I think this brings into discussion that we are a really consistent combo deck. That loses to other combo decks. Granted instant speed living end disrupts quite a few of them. How do you guys board for the CoCo combo matchup? For UR Storm?
You're going to have to specify which coco deck, the one that jams as many combo pieces? The new devoted vizier one? Viscera seer combo? Angel spikefeeder? Mix and match versions?
That said, in the blind, faeries for sac outlet and shriekmaw for non-sac outlet based win-cons, and slaughter gameish effects hoping they don't chord/coco in response. Also hope and pray they're not jamming every version of the combo in the deck for extra resiliency.
Storm: Shriekmaw and any GY hate, white leylines if you're running those plus some serious prayers to the gods that they fizzle because they can fight through all of the above.
I played Rest in Peace, Kataki and Stony Silence a few times. The plan against affinity was ok, probably around the same win percentage as the normal post side matchup though. The other cards one could consider are Ethersworn Canonist, Gaddock Teeg, Yixlid Jailer, Meddling Mage and I probably forget a few of these.
I also tinkered with a white heavy manabase and 3-4 Kor Firewalkers but the burn matchup was still mostly unwinnable.
The problem with this kind of plan is that it only wins you one game. These cards are only game-winning if unexpected. Storm will get their Bolts in, Dredge will put a few Nature's Claim/Decay, Ad Nauseam will play a few Slaughter pacts etc. So outside of the Affinity Plan, I don't think they're good enough.
On an interesting note, Stony Silence was also decent against Ad Nauseam with Living Ends still in the deck.
Ad Nauseum generally is most hurt by Pithing Needle and runs only 1 card in their 75 that can deal with it. They won't bring it in against us because they would never suspect we were running the needle. Pretty spicy as far as tech cards go. But not worth bringing it in and disrupting our combo against any other deck so it's a super specialized slot.
Faerie Macabre honestly comes in all the time against a lot of decks people think we would have bad matchups with. It plus Beast Within deal with most things.
Ad Nauseam plays Lab Maniac. So while it is slightly harder for them to win with it, it's not much harder. All they need is to have a non-red mana floating (and 3 SSG in the deck).
This list is currently tuned (or in the process of being tuned) for the new counter company combo deck as well as storm/burn being decks that we struggle against. Despite knowing that it's the north east and that we're going to have an usually high amount of U/W/x players as well as delver or Grixis DS over Jund DS, i'm going to eschew ricochet traps for the first time hoping to shore up my match ups against burn and storm which I feel will be well represented at the tournament.
edit: thinking on it, I kind of want my dead//gone to be a anger of the gods.
My biggest gripe with Anger of the Gods is that it's a sorcery, which really limits its functionality as a sweeper against Company decks. Dead // Gone may not be great against them either, but it's at least an instant.
The other thing you could do with that slot is play a 4th copy of Living End - I've done that a few times as an "extra chance" against control decks and it wasn't terrible. Frees up a couple sideboard slots to fight burn, too.
My biggest gripe with Anger of the Gods is that it's a sorcery, which really limits its functionality as a sweeper against Company decks. Dead // Gone may not be great against them either, but it's at least an instant.
If they get viscera seer out, it doesn't matter either way, they're saccing. Against company, i'd play the anger against the devoted vizier portion of the deck and hope I can get to faerie macabre to deal with the rest assuming they still keep a portion of the viscera seer/anafenza/finks combo.
The other thing you could do with that slot is play a 4th copy of Living End - I've done that a few times as an "extra chance" against control decks and it wasn't terrible. Frees up a couple sideboard slots to fight burn, too.
I think I rather just have slots against decks we inherently struggle with. Control isn't storm or burn, land destruction is something they're quite weak to if timed correctly.
Guys, I feel bad I was going 3-0 tonight until the 4th and final round when I got 0-2'ed by Zoo.
Does LE usually have a rough time against Zoo? I was under the impression that Zoo should be a breeze for LE because it's a creature based aggro deck. The sort of thing that a deck with a built in turn 3 wrath preys upon. It just felt like Zoo was too fast. By the time I could fire off a cascade spell and wipe the board they had enough Atarka's Commands, Helices, and Bolts to close out the game.
Any tips aside from hiding a 5th copy of Shriekmaw up my sleeve? I imagine the Zoo match up is similar to Burn in many ways. Basically their creatures get to crash into us relentlessly/uncontested until they get wrath'ed and then they close out the game with burn spells?...
Standard // nRG Aggro
Modern // Burn (main) and Living End (secondary) now Jund.
For fun check out my janky combo primer: Turn 3 Grixis Combo
"Can't beat em' Jund em'!"
Guys, I feel bad I was going 3-0 tonight until the 4th and final round when I got 0-2'ed by Zoo.
Does LE usually have a rough time against Zoo? I was under the impression that Zoo should be a breeze for LE because it's a creature based aggro deck. The sort of thing that a deck with a built in turn 3 wrath preys upon. It just felt like Zoo was too fast. By the time I could fire off a cascade spell and wipe the board they had enough Atarka's Commands, Helices, and Bolts to close out the game.
Any tips aside from hiding a 5th copy of Shriekmaw up my sleeve? I imagine the Zoo match up is similar to Burn in many ways. Basically their creatures get to crash into us relentlessly/uncontested until they get wrath'ed and then they close out the game with burn spells?...
Zoo is definitely a favorable matchup for us, but I've had some close calls against them. When deciding whether to mulligan or keep, prioritize Outburst and Simian Guide even more than usual--the ability to Cascade at instant speed, from T2 on if necessary, is even more important than usual. Even a very suboptimal LE bringing back a Horror and two Street Wraiths can wall off Zoo long enough for you to hardcast the big goons, assuming you wiped 3+ of their creatures.
Those GP winners are doing us proud. The differentiation in their setups, right down to their mana bases, is pretty interesting. One guy went all in on land denial and destruction, another more or less eschewed it altogether, and the third ran a middle-of-the-road setup with Fulminators main and Blood Moon in the side. There was even a sideboarded Olivia Voldaren (see, I wasn't crazy!).
Haha that's funny about the Olivia tech, I never noticed that until now. I was actually considering that the other day and backed away thinking it would be too cute/spicy.
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Standard // nRG Aggro
Modern // Burn (main) and Living End (secondary) now Jund.
For fun check out my janky combo primer: Turn 3 Grixis Combo
"Can't beat em' Jund em'!"
Didn't run so hot at the open. Not going to write a full report (at least not immediately) but my matches were incredibly swingy with high highs and low lows.
A lot of it had to do with my leyline of sanctity's in the board. I faced against DS twice in the 5 rounds I played and the game where I opened with it, it was an absolute slaughter where 3/4 of the deck was shut down but the games where I didn't have it in my openings was brutal because they were literally dead draws.
I also lost to a non-blue tron variant for the first time in a very long time. Granted it was running mainboard relics but my draws were screwing me despite giving me the LD.
All in all, I think white leylines are an absolute must in a DS heavy meta but it's so inherently RNG and basically coin-flip in nature.
Those GP winners are doing us proud. The differentiation in their setups, right down to their mana bases, is pretty interesting. One guy went all in on land denial and destruction, another more or less eschewed it altogether, and the third ran a middle-of-the-road setup with Fulminators main and Blood Moon in the side. There was even a sideboarded Olivia Voldaren (see, I wasn't crazy!).
Just shows that the deck can be built in a variety of ways, and still be succesful to some degree.
I do wonder against what decks that Olivia Voldaren is used for?
Those GP winners are doing us proud. The differentiation in their setups, right down to their mana bases, is pretty interesting. One guy went all in on land denial and destruction, another more or less eschewed it altogether, and the third ran a middle-of-the-road setup with Fulminators main and Blood Moon in the side. There was even a sideboarded Olivia Voldaren (see, I wasn't crazy!).
Just shows that the deck can be built in a variety of ways, and still be succesful to some degree.
I do wonder against what decks that Olivia Voldaren is used for?
What do u Guys think about Chandra in the side? Olivia is fine but Chandra is great
The same thing that Olivia is usually always used for and that is stealing troublesome creatures. Basically slow grindy match ups you can ping little utility creatures or if they slow roll you anticipating an impending Living End by holding back dudes to deploy post Living End; you can just start stealing creatures if there is a board stall.
As far as chandra, torch of defiance goes I'm not sure what she does for us here if much at all. I could see her being useful if we are locked out of combat damage win con via an ensnaring bridge. She could be an alternative option to the faith of the devoted back up plan...?
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Standard // nRG Aggro
Modern // Burn (main) and Living End (secondary) now Jund.
For fun check out my janky combo primer: Turn 3 Grixis Combo
"Can't beat em' Jund em'!"
Yeah, that's what I intended for her. Bridge decks and decks with strong gy hate she could be pretty good with our blood moons,mages doing work on their Mana base
RE: Snowfire 784
I was noticing that as well and have been thinking about that. Horror of the Broken Lands is still the best Living End creature to have been printed. But the Cerodon has been stranded in my hand a couple of times which pushed me to swap Blooming Marsh for the current Bloodstained Mires in my deck because I feel like I MUST have the turn 1 to ensure I can cast both the Horror and Cerodon. I pay the price though. Going to 15 thanks to fetch/shock + a single Street Wraith has cost me games vs Zoo and Burn already and it feels bad. I also noticed the the Copenhagen list didn't have a single Faerie Macabre in it.
Edit: any one else notice the 4x demonic dread as to the 3x DD/ 1x Kari Zev's expertise. Why don't I see lists running Kari Zev's any more? What gives?
Standard // nRG Aggro
Modern // Burn (main) and Living End (secondary) now Jund.
For fun check out my janky combo primer: Turn 3 Grixis Combo
"Can't beat em' Jund em'!"
I just had to pick up living end again after i saw the performance at GP Copenhagen. Do you guys/girls think it's possible to play a 4c or even 5c living end with Gemstone Mines? I gave it a shot with 4c.
I didn't test this list at all yet. I just think that the Sphinx is a great card to give some more consistency after the first LE resolved. What are your thoughts?
You're going to have to specify which coco deck, the one that jams as many combo pieces? The new devoted vizier one? Viscera seer combo? Angel spikefeeder? Mix and match versions?
That said, in the blind, faeries for sac outlet and shriekmaw for non-sac outlet based win-cons, and slaughter gameish effects hoping they don't chord/coco in response. Also hope and pray they're not jamming every version of the combo in the deck for extra resiliency.
Storm: Shriekmaw and any GY hate, white leylines if you're running those plus some serious prayers to the gods that they fizzle because they can fight through all of the above.
I also tinkered with a white heavy manabase and 3-4 Kor Firewalkers but the burn matchup was still mostly unwinnable.
The problem with this kind of plan is that it only wins you one game. These cards are only game-winning if unexpected. Storm will get their Bolts in, Dredge will put a few Nature's Claim/Decay, Ad Nauseam will play a few Slaughter pacts etc. So outside of the Affinity Plan, I don't think they're good enough.
On an interesting note, Stony Silence was also decent against Ad Nauseam with Living Ends still in the deck.
Faerie Macabre honestly comes in all the time against a lot of decks people think we would have bad matchups with. It plus Beast Within deal with most things.
4 desert cerodon
4 street wraith
4 architects of will
4 fulminator mage
3 simian spirit guide
2 pale recluse
1 shriekmaw
4 Beast within
4 violent outburst
3 demonic dread
3 living end
1 kari zev's expertise
4 bloodstain mire
2 blooming marsh
1 copperline gorge
1 forest
1 swamp
1 mountain
1 godless shrine
1 stomping grounds
1 blood crypt
1 overgrown tomb
1 kessig wolf run
4 leyline of sanctity
3 ingot chewer
3 faerie macabre
1 shriekmaw
3 lost legacy
1 dead//gone
This list is currently tuned (or in the process of being tuned) for the new counter company combo deck as well as storm/burn being decks that we struggle against. Despite knowing that it's the north east and that we're going to have an usually high amount of U/W/x players as well as delver or Grixis DS over Jund DS, i'm going to eschew ricochet traps for the first time hoping to shore up my match ups against burn and storm which I feel will be well represented at the tournament.
edit: thinking on it, I kind of want my dead//gone to be a anger of the gods.
The other thing you could do with that slot is play a 4th copy of Living End - I've done that a few times as an "extra chance" against control decks and it wasn't terrible. Frees up a couple sideboard slots to fight burn, too.
If they get viscera seer out, it doesn't matter either way, they're saccing. Against company, i'd play the anger against the devoted vizier portion of the deck and hope I can get to faerie macabre to deal with the rest assuming they still keep a portion of the viscera seer/anafenza/finks combo.
I think I rather just have slots against decks we inherently struggle with. Control isn't storm or burn, land destruction is something they're quite weak to if timed correctly.
Does LE usually have a rough time against Zoo? I was under the impression that Zoo should be a breeze for LE because it's a creature based aggro deck. The sort of thing that a deck with a built in turn 3 wrath preys upon. It just felt like Zoo was too fast. By the time I could fire off a cascade spell and wipe the board they had enough Atarka's Commands, Helices, and Bolts to close out the game.
Any tips aside from hiding a 5th copy of Shriekmaw up my sleeve?
Modern // Burn (main) and Living End (secondary) now Jund.
For fun check out my janky combo primer: Turn 3 Grixis Combo
"Can't beat em' Jund em'!"
3 Living End decks.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gpkob17/grand-prix-trial-winning-decklists-2017-05-26
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
Zoo is definitely a favorable matchup for us, but I've had some close calls against them. When deciding whether to mulligan or keep, prioritize Outburst and Simian Guide even more than usual--the ability to Cascade at instant speed, from T2 on if necessary, is even more important than usual. Even a very suboptimal LE bringing back a Horror and two Street Wraiths can wall off Zoo long enough for you to hardcast the big goons, assuming you wiped 3+ of their creatures.
Those GP winners are doing us proud. The differentiation in their setups, right down to their mana bases, is pretty interesting. One guy went all in on land denial and destruction, another more or less eschewed it altogether, and the third ran a middle-of-the-road setup with Fulminators main and Blood Moon in the side. There was even a sideboarded Olivia Voldaren (see, I wasn't crazy!).
Modern // Burn (main) and Living End (secondary) now Jund.
For fun check out my janky combo primer: Turn 3 Grixis Combo
"Can't beat em' Jund em'!"
A lot of it had to do with my leyline of sanctity's in the board. I faced against DS twice in the 5 rounds I played and the game where I opened with it, it was an absolute slaughter where 3/4 of the deck was shut down but the games where I didn't have it in my openings was brutal because they were literally dead draws.
I also lost to a non-blue tron variant for the first time in a very long time. Granted it was running mainboard relics but my draws were screwing me despite giving me the LD.
All in all, I think white leylines are an absolute must in a DS heavy meta but it's so inherently RNG and basically coin-flip in nature.
Just shows that the deck can be built in a variety of ways, and still be succesful to some degree.
I do wonder against what decks that Olivia Voldaren is used for?
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
The same thing that Olivia is usually always used for and that is stealing troublesome creatures. Basically slow grindy match ups you can ping little utility creatures or if they slow roll you anticipating an impending Living End by holding back dudes to deploy post Living End; you can just start stealing creatures if there is a board stall.
As far as chandra, torch of defiance goes I'm not sure what she does for us here if much at all. I could see her being useful if we are locked out of combat damage win con via an ensnaring bridge. She could be an alternative option to the faith of the devoted back up plan...?
Modern // Burn (main) and Living End (secondary) now Jund.
For fun check out my janky combo primer: Turn 3 Grixis Combo
"Can't beat em' Jund em'!"
EDH: Borborygmos Enraged, Sedris, The Traitor King
60 Card: Grixis Delver, Living End, Shardless BUG, Ninjas
I was noticing that as well and have been thinking about that. Horror of the Broken Lands is still the best Living End creature to have been printed. But the Cerodon has been stranded in my hand a couple of times which pushed me to swap Blooming Marsh for the current Bloodstained Mires in my deck because I feel like I MUST have the
Edit: any one else notice the 4x demonic dread as to the 3x DD/ 1x Kari Zev's expertise. Why don't I see lists running Kari Zev's any more? What gives?
Modern // Burn (main) and Living End (secondary) now Jund.
For fun check out my janky combo primer: Turn 3 Grixis Combo
"Can't beat em' Jund em'!"
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Blooming Marsh
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Watery Grave
3 Gemstone Mine
2 Swamp
1 Forest
4 Horror of the Broken Lands
3 Curator of Mysteries
2 Architects of Will
4 Desert Cerodon
4 Fulminator Mage
1 Shriekmaw
4 Street Wraith
3 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Archfiend of Ifnir
3 Living End
4 Violent Outburst
3 Beast Within
3 Krosan Grip
3 Ingot Chewer
2 Faerie Macabre
3 Gnaw to the Bone
3 Riccochet Trap
1 Shriekmaw
I didn't test this list at all yet. I just think that the Sphinx is a great card to give some more consistency after the first LE resolved. What are your thoughts?
BRGJundGRB
GCTronCG
WBRMardu PyromancerRBW
Legacy:
GElvesG
Well, having a sphinx in hand - it won't feel so bad when an opponent Spreading Seas one of my land.
Nexus MTG News // Nexus - Magic Art Gallery // MTG Dual Land Color Ratios Analyzer // MTG Card Drawing Odds Calculator
Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread