Sometimes when I'm brewing my mind wanders far. I love toolboxes. I've probably brewed a deck for every tutor in modern. And they're awful. But I keep brewing. You think this deck is being pulled in too many directions lately? We haven't even scratched the surface. I want to play all the tutors:
I ran it few times at xmage (maybe I changed one or two toolbox cards). I'll past here one play that I did with it:
Yesterday I was testing this super janky four color eldritch evolution gifts ungiven deck that top eighted some tournament. I was playing against UR prowess. After some turns, I was left at one life, with one monastery swiftspear and one thing in the ice facing me. I had anafenza the foremost in the battlefield, and seven mana. I really needed one good topdeck or otherwise I would lose this to basically any topdeck from my oponent, other than a land.
Well, I topdecked gifts ungiven. Attacked for 4 and then casted it. Searched for reflector mage, path to exile, eldritch evolution and gifts ungiven. Any combination made me survive one more turn, but he gave me the funniest one - path and eldritch evolution. Evolved anafenza into thragtusk, surviving one turn and killing my oponent the next one. Oh boy was I excited, gifts and evolution must be my favorite modern cards. So many options!
Basically, if the game goes long you do absolutely broken stuff (like any gifts ungiven deck) but it has a hard time getting there. It's a toolbox deck with the same bad matchups as kikichord/knightfall/abzan evolution and worse aggro matchup. It's fun but there's no reason to run it if you want to win tournaments.
BTW, there was one kiki deck at GP DFW top 64, 2 eldritch evolution and 3 chord of calling. Have you guys seen it? It has both bolts and birds if I recall correctly.
Yeah, I knew that would wake y'all up. If you're experiencing a sudden increase in Skred, I'd recommend jamming a Cloudthresher in your sideboard until the excitement dies down. I mean, I guess you could Ruric Thar if you want to be boring about it. Stony Silences also good.
Cloudthresher seems like it would be terrible in a lot of matchups, and good in just one, where Ruric can be good against many decks.
Zealous Conscripts has always been my favorite card against Skred. Steal Koth, Ult Koth, Kill you with all the mountains you've bestowed upon me. Thanks. Was awesome back in the Pod days stealing their creatures and Podding them off too haha.
As someone who's played a ton of Gifts.. this list is looks.. well.. I have no idea. So many of the 1-of's seems unnecessary while the toolbox itself isn't even that powerful and looks painfully slow. Does make me miss Loam/Ravens Crime'ing my opponents hand away though just thinking about Gifts.
Tireless Tracker is better in shells that already have synergictic pieces, he's not really good enough on his own. Knightfall lists, for example, sometimes run him. New Thalia is also better in shells that synergize with the taxing, Eldrazi and Taxes runs her as a one or two of sometimes. But, neither are good enough to stand by themselves, and don't have an etb/ltb effect, so we don't run them.
So this weeks Tues (3-1), Tonights (3-0-1) Results.
Tues-3-1
Jund (game 1 was rough, g2/3 Elspeth+Leyline Secure win)
Infect (he had god hands, t2 win both games 1st turn glisten, t2 2xMutagenic+the delve buff with a hex backup)
Jund (g1 i went first, t4 win with kiki/resto. G2 was a massive grind sesh a top deck elspeth cinched the stall needed)
Burn (Captain/Spellskite stall too strong, g2 Leyline op)
Tonight 3-0-1
UR Krak's Thumb (very very cute deck, but easy 2-0)
Abzan (he got g1 with a 2 thought/1 inquistion start, g2 elspeth/magus carry, g3 Magus carry too strong)
Dredge (he goes off, respond with chording out Elesh, g2 he milled the rest in peace removal)
Dark Jeskai (g1 his removal game not good enough, g2 it was all removal, g3 was a grind sesh to time)
Now lets get to card choices.
why walls? (all of the mana, and all of the stall to keep the stronger decks from getting an early lead) folllow it up with elspeth/elesh and most top tier decks just lose right there. Why the single fireball you ask? Because **** INFECT, also late game tap walls down for X mana to win.
Why 20 lands? you only need 2-3 to do what you need, and with 8 cantrip cards and 10 heavy mana dorks i found more to be clunky/ruin your draws. (been playig this deck and tweaking for last 6 months and here is where its at)
Anywho i'll leave this here for any ideas of what to update, or questions.
I was wondering it could be worth adding aknight of the reliquuary. He lets you search up gavony township. Then you can remove 1 gavony township and get a better manabse.
Justa suggestion, I think he is rather big right out of the gates, a potensial card in your deck.
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I have dyslexia, no I am not going to spell check for you, yes you have to live with the horrors of it.
I was wondering it could be worth adding aknight of the reliquuary. He lets you search up gavony township. Then you can remove 1 gavony township and get a better manabse.
Justa suggestion, I think he is rather big right out of the gates, a potensial card in your deck.
I've tried him before in the past as a 1-of, 2-of and 3-of but always felt better with Finks in the 3 drop beater slot. If I had the space though, he's definitely at the top of the list.
Bullet Points: my thoughts in bold
- Nahiri makes the curve to high and playing Emrakul is a deck cost that isn't worth it since you draw it a decent amount in long tournaments. [I agree with this]
- With Evolution, the cost is playing value creatures to make up for sacrificing a creature. [I disagree here cause your deck already has tons of value that can easily recoup this cost like E-Witness]
- Says Evo can provide a fast combo, but that the deck isn't about the combo and more a midrange-value deck. [I agree here, but this doesn't mean Evo can't provide value as much as Chord can]
- With Evo and playing value cards like Wall of Omens, most decks like Infect/Dredge don't care about your value [I agree here, however Wall is a great blocker vs most aggro decks]
- Evo is weak to counters, lack of flexibility in deck building, and not instant speed like Chord. [Agree, however there aren't many counters in Modern right now, plus with Brutality you can play around them]
- Collective Brutality is great in this meta [agree]
I don't agree on a lot of his stuff and would like other's opinion. His main reasoning on moving back to Chord is to play at instant speed and outplay opponents which is fine, but shouldn't be the top reason. IMO the meta is so proactive right now I'd rather have Evolution where I can get out an early Kataki/Melira/etc to close games where the Chord deck would take an extra 1-2 turns to be able to Chord for those threats.
Moving forward, I'm going to keep running Evolution and try some Collective Brutality in the deck to see how it goes. I'm still not sold on Chord as it seems like a clunky card vs a very proactive meta.
Why would you fetch for Khalni Garden? It would be played between turn 1 and 3 in order to Chord on turn 4. Worst case senario it makes a chump blocker. Back in the prosperus bloom days I have great milage on it until the combo was secured. Blocking goyfs etc.
MTGLuca, you list seems good but I am very confused about the blue splash. Often you will not have a blue manasource and have a deciever exarch in hand. You could rather play another angel or Village Bell-Striker, unless you use the tap effect a lot. I know Jeff played it but that was because it comboed with Nahiri to kill things. Izzet Staticaster can be replaced. I do not know how often you side in the negates and how often you have blue mana for it? I can see it if your local meta is very slow (mine is.) But getting shocks because of wrong lands is not good vs zoo, burn and affinaty.
Also, how is the filigree familiar working out?
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I have dyslexia, no I am not going to spell check for you, yes you have to live with the horrors of it.
Past pairings for 2016-11-12
Tournament: Modern Open
Round 1 WIN 2 - 0 - 0 VS Thomas Toomey (0) at Table 109
Round 2 WIN 2 - 1 - 0 VS Brad Boice (6) at Table 175
Round 3 WIN 2 - 1 - 0 VS Dan Jessup (18) at Table 92
Round 4 WIN 2 - 0 - 0 VS Troy Willmer (15) at Table 35
Round 5 WIN 2 - 0 - 0 VS Andrew Elenbogen (18) at Table 3
Round 6 LOSS 0 - 2 - 0 VS Dan Musser (21) at Table 8
Round 7 WIN 2 - 1 - 0 VS Brad Nelson (18) at Table 27
Round 8 LOSS 1 - 2 - 0 VS Jim Davis (21) at Table 10
Round 9 LOSS 0 - 2 - 0 VS James White (18) at Table 17
Sorry for the quick copy paste action, on my phone. 79th place, no day 2. At least I got to play against some of the best players on the tour.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
Not a kiki deck but... I had to post this
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-four-color-eldritch-gifts#online
I have yet to see a list that has gone more nuts than that one AND posted tournament results. Its a work of art
L: Maverick
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
Basically, if the game goes long you do absolutely broken stuff (like any gifts ungiven deck) but it has a hard time getting there. It's a toolbox deck with the same bad matchups as kikichord/knightfall/abzan evolution and worse aggro matchup. It's fun but there's no reason to run it if you want to win tournaments.
BTW, there was one kiki deck at GP DFW top 64, 2 eldritch evolution and 3 chord of calling. Have you guys seen it? It has both bolts and birds if I recall correctly.
L: Maverick
Cloudthresher seems like it would be terrible in a lot of matchups, and good in just one, where Ruric can be good against many decks.
As someone who's played a ton of Gifts.. this list is looks.. well.. I have no idea. So many of the 1-of's seems unnecessary while the toolbox itself isn't even that powerful and looks painfully slow. Does make me miss Loam/Ravens Crime'ing my opponents hand away though just thinking about Gifts.
I'LL SEE YOU IN THE 4C THREAD
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
I know some abzan coco/chord lists are running tireless tracker, has anyone tried it in kiki chord?
what about Thalia, Heretic Cathar?
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
My Meta is heavy: Infect, Dredge, Abzan, Jund (70-80% of the decks), rest are random homebrews/some form of jeskai.
Can you find your way through the Labyrinth?
Land-20
4x Wooded foothills
4x Windswept Heath
2x Arid Mesa
3x Temple Garden
2x Sacred foundry
1x Stomping ground
2x Forest
1x Plains
1x Mountain
Creatures-28
2x Perimeter Captain
4x Wall of omens
4x Overgrown battlement
2x Wall of roots
1x Spellskite
4x Axebane Guardian
4x Carven Caryatid
2x Eternal witness
1x Flickerwisp
2x Restoration Angel
1x Kiki-jiki, mirror breaker
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
3x Path to exile
1x Fireball
2x Volcanic fallout
2x Collected company
4x Chord of calling
3x Leyline of sanctity
3x Rest in peace
3x Nature's claim
2x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1x Magus of the moon
1x Orzhov Pontiff
1x Reveillark
So this weeks Tues (3-1), Tonights (3-0-1) Results.
Tues-3-1
Jund (game 1 was rough, g2/3 Elspeth+Leyline Secure win)
Infect (he had god hands, t2 win both games 1st turn glisten, t2 2xMutagenic+the delve buff with a hex backup)
Jund (g1 i went first, t4 win with kiki/resto. G2 was a massive grind sesh a top deck elspeth cinched the stall needed)
Burn (Captain/Spellskite stall too strong, g2 Leyline op)
Tonight 3-0-1
UR Krak's Thumb (very very cute deck, but easy 2-0)
Abzan (he got g1 with a 2 thought/1 inquistion start, g2 elspeth/magus carry, g3 Magus carry too strong)
Dredge (he goes off, respond with chording out Elesh, g2 he milled the rest in peace removal)
Dark Jeskai (g1 his removal game not good enough, g2 it was all removal, g3 was a grind sesh to time)
Now lets get to card choices.
why walls? (all of the mana, and all of the stall to keep the stronger decks from getting an early lead) folllow it up with elspeth/elesh and most top tier decks just lose right there. Why the single fireball you ask? Because **** INFECT, also late game tap walls down for X mana to win.
Why 20 lands? you only need 2-3 to do what you need, and with 8 cantrip cards and 10 heavy mana dorks i found more to be clunky/ruin your draws. (been playig this deck and tweaking for last 6 months and here is where its at)
Anywho i'll leave this here for any ideas of what to update, or questions.
Standard
BUG SuperFriends
Modern
RWGKiki's CastleRWG
UB Turns UB
GRBU HulkBreach GRBU
Legacy
GRWBNic-ShiftGRWB
4x Birds of Paradise
3x Eternal Witness
3x Fauna Shaman
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
3x Kitchen Finks
1x Magus of the Moon
3x Noble Hierarch
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Restoration Angel
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Selfless Spirit
1x Spellskite
1x Village Bell-Ringer
3x Voice of Resurgence
1x Breeding Pool
1x Fire-Lit Thicket
2x Forest
2x Gavony Township
2x Horizon Canopy
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Plains
1x Sacred Foundry
2x Stomping Ground
1x Temple Garden
4x Windswept Heath
4x Wooded Foothills
Instant (10)
3x Chord of Calling
4x Collected Company
3x Path to Exile
2x Blessed Alliance
2x Blood Moon
1x Burrenton Forge-Tender
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Stony Silence
1x Magus of the Moon
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Kataki, War's Wage
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Spellskite
I was wondering it could be worth adding aknight of the reliquuary. He lets you search up gavony township. Then you can remove 1 gavony township and get a better manabse.
Justa suggestion, I think he is rather big right out of the gates, a potensial card in your deck.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
I've tried him before in the past as a 1-of, 2-of and 3-of but always felt better with Finks in the 3 drop beater slot. If I had the space though, he's definitely at the top of the list.
Bullet Points: my thoughts in bold
- Nahiri makes the curve to high and playing Emrakul is a deck cost that isn't worth it since you draw it a decent amount in long tournaments. [I agree with this]
- With Evolution, the cost is playing value creatures to make up for sacrificing a creature. [I disagree here cause your deck already has tons of value that can easily recoup this cost like E-Witness]
- Says Evo can provide a fast combo, but that the deck isn't about the combo and more a midrange-value deck. [I agree here, but this doesn't mean Evo can't provide value as much as Chord can]
- With Evo and playing value cards like Wall of Omens, most decks like Infect/Dredge don't care about your value [I agree here, however Wall is a great blocker vs most aggro decks]
- Evo is weak to counters, lack of flexibility in deck building, and not instant speed like Chord. [Agree, however there aren't many counters in Modern right now, plus with Brutality you can play around them]
- Collective Brutality is great in this meta [agree]
I don't agree on a lot of his stuff and would like other's opinion. His main reasoning on moving back to Chord is to play at instant speed and outplay opponents which is fine, but shouldn't be the top reason. IMO the meta is so proactive right now I'd rather have Evolution where I can get out an early Kataki/Melira/etc to close games where the Chord deck would take an extra 1-2 turns to be able to Chord for those threats.
Moving forward, I'm going to keep running Evolution and try some Collective Brutality in the deck to see how it goes. I'm still not sold on Chord as it seems like a clunky card vs a very proactive meta.
I am wondering if there could be any room of a Khalni Garden in those versions of the deck? With Chord it does a Wall of Blossom impersination.
none-fetchable land, only produces 1 color, comes into play tapped. I'd pass on that.
MTGLuca, you list seems good but I am very confused about the blue splash. Often you will not have a blue manasource and have a deciever exarch in hand. You could rather play another angel or Village Bell-Striker, unless you use the tap effect a lot. I know Jeff played it but that was because it comboed with Nahiri to kill things. Izzet Staticaster can be replaced. I do not know how often you side in the negates and how often you have blue mana for it? I can see it if your local meta is very slow (mine is.) But getting shocks because of wrong lands is not good vs zoo, burn and affinaty.
Also, how is the filigree familiar working out?
Past pairings for 2016-11-12
Tournament: Modern Open
Round 1 WIN 2 - 0 - 0 VS Thomas Toomey (0) at Table 109
Round 2 WIN 2 - 1 - 0 VS Brad Boice (6) at Table 175
Round 3 WIN 2 - 1 - 0 VS Dan Jessup (18) at Table 92
Round 4 WIN 2 - 0 - 0 VS Troy Willmer (15) at Table 35
Round 5 WIN 2 - 0 - 0 VS Andrew Elenbogen (18) at Table 3
Round 6 LOSS 0 - 2 - 0 VS Dan Musser (21) at Table 8
Round 7 WIN 2 - 1 - 0 VS Brad Nelson (18) at Table 27
Round 8 LOSS 1 - 2 - 0 VS Jim Davis (21) at Table 10
Round 9 LOSS 0 - 2 - 0 VS James White (18) at Table 17
Sorry for the quick copy paste action, on my phone. 79th place, no day 2. At least I got to play against some of the best players on the tour.