Dude congrats on top 8!!! No deck list in the post though!?
Thought scour was a thing for a while but looting just proves better for the majority of our lists letting us sculpt our hands better for the cards we need... That being said, multiple snap casters might enjoy a thought scour more.
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Modern: MONKEY GROW & Amulet Titan Legacy: RG Lands EDH: Merieke Ri Berit Esper Good stuff
The only way I would play Scour over Looting is if the format congealed around 1 and 2 CMC spells again, such that Disrupting Shoal became good again. I can see that happening, but it's not now in my local meta, and based on my observations playing another deck online, it isn't right there, either.
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I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
we were 58 player, 6 rounds and top8.
I went 4-1-1 and did the cut for top8 ! YAY!
i wrote a small report that will be on this spoiler, so u can read the mu and all
U turns (won 2-0)
Honestly i'm happy when i face this kind of deck, we have all the tools the deal with them, and a fast race, so the mu was easy, but notable mention,
i saw his hand with vendilion clique, he had a bunch of extra turn effect, but no counter or interaction, so i was just sitting on my remand/stubborn denial hand and my vendilion+ 1 mandrils race.
BUT
he gigadrowseed all my 5 lands eot
BUT simic charmis love, simic charm is life.
1-1 we are still alive.
Hardened Affinity (Won 2-1)
I didn't tested sufficiently with monkey grow against this archetype, but i had a really hard time against it with UR wizards.
So i expected an hard game.
I don't remember much about this round, except a strange situation with me dead on board and remandin hand, him at 4 life, he decided to cast dismember on my tarmogoyf so i remanded it and drew lightning bolt happy for me, sad for him, i was lucky.
2-1 the mandrills are hooting excited
Hardened Affinity the revenge (Won 2-1)
Another one, and i saw the deck i was playng, because we were playing near the turn before, so no surprise disrupting shoal on hardened scales.
first game he sent me in the lunar orbit with double archbound ravager and inkmoth nexus (and i was mana short for snapcaster mage into bolt plus vapor snag.
But game 2 i've placed a fast race with 3 delver and a shoal, so i was back in the game.
G3 i was really lucky: disrupting shoal on hardened scales, delver flips with bolt, tarmo t2 mandrils t3, ancient grudge on his 2 blockers, i was lucky another time.
A rapid consideration on this mu: i felt my sideboard was too mana heavy with mana cost (abrade izzet staticaster ancient grudge anger of the gods and snapcaster mage was too mana intensive too ( 3 cm can be too much with 17 lands).
3-1 and the balds man are partying.
GR Scapeshift(2-1 Won)
This was another mu i felt lucky to be faced against, a couple of remand and a goyf took g1 quickly,
Post side with alpine moon,grim lavamancer( i was scared about his midrange plan with bloodbraid elf and tireless tracker)i felt quite cool, but i opened a double delver hand with only one land and a mishra bauble i used the mishra trick to flip the delvers, i saw double snapcaster, ugh, soon a primeval titan was feeding on my poor delvers.
G3 i startedwith a solid hand, mandrills T3, then he found thrun the last troll with summoner pact but simic charm and snap-simic charm pushed enough damage to close the game (simic charm is love,simic charm is life)
4-1 and it's in.
ID in the last turn.
I'm in top 8 against storm, i know the player, he start, but i'm quite happy about the mu, we all know why.
i won g1 easily, but g2 i lost to a thing in the ice, 2 non flipping delvers ( i drew snapcaster, another delver and a tarmogoyf) with only one land in play ( yeah, 17 are too few) and g3 i put delver t1, no flip, delver t2, no flip, delver t3 all of them flips.
But by the time my oppo had 12 goblins 1/1 in play, i was on 10 life and he was at 16, my hand was 2lightning bolt 2remand 1 simic charm 1snapcaster mage
in hand and a land in play (a steam vents).
I decided to attack with a delver sending my opponent to 13, block 2 goblins and bolt on of them, i go to 1, then i drew a fetch and attacked with all, bolting face for a total of 12 damage and leaving them to 1, then concede.
The people in the room and my opponent too told me that i missplayed throwing away a won game, but (assuming i did all i could with fetches and baubles to make the delver flips, that revealed delver snap and simic charm) i discussed and reconstructing the game we saw that i couldn't win or a play in a better way.
My question to you is (assuming that i did not take any unnnecessary shock damage and all) was there a better play choice to try to win or "mind trick" the game? Thanks!
at the end of the spoiler there is a question about aan attack that i'd really like to receive help, i feel there is something i could do to try to win
i'd really apreciate if you can take a look^^
Anyway, i have some thoughts about my list:
3 snapcaster mage are too much, we do not have that many targets, and that amount of mana to spend on it.
17 lands are too few, i think i will add a fetchland over a snapcaster, but, are these two consideration above linked? i mean, maybe with 18 lands 3 snaps are good...
You should set up your mana base (and I did it for you adding the 18th land in the meantime. If you want a more budget version, check mnesci's video since he's been playing a working one).
I added a mandrill, shaved a snap, added scours to feed the third mandrill. Scour because you need blue if you want to keep playing shoals (otherwhise looting would be way better).
In side, if I were you, I'd really try to play blood moon. Then I added a second anger (since I cut a surgical for blood moon), and EE that are nuts (They're not budget, I know, but I tried to upgrade your deck). I'd try to find a slot for Damping Sphere, since it helps a lot in many MU, but I leave this to you.
Last thing: do you really like playing remand? I always felt mana leak way superior since they get rid of the threats permanently.
I watched a video of Reid Duke playing a Sultai midrange list with a ton of one-ofs, the idea being that it's a good way to test out a ton of different cards.
I was off Delver for about two months, but I've played it for two weeks now, and this week, I decided to play a bunch of singles of stuff I haven't played in a long tine: Simic Charm, Remand, Delay and Deprive out of the side, etc. Went 2-1, losing to Burn, beating Humans and Junk Company. I also added two Pyromancers to give an extra threat that doesn't rely on the yard. And I'm up to 19 lands, with only one Traverse.
Lots of thoughta:
1. With the next set, we're getting both Simic and Gruul. Could be a chance for some sweet new cards, and possibly even the extra threat we need that isn't Pyromancer.
2. Anyone playing Risk Factor? Seems like this deck would be able to leverage it pretty well.
3. I keep thinking about going back to Disrupting Shoal and lots more blue cards. My latest builds of the deck have all felt too midrangey to me. And as much I love Dismember as a card, this deck is already pretty painful on the mana, and maybe we'd be better off playing some combination of Vapor Snags and Simic Charm.
4. Galaxy brain stuff: Day's Undoing is grave hate and probably card advantage, especially in a Shoal build.
Had a lot of fun trying to navigate things with a bunch of random cards last night, and I'm thinking ahead to the next set, which is probably the best bet we've had to get something good for a while. As always with Delver players in Modern, hope springs eternal.
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Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
Fair. I haven't seen any of those locally in a few months, and in 200 ish matches online with a different deck, half of them leagues, I've never played against KCI or Hollow One.
Seems like Shoal and Looting are mutually exclusive, but with all the grave hate, maybe that's not the hill we want to die on right now.
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Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I'd rather try Risk Factor or even Ancestral Vision before Day's Undoing. I tried some Ashton's build in the past with it, but never liked it. Nothing has evolved enough in the deck to change my mind.
Against BGx and control I think Bomat Courier can help a bit if you play an aggressive build.
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Decks played: Modern:
0 Affinity;
URG Delver
URGW Countercats
(Here you can find some video contents about Countercats and Temur Delver decks)
@mikepemulis
Looting with shoals are just bad, a lot of card disadvantage, and we lower blue pitch density
Oh, to be clear, I think you can't play both of those cards in the same deck. I'm going to be trying out a very heavy blue version again for a change of pace and play pattern. And with the meta once again congealed around 1 cmc spells, I'm curious to see whether Shoal is actually good again. It's such a cool card because it does what no other card in Modern does. It's probably not great, but then Spell Pierce, Mana Leak, Remand, etc, all of them have their problems too.
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I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Just bought into this deck online, after playing only Eldrazi Stompy there before. Played a few practice rounds to get used to some of the clicking of this deck, and man, this is tough. So many decision trees compared to Eldrazi.
I'm not doing super well with it so far, but chalk that up to a rough build with bad cards (Shoal, no Looting) and inexperience. The games are lots of fun, that's for sure.
Wishlist: 1/2 cmc Gruul or Simic threat, Preordain unban. It's pretty clear we're a tool or two short, but that's not stopping me from trying.
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EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I tried a shoal list and I think it's not where we want to be right now. There are too many high CMC threat that shoal can't answer but must be answered (KCI, planeswalkers, angels and wraths from UW, company and chord, delve creatures, self reanimated creatures, revelers). We have to rely on other counters but end up being short in answers.
Hoping for something from the new expansion, I think I'll keep casting PtE and nacatls alongside delver for now.
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Decks played: Modern:
0 Affinity;
URG Delver
URGW Countercats
(Here you can find some video contents about Countercats and Temur Delver decks)
Went 2-2 last night at Modern (beat UWR and a Demigod of Revenge deck, lost to Martyr Proc and Affinity) and have been jamming a lot (of losses) online while I get this deck under my fingers again. Two cards I've been impressed with in the Shoal build I've got: singles of Curious Obsession and Chart a Course. Chart is especially good after Shoaling to protect your attacker because you just make up all the lost cards.
Also last night, Hazoret won me 2 postboard games by itself. Very impressive, and as much as I love Huntmaster, it may be better to play some split here. But I think in general having some sort of hard to deal with engine at 4cmc is pretty necessary for the Path matchups that ramp you to 4 mana.
I'm also only on 3 basics, with 2 Island and a Forest, and may have to go up to 4. In the Shoal build, I would play a third Island over Mountain. In any case, I hate running out of basics from all the Field of Ruin, Ghost Quarter, Path, and Trophy running around.
It's certainly been lots of fun. Shoal is an absolute blast and I'm finding the format congealed enough around Path / Bolt/ Push / various 1 mana threats / Burn's entire deck / etc that it feels pretty good. One card I've thought about if I ever actually see Hollow One is Echoing Truth. But in 200 matches online and probably that many in paper since moving in July, I've literally never played against it, so I'm not worried about it as much as I'm worried about Dredge. And Dredge seems more solvable for this deck than a bunch of 4/4s on turn 2.
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EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I'm having good games online this weekend. Still just the practice room as I figure out sideboarding in this version, but I'm on Shoal and loving it. 4-1 this afternoon, beating Burn, Tron, Bant Binder, Mardu Pyromancer, and losing to Tron.
For those who've played the Shoal version before and said Tron is favorable: how's that work? Aggressively Shoal the Stirrings and Maps, but let the Spheres and Stars through? My board plan was to cut all the Burn (4 Bolts, 1 Forked Bolt, 1 Tarfire, plus one Snapcaster) and bring in 3 Blood Moon, 2 Destructive Revelry, and 2 Ancient Grudge. It felt okay when on the play, but on the draw the matchup feels miserable.
Key cards in the deck so far are singles of Curious Obsession and Chart a Course. Pitching to Shoal, making up some lost cards, filling the yard a bit, growing Goyf . . . lots going on there, and pretty easy to pick a spot for each of them. Plus they pitch to Shoal.
I also went up to 3 Islands to go with the Forest and cut the Spirebluff. Lots of Paths and Trophies that I want to let through post board, and I hate running out of lands. Plus the red demands are down quite a bit in the Shoal version.
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EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
For those who've played the Shoal version before and said Tron is favorable: how's that work? Aggressively Shoal the Stirrings and Maps, but let the Spheres and Stars through?
Pretty much. Keep all your Bolts so you can beat them after they stabilize. You want to frontload enough damage that Bolt-Snap-Bolt is a reasonable option. As such, you don't need more than 2 threats in play at one time, and so can trim some of those for space. Run an Alpine or Damping if you need more help with the MU is my advice. Those will help on the draw. I like your one-ofs BTW.
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
Online testing is going alright. I'm definitely getting better at seeing lines of play and knowing when the slow roll a threat until I have counter backup. Shoal helps there.
Played in paper tonight. Beat Mardu 2-0, which I think is one of the easier matchups, especially postboard. Lost 1-2 to UR Wizards in a matchup that reminds me of the UR Delver / U Delver quasi-mirror in Pauper, where the UR player just has way more options. Remand is rough against the delve cards. And lost 1-2 to this RG monsters list. Picture Ponza but without the Stone Rains, plus stuff like maindeck Finks, Thrun, and Tireless Tracker. My sideboard plan against that deck has been to play sweepers, but now that I think about it, maybe I should keep in the Thought Scours and play it like Tron, where you stick a threat and keep them off the Inferno Titans or whatever for long enough to win.
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I can't say I'm pleased to see you and must warn you I may have to do something about it.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I'm now playing UR delver but want to improve it. Can you show your lists of RUG delver ?
Here's what I'm on as of this morning. I've played lots of different configurations of the list, sometimes with Disrupting Shoal and lots of other counters, other times with Traverse the Ulvenwald and less countermagic. The key components are the 12 core threats, some number of cantrips, Bolts, and a sideboard with some haymakers like Blood Moon and Huntmaster. There's a lot of flexibility here, I think.
I just added the third Mana Leak over a Simic Charm, and as much as I like Curious Obsession, I think it may get the axe for the 4th Thought Scour or maybe a 3rd Sleight of Hand. It feels so bad to topdeck it, and while Thought Scour isn't much better, it enables Mandrills and Goyf, dumps stuff for Snapcaster, and replaces itself without any hoops.
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Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
the card itself really isn't worth the card board its printed on...does it serve a purpose? Sure its a blue 1 drop that might not be a 1/1. I would not put it in a list and expect to win a PTQ or GP though.
Yeah. In my online list, I'm only at 2 Angers for Dredge because I weirdly haven't seen it much lately. In paper, where no one around here plays Dredge, I just have the one Anger among a few sweepers that's even good against them.
If I start seeing more Dredge, I'll be playing 2x Ravenous Trap again. Surgical is fine but honestly I'm so bad at the card in other matchups, and then I don't think it does enough to cripple Dredge.
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EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: URDelver
Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Played 2 Friendly Leagues today. The first one was super frustrating: 1-4 with losses to Mardu,
This evening's league was better: 4-1, losing to 8 Rack, beating Burn, UR Phoenix, Bant Spirits, and Bogles.
Burn was an easy 2-0. I sided in Revelries to hit any RIPs or Bridges, but it ended up killing an Eidolon, dealing 2, and growing Goyf to lethal in G2.
8 Rack was an odd loss, as I've always felt favored against them. This one had maindeck Bridge, and that's not a beatable card G1. I sided out the Shoals since pitching extra cards seems bad, but we have so many dead cards in the matchup that it's probably worth keeping in.
The Phoenix matches were very exciting and close, and my opponent had 2 Thing in the Ice game 2 after I'd countered all the grave-dumping cards to keep the Phoenixes in hand. Played an odd game where my opponent bounced my Snapcaster twice with Thing flips, the second time allowing me to flashback a Vapor Snag to stop his lethal attacker and topdeck a Tarfire for the win with Dispel backup. Felt like a solid match for us, since a couple of Dispels and Izzet Charms are no match for our counter suite. So much of their deck is just air. It feels a lot like Storm against us, and that's a matchup I like.
Bant Spirits feels oddly like a good matchup for us. I think our removal does a good job of breaking up their synergies, and unlike Humans, their creatures have a harder time getting and staying huge. And Collected Company is such a bad card against us, especially with my configuration of 3 Mana Leak, 2 Denial, and then a Dispel from the board. They also ramp us into Snapcaster / Bolt and Huntmaster mana with their early Paths.
Bogles feels easy with Shoal, but even then I still lost a game to a gigantic Kor Spiritdancer. G3 I went so far as to cast an Anger of the Gods as spot removal to get rid of it.
In the first league, the second Delay and the Abrade were two Ravenous Traps, but I think our Dredge matchup is bad enough that I'm willing to just lean on our sweepers and accept that it's not a great matchup. I'd rather gain some points against the grindy decks of the format. Sideboard is a little loose, though.
I cut the Curious Obsession for a second Chart a Course. I got sick of it not flipping Delver and more importantly drawing it while behind, whereas Chart is fine there and definitely helps reload after Shoaling things away. Maindeck, I see Tarfire, Forked Bolt, and the second copies of Foothills, Snapcaster, and Chart as negotiable. I'm thinking of trying the No Cowards Allowed 17 land build, where the 10th fetch would become a Thought Scour, Sleight of Hand, or maybe something else entirely, but I'm worried about increased mulligans. I will say that the frustrating thing about my build is that sometimes you just topdeck land after land in the lategame against a grindy deck, when you're unwilling to crack your fetches to thin the deck because you want to stay out of Bolt range. That's not a problem I had with the Looting build, but I will say that Shoaling their T2 or T3 play after you've tapped out for a Goyf or Ape feels amazing and is such a huge swing.
The deck is difficult and I'm bad at role assessment, plus I'm learning how to play against things other than the Jeskai, Jund, Mardu, Storm, Ponza, Humans, and Burn that populate my local shop. I'd be curious to see how a more competent player of this deck would navigate some of the tougher turns I've had.
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EDH: UGEdric
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Modern: UGRDelver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
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Modern: MONKEY GROW & Amulet Titan
Legacy: RG Lands
EDH: Merieke Ri Berit Esper Good stuff
Thought scour was a thing for a while but looting just proves better for the majority of our lists letting us sculpt our hands better for the cards we need... That being said, multiple snap casters might enjoy a thought scour more.
Modern: MONKEY GROW & Amulet Titan
Legacy: RG Lands
EDH: Merieke Ri Berit Esper Good stuff
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Congratulations for the great results!!
I'd modify your list like this:
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Snapcaster Mage
3 Hooting Mandrills
1 Vendilion Clique
3 Mishra’s Bauble
4 Serum Visions
2 Thought Scour
4 Disrupting Shoal
2 Stubborn Denial
4 Remand
1 Spell Snare
1 Vapor Snag
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Tarfire
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Forest
2 Blood Moon
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Dispel
2 Risk Factor
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Abrade
You should set up your mana base (and I did it for you adding the 18th land in the meantime. If you want a more budget version, check mnesci's video since he's been playing a working one).
I added a mandrill, shaved a snap, added scours to feed the third mandrill. Scour because you need blue if you want to keep playing shoals (otherwhise looting would be way better).
In side, if I were you, I'd really try to play blood moon. Then I added a second anger (since I cut a surgical for blood moon), and EE that are nuts (They're not budget, I know, but I tried to upgrade your deck). I'd try to find a slot for Damping Sphere, since it helps a lot in many MU, but I leave this to you.
Last thing: do you really like playing remand? I always felt mana leak way superior since they get rid of the threats permanently.
Modern:
I was off Delver for about two months, but I've played it for two weeks now, and this week, I decided to play a bunch of singles of stuff I haven't played in a long tine: Simic Charm, Remand, Delay and Deprive out of the side, etc. Went 2-1, losing to Burn, beating Humans and Junk Company. I also added two Pyromancers to give an extra threat that doesn't rely on the yard. And I'm up to 19 lands, with only one Traverse.
Lots of thoughta:
1. With the next set, we're getting both Simic and Gruul. Could be a chance for some sweet new cards, and possibly even the extra threat we need that isn't Pyromancer.
2. Anyone playing Risk Factor? Seems like this deck would be able to leverage it pretty well.
3. I keep thinking about going back to Disrupting Shoal and lots more blue cards. My latest builds of the deck have all felt too midrangey to me. And as much I love Dismember as a card, this deck is already pretty painful on the mana, and maybe we'd be better off playing some combination of Vapor Snags and Simic Charm.
4. Galaxy brain stuff: Day's Undoing is grave hate and probably card advantage, especially in a Shoal build.
Had a lot of fun trying to navigate things with a bunch of random cards last night, and I'm thinking ahead to the next set, which is probably the best bet we've had to get something good for a while. As always with Delver players in Modern, hope springs eternal.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
I was looking at this list of most played Modern cards and it sure seems like Shoal lines up well now: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/format-staples/modern/full/all
Seems like Shoal and Looting are mutually exclusive, but with all the grave hate, maybe that's not the hill we want to die on right now.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Against BGx and control I think Bomat Courier can help a bit if you play an aggressive build.
Modern:
Oh, to be clear, I think you can't play both of those cards in the same deck. I'm going to be trying out a very heavy blue version again for a change of pace and play pattern. And with the meta once again congealed around 1 cmc spells, I'm curious to see whether Shoal is actually good again. It's such a cool card because it does what no other card in Modern does. It's probably not great, but then Spell Pierce, Mana Leak, Remand, etc, all of them have their problems too.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
I'm not doing super well with it so far, but chalk that up to a rough build with bad cards (Shoal, no Looting) and inexperience. The games are lots of fun, that's for sure.
Wishlist: 1/2 cmc Gruul or Simic threat, Preordain unban. It's pretty clear we're a tool or two short, but that's not stopping me from trying.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Hoping for something from the new expansion, I think I'll keep casting PtE and nacatls alongside delver for now.
Modern:
Also last night, Hazoret won me 2 postboard games by itself. Very impressive, and as much as I love Huntmaster, it may be better to play some split here. But I think in general having some sort of hard to deal with engine at 4cmc is pretty necessary for the Path matchups that ramp you to 4 mana.
I'm also only on 3 basics, with 2 Island and a Forest, and may have to go up to 4. In the Shoal build, I would play a third Island over Mountain. In any case, I hate running out of basics from all the Field of Ruin, Ghost Quarter, Path, and Trophy running around.
It's certainly been lots of fun. Shoal is an absolute blast and I'm finding the format congealed enough around Path / Bolt/ Push / various 1 mana threats / Burn's entire deck / etc that it feels pretty good. One card I've thought about if I ever actually see Hollow One is Echoing Truth. But in 200 matches online and probably that many in paper since moving in July, I've literally never played against it, so I'm not worried about it as much as I'm worried about Dredge. And Dredge seems more solvable for this deck than a bunch of 4/4s on turn 2.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
For those who've played the Shoal version before and said Tron is favorable: how's that work? Aggressively Shoal the Stirrings and Maps, but let the Spheres and Stars through? My board plan was to cut all the Burn (4 Bolts, 1 Forked Bolt, 1 Tarfire, plus one Snapcaster) and bring in 3 Blood Moon, 2 Destructive Revelry, and 2 Ancient Grudge. It felt okay when on the play, but on the draw the matchup feels miserable.
Key cards in the deck so far are singles of Curious Obsession and Chart a Course. Pitching to Shoal, making up some lost cards, filling the yard a bit, growing Goyf . . . lots going on there, and pretty easy to pick a spot for each of them. Plus they pitch to Shoal.
I also went up to 3 Islands to go with the Forest and cut the Spirebluff. Lots of Paths and Trophies that I want to let through post board, and I hate running out of lands. Plus the red demands are down quite a bit in the Shoal version.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
Played in paper tonight. Beat Mardu 2-0, which I think is one of the easier matchups, especially postboard. Lost 1-2 to UR Wizards in a matchup that reminds me of the UR Delver / U Delver quasi-mirror in Pauper, where the UR player just has way more options. Remand is rough against the delve cards. And lost 1-2 to this RG monsters list. Picture Ponza but without the Stone Rains, plus stuff like maindeck Finks, Thrun, and Tireless Tracker. My sideboard plan against that deck has been to play sweepers, but now that I think about it, maybe I should keep in the Thought Scours and play it like Tron, where you stick a threat and keep them off the Inferno Titans or whatever for long enough to win.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Here's what I'm on as of this morning. I've played lots of different configurations of the list, sometimes with Disrupting Shoal and lots of other counters, other times with Traverse the Ulvenwald and less countermagic. The key components are the 12 core threats, some number of cantrips, Bolts, and a sideboard with some haymakers like Blood Moon and Huntmaster. There's a lot of flexibility here, I think.
1x Breeding Pool
1x Forest
3x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
3x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
1x Stomping Ground
3x Wooded Foothills
Creature (14)
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Hooting Mandrills
2x Snapcaster Mage
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Disrupting Shoal
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Mana Leak
2x Stubborn Denial
1x Tarfire
3x Thought Scour
2x Vapor Snag
Sorcery (8)
1x Chart a Course
1x Forked Bolt
4x Serum Visions
2x Sleight of Hand
Enchantment (1)
1x Curious Obsession
3x Blood Moon
1x Delay
2x Destructive Revelry
1x Disdainful Stroke
1x Dispel
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Feed the Clan
1x Firespout
1x Hazoret the Fervent
2x Huntmaster of the Fells
1x Pyroclasm
I just added the third Mana Leak over a Simic Charm, and as much as I like Curious Obsession, I think it may get the axe for the 4th Thought Scour or maybe a 3rd Sleight of Hand. It feels so bad to topdeck it, and while Thought Scour isn't much better, it enables Mandrills and Goyf, dumps stuff for Snapcaster, and replaces itself without any hoops.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
Counter-Cat
Colorless Eldrazi Stompy
Modern:
If I start seeing more Dredge, I'll be playing 2x Ravenous Trap again. Surgical is fine but honestly I'm so bad at the card in other matchups, and then I don't think it does enough to cripple Dredge.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered
This evening's league was better: 4-1, losing to 8 Rack, beating Burn, UR Phoenix, Bant Spirits, and Bogles.
Burn was an easy 2-0. I sided in Revelries to hit any RIPs or Bridges, but it ended up killing an Eidolon, dealing 2, and growing Goyf to lethal in G2.
8 Rack was an odd loss, as I've always felt favored against them. This one had maindeck Bridge, and that's not a beatable card G1. I sided out the Shoals since pitching extra cards seems bad, but we have so many dead cards in the matchup that it's probably worth keeping in.
The Phoenix matches were very exciting and close, and my opponent had 2 Thing in the Ice game 2 after I'd countered all the grave-dumping cards to keep the Phoenixes in hand. Played an odd game where my opponent bounced my Snapcaster twice with Thing flips, the second time allowing me to flashback a Vapor Snag to stop his lethal attacker and topdeck a Tarfire for the win with Dispel backup. Felt like a solid match for us, since a couple of Dispels and Izzet Charms are no match for our counter suite. So much of their deck is just air. It feels a lot like Storm against us, and that's a matchup I like.
Bant Spirits feels oddly like a good matchup for us. I think our removal does a good job of breaking up their synergies, and unlike Humans, their creatures have a harder time getting and staying huge. And Collected Company is such a bad card against us, especially with my configuration of 3 Mana Leak, 2 Denial, and then a Dispel from the board. They also ramp us into Snapcaster / Bolt and Huntmaster mana with their early Paths.
Bogles feels easy with Shoal, but even then I still lost a game to a gigantic Kor Spiritdancer. G3 I went so far as to cast an Anger of the Gods as spot removal to get rid of it.
Here's my current online list:
1x Breeding Pool
1x Forest
3x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
1x Stomping Ground
2x Wooded Foothills
Creature (14)
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Hooting Mandrills
2x Snapcaster Mage
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Disrupting Shoal
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Mana Leak
2x Stubborn Denial
1x Tarfire
3x Thought Scour
2x Vapor Snag
Sorcery (9)
2x Chart a Course
1x Forked Bolt
4x Serum Visions
2x Sleight of Hand
3x Blood Moon
2x Huntmaster of the Fells
2x Anger of the Gods
1x Pyroclasm
2x Destructive Revelry
1x Ancient Grudge
1x Abrade
2x Delay
1x Dispel
In the first league, the second Delay and the Abrade were two Ravenous Traps, but I think our Dredge matchup is bad enough that I'm willing to just lean on our sweepers and accept that it's not a great matchup. I'd rather gain some points against the grindy decks of the format. Sideboard is a little loose, though.
I cut the Curious Obsession for a second Chart a Course. I got sick of it not flipping Delver and more importantly drawing it while behind, whereas Chart is fine there and definitely helps reload after Shoaling things away. Maindeck, I see Tarfire, Forked Bolt, and the second copies of Foothills, Snapcaster, and Chart as negotiable. I'm thinking of trying the No Cowards Allowed 17 land build, where the 10th fetch would become a Thought Scour, Sleight of Hand, or maybe something else entirely, but I'm worried about increased mulligans. I will say that the frustrating thing about my build is that sometimes you just topdeck land after land in the lategame against a grindy deck, when you're unwilling to crack your fetches to thin the deck because you want to stay out of Bolt range. That's not a problem I had with the Looting build, but I will say that Shoaling their T2 or T3 play after you've tapped out for a Goyf or Ape feels amazing and is such a huge swing.
The deck is difficult and I'm bad at role assessment, plus I'm learning how to play against things other than the Jeskai, Jund, Mardu, Storm, Ponza, Humans, and Burn that populate my local shop. I'd be curious to see how a more competent player of this deck would navigate some of the tougher turns I've had.
EDH: UGEdric
Pauper: UR Delver
Modern: UGR Delver
Draft my cube: Eric's 390 Unpowered