So a week ago, I put Purphoros, God of the Forge as a 1 of in my mainboard.
Honestly, he's a beast. I have won many games just off ETB triggers from him, between Resto Angel, the persist guys, and pod in general. I strongly recommend that everybody tries him out. He's especially useful during long, grindy games where the board state is locked. On the other hand, he doesn't make an immediate impact on the battlefield because he's usually not a creature, so it's hard to rationalize podding or chording for him instead of a Resto Angel or some other good 4 drop, but he's really, really good over a period of time.
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Is there anything similar to Flametongue Kavu that is legal in modern? It would be cool to have a poddable way to deal with opposing Linvalas and other bothersome creatures in the mirror or other creature matches. Banishing Priest and Fiend Hunter seem alright, but they interrupt the pod chain and can get you blown out.
Is there anything similar to Flametongue Kavu that is legal in modern? It would be cool to have a poddable way to deal with opposing Linvalas and other bothersome creatures in the mirror or other creature matches. Banishing Priest and Fiend Hunter seem alright, but they interrupt the pod chain and can get you blown out.
Only Shriekmaw and Skinrender, which is an advantage Melira Pod has.
After having to deal with the Maze's end deck and UW Tron (fogs and ghostly prison respectively) I have to agree that Purphoros deserves some attention in the main deck. he gives the deck reach which it sorely needs against anything playing something like ensnaring bridge or the like. I'm going to test with him MD going into our PTQ later this month.
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the user formerly known as isopsycho86
DCI Judge L2 - Minneapolis
Thanks to Megabug/Sgt Chubbz and Kracked Graphics for the Sig Legacy RUBFaithless Dredge
Went to the 72 player Minnesota TCGPlayer States on Saturday and went 5-2, getting 12th. All my wins were 2-0 and my losses were 1-2 so I was happy with how the deck did. Here's the list and a rundown of the matches. (The fastlands and Catacombs are because I wasn't able to borrow Groves or a 4th misty. Didn't cause any problems though.)
Round 1: Slivers (!)
G1: he mulls to 4 or 5 and I see nothing except Mutavault all game. Win via natural combo. I sideboard thinking he's on Merfolk, which would've been fine if I didn't side out Chord (which I shouldn't have done either way).
G2 and G3 both result in me getting pounded by a Galerider - assisted flying army of croissants. Was a stalemate until he got the vigilance sliver. Never saw a search piece all match. I also flashed in a Resto way too early one of the games, rather than saving it to ambush something, which may have cost me a game.
1-2 0-1
Round 2: Melira Pod (paired up)
G1: He gets a bit land screwed and I find Linvala to slow him down and eventually pod into a Kiki to win.
G2: I think it went T1 dork dork, T2 he plays Pod I play Scooze, T3 he pods Finks (eaten) into Linvala, then I blow him out with Fiery Justice taking his Linvala and dork. Scooze proceeds to be the versatile slime that we all love, beating hard and eating numerous persist dudes. Redcap and Path take care of the rest of the creatures he gets out.
2-0 1-1
Round 3: U/R Pyrodelver. He said he'd played the game since Alpha but was mainly a limited player, so this was his first big Modern event. (note: I may have gotten rounds 3 and 4 mixed up)
G1: Very very grindy game that took 30 minutes. I mull to 5 but it was a solid 5. He has a couple Grim Lavamancers and a couple Young Pyromancers that are churning out tokens like crazy. Said tokens generally ended up being chump blockers for my Voice and Finks. Eventually I hit 6 mana and land a Conscripts that I'd had in hand for a while: I steal a Lavamancer and use it to blow up one of his Pyromancers. Board is pretty stalemated until he flips a Delver. He gets my life total low but I get a Chord and use it to get Witness. Next turn I go for Resto blinking Witness and blocking Delver: for whatever reason he neglects to kill either with Lavamancer. I win next turn.
G2: he flips a Delver and starts swinging: eventually I leave up mana and, thinking I have Chord (and remembering the Chord - Resto shenanigans), he deems it safe to attack. I surprise him with Resto in hand and he scoops. He sounded like he was just tired of playing and wanted to go home and catch up on sleep.
2-0 2-1
Round 4: U/W Geist midrange
G1: I see little out of him except for Vapor Snags, Remands, and possibly a Snapcaster. I get a pod and win easily when he taps out.
G2: By T3, he has a Geist and I have Hierarch, Wall, and Gavony. He swings: I double block Geist and activate Gavony to try to kill it (a risky move; if he Path'd my Wall it would be a total blowout). He calls a judge because he thinks that once I tap Hierarch, it's not blocking any more. Judge says otherwise and he begrudgingly puts Geist in the yard. Later he Verdicts and I follow up with a hierarch and a Scooze, and Scooze once again does work as a huge beater and misplay punisher (he tries to Snapcaster something when I have green mana open.)
2-0 3-1
Round 5: Mono-R Burn
G1: I stupidly keep a hand with a Gavony, dork, one other land, and a few high cost spells and he punishes me for it. Killed the dork and I didn't see a third land until it was too late.
G2: he gets some Goblin Guides out early but Wall, Finks, and Spellskite make life difficult for him. He gets me down to 2 and either taps out or has no cards, I don't remember. I crack a Verdant putting me at 1 (I now have 5 lands and a Hierarch); hardcast Kiki, copy Hierarch, tap both Hierarchs and pod Spellskite into Exarch untapping Kiki and winning. I was proud of that one.
G3: Lose to nut draw. He kills me fast and still has 3 cards in hand after doing so.
Really nice and funny guy, so I didn't mind the loss. We played a few more games and had some great laughs.
1-2 3-2
Round 6: Affinity
G1: Couldn't help but notice some of the cards in his deck when he was taking it out of the box and shuffling, so I kept an otherwise iffy hand with Reclamation Sage in it. Nothing I did was against the rules (he was very careless handling his deck) but I still felt like a scumbag. Proceeded to beat him by Reccing a plating, podding Sage into Redcap killing the Ornithopter equipped with a new Plating, then winning.
G2: He had 2 Etched Champions going but he was only drawing lands. I think I ended up outracing him with Finks and Resto.
2-0 4-2. Not a victory I felt too good about getting.
Round 7: Tarmo-Twin
G1: Didn't see much out of him except for a Remand, Serum Visions, and RUG lands, so I was able to identify the deck. Got a pod and combo'd off.
G2: Grindy game involving multiple Tarmogoyfs, a Huntmaster, and Twins on both. Between Witness, Resto, and Chording for Resto, I'm pretty sure I used the same Path at least 4 times. Won with Resto beats (news flash: Resto is a good card that lots of decks can't deal with).
2-0, finished 5-2. Got 6 packs and was happy with how my deck treated me.
The MVP of the day was Scooze without a doubt. It just does so many things at once and either helped me win or outright won probably half of my games. I had Staticaster thinking I might see lots of Junk or Affinity, but only brought it in a few times and never saw it. I think I'll keep it in for the time being but it'll probably get cut eventually.
Cunning Sparkmage + Village Bellringer is older tech for comboing through cryptic/ensnaring bridge for those considering Purphoros.
If going for the Purphoros plan, Norin, the Wary + Ranger of Eos might also be worth looking into.
The problem with that though, is that it uses 2 cards, whereas Purphoros is only one. Also, I did not include Purphoros as a way to win through ensnaring bridge/Ghostly Prison/ other stuff. That too, but mostly it's just huge because on an empty board, every creature is 2 extra damage, and it's really good for the midrange plan. I've won multiple games just through Purphoros triggers over the course of the game. Put another way, I have never lost a game when I got Purphoros out. He's that good.
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The problem with that though, is that it uses 2 cards, whereas Purphoros is only one. Also, I did not include Purphoros as a way to win through ensnaring bridge/Ghostly Prison/ other stuff. That too, but mostly it's just huge because on an empty board, every creature is 2 extra damage, and it's really good for the midrange plan. I've won multiple games just through Purphoros triggers over the course of the game. Put another way, I have never lost a game when I got Purphoros out. He's that good.
It's actually 3 cards either way: Kiki + Sparkmage + Bellringer vs. Kiki + combo piece + Purphoros.
Yeah but in Kiki + combo piece + Purphoros are the individual cards WAY better than the other 3 (well exept Kiki because hes in both obv). Also you only have to add Purphoros for the same effect as the other combination, while with the other combo you have to add Sparkmage + Bellringer.
Bellringer is bad, but Sparkmage has proven himself, certainly far more than Purphoros.
If you're looking for a Flametongue Kavu, the best (which is really bad) option is Volcano Hellion.
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Yeah but in Kiki + combo piece + Purphoros are the individual cards WAY better than the other 3 (well exept Kiki because hes in both obv). Also you only have to add Purphoros for the same effect as the other combination, while with the other combo you have to add Sparkmage + Bellringer.
Bellringer is bad, but Sparkmage has proven himself, certainly far more than Purphoros.
Yes, but what I'm saying is that Purphoros is really good, and warrants testing, I mean, Purphoros is less than a year old so how could it be proven to be as good as sparkmage yet? And what I'm saying is that Purphoros is really, really good, and even if you think sparkmage is great, I think you should test out Purphoros. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Just think about it: he's poddable and chordable. He doesn't die easily either (because he's not usually a creature, path doesn't do anything). All of your creatures do at least 2 more damage. Some do even more (Resto Angel, finks, etc.) The +1 +0 pump can be relevant as well. I have won many, many games on the back of Purphoros ETB triggers just because he's near impossible to kill. In topdeck mode, even mana dorks gain value. Some things (Resto Angel, Redcap) simply become ridiculous. And after all this value, he still works as a wincon with the combo through prison effects, Rakdos Charm, Soul Sisters... etc. While other cards can do this too (Bellringer + Sparkmage like some people said) Purphoros has the benefit of being able to do it without eating a removal spell 2 turns before you combo unlike what Bellringer or Sparkmage would do. And Purphoros definitely provides more value when not comboing than Bellringer or Sparkmage.
So basically, after all this, I'm just saying that he's a really good choice. Even if I didn't convince you with the above paragraph-thing, just try him. He's one of the best cards for the deck in my opinion.
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The problem with Purphoros though is that he is a four drop that doesn't meaningfully affect the boardstate. He usually doesn't do anything the turn he comes down, and he really doesn't do much when you are behind. He just feels too slow and clunky for modern. This deck has so many more powerful things to do on turn 4, or to pod into at 4. Resto, Redcap, Glen Elandra, Linvala all do something when they come down and represent and immediate increase in your board presence. Purphoros seems very win more. I can't think of many cases where you are triggering him enough for it to really matter that you aren't already winning with all those creatures. If I was going to play a god to make the grindy matchups better I think Keranos provides better inevitably and card advantage.
The problem with Purphoros though is that he is a four drop that doesn't meaningfully affect the boardstate. He usually doesn't do anything the turn he comes down, and he really doesn't do much when you are behind. He just feels too slow and clunky for modern. This deck has so many more powerful things to do on turn 4, or to pod into at 4. Resto, Redcap, Glen Elandra, Linvala all do something when they come down and represent and immediate increase in your board presence. Purphoros seems very win more. I can't think of many cases where you are triggering him enough for it to really matter that you aren't already winning with all those creatures. If I was going to play a god to make the grindy matchups better I think Keranos provides better inevitably and card advantage.
Keranos doesn't do anything on the turn it's out either, AND it comes down a turn later. However, it is true that Purphoros doesn't meaningfully affect the boardstate. I have noticed that. But when does having a larger boardstate really matter? Against most of the top-tier decks right now, advancing your boardstate doesn't do much. Affinity, they'll fly over you. Twin, Scapeshift, Tron, Storm, none of them care. The only decks I can think of would be BG rock, Jund, the pod mirror matchups, and UWR control. And against BG Rock, Jund, and UWR control, I would rather have an unkillable enchantment that is ridiculous in topdeck mode than either Resto, Redcap, Glen Elendra, or Linvala. And the thing is, he does a TON when you are behind. The best part is that none of the creatures need to stay on the board to make an impact, which is why I think he's so good. You can be way behind, and win just from topdecking a few creatures in a row. That's another reason why I think he's better than Keranos. Purphoros can trigger several times in one turn, and it can put as small as a 3 turn clock on the opponent. Redcap + Redcap persist = 7 damage. Add in a shock and a fetch, they're at 10. Resto Angel, they're AT LEAST at 6, if not less. 2 more shocks and fetches (while not probable to happen, not unheard of either) and they're dead. I've won games without even attacking because of an inflated board state on each side, and there's nothing the opponent could do about it.
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To be fair, I would't play keranos either, I just think he's better if you are going on the unkillable enchantment plan. Against BG rock or UWR Sigarda or Thrun respectively are probably even better. They each have a hard time interacting with that threat. And Purphoros seems terrible against Twin Affinity and storm anyway, so I dont know why you bring up those matchups for him. He's way too slow to do much of anything in those. He only matters in the grindy matches.
How many of the following cards do you find optimal mainboard?
Resto, Voice, Path, Finks.
I have gone with 3,3,1,3 personally, though I'm really looking to go 4 Resto and 2 Path. Does anyone have any insight on the best numbers here?
By the way, Aegis of the Gods is a great board in against Scapeshift, since all triggers from Valakut go on the stack simultaneously.
Aegis seems narrow and plays even harder into their Electrolyzes. It's fine if you have chord to do it in response, but Mindcensor is another 2/1 dude that forces them to find removal but also flies over Sakura and Snappy and has flash. It also hits more decks.
2,2,0,3 although I'm currently testing Thrun main so I dropped a resto for a finks to not strain the 4 drops. I treat scooze as a combat 2 drop rather than a bullet; so I have a 2/2 split between voice/scooze (I assume you're running a 3/1 split?). Voice for URx and scooze for GBx. Path I don't currently run main (the usual 3 in the side), but it comes in so often G2/3 that I can definitely see the logic.
I mean I don't ONLY put Aegis in. I have Mindcensor and other things as well. It's really good though as a second plan and good against other decks. I run 2 scooze, 3 voice. They are both so insane.
- 2 Path, 2 Chord. Phantasmal Image main. 2x Loxodon Smiter, 2x Unified Will, 1x Domri in the side. (Also the 5th place angel pod is running 2 restos - they're finally catching on. )
Really liking the Unified Will over Negate. In all the match-ups where Negate comes in we should be well ahead in the creature count.
Boarding in Smiter and Domri seems incredibly strong against GBx (and UWr). On the draw, T3 discard smiter to their lili, domri fight their two drop, kill lili sounds like a near scoop to me.
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Honestly, he's a beast. I have won many games just off ETB triggers from him, between Resto Angel, the persist guys, and pod in general. I strongly recommend that everybody tries him out. He's especially useful during long, grindy games where the board state is locked. On the other hand, he doesn't make an immediate impact on the battlefield because he's usually not a creature, so it's hard to rationalize podding or chording for him instead of a Resto Angel or some other good 4 drop, but he's really, really good over a period of time.
Only Shriekmaw and Skinrender, which is an advantage Melira Pod has.
DCI Judge L2 - Minneapolis
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If going for the Purphoros plan, Norin, the Wary + Ranger of Eos might also be worth looking into.
May cost too much:
Foundry Champion
Inferno Titan
Should already be playing it:
Murderous Redcap
Gives your opponent a choice which may not be good, also may cost too much:
Nessian Wilds Ravager
Devotion to red:
Outrage Shaman
Fight:
Stalking Yeti
Kills your own creatures:
Caldera Hellion
The most interesting of the bunch:
Furystoke Giant
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Birds of Paradise
3 Wall of Roots
4 Restoration Angel
2 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Voice of Resurgence
1 Deceiver Exarch
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Spellskite
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Eternal Witness
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Birthing Pod
3 Chord of Calling
Land (23)
3 Misty Rainforest
3 Arid Mesa
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Stomping Grounds
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
1 Sacred Foundry
3 Copperline Gorge
1 Razorverge Thicket
2 Gavony Township
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Avalanche Riders
1 Aven Mindcensor
2 Combust
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Fiery Justice
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Negate
3 Path to Exile
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
Round 1: Slivers (!)
G1: he mulls to 4 or 5 and I see nothing except Mutavault all game. Win via natural combo. I sideboard thinking he's on Merfolk, which would've been fine if I didn't side out Chord (which I shouldn't have done either way).
G2 and G3 both result in me getting pounded by a Galerider - assisted flying army of croissants. Was a stalemate until he got the vigilance sliver. Never saw a search piece all match. I also flashed in a Resto way too early one of the games, rather than saving it to ambush something, which may have cost me a game.
1-2 0-1
Round 2: Melira Pod (paired up)
G1: He gets a bit land screwed and I find Linvala to slow him down and eventually pod into a Kiki to win.
G2: I think it went T1 dork dork, T2 he plays Pod I play Scooze, T3 he pods Finks (eaten) into Linvala, then I blow him out with Fiery Justice taking his Linvala and dork. Scooze proceeds to be the versatile slime that we all love, beating hard and eating numerous persist dudes. Redcap and Path take care of the rest of the creatures he gets out.
2-0 1-1
Round 3: U/R Pyrodelver. He said he'd played the game since Alpha but was mainly a limited player, so this was his first big Modern event. (note: I may have gotten rounds 3 and 4 mixed up)
G1: Very very grindy game that took 30 minutes. I mull to 5 but it was a solid 5. He has a couple Grim Lavamancers and a couple Young Pyromancers that are churning out tokens like crazy. Said tokens generally ended up being chump blockers for my Voice and Finks. Eventually I hit 6 mana and land a Conscripts that I'd had in hand for a while: I steal a Lavamancer and use it to blow up one of his Pyromancers. Board is pretty stalemated until he flips a Delver. He gets my life total low but I get a Chord and use it to get Witness. Next turn I go for Resto blinking Witness and blocking Delver: for whatever reason he neglects to kill either with Lavamancer. I win next turn.
G2: he flips a Delver and starts swinging: eventually I leave up mana and, thinking I have Chord (and remembering the Chord - Resto shenanigans), he deems it safe to attack. I surprise him with Resto in hand and he scoops. He sounded like he was just tired of playing and wanted to go home and catch up on sleep.
2-0 2-1
Round 4: U/W Geist midrange
G1: I see little out of him except for Vapor Snags, Remands, and possibly a Snapcaster. I get a pod and win easily when he taps out.
G2: By T3, he has a Geist and I have Hierarch, Wall, and Gavony. He swings: I double block Geist and activate Gavony to try to kill it (a risky move; if he Path'd my Wall it would be a total blowout). He calls a judge because he thinks that once I tap Hierarch, it's not blocking any more. Judge says otherwise and he begrudgingly puts Geist in the yard. Later he Verdicts and I follow up with a hierarch and a Scooze, and Scooze once again does work as a huge beater and misplay punisher (he tries to Snapcaster something when I have green mana open.)
2-0 3-1
Round 5: Mono-R Burn
G1: I stupidly keep a hand with a Gavony, dork, one other land, and a few high cost spells and he punishes me for it. Killed the dork and I didn't see a third land until it was too late.
G2: he gets some Goblin Guides out early but Wall, Finks, and Spellskite make life difficult for him. He gets me down to 2 and either taps out or has no cards, I don't remember. I crack a Verdant putting me at 1 (I now have 5 lands and a Hierarch); hardcast Kiki, copy Hierarch, tap both Hierarchs and pod Spellskite into Exarch untapping Kiki and winning. I was proud of that one.
G3: Lose to nut draw. He kills me fast and still has 3 cards in hand after doing so.
Really nice and funny guy, so I didn't mind the loss. We played a few more games and had some great laughs.
1-2 3-2
Round 6: Affinity
G1: Couldn't help but notice some of the cards in his deck when he was taking it out of the box and shuffling, so I kept an otherwise iffy hand with Reclamation Sage in it. Nothing I did was against the rules (he was very careless handling his deck) but I still felt like a scumbag. Proceeded to beat him by Reccing a plating, podding Sage into Redcap killing the Ornithopter equipped with a new Plating, then winning.
G2: He had 2 Etched Champions going but he was only drawing lands. I think I ended up outracing him with Finks and Resto.
2-0 4-2. Not a victory I felt too good about getting.
Round 7: Tarmo-Twin
G1: Didn't see much out of him except for a Remand, Serum Visions, and RUG lands, so I was able to identify the deck. Got a pod and combo'd off.
G2: Grindy game involving multiple Tarmogoyfs, a Huntmaster, and Twins on both. Between Witness, Resto, and Chording for Resto, I'm pretty sure I used the same Path at least 4 times. Won with Resto beats (news flash: Resto is a good card that lots of decks can't deal with).
2-0, finished 5-2. Got 6 packs and was happy with how my deck treated me.
The MVP of the day was Scooze without a doubt. It just does so many things at once and either helped me win or outright won probably half of my games. I had Staticaster thinking I might see lots of Junk or Affinity, but only brought it in a few times and never saw it. I think I'll keep it in for the time being but it'll probably get cut eventually.
Regarding running a 4-color deck without fetchlands:
MostlyLost on Cockatrice.
The problem with that though, is that it uses 2 cards, whereas Purphoros is only one. Also, I did not include Purphoros as a way to win through ensnaring bridge/Ghostly Prison/ other stuff. That too, but mostly it's just huge because on an empty board, every creature is 2 extra damage, and it's really good for the midrange plan. I've won multiple games just through Purphoros triggers over the course of the game. Put another way, I have never lost a game when I got Purphoros out. He's that good.
It's actually 3 cards either way: Kiki + Sparkmage + Bellringer vs. Kiki + combo piece + Purphoros.
Bellringer is bad, but Sparkmage has proven himself, certainly far more than Purphoros.
Yes, but what I'm saying is that Purphoros is really good, and warrants testing, I mean, Purphoros is less than a year old so how could it be proven to be as good as sparkmage yet? And what I'm saying is that Purphoros is really, really good, and even if you think sparkmage is great, I think you should test out Purphoros. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Just think about it: he's poddable and chordable. He doesn't die easily either (because he's not usually a creature, path doesn't do anything). All of your creatures do at least 2 more damage. Some do even more (Resto Angel, finks, etc.) The +1 +0 pump can be relevant as well. I have won many, many games on the back of Purphoros ETB triggers just because he's near impossible to kill. In topdeck mode, even mana dorks gain value. Some things (Resto Angel, Redcap) simply become ridiculous. And after all this value, he still works as a wincon with the combo through prison effects, Rakdos Charm, Soul Sisters... etc. While other cards can do this too (Bellringer + Sparkmage like some people said) Purphoros has the benefit of being able to do it without eating a removal spell 2 turns before you combo unlike what Bellringer or Sparkmage would do. And Purphoros definitely provides more value when not comboing than Bellringer or Sparkmage.
So basically, after all this, I'm just saying that he's a really good choice. Even if I didn't convince you with the above paragraph-thing, just try him. He's one of the best cards for the deck in my opinion.
I have a few questions:
How many of the following cards do you find optimal mainboard?
Resto, Voice, Path, Finks.
I have gone with 3,3,1,3 personally, though I'm really looking to go 4 Resto and 2 Path. Does anyone have any insight on the best numbers here?
By the way, Aegis of the Gods is a great board in against Scapeshift, since all triggers from Valakut go on the stack simultaneously.
Keranos doesn't do anything on the turn it's out either, AND it comes down a turn later. However, it is true that Purphoros doesn't meaningfully affect the boardstate. I have noticed that. But when does having a larger boardstate really matter? Against most of the top-tier decks right now, advancing your boardstate doesn't do much. Affinity, they'll fly over you. Twin, Scapeshift, Tron, Storm, none of them care. The only decks I can think of would be BG rock, Jund, the pod mirror matchups, and UWR control. And against BG Rock, Jund, and UWR control, I would rather have an unkillable enchantment that is ridiculous in topdeck mode than either Resto, Redcap, Glen Elendra, or Linvala. And the thing is, he does a TON when you are behind. The best part is that none of the creatures need to stay on the board to make an impact, which is why I think he's so good. You can be way behind, and win just from topdecking a few creatures in a row. That's another reason why I think he's better than Keranos. Purphoros can trigger several times in one turn, and it can put as small as a 3 turn clock on the opponent. Redcap + Redcap persist = 7 damage. Add in a shock and a fetch, they're at 10. Resto Angel, they're AT LEAST at 6, if not less. 2 more shocks and fetches (while not probable to happen, not unheard of either) and they're dead. I've won games without even attacking because of an inflated board state on each side, and there's nothing the opponent could do about it.
Aegis seems narrow and plays even harder into their Electrolyzes. It's fine if you have chord to do it in response, but Mindcensor is another 2/1 dude that forces them to find removal but also flies over Sakura and Snappy and has flash. It also hits more decks.
2,2,0,3 although I'm currently testing Thrun main so I dropped a resto for a finks to not strain the 4 drops. I treat scooze as a combat 2 drop rather than a bullet; so I have a 2/2 split between voice/scooze (I assume you're running a 3/1 split?). Voice for URx and scooze for GBx. Path I don't currently run main (the usual 3 in the side), but it comes in so often G2/3 that I can definitely see the logic.
IMT 5 - Italian Magic Tour - Milano - 1st, 242 players.
- 3 Path to Exile, no chord of calling. 2 Deceiver Exarch, 3 Voice of Resurgence
MTGO Modern Premier (#7332856) - 2nd
- 2 Path, 2 Chord. Phantasmal Image main. 2x Loxodon Smiter, 2x Unified Will, 1x Domri in the side. (Also the 5th place angel pod is running 2 restos - they're finally catching on.
Really liking the Unified Will over Negate. In all the match-ups where Negate comes in we should be well ahead in the creature count.
Boarding in Smiter and Domri seems incredibly strong against GBx (and UWr). On the draw, T3 discard smiter to their lili, domri fight their two drop, kill lili sounds like a near scoop to me.