Yeah, WITH dragon. whith a LOT of dragons. Seems a little bit different from our builds and exactly this is the point if i say:"...most of you dont play Dragons...". In our current no or light dragon builds it is a joke
I'm wondering if rather than having too many silver bullets we focus on making our iffy mathcups great or just shoring up bad matchups. I have used boil for instance and it has been amazing but I feel with an aggro plan and eidolons we probably can beat control UW though is tough). Also spellskie I have taken out due to the decrease in popularity in Jund although I understand it's good against mardu and is also good against infect. I'm curious Russ which matchups you like it for.
Lastly has anybody tried amulet of safekeeping? I have found burn such a terrible matchup and it also helps against pyromancer and has applications (although not great) against storm. I feel for Tron/ KCI we need to go balls to the wall and try to stop o stone and EE respectively!
I brought in spellskite in almost every matchup, but only saw it once all day. I had a spellskite in play vs esper control and played a walking ballista on 2. He attempted to fatal push it, but spellskite ate it. that walking ballista did serious work that game, as it would have died if not for spellskite.
I'm back on the spellskite train. It does a few thing for us, which is really important post board.
1. It's decent vs burn. not great, but decent.
2. it's AMAZING vs bogles and infect. Not that we need the help, but it's worth mentioning
3. it blocks. 0/4 is a great blocker.
4. It allow us to choose which removal spells / activated abilities we want our opponent to resolve successfully. With a spellskite in play, WE get to choose if a fatal push eats that ballista. WE get to choose if it's alright that a bridge gets taken out, or if a rabblemaster gets hit by a path to exile. We also get to eat both parts of K Command if they choose bolt/destroy target artifact. It can also eat one of the two exile triggers from Ulamog (although, if that's the plan, you probably lost anyway.)
5. It negates EVERY lightning bolt/helix/elecrolyze vs Jeskai control. Same as a chalice on one, it protects Rabblemaster like a CHAMP, and the Camp is HERE!.
6. It stops the modular ability from Arcbound Ravager.
7. It's stops eldrazi displacer for as long as you have life to spend. Also protects from flickerwisp making your bridge dissappear.
I think spellskite does so much, it's impossible to leave home without it. In a format like modern and a deck like this, having a card that's applicable is so many situations is valuable.
Amulet of safekeeping....nope. don't do it. Not good enough. remember, mardu pyromancer sides in artifact removal to go with their three k command maindeck. you're playing right into their game plan. Ans I've seen burn with through Trinisphere, so unless you wanna race burn, which is a fool errand, don't go with Amulet.
@StickBall - awesome run. Congrats. Did you run the 2 Chainwhirlers, 2 Ballistas and 2 Abrades? Did Mutavault do anything worth noting? Did you go down to 3 Eidolon? If so, what say you about all the Scab-clans running around? I've been a slow adopter of [nickname in the lab still] Scab-clan but I've liked it a lot lately.
I got Monday night magic tonight. I haven't been able to purchase Scab clans yet, but I'll be on the hunt as soon as the quittin' bell sounds at work. Heavy burn meta at the LGS I'll be playing at tonight. Oh! Add Dragon's Claw to the board last minute.... at at ahhhh. I'm going to see how my Burn plan from the Classic holds up tonight. My list is reggie me with the +1 Blood Sun.
I'm planning on dropping a Spyglass and a Spellskite for 2 Scabs [nickname assigned]. If I can't cop the Scabs, I'll be running the stock. They know me there. They know me well. And I know them. When they see my face, I know they count their basics in their head. I typically perform well with PP^2 at this LGS and I'm pumped to keep it going tonight.
I too often think about a Pyro Prison without Bridge. I've never dabbled, but I think about it. I don't know if Fluff has ever run a build without a Bridge but its clearly doable.
Also, this is a random tangent thought I had. Why don't we run like a mono-red ponza style. Blow up all their lands with ramp spells? I think because we don't get a ton of value from that strategy. Go down the 4 Rabs, a PnK, a Chandra and an Abrade or two get the the Rains in [Stone/Molten]. What would that do? I think G/R Ponza is an effective strategy because they retain ramp value after ramping into a land destruction. I think using Ritual to play a Land destruction spell is uncharted knowledge for me. I was thinking like oh it'd be so cool to on the play rip a chalice on 1, then on T2 you blow up the land they play. lol. Being that I have INDEED read all the posts [thanks for the shout Ray - you know it was the truth when I told you face to face brotha], I don't recall this discussion ever being had. I'm not saying I'm unsleeving Rabs or any of my core pieces - easy does it, ***** last week I was checking out those Buy-A-Box promo Rabbles... looking real nice. I'm just trying to have the conversation. I don't make drastic changes with the build ever. I tweak, learn, re-tweak, and try to keep my finger on the pulse of the meta while doing so.
Its been great reading up on everyone's reports. To the sub .500 guys. Sorry, but we've all def been there. It hurts, the sky comes tumbling down when that Wear//Tear hits your chalice and your moon, or the K-Command knocks your Bridge and discard your one threat. Or how about when Knightfall tutors up a Kessig Wolf Run to use their infinite mana to pump a Heirarch to get under your Bridge when you're empty handed. Yeah we've all got our scars of course. Keep playing, tweaking getting better. I find I under perform the most when I am keeping 7 often. I think if you keep 7 often you're seeing good cards and maybe the first few turns playing out nicely. That's cool. Who's your opponent? Is that hand going to be crushing against them? Oh they're unknown. That's great. Fluff did a report on the % of the Meta that Chalice on 1 T1 effects vs Blood Moon on T1. I carry it with me to every tournament. What do you do when you have 7 cards, T1 Chalice or T1 Moon and nothing else. Ritual, Chalice, Ape, Moon, Land, Land, Land - Unknown opponent. Chalice on 1 means they can't play on T1 - but they can fetch for a basic. Well Turn 1 Moon means they can't go get a basic - then they can Thoughtseize your Chalice. When you've played it enough, you'll know what you're going to do, and you'll be able to justify the why.
Tis a great community and I'm proud to be a contributing member. I'll HollarBack with my tournament report.
Well, it it were a joke it wouldn't ut up results.
Tibalt could be good IF you had to discard a random card, then draw a card. We often find ourselves with 0-1 cards in hand, so discarding it and drawing one for Tibalt's effect could be good, but you first draw, then discard. Just immagine to filter for an answer, get the answer you need and then discarding it.
I also don't like Sharkan without dragoons, but I reckon we need a card filtering engine so " sharkan and 2 avaricious dragons is good imo.
results are meaningless f only a few. I had a discussion 2 days ago why relic in eldrazy should be better as chalice and they tould me:" relic has no results, show me results:...some hour later another one showed top 8 result with stompy relic in a more them 160 player tournament: it is a big world with a lot of tournaments, this means nothing. I play merfolk too and i allways told mono blue is better even after 3 blue green merfolk wins and all say to me: "look this results"... Now no merfolkplayer is BluE green. Means nothing especially with New cards people trying out. Sarkhan will never be good in our current builds. Yeah we need cardfilter, but let us not waste a card and 3 mana and a turn for draw and discard. Thats Bad if others can kill you in the same turn
Mutavault did only one thing the entire day (I didn't draw it taht much, maybe three times)....it made one of my control opponents take a line to protect themselves from a mutavault attack.....only to realize later that it was a mountain, CLASSIC!
As far as optimal lists are concerned, I wouldn't change a thing. This deck performed extremely well and if winning 78% of my matches wasn't good enough, then I don't know what to say. Also, in Philly Classics in 2018, I'm 14-2-2 with this deck, a whopping 87.5% win rate. Who said there's no home team advantage in Magic?
Now, that being said, I am going to continue to test new builds and try different thing. Maybe I'll stumble onto something and make a switch, like we did with ballista, then ramunap ruins, then damping matrix, and then Chainwhirler.
I don't like scab-clan because I don't have room for it. I wouldn't change any of my sideboard cards at the moment and if I needed another effect like that, it would be Eidolon #4 first. Being able to cast chandra and cast something for two mana is a big deal. Raise your hand if you tick up first and reveal the one card you need for that match? I would rather have a 2 drop to play. Plus, playing a turn one eidolon is infinitely better than a turn two scab-clab. Eidolon is coming on turn two anyway without the help. Overall, only run the berserker if you got the full set of eidolons first. Then, if you have room for it, what else is in your board. FNM meta is fine. 285 person event....not so much.
You saw my sideboard plan vs control a few posts back. I have the perfect 8 out and 8 in. No need to alter that at all. I ALMOST hit a fetchland off a spyglass during my later esper match, but after thinking for a long time, he cracked it. One day, I'll turn two land kill someone...one day...
Speaking of land kill, I've tried it and it sucks. Look at my list and you try to get 4-6 stone rains in there. what are taking out? Slagstorm, then get run over by humans and afinity? abrade? don't even mention Walking ballista...the all-star of almost every tournament I've played in. It works for Ponza because their elves generate mana turn after turn. They can kill a land on turn two and follow it up with some beef. We can kill a land on turn two and then we have three lands the next turn. That's a big part of their game and it's a game we can't play.
Hi Ernest_twwg - fellow red mage. You asked for pointers: I'd definitely add faithless looting to your deck. It doesn't have chalice of the void to trip it up, so you could feasibly have an opening like: mountain - memnite - infernal plunge - faithless looting. This gives 2 draws and 2 mana floating. Since you run (12) rituals, not even counting (3) more infernal plunge, there's a chance you could pair up a ritual & blood moon (yes, you probably should add a 2nd Magus, since your construction actually more closely aligns itself with Free-Win Red). And, even if you don't find a connection, maybe you can chain rituals into a planeswalker casting. Good luck out there.
I've been testing faithless looting since you recommended it and i'm not sure how i feel about it, to be honest. It seems like a dead card a decent amount of the time due to bomat courier and ritualing out a blood moon/planeswalker. Turn three or later made looting uncastable because i had 0-1 card in hand other than looting. I also couldn't bring myself to use it on first turn with 3 mana floating because i didn't want to risk losing my moon mana. My changes were: -1 Sarkhan, the dragonspeaker, -1 Reforge the Soul, -1 Koth of the Hammer, +3 Faithless Looting
I dropped a plunge to add another Magus. It's been solid in testing, increasing my opening hand moon effects. Thanks for confirming that for me.
My only problems now are sideboard and discard. First turn thoughtseize/inquisition really puts a damper on my first turn moon when i'm playing on the draw. Is it worth putting Manamorphose and Leyline of Sanctity in my sideboard for dealing with that, or am i overreacting?
@Stickballruss: It was awesome seeing your updates throughout yesterday. Congrats on your record!
Hay Russ, I'm moonsteak, one of your twitter follower lol.
You have been wonderful with this deck,
I just want to ask 1 thing to you, about walking balista, which is all star to you, but failure to me.
It's clear that I didn't play him correctly so.. please show ne the way master..
You know what's funny, a few people I know are still saying this isn't a real deck because it's not represented and nobody plays it. My response to that is this.
There were 285 people playing in this classic. As far as I know, I was the only person playing this deck and went 7-2. 7-2 went from 9th place to 23rd place, so tiebreakers were all the difference. In the past 8 months, I've played in 4 major events and the results are the following
SCG Open - Roanoke - 4th Place (11-3-1 in Swiss)
SCG Classic in Philly - Top 8 (7-0-2 in Swiss)
SCG Classic in Roanoke - Scrubbed out at 3-3
SCG Classic in Philly - 20th place going 7-2
That's 4 big events where I was either the only one or one of three people playing the deck and it put up results almost every time (The Classic in Roanoke in June had three of us on this deck). I'll even give you a bonus addition to the list. SCG Classic in Roakoke, friend Matt went 6-2 and lost his win an in for top 8 (24th Place). That's 5 opportunities for this deck to compete on a big stage, 4 of which this deck placed in the top 32, with two top 8's. 80% top 32 conversion rate, 40% top 8 conversion rate.
when you look at results from major events, you have to take into consideration that there are a LOT of people playing Burn, jeskai, mardu pyromancer. Some of them make it, others not so much. When you have 20-60 people playing a particular deck, it's easy to see them on top a lot. when you have one to three people playing this list and every time it does well, that says a lot.
Oh, and I'm not even mentioning all the top 32 that Fluffywolf, Ray, and checkmate get on the MTGO Modern Challenges on Saturdays. I think Fluffy is also at an 80% conversion rate for making top 32, having playing in at least 5 of them. when nobody is playing a deck and it continues to put up results like this, then the deck is real.
You can call it bad, or not a real deck. You can say it's not top tier or that it's inconsistent. You can say what you will, just remember to pack your lightning bolts, because your gonna be playing red, whether you like it or not.
Hello Mountainfolk! I tried this list this weekend in some friendly paper matches, and I was very impressed. I was able to beat Grishoalbrand, Jeskai, and UW Miracles. I think the 4 Sarkhan were awesome. I really liked the list, and I will be testing it further at FNMs. I think you should consider trying this list before you write it off. Sarkhan solved many of the problems I have when playing this deck in that I was able to find much more pressure and lock pieces when I needed them.
Hey Russ, I'm curious about Spree. You really feel like 2 is the right number? I completely cut it for a while now and I haven't missed it. Other than tagging a Map t1 I feel like we're fine with Abrade (I run 3 md). Couldn't 1 be your 4th Eidolon?
You mentioned how Spirits didn't side in anything to deal with Bridge.. for anyone who hasn't noticed, THEY DONT RUN ANY! a few lists have a 1-of EE, but not many.
Also, if it wasn't for a little variance we would be talking about your top 8. I imagine you're pretty confident against GB Elves. Tough luck :/
Hey Russ, I'm curious about Spree. You really feel like 2 is the right number? I completely cut it for a while now and I haven't missed it. Other than tagging a Map t1 I feel like we're fine with Abrade (I run 3 md). Couldn't 1 be your 4th Eidolon.
You mentioned how Spirits didn't side in anything to deal with Bridge.. for anyone who hasn't noticed, THEY DONT RUN ANY! a few lists have a 1-of EE, but not many.
Also, if it wasn't for a little variance we would be talking about your top 8. I imagine you're pretty confident against GB Elves. Tough luck :/
Dude, the elves player mulled to 5 and his first Coco hit 6 lands. I kept a hand that was the following:
Mountain
Mountain
Guide
Guide
Bridge
Bridge
Anger
I win that game 6 days a week. shame it was a sunday event, because he needed some God luck to win after a mull to 5 and whiffing on CoCo.
Yes, I like 2 spree for big events. Affinity is a deck that's been around forever. not everyone can pick up a new deck, so they play what they got. Combine that with KCI being really really good, I definitely want two.
...he hit 6 lands?? they only run like 18! Jfc.. That's so brutal to lose that game. At least you know there's nothing you could've done lol.
I guess you're right about Spree, it makes sense to plan for Affinity. I may be wrong, but I feel like we have a very solid game plan for KCI even without the Sprees. It's a great deck with tons of resiliency, but I feel like we have about the best tools to deal with them in the format. I don't know what they consider their worst matchups (probably blue stuff), but I doubt they like playing our deck.
Last night I went 4-1 in a competitive modo league with this deck. I wanted to test the Trinispheres against KCI and storm match-ups but didn't face either.
Game one (2-0) was vs Boggles. I went first and opponent scooped while my turn one chalice was on the stack. Having no idea what my opponent was playing, I sided in three Trinisphere taking out three rituals. Opponent mulled 5 and came out with a slippery boggle. I did get a Trinisphere down which slowed my opponent. With a 3/3 boggle and Gaddock Teeg, my two Chandras in hand didn't look good. But I top decks my Anger and swept the board then slowly beat opponent with Chandra while opponent drew and drew looking for another hexproof creature.
Game two (2-1) was vs UW Spirits. This was a match of bridges. When I got a bridge out, I won and when I didn't, I lost. Opponent didn't seem to have answers for Bridge and looking at "stock" list of UW Spirits, it seems to be Kataki, War's Wage and Stoney. This is a deck that *I* think looks favorable but isn't. This deck runs far too many basic lands and spell queller targets everything in Pyro Prison deck. Playing against this deck makes me want to bring dragons into the deck (or sideboard).
Game three (2-0) was vs U/W Control. Both games I made a turn one Rabblemaster and opponent did little but die. Second game there was some timely reinforcements and Elspeth tokens but they all came out a turn of two too late to slow the bleed much.
Game 4 (0-2) was vs Bridgevine. I had no chance. No graveyard sideboard cards and opponent had turn one Bridge from Below in both games. Getting a Chalice, or Trinisphere or Bridge would have made a game of it but I drew none of those. Makes me want to try and splash white for Rest in Peace and Ghostly Prison.
Game 5 (2-1) was vs Devoted Company. All games were grindy where I was using removal to try and just keep Devoted Druid/Vizier of Remedies combo off of the board. Game one opponent seemed to be locked behind a bridge with Chandra slowly beating them but opponent got the combo with duskwatch in play and went infinite for a large Walking Ballista. Game two opponent fetch two basics right away but I still put out a turn three Blood Moon hoping to cut off black (and Abrupt Decay). I drew into two chalices. Put the first on 1 and the second on two and the put down Pia and Kiran. It felt like I was doing this sequence every other turn as I was Abrading and Angering combo pieces every other turn. Next turn I attacked for 4 and then chandra up for two manna and bridge. Opponent quickly scooped after their next draw phase. Game three felt like I was on my heels first 8 turns as all I was doing was killing combo pieces my opponent was putting out (including negative Chandra when I played her). But I was fortunate. Opponent was stuck on 3 lands and I got a blood moon out and Pia and Kiran then bridge. Rest of game was a slow grind as opponent Abrupt Decayed two bridges killed a chandra all while I slowly hit with two thopters and then finished the game w a second Chandra.
This was my first 4-1 in a modo league. I want to thank everyone who posts to this forum and to FluffyWolf for streaming this deck so much. I really enjoy being able two switch from agrro to control with this deck depending on opponent and draw. I also want to thank people in this forum for championing changes to this list and not saying there is only one was to build or play this deck. This deck not being played by lots of players and it's pivoting ways makes it a perfect deck for me and I greatly enjoy it. Thanks!
Mother f**ker......look at the list that won....I was into something when I said a list without bridge and lots of dragons could do well..... http://www.starcitygames.com/decks/122532
I play Skred Red as well as Pyro Prison (and a bunch of other decks) so decided to get the missing cards I needed to try this deck out, since it looks like a blast (I play Magic Online only).
It sure is a lot of fun to play and with all the removal it's packing, absolutely steamrolls creature heavy decks. Doesnt' take many dragons to run away with the win either.
I even managed to emblem both Sarkhan and Chandra in one game! The amount of removal allowed me to keep the board clear to continue ticking them up. Sarkhan allowed me to ramp out dragon's to slowly build up my board while keeping mana open for the efficient 1 mana removals of Skred and Lightning Bolt.
The 4 toughness on our dragon's means they easily survive our board wipe spells, making for one sided wraths which is really sweet
However, I did find I occasionally ran into the "wrong-half" problem, where I just ended up drawing the wrong half of my deck for the matchup and losing because of that (eg. drawing all removal against control instead of threats, drawing all top end without drawing enough ramp or lands or removal to keep me alive etc.).
I'd consider adding some rituals to be able to ramp out Sarkhan or dragons faster. I also think the Draconic Roar is too cute. Abrade is much better in that slot, especially while Hollow One is still running around. Abrade can take that out while Draconic Roar cannot. I didn't find the 3 damage to the face from Draconic Roar to be of much use since we generally just win through 1 or 2 dragons pretty quickly.
On the sideboard, Dragon's Claw was actually quite good. It allowed me to beat Burn easily and also out-grind Mardu Pyromancer in the deciding game. I decided to only run 3 of the claws though. 4 is too much.
All the maindeck removal was really good against Mardu, especially Ratchet Bomb for clearing those tokens.
Even though the deck has the 4 Blood Moon, this deck doesn't play like a prison deck. It feels very much like a solid midrange deck. Well worth trying out!
Clan... I typically love typing up a juicy well thought out tournament report with thoughts etc., but there's not a whole lot to say except for this one was a BEAT DOWN. GetREKT.EDU! Rolled every one.
Round 1. Newer player B/W home brew. T1 he goes swamp pass. I had options of Rabs or Moon on T1. Rabs FTW. Same story round 2. I saw nothing but basics after game 1. Went down the moons (5) and up pressure - Eidolons and Haz.
I was able to scoop the Scabs - no impact didn't side them in. Blood Sun - no impact didn't draw.
Round 2. This was the one good round. I played Spirits in the past a few times and didn't enjoy it one bit. I hate counter magic, and flashing, and all the CoCo shenanigans and the hexproof - didn't enjoy it. Then the new lord came out, and I was like damn, if their spirits get up to 4, that's going to be even more unfun, no Anger, Slag, Abrade, Sweltering Suns - only a Chandra minus and even then you don't really get to pick who you want to take down. I know my opponents on Spirits. I matched up against her previously when she was on Bant Spirits and she Chorded for Pridemage to bust a Bridge and win against me. I went 3-1 that day, that round being my only loss.... people don't forget...
So Turn 1 I Gemstone in and pitch a land. She's on the play and rips vile... pass. I am thinking okay I don't know, but I bet she plays Path and that is it. I have TWO - count em' - TWO Rabs in hand. I think alright I can moon, she has a basic island, or I can Rabs. I was thinking, make her have the answer. I'm hoping she doesn't have the fetch for plains and path Rabble - but even if she does, i'll be going in to turn 2 with 4 mana, bridge and rabble in hand. She didn't have path, and Rabble 1 plus Rabble 2 ran away with it.
I boarded out 2 Chalices, 4 Rabbles, Blood Sun and Koth and went with Eidolons, Torpor, Haz, D Grid and Spellskite.
I knew she was going to Queller. People that play spirits play it for Queller I swear. So when I fanned open Abrade, Anger, 2 Bridges, Lands - I was like YES tons of Queller fodder. Because I too was wondering - what the hell do they run to answer Bridge - she's on U/W clearly, game 1 was long enough for me to see 8 lands with 0 green, and the vial tipped me off that she wasn't looking to rip company. I went down Cage and the 2nd Spyglass to get Scabs in, and luckily I didn't miss it here.
Her Turn 3. OBVIOUSLY she leaves up Queller mana. OBVIOUSLY I knew you would, so OBVIOUSLY I passed my T2 with two lands untapped and Abrade in hand so I could OBVIOUSLY Abrade your Vial on your EOT and you could OBVIOUSLY Spell Queller it, allowing me to OBVIOUSLY play Bridge on my turn via 3 Mountains while you were tapped out. YES! So that's how it went. I bridged up and sweated it out while I assumed she had D-sphere or something. So I found myself in a rock and a hard place. Eidolons doing damage to me, my hand loading up from not wanting to cast, but having to because I needed to stay low for Bridge. Had to start swinging with Eidlons, so I did. Got out from under those and then drew sweepers that she had to sac Selfless for and Queller [OF COURSE]. Eventually Chandra came down and burned it all to the ground - hahah. It was awesome. They'll likely evolve and play EE or Worship more commonly to have more competitive games 2 and 3, but hey. I was nervous about the match-up and it felt cracked. Seems many others have shared similar feelings, so it was great reading that this morning.
After that I had Grixis Shadow. The person I played next was hawking my last match talking about how my deck is not THAT great and that CotV is not well positioned in the meta. So we get to crackin' and I T1 1 Chaliced on 1 on the draw after they Serum Visions. They were on Grixis Shadow and played NOTHING after I T2'd Rabble. I couldn't help but get to talking about Chalice is not get etc., but I did my best to control myself - OP was in the beginning years of HS. Next game same story. I was like c'mon man, you knew you should have kept a Turn 1 IOK or Thoughtseize. They had a nuts type hand, with Thoughtseize, but had Steam Vents and kept - Serum Visions, found black, but too late. Chalice on 1 already hit the board.
I had 30 minutes to go in the round so I left with my $15 credit and 6-0. It felt great as usual. I think Blood Sun down and up Ballista would be wise, but 5th moon is def my pet card, or guilty pleasure.
Ever the Wordsmith, Dev regales us all with another tale from his LGS. Undefeated performances for him and Plainbrad. Well Done!
This post is going to be short and to the point. Why? Because I wrote a longer detailed post, and then I mistakenly refreshed the screen before hitting 'post reply' and it went bye-bye. Siiiiiiigh.
I did a bit of an analysis on Dev's tourney report. He was able to double-rabble the spirits deck, Flying Fish, because they run 1 less 2-drop lord, and can't mount an attack as quickly. Sharp play, but probably should have laid off the gas in round 2, and not play eidolon. Again, brief and to the point.
Russ - Our Ace Pilot lands a 20th/258. Just outstanding. Would love to give you a handshake/backslap. brief and to the point.
Overlytired - tremendously insightful synopsis on Skred Dragons by Ozzy Kelly. I agree with all of your points. I also tried it out with a 3-2 record. Cool, meta-dependant deck (12) Bolts?! Overall, I like the adaptability of Pyro Prison more, especially with Chalice/Bridge. And, future discussion of Skred Dragons really should be had over at the Skred thread.
Sarkhan, Fireblood. Obviously the centerpiece of Skred Dragons, has been a contentious point in our own thread. Is he welcome in our cave? MTGwary, Chekmate, Russ say no. While Moonsteak, Araguel (engaging and entertaining write-up at #2551, 4-0), Skycrusader, and I say yes. Big Question: Have you tried him? I get that he looks like rubbish. I thought so the minute I first saw him. But, then I considered avaricious dragon, and Trash Dragons was born. My win record has been strong. Other have found success, including a 5-0 deck that ran Four Sarkhan & Zero dragons. Doesn't that tell you something? I have added him to the Official Primer as a planeswalker option, and look forward to more testing and debate.
Time to pitch in my 2 cents worth on Sarkhan, this time more than just a short mention in a tournament report.
While I know that I just recently adopted this deck and my experience with it is limited I still think that Sarkhan is worth at least testing him. He may not make the final cut into every deck and imho shouldn't be played as a 4 of in decks short on dragons. But nevertheless he is not useless, even if you only use his first +1.
I'd would like to compare him to Ashiok in Lantern Control. Same CMC, only 1 more loyalty in the first round and most likely no immediate and noticeable impact on the game for the first four turns. Yet he was and sometimes even is still played. His ultimate is also not really gamewinning (technically), as no cards in hand for the opponent usually only complements the win for lantern if the prison is already established.
So what does Sarkhan do in comparison? On his first turn it's usually just ditching a worthless card in hope of drawing something more relevant. Or in the worst case, do nothing and just tick up. For the following turns however you are less likely to have dead draws, as you can decide to give it another shot. So imagine having set up your prison on T4 and playing Sarkhan, now hellbent. You've got about 50 cards in the deck with about 17 lands, 6 rituals, let's say 2 removal and 9 lock pieces, those are 34 dead cards in 50. That equals a chance of 68% to draw nothing, or next to nothing. With Sarkhan on board and the possibility to rummage away your dead card the chance lowers to 46%. This means from playing against the odds (>50%) to in our favor (<50%). This may not seem much to some of you, but as a long time Lantern player, this makes the difference in the larger number of games.
The Pyro Prison lock is not as consistent compared to Lantern. Time is still against us, as our opponent may still draw their way out of it. We cannot control what they pick up, we can only "influence" what we draw. And that is why we still need to find threats and sometimes fast. Sure, playing Sarkhan lowers the overall chances of finding fast clocks, I haven't checked the numbers on that, but his +1 and his ability to summon 20/20 of stats on 4 bodies on the board is still not to be taken lightly.
So don't dismiss this mad Walker just yet. Give him a try, see for yourself. If you still think he doesn't suite you and Pyro Prison, fine. But maybe, just maybe you will reconsider. The only thing one can say for certain that he won't be a gamechanger like Enchanter's Bane would have been for the sideboard
Great stats, Araguel. Your numbers really speak to me. You've convinced me to try 2 Sarkhans while moving 2 Chainwhirlers to the board tonight. Thanks for the breakdown!
Russ, I'm looking at Twitch for your past videos, but I'm only seeing one w/ a Legacy list. Trying to get more reps with the "stock" list that's close to what you ran this past weekend, but not seeing those videos. Help?
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I brought in spellskite in almost every matchup, but only saw it once all day. I had a spellskite in play vs esper control and played a walking ballista on 2. He attempted to fatal push it, but spellskite ate it. that walking ballista did serious work that game, as it would have died if not for spellskite.
I'm back on the spellskite train. It does a few thing for us, which is really important post board.
1. It's decent vs burn. not great, but decent.
2. it's AMAZING vs bogles and infect. Not that we need the help, but it's worth mentioning
3. it blocks. 0/4 is a great blocker.
4. It allow us to choose which removal spells / activated abilities we want our opponent to resolve successfully. With a spellskite in play, WE get to choose if a fatal push eats that ballista. WE get to choose if it's alright that a bridge gets taken out, or if a rabblemaster gets hit by a path to exile. We also get to eat both parts of K Command if they choose bolt/destroy target artifact. It can also eat one of the two exile triggers from Ulamog (although, if that's the plan, you probably lost anyway.)
5. It negates EVERY lightning bolt/helix/elecrolyze vs Jeskai control. Same as a chalice on one, it protects Rabblemaster like a CHAMP, and the Camp is HERE!.
6. It stops the modular ability from Arcbound Ravager.
7. It's stops eldrazi displacer for as long as you have life to spend. Also protects from flickerwisp making your bridge dissappear.
I think spellskite does so much, it's impossible to leave home without it. In a format like modern and a deck like this, having a card that's applicable is so many situations is valuable.
Amulet of safekeeping....nope. don't do it. Not good enough. remember, mardu pyromancer sides in artifact removal to go with their three k command maindeck. you're playing right into their game plan. Ans I've seen burn with through Trinisphere, so unless you wanna race burn, which is a fool errand, don't go with Amulet.
I got Monday night magic tonight. I haven't been able to purchase Scab clans yet, but I'll be on the hunt as soon as the quittin' bell sounds at work. Heavy burn meta at the LGS I'll be playing at tonight. Oh! Add Dragon's Claw to the board last minute.... at at ahhhh. I'm going to see how my Burn plan from the Classic holds up tonight. My list is reggie me with the +1 Blood Sun.
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
Added Spice (1)
1 Blood Sun
Mana (21)
3 Gemstone Caverns
3 Ramunap Ruins
1 Scavenger Grounds
7 Mountain
7 Snow-covered Mountain
Acceleration (9)
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
1 Pyretic Ritual
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Koth of the Hammer
Beaters (7)
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1 Walking Ballista
Removal (5)
1 Sweltering Suns
1 Slagstorm
4 Abrade
2 Anger of the Gods
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Damping Matrix
1 Defense Grid
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Spellskite
1 Torpor Orb
1 Tormod's Crypt
I'm planning on dropping a Spyglass and a Spellskite for 2 Scabs [nickname assigned]. If I can't cop the Scabs, I'll be running the stock. They know me there. They know me well. And I know them. When they see my face, I know they count their basics in their head. I typically perform well with PP^2 at this LGS and I'm pumped to keep it going tonight.
I too often think about a Pyro Prison without Bridge. I've never dabbled, but I think about it. I don't know if Fluff has ever run a build without a Bridge but its clearly doable.
Also, this is a random tangent thought I had. Why don't we run like a mono-red ponza style. Blow up all their lands with ramp spells? I think because we don't get a ton of value from that strategy. Go down the 4 Rabs, a PnK, a Chandra and an Abrade or two get the the Rains in [Stone/Molten]. What would that do? I think G/R Ponza is an effective strategy because they retain ramp value after ramping into a land destruction. I think using Ritual to play a Land destruction spell is uncharted knowledge for me. I was thinking like oh it'd be so cool to on the play rip a chalice on 1, then on T2 you blow up the land they play. lol. Being that I have INDEED read all the posts [thanks for the shout Ray - you know it was the truth when I told you face to face brotha], I don't recall this discussion ever being had. I'm not saying I'm unsleeving Rabs or any of my core pieces - easy does it, ***** last week I was checking out those Buy-A-Box promo Rabbles... looking real nice. I'm just trying to have the conversation. I don't make drastic changes with the build ever. I tweak, learn, re-tweak, and try to keep my finger on the pulse of the meta while doing so.
Its been great reading up on everyone's reports. To the sub .500 guys. Sorry, but we've all def been there. It hurts, the sky comes tumbling down when that Wear//Tear hits your chalice and your moon, or the K-Command knocks your Bridge and discard your one threat. Or how about when Knightfall tutors up a Kessig Wolf Run to use their infinite mana to pump a Heirarch to get under your Bridge when you're empty handed. Yeah we've all got our scars of course. Keep playing, tweaking getting better. I find I under perform the most when I am keeping 7 often. I think if you keep 7 often you're seeing good cards and maybe the first few turns playing out nicely. That's cool. Who's your opponent? Is that hand going to be crushing against them? Oh they're unknown. That's great. Fluff did a report on the % of the Meta that Chalice on 1 T1 effects vs Blood Moon on T1. I carry it with me to every tournament. What do you do when you have 7 cards, T1 Chalice or T1 Moon and nothing else. Ritual, Chalice, Ape, Moon, Land, Land, Land - Unknown opponent. Chalice on 1 means they can't play on T1 - but they can fetch for a basic. Well Turn 1 Moon means they can't go get a basic - then they can Thoughtseize your Chalice. When you've played it enough, you'll know what you're going to do, and you'll be able to justify the why.
Tis a great community and I'm proud to be a contributing member. I'll HollarBack with my tournament report.
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
Mana (21)
3 Gemstone Caverns
3 Ramunap Ruins
1 Mutavault
14 Mountain
Acceleration (9)
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
1 Pyretic Ritual
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Koth of the Hammer
Beaters (9)
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Goblin Chainwhirler
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2 Walking Ballista
Removal (4)
2 Slagstorm
2 Abrade
2 Shattering Spree
2 Anger of the Gods
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Hazoret the Fervent
1 Boil
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Spellskite
1 Torpor Orb
1 Damping Matrix
Mutavault did only one thing the entire day (I didn't draw it taht much, maybe three times)....it made one of my control opponents take a line to protect themselves from a mutavault attack.....only to realize later that it was a mountain, CLASSIC!
As far as optimal lists are concerned, I wouldn't change a thing. This deck performed extremely well and if winning 78% of my matches wasn't good enough, then I don't know what to say. Also, in Philly Classics in 2018, I'm 14-2-2 with this deck, a whopping 87.5% win rate. Who said there's no home team advantage in Magic?
Now, that being said, I am going to continue to test new builds and try different thing. Maybe I'll stumble onto something and make a switch, like we did with ballista, then ramunap ruins, then damping matrix, and then Chainwhirler.
I don't like scab-clan because I don't have room for it. I wouldn't change any of my sideboard cards at the moment and if I needed another effect like that, it would be Eidolon #4 first. Being able to cast chandra and cast something for two mana is a big deal. Raise your hand if you tick up first and reveal the one card you need for that match? I would rather have a 2 drop to play. Plus, playing a turn one eidolon is infinitely better than a turn two scab-clab. Eidolon is coming on turn two anyway without the help. Overall, only run the berserker if you got the full set of eidolons first. Then, if you have room for it, what else is in your board. FNM meta is fine. 285 person event....not so much.
You saw my sideboard plan vs control a few posts back. I have the perfect 8 out and 8 in. No need to alter that at all. I ALMOST hit a fetchland off a spyglass during my later esper match, but after thinking for a long time, he cracked it. One day, I'll turn two land kill someone...one day...
Speaking of land kill, I've tried it and it sucks. Look at my list and you try to get 4-6 stone rains in there. what are taking out? Slagstorm, then get run over by humans and afinity? abrade? don't even mention Walking ballista...the all-star of almost every tournament I've played in. It works for Ponza because their elves generate mana turn after turn. They can kill a land on turn two and follow it up with some beef. We can kill a land on turn two and then we have three lands the next turn. That's a big part of their game and it's a game we can't play.
I've been testing faithless looting since you recommended it and i'm not sure how i feel about it, to be honest. It seems like a dead card a decent amount of the time due to bomat courier and ritualing out a blood moon/planeswalker. Turn three or later made looting uncastable because i had 0-1 card in hand other than looting. I also couldn't bring myself to use it on first turn with 3 mana floating because i didn't want to risk losing my moon mana. My changes were: -1 Sarkhan, the dragonspeaker, -1 Reforge the Soul, -1 Koth of the Hammer, +3 Faithless Looting
I dropped a plunge to add another Magus. It's been solid in testing, increasing my opening hand moon effects. Thanks for confirming that for me.
My only problems now are sideboard and discard. First turn thoughtseize/inquisition really puts a damper on my first turn moon when i'm playing on the draw. Is it worth putting Manamorphose and Leyline of Sanctity in my sideboard for dealing with that, or am i overreacting?
@Stickballruss: It was awesome seeing your updates throughout yesterday. Congrats on your record!
Hay Russ, I'm moonsteak, one of your twitter follower lol.
You have been wonderful with this deck,
I just want to ask 1 thing to you, about walking balista, which is all star to you, but failure to me.
It's clear that I didn't play him correctly so.. please show ne the way master..
There were 285 people playing in this classic. As far as I know, I was the only person playing this deck and went 7-2. 7-2 went from 9th place to 23rd place, so tiebreakers were all the difference. In the past 8 months, I've played in 4 major events and the results are the following
SCG Open - Roanoke - 4th Place (11-3-1 in Swiss)
SCG Classic in Philly - Top 8 (7-0-2 in Swiss)
SCG Classic in Roanoke - Scrubbed out at 3-3
SCG Classic in Philly - 20th place going 7-2
That's 4 big events where I was either the only one or one of three people playing the deck and it put up results almost every time (The Classic in Roanoke in June had three of us on this deck). I'll even give you a bonus addition to the list. SCG Classic in Roakoke, friend Matt went 6-2 and lost his win an in for top 8 (24th Place). That's 5 opportunities for this deck to compete on a big stage, 4 of which this deck placed in the top 32, with two top 8's. 80% top 32 conversion rate, 40% top 8 conversion rate.
when you look at results from major events, you have to take into consideration that there are a LOT of people playing Burn, jeskai, mardu pyromancer. Some of them make it, others not so much. When you have 20-60 people playing a particular deck, it's easy to see them on top a lot. when you have one to three people playing this list and every time it does well, that says a lot.
Oh, and I'm not even mentioning all the top 32 that Fluffywolf, Ray, and checkmate get on the MTGO Modern Challenges on Saturdays. I think Fluffy is also at an 80% conversion rate for making top 32, having playing in at least 5 of them. when nobody is playing a deck and it continues to put up results like this, then the deck is real.
You can call it bad, or not a real deck. You can say it's not top tier or that it's inconsistent. You can say what you will, just remember to pack your lightning bolts, because your gonna be playing red, whether you like it or not.
Hello Mountainfolk! I tried this list this weekend in some friendly paper matches, and I was very impressed. I was able to beat Grishoalbrand, Jeskai, and UW Miracles. I think the 4 Sarkhan were awesome. I really liked the list, and I will be testing it further at FNMs. I think you should consider trying this list before you write it off. Sarkhan solved many of the problems I have when playing this deck in that I was able to find much more pressure and lock pieces when I needed them.
You mentioned how Spirits didn't side in anything to deal with Bridge.. for anyone who hasn't noticed, THEY DONT RUN ANY! a few lists have a 1-of EE, but not many.
Also, if it wasn't for a little variance we would be talking about your top 8. I imagine you're pretty confident against GB Elves. Tough luck :/
Dude, the elves player mulled to 5 and his first Coco hit 6 lands. I kept a hand that was the following:
Mountain
Mountain
Guide
Guide
Bridge
Bridge
Anger
I win that game 6 days a week. shame it was a sunday event, because he needed some God luck to win after a mull to 5 and whiffing on CoCo.
Yes, I like 2 spree for big events. Affinity is a deck that's been around forever. not everyone can pick up a new deck, so they play what they got. Combine that with KCI being really really good, I definitely want two.
I guess you're right about Spree, it makes sense to plan for Affinity. I may be wrong, but I feel like we have a very solid game plan for KCI even without the Sprees. It's a great deck with tons of resiliency, but I feel like we have about the best tools to deal with them in the format. I don't know what they consider their worst matchups (probably blue stuff), but I doubt they like playing our deck.
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
Lands (21)
18 Mountain
2 Ramunap Ruins
1 Scavenger Grounds
Rituals (9)
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
1 Pyretic Ritual
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Creatures (8)
2 Goblin Chainwhirler
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
Removal (6)
4 Abrade
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Slagstorm
3 Anger of the Gods
1 Damping Matrix
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Koth of the Hammer
3 Scab-Clan Berserker
1 Torpor Orb
3 Trinisphere
Game one (2-0) was vs Boggles. I went first and opponent scooped while my turn one chalice was on the stack. Having no idea what my opponent was playing, I sided in three Trinisphere taking out three rituals. Opponent mulled 5 and came out with a slippery boggle. I did get a Trinisphere down which slowed my opponent. With a 3/3 boggle and Gaddock Teeg, my two Chandras in hand didn't look good. But I top decks my Anger and swept the board then slowly beat opponent with Chandra while opponent drew and drew looking for another hexproof creature.
Game two (2-1) was vs UW Spirits. This was a match of bridges. When I got a bridge out, I won and when I didn't, I lost. Opponent didn't seem to have answers for Bridge and looking at "stock" list of UW Spirits, it seems to be Kataki, War's Wage and Stoney. This is a deck that *I* think looks favorable but isn't. This deck runs far too many basic lands and spell queller targets everything in Pyro Prison deck. Playing against this deck makes me want to bring dragons into the deck (or sideboard).
Game three (2-0) was vs U/W Control. Both games I made a turn one Rabblemaster and opponent did little but die. Second game there was some timely reinforcements and Elspeth tokens but they all came out a turn of two too late to slow the bleed much.
Game 4 (0-2) was vs Bridgevine. I had no chance. No graveyard sideboard cards and opponent had turn one Bridge from Below in both games. Getting a Chalice, or Trinisphere or Bridge would have made a game of it but I drew none of those. Makes me want to try and splash white for Rest in Peace and Ghostly Prison.
Game 5 (2-1) was vs Devoted Company. All games were grindy where I was using removal to try and just keep Devoted Druid/Vizier of Remedies combo off of the board. Game one opponent seemed to be locked behind a bridge with Chandra slowly beating them but opponent got the combo with duskwatch in play and went infinite for a large Walking Ballista. Game two opponent fetch two basics right away but I still put out a turn three Blood Moon hoping to cut off black (and Abrupt Decay). I drew into two chalices. Put the first on 1 and the second on two and the put down Pia and Kiran. It felt like I was doing this sequence every other turn as I was Abrading and Angering combo pieces every other turn. Next turn I attacked for 4 and then chandra up for two manna and bridge. Opponent quickly scooped after their next draw phase. Game three felt like I was on my heels first 8 turns as all I was doing was killing combo pieces my opponent was putting out (including negative Chandra when I played her). But I was fortunate. Opponent was stuck on 3 lands and I got a blood moon out and Pia and Kiran then bridge. Rest of game was a slow grind as opponent Abrupt Decayed two bridges killed a chandra all while I slowly hit with two thopters and then finished the game w a second Chandra.
This was my first 4-1 in a modo league. I want to thank everyone who posts to this forum and to FluffyWolf for streaming this deck so much. I really enjoy being able two switch from agrro to control with this deck depending on opponent and draw. I also want to thank people in this forum for championing changes to this list and not saying there is only one was to build or play this deck. This deck not being played by lots of players and it's pivoting ways makes it a perfect deck for me and I greatly enjoy it. Thanks!
I play Skred Red as well as Pyro Prison (and a bunch of other decks) so decided to get the missing cards I needed to try this deck out, since it looks like a blast (I play Magic Online only).
It sure is a lot of fun to play and with all the removal it's packing, absolutely steamrolls creature heavy decks. Doesnt' take many dragons to run away with the win either.
I even managed to emblem both Sarkhan and Chandra in one game! The amount of removal allowed me to keep the board clear to continue ticking them up. Sarkhan allowed me to ramp out dragon's to slowly build up my board while keeping mana open for the efficient 1 mana removals of Skred and Lightning Bolt.
The 4 toughness on our dragon's means they easily survive our board wipe spells, making for one sided wraths which is really sweet
However, I did find I occasionally ran into the "wrong-half" problem, where I just ended up drawing the wrong half of my deck for the matchup and losing because of that (eg. drawing all removal against control instead of threats, drawing all top end without drawing enough ramp or lands or removal to keep me alive etc.).
I'd consider adding some rituals to be able to ramp out Sarkhan or dragons faster. I also think the Draconic Roar is too cute. Abrade is much better in that slot, especially while Hollow One is still running around. Abrade can take that out while Draconic Roar cannot. I didn't find the 3 damage to the face from Draconic Roar to be of much use since we generally just win through 1 or 2 dragons pretty quickly.
On the sideboard, Dragon's Claw was actually quite good. It allowed me to beat Burn easily and also out-grind Mardu Pyromancer in the deciding game. I decided to only run 3 of the claws though. 4 is too much.
All the maindeck removal was really good against Mardu, especially Ratchet Bomb for clearing those tokens.
I made room for 2 Grafdigger's Cage and 2 Damping Sphere by removing 1 Dragon's Claw and the 3 Molten Rain.
Between the Blood Moon, Damping Sphere and Alpine Moon, that's more than enough Tron and Valakut hate for me.
Damping Sphere and Grafdigger's Cage cover Storm.
Damping Sphere, Shattering Spree, Ratchet Bomb and my change to use Abrade over Draconic Roar mainboard gives me enough against KCI.
Even though the deck has the 4 Blood Moon, this deck doesn't play like a prison deck. It feels very much like a solid midrange deck. Well worth trying out!
That would be so awesome for Modern
Round 1. Newer player B/W home brew. T1 he goes swamp pass. I had options of Rabs or Moon on T1. Rabs FTW. Same story round 2. I saw nothing but basics after game 1. Went down the moons (5) and up pressure - Eidolons and Haz.
I was able to scoop the Scabs - no impact didn't side them in. Blood Sun - no impact didn't draw.
Round 2. This was the one good round. I played Spirits in the past a few times and didn't enjoy it one bit. I hate counter magic, and flashing, and all the CoCo shenanigans and the hexproof - didn't enjoy it. Then the new lord came out, and I was like damn, if their spirits get up to 4, that's going to be even more unfun, no Anger, Slag, Abrade, Sweltering Suns - only a Chandra minus and even then you don't really get to pick who you want to take down. I know my opponents on Spirits. I matched up against her previously when she was on Bant Spirits and she Chorded for Pridemage to bust a Bridge and win against me. I went 3-1 that day, that round being my only loss.... people don't forget...
So Turn 1 I Gemstone in and pitch a land. She's on the play and rips vile... pass. I am thinking okay I don't know, but I bet she plays Path and that is it. I have TWO - count em' - TWO Rabs in hand. I think alright I can moon, she has a basic island, or I can Rabs. I was thinking, make her have the answer. I'm hoping she doesn't have the fetch for plains and path Rabble - but even if she does, i'll be going in to turn 2 with 4 mana, bridge and rabble in hand. She didn't have path, and Rabble 1 plus Rabble 2 ran away with it.
I boarded out 2 Chalices, 4 Rabbles, Blood Sun and Koth and went with Eidolons, Torpor, Haz, D Grid and Spellskite.
I knew she was going to Queller. People that play spirits play it for Queller I swear. So when I fanned open Abrade, Anger, 2 Bridges, Lands - I was like YES tons of Queller fodder. Because I too was wondering - what the hell do they run to answer Bridge - she's on U/W clearly, game 1 was long enough for me to see 8 lands with 0 green, and the vial tipped me off that she wasn't looking to rip company. I went down Cage and the 2nd Spyglass to get Scabs in, and luckily I didn't miss it here.
Her Turn 3. OBVIOUSLY she leaves up Queller mana. OBVIOUSLY I knew you would, so OBVIOUSLY I passed my T2 with two lands untapped and Abrade in hand so I could OBVIOUSLY Abrade your Vial on your EOT and you could OBVIOUSLY Spell Queller it, allowing me to OBVIOUSLY play Bridge on my turn via 3 Mountains while you were tapped out. YES! So that's how it went. I bridged up and sweated it out while I assumed she had D-sphere or something. So I found myself in a rock and a hard place. Eidolons doing damage to me, my hand loading up from not wanting to cast, but having to because I needed to stay low for Bridge. Had to start swinging with Eidlons, so I did. Got out from under those and then drew sweepers that she had to sac Selfless for and Queller [OF COURSE]. Eventually Chandra came down and burned it all to the ground - hahah. It was awesome. They'll likely evolve and play EE or Worship more commonly to have more competitive games 2 and 3, but hey. I was nervous about the match-up and it felt cracked. Seems many others have shared similar feelings, so it was great reading that this morning.
After that I had Grixis Shadow. The person I played next was hawking my last match talking about how my deck is not THAT great and that CotV is not well positioned in the meta. So we get to crackin' and I T1 1 Chaliced on 1 on the draw after they Serum Visions. They were on Grixis Shadow and played NOTHING after I T2'd Rabble. I couldn't help but get to talking about Chalice is not get etc., but I did my best to control myself - OP was in the beginning years of HS. Next game same story. I was like c'mon man, you knew you should have kept a Turn 1 IOK or Thoughtseize. They had a nuts type hand, with Thoughtseize, but had Steam Vents and kept - Serum Visions, found black, but too late. Chalice on 1 already hit the board.
I had 30 minutes to go in the round so I left with my $15 credit and 6-0. It felt great as usual. I think Blood Sun down and up Ballista would be wise, but 5th moon is def my pet card, or guilty pleasure.
This post is going to be short and to the point. Why? Because I wrote a longer detailed post, and then I mistakenly refreshed the screen before hitting 'post reply' and it went bye-bye. Siiiiiiigh.
I did a bit of an analysis on Dev's tourney report. He was able to double-rabble the spirits deck, Flying Fish, because they run 1 less 2-drop lord, and can't mount an attack as quickly. Sharp play, but probably should have laid off the gas in round 2, and not play eidolon. Again, brief and to the point.
Russ - Our Ace Pilot lands a 20th/258. Just outstanding. Would love to give you a handshake/backslap. brief and to the point.
Overlytired - tremendously insightful synopsis on Skred Dragons by Ozzy Kelly. I agree with all of your points. I also tried it out with a 3-2 record. Cool, meta-dependant deck (12) Bolts?! Overall, I like the adaptability of Pyro Prison more, especially with Chalice/Bridge. And, future discussion of Skred Dragons really should be had over at the Skred thread.
Sarkhan, Fireblood. Obviously the centerpiece of Skred Dragons, has been a contentious point in our own thread. Is he welcome in our cave? MTGwary, Chekmate, Russ say no. While Moonsteak, Araguel (engaging and entertaining write-up at #2551, 4-0), Skycrusader, and I say yes. Big Question: Have you tried him? I get that he looks like rubbish. I thought so the minute I first saw him. But, then I considered avaricious dragon, and Trash Dragons was born. My win record has been strong. Other have found success, including a 5-0 deck that ran Four Sarkhan & Zero dragons. Doesn't that tell you something? I have added him to the Official Primer as a planeswalker option, and look forward to more testing and debate.
Brief - Brief Post, and here's my current deck.
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
Creatures (7)
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Avaricious Dragon
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
Planeswalkers (7)
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3 Sarkhan, Fireblood
1 Koth of the Hammer
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
1 Pyretic Ritual
Removal (4)
2 Sweltering Suns
2 Abrade
Lands (21)
13 Mountains
3 Gemstone Caverns
4 Ramunap Ruins
1 Scavenger Grounds
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
3 Scab-Clan Berserker
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Damping Matrix
2 Torpor Orb
1 Witchbane Orb
1 Abrade
While I know that I just recently adopted this deck and my experience with it is limited I still think that Sarkhan is worth at least testing him. He may not make the final cut into every deck and imho shouldn't be played as a 4 of in decks short on dragons. But nevertheless he is not useless, even if you only use his first +1.
I'd would like to compare him to Ashiok in Lantern Control. Same CMC, only 1 more loyalty in the first round and most likely no immediate and noticeable impact on the game for the first four turns. Yet he was and sometimes even is still played. His ultimate is also not really gamewinning (technically), as no cards in hand for the opponent usually only complements the win for lantern if the prison is already established.
So what does Sarkhan do in comparison? On his first turn it's usually just ditching a worthless card in hope of drawing something more relevant. Or in the worst case, do nothing and just tick up. For the following turns however you are less likely to have dead draws, as you can decide to give it another shot. So imagine having set up your prison on T4 and playing Sarkhan, now hellbent. You've got about 50 cards in the deck with about 17 lands, 6 rituals, let's say 2 removal and 9 lock pieces, those are 34 dead cards in 50. That equals a chance of 68% to draw nothing, or next to nothing. With Sarkhan on board and the possibility to rummage away your dead card the chance lowers to 46%. This means from playing against the odds (>50%) to in our favor (<50%). This may not seem much to some of you, but as a long time Lantern player, this makes the difference in the larger number of games.
The Pyro Prison lock is not as consistent compared to Lantern. Time is still against us, as our opponent may still draw their way out of it. We cannot control what they pick up, we can only "influence" what we draw. And that is why we still need to find threats and sometimes fast. Sure, playing Sarkhan lowers the overall chances of finding fast clocks, I haven't checked the numbers on that, but his +1 and his ability to summon 20/20 of stats on 4 bodies on the board is still not to be taken lightly.
So don't dismiss this mad Walker just yet. Give him a try, see for yourself. If you still think he doesn't suite you and Pyro Prison, fine. But maybe, just maybe you will reconsider. The only thing one can say for certain that he won't be a gamechanger like Enchanter's Bane would have been for the sideboard