I went 3-0 lastnight agaist UB faeries, abzan company and affinity.
Abzan was the hardest, they had a mainboard anafenza foremost that was a pain.With e-witness he was able to keep it on board most of the game.I had one desert ceradon doing most of the work,my first cycler at the beginning of the game.used all 3 living end before I got there.
UB faeries, spellstutter sprite and familar ruse on top of targeted discard was brutal,love how dead this deck makes push though.The only target he had was dryad arbor which I didn't care about.Eventually I got there,game two I thought I was a goner until a top decked demonic dread #4 resolved finally! Deadshot minotaur earned it's spot.
Affinity,nothing special,had zero answers,tried to jam the board of creatures with platings only to see violent outburst. Easy peasy.
I have been using eight of the new cycle lands with the majority of my land base being fastlands and I liked having them,the extra cyclers with horror's was great.I increased the land count by two by removing my two MB beast within's. Not once did I ever SB in anger either and it worked out.(testing MB against hate so I didn't use SB all night,throws opponents off when you don't SB so I found out.)
I'm getting the feeling that this deck is far more underrated than people expect. I have went 11-1-1 the past 3 weeks at my lgs. I don't think people really know how to play against it. I plan on grinding the hell out of the deck until the modern open in Cincinnati in October. My hopes are to at least cash. So top 64.
You definitely get free wins with this deck when playing against people who have not played the matchup before. You probably won't get that luxury against the top tables after 3 or 4 rounds of an Open or a GP though.
But if you are keeping in the land destruction package, you still will get free wins from blowing up two lands.
Game 1 I cannot find a cascade, so I lost.
Game 2 I lose to Eternal Witness bring back Rest and Piece, even 1 enchantment removal is not enough.
Round 2:
VS Eldrazi Tron
Game 1, He goes first, lost to his fast turn 3/ turn 4 eldrazi things, then follow up with a huge Walking Balista.
Game 2, Now I go first, I won due to 2 early Fulminator Mage.
Game 3, He goes first, now it is a fast turn 3 Smasher, I stopped it, but he drop a turn 4 Ugin, then a turn 5 huge Walking Balista, I didn't draw a single LD and Simian Spirit Guide to go faster.
(maybe just some badluck but will try get better next week, 1st time playing the deck tho)
I think if you want to seriously playing Living End you must maindeck 4 Fulminator Mage, this card is the must have in the deck since the meta is full of Tron/Grixis, trio-colored deck.
First game is straightforward in which we both realize the situation and matchup outlook. A couple cyclers in the yard and a living end making short work of G1. Games 2 and 3 he leads off with leyline of the void, I lose in G2 because I decided to take the route of blowing up his leyline only for him to drop another one invalidating all my work, but in G3, he doesn't have a spare leyline and after blowing it up, I proceed to resolve a living end. A key misplay was that my opponent had forgotten that the living end was occuring during combat and that I had taken him off of his only red source and that he passed to 2nd main phase without using the mana, it didn't take much to close out the rest of the game.
Round 2 vs GW Hatebears (more midrangey with loxodon smiters) (2-0)
He plops a thalia down on the second turn so i'm forced to wait till turn 5. Unfortunately, he couldn't get enough pressure and my turn 5 living end easily overpowered him. Game 2 was an interesting match. He leads off with double vial and flashes in a scooze on a razorverge and ghost quarter in response to my living end, he eats up one guys and ghost quarters his razorverge to get the second green source to eat my fulminator leaving me with one creature left. He was punished for that greedy play by not hitting a white source for several consecutive turns while I set up a second living end and grind him the old fashion way with better creatures and my cascade spells without casting living end.
Round 3 vs Naya Burn (0-2)
Lose die roll, lose game one. Nothing new. Didn't see leyline in game 2's opener but had a solid hand and on the play. Still lost.
Round 4 vs Boros Burn? (2-1)
Seemed more boros with inspiring vantage but game one was about par for the course, I quickly lose. Game 2 and 3 was absolutely hilarious though. I see leyline this time around and drop it down, my opponent leads with a relic and I start to cycle, to which he responds my tapping it targeting me to which I remind him he cannot target me. He promptly scoops saying he couldn't beat that. I was definitely not expecting that response. He rushes for the SB and i'm 100% sure he's getting his destructive revelry which I jokingly say out loud. I thought it would be hilarious to bring in lost legacy to see what would happen and my opening hand contains a leyline, a lost legacy, and decent amount of creatures and lands. I get to three mana and drop the lost legacy naming destructive revelry to which he promptly scoops, leaving me incredulous that it actually worked.
Round 5 vs Grixis Shadow (2-1)
I force through a living end in game 1 through a stubborn denial by some early land destruction and keeping him at one blue source while using 5 lands + SSG to ensure one living end resolves. My GY was stocked and consequently, my post living end board state was quite unmanageable for my opponent to which he scoops. Game two I didn't see a leyline in my opener but I keep regardless, he proceeds to strip my hand while countering my living ends with stubborn denial all while wacking me with a DS and Angler.
Game 3 was a real nail biter, I mull to 5 and see double leyline, two cyclers and a land which was about as good as it gets for a 5 card hand against DS. I catch him off guard because he realizes all his cards in hand are pretty much useless when leyline is out so he can't play fast. I double faerie macabre his GY to keep him off his delve creature plan while I recover from a mull to 5 and I fire off an early living end only to have my GY stripped by double surgical extractions leaving me with only a single street wraith. What was nice was that he forgot my street wraith has swampwalk and has to try to force creatures to put me on defensive, he assembles a board state that had me dead on board unless I top deck a kessig wolf run...to which I top deck the kessig wolf run to win the game.
Round 6 vs Dredgeless vengevine
Not sure what to make of the deck, it seemed like part zombie tribal part vengevine, either way it was far too slow in both games against living end and the creature suite just couldn't match ours.
Round 7 intentional draw
Top 8
vs RB Zombie tribal (0-2)
The universe decided to balance the luck scale after my kessig top deck by having me draw all my living ends in G1 within the first 2 turns. I did have the kari zev's expertise but my opponent double checked the rules and proceeded to remove his own creature and I scoop to that. G2, he has a polluted delta sitting pretty which I thought represented counter magic so I held off until I had the mana for two living ends. Instead of counterspell he lobs a rakdos charm at my GY and I decided to take the route of firing my second living end to save my GY that I built. Sadly, I drew my other living end and didn't have a kari zev's expertise.
Notes
Nothing really new, I did do a new SB strat for grixis shadow by siding out all my LD for leyline and trap package, seemed okay enough but i'm not 100% sold. Other than that, leyline is still an absolute beast when it's in the opener, it's more versatile than life gain which ate up space for just the burn matchup. Leyline hits multiple decks including DS, burn, and scapeshift. While it is true that it's inherently RNG, I feel like life gain is equally RNG against burn because of the anti-life gain cards they have access to.
Interesting thing about the meta at the IQ was that there was 5 living end players in the room including me. Normally it's just me but quite a few people showed up on it.
thanks for the write up and your notes on leyline. its kinda cool to see a bunch of people playing LE because its such a cool/underrated deck yet at the same time it makes me sad that its kind of a "fad" to be playing it right now...
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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'!"
I can't lie in that i'm slightly bothered by the fact that a lot of people have jumped on the deck but it's more rooted in a practical outlook. living end has a high diminishing return effect as more players jump in (and over time as well). It means more chances to get the mirror (which is an absolute nightmare), and more people prepping their SB as well as taking the time out to learn the intricacies of the deck through exposure.
Though I guess it's cool to have the reputation of a living end "expert" which apparently was the case going through the tournament.
That is one thing I havent run into yet and that is playing against the mirror. How does that even shake out? How do you approach the mirror match?
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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'!"
That is one thing I havent run into yet and that is playing against the mirror. How does that even shake out? How do you approach the mirror match?
First off bring in graveyard hate.
Then there are two strategies:
1) Go Faster and harder. Winning is just having a better hand.
2) Wait for them to LE. Then cycle as many as possible and LE yourself. Now you're locked into an alternating win position. its not about having the most in your GY it's about posturing and position
Look at your hand and decide which game you can win.
It's the dumbest game of chicken. First one to blink (cast the living end) is most likely the one that's going to lose. The only other factor to consider is who gets lucky and draws faerie macabre.
Otherwise, it's two players trying to maintain a decent mix between GY and battlefield and making sure they don't get locked out on lands or color sources.
Interesting... I don't think it replaces anything in the deck, though. Could turn 1 a 4/4 with a couple Street Wraiths, I guess.
I took the deck for a spin tonight and went 4-0-1 (BG rock, Jeskai Gifts, Esperanza control, and Tron) splitting the top 8.
The deck feels really powerful right now.
Plan B got a lot better and we're faster with really good 1-mana cyclers. I do think it's becoming more important to have the optimal mana base though, as you need to be able to have specifically Black or specifically Red on turn 1 more often. IMO, 4x Blackcleave Cliffs and at least 1 Bloodstained Mire seem necessary. And Grove of the Burnwillows seems like something that should be prioritized, too.
That Hallow One looks really interesting. Its like affinity for cycling.
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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'!"
Hollow one seems like a pretty cool early play, we cycle 1-2 cards per turn pretty easy and he can get cheap fast. Idk what would come out for him though. Ideally you probably want him out pre-LE so he's mostly just a meatshield and Shriekmaw is probably better for early interaction. On the other hand, he also seems like he could be maindeckable early pressure against tron. I'm leaning towards him not being quite good enough but it's a cool design.
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My Decks:
UG Merfolk RG 8-Whack BWG Abzan midrange GRB Living End UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin" RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!" BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
Hollow one seems like a pretty cool early play, we cycle 1-2 cards per turn pretty easy and he can get cheap fast. Idk what would come out for him though. Ideally you probably want him out pre-LE so he's mostly just a meatshield and Shriekmaw is probably better for early interaction. On the other hand, he also seems like he could be maindeckable early pressure against tron. I'm leaning towards him not being quite good enough but it's a cool design.
Early pressure vs Tron, we'd much rather have Fulminator.
It is nice that he dodges Bolt, Fatal Push and Go For the Throat, though. I'm hoping for something better still.
The card is far too cute and dependent. At 2 mana, it's already going up a creek so I expect the upsides to be more than just a paddle.
The way I see it is that the cost reduction ability is only good at presenting a wall against decks that plop out non-flying creatures really fast like zoo or burn, and ideally we want this turn one, latest two, which means we need specific cards like street wraith or SSGs to pull it off. That's far too much dependency for it to be reliable.
To put it into perspective, even if the cycling cost was 1 mana, i'd still wouldn't be sold. It would be better than carabid but still have to compete with horror and cerodon, colorless cycling is nice but most of the time it would be a vanilla 4/4
While Hollow One seems like it's made more for vintage to interact with Bazaar, or legacy to be run next to Faithless Looting, I will regardless be getting a play set for LE just in case. The potential for it to be a free 4/4 is too appealing to me. If you are really aggro you can run 4x Faeries Macabres to power him out earlier, but that really only feels worth while if the Macabres are needed in the match up to begin with.
It does block beast within tokens all day long though. Im just not sure that there is any space in the list anymore for a 2 mana cycler.
I'm just not sure what having a 4/4 in play does for us in most matchups. Creature based aggro strategies are already very vulnerable to our cascade cards, as they vomit their hand directly into a wrath. Plus he nombos with Ingot Chewer in some matchups.
If this guy had a clause like 'When Hollow One enters the battlefield, you may destroy target enchantment' that would be awesome as an answer to RIP/Leyline. It would give us a way to sandbag cyclers to knock out those hosers.
But, sans that, I'm not really that interested. Someone may prove me wrong, but I'll wait and see before I get excited.
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Modern RBGLiving EndRBG
EDH UFblthpU BRXantchaRB BGVarolzGB URWZedruuWRU
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Abzan was the hardest, they had a mainboard anafenza foremost that was a pain.With e-witness he was able to keep it on board most of the game.I had one desert ceradon doing most of the work,my first cycler at the beginning of the game.used all 3 living end before I got there.
UB faeries, spellstutter sprite and familar ruse on top of targeted discard was brutal,love how dead this deck makes push though.The only target he had was dryad arbor which I didn't care about.Eventually I got there,game two I thought I was a goner until a top decked demonic dread #4 resolved finally! Deadshot minotaur earned it's spot.
Affinity,nothing special,had zero answers,tried to jam the board of creatures with platings only to see violent outburst. Easy peasy.
I have been using eight of the new cycle lands with the majority of my land base being fastlands and I liked having them,the extra cyclers with horror's was great.I increased the land count by two by removing my two MB beast within's. Not once did I ever SB in anger either and it worked out.(testing MB against hate so I didn't use SB all night,throws opponents off when you don't SB so I found out.)
WRBurnRW
URGifts StormRU
RGoblinsR
But if you are keeping in the land destruction package, you still will get free wins from blowing up two lands.
RBGLiving EndRBG
EDH
UFblthpU
BRXantchaRB
BGVarolzGB
URWZedruuWRU
Round 1:
VS G/W hatebear deck,
Game 1 I cannot find a cascade, so I lost.
Game 2 I lose to Eternal Witness bring back Rest and Piece, even 1 enchantment removal is not enough.
Round 2:
VS Eldrazi Tron
Game 1, He goes first, lost to his fast turn 3/ turn 4 eldrazi things, then follow up with a huge Walking Balista.
Game 2, Now I go first, I won due to 2 early Fulminator Mage.
Game 3, He goes first, now it is a fast turn 3 Smasher, I stopped it, but he drop a turn 4 Ugin, then a turn 5 huge Walking Balista, I didn't draw a single LD and Simian Spirit Guide to go faster.
(maybe just some badluck but will try get better next week, 1st time playing the deck tho)
I think if you want to seriously playing Living End you must maindeck 4 Fulminator Mage, this card is the must have in the deck since the meta is full of Tron/Grixis, trio-colored deck.
EDH: Xenagos, God of Revels.
4 desert cerodon
4 street wraith
4 architects of will
4 fulminator mage
3 simian spirit guide
2 pale recluse
2 Faerie Macabre
3 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
1 faerie macabre
2 shriekmaw
2 lost legacy
3 Ricochet trap
Round 1 vs Traditional Jund (2-1)
First game is straightforward in which we both realize the situation and matchup outlook. A couple cyclers in the yard and a living end making short work of G1. Games 2 and 3 he leads off with leyline of the void, I lose in G2 because I decided to take the route of blowing up his leyline only for him to drop another one invalidating all my work, but in G3, he doesn't have a spare leyline and after blowing it up, I proceed to resolve a living end. A key misplay was that my opponent had forgotten that the living end was occuring during combat and that I had taken him off of his only red source and that he passed to 2nd main phase without using the mana, it didn't take much to close out the rest of the game.
Round 2 vs GW Hatebears (more midrangey with loxodon smiters) (2-0)
He plops a thalia down on the second turn so i'm forced to wait till turn 5. Unfortunately, he couldn't get enough pressure and my turn 5 living end easily overpowered him. Game 2 was an interesting match. He leads off with double vial and flashes in a scooze on a razorverge and ghost quarter in response to my living end, he eats up one guys and ghost quarters his razorverge to get the second green source to eat my fulminator leaving me with one creature left. He was punished for that greedy play by not hitting a white source for several consecutive turns while I set up a second living end and grind him the old fashion way with better creatures and my cascade spells without casting living end.
Round 3 vs Naya Burn (0-2)
Lose die roll, lose game one. Nothing new. Didn't see leyline in game 2's opener but had a solid hand and on the play. Still lost.
Round 4 vs Boros Burn? (2-1)
Seemed more boros with inspiring vantage but game one was about par for the course, I quickly lose. Game 2 and 3 was absolutely hilarious though. I see leyline this time around and drop it down, my opponent leads with a relic and I start to cycle, to which he responds my tapping it targeting me to which I remind him he cannot target me. He promptly scoops saying he couldn't beat that. I was definitely not expecting that response. He rushes for the SB and i'm 100% sure he's getting his destructive revelry which I jokingly say out loud. I thought it would be hilarious to bring in lost legacy to see what would happen and my opening hand contains a leyline, a lost legacy, and decent amount of creatures and lands. I get to three mana and drop the lost legacy naming destructive revelry to which he promptly scoops, leaving me incredulous that it actually worked.
Round 5 vs Grixis Shadow (2-1)
I force through a living end in game 1 through a stubborn denial by some early land destruction and keeping him at one blue source while using 5 lands + SSG to ensure one living end resolves. My GY was stocked and consequently, my post living end board state was quite unmanageable for my opponent to which he scoops. Game two I didn't see a leyline in my opener but I keep regardless, he proceeds to strip my hand while countering my living ends with stubborn denial all while wacking me with a DS and Angler.
Game 3 was a real nail biter, I mull to 5 and see double leyline, two cyclers and a land which was about as good as it gets for a 5 card hand against DS. I catch him off guard because he realizes all his cards in hand are pretty much useless when leyline is out so he can't play fast. I double faerie macabre his GY to keep him off his delve creature plan while I recover from a mull to 5 and I fire off an early living end only to have my GY stripped by double surgical extractions leaving me with only a single street wraith. What was nice was that he forgot my street wraith has swampwalk and has to try to force creatures to put me on defensive, he assembles a board state that had me dead on board unless I top deck a kessig wolf run...to which I top deck the kessig wolf run to win the game.
Round 6 vs Dredgeless vengevine
Not sure what to make of the deck, it seemed like part zombie tribal part vengevine, either way it was far too slow in both games against living end and the creature suite just couldn't match ours.
Round 7 intentional draw
Top 8
vs RB Zombie tribal (0-2)
The universe decided to balance the luck scale after my kessig top deck by having me draw all my living ends in G1 within the first 2 turns. I did have the kari zev's expertise but my opponent double checked the rules and proceeded to remove his own creature and I scoop to that. G2, he has a polluted delta sitting pretty which I thought represented counter magic so I held off until I had the mana for two living ends. Instead of counterspell he lobs a rakdos charm at my GY and I decided to take the route of firing my second living end to save my GY that I built. Sadly, I drew my other living end and didn't have a kari zev's expertise.
Notes
Nothing really new, I did do a new SB strat for grixis shadow by siding out all my LD for leyline and trap package, seemed okay enough but i'm not 100% sold. Other than that, leyline is still an absolute beast when it's in the opener, it's more versatile than life gain which ate up space for just the burn matchup. Leyline hits multiple decks including DS, burn, and scapeshift. While it is true that it's inherently RNG, I feel like life gain is equally RNG against burn because of the anti-life gain cards they have access to.
Interesting thing about the meta at the IQ was that there was 5 living end players in the room including me. Normally it's just me but quite a few people showed up on it.
Can u help me with a sideguide? Having some trouble with what bring in and what side out.
Here's my actual list
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
3 Blooming Marsh
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Blood Crypt
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Copperline Gorge
1 Stomping Ground
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
4 Street Wraith
2 Archfiend of Ifnir
4 Monstrous Carabid
4 Desert Cerodon
3 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Faerie Macabre
4 Horror of the Broken Lands
4 Fulminator Mage
2 Beast Within
3 Living End
4 Violent Outburst
4 Demonic Dread
2 Brindle Boar
3 Ingot Chewer
2 Ricochet Trap
2 Slaughter Games
1 Krosan Grip
1 Beast Within
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'!"
Though I guess it's cool to have the reputation of a living end "expert" which apparently was the case going through the tournament.
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'!"
First off bring in graveyard hate.
Then there are two strategies:
1) Go Faster and harder. Winning is just having a better hand.
2) Wait for them to LE. Then cycle as many as possible and LE yourself. Now you're locked into an alternating win position. its not about having the most in your GY it's about posturing and position
Look at your hand and decide which game you can win.
Otherwise, it's two players trying to maintain a decent mix between GY and battlefield and making sure they don't get locked out on lands or color sources.
Here's an interesting one:
http://imgur.com/CcKTxUV
Hollow One (5)
Artifact Creature - Golem (Rare)
Hollow One costs (2) less to cast for each card you've cycled or discarded this turn.
Cycling (2)
4/4
I took the deck for a spin tonight and went 4-0-1 (BG rock, Jeskai Gifts, Esperanza control, and Tron) splitting the top 8.
The deck feels really powerful right now.
Plan B got a lot better and we're faster with really good 1-mana cyclers. I do think it's becoming more important to have the optimal mana base though, as you need to be able to have specifically Black or specifically Red on turn 1 more often. IMO, 4x Blackcleave Cliffs and at least 1 Bloodstained Mire seem necessary. And Grove of the Burnwillows seems like something that should be prioritized, too.
RBGLiving EndRBG
EDH
UFblthpU
BRXantchaRB
BGVarolzGB
URWZedruuWRU
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'!"
RG 8-Whack
BWG Abzan midrange
GRB Living End
UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin"
RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!"
BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
Early pressure vs Tron, we'd much rather have Fulminator.
It is nice that he dodges Bolt, Fatal Push and Go For the Throat, though. I'm hoping for something better still.
RBGLiving EndRBG
EDH
UFblthpU
BRXantchaRB
BGVarolzGB
URWZedruuWRU
The way I see it is that the cost reduction ability is only good at presenting a wall against decks that plop out non-flying creatures really fast like zoo or burn, and ideally we want this turn one, latest two, which means we need specific cards like street wraith or SSGs to pull it off. That's far too much dependency for it to be reliable.
To put it into perspective, even if the cycling cost was 1 mana, i'd still wouldn't be sold. It would be better than carabid but still have to compete with horror and cerodon, colorless cycling is nice but most of the time it would be a vanilla 4/4
Also: If you're running 5c LE he can trigger Glassdust hulks if you hardcast him. So then it would be pretty playable imo
BRGJundGRB
GCTronCG
WBRMardu PyromancerRBW
Legacy:
GElvesG
It does block beast within tokens all day long though. Im just not sure that there is any space in the list anymore for a 2 mana cycler.
Http://www.fantasticneighborhood.com/
Comedy gaming podcast. Listening to it makes you cool.
If this guy had a clause like 'When Hollow One enters the battlefield, you may destroy target enchantment' that would be awesome as an answer to RIP/Leyline. It would give us a way to sandbag cyclers to knock out those hosers.
But, sans that, I'm not really that interested. Someone may prove me wrong, but I'll wait and see before I get excited.
RBGLiving EndRBG
EDH
UFblthpU
BRXantchaRB
BGVarolzGB
URWZedruuWRU