I've honestly been considering Swan Song over Dispel again, because the 2/2 bird largely isn't relevant and it can answer much more stuff from bogles to storm to scapeshift. I'm probably gonna run 2 negate and either 2 swan song with 1 dispel or 2 dispel with 1 swan song. I rarely board in all 3 of my negates and even then having to sit on 2 mana can just be a pain if I don't have a vial in play.
I've never really liked Shoal, it lets us do some tricky stuff I admit but since most of our list turns it into a Spell Snare I remain skeptical at best. If wasteland stranger cost 2 or that Eldrazi Mimic deck pushes the other builds out of the format then I'll consider Shoal much stronger.
I've honestly been considering Swan Song over Dispel again, because the 2/2 bird largely isn't relevant and it can answer much more stuff from bogles to storm to scapeshift. I'm probably gonna run 2 negate and either 2 swan song with 1 dispel or 2 dispel with 1 swan song. I rarely board in all 3 of my negates and even then having to sit on 2 mana can just be a pain if I don't have a vial in play.
I've never really liked Shoal, it lets us do some tricky stuff I admit but since most of our list turns it into a Spell Snare I remain skeptical at best. If wasteland stranger cost 2 or that Eldrazi Mimic deck pushes the other builds out of the format then I'll consider Shoal much stronger.
I like this a lot. I always forget Swan Song exists.
Edit: What is the best gameplan against Storm and Living End? Last night I was one swing away from lethal on Storm each time. Living end felt unfavored but I think I kept bad hands. Also didn't have any Relics in my SB.
I've honestly been considering Swan Song over Dispel again, because the 2/2 bird largely isn't relevant and it can answer much more stuff from bogles to storm to scapeshift. I'm probably gonna run 2 negate and either 2 swan song with 1 dispel or 2 dispel with 1 swan song. I rarely board in all 3 of my negates and even then having to sit on 2 mana can just be a pain if I don't have a vial in play.
I've never really liked Shoal, it lets us do some tricky stuff I admit but since most of our list turns it into a Spell Snare I remain skeptical at best. If wasteland stranger cost 2 or that Eldrazi Mimic deck pushes the other builds out of the format then I'll consider Shoal much stronger.
I like this a lot. I always forget Swan Song exists.
Edit: What is the best gameplan against Storm and Living End? Last night I was one swing away from lethal on Storm each time. Living end felt unfavored but I think I kept bad hands. Also didn't have any Relics in my SB.
Storm is a coin flip on G1. Strongly favor hands with tons of Lords in them, because you're probably going to have to race (the good news is that they put up next to no resistance to that plan, and actually ping themselves a bit with Shivan Reef and Steam Vents). Always save Spell Pierce for Past in Flames or Pyromancer Ascension - they typically can't go off without those tools. In G2 and/or 3, bringing in Chalice of the Void (x=1), Negate, and Relic of Progenitus tends to shut them out of the game.
Living End is a tricky matchup, but it's actually a good matchup. Cursecatcher is your G1 MVP, as it will buy your beaters an extra turn to finish your opponent off (just remember to counter the Living End itself and not the cascade enabler that auto-casts it). Don't blurt out your hand, though - put enough pressure on them such that they have to pop the LE or die, then repopulate the board and go at him again. Another tip is to sacrifice the Catcher even if LE would still resolve - you'll get it back that way. Your sideboard plan here is almost identical, with the exception of setting Chalice on 0 instead of 1.
I've honestly been considering Swan Song over Dispel again, because the 2/2 bird largely isn't relevant and it can answer much more stuff from bogles to storm to scapeshift. I'm probably gonna run 2 negate and either 2 swan song with 1 dispel or 2 dispel with 1 swan song. I rarely board in all 3 of my negates and even then having to sit on 2 mana can just be a pain if I don't have a vial in play.
I've never really liked Shoal, it lets us do some tricky stuff I admit but since most of our list turns it into a Spell Snare I remain skeptical at best. If wasteland stranger cost 2 or that Eldrazi Mimic deck pushes the other builds out of the format then I'll consider Shoal much stronger.
I like this a lot. I always forget Swan Song exists.
Edit: What is the best gameplan against Storm and Living End? Last night I was one swing away from lethal on Storm each time. Living end felt unfavored but I think I kept bad hands. Also didn't have any Relics in my SB.
Storm is a coin flip on G1. Strongly favor hands with tons of Lords in them, because you're probably going to have to race (the good news is that they put up next to no resistance to that plan, and actually ping themselves a bit with Shivan Reef and Steam Vents). Always save Spell Pierce for Past in Flames or Pyromancer Ascension - they typically can't go off without those tools. In G2 and/or 3, bringing in Chalice of the Void (x=1), Negate, and Relic of Progenitus tends to shut them out of the game.
Living End is a tricky matchup, but it's actually a good matchup. Cursecatcher is your G1 MVP, as it will buy your beaters an extra turn to finish your opponent off (just remember to counter the Living End itself and not the cascade enabler that auto-casts it). Don't blurt out your hand, though - put enough pressure on them such that they have to pop the LE or die, then repopulate the board and go at him again. Another tip is to sacrifice the Catcher even if LE would still resolve - you'll get it back that way. Your sideboard plan here is almost identical, with the exception of setting Chalice on 0 instead of 1.
Thanks, I appreciate it. Dumb question, but does Chalice on 0 counter Living End off the cascade? I assume it does and that is why we would bring it in
Regarding the cards brought up in the last page...
Disrupting Shoal - first of all, props to CoBTyrannon for giving this a go. I'm not surprised at the increase in swinginess, given that I've tested the card in URX Delver and it has a similar effect. The question is whether the increased variance is worth it (which he has said is inconclusive). I think some metagame monitoring is in order - Shoal is brilliant if people are trying to tempo us to death with 1- and 2-drops, but it runs into trouble against attrition strategies.
Pongify/Rapid Hybridization - I don't think I'll be reaching for these cards in the near future. Vapor Snag does most of what I want them to do with a much nicer secondary profile (it can save our creatures from removal as extra utility and offers a generally beneficial rider effect as opposed to a generally harmful one), and (as Ayiluss noted above me) I'm in favor of testing out Chalice of the Void in the current meta, which would cause significant conflict with these cards. I also think FANAttIC has a good point in that we should probably look to tweak our strategy because reaching for cards of a questionable power level.
Speaking from experience storm favors them, we have to race and they can honestly just wait until we would kill them next turn to craft a winning hand. They aren't really in any rush. I usually take out Dismember because if I use it on an electromancer that means they dont have to storm as big to kill me, they have to work for it. If they have it though they have it. Turn 2 and 3 kills are so frustrating which is what I have to put up with often because my local storm players know I can just unload a bunch of lords and kill them. It is also really frustrating to mull down to like 4 trying to get interaction because a hand of land and lords will just lose.
There are less goyf decks in my meta recently so I'm probably swapping to Grafdiggers over Relic. Storm, podless pod, and Goryo's Vengeance have been a pain for me to fight for awhile and just being able to put down a Cage and not worry about it is nice. True, holding up 1 mana for relic isn't really that hard but sometimes you just can't do it.
If you have a really bad hand Living End can fight through a chalice by just casting their fat dorks and killing your non-islands with Fulminator Mage. Usually speaking Chalice on 0 is an auto win for us but if you keep a weak hand just because of chalice you will find they have a surprising amount of fight in them. They also typically play a few artifact kill cards, with thanks to spirit guide they can get rid of it before they go off. Relic is usually your safest bet by minimizing the amount of stuff they can get back.
Boy I am dumb about Reejerery. I was just goldfishing and saw the sick (NON) interaction of vialing in a fish and untapping vial! Then I looked at Gatherer but didn't read it.
As for new meta game -- how do we adjust to the adjustment? Let's say everyone plays Blood Moon and Chalice of the Void. What else hates Eldrazi? Guess I shoulda bought Chalices last week.
Boy I am dumb about Reejerery. I was just goldfishing and saw the sick (NON) interaction of vialing in a fish and untapping vial! Then I looked at Gatherer but didn't read it.
As for new meta game -- how do we adjust to the adjustment? Let's say everyone plays Blood Moon and Chalice of the Void. What else hates Eldrazi? Guess I shoulda bought Chalices last week.
I think their price will drop again. No way does it stay at $40+. Let the pro tour hype die down.
I'm just not sure what we are supposed to do against a bunch of 4/4s and 5/5s with additional abilities played in the same turn we get to play a 2/2.
We all know how hard a double Goyf draw is. This deck seems to try something equal to that.
Should we turn them to frogs, Lizards, Apes, Snakes and Elephants??
Those cards weren't good before and still aren't.
I always wondered why Chalice price was relatively low. If you can play it the card is brutal against so many strategies in most formats where legal.
It is one of the reasons why we play Merfolk in Legacy.
No idea what it costs now (have playset for years), but I would not bank on it dropping soon (there is no reason for it, card is bonkers and great to have stashed for future play).
New shop opened in my area and I saw this: http://i.imgur.com/Zn4PC9K.jpg
It is possible that is my new playmat, have to think about it, but it looks great (I only use Avon Unhinged Islands so sinergy is there).
With our land destruction and other interaction combined with fairly fast clock we should have good chances against it. It's annoying deck to play against though and their nut draws are basically unbeatable.
Watching the deck in action it seems like a better matchup for Folk than Affinity at least. Hopefully some players at my LGS build this so I can test against it.
Would the plan just be to tempo them out? If that is the case, would Vapor Snag be the way to go over Dismember to preserve our life total?
Shadows over Innistrad is already basically done with development, its just some final tweaks and distribution atm so they can't print anything to answer this nonsense if they haven't already. Set 2 of the block could still have an answer, but that is a few months away if no bans/unbans are done in light of the Pro Tour results.
Outside of Kira to stop Drowner of Hope we don't really have a whole lot going on in our list to fight it. Displacement Wave or something? I'm at a loss
I am not going to stress too much about this deck. It doesn't look like a great matchup by any means but I don't think the sky is falling. I would probably rather play against it than Affinity (maybe?). We will lose to their nut draw on the play most likely but hopefully it is no worse than a 40/60 MU. Who knows right now.
I've never really liked Shoal, it lets us do some tricky stuff I admit but since most of our list turns it into a Spell Snare I remain skeptical at best. If wasteland stranger cost 2 or that Eldrazi Mimic deck pushes the other builds out of the format then I'll consider Shoal much stronger.
UMerfolkU
Legacy
UMerfolkU
Commander
RWBAlesha, Who Smiles At DeathRWB
I like this a lot. I always forget Swan Song exists.
Edit: What is the best gameplan against Storm and Living End? Last night I was one swing away from lethal on Storm each time. Living end felt unfavored but I think I kept bad hands. Also didn't have any Relics in my SB.
Storm is a coin flip on G1. Strongly favor hands with tons of Lords in them, because you're probably going to have to race (the good news is that they put up next to no resistance to that plan, and actually ping themselves a bit with Shivan Reef and Steam Vents). Always save Spell Pierce for Past in Flames or Pyromancer Ascension - they typically can't go off without those tools. In G2 and/or 3, bringing in Chalice of the Void (x=1), Negate, and Relic of Progenitus tends to shut them out of the game.
Living End is a tricky matchup, but it's actually a good matchup. Cursecatcher is your G1 MVP, as it will buy your beaters an extra turn to finish your opponent off (just remember to counter the Living End itself and not the cascade enabler that auto-casts it). Don't blurt out your hand, though - put enough pressure on them such that they have to pop the LE or die, then repopulate the board and go at him again. Another tip is to sacrifice the Catcher even if LE would still resolve - you'll get it back that way. Your sideboard plan here is almost identical, with the exception of setting Chalice on 0 instead of 1.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
8 Merfolk decks Day 1. Disappointing turnout, but we'll see how they do overall.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Thanks, I appreciate it. Dumb question, but does Chalice on 0 counter Living End off the cascade? I assume it does and that is why we would bring it in
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Disrupting Shoal - first of all, props to CoBTyrannon for giving this a go. I'm not surprised at the increase in swinginess, given that I've tested the card in URX Delver and it has a similar effect. The question is whether the increased variance is worth it (which he has said is inconclusive). I think some metagame monitoring is in order - Shoal is brilliant if people are trying to tempo us to death with 1- and 2-drops, but it runs into trouble against attrition strategies.
Pongify/Rapid Hybridization - I don't think I'll be reaching for these cards in the near future. Vapor Snag does most of what I want them to do with a much nicer secondary profile (it can save our creatures from removal as extra utility and offers a generally beneficial rider effect as opposed to a generally harmful one), and (as Ayiluss noted above me) I'm in favor of testing out Chalice of the Void in the current meta, which would cause significant conflict with these cards. I also think FANAttIC has a good point in that we should probably look to tweak our strategy because reaching for cards of a questionable power level.
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
There are less goyf decks in my meta recently so I'm probably swapping to Grafdiggers over Relic. Storm, podless pod, and Goryo's Vengeance have been a pain for me to fight for awhile and just being able to put down a Cage and not worry about it is nice. True, holding up 1 mana for relic isn't really that hard but sometimes you just can't do it.
If you have a really bad hand Living End can fight through a chalice by just casting their fat dorks and killing your non-islands with Fulminator Mage. Usually speaking Chalice on 0 is an auto win for us but if you keep a weak hand just because of chalice you will find they have a surprising amount of fight in them. They also typically play a few artifact kill cards, with thanks to spirit guide they can get rid of it before they go off. Relic is usually your safest bet by minimizing the amount of stuff they can get back.
UMerfolkU
Legacy
UMerfolkU
Commander
RWBAlesha, Who Smiles At DeathRWB
As for new meta game -- how do we adjust to the adjustment? Let's say everyone plays Blood Moon and Chalice of the Void. What else hates Eldrazi? Guess I shoulda bought Chalices last week.
I think their price will drop again. No way does it stay at $40+. Let the pro tour hype die down.
It is one of the reasons why we play Merfolk in Legacy.
No idea what it costs now (have playset for years), but I would not bank on it dropping soon (there is no reason for it, card is bonkers and great to have stashed for future play).
It is possible that is my new playmat, have to think about it, but it looks great (I only use Avon Unhinged Islands so sinergy is there).
Watching the deck in action it seems like a better matchup for Folk than Affinity at least. Hopefully some players at my LGS build this so I can test against it.
Would the plan just be to tempo them out? If that is the case, would Vapor Snag be the way to go over Dismember to preserve our life total?
Outside of Kira to stop Drowner of Hope we don't really have a whole lot going on in our list to fight it. Displacement Wave or something? I'm at a loss
UMerfolkU
Legacy
UMerfolkU
Commander
RWBAlesha, Who Smiles At DeathRWB
Modern
UGWRB Humans
G Mono-Green Tron
UWBR Ad Nauseam