throat over 2 copies of vicitim of night? Vicitim of Night is the best black removal out there right now and celstial purge is more of a sideboard card against twin (for Keranos).
I still think that our biggest problem is that we a are lacking a 2 drop beater. Joton Grunt is great against grixis, but it is pretty dead in almost every other matchup. Unless you play it late game.
Twin is a pretty good matchup for us. We have discard, liliana, and a lot of kill spells. I look forward to playing against twin or any grixis deck.
I don't have much experience against affinity though, therefore I cannot comment about that. But I believe that playing 1 card main board against a deck that you might face will make your deck weaker overall. Our deck, BW midrange, is far from figured out, but I have not had a good experience with darkblast. It was only good for me when I had it in my opening hand. But now there people are playing a lot more two toughness creatures which makes darkblast horrible. Darkblast doesn't do much against a lot of our problematic matchups: zoo, burn, abzan midrange, merfolk, tron, and combo decks. I don't see affinity as being a bad game 1 matchup, but I definitely see it being in our favor after sideboarding.
Edit: I would like to add that everytime that I play percy, people are definatly afraid of it. It is the biggest creature in modern right now (other than Tron's creatures) and it closes out games fast. Since our deck is built around this beater he is pretty efficent. Our deck is more of a turn 6 kill deck in a turn 4 kill format.
CBW midrange deck
CBW eldrazi processor deck
CBW bw eldrazi shadow midrange
That play report was the SCG Modern 50 States event. It was a high level of competition and though I took at least one game each match I also got outplayed. I also made some mistakes. There's a certain element of luck as well, especially after boarding; not seeing hate can make it pretty challenging. But it was my first time at a higher level event, and I never play my best in those situations.
Celestial Purge is a new maybe card right now. I see lots of Grixis, and Purge hits lots of stuff Victim does not, but you're right, it's dead in some matchups. Though Go for the Throat is easier to cast T2 and in general, Victim is largely the best of the three for critters; but Purge oftentimes has a target, and versatility has its plusses too. It works on Bob and Percy so I thought I'd give it a try.
Affinity feels favorable to me for sure, especially post-board, and I've played against it a bunch, relatively speaking. I have had my butt kicked a few times by other aggro decks, though, so I am side boarding Damnation x2 AND Engineered Explosives x2 as an experiment. Grixis _____ in general has been tough for me, and I face a lot of skilled players running all variants of these decks. I was considering Defense Grid vs. Snapcaster and all his targets but I seem to be all alone on this, since I can't find anybody else running it anywhere, maybe because of Kolaghan's Command.
Percy is a house.
I played some games with this mash-up:
4x Marsh Flats
4x Shambling Vent
4x Mutavault
3x Godless Shrine
3x Swamp
2x Polluted Delta
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Miren, the Moaning Well
1x Plains
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Path to Exile
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Thoughtseize
Two
4x Dark Confidant
4x Pack Rat
2x Jotun Grunt
2x Go for the Throat
4x Lingering Souls
3x Liliana of the Veil
2x Grafted Wargear
Four
3x Abyssal Persecutor
1x Disciple of Bolas
It's fun but Abyssal Persecutor's drawback is still too much for me. There are plenty of four-drops that win the game, e.g. Hero of Bladehold, with no explicit drawbacks. Disciple of Bolas is sweet though. Grafted Wargear is definitely better than it looks and I am going to try it without Abyssal Persecutor. It's also a cool combo with Disciple.
What was your experience with Grunt, davemo88? Also, are you still liking the full commitment to Shambling Vent even in the absence of Elspeth? I am thinking about bringing it back in as a 1- or 2-of after a couple of grindy losses to opposing man lands.
I've been playing on cockatrice lately as well as at the shop once or twice a week. Liking the extra practice.
I believe every single Grixis Control deck I've played against sideboarded Night of Souls Betrayal vs me.
Which is great because I side out the souls for RiP and they just can't play if it ressolves. And it does ressolve often because they too think we can't win without souls, which is absolutely wrong.
Glad you liked the Wargear!
I suppose I could side out some copies of Lingering Souls if I sided in RiP, I've had blinders on about that I guess. But in my build it would not be enough to overcome Night because that card also neutralizes Bob, and also Rat unless we have Mutavault plus five other lands and a card to discard. I also see plenty of Grixis Twin and Grixis Delver as well. Lingering Souls is good in those matchups and I want graveyard hate there. Rest in Peace is definitely the best graveyard hate in the format but the symmetrical nature is still pushing me away from it.
You're still on the Gatekeeper of Malakir approach? Or are you running Mardu now?
And I gave up on Mardu, it just doesn't win.
4 dark confidant
1 jotun grunt
2 brimaz, king of oreskos
3 lightning helix
4 path to exile
2 terminate
1 go for the throat
3 liliana of the veil
2 sorin solemn visitor
1 grafted wargear
4 lingering souls
4 inquisition of kozilek
3 thoughtseize
4 godless shrine
4 marsh flats
3 plains
3 swamp
1 sacred foundry
1 blood crypt
2 arid mesa
1 urborg tomb of yawgmoth
1 vault of the archangel
The lands are a mess right now I haven't done enough testing to get a feel for the right distribution. I'm only splashing red because I feel like the deck's biggest weakness is life gain and the right removal. terminate helps get rid of cards like victim of night/dismember, that can't hit everything. lightning helix is still removal with added life gain that can also be thrown at the opponents face. splashing red also opens up our sideboard for Kolaghan's command and crumble to dust against tron which feels like our worst match up. I think pack rat, in our attrition based strategy, is our best wincon. I used to run mutavault, but it wasn't always necessary to get the rat train rolling... I also kinda agree with siriusB that though i did like the percy wargear combo, it wasnt always reliable to get the pieces together. would love to hear any feedback you guys have with a small splash for red
Oh, that's an interesting idea! Let's get the gears grinding!
I am trying Leyline of the Void as my sideboard graveyard hate as a 3-of. I boarded it in for one match so far against a Grixis Twin build and despite having to hard cast it on T5 it definitely factored into the game, and it still gave my Grunt some breathing room for a few turns. I will report when I have more play experience.
Yeah, Adaptive Automaton is probably not at all the right choice. I'm just happy to see some out-of-the-box thinking. Feel like this deck is in a bit of rut.
I'm currently playing Junk but Deadguy Ale will always be a pet deck for me, so i'm always testing some builds even though i don't post in here very often. I recently started trying Hangarback Walker. This card is really great on grindy matchups, but it is kinda slow sometimes. The one card that i'm really starting to like is Elspeth, knight-errant. She can close up games so fast against decks like Jund and she is hard to deal with as well. And as someone already mentioned, she also plays really well with Shambling Vent.
I wish we had another strong 2-drop! Pack Rat is good but really clunky sometimes Especially when i'm used to casting Tarmogoyf on turn 2, haha. I tried Seeker of the Way for some time, but i felt it was too weak. Too bad we can't have Stoneforge Mystic
I have won my last two modern FNMs with this deck. I am running shamling vents as a two of but I am not in love with it. It is crazy slow.
My thoughts are:
The first downside is that it does die to bolt. But I already have a lot of targets they want to bolt anyway, the removal might be saturated.
And second, I can't play it on the first three turns. But it seems likely I'll have other action to play on those turns.