Of course, Displacer is in my main because he is good in basically any creature matchup and with TKS and Sculler sometimes even against combo.
Firstly it's a 3/3 creature you can play on turn 2 with Eldrazi Temple. Just that on it's own is very good.
You can apply pressure in the early game(without the ability being to relevant). You said you have better uses for your 3 mana, that's perfectly fine, do that! Displacers ability is there to use, when you have nothing better to do with your mana. It's good in the early and a long stalled grindy game.
Where Displacer has been good for me, it has won me the game several times: 1) against Death shadow I was on 3 life and had a knight of glory and displacer out. Combined with the discard I manage to control the whole game and deal with a gurmag angler and 7-12 power DS.
2) Against Mono white Death&Taxes and other random tokens(Voice for example), it is an all star. You blink their tokens and they're gone.
3) Against Jund I managed to play it and blink Wasteland Strangler 3 times to kill a Goyf + Kalitas.
4) I haven't got to do that yet but he's also great with Thoughtknots to control their draw step. He's also very good with Tidehollow sculler if you already processed the card exiled with it or it's an irrelevant card meanwhile.
5) As long as you have mana open, he acts like a spellskite, they have to kill him first even if they're threatened by a Smasher. If you're lucky enough to have both out it is game over.
6) Clear the way in a stalled game. Imagine you have 2 temples and 5 lands, the opponent has 6 creatures. They can't really attack you as you just block and blink in response. At the end of their turn you blink three blockers and on your first main phase you blink another 3, GG.
You will find other random situations where this card is just great. Opponent Spell quellers your Thought Knot Seer? No problem, blinking the spell queller they can't stack the abilities to counter your TKS again. Against Affinity they couldn't attack as I would always just blink the creature equipped with plating. It's also amazing to reset couters given by ravager.
Against Eldrazi Tron I flickered their Hangarback Walker, oh no it's a 0/0? Dead.
I could talk even longer but I will just recommend to play two^^
And two relics is enough like 80% of the time. Sometimes you have to play your TKS first but it usually doesn't matter. Worst case scenario you have a 3/2 creature. But when I have enough creatures i like to hold them.
Thanks for the detailed response Rey, you have me believing! Do you find the -2/-2 on Flaying Tendrils to be a problem? I ran that for a couple leagues and it wasn't able to sweep away elves once they have developed their board. I also can't recall the exact creatures but it might have problems sweeping creatures from CoCo. I've been using Wrath of God...not sure if it's better. Could Bontu's Last Reckoning be an option? Sure, your lands don't untap the next turn but if a red deck or elves have vomited out all their creatures and you wiped them so what?
It's true that Tendrils doesn't kill everything. I think it hits almost every important creature in Coco though, at least all parts of the combo. Resolving it against Elves before they have two lords is essential. If you want to play a hard wipe, I would play Damnation. I'm not a fan of Bontus last Reckoning at all. The not untap thing is pretty relevant.
I will stick with Tendrils I guess. The -2-2 is an advantage as it is a one sided board wipe sometimes. It doesn't kill our Eldrazi. I think the most important thing using Tendrils against e.g. Elves, Merfolk, Coco and other stuff is not to act greedy with it. I'll play it as soon as I can get a 2 for 1 out of it. Even killing some dorks against Coco or killing a heritage druid and Mana elf is more than enough to gain huge tempo.
R1: Lost to traditional ramp. He top decked twice to beat me in the first game, felt very lucky. Eventually lost 1-2.
R2: Lost, sorry can't remember this one.
R3: Lost to death and taxes. Looking at my cumulative record I seem to have trouble with this deck, same with ramp. I believe I'm 1-3 vs. ramp in leagues thus far.
R4: Beat burn, fairly easy wins.
R5: Lost to the same burn player. I had no problem taking out his creatures, but he had a fist full of face damage. Wondering if I need more life gain in the side. I currently pack one Blessed Alliance. Maybe the new life gain card in the HOU cycle is an option?
Kind of disappointing after two 4-1 leagues in a row. Overall I'm wondering if I need more options versus ramp and life gain in the side. I'm running the same MD as Rey and the side is below. I know my side is geared toward artifact hate. Do I need to make any glaring changes:
I've got a tournament report to make. Yesterday I went to a big 44 player tournament and finished 4-1-1 and didn't make it into Top 8 by the smallest margin possible.
Yes I'm the player in 9th place and my tiebreakers were exactly tied with the 8th ranked player. I don't know how the program decided who makes the cut, and quite frankly I don't really wanna know. The judges couldn't give me an answer. On Reddit some people wrote about this topic and apparantly it breaks this tie by the order the players were registered, which would be extremely frustrating as there were some things on the line for me.
Enough about this and let's get to the matches. I played the same list as I did online except putting in 2 Ghost Quarter for a Mutavault and Cavern and playing two Fulminator Mage in the side instead of Knight of Glory. As the Meta is quite Tron and Valakut heavy I wanted to be prepared to fight those strategies.
Round 1 Win against GB Infect: Infect seems to be a very good matchup for us, sadly doesn't see much play anymore. Game 1, I went Sculler into Strangler to kill his Plague Stinger which was putting me far ahead. I could also immeadiately answer his second creature. Game 2, I mulliganed because I didn't have a way to kill a creature. I pushed his only creature on the first turn, then went Sculler into Sculler into Thought-Knot Seer leaving my opponent empty-handed. Easy 2-0 win. Round 2 Win against G/W Hatebears: He kept a one lander with Aether Vial. After he flashed Leonin Arbiter in, I played Ghost Quarter on my next turn killing his only land and pathed his next guy putting me far ahead. Eldarzi Displacer dealt with two 3/3 Golem tokens and we went to game 2. On Game 2 I punted, as i chose to discard his Restoration Angel instead of Blade Splicer, while not having a Displacer to deal with the tokens. He blinked the Splicer with Flickerwisp and I died to Golem Token beatdown. Game 3 he mulliganed to 5 and I just beat him to death with 2 Lingering Souls and 8 flying Spirits. Round 3 Lost against G/R Valakut: This match was over fast. I didn't know what I'm up against and kept two Wasteland Stranglers with no Discard. I had no interaction at all and died basically on turn 4. Game 2 I mulliganed to 5 as I didn't draw any Sideboard card and Discard. I discarded his only threat and he topdecked the Primeval Titan exactly in the right window. Having no path I died on the following turn. Round 4 Win against G/R Valakut: I've had the chance to play against this deck another time. Game 1 basically the same happened as in Game 1 before. I kept a creature fight land with no path and died on turn 4. Game 2 he mulliganed to 6 and kept a 6 lander and I just beat him down. I had a path to deal with his only Titan. Game 3 we both mulliganed and I kept two discard + a path and Lingering Souls. I put him into topdecking mode, and beat down with Lingering Souls. Eventually I topdecked smasher for exactly lethal. Seems like a unfavorable but definitely not unwinnable matchup. With 2-3 discard effects you're pretty well set up to fight the deck. I didn't even draw the Fulminator/Ghost Quarter + Surgical Extraction combo, which would just pretty much be game. Round 5 Win against W/B Smallpox: He kept a midrange hand with 2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor and Inquisition of Kozilek. He was planning his turns expecting Smasher on turn 5. I topdecked an Eldrazi Temple though and played Smasher on Turn 4 killing his first Sorin. This was the breaking point, as I answered the second Sorin with Double Lingering Souls. Game 2 he smallpoxed me having Eldrazi Temple and a B/W Dualland in play. I only had a Fetid Heath in hand and so I had to decide between Colorscrew or sacrificing Eldrazi Temple. I sacrificed Eldrazi Temple and did never recover. Game 3 he mulliganed and I had 3 Discard spells. Lingering Souls and Eldrazi Displacer dealt with Sorin and his tokens and I went up to 4-1. Round 6 Draw against Grixis Fairies Control. I knew what my opponent was playing. I was in 8th place, second last player with 12 match points and to make Top 8 I could basically decide if I want to play and be forced to win against Grixis Fairies Control (which I would grade as a bad matchup. Many counters, Terminates, and of course many 1/1 flying bodies I am not well suited dealing with.), or draw and hope that the 9th placed player would lose his match. I decided to draw, which unluckily was the wrong choice afterwards as the 9th ranked player won and I was cut out of Top 8. I wish I would have played that last round, but in the end it's always easier to say that after you've seen the scoreboard after 6 rounds:P Disappointing finish but otherwise a great day and experience with the deck. And if I or any of my opponents won one more game I could maybe report how I got even higher placed:)
Final conclusion: Apart from round 1 I wasn't even playing against my very good matchups (Affinity, Burn, Death Shadow etc.) one time. I was paired against some difficult matchups and still managed to go 4-1-1 which tells, that with this deck you can have a chance against basically any matchup, which is one of the big advantages of this deck.
I've learned my lesson and in the future I will probably just play that last round, even though the matchup was probably bad. It feels so miserable if you don't have your fate in your own hands and I will try to avoid that in the future.
And finally, the B/W Smallpox deck made Top 8 as well and it was super sweet. Many of the B/W cards I love the most in our deck are also played in theirs and I think I will definitely try it out one time. That's all, I hope to move to the final 8 players next time:)
MVP of the day: Lingering Souls
Did the experience also do anything for your sideboard ideas? Any changes you would make now?
Not really, I mean I only played 5 additional matches. Of course now the 3 Stony Silence, Rest in Peace's weren't really used and I wished I had one more Fulminator or Surgical Extraction in the deck but it's always easy to say that after a tournament. Maybe Leyline of Sanctity is a card for us? You could cut the 2 Knight of Glory for it and maybe the Fatal Push plus the Collective Brutality. It is good against G/R Valakut, Discard from various decks and of course multiple combo decks. Against Storm it shuts off Grape Shot as a Win condition and they have to go full on the Empty the Warrens plan. Ad Nauseam needs Sideboard cards and more Mana to go off or they need to go for the Laboratory Maniac Combo. And of course it completely hazes Burn. Maybe it's worth a try, I don't know. I was quite happy with the deck though. Maybe just a 5th Turn 1 discard effect in the side would be fine. Another Thoughtseize for example. This is the most likely change I'm going to make.
Polymorph I read the Blog article. Nice written, pretty aggressively you're right. While you're absolutely correct pointing out the decks weaknesses and bad spots, I definitely don't agree that for example Lingering Souls is a bad card right now. In fact I think it is very good right now. Of course it is weak against Eldrazi and Tron but this Matchup is generally bad. Against Death Shadow, Affinity and other Aggro decks and fair Midrangy style decks it is a house. I will still play Sculler over Reshaper as it fits the decks discard plan nicer. It makes exactly these matchups better you are complaining to be very bad. And I really don't have trouble casting him on turn 2, and I think I'm playing many Utility lands with 2 Mutavaults, 2 Shambling Vents and 2 Ghost Quarters. Of course this is my opinion and I respect yours and I thank you for writing the article. Hope you have success with your Vengevine deck:)
I like the feel of the MB and though the lands gave me colors/colorless when I needed, still not sure about the lands. Like the mutavaults, but thinking of putting Ghost Quarter back in and/or Vault of the Archangel. Maybe will cut one Shambling Vent.
MATCHES
M1 LOSS (1-2) vs Bogles. Game 1, couldn't overcome a Daybreak Coronet. Game2 I landed Ratchet Bomb and kept on 1. Opponent thought Spider Umbra would save his creature when I sac'd the Bomb. He was wrong and lost. Game3 I was ale to Disenchant two Coronets, but never saw my Surgical Extraction and lost when he landed his 3rd on his guy.
M2 WIN (2-0) vs. Affinity. Match is favorable and wen that way. Game1 established enough board presence to force him to sac a bunch of artifacts just to trade an Arcbound Ravagerwith a Reality Smasher. I then dropeed another and beat for win. Game 2 I landed Stony Silence on Turn 2 and then raced him for win.
M3 WIN (2-0) vs Dredge. Game1 had solid curve a got a Loam from my Tidehollow Sculler. Kept him off lands. I let him beat with his 2Bloodghast and I raced with my guys and won. Game2 I landed a T1 Relic of Progenitus and exiled his lands and Conflagrate. Cracked the relic with a couple Narcomoeba on stack, Surgical'd his Darkblast. With no dredgers in graveyard, it was easy beat for win.
M4 LOSS (0-2) vs Dredge. Game1, he did his ting and my hand was too slow. Game2 I landed a T2 Rest in Peace, but then saw 12 (!) lands in a row, including by cracking a couple relics. I had only 1 creature (Strangler) which died early to blocking duty. I lost to a single Bloodghast beat plus Conflagrate at end.
M5 WIN (2-0) vs. 5Color Death Shadow. Game 1, he landed a T1 Goblin Guide, which did its thing both in giving me cards and not doing a lot of damage, while I proceeded to strip his hand with disruption. Eventually Path'd his Guide (he had no basic lands, which was great! And got in with big guys for the win. Game 2 he got me to 4 before I was able to stabilize. Two Wasteland Strangler took care of a Monastery Swiftspear and DS. Path'd rest and beats for win.
As for Sideboard, it is still a work in progress. Like the idea of the Knight of Glory but perhaps will replace the 2 for either 2 Mirran Crusader (I know the issue of double white mana) or another Collective Brutality and either Blessed Alliance, Flaying Tendrils or Cast Out. I only play MTGO so want to keep open options. Seem to struggle a lot with planeswalkers, so Cat out may be a good option. Comments or suggestions welcome, also from those who play creatures or planeswalkers in sideboard as to how they help in our tougher matches.
MATCHES
M1 LOSS (1-2) vs Bogles. Game 1, couldn't overcome a Daybreak Coronet. Game2 I landed Ratchet Bomb and kept on 1. Opponent thought Spider Umbra would save his creature when I sac'd the Bomb. He was wrong and lost. Game3 I was ale to Disenchant two Coronets, but never saw my Surgical Extraction and lost when he landed his 3rd on his guy.
6/15/2010 If a spell or ability (such as Planar Cleansing) would destroy both an Aura with totem armor and the permanent it’s enchanting at the same time, totem armor’s effect will save the enchanted permanent from being destroyed. Instead, the spell or ability will destroy the Aura in two different ways at the same time, but the result is the same as destroying it once.
Sorry my bad, I went back reviewed the game. I set off the Bomb after attackers declared. Umbra did its thing and theGladecover Scout survived, but I then killed it with a blocker..... Nevertheless, the Bomb did its job on all the auras.
I know this is the BW Eldrazi Processor thread.. but have any of you tried Mono Black Eldrazi Processor yet? With Ifnir Deadlands it really got me thinking and so I put together this list that I plan on playing at FNM tonight. Any suggestions or criticism is welcome!
I know this is the BW Eldrazi Processor thread.. but have any of you tried Mono Black Eldrazi Processor yet? With Ifnir Deadlands it really got me thinking and so I put together this list that I plan on playing at FNM tonight. Any suggestions or criticism is welcome!
...
I am certainly no expert on the deck, but I can tell you that I played for a while a deck that had no Tidehollow Sculler and replaced with Matter Reshaper as you have for the creature set. It was fine. I think there are two weaknesses by giving up white: 1) you lose Lingering Souls which has been a consistent performer for me, either to provide lots of blockers, or to win through the air. I would be tempted to say add Smuggler's Copter but you really have no good creatures to tap for it. I did see a list recently that placed top 8 somewhere that used Bitterblossom. 2) you lose white artifact hate in Stony Silence which has also been an important part of my deck. Not sure what to do there....
Otherwise, I think you have right mix of hand disruption and removal, but I would favor more of Inquisition over Thoughtseize since you don't have good ways to gain life otherwise.
I beat Eldrazi & Taxes, Merfolk, and Burn. Lost to BW Tokens and UR Gifts Storm. Overall still loving the deck. I only felt a little lost against the go wide tokens plan. Never drew Flaying Tendrils or Wrath of God. I am going to tinker again with lands, removing the Wastes though I did luckily remove a Blood Moon in Game 1 of the Burn match. May replace with either a Vault of the Archangel or another Mutavault. Sticking with Sideboard for now (though on the fence about swapping out one Blessed Alliance for another Collective Brutality and happy with the Main. Into another league this week.
Brief report of the tournament: GAME 1 WIN (2-0) against Death and Taxes: First game I start with an Inquisition of Kozilek followed by two Tidehollow Sculler on turn 2 and 3. After that, he could never get back into the game and my Eldrazi finished it rather quickly. Game two he keeps a risky hand with only 1 white source. On turn 2 he plays a Leonin Arbiter and I Ghost Quarter his Plains. He couldn't find another white source until it was already too late as next turn I was attacking for lethal with a Reality Smasher. Ratchet Bomb was an MVP from the sideboard during the game, killing two Golem tokens that were stopping me from attacking.
MATCH 2 WIN (2-0) against Dredge: My opponent mullingans down to 4 both games so he never had much of a chance. Second game I cast a Rest in Peace and he instantly concedes.
MATCH 3 TIE (1-1-1) against Grixis Delver: It was interesting to see a Grixis deck that didn't play Death's Shadow during the tournament as I had never ran across this matchup. Game 1 I start with lots of hand disruption taking a Delver of Secrets off my oponent hand with an Inquisition of Kozilek, a Terminate with a Tidehollow Sculler on turn two and a [card]Tasigur,
the Golden Fang[/card] with a Thought-Knot Seer on turn three. Sadly, my oponnent top decks a Fatal Push to deal with the Sculler, getting back his Termine and killing my Seer while he was spitting tokens with a Young Pyromancer onto the battlefield. I never managed to draw more removal for the Pyromancer and the Tasigur he drew next and lost. Game two I don't remember very well, but it was long and really close. He managed to put me down to 4 life, but an attack from Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet and Thought-Knot Seer and the activation of Vault of the Archangel took me out of range of his Lightning Bolts. We didn't have much time for game three and ended up with a tie.
MATCH 4 WIN (2-0) against Scapeshift: This is not a great matchup, but I its winnable if you open up with two or three discard spells to take out his win conditions. Game one I start off with probably the most busted hand the deck can get with a turn 1 Thoughtseize into Tidehollow Sculler and 2x Thought-Knot Seer to disarm my opponent's hand and pressure his life total. In game two, the story repeated as I managed to disarm his hand with Inquisition of Kozilek and Tidehollow Sculler followed by Lingering Souls and Reality Smasher to increase the pressure. I feel I drew very well this match and in no way this outcome reflects how difficult dealing with a resolved Scapeshift or Primeval Titan can be.
MATCH 5 WIN (2-0) against Jund: Jund is probably one of the best match ups for the deck in my opinion. Game one I start off without discard for the first few turns, but manage to kill a Tarmogoyf with a Fatal Push. I play two Lingering Souls from my hand on turn 3 and 4, but get blown out by a Scavenging Ooze, that inmediately exile the sorceries from the graveyard and a Maelstrom Pulse takes care of the Spirits already in play. After killing the Ooze with a Wasteland Strangler thanks to some cards exiled with Relic of Progenitus, Reality Smasher comes in and takes the game over in a couple of turns. Game 2 I start with a disruptive hand, managing to discard Liliana of the Veil and some Kolaghan's Command from my opponent's hand. After that I Path to Exile a Tarmogoyf and my opponent can't deal with a couple of Eldrazis with the Fatal Push in his hand.
MATCH 6 INTENTIONAL DRAW
QUARTERFINALS LOSS (1-2) against Abzan Company: Game one I mulligan to six and keep a hand with Inquisition of Kozilek and Tidehollow Sculler which show me that my opponent has Collected Company, Vizier of Remedies, Chord of Calling, Devoted Druid and Qasali Pridemage in hand. I try to discard some of the combo pieces, but the deck is too redundant and ends up assembling infinite life with Kitchen Finks. Game two, after some aggro play from both of us, my opponent misplays and leaves himself open to a Reality Smasher which gives me the game. Game three I never find the fourth land that would've allowed me to cast the 2 Thought-Knot Seer and Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet from my hand, but manage to stay in game with lots of removal for his combo pieces. In the end, I wasn't able to find an answer for his Gavony Township, which gave him the game.
Overall I think the deck performed really well. I think I'm sticking with the current sideboard as the one-ofs give me a lot of options against unknown fields. 4 Abzan Company decks showd up to the tournament and 2 got to the top8, so I will try to replace Ethersworn Canonist with Flaying Tendrils as I've heard the card is good against that kind of strategy. The manabase still feels a little clunky and I would love to squeeze a Wastes in to fight Blood Moon and to fetch againt Path to Exile, but I don't know what should I replace it for since all the utility lands have proven to be really useful. Blood Baron of Vizkopa is another card I want to try that is useful against Grixis Death's Shadow and Jund/Abzan, but it might be a little bit of an overkill since we already have easy matchups against them.
I would love some suggestions on how to improve the deck and sideboard.
That doesn't sound like a good idea to me. The problem I see with it, is that Expedition Map requires you to waste your turn 1 and 2 mana to get a marginal mana advantage from turn 3 on. In that case, you are not casting Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize or Tidehollow Sculler in favor of more explosive starts with big eldrazis on turn 4 and 5 and, in my opinion, disruption is more important than going full aggro with the deck.
I don't think that's a good idea in this deck. It's more eldrazi tron card and our ideal games is turn1 - disruption, turn2 - sculler, so we dont waste these turns.
How has Thalia performed for you? I think Eldrazi Displacer is too good of a card to leave out of the 75 in grindy matchups, that could be an easy improve to the maindeck.
Out of the board, I think 2x Disenchant is necessary to deal with pesky Blood Moon and Leyline of Sanctity, but definitely depends on your local meta.
Rudoso, I haven't tried Eldrazi Displacer yet. But in my experience around 50-60 games I won a lot of games with the help of Thalia. Good against Aggro deck. even decks that run a lot of Non Basic lands. It makes them slow and I win via Lingering Souls when they recover. Played last night went 3-1. Lose to burn. Maybe I need to add 1 CB in my SB. or +2 Sorin -2 Wrath in my SB. any thoughts?
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Firstly it's a 3/3 creature you can play on turn 2 with Eldrazi Temple. Just that on it's own is very good.
You can apply pressure in the early game(without the ability being to relevant). You said you have better uses for your 3 mana, that's perfectly fine, do that! Displacers ability is there to use, when you have nothing better to do with your mana. It's good in the early and a long stalled grindy game.
Where Displacer has been good for me, it has won me the game several times: 1) against Death shadow I was on 3 life and had a knight of glory and displacer out. Combined with the discard I manage to control the whole game and deal with a gurmag angler and 7-12 power DS.
2) Against Mono white Death&Taxes and other random tokens(Voice for example), it is an all star. You blink their tokens and they're gone.
3) Against Jund I managed to play it and blink Wasteland Strangler 3 times to kill a Goyf + Kalitas.
4) I haven't got to do that yet but he's also great with Thoughtknots to control their draw step. He's also very good with Tidehollow sculler if you already processed the card exiled with it or it's an irrelevant card meanwhile.
5) As long as you have mana open, he acts like a spellskite, they have to kill him first even if they're threatened by a Smasher. If you're lucky enough to have both out it is game over.
6) Clear the way in a stalled game. Imagine you have 2 temples and 5 lands, the opponent has 6 creatures. They can't really attack you as you just block and blink in response. At the end of their turn you blink three blockers and on your first main phase you blink another 3, GG.
You will find other random situations where this card is just great. Opponent Spell quellers your Thought Knot Seer? No problem, blinking the spell queller they can't stack the abilities to counter your TKS again. Against Affinity they couldn't attack as I would always just blink the creature equipped with plating. It's also amazing to reset couters given by ravager.
Against Eldrazi Tron I flickered their Hangarback Walker, oh no it's a 0/0? Dead.
I could talk even longer but I will just recommend to play two^^
And two relics is enough like 80% of the time. Sometimes you have to play your TKS first but it usually doesn't matter. Worst case scenario you have a 3/2 creature. But when I have enough creatures i like to hold them.
Jed
I will stick with Tendrils I guess. The -2-2 is an advantage as it is a one sided board wipe sometimes. It doesn't kill our Eldrazi. I think the most important thing using Tendrils against e.g. Elves, Merfolk, Coco and other stuff is not to act greedy with it. I'll play it as soon as I can get a 2 for 1 out of it. Even killing some dorks against Coco or killing a heritage druid and Mana elf is more than enough to gain huge tempo.
R1: Lost to traditional ramp. He top decked twice to beat me in the first game, felt very lucky. Eventually lost 1-2.
R2: Lost, sorry can't remember this one.
R3: Lost to death and taxes. Looking at my cumulative record I seem to have trouble with this deck, same with ramp. I believe I'm 1-3 vs. ramp in leagues thus far.
R4: Beat burn, fairly easy wins.
R5: Lost to the same burn player. I had no problem taking out his creatures, but he had a fist full of face damage. Wondering if I need more life gain in the side. I currently pack one Blessed Alliance. Maybe the new life gain card in the HOU cycle is an option?
Kind of disappointing after two 4-1 leagues in a row. Overall I'm wondering if I need more options versus ramp and life gain in the side. I'm running the same MD as Rey and the side is below. I know my side is geared toward artifact hate. Do I need to make any glaring changes:
3 Fragmentize
1 Blessed Alliance
2 Knight of Glory
2 Stony Silence
1 Liliana's Defeat
2 Flaying Tendrils
2 Anguished Unmaking
2 Ratchet Bomb
Yes I'm the player in 9th place and my tiebreakers were exactly tied with the 8th ranked player. I don't know how the program decided who makes the cut, and quite frankly I don't really wanna know. The judges couldn't give me an answer. On Reddit some people wrote about this topic and apparantly it breaks this tie by the order the players were registered, which would be extremely frustrating as there were some things on the line for me.
Enough about this and let's get to the matches. I played the same list as I did online except putting in 2 Ghost Quarter for a Mutavault and Cavern and playing two Fulminator Mage in the side instead of Knight of Glory. As the Meta is quite Tron and Valakut heavy I wanted to be prepared to fight those strategies.
Round 1 Win against GB Infect: Infect seems to be a very good matchup for us, sadly doesn't see much play anymore. Game 1, I went Sculler into Strangler to kill his Plague Stinger which was putting me far ahead. I could also immeadiately answer his second creature. Game 2, I mulliganed because I didn't have a way to kill a creature. I pushed his only creature on the first turn, then went Sculler into Sculler into Thought-Knot Seer leaving my opponent empty-handed. Easy 2-0 win.
Round 2 Win against G/W Hatebears: He kept a one lander with Aether Vial. After he flashed Leonin Arbiter in, I played Ghost Quarter on my next turn killing his only land and pathed his next guy putting me far ahead. Eldarzi Displacer dealt with two 3/3 Golem tokens and we went to game 2. On Game 2 I punted, as i chose to discard his Restoration Angel instead of Blade Splicer, while not having a Displacer to deal with the tokens. He blinked the Splicer with Flickerwisp and I died to Golem Token beatdown. Game 3 he mulliganed to 5 and I just beat him to death with 2 Lingering Souls and 8 flying Spirits.
Round 3 Lost against G/R Valakut: This match was over fast. I didn't know what I'm up against and kept two Wasteland Stranglers with no Discard. I had no interaction at all and died basically on turn 4. Game 2 I mulliganed to 5 as I didn't draw any Sideboard card and Discard. I discarded his only threat and he topdecked the Primeval Titan exactly in the right window. Having no path I died on the following turn.
Round 4 Win against G/R Valakut: I've had the chance to play against this deck another time. Game 1 basically the same happened as in Game 1 before. I kept a creature fight land with no path and died on turn 4. Game 2 he mulliganed to 6 and kept a 6 lander and I just beat him down. I had a path to deal with his only Titan. Game 3 we both mulliganed and I kept two discard + a path and Lingering Souls. I put him into topdecking mode, and beat down with Lingering Souls. Eventually I topdecked smasher for exactly lethal. Seems like a unfavorable but definitely not unwinnable matchup. With 2-3 discard effects you're pretty well set up to fight the deck. I didn't even draw the Fulminator/Ghost Quarter + Surgical Extraction combo, which would just pretty much be game.
Round 5 Win against W/B Smallpox: He kept a midrange hand with 2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor and Inquisition of Kozilek. He was planning his turns expecting Smasher on turn 5. I topdecked an Eldrazi Temple though and played Smasher on Turn 4 killing his first Sorin. This was the breaking point, as I answered the second Sorin with Double Lingering Souls. Game 2 he smallpoxed me having Eldrazi Temple and a B/W Dualland in play. I only had a Fetid Heath in hand and so I had to decide between Colorscrew or sacrificing Eldrazi Temple. I sacrificed Eldrazi Temple and did never recover. Game 3 he mulliganed and I had 3 Discard spells. Lingering Souls and Eldrazi Displacer dealt with Sorin and his tokens and I went up to 4-1.
Round 6 Draw against Grixis Fairies Control. I knew what my opponent was playing. I was in 8th place, second last player with 12 match points and to make Top 8 I could basically decide if I want to play and be forced to win against Grixis Fairies Control (which I would grade as a bad matchup. Many counters, Terminates, and of course many 1/1 flying bodies I am not well suited dealing with.), or draw and hope that the 9th placed player would lose his match. I decided to draw, which unluckily was the wrong choice afterwards as the 9th ranked player won and I was cut out of Top 8. I wish I would have played that last round, but in the end it's always easier to say that after you've seen the scoreboard after 6 rounds:P Disappointing finish but otherwise a great day and experience with the deck. And if I or any of my opponents won one more game I could maybe report how I got even higher placed:)
Final conclusion: Apart from round 1 I wasn't even playing against my very good matchups (Affinity, Burn, Death Shadow etc.) one time. I was paired against some difficult matchups and still managed to go 4-1-1 which tells, that with this deck you can have a chance against basically any matchup, which is one of the big advantages of this deck.
I've learned my lesson and in the future I will probably just play that last round, even though the matchup was probably bad. It feels so miserable if you don't have your fate in your own hands and I will try to avoid that in the future.
And finally, the B/W Smallpox deck made Top 8 as well and it was super sweet. Many of the B/W cards I love the most in our deck are also played in theirs and I think I will definitely try it out one time. That's all, I hope to move to the final 8 players next time:)
MVP of the day: Lingering Souls
i've written a Blog-entry about this deck as i have dropped it.
It's a bit harsh but i hope you don't mind.
The deck was a whole lot of fun and my first Midrange-Deck after playing 4 years of Modern.
Please give some feedback and enjoy playing Thoughseizes and Reality Smashers
becoming sad man
Green @ it's best
Not really, I mean I only played 5 additional matches. Of course now the 3 Stony Silence, Rest in Peace's weren't really used and I wished I had one more Fulminator or Surgical Extraction in the deck but it's always easy to say that after a tournament. Maybe Leyline of Sanctity is a card for us? You could cut the 2 Knight of Glory for it and maybe the Fatal Push plus the Collective Brutality. It is good against G/R Valakut, Discard from various decks and of course multiple combo decks. Against Storm it shuts off Grape Shot as a Win condition and they have to go full on the Empty the Warrens plan. Ad Nauseam needs Sideboard cards and more Mana to go off or they need to go for the Laboratory Maniac Combo. And of course it completely hazes Burn. Maybe it's worth a try, I don't know. I was quite happy with the deck though. Maybe just a 5th Turn 1 discard effect in the side would be fine. Another Thoughtseize for example. This is the most likely change I'm going to make.
Polymorph I read the Blog article. Nice written, pretty aggressively you're right. While you're absolutely correct pointing out the decks weaknesses and bad spots, I definitely don't agree that for example Lingering Souls is a bad card right now. In fact I think it is very good right now. Of course it is weak against Eldrazi and Tron but this Matchup is generally bad. Against Death Shadow, Affinity and other Aggro decks and fair Midrangy style decks it is a house. I will still play Sculler over Reshaper as it fits the decks discard plan nicer. It makes exactly these matchups better you are complaining to be very bad. And I really don't have trouble casting him on turn 2, and I think I'm playing many Utility lands with 2 Mutavaults, 2 Shambling Vents and 2 Ghost Quarters. Of course this is my opinion and I respect yours and I thank you for writing the article. Hope you have success with your Vengevine deck:)
Here is the deck I played:
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Concealed Courtyard
1 Godless Shrine
1 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Mutavault
1 Marsh Flats
4 Eldrazi Temple
2 Shambling Vent
1 Fetid Heath
1 Wastes
Spells
1 Collective Brutality
4 Path to Exile
2 Fatal Push
4 Lingering Souls
3 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Relic of Progenitus
1 Ratchet Bomb
Creatures
3 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Wasteland Strangler
2 Eldrazi Displacer
2 Stony Silence
2 Rest in Peace
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Knight of Glory
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Wrath of God
1 Flaying Tendrils
2 Disenchant
1 Blessed Alliance
I like the feel of the MB and though the lands gave me colors/colorless when I needed, still not sure about the lands. Like the mutavaults, but thinking of putting Ghost Quarter back in and/or Vault of the Archangel. Maybe will cut one Shambling Vent.
MATCHES
M1 LOSS (1-2) vs Bogles. Game 1, couldn't overcome a Daybreak Coronet. Game2 I landed Ratchet Bomb and kept on 1. Opponent thought Spider Umbra would save his creature when I sac'd the Bomb. He was wrong and lost. Game3 I was ale to Disenchant two Coronets, but never saw my Surgical Extraction and lost when he landed his 3rd on his guy.
M2 WIN (2-0) vs. Affinity. Match is favorable and wen that way. Game1 established enough board presence to force him to sac a bunch of artifacts just to trade an Arcbound Ravagerwith a Reality Smasher. I then dropeed another and beat for win. Game 2 I landed Stony Silence on Turn 2 and then raced him for win.
M3 WIN (2-0) vs Dredge. Game1 had solid curve a got a Loam from my Tidehollow Sculler. Kept him off lands. I let him beat with his 2Bloodghast and I raced with my guys and won. Game2 I landed a T1 Relic of Progenitus and exiled his lands and Conflagrate. Cracked the relic with a couple Narcomoeba on stack, Surgical'd his Darkblast. With no dredgers in graveyard, it was easy beat for win.
M4 LOSS (0-2) vs Dredge. Game1, he did his ting and my hand was too slow. Game2 I landed a T2 Rest in Peace, but then saw 12 (!) lands in a row, including by cracking a couple relics. I had only 1 creature (Strangler) which died early to blocking duty. I lost to a single Bloodghast beat plus Conflagrate at end.
M5 WIN (2-0) vs. 5Color Death Shadow. Game 1, he landed a T1 Goblin Guide, which did its thing both in giving me cards and not doing a lot of damage, while I proceeded to strip his hand with disruption. Eventually Path'd his Guide (he had no basic lands, which was great! And got in with big guys for the win. Game 2 he got me to 4 before I was able to stabilize. Two Wasteland Strangler took care of a Monastery Swiftspear and DS. Path'd rest and beats for win.
As for Sideboard, it is still a work in progress. Like the idea of the Knight of Glory but perhaps will replace the 2 for either 2 Mirran Crusader (I know the issue of double white mana) or another Collective Brutality and either Blessed Alliance, Flaying Tendrils or Cast Out. I only play MTGO so want to keep open options. Seem to struggle a lot with planeswalkers, so Cat out may be a good option. Comments or suggestions welcome, also from those who play creatures or planeswalkers in sideboard as to how they help in our tougher matches.
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thoughtseize
4 Fatal Push
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Dismember
1 Hero's Downfall
2 Mind Stone
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Ratchet Bomb
10 Swamp
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Ifnir Deadlands
3 Mutavault
1 Graven Carins
3 Fulminator Mage
3 Collective Brutality
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Lost Legacy
2 Flaying Tendrils
1 Damnation
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Liliana, the Last hope
UMerfolk
WDeath and Taxes
BRBliztkrieg
GStompy
- - -
"Rock is overpowered. Paper is fine."
-Scissors
...
I am certainly no expert on the deck, but I can tell you that I played for a while a deck that had no Tidehollow Sculler and replaced with Matter Reshaper as you have for the creature set. It was fine. I think there are two weaknesses by giving up white: 1) you lose Lingering Souls which has been a consistent performer for me, either to provide lots of blockers, or to win through the air. I would be tempted to say add Smuggler's Copter but you really have no good creatures to tap for it. I did see a list recently that placed top 8 somewhere that used Bitterblossom. 2) you lose white artifact hate in Stony Silence which has also been an important part of my deck. Not sure what to do there....
Otherwise, I think you have right mix of hand disruption and removal, but I would favor more of Inquisition over Thoughtseize since you don't have good ways to gain life otherwise.
Let us know how it goes!
4 Concealed Courtyard
1 Godless Shrine
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Shambling Vent
1 Plains
2 Swamp
4 Eldrazi Temple
2 Mutavault
1 Wastes
1 Marsh Flats
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Wasteland Strangler
2 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Relic of Progenitus
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
1 Collective Brutality
4 Path to Exile
2 Fatal Push
4 Lingering Souls
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Worship
2 Fulminator Mage
2 Disenchant
1 Flaying Tendrils
2 Mirran Crusader
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Wrath of God
I beat Eldrazi & Taxes, Merfolk, and Burn. Lost to BW Tokens and UR Gifts Storm. Overall still loving the deck. I only felt a little lost against the go wide tokens plan. Never drew Flaying Tendrils or Wrath of God. I am going to tinker again with lands, removing the Wastes though I did luckily remove a Blood Moon in Game 1 of the Burn match. May replace with either a Vault of the Archangel or another Mutavault. Sticking with Sideboard for now (though on the fence about swapping out one Blessed Alliance for another Collective Brutality and happy with the Main. Into another league this week.
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Concealed Courtyard
2 Godless Shrine
1 Shambling Vent
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Mutavault
1 Vault of the Archangel
2 Plains
1 Swamp
Creatures
4 Tidehollow Sculler
2 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Wasteland Strangler
4 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Reality Smasher
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Path to Exile
2 Fatal Push
2 Collective Brutality
4 Lingering Souls
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Disenchant
2 Stony Silence
1 Rest in Peace
1 Rain of Tears
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Extirpate
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Ratchet Bomb
Brief report of the tournament:
GAME 1 WIN (2-0) against Death and Taxes: First game I start with an Inquisition of Kozilek followed by two Tidehollow Sculler on turn 2 and 3. After that, he could never get back into the game and my Eldrazi finished it rather quickly. Game two he keeps a risky hand with only 1 white source. On turn 2 he plays a Leonin Arbiter and I Ghost Quarter his Plains. He couldn't find another white source until it was already too late as next turn I was attacking for lethal with a Reality Smasher. Ratchet Bomb was an MVP from the sideboard during the game, killing two Golem tokens that were stopping me from attacking.
MATCH 2 WIN (2-0) against Dredge: My opponent mullingans down to 4 both games so he never had much of a chance. Second game I cast a Rest in Peace and he instantly concedes.
MATCH 3 TIE (1-1-1) against Grixis Delver: It was interesting to see a Grixis deck that didn't play Death's Shadow during the tournament as I had never ran across this matchup. Game 1 I start with lots of hand disruption taking a Delver of Secrets off my oponent hand with an Inquisition of Kozilek, a Terminate with a Tidehollow Sculler on turn two and a [card]Tasigur,
the Golden Fang[/card] with a Thought-Knot Seer on turn three. Sadly, my oponnent top decks a Fatal Push to deal with the Sculler, getting back his Termine and killing my Seer while he was spitting tokens with a Young Pyromancer onto the battlefield. I never managed to draw more removal for the Pyromancer and the Tasigur he drew next and lost. Game two I don't remember very well, but it was long and really close. He managed to put me down to 4 life, but an attack from Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet and Thought-Knot Seer and the activation of Vault of the Archangel took me out of range of his Lightning Bolts. We didn't have much time for game three and ended up with a tie.
MATCH 4 WIN (2-0) against Scapeshift: This is not a great matchup, but I its winnable if you open up with two or three discard spells to take out his win conditions. Game one I start off with probably the most busted hand the deck can get with a turn 1 Thoughtseize into Tidehollow Sculler and 2x Thought-Knot Seer to disarm my opponent's hand and pressure his life total. In game two, the story repeated as I managed to disarm his hand with Inquisition of Kozilek and Tidehollow Sculler followed by Lingering Souls and Reality Smasher to increase the pressure. I feel I drew very well this match and in no way this outcome reflects how difficult dealing with a resolved Scapeshift or Primeval Titan can be.
MATCH 5 WIN (2-0) against Jund: Jund is probably one of the best match ups for the deck in my opinion. Game one I start off without discard for the first few turns, but manage to kill a Tarmogoyf with a Fatal Push. I play two Lingering Souls from my hand on turn 3 and 4, but get blown out by a Scavenging Ooze, that inmediately exile the sorceries from the graveyard and a Maelstrom Pulse takes care of the Spirits already in play. After killing the Ooze with a Wasteland Strangler thanks to some cards exiled with Relic of Progenitus, Reality Smasher comes in and takes the game over in a couple of turns. Game 2 I start with a disruptive hand, managing to discard Liliana of the Veil and some Kolaghan's Command from my opponent's hand. After that I Path to Exile a Tarmogoyf and my opponent can't deal with a couple of Eldrazis with the Fatal Push in his hand.
MATCH 6 INTENTIONAL DRAW
QUARTERFINALS LOSS (1-2) against Abzan Company: Game one I mulligan to six and keep a hand with Inquisition of Kozilek and Tidehollow Sculler which show me that my opponent has Collected Company, Vizier of Remedies, Chord of Calling, Devoted Druid and Qasali Pridemage in hand. I try to discard some of the combo pieces, but the deck is too redundant and ends up assembling infinite life with Kitchen Finks. Game two, after some aggro play from both of us, my opponent misplays and leaves himself open to a Reality Smasher which gives me the game. Game three I never find the fourth land that would've allowed me to cast the 2 Thought-Knot Seer and Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet from my hand, but manage to stay in game with lots of removal for his combo pieces. In the end, I wasn't able to find an answer for his Gavony Township, which gave him the game.
Overall I think the deck performed really well. I think I'm sticking with the current sideboard as the one-ofs give me a lot of options against unknown fields. 4 Abzan Company decks showd up to the tournament and 2 got to the top8, so I will try to replace Ethersworn Canonist with Flaying Tendrils as I've heard the card is good against that kind of strategy. The manabase still feels a little clunky and I would love to squeeze a Wastes in to fight Blood Moon and to fetch againt Path to Exile, but I don't know what should I replace it for since all the utility lands have proven to be really useful. Blood Baron of Vizkopa is another card I want to try that is useful against Grixis Death's Shadow and Jund/Abzan, but it might be a little bit of an overkill since we already have easy matchups against them.
I would love some suggestions on how to improve the deck and sideboard.
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Wasteland Strangler
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Fatal Push
4 Path to Exile
1 Smuggler's Copter
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls
1 Thoughtseize
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Eldrazi Temple
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Godless Shrine
2 Mutavault
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
2 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Aven Mindcensor
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Celestial Purge
1 Disenchant
1 Dismember
2 Knight of Glory
2 Stony Silence
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Wrath of God
Out of the board, I think 2x Disenchant is necessary to deal with pesky Blood Moon and Leyline of Sanctity, but definitely depends on your local meta.