How you do the lands is up to you.
I tried fetches, one of each, and found most of the time I needed a certain color that the fetch in my hand couldn't provide.
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It's easy to believe you're a god when you're twice as powerful as everyone else.
Has anyone tested with the new Karn yet? I feel like he would make an excellent addition to this deck.
I agree with you,I think the new Karn with the Borderposts is great but now is a few expensive :-(,but How many Karn can be good in the deck? I think three,..,what do you think?
I don't think new Karn is good for us. But don't take my word for it. He makes guys which would cause our restore balance to be bad, he let's our opponents choose to either let us have a Restore balance in hand causing us to have to suspend it or we exile it and then have to get it.
Just my two cents. If anyone does try him out let me know.
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It's easy to believe you're a god when you're twice as powerful as everyone else.
So I've gone ahead and tagged your deck to make it more organized.
I'll need a couple of answers of a few card choices to go further.
1. A lot of 1 ofs outside of Emrakul. Seems odd.
2. Have you tested this deck? If so, what are your games like against the meta you go to.
3. I've made posts in the past about how I feel about 4 Gargadons, I would also go to 4 Balances, but that is just me.
4. Anger of the Gods is better ran over Kozilek's Return
5. Why run 2 Wear // Tear and 1 Ignot Chewer? 3 Wear // Tear is just better.
Not saying you're deck is bed, but just looking for better clarity on your list to help you out more.
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It's easy to believe you're a god when you're twice as powerful as everyone else.
You are right, it does hit Etched Champion which Anger can't. I use to run it before seeing the exile effect of Anger has more of an impact in aggro games. And 1 more damage kills a few more things. But that said, Kozilek's Return is still a great option.
If you wanna play Karn do it man. Just let me know how he works. I'm very curious about it.
Honestly, try the Prototype out. As you play your fmn take notes how it does and how it does against the decks you face. When you have all that, let me know what worked, what didn't, what match-ups you struggled/lost to, and we can together help finer tune your restore balance to your meta.
My deck is for my meta which deals primarily with aggro, 5c Humans, Affinity, Boggles, Coco, etc. With Control decks coming behind it.
Very anxious to see how your deck works! I'll check back often!
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Played a few matches at FNM tonight with a list like it: -1 as foretold, planeswalkers: 2 Jace, 3 Nahiri, 1 ajani vengeant. Sb was good. Went 4-0 against grishoalbrand, lantern (rough), w hatebears with eldrazi, bant spirits. Played a culling scales in the board and it was great! Might go up to 2. It seems tailor made for this deck.
Sorry for the absence, just got back a few hours ago from my first modern nigh at my local game store in few weeks. Been super busy with work and school. Anyways, here goes. Overall Record : 2-1 Decks faced : 3 Esper Control : 2-1 Mono G Affinity : 1-2 Death Shadow Jund : 2-1
G1: So I win the roll, and do my usual fetch post pass. G1 he had no responses to Restore Balance or my walkers so I win.
G2: I forget to board in Wear//Tear and his T2 stony silence just kills me
G3: Boarding in the Wear//Tear helped out, and he again had no responses to Restore Balance for some reason.
G1: I beat him since he had no real answer to Restore Balance.
G2: I misplayed by not countering his ravenger when he had a vial out, which he used to put Steel Oversear in at the end of my turn, so when I restore balance he sac'd everything to it then to his Walking Ballista killing me
G3: Much of the same, only I could've won had I drawn an actual land for Violent Outburst
G1: Much like the rest, no G1 answer to my deck so I win.
G2: God, T2 Ancient Grudge flashed back T3 just absolutely wrecked me. I scooped after that much tempo loss
G3: This is the game I remember since it was intense.
I lead with basics and fetches so he can't use his grudges. He plays T2 a Grim Flayer and starts punching me. I on T3 and T4 play double Siege calling Dragons. He played a second Flayer, yet despite putting cards into his grave, never hit dilireum. I used both Imprision in the Moon on his duels causing him to be off balance for thr game, landing a Nahiri and Kiora sealed the deal.
So, in conclusion this deck worked well. I had tried out Leylines of Sanctity eariler that week, but found against Jund and Esper that their protection of my posts and hand are too valuable in most Matchups to cut. But that's my opinion. Once again Thassa proved her worth in all the G1/G3 I kept her in because her Scrying late game gave me the edge when both of us were in top deck mode. I was told to add 3 Ghirapur Aether Grid in place of my Sieges due to being able to use my posts to ping hyper aggro decks, another clock against control, and is another win con should Gargadon or Nahiri not work. I ran 1 tonight, and found if I had it opening hand, I usual never casted it due to needing my mana for Supreme Will or Violent Outburst in hand, or if I had it late I didn't need because I was either losing or just in a position already winning. So if anyone wants to experiment with them, let me know here how they work.
Any questions, ask and I'll try to remember my matches to give you clarity or card advice.
I should start recording my opening hands.
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It's easy to believe you're a god when you're twice as powerful as everyone else.
Culling scales was great. Gideon is a must. The intervention looks odd, but it is like a slaughter games (no black) that can turn off bloodghast or prized amalgam. Fiery justice can kill planeswalkers, so I like its versatility. Any input?
Gone a head and like with the other user, tagged your deck for ease of use. Now what I'm about to say is all strictly opinion based, and if you don't like any of what I say that is fine. I'm comparing your deck to mine, and what has worked for me over the past few months playing this desk. Please don't take anything I say too harsh. If it comes across that way, I do apologize
Lets talk about some of your mainboard 1 of's. 1 Fiery Justice: Not a fan. I personally don't like that we give the opponenent 5 life. If we're into killing creatures we have Restore Balance amongst other tools.If you're concerned about Planeswalkers, we have Beast Within, Imprisoned in the Moon, you already run Detention Sphere. 1 As Foretold: I run 2 in my deck for the minor consistency boost. With 1 you may as well not run it. I say that not as a mean way, but as a deck way. Your deck isn't really built around to take advantage of it. With 1 you won't see it that often, and when you do it'll either be too late. What I mean is with your current deck and planeswalkers abundance you may often neglect it and play a string of walkers instead. Most of your cards in the 3 drop area don't really do much since you can only cast them on your turn so you're limited to Violent Outburst. Most of the joy of it is to cast free Violent Outburst, Restore Balance(s), any other instant 3+ plus drop you may have. If it comes out late, it won't have time to tick when you need it to. 1 Oblivion Ring: Please don't run this. There are better ways of removing permanents now. Beast Within, Imprisoned in the moon , Restore Balance, etc. As part of the reason why I don't think running 1 As Foretold is good, much the same here. If you're really worried about problematic permanents we have better options or you can increase a card count. 1 Mistveil Plains: I personally am not a fan. Among several goldfishing attempts, friendlies at my college, and modern nights, this land MUST be in the opening hand for it to be good. Its a dead draw late game, you can't use it the turn it comes out, Blood Moon shuts it down, you're often times not able to use due to its 2 other White Permanent clause all for 1 card tuck. I've switched over to using 2 Bow of Nylea, now that card isn't for everyone, but it's functionality and flexibility in almost any match up is way better than Mistveil. The card feels old and clunky to me now unfortunately.
As for the rest of your mainboard. Jace, the Mind Sculptor: I ran him as a 1 of in my deck but later cut him. I've made my remarks on earlier posts about why I personally don't like him. But I'll sum it up. I feel with a UU cost he's a bit harder to get out. He doesn't really mesh with our deck. Nahiri helps apply pressure due to how quick she ticks, removes problematic permanents, and cycles our hand. Jace.. He MAY brainstorm our RB's away, with how much value is in creatures these days bouncing one isn't good for us, his fateseal is just meh since we're never really good enough to control the opponent enough to make it work. Gideon of the Trials: I run Kiora over him. He's a dude, but only on our turn, which is bad if we don't have Violent Outburst in it, and we need to Restore Balance. So if you swing, you can't Ardent plea effectively enough along with, at least how I have my deck geared, not aggressive enough. We're more like a prison deck with how Restore Balance functions. We want to make control decks have to waste resources, aggro decks to slow down, combo decks hesitate, Gideon can do this control but not as effectively as most other planeswalkers. That said, his +1 is just like Kiora, the Crashing Wave but without her secondary clause. His 0 is ehhh. If you're concerned about losing that badly maybe find another deck. Because we lose a lot just due to the gimick of the deck. Ajani Vengeant: So he's down here instead of up in the first paragraph of 1 of's for a few reasons. Sleeping a permanent with his +1 is good, but your Gideon does it better since most decks go so wide now it's essentially the same thing. His -2 for a helix is serviceable, but again, most creatures have +3 toughness these days and most Planeswalkers can go above +3 Loyalty quickly. His -7 is just meh. We don't care about wiping our opponent out of all their lands. We just want to knock them down enough to where we can play quicker. If they're wiped to 3-4 lands when they had 7+ that's essentially an armageddon.
Outside of that, the rest of your mainboard seems pretty standard.
Your sideboard. This is all, like above, strictly opinion based due to the fact every LGS has their own meta.
Culling Scales: Tooo slow my dude. A T3 play, T2 at most and you're banking on them having lower CMC than us when at most, we have 3. So we get maybe a very slow boardwipe that we can't turn off and our opponent can just stop playing things forcing us to get rid of our posts making our RB way worse. Faerie Macabre: Not too bad of grave hate, I run Ravenous Trap in my sideboard. With how fast things hit grave due to our opponent and our RBs it's very common at 0, would recommend running 2. Rough // Tumble: Not a big fan. 2 damage doesn't cut it anymore and sorcery doesn't help its case. Tumble being at 6 mana and only hitting fliers, way too slow. We have several options such as Kozilek's Return, Anger of the Gods, and even the OG himself Firespout Gideon's Intervention: At 4 mana, with your current list and as 1 of. Kinda too slow and too clunky. You'd want to run probably 2-3 to make them worth running since you want it out before your opponent can cast them before you can name them. There are two other cards that are "kinda" better Nevermore and the 5c Humans deck Meddling Mage. This card being 4 mana means generally opponents can get Ancient Grudge off and flashed back before you can cast it, burn laughs and throws everything, control can bounce it or counter it, and midrange/aggro go way to wide. If you're concerned about Prized Amalgam and Bloodghast, we have Ravenous Trap to deal with most ways of stock piling graveyards. Detention Sphere: Minor notes. I ran 2 as well in my deck, but found they weren't that good. Aggro decks, like Affinity could widen their board to a state where even if I removed something they would still find the damage to win. Control decks don't play many threats to make this worth wild, and midrange you may get away with it since they like to play multiple copies of cards. I found it a little slow and often times I would hold it until the opponent would play 1 more copy of a card to make it worth playing.
For the rest of your sideboard:
4 Leylines are always a welcomed sight due to our deck fearing hate rip and burn
I'd up Wear // Tear to 3 for more consistency
Ricochet Trap as well 2-3 depending on how much control U/x decks you face
A tad more grave hate maybe? If you're meta has a lot. Mine kinda does so I run 2 SB Ravenous Trap.
Those are my thoughts. Hope they help, hope they don't scare you away. Looking forward to your reply!
Thank you for the constructive criticism. Here is some of my reasons why I made the deck construction decisions:
Humans is a top played deck, with that, meddling mage on RB and detention sphere can be game over. Having Fiery Justice and Oblivion Ring as different names can be the edge you need against humans. Also both answer Lili.
1 As Foretold: I concede that I probably should run a second for consistency, especially if I go up to 4 RB.
1 Mistveil Plains: I might try a bow or 4th RB here. Fights surgical extraction
Jace, the Mind Sculptor: Does some work bouncing creatures, drawing cards, keeping the opponents draws bad. 4 was too many. 2 seems fine right now. He does filter cards away on a cascade.
Gideon of the Trials: Planeswalkers can be hard to deal with as previously stated, so he can man up and punch them with exalted bonuses. Kiora gets bolted and costs 4. I may try her as a 1 of. I concede that she locks something down, draws cards in a pinch, an can ultimate to win eventually. My testing with Gideon was extremely positive.
Ajani Vengeant: Every time I go to cut him he shows up and wins the game. Locking something down or having MD life gain are underrated for this deck.
Culling Scales: Holds down the fort and is a major threat. Blows up stony silence, vials, Lili, and if worst comes to worst, it can eat Ardent Plea before borderposts. Great results.
Rough // Tumble: 2 mana interaction that can kill things is a super surprise.
Gideon's Intervention: yes it's 4 mana. But it is extremely versatile. (Slaughter games is 4, this works)
Modern is a very wide and diverse format. Varied sideboards with overlapping cards are very effective. Also, they are going to grudge you. You can't do anything about it. Seriously. Games are pretty easy when everything goes right. Gargadon into RB is lights out. Great. What about when it doesn't go that way? That is the reasoning behind my decisions. I'm playing another tournament on Thursday, so I'll be able to report back with my changes.
Thanks for your input.
Tournament report. There were 14 players last week. I lent out my lantern and g-tron decks. 4 rounds. Also, couldn't find a 4th restore balance for trade or sale. Played the list from my last post.
R-1 Tron Gw
G1 was missing that 4th RB. Needed to do it 1 more time, but used all 3 already.
G2 he played sacred ground and I Nahiri'd it. I ultimated Ajani a few turns after I stuck a blood moon.
G3 I made a play mistake and went for restore balance sac all lands over blood moon. He then assembled Tron and then Karn, so I conceded.
1-2, 0-1
Budget Burn
G1 made another play mistake. I was at 1, so I was dead to any burn spell. I RB'd when I should have waited because of unearth on hellspark elemental.
G2&3 Leyline t0
She didn't know about the new damage redirect rule when she didn't burn down any of my planeswalkers. I told her after. She also tried to bolt the leyline itself.
+4 leyline, + intervention, +2 dead/gone
-3 blood moon -1 o-ring, -1 d sphere, -1 fiery justice, -1 gargadon
3-3, 1-1
Naya Burn
G1 just couldn't get anything going. Got burned out
G2 had some back and forth. Ultimated Nahiri and attacked for exactly leathal.
G3 leyline t0, then RB to mind twist him down to 1 card in hand and 1 land. Scales ate a swiftspear and held him back. Win.
+4 leyline, + intervention, +2 dead/gone, +1 scales, +1 rough/tumble, +2 wear/tear (mostly for eidolon)
-3 blood moon -1 o-ring, -1 Jace, -2 gargadon, -2 SSG, -1 As Foretold,
5-4, 2-1
BW eldrazi and taxes
G1 Blood moon kept him off balance. He played a Thought-knot Seer and didn't take my cascader, took a Nahiri instead I think. Won.
G2, went 2 SSG into as foretold, but he kept resetting it with flickerwisp. Was stuck on mana thanks to Thalias.
G3 went fine. He had a slower start. Killed a Thalia EOT with dead/gone to untap and cascade and wipe his board. Scales came down and ate everything he played rather than him taking a turn or two off.
-1 Gideon, -1 As Foretold, -3 blood moon, +1 Scales, +1 leyline, +2 dead/gone, +2 wear/tear, +1 rough/tumble
7-5, 3-1
Got $17.5 store credit for 4th. Picked out some bargains out of the $1 box. Not bad for $5.
Moving forward, I might -1 O Ring, -1 mistveil plains +4th Restore Balance, +2nd As Foretold. Sideboard is fine for now.
Usually go to Sb out SSG and Gargadon. Does anyone have any sideboarding guides or can direct me to some past discussions about it? Sideboarding is really hard with this deck.
I would love some more constructive criticism. Thanks!
So the only problem I have with Beast Within is that it gives the opponent a 3/3 which they can use to just beat face, makes our own restore balances worse should we have Thassa or Gargadon online.
Ah yes, I see my mistake. Thanks!
I don't run that many answers MB. I reserve that until G2 when I know exactly what I'm facing.
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Hey everyone! Just jumping in to say that, after a long hiatus from Magic, I'm finally dusting off the ol' Restore Balance deck and playing modern again! Some of you may remember ages ago I was trying to come up with some data for mainboard leylines vs. sideboard leylines. Unfortunately, I never finished that. I did 50 matches with MB, started playing SB games, then life got in the way. At this point, I think the meta has changed too much for the data to be useful. Currently, I'm testing 2 JtMS vs 2 new Karn. I see both have been discussed a lot, so I won't necro those conversations until I have some more games under my belt.
Looking forward to restoring balance in modern again!
Hi all, I've been testing my deck and found that what I lack in my particular build is more reactive cards since a lot of my games at my local game store have been often one sided since I can't stop the opponent from doing anything. Storm has the counter spells, Coco has the instant speed win con, etc, my deck has 4 Supreme Wills to try to stop you so I knew I needed to start looking for more proactive plays. That lead me to looking through the deck to find what cards weren't preforming up to speed with the rest of the deck. After much research and play testing and talking to my friends, I decided to cut my 3 Monastery Sieges for 3 Nevermore which I will now explain.
Mode 1: Looting -- So with this effect, I found I have more than enough draw power at my games at lgs with Nahiri, the Harbinger, Supreme Will,Thassa, God of the Sea, and even Kiora, the Crashing Wave so drawing cards or fixing the top of my deck was never an issue and with how good each card in my deck is I only ever wanted to discard Emrakul, so discarding cards was tough. I had games where I drew two cards I needed, post + cascade, Planeswalker + land, etc and I wanted to keep all of it plus my hand but found I couldn't which would lose me the game.
Mode 2: Spell Protection -- So while +2 mana cost on any spell directed at me or my permanents is a cool, and often welcomed needed due to the amount of hate out there towards our posts, I found that at 3 cmc most 2 cmc kill spells Ancient Grudge, Abrupt Decay, Kolaghan's Command, often found themselves able to be out early enough to deal enough disruption to make that mode mute. I had games where I was able to land them T3 or T4 at the earliest but most decks have dealt their hand disruption cards or card hate cards prior, looking at you Burn, Jund, Control.
So why am I choosing Nevermore out of all the possible cards I could've picked? Well, its a 1 more mana costed Meddling Mage, now while Mage can be down T2 or Aether Vialed, it can be killed, run over, bounced, etc. Nevermore ditches the 2/2 body for a harder to remove card since most decks don't pack enchantment removal. Nevermore will let the opponent get one card copy down, but if you do your research you can hit Liliana of the Veil before they can player her, or any card if you do your research.
I've found in testing, with the 7 fetches, 1 plains, and 8 posts that produce white I almost always have a castable Nevermore.
That's more two cents. Thoughts? Do I have the wrong idea about a card? Are Sieges better?
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Welcome back to the land of the living friend!
What I'm about to say is all subjective, based on games at my local game store, play testing, talking amongst friends, etc.
So when it comes to Leylines, I don't run them. I found them to be only good as 4 of's and if you can land them opening hand, and given my luck that never happens. They help with two-ish deck types, Jund and Burn. Late game they're dead draws, and they can often clutter your hand. When they sit doing nothing in your hand you wish you could discard them making you rely heavily on Nahiri draws to get there, unless you run multiple discard outlets. That said, let me know what you come up with.
as far as JtMS is concerned, oh boy, I've talked about this guy in previous posts. I don't like him. 4 cmc is a but much, double UU is a but awkward since only 1 post has U (if you don't run black and you don't run the U/B post) and he doesn't help too much in the modern hyper-aggressive meta running around. Boggles run over him, Affinity goes through him, Coco laughs at him, etc. Often times bouncing a creature isn't help, brainstorming is a little slow, and his ult is eh.
That's my quick tl;dr rant.
For new Karn, I feel the same way. We don't want dudes running around on our field because then we're forced to use Gargadon more heavily and with his +1 they could just exile our Restore Balances and if we want it, then we have an awkward 6T clock in our hand unless we have As Foretold out.
My other quick tl;dr rant.
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It's easy to believe you're a god when you're twice as powerful as everyone else.
So again, don't focus on Hollow One. It's a weird deck that we can't really beat. We can rely on grave removal like Ravenous Trap but remember, they can always hard cast Hollow One and they still have their Flameblade Adept online. So focus on decks we can beat, like Boggles, Affinity, any aggressive creature deck or Tron deck. We also natural beat Ponza due to our mana base. One deck won't matter in the large scheme of things
I'd recommend against Dredge, Ravenous Trap 2-3 if you're concerned about them. Usually stops their stuff, and always Restore balance when they go to attack, make them keep using their resources. They'll either deck themselves, or run out of ways to keep playing stuff.
Mardu, ehh I actually haven't faced that deck, so that's something you'd have to research and then test out.
I like the nevermore idea. I might try it. I have Gideon's intervention in the sb for the same case against ramdom hard to kill stuff like dredge's bloodghast. I might try the Anger tho
The problem I have with Gideon's is that its a little slow for what it does. It's pretty neat to be immune to the named card, but at 4 mana most desk have trampled over you. With Nevermore, you can T2 it with Land, post + SSG.
Anger is the best against most aggro decks. Highly recommend it.
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Hello all! I have recently become interested in the archetype ever since I took apart living end and wondered what to do with all the play sets of cascade that I had. I have been sifting through a couple of lists and watching some streams of the deck (specifically Jeff Hoogland). I came here to ask the inclusion of Leylines of Sanctity’s mainboard in place of Simian Spirit Guides. My meta contains a fair amount of fair decks, like Junk, jund, and Ponza, and fast creature-less combo, like Storm and Ad Nauseum. I’m debating this choice purely because of the meta and wanted a second opinion. My list right now is the list Jeff Hoogland played on March 19, 2018, since I am fairly new and have not had a lot of time to play test this archetype.
4 Ardent Plea
3 Arid Mesa
2 As Foretold
2 Detention Sphere
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Fieldmist Borderpost
3 Firewild Borderpost
4 Flooded Strand
2 Gideon of the Trials
4 Greater Gargadon
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Monastery Siege
1 Mountain
2 Nahiri, the Harbinger
2 Plains
4 Restore Balance
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Temple Garden
2 Thassa, God of the Sea
4 Violent Outburst
3 Wildfield Borderpost
Hello all! I have recently become interested in the archetype ever since I took apart living end and wondered what to do with all the play sets of cascade that I had. I have been sifting through a couple of lists and watching some streams of the deck (specifically Jeff Hoogland). I came here to ask the inclusion of Leylines of Sanctity’s mainboard in place of Simian Spirit Guides. My meta contains a fair amount of fair decks, like Junk, jund, and Ponza, and fast creature-less combo, like Storm and Ad Nauseum. I’m debating this choice purely because of the meta and wanted a second opinion. My list right now is the list Jeff Hoogland played on March 19, 2018, since I am fairly new and have not had a lot of time to play test this archetype.
I'm still not sure how I feel about mainboard Leylines (currently I'm running them MB but not sure if that's any better than SB). However I would NEVER cut SSG from the MB. By design, we can't do anything except play borderposts before we get to 3 mana. And without a little bit of acceleration in the form of SSG, we really hold ourselves back in this format. I would cut Monastery Siege, 1 Jace, and maybe 1 Thassa to fit those monkeys back into your mainboard.
So they problem I've had with Leylines MB is that their only good opening hand. Dead draws later, and terrible top decks. I don't run them at all since I've tuned my deck to fight against more aggressive and combo decks.
I do agree with you, don't cut SSG. Outside of mana ramp, they allow a T2 Violent Outburst, T3 Nahiri, and T1 post and Gargadon play. They also function late game as emergency blockers.
I would cut from SB what he suggested, and add cards like Supreme Will to help against combo decks to give a edge where we may otherwise not side we'll have a surprise counter. You could also run Nevermore to help counter them as well, if you think it'll be good enough. Thassa is also a good inclusion because she's a late game beater, without devotion doesn't get removed, and helps secure our much needed top decks.
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I tried fetches, one of each, and found most of the time I needed a certain color that the fetch in my hand couldn't provide.
I don't think new Karn is good for us. But don't take my word for it. He makes guys which would cause our restore balance to be bad, he let's our opponents choose to either let us have a Restore balance in hand causing us to have to suspend it or we exile it and then have to get it.
Just my two cents. If anyone does try him out let me know.
1 Emrakul
4 Greater Gargadon
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Violent Outburst
1 Fiery Justice
3 Restore Balance
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Detention Sphere
2 As Foretold
4 Ardent Plea
1 Jace,the Mind Sculptor
1 Karn,Scion of Urza
4 Nahiri,the Harbinger
3 Wildfield Borderpost
4 Firewild Borderpost
1 Breeding pool
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Island
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Dead/Gone
1 Fiery Justice
1 Ingot Chewer
1 Kozilek return
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Ricochet Trap
1 Timely reinforcements
2 Wear/Tear
So I've gone ahead and tagged your deck to make it more organized.
I'll need a couple of answers of a few card choices to go further.
1. A lot of 1 ofs outside of Emrakul. Seems odd.
2. Have you tested this deck? If so, what are your games like against the meta you go to.
3. I've made posts in the past about how I feel about 4 Gargadons, I would also go to 4 Balances, but that is just me.
4. Anger of the Gods is better ran over Kozilek's Return
5. Why run 2 Wear // Tear and 1 Ignot Chewer? 3 Wear // Tear is just better.
Not saying you're deck is bed, but just looking for better clarity on your list to help you out more.
If you wanna play Karn do it man. Just let me know how he works. I'm very curious about it.
Honestly, try the Prototype out. As you play your fmn take notes how it does and how it does against the decks you face. When you have all that, let me know what worked, what didn't, what match-ups you struggled/lost to, and we can together help finer tune your restore balance to your meta.
My deck is for my meta which deals primarily with aggro, 5c Humans, Affinity, Boggles, Coco, etc. With Control decks coming behind it.
Very anxious to see how your deck works! I'll check back often!
Overall Record : 2-1
Decks faced : 3
Esper Control : 2-1
Mono G Affinity : 1-2
Death Shadow Jund : 2-1
4 Terramorphic Expanse
3 Evolving Wilds
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Island
1 Plains
Creatures: 8
4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Greater Gargadon
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Spells: 12
4 Supreme Will
4 Violent Outburst
4 Restore Balance
4 Wildfield Borderpost
4 Firewild Borderpost
4 Fieldmist Borderpost
Enchantments: 13
2 Bow of Nylea
2 As Foretold
2 Thassa, God of the Sea
3 Monastery Siege
4 Ardent Plea
Planeswalker: 4
3 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
3 Wear // Tear
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Ricochet Trap
2 Imprisoned in the Moon
2 Ravenous Trap
2 Blood Moon
1 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
G1: So I win the roll, and do my usual fetch post pass. G1 he had no responses to Restore Balance or my walkers so I win.
G2: I forget to board in Wear//Tear and his T2 stony silence just kills me
G3: Boarding in the Wear//Tear helped out, and he again had no responses to Restore Balance for some reason.
G1: I beat him since he had no real answer to Restore Balance.
G2: I misplayed by not countering his ravenger when he had a vial out, which he used to put Steel Oversear in at the end of my turn, so when I restore balance he sac'd everything to it then to his Walking Ballista killing me
G3: Much of the same, only I could've won had I drawn an actual land for Violent Outburst
G1: Much like the rest, no G1 answer to my deck so I win.
G2: God, T2 Ancient Grudge flashed back T3 just absolutely wrecked me. I scooped after that much tempo loss
G3: This is the game I remember since it was intense.
I lead with basics and fetches so he can't use his grudges. He plays T2 a Grim Flayer and starts punching me. I on T3 and T4 play double Siege calling Dragons. He played a second Flayer, yet despite putting cards into his grave, never hit dilireum. I used both Imprision in the Moon on his duels causing him to be off balance for thr game, landing a Nahiri and Kiora sealed the deal.
So, in conclusion this deck worked well. I had tried out Leylines of Sanctity eariler that week, but found against Jund and Esper that their protection of my posts and hand are too valuable in most Matchups to cut. But that's my opinion. Once again Thassa proved her worth in all the G1/G3 I kept her in because her Scrying late game gave me the edge when both of us were in top deck mode. I was told to add 3 Ghirapur Aether Grid in place of my Sieges due to being able to use my posts to ping hyper aggro decks, another clock against control, and is another win con should Gargadon or Nahiri not work. I ran 1 tonight, and found if I had it opening hand, I usual never casted it due to needing my mana for Supreme Will or Violent Outburst in hand, or if I had it late I didn't need because I was either losing or just in a position already winning. So if anyone wants to experiment with them, let me know here how they work.
Any questions, ask and I'll try to remember my matches to give you clarity or card advice.
I should start recording my opening hands.
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Greater Gargadon
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Restore Balance
1 Fiery Justice
4 Violent Outburst
4 Ardent Plea
1 As Foretold
3 Blood Moon
2 Detention Sphere
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Ajani Vengeant
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Nahiri, the Harbinger
2 Fieldmist Borderpost
4 Firewild Borderpost
3 Wildfield Borderpost
1 Breeding Pool
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
Sideboard:
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Culling Scales
1 Rough // Tumble
2 Dead // Gone
2 Wear // Tear
1 Dismember
1 Ravenous Trap
1 Ricochet Trap
1 Gideon's Intervention
4 Leyline of Sanctity
Culling scales was great. Gideon is a must. The intervention looks odd, but it is like a slaughter games (no black) that can turn off bloodghast or prized amalgam. Fiery justice can kill planeswalkers, so I like its versatility. Any input?
4 Greater Gargadon
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
3 Restore Balance
1 Fiery Justice
4 Violent Outburst
4 Ardent Plea
1 As Foretold
3 Blood Moon
2 Detention Sphere
1 Oblivion Ring
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Ajani Vengeant
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Nahiri, the Harbinger
4 Firewild Borderpost
3 Wildfield Borderpost
1 Breeding Pool
4 Flooded Strand
2 Island
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Culling Scales
1 Rough // Tumble
2 Dead // Gone
2 Wear // Tear
1 Dismember
1 Ravenous Trap
1 Ricochet Trap
1 Gideon's Intervention
4 Leyline of Sanctity
Gone a head and like with the other user, tagged your deck for ease of use.
Now what I'm about to say is all strictly opinion based, and if you don't like any of what I say that is fine. I'm comparing your deck to mine, and what has worked for me over the past few months playing this desk. Please don't take anything I say too harsh. If it comes across that way, I do apologize
Lets talk about some of your mainboard 1 of's.
1 Fiery Justice: Not a fan. I personally don't like that we give the opponenent 5 life. If we're into killing creatures we have Restore Balance amongst other tools.If you're concerned about Planeswalkers, we have Beast Within, Imprisoned in the Moon, you already run Detention Sphere.
1 As Foretold: I run 2 in my deck for the minor consistency boost. With 1 you may as well not run it. I say that not as a mean way, but as a deck way. Your deck isn't really built around to take advantage of it. With 1 you won't see it that often, and when you do it'll either be too late. What I mean is with your current deck and planeswalkers abundance you may often neglect it and play a string of walkers instead. Most of your cards in the 3 drop area don't really do much since you can only cast them on your turn so you're limited to Violent Outburst. Most of the joy of it is to cast free Violent Outburst, Restore Balance(s), any other instant 3+ plus drop you may have. If it comes out late, it won't have time to tick when you need it to.
1 Oblivion Ring: Please don't run this. There are better ways of removing permanents now. Beast Within, Imprisoned in the moon , Restore Balance, etc. As part of the reason why I don't think running 1 As Foretold is good, much the same here. If you're really worried about problematic permanents we have better options or you can increase a card count.
1 Mistveil Plains: I personally am not a fan. Among several goldfishing attempts, friendlies at my college, and modern nights, this land MUST be in the opening hand for it to be good. Its a dead draw late game, you can't use it the turn it comes out, Blood Moon shuts it down, you're often times not able to use due to its 2 other White Permanent clause all for 1 card tuck. I've switched over to using 2 Bow of Nylea, now that card isn't for everyone, but it's functionality and flexibility in almost any match up is way better than Mistveil. The card feels old and clunky to me now unfortunately.
As for the rest of your mainboard.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor: I ran him as a 1 of in my deck but later cut him. I've made my remarks on earlier posts about why I personally don't like him. But I'll sum it up. I feel with a UU cost he's a bit harder to get out. He doesn't really mesh with our deck. Nahiri helps apply pressure due to how quick she ticks, removes problematic permanents, and cycles our hand. Jace.. He MAY brainstorm our RB's away, with how much value is in creatures these days bouncing one isn't good for us, his fateseal is just meh since we're never really good enough to control the opponent enough to make it work.
Gideon of the Trials: I run Kiora over him. He's a dude, but only on our turn, which is bad if we don't have Violent Outburst in it, and we need to Restore Balance. So if you swing, you can't Ardent plea effectively enough along with, at least how I have my deck geared, not aggressive enough. We're more like a prison deck with how Restore Balance functions. We want to make control decks have to waste resources, aggro decks to slow down, combo decks hesitate, Gideon can do this control but not as effectively as most other planeswalkers. That said, his +1 is just like Kiora, the Crashing Wave but without her secondary clause. His 0 is ehhh. If you're concerned about losing that badly maybe find another deck. Because we lose a lot just due to the gimick of the deck.
Ajani Vengeant: So he's down here instead of up in the first paragraph of 1 of's for a few reasons. Sleeping a permanent with his +1 is good, but your Gideon does it better since most decks go so wide now it's essentially the same thing. His -2 for a helix is serviceable, but again, most creatures have +3 toughness these days and most Planeswalkers can go above +3 Loyalty quickly. His -7 is just meh. We don't care about wiping our opponent out of all their lands. We just want to knock them down enough to where we can play quicker. If they're wiped to 3-4 lands when they had 7+ that's essentially an armageddon.
Outside of that, the rest of your mainboard seems pretty standard.
Your sideboard. This is all, like above, strictly opinion based due to the fact every LGS has their own meta.
Culling Scales: Tooo slow my dude. A T3 play, T2 at most and you're banking on them having lower CMC than us when at most, we have 3. So we get maybe a very slow boardwipe that we can't turn off and our opponent can just stop playing things forcing us to get rid of our posts making our RB way worse.
Faerie Macabre: Not too bad of grave hate, I run Ravenous Trap in my sideboard. With how fast things hit grave due to our opponent and our RBs it's very common at 0, would recommend running 2.
Rough // Tumble: Not a big fan. 2 damage doesn't cut it anymore and sorcery doesn't help its case. Tumble being at 6 mana and only hitting fliers, way too slow. We have several options such as Kozilek's Return, Anger of the Gods, and even the OG himself Firespout
Gideon's Intervention: At 4 mana, with your current list and as 1 of. Kinda too slow and too clunky. You'd want to run probably 2-3 to make them worth running since you want it out before your opponent can cast them before you can name them. There are two other cards that are "kinda" better Nevermore and the 5c Humans deck Meddling Mage. This card being 4 mana means generally opponents can get Ancient Grudge off and flashed back before you can cast it, burn laughs and throws everything, control can bounce it or counter it, and midrange/aggro go way to wide. If you're concerned about Prized Amalgam and Bloodghast, we have Ravenous Trap to deal with most ways of stock piling graveyards.
Detention Sphere: Minor notes. I ran 2 as well in my deck, but found they weren't that good. Aggro decks, like Affinity could widen their board to a state where even if I removed something they would still find the damage to win. Control decks don't play many threats to make this worth wild, and midrange you may get away with it since they like to play multiple copies of cards. I found it a little slow and often times I would hold it until the opponent would play 1 more copy of a card to make it worth playing.
For the rest of your sideboard:
4 Leylines are always a welcomed sight due to our deck fearing hate rip and burn
I'd up Wear // Tear to 3 for more consistency
Ricochet Trap as well 2-3 depending on how much control U/x decks you face
A tad more grave hate maybe? If you're meta has a lot. Mine kinda does so I run 2 SB Ravenous Trap.
Those are my thoughts. Hope they help, hope they don't scare you away. Looking forward to your reply!
Humans is a top played deck, with that, meddling mage on RB and detention sphere can be game over. Having Fiery Justice and Oblivion Ring as different names can be the edge you need against humans. Also both answer Lili.
1 As Foretold: I concede that I probably should run a second for consistency, especially if I go up to 4 RB.
1 Mistveil Plains: I might try a bow or 4th RB here. Fights surgical extraction
Jace, the Mind Sculptor: Does some work bouncing creatures, drawing cards, keeping the opponents draws bad. 4 was too many. 2 seems fine right now. He does filter cards away on a cascade.
Gideon of the Trials: Planeswalkers can be hard to deal with as previously stated, so he can man up and punch them with exalted bonuses. Kiora gets bolted and costs 4. I may try her as a 1 of. I concede that she locks something down, draws cards in a pinch, an can ultimate to win eventually. My testing with Gideon was extremely positive.
Ajani Vengeant: Every time I go to cut him he shows up and wins the game. Locking something down or having MD life gain are underrated for this deck.
Culling Scales: Holds down the fort and is a major threat. Blows up stony silence, vials, Lili, and if worst comes to worst, it can eat Ardent Plea before borderposts. Great results.
Rough // Tumble: 2 mana interaction that can kill things is a super surprise.
Gideon's Intervention: yes it's 4 mana. But it is extremely versatile. (Slaughter games is 4, this works)
Modern is a very wide and diverse format. Varied sideboards with overlapping cards are very effective. Also, they are going to grudge you. You can't do anything about it. Seriously. Games are pretty easy when everything goes right. Gargadon into RB is lights out. Great. What about when it doesn't go that way? That is the reasoning behind my decisions. I'm playing another tournament on Thursday, so I'll be able to report back with my changes.
Thanks for your input.
R-1 Tron Gw
G1 was missing that 4th RB. Needed to do it 1 more time, but used all 3 already.
G2 he played sacred ground and I Nahiri'd it. I ultimated Ajani a few turns after I stuck a blood moon.
G3 I made a play mistake and went for restore balance sac all lands over blood moon. He then assembled Tron and then Karn, so I conceded.
1-2, 0-1
Budget Burn
G1 made another play mistake. I was at 1, so I was dead to any burn spell. I RB'd when I should have waited because of unearth on hellspark elemental.
G2&3 Leyline t0
She didn't know about the new damage redirect rule when she didn't burn down any of my planeswalkers. I told her after. She also tried to bolt the leyline itself.
+4 leyline, + intervention, +2 dead/gone
-3 blood moon -1 o-ring, -1 d sphere, -1 fiery justice, -1 gargadon
3-3, 1-1
Naya Burn
G1 just couldn't get anything going. Got burned out
G2 had some back and forth. Ultimated Nahiri and attacked for exactly leathal.
G3 leyline t0, then RB to mind twist him down to 1 card in hand and 1 land. Scales ate a swiftspear and held him back. Win.
+4 leyline, + intervention, +2 dead/gone, +1 scales, +1 rough/tumble, +2 wear/tear (mostly for eidolon)
-3 blood moon -1 o-ring, -1 Jace, -2 gargadon, -2 SSG, -1 As Foretold,
5-4, 2-1
BW eldrazi and taxes
G1 Blood moon kept him off balance. He played a Thought-knot Seer and didn't take my cascader, took a Nahiri instead I think. Won.
G2, went 2 SSG into as foretold, but he kept resetting it with flickerwisp. Was stuck on mana thanks to Thalias.
G3 went fine. He had a slower start. Killed a Thalia EOT with dead/gone to untap and cascade and wipe his board. Scales came down and ate everything he played rather than him taking a turn or two off.
-1 Gideon, -1 As Foretold, -3 blood moon, +1 Scales, +1 leyline, +2 dead/gone, +2 wear/tear, +1 rough/tumble
7-5, 3-1
Got $17.5 store credit for 4th. Picked out some bargains out of the $1 box. Not bad for $5.
Moving forward, I might -1 O Ring, -1 mistveil plains +4th Restore Balance, +2nd As Foretold. Sideboard is fine for now.
Usually go to Sb out SSG and Gargadon. Does anyone have any sideboarding guides or can direct me to some past discussions about it? Sideboarding is really hard with this deck.
I would love some more constructive criticism. Thanks!
Ah yes, I see my mistake. Thanks!
I don't run that many answers MB. I reserve that until G2 when I know exactly what I'm facing.
Looking forward to restoring balance in modern again!
[Primer] Dralnu Control/Reanimator BU
[Primer] Jolrael, Empress of Beasts GG
Nath Stax BG | Borborygmos Enraged RG | Ladies of Magic UGW | Aminatou Control UWB | Enduring Ideal Zedruu UWR | Momir Vig Combo UG
Modern
Restore Balance RWUG
Kiki Chord RWG
So my particular build is focused on board control. Whether that comes from Restore Balance, Supreme Will, Nahiri, the Harbinger, and even Kiora, the Crashing Wave. Looking at the sieges I found two flaws, those being their modes.
Mode 1: Looting -- So with this effect, I found I have more than enough draw power at my games at lgs with Nahiri, the Harbinger, Supreme Will,Thassa, God of the Sea, and even Kiora, the Crashing Wave so drawing cards or fixing the top of my deck was never an issue and with how good each card in my deck is I only ever wanted to discard Emrakul, so discarding cards was tough. I had games where I drew two cards I needed, post + cascade, Planeswalker + land, etc and I wanted to keep all of it plus my hand but found I couldn't which would lose me the game.
Mode 2: Spell Protection -- So while +2 mana cost on any spell directed at me or my permanents is a cool, and often welcomed needed due to the amount of hate out there towards our posts, I found that at 3 cmc most 2 cmc kill spells Ancient Grudge, Abrupt Decay, Kolaghan's Command, often found themselves able to be out early enough to deal enough disruption to make that mode mute. I had games where I was able to land them T3 or T4 at the earliest but most decks have dealt their hand disruption cards or card hate cards prior, looking at you Burn, Jund, Control.
So why am I choosing Nevermore out of all the possible cards I could've picked? Well, its a 1 more mana costed Meddling Mage, now while Mage can be down T2 or Aether Vialed, it can be killed, run over, bounced, etc. Nevermore ditches the 2/2 body for a harder to remove card since most decks don't pack enchantment removal. Nevermore will let the opponent get one card copy down, but if you do your research you can hit Liliana of the Veil before they can player her, or any card if you do your research.
I've found in testing, with the 7 fetches, 1 plains, and 8 posts that produce white I almost always have a castable Nevermore.
That's more two cents. Thoughts? Do I have the wrong idea about a card? Are Sieges better?
What I'm about to say is all subjective, based on games at my local game store, play testing, talking amongst friends, etc.
So when it comes to Leylines, I don't run them. I found them to be only good as 4 of's and if you can land them opening hand, and given my luck that never happens. They help with two-ish deck types, Jund and Burn. Late game they're dead draws, and they can often clutter your hand. When they sit doing nothing in your hand you wish you could discard them making you rely heavily on Nahiri draws to get there, unless you run multiple discard outlets. That said, let me know what you come up with.
as far as JtMS is concerned, oh boy, I've talked about this guy in previous posts. I don't like him. 4 cmc is a but much, double UU is a but awkward since only 1 post has U (if you don't run black and you don't run the U/B post) and he doesn't help too much in the modern hyper-aggressive meta running around. Boggles run over him, Affinity goes through him, Coco laughs at him, etc. Often times bouncing a creature isn't help, brainstorming is a little slow, and his ult is eh.
That's my quick tl;dr rant.
For new Karn, I feel the same way. We don't want dudes running around on our field because then we're forced to use Gargadon more heavily and with his +1 they could just exile our Restore Balances and if we want it, then we have an awkward 6T clock in our hand unless we have As Foretold out.
My other quick tl;dr rant.
I'd recommend against Dredge, Ravenous Trap 2-3 if you're concerned about them. Usually stops their stuff, and always Restore balance when they go to attack, make them keep using their resources. They'll either deck themselves, or run out of ways to keep playing stuff.
Mardu, ehh I actually haven't faced that deck, so that's something you'd have to research and then test out.
Anger is the best against most aggro decks. Highly recommend it.
4 Ardent Plea
3 Arid Mesa
2 As Foretold
2 Detention Sphere
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Fieldmist Borderpost
3 Firewild Borderpost
4 Flooded Strand
2 Gideon of the Trials
4 Greater Gargadon
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Monastery Siege
1 Mountain
2 Nahiri, the Harbinger
2 Plains
4 Restore Balance
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Temple Garden
2 Thassa, God of the Sea
4 Violent Outburst
3 Wildfield Borderpost
Sideboard:
2 Dismember
1 Ghirapur AEther Grid
1 Monastery Siege
1 Odds
2 Oketra's Last Mercy
1 Ricochet Trap
4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Wear / Tear
I'm still not sure how I feel about mainboard Leylines (currently I'm running them MB but not sure if that's any better than SB). However I would NEVER cut SSG from the MB. By design, we can't do anything except play borderposts before we get to 3 mana. And without a little bit of acceleration in the form of SSG, we really hold ourselves back in this format. I would cut Monastery Siege, 1 Jace, and maybe 1 Thassa to fit those monkeys back into your mainboard.
[Primer] Dralnu Control/Reanimator BU
[Primer] Jolrael, Empress of Beasts GG
Nath Stax BG | Borborygmos Enraged RG | Ladies of Magic UGW | Aminatou Control UWB | Enduring Ideal Zedruu UWR | Momir Vig Combo UG
Modern
Restore Balance RWUG
Kiki Chord RWG
I do agree with you, don't cut SSG. Outside of mana ramp, they allow a T2 Violent Outburst, T3 Nahiri, and T1 post and Gargadon play. They also function late game as emergency blockers.
I would cut from SB what he suggested, and add cards like Supreme Will to help against combo decks to give a edge where we may otherwise not side we'll have a surprise counter. You could also run Nevermore to help counter them as well, if you think it'll be good enough. Thassa is also a good inclusion because she's a late game beater, without devotion doesn't get removed, and helps secure our much needed top decks.