I think if I were going to run one, I'd lean towards Disenchant over Celestial Purge as a more versatile answer. Smasher and Souls tend to be pretty good in the planeswalker-destroying department anyway.
Blood Moon decks rarely give me much trouble. I only really seem to run into problems in two cases. One, when they have a lot of fast pressure, like 8-Whack decks; or two, when they combine Moon with cards like Molten Rain or Stone Rain (not Fulminator Mage, though). If they can hit me with a Moon AND blow up my basics then I'm in trouble. But if I am playing around it, a Moon all by itself is not going to be very effective against me. This is even more true now that I have all 4 Flats in the mainboard.
Batterskull could be worth trying out again. It is very good, but it is so slow to land.
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Went 3-1 tonight again at that shop I was at a week ago--it's rare for me to only play once in a week, but I've had little time. I was going to change up the list a little but didn't get time to do it, and it proved to be an interesting experiment. Here's the list, then a brief report:
Bant Eldrazi, 2-1 (1-0)
I kept an opener on the play with T1 Thoughtseize, T2 Mind Stone / Relic, T3 Smasher, due to Stone and Temple. I drew a ton of removal, even using Stone to activate Push on his Seer, and so drawing 2 but losing one and the removal. Love that card in this build. Vault of the Archangel was a big deal in that game, too, and I easily won it. G2 saw me get overwhelmed quickly as he ramped fast and I drew lands. In G3 my opponent mulls to 6 and I keep a T2 Reshaper / T3 Seer hand. The clincher turned out to be an early Ghost Quarter on his Temple when I knew he had a Seer in hand, which allowed me to Push a Displacer. That play ended up slowing him down a lot. I felt very in control of the two games I won, I have a *****-ton of removal now it feels like. Push was great on mana dorks here, so much better than Path, and really changing an opponent's plans when it hits them.
Super-Budget RG Tron, 1-2 (1-1)
So here's where I draw Extraction--to my chagrin, because I had forgotten to pull it from the main deck--and then find my opponent on RG Tron, and I happen to have a Ghost Quarter in hand, too. That one I blew him out, but I also discovered he had a super-budget build with no Karns or O-Stones, and with Smashers (I can see the attraction), Kozilek's Return, Bolt, and Sanctum of Ugin for Platinum Angel, Platinum Emperion, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, and All Is Dust, those last two being pretty bad against us. He also had the RG scryland instead of Grove. I had a fun interaction where he Koz Returned the board, killing Reshaper who flipped a Strangler to process/kill his Spellskite, which in turn allowed me to Path his Wurmcoil before its first swing. Push was not relevant here. Turned out he tromped me; in G2 I kept a bad 6 with Stony, Caves, Mind Stone and never drew the land I needed, ceding quickly. I kept another shaky 6 on the play G3 with no C, and ended up with both Extractions in my hand and no lands in the yard because no GQ or any other colorless land. I got stuck on three lands this game, once again starving out while uncastable Eldrazi rotted in my hands.
UB Fae 2-0 (2-1)
Sandbagging Cavern of Souls is so good against control decks. T4 Seer off Cavern feels dirty against those guys. My opponent played a late Bitterblossom but Smasher doesn't care. A key play here was when I played Souls late and he activated two Mutavault to Spellstutter Sprite it, but I was able to GQ his 'Vault before Sprite resolved, fizzling it and allowing Souls to resolve. In G2 he landed T2 and T3 Blossoms, but I Unmade one and the other one slowly unmade him. A Lingering Souls kept his fliers at bay, and Shambling Vent gained me 6 life this game, plus more from Alliance and Brutality. Meanwhile he slowly ticks down as I fend him off from the back foot. Eventually Smasher closed things out. I had too much mana for Mana Leak in the late game both games.
Jeskai Control/Geist 2-1 (3-1)
Once again Cavern of Souls earns its place in the main, as G1 goes to me in a walk. In G2 his T3 Geist of Saint Traft, and Snaps operating with impunity in the face of zero Relics, quickly destroyed me. But in G3 I sided the Bombs in, eventually ticking up both and using one for Ajani Vengeant and the other for Geist. This whole keeping it at one CMC value, but threatening the next one higher, is a real unsung virtue of Bomb, in my opinion. On the other hand, he could have bounced one instead of drawing, once, but he missed or rejected that line.
Thoughts:
Push was very good all night, and I was able to get Revolt a lot. I thought about Ghost Quarter, Mind Stone, and Relic all a little differently due to Push, because cracking them earlier than I often would have was a decision, but it never felt bad. Instead, even using GQ like that once felt like a not-terrible tradeoff for a great card--because at the same time of course I was also turning Revolt on as planned, using Flats, dying tokens, etc. It feels so good to Push a mana dork, I love it. Lots of removal in general feels pretty good.
Extraction was a decidedly mixed bag, but I should maybe have played it more aggressively on stuff like hit a fetch on their T2 draw step after they draw. When you hit their hand it's pretty good, and when you miss at least you see their probable next couple of turns, which is always nice. It was such a blowout in that one Tron game when I was able to link it up with GQ, but otherwise it was not really particularly good. It was unwanted in hand a couple of times too, especially when I drew the second one. I think it probably needs to go, despite the odd Tron matches it wins for us. Either that or drop to 2 Push, but I don't think I like that either. Having lots of removal is pretty important.
I still intend to try one Endless One for a Reshaper, but don't have any with me. However Reshaper is just pure value every time, especially on T2 he is a very strong play. Also, I used store credit from the two nights to cover most of a Liliana, the Last Hope, though I think for now it's going into my Jund deck.
I have. Even having a lot of success with a list similar to deaddrifts. It honestly feels almost perfect. It has game against every deck.
I am always trying to tweak the deck and I think we should try and make room for 1 Lilliana last hope (so good to recur a reality smasher).
After reading this article I really want to find a way to add 2 smugglers coptors. It seems like it's really good in all of our matchups against linear decks and provides really strong synergy with lingering souls and any bad top decks.
I played that Stompy deck for a couple of months. Against decks where Chalice on 1 is not super relevant, it did not seem all that great to me. Serum Powder in particular was a real double-edged sword in my experience, it was a real feel-bad card almost every time I found it in hand when it wasn't in my opener. I didn't mulligan as much as Jordan does though.
Regarding Smuggler's Copter, I'll just reiterate that a main focus of this deck, the way I envision and have built it, is to make an opponent's removal bad against our creature package. But this is not true of Looter Scooter. It dies to almost everything, and does not present a threat by itself. Think of it as an equipment that can be hit by creature removal spells. It is a good effect, on a decent-bodied flyer, but I think it has a significant downside, and would be very hard to fit into a list that already has very few flex slots.
Played last night at my LGS and got a sad 2-1-1... let me share some results.
Match 1 - Grixis Control 1-1-1 (0-1-0)
This was the list from ProTour, with a single explosive main deck. What an annoying match, this is! Our removal are almost always useless, except for tasigur, which is always backed up by counters. Lost first game to tasigur and Double counters on my paths, and won second one after a lot of attrition. G3 went to time out, however i was about to lose to snapcaster after 6 turns drawing lands...
Match 2 - Merfolk 2-0 (1-1-0)
This guy played super fast, and after the last draw, i tried to follow him. Turns out i made some mistakes, such as missing a land drop after combat. However, i drew so much removal (4 paths/1 push main deck), it was unfair. Had tks and smasher, and he blocked smasher with mutavault with 5 Life, to see vault gq'ed. G2 was much harder, with him throwing 2 spreading seas on my koilos. Was Lucky to draw a vault of archangel to play smasher and swing several turns. He played very well, not letting cards to be exiled and making my stranglers useless. Had to throw them even so to put pressure after he sticked a lord of Atlantis. 2-0
Match 3 - another Grixis control 1-1-0 (2-1)
Same list, this deck seems to be everywhere! Saw another two guys playing it on the tables at my side! Game 1 I thoughseize and surgical his tasigur, removing his threats to 0, except for snap bolts and manlands. With two ghost quarter, the g1 lasted 25 minutes and i eventually won (he played a total wooping of 7 críptic commands to stop my souls from attacking. G2 was even more annoying, with him playing 2 ancestral visions on turns 1 and 2, serum visions and not drawing lands past 2. However he had answers to everything. This game i took him to 1 Life and we Drew,
Then I was excited to play the last round and get to 3-1-0 just to see my opponent play "Stomping Ground, search for tomorrow". Felt My night was over after that single play...
Match 4 - RG Breachshift 0-2 (2-1-1)
Well, lost g1 to chalice of the void = 1, and a breached Titan. G2 i was aggressive, with turn 3 warping wail his search, turn 4 smasher, turn 5 he is down to 10 Life, i throw reshaper and stranglers and he.... Breached a titan.... He opted to clear my board with 12 damage... I drew thought knot, tried to strip down from any threat he coukd have, but he had both scapeshift and pact... I simply had no chance of winning without GQ AND surgical. This match is sóomuch worse than tron that it is a joke...
Anyway, was satisfied overall. I Am waiting my lilianas to arrive só i can give them a try. Let's see how well she goes.
Also, i saw a LOT of decks playing ancestral visions, and i never drew a strangler to kill it. Do you think i would be wise to up stranglers to four, cutting a reshaper (playing 3 and 2 at the momment)?
Next game i'm unbelievable slow, therefore i was done with through the breach into primeval titan. Although i had a bunch of discard it wasn't enough. 1-1
Game 3 i'm not able to recap exactly. I saw with Discard that he had everything he need to punish me out of the game, but he stumbled across his 4 Lands. With a couple of Eldrazi's i was able to close the game. 2-1
Round 2: Jund
I'm lacking an exact recap. His Raging Ravine gave me some headaches. After our 1-1 we head for teh 3rd Game. Dark Confidant two times, but he was stucked on 2 Lands and took a lot of damage from his Bobs. When he was down to 13 life i decided to race him. Until this point he was dealing with my threats.
With my next TKS i saw his hand (in a normal case this hand would have killed me) and picked the most relevant card - huntmaster of the fells. The lonely card that would've bring him back into the game. He played his 4th land but Fatal Push handles Tarmogoyf which i enough. 2-1
Lingering Souls became a serious problem for my opponent. We do trade here and there, but teh spirit tokens are nothing he is able to trade favorably with. 1-0
After Decay i followed up with a 2. RiP. I was down to 10 and constantly racing the Flayers. In between i got removal for Goyf and Flayer Nr. 3. Than Decay took care of RiP, Flayer came hitting for 8 damage and Collective brutality killed me . 1-1
Game 3 ran out of time w/o anything relevant that was happening. 1-1-1
i play Fatal Push onto the stack , target Selfless Spirit. Target illegal, than i call reshaper as target. Push resolved and killed Reshaper. I revealed the top card Shambling Vent and put it into play. then my opponent recognized that this is completely unplayable.
The judge is in doubt, so called another Judge. Push resolved and was layed into exile. Vent is shuffled away and i got a Rule Violation.
I played my thing and bombed him away with my creatures. 2-0
Rounde 5: UW Control
Game 1 we've traded back and forth. For some turns i had to race Celestial Colonnade with Shambling Vent, than i found a removal. He had a 2nd one, this one was handled with Topdeck Ghost Quarter.
Game 1 i saw a single Scavenging Ooze, which i've judged so important that i path'd him. 2x Knight oft he Reliquary and a Loxodon Smiter puts me under ernomous pressure. Relic of Progenitus isn't enough to handle those Knights. I must block a 6/6 Smiter with 2x TKS and Reshaper block because Gavony Township and Kessig Wolf Run are on his side . I was beaten down with huge Knights.
He puts down Smiter and had a Nacatl already. I'm a t 6 life. I was playing safe and put Wrath of God on the stack. He doesn't do anything important and i lay down TKS and Smasher fort he win. 1-1
Game 3 is unspectacular. He flooded and i lay down Threats. 2-1
Runde 7: Rg Tron
Game 1 i've kept a mediocre hand. Self-explanatory he put down Tower into Expedition Map. I had Eldrazi Temple x2 and TKS, next turn the same with Smasher in Hand. I saw Bolt, Wurmcoil and 2 Lands. Picking Wurmcoil, i felt safe with a single path in my hand.
I beat him down to 8 life, he puts down Oblivion Stone wiping my board. with reality smasher i brought him down to 3. He chromatic Star, cracked it into a 2nd one. Double-Bolt my Smasher and he discarded 2 Lands.
The deck was great and felt well-rounded. Sadly the Tron / Scapeshift MU is horrendous. Surgical Extraction was plain bad . Must be dismissed to the sideboard.
In search for a 15th creature i'll test Selfless Spirit. This one prevents bad Trades (Thought-Knot Seer), is on curve with 2CMC and has evasion. This reasoning is enough to include it as a 1-of.
I know it's a nonbo with Relic of Progenitus, but once set aside is a whole kind of value town amongst Reshaper and Lingering Souls.
Belongs more into a kind of Ramp-Deck along Birds / Hierarch to max out Value asap.
The problem with extircator is the only reasonable way to flip him is to crack a mindstone or lose a creature, two things we often do not want to, except if you have collective brutality, Marsh flats and matter reshaper. It feels the kind of "Win more" guy, don't know if he is relevant. I Will try Liliana the last Hope as another 3 drop, and go 1 wrath / 1 yahenni expertise on my side board, as i absoluttely wont afford damnations and need wrath for affinity and eldrazis matchups. Playing 2 swamps, 1 plains.
So another 4-0 on my side.
Looks like my train is rollin' 'gain.
Round 1: 8Rack
Honestly i'm quite familiar with this Matchup, so nothing really embarassing here.
Game 1 he got me there with the rack and shrieking affliction when i was stumbling across too few lands.
Round 2: GW Tron
Teh worst of teh Green Tron variants.
Game 1 he mulled to 5 and a thoughtseize showed my path and Blessed Alliance.
My Reshaper did it when he wiped the Board with O-Stone. I came back with double-Smasher.
He misplayed here because he did Breaker and exiled a Eldrazi Temple, instead of playing Karn and exiling Smasher.
I followed up with Path and killed him.
2-0
Game 2 he kept a hand with 3 Detention Sphere, but my Playset (!!!) Souls got me finally there as he couldn't kept up with the enormous pressure of Eldrazi and Token.
2-0
Round 4: Grixis Control
Game 1 i kept a clunky hand and was therefore doomed to do a single spell per turn. He plays the playset cryptic command, so i got stalled for like 8+ turns or so. He fetched aggressively down to 13 (i believe so), but Lingering Souls did again there Job and Tasigur + snap couldn't keep up.
Game 2 i was more proactive. I surgicaled his Cryptics, which had been a great drawback for him.
A resolved Ancestral Vision wasn't enough to keep my Spirit-Tokens in check.
Even his single Fulminator Mage just handily slowed me down 2 turns. Smasher and Tokens drove me to victory.
2-0
Played another FNM today and went very close to 4-0... Last match we Drew, but if i had one more turn i would Win. Here is My list (pretty close to Polymorph's list)
Same guy i lost last week playing valakut. Thankfully he was playin a BG midrange that simply gets eaten by us. Liliana was an all star in match one, ultimating while holding off a Grim flayer. Tks sealed the game by blocking the second flayer.
Game two he was mana screwed and i could play threat after threat for the Win.
Match 2 - Affinity 2-1
Game 1 I Lost after relic'ing my own lingering souls accidentally and then losing to a topdeck plating on vault skirge.
Games 2 and 3 i just Drew too much removal and My entire sideboard so he did not have a chance. Yahenni expertise was an all star, wiping his board and casting path on ravager or lingering souls on G3
Match 3 - Grixis control - 2-0
Why the hell there is so many people playing this annoying deck? This thing was build to draw games, it is not fun! As always, deal with tassigur and you're fine. Just make sure you can stick a smasher to Win. Boarding in rest in peace was critical to stop him from chaining multiple cryptics (game 1 he played 3 from a single snapcaster for tap+bounce!).
Game two he had to block with tassigur, bolt and discard to kill smasher, then I removed Tass and when he kolaghan Commanded me for discard, i thrashed lingering souls to his amusement. second smasher won the game.
PS: this match would be sooooomuch easier if i had a cavern of souls....
Match 4 - mono W Eldrazi and taxes.
This was the most hard and fun match of the night. This is a twisted mirror match, and Thalia and leonin arbitrer screws us Good. Have to time preciselly our removal to have a chance of winning
Game 1 I Lost to Eldrazi displacer... had an useless smasher and lingering souls, while he had tks and displacer hitting and clipping for 7/turn. This thing is insanely Good!
Game two i boarded 13 cards! I kept a slow oppener, but full of removal and this proved to be the right call. Brutallity kills everyting early on, but i had to path some times so i could crack fetchs... Ghost quarter under arbiter on our temples is a really painful play. Yahenni's expertise sealed the game killing 4 creatures, including displacer n°2, and next turn My tks and the topdecked smasher were game.
Game three was pretty similar, but i failed to find the fifth land for several turns só i could yahenni's under a Thalia. Kept hitting with reshaper, and when he vialed in another Thalia to block him, revealing smasher, i could play the expertise and play an unprocessed Strangler to race him. Smasher came next and we went to 5 turns, as unfortunatly he wasn't playing fast (mental game of this match was of a HIGH level champ). He manager to halt me enough so i let him with 1 Life and match ends a draw :(.
Tha was a moral 4-0, but whatever. I was again pretty happy with the deck, specially for all the guys that were watching suggesting the D&T guy to switch to My build haha. Liliana was awesome, and smasher is the best creature ever printed kkkkk. Also, i'm thinking of moving towards a second expertise in place of wrath, and Lost legacy over stasis snare. Also have to find a place for 2 fatal pushes there!!!
It was a long day and I didn't take great notes, but here were my matchups:
Round 1 - Bogles (Lost 1-2, Record 0-1)
Not much to say. Game 1 I had a handful of useless removal. Game 2 ratchet bomb was the all-star. Game 3 I couldn't draw any hate and he had the protection from creatures aura.
Round 2 - G/R Nacatl/Bushwhacker aggro (Won 2-0, Record 1-1)
I've always found red aggro to be one of the deck's best matchups. You basically start at 10 life but once you land a Smasher or chain a couple of Thought-Knots there's not much they can do without 3 for 1'ing themselves.
Round 3 - 8-Rack (Won 2-1, Record 2-1)
This was a scary match. Game 1 I got absolutely wrecked by double shrieking afflictions. Game 2 he landed a blood moon which locked us both up for a while but I topdecked my swamp first and got there. Game 3 I don't really remember but I think I got there on souls beats.
Round 4 - Tron (Lost 0-2, Record 2-2)
Game 1 Ugin did me a million damage. Game 2 I hit a bunch of hate but not in the right order. Had an extirpate in my opener but couldn't find ghost quarter so I settled for exiling his Karns. From there I kept up one-for-one-ing his giant stuff with paths and unmaking but eventually ran out of gas and he got two walking ballistas out and killed me from 12
Round 5 - Jund (Won 2-0, Record 3-2)
Game 1 we traded discard spells for the first few turns but his inquisitions couldn't take my thought-knot. Game 2 fatal push on a goyf and souls beatdown got there. Notable sweet moment was sacrificing my reshaper to a LOTV minus and flipping a strangler which then killed her next turn.
Round 6 - Restore Balance (Won 2-1, Record 4-2)
Another scary match. I had the nut draw game 1 with t2 thought-knot, t3 smasher. Beat him down to 2 life and then he hit a restore balance off cascade and wiped my board. Games 2 and 3 were won by wasteland strangler processing his restore balance and stony silence shutting off his borderposts.
Round 7 - Lantern (Lost 0-2, Record 4-3)
A very difficult matchup. I have a lot of relevant hate cards available but once they get two or more mill rocks online it becomes almost impossible to draw them.
Game 2 I punted by cracking a relic with a souls in the graveyard while he still had cards in hand (the tokens could attack under the ensnaring bridge). I spent the rest of the game trying to get two removal spells to kill my own thought-knots and swing in but he locked me down.
Round 8 - Infect (Won 2-0, Record 5-3)
Our abundant discard and removal make this a good matchup. Game 2 I managed to contain my greed and path his elf when he was tapped out on my turn. Thoughtseize the next turn showed me that I avoided a probable lethal vines blowout.
Round 9 - Cheerios (Lost 1-2, Record 5-4)
Game 1 he tried to go off on turn one and fizzled. I managed to keep his engines in check with paths and pushes.
Game 2 I kept a greedy opening hand and died on turn 2 before doing anything. Game 3 I had a handful of removal but he managed to draw enough cards to find the swan songs he needed to protect his guys.
I had a great time playing the deck; I've never won this many matches in a day before, let alone knock on the door of day-2. The deck has game against a lot of different strategies and it always feels like you have a live draw available.
It hits Cheerios, Titan Scapeshift and Ad Nauseam, Decks that hits the format again after being absent for months now.
I'll keep an eye on this development and decide based on further tournament resutls.
Hope of Ghirapur could also be viable now because it prevents them from comboing off in there crucial turn.
3-1 tonight out of 35 players, deck as last posted but -1 Go for the Throat and +1 Surgical Extraction.
Went 0-2 against classic UR Storm on the draw--kept a slow seven in G1 while he combo'ed off T5, and in G2 I kept a six that had Thoughtseize and Bomb, plus Reshaper and Seer, but never drew a colorless mana source (I have 14 in the deck). I died with him at 5 life on like turn 8 while I had three Seers, Reshaper, and a Smasher in hand. Never saw a Relic all match--going to three definitely affects the reliability of getting this.
Beat Jeskai Control in two on the draw; Geist was his best threat, but Lingering Souls and Relic go a long way in this match. As usual the blue deck struggled against this build.
Next I beat Abzan on the draw in two. This Abzan had Grim Flayer and Mishra's Bauble in it, plus Hierarch and Rhino, but no Bob. In G1 he got me very low but Vent bought me room to topdeck Souls and Smasher for the win while he topdecked useless hand disruption. At one point I had to double-block a 7/7 Scooze with two Seers but it all worked out. In G2 at one point I had 3 Reshapers and two Spirits on board when he swung in with a 4/4 Flayer and a Rhino; I blocked the Rhino with two Reshapers and the Flayer with one plus a Token, holding one token back for Lili (otV) while also having Vent in play. The Reshapers flipped me a Path, a Seer, and the only Pithing Needle I sided in, which named Lili of course. He was to die to Spirit tokens and Strangler beats with two more Lilis in hand.
Last Grixis Delver went to me in three on the play; I easily took G1 with Souls and Smasher, while in G2 I almost eeked out a win after mulling to 5 and keeping a hand with only Temple for land, and a Relic on top. In G3 he got me low but was not able to burn me out in time. Tar Pit did a lot of work for him until I topdecked a Push.
Thoughts: I think the deck is right about where it should be. I don't see it getting significantly better with the current card pool. Tweaking the SB to a local meta is always wise, of course, and this kind of tuning might be able to help with the hard matches of Tron, RG Valakut, and fast mono-color aggro like Elves, Merfolk, and 8-Whack. If Death's Shadow Jund picks up in a big way it is good for us, as just about all our kill spells are live against those guys. The same seems true of the Cheerios deck that people are making noises about--though it is true of course that that latter deck did not put up results this past weekend. But personally I think the hype train is a little out of control on both decks and that like Nahiri decks last year they are likely to prove to be a moderate presence, at the most, going forward.
If graveyard decks start to come back, it might be right to go back to 4 Relics main--I have played against Living End, Esper Gifts, Abzan Company, and now UR Storm, all since the ban.
Nice report, deadrift. I am still very hapy to have both relics and surgical main deck after the bannings. There are lots of decks that came back from afterworld after dredge was declared dead... Lots of people abandoned rest in peace and leyline of the void, favoring those decks. GP Vancouver had 2 dredges, an abzan and a living end at top 8! I am facing also a LOT of Grixis control and BGx variants, all dependant on graveyard. I really think BW Processors are in a good shape right now. We have really Good matchups against all of these midranges, a good disruption against combo, like Ad Nauseum, and a favorable match against aggro with push (merfolk now is a breeze if we can avoid spreading seas) My nightmares still come from Land decks, valakut and tron, and i am really considering siding in Rain of Tears or Fulminator Mage, if affordable... Ghost quarter alone is not enough, and the Mage with Lili, last Hope might be a very strong Lock if they are not packing bolts or sudden shock!
SB no Surgicals, one less Fulm, one more Aven, one more Stony Silence, no Cage, Blessed Alliance instead of Skite, and 2 Lotv
Lost R1 to Bant Eldrazi (he got second) with on curve Disdainful Stroke, and R4 to Affinity keeping a g2 hand of Stony Vents, 5 more lands and drawing Pithing Needle then 4 lands in a row. Beat Tron twice, Grixis, Junk, Bantdrzai, Titanshift, and Affinity. Deck felt good. Didn't face Burn, Merfolk, or Eldrazi Tron
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Blood Moon decks rarely give me much trouble. I only really seem to run into problems in two cases. One, when they have a lot of fast pressure, like 8-Whack decks; or two, when they combine Moon with cards like Molten Rain or Stone Rain (not Fulminator Mage, though). If they can hit me with a Moon AND blow up my basics then I'm in trouble. But if I am playing around it, a Moon all by itself is not going to be very effective against me. This is even more true now that I have all 4 Flats in the mainboard.
Batterskull could be worth trying out again. It is very good, but it is so slow to land.
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Went 3-1 tonight again at that shop I was at a week ago--it's rare for me to only play once in a week, but I've had little time. I was going to change up the list a little but didn't get time to do it, and it proved to be an interesting experiment. Here's the list, then a brief report:
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Marsh Flats
3 Caves of Koilos
3 Ghost Quarter
2 Godless Shrine
2 Shambling Vent
2 Swamp
1 Concealed Courtyard
1 Plains
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Cavern of Souls
Creature (15)
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
3 Wasteland Strangler
4 Lingering Souls
3 Thoughtseize
1 Collective Brutality
Instant (8)
3 Path to Exile
3 Fatal Push
1 Anguished Unmaking
1 Surgical Extraction
Artifact (5)
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Mind Stone
Planeswalker (1)
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Stony Silence
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Pithing Needle
1 Damnation
1 Collective Brutality
1 Go for the Throat
1 Anguished Unmaking
1 Path to Exile
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Wastes
Bant Eldrazi, 2-1 (1-0)
I kept an opener on the play with T1 Thoughtseize, T2 Mind Stone / Relic, T3 Smasher, due to Stone and Temple. I drew a ton of removal, even using Stone to activate Push on his Seer, and so drawing 2 but losing one and the removal. Love that card in this build. Vault of the Archangel was a big deal in that game, too, and I easily won it. G2 saw me get overwhelmed quickly as he ramped fast and I drew lands. In G3 my opponent mulls to 6 and I keep a T2 Reshaper / T3 Seer hand. The clincher turned out to be an early Ghost Quarter on his Temple when I knew he had a Seer in hand, which allowed me to Push a Displacer. That play ended up slowing him down a lot. I felt very in control of the two games I won, I have a *****-ton of removal now it feels like. Push was great on mana dorks here, so much better than Path, and really changing an opponent's plans when it hits them.
Super-Budget RG Tron, 1-2 (1-1)
So here's where I draw Extraction--to my chagrin, because I had forgotten to pull it from the main deck--and then find my opponent on RG Tron, and I happen to have a Ghost Quarter in hand, too. That one I blew him out, but I also discovered he had a super-budget build with no Karns or O-Stones, and with Smashers (I can see the attraction), Kozilek's Return, Bolt, and Sanctum of Ugin for Platinum Angel, Platinum Emperion, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, and All Is Dust, those last two being pretty bad against us. He also had the RG scryland instead of Grove. I had a fun interaction where he Koz Returned the board, killing Reshaper who flipped a Strangler to process/kill his Spellskite, which in turn allowed me to Path his Wurmcoil before its first swing. Push was not relevant here. Turned out he tromped me; in G2 I kept a bad 6 with Stony, Caves, Mind Stone and never drew the land I needed, ceding quickly. I kept another shaky 6 on the play G3 with no C, and ended up with both Extractions in my hand and no lands in the yard because no GQ or any other colorless land. I got stuck on three lands this game, once again starving out while uncastable Eldrazi rotted in my hands.
UB Fae 2-0 (2-1)
Sandbagging Cavern of Souls is so good against control decks. T4 Seer off Cavern feels dirty against those guys. My opponent played a late Bitterblossom but Smasher doesn't care. A key play here was when I played Souls late and he activated two Mutavault to Spellstutter Sprite it, but I was able to GQ his 'Vault before Sprite resolved, fizzling it and allowing Souls to resolve. In G2 he landed T2 and T3 Blossoms, but I Unmade one and the other one slowly unmade him. A Lingering Souls kept his fliers at bay, and Shambling Vent gained me 6 life this game, plus more from Alliance and Brutality. Meanwhile he slowly ticks down as I fend him off from the back foot. Eventually Smasher closed things out. I had too much mana for Mana Leak in the late game both games.
Jeskai Control/Geist 2-1 (3-1)
Once again Cavern of Souls earns its place in the main, as G1 goes to me in a walk. In G2 his T3 Geist of Saint Traft, and Snaps operating with impunity in the face of zero Relics, quickly destroyed me. But in G3 I sided the Bombs in, eventually ticking up both and using one for Ajani Vengeant and the other for Geist. This whole keeping it at one CMC value, but threatening the next one higher, is a real unsung virtue of Bomb, in my opinion. On the other hand, he could have bounced one instead of drawing, once, but he missed or rejected that line.
Thoughts:
Push was very good all night, and I was able to get Revolt a lot. I thought about Ghost Quarter, Mind Stone, and Relic all a little differently due to Push, because cracking them earlier than I often would have was a decision, but it never felt bad. Instead, even using GQ like that once felt like a not-terrible tradeoff for a great card--because at the same time of course I was also turning Revolt on as planned, using Flats, dying tokens, etc. It feels so good to Push a mana dork, I love it. Lots of removal in general feels pretty good.
Extraction was a decidedly mixed bag, but I should maybe have played it more aggressively on stuff like hit a fetch on their T2 draw step after they draw. When you hit their hand it's pretty good, and when you miss at least you see their probable next couple of turns, which is always nice. It was such a blowout in that one Tron game when I was able to link it up with GQ, but otherwise it was not really particularly good. It was unwanted in hand a couple of times too, especially when I drew the second one. I think it probably needs to go, despite the odd Tron matches it wins for us. Either that or drop to 2 Push, but I don't think I like that either. Having lots of removal is pretty important.
I still intend to try one Endless One for a Reshaper, but don't have any with me. However Reshaper is just pure value every time, especially on T2 he is a very strong play. Also, I used store credit from the two nights to cover most of a Liliana, the Last Hope, though I think for now it's going into my Jund deck.
Looks like i get teh train rollin
Green @ it's best
I am always trying to tweak the deck and I think we should try and make room for 1 Lilliana last hope (so good to recur a reality smasher).
After reading this article I really want to find a way to add 2 smugglers coptors. It seems like it's really good in all of our matchups against linear decks and provides really strong synergy with lingering souls and any bad top decks.
http://modernnexus.com/seeing-light-regionals-colorless-eldrazi-stompy/
Anyone have any thoughts
Regarding Smuggler's Copter, I'll just reiterate that a main focus of this deck, the way I envision and have built it, is to make an opponent's removal bad against our creature package. But this is not true of Looter Scooter. It dies to almost everything, and does not present a threat by itself. Think of it as an equipment that can be hit by creature removal spells. It is a good effect, on a decent-bodied flyer, but I think it has a significant downside, and would be very hard to fit into a list that already has very few flex slots.
Just my $0.02.
have you been at Bottrop too?
As i've promised my report will be here soon, i'm just busy as hell.
I swear my reports will be here in a couple of days
Green @ it's best
Match 1 - Grixis Control 1-1-1 (0-1-0)
This was the list from ProTour, with a single explosive main deck. What an annoying match, this is! Our removal are almost always useless, except for tasigur, which is always backed up by counters. Lost first game to tasigur and Double counters on my paths, and won second one after a lot of attrition. G3 went to time out, however i was about to lose to snapcaster after 6 turns drawing lands...
Match 2 - Merfolk 2-0 (1-1-0)
This guy played super fast, and after the last draw, i tried to follow him. Turns out i made some mistakes, such as missing a land drop after combat. However, i drew so much removal (4 paths/1 push main deck), it was unfair. Had tks and smasher, and he blocked smasher with mutavault with 5 Life, to see vault gq'ed. G2 was much harder, with him throwing 2 spreading seas on my koilos. Was Lucky to draw a vault of archangel to play smasher and swing several turns. He played very well, not letting cards to be exiled and making my stranglers useless. Had to throw them even so to put pressure after he sticked a lord of Atlantis. 2-0
Match 3 - another Grixis control 1-1-0 (2-1)
Same list, this deck seems to be everywhere! Saw another two guys playing it on the tables at my side! Game 1 I thoughseize and surgical his tasigur, removing his threats to 0, except for snap bolts and manlands. With two ghost quarter, the g1 lasted 25 minutes and i eventually won (he played a total wooping of 7 críptic commands to stop my souls from attacking. G2 was even more annoying, with him playing 2 ancestral visions on turns 1 and 2, serum visions and not drawing lands past 2. However he had answers to everything. This game i took him to 1 Life and we Drew,
Then I was excited to play the last round and get to 3-1-0 just to see my opponent play "Stomping Ground, search for tomorrow". Felt My night was over after that single play...
Match 4 - RG Breachshift 0-2 (2-1-1)
Well, lost g1 to chalice of the void = 1, and a breached Titan. G2 i was aggressive, with turn 3 warping wail his search, turn 4 smasher, turn 5 he is down to 10 Life, i throw reshaper and stranglers and he.... Breached a titan.... He opted to clear my board with 12 damage... I drew thought knot, tried to strip down from any threat he coukd have, but he had both scapeshift and pact... I simply had no chance of winning without GQ AND surgical. This match is sóomuch worse than tron that it is a joke...
Anyway, was satisfied overall. I Am waiting my lilianas to arrive só i can give them a try. Let's see how well she goes.
Also, i saw a LOT of decks playing ancestral visions, and i never drew a strangler to kill it. Do you think i would be wise to up stranglers to four, cutting a reshaper (playing 3 and 2 at the momment)?
Here's my list for reference:
1 concealed courtyard
3 marsh flats
2 godless shrine
2 swamp
1 plains
3 caves of koilos
3 shambling vents
4 eldrazi temple
1 sea gate wreckage
1 vault of the archangel
3 ghost quarter
Creatures
4 matter reshaper
3 wasteland strangler
4 thought-knot seer
3 reality smasher
3 thoughtseize
2 collective brutality
1 surgical extraction
3 relic of progenitus
4 path to exile
1 fatal push
1 sorin, solemn visitor
4 lingering souls
2 mind stones
1 anguished unmaking
2 rest in peace
2 stony silence
2 ratchet bomb
2 blessed alliance
1 anguished unmaking
1 warping wail
1 wrath of god
2 pithing needle
1 celestial purge
1 wastes
Round 1: Titan Breach
A Cinder Glade told my i got to hurry up. But first i got a thoughtseize and it shows me nissa, vital force, chandra, torch of defiance, through the breach, anger of the gods and sth else. i've picked the Anger for getting a chance to race.
A collective brutality picks Breach a turn later, i've escalated with Lingering souls and drained 2 life. A couple of turns later Nissa, Vital Force entered the field and i was hit for 5. I got 2 Spirit Tokens and a thought-knot seer, topdeck reality smasher. A couple of turns he wasn't able to get his deck running and i beat him down to zero. 1-0
Next game i'm unbelievable slow, therefore i was done with through the breach into primeval titan. Although i had a bunch of discard it wasn't enough. 1-1
Game 3 i'm not able to recap exactly. I saw with Discard that he had everything he need to punish me out of the game, but he stumbled across his 4 Lands. With a couple of Eldrazi's i was able to close the game. 2-1
Round 2: Jund
I'm lacking an exact recap. His Raging Ravine gave me some headaches. After our 1-1 we head for teh 3rd Game. Dark Confidant two times, but he was stucked on 2 Lands and took a lot of damage from his Bobs. When he was down to 13 life i decided to race him. Until this point he was dealing with my threats.
I resolved lingering souls and TKS. He played a third land and Liliana, the last hope. I've ignored her and raced further.
With my next TKS i saw his hand (in a normal case this hand would have killed me) and picked the most relevant card - huntmaster of the fells. The lonely card that would've bring him back into the game. He played his 4th land but Fatal Push handles Tarmogoyf which i enough. 2-1
Runde 3: BUG
after a Serum Visions i've looked up his hand. Snapcaster Mage, Traverse the Ulvenwald, Tarmogoyf, Grim Flayer. I layed down Relic of Progenitus afterwards. Flayer and Goyf remained small for quite some turns, than i've put down Thought-Knot Seer.
Lingering Souls became a serious problem for my opponent. We do trade here and there, but teh spirit tokens are nothing he is able to trade favorably with. 1-0
I've boarded Rest in Peace. This one keeps 2 Grim Flayer small, teh Liliana, the last hope does gave me serious problems. I had to attack with my Shambling Vent consecutive whereas both Flayers are constantly attacking.
After Decay i followed up with a 2. RiP. I was down to 10 and constantly racing the Flayers. In between i got removal for Goyf and Flayer Nr. 3. Than Decay took care of RiP, Flayer came hitting for 8 damage and Collective brutality killed me . 1-1
Game 3 ran out of time w/o anything relevant that was happening. 1-1-1
Runde 4: W Death & Taxes
Game 1 i saw Mutavault, Selfless Spirit and Kytheon, Hero of Akros. I had no idea what i was up against and set him on White Weenie. Baby Gideon ate my Path to Exile, Mutavault a Ghost Quarter. With Lingering Souls i came back into the game. He was flooding and i lay down Eldrazi's. 1-0
I was boarding aggro-like, as i couldn't figure out if he had hatebears. He had Selfless Spirit with Sword of Light and shadow. A Rest in peace on his side, i got Matter Reshaper and Thought-Knot Seer. What happened has been teh most epic play of the day:
i play Fatal Push onto the stack , target Selfless Spirit. Target illegal, than i call reshaper as target. Push resolved and killed Reshaper. I revealed the top card Shambling Vent and put it into play. then my opponent recognized that this is completely unplayable.
The judge is in doubt, so called another Judge. Push resolved and was layed into exile. Vent is shuffled away and i got a Rule Violation.
I played my thing and bombed him away with my creatures. 2-0
Rounde 5: UW Control
Game 1 we've traded back and forth. For some turns i had to race Celestial Colonnade with Shambling Vent, than i found a removal. He had a 2nd one, this one was handled with Topdeck Ghost Quarter.
2 Ancestral Vision resolved. Kitchen Finks and Restoration Angel i could handle just in time. In the end he drew his whole deck and looses therefore. 1-0
Game 2 is more or less unspectacular. i was able to took care of 2 Ancestral Vision with my Wasteland Strangler. Kitchen Finks, Restoration Angel, Celestial Colonnade and Snapcaster Mage puts some serious pressure onto the board. I couldn't handle all threats and died to them. 1-1
Game 3 was running out of time. 1-1-1
Runde 6: Naya Company
Game 1 i saw a single Scavenging Ooze, which i've judged so important that i path'd him. 2x Knight oft he Reliquary and a Loxodon Smiter puts me under ernomous pressure. Relic of Progenitus isn't enough to handle those Knights. I must block a 6/6 Smiter with 2x TKS and Reshaper block because Gavony Township and Kessig Wolf Run are on his side . I was beaten down with huge Knights.
Game 2 came Noble Hierarch into Magus of the Moon (!!!). My Ratchet Bomb ticks up to 3and wiped away Smiter and Magus. a Thought-Knot Seer shows me Eternal Witness, which is able to get Magus back. Therefore exiled.
He puts down Smiter and had a Nacatl already. I'm a t 6 life. I was playing safe and put Wrath of God on the stack. He doesn't do anything important and i lay down TKS and Smasher fort he win. 1-1
Game 3 is unspectacular. He flooded and i lay down Threats. 2-1
Runde 7: Rg Tron
Game 1 i've kept a mediocre hand. Self-explanatory he put down Tower into Expedition Map. I had Eldrazi Temple x2 and TKS, next turn the same with Smasher in Hand. I saw Bolt, Wurmcoil and 2 Lands. Picking Wurmcoil, i felt safe with a single path in my hand.
I beat him down to 8 life, he puts down Oblivion Stone wiping my board. with reality smasher i brought him down to 3. He chromatic Star, cracked it into a 2nd one. Double-Bolt my Smasher and he discarded 2 Lands.
A Emrakul the promised end sealed the deal. 0-1
Game 2 ist total crap. pithing needle naming oblivion stone, afterwards no business on my side. My Ghost Quarter took his Urza’s Tower and i've topdecked Surgical Extraction. even this one wasn't enough while he was playing 2 thragtusk and i scooped. 0-2
The deck was great and felt well-rounded. Sadly the Tron / Scapeshift MU is horrendous. Surgical Extraction was plain bad . Must be dismissed to the sideboard.
In search for a 15th creature i'll test Selfless Spirit. This one prevents bad Trades (Thought-Knot Seer), is on curve with 2CMC and has evasion. This reasoning is enough to include it as a 1-of.
Green @ it's best
I know it's a nonbo with Relic of Progenitus, but once set aside is a whole kind of value town amongst Reshaper and Lingering Souls.
Belongs more into a kind of Ramp-Deck along Birds / Hierarch to max out Value asap.
Green @ it's best
Looks like my train is rollin' 'gain.
Round 1: 8Rack
Honestly i'm quite familiar with this Matchup, so nothing really embarassing here.
Game 1 he got me there with the rack and shrieking affliction when i was stumbling across too few lands.
Game 2 and 3 has been made by Ratchet Bomb.
I resolved lingering Souls and TKS + Matter Reshaper, which has been enough.
2-1
Round 2: GW Tron
Teh worst of teh Green Tron variants.
Game 1 he mulled to 5 and a thoughtseize showed my path and Blessed Alliance.
My Reshaper did it when he wiped the Board with O-Stone. I came back with double-Smasher.
Game 2 was closer. I discarded an O-Stone which got extracted.
I placed my bombs until my opp held Karn liberated and Worldbreaker in hand.
He misplayed here because he did Breaker and exiled a Eldrazi Temple, instead of playing Karn and exiling Smasher.
I followed up with Path and killed him.
2-0
Round 3: Bant Emeria
Some Emeria Stuff in Bant Colors. He's heavily in Green for Eternal Witness.
Game 1 he exiled my Reality smasher with Detention Sphere but i came back with Anguished unmaking.
He drew some Cards, flickered around but my Relic of Progenitus kept his grave small.
Game 2 he kept a hand with 3 Detention Sphere, but my Playset (!!!) Souls got me finally there as he couldn't kept up with the enormous pressure of Eldrazi and Token.
2-0
Round 4: Grixis Control
Game 1 i kept a clunky hand and was therefore doomed to do a single spell per turn. He plays the playset cryptic command, so i got stalled for like 8+ turns or so. He fetched aggressively down to 13 (i believe so), but Lingering Souls did again there Job and Tasigur + snap couldn't keep up.
Game 2 i was more proactive. I surgicaled his Cryptics, which had been a great drawback for him.
A resolved Ancestral Vision wasn't enough to keep my Spirit-Tokens in check.
Even his single Fulminator Mage just handily slowed me down 2 turns. Smasher and Tokens drove me to victory.
2-0
Green @ it's best
1 wastes
3 marsh flats
2 godless shrine
2 swamp
1 plains
4 caves of koilos
2 shambling vents
4 eldrazi temple
1 sea gate wreckage
1 vault of the archangel
3 ghost quarter
Creatures
2 matter reshaper
1 Eldrazi displacer
3 wasteland strangler
4 thought-knot seer
4 reality smasher
3 thoughtseize
1 collective brutality
1 surgical extraction
3 relic of progenitus
4 path to exile
2 Liliana, the last hope
1 sorin, solemn visitor
4 lingering souls
2 mind stones
1 anguished unmaking
1 rest in peace
1 collective brutallity
2 stony silence
2 ratchet bomb
1 blessed alliance
1 wrath of god
1 anguished unmaking
2 warping wail
1 yahenni's expertise
2 pithing needle
1 stasis snare
Went 3-1-0
Match 1 - BG Delirium 2-0
Same guy i lost last week playing valakut. Thankfully he was playin a BG midrange that simply gets eaten by us. Liliana was an all star in match one, ultimating while holding off a Grim flayer. Tks sealed the game by blocking the second flayer.
Game two he was mana screwed and i could play threat after threat for the Win.
Match 2 - Affinity 2-1
Game 1 I Lost after relic'ing my own lingering souls accidentally and then losing to a topdeck plating on vault skirge.
Games 2 and 3 i just Drew too much removal and My entire sideboard so he did not have a chance. Yahenni expertise was an all star, wiping his board and casting path on ravager or lingering souls on G3
Match 3 - Grixis control - 2-0
Why the hell there is so many people playing this annoying deck? This thing was build to draw games, it is not fun! As always, deal with tassigur and you're fine. Just make sure you can stick a smasher to Win. Boarding in rest in peace was critical to stop him from chaining multiple cryptics (game 1 he played 3 from a single snapcaster for tap+bounce!).
Game two he had to block with tassigur, bolt and discard to kill smasher, then I removed Tass and when he kolaghan Commanded me for discard, i thrashed lingering souls to his amusement. second smasher won the game.
PS: this match would be sooooomuch easier if i had a cavern of souls....
Match 4 - mono W Eldrazi and taxes.
This was the most hard and fun match of the night. This is a twisted mirror match, and Thalia and leonin arbitrer screws us Good. Have to time preciselly our removal to have a chance of winning
Game 1 I Lost to Eldrazi displacer... had an useless smasher and lingering souls, while he had tks and displacer hitting and clipping for 7/turn. This thing is insanely Good!
Game two i boarded 13 cards! I kept a slow oppener, but full of removal and this proved to be the right call. Brutallity kills everyting early on, but i had to path some times so i could crack fetchs... Ghost quarter under arbiter on our temples is a really painful play. Yahenni's expertise sealed the game killing 4 creatures, including displacer n°2, and next turn My tks and the topdecked smasher were game.
Game three was pretty similar, but i failed to find the fifth land for several turns só i could yahenni's under a Thalia. Kept hitting with reshaper, and when he vialed in another Thalia to block him, revealing smasher, i could play the expertise and play an unprocessed Strangler to race him. Smasher came next and we went to 5 turns, as unfortunatly he wasn't playing fast (mental game of this match was of a HIGH level champ). He manager to halt me enough so i let him with 1 Life and match ends a draw :(.
Tha was a moral 4-0, but whatever. I was again pretty happy with the deck, specially for all the guys that were watching suggesting the D&T guy to switch to My build haha. Liliana was awesome, and smasher is the best creature ever printed kkkkk. Also, i'm thinking of moving towards a second expertise in place of wrath, and Lost legacy over stasis snare. Also have to find a place for 2 fatal pushes there!!!
Maindeck:
+ 1 Selfless Spirit - 1 Surgical Extraction
Sideboard:
+ 1 Surgical Extraction - 1 Warping Wail
Green @ it's best
4 Caves of Koilos
3 Concealed Courtyard
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Ghost Quarter
2 Godless Shrine
2 Shambling Vent
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
2 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Wastes
Instants/Sorceries
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Lingering Souls
2 Fatal Push
1 Collective Brutality
3 Path to Exile
1 Anguished Unmaking
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
3 Wasteland Strangler
3 Matter Reshaper
Artifacts
2 Mind Stone
3 Relic of Progenitus
Planeswalkers
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Stony Silence
1 Wrath of God
1 Pithing Needle
1 Zealous Persecution
2 Extirpate
1 Collective Brutality
1 Anguished Unmaking
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
1 Path to Exile
1 Ratchet Bomb
2 Disenchant
1 Blessed Alliance
It was a long day and I didn't take great notes, but here were my matchups:
Round 1 - Bogles (Lost 1-2, Record 0-1)
Not much to say. Game 1 I had a handful of useless removal. Game 2 ratchet bomb was the all-star. Game 3 I couldn't draw any hate and he had the protection from creatures aura.
Round 2 - G/R Nacatl/Bushwhacker aggro (Won 2-0, Record 1-1)
I've always found red aggro to be one of the deck's best matchups. You basically start at 10 life but once you land a Smasher or chain a couple of Thought-Knots there's not much they can do without 3 for 1'ing themselves.
Round 3 - 8-Rack (Won 2-1, Record 2-1)
This was a scary match. Game 1 I got absolutely wrecked by double shrieking afflictions. Game 2 he landed a blood moon which locked us both up for a while but I topdecked my swamp first and got there. Game 3 I don't really remember but I think I got there on souls beats.
Round 4 - Tron (Lost 0-2, Record 2-2)
Game 1 Ugin did me a million damage. Game 2 I hit a bunch of hate but not in the right order. Had an extirpate in my opener but couldn't find ghost quarter so I settled for exiling his Karns. From there I kept up one-for-one-ing his giant stuff with paths and unmaking but eventually ran out of gas and he got two walking ballistas out and killed me from 12
Round 5 - Jund (Won 2-0, Record 3-2)
Game 1 we traded discard spells for the first few turns but his inquisitions couldn't take my thought-knot. Game 2 fatal push on a goyf and souls beatdown got there. Notable sweet moment was sacrificing my reshaper to a LOTV minus and flipping a strangler which then killed her next turn.
Round 6 - Restore Balance (Won 2-1, Record 4-2)
Another scary match. I had the nut draw game 1 with t2 thought-knot, t3 smasher. Beat him down to 2 life and then he hit a restore balance off cascade and wiped my board. Games 2 and 3 were won by wasteland strangler processing his restore balance and stony silence shutting off his borderposts.
Round 7 - Lantern (Lost 0-2, Record 4-3)
A very difficult matchup. I have a lot of relevant hate cards available but once they get two or more mill rocks online it becomes almost impossible to draw them.
Game 2 I punted by cracking a relic with a souls in the graveyard while he still had cards in hand (the tokens could attack under the ensnaring bridge). I spent the rest of the game trying to get two removal spells to kill my own thought-knots and swing in but he locked me down.
Round 8 - Infect (Won 2-0, Record 5-3)
Our abundant discard and removal make this a good matchup. Game 2 I managed to contain my greed and path his elf when he was tapped out on my turn. Thoughtseize the next turn showed me that I avoided a probable lethal vines blowout.
Round 9 - Cheerios (Lost 1-2, Record 5-4)
Game 1 he tried to go off on turn one and fizzled. I managed to keep his engines in check with paths and pushes.
Game 2 I kept a greedy opening hand and died on turn 2 before doing anything. Game 3 I had a handful of removal but he managed to draw enough cards to find the swan songs he needed to protect his guys.
I had a great time playing the deck; I've never won this many matches in a day before, let alone knock on the door of day-2. The deck has game against a lot of different strategies and it always feels like you have a live draw available.
It's so much Combo right now that it deserves some sideboard slots.
Shuts off Valakut, the molten pinnacle, Grapeshot and Lightning Storm which are all relevant by now.
It hits Cheerios, Titan Scapeshift and Ad Nauseam, Decks that hits the format again after being absent for months now.
I'll keep an eye on this development and decide based on further tournament resutls.
Hope of Ghirapur could also be viable now because it prevents them from comboing off in there crucial turn.
Green @ it's best
3-1 tonight out of 35 players, deck as last posted but -1 Go for the Throat and +1 Surgical Extraction.
Went 0-2 against classic UR Storm on the draw--kept a slow seven in G1 while he combo'ed off T5, and in G2 I kept a six that had Thoughtseize and Bomb, plus Reshaper and Seer, but never drew a colorless mana source (I have 14 in the deck). I died with him at 5 life on like turn 8 while I had three Seers, Reshaper, and a Smasher in hand. Never saw a Relic all match--going to three definitely affects the reliability of getting this.
Beat Jeskai Control in two on the draw; Geist was his best threat, but Lingering Souls and Relic go a long way in this match. As usual the blue deck struggled against this build.
Next I beat Abzan on the draw in two. This Abzan had Grim Flayer and Mishra's Bauble in it, plus Hierarch and Rhino, but no Bob. In G1 he got me very low but Vent bought me room to topdeck Souls and Smasher for the win while he topdecked useless hand disruption. At one point I had to double-block a 7/7 Scooze with two Seers but it all worked out. In G2 at one point I had 3 Reshapers and two Spirits on board when he swung in with a 4/4 Flayer and a Rhino; I blocked the Rhino with two Reshapers and the Flayer with one plus a Token, holding one token back for Lili (otV) while also having Vent in play. The Reshapers flipped me a Path, a Seer, and the only Pithing Needle I sided in, which named Lili of course. He was to die to Spirit tokens and Strangler beats with two more Lilis in hand.
Last Grixis Delver went to me in three on the play; I easily took G1 with Souls and Smasher, while in G2 I almost eeked out a win after mulling to 5 and keeping a hand with only Temple for land, and a Relic on top. In G3 he got me low but was not able to burn me out in time. Tar Pit did a lot of work for him until I topdecked a Push.
Thoughts: I think the deck is right about where it should be. I don't see it getting significantly better with the current card pool. Tweaking the SB to a local meta is always wise, of course, and this kind of tuning might be able to help with the hard matches of Tron, RG Valakut, and fast mono-color aggro like Elves, Merfolk, and 8-Whack. If Death's Shadow Jund picks up in a big way it is good for us, as just about all our kill spells are live against those guys. The same seems true of the Cheerios deck that people are making noises about--though it is true of course that that latter deck did not put up results this past weekend. But personally I think the hype train is a little out of control on both decks and that like Nahiri decks last year they are likely to prove to be a moderate presence, at the most, going forward.
If graveyard decks start to come back, it might be right to go back to 4 Relics main--I have played against Living End, Esper Gifts, Abzan Company, and now UR Storm, all since the ban.
I got a single flex-spot which i can't figure out what to put in.
Green @ it's best
SB no Surgicals, one less Fulm, one more Aven, one more Stony Silence, no Cage, Blessed Alliance instead of Skite, and 2 Lotv
Lost R1 to Bant Eldrazi (he got second) with on curve Disdainful Stroke, and R4 to Affinity keeping a g2 hand of Stony Vents, 5 more lands and drawing Pithing Needle then 4 lands in a row. Beat Tron twice, Grixis, Junk, Bantdrzai, Titanshift, and Affinity. Deck felt good. Didn't face Burn, Merfolk, or Eldrazi Tron