How are people feeling about Skred in the current meta?
I have yet to beat Death's Shadow and it's running pretty rampant in my meta. Also Gifts Storm, Lantern, and Sun and Moon are appearing a bit more often, so lately my win rate has plummeted. Pretty demoralizing. I'm probably going to take a break for a bit unless I can figure something out.
And yeah, the new mobile site is terrible. Even in portrait view the banner is massive and the posts don't even use the full width of the screen.
Feels pretty unfavorable to me. There's very few targets that bolt gets a clean 1-for-1 off of, and skred feels very slow against DS and eldrazi decks. Lots of ramp decks as well, which skred has some game against but definitely not something you want to be playing against constantly.
Jund DS is winnable thanks to your m/d graveyard hate, grixis is awful though. Haven't played against the new storm but it seems better than the old builds, they run more bolt targets and without ascension you can just hold up relics so they can never cast Past In Flames.
I've been compensating with 2x Ratchet Bomb and 2x Roast maindeck to deal with DS/eldrazi, and Goblin Rabblemasters in the sideboard to try and race ramp. Am even considering cutting bolts or skreds next time I play the deck. Deck is fine if you're going to local events but it really needs something new to compete against the current field of tier 1 decks. Looking forward to trying out Harsh Mentor, maybe that will help a bit.
I've been getting more into mono white death and taxes lately, it's a big middle finger to the ramp and combo decks.
In our area I'm seeing all manner of Daeth's Shadow with Jund, Grixis, Abzan, and even Esper variants. I've been having trouble keeping up since they're all different. I will say, though, that "wait until they get low to burn them out" doesn't work against experienced players. Almost all the players here respect the potential for double Bolt, so it's quite difficult to steal wins that way. Blood Moon and land destruction can lock them out of the game, but it's so hard to have any of those cards stay in your hand when you're finally able to cast them.
Either way, appreciate the feedback. Will definitely give Ratchet Bombs a try in the main, and maybe toss in another Roast.
If you're having issues against combo decks, Boros Reckoner is really hard for them to deal with. Death's Shadow can't swing into it as easily, and any deck that wants to burn it has to take damage for it. This allows you to pop Relics more aggressively for card draw, and it gives us the Skred hadouken as a random way to steal games. Of course, you have to be really trying to hit the combo decks: if you're battling both midrange/control strategies and combo decks you're not going to feel too hot. That's one of this deck's bigest weaknesses: it can't excel in a meta split into combo decks and slow creature decks. It's just too much for Skred to handle, at least in my experience.
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I have had plenty of success with Skred lately. We have sweepers with anger, early creature interaction with bolt and skred, GY hate with relic, land hate with Blood Moon, card draw with relic, mind stone, and Chandra, explosive damage with koth, pia and kiran, and stormbreath. All of these is main board too. Not to mention destroying tokens, goyfs, death shadow easily with ratchet bomb.
Has anyone ever tried Ghost Quarter in the main to hedge versus Tron?
I know it's a non-bo with Blood Moon, but seems like it give some early, main deckable interaction instead of rushing out three mana land destruction post-board. Any thoughts?
Has anyone ever tried Ghost Quarter in the main to hedge versus Tron?
I know it's a non-bo with Blood Moon, but seems like it give some early, main deckable interaction instead of rushing out three mana land destruction post-board. Any thoughts?
I think it would be fine depending on how many cards you have that require double red. I'm just getting into the deck and my current build has reckoner and demigod so 2 Scrying Sheets would probably be the most I would want to go into colorless lands but even if you just have Koth, P&K, Anger, and Chandra it might be a little risky
Ghost Quarter seems pretty bad in this deck, not only it doesn't work with Blood Moon but the deck also needs its lands to cast the expensive finishers and sac'ing lands doesn't help getting there.
It looks like the flex spots were spent on ramp. Having the occasional explosive start from SSG is an interesting twist to what we usually do; most opponents won't expect that. Notably, four Angers is a lot of sweepers, and the sideboard artifact destruction is diversified, most likely as a hedge against Surgical Extraction-effects. This list would be rather unpredictable to play against, giving it another element of attack.
Also, first place was Ad Nauseum. That must've been a really depressing last match to play.
"*sigh* Welp, I guess this was inevitable."
First impression: cut the Mind Stones. They will not help you cast your Demigod of Revenge and Boros Reckoner. If you want to run mana rocks, you could use Coldsteel Heart or a Borderpost like Veinfire Borderpost. Of course, that means that you won't be able to cycle the Mindstones for fuel latter in the game.
Uninsipiring night tonight, ladies and gents. Got crushed 1-3 in this week's tournament. I used the same list as a month ago, with one substitution in the main -- a snow-covered mountain for a Gemstone Caverns, which never mattered, and a couple sideboard swaps, which also didn't matter.
Match 1: Grixis Delver
The first game might've been a shuffle problem -- I got three Blood Moons early and no threats. He fetched basics when he saw snow and when I finally landed Koth he Bolt/Snap/Bolted me.
Game two, I boarded out Angers and Blood Moons and boarded in Molten Rains and Rabblemasters. I landed one early, did some damage, and it turned into a war of attrition. Stormbreath got Terminated, a Koth mountain got Fatal Pushed. But he was fetching and shocking himself, and I drew out a counterspell or two with Molten Rain. We were both in single digits when I topdecked a Bolt and killed him while he was tapped out.
Game three was a laugher. He landed a Young Pyromancer while I had no removal in hand, and had counterspell protection and my Angers in the board he swamped me. I did get a Stormbreath out and tried to race, but I was a turn late -- he'd gotten a hardcast Tasigur.
This is a tough matchup when the guy's playing basics and Terminates in the main. I'm really not sure what would've helped me here.
Match 2: Burn
This is a guy I've played before. I beat him 2-1 last time, and this time the result flipped. The results of this match demonstrate the peril of playing the same people with the same decks.
I took game one easily -- I had an early Blood Moon, shutting him off white, and landed a Stormbreath after that. For game two, I sided out my Relics and put in two Dragon's Claws and my new toy, two Ratchet Bombs. I thought I was being smart -- this Burn player uses Eidolon of the Great Revel and Kor Firewalker, right? I did not put in my Rabblemasters or take out my Blood Moons.
Well...he sided out all his white, sided in his green and a Forest for Atarka's Command and Destructive Revelry, and kicked my butt. I had the Ratchet Bomb, and got it set to two, but there was never an Eidolon or a Firewalker -- he just clobbered me burn spells. He told me afterward he took out all his Eidolons because he knew I'd have reach to kill him -- so I was boarding in the cards to address what he was boarding out. Oops.
Ok, game three, I'm thinking. This time I landed a Dragon's Claw early and it absolutely didn't matter. I took him down to I think 3 life but he was faster. When I died, early, he showed me his hand -- he was drawing straight gas, all three-damage spells. Not much to do.
Ok, so now I'm 0-2 in matches, 2-4 in games, and feeling bad. Fortunately...
Match 3: Devoted Druid/Vizier of Remedies/Chord Combo
This feels like a good matchup. Game one, I have an Anger in my opening hand, which I use to two-for-one him early, and then Blood Moon. Game.
Game two: I side in the Ratchet Bombs again as extra boardwipes, taking out two Relics. He later tells me this was a mistake. Well, it doesn't matter much. I kill dorks on early turns and on turn four I have my proudest play of the night. He has Qasali Pridemage in play. I have two mountains and a Mind Stone. I Skred the Pridemage. He sacs it, targeting the Mind Stone. I tap in response, play a mountain, and Blood Moon. I think that's the game.
But two turns later he topdecks another Pridemage and kills the Blood Moon. He's back in business, but I keep his dorks in check until I ultimate Koth. He started to scoop, decided to play it out, and watched me take two turns to kill his dorks (and a Spellskite) and then him.
Ok, now I'm 1-2, but also 4-4. I'm thinking I can have a respectable showing here...
Match 4: RG Tron
LOL NOPE. Game one is a foregone conclusion. My opening hand, which I keep, not knowing what I'm facing, is three mountains, Blood Moon, Bolt, Skred, Anger. By the time I have a target for the elimination, said target is Wurmcoil Engine, which I do kill (Anger then Bolt so it exiles) but he plays another Wurmcoil the next turn. I Skred that when it attacks to buy myself a turn and play Stormbreath, but Stormbreath can't race the tokens and he plays an Ugin anyway. F.
Game two, I sub out 4 Blood Moons for 4 Molten Rains, 3 Pia and Kirans for 3 Rabblemasters, and 3 Relics for Pithing Needle and Ratchet Bomb. I'm not sure what I was thinking with the Ratchet Bomb -- topdecking it would kill the Wurmcoil tokens? I do land the Rabblemaster on turn 3, hit for 1 and then 6 on turn 4, so the pressure is there. He plays Karn and exiles the Rabblemaster, but I respond by Bolting Karn and I play a Stormbreath the next turn, hitting him for 6 again. He's within range of dying but... Ulamog, exile the dragon and a mountain, oh, and, while we're at it, World Breaker.
I decide to play it out a turn, thinking maybe, given that he's at 7 and I have plenty of mana, there's a solution here. There is not. My topdeck is Chandra, Torch of Defiance, which is ordinarily pretty damn good, but can't save me, so I scoop.
Overall it was a bit discouraging, but I think I had a combination of some tough matchups and some bad decisions. I'm going to think more about this.
One of my general thoughts: why not Rabblemaster in the main? Yes, it's an aggro card and we're a control deck, but it's SO GOOD, and I feel like every match I lose is one where I need more threat density from minute one.
Sounds like you hit some rough matchups. Tron and Delver are easily some of our worse matchups, and Burn can be a bit of a coin toss.
Rabbles in the main is interesting. It could work, depending on how much removal is in the format. The suite of 1 cmc removal makes Rabble difficult to play mainboard, but I'm willing to be wrong.
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one thing i have found that since there seem to be a rash of control at my shop kinda like yours... I have gone back to old faithful Volcanic fallout ...cant be countered
I run 1 Anger main, 2 Fallouts main, 1 Anger in the Side along with Ratchet Bombs. Uncounterable is just too good in many matchups, and Fallout can at least Shock a combo deck if you need the reach.
I'd cut an Eternal Scourge. You don't want to draw multiples of them because you should be able to recur them and recurring two costs too much to be useful.
Fill the spot with a Magma Jet. I've never been unhappy to see it. The sort is good, it's an extra elimination spell, and with Relic, Mind Stone, Scrying Sheets, and Chandra there's a lot of ways to take advantage.
I also was going to ask about Ricochet Trap. It seems a little underwhelming as a sideboard card against Grixis Delver, but I'm not sure what the better options are.
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Feels pretty unfavorable to me. There's very few targets that bolt gets a clean 1-for-1 off of, and skred feels very slow against DS and eldrazi decks. Lots of ramp decks as well, which skred has some game against but definitely not something you want to be playing against constantly.
Jund DS is winnable thanks to your m/d graveyard hate, grixis is awful though. Haven't played against the new storm but it seems better than the old builds, they run more bolt targets and without ascension you can just hold up relics so they can never cast Past In Flames.
I've been compensating with 2x Ratchet Bomb and 2x Roast maindeck to deal with DS/eldrazi, and Goblin Rabblemasters in the sideboard to try and race ramp. Am even considering cutting bolts or skreds next time I play the deck. Deck is fine if you're going to local events but it really needs something new to compete against the current field of tier 1 decks. Looking forward to trying out Harsh Mentor, maybe that will help a bit.
I've been getting more into mono white death and taxes lately, it's a big middle finger to the ramp and combo decks.
Either way, appreciate the feedback. Will definitely give Ratchet Bombs a try in the main, and maybe toss in another Roast.
I know it's a non-bo with Blood Moon, but seems like it give some early, main deckable interaction instead of rushing out three mana land destruction post-board. Any thoughts?
I think it would be fine depending on how many cards you have that require double red. I'm just getting into the deck and my current build has reckoner and demigod so 2 Scrying Sheets would probably be the most I would want to go into colorless lands but even if you just have Koth, P&K, Anger, and Chandra it might be a little risky
If you want to hate out "Tron" you can run Molten Rain (or Fulminator Mage/Stone Rain) in the maindeck.
RG Titan Scapeshift GR
UBWAd Nauseam WBU
CEldrazi TronC
Also, first place was Ad Nauseum. That must've been a really depressing last match to play.
"*sigh* Welp, I guess this was inevitable."
RG Titan Scapeshift GR
UBWAd Nauseam WBU
CEldrazi TronC
3 Boros Reckoner
4 Demigod of Revenge
2 Grim Lavamancer
3 Harsh Mentor
2 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
3 Blood Moon
4 Mind Stone
//Instant (8)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Skred
//Sorcery (3)
3 Anger of the Gods
//Planeswalker (4)
4 Koth of the Hammer
//Land (21)
2 Scrying Sheets
19 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Eternal Scourge
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Harsh Mentor
2 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Tormod's Crypt
Not sure on sideboard yet...
First impression: cut the Mind Stones. They will not help you cast your Demigod of Revenge and Boros Reckoner. If you want to run mana rocks, you could use Coldsteel Heart or a Borderpost like Veinfire Borderpost. Of course, that means that you won't be able to cycle the Mindstones for fuel latter in the game.
WBC Eldrazi & Taxes CBW
UR Keep on Cantripin' (UR Phoenix) RU
WU Surprise! It's not UW Control! (UW Midrange) UW
BG The Rock, Straight BG
U Mono-Blue Fish U
RBW Mardu Pyromancer BWR
RG Rabble! Rabble! (GR Blood Moon Aggro) GR
Legacy
W Death & Taxes W
3 Boros Reckoner
4 Demigod of Revenge
2 Grim Lavamancer
3 Harsh Mentor
2 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Eidolon of the great revel
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
4 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Blood Moon
//Instant (8)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Skred
//Sorcery (3)
3 Anger of the Gods
//Planeswalker (4)
4 Koth of the Hammer
//Land (21)
2 Scrying Sheets
19 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Eternal Scourge
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Harsh Mentor
2 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Tormod's Crypt
2 Dragon's Claw
2 Pia And Kiran Nalaar
Match 1: Grixis Delver
The first game might've been a shuffle problem -- I got three Blood Moons early and no threats. He fetched basics when he saw snow and when I finally landed Koth he Bolt/Snap/Bolted me.
Game two, I boarded out Angers and Blood Moons and boarded in Molten Rains and Rabblemasters. I landed one early, did some damage, and it turned into a war of attrition. Stormbreath got Terminated, a Koth mountain got Fatal Pushed. But he was fetching and shocking himself, and I drew out a counterspell or two with Molten Rain. We were both in single digits when I topdecked a Bolt and killed him while he was tapped out.
Game three was a laugher. He landed a Young Pyromancer while I had no removal in hand, and had counterspell protection and my Angers in the board he swamped me. I did get a Stormbreath out and tried to race, but I was a turn late -- he'd gotten a hardcast Tasigur.
This is a tough matchup when the guy's playing basics and Terminates in the main. I'm really not sure what would've helped me here.
Match 2: Burn
This is a guy I've played before. I beat him 2-1 last time, and this time the result flipped. The results of this match demonstrate the peril of playing the same people with the same decks.
I took game one easily -- I had an early Blood Moon, shutting him off white, and landed a Stormbreath after that. For game two, I sided out my Relics and put in two Dragon's Claws and my new toy, two Ratchet Bombs. I thought I was being smart -- this Burn player uses Eidolon of the Great Revel and Kor Firewalker, right? I did not put in my Rabblemasters or take out my Blood Moons.
Well...he sided out all his white, sided in his green and a Forest for Atarka's Command and Destructive Revelry, and kicked my butt. I had the Ratchet Bomb, and got it set to two, but there was never an Eidolon or a Firewalker -- he just clobbered me burn spells. He told me afterward he took out all his Eidolons because he knew I'd have reach to kill him -- so I was boarding in the cards to address what he was boarding out. Oops.
Ok, game three, I'm thinking. This time I landed a Dragon's Claw early and it absolutely didn't matter. I took him down to I think 3 life but he was faster. When I died, early, he showed me his hand -- he was drawing straight gas, all three-damage spells. Not much to do.
Ok, so now I'm 0-2 in matches, 2-4 in games, and feeling bad. Fortunately...
Match 3: Devoted Druid/Vizier of Remedies/Chord Combo
This feels like a good matchup. Game one, I have an Anger in my opening hand, which I use to two-for-one him early, and then Blood Moon. Game.
Game two: I side in the Ratchet Bombs again as extra boardwipes, taking out two Relics. He later tells me this was a mistake. Well, it doesn't matter much. I kill dorks on early turns and on turn four I have my proudest play of the night. He has Qasali Pridemage in play. I have two mountains and a Mind Stone. I Skred the Pridemage. He sacs it, targeting the Mind Stone. I tap in response, play a mountain, and Blood Moon. I think that's the game.
But two turns later he topdecks another Pridemage and kills the Blood Moon. He's back in business, but I keep his dorks in check until I ultimate Koth. He started to scoop, decided to play it out, and watched me take two turns to kill his dorks (and a Spellskite) and then him.
Ok, now I'm 1-2, but also 4-4. I'm thinking I can have a respectable showing here...
Match 4: RG Tron
LOL NOPE. Game one is a foregone conclusion. My opening hand, which I keep, not knowing what I'm facing, is three mountains, Blood Moon, Bolt, Skred, Anger. By the time I have a target for the elimination, said target is Wurmcoil Engine, which I do kill (Anger then Bolt so it exiles) but he plays another Wurmcoil the next turn. I Skred that when it attacks to buy myself a turn and play Stormbreath, but Stormbreath can't race the tokens and he plays an Ugin anyway. F.
Game two, I sub out 4 Blood Moons for 4 Molten Rains, 3 Pia and Kirans for 3 Rabblemasters, and 3 Relics for Pithing Needle and Ratchet Bomb. I'm not sure what I was thinking with the Ratchet Bomb -- topdecking it would kill the Wurmcoil tokens? I do land the Rabblemaster on turn 3, hit for 1 and then 6 on turn 4, so the pressure is there. He plays Karn and exiles the Rabblemaster, but I respond by Bolting Karn and I play a Stormbreath the next turn, hitting him for 6 again. He's within range of dying but... Ulamog, exile the dragon and a mountain, oh, and, while we're at it, World Breaker.
I decide to play it out a turn, thinking maybe, given that he's at 7 and I have plenty of mana, there's a solution here. There is not. My topdeck is Chandra, Torch of Defiance, which is ordinarily pretty damn good, but can't save me, so I scoop.
Overall it was a bit discouraging, but I think I had a combination of some tough matchups and some bad decisions. I'm going to think more about this.
One of my general thoughts: why not Rabblemaster in the main? Yes, it's an aggro card and we're a control deck, but it's SO GOOD, and I feel like every match I lose is one where I need more threat density from minute one.
Rabbles in the main is interesting. It could work, depending on how much removal is in the format. The suite of 1 cmc removal makes Rabble difficult to play mainboard, but I'm willing to be wrong.
Fill the spot with a Magma Jet. I've never been unhappy to see it. The sort is good, it's an extra elimination spell, and with Relic, Mind Stone, Scrying Sheets, and Chandra there's a lot of ways to take advantage.