To follow up with the knight over crusher comparison. Crusher gains counters, so if a rest in peace lands after the fact he is still enormous. Knight gets a buff depending on number of lands in the yard. This can also come into relevance if an opponent has a scavenging ooze you can't answer with green mana up.
Mainboard
I may add another raging ravine over 1 cairns.
Sideboard
I will probably replace wurmcoil engine with kitchen finks in the board. 1 Chandra may become a 1 of outpost siege. I will post final list as well as a brief report tomorrow night.
This is what I went with. Went 0-3. Definitely been too long.
Lost to grixis delver. Just couldn't answer angler as he was able to remand my assaults. Game 1 couldn't get the land together, found crime way too late. Game 2 same thing. Couldn't find terminate or smallpox for tasigur. Definitely need to address that issue with future lists.
Round 2 lost to UWR with green splash. Ojutais command caught me off guard when he was able to return goyf end of turn and kill me after I tapped out. I won a game with crime and assault going. He won with a lot of burn plus goyf game 3.
Round 3 rg tron.
Game 1 I didn't find anything of relevance and scooped to ugin.
Game 2 I had loam and wastelock with a coupon mages into assault with loam running.
Game 3 was close. But he found exactly what he needed to karn away my raging ravine after natures claim on my assault.
I think the creatureless version needs liliana. I wasn't impressed with jab or vortex at all. Jab is great if you're running pyromancer, vortex might have been fine, I just wasn't very impressed with the Amana commitment but I will say landing 1 early against grixis delver with loam going probably would have saved me. I will update my list with liliana in place of jab. We'll see if I change anything else. I may board surgical as using that against tron and uwr would have been very good.
I will also note that I definitely should have taken heed to the warnings that angler and tasigur are definitely new issues we've never had to really face before.
I haven't given up on the Naya Zoo / Assault Loam deck, but I wanted to try this. My original plan had 4 Wild Nacatl in the Ooze/Abbot slots, but straining the mana base to get Plains to make Nacatl 3/3 with all the other constraints was difficult. Ooze and especially Abbot may be loose in those slots; I may pull one Abbot for the 4th Vortex.
The Polluted Delta + Flooding Strand should definitely be the UG Fetchland instead which would give many more ways to find the basic Forest vs Bloodmoon.
The Telling Times are a concession to only having 24 spells that flip Delver, they and Serum Visions give 6 ways to manipulate the top of the deck to get the Delver's flipped. Simic Charm is the (temporary) answer to Tasigur / Anglers; I think it is really well positioned at the moment.
Sideboard is still under construction, long term the transformative Twin plan seems really clever but at the moment I don't have the cards for it.
not enough courser talk in this thread. courser 4 of seems like a base to me. helps against burn which is an awful matchup gives tons of card advantage and cant be bolted.
not enough courser talk in this thread. courser 4 of seems like a base to me. helps against burn which is an awful matchup gives tons of card advantage and cant be bolted.
I do think Courser of Kruphix is a consideration as a 1-2 of in more controlling builds. I'm not convinced its an auto 4 of for a couple of reasons; its primary ability (not the lifegain) doesn't have value in multiples and 3 main phase mana is a lot.
It's a Jund Assault Loam that has the option to sideboard into splinter twin combo. The idea being that assault loam is usually pretty good vs. fair decks and then you can switch to all in twin to combat bad/unfair matchups or when you expect grave hate or extirpate effects.
I was pretty intrigued and didn't see it mentioned here. Anyone tried anything like this?
not enough courser talk in this thread. courser 4 of seems like a base to me. helps against burn which is an awful matchup gives tons of card advantage and cant be bolted.
I really like courser too, but he's so hard on the manabase when run alongside lily and seismic. I tried a lily/courser build that only ran vortex and it was still pretty hard on the manabase. I am still thinking about trying again though, just because it feels soo good to have him in play. Twilight Mire is pretty necessary if you have lily + him.
It's a Jund Assault Loam that has the option to sideboard into splinter twin combo. The idea being that assault loam is usually pretty good vs. fair decks and then you can switch to all in twin to combat bad/unfair matchups or when you expect grave hate or extirpate effects.
I was pretty intrigued and didn't see it mentioned here. Anyone tried anything like this?
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 the creatureless version needs liliana. I wasn't impressed with jab or vortex at all. Jab is great if you're running pyromancer, vortex might have been fine, I just wasn't very impressed with the Amana commitment but I will say landing 1 early against grixis delver with loam going probably would have saved me. I will update my list with liliana in place of jab. We'll see if I change anything else. I may board surgical as using that against tron and uwr would have been very good.
I will also note that I definitely should have taken heed to the warnings that angler and tasigur are definitely new issues we've never had to really face before.
Fame Jab used to be great on last year's Delver meta - but today's tempo decks play these huge creatures that render the Jab pretty weak. It's a shame, though, since I'm a huge fan of the card. Used to run it alongside Young Pyromancer for extra value, but even that has been underwhelming. Liliana of the Veil, on the other hand, I haven't tested as much because I don't have access to them, but they're probably very solid against the current Grixis tempo builds.
not enough courser talk in this thread. courser 4 of seems like a base to me. helps against burn which is an awful matchup gives tons of card advantage and cant be bolted.
Last time I tested Courser of Kruphix in RG I found it kinda meh. I mean, it's a sweet card and all, and can provide actual card advantage, but at most times it was close to irrelevant. Of course, Burn matchup was greatly improved, but considering everything else, I'd rather run additional looting effects, or a more solid beater in Hooting Mandrills. One of the main reasons being that the deck doesn't actually play a lot of lands, so the life gain effect+midrangey value gets a bit diminished. It helps me dig for what I want, but I'm unsure if it's worth the slot.
Not even close to being "4 as a base", but I could totally see efficient lists running a couple of them. But still, not convinced.
I was pretty intrigued and didn't see it mentioned here. Anyone tried anything like this?
If you had read the latest posts on the thread, you'd see that the author is actually posting his opinions here as well. Personally I'm not a fan of the idea, but it definitely could work.
It's a Jund Assault Loam that has the option to sideboard into splinter twin combo. The idea being that assault loam is usually pretty good vs. fair decks and then you can switch to all in twin to combat bad/unfair matchups or when you expect grave hate or extirpate effects.
I was pretty intrigued and didn't see it mentioned here. Anyone tried anything like this?
That's literally the top post on this page.
Edit: what luck, lol. Last page.
Whoops. Not sure how I missed that. Been longer than I thought since I visited this thread. At least now I can check off my bonehead move for the day.
I just threw this together and so far I've been beating Elves, Merfolk, BW Tokens, Grixis Twin and Izzet Twin. I'm sure it folds to stuff like Tron, Amulet Bloom and Burn but there isn't alot of that online (except Burn maybe).
This is a 28 lands deck since I run 4x Looting/Insight/Vortex + 3x Crime. I started out with 4x Smallpox but they were awkward a lot of the time, especially with the 5 fatties. I might have to test Bolt and K. Command though and maybe Dismember since I don't wanna lose to some Pro-Red tech (Master of Waves for instance). I can't afford Lilly right now, else she would be an auto-include I think.
Some people have mixed opinions about Vortex. It has severally over performed for me and is really elegant compared to Assault. I played a lot of Assault Loam a couple of years ago and I always found Assault clunky and slow. Bad against T1: Delver/BoP/Signal Pest/Cursecatcher etc. I've found that once you start to activate Vortex several times in a row and the activation cost slows you down, you're winning anyway so it doesn't matter as much. It's the first 3-4 turns that are usually rough.
I'm gonna test the deck some more, but I really like it against the current online meta (lots of Tempo/Aggro/Midrange flying around)
Far from optimal - this list was quickly elaborated 10 minutes before FNM fired. The sideboard was bad, and maindeck makes me cringe now. Anyway, report:
FNM @ Monstore - Montclair, CA
33 players
Round 1 - versus Grixis Twin
2-0
Played a friend, he did well.
Game 1 was very intense. He manages to beat me a lot with Tasigur, the Golden Fang and I keep playing safe around the combo. Finally manage to stabilize the board with my own Tasigur, a Countryside Crusher and a Molten Vortex that killed a fair share of Pestermites and Vendilion Cliques. Even though he manages to gain decent card advantage with Kolaghan's Command and Tasigur, I manage to stabilize at 3 life and clear the path for Tasigur-Crusher beats. He concedes.
Game 2 I side in the discard package and Nature's Claim to hedge against Leyline of the Void. I manage to open very aggressively with Raven's Crime and proceed to both represent Abrupt Decay and Molten Vortex activations to kill Deceiver Exarch, while progressing my board and keeping him low on resources. He had little resources on the opener, which gave me a lot of time, so after a lot of draw-go I finish the game with Vortex.
Round 2 - versus UR Storm
1-2
Storm is always tough, but from all non-interactive-linear-combo decks I can face, at least I find Storm combo quite amusing to watch. I mean, a skilled pilot makes it entertaining to watch because of all the math involved. So, not even mad.
Game 1 I keep a bad opener because I didn't realize it was Storm. So he kills me on the spot, just like that - Gifts Ungiven for HUGE value, thanks to my Ghost Quarter... Feels bad.
Game 2 I side in the discard spells and a miser Guttural Response just because. I drop an early Tasigur, the Golden Fang, as well as a Molten Vortex, drawing Life from the Loam on the following turn. Pressure is too much, and he goes off to Grapeshot Tasigur down, and passes turn. I get to draw exactly the land I needed for lethal Vortex activations (had Loam on hand already).
Game 3 I manage to get an early advantage by Raven's Crimeing him down to 2 cards, and then Inquisition of Kozilek his last ritual, but fail to get a decent follow-up. He topdecks enough lands, Gifts Ungiven again and immediately goes off. I let him do it just for the sake of the show - he gets to storm count 19 and a lot of mana, casts Empty the Warrens for 38 tokens, then another one for 40 tokens, then a third one for 42 tokens - and 43 Grapeshots targeted at my measly 10 life. It was fun, though.
Round 3 - versus Grixis Twin
0-2
Played the friend who lend me the cards. I scrubbed.
Game 2 I side in the Inquisition of Kozilek and Guttural Responses, since I know for a fact that this guy plays no graveyard hate. I get to Raven's Crime a bunch of times, but have no good follow-up. Put him down to 4 life with Molten Vortex, but it's not quite enough, since I pseudo stabilize at 2 life and he topdecks Kolaghan's Command for the win.
Round 4 - versus Griselbrand Reanimator
0-2
I.
Hate.
This.
Deck.
Game 1 he starts really slow. I get to play my first turn 3 against the deck EVER (new record), keep Lightning Bolt plus a couple of Molten Vortex activations ready to kill either him or Griselbrand depending on the situation (really, my only out), but he gains a *****ton of life, and draws a bunch of cards, and goes on with his bull*****. Yes. Salty. I know.
Game 2 I have no side against this crap. Same thing, except that I have ZERO interaction because I mull to 4 and he just goes for Through the Breach - Worldspine Wurm and it's game. Actually, I'm done.
Final Results: 1-3-drop ; 23rd out or 33
Verdict: Tilted
Sometimes this just happens to me, I tilt. Badly. I mean, I'm hating myself right now, and my deck, and this archetype, and Modern, and Magic. I'll try to step away from the game for a few days, it should pass. Not the first time.
Headed down to the LGS and played some informal games against some the locals with my Delver Vortex deck listed a page back or so.
I played an 8-Rack deck first, we played two games and he had a Leyline of the Void in his opening hand both games. I have no maindeck way to get it off the board, but Game 1 he discards a lot of my hand and has Racks but no other pressure so I just draw into stabilization. He kills a lot of my guys but chip shots with creatures, some Lightning Bolts and 4-5 land built up over a long game finish him with Molten Vortex. Game 2 goes faster because he keeps a one land, Leyline hand with a fair amount of other action, but he misses a couple of land drops and I beat him down with mix of creatures.
Next up was three games with Grixis Control. Game 1 I Mana Leaked an early Tasigur and the early creature rush gets him. Game 2 he wins because Snapcaster Mage and Kolaghan's Command are pretty good and he plays well. Game 3 I get Vortex/Loam setup early and grind him down over a long game where I felt pretty in control.
Lastly, I played 5 games against a Jund deck I had a tough time with and went 2-3. I struggled with demands on my GGG mana at times, and his Scavenging Ooze's were a huge beating against me. I also had a tough time finding Vortex and Loam, often having one without the other.
---
My impressions of the deck; its pretty good. I want more ways to draw into the combo. Dispel seemed too conditional for what I am trying to do, so they are getting pulled for some Magmatic Insights. I also had one maindeck Countryside Crusher I am going to pull; I had an experimental Courser of Kruphix which I liked as a one of and am going to keep for now. I am keeping in my Scavenging Oozes for now, but I don't like how much they tax my green mana. I think they'll eventually go, but I'm not sure for what at this point.
@Fiddlyr:
Can you post a link please? Was there any kind of comment or helpful advice with the deck?
This looks somewhat similar to what I have been playing, but with a lot more 4-ofs and Goyfs, of course. Manabase is a bit intriguing for me as well.
@Fiddlyr:
Can you post a link please? Was there any kind of comment or helpful advice with the deck?
This looks somewhat similar to what I have been playing, but with a lot more 4-ofs and Goyfs, of course. Manabase is a bit intriguing for me as well.
4 raging ravine and 2 village could just mean he's more likely to start on turn 2 rather than turn 1 and voice gives him card advantage rather than looting which sets you back a card. It is nice to be able to keep the cards you draw (especially land) rather than pitch them to looting he actually gets the chance to keep 1 extra land to pitch to an assault or vortex.
@Fiddlyr:
Can you post a link please? Was there any kind of comment or helpful advice with the deck?
This looks somewhat similar to what I have been playing, but with a lot more 4-ofs and Goyfs, of course. Manabase is a bit intriguing for me as well.
The only interaction I can see is being able to discard Loam as a cost of casting then dredge it back using one of the draws. If that actually works. But it does seem pretty corner case.
Or if you've nothing else in hand and topdeck useless cards. But the extra mana and lack of flashback seem like legit downsides.
4 raging ravine and 2 village could just mean he's more likely to start on turn 2 rather than turn 1 and voice gives him card advantage rather than looting which sets you back a card. It is nice to be able to keep the cards you draw (especially land) rather than pitch them to looting he actually gets the chance to keep 1 extra land to pitch to an assault or vortex.
The only interaction I can see is being able to discard Loam as a cost of casting then dredge it back using one of the draws. If that actually works. But it does seem pretty corner case.
Or if you've nothing else in hand and topdeck useless cards. But the extra mana and lack of flashback seem like legit downsides.
Acually Tormenting Voice is neutral (-2:+2), as well as Magmatic Insight. Faithless Looting is +2:-3, card disadvantage that allows you to sculpt your graveyard faster, and is turn 1 action. I agree that the amount of tapped lands is certainly connected with the Voice, but what would be the benefit of risking getting Remanded on turn 2 instead of consistently evading both Remand and Spell Snare by playing the CMC 1 spells?
I probably rate this way too highly, though. Hate being Remanded, especially if I discarded a card as part of the casting cost. Anyway, I agree that Voice allows you to hold one extra card if compared with Looting, but still seems off. Openings with 2 tapped lands are REALLY awkward. This is bugging me out, seriously.
I play with 2 tapped lands (Raging Ravines) because I wanted to avoid it. Back when I ran 3 Ravines and a Treetop Village I used to have some sequencing issues (also ran Commune with the Gods, cmc 2 spell) that were solved only after I lowered the dig curve to 1 and made turn 2 the "official turn for the tapped land". And it's still far from satisfactory. That's why I find it so hard to believe this list runs smoother than what I've been doing, and why I've been eager for comments on performance x.x
Anyway, sideboard does look like an improvement. I personally prefer Combust over Rending Volley but lately haven't played neither on SB because Twin combo can be played around with Molten Vortex and whatnot. But I'm probably wrong, as always.
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2 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Forest
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Graven Cairns
2 Mountain
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Raging Ravine
1 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
1 Treetop Village
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Anger of the Gods
4 Faithless Looting
3 Flame Jab
4 Life from the Loam
4 Magmatic Insight
3 Molten Vortex
3 Raven's Crime
3 Seismic Assault
3 Smallpox
2 Terminate
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Buried Ruin
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Dragon's Claw
2 Engineered Explosives
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Wurmcoil Engine
Mainboard
I may add another raging ravine over 1 cairns.
Sideboard
I will probably replace wurmcoil engine with kitchen finks in the board. 1 Chandra may become a 1 of outpost siege. I will post final list as well as a brief report tomorrow night.
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Forest
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Graven Cairns
1 Mountain
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Raging Ravine
1 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
1 Treetop Village
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Anger of the Gods
4 Faithless Looting
3 Flame Jab
4 Life from the Loam
4 Magmatic Insight
3 Molten Vortex
3 Raven's Crime
3 Seismic Assault
3 Smallpox
2 Terminate
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Buried Ruin
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Dragon's Claw
2 Engineered Explosives
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Outpost Siege
2 Wurmcoil Engine
This is what I went with. Went 0-3. Definitely been too long.
Lost to grixis delver. Just couldn't answer angler as he was able to remand my assaults. Game 1 couldn't get the land together, found crime way too late. Game 2 same thing. Couldn't find terminate or smallpox for tasigur. Definitely need to address that issue with future lists.
Round 2 lost to UWR with green splash. Ojutais command caught me off guard when he was able to return goyf end of turn and kill me after I tapped out. I won a game with crime and assault going. He won with a lot of burn plus goyf game 3.
Round 3 rg tron.
Game 1 I didn't find anything of relevance and scooped to ugin.
Game 2 I had loam and wastelock with a coupon mages into assault with loam running.
Game 3 was close. But he found exactly what he needed to karn away my raging ravine after natures claim on my assault.
I think the creatureless version needs liliana. I wasn't impressed with jab or vortex at all. Jab is great if you're running pyromancer, vortex might have been fine, I just wasn't very impressed with the Amana commitment but I will say landing 1 early against grixis delver with loam going probably would have saved me. I will update my list with liliana in place of jab. We'll see if I change anything else. I may board surgical as using that against tron and uwr would have been very good.
I will also note that I definitely should have taken heed to the warnings that angler and tasigur are definitely new issues we've never had to really face before.
1 Breeding Pool
2 Copperline Gorge
2 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
3 Ghost Quarter
3 Island
1 Mountain
2 Polluted Delta
2 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Dispel
4 Life from the Loam
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Mana Leak
3 Molten Vortex
3 Serum Visions
3 Simic Charm
2 Spell Snare
3 Telling Time
2 Abbot of Keral Keep
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tarmogoyf
I haven't given up on the Naya Zoo / Assault Loam deck, but I wanted to try this. My original plan had 4 Wild Nacatl in the Ooze/Abbot slots, but straining the mana base to get Plains to make Nacatl 3/3 with all the other constraints was difficult. Ooze and especially Abbot may be loose in those slots; I may pull one Abbot for the 4th Vortex.
The Polluted Delta + Flooding Strand should definitely be the UG Fetchland instead which would give many more ways to find the basic Forest vs Bloodmoon.
The Telling Times are a concession to only having 24 spells that flip Delver, they and Serum Visions give 6 ways to manipulate the top of the deck to get the Delver's flipped. Simic Charm is the (temporary) answer to Tasigur / Anglers; I think it is really well positioned at the moment.
Sideboard is still under construction, long term the transformative Twin plan seems really clever but at the moment I don't have the cards for it.
Comments and ideas are always welcome.
I do think Courser of Kruphix is a consideration as a 1-2 of in more controlling builds. I'm not convinced its an auto 4 of for a couple of reasons; its primary ability (not the lifegain) doesn't have value in multiples and 3 main phase mana is a lot.
Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/comments/3iezln/modernbrew_jund_assault_loam_twin_transform/
List: http://deckbox.org/sets/1052941
It's a Jund Assault Loam that has the option to sideboard into splinter twin combo. The idea being that assault loam is usually pretty good vs. fair decks and then you can switch to all in twin to combat bad/unfair matchups or when you expect grave hate or extirpate effects.
I was pretty intrigued and didn't see it mentioned here. Anyone tried anything like this?
I really like courser too, but he's so hard on the manabase when run alongside lily and seismic. I tried a lily/courser build that only ran vortex and it was still pretty hard on the manabase. I am still thinking about trying again though, just because it feels soo good to have him in play. Twilight Mire is pretty necessary if you have lily + him.
That's literally the top post on this page.
Edit: what luck, lol. Last page.
URURxUR
UWUWxUW
Fame Jab used to be great on last year's Delver meta - but today's tempo decks play these huge creatures that render the Jab pretty weak. It's a shame, though, since I'm a huge fan of the card. Used to run it alongside Young Pyromancer for extra value, but even that has been underwhelming. Liliana of the Veil, on the other hand, I haven't tested as much because I don't have access to them, but they're probably very solid against the current Grixis tempo builds.
Last time I tested Courser of Kruphix in RG I found it kinda meh. I mean, it's a sweet card and all, and can provide actual card advantage, but at most times it was close to irrelevant. Of course, Burn matchup was greatly improved, but considering everything else, I'd rather run additional looting effects, or a more solid beater in Hooting Mandrills. One of the main reasons being that the deck doesn't actually play a lot of lands, so the life gain effect+midrangey value gets a bit diminished. It helps me dig for what I want, but I'm unsure if it's worth the slot.
Not even close to being "4 as a base", but I could totally see efficient lists running a couple of them. But still, not convinced.
If you had read the latest posts on the thread, you'd see that the author is actually posting his opinions here as well. Personally I'm not a fan of the idea, but it definitely could work.
Whoops. Not sure how I missed that. Been longer than I thought since I visited this thread. At least now I can check off my bonehead move for the day.
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3 Gurmag Angler
// OTHER SPELLS (27)
3 Raven's Crime
4 Faithless Looting
4 Magmatic Insight
4 Molten Vortex
4 Life from the Loam
4 Terminate
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Copperline orge
2 Forest
3 Graven Cairns
2 Mountain
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
2 Swamp
4 Wooded Foothills
This is a 28 lands deck since I run 4x Looting/Insight/Vortex + 3x Crime. I started out with 4x Smallpox but they were awkward a lot of the time, especially with the 5 fatties. I might have to test Bolt and K. Command though and maybe Dismember since I don't wanna lose to some Pro-Red tech (Master of Waves for instance). I can't afford Lilly right now, else she would be an auto-include I think.
Some people have mixed opinions about Vortex. It has severally over performed for me and is really elegant compared to Assault. I played a lot of Assault Loam a couple of years ago and I always found Assault clunky and slow. Bad against T1: Delver/BoP/Signal Pest/Cursecatcher etc. I've found that once you start to activate Vortex several times in a row and the activation cost slows you down, you're winning anyway so it doesn't matter as much. It's the first 3-4 turns that are usually rough.
I'm gonna test the deck some more, but I really like it against the current online meta (lots of Tempo/Aggro/Midrange flying around)
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Stomping Ground
2 Blood Crypt
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Raging Ravine
1 Swamp
3 Mountain
1 Forest
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Countryside Crusher
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
//Spells
2 Raven's Crime
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Faithless Looting
4 Magmatic Insight
4 Life from the Loam
3 Abrupt Decay
//Enchantments
4 Molten Vortex
1 Zombie Infestation
2 Seismic Assault
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Nature's Claim
3 Guttural Response
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Feed the Clan
2 Anger of the Gods
Far from optimal - this list was quickly elaborated 10 minutes before FNM fired. The sideboard was bad, and maindeck makes me cringe now. Anyway, report:
FNM @ Monstore - Montclair, CA
33 players
Round 1 - versus Grixis Twin
2-0
Played a friend, he did well.
Game 1 was very intense. He manages to beat me a lot with Tasigur, the Golden Fang and I keep playing safe around the combo. Finally manage to stabilize the board with my own Tasigur, a Countryside Crusher and a Molten Vortex that killed a fair share of Pestermites and Vendilion Cliques. Even though he manages to gain decent card advantage with Kolaghan's Command and Tasigur, I manage to stabilize at 3 life and clear the path for Tasigur-Crusher beats. He concedes.
Game 2 I side in the discard package and Nature's Claim to hedge against Leyline of the Void. I manage to open very aggressively with Raven's Crime and proceed to both represent Abrupt Decay and Molten Vortex activations to kill Deceiver Exarch, while progressing my board and keeping him low on resources. He had little resources on the opener, which gave me a lot of time, so after a lot of draw-go I finish the game with Vortex.
Round 2 - versus UR Storm
1-2
Storm is always tough, but from all non-interactive-linear-combo decks I can face, at least I find Storm combo quite amusing to watch. I mean, a skilled pilot makes it entertaining to watch because of all the math involved. So, not even mad.
Game 1 I keep a bad opener because I didn't realize it was Storm. So he kills me on the spot, just like that - Gifts Ungiven for HUGE value, thanks to my Ghost Quarter... Feels bad.
Game 2 I side in the discard spells and a miser Guttural Response just because. I drop an early Tasigur, the Golden Fang, as well as a Molten Vortex, drawing Life from the Loam on the following turn. Pressure is too much, and he goes off to Grapeshot Tasigur down, and passes turn. I get to draw exactly the land I needed for lethal Vortex activations (had Loam on hand already).
Game 3 I manage to get an early advantage by Raven's Crimeing him down to 2 cards, and then Inquisition of Kozilek his last ritual, but fail to get a decent follow-up. He topdecks enough lands, Gifts Ungiven again and immediately goes off. I let him do it just for the sake of the show - he gets to storm count 19 and a lot of mana, casts Empty the Warrens for 38 tokens, then another one for 40 tokens, then a third one for 42 tokens - and 43 Grapeshots targeted at my measly 10 life. It was fun, though.
Round 3 - versus Grixis Twin
0-2
Played the friend who lend me the cards. I scrubbed.
Game 1 I keep Molten Vortex and looting effects to dig for lands and Life from the Loam. Gets me nowhere, combo kill.
Game 2 I side in the Inquisition of Kozilek and Guttural Responses, since I know for a fact that this guy plays no graveyard hate. I get to Raven's Crime a bunch of times, but have no good follow-up. Put him down to 4 life with Molten Vortex, but it's not quite enough, since I pseudo stabilize at 2 life and he topdecks Kolaghan's Command for the win.
Round 4 - versus Griselbrand Reanimator
0-2
I.
Hate.
This.
Deck.
Game 1 he starts really slow. I get to play my first turn 3 against the deck EVER (new record), keep Lightning Bolt plus a couple of Molten Vortex activations ready to kill either him or Griselbrand depending on the situation (really, my only out), but he gains a *****ton of life, and draws a bunch of cards, and goes on with his bull*****. Yes. Salty. I know.
Game 2 I have no side against this crap. Same thing, except that I have ZERO interaction because I mull to 4 and he just goes for Through the Breach - Worldspine Wurm and it's game. Actually, I'm done.
Final Results: 1-3-drop ; 23rd out or 33
Verdict: Tilted
Sometimes this just happens to me, I tilt. Badly. I mean, I'm hating myself right now, and my deck, and this archetype, and Modern, and Magic. I'll try to step away from the game for a few days, it should pass. Not the first time.
I played an 8-Rack deck first, we played two games and he had a Leyline of the Void in his opening hand both games. I have no maindeck way to get it off the board, but Game 1 he discards a lot of my hand and has Racks but no other pressure so I just draw into stabilization. He kills a lot of my guys but chip shots with creatures, some Lightning Bolts and 4-5 land built up over a long game finish him with Molten Vortex. Game 2 goes faster because he keeps a one land, Leyline hand with a fair amount of other action, but he misses a couple of land drops and I beat him down with mix of creatures.
Next up was three games with Grixis Control. Game 1 I Mana Leaked an early Tasigur and the early creature rush gets him. Game 2 he wins because Snapcaster Mage and Kolaghan's Command are pretty good and he plays well. Game 3 I get Vortex/Loam setup early and grind him down over a long game where I felt pretty in control.
Lastly, I played 5 games against a Jund deck I had a tough time with and went 2-3. I struggled with demands on my GGG mana at times, and his Scavenging Ooze's were a huge beating against me. I also had a tough time finding Vortex and Loam, often having one without the other.
---
My impressions of the deck; its pretty good. I want more ways to draw into the combo. Dispel seemed too conditional for what I am trying to do, so they are getting pulled for some Magmatic Insights. I also had one maindeck Countryside Crusher I am going to pull; I had an experimental Courser of Kruphix which I liked as a one of and am going to keep for now. I am keeping in my Scavenging Oozes for now, but I don't like how much they tax my green mana. I think they'll eventually go, but I'm not sure for what at this point.
Here is the new maindeck:
1 Breeding Pool
2 Copperline Gorge
2 Flooded Strand
1 Forest
3 Ghost Quarter
3 Island
1 Mountain
2 Polluted Delta
2 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Life from the Loam
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Magmatic Insight
2 Mana Leak
4 Molten Vortex
3 Serum Visions
2 Simic Charm
2 Spell Snare
3 Telling Time
1 Courser of Kruphix
4 Delver of Secrets
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tarmogoyf
The mana was pretty good all day, and clearly the 4 blue fetches should be UG fetches, but I don't own them at the moment.
4 Magmatic Insight
4 Molten Vortex
4 Tormenting Voice
4 Seismic Assault
4 Life From the Loam
Creatures
4 Countryside Crusher
4 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tarmogoyf
Lands
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Fire-Lit Thicket
1 Forest
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Mountain
4 Raging Ravine
2 Stomping Ground
4 Tectonic Edge
2 Treetop Village
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Rending Volley
3 Ancient Grudge
3 Feed the Clan
3 Choke
3 Ghost Quarter
Can you post a link please? Was there any kind of comment or helpful advice with the deck?
This looks somewhat similar to what I have been playing, but with a lot more 4-ofs and Goyfs, of course. Manabase is a bit intriguing for me as well.
Weird that he isn't running any copies of Faithless Looting, I tend to rate it higher than Tormenting Voice.
The commentary was in Japanese.
Link
I don't have any context for the decklist; I just thought I'd put it here in case anyone was interested.
The only interaction I can see is being able to discard Loam as a cost of casting then dredge it back using one of the draws. If that actually works. But it does seem pretty corner case.
Or if you've nothing else in hand and topdeck useless cards. But the extra mana and lack of flashback seem like legit downsides.
Thanks - I was just hoping for a bit of context, but it really seems to be quite random.
Acually Tormenting Voice is neutral (-2:+2), as well as Magmatic Insight. Faithless Looting is +2:-3, card disadvantage that allows you to sculpt your graveyard faster, and is turn 1 action. I agree that the amount of tapped lands is certainly connected with the Voice, but what would be the benefit of risking getting Remanded on turn 2 instead of consistently evading both Remand and Spell Snare by playing the CMC 1 spells?
I probably rate this way too highly, though. Hate being Remanded, especially if I discarded a card as part of the casting cost. Anyway, I agree that Voice allows you to hold one extra card if compared with Looting, but still seems off. Openings with 2 tapped lands are REALLY awkward. This is bugging me out, seriously.
Anyway, sideboard does look like an improvement. I personally prefer Combust over Rending Volley but lately haven't played neither on SB because Twin combo can be played around with Molten Vortex and whatnot. But I'm probably wrong, as always.