Resto has been amazing. I picked her over Displacer simply because she doesnt die to bolt. Ppl just dont expect her. Also, Ive gone a more controling route. Almost like an Abzan midrange deck.
Death and Taxes is soft to sweepers (e.g., Flaying Tendrils) and it might be a good idea to side in Stony Silence/Pithing Needle for Vial.
I went 2-1-1 tonight.
1-1-1 vs. Grixis Control: I definitely feel favored in this match but G2 went long, going to him after he managed to lock me off my TKS/Smashers by denying me mana with Fulminator Mage.
2-0 vs. Kiki Chord: This guy flooded and never put up much of a fight in either G1 or G2. Which was fortunate, because I did not see much in the way of removal in either match, and had to ride Spirit tokens to victory.
1-2 vs. Mono-G Eldrazi Tron: Boy oh boy am I getting sick of the Tron match. My LGS has several Tron players and I seem to face at least one of them in every tourney. The Tron match is unwinnable unless I get hate in hand and even then it is not a sure thing. I did manage to win G2 after a mull to 5, keeping 2x Temple, Shrine, Strangler, and Stony with TKS on top of the deck.
2-1 vs. Mono-R Burn: A sub-optimal Burn deck piloted by a high schooler fell to my sided in Timely Reinforcements and Rest for the Wearys. I was lucky to see a lot of life gain in both G1 and G2,
Thoughts: There is no doubt that Tron is my most hated match up. I see it every G-D night it seems, and I never win. Never. (Mono-U Tron and UW Gifts Tron are not as bad as RG and some of the other builds.)
I am starting to feel that despite this build's real power, it is maybe too grindy. I draw matches pretty regularly for lack of time, and I don't think I am playing slow, it's just not real fast in many games. This could be a real problem from a competitiveness standpoint in a long tournament. I have a playset of both Simian Spirit Guide and Gemstone Caverns and am thinking about other builds that might accelerate the game plan. This would probably make the Tron match more competitive as well, if I can figure it out.
Things seem to have slowed down around here this past week but thanks once again to the forum for the help and the ideas. Cheers to all.
Death and Taxes is soft to sweepers (e.g., Flaying Tendrils) and it might be a good idea to side in Stony Silence/Pithing Needle for Vial.
I went 2-1-1 tonight.
1-1-1 vs. Grixis Control: I definitely feel favored in this match but G2 went long, going to him after he managed to lock me off my TKS/Smashers by denying me mana with Fulminator Mage.
2-0 vs. Kiki Chord: This guy flooded and never put up much of a fight in either G1 or G2. Which was fortunate, because I did not see much in the way of removal in either match, and had to ride Spirit tokens to victory.
1-2 vs. Mono-G Eldrazi Tron: Boy oh boy am I getting sick of the Tron match. My LGS has several Tron players and I seem to face at least one of them in every tourney. The Tron match is unwinnable unless I get hate in hand and even then it is not a sure thing. I did manage to win G2 after a mull to 5, keeping 2x Temple, Shrine, Strangler, and Stony with TKS on top of the deck.
2-1 vs. Mono-R Burn: A sub-optimal Burn deck piloted by a high schooler fell to my sided in Timely Reinforcements and Rest for the Wearys. I was lucky to see a lot of life gain in both G1 and G2,
Thoughts: There is no doubt that Tron is my most hated match up. I see it every G-D night it seems, and I never win. Never. (Mono-U Tron and UW Gifts Tron are not as bad as RG and some of the other builds.)
I am starting to feel that despite this build's real power, it is maybe too grindy. I draw matches pretty regularly for lack of time, and I don't think I am playing slow, it's just not real fast in many games. This could be a real problem from a competitiveness standpoint in a long tournament. I have a playset of both Simian Spirit Guide and Gemstone Caverns and am thinking about other builds that might accelerate the game plan. This would probably make the Tron match more competitive as well, if I can figure it out.
Things seem to have slowed down around here this past week but thanks once again to the forum for the help and the ideas. Cheers to all.
If you want a faster games you need to lower your mana curve a bit. Currently, you have 12 turn 1 plays (discard, relic, shambling vent) and zero turn 2 threats. Turn 3 you either have lingering souls or a wasteland strangler. Turn 4 is when you can finally start playing threats if you can afford to tap out. You are relying on eldrazi temple to accelerate your drops but it doesn't drop every game and is a prime threat for a ghost quarter. You have a lot of reactive cards (kill spells, relic, surgical) that work well when the opponent plays fetches, creatures, etc. But if they are stalling a bit (or are good players who know how to beat your deck) your decks seems like it would not get going until turn 5.
Just glancing at your deck it seems that your gameplan is to:
Turn 1 discard or relic
Turn 2 - 3 Remove their creatures
Turn 4+ Play threats
If you move it to something like:
Turn 1 discard or relic
Turn 2 - 3 Removal or play threats
Turn 4+ Play finishers
You might have a better tron matchup and find the games to close out faster.
Coming back to the initial point of making the deck faster and straighter to the ground, removing the processing and hand-disruption package altogether and replacing it with Endless One / Eldrazi Skyspawner / Drowner of Hope might be viable.
I feel fairly certain that building into a third color (plus C) is not the way forward. We're in three "colors" already. The mana would get really, really tight, I predict. And losing black would mean losing a lot of what I like about this deck, including Lingering Souls, disruption, Sorin, Unmaking, and Vault of the Archangel. A UW build would be pretty different I think.
If you want a faster games you need to lower your mana curve a bit. Currently, you have 12 turn 1 plays (discard, relic, shambling vent) and zero turn 2 threats. Turn 3 you either have lingering souls or a wasteland strangler. Turn 4 is when you can finally start playing threats if you can afford to tap out. You are relying on eldrazi temple to accelerate your drops but it doesn't drop every game and is a prime threat for a ghost quarter. You have a lot of reactive cards (kill spells, relic, surgical) that work well when the opponent plays fetches, creatures, etc. But if they are stalling a bit (or are good players who know how to beat your deck) your decks seems like it would not get going until turn 5.
Just glancing at your deck it seems that your gameplan is to:
Turn 1 discard or relic
Turn 2 - 3 Remove their creatures
Turn 4+ Play threats
If you move it to something like:
Turn 1 discard or relic
Turn 2 - 3 Removal or play threats
Turn 4+ Play finishers
You might have a better tron matchup and find the games to close out faster.
Hey, herfs, good to see you over here after working together on Dead Guy. My starts are slow and more often than not, my T1 is a Vent, Flats, or Shrine, leading to a T2 disruption/Relic play. On T3 I hope to be landing Souls, Strangler, or maybe TKS. In my experience, it's really not that often that playing T1 disruption is actually super important--mostly Bogles and Infect are where this can have a major impact, and I don't see Bogles (knock on wood) and already have a very good game against Infect.
I've been thinking about both of your comments a lot today. I think the maindeck graveyard hate is a very strong strategy against many builds and I want to keep it, and keep the Processors, because although they are conditional, they are very, very good when the pieces come together. I also looove both TKS and Smasher and really hope to keep the mid-to-late game threat count as high as possible, so I am trying to keep each as a 4-of. So I am a little torn.
What I think I will try is something that was suggested a few pages back, that I haven't yet given a shot, and that is a 2-of Mind Stone. It ramps, provides C for TKS et al. (helping with mana denial and Blood Moon strategies), gives me another option for a T2 play, and cantrips when needed--which is, IMO, extremely important. I doubt it will speed things up a whole lot, but then I'm not really sure that I need things sped up all that much, if I am going to stay in this shell. The deck really does feel very strong in most matches. I also intend to work on efficient play to minimize lost time.
The Mind Stones will replace--ugh--my maindeck Extraction and one Inquisition. I want to keep Thoughtseize as a 3-of for things like Karn, Scapeshift, Kalitas, etc. etc. etc., and I feel I have enough lifegain now that the 2 damage is not too great a price to pay for the versatility. Not too sure this change will actually improve my Tron match--might make it weaker actually--but every deck has at least one match that is pretty hard, right? Maybe this is just how it is for midrange builds against Tron decks.
We'll see how it goes. Naturally, unless someone speaks up and tells me to cool it with all the thread hogging, you can be sure that I will post up with my experiences over the next week or two. I play in 25+-man tourneys in a pretty competitive shop 2x/week, so I get a fair number of reps in on paper, and I also play a fair amount on cockatrice online.
BBoV dies to nothing at all, really. Near-miraculously, it resists Path, Terminate, Go for the Throat, Doom Blade, Victim of Night, Bolt (needs two), Abrupt Decay, Maelstrom Pulse, and Dismember. Which list comprises virtually every targeted removal spell in the entire format.
On the other hand, Batterskull is savable in the late game (return to hand for 3), dodges Wrath effects (token excepted), can equip to a Spirit or Smasher to push through a clogged ground state, and gives vigilance. Those last two things are hugely powerful. But the Germ dies to Path, Terminate, Throat, Victim, Decay, and Dismember, while the equipment has a steep opportunity cost to equip, and dies to Pulse and the more common K-Command and Pridemage. Holding up 3 to RTH can come with an opportunity cost too, of course.
Not making any changes yet, just spitballing. Interested to hear others' thoughts.
Hey, herfs, good to see you over here after working together on Dead Guy. My starts are slow and more often than not, my T1 is a Vent, Flats, or Shrine, leading to a T2 disruption/Relic play. On T3 I hope to be landing Souls, Strangler, or maybe TKS. In my experience, it's really not that often that playing T1 disruption is actually super important--mostly Bogles and Infect are where this can have a major impact, and I don't see Bogles (knock on wood) and already have a very good game against Infect.
I've been thinking about both of your comments a lot today. I think the maindeck graveyard hate is a very strong strategy against many builds and I want to keep it, and keep the Processors, because although they are conditional, they are very, very good when the pieces come together. I also looove both TKS and Smasher and really hope to keep the mid-to-late game threat count as high as possible, so I am trying to keep each as a 4-of. So I am a little torn.
What I think I will try is something that was suggested a few pages back, that I haven't yet given a shot, and that is a 2-of Mind Stone. It ramps, provides C for TKS et al. (helping with mana denial and Blood Moon strategies), gives me another option for a T2 play, and cantrips when needed--which is, IMO, extremely important. I doubt it will speed things up a whole lot, but then I'm not really sure that I need things sped up all that much, if I am going to stay in this shell. The deck really does feel very strong in most matches. I also intend to work on efficient play to minimize lost time.
The Mind Stones will replace--ugh--my maindeck Extraction and one Inquisition. I want to keep Thoughtseize as a 3-of for things like Karn, Scapeshift, Kalitas, etc. etc. etc., and I feel I have enough lifegain now that the 2 damage is not too great a price to pay for the versatility. Not too sure this change will actually improve my Tron match--might make it weaker actually--but every deck has at least one match that is pretty hard, right? Maybe this is just how it is for midrange builds against Tron decks.
We'll see how it goes. Naturally, unless someone speaks up and tells me to cool it with all the thread hogging, you can be sure that I will post up with my experiences over the next week or two. I play in 25+-man tourneys in a pretty competitive shop 2x/week, so I get a fair number of reps in on paper, and I also play a fair amount on cockatrice online.
Hey deaddrift! Yeah, I have been around all of the bw forums here and there. I am glad that you are on the mind stone bandwagon! I think that the card fits well into the deck since it can ramp, helps with blood moon, and can cantrip. It gives the deck 6 sources to ramp into your 5-drops (4 eldrazi temples + 2 mind stones) which will help with consistency.
I agree with you on relic. It is amazing in some matchups. My feeling about relic is that bw already has a favorable matchup against decks where it shines and we would be better suited to play something else. I might have some time tomorrow to write up a post about my thoughts about relic, but it is definatly good in a lot of match-ups. I feel that bw processors took a huge hit with the eye ban since the deck used to be about accelerating into blight herder -> eye of ugin searching for ulamog.
As for your thoughts between bbov and batterskull... you should add a card that is amazing for your worst matchups. I have found this thread ( http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/modern-community/477518-modern-metagaming ) very helpful in finding cards that a great against certain decks. It is a bit outdated though. I still need to think about what would be a good card to suggest. It has been a long day and I am pretty tired!
When I stopped playing Processors (after the OGW Pro Tour Eldrazi breakout) I had already dropped to 2x Eye and was siding out Ulamog in probably 90% of my G2/3s. I actually don't feel that losing Eye weakened the deck that much at all because now all my lands help me cast all my spells, where before my Eye would sometimes be dead for Souls etc.
If I was going to put in a creature to shore up my weakest matches it would probably have to be Mindcensor for Tron and Scapeshift. But the lifelink aspect of Batterskull/BBoV is the major draw. IMO lifegain is a crucial factor for this piece of the deck.
I found a list on MTGGoldfish that I like and it runs one eldrazi displacer which I am going to try. I also decided to swap to a split of 3 blight herder and 4 reality smasher to reduce the demand for process fuel and to improve the value of my 5 drops. I will stick with 25 lands as I want to be sure that I find enough for said 5 drops on curve and to pay into displacer.
So, I've been testing out Whip of Erebos in my flex spot with good results. It works as a great Sorin 2 and the double black is easy to cast since I still roun 2 urborgs. Getting some form of life link is essential against aggro and it's harder to remove than Sorin.
Hi guys, been a few days. On Sunday I went 3-3 in a field of 65 at the TCG States in Vancouver WA. Not too happy with my showing. I have since made a couple of changes to my list, which as usual is in my sig.
2-0 vs. Affinity: In both games, 2x Lingering Souls was enough to hold him at bay until my big dudes were able to close the deal. These games were not close.
1-2 vs. Abzan Company: He flooded in G1 and Lingering Souls again stalled the early game until 2x TKS could swing through for the win. In G2 I never got above one Caves of Koilos as my only colored mana source, which slowed me down enough that I couldn't keep up. In G3 I misplayed by taking Sin Collector instead of Orzhov Pontiff, trying to preserve a Flaying Tendrils in my hand. But once again I was never able to cast it because of only one source of black on the field. Then his Pontiff killed my Spirits. This fella landed each of his two Voices in both G2 and G3 while my sweepers were nowhere to be found. This loss feels like it is partly variance.
2-0 vs. Jund: Boy, gimme a Jund match any time. We own those guys. Relic neuters Goyf and Scooze, we have lots of disruption, Souls to discard to Lili (and to kill her with), and our creatures are just plain bigger than theirs, while almost all of our dudes are also Bolt, Abrupt Decay, and Inquisition of Kozilek-proof. TKS into Smasher sealed both games for me, despite him landing two Feed the Clans for 10 in G2.
2-0 vs. RG Tron: I got lucky in this match. I do not expect to beat Tron, but it is nice to know that it can be done. His only Karn in this match fell to Anguished Unmaking, and in G2 I was able to Extract his Towers and get there before he could turn the corner late game.
0-2 vs. Jeskai Control:Celestial Colonnade did me in due to zero GQs on deck in G1, and in G2 I drew a grand total of five cards that were not lands. I am definitely chalking this one up to variance.
1-2 vs. Grixis Faeries Control: This fella had SO many counterspells. I could not reliably force a threat through them all. I took G1 riding Lingering Souls, but his Izzet Staticaster shut that plan down for G2-3; in G2 I also mana starved, hard. This match made me swap out my Wastes for a one-of Cavern of Souls after the event; though I am weaker to Blood Moon and Path/GQ effects, the Mind Stones I am running should help me cast my Eldrazis when needed. I also kicked my single, life-total-preserving Inquisition to the curb for a fourth Thoughtseize, after being unable to take his Elspeth, Sun's Champion, which is what won him game 3.
On Monday I went 2-2 in 35 players at my LGS. For this event I swapped Blood Baron for my Batterskull as an experiment, and it singlehandedly won me a game that Batterskull would not have been able to close.
2-0 vs. Jund: I out-controlled him G1 with disruption and Relic. Lingering Souls and a single (vanilla, had to cast before processing) Blight Herder closed this one. My notes for G2 are not adequate but I won with 14 life remaining. Jund hates this deck and I kinda love that.
0-2 vs. RG Titan/Walkers/Ramp homebrew: This kid has a good deck, and plays it well, and has beat me four games straight. He ramps into Primetime and Inferno Titan, with Chandra, Flamecaller, Garruk Wildspeaker, and Genesis Wave as his finishers. His early/mid game uses Arbor Elf with Utopia Sprawl, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Sylvan Caryatid to ramp to his big guys. Hornet Queen, Thragtusk, and Gaea's Revenge also make life difficult. This kid has been tearing up the shop for the last couple of weeks and single-handedly made me reach for a third Damnation in the board going forward. (However I haven't drawn a sweeper in hand yet against him.) His dudes are bigger than ours are, and that is not too common; plus he has a TON of them and they overwhelmed my removal. A puzzle to be solved, to be sure.
2-0 vs. Jund: This is the game that BBoV won. I was losing hard and fast to a 7/8 Kalitas when I topdecked the good Baron; my opponent looked at it, thought for a moment, and passed turn. When I was finally able to flip removal (Unmaking in this case) I was able to get rid of his vampire and swing in to victory with my own vampire. It was obvious that his mainboard at least did not contain a card that could deal with the Baron. At one point in G1 I was at 5 life and he was at 37. But he lost. In G2 it was close, but Smasher plus Vault of the Archangel pulled me out of reach. Trample/Deathtouch is unbelievable, hahaha. In both games my Ghost Quarters were key in dealing with his Raging Ravines. It sure is nice to have manland hate main, comes in handy every single night.
1-2 vs. Merfolk: He got Spreading Seas on my Eldrazi Temple on T2 in all three games; that felt a little unfair. In G1 I drew blanks and never touched him, but in G2 my Pithing Needle shut down his Mutavaults, I GQ'ed my own land to surprise block and kill some of his dudes, and then destroyed him with TKS. I should have won G3 but punted badly, playing a TKS instead of the Damnation I had in hand, and losing to my own stupidity. I blame fatigue and beer for this silly loss.
Thoughts: My main problem with this deck is that it is so grindy. I am capable of fast starts if I get Mind Stone in the opener or two Temples, but usually I am playing the long game, which can really take its toll over time. A friend pointed out to me the risk of getting caught in the draw-bracket and ending up in a long series of matches with other grindy decks that go to time repeatedly. This is not really where I want to be in a long day of competition.
However, I still love the deck. I really enjoy the midrange style of play and casting big fatties. I dig nerfing so many decks that use the yard for value. I feel like the deck has strong game against most of the field, especially after boarding, when Burn, combo, and swarm-aggro get much better.
I am going to try the 4x Thoughtseize, 1x Cavern of Souls, and 1x Blood Baron plan for a while and see what I think. So far, the cards seem workable and like potential upgrades for the 1x IoK, Wastes, and Batterskull they replace. Time will tell, and I'll post up again when I have more data. I have a few more competitive REL events coming up over the next month or so, but not GP LA, sadly.
Many thanks again to the board for the advice and support.
How would you gear the deck/sideboard if the meta looks like the following
Player 1: Either GR big Eldrazi OR Grishoalbrand
2: Blue moon
3: ??
4: Blue moon
5: GR Tron OR titan scapeshift - with chalice and back to nature in sideboard
6: ??
7: Affinity OR Naya burn
8: Grixis or UWR - likes cryptic commands so usually 4 of
9: ??
10: Affinity OR Naya burn
11: Abzan - siege rhino variant, geared towards getting stuff into play when discarded - anti-reality smasher
12: GR Tron OR Infect, probably infect
13: Naya burn
14: blue tron OR Grixis, if tron got 2 mindslaver main, and TKS main
15: jund
---
For sideboard im thinking:
2 kor firewalker - burn, blue moon
3 leyline of sanctity - jund, scapeshift, burn
2 stoney silence - affinity, tron
1 kataki - affinity
1 wrath of god - affinity
1 spellskite - infect, burn, affinity
2 disenchant - affinity, blue moon, scapeshift?
1 Ghost quarter/Tec edge - against tron, infect, scapeshift, eldrazi and affinity
1 Surgical extraction - scapeshift, tron, eldrazi
1 Doom blade
I'm not a fan of Westvale Abbey, personally. If you know you are running into Blue Moon I would prefer a Wastes, or a Cavern of Souls for the counterspells. I would also say Kataki needs to go. You can't tutor for it and it is much worse than Stony, in my opinion, which also helps one of our worst matchups, Tron. I think you are heavy on Burn hate and light on swarm-aggro hate, and I would consider increasing Wraths and/or Timely Reinforcements if you want double-duty there. Though maybe for your specific meta Timely is not actually so good. I did not end up liking the Leylines that much when I ran them, in the past.
So, I've been testing out Whip of Erebos in my flex spot with good results. It works as a great Sorin 2 and the double black is easy to cast since I still roun 2 urborgs. Getting some form of life link is essential against aggro and it's harder to remove than Sorin.
Whip seems good but there is a lot of artifact hate out there, and a good chunk of it (Pridemage, K Command) is maindeck. Personally I like having a threat attached to the lifelink card, but others have reported good results with Whip. It's a little bit of a nonbo with Relic, but maybe no worse that Lingering Souls is. Please make sure you tell us about your own experience, over time.
Seems like maybe--with the Eldrazi/Sorin/BW theme we are working with here--Eldritch Moon might be huge for our deck. I definitely expect to see Emrakul show up again, considering the SOI card art and the clues left around for our perusal. And Sorin is an Innstrad native, of course. We could be positioned right in the sweet spot for a bunch of new themed cards... or at least I won't be too surprised if that's how it turns out. Food for thought.
I'm putting this deck together, and I was wondering if you guys had any generic tips for the deck. Like what do you look for in an opening hand against an unknown opponent, what about a known opponent? Against Infect removal and discard I'm sure, but what about Jund, Tron, UWR, etc.?
Red should be burn, Goblins, Dragons, draw/discard, and Standard-unplayable 5CMC cards with insane, lengthy effects that take 10 minutes to figure out what they do and another 20 to actually make their effects work on the field.
A default open hand IMO must have at least 2 lands, 1 removal/discard and 1 creature. If I mull until I came to this, I'm keeping.
And boggles is a pain, don't know if there's any way we can get through it... explosives, ratchet bomb maybe... also there's a *****ty artifact that creatures your opp control loses hexproof, but that's not worthy a sb spot...
Just came back from a tournament, made 3-1 winning against Death and Taxes (2-0, I did it!!), GR Tron (2-1) and Grixis Control (2-0), losing to Jund (1-0, guy slowplayed 10min to sb...).
Made some small changes in the previous list I posted. I've been testing Eldrazi Taxes this week and I must say, that deck is a crap. But that made me see how the interaction between Displacer and TKS/ WS is amazing. So I changed 1 Kalitas and 1 Doom Blade to 2 Displacers.
Also removed the 3 fetches to run 24 lands with no fetches. Still don't know if it's better, but to avoid Leonins/ Mindcensors that worked pretty well.
Sb removed 2 Timely to add 2 Pithing Needles. Running Leyline and TR is a waste of slot, considering we have Vault, Sorin and Vents in the deck.
Small report:
R1: won D&T first game by chumpblocking with Herder tokens and by blinking WS with Displacer. G2 he had 3 Vials to 1, 2, 3 and 2 lands. Played Needle to Vial and just stomped him with Spirit tokens. Never thought I would say it, but easy game!
R2: lost RG tron first game for he troning on turn 4, with Karn, World Breaker and Ulamog. Won G2 by playing Displacer on T2, TKS on T3. When I TKSd him, he had 1 Ulamog and 1 Firespout, rfg Firespout. Next turn I hit him and pass. After his draw, I trigger Displacer on TKS and, after his TKS draw, he reveals a Karn, a World Breaker and Ulamog, and he had 5 lands. RFG Karn, and triggered again to make him draw a land and RFG World Breaker. G3 I kept with a Needle, a Smasher, 2 Temples, a land and 1 Relic. Made T1 Needle to Map, which shutted down 2 maps he had in hand, but he also had Star, Sphere, Sylvan Scry and Ancient Stirring... still he couldn't find anything. Made Smasher on T3, and drew another Smasher on T4 with a GQ on 1 of his land...
R3: lost first game to 2 Goyfs 5/6 that I could only handle by drawing a Relic too late... after that the guy took like 10 min to SB, read every card on his SB, talked to half of the people in the store, opened his deck 2 times to shuffle and sang Rime of the Ancient Mariner two times... and opened the first hand with his only Night of Souls Betrayal... ended on 5 turns, 1-0 to him, but by the topdecks I probably could turn the game.
R4: Grixis control is a bye. First game I kept a hand with 6 lands and 1 Strangler, and drew 3 lands in a row, which dodged me from 2 IoK and 1 Seize he played on his first 3 turns. ASfter that drew a Lingering Souls that won the game by itself. Didn't side anything, and G2 kept a hand with 5 lands and two anythings, still beat him easily.
Funnily enough, I was just thinking about presumptuously writing a kind of overview or mini-primer (draft, from my perspective), of what I think I know about this build, because it has been so long. Maybe others--though the thread has slowed down quite a bit--will offer their critiques and ideas, too. But it'll take a little while to lay out, so I'll throw something together this weekend sometime, maybe.
However, briefly, here's what I am generally trying to do G1 against some unknown generic deck:
T1: Starting out (in descending order of preference)
a) Play a Temple to set up a known T2 Temple --> TKS (this is rare). Sometimes I sandbag my Eldrazi and if I win G1 with a couple Lingering Souls then people often mis-sideboard, against BW Tokens.
b) Land a 1 CMC spell like Thoughtseize or Relic. I try not to take more than 3 for TS unless I'm facing like Infect where life is less constrained. Sometimes TS is best saved for turns 3-5 for a key combo piece, but I don't hold it unless I already know this.
c) Play a tapland investment like Vent or Flats/Shrine. This is a common line for me.
T2: Still setting up
a) Sometimes Strangler can process for value as early as T2, or even the infrequent (and busted) T2 TKS.
b) Play a Mind Stone, aka ramp effect (and cantrip effect) 5-6.
c) Play two 1 CMC spells like Thoughtseize and/or Relic. Sometimes Mind Stone into Relic.
d) Possibly, one 1-cost spell and a second tap land might be the best option.
e) A second tap land, only, is not usually the end of the game IF Souls or something else worthwhile is already set up for next turn.
T3: Hopefully doing things by now
a) Swinging for 9 on T3 riding TKS and Smasher is tough for most decks to deal with and happens a non-zero amount of the time.
b) TKS and Smasher--occasionally Herder with processing--can also each commonly happen solo on T3, and are probably the best plays unless facing counterspells or Liliana or something. Strangler frequently lands here for value.
c) At last Lingering Souls becomes available--aka one of the best cards in the format and a key part of stalling the early-to-mid game against many decks. It is very strong against Infect, Affinity, and control decks, as well as against many other builds. It cannot be cast ahead of curve like the Eldrazi can. Because they fly, these little guys are another source of pressure, and can be a win condition all their own.
d) Anguished Unmaking is also in reach.
T4-5: Impactful cards
a) 3-5 CMC Eldrazi cards can play out as able and appropriate.
b) Either of the BW Vampires--Sorin or Baron (or Batterskull or Whip, for that matter)--can be great here for lifelink, too. The deck hurts the life total.
c) Lingering Souls can be a two- or four-token generator and can wait in the yard for after board wipes, though watch out for your own Relic.
d) Sometimes activating Vent for lifelink is the best play.
T6+: Varied Board States (tough to predict optimal lines here)
a) TKS and Smasher are both excellent plays almost any time, and Herder is nuts if it can process for tokens. Both tokens and Smasher are doubly powerful if backed up by either Vault or Sorin.
b) Spirit tokens continue to be amazing throughout the game, providing chumps, pressure, and general card advantage.
c) Ghost Quarter comes into its own against manlands, Township, Wolf Run etc. by this point.
d) Shambling Vent continues to matter, and should be considered unless worried about Path or Bolt effects. Vault activations tend to occur in this late game stage, and can be backbreaking. I am often prioritizing ways to bolster my life total by the mid-to-late game.
e) Cantripping an artifact might be correct here, but against many decks, don't underestimate the threat of keeping the yard empty or of having extra mana, either. It can be very important to have one land in reserve for Path, or GQ, or a Relic sac and graveyard wipe.
Seems like maybe--with the Eldrazi/Sorin/BW theme we are working with here--Eldritch Moon might be huge for our deck. I definitely expect to see Emrakul show up again, considering the SOI card art and the clues left around for our perusal. And Sorin is an Innstrad native, of course. We could be positioned right in the sweet spot for a bunch of new themed cards... or at least I won't be too surprised if that's how it turns out. Food for thought.
Well, I think we already got our Vindicate in Anguished Unmaking. But, we can dream.
I have been doing pretty bad for the past couple of weeks, not sure what the problem is. Averaging around a 50-60% win rate overall but this is way down from where I was. Ramping with Birds/Hierarch a la the new Bant Eldrazi decks looks good to me; I'd sure like to get TKS out T2 more often.
Haven't been posting for a while due to lack of time but still very much on this deck. Played in a small modern event yesterday and went 3-1 winning against Abzan midrange, zoo, and Knight tribal but losing to Abzan coco. I still think the deck has power but have noticed that it doesn't seem to be putting up results at a more competitive level. I am not sure why this is, as I would think that the more successful bant versions suffer from being a four color deck (although I'm sure birds and noble help w/ this considerably). The power of this deck I have always felt is that it is able to play so much md hate as part of it's natural gameplan while still functioning as a viable midrange deck. But maybe this strategy is not as viable in a larger metagame than my own? Or perhaps there just isn't a significant amount of people on the deck. I will say that I have gone back on the sculler plan and upped my colored lands dropping any sort of land toolbox or ramp from mind stone/map. My creatures sometimes come out a little slower but between sculler and TKS I sure do enjoy tearing my opponent's hand to shreds.
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My Decks:
UG Merfolk RG 8-Whack BWG Abzan midrange GRB Living End UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin" RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!" BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
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4 Thought-knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
2 Restoration Angel
4 Lingering Souls
4 Relic of Progenitus
4 Path to Exile
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
3 Dismember
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Caves of Kiolos
1 Cavern of Souls
3 Marsh Flats
2 Godless Shrine
2 Shambling Vent
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Wastes
1 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Timely Reinforcements
1 Wrath of God
2 Flaying Tendrils
2 Disenchant
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Stony Silence
Resto has been amazing. I picked her over Displacer simply because she doesnt die to bolt. Ppl just dont expect her. Also, Ive gone a more controling route. Almost like an Abzan midrange deck.
I went 2-1-1 tonight.
1-1-1 vs. Grixis Control: I definitely feel favored in this match but G2 went long, going to him after he managed to lock me off my TKS/Smashers by denying me mana with Fulminator Mage.
2-0 vs. Kiki Chord: This guy flooded and never put up much of a fight in either G1 or G2. Which was fortunate, because I did not see much in the way of removal in either match, and had to ride Spirit tokens to victory.
1-2 vs. Mono-G Eldrazi Tron: Boy oh boy am I getting sick of the Tron match. My LGS has several Tron players and I seem to face at least one of them in every tourney. The Tron match is unwinnable unless I get hate in hand and even then it is not a sure thing. I did manage to win G2 after a mull to 5, keeping 2x Temple, Shrine, Strangler, and Stony with TKS on top of the deck.
2-1 vs. Mono-R Burn: A sub-optimal Burn deck piloted by a high schooler fell to my sided in Timely Reinforcements and Rest for the Wearys. I was lucky to see a lot of life gain in both G1 and G2,
Thoughts: There is no doubt that Tron is my most hated match up. I see it every G-D night it seems, and I never win. Never. (Mono-U Tron and UW Gifts Tron are not as bad as RG and some of the other builds.)
I am starting to feel that despite this build's real power, it is maybe too grindy. I draw matches pretty regularly for lack of time, and I don't think I am playing slow, it's just not real fast in many games. This could be a real problem from a competitiveness standpoint in a long tournament. I have a playset of both Simian Spirit Guide and Gemstone Caverns and am thinking about other builds that might accelerate the game plan. This would probably make the Tron match more competitive as well, if I can figure it out.
Things seem to have slowed down around here this past week but thanks once again to the forum for the help and the ideas. Cheers to all.
If you want a faster games you need to lower your mana curve a bit. Currently, you have 12 turn 1 plays (discard, relic, shambling vent) and zero turn 2 threats. Turn 3 you either have lingering souls or a wasteland strangler. Turn 4 is when you can finally start playing threats if you can afford to tap out. You are relying on eldrazi temple to accelerate your drops but it doesn't drop every game and is a prime threat for a ghost quarter. You have a lot of reactive cards (kill spells, relic, surgical) that work well when the opponent plays fetches, creatures, etc. But if they are stalling a bit (or are good players who know how to beat your deck) your decks seems like it would not get going until turn 5.
Just glancing at your deck it seems that your gameplan is to:
Turn 1 discard or relic
Turn 2 - 3 Remove their creatures
Turn 4+ Play threats
If you move it to something like:
Turn 1 discard or relic
Turn 2 - 3 Removal or play threats
Turn 4+ Play finishers
You might have a better tron matchup and find the games to close out faster.
CBW midrange deck
CBW eldrazi processor deck
CBW bw eldrazi shadow midrange
I've been thinking about both of your comments a lot today. I think the maindeck graveyard hate is a very strong strategy against many builds and I want to keep it, and keep the Processors, because although they are conditional, they are very, very good when the pieces come together. I also looove both TKS and Smasher and really hope to keep the mid-to-late game threat count as high as possible, so I am trying to keep each as a 4-of. So I am a little torn.
What I think I will try is something that was suggested a few pages back, that I haven't yet given a shot, and that is a 2-of Mind Stone. It ramps, provides C for TKS et al. (helping with mana denial and Blood Moon strategies), gives me another option for a T2 play, and cantrips when needed--which is, IMO, extremely important. I doubt it will speed things up a whole lot, but then I'm not really sure that I need things sped up all that much, if I am going to stay in this shell. The deck really does feel very strong in most matches. I also intend to work on efficient play to minimize lost time.
The Mind Stones will replace--ugh--my maindeck Extraction and one Inquisition. I want to keep Thoughtseize as a 3-of for things like Karn, Scapeshift, Kalitas, etc. etc. etc., and I feel I have enough lifegain now that the 2 damage is not too great a price to pay for the versatility. Not too sure this change will actually improve my Tron match--might make it weaker actually--but every deck has at least one match that is pretty hard, right? Maybe this is just how it is for midrange builds against Tron decks.
We'll see how it goes. Naturally, unless someone speaks up and tells me to cool it with all the thread hogging, you can be sure that I will post up with my experiences over the next week or two. I play in 25+-man tourneys in a pretty competitive shop 2x/week, so I get a fair number of reps in on paper, and I also play a fair amount on cockatrice online.
BBoV dies to nothing at all, really. Near-miraculously, it resists Path, Terminate, Go for the Throat, Doom Blade, Victim of Night, Bolt (needs two), Abrupt Decay, Maelstrom Pulse, and Dismember. Which list comprises virtually every targeted removal spell in the entire format.
On the other hand, Batterskull is savable in the late game (return to hand for 3), dodges Wrath effects (token excepted), can equip to a Spirit or Smasher to push through a clogged ground state, and gives vigilance. Those last two things are hugely powerful. But the Germ dies to Path, Terminate, Throat, Victim, Decay, and Dismember, while the equipment has a steep opportunity cost to equip, and dies to Pulse and the more common K-Command and Pridemage. Holding up 3 to RTH can come with an opportunity cost too, of course.
Not making any changes yet, just spitballing. Interested to hear others' thoughts.
Hey deaddrift! Yeah, I have been around all of the bw forums here and there. I am glad that you are on the mind stone bandwagon! I think that the card fits well into the deck since it can ramp, helps with blood moon, and can cantrip. It gives the deck 6 sources to ramp into your 5-drops (4 eldrazi temples + 2 mind stones) which will help with consistency.
I agree with you on relic. It is amazing in some matchups. My feeling about relic is that bw already has a favorable matchup against decks where it shines and we would be better suited to play something else. I might have some time tomorrow to write up a post about my thoughts about relic, but it is definatly good in a lot of match-ups. I feel that bw processors took a huge hit with the eye ban since the deck used to be about accelerating into blight herder -> eye of ugin searching for ulamog.
As for your thoughts between bbov and batterskull... you should add a card that is amazing for your worst matchups. I have found this thread ( http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/modern-community/477518-modern-metagaming ) very helpful in finding cards that a great against certain decks. It is a bit outdated though. I still need to think about what would be a good card to suggest. It has been a long day and I am pretty tired!
CBW midrange deck
CBW eldrazi processor deck
CBW bw eldrazi shadow midrange
When I stopped playing Processors (after the OGW Pro Tour Eldrazi breakout) I had already dropped to 2x Eye and was siding out Ulamog in probably 90% of my G2/3s. I actually don't feel that losing Eye weakened the deck that much at all because now all my lands help me cast all my spells, where before my Eye would sometimes be dead for Souls etc.
If I was going to put in a creature to shore up my weakest matches it would probably have to be Mindcensor for Tron and Scapeshift. But the lifelink aspect of Batterskull/BBoV is the major draw. IMO lifegain is a crucial factor for this piece of the deck.
RWBMardu artifacts
Modern
GInfect
GWUCEldrazi
Commander
RPurphoros
RWBKaalia
Legacy
RBurn
2-0 vs. Affinity: In both games, 2x Lingering Souls was enough to hold him at bay until my big dudes were able to close the deal. These games were not close.
1-2 vs. Abzan Company: He flooded in G1 and Lingering Souls again stalled the early game until 2x TKS could swing through for the win. In G2 I never got above one Caves of Koilos as my only colored mana source, which slowed me down enough that I couldn't keep up. In G3 I misplayed by taking Sin Collector instead of Orzhov Pontiff, trying to preserve a Flaying Tendrils in my hand. But once again I was never able to cast it because of only one source of black on the field. Then his Pontiff killed my Spirits. This fella landed each of his two Voices in both G2 and G3 while my sweepers were nowhere to be found. This loss feels like it is partly variance.
2-0 vs. Jund: Boy, gimme a Jund match any time. We own those guys. Relic neuters Goyf and Scooze, we have lots of disruption, Souls to discard to Lili (and to kill her with), and our creatures are just plain bigger than theirs, while almost all of our dudes are also Bolt, Abrupt Decay, and Inquisition of Kozilek-proof. TKS into Smasher sealed both games for me, despite him landing two Feed the Clans for 10 in G2.
2-0 vs. RG Tron: I got lucky in this match. I do not expect to beat Tron, but it is nice to know that it can be done. His only Karn in this match fell to Anguished Unmaking, and in G2 I was able to Extract his Towers and get there before he could turn the corner late game.
0-2 vs. Jeskai Control: Celestial Colonnade did me in due to zero GQs on deck in G1, and in G2 I drew a grand total of five cards that were not lands. I am definitely chalking this one up to variance.
1-2 vs. Grixis Faeries Control: This fella had SO many counterspells. I could not reliably force a threat through them all. I took G1 riding Lingering Souls, but his Izzet Staticaster shut that plan down for G2-3; in G2 I also mana starved, hard. This match made me swap out my Wastes for a one-of Cavern of Souls after the event; though I am weaker to Blood Moon and Path/GQ effects, the Mind Stones I am running should help me cast my Eldrazis when needed. I also kicked my single, life-total-preserving Inquisition to the curb for a fourth Thoughtseize, after being unable to take his Elspeth, Sun's Champion, which is what won him game 3.
On Monday I went 2-2 in 35 players at my LGS. For this event I swapped Blood Baron for my Batterskull as an experiment, and it singlehandedly won me a game that Batterskull would not have been able to close.
2-0 vs. Jund: I out-controlled him G1 with disruption and Relic. Lingering Souls and a single (vanilla, had to cast before processing) Blight Herder closed this one. My notes for G2 are not adequate but I won with 14 life remaining. Jund hates this deck and I kinda love that.
0-2 vs. RG Titan/Walkers/Ramp homebrew: This kid has a good deck, and plays it well, and has beat me four games straight. He ramps into Primetime and Inferno Titan, with Chandra, Flamecaller, Garruk Wildspeaker, and Genesis Wave as his finishers. His early/mid game uses Arbor Elf with Utopia Sprawl, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Sylvan Caryatid to ramp to his big guys. Hornet Queen, Thragtusk, and Gaea's Revenge also make life difficult. This kid has been tearing up the shop for the last couple of weeks and single-handedly made me reach for a third Damnation in the board going forward. (However I haven't drawn a sweeper in hand yet against him.) His dudes are bigger than ours are, and that is not too common; plus he has a TON of them and they overwhelmed my removal. A puzzle to be solved, to be sure.
2-0 vs. Jund: This is the game that BBoV won. I was losing hard and fast to a 7/8 Kalitas when I topdecked the good Baron; my opponent looked at it, thought for a moment, and passed turn. When I was finally able to flip removal (Unmaking in this case) I was able to get rid of his vampire and swing in to victory with my own vampire. It was obvious that his mainboard at least did not contain a card that could deal with the Baron. At one point in G1 I was at 5 life and he was at 37. But he lost. In G2 it was close, but Smasher plus Vault of the Archangel pulled me out of reach. Trample/Deathtouch is unbelievable, hahaha. In both games my Ghost Quarters were key in dealing with his Raging Ravines. It sure is nice to have manland hate main, comes in handy every single night.
1-2 vs. Merfolk: He got Spreading Seas on my Eldrazi Temple on T2 in all three games; that felt a little unfair. In G1 I drew blanks and never touched him, but in G2 my Pithing Needle shut down his Mutavaults, I GQ'ed my own land to surprise block and kill some of his dudes, and then destroyed him with TKS. I should have won G3 but punted badly, playing a TKS instead of the Damnation I had in hand, and losing to my own stupidity. I blame fatigue and beer for this silly loss.
Thoughts: My main problem with this deck is that it is so grindy. I am capable of fast starts if I get Mind Stone in the opener or two Temples, but usually I am playing the long game, which can really take its toll over time. A friend pointed out to me the risk of getting caught in the draw-bracket and ending up in a long series of matches with other grindy decks that go to time repeatedly. This is not really where I want to be in a long day of competition.
However, I still love the deck. I really enjoy the midrange style of play and casting big fatties. I dig nerfing so many decks that use the yard for value. I feel like the deck has strong game against most of the field, especially after boarding, when Burn, combo, and swarm-aggro get much better.
I am going to try the 4x Thoughtseize, 1x Cavern of Souls, and 1x Blood Baron plan for a while and see what I think. So far, the cards seem workable and like potential upgrades for the 1x IoK, Wastes, and Batterskull they replace. Time will tell, and I'll post up again when I have more data. I have a few more competitive REL events coming up over the next month or so, but not GP LA, sadly.
Many thanks again to the board for the advice and support.
Whip seems good but there is a lot of artifact hate out there, and a good chunk of it (Pridemage, K Command) is maindeck. Personally I like having a threat attached to the lifelink card, but others have reported good results with Whip. It's a little bit of a nonbo with Relic, but maybe no worse that Lingering Souls is. Please make sure you tell us about your own experience, over time.
Seems like maybe--with the Eldrazi/Sorin/BW theme we are working with here--Eldritch Moon might be huge for our deck. I definitely expect to see Emrakul show up again, considering the SOI card art and the clues left around for our perusal. And Sorin is an Innstrad native, of course. We could be positioned right in the sweet spot for a bunch of new themed cards... or at least I won't be too surprised if that's how it turns out. Food for thought.
Thanks!
And boggles is a pain, don't know if there's any way we can get through it... explosives, ratchet bomb maybe... also there's a *****ty artifact that creatures your opp control loses hexproof, but that's not worthy a sb spot...
Just came back from a tournament, made 3-1 winning against Death and Taxes (2-0, I did it!!), GR Tron (2-1) and Grixis Control (2-0), losing to Jund (1-0, guy slowplayed 10min to sb...).
Made some small changes in the previous list I posted. I've been testing Eldrazi Taxes this week and I must say, that deck is a crap. But that made me see how the interaction between Displacer and TKS/ WS is amazing. So I changed 1 Kalitas and 1 Doom Blade to 2 Displacers.
Also removed the 3 fetches to run 24 lands with no fetches. Still don't know if it's better, but to avoid Leonins/ Mindcensors that worked pretty well.
Sb removed 2 Timely to add 2 Pithing Needles. Running Leyline and TR is a waste of slot, considering we have Vault, Sorin and Vents in the deck.
Small report:
R1: won D&T first game by chumpblocking with Herder tokens and by blinking WS with Displacer. G2 he had 3 Vials to 1, 2, 3 and 2 lands. Played Needle to Vial and just stomped him with Spirit tokens. Never thought I would say it, but easy game!
R2: lost RG tron first game for he troning on turn 4, with Karn, World Breaker and Ulamog. Won G2 by playing Displacer on T2, TKS on T3. When I TKSd him, he had 1 Ulamog and 1 Firespout, rfg Firespout. Next turn I hit him and pass. After his draw, I trigger Displacer on TKS and, after his TKS draw, he reveals a Karn, a World Breaker and Ulamog, and he had 5 lands. RFG Karn, and triggered again to make him draw a land and RFG World Breaker. G3 I kept with a Needle, a Smasher, 2 Temples, a land and 1 Relic. Made T1 Needle to Map, which shutted down 2 maps he had in hand, but he also had Star, Sphere, Sylvan Scry and Ancient Stirring... still he couldn't find anything. Made Smasher on T3, and drew another Smasher on T4 with a GQ on 1 of his land...
R3: lost first game to 2 Goyfs 5/6 that I could only handle by drawing a Relic too late... after that the guy took like 10 min to SB, read every card on his SB, talked to half of the people in the store, opened his deck 2 times to shuffle and sang Rime of the Ancient Mariner two times... and opened the first hand with his only Night of Souls Betrayal... ended on 5 turns, 1-0 to him, but by the topdecks I probably could turn the game.
R4: Grixis control is a bye. First game I kept a hand with 6 lands and 1 Strangler, and drew 3 lands in a row, which dodged me from 2 IoK and 1 Seize he played on his first 3 turns. ASfter that drew a Lingering Souls that won the game by itself. Didn't side anything, and G2 kept a hand with 5 lands and two anythings, still beat him easily.
However, briefly, here's what I am generally trying to do G1 against some unknown generic deck:
T1: Starting out (in descending order of preference)
a) Play a Temple to set up a known T2 Temple --> TKS (this is rare). Sometimes I sandbag my Eldrazi and if I win G1 with a couple Lingering Souls then people often mis-sideboard, against BW Tokens.
b) Land a 1 CMC spell like Thoughtseize or Relic. I try not to take more than 3 for TS unless I'm facing like Infect where life is less constrained. Sometimes TS is best saved for turns 3-5 for a key combo piece, but I don't hold it unless I already know this.
c) Play a tapland investment like Vent or Flats/Shrine. This is a common line for me.
T2: Still setting up
a) Sometimes Strangler can process for value as early as T2, or even the infrequent (and busted) T2 TKS.
b) Play a Mind Stone, aka ramp effect (and cantrip effect) 5-6.
c) Play two 1 CMC spells like Thoughtseize and/or Relic. Sometimes Mind Stone into Relic.
d) Possibly, one 1-cost spell and a second tap land might be the best option.
e) A second tap land, only, is not usually the end of the game IF Souls or something else worthwhile is already set up for next turn.
T3: Hopefully doing things by now
a) Swinging for 9 on T3 riding TKS and Smasher is tough for most decks to deal with and happens a non-zero amount of the time.
b) TKS and Smasher--occasionally Herder with processing--can also each commonly happen solo on T3, and are probably the best plays unless facing counterspells or Liliana or something. Strangler frequently lands here for value.
c) At last Lingering Souls becomes available--aka one of the best cards in the format and a key part of stalling the early-to-mid game against many decks. It is very strong against Infect, Affinity, and control decks, as well as against many other builds. It cannot be cast ahead of curve like the Eldrazi can. Because they fly, these little guys are another source of pressure, and can be a win condition all their own.
d) Anguished Unmaking is also in reach.
T4-5: Impactful cards
a) 3-5 CMC Eldrazi cards can play out as able and appropriate.
b) Either of the BW Vampires--Sorin or Baron (or Batterskull or Whip, for that matter)--can be great here for lifelink, too. The deck hurts the life total.
c) Lingering Souls can be a two- or four-token generator and can wait in the yard for after board wipes, though watch out for your own Relic.
d) Sometimes activating Vent for lifelink is the best play.
T6+: Varied Board States (tough to predict optimal lines here)
a) TKS and Smasher are both excellent plays almost any time, and Herder is nuts if it can process for tokens. Both tokens and Smasher are doubly powerful if backed up by either Vault or Sorin.
b) Spirit tokens continue to be amazing throughout the game, providing chumps, pressure, and general card advantage.
c) Ghost Quarter comes into its own against manlands, Township, Wolf Run etc. by this point.
d) Shambling Vent continues to matter, and should be considered unless worried about Path or Bolt effects. Vault activations tend to occur in this late game stage, and can be backbreaking. I am often prioritizing ways to bolster my life total by the mid-to-late game.
e) Cantripping an artifact might be correct here, but against many decks, don't underestimate the threat of keeping the yard empty or of having extra mana, either. It can be very important to have one land in reserve for Path, or GQ, or a Relic sac and graveyard wipe.
Reprint vindicate? We can dream.
RWBMardu artifacts
Modern
GInfect
GWUCEldrazi
Commander
RPurphoros
RWBKaalia
Legacy
RBurn
I have been doing pretty bad for the past couple of weeks, not sure what the problem is. Averaging around a 50-60% win rate overall but this is way down from where I was. Ramping with Birds/Hierarch a la the new Bant Eldrazi decks looks good to me; I'd sure like to get TKS out T2 more often.
RWBMardu artifacts
Modern
GInfect
GWUCEldrazi
Commander
RPurphoros
RWBKaalia
Legacy
RBurn
RG 8-Whack
BWG Abzan midrange
GRB Living End
UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin"
RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!"
BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"