what do you think of a core of Matter Reshaper backed up by heavy sweepers? We get to maintain a board presence while getting Reality Smashers etc off the table.
Hi there! I'm very interested to this version of Eldrazi and during the test i was thinking about "hardcasting" the processors. So i have a question for you: depending on board situation etc, would you cast a processor like Strangler or Herder without process nothing? if you have the possibility to cast Herder on 3rd turn (thanks to temple+eye), you cast it, or wait for exiled cards to "optimize" it? (same speech for the strangler)
Depends entirely on the situation. I have cast Blight Herders and Stranglers for no additional value. Stranglers usually stay in for me against control decks just to be 3/2 beat sticks that they have to waste removal killing. (occasionally they kill Snaps and things but its rare). It's very easy to turn them on though.
Sticking with BW since I feel it's the most that it's the most versatile version that doesn't rely on a magical christmas land like the others and it's still resilient if the b word happens. But I think they have the right idea in abandoning the reliance on exiling. So, I tried to mix the best of both worlds.
I feel like this is more of a "fair" deck than the other flavors while still having the explosiveness of the other variants. I've found that I don't need to mulligan aggressively to play a game of magic but that perfect hand of eyes, mimics, endless and smashers is still possible if you're lucky but you're not reliant on it. Lingering can take over games and Ulamog and a single Sower are still your back up for a really grindy game. But because all of the more expensive, exile heavy, creatures are cut you're not sitting around doing nothing and can create an army that can go wide early if you need it.
After spending time with the Magic Deckbuilder and scouring TCGplayer, I feel like this is probably the direction I'm going as well. Basically this and the GR builds are the strongest long term, with the GR build suffering from a land base that is horribly out of print. BW can play a good control game and mid range game depending on how it gets built. Not to mention it has access to Bearer of Silence. I kind of want to try using windswept heath and have a few Overgrown Tomb + Godless shrine so we can play World Breaker. It just seems like a better card than Ulamog in many cases.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Well guys, the ride has been fun while it lasted but I got a crazy good offer and decided to sell this deck off today. I really wish the aggro variant hadn't come along and ruined the fun we were having. I will still be around (moving to Abzan Company) and may occasionally pop my head in and give opinions on things and will still keep an eye on the deck. All in all, it's been a wild ride. See yall around.
Well guys, the ride has been fun while it lasted but I got a crazy good offer and decided to sell this deck off today. I really wish the aggro variant hadn't come along and ruined the fun we were having. I will still be around (moving to Abzan Company) and may occasionally pop my head in and give opinions on things and will still keep an eye on the deck. All in all, it's been a wild ride. See yall around.
Sorry to see you go. Thanks for all the help in developing the deck! Your tournament reports were excellent!
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No idea because my favorite decks keep getting banned or having the rules changed against them
Guys, i've tested the deck for a while and i've noticed that reality smasher is not made for a deck like this, maybe is better have 4 sower. What you think about this?
Reality Smasher is just an aggro/finisher option while sower is also a grindy card, so the former is good in aggro build while the latter is a better fit in more grindier/midrange build like the BW one.
- L
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"The problem isn't when Scissors says Rock is overpowered, it's when Paper says it is."
-Mark Rosewater
While I realize we aren't supposed to talk about bans in this thread, and that's not my intention, but what other lands do you guys think could replace eye of ugin should it be banned. I've heard some talk about Sea Gate Wreckage, but honestly it doesn't seem all that spectacular as far as utility lands go. We would also be able to cut Expedition Map most likely unless we find a utility land that we really want to fetch. What about Mirrorpool? Just a thought.
Seagate could be fun if you went deeper with discard/tks and packed liliana. There's not much of a drawback with seagate in the deck and helps top deck mode which is a part of Eye.
The journeys are my tech against reality smasher. I'm only running two thought-knot seer and zero reality smasher because I don't want to invest in the deck if the ban removes both eye and temple.
Well, here's the report:
Match 1 - B/W Hate Bears
Game 1: I inquisition and remove an AEther vial, leaving two inquisitions and some sort of bear. She inquisitions back but I have no targets except a lingering souls. My turn, I flashback the souls and begin the beats. She plays another vial and begins playing creatures. This is a slow grindy game, but I constantly have her on the back foot with remove and creatures. Eye of Ugin ensures that she can’t answer the rise of the eldrazi.
Game 2: I play Urborg and keep a flooded strand in hand, which was silly because she plays a leonin arbiter, locking me out of white mana for a good 5 turns. She gets a dark confidant, a thalia, and more hate bears. I stall with dismember and some wasteland strangers. I finally draw my plains, and cast my first lingering souls and a path the following turn. Unfortunately, I’m at 4 and facing lethal. I topdeck flaying tendrils and wipe the board. I follow up with a blight herder with spawn tokens. I attack for a couple of turns. I have spellskite in hand, but I foolishly keep in a hand. I attack with the blight herder and she vials in a Wasteland Stranger of her own, trading with my blight herder. Time is called and I manage to tie the game by ghost quartering what would otherwise be a lethal attack from a shambling vent.
Since I won the first game and drew the second, the match goes to me.
1-0
Match 2 – Kiki Cord
Game 1: He plays some ‘goyfs which I path. He draws enough mana and creatures though to combo out.
Game 2: I keep a hand with discard and removal, but no eldrazi or souls. I stall the board for awhile, but he beats me with a pack of wolf tokens from Huntmaster.
My sideboard was a mistake. I should have sided in flaying tendrils and kept in spellskite, but I wasn’t familiar enough with his deck to understand how to stop it. Oh well.
1-1
Match 3 – Griselbrand Reanimator
Game 1: He mulls and I make it worse by discarding a mana source. He loots, and loots, and loots some more. I cast relic and remove his graveyard. I hit him with another inquisition and remove a night’s whisper. He has Griselbrand and a spirit guide, but nothing else. I cast blight herder and chain into another blight herder, threatening lethal when he’s at 11. He top decks through the breach and combos out.
Game 2: He mulls once. I cast a blight herder on turn 3 without processing. He tries to cast through the breach with Griselbrand on turn 6, but I have celestial purge. He concedes.
Game 3 – I keep a risky hand with 2 maps, 2 paths, 1 inqusition, 1 lingering souls and 1 land. I top deck a land and inquisition him. I draw a relic and remove each card that lands in his grave as they come. I get my third land, and cast map. Map fetches my fourth, then my fifth land (I have two maps) while I hold white mana up in case he tries to combo. When I cast lingering souls, he tries comboing out, but I path his wurm. He concedes.
Pretty easy matchup with maindeck relic and plenty of removal to exile his win conditions.
2-1
Match 4: R/B Eight Racks
Game 1: I inquisition him and remove waste not from his hand. He plays smallpox, but I have a lingering souls to soften the blow. I ghost quarter his rakdos cranium, slowing his tempo. He plays two raven’s crime, but I have the relic to remove those. I Meanwhile, my spirit tokens and eldrazi maw him down. I dismember his only creature and swing for lethal.
Game 2: I mull to five and he hits me with a monastery swiftspear backed by discard and burn. Thankfully, I die quickly.
Game 3: I play a quick thought-knot seer and remove a blightning. He plays a smallpox and I foolishly sacrifice my only plains, choosing to keep a ghost quarter instead. Big mistake. I draw a disenchant and three lingering souls while his racks and lone swiftspear peck away at me. Finally, I draw enough lands to cast Oblivion sower. This nets me two lands. I attack with my sower and he’s forced to chump, then take ten damage. I cast a wasteland stranger to threaten lethal damage. He has me at three, so a single bolt will end me. My opponent draws ensnaring bridge and breathes a sign of relief. Not bad, except I have a disenchant in hand. I ghost quarter one of the lands I stole from him and dig up a plains, cast disenchant, and then swing for lethal.
3-1
My record nets me $27.50 in store credit, so I almost double my entry fee. Not a bad run.
No eye might also mean taking out ulamog, considering (at least from my play experience) it's either a great tutor target or a dead card in you hand. Without the tutor, the only reason it would fit would be as a late game top deck, which isn't a good reason. You could then up the TKS or RS count depending on whether you've maxed out on both yet, or add oblivion sowers (surely no one has maxed out on all 3).
I think this is the most resilient version of the deck that can still play a game of magic unlike the other variations that need to lean strictly on Eldrazi.
Round 1 vs Elves - Loss 1-2
Game one is relatively short. I keep a 4 land hand and flood out while he plays a trio of Shaman of the Pack, sealing the game. Sideboard - IN: Wrath, Tendrils, Damnation, Ratchet Bomb, Pithing Needle, Timely. OUT: x4 Souls (Not a fan of them in this match-up), Spellskite, x2 Herder.
Game two, he dumps his hand by turn 4 and is met with a Damnation, and he can't recover.
Game three, I mull to 6 and keep a 3 lander, and get hit by a T2 Shaman into a T3 Shaman into a CoCo for DOUBLE SHAMANS on T4. Needless to say, I got wrecked. Notes for this matchup: Its really bad game one. Siding boardwipes helps games 2 and 3 a ton, but it really comes down to being able to disrupt them. Heritage Druid and Shaman of the Pack are the really nasty cards here. In retrospect, I should have brought in the Extractions to try and hit those. I also think siding out so many creatures was wrong, I'll have to work on this matchup more.
Round 2 vs W/U Eldrazi - Win 2-0
Game one, we both have low land hands, but while he draws into Drowners he can't cast, I play double Thoughtseize into a Smasher, and close the game out from there. Sideboard - IN: Wrath, Damnnation, Extractions. OUT: Spellskite, Stranglers, Timely.
Game two kicks off slow like game one, but picks up with a T3 Thought-Knot into a Smasher. He plays Path on my Thought-Knot, and Dismembers the Smasher. The game slows down, he resolves a Displacer that I path EoT. I draw into Sorin and start alternating Vampires and pumps until he kills Sorin. He plays a Mimic into a Drowner, and I rip a Path off the top and swing in for the win two turns later. Notes for this matchup: I feel we are VERY well positioned in this mirror. They lack the high amounts of disruption we can run, and we can grind much better than they can with Souls and Herders. Sorin was a huge pivot in my games, easily the turning points when I felt myself starting to lose my lead. Stranglers don't kill all too much in this matchup.
Round 3 vs Grixis Delver - Win 2-0
Game one was a quickie, T2 THought-Knot into T3 Smasher threw him off balance early, and he wasn't able to stabilize before I closed the game with a second Thought-Knot and Herder. Sideboard - IN: Disenchant, Ratchet Bomb. OUT: Timely, Spellskite.
Game two, he gets stuck on two lands with no red. I strip his hand of Terminates and Snapcasters while I pummel him down with a Herder and tokens. When he finally drew a third land, it was an Island. Notes for this matchup: Grixis variants are very good matchups for us, since they rely so much on the graveyard and we have MB grave hate. I brought in my anti Blood Moon stuff, but he didn't draw them. Even if they resolve a Blood Moon, its not the end of the world. If you can pull ahead early, Blood Moon can't save them. We also have an ace against BM in Herder, since we can cast Smasher and Thought-Knot off the tokens.
Round 4 vs Grixis Control - Win 2-0
Game one was interesting. I play a T3 Souls into a T4 flashback, and he plays a maindeck Damnation, which kind of took me off guard. I think he was hedging against Eldrazi and Aggro decks. I take that into account and start slow-rolling my threats out, only keeping 1-2 threats on board at a time. The game grinds on, and I close it out with a Blight Herder and token friends. Sideboard - IN: Disenchant, Surgicals, Ratchet Bomb. OUT: Stranglers, Spellskite, Timely.
Game two was just as grindy as the first, but I almost punted it early. He plays a T3 Ashiok, and I follow with Lingering Souls. But, I could have played a Smasher and killed Ashiok right away and kinda spaced on it until it was too late. I spent the next 4 or so turns killing Ashiok before he could exile too much of my library. Shamling Vent did a TON of work in this game, putting in at least 8 damage and keeping me out of Bolt-Snap-Bolt range. He drew three K-Commands, but was stuck on 5 lands, slowing down how fast he could use them, giving me time to draw into Relics and cut off his graveyard interaction. Eventually, I grinded him out with double Herders. Notes for this matchup: I sideboarded horribly wrong for this. I went in thinking he'd bring in Blood Moon, but it didn't hit me until during the game that his mana base was too weak to BM. Bringing in the Leylines would be awesome here. Overall, because of Relics, this matchup is good as long as we play smart and don't over-extend.
I was not very happy with the Spellskite in the main tonight. I didn't hit any matchups where it was relevant, and was sided out every matchup. I think this slot might become another discard spell or removal, I dunno. I also didn't draw the mainboard Timely at all, except for game two against Elves where he Inquisition'ed it. As always, Sorin was a house, stealing the games I played him in. Dismember also played out wonderfully, I don't think I'll ever take those out.
Some new cards I'd like to try at one point or another is BFZ Gideon and Bitterblossom. Having the flex spots where Spellskite, Timely, and Ulamog are gives me a little room to try new stuff out. Thoughts on those?
I think this is the most resilient version of the deck that can still play a game of magic unlike the other variations that need to lean strictly on Eldrazi.
I agree. I think we can still run as a pretty good deck without the eyes, maybe just not quite as good. I don't know if we will become better than colorless or not, but I think it's possible.
Good play report, thanks. Nice to know there are others out there still succeeding with this variant. I went 2-1-1 on Monday, beating BG Infect 2-1 and UG Infect 2-0, drawing vs. UR Delver 1-1-1, and losing to UR Eldrazi 0-2 on utterly crap draws both games.
I also did not like Spellskites main; with a low creature count, too often they just sat there when what I needed was pressure. In a local meta with a lot of Bogles I might put one or two in the side. But I don't like it against Infect because I already feel that matchup is very favorable for us.
I wonder about Ulamog. I still have him main but he gets sided out at least ten times as often as he gets played. I am thinking about scrapping the big guy now that I am off Sowers.
Why one Wrath and one Damnation? Just what you actually own, or is there another reason?
@ deaddrift:
B/W Eldrazi is the best, don't let no one tell you different.
I think the MB Spellskite will go back to being a Strangler, or maybe one of the other cards I'm thinking of. I kinda like 2 Stranglers, since they don't kill much in the current meta, but dayum are they good when they do.
I still like Ulamog for the matchups he is a good finisher in. Often times, just the threat of casting him can throw people off balance. But I totally agree in that he gets sided out a LOT. The only matchups I keep him in for are either grindy games against Jund/Junk, WU Eldrazi, Grixis Control, ect, but he goes out for everything else.
For the Wrath/Damn split, its just what I had. I'd rather have the 2 Damns, but you go with what you got.
One thing I've been giving a lot of thought to lately is how much like B/W Tokens this deck can become, trading anthem effects for massive creatures. I've considered looking to recent lists for inspiration for tech to give us the edge. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar + Oath of Gideon and Bitterblossom are some things I'm looking at. My only fear of doing that would be that it dilutes the angle B/W Eldrazi is going for.
Been thinking some more about changes for an Eyeless deck, and I'm thinking that maybe keeping the expedition maps could actually be beneficial. They could be used to get temples most of the time, and the occasional utility land in a pinch. Without eye, there doesn't seem to be much point in continuing to focus on eldrazi unless we have ways to get at least 2 temples guaranteed each game, and relatively early. Ulamog could still go, or not, but I think if we are staying eldrazi focused expedition maps are going to be essential. After all, tron uses them to get lands that produce 2 and 3 mana, so why not get lands that produce 2 effectively for us? maybe potentially even go up on maps to 3 or 4
...Furthermore we don't want to play expedition map, especially if we don't have access to eye anymore. Tron use map because it absolutly need his lands to win the game, this isn't our case. Using map to search for a temple mean that we spent 3 manas, possibly one or two entire turns to search for a land tapping for 2, this isn't worth it.
I agree, I wonder if the deck could just become Abzan and run Ancient Stirrings if Eye gets the hammer. This way you can find Temples and other colorless cards for just 1cmc.
Depends entirely on the situation. I have cast Blight Herders and Stranglers for no additional value. Stranglers usually stay in for me against control decks just to be 3/2 beat sticks that they have to waste removal killing. (occasionally they kill Snaps and things but its rare). It's very easy to turn them on though.
After spending time with the Magic Deckbuilder and scouring TCGplayer, I feel like this is probably the direction I'm going as well. Basically this and the GR builds are the strongest long term, with the GR build suffering from a land base that is horribly out of print. BW can play a good control game and mid range game depending on how it gets built. Not to mention it has access to Bearer of Silence. I kind of want to try using windswept heath and have a few Overgrown Tomb + Godless shrine so we can play World Breaker. It just seems like a better card than Ulamog in many cases.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Sorry to see you go. Thanks for all the help in developing the deck! Your tournament reports were excellent!
Reality Smasher is just an aggro/finisher option while sower is also a grindy card, so the former is good in aggro build while the latter is a better fit in more grindier/midrange build like the BW one.
- L
"The problem isn't when Scissors says Rock is overpowered, it's when Paper says it is."
-Mark Rosewater
It seems the best version in the Eldrazi mirror...
- L
"The problem isn't when Scissors says Rock is overpowered, it's when Paper says it is."
-Mark Rosewater
It was a small event, with only 14 players, so we went 4 rounds of swiss.
2 Eye of Ugin
4 Caves of Koilos
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Plains
2 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Flooded Strand
1 Vault of the Archangel
2 Godless Shrine
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Oblivion Sower
2 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Blight Herder
4 Wasteland Strangler
1 Spellskite
4 Lingering Souls
4 Relic of Progenitus
4 Path to Exile
2 Expedition Map
2 Dismember
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Revoke Existence
3 Journey to Nowhere
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Stony Silence
2 Celestial Purge
2 Flaying Tendrils
The journeys are my tech against reality smasher. I'm only running two thought-knot seer and zero reality smasher because I don't want to invest in the deck if the ban removes both eye and temple.
Well, here's the report:
Match 1 - B/W Hate Bears
Game 1: I inquisition and remove an AEther vial, leaving two inquisitions and some sort of bear. She inquisitions back but I have no targets except a lingering souls. My turn, I flashback the souls and begin the beats. She plays another vial and begins playing creatures. This is a slow grindy game, but I constantly have her on the back foot with remove and creatures. Eye of Ugin ensures that she can’t answer the rise of the eldrazi.
In: 2 Flaying Tendrils, 3 Journey to Nowhere. Out: 3 Inquisition, 2 Oblivion Sower
Game 2: I play Urborg and keep a flooded strand in hand, which was silly because she plays a leonin arbiter, locking me out of white mana for a good 5 turns. She gets a dark confidant, a thalia, and more hate bears. I stall with dismember and some wasteland strangers. I finally draw my plains, and cast my first lingering souls and a path the following turn. Unfortunately, I’m at 4 and facing lethal. I topdeck flaying tendrils and wipe the board. I follow up with a blight herder with spawn tokens. I attack for a couple of turns. I have spellskite in hand, but I foolishly keep in a hand. I attack with the blight herder and she vials in a Wasteland Stranger of her own, trading with my blight herder. Time is called and I manage to tie the game by ghost quartering what would otherwise be a lethal attack from a shambling vent.
Since I won the first game and drew the second, the match goes to me.
1-0
Match 2 – Kiki Cord
Game 1: He plays some ‘goyfs which I path. He draws enough mana and creatures though to combo out.
In: 2 Journey To Nowhere, 2 Surgical Extraction. Out: 1 Spellskite, 2 Oblivion Sower, 1 Expedition Map
Game 2: I keep a hand with discard and removal, but no eldrazi or souls. I stall the board for awhile, but he beats me with a pack of wolf tokens from Huntmaster.
My sideboard was a mistake. I should have sided in flaying tendrils and kept in spellskite, but I wasn’t familiar enough with his deck to understand how to stop it. Oh well.
1-1
Match 3 – Griselbrand Reanimator
Game 1: He mulls and I make it worse by discarding a mana source. He loots, and loots, and loots some more. I cast relic and remove his graveyard. I hit him with another inquisition and remove a night’s whisper. He has Griselbrand and a spirit guide, but nothing else. I cast blight herder and chain into another blight herder, threatening lethal when he’s at 11. He top decks through the breach and combos out.
In- 2 Celestial Purge, 2 Surgical Extraction. Out: 4 Wasteland Stranger
Game 2: He mulls once. I cast a blight herder on turn 3 without processing. He tries to cast through the breach with Griselbrand on turn 6, but I have celestial purge. He concedes.
Game 3 – I keep a risky hand with 2 maps, 2 paths, 1 inqusition, 1 lingering souls and 1 land. I top deck a land and inquisition him. I draw a relic and remove each card that lands in his grave as they come. I get my third land, and cast map. Map fetches my fourth, then my fifth land (I have two maps) while I hold white mana up in case he tries to combo. When I cast lingering souls, he tries comboing out, but I path his wurm. He concedes.
Pretty easy matchup with maindeck relic and plenty of removal to exile his win conditions.
2-1
Match 4: R/B Eight Racks
Game 1: I inquisition him and remove waste not from his hand. He plays smallpox, but I have a lingering souls to soften the blow. I ghost quarter his rakdos cranium, slowing his tempo. He plays two raven’s crime, but I have the relic to remove those. I Meanwhile, my spirit tokens and eldrazi maw him down. I dismember his only creature and swing for lethal.
In: 2 Disenchant, 2 Revoke Existence, 2 Celestial Purge. Out: 2 Wasteland Stranger, 1 Ulamog, 1 Oblivion Sower, 2 Dismember
Game 2: I mull to five and he hits me with a monastery swiftspear backed by discard and burn. Thankfully, I die quickly.
Game 3: I play a quick thought-knot seer and remove a blightning. He plays a smallpox and I foolishly sacrifice my only plains, choosing to keep a ghost quarter instead. Big mistake. I draw a disenchant and three lingering souls while his racks and lone swiftspear peck away at me. Finally, I draw enough lands to cast Oblivion sower. This nets me two lands. I attack with my sower and he’s forced to chump, then take ten damage. I cast a wasteland stranger to threaten lethal damage. He has me at three, so a single bolt will end me. My opponent draws ensnaring bridge and breathes a sign of relief. Not bad, except I have a disenchant in hand. I ghost quarter one of the lands I stole from him and dig up a plains, cast disenchant, and then swing for lethal.
3-1
My record nets me $27.50 in store credit, so I almost double my entry fee. Not a bad run.
B/W Eldrazi Processor
Creatures - 15
x1 Spellskite
x2 Wasteland Strangler
x4 Thought-Knot Seer
x3 Reality Smasher
x4 Blight Herder
x1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Instants - 6
x4 Path to Exile
x2 Dismember
Sorceries - 9
x4 Lingering Souls
x1 Timely Reinforcements
x2 Inquisition of Kozilek
x2 Thoughtseize
Planeswalkers - 1
x1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Artifacts - 4
x4 Relic of Progenitus
Lands - 25
x2 Plains
x2 Swamp
x1 Waste
x1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
x1 Vault of the Archangel
x2 Eye of Ugin
x4 Eldrazi Temple
x4 Ghost Quarter
x1 Shambling Vent
x3 Godless Shrine
x4 Caves of Koilos
Sideboard
x1 Disenchant
x2 Timely Reinforcements
x1 Wrath of God
x2 Stony Silence
x3 Leyline of Sanctity
x2 Surgical Extraction
x1 Flaying Tendrils
x1 Damnation
x1 Ratchet Bomb
x1 Pithing Needle
Round 1 vs Elves - Loss 1-2
Game one is relatively short. I keep a 4 land hand and flood out while he plays a trio of Shaman of the Pack, sealing the game.
Sideboard - IN: Wrath, Tendrils, Damnation, Ratchet Bomb, Pithing Needle, Timely. OUT: x4 Souls (Not a fan of them in this match-up), Spellskite, x2 Herder.
Game two, he dumps his hand by turn 4 and is met with a Damnation, and he can't recover.
Game three, I mull to 6 and keep a 3 lander, and get hit by a T2 Shaman into a T3 Shaman into a CoCo for DOUBLE SHAMANS on T4. Needless to say, I got wrecked.
Notes for this matchup: Its really bad game one. Siding boardwipes helps games 2 and 3 a ton, but it really comes down to being able to disrupt them. Heritage Druid and Shaman of the Pack are the really nasty cards here. In retrospect, I should have brought in the Extractions to try and hit those. I also think siding out so many creatures was wrong, I'll have to work on this matchup more.
Round 2 vs W/U Eldrazi - Win 2-0
Game one, we both have low land hands, but while he draws into Drowners he can't cast, I play double Thoughtseize into a Smasher, and close the game out from there.
Sideboard - IN: Wrath, Damnnation, Extractions. OUT: Spellskite, Stranglers, Timely.
Game two kicks off slow like game one, but picks up with a T3 Thought-Knot into a Smasher. He plays Path on my Thought-Knot, and Dismembers the Smasher. The game slows down, he resolves a Displacer that I path EoT. I draw into Sorin and start alternating Vampires and pumps until he kills Sorin. He plays a Mimic into a Drowner, and I rip a Path off the top and swing in for the win two turns later.
Notes for this matchup: I feel we are VERY well positioned in this mirror. They lack the high amounts of disruption we can run, and we can grind much better than they can with Souls and Herders. Sorin was a huge pivot in my games, easily the turning points when I felt myself starting to lose my lead. Stranglers don't kill all too much in this matchup.
Round 3 vs Grixis Delver - Win 2-0
Game one was a quickie, T2 THought-Knot into T3 Smasher threw him off balance early, and he wasn't able to stabilize before I closed the game with a second Thought-Knot and Herder.
Sideboard - IN: Disenchant, Ratchet Bomb. OUT: Timely, Spellskite.
Game two, he gets stuck on two lands with no red. I strip his hand of Terminates and Snapcasters while I pummel him down with a Herder and tokens. When he finally drew a third land, it was an Island.
Notes for this matchup: Grixis variants are very good matchups for us, since they rely so much on the graveyard and we have MB grave hate. I brought in my anti Blood Moon stuff, but he didn't draw them. Even if they resolve a Blood Moon, its not the end of the world. If you can pull ahead early, Blood Moon can't save them. We also have an ace against BM in Herder, since we can cast Smasher and Thought-Knot off the tokens.
Round 4 vs Grixis Control - Win 2-0
Game one was interesting. I play a T3 Souls into a T4 flashback, and he plays a maindeck Damnation, which kind of took me off guard. I think he was hedging against Eldrazi and Aggro decks. I take that into account and start slow-rolling my threats out, only keeping 1-2 threats on board at a time. The game grinds on, and I close it out with a Blight Herder and token friends.
Sideboard - IN: Disenchant, Surgicals, Ratchet Bomb. OUT: Stranglers, Spellskite, Timely.
Game two was just as grindy as the first, but I almost punted it early. He plays a T3 Ashiok, and I follow with Lingering Souls. But, I could have played a Smasher and killed Ashiok right away and kinda spaced on it until it was too late. I spent the next 4 or so turns killing Ashiok before he could exile too much of my library. Shamling Vent did a TON of work in this game, putting in at least 8 damage and keeping me out of Bolt-Snap-Bolt range. He drew three K-Commands, but was stuck on 5 lands, slowing down how fast he could use them, giving me time to draw into Relics and cut off his graveyard interaction. Eventually, I grinded him out with double Herders.
Notes for this matchup: I sideboarded horribly wrong for this. I went in thinking he'd bring in Blood Moon, but it didn't hit me until during the game that his mana base was too weak to BM. Bringing in the Leylines would be awesome here. Overall, because of Relics, this matchup is good as long as we play smart and don't over-extend.
I was not very happy with the Spellskite in the main tonight. I didn't hit any matchups where it was relevant, and was sided out every matchup. I think this slot might become another discard spell or removal, I dunno. I also didn't draw the mainboard Timely at all, except for game two against Elves where he Inquisition'ed it. As always, Sorin was a house, stealing the games I played him in. Dismember also played out wonderfully, I don't think I'll ever take those out.
Some new cards I'd like to try at one point or another is BFZ Gideon and Bitterblossom. Having the flex spots where Spellskite, Timely, and Ulamog are gives me a little room to try new stuff out. Thoughts on those?
I agree. I think we can still run as a pretty good deck without the eyes, maybe just not quite as good. I don't know if we will become better than colorless or not, but I think it's possible.
I also did not like Spellskites main; with a low creature count, too often they just sat there when what I needed was pressure. In a local meta with a lot of Bogles I might put one or two in the side. But I don't like it against Infect because I already feel that matchup is very favorable for us.
I wonder about Ulamog. I still have him main but he gets sided out at least ten times as often as he gets played. I am thinking about scrapping the big guy now that I am off Sowers.
Why one Wrath and one Damnation? Just what you actually own, or is there another reason?
B/W Eldrazi is the best, don't let no one tell you different.
I think the MB Spellskite will go back to being a Strangler, or maybe one of the other cards I'm thinking of. I kinda like 2 Stranglers, since they don't kill much in the current meta, but dayum are they good when they do.
I still like Ulamog for the matchups he is a good finisher in. Often times, just the threat of casting him can throw people off balance. But I totally agree in that he gets sided out a LOT. The only matchups I keep him in for are either grindy games against Jund/Junk, WU Eldrazi, Grixis Control, ect, but he goes out for everything else.
For the Wrath/Damn split, its just what I had. I'd rather have the 2 Damns, but you go with what you got.
One thing I've been giving a lot of thought to lately is how much like B/W Tokens this deck can become, trading anthem effects for massive creatures. I've considered looking to recent lists for inspiration for tech to give us the edge. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar + Oath of Gideon and Bitterblossom are some things I'm looking at. My only fear of doing that would be that it dilutes the angle B/W Eldrazi is going for.
Twitch: gamerchamp
Modern: UGrand Architect, UBTezzeret Control, UBWRG Bridge From Below (Dredge)
Legacy: UWGTrue-Name Bant