Finally had a friday off of work to take this deck to FNM. 30-ish people showed up for Modern, with 4 rounds and a cut to top 4 afterwards. I went 3-1 in my regular rounds, and barely squeaked into T4 where I lost to Tron. Here's my current deck and a short report:
ROUND 1: Melira Chord
Game 1 started out slowly, with me picking off a few of his Chords and CoCo's and trying to fight my way through the lifegain from 3 Kitchen Finks and killing any copies of Anafenza immediately. On turn 7 I was able to cast my Ulamog which he immediately Path'd, though he couldn't do much else to advance his combo while I had an active Relic in play. A misplay on my part saw me crack the relic to get an extra draw, after which he tapped his whole board for a Chord and got his final Finks with the combo on board. Game 2 I just wasn't able to draw into a single piece of removal while he kept swinging at me with an ever-growing Scavenging Ooze that kept his life total high and mine low. (0-2)
(0-1)
ROUND 2: Nacatl Burn
This is a girl that I've gone against every wednesday night Modern event for the past several weeks. We both knew the matchup well enough, but she was a very good pilot for the deck and could pull wins if I wasn't careful. In game 1 I'm able to close out the game by having my Wasteland Strangler process her suspended Rift Bolt and kill one of her 2 Swiftspears, after which I just swung through with Seers and Sowers. Game 2 goes very much the same way, with me starting the game with a Leyline in play and once again processing a rift bolt to kill her creature. (2-0)
(1-1)
ROUND 3: Grixis Control
Game 1 went started off with him using Inquisition on me. I don't believe he'd seen or heard of this deck before now, as he took a long time to read over the Processors in my hand and comment on how they don't seem good for the format. I get a turn 1 Relic in play and start using it to keep him off Snapcaster targets or Delve fuel, then happily using my "terrible" Strangler to kill his turn 2 Jace. Even with relic in play, he's still able to wrestle control of the game with a lucky Tasigur and Pia and Kiran Nalaar. Game 2 is over very quickly when I get a very lucky Oblivion Sower for 6 lands while I had Eye and Urborg in play. He scooped right after that. Game 3 was an oddity. I keep a hand with a Thought-Knot Seer, Leyline, Relic, and Thoughtseize, putting the Leyline into play right away. This upsets him a bit and when I thoughtseize him turn 1 I see why. He had for some reason kept a hand of 4 lands and only 2 lightning bolts. He fights through it though and I surgical extraction all of his Scalding Tarns and follow up with my Sower. I use Eye to tutor up Kozilek and cast him to refill my hand, and in the same turn had enought mana from Temples and Eye to also cast 2 Blight Herders and a Thought-Knot Seer for a decisive win. (2-1)
(2-1)
ROUND 4: Grixis Control
Another Grixis control deck, but this is against a very good friend of mine, and a friend who helped me test this deck on several occasions. We both knew this matchup was favorable for me. Game 1 was very grindy with both of us removing and discarding a lot of targets. I finally win when I'm able to Tutor up Kozilek and Ulamog and cast them both over 2 turns. During game 2 my deck bricked HARD, sticking me with only 4 lands total, one of which was an Eye with no Urborg support. He lands a turn 2 Snapcaster with no targets, and I actually ended up dying to it as he swung each turn. I just couldn't get anything on board between all of his remands and additional Snapcasters. Game 3 was just the opposite, with him having to mulligan down to 5 and not seeing his second land until the turn before I killed him. Rough games all around, and I felt bad for winning that way against him. (2-1)
(3-1)
TOP FOUR ROUND 1: RG Tron
Here it was, the one deck that I absolutely didn't want to have to go against tonight. Game 1 I was able to get an early Thoughtseize and seer to rip out his Karn and Ulamog before he got his last land, but that turn he got a topdeck Karn and cast him, and was able to just take over the game from there. Game 2 I stuck a turn 2 Seer and started swinging in. I was also able to cast a Lingering Souls and flashback it. He never sees a Karn, but does cast Ulamog and killed my Seer and a token, then swung back. I was able to just take 2 attacks from him because of Grove of the Burnwillows and him using Nature's Claim on my relic. It came down to the wire here, with him at 2 life and staring down 2 Spirit tokens and only ulamog in play, but I was at 5 life and had less than 10 cards in my deck. On the end of my turn, he manages to save himself by using his Eye of Ugin to tutor up his last Spellskite and using his second Nature's Claim on it, putting him up to 6 life and out of range of my spirit tokens, buying him one more turn to kill me with Ulamog. Very close game. (0-2)
Overall I'm very pleased with the deck. I added in the Kozilek and full set of seers to test them out, and was super happy with how they both performed, with Seers being an all-star and me also tutoring for Kozilek more often than Ulamog surprisingly. I just have to be able to adjust my sideboard more for next week to have better tools against Tron. I also found that the single card I was least happy to see at any time was Bojuka Bog. I feel like my exile sources are enough already, and the coming into play tapped leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm almost wondering if it's worth swapping that out for either Sea Gate Wreckage or another Ghost Quarter for now.
Finally had a friday off of work to take this deck to FNM. 30-ish people showed up for Modern, with 4 rounds and a cut to top 4 afterwards. I went 3-1 in my regular rounds, and barely squeaked into T4 where I lost to Tron. Here's my current deck and a short report:
ROUND 1: Melira Chord
Game 1 started out slowly, with me picking off a few of his Chords and CoCo's and trying to fight my way through the lifegain from 3 Kitchen Finks and killing any copies of Anafenza immediately. On turn 7 I was able to cast my Ulamog which he immediately Path'd, though he couldn't do much else to advance his combo while I had an active Relic in play. A misplay on my part saw me crack the relic to get an extra draw, after which he tapped his whole board for a Chord and got his final Finks with the combo on board. Game 2 I just wasn't able to draw into a single piece of removal while he kept swinging at me with an ever-growing Scavenging Ooze that kept his life total high and mine low. (0-2)
(0-1)
ROUND 2: Nacatl Burn
This is a girl that I've gone against every wednesday night Modern event for the past several weeks. We both knew the matchup well enough, but she was a very good pilot for the deck and could pull wins if I wasn't careful. In game 1 I'm able to close out the game by having my Wasteland Strangler process her suspended Rift Bolt and kill one of her 2 Swiftspears, after which I just swung through with Seers and Sowers. Game 2 goes very much the same way, with me starting the game with a Leyline in play and once again processing a rift bolt to kill her creature. (2-0)
(1-1)
ROUND 3: Grixis Control
Game 1 went started off with him using Inquisition on me. I don't believe he'd seen or heard of this deck before now, as he took a long time to read over the Processors in my hand and comment on how they don't seem good for the format. I get a turn 1 Relic in play and start using it to keep him off Snapcaster targets or Delve fuel, then happily using my "terrible" Strangler to kill his turn 2 Jace. Even with relic in play, he's still able to wrestle control of the game with a lucky Tasigur and Pia and Kiran Nalaar. Game 2 is over very quickly when I get a very lucky Oblivion Sower for 6 lands while I had Eye and Urborg in play. He scooped right after that. Game 3 was an oddity. I keep a hand with a Thought-Knot Seer, Leyline, Relic, and Thoughtseize, putting the Leyline into play right away. This upsets him a bit and when I thoughtseize him turn 1 I see why. He had for some reason kept a hand of 4 lands and only 2 lightning bolts. He fights through it though and I surgical extraction all of his Scalding Tarns and follow up with my Sower. I use Eye to tutor up Kozilek and cast him to refill my hand, and in the same turn had enought mana from Temples and Eye to also cast 2 Blight Herders and a Thought-Knot Seer for a decisive win. (2-1)
(2-1)
ROUND 4: Grixis Control
Another Grixis control deck, but this is against a very good friend of mine, and a friend who helped me test this deck on several occasions. We both knew this matchup was favorable for me. Game 1 was very grindy with both of us removing and discarding a lot of targets. I finally win when I'm able to Tutor up Kozilek and Ulamog and cast them both over 2 turns. During game 2 my deck bricked HARD, sticking me with only 4 lands total, one of which was an Eye with no Urborg support. He lands a turn 2 Snapcaster with no targets, and I actually ended up dying to it as he swung each turn. I just couldn't get anything on board between all of his remands and additional Snapcasters. Game 3 was just the opposite, with him having to mulligan down to 5 and not seeing his second land until the turn before I killed him. Rough games all around, and I felt bad for winning that way against him. (2-1)
(3-1)
TOP FOUR ROUND 1: RG Tron
Here it was, the one deck that I absolutely didn't want to have to go against tonight. Game 1 I was able to get an early Thoughtseize and seer to rip out his Karn and Ulamog before he got his last land, but that turn he got a topdeck Karn and cast him, and was able to just take over the game from there. Game 2 I stuck a turn 2 Seer and started swinging in. I was also able to cast a Lingering Souls and flashback it. He never sees a Karn, but does cast Ulamog and killed my Seer and a token, then swung back. I was able to just take 2 attacks from him because of Grove of the Burnwillows and him using Nature's Claim on my relic. It came down to the wire here, with him at 2 life and staring down 2 Spirit tokens and only ulamog in play, but I was at 5 life and had less than 10 cards in my deck. On the end of my turn, he manages to save himself by using his Eye of Ugin to tutor up his last Spellskite and using his second Nature's Claim on it, putting him up to 6 life and out of range of my spirit tokens, buying him one more turn to kill me with Ulamog. Very close game. (0-2)
Overall I'm very pleased with the deck. I added in the Kozilek and full set of seers to test them out, and was super happy with how they both performed, with Seers being an all-star and me also tutoring for Kozilek more often than Ulamog surprisingly. I just have to be able to adjust my sideboard more for next week to have better tools against Tron. I also found that the single card I was least happy to see at any time was Bojuka Bog. I feel like my exile sources are enough already, and the coming into play tapped leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm almost wondering if it's worth swapping that out for either Sea Gate Wreckage or another Ghost Quarter for now.
Is there a reason you're still playing Slaughter pact? Especially since you still have 2 Wasteland and 2 dismember along side your 4 paths?
Thanks for the report! I have been skeptical about Kozilek just because he doesn't end games and I feel is much weaker against BGx and Grixis decks. Interesting to hear that he was your favorite tutor target.
Did you feel that 4 TKS was too much? Seems like a great card turns 2-4, but much less so turn 6+. I haven't tested Oath yet, but 2 stranglers seems correct to me, it feels horrible playing them as just a body when cards like TKS are around.
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Current Decks
Modern
No idea because my favorite decks keep getting banned or having the rules changed against them
Finally had a friday off of work to take this deck to FNM. 30-ish people showed up for Modern, with 4 rounds and a cut to top 4 afterwards. I went 3-1 in my regular rounds, and barely squeaked into T4 where I lost to Tron. Here's my current deck and a short report:
ROUND 1: Melira Chord
Game 1 started out slowly, with me picking off a few of his Chords and CoCo's and trying to fight my way through the lifegain from 3 Kitchen Finks and killing any copies of Anafenza immediately. On turn 7 I was able to cast my Ulamog which he immediately Path'd, though he couldn't do much else to advance his combo while I had an active Relic in play. A misplay on my part saw me crack the relic to get an extra draw, after which he tapped his whole board for a Chord and got his final Finks with the combo on board. Game 2 I just wasn't able to draw into a single piece of removal while he kept swinging at me with an ever-growing Scavenging Ooze that kept his life total high and mine low. (0-2)
(0-1)
ROUND 2: Nacatl Burn
This is a girl that I've gone against every wednesday night Modern event for the past several weeks. We both knew the matchup well enough, but she was a very good pilot for the deck and could pull wins if I wasn't careful. In game 1 I'm able to close out the game by having my Wasteland Strangler process her suspended Rift Bolt and kill one of her 2 Swiftspears, after which I just swung through with Seers and Sowers. Game 2 goes very much the same way, with me starting the game with a Leyline in play and once again processing a rift bolt to kill her creature. (2-0)
(1-1)
ROUND 3: Grixis Control
Game 1 went started off with him using Inquisition on me. I don't believe he'd seen or heard of this deck before now, as he took a long time to read over the Processors in my hand and comment on how they don't seem good for the format. I get a turn 1 Relic in play and start using it to keep him off Snapcaster targets or Delve fuel, then happily using my "terrible" Strangler to kill his turn 2 Jace. Even with relic in play, he's still able to wrestle control of the game with a lucky Tasigur and Pia and Kiran Nalaar. Game 2 is over very quickly when I get a very lucky Oblivion Sower for 6 lands while I had Eye and Urborg in play. He scooped right after that. Game 3 was an oddity. I keep a hand with a Thought-Knot Seer, Leyline, Relic, and Thoughtseize, putting the Leyline into play right away. This upsets him a bit and when I thoughtseize him turn 1 I see why. He had for some reason kept a hand of 4 lands and only 2 lightning bolts. He fights through it though and I surgical extraction all of his Scalding Tarns and follow up with my Sower. I use Eye to tutor up Kozilek and cast him to refill my hand, and in the same turn had enought mana from Temples and Eye to also cast 2 Blight Herders and a Thought-Knot Seer for a decisive win. (2-1)
(2-1)
ROUND 4: Grixis Control
Another Grixis control deck, but this is against a very good friend of mine, and a friend who helped me test this deck on several occasions. We both knew this matchup was favorable for me. Game 1 was very grindy with both of us removing and discarding a lot of targets. I finally win when I'm able to Tutor up Kozilek and Ulamog and cast them both over 2 turns. During game 2 my deck bricked HARD, sticking me with only 4 lands total, one of which was an Eye with no Urborg support. He lands a turn 2 Snapcaster with no targets, and I actually ended up dying to it as he swung each turn. I just couldn't get anything on board between all of his remands and additional Snapcasters. Game 3 was just the opposite, with him having to mulligan down to 5 and not seeing his second land until the turn before I killed him. Rough games all around, and I felt bad for winning that way against him. (2-1)
(3-1)
TOP FOUR ROUND 1: RG Tron
Here it was, the one deck that I absolutely didn't want to have to go against tonight. Game 1 I was able to get an early Thoughtseize and seer to rip out his Karn and Ulamog before he got his last land, but that turn he got a topdeck Karn and cast him, and was able to just take over the game from there. Game 2 I stuck a turn 2 Seer and started swinging in. I was also able to cast a Lingering Souls and flashback it. He never sees a Karn, but does cast Ulamog and killed my Seer and a token, then swung back. I was able to just take 2 attacks from him because of Grove of the Burnwillows and him using Nature's Claim on my relic. It came down to the wire here, with him at 2 life and staring down 2 Spirit tokens and only ulamog in play, but I was at 5 life and had less than 10 cards in my deck. On the end of my turn, he manages to save himself by using his Eye of Ugin to tutor up his last Spellskite and using his second Nature's Claim on it, putting him up to 6 life and out of range of my spirit tokens, buying him one more turn to kill me with Ulamog. Very close game. (0-2)
Overall I'm very pleased with the deck. I added in the Kozilek and full set of seers to test them out, and was super happy with how they both performed, with Seers being an all-star and me also tutoring for Kozilek more often than Ulamog surprisingly. I just have to be able to adjust my sideboard more for next week to have better tools against Tron. I also found that the single card I was least happy to see at any time was Bojuka Bog. I feel like my exile sources are enough already, and the coming into play tapped leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm almost wondering if it's worth swapping that out for either Sea Gate Wreckage or another Ghost Quarter for now.
Is there a reason you're still playing Slaughter pact? Especially since you still have 2 Wasteland and 2 dismember along side your 4 paths?
Honestly not really. I had it in there for the twin matchups and just haven't gotten around to replacing it yet. I'll probably try swapping it out for a 1-of Endbringer or swap it and some other card out for 2 Reality Smashers I think.
Thanks for the report! I have been skeptical about Kozilek just because he doesn't end games and I feel is much weaker against BGx and Grixis decks. Interesting to hear that he was your favorite tutor target.
Did you feel that 4 TKS was too much? Seems like a great card turns 2-4, but much less so turn 6+. I haven't tested Oath yet, but 2 stranglers seems correct to me, it feels horrible playing them as just a body when cards like TKS are around.
Oh Kozilek was definitely great. I judged him based on him refilling my hand and being a harder-to-block beatstick while in play, but surprisingly his counter ability also came in handy several times. It was a good feeling to refill my hand on cast, then stop my opponent the next turn from path-ing him by discarding a Thoughtseize. And I was hesitant to go the full 4-of for Seer at first, and I may very well still go down to 3, but every time I played one I was able to rip out a great card from my opponent's hand, and casting a Seer multiple turns in a row, getting multiple 4/4's that tore their hand apart really hurt most decks I did it to.
So are you guys for or again Tidehollow Sculler? I think it might be a great addition for the early exile + wasteland, but maybe spellskite is just plain better.
I used to really like Sculler, but post OGW it is kind of obsolete. The necessity of playing so many colorless lands makes getting BW on turn 2 (when you want to be playing sculler) more difficult, and TKS provides a better version of the affect on a better body, admittedly at a higher mana-cost. Sculler is still a good card that meshes very well and synergistically w/ Wasteland Strangler in particular, but in what is already a fairly tight decklist we have better cards available.
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My Decks:
UG Merfolk RG 8-Whack BWG Abzan midrange GRB Living End UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin" RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!" BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
I'll be removing the Slaughter Pact and something else to add in 2 Reality Smashers, probably an Oblivion Sower (to go down to 2) or See (to go down to 3) for next week... Also, what ended up being the consensus on Endbringer? Was he just too cute/slow for the deck? He seemed promising at first, at least to me.
I'll be removing the Slaughter Pact and something else to add in 2 Reality Smashers, probably an Oblivion Sower (to go down to 2) or See (to go down to 3) for next week... Also, what ended up being the consensus on Endbringer? Was he just too cute/slow for the deck? He seemed promising at first, at least to me.
Reality Smasher seems about as bad as Endbringer would when you're considering this isn't an aggro deck at all. Sideboard seems like a good idea for Smasher for the slower/combo matchups but it serves no purpose as a 2 of in game 1.
Endbringer on the other hand is just a good card at 4 drop. Pings 1/1s, foggs a creature or draws a card. Reality Smasher just starts a clock that will have little follow up on turn 3 or 4. If this was some type of aggro version Smasher seems fine. Assuming we have eye of ugin and judging these cards off best case scenario.
This is what I'm running after running a 24 land, double expedition map version at FNM to a 4-0 run though I take it with a grain of salt as far as that goes week 1 of new set and it being FNM.
Endbringer might be bad I'm just looking for another mid game drop in the fair games that is also a good tutor-able target to finish a game if Ulamog has come and gone.
Could be a Kozilek, Could be a 2nd Ulamog, could be a 4th Sower. Not sure yet.
I did beat boggles but might be looking for another edict effect in the board. Did get pretty lucky with lillys and flaying tendrils.
Takes from week 1 OGW:
Matter Reshaper and Thought-knot seer are very good. The grindyness of Reshaper in the midrange matchups while also being a great blocker in the early game matchups that will also give you an extra card after it trades is great.
Seer helps vs the non interactive matchups to slow them down while also being a clock vs the midrange/slower decks if you use it to protect your hand.
Warping Wail seems to be good enough in the early game vs birds, nobles and blighted agents. Helps keep you a little honest vs Living End and any sorcery type combo decks. Biggest advantage is that no one sees it coming because why would they expect countermagic from a b/w deck. Countering a Past in Flames when storm has exactly 4 mana while starting to go off was a nice touch.
1 of Seagate is great especially when you're playing your own Lillys. I won through a Liliana ultimate against a jund player due to my own lilly and a seagate.
Flayed Tendrils seems about as good as advertised.
Its one thing to talk a lot of hype about a deck its another to being to produce results so lets get into the thick of it. The staff, judges & commentators at mtg card market in Chicago were great hosts for their 2k modern event it was capped at 80 people and you can catch archive of the stream here. I foolishly didn't pre register and had to show up at 9:30 in the morning to put my name second on the wait list, only 2 or 3 people didn't show up to the event so I was fortunate enough to get to play. The rounds were executed sharply, awesome.
Just one simple change MD & SB from my previous list, I cut slaughter pact, its no longer needed with twin and bloom gone. MD Surgical does work, added 1 pithing needle as a great catch all in the SB.
Rnd 1 vs. Jake - Jeskai Control, win the roll.
Game 1: we both mull to 6, I disrupt his hand, and cast herder he lets the process trigger resolve then attempts to mana leak, i sac the scions in resp and have a 4/5. Herder and Vents go the distance with beats.
Game 2: I stick a crucible on 3 and eventually get him under a GQ lock, other highlights of this game include me warping wail a bribery and killing him with his own Celestial Colonnade and Ulamog for lethal.
2-0, 1-0
Rnd 2 vs. Justin - Burn, lose the roll.
Game 1: T2 i get to process a suspended rift bolt and kill a guide with strangler and surgical a bolt taking one from his hand, nearly turn the corner but he top decks a burn spell before i can close it out.
Game 2: Similar situation I'm nearly stabilized just need to fade 1 draw step before i get my vents online, it doesn't happen.
0-2, 1-1
Rnd 3 vs. Dominic - Living End, win the roll
Game 1: I keep a low curve(greedy) 1 land hand with relic and map, eventually I get there, warping wail creates a scion and he goes for living end forgetting scion can be sac'd to blow up the relic, it doesn't end well.
Game 2: relic again puts in work, he ignot chewers the first, but there is a second in hand. Lingering souls puts in work.
2-0, 2-1
Rnd 4 vs. Arthur - Jund, win the roll.
Game 1: Mull to 6, Pia and Kiran do work against me and I feel like I'm asleep at the wheel making misplays, focus.
Game 2: Opponent mulls to 6, Early disruption even though I cut most of the discard and I curve out.
Game 3: I keep a hand with lands and spells, T1 he IoKs me and takes my relic, T1 i draw and play map and we're off the races. you can see the whole game here, it was broken up into three parts. part 1. part 2. part 3. During that match he pyroclasm's me and i sac my scions in resp the reason i didn't grab ulamog with eye in that case was because I thought he might have another thoughtseize, so i grabbed sower.
2-1, 3-1
Rnd 5 vs. Kyle - Grixis Delver, lose the roll.
Game 1: He is able to power out an early angler its welcomed by Path, Souls and relic do work.
Game 2: Super close, hes at 1 life i'm at 5, with 2 spirits and vents available, he thoughtscours into electrolyze into terminate, take it in stride.
Game 3: This is a grind fest, but you know whats a grindy card? lingering souls, game goes to turns and on my last turn 8 souls go over the top for the win.
2-1, 4-1
Rnd 6 vs. Jack – Boggles, lose the roll.
Game 1: I’m in the dark and I get steam rolled by a 6/6 pro creature trample boggle.
Game 2: Spellskite in the opener, I GQ his Horizon Canopy and the surgical it (there are only so many dead cards you can take out against them) to turn on blight herder. Blight beats close it out.
Game 3: Spellskite, discard , disenchant and ratchet bomb. I’m down to 8 before I’m able to stablize with ratchet bomb, he gets his rancor back and plays the Kor, goes to target it and I Path in resp. herder and sower team up with skite back up and we close it out.
2-1, 5-1
At this point standings are posted and I’m currently in 7th with 15 points and solid breakers, but there is someone with 13 points and amazing breakers that threaten to kick out one of the two other players with 15 points. My opponent is one of those so I’m not afforded the opportunity to draw in to the top 8.
Rnd 7 vs. Yichao – Affinity, lose the roll.
Game 1: Mull to 5, He has the nut draw, my t3 souls aren’t fast enough its over before it really ever began.
Game 2: T2 stony silence, and man land beats with disruption finish it.
Game 3: he has a strong open, but t2 I disenchant one of his man lands, T3 I cast flaying tendrils he opts to put a counter on hangarback walker, sure but its exiled. Herder and sower tag team to close it out.
2-1, 6-1
After the 7 rounds of swiss I’m first place the top 8 consists of the following in order: BW Eldrazi, Ajundi, Infect, UR Delver, Affinity, Naya Company, Burn & Ad Nauseam. I Personally feel the Ad Nauseam match up isn’t bad by any stretch especially with 7 MD ways to interact with their hand in 3 IoK, 2 TS & 3 TKS, and the ability to interact favorably with lotus. My only loss is in top 8 as well.
Quarter Finals vs. Keith – Ad Nauseam, elect to be on the play.
Game 1: Hes at 9 I’ve been tearing apart his hand and have lethal on board hes left to the mercy of his top decks, he casts angel’s grace and we’re on to game 2.
Game 2: Mull to 6, Keep the following with my opponent on the fence if hes going to mull (I feel hes deciding if a ok hand with leyline will be good enough, and I was right) : Urborg, Thoughtseize, Surgical, Map, Disenchant & wasteland. Scry leaving vents on the top. I need to draw non come into play tap land by T3 or else its over. Its over. Had I drawn any non tap land I could’ve disenchanted his leyline, thought seized his ad nauseam and extracted it. Them the breaks.
I just want to say warping wail was the MVP of the day, stopped a bribery, exiled cliques/snapcasters/bobs/robots/delvers
Great tournament overall, all of my opponents were gracious and I really appreciated that. Left with some cash in my pocket so I feel great after possibly not being able to play due to the cap; lesson learned pre register!! If you’re in Chicagoland they’ve got another 2k coming up at the end of February and MTGcardmarket are great hosts.
Its one thing to talk a lot of hype about a deck its another to being to produce results so lets get into the thick of it. The staff, judges & commentators at mtg card market in Chicago were great hosts for their 2k modern event it was capped at 80 people and you can catch archive of the stream here. I foolishly didn't pre register and had to show up at 9:30 in the morning to put my name second on the wait list, only 2 or 3 people didn't show up to the event so I was fortunate enough to get to play. The rounds were executed sharply, awesome.
Just one simple change MD & SB from my previous list, I cut slaughter pact, its no longer needed with twin and bloom gone. MD Surgical does work, added 1 pithing needle as a great catch all in the SB.
Rnd 1 vs. Jake - Jeskai Control, win the roll.
Game 1: we both mull to 6, I disrupt his hand, and cast herder he lets the process trigger resolve then attempts to mana leak, i sac the scions in resp and have a 4/5. Herder and Vents go the distance with beats.
Game 2: I stick a crucible on 3 and eventually get him under a GQ lock, other highlights of this game include me warping wail a bribery and killing him with his own Celestial Colonnade and Ulamog for lethal.
2-0, 1-0
Rnd 2 vs. Justin - Burn, lose the roll.
Game 1: T2 i get to process a suspended rift bolt and kill a guide with strangler and surgical a bolt taking one from his hand, nearly turn the corner but he top decks a burn spell before i can close it out.
Game 2: Similar situation I'm nearly stabilized just need to fade 1 draw step before i get my vents online, it doesn't happen.
0-2, 1-1
Rnd 3 vs. Dominic - Living End, win the roll
Game 1: I keep a low curve(greedy) 1 land hand with relic and map, eventually I get there, warping wail creates a scion and he goes for living end forgetting scion can be sac'd to blow up the relic, it doesn't end well.
Game 2: relic again puts in work, he ignot chewers the first, but there is a second in hand. Lingering souls puts in work.
2-0, 2-1
Rnd 4 vs. Arthur - Jund, win the roll.
Game 1: Mull to 6, Pia and Kiran do work against me and I feel like I'm asleep at the wheel making misplays, focus.
Game 2: Opponent mulls to 6, Early disruption even though I cut most of the discard and I curve out.
Game 3: I keep a hand with lands and spells, T1 he IoKs me and takes my relic, T1 i draw and play map and we're off the races. you can see the whole game here, it was broken up into three parts. part 1. part 2. part 3. During that match he pyroclasm's me and i sac my scions in resp the reason i didn't grab ulamog with eye in that case was because I thought he might have another thoughtseize, so i grabbed sower.
2-1, 3-1
Rnd 5 vs. Kyle - Grixis Delver, lose the roll.
Game 1: He is able to power out an early angler its welcomed by Path, Souls and relic do work.
Game 2: Super close, hes at 1 life i'm at 5, with 2 spirits and vents available, he thoughtscours into electrolyze into terminate, take it in stride.
Game 3: This is a grind fest, but you know whats a grindy card? lingering souls, game goes to turns and on my last turn 8 souls go over the top for the win.
2-1, 4-1
Rnd 6 vs. Jack – Boggles, lose the roll.
Game 1: I’m in the dark and I get steam rolled by a 6/6 pro creature trample boggle.
Game 2: Spellskite in the opener, I GQ his Horizon Canopy and the surgical it (there are only so many dead cards you can take out against them) to turn on blight herder. Blight beats close it out.
Game 3: Spellskite, discard , disenchant and ratchet bomb. I’m down to 8 before I’m able to stablize with ratchet bomb, he gets his rancor back and plays the Kor, goes to target it and I Path in resp. herder and sower team up with skite back up and we close it out.
2-1, 5-1
At this point standings are posted and I’m currently in 7th with 15 points and solid breakers, but there is someone with 13 points and amazing breakers that threaten to kick out one of the two other players with 15 points. My opponent is one of those so I’m not afforded the opportunity to draw in to the top 8.
Rnd 7 vs. Yichao – Affinity, lose the roll.
Game 1: Mull to 5, He has the nut draw, my t3 souls aren’t fast enough its over before it really ever began.
Game 2: T2 stony silence, and man land beats with disruption finish it.
Game 3: he has a strong open, but t2 I disenchant one of his man lands, T3 I cast flaying tendrils he opts to put a counter on hangarback walker, sure but its exiled. Herder and sower tag team to close it out.
2-1, 6-1
After the 7 rounds of swiss I’m first place the top 8 consists of the following in order: BW Eldrazi, Ajundi, Infect, UR Delver, Affinity, Naya Company, Burn & Ad Nauseam. I Personally feel the Ad Nauseam match up isn’t bad by any stretch especially with 7 MD ways to interact with their hand in 3 IoK, 2 TS & 3 TKS, and the ability to interact favorably with lotus. My only loss is in top 8 as well.
Quarter Finals vs. Keith – Ad Nauseam, elect to be on the play.
Game 1: Hes at 9 I’ve been tearing apart his hand and have lethal on board hes left to the mercy of his top decks, he casts angel’s grace and we’re on to game 2.
Game 2: Mull to 6, Keep the following with my opponent on the fence if hes going to mull (I feel hes deciding if a ok hand with leyline will be good enough, and I was right) : Urborg, Thoughtseize, Surgical, Map, Disenchant & wasteland. Scry leaving vents on the top. I need to draw non come into play tap land by T3 or else its over. Its over. Had I drawn any non tap land I could’ve disenchanted his leyline, thought seized his ad nauseam and extracted it. Them the breaks.
I just want to say warping wail was the MVP of the day, stopped a bribery, exiled cliques/snapcasters/bobs/robots/delvers
Great tournament overall, all of my opponents were gracious and I really appreciated that. Left with some cash in my pocket so I feel great after possibly not being able to play due to the cap; lesson learned pre register!! If you’re in Chicagoland they’ve got another 2k coming up at the end of February and MTGcardmarket are great hosts.
big ups on repping Warping Wail I too love the card and see it as at least a 2 of. Do you really still like Wasteland Strangler? Have you thought of going up to 3 or 4 seers and trying out Matter Reshaper? Very good card. I know you get the niche situations of stealing suspended cards but I think getting turn 2 or 3 seers is a lot more valuable while also giving you a 4/4 and not needing the processor requirement to just slam.
Warping Wail is the real deal and I too see it as a 2 of, maybe more meta dependent. I do still like Wasteland Strangler, especially in the current state of the meta with the shake up, In time i could see moving to Matter Reshaper if the format gets slower as some have predicted but for now I'll leave wasteland at 2. 4 Seers seems like overkill, I treat it like Clique, and at 2 along with 5 Discard spells it felt right.
Congrats on your good results sir. How did the manabase felt without playing any Marsh Flats? More than the color fixing, I feel it helps with the deck thinning aspect to avoid flooding out late game when we are grinding.
first off thanks, The manabase felt great with out marsh flats. With caves/ghost quarter/Temples allow you to be on curve for TKS and Wail. Since we've got 3 MD vents flooding out isn't an issue and during the course of a game you're taking virtually the same amount of damage from your caves as you would from fetches + more shocks.
Grats on the win! Great report! You are running a lot of tap lands and it seemed to cost you in the quarter finals. I have cut out vents in my lists and play fetches instead.
Also glad you repped MD surgical extraction! Instant speed turning on herders ftw!
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No idea because my favorite decks keep getting banned or having the rules changed against them
Thank you. 4 Tap lands can be a bit of a struggle but to be fair the one game is cost me is made up for the multiple games it won or stabilized me; 4 tap lands is right on par with Jund and some builds of Abzan, so I'll take the loss in the quarters for the wins it gave me through out the day. I can understand people cutting vents for fetches but with 23(25) virtual lands due to the redundancy of Eye & Urborg you will flood out and man lands are a nice way to hedge against that.
Yeah going back to when I first picked up the deck Surgical was MD and with twin gone and the rise of some broken strategies(hulk, shoal, ad nauseam, tron and infect) in addition to turning on blight herder and giving you info it has earned its place again MD. I played in FNM before the tournament and in four rounds played against tron twice losing in 3 and drawing in the other matches. GQ was great but I drew slaughter pact a number of times and i just kept thinking this should've been surgical. Also by bringing it MD it opens up a slot for pithing needle which is great again against tron naming Karn or eye depending on the state of the game.
First off thanks, I agree I feel fetches are great in combination with cards like Delver or Courser but its overstated for thinning.
Also as you stated I did make the cut for pain lands because i want to play TKS and Wail on curve and I'll quote what I've previously posted on the topic of the manabase. Obviously I upped GQ, cut the fetches and sea gate and you're right they've got merit for color fixing but blood moon doesn't hose this deck, unlike tron where its taking 4+ on average they're taking 1 possibly 2 extra .
Manabase:
Colorless matters and in order to cast Warping Wail and Seer and activate wreckage we're going to remake the base. As others have posted Frank Karsten article about constructing a manabase in order to hit colors at 90% probability on curve is huge. The manabase posted above in addition to map and relic acting as "fragile mana producers" & "cantrips" provides us with the following sources and (virtual sources). T1 you need 14 sources this base hits that and is at a virtual 16. T2 & we're at 10 and a virtual 12 below the recommended 13. T3 & same as before, below the recommended 12 at 10 but at a virtual 12. It may appear sacrilegious to cut the fetches down from 4-5 to 2 but adding Caves makes sure we can reliably cast Thought-Knot and Warping. The life lost from Caves is similar to that of a play set of fetches and is mitigated mid and late by vents. Having 3 MD Ghost Quarter brings your probability against tron to 31.5% in you're opening hand and 42.7% by T3. Sea Gate in my testing has been gas but if you're playing Timely in your sideboard I can see running Vault over Sea since you're giving up a fair amount of additional percentage points by not running it.
Ever since Matthew Dilks, who was kind enough to post earlier in this thread came in 10th at Cincinnati, I've been very impressed with MD skite, often its a wall early and mid and late its just additional protection for our giant threats against the fair decks against some of our trouble match ups its amazing, boggles, burn and infect and even scapeshift as well.
Great article. It makes me rethink the uses of fetch lands a bit in this deck. I still want access to my basics, and to color fix when necessary, but part of my old argument was deck thinning. I guess I will need to throw that part out.
Maybe I will drop to 2 fetches and more caves.
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I don't understand how Blood Moon doesn't hose this deck.
You can cast Blight Herder, Sower, & Relic with all mountains, that's about it. The decks that play blood moon are agressive, you need your removal online. Affinity, Delver-tempo, shape Anew Combo, Grixis Delve.
If you don't run fetches you can't reliably get basics to play around it. Colorless mana is completely hosed by Blood Moon as there's no way to get Wastes, and nobody is really gonna map on a Wastes, or bother running Wastes in the deck.
If your opponent plays blood moon, and you don't already have basics on the table, or fetches out ready to get basics, you can play Expedition Map to find a basic, then try to Disenchant the Blood Moon, but that's really the only line I see.
With all that being said, I really do miss my 2 Shambling Vents, after reading Beatox's report. I might cut a Ghost quarter for one or something. Tapped was never that big of an issue, with only 2 tapped lands.
I don't understand how Blood Moon doesn't hose this deck.
You can cast Blight Herder, Sower, & Relic with all mountains, that's about it. The decks that play blood moon are agressive, you need your removal online. Affinity, Delver-tempo, shape Anew Combo, Grixis Delve.
If you don't run fetches you can't reliably get basics to play around it. Colorless mana is completely hosed by Blood Moon as there's no way to get Wastes, and nobody is really gonna map on a Wastes, or bother running Wastes in the deck.
If your opponent plays blood moon, and you don't already have basics on the table, or fetches out ready to get basics, you can play Expedition Map to find a basic, then try to Disenchant the Blood Moon, but that's really the only line I see.
With all that being said, I really do miss my 2 Shambling Vents, after reading Beatox's report. I might cut a Ghost quarter for one or something. Tapped was never that big of an issue, with only 2 tapped lands.
You can GQ your own lands in response to the blood moon to grab a basic or a wastes if you run it.
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4 Blight Herder
4 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Oblivion Sower
2 Wasteland Stranger
1 Kozilek, the Great Distortion
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Spells (16):
4 Lingering Souls
4 Path to Exile
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
2 Dismember
1 Slaughter Pact
4 Relic of Progenitus
Lands (25):
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Caves of Koilos
3 Eye of Ugin
3 Marsh Flats
2 Godless Shrine
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Bojuka Bog
3 Timely Reinforcements
2 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Disenchant
2 Languish
1 Stony Silence
1 Ruin Processor
1 All is Dust
1 Ghost Quarter
ROUND 1: Melira Chord
Game 1 started out slowly, with me picking off a few of his Chords and CoCo's and trying to fight my way through the lifegain from 3 Kitchen Finks and killing any copies of Anafenza immediately. On turn 7 I was able to cast my Ulamog which he immediately Path'd, though he couldn't do much else to advance his combo while I had an active Relic in play. A misplay on my part saw me crack the relic to get an extra draw, after which he tapped his whole board for a Chord and got his final Finks with the combo on board. Game 2 I just wasn't able to draw into a single piece of removal while he kept swinging at me with an ever-growing Scavenging Ooze that kept his life total high and mine low. (0-2)
(0-1)
ROUND 2: Nacatl Burn
This is a girl that I've gone against every wednesday night Modern event for the past several weeks. We both knew the matchup well enough, but she was a very good pilot for the deck and could pull wins if I wasn't careful. In game 1 I'm able to close out the game by having my Wasteland Strangler process her suspended Rift Bolt and kill one of her 2 Swiftspears, after which I just swung through with Seers and Sowers. Game 2 goes very much the same way, with me starting the game with a Leyline in play and once again processing a rift bolt to kill her creature. (2-0)
(1-1)
ROUND 3: Grixis Control
Game 1 went started off with him using Inquisition on me. I don't believe he'd seen or heard of this deck before now, as he took a long time to read over the Processors in my hand and comment on how they don't seem good for the format. I get a turn 1 Relic in play and start using it to keep him off Snapcaster targets or Delve fuel, then happily using my "terrible" Strangler to kill his turn 2 Jace. Even with relic in play, he's still able to wrestle control of the game with a lucky Tasigur and Pia and Kiran Nalaar. Game 2 is over very quickly when I get a very lucky Oblivion Sower for 6 lands while I had Eye and Urborg in play. He scooped right after that. Game 3 was an oddity. I keep a hand with a Thought-Knot Seer, Leyline, Relic, and Thoughtseize, putting the Leyline into play right away. This upsets him a bit and when I thoughtseize him turn 1 I see why. He had for some reason kept a hand of 4 lands and only 2 lightning bolts. He fights through it though and I surgical extraction all of his Scalding Tarns and follow up with my Sower. I use Eye to tutor up Kozilek and cast him to refill my hand, and in the same turn had enought mana from Temples and Eye to also cast 2 Blight Herders and a Thought-Knot Seer for a decisive win. (2-1)
(2-1)
ROUND 4: Grixis Control
Another Grixis control deck, but this is against a very good friend of mine, and a friend who helped me test this deck on several occasions. We both knew this matchup was favorable for me. Game 1 was very grindy with both of us removing and discarding a lot of targets. I finally win when I'm able to Tutor up Kozilek and Ulamog and cast them both over 2 turns. During game 2 my deck bricked HARD, sticking me with only 4 lands total, one of which was an Eye with no Urborg support. He lands a turn 2 Snapcaster with no targets, and I actually ended up dying to it as he swung each turn. I just couldn't get anything on board between all of his remands and additional Snapcasters. Game 3 was just the opposite, with him having to mulligan down to 5 and not seeing his second land until the turn before I killed him. Rough games all around, and I felt bad for winning that way against him. (2-1)
(3-1)
TOP FOUR ROUND 1: RG Tron
Here it was, the one deck that I absolutely didn't want to have to go against tonight. Game 1 I was able to get an early Thoughtseize and seer to rip out his Karn and Ulamog before he got his last land, but that turn he got a topdeck Karn and cast him, and was able to just take over the game from there. Game 2 I stuck a turn 2 Seer and started swinging in. I was also able to cast a Lingering Souls and flashback it. He never sees a Karn, but does cast Ulamog and killed my Seer and a token, then swung back. I was able to just take 2 attacks from him because of Grove of the Burnwillows and him using Nature's Claim on my relic. It came down to the wire here, with him at 2 life and staring down 2 Spirit tokens and only ulamog in play, but I was at 5 life and had less than 10 cards in my deck. On the end of my turn, he manages to save himself by using his Eye of Ugin to tutor up his last Spellskite and using his second Nature's Claim on it, putting him up to 6 life and out of range of my spirit tokens, buying him one more turn to kill me with Ulamog. Very close game. (0-2)
Overall I'm very pleased with the deck. I added in the Kozilek and full set of seers to test them out, and was super happy with how they both performed, with Seers being an all-star and me also tutoring for Kozilek more often than Ulamog surprisingly. I just have to be able to adjust my sideboard more for next week to have better tools against Tron. I also found that the single card I was least happy to see at any time was Bojuka Bog. I feel like my exile sources are enough already, and the coming into play tapped leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm almost wondering if it's worth swapping that out for either Sea Gate Wreckage or another Ghost Quarter for now.
WB Eldrazi Processors BW
Legacy:
WUBRGLandless DredgeGRBUW
EDH:
BGMeren of Clan Nel TothGB
WUBrago, King Eternal (Budget!)UW
Is there a reason you're still playing Slaughter pact? Especially since you still have 2 Wasteland and 2 dismember along side your 4 paths?
Did you feel that 4 TKS was too much? Seems like a great card turns 2-4, but much less so turn 6+. I haven't tested Oath yet, but 2 stranglers seems correct to me, it feels horrible playing them as just a body when cards like TKS are around.
Honestly not really. I had it in there for the twin matchups and just haven't gotten around to replacing it yet. I'll probably try swapping it out for a 1-of Endbringer or swap it and some other card out for 2 Reality Smashers I think.
Oh Kozilek was definitely great. I judged him based on him refilling my hand and being a harder-to-block beatstick while in play, but surprisingly his counter ability also came in handy several times. It was a good feeling to refill my hand on cast, then stop my opponent the next turn from path-ing him by discarding a Thoughtseize. And I was hesitant to go the full 4-of for Seer at first, and I may very well still go down to 3, but every time I played one I was able to rip out a great card from my opponent's hand, and casting a Seer multiple turns in a row, getting multiple 4/4's that tore their hand apart really hurt most decks I did it to.
WB Eldrazi Processors BW
Legacy:
WUBRGLandless DredgeGRBUW
EDH:
BGMeren of Clan Nel TothGB
WUBrago, King Eternal (Budget!)UW
I used to really like Sculler, but post OGW it is kind of obsolete. The necessity of playing so many colorless lands makes getting BW on turn 2 (when you want to be playing sculler) more difficult, and TKS provides a better version of the affect on a better body, admittedly at a higher mana-cost. Sculler is still a good card that meshes very well and synergistically w/ Wasteland Strangler in particular, but in what is already a fairly tight decklist we have better cards available.
RG 8-Whack
BWG Abzan midrange
GRB Living End
UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin"
RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!"
BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
WB Eldrazi Processors BW
Legacy:
WUBRGLandless DredgeGRBUW
EDH:
BGMeren of Clan Nel TothGB
WUBrago, King Eternal (Budget!)UW
Reality Smasher seems about as bad as Endbringer would when you're considering this isn't an aggro deck at all. Sideboard seems like a good idea for Smasher for the slower/combo matchups but it serves no purpose as a 2 of in game 1.
Endbringer on the other hand is just a good card at 4 drop. Pings 1/1s, foggs a creature or draws a card. Reality Smasher just starts a clock that will have little follow up on turn 3 or 4. If this was some type of aggro version Smasher seems fine. Assuming we have eye of ugin and judging these cards off best case scenario.
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Eye of Ugin
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Caves of Koilos
2 Godless Shrine
1 Fetid Heath
1 Marsh Flats
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Sea gate Wreckage
2 Swamp
2 Plains
Creature: 15
3 Matter Reshaper
3 Thought-knot Seer
4 Blight Herder
3 Oblivion Sower
1 Endbringer
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
2 Liliana of the Veil
Instant: 6
4 Path to Exile
2 Warping Wail
Sorcery: 9
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
3 Lingering Souls
1 Timely Reinforcements
Artifact: 3
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Duress
2 Flaying Tendrils
1 Liliana of the Veil
2 Memoricide
2 Disenchant
2 Celestial Purge
1 Eldrazi Displacer
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Spellskite
1 All is Dust
Endbringer might be bad I'm just looking for another mid game drop in the fair games that is also a good tutor-able target to finish a game if Ulamog has come and gone.
Could be a Kozilek, Could be a 2nd Ulamog, could be a 4th Sower. Not sure yet.
I did beat boggles but might be looking for another edict effect in the board. Did get pretty lucky with lillys and flaying tendrils.
Takes from week 1 OGW:
Matter Reshaper and Thought-knot seer are very good. The grindyness of Reshaper in the midrange matchups while also being a great blocker in the early game matchups that will also give you an extra card after it trades is great.
Seer helps vs the non interactive matchups to slow them down while also being a clock vs the midrange/slower decks if you use it to protect your hand.
Warping Wail seems to be good enough in the early game vs birds, nobles and blighted agents. Helps keep you a little honest vs Living End and any sorcery type combo decks. Biggest advantage is that no one sees it coming because why would they expect countermagic from a b/w deck. Countering a Past in Flames when storm has exactly 4 mana while starting to go off was a nice touch.
1 of Seagate is great especially when you're playing your own Lillys. I won through a Liliana ultimate against a jund player due to my own lilly and a seagate.
Flayed Tendrils seems about as good as advertised.
Now for the deck
1 Spellskite
2 Wasteland Strangler
2 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Blight Herder
3 Oblivion Sower
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Instant (7)
4 Path to Exile
2 Warping Wail
1 Surgical Extraction
Sorcery (9)
4 Lingering Souls
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Expedition Map
Lands (25)
2 Godless Shrine
4 Eldrazi Temple
2 Eye of Ugin
2 Swamp
1 Plains
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Shambling Vent
1 Bojuka Bog
4 Caves of Koilos
3 Rest for the Weary
2 Stony Silence
2 Disenchant
2 Celestial Purge
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Flaying Tendrils
1 Memoricide
1 Crucible of worlds
1 pithing needle
Just one simple change MD & SB from my previous list, I cut slaughter pact, its no longer needed with twin and bloom gone. MD Surgical does work, added 1 pithing needle as a great catch all in the SB.
Rnd 1 vs. Jake - Jeskai Control, win the roll.
Game 1: we both mull to 6, I disrupt his hand, and cast herder he lets the process trigger resolve then attempts to mana leak, i sac the scions in resp and have a 4/5. Herder and Vents go the distance with beats.
Game 2: I stick a crucible on 3 and eventually get him under a GQ lock, other highlights of this game include me warping wail a bribery and killing him with his own Celestial Colonnade and Ulamog for lethal.
2-0, 1-0
Rnd 2 vs. Justin - Burn, lose the roll.
Game 1: T2 i get to process a suspended rift bolt and kill a guide with strangler and surgical a bolt taking one from his hand, nearly turn the corner but he top decks a burn spell before i can close it out.
Game 2: Similar situation I'm nearly stabilized just need to fade 1 draw step before i get my vents online, it doesn't happen.
0-2, 1-1
Rnd 3 vs. Dominic - Living End, win the roll
Game 1: I keep a low curve(greedy) 1 land hand with relic and map, eventually I get there, warping wail creates a scion and he goes for living end forgetting scion can be sac'd to blow up the relic, it doesn't end well.
Game 2: relic again puts in work, he ignot chewers the first, but there is a second in hand. Lingering souls puts in work.
2-0, 2-1
Rnd 4 vs. Arthur - Jund, win the roll.
Game 1: Mull to 6, Pia and Kiran do work against me and I feel like I'm asleep at the wheel making misplays, focus.
Game 2: Opponent mulls to 6, Early disruption even though I cut most of the discard and I curve out.
Game 3: I keep a hand with lands and spells, T1 he IoKs me and takes my relic, T1 i draw and play map and we're off the races. you can see the whole game here, it was broken up into three parts. part 1. part 2. part 3. During that match he pyroclasm's me and i sac my scions in resp the reason i didn't grab ulamog with eye in that case was because I thought he might have another thoughtseize, so i grabbed sower.
2-1, 3-1
Rnd 5 vs. Kyle - Grixis Delver, lose the roll.
Game 1: He is able to power out an early angler its welcomed by Path, Souls and relic do work.
Game 2: Super close, hes at 1 life i'm at 5, with 2 spirits and vents available, he thoughtscours into electrolyze into terminate, take it in stride.
Game 3: This is a grind fest, but you know whats a grindy card? lingering souls, game goes to turns and on my last turn 8 souls go over the top for the win.
2-1, 4-1
Rnd 6 vs. Jack – Boggles, lose the roll.
Game 1: I’m in the dark and I get steam rolled by a 6/6 pro creature trample boggle.
Game 2: Spellskite in the opener, I GQ his Horizon Canopy and the surgical it (there are only so many dead cards you can take out against them) to turn on blight herder. Blight beats close it out.
Game 3: Spellskite, discard , disenchant and ratchet bomb. I’m down to 8 before I’m able to stablize with ratchet bomb, he gets his rancor back and plays the Kor, goes to target it and I Path in resp. herder and sower team up with skite back up and we close it out.
2-1, 5-1
At this point standings are posted and I’m currently in 7th with 15 points and solid breakers, but there is someone with 13 points and amazing breakers that threaten to kick out one of the two other players with 15 points. My opponent is one of those so I’m not afforded the opportunity to draw in to the top 8.
Rnd 7 vs. Yichao – Affinity, lose the roll.
Game 1: Mull to 5, He has the nut draw, my t3 souls aren’t fast enough its over before it really ever began.
Game 2: T2 stony silence, and man land beats with disruption finish it.
Game 3: he has a strong open, but t2 I disenchant one of his man lands, T3 I cast flaying tendrils he opts to put a counter on hangarback walker, sure but its exiled. Herder and sower tag team to close it out.
2-1, 6-1
After the 7 rounds of swiss I’m first place the top 8 consists of the following in order: BW Eldrazi, Ajundi, Infect, UR Delver, Affinity, Naya Company, Burn & Ad Nauseam. I Personally feel the Ad Nauseam match up isn’t bad by any stretch especially with 7 MD ways to interact with their hand in 3 IoK, 2 TS & 3 TKS, and the ability to interact favorably with lotus. My only loss is in top 8 as well.
Quarter Finals vs. Keith – Ad Nauseam, elect to be on the play.
Game 1: Hes at 9 I’ve been tearing apart his hand and have lethal on board hes left to the mercy of his top decks, he casts angel’s grace and we’re on to game 2.
Game 2: Mull to 6, Keep the following with my opponent on the fence if hes going to mull (I feel hes deciding if a ok hand with leyline will be good enough, and I was right) : Urborg, Thoughtseize, Surgical, Map, Disenchant & wasteland. Scry leaving vents on the top. I need to draw non come into play tap land by T3 or else its over. Its over. Had I drawn any non tap land I could’ve disenchanted his leyline, thought seized his ad nauseam and extracted it. Them the breaks.
I just want to say warping wail was the MVP of the day, stopped a bribery, exiled cliques/snapcasters/bobs/robots/delvers
Great tournament overall, all of my opponents were gracious and I really appreciated that. Left with some cash in my pocket so I feel great after possibly not being able to play due to the cap; lesson learned pre register!! If you’re in Chicagoland they’ve got another 2k coming up at the end of February and MTGcardmarket are great hosts.
big ups on repping Warping Wail I too love the card and see it as at least a 2 of. Do you really still like Wasteland Strangler? Have you thought of going up to 3 or 4 seers and trying out Matter Reshaper? Very good card. I know you get the niche situations of stealing suspended cards but I think getting turn 2 or 3 seers is a lot more valuable while also giving you a 4/4 and not needing the processor requirement to just slam.
Also glad you repped MD surgical extraction! Instant speed turning on herders ftw!
Yeah going back to when I first picked up the deck Surgical was MD and with twin gone and the rise of some broken strategies(hulk, shoal, ad nauseam, tron and infect) in addition to turning on blight herder and giving you info it has earned its place again MD. I played in FNM before the tournament and in four rounds played against tron twice losing in 3 and drawing in the other matches. GQ was great but I drew slaughter pact a number of times and i just kept thinking this should've been surgical. Also by bringing it MD it opens up a slot for pithing needle which is great again against tron naming Karn or eye depending on the state of the game.
Also as you stated I did make the cut for pain lands because i want to play TKS and Wail on curve and I'll quote what I've previously posted on the topic of the manabase. Obviously I upped GQ, cut the fetches and sea gate and you're right they've got merit for color fixing but blood moon doesn't hose this deck, unlike tron where its taking 4+ on average they're taking 1 possibly 2 extra .
Ever since Matthew Dilks, who was kind enough to post earlier in this thread came in 10th at Cincinnati, I've been very impressed with MD skite, often its a wall early and mid and late its just additional protection for our giant threats against the fair decks against some of our trouble match ups its amazing, boggles, burn and infect and even scapeshift as well.
Maybe I will drop to 2 fetches and more caves.
You can cast Blight Herder, Sower, & Relic with all mountains, that's about it. The decks that play blood moon are agressive, you need your removal online. Affinity, Delver-tempo, shape Anew Combo, Grixis Delve.
If you don't run fetches you can't reliably get basics to play around it. Colorless mana is completely hosed by Blood Moon as there's no way to get Wastes, and nobody is really gonna map on a Wastes, or bother running Wastes in the deck.
If your opponent plays blood moon, and you don't already have basics on the table, or fetches out ready to get basics, you can play Expedition Map to find a basic, then try to Disenchant the Blood Moon, but that's really the only line I see.
With all that being said, I really do miss my 2 Shambling Vents, after reading Beatox's report. I might cut a Ghost quarter for one or something. Tapped was never that big of an issue, with only 2 tapped lands.
You can GQ your own lands in response to the blood moon to grab a basic or a wastes if you run it.