It seems we finally see some more diversity in the deck lists and I'm all for it.
Your list supports a more focused and combo-orientated play style, while I tend to embrace the control aspects of the deck. Maybe I should play your version for a while in order to learn how to be more aggressive.
A single copy of Temur Battle rage seems to be a good fit even in the maindeck, as people will not expect them anymore compared to the old deck and winning becomes more trivial, if they jump a 5/5 or 4/5 or big shadow with a 1/1 token.
It also helps to sneak in a win against a Mirran Crusader that otherwise has protection and cannot be removed easily otherwise (outside of Liliana sacrifice, but they really have more than just 1 creature).
To beat the crusader Kozilek's Return also helps (with devoid it works around protection).
Playing more hurts , but a single copy does quite some work, especially with a Snapcaster Mage to squeeze in extra copies if needed.
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Certainly pushes the Win% by a bit as suddenly they have to play around a "possible" Temur Battle rage more often than they like to, even if its in your graveyard and that alone produces extra value.
From my experience, it's more of a myth that running TBR causes people to "play around it". A single copy might only show up once a match, if at all. That makes it hard for the opponent to be aware of it (which is a plus, but not in a mind games kind of sense). In addition, most decks can't do much against a berserking Shadow anyway. So even if the players cared, it wouldn't make much of a difference.
Yesterday i playteste Ari Lax mainboard list and thought that the skill celling of the deck rose with 4 Sleight of Hand, i felt that every decision was harder and sometimes I was really flooding on cantrips and got no action. For the note i playtested ,without SBing, aganist Dredge, Afinity and MonoW HateBears. Any tips guys ?
I can't stand Temur Battle Rage. Yes, it has moments where it is awesome and game-winning, but more often than not, it doesn't kill your opponent, and even more often, does nothing because you want to spend your mana on more implactful spells. If people *think* you have it, they will play around it whether you have it in your 75 or not.
I can't stand Temur Battle Rage. Yes, it has moments where it is awesome and game-winning, but more often than not, it doesn't kill your opponent, and even more often, does nothing because you want to spend your mana on more implactful spells. If people *think* you have it, they will play around it whether you have it in your 75 or not.
Been out of the game for a while now and looking to get back on the modern scene. Just took apart my Jeskai Geist deck for a Grixis Shadow build. Can someone enlighten me as to why we don't play Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth instead of a Swamp? Seems like it would couple nicely with the Street Wraiths for the Swampwalk ability.. Is it just not worth it because another match-up benefits more from the black mana/number of Swamps? Or the inability to fetch perhaps?
As I said, I've been out of the game for a while so I am not sure what I am missing here... Any help would be awesome!
Been out of the game for a while now and looking to get back on the modern scene. Just took apart my Jeskai Geist deck for a Grixis Shadow build. Can someone enlighten me as to why we don't play Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth instead of a Swamp? Seems like it would couple nicely with the Street Wraiths for the Swampwalk ability.. Is it just not worth it because another match-up benefits more from the black mana/number of Swamps? Or the inability to fetch perhaps?
As I said, I've been out of the game for a while so I am not sure what I am missing here... Any help would be awesome!
-Z
Urborg isn't fetchable, that's the biggest reason. Other than that, the Swamp gives you some Blood Moon protection, and it's a fetchable pain-free black source against fast aggro.
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Modern UBR Grixis Shadow UBR UR Izzet Phoenix UR UW UW Control UW GB GB Rock GB
Commander BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth BG BGUW Atraxa, Praetor's Voice BGUW
Been out of the game for a while now and looking to get back on the modern scene. Just took apart my Jeskai Geist deck for a Grixis Shadow build. Can someone enlighten me as to why we don't play Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth instead of a Swamp? Seems like it would couple nicely with the Street Wraiths for the Swampwalk ability.. Is it just not worth it because another match-up benefits more from the black mana/number of Swamps? Or the inability to fetch perhaps?
As I said, I've been out of the game for a while so I am not sure what I am missing here... Any help would be awesome!
-Z
Urborg isn't fetchable, that's the biggest reason. Other than that, the Swamp gives you some Blood Moon protection, and it's a fetchable pain-free black source against fast aggro.
Great points, and thanks for the reply.
All that being said, do you think there is any place for Urborg in the deck? Or is it simply not worth it?
I can't stand Temur Battle Rage. Yes, it has moments where it is awesome and game-winning, but more often than not, it doesn't kill your opponent, and even more often, does nothing because you want to spend your mana on more implactful spells. If people *think* you have it, they will play around it whether you have it in your 75 or not.
I can't stand a card that does not kill Prized Amalgam though.
That's what 2 Spellbomb and 2 Surgicals are for. I'm not beating Dredge with removal and I'm not fetching RR for Anger.
The card has other problems. It's not that good in Merfolks also(maybe Elves as well) and Zoo lists running Wild Nacatl etc, most of their times they have toughness: 3.
I will understand if you play the card in the Esper build you seem to be running, but in here Anger is just the better card.
Out of the full 75, 88% of nonland cards are black or blue, with my list only running 7 red cards (5 main 2 side). Having double red is almost never correct, and you almost never want to fetch double red. A single red source is almost always the best option because so few of the cards you actually want to cast have any red in them (and none of them have RR). All the cards you care about are black and having BBx is so much easier and more natural than RRx. The reduction of need for red and exile clause make it better than both Anger and Return most of the time, IMO.
As far as Merfolk, I prioritize targeted removal on islandwalk lords and Tendrils usually sweeps up the rest. Many of their non-lords are X/1s, and most of their lords are 2/2s, so they need at least 2 lords to make all their stuff safe. Plus Tendrils hits Master of Waves (which Anger does not) and does massive work against most Company decks.
All that being said, do you think there is any place for Urborg in the deck? Or is it simply not worth it?
The manabase is already super tight (12 fetches, 5 shocks, 2 basics). I don't know what I would cut for an Urborg, but even if I did, it's not reliable to draw because, as pointed out above, it can't be fetched.
I was on 18 land for a while and saw that Ari went to 17 by cutting the 3rd red source. Since I only play 5 red cards in my 75(6 I guess for scenarios when you want to EE for 3) and I don't have any double red spells the cost of cutting the 3rd red source is fairly low since I have 4 extra cantrips to search for it. As far as getting unlucky with mills, the odds of milling both red sources is so low that if it does happen and I haven't gotten a red source out in time, "It happens" as they say. It's been fine, though there have been some awkward times when I do keep cantripping into more cantrips when either trying to find more land/threats or removal for the situation but ultimately that's the cost I'm willing to take when running a build like this. I could see an argument for putting back the 18th land for the 4th sleight though.
Regarding TBR: I think the card is too good not to run honestly. It's a great way to push through damage vs various decks that swarm the field and can double as a removal spell vs decks like Eldrazi. Helping us race vs uninterctive combo decks is also a bit of a plus as well. I can see why some people are off of it, but that comes down to a playstyle difference, much like running Sleight of Hands in this deck does.
Regarding Anger vs. Tendrils vs. KReturn: You definitely need some number of these in your 75, especially if you are not going to run TBR. In a vacuum Anger is the best, but getting that double red is brutal. There has never ever been a situation when I have wanted double red out, and honestly there are a lot of times when I really don't even need a single red source. I've thought about tendrils for a while, but ultimately the thing that kills it for me is being Sorcery AND a 2 toughness or less killer(aka not killing amalgam). Having to tap out against dredge while leaving their Amalgams in tact is not where you want to be. This is why I opt for KReturn, while it can't kill amalgams I can at least do it at the end of their turn if I don't need to counter a conflagrate or reunion. Now if you are running the 19 land version of this deck than Anger is a lot more appealing, since you are also a bit slower of a deck.
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Modern URBSome variant of Death's Shadow URB Grixis Control (Chapin Version) JFM Storm / Treasure Cruise Delver / Splinter Twin / Infect
Been out of the game for a while now and looking to get back on the modern scene. Just took apart my Jeskai Geist deck for a Grixis Shadow build. Can someone enlighten me as to why we don't play Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth instead of a Swamp? Seems like it would couple nicely with the Street Wraiths for the Swampwalk ability.. Is it just not worth it because another match-up benefits more from the black mana/number of Swamps? Or the inability to fetch perhaps?
As I said, I've been out of the game for a while so I am not sure what I am missing here... Any help would be awesome!
-Z
Urborg isn't fetchable, that's the biggest reason. Other than that, the Swamp gives you some Blood Moon protection, and it's a fetchable pain-free black source against fast aggro.
Great points, and thanks for the reply.
All that being said, do you think there is any place for Urborg in the deck? Or is it simply not worth it?
No, the deck just can't run any lands that can't be found with fetches. Most lists run 12 fetchlands and only 7 actual lands that tap for mana, so having one of those be unfetchable means your fetches run out of targets quicker, which is a thing that happens in grindy games even with 7.
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Modern UBR Grixis Shadow UBR UR Izzet Phoenix UR UW UW Control UW GB GB Rock GB
Commander BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth BG BGUW Atraxa, Praetor's Voice BGUW
That new R/B Aftermatch card looks very interesting. claim // fame
Claim looks really sweet, I kind of want to try it out since it costs only 1 mana but it'll most likely clash with Kommand and honestly Kommand is just to powerful to really cut. This could prove to be interesting in Esper builds though, since their only other options for recursion are Orzhov Charm and Liliana, the Last hope and this one is one mana. One mana snapcaster to get a Cantrip or Discard spell seems like sweet value, especially for the lower land count versions. I'll probably pick up a couple copies and test them out when I can.
Edit: Just realized that you can cast Claim -> Snap and recast it to target a Shadow or something. Makes me wish that we had a few more options for recurring stuff, but I can't really complain about this card since there is quite a bit of potential.
Lightning Bolt is usually a much a better out vs. Mirran Crusader. TBR is not a great out against Lingering Soul either, because those decks often have some lifegain (e.g. Scooze, Siege Rhino). So killing them with one Shadow attack isn't that easy. Plus, those decks run Path to Exile and Abrupt Decay, which makes TBR a big gamble. In most cases, maindeck EE would be a safer out if we were really concerned about maindeck Lingering Souls. Plus, EE also kills any number of Chalices.
On the fetching double red issue:
The latest discussion on this matter revolved around decks running Sleight of Hand with only 4 shock lands. So I don't know how you could fit in a second Steam Vents into these decks without cutting another fetch land. Thus, your comment doesn't seem very relevant in the context of the recent discussion. I also don't agree with you that Steam Vents is so much better in general, because not having a second Blood Crypt is a liability against Spreading Seas and land destruction. There are significantly more black spells than blue spells in this deck, at least in the stock list.
On Claim // Fame:
I challenge your prediction that this is going to be an "autoinclude" "at least as a one of". Sorcery speed makes the first mode a lot worse than it might appear on first sight. It's also not a classic split card, so we will (usually) need to put a CMC1 or CMC2 creature in the graveyard first if we want to be able to use the second mode. In addition, Claim // Fame is yet another card that interacts with the graveyard, further increasing our deck's vulnerability to graveyard hate. Unlike any other card in the deck, it becomes completely dead against Rest in Peace and early LlotV. In the end, it will be hard to find a card to cut for it from most lists, due to the high quality of the cards we already have in the deck. So lets not be too enthusiastic about it before we have done some testing.
In 19 land builds, I'm not interested in the second Steam Vents possibly unless you're playing Deprive. But even then, I'm not so sure. In 17 land builds that have RR SB cards (like Anger of the Gods) I could see cutting another fetch for the 2nd Steam Vents and not the 2nd Blood Crypt, but that's only because you can't keep many hands without a blue source, and 15 blue sources is already very few.
I seriously doubt Claim to Fame will be good in our deck, and I probably won't test without seeing promising results from someone else first. Yes it gets back Snapcaster for card advantage too, but we can already do that a card that is much more versatile: K Command. It does look interesting in Jund Shadow though. They have Goyfs to bring back too, and were always a bit more aggressive than we were. But I'll let the Jund bois test that one out.
Edit: to elaborate a bit more, my biggest problem with Claim to Fame is that it does nothing unless we have one of 6-8 cards in our graveyard, depending on how many Snapcasters we have. One of Grixis's strengths is that it mostly plays cards that are just good the vast majority of the time, plus some low cost enablers (Wraith, Scour). This card is very narrow and will rot in your hand a lot.
Commander GUR Maelstrom Wanderer BWU Sydri, Galvanic Genius BGB Meren of Clan Nel Toth WGW Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith RRR Feldon of the Third Path WWW Heliod, God of the Sun
@Spooly: I would argue bringing back Snapcaster is stronger than bringing back goyf. DSJ als doens't play selfmill like we do with Thought Scour. I'm not sold on Claim/Fame yet but it has potential for sure. It furthers a grindy game plan and a aggressive, mana efficient game plan at the same time but it has some weakneases too. It folds to gravyard hate, is a sorcery, can be too situational and Grxis DS already has a really stock list without many flex slots. I'm excited
We play Thought Scour, but we also exile our GY a lot. Jund also effectively plays more cheap creatures than us because Traverse finds them Shadow/Goyf, whereas we have delve creatures instead. Some Jund lists even play a few Grim Flayer. I doubt Jund MDs it, but it's a reasonable SB card.
That said, the card certainly has a lot of potential. But I think it would take a reimagining of the UBx shadow shell to make it good.
Ugh, the BW Eldrazi matchup is absolutely miserable. 4 Relics, Mirran Crusader, Rest in Peace...
The amount of hate against us is pretty extreme right now. Every CoCo or even any deck that touches white is running crusaders (or light caster, which I think is a bad card). Luckily, most of the grave hate cards which are out in full against are hitting Dredge as well, so maybe we can lighten up on some Dredge hate (famous last words). I'm gonna be trying some Flaying Tendrils or Kozilek's in the board instead of Angers. I know some people have already been doing that, but I think it might be more correct now. Leaning towards tendrils, as Kozilek's hardly touches dredge. Not hitting amalgams sucks, but at least we are hitting Bloodghasts which makes it harder for Amalgams to recur. Both Tendrils and Kozilek's hit Etched Champ (which didn't get hit by anger) and Mirran Crusader (which did, but getting 2 red sources against some taxing decks which are in vogue since Vegas is hard).
I'm not sure on the Ari Lax stuff, and IDK if I'm willing to spend money on Sleights to test it. I don't think it is that good, but I can certainly see myself being wrong. Many people expressed concerns of how it is likely that you are spending turns just digging through your deck, and while we are mana efficient I don't think we would be gaining a significant enough advantage by running sleights than we do without them to justify it. Again, I could easily see myself being wrong here.
I'm hoping I can rely on Tron players to beat up people that beat us up (I don't imagine many of the more fair midrange decks with souls do well against Iron), as we likewise beat up people that beat up them (spell based combo). It makes me consider 3 Ceremonious, but I've been doing fine against Tron (not great, but fine) with only 2. Also considering LotV, as she seems really good in the mirror and against Eldrazi Tron, but less good against Souls and Coco. Too bad she's so expensive.
Mainboard I'm currently on 2 Bolt since Vegas, but maybe dropping them. I know some people are running mainboard Mirran Crusaders because they are drinking serious haterade, but most is SB and bolt feels pretty garbage main. Prob dropping for 1 Fatal Push and 1 LtLH or TBR
Your list supports a more focused and combo-orientated play style, while I tend to embrace the control aspects of the deck. Maybe I should play your version for a while in order to learn how to be more aggressive.
It also helps to sneak in a win against a Mirran Crusader that otherwise has protection and cannot be removed easily otherwise (outside of Liliana sacrifice, but they really have more than just 1 creature).
To beat the crusader Kozilek's Return also helps (with devoid it works around protection).
Playing more hurts , but a single copy does quite some work, especially with a Snapcaster Mage to squeeze in extra copies if needed.
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Certainly pushes the Win% by a bit as suddenly they have to play around a "possible" Temur Battle rage more often than they like to, even if its in your graveyard and that alone produces extra value.
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮
Yesterday i playteste Ari Lax mainboard list and thought that the skill celling of the deck rose with 4 Sleight of Hand, i felt that every decision was harder and sometimes I was really flooding on cantrips and got no action. For the note i playtested ,without SBing, aganist Dredge, Afinity and MonoW HateBears. Any tips guys ?
I'm also very pleased with Flaying Tendrils over either Anger of the Gods or Kozilek's Return.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Been out of the game for a while now and looking to get back on the modern scene. Just took apart my Jeskai Geist deck for a Grixis Shadow build. Can someone enlighten me as to why we don't play Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth instead of a Swamp? Seems like it would couple nicely with the Street Wraiths for the Swampwalk ability.. Is it just not worth it because another match-up benefits more from the black mana/number of Swamps? Or the inability to fetch perhaps?
As I said, I've been out of the game for a while so I am not sure what I am missing here... Any help would be awesome!
-Z
UBR Grixis Shadow UBR
UR Izzet Phoenix UR
UW UW Control UW
GB GB Rock GB
Commander
BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth BG
BGUW Atraxa, Praetor's Voice BGUW
Great points, and thanks for the reply.
All that being said, do you think there is any place for Urborg in the deck? Or is it simply not worth it?
Out of the full 75, 88% of nonland cards are black or blue, with my list only running 7 red cards (5 main 2 side). Having double red is almost never correct, and you almost never want to fetch double red. A single red source is almost always the best option because so few of the cards you actually want to cast have any red in them (and none of them have RR). All the cards you care about are black and having BBx is so much easier and more natural than RRx. The reduction of need for red and exile clause make it better than both Anger and Return most of the time, IMO.
As far as Merfolk, I prioritize targeted removal on islandwalk lords and Tendrils usually sweeps up the rest. Many of their non-lords are X/1s, and most of their lords are 2/2s, so they need at least 2 lords to make all their stuff safe. Plus Tendrils hits Master of Waves (which Anger does not) and does massive work against most Company decks.
The manabase is already super tight (12 fetches, 5 shocks, 2 basics). I don't know what I would cut for an Urborg, but even if I did, it's not reliable to draw because, as pointed out above, it can't be fetched.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Regarding TBR: I think the card is too good not to run honestly. It's a great way to push through damage vs various decks that swarm the field and can double as a removal spell vs decks like Eldrazi. Helping us race vs uninterctive combo decks is also a bit of a plus as well. I can see why some people are off of it, but that comes down to a playstyle difference, much like running Sleight of Hands in this deck does.
Regarding Anger vs. Tendrils vs. KReturn: You definitely need some number of these in your 75, especially if you are not going to run TBR. In a vacuum Anger is the best, but getting that double red is brutal. There has never ever been a situation when I have wanted double red out, and honestly there are a lot of times when I really don't even need a single red source. I've thought about tendrils for a while, but ultimately the thing that kills it for me is being Sorcery AND a 2 toughness or less killer(aka not killing amalgam). Having to tap out against dredge while leaving their Amalgams in tact is not where you want to be. This is why I opt for KReturn, while it can't kill amalgams I can at least do it at the end of their turn if I don't need to counter a conflagrate or reunion. Now if you are running the 19 land version of this deck than Anger is a lot more appealing, since you are also a bit slower of a deck.
URB Some variant of Death's Shadow
URB Grixis Control (Chapin Version)
JFM Storm / Treasure Cruise Delver / Splinter Twin / InfectCommander/EDH
This pile of cards when I feel like it
Death's Shadow discord link
UBR Grixis Shadow UBR
UR Izzet Phoenix UR
UW UW Control UW
GB GB Rock GB
Commander
BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth BG
BGUW Atraxa, Praetor's Voice BGUW
Claim looks really sweet, I kind of want to try it out since it costs only 1 mana but it'll most likely clash with Kommand and honestly Kommand is just to powerful to really cut. This could prove to be interesting in Esper builds though, since their only other options for recursion are Orzhov Charm and Liliana, the Last hope and this one is one mana. One mana snapcaster to get a Cantrip or Discard spell seems like sweet value, especially for the lower land count versions. I'll probably pick up a couple copies and test them out when I can.
Edit: Just realized that you can cast Claim -> Snap and recast it to target a Shadow or something. Makes me wish that we had a few more options for recurring stuff, but I can't really complain about this card since there is quite a bit of potential.
URB Some variant of Death's Shadow
URB Grixis Control (Chapin Version)
JFM Storm / Treasure Cruise Delver / Splinter Twin / InfectCommander/EDH
This pile of cards when I feel like it
Death's Shadow discord link
UBR Grixis Shadow UBR
UR Izzet Phoenix UR
UW UW Control UW
GB GB Rock GB
Commander
BG Meren of Clan Nel Toth BG
BGUW Atraxa, Praetor's Voice BGUW
Lightning Bolt is usually a much a better out vs. Mirran Crusader. TBR is not a great out against Lingering Soul either, because those decks often have some lifegain (e.g. Scooze, Siege Rhino). So killing them with one Shadow attack isn't that easy. Plus, those decks run Path to Exile and Abrupt Decay, which makes TBR a big gamble. In most cases, maindeck EE would be a safer out if we were really concerned about maindeck Lingering Souls. Plus, EE also kills any number of Chalices.
On the fetching double red issue:
The latest discussion on this matter revolved around decks running Sleight of Hand with only 4 shock lands. So I don't know how you could fit in a second Steam Vents into these decks without cutting another fetch land. Thus, your comment doesn't seem very relevant in the context of the recent discussion. I also don't agree with you that Steam Vents is so much better in general, because not having a second Blood Crypt is a liability against Spreading Seas and land destruction. There are significantly more black spells than blue spells in this deck, at least in the stock list.
On Claim // Fame:
I challenge your prediction that this is going to be an "autoinclude" "at least as a one of". Sorcery speed makes the first mode a lot worse than it might appear on first sight. It's also not a classic split card, so we will (usually) need to put a CMC1 or CMC2 creature in the graveyard first if we want to be able to use the second mode. In addition, Claim // Fame is yet another card that interacts with the graveyard, further increasing our deck's vulnerability to graveyard hate. Unlike any other card in the deck, it becomes completely dead against Rest in Peace and early LlotV. In the end, it will be hard to find a card to cut for it from most lists, due to the high quality of the cards we already have in the deck. So lets not be too enthusiastic about it before we have done some testing.
I seriously doubt Claim to Fame will be good in our deck, and I probably won't test without seeing promising results from someone else first. Yes it gets back Snapcaster for card advantage too, but we can already do that a card that is much more versatile: K Command. It does look interesting in Jund Shadow though. They have Goyfs to bring back too, and were always a bit more aggressive than we were. But I'll let the Jund bois test that one out.
Edit: to elaborate a bit more, my biggest problem with Claim to Fame is that it does nothing unless we have one of 6-8 cards in our graveyard, depending on how many Snapcasters we have. One of Grixis's strengths is that it mostly plays cards that are just good the vast majority of the time, plus some low cost enablers (Wraith, Scour). This card is very narrow and will rot in your hand a lot.
GURB Grixis/Jund Shadow
RBG Dredge
xUx U Ballista Tron
Commander
GUR Maelstrom Wanderer
BWU Sydri, Galvanic Genius
BGB Meren of Clan Nel Toth
WGW Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith
RRR Feldon of the Third Path
WWW Heliod, God of the Sun
We play Thought Scour, but we also exile our GY a lot. Jund also effectively plays more cheap creatures than us because Traverse finds them Shadow/Goyf, whereas we have delve creatures instead. Some Jund lists even play a few Grim Flayer. I doubt Jund MDs it, but it's a reasonable SB card.
That said, the card certainly has a lot of potential. But I think it would take a reimagining of the UBx shadow shell to make it good.
The amount of hate against us is pretty extreme right now. Every CoCo or even any deck that touches white is running crusaders (or light caster, which I think is a bad card). Luckily, most of the grave hate cards which are out in full against are hitting Dredge as well, so maybe we can lighten up on some Dredge hate (famous last words). I'm gonna be trying some Flaying Tendrils or Kozilek's in the board instead of Angers. I know some people have already been doing that, but I think it might be more correct now. Leaning towards tendrils, as Kozilek's hardly touches dredge. Not hitting amalgams sucks, but at least we are hitting Bloodghasts which makes it harder for Amalgams to recur. Both Tendrils and Kozilek's hit Etched Champ (which didn't get hit by anger) and Mirran Crusader (which did, but getting 2 red sources against some taxing decks which are in vogue since Vegas is hard).
I'm not sure on the Ari Lax stuff, and IDK if I'm willing to spend money on Sleights to test it. I don't think it is that good, but I can certainly see myself being wrong. Many people expressed concerns of how it is likely that you are spending turns just digging through your deck, and while we are mana efficient I don't think we would be gaining a significant enough advantage by running sleights than we do without them to justify it. Again, I could easily see myself being wrong here.
I'm hoping I can rely on Tron players to beat up people that beat us up (I don't imagine many of the more fair midrange decks with souls do well against Iron), as we likewise beat up people that beat up them (spell based combo). It makes me consider 3 Ceremonious, but I've been doing fine against Tron (not great, but fine) with only 2. Also considering LotV, as she seems really good in the mirror and against Eldrazi Tron, but less good against Souls and Coco. Too bad she's so expensive.
Mainboard I'm currently on 2 Bolt since Vegas, but maybe dropping them. I know some people are running mainboard Mirran Crusaders because they are drinking serious haterade, but most is SB and bolt feels pretty garbage main. Prob dropping for 1 Fatal Push and 1 LtLH or TBR