Patrick Chapin likes Pack Rat, and argues that it could also be good in Grixis colors. He also argues for playing more scry-land in modern to smooth out draws.
scrylands would be good, except i think we should already be playing 4 creeping tar pits since theyre so good :). If i had to choose between scrying and tar pitting i dont think its close. 4 cipt lands is fairly high at least for modern neway i think its fine where its at atm. pack rat im not so sure about, i've heard its good vs pod but ive never actually seen it, it seems like a sideboard card in that situation though.
thundermaw is quite the beater, he has no protection though, if he had shroud/hexproof dang :). usually win conditions have to be very resilient. I could still somewhat see it though, some people like bogardan hellkite because he at least does 5 divided however. He does cost a LOT tho.
thundermaw is quite the beater, he has no protection though, if he had shroud/hexproof dang :). usually win conditions have to be very resilient. I could still somewhat see it though, some people like bogardan hellkite because he at least does 5 divided however. He does cost a LOT tho.
I personally prefer Batterskull, but I still prefer Stormbreath Dragon to Thundermaw Hellkite for that exact reason. Paying 5 mana to have give your opponent a target for Path to Exile isn't worth it.
What about [[Phyrexian Obliterator]]? I already have [[Batterskull]] main, gets people a lot, and was looking for a second finisher. I am taking out two [[Cruel Ultimatum]], never get to cast it.
phyrexian obliterator seems uncastable in a three color deck that plays cryptics also. ashiok seems a little loose, although ill admit ive never tried her/him out before. My fear would be abrupt decay i suppose.
I've mentioned it here before but this seems like a good deck for forbidden alchemy, faithless looting, and sticking big spells in the graveyard to be spelltwined. You'd also get a lot of free abrupt decays and bolts and paths and whatever out of your opponents yard a lot of times.
graveyard hate is very present in modern though, like a turn 1 relic against us if we run all those cards u mentioned would blow us out pretty hard. also we already run snapcasters which makes us already a bit susceptible, but at least worst case hes a 2/1. spelltwine could just be completely dead with relic in play.
"Unfortunately, all of my test animals have died or escaped, so i shall be the final subject. I feel no fear. This is a momentous night."
--Laboratory notes, final entry
I will try to remain calm with the good news of fetches reprints and lets start assessing what we are going to get
1) We are getting the ability to play 1-2 Tec Edges. HOWEVER, playing tec edge still will turn of a stable T7 cruel ultimatum which makes things still not ideal.
2) Stable Anger of the Gods on T3 which becomes more and more relevant or any early 2 red mana spell for that matter (like sowing salt or molten rain)
3) Countersquall will also be now a valid choice over negate cause you can always have the mana T2. The same goes for Counterflux and ofcourse the always relevant T4 3 blue mana for Cryptic command. Maybe we can now safely run 4 of them.
What other cards should we go through? We got some time to prepare
guys lets discuss the ideal fetchland setup now that polluted delta will be legal.(the impact of this i think is really huge for so many reasons, not to mention how many times have u wanted to fetch for blood crypt with ur misty rainforest, now ull never have that problem :)! ). Personally I believe that the ideal would have us playing 4 polluted deltas since they allow us to play around blood moon the best by fetching blue and black, obviously we don't need red.( yay we can finally fetch black mana! whoohoooo) . That leaves us with our secondary fetchland which i believe is clearly scalding tarn, as much as i love bloodstained mire's art im not sure about us playing any copies of it. so probably 2-3 scalding tarns is our ideal. with that being said as others have said i think this now allows us to play 1-2 tec edges and i wouldn't be surprised if it also lets us play 1 ghost quarter as well, so 3 land destruction lands total max. This is HUGE for the deck since we can now go not only on the mana denial plan offensively but also certain matchups become a lot more favorable. Pod's gavony townships for instance become a lot less scary. This is just fantastic news for us, if i missed anything anyone please let me know (and yay Polluted Delta!! :)!!!!).
edit: not to mention scapeshift becomes a lot more favorable matchup with us having access to 2 tecs. the power of tec edge is real guys :).
2 Pack Rat
4 Snapcaster Mage
Spells (27)
1 Batterskull
2 Jace Beleren
4 Cryptic Command
1 Spell Snare
3 Electrolyze
2 Terminate
3 Mana Leak
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Cruel Ultimatum
2 Damnation
Lands (27)
3 Island
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
1 Blood Crypt
1 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Sunken Ruins
1 Temple of Epiphany
2 Temple of Malice
2 Temple of Deceit
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Watery Grave
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Counterflux
2 Rakdos Charm
1 Slaughter Games
1 Vandalblast
1 Countersquall
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Thoughtseize
2 Slaughter Pact
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Sowing Salt
Thoughts?
Could you please check the list again? Either I'm misscounting or you have 27 non-creature spells and 27 lands there.
It is Grixis Cruel Control and got 2nd place - player Takuya Okada - PTQ, Tokyo, Japan - (116 players) Mar-9th-2013.
I personally prefer Batterskull, but I still prefer Stormbreath Dragon to Thundermaw Hellkite for that exact reason. Paying 5 mana to have give your opponent a target for Path to Exile isn't worth it.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Here is my list:
1x Batterskull
1x Blackcleave Cliffs
2x Blood Crypt
3x Creeping Tar Pit
3x Cryptic Command
1x Damnation
2x Darkslick Shores
3x Electrolyze
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Island
4x Lightning Bolt
1x Liliana of the Veil
3x Mana Leak
1x Mountain
1x Phyrexian Obliterator
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Slaughter Pact
4x Snapcaster Mage
2x Spell Snare
2x Steam Vents
1x Sulfur Falls
2x Swamp
3x Terminate
3x Thoughtseize
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1x Verdant Catacombs
2x Watery Grave
3x Anger of the Gods
1x Counterflux
1x Darkblast
2x Echoing Truth
1x Hurkyl's Recall
3x Rakdos Charm
1x Spellskite
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Thoughtseize
1x Vendilion Clique
Ashiok is surprisingly very good.
What do you think of it?
The "Reply" button should really reference what you're replying too. Anyway, it was the count of lands and spells for Patrick Chapin's deck.
i started playing around with a 4c varient of cruel control this is where i am at. opinions?
2x Terminate
4x Mana Leak
3x Cryptic Command
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Thoughtseize
2x Mystical Teaching
1x Gift's Ungiven
1x Sphinx's Revelation
3x Electrolyze
2x Spell Snare
1x Far//Away
2x Esper Charm
1x Vendilion Clique
4x Scalding Tarn
3x Marsh Flats
3x Creeping Tar-Pit
2x Steam Vents
3x Blood Crypt
2x Watery Grave
1x Sunken Ruin
3x Island
2x Swamp
1x Mountain
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Sowing Salt
2x Rakdos Charm
2x Hurkyl's Recall
1x Keranos, God of Storms
1x Damnation
2x Countersquall
--Laboratory notes, final entry
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
UBRGrixis ControlUBR | URPhoenixUR | UWMiraclesUW |GBRJundGBR | UBFaeriesUB | UBWAd NauseumUBW |GBRWBlueless ShadowGBRW |
MTGA
UBRGrixis ControlUBR | UTempoU
1) We are getting the ability to play 1-2 Tec Edges. HOWEVER, playing tec edge still will turn of a stable T7 cruel ultimatum which makes things still not ideal.
2) Stable Anger of the Gods on T3 which becomes more and more relevant or any early 2 red mana spell for that matter (like sowing salt or molten rain)
3) Countersquall will also be now a valid choice over negate cause you can always have the mana T2. The same goes for Counterflux and ofcourse the always relevant T4 3 blue mana for Cryptic command. Maybe we can now safely run 4 of them.
What other cards should we go through? We got some time to prepare
UB Faeries (15-6-0)
UWR Control (10-5-1)/Kiki Control/Midrange/Harbinger
UBR Cruel Control (6-4-0)/Grixis Control/Delver/Blue Jund
UWB Control/Mentor
UW Miracles/Control (currently active, 14-2-0)
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
RW Burn (9-1-0)
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I am thinking I will run Keranos in addition to a couple Ultimatum's and a Batterskull. Seems super fun.
edit: not to mention scapeshift becomes a lot more favorable matchup with us having access to 2 tecs. the power of tec edge is real guys :).