Thanks guys for the warm welcome : I'm just back home and for good
Went 3-0 at FNM : 2-0 (on the draw) over U-Tron, 2-1 against UR Storm (on the draw) and 2-1 (on the play) against Affinity. Conclusions about the deck :
1) Having Spoils didn't feel better than Peer, however having 1 Teachings was sweet. Spoils was good for drawing cards that were scryed on top with a temple or to dig so much deeper than Peer would have. I feel it's ok.
2) Manabase was really different than what I'm used to. I can't say it's bad, it's just very straighforward. No major issues aside I felt sometimes I was short on white mana in playtesting, that's why I added Flooded Strand and Hallowed Fountain. Having 21 lands and 1 fetch doesn't hurt Spoils at all and it helps sometimes to thin out the deck.
3) Sideboard is ok : having 2 Path to Exile over 2 Thoughtseize is good. I might add 1 Duress to have package against combo.
4) Nephalia was not used aside in game 3 against Affinity (running Thoughtseize) and didn't show up. I'll put it aside for now. Future list will be :
Hey guys, I somehow managed to win our Rivals of Ixalan PPTQ with Ad Nauseam today. There seems to be some gloom on the position of the deck in the current meta, but drawing well and dodging our worst matchup still seems to work like it did a year ago. If anyone is interested I can post a short writedown, although I will probably not go into much detail as I did not take any notes and was rather tired.
I think ad nauseam is positioned to see a comeback, a lot of decks are trying to hate out death shadow and to some extent succeeding, and we happen to have a good matchup against many of those decks.
Friday double FNM:
FNM#1
vs jund 2-1
vs jeskai saheli 2-1
vs abzan shadow 2-0
vs affinity 2-1
FNM#2
vs ug ramp 2-0
vs druid company 1-2
vs esper reanimator 2-0
vs w taxes 2-1
and today a PPTQ
vs eldra tron 2-0
vs breach titan shift 2-1
vs abzan 2-0
vs lantern 2-0
vs bw eldrazi taxes 2-1
vs amulet bloom ID ( so me first after swiss)
vs dredge 2-0
vs amulet bloom 2-0
vs abzan 1-2
jaiks...losing in final always feels bad!
But overall this deck is more than awsome, super nice positioned in the meta and fun to play on top.
Last days i was tinkering about the 1 mostly colerless land (dreadship/Nephalia something else) i went for Faith Heath at last moment. Funny to note is, that i saw the card couple of times today at the pptq. Most times it was irrelevant, but allways happy to see an untaped land and ....it won me 2 games because i could casted prism for two and once i got double black out of it. Realy sad to say is, that i lost my game 2 in the finals because it wasnt nephalia. Haha
Main was 2 spoils, 1 teaching and SB brewed last night this 15 together:
4 Leyline
3 Lingering Souls
1 Echoing Truth
1 Path to Exile
1 Fatal Push
1 H. Recall
2 Swon Song
1 G.Cage
1 Timley Reinforcments
The deck is performing pretty well even under the Shadow.decks dominance in the format. I consistently achieve 4-1 and 3-2 records in MTGO without a problem (still working on getting a 5-0, though).
Hahahaha maaaan, don't get us wrong! We are not lying We are just sharing our personal performances with the deck recently.
Keep in mind that if this deck becomes a real Tier1 it will get eventually banned, and everyone here knows that.
So, that being said, "well positioned" we will never be, neither the deck to beat.
We have a poor Shadow.decks matchup along with CoCo and EldraTron a.k.a Chalices MD (among others). But Modern is an open format, and every single deck has a chance to shine
Deck is not in a good position, but I don't think it's abysmal. From objective point of view mostly, I can say that Infect was unwinnable, so now that it's gone, it's good riddance. However, we have a hard time dealing with fast clock + disruption + countermagic. That's all there's in Grixis, so it's very unlikely to beat them. However, Abzan Coco as always been hard and E-Tron is fast and hard, but not unbeatable.
DS Shadow: clock + disruption + counterspells = 20 / 80.
E-Tron : clock + disruption = 35/65.
Abzan Coco : clock = 40/60 (could be 50 / 50 depending on experience with the deck and card selection).
For the rest, Jund's death is great for us, but we can handle pretty much everything else. So it's hard, but not lost. The deck has been in a worst shape before that.
Yeah hold priority when casting lightning storm and discard lands enough to win plus one and then pass priority. Trickbind will counter one instance of the ability, hence the plus one, then the other ones will resolve. This is a reason not to pass priority in between adding instances of the ability to the stack.
I haven't played this deck in a few months, (before the emergence of the Shadow decks)and I was playing the traditional 3 Spoils/5 Temples/8 Fastland build. Does anyone have a sample sideboard that they use and some rough sideboard plans for the more common matchups? (E Tron, Shadow, Company etc). I am always petrified of overboarding with this deck.
Am I right in thinking that it is generally right to shave some of the combo against DS in lieu of some sort of a backup plan? (Grave Titan/L Souls etc)
Thanks.
Never side out even a single copy of Ad Nauseam nor Angel's Grace, remember that we are still playing combo!
Although, if you expect a heavy artifact/enchantment removal in G2 and G3 you can shave 1 Phyrexian Unlife, but only in the particular case that you are playing 4 copies MD. (NOTE: personally, I don't like to side out Unlifes, even though I play 4 copies MD, but this is a personal choice)
There are some people playing Lingering Souls as backup plan and to buy time against difficult pairings, some others play Ethereal Haze (as me) over Path to Exile or Fatal Push, and even Hurkyl's Recall is a MUST for others... This is up to you Lately I have been toying with Duress and Silence, and I still have to try Swan Song, but the sample I posted above has been with me since forever. I'm pretty happy with it.
Back when Jund was around and heavily played, I played L Souls and Grave Titan in the board, and found myself shaving copies of Unlife for them. Is this similar for the Shadow matchup, or do I just board out Prisms?
Kolaghan's Command = shave some Prisms and/or Lotus. The Jund version runs Abrupt Decay as well, so maybe it is not that bad idea to board out 1 Phyrexian Unlife. But you already know my opinion about this topic
And that's a good SB configuration, seems fine to me. Looking forward to try those Swan Song, though!
Is there anyway around Trickbind when already committing to lightning storm?
Just discard another land? Trickbind counters one activation and that's it. Trickbind's additional clause only applies if it counters an activated ability of a permanent. Lightning Storm isn't a permanent, so it isn't affected by that part so all Trickbind does is act as a Split-Second Stifle for one activation.
The Swan Songs seems great since it hoses our early problematic cards. Blood Moon, Stony Silence, Eidolon of Rhetoric and is an early counterspell which won't burn your pacts. Wish it could also counter Chalice of the Void though!
I think I like Bontu's Last Reckoning more than Supreme Verdict since I run only 7 fastlands (4 seachrome 3 darkslick 1 urborg). The urborg helps the Gemstone Mines and can be an early double black for Bontu which can be cast as early as turn 2 (against affinity or devoted druid decks) it also looks useful against eldrazi decks or fast creature decks. Has anyone tested this?
Has anyone tested 2 Gideon of the Trials in the sideboard. Seems great in suppressing DS if they only have 1 creature in play and even BGX since it can buy you at least 1 to 2 turns at the minimum. Anyone tried this as well?
Anyone care to share their sideboard plans for these popular decks?
Grixis Death Shadow
Devoted Counters Company
Eldrazi Tron
Btw any of you guys realized yet, that killing death shadow with a lightning storm from hand is very effective?
I won 3 online matches in the last week doing it. they generally go to 3-5 life, thinking they are totally safe, and then they lose to a LS+1 land, without the combo
Btw any of you guys realized yet, that killing death shadow with a lightning storm from hand is very effective?
I won 3 online matches in the last week doing it. they generally go to 3-5 life, thinking they are totally safe, and then they lose to a LS+1 land, without the combo
The Swan Songs seems great since it hoses our early problematic cards. Blood Moon, Stony Silence, Eidolon of Rhetoric and is an early counterspell which won't burn your pacts. Wish it could also counter Chalice of the Void though!
I think I like Bontu's Last Reckoning more than Supreme Verdict since I run only 7 fastlands (4 seachrome 3 darkslick 1 urborg). The urborg helps the Gemstone Mines and can be an early double black for Bontu which can be cast as early as turn 2 (against affinity or devoted druid decks) it also looks useful against eldrazi decks or fast creature decks. Has anyone tested this?
Has anyone tested 2 Gideon of the Trials in the sideboard. Seems great in suppressing DS if they only have 1 creature in play and even BGX since it can buy you at least 1 to 2 turns at the minimum. Anyone tried this as well?
Anyone care to share their sideboard plans for these popular decks?
Grixis Death Shadow
Devoted Counters Company
Eldrazi Tron
All of them are "bad" matchups...
This is what I usually do against them
Grixis Death Shadow - In 4x Leylines, 2x Ethereal Haze (or Path to Exile/Fatal Push when I play them)
Devoted Counters Company - In 1x Slaughter Pact, 1x Supreme Verdict, 1x Echoing Truth
Eldrazi Tron - In 1x Wear // Tear, 1 x Silence, 1x Echoing Truth
and Out like I posted above, Prism, Lotus, Pact of Negation and Sleight of Hand. Never all the copies, never more than 6 cards in total.
It really depends on your SB configuration, but those are cards that almost everyone run in their SB.
I'm not very comfortable with the fastlands and I remember why I dropped them. 6 temples feels fines, but fastlands are sometimes so akward. That's why I'm tossing between a stock list and my own list from event to event. Having the fetches feels smoother.
I'm not very comfortable with the fastlands and I remember why I dropped them. 6 temples feels fines, but fastlands are sometimes so akward. That's why I'm tossing between a stock list and my own list from event to event. Having the fetches feels smoother.
which is 8 cards and i'm worried could result in too much disruption to finding my combo or enough mana. which of the above would you bring in / leave out?
Thanks in advance
See my post above
NEVER BOARD OUT MORE THAN 6 CARDS AGAINST ANY MATCHUP!
Went 3-0 at FNM : 2-0 (on the draw) over U-Tron, 2-1 against UR Storm (on the draw) and 2-1 (on the play) against Affinity. Conclusions about the deck :
1) Having Spoils didn't feel better than Peer, however having 1 Teachings was sweet. Spoils was good for drawing cards that were scryed on top with a temple or to dig so much deeper than Peer would have. I feel it's ok.
2) Manabase was really different than what I'm used to. I can't say it's bad, it's just very straighforward. No major issues aside I felt sometimes I was short on white mana in playtesting, that's why I added Flooded Strand and Hallowed Fountain. Having 21 lands and 1 fetch doesn't hurt Spoils at all and it helps sometimes to thin out the deck.
3) Sideboard is ok : having 2 Path to Exile over 2 Thoughtseize is good. I might add 1 Duress to have package against combo.
4) Nephalia was not used aside in game 3 against Affinity (running Thoughtseize) and didn't show up. I'll put it aside for now. Future list will be :
4 Simian Spirit Guide
1 Laboratory Maniac
Lands (21)
4 City of Brass
4 Darkslick Shores
2 Seachrome Coast
4 Temple of Deceit
2 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Flooded Strand
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
1 Plains
4 Ad Nauseam
4 Angel's Grace
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Pentad Prism
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
3 Pact of Negation
3 Phyrexian Unlife
2 Spoils of the Vault
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Lightning Storm
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Ethereal Haze
2 Path to Exile
1 Celestial Purge
1 Duress
1 Echoing Truth
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Silence
1 Timely Reinforcements
Cheers!
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
I think ad nauseam is positioned to see a comeback, a lot of decks are trying to hate out death shadow and to some extent succeeding, and we happen to have a good matchup against many of those decks.
Friday double FNM:
FNM#1
vs jund 2-1
vs jeskai saheli 2-1
vs abzan shadow 2-0
vs affinity 2-1
FNM#2
vs ug ramp 2-0
vs druid company 1-2
vs esper reanimator 2-0
vs w taxes 2-1
and today a PPTQ
vs eldra tron 2-0
vs breach titan shift 2-1
vs abzan 2-0
vs lantern 2-0
vs bw eldrazi taxes 2-1
vs amulet bloom ID ( so me first after swiss)
vs dredge 2-0
vs amulet bloom 2-0
vs abzan 1-2
jaiks...losing in final always feels bad!
But overall this deck is more than awsome, super nice positioned in the meta and fun to play on top.
Last days i was tinkering about the 1 mostly colerless land (dreadship/Nephalia something else) i went for Faith Heath at last moment. Funny to note is, that i saw the card couple of times today at the pptq. Most times it was irrelevant, but allways happy to see an untaped land and ....it won me 2 games because i could casted prism for two and once i got double black out of it. Realy sad to say is, that i lost my game 2 in the finals because it wasnt nephalia. Haha
Main was 2 spoils, 1 teaching and SB brewed last night this 15 together:
4 Leyline
3 Lingering Souls
1 Echoing Truth
1 Path to Exile
1 Fatal Push
1 H. Recall
2 Swon Song
1 G.Cage
1 Timley Reinforcments
www.magickeller.de
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/magickeller
Youtube:
Magickeller Hannover YOUTUBE Channel
The deck is performing pretty well even under the Shadow.decks dominance in the format. I consistently achieve 4-1 and 3-2 records in MTGO without a problem (still working on getting a 5-0, though).
Current SB configuration:
4x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Ethereal Haze
1x Silence
1x Duress
1x Slaughter Pact
1x Flaying Tendrils
1x Echoing Truth
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Wear // Tear
1x Godhead of Awe
1x Dragonlord Dromoka
Keep it up!
That is a lie. Please dont lie.
www.magickeller.de
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/magickeller
Youtube:
Magickeller Hannover YOUTUBE Channel
Hahahaha maaaan, don't get us wrong! We are not lying
Keep in mind that if this deck becomes a real Tier1 it will get eventually banned, and everyone here knows that.
So, that being said, "well positioned" we will never be, neither the deck to beat.
We have a poor Shadow.decks matchup along with CoCo and EldraTron a.k.a Chalices MD (among others). But Modern is an open format, and every single deck has a chance to shine
Please don't cut our wings!
DS Shadow: clock + disruption + counterspells = 20 / 80.
E-Tron : clock + disruption = 35/65.
Abzan Coco : clock = 40/60 (could be 50 / 50 depending on experience with the deck and card selection).
For the rest, Jund's death is great for us, but we can handle pretty much everything else. So it's hard, but not lost. The deck has been in a worst shape before that.
Cheers!
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
Never side out even a single copy of Ad Nauseam nor Angel's Grace, remember that we are still playing combo!
Although, if you expect a heavy artifact/enchantment removal in G2 and G3 you can shave 1 Phyrexian Unlife, but only in the particular case that you are playing 4 copies MD. (NOTE: personally, I don't like to side out Unlifes, even though I play 4 copies MD, but this is a personal choice)
I typically side out Sleight of Hand, Pentad Prism, Lotus Bloom (on the draw), Pact of Negation and very rarely Spoils of the Vault and Mystical Teachings. And I NEVER side out all the copies.
SB Sample:
4x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Wear // Tear
1x Echoing Truth
1x Slaughter Pact
and up to 6 cards of your preference
There are some people playing Lingering Souls as backup plan and to buy time against difficult pairings, some others play Ethereal Haze (as me) over Path to Exile or Fatal Push, and even Hurkyl's Recall is a MUST for others... This is up to you
You can also go for the big dudes like Dragonlord Dromoka, Godhead of Awe and Grave Titan, but from my personal experience only Dragonlord Dromoka is worth to play.
I hope you'll find this guide useful!
Kolaghan's Command = shave some Prisms and/or Lotus. The Jund version runs Abrupt Decay as well, so maybe it is not that bad idea to board out 1 Phyrexian Unlife. But you already know my opinion about this topic
And that's a good SB configuration, seems fine to me. Looking forward to try those Swan Song, though!
Just discard another land? Trickbind counters one activation and that's it. Trickbind's additional clause only applies if it counters an activated ability of a permanent. Lightning Storm isn't a permanent, so it isn't affected by that part so all Trickbind does is act as a Split-Second Stifle for one activation.
I think I like Bontu's Last Reckoning more than Supreme Verdict since I run only 7 fastlands (4 seachrome 3 darkslick 1 urborg). The urborg helps the Gemstone Mines and can be an early double black for Bontu which can be cast as early as turn 2 (against affinity or devoted druid decks) it also looks useful against eldrazi decks or fast creature decks. Has anyone tested this?
Has anyone tested 2 Gideon of the Trials in the sideboard. Seems great in suppressing DS if they only have 1 creature in play and even BGX since it can buy you at least 1 to 2 turns at the minimum. Anyone tried this as well?
Anyone care to share their sideboard plans for these popular decks?
Grixis Death Shadow
Devoted Counters Company
Eldrazi Tron
"He traded sand for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand."
—Afari, Tales
I won 3 online matches in the last week doing it. they generally go to 3-5 life, thinking they are totally safe, and then they lose to a LS+1 land, without the combo
I've done that a couple of times as well
All of them are "bad" matchups...
This is what I usually do against them
Grixis Death Shadow - In 4x Leylines, 2x Ethereal Haze (or Path to Exile/Fatal Push when I play them)
Devoted Counters Company - In 1x Slaughter Pact, 1x Supreme Verdict, 1x Echoing Truth
Eldrazi Tron - In 1x Wear // Tear, 1 x Silence, 1x Echoing Truth
and Out like I posted above, Prism, Lotus, Pact of Negation and Sleight of Hand. Never all the copies, never more than 6 cards in total.
It really depends on your SB configuration, but those are cards that almost everyone run in their SB.
And LS to kill DS is just a classic move
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
I have the same feeling but about temples, and that's why I never play more than 4.
This is the manabase I'm gonna be testing now:
4x Gemstone Mine
2x City of Brass
3x Darkslick Shores
3x Seachrome Coast
2x Temple of Deceit
2x Temple of Enlightenment
1x Island
2x Plains
1x Nephalia Academy / Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth / Mikokoro, Center of the Sea / Tolaria West
Any suggestions?
See my post above
By the way, I wouldn't play Damnation over Supreme Verdict, and NEVER against Stubborn Denial.decks