I've been TiTi player for a couple of years. It was my favourite and in my opinion most underrated creature of modern. But nowadays the deck to play TiTi is Izzet Phoenix (they can flip it in a turn). In our deck TiTis get killed every single time. After a month of playing leagues and getting all my TiTis killed and not flipped, I started playing the Drake and this is the real deal.
We are a control deck. We have a lot of direct damage to deal with first turn creatures. We even have Anger of the Gods. I stopped using my mana and my resources to play TiTi and instead trying to take control of the game and introduce a late Crackling Drake to finish the game in a shot. If anyone wants to try, you can try and then tell us your impressions.
I've found my experiences to mirror yours; TiTi gets killed quickly, or, I am unable to gain traction and flip it in a decent amount of time. I've been playing Drakes instead in one of my lists and I personally like them quite a bit more. I definitely understand the importance of Thing and how great they can shift board states, but I've found the play patterns using Drake to be more fun.
I agree Drake is real, and I'm not planning on cutting it. I decided to cut 2nd Moon from the main to allow myself to play with two Drakes and three Things, for now. I found it that the ability to bounce the opponent's board is very valuable because you're getting a strong unique effect for a low opportunity cost. Instead of playing more wraths like Anger to help against Dredge and Scales, or more spot removal to deal with Sai, you can just use Thing. This is good because at least I'm starved for additional SB slots.
Izzet Arclight might be a better Thing deck, and more competitive deck overall, but that's besides the point.
EDIT: I think overall it boils down to tailoring your threat suite against the perceived metagame. Drake is a lot better against fair decks, Thing is better against the fastest linear decks like Burn, Dredge, Scales etc. I'm feeling ok with the split atm.
I'm not sure I follow the Drake vs TiTi arguments.
TiTi improves the bad matchups, Drake improves the already good matchups?
If that premise holds, wouldn't we run TiTi main, and then have cards like Drake, Keranos etc. in the board?
In my opinion the fair MUs are the difficult ones. I'm referring to Jund, BG etc. Against decks like Humans and Spirits it's not so clear cut, but I'd say Thing is more crucial there. Against UWx control whichever threat you run feels inconsequential, but having too many expensive spells would be a disaster. (EDIT: then there's burn - a difficult MU, but having Things makes a huge difference IMO. If you see Hardened Scales as a fair deck, then that's one more MU where Thing takes the cake.)
Whether you agree or disagree, I don't see Drake being a SB card. Keranos is also an overcosted clunker IMO. To be frank, I find the MUs BGx completely unsalvagable, and would have my focus on other decks. Modern is littered with linear aggressive decks anyway, so thinking about how to beat the fair decks is not that relevant.
Hey yall. Trying to figure out my flex cards in my 75 Combo Breach list. Mostly looking at my 2x Izzet Charm, but I feel like they add a good way to dig for my combo. I'm also curious on everyone's thoughts on opt. I feel that it I'd rather have spells that "do" something. But let me know what you think and what changes you might make.
I've ran recent iterations similar to this with the Charms and have gone X-1 and X-0 at LGS events. I'm going to run this exact list tonight, and will follow up with my results.
Alright. So with the list I posted above I went 2-2.
Rd1 0-2 Spirits - My opponent had the nuts both games and I never saw any of my Anger's.
Rd2 1-2 Humans - Theses were really good games and came down to the wire. Again, no Anger's drawn, but Blood Moon is a wonderful card.
Rd3 2-1 Hollow One - Game 1 opponent had the heart of the cards and played 3 free hollow ones RIP me. The latter two game, Abrade Roast and Relic carried the game long enough for me to get there.
Rd4 2-1 UW Control - Game 1 got there with the surprise Emrakul. Game 2 mulligan and risky 1 lander. Game 3 opponent never drew more than 4 lands.
Thoughts on my list:
learned my lesson and 100% need more card filtering and cantrips, so I will be including Opts going forward.
Main deck Anger was lack luster.
Engineered Explosives is not very powerful in a 2color deck.
Harvest Pyre, Logic Knot, Snapcaster Mage and Emrakul in the same deck is a pretty big nonbo.
With all that, I'm going to be trying out this list tomorrow.
Blue Moon gets punked by GDS/JDS. Normal Jund is a bit better, but have the tools in the board for grinding.
Re: Harvest Pyre - Try Beacon Bolt. Its pretty medium, but so is Pyre.
I don't mind the GDS matchup, but struggle with normal Jund.
With GDS they sail so close to the wind a well-timed bolt-snap-bolt will do it, and they suffer under a blood moon. Jund just keeps 1-for-1 until I lose. You know what they say....when in doubt....
RE: Beacon Bolt v Harvest Pyre, I favour the pyre just because:
1: It's instant speed.
2: It's cheaper
3: Exiling lands and creatures from the grave is more bang for your buck.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: UR Gifts Storm URB Grixis Death's Shadow R12 Bolt
Pauper: UR Puzzle Pieces
EDH: UB Phenax, God of Deception UR The Locust God UR Saheeli the Gifted WBG Anafenza, the Foremost
What makes it dead? If anything, Thing in the Ice being good makes it decent.
Blood Moon is bad at the moment. I've 3-1ed a couple of FNMs recently with a deck that cut the moons completely, ran a 3/3 split of Pyro and Titi and 2 Alpine Moons in the side - similar to the below.
I've also found Blood Moons to be worse and worse. After UW fell off the map it has been very hard to justify the plan.
However, I also like Things. I'm currently experimenting with a fair grixis control list that plays four Things, and while probably underpowered, the deck at least feels better than other options I've tried in the past. Post belongs to grixis control thread but w/e
Any opinions or help with issues I might not see myself?
For now it is only for my local meta,but I would like to hear opinions how this might work in an open meta as well.
Locally we have Merfolk,Burn;Grixis Death's Shadow, Dredge,Mardu Reanimator,G Tron,U Tron ,E-Tron,Elves, UB(W) Mill,Storm,8 Rack sometimes Humans,Death and Taxes,Grixis Pyromancer.
After a couple of months playing UR TiTi, I'm back to droping TiTis. Why? I knew that UR Control was not the shell for TiTi (UR Phoenix is the shell), but there is something more: now everyone is prepared against TiTi. Every deck has a way to get rid of him. We invest too much fliping the creature and then it gets killed everytime. So I'm back to Drake-Thought Scour-Logic Knot-Harvest Pyre sinergy. I played this deck before and it felt smooth.
Can anyone tell me what specific decks or types of matches the young pyros come out of the sideboard for? Are they mostly just for control or also used against heavy creature decks? Whenever I'm playing against this deck I always get surprised by the pyros in game 2. I used to play Emrakul/breach version, but never used the pyros. Whenever I play against it I also wish I was the one playing it...
Can anyone tell me what specific decks or types of matches the young pyros come out of the sideboard for? Are they mostly just for control or also used against heavy creature decks? Whenever I'm playing against this deck I always get surprised by the pyros in game 2. I used to play Emrakul/breach version, but never used the pyros. Whenever I play against it I also wish I was the one playing it...
GBX and other matchups where sticking a threat is important like GDS, alongside control and fast aggro.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: UR Gifts Storm URB Grixis Death's Shadow R12 Bolt
Pauper: UR Puzzle Pieces
EDH: UB Phenax, God of Deception UR The Locust God UR Saheeli the Gifted WBG Anafenza, the Foremost
Thanks! It seems like Pyro is good against most decks... Surprised it doesn't show up in main more often. It always gets me when I'm not expecting it, but I've never actually played it myself. Apparently it's a big Legacy staple too, must be pretty good!
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I've found my experiences to mirror yours; TiTi gets killed quickly, or, I am unable to gain traction and flip it in a decent amount of time. I've been playing Drakes instead in one of my lists and I personally like them quite a bit more. I definitely understand the importance of Thing and how great they can shift board states, but I've found the play patterns using Drake to be more fun.
Izzet Arclight might be a better Thing deck, and more competitive deck overall, but that's besides the point.
EDIT: I think overall it boils down to tailoring your threat suite against the perceived metagame. Drake is a lot better against fair decks, Thing is better against the fastest linear decks like Burn, Dredge, Scales etc. I'm feeling ok with the split atm.
Youtube Channel
TiTi improves the bad matchups, Drake improves the already good matchups?
If that premise holds, wouldn't we run TiTi main, and then have cards like Drake, Keranos etc. in the board?
UR Blue Moon
UW Miracles
UG Infect
In my opinion the fair MUs are the difficult ones. I'm referring to Jund, BG etc. Against decks like Humans and Spirits it's not so clear cut, but I'd say Thing is more crucial there. Against UWx control whichever threat you run feels inconsequential, but having too many expensive spells would be a disaster. (EDIT: then there's burn - a difficult MU, but having Things makes a huge difference IMO. If you see Hardened Scales as a fair deck, then that's one more MU where Thing takes the cake.)
Whether you agree or disagree, I don't see Drake being a SB card. Keranos is also an overcosted clunker IMO. To be frank, I find the MUs BGx completely unsalvagable, and would have my focus on other decks. Modern is littered with linear aggressive decks anyway, so thinking about how to beat the fair decks is not that relevant.
Youtube Channel
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
1 Spell Snare
1 Harvest Pyre
2 Izzet Charm
1 Logic Knot
4 Remand
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Electrolyze
3 Cryptic Command
4 Through the Breach
3 Blood Moon
Artifacts
1 Engineered Explosives
Lands
1 Desolate Lighthouse
7 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
1 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Dispel
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Abrade
2 Roast
1 Negate
2 Young Pyromancer
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Keranos, God of Storms
I've ran recent iterations similar to this with the Charms and have gone X-1 and X-0 at LGS events. I'm going to run this exact list tonight, and will follow up with my results.
Spirits
Rd1 0-2 Spirits - My opponent had the nuts both games and I never saw any of my Anger's.
Rd2 1-2 Humans - Theses were really good games and came down to the wire. Again, no Anger's drawn, but Blood Moon is a wonderful card.
Rd3 2-1 Hollow One - Game 1 opponent had the heart of the cards and played 3 free hollow ones RIP me. The latter two game, Abrade Roast and Relic carried the game long enough for me to get there.
Rd4 2-1 UW Control - Game 1 got there with the surprise Emrakul. Game 2 mulligan and risky 1 lander. Game 3 opponent never drew more than 4 lands.
Thoughts on my list:
learned my lesson and 100% need more card filtering and cantrips, so I will be including Opts going forward.
Main deck Anger was lack luster.
Engineered Explosives is not very powerful in a 2color deck.
Harvest Pyre, Logic Knot, Snapcaster Mage and Emrakul in the same deck is a pretty big nonbo.
With all that, I'm going to be trying out this list tomorrow.
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
3 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
3 Opt
1 Spell Snare
1 Izzet Charm
1 Abrade
4 Remand
2 Electrolyze
3 Cryptic Command
4 Through the Breach
3 Blood Moon
Lands
1 Desolate Lighthouse
7 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
2 Dispel
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Abrade
2 Roast
1 Negate
2 Young Pyromancer
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Keranos, God of Storms
Re: Harvest Pyre - Try Beacon Bolt. Its pretty medium, but so is Pyre.
Spirits
I don't mind the GDS matchup, but struggle with normal Jund.
With GDS they sail so close to the wind a well-timed bolt-snap-bolt will do it, and they suffer under a blood moon. Jund just keeps 1-for-1 until I lose. You know what they say....when in doubt....
RE: Beacon Bolt v Harvest Pyre, I favour the pyre just because:
1: It's instant speed.
2: It's cheaper
3: Exiling lands and creatures from the grave is more bang for your buck.
Pauper: UR Puzzle Pieces
EDH: UB Phenax, God of Deception UR The Locust God UR Saheeli the Gifted WBG Anafenza, the Foremost
In addition to my post above, landing a threat and having it stick is important against shadow decks.
Pauper: UR Puzzle Pieces
EDH: UB Phenax, God of Deception UR The Locust God UR Saheeli the Gifted WBG Anafenza, the Foremost
What makes it dead? If anything, Thing in the Ice being good makes it decent.
Blood Moon is bad at the moment. I've 3-1ed a couple of FNMs recently with a deck that cut the moons completely, ran a 3/3 split of Pyro and Titi and 2 Alpine Moons in the side - similar to the below.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/958814?fbclid=IwAR1JT7h6NtXjPztAVW5aTWgRMC-dRBcj5efuwx48uMP43199giYeZaJFoAc#paper
Pauper: UR Puzzle Pieces
EDH: UB Phenax, God of Deception UR The Locust God UR Saheeli the Gifted WBG Anafenza, the Foremost
However, I also like Things. I'm currently experimenting with a fair grixis control list that plays four Things, and while probably underpowered, the deck at least feels better than other options I've tried in the past. Post belongs to grixis control thread but w/e
Youtube Channel
Youtube Channel
Youtube Channel
For now it is only for my local meta,but I would like to hear opinions how this might work in an open meta as well.
Locally we have Merfolk,Burn;Grixis Death's Shadow, Dredge,Mardu Reanimator,G Tron,U Tron ,E-Tron,Elves, UB(W) Mill,Storm,8 Rack sometimes Humans,Death and Taxes,Grixis Pyromancer.
My Blood Moons are currently used for Skred,do you think Field of Ruin and Alpine Moon are a good substitue?
Fulminator Mage,Stone Rain,Spreading Seas or Molten Rain would be avaible as well.
4 Thing in the Ice
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
Removel
1 Burst Lightning
1 Forked Bolt
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Abrade
1 Electrolyze
Counterspells
1 Logic Knot
1 Mana Leak
4 Remand
4 Cryptic Command
4 Opt
4 Serum Visions
2 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
Lands
2 Field of Ruin
1 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
6 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
2 Spirebluff Canal
3 Steam Vents
2 Alpine Moon
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Dismember
2 Dispel
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Nimble Obstructionist
1 Relic of Progenitus
3 Surgical Extraction
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
3 Crackling Drake
1 Ral, Izzet Viceroy
2 Ancestral Vision
1 Flame Slash
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
2 Spell Snare
4 Thought Scour
2 Harvest Pyre
3 Logic Knot
1 Negate
1 Electrolyze
3 Cryptic Command
1 Flooded Strand
7 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Mountain
2 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Steam Vents
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Dispel
1 Rending Volley
1 Abrade
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Negate
1 Roast
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Blood Moon
1 Keranos, God of Storms
Is someone else trying this version? I'll tell how it feels after some leagues. By the way, maybe the SB Keranos should be another RAL.
GBX and other matchups where sticking a threat is important like GDS, alongside control and fast aggro.
Pauper: UR Puzzle Pieces
EDH: UB Phenax, God of Deception UR The Locust God UR Saheeli the Gifted WBG Anafenza, the Foremost