Congratulations on the finish! What did you play against? Redirecting Welding Jar with Spellskite is something I hadn’t considered before, that’s hilarious.
Thank you! I forgot to mention my losses which were humans and tron. The humans match was real close i lost to a top decked Kessig Malcontents (?) I think that is the card. I have to give kudos to Ben Friedman for making that Spellskite interaction public. Here is how my matches went.
Rd 1 - Monored Phoenix 2-1
This deck can be ridiculous, one game he had 3 phoenixes on turn 2. Collective Brutality is way better in this match than its Izzet cousin as it kills all the "swiftspears". Always use ALL THREE MODES given the chance. Barely got there.
Rd 2 - BG Rock 2-0
I feel like my opponent had tough draws and mana issues, either flooding or pinched. That is magic, and in this match I cut a land postboard to lessen our chances of flood even more, as that is the most likely way to win. Also, always take the draw.
Rd 3 - Skred Dragons 2-1
This match was a riot, although I never felt threatened. I lost to turn 1 Blood Moon off 2 SSGs, and hilariously top decked my only swamp on my turn 1. Lol, still lost that one. Do not know how to play around turn 1 moon...
Rd 4 - Monored Phoenix 2-1
Just as close as the match before, Scooze was the entire match. Grafdigger's Cage saved me bc it stopped my opp from flashing back a looting which would have killed me. Don't forget about that when you play cage, which I think is in a great spot right now.
Rd 5 - Humans - 0-2
This matchup is very difficult but I also feel like our opponents feel the same way about us. I think I made a mistake boarding out my Lilis because the games tend to go so long postboard.
Rd 6 - Grixis Shadow - 2-1
Very tough, another matchup where we take the draw. In the end scooze bested his flip-jace, and Liliana is also great obviously.
Rd 7 - Dredge - 2-0
I was pretty lucky to have good openers, scooze in opener game one. As much as it feels great to gain a life and pump yer boy, always hit a dredger first, cut off the engine and it's smooth sailin.
Rd 8 - Tron - 0-2
And there goes my dreams. Game one I kept an opener with 2 push 1 dismember. The rest is history.
Drew with my last opp so we could both get out $$ back, super fun tournament. All the players were super cool, Chicago mtg is a good scene.
Can anyone explain to me how Spellskite interacts with a fetch land? I've considered using it before against things like Burn but I can't imagine that you can legally redirect an effect from a land like that, can you??
Can anyone explain to me how Spellskite interacts with a fetch land? I've considered using it before against things like Burn but I can't imagine that you can legally redirect an effect from a land like that, can you??
Spellskite can only change the target of a spell or ability if Spellskite would be a legal target for said spell or ability. Now, with that note, you *can* still activate Spellskite targeting the Fetch Land ability if you just want to pay life. It won't do anything when it resolves but any spell or ability is still a legal target for Spellskite's ability.
Thank you! I forgot to mention my losses which were humans and tron. The humans match was real close i lost to a top decked Kessig Malcontents (?) I think that is the card. I have to give kudos to Ben Friedman for making that Spellskite interaction public. Here is how my matches went.
Rd 1 - Monored Phoenix 2-1
This deck can be ridiculous, one game he had 3 phoenixes on turn 2. Collective Brutality is way better in this match than its Izzet cousin as it kills all the "swiftspears". Always use ALL THREE MODES given the chance. Barely got there.
Rd 2 - BG Rock 2-0
I feel like my opponent had tough draws and mana issues, either flooding or pinched. That is magic, and in this match I cut a land postboard to lessen our chances of flood even more, as that is the most likely way to win. Also, always take the draw.
Rd 3 - Skred Dragons 2-1
This match was a riot, although I never felt threatened. I lost to turn 1 Blood Moon off 2 SSGs, and hilariously top decked my only swamp on my turn 1. Lol, still lost that one. Do not know how to play around turn 1 moon...
Rd 4 - Monored Phoenix 2-1
Just as close as the match before, Scooze was the entire match. Grafdigger's Cage saved me bc it stopped my opp from flashing back a looting which would have killed me. Don't forget about that when you play cage, which I think is in a great spot right now.
Rd 5 - Humans - 0-2
This matchup is very difficult but I also feel like our opponents feel the same way about us. I think I made a mistake boarding out my Lilis because the games tend to go so long postboard.
Rd 6 - Grixis Shadow - 2-1
Very tough, another matchup where we take the draw. In the end scooze bested his flip-jace, and Liliana is also great obviously.
Rd 7 - Dredge - 2-0
I was pretty lucky to have good openers, scooze in opener game one. As much as it feels great to gain a life and pump yer boy, always hit a dredger first, cut off the engine and it's smooth sailin.
Rd 8 - Tron - 0-2
And there goes my dreams. Game one I kept an opener with 2 push 1 dismember. The rest is history.
Drew with my last opp so we could both get out $$ back, super fun tournament. All the players were super cool, Chicago mtg is a good scene.
That's a great run, on paper I'm surprised that your list was able to beat BG, I've generally found that to be the hardest matchup with this deck because of the holy trifecta of playsets of Push/Trophy/Veil. BG has weird mana issues sometimes for a 2 color deck, I've definitely been on the receiving end of that when I've played it in the past. How did you feel about the K-Command main? I've flirted with the idea but keep convincing myself that I'd rather play Abrupt Decay.
My plan against turn 1 Blood Moon is usually to appeal to my opponent's humanity, which has not been successful so far.
I've become increasingly convinced that we're even if not slightly advantaged against the current builds of Grixis Shadow, how did you end up sideboarding there?
Thank you! I forgot to mention my losses which were humans and tron. The humans match was real close i lost to a top decked Kessig Malcontents (?) I think that is the card. I have to give kudos to Ben Friedman for making that Spellskite interaction public. Here is how my matches went.
Rd 1 - Monored Phoenix 2-1
This deck can be ridiculous, one game he had 3 phoenixes on turn 2. Collective Brutality is way better in this match than its Izzet cousin as it kills all the "swiftspears". Always use ALL THREE MODES given the chance. Barely got there.
Rd 2 - BG Rock 2-0
I feel like my opponent had tough draws and mana issues, either flooding or pinched. That is magic, and in this match I cut a land postboard to lessen our chances of flood even more, as that is the most likely way to win. Also, always take the draw.
Rd 3 - Skred Dragons 2-1
This match was a riot, although I never felt threatened. I lost to turn 1 Blood Moon off 2 SSGs, and hilariously top decked my only swamp on my turn 1. Lol, still lost that one. Do not know how to play around turn 1 moon...
Rd 4 - Monored Phoenix 2-1
Just as close as the match before, Scooze was the entire match. Grafdigger's Cage saved me bc it stopped my opp from flashing back a looting which would have killed me. Don't forget about that when you play cage, which I think is in a great spot right now.
Rd 5 - Humans - 0-2
This matchup is very difficult but I also feel like our opponents feel the same way about us. I think I made a mistake boarding out my Lilis because the games tend to go so long postboard.
Rd 6 - Grixis Shadow - 2-1
Very tough, another matchup where we take the draw. In the end scooze bested his flip-jace, and Liliana is also great obviously.
Rd 7 - Dredge - 2-0
I was pretty lucky to have good openers, scooze in opener game one. As much as it feels great to gain a life and pump yer boy, always hit a dredger first, cut off the engine and it's smooth sailin.
Rd 8 - Tron - 0-2
And there goes my dreams. Game one I kept an opener with 2 push 1 dismember. The rest is history.
Drew with my last opp so we could both get out $$ back, super fun tournament. All the players were super cool, Chicago mtg is a good scene.
That's a great run, on paper I'm surprised that your list was able to beat BG, I've generally found that to be the hardest matchup with this deck because of the holy trifecta of playsets of Push/Trophy/Veil. BG has weird mana issues sometimes for a 2 color deck, I've definitely been on the receiving end of that when I've played it in the past. How did you feel about the K-Command main? I've flirted with the idea but keep convincing myself that I'd rather play Abrupt Decay.
My plan against turn 1 Blood Moon is usually to appeal to my opponent's humanity, which has not been successful so far.
I've become increasingly convinced that we're even if not slightly advantaged against the current builds of Grixis Shadow, how did you end up sideboarding there?
Yeah I agree it was a good run and luck was definitely on my side. In the BG matchup, I actually believe I only boarded a few cards. I believe
-1 fetchland
-1 IOK
-1 Looting
-1 Street Wraith
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Blood Moon
+2 Fulminator
I would not play blood moon in my board today, it is just too narrow. It is fun getting a UW player or the like occasionally but I think it would be better as something else, Im going to try a terminate.
The K-Command main is something I would most certainly keep. I like having x-amount of instants I can fire off regardless of what I'm against gm 1, and I actually wanted another one in the side. The Pulse can definitely go, it is too slow, I am just torn between a 2nd K-command or Lili, Last Hope. Depends on your meta.
Is Yixlid Jailer a reasonable Cage substitute, that has the upside of being Traversable? I've had good luck with Faerie Macabre in the past because it's free and also Traversable. And it can fly for 2 in a pinch. I've actually lost every single match to dredge since I changed my anti-graveyard configuration. I used to run 1 Scooze main, 3 Faerie SB.. But lately I've been on 2 Surgical main, 2 Spellbomb SB. The Spellbomb has been doing my dirty lately by telegraphing my plans (or outs). I think I will go back to Faerie and maybe a single Jailer. I've personally loved Surgical in the main but I will also try adding a Scooze. I'll compare main surgical to your Kcmd, 2ITB. It's nice to have an instant you can fire off at will in the main deck, let alone one that's free and pumps Shadow. As far as I can remember, Surgical main has been relevant almost every single time I've drawn it. I rarely side it out against most opponents.
I recently played against a Monored Phoenix who used Ground Rift and actually beat me 2-0 thanks to that card specifically.
The Snapcaster configuration in my previous post is more of a pipe dream, and I'm really on the board with sticking to main deck jund. Stub however has been super clutch out of the board and I'm happy to have it. An update with Scooze back in my main board and the Jailer as psuedo-cage in SB.
Ran through two leagues with the latest list, going 3-2 in both.
Affinity 0-2
This is usually a good match up for me. I drew poorly in game 2, none of my Sideboard cards.
Monored Phoenix 1-2
I think our chances here are better than regular RW burn. Their shenanigans are stoppable and the deck is overall less linear
GB Rock 2-0
I've had good luck against GBx in most encounters lately. Post board we pack almost as much interaction as them so it's a fair match up.
UR Phoenix 2-1
These games are always nail-biters. Main deck surgical is nuts here
GDS 2-1
These are battles of removal. Whoever draws more usually wins. I tried boarding in my stubs here and I would say it paid off because they play so low to the ground on mana. Force Spike was relevant more than once. I didn't bring in Fulminator
Next league:
Infect 0-2
Game one we just threw threats at each other. He got their first. Then I took shapers sanctuary from his g2 opening hand, thinking I could play around the Become Immense. But I should've taken that instead because it killed me.
Dredge 2-1
Sideboard cards were Allstars here. Main board surgical is a house. I never needed Scooze because I was able to shut him down with a Jailer game 2 and then surgical +traverse for Faerie in game 3.
UW Miracles 0-2
I drew very poorly both games. This a very winnable match up. I board in all stubs and Fulminator mages.
UR Phoenix 2-1
Again surgical takes the win. Allows me to t1 Thoughtseize a drake and surgical to get the other drake from his hand. I drew a lot of removal in g3 which helped me take the win. But it should've been a 2-0 because in the first game I accidentally passed over an attack step with my Tarmogoyf on turn 3 which cost me the game
Whir Prison 2-1
I can't stress enough my love for the main deck surgical. So helpful in this match up. Even decks that don't care about their graveyard much. To be able to surgical their main out against you (in this case Bridge) is just such a blow out.
----
Main deck Scooze didn't come up much but it's been helpful for me in the past against humans and spirits so I'll continue the same list for now.
I'd like to discuss Lava Coil as a Sideboard option against the following decks. I consider this because I currently board in 2x Assassin's Trophy against all of these opponents just to have more removal.
Izzet Phoenix - kills Thing, Phoenix (gone!) and Drake
Humans - kills most everything, except an unchecked Champion
Spirits - kills everything, even X/4 Supreme Phantoms. They can't use the Corpse for Moorland Haunt either
The unique thing that's got me interested is that it's not useless against dredge like all other removal. I often find myself with more cards to remove from my main deck than I have to bring in against dredge. Obviously spending two mana to exile a single Bloodghast or Amalgam is not the best of plays, but it's more favorable than a fatal Push. And specifically it has applications in other match-ups. I'm thinking of it in an Abrade-esque role. And two mana removal spell that has a unique application in that it single handedly deals with any of the izzet threats.
The trick with Phoenix is that they attack you on different levels. Graveyard hate alone isn't enough because they just kill you with thing or Drake. Push isn't always live to kill Drake, so we need something more consistent. Trophy gets the job done but ramping them has its risks (more mana = more spells in one turn) and Trophy is a pretty mediocre removal spell when I'm bringing it against Humans, Spirits, Coco decks, etc. Although I guess Sorcery speed is not too be overlooked here either.
I’m new to the forum but have been reading through this thread recently a lot and wanted to contribute.
I recently attended magic fest Calgary last weekend and took 4C traverse shadow to the main event. I had an amazing start to the day with no byes going 5-0 but sadly lost my next three games, ending my tournament at 5-3.
The deck felt strong, and gave me the lines to win if I had played a little better, but decks like this require tight play and the smallest mistake can often lead to our downfall.
Pardon my lack of formatting skills; I’m on mobile and am unsure how to write the decklist out in the graphed columns so I’ll write it as best I can. I’ll talk about my card choices, especially the maindeck island and sideboard.
Sideboard: (15)
1x stubborn denial
2x surgical extraction
1x Rakdos charm
1x bojuka bog
1x liliana, the last hope
1x liliana of the veil
1x scavenging ooze
1x phyrexian revoker
2x fulminator mage
2x assassin’s trophy
1x radiant flames
1x collective brutality
I had played some 80~ games on mtgo prior to the event and attended some Local FNM’s to prep myself as best I could with my job and came to a few conclusions. UW control, Tron, GDS and Hardened scales/ traditional affinity were all ~50% to 40% win rates, either based on a bad MU overall or punts.
For UW Field of ruin, path to exile and any other land denial strategy was backbreaking against this deck and I fiddled with a maindeck island for sometime. It seemed good on paper and never really was bad during the tournament but moving forward id cut it to reduce the potential of abysmal topdecks. This deck lives and dies by the sword, so losing our blue source through repeated land destruction is just the way she goes. Keeping a fetch up for an important turn to
Sandbag one of the two sources is the only real option and often only lasts a turn if the opponent has an active field ready.
GDS is faster and can beat us with snapcaster but I find the matchup to be in our favour slightly, especially with traverse package and abrupt decay to smoosh shadows.
Tron is very beatable game 1 depending on who goes first and the strength of our hand. Postboard they lower their curve with TKS, thragtusk and often we take our removal which has few targets out. We need to fulminator / trophy and hopefully have surgical or a clock to have a chance in this MU and Tron is the more redundant deck.
I found with the rise of Phoenix and dredge , this deck incidentally gets worse with maindeck RIPS, Nihils and Relics our the wazoo nerfing Goyf and our traverse lines greatly.
The sideboard was pretty good all weekend but I’d cut the rakdos charm for a nihil and the revoker for ancient grudge or Hurkyls recall for better specific hate for artifacts.
My matchups were;
1. Vizier combo 2-0 (W)
2. Burn 2-1 (W)
3. Bant spirits 2-0 (W)
4. Whir Prison 2-1 (W)
5. Humans 2-1 (W)
6. UR arclight vs Squachief streamer 0-2 (L)
7. Mono G Tron 1-2 (L)
8. Grisel goryos / arclight pile 0-2 (L)
I’ll write another follow up to the matches and specific plays but I’ll let this post marinate while I gather that info from my logs. I also played in 2 MCQ’s and will write about that with some good wins and punts.
Overall I love this deck a lot but the current meta game runs a lot of graveyard hate maindeck which hurts us and im thinking about trying GDS which is faster and uses their graveyard differently than us with less strings attached in my opinion.
Here to answer and questions and further the discussion of this archetype. Thanks for reading part 1 of 2 and happy grinding.
Any love for Liliana’s Triumph? I’m pretty excited about it. I haven’t played mtg in months, but even when I’m not playing I love it when new sets come out and I always try to keep up with them. It’s a better Diabolic Edict; a card I’ve wished we, at the very least, had access to for a long time now. And this one gets around Leyline of Sanctity, as well as very possibly providing some virtual CA.
Triumph looks meager and too inconsistent. There's a reason edict effects aren't played in Modern outside of LOTV. We struggle with go-wide decks, not the narrow ones, so giving the opponent an option there is very counter-productive. I guess it's OK against Grishoalbrand but we're heavily favored there anyway.
Don't see any way we'd want Arcanist in a Shadow shell whatsoever. Same for Rampage, Dreadbore is better and sees no play either.
And what do you think about Bolt bend? Could be stubborn denial in Red? Or the fact you have to cast It for 4 without creature Is too much a deterrent?
Triumph looks meager and too inconsistent. There's a reason edict effects aren't played in Modern outside of LOTV. We struggle with go-wide decks, not the narrow ones, so giving the opponent an option there is very counter-productive. I guess it's OK against Grishoalbrand but we're heavily favored there anyway.
Don't see any way we'd want Arcanist in a Shadow shell whatsoever. Same for Rampage, Dreadbore is better and sees no play either.
Yeah, for Arcanist I was thinking more about this suicide shadow zoo deck that’s been showing up. One delved Become Immense lets you immediately hardcast it again (a 13/15 trampler seems pretty good, or a 7/9 trampler and +6/+6 on another creature seems good), a Mutagenic Growth on Arcanist and you can Dismember something again or whatever else, etc, etc. Just hypotheticals. Or no buff and just cast more copies of Bolts and Thoughtseize from your yard. Not to mention it’s pretty cool with both sides of Claim//Fame, which they’ve been including in the sideboard. The trample is relevant. It’s a half-formed thought I haven’t followed too far yet, but I felt it was worth mentioning. I’m going to have fun brewing with it at the very least.
As far as the edict card is concerned, that’s a good point about Shadow and “go-wide” strategies. They weren’t too excited about it on the Jund thread either it seemed, but that one I don’t understand as much. 'Lots of decks have lots of creatures, and giving the opponent a choice is bad'. Yeah, but it’s Jund. We’re one-for-oneing all their creatures as they put them down, mostly. The opponent’s side of the board really shouldn’t be that wide, if at all.
Anyway, I love new cards, and I enjoy getting hyped about them. Somebody has to toss those clay pigeons up in the air
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MODERN: BRGJUNDGRB---BRHOLLOW ONERB---BGELVESGB---BRGLIVING ENDGRB---GWBOGLESWG EDH: BRGKARRTHUS, TYRANT OF JUNDGRB
As far as the edict card is concerned, that’s a good point about Shadow and “go-wide” strategies. They weren’t too excited about it on the Jund thread either it seemed, but that one I don’t understand as much. 'Lots of decks have lots of creatures, and giving the opponent a choice is bad'. Yeah, but it’s Jund. We’re one-for-oneing all their creatures as they put them down, mostly. The opponent’s side of the board really shouldn’t be that wide, if at all.
But there's still no need for an edict effect in Modern. There's no True-Name Nemesis or Sneak and Show here and when we do need an edict effect, LOTV has it covered. There's simply no room for a card like that. What would you cut for it in Jund? Push, Decay, KCommand? Never.
Hello,
interested in the blueless decklist played by 2InTheBoard
Since you say you would remove the Blood Moon, what could be the bet option for this slot?
Kozilek's Return?
Rd 1 - Monored Phoenix 2-1
This deck can be ridiculous, one game he had 3 phoenixes on turn 2. Collective Brutality is way better in this match than its Izzet cousin as it kills all the "swiftspears". Always use ALL THREE MODES given the chance. Barely got there.
Rd 2 - BG Rock 2-0
I feel like my opponent had tough draws and mana issues, either flooding or pinched. That is magic, and in this match I cut a land postboard to lessen our chances of flood even more, as that is the most likely way to win. Also, always take the draw.
Rd 3 - Skred Dragons 2-1
This match was a riot, although I never felt threatened. I lost to turn 1 Blood Moon off 2 SSGs, and hilariously top decked my only swamp on my turn 1. Lol, still lost that one. Do not know how to play around turn 1 moon...
Rd 4 - Monored Phoenix 2-1
Just as close as the match before, Scooze was the entire match. Grafdigger's Cage saved me bc it stopped my opp from flashing back a looting which would have killed me. Don't forget about that when you play cage, which I think is in a great spot right now.
Rd 5 - Humans - 0-2
This matchup is very difficult but I also feel like our opponents feel the same way about us. I think I made a mistake boarding out my Lilis because the games tend to go so long postboard.
Rd 6 - Grixis Shadow - 2-1
Very tough, another matchup where we take the draw. In the end scooze bested his flip-jace, and Liliana is also great obviously.
Rd 7 - Dredge - 2-0
I was pretty lucky to have good openers, scooze in opener game one. As much as it feels great to gain a life and pump yer boy, always hit a dredger first, cut off the engine and it's smooth sailin.
Rd 8 - Tron - 0-2
And there goes my dreams. Game one I kept an opener with 2 push 1 dismember. The rest is history.
Drew with my last opp so we could both get out $$ back, super fun tournament. All the players were super cool, Chicago mtg is a good scene.
Draft My Cube!
That's a great run, on paper I'm surprised that your list was able to beat BG, I've generally found that to be the hardest matchup with this deck because of the holy trifecta of playsets of Push/Trophy/Veil. BG has weird mana issues sometimes for a 2 color deck, I've definitely been on the receiving end of that when I've played it in the past. How did you feel about the K-Command main? I've flirted with the idea but keep convincing myself that I'd rather play Abrupt Decay.
My plan against turn 1 Blood Moon is usually to appeal to my opponent's humanity, which has not been successful so far.
I've become increasingly convinced that we're even if not slightly advantaged against the current builds of Grixis Shadow, how did you end up sideboarding there?
Yeah I agree it was a good run and luck was definitely on my side. In the BG matchup, I actually believe I only boarded a few cards. I believe
-1 fetchland
-1 IOK
-1 Looting
-1 Street Wraith
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Blood Moon
+2 Fulminator
I would not play blood moon in my board today, it is just too narrow. It is fun getting a UW player or the like occasionally but I think it would be better as something else, Im going to try a terminate.
The K-Command main is something I would most certainly keep. I like having x-amount of instants I can fire off regardless of what I'm against gm 1, and I actually wanted another one in the side. The Pulse can definitely go, it is too slow, I am just torn between a 2nd K-command or Lili, Last Hope. Depends on your meta.
I recently played against a Monored Phoenix who used Ground Rift and actually beat me 2-0 thanks to that card specifically.
The Snapcaster configuration in my previous post is more of a pipe dream, and I'm really on the board with sticking to main deck jund. Stub however has been super clutch out of the board and I'm happy to have it. An update with Scooze back in my main board and the Jailer as psuedo-cage in SB.
4 Death's Shadow
4 Street Wraith
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Ghor-Clan Rampager
1 Scavenging Ooze
Spells (28)
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Thoughtseize
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Traverse the Ulvenwald
1 Faithless looting
4 Fatal Push
2 Assassin's Trophy
2 Dismember
2 Temur battle rage
2 Surgical Extraction
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Bloodstained mire
2 Wooded foothills
1 Polluted Delta
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Watery Grave
1 Blood crypt
1 Stomping ground
1 Swamp
1 Forest
3 Fulminator Mage
3 Stubborn Denial
2 Collective Brutality
2 Faerie Macabre
1 Yixlid Jailer
1 Assassin's trophy
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Kolaghan's command
Draft My Cube!
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
Affinity 0-2
This is usually a good match up for me. I drew poorly in game 2, none of my Sideboard cards.
Monored Phoenix 1-2
I think our chances here are better than regular RW burn. Their shenanigans are stoppable and the deck is overall less linear
GB Rock 2-0
I've had good luck against GBx in most encounters lately. Post board we pack almost as much interaction as them so it's a fair match up.
UR Phoenix 2-1
These games are always nail-biters. Main deck surgical is nuts here
GDS 2-1
These are battles of removal. Whoever draws more usually wins. I tried boarding in my stubs here and I would say it paid off because they play so low to the ground on mana. Force Spike was relevant more than once. I didn't bring in Fulminator
Next league:
Infect 0-2
Game one we just threw threats at each other. He got their first. Then I took shapers sanctuary from his g2 opening hand, thinking I could play around the Become Immense. But I should've taken that instead because it killed me.
Dredge 2-1
Sideboard cards were Allstars here. Main board surgical is a house. I never needed Scooze because I was able to shut him down with a Jailer game 2 and then surgical +traverse for Faerie in game 3.
UW Miracles 0-2
I drew very poorly both games. This a very winnable match up. I board in all stubs and Fulminator mages.
UR Phoenix 2-1
Again surgical takes the win. Allows me to t1 Thoughtseize a drake and surgical to get the other drake from his hand. I drew a lot of removal in g3 which helped me take the win. But it should've been a 2-0 because in the first game I accidentally passed over an attack step with my Tarmogoyf on turn 3 which cost me the game
Whir Prison 2-1
I can't stress enough my love for the main deck surgical. So helpful in this match up. Even decks that don't care about their graveyard much. To be able to surgical their main out against you (in this case Bridge) is just such a blow out.
----
Main deck Scooze didn't come up much but it's been helpful for me in the past against humans and spirits so I'll continue the same list for now.
Draft My Cube!
check the GP Bilbao:
5th position for a Death Shadow decklist (suicide zoo style):
https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=21377&d=342975&f=MO
I've been playing something almost identical for a few months.
The deck feels very powerful, if a little redundant and boring to play.
I dislike his mana base quite a bit.
The trick with Phoenix is that they attack you on different levels. Graveyard hate alone isn't enough because they just kill you with thing or Drake. Push isn't always live to kill Drake, so we need something more consistent. Trophy gets the job done but ramping them has its risks (more mana = more spells in one turn) and Trophy is a pretty mediocre removal spell when I'm bringing it against Humans, Spirits, Coco decks, etc. Although I guess Sorcery speed is not too be overlooked here either.
Draft My Cube!
I’m new to the forum but have been reading through this thread recently a lot and wanted to contribute.
I recently attended magic fest Calgary last weekend and took 4C traverse shadow to the main event. I had an amazing start to the day with no byes going 5-0 but sadly lost my next three games, ending my tournament at 5-3.
The deck felt strong, and gave me the lines to win if I had played a little better, but decks like this require tight play and the smallest mistake can often lead to our downfall.
Pardon my lack of formatting skills; I’m on mobile and am unsure how to write the decklist out in the graphed columns so I’ll write it as best I can. I’ll talk about my card choices, especially the maindeck island and sideboard.
Lands: (18)
1x watery grave
1x breeding pool
1x blood crypt
1x stomping ground
1x overgrown tomb
1x island
1x forest
1x swamp
1x wooded foothills
3x polluted delta
4x verdant catacomb
2x bloodstained mire
Noncreature spells: (29)
4x traverse the ulvenwald
4x mishra’s bauble
4x thoughtseize
4x inquisition of kozilek
3x fatal push
2x dismember
1x abrupt decay
1x kolaghan’s command
3x stubborn denial
1x temur battle rage
2x tarfire
Creatures: (13)
4x death’s shadow
4x tarmogoyf
4x street wraith
1x ghor-clan rampager
Sideboard: (15)
1x stubborn denial
2x surgical extraction
1x Rakdos charm
1x bojuka bog
1x liliana, the last hope
1x liliana of the veil
1x scavenging ooze
1x phyrexian revoker
2x fulminator mage
2x assassin’s trophy
1x radiant flames
1x collective brutality
I had played some 80~ games on mtgo prior to the event and attended some Local FNM’s to prep myself as best I could with my job and came to a few conclusions. UW control, Tron, GDS and Hardened scales/ traditional affinity were all ~50% to 40% win rates, either based on a bad MU overall or punts.
For UW Field of ruin, path to exile and any other land denial strategy was backbreaking against this deck and I fiddled with a maindeck island for sometime. It seemed good on paper and never really was bad during the tournament but moving forward id cut it to reduce the potential of abysmal topdecks. This deck lives and dies by the sword, so losing our blue source through repeated land destruction is just the way she goes. Keeping a fetch up for an important turn to
Sandbag one of the two sources is the only real option and often only lasts a turn if the opponent has an active field ready.
GDS is faster and can beat us with snapcaster but I find the matchup to be in our favour slightly, especially with traverse package and abrupt decay to smoosh shadows.
Tron is very beatable game 1 depending on who goes first and the strength of our hand. Postboard they lower their curve with TKS, thragtusk and often we take our removal which has few targets out. We need to fulminator / trophy and hopefully have surgical or a clock to have a chance in this MU and Tron is the more redundant deck.
I found with the rise of Phoenix and dredge , this deck incidentally gets worse with maindeck RIPS, Nihils and Relics our the wazoo nerfing Goyf and our traverse lines greatly.
The sideboard was pretty good all weekend but I’d cut the rakdos charm for a nihil and the revoker for ancient grudge or Hurkyls recall for better specific hate for artifacts.
My matchups were;
1. Vizier combo 2-0 (W)
2. Burn 2-1 (W)
3. Bant spirits 2-0 (W)
4. Whir Prison 2-1 (W)
5. Humans 2-1 (W)
6. UR arclight vs Squachief streamer 0-2 (L)
7. Mono G Tron 1-2 (L)
8. Grisel goryos / arclight pile 0-2 (L)
I’ll write another follow up to the matches and specific plays but I’ll let this post marinate while I gather that info from my logs. I also played in 2 MCQ’s and will write about that with some good wins and punts.
Overall I love this deck a lot but the current meta game runs a lot of graveyard hate maindeck which hurts us and im thinking about trying GDS which is faster and uses their graveyard differently than us with less strings attached in my opinion.
Here to answer and questions and further the discussion of this archetype. Thanks for reading part 1 of 2 and happy grinding.
Dreadhorde Arcanist is at least interesting?
Angrath’s Rampage looks pretty bad*** too, though the sorcery speed is a deterrent.
Any other prospects I’ve missed?
BRGJUNDGRB---BRHOLLOW ONERB---BGELVESGB---BRGLIVING ENDGRB---GWBOGLESWG
EDH:
BRGKARRTHUS, TYRANT OF JUNDGRB
Don't see any way we'd want Arcanist in a Shadow shell whatsoever. Same for Rampage, Dreadbore is better and sees no play either.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
Yeah, for Arcanist I was thinking more about this suicide shadow zoo deck that’s been showing up. One delved Become Immense lets you immediately hardcast it again (a 13/15 trampler seems pretty good, or a 7/9 trampler and +6/+6 on another creature seems good), a Mutagenic Growth on Arcanist and you can Dismember something again or whatever else, etc, etc. Just hypotheticals. Or no buff and just cast more copies of Bolts and Thoughtseize from your yard. Not to mention it’s pretty cool with both sides of Claim//Fame, which they’ve been including in the sideboard. The trample is relevant. It’s a half-formed thought I haven’t followed too far yet, but I felt it was worth mentioning. I’m going to have fun brewing with it at the very least.
As far as the edict card is concerned, that’s a good point about Shadow and “go-wide” strategies. They weren’t too excited about it on the Jund thread either it seemed, but that one I don’t understand as much. 'Lots of decks have lots of creatures, and giving the opponent a choice is bad'. Yeah, but it’s Jund. We’re one-for-oneing all their creatures as they put them down, mostly. The opponent’s side of the board really shouldn’t be that wide, if at all.
Anyway, I love new cards, and I enjoy getting hyped about them. Somebody has to toss those clay pigeons up in the air
BRGJUNDGRB---BRHOLLOW ONERB---BGELVESGB---BRGLIVING ENDGRB---GWBOGLESWG
EDH:
BRGKARRTHUS, TYRANT OF JUNDGRB
But there's still no need for an edict effect in Modern. There's no True-Name Nemesis or Sneak and Show here and when we do need an edict effect, LOTV has it covered. There's simply no room for a card like that. What would you cut for it in Jund? Push, Decay, KCommand? Never.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
interested in the blueless decklist played by 2InTheBoard
Since you say you would remove the Blood Moon, what could be the bet option for this slot?
Kozilek's Return?
Thanks
I'm new in the forum and in the modern format. I will try with this list of shadow zoo:
https://mtgdecks.net/Modern/losilla-3rd-place-decklist-by-losilla-788183
So, I have a lot of doubts related whith the sideboard plan. If someone could help me with any idea, it will be welcome.
In my local meta, some friends said me that I should expect Phoenix, Burn and UW as majority.
Thanks for your advices.
Regards.