I would never play Tocatli Honor Guard on this deck. It destroys half of your plays. Flickerwisp, Blade Splicer, TKS, Tidehollow Sculler and Strangler become all crap. You also lose a lot of use for your Displacer. For what match-up were you thinking about to make room for it? Valakut? Humans? There must be better options in either case, that don't stop your own deck from working as well.
I usually feel like I have a positive match-up vs Burn, so I see little use to double Firewalkers on the sideboard. I think it is important to have something against them, but I'd rather go for something less focused and more versatile. So... I support your idea of taking out one Firewalker and adding one Alliance. In addition to that, I'd probably consider taking out the other Firewalker for a Burrenton Forge-Tender. Firewalker is better against Burn, but that's pretty much the only match-up in which he's actually good. BFT on the other hand, is good vs any deck that uses Burns as control tools, such as Valakut, Jeskai, U Moon, and even Jund, while still being pretty good vs Burn.
I like Relic-Warder in a heavy artifact field. Otherwise, I'd rather have something more versatile, like Anguished Unmaking.
I agree with you to the statement that this deck is soft on removal. So I also play a Fatal Push on the sideboard, an Anguished Unmaking, and sometimes a Fiend Hunter. Maybe you should consider using some of those. I also have been thinking about trying a Chupacabra. Haven't tried it yet because I feel like it's probably too slow.
2-1 vs KCI
Game 1 - loss:
I knew my opponent quite well, and he always play either Lantern or KCI. Today he was on KCI, which is a deck I have no idea how to play against pre-board.
He comboed off in turn 4, and I couldn't really do anything about that.
Game 2 - win:
+3 Rest in Peace, +3 Stony Silence, +1 Eidolon of Rhetoric, +2 Phyrexian Revoker
-4 Leonin Arbiter, -4 Aether Vial, -1 Thraben Inspector
He kept a sketchy hand, and basically he didn't do anything.
Game 3 - win:
This was a very interesting and intense game. I had 2 Rest In Peace early in the game, and he was on his Sai, Master Thopterist plan. Tokens is quite hard to beat, but I had a Phyrexian Revoker on Sai also. It went on for a while, but I had a timely Resto Angel in hand: he was on 11 life, I was on 5. He had 6 tokens, and I 1 Flickerwisp, 1 Selfless Spirit, 1 Restoration Angel and 1 Resto Angel in hand. I only blocked with the Resto Angel, and flashed in the other Resto Angel end step, flickering his last token and swung for the win.
2-1 vs. Storm:
This is a matchup, I thought I was heavily favored against, but I was wrong...
Game 1 - loss:
I knew my opponent was on Storm, so I kept a hand with two Thalias and some other stuff. But it was not enough - he had a Baral and an Electromancer and he Stormed off.
Game 2 - win:
+3 Rest In Peace, +1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
-4 Thraben Inspector
I had a quick Rest In Peace, and basically did anti-storm stuff. Although he had 10 Goblin Tokens, I could fly over them - if he had attacked some more with those token though, I think he might have won.
He did make some errors - he played the fourth land and I had 2 Tec Edges - so he was left with two Shivan Reef and 2 life.
Game 3 - win:
We went to ekstra turn, and I won on turn 5...but I made a huge error - instead of playing either Thalia or Rest In Peace in turn 2, I did nothing, because I was afraid of a counterspell...and then he played 2 rituals, spliced 2 rituals, drew some cards and...shot me for 8 with a grapeshot. Luckily he didn't manage to get the win there.
After some intense magic, I finally had to many fliers for him - and Shalai pretty much won me that game.
2-0 vs. Archlight Phoenix
There is not much to write about here - I had two easy wins, because I also have fliers
2-1 vs. 8 Rack
Game 1 - win:
He tried to do 8 Rack-stuff, but Shalai is good against The Rack, and he didn't drew any Lilianas, so I had a lot of cards in hand all the time.
Game 2 - loss:
Sideboard:
+2 Rest In Peace, +2 Phyrexian Revoker
-4 Path to Exile
He had a turn 4 Liliana, 2 The Rack and 2 Shrieking Affliction, and that was just to much for me.
Game 3 - won:
This was basically a free win, because he mulled to 4.
Conclusion:
I like this iteration of the deck. The blue splash for Spell Queller is really good. I have some minor tweaks though:
I think I will try with 4 Seachrome Coast instead of Hallowed Fountain. Shefet Dunes didn't do anything, because I have 10 lands, that I sometimes sacrifice, so I want to drop those. And I would like to try 4 Spell Quellers instead.
Sideboard-wise I'm thinking, that Worship and Eidolon of Rhetoric are the flex-spots, but I do not know what, I want insteas. Perhaps 1 Shalai and 1 Settle the Wreckage.
So next time (in two weeks, since last Friday in each month is Legacy FNM) I will try this:
I'm a new DnT player, and I really enjoyed reading your write-up.
I found your blue splash DnT deck list really interesting. And, I want to know better how Spell Queller performs in DnT.
Did you find the less stable mana base give you any troubles and what did Spell Queller help you accomplish? Does it essentially help you tempo by keeping either sourceries and instants from occurring or other creatures while you continue to swing in?
I read Riley Knight's CFB article about maindecking Rest In Peace in UW control, and it was strange because I had a similar crazy thought about maindecking it in my BW EnT deck. I had been playing around with a pair of Kitesail Freebooters in my build, which turned into a pair of Thraben Inspectors, and given all the graveyard-matters decks that seem to be around lately, I wondered whether maindecking a pair of RiPs might not be worthwhile.
Any thoughts from the hive mind? Against creature-based decks, Wasteland Strangler is one of my all-stars, and with all the extra exiled food for him to process, so I might try going up to a 4-of in the main to see how it goes. Maybe my interest in giving it a shot is because I've been getting manhandled by my buddy's Jund deck lately, and turning his Goyfs and Scoozes off sounds awesome.
This is the matchup I practice at home a couple games a day. I'm usually the storm player. The match was basically a foregone conclusion, as I wasn't going to make any glaring pilot errors and I knew how to mulligan. I put in the RIPs and Cleric, as well as the Pontiffs and the Kambal. 3-mana Thalia and some mix of Wisp, Strangler, and Displacer are what I take out, depending on my mood. I don't remember the exact 6-card mix I took out for that match.
We finished with 35 minutes on the clock, so the storm player and I played the mirror match for fun, which I won 2-1.
WBR Pyromancer, 1-2
I don't remember who won games 1 and 2, but I remember I boarded in my 3 anti-fair-deck cards, Gideon, Brimaz, and Crusader. I even got to have all 3 of them on board at the same time in game 2. I also boarded in Forge-Tender (for Anger of the Gods), Pontiffs, and RIPs, taking out 8 cards: Flickerwisps, 1 Strangler, and 2 small Thalias. I think this arrangement was a mistake, but I didn't know what better to do.
Game 3 my opponent got stuck on 2 lands, letting me clock him slowly with a Shambling Vent and Forge-Tender slowly while I removed his Young Pyromancers with Path to Exile. I got him to 5 life, then stuck a Tidehollow Sculler - Eldrazi Displacer combo, which allowed me to exile 2 cards from his hand, 1 permanently, the other until Sculler was removed. I skipped thinking about it and exiled his (uncastable on 2 lands) Lingering Souls permanently, putting Lightning Bolt under Sculler, leaving Terminate in his hand. Thoroughly unforgivable. He ended up winning with 3 life and me on 9 lands, many turns later.
Mono-R Affinity, 2-1
I got Blood Mooned for an auto-loss in game 2, and I've been wondering what to do about future Blood Moons ever since. I don't even run a single Wastes for my Thought-Knot Seers, so clearly some kind of plan is needed. Aura of Silence? Fragmentize?
I boarded +Leonin Relic-Warder, -Thalia, Guardian. In game 3, I stole a Steel Overseer with Relic-Warder, then used it with Strangler to kill an Etched Champion. I noticed I can't put in Stony Silence without taking out Aether Vial, so I'm inclined to play even more copies of Relic-Warder going forward.
WRG Zoo, 0-2
Lost die roll, got turn-3 killed with Burning-Tree Emissaries and a Reckless Bushwhacker.
In game 2, I lost an Aether Vial to an evoked Ingot Chewer that double-pumped Pelt Collector. The deck looked sweet, and I wasn't sure there was anything I could do about it. I boarded -Thalia, Guardian, +Mirran Crusader, +Burrenton Forge-Tender, and +Brimaz, but I didn't get to see any of them.
Conclusion
Stony Silence looks bad, and Leonin Relic-Warder looks less bad. Should I make that change? Fiend Hunter is 1 mana too many for meaningless stats, and I never put it in, even against decks that had creatures I could have removed with it and then blocked with it. I replaced it with Shriekmaw when I got home, and I hope this is better for next time. The mana was fine every game except the Blood Moon game, the one flood vs Pyromancer (which I should have won before I got the flood, so I can't complain), and the game my Vial was Ingot-Chewed. Is it safe to turn my 1 Godless Shrine into a 3rd Shambling Vent, or will that have immediate and nasty consequences for my curve?
Also
Regarding the post above mine, I think RIP is a sideboard card because of the straight nothing that it does in the wrong matchup. Maybe a maindeck Remorseful Cleric will help, because it can hit in the air in its blank matchups. Maybe I am simply naive.
I don't think Kitesail Freebooter is good, it's just more and worse Tidehollow Scullers, but with Thought-Knot Seer, do we really need copies 9-12 of the same effect?
I might grab Thraben Inspectors one of these days, just so I have something to do with my Vials on one. Am I correct in assuming that that's a large part of their power, that they replace themselves in your hand and give you a play on an otherwise boring turn?
Deck looks interesting. There are things there I would like to try, Do you have any results?
The only time I won a tournament (small 10 players) I was running Wall of resurgence (I used Darksteel Citadel as the target)
In the next few months I may try something similar, will let you know how it goes.
Hey guys, I'm coming from GW Taxes and hope it's okay to post here. I was wondering for the guy that play GW Taxes, how do you deal with Amulet Titan and Martyr Proc?
Here is the deck list that I've been running for reference. My sb is different due to meta changes.
I don't really know what you're supposed to do about martyr proc, but Amulet is pretty straightforward. You're just trying to put bodies on the board and disrupt them at the same time, so a lot of your cards are naturally good. Noble into KoA is a great start, especially if they only have one Amulet.
Arbiter can shut down/slow down their transmute chains, and maybe a Mindcensor wouldn't hurt either. Worship should be good too, you've just gotta watch out for Ballista and Firespout. Keep your Paths in, and if they grab a Tolaria West off of Titan, you should Path it in response to the bounce trigger before they can grab their Pact of Negation. They'll just grab a Pact for another Titan instead, but depending on their mana development it might save you a turn
I want to try the GW variant of D&T and i'm wondering, wich 4 drop is the best in the mainboard? We got the traditionnal Restoration Angel, Shalai, Voice of plenty and Collected Company. Personally I think that Shalai place is in the sideboard and i feel that coco is better than Restoration Angel. However i still find a lot of lists where restoration angle is used.
Sorry for bad english
It depends on how you build your deck, but I personally favour Restoration Angel a lot more. It has for more synergy with the deck, especially allowing you to abuse Flickerwisp a lot more, it's a creature so Aether Vial and Thalia aren't as awkward, and it's pretty much never a dead draw.
Any takes on following sideboard:
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Leyline of the Void
3 Stony Silence
2 Rest in Peace
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Selfless Spirit
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
Local meta is quite varied but g/b/x combinations are the most common. How are you guys finding the deck these days? I play mtgo also and u/w control seems to be rather common these days... Half tempted to put Summoning Trap in the sideboard
Hey guys, I have January off work so I'm going to be grinding games/tournaments with this new list all month leading up to GP Toronto. I usually play mono-white, no eldrazi. I'm changing it up and trying GW. Knight of Autumn seems too good to pass up. The sideboard is definitely not set in stone, I'd like to get more accustomed to GW before deciding what the whole 75 needs to look like.
In my 2 flex spots I currently have Jadelight Ranger and Thalia, Heretic Cathar. Thalia is pretty good in creature heavy metas, so it's possible I should just be playing too. However my initial thoughts looking at this deck compared to mono-white is no Thraben Inspector. Playing the full 4 Horizon Canopy, or even 3, feels a little risky in this meta. Otherwise that would be the obvious way to keep cards flowing. Might adjust the number after testing. In the meantime I'm going a little off the beaten path with Jadelight Ranger. I think we can abuse this card pretty heavily with flickerwisp and Resto. I'm excited to test it out. Anyway, here's the list. Any input is appreciated.
I like the build without Collected Company. For your main board or sideboard, have you considered Shalai, Voice of Plenty? Seems like it would be a good card to have. Gives you and your creatures hexproof. Have found it pretty good against burn and storm. Also, since you are running green, there's a fringe late game benefit of using her activated ability.
I've considered it. It's a good card, but I think I'd rather have eidolon in my SB since it's good against both Storm and KCI (as well as burn) which are fairly prevalent right now. Gavony Township already does the same effect for 'cheaper.' I'm really just not sure what I would cut to include it.
I definitely don't want to do less than 4 Restoration Angel.
If Jadelight Ranger doesn't prove to be any good, it's definitely next in line for testing in the flex spot.
Jake, I am a little curious as to how you will handle the Jeskai Control match up. That deck always shows up no matter the setting. I've been running Thrun in the sideboard for that match up.
I'm interested in your approach to the match up. Maybe I will learn something.
I Play mono white D and T as well as 8 rack. ( I prefer D ant T ) someone in the 8 rack forum had a great statistical breakdown and I figured I would try to do the same for my deck and post the results.
Current win % is listed in blue
Win % having played a particular card is in green
loss % having played a particular card is in red
If anyone has an idea of what to add that will be useful let me know. I plan to expand the information. (will never be as in depth as the 8 rack one)
Jake, I am a little curious as to how you will handle the Jeskai Control match up. That deck always shows up no matter the setting. I've been running Thrun in the sideboard for that match up.
I'm interested in your approach to the match up. Maybe I will learn something.
I've made some tweaks since posting this. Jeskai control shouldn't be too hard. Being on the play obviously always helps.
Burrenton Forge-Tender and Selfless spirit are my ideal SB cards against them. Be aggressive with mana denial. Not just Leonin Arbiter + GQ, but Flickerwisp especially. Basically, mono-white is the best build of a deck against them, so play like one.
I think Nullhide Ferox could be a good finisher for GW Taxes. It's really big, hard to remove, easy to Vial in and doesn't disrupt your game plan at all. The worse it could do is make you pay extra 2 to Path something, but you probably wouldn't be too afraid of any creature if you had a Ferox on the battlefield, in the first place.
Besides it's a huge guy, that your opponent won't be able to remove in most cases, considering they'll probably need to pay 2 to fetch, pay extra 1 to cast non-creatures, and extra 2 to get rid of Ferox's Hexproof. Not to mention you're probably Strip Mining them at some point. Then, they time walk themselves to try to remove it, and you blink it with a Flickerwisp, Resto or Displacer. That would be a huge Tempo Swing. Could be good IMO.
I've been testing this new deck for a week or so now. I like to call it "eldrazi hatebears". I find it quite interresting. It can be full aggro or full control. In idea it's somewhere between a sort of eldrazi aggro with lots of ramp and a classic death and taxes.
An Eldrazi hatebears deck, The best fair finisher meet the best hatebears.
Finisher :
Reality smasher : self explanatory
Sublime archangel : lots of creatures in the deck when it arrives it gives +4 to 1 creature
Silverblade paladin : the temur battle rage of the deck
Any combination of those cards is often just gg. For example :
- Turn 2 bear / Turn 3 play silverblade swing for 2 / Turn 4 reality smasher double strike haste swing for 16 (trample)
- Turn 2 bear / Turn 3 sublime archangel swing for 4 (exalted) / Turn 4 silverblade paladin swing for 14 (flying)
Hatebears (multicolor version) :
Tidehollow sculler : the best
Meddling mage : the second best
Thalia : a little worse against human and spirit but pretty good otherwise
phyrexian revoker : pretty good almost everytime, good against spirit and human (vial/hierarch)
Hatebears (monowhite version) :
Thalia : a little worse against human and spirit but pretty good otherwise phyrexian revoker : pretty good almost everytime, good against spirit and human (vial/hierarch)
Leonin arbiter : A good card depending on the matchup
Ethersworn canonist : can be really good depending on the matchup
Mana acceleration :
simian spirit guide : turn 1 thalia/revoker or a bomb on turn 3.
springleaf drum : the big upside to play this deck, it's the turn 1 play then the hatebears finally have a role : produce mana.
eldrazi temple : self explanatory
The 2 last cards are 2 more threat to play with all the ramp :
thought knot seer : not really a finisher but it can be (with silverblade or sublime arch) , not really an hatebear but it can be (with the proper mana acceleration)
Phyrexian metamorph : the joker, can be good on the ofense or on the defense
The deck is really fun to play. Lots of turn 4 kill out of nowhere.
I've been considering that. My main concern is you ever need to path something with a Thalia on the board, you'd need 4 mana to do so.
I've bumped up to 4 jadelight ranger, cutting blade splicer and the card has been great. Sometimes I miss the 3/3 first striker but the upsides have been overshadowing the downside. I have to do more testing with it, but of the last 5 games I played on mtgo, it almost never felt bad casting jt.
Also Samzam I suggest you check out spiderspace's eldrazi list. It's pretty good and has been putting up results.
So, been switching between BW and UW Eldrazi Taxes for a while now (BW, then UW, then BW), and just tried UW again with Deputy of Detention. I've been tracking gameplay data, finding correlations between cards in the opening hand and increased or decreased win rates. While we can all agree that correlation doesn't necessarily mean causation, it is somewhat more scientific than straight conjecture, and I've been using this method to great success with Lantern, Mono Blue Tron, and Skred.
Anyways, one of the interesting things I found was that Path to Exile didn't seem to correlate well. Which kind of makes sense, really. It's pretty decent if we have an Arbiter in play, but otherwise we're helping the opponent find the mana to pay for our taxes, and it nonbo's with Thalia. Anyways, with Deputy combined with Reflector Mage, Eldrazi Displacer, and Flickerwisp, we have access to a ridiculous amount of removal. Deputy is also great for answering more than just creatures, which is one of the things that we absolutely need. It provides lines that were otherwise not very good for us (answering token armies, creatures with lots of counters of them, and maybe most important, noncreature permanents).
Anyways, the list that I played with tonight is as follows:
The deck can probably still use some work. The data showed that mini-Thalia was one of the best cards to have the opener, so four may be correct. It also showed that big-Thalia was also good, so I went up to two. The thoughts behind Skyspawner is that the deck is kind of weak on one- and two-drops, and it acts as a "two-drop" with an Eldrazi Temple, while helping to ramp or provide colorless mana for Displacer or Seer if need be, while swinging with evasion. I want to drop a Farmland for another Fountain, just don't have one.
I want to change the sideboard a bit to include some amount of life gain. Probably don't need three Stony Silence, so may go down to two. Also probably don't need all three gods, and may not need Settle any more thanks to Reflector Mage and Deputy. Anyways, played it a bit tonight and it was a blast. Felt like I was always on a curve, applying pressure and forcing the opponent to play around all sorts of tricks.
I also like the mentioned Anguished Unmaking.
UR Blue Moon
UBR Grixis Shadow
GWU Amulet Titan
BRW Mardu Pyromancer
I usually feel like I have a positive match-up vs Burn, so I see little use to double Firewalkers on the sideboard. I think it is important to have something against them, but I'd rather go for something less focused and more versatile. So... I support your idea of taking out one Firewalker and adding one Alliance. In addition to that, I'd probably consider taking out the other Firewalker for a Burrenton Forge-Tender. Firewalker is better against Burn, but that's pretty much the only match-up in which he's actually good. BFT on the other hand, is good vs any deck that uses Burns as control tools, such as Valakut, Jeskai, U Moon, and even Jund, while still being pretty good vs Burn.
I like Relic-Warder in a heavy artifact field. Otherwise, I'd rather have something more versatile, like Anguished Unmaking.
I agree with you to the statement that this deck is soft on removal. So I also play a Fatal Push on the sideboard, an Anguished Unmaking, and sometimes a Fiend Hunter. Maybe you should consider using some of those. I also have been thinking about trying a Chupacabra. Haven't tried it yet because I feel like it's probably too slow.
RBW
Mardu PyromancerR.I.P.BG The Rock
Commander
W Nahiri, the Lithomancer
I'm a new DnT player, and I really enjoyed reading your write-up.
I found your blue splash DnT deck list really interesting. And, I want to know better how Spell Queller performs in DnT.
Did you find the less stable mana base give you any troubles and what did Spell Queller help you accomplish? Does it essentially help you tempo by keeping either sourceries and instants from occurring or other creatures while you continue to swing in?
Any thoughts from the hive mind? Against creature-based decks, Wasteland Strangler is one of my all-stars, and with all the extra exiled food for him to process, so I might try going up to a 4-of in the main to see how it goes. Maybe my interest in giving it a shot is because I've been getting manhandled by my buddy's Jund deck lately, and turning his Goyfs and Scoozes off sounds awesome.
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Caves of Koilos
1 Godless Shrine
2 Shambling Vent
2 Plains
1 Swamp
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Eldrazi Temple
Noncreatures
4 Aether Vial
4 Path to Exile
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Leonin Arbiter
4 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Dark Confidant
Big creatures
4 Flickerwisp
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Eldrazi Displacer
3 Wasteland Strangler
4 Thought-Knot Seer
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Fiend Hunter
2 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Remorseful Cleric
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
1 Leonin Relic-Warder
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Blessed Alliance
UR Storm, 2-0
This is the matchup I practice at home a couple games a day. I'm usually the storm player. The match was basically a foregone conclusion, as I wasn't going to make any glaring pilot errors and I knew how to mulligan. I put in the RIPs and Cleric, as well as the Pontiffs and the Kambal. 3-mana Thalia and some mix of Wisp, Strangler, and Displacer are what I take out, depending on my mood. I don't remember the exact 6-card mix I took out for that match.
We finished with 35 minutes on the clock, so the storm player and I played the mirror match for fun, which I won 2-1.
WBR Pyromancer, 1-2
I don't remember who won games 1 and 2, but I remember I boarded in my 3 anti-fair-deck cards, Gideon, Brimaz, and Crusader. I even got to have all 3 of them on board at the same time in game 2. I also boarded in Forge-Tender (for Anger of the Gods), Pontiffs, and RIPs, taking out 8 cards: Flickerwisps, 1 Strangler, and 2 small Thalias. I think this arrangement was a mistake, but I didn't know what better to do.
Game 3 my opponent got stuck on 2 lands, letting me clock him slowly with a Shambling Vent and Forge-Tender slowly while I removed his Young Pyromancers with Path to Exile. I got him to 5 life, then stuck a Tidehollow Sculler - Eldrazi Displacer combo, which allowed me to exile 2 cards from his hand, 1 permanently, the other until Sculler was removed. I skipped thinking about it and exiled his (uncastable on 2 lands) Lingering Souls permanently, putting Lightning Bolt under Sculler, leaving Terminate in his hand. Thoroughly unforgivable. He ended up winning with 3 life and me on 9 lands, many turns later.
Mono-R Affinity, 2-1
I got Blood Mooned for an auto-loss in game 2, and I've been wondering what to do about future Blood Moons ever since. I don't even run a single Wastes for my Thought-Knot Seers, so clearly some kind of plan is needed. Aura of Silence? Fragmentize?
I boarded +Leonin Relic-Warder, -Thalia, Guardian. In game 3, I stole a Steel Overseer with Relic-Warder, then used it with Strangler to kill an Etched Champion. I noticed I can't put in Stony Silence without taking out Aether Vial, so I'm inclined to play even more copies of Relic-Warder going forward.
WRG Zoo, 0-2
Lost die roll, got turn-3 killed with Burning-Tree Emissaries and a Reckless Bushwhacker.
In game 2, I lost an Aether Vial to an evoked Ingot Chewer that double-pumped Pelt Collector. The deck looked sweet, and I wasn't sure there was anything I could do about it. I boarded -Thalia, Guardian, +Mirran Crusader, +Burrenton Forge-Tender, and +Brimaz, but I didn't get to see any of them.
Conclusion
Stony Silence looks bad, and Leonin Relic-Warder looks less bad. Should I make that change? Fiend Hunter is 1 mana too many for meaningless stats, and I never put it in, even against decks that had creatures I could have removed with it and then blocked with it. I replaced it with Shriekmaw when I got home, and I hope this is better for next time. The mana was fine every game except the Blood Moon game, the one flood vs Pyromancer (which I should have won before I got the flood, so I can't complain), and the game my Vial was Ingot-Chewed. Is it safe to turn my 1 Godless Shrine into a 3rd Shambling Vent, or will that have immediate and nasty consequences for my curve?
Also
Regarding the post above mine, I think RIP is a sideboard card because of the straight nothing that it does in the wrong matchup. Maybe a maindeck Remorseful Cleric will help, because it can hit in the air in its blank matchups. Maybe I am simply naive.
I don't think Kitesail Freebooter is good, it's just more and worse Tidehollow Scullers, but with Thought-Knot Seer, do we really need copies 9-12 of the same effect?
I might grab Thraben Inspectors one of these days, just so I have something to do with my Vials on one. Am I correct in assuming that that's a large part of their power, that they replace themselves in your hand and give you a play on an otherwise boring turn?
Deck looks interesting. There are things there I would like to try, Do you have any results?
The only time I won a tournament (small 10 players) I was running Wall of resurgence (I used Darksteel Citadel as the target)
In the next few months I may try something similar, will let you know how it goes.
Here is the deck list that I've been running for reference. My sb is different due to meta changes.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1431736#paper
I should specify what I'm asking. How do you guys approach the Amulet Titan and Martyr Proc match up? What are your sideboard cards?
Arbiter can shut down/slow down their transmute chains, and maybe a Mindcensor wouldn't hurt either. Worship should be good too, you've just gotta watch out for Ballista and Firespout. Keep your Paths in, and if they grab a Tolaria West off of Titan, you should Path it in response to the bounce trigger before they can grab their Pact of Negation. They'll just grab a Pact for another Titan instead, but depending on their mana development it might save you a turn
It depends on how you build your deck, but I personally favour Restoration Angel a lot more. It has for more synergy with the deck, especially allowing you to abuse Flickerwisp a lot more, it's a creature so Aether Vial and Thalia aren't as awkward, and it's pretty much never a dead draw.
GW Death and Taxes WG
Skimp on Leyline, you got RiP already.
add another copy an you should be fine
I like Pithing Needle, Linvala, Keeper of Silence and Bitterblossom too.
No Fatal Push though? Add Shriekmaw or Orzhov pontiff for a better creature matchup.
Green @ it's best
In my 2 flex spots I currently have Jadelight Ranger and Thalia, Heretic Cathar. Thalia is pretty good in creature heavy metas, so it's possible I should just be playing too. However my initial thoughts looking at this deck compared to mono-white is no Thraben Inspector. Playing the full 4 Horizon Canopy, or even 3, feels a little risky in this meta. Otherwise that would be the obvious way to keep cards flowing. Might adjust the number after testing. In the meantime I'm going a little off the beaten path with Jadelight Ranger. I think we can abuse this card pretty heavily with flickerwisp and Resto. I'm excited to test it out. Anyway, here's the list. Any input is appreciated.
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Thalia. Guardian of Thraben
4 Leonin Arbiter
4 Flickerwisp
4 Restoration Angel
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Knight of Autumn
3 Blade Splicer
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1 Jadelight Ranger
4 Aether Vial
4 Path to Exile
Lands
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Temple Garden
2 Horizon Canopy
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Tectonic Edge
1 Gavony Township
2 Forest
2 Plains
2 Stirring Wildwood
2 Stony Silence
2 Rest in Peace
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Settle the Wreckage
2 Mirran Crusader
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Eternal Witness
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Knight of Autumn
GW Death and Taxes WG
I like the build without Collected Company. For your main board or sideboard, have you considered Shalai, Voice of Plenty? Seems like it would be a good card to have. Gives you and your creatures hexproof. Have found it pretty good against burn and storm. Also, since you are running green, there's a fringe late game benefit of using her activated ability.
I definitely don't want to do less than 4 Restoration Angel.
If Jadelight Ranger doesn't prove to be any good, it's definitely next in line for testing in the flex spot.
GW Death and Taxes WG
I'm interested in your approach to the match up. Maybe I will learn something.
I Play mono white D and T as well as 8 rack. ( I prefer D ant T ) someone in the 8 rack forum had a great statistical breakdown and I figured I would try to do the same for my deck and post the results.
link to 8 rack statistics here
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XOUxbFGgVUzumbPd7H8BUHZk7IdXoClokOrn8B6mCPM/edit#gid=670506468
I am not going to into as much depth as the 8 rack sheet goes but here is what i have started .
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BT5gyP1bOKMg2GstJC-BcObf5dZH3it7NH8jF2e2aOg/edit?usp=sharing
Current win % is listed in blue
Win % having played a particular card is in green
loss % having played a particular card is in red
If anyone has an idea of what to add that will be useful let me know. I plan to expand the information. (will never be as in depth as the 8 rack one)
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Leonin Arbiter
4 Flickerwisp
4 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Stonecloaker
3 Blade Splicer
1 Mangara of Corondor
4 Aether Vial
2 Smuggler's Copter
Instants
4 Path to Exile
Land
11 Plains
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Shefet Dunes
4 Eldrazi Temple
I will update the spreadsheet periodically and repost it. (I do not play often so it will be slow)
Hope it provides useful information.
if anyone wants it here is the score sheet I use.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XSyg6IYJ9wPfmxmB5NYCeQmMWJ7oZ37DRA7HnOL2s0Y/edit?usp=sharing.
Gary
I've made some tweaks since posting this. Jeskai control shouldn't be too hard. Being on the play obviously always helps.
Burrenton Forge-Tender and Selfless spirit are my ideal SB cards against them. Be aggressive with mana denial. Not just Leonin Arbiter + GQ, but Flickerwisp especially. Basically, mono-white is the best build of a deck against them, so play like one.
GW Death and Taxes WG
Besides it's a huge guy, that your opponent won't be able to remove in most cases, considering they'll probably need to pay 2 to fetch, pay extra 1 to cast non-creatures, and extra 2 to get rid of Ferox's Hexproof. Not to mention you're probably Strip Mining them at some point. Then, they time walk themselves to try to remove it, and you blink it with a Flickerwisp, Resto or Displacer. That would be a huge Tempo Swing. Could be good IMO.
RBW
Mardu PyromancerR.I.P.BG The Rock
Commander
W Nahiri, the Lithomancer
Multicolor version
4x Reality Smasher
4x Silverblade Paladin
4x Sublime Archangel
4x Thought-Knot Seer
# Hatebears 13
4x Meddling Mage
4x Tidehollow Sculler
3x Phyrexian Revoker
1x Phyrexian metamorph
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Adarkar Wastes
4x Ancient Ziggurat
4x Caves of Koilos
4x Eldrazi Temple
4x Unclaimed Territory
2x cavern of souls
1x Plains
3x Simian Spirit Guide
3x Springleaf Drum
Mono white version
4x Reality Smasher
4x Silverblade Paladin
4x Sublime Archangel
4x Thought-Knot Seer
# Hatebears 13
3x Ethersworn Canonist
4x Leonin Arbiter
2x Phyrexian Metamorph
2x Phyrexian Revoker
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Eldrazi Temple
4x Ghost Quarter
11x Plains
4x Shefet Dunes
# Mana 6
3x Simian Spirit Guide
3x Springleaf Drum
Here's what I wrote about it on tappedout :
An Eldrazi hatebears deck, The best fair finisher meet the best hatebears.
Finisher :
Reality smasher : self explanatory
Sublime archangel : lots of creatures in the deck when it arrives it gives +4 to 1 creature
Silverblade paladin : the temur battle rage of the deck
Any combination of those cards is often just gg. For example :
- Turn 2 bear / Turn 3 play silverblade swing for 2 / Turn 4 reality smasher double strike haste swing for 16 (trample)
- Turn 2 bear / Turn 3 sublime archangel swing for 4 (exalted) / Turn 4 silverblade paladin swing for 14 (flying)
Hatebears (multicolor version) :
Tidehollow sculler : the best
Meddling mage : the second best
Thalia : a little worse against human and spirit but pretty good otherwise
phyrexian revoker : pretty good almost everytime, good against spirit and human (vial/hierarch)
Hatebears (monowhite version) :
Thalia : a little worse against human and spirit but pretty good otherwise
phyrexian revoker : pretty good almost everytime, good against spirit and human (vial/hierarch)
Leonin arbiter : A good card depending on the matchup
Ethersworn canonist : can be really good depending on the matchup
Mana acceleration :
simian spirit guide : turn 1 thalia/revoker or a bomb on turn 3.
springleaf drum : the big upside to play this deck, it's the turn 1 play then the hatebears finally have a role : produce mana.
eldrazi temple : self explanatory
The 2 last cards are 2 more threat to play with all the ramp :
thought knot seer : not really a finisher but it can be (with silverblade or sublime arch) , not really an hatebear but it can be (with the proper mana acceleration)
Phyrexian metamorph : the joker, can be good on the ofense or on the defense
The deck is really fun to play. Lots of turn 4 kill out of nowhere.
I've been considering that. My main concern is you ever need to path something with a Thalia on the board, you'd need 4 mana to do so.
I've bumped up to 4 jadelight ranger, cutting blade splicer and the card has been great. Sometimes I miss the 3/3 first striker but the upsides have been overshadowing the downside. I have to do more testing with it, but of the last 5 games I played on mtgo, it almost never felt bad casting jt.
Also Samzam I suggest you check out spiderspace's eldrazi list. It's pretty good and has been putting up results.
GW Death and Taxes WG
Anyways, one of the interesting things I found was that Path to Exile didn't seem to correlate well. Which kind of makes sense, really. It's pretty decent if we have an Arbiter in play, but otherwise we're helping the opponent find the mana to pay for our taxes, and it nonbo's with Thalia. Anyways, with Deputy combined with Reflector Mage, Eldrazi Displacer, and Flickerwisp, we have access to a ridiculous amount of removal. Deputy is also great for answering more than just creatures, which is one of the things that we absolutely need. It provides lines that were otherwise not very good for us (answering token armies, creatures with lots of counters of them, and maybe most important, noncreature permanents).
Anyways, the list that I played with tonight is as follows:
4 Leonin Arbiter
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Deputy of Detention
4 Eldrazi Displacer
2 Eldrazi Skyspawner
3 Flickerwisp
4 Reflector Mage
3 Spell Queller
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Aether Vial
Lands (23):
4 Adarkar Wastes
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Irrigated Farmland
1 Island
1 Moorland Haunt
2 Plains
3 Seachrome Coast
2 Selfless Spirit
2 Mirran Crusader
1 Ephera, God of the Polis
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
1 Oketra the True
3 Rest in Peace
3 Stony Silence
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Settle the Wreckage
The deck can probably still use some work. The data showed that mini-Thalia was one of the best cards to have the opener, so four may be correct. It also showed that big-Thalia was also good, so I went up to two. The thoughts behind Skyspawner is that the deck is kind of weak on one- and two-drops, and it acts as a "two-drop" with an Eldrazi Temple, while helping to ramp or provide colorless mana for Displacer or Seer if need be, while swinging with evasion. I want to drop a Farmland for another Fountain, just don't have one.
I want to change the sideboard a bit to include some amount of life gain. Probably don't need three Stony Silence, so may go down to two. Also probably don't need all three gods, and may not need Settle any more thanks to Reflector Mage and Deputy. Anyways, played it a bit tonight and it was a blast. Felt like I was always on a curve, applying pressure and forcing the opponent to play around all sorts of tricks.
Lantern Control
(with videos)
Uc Tron
Netdecking explained
Netdecking explained, Part 2
On speculators and counterfeits
On Interaction
Every single competitive deck in existence is designed to limit the opponent's ability to interact in a meaningful way.
Record number of exclamation points on SCG homepage: 71 (6 January, 2018)
"I don't want to believe, I want to know."
-Carl Sagan