I'm with tappingstones on this, Keranos is awful right now. You want the big bomb finisher for the grindy matchups, and Keranos is unplayable in one of the most important ones (namely the mirror). Elspeth is actually even better than Keranos in the BGx matcnups. On top of that, Elspeth is a Wrath for the Bant Eldrazi Matchup, where Keranos is practically useless.
I'm with tappingstones on this, Keranos is awful right now. You want the big bomb finisher for the grindy matchups, and Keranos is unplayable in one of the most important ones (namely the mirror). Elspeth is actually even better than Keranos in the BGx matcnups. On top of that, Elspeth is a Wrath for the Bant Eldrazi Matchup, where Keranos is practically useless.
^Agreed with this and TappingStones. Elspeth hits way harder than Keranos. Objectively, if you only had 1 slot for either Keranos or Elspeth, I think Elspeth is the clear winner.
Even ignoring mirror match disadvantage of Keranos (Nahiri -2), I think Elspeth is still better in almost every instance that you'd want Keranos. Elspeth's impact is so much faster and decisive.
On an empty board, she's scary. On a full board of creatures, she can stall and turn the tide extremely quickly; she can gum up the board or just wipe big offenders away. Her plus ability is a Timely Reinforcements every turn she gets to live. Her minus ability hits pumped Scavenging Ooze, Delirium Grim Flayers, Tarmogoyf, Siege Rhino, and pretty much everything in an Eldrazi deck.
To the God's credit though, Keranos dodges the 1/2-of Maelstrom Pulse/Dreadbore/Hero's Downfall that BGx decks like to tech. Gotta give props where it's due...
Reprints the one card that people point to when saying that art objectifies women.
Well done Wizards.
Liliana does not objectify women in any way at all. We have gotten to a point in our society that every single picture of a women must be objectifying a women in some negative way......blah blah blah.. That is not the case. (((Sarcasm)))Picture of a girl drinking a milk shake, must be sex related and putting women down, picture of girl sitting on a beach, picture of a girl driving a car, picture of a girl on the moon at a new space station.)))
You have a picture of an attractive strong power women who girls dress up as for anime conventions. What more do you want? The picture is fine, happy to see a reprint. Sick of of seeing people claim that everything in existence must be putting women down. Then all I have to do is replace the word "women" with anything else to get the same mentality; fish, cats, arabs, blacks, jews, men, environment, whites, chinese, old people, etc. It doesn't matter what word I put in. Stop sucking life out of everything man. That artwork of her is awesome. Stop putting stuff down man. Just stop. If the picture was really as negative as you claim she would totally nude, in a kitchen, making sandwiches and giving blow jobs. Her abilities would be horrible as well. +1 do nothing -2 do nothing -6 do nothing. Instead liliana of the veil is an amazing planeswalker comparable to jace, the mind sculpter with great art to appreciate.
My suggestion listen to some comedy radio for a while, pandora is free, youtube is free there is something out there for you. ***** go make fun of somebody. The whole world is so serious and campaigning for some cause, or someones rights, everything is a hate crime, racist, sexist. blah blah blah.
"O no mcdonalds must be slandering a hate crime against skinny people every time they make a big mac." hahaha jeeze You're just someone perpetuating another groups negative perspective that they've made you believe is correct. Look at the picture for a hour and tell me what's wrong with it? I don't see anything.
I have heard vague rumors of a moustache-dispensing vending machine in a distant laundromat, across the street from a tattoo parlor. However, this information is shaky, and time is of the essence.
I think you guys are misunderstanding me. I'm not arguing that Keranos is better than Elspeth at all. I agree that Elspeth is much better at stabilizing the board and turning the corner quickly. I played Keranos that night because I was too lazy to pull Elspeth out of my EDH deck and knew that no one else was running Nahiri, so he was pretty much guaranteed to stick every game I resolved him. Considering how good my matchup already was against the grindy decks people were playing, I knew a resolved Keranos would be enough to seal up the game in those matchups, so I didn't bother to dig into my bag at the last minute to put her in my SB. Keranos was already in my meta-box that I had sitting on the table.
Look at the card. Now back to Jace. Now back to that card, now back to Jace! Sadly, it isn't Jace, but if it stopped being a junk rare and became relevant, it could act like it's Jace. Crack some Worldwake. What do you have? You have a Jace, the card you wish this card could be like. Look again. THE CARD IS NOW A $75 BILL. Anything possible when you play Magic with Jace and not junk rares. This is probably spam.
I think you guys are misunderstanding me. I'm not arguing that Keranos is better than Elspeth at all. I agree that Elspeth is much better at stabilizing the board and turning the corner quickly. I played Keranos that night because I was too lazy to pull Elspeth out of my EDH deck and knew that no one else was running Nahiri, so he was pretty much guaranteed to stick every game I resolved him. Considering how good my matchup already was against the grindy decks people were playing, I knew a resolved Keranos would be enough to seal up the game in those matchups, so I didn't bother to dig into my bag at the last minute to put her in my SB. Keranos was already in my meta-box that I had sitting on the table.
^I knew what you meant (lazy).
I was just saying what I thought was objectively correct -- assuming going for optimal choices. Again, ignoring things like price, card availability, etc. Was just putting it out there for those who are actively choosing Keranos over other options as a sideboard choice.
Reprints the one card that people point to when saying that art objectifies women.
Well done Wizards.
Liliana does not objectify women in any way at all. We have gotten to a point in our society that every single picture of a women must be objectifying a women in some negative way......blah blah blah.. That is not the case. (((Sarcasm)))Picture of a girl drinking a milk shake, must be sex related and putting women down, picture of girl sitting on a beach, picture of a girl driving a car, picture of a girl on the moon at a new space station.)))
You have a picture of an attractive strong power women who girls dress up as for anime conventions. What more do you want? The picture is fine, happy to see a reprint. Sick of of seeing people claim that everything in existence must be putting women down. Then all I have to do is replace the word "women" with anything else to get the same mentality; fish, cats, arabs, blacks, jews, men, environment, whites, chinese, old people, etc. It doesn't matter what word I put in. Stop sucking life out of everything man. That artwork of her is awesome. Stop putting stuff down man. Just stop. If the picture was really as negative as you claim she would totally nude, in a kitchen, making sandwiches and giving blow jobs. Her abilities would be horrible as well. +1 do nothing -2 do nothing -6 do nothing. Instead liliana of the veil is an amazing planeswalker comparable to jace, the mind sculpter with great art to appreciate.
My suggestion listen to some comedy radio for a while, pandora is free, youtube is free there is something out there for you. ***** go make fun of somebody. The whole world is so serious and campaigning for some cause, or someones rights, everything is a hate crime, racist, sexist. blah blah blah.
"O no mcdonalds must be slandering a hate crime against skinny people every time they make a big mac." hahaha jeeze You're just someone perpetuating another groups negative perspective that they've made you believe is correct. Look at the picture for a hour and tell me what's wrong with it? I don't see anything.
I have heard vague rumors of a moustache-dispensing vending machine in a distant laundromat, across the street from a tattoo parlor. However, this information is shaky, and time is of the essence.
I might finally be getting the hang of this deck (and had a bit of good luck as well). I managed to go undefeated for the first time, drawing my last match to end 3-0-1, and ending 4-0-1 if you could the 'for fun' match I played. (My past results have been 1-3, 2-2, 2-1-1, 2-1-1, 0-3, 0-3, I think, so I'm definitely starting my report on a good note. :P) I'm still new enough that it was my first time playing against all of these decks except the last match, which was fun, though it led to some poor decisionmaking once or twice (other poor decisions were just stupid misplays on my part). Details as I recall them are below.
I don't own Rest in Peace, but also like the idea of being able to Surgical Extraction a key card in an opponent's combo without cutting off my own (since it seems like Emrakul often finds her way into my hand...). As it happens, I only faced one match where I wanted it, but it did good work there.
I'm a bid sad to not have a second Vendilion Clique in the sideboard since I'm always happy to draw it (I seem to target myself ~40% of the time just to improve my hand or bury Emrakul), but I'm trying out including more cards for difficult matchups (Crumble to Dust, graveyard hate) rather than doubling up on maindeck effects.
Round 1:BR Eldrazi (2-1)
Game 1: He had a draw that was fairly light on creatures, and I was able to land a turn 4 Nahiri, Snap-Path a Kalitas on turn 5, and attack with Snap and Emrakul to bring him from 16-0 on turn 6.
Game 2: Multiple Thought-Knot Seer draws, along with a Reality Smasher (or two?). I had no Nahiri, had removal for some of them, but he was able resolve an Endbringer and push through lethal with a Terminate on my Celestial Colonnade (which was on chump-blocking duty at that point anyway).
Game 3: I screwed up a few things in this game (mis-tapping to take 4 damage from a Thought-Knot Seer I had meant to Path, and just playing far too cautiously to avoid a Terminate on my Colonnade, and +2ing Nahiri to reshuffle an Emrakul in the hand (and my entire graveyard) instead of just -8ing for a Snapcaster to Bolt and attack), but managed to buy time with multiple Helixs, and then close out the game with burn.
Round 2:RWG Burn (2-1)
Game 1: Lost a quick game to Goblin Guide and double Swiftspear. A bit mana-screwed as well, drawing Ghost Quarter, Colonnade, and basic Island. I eventually GQ'd my Colonnade to search for a Plains to double-Path, but it was too little too late.
Out: AV x3, Remand x3
In: Timely, Blessed, EE, Negate x2, Wear // Tear
(In retrospect, I wouldn't sideboard this way -- I'd probably leave in AV and take out something else -- but it's what I did on the fly.)
Game 2: Opened with three lands and Timely - pretty great. Back up to 21 on turn 3, with three soldiers (which took care of a 2/2 Nactl) and then up to 16 again later in the game (with no soldiers, since I used Snap and she only had one creature). I cast Nahiri to exile Eidolon and eat an attack with Nactl and Guide (attacking with both meant I also got to keep my Soldier token to chump one more time, but lost the Nahiri) offered to trade Snap for her Swiftspear with a Snap + Colonnade attack, which she declined twice, taking her from 17 to 11 to 5 (in the meantime, I was able to hold up countermagic to counter enough of her plays to end the game at 14), and I was able to Bolt-Snap-Bolt for the win.
Game 3: She burned me down to 10, but I was able to play EE on 1 to kill two creatures. After bringing herself to 14 from fetching and shocking, I was able to land a Vendilion Clique and attack a few times to bring her to 8, then attack + Helix to 2, and Bolt for the win. She had a Searing Blaze in hand, but was met with my second Spell Snare.
Round 3:GWU Knight Retreat (2-1)
Game 1: Managed to remove some early creatures with countermagic and removal (Qasali Pridemage got Snared, Voice and Knight both met Path, etc.), but eventually died to a second Knight with Coralhelm active with no removal in hand.
Out: Spell Snare x2, Ancestral Vision x3, Vendilion Clique
In: Blessed Alliance, Timely Reinforcements, Supreme Verdict, Surgical Extraction x2, Wear // Tear
(I'm not sure I like how I sideboarded for this match. I have a good idea of the cards I want to bring in, but am not sure what I want to cut.)
Game 2: I kill an early Knight, but he lands a second and then Eldritch Evolutions it for a Reveillark. The 'Lark hits me once, but I draw a Surgical Extraction and Extract two Knights from the graveyard and two from the deck, then kill the Reveillark. I land a Nahiri, and he isn't able to pull anything together in time and concedes.
Game 3: I fetch-shock-Bolt his T1 Hierarch, and then get Ghost Quartered leaving me with a Plains and Island, with no lands in hand. A turn or two later, he has Knight + Retreat, and decides to go all in. He sacs lands to pump the knight up to ~15/15, and gets a Kitchen Finks and Kessig Wolf Run in the process. He gives his Knight +0/+0 and trample with the last mana he has floating, and goes to attack. I have a Blessed Alliance, and he has no response. Meanwhile, he's also sacrificed all of his green sources, and is left with a Birds of Paradise, Evolution, and a couple other uncastable cards. I manage to draw a third land, Path the Finks, Helix him, and win with a couple Snapcaster attacks and a final Lightning Bolt.
This was a fun match. The combo is pretty quick, and with Kessig Wolf Run it's a bit scarier as well.
Round 4a: I.D.
My opponent wanted to get home earlier, and a draw for 3-0-1 gave both of us a good prize, so we drew. Luckily the seat next to me drew as well, so I got to play a fourth match.
Round 4b:GB Elves (2-0)
I played a couple of pre-sideboard matches against GB Elves for kicks since neither of us wanted to leave after three matches.
G1: Turn 1-2 he had Heritage Druid, Dwynen’s Elite, Archdruid, and another Archdruid. I had Anger of the Gods, and was able to resolve Nahiri a turn or two later, and found a second Anger to clear the board again and win.
Casual match. No sideboarding.
G2: I drew spot removal for the druids, and was able to flashback a Bolt/Helix/Path and chump with Snapcaster to keep the board relatively clear. I resolved a Nahiri, and +2d to 6. He CoCo’d and attacked, but I was able to chump with a Snapcaster to keep Nahiri at 2. I brought her back to 4, Snap-Bolt-chump + an additional removal to keep her at 4. Next turn I had Anger, and the following turn Cryptic Command to tap his team, and he conceded to the impending ultimate.
General thoughts:
- It only came up once, but Surgical Extraction was quite nice. I liked the targeted, one-sided effect, and that it can be played at instant speed while tapped out, but am concerned that against Dredge in particular the life cost may be too steep. I'm going to keep it in and see how it goes (I haven't seen anyone play Dredge at my shop yet, though).
- I am still liking the single Cryptic Command. I didn't do anything amazing with it this time, but a couple counter-draws and one tap-draw proved its worth.
- I like the change from a maindeck Timely Reinforcements to Anger of the Gods. Killing/exiling the creatures feels a lot better than buying a bit of time, though of course the sample size is small. I'm less confident about a third maindeck Lightning Helix vs. a second Anger of the Gods, but with two lifegain cards in the sideboard, I think I'm happy to keep it this way for now.
- Blessed Alliance was quite nice, even against the general BR Eldrazi deck, but especially against Knight Retreat. It's enough of a different effect that I'm happy with it in the sideboard.
Anyway, nothing earth-shattering, but I figured I'd share.
Against the Bant Knight-helm combo, why not bring in Engineered Explosives instead of Timely Reinforcements and Negates for your Mana Leaks (if he's also playing Chord of Calling or Collected Company)? Was Timely Reinforcements useful in that post-sideboard games?
Against the Bant Knight-helm combo, why not bring in Engineered Explosives instead of Timely Reinforcements and Negates for your Mana Leaks (if he's also playing Chord of Calling or Collected Company)? Was Timely Reinforcements useful in that post-sideboard games?
Mostly inexperience. No great insights here, unfortunately.
I didn't draw Timely in either post-sideboard game, so no comment on its usefulness. I also wasn't aware of Kessig Wolf Run until Game 3 (he didn't need it game 1), so I certainly overvalued how useful 1/1 chump blockers would be. As for Negate: I didn't see any non-creature spells other than Retreat to Coralhelm, Eldritch Evolution, one maindeck Path to Exile in game 1, and one of his two sideboarded Negates, which is why I didn't bring in my own. I left in Mana Leak for the flexibility, but perhaps that's wrong. Engineered Explosives probably deserves a spot, though I saw targets at 1, 2, and 3 CMC, which made it a little less appealing on the fly. Still, it's probably better than Timely Reinforcements. Something to keep in mind for the next time. Thanks for the comments.
Yea, if you don't see Chord or Collected Company, there's not much incentive to bring in Negate. I was mainly curious about Engineered Explosives though. It seems pretty good against that deck, but it's all good. You crushed the ones that mattered.
For those of you running lighthouse, do you really find it necessary?
I think with 4 Serum Visions and 4 Nahiri plus the ability to flashback visions with Snapcaster we have more than enough filtering.
I think that slot is much better occupied by land destruction. Many people run Ghost Quarter but I maintain Tectonic Edge is the best. With 3 copies of Mana Leak which are already taxed by the basic lands given from 4x Path to exile so I think Ghost Quarter can put you in situations where you turn off your Leaks, it also thins opponent, puts them ahead on land, etc.
It's still better than lighthouse as it can often act as creature removal. Manlands are rampant at the moment. GQ and Tec Edge both are solid removal "spells" which give you mana until you use them.
I have tested mind scensor and it isn't too good. Especially since they leave in Anger. I have done intensive testing in this matchup and so far the best way to win was through collonade. Try to counter the first ramp spell, have at least 2 crumble in the board and keep in path to exile. I have 1 main deck Logic knot which has worked wonders in the mu.Aside from this you should be able to race them but sometimes they draw one more Titan or have multiple valakuts in topdeck mode. I have also tried 2 surgical extraction in the side versus dredge and with 2 ghostquarters main they do some work against valakut as well. My plan for now is to board out nahiri and emrakul and side in 2 negate, 2 crumble, 2 surgical.
Sideboarding out Nahiri is a mistake. I would sideboard out any copies of Anger/Timely/wraths + any lightning Helix, electrolyze. Nahiri is the fastest way to win against them. Collonade takes years to kill them.
I've always found Mindcensor to hit a lot of decks but none of them hard enough
Our RUG Scapeshift matchup is pretty bad as they can protect the combo and we give them a lot of time, but the RG versions are very weak to countermagic and are more likely to play Valakut without instantly killing you, so Crumble to Dust is very good here.
To be very honest I wonder why this deck gets brought up so often; it's currently tier 3 and in my opinion just not a very good deck; it's slower than the fast combo decks and easier to disrupt than the slow combo deck. The deck feels like a desperate attempt to keep Valakut relevant now Scapeshift is too slow. Yes, the deck can sometimes just "have it" but so can mill.
I've always found Mindcensor to hit a lot of decks but none of them hard enough
Our RUG Scapeshift matchup is pretty bad as they can protect the combo and we give them a lot of time, but the RG versions are very weak to countermagic and are more likely to play Valakut without instantly killing you, so Crumble to Dust is very good here.
To be very honest I wonder why this deck gets brought up so often; it's currently tier 3 and in my opinion just not a very good deck; it's slower than the fast combo decks and easier to disrupt than the slow combo deck. The deck feels like a desperate attempt to keep Valakut relevant now Scapeshift is too slow. Yes, the deck can sometimes just "have it" but so can mill.
It's a fine deck but I think a lot of players are misplaying the match-up. People are boarding out Nahiri and trying to win with colonnade? There have been multiple people this week asking about Mindcensor even though it dies to the Valukut trigger and can just brick off and isn't very good in many match-ups (IMHO).
I think a lot of the worrying is due to play-skill and bad sideboarding, not to bad match-ups. And I think we are all here willing to help those that are having trouble.
While my list is a bit weird, and my meta is pretty diverse, I think loothouse is one of the best cards in the deck.
Its worth cutting if you need certain lands (tec edges/gq generally) and can't do without them, but the filtering ability is very strong.
Generally the valakut decks are fairly favorable against control, simply because at some point, without a specific hate card (ala crumble to dust) basically every draw they have turns into a threat. With an active valakut, every land and ramp spell is a lightning bolt at worst, and every creature is a creature.
With summoning trap, through the breach, emrakul, and scapeshift, in addition to titan, its fairly easy for them to catch us, and they only really need to have one or two "gotchas" for the game to be completely over.
I agree that I would much rather have nahiri as my wincon than colonnade + bolts, simply because tapping out every turn to peck away at them is simply not ideal.
That being said, if you see a good deal of representation, runed halo is a pretty reasonable card to play for them, alongside clique or crumble.
Currently Tier 3? I really doubt that is true. Keep in mind the ModernNexus/Salvation tiers are oudated, while both the Goldfish and Top8 sites have the deck at +3% meta, which is Tier 2 at least. Also, the deck already has multiple GP Top8s on its back and is among the top finishers online (5.4% this month so far). Besides, it is a new-ish and though matchup for us, so it is only normal people will come ask for feedback and help.
On that topic, I agree with TS: leave Nahiri in and side out Anger/Electrolyze. I do like Lightning Helix in the matchup, even if it's not awesome. Spicy sideboard tech: Hallowed Moonlight.
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Its in developing competitive right now which I consider tier 3, once tiers get updated and it's in tier 2 I'll consider it tier 2. I'm not really interested in keeping up with multiple sites' tier systems. It also doesn't change my opinion that it's not a very good deck, design wise.
That is just an aside though, really. If it's about beating the deck, they're weak against countermagic and crumble. Geist can provide a good clock. You also have to scout their deck as much as possible as there tends to be quite some variance between lists; some run Emrakul, some run Courser of Kruphix, some run Summoning Trap, some run none of those, some run all of those.
EDIT: Something else I wanted to briefly talk about; in what matchups do you guys take out Ancestral Vision? Personally I tend to shave one copy against superaggro decks like infect, burn, zooicide and affinity, but not all, as resolving one is still very common and really powerful but drawing multiples can be backbreaking. I've heard many people board out AV in the matchups where card advantage doesn't matter much, namely tron and RG Breach, but I'm not sure I agree with that.
EDIT: Something else I wanted to briefly talk about; in what matchups do you guys take out Ancestral Vision? Personally I tend to shave one copy against superaggro decks like infect, burn, zooicide and affinity, but not all, as resolving one is still very common and really powerful but drawing multiples can be backbreaking. I've heard many people board out AV in the matchups where card advantage doesn't matter much, namely tron and RG Breach, but I'm not sure I agree with that.
After reviewing the sideboarding guide in Jim Davis' article that I linked in this post, it seems like a general rule of thumb for sideboarding Ancestral Vision is something like this:
You need at least one source of card advantage; thus you never want to take out bothRemand and Ancestral Vision.
Against aggressive decks with many low-CMC spells (Burn, Zoo, Infect, Death's Shadow), take out Remand (since they can replay the spells easily) and keep in Ancestral Vision (for card advantage).
I suppose another way to say it more simply is: in the (non-control mirror) matchups where we don't have inevitability, take out Ancestral Vision and bring in something more aggressive.
I have yet to play a game vs. Tron or Scapeshift/Titanshift/BreachTitan, so I could be totally wrong. These observations are mostly the result of a lot of thinking and reading and watching streams rather than personal experience, so take them for whatever they're worth.
I suppose another way to say it more simply is: in the (non-control mirror) matchups where we don't have inevitability, take out Ancestral Vision and bring in something more aggressive.
I hadn't thought of it that way and it makes a lot of sense, thanks!
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^Agreed with this and TappingStones. Elspeth hits way harder than Keranos. Objectively, if you only had 1 slot for either Keranos or Elspeth, I think Elspeth is the clear winner.
Even ignoring mirror match disadvantage of Keranos (Nahiri -2), I think Elspeth is still better in almost every instance that you'd want Keranos. Elspeth's impact is so much faster and decisive.
On an empty board, she's scary. On a full board of creatures, she can stall and turn the tide extremely quickly; she can gum up the board or just wipe big offenders away. Her plus ability is a Timely Reinforcements every turn she gets to live. Her minus ability hits pumped Scavenging Ooze, Delirium Grim Flayers, Tarmogoyf, Siege Rhino, and pretty much everything in an Eldrazi deck.
To the God's credit though, Keranos dodges the 1/2-of Maelstrom Pulse/Dreadbore/Hero's Downfall that BGx decks like to tech. Gotta give props where it's due...
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^I knew what you meant (lazy).
I was just saying what I thought was objectively correct -- assuming going for optimal choices. Again, ignoring things like price, card availability, etc. Was just putting it out there for those who are actively choosing Keranos over other options as a sideboard choice.
Mini-report from a Tuesday Night Modern event.
I might finally be getting the hang of this deck (and had a bit of good luck as well). I managed to go undefeated for the first time, drawing my last match to end 3-0-1, and ending 4-0-1 if you could the 'for fun' match I played. (My past results have been 1-3, 2-2, 2-1-1, 2-1-1, 0-3, 0-3, I think, so I'm definitely starting my report on a good note. :P) I'm still new enough that it was my first time playing against all of these decks except the last match, which was fun, though it led to some poor decisionmaking once or twice (other poor decisions were just stupid misplays on my part). Details as I recall them are below.
3x Celestial Colonnade
4x Flooded Strand
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Hallowed Fountain
2x Island
1x Mountain
1x Plains
1x Sacred Foundry
4x Scalding Tarn
3x Spirebluff Canal
2x Steam Vents
Planeswalker (4)
4x Nahiri, the Harbinger
1x Cryptic Command
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Lightning Helix
2x Mana Leak
4x Path to Exile
3x Remand
2x Spell Snare
Sorcery (9)
3x Ancestral Vision
2x Anger of the Gods
4x Serum Visions
Creature (6)
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4x Snapcaster Mage
1x Vendilion Clique
1x Blessed Alliance
2x Crumble to Dust
1x Engineered Explosives
2x Geist of Saint Traft
1x Izzet Staticaster
2x Negate
1x Stony Silence
1x Supreme Verdict
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Timely Reinforcements
1x Wear / Tear
I don't own Rest in Peace, but also like the idea of being able to Surgical Extraction a key card in an opponent's combo without cutting off my own (since it seems like Emrakul often finds her way into my hand...). As it happens, I only faced one match where I wanted it, but it did good work there.
I'm a bid sad to not have a second Vendilion Clique in the sideboard since I'm always happy to draw it (I seem to target myself ~40% of the time just to improve my hand or bury Emrakul), but I'm trying out including more cards for difficult matchups (Crumble to Dust, graveyard hate) rather than doubling up on maindeck effects.
Round 1: BR Eldrazi (2-1)
Game 1: He had a draw that was fairly light on creatures, and I was able to land a turn 4 Nahiri, Snap-Path a Kalitas on turn 5, and attack with Snap and Emrakul to bring him from 16-0 on turn 6.
Out: Anger x2, Spell Snare
In: Verdict, Timely, Blessed Alliance
Game 2: Multiple Thought-Knot Seer draws, along with a Reality Smasher (or two?). I had no Nahiri, had removal for some of them, but he was able resolve an Endbringer and push through lethal with a Terminate on my Celestial Colonnade (which was on chump-blocking duty at that point anyway).
Game 3: I screwed up a few things in this game (mis-tapping to take 4 damage from a Thought-Knot Seer I had meant to Path, and just playing far too cautiously to avoid a Terminate on my Colonnade, and +2ing Nahiri to reshuffle an Emrakul in the hand (and my entire graveyard) instead of just -8ing for a Snapcaster to Bolt and attack), but managed to buy time with multiple Helixs, and then close out the game with burn.
Round 2: RWG Burn (2-1)
Game 1: Lost a quick game to Goblin Guide and double Swiftspear. A bit mana-screwed as well, drawing Ghost Quarter, Colonnade, and basic Island. I eventually GQ'd my Colonnade to search for a Plains to double-Path, but it was too little too late.
Out: AV x3, Remand x3
In: Timely, Blessed, EE, Negate x2, Wear // Tear
(In retrospect, I wouldn't sideboard this way -- I'd probably leave in AV and take out something else -- but it's what I did on the fly.)
Game 2: Opened with three lands and Timely - pretty great. Back up to 21 on turn 3, with three soldiers (which took care of a 2/2 Nactl) and then up to 16 again later in the game (with no soldiers, since I used Snap and she only had one creature). I cast Nahiri to exile Eidolon and eat an attack with Nactl and Guide (attacking with both meant I also got to keep my Soldier token to chump one more time, but lost the Nahiri) offered to trade Snap for her Swiftspear with a Snap + Colonnade attack, which she declined twice, taking her from 17 to 11 to 5 (in the meantime, I was able to hold up countermagic to counter enough of her plays to end the game at 14), and I was able to Bolt-Snap-Bolt for the win.
Game 3: She burned me down to 10, but I was able to play EE on 1 to kill two creatures. After bringing herself to 14 from fetching and shocking, I was able to land a Vendilion Clique and attack a few times to bring her to 8, then attack + Helix to 2, and Bolt for the win. She had a Searing Blaze in hand, but was met with my second Spell Snare.
Round 3: GWU Knight Retreat (2-1)
Game 1: Managed to remove some early creatures with countermagic and removal (Qasali Pridemage got Snared, Voice and Knight both met Path, etc.), but eventually died to a second Knight with Coralhelm active with no removal in hand.
Out: Spell Snare x2, Ancestral Vision x3, Vendilion Clique
In: Blessed Alliance, Timely Reinforcements, Supreme Verdict, Surgical Extraction x2, Wear // Tear
(I'm not sure I like how I sideboarded for this match. I have a good idea of the cards I want to bring in, but am not sure what I want to cut.)
Game 2: I kill an early Knight, but he lands a second and then Eldritch Evolutions it for a Reveillark. The 'Lark hits me once, but I draw a Surgical Extraction and Extract two Knights from the graveyard and two from the deck, then kill the Reveillark. I land a Nahiri, and he isn't able to pull anything together in time and concedes.
Game 3: I fetch-shock-Bolt his T1 Hierarch, and then get Ghost Quartered leaving me with a Plains and Island, with no lands in hand. A turn or two later, he has Knight + Retreat, and decides to go all in. He sacs lands to pump the knight up to ~15/15, and gets a Kitchen Finks and Kessig Wolf Run in the process. He gives his Knight +0/+0 and trample with the last mana he has floating, and goes to attack. I have a Blessed Alliance, and he has no response. Meanwhile, he's also sacrificed all of his green sources, and is left with a Birds of Paradise, Evolution, and a couple other uncastable cards. I manage to draw a third land, Path the Finks, Helix him, and win with a couple Snapcaster attacks and a final Lightning Bolt.
This was a fun match. The combo is pretty quick, and with Kessig Wolf Run it's a bit scarier as well.
Round 4a: I.D.
My opponent wanted to get home earlier, and a draw for 3-0-1 gave both of us a good prize, so we drew. Luckily the seat next to me drew as well, so I got to play a fourth match.
Round 4b: GB Elves (2-0)
I played a couple of pre-sideboard matches against GB Elves for kicks since neither of us wanted to leave after three matches.
G1: Turn 1-2 he had Heritage Druid, Dwynen’s Elite, Archdruid, and another Archdruid. I had Anger of the Gods, and was able to resolve Nahiri a turn or two later, and found a second Anger to clear the board again and win.
Casual match. No sideboarding.
G2: I drew spot removal for the druids, and was able to flashback a Bolt/Helix/Path and chump with Snapcaster to keep the board relatively clear. I resolved a Nahiri, and +2d to 6. He CoCo’d and attacked, but I was able to chump with a Snapcaster to keep Nahiri at 2. I brought her back to 4, Snap-Bolt-chump + an additional removal to keep her at 4. Next turn I had Anger, and the following turn Cryptic Command to tap his team, and he conceded to the impending ultimate.
General thoughts:
- It only came up once, but Surgical Extraction was quite nice. I liked the targeted, one-sided effect, and that it can be played at instant speed while tapped out, but am concerned that against Dredge in particular the life cost may be too steep. I'm going to keep it in and see how it goes (I haven't seen anyone play Dredge at my shop yet, though).
- I am still liking the single Cryptic Command. I didn't do anything amazing with it this time, but a couple counter-draws and one tap-draw proved its worth.
- I like the change from a maindeck Timely Reinforcements to Anger of the Gods. Killing/exiling the creatures feels a lot better than buying a bit of time, though of course the sample size is small. I'm less confident about a third maindeck Lightning Helix vs. a second Anger of the Gods, but with two lifegain cards in the sideboard, I think I'm happy to keep it this way for now.
- Blessed Alliance was quite nice, even against the general BR Eldrazi deck, but especially against Knight Retreat. It's enough of a different effect that I'm happy with it in the sideboard.
Anyway, nothing earth-shattering, but I figured I'd share.
Mostly inexperience. No great insights here, unfortunately.
I didn't draw Timely in either post-sideboard game, so no comment on its usefulness. I also wasn't aware of Kessig Wolf Run until Game 3 (he didn't need it game 1), so I certainly overvalued how useful 1/1 chump blockers would be. As for Negate: I didn't see any non-creature spells other than Retreat to Coralhelm, Eldritch Evolution, one maindeck Path to Exile in game 1, and one of his two sideboarded Negates, which is why I didn't bring in my own. I left in Mana Leak for the flexibility, but perhaps that's wrong. Engineered Explosives probably deserves a spot, though I saw targets at 1, 2, and 3 CMC, which made it a little less appealing on the fly. Still, it's probably better than Timely Reinforcements. Something to keep in mind for the next time. Thanks for the comments.
I would make room for a loothouse
That seems like a mana dump at best with Nahiri in the deck.
I think with 4 Serum Visions and 4 Nahiri plus the ability to flashback visions with Snapcaster we have more than enough filtering.
I think that slot is much better occupied by land destruction. Many people run Ghost Quarter but I maintain Tectonic Edge is the best. With 3 copies of Mana Leak which are already taxed by the basic lands given from 4x Path to exile so I think Ghost Quarter can put you in situations where you turn off your Leaks, it also thins opponent, puts them ahead on land, etc.
It's still better than lighthouse as it can often act as creature removal. Manlands are rampant at the moment. GQ and Tec Edge both are solid removal "spells" which give you mana until you use them.
I recommend Tec Edge and then Ghost Quarter.
Sideboarding out Nahiri is a mistake. I would sideboard out any copies of Anger/Timely/wraths + any lightning Helix, electrolyze. Nahiri is the fastest way to win against them. Collonade takes years to kill them.
Our RUG Scapeshift matchup is pretty bad as they can protect the combo and we give them a lot of time, but the RG versions are very weak to countermagic and are more likely to play Valakut without instantly killing you, so Crumble to Dust is very good here.
To be very honest I wonder why this deck gets brought up so often; it's currently tier 3 and in my opinion just not a very good deck; it's slower than the fast combo decks and easier to disrupt than the slow combo deck. The deck feels like a desperate attempt to keep Valakut relevant now Scapeshift is too slow. Yes, the deck can sometimes just "have it" but so can mill.
It's a fine deck but I think a lot of players are misplaying the match-up. People are boarding out Nahiri and trying to win with colonnade? There have been multiple people this week asking about Mindcensor even though it dies to the Valukut trigger and can just brick off and isn't very good in many match-ups (IMHO).
I think a lot of the worrying is due to play-skill and bad sideboarding, not to bad match-ups. And I think we are all here willing to help those that are having trouble.
Its worth cutting if you need certain lands (tec edges/gq generally) and can't do without them, but the filtering ability is very strong.
Generally the valakut decks are fairly favorable against control, simply because at some point, without a specific hate card (ala crumble to dust) basically every draw they have turns into a threat. With an active valakut, every land and ramp spell is a lightning bolt at worst, and every creature is a creature.
With summoning trap, through the breach, emrakul, and scapeshift, in addition to titan, its fairly easy for them to catch us, and they only really need to have one or two "gotchas" for the game to be completely over.
I agree that I would much rather have nahiri as my wincon than colonnade + bolts, simply because tapping out every turn to peck away at them is simply not ideal.
That being said, if you see a good deal of representation, runed halo is a pretty reasonable card to play for them, alongside clique or crumble.
Currently Tier 3? I really doubt that is true. Keep in mind the ModernNexus/Salvation tiers are oudated, while both the Goldfish and Top8 sites have the deck at +3% meta, which is Tier 2 at least. Also, the deck already has multiple GP Top8s on its back and is among the top finishers online (5.4% this month so far). Besides, it is a new-ish and though matchup for us, so it is only normal people will come ask for feedback and help.
On that topic, I agree with TS: leave Nahiri in and side out Anger/Electrolyze. I do like Lightning Helix in the matchup, even if it's not awesome. Spicy sideboard tech: Hallowed Moonlight.
Frontier: UBR Grixis Control | BRG Jund Delirium
That is just an aside though, really. If it's about beating the deck, they're weak against countermagic and crumble. Geist can provide a good clock. You also have to scout their deck as much as possible as there tends to be quite some variance between lists; some run Emrakul, some run Courser of Kruphix, some run Summoning Trap, some run none of those, some run all of those.
EDIT: Something else I wanted to briefly talk about; in what matchups do you guys take out Ancestral Vision? Personally I tend to shave one copy against superaggro decks like infect, burn, zooicide and affinity, but not all, as resolving one is still very common and really powerful but drawing multiples can be backbreaking. I've heard many people board out AV in the matchups where card advantage doesn't matter much, namely tron and RG Breach, but I'm not sure I agree with that.
After reviewing the sideboarding guide in Jim Davis' article that I linked in this post, it seems like a general rule of thumb for sideboarding Ancestral Vision is something like this:
I suppose another way to say it more simply is: in the (non-control mirror) matchups where we don't have inevitability, take out Ancestral Vision and bring in something more aggressive.
I have yet to play a game vs. Tron or Scapeshift/Titanshift/BreachTitan, so I could be totally wrong. These observations are mostly the result of a lot of thinking and reading and watching streams rather than personal experience, so take them for whatever they're worth.
I hadn't thought of it that way and it makes a lot of sense, thanks!