Some more musings.
As one or two may know from my infrequent posts on here, I like sistas and have played it for a while, going back to the start of modern. Not continually, of course.
Here are my current thoughts, and I welcome feedback. Two points I have made before- (a) and (b).
a) Auriok Champion is not a sideboard card. It is too low impact to waste four slots on. It is however a card that lives through red sweepers and is bloody hard to kill, but won't win a game like an untouched sideboard card should like RIP vs Living end or Stony Silence vs Affinity. Thus for me it is main deck or nothing. I choose the former. A more solid sista, who can get a bit bigger with HTP and can't be removed by large chunks of the format's pinpoint removal.
b) The lack of interactivity with other decks.... Well simply put I agree. I think O ring/banishing and PTE are pretty essential. You could look at cards like lawkeeper etc, but I do not want to put my eggs in one single cc basket. I dislike any deck like this running 4 path and some orings. But Pod will be too fast and win too often without them (sistas don't stop the spikefeeder combo), just by being quicker by a turn. A tron deck of any colour hitting clasm will land a Wurmcoil, and without removal its curtains. Without a sista twin can win t4, etc. Infect is another deck that must be interacted with in t1-3. We must interact. I tried suppression field- it was very binary- nuts or nothing. But every version I play comes back to a minimum of 6 removal spells.
c) The ground pounders are great, BUT what do they outclass?
Pridemate is a big, big beatstick. But given a Jund removal suite what does it do? Answer- not much- they kill all the small dudes, so no life gain, and it comes down as a naked 2/2. Rock and Junk are no better. It does not touch champion vs affinity, and does not help when they plate up a flying lifelinker. Vs control decks it gets wrathed with all the others, and leads us to disadvantage. Sure it is nuts Vs. burn- but burn is a bye. It is strong vs zoo, but again that is a stronger match. It is fast, but not t4 fast very often. It is good Vs. non flickerwisp hatebears, but again these are easier matches anyway. It forces pod to sac a creature every now and then, but they only need to buy a turn and then they go off. My feeling is they win matches Sisters are favourite for. The solution is to cut it, or force it through with BTE. I am a bit suspicious about BTE- we tap out a lot.
d) As many games seem to be won by tokens flying in and Windbrisk/Ranger card advantage as by the Sistas engine making 6/6 lifelinkers. This seems true in whatever builds I have played. In fact flying seems to be the main win route one way or another.
e) Archangel of Thune. Wins on it own on a clear board- possibly. Buys time on an even board- yes. Can make an army of small guys big- yes- the turn it comes in it can be double glorious anthem. The question, having played with it is how many and what will it do to the mana.
f) Hawks. They don't wear swords as we don't run them, but they do fly and provide some CA. But I can't fit them and removal spells in- and they seem weak Vs. trons, twin, pod.
g) Resto angel. Saves a key card, provides a solid anger proof body, blinks a ranger, and has flash. for CIP lifegain. I have seen these in a local version of the deck, and I was impressed. Anyone else tried them as a one or two of?
h) How many martyrs? The more martyrs, the more t2 6/6 ascendants? Has anyone found this happening that often? At best Vs. many decks you have to wait till t2 before laying martyr to avoid bolt. But martyr is dead late on, and without the ascendant on the table, being over 30 life is not relevant.
I) Couple of other cards to consider- blade splicer makes 2 men, one of which blocks etched champions. Stonecloaker can bring stuff back, including itself more multiple life triggers or relaying a ranger and may hit key card(s) from the bin. It flies too. I have seen some mindcensors in boards and even main, and this guy seems flexible.
j) Proclamations. Scooze is everywhere. Anger is everywhere. How many decks is this relevant against? Not Pod, Jund, Junk, Rock. It seems slow vs Storm, and recurring a 6/6 lifelinker late on seems weak against a tron deck with Karn t3 or an emrakul. Infect ignores life. Again it is strong vs burn, zoo, merfolk, fae, hatebears if they don't run scooze or grunt- all matches we would hope to win......
I have not mentioned scapeshift, 4 col gifts, instant reanimator and a few others- I apologise but have limited experience of these matches.
Any opinions?
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I'm not going to reply to everything here since I'm on my tablet, but I have seen the light on Proc. It has been a waste of a slot for me and I've felt a lot more confident since I cut it.
I just played this deck in a ptq and should have top 8 but I screwed up on math and didn't take a draw in round 8. As it was I was 13th at 6-2. I had no problems with affinity burn or other aggro decks but lost to gr Tryon and primevil titan scape shift decks. To those wondering how archangel of thine works in this deck the answer is great in conjunction with wind brisk heights. There were several game where I attacked on turn four flashed in the archangel before damage so I hit for 9 or more damage depending on which three guys I had on field. This is the main way this deck wants to use the angel.
Deck list
4 archangel of thune
4 soul wardens
4 souls attendant
3 serra accendent
3 kitchen fink
3 ranger of eos
4 ajani's pride mate
2 auriok champions
2 viscera seer
2 brave the elements
4 path of exile
4 windbrisk heights
4 godless shrines
4 isolated chapel
1 vault of the archangel
11 plains
I have been thinking about dropping Martyr. The god draw is too inconsistent and cute. Id rather just power through.
Only drop Martyr if you run Thune. It does more than just put Serra online. Matyr + Hawks put your life total back up and laughs at burn. I played in a tourney last night and I got Ascendant online every match but one.
I went 2-1-1. It should have been 3-0-1 but I made two major user errors in the last game where my deck clearly matched up well, but with a combination of me being tired (it was almost 11pm after a long work day) and him sometimes taking 5 minutes to make 1 play (I am not exaggerating, and what made it worse he was just running a red human heroic deck so we should have finished the match within 20 minutes, he would literally stare at 2 cards on the board for 3-4 mins before making a move).
Match 1- G/r Devotion He uses the same shell, but his is a little different. He main decks Bonfire of the damned
Game 1- He got a Bonfire out turn 2 or 3 and ate my creatures, but I topped deck a Matyr and got Ascendant online which completely stalled his wall of creatures the next turn. I ghost Quartered his Nykthos. 1-0
-1x Squadron Hawk
-1x Honor of the Pure
-1x Ranger of Eos
+3x Brave the Elements
Game 2- This match wasn't fun. I got a Serra Ascendant online turn 2. I was at 31 life. He bonfired for 2 which killed her since I dropped under 30. It lasted longer than I wanted but he got 4 total Bonfires out plus 1 Primal Command lockdown with Eternal Witness rolling. His deck went into control mode (which it does so well, it's the only Green Devotion deck that I've ever seen that can transform from beat down to control in an instant, you can see his version in the Mono-Green Devotion Primer, his name is Travisaraus). 1-1
Game 3- This match was close for both of us. My deck just flooded the board with a Sister, Pridemate, 2x Spectral Possessions(this card does so much work). His side had some Hydras, Geist and pretty much a wall. He couldn't stop my flyers. My Ajani was a 12/12. I had lethal on the board and so did he, even though I was at 21. He laid Polukranos but had to wait one more turn to monstrous which would eat at all my tokens. Next turn I BTE for the win.
1-0
Match 2- B/W Tokens- This version was even heavier control. IT ran a ton of discard and Liliana of the veil
Game 1- She turn 1 Thoughtseize and continued to make me discard and or Pathed or removed everything I dropped. My first 7 turns ended up with 7 card in the graveyard. However! She ran a lot of shock lands and hurt herself pretty badly. I drew into a Hawk to get my hand back up. Then topped deck a Ranger and all of a sudden I'm back to a full hand almost. She played Liliana but by then I started to flood the board and had a full hand. 1-0
-1x Path of Exile
-1x Honor of the Pure
+2x Immortal Servitude
Game 2- Virtually same thing as game 1 but I got a turn 3 Spectral and turn 5 Honor of the pure. She did get a Pack Rat out but it was too slow to make an impact. My spirit tokens did all the work here.
2-0
Match 3- Hive Mind- All I have to say, this is the first time I've seen this deck. There is zero interaction, he runs no creatures only removal and his Hive mind combination.
Game 1- I got 3 Serra Ascendants online vs him. He Slaughter Pact one then Pathed the next. I got through with one to put him down to 4. I was at 44. He topped deck another Path to take care of it. I had lethal on board next turn. He top decked Hive Mind then played Pact of Negation. He won. 0-1
-4x Path of Exile
-1x Ranger of Eos
+2x Stony Silence
+2x Sundering Growth
+1x Oblivion Ring
Game 2- I had a slow hand but had Stony Silence. However he never drew his Lotus Bloom BUT didn't miss a land drop. I never drew an O-Ring or Sundering Growth. On turn 6 he played Hive Mind + Slaughter Pact. Game.
I hate decks like this. IT's not because I lost, but there is ZERO interaction. In game 2 he didn't even have removal. He just survived to 3 life then played his combo. I feel like this wasn't even Magic haha. I'd rather play G/r Tron anyday of the week...at least I get to play with Wurmcoil lol.
2-1
Match 4-Red Humans Heroic- This deck was actually 3-0 at this point. It outraced Affinity already in the tourney. Even though a standard deck it can kill by turn 4 and was well placed for the night. I however made some mistakes in this match, plus him taking forever to make plays (game 1 lasted 40 minutes), this turned into the most frustrating game because it should have been a win for me and 9/10 matches would be.
Game 1- First 4 turns he played humans and 2x legion loyalist and buffed them. I only drew into 1 path this whole game. Had a slow hand from the start. No Ajani. No Honor of the Pure till way later. He got me down to under 10 life a couple times by buffing with Madcap Skills and all those standard red cheap enchantments. Matyr got me back to 20 then I established board and won fairly easily. It just took forever, and ever, and ever. On turn 4, he had 3 creatures on the board. I had one sister and one hawk. He stared at the board for over 5 minutes. There wasn't even anything to think about. I'm new to tourney play so I guess stalling is a tactic? I'm not accusing him of that since I don't know him and he seemed a nice guy but I felt something was up. 1-0
Game 2- The bane of my night. I kept a slow hand. I don't know why. I knew we only had about 10 minutes till time. My first play wasn't even till Spectral Possession turn 3. I think I kept my hand because I knew I could recover with Matyr and I had Ranger of Eos in hand to find her. Anyway, long story short I misplayed some blocks later on with Matyr, sac. He took forever to play. I didn't block towards the end to take 14 dmg thinking this would be over with and at least we would get 5 turns in game 3 in which with even an average hand I could kill him by. Instead he took forever on his last turn. I should have scooped instantly and went to game 3. Yet again another mistake I made. Oh well, first live modern tourney.
2-1-1. I had a blast. I feel like the deck could go 4-0 unless I go against Hive Mind again. I literally can't do anything about that one because I need a Sundering Growth to win and even then it's not guaranteed if he can Hive Mind then play the instant even if I growth it. At least I can stall Tron with Sundering Growths, Stony Silence, Paths etc. The last game was a decent amount of user error on my behalf.
The next Modern I will try 4x Thune and 2x Auriok Champion in the main deck.
I went 2-1-1. It should have been 3-0-1 but I made two major user errors in the last game where my deck clearly matched up well, but with a combination of me being tired (it was almost 11pm after a long work day) and him sometimes taking 5 minutes to make 1 play (I am not exaggerating, and what made it worse he was just running a red human heroic deck so we should have finished the match within 20 minutes, he would literally stare at 2 cards on the board for 3-4 mins before making a move).
Match 1- G/r Devotion He uses the same shell, but his is a little different. He main decks Bonfire of the damned
Game 1- He got a Bonfire out turn 2 or 3 and ate my creatures, but I topped deck a Matyr and got Ascendant online which completely stalled his wall of creatures the next turn. I ghost Quartered his Nykthos. 1-0
-1x Squadron Hawk
-1x Honor of the Pure
-1x Ranger of Eos
+3x Brave the Elements
Game 2- This match wasn't fun. I got a Serra Ascendant online turn 2. I was at 31 life. He bonfired for 2 which killed her since I dropped under 30. It lasted longer than I wanted but he got 4 total Bonfires out plus 1 Primal Command lockdown with Eternal Witness rolling. His deck went into control mode (which it does so well, it's the only Green Devotion deck that I've ever seen that can transform from beat down to control in an instant, you can see his version in the Mono-Green Devotion Primer, his name is Travisaraus). 1-1
Game 3- This match was close for both of us. My deck just flooded the board with a Sister, Pridemate, 2x Spectral Possessions(this card does so much work). His side had some Hydras, Geist and pretty much a wall. He couldn't stop my flyers. My Ajani was a 12/12. I had lethal on the board and so did he, even though I was at 21. He laid Polukranos but had to wait one more turn to monstrous which would eat at all my tokens. Next turn I BTE for the win.
1-0
Match 2- B/W Tokens- This version was even heavier control. IT ran a ton of discard and Liliana of the veil
Game 1- She turn 1 Thoughtseize and continued to make me discard and or Pathed or removed everything I dropped. My first 7 turns ended up with 7 card in the graveyard. However! She ran a lot of shock lands and hurt herself pretty badly. I drew into a Hawk to get my hand back up. Then topped deck a Ranger and all of a sudden I'm back to a full hand almost. She played Liliana but by then I started to flood the board and had a full hand. 1-0
-1x Path of Exile
-1x Honor of the Pure
+2x Immortal Servitude
Game 2- Virtually same thing as game 1 but I got a turn 3 Spectral and turn 5 Honor of the pure. She did get a Pack Rat out but it was too slow to make an impact. My spirit tokens did all the work here.
2-0
Match 3- Hive Mind- All I have to say, this is the first time I've seen this deck. There is zero interaction, he runs no creatures only removal and his Hive mind combination.
Game 1- I got 3 Serra Ascendants online vs him. He Slaughter Pact one then Pathed the next. I got through with one to put him down to 4. I was at 44. He topped deck another Path to take care of it. I had lethal on board next turn. He top decked Hive Mind then played Pact of Negation. He won. 0-1
-4x Path of Exile
-1x Ranger of Eos
+2x Stony Silence
+2x Sundering Growth
+1x Oblivion Ring
Game 2- I had a slow hand but had Stony Silence. However he never drew his Lotus Bloom BUT didn't miss a land drop. I never drew an O-Ring or Sundering Growth. On turn 6 he played Hive Mind + Slaughter Pact. Game.
I hate decks like this. IT's not because I lost, but there is ZERO interaction. In game 2 he didn't even have removal. He just survived to 3 life then played his combo. I feel like this wasn't even Magic haha. I'd rather play G/r Tron anyday of the week...at least I get to play with Wurmcoil lol.
2-1
Match 4-Red Humans Heroic- This deck was actually 3-0 at this point. It outraced Affinity already in the tourney. Even though a standard deck it can kill by turn 4 and was well placed for the night. I however made some mistakes in this match, plus him taking forever to make plays (game 1 lasted 40 minutes), this turned into the most frustrating game because it should have been a win for me and 9/10 matches would be.
Game 1- First 4 turns he played humans and 2x legion loyalist and buffed them. I only drew into 1 path this whole game. Had a slow hand from the start. No Ajani. No Honor of the Pure till way later. He got me down to under 10 life a couple times by buffing with Madcap Skills and all those standard red cheap enchantments. Matyr got me back to 20 then I established board and won fairly easily. It just took forever, and ever, and ever. On turn 4, he had 3 creatures on the board. I had one sister and one hawk. He stared at the board for over 5 minutes. There wasn't even anything to think about. I'm new to tourney play so I guess stalling is a tactic? I'm not accusing him of that since I don't know him and he seemed a nice guy but I felt something was up. 1-0
Game 2- The bane of my night. I kept a slow hand. I don't know why. I knew we only had about 10 minutes till time. My first play wasn't even till Spectral Possession turn 3. I think I kept my hand because I knew I could recover with Matyr and I had Ranger of Eos in hand to find her. Anyway, long story short I misplayed some blocks later on with Matyr, sac. He took forever to play. I didn't block towards the end to take 14 dmg thinking this would be over with and at least we would get 5 turns in game 3 in which with even an average hand I could kill him by. Instead he took forever on his last turn. I should have scooped instantly and went to game 3. Yet again another mistake I made. Oh well, first live modern tourney.
2-1-1. I had a blast. I feel like the deck could go 4-0 unless I go against Hive Mind again. I literally can't do anything about that one because I need a Sundering Growth to win and even then it's not guaranteed if he can Hive Mind then play the instant even if I growth it. At least I can stall Tron with Sundering Growths, Stony Silence, Paths etc. The last game was a decent amount of user error on my behalf.
The next Modern I will try 4x Thune and 2x Auriok Champion in the main deck.
To an extent they are not top modern decks, so I would not worry too much about results one way or another, barring of course tokens which is a bona fide Modern deck you will see time and again, although I can't ever recall a version with Lilly. Hive mind is basically Ad Nauseam but a turn slower- the difference being in this case that you can get out of the Ad Nauseam lock with life but not the Hive Mind. Your only solution in white is Nevermore I am afraid- or beat it down faster. Aura of Silence works quite well at slowing it, Trinisphere could make the pacts cost more but hoses your deck too and its the mind you want to hit.
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On the the Thune debate- I am very impressed in my testing to date. It steals games from nowhere, on its on will win. It is the nuts.
or it is very good. I just don't see the downside.
On the Auriok champion- its a four of whatever- I am playing both SS and Norrin/Porphoros lists and exchanging the real Aurioks with proxies between the two, and it is the MVP in both.
I have just one Martyr now, zero hawks, and am low on kitties in my SS list. Flying wins matches, big ground pounders don't.
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sometimes taking 5 minutes to make 1 play (I am not exaggerating, and what made it worse he was just running a red human heroic deck so we should have finished the match within 20 minutes, he would literally stare at 2 cards on the board for 3-4 mins before making a move).... He took forever to play. I didn't block towards the end to take 14 dmg thinking this would be over with and at least we would get 5 turns in game 3 in which with even an average hand I could kill him by. Instead he took forever on his last turn.
Sounds like grounds for slow play, maybe even stalling. Next time just ask him politely to play faster and if nothing changes you can call a judge over to observe.
UWR can last forever. Initally it looks like a bad match up for us, but in reality it isn't. You just have to be patient and survive the heavy removal. Eventually you can break through. Here are some cards that can help.
Auriok Champion
Immortal Servitude - brings back everything that got burned or countered
Hero of Bladehold - Survives burn and is generally good against any control deck
If you get down a Honor of the Pure you can win it. You have so many 1-2 drops some will break through. If he draws his Supreme or Anger then you have Immortal Servitude to bring back. Run some Brave the Elements to protect your guys as well.
Windbrisk Heights are great against UWR as well as you can eventually cheat in cards and of course if you are running Archangel of Thune version even better. If he gets in, he usually makes your other creatures burn proof.
I have just one Martyr now, zero hawks, and am low on kitties in my SS list. Flying wins matches, big ground pounders don't.
I find it interesting you cut hawks but stress how flying is what wins games.
Every hawk has turned into a flyer. I am running 3 Archangel, 4 Spectral Procession, a Resto Angel, plus 2 mainboard 3cc flyers (1 mindcensor, 1 Stonecloaker). Four ascendant, of course. To squeeze it in the deck has cut back in other places. I run just one Pridemate, for example, and one measly martyr. The only non negotiable things for me are four Ascendant and Aurioks, with the other numbers mutable, although I typically want 4 fragile sistas to back up the Aurioks. I am also running 4 path, knowing that with just 23 land I may need to path my own guy. I should also say that options win matches, and I want creatures to give me those options- the luxury of options is what makes Death and Taxes a strong-ish deck against most of the format, rather than a binary "I win this match, I lose this match" deck as we can be. I want to borrow a couple of their clothes.
Its not that its a bad card, its just that it isn't any better than the cards already played.
Also, from my personal experiences you rarely get to actually cast the card under Windswept Heath. It often gets destroyed or you are unable to get 3 attackers out. You'd have to be running the Green splash list to consistently cast the wurm and if you are going to splash, the Red and Black splashes are better.
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"If we don't know what we are doing, the enemy certainly can't anticipate our future actions!"
-Anonymous
As one or two may know from my infrequent posts on here, I like sistas and have played it for a while, going back to the start of modern. Not continually, of course.
Here are my current thoughts, and I welcome feedback. Two points I have made before- (a) and (b).
a) Auriok Champion is not a sideboard card. It is too low impact to waste four slots on. It is however a card that lives through red sweepers and is bloody hard to kill, but won't win a game like an untouched sideboard card should like RIP vs Living end or Stony Silence vs Affinity. Thus for me it is main deck or nothing. I choose the former. A more solid sista, who can get a bit bigger with HTP and can't be removed by large chunks of the format's pinpoint removal.
b) The lack of interactivity with other decks.... Well simply put I agree. I think O ring/banishing and PTE are pretty essential. You could look at cards like lawkeeper etc, but I do not want to put my eggs in one single cc basket. I dislike any deck like this running 4 path and some orings. But Pod will be too fast and win too often without them (sistas don't stop the spikefeeder combo), just by being quicker by a turn. A tron deck of any colour hitting clasm will land a Wurmcoil, and without removal its curtains. Without a sista twin can win t4, etc. Infect is another deck that must be interacted with in t1-3. We must interact. I tried suppression field- it was very binary- nuts or nothing. But every version I play comes back to a minimum of 6 removal spells.
c) The ground pounders are great, BUT what do they outclass?
Pridemate is a big, big beatstick. But given a Jund removal suite what does it do? Answer- not much- they kill all the small dudes, so no life gain, and it comes down as a naked 2/2. Rock and Junk are no better. It does not touch champion vs affinity, and does not help when they plate up a flying lifelinker. Vs control decks it gets wrathed with all the others, and leads us to disadvantage. Sure it is nuts Vs. burn- but burn is a bye. It is strong vs zoo, but again that is a stronger match. It is fast, but not t4 fast very often. It is good Vs. non flickerwisp hatebears, but again these are easier matches anyway. It forces pod to sac a creature every now and then, but they only need to buy a turn and then they go off. My feeling is they win matches Sisters are favourite for. The solution is to cut it, or force it through with BTE. I am a bit suspicious about BTE- we tap out a lot.
d) As many games seem to be won by tokens flying in and Windbrisk/Ranger card advantage as by the Sistas engine making 6/6 lifelinkers. This seems true in whatever builds I have played. In fact flying seems to be the main win route one way or another.
e) Archangel of Thune. Wins on it own on a clear board- possibly. Buys time on an even board- yes. Can make an army of small guys big- yes- the turn it comes in it can be double glorious anthem. The question, having played with it is how many and what will it do to the mana.
f) Hawks. They don't wear swords as we don't run them, but they do fly and provide some CA. But I can't fit them and removal spells in- and they seem weak Vs. trons, twin, pod.
g) Resto angel. Saves a key card, provides a solid anger proof body, blinks a ranger, and has flash. for CIP lifegain. I have seen these in a local version of the deck, and I was impressed. Anyone else tried them as a one or two of?
h) How many martyrs? The more martyrs, the more t2 6/6 ascendants? Has anyone found this happening that often? At best Vs. many decks you have to wait till t2 before laying martyr to avoid bolt. But martyr is dead late on, and without the ascendant on the table, being over 30 life is not relevant.
I) Couple of other cards to consider- blade splicer makes 2 men, one of which blocks etched champions. Stonecloaker can bring stuff back, including itself more multiple life triggers or relaying a ranger and may hit key card(s) from the bin. It flies too. I have seen some mindcensors in boards and even main, and this guy seems flexible.
j) Proclamations. Scooze is everywhere. Anger is everywhere. How many decks is this relevant against? Not Pod, Jund, Junk, Rock. It seems slow vs Storm, and recurring a 6/6 lifelinker late on seems weak against a tron deck with Karn t3 or an emrakul. Infect ignores life. Again it is strong vs burn, zoo, merfolk, fae, hatebears if they don't run scooze or grunt- all matches we would hope to win......
I have not mentioned scapeshift, 4 col gifts, instant reanimator and a few others- I apologise but have limited experience of these matches.
Any opinions?
I'm thinking of playing something looking like this at my next modern FNM:
3 Mountain
8 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry
3 Clifftop Retreat
2 Ghost Quarter
Creatures (25)
4 Martyr of Sands
4 Serra Ascendant
4 Soul Warden
4 Soul's Attendant
2 Norin the Wary
4 Ajani's Pridemate
3 Ranger of Eos
4 Brave the Elements
3 Path to Exile
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Lightning Helix
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Suppression Field
4 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Shatterstorm
What do you guys think?
Deck list
4 archangel of thune
4 soul wardens
4 souls attendant
3 serra accendent
3 kitchen fink
3 ranger of eos
4 ajani's pride mate
2 auriok champions
2 viscera seer
2 brave the elements
4 path of exile
4 windbrisk heights
4 godless shrines
4 isolated chapel
1 vault of the archangel
11 plains
Yeah it loses that "god" draw of turn 1 Ascendant into Matyr but it's over all game is just better. Thune just ends games and doesn't rely on a combo.
Only drop Martyr if you run Thune. It does more than just put Serra online. Matyr + Hawks put your life total back up and laughs at burn. I played in a tourney last night and I got Ascendant online every match but one.
4x Honor of the Pure
4x Martyr of Sands
4x Path to Exile
16x Plains
3x Ranger of Eos
4x Serra Ascendant
4x Soul Warden
4x Soul's Attendant
4x Spectral Procession
4x Squadron Hawk
3x Windbrisk Heights
2x Ghost Quarter
3x Brave the Elements
1x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Immortal Servitude
2x Rest in Peace
1x Stony Silence
2x Sundering Growth
2x Suppression Field
1x Oblivion Ring
I went 2-1-1. It should have been 3-0-1 but I made two major user errors in the last game where my deck clearly matched up well, but with a combination of me being tired (it was almost 11pm after a long work day) and him sometimes taking 5 minutes to make 1 play (I am not exaggerating, and what made it worse he was just running a red human heroic deck so we should have finished the match within 20 minutes, he would literally stare at 2 cards on the board for 3-4 mins before making a move).
Match 1- G/r Devotion He uses the same shell, but his is a little different. He main decks Bonfire of the damned
Game 1- He got a Bonfire out turn 2 or 3 and ate my creatures, but I topped deck a Matyr and got Ascendant online which completely stalled his wall of creatures the next turn. I ghost Quartered his Nykthos. 1-0
-1x Squadron Hawk
-1x Honor of the Pure
-1x Ranger of Eos
+3x Brave the Elements
Game 2- This match wasn't fun. I got a Serra Ascendant online turn 2. I was at 31 life. He bonfired for 2 which killed her since I dropped under 30. It lasted longer than I wanted but he got 4 total Bonfires out plus 1 Primal Command lockdown with Eternal Witness rolling. His deck went into control mode (which it does so well, it's the only Green Devotion deck that I've ever seen that can transform from beat down to control in an instant, you can see his version in the Mono-Green Devotion Primer, his name is Travisaraus). 1-1
Game 3- This match was close for both of us. My deck just flooded the board with a Sister, Pridemate, 2x Spectral Possessions(this card does so much work). His side had some Hydras, Geist and pretty much a wall. He couldn't stop my flyers. My Ajani was a 12/12. I had lethal on the board and so did he, even though I was at 21. He laid Polukranos but had to wait one more turn to monstrous which would eat at all my tokens. Next turn I BTE for the win.
1-0
Match 2- B/W Tokens- This version was even heavier control. IT ran a ton of discard and Liliana of the veil
Game 1- She turn 1 Thoughtseize and continued to make me discard and or Pathed or removed everything I dropped. My first 7 turns ended up with 7 card in the graveyard. However! She ran a lot of shock lands and hurt herself pretty badly. I drew into a Hawk to get my hand back up. Then topped deck a Ranger and all of a sudden I'm back to a full hand almost. She played Liliana but by then I started to flood the board and had a full hand. 1-0
-1x Path of Exile
-1x Honor of the Pure
+2x Immortal Servitude
Game 2- Virtually same thing as game 1 but I got a turn 3 Spectral and turn 5 Honor of the pure. She did get a Pack Rat out but it was too slow to make an impact. My spirit tokens did all the work here.
2-0
Match 3- Hive Mind- All I have to say, this is the first time I've seen this deck. There is zero interaction, he runs no creatures only removal and his Hive mind combination.
Game 1- I got 3 Serra Ascendants online vs him. He Slaughter Pact one then Pathed the next. I got through with one to put him down to 4. I was at 44. He topped deck another Path to take care of it. I had lethal on board next turn. He top decked Hive Mind then played Pact of Negation. He won. 0-1
-4x Path of Exile
-1x Ranger of Eos
+2x Stony Silence
+2x Sundering Growth
+1x Oblivion Ring
Game 2- I had a slow hand but had Stony Silence. However he never drew his Lotus Bloom BUT didn't miss a land drop. I never drew an O-Ring or Sundering Growth. On turn 6 he played Hive Mind + Slaughter Pact. Game.
I hate decks like this. IT's not because I lost, but there is ZERO interaction. In game 2 he didn't even have removal. He just survived to 3 life then played his combo. I feel like this wasn't even Magic haha. I'd rather play G/r Tron anyday of the week...at least I get to play with Wurmcoil lol.
2-1
Match 4-Red Humans Heroic- This deck was actually 3-0 at this point. It outraced Affinity already in the tourney. Even though a standard deck it can kill by turn 4 and was well placed for the night. I however made some mistakes in this match, plus him taking forever to make plays (game 1 lasted 40 minutes), this turned into the most frustrating game because it should have been a win for me and 9/10 matches would be.
Game 1- First 4 turns he played humans and 2x legion loyalist and buffed them. I only drew into 1 path this whole game. Had a slow hand from the start. No Ajani. No Honor of the Pure till way later. He got me down to under 10 life a couple times by buffing with Madcap Skills and all those standard red cheap enchantments. Matyr got me back to 20 then I established board and won fairly easily. It just took forever, and ever, and ever. On turn 4, he had 3 creatures on the board. I had one sister and one hawk. He stared at the board for over 5 minutes. There wasn't even anything to think about. I'm new to tourney play so I guess stalling is a tactic? I'm not accusing him of that since I don't know him and he seemed a nice guy but I felt something was up. 1-0
Game 2- The bane of my night. I kept a slow hand. I don't know why. I knew we only had about 10 minutes till time. My first play wasn't even till Spectral Possession turn 3. I think I kept my hand because I knew I could recover with Matyr and I had Ranger of Eos in hand to find her. Anyway, long story short I misplayed some blocks later on with Matyr, sac. He took forever to play. I didn't block towards the end to take 14 dmg thinking this would be over with and at least we would get 5 turns in game 3 in which with even an average hand I could kill him by. Instead he took forever on his last turn. I should have scooped instantly and went to game 3. Yet again another mistake I made. Oh well, first live modern tourney.
2-1-1. I had a blast. I feel like the deck could go 4-0 unless I go against Hive Mind again. I literally can't do anything about that one because I need a Sundering Growth to win and even then it's not guaranteed if he can Hive Mind then play the instant even if I growth it. At least I can stall Tron with Sundering Growths, Stony Silence, Paths etc. The last game was a decent amount of user error on my behalf.
The next Modern I will try 4x Thune and 2x Auriok Champion in the main deck.
To an extent they are not top modern decks, so I would not worry too much about results one way or another, barring of course tokens which is a bona fide Modern deck you will see time and again, although I can't ever recall a version with Lilly. Hive mind is basically Ad Nauseam but a turn slower- the difference being in this case that you can get out of the Ad Nauseam lock with life but not the Hive Mind. Your only solution in white is Nevermore I am afraid- or beat it down faster. Aura of Silence works quite well at slowing it, Trinisphere could make the pacts cost more but hoses your deck too and its the mind you want to hit.
or it is very good. I just don't see the downside.
On the Auriok champion- its a four of whatever- I am playing both SS and Norrin/Porphoros lists and exchanging the real Aurioks with proxies between the two, and it is the MVP in both.
I have just one Martyr now, zero hawks, and am low on kitties in my SS list. Flying wins matches, big ground pounders don't.
I find it interesting you cut hawks but stress how flying is what wins games.
Sounds like grounds for slow play, maybe even stalling. Next time just ask him politely to play faster and if nothing changes you can call a judge over to observe.
Also, what is our plan against UW/UWR Control? What are your experiences against them?
Auriok Champion
Immortal Servitude - brings back everything that got burned or countered
Hero of Bladehold - Survives burn and is generally good against any control deck
Spellskite - Self-explanatory
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
If you get down a Honor of the Pure you can win it. You have so many 1-2 drops some will break through. If he draws his Supreme or Anger then you have Immortal Servitude to bring back. Run some Brave the Elements to protect your guys as well.
Windbrisk Heights are great against UWR as well as you can eventually cheat in cards and of course if you are running Archangel of Thune version even better. If he gets in, he usually makes your other creatures burn proof.
4x Serra Ascendant
3x Martyr of Sands
4x Soul's Attendant
3x Soul Warden
4x Ajani's Pridemate
4x Squadron Hawk
3x Ranger of Eos
2x Aven Mindcensor
4x Path to Exile
4x Honor of the Pure
4x Spectral Procession
Lands:
2x Ghost Quarter
2x Windbrisk Heights
4x Flagstones of Trokair
13x Plains
3x Suppression Field
3x Stony Silence
2x Ghostly Prison
2x Sundering Growth
2x Rest in Peace
2x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Leyline of Sanctity
I wish I had any Auriok Champion. I'm thinking about cutting the Aven Mindcensor though. Should I cut them for Hero of Bladehold and rise 4x Windbrisk Heights? 2x Bladehold or 1x Bladehold and 1x Ranger? Or maybe 1x Bladehold and 1x Brave the Elements in the mainboard?
I found 2x Immortal Servitude. Switching the Cages for them.
Thank you for the advice brich84! It's been a while without touching this deck. I didn't playtested at all for tomorrow. Let's see what I get.
Every hawk has turned into a flyer. I am running 3 Archangel, 4 Spectral Procession, a Resto Angel, plus 2 mainboard 3cc flyers (1 mindcensor, 1 Stonecloaker). Four ascendant, of course. To squeeze it in the deck has cut back in other places. I run just one Pridemate, for example, and one measly martyr. The only non negotiable things for me are four Ascendant and Aurioks, with the other numbers mutable, although I typically want 4 fragile sistas to back up the Aurioks. I am also running 4 path, knowing that with just 23 land I may need to path my own guy. I should also say that options win matches, and I want creatures to give me those options- the luxury of options is what makes Death and Taxes a strong-ish deck against most of the format, rather than a binary "I win this match, I lose this match" deck as we can be. I want to borrow a couple of their clothes.
I love it, especially if you're splashing shock lands or run mistveil plains. Ghost Quarting your own flagstones is hilariously fun.
Edit: Worked up a quick preliminary GW decklist
3x Archangel of Thune
3x Serra Ascendant
4x Soul Warden
3x Soul's Attendant
4x Squadron Hawk
4x Voice of Resurgence
3x Voracious Wurm
4x Path to Exile
3x Spectral Procession
4x Temple Garden
2x Windbrisk Heights
7x Plains
1x Forest
3x Razorverge Thicket
4x Windswept Heath
Also, from my personal experiences you rarely get to actually cast the card under Windswept Heath. It often gets destroyed or you are unable to get 3 attackers out. You'd have to be running the Green splash list to consistently cast the wurm and if you are going to splash, the Red and Black splashes are better.
-Anonymous