Great job! Glad the deck is feeli g good in high-level play. My biggest question is how did you find the Chalice of the void? The perception of the card has been mixed here with its limited use when whirred, but I'm guessing running 3 to draw them naturally was to avoid that.
Great job! Glad the deck is feeli g good in high-level play. My biggest question is how did you find the Chalice of the void? The perception of the card has been mixed here with its limited use when whirred, but I'm guessing running 3 to draw them naturally was to avoid that.
Chalice is very strong. I think it is amazing against death shadow, burn, storm, ad nauseum, tron and living end. I have been very impressed.
Great job! Glad the deck is feeli g good in high-level play. My biggest question is how did you find the Chalice of the void? The perception of the card has been mixed here with its limited use when whirred, but I'm guessing running 3 to draw them naturally was to avoid that.
Chalice is very strong. I think it is amazing against death shadow, burn, storm, ad nauseum and living end. I have been very impressed.
To expand on this:
Death shadow- your bridges are often overwhelmed by their K commands and having chalice on 1 slows them down a significant amount.
Storm - chalice on 2 with a Pentad prism is a way to lock up the game for a long time. They need to find a hate card to win.
Burn - chalice on 2 is also very strong at locking up a game. Chalice on 1 is passable early.
Ad nauseum - chalice on 1 stops angels grace and cantripping. Then I use decays for unlife.
Tron - chalice on 1 stops 16 main deck cards and nature's claim from the board. Early is key. Joe said he really likes it on the play against tron but on the draw it isn't as powerful.
Living end - chalice on 0 is a very high tempo play that slows them down immensely. Can be whirred for as well, but normally relic is better.
I dunno - chalice can hurt your own cards quite a bit regardless of 0-1-2, and we can't ramp it out particularly fast - getting a t3 chalice means you played a mana rock and probably don't have a thotper foundry out - so now you need to whir for a foundry and get a sword somehow as well - thats a lot of strain on your whirs.
Meanwhile they've brought in maximum artifact hate and will almost certainly be able to get rid of a chalice if they need to. Worrying about kcommand blowing up bridge and bringing in chalice to fix the problem seems pretty bizzarre to me.
Just seems to me a lot of the same work can be done by trinisphere and relic without nerfing the hell out of your own deck.
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
I dunno - chalice can hurt your own cards quite a bit regardless of 0-1-2, and we can't ramp it out particularly fast - getting a t3 chalice means you played a mana rock and probably don't have a thotper foundry out - so now you need to whir for a foundry and get a sword somehow as well - thats a lot of strain on your whirs.
Meanwhile they've brought in maximum artifact hate and will almost certainly be able to get rid of a chalice if they need to. Worrying about kcommand blowing up bridge and bringing in chalice to fix the problem seems pretty bizzarre to me.
Just seems to me a lot of the same work can be done by trinisphere and relic without nerfing the hell out of your own deck.
Trinisphere doesn't really stop burn or death shadow. It's too slow for too low impact. It's strong versus storm but I want cards that are impactful for multiple matchups because modern is too diverse.
If grixis only has 3 or 4 artifact removal spells then having more must kill artifacts then they have spells is important. The answer to more artifact hate is either to trim your reliance on artifacts completely or overwhelm the limited hate they have. Grixis is the defacto best deck in modern on a competitive scene so making sure to have lock out cards like chalice is important.
Versus decks like ad nauseum where I want to chalice on 1 I cut most of my serum visions. I don't do this versus death shadow as you expect a critical mass of discard and need more top deck equity. Being aware of your sideboard strategy with cards like chalice is important. Another reason I don't like inquisition/push is it interferes with the chalice plan.
Chalice actually proactively locks out sideboard cards like nature's claim versus tron, revelry versus burn (they trim 1 drops for 2 drops post board), echoing truth versus storm.
Chalice can be used poorly of course. One of the reasons this deck is strong to me involves its strength in making sure you have a cohesive board plan.
A few questions for you.
1.) How was herald throughout the 3 days?
2.) Did you ever wish you had access to aether grid or was the anti hate enough for you?
3.) How did your post board games vs tron go? I want as much info as possible on that matchup because it seems abysmal
I also wanted to ask if you are going for a chalice on 2, do you later decay/pulse it when you want to assemble the combo, or are you relying on Herald as a finisher? I don't see trying to jam combo before chalice working out. Yes, a sideboard guide would be invaluable, I consider myself good with sideboarding but this deck as a lot of intricacies especially in certain matchups and some insight would be great. I can pay in +'s and emojis
A few questions for you.
1.) How was herald throughout the 3 days?
2.) Did you ever wish you had access to aether grid or was the anti hate enough for you?
3.) How did your post board games vs tron go? I want as much info as possible on that matchup because it seems abysmal
1) Herald was strong, but I tried replacing one with a Padeem for the classic (since Cuneo had one in his top 8 invi list) which felt pretty good. I like having access to herald versus stony silence decks and the faster clock, but realistically it could just be the 4th tezz. I like it versus Co-Co as a way to have more removal and grind out their advantage. Versus traditional jund it has been medium because they keep in all 4 lillies and you normally want to be bridging them. The card has pulled it's weight but I might try playing the 4th tezz and a padeem in practice.
2) I posted a handful of times trying to decide if grid was necesseary and to make a change before the event but I ended with it wasn't. I've never had issues with stony silence in my build. I had a scenario where bant eldrazi stony silenced me on 2, I then proceeded to play some artifacts, whir for a bridge, and sit behind it to tezz ult. His only answer for the bridge was EE, which conviently was shut off by the stony silence. Grid seems great in theory against coco, but I think it might be too slow versus decks like affinity. I'll likely try grid sometime here, but I've been much happier with access to 2 pulses/2 decay for random hate.
I think this is a good time to bring up that I'm not trying to rush a combo versus most players. I play to lock them out of the game first and then win after. Sometimes the combo is the fastest way to lock up the game, sometimes a bridge and dumping your hand is. This is also why I like Chalice in the board as it is a real win condition versus storm/burn and then you just technically need to finish the game.
3) Tron was a race to time seive normally (time seive pulled its weight all weekend). Post board I would try to needle x2 to stablize and either race to time seive or herald/tezz. Tezz beats weren't effective because they have multiple world breakers. I had 2 interesting games post board versus tron with needle. One game was versus Joe where I need to needle on 1 in order to whir in the correct timing. So my options are: 1) whir late and needle after something has hit, 2) name the relic of progenitus he has in play, 3) Name Karn as the most likely payoff that makes him keep his opening hand. I play towards hope that I need to name relic and assemble combo quickly. Naming the relic slows him down minorly and speeds me up minorly. Maybe his hand is weak and he needs the relic as a card. He ended up keeping natural tron Karn Relic 2 green cards. If I named Karn I'd win this game.
Another sideboard game versus Tron I needle Karn and needle O-Stone and assemble a herald to beat down and attack his hand. He finds natural tron with an extra tower and then ulamogs me on 5. I felt this game was very locked up. Unsure of a faster clock way to beat them. Or consider playing a bloodmoon effect in the board maybe (I'm not a fan of messing up the mana base for ghost quarter). I'm not super conserned as it's a rare matchup in the meta these days.
I also wanted to ask if you are going for a chalice on 2, do you later decay/pulse it when you want to assemble the combo, or are you relying on Herald as a finisher? I don't see trying to jam combo before chalice working out. Yes, a sideboard guide would be invaluable, I consider myself good with sideboarding but this deck as a lot of intricacies especially in certain matchups and some insight would be great. I can pay in +'s and emojis
I don't normally decay my own chalice. I normally either win with a tezz or whir for thopter foundry and cast sword into my own chalice to return by saccing something. Chalice on 2 locks out storm almost completely. They likely have 2 sideboard cards that dodge it. I've beaten 2x shatterstorms by playing a chalice on 2, he needed to shatterstorm, I assemble the combo and he needed to shatterstorm again, then I chalice on 2 again. This is another way to play around hate you expect. Storm normally has shatter storm/shatter spree/by force of some kind. So over extending extra artifacts into an already winning board might hurt you.
I play to lock them out first then find a way to win. Chalice on 2 buys you many turns against burn to find a tezz or assemble thopter foundry through your chalice. I also like going prism into chalice or brutality into turn 4 chalice versus burn because they likely keep hands based on multiple destructive revelry. The first artifact I want to expose if I can is chalice on 2 which stops their entire gameplan. I've beatten a burn opponent with 4x revelry in his hand before where he goes from not possible to lose to not possible to win.
I sideboard more organically than strict plans. Predicting how my opponents will play and how much they intend to rely on hate versus beat me in a fair game. I trim mana acceleration like mox/prism versus grindier/discard heavy decks because they are positive tempo and negative card quality, and in these matches I want higher top deck equity. Likewise if I need to drop a bridge to 0 immediately versus affinity/infect I cut serum visions as they are negative tempo but positive card quality.
I cut brutality versus most fair decks (jund/uwr/death shadow) as they are too low impact and my plan is not to be trading resources, but instead trying to assemble synergies.
I'll look to streaming/recording and laying down my sideboard plans clearer.
Interesting. Ulamog is the main reason I'm running a spellskite in the board of my deck. I'm going to a pptq and I know there will be minimum 3 of the 20-30 people there playing tron because they're the tron guys who play it regardless of its place in the meta. I've never particularly cared for padeem because I hate drawing 2 lands with bridge out. I play to be hell bent as much as possible that's partially why I've been a big fan of the single tutor. Do you think 2 pulse 2 decay is the best split or would 3 decay 1 pulse be mite optimal? I guess pulse gives more outs to things like karn in bad match ups
Interesting. Ulamog is the main reason I'm running a spellskite in the board of my deck. I'm going to a pptq and I know there will be minimum 3 of the 20-30 people there playing tron because they're the tron guys who play it regardless of its place in the meta. I've never particularly cared for padeem because I hate drawing 2 lands with bridge out. I play to be hell bent as much as possible that's partially why I've been a big fan of the single tutor. Do you think 2 pulse 2 decay is the best split or would 3 decay 1 pulse be mite optimal? I guess pulse gives more outs to things like karn in bad match ups
Spellskite doesn't seem like it really interacts well versus ulamog. It just throws away a card to partially beat their trigger. I'd rather play more proactive disruption.
Also the matches I would want padeem are grindier matchups or versus death shadow where having a bridge for 0 cards and 3 cards is irrelevant. Their guys will be 4 or 5 power at least. I would not want padeem versus Eldrazi or any deck you need bridge on 0.
Why play Time Sieve instead of Krark-clan Ironworks?
The only argument I can see is that, when drawn, it comes down faster... otherwise an EOT Whir for KCI with a foundry & sword on the board requires less mana than sieve for the win... Am I missing something?
KCI is a way worse card in your opening hand. It hurts you for bridge sometimes and slows down your whir draws. Time sieve also immediately wins. Letting your opponent to untap and ugin your board (blue thopters) then ulamog your deck is not great. Or letting them adnauseum with lab maniac, or against lantern letting them ignore your creatures (sieve let's you take infinite turns and find pulse/tezz). I've also used time sieve to manually take an extra turn and look for a missing piece with a tezz in play. Allowing me to gain a large amount of tempo mid game and be ahead or win on the spot.
I think the biggest argument is drawing KCI feels terrible where as drawing sieve is just slightly sub optimal. It's still a rock and you can conceivably use it without thopter+sword online for value KCI without the combo is even more do nothing and it can be difficult to get out of our hand.
TLDR: sieve over KCI because of cmc in a bridge deck
Other than chalice on 2 is collective brutality and just rushing thoptersword the best way to approach burn? I dont see any dragon claws or elixir of immortality or sun droplets in peoples lists.
Interesting take on aether grid. Possible it isnt doing as much as I think.
Also glad to hear a rationale for sieve vs kci. Altho I agree sometimes its slow getting the 5 mana - im testing more talismans and fewer prisms to see if theres an ideal split (currently 4prism 1talisman is my stock count)
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* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Other than chalice on 2 is collective brutality and just rushing thoptersword the best way to approach burn? I dont see any dragon claws or elixir of immortality or sun droplets in peoples lists.
Interesting take on aether grid. Possible it isnt doing as much as I think.
Also glad to hear a rationale for sieve vs kci. Altho I agree sometimes its slow getting the 5 mana - im testing more talismans and fewer prisms to see if theres an ideal split (currently 4prism 1talisman is my stock count)
Versus Burn my plan A is get thopter sword online quickly. To have time to do this normally I need to brutality or chalice on 2 as a bridge to the combo. Even just playing a thopter foundry and sacrificing a mishra's bauble to gain a life and block a guy is pretty good at slowing them down. The plan B is if they run out of cards and play an eidelon, playing a tezz and making a 5/5 and attacking can lock them out of their own spells. They tend to need to chump block.
I also bring in a witchbane orb as a whir target if I can only get 1 piece, but it's a bit too slow as a main gameplan.
Hah, that was me. I remember that damned mis-click in the 3rd game... Sort of an uninspiring set of matches unfortunately... For some reason I have run into Corbin a lot on the 2 man queues in recent weeks...
Im more and more inclined to run fatal push over inquisitions. There are a lot of small utility creatures out there that a simple bridge doesnt actually stop effectively. Druid combo is tough. Scavenging ooze, thalia, kataki and spell queller are also all very rough when resolved. And sometimes you need to stop the t1gob guide or t2 eidolon to buy time. Or knock off a baral or electromancer rather than die. Then id bring thoughtseize out of the board for times when push doesnt do much (eg combo).
How do people feel about the right mix of serum, iok, push and brutality? Those seem to be our "unrelated" spells that provide interaction and consistency but dont directly synergize with thoptersword or tez
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Im more and more inclined to run fatal push over inquisitions. There are a lot of small utility creatures out there that a simple bridge doesnt actually stop effectively. Druid combo is tough. Scavenging ooze, thalia, kataki and spell queller are also all very rough when resolved. And sometimes you need to stop the t1gob guide or t2 eidolon to buy time. Or knock off a baral or electromancer rather than die. Then id bring thoughtseize out of the board for times when push doesnt do much (eg combo).
How do people feel about the right mix of serum, iok, push and brutality? Those seem to be our "unrelated" spells that provide interaction and consistency but dont directly synergize with thoptersword or tez
With Molz7's recent success with the maindeck triple brutality, I am quite interested in switching to brutality main. It does really push us into quite a ludicrous number of 2-drops though which can be very clunky, but I suppose brutality naturally fixes this by allowing us to discard them. It does take away some of our T1 plays though, T1 hand disruption is very helpful. But at the same time, brutality really helps you get empty for bridge. I still don't think this is solved, other than push really being the worst of the three options (1 mana discard, brutality or push). I think 4 visions are a must, I think they've really earned their place in the list.
Brutality is never terrible. It is one of your better cards I find against the druid coco decks actually. Killing a combo piece and stealing a coco/chord is game changing for that matchup. Kataki is annoying but normally post board when I've added decay as well is when it comes up.
Game 1 my plan is to assemble a lock with a bridge, and then find thopter combo/tezz to win. Scavenging ooze is very easy to play around once you have time with a bridge in play. This matchup is also why I run a main deck cage. They need to naturally draw their 3 piece combo (druid/vizier/duskwatch) to win. With cage in the main and 3 brutality this matchup is from unfavorable to very favorable. I've played in a tournament where an opponent has infinite mana, coco and chord in hand, and a kitchen finks/vizier in play (infinite life/scrys), but a single cage stopped everything.
Brutality is also insane versus burn. Any game you resolve a brutality you've bought 3 cards worth of value and time for 2 mana. Burn tries to assemble 7 cards (3 damage each) to reach 20. Sometimes their creatures/Boros charm let them cheat down to 6 or 5 cards. Taking 3 of these worth of value is insane.
Push on the other side is actually terrible versus death shadow grixis as it rots in your hand when they don't have a shadow. My game plan versus that deck is to dump my hand as early as possible and play a top deck mode to nullify discard spells effect. Only cracking baubles when I have excess mana, or prioritizing the scry on serum visions more than the card drawn. Push is good when its good and terrible when its not. Bridge is priority one in this matchup, then protecting the bridge with a backup/jar, then thopters. They have removal rotting and just committing to the thopter plan they might be able to tempo you out.
My general plan is that trading resources with inquisition/push is not where we want to be. We want to be locking out entire sections of their deck by not playing creatures/ playing a bridge. Trading 1 for 1 and being tempo negative on a card like inquisition isn't what a combo/prison deck is trying to do. This is why I currently only play brutality. Post board I think discard is powerful to take their hate against the right matchups (I run thought seizes).
I also think 4 visions is very good, but you need to be willing to trim them in sideboarding. Like I said in an earlier post visions is about positive card quality and negative tempo. Spending mana to spin your wheels but dig a bit. Versus aggressive matchups we don't have enough time. I've also had matches where I have 2 visions in hand and a bridge and I can't find a way to get below 2 or 3 cards in time.
I just bought the deck on MODO, so I'll play around with it a bit and then look to stream/record.
@Molz: Hey, congrats on the finish! I have been reading your write-ups with interest and I find that you seem to find insight in a framework of proactive/reactive disprution vs tempo positive/negative play vs card quality/advantage in the context of a prison deck. But as much as I think there's knowledge to be gained from this, I can't seem to fully grasp it. Would you mind laying down general outlines of this theory for us? Thanks!
Here are some scattered bits that look like the tip of an iceberg we need to look at in it's wholeness:
Generally:
My general plan is that trading resources with inquisition/push is not where we want to be. We want to be locking out entire sections of their deck by not playing creatures/ playing a bridge. Trading 1 for 1 and being tempo negative on a card like inquisition isn't what a combo/prison deck is trying to do. This is why I currently only play brutality. Post board I think discard is powerful to take their hate against the right matchups (I run thought seizes).
I also think 4 visions is very good, but you need to be willing to trim them in sideboarding. Like I said in an earlier post visions is about positive card quality and negative tempo. Spending mana to spin your wheels but dig a bit. Versus aggressive matchups we don't have enough time.
On vs Tron:
Spellskite doesn't seem like it really interacts well versus ulamog. It just throws away a card to partially beat their trigger. I'd rather play more proactive disruption.
On SBing:
Predicting how my opponents will play and how much they intend to rely on hate versus beat me in a fair game. I trim mana acceleration like mox/prism versus grindier/discard heavy decks because they are positive tempo and negative card quality, and in these matches I want higher top deck equity. Likewise if I need to drop a bridge to 0 immediately versus affinity/infect I cut serum visions as they are negative tempo but positive card quality.
And lastly, looking forward to watching you streaming!
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UB Mill
Chalice is very strong. I think it is amazing against death shadow, burn, storm, ad nauseum, tron and living end. I have been very impressed.
To expand on this:
Death shadow- your bridges are often overwhelmed by their K commands and having chalice on 1 slows them down a significant amount.
Storm - chalice on 2 with a Pentad prism is a way to lock up the game for a long time. They need to find a hate card to win.
Burn - chalice on 2 is also very strong at locking up a game. Chalice on 1 is passable early.
Ad nauseum - chalice on 1 stops angels grace and cantripping. Then I use decays for unlife.
Tron - chalice on 1 stops 16 main deck cards and nature's claim from the board. Early is key. Joe said he really likes it on the play against tron but on the draw it isn't as powerful.
Living end - chalice on 0 is a very high tempo play that slows them down immensely. Can be whirred for as well, but normally relic is better.
Meanwhile they've brought in maximum artifact hate and will almost certainly be able to get rid of a chalice if they need to. Worrying about kcommand blowing up bridge and bringing in chalice to fix the problem seems pretty bizzarre to me.
Just seems to me a lot of the same work can be done by trinisphere and relic without nerfing the hell out of your own deck.
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Trinisphere doesn't really stop burn or death shadow. It's too slow for too low impact. It's strong versus storm but I want cards that are impactful for multiple matchups because modern is too diverse.
If grixis only has 3 or 4 artifact removal spells then having more must kill artifacts then they have spells is important. The answer to more artifact hate is either to trim your reliance on artifacts completely or overwhelm the limited hate they have. Grixis is the defacto best deck in modern on a competitive scene so making sure to have lock out cards like chalice is important.
Versus decks like ad nauseum where I want to chalice on 1 I cut most of my serum visions. I don't do this versus death shadow as you expect a critical mass of discard and need more top deck equity. Being aware of your sideboard strategy with cards like chalice is important. Another reason I don't like inquisition/push is it interferes with the chalice plan.
Chalice actually proactively locks out sideboard cards like nature's claim versus tron, revelry versus burn (they trim 1 drops for 2 drops post board), echoing truth versus storm.
Chalice can be used poorly of course. One of the reasons this deck is strong to me involves its strength in making sure you have a cohesive board plan.
1.) How was herald throughout the 3 days?
2.) Did you ever wish you had access to aether grid or was the anti hate enough for you?
3.) How did your post board games vs tron go? I want as much info as possible on that matchup because it seems abysmal
U Merfolk
UB Tezzerator
UB Mill
1) Herald was strong, but I tried replacing one with a Padeem for the classic (since Cuneo had one in his top 8 invi list) which felt pretty good. I like having access to herald versus stony silence decks and the faster clock, but realistically it could just be the 4th tezz. I like it versus Co-Co as a way to have more removal and grind out their advantage. Versus traditional jund it has been medium because they keep in all 4 lillies and you normally want to be bridging them. The card has pulled it's weight but I might try playing the 4th tezz and a padeem in practice.
2) I posted a handful of times trying to decide if grid was necesseary and to make a change before the event but I ended with it wasn't. I've never had issues with stony silence in my build. I had a scenario where bant eldrazi stony silenced me on 2, I then proceeded to play some artifacts, whir for a bridge, and sit behind it to tezz ult. His only answer for the bridge was EE, which conviently was shut off by the stony silence. Grid seems great in theory against coco, but I think it might be too slow versus decks like affinity. I'll likely try grid sometime here, but I've been much happier with access to 2 pulses/2 decay for random hate.
I think this is a good time to bring up that I'm not trying to rush a combo versus most players. I play to lock them out of the game first and then win after. Sometimes the combo is the fastest way to lock up the game, sometimes a bridge and dumping your hand is. This is also why I like Chalice in the board as it is a real win condition versus storm/burn and then you just technically need to finish the game.
3) Tron was a race to time seive normally (time seive pulled its weight all weekend). Post board I would try to needle x2 to stablize and either race to time seive or herald/tezz. Tezz beats weren't effective because they have multiple world breakers. I had 2 interesting games post board versus tron with needle. One game was versus Joe where I need to needle on 1 in order to whir in the correct timing. So my options are: 1) whir late and needle after something has hit, 2) name the relic of progenitus he has in play, 3) Name Karn as the most likely payoff that makes him keep his opening hand. I play towards hope that I need to name relic and assemble combo quickly. Naming the relic slows him down minorly and speeds me up minorly. Maybe his hand is weak and he needs the relic as a card. He ended up keeping natural tron Karn Relic 2 green cards. If I named Karn I'd win this game.
Another sideboard game versus Tron I needle Karn and needle O-Stone and assemble a herald to beat down and attack his hand. He finds natural tron with an extra tower and then ulamogs me on 5. I felt this game was very locked up. Unsure of a faster clock way to beat them. Or consider playing a bloodmoon effect in the board maybe (I'm not a fan of messing up the mana base for ghost quarter). I'm not super conserned as it's a rare matchup in the meta these days.
I don't normally decay my own chalice. I normally either win with a tezz or whir for thopter foundry and cast sword into my own chalice to return by saccing something. Chalice on 2 locks out storm almost completely. They likely have 2 sideboard cards that dodge it. I've beaten 2x shatterstorms by playing a chalice on 2, he needed to shatterstorm, I assemble the combo and he needed to shatterstorm again, then I chalice on 2 again. This is another way to play around hate you expect. Storm normally has shatter storm/shatter spree/by force of some kind. So over extending extra artifacts into an already winning board might hurt you.
I play to lock them out first then find a way to win. Chalice on 2 buys you many turns against burn to find a tezz or assemble thopter foundry through your chalice. I also like going prism into chalice or brutality into turn 4 chalice versus burn because they likely keep hands based on multiple destructive revelry. The first artifact I want to expose if I can is chalice on 2 which stops their entire gameplan. I've beatten a burn opponent with 4x revelry in his hand before where he goes from not possible to lose to not possible to win.
I sideboard more organically than strict plans. Predicting how my opponents will play and how much they intend to rely on hate versus beat me in a fair game. I trim mana acceleration like mox/prism versus grindier/discard heavy decks because they are positive tempo and negative card quality, and in these matches I want higher top deck equity. Likewise if I need to drop a bridge to 0 immediately versus affinity/infect I cut serum visions as they are negative tempo but positive card quality.
I cut brutality versus most fair decks (jund/uwr/death shadow) as they are too low impact and my plan is not to be trading resources, but instead trying to assemble synergies.
I'll look to streaming/recording and laying down my sideboard plans clearer.
Spellskite doesn't seem like it really interacts well versus ulamog. It just throws away a card to partially beat their trigger. I'd rather play more proactive disruption.
Also the matches I would want padeem are grindier matchups or versus death shadow where having a bridge for 0 cards and 3 cards is irrelevant. Their guys will be 4 or 5 power at least. I would not want padeem versus Eldrazi or any deck you need bridge on 0.
KCI is a way worse card in your opening hand. It hurts you for bridge sometimes and slows down your whir draws. Time sieve also immediately wins. Letting your opponent to untap and ugin your board (blue thopters) then ulamog your deck is not great. Or letting them adnauseum with lab maniac, or against lantern letting them ignore your creatures (sieve let's you take infinite turns and find pulse/tezz). I've also used time sieve to manually take an extra turn and look for a missing piece with a tezz in play. Allowing me to gain a large amount of tempo mid game and be ahead or win on the spot.
TLDR: sieve over KCI because of cmc in a bridge deck
Interesting take on aether grid. Possible it isnt doing as much as I think.
Also glad to hear a rationale for sieve vs kci. Altho I agree sometimes its slow getting the 5 mana - im testing more talismans and fewer prisms to see if theres an ideal split (currently 4prism 1talisman is my stock count)
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Versus Burn my plan A is get thopter sword online quickly. To have time to do this normally I need to brutality or chalice on 2 as a bridge to the combo. Even just playing a thopter foundry and sacrificing a mishra's bauble to gain a life and block a guy is pretty good at slowing them down. The plan B is if they run out of cards and play an eidelon, playing a tezz and making a 5/5 and attacking can lock them out of their own spells. They tend to need to chump block.
I also bring in a witchbane orb as a whir target if I can only get 1 piece, but it's a bit too slow as a main gameplan.
Hah, that was me. I remember that damned mis-click in the 3rd game... Sort of an uninspiring set of matches unfortunately... For some reason I have run into Corbin a lot on the 2 man queues in recent weeks...
How do people feel about the right mix of serum, iok, push and brutality? Those seem to be our "unrelated" spells that provide interaction and consistency but dont directly synergize with thoptersword or tez
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
Brutality is never terrible. It is one of your better cards I find against the druid coco decks actually. Killing a combo piece and stealing a coco/chord is game changing for that matchup. Kataki is annoying but normally post board when I've added decay as well is when it comes up.
Game 1 my plan is to assemble a lock with a bridge, and then find thopter combo/tezz to win. Scavenging ooze is very easy to play around once you have time with a bridge in play. This matchup is also why I run a main deck cage. They need to naturally draw their 3 piece combo (druid/vizier/duskwatch) to win. With cage in the main and 3 brutality this matchup is from unfavorable to very favorable. I've played in a tournament where an opponent has infinite mana, coco and chord in hand, and a kitchen finks/vizier in play (infinite life/scrys), but a single cage stopped everything.
Brutality is also insane versus burn. Any game you resolve a brutality you've bought 3 cards worth of value and time for 2 mana. Burn tries to assemble 7 cards (3 damage each) to reach 20. Sometimes their creatures/Boros charm let them cheat down to 6 or 5 cards. Taking 3 of these worth of value is insane.
Push on the other side is actually terrible versus death shadow grixis as it rots in your hand when they don't have a shadow. My game plan versus that deck is to dump my hand as early as possible and play a top deck mode to nullify discard spells effect. Only cracking baubles when I have excess mana, or prioritizing the scry on serum visions more than the card drawn. Push is good when its good and terrible when its not. Bridge is priority one in this matchup, then protecting the bridge with a backup/jar, then thopters. They have removal rotting and just committing to the thopter plan they might be able to tempo you out.
My general plan is that trading resources with inquisition/push is not where we want to be. We want to be locking out entire sections of their deck by not playing creatures/ playing a bridge. Trading 1 for 1 and being tempo negative on a card like inquisition isn't what a combo/prison deck is trying to do. This is why I currently only play brutality. Post board I think discard is powerful to take their hate against the right matchups (I run thought seizes).
I also think 4 visions is very good, but you need to be willing to trim them in sideboarding. Like I said in an earlier post visions is about positive card quality and negative tempo. Spending mana to spin your wheels but dig a bit. Versus aggressive matchups we don't have enough time. I've also had matches where I have 2 visions in hand and a bridge and I can't find a way to get below 2 or 3 cards in time.
I just bought the deck on MODO, so I'll play around with it a bit and then look to stream/record.
Here are some scattered bits that look like the tip of an iceberg we need to look at in it's wholeness:
On vs Tron:
On SBing:
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.