Anyway, had my first fnm this last week, went 3-0
First against Jund Deathshadow, not much happened, I won both games with turn 2 BBs
2nd round against Grixis Delver, not that difficult cause both games my opponent flooded
3rd round is where the fun is at, against Grixis Death Shadow
I had both Auriok Champions G1, but none of the token producers until my deck is like 30ish, and i even have all fetchable lands on the battlefield. Still manage to get to 30-ish life once i drew lingering souls, tho.
G2 i have a strong turn 1 iok discarding pyroclasm turn 2 BB into turn 3 spectral
Overall, shadow matches are easy unless they get a great start, and it's still winnable for us. Halos shine so much in this matchup
TL;DR: I want to play Emrakul in BW token and I'm splashing blue for it. Need help for ways to make it work, good blue cards to make the splash worth it and/or arguments to convice me this is a bad idea
Soooo.... I'm experimenting a bit with the deck and I am looking at ways to cheat Emrakul, the aeons torn into play with cards like Polymorph and Windbrisk heights. I know I saw a couple of post earlier in this thread talking about this and I wanted to see for myself how well it performs. Here's the current list:
I know I need some way to discard Emrakul if I draw it for Polymorph to work. That's why I'm running two Liliana of the veil (Maybe more in the future?) and a full playset of Collective Brutality in the main so that I can discard Emrakul if I draw it. In addition, I can also Thoughtseize myself to discard Emrakul as a last resort, hense why I run it instead of Inquisition of kozilek. Another small flaw of the card is that you need to target your creature instead of a creature being part of the cost. Because of that, your opponent can use a spot removal on the Polymorph target and make the spell fizzle completely. The heavy discard I run can remedy that problem I guess, but still It's something I'm aware of.
Second way to cheat Emrakul is with the hideaway ability of Windbrisk heights. It's harder for two reasons:
1) you need three creature attacking (which is not such a big deal for us)
2) you need to be a little lucky for Emrakul to be among the four selectable card for the hideaway.
However, all this effort rewards you with the extra turn of Emrakul since it's "play the exiled card without paying its mana cost". (They only use Play instead of cast because the card you hideaway could be a land and you can't cast a land, but I assure you, it works).
There's also quite a downside in getting an Emrakul under Windbrisk heights, if either the land gets destroyed or you can't attack with three creature, emrakul is stuck there and all copies of Polymorph becomes dead. I've been thinking of maybe running a second emrakul to avoid this. It would also mean I don't absolutely have to discard it if I draw one for Polymorph, but it also means I have more chance to draw into one, which I don't want to but it may be a necessary evil if I want to cheat into Emrakul.
I run Raise the alarm instead of bitterblossom as it help getting a lot of attackers quick. I also decided to test Legion's landing at the same time since it's the same condition has the hideaway to flip it and the early token it provide does go well with a turn 2 Raise the alarm. It actually opens up a potential turn 3 emrakul scenario. (Assuming a land drop each turn and no removal, Turn 1 Legion, Turn 2 RtA, Turn 3 attack with 3 tokens, flip legion, tap 4 mana for Polymorph to Emrakul, Turn 4 GG)
I also thought that maybe I could go for more blue cards, but I didn't really think of any at that moment. I don't really want the cantrips or counterspells over my Spectral Procession or over-all token gameplan, but I may be dead wrong on either of those claims. I also don't know what kind of sideboard Blue opens up for me. If I don't go Esper and just stay with a blue splash for Polymorph, I might cut the island. Just felt like being able to fetch a blue for a Path to exile was a nice back-up plan to have.
Well thank you for reading through all this wall of text. Any input is appreciated as this is currently under construction/testing.
Thanks for the info, thought Grixis Shadow was a good matchup. Working on getting halos. How’s our Mardu Pyromancer matchup? We can do a better job spitting out tokens than they can, but they also run sweepers that hit our creatures, but not their Revellers.
I got 2nd at Monday Night Modern at my LGS. Doesnt have as many participant, but almost all 8 decks are arguably tier 1.
R1 BG Tron (0-2) I got obliterated on this match by natural tron on both game. I even put stony on turn 2 but what can you do against natural tron :/
R2 Grixis Control (2-1)
First game was easy enough, your usual turn 1 iok into turn 2 bitterblossom to seal the game
2nd game is interesting, as we fought back and forth on resources, even had opp on 1 life, but not enough to win the game
3rd game is the same as 1st game
R3 GDS (2-0)
Nothing much happened, except that i have the option on game 2 to sac my nihil but didnt do it, probably should have. The reasons i didnt crack it was because the grave had nothing significant, but probably should have cause he can put a delve threat on 2. Auriok champion is mvp yet again.
The current deck I’ve put together, it’s a mirror of the one that did well on MTGO aside from a missing Surgical Extraction in the SB. Any advice? I was thinking of putting the Auriok Champions in the MB. What should I remove?
The current deck I’ve put together, it’s a mirror of the one that did well on MTGO aside from a missing Surgical Extraction in the SB. Any advice? I was thinking of putting the Auriok Champions in the MB. What should I remove?
Brutality serve almost the same purpose as AC's in the main. You can swap them if you want
The current deck I’ve put together, it’s a mirror of the one that did well on MTGO aside from a missing Surgical Extraction in the SB. Any advice? I was thinking of putting the Auriok Champions in the MB. What should I remove?
Brutality serve almost the same purpose as AC's in the main. You can swap them if you want
Thanks for the advice, I’ll make the changes. Went 2-2 last night at FNM. First time I’ve piloted the deck since I nearly top 8’d SCG Regionals last year. Match 1 lost 1-2 to Grixis Shadow, easily won game 1, game 2 and 3 and he just constantly kept ripping my hand apart. Match 2 lost 0-2 game 1 couldn’t find land, game 2 found too many. Match 3 2-1 against UW Spirits. Match 4 2-1 vs Jeskai Control.
Haven't been on in months LOL but I'm gonna chime in, Slaughter the Strong is amazing so far in testing, only deck it's truly dead against is Affinity since they can just sac all the creatures they don't care about to Ravager, let it die to Slaughter and then modular moves the counters to whatever they kept.
I haven't tried the card yet, but i believe the card is good in aggro shell, not BB shell. Jund matchup is gonna be a bit harder now with BBE around, but JTMS might not be a prob. CMIIW
I just played six boardless games against BBE Jund (my opponent forgot his sideboard ). I won four and lost two. My overall impression is that we are definitely still favored in the preboard matchup. It seems grindier than it used to be though. Two of the games went past Turn 15.
If they hit their cards right, they can steal games with Bloodbraid Elf. In one of the games, I Thoughtseized BBE early on, my opponent cast a second on Turn 4 with a Tarmagoyf already on the field, and cascaded into Kolaghan's Command. Cast it the following turn to bring back BBE and force me to discard my Sorin (I drew Concealed Courtyard as my fourth land the previous turn, so couldn't cast him). Turn after that, cast the returned BBE cascading into another Goyf, putting 16 power on the field (soon to be 20 because of Raging Ravine).
At any rate, I can attest that the new version of the deck packs a ton of value, and the fact that they are biasing their removal suites back towards Lightning Bolt isn't great for us either. That being said, we do still have the edge.
Unban of Jace and BBE will make people play a lot of Jund and Control...that is why I am thinking of starting again playing some old fashioned T1 discard, T2 bitterblossom deck
It's not a bad idea, but be aware that the players in the Jund and U/W Control forums are hard at work refining their builds to optimally support the unbanned cards, and they are aware that some players are thinking the same thing that you and are modifying accordingly:
...we could run 2 dreadbore and 2 maelstrom pulse. I also think that traditional Tron and BW tokens will see an increase in play to prey on Jund and Jace control, so being able to take out a Karn or a Sorin with 1 card would be nice.
Oh and expect Jeskai to diverge even more than it already has into the currently popular, proactive Tempo-Control version and a more reactive Jace Control build.
The LL/BB version I’m piloting seems it’d do better against Jund, making more than just spirit tokens, making Soldiers and Vmpaires as well, so Maelstrom Pulse doesn’t just blow me out. Also, don’t Jace decks have a hard time against us? (Someone previously worried about him)
Maybe shifting the balance of Inquisition of Kozilek to Thoughtseize towards the latter? Being able to grab either Jace or the Elf is pretty significant, I think.
I've always been a big fan of the 4 Thoughtseize / 2 Inquisition of Kozilek split rather than the 3/3 and 2/4 I often see. The new unbans only solidify my opinion.
If one is worried about jace, it's not such a bad idea to pack one or two Pithing Needle in the side just in case. Duress is also good. If we're talking mainboard answers, tarotplz probably has the right idea here with Anguished unmaking.
I love me Auriok Champions, basically wins us the Dredge matchup singlehandedly. Does wonders against Burn, BB doesn’t cost us life? Yes please! Blocks Shadows creatures for days, unless they Battle rage
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First against Jund Deathshadow, not much happened, I won both games with turn 2 BBs
2nd round against Grixis Delver, not that difficult cause both games my opponent flooded
3rd round is where the fun is at, against Grixis Death Shadow
I had both Auriok Champions G1, but none of the token producers until my deck is like 30ish, and i even have all fetchable lands on the battlefield. Still manage to get to 30-ish life once i drew lingering souls, tho.
G2 i have a strong turn 1 iok discarding pyroclasm turn 2 BB into turn 3 spectral
Overall, shadow matches are easy unless they get a great start, and it's still winnable for us. Halos shine so much in this matchup
Soooo.... I'm experimenting a bit with the deck and I am looking at ways to cheat Emrakul, the aeons torn into play with cards like Polymorph and Windbrisk heights. I know I saw a couple of post earlier in this thread talking about this and I wanted to see for myself how well it performs. Here's the current list:
4x Spectral Procession
4x Lingering Souls
4x Raise the Alarm
3x Legion's landing
Anthems (6)
4x Intangible Virtue
2x Sorin, solemn Visitor
Disruption (12)
2x Thoughtseize
4x Collective Brutality
2x Lilianna of the veil
4x Path to exile
3x Polymorph
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Lands (23)
4x Marsh Flats
4x Flooded Strand
2x Godless Shrine
1x Hallowed Fountain
4x Concealed Courtyard
4x Windbrisk heights
2x Plains
1x Swamp
1x Island
Second way to cheat Emrakul is with the hideaway ability of Windbrisk heights. It's harder for two reasons:
1) you need three creature attacking (which is not such a big deal for us)
2) you need to be a little lucky for Emrakul to be among the four selectable card for the hideaway.
However, all this effort rewards you with the extra turn of Emrakul since it's "play the exiled card without paying its mana cost". (They only use Play instead of cast because the card you hideaway could be a land and you can't cast a land, but I assure you, it works).
There's also quite a downside in getting an Emrakul under Windbrisk heights, if either the land gets destroyed or you can't attack with three creature, emrakul is stuck there and all copies of Polymorph becomes dead. I've been thinking of maybe running a second emrakul to avoid this. It would also mean I don't absolutely have to discard it if I draw one for Polymorph, but it also means I have more chance to draw into one, which I don't want to but it may be a necessary evil if I want to cheat into Emrakul.
I run Raise the alarm instead of bitterblossom as it help getting a lot of attackers quick. I also decided to test Legion's landing at the same time since it's the same condition has the hideaway to flip it and the early token it provide does go well with a turn 2 Raise the alarm. It actually opens up a potential turn 3 emrakul scenario. (Assuming a land drop each turn and no removal, Turn 1 Legion, Turn 2 RtA, Turn 3 attack with 3 tokens, flip legion, tap 4 mana for Polymorph to Emrakul, Turn 4 GG)
I also thought that maybe I could go for more blue cards, but I didn't really think of any at that moment. I don't really want the cantrips or counterspells over my Spectral Procession or over-all token gameplan, but I may be dead wrong on either of those claims. I also don't know what kind of sideboard Blue opens up for me. If I don't go Esper and just stay with a blue splash for Polymorph, I might cut the island. Just felt like being able to fetch a blue for a Path to exile was a nice back-up plan to have.
Well thank you for reading through all this wall of text. Any input is appreciated as this is currently under construction/testing.
(W/B)BW Tokens(W/B) | (B/R)Rakdos Burn(B/R) | (U/R)Gift Storm(U/R)
R1 BG Tron (0-2) I got obliterated on this match by natural tron on both game. I even put stony on turn 2 but what can you do against natural tron :/
R2 Grixis Control (2-1)
First game was easy enough, your usual turn 1 iok into turn 2 bitterblossom to seal the game
2nd game is interesting, as we fought back and forth on resources, even had opp on 1 life, but not enough to win the game
3rd game is the same as 1st game
R3 GDS (2-0)
Nothing much happened, except that i have the option on game 2 to sac my nihil but didnt do it, probably should have. The reasons i didnt crack it was because the grave had nothing significant, but probably should have cause he can put a delve threat on 2. Auriok champion is mvp yet again.
1 Bloodstained Mire
4 Concealed Courtyard
1 Field of Ruin
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Godless Shrine
4 Marsh Flats
2 Plains
3 Shambling Vent
2 Swamp
2 Collective Brutality
2 Fatal Push
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls
4 Path to Exile
3 Spectral Procession
2 Start / Finish
4 Thoughtseize
4 Intangible Virtue
2 Legion's Landing
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Timely Reinforcements
2 Damnation
2 Fragmentize
2 Rest in Peace
3 Stony Silence
2 Surgical Extraction
The current deck I’ve put together, it’s a mirror of the one that did well on MTGO aside from a missing Surgical Extraction in the SB. Any advice? I was thinking of putting the Auriok Champions in the MB. What should I remove?
Brutality serve almost the same purpose as AC's in the main. You can swap them if you want
Or perhaps one or even two of the discard spells. Six is pretty standard. But two from the Collective Brutality, Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
My current list
https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/05-03-16-bw-tokens/?cb=1518010953
If they hit their cards right, they can steal games with Bloodbraid Elf. In one of the games, I Thoughtseized BBE early on, my opponent cast a second on Turn 4 with a Tarmagoyf already on the field, and cascaded into Kolaghan's Command. Cast it the following turn to bring back BBE and force me to discard my Sorin (I drew Concealed Courtyard as my fourth land the previous turn, so couldn't cast him). Turn after that, cast the returned BBE cascading into another Goyf, putting 16 power on the field (soon to be 20 because of Raging Ravine).
At any rate, I can attest that the new version of the deck packs a ton of value, and the fact that they are biasing their removal suites back towards Lightning Bolt isn't great for us either. That being said, we do still have the edge.
BW BW Tokens
BUW Esper Shadow
BUR Grixis Shadow
It's not a bad idea, but be aware that the players in the Jund and U/W Control forums are hard at work refining their builds to optimally support the unbanned cards, and they are aware that some players are thinking the same thing that you and are modifying accordingly:
Oh and expect Jeskai to diverge even more than it already has into the currently popular, proactive Tempo-Control version and a more reactive Jace Control build.
BW BW Tokens
BUW Esper Shadow
BUR Grixis Shadow
If one is worried about jace, it's not such a bad idea to pack one or two Pithing Needle in the side just in case. Duress is also good. If we're talking mainboard answers, tarotplz probably has the right idea here with Anguished unmaking.
(W/B)BW Tokens(W/B) | (B/R)Rakdos Burn(B/R) | (U/R)Gift Storm(U/R)