yea I was pretty tilted after my world breaker mistake. live and learn.
ratchet bomb over EE because there are situations where it's more important to be mana efficient and hold the effect up than to crack asap. for example, vs abzan coco I leave it on 1 and they can't combo effectively. or vs Cheerios. or vs fish you leave it on 2 and they basically can't develop their board.
also it can be better against big zoo esque lists or random coco lists where there isnt a clear number to name with EE
corner cases that have yet to be relevant include being able to be cast under blood moon and also avoiding pithing needle naming EE
despite it being considered a budget alternative I have found myself in enough situations wanting ratchet bomb over EE that I'd rather cut 3rd EE over 1 ratchet bomb. EE is always the better maindeck card though
What's everyone's gameplan vs super quick decks like bushwhacker zoo?
Got 4th at a gpt on the weekend and only lost to the same deck....twice (once in swiss and once after cut), I just couldn't deal with t1 experi-1 to t2 guide to burning tree into whacker.
I think it's just a case of drawing the wrong side of my deck but the this matchup and decks that tend to create board stalls (abzan I'm looking at you) have me wondering about jamming 2 Dromokas command in the side.
Nice and cheap, easy colours, EOT removal if there's a tks or smasher on board and has the added benefit of being able to nuke blood moon or prevent that bolt!
What's everyone's gameplan vs super quick decks like bushwhacker zoo?
Got 4th at a gpt on the weekend and only lost to the same deck....twice (once in swiss and once after cut), I just couldn't deal with t1 experi-1 to t2 guide to burning tree into whacker.
I think it's just a case of drawing the wrong side of my deck but the this matchup and decks that tend to create board stalls (abzan I'm looking at you) have me wondering about jamming 2 Dromokas command in the side.
Nice and cheap, easy colours, EOT removal if there's a tks or smasher on board and has the added benefit of being able to nuke blood moon or prevent that bolt!
Thoughts?
Go-wide decks with low mana curve are why we run 2-3 EE mainboard. Dromokas command is definitely not the way to go. It's not mana efficient, it's 2-color, and it's win more. But sometimes those decks just have the nuts and we can't do much. Skyspawner and Reshaper are both important for stabilizing early. Smasher isn't great for stabilizing.
Thoughts on Kataki, War's Wage instead of a 2nd Stony Silence?
One problem I ran into playing against Affinity was Stony shutting off my EE's. I had 2 Stony and 2 Worship on board with 2 EE dead in hand in one recent game
I was a bit tired of the Stony Silence affecting my own EE's and tried Kataki - the problem is that on the draw it seems like its too slow - as they can remove it with Galvanic blast too easily. Affinity generally doesn't run any enchantment removal and so Stony's generally always stick once resolved. The other problem is that Kataki is just too narrow to warrant a slot in the sideboard - Tron just doesn't care about Kataki - I suppose Lantern does - but it's not prevalent enough.
After two weeks of GPTs, further games on MTGO/Cockatrice and SCG regionals data I'm contemplating a sideboard shakeup in preparation for GP Brisbane. As much as I love Chalice I think I may be dropping it on the back of the dearth of Infect decks, the fizzle of Cheerios (both based on SCG data) and Chalice's underperformance in my hands against Tron - I also lost to burn recently through a chalice on 1 and thus I'll be entering a league on MTGO this week with the following list.
//Other
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Path to Exile
3 Engineered Explosives
1 Dismember
//Sideboard
SB: 3 Stubborn Denial (No Chalice means I can load up on 1 drop spells; improves Tron, Burn and good against Combo and control)
SB: 1 Unified Will (For Titan and while conditional is often less conditional then Stubborn denial - would like to fit 2x)
SB: 2 Pithing Needle (Affinity, Tron; Combo eg. Viscera Seer, Griselbrand, Ezuri, Lantern; PWs - eg. nahiri; Elspeth Sun's Champion)
SB: 2 Rest in Peace (BGx, Grixis, GY combo decks)
SB: 1 Grafdigger's Cage (Abzan CoCo, Elves)
SB: 1 Stony Silence (Affinity, Tron, Ad Nauseam)
SB: 2 Blessed Alliance (Burn, Affinity, Mirror, GBx, Delver, Infect, Bogles)
SB: 2 Natural State (Affinity, Tron, Lantern, Blood Moon decks)
SB: 1 Worship (Burn, affinity, mirror, Abzan CoCo)
Downsides of no chalice are that i'm losing points to Infect, Ad Nauseam, Living End, Death's Shadow, Cheerios, Lantern, Bogles, UR prowess; UWR (Bolt, path SV, AV) and random "Tier 4" decks like Soul Sisters, 8-rack etc
My maindeck hasn't run Matter Reshapers in a long time - but I want to sure up my Burn and BGx matchup's - it really shines in these - also Infect appears to be gone and thus I think I can justify dropping a Skyspawner..
Yeah - even in my own meta Living End and Ad Nauseam show up a reasonable amount - and its pretty easy to win with 4x Chalice in the board - im very reluctant to drop Chalice. However, it just hasn't been good enough vs Burn and Tron for me lately..
I'm still a fan of keeping one hard unconditional counter to primetime (disdainful or flashfreeze), because anger shuts off unified will. This interaction was relevant multiple times in my testing.
Chalice is still fine against burn but a bad hand is not worth keeping just because of it. I like to think of it as the lock piece we use once we stabilize. A turn 2 reshaper or 2/3 tks is often more important than jamming a chalice. Imo the best way to play with chalice against burn is to play it on 2 after landing a worship. Playing it on 1 is really only worth it if they don't have a 1 drop creature. In other words, stabilizing the ground is a higher priority than playing a chalice
One of the regionals lists has 2 Nissa, Vital Force. This idea actually seems somewhat promising as Smasher 5-6 or Drowner 4-5. It fills a hole that the deck has, which is running out of gas especially in the face of lots of hard removal. It also advances our gameplan of Turn 5-6 beatdown, as it can come down as early as Turn 3. It even enables more Turn 4 kills (the fabled dork-3-drop-smasher-smasher curve). In addition, it allows us some recursion which can help us set up a drowner-displacer lock or TKS-displacer lock, or even an EE.
I can see us wanting this card over a 4th drowner whenever we're the beatdown - e.g. vs Combo, Control, and Midrange. It's simply faster than drowner and has the benefit of being resilient to traditional removal.
I also can't imagine it being that bad when we're the control, either. Against non-evasive beatdown (e.g. zoo-esque) I could see myself wanting it over smasher. You can even block with a land and use its mana to path something.
Another advantage to Nissa, Vital Force is that using her minus ability she can bring back some of our creatures form the graveyard for bringing back our big threats like drowner or smasher, and her plus one can make our Temples tap for 4 mana so long as we tap the temple prior to her plus one playing a TKS for one land seems really good. Her ultimate could also be really good in the late game, as letting us draw a card every time we play a land seems really strong for this deck.
I've seen that before - for that to work effectively you have to be in on the talisman plan - I suppose that depends on how much collateral value you get from talismans - eg. lots of blood moons in your meta.
Hi all, I am looking for some imput on my list for the upcoming GP in Vancouver. Furthermore, I plan on getting a match-up rating/sideboard guide going. Any Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.
Edit: I am running a more traditional list (24 lands,4 mana dorks, 3/3 skyspawner-reshaper split) and I find that I like it better than the mana rock version. In the sideboard I went up two 2 rip and down to one cage. Rip helps a lot against grixis and any Goyf deck.
This is the build I am currently using and I will explain my choices in the following 4 areas: mana base, creature selection, spell selection, and sideboard.
Mana Base:
Obviously, my mana base build is with blood moon in mind. Both waste and an island are included in this build in order to produce each type of mana this deck requires. Some of the cons are that it does not have as many green sources. However, this makes path a nice pseudo fetch and provides while always providing value if your creatures get pathed. In addition, I run the mana rock. These seem controversial on the board. It is true that they can and are eaten by EE on 2 and are not your best top decks; on the other hand, when playing I've found the loss of a rock to EE to be not that bad. The mana rock could have always been another land so top decking it is equivalent to top decking a land. Furthermore, they have helped provide consistency in the deck helping churn out t3 thought knots or smashers.With this build I can GQ my own lands in response to Blood Moon or path my own creature. I still debate putting in an Island over GQ. Unfortunately, there is not a reliably way to fetch an island.
Creatures:
My list is fairly standard. I do a 3/23/3 split for reshaper/skyspawner. Reshaper is great against grixis and jund while skyspanwer is helpful against infect and affinity. Spawner can help ramp & is a great answer to blood moon but I still run more reshaper over spawner. My mana base is built for blood moon and the mana rocks help with ramping as well. I've stuck with 3 drowner of hope. 4 has always felt like too many. Both skite and mimic have made appearances but I think neither will be great for this meta. I've yet to try endbringer (which sounds interesting), E-wit (mana base is strained) or duskwatch recruiter (I don't find this as appealing).
Spells:
My build is fairly standards,4/4 Path and strings, while running 2 EE's in the main. Two main Ee's have worked out well and I've thought of going three. Recently, I've added 1 Stubborn Denial to the main. It has worked out really well for me. It helps with g1 tron and valakut by giving us time, counter a t1 vial and protected many of my creatures.
Sideboard:
One of the hardest things about building a sideboard is ensuring that one has enough hate for popular decks while shoring the bad match ups. With the recent ban's my sideboard has changed somewhat but not too drastically. I going two cages and one rip because I think that decks which have been on the outs (coco, nahiri, melira combo) will make a bit of a come back with less dredge hate. Furthermore, we know valakut and tron will be more prevalent so addition of disdainful stroke seems like a good call.
So now that I've discussed my deck choices I'd like to review MU's and sideboard planning. I'm not 100% on my sideboarding and any advice is appreciated. The match ups a broken down to Good, even and bad match ups.
Jund/Junk (Good Match up)
Our creatures tend to out value/preform theirs and we also top deck better than they do. They can win by ripping our hand apart and having a huge goyf.
In: EE, Rip, Disdainful Stroke and 2x Stubborn Denial
Out: 4 Nobles and 1 path
The Nobles will eat a bolt/other removal so for this grindy game we take them out. Only Play EE when ya need to otherwise it can be abrupt decay'd early. Rip will turn goyfs into 0/1's and stop lingering souls, and also stops kalitas from producing tokens. Disdainful Stroke is questionable over path.
Eldrazi (Even Match Up)
Who is on the play seems to determine this match up. This is also a match up were displacer shines and can help lock down a board. If a worship resolves it is almost impossible to win against.
Reshapers have the least impact on the board in this matchup so they come out. We are, however, leaving in the two EE's. They can take out tokens which can be a deciding factor in this MU. Likewise combat tricks with blessed alliance can also swing momentum. Untap and sack a great choices on blessed.
Burn (Good Match Up)
Burn is known for being fast but we're almost as fast and bigger so we tend to win this match up.
In: 2x Blessed Alliance, 2x worship 2x Stubborn Denial, EE
Out: 3x Drowner of Hope, 4x displacer
I take out drowner cause he is too slow and displacer because it is too mana intensive while dying to bolt. EE does a lot of work, especially if they are on the kitty build, while blessed alliance is the best card in this MU. Worship and Stubborn are also great in this match up
Affinity (Even Match Up)
Of the times I think of playing 4 chalice of the voids it is usually due to this match. None the less, I think we still have a good post sideboard which does not necessitate the chalices.
Stony kills in this match up. EE is also great on just about any number. Blessed alliance can lead to a blow out if they ravager sack to an inkmoth. Also if they attack with multiple creatures one can block and then cast blessed alliance after damage to have them sack the creature which wasn't blocked/killed. I think smashers do not lock the board down like drowner so they come out and reshaper will not be impactful enough to stay in.
Mefolk (Bad Match Up)
So these guys eat our lunch. EE (on 2) is an all-star here. We try to save path's for Master of Waves. Worship, if it lands, is another great card. With this mu we want to mull aggressively to find EE, Strings, or worship.
Infect can be fast but now with git probe ban they are more vulnerable to removal. If the game goes long and we resolve a displacer we are generally will win. EE is great for getting around their protection spells. This is one of the few match ups where I wish I had skite. Skyspawner is great for blocking inkmoth. We take out Reality Smasher due to lack of board interactions and one reshaper as well.
Tron (Bad Match Up)
I've personally done well against tron; however, I hear that it can be a problem match up for us as well. They go over the top of us so we need to be faster and stop them from landing as many of their bombs as possible. EE does nothing in this mu so we take it out and drowner is too slow.
In: 2x Stony Silence, 2x Stubborn Denial, 1x Disdainful Stroke
Out: 3x Drowner and 2x EE
Grixis Delver/Control (Good Match Up) I've heard we're favored in this MU but I've felt the opposite. For Delver we leave in EE for control we take out the EE. This is one of the matchups where I do not like Skyspawner.Having got to play against this deck more I feel better about our match up. Cryptic can be frustrating to play against and visions can help them pull a head. With that said, we can go faster than them and out value them. Reality Smasher is an all star in this match up.
Skyspawner is great against delvers while RIP forces them to hard cast their big threats. By that time we either have answers or bigger threats of our own.
Cavern of Souls does work in this MU. We must be careful not to overextend however due to supreme verdict. We have a clock that is faster than they can answer and our creatures beat their removal.
That is all I have for now. I plan on adding a few decks (boggles, Valakut, ect) to the sideboard guide at a later time. I hope this helps some people & I look forward to some feedback so I can improve my build/play. Thanks all!
New Sideboard Guide:
Boggles (Good Match Up)
EE on 1 wins us this match up. We can also use scions to block and then sac to prevent them from gaining life. Eventually we can swarm with scions for a win. Landing a blessed alliance or worship can be game ending for them.
Out: 4x path to exile, 1 Matter Reshaper
In 1 EE, 2x Blessed Alliance, 2x Worship
Quote from FoodChainGoblins » »
Here's what Bogles sides against you.
In: 2 Gaddock Teeg, 4 Leyline of Sanctity, 0-2 Nature's Claim
Out: 1 Spirit Link, 1 Unflinching Courage, 2 Kor Spiritdancer, 0-2 Spirit Mantle, 0-2 other Auras
If you don't have Path to Exile, you're going to be very sad about a turn 2 Gaddock Teeg, especially on the play. Leyline of Sanctity makes Thought-Knot Seer NOT a broken card and makes Blessed Alliance a "gain 4" or "untap 2 creatures."
In my experience, the matchup is pretty close to even, but I would give a slight edge to Bogles. There is no doubt that main board Engineered Explosives could catch a player off guard. But without it, a Bogle basically gets much larger than any 1 Eldrazi and heaven forbid, it has Daybreak Coronet. Then you are praying for the 2 of or 4 Ancient Stirrings to find the 2 of in time. Also contrary to thought, Bogles can rebuild. Kor Spiritdancer is a hell of a card!
Lantern Control (Bad Match Up)
If they land a bridge with a pithing needle on EE that's game for us unless we can get in the noble beats or mill them with displacer/thought-knot. We bring in stony to stop them from milling us while allowing us to mill them with thought-knot
In: 2x Stony Silence, 2x Stubborn Denial, 2x Natural State, 1 EE
Out: 4x Path, 3x Drowner of Hope
Scapeshift, BTL Scapeshift, Through the Breach (Bad Match Up)
These decks tend to go over the top of us while being able to stall for answers (E.g. cast cryptic, tap draw, block with STEve sac for a land, ect). Our best bet is to go fast, have counters ready, and hopefully stang their key cards with a counter or a thought-knot. Always make scapeshift players show you the damage. They may have mountains in hand which will stop them from having lethal when they go off. I am up in the air if worship should be added to this match up. On one hand it requires that they damage our creatures and not us potentially saving us; on the other hand, it does nothing if we do not have creatures out and is a bad top deck.
In 2x Stubborn Denial, 2x Worship, 1x Disdainful Stroke
Out: 2x EE, 3x Path to exile
Blue Moon (Bad Match Up)
Decks that mainboard Blood Moon can wreck us when they catch us off guard with it. Luckily, our deck is more resilient to Blood Moon than people think. With this match up we might have to do some funky things (Path our own creature) but we will eventually grind them out.
In: 1x EE, 2x Stubborn Denial, 2x Natural State
Out: 3x Matter Reshaper, 1x Drowner of Hope, 1x Reality Smasher
Hiya all! I've rearranged my deck a bit. The mana base now runs 24 lands with no rocks. I played it against blue moon and was very successful with it so I think I am sticking with this build. Really Like having more threats i there as well. Furthermore, I've added a few more match ups to the sideboard guide. Thank you for the feed back.
New MU sideboard guide
Eldrazi Tron (Even Up)
They can go bigger than us; however, we are faster & more consistent. Chalice on 1 will hurt and give them time to come back. We can trade creatures so try to save paths for end bringer or ulamog. Furthermore, they will bring in pithing needle (naming displacer and drowner) and Basilisk Collar so bringing in artifact hate is a good idea. Displacer is great against batterskull and drowner will get you through their creatures.
Ok, main deck blood moon and chalice here we go. The mana rock version obviously fairs better against this deck. Likewise the number of basics one runs also affects this match up. In this match up we want to bring in our stubborn and disdainful stroke for their end game threats or blood moons.
Edit: can anyone attest to sea gate wreckage? Any experiences? I feel like it takes a LONG time for it to be active but has the ability to singlehandedly win the game eventually.
What do you think about Deadeye Harpooner as a removal (Swift Reckoning) on a stick option for this deck ?
It works nicely with E.Displacer and "Revolt" can be triggered by scions.
Way too cute of an interaction for me - harpooner on its own is pretty bad.
I've tested a few things from the SCG regionals lists - most impressive was E-Witness and Relics - im playing them for sure moving forward. Nissa was reasonably good but I think 2 is too many - I think if you want a bomb for your sb its ok to play 1. I still hate talismans - ha..
You could be right about Reshaper. I was getting a bit crushed on MTGO recently and switched to the below list - so far I have a 5-0 on friendly and i'm 2-1 in a comp league. I had been playing Nissa and talismans - but I changed a few things at once including reducing skyspawners and introducing Reshapers and E witness - it could be that I should just add more Reshapers.
I had to cut RIP to accommodate Reshapers and E-Witness - im running relics now - which has had upsides as they dont get blown up by EE, searchable, cycle and actually seem better against delver as you can just get them down faster. The upside of E-Witness has been recurring temples against Fulminator, GQ - and acting as extra removal when you need it - getting back path, EE and natural state against affinity - getting back big threats against grindy decks etc. Its a cute interaction but if you can displace E-witness it creates some insane loops - so far it only came up once..
For the GP this weekend - I want to sort out if I have the mana base correct - is only 2 basics risky?
Also do I need a Grafdiggers Cage for paper? I think so. Also I think I should cut a blessed alliance for a second worship - worship is more effective against Affinity, Burn and the mirror - has utility against Abzan CoCo which im expecting in big numbers this weekend..
I mean yeah, Ewit great, but realistically I see it more as a Turn 4+ play. The only way you're gonna be able to play Ewit on Turn 2 for value is if you fetched turn 1, which is pretty unlikely. Hence, Ewit fits a totally different part of the curve compared to Reshaper. Even both of them are "3 mana" drops, you can't really replace one with the other. I think it makes more sense cutting a 4th drowner instead of a reshaper.
In terms of mana base, I'm having issues too. I usually side out breeding pool and hallowed fountain vs fish, and taking 2 lands out of a 23 land list doesn't work. So I've been trying to cut out hallowed fountain since it's the worst shock.
I also think we should have 3 basics. I tested 2 and it just felt bad whenever I had to shock myself because my basics were already out.
I think based off numbers we need at least:
- 10 true white sources, to reliably have path by turn 4-5 if our noble gets killed
- 13 blue sources (including caverns), to reliably support turn 2 skyspawner
- 13 true green sources, to support turn 1 stirrings
- 14 colorless sources
Despite Coco being more popular, I've actually cut Grafdigger's. I feel like it's too narrow for chord/coco. I don't bring it in against snap decks because it's a bad topdeck and just gets eaten by half a kolaghan's. RIP is nice because it's graveyard hate that we don't need to hold up mana for. I think it's wrong to cut it entirely.
I've been running 2 forests 1 plains as my basics and haven't had any issues with mana base.
The thing about taking out cage is Goryos and Nahiri are still things and it happens to hit both of them.
I've also been on the 4 spawned 0 reshaper boat though
SB off the top of head is currently 2 Worship, 2 Unified will, 2 Stubborn, 2 RIP, 1 World breaker, 2 Natural state, 2 Blessed and 2 Stony
Although reconsidering 1 blessed and worldbreaker, infect is definitely still a thing and blessed is great utility, world breaker in there solely for lantern MU.
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ratchet bomb over EE because there are situations where it's more important to be mana efficient and hold the effect up than to crack asap. for example, vs abzan coco I leave it on 1 and they can't combo effectively. or vs Cheerios. or vs fish you leave it on 2 and they basically can't develop their board.
also it can be better against big zoo esque lists or random coco lists where there isnt a clear number to name with EE
corner cases that have yet to be relevant include being able to be cast under blood moon and also avoiding pithing needle naming EE
despite it being considered a budget alternative I have found myself in enough situations wanting ratchet bomb over EE that I'd rather cut 3rd EE over 1 ratchet bomb. EE is always the better maindeck card though
Got 4th at a gpt on the weekend and only lost to the same deck....twice (once in swiss and once after cut), I just couldn't deal with t1 experi-1 to t2 guide to burning tree into whacker.
I think it's just a case of drawing the wrong side of my deck but the this matchup and decks that tend to create board stalls (abzan I'm looking at you) have me wondering about jamming 2 Dromokas command in the side.
Nice and cheap, easy colours, EOT removal if there's a tks or smasher on board and has the added benefit of being able to nuke blood moon or prevent that bolt!
Thoughts?
Go-wide decks with low mana curve are why we run 2-3 EE mainboard. Dromokas command is definitely not the way to go. It's not mana efficient, it's 2-color, and it's win more. But sometimes those decks just have the nuts and we can't do much. Skyspawner and Reshaper are both important for stabilizing early. Smasher isn't great for stabilizing.
DComm was more a general afterthought for shenanigans, smasher example was more vs a boardstall where having more removal just seems good
One problem I ran into playing against Affinity was Stony shutting off my EE's. I had 2 Stony and 2 Worship on board with 2 EE dead in hand in one recent game
After two weeks of GPTs, further games on MTGO/Cockatrice and SCG regionals data I'm contemplating a sideboard shakeup in preparation for GP Brisbane. As much as I love Chalice I think I may be dropping it on the back of the dearth of Infect decks, the fizzle of Cheerios (both based on SCG data) and Chalice's underperformance in my hands against Tron - I also lost to burn recently through a chalice on 1 and thus I'll be entering a league on MTGO this week with the following list.
//Lands (23 Lands)
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Windswept Heath
1 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
3 Brushland
2 Yavimaya Coast
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Forest
1 Plains
//Creatures (21 Threats)
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
4 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Drowner of Hope
3 Eldrazi Skyspawner
2 Matter Reshaper
//Dorks
4 Noble Hierarch
//Other
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Path to Exile
3 Engineered Explosives
1 Dismember
//Sideboard
SB: 3 Stubborn Denial (No Chalice means I can load up on 1 drop spells; improves Tron, Burn and good against Combo and control)
SB: 1 Unified Will (For Titan and while conditional is often less conditional then Stubborn denial - would like to fit 2x)
SB: 2 Pithing Needle (Affinity, Tron; Combo eg. Viscera Seer, Griselbrand, Ezuri, Lantern; PWs - eg. nahiri; Elspeth Sun's Champion)
SB: 2 Rest in Peace (BGx, Grixis, GY combo decks)
SB: 1 Grafdigger's Cage (Abzan CoCo, Elves)
SB: 1 Stony Silence (Affinity, Tron, Ad Nauseam)
SB: 2 Blessed Alliance (Burn, Affinity, Mirror, GBx, Delver, Infect, Bogles)
SB: 2 Natural State (Affinity, Tron, Lantern, Blood Moon decks)
SB: 1 Worship (Burn, affinity, mirror, Abzan CoCo)
Downsides of no chalice are that i'm losing points to Infect, Ad Nauseam, Living End, Death's Shadow, Cheerios, Lantern, Bogles, UR prowess; UWR (Bolt, path SV, AV) and random "Tier 4" decks like Soul Sisters, 8-rack etc
My maindeck hasn't run Matter Reshapers in a long time - but I want to sure up my Burn and BGx matchup's - it really shines in these - also Infect appears to be gone and thus I think I can justify dropping a Skyspawner..
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
Just have to know when to pull the trigger on which one.
Also I wouldn't be surprised if there's an uptick in ad naus and LE at Brisbane.
People love to try and push these sorts of decks at AU GPs.
I've actually been considering a couple of surgicals in the side to nuke some troublesome cards or wincons...
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
Chalice is still fine against burn but a bad hand is not worth keeping just because of it. I like to think of it as the lock piece we use once we stabilize. A turn 2 reshaper or 2/3 tks is often more important than jamming a chalice. Imo the best way to play with chalice against burn is to play it on 2 after landing a worship. Playing it on 1 is really only worth it if they don't have a 1 drop creature. In other words, stabilizing the ground is a higher priority than playing a chalice
I can see us wanting this card over a 4th drowner whenever we're the beatdown - e.g. vs Combo, Control, and Midrange. It's simply faster than drowner and has the benefit of being resilient to traditional removal.
I also can't imagine it being that bad when we're the control, either. Against non-evasive beatdown (e.g. zoo-esque) I could see myself wanting it over smasher. You can even block with a land and use its mana to path something.
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
New MU sideboard guide
Eldrazi Tron (Even Up)
They can go bigger than us; however, we are faster & more consistent. Chalice on 1 will hurt and give them time to come back. We can trade creatures so try to save paths for end bringer or ulamog. Furthermore, they will bring in pithing needle (naming displacer and drowner) and Basilisk Collar so bringing in artifact hate is a good idea. Displacer is great against batterskull and drowner will get you through their creatures.
In: 2x Worship, 2x Stubborn Denial, 1x Disdainful Stroke
Out: 2x EE, 3 Matter Reshaper
Sun and Moon (Bad Up)
Ok, main deck blood moon and chalice here we go. The mana rock version obviously fairs better against this deck. Likewise the number of basics one runs also affects this match up. In this match up we want to bring in our stubborn and disdainful stroke for their end game threats or blood moons.
In: 2x Stubborn Denial, 1x Disdainful Stroke,2x Natural State, EE,
Out: 4 Eldrazi Displacer, 2x Drowner of Hope
GUInfect UMerfolk RW Burn GRWBU Humans GWUBant Eldrazi GR RG EldraziC Serum Powder EldraziC Eldrazi TronGB GB Rock
Legacy:
GUInfect
RGLands
Edit: can anyone attest to sea gate wreckage? Any experiences? I feel like it takes a LONG time for it to be active but has the ability to singlehandedly win the game eventually.
It works nicely with E.Displacer and "Revolt" can be triggered by scions.
I've tested a few things from the SCG regionals lists - most impressive was E-Witness and Relics - im playing them for sure moving forward. Nissa was reasonably good but I think 2 is too many - I think if you want a bomb for your sb its ok to play 1. I still hate talismans - ha..
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
I had to cut RIP to accommodate Reshapers and E-Witness - im running relics now - which has had upsides as they dont get blown up by EE, searchable, cycle and actually seem better against delver as you can just get them down faster. The upside of E-Witness has been recurring temples against Fulminator, GQ - and acting as extra removal when you need it - getting back path, EE and natural state against affinity - getting back big threats against grindy decks etc. Its a cute interaction but if you can displace E-witness it creates some insane loops - so far it only came up once..
Anyway my current list is -
//Lands
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Windswept Heath
1 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Brushland
2 Yavimaya Coast
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Forest
1 Plains
//Creatures
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
4 Eldrazi Displacer
3 Drowner of Hope
2 Eldrazi Skyspawner
2 Matter Reshaper
2 Eternal Witness
//Dorks
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Birds of Paradise
//Other
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Path to Exile
3 Engineered Explosives
//Sideboard
SB: 3 Relic of Progenitus
SB: 2 Natural State
SB: 2 Stony Silence
SB: 2 Stubborn Denial
SB: 2 Unified Will
SB: 1 Worship
SB: 1 Pithing Needle
SB: 2 Blessed Alliance
For the GP this weekend - I want to sort out if I have the mana base correct - is only 2 basics risky?
Also do I need a Grafdiggers Cage for paper? I think so. Also I think I should cut a blessed alliance for a second worship - worship is more effective against Affinity, Burn and the mirror - has utility against Abzan CoCo which im expecting in big numbers this weekend..
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
In terms of mana base, I'm having issues too. I usually side out breeding pool and hallowed fountain vs fish, and taking 2 lands out of a 23 land list doesn't work. So I've been trying to cut out hallowed fountain since it's the worst shock.
I also think we should have 3 basics. I tested 2 and it just felt bad whenever I had to shock myself because my basics were already out.
I think based off numbers we need at least:
- 10 true white sources, to reliably have path by turn 4-5 if our noble gets killed
- 13 blue sources (including caverns), to reliably support turn 2 skyspawner
- 13 true green sources, to support turn 1 stirrings
- 14 colorless sources
Despite Coco being more popular, I've actually cut Grafdigger's. I feel like it's too narrow for chord/coco. I don't bring it in against snap decks because it's a bad topdeck and just gets eaten by half a kolaghan's. RIP is nice because it's graveyard hate that we don't need to hold up mana for. I think it's wrong to cut it entirely.
The thing about taking out cage is Goryos and Nahiri are still things and it happens to hit both of them.
I've also been on the 4 spawned 0 reshaper boat though
SB off the top of head is currently 2 Worship, 2 Unified will, 2 Stubborn, 2 RIP, 1 World breaker, 2 Natural state, 2 Blessed and 2 Stony
Although reconsidering 1 blessed and worldbreaker, infect is definitely still a thing and blessed is great utility, world breaker in there solely for lantern MU.