If you want strong sideboard cards against affinity and tron I suggest 2-3 stony silence. I'd probably add an extra creeping corrosion as well. You have to side out the pods though, but if you run meliraless it's not that important, especially against tron. Can also be quite nice in the mirror, though there it can be awkward in multiples as it doesn't just outright win you the game as long as it stays on the board, and the mirrors tend to drag out so you might very well draw several if you side in multiples. Multiple pods on the other hand work quite ok together, so I'm still torn on what is best. I have won every time I've gotten out stony silence against pod, but each time they always had one or more pod on the board and in the hand. It obviously can be a dead draw if they don't have a pod draw,. In a game I played on friday, I used thoughtseize and saw a hand of 2 pods some lands and a finks (we both played dork turn 1). I took the finks and played stony silence and basically won on the spot. It did feel very good right then, but obviously stuff like that doesn't happen very often. I think it's still worth it, as in games where they don't get pod, you're likely still favored as long as you don't draw more than one.
However, is there a reason you don't like Linvala, Keeper of Silence? She's popular because she shuts down a large number of popular decks. The not-exhaustive list of popular modern cards she shuts down:
In addition to the above cards he turns off, he's also hard to deal with (he's out of Lightning Bolt range), and he's also evasive with flying, so when you have to win using the beats path (which is often), he ends the game quickly.
Hey folks, i've been having serious trouble with agressive decks packing path to exile. Any tips?
Spellskite is a great option to divert the Path to Exile. You can even Chord in response to the Path and then redirect it. What exactly are they Pathing? Some other things are using Sin Collector and Entomber Exarch before they are ever able to play it. Or if it is say a Kitchen Finks, you can sack it in response to the Path with a Viscera Seer and then you will still get it back (assuming you didn't need the land from the Path).
So this is a weird question to ask you Pod players but since Pod is likely to be THE deck this PTQ season. What decks give Pod a lot of trouble. How is the Tron match up? Merfolk? Storm? What deck is the worst for Pod? Any particular cards that really make Pod difficult to play. Say Turn 4 Sundering Titan is that back breaking?
So this is a weird question to ask you Pod players but since Pod is likely to be THE deck this PTQ season. What decks give Pod a lot of trouble. How is the Tron match up? Merfolk? Storm? What deck is the worst for Pod? Any particular cards that really make Pod difficult to play. Say Turn 4 Sundering Titan is that back breaking?
The problem is not Sundering Titan. The problem is 4 Relic of Progenitus, 4 Oblivion Stone and 4 Pyroclasm. What breaks us against Tron is not the top end (if they play a Sundering Titan or Wurmcoil they are probably winning anyway), it's the capability to crush our board as early as turn 2.
Merfolk is pretty bad if they have a double lord draw and we don't have a removal spell right away. Storm is horrible unless we can Thoughtseize away something important and they fizzle, Decay their Ascension mid-combo or have Canonist/Eidolon. It was WAY worse when Seething Song was legal (I mean worse than Tron), but it's gotten a little easier now. Jund and U/W/R can be tough if you're not experienced with the deck, since you need to play very tight and can't make a lot of mistakes.
Burn can be dificult as well, and since it will see play everywhere due to availability it's nice to have a Kor Firewalker or something in the board for them.
Hi guys, I'm going to play Melira Pod at some PTQs this seasons and I need some tips. I posted my list below. I have some questions:
1) Im having doubts about Shriekmaw main deck. Would Restoration Angel or Phyrexian Metamorph be better?
2) I have Dismember in the sideboard, should they be path to exiles?
3) Could you guys tell me what do side out and what to side in for these matchups: Twin, UWR control, Jund, The Mirror.
Thanks in advance!
Shirekmaw is good against Jund, Twin (all kinds), Delver, Merfolk, Zoo and Pod. But it is a 5-drop so maybe you don't want that. RestoAngel and Metamorph have basically the same role in the deck: virtual card-advantage (reseting a persist dude, another ETB effect, etc) but Resto can save your guys from removal and Metamorph can turn into Pod. I'd say Resto is better against fair decks and Metamorph gainst combo decks. It's up to you.
Dismember and Path are basically the same, just don't play Dismember if there is lots of Zoo in your meta.
In Angel Pod, what do you guys think of replacing the 4x Misty Rainforest, 1x forest with 4x Marsh Flats, 1x Plains in order to increase access to white sources (even in the face of blood moon)?
If you want to improve the blood moon match up it seems like removing a basic forest is the wrong way to go. Slotting in an additional plains seems okay but removing the mistys will make your aggro and burn matchups worse. If blood moon is that prevalent in your meta it can be okay.
In Angel Pod, what do you guys think of replacing the 4x Misty Rainforest, 1x forest with 4x Marsh Flats, 1x Plains in order to increase access to white sources (even in the face of blood moon)?
I've been doing exactly this and never had any problems against burn. With 3-4 Kicten finks, some resto angel and spike feeders, it's hard to not win as long as you only shock when pressured by creatures. Loads of splinter twin decks that play blood moon after sideboard. I think it's crazy to not run a plains or have easy ways to fecth swamp. Blue moon is also a deck and I've also seen loads of other fringe decks that run blood moon or magus of the moon. Land destruction decks or smallpox type of decks can be quite powerful, though in between manadorks and fetching basics it's very easy for this deck to play around it with the right manabase.
Ive been playing 4 marsh flats and 4 verdant catacombs from my jund deck in pod cuz I traded jund away( stupid me I know) and it works fine. tho I have to agree the damage taken from running the lack of misty and forest you will hurt yourself more which can be very relevant when facing aggro which is in no short supply nowadays, plus you have answers for blood moon in the side board aka: thoughtseize, harmonic sliver, and abrupt decay(main) if you play carefully blood moon inst a problem.
Ive been playing 4 marsh flats and 4 verdant catacombs from my jund deck in pod cuz I traded jund away( stupid me I know) and it works fine. tho I have to agree the damage taken from running the lack of misty and forest you will hurt yourself more which can be very relevant when facing aggro which is in no short supply nowadays, plus you have answers for blood moon in the side board aka: thoughtseize, harmonic sliver, and abrupt decay(main) if you play carefully blood moon inst a problem.
I've run 4 Verdant Catacomb, 2 Marsh Flats, 2 Misty Rainforest, 2 Forest, 1 Plains, 1 Swamp for over a year now. It works really well.
Went 5-3 on PTQ yesterday with the LSV Angel pod (-burenton +metamorph). Top 8 in the tournament was: 1st UW control; 2nd LSV pod; top4 melira pod, merfolk; top8 RG tron, jund, two flavors of UWR
M1 vs monoG devotion (1-2)
G1 I had pretty mediocre draw (hand full of 4-5 drops, not enough mana), while he had pretty nutty draw (Garruk, nykthos shenanigans, ...). Still I lost mostly due to huge mistake - not fetching for white source of mana with Archangel in hand, so I was stuck on 1 white mana where the angel would've won me the game easily.
G2 He got manascrewed and I had decent draw to seal the game quickly
G3 We were durdling around for a bit and he then landed 2 prime times which was lights out quickly (didn't draw enough removal or big bodies)
M2 vs UWR twin? (2-0)
I don't remember much from this match other than I felt I was in control the whole time. I think my opponent's greedy deck was to blame. He also got pretty flooded game 2 (me too though, but discard + couple of beaters against monobricks is usually good enough.
M3 vs Burn (0-2)
Not much to say here. He had it, I didn't.
M4 vs Faeries (2-1)
G1 I got triple voice draw, which is something faeries can't ever beat
G2 He controlled my early game and then landed Mistbind Clique and with Scion of Oona equipped with batterskull my flier were on chumping duty (which didn't last long of course)
G3 was a lot more durdly again, I had answer for batterskull this time around. My opponent decided to go on Tar Pit beats slightly too late so I managed to win the race. I made grave mistake of misreading Scion here, when I though it gave shroud only to creatures so I blinked harmonic sliver which then proceeded to kill my pod. Luckily the Bitterblossom eventually help me to kill my opponent.
M5 vs Affinity (2-1)
G1 I lost to pretty good draw (early etched champion supported by plates at first and then some counters off ravager are not really beatable
G2 I kept hand with Gavony, 4 lands, Creeping Corrosion and Path to Exile. Game went as expected, opponent vomited their hand on table, I was controlling the biggest threats to make sure I didn't die. Then I swept his board and won from there. Obviously I was drawing gas for the most part, but that was to be expected with 5 lands in opener hand.
G3 Seemed to be even, opponent got me to burn range at one point, but I was keeping him off red mana and timely Corrosion off the top followed by couple of removals for the second wave (he was playing around the mass removal this time) was enough to seal the game.
M6 vs Burn (2-0)
My opponent seemed to be on the weaker side, but considering there was like 30 degrees in the room, him not being local (long drive early in the morning) and late round, he could've just been tired. I know I was completely exhausted by this time.
both games I managed to get out finks + angel shenanigans and since he didn't have any skullcrack effect, I managed to win from there. His draws were pretty subpar overall in both games though.
M7 vs the mirror (1-2)
G1 my opponent got out pod which I then managed to copy by metamorph. On board where I had spellskite, pontiff (haunted by his pontiff) and pod and he had pod and spellskite, I decided to take the risky play of getting rid of his only creature by podding spellskite for sliver. I'd then pod pontiff (had enough mana for gavony + pod activation) away for angel to blink sliver to kill off his pod. My opponent however topdecked a 3 drop which he then promptly podded for redcap, killing both of my guys. I then bricked for 3 turns which meant game. In hindsight, I should've podded away the pontiff to get Linvala and kill his pod next turn. Alas we always learn.
G2 I got pod, he didn't and even after he pontiffed my manadorks, I responded by (unanswered) Linvala, which was enough to get me the game.
G3 He had better draw. Double Linvalas, removal for my Linvala, I was relying heavily on manadorks (3 lands, 3 dorks), so that was game pretty quickly. Not sure how it was on the pod line, but I don't think either of us got pod until it wasn't relevant anymore (I couldn't get to something good - read Linvala removal) quickly enough
M8 vs (g)W hatebears (2-0)
My opponent's play was pretty loose, but mine also wasn't on its top. There weren't any really notable moments in our games other than I somehow botched miran crusader combat math (again).
All in all, I'm very happy with how the deck performed and there weren't any huge surprises, so I think it's well positioned in the upcoming season. Bit of luck, good matchups and I might just get to Hawaii...
I'm contemplating cutting the metamorph, getting back 3rd seize main and putting 2nd pontiff to sideboard (per LSV's recommendations). But Metamorph was performing really well in multiple matches for me. Being able to go finks into angel into metamorph (copying either angel or finks) against burn, copying pod or just any creature really in the mirror or copying pesky equipments (copied batterskull once which bought me a lot of time). And every time I drew it past turn 5, when I imagined it could've been thoughtseize, I was really happy that it was metamorph...
Few lessons I'm bringing from this tournament:
Fetching for correct land is super important and can (will) cost you games. Unless you need green, the correct play is to fetch Godless Shrine 90% of the time.
The burn matchup is horrible, but playable. Dedicating slots in sideboard against it is not good idea, because if you have x-0 record, you won't be encountering them past 3rd round and the later in the tournament you are, the more help from sideboard against T1 decks you need, because you get tired and your opponents are better.
I feel very favored against affinity with the LSV pod. Creeping Corrosion supported by multiple spot removal spells is just unreal.
Mirror is more about mana denial than anything else. Pontiff and Linvala is what you are looking for. Pod helps obviously, but getting that is out of your hands.
So is everyone playing the spike feeder pod? cuz i like the one from pro tour born of the gods that jacob wilson played is that still a viable deck version for competative play?
So is everyone playing the spike feeder pod? cuz i like the one from pro tour born of the gods that jacob wilson played is that still a viable deck version for competative play?
I'd say any pod variant is highly competitive as shown by LSV when he decided to cut the melira combo. The main idea of burying your opponent in card advantage is always going to be there unless you decide to play vanilla creatures for some reason. If you don't want to play spike feeder, don't. There will be games where you lose because you don't have access to it the same as there will be games I lose because I don't have access to Melira (or multiple Finks). All it boils down is variance and our ability to play without the stuff that is missing from our 60.
Thing is, there is nonzero number of creature decks in the meta and Archangel is very good against them. One swing or even one life gained from ooze activation with Archangel on board is often enough to swing the game to your favor. And she presents insane clock with just couple mana birds.
I feel like the main issue with LSV's Pod list is that his opponents are often playing around the Melira combo because they lose if they do not respect it. As a result, his opponent plays around things that aren't there, which is a subtle advantage. You see this a lot in Legacy, as well, where people sometimes play RUG Delver with 1 or less Stifles for the free wins from people playing around it (similar situation with 1 Daze after sideboarding, etc.). If more people played LSV's list, then it would be much worse. It is, in my opinion, proportionally good to how many people play it.
He also was tuning for a metagame in GP Minneapolis; he wanted Thoughtseizes maindeck to have a solid game plan against Storm and Scapeshift, which ended up being two of the more popular decks at the event. It obviously worked well for him.
thanks for the answers I was mostly interested in the thought seize main deck in lsv's list. when ISN'T thoughtsieze good in the main? what match ups do you board what in and out. is there any site that gives boarding advice to our match-ups and reasoning behind it? seems to me like the biggest part of magic strategy is in the side boarding.
thanks for the answers I was mostly interested in the thought seize main deck in lsv's list. when ISN'T thoughtsieze good in the main? what match ups do you board what in and out. is there any site that gives boarding advice to our match-ups and reasoning behind it? seems to me like the biggest part of magic strategy is in the side boarding.
I side out thoughtseize pretty much only against the most aggressive decks that empty their hand by turn 3 (affinity/burn/zooish), and sometimes side out some amount to just fill up with cards I find more important in the matchup for some reason (I think I sided them out against faeries once in order to get in all my abrupts and zealous persecution). Then again I run two goyfs who don't work too well if I side out all my thoughtseizes. I used to side them out against jund, but now I still keep some in order to get rid of anger of the gods. I'm not too sure what I think of it in the mirror, I currently side them out, as the game often ends up in top deck war and thoughtseize is a horrible topdeck. Getting rid of a key creature or a pod in the early rounds can outright win you the game though, especially after they mulligan, so it's certainly not outright bad to keep it in either I think.
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Cindertide, the popular 4-drops are Restoration Angel, Ranger of Eos, Murderous Redcap, and for the sideboard: Thrun, the Last Troll and Entomber Exarch. I guess you can just add the SB options to the main board (I've considered adding Thrun MB on multiple occasions).
However, is there a reason you don't like Linvala, Keeper of Silence? She's popular because she shuts down a large number of popular decks. The not-exhaustive list of popular modern cards she shuts down:
In addition to the above cards he turns off, he's also hard to deal with (he's out of Lightning Bolt range), and he's also evasive with flying, so when you have to win using the beats path (which is often), he ends the game quickly.
Currently Playing:
Multiplayer EDH Lists (click italics for a link to the thread!)
[Primer] Lord of Tresserhorn - Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do[Primer] Roon of the Hidden Realm - Rhino Blink
5 Color Tribal Guide (Slivers, Atogs, Allies, Spirits)
Also Playing (most decklists can be found on my profile)
MarathGeistKamahlGrenzoBolasThassaGitrog
PiratesZurVial Smasher&ThrasiosYennettJhoira(cEDH)Strix(Pauper)
Legacy: Maverick
Modern:
Melira PodRIP 1/19/15GWHatebearsSpellskite is a great option to divert the Path to Exile. You can even Chord in response to the Path and then redirect it. What exactly are they Pathing? Some other things are using Sin Collector and Entomber Exarch before they are ever able to play it. Or if it is say a Kitchen Finks, you can sack it in response to the Path with a Viscera Seer and then you will still get it back (assuming you didn't need the land from the Path).
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
The problem is not Sundering Titan. The problem is 4 Relic of Progenitus, 4 Oblivion Stone and 4 Pyroclasm. What breaks us against Tron is not the top end (if they play a Sundering Titan or Wurmcoil they are probably winning anyway), it's the capability to crush our board as early as turn 2.
Merfolk is pretty bad if they have a double lord draw and we don't have a removal spell right away. Storm is horrible unless we can Thoughtseize away something important and they fizzle, Decay their Ascension mid-combo or have Canonist/Eidolon. It was WAY worse when Seething Song was legal (I mean worse than Tron), but it's gotten a little easier now. Jund and U/W/R can be tough if you're not experienced with the deck, since you need to play very tight and can't make a lot of mistakes.
Burn can be dificult as well, and since it will see play everywhere due to availability it's nice to have a Kor Firewalker or something in the board for them.
Shirekmaw is good against Jund, Twin (all kinds), Delver, Merfolk, Zoo and Pod. But it is a 5-drop so maybe you don't want that. RestoAngel and Metamorph have basically the same role in the deck: virtual card-advantage (reseting a persist dude, another ETB effect, etc) but Resto can save your guys from removal and Metamorph can turn into Pod. I'd say Resto is better against fair decks and Metamorph gainst combo decks. It's up to you.
Dismember and Path are basically the same, just don't play Dismember if there is lots of Zoo in your meta.
I've been doing exactly this and never had any problems against burn. With 3-4 Kicten finks, some resto angel and spike feeders, it's hard to not win as long as you only shock when pressured by creatures. Loads of splinter twin decks that play blood moon after sideboard. I think it's crazy to not run a plains or have easy ways to fecth swamp. Blue moon is also a deck and I've also seen loads of other fringe decks that run blood moon or magus of the moon. Land destruction decks or smallpox type of decks can be quite powerful, though in between manadorks and fetching basics it's very easy for this deck to play around it with the right manabase.
decks playing:
none
I've run 4 Verdant Catacomb, 2 Marsh Flats, 2 Misty Rainforest, 2 Forest, 1 Plains, 1 Swamp for over a year now. It works really well.
M1 vs monoG devotion (1-2)
G1 I had pretty mediocre draw (hand full of 4-5 drops, not enough mana), while he had pretty nutty draw (Garruk, nykthos shenanigans, ...). Still I lost mostly due to huge mistake - not fetching for white source of mana with Archangel in hand, so I was stuck on 1 white mana where the angel would've won me the game easily.
G2 He got manascrewed and I had decent draw to seal the game quickly
G3 We were durdling around for a bit and he then landed 2 prime times which was lights out quickly (didn't draw enough removal or big bodies)
M2 vs UWR twin? (2-0)
I don't remember much from this match other than I felt I was in control the whole time. I think my opponent's greedy deck was to blame. He also got pretty flooded game 2 (me too though, but discard + couple of beaters against monobricks is usually good enough.
M3 vs Burn (0-2)
Not much to say here. He had it, I didn't.
M4 vs Faeries (2-1)
G1 I got triple voice draw, which is something faeries can't ever beat
G2 He controlled my early game and then landed Mistbind Clique and with Scion of Oona equipped with batterskull my flier were on chumping duty (which didn't last long of course)
G3 was a lot more durdly again, I had answer for batterskull this time around. My opponent decided to go on Tar Pit beats slightly too late so I managed to win the race. I made grave mistake of misreading Scion here, when I though it gave shroud only to creatures so I blinked harmonic sliver which then proceeded to kill my pod. Luckily the Bitterblossom eventually help me to kill my opponent.
M5 vs Affinity (2-1)
G1 I lost to pretty good draw (early etched champion supported by plates at first and then some counters off ravager are not really beatable
G2 I kept hand with Gavony, 4 lands, Creeping Corrosion and Path to Exile. Game went as expected, opponent vomited their hand on table, I was controlling the biggest threats to make sure I didn't die. Then I swept his board and won from there. Obviously I was drawing gas for the most part, but that was to be expected with 5 lands in opener hand.
G3 Seemed to be even, opponent got me to burn range at one point, but I was keeping him off red mana and timely Corrosion off the top followed by couple of removals for the second wave (he was playing around the mass removal this time) was enough to seal the game.
M6 vs Burn (2-0)
My opponent seemed to be on the weaker side, but considering there was like 30 degrees in the room, him not being local (long drive early in the morning) and late round, he could've just been tired. I know I was completely exhausted by this time.
both games I managed to get out finks + angel shenanigans and since he didn't have any skullcrack effect, I managed to win from there. His draws were pretty subpar overall in both games though.
M7 vs the mirror (1-2)
G1 my opponent got out pod which I then managed to copy by metamorph. On board where I had spellskite, pontiff (haunted by his pontiff) and pod and he had pod and spellskite, I decided to take the risky play of getting rid of his only creature by podding spellskite for sliver. I'd then pod pontiff (had enough mana for gavony + pod activation) away for angel to blink sliver to kill off his pod. My opponent however topdecked a 3 drop which he then promptly podded for redcap, killing both of my guys. I then bricked for 3 turns which meant game. In hindsight, I should've podded away the pontiff to get Linvala and kill his pod next turn. Alas we always learn.
G2 I got pod, he didn't and even after he pontiffed my manadorks, I responded by (unanswered) Linvala, which was enough to get me the game.
G3 He had better draw. Double Linvalas, removal for my Linvala, I was relying heavily on manadorks (3 lands, 3 dorks), so that was game pretty quickly. Not sure how it was on the pod line, but I don't think either of us got pod until it wasn't relevant anymore (I couldn't get to something good - read Linvala removal) quickly enough
M8 vs (g)W hatebears (2-0)
My opponent's play was pretty loose, but mine also wasn't on its top. There weren't any really notable moments in our games other than I somehow botched miran crusader combat math (again).
All in all, I'm very happy with how the deck performed and there weren't any huge surprises, so I think it's well positioned in the upcoming season. Bit of luck, good matchups and I might just get to Hawaii...
I'm contemplating cutting the metamorph, getting back 3rd seize main and putting 2nd pontiff to sideboard (per LSV's recommendations). But Metamorph was performing really well in multiple matches for me. Being able to go finks into angel into metamorph (copying either angel or finks) against burn, copying pod or just any creature really in the mirror or copying pesky equipments (copied batterskull once which bought me a lot of time). And every time I drew it past turn 5, when I imagined it could've been thoughtseize, I was really happy that it was metamorph...
Few lessons I'm bringing from this tournament:
Fetching for correct land is super important and can (will) cost you games. Unless you need green, the correct play is to fetch Godless Shrine 90% of the time.
The burn matchup is horrible, but playable. Dedicating slots in sideboard against it is not good idea, because if you have x-0 record, you won't be encountering them past 3rd round and the later in the tournament you are, the more help from sideboard against T1 decks you need, because you get tired and your opponents are better.
I feel very favored against affinity with the LSV pod. Creeping Corrosion supported by multiple spot removal spells is just unreal.
Mirror is more about mana denial than anything else. Pontiff and Linvala is what you are looking for. Pod helps obviously, but getting that is out of your hands.
Lingering souls are insane.
Every matchup is winnable.
4 x Razorverge Thicket
2 x Marsh Flats
2 x Misty Rainforest
4 x Verdant Catacombs
2 x Overgrown Tomb
1 x Temple Garden
1 x Godless Shrine
3 x Forest
1 x Swamp
3 x Gavony Township
Creatures
4 x Birds of Paradise
2 x Noble Hierarch
2 x Wall of Roots
3 x Voice of Resurgence
1 x Kitchen Finks
1 x Spellskite
1 x Eternal Witness
1 x Reveillark
1 x Spike Feeder
1 x Murderous Redcap
1 x Shriekmaw
1 x Scavenging Ooze
1 x Archangel of Thune
1 x Restoration Angel
1 x Harmonic Sliver
1 x Orzhov Pontiff
1 x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 x Sin Collector
4 x Birthing Pod
3 x Thoughtseize
3 x Abrupt Decay
2 x Chord of Calling
2 x Lingering Souls
1 x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 x Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 x Aven Mindcensor
1 x Orzhov Pontiff
1 x Entomber Exarch
1 x Qasali Pridemage
1 x Thoughtseize
2 x Path to Exile
2 x Dismember
2 x Creeping Corrosion
decks playing:
none
I'd say any pod variant is highly competitive as shown by LSV when he decided to cut the melira combo. The main idea of burying your opponent in card advantage is always going to be there unless you decide to play vanilla creatures for some reason. If you don't want to play spike feeder, don't. There will be games where you lose because you don't have access to it the same as there will be games I lose because I don't have access to Melira (or multiple Finks). All it boils down is variance and our ability to play without the stuff that is missing from our 60.
Thing is, there is nonzero number of creature decks in the meta and Archangel is very good against them. One swing or even one life gained from ooze activation with Archangel on board is often enough to swing the game to your favor. And she presents insane clock with just couple mana birds.
He also was tuning for a metagame in GP Minneapolis; he wanted Thoughtseizes maindeck to have a solid game plan against Storm and Scapeshift, which ended up being two of the more popular decks at the event. It obviously worked well for him.
Legacy: UB(R/G) Storm UB(R/G)
Vintage: UBG Gush Storm UBG
decks playing:
none
I side out thoughtseize pretty much only against the most aggressive decks that empty their hand by turn 3 (affinity/burn/zooish), and sometimes side out some amount to just fill up with cards I find more important in the matchup for some reason (I think I sided them out against faeries once in order to get in all my abrupts and zealous persecution). Then again I run two goyfs who don't work too well if I side out all my thoughtseizes. I used to side them out against jund, but now I still keep some in order to get rid of anger of the gods. I'm not too sure what I think of it in the mirror, I currently side them out, as the game often ends up in top deck war and thoughtseize is a horrible topdeck. Getting rid of a key creature or a pod in the early rounds can outright win you the game though, especially after they mulligan, so it's certainly not outright bad to keep it in either I think.