Pod as a deck is dead with a Pod ban. A lot of the cards could go into another deck though where you play higher numbers of a lot of our better cards with Chords for a small toolbox but it wouldn't be Pod. I decided to look into Legacy Pod in the event of a ban. There's both Junk and BUG Pod variants and you get to play a mix of GSZ/Sylvan Library/Brainstorm. That said, I would be VERY surprised if were going to eat a ban. MM2 is coming out and it's including Phyrexian Mana, MM2 would have been finalized a while back and Pod looked healthy at the time, and this is the perfect opportunity for them to lower some Pod staple prices. On top of that, while Pod is a very good deck and probably the best deck the way it plays isn't unhealthy. It has some strong synergies but is mostly a 30 creature deck that attacks and blocks and that makes it a very good marquee deck for the format.
If Pod had to eat a ban, the best card they could hit while still keeping the deck around is Gavony Township. Anyways I've been far more worried of a ban in the past than I am right now.
If I were to play Burrenton Forge-Tender I think I would add a Viscera Seer and go back to Ranger of Eos, that way I could Chord for 4, find a Ranger, then pick up a bonus two 1 drop utility guys.
I 4-0'd a Modern Daily today with a test list that has a few awkward cards, a few very good cards, and some increased value cards. The card I feel everyone is ignoring right now that is particularly strong is Body Double. Very old versions of Pod ran this card before better lists were discovered and better cards were printed, but now this card is totally insane for the following reasons:
I've updated my list (switched from Malira to Angel) and this is probably about as good as I can make it with what I have on hand, I'd like some advice on what to prioritize while looking through binders (probably can't shell out cash on this deck for awhile).
Pontiff, Resto Angel, and Voices 2-3 jump out to me as the most conspicuous absences, but my modern experience is still pretty limited. I could run additional Windswepts or Wooded Foothills if I raided my EDH decks, any opinions on that?
I've updated my list (switched from Malira to Angel) and this is probably about as good as I can make it with what I have on hand, I'd like some advice on what to prioritize while looking through binders (probably can't shell out cash on this deck for awhile).
Pontiff, Resto Angel, and Voices 2-3 jump out to me as the most conspicuous absences, but my modern experience is still pretty limited. I could run additional Windswepts or Wooded Foothills if I raided my EDH decks, any opinions on that?
Green fetches are important, you'll simply take too much damage off of Marsh Flats and it leaves you with no ability to fetch a Forest. The manabase overall needs a lot of work and that's what I would focus on first. Until you have that resolves I would try to stay primarily GW to ease your color needs. I would ease up on color restrictions overall until the mana is better. Nekrataal and Strangleroot Geist put a lot of pressure on your manabase.
I've updated my list (switched from Malira to Angel) and this is probably about as good as I can make it with what I have on hand, I'd like some advice on what to prioritize while looking through binders (probably can't shell out cash on this deck for awhile).
Pontiff, Resto Angel, and Voices 2-3 jump out to me as the most conspicuous absences, but my modern experience is still pretty limited. I could run additional Windswepts or Wooded Foothills if I raided my EDH decks, any opinions on that?
Yeah, I recommend raiding your EDH decks for Windswept Heath--it's one of the best fetches for this deck. Mana base-wise, no Temple Garden also looks pretty glaring--I definitely recommend getting one.
If the only Forest fetch you can find is Wooded Foothills, swapping out some of your Marsh Flats for it is a decent idea. I played 2 Flats and 2 Misty Rainforest pre-KTK--I fetched basic Forests that often.
For your maindeck creature base, I recommend getting Voices 2-3 first, then a Restoration Angel. You might end up playing Voice too conservatively against blue decks if you only maindeck 1, while playing Voice recklessly tends to pay off, especially against non-blue decks.
IMO, you need Reclamation Sage (very cheap budget-wise), Qasali Pridemage (should also be fairly cheap), Orzhov Pontiff and Linvala in your 75, to the point where I recommend getting them before Voices. You don't have to maindeck them, though--every time I maindeck Pontiff, I want to sideboard him out again (yes, even though I'm giving Pontiff one more maindeck chance right now in my current No Combo Pod build).
The land situation is actually better than I thought (I was working from memory when I made the list on MTGV). I had a Temple Garden and second Overgrown that I apparently forgot about, and two Windswepts were already in there. Raiding the EDH decks brings a third Windswept and up to three foothills, but nothing else relevant. I've updated to what I think is correct given what I have, but the other two Flats could become Foothills.
Strangleroot is a placeholder on my pod chain for more Voices. I intend to get rid of him ASAP, I'm just worried I'd be too slow with Walls and a singleton voice as my entire two slot.
Chalice is IMO not an anti-delver tech only. It has so many uses and slows considerably certain decks, which would otherwise be problematic due to their explosiveness.
Aquilegia: I understand this but I wouldn't more than one Siege Rhino in the opening hand. You can't play it till t3 anyway and playing 4 will likely results in having more than 1 in starting hand. To me this seems a little bit too slow start vs fast decks. I think some Pod decks went too much on the Siege Rhino. It's good card for sure but playing Pod isn't all about playing Siege Rhino.
And some other question here for all of you: do you think banning Treasure Cruise (if it happens and Pod survives ban) will lead to Melira Pod again or Angel/Value Pod will still maintain its prime position of Abzan Pod?
I'm torn on this argument. I think people are drifting to more Rhinos than they should because it's a new and powerful card so people want to play with it. On the other hand (and keep in mind this is from someone who still plays 1 Rhino) it's such a powerful card that there's a very solid argument that you just want more Rhinos. The fact that a Kitchen Finks can turn into 2 Rhinos is huge.
I think you do want 2 Rhinos and 1 Body Double for maximum value. Kitchen Finks interacts extremely well with these cards. The 3rd Rhino is almost always better as a Restoration Angel.
I think you do want 2 Rhinos and 1 Body Double for maximum value
The blue splash is not worth it unless you're playing in a very specific field. In the mirror, Scooze and Anafenza (which should get more attention because of the last top8's); Living End runs the discard Faerie and land denial; Tron has MB grave hate; combo decks mostly don't care about value game 1, etc...
I agree with the ones who think 4 Rhinos are 1 too many, in the overall metagame. But then again, it's a matter of what the build aims. As we have close to no chance game 1 against combo decks (let's take the bad days as reference), it's very understandable to see players have a MB aggro build, with or without a combo, AND with a very safe manabase. Because these builds are very good against Delver and other aggro MUs, they just need a strong SB package to ensure victory game 2 and 3 against the rest of the meta.
But as the ban announcement is coming, I'm not sure it's relevant to take sides about Pod versions since the meta may start to drastically change by Monday !
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Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
...You actually don't have to splash blue to play Body Double though...your mana dorks tap for blue and you'll be Podding for it way more often than drawing it.
Had a 4 round Modern night tonight, the 75 I settled on was pretty close to what I last posted. Before the report, I'll say that Boggles gave me issues so if anyone has some tips for the matchup I would like to hear them because I think I'm taking the wrong approach to it. Like I did last time in the interest of generating some talk on sideboarding choices/options, I wrote down my sideboard choices. My reports this week aren't overly detailed, every round was extremely long and drawn out, there was no match timer and things went accordingly. One game inparticular was 98 minutes long through a combination of slow play and just being drawn out.
Round 1 - UR Delver
I loaned my copy of Delver out to someone before we started so I knew the exact 75 my opponent was on. I get off to a pretty good start and baited a Mana Leak with a 4 mana Pod. I followed that up with naturally drawn Pontiff into Redcap now that the coast was clear and devastated the opponents board. My opponent however used a combination of Forked Bolts, Snapcaster, and Lightning Bolt to even out the board, and then double Cruised into a new hand. Matching Delvers broken cards with a few of my own I Pod at 3 mana+2 life with 6 mana on the board and let the Remand effectively hit me for 4 to land the Pod. I follow that up with a Wall of Roots I had been sandbagging for a Pod podded into Eternal Witness which rebought my Redcap, and used the Redcap plus the persist on the following turn to reclear the board podding out Baneslayer to finish the game. My sideboard plan was +Chalice , Thalia, Spellskite, Sin Collector and -Reclamation Sage, Scavenging Ooze, Wall of Roots, Qasali Pridemage. I really wanted to bring in the last Voice of Resurgence too but couldn't figure out a cut. In game 2 I ran into every answer imaginable. Pillar hit my Finks, Dismember took out Baneslayer, Combust killed my Rhino, and the finishing move was a Sower of Temptation stealing my Archangel of Thune. Game 3 went better, Voice shut down counterspells, Rhino never got blocked, and some draw step Restoration Angels on my Sin Collector really interrupted my opponents play.
1-0
Round 2 - UWR Control
I kept a bad hand and got punished for it. My opening 7 was 5 lands, Voice of Resurgence, Eternal Witness. I continued to flood after the opening 7 while my opponent played Mantis Rider and Lightning Angel. I managed to Abrupt Decay the Mantis Rider but held my Eternal Witness in hand because I didn't need the Decay and my only other non land target for it was the Voice that was still on the board. Eventually I drew a non land, and a pretty fantastic one at that since it was Shriekmaw. I played it for Evoke to play around Mana Leak, my opponent Leaked anyways, I paid and took out his Lightning Angel while getting myself a Voice token. Next turn I Witnessed back the Shriekmaw giving myself an answer to any creature he played and the Voice/Token/Witness closed the game out in a couple of turns. My sideboard plan was +2 Thoughtseize, Sin Collector, Thalia, Voice out went Wall of Roots, Pontiff, Redcap, Thune, and Ooze. In game 2 I overextended into a Supreme Verdict I had somehow convinced myself he wasn't running based on game 1 followed by an Aetherling. I could have pulled out the win here but hesitated a turn on podding a lone voice token into a 1 drop and it cost me the game. Game 3 is a blur, there were a few battles over Voices eating Chained to the Rocks and Detention Sphere but Reclamation Sage and Pridemage really took care of that strategy. A few turns later I didn't have much of a board but neither did my opponent, the difference was that I was at 6 cards to his 1. I swung in with a double Exalted Rhino and my opponent played his last card, a Condemn. I responded with a Restoration Angel and my opponent scooped with life totals at 11 (me) to 20 (opponent). I think he conceded early, but it's also quite unlikely he was coming back from that.
2-0
Round 3 - Budget Jund
My opponent was on the play for game 1, he opened up on a Raging Ravine and his turn 2 was a tapped Overgrown Tomb into casting Caravan Vigil. Unfortunately my hand stumbled a bit while his deck did what it needed to do. He landed a Garruk Wildspeaker and it gave me quite a headache. I ended up trading both lives on two Kitchen Finks and at best only managed to get it to 1. After landing the Wildspeaker his hand was nothing but removal and I couldn't maintain a board presence in the face of 3/3 tokens plus an evergrowing Raging Ravine, my opponent ended up going for a Timmy finish and crushed me with a Monstrous Stormbreath Dragon backed by Garruks ultimate, this influenced my sideboard since I now knew about the pro white creature. For game 2 I brought in 4 Thoughtseize, Fulminator Mage, Sin Collector, Voice, Entomber Exarch, and Reveillark taking out 3 Abrupt Decay, Reclamation Sage, Pridemage, Archangel of Thune, Murderous Redcap, Orzhov Pontiff, and Linvala. Writing this now I realize Linvala could have stopped monstrous so I'm not sure that taking it out was right, there were no other targets it was doing anything to though. Game 2 involved a mulligan to 6 on a questionable hand and my opponent killing everything I put down and hitting my Finks with a Surgical Extraction. However I had Sigarda and used my Fulminator to keep him off of RR, as it turns out blanking removal wins games... who knew? Game 3 involved a lot of removal again, there was a lot of back and forth with me having an active Pod and Gavony but him having Huntmasters which really wanted me to play spells rather than activate abilities. Eventually it was 7 to 6 and I played Thoughtseize going down to 5 and Baneslayer with the ability to Gavony next turn before combat damage. His hand during the Thoughtseize was Banefire, Earthquake with him at 5 land. I pass with my opponent dead on board on the following turn unless he can topdeck an out but he got there with a land. Realistically he had a lot of outs to that topdeck. He had 2 Dreadbore, 4 Terminate, 1 Plummet, 4 Go for the Throat in his deck and about half of those still in there.
Here's the game 2 hand: Thoughtseize, Birds, Voice, Pod, Birds, Witness, Catacomb. It's a snap keep if any of those non land cards are another colored land, but the urge to be greedy was strong with this one. In theory I could goto 15, Thoughtseize to clear a path, and then be pretty sure to land atleast one of my 3 manadorks. There's some decks I would still keep that hand against but given how much removal my opponent had (and it was heavier in games 2 and 3) the mulligan was definitely correct. On the draw I may still have been tempted to keep it though.
2-1
Round 4 - Bogles
I was sitting next to this player all night so I knew what he was on. I forget my opening hand game 1 but I wasn't very happy with it. The store I was playing at doesn't use a match timer and game 1 took 98 minutes, before we were done everyone else had collected their prizes and left and the game ended with me having maybe 10 cards left in my library. My opponent had a pretty strong start with a Bogle and a bunch of enchantments, he went T1 Bogle, T2 Ethereal Armor, Ethereal Armor, T3 Coronet, Hyena Umbra. I managed to hold him at bay though using persist guys, an occasional Gavony reset and the typical strategy of just flooding the board with guys. As it turns out Pod functions pretty darn good under a The Abyss. Things worked out really fortunately for me in that my opponent just couldn't hit a Rancor, so he tried diversifying threats for a bit but I was able to deal with everything except the biggest Bogle. My opponent kept swinging, gaining about 17 life per turn while I held out hovering between 2 and 4 as Finks would trigger and I had to fetch or shock all while Gavony would inch my team larger and larger. Inevitability was on my opponents side though since the game was over as soon as he had a Rancor. Finally my opponent got one, and then all his draws lined up. He ended up drawing the rest of his deck off of Spiritdancers, playing something like 12 enchantments in a turn, and hitting me for a huge chunk of damage, I didn't bother to add it up but I wouldn't be surprised if it was over 70. I should note that this game ended up being one of those rare situations where Scavenging Ooze wasn't enough, Spike Feeder was, and I had the opportunity to set up the combo, I have to assume it would have been good game 2 as well, speaking of which I sideboarded out Archangel of Thune, Linvala, Scavenging Ooze, Wall of Roots, Siege Rhino, Sigarda, Birds, and 1 Voice to bring in Entomber Exarch, Spellskite, Reveillark, Chalice, and 4 Thoughtseize. Long story short, this game also went quite long, I don't know the exact time frame but it was over an hour and I just kept making sacrifices to the Bogle. In this game though I set up loops with Reveillark, Exarch, and Eternal Witness which allowed me to constantly sacrifice Qasali Pridemage and incrementally shrink the Bogle of Doom while making for some confusing combat math for my opponent between Gavony and blowing things up with Pridemage mid combat. In this game with my opponent gaining far more life and at the peak he was at 284 to my 1, I managed to turn it around from there though and my opponent was dead a few turns later... Pod is a hell of a card. With the shop owner wanting to close and this round going way past anything that ever should have happened we called it a tie. Game 2 didn't see a single Thoughtseize or Abrupt Decay.
2-1-1
So with that out of the way, how do people usually handle Bogles? I tried to grind them out here and it worked. I'm just not really sure how else I should handle it. A giant lifelink+vigilance guy makes it really difficult to try and take an aggro line and race while their enchantments pretty much guarantee the mid game is theirs. The only weakness I see when their deck is doing what it's supposed to do is in blocking for a long time while incrementally increasing board presence. Something Pod does very well, though the hole in this strategy is in needing them to not hit Rancor. Not having combos was a real drawback to this match.
Overall my thoughts with the deck were that I liked having 4 5 drops, I concede that it's still likely 1 too many but I'm going to stick with it for now. Baneslayer and Sigarda were both fantastic. The MB Linvala is really starting to feel misplaced in the local meta. I know I still want one though. I think I'll move it SB in place of the 4th Thoughtseize which I always struggle to find a cut for. In the now open MB slot I'm debating between the 4th Birds as manadork #9, the second Rhino, or an Anafenza
Jesus, I think over an hour and a half of playing Bogles would be enough to make me want to quit the format. Gross.
Most of my experience with Slippery Bogle have also involved Rancor, so my view of the match is that you need stuff to cut them off fast; I'm still on max Chords, so hitting Spellskite and/or lucky Pontiffs before they've vomited out their hand tends to give a lot of time to get stable. Once they've gone full Voltron, though, maybe a guy like Fleshbag Marauder would be worth putting in the board, for the situations where Decay isn't enough. Let's even be really outlandish, you could try out Anowon, the Ruin Sage in that loose 5-drop slot; we can weather The Abyss, but I don't think there's that many other decks that can.
...You actually don't have to splash blue to play Body Double though...your mana dorks tap for blue and you'll be Podding for it way more often than drawing it.
It used to work fine back in 2012, maybe. I'm not against playing an extra color, it's just going to be clunkier than a straight Abzan version. Most players will prefer a 3rd-4th Rhino rather than a Pod + a Body double (in the library or in hand with a 0/1 dork alive) + a Rhino to copy in the graveyard. They'll also prefer 1 Resto, and 2 Restos, before they play Body Double again.
Now yes, when you can set up the thing (let's say with Lark), it's really cool, as it's cool to set up a combo of any sort with only 3 colors.
how do people usually handle Bogles?
The way you did, apparently. Bogles is very hard to beat for most decks in the format when they draw well. You need to take smart decisions starting with your opening hand. There are MUs where you may need to mull hard, and this is one of them. Thoughtseize is not the best card against them (they should draw a lot of cards), you need more than that in your opening hand. Actually TS is a good card here when it's coupled with a key card like Spellskite or Chalice of the Void.
Whether the deck is a winner in your local meta, you may want Fracturing Gust x2. Kataki is a very easy cut right now, I'm not sure to understand why you still play him.
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By the way for those of you who don't know, Pod is on the possible upcoming ban list in 2 days. prepare yourselves. The pro's are saying the deck would be too strong with t-cruise and DTT being banned. I hope wizards finds a way around this, or just ignores it, but however it goes i hope the best for all my fellow podders
@Aazadan. Fracturing Gust and forcing Spellskite. Replace Linvala with second Rhino.
I feel like if the blue Delve cards would be banned Pod would get weaker, because Twin and Tron would be better. Then again, Scapeshift gets worse I think.
went 2-2, but the caveat was I purposefully only played with 5 card hands every game to test the power of the deck.
Round 1: Esper Mill.
GOt 0-2d. This was actually a hyper-annoying deck. I hate that people think it's ok to build mill. Ok, enough ranting. I got 2-0d, but both games I had lethal on board the next turn. He just kept getting that stupid Hideaway land and putting Archive Trap under it. Even after I boarded in all my discard he naturally keeps a double Crab all fetch land/Ghost quarter hand, so my discard hits nothing. I think my luck was just terrible, and I kept 5 card hands.
Round 2: Jund.
Easy 2-0. Plus he was running goofy cards like Flinthoof board and Thundermaw. My creatures were bigger in every way. He had Duress MB and it hit nothing in my opener, and then he didn't board it out, and tried it again turn 1 G2, only to again hit nothing. I boarded in land D and destroyed all his mountains to keep Boar at a 2/2. His Goyfs just died to Rhinos and Decays, and Liliana was a nonfactor.
Round 3: BR Bloodchief Ascension
Modest 2-0. This deck is frightening actually. Like I'm sure if a pro brewed it, it would be tier 2 at least. This guy was mediocre, missing Ascension triggers and things, plus I had alot of Lifegain, and BBV both games. Game 1 as soon as I landed it he scooped, despite having an active Ascension, which he later admitted (correctly) was a mistake. Game 2 he forgot it had pro black and boarded in Dreadbores :). I was able to Abrupt Decay and Rec Sage two Ascensions, but I took some heavy hits from them beforehand, going down as low as 6 life, I think.
Round 4: Eternal Command. Same kid from my previous tournaments. Very, very strong player. This, however, is a bad matchup for him. Despite this, I kept a basic forest, gavony hand Round 1, and never drew a land or a dork, and I kid you not, EVERY card in my hand either had black in it, or was a Voice of Resurgence. I was pretty upset, but I kept telling myself, "This is a great matchup for me." Little did I know my deck would be a severe troll game 2. I keep 2 land, Thoughtseize, dork, Choke. Remember, I am on a 5 cards every hand plan. I turn 1 dork, turn 2 Sieze, turn 2 Choke after seeing nothing but Islands in hand (stomping Ground in play for him). Not only does he top deck back to back on-Islands (Flooded Grove and fetch), but I kid you not, I draw 6 consecutive lands, not of which are even Gavony to maybe boost my dork up. I was livid. 0-2.
Actually, despite these losses I wouldn't change a single thing. I might move BBV to the board cutting my second Sin Collector, which I never really wanted anyway, and try out a Goyf main again now that I have MB thoughtseizes. Or not. Who knows. My losses were to a deck that doesn't exist on 5 card hands, and one of my best matchups with terrible luck, so I'm perfectly content.
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Pod as a deck is dead with a Pod ban. A lot of the cards could go into another deck though where you play higher numbers of a lot of our better cards with Chords for a small toolbox but it wouldn't be Pod. I decided to look into Legacy Pod in the event of a ban. There's both Junk and BUG Pod variants and you get to play a mix of GSZ/Sylvan Library/Brainstorm. That said, I would be VERY surprised if were going to eat a ban. MM2 is coming out and it's including Phyrexian Mana, MM2 would have been finalized a while back and Pod looked healthy at the time, and this is the perfect opportunity for them to lower some Pod staple prices. On top of that, while Pod is a very good deck and probably the best deck the way it plays isn't unhealthy. It has some strong synergies but is mostly a 30 creature deck that attacks and blocks and that makes it a very good marquee deck for the format.
If Pod had to eat a ban, the best card they could hit while still keeping the deck around is Gavony Township. Anyways I've been far more worried of a ban in the past than I am right now.
If I were to play Burrenton Forge-Tender I think I would add a Viscera Seer and go back to Ranger of Eos, that way I could Chord for 4, find a Ranger, then pick up a bonus two 1 drop utility guys.
Here is the list and videos:
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Marsh Flats
3 Gavony Township
3 Razorverge Thicket
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
Creatures: 29
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Noble Hierarch
1 Viscera Seer
2 Voice of Resurgence
1 Saffi Eriksdotter
1 Wall of Roots
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Spike Feeder
1 Eternal Witness
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Fleshbag Marauder
2 Siege Rhino
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Restoration Angel
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Body Double
1 Reveillark
1 Sun Titan
4 Birthing Pod
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Chord of Calling
3 Thoughtseize
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Voice of Resurgence
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Sin Collector
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Siege Rhino
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
For the Daily, I had the Qasali Pridemage and Restoration Sage swapped, but I think this is wrong. Also, the maindeck Saffi Eriksdotter and Sun Titan are largely unnecessary, as is the sideboard Siege Rhino. Here are the videos from the Daily:
http://www.twitch.tv/nezeru/c/5881584 Round 1 2-1 vs Zoo
http://www.twitch.tv/nezeru/c/5881614 Round 2 2-0 vs Affinity
http://www.twitch.tv/nezeru/c/5881655 Round 3 2-0 vs Pod
http://www.twitch.tv/nezeru/c/5881560 Round 4 2-1 vs Merfolk (splashing White for Path to Exile and running maindeck Tidebinder Magees)
I stream Modern events semi-regularly at http://www.twitch.tv/nezeru
http://www.mtgvault.com/stryk3r85/decks/pod/
Pontiff, Resto Angel, and Voices 2-3 jump out to me as the most conspicuous absences, but my modern experience is still pretty limited. I could run additional Windswepts or Wooded Foothills if I raided my EDH decks, any opinions on that?
Pauper: Burn
Modern: Burn
Legacy: Burn
EDH:
Green fetches are important, you'll simply take too much damage off of Marsh Flats and it leaves you with no ability to fetch a Forest. The manabase overall needs a lot of work and that's what I would focus on first. Until you have that resolves I would try to stay primarily GW to ease your color needs. I would ease up on color restrictions overall until the mana is better. Nekrataal and Strangleroot Geist put a lot of pressure on your manabase.
Yeah, I recommend raiding your EDH decks for Windswept Heath--it's one of the best fetches for this deck. Mana base-wise, no Temple Garden also looks pretty glaring--I definitely recommend getting one.
If the only Forest fetch you can find is Wooded Foothills, swapping out some of your Marsh Flats for it is a decent idea. I played 2 Flats and 2 Misty Rainforest pre-KTK--I fetched basic Forests that often.
For your maindeck creature base, I recommend getting Voices 2-3 first, then a Restoration Angel. You might end up playing Voice too conservatively against blue decks if you only maindeck 1, while playing Voice recklessly tends to pay off, especially against non-blue decks.
IMO, you need Reclamation Sage (very cheap budget-wise), Qasali Pridemage (should also be fairly cheap), Orzhov Pontiff and Linvala in your 75, to the point where I recommend getting them before Voices. You don't have to maindeck them, though--every time I maindeck Pontiff, I want to sideboard him out again (yes, even though I'm giving Pontiff one more maindeck chance right now in my current No Combo Pod build).
Strangleroot is a placeholder on my pod chain for more Voices. I intend to get rid of him ASAP, I'm just worried I'd be too slow with Walls and a singleton voice as my entire two slot.
Pauper: Burn
Modern: Burn
Legacy: Burn
EDH:
chalice of the void, kataki SB ?
I'm trying 1 darkblast/chalice since my meta has like 3 or 4 pods 1/2 delver, 2 jeskai combo, 2 mono red burn =/
I'm torn on this argument. I think people are drifting to more Rhinos than they should because it's a new and powerful card so people want to play with it. On the other hand (and keep in mind this is from someone who still plays 1 Rhino) it's such a powerful card that there's a very solid argument that you just want more Rhinos. The fact that a Kitchen Finks can turn into 2 Rhinos is huge.
I stream Modern events semi-regularly at http://www.twitch.tv/nezeru
The blue splash is not worth it unless you're playing in a very specific field. In the mirror, Scooze and Anafenza (which should get more attention because of the last top8's); Living End runs the discard Faerie and land denial; Tron has MB grave hate; combo decks mostly don't care about value game 1, etc...
I agree with the ones who think 4 Rhinos are 1 too many, in the overall metagame. But then again, it's a matter of what the build aims. As we have close to no chance game 1 against combo decks (let's take the bad days as reference), it's very understandable to see players have a MB aggro build, with or without a combo, AND with a very safe manabase. Because these builds are very good against Delver and other aggro MUs, they just need a strong SB package to ensure victory game 2 and 3 against the rest of the meta.
But as the ban announcement is coming, I'm not sure it's relevant to take sides about Pod versions since the meta may start to drastically change by Monday !
I stream Modern events semi-regularly at http://www.twitch.tv/nezeru
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Marsh Flats
2 Temple Garden
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Gavony Township
Creatures
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Birds of Paradise
3 Voice of Resurgence
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Wall of Roots
1 Qasali Pridemage
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Eternal Witness
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Restoration Angel
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Siege Rhino
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Shriekmaw
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Archangel of Thune
4 Abrupt Decay
Artifact 4
4 Birthing Pod
4 Thoughtseize
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Reveillark
1 Spellskite
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Sin Collector
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Voice of Resurgence
Round 1 - UR Delver
I loaned my copy of Delver out to someone before we started so I knew the exact 75 my opponent was on. I get off to a pretty good start and baited a Mana Leak with a 4 mana Pod. I followed that up with naturally drawn Pontiff into Redcap now that the coast was clear and devastated the opponents board. My opponent however used a combination of Forked Bolts, Snapcaster, and Lightning Bolt to even out the board, and then double Cruised into a new hand. Matching Delvers broken cards with a few of my own I Pod at 3 mana+2 life with 6 mana on the board and let the Remand effectively hit me for 4 to land the Pod. I follow that up with a Wall of Roots I had been sandbagging for a Pod podded into Eternal Witness which rebought my Redcap, and used the Redcap plus the persist on the following turn to reclear the board podding out Baneslayer to finish the game. My sideboard plan was +Chalice , Thalia, Spellskite, Sin Collector and -Reclamation Sage, Scavenging Ooze, Wall of Roots, Qasali Pridemage. I really wanted to bring in the last Voice of Resurgence too but couldn't figure out a cut. In game 2 I ran into every answer imaginable. Pillar hit my Finks, Dismember took out Baneslayer, Combust killed my Rhino, and the finishing move was a Sower of Temptation stealing my Archangel of Thune. Game 3 went better, Voice shut down counterspells, Rhino never got blocked, and some draw step Restoration Angels on my Sin Collector really interrupted my opponents play.
1-0
Round 2 - UWR Control
I kept a bad hand and got punished for it. My opening 7 was 5 lands, Voice of Resurgence, Eternal Witness. I continued to flood after the opening 7 while my opponent played Mantis Rider and Lightning Angel. I managed to Abrupt Decay the Mantis Rider but held my Eternal Witness in hand because I didn't need the Decay and my only other non land target for it was the Voice that was still on the board. Eventually I drew a non land, and a pretty fantastic one at that since it was Shriekmaw. I played it for Evoke to play around Mana Leak, my opponent Leaked anyways, I paid and took out his Lightning Angel while getting myself a Voice token. Next turn I Witnessed back the Shriekmaw giving myself an answer to any creature he played and the Voice/Token/Witness closed the game out in a couple of turns. My sideboard plan was +2 Thoughtseize, Sin Collector, Thalia, Voice out went Wall of Roots, Pontiff, Redcap, Thune, and Ooze. In game 2 I overextended into a Supreme Verdict I had somehow convinced myself he wasn't running based on game 1 followed by an Aetherling. I could have pulled out the win here but hesitated a turn on podding a lone voice token into a 1 drop and it cost me the game. Game 3 is a blur, there were a few battles over Voices eating Chained to the Rocks and Detention Sphere but Reclamation Sage and Pridemage really took care of that strategy. A few turns later I didn't have much of a board but neither did my opponent, the difference was that I was at 6 cards to his 1. I swung in with a double Exalted Rhino and my opponent played his last card, a Condemn. I responded with a Restoration Angel and my opponent scooped with life totals at 11 (me) to 20 (opponent). I think he conceded early, but it's also quite unlikely he was coming back from that.
2-0
Round 3 - Budget Jund
My opponent was on the play for game 1, he opened up on a Raging Ravine and his turn 2 was a tapped Overgrown Tomb into casting Caravan Vigil. Unfortunately my hand stumbled a bit while his deck did what it needed to do. He landed a Garruk Wildspeaker and it gave me quite a headache. I ended up trading both lives on two Kitchen Finks and at best only managed to get it to 1. After landing the Wildspeaker his hand was nothing but removal and I couldn't maintain a board presence in the face of 3/3 tokens plus an evergrowing Raging Ravine, my opponent ended up going for a Timmy finish and crushed me with a Monstrous Stormbreath Dragon backed by Garruks ultimate, this influenced my sideboard since I now knew about the pro white creature. For game 2 I brought in 4 Thoughtseize, Fulminator Mage, Sin Collector, Voice, Entomber Exarch, and Reveillark taking out 3 Abrupt Decay, Reclamation Sage, Pridemage, Archangel of Thune, Murderous Redcap, Orzhov Pontiff, and Linvala. Writing this now I realize Linvala could have stopped monstrous so I'm not sure that taking it out was right, there were no other targets it was doing anything to though. Game 2 involved a mulligan to 6 on a questionable hand and my opponent killing everything I put down and hitting my Finks with a Surgical Extraction. However I had Sigarda and used my Fulminator to keep him off of RR, as it turns out blanking removal wins games... who knew? Game 3 involved a lot of removal again, there was a lot of back and forth with me having an active Pod and Gavony but him having Huntmasters which really wanted me to play spells rather than activate abilities. Eventually it was 7 to 6 and I played Thoughtseize going down to 5 and Baneslayer with the ability to Gavony next turn before combat damage. His hand during the Thoughtseize was Banefire, Earthquake with him at 5 land. I pass with my opponent dead on board on the following turn unless he can topdeck an out but he got there with a land. Realistically he had a lot of outs to that topdeck. He had 2 Dreadbore, 4 Terminate, 1 Plummet, 4 Go for the Throat in his deck and about half of those still in there.
Here's the game 2 hand: Thoughtseize, Birds, Voice, Pod, Birds, Witness, Catacomb. It's a snap keep if any of those non land cards are another colored land, but the urge to be greedy was strong with this one. In theory I could goto 15, Thoughtseize to clear a path, and then be pretty sure to land atleast one of my 3 manadorks. There's some decks I would still keep that hand against but given how much removal my opponent had (and it was heavier in games 2 and 3) the mulligan was definitely correct. On the draw I may still have been tempted to keep it though.
2-1
Round 4 - Bogles
I was sitting next to this player all night so I knew what he was on. I forget my opening hand game 1 but I wasn't very happy with it. The store I was playing at doesn't use a match timer and game 1 took 98 minutes, before we were done everyone else had collected their prizes and left and the game ended with me having maybe 10 cards left in my library. My opponent had a pretty strong start with a Bogle and a bunch of enchantments, he went T1 Bogle, T2 Ethereal Armor, Ethereal Armor, T3 Coronet, Hyena Umbra. I managed to hold him at bay though using persist guys, an occasional Gavony reset and the typical strategy of just flooding the board with guys. As it turns out Pod functions pretty darn good under a The Abyss. Things worked out really fortunately for me in that my opponent just couldn't hit a Rancor, so he tried diversifying threats for a bit but I was able to deal with everything except the biggest Bogle. My opponent kept swinging, gaining about 17 life per turn while I held out hovering between 2 and 4 as Finks would trigger and I had to fetch or shock all while Gavony would inch my team larger and larger. Inevitability was on my opponents side though since the game was over as soon as he had a Rancor. Finally my opponent got one, and then all his draws lined up. He ended up drawing the rest of his deck off of Spiritdancers, playing something like 12 enchantments in a turn, and hitting me for a huge chunk of damage, I didn't bother to add it up but I wouldn't be surprised if it was over 70. I should note that this game ended up being one of those rare situations where Scavenging Ooze wasn't enough, Spike Feeder was, and I had the opportunity to set up the combo, I have to assume it would have been good game 2 as well, speaking of which I sideboarded out Archangel of Thune, Linvala, Scavenging Ooze, Wall of Roots, Siege Rhino, Sigarda, Birds, and 1 Voice to bring in Entomber Exarch, Spellskite, Reveillark, Chalice, and 4 Thoughtseize. Long story short, this game also went quite long, I don't know the exact time frame but it was over an hour and I just kept making sacrifices to the Bogle. In this game though I set up loops with Reveillark, Exarch, and Eternal Witness which allowed me to constantly sacrifice Qasali Pridemage and incrementally shrink the Bogle of Doom while making for some confusing combat math for my opponent between Gavony and blowing things up with Pridemage mid combat. In this game with my opponent gaining far more life and at the peak he was at 284 to my 1, I managed to turn it around from there though and my opponent was dead a few turns later... Pod is a hell of a card. With the shop owner wanting to close and this round going way past anything that ever should have happened we called it a tie. Game 2 didn't see a single Thoughtseize or Abrupt Decay.
2-1-1
So with that out of the way, how do people usually handle Bogles? I tried to grind them out here and it worked. I'm just not really sure how else I should handle it. A giant lifelink+vigilance guy makes it really difficult to try and take an aggro line and race while their enchantments pretty much guarantee the mid game is theirs. The only weakness I see when their deck is doing what it's supposed to do is in blocking for a long time while incrementally increasing board presence. Something Pod does very well, though the hole in this strategy is in needing them to not hit Rancor. Not having combos was a real drawback to this match.
Overall my thoughts with the deck were that I liked having 4 5 drops, I concede that it's still likely 1 too many but I'm going to stick with it for now. Baneslayer and Sigarda were both fantastic. The MB Linvala is really starting to feel misplaced in the local meta. I know I still want one though. I think I'll move it SB in place of the 4th Thoughtseize which I always struggle to find a cut for. In the now open MB slot I'm debating between the 4th Birds as manadork #9, the second Rhino, or an Anafenza
Most of my experience with Slippery Bogle have also involved Rancor, so my view of the match is that you need stuff to cut them off fast; I'm still on max Chords, so hitting Spellskite and/or lucky Pontiffs before they've vomited out their hand tends to give a lot of time to get stable. Once they've gone full Voltron, though, maybe a guy like Fleshbag Marauder would be worth putting in the board, for the situations where Decay isn't enough. Let's even be really outlandish, you could try out Anowon, the Ruin Sage in that loose 5-drop slot; we can weather The Abyss, but I don't think there's that many other decks that can.
Erebos B | Ghost Council WB | Grimgrin UB | Jhoira UR
Jor Kadeen RW | Melek UR | Mimeoplasm GUB | Rasputin WU
Savra BG | Sisay GW | Teneb BGW | Thada Adel U | Wort BR
I draft and play EDH. If a Standard player can't understand who a card is for, it's probably for me.
I also write things about good films.
It used to work fine back in 2012, maybe. I'm not against playing an extra color, it's just going to be clunkier than a straight Abzan version. Most players will prefer a 3rd-4th Rhino rather than a Pod + a Body double (in the library or in hand with a 0/1 dork alive) + a Rhino to copy in the graveyard. They'll also prefer 1 Resto, and 2 Restos, before they play Body Double again.
Now yes, when you can set up the thing (let's say with Lark), it's really cool, as it's cool to set up a combo of any sort with only 3 colors.
The way you did, apparently. Bogles is very hard to beat for most decks in the format when they draw well. You need to take smart decisions starting with your opening hand. There are MUs where you may need to mull hard, and this is one of them. Thoughtseize is not the best card against them (they should draw a lot of cards), you need more than that in your opening hand. Actually TS is a good card here when it's coupled with a key card like Spellskite or Chalice of the Void.
Whether the deck is a winner in your local meta, you may want Fracturing Gust x2. Kataki is a very easy cut right now, I'm not sure to understand why you still play him.
Decks:
Standard:
Nope
Modern:
Mono-Green Nykthos
Gifts Tron
Melira Pod
Legacy:
Maverick (retired)
I feel like if the blue Delve cards would be banned Pod would get weaker, because Twin and Tron would be better. Then again, Scapeshift gets worse I think.
went 2-2, but the caveat was I purposefully only played with 5 card hands every game to test the power of the deck.
Round 1: Esper Mill.
GOt 0-2d. This was actually a hyper-annoying deck. I hate that people think it's ok to build mill. Ok, enough ranting. I got 2-0d, but both games I had lethal on board the next turn. He just kept getting that stupid Hideaway land and putting Archive Trap under it. Even after I boarded in all my discard he naturally keeps a double Crab all fetch land/Ghost quarter hand, so my discard hits nothing. I think my luck was just terrible, and I kept 5 card hands.
Round 2: Jund.
Easy 2-0. Plus he was running goofy cards like Flinthoof board and Thundermaw. My creatures were bigger in every way. He had Duress MB and it hit nothing in my opener, and then he didn't board it out, and tried it again turn 1 G2, only to again hit nothing. I boarded in land D and destroyed all his mountains to keep Boar at a 2/2. His Goyfs just died to Rhinos and Decays, and Liliana was a nonfactor.
Round 3: BR Bloodchief Ascension
Modest 2-0. This deck is frightening actually. Like I'm sure if a pro brewed it, it would be tier 2 at least. This guy was mediocre, missing Ascension triggers and things, plus I had alot of Lifegain, and BBV both games. Game 1 as soon as I landed it he scooped, despite having an active Ascension, which he later admitted (correctly) was a mistake. Game 2 he forgot it had pro black and boarded in Dreadbores :). I was able to Abrupt Decay and Rec Sage two Ascensions, but I took some heavy hits from them beforehand, going down as low as 6 life, I think.
Round 4: Eternal Command. Same kid from my previous tournaments. Very, very strong player. This, however, is a bad matchup for him. Despite this, I kept a basic forest, gavony hand Round 1, and never drew a land or a dork, and I kid you not, EVERY card in my hand either had black in it, or was a Voice of Resurgence. I was pretty upset, but I kept telling myself, "This is a great matchup for me." Little did I know my deck would be a severe troll game 2. I keep 2 land, Thoughtseize, dork, Choke. Remember, I am on a 5 cards every hand plan. I turn 1 dork, turn 2 Sieze, turn 2 Choke after seeing nothing but Islands in hand (stomping Ground in play for him). Not only does he top deck back to back on-Islands (Flooded Grove and fetch), but I kid you not, I draw 6 consecutive lands, not of which are even Gavony to maybe boost my dork up. I was livid. 0-2.
Actually, despite these losses I wouldn't change a single thing. I might move BBV to the board cutting my second Sin Collector, which I never really wanted anyway, and try out a Goyf main again now that I have MB thoughtseizes. Or not. Who knows. My losses were to a deck that doesn't exist on 5 card hands, and one of my best matchups with terrible luck, so I'm perfectly content.