I can see the appeal of Knot for sure, I play 3 in my UWR but one of the things I love is that this deck doesnt need its GY to the same degree and one of the things many many players do once they see Island/Mountain, is bust out some GY hate, making those Knots feel terrible.
That said, I can see the appeal. Snare is a tough one, some games I am thinking it would rock to have 3, 2 main 1 side maybe, and then others its 'anything but snare...' so..not sure. I am liking this configuration right now.
Loss, 1-2 UWR Control. Game 1, I burn him out. Game 2, he wins on a double dispel when he had 3 cards in hand as I tried to force the combo... Game 3, I'm about to swing for lethal, but I cannot keep up, and he lands a path. I'm able to land a moon that would have put us both into top decks, but...Tear. GG as he had a live Azcanta so I scoop.
Win, 2-0 UB Mill
Win, 2-0 Abzan/Junk
At this point there is nothing I would change, I just need to tighten up my sideboarding against Control, sometimes I question if the combo should stay in, come out when I'm on the draw (probably?) things like that.
EDIT: I gotta sit down and look over all these games, the number I win with Thing, is high. I almost think I should put them in the main?
2-1 Jund, game 1 he just destroyed my hand, fat Goyf I couldn't handle, and then back to back BBE. Game 2 and 3, I out valued, game 2 burn, game 3 a keranos and Jace at 1. Just kept setting up a bolt trigger, till he ran out of gas and then I bolted him down.
1-2 Gtron. This was my match, but game 3 I hit easily 6 lands in a row, and just couldn't get there, it was so close....next game put me on full tilt.
0-2, UTron. I found literally nothing. No gas, just lands and cantrips, that I was stuck on with a chalice on 1. Terrible.
2-0 Mono Red, Pyro Prison. Not even sure what game 1 was, but game 2 ended with a counter and bounce on a bridge, Bolt Snap Bolt, untap Breach. It was at least a beautiful end to the session.
So I played 19 matches today, half with the 3 Thing Main, putting 2 Electrolyze in the Side, and only 2 Moon Main (4 Opt) and I didnt like it at all.
10 Wins over the set, but 7 came with me going back to 3 Moon, 3 Opt, but keeping 3 Thing Main. I think that the better configuration is keeping Thing in the side, so that opponents board out removal after game 1. Giving them reason to keep it in, when near every deck has an ability to answer creatures, does not seem to be a winning line of thinking.
Perhaps its different if you add YP to the mix instead of the Breach combo, Moon is critical to beating a lot of decks (I lost 3 games I would have won if Moon showed up at all when I was down to 2 in the 75) and Burn is just a better plan I think than expecting creatures to get you there game 1, again unless you build specifically to flood them.
I went 2-2 at FNM last week, I'll try to report what I can, new to making reports.
0-2 G Tron.
G1 I get to mana leak T3 Karn and then slam moon. We make it to turn 10 or so where he has 2 wurmcoils on board and I never found action.
G2 He O stones my moon on T5, and sanctum of ugin for ulamog. I v clique away his ulamog but he draws his second one. Takes me down to 3 lands and I can't combo.
2-0 Grishaolbrand
G1 he finds no action, all I saw were faithless looting and night's whisper. I combo t5.
G2 I play draw go until I'm at 7 mana or so. He goryo's on grizzy around t6 but I have negate +snap/negate for his pact of negation
1-2 against Chris Anderson on KCI
I went into this game knowing that he's a better player than me(he used to be/maybe still is a local scg/gp grinder), so I'm hoping to just get some good practice against the deck. I ended up having a knuckle-clencher of a match, and I feel both sides played it really well.
G1 I'm fuzzy on this game, but I remember being able to kill him after seeing 3x cryptic 2x remand 1x leak plus combo.
G2 I get him to 1 life after combo and I'm at 4 from previous trawler beats. The 4 draws he got from the annihilator trigger on his eggs helped him recover and he killed me with a loop a few turns later before i can find bolt.
G3 he looped me right as we were getting into turns. I feel that I got some insight into ways I can stall KCI, but who knows; the deck is pretty resilient to our answer suite. Not sure if I want to try going back to 1 ceremonious rejection in the board.
2-0 affinity brew
I played a guy who likes to brew his own decks. It was an affinity deck that ran the sac artifact to deal 5 damage, tezzeret,, and some of the spells and enchantments that make your artifacts 5/5s. He had me to 6 or 9 game one, but otherwise it didn't feel close. He was in the running for store credit with a win though, so I conceded after the W.
Takeaways:
I'm loving the extra counters. Running 1 leak main and 1 side was really nice (on top of remand x4). I want to play with the numbers a bit and figure something out. I kind of miss running izzet charm, but I'm not sure if it's because it's a pet card of mine or if it's actually good. I also am running two loothouse which was nice. Running 2 moon feels really loose, but I was able to find them in the tron matchups and didn't see them in the matches where I didn't need them, so anecdotal experience was that it didn't affect me. I think that our gameplan relies on it too heavily at times though, so I may try to find room for it. For these matches I basically traded -1 moon for +1 loothouse, taking me to 23 land when I usually run 22. Thing in the board did help me a bit, but was only relevant in 1-2 games. I definitely need to practice my sideboard strategies before the open.
I'll be going to the scg open next weekend and may try to do the classic on sunday as well, so I'll try to take some notes when I can to report back.
I am pretty tilted after yesterday, I've thrown together a UR Delver/Moon deck (3 Blood Moon, 2 Alpine Moon, 4 Delver, 4 Pyro, 3 Thing, 4 Snaps) and if THAT cannot beat Tron, I simply am going to give up playing Islands and hoping to win against Tron.
Just played one match so far, but Delver, into Flip into Remand, into Moon won me vs Valakut Game 1, and Game 2 A flipped Thing with Alpine Moon (after he blew up one of my Blood Moons) was able to get me there with ease.
I've been playing blue awhile and felling like Hollow One and Burn are the worst match up we can ever face. Everyone fells like that or I'm just bad ? How can I improve those matches so can be Winnable ... I tried to search on the thread , but couldn't find any tips in this regards...
I'm running the 4 TiTi stock list + Clique instead of T. Gearhulk.
Can madcap help on those matches ?
I've beat Burn a few times, but it often came down to lucky Breach wins. I think TiTi would be a decent enough plan, but what is the rest of your list?
All Bxx feels like a beating with the creature version. Depends on if you have a 'value' sideboard plan I guess.
EDIT: Played a creature heavy version all night, hated it. Answering creatures is what people do, nearly every deck HAS to have a way to answer creatures, or they are faster than this deck anyway.
Now it could easily just be my anti-creature bias, as I loathe creature decks, but man, just a huge pain all night.
'Oh, Path'
'Oh, Push'
'Oh, Verdict'
'Oh, Bolt'
I just cant. Give me a clean combo like kill, or just give me hard control I guess. I've spent too much money on too many different decks, and there is nothing else I can stick to.
I've been playing blue awhile and felling like Hollow One and Burn are the worst match up we can ever face. Everyone fells like that or I'm just bad ? How can I improve those matches so can be Winnable ... I tried to search on the thread , but couldn't find any tips in this regards...
I'm running the 4 TiTi stock list + Clique instead of T. Gearhulk.
Can madcap help on those matches ?
I have recently started the TiTi sb plan (was on madcap before that) and haven't faced either of those decks yet. However, the madcap plan allowed me to beat both decks if I got the plan online in time.
MadCap is the last version (that I've seen discussed) that I havent tried much with. I threw it together and ACTUALLY beat Tron. My day cannot improve from this moment.
So, I have a rookie question regarding cantrips and whether I'm using them effectively. Usually, (depending on my hand, but a majority of the time) if I serum vision and see another SV in the scry 2 (and especially if I'm digging for combo) I will bottom the second cantrip in order to get to the 3rd card more quickly. I'm not sure if this is correct though. Is it better to put the 2nd scry card to the bottom, or would it be better to have another dig 3 for the combo?
I ask because when I'm grinding some games on MtGO, I find that i bottom quite a few Opts/Visions when I'm looking for the combo. In my mind, I'm always thinking that I need to cut through the 'air' in my deck so I can find the combo pieces/counter for the situation, but I"m not sure if this is actually hurting me more than anything. Man I really miss ponder/preordain
Man, the standard no-combo blue moon has been putting in serious work in the 5-0's lately. I think it's been hitting that list consistently the past 2-3 weeks. It's really making me want to drop breach for the open tomorrow, but, with no practice games under my belt I know that's suicide. Everytime I've tried the no-combo list my TiTi's get ***** on by removal, so I think I'm happy keeping them in the board, I just wish I had more confidence in my list by seeing some representation. I still haven't settled on my 75 and I'm going to be missing FNM tonight, so I'm kind of going into tomorrow blind. Oh well, I'm working on my mental game and being more process-focused, so just going and having fun is what I'm working to do.
Yeah, not sure what I'm doing wrong (and I'm sure it is me) but I didnt have success with the creature 'fair' version at all.
Back from my holiday (my event foil Emmy's came in the mail while I was gone, love em) but I'm going to get back to grinding on the Madcap version tonight I think.
Spirits
That said, I can see the appeal. Snare is a tough one, some games I am thinking it would rock to have 3, 2 main 1 side maybe, and then others its 'anything but snare...' so..not sure. I am liking this configuration right now.
Games for tonight.
Win, 2-0 Miracles. This game was on my other PC so I cannot remember the details.
Win, 2-1 Soul Sisters. I dont remember how I lost a game, I'll have to look it over, but it probably involved a horde of tokens...
Win, 2-0 Surge Counters. I locked things down, knowing its up to fights over Coretapper. Link if you are interested in the deck... https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/770966-surge-modern-dice-factory
Win, 2-0 Storm. I had the answers and the clock.
Loss, 1-2 UWR Control. Game 1, I burn him out. Game 2, he wins on a double dispel when he had 3 cards in hand as I tried to force the combo... Game 3, I'm about to swing for lethal, but I cannot keep up, and he lands a path. I'm able to land a moon that would have put us both into top decks, but...Tear. GG as he had a live Azcanta so I scoop.
Win, 2-0 UB Mill
Win, 2-0 Abzan/Junk
At this point there is nothing I would change, I just need to tighten up my sideboarding against Control, sometimes I question if the combo should stay in, come out when I'm on the draw (probably?) things like that.
EDIT: I gotta sit down and look over all these games, the number I win with Thing, is high. I almost think I should put them in the main?
Spirits
2-1 Jund, game 1 he just destroyed my hand, fat Goyf I couldn't handle, and then back to back BBE. Game 2 and 3, I out valued, game 2 burn, game 3 a keranos and Jace at 1. Just kept setting up a bolt trigger, till he ran out of gas and then I bolted him down.
1-2 Gtron. This was my match, but game 3 I hit easily 6 lands in a row, and just couldn't get there, it was so close....next game put me on full tilt.
0-2, UTron. I found literally nothing. No gas, just lands and cantrips, that I was stuck on with a chalice on 1. Terrible.
2-0 Mono Red, Pyro Prison. Not even sure what game 1 was, but game 2 ended with a counter and bounce on a bridge, Bolt Snap Bolt, untap Breach. It was at least a beautiful end to the session.
For sure I'm going to try Thing main tomorrow.
Spirits
10 Wins over the set, but 7 came with me going back to 3 Moon, 3 Opt, but keeping 3 Thing Main. I think that the better configuration is keeping Thing in the side, so that opponents board out removal after game 1. Giving them reason to keep it in, when near every deck has an ability to answer creatures, does not seem to be a winning line of thinking.
Perhaps its different if you add YP to the mix instead of the Breach combo, Moon is critical to beating a lot of decks (I lost 3 games I would have won if Moon showed up at all when I was down to 2 in the 75) and Burn is just a better plan I think than expecting creatures to get you there game 1, again unless you build specifically to flood them.
Spirits
I'll be out of town for a week after today, will see if I can get some games in with Thing and YP.
Spirits
0-2 G Tron.
G1 I get to mana leak T3 Karn and then slam moon. We make it to turn 10 or so where he has 2 wurmcoils on board and I never found action.
G2 He O stones my moon on T5, and sanctum of ugin for ulamog. I v clique away his ulamog but he draws his second one. Takes me down to 3 lands and I can't combo.
2-0 Grishaolbrand
G1 he finds no action, all I saw were faithless looting and night's whisper. I combo t5.
G2 I play draw go until I'm at 7 mana or so. He goryo's on grizzy around t6 but I have negate +snap/negate for his pact of negation
1-2 against Chris Anderson on KCI
I went into this game knowing that he's a better player than me(he used to be/maybe still is a local scg/gp grinder), so I'm hoping to just get some good practice against the deck. I ended up having a knuckle-clencher of a match, and I feel both sides played it really well.
G1 I'm fuzzy on this game, but I remember being able to kill him after seeing 3x cryptic 2x remand 1x leak plus combo.
G2 I get him to 1 life after combo and I'm at 4 from previous trawler beats. The 4 draws he got from the annihilator trigger on his eggs helped him recover and he killed me with a loop a few turns later before i can find bolt.
G3 he looped me right as we were getting into turns. I feel that I got some insight into ways I can stall KCI, but who knows; the deck is pretty resilient to our answer suite. Not sure if I want to try going back to 1 ceremonious rejection in the board.
2-0 affinity brew
I played a guy who likes to brew his own decks. It was an affinity deck that ran the sac artifact to deal 5 damage, tezzeret,, and some of the spells and enchantments that make your artifacts 5/5s. He had me to 6 or 9 game one, but otherwise it didn't feel close. He was in the running for store credit with a win though, so I conceded after the W.
Takeaways:
I'm loving the extra counters. Running 1 leak main and 1 side was really nice (on top of remand x4). I want to play with the numbers a bit and figure something out. I kind of miss running izzet charm, but I'm not sure if it's because it's a pet card of mine or if it's actually good. I also am running two loothouse which was nice. Running 2 moon feels really loose, but I was able to find them in the tron matchups and didn't see them in the matches where I didn't need them, so anecdotal experience was that it didn't affect me. I think that our gameplan relies on it too heavily at times though, so I may try to find room for it. For these matches I basically traded -1 moon for +1 loothouse, taking me to 23 land when I usually run 22. Thing in the board did help me a bit, but was only relevant in 1-2 games. I definitely need to practice my sideboard strategies before the open.
I'll be going to the scg open next weekend and may try to do the classic on sunday as well, so I'll try to take some notes when I can to report back.
I am pretty tilted after yesterday, I've thrown together a UR Delver/Moon deck (3 Blood Moon, 2 Alpine Moon, 4 Delver, 4 Pyro, 3 Thing, 4 Snaps) and if THAT cannot beat Tron, I simply am going to give up playing Islands and hoping to win against Tron.
Just played one match so far, but Delver, into Flip into Remand, into Moon won me vs Valakut Game 1, and Game 2 A flipped Thing with Alpine Moon (after he blew up one of my Blood Moons) was able to get me there with ease.
Spirits
I've been playing blue awhile and felling like Hollow One and Burn are the worst match up we can ever face. Everyone fells like that or I'm just bad ? How can I improve those matches so can be Winnable ... I tried to search on the thread , but couldn't find any tips in this regards...
I'm running the 4 TiTi stock list + Clique instead of T. Gearhulk.
Can madcap help on those matches ?
For Hollow One, are you running Abrades?
Spirits
EDIT: Played a creature heavy version all night, hated it. Answering creatures is what people do, nearly every deck HAS to have a way to answer creatures, or they are faster than this deck anyway.
Now it could easily just be my anti-creature bias, as I loathe creature decks, but man, just a huge pain all night.
'Oh, Path'
'Oh, Push'
'Oh, Verdict'
'Oh, Bolt'
I just cant. Give me a clean combo like kill, or just give me hard control I guess. I've spent too much money on too many different decks, and there is nothing else I can stick to.
Spirits
I have recently started the TiTi sb plan (was on madcap before that) and haven't faced either of those decks yet. However, the madcap plan allowed me to beat both decks if I got the plan online in time.
Spirits
Spirits
This is instead of Blood Moon? Seems interesting to replace Blood Moon with Field of Ruin in order to run more instant and sorceries.
UR Blue Moon
UW Miracles
UG Infect
I ask because when I'm grinding some games on MtGO, I find that i bottom quite a few Opts/Visions when I'm looking for the combo. In my mind, I'm always thinking that I need to cut through the 'air' in my deck so I can find the combo pieces/counter for the situation, but I"m not sure if this is actually hurting me more than anything. Man I really miss ponder/preordain
Spirits
Back from my holiday (my event foil Emmy's came in the mail while I was gone, love em) but I'm going to get back to grinding on the Madcap version tonight I think.
Spirits
Spirits
Spirits