I really like the Ulamog one-of, I also like the idea of going down to 1 O-Sower (though I agree they are exceptional in the mirror). I've actually been having a lot of success w/ a singleton displacer and have moved down to two mb stranglers, I have a third in the sb though.
My creature list currently:
-4 Herder
-2 Smasher
-3 TKS
-2 O-Sower
-1 Ulamog
-1 Displacer
-1 Spellskite
-2 Strangler
and souls
There aren't any other eldrazi decks in my meta so I may cut down an o-sower for either a third smasher, a third strangler, or another skite.
My current list is very similar:
-3 Herder (had him come down as a vanilla 4/5 one too many times, though I know how amazing he is)
-3 Smasher
-4 TKS
-1 O-Sower
-1 Ulamog
-1 Displacer
-1 Spellskite
-3 Strangler
Recently put the displacer back in because he can have moments of brilliance.
I think I am going to do a split between Wailing and Dismember. Faced one too many tribal decks that takes all of their creatures out of range of wailing. I feel the counter target sorcery is an ok effect, but I have actually never had/gotten to use that ability. I will be testing more on MTGO.
So far I am liking 3-of smashers. I am always happy to seem them in my hand.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks
Modern
No idea because my favorite decks keep getting banned or having the rules changed against them
All i can say is that Reality smasher is a complete powerhouse. I've cruised games with only him. I've never missed the oblivion sower and i will never
go back to them. I was pleased with the Sorin, he did some work of baiting a counterspell for me to cast a Reality smasher agaisn't Scapeshift.
Round 1 (VS scapeshift):
Game 1: I tore his hand appart with inquisition and thoughtseize followed by reality smasher. Sakura tribe-elder doesn't stand a chance as a chump blocker. He
had so much pressure that he wasn't able to do anything.
Game 2: I had a not so good hand. I had 2 strangler and a blight herder on the field with a Urborg and one of my friend did tell my opponent that i had Urborg out so he could cast the damnation in his hand (he had no black mana and haven't realised my urborg) I was so pissed. That gave him the time to assemble the combo. GG
Game 3: It was a grindy and long game. I got my 2 inquisition and thoughtseize early on to disrupt him. His deck didn't cooperate. I was able to bait his cryptic with my Sorin to follow with a Reality smasher for the win. I was so high in life total that even when he caster scapeshift he couldn't kill me.
(1-0)
Round 2 (VS Tron):
Game 1: I feared this matchup. I hate playing agaisn't tron and i never was able to win agaisn't it in the past so I was not very confident. Turn 2 thought knot seer into turn 3 reality smasher did a lot of work putting him down to 8. He cast a spellskite then a wurmcoil. Path the wurmcoil, redirect on spellskite, go down to 6, gain 6 life. Topdeck a second reality smasher, and cast sorin. (had enough mana to cast both) Go in for 12. GG
Game 2: He mulled to 4 (all no lander). I keep a hand with ghost quarter, surgical extraction and reality smasher. I crushed him in 4-5 turns.
(2-0)
Round 3 (Vs A Rakdos brew):
Game 1: turn 2 thought knot seer into turn 3 reality. He can't deal with them and die
Game 2: A crumble to dust turn 3 on my eldrazi temple gave him the game. I had a crazy hand (a second eldrazi temple, 2 blight herder, 1 wasteland strangler and a reality smasher with a relic). If
he hadn't did it, it was game for sure. Was never able to draw colored mana (was stuck with a vault of the archangel)
Game 3: He kept a greedy hand with 1 land and 3 rakdos signet. He never drew the 2nd land and lost to a reality smasher and TKS.
(3-0)
Round 4 (VS affinity):
Game 1: We drawed to have a split pot but still played. I had an awful hand and lost quickly to etched champion, signal pest, archbound ravager and ornithopter. Never saw any creature
Game 2: I tried to slow him down with 2 thoughtseize. Wasn't enough, didn't draw much land and lost to a double galvanic blast to the face (i was at 7)
(3-0-1)
The deck is a lot more powerfull with the smashers and TKS. I did draw Ulamog twice tonight but i never was able to cast it. I don't miss the expedition as they were only dead draw most of the time. Was happy with the 1 shambling vent as it gave me so way to deal with a liliana agaisn't the Rakdos deck. I'm happy with the direction the deck is going and i'm eager to see the future (read here the pro tour this weekend).
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern:
-Rg valakut
-U/W control
-U/R storm
-G/W value town
All i can say is that Reality smasher is a complete powerhouse. I've cruised games with only him. I've never missed the oblivion sower and i will never
go back to them. I was pleased with the Sorin, he did some work of baiting a counterspell for me to cast a Reality smasher agaisn't Scapeshift.
Round 1 (VS scapeshift):
Game 1: I tore his hand appart with inquisition and thoughtseize followed by reality smasher. Sakura tribe-elder doesn't stand a chance as a chump blocker. He
had so much pressure that he wasn't able to do anything.
Game 2: I had a not so good hand. I had 2 strangler and a blight herder on the field with a Urborg and one of my friend did tell my opponent that i had Urborg out so he could cast the damnation in his hand (he had no black mana and haven't realised my urborg) I was so pissed. That gave him the time to assemble the combo. GG
Game 3: It was a grindy and long game. I got my 2 inquisition and thoughtseize early on to disrupt him. His deck didn't cooperate. I was able to bait his cryptic with my Sorin to follow with a Reality smasher for the win. I was so high in life total that even when he caster scapeshift he couldn't kill me.
(1-0)
Round 2 (VS Tron):
Game 1: I feared this matchup. I hate playing agaisn't tron and i never was able to win agaisn't it in the past so I was not very confident. Turn 2 thought knot seer into turn 3 reality smasher did a lot of work putting him down to 8. He cast a spellskite then a wurmcoil. Path the wurmcoil, redirect on spellskite, go down to 6, gain 6 life. Topdeck a second reality smasher, and cast sorin. (had enough mana to cast both) Go in for 12. GG
Game 2: He mulled to 4 (all no lander). I keep a hand with ghost quarter, surgical extraction and reality smasher. I crushed him in 4-5 turns.
(2-0)
Round 3 (Vs A Rakdos brew):
Game 1: turn 2 thought knot seer into turn 3 reality. He can't deal with them and die
Game 2: A crumble to dust turn 3 on my eldrazi temple gave him the game. I had a crazy hand (a second eldrazi temple, 2 blight herder, 1 wasteland strangler and a reality smasher with a relic). If
he hadn't did it, it was game for sure. Was never able to draw colored mana (was stuck with a vault of the archangel)
Game 3: He kept a greedy hand with 1 land and 3 rakdos signet. He never drew the 2nd land and lost to a reality smasher and TKS.
(3-0)
Round 4 (VS affinity):
Game 1: We drawed to have a split pot but still played. I had an awful hand and lost quickly to etched champion, signal pest, archbound ravager and ornithopter. Never saw any creature
Game 2: I tried to slow him down with 2 thoughtseize. Wasn't enough, didn't draw much land and lost to a double galvanic blast to the face (i was at 7)
(3-0-1)
The deck is a lot more powerfull with the smashers and TKS. I did draw Ulamog twice tonight but i never was able to cast it. I don't miss the expedition as they were only dead draw most of the time. Was happy with the 1 shambling vent as it gave me so way to deal with a liliana agaisn't the Rakdos deck. I'm happy with the direction the deck is going and i'm eager to see the future (read here the pro tour this weekend).
Well, looks like Ulamog is doing nothing there, why dont you test 1 more Smasher or TKS on its place, or even 1 more discard spell ?
Just put this together today and got to take it for a spin tonight at Tuesday Night Modern. Went 2-2, I don't have time to post my whole decklist, but it's similar to the others here:
Went 2-2, beating some UR Prowess jank round 1, lost to infect round 2, won against bogles round 3, and lost to affinity round 4.
Some random thoughts:
- I was unable to get an entire playset of Relic of Progenitus in time, so had to make do with 2 (and put 2 Expedition Maps in to replace them). This deck needs exile effects badly. Had my expedition map been a Relic, I wouldn't have necessarily lost the game to affinity or infect (since I had nothing to process). I had 2x Shambling Vents, one of them is becoming a Bojuka Bog. Gotta have the exile.
- One-of Oblivion Ring and Sorin, Solemn Visitor were awesome. I won against Bogles by O-ringing a Rancor, which dropped the Daybreak Coronet off of it. Proceeded to take care of a giant non-trampling Bogle the next game by ultimating Sorin. What a house.
- Could obviously be that I didn't have enough to process, but I can already tell Strangler is the deck's weakest link and possibly a necessary evil. It's underwhelming compared to the other things we can do, but it's also an early play that can set the opponent back (I got to live the Urborg and Eye of Ugin dream and cast him turn 2 with 1 land. Also the turn 2 TKS dream). I really hope something comes along that can replace it, because I'm not digging it.
- Ran 25 lands, this will have a tendency to flood. I feel like I'm going to need something to sink this mana into. Going to start thinking of ideas.
- Lingering Souls is still one of the best cards ever. Never unhappy to see it. Fantastic at both gumming up the board to buy time or to start the flying beats.
One thing is for sure after playing it: this deck is ridiculously powerful and has a ton of potential in Modern. We need to nail a list down (if the PT doesn't do it for us.)
Went to a modern event today, this was my first time playing the deck for real (ie not playtesting). Ended up at 2-2, but I don't think I made a lot of misplays either so I'm happy with that at least.
G1: Got stuck on 3 lands and an Eye for a while, had to cast Souls a couple turns later than I would have liked (because of Thalia and Judge's Familiar). Died to Thalia/Blade Splicer/Resto Angel beats. (0-1)
G2: He got land screwed, mulligan to 4. I kept a full 7 and drew 3 discard spells. I almost felt bad for using them. (1-1)
G3: This was a very strange game overall. I drew very poorly and so did he. I had some board presence and was able to cast a TKS but he drew a lucky Path and I got ran over like in G1. (1-2)
(0-1)
Round 2: UW Control
G1: Easy game. He drew very badly and ended up with 3 Leylines of Sanctity on the board. I got a GQ and a Tec Edge off him with Sower and was able to keep his Colonnades in check. Here's a game where Warping Wail would have been useful to counter Wrath of God, but unfortunately I didn't draw it. (1-0)
G2: I wasn't sure what to side against him. Memoricide seemed like a waste since he had 1-of wincons, so I just put the extractions in. He drew a counter-heavy hand, but on cast effects don't care about Remand, he could bounce my Herder all day, whatever. (2-0)
(1-1)
Round 3: Nacatl Burn
G1: Rough game. Vents was an all star here, I probably gained about 8 life with it in the course of the game and even killed a Goblin Guide. It wasn't enough, though. (0-1)
G2: Also very rough. I got to process a Rift Bolt with Strangler to kill a Nacatl though which was great. I was at 1 life when I managed to stabilize with a Herder and Vault of the Archangel, and he conceded. (1-1)
G3: He was on the play this time, and though he was stuck at 1 land for a couple of turns his hand was very, very good and he managed to kill me very quickly. (1-2)
(1-2)
Round 3: Grixis Control
G1: Grindy match, still heavily in my favor all the way through. I kept his graveyard nice and clean with a couple of Relics and Bojuka Bog, eventually he ran out of cards and I fetched Ulamog with Eye to close out the game. (1-0)
G2: He actually managed to land a T2 fish. It got Pathed immediately and the game went on much like G1. (2-0)
(2-2)
I was missing a Thought-Knot Seer (I wanted to play 3), I missed the extra one in a couple of matches and would definitely go -1 Sower +1 Seer in the future. I wasn't sure what to run between Dismember, GFTT and Warping Wail, so I just jammed one of each in there to try them out. I'm still not sure actually, as they were all equally useful for me in the matches I played. I also wanted to test out Reality Smasher but I didn't get to attack with him once. I suppose there's some merit in running him though since he acted like a removal/counter magnet and let my other threats slip through.
The control match-ups felt great. I think I should slot in a couple of Timely Reinforcements for the burn/aggro matches since I saw a lot of those around in my local meta (and the burn match was agonizing all the way through, even in the one game I won). I was completely lost in how to sideboard for the D&T match-up, though; I can't even remember what I sided in/out. If I lost any of my games due to playing poorly, it was that one G3.
Well, looks like Ulamog is doing nothing there, why dont you test 1 more Smasher or TKS on its place, or even 1 more discard spell ?
The thing is, i like having him in the deck, it can save your ass when playing agaisnt an infinite life combo (like it did for me last week).
I know it won't hit the field as often as when i had 4 oblivion sower but it can have some play if the game is going long and i can cast
some blight herder with some processing.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern:
-Rg valakut
-U/W control
-U/R storm
-G/W value town
Ulamog needs to stay as a one-of. There's literally no reason to not play him. He is a tutorable closer to games that go on too long. The times you get him in your opener may suck, but being able to close out a game typically on the spot once you hit 7 lands is too powerful to give up.
The announcement at the top tells me you were replying to me, so I'll respond. Anyone else try Displacer out?
For me, it was really really good a really really small percentage of the time. The stars kind of had to align. But with a grip of cards in exile and a Strangler or TKS on the field it had tons of game. If those conditions weren't met, it's utility was pretty limited.
I think it's still worth considering--it can save our own creatures or neutralize an attacker or two, for zero cards--but there are so many other strong options for us that by comparison it almost always felt like one of my other cards would have ben better.
I am going to ask this question again; though it came up once before, I never felt like it was seriously considered.
I see some talk around using Crucible of Worlds to combat land destruction strategies. So, why no love for Sacred Ground in the side? It just plain shuts down Fulminator, Rain of Tears, Molten Rain, GQ, and Tec Edge until dealt with. It also doesn't die to K Command like Crucible does. Nor does it cost $70. It doesn't conflict with playing lands from the hand. It seems to me that Crucible's one real (and by no means inconsiderable) advantage is the ability to recur our own GQs versus say Tron or Scapeshift.
I can't see why this option is not being considered in the BW variant.
I also have this question. Only advantage of Crucible is any deck can run it and you can replay your own GQ and Fetches. If one is aiming for that effect, I think its more suitable to dedicated land destruction or prison decks (ie lands ditched from your own Liliana). I played Pox in Legacy and Wasteland lock is one engine of the deck via Crucible or Loam.
In the face of heavy land destruction in the current meta, I'll take Sacred Ground over Crucible. Its hella cheaper, harder to remove for some decks and does not cause you to lose tempo.
It's come up before, but is Utter End worth considering in a sideboard slot for the Tron matchup? It can take care of Karn, Wurmcoil, O-Stone, Ugin, and/or an opposing Ulamog.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My 360 Peasant+ Cube!. Modern borders where possible, usually with the newest (or "best") art, and always the most readable card text. I also run all 10 painlands. My playgroup is super casual, as we have a fair number of newer or less experienced players. Typically we draft with 4 to 6 people, using 5 packs of 9.
I like Utter End a lot but if against Tron it is a bit slow. I like Pithing Needle more to disable Karn or O Stone and hope it can buy you enough time before they resolve Nature's Claim.
Ulamog should probably stay in the deck for times you need a non damaged based win con to give you a way to win against things like infinite life combos and worship. It's also our best source of non-creature removal game one going from land destruction in the mirror or to kill Bridges in match ups like Lantern. Plus a single swing tends to end the game against combos that use the entire deck if it doesn't just kill.
If you accept that however it is also an argument for not getting rid of Sower because that greatly helps Ulamog into play while also becoming ridiclous to cast if Ulamog ever gets to attack and the cast trigger does a lot itself in the grindier matchs. Personally I'm on the side of a 2/2 split with Sower/Smasher because I don't think the meta's going to stay as aggro as this forever, though I can definately see the arguement for 1 Sower/3 Smashers currently. I think I'll always be on 4 Herders.
On a different note I'm currently considering running 3 Leyline/2 Timely in the side and what I was considering is how do people feel about Surgical in the burn match up? I understand that a lot of the time you're going to be casting it for 2 life, but I'm wondering if being able to get a look at the Burn players hand or potentially combined with discard remove a playset of Skullcrack/Atakara's Command or in my case Destructive Revelries might not be worth keeping the card in for the match up?
The reason for running Leyline on the other hand is fourfold:
1) I'm not running fetches so Rest just isn't good for my deck
2) I think a lot of the cards we are running against burn are too slow and they are forcing us to react to them, Leyline forces them to react to us and gives us more time to reach our stabilizing cards like Vault or Sorin while they are looking for answers to Leyline
3) They run less answers to Leyline as they are running 8 skull crack effects against lifegain maindeck, but only 4 Destructive Revelries and that's IF they side them in. It also switches off Skullcrack (though Atakra's still works) and makes both our discard and creature removal better because we can target the more relevant card like Revelry/Atakras/Path/?Deflecting Palm? and kill the creature they're forced to rely on to try and get the damage in.
4) I'm actually considering running 2 wrath effects main in place of the black spot removal (probably two Flaying) because of how aggro my meta is so leyline won't be taking that spot from my side and will help against other match-ups discard and various stupid win conditions (a.k.a Lantern and a couple of combo decks that pop up in my meta from time to time.)
I'm a huge fan of Surgical...I run 2 main board and it does work in every matchup. The ability to use discard and extract major deck components is extremely powerful. In turns of burn I have used it to remove problem cards t1, extract, turn on t2 strangler that kills a guide/swiftspear/nacatl that then trades for another card. The two life you take is actually much less than what you would have taken. To compensate for running this main I don't run thoughtseize, and use TKS for higher cmc cards.
For Leyline to be effective you really need to be running 4 to give you a higher chance of seeing it in your opening hand. Hard casting it is not where i want to be.
My current list is very similar:
-3 Herder (had him come down as a vanilla 4/5 one too many times, though I know how amazing he is)
-3 Smasher
-4 TKS
-1 O-Sower
-1 Ulamog
-1 Displacer
-1 Spellskite
-3 Strangler
Recently put the displacer back in because he can have moments of brilliance.
So far I am liking 3-of smashers. I am always happy to seem them in my hand.
Here's my decklist :
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Caves of Koilos
4 Marsh Flats
2 Godless Shrine
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Eye of Ugin
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Plains
2 Swamp
1 Vault of the Archangel
CREATURE (14):
4 Blight Herder
3 Wasteland Strangler
3 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Reality Smasher
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
4 Lingering Souls
2 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
INSTANT (6):
4 Path to Exile
1 Dismember
1 Doom blade
ARTIFACT (4):
4 Relic of Progenitus
Enchantment (1):
1 oblivion ring
Planeswalker (1):
1 Sorin, solemn visitor
1 Rest for the Weary
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Stony Silence
1 flaying tendrill
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Disenchant
1 celestial purge
1 all is dust
1 ghost quarter
2 timely reinforcement
1 spellskite
All i can say is that Reality smasher is a complete powerhouse. I've cruised games with only him. I've never missed the oblivion sower and i will never
go back to them. I was pleased with the Sorin, he did some work of baiting a counterspell for me to cast a Reality smasher agaisn't Scapeshift.
Round 1 (VS scapeshift):
Game 1: I tore his hand appart with inquisition and thoughtseize followed by reality smasher. Sakura tribe-elder doesn't stand a chance as a chump blocker. He
had so much pressure that he wasn't able to do anything.
Game 2: I had a not so good hand. I had 2 strangler and a blight herder on the field with a Urborg and one of my friend did tell my opponent that i had Urborg out so he could cast the damnation in his hand (he had no black mana and haven't realised my urborg) I was so pissed. That gave him the time to assemble the combo. GG
Game 3: It was a grindy and long game. I got my 2 inquisition and thoughtseize early on to disrupt him. His deck didn't cooperate. I was able to bait his cryptic with my Sorin to follow with a Reality smasher for the win. I was so high in life total that even when he caster scapeshift he couldn't kill me.
(1-0)
Round 2 (VS Tron):
Game 1: I feared this matchup. I hate playing agaisn't tron and i never was able to win agaisn't it in the past so I was not very confident. Turn 2 thought knot seer into turn 3 reality smasher did a lot of work putting him down to 8. He cast a spellskite then a wurmcoil. Path the wurmcoil, redirect on spellskite, go down to 6, gain 6 life. Topdeck a second reality smasher, and cast sorin. (had enough mana to cast both) Go in for 12. GG
Game 2: He mulled to 4 (all no lander). I keep a hand with ghost quarter, surgical extraction and reality smasher. I crushed him in 4-5 turns.
(2-0)
Round 3 (Vs A Rakdos brew):
Game 1: turn 2 thought knot seer into turn 3 reality. He can't deal with them and die
Game 2: A crumble to dust turn 3 on my eldrazi temple gave him the game. I had a crazy hand (a second eldrazi temple, 2 blight herder, 1 wasteland strangler and a reality smasher with a relic). If
he hadn't did it, it was game for sure. Was never able to draw colored mana (was stuck with a vault of the archangel)
Game 3: He kept a greedy hand with 1 land and 3 rakdos signet. He never drew the 2nd land and lost to a reality smasher and TKS.
(3-0)
Round 4 (VS affinity):
Game 1: We drawed to have a split pot but still played. I had an awful hand and lost quickly to etched champion, signal pest, archbound ravager and ornithopter. Never saw any creature
Game 2: I tried to slow him down with 2 thoughtseize. Wasn't enough, didn't draw much land and lost to a double galvanic blast to the face (i was at 7)
(3-0-1)
The deck is a lot more powerfull with the smashers and TKS. I did draw Ulamog twice tonight but i never was able to cast it. I don't miss the expedition as they were only dead draw most of the time. Was happy with the 1 shambling vent as it gave me so way to deal with a liliana agaisn't the Rakdos deck. I'm happy with the direction the deck is going and i'm eager to see the future (read here the pro tour this weekend).
-Rg valakut
-U/W control
-U/R storm
-G/W value town
Legacy :
-Storm
Well, looks like Ulamog is doing nothing there, why dont you test 1 more Smasher or TKS on its place, or even 1 more discard spell ?
GXTronGX
RWxBurnRWx
4 Blight Herder
4 TKS
3 Wasteland Strangler
2 Reality Smasher
Went 2-2, beating some UR Prowess jank round 1, lost to infect round 2, won against bogles round 3, and lost to affinity round 4.
Some random thoughts:
- I was unable to get an entire playset of Relic of Progenitus in time, so had to make do with 2 (and put 2 Expedition Maps in to replace them). This deck needs exile effects badly. Had my expedition map been a Relic, I wouldn't have necessarily lost the game to affinity or infect (since I had nothing to process). I had 2x Shambling Vents, one of them is becoming a Bojuka Bog. Gotta have the exile.
- One-of Oblivion Ring and Sorin, Solemn Visitor were awesome. I won against Bogles by O-ringing a Rancor, which dropped the Daybreak Coronet off of it. Proceeded to take care of a giant non-trampling Bogle the next game by ultimating Sorin. What a house.
- Could obviously be that I didn't have enough to process, but I can already tell Strangler is the deck's weakest link and possibly a necessary evil. It's underwhelming compared to the other things we can do, but it's also an early play that can set the opponent back (I got to live the Urborg and Eye of Ugin dream and cast him turn 2 with 1 land. Also the turn 2 TKS dream). I really hope something comes along that can replace it, because I'm not digging it.
- Ran 25 lands, this will have a tendency to flood. I feel like I'm going to need something to sink this mana into. Going to start thinking of ideas.
- Lingering Souls is still one of the best cards ever. Never unhappy to see it. Fantastic at both gumming up the board to buy time or to start the flying beats.
One thing is for sure after playing it: this deck is ridiculously powerful and has a ton of potential in Modern. We need to nail a list down (if the PT doesn't do it for us.)
1 Bojuka Bog
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Eye of Ugin
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Godless Shrine
2 Plains
1 Shambling Vent
2 Swamp
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Vault of the Archangel
Creature (15)
4 Blight Herder
3 Oblivion Sower
2 Reality Smasher
2 Thought-Knot Seer
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
3 Wasteland Strangler
1 Dismember
1 Go for the Throat
4 Path to Exile
1 Warping Wail
Artifact (4)
4 Relic of Progenitus
Sorcery (9)
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls
1 Thoughtseize
1 All Is Dust
2 Disenchant
2 Flaying Tendrils
2 Memoricide
1 Ratchet Bomb
3 Rest for the Weary
2 Stony Silence
2 Surgical Extraction
Round 1: BW Death & Taxes
G1: Got stuck on 3 lands and an Eye for a while, had to cast Souls a couple turns later than I would have liked (because of Thalia and Judge's Familiar). Died to Thalia/Blade Splicer/Resto Angel beats. (0-1)
G2: He got land screwed, mulligan to 4. I kept a full 7 and drew 3 discard spells. I almost felt bad for using them. (1-1)
G3: This was a very strange game overall. I drew very poorly and so did he. I had some board presence and was able to cast a TKS but he drew a lucky Path and I got ran over like in G1. (1-2)
(0-1)
Round 2: UW Control
G1: Easy game. He drew very badly and ended up with 3 Leylines of Sanctity on the board. I got a GQ and a Tec Edge off him with Sower and was able to keep his Colonnades in check. Here's a game where Warping Wail would have been useful to counter Wrath of God, but unfortunately I didn't draw it. (1-0)
G2: I wasn't sure what to side against him. Memoricide seemed like a waste since he had 1-of wincons, so I just put the extractions in. He drew a counter-heavy hand, but on cast effects don't care about Remand, he could bounce my Herder all day, whatever. (2-0)
(1-1)
Round 3: Nacatl Burn
G1: Rough game. Vents was an all star here, I probably gained about 8 life with it in the course of the game and even killed a Goblin Guide. It wasn't enough, though. (0-1)
G2: Also very rough. I got to process a Rift Bolt with Strangler to kill a Nacatl though which was great. I was at 1 life when I managed to stabilize with a Herder and Vault of the Archangel, and he conceded. (1-1)
G3: He was on the play this time, and though he was stuck at 1 land for a couple of turns his hand was very, very good and he managed to kill me very quickly. (1-2)
(1-2)
Round 3: Grixis Control
G1: Grindy match, still heavily in my favor all the way through. I kept his graveyard nice and clean with a couple of Relics and Bojuka Bog, eventually he ran out of cards and I fetched Ulamog with Eye to close out the game. (1-0)
G2: He actually managed to land a T2 fish. It got Pathed immediately and the game went on much like G1. (2-0)
(2-2)
I was missing a Thought-Knot Seer (I wanted to play 3), I missed the extra one in a couple of matches and would definitely go -1 Sower +1 Seer in the future. I wasn't sure what to run between Dismember, GFTT and Warping Wail, so I just jammed one of each in there to try them out. I'm still not sure actually, as they were all equally useful for me in the matches I played. I also wanted to test out Reality Smasher but I didn't get to attack with him once. I suppose there's some merit in running him though since he acted like a removal/counter magnet and let my other threats slip through.
The control match-ups felt great. I think I should slot in a couple of Timely Reinforcements for the burn/aggro matches since I saw a lot of those around in my local meta (and the burn match was agonizing all the way through, even in the one game I won). I was completely lost in how to sideboard for the D&T match-up, though; I can't even remember what I sided in/out. If I lost any of my games due to playing poorly, it was that one G3.
Maybe its not as good of a fit in the BW version, but its done me extremely well for its verstility
Modern: Bogles // 8-Whack/Goblins // UW Titan // Hollow One // Affinity // Dredge
EDH: Nissa, Vastwood Seer // Atraxa, Praetor's Voice // Meren of Clan Nel Toth
The thing is, i like having him in the deck, it can save your ass when playing agaisnt an infinite life combo (like it did for me last week).
I know it won't hit the field as often as when i had 4 oblivion sower but it can have some play if the game is going long and i can cast
some blight herder with some processing.
-Rg valakut
-U/W control
-U/R storm
-G/W value town
Legacy :
-Storm
For me, it was really really good a really really small percentage of the time. The stars kind of had to align. But with a grip of cards in exile and a Strangler or TKS on the field it had tons of game. If those conditions weren't met, it's utility was pretty limited.
I think it's still worth considering--it can save our own creatures or neutralize an attacker or two, for zero cards--but there are so many other strong options for us that by comparison it almost always felt like one of my other cards would have ben better.
I see some talk around using Crucible of Worlds to combat land destruction strategies. So, why no love for Sacred Ground in the side? It just plain shuts down Fulminator, Rain of Tears, Molten Rain, GQ, and Tec Edge until dealt with. It also doesn't die to K Command like Crucible does. Nor does it cost $70. It doesn't conflict with playing lands from the hand. It seems to me that Crucible's one real (and by no means inconsiderable) advantage is the ability to recur our own GQs versus say Tron or Scapeshift.
I can't see why this option is not being considered in the BW variant.
In the face of heavy land destruction in the current meta, I'll take Sacred Ground over Crucible. Its hella cheaper, harder to remove for some decks and does not cause you to lose tempo.
I'm a huge fan of Surgical...I run 2 main board and it does work in every matchup. The ability to use discard and extract major deck components is extremely powerful. In turns of burn I have used it to remove problem cards t1, extract, turn on t2 strangler that kills a guide/swiftspear/nacatl that then trades for another card. The two life you take is actually much less than what you would have taken. To compensate for running this main I don't run thoughtseize, and use TKS for higher cmc cards.
For Leyline to be effective you really need to be running 4 to give you a higher chance of seeing it in your opening hand. Hard casting it is not where i want to be.