How do you beat Affinity? Is there any chance game 1? I relly like the monowhite list, but I've felt that it's lacking in that particular matchup. What cards are most important, both in the main and the side?
I played against Affinity so many times and I guarantee you that our air threats shuts all their creatures off. Ravager and that guy that put counters are the real deal. Blade Splicer rules earth while Serra rules the skies. Ghost quarter to inkmothes.
So I went to a local GPT today and here is the list that I took. There were 16 people there so we had 4 rounds and a split to top 8. This was my first time playing the deck and I ended up splitting the finals. I went 2-1-1 in the 4 rounds making the 8th seed and made it to the finals. Tournament report will follow deck list.
Round 1 vs. BW Tokens 2-1, 1-0 for the tournament
This was actually funny because before the event started I was playing random games with this opponent and then we ended up playing in the first round. So I knew going into the first round I was playing BW Tokens. Game 1 I play turn two leonin arbiter, followed by ghost quarter next turn. He can't get past 1 land the whole game. Game 2 was a back and forth game but he ended up overwhelming me with lingering souls tokens. Game three is more of the same and once again he is starting to take over the game with tokens when I draw archangel of tithes which completely turns the game to my favor
Round 2 vs. Grixis Control 0-2, 1-1 for the tournament
Game 1 I do not draw any of my thalia, or taxing elements just a mixture of blade splicers and flickerwisp's etc. but he just has removal for days and he ends the game with dromaka's command not even allowing me to draw my cards. Was not fun and game two was just more of the same.
Round 3 vs. Twin 2-0, 2-1 for the tournament
Game 1 I curve out turn 1 vial, 2 thalia, 3 aven mindcensor and I delay him enough that he eventually starts using his combo pieces defensively and I end up winning the game because he floods out. Game 2 was a war of attrition back and forth and it comes down a to a race that my fliers end up taking. These were very close games and very easily could have gone the other way if I did not draw any better.
Round 4 vs. Zoo Draw, 2-1-1 for the tournament
We intentionally drew because our tiebreakers were good enough to guarantee the top 8
Quarterfinals
I am playing the number one seed who has not lost a game all day and he is on Living End. He is on the play and I jump to an early lead but he of course does what living end does and wipes the board. Luckily for me I draw a mirran crusader and put the game away. Game 2 is more of the same and I get a mirran crusader once again, and bring him to two life when he stabilizes and living end's for the second time. We both get some creatures back and it turns into a board stall until finally I am able to double flickerwisp the 4/5 reach creature in that deck (i don't know the name of that card), and I win the game
Semifinals
in the semifinals i play the same grixis control deck I played in round 2. Going in I knew I was in for an uphill start. Game one i get turn two leonin arbiter, and end of turn my opp tries to fetch completely forgetting about my arbiter. He rages quits that game. Game two he has a bunch of cantrips but luckily misses on removal for most of the game and I easily close this game out because I have blade splicers for days and paths for his angler and tasigur.
Finals
I just split the finals so that way we can each get quite a nice prize. First won a booster box and 2nd won 10 packs so we had 46 packs to split. All in all I have to say that this is an awesome deck to play.
But we don't just have path to stop it. We have vial+wisp and spellskite aswell.
And vs RG tron, we don't flood the board, brimaz survives clasm, we Eot vial or resto after clasm and keep beating.
Those are all fair points but that's not what I meant with my comment.
Vs. Twin we don't have vial + flickerwisp when on the play they cast turn 3 Deceiver turn 4 Twin. Spellskite is not in the majority of peoples main decks and Twin players can play around it game 2 & 3. Its also not a guaranteed answer to twin if you only have 2 copies in your 75 even if they are in your main deck. You can't say our deck fights twin as well as something that is full of discard, terminates, bolts and counterspells. In the long run D&T is going to lose more games vs. the deck compared to something with more answers.
Also vs. tron. If we play turn 1 Dryad Militant, Turn 2 Thalia, Turn 3 Blade Splicer and they play a pyroclasm turn 3 then Karn or Wurm Coil turn 4, 50% of the time our deck may not be able to get out of that position. If that happens 25% of the time and then the rest of the wins are just from not getting the right taxing spells, or Tron being drawn naturally or anything I can see the 47% or whatever it was making sense.
vs Twin, most decks play around 23 lands. They do have some cantrips and filtering, but they also play fetch lands that slightly affects their land draw odds. Therefore, it is hard to say exactly what their odds of having four lands in play is on turn 4, but at best it is about 75% but can be as poor as 60%. So the turn 3 exarch into turn 4 twin is far from a guarantee from just a land count. If you then consider the need for two of those mana to be red, that they need both pieces of the combo, then that decreases it even more. If you add in our search hate, land destruction, and taxes, it is very unusual to straight out lose to the turn 4 combo. Many monowhite lists run 1-2 skites main. I prefer to run them in the board, but I also have other twin answers in the board like celestial purge and auriok champion. Also, Grixis twin runs very little if any discard, and their counter magic is generally easily played around with vial, flash creatures, and tax effects. It is definitely not an easy matchup. It is often very skill intensive with no room for error, but there is no way I lose 75%+ of my twin matchups as the goldfish data would suggest.
Regarding Gr Tron. Sure they can have games that blow us out, but it is far more common for me to have a start like turn 1 vial, turn 2 thalia to slow down their eggs and search spells a turn, then vial in arbiter and GQ a land or two, vial in wisp to steal a land for a turn, some more land destruction, and vial in another 3 drop and that usually seals up the win. Does anyone here really have a losing record vs Gr Tron? I really find that hard to believe.
My Modern decks: Death and Taxes, Hatebears, Well Oiled Machine, Merfolk, Nyx Wave, Soul Sisters, Stompy, Matyr Proc, Naya Zoo, Robots (I refuse to call it affinity!), Bogles, Kiki Chord
Sure but again, the data that the original reply was made to was something like 40 games on magic online daily. While people on here have been putting 2 skites in the main, I don't think the lists that the data covers has them. Check MTG top 8 and the like for "recent" lists for skites, off of memory there aren't any in the main deck (I could be wrong).
And again with the tron match, my point was that this is over some double digit number of games. The number of games where you are going to lost to a turn 3 pyroclasm is low, but it probably happens often enough to bring the win/loss stats up to 50/50 over a large number of games after you faster all of the other ways our deck can lose to bad draws and such.
If you guys think their match up data is wrong I suggest sending them an email, but if its based off of the actual magic online daily results then our own experiences doesn't factor into it.
Edit: In other news, my new goal is to cast Divine Reckoning, keep Anafenza in play and blow up 1 or more kitchen finks on my side of the board.
I don't doubt the data, but I do doubt the pilots running em. Legacy D and T (my homie deck forever before switching) all analysis pointed to the difficulty of the deck and similarly, Modern D and T is a tricky deck to pilot, especially with the rediculously number of things we can do with the whisp. I believe that is the reason why many don't play the deck in modern and people shy away from it. With the proper pilot, it has punch against tier 1s.
I agree with you all, the data is the data. But many of us who post on this thread regularly are very experienced pilots, so that is my question really. Do any of you experienced pilots really find the Gr Tron matchup unfavorable? I know I don't. When I see a tron piece on turn 1, I think oh goody, this round is almost a bye.
@LtGlitter: obviously we can have bad draws and lose, but so can Gr Tron. Sometimes they just durdle for 4 turns cracking eggs while I beat them to death white weenie style. Bad draws happen to all decks not just us. On the flip side, nut draws happen to all decks as well. For every turn 3 Karn they get vs us, we can get the vial, thalia, vial in arbiter double GQ start.
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My Modern decks: Death and Taxes, Hatebears, Well Oiled Machine, Merfolk, Nyx Wave, Soul Sisters, Stompy, Matyr Proc, Naya Zoo, Robots (I refuse to call it affinity!), Bogles, Kiki Chord
Again if both people playing the decks are competent, in the long run it comes down to who is more consistent. I think tron is way more consistent that us across multiple games, and those number probably reflect that. I agree with you guys that I very rarely lose to the trons but have we actually had large amounts of game results to back that up?
Is there any way to make this deck work without Aether Vial? I'm guessing no, probably, but just wanted to ask and be sure. Playing MTG on a college budget is kind of difficult hehe...
Following up though, this is a very fun looking archetype. I've only recently started playing MTG at FNM's and more competitive events, since I'm home in Singapore for the summer; sorry in advance if I don't know the metagame or various facets of it that well. This is the deck I'm pretty sure I want to main, since the SG scene is full of aggro and decks like Jund, Tron, etc. Also, I dunno whether this is assumption is correct, but I'm gonna guess Death and Taxes is somewhat of a rogue deck to pilot, at least in a place like Singapore.
Current Modern Decks BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends." BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved." RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros." BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?" C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
You could definitely build the deck without aether vial, its just won't play 100% the same. Maybe include 4 Simian Spirit Guide in place of the missing vials to fill the slot of "a card that is good on turn 1 or 2, then a really annoying top deck later on".
in my opinion against affinity, Kataki, war's wage is the best option.
Alot of the time it is just instant scoop
I was playing 3 kataki but I've since switched to stony silence. I've had too many games where they play 2-3 creatures, spring leaf drum and mox opal + land on their first turn. Katai doesn't do anything vs. that since they can keep paying the 2 mana to keep their dudes alive, start to pressure you and then wait until they draw something to remove the kataki. I think I was 0-3 vs. robots until I switched, now I'm 4-3.
I'm still not a hundred percent sure I'll pilot Death & Taxes as my alternative modern deck, but maybe once I play a few more events and improve a bit more, I'll definitely look into grabbing one.
Budget is always an issue, but I think this is one of those decks worth saving for.
Thanks once again!
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Current Modern Decks BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends." BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved." RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros." BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?" C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
I'd suggest playing 4 Restoration angels and 0 Serra avenger if you are going to play without the vials, since resto gives you back some of the instant speed plays you will be missing out on.
Hello everyone! Long time lurker, first time poster - though it's because of this exact thread that I first built Death & Taxes over a year ago. I have never really gotten the chance to play with the deck in real life very much, though I've tried to keep tabs on the format, and this thread.
So I found time this past weekend to play at the Modern FNM event at my local store (first time playing Modern in a long time), and I decided to share my results with you.
Here is the decklist I entered with (a lot of the tweaks I made were inspired by posts in this thread):
Game 1
I was on the draw, keeping a hand with one land and Aether Vial while he mulliganed to six. Thankfully I did not see any Eidolons of the Great Revel (throughout the match in fact). With burn spells, a Vexing Devil (which I took 4 for, since I did not have any creatures in play) and an Ash Zealot, he put me down to 4 before I played a Kitchen Finks, which I proceeded to blink multiple times with Flickerwisps to put the game out of reach for him.
[1-0]
Game 2
On the draw again, my opening hand included Vial, Thalia, Finks and Flickerwisp. Largely the same story as game 1 (I sideboarded in three copies of Kor Firewalker, but never saw any), but once I landed my Kitchen Finks and got multiple iterations of lifegain, the game was soon over.
[2-0]
Match 2 - vs. Daniel, playing G/b Elves
Game 1
I was on the play. I came in knowing that Elves posed a tough match-up for my deck. Moreover, I was very unfamiliar with Modern Elves, thinking that it included Green Sun's Zenith (d'oh) and that it was much more combo-oriented. As a result, I dismembered the very first Nettle Sentinel I saw at the cost of 4 life points, which was a huge misplay, as he beat my face in with numerous elves including three Elvish Archdruids.
[0-1]
Game 2
On the play, after sideboarding in three copies of Mirran Crusader, I stuck one on turn 3 and never looked back. Tectonic Edge threatening to blow up his Nykthos if he ever reached 4 lands put a fair bit of pressure on him.
[1-1]
Game 3
Both of us played slowly in the first two games, which left us with barely over five minutes for this last match. As a result, I played at a frantic pace, which ultimately would cost me big time. Though I had a Vial, I was stuck on one Plains (and some Ghost Quarters/Tectonic Edges) for a good while, which prevented me from hardcasting my 3-drops to increase my board presence. My first misplay of the game came when I blinked in a Mirran Crusader instead of Brimaz. I was already on the back-foot, and he was looking to race me with a handful of 1/1's and 2/2's. There was no way I was in a position to go on the offensive with the Crusader. This was not such a big deal though, as I got the Crusader down the subsequent turn, which stabilized me a great deal. At some point, we run out of time and go to turns. And this is where I make the most crucial misplay of the evening.
Momentarily forgetting the lessons I learned from Mike Flores's famous article about "Who's the beatdown?" (which I've read multiple times in my life), I very hastily attack with my Brimaz, which has vigilance, but not my Mirran Crusader (which would have dealt 4 points of damage), instinctively thinking that I still needed to defend, not realizing that with only 4 turns remaining, I was the one on the offensive, not him. In poetic fashion, the game comes to a draw with him at 3 life. I spent the next ten minutes mentally kicking myself for my crucial misplay. In retrospect, I did not realize that once we went to turns, I no longer needed to play at as brisk a pace, since we were no longer limited by time, but by turns. This is something I need to work on, identifying key moments that require me to slow down and bit and think more thoroughly about the state of the game.
[1-1-1]
Match 3 - vs. Cole, playing R/U Delver
Game 1
On the play, I keep a hand with Vial while he mulligans to 6. He plays a turn-1 Monastery Swiftspear, which chips away at my life total. But with my Vial, I play more threats than he can handle (partially because he had multiple copies of Vapor Snag instead of burn spells, which does not fare well against an active Aether Vial) and run away with the game. It also becomes apparent that his deck is a budget version.
[1-0]
Game 2
I don't have a lot of notes about this game, other than that I was on the draw. I recall that he played an early Delver that he wasn't able to protect, while again I had more threats than he could deal with.
[2-0]
Match 4 - vs. Sam (Cole's little brother), playing MonoU Tron
Game 1
On the draw, I manage to play 2 copies of Ghost Quarter and a Tectonic Edge in the first four or five turns. I was able to consistently keep him off Tron while he did not seem to have any answers or threats of his own and the game ended in short order.
[1-0]
Game 2
This time he assembled his Tron lands on turn 3, but did not have anything to cast with it (he also did not have blue mana as a result). I manage to beat him down to 4 life with some threats, including a Thalia and Leonin Arbiter (for which he had plenty of mana to pay the search fee), before he played two Wurmcoil Engines in one turn! I had 2 copies of Path to Exile in my hand, but only 1 source of white mana (and 2 other lands) - if he managed to deal any combat damage with either Wurmcoil, the game was most definitely lost. Thankfully, I topdecked the perfect card - a Plains, and proceeded to Path both his Wurmcoils and swing in for just enough to kill him.
[2-0]
Match 5 - vs. Josh, playing UWR Control
Game 1
Before the match started, I learned that he had not lost a single game. Hopefully I could change that. On the draw, I keep a hand I thought was decent at the time, which included Dryad Militant as a turn-1 play (but lacked Aether Vial). This was a tough match-up, especially on the draw. He opened with a hand that included Lightning Bolt, Path to Exile, Remand, and Snapcaster Mage. He then proceeded to win the game very handily with a Geist of Saint Traft.
[0-1]
Game 2
After Game 1 we talked a bit about the matchup, and that the ideal scenario for me would be to be on the play and open with a Thalia or Arbiter and attack his manabase. And that was exactly what happened. Turn 1 Dryad Militant, turn 2 Thalia, into turn 3 Arbiter and Ghost Quartering one of his lands put me way out ahead and I won the game very quickly.
[1-1]
Game 3
Not the climactic game 3 I was looking forward to, since I mulliganed to five on the draw. He was in the driver's seat right from the beginning, and had transformed his deck into a full-out control deck with his sideboard. In addition to counterspells, burn, and Snapcasters, he played Timely Reinforcements, Ajani Vengeant and topped it off with a Keranos to seal the deal.
[1-2]
So overall, I went 3-1-1 and placed 4th overall out of around 30 people. Overall I was happy with my performance. I was aware of my misplays, and learned a lot of valuable lessons. It was a great time, and I really look forward to using my experiences and lessons to improve my game. Unfortunately, it turned out they did not have any promo Path to Exiles to give out, which left me feeling disappointed (I looked forward to bringing home a prize).
thanks for the report. I'm also new D&T player thanks to this thread and before moving forward on new cards from Origins, i would like your opinions on the origins card in your deck?
- Kytheon
- Vryn
- Archangel
I'm playing with Brimaz instead of Hero of Bladehold, which goes on board faster and is the same CMC than flickerwisp so if i have one vial i can vial in brimaz or flicker etc...
Is there any way to make this deck work without Aether Vial? I'm guessing no, probably, but just wanted to ask and be sure. Playing MTG on a college budget is kind of difficult hehe...
Following up though, this is a very fun looking archetype. I've only recently started playing MTG at FNM's and more competitive events, since I'm home in Singapore for the summer; sorry in advance if I don't know the metagame or various facets of it that well. This is the deck I'm pretty sure I want to main, since the SG scene is full of aggro and decks like Jund, Tron, etc. Also, I dunno whether this is assumption is correct, but I'm gonna guess Death and Taxes is somewhat of a rogue deck to pilot, at least in a place like Singapore.
One thought is to keep up with both this thread and the Hatebears thread. Between them you can put together a competitive deck without Vials. The hard part is though as soon as you get beyond one color, the manabase becomes expensive, so be careful about color selection on a budget.
now i havent done extensive testing, but in the 4 matches i've played so far with the new cards i'm pretty impressed.
2 vs grixis control in both matches kytheon drew removal, but only after bashing abit to the face. Nightmare and thalia absolutly rekt and i had flyers and paths to deal with/dodge tasigurs.
1 vs som storm/gifts deck). Game 1 thalia, wingmare and arbiter+killing lands = win. Game 2, sided in rest in peace and grafdiggers cage. went turn 1 vial, turn 2 grafdiggers, turn 3 thalia, eot he tries to bolt thalia, i vial in a spellskite in response and he's facing down a boardstate he cant come back from. win
1 vs some kind of azhban delve deck,, won game 1 due to vialing in archangel of tithes eot when he was tapped out swung with the team and he couldnt block. Won game 2 due to turn 2 rest in peace, denying him the possibility to delve.
Archy did work against a creature deck, kytheon gets in early beats and stays relevant or eats removal, and vrym wingmare should be dubbed "nightmare" against the non creature decks in the format.
The statistics on goldfish are very inaccurate, due to the lack of data. They started after my last daily (stopped until orgins hits the prizes pool due to dragons and fate not being worth anything online, and testing new cards). with one other win, thats a combined 8 matches of data (maybe 12 with someone who didn't make the 3-1.) Tron variants are usually in our favor with GR being most in favor. in time with cumulative data it should become more accurate.
So far wingmare has been doing amazing in the mono white i have been testing it in and soon to start testing in WG version. haven't got the archangel yet because i am pretty sure it is going to drop heavily in price come the release event.
@HugeElfBoy While that may be true, I don't agree with you about GR tron. Why do you think it's most in our favor? In my experience, U tron is much easier than GR tron. GR runs pyroclasm whereas U run bounce and counters.
I'm in a similar place with vryn wingmare and the archangel. Vryn's been quite nice thought. At least in Mono W. I'll be trying a daily with it soon and I'll let everybody know how my list does. I've tried to build the most stock mono W list.
GR tron relies much more on getting tron than blue or many other tron variants. Therefore the early search hate and other taxes hurt them more than a U or a WU list that doesn't necessarily need to complete they just use tempo plays until they can win one way or another. Just seems I ahve a much higher win percentage versus the GR version and probably favorable to all the others.
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I played against Affinity so many times and I guarantee you that our air threats shuts all their creatures off. Ravager and that guy that put counters are the real deal. Blade Splicer rules earth while Serra rules the skies. Ghost quarter to inkmothes.
Stony Silence guarantees your win
13x Plains
1x Eiganjo Castle
3x Mutavault
4x Ghost Quarter
2x Tectonic Edge
4x Path of Exile
4x Aether Vile
4x Dryad Militant
4x Leonin Arbiter
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2x Spellskite
4x Blade Splicer
4x Flickerwisp
2x Restoration Angel
1x Mirran Crusader
1x Kitchen Finks
1x Archangel of Tithes
2x Aven Mindcensor
1x Archangel of Tithes
1x Wrath of God
1x Mirran Crusader
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
1x Ratchet Bomb
2x Celestial Purge
2x Vryn Wingmare
2x Kor Firewalker
1x Grafdigger's Cage
Round 1 vs. BW Tokens 2-1, 1-0 for the tournament
This was actually funny because before the event started I was playing random games with this opponent and then we ended up playing in the first round. So I knew going into the first round I was playing BW Tokens. Game 1 I play turn two leonin arbiter, followed by ghost quarter next turn. He can't get past 1 land the whole game. Game 2 was a back and forth game but he ended up overwhelming me with lingering souls tokens. Game three is more of the same and once again he is starting to take over the game with tokens when I draw archangel of tithes which completely turns the game to my favor
Round 2 vs. Grixis Control 0-2, 1-1 for the tournament
Game 1 I do not draw any of my thalia, or taxing elements just a mixture of blade splicers and flickerwisp's etc. but he just has removal for days and he ends the game with dromaka's command not even allowing me to draw my cards. Was not fun and game two was just more of the same.
Round 3 vs. Twin 2-0, 2-1 for the tournament
Game 1 I curve out turn 1 vial, 2 thalia, 3 aven mindcensor and I delay him enough that he eventually starts using his combo pieces defensively and I end up winning the game because he floods out. Game 2 was a war of attrition back and forth and it comes down a to a race that my fliers end up taking. These were very close games and very easily could have gone the other way if I did not draw any better.
Round 4 vs. Zoo Draw, 2-1-1 for the tournament
We intentionally drew because our tiebreakers were good enough to guarantee the top 8
Quarterfinals
I am playing the number one seed who has not lost a game all day and he is on Living End. He is on the play and I jump to an early lead but he of course does what living end does and wipes the board. Luckily for me I draw a mirran crusader and put the game away. Game 2 is more of the same and I get a mirran crusader once again, and bring him to two life when he stabilizes and living end's for the second time. We both get some creatures back and it turns into a board stall until finally I am able to double flickerwisp the 4/5 reach creature in that deck (i don't know the name of that card), and I win the game
Semifinals
in the semifinals i play the same grixis control deck I played in round 2. Going in I knew I was in for an uphill start. Game one i get turn two leonin arbiter, and end of turn my opp tries to fetch completely forgetting about my arbiter. He rages quits that game. Game two he has a bunch of cantrips but luckily misses on removal for most of the game and I easily close this game out because I have blade splicers for days and paths for his angler and tasigur.
Finals
I just split the finals so that way we can each get quite a nice prize. First won a booster box and 2nd won 10 packs so we had 46 packs to split. All in all I have to say that this is an awesome deck to play.
vs Twin, most decks play around 23 lands. They do have some cantrips and filtering, but they also play fetch lands that slightly affects their land draw odds. Therefore, it is hard to say exactly what their odds of having four lands in play is on turn 4, but at best it is about 75% but can be as poor as 60%. So the turn 3 exarch into turn 4 twin is far from a guarantee from just a land count. If you then consider the need for two of those mana to be red, that they need both pieces of the combo, then that decreases it even more. If you add in our search hate, land destruction, and taxes, it is very unusual to straight out lose to the turn 4 combo. Many monowhite lists run 1-2 skites main. I prefer to run them in the board, but I also have other twin answers in the board like celestial purge and auriok champion. Also, Grixis twin runs very little if any discard, and their counter magic is generally easily played around with vial, flash creatures, and tax effects. It is definitely not an easy matchup. It is often very skill intensive with no room for error, but there is no way I lose 75%+ of my twin matchups as the goldfish data would suggest.
Regarding Gr Tron. Sure they can have games that blow us out, but it is far more common for me to have a start like turn 1 vial, turn 2 thalia to slow down their eggs and search spells a turn, then vial in arbiter and GQ a land or two, vial in wisp to steal a land for a turn, some more land destruction, and vial in another 3 drop and that usually seals up the win. Does anyone here really have a losing record vs Gr Tron? I really find that hard to believe.
And again with the tron match, my point was that this is over some double digit number of games. The number of games where you are going to lost to a turn 3 pyroclasm is low, but it probably happens often enough to bring the win/loss stats up to 50/50 over a large number of games after you faster all of the other ways our deck can lose to bad draws and such.
If you guys think their match up data is wrong I suggest sending them an email, but if its based off of the actual magic online daily results then our own experiences doesn't factor into it.
Edit: In other news, my new goal is to cast Divine Reckoning, keep Anafenza in play and blow up 1 or more kitchen finks on my side of the board.
BGElvesBG and BUGNissa ElvesBUG Faithful Elfer since May 1st, 2015
Results: SCG IQ Top 8, Monthly Modern Masters Top 4
@LtGlitter: obviously we can have bad draws and lose, but so can Gr Tron. Sometimes they just durdle for 4 turns cracking eggs while I beat them to death white weenie style. Bad draws happen to all decks not just us. On the flip side, nut draws happen to all decks as well. For every turn 3 Karn they get vs us, we can get the vial, thalia, vial in arbiter double GQ start.
Following up though, this is a very fun looking archetype. I've only recently started playing MTG at FNM's and more competitive events, since I'm home in Singapore for the summer; sorry in advance if I don't know the metagame or various facets of it that well. This is the deck I'm pretty sure I want to main, since the SG scene is full of aggro and decks like Jund, Tron, etc. Also, I dunno whether this is assumption is correct, but I'm gonna guess Death and Taxes is somewhat of a rogue deck to pilot, at least in a place like Singapore.
BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends."
BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved."
RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros."
BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?"
C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
I was playing 3 kataki but I've since switched to stony silence. I've had too many games where they play 2-3 creatures, spring leaf drum and mox opal + land on their first turn. Katai doesn't do anything vs. that since they can keep paying the 2 mana to keep their dudes alive, start to pressure you and then wait until they draw something to remove the kataki. I think I was 0-3 vs. robots until I switched, now I'm 4-3.
I'm still not a hundred percent sure I'll pilot Death & Taxes as my alternative modern deck, but maybe once I play a few more events and improve a bit more, I'll definitely look into grabbing one.
Budget is always an issue, but I think this is one of those decks worth saving for.
Thanks once again!
BG Elves // "He's back. And he brought his friends. And their friends."
BG The Rock // "Dwayne Johnson approved."
RU Izzet Phoenix // "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
UGW Bant Spirits // "Super Ghost Bros."
BUG Sultai Wildnerness Teachings // "How many turns did I just take again?"
C Colorless Eldrazi // "Smash you."
So I found time this past weekend to play at the Modern FNM event at my local store (first time playing Modern in a long time), and I decided to share my results with you.
Here is the decklist I entered with (a lot of the tweaks I made were inspired by posts in this thread):
12x Plains
4x Ghost Quarter
3x Tectonic Edge
2x Mutavault
1x Eiganjo Castle
1x Horizon Canopy
Creatures
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Leonin Arbiter
4x Flickerwisp
4x Dryad Militant
3x Blade Splicer
2x Restoration Angel
2x Kitchen Finks
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
1x Spellskite
1x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4x Aether Vial
4x Path to Exile
1x Dismember
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
3x Kor Firewalker
3x Mirran Crusader
2x Rest in Peace
2x Aven Mindcensor
2x Ethersworn Canonist
1x Kataki, War's Wage
1x Worship
1x Spellskite
As for the tournament report itself:
Game 1
I was on the draw, keeping a hand with one land and Aether Vial while he mulliganed to six. Thankfully I did not see any Eidolons of the Great Revel (throughout the match in fact). With burn spells, a Vexing Devil (which I took 4 for, since I did not have any creatures in play) and an Ash Zealot, he put me down to 4 before I played a Kitchen Finks, which I proceeded to blink multiple times with Flickerwisps to put the game out of reach for him.
[1-0]
Game 2
On the draw again, my opening hand included Vial, Thalia, Finks and Flickerwisp. Largely the same story as game 1 (I sideboarded in three copies of Kor Firewalker, but never saw any), but once I landed my Kitchen Finks and got multiple iterations of lifegain, the game was soon over.
[2-0]
Game 1
I was on the play. I came in knowing that Elves posed a tough match-up for my deck. Moreover, I was very unfamiliar with Modern Elves, thinking that it included Green Sun's Zenith (d'oh) and that it was much more combo-oriented. As a result, I dismembered the very first Nettle Sentinel I saw at the cost of 4 life points, which was a huge misplay, as he beat my face in with numerous elves including three Elvish Archdruids.
[0-1]
Game 2
On the play, after sideboarding in three copies of Mirran Crusader, I stuck one on turn 3 and never looked back. Tectonic Edge threatening to blow up his Nykthos if he ever reached 4 lands put a fair bit of pressure on him.
[1-1]
Game 3
Both of us played slowly in the first two games, which left us with barely over five minutes for this last match. As a result, I played at a frantic pace, which ultimately would cost me big time. Though I had a Vial, I was stuck on one Plains (and some Ghost Quarters/Tectonic Edges) for a good while, which prevented me from hardcasting my 3-drops to increase my board presence. My first misplay of the game came when I blinked in a Mirran Crusader instead of Brimaz. I was already on the back-foot, and he was looking to race me with a handful of 1/1's and 2/2's. There was no way I was in a position to go on the offensive with the Crusader. This was not such a big deal though, as I got the Crusader down the subsequent turn, which stabilized me a great deal. At some point, we run out of time and go to turns. And this is where I make the most crucial misplay of the evening.
Momentarily forgetting the lessons I learned from Mike Flores's famous article about "Who's the beatdown?" (which I've read multiple times in my life), I very hastily attack with my Brimaz, which has vigilance, but not my Mirran Crusader (which would have dealt 4 points of damage), instinctively thinking that I still needed to defend, not realizing that with only 4 turns remaining, I was the one on the offensive, not him. In poetic fashion, the game comes to a draw with him at 3 life. I spent the next ten minutes mentally kicking myself for my crucial misplay. In retrospect, I did not realize that once we went to turns, I no longer needed to play at as brisk a pace, since we were no longer limited by time, but by turns. This is something I need to work on, identifying key moments that require me to slow down and bit and think more thoroughly about the state of the game.
[1-1-1]
Game 1
On the play, I keep a hand with Vial while he mulligans to 6. He plays a turn-1 Monastery Swiftspear, which chips away at my life total. But with my Vial, I play more threats than he can handle (partially because he had multiple copies of Vapor Snag instead of burn spells, which does not fare well against an active Aether Vial) and run away with the game. It also becomes apparent that his deck is a budget version.
[1-0]
Game 2
I don't have a lot of notes about this game, other than that I was on the draw. I recall that he played an early Delver that he wasn't able to protect, while again I had more threats than he could deal with.
[2-0]
Game 1
On the draw, I manage to play 2 copies of Ghost Quarter and a Tectonic Edge in the first four or five turns. I was able to consistently keep him off Tron while he did not seem to have any answers or threats of his own and the game ended in short order.
[1-0]
Game 2
This time he assembled his Tron lands on turn 3, but did not have anything to cast with it (he also did not have blue mana as a result). I manage to beat him down to 4 life with some threats, including a Thalia and Leonin Arbiter (for which he had plenty of mana to pay the search fee), before he played two Wurmcoil Engines in one turn! I had 2 copies of Path to Exile in my hand, but only 1 source of white mana (and 2 other lands) - if he managed to deal any combat damage with either Wurmcoil, the game was most definitely lost. Thankfully, I topdecked the perfect card - a Plains, and proceeded to Path both his Wurmcoils and swing in for just enough to kill him.
[2-0]
Game 1
Before the match started, I learned that he had not lost a single game. Hopefully I could change that. On the draw, I keep a hand I thought was decent at the time, which included Dryad Militant as a turn-1 play (but lacked Aether Vial). This was a tough match-up, especially on the draw. He opened with a hand that included Lightning Bolt, Path to Exile, Remand, and Snapcaster Mage. He then proceeded to win the game very handily with a Geist of Saint Traft.
[0-1]
Game 2
After Game 1 we talked a bit about the matchup, and that the ideal scenario for me would be to be on the play and open with a Thalia or Arbiter and attack his manabase. And that was exactly what happened. Turn 1 Dryad Militant, turn 2 Thalia, into turn 3 Arbiter and Ghost Quartering one of his lands put me way out ahead and I won the game very quickly.
[1-1]
Game 3
Not the climactic game 3 I was looking forward to, since I mulliganed to five on the draw. He was in the driver's seat right from the beginning, and had transformed his deck into a full-out control deck with his sideboard. In addition to counterspells, burn, and Snapcasters, he played Timely Reinforcements, Ajani Vengeant and topped it off with a Keranos to seal the deal.
[1-2]
So overall, I went 3-1-1 and placed 4th overall out of around 30 people. Overall I was happy with my performance. I was aware of my misplays, and learned a lot of valuable lessons. It was a great time, and I really look forward to using my experiences and lessons to improve my game. Unfortunately, it turned out they did not have any promo Path to Exiles to give out, which left me feeling disappointed (I looked forward to bringing home a prize).
Anyway, that's about it! Cheers :).
thanks for the report. I'm also new D&T player thanks to this thread and before moving forward on new cards from Origins, i would like your opinions on the origins card in your deck?
- Kytheon
- Vryn
- Archangel
I'm playing with Brimaz instead of Hero of Bladehold, which goes on board faster and is the same CMC than flickerwisp so if i have one vial i can vial in brimaz or flicker etc...
Thoughts?
One thought is to keep up with both this thread and the Hatebears thread. Between them you can put together a competitive deck without Vials. The hard part is though as soon as you get beyond one color, the manabase becomes expensive, so be careful about color selection on a budget.
2 vs grixis control in both matches kytheon drew removal, but only after bashing abit to the face. Nightmare and thalia absolutly rekt and i had flyers and paths to deal with/dodge tasigurs.
1 vs som storm/gifts deck). Game 1 thalia, wingmare and arbiter+killing lands = win. Game 2, sided in rest in peace and grafdiggers cage. went turn 1 vial, turn 2 grafdiggers, turn 3 thalia, eot he tries to bolt thalia, i vial in a spellskite in response and he's facing down a boardstate he cant come back from. win
1 vs some kind of azhban delve deck,, won game 1 due to vialing in archangel of tithes eot when he was tapped out swung with the team and he couldnt block. Won game 2 due to turn 2 rest in peace, denying him the possibility to delve.
Archy did work against a creature deck, kytheon gets in early beats and stays relevant or eats removal, and vrym wingmare should be dubbed "nightmare" against the non creature decks in the format.
WWModern Death And Taxes (w/ Militia Bugler) (JUL '19)
GWModern Maverick (JUL '19)
WBCatmix on Twitch!
WWCatmix on Youtube
So far wingmare has been doing amazing in the mono white i have been testing it in and soon to start testing in WG version. haven't got the archangel yet because i am pretty sure it is going to drop heavily in price come the release event.
WDeath and TaxesW
RWGBurnGWR
I'm in a similar place with vryn wingmare and the archangel. Vryn's been quite nice thought. At least in Mono W. I'll be trying a daily with it soon and I'll let everybody know how my list does. I've tried to build the most stock mono W list.
4 tectonic edge
4 ghost quarter
2 sea gate wreckage
2 horizon canopy
1 Gemstone Caverns
1 Eiganjo Castle
9 Plains
8 non creature spells
4 Aether Vial
4 Path to Exile
4 Leonin Arbiter
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Selfless Spirit
2 Spellskite
1 Phyrexian Revoker
3 blade splicer
3 Eldrazi Displacer
2 Fiend Hunter
4 Flickerwisp
3 Restoration Angel
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
2 Ghostly Prison
1 Worship
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Sundering Growth
2 Plains
1 Forest
2 Razorverge Thicket
1 Temple Garden
2 Brushland
3 Horizon Canopy
4 Ghost Quarter
2 stirring wildwood
2 Gavony Township
1 tectonic edge
1 gemstone caverns
10 noncreature spells
4 Path to Exile
4 Aether Vial
2 Collected Company
28 creatures
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Leonin Arbiter
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Spellskite
1 Selfless Spirit
4 Flickerwisp
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2 Courser of Kruphix
1 Eternal Witness
1 Eldrazi Displacer
2 Restoration Angel
2 Stony Silence
2 Rest in Peace
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Ghostly Prison
1 Worship
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Concealed Courtyard
2 Godless Shrine
1 Shambling Vent
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Eldrazi Temple
1 Vault of the Archangel
2 Plains
1 Gemstone Caverns
8 Noncreature Spells
4 Aether Vial
4 Path to Exile
4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Leonin Arbiter
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Flickerwisp
4 Eldrazi Displacer
2 Spellskite
2 Selfless Spirit
3 Wasteland Strangler
4 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Rest in Peace
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Sin Collector
2 Orzhov Pontiff
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Worship
3 Brushland
3 Eldrazi Temple
1 Forest
2 Gavony Township
1 Gemstone Caverns
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Plains
3 Razorverge Thicket
2 Stirring Wildwood
1 Temple Garden
10 noncreature spells
4 Aether Vial
2 Ancient Stirrings
4 Path to exile
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Leonin Arbiter
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1 Spellskite
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Flickerwisp
1 Eternal Witness
4 Thought-knot seer
2 Reality Smasher
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Stony Silence
2 Rest in Peace
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Worship
1 Spellskite
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
4 Seachrome Coast
1 Eiganjo Castle
2 Tectonic Edge
1 Moorland Haunt
2 Mutavault
1 Island
2 Plains
2 Horizon Canopy
1 adarkar wastes
1 flooded strand
9 noncreature spells
4 Aether Vial
4 Path to Exile
1 detention sphere
28 creatures
3 Spell Queller
3 Selfless Spirit
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 eldrazi displacer
3 Reflector Mage
4 Flickerwisp
2 Phyrexian Revoker
3 leonin arbiter
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
2 spellskite
2 Rest in Peace
2 stony silence
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 ghostly prison
2 burrenton forge-tender
2 Surgical Extraction
1 kira, great glass-spinner
1 blessed alliance
WDeath and TaxesW
RWGBurnGWR