Match 1: UW control 2-1
Since I am writing this a few days after the event (and I might be enjoying some dead guy ale) my memory might be a bit rusty.
I remeber that this was a grindy matchup, due to all of her board sweepers, remand, mana leak, and the such. But a pithing needle naming celestial colonnade was able to win me the matchup. Her deck was weak to flyers and lingering souls clentched the victory.
Match 2: UW Tron 1-2
This was the first time that I have ever played tron and I see why people have complained about it in this thread. It is a horrible matchup for us, I didn't feel like I was in control of the game at all.
Game 1: It lasted about 10 or so turns, but he was able to use gifts ungiven to get the cards he wanted and kill me on spot.
Game 2: I had an aggro start, he kept a 1 land hand and didn't draw another, I killed him in five turns.
Game 3: I layed rest in peace the second turn to slow him down, he layed ghostly prison which slowed me down as well as him finding all of his sideboarded celestial purges. He was able to cast Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, I survived the first attack, but I couldn't draw my geth's verdict.
Match 3: UW Control (with sphinx's Revelation and sphinx's Tutelage) 0-2
Game 1: I felt out-classed. This is just a bad match-up for midrange decks, he had a lot of sweepers, detition spheres, and the like. When he layed a sphinx's tutelage he eventually milled me out.
Game 2: Turn 2 isochron scepter naming path to exile was the most drawn out death that I have ever faced. He was able to mill all three of my solutions to that artifact. By the time the game ended, he used the combo around 15 times.
Match 4: Soul Sisters 2-0
This is a deck that needs to build up to be a threat. Just kill the sisters and save a kill spell for some big creature that they might lay and this match is a cake walk.
After playing tron and several variants of control, I am really tempted to cut the vampire nighthawks for liliana and add two ghost quarters to the main.
I like the new land. With all of our hand disruption we should know if it is safe to attack and it might make our burn matchup a little better. For some versions of this deck it definitely competes with the mutavault spot, which I haven't found too useful when running pack rat. Mutavault and pack rat work well together, but if you have mutavault and 5 mana open you should be able to swarm them with rats.
Having played temples for quite a while I don't think the new man land is playable there will just be too many hands where we won't have Black on turn 1 if we play too many of these. I eventually cut the temples since I couldn't ever play inquisition/thoughtseize on turn 1. if it was a 2/4 I might be more apt to consider it but dying to everything in the format is pretty :\
Only a 2/3 actually, dammit. Dies to bolt. Does have lifelink though.
Hey FVN, how are your Burn and Merfolk match ups?
Well, about Burn... It was challenging, i need luck or droop a Kitchen finks in the T3-5, game 2-3 are a bit easier because i have 1 lifegain card in SB and 4 kor firewalker.
And I know there is 1 guy with Merfolk deck around my meta but never face him, so i cant answer for that =P
I'm very prepared with discard + 7-8 spot removals but I dont really know
For some versions of this deck it definitely competes with the mutavault spot, which I haven't found too useful when running pack rat. Mutavault and pack rat work well together, but if you have mutavault and 5 mana open you should be able to swarm them with rats.
I dunno, I think Mutavault is pretty good. Like the new land it hits for 2 but it only costs 1 to activate, and it can activate itself to pump Pack Rat. I swing with it pretty regularly actually.
Well, about Burn... It was challenging, i need luck or droop a Kitchen finks in the T3-5, game 2-3 are a bit easier because i have 1 lifegain card in SB and 4 kor firewalker.
And I know there is 1 guy with Merfolk deck around my meta but never face him, so i cant answer for that =P
I'm very prepared with discard + 7-8 spot removals but I dont really know
Thanks FVN. If your life gain version struggles with Burn then that gives me some perspective on my lifegain-free build in that matchup.
Agreed, make sure you can get rid of Percy when needed. Like coldtonight I run a split of Go for the Throat and Victim of Night along with Path and Lili.
If you haven't yet, I recommend drawing maybe 50+ opening hands and keeping track of how often you feel like you need to mulligan. Personally I removed Fetid Heath from my deck because when it showed up in my opening hand with a colorless land it often meant an automatic mulligan where a Swamp could lead to a keeper. And, that was when my deck had only one Fetid Heath, five colorless lands, and two Urborgs. You have two Heaths, six colorless lands, and one Urborg. I'm also curious to see how your Arid Mesa/Sacred Foundry plan work out with Slaughter Games in the sideboard. Remember that you definitely want B on turn one no matter what, and it's best not to have to pay three life to get it.
I had been running a single sacred foundry for slaughter games already but I feel like stony silence + fulminatar does enough vs tron and both cards have applications in other matchups
So I have been lurking this thread for some time and figured I might as well post my list. I just started to play the deck in paper and am still deciding what cards I like and how to play it properly. I hope to play at 2-3 small modern events this week (20ish people per) just to get some live testing. Anyway here is my list, tell me what you guys think!
Cards that I have fallen in love with are Jötun Grunt, Sorin, Solemn Visitor and Sword of Light and Shadow. They always need to be answered or they can run away with the game. Grunt is also just awesome against delve strategies or when the game goes long.
Overall I am pretty happy with this list the only thing I can't decide is if Mirran Crusader is worth playing in the main with since there are a lot of green based decks floating around in my local meta.
Edit: oops forgot to add my basics...... thanks @deaddrift
Tonight 0-2-1 in a field of 31. I might be bad at playing this game Nonetheless I had fun. (I had a bye in round 4.)
Match 1, 0-2 vs. Amulet Bloom: My first time playing against this deck. This deck was confusing to me. Lots of lands coming in, leaving, floating mana, etc. In game 1 he killed me on T3 before I saw any disruption. (Apparently this deck can win on T1 with a nuts draw.) In game 2 I held him off until turn 8 or 9--after mulling to 5 cards on the play--using targeted removal against his Titans. In that game I Disenchanted his Amulet on his T2 upkeep which was a big play and slowed him way down. (I also maxed out at three lands ). I didn't really know when to use Fulminator Mage, but after the game he advised me to kill any regular land he had if I ever saw that the other lands were only Karoo lands, b/c it also slows the deck way down. The way I used it was I killed a Slayers' Stronghold to slow him down late game and prevent haste on Primetime to hope to draw more removal. Or a land. Which I didn't get. Sided in: 2 Disenchant, 3 Fulminator Mage, Sided out: 3 Pack Rat, and 2 something else I forget.
Match 2, 1-1-1 vs. Izzet Control: G1 went long but he took it. His Blood Moon didn't help him because I had two Swamps and two Plains in play. in G2 I mulled to 5 but won riding Kor Firewalker and Lili the whole game. G3 went to turns and drew, but I might have won with more time, because he was top decking against another Firewalker. Sided out: 5 targeted removal. Sided in: 3 Kor Firewalker and 2 Relic of Progenitus, which did not show up in hand. (Nor did Jötun Grunt. I never see that guy when I need him.)
Match 3, 1-2 vs. Burn: I've played this fella several times now and we both know what the other is up to (or so I thought). G1 was an easy win for him as expected. G2 I IoK'ed his Path to Exile on T1 to make space for my Firewalker. I ended up getting two Firewalkers out against him... which meant that I won. In G3 he sided in his own three Kor Firewalkers, and saw all three during the game! He was so proud to be gaining life from his own spells. I mulled to 4 on the draw in this game (!) and held with 2 Path (both of which killed early Firewalkers from him), 1 Marsh Flats, and 1 something else. In this game I actually got him down to 1 life before he topdecked the final burn spell to finish me off. This was one of the best matches of MtG I have ever played and was a lot of fun. Sided out: my 3 non-Path targeted removal and 3 Pack Rat for 3 Kor Firewalker and 3 Fulminator Mage. Firewalker was key but Fulmie did not appear in hand, and if it had I might have kept him off his own Firewalkers, which ended up winning the game for him.
Kor Firewalker was huge for me tonight. Leyline of Sanctity would not have put pressure on in the same way. Twice I used Ghost Quarter on my own land to do away with Spreading Seas, after first tapping and floating the mana. That worked well as mana fixing actually despite the tempo loss, though both times I was on the play in that game. Tonight I had some bad luck with draws again, but I am starting to think that the Achilles' Heel of this deck is consistency. When the hand and draws come together it works great and is a lot of fun, but I am not having consistent games where I feel like my deck is doing what it is supposed to. (On the other hand, I make mistakes in just about every match.)
I will be paying some intense attention to the sideboard to develop my best options for a meta in which I feel like I might see literally any Tier 1 or Tier 2 deck that is currently in play. I'd love to get some advice and dialog going about sideboarding.
(I also got a tip from the Burn player about watching youtube match videos at 1.5x speed, which sounds like a good way to get a feel for how the other decks play and what works against them, while minimizing time spent. Apparently you can still hear and understand dialog at this speed.)
As always, many thanks to the board for the encouragement and advice.
Hey BTW if you see these long tourney posts and think to yourself, "I wish this guy would just shut up already, nobody cares," then please let me know. Trying to get feedback and develop a solid game plan against all decks, is my thinking. But I don't want to clutter up the forum with tl;dr either.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Ò,ó
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/developing-competitive-modern/572973-bw-midrange-deadguy-ale?comment=603
But I had vampire nighthawks instead of the jötun Grunts.
Match 1: UW control 2-1
Since I am writing this a few days after the event (and I might be enjoying some dead guy ale) my memory might be a bit rusty.
I remeber that this was a grindy matchup, due to all of her board sweepers, remand, mana leak, and the such. But a pithing needle naming celestial colonnade was able to win me the matchup. Her deck was weak to flyers and lingering souls clentched the victory.
Match 2: UW Tron 1-2
This was the first time that I have ever played tron and I see why people have complained about it in this thread. It is a horrible matchup for us, I didn't feel like I was in control of the game at all.
Game 1: It lasted about 10 or so turns, but he was able to use gifts ungiven to get the cards he wanted and kill me on spot.
Game 2: I had an aggro start, he kept a 1 land hand and didn't draw another, I killed him in five turns.
Game 3: I layed rest in peace the second turn to slow him down, he layed ghostly prison which slowed me down as well as him finding all of his sideboarded celestial purges. He was able to cast Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, I survived the first attack, but I couldn't draw my geth's verdict.
Match 3: UW Control (with sphinx's Revelation and sphinx's Tutelage) 0-2
Game 1: I felt out-classed. This is just a bad match-up for midrange decks, he had a lot of sweepers, detition spheres, and the like. When he layed a sphinx's tutelage he eventually milled me out.
Game 2: Turn 2 isochron scepter naming path to exile was the most drawn out death that I have ever faced. He was able to mill all three of my solutions to that artifact. By the time the game ended, he used the combo around 15 times.
Match 4: Soul Sisters 2-0
This is a deck that needs to build up to be a threat. Just kill the sisters and save a kill spell for some big creature that they might lay and this match is a cake walk.
After playing tron and several variants of control, I am really tempted to cut the vampire nighthawks for liliana and add two ghost quarters to the main.
CBW midrange deck
CBW eldrazi processor deck
CBW bw eldrazi shadow midrange
http://mythicspoiler.com/bfz/cards/shamblingvent.html
I like it and already proxy for testing
Hey FVN, how are your Burn and Merfolk match ups?
CBW midrange deck
CBW eldrazi processor deck
CBW bw eldrazi shadow midrange
Well, about Burn... It was challenging, i need luck or droop a Kitchen finks in the T3-5, game 2-3 are a bit easier because i have 1 lifegain card in SB and 4 kor firewalker.
And I know there is 1 guy with Merfolk deck around my meta but never face him, so i cant answer for that =P
I'm very prepared with discard + 7-8 spot removals but I dont really know
4 Dark Confidant
4 Hangarback Walker
3 Pack Rat
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Darkblast
1 Dismember
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls
4 Path to Exile
1 Slaughter Pact
3 Thoughtseize
2 Zealous Persecution
2 Arid Mesa
2 Fetid Heath
3 Godless Shrine
2 Isolated Chapel
4 Marsh Flats
3 Mutavault
1 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Swamp
2 Tectonic Edge
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Vault of the Archangel
3 Fulminator Mage
3 Pulse of the Fields
2 Slaughter Games
1 Slaughter Pact
2 Stony Silence
2 Wrath of God
If you haven't yet, I recommend drawing maybe 50+ opening hands and keeping track of how often you feel like you need to mulligan. Personally I removed Fetid Heath from my deck because when it showed up in my opening hand with a colorless land it often meant an automatic mulligan where a Swamp could lead to a keeper. And, that was when my deck had only one Fetid Heath, five colorless lands, and two Urborgs. You have two Heaths, six colorless lands, and one Urborg. I'm also curious to see how your Arid Mesa/Sacred Foundry plan work out with Slaughter Games in the sideboard. Remember that you definitely want B on turn one no matter what, and it's best not to have to pay three life to get it.
Please let us know how Hangarback Walker performs. Good luck!
CBW midrange deck
CBW eldrazi processor deck
CBW bw eldrazi shadow midrange
2 Abyssal Persecutor
4 Dark Confidant
2 Jötun Grunt
2 Kitchen Finks
3 Tidehollow Sculler
Instant/Sorcery - 9/11
1 Dismember
1 Hero's Downfall
4 Path To Exile
1 Victim of Night
2 Zealous Persecution
4 Lingering Souls
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Artifact
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
Land - 22
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Windswept Heath
4 Marsh Flats
2 Fetid Heath
4 Godless Shrine
3 Isolated Chapel
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Vault of the Archangel
3 Swamp
2 plains
2 Mirran Crusader
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Rest in Peace
2 Celestial Purge
2 Disenchant
1 Utter End
1 Deathmark
1 Wrath of God
Cards that I have fallen in love with are Jötun Grunt, Sorin, Solemn Visitor and Sword of Light and Shadow. They always need to be answered or they can run away with the game. Grunt is also just awesome against delve strategies or when the game goes long.
Overall I am pretty happy with this list the only thing I can't decide is if Mirran Crusader is worth playing in the main with since there are a lot of green based decks floating around in my local meta.
Edit: oops forgot to add my basics...... thanks @deaddrift
Match 1, 0-2 vs. Amulet Bloom: My first time playing against this deck. This deck was confusing to me. Lots of lands coming in, leaving, floating mana, etc. In game 1 he killed me on T3 before I saw any disruption. (Apparently this deck can win on T1 with a nuts draw.) In game 2 I held him off until turn 8 or 9--after mulling to 5 cards on the play--using targeted removal against his Titans. In that game I Disenchanted his Amulet on his T2 upkeep which was a big play and slowed him way down. (I also maxed out at three lands ). I didn't really know when to use Fulminator Mage, but after the game he advised me to kill any regular land he had if I ever saw that the other lands were only Karoo lands, b/c it also slows the deck way down. The way I used it was I killed a Slayers' Stronghold to slow him down late game and prevent haste on Primetime to hope to draw more removal. Or a land. Which I didn't get. Sided in: 2 Disenchant, 3 Fulminator Mage, Sided out: 3 Pack Rat, and 2 something else I forget.
Match 2, 1-1-1 vs. Izzet Control: G1 went long but he took it. His Blood Moon didn't help him because I had two Swamps and two Plains in play. in G2 I mulled to 5 but won riding Kor Firewalker and Lili the whole game. G3 went to turns and drew, but I might have won with more time, because he was top decking against another Firewalker. Sided out: 5 targeted removal. Sided in: 3 Kor Firewalker and 2 Relic of Progenitus, which did not show up in hand. (Nor did Jötun Grunt. I never see that guy when I need him.)
Match 3, 1-2 vs. Burn: I've played this fella several times now and we both know what the other is up to (or so I thought). G1 was an easy win for him as expected. G2 I IoK'ed his Path to Exile on T1 to make space for my Firewalker. I ended up getting two Firewalkers out against him... which meant that I won. In G3 he sided in his own three Kor Firewalkers, and saw all three during the game! He was so proud to be gaining life from his own spells. I mulled to 4 on the draw in this game (!) and held with 2 Path (both of which killed early Firewalkers from him), 1 Marsh Flats, and 1 something else. In this game I actually got him down to 1 life before he topdecked the final burn spell to finish me off. This was one of the best matches of MtG I have ever played and was a lot of fun. Sided out: my 3 non-Path targeted removal and 3 Pack Rat for 3 Kor Firewalker and 3 Fulminator Mage. Firewalker was key but Fulmie did not appear in hand, and if it had I might have kept him off his own Firewalkers, which ended up winning the game for him.
Kor Firewalker was huge for me tonight. Leyline of Sanctity would not have put pressure on in the same way. Twice I used Ghost Quarter on my own land to do away with Spreading Seas, after first tapping and floating the mana. That worked well as mana fixing actually despite the tempo loss, though both times I was on the play in that game. Tonight I had some bad luck with draws again, but I am starting to think that the Achilles' Heel of this deck is consistency. When the hand and draws come together it works great and is a lot of fun, but I am not having consistent games where I feel like my deck is doing what it is supposed to. (On the other hand, I make mistakes in just about every match.)
I will be paying some intense attention to the sideboard to develop my best options for a meta in which I feel like I might see literally any Tier 1 or Tier 2 deck that is currently in play. I'd love to get some advice and dialog going about sideboarding.
(I also got a tip from the Burn player about watching youtube match videos at 1.5x speed, which sounds like a good way to get a feel for how the other decks play and what works against them, while minimizing time spent. Apparently you can still hear and understand dialog at this speed.)
As always, many thanks to the board for the encouragement and advice.