So, I have been playing some MTGO leagues. I have started to find a decent 60 so I started to fill in the sideboard. I still believe that the deck needs some more 2-drops, but I haven been enjoying relic for additional card draw and to enable wasteland strangler and eternal scourge. So far, I am 3-2, 3-2, 4-1, 4-1. I just finished the last match and lost to infect due to him drawing 3 might of old krosa which happens... I guess. Here is my current list:
A few things that I notice while playing the deck:
You need to hit land drops
Be agressive with your relics. I found blight herder underwhelming so I cut it and am very aggressive when I crack relic. It would be nice if we had more card draw other than relic and mind stone but I found sea gate wreckage to be too slow.
Each card that I play in the 60 are either great all of the time (thought-knot and reality smasher are the only ones) or just mediocre. The mediocre cards are amazing in the right matchup. For example, eternal scourge is great against control, jund, or any targeted removal but is a 3/3 beater against scapeshift. Collective brutality I found to be decent against a vast majority of modern decks and I usually cast it for the -2/-2 and discard mode. But, it is pretty bad against tron.
The burn matchup isn't that bad with this curve. Collective brutality does a lot of work and blessed alliance does enough.
Tron is still bad. I have only been matchuped against mono green tron (and I won) and it was on the heels of reality smasher. I did get a eldrazi mimic out on turn 2, but my opponent played warping wail. I do think that I'll add another mimic in the sideboard and probably cut a disenchant.
Worship is amazing. Decks that run very wide are a problem for us. Worship solves this problem. It is also great against burn.
The day of judgment in the side should be a damnation, but I have day of judgement for budget reasons.
Modern Nexus posted the July metagame update (if you don't read this website, go do so, it is good) and the overall Modern meta looks pretty good for Processors right now, I'd say.
Last time I played Dredge it was embarrassing for the poor guy; in G2 he dropped a Neonate on his T1 and sacced it, discarding Grave Troll, in my T1 end step... which I Extracted in response to the draw trigger. Yeeowch. Bring on the Dredge, Modern. Bring on the Dredge.
Hi! This is my first post on MTG Salvation, but I fell in love so much with this deck that I had to put my two cents x)
How do you fell about Extricator of Sin? The non-eldrazi face can sac a Lingering Souls token, a Matter Reshaper or Eternal Scourge for a 3/2 Eldrazi token, and the transformed face can turn 1/1 spirit tokens into 3/2 vigilance beaters... Also, TKS, Reality Smashers and itself (3/5) on vigilance seems preety absurd, even more if you add Sorin's +1 to equation. Is it just a "win more" card or could be a thing?
Hi guys, played a few events this weekend. Didn't do very well, actually. I'm not going to write them all up but I will offer some notes and thoughts.
On Friday I played a ~40 person Modern side event at our local GP (Standard format). I went 2-3, felt kinda slow and unlucky. I did a lot of mulliganing. Then I went 3-2 that night at my LGS FNM, beating only a couple of janky brews.
For Saturday, I readied for a large (~200+ person) 25K tix Modern side event by calling an audible and swapping some cards for what I expected to be a faster, aggro-based meta. I dropped 2x Thoughtseize for 2x Inquisitions, a Blight Herder for a second Matter Reshaper, and a Shambling Vent for an Isolated Chapel (figuring I have 8 ways to make it active after T1.) In the side I dropped one Ratchet Bomb for a Ghostly Prison. All day I felt like I mulliganed a ton, drew the wrong half of my deck, and just generally got wrecked by my opponents. Example: I went 1-4 and dropped, beating only Dredge, and losing to--among others--a janky Esper Tokens/Polymorph deck. Awkward alert: In G3 against the Polymorph build I drew bothInquisitions while she had her Polymorph in hand and I held Extraction. I had no instant to kill her target token on her T4 so I lost. That felt bad.
Tonight I went 4-0 for first of 36 players at my LGS MNM, though, beating some of the top-8/top-16 players from the Saturday big tourney. I was 8-1 in games beating Dredge, Jeskai Nahiri, Grixis Delver, and RW Burn.
Notes: I am impressed by the current state of Kiki-Chord. With Eldritch Evolution and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite it is extremely good now and very consistent. In fact I am so sick of losing to it that I made some changes.
I am cutting 3x Surgical Extraction, and keeping the maindeck changes described above (except back to 4x Thoughtseize because f*&% Inquisition of Kozilek). In the side I am moving to a bunch of one-of's: Ghostly Prison, Ratchet Bomb, Grafdigger's Cage, and even a Rest in Peace since I took out the Extractions and Dredge is such a big deal right now. I posted my deck list below as I ran it tonight.
There are a bunch of PPTQs coming up around here and I'll attend them--I will report back after as usual. I sure felt bad about the deck after Saturday but tonight has me a little more chipper again; I will see how the next few competitive REL days go before I make any drastic decisions.
Last time I played Dredge it was embarrassing for the poor guy; in G2 he dropped a Neonate on his T1 and sacced it, discarding Grave Troll, in my T1 end step... which I Extracted in response to the draw trigger. Yeeowch. Bring on the Dredge, Modern. Bring on the Dredge.
As far as I know, Dredge is a replacement effect, and does not go over the stack. So you are not able to respond to someone dredging a card. I played a few times against Dredge and the deck is a beast. I think I lost more games than I won despite drawing multiple hate cards.
The Neonate discarding a card is part of the cost to activate the ability, and not part of its effect. Therefore, there is an opportunity to respond by extracting the discarded card before the Neonate's draw effect resolves.
Also, hi everyone. I'll be playing this deck at FNM this week, at a slightly different lgs than I normally go to, for a variety of reasons. I'll post my build later, but it is almost card for card one of the decks on the previous page (I liked the way the mainboard looked, especially with 25 land and an Expidition Map), except that I don't have cavern of souls, a second thoughtseize, and marsh flats. I'm ok with not having cavern because no one at the store plays control except me. My sideboard is a little odd right now, including Engineered Explosives and Curse of Death's Hold (infect is pretty big there).
Hi guys, played a few events this weekend. Didn't do very well, actually. I'm not going to write them all up but I will offer some notes and thoughts.
On Friday I played a ~40 person Modern side event at our local GP (Standard format). I went 2-3, felt kinda slow and unlucky. I did a lot of mulliganing. Then I went 3-2 that night at my LGS FNM, beating only a couple of janky brews.
For Saturday, I readied for a large (~200+ person) 25K tix Modern side event by calling an audible and swapping some cards for what I expected to be a faster, aggro-based meta. I dropped 2x Thoughtseize for 2x Inquisitions, a Blight Herder for a second Matter Reshaper, and a Shambling Vent for an Isolated Chapel (figuring I have 8 ways to make it active after T1.) In the side I dropped one Ratchet Bomb for a Ghostly Prison. All day I felt like I mulliganed a ton, drew the wrong half of my deck, and just generally got wrecked by my opponents. Example: I went 1-4 and dropped, beating only Dredge, and losing to--among others--a janky Esper Tokens/Polymorph deck. Awkward alert: In G3 against the Polymorph build I drew bothInquisitions while she had her Polymorph in hand and I held Extraction. I had no instant to kill her target token on her T4 so I lost. That felt bad.
Tonight I went 4-0 for first of 36 players at my LGS MNM, though, beating some of the top-8/top-16 players from the Saturday big tourney. I was 8-1 in games beating Dredge, Jeskai Nahiri, Grixis Delver, and RW Burn.
Notes: I am impressed by the current state of Kiki-Chord. With Eldritch Evolution and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite it is extremely good now and very consistent. In fact I am so sick of losing to it that I made some changes.
I am cutting 3x Surgical Extraction, and keeping the maindeck changes described above (except back to 4x Thoughtseize because f*&% Inquisition of Kozilek). In the side I am moving to a bunch of one-of's: Ghostly Prison, Ratchet Bomb, Grafdigger's Cage, and even a Rest in Peace since I took out the Extractions and Dredge is such a big deal right now. I posted my deck list below as I ran it tonight.
There are a bunch of PPTQs coming up around here and I'll attend them--I will report back after as usual. I sure felt bad about the deck after Saturday but tonight has me a little more chipper again; I will see how the next few competitive REL days go before I make any drastic decisions.
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What are your experiences with Matter Reshaper in this build? Does it do any good, or would you rather fit in an extra Strangler and Blight Herder/removal?
As far as I know, Dredge is a replacement effect, and does not go over the stack. So you are not able to respond to someone dredging a card. I played a few times against Dredge and the deck is a beast. I think I lost more games than I won despite drawing multiple hate cards.
The Neonate discarding a card is part of the cost to activate the ability, and not part of its effect. Therefore, there is an opportunity to respond by extracting the discarded card before the Neonate's draw effect resolves.
Yes, this is what I did. Welcome to the tentacled hordes, megaman125!
What are your experiences with Matter Reshaper in this build? Does it do any good, or would you rather fit in an extra Strangler and Blight Herder/removal?
My deck reflects the decisions I have made, so if it has a card in it, it's because I think it should be there instead of another card. In my case, I am looking to lower my deck's curve a little bit and tweak its matchups against faster decks. Strangler is awesome and I debated a 4th one instead of the Reshaper. Herder is amazing but it is slow. Both Strangler and Herder are conditional upon having process targets, while Reshaper gives value every time unless it gets Pathed. (And in that way, it helps bait out opponent's Paths so they don't have them for Seer or Smasher.) A second Reshaper means there are eight functional cantrips in the build, and that access to additional cards is very important, in my experience.
There are two local PPTQs this weekend and I plan to run the list I last posted, and see how I do.
While this deck does seem great to battle the menace that is "Dredge", putting cards back into their GY's is not hosing the strategy. Your processors might not do good against them and become vanilla in a sense. I have high hopes for this deck still. But Dredge is insanely fast at dropping it's threats into play, sometimes too fast for a relic to keep up with. Choose your relic wipes at opportune times I guess. All I know is lots of other decks are going to be running more GY hate now since it won the latest big Modern event.
Dredge can be played through hate just like it was witnessed on camera with Tom Ross. He made sure to keep a few bloodghasts and/or time his recursion at appropriate times. Props to pro players though who playtest a lot and know the deck and what hoses it (Anger of Gods in that case).
Commander GUR Maelstrom Wanderer BWU Sydri, Galvanic Genius BGB Meren of Clan Nel Toth WGW Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith RRR Feldon of the Third Path WWW Heliod, God of the Sun
Hey guys, finally found a shop that plays modern around here. It was surprisingly hard to find everyone loves EDH and draft for some reason. Anyway, I played at FNM last night and here are my results. I went 2-2 with about 25 people there and a healthy assortment of deck lists.
Match 1: vs Bant Knightfall Combo - 2-0 [1-0]
Game 1: Pretty grindy match for a while, but I flew over him with Lingering Souls and Sorin's +1 before he could find a Retreat to Coralhelm.
Game 2: He found his Knight and Reteat and set his combo off on turn 4 or 5. But he forgot my relic was on the field and I had some souls out. He scooped after he drew his deck and took all the damage from the shocks and fetches.
I sideboarded in disenchants and anguishes but never drew them. I'm not sure what to say about this match. It was a pretty easy win, but that was probably due from player error and just having answers. Relic was invaluable for stopping combo and souls for chump blockers.
Match 2: vs Grixis Delver - 2-0 [2-0]
Game 1: This was my first time playing against delver so I played very poorly. I missed relic triggers and allowed him to delve several times. The game was very grindy as we both had abundant removal. Eventually I ran out of answers and he flipped Delver of secrets. I found some lingering souls and was able to flip Westvale for the win.
Game 2: He mulled down to 5 and I had a turn 1 Thoughtseize. He then proceeded to topdeck lands the next 4 turns as I played some Eldrazi's and blew through him.
I wasn't sure what to side in since I was new to Delver, so I decided on tendrils and anguishes. Reality Smasher and Lingering souls were great. Displacer was also very helpful by flipping delvers back when I didn't have souls or removal. The Strangler's were nice for removing Delver, but processing was bad as it fueled their delve cards.
Match 3: vs UG Infect - 1-2 [0-2]
Game 1: I had a ton of removal and hand disruption to hold him off until I beat him down with TKS and Smasher.
Game 2: I sideboarded poorly and ended up drawing a ton of high cmc cards and no temples. A thoughtseize and and ghost quarter kept me in for a little, but he got a Noble Hierarch out with a Blighted Agent and countered my removal. He won next turn kicking with vines twice to fizzle my path and using another pump spell.
Game 3: I mulled once and proceeded to get land screwed. Played about 5 turns and never drew land.
My old meta didn't have much infect so I was rusty on the match up. Plus all his cards were in Japanese so I probably made some misplays when choosing discards. I definitely sideboarded wrong after game 1. I brought in tendrils, all is dust, ghost quarter, and extractions for souls and herders. I found Chump blockers weren't very necessary when everything had unblockable or trample. He also sided in ghost quarters and took out my temples. That slowed me down enough that he could win through infect damage before I apply pressure with Smashers.
Match 4: vs G Tron - 1-2 [2-2]
Game 1: I was on the play and played Thoughseize turn 1 for Wurmcoil. I never drew into my ghost quarters and kept drawing relics and removal. After grinding a while I had two TKS's and a Smasher out. Opponent then misplayed by playing Karn followed by Sanctum of Ugin.
Game 2: A grindy match up of using ghost quarters on his tron lands that he then proceeded to draw or fetch again. He played Oblivion Stone and held off my creatures. Finally he played Ulamog targeting my remaining lands. I drew a Godless Shrine and pathed Ulamog on his next upkeep. He then played Karn exiling more of my land. Eventually played another Ulamog to which I scooped so we would have enough time for game 3.
Game 3: We both mulled and I drew an opening hand with stony silence, 2 lands, a relic, path, and map. I kept because T2 Stony Silence. Unfortunately I continued to draw 2 more relics and he destroyed the Stony Silence and cracked a bunch of artifacts. He played sanctum then Karn correctly this time and fetched an Ulamog. He then won with Wurmcoil and Spellskite keeping my lands to one or two.
I sided in Stony Silence, disenchants, ghost quarter, extractions, and anguished unmaking's but failed to draw many of them. I also forgot that most of the artifacts he played sacced themselves as a cost, so I found disenchant a little lackluster.
Overall Impressions:
I really love this deck, It just has so many interactions with every other deck I play against. I ordered some mind stones to swap maps with and am getting another stony silence to replace a disenchant. I did like Displacer but I think it might be a better sideboard card. This was my first time using a Matter Reshaper in the 75 and only saw it once, but it seems was nice gaining a land, artifact, or Strangler out and processing if able. My land base is still weak, but it's working for the most part. I just can't afford fetches right now. My sideboard is still kinda bad, but I didn't want to upgrade much of it until I finished moving and found out what my new LGS meta was like. It feels very diverse though, so I'm not sure what to add. A lot of people were talking about Delver and Dredge though, so I'll probable prepare for that.
This was my first time taking notes, so any tips on what to focus on next week are appreciated.
The store I play at right now has a... unique meta. Infect and Kiln Fiend agro are the most popular decks among the lower tiered players, then there's merfolk, B/W tokens (hence the Blood Baron and Curse in my board), 5 color Sun Titan reanimator dredge, occasionally affinity and Kiki Chord when the players of those decks show up.
Round 1 vs U/R jank control (2-0)
This isn't really worth mentioning, basically a bye.
Round 2 vs Merfolk (2-0)
I went to path his Master of Waves, and he responded by Vialing in a Phantasmal Image to make a copy of it, so he had a bunch more tokens. Fortunately I top decked another Path, then found myself having TKS, Stangler, and Sorin out. Game 2, he ended up drawing into 3 vials while an Inquisition took his Silvergill Adept. His hand was slow for a while, which was fine with me. A few turns later I played a Tidehollow Sculler, taking his dismember and seeing Master of Waves, Image, Spell Pierce, and Harbinger of the Tides. I drew another Sculler and had the mana to play that and a Strangler (processing the Dismember), so I did that instead of playing TKS. He responded to the Sculler by Vialing in his 3 guys, but he brought in the Master of Waves last, so the Image was just a copy of his Harbinger. Strangler killed his Master of Waves, and he never recovered.
Round 3 vs Kiki Chord (1-2)
Game 1 went on for a while due to Displacer being able to keep him from winning with Restoration Angel and Kiki, which were both on the board. Me having to keep open mana for Displacer and playing Lingering Souls to get blockers meant I never had enough mana to use Vault to actually start killing his stuff with my tokens. He eventually overwhelmed me, but we were both surprised I had survived that long. Game 2 I Thoughtseized him turn 2 to see he was lacking green mana outside of Ghost Quartering his own land, so I took his Wall of Omens. He topdecked a forest, and used that and ghost quarter on his Godless Shrine to get another forest and play eternal witness to get back his shrine. Meanwhile I played Lingering Souls, TKS to further rip apart his hand, and Reality Smasher. He pathed the TKS, and Chorded for Fiend Hunter to get rid of my Smasher, but Anguished Unmaking let me get it right back, then Sorin joined the fray and overwhelmed him. Game 3 was kinda weird. He had Stony Silence for my relic. He used a Chord to get Eternal Witness to get back his Chord, which I took with TKS, revealing nothing else threatening in his hand. He topdecked another Chord to get Resto Angel to blink his blink his Witness to get back his Chord (the whole time I have Bojuka Bog in hand). A second TKS eats his second Chord, then he topdecks another Chord and gets Kiki for the win.
Round 4 vs Abzan Midrange (2-1)
His Lingering Souls weren't as good as mine since he didn't get to flashback any of them. He conceded after I had 5 tokens and Vault of the Archangel. Game 2 he did get a bunch of tokens out, and had the B/G Leige. I couldn't draw removal for it, and I failed to side in my Engineered Explosives. Game 3 went kinda like game 1, except I didn't get Vault, but found all 4 of my Lingering Souls and Blood Baron. The only thing he had in his deck that could even block the Baron was Birds of Paradise, and that didn't last long. In both games that I won, TKS and Thoughtseize/Inquisition ripped apart his hand.
The standout cards of the night were Lingering Souls, Soring, TKS, Reality Smasher, and Tidehollow Sculler (only saw them against Merfolk, but I might like them mainboard). Sea Gate Wreckage shined a couple times, as did Displacer. Blight Herder and Strangler were average (I sided out some number of Stanglers against Kiki Chord and Abzan, is this correct?). And does this deck really need Mind Stones? They felt average most of the time. I also might want the tidehollows in the mainboard... somehow.
Overall, I am enjoying the deck, but I have no idea how I'm supposed to be sideboarding. I don't think I sideboarded right all night long. I never really knew what to take out, I never brought in the Disenchants, and I failed to bring in Surgicals against Kiki Chord. Any tips you guys can give me for sideboarding?
I played in a 39 person PPTQ yesterday and dropped at 2-2-1. The list was as I described it a few posts above.
vs. Jund: 2-1 [1-0]
SIDE IN: Pithing Needle x2, Damnation x2, Unmaking x1 / SIDE OUT: Sorin x1, Thoughtseize x4
OP: Smasher, Lingering Souls
UP: Thoughtseize Notes: I lost the die roll. As always, Jund was a fairly easy match. I prefer to side out Thoughtseize in this match since it is likely to come to a topdeck war. G1 took 30 minutes, but I won G2 in 5 minutes off a T4 and a T5 Smasher. G3 went to my army of Spirit tokens. Kalitas is by far their best threat against us.
vs. Living End: 2-1 [2-0]
SIDE IN: Needle x2, Damnation x2, Rest in Peace x1 Unmaking x1, Ghostly Prison x1 / SIDE OUT: Lingering Souls x4, Go for the Throat x1, Sorin x1
OP: Relic, Pithing Needle
UP: Lingering Souls Notes: Lost the roll. I kept a marginal opener and tried discarding creatures straight to my yard in my end step, but could not win like this in G1. Lingering Souls is terrible in this match. Pithing Needle comes in for Fulminator Mage and I landed it early in both G2 and G3. (This is a big deal in this match.) Obviously Relic is essential.
vs. Grixis Midrange: 1-1-1 [2-0-1]
SIDE IN: Needle x2, Unmaking x1, Rest in Peace x1 / SIDE OUT: Strangler x2, Sorin x1
OP: Relic, Rest in Peace, Lingering Souls, his Kalitas
UP: Strangler Notes: I played a friend from my LGS who is very, very good and has a great record at this kind of event. I was on the draw. Note: Kalitas is bad news and should be removed ASAP! He is our opponents' best threat against us in every deck that plays him; watch out for this card! Strangler doesn't really have a good target in this match besides Snap and so it is less important. Again, Pithing Needle was key for nerfing opposing Fulminator Mages. I won G2 after resolving Rest in Peace, despite tampering with my own Lingering Souls; his build is extremely graveyard-reliant. I was land-shy all through G3 and would likely have won if we'd had more time, since I had a hand full of Herders and Smashers.
vs. Bogles: 1-2 [2-1-1]
SIDE IN: Flaying Tendrils x1, Needle x2, Ratchet Bomb x1, Ghostly Prison x1 / SIDE OUT: Path x4, Go for the Throat x1,
OP: Thoughtseize, his creatures
UP: Every other goddamn card in my deck Notes: Ugh, I was hoping to dodge this match. Just goes to show that you need to be lucky as well as good, to get high placing in these events. This guy pissed me off because he refused my proposed "low roll" method of determining play/draw, and then rolled a 9 to my 8. Pretty much my only hope of winning this match is to win the roll and then Thoughtseize away his guy on T1, which is how I won G2. Decks that side in Engineered Explosives and/or Spellskite will have better results.
vs. UG Infect: 0-2 [2-2-1, drop]
SIDE IN: Needle x2, Ghostly Prison x1, Flaying Tendrils x1
OP: Lingering Souls, Ghost Quarter, his Spell Pierce and Vines of Vastwood Notes: I was on the play for the first time in 10 matches. Not that it mattered. In G1 a terrible keep (in this match) combined with his Spell Pierce on my T3 Lingering Souls got him through; in G2 his 2x Vines of Vastwood overwhelmed my Path on his Blighted Agent on his T4. Can't really beat the nuts draws from Infect, sadly.
Thoughts: I feel better about my record yesterday than my results would suggest. My draw was against a very skilled player with a very strong deck--this fella wins or top-8s local tourneys like this routinely. My losses were to a terrible but rare matchup and to variance in a strong matchup. I may try Sea Gate Wreckage in the place of Cavern of Souls today; when games go long it would be amazing to have. Or maybe I'll put it in in place of Vault of the Archangel, though I can't believe I'm considering that. I see Ghost Quarter as being crucial for late games against opposing manlands, and without an Expedition Map to tutor it up I feel it necessary to keep this as a three-of.
Played again today in a PPTQ to a 4-2 record, missing top 8 and getting 10th of 36 players. I ended up taking out a single Rest for the Weary for a Sea Gate Wreckage in the side, otherwise my deck was the same as the list in post #1716 above.
vs. Eldrazi Taxes: 1-2 [0-1]
SIDE IN: Stony x2, Needle x2, Damnation x2, Unmaking x1 / SIDE OUT: Sorin x1, Relic x4, Herder x2
OP: his Vial, his Eldrazi Displacer, my Sorin plus Spirit tokens in G1
UP: my flickered creatures Notes: I was on the draw. He got lucky, landing Vial on T1 all three games. In G1 Spirit tokens plus Sorin swung in for the win but in G2+3 he was able to control my board well with a Displacer and Flickerwisp combo. Displacer does a TON of work for them and should be very high priority for removal, or for a Pithing Needle, as soon as possible. Thalia, Heretic Cathar is also very strong. I never saw a single hate card in the second or third games, and remain confident that this match is not unfavorable for us. I screwed up in this match and didn't play at my best, to tell the truth.
vs. Affinity: 2-1 [1-1]
SIDE IN: Damnation x2, Needle x2, Stony x2, Unmaking x1, Tendrils x1, Ratchet Bomb x1 / SIDE OUT: Relic x4, Go for the Throat x1, Herder x2, Thoughtseize x3, Cavern of Souls x1
OP: Lingering Souls, Stony Silence, Ratchet Bomb,
UP: Thoughtseize, Relic Notes: On the play for once! In G1 he mulled to 6 and kept a weak opener with none of his bombs (i.e., Plating, Ravager, or Overseer). I drew into 3 Lingering Souls which overwhelmed him. I sandbagged a Path which hit his Overseer for a key midgame play. In G2 he got me down to 2 even under Stony Silence and then got me with Galvanic Blast after shutting my mana down with Blood Moon. In G3, Ratchet Bomb held him off his threats and also kept him from casting his Blood Moon as I had it ticked up to 2 and waiting for a target... Spirit tokens again took the win in this game.
vs. Junk/Abzan Midrange: 2-0 [2-1]
SIDE IN: Rest in Peace x1, Ratchet Bomb x1, Damnation x2, Needle x2, Unmaking x1, Ghostly Prison x1, Sea Gate Wreckage x1 / SIDE OUT: Thoughtseize x4, Strangler x3, Cavern of Souls x1
OP: Relic, Smasher, Vault of the Archangel, Wreckage
UP: nothing really Notes: I was on the draw. He mulled to 4 G1 and never really stood a chance, especially after I hit his Lili with Thoughtseize and his Lingering Souls with Thought-Knot Seer. In G2 I was able to turn the corner by casting Smasher and activating Vault on the same turn--a feat I was able to repeat several times this tourney--after clearing his board (including Thrun, the Last Troll) with Damnation. I was also able to discard two Lingering Souls to his Lili +1s. Sea Gate Wreckage helped me pull out of a Lili ult.
vs. Kiki-Evo/"Darwin Chord": 0-2 [2-2]
SIDE IN: Damnation x2, Flaying Tendrils x1, Needle x2, Grafdigger's Cage x1, Rest in Peace x1 / SIDE OUT: Herder x2, Unmaking x1, Lingering Souls x4
OP: his tutors
UP: Spirit tokens never seem to do much in this match; my sweepers; and Relic is also disappointingly weak Notes: On the draw again. Ever since Eldritch Evolution came out, this deck has been much tougher. In G1 I Pathed his Witness instead of his Resto after he Chorded for the Angel, but couldn't prevent a Chord two turns later. In G2 I had Flaying Tendrils in hand after a mull to 6, but only had one source for B. I had to sandbag it for several turns... one turn too many it turns out. I also made a mistake and took Kiki instead of Orzhov Pontiff with TKS; his next turn pump on his team of little guys for lethal was an obvious gotcha that I should have seen.
vs. Jund: 2-0 [3-2]
SIDE IN: Sea Gate Wreckage x1, Needle x2, Damnation x2, Unmaking x1, Ghostly Prison x1, Timely Reinforcements x1 / SIDE OUT: Thoughtseize x4, Strangler x3, Cavern of Souls x1
OP: Smasher, Vault, Relic, Sea Gate Wreckage, Sorin SV, his Night of Souls' Betrayal
UP: Lingering Souls and Scion Tokens in G2 (Herder was still good though) Notes: On the draw. Probably should have sided in Rest in Peace as well, but that was only one of the several mistakes I made in this match. Fortunately for me this deck is so good against Jund that there is some room for error. In G1 I was able to stall with Sorin and Vault until Smasher and Vault got me up to ~30+ life and my Shambling Vent whittled him down to 0. In G2 Smasher plus Vault again were huge and Wreckage drew me a bunch of cards. He was able to resolve three Goyfs but Relic was very handy as usual here. Watch out for Night of Souls' Betrayal, which they usually have as a one-of in the side; it is extremely good against us and is an excellent Unmaking/Disenchant/Celestial Purge target.
vs. Mardu Nahiri: 2-0 [4-2]
SIDE IN: Needle x2, Unmaking x1, Grafdigger's Cage x1, Sea Gate Wreckage x1 / SIDE OUT: Thoughtseize x4, Go for the Throat x1, Cavern of Souls x1
OP: Smasher, Sea Gate Wreckage
UP: Herder Notes: I had the draw again. Not great, with a slow deck like this and T1 hand disruption an important play. However, Reality Smasher is just great against opposing planeswalkers and I drew three in G1, keeping him off his Nahiri ult. Smasher proved conclusive again in G2 where my opponent was never really able to get too much going. Sea Gate Wreckage drew me a few cards again in this match.
Thoughts:
I love this tech with Sea Gate Wreckage in the side. It feels like a real smack-my-forehead-why-didn't-I-try-this-earlier moment. I don't necessarily like playing lands in the side but this fits amazingly well; swap it in for Vault against the blue counterspell decks, and for Cavern against everyone else. I didn't really play it early in the tourney but once I started using it I quickly grew to appreciate the additional late-game draw.
This Darwin Chord Kiki build is really consistent and very tough. Watch out for it and if you have any suggestions about the match, I would love to hear them.
Not missing Surgical Extraction in the side at all, though I guess it would be decent against Darwin Chord....
I like a single Rest in Peace for the decks that are more graveyard-reliant than we are. I regret my pigheadedness about this card in earlier comments. However I am tempted to replace it with another Grafdigger's Cage for the Darwin Chord match. Rest is much better vs. Goyfs (and Bedlam Reveler) but we are already pretty good against Goyf.
Vault did a ton of work for me again today, re-cementing its place in the main.
I cannot strongly enough recommend playing four Reality Smashers. This card is an absolute house, especially with either Vault or Sorin, and it is my primary win condition. It's an amazing planeswalker-destroyer. That, Thought-Knot Seer, Thoughtseize, and Lingering Souls are what truly make the deck strong, and the latter two set it apart from the other Eldrazi decks, in my opinion.
I am up to 2x Matter Reshaper and am liking that choice a lot for more pseudo card advantage. I may or may not give Eldrazi Displacer another shot in that slot at some point.
Ghostly Prison may or may not be a good call. It has yet to be relevant for me in any match; as a one-of I don't see it very often, but it should be good against Zoo variants, Merfolk, 8 Whack, and BW Tokens even if not so much against Elves.
I'm a little worried about my position vs. Burn, now. Time will tell, or I may make another tweak for that match.
If I were a more talented player I'd do quite a bit better, I'm sure. I made a lot of mistakes today.
Hey Darth Bunny, I'm the guy. So Zealous Persecution was a mistake on SCG, the card is so underrated. I even bring it in against things like tron sometimes just for the anthem, it can increase your clock by a turn in a pinch. The brutality was great all day, I want another in the 75 perhaps. Brutality is so flexible, and the tempo advantage you get by turning cards into effects is great. Infect and Burn are the matchups where its A+, and only against tron is it embarrassing. The lili is awesome, I've played up to 3 in the deck and 1 feels right, you never want to draw multiple.
That's a cool list @Ridetheguana, I hadn't thought to try lili. I've also really been liking Brutality as a one of mainboard. Definitely at least try it out in the sideboard. Discarding a souls, spare land, or expensive eldrazi you probably won't get to use seems like a small cost for all that value. I'll have to try out Zealous Persecution, Sorin's +1 has won me the game multiple times so it would be nice to have another anthem option.
Does anyone have any tips for sideboarding? I'm not sure if my sideboard is just crap to begin with or I'm just bad at using it. I think my specific problem is deciding what to take out after game 1.
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GXTronGX
RWxBurnRWx
2 Eternal Scourge
2 Matter Reshaper
3 Wasteland Strangler
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
Artifacts (6)
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Mind Stone
Sorcery (10)
4 Lingering Souls
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
2 Collective Brutality
4 Path to Exile
Land (24)
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Marsh Flats
3 Ghost Quarter
3 Godless Shrine
2 Shambling Vent
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Wastes
2 Anguished Unmaking
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Celestial Purge
2 Day of Judgment
2 Disenchant
2 Eldrazi Mimic
2 Stony Silence
2 Worship
A few things that I notice while playing the deck:
CBW midrange deck
CBW eldrazi processor deck
CBW bw eldrazi shadow midrange
http://modernnexus.com/modern-metagame-breakdown-jul-16/
Last time I played Dredge it was embarrassing for the poor guy; in G2 he dropped a Neonate on his T1 and sacced it, discarding Grave Troll, in my T1 end step... which I Extracted in response to the draw trigger. Yeeowch. Bring on the Dredge, Modern. Bring on the Dredge.
How do you fell about Extricator of Sin? The non-eldrazi face can sac a Lingering Souls token, a Matter Reshaper or Eternal Scourge for a 3/2 Eldrazi token, and the transformed face can turn 1/1 spirit tokens into 3/2 vigilance beaters... Also, TKS, Reality Smashers and itself (3/5) on vigilance seems preety absurd, even more if you add Sorin's +1 to equation. Is it just a "win more" card or could be a thing?
2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Godless Shrine
4x Eldrazi Temple
2x Shambling Vents
4x Caves of Koilos
2x Ghost Quarter
1x Westvale Abbey
1x Vault of the Archangel
2x Plain
2x Swamp
1x Go for the Throat
1x Anguished Unmaking
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Thoughtseize
4x Path to exile
4x Lingering Souls
1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Artifacts
2x Mind Stone
4x Relic of Progenitus
2x Wall of Omens
3x Reality Smasher
4x Thought-Knot Seer
3x Blight Herder
3x Wasteland Strangler
BWC Processors Eldrazi CWB
UBC Emerge EldraziCBU
C Tron Eldrazi C
RBC Meld Eldrazi CBR
GU Tokens Eldrazi UG
On Friday I played a ~40 person Modern side event at our local GP (Standard format). I went 2-3, felt kinda slow and unlucky. I did a lot of mulliganing. Then I went 3-2 that night at my LGS FNM, beating only a couple of janky brews.
For Saturday, I readied for a large (~200+ person) 25K tix Modern side event by calling an audible and swapping some cards for what I expected to be a faster, aggro-based meta. I dropped 2x Thoughtseize for 2x Inquisitions, a Blight Herder for a second Matter Reshaper, and a Shambling Vent for an Isolated Chapel (figuring I have 8 ways to make it active after T1.) In the side I dropped one Ratchet Bomb for a Ghostly Prison. All day I felt like I mulliganed a ton, drew the wrong half of my deck, and just generally got wrecked by my opponents. Example: I went 1-4 and dropped, beating only Dredge, and losing to--among others--a janky Esper Tokens/Polymorph deck. Awkward alert: In G3 against the Polymorph build I drew both Inquisitions while she had her Polymorph in hand and I held Extraction. I had no instant to kill her target token on her T4 so I lost. That felt bad.
Tonight I went 4-0 for first of 36 players at my LGS MNM, though, beating some of the top-8/top-16 players from the Saturday big tourney. I was 8-1 in games beating Dredge, Jeskai Nahiri, Grixis Delver, and RW Burn.
Notes: I am impressed by the current state of Kiki-Chord. With Eldritch Evolution and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite it is extremely good now and very consistent. In fact I am so sick of losing to it that I made some changes.
I am cutting 3x Surgical Extraction, and keeping the maindeck changes described above (except back to 4x Thoughtseize because f*&% Inquisition of Kozilek). In the side I am moving to a bunch of one-of's: Ghostly Prison, Ratchet Bomb, Grafdigger's Cage, and even a Rest in Peace since I took out the Extractions and Dredge is such a big deal right now. I posted my deck list below as I ran it tonight.
1x Cavern of Souls
4x Caves of Koilos
4x Eldrazi Temple
3x Ghost Quarter
2x Godless Shrine
1x Isolated Chapel
3x Marsh Flats
1x Plains
2x Shambling Vent
2x Swamp
1x Vault of the Archangel
Planeswalker (1)
1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2x Blight Herder
2x Matter Reshaper
4x Reality Smasher
4x Thought-Knot Seer
3x Wasteland Strangler
Instant (6)
1x Anguished Unmaking
1x Go for the Throat
4x Path to Exile
Sorcery (8)
4x Lingering Souls
4x Thoughtseize
Artifact (6)
2x Mind Stone
4x Relic of Progenitus
1x Anguished Unmaking
2x Damnation
1x Flaying Tendrils
1x Ghostly Prison
1x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Pithing Needle
1x Ratchet Bomb
2x Rest for the Weary
1x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
1x Timely Reinforcements
The Neonate discarding a card is part of the cost to activate the ability, and not part of its effect. Therefore, there is an opportunity to respond by extracting the discarded card before the Neonate's draw effect resolves.
Also, hi everyone. I'll be playing this deck at FNM this week, at a slightly different lgs than I normally go to, for a variety of reasons. I'll post my build later, but it is almost card for card one of the decks on the previous page (I liked the way the mainboard looked, especially with 25 land and an Expidition Map), except that I don't have cavern of souls, a second thoughtseize, and marsh flats. I'm ok with not having cavern because no one at the store plays control except me. My sideboard is a little odd right now, including Engineered Explosives and Curse of Death's Hold (infect is pretty big there).
What are your experiences with Matter Reshaper in this build? Does it do any good, or would you rather fit in an extra Strangler and Blight Herder/removal?
My deck reflects the decisions I have made, so if it has a card in it, it's because I think it should be there instead of another card. In my case, I am looking to lower my deck's curve a little bit and tweak its matchups against faster decks. Strangler is awesome and I debated a 4th one instead of the Reshaper. Herder is amazing but it is slow. Both Strangler and Herder are conditional upon having process targets, while Reshaper gives value every time unless it gets Pathed. (And in that way, it helps bait out opponent's Paths so they don't have them for Seer or Smasher.) A second Reshaper means there are eight functional cantrips in the build, and that access to additional cards is very important, in my experience.
There are two local PPTQs this weekend and I plan to run the list I last posted, and see how I do.
Dredge can be played through hate just like it was witnessed on camera with Tom Ross. He made sure to keep a few bloodghasts and/or time his recursion at appropriate times. Props to pro players though who playtest a lot and know the deck and what hoses it (Anger of Gods in that case).
GURB Grixis/Jund Shadow
RBG Dredge
xUx U Ballista Tron
Commander
GUR Maelstrom Wanderer
BWU Sydri, Galvanic Genius
BGB Meren of Clan Nel Toth
WGW Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith
RRR Feldon of the Third Path
WWW Heliod, God of the Sun
List:
3x Blight Herder
4x Caves of Koilos
1x Eldrazi Displacer
4x Eldrazi Temple
2x Expedition Map
2x Ghost Quarter
1x Go for the Throat
2x Godless Shrine
1x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Isolated Chapel
4x Lingering Souls
1x Matter Reshaper
4x Path to Exile
2x Plains
4x Reality Smasher
4x Relic of Progenitus
2x Shambling Vent
1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2x Swamp
4x Thought-Knot Seer
2x Thoughtseize
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Vault of the Archangel
3x Wasteland Strangler
1x Wastes
2x Westvale Abbey
1x All Is Dust
2x Anguished Unmaking
2x Disenchant
2x Flaying Tendrils
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1x Languish
1x Stony Silence
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Timely Reinforcements
Link to deck @ TappedOut.net
First time taking notes so bear with me.
Match 1: vs Bant Knightfall Combo - 2-0 [1-0]
Game 1: Pretty grindy match for a while, but I flew over him with Lingering Souls and Sorin's +1 before he could find a Retreat to Coralhelm.
Game 2: He found his Knight and Reteat and set his combo off on turn 4 or 5. But he forgot my relic was on the field and I had some souls out. He scooped after he drew his deck and took all the damage from the shocks and fetches.
I sideboarded in disenchants and anguishes but never drew them. I'm not sure what to say about this match. It was a pretty easy win, but that was probably due from player error and just having answers. Relic was invaluable for stopping combo and souls for chump blockers.
Match 2: vs Grixis Delver - 2-0 [2-0]
Game 1: This was my first time playing against delver so I played very poorly. I missed relic triggers and allowed him to delve several times. The game was very grindy as we both had abundant removal. Eventually I ran out of answers and he flipped Delver of secrets. I found some lingering souls and was able to flip Westvale for the win.
Game 2: He mulled down to 5 and I had a turn 1 Thoughtseize. He then proceeded to topdeck lands the next 4 turns as I played some Eldrazi's and blew through him.
I wasn't sure what to side in since I was new to Delver, so I decided on tendrils and anguishes. Reality Smasher and Lingering souls were great. Displacer was also very helpful by flipping delvers back when I didn't have souls or removal. The Strangler's were nice for removing Delver, but processing was bad as it fueled their delve cards.
Match 3: vs UG Infect - 1-2 [0-2]
Game 1: I had a ton of removal and hand disruption to hold him off until I beat him down with TKS and Smasher.
Game 2: I sideboarded poorly and ended up drawing a ton of high cmc cards and no temples. A thoughtseize and and ghost quarter kept me in for a little, but he got a Noble Hierarch out with a Blighted Agent and countered my removal. He won next turn kicking with vines twice to fizzle my path and using another pump spell.
Game 3: I mulled once and proceeded to get land screwed. Played about 5 turns and never drew land.
My old meta didn't have much infect so I was rusty on the match up. Plus all his cards were in Japanese so I probably made some misplays when choosing discards. I definitely sideboarded wrong after game 1. I brought in tendrils, all is dust, ghost quarter, and extractions for souls and herders. I found Chump blockers weren't very necessary when everything had unblockable or trample. He also sided in ghost quarters and took out my temples. That slowed me down enough that he could win through infect damage before I apply pressure with Smashers.
Match 4: vs G Tron - 1-2 [2-2]
Game 1: I was on the play and played Thoughseize turn 1 for Wurmcoil. I never drew into my ghost quarters and kept drawing relics and removal. After grinding a while I had two TKS's and a Smasher out. Opponent then misplayed by playing Karn followed by Sanctum of Ugin.
Game 2: A grindy match up of using ghost quarters on his tron lands that he then proceeded to draw or fetch again. He played Oblivion Stone and held off my creatures. Finally he played Ulamog targeting my remaining lands. I drew a Godless Shrine and pathed Ulamog on his next upkeep. He then played Karn exiling more of my land. Eventually played another Ulamog to which I scooped so we would have enough time for game 3.
Game 3: We both mulled and I drew an opening hand with stony silence, 2 lands, a relic, path, and map. I kept because T2 Stony Silence. Unfortunately I continued to draw 2 more relics and he destroyed the Stony Silence and cracked a bunch of artifacts. He played sanctum then Karn correctly this time and fetched an Ulamog. He then won with Wurmcoil and Spellskite keeping my lands to one or two.
I sided in Stony Silence, disenchants, ghost quarter, extractions, and anguished unmaking's but failed to draw many of them. I also forgot that most of the artifacts he played sacced themselves as a cost, so I found disenchant a little lackluster.
Overall Impressions:
I really love this deck, It just has so many interactions with every other deck I play against. I ordered some mind stones to swap maps with and am getting another stony silence to replace a disenchant. I did like Displacer but I think it might be a better sideboard card. This was my first time using a Matter Reshaper in the 75 and only saw it once, but it seems was nice gaining a land, artifact, or Strangler out and processing if able. My land base is still weak, but it's working for the most part. I just can't afford fetches right now. My sideboard is still kinda bad, but I didn't want to upgrade much of it until I finished moving and found out what my new LGS meta was like. It feels very diverse though, so I'm not sure what to add. A lot of people were talking about Delver and Dredge though, so I'll probable prepare for that.
This was my first time taking notes, so any tips on what to focus on next week are appreciated.
4 Wasteland Stangler
1 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Blight Herder
2 Reality Smasher
Other Spells (21)
4 Relic of Progenitus
1 Expedition Map
4 Path to Exile
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
1 Collective Brutality
2 Mind Stone
1 Anguished Unmaking
4 Lingering Souls
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
1 Windswept Heath
2 Godless Shrine
1 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Shambling Vent
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Surgical Extraction
4 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Disenchant
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
1 Curse of Death's Hold
The store I play at right now has a... unique meta. Infect and Kiln Fiend agro are the most popular decks among the lower tiered players, then there's merfolk, B/W tokens (hence the Blood Baron and Curse in my board), 5 color Sun Titan reanimator dredge, occasionally affinity and Kiki Chord when the players of those decks show up.
Round 1 vs U/R jank control (2-0)
This isn't really worth mentioning, basically a bye.
Round 2 vs Merfolk (2-0)
I went to path his Master of Waves, and he responded by Vialing in a Phantasmal Image to make a copy of it, so he had a bunch more tokens. Fortunately I top decked another Path, then found myself having TKS, Stangler, and Sorin out. Game 2, he ended up drawing into 3 vials while an Inquisition took his Silvergill Adept. His hand was slow for a while, which was fine with me. A few turns later I played a Tidehollow Sculler, taking his dismember and seeing Master of Waves, Image, Spell Pierce, and Harbinger of the Tides. I drew another Sculler and had the mana to play that and a Strangler (processing the Dismember), so I did that instead of playing TKS. He responded to the Sculler by Vialing in his 3 guys, but he brought in the Master of Waves last, so the Image was just a copy of his Harbinger. Strangler killed his Master of Waves, and he never recovered.
Round 3 vs Kiki Chord (1-2)
Game 1 went on for a while due to Displacer being able to keep him from winning with Restoration Angel and Kiki, which were both on the board. Me having to keep open mana for Displacer and playing Lingering Souls to get blockers meant I never had enough mana to use Vault to actually start killing his stuff with my tokens. He eventually overwhelmed me, but we were both surprised I had survived that long. Game 2 I Thoughtseized him turn 2 to see he was lacking green mana outside of Ghost Quartering his own land, so I took his Wall of Omens. He topdecked a forest, and used that and ghost quarter on his Godless Shrine to get another forest and play eternal witness to get back his shrine. Meanwhile I played Lingering Souls, TKS to further rip apart his hand, and Reality Smasher. He pathed the TKS, and Chorded for Fiend Hunter to get rid of my Smasher, but Anguished Unmaking let me get it right back, then Sorin joined the fray and overwhelmed him. Game 3 was kinda weird. He had Stony Silence for my relic. He used a Chord to get Eternal Witness to get back his Chord, which I took with TKS, revealing nothing else threatening in his hand. He topdecked another Chord to get Resto Angel to blink his blink his Witness to get back his Chord (the whole time I have Bojuka Bog in hand). A second TKS eats his second Chord, then he topdecks another Chord and gets Kiki for the win.
Round 4 vs Abzan Midrange (2-1)
His Lingering Souls weren't as good as mine since he didn't get to flashback any of them. He conceded after I had 5 tokens and Vault of the Archangel. Game 2 he did get a bunch of tokens out, and had the B/G Leige. I couldn't draw removal for it, and I failed to side in my Engineered Explosives. Game 3 went kinda like game 1, except I didn't get Vault, but found all 4 of my Lingering Souls and Blood Baron. The only thing he had in his deck that could even block the Baron was Birds of Paradise, and that didn't last long. In both games that I won, TKS and Thoughtseize/Inquisition ripped apart his hand.
The standout cards of the night were Lingering Souls, Soring, TKS, Reality Smasher, and Tidehollow Sculler (only saw them against Merfolk, but I might like them mainboard). Sea Gate Wreckage shined a couple times, as did Displacer. Blight Herder and Strangler were average (I sided out some number of Stanglers against Kiki Chord and Abzan, is this correct?). And does this deck really need Mind Stones? They felt average most of the time. I also might want the tidehollows in the mainboard... somehow.
Overall, I am enjoying the deck, but I have no idea how I'm supposed to be sideboarding. I don't think I sideboarded right all night long. I never really knew what to take out, I never brought in the Disenchants, and I failed to bring in Surgicals against Kiki Chord. Any tips you guys can give me for sideboarding?
vs. Jund: 2-1 [1-0]
SIDE IN: Pithing Needle x2, Damnation x2, Unmaking x1 / SIDE OUT: Sorin x1, Thoughtseize x4
OP: Smasher, Lingering Souls
UP: Thoughtseize
Notes: I lost the die roll. As always, Jund was a fairly easy match. I prefer to side out Thoughtseize in this match since it is likely to come to a topdeck war. G1 took 30 minutes, but I won G2 in 5 minutes off a T4 and a T5 Smasher. G3 went to my army of Spirit tokens. Kalitas is by far their best threat against us.
vs. Living End: 2-1 [2-0]
SIDE IN: Needle x2, Damnation x2, Rest in Peace x1 Unmaking x1, Ghostly Prison x1 / SIDE OUT: Lingering Souls x4, Go for the Throat x1, Sorin x1
OP: Relic, Pithing Needle
UP: Lingering Souls
Notes: Lost the roll. I kept a marginal opener and tried discarding creatures straight to my yard in my end step, but could not win like this in G1. Lingering Souls is terrible in this match. Pithing Needle comes in for Fulminator Mage and I landed it early in both G2 and G3. (This is a big deal in this match.) Obviously Relic is essential.
vs. Grixis Midrange: 1-1-1 [2-0-1]
SIDE IN: Needle x2, Unmaking x1, Rest in Peace x1 / SIDE OUT: Strangler x2, Sorin x1
OP: Relic, Rest in Peace, Lingering Souls, his Kalitas
UP: Strangler
Notes: I played a friend from my LGS who is very, very good and has a great record at this kind of event. I was on the draw. Note: Kalitas is bad news and should be removed ASAP! He is our opponents' best threat against us in every deck that plays him; watch out for this card! Strangler doesn't really have a good target in this match besides Snap and so it is less important. Again, Pithing Needle was key for nerfing opposing Fulminator Mages. I won G2 after resolving Rest in Peace, despite tampering with my own Lingering Souls; his build is extremely graveyard-reliant. I was land-shy all through G3 and would likely have won if we'd had more time, since I had a hand full of Herders and Smashers.
vs. Bogles: 1-2 [2-1-1]
SIDE IN: Flaying Tendrils x1, Needle x2, Ratchet Bomb x1, Ghostly Prison x1 / SIDE OUT: Path x4, Go for the Throat x1,
OP: Thoughtseize, his creatures
UP: Every other goddamn card in my deck
Notes: Ugh, I was hoping to dodge this match. Just goes to show that you need to be lucky as well as good, to get high placing in these events. This guy pissed me off because he refused my proposed "low roll" method of determining play/draw, and then rolled a 9 to my 8. Pretty much my only hope of winning this match is to win the roll and then Thoughtseize away his guy on T1, which is how I won G2. Decks that side in Engineered Explosives and/or Spellskite will have better results.
vs. UG Infect: 0-2 [2-2-1, drop]
SIDE IN: Needle x2, Ghostly Prison x1, Flaying Tendrils x1
OP: Lingering Souls, Ghost Quarter, his Spell Pierce and Vines of Vastwood
Notes: I was on the play for the first time in 10 matches. Not that it mattered. In G1 a terrible keep (in this match) combined with his Spell Pierce on my T3 Lingering Souls got him through; in G2 his 2x Vines of Vastwood overwhelmed my Path on his Blighted Agent on his T4. Can't really beat the nuts draws from Infect, sadly.
Thoughts: I feel better about my record yesterday than my results would suggest. My draw was against a very skilled player with a very strong deck--this fella wins or top-8s local tourneys like this routinely. My losses were to a terrible but rare matchup and to variance in a strong matchup. I may try Sea Gate Wreckage in the place of Cavern of Souls today; when games go long it would be amazing to have. Or maybe I'll put it in in place of Vault of the Archangel, though I can't believe I'm considering that. I see Ghost Quarter as being crucial for late games against opposing manlands, and without an Expedition Map to tutor it up I feel it necessary to keep this as a three-of.
vs. Eldrazi Taxes: 1-2 [0-1]
SIDE IN: Stony x2, Needle x2, Damnation x2, Unmaking x1 / SIDE OUT: Sorin x1, Relic x4, Herder x2
OP: his Vial, his Eldrazi Displacer, my Sorin plus Spirit tokens in G1
UP: my flickered creatures
Notes: I was on the draw. He got lucky, landing Vial on T1 all three games. In G1 Spirit tokens plus Sorin swung in for the win but in G2+3 he was able to control my board well with a Displacer and Flickerwisp combo. Displacer does a TON of work for them and should be very high priority for removal, or for a Pithing Needle, as soon as possible. Thalia, Heretic Cathar is also very strong. I never saw a single hate card in the second or third games, and remain confident that this match is not unfavorable for us. I screwed up in this match and didn't play at my best, to tell the truth.
vs. Affinity: 2-1 [1-1]
SIDE IN: Damnation x2, Needle x2, Stony x2, Unmaking x1, Tendrils x1, Ratchet Bomb x1 / SIDE OUT: Relic x4, Go for the Throat x1, Herder x2, Thoughtseize x3, Cavern of Souls x1
OP: Lingering Souls, Stony Silence, Ratchet Bomb,
UP: Thoughtseize, Relic
Notes: On the play for once! In G1 he mulled to 6 and kept a weak opener with none of his bombs (i.e., Plating, Ravager, or Overseer). I drew into 3 Lingering Souls which overwhelmed him. I sandbagged a Path which hit his Overseer for a key midgame play. In G2 he got me down to 2 even under Stony Silence and then got me with Galvanic Blast after shutting my mana down with Blood Moon. In G3, Ratchet Bomb held him off his threats and also kept him from casting his Blood Moon as I had it ticked up to 2 and waiting for a target... Spirit tokens again took the win in this game.
vs. Junk/Abzan Midrange: 2-0 [2-1]
SIDE IN: Rest in Peace x1, Ratchet Bomb x1, Damnation x2, Needle x2, Unmaking x1, Ghostly Prison x1, Sea Gate Wreckage x1 / SIDE OUT: Thoughtseize x4, Strangler x3, Cavern of Souls x1
OP: Relic, Smasher, Vault of the Archangel, Wreckage
UP: nothing really
Notes: I was on the draw. He mulled to 4 G1 and never really stood a chance, especially after I hit his Lili with Thoughtseize and his Lingering Souls with Thought-Knot Seer. In G2 I was able to turn the corner by casting Smasher and activating Vault on the same turn--a feat I was able to repeat several times this tourney--after clearing his board (including Thrun, the Last Troll) with Damnation. I was also able to discard two Lingering Souls to his Lili +1s. Sea Gate Wreckage helped me pull out of a Lili ult.
vs. Kiki-Evo/"Darwin Chord": 0-2 [2-2]
SIDE IN: Damnation x2, Flaying Tendrils x1, Needle x2, Grafdigger's Cage x1, Rest in Peace x1 / SIDE OUT: Herder x2, Unmaking x1, Lingering Souls x4
OP: his tutors
UP: Spirit tokens never seem to do much in this match; my sweepers; and Relic is also disappointingly weak
Notes: On the draw again. Ever since Eldritch Evolution came out, this deck has been much tougher. In G1 I Pathed his Witness instead of his Resto after he Chorded for the Angel, but couldn't prevent a Chord two turns later. In G2 I had Flaying Tendrils in hand after a mull to 6, but only had one source for B. I had to sandbag it for several turns... one turn too many it turns out. I also made a mistake and took Kiki instead of Orzhov Pontiff with TKS; his next turn pump on his team of little guys for lethal was an obvious gotcha that I should have seen.
vs. Jund: 2-0 [3-2]
SIDE IN: Sea Gate Wreckage x1, Needle x2, Damnation x2, Unmaking x1, Ghostly Prison x1, Timely Reinforcements x1 / SIDE OUT: Thoughtseize x4, Strangler x3, Cavern of Souls x1
OP: Smasher, Vault, Relic, Sea Gate Wreckage, Sorin SV, his Night of Souls' Betrayal
UP: Lingering Souls and Scion Tokens in G2 (Herder was still good though)
Notes: On the draw. Probably should have sided in Rest in Peace as well, but that was only one of the several mistakes I made in this match. Fortunately for me this deck is so good against Jund that there is some room for error. In G1 I was able to stall with Sorin and Vault until Smasher and Vault got me up to ~30+ life and my Shambling Vent whittled him down to 0. In G2 Smasher plus Vault again were huge and Wreckage drew me a bunch of cards. He was able to resolve three Goyfs but Relic was very handy as usual here. Watch out for Night of Souls' Betrayal, which they usually have as a one-of in the side; it is extremely good against us and is an excellent Unmaking/Disenchant/Celestial Purge target.
vs. Mardu Nahiri: 2-0 [4-2]
SIDE IN: Needle x2, Unmaking x1, Grafdigger's Cage x1, Sea Gate Wreckage x1 / SIDE OUT: Thoughtseize x4, Go for the Throat x1, Cavern of Souls x1
OP: Smasher, Sea Gate Wreckage
UP: Herder
Notes: I had the draw again. Not great, with a slow deck like this and T1 hand disruption an important play. However, Reality Smasher is just great against opposing planeswalkers and I drew three in G1, keeping him off his Nahiri ult. Smasher proved conclusive again in G2 where my opponent was never really able to get too much going. Sea Gate Wreckage drew me a few cards again in this match.
Thoughts:
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=106581
That's an interesting list. Things that stand out:
- No reality smasher. Instead, three blight herders.
- A single liliana of the veil.
- A single collective brutality.
- Two zealous conscripts in the SB? Are those suppose to be zealous persecutions?
The collective brutality is especially interesting. Anyone tested that yet?
EDIT: posted it here https://www.reddit.com/r/ModernMagic/comments/4z46j2/bw_processors_scg_nj_open_9th/
Does anyone have any tips for sideboarding? I'm not sure if my sideboard is just crap to begin with or I'm just bad at using it. I think my specific problem is deciding what to take out after game 1.