For Eiganjo Castle. It is a card (and I think GreatNate will agree with me) that you should NOT run if you are 4 colors. If you are a classic UWR list then it is a wonderful card. A 4 color list really cannot afford to run too many lands that do not provide multiple colors. If I remember correctly GreatNate lost a game where he had an Eiganjo Castle in play and a lot of black cards in hand. If it were a black fetch instead he could have won that game.
Your list looks like a merger between the list that whatehpho ran and mine. You run aven mindcensor and I run Tasigur, the golden fang. You run the hasty finisher, I run the grindy one. I also dropped one electrolyze for a K-Command. It is one of the few ways our deck can kill a spellskite without wasting a path to exile or double lightning bolt. Being able to destroy their spellskite while making them discard a card (at instant speed) or recurring a snapcaster mage from the graveyard is amazing. I've been wanting to find a way to run more K-Commands, but the list is so tight as is.
To help answer your question about cryptic command, let me ask you some instead. What decks is it great against? What decks is it terrible against? Does it improve your good matchups or just your bad ones? Cryptic Command is terrible in a format where people kill you in turns 3-4. It is great in a meta where people kill you turns 7+. Which are you expecting to play against?
I also recommend you playtest Tasigur a few times mainboard. In his place right now you have the Aven. Tasigur is basically like having a tarmogoyf that dodges inquisition of kozilek and abrupt decay. He walls off zoo (which is very big right now) or at least 2 for 1s them and can block siege rhinos all day long. His card draw is real and is maindeck help against all of the grindy matchups. If you have 1 or 2 of him mainboard, you do not need to devote any slots (other than lingering souls) sideboard against the grindy matchups. With crackling doom, tasigur, and lingering souls, you will be in good shape.
Please note my sideboard is a mess right now. I need to straighten it out before Sunday. My worst matchups (I feel) are Tron, Burn, CoCo, and Amulet Bloom.
I'd love feedback on my whole list: main and board.
GreatNate, I had a quick question on your mana base. You and the TeamGeist group have historically run 9 fetch lands. Your list only runs 8. It is the advent of serum visions that guided you to cut the fetch land or was it something else? (I know that serum visions helped you trim from 25 to 24 lands, I'm just surprised it was a fetch that was cut.)
You generally don't want to cut too many shocks. I'll never go below 4 shocks in my lists, and Serum Visions just helps solve mana problems so well. Fetches are largely irrelevant late game, so it makes sense to cut 1.
GreatNate, I had a quick question on your mana base. You and the TeamGeist group have historically run 9 fetch lands. Your list only runs 8. It is the advent of serum visions that guided you to cut the fetch land or was it something else? (I know that serum visions helped you trim from 25 to 24 lands, I'm just surprised it was a fetch that was cut.)
Did we? I want to say it was always 8, but please correct me if I'm wrong.
I went to a Grand Prix Trial today. Made it to the semi-finals. I even won a game where my opponent resolved a choke so that was exciting.
I lost to Abzan when I did not draw any lands. It stinks when you have the answers you need (Game one I had restoration angels in hand against his lingering souls but never drew a fourth land. Game two I never drew a path for his tarmogoyfs and never drew into a fetch land or black source to kill it with crackling doom) but don't draw the lands you need to play them. I guess that happens oh well.
I am not sure how I felt with the Ajani Vengeant out of the side board. He would have won a game by himself if my opponent hadn't cast a hero's downfall. I wasn't even sure anyone ran that in Modern. He might need to be an EE or a Kor Firewalker. Not sure yet. Or even a negate.
The deck is definitely playable. I met a few people who gave a lot of pushback about the viability of Geist in the meta. They insisted that Lingering Souls is 10x better than Geist main board. I still think Geist is the best card in the deck and I will not be cutting him main board. He is great. He wins games quickly if not answered and the deck is built around clearing the board for him.
I basically got beat up by Amulet and Tron. I wish I had kept the Aven Mindcensors in the SB, albeit I am not sure they are good enough. I plan to do a tournament report when I get some time (busy with work).
I am going to look into running Blood Moons in the side.
I went to a Grand Prix Trial today. Made it to the semi-finals. I even won a game where my opponent resolved a choke so that was exciting.
I lost to Abzan when I did not draw any lands. It stinks when you have the answers you need (Game one I had restoration angels in hand against his lingering souls but never drew a fourth land. Game two I never drew a path for his tarmogoyfs and never drew into a fetch land or black source to kill it with crackling doom) but don't draw the lands you need to play them. I guess that happens oh well.
I am not sure how I felt with the Ajani Vengeant out of the side board. He would have won a game by himself if my opponent hadn't cast a hero's downfall. I wasn't even sure anyone ran that in Modern. He might need to be an EE or a Kor Firewalker. Not sure yet. Or even a negate.
The deck is definitely playable. I met a few people who gave a lot of pushback about the viability of Geist in the meta. They insisted that Lingering Souls is 10x better than Geist main board. I still think Geist is the best card in the deck and I will not be cutting him main board. He is great. He wins games quickly if not answered and the deck is built around clearing the board for him.
Agree. Lingering Souls is a great main-board card, although much slower and grindier, but the deck isn't really built with that in mind.
Good days all, in the aftermath of SCG Philly I learned a few lessons and have posted my final deck list up top. As GeistofStDoom I like the more black and when I ran Lingering Souls from the board it was really good. Thundermaw Helkite was not as good as I wanted it to be for 5CC I think would have rather hand a Baneslayer Angel honestly (jk). Keranos was a true winner and Deflecting Palm won me 3 games by itself! I also learned Discard can really hurt a lot. Also this was the biggest modern IQ so far.
0-2 Abzan - First off this was a fully foiled deck with future sight foil goyf's. Before I dropped this guy was 5-0 and I think he went on to do well. First match was pretty even PtE a few goyf's, burn out a few oozes but I then ran out of gas. 3 consecutive land draws with him landing a Siege Rhino well you know how that goes. Game 2 I sided in souls pulled out 1 Thundermaw, 1 Geist, 1 random card he landed procedes to duress, thoughtsieze, inquistion me the first 3 turns then lands double grafts digger. He pulled all my gas, I started to land things but nothing of real value and fell flat on my face.
2-1 G/W/B Melira combo first game drew all lands (at this point a shuffle would be good) I did not see a lot of his deck but goyfs and knight. Brought in Deflecting Palm kept a 1 lands hand and two palms thinking I have to get a land. Famous last words, I proceeded to draw non lands for 4 turns he cracked many fetches to bring himself down to 15. I finally draw a white source (sitting on Scared Foundry now I play Godless Shrine) played untapped for puts me at 2. Next turn he swings exhalted trigger puts the Knight of the Reliquary 7, I palm it back. He reads the card and discovers the Spellskite he has out is useless, he shrugs and goes ok. I draw a card and make a frown face tell him to go. He draws plays a land cracks a fetch losses a life then swings in with 4 creatures, I palm it back at him and I win the game. I admit I should not have won that game. Next game I proceed to get gas and with with a well played linger souls, supreme verdict, combo to stop him the turn before he went off.
2-0 Aristocrats - Was a ver favorable match up for me.
1-2 Merfolk - Very close match played almost to time. Who knew post board that Crumble to Dust aimed at a Manavault was a real thing. My recurssion was a reall winner but in the end the shear amount of lords they have overwhelmed me and pro- red master of waves hurts our decks
1-2 Merfolk - Again great opp. Fired off 6 PtE in the first game won. Post board island walk is very hard for us even if we dont play our islands. As my oppt said it was very close and we both played strong my lack of drawing a blue source to activate my Colonade that IS NOT AN ISLAND or drawing Tasigur was not good.
SO I learned Tasigur needs to be a two of for my black splash and I think a Kcommand I would like to explore!
I had a great time and the deck worked well I think I amight move to a more @ GeistofStDoom list I think it might be better for me to play test with!
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Thanks to Argetlam over at Hakai Studios for the Sig!
Have you ever crossed the road, and looked the wrong way? A car's nearly on you? So what do you do? Something very silly. You freeze. Your life doesn't flash before you, 'cause you're too' scared to think - you just freeze and pull a stupid face
BW Midrange | G Legacy Elves | X MUD Weilder |X Affinity | R RDW | UWB Esper Stoneblade | W Death and Taxes | W Mono White Control (Modern) | UWRGeist Midrange (Modern) | UW Heroic | UWGrand Arbiter Augustin IV EDH
Also went to SCGPhilly for a premierIQ, didn't go as well as I hoped, but got some expeditions so that's neat:
Round 1 - Merfolk 1-2
G1 - He had a turn 1 cursecatcher with a turn 2 vial. I had creatures, lands, and a serum visions. Wasn't able to come back from his engine.
G2 - He played a Vial turn 1, a apellskite on turn 2, and two vials on turn three. I played a stony silence and then pierced his spell snare. it was pretty easy from there.
G3 - Landed a stony silence, drew 11 lands and lost to a mutavault hitting me for 2 every turn
Round 2 (0-1) - Goryo's Vengeance 1-2
G1 - he tried to go off on turn two in response to my fetch, his deck took a crap on him, and I was able burn him out after too many griselbrand activations.
G2 - As he was going off, my Remand -> Dispel wasn't as good as three Pact of Negations
G3 - Mulled to 5, saw a sacred foundry and 4 blue cards, mulled to 4 to eiganjo castle, bolt, remand and a steam vents. Not good enough lol.
Round 3 (0-2) - Tron 2-0
G1 - My opening hand was two serum visions, a geist, two tarns, a basic plains and a remand. I played the first two turns trying to look like a twin deck to keep him on his toes (also because I didn't have any other real turn 1 or two plays that were worth remanding) So I didn't play a white source until turn 3 to jam geist. He didn't have pyroclasm, and was able to path a late wurmcoil.
G2 - Landed a turn 3 geist, he played an O-stone turn 4, I main phased Cryptic'd the Stone back to his hand 2 times in the next two turns to get the damage through.
Round 4 (1-2) - Merfolk 0-2
G1 - He played a polluted delta into a watery grave and thoughtseize (took Path), I decided to visions on my turn 1 to dig for an answer for tasigur/exarch. Instead he played a vial and cursecatcher on turn two and I got blown out.
G2 - Got an EE out turn 2, wasn't prepared for the Kira on turn three
Round 5 (1-3) - Tron 1-2
G1 - This felt more like a regular tron matchup. He had the natural 7 mana on three, but nothing to do with it! I got luck that the geist got there before he could.
G2 - He turn 4'd boil'd through my tapped out geist. Then played an Ugin and got rid of the geist.
G3 - Was lucky to draw sulfur falls and keep fetches up until needed to avoid boil. Got a good bit of burn, but not enough creatures to make it work. Ulamog finished me.
Round 6 (1-4) - Infect 2-1
I think this guy was a beginner and probably the worst competitive REL opponent I've ever played. He called a judge on me when I tried to ghost quarter his inkmoth after he vines'd. I won in three, but don't think the reps were anything to really take anything away from. What do you really expect from the 1-4 bracket lol. The match next to me was Goblins vs. Maze's End, which I found really hilarious that Goblin Guide was just helping this guy out.
Anyhow, gonna test with pals and use cockatrice to get ready for Pitt.
However, scapeshift decks are no longer a tier one threat. And post side board they usually side in inferno titan anyways.
Per the most recent meta results on http://www.mtggoldfish.com/metagame/modern#paper we have to combat more RG Tron then ever before. As of right now it is the most played deck in modern. Amulet Bloom is the 6th most played. GBx decks, Naya Burn, and Affinity round out the rest of the top 6. Per the meta right now, today, blood moon might be the best sideboard (or hell even main board) card in modern. Maybe the Tron and Bloom decks winning is just a fad and it will pass. Maybe not, but those matchups are terrible for us. The solution? Blood Moon and/or Thoughtseize. Since UWRb cannot reliably turn one thoughtseize it might be worth looking at the alternative.
A deck built around Blood Moon that has the control aspects of UWR and the finishing power of Geist of Saint Traft sounds deadly for Amulet Bloom and Tron decks. That deck could run 2-3 Blood Moons main in the spots usually filled by cryptic command or other UU or UUU requirements. How would it fair against GBx decks? I'm not sure. I still think the collected company decks are just waiting to emerge as well.
Or we could be patient and wait for the meta to correct itself and keep jamming geist. I just wanted to acknowledge that Blood Moon is great right now and that the black splash cannot run it.
I prefer a grindier deck that can grind out wins it should not. Which is why I love the black splash. I'm really just looking for a solution to beat Tron and Amulet Bloom (mostly the bloom).
I feel like basic island gives us another out against decks that run blood moon main. Obviously if you have them, you can just always fetch into the two you may need, but against decks that run it maindeck, it's always nice to have an opener with an island over a vents in those situations. I rarely see myself casting two red spells a turn, so the need for basic mountain, double vents, sacred foundry and double sulfur falls seems a little overkill.
I have been on and off of this deck the last little while, but have ended up on a bit more of a burn heavy list than a lot of you guys here, so I'm not sure if my advice is as applicable to all of you, but I have actually been running 2 Blood Moons in the side with a couple extra basics in the mainboard. I currently run no cryptics in my deck, but I would think that you should take them out when you bring in the moons. Not only for the reason that they will be harder to cast, but against the decks you want Blood Moon against (assuming Tron and Bloom), cryptic is already a bit slow, and if you have a blood moon out, you have essentially locked them out of most of their big plays anyways.
I don't have my full list typed up anywhere, but I can post it here later tonight.
I am running 2 island, 2 plains, and 1 mountain for basics. and I have double blue and double white only on a couple spells each (Clique and Elspeth, K-E), though usually Elspeth gets cut in the blood moon matchups as well.
I was not saying this deck would be successful. I was just wondering if it was a proper reaction to a strong Tron/Bloom field. Granted a strong Tron/Bloom field could mean a resurgence in Affinity and Twin (which we are good against) or it could mean everyone starts packing Blood Moons (which we should be ready for).
I'm still testing and grinding through with my UWRb list. I am testing Aven Mindcensor as a 1 of maind board in place of 1 electrolyze and so far it has been ok.
I may have found an answer to slow down Tron and Amulet that is not Blood Moon
If I have Boom // Bust and I target an opponent's land and my arid mesa and then crack my fetch land in response without passing priority then the opponent's land is destroyed and mine is not.
This card could be the answer we are looking for in our 8-9 fetch land decks.
You need 3 lands in play for that to be possible. Destroying their land one at a time isnt actually all that effective. They have enough Eggs and Searches to be able to find a replacement. Its merely a tempo play to slow them down, so it generally doesn't do a whole lot unless we have a clock. This creates another problem, which is two-fold. We need to get Geist online already for the Boom // Bust tempo play to be meaningful. First, this means waiting until T4 to cast. Second, Geist dies to their Pyroclasms, which they will have an opportunity to play after we deploy on T3. Sounds good and all, but I think its a little bit fancy without actually accomplishing much more than a Molten Rain or...
Crumble to Dust, which is the best card against them outside of Blood Moon maybe. Given the latter can be pretty awkward depending on what lands we draw the former might be better for this deck. It essentially follows the same curve out as Molten Rain or Boom // Bust (T3 Geist into T4 destroy your land). And while it doesn't stop them in their tracks, it will keep them off Tron for the rest of the game and therefore hopefully give us enough time to finish the job before they start resolving more 6-7 mana threats. The main thing we have to dodge is T3 or T4 Tron into Karn or Ugin. There might be ways to play around this sort of line if we have counters instead of playing Crumble T3, which doesn't sound all that bad, since it is less crucial to have full tempo with Crumble. The alternative is that we Molten Rain before they get Tron and hope that they brick off on ways to dig for a replacement. Personally, I like the Crumble plan best.
For Eiganjo Castle. It is a card (and I think GreatNate will agree with me) that you should NOT run if you are 4 colors. If you are a classic UWR list then it is a wonderful card. A 4 color list really cannot afford to run too many lands that do not provide multiple colors. If I remember correctly GreatNate lost a game where he had an Eiganjo Castle in play and a lot of black cards in hand. If it were a black fetch instead he could have won that game.
Your list looks like a merger between the list that whatehpho ran and mine. You run aven mindcensor and I run Tasigur, the golden fang. You run the hasty finisher, I run the grindy one. I also dropped one electrolyze for a K-Command. It is one of the few ways our deck can kill a spellskite without wasting a path to exile or double lightning bolt. Being able to destroy their spellskite while making them discard a card (at instant speed) or recurring a snapcaster mage from the graveyard is amazing. I've been wanting to find a way to run more K-Commands, but the list is so tight as is.
To help answer your question about cryptic command, let me ask you some instead. What decks is it great against? What decks is it terrible against? Does it improve your good matchups or just your bad ones? Cryptic Command is terrible in a format where people kill you in turns 3-4. It is great in a meta where people kill you turns 7+. Which are you expecting to play against?
I also recommend you playtest Tasigur a few times mainboard. In his place right now you have the Aven. Tasigur is basically like having a tarmogoyf that dodges inquisition of kozilek and abrupt decay. He walls off zoo (which is very big right now) or at least 2 for 1s them and can block siege rhinos all day long. His card draw is real and is maindeck help against all of the grindy matchups. If you have 1 or 2 of him mainboard, you do not need to devote any slots (other than lingering souls) sideboard against the grindy matchups. With crackling doom, tasigur, and lingering souls, you will be in good shape.
For reference my list:
4 Arid Mesa
1 Blood Crypt
4 celestial colonnade
4 flooded strand
1 godless shrine
1 hallowed fountain
1 island
1 mountain
1 plains
2 sacred foundry
1 scalding tarn
2 steam vents
1 sulfur falls
1 watery grave
2 crackling doom
2 electrolyze
1 kolaghan's command
4 lightning bolt
4 lightning helix
4 path to exile
4 remand
4 geist of saint traft
3 restoration angel
4 snapcaster mage
2 tasigur, the golden fang
1 keranos, god of storms
Sideboard:
1 aven mindcensor
1 crumble to dust
1 kor firewalker
3 lingering souls
1 celestial purge
3 dispel
1 supreme verdict
2 wear / tear
2 stony silence
Please note my sideboard is a mess right now. I need to straighten it out before Sunday. My worst matchups (I feel) are Tron, Burn, CoCo, and Amulet Bloom.
I'd love feedback on my whole list: main and board.
Agree with you I do.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
Did we? I want to say it was always 8, but please correct me if I'm wrong.
Maybe I'm just remember Lucas Hyttel's list: http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=9945&d=257360&f=MO
Either way, how did the RPTQ go GreatNate?
1 blood crypt
4 celestial colonnade
4 flooded strand
1 godless shrine
1 hallowed fountain
1 island
1 mountain
1 plains
2 sacred foundry
1 scalding tarn
2 steam vents
1 sulfur falls
1 watery grave
2 electrolyze
1 kolaghan's command
4 lightning bolt
4 lightning helix
4 path to exile
4 remand
4 geist of saint traft
1 keranos, god of storms
3 restoration angel
4 snapcaster mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1x Celestial Purge
1x Counterflux
3x Dispel
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Kor Firewalker
3x Lingering Souls
1x Stony Silence
1x Supreme Verdict
2x Wear / Tear
I went to a Grand Prix Trial today. Made it to the semi-finals. I even won a game where my opponent resolved a choke so that was exciting.
I lost to Abzan when I did not draw any lands. It stinks when you have the answers you need (Game one I had restoration angels in hand against his lingering souls but never drew a fourth land. Game two I never drew a path for his tarmogoyfs and never drew into a fetch land or black source to kill it with crackling doom) but don't draw the lands you need to play them. I guess that happens oh well.
I am not sure how I felt with the Ajani Vengeant out of the side board. He would have won a game by himself if my opponent hadn't cast a hero's downfall. I wasn't even sure anyone ran that in Modern. He might need to be an EE or a Kor Firewalker. Not sure yet. Or even a negate.
The deck is definitely playable. I met a few people who gave a lot of pushback about the viability of Geist in the meta. They insisted that Lingering Souls is 10x better than Geist main board. I still think Geist is the best card in the deck and I will not be cutting him main board. He is great. He wins games quickly if not answered and the deck is built around clearing the board for him.
I basically got beat up by Amulet and Tron. I wish I had kept the Aven Mindcensors in the SB, albeit I am not sure they are good enough. I plan to do a tournament report when I get some time (busy with work).
I am going to look into running Blood Moons in the side.
Agree. Lingering Souls is a great main-board card, although much slower and grindier, but the deck isn't really built with that in mind.
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Restoration Angel
1 Thundermaw Helkite
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Spells 21
3 Electrolyze
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
4 Remand
2 Crackling Doom
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
3 Arid Mesa
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Sacred foundry
2 Steam Vents
2 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
1 Blood Crypt
1 Godless Shrine
1 Mountain
1 Plains
2 Wear//Tear
2 Kor Firewalker
1 Supreme Verdict
2 Deflecting Palm
3 Lingering Souls
2 Crumble to Dust
2 Dispel
Good days all, in the aftermath of SCG Philly I learned a few lessons and have posted my final deck list up top. As GeistofStDoom I like the more black and when I ran Lingering Souls from the board it was really good. Thundermaw Helkite was not as good as I wanted it to be for 5CC I think would have rather hand a Baneslayer Angel honestly (jk). Keranos was a true winner and Deflecting Palm won me 3 games by itself! I also learned Discard can really hurt a lot. Also this was the biggest modern IQ so far.
0-2 Abzan - First off this was a fully foiled deck with future sight foil goyf's. Before I dropped this guy was 5-0 and I think he went on to do well. First match was pretty even PtE a few goyf's, burn out a few oozes but I then ran out of gas. 3 consecutive land draws with him landing a Siege Rhino well you know how that goes. Game 2 I sided in souls pulled out 1 Thundermaw, 1 Geist, 1 random card he landed procedes to duress, thoughtsieze, inquistion me the first 3 turns then lands double grafts digger. He pulled all my gas, I started to land things but nothing of real value and fell flat on my face.
2-1 G/W/B Melira combo first game drew all lands (at this point a shuffle would be good) I did not see a lot of his deck but goyfs and knight. Brought in Deflecting Palm kept a 1 lands hand and two palms thinking I have to get a land. Famous last words, I proceeded to draw non lands for 4 turns he cracked many fetches to bring himself down to 15. I finally draw a white source (sitting on Scared Foundry now I play Godless Shrine) played untapped for puts me at 2. Next turn he swings exhalted trigger puts the Knight of the Reliquary 7, I palm it back. He reads the card and discovers the Spellskite he has out is useless, he shrugs and goes ok. I draw a card and make a frown face tell him to go. He draws plays a land cracks a fetch losses a life then swings in with 4 creatures, I palm it back at him and I win the game. I admit I should not have won that game. Next game I proceed to get gas and with with a well played linger souls, supreme verdict, combo to stop him the turn before he went off.
2-0 Aristocrats - Was a ver favorable match up for me.
1-2 Merfolk - Very close match played almost to time. Who knew post board that Crumble to Dust aimed at a Manavault was a real thing. My recurssion was a reall winner but in the end the shear amount of lords they have overwhelmed me and pro- red master of waves hurts our decks
1-2 Merfolk - Again great opp. Fired off 6 PtE in the first game won. Post board island walk is very hard for us even if we dont play our islands. As my oppt said it was very close and we both played strong my lack of drawing a blue source to activate my Colonade that IS NOT AN ISLAND or drawing Tasigur was not good.
SO I learned Tasigur needs to be a two of for my black splash and I think a Kcommand I would like to explore!
I had a great time and the deck worked well I think I amight move to a more @ GeistofStDoom list I think it might be better for me to play test with!
4 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Restoration Angel
2 Vendilion Clique
3 Serum Visions
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
2 Remand
2 Mana Leak
2 Electrolyze
2 Cryptic Command
4 Celestial Colonnade
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Flooded Strand
1 Arid Mesa
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Sacred foundry
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Eiganjo Castle
2 Dispel
2 Stony Silence
2 Kor Firewalker
1 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Counterflux
1 Valorous Stance
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Wear // Tear
1 Spellskite
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Celestial Purge
Also went to SCGPhilly for a premierIQ, didn't go as well as I hoped, but got some expeditions so that's neat:
Round 1 - Merfolk 1-2
G1 - He had a turn 1 cursecatcher with a turn 2 vial. I had creatures, lands, and a serum visions. Wasn't able to come back from his engine.
G2 - He played a Vial turn 1, a apellskite on turn 2, and two vials on turn three. I played a stony silence and then pierced his spell snare. it was pretty easy from there.
G3 - Landed a stony silence, drew 11 lands and lost to a mutavault hitting me for 2 every turn
Round 2 (0-1) - Goryo's Vengeance 1-2
G1 - he tried to go off on turn two in response to my fetch, his deck took a crap on him, and I was able burn him out after too many griselbrand activations.
G2 - As he was going off, my Remand -> Dispel wasn't as good as three Pact of Negations
G3 - Mulled to 5, saw a sacred foundry and 4 blue cards, mulled to 4 to eiganjo castle, bolt, remand and a steam vents. Not good enough lol.
Round 3 (0-2) - Tron 2-0
G1 - My opening hand was two serum visions, a geist, two tarns, a basic plains and a remand. I played the first two turns trying to look like a twin deck to keep him on his toes (also because I didn't have any other real turn 1 or two plays that were worth remanding) So I didn't play a white source until turn 3 to jam geist. He didn't have pyroclasm, and was able to path a late wurmcoil.
G2 - Landed a turn 3 geist, he played an O-stone turn 4, I main phased Cryptic'd the Stone back to his hand 2 times in the next two turns to get the damage through.
Round 4 (1-2) - Merfolk 0-2
G1 - He played a polluted delta into a watery grave and thoughtseize (took Path), I decided to visions on my turn 1 to dig for an answer for tasigur/exarch. Instead he played a vial and cursecatcher on turn two and I got blown out.
G2 - Got an EE out turn 2, wasn't prepared for the Kira on turn three
Round 5 (1-3) - Tron 1-2
G1 - This felt more like a regular tron matchup. He had the natural 7 mana on three, but nothing to do with it! I got luck that the geist got there before he could.
G2 - He turn 4'd boil'd through my tapped out geist. Then played an Ugin and got rid of the geist.
G3 - Was lucky to draw sulfur falls and keep fetches up until needed to avoid boil. Got a good bit of burn, but not enough creatures to make it work. Ulamog finished me.
Round 6 (1-4) - Infect 2-1
I think this guy was a beginner and probably the worst competitive REL opponent I've ever played. He called a judge on me when I tried to ghost quarter his inkmoth after he vines'd. I won in three, but don't think the reps were anything to really take anything away from. What do you really expect from the 1-4 bracket lol. The match next to me was Goblins vs. Maze's End, which I found really hilarious that Goblin Guide was just helping this guy out.
Anyhow, gonna test with pals and use cockatrice to get ready for Pitt.
The original reason for the black splash was to better compete with the GBx decks. Crackling Doom lingering souls and Tasigur, the golden fang all are cards that win the grindy matchups. Add slaughter games as a potential sideboard card and you can now beat one dimensional decks like scapeshift.
However, scapeshift decks are no longer a tier one threat. And post side board they usually side in inferno titan anyways.
Per the most recent meta results on http://www.mtggoldfish.com/metagame/modern#paper we have to combat more RG Tron then ever before. As of right now it is the most played deck in modern. Amulet Bloom is the 6th most played. GBx decks, Naya Burn, and Affinity round out the rest of the top 6. Per the meta right now, today, blood moon might be the best sideboard (or hell even main board) card in modern. Maybe the Tron and Bloom decks winning is just a fad and it will pass. Maybe not, but those matchups are terrible for us. The solution? Blood Moon and/or Thoughtseize. Since UWRb cannot reliably turn one thoughtseize it might be worth looking at the alternative.
A deck built around Blood Moon that has the control aspects of UWR and the finishing power of Geist of Saint Traft sounds deadly for Amulet Bloom and Tron decks. That deck could run 2-3 Blood Moons main in the spots usually filled by cryptic command or other UU or UUU requirements. How would it fair against GBx decks? I'm not sure. I still think the collected company decks are just waiting to emerge as well.
Or we could be patient and wait for the meta to correct itself and keep jamming geist. I just wanted to acknowledge that Blood Moon is great right now and that the black splash cannot run it.
I prefer a grindier deck that can grind out wins it should not. Which is why I love the black splash. I'm really just looking for a solution to beat Tron and Amulet Bloom (mostly the bloom).
When I've had a chance to look at things more closely I'm hoping to be able to answer this question with some confidence.
I have been on and off of this deck the last little while, but have ended up on a bit more of a burn heavy list than a lot of you guys here, so I'm not sure if my advice is as applicable to all of you, but I have actually been running 2 Blood Moons in the side with a couple extra basics in the mainboard. I currently run no cryptics in my deck, but I would think that you should take them out when you bring in the moons. Not only for the reason that they will be harder to cast, but against the decks you want Blood Moon against (assuming Tron and Bloom), cryptic is already a bit slow, and if you have a blood moon out, you have essentially locked them out of most of their big plays anyways.
I don't have my full list typed up anywhere, but I can post it here later tonight.
I am running 2 island, 2 plains, and 1 mountain for basics. and I have double blue and double white only on a couple spells each (Clique and Elspeth, K-E), though usually Elspeth gets cut in the blood moon matchups as well.
Modern : RGTitanshiftGR / UGWKnightfallWGU
4 Lightning Helix
4 Path To Exile
1 Electrolyze
3 Blood Moon
1 Mana Leak
3 Remand
3 Serum Visions
2 Aven Mindcensor
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Restoration Angel
3 Steam Vents
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Hallowed Fountain
2 Island
2 Plains
1 Mountain
4 celestial colonnade
4 scalding tarn
2 flooded strand
2 arid mesa
1 sulfur falls
I was not saying this deck would be successful. I was just wondering if it was a proper reaction to a strong Tron/Bloom field. Granted a strong Tron/Bloom field could mean a resurgence in Affinity and Twin (which we are good against) or it could mean everyone starts packing Blood Moons (which we should be ready for).
I'm still testing and grinding through with my UWRb list. I am testing Aven Mindcensor as a 1 of maind board in place of 1 electrolyze and so far it has been ok.
If I have Boom // Bust and I target an opponent's land and my arid mesa and then crack my fetch land in response without passing priority then the opponent's land is destroyed and mine is not.
This card could be the answer we are looking for in our 8-9 fetch land decks.
Source: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-rulings/magic-rulings-archives/305929-boom-bust-fetchlands
Also if Geist or Keranos is out on an empty field than Bust doesn't look too bad either.
Thoughts?
Crumble to Dust, which is the best card against them outside of Blood Moon maybe. Given the latter can be pretty awkward depending on what lands we draw the former might be better for this deck. It essentially follows the same curve out as Molten Rain or Boom // Bust (T3 Geist into T4 destroy your land). And while it doesn't stop them in their tracks, it will keep them off Tron for the rest of the game and therefore hopefully give us enough time to finish the job before they start resolving more 6-7 mana threats. The main thing we have to dodge is T3 or T4 Tron into Karn or Ugin. There might be ways to play around this sort of line if we have counters instead of playing Crumble T3, which doesn't sound all that bad, since it is less crucial to have full tempo with Crumble. The alternative is that we Molten Rain before they get Tron and hope that they brick off on ways to dig for a replacement. Personally, I like the Crumble plan best.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
I guess that one CC is worth knowing they will never get the Tron package online. Hmm..