Running big zoo Coralhelm again. It's running like a mofo. Beat dredgevine (2-0), naya burn (2-0), mono white humens (2-1) and naya burn (2-0). Won 4 boosters.
On sunday I have a big tourney, prolly carrying Naya Zoo. I'll let you know how I doin a meta full of Jund and affinity.
After testing some matchups this week I had to come to a conclusion that was sad. Arlinn Kord will not be making the final list for GP LA. She's rankin gbehind Elspeth, Dormi, & CoCo, and I can only run so many of these in the main. It was fun while it lasted
How do y'all feel about manlands? I was running 2 treetop villages, but bumped it up to 3 and have been really loving it.
Also at 20 lands is raging ravine viable?
Round 1 I was up against a Brew of Bring to Light into Kiki-Resto Combo. Went 2-0 with a little struggle in game 2 but Ghor-Clan got me the win.
Round 2 I went up against Jund and got amazing draws both game (2-0)
Round 3 was Tron which was no problem, again draws were really good (2-0)
And then we start falling apart
Round 4 was Affinity- a horrible Misplay on my side game one ended with me losing by just one life. Game two went to me, and game three just couldn't draw a bolt to end him for 5 turns at 2 life :/ (1-2)
Round 5- Eldrazi and Taxes. I never went up against the deck before so though I knew of the concept. Game 1 was great, but Displacer got him there games 2 and three. (1-2)
Round 6 was Jund- mulled to 5 all three games, ended up losing to a horrible sized Scooze and land flooded (1-2)
Overall- man I was really happy going into round 4. The misplay still rings in my head from the Affinity but that's the way life is...Jund is still crazy tough to face when the right threats are online against us.
I didn't miss the second foundry too much to be honest. It didn't create any issues of fetching the right land all day. This was also my first time trying out Devastating Summons- I got to use it in the Jund Match up from R2 which made him react by Pulsing them. I had it again in my hand during Drazi/Taxes and he took it with a Tidehuller- So I'm going to say that it was 2 for 2 as a threat card.
M1 vs Aristocrats 2-1
Won G1 easlity, seeing only Blisterpod.
G2 got grindy and he barely won with Zulaport and Seer plus Ascendancy.
G3 I had another fast start and got him before he could do much.
M2 vs Abzan Company 1-2
G1 had my Ooze but it got Fiend Hunted as he went to combo.
G2 I went T1 Nacatl, T2 Goyf hit for 3, T3 remove his Melira, Nacatl and hit for 6, T4 Cage to stop his Finks from comming back, Smiter, hit for 9.
G3 went long and again Fiend Hunter getting my Ooze let him combo off. Didn't find removal in time nor my Cages.
M3 vs Abzan Company 2-0
G1 Stomped hard with 2 Nacatls, Goyf and Oozes.
G2 Chandra kept him from blocking with one of his 2 Wall of Roots and removals kept him from going off. Slowly got damage through and finished with Kessig trampling to leave him at 3 and Bolting for the win
M4 vs Tron 1-2
G1 mull to 5 to a lone forest.
G2 T2 Stony Silence and he had a hand full of artifacts.
G3 got him to 7 before Wurmcoil came in. I tried to Path but he Nature's Claimed it. Then Ugin, Karn and Ulamog followed.
Guess I need a third Cage on the board. Tron is a hard match and I had only Stony Silence to "stop" it. Brought back 2 Thalias to my SB, as she can help a bit.
Well, the SCG open has come and gone without a significant standing from Zoo, but control decks went wild. Time to dust off your Voices and Thruns guys.
I won yesterday one of the biggest modern tourneys in Chile with Naya Company Zoo. Won against Jeskai Control (2-0), Burn (2-0), Lost against Grishoalbrand (0-2), Lost against Jund (1-2), Won Against Burn (2-1), and against Burn again (2-0). I placed 7th out of 40. First leg went 2-1 against Jund (the same one I lost previously). Semis went 2-0 against Wilt Leaf Abzan. And in the finals beat affinity 2-1.
Overall the MVP of the deck were the Phyrexian Unlife, which gave me the edge against all the aggro decks.
I gave Bushwhacker another try last week. Went 1-3 and 1-4 in both tournaments I've played. Lost even with BTE + Whacker on 2 (but it was already a bad match anyway). Lots of akward BTE draws, dead Whackers in hand and way trickier SB plans.
Probably bad luck. But I'm deffinetly going back to Loam Lion and Eidolon. At least in my local metagame, it seems stronger and more consistent.
I gave Bushwhacker another try last week. Went 1-3 and 1-4 in both tournaments I've played. Lost even with BTE + Whacker on 2 (but it was already a bad match anyway). Lots of akward BTE draws, dead Whackers in hand and way trickier SB plans.
Probably bad luck. But I'm deffinetly going back to Loam Lion and Eidolon. At least in my local metagame, it seems stronger and more consistent.
I've been trying bushwhacker zoo lately and that's roughly what I think as well. Though this bushwhacker zoo list has been extremely fun (though still inconsistent):
When I'm feeling sane the 3 Summons + Growth become Path to Exile. But if I'm playing this build, I'm feeling a bit insane to begin with.
Edit: The big draw with this build is the number of turn 3 and turn 4 wins you have. 1 drop into T2 Goblin Bushwhacker, attack for 5, into T3 1 drop + Bushwhacker attack for attack for 10 is 15 damage, and that assumes zero 3 power threats & zero Burning-Tree Emissaries. But it's not consistent - you flood out more because you have to play 20 lands so you can hit 3 mana for spell + bushwhacker, and you get lots of awkward bushwhacker draws where you don't have a 3rd mana or an extra spell for Reckless or you whacker flood, and you have a pile of 1 toughness creatures so stuff like Electrolyze and Lingering Souls and Timely Reinforcements is way better against you, and Devastating Summons is obviously just awful at times (the deck is better with path... but less fun!).
Yeah, at SCG you'd have to think it was just a bad day for the aggro decks. Tons of 3cmc wrath effects that day in the form of Anger of the Gods and Firespout.
Aggro decks + Abzan CoCo had big targets on their head going into this event. On top of that UWR Nahiri had a big breakout, and it is strong against both types of decks. Expect a slightly better field for aggro this weekend, especially since it's a GP and the pros are more likely to take the metagame into account when choosing their deck.
I'm fine with my mainboard (might drop the Mountain for a GQ - still unsure). Can I get some sideboard advice?
Sigarda is for Jund (force them to have Damnation) and Zo-Zu is for scapeshift or other decks that want/get lots of land. He's mostly just a spice slot and I'd be fine cutting him if needed.
I don't have any Voices and at most might be able to get one before Saturday.
Been playing Bushwhacker Zoo with some pretty good success lately, but having a pretty rough time against Jund specifically. I have dodged the Abzan Coco and Jeskai Control matchups luckily, but I can't seem to beat a mediocre to good Jund draw from a good player unless I have a nut draw and they don't discard on turn 1. Anyone playing fast zoo have success against Jund?
I Top 8'd TCG Player states Saturday in LA with the following matchups:
Round 1 - Barely escaped against Jund. My opponent made a few play mistakes that ended up with him at 1 and a Dark Confidant in play on game 3. WIN 2-1
Round 2 - Played against Bogles. Usually game 1 is pretty bad for me but he mulled a few times and had a creature only draw. Game 2 I brought in 4 Destructive Revelry and 2 Deflecting Palm. Drew both cards and he didn't stand a chance. WIN 2-0
Round 3 - Played against Doran Assault Formation. Another game 1 I felt lucky to win. Opponent had Doran and the Ram with Noble Hierarch but I bolted the Hierarch to slow him down a turn and then a Path for the Doran. I just went too wide. WIN 2-0
Round 4 - Played against my good friend playing this new Dredgevine deck that's everywhere online except his was way better and more polished. Game 1 I was just a bit too fast. Game two he gained over 30 life with multiple Gnaw to the Bones, unwinnable. Game 3 I played turn 1 Grafdigger's Cage and he couldn't naturally draw his Ancient Grudges and I won. WIN 2-1
Rounds 5 & 6 DRAW
Top 8 - Played against my good friend playing Jund, he won the tournament. I stole game 1 as he drew mostly lands. Games 2 and 3 he draws Angers, Obstinate Baloths & Kitchen Finks as well as multiple removal spells. He discards my 3 mana planeswalkers that I think are great against Jund. LOSE 1-2
Been playing Bushwhacker Zoo with some pretty good success lately, but having a pretty rough time against Jund specifically. I have dodged the Abzan Coco and Jeskai Control matchups luckily, but I can't seem to beat a mediocre to good Jund draw from a good player unless I have a nut draw and they don't discard on turn 1. Anyone playing fast zoo have success against Jund?
With non-Bushwhacker little zoo, I think it's about 50/50 but with Bushwhacker zoo it's probably like 40/60 in Jund's favor (depending on builds). This is a fairly general rule: Bushwhacker zoo is faster and better against non-interactive decks (including burn), but cutting the Bushwhackers for white one drops makes you more consistent and resilient and better against midrange and control strategies. Stuff like Jeskai Nahiri and Abzan Midrange is still going to be pretty bad no matter which version you play, but you pick up some percentage points by being more consistent. So I guess my suggestion is to cut the Bushwhackers and BTEs for Loam Lions, Zurgos (up to 2), and maybe Isamaru and Kytheon.
Against Jund, Abzan midrange, Abzan CoCo, and Kiki Chord, Declaration in Stone has been a solid SB card. You might try to make room for it if you don't have it already.
On sunday I have a big tourney, prolly carrying Naya Zoo. I'll let you know how I doin a meta full of Jund and affinity.
Need a collection tracker? Use EchoMTG here: https://www.echomtg.com/r/7bb6961d/
Join the Zoo Discord: https://discord.gg/Yu6eTSTrzA
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Forest (#270)
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Temple Garden
3 Arid Mesa
1 Plains (#250)
3 Stomping Ground
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Windswept Heath
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Knight of the Reliquary
3 Loxodon Smiter
3 Scavenging Ooze
3 Qasali Pridemage
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Arlinn Kord
3 Path to Exile
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Oath of Nissa
4 Lightning Bolt
WGUBR 5c Humans
GWR Naya Zoo
Legacy:
GW GW Maverick
R Goblins
Also at 20 lands is raging ravine viable?
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Sacred Foundry
3 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Atarka's Command
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile
1 Devastating Summons
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Experiment One
2 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Goblin Guide
4 Kird Ape
4 Reckless Bushwhacker
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wild Nacatl
1 Dromoka's Command
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Lightning Helix
1 Phyrexian Unlife
2 Pyroclasm
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Stony Silence
Round 1 I was up against a Brew of Bring to Light into Kiki-Resto Combo. Went 2-0 with a little struggle in game 2 but Ghor-Clan got me the win.
Round 2 I went up against Jund and got amazing draws both game (2-0)
Round 3 was Tron which was no problem, again draws were really good (2-0)
And then we start falling apart
Round 4 was Affinity- a horrible Misplay on my side game one ended with me losing by just one life. Game two went to me, and game three just couldn't draw a bolt to end him for 5 turns at 2 life :/ (1-2)
Round 5- Eldrazi and Taxes. I never went up against the deck before so though I knew of the concept. Game 1 was great, but Displacer got him there games 2 and three. (1-2)
Round 6 was Jund- mulled to 5 all three games, ended up losing to a horrible sized Scooze and land flooded (1-2)
Overall- man I was really happy going into round 4. The misplay still rings in my head from the Affinity but that's the way life is...Jund is still crazy tough to face when the right threats are online against us.
2-2 with this list yesterday.
M1 vs Aristocrats 2-1
Won G1 easlity, seeing only Blisterpod.
G2 got grindy and he barely won with Zulaport and Seer plus Ascendancy.
G3 I had another fast start and got him before he could do much.
M2 vs Abzan Company 1-2
G1 had my Ooze but it got Fiend Hunted as he went to combo.
G2 I went T1 Nacatl, T2 Goyf hit for 3, T3 remove his Melira, Nacatl and hit for 6, T4 Cage to stop his Finks from comming back, Smiter, hit for 9.
G3 went long and again Fiend Hunter getting my Ooze let him combo off. Didn't find removal in time nor my Cages.
M3 vs Abzan Company 2-0
G1 Stomped hard with 2 Nacatls, Goyf and Oozes.
G2 Chandra kept him from blocking with one of his 2 Wall of Roots and removals kept him from going off. Slowly got damage through and finished with Kessig trampling to leave him at 3 and Bolting for the win
M4 vs Tron 1-2
G1 mull to 5 to a lone forest.
G2 T2 Stony Silence and he had a hand full of artifacts.
G3 got him to 7 before Wurmcoil came in. I tried to Path but he Nature's Claimed it. Then Ugin, Karn and Ulamog followed.
Guess I need a third Cage on the board. Tron is a hard match and I had only Stony Silence to "stop" it. Brought back 2 Thalias to my SB, as she can help a bit.
WGUBR 5c Humans
GWR Naya Zoo
Legacy:
GW GW Maverick
R Goblins
Only one made day 2 and still managed to top32, so that's good for me.
WGUBR 5c Humans
GWR Naya Zoo
Legacy:
GW GW Maverick
R Goblins
Overall the MVP of the deck were the Phyrexian Unlife, which gave me the edge against all the aggro decks.
If you want to check my list: https://www.facebook.com/magicsur.chile/photos/pcb.1779808945583801/1242561619089798/?type=3&theater
Yeah, that kinda sucks. Maybe even on day 1 it was underplayed.
Let's wait and see how we do in the GPs this weekend.
WGUBR 5c Humans
GWR Naya Zoo
Legacy:
GW GW Maverick
R Goblins
Probably bad luck. But I'm deffinetly going back to Loam Lion and Eidolon. At least in my local metagame, it seems stronger and more consistent.
I've been trying bushwhacker zoo lately and that's roughly what I think as well. Though this bushwhacker zoo list has been extremely fun (though still inconsistent):
4 Experiment One
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Kird Ape
4 Goblin Guide
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Reckless Bushwhacker
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Atarka's Command
3 Devastating Summons
1 Mutagenic Growth
When I'm feeling sane the 3 Summons + Growth become Path to Exile. But if I'm playing this build, I'm feeling a bit insane to begin with.
Edit: The big draw with this build is the number of turn 3 and turn 4 wins you have. 1 drop into T2 Goblin Bushwhacker, attack for 5, into T3 1 drop + Bushwhacker attack for attack for 10 is 15 damage, and that assumes zero 3 power threats & zero Burning-Tree Emissaries. But it's not consistent - you flood out more because you have to play 20 lands so you can hit 3 mana for spell + bushwhacker, and you get lots of awkward bushwhacker draws where you don't have a 3rd mana or an extra spell for Reckless or you whacker flood, and you have a pile of 1 toughness creatures so stuff like Electrolyze and Lingering Souls and Timely Reinforcements is way better against you, and Devastating Summons is obviously just awful at times (the deck is better with path... but less fun!).
There were zero Abzan Co. day 2. So it was kind of weird.
Need a collection tracker? Use EchoMTG here: https://www.echomtg.com/r/7bb6961d/
Join the Zoo Discord: https://discord.gg/Yu6eTSTrzA
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Temple Garden
4 Arid Mesa
1 Kessig Wolf Run
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
1 Plains
1 Forest
1 Mountain
4 Path to Exile
4 Collected Company
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Loxodon Smiter
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Birds of Paradise
2 Magus of the Moon
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Hushwing Gryff
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Stony Silence
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Zo-Zu the Punisher
2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
I'm fine with my mainboard (might drop the Mountain for a GQ - still unsure). Can I get some sideboard advice?
Sigarda is for Jund (force them to have Damnation) and Zo-Zu is for scapeshift or other decks that want/get lots of land. He's mostly just a spice slot and I'd be fine cutting him if needed.
I don't have any Voices and at most might be able to get one before Saturday.
I Top 8'd TCG Player states Saturday in LA with the following matchups:
Round 1 - Barely escaped against Jund. My opponent made a few play mistakes that ended up with him at 1 and a Dark Confidant in play on game 3. WIN 2-1
Round 2 - Played against Bogles. Usually game 1 is pretty bad for me but he mulled a few times and had a creature only draw. Game 2 I brought in 4 Destructive Revelry and 2 Deflecting Palm. Drew both cards and he didn't stand a chance. WIN 2-0
Round 3 - Played against Doran Assault Formation. Another game 1 I felt lucky to win. Opponent had Doran and the Ram with Noble Hierarch but I bolted the Hierarch to slow him down a turn and then a Path for the Doran. I just went too wide. WIN 2-0
Round 4 - Played against my good friend playing this new Dredgevine deck that's everywhere online except his was way better and more polished. Game 1 I was just a bit too fast. Game two he gained over 30 life with multiple Gnaw to the Bones, unwinnable. Game 3 I played turn 1 Grafdigger's Cage and he couldn't naturally draw his Ancient Grudges and I won. WIN 2-1
Rounds 5 & 6 DRAW
Top 8 - Played against my good friend playing Jund, he won the tournament. I stole game 1 as he drew mostly lands. Games 2 and 3 he draws Angers, Obstinate Baloths & Kitchen Finks as well as multiple removal spells. He discards my 3 mana planeswalkers that I think are great against Jund. LOSE 1-2
With non-Bushwhacker little zoo, I think it's about 50/50 but with Bushwhacker zoo it's probably like 40/60 in Jund's favor (depending on builds). This is a fairly general rule: Bushwhacker zoo is faster and better against non-interactive decks (including burn), but cutting the Bushwhackers for white one drops makes you more consistent and resilient and better against midrange and control strategies. Stuff like Jeskai Nahiri and Abzan Midrange is still going to be pretty bad no matter which version you play, but you pick up some percentage points by being more consistent. So I guess my suggestion is to cut the Bushwhackers and BTEs for Loam Lions, Zurgos (up to 2), and maybe Isamaru and Kytheon.
Against Jund, Abzan midrange, Abzan CoCo, and Kiki Chord, Declaration in Stone has been a solid SB card. You might try to make room for it if you don't have it already.