Definitely going to slip 1-2 in for testing. I dont want to go past that right away for fetch/field-able lands. It is an exciting addition to be sure. I could see it turning the corner on grindy matchups against the mirror and similar, ala who can get out of the whole quicker.
I went 5-0 at my local FNM this past week with this list.
Round 1 vs Elves (win 2-1)
Game 1 a turn 3 branchwalker allows me to find my third land (a treetop village) and stay on curve to win. It is worth noting that the 2/1 body got outclassed by my opponents pendelhaven. Game 2 is mostly irrelevant I was on the draw and a turn to slow to stabilize. Game 3 I have damnation in hand the entire game and never have to use it to win.
Round 2 vs Ad Naseum (win 2-0)
From the standpoint of the new cards this was uneventful. Game 1 I discarded his Lightning Storm and then he milled past his laboratory maniac. Game 2 I went up the curve with him discarding everything before he could play it when he did not have a leyline.
Round 3 vs Sultai Reclamation (win 2-0)
Both games pressure backed with discard got there. In game 2 my Ashiok locked him off of his mystical teachings and won me the game.
Round 4 vs Burn (win 2-0)
I think we are already very good against burn as I rarely lose this matchup. Having the surprise angle of Branchwalker allowed me to have more pressure quickly and also made the sideboard rest in peace he brought in look bad. (For the record I am already not in favor of siding that card in vs Rock as I would rather have a damage spell)
Round 5 vs Azorius Taking Turns (win 2-0)
Once again pressure plus discard got me there. I weathered his extra turn cards and focused on denying him card advantage in the matchup. Another 2 drop to begin the pressure helped as Scavenging ooze is not great in the matchup.
Final Thoughts
I was quite pleased with the Branchwalkers throughout the event. I never found myself wishing it was another card and several times it was helpful smoothing out my draws. It also gave me interesting lines in the removal heavy matchups where I could run him out into removal and save my better creatures for later. I will definitely be testing more with this card.
I went 5-0 at my local FNM this past week with this list.
Round 1 vs Elves (win 2-1)
Game 1 a turn 3 branchwalker allows me to find my third land (a treetop village) and stay on curve to win. It is worth noting that the 2/1 body got outclassed by my opponents pendelhaven. Game 2 is mostly irrelevant I was on the draw and a turn to slow to stabilize. Game 3 I have damnation in hand the entire game and never have to use it to win.
Round 2 vs Ad Naseum (win 2-0)
From the standpoint of the new cards this was uneventful. Game 1 I discarded his Lightning Storm and then he milled past his laboratory maniac. Game 2 I went up the curve with him discarding everything before he could play it when he did not have a leyline.
Round 3 vs Sultai Reclamation (win 2-0)
Both games pressure backed with discard got there. In game 2 my Ashiok locked him off of his mystical teachings and won me the game.
Round 4 vs Burn (win 2-0)
I think we are already very good against burn as I rarely lose this matchup. Having the surprise angle of Branchwalker allowed me to have more pressure quickly and also made the sideboard rest in peace he brought in look bad. (For the record I am already not in favor of siding that card in vs Rock as I would rather have a damage spell)
Round 5 vs Azorius Taking Turns (win 2-0)
Once again pressure plus discard got me there. I weathered his extra turn cards and focused on denying him card advantage in the matchup. Another 2 drop to begin the pressure helped as Scavenging ooze is not great in the matchup.
Final Thoughts
I was quite pleased with the Branchwalkers throughout the event. I never found myself wishing it was another card and several times it was helpful smoothing out my draws. It also gave me interesting lines in the removal heavy matchups where I could run him out into removal and save my better creatures for later. I will definitely be testing more with this card.
Well then, I need to either copy your list or move into your neighborhood.
I am unsure if this card will be good in the deck to be honest. I am sure it will be determined by the specifics of the build of BG Rock you are playing. However, it seems to run in contrast with some of the strengths of the deck. A big advantage that we have in aggressive matchups is that our manabase rarely does significant damage to us. In those matchups we often have to use every mana, every turn to stabilize. This could result in us losing 2-4 more health in the matchups where we draw it early.
Secondly, the BG Rock deck tends to be a very mana hungry deck. Between cracking clues and using our other utility lands I often find myself needing more mana. Sacrificing a land can be painful.
I may be the statistical outlier here as my build is very much designed to enhance Tireless tracker, but it should also be noted that it has less synergy with tracker than a normal fetch. 2 mana used, 1 land lost permanently, and one clue vs 1 life lost, 2 clues, and still 2 mana to draw a card.
I actually think the new fetchland that gets basics might be better for the deck. Being able to get our off color fetch out of the deck, while maintaining our ability to have 6 plus fetches, and still be able to get both colors off of fetch 5 and 6 seems ok.
It is possible I am dead wrong about this of course. The Horizon Canopy cycle are very powerful in a vacuum. I will certainly try it out to see but I would not be surprised if I am disappointed at how it plays out.
I predict these lands being weaponized more against us than being beneficial. I'm happy for modern as a whole but as a midrange player I'm selfishly upset about linear decks having access to this.
IF this slides in I imagine it would replace the blooming marsh.
Overall, this is like the equivalent of being excited that fatal push was printed when decks used to have trade tempo for our Goyfs.
Horizon has looked very poor for midrange. Luckily it's still early in the spoiler season.
We need card filtering/efficient threats, not more answers.
But the right sort of card filtering, no? Oath of Nissa isn't the worst. I was playing a BG Eldrazi deck a while back and loaded up on Oaths and Ancient Stirrings. It was problematic because at the end of the day, we're not a xerox deck. We need to deploy threats, which means we would need something like Oath stapled onto a decent body, preferably at 2 mana. That's a tall order but the Horizons spoiler reads like a U wishlist so maybe there's hope.
this card seems like a solid late game mana sink. Probably too slow depending on the expected meta but for grindy matches this could be great. I love that is is colorless mana to level. That's pretty huge. High risk, high reward, kinda card. Maybe?
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Current Decks:
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange BWG Abzan value evolution BUG BUG Midrange
Nissa's Oath is so underwhelming and at 2 mana feels like a bad play. Something like Mirri's Guile at 1 would be fantastic, for example.
Sylvan Library (which absolutely won't happen).
Or some kind of DRS efficient threat. All I know is throwing more removal isn't what needs to be done. We have absolutely nothing to ensure flooding. Meanwhile, decks are getting leaner, running less lands, cantripping, or outright winning so quickly. Fair decks need some unfair element added to the mix.
Nissa's Oath is so underwhelming and at 2 mana feels like a bad play. Something like Mirri's Guile at 1 would be fantastic, for example.
Sylvan Library (which absolutely won't happen).
Or some kind of DRS efficient threat. All I know is throwing more removal isn't what needs to be done. We have absolutely nothing to ensure flooding. Meanwhile, decks are getting leaner, running less lands, cantripping, or outright winning so quickly. Fair decks need some unfair element added to the mix.
Oath of Nissa is 1 CMC. It's underrated in general imho, but I don't think it fits BGx midrange decks unless more removal gets stapled onto creatures then it starts to get really good (like it is in Bant with Spell Quellers, Deputy of Detention, Ice-Fang Coatl, etc.).
I am very saddened to read the news on MTGSalvation. I have strong empathy for the site as it helped to get where I am today. Thanks, everyone for reading my primers and I hope we can continue our journey together on my website and discord server, where I still continue to post content frequently!
As much as that guy annoys me, I really, really like what that deck is doing. I want to see what it looks like even more aggressive, maxing out on Nurturing Peatland over Field of Ruin and maybe running a Grim Flayer package for additional disruption while trimming the top end further. I also think Leyline of the Void should be a major sideboard consideration with all the Hogaak decks running rampant.
As much as that guy annoys me, I really, really like what that deck is doing. I want to see what it looks like even more aggressive, maxing out on Nurturing Peatland over Field of Ruin and maybe running a Grim Flayer package for additional disruption while trimming the top end further. I also think Leyline of the Void should be a major sideboard consideration with all the Hogaak decks running rampant.
He's my favourite Youtube magic guy by far hehe
When you say trimming the top end, do you mean you'd cut some Lilianas for a more aggressive build?
As much as that guy annoys me, I really, really like what that deck is doing. I want to see what it looks like even more aggressive, maxing out on Nurturing Peatland over Field of Ruin and maybe running a Grim Flayer package for additional disruption while trimming the top end further. I also think Leyline of the Void should be a major sideboard consideration with all the Hogaak decks running rampant.
He's my favourite Youtube magic guy by far hehe
When you say trimming the top end, do you mean you'd cut some Lilianas for a more aggressive build?
Yes, although not all of them. My vision of the deck’s evolution involves abandoning the mana denial plan altogether (outside of AT to stick it to Tron) and cutting down on CA, focusing instead on deploying cheap must-answer threats, discard, and removal in brutally efficient fashion to punch a hole in the opponent’s gameplan.
Sounds pretty rad to me. Would you keep Liliana in the sideboard though or just mostly get off the planeswalkers?
I just finally got into modern, but I'm on tron/eldrazi style decks, but I plan on getting into Rock/sultai midrange style decks soon too since I have most of what I need to make it "fnm playable" and Golgari/Sultai decks are some of my favourites.
Just sad to see Rock and midrange decks in general are kinda slow for the modern meta even though they're powerful.
I think it's fine. Has applications vs many other problematic decks. To hogaak specifically, there are certain (and usually not uncommon) scenarios where they can rebuild super easily or it would do just about nothing. Like, in response they sac some dudes and lose their tokens and that's about it. Perhaps that's enough if you have pressure. Like if they have a feeder on board already it's not going to do much with their recursive threats.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange BWG Abzan value evolution BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
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4 Tarmogoyf
3 Merfolk Branchwalker
4 Tireless Tracker
3 Scavenging Ooze
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Non-Creatures
3 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Fatal Push
3 Assassin's Trophy
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Collective Brutality
4 Verdant Catacomb
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Overgrown Tomb
3 Blooming Marsh
3 Hissing Quagmire
1 Treetop Village
5 swamp
2 Forest
3 Field of Ruin
2 Duress
2 Nissa, Vital Force
1 Gaze of Granite
1 Damnation
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Ashiok, Dream Render
1 Collective Brutality
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
I went 5-0 at my local FNM this past week with this list.
Round 1 vs Elves (win 2-1)
Game 1 a turn 3 branchwalker allows me to find my third land (a treetop village) and stay on curve to win. It is worth noting that the 2/1 body got outclassed by my opponents pendelhaven. Game 2 is mostly irrelevant I was on the draw and a turn to slow to stabilize. Game 3 I have damnation in hand the entire game and never have to use it to win.
Round 2 vs Ad Naseum (win 2-0)
From the standpoint of the new cards this was uneventful. Game 1 I discarded his Lightning Storm and then he milled past his laboratory maniac. Game 2 I went up the curve with him discarding everything before he could play it when he did not have a leyline.
Round 3 vs Sultai Reclamation (win 2-0)
Both games pressure backed with discard got there. In game 2 my Ashiok locked him off of his mystical teachings and won me the game.
Round 4 vs Burn (win 2-0)
I think we are already very good against burn as I rarely lose this matchup. Having the surprise angle of Branchwalker allowed me to have more pressure quickly and also made the sideboard rest in peace he brought in look bad. (For the record I am already not in favor of siding that card in vs Rock as I would rather have a damage spell)
Round 5 vs Azorius Taking Turns (win 2-0)
Once again pressure plus discard got me there. I weathered his extra turn cards and focused on denying him card advantage in the matchup. Another 2 drop to begin the pressure helped as Scavenging ooze is not great in the matchup.
Final Thoughts
I was quite pleased with the Branchwalkers throughout the event. I never found myself wishing it was another card and several times it was helpful smoothing out my draws. It also gave me interesting lines in the removal heavy matchups where I could run him out into removal and save my better creatures for later. I will definitely be testing more with this card.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
I am unsure if this card will be good in the deck to be honest. I am sure it will be determined by the specifics of the build of BG Rock you are playing. However, it seems to run in contrast with some of the strengths of the deck. A big advantage that we have in aggressive matchups is that our manabase rarely does significant damage to us. In those matchups we often have to use every mana, every turn to stabilize. This could result in us losing 2-4 more health in the matchups where we draw it early.
Secondly, the BG Rock deck tends to be a very mana hungry deck. Between cracking clues and using our other utility lands I often find myself needing more mana. Sacrificing a land can be painful.
I may be the statistical outlier here as my build is very much designed to enhance Tireless tracker, but it should also be noted that it has less synergy with tracker than a normal fetch. 2 mana used, 1 land lost permanently, and one clue vs 1 life lost, 2 clues, and still 2 mana to draw a card.
I actually think the new fetchland that gets basics might be better for the deck. Being able to get our off color fetch out of the deck, while maintaining our ability to have 6 plus fetches, and still be able to get both colors off of fetch 5 and 6 seems ok.
It is possible I am dead wrong about this of course. The Horizon Canopy cycle are very powerful in a vacuum. I will certainly try it out to see but I would not be surprised if I am disappointed at how it plays out.
IF this slides in I imagine it would replace the blooming marsh.
Overall, this is like the equivalent of being excited that fatal push was printed when decks used to have trade tempo for our Goyfs.
Horizon has looked very poor for midrange. Luckily it's still early in the spoiler season.
We need card filtering/efficient threats, not more answers.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
Sylvan Library (which absolutely won't happen).
Or some kind of DRS efficient threat. All I know is throwing more removal isn't what needs to be done. We have absolutely nothing to ensure flooding. Meanwhile, decks are getting leaner, running less lands, cantripping, or outright winning so quickly. Fair decks need some unfair element added to the mix.
Oath of Nissa is 1 CMC. It's underrated in general imho, but I don't think it fits BGx midrange decks unless more removal gets stapled onto creatures then it starts to get really good (like it is in Bant with Spell Quellers, Deputy of Detention, Ice-Fang Coatl, etc.).
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/articles/49777-the-end-of-an-era
Cheers,
FlyingDelver
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Kyk-ZADglk&t=
Cubetutor Link
He's my favourite Youtube magic guy by far hehe
When you say trimming the top end, do you mean you'd cut some Lilianas for a more aggressive build?
Yes, although not all of them. My vision of the deck’s evolution involves abandoning the mana denial plan altogether (outside of AT to stick it to Tron) and cutting down on CA, focusing instead on deploying cheap must-answer threats, discard, and removal in brutally efficient fashion to punch a hole in the opponent’s gameplan.
Cubetutor Link
I just finally got into modern, but I'm on tron/eldrazi style decks, but I plan on getting into Rock/sultai midrange style decks soon too since I have most of what I need to make it "fnm playable" and Golgari/Sultai decks are some of my favourites.
Just sad to see Rock and midrange decks in general are kinda slow for the modern meta even though they're powerful.
What's CA?
On the paper, the idea of Hexdrinker isn't bad. It gets closer to a Sultai TNN philosophy in Legacy, which proved to be a decent deck.
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/articles/49778-a-new-and-exciting-beginning
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster