I'm really not sure about the 4th kalitas. Wouldn't be better a Tasigur instead? With 4 kalitas I can imagine some very weird hands with 2 kalitas and a Mistbind or something like that.
That being said, my actual list is very similar to this. But I play a Tasigur main and 2 Kalitas on side. I play one copy of the new Liliana too (from my testing, she is really good, tbh. I recommend that everyone give her a chance). So, with that many cards with double black in their costs, I think sunken ruins instead of Drowned Catacomb is probably better.
I find myself wanting to sideboard cryptic command out quite often. Anyone else here feel the same? When I board in damnation and kalitas vs aggro, I need something to side out with high cmc, so i often (also) end up with siding outcryptic. But also in control-matchups, it seems slow and clunky in counterwars. Do you guys do the same? Or do you keep it in, in many matchups? Is there something I have missed here?
And if not, is cryptic fine as a nice flexible card in game 1 or can we exchange it with something stronger?
>I'm really not sure about the 4th kalitas. Wouldn't be better a Tasigur instead? With 4 kalitas I can imagine some very weird hands with 2 kalitas and a Mistbind or something like that.
First, to be clear: I am not saying run four Kalitas maindeck. Three is the most I think is reasonable. I am talking about having the fourth in the board.
It seems wrong in theory, but in a sizable number of matchups I am happy to have two of them in case the first is destroyed. I usually side out the mistbinds and cryptics in these matches, especially if I am also adding in Damnation. I don't mind that we lose our ways of getting rid of bitterblossom since Kalitas gives us a lot of lifegain.
I don't think Tasigur is the same - it doesn't help nearly as much against coco and dredge and even against the other aggro decks, it's merely different rather than strictly better.
Small FNM report last night (14 players). I was finally able to play a good night of Magic again, with the Faeries.
Round 1: Mono Green Elves
Game 1 was very grindy, but messing up the combat maths by removing their lords before damage made me grinding through his elves like there was no tomorrow.
Game 2 he mulls to six and I Inquisition a llanowar elf after I kill the second one and he is left without the speed required to impact the game and Vendilion Clique destroys him.
Round 2: Abzan CoCo
Game 1 sees me drawing both my Lilianas. The ensuing grind made him discard his Chords and cocos. In turn 6 or so, I managed to clean his board from creatures and he concedes the game
Game 2 I outtempo my opponent with a Mistbind Clique. He Chords for Fiend hunter the turn after. In his next upkeep, I dismember his fiend hunter and tap him out again. Creeping Tar Pit and Mistbind Clique outpace his clock very conveniently.
Round 3: Mardu Nahiri
Game 1 I mull to six. I run two Spellstutters and two lands. I play a spellstutter sprite on turn 2 for aggros and draw my third land, which enabled me to counter a turn 3 spell on his turn 3, which is his first lingering souls attempt and cost him tempo. Mutavaults manage to apply pressure and lose him all his tokens and planeswalkers (I fought through 2 Ajani). The last card I thoughtseized out of his hand was an Emrakul, which affected my postboard plan.
Game 2 He mulls to six. I keep Thoughtseize, Inquisition, Negate, Vendilion Clique and three lands, an exceptionally good keep against mulliganing opponents. This game lasted for only half the the number of turns compared to game 1. Thinks get exciting when I have 4 untapped lands (of which one a mutavault) and a tapped mutavault. At my end of turn, he ghost quarters the untapped mutvault. I respond by floating mana. I search for the basic. Use the float to activate the tapped mutavault and play Mistbind Clique, knowing he could play his Kolaghan's command. The MBC quickly diminishes his life totals.
Round 4: Grixis Delver
Game 1 She mulls to six. I open on a turn 2 bitterblossom. She has no interaction for the Bitterblossom and kept a delver, tasigur cantrip hand. My boardstate quickly runs out of hand and she is overwhelmed by tokens.
Game 2 I again manage to play an early bitterblossom and consciously rip threads such as electrolyze out of her hand by timed vendilion cliques and hand disruption. Eventually, my Liliana takes over the game.
4 - 0 victory, 8 - 0 in games
Spellstutter Sprite is awesome.
Peace.
@mtgprice: I feel that the 7th removal spell should be a Snapcaster mage instead. It interacts pretty well with many spells you play (Extirpate, Pact, Disfigure, Dispel, Blight). The first snapcaster mage is also better vs Tron than the 7th removal spell in the main. You play so many removal spells that you will surely have a snaptarget whenever it comes online.
Everywhere AV, one of th cards should be Ancestral Vision, but I didn't brought them with me. Therefore, I added some more creature hand and grindy stuff instead.
I also noticed that Collected Company decks play less and less Voice of Resurgence nowadays, because Nahiri is still popular. That trend might slide the matchup in our favour (>50%). The coco match (Archangel, no Voices) was surprisingly comfortable. I didn't see any Kalitas or Cages in game 2.
I've been on and off grixis fae for a long time. I never traded away the core, but I wanted to play around with kiki-jiki and pestermite 1 ofs to give me a way to give myself an I win button. I feel kiki isn't awful if you're playing a more control list. I don't plan on doing super well with it, I just occasionally like to play fae, kiki'ing a mistbind clique every turn seems sweet. Testing Painful truths over the visions as well, I'm liking it a lot.
Just played in a pptq and lost the first two rounds to Dredge
Granddaughter's Cage is likely the best card against them, but they have ways to remove it. I run three maindeck Kalitas and I'd like to have three sideboard cards in against Dredge.
I think that Extirpate is also pretty strong and may be more generally useful against other decks. Surgical Extraction has the advantage of stopping them even on turn 1 when they go first.
Any suggestions on which is the best mix of graveyard hate for dredge, Coco, Tron, snapcaster-based decks and others?
Just played in a pptq and lost the first two rounds to Dredge
Granddaughter's Cage is likely the best card against them, but they have ways to remove it. I run three maindeck Kalitas and I'd like to have three sideboard cards in against Dredge.
I think that Extirpate is also pretty strong and may be more generally useful against other decks. Surgical Extraction has the advantage of stopping them even on turn 1 when they go first.
Any suggestions on which is the best mix of graveyard hate for dredge, Coco, Tron, snapcaster-based decks and others?
The way I see it, nearly anything they can muster to answer Grafdigger's Cage kinda crumples to even a smidge of countermagic.
I was thinking that 3 Extirpate may work since I can use those along with Ghost Quarter against Tron as well. Four would be fantastic but I worry about harming our other matchups too much. Three plus a Snapcaster perhaps?
As for Grafdigger's Cage: it's obviously amazing if it can be protected but that it much more difficult than it seems since it's a card you want to play early and mana leak is just about the only thing that will stop the inevitable Ancient Grudge in the first few turns.
Extirpate is better than Surgical Extraction, except on turn one if they go first.
Extirpate has bonus points against all kinds of combo decks and is pretty good against Nahiri and other control decks. Grixis Control too, actually, although I wouldn't run all four in that matchup.
>Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm not sure if Dredge can actually do too much on turn 1 except dump stuff in the yard from loots or play an Insolent Neonate to set up a turn 2 blowout.
They can use Gitaxian Probe and Street Wraith to dredge many times. Turn one, Neonate, ditch a Golgari Grave Troll or Stinkweed Imp, then dredge from the draw to put 5+ things in the grave, repeat 2-3 times if they have gitaxian or wraith. From that, they can get a board full of neonates and 1/1 blue fliers on the table on turn 1, which is too fast for Extirpate, especially fi we are going second.
This is uncommon however - it likely happens as much as the Affinity or Infect or Suicide Zoo "God draw".
>my own deck beat me as i said i had to play both game 1 and 2 with 3 lands, and when, only in game 2, i saw the fourth he topdecked a fulminator mage to close the game. Siege rhino is huge vs us, if we don't counter it and lingering souls tokens are annoying as **** also, my opponent played 7 hands disruption in his list. Even if i was able to play a normal game of magic it would have been hard as hell to win that game...
I noticed the same things. Right now, I am running three Damnation in the board as an experiment. 1-2 Extirpate may also help against Lingering Souls.
I'm really not sure about the 4th kalitas. Wouldn't be better a Tasigur instead? With 4 kalitas I can imagine some very weird hands with 2 kalitas and a Mistbind or something like that.
That being said, my actual list is very similar to this. But I play a Tasigur main and 2 Kalitas on side. I play one copy of the new Liliana too (from my testing, she is really good, tbh. I recommend that everyone give her a chance). So, with that many cards with double black in their costs, I think sunken ruins instead of Drowned Catacomb is probably better.
And if not, is cryptic fine as a nice flexible card in game 1 or can we exchange it with something stronger?
First, to be clear: I am not saying run four Kalitas maindeck. Three is the most I think is reasonable. I am talking about having the fourth in the board.
It seems wrong in theory, but in a sizable number of matchups I am happy to have two of them in case the first is destroyed. I usually side out the mistbinds and cryptics in these matches, especially if I am also adding in Damnation. I don't mind that we lose our ways of getting rid of bitterblossom since Kalitas gives us a lot of lifegain.
I don't think Tasigur is the same - it doesn't help nearly as much against coco and dredge and even against the other aggro decks, it's merely different rather than strictly better.
Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1365447257/magic-the-gathering-mtg-pricing-trading-and-collec
Round 1: Mono Green Elves
Game 1 was very grindy, but messing up the combat maths by removing their lords before damage made me grinding through his elves like there was no tomorrow.
Game 2 he mulls to six and I Inquisition a llanowar elf after I kill the second one and he is left without the speed required to impact the game and Vendilion Clique destroys him.
Round 2: Abzan CoCo
Game 1 sees me drawing both my Lilianas. The ensuing grind made him discard his Chords and cocos. In turn 6 or so, I managed to clean his board from creatures and he concedes the game
Game 2 I outtempo my opponent with a Mistbind Clique. He Chords for Fiend hunter the turn after. In his next upkeep, I dismember his fiend hunter and tap him out again. Creeping Tar Pit and Mistbind Clique outpace his clock very conveniently.
Round 3: Mardu Nahiri
Game 1 I mull to six. I run two Spellstutters and two lands. I play a spellstutter sprite on turn 2 for aggros and draw my third land, which enabled me to counter a turn 3 spell on his turn 3, which is his first lingering souls attempt and cost him tempo. Mutavaults manage to apply pressure and lose him all his tokens and planeswalkers (I fought through 2 Ajani). The last card I thoughtseized out of his hand was an Emrakul, which affected my postboard plan.
Game 2 He mulls to six. I keep Thoughtseize, Inquisition, Negate, Vendilion Clique and three lands, an exceptionally good keep against mulliganing opponents. This game lasted for only half the the number of turns compared to game 1. Thinks get exciting when I have 4 untapped lands (of which one a mutavault) and a tapped mutavault. At my end of turn, he ghost quarters the untapped mutvault. I respond by floating mana. I search for the basic. Use the float to activate the tapped mutavault and play Mistbind Clique, knowing he could play his Kolaghan's command. The MBC quickly diminishes his life totals.
Round 4: Grixis Delver
Game 1 She mulls to six. I open on a turn 2 bitterblossom. She has no interaction for the Bitterblossom and kept a delver, tasigur cantrip hand. My boardstate quickly runs out of hand and she is overwhelmed by tokens.
Game 2 I again manage to play an early bitterblossom and consciously rip threads such as electrolyze out of her hand by timed vendilion cliques and hand disruption. Eventually, my Liliana takes over the game.
4 - 0 victory, 8 - 0 in games
Spellstutter Sprite is awesome.
Peace.
@mtgprice: I feel that the 7th removal spell should be a Snapcaster mage instead. It interacts pretty well with many spells you play (Extirpate, Pact, Disfigure, Dispel, Blight). The first snapcaster mage is also better vs Tron than the 7th removal spell in the main. You play so many removal spells that you will surely have a snaptarget whenever it comes online.
DECKS:
UB Faeries [Midrange/Tempo]
RWUGB Affinity[Aggro]
FAERIES TOO STRONK!!!1111
- Fae Prophecy, 201
56783 Mistbind Clique
3 Vendilion Clique
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Bitterblossom
2 Liliana of the Veil
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Secluded Glen
4 Mutavault
3 Island
3 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Polluted Delta
1 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
1 Cavern of Souls
1 River of Tears
2 Cryptic Command
3 Mana Leak
2 Spell Snare
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
1 Go for the Throat
1 Disfigure
1 Doom Blade
1 Smother
1 Dismember
SB: 2 Hurkyl's Recall
SB: 2 Disfigure (AV)
SB: 2 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 2 Engineered Explosives
SB: 2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet (AV)
SB: 1 Thoughtseize
SB: 1 Damnation (AV)
SB: 1 Dispel
SB: 1 Batterskull
SB: 1 Countersquall
Everywhere AV, one of th cards should be Ancestral Vision, but I didn't brought them with me. Therefore, I added some more creature hand and grindy stuff instead.
I also noticed that Collected Company decks play less and less Voice of Resurgence nowadays, because Nahiri is still popular. That trend might slide the matchup in our favour (>50%). The coco match (Archangel, no Voices) was surprisingly comfortable. I didn't see any Kalitas or Cages in game 2.
DECKS:
UB Faeries [Midrange/Tempo]
RWUGB Affinity[Aggro]
FAERIES TOO STRONK!!!1111
- Fae Prophecy, 201
5678Sig and Avatar Credit: Heroes of the Plane Studios
Granddaughter's Cage is likely the best card against them, but they have ways to remove it. I run three maindeck Kalitas and I'd like to have three sideboard cards in against Dredge.
I think that Extirpate is also pretty strong and may be more generally useful against other decks. Surgical Extraction has the advantage of stopping them even on turn 1 when they go first.
Any suggestions on which is the best mix of graveyard hate for dredge, Coco, Tron, snapcaster-based decks and others?
Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1365447257/magic-the-gathering-mtg-pricing-trading-and-collec
Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1365447257/magic-the-gathering-mtg-pricing-trading-and-collec
The way I see it, nearly anything they can muster to answer Grafdigger's Cage kinda crumples to even a smidge of countermagic.
As for Grafdigger's Cage: it's obviously amazing if it can be protected but that it much more difficult than it seems since it's a card you want to play early and mana leak is just about the only thing that will stop the inevitable Ancient Grudge in the first few turns.
Extirpate is better than Surgical Extraction, except on turn one if they go first.
Extirpate has bonus points against all kinds of combo decks and is pretty good against Nahiri and other control decks. Grixis Control too, actually, although I wouldn't run all four in that matchup.
Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1365447257/magic-the-gathering-mtg-pricing-trading-and-collec
Sig and Avatar Credit: Heroes of the Plane Studios
Can't we only draw two cards from it? Unless you are playing esper or grixis fae we can only tap for blue and black.
UB Faeries
U Taking Turns
BGW Abzan Midrange
EDH Decks
MonoU Sakashima the Impostor and the Clone Army
UG Rashmi, Eternities Crafter
Dralnu, Lich LordUBR Kess, Dissident MageI guess it helps to mention I'm playing grixis fae, been on that for a long time.
Sig and Avatar Credit: Heroes of the Plane Studios
They can use Gitaxian Probe and Street Wraith to dredge many times. Turn one, Neonate, ditch a Golgari Grave Troll or Stinkweed Imp, then dredge from the draw to put 5+ things in the grave, repeat 2-3 times if they have gitaxian or wraith. From that, they can get a board full of neonates and 1/1 blue fliers on the table on turn 1, which is too fast for Extirpate, especially fi we are going second.
This is uncommon however - it likely happens as much as the Affinity or Infect or Suicide Zoo "God draw".
Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1365447257/magic-the-gathering-mtg-pricing-trading-and-collec
I noticed the same things. Right now, I am running three Damnation in the board as an experiment. 1-2 Extirpate may also help against Lingering Souls.
Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1365447257/magic-the-gathering-mtg-pricing-trading-and-collec
Sig and Avatar Credit: Heroes of the Plane Studios
Succumb to Tempation is nice being instant speed, but 3 in the main seems way too much lifeloss.
I've been wondering if Read the Bones might be a card to test as a 2 of or something. Scry 2 draw 2 is an amazing way to manipulate what you draw.
UB Faeries
U Taking Turns
BGW Abzan Midrange
EDH Decks
MonoU Sakashima the Impostor and the Clone Army
UG Rashmi, Eternities Crafter
Dralnu, Lich LordUBR Kess, Dissident Mage