Before i say anything mind if i ask your reasoning on well truthfully almost every card? Some of the cards you picked have direct upgrades and some are just odd all together. Currently it looks like your trying to build a Mystical Teachings or Gifts Ungiven without adding the actual card in. Currently 10 of the 25 lands either come in tapped or produce colorless making early turn problematic. Is the landbase for budget reasons? I would recommend adding in Opt and Supreme Will as it currently stands just for better selection.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Standard: No Time
Modern: Jund Midrange BRG
Legacy: Shardless Bug BUG
Before i say anything mind if i ask your reasoning on well truthfully almost every card? Some of the cards you picked have direct upgrades and some are just odd all together. Currently it looks like your trying to build a Mystical Teachings or Gifts Ungiven without adding the actual card in. Currently 10 of the 25 lands either come in tapped or produce colorless making early turn problematic. Is the landbase for budget reasons? I would recommend adding in Opt and Supreme Will as it currently stands just for better selection.
I hadn't thought about teachings. What cards have direct upgrades that are instant? The manabase is based off of a UWR build I've been playing for about the past month (6 fetch, 5 basic, 4 shock, 2 other fetch targets, 3 creature lands, 2 field of ruin, 1 filter, 1 temple, 1 lighthouse). That manabase has been working very well, except that I've noticed the 4th shock has been causing more problems than it solves, so I switched that here. I've been finding that after around turn 5, it's really nice to be able to fetch into an untapped land, and sometimes you need the color the fetch doesn't provide so there's options for that.
I could see a Supreme Will over the Soul Manipulation (probably another over the Ravings as well). I'm pretty sure though that Opt is not what I'm looking for. Opt always feels really like a do nothing card though. Maybe I should include some just for better consistency, but then I need to go about finding a few cuts. The choices probably do look a bit odd, but they're all making sense to me right now. But, if I'm way off I would like to know why as I've never tried building a pure draw/go style build with Grixis before.
Many of the choices are because in moving from white to black, you lose a lot of the lifegain that keeps you in the game against aggressive decks. Black is short on decent lifegain, and even more short on it at instant. So the ones that are included all have additional utility. Suffer the Past helps your clock and is MB GY hate, Pharika's Cure takes out a creature (this is my least favorite of the bunch), and Vraska's Contempt can kill a PW at EoT.
If you want to know any inparticular just ask. What I was hoping for, was something that has a clock that's more along the lines of a slower midrange deck, rather than going 20 turns deep like hard control. Something that can apply some pressure over a couple turns. In general though, as you can see from the lack of 4 of's I was hoping to diversify answers and play lots of similar cards to hedge against a diverse meta.
Playtested a bit more with grixis azcanta- concluded that there's no advantage to playing it over jeskai azcanta due to lack of solid win instant speed win cons and a more lackluster removal suite. Liliana the last hope, however, was the most impressive card in the deck to me- was an absolute house. Grixis definitely loans better to a little more of an aggro or tempo game plan- gds, delver, that cool nimble obstructionist list, etc. u need better ways to pressure considering the removal is more conditional in general
at which level would you like to play your flash list? Its great to be innovative, but you are doing a lot of things at the same time. You are predominantly trying to win with creatures, yet Kozileks return is punishing your low toughness. Additionally, cards like Magma spray are great against 5-8% of the meta, so every 12th game you are playing - should think about moving those cards to the SB. Love venser as a card, but it doesnt have evasion and you cannot utilize its effect to the fullest. Tempo plays like venser in comparison to a second or third copy of cryptic only make sense, if you have a way to make him connect or engine behind it.
I would never take it to anything higher than an FNM.
Magma Spray has been great for me, the main reason is that there's not really a whole lot to care about right now at exactly 3 toughness. Most things are either 1-2 or 4+. I do get the SB argument, but at the same time I would argue that being able to hit it in the MB is quite valuable. The local meta consists of a lot of decks where it's good like Eldrazi (kills Matter Reshaper without a trigger), Pyromancer (stops Kolaghan's from bringing it back), GW Taxes (stops a VoR token), and so on. It's just been very good as a 1 of, it would probably be good as more than a 1 of, but being able to bolt the opponents face is good too, so obviously going too deep on that strategy is bad.
Kozilek's is something you obviously don't want to play after creatures come down, but it's a good way to catch up so that you can establish a clock. It's a little worse here since I'm not playing something that dodges it like Restoration Angel and Spell Queller did in UWR. I'm open to other suggestions for that slot but I want ample ways to deal with cards like Lingering Souls, Spectral Procession, and small haste guys without being forced to empty my hand. It has been my experience that these style decks need a couple board wipes in order to catch up at times.
Venser I'm not sure on yet, but it's a creature, I could drop it and go higher on the other creatures. I don't think dropping Venser for Cryptics is right, they're both 4 mana counter/bounce, but the clock aspect is also important and there's very few cards in grixis colors with flash that do something and have evasion. There's none that are flash, flying, do something, and 3+ toughness (Wydwen, the Biting Gale being the closest, but I'm pretty sure I don't want that).
Before i say anything mind if i ask your reasoning on well truthfully almost every card? Some of the cards you picked have direct upgrades and some are just odd all together. Currently it looks like your trying to build a Mystical Teachings or Gifts Ungiven without adding the actual card in. Currently 10 of the 25 lands either come in tapped or produce colorless making early turn problematic. Is the landbase for budget reasons? I would recommend adding in Opt and Supreme Will as it currently stands just for better selection.
I hadn't thought about teachings. What cards have direct upgrades that are instant? The manabase is based off of a UWR build I've been playing for about the past month (6 fetch, 5 basic, 4 shock, 2 other fetch targets, 3 creature lands, 2 field of ruin, 1 filter, 1 temple, 1 lighthouse). That manabase has been working very well, except that I've noticed the 4th shock has been causing more problems than it solves, so I switched that here. I've been finding that after around turn 5, it's really nice to be able to fetch into an untapped land, and sometimes you need the color the fetch doesn't provide so there's options for that.
I could see a Supreme Will over the Soul Manipulation (probably another over the Ravings as well). I'm pretty sure though that Opt is not what I'm looking for. Opt always feels really like a do nothing card though. Maybe I should include some just for better consistency, but then I need to go about finding a few cuts. The choices probably do look a bit odd, but they're all making sense to me right now. But, if I'm way off I would like to know why as I've never tried building a pure draw/go style build with Grixis before.
Many of the choices are because in moving from white to black, you lose a lot of the lifegain that keeps you in the game against aggressive decks. Black is short on decent lifegain, and even more short on it at instant. So the ones that are included all have additional utility. Suffer the Past helps your clock and is MB GY hate, Pharika's Cure takes out a creature (this is my least favorite of the bunch), and Vraska's Contempt can kill a PW at EoT.
If you want to know any inparticular just ask. What I was hoping for, was something that has a clock that's more along the lines of a slower midrange deck, rather than going 20 turns deep like hard control. Something that can apply some pressure over a couple turns. In general though, as you can see from the lack of 4 of's I was hoping to diversify answers and play lots of similar cards to hedge against a diverse meta.
Devour flesh is better then Tribute to Hunger as for the others i had them in my mind and now im stumped sorry lmao. I would agree Grixis is pretty bad at gaining life, but the main reason in playing grixis is mostly to deal with creatures effectively by using things like Lightning Bolt, Fatal Push, and Terminate. So with lowering things like Lightning bolt, Snapcaster Mage, Kolaghan's Command your effectively handicapping your deck. The biggest issue with trying to play something similar to jeskai flash is we don't have the efficient flash creatures in the deck after Snapcaster Mage and Vendilion Clique.
Personally i like Opt since i have been experimenting with grixis pyromancer list. Since You don't want to use Some of the more common card's since you wish to try for a instant speed only deck you have to try and lessen the singleton's and grab the best cards you can along your curve. Vraska's Contempt you should either replace it with a Terminate or a Hero's Downfall
My view is you want something like a Grixis Delverless Deck with a core somewhat like this
Mostly i feel like you need a good amount of card draw, removal, and recursion for when your creatures get killed since there all x/1's. The creeping tar pit i like mostly since it's unblockable. Of course this is just my view on how i would start it out.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Standard: No Time
Modern: Jund Midrange BRG
Legacy: Shardless Bug BUG
Devour flesh is better then Tribute to Hunger as for the others i had them in my mind and now im stumped sorry lmao. I would agree Grixis is pretty bad at gaining life, but the main reason in playing grixis is mostly to deal with creatures effectively by using things like Lightning Bolt, Fatal Push, and Terminate. So with lowering things like Lightning bolt, Snapcaster Mage, Kolaghan's Command your effectively handicapping your deck. The biggest issue with trying to play something similar to jeskai flash is we don't have the efficient flash creatures in the deck after Snapcaster Mage and Vendilion Clique.
I'm not so sure. Devour Flesh lengthens my clock and isn't as good at shortening the opponents. Tribute costs more mana, which does matter as 3 is much more than 2, but it also absorbs a hit. Among other things, Tribute is a clean answer to a Reality Smasher or Primeval Titan (lifegain eats the damage from the two triggers the opponent gets) which is important since I'm lower on counterspells. Being 3 mana, I can easily agree that I don't want two of them and I would look to Devour Flesh as a second edict if I wanted more of that effect.
Clique, Obstructionist, and Snapcaster are all efficient flash threats. I would like one more good one, but I don't think it's going to happen.
Personally i like Opt since i have been experimenting with grixis pyromancer list. Since You don't want to use Some of the more common card's since you wish to try for a instant speed only deck you have to try and lessen the singleton's and grab the best cards you can along your curve. Vraska's Contempt you should either replace it with a Terminate or a Hero's Downfall
On my next pass, I actually dropped the Downfall entirely, it was one of the cuts for Opt. I'm not a big fan of cantrips in general in Modern but I do get where they're useful too.
My view is you want something like a Grixis Delverless Deck with a core somewhat like this
There's certainly more 4 of's there. I generally like the idea that it's good to consolidate threats but diversify answers by playing lower numbers of similar spells, 1 Doom Blade, 1 Ultimate Price, 1 Go for the Throat, 1 Victim of Night instead of 4 Doom Blade. Going all in on a plan is a good way to wind up with a bunch of dead cards in a matchup, and I think that approach also leaves you without a good enough clock, or the ability to withstand aggressive decks. I don't want Burn to be an autolose for example, or have an inability to fight against Eldrazi Tron because I only have 4 removal spells that can deal with them.
As far as hard matchups go, Honor of the Pure is a really hard card to beat. The local meta really only has a few decks in it. Burn, Goblins, Pyromancer, Eldrazi, Scapeshift, Taxes, Soul Sisters, Jund, Affinity, and BS combo decks. Scapeshift is the never win, but I'm trying to find ways to make it happen.
Corey's list looks like a complete joke: 4 k command, 4 cryptics, and 4 field of ruins? I have no clue what he's thinking with deck building like this with so much tension. Field of ruin is probably a 1 and maybe a 2 of in a 3 color control list- his deck building decisions have been really bad the last few iterations he's posted. 1 ancestral visions just makes zero sense in this meta, mardu is a better young pyromancer deck because of all the cheap interactive spells and lingering souls with bedlam value. Casting peeze into cantrips is no where near good enough to compete with the likes of the best decks in the format at the moment anyway. He may be a good player when it comes to playing the game, but deck building and balance are also very important skills to have. No wonder he got almost dead last at the MOCS- he's been way off recently.
Corey's list looks like a complete joke: 4 k command, 4 cryptics, and 4 field of ruins? I have no clue what he's thinking with deck building like this with so much tension. Field of ruin is probably a 1 and maybe a 2 of in a 3 color control list- his deck building decisions have been really bad the last few iterations he's posted. 1 ancestral visions just makes zero sense in this meta, mardu is a better young pyromancer deck because of all the cheap interactive spells and lingering souls with bedlam value. Casting peeze into cantrips is no where near good enough to compete with the likes of the best decks in the format at the moment anyway. He may be a good player when it comes to playing the game, but deck building and balance are also very important skills to have. No wonder he got almost dead last at the MOCS- he's been way off recently.
Well, he made it to 13th in a goddamn ProTour with 4 k command, 4 cryptics and 4 fields of ruin, didn`t he? This settup grants a fantastic late-game.
If you have a good list, post it and we`ll discuss. I don`t enjoy playing the 4th FoR as well. (There`s always room for improvement :p)
I don`t think JTMS is what we want right now... I`d try the jaces in a more proactive shell, as in a Grixis midrange filled with young pyromancers so my planeswalkers are well guarded...
Corey's list looks like a complete joke: 4 k command, 4 cryptics, and 4 field of ruins? I have no clue what he's thinking with deck building like this with so much tension. Field of ruin is probably a 1 and maybe a 2 of in a 3 color control list- his deck building decisions have been really bad the last few iterations he's posted. 1 ancestral visions just makes zero sense in this meta, mardu is a better young pyromancer deck because of all the cheap interactive spells and lingering souls with bedlam value. Casting peeze into cantrips is no where near good enough to compete with the likes of the best decks in the format at the moment anyway. He may be a good player when it comes to playing the game, but deck building and balance are also very important skills to have. No wonder he got almost dead last at the MOCS- he's been way off recently.
Well, he made it to 13th in a goddamn ProTour with 4 k command, 4 cryptics and 4 fields of ruin, didn`t he? This settup grants a fantastic late-game.
If you have a good list, post it and we`ll discuss. I don`t enjoy playing the 4th FoR as well. (There`s always room for improvement :p)
I don`t think JTMS is what we want right now... I`d try the jaces in a more proactive shell, as in a Grixis midrange filled with young pyromancers so my planeswalkers are well guarded...
The pro tour was a humans dominated meta- a great matchup for any bolt/snapcaster deck. Since then the meta has shaken out completely- bogles, hollow one, humans, and linear combo like amulet titan and kci are king at the moment. There are too many diverse linear decks for control to really keep up without printing of more strong modal spells like k command that can cover more bases at the same time- it's either that or having an "oh ***** button" in a free counterspell like force of will/mental misstep. The problem is not jace- he's the best closer that blue based control decks can use and his abilities make him extremely versatile. The problem is having the correct answers in the turns leading up to slamming a jace on a clean board. Without stronger answers, control will just never really be able to keep up with all of the other powerful strategies that are popular in the format.
Got all the cards together and tried out the Grixis Flash deck I talked about a couple pages back. Not an extensive test, but I did beat Storm 5-0, Titanshift 3-0, And Mardu Pyromancer 3-2.
Here's the list I played, the sideboard still needs a lot of work.
@Aazadan Have you tried running at least 2 mystical teachings? seems like it is by far the most powerful card in your list
@Gods_Shadow good to see you again, do you think in 2 months-time we're going to see a decline of the humans/hollowOne/affinity meta? I'm not having problems against humans/affinity, but hollowOne's burning inquiry always seem to **** my opening hands up
@motleyslayer I agree, it is clunky. Very.
I'm using this list, running it on Xmage (I know, I know, but I don't have enough money for both real life and MOL):
Deck: grixis control.dec
I'm really enjoying TITI, and am somehow unsure about my single Nimble Pidgeotto. I was unsatisfied using both 4x tought scours along with EE and azcanta, and it turns out TITI is really great in this aggro meta, and I don't really care about them dying as we use 3 or 4x kolaghan's commands. I'm back to 4x Serum Visions, but I don't really like the card...
@Aazadan Have you tried running at least 2 mystical teachings? seems like it is by far the most powerful card in your list
Yes, but it's very mana intensive and screws up the curve, I'm not sure what I would want to cut for another. Powerful cards are great, but castable cards are better.
@Gods_shadow seeing that you're the Nimble master, I was thinking about changing that spot for a spell snare, god I love that card.
@Aazadan yeah man sure, you don't fix what ain't broken
I'm trying to assemble a good sideboard for GP São Paulo, July 4th-6th. Without thought scours I'm tempted to use 2 EE's in the sideboard. I'm also hoping Damping Sphere hits Tron decks hard enough, but that's probably unlikely right..
@Gods_Shadow Yes I am I've seen Corey's video and I hope he comes up with more content soon
I've tried serum visions instead of thought scours and I'm already back. Never leaving home without my scours again...
Thing in the ice has been great, and swapping Nimble for Snare felt wonderful. I'm really liking my list and the only thing I'd consider changing right now would probably be the single Tribute to hunger or the second countersquall, both are being good enough, though...
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Before i say anything mind if i ask your reasoning on well truthfully almost every card? Some of the cards you picked have direct upgrades and some are just odd all together. Currently it looks like your trying to build a Mystical Teachings or Gifts Ungiven without adding the actual card in. Currently 10 of the 25 lands either come in tapped or produce colorless making early turn problematic. Is the landbase for budget reasons? I would recommend adding in Opt and Supreme Will as it currently stands just for better selection.
Modern: Jund Midrange BRG
Legacy: Shardless Bug BUG
I hadn't thought about teachings. What cards have direct upgrades that are instant? The manabase is based off of a UWR build I've been playing for about the past month (6 fetch, 5 basic, 4 shock, 2 other fetch targets, 3 creature lands, 2 field of ruin, 1 filter, 1 temple, 1 lighthouse). That manabase has been working very well, except that I've noticed the 4th shock has been causing more problems than it solves, so I switched that here. I've been finding that after around turn 5, it's really nice to be able to fetch into an untapped land, and sometimes you need the color the fetch doesn't provide so there's options for that.
I could see a Supreme Will over the Soul Manipulation (probably another over the Ravings as well). I'm pretty sure though that Opt is not what I'm looking for. Opt always feels really like a do nothing card though. Maybe I should include some just for better consistency, but then I need to go about finding a few cuts. The choices probably do look a bit odd, but they're all making sense to me right now. But, if I'm way off I would like to know why as I've never tried building a pure draw/go style build with Grixis before.
Many of the choices are because in moving from white to black, you lose a lot of the lifegain that keeps you in the game against aggressive decks. Black is short on decent lifegain, and even more short on it at instant. So the ones that are included all have additional utility. Suffer the Past helps your clock and is MB GY hate, Pharika's Cure takes out a creature (this is my least favorite of the bunch), and Vraska's Contempt can kill a PW at EoT.
If you want to know any inparticular just ask. What I was hoping for, was something that has a clock that's more along the lines of a slower midrange deck, rather than going 20 turns deep like hard control. Something that can apply some pressure over a couple turns. In general though, as you can see from the lack of 4 of's I was hoping to diversify answers and play lots of similar cards to hedge against a diverse meta.
the charms in grixis colors might be worth considering (ie izzet charm). also glimmer of genius is serviceable as an instant speed draw effect.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)I would never take it to anything higher than an FNM.
Magma Spray has been great for me, the main reason is that there's not really a whole lot to care about right now at exactly 3 toughness. Most things are either 1-2 or 4+. I do get the SB argument, but at the same time I would argue that being able to hit it in the MB is quite valuable. The local meta consists of a lot of decks where it's good like Eldrazi (kills Matter Reshaper without a trigger), Pyromancer (stops Kolaghan's from bringing it back), GW Taxes (stops a VoR token), and so on. It's just been very good as a 1 of, it would probably be good as more than a 1 of, but being able to bolt the opponents face is good too, so obviously going too deep on that strategy is bad.
Kozilek's is something you obviously don't want to play after creatures come down, but it's a good way to catch up so that you can establish a clock. It's a little worse here since I'm not playing something that dodges it like Restoration Angel and Spell Queller did in UWR. I'm open to other suggestions for that slot but I want ample ways to deal with cards like Lingering Souls, Spectral Procession, and small haste guys without being forced to empty my hand. It has been my experience that these style decks need a couple board wipes in order to catch up at times.
Venser I'm not sure on yet, but it's a creature, I could drop it and go higher on the other creatures. I don't think dropping Venser for Cryptics is right, they're both 4 mana counter/bounce, but the clock aspect is also important and there's very few cards in grixis colors with flash that do something and have evasion. There's none that are flash, flying, do something, and 3+ toughness (Wydwen, the Biting Gale being the closest, but I'm pretty sure I don't want that).
Devour flesh is better then Tribute to Hunger as for the others i had them in my mind and now im stumped sorry lmao. I would agree Grixis is pretty bad at gaining life, but the main reason in playing grixis is mostly to deal with creatures effectively by using things like Lightning Bolt, Fatal Push, and Terminate. So with lowering things like Lightning bolt, Snapcaster Mage, Kolaghan's Command your effectively handicapping your deck. The biggest issue with trying to play something similar to jeskai flash is we don't have the efficient flash creatures in the deck after Snapcaster Mage and Vendilion Clique.
Personally i like Opt since i have been experimenting with grixis pyromancer list. Since You don't want to use Some of the more common card's since you wish to try for a instant speed only deck you have to try and lessen the singleton's and grab the best cards you can along your curve. Vraska's Contempt you should either replace it with a Terminate or a Hero's Downfall
My view is you want something like a Grixis Delverless Deck with a core somewhat like this
4 Opt
4 Thought Scour
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Fatal Push
2 Terminate
2 Mana Leak
1 Remand
2 Supreme Will
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
3 Nimble Obstructionist
Land
4 Polluted Delta
2 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Steam Vents
1 Blood Crypt
1 Watery Grave
3 Island
2 Swamp
1 Mountain
Mostly i feel like you need a good amount of card draw, removal, and recursion for when your creatures get killed since there all x/1's. The creeping tar pit i like mostly since it's unblockable. Of course this is just my view on how i would start it out.
Modern: Jund Midrange BRG
Legacy: Shardless Bug BUG
I'm not so sure. Devour Flesh lengthens my clock and isn't as good at shortening the opponents. Tribute costs more mana, which does matter as 3 is much more than 2, but it also absorbs a hit. Among other things, Tribute is a clean answer to a Reality Smasher or Primeval Titan (lifegain eats the damage from the two triggers the opponent gets) which is important since I'm lower on counterspells. Being 3 mana, I can easily agree that I don't want two of them and I would look to Devour Flesh as a second edict if I wanted more of that effect.
Clique, Obstructionist, and Snapcaster are all efficient flash threats. I would like one more good one, but I don't think it's going to happen.
On my next pass, I actually dropped the Downfall entirely, it was one of the cuts for Opt. I'm not a big fan of cantrips in general in Modern but I do get where they're useful too.
There's certainly more 4 of's there. I generally like the idea that it's good to consolidate threats but diversify answers by playing lower numbers of similar spells, 1 Doom Blade, 1 Ultimate Price, 1 Go for the Throat, 1 Victim of Night instead of 4 Doom Blade. Going all in on a plan is a good way to wind up with a bunch of dead cards in a matchup, and I think that approach also leaves you without a good enough clock, or the ability to withstand aggressive decks. I don't want Burn to be an autolose for example, or have an inability to fight against Eldrazi Tron because I only have 4 removal spells that can deal with them.
This is my second pass.
3 Island
2 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Wandering Fumarole
1 Faerie Conclave
1 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
1 Steam Vents
1 Smoldering Marsh
1 Sunken Hollow
3 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Desolate Lighthouse
2 Field of Ruin
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Nimble Obstructionist
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Wydwen, the Biting Gale
Spells 26
4 Opt
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Suffer the Past
1 Fatal Push
1 Moment of Craving
1 Magma Spray
2 Terminate
1 Mana Leak
1 Countersquall
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Supreme Will
1 Tribute to Hunger
2 Kolaghan's Command
2 Electrolyze
2 Kozilek's Return
1 Cryptic Command
1 Vraska's Contempt
1 Mystical Teachings
Which are the toughest matchups? Which recent changes did you make? tell us more please
Really close to what I was playing yesterday, dumped the Jaces last week.
edit: it'd be shameful to not share the article: https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/the-modern-metagame-i-expect-at-hartford-and-a-new-grixis-control-list/
Well, he made it to 13th in a goddamn ProTour with 4 k command, 4 cryptics and 4 fields of ruin, didn`t he? This settup grants a fantastic late-game.
If you have a good list, post it and we`ll discuss. I don`t enjoy playing the 4th FoR as well. (There`s always room for improvement :p)
I don`t think JTMS is what we want right now... I`d try the jaces in a more proactive shell, as in a Grixis midrange filled with young pyromancers so my planeswalkers are well guarded...
The pro tour was a humans dominated meta- a great matchup for any bolt/snapcaster deck. Since then the meta has shaken out completely- bogles, hollow one, humans, and linear combo like amulet titan and kci are king at the moment. There are too many diverse linear decks for control to really keep up without printing of more strong modal spells like k command that can cover more bases at the same time- it's either that or having an "oh ***** button" in a free counterspell like force of will/mental misstep. The problem is not jace- he's the best closer that blue based control decks can use and his abilities make him extremely versatile. The problem is having the correct answers in the turns leading up to slamming a jace on a clean board. Without stronger answers, control will just never really be able to keep up with all of the other powerful strategies that are popular in the format.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ModernMagic/comments/8ctmg4/2nd_place_with_grixis_control_at_gp_sydney/
Guys talks about his amazing run at GP Sydney. Lots of good comments over there.
Here's the list I played, the sideboard still needs a lot of work.
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
1 Blood Crypt
1 Smoldering Marsh
1 Sunken Hollow
3 Island
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Field of Ruin
1 Desolate Lighthouse
Creatures 10
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
3 Nimble Obstructionist
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Wydwen, the Biting Gale
4 Opt
1 Magma Spray
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Fatal Push
1 Suffer the Past
2 Terminate
1 Shadow of Doubt
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Mana Leak
1 Logic Knot
1 Countersquall
1 Moment of Craving
2 Kolaghan's Command
2 Electrolyze
1 Supreme Will
1 Soul Manipulation
1 Vraska's Contempt
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Cryptic Command
1 Kozilek's Return
1 Izzet Staticaster
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Dispel
1 Torrential Gearhulk
2 Spell Pierce
1 Abrade
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Murderous Cut
1 Spell Snare
1 Piracy Charm
@Gods_Shadow good to see you again, do you think in 2 months-time we're going to see a decline of the humans/hollowOne/affinity meta? I'm not having problems against humans/affinity, but hollowOne's burning inquiry always seem to **** my opening hands up
@motleyslayer I agree, it is clunky. Very.
I'm using this list, running it on Xmage (I know, I know, but I don't have enough money for both real life and MOL):
Deck: grixis control.dec
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Thing in the Ice
1 Nimble Obstructionist
Spells:28
2 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
2 Countersquall
2 Logic Knot
2 Search for Azcanta
2 Terminate
4 Kolaghan's Command
1 Tribute to Hunger
4 Cryptic Command
1 Damnation
1 Blood Crypt
2 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Field of Ruin
3 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Dispel
3 Surgical Extraction
3 Collective Brutality
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Damping Sphere
I'm really enjoying TITI, and am somehow unsure about my single Nimble Pidgeotto. I was unsatisfied using both 4x tought scours along with EE and azcanta, and it turns out TITI is really great in this aggro meta, and I don't really care about them dying as we use 3 or 4x kolaghan's commands. I'm back to 4x Serum Visions, but I don't really like the card...
Yes, but it's very mana intensive and screws up the curve, I'm not sure what I would want to cut for another. Powerful cards are great, but castable cards are better.
@Aazadan yeah man sure, you don't fix what ain't broken
I'm trying to assemble a good sideboard for GP São Paulo, July 4th-6th. Without thought scours I'm tempted to use 2 EE's in the sideboard. I'm also hoping Damping Sphere hits Tron decks hard enough, but that's probably unlikely right..
I've tried serum visions instead of thought scours and I'm already back. Never leaving home without my scours again...
Thing in the ice has been great, and swapping Nimble for Snare felt wonderful. I'm really liking my list and the only thing I'd consider changing right now would probably be the single Tribute to hunger or the second countersquall, both are being good enough, though...