I do it for 10 all the time,
Playing/chording a t4 elesh norn hoses a lot of decks.
You're also comparing what is essentially a combo oriented ramp deck with a toolbox to a value based midrange-toolbox strategy and talking as if though MU's are even remotely similar.
While I find your list interesting and definitely capable of producing large amounts of mana early on it's hardly comparable to the game plan of most Kiki Chord variants discussed here.
I do it for 10 all the time,
Playing/chording a t4 elesh norn hoses a lot of decks.
You're also comparing what is essentially a combo oriented ramp deck with a toolbox to a value based midrange-toolbox strategy and talking as if though MU's are even remotely similar.
While I find your list interesting and definitely capable of producing large amounts of mana early on it's hardly comparable to the game plan of most Kiki Chord variants discussed here.
MU's are similar to a point, the difference is options of card choices. There is a reason why i give like 4-5 different card options for each type of kiki chord to help the MU.
And the decks run more similar then you think. Both lists go value/silver bullet creatures into a combo, its just my value creatures are on the more defense/ramp emphasis. I have both lists built and test them a lot vs the meta.
But onto the standard kiki list.
Coco/chord combo is outdone by abzan compamy as they have better value creatures.
Onto trying to midrange beatdown
Deaths shadow just steaight up does it a lot better.
So that puts kikichord into a very odd posistion that requires the deck to make a massive change to stay realevent. Is walls/defense the best way to go? Or should we do what infect/grxis twin did and trasistion into more blue and counter heavy list?
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I've been trying out a a 4-color list including Collected Company and Chord of Calling. Used to be on the Kik-Chord plan, but wanted to expand into playing with my Noble Hierarchs and Companies. Is that far too greedy? Any feedback would certainly be appreciated.
Local Meta Overview (from the players that I know):
~40% Tron (UTron, Eldrazi Tron, G/B Tron)
1 Bant Eldrazi
1 Abzan Company
1 Sun and Moon
1 G/R Titanshift
1 U/R Gifts Storm
2 Ad Nauseum Combo
It was suggested to me by a Tron player on Monday before the MNM Modern fired that the Crumble to Dust would probably be better than the Worship I had in there. Unified Will was fantastic every game against Tron.
Lost to goblins by a turn game 1. Game 2 I lost from a misplay. I forgot that legion loyalist made it so tokens can't block or I would have had lethal on board with my two tokens.
Round 3 I played against emeria control and won in 2 games.
Round 4 played drazi and taxes. Just bad luck and went to turns game 2. He won game 1. I was playing the nahiri build, but black splash. I'm going to take a bit of a break and play something else. I think after nearly 2 years of playing this deck, I need a break. I love it, but my meta is a bit too hostile to it and everyone knows I'm on it.
Hoogland ran 23 lands with a 9th fetch, I prefer the Noble Hierarch. Should note I would fit in a Horizon Canopy if I owned one, either over the second Ravine or second Thicket. I also shaved the 4th Nahiri (which I find clunky) for an Izzet Charm which is a nice flex card. I'd like to find room for Qasali Pridemage but I'm not sure what to cut. Possibly the 4th Voice or Wall would be correct. The other thing I want to test is cutting the Emrakul for a Reveillark. I find the Emrakul combo to often be redundant/unnecessary and suspect that ulting out Reveillark would often provide enough value to win, and casting/chording for Rev is so backbreaking in many of the matchups that this configuration is targeting (namely the slower ones).
I like the blue in a metagame where the swarmy aggressive decks (zoo, affinity, dredge) are less common, and the aggressive decks that exist are more combo/big creature oriented (infect, death's shadow). Spell Quellers have a real shot to be relevant against these aggressive decks and Wall of Roots does a lot more work on defense. Plus there are a lot more combo/controlling decks where Spell Queller and Glen-Elendra shine. This configuration also gives us our absolute best shot against Tron and Scapeshift which are still bad but probably closer to 30% than 10%. Your Merfolk matchup suffers with the maindeck islands and matchups where Pontiff is good all get worse as well (affinity, elves, etc.)
Was playing at the same location as TCG states is this weekend so I was hoping to get a feel for the meta. Turns out it was full of spell-based combo but I was able to go 4-0 which earns prize payout in modern masters!
Round 1: Baral Gifts Storm (2-0)
Games 1: Win the die roll and keep a hand of bird, wall of roots, voice, chord and three fetches. By turn two he plays baral and I know he is on storm, untap with bird, wall and voice in play, chord for eidolon and he concedes.
Game 2: Mull to 6 with bird, e-wit, helix and three lands, thinking I am just dying before my fourth turn. After playing bird I helix his baral, buying myself another turn. Slaughter games off the top takes out grapeshot (I have played the guy before and he does not side in empty the warrens) which he concedes to a few turns later.
Round 2: Baral Gifts Storm (2-0)
Game 1: I keep a hand of wall of roots, path, nahiri, chord and three lands. Winning the die roll I go land go, then draw into a bird. Wall into bird, and when he thoughtscours a grapeshot I know hes on storm. Untap, chord for eidolon and gg.
Game 2: My hand is bird, sin collector, engineered explosives and a chord. Turn one bird into sin collector gets me a gifts, and shows that he has a slow hand. A top-decked scooze feels pretty good, but it dies to a bolt. The next turn I topdeck resto and chord for eidolon. The next turn I play the resto at the end of his turn and start the beats for three. I proceed to draw all removal, and simply hold up chord prepping to combo during my upkeep when he pulls out wear tear for eidolon. I almost punt by getting spellskite, then get selfless spirit instead. He dies to a couple swings from resto then goes to pout about me having a maindeck eidolon.
Round 3: Junk Midrange (2-1)
Game 1: I win the die roll and keep a hand of three lands, voice, e-wit, nahiri and lark. His first land of the game is a shambling vent and I get to land voice. He paths voice and inquisitions, taking the witness, and I untap and slam nahiri on an empty board. I get to watch the satisfying scene of someone devoting all their resources to getting rid of nahiri while I set up a witness lark chain and win from there.
Game 2: Mull to five with a hand of temple garden, triple voice and nahiri. I never find the second land and die to a pair of goyfs.
Game 3: I am on the nahiri plan again, and his only threat is lingering souls. Nahiri takes a hit from the souls, and after he flashes back pontiff cleans out the trash. I get nahiri to eight but don't ultimate, just continue looting, outvalueing him with pia and resto while taking care of his few threats.
Round 4: Grixis Delver (2-0)
Game 1: He is on the play with a very good hand and a delver flipping turn 2. I kept the trap hand of three lands and four 2-drops. He one for ones all my creatures, snaring the voice and beats me down to 12. A pontiff has taken care of his pyromancer but he has a delver and an angler to match my bird and pontiff. Topdeck pia buys me time and I block delver with a bird, take the angler hit to 7, he bolts pia. I find resto, block angler, resto it, and double block the delver with thopters. With a cleaner board of resto pontiff vs angler I find nahiri (quickly eats a bolt) and turn the game around at 7 life. I continue to topdeck well, even as he frantically sets up k-command chains. Scooze comes down, breaking his chain and I take the game from there.
Game 2: My hand is very strong, and I even have the baloth for k-command which comes on turn 5 to clean up my spellskite. Even with that huge advantage the game comes down to another k-command rebuying his snap so he can snap push my baloth. I have resto at the ready, and with only one mana untapped I can untap and chord for kiki, the only game I won by comboing all night.
Overall I was very happy with the result. It was an 18 person tournament, the meta breakdown being:
2x Death Shadow
2x Jund
2x Burn
2x Storm
1x Ad Nauseum
1x Living End
1x Kiki Chord
1x Affinity
1x Junk
1x GB Tron
1x 8-rack
1x Grixis Delver
1x Grixis Control
1x UW Control
Honestly the best performing card for the night was wall of roots. Being able to chord turn 3 for a three drop is vital. Playing against so much storm was unexpected, but I love maindeck eidolon, obviously it paid off this tournament. Nahiri was incredibly strong, and could see going up to three, but I felt I saw it enough. Slaughter games came up big the one game against storm, but I am not sure whether I want to keep it in the board. The singleton wall of omens felt great every time I drew it, and I wish I had room for more but I dont. Courser also continues to over perform, so I am most likely registering the exact same list for states this weekend. Thanks for the read!
jpw234's Kiki Blue
I love your list, it looks very close to what im using for my more standard kiki chord list.
i made the few changes that i have different.
Reason why i do venser over glen elendra.
I really hate glen: No flash, can't play it on curve, dies to everything, doesn nothing on EtB, basically its a pay 5 mana counter 1 spell maybe, and chording for it just feels bad.
Why i run perimeter captain.
Right now he is one of the strongest 1 one drops in Modern vs aggro/burn.
With just him, they have to attack (gains you 2hp+ what dmg you blocked), and then burn him. makes wall of roots/omen better (he is 1 mana gain 7 life minimum)
The Aven Mindcensor he is godsend vs valakut and other chord decks.
Here is my updated version of Labyrinth/Walls/Castle Chord. (still trying to think of best name)
4-0 Tuesday 2-0 all
Affinity: g1: kozelik return cleans up etched champion, g2: turn 3 elesh norn
Mill: g1, i start with a witness/kiki in hand, g2 challice on 1/2 carried/
Grixis Thing in the ice: G1-T3 kill, G2-Challice op
Esper Controll: G1 scooze/Magus op, G2 eidolon carries hard.
Great article as always Jeff, I think I might try 4 chords again one last time. FYI "This build is fairly 'software' to big mana decks such as Tron and RG Valakut."
Jeff (or others), in the black splash, did you ever consider some fatal push?
Among the many built I played in the last 1-2 years (one of them making you run worship in a sag ) I felt depending on the meta I often wanted more than 4 spot removal, and it might be better than Bolt atm.
Didn't play lately so really not sure it's worth it, the mana might be a bit harder, but with death shadow being probably the most important aggro deck at the moment, it feels much better than bolt vs them. I also like having some removal that let me kill an important creature early game (bob, etc) without having to use a path, and it's really useful on the nahiri plan.
Rémy
At this point castle/labyrinth chord is above the top of its game list wise. I doubt i will end up changing it.
Time to keep rocking the X-0 twice a week untill next big modern tounry i can attend ans waiting to see if almondcat adds any worthwhile cards
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At this point castle/labyrinth chord is above the top of its game list wise. I doubt i will end up changing it.
Time to keep rocking the X-0 twice a week untill next big modern tounry i can attend ans waiting to see if almondcat adds any worthwhile cards
Was playing at the same location as TCG states is this weekend so I was hoping to get a feel for the meta. Turns out it was full of spell-based combo but I was able to go 4-0 which earns prize payout in modern masters!
Round 1: Baral Gifts Storm (2-0)
Games 1: Win the die roll and keep a hand of bird, wall of roots, voice, chord and three fetches. By turn two he plays baral and I know he is on storm, untap with bird, wall and voice in play, chord for eidolon and he concedes.
Game 2: Mull to 6 with bird, e-wit, helix and three lands, thinking I am just dying before my fourth turn. After playing bird I helix his baral, buying myself another turn. Slaughter games off the top takes out grapeshot (I have played the guy before and he does not side in empty the warrens) which he concedes to a few turns later.
Round 2: Baral Gifts Storm (2-0)
Game 1: I keep a hand of wall of roots, path, nahiri, chord and three lands. Winning the die roll I go land go, then draw into a bird. Wall into bird, and when he thoughtscours a grapeshot I know hes on storm. Untap, chord for eidolon and gg.
Game 2: My hand is bird, sin collector, engineered explosives and a chord. Turn one bird into sin collector gets me a gifts, and shows that he has a slow hand. A top-decked scooze feels pretty good, but it dies to a bolt. The next turn I topdeck resto and chord for eidolon. The next turn I play the resto at the end of his turn and start the beats for three. I proceed to draw all removal, and simply hold up chord prepping to combo during my upkeep when he pulls out wear tear for eidolon. I almost punt by getting spellskite, then get selfless spirit instead. He dies to a couple swings from resto then goes to pout about me having a maindeck eidolon.
Round 3: Junk Midrange (2-1)
Game 1: I win the die roll and keep a hand of three lands, voice, e-wit, nahiri and lark. His first land of the game is a shambling vent and I get to land voice. He paths voice and inquisitions, taking the witness, and I untap and slam nahiri on an empty board. I get to watch the satisfying scene of someone devoting all their resources to getting rid of nahiri while I set up a witness lark chain and win from there.
Game 2: Mull to five with a hand of temple garden, triple voice and nahiri. I never find the second land and die to a pair of goyfs.
Game 3: I am on the nahiri plan again, and his only threat is lingering souls. Nahiri takes a hit from the souls, and after he flashes back pontiff cleans out the trash. I get nahiri to eight but don't ultimate, just continue looting, outvalueing him with pia and resto while taking care of his few threats.
Round 4: Grixis Delver (2-0)
Game 1: He is on the play with a very good hand and a delver flipping turn 2. I kept the trap hand of three lands and four 2-drops. He one for ones all my creatures, snaring the voice and beats me down to 12. A pontiff has taken care of his pyromancer but he has a delver and an angler to match my bird and pontiff. Topdeck pia buys me time and I block delver with a bird, take the angler hit to 7, he bolts pia. I find resto, block angler, resto it, and double block the delver with thopters. With a cleaner board of resto pontiff vs angler I find nahiri (quickly eats a bolt) and turn the game around at 7 life. I continue to topdeck well, even as he frantically sets up k-command chains. Scooze comes down, breaking his chain and I take the game from there.
Game 2: My hand is very strong, and I even have the baloth for k-command which comes on turn 5 to clean up my spellskite. Even with that huge advantage the game comes down to another k-command rebuying his snap so he can snap push my baloth. I have resto at the ready, and with only one mana untapped I can untap and chord for kiki, the only game I won by comboing all night.
Overall I was very happy with the result. It was an 18 person tournament, the meta breakdown being:
2x Death Shadow
2x Jund
2x Burn
2x Storm
1x Ad Nauseum
1x Living End
1x Kiki Chord
1x Affinity
1x Junk
1x GB Tron
1x 8-rack
1x Grixis Delver
1x Grixis Control
1x UW Control
Honestly the best performing card for the night was wall of roots. Being able to chord turn 3 for a three drop is vital. Playing against so much storm was unexpected, but I love maindeck eidolon, obviously it paid off this tournament. Nahiri was incredibly strong, and could see going up to three, but I felt I saw it enough. Slaughter games came up big the one game against storm, but I am not sure whether I want to keep it in the board. The singleton wall of omens felt great every time I drew it, and I wish I had room for more but I dont. Courser also continues to over perform, so I am most likely registering the exact same list for states this weekend. Thanks for the read!
Tried out the list you had from this post last night.
Went 4-0 on the night.
Round 1
2-0 vs GW Value with splashes like Chord but more Ralliers, Sun Titans, and Evolutions.
He's a sweetheart and watching Kiki Chord got him on board for the brew but I have the experience to maneuver through the situation.
Round 2
2-1 vs Affinity
Game one he does his thing with a couple ravagers out and wins.
Game two was a grind but able to slowly take over the game. Baloth gave me the extra time I needed to not lose. Combo kill.
Game three he mulled to four. Turn one inkmoth vault skirge. Thicket Birds. T2 Glimmervoid Overseer. Thicket Pontiff 3 for 1.
Round 3
2-0 vs Grixis Delver
The deck is running Delvers and Young Pyromancers.
Game one is a long game that I win with too much value and recursion.
Game two he starts with Leyline of the Void which isn't backbreaking like abzan company but it does turn off Voice and E Wit which is tough. He's stuck on mana and I eventually have both a pridemage and kiki out and copy and remove the leyline before kiki dies. It turns to draw go while I load up my hand. Eidolon is super strong and I eventually land a reveillark with ewit and kiki in the graveyard. I take the game from there.
Round 4
2-1 vs Naya Burn (lots of fetch shock damage to himself)
Game one I lose...
Game two I'm able to have spellskite and he plays two eidolons on the next two turns. I get out e wit with a chord and he doesn't go for the trade. I continue to develop and have more life than him so the eidolons lock him out. He also misses his out at the end of the game to be in a chance to win.
Game three Turn one Forge Tender off Thicket, turn three I play courser and he plays second eidolon again. I'm at five and he's at seven with the two eidolons and can't close it. I get a scooze baloth and finally kiki baloth back over 20 life.
He didn't know about Atarka's Command relationship with Forgetender to get around damage prevention so he missed out on some free attacks.
I was glad to be playing black. Pontiff is such a pet card for me. So it was nice to play it again. I'd been running Naya the last couple times. Nahiri felt strong on the night. Drew both in a game against affinity and they just are such a distraction that they gain you the life and exile the creature. Eidolon was key against Grixis allowing me to slow it down know I can freely chord after they've played a spell.
Burn felt weak but I'll try to test it more. The opponent wasn't the strongest and without drawing many sideboard cards it is quite difficult.
Overall it felt good but I didn't have to face any big mana decks.
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You're also comparing what is essentially a combo oriented ramp deck with a toolbox to a value based midrange-toolbox strategy and talking as if though MU's are even remotely similar.
While I find your list interesting and definitely capable of producing large amounts of mana early on it's hardly comparable to the game plan of most Kiki Chord variants discussed here.
MU's are similar to a point, the difference is options of card choices. There is a reason why i give like 4-5 different card options for each type of kiki chord to help the MU.
And the decks run more similar then you think. Both lists go value/silver bullet creatures into a combo, its just my value creatures are on the more defense/ramp emphasis. I have both lists built and test them a lot vs the meta.
But onto the standard kiki list.
Coco/chord combo is outdone by abzan compamy as they have better value creatures.
Onto trying to midrange beatdown
Deaths shadow just steaight up does it a lot better.
So that puts kikichord into a very odd posistion that requires the deck to make a massive change to stay realevent. Is walls/defense the best way to go? Or should we do what infect/grxis twin did and trasistion into more blue and counter heavy list?
Standard
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Modern
RWGKiki's CastleRWG
UB Turns UB
GRBU HulkBreach GRBU
Legacy
GRWBNic-ShiftGRWB
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
Local Meta Overview (from the players that I know):
~40% Tron (UTron, Eldrazi Tron, G/B Tron)
1 Bant Eldrazi
1 Abzan Company
1 Sun and Moon
1 G/R Titanshift
1 U/R Gifts Storm
2 Ad Nauseum Combo
Here is my current list:
4x Birds of Paradise
3x Noble Hierarch
4x Wall of Roots
1x Scavenging Ooze
2x Eternal Witness
2x Restoration Angel
1x Reveillark
1x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1x Glen Elendra Archmage
3x Voice of Resurgence
2x Spell Queller
1x Myr Superion
1x Spellskite
Spells: (11)
4x Chord of Calling
3x Collected Company
4x Path to Exile
2x Forest
1x Plains
1x Mountain
2x Razorverge Thicket
1x Temple Garden
1x Breeding Pool
1x Scared Foundry
1x Hallowed fountain
1x Steam Vents
1x Stomping Ground
1x Raging Ravine
1x Misty Rainforest
4x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
2x Engineered Explosives
3x Unified Will
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1x Kataki, War's Wage
2x Stony Silence
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Crumble to Dust
2x Fulminator Mage
2x Lightning Helix
1x Courser of Kruphix
1x Obstinate Baloth
1x Thragtusk
1x - 2x Selfless Spirit
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Magus of the Moat
1x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1x Magus of the Moon
1x Gaddock Teeg
1x Quasali Pridemage
2x - 3x Kitchen Finks
1x Deciever Exarch
1x Spell Queller
4x Eldritch Evolution
1x Worship
2x Blood Moon
1x Stomping Ground
1x Fire-Lit Thicket
1x Gavony Township
It was suggested to me by a Tron player on Monday before the MNM Modern fired that the Crumble to Dust would probably be better than the Worship I had in there. Unified Will was fantastic every game against Tron.
Even at 1am...
Sounds simiar to my list. Would suggest Magus or bloodmoon over crumble though.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/developing-competitive-modern/598381-kiki-chord-kiki-company-kiki-evolution?comment=4452
Thanks for the link to your list! I'm working on getting my list updated now for everyone's viewing.
Lost to goblins by a turn game 1. Game 2 I lost from a misplay. I forgot that legion loyalist made it so tokens can't block or I would have had lethal on board with my two tokens.
Round 3 I played against emeria control and won in 2 games.
Round 4 played drazi and taxes. Just bad luck and went to turns game 2. He won game 1. I was playing the nahiri build, but black splash. I'm going to take a bit of a break and play something else. I think after nearly 2 years of playing this deck, I need a break. I love it, but my meta is a bit too hostile to it and everyone knows I'm on it.
Follow the link for nice cheap clothing.
Playing:
Death's Shadow Jund
Played:
Kiki Chord, Zoo variants, Goblins, Burn
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
1 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Raging Ravine
2 Razorverge Thicket
2 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
Ramp (9)
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Noble Hierarch
4 Wall of Roots
4 Voice of Resurgence
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Spellskite
2 Eternal Witness
2 Restoration Angel
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
4 Path to Exile
4 Chord of Calling
Nahiri Package (4)
3 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Flex (5)
1 Courser of Kruphix
2 Spell Queller
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Izzet Charm
1 Thragtusk
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Stony Silence
1 Lone Missionary
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Blessed Alliance
2 Lightning Helix
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Unified Will
Hoogland ran 23 lands with a 9th fetch, I prefer the Noble Hierarch. Should note I would fit in a Horizon Canopy if I owned one, either over the second Ravine or second Thicket. I also shaved the 4th Nahiri (which I find clunky) for an Izzet Charm which is a nice flex card. I'd like to find room for Qasali Pridemage but I'm not sure what to cut. Possibly the 4th Voice or Wall would be correct. The other thing I want to test is cutting the Emrakul for a Reveillark. I find the Emrakul combo to often be redundant/unnecessary and suspect that ulting out Reveillark would often provide enough value to win, and casting/chording for Rev is so backbreaking in many of the matchups that this configuration is targeting (namely the slower ones).
I like the blue in a metagame where the swarmy aggressive decks (zoo, affinity, dredge) are less common, and the aggressive decks that exist are more combo/big creature oriented (infect, death's shadow). Spell Quellers have a real shot to be relevant against these aggressive decks and Wall of Roots does a lot more work on defense. Plus there are a lot more combo/controlling decks where Spell Queller and Glen-Elendra shine. This configuration also gives us our absolute best shot against Tron and Scapeshift which are still bad but probably closer to 30% than 10%. Your Merfolk matchup suffers with the maindeck islands and matchups where Pontiff is good all get worse as well (affinity, elves, etc.)
Was playing at the same location as TCG states is this weekend so I was hoping to get a feel for the meta. Turns out it was full of spell-based combo but I was able to go 4-0 which earns prize payout in modern masters!
Round 1: Baral Gifts Storm (2-0)
Games 1: Win the die roll and keep a hand of bird, wall of roots, voice, chord and three fetches. By turn two he plays baral and I know he is on storm, untap with bird, wall and voice in play, chord for eidolon and he concedes.
Game 2: Mull to 6 with bird, e-wit, helix and three lands, thinking I am just dying before my fourth turn. After playing bird I helix his baral, buying myself another turn. Slaughter games off the top takes out grapeshot (I have played the guy before and he does not side in empty the warrens) which he concedes to a few turns later.
Round 2: Baral Gifts Storm (2-0)
Game 1: I keep a hand of wall of roots, path, nahiri, chord and three lands. Winning the die roll I go land go, then draw into a bird. Wall into bird, and when he thoughtscours a grapeshot I know hes on storm. Untap, chord for eidolon and gg.
Game 2: My hand is bird, sin collector, engineered explosives and a chord. Turn one bird into sin collector gets me a gifts, and shows that he has a slow hand. A top-decked scooze feels pretty good, but it dies to a bolt. The next turn I topdeck resto and chord for eidolon. The next turn I play the resto at the end of his turn and start the beats for three. I proceed to draw all removal, and simply hold up chord prepping to combo during my upkeep when he pulls out wear tear for eidolon. I almost punt by getting spellskite, then get selfless spirit instead. He dies to a couple swings from resto then goes to pout about me having a maindeck eidolon.
Round 3: Junk Midrange (2-1)
Game 1: I win the die roll and keep a hand of three lands, voice, e-wit, nahiri and lark. His first land of the game is a shambling vent and I get to land voice. He paths voice and inquisitions, taking the witness, and I untap and slam nahiri on an empty board. I get to watch the satisfying scene of someone devoting all their resources to getting rid of nahiri while I set up a witness lark chain and win from there.
Game 2: Mull to five with a hand of temple garden, triple voice and nahiri. I never find the second land and die to a pair of goyfs.
Game 3: I am on the nahiri plan again, and his only threat is lingering souls. Nahiri takes a hit from the souls, and after he flashes back pontiff cleans out the trash. I get nahiri to eight but don't ultimate, just continue looting, outvalueing him with pia and resto while taking care of his few threats.
Round 4: Grixis Delver (2-0)
Game 1: He is on the play with a very good hand and a delver flipping turn 2. I kept the trap hand of three lands and four 2-drops. He one for ones all my creatures, snaring the voice and beats me down to 12. A pontiff has taken care of his pyromancer but he has a delver and an angler to match my bird and pontiff. Topdeck pia buys me time and I block delver with a bird, take the angler hit to 7, he bolts pia. I find resto, block angler, resto it, and double block the delver with thopters. With a cleaner board of resto pontiff vs angler I find nahiri (quickly eats a bolt) and turn the game around at 7 life. I continue to topdeck well, even as he frantically sets up k-command chains. Scooze comes down, breaking his chain and I take the game from there.
Game 2: My hand is very strong, and I even have the baloth for k-command which comes on turn 5 to clean up my spellskite. Even with that huge advantage the game comes down to another k-command rebuying his snap so he can snap push my baloth. I have resto at the ready, and with only one mana untapped I can untap and chord for kiki, the only game I won by comboing all night.
Overall I was very happy with the result. It was an 18 person tournament, the meta breakdown being:
2x Death Shadow
2x Jund
2x Burn
2x Storm
1x Ad Nauseum
1x Living End
1x Kiki Chord
1x Affinity
1x Junk
1x GB Tron
1x 8-rack
1x Grixis Delver
1x Grixis Control
1x UW Control
Honestly the best performing card for the night was wall of roots. Being able to chord turn 3 for a three drop is vital. Playing against so much storm was unexpected, but I love maindeck eidolon, obviously it paid off this tournament. Nahiri was incredibly strong, and could see going up to three, but I felt I saw it enough. Slaughter games came up big the one game against storm, but I am not sure whether I want to keep it in the board. The singleton wall of omens felt great every time I drew it, and I wish I had room for more but I dont. Courser also continues to over perform, so I am most likely registering the exact same list for states this weekend. Thanks for the read!
I love your list, it looks very close to what im using for my more standard kiki chord list.
i made the few changes that i have different.
Reason why i do venser over glen elendra.
I really hate glen: No flash, can't play it on curve, dies to everything, doesn nothing on EtB, basically its a pay 5 mana counter 1 spell maybe, and chording for it just feels bad.
Why i run perimeter captain.
Right now he is one of the strongest 1 one drops in Modern vs aggro/burn.
With just him, they have to attack (gains you 2hp+ what dmg you blocked), and then burn him. makes wall of roots/omen better (he is 1 mana gain 7 life minimum)
The Aven Mindcensor he is godsend vs valakut and other chord decks.
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Raging Ravine
1 stirring wildwood
2 Razorverge Thicket
2 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Plains
Creatures-26
2 Birds of Paradise
1 Noble Hierarch
1 perimeter captain
4 Wall of Roots
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 wall of omens
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Spellskite
2 Eternal Witness
1 deceiver exarch
1 Aven mindcensor
1 izzet staticaster
1 Spell Queller
1 Venser, Shaper savant
2 Restoration Angel
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1 Reveillark
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
3 Nahiri, the Harbinger
3 Path to Exile
4 Chord of Calling
1 Izzet Charm
1 Thragtusk
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Stony Silence
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Blessed Alliance
2 ancient grudge
2 Lightning Helix
2 Fulminator Mage
2 Unified Will
Here is my updated version of Labyrinth/Walls/Castle Chord. (still trying to think of best name)
4-0 Tuesday 2-0 all
Affinity: g1: kozelik return cleans up etched champion, g2: turn 3 elesh norn
Mill: g1, i start with a witness/kiki in hand, g2 challice on 1/2 carried/
Grixis Thing in the ice: G1-T3 kill, G2-Challice op
Esper Controll: G1 scooze/Magus op, G2 eidolon carries hard.
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
2 Flooded Strand
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
1 Sacred Foundry
1 breeding pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Forest
1 Plains
30 Creature
2 Birds of Paradise
1 Perimeter Captain
3 Overgrown Battlement
3 Wall of Omens
2 Wall of Roots
1 Spellskite
1 Selfless Spirit
1 scavenging ooze
3 Axebane Guardian
2 Carven Caryatid
2 Eternal Witness
1 Spell queller
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Deceiver Exarch
2 Restoration Angel
1 Furystoke Giant
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
4 Chord of Calling
3 Collected Company
2 Path to Exile
1 Kozilek's Return
15 Sideboard
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Azorius Guildmage
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 linvala, keeper of silence
Standard
BUG SuperFriends
Modern
RWGKiki's CastleRWG
UB Turns UB
GRBU HulkBreach GRBU
Legacy
GRWBNic-ShiftGRWB
Great article as always Jeff, I think I might try 4 chords again one last time. FYI "This build is fairly 'software' to big mana decks such as Tron and RG Valakut."
Among the many built I played in the last 1-2 years (one of them making you run worship in a sag
Didn't play lately so really not sure it's worth it, the mana might be a bit harder, but with death shadow being probably the most important aggro deck at the moment, it feels much better than bolt vs them. I also like having some removal that let me kill an important creature early game (bob, etc) without having to use a path, and it's really useful on the nahiri plan.
Rémy
Time to keep rocking the X-0 twice a week untill next big modern tounry i can attend ans waiting to see if almondcat adds any worthwhile cards
Standard
BUG SuperFriends
Modern
RWGKiki's CastleRWG
UB Turns UB
GRBU HulkBreach GRBU
Legacy
GRWBNic-ShiftGRWB
What's your final list?
Tried out the list you had from this post last night.
Went 4-0 on the night.
Round 1
2-0 vs GW Value with splashes like Chord but more Ralliers, Sun Titans, and Evolutions.
He's a sweetheart and watching Kiki Chord got him on board for the brew but I have the experience to maneuver through the situation.
Round 2
2-1 vs Affinity
Game one he does his thing with a couple ravagers out and wins.
Game two was a grind but able to slowly take over the game. Baloth gave me the extra time I needed to not lose. Combo kill.
Game three he mulled to four. Turn one inkmoth vault skirge. Thicket Birds. T2 Glimmervoid Overseer. Thicket Pontiff 3 for 1.
Round 3
2-0 vs Grixis Delver
The deck is running Delvers and Young Pyromancers.
Game one is a long game that I win with too much value and recursion.
Game two he starts with Leyline of the Void which isn't backbreaking like abzan company but it does turn off Voice and E Wit which is tough. He's stuck on mana and I eventually have both a pridemage and kiki out and copy and remove the leyline before kiki dies. It turns to draw go while I load up my hand. Eidolon is super strong and I eventually land a reveillark with ewit and kiki in the graveyard. I take the game from there.
Round 4
2-1 vs Naya Burn (lots of fetch shock damage to himself)
Game one I lose...
Game two I'm able to have spellskite and he plays two eidolons on the next two turns. I get out e wit with a chord and he doesn't go for the trade. I continue to develop and have more life than him so the eidolons lock him out. He also misses his out at the end of the game to be in a chance to win.
Game three Turn one Forge Tender off Thicket, turn three I play courser and he plays second eidolon again. I'm at five and he's at seven with the two eidolons and can't close it. I get a scooze baloth and finally kiki baloth back over 20 life.
He didn't know about Atarka's Command relationship with Forgetender to get around damage prevention so he missed out on some free attacks.
I was glad to be playing black. Pontiff is such a pet card for me. So it was nice to play it again. I'd been running Naya the last couple times. Nahiri felt strong on the night. Drew both in a game against affinity and they just are such a distraction that they gain you the life and exile the creature. Eidolon was key against Grixis allowing me to slow it down know I can freely chord after they've played a spell.
Burn felt weak but I'll try to test it more. The opponent wasn't the strongest and without drawing many sideboard cards it is quite difficult.
Overall it felt good but I didn't have to face any big mana decks.