Against Affinity, Echoing Truth should do well enough. I play a 3/1 split of Truth/Hurkyl's Recall since the Recall is a blowout against Affinity and other decks with artifact-based grave hate. Do note that they like to play Spell Pierce and Unified Will; you can get around those as long as you have enough mana.
Pithing Needle also helps you buy time by switching off their Ravagers and Platings. At PT: RTR Cifka boarded 2 in during the quarterfinals against Affinity.
Don't try to kill all their creatures. Bounce the ones that will cause you trouble (Canonist) and be faster than them.
Against Twin, Pithing Needle is good; it has a wide range of targets. Defense Grid makes it tougher for them to flash in Pestermite/Exarch during your turn. Most of their hate is spell-based, so you should play more Silences than Truths.
Hey guys. I decided to buy a Chromatic Sphere and a Chromatic Star playset for cheap and finally I have a complete Eggs list, based off Cifka's list. I may play it as a rogue deck in a local in a couple of weeks (even with PTRTR, people where I play are unfamiliar with the deck and I don't think there will be any hate whatsoever). Basically, I think that the archetype is resilient to "general" hate (i.e., Relic of Progenitus, Surgical Extraction) but is easy to shut down if expected and people decide to commit some SB slots for the matchup.
That said, there are some matchups that concern me:
1) Ultra aggro Infect. There's one guy that I know that plays a hyper aggressive infect, G/r, and pull some two turn win out of nowhere. Do you guys think that a bounce spell is enough? (Echoing Truth) Or maybe should I commit some SB slots for some answers? If so, what are some options?
2) Naya with Dryad Militant. Again, is the bounce spell enough? Should I be concerned with the matchup?
3) Robots. My gut feelings say that both Needle and a bounce spell are enough for this to be a favourable matchup, so I'm fine with it.
4) RG Tron. Straight up ramp into an Eldrazi/Wurmcoil Engine/Mindslaver. I also think that this is also a favourable matchup. Still, any ideas for a sideboard plan or is the Needle enough?
5) Storm. Is a SB plan actually viable or only some GY removal to avoid Past in Flames shenanigans? Do you guys think that it's a favourable MU or a coin flip?
This is my actual list so far:
Cards I will test out:
a) Faithless Looting versus Serum Visions. I'm quite divided about it but maybe the U cost may prove to be easier than casting the Looting.
b) Extra cantrips?
c) Codex Shredder.
Basically, I don't want to use KCI and I'm afraid that I will time out if I play Pyrite Spellbomb, because people will make me go through the entire loop every time (yeah, I know )
Ok, so i've been playing this deck online for a few week, and am struggling very bad against infect, how are we suppossed to sideboard against it? that is the only deck i am really struggling with.
That said, there are some matchups that concern me:
1) Ultra aggro Infect. There's one guy that I know that plays a hyper aggressive infect, G/r, and pull some two turn win out of nowhere. Do you guys think that a bounce spell is enough? (Echoing Truth) Or maybe should I commit some SB slots for some answers? If so, what are some options?
2) Naya with Dryad Militant. Again, is the bounce spell enough? Should I be concerned with the matchup?
3) Robots. My gut feelings say that both Needle and a bounce spell are enough for this to be a favourable matchup, so I'm fine with it.
4) RG Tron. Straight up ramp into an Eldrazi/Wurmcoil Engine/Mindslaver. I also think that this is also a favourable matchup. Still, any ideas for a sideboard plan or is the Needle enough?
5) Storm. Is a SB plan actually viable or only some GY removal to avoid Past in Flames shenanigans? Do you guys think that it's a favourable MU or a coin flip?
This is my actual list so far:
Cards I will test out:
a) Faithless Looting versus Serum Visions. I'm quite divided about it but maybe the U cost may prove to be easier than casting the Looting.
b) Extra cantrips?
c) Codex Shredder.
Basically, I don't want to use KCI and I'm afraid that I will time out if I play Pyrite Spellbomb, because people will make me go through the entire loop every time (yeah, I know )
Vs Infect Wipe Away is your best bet, because they can't cast Vines of Vastwood in response. It gets Inkmoth Nexus as well, something Echoing Truth can't do. Other than that, just race them.
Vs Naya (Pod?) Dryad Militant is not as devastating as other grave hate. You usually can draw your entire library before the 8th Sunrise. Pack at least one bounce spell if your wincon requires a Bauble loop.
Vs Affinity you have the right idea, just bounce and Needle. Hurkyl's Recall is great against them; half their mana sources are artifacts, so it keeps them off their sideboarded counterspells, like Spell Pierce and Unified Will.
Vs RG Tron you have nothing to worry about other than Relic; there is not much interaction in this matchup so it comes down to who goldfishes faster. Hint: it's you. You have maindeck Ghost Quarter to keep them off the full Tron.
Vs Storm if you have the white Leyline in your SB, bring it in. Board in Echoing Truth as well, it beats Empty the Warrens tokens and Pyromancer Ascension.
Faithless Looting is bad; you can't cast it on the first turn to dig for a Lotus Bloom/land. Stick with Serum/Sleight.
I don't recommend playing Codex Shredder. If your decklist had Banefire I'd tell you to swap it for Shredder, but it doesn't.
Vs Infect Wipe Away is your best bet, because they can't cast Vines of Vastwood in response. It gets Inkmoth Nexus as well, something Echoing Truth can't do. Other than that, just race them.
Vs Naya (Pod?) Dryad Militant is not as devastating as other grave hate. You usually can draw your entire library before the 8th Sunrise. Pack at least one bounce spell if your wincon requires a Bauble loop.
Vs Affinity you have the right idea, just bounce and Needle. Hurkyl's Recall is great against them; half their mana sources are artifacts, so it keeps them off their sideboarded counterspells, like Spell Pierce and Unified Will.
Vs RG Tron you have nothing to worry about other than Relic; there is not much interaction in this matchup so it comes down to who goldfishes faster. Hint: it's you. You have maindeck Ghost Quarter to keep them off the full Tron.
Vs Storm if you have the white Leyline in your SB, bring it in. Board in Echoing Truth as well, it beats Empty the Warrens tokens and Pyromancer Ascension.
Faithless Looting is bad; you can't cast it on the first turn to dig for a Lotus Bloom/land. Stick with Serum/Sleight.
I don't recommend playing Codex Shredder. If your decklist had Banefire I'd tell you to swap it for Shredder, but it doesn't.
Thanks for the tips.
1) Would you play a split between Echoing Truth and Wipe Away if you are expecting Infect or play Wipe in addition to a playset of Echoing?
2) It's a pet deck from my friend. It's a Zoo in Naya colours so, apart from Dryad, I have a very favourable matchup, because he plays too fair.
3) I have a question similar to my first one: I see a lot of lists going 3 Echoing 1 Hurkyl's. Is there a reasoning behind that? If you're expecting a lot of Affinity, would you play a split between Hurkyl's and Echoing or not?
4) Yeah. I was actually fine during playtest versus RG Tron, I was just wondering if there could be an improvement in the matchup. Really, I don't really mind even if they can cast a Karn because that usually means I can go off on my next turn, so Karn can only exile one of my artifacts.
5) Yeah. I have 'em, but I only play 3. Is that a huge setback? Also, would you go -4 Elsewhere Flask +3 Leyline +1 Echoing, -3 Sleight of Hand +3 Echoing?
I tried to modify Cifka's list but it just seems very tight. Faithless and Codex were some of my tries, but they were really suboptimal. I just have to be careful not to deck myself before casting the Maniac :). It already happened during one of my goldfishing sessions.
Thanks for the tips.
1) Would you play a split between Echoing Truth and Wipe Away if you are expecting Infect or play Wipe in addition to a playset of Echoing?
2) It's a pet deck from my friend. It's a Zoo in Naya colours so, apart from Dryad, I have a very favourable matchup, because he plays too fair.
3) I have a question similar to my first one: I see a lot of lists going 3 Echoing 1 Hurkyl's. Is there a reasoning behind that? If you're expecting a lot of Affinity, would you play a split between Hurkyl's and Echoing or not?
4) Yeah. I was actually fine during playtest versus RG Tron, I was just wondering if there could be an improvement in the matchup. Really, I don't really mind even if they can cast a Karn because that usually means I can go off on my next turn, so Karn can only exile one of my artifacts.
5) Yeah. I have 'em, but I only play 3. Is that a huge setback? Also, would you go -4 Elsewhere Flask +3 Leyline +1 Echoing, -3 Sleight of Hand +3 Echoing?
I tried to modify Cifka's list but it just seems very tight. Faithless and Codex were some of my tries, but they were really suboptimal. I just have to be careful not to deck myself before casting the Maniac :). It already happened during one of my goldfishing sessions.
Thanks for the reply, mate.
Well, I play a slightly different list with 2 ironworks and darksteel citadels instead of fetchlands... Anyways it is almost the same for both of us.
1) Vs infect my plan is 3 echoing and 1 wipeaway
3) If there is a lot of affinity in the meta I surely will splir 3 echoing and 1 hurkyll... but in my case im more afraid from infect or UW...
4) I Believe RG tron is a good matchup for us... I will side 2 needles against them...
5)Against Storm I have a different point of view... The storm player will think that you are sb in leylines and graveyard hate, he will mostly put 3 echoing truth on his deck and some counters... also one copy of empty the warrens... I have 2 strategies: One could be +2 Silence (you cast them in response to epic experiment) and +1 nihil spellbomb, or we can put +3 leylines and +1 silence... Really silence is THE CARD against them, it buys us 1 more turn, that is what we always need...
I will never sb out the 4 flasks... I will always choose to sb out one or two of the worst card of each "type"... -1 or -2 flasks; -1 or -3 sleight of hand, -2 silence if needed, -1 gitaxian probe and of course i'll change the wincondition...
Finally today I found an interesting reason that why we should have one banefire in the sb if we play ironworks build: If we loose the first match, the most probable is that our opponent will try to make us to do the whole combo trying to avoid a third match... Banefire really makes our games shorter on the win... Its known that for the first game ALWAYS pyrite spellbomb is the best wincon...
I also have one lab maniac on sb
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WUBGR Bring to Ad Nauseam XWU KCI Eggs XBRG Lantern Control
Well, I play a slightly different list with 2 ironworks and darksteel citadels instead of fetchlands... Anyways it is almost the same for both of us.
1) Vs infect my plan is 3 echoing and 1 wipeaway
3) If there is a lot of affinity in the meta I surely will splir 3 echoing and 1 hurkyll... but in my case im more afraid from infect or UW...
4) I Believe RG tron is a good matchup for us... I will side 2 needles against them...
5)Against Storm I have a different point of view... The storm player will think that you are sb in leylines and graveyard hate, he will mostly put 3 echoing truth on his deck and some counters... also one copy of empty the warrens... I have 2 strategies: One could be +2 Silence (you cast them in response to epic experiment) and +1 nihil spellbomb, or we can put +3 leylines and +1 silence... Really silence is THE CARD against them, it buys us 1 more turn, that is what we always need...
I will never sb out the 4 flasks... I will always choose to sb out one or two of the worst card of each "type"... -1 or -2 flasks; -1 or -3 sleight of hand, -2 silence if needed, -1 gitaxian probe and of course i'll change the wincondition...
Finally today I found an interesting reason that why we should have one banefire in the sb if we play ironworks build: If we loose the first match, the most probable is that our opponent will try to make us to do the whole combo trying to avoid a third match... Banefire really makes our games shorter on the win... Its known that for the first game ALWAYS pyrite spellbomb is the best wincon...
I also have one lab maniac on sb
Nice to see a fellow Latin American :). Anyway, you play 3 Echoing 1 Wipe Away in the SB or 4 Echoing and the Wipe Away? I'm considering going 3 Echoing, 1 Hurkyl's, 1 Wipe Away just for insurance (both Infect and Affinity are in the meta).
The more I try, the more I think that RG Tron is a fairly good MU for us.
About the Storm, I will try out both ways. I think that a upkeep Silence is devastating for them, since their combo is at sorcery speed. It seems like a good plan :).
I think that I will have to do the entire combo constantly. Maybe a couple of people would concede but most of the guys in my meta will force me to go until the end, unfortunately. While I agree on the Pyrite, it's like I once saw: It's more easily hated out because Chromatic Star(Sphere) ability is a mana ability, so the opponent can't answer it and it's just physically faster. I thought about going 1 Maniac and 1 Bitter Ordeal on the side but I decided to go 1 Maniac and 1 Grapeshot or 1 Pyrite, still open. Bitter is just cute but not really that effective compared to the other three options.
Why wouldn't you side out all Flasks? Interesting decision. Why do you think it's better not to go -4 Flask?
Nice to see a fellow Latin American :). Anyway, you play 3 Echoing 1 Wipe Away in the SB or 4 Echoing and the Wipe Away? I'm considering going 3 Echoing, 1 Hurkyl's, 1 Wipe Away just for insurance (both Infect and Affinity are in the meta).
The more I try, the more I think that RG Tron is a fairly good MU for us.
About the Storm, I will try out both ways. I think that a upkeep Silence is devastating for them, since their combo is at sorcery speed. It seems like a good plan :).
I think that I will have to do the entire combo constantly. Maybe a couple of people would concede but most of the guys in my meta will force me to go until the end, unfortunately. While I agree on the Pyrite, it's like I once saw: It's more easily hated out because Chromatic Star(Sphere) ability is a mana ability, so the opponent can't answer it and it's just physically faster. I thought about going 1 Maniac and 1 Bitter Ordeal on the side but I decided to go 1 Maniac and 1 Grapeshot or 1 Pyrite, still open. Bitter is just cute but not really that effective compared to the other three options.
Why wouldn't you side out all Flasks? Interesting decision. Why do you think it's better not to go -4 Flask?
Well, we have 3 aspects to discuss here:
1)The first and shorter is that you shouldn't play silence in the upkeep of the storm player. You should play it in response to epic experiment or they 9nth or 10th spell... Or in response to past in flames... This way you sometimes will gain 1 extra turn more
2)About the wincon discussion my point of view is this: Pyrite Spellbomb: I believe this is the best card for the first match because it is an egg that you can sac to draw a card in the middle of the combo, and because in some first games it can kill an inkmoth nexus, or a thalia, or another infect creature. Remember that Second breakfast has good match-up against almost every other deck in the first game. (except infect and affinity if he starts) Laboratory Maniac: This guy also is great. It is a 4 or 5 minute faster wincon than pyrite, and does not need to target the opponent, does not loose to pithing needle, and we dont loose if the opponent extirpates our conjurer's bauble (some players may try to do this in the second match). Also if we play it with 0 cards in library, (dont get countered) and we mantain our priority, we can sac the chromatic sphere (ONLY THE SPHERE!!, the star makes you draw a card as a triggered-ability and opponents may respond to that) and we instant-win... Also if you are in hurry it can be a blocker (i used it against a Living end :P). I always choose him as a second wincon in the SB, specially to that matches with slaughter games, or extirpate... Banefire: I play 2 krark-clan ironworks in my deck to make it a bit more consistent (-1 lotus bloom -1 sleight of hands)... Also I dont have 4 fetches but i have 4 darksteel citadel. Like I explained above if you loose the first match, the second you have to get hurry, and banefire is the quickiest way (it wins in mid-combo). The bad thing is that: Its not an egg, it needs to target... But there is a good point: I believe it can be good against spirit jund. Remember that jund always does damage to itself, and sometimes gets a rule of law into play. We can manage to kill them without comboing if we have one ironworks in play... Codex Shredder: I like it, it is consistent in krark builds, but it is also slower, and i rather preffer the ability of the pyrite to draw for 1 mana. Also it needs that our opponent doesnt kill us in their upkeep phase... The last one also goes to that card with graverstorm...
3) About the sb issues: These is what I have right now:
4 places for Bounce Spells: 3 Echoing truth and 1 Wipe Away. Echoing is the best, but the wipeaway is good against infect (it dodges vines of vastwood) and against UW cause it dodges the counters. I dont like Hurkyll because it does not bounce the three enchantments that destroy us (Rest in peace, Stony silence or rule of law)
2 Places for Silence. Our MVP against counterspells and combo (mirror or storm)
4 Leyline of sanctity against heavy discard, targeted graveyard removal and of course, mono red...
2 Pithing needle Against affinity (Target inkmoth nexus, or ravager, or cranial plating) and against matches with relic... Also against POD
1 Nihil spellbomb I believe its good on the mirror, against storm sometimes (when they dont sb out past in flames) and against that weird matches like living end...
2 Win con: Banefire and Lab Maniac. I know it is a waste to have two more win conditions on sb, but i believe that there isnt another card i would prefer (maybe a hurkyll recall...) Banefire enters always the second match if we lost the first one (except vs martyr or potential leyline of sanctity games). Also banefire enters against spirit jund. If i have time i will try it against UW.
Lab maniac enters always our opponent has potential slaughter games or extirpate. Also enters when is better to have a blocker than a 2 damage (dont know when). And it enters against TRON: The reason is that i wont sb in bounce spells against tron, and i dont want to loose to a random pithing needle that targets pyrite...
At last, my explanation of why I wont take out 4 flasks:
1º I only run 16 Egg cards plus a pyrite... If i take 4 away the deck consistence will decrease a lot. I prefer to take away some sleight of hand, silences and the gitaxian probe instead. Most of the times i will sb out 1 flask only.
2º With ironworks in play, flasks arent so bad, they are just a free card draw
3º I read the Cifkas article in SCG and he never sb out more than 2 flasks
Well I hope it works on you, CYA!!
I will be playing this deck these saturday in the biggest Argentina modern tournament (more than 200 ppl). I will make a report on the next week!!
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WUBGR Bring to Ad Nauseam XWU KCI Eggs XBRG Lantern Control
1)The first and shorter is that you shouldn't play silence in the upkeep of the storm player. You should play it in response to epic experiment or they 9nth or 10th spell... Or in response to past in flames... This way you sometimes will gain 1 extra turn more
2)About the wincon discussion my point of view is this: Pyrite Spellbomb: I believe this is the best card for the first match because it is an egg that you can sac to draw a card in the middle of the combo, and because in some first games it can kill an inkmoth nexus, or a thalia, or another infect creature. Remember that Second breakfast has good match-up against almost every other deck in the first game. (except infect and affinity if he starts) Laboratory Maniac: This guy also is great. It is a 4 or 5 minute faster wincon than pyrite, and does not need to target the opponent, does not loose to pithing needle, and we dont loose if the opponent extirpates our conjurer's bauble (some players may try to do this in the second match). Also if we play it with 0 cards in library, (dont get countered) and we mantain our priority, we can sac the chromatic sphere (ONLY THE SPHERE!!, the star makes you draw a card as a triggered-ability and opponents may respond to that) and we instant-win... Also if you are in hurry it can be a blocker (i used it against a Living end :P). I always choose him as a second wincon in the SB, specially to that matches with slaughter games, or extirpate... Banefire: I play 2 krark-clan ironworks in my deck to make it a bit more consistent (-1 lotus bloom -1 sleight of hands)... Also I dont have 4 fetches but i have 4 darksteel citadel. Like I explained above if you loose the first match, the second you have to get hurry, and banefire is the quickiest way (it wins in mid-combo). The bad thing is that: Its not an egg, it needs to target... But there is a good point: I believe it can be good against spirit jund. Remember that jund always does damage to itself, and sometimes gets a rule of law into play. We can manage to kill them without comboing if we have one ironworks in play... Codex Shredder: I like it, it is consistent in krark builds, but it is also slower, and i rather preffer the ability of the pyrite to draw for 1 mana. Also it needs that our opponent doesnt kill us in their upkeep phase... The last one also goes to that card with graverstorm...
3) About the sb issues: These is what I have right now:
4 places for Bounce Spells: 3 Echoing truth and 1 Wipe Away. Echoing is the best, but the wipeaway is good against infect (it dodges vines of vastwood) and against UW cause it dodges the counters. I dont like Hurkyll because it does not bounce the three enchantments that destroy us (Rest in peace, Stony silence or rule of law)
2 Places for Silence. Our MVP against counterspells and combo (mirror or storm)
4 Leyline of sanctity against heavy discard, targeted graveyard removal and of course, mono red...
2 Pithing needle Against affinity (Target inkmoth nexus, or ravager, or cranial plating) and against matches with relic... Also against POD
1 Nihil spellbomb I believe its good on the mirror, against storm sometimes (when they dont sb out past in flames) and against that weird matches like living end...
2 Win con: Banefire and Lab Maniac. I know it is a waste to have two more win conditions on sb, but i believe that there isnt another card i would prefer (maybe a hurkyll recall...) Banefire enters always the second match if we lost the first one (except vs martyr or potential leyline of sanctity games). Also banefire enters against spirit jund. If i have time i will try it against UW.
Lab maniac enters always our opponent has potential slaughter games or extirpate. Also enters when is better to have a blocker than a 2 damage (dont know when). And it enters against TRON: The reason is that i wont sb in bounce spells against tron, and i dont want to loose to a random pithing needle that targets pyrite...
At last, my explanation of why I wont take out 4 flasks:
1º I only run 16 Egg cards plus a pyrite... If i take 4 away the deck consistence will decrease a lot. I prefer to take away some sleight of hand, silences and the gitaxian probe instead. Most of the times i will sb out 1 flask only.
2º With ironworks in play, flasks arent so bad, they are just a free card draw
3º I read the Cifkas article in SCG and he never sb out more than 2 flasks
Well I hope it works on you, CYA!!
I will be playing this deck these saturday in the biggest Argentina modern tournament (more than 200 ppl). I will make a report on the next week!!
Thanks for the insight.
As for the 1), that depends a lot on the board state. While I agree that generally Silence midcombo is a killer, Silence on their upkeep can be also devastating, especially if you Gitaxian Probe him on your turn. I will grind out against Storm more and more and see if I can get a better grip for the timings but I agree with the general plan of +2 Silence.
2) I agree with everything here. I will goldfish more so I can be quicker with the Pyrite but apart from this problem, it's the best win con, yeah. Thanks for the reminder on the Sphere, had forgot that there were differences during resolution.
3) What about Grafdigger's Cage? Kills Reanimator/GY shenanigans, stop Pod. I like it and I use it :). What about a fourth Echoing? I kinda like 3 win cons tho; especially if you are facing people that know each other (i.e., they know that you'll side out Pyrite for Lab Maniac G2 but then you surprise them with a third win con). Other than that, we play very similar SB.
4) I don't have access to Cifka's article :(. Oh, well. Anyway, I agree with point a). I will test those options out, surely, but Sleight is subpar. I mean, it's redundant most of the times and drawing blindly is not that bad with this deck
I haven't played with my eggs for a while (did that sound wrong in any way?).
I still have the KCI version of the deck, but with Faiths Reward I think there is no need to have KCI anymore, the deck can be pretty consistent without it, so I'm gonna try a version a bit more like the one Cifka used on the PT.
5)Against Storm I have a different point of view... The storm player will think that you are sb in leylines and graveyard hate, he will mostly put 3 echoing truth on his deck and some counters... also one copy of empty the warrens... I have 2 strategies: One could be +2 Silence (you cast them in response to epic experiment) and +1 nihil spellbomb, or we can put +3 leylines and +1 silence... Really silence is THE CARD against them, it buys us 1 more turn, that is what we always need...
Storm doesn't play bounce spells now, preferring to use Empty the Warrens or Pyromancer's Swath to beat grave hate. Silence and Echoing Truth are safe side-ins, Storm plays Goblin Electromancer nowadays regardless of build so you'll always have a target for Truth. Bouncing their Electromancer or Ascension will buy you enough time.
Just a side financial note. Congratulations to everyone who had our decks foiled already. Our foil Second Sunrises have jumped from ~$6 to ~$25. Same goes for almost all the staple cards, tripling in value, IF you can find them. We did it team!
Standard Mardu Midrange Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
Alright, so lets say your commander is Riku of Two Reflections. Combo commander, to be sure, but lets push this into the realm of absurd. You cast Palinchron and do your Riku thing to make infinite mana because we're going to need it. Forget about your extra Palinchron tokens. A million flying 4/5s is boring. So now you cast Enter the Infinite, because drawing your deck is important. Follow it up with a Obstinate Familiar because not decking yourself is equally important. Laboratory Maniac could work here too, but we're gonna go some more levels deep. Cast a Greater Good because we want a tasteful sac outlet. Follow this up with Parallel Lives, Doubling Season,Copy Enchantment, Clever Impersonator, Mycosynth Latice, Phyrexian Metamorph, and Copy Artifact giving you 6 double token effects. Here's where it gets fun now. Cast a Reef Worm. Sac it to greater good and get 256 Fish, which you sac to get 65,536 whales, which you sac to get 16,777,216 Krakens. Are we done yet? Nope! Cast Thromok the Insatiable, devouring all your krakens to make a 281,474,976,710,656/281,474,976,710,656 Thromok. Where do we go from here though? Let your opponent cast Death Mutation on him! Why, that's 7.20575940x10^16 tokens! Good thing we have Body Double to make another Thromok the Insatiable who will be a 5.19229686x10^33/5.19229686x10^33! Seems big enough, but not for us! Since we're red anyways, lets cast a Furnace of Rath, Dictate of the Twin Gods, and a Fire Servant! Now it's time to Fling your guy, dealing a spicy 4.15383749x10^34 damage to your opponent. To put that in perspective, there are an estimated 3x10^23 stars in the known universe. You dealt more damage than there are stars. That'll give your opponent something to think about. PROTIP: Dodge Spellskite decks
Well, as I had previously mentioned yesterday was the biggest Modern tournament in Argentina. We had 240 players which is a lot for us. Here I will post my deck (an Ironworks-sunrise) and how I did.
I prefer Ironworks build because it doesnt loose if you get lotus bloom extirpated, can kill in the mid of the combo if you play banefire, and it helps you to miss less (its a bit more easy to play). Also it can be played without fetchlands...
FIRST ROUND: AFFINITY
He won the roll and chose to start. He played some memnites/ornitopthers and 2 signal pests with the help of a mox... I was a bit afraid because I knew my opponent was a judge and a good player (also affinity is quite difficult on the draw). Also my hand was a bit slow, didnt had reshape to make a T3 combo. I suspended Lotus bloom, played a chromatic star and passed, my opponent face was: "Oh ****! eggs...".
He didnt get the inkmoth nexus neither a cranial plating or ravager so I managed tu survive until my T4. Also a well played silence on their upkeep phase of their T4 helped a lot. I comboed when suspended lotus bloom entered play...
For the second match I sb +3 echoing truth +2 pithing needle... This match was quite easy, he didnt draw any of his sb (neither me), and I had a good hand and comboed on T3 with reshape...
1-0
SECOND ROUND: INFECT
Oh infect, the EGGS worst matchup... He won the die and killed me on his T3, nothing to say.
Second match, I sb in +3 echoing truth+1 wipeaway and a Banefire to have a quick combo (I always sided in Banefire when i lost the first match in order to keep chances of winning the two games in the 45 minutes of the round) (Didnt sb out pyrite spellbomb). I couldnt manage to combo on T3 and he killed me again on his T3... I hate infect...
1-1
THIRD ROUND: JUND (?)
He played the Jund colors, but not the jund staple cards. It was like a poor's kind of jund, with no thoughtsize, no liliana, no bobs and with more creature power. First match I won the roll and comboed in T5, at 8 or 9 lifes.
The second match was a bit weird, I sb in +3 leylnes and +3 bounce and changed the wincon to banefire. I had a good hand with, suspended lotus bloom and played some stars/flasks... He destroyed with ancient grudge and played me an extirpate on it... I was shocked... First Extirpate is a card with split second, so it can be very tricky, and second he watched my entire library and knew that my only wincon was banefire... Anyways I have to admit that the extirpation of flasks didnt bother me too much... Next turn lotus bloom entered play and I tried to hurry to combo in order to avoid a slaughter games, when i played second sunrise, a second extirpate targetted my lotus blooms away... But how i had an ironworks in hand i managed to get it into play the next turn and managed to combo and win the game...
*This opponent never played against eggs/or didnt knew how the deck works
2-1
FOURTH ROUND: POD
First game was quite easy. He never draw a birthing pod. Anyways he managed to get melira+viscera seer+kitchen finks on play. I had pyrite spellbomb in play too. When i started to combo I use the spellbomb to kill the melira, he then sacrified with viscera seer the finks in order to make his unlimited life combo, I responded to the persist triggered ability with a faiths reward, get my pyrite on play and killed melira in response again... I prevented him from gaining infinite lives (which wasnt a problem anyways) and he conceded with no reason...
Second game i Sb in +2 pithing needle and +2 echoing truth. He mulled to 5 cards and I had pithing needle on initial hand. I played it for birthing pod and my opponent only managed to hit me with an alone kitchen finks... But I was not drawing any reshape nor any ironworks... he got me on 8 lives and played a Rule of law that he topdecked... I had many eggs on play and 2 faiths reward on hand, and four lands. I sacrificed all my eggs and played a faiths in his turn and then i could draw an echoing truth and a reshape to win on my last turn...
*This opponent also never played against eggs/or didnt knew how it works
3-1
FIFTH ROUND: INFECT... AGAIN
Oh I hate infect so much... Really really hate it. He obviously won the roll and killed me on his T3 or 4...
For the second game I stayed with a hand with no bounces (sb 4 bounces in previously), but with a reshape and a faiths reward... T1 I played a ghost quarter and a cromatic sphere. T2 I played an island and some serum visions, didnt see any other land neither a second sunrise... but I left a chromatic sphere on the top ... that was a fatal mistake.
On T3 i needed to combo, but only had this on play: 1 Chromatic sphere, 1 Island and 1 Ghost quarter. On hand i had 2 faiths reward, 1 Chromatic sphere and 1 Reshape... I just sit and thought if there was any way to possibly combo... If I played reshape on sphere i was going to get only 3 mana what isnt enough to faiths reward. If I sacrifice the sphere to get a land i will be with no artifact in play to sac for reshape... unless... unless i drawed a darksteel citadel... So I sacrificed ghost quarter to search an island ( to have more chances), shuffled the deck and draw with chromatic sphere keeping 2 blue mana on pool... VAAAAMOS TODAVIA!!! (Yes!!) was my scream, I felt the luckiest man on earth... I Put citadel on play, and managed to combo...
The third game my opponent went to 5 cards and didnt get any infect minion until t2... I played echoing truth on it and managed to kill the muthe****aa infect...
4-1
SIXTH ROUND: AFFINTY
I won the roll and chose to start... I mulled to 6 and managed to combo in my turn 3 or 4 with reshape... It was quite an easy match... When you start, affinty isnt as difficult...
The second game I lost in an unlucky way... Fizzled on the combo because I didnt get any second sunrise/faith reward in the first 20 cards of the library... ****ing karma.
The last game I mulled to 6... I had ironworks, 2 lands, 2 baubles, 1 echoing truth... I played bauble and pass. He played blinkmoth some ornitopthers, drum and that 1/1 that put counters his creatures... Second turn i play bauble, a serum visions I draw and didnt get any sphere/star/reshape... The game continued, i kept echoing truth on hand in afraid of a rest in peace (maybe this was my mistake). I had to combo on my 4th turn... I had 2 darksteel citadels, and two more lands, played ironworks, sac citadels for having 4 mana in pool... And had to sac the 3 baubles (YESS 3 ****ing baubles) in search of a sphere or star... I draw 3 lands... and lost all my chances to make top 8...
*This opponent never played against eggs also
4-2
SEVENTH ROUND: RAKDOS BURN
This games were quick. He started the first game and he put a lot of pressure on me. Tried to combo and fizzled...
Second game I sb in +4 leylines of sanctity... I started and managed to combo on T4...
The third game I kept in hand with a leyline of sanctity... He only had one goblin guide and one land... I had a lot of time plus a lot of lands, I was at 10 lives, he still had only one land and lot of burn dead in hand. So i decided I could combo... it was all good until a Mindbreak trap got me with my pants down... and there was no comeback... I lost to a trap... The worst was that i had enough lands and enough second sunrises to play around that trap, but i never saw that coming...
*Another player who didnt know how eggs works
4-3
EIGHTH ROUND: STORM
At this time I was a bit annoyed... That mindbreak trap really destroyed my morale.
But storm is prety favourable match-up to us... He won the roll but I managed to kill him before on my T3...
For the second game I sb in +2 silences +3 echoing truth (My opponent thought i was going to sb in leyline and put a 2 empty the warrens)... This match was great... He knew i had an echoing truth on hand, but he comboed anyways to get 10 goblins in order to make me waste the echoing truth... I had some eggs and a lotus bloom but i didnt have any faiths reward or second sunrise, so I didnt wanted to fizzle or loose to a negate. On his turn he played gitaxian probe and he saw that i had a silence in my hand so he tried to play around it... we had some 1 or 2 turns more until he started trying to combo (For this time I had a faiths reward on hand)... He played some rites and then played past in flames, I responded with silence, he played negate with a "triumphant face"... So negate resolved, silence got countered, but... I sacrificed bauble and put silence on bottom, destroyed a land with ghost quarter, and sacrificed all my eggs to draw cards in response... Played faiths reward, did the same again, played faiths rward until i draw another silenced and i played it agian... all in response to past in flames... My opponent was a bit annoyed but he was still counting the spells for the storm. When he tried to play a grapeshot I asked him if he knew what silence does... Obviously he didnt... On my turn I won...
* Also didnt know how second sunrise works neither silence
** I got a warning on this game :P. I tried to bauble in response to negate, which was an illegal play.
*** This opponent was a douchebag. When i started to combo to win on my turn after the silence play, he started to making theatre and talked to me in order to make me mistake and get a second warning and a game loss.
5-3
NINTH ROUND INFECT AGAIN
C'mon, there were only 10 of 240 ppl playing infect and I was paired 3 times with them... First match I lost the roll and so the game...
The second game he mulled to 5 and didnt get any infect creature, so he put me on 9 lives hitting with the 0/1 exalted green creature... I comboed on turn 4th or 5th.
The last game was the better, I stayed with a hand with only one island 1 echoing truth, 1 wipe away and some eggs, and second sunrise. He played an agent on turn 2 which i bounced on his turn 3 (he only had 2 lands in all the game). I drew for another island and in his turn 4 attack i played wipe away on the agaent... I comboed on my T5 with all the possible safety and won against him
6-3
In resume: This was a great tournament, I bellive I really did well, could won to two of my 3 worst matchups in base of luck and well played moves. Yes I made some mistakes but how many of you could knew about a minbreak trap on monred :P. I believe that the worst was loosing on round 6th to that affinity that wasnt very good handled, specially that game where I had bad luck. Anyways I had lots of fun :).
Only 2 cards showed irrelevant on SB: Nihil Spellbomb and Lab Alchemist... I believe im changing at least one of them to spellskite (against infect and splinter twin).
I finished 30 of 240 ppl :), and I was the only one playing eggs!!!
I hope this report encourages you to play this deck, or at least this version and remember, the most important is to test it the most you can!!!
CYA!!, im waiting for your replies!!
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WUBGR Bring to Ad Nauseam XWU KCI Eggs XBRG Lantern Control
Am I the only one, or have anyone else had problems with black leyline?
Oh, and has anyone had any experience with Sylvok Replica in sideboard, as it is Reshape-able disenchant in this deck?
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Also modgaming Bur setups is kind of treading down a dark path
Black Leyline is one of those "answer me or lose" cards like Rest in Peace. You just have to cross your fingers and draw into a bounce spell. It's slightly easier to deal with than RIP, because UW will have counterspells in response to your bounce.
Sylvok Replica is extremely inefficient:
1) 3 mana
2) Activation cost needs green (when this deck is mostly UW)
3) Destroys instead of bouncing/exiling - you have to wait one turn if using Second Sunrise
Tutoring is one thing, but burning :3mana::symu::symu::symg:, an artifact, and likely a Star/Sphere just to get rid of one troublesome permanent is another.
Nihil Spellbomb seems like it would be the bomb against eggs. Just pop it in response to a sunrise, and it comes back for more.
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"I am disillusioned enough to know that no man's opinion on any subject is worth a damn unless backed up with enough genuine information to make him really know what he's talking about."
-H. P. Lovecraft
Glimmervoid can be used effectively in some versions of this deck. Tap it for mana, sacrifice all your artifacts, sacrifice Glimmervoid, Second sunrise, repeat. It's also a five color land, which can be useful in the setup phase.
Pithing Needle also helps you buy time by switching off their Ravagers and Platings. At PT: RTR Cifka boarded 2 in during the quarterfinals against Affinity.
Don't try to kill all their creatures. Bounce the ones that will cause you trouble (Canonist) and be faster than them.
Against Twin, Pithing Needle is good; it has a wide range of targets. Defense Grid makes it tougher for them to flash in Pestermite/Exarch during your turn. Most of their hate is spell-based, so you should play more Silences than Truths.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
That said, there are some matchups that concern me:
1) Ultra aggro Infect. There's one guy that I know that plays a hyper aggressive infect, G/r, and pull some two turn win out of nowhere. Do you guys think that a bounce spell is enough? (Echoing Truth) Or maybe should I commit some SB slots for some answers? If so, what are some options?
2) Naya with Dryad Militant. Again, is the bounce spell enough? Should I be concerned with the matchup?
3) Robots. My gut feelings say that both Needle and a bounce spell are enough for this to be a favourable matchup, so I'm fine with it.
4) RG Tron. Straight up ramp into an Eldrazi/Wurmcoil Engine/Mindslaver. I also think that this is also a favourable matchup. Still, any ideas for a sideboard plan or is the Needle enough?
5) Storm. Is a SB plan actually viable or only some GY removal to avoid Past in Flames shenanigans? Do you guys think that it's a favourable MU or a coin flip?
This is my actual list so far:
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
8 Island
2 Plains
2 Misty Rainforest
Creature - 1
1 Laboratory Maniac
Artifacts - 20
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Chromatic Star
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Conjurer's Bauble
4 Elsewhere Flask
4 Faith's Reward
4 Second Sunrise
2 Silence
1 Gitaxian Probe
3 Sleight of Hand
4 Faithless Looting
4 Reshape
Cards I will test out:
a) Faithless Looting versus Serum Visions. I'm quite divided about it but maybe the U cost may prove to be easier than casting the Looting.
b) Extra cantrips?
c) Codex Shredder.
Basically, I don't want to use KCI and I'm afraid that I will time out if I play Pyrite Spellbomb, because people will make me go through the entire loop every time (yeah, I know )
Any tips, mates?
UB Fae
TES
Pox
sig thanks to Heroes of the Plane Studios
sales thread
Vs Infect Wipe Away is your best bet, because they can't cast Vines of Vastwood in response. It gets Inkmoth Nexus as well, something Echoing Truth can't do. Other than that, just race them.
Vs Naya (Pod?) Dryad Militant is not as devastating as other grave hate. You usually can draw your entire library before the 8th Sunrise. Pack at least one bounce spell if your wincon requires a Bauble loop.
Vs Affinity you have the right idea, just bounce and Needle. Hurkyl's Recall is great against them; half their mana sources are artifacts, so it keeps them off their sideboarded counterspells, like Spell Pierce and Unified Will.
Vs RG Tron you have nothing to worry about other than Relic; there is not much interaction in this matchup so it comes down to who goldfishes faster. Hint: it's you. You have maindeck Ghost Quarter to keep them off the full Tron.
Vs Storm if you have the white Leyline in your SB, bring it in. Board in Echoing Truth as well, it beats Empty the Warrens tokens and Pyromancer Ascension.
Faithless Looting is bad; you can't cast it on the first turn to dig for a Lotus Bloom/land. Stick with Serum/Sleight.
I don't recommend playing Codex Shredder. If your decklist had Banefire I'd tell you to swap it for Shredder, but it doesn't.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Thanks for the tips.
1) Would you play a split between Echoing Truth and Wipe Away if you are expecting Infect or play Wipe in addition to a playset of Echoing?
2) It's a pet deck from my friend. It's a Zoo in Naya colours so, apart from Dryad, I have a very favourable matchup, because he plays too fair.
3) I have a question similar to my first one: I see a lot of lists going 3 Echoing 1 Hurkyl's. Is there a reasoning behind that? If you're expecting a lot of Affinity, would you play a split between Hurkyl's and Echoing or not?
4) Yeah. I was actually fine during playtest versus RG Tron, I was just wondering if there could be an improvement in the matchup. Really, I don't really mind even if they can cast a Karn because that usually means I can go off on my next turn, so Karn can only exile one of my artifacts.
5) Yeah. I have 'em, but I only play 3. Is that a huge setback? Also, would you go -4 Elsewhere Flask +3 Leyline +1 Echoing, -3 Sleight of Hand +3 Echoing?
I tried to modify Cifka's list but it just seems very tight. Faithless and Codex were some of my tries, but they were really suboptimal. I just have to be careful not to deck myself before casting the Maniac :). It already happened during one of my goldfishing sessions.
Thanks for the reply, mate.
UB Fae
TES
Pox
Well, I play a slightly different list with 2 ironworks and darksteel citadels instead of fetchlands... Anyways it is almost the same for both of us.
1) Vs infect my plan is 3 echoing and 1 wipeaway
3) If there is a lot of affinity in the meta I surely will splir 3 echoing and 1 hurkyll... but in my case im more afraid from infect or UW...
4) I Believe RG tron is a good matchup for us... I will side 2 needles against them...
5)Against Storm I have a different point of view... The storm player will think that you are sb in leylines and graveyard hate, he will mostly put 3 echoing truth on his deck and some counters... also one copy of empty the warrens... I have 2 strategies: One could be +2 Silence (you cast them in response to epic experiment) and +1 nihil spellbomb, or we can put +3 leylines and +1 silence... Really silence is THE CARD against them, it buys us 1 more turn, that is what we always need...
I will never sb out the 4 flasks... I will always choose to sb out one or two of the worst card of each "type"... -1 or -2 flasks; -1 or -3 sleight of hand, -2 silence if needed, -1 gitaxian probe and of course i'll change the wincondition...
Finally today I found an interesting reason that why we should have one banefire in the sb if we play ironworks build: If we loose the first match, the most probable is that our opponent will try to make us to do the whole combo trying to avoid a third match... Banefire really makes our games shorter on the win... Its known that for the first game ALWAYS pyrite spellbomb is the best wincon...
I also have one lab maniac on sb
XWU KCI Eggs
XBRG Lantern Control
Nice to see a fellow Latin American :). Anyway, you play 3 Echoing 1 Wipe Away in the SB or 4 Echoing and the Wipe Away? I'm considering going 3 Echoing, 1 Hurkyl's, 1 Wipe Away just for insurance (both Infect and Affinity are in the meta).
The more I try, the more I think that RG Tron is a fairly good MU for us.
About the Storm, I will try out both ways. I think that a upkeep Silence is devastating for them, since their combo is at sorcery speed. It seems like a good plan :).
I think that I will have to do the entire combo constantly. Maybe a couple of people would concede but most of the guys in my meta will force me to go until the end, unfortunately. While I agree on the Pyrite, it's like I once saw: It's more easily hated out because Chromatic Star(Sphere) ability is a mana ability, so the opponent can't answer it and it's just physically faster. I thought about going 1 Maniac and 1 Bitter Ordeal on the side but I decided to go 1 Maniac and 1 Grapeshot or 1 Pyrite, still open. Bitter is just cute but not really that effective compared to the other three options.
Why wouldn't you side out all Flasks? Interesting decision. Why do you think it's better not to go -4 Flask?
UB Fae
TES
Pox
Well, we have 3 aspects to discuss here:
1)The first and shorter is that you shouldn't play silence in the upkeep of the storm player. You should play it in response to epic experiment or they 9nth or 10th spell... Or in response to past in flames... This way you sometimes will gain 1 extra turn more
2)About the wincon discussion my point of view is this:
Pyrite Spellbomb: I believe this is the best card for the first match because it is an egg that you can sac to draw a card in the middle of the combo, and because in some first games it can kill an inkmoth nexus, or a thalia, or another infect creature. Remember that Second breakfast has good match-up against almost every other deck in the first game. (except infect and affinity if he starts)
Laboratory Maniac: This guy also is great. It is a 4 or 5 minute faster wincon than pyrite, and does not need to target the opponent, does not loose to pithing needle, and we dont loose if the opponent extirpates our conjurer's bauble (some players may try to do this in the second match). Also if we play it with 0 cards in library, (dont get countered) and we mantain our priority, we can sac the chromatic sphere (ONLY THE SPHERE!!, the star makes you draw a card as a triggered-ability and opponents may respond to that) and we instant-win... Also if you are in hurry it can be a blocker (i used it against a Living end :P). I always choose him as a second wincon in the SB, specially to that matches with slaughter games, or extirpate...
Banefire: I play 2 krark-clan ironworks in my deck to make it a bit more consistent (-1 lotus bloom -1 sleight of hands)... Also I dont have 4 fetches but i have 4 darksteel citadel. Like I explained above if you loose the first match, the second you have to get hurry, and banefire is the quickiest way (it wins in mid-combo). The bad thing is that: Its not an egg, it needs to target... But there is a good point: I believe it can be good against spirit jund. Remember that jund always does damage to itself, and sometimes gets a rule of law into play. We can manage to kill them without comboing if we have one ironworks in play...
Codex Shredder: I like it, it is consistent in krark builds, but it is also slower, and i rather preffer the ability of the pyrite to draw for 1 mana. Also it needs that our opponent doesnt kill us in their upkeep phase... The last one also goes to that card with graverstorm...
3) About the sb issues: These is what I have right now:
4 places for Bounce Spells: 3 Echoing truth and 1 Wipe Away. Echoing is the best, but the wipeaway is good against infect (it dodges vines of vastwood) and against UW cause it dodges the counters. I dont like Hurkyll because it does not bounce the three enchantments that destroy us (Rest in peace, Stony silence or rule of law)
2 Places for Silence. Our MVP against counterspells and combo (mirror or storm)
4 Leyline of sanctity against heavy discard, targeted graveyard removal and of course, mono red...
2 Pithing needle Against affinity (Target inkmoth nexus, or ravager, or cranial plating) and against matches with relic... Also against POD
1 Nihil spellbomb I believe its good on the mirror, against storm sometimes (when they dont sb out past in flames) and against that weird matches like living end...
2 Win con: Banefire and Lab Maniac. I know it is a waste to have two more win conditions on sb, but i believe that there isnt another card i would prefer (maybe a hurkyll recall...) Banefire enters always the second match if we lost the first one (except vs martyr or potential leyline of sanctity games). Also banefire enters against spirit jund. If i have time i will try it against UW.
Lab maniac enters always our opponent has potential slaughter games or extirpate. Also enters when is better to have a blocker than a 2 damage (dont know when). And it enters against TRON: The reason is that i wont sb in bounce spells against tron, and i dont want to loose to a random pithing needle that targets pyrite...
At last, my explanation of why I wont take out 4 flasks:
1º I only run 16 Egg cards plus a pyrite... If i take 4 away the deck consistence will decrease a lot. I prefer to take away some sleight of hand, silences and the gitaxian probe instead. Most of the times i will sb out 1 flask only.
2º With ironworks in play, flasks arent so bad, they are just a free card draw
3º I read the Cifkas article in SCG and he never sb out more than 2 flasks
Well I hope it works on you, CYA!!
I will be playing this deck these saturday in the biggest Argentina modern tournament (more than 200 ppl). I will make a report on the next week!!
XWU KCI Eggs
XBRG Lantern Control
Thanks for the insight.
As for the 1), that depends a lot on the board state. While I agree that generally Silence midcombo is a killer, Silence on their upkeep can be also devastating, especially if you Gitaxian Probe him on your turn. I will grind out against Storm more and more and see if I can get a better grip for the timings but I agree with the general plan of +2 Silence.
2) I agree with everything here. I will goldfish more so I can be quicker with the Pyrite but apart from this problem, it's the best win con, yeah. Thanks for the reminder on the Sphere, had forgot that there were differences during resolution.
3) What about Grafdigger's Cage? Kills Reanimator/GY shenanigans, stop Pod. I like it and I use it :). What about a fourth Echoing? I kinda like 3 win cons tho; especially if you are facing people that know each other (i.e., they know that you'll side out Pyrite for Lab Maniac G2 but then you surprise them with a third win con). Other than that, we play very similar SB.
4) I don't have access to Cifka's article :(. Oh, well. Anyway, I agree with point a). I will test those options out, surely, but Sleight is subpar. I mean, it's redundant most of the times and drawing blindly is not that bad with this deck
Good luck! Will wait on the report.
UB Fae
TES
Pox
I still have the KCI version of the deck, but with Faiths Reward I think there is no need to have KCI anymore, the deck can be pretty consistent without it, so I'm gonna try a version a bit more like the one Cifka used on the PT.
Storm doesn't play bounce spells now, preferring to use Empty the Warrens or Pyromancer's Swath to beat grave hate.
Silence and Echoing Truth are safe side-ins, Storm plays Goblin Electromancer nowadays regardless of build so you'll always have a target for Truth. Bouncing their Electromancer or Ascension will buy you enough time.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Standard Mardu Midrange
Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange
CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
Well, as I had previously mentioned yesterday was the biggest Modern tournament in Argentina. We had 240 players which is a lot for us. Here I will post my deck (an Ironworks-sunrise) and how I did.
Here is my list:
4 Darksteel Citadel
1 Plains
8 Island
4 Chromatic Star
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Conjurer's Bauble
4 Elsewhere Flask
1 Pyrite Spellbomb
4 Reshape
3 Lotus Bloom
2 Krark-Clan Ironworks
4 Second Sunrise
4 Faith's Reward
4 Serum Visions
2 Sleight of Hand
2 Silence
1 Gitaxian Probe
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Silence
2 Pithing Needle
3 Echoing Truth
1 Wipe Away
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Banefire
I prefer Ironworks build because it doesnt loose if you get lotus bloom extirpated, can kill in the mid of the combo if you play banefire, and it helps you to miss less (its a bit more easy to play). Also it can be played without fetchlands...
FIRST ROUND: AFFINITY
He won the roll and chose to start. He played some memnites/ornitopthers and 2 signal pests with the help of a mox... I was a bit afraid because I knew my opponent was a judge and a good player (also affinity is quite difficult on the draw). Also my hand was a bit slow, didnt had reshape to make a T3 combo. I suspended Lotus bloom, played a chromatic star and passed, my opponent face was: "Oh ****! eggs...".
He didnt get the inkmoth nexus neither a cranial plating or ravager so I managed tu survive until my T4. Also a well played silence on their upkeep phase of their T4 helped a lot. I comboed when suspended lotus bloom entered play...
For the second match I sb +3 echoing truth +2 pithing needle... This match was quite easy, he didnt draw any of his sb (neither me), and I had a good hand and comboed on T3 with reshape...
1-0
SECOND ROUND: INFECT
Oh infect, the EGGS worst matchup... He won the die and killed me on his T3, nothing to say.
Second match, I sb in +3 echoing truth+1 wipeaway and a Banefire to have a quick combo (I always sided in Banefire when i lost the first match in order to keep chances of winning the two games in the 45 minutes of the round) (Didnt sb out pyrite spellbomb). I couldnt manage to combo on T3 and he killed me again on his T3... I hate infect...
1-1
THIRD ROUND: JUND (?)
He played the Jund colors, but not the jund staple cards. It was like a poor's kind of jund, with no thoughtsize, no liliana, no bobs and with more creature power. First match I won the roll and comboed in T5, at 8 or 9 lifes.
The second match was a bit weird, I sb in +3 leylnes and +3 bounce and changed the wincon to banefire. I had a good hand with, suspended lotus bloom and played some stars/flasks... He destroyed with ancient grudge and played me an extirpate on it... I was shocked... First Extirpate is a card with split second, so it can be very tricky, and second he watched my entire library and knew that my only wincon was banefire... Anyways I have to admit that the extirpation of flasks didnt bother me too much... Next turn lotus bloom entered play and I tried to hurry to combo in order to avoid a slaughter games, when i played second sunrise, a second extirpate targetted my lotus blooms away... But how i had an ironworks in hand i managed to get it into play the next turn and managed to combo and win the game...
*This opponent never played against eggs/or didnt knew how the deck works
2-1
FOURTH ROUND: POD
First game was quite easy. He never draw a birthing pod. Anyways he managed to get melira+viscera seer+kitchen finks on play. I had pyrite spellbomb in play too. When i started to combo I use the spellbomb to kill the melira, he then sacrified with viscera seer the finks in order to make his unlimited life combo, I responded to the persist triggered ability with a faiths reward, get my pyrite on play and killed melira in response again... I prevented him from gaining infinite lives (which wasnt a problem anyways) and he conceded with no reason...
Second game i Sb in +2 pithing needle and +2 echoing truth. He mulled to 5 cards and I had pithing needle on initial hand. I played it for birthing pod and my opponent only managed to hit me with an alone kitchen finks... But I was not drawing any reshape nor any ironworks... he got me on 8 lives and played a Rule of law that he topdecked... I had many eggs on play and 2 faiths reward on hand, and four lands. I sacrificed all my eggs and played a faiths in his turn and then i could draw an echoing truth and a reshape to win on my last turn...
*This opponent also never played against eggs/or didnt knew how it works
3-1
FIFTH ROUND: INFECT... AGAIN
Oh I hate infect so much... Really really hate it. He obviously won the roll and killed me on his T3 or 4...
For the second game I stayed with a hand with no bounces (sb 4 bounces in previously), but with a reshape and a faiths reward... T1 I played a ghost quarter and a cromatic sphere. T2 I played an island and some serum visions, didnt see any other land neither a second sunrise... but I left a chromatic sphere on the top ... that was a fatal mistake.
On T3 i needed to combo, but only had this on play: 1 Chromatic sphere, 1 Island and 1 Ghost quarter. On hand i had 2 faiths reward, 1 Chromatic sphere and 1 Reshape... I just sit and thought if there was any way to possibly combo... If I played reshape on sphere i was going to get only 3 mana what isnt enough to faiths reward. If I sacrifice the sphere to get a land i will be with no artifact in play to sac for reshape... unless... unless i drawed a darksteel citadel... So I sacrificed ghost quarter to search an island ( to have more chances), shuffled the deck and draw with chromatic sphere keeping 2 blue mana on pool... VAAAAMOS TODAVIA!!! (Yes!!) was my scream, I felt the luckiest man on earth... I Put citadel on play, and managed to combo...
The third game my opponent went to 5 cards and didnt get any infect minion until t2... I played echoing truth on it and managed to kill the muthe****aa infect...
4-1
SIXTH ROUND: AFFINTY
I won the roll and chose to start... I mulled to 6 and managed to combo in my turn 3 or 4 with reshape... It was quite an easy match... When you start, affinty isnt as difficult...
The second game I lost in an unlucky way... Fizzled on the combo because I didnt get any second sunrise/faith reward in the first 20 cards of the library... ****ing karma.
The last game I mulled to 6... I had ironworks, 2 lands, 2 baubles, 1 echoing truth... I played bauble and pass. He played blinkmoth some ornitopthers, drum and that 1/1 that put counters his creatures... Second turn i play bauble, a serum visions I draw and didnt get any sphere/star/reshape... The game continued, i kept echoing truth on hand in afraid of a rest in peace (maybe this was my mistake). I had to combo on my 4th turn... I had 2 darksteel citadels, and two more lands, played ironworks, sac citadels for having 4 mana in pool... And had to sac the 3 baubles (YESS 3 ****ing baubles) in search of a sphere or star... I draw 3 lands... and lost all my chances to make top 8...
*This opponent never played against eggs also
4-2
SEVENTH ROUND: RAKDOS BURN
This games were quick. He started the first game and he put a lot of pressure on me. Tried to combo and fizzled...
Second game I sb in +4 leylines of sanctity... I started and managed to combo on T4...
The third game I kept in hand with a leyline of sanctity... He only had one goblin guide and one land... I had a lot of time plus a lot of lands, I was at 10 lives, he still had only one land and lot of burn dead in hand. So i decided I could combo... it was all good until a Mindbreak trap got me with my pants down... and there was no comeback... I lost to a trap... The worst was that i had enough lands and enough second sunrises to play around that trap, but i never saw that coming...
*Another player who didnt know how eggs works
4-3
EIGHTH ROUND: STORM
At this time I was a bit annoyed... That mindbreak trap really destroyed my morale.
But storm is prety favourable match-up to us... He won the roll but I managed to kill him before on my T3...
For the second game I sb in +2 silences +3 echoing truth (My opponent thought i was going to sb in leyline and put a 2 empty the warrens)... This match was great... He knew i had an echoing truth on hand, but he comboed anyways to get 10 goblins in order to make me waste the echoing truth... I had some eggs and a lotus bloom but i didnt have any faiths reward or second sunrise, so I didnt wanted to fizzle or loose to a negate. On his turn he played gitaxian probe and he saw that i had a silence in my hand so he tried to play around it... we had some 1 or 2 turns more until he started trying to combo (For this time I had a faiths reward on hand)... He played some rites and then played past in flames, I responded with silence, he played negate with a "triumphant face"... So negate resolved, silence got countered, but... I sacrificed bauble and put silence on bottom, destroyed a land with ghost quarter, and sacrificed all my eggs to draw cards in response... Played faiths reward, did the same again, played faiths rward until i draw another silenced and i played it agian... all in response to past in flames... My opponent was a bit annoyed but he was still counting the spells for the storm. When he tried to play a grapeshot I asked him if he knew what silence does... Obviously he didnt... On my turn I won...
* Also didnt know how second sunrise works neither silence
** I got a warning on this game :P. I tried to bauble in response to negate, which was an illegal play.
*** This opponent was a douchebag. When i started to combo to win on my turn after the silence play, he started to making theatre and talked to me in order to make me mistake and get a second warning and a game loss.
5-3
NINTH ROUND INFECT AGAIN
C'mon, there were only 10 of 240 ppl playing infect and I was paired 3 times with them... First match I lost the roll and so the game...
The second game he mulled to 5 and didnt get any infect creature, so he put me on 9 lives hitting with the 0/1 exalted green creature... I comboed on turn 4th or 5th.
The last game was the better, I stayed with a hand with only one island 1 echoing truth, 1 wipe away and some eggs, and second sunrise. He played an agent on turn 2 which i bounced on his turn 3 (he only had 2 lands in all the game). I drew for another island and in his turn 4 attack i played wipe away on the agaent... I comboed on my T5 with all the possible safety and won against him
6-3
In resume: This was a great tournament, I bellive I really did well, could won to two of my 3 worst matchups in base of luck and well played moves. Yes I made some mistakes but how many of you could knew about a minbreak trap on monred :P. I believe that the worst was loosing on round 6th to that affinity that wasnt very good handled, specially that game where I had bad luck. Anyways I had lots of fun :).
Only 2 cards showed irrelevant on SB: Nihil Spellbomb and Lab Alchemist... I believe im changing at least one of them to spellskite (against infect and splinter twin).
I finished 30 of 240 ppl :), and I was the only one playing eggs!!!
I hope this report encourages you to play this deck, or at least this version and remember, the most important is to test it the most you can!!!
CYA!!, im waiting for your replies!!
XWU KCI Eggs
XBRG Lantern Control
Oh, and has anyone had any experience with Sylvok Replica in sideboard, as it is Reshape-able disenchant in this deck?
Sylvok Replica is extremely inefficient:
1) 3 mana
2) Activation cost needs green (when this deck is mostly UW)
3) Destroys instead of bouncing/exiling - you have to wait one turn if using Second Sunrise
Tutoring is one thing, but burning :3mana::symu::symu::symg:, an artifact, and likely a Star/Sphere just to get rid of one troublesome permanent is another.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
"I am disillusioned enough to know that no man's opinion on any subject is worth a damn unless backed up with enough genuine information to make him really know what he's talking about."
-H. P. Lovecraft
Yeah, that's why I don't play any Sunrises in my deck, but 4 Faith's Reward and 2 Open the Vaults, besides the 2 Noxious Revivals.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Edit: Ignore me. I'm an idiot.
Hoping for a cure, or at least an outbreak.
Level 1 Judge (yay)