I'll have to give Pull a try tonight, forgot all about it. Flexible draw should be nice.
I've been trying 2 Supreme Will the past few nights and unfortunately I will be cutting it. Impulse is nice, but I'm already clogged on 2 drops and I'd rather have a hard counter in the form of Negate or Squall.
I'm high as a kite on Nimble Obstructionist though. Had a game against Jeskai Nahiri where I countered Emrakul's shuffle trigger, and multiple walker and Snapcasters that would have killed me. All while he was sitting on Negates.
Red should be burn, Goblins, Dragons, draw/discard, and Standard-unplayable 5CMC cards with insane, lengthy effects that take 10 minutes to figure out what they do and another 20 to actually make their effects work on the field.
I'm interested in seeing your list with Obstructionist in it. The card seems solid enough with multiple activation targets. It also is returnable with k command in the late game which is really sick sounding.
Note: The Supreme Wills are being replaced, probably with Countersqualls or Mana Leaks. The Mires will eventually become Tarns too. Jace is on the chopping block as well. Sometimes he's amazing, other times I wish he was something else, even just a think twice.
Red should be burn, Goblins, Dragons, draw/discard, and Standard-unplayable 5CMC cards with insane, lengthy effects that take 10 minutes to figure out what they do and another 20 to actually make their effects work on the field.
I'm not sure whether I want to try out Pull, I sort of feel like we've already got our Sphinx's Revelation in the form of Ultimatum and Claim//Fame doesn't do all that much in most of our lists beyond being another Snapcaster as a sorcery.
I think Kalitas is still pretty great though...
EDIT: Thought I'd make an actual contribution rather than just being negative!
FNM result from last night:
Round 1, Infect, 1-1
Hey I remember this deck! We have more removal spells than they have creatures and this guy wasn't packing enough protection to not just have everything die. He was however playing Contagion Engine whcih managed to sneak into play and kill me over a billion turns in game 2. Game three went to turns, if I'd had another turn he'd have been dead with 0 outs, but thats life I guess. I think i need to get my opponents to play a bit quicker sometimes, this guy spent ages thinking about some very simple decisions and it cost me a match win.
Round 2: B/W Smallpox 2-0
This is a really interesting matchup in my opinion. I think we're favoured, but getting an early Smallpox into Lily is still scary stuff. Countersquall shone here and he soon succumbed to Gearhulk beats.
Round 3: Bant Spirits 0-2
I genuinely think this is our worst matchup in the format. I've played this guy about 5 times and never felt like I even remotely had a chance. A deck full of flash threats that protect each other is a nightmare for us.
Round 4: Jeskai Solemnity combo 2-1
Really cool deck, really nice opponent, really fun magic. I made some blunders like trying to play Engineered Explosives as an answer for Solemnity but ultimately he was a combo deck that was going to be waek to control so it wasn't too hard. Hilariously in game 1 I beat him to death from 20 with the Swan Song token he had given me on turn 3.
All in all I'm pegging this as a 3-1 night with my loss coming to a deck I'm not sure we can beat without insane luck. Feeling reasonably good ahead of GP Birmingham in a couple of weeks!
Just taking a guess at the format recently this is where I was. The deck didn't perform terribly, but it wasn't superb either. I can say Eldrazitron is much faster than I anticipated it being and without the proper removal and literal no hate for that matchup it felt bad.
Hey all, figured I'd introduce myself here. I don't post too often on these forums but I was on Corey's Grixis control list and just started cruel control not too long ago to satisfy my inner control Timmy. I love Bolas so actually casting him has been very rewarding, tiered decks be damned. I've been experimenting with my deck and here's the list so far. Just came back from a modern fnm type event and came 7th out of 17 going 3-1 so a decent showing. Write up is below the list:
My deck was the above but -1 brutality and +1 dispel. I changed that after the event tonight to see if that improves my burn matchup at all since it's been absolutely abysmal for me.
Round 1: Jund Burn 0-2
Interesting deck, was mostly red green but splashing black instead of white. The only creature different than usual was vexing devils and as far as I could tell the black was there for claim/fame which actually gave him some resiliency so it was interesting to play against.
Game 1
Actually lasted much longer than I thought I would but I ran low on cards and couldn't keep up. With no clock on my end he was free to just keep jamming card after card at me and it got rough
Basically just cut the slowest cards and the weaker of my win conditions against burn since the life gain from Cruel makes it strictly better
Game 2
Got ran over again, never had a chance to get set up. Was caught in an awkward position at 2 life with an eidolon in play and terminate in hand. I hate this matchup lol
Round 2: Storm 2-1
Game 1
I countered the first gifts but it wasn't enough and he eventually found the second one and I had nothing left for it
Again just cutting the slow cards in favour of more interaction. Rakdos charm would be good in response to past in flames and could potentially be a cute way to win if he goes nuts with goblin tokens
Game 2
Early snapcaster and a lot of permission to back it up got me the win, surgicalled his gifts after I countered it the first time which slowed him down tremendously
Game 3
This was a long one, I had 5 mana up along with jace, dispel, surgical and a land and he had an electromancer with 4 lands. I figured I had to try to get some cards so I slammed jace and held up dispel. On his turn he got me down to 5 with a grape shot and then cast past in flames. Unfortunately dispel was dead in my hand so in response I surgicalled his grapeshot instead. He tried to swan song and I used the dispel on that instead. I removed it and went through his deck and found he was down to just that one grapeshot and the only other storm card was goblin tokens. If I could keep jace alive he couldn't kill me so I crossed my fingers and hoped. My opponent then went off and created 36 goblin tokens. I upticked jace on my turn and my opponent went to read it because I don't think he realized it basically locked him out of the game. I drew a logic knot and just held up mana for that while attacking with creeping tar pit every turn. He eventually tried to bounce jace with his one echoing truth and he scooped when I countered it. Drew quite a crowd on that last game too it was very tense until I removed grapeshot
Round 3: Ad Nauseam 2-0
Game 1
Got incredibly lucky this game and won even though I thought for sure it was basically a straight to sideboard type of game. He kept a hand of every mana accelerant possible and ad nauseam. I tried to play an ambush viper turn 2 but he actually caught me with censor (didn't expect that one at all). He eventually ran out of cards though and cast ad nauseam by itself to refill which I countered. I started beating down with tar pit and snapcaster but he had unlife in play so it was an extremely slow clock. My opponent bought several turns for himself too with casting angel's grace to stay at exactly 1 life. I finally got him down to -1 and I had jace out. Eventually ulted him bringing in Bolas which destroyed unlife for the win on the spot. I got very lucky here early, by the end though even if he had drawn it I had virtually every counterspell I could ask for so he would need at least a pact or 2 for back up.
Took out the removal and expensive counters along with the weaker of my win conditions. Brought in almost every card in my sideboard, more or less just replacing bad cards rather than putting the best ones in
Game 2
Very smooth game for me, kept him low on mana by either countering or blowing up his mana rocks. Had snapcaster and fulminator out early as clocks and they eventually got there
Round 4: Goblins 2-0
This match was especially sweet for me; earlier in the night someone mentioned that there was someone playing Bolas tonight and he said something to the effect of "if you actually play Bolas in modern you're an idiot" and acted very smug about it.
Game 1
Easy game for me, resolved about 3 visions which got me so much card advantage that the few times he ever resolved a spell it was immediately killed. Snapcaster beats eventually got there
Took out one of the win conditions as always (depends on the matchup) and brought in every sweeper I could get my hands on.
Game 2
Now at the start of this game I'll give my opponent the benefit of the doubt but here's what happened; he finished shuffling before I did and had his deck out in front of me. I was in the middle of pile shuffling but to make things go faster I cut his deck and continued shuffling mine. When I looked back up he was shuffling again and I asked him, "going down to 6?" To which he said no he just wants to shuffle it again just to be sure. Now maybe he looked at the starting hand maybe not but it wasn't worth the hassle so I let it slide and just played the best I could. I had to mulligan down to 5 this game too but eventually got there. I had 2 damnations in my hand by turn 2 so I pitched one to brutality. I guess due to this my opponent overextended later into a jace thinking he was safe and got bushwhacker out there with 3 other creatures. I used cryptic to tap his team and then cast my other damnation on my turn which basically sealed the game even though it took another 3 turns to get there. Jace eventually ulted getting cruel ultimatum, my opponent was at 10 so I just showed him I would get back snapcaster with it to flash it back and he scooped. Goblins may be aggressive but due to most of their damage coming from creatures it's far more manageable than burn
Overall thoughts:
Burn was a miserable matchup as always and not quite sure what to do about it. It's tricky with grixis colours and being a slow deck but hopefully the extra brutality helps out. I'm also tempted to just give up on that matchup altogether and use the sideboard slots to give me an edge in closer matchups.
Jace is an absolute all star and I would never go below 2 in this deck. He consistently overperformed today and on other days gives me main deck outs to lingering souls and the like.
I used to run more creatures in this deck briefly but was thoroughly unimpressed with everything I tried (tasigur, kalitas, etc) since the overall creature count is so low that everyone has plenty of removal for it. I've been having better luck with a spell/planeswalker focus but it does worsen my combo matchups a bit since I lack an efficient clock
Round 1: Ad Nauseam [Match 1-2, Tournament 0-1]
Round 1 was Ad Nauseam. In the dark I kept a reasonable game one opener which was basically lands and removal, great against most decks in the format, but not this one! Without having the right disruption my opponent's turn 5 kill wasn't impacted at all. Game 2 was both of us sitting there until my opponent decided to go for it, we had a fairly epic counter battle over Ad Nauseam which I came out of victorious and proceeded to beat him down with Torrential Gearhulk. Game 3 I kept a mediocre 6 and got run over by his turn 4 kill with Pact of Negation back up.
Round 2: UW COntrol [Match 2-0, Tournament 1-1]
As a slight aside, I love playing control mirrors. Having been on this deck for a couple of years I have more experience with the play patterns than many of the folks who've only just picked up UW since it became popular. This edge was fairly apparent in this match as my opponent did things like tap out to be aggressive with Celestial Colonnade, which I would then kill, untap and cast an uncontested Cruel Ultimatum. Both games saw me resolve multiple Ultimatums and carry on.
Round 3: Eldrazi Tron [Match 1-2, Tournament 1-2]
Game 1 I managed to win by drawing a bunch of Terminate and Damnations whilst beating down with Snapcaster Mage (who managed to full 20 points by himself!). Games 2 and 3 I feel I got a little unlucky. In both games I got stuck on three lands for ages whilst my opponent didn't and hit Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger or just beat down with Thought-Knot Seers whilst Damnation sat in my hand, uncastable. In my 25 land deck I don't feel like this should happen too much, but there you go.
Round 4: Merfolk [Match 0-2, Tournament 1-3]
Game 1 he plays a Kira, Great Glass Spinner on turn 3 and I never get the removal spells to tackle it. Game 2 is reminiscent of the match just before. I sit there with Anger of the Gods and Damnation in hand for about three turns with Watery Grave, Blood Crypt and Island in play before losing to the beats. Again, come out of this feeling a bit unlucky as mana screw means I now can't lose any more matches if I want to make day 2.
Round 5: Affinity [Match 2-0, Tournament 2-3]
This remains one of our best matchups, especially if you are playing 3 Kolaghan's Command and 3 Damnation in the main! Game 1 I win fairly easily, game 2 I take a little longer trying to answer my opponent's Inkmoth Nexus, but still win handily.
Round 6: Burn [Match 1-2, Tournament 2-4]
From one of our best matchups to one of our worst. Game 1 I somehow scrape a win after stabilising at 5 with multiple cards in my hand vs nothing in his. Game 2 I start beating him down with Snapcasters fairly early and get him down to 4 life and dead on board but he topdecks the Lightning Bolt to kill me (fair enough, it is most of his deck after all!). Game 3 is much less close, he burns me out fairly easily. I feel like I play this reasonably well, and gave myself the best possible chance to win, but it is an awful matchup and I came away feeling pretty crushed that I was now dead for day 2, however, I decided to play out my rounds regardless.
Round 7: Affinity [Match 2-1, Tournament 3-4]
I said this was a good matchup but this was a closely fought match. Game 1 my opponent manages to chip my life total down after Dispatching my Torrential Gearhulk (which came as a surprise!). Games 2 and 3 were hard fought but my removal did its job and I managed to get the wins.
Round 8: RUG Scapeshift [Match 2-0, Tournament 4-4]
I won't lie, I think I got pretty lucky in this match. My opponent stumbled a little and I took advantage of that, killing them fairly quickly in both games with Countersqualls along side Snapcaster Mages and Lightning Bolts. This was aided by the same stuff I commented on in the UW control match, I had a better idea of what to counter when than my opponent did, so I could do things like bait a Cryptic Command and Dispel it.
Round 9: Merfolk [Match 1-2, Tournament 4-5]
The last match of the day was against Merfolk again. Game 1 he wins almost uncontested and I don't draw enough removal. Game 2 sweepers him Dismembering mean that he has no creatures and low life which Creeping Tar Pit mops up. Game 3 he has a huge amount of countermagic, and I can't resolve anything so I lose!
All in all I am reasonably happy with my play over the weekend, and also reasonably happy with my deck. My losses were:
2 Merfolk (1 on the back of mana screw)
1 Eldrazi Tron (on the back of mana screw)
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Burn
If I had been able to predict this was the field I was going to play against then I would have brought 2 Spell Snare, a card I cut before the event but now regret losing. I'm not entirely sure where they'll fit in my list but I think I will try and make space. They would have helped a lot in my second loss to Merfolk and might have given me the time I needed to get the second win against Burn. Other than that I mostly just need to draw slightly more lands than I did in some of my games! I didn't feel like I really punted any games through poor play and I am happy about that.
All this said, I've now not played anything but Cruel Control for months so I'm going to have a little break from the deck! I'll still be lurking though so feel free to ask questions.
Ok, so after my annual summer modern break I decided to go back into my cruel roots since we have a new Bolas in town. Won the FNM yesterday at my LGS going 3-0-1. List:
Match 1: Against Eldrazi Taxes 2-1
Lost game one, not even close, he had the nuts draw, I hadn't. Games 2 and 3 were quite different. Game 2 he had a Vial T1 which I destroyed with a K. Command, countered a few things, killed a few more, resolved Cruel Ultimatum and the Bolas. Game 3 no Vial, had all the removal/counter, won with Bolas.
Match 2: Against Esper Planeswalkers 2-0
We are the control deck with more counters better longer game plan. He mainly had discard, I mainly had counters. Both games ended with eventually out-card drawing him and winning with Bolas+Chandra.
Match 3: Against Esper midrange with Geist 1-1
Much closer, won game 1, lost game 2 to T3 unanswered Geist. Game 3 I would have won if only I had 1 extra turn. Sadly I didn't and we drew.
Match 4: Against Mono-U Tron 2-1.
I don't know how I won this match. Game one lost to a typical tron draw. Games 2 and 3 my opponent made a couple of mistakes which I had the chance to capitalize and won with Cruel into Snap Cruel and Bolas. Match absolutely atrocious, we have to be able to out-maneuver the opponent AND be lucky. Had 10+ sideboard cards, still uphill.
Opt reprint in Ixalan, boys. Would we want to drop or replace anything for it?
The two big choices to me are Serum Visions and Think Twice. Think Twice is card advantage, but slow. Serum Visions is cheap and gives the most looks at cards, but it's a sorcery which can be tough and since you draw first it can be clunky when looking for something. I think I would run 4 Opt then two Think Twice for the initial testing.
i also like the idea of playing Dark Intimations maybe instead of the thraximundar since it works well with nicol bolas and it is just a good value card that can come down earlier and can be targeted by snapcaster mage. and maybe change the spell snares for something else and cut a cruel ultimatum.
Ok, so after my annual summer modern break I decided to go back into my cruel roots since we have a new Bolas in town. Won the FNM yesterday at my LGS going 3-0-1. List:
Match 1: Against Eldrazi Taxes 2-1
Lost game one, not even close, he had the nuts draw, I hadn't. Games 2 and 3 were quite different. Game 2 he had a Vial T1 which I destroyed with a K. Command, countered a few things, killed a few more, resolved Cruel Ultimatum and the Bolas. Game 3 no Vial, had all the removal/counter, won with Bolas.
Match 2: Against Esper Planeswalkers 2-0
We are the control deck with more counters better longer game plan. He mainly had discard, I mainly had counters. Both games ended with eventually out-card drawing him and winning with Bolas+Chandra.
Match 3: Against Esper midrange with Geist 1-1
Much closer, won game 1, lost game 2 to T3 unanswered Geist. Game 3 I would have won if only I had 1 extra turn. Sadly I didn't and we drew.
Match 4: Against Mono-U Tron 2-1.
I don't know how I won this match. Game one lost to a typical tron draw. Games 2 and 3 my opponent made a couple of mistakes which I had the chance to capitalize and won with Cruel into Snap Cruel and Bolas. Match absolutely atrocious, we have to be able to out-maneuver the opponent AND be lucky. Had 10+ sideboard cards, still uphill.
Played again with the deck, went 2-2. I only changed a Negate to Dark Intimations which turned out to be a horrible choice. Drew the card too many times and always a burden. The deck functioned much better without it and the extra negate would have been useful more often than not. Chandra/Ultimatum/Bolas is just enough.
UUU Merfolk UUU "Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR "The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Hello again folks. Been a smattering of months since I checked in last. Been busy with work, depression, anxiety, general garbage like that. Figured I'd dust off a deck and take a crack at MtG again to get my mind off things. From Thursday's 30+ weekly to tonight's 40+ FNM, I am proud to report that I went 4-0 both nights, 17-3 games wise. I had a bye round 1 tonight due to my opponent never showing up. Here's my current list, updated from when I last poked my head up.
Now for the write up on the matches. Starting with Thursday.
Match 1: Grixis Control "Mirror" (2-0)
I hadn't played the game in a couple of months, he hadn't played in a year. A nice rousing way to start my return to the format, with a grindy control matchup, in which I drew all 4 Fatal Push, cast 1, and slowly killed him game 1 with a Tasigur and a pair of Tar Pits after a number of volleys of me dealing with opposing Tasigurs and Anglers and he dealing with my answers and, gods do I love the grind. Game 2, we were going to time, but he gave it to me when turn 0, I threw an Ultimatum at the dome when he tapped out to Damnation my Kalitas and Snapcasters and play a Tasigur. Swung life totals around, with me at 10 and him at 5, knocked out his hand, and killed the Tas. A good match.
Match 2: Jeskai Flash (2-1)
This was a match up I was wary about. Not because I particularly dislike the match up, but I have a lot of respect for my opponent who's an outstanding pilot with whatever deck he has, be it control, Jund, Shadow, or some other deck he decides to mess about with. Tonight was Jeskai, and boy howdy, did we go at it. Game 1, he hit me with a large concentration of burn spells and a maindeck Geist of St. Traft beat me over the head with a shovel a couple of times. Which was painful. Game 2, he stalled on lands, shortcutted two fetches at the same time, and I hit him with a Shadow of Doubt. Very quick concession. Game 3, I did what Bolas does: play the long game. Countered or killed every threat he came up with, including casting and flashing back a Damnation to deal with 2 St. Trafts and resolved Ultimatum into God-Pharoah into Snap off your library Ultimatum. A very good, close, interactive match. Gods I missed this deck.
Match 3: RW Norin Sisters (2-0)
I got paired down so slightly inaccurate meta data but still, the match was played and things happened. Jace +1'd both games into oblivion and fogged his board for some 40 life while he slowly dug into it with a Mirran Crusader. I played a Kalitas and a Damnation for his troubles and ripped through him game 1 with 6 Zombies and game 2 with lands from 56 to ded. Not a challenging match up, and extremely favored.
Match 4: Blue Moon (2-0)
Game 1 I played an As Foretold on turn 3 and watched my opponent lose to his own Blood Moon. He drew 2 Islands and mono nonbasics while I cast a lot of spells for free through a busted mythic. Game 2 I countered and Surgical'd his Moons, resolved an Ultimatum when he tapped low to resolve a Batterskull and fight over it, and drained him slowly with The Scarab God.
I'll comeback and edit this with the full write up tomorrow since it's 3 AM right now and my eyes are swimming as I type all this out. Also @Lil_Bolas , I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of looking at your deck. How's that looking?
Edits: Friday went 4-0 as well, with a round 1 bye due to my opponent who never showed up that night period.
Round 2: Jeskai Control (2-1)
Very good pilot, wery fun games. After attempting an Ultimatum and a NBGP, I eventually died to Colonnades and Snap beats. Game 2, he kept a shifty hand, sat on a fetch til he drew another, cracked both and I hit him with Shadow of Doubt. Played another fetch and I flashed Shadow back with Snapcaster. Very similar to Thursday night, in both deck and method of winning. Game 3, I got my lands blown up by Ajani and he proceeded to draw every land left in his deck. It was a very sad turn of events but I drew lands and threats and killed him. I had absolutely no right to win that match. It felt like cheating, honestly.
Round 3: Bant Company (2-0)
A friend of mine I hadn't seen in a while. A good match, with lots of banter and cursing and chicanery. Game 1 I baited the Spell Queller I had a feeling he had with an early Kalitas on turn 4 and proceeded to slam an As Foretold. Played a follow up As Foretold, staved off a few hits from the Queller to land another Kalitas through the first AF into Kommand a Hierarch for a Zombie through second AF, cast Snapcaster, flashback Kommand for second Hierarch, for a second Zombie and leaving him hellbent with a 3/4 Queller, he had a Gavony, and facing down Kalitas, 2 Zombos, and a Snap. Drew a company, cast it, whiffed, next game. Game 2, He kept a 1 lander with double Hierarch, Voice, and a Mirran Crusader. A very good hand. I survived til turn 3, kicked the Voice of my skyship, untapped and cast Damnation. He never cast a spell the rest of the game for lack of lands. A poor turn of events. But we're both used to that kind of thing and cracked jokes all the while.
Round 4: RG Hollowvine (2-1)
A hillbilly friend of mine played this one. Game 1, I clenched really hard and got 20'd on turn 3, from Hooting Mandrills, Become Immense, Temur Battle Rage. Game 2, I clenched harder and resolved a Kalitas with 4 removal spells in hand and got there. Game 3, I opened up Steam Vents, shock self, pass, holding a Ceremonious Rejection with a Surgical to stop the possible nut turn 1 Hollow One(s). Sure enough, he goes for it, I tell him to hold on, Reject the first 1, and Surgical the other 3 out of his hand. Scooped them up like Raisin Bran. Spectators lost their mind from the turn 1 16 power into 0 power, perfect answer.
This is how my deck will likely look when Ixalan releases. I will probably end up adding manlands back in and cutting bolts for something else.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Level 1 Judge
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU "Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR "The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
Thanks. I try to be thorough and go over the strong and weak points of the game. Otherwise, the sharing of information becomes halted and the concept stagnates.
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker is a very good Magic the Gathering card. He attacc. He protecc. But most importantly. He does not close the game out. Like at all. I mean, his ult does, but that's super far off. You have to plus him like 4 times to try and savage their board state so you can try to win and that's....lackluster for 8 mana when Ultimatum can do it for 7.
But in summary, NBP does not close a game easily, but NPGP does and more. Also, I know Telemin Performance isn't exactly like the +2 of NBGP. It's just the closest one in the game. Sue me.
I've been trying 2 Supreme Will the past few nights and unfortunately I will be cutting it. Impulse is nice, but I'm already clogged on 2 drops and I'd rather have a hard counter in the form of Negate or Squall.
I'm high as a kite on Nimble Obstructionist though. Had a game against Jeskai Nahiri where I countered Emrakul's shuffle trigger, and multiple walker and Snapcasters that would have killed me. All while he was sitting on Negates.
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
- Nicol Bolas
Note: The Supreme Wills are being replaced, probably with Countersqualls or Mana Leaks. The Mires will eventually become Tarns too. Jace is on the chopping block as well. Sometimes he's amazing, other times I wish he was something else, even just a think twice.
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
- Nicol Bolas
I think Kalitas is still pretty great though...
EDIT: Thought I'd make an actual contribution rather than just being negative!
FNM result from last night:
Round 1, Infect, 1-1
Hey I remember this deck! We have more removal spells than they have creatures and this guy wasn't packing enough protection to not just have everything die. He was however playing Contagion Engine whcih managed to sneak into play and kill me over a billion turns in game 2. Game three went to turns, if I'd had another turn he'd have been dead with 0 outs, but thats life I guess. I think i need to get my opponents to play a bit quicker sometimes, this guy spent ages thinking about some very simple decisions and it cost me a match win.
Round 2: B/W Smallpox 2-0
This is a really interesting matchup in my opinion. I think we're favoured, but getting an early Smallpox into Lily is still scary stuff. Countersquall shone here and he soon succumbed to Gearhulk beats.
Round 3: Bant Spirits 0-2
I genuinely think this is our worst matchup in the format. I've played this guy about 5 times and never felt like I even remotely had a chance. A deck full of flash threats that protect each other is a nightmare for us.
Round 4: Jeskai Solemnity combo 2-1
Really cool deck, really nice opponent, really fun magic. I made some blunders like trying to play Engineered Explosives as an answer for Solemnity but ultimately he was a combo deck that was going to be waek to control so it wasn't too hard. Hilariously in game 1 I beat him to death from 20 with the Swan Song token he had given me on turn 3.
All in all I'm pegging this as a 3-1 night with my loss coming to a deck I'm not sure we can beat without insane luck. Feeling reasonably good ahead of GP Birmingham in a couple of weeks!
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Mulldrifter
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
2 Fatal Push
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Serum Visions
1 Spell Snare
1 Thoughtseize
3 Remand
3 Terminate
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Kolaghan's Command
2 Cryptic Command
1 Damnation
2 Cruel Ultimatum
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Cascade Bluffs
2 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Sunken Hollow
2 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
2 Engineered Explosives
3 Dispel
2 Collective Brutality
2 Rakdos Charm
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Damnation
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
75 Cards Total
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
- Nicol Bolas
1 Blood Crypt
3 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Drowned Catacomb
1 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Steam Vents
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
Creatures
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Cryptic Command
3 Fatal Push
2 Kolaghan's Command
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Logic Knot
1 Negate
2 Spell Snare
3 Terminate
4 Ancestral Vision
1 Cruel Ultimatum
4 Serum Visions
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Ceremonious Rejection
3 Collective Brutality
2 Damnation
1 Dispel
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Rakdos Charm
2 Surgical Extraction
My deck was the above but -1 brutality and +1 dispel. I changed that after the event tonight to see if that improves my burn matchup at all since it's been absolutely abysmal for me.
Round 1: Jund Burn 0-2
Interesting deck, was mostly red green but splashing black instead of white. The only creature different than usual was vexing devils and as far as I could tell the black was there for claim/fame which actually gave him some resiliency so it was interesting to play against.
Game 1
Actually lasted much longer than I thought I would but I ran low on cards and couldn't keep up. With no clock on my end he was free to just keep jamming card after card at me and it got rough
Sideboarding
- 4 ancestral
- Bolas
+ 2 dispel
+ 2 brutality
+ 1 engineered explosives
Basically just cut the slowest cards and the weaker of my win conditions against burn since the life gain from Cruel makes it strictly better
Game 2
Got ran over again, never had a chance to get set up. Was caught in an awkward position at 2 life with an eidolon in play and terminate in hand. I hate this matchup lol
Round 2: Storm 2-1
Game 1
I countered the first gifts but it wasn't enough and he eventually found the second one and I had nothing left for it
Sideboard
- 4 ancestral
- 2 cryptic command
- 1 Bolas
+ 2 brutality
+ 2 surgical
+ 2 dispel
+ 1 rakdos charm
Again just cutting the slow cards in favour of more interaction. Rakdos charm would be good in response to past in flames and could potentially be a cute way to win if he goes nuts with goblin tokens
Game 2
Early snapcaster and a lot of permission to back it up got me the win, surgicalled his gifts after I countered it the first time which slowed him down tremendously
Game 3
This was a long one, I had 5 mana up along with jace, dispel, surgical and a land and he had an electromancer with 4 lands. I figured I had to try to get some cards so I slammed jace and held up dispel. On his turn he got me down to 5 with a grape shot and then cast past in flames. Unfortunately dispel was dead in my hand so in response I surgicalled his grapeshot instead. He tried to swan song and I used the dispel on that instead. I removed it and went through his deck and found he was down to just that one grapeshot and the only other storm card was goblin tokens. If I could keep jace alive he couldn't kill me so I crossed my fingers and hoped. My opponent then went off and created 36 goblin tokens. I upticked jace on my turn and my opponent went to read it because I don't think he realized it basically locked him out of the game. I drew a logic knot and just held up mana for that while attacking with creeping tar pit every turn. He eventually tried to bounce jace with his one echoing truth and he scooped when I countered it. Drew quite a crowd on that last game too it was very tense until I removed grapeshot
Round 3: Ad Nauseam 2-0
Game 1
Got incredibly lucky this game and won even though I thought for sure it was basically a straight to sideboard type of game. He kept a hand of every mana accelerant possible and ad nauseam. I tried to play an ambush viper turn 2 but he actually caught me with censor (didn't expect that one at all). He eventually ran out of cards though and cast ad nauseam by itself to refill which I countered. I started beating down with tar pit and snapcaster but he had unlife in play so it was an extremely slow clock. My opponent bought several turns for himself too with casting angel's grace to stay at exactly 1 life. I finally got him down to -1 and I had jace out. Eventually ulted him bringing in Bolas which destroyed unlife for the win on the spot. I got very lucky here early, by the end though even if he had drawn it I had virtually every counterspell I could ask for so he would need at least a pact or 2 for back up.
Sideboard
- 4 ancestral
- 3 terminate
- 2 fatal push
- 2 cryptic
- cruel ultimatum
+ 2 dispel
+ 2 brutality
+ 2 rejection
+ 1 explosives
+ 2 fulminator mage
+ 2 surgical
+ 1 rakdos charm
Took out the removal and expensive counters along with the weaker of my win conditions. Brought in almost every card in my sideboard, more or less just replacing bad cards rather than putting the best ones in
Game 2
Very smooth game for me, kept him low on mana by either countering or blowing up his mana rocks. Had snapcaster and fulminator out early as clocks and they eventually got there
Round 4: Goblins 2-0
This match was especially sweet for me; earlier in the night someone mentioned that there was someone playing Bolas tonight and he said something to the effect of "if you actually play Bolas in modern you're an idiot" and acted very smug about it.
Game 1
Easy game for me, resolved about 3 visions which got me so much card advantage that the few times he ever resolved a spell it was immediately killed. Snapcaster beats eventually got there
Sideboard
- 2 spell snare
- 2 cryptic
- bolas
- negate
+ 2 damnation
+ 2 brutality
+ 1 anger
+ 1 explosives
Took out one of the win conditions as always (depends on the matchup) and brought in every sweeper I could get my hands on.
Game 2
Now at the start of this game I'll give my opponent the benefit of the doubt but here's what happened; he finished shuffling before I did and had his deck out in front of me. I was in the middle of pile shuffling but to make things go faster I cut his deck and continued shuffling mine. When I looked back up he was shuffling again and I asked him, "going down to 6?" To which he said no he just wants to shuffle it again just to be sure. Now maybe he looked at the starting hand maybe not but it wasn't worth the hassle so I let it slide and just played the best I could. I had to mulligan down to 5 this game too but eventually got there. I had 2 damnations in my hand by turn 2 so I pitched one to brutality. I guess due to this my opponent overextended later into a jace thinking he was safe and got bushwhacker out there with 3 other creatures. I used cryptic to tap his team and then cast my other damnation on my turn which basically sealed the game even though it took another 3 turns to get there. Jace eventually ulted getting cruel ultimatum, my opponent was at 10 so I just showed him I would get back snapcaster with it to flash it back and he scooped. Goblins may be aggressive but due to most of their damage coming from creatures it's far more manageable than burn
Overall thoughts:
Burn was a miserable matchup as always and not quite sure what to do about it. It's tricky with grixis colours and being a slow deck but hopefully the extra brutality helps out. I'm also tempted to just give up on that matchup altogether and use the sideboard slots to give me an edge in closer matchups.
Jace is an absolute all star and I would never go below 2 in this deck. He consistently overperformed today and on other days gives me main deck outs to lingering souls and the like.
I used to run more creatures in this deck briefly but was thoroughly unimpressed with everything I tried (tasigur, kalitas, etc) since the overall creature count is so low that everyone has plenty of removal for it. I've been having better luck with a spell/planeswalker focus but it does worsen my combo matchups a bit since I lack an efficient clock
4x Bloodstained Mire
3x Countersquall
3x Creeping Tar Pit
2x Cruel Ultimatum
3x Cryptic Command
3x Damnation
3x Fatal Push
1x Fetid Pools
3x Island
3x Kolaghan's Command
4x Lightning Bolt
1x Mountain
4x Polluted Delta
1x Scalding Tarn
4x Snapcaster Mage
2x Steam Vents
2x Swamp
4x Terminate
4x Think Twice
2x Torrential Gearhulk
1x Wandering Fumarole
2x Watery Grave
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Countersquall
1x Crumble to Dust
2x Dispel
1x Jace, Architect of Thought
1x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Terminate
1x Vandalblast
Round 1: Ad Nauseam [Match 1-2, Tournament 0-1]
Round 1 was Ad Nauseam. In the dark I kept a reasonable game one opener which was basically lands and removal, great against most decks in the format, but not this one! Without having the right disruption my opponent's turn 5 kill wasn't impacted at all. Game 2 was both of us sitting there until my opponent decided to go for it, we had a fairly epic counter battle over Ad Nauseam which I came out of victorious and proceeded to beat him down with Torrential Gearhulk. Game 3 I kept a mediocre 6 and got run over by his turn 4 kill with Pact of Negation back up.
Round 2: UW COntrol [Match 2-0, Tournament 1-1]
As a slight aside, I love playing control mirrors. Having been on this deck for a couple of years I have more experience with the play patterns than many of the folks who've only just picked up UW since it became popular. This edge was fairly apparent in this match as my opponent did things like tap out to be aggressive with Celestial Colonnade, which I would then kill, untap and cast an uncontested Cruel Ultimatum. Both games saw me resolve multiple Ultimatums and carry on.
Round 3: Eldrazi Tron [Match 1-2, Tournament 1-2]
Game 1 I managed to win by drawing a bunch of Terminate and Damnations whilst beating down with Snapcaster Mage (who managed to full 20 points by himself!). Games 2 and 3 I feel I got a little unlucky. In both games I got stuck on three lands for ages whilst my opponent didn't and hit Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger or just beat down with Thought-Knot Seers whilst Damnation sat in my hand, uncastable. In my 25 land deck I don't feel like this should happen too much, but there you go.
Round 4: Merfolk [Match 0-2, Tournament 1-3]
Game 1 he plays a Kira, Great Glass Spinner on turn 3 and I never get the removal spells to tackle it. Game 2 is reminiscent of the match just before. I sit there with Anger of the Gods and Damnation in hand for about three turns with Watery Grave, Blood Crypt and Island in play before losing to the beats. Again, come out of this feeling a bit unlucky as mana screw means I now can't lose any more matches if I want to make day 2.
Round 5: Affinity [Match 2-0, Tournament 2-3]
This remains one of our best matchups, especially if you are playing 3 Kolaghan's Command and 3 Damnation in the main! Game 1 I win fairly easily, game 2 I take a little longer trying to answer my opponent's Inkmoth Nexus, but still win handily.
Round 6: Burn [Match 1-2, Tournament 2-4]
From one of our best matchups to one of our worst. Game 1 I somehow scrape a win after stabilising at 5 with multiple cards in my hand vs nothing in his. Game 2 I start beating him down with Snapcasters fairly early and get him down to 4 life and dead on board but he topdecks the Lightning Bolt to kill me (fair enough, it is most of his deck after all!). Game 3 is much less close, he burns me out fairly easily. I feel like I play this reasonably well, and gave myself the best possible chance to win, but it is an awful matchup and I came away feeling pretty crushed that I was now dead for day 2, however, I decided to play out my rounds regardless.
Round 7: Affinity [Match 2-1, Tournament 3-4]
I said this was a good matchup but this was a closely fought match. Game 1 my opponent manages to chip my life total down after Dispatching my Torrential Gearhulk (which came as a surprise!). Games 2 and 3 were hard fought but my removal did its job and I managed to get the wins.
Round 8: RUG Scapeshift [Match 2-0, Tournament 4-4]
I won't lie, I think I got pretty lucky in this match. My opponent stumbled a little and I took advantage of that, killing them fairly quickly in both games with Countersqualls along side Snapcaster Mages and Lightning Bolts. This was aided by the same stuff I commented on in the UW control match, I had a better idea of what to counter when than my opponent did, so I could do things like bait a Cryptic Command and Dispel it.
Round 9: Merfolk [Match 1-2, Tournament 4-5]
The last match of the day was against Merfolk again. Game 1 he wins almost uncontested and I don't draw enough removal. Game 2 sweepers him Dismembering mean that he has no creatures and low life which Creeping Tar Pit mops up. Game 3 he has a huge amount of countermagic, and I can't resolve anything so I lose!
All in all I am reasonably happy with my play over the weekend, and also reasonably happy with my deck. My losses were:
2 Merfolk (1 on the back of mana screw)
1 Eldrazi Tron (on the back of mana screw)
1 Ad Nauseam
1 Burn
If I had been able to predict this was the field I was going to play against then I would have brought 2 Spell Snare, a card I cut before the event but now regret losing. I'm not entirely sure where they'll fit in my list but I think I will try and make space. They would have helped a lot in my second loss to Merfolk and might have given me the time I needed to get the second win against Burn. Other than that I mostly just need to draw slightly more lands than I did in some of my games! I didn't feel like I really punted any games through poor play and I am happy about that.
All this said, I've now not played anything but Cruel Control for months so I'm going to have a little break from the deck! I'll still be lurking though so feel free to ask questions.
1 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Cruel Ultimatum
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
4 Cryptic Command
2 Logic Knot
2 Negate
1 Mana Leak
4 Serum Visions
3 Think Twice
3 Fatal Push
3 Terminate
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Kolaghan's Command
2 Damnation
4 Polluted Delta
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Steam Vents
2 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
1 Sunken Ruins
3 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
2 Sulfur Falls
1 Desolate Lighthouse
1 Anger of the Gods
3 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Collective Brutality
2 Dispel
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Terminate
Match 1: Against Eldrazi Taxes 2-1
Lost game one, not even close, he had the nuts draw, I hadn't. Games 2 and 3 were quite different. Game 2 he had a Vial T1 which I destroyed with a K. Command, countered a few things, killed a few more, resolved Cruel Ultimatum and the Bolas. Game 3 no Vial, had all the removal/counter, won with Bolas.
Match 2: Against Esper Planeswalkers 2-0
We are the control deck with more counters better longer game plan. He mainly had discard, I mainly had counters. Both games ended with eventually out-card drawing him and winning with Bolas+Chandra.
Match 3: Against Esper midrange with Geist 1-1
Much closer, won game 1, lost game 2 to T3 unanswered Geist. Game 3 I would have won if only I had 1 extra turn. Sadly I didn't and we drew.
Match 4: Against Mono-U Tron 2-1.
I don't know how I won this match. Game one lost to a typical tron draw. Games 2 and 3 my opponent made a couple of mistakes which I had the chance to capitalize and won with Cruel into Snap Cruel and Bolas. Match absolutely atrocious, we have to be able to out-maneuver the opponent AND be lucky. Had 10+ sideboard cards, still uphill.
UB Faeries (15-6-0)
UWR Control (10-5-1)/Kiki Control/Midrange/Harbinger
UBR Cruel Control (6-4-0)/Grixis Control/Delver/Blue Jund
UWB Control/Mentor
UW Miracles/Control (currently active, 14-2-0)
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
RW Burn (9-1-0)
I do (academic) research on video games and archaeology! You can check out my open access book here: https://www.sidestone.com/books/the-interactive-past
UUBBBRR Cruel Control
BRG BRgBurn
BR URStorm
-Commander-
B Chainer, Dementia Master - Reanimator
U Teferi, Temporal Archmage - Calimari Tribal [Retired]
GB Ishkanah, Grafwidow - Delirium/Tokens
The two big choices to me are Serum Visions and Think Twice. Think Twice is card advantage, but slow. Serum Visions is cheap and gives the most looks at cards, but it's a sorcery which can be tough and since you draw first it can be clunky when looking for something. I think I would run 4 Opt then two Think Twice for the initial testing.
http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=16544&d=302325&f=MO
he is using tezzeret the schemer as ramp instead of coalition relic which i thought was cool.
i also like the idea of playing Dark Intimations maybe instead of the thraximundar since it works well with nicol bolas and it is just a good value card that can come down earlier and can be targeted by snapcaster mage. and maybe change the spell snares for something else and cut a cruel ultimatum.
Played again with the deck, went 2-2. I only changed a Negate to Dark Intimations which turned out to be a horrible choice. Drew the card too many times and always a burden. The deck functioned much better without it and the extra negate would have been useful more often than not. Chandra/Ultimatum/Bolas is just enough.
New changes for next wee: -1 Think Twice/+1 Shadow of Doubt, back to 2 Negates, -1 Desolate Lighthouse/+1 Ghost Quarter (enough card-draw/filtering already), SB -1 Ghost Quarter/+1 Izzet statickaster.
Let me know what you guys think.
As for Opt, I will try it in every blue deck. I think it is a great addition, possibly going 3 Opts/3 Serum Visions/1 Shadow of doubt
UB Faeries (15-6-0)
UWR Control (10-5-1)/Kiki Control/Midrange/Harbinger
UBR Cruel Control (6-4-0)/Grixis Control/Delver/Blue Jund
UWB Control/Mentor
UW Miracles/Control (currently active, 14-2-0)
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
RW Burn (9-1-0)
I do (academic) research on video games and archaeology! You can check out my open access book here: https://www.sidestone.com/books/the-interactive-past
Edit: Going with 2 Think Twice + 4 Opt and two Pull from Tomorrow.
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU
"Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
// 1 Artifact
1 Coalition Relic
// 8 Creature
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 The Scarab God
// 3 Enchantment
3 As Foretold
// 15 Instant
2 Cryptic Command
4 Fatal Push
2 Kolaghan's Command
3 Mana Leak
1 Shadow of Doubt
3 Terminate
// 24 Land
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
3 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Dreadship Reef
3 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
3 Snow-Covered Island
3 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Swamp
1 Wandering Fumarole
3 Watery Grave
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharoah
// 6 Sorcery
3 Ancestral Vision
2 Cruel Ultimatum
1 Damnation
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Negate
1 Shadow of Doubt
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Collective Brutality
1 Never // Return
Now for the write up on the matches. Starting with Thursday.
Match 1: Grixis Control "Mirror" (2-0)
I hadn't played the game in a couple of months, he hadn't played in a year. A nice rousing way to start my return to the format, with a grindy control matchup, in which I drew all 4 Fatal Push, cast 1, and slowly killed him game 1 with a Tasigur and a pair of Tar Pits after a number of volleys of me dealing with opposing Tasigurs and Anglers and he dealing with my answers and, gods do I love the grind. Game 2, we were going to time, but he gave it to me when turn 0, I threw an Ultimatum at the dome when he tapped out to Damnation my Kalitas and Snapcasters and play a Tasigur. Swung life totals around, with me at 10 and him at 5, knocked out his hand, and killed the Tas. A good match.
Match 2: Jeskai Flash (2-1)
This was a match up I was wary about. Not because I particularly dislike the match up, but I have a lot of respect for my opponent who's an outstanding pilot with whatever deck he has, be it control, Jund, Shadow, or some other deck he decides to mess about with. Tonight was Jeskai, and boy howdy, did we go at it. Game 1, he hit me with a large concentration of burn spells and a maindeck Geist of St. Traft beat me over the head with a shovel a couple of times. Which was painful. Game 2, he stalled on lands, shortcutted two fetches at the same time, and I hit him with a Shadow of Doubt. Very quick concession. Game 3, I did what Bolas does: play the long game. Countered or killed every threat he came up with, including casting and flashing back a Damnation to deal with 2 St. Trafts and resolved Ultimatum into God-Pharoah into Snap off your library Ultimatum. A very good, close, interactive match. Gods I missed this deck.
Match 3: RW Norin Sisters (2-0)
I got paired down so slightly inaccurate meta data but still, the match was played and things happened. Jace +1'd both games into oblivion and fogged his board for some 40 life while he slowly dug into it with a Mirran Crusader. I played a Kalitas and a Damnation for his troubles and ripped through him game 1 with 6 Zombies and game 2 with lands from 56 to ded. Not a challenging match up, and extremely favored.
Match 4: Blue Moon (2-0)
Game 1 I played an As Foretold on turn 3 and watched my opponent lose to his own Blood Moon. He drew 2 Islands and mono nonbasics while I cast a lot of spells for free through a busted mythic. Game 2 I countered and Surgical'd his Moons, resolved an Ultimatum when he tapped low to resolve a Batterskull and fight over it, and drained him slowly with The Scarab God.
I'll comeback and edit this with the full write up tomorrow since it's 3 AM right now and my eyes are swimming as I type all this out. Also @Lil_Bolas , I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of looking at your deck. How's that looking?
Edits: Friday went 4-0 as well, with a round 1 bye due to my opponent who never showed up that night period.
Round 2: Jeskai Control (2-1)
Very good pilot, wery fun games. After attempting an Ultimatum and a NBGP, I eventually died to Colonnades and Snap beats. Game 2, he kept a shifty hand, sat on a fetch til he drew another, cracked both and I hit him with Shadow of Doubt. Played another fetch and I flashed Shadow back with Snapcaster. Very similar to Thursday night, in both deck and method of winning. Game 3, I got my lands blown up by Ajani and he proceeded to draw every land left in his deck. It was a very sad turn of events but I drew lands and threats and killed him. I had absolutely no right to win that match. It felt like cheating, honestly.
Round 3: Bant Company (2-0)
A friend of mine I hadn't seen in a while. A good match, with lots of banter and cursing and chicanery. Game 1 I baited the Spell Queller I had a feeling he had with an early Kalitas on turn 4 and proceeded to slam an As Foretold. Played a follow up As Foretold, staved off a few hits from the Queller to land another Kalitas through the first AF into Kommand a Hierarch for a Zombie through second AF, cast Snapcaster, flashback Kommand for second Hierarch, for a second Zombie and leaving him hellbent with a 3/4 Queller, he had a Gavony, and facing down Kalitas, 2 Zombos, and a Snap. Drew a company, cast it, whiffed, next game. Game 2, He kept a 1 lander with double Hierarch, Voice, and a Mirran Crusader. A very good hand. I survived til turn 3, kicked the Voice of my skyship, untapped and cast Damnation. He never cast a spell the rest of the game for lack of lands. A poor turn of events. But we're both used to that kind of thing and cracked jokes all the while.
Round 4: RG Hollowvine (2-1)
A hillbilly friend of mine played this one. Game 1, I clenched really hard and got 20'd on turn 3, from Hooting Mandrills, Become Immense, Temur Battle Rage. Game 2, I clenched harder and resolved a Kalitas with 4 removal spells in hand and got there. Game 3, I opened up Steam Vents, shock self, pass, holding a Ceremonious Rejection with a Surgical to stop the possible nut turn 1 Hollow One(s). Sure enough, he goes for it, I tell him to hold on, Reject the first 1, and Surgical the other 3 out of his hand. Scooped them up like Raisin Bran. Spectators lost their mind from the turn 1 16 power into 0 power, perfect answer.
So we've got the full Ixalan spoiler now, outside of Opt (which I'll be testing for sure) has anyone seen anything else they like the look of?
I don't hate Entrancing Melody as a sideboard card, a bit like Threads of Disloyalty with more flexibility.
In theory Bloodcrazed Paladin is an interesting card to follow a Damnation with but in reality he's just going to be too slow 99% of the time.
Search for Azcanta is an interesting card but I don't think we really need more late game grind.
I badly want to live the Primal Amulet dream but a 4 mana artifact is just too slow
Anything I missed?
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Polluted Delta
3 Island
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Steam Vents
2 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Blood Crypt
1 Watery Grave
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Smoldering Marsh
4 Fatal Push
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Terminate
2 Damnation
Counters
4 Cryptic Command
Card Advantage
4 Opt
3 Kolaghan's Command
3 Think Twice
2 Pull from Tomorrow
Creatures
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Torrential Gearhulk
Bombs
1 Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
1 Cruel Ultimatum
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 The Scarab God
2 Counterflux
2 Countersquall
2 Dispel
3 Collective Brutality
2 Anger of the Gods
This is how my deck will likely look when Ixalan releases. I will probably end up adding manlands back in and cutting bolts for something else.
Level 2 in progress...
UUU Merfolk UUU
"Above the waves you may be mighty indeed, but down here you belong to me."
-Empress Galina
UBR Cruel Control UBR
"The essence of every world, every spell, and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
-Nicol Bolas
How do you find nicol bolas, god-pharaoh compared to nicol bolas the planeswalker
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker is a very good Magic the Gathering card. He attacc. He protecc. But most importantly. He does not close the game out. Like at all. I mean, his ult does, but that's super far off. You have to plus him like 4 times to try and savage their board state so you can try to win and that's....lackluster for 8 mana when Ultimatum can do it for 7.
Now for our lord and God-Pharaoh. Bolas has started to really get back his old power and has channeled it into one mana less and a whole lot more game closing abilities. For starters, you can play him and just judo chop someone with his minus immediately. He also can steal a random spell from the top and mind rots the opponent to put them on the backfoot, more than say a Stone Rain or Mind Control would like with OG NBP. And, if absolutely necessary, you can reduce everything they have to nothing but their own folly for opposing you.
But in summary, NBP does not close a game easily, but NPGP does and more. Also, I know Telemin Performance isn't exactly like the +2 of NBGP. It's just the closest one in the game. Sue me.