I often find that if you kept a hand you should have against burn, feed will generally be for 10 life. Again, with games where you kept acceptable hands, five is also often enough life to win on the margin life difference. I often cast timely when they aren't tapped out if they have only a single mana and also when I have 4 mana up and an inquisition to cast before it.
I like rest for the weary, but in burn games where you aren't allowed to be greedy with mana--I'm often a little choked on white (probably just my personal fetching choices) unless land drops just fall into place. As I bring in disfigure and take out path, this is more true. I don't like how you can only play around stuff at instant speed off of a fetch, which you may not always have or have already cracked in order to keep up tempo.
---
I've been playing with a grave titan in my side for the mirror--and loving it. It could and probably should be something else, but...I just like it and it usually always wins me the game when I land it. I am however, looking for cheaper mirror breakers and also looking at the new mm2 spoilers (not to be discussed PLZ). Has anyone ever played with Creakwood liege? Seems like it could work, I also would like to experiment with ascendant evincar and crovax, ascendant hero--for funsies. Besides drawing better (swapping discard for stuff) and trying to outplay your opponent in the junk mirror, does anyone do anything else to try and seal the match? My 5-1-1 record over the last two weeks includes a loss to junk, and a draw (that I would have lost in 1 more turn) to junk. The pilots are probably just more experienced with the deck than I, so I'm looking for a cheap shot. I also like spicy/bad cards. Assume I'm playing the stock list with no dorks/finks.
has anyone thought about or tried Ajani, Mentor of Heroes?? just thought I would ask since I had come back from break of magic pretty recent and saw him back a while ago, he just peaked my interest. And I know highly unlikely but I think it would be cool to do his ultimate to gain 100 life.
I went 2-2 tonight, beating jund and affinity, losing to grixis twin (ok hands that ended up flooding a little) and RG tron.
I really want to build a sideboard that doesn't fold to tron but I can't really find any actual trumps--any one know of any? I was thinking gaddock teeg and hero's downfall--is there anything better in addition to the stony silences? Is it worth bothering even trying to win this match up?
Anyone in here still playing obliterock? I haven't played any magic in 5 or 6 weeks and I wanna go to some modern pptqs soon. Just wondering if there's an updated list anywhere.
Standard Mardu Midrange Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
Alright, so lets say your commander is Riku of Two Reflections. Combo commander, to be sure, but lets push this into the realm of absurd. You cast Palinchron and do your Riku thing to make infinite mana because we're going to need it. Forget about your extra Palinchron tokens. A million flying 4/5s is boring. So now you cast Enter the Infinite, because drawing your deck is important. Follow it up with a Obstinate Familiar because not decking yourself is equally important. Laboratory Maniac could work here too, but we're gonna go some more levels deep. Cast a Greater Good because we want a tasteful sac outlet. Follow this up with Parallel Lives, Doubling Season,Copy Enchantment, Clever Impersonator, Mycosynth Latice, Phyrexian Metamorph, and Copy Artifact giving you 6 double token effects. Here's where it gets fun now. Cast a Reef Worm. Sac it to greater good and get 256 Fish, which you sac to get 65,536 whales, which you sac to get 16,777,216 Krakens. Are we done yet? Nope! Cast Thromok the Insatiable, devouring all your krakens to make a 281,474,976,710,656/281,474,976,710,656 Thromok. Where do we go from here though? Let your opponent cast Death Mutation on him! Why, that's 7.20575940x10^16 tokens! Good thing we have Body Double to make another Thromok the Insatiable who will be a 5.19229686x10^33/5.19229686x10^33! Seems big enough, but not for us! Since we're red anyways, lets cast a Furnace of Rath, Dictate of the Twin Gods, and a Fire Servant! Now it's time to Fling your guy, dealing a spicy 4.15383749x10^34 damage to your opponent. To put that in perspective, there are an estimated 3x10^23 stars in the known universe. You dealt more damage than there are stars. That'll give your opponent something to think about. PROTIP: Dodge Spellskite decks
There arent really any new cards for the deck right now. The deck is definitely a little worse right now since so many decks are playing terminate and path (blame siege rhino)
Fair enough. I imagine twin is still an issue that makes bolt a bit worse. Incidentally, siege rhino is the exact reason I was to play onliterators. They kinda just stonewall it. maybe I need to look into different avenues for the deck though.
Standard Mardu Midrange Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
Alright, so lets say your commander is Riku of Two Reflections. Combo commander, to be sure, but lets push this into the realm of absurd. You cast Palinchron and do your Riku thing to make infinite mana because we're going to need it. Forget about your extra Palinchron tokens. A million flying 4/5s is boring. So now you cast Enter the Infinite, because drawing your deck is important. Follow it up with a Obstinate Familiar because not decking yourself is equally important. Laboratory Maniac could work here too, but we're gonna go some more levels deep. Cast a Greater Good because we want a tasteful sac outlet. Follow this up with Parallel Lives, Doubling Season,Copy Enchantment, Clever Impersonator, Mycosynth Latice, Phyrexian Metamorph, and Copy Artifact giving you 6 double token effects. Here's where it gets fun now. Cast a Reef Worm. Sac it to greater good and get 256 Fish, which you sac to get 65,536 whales, which you sac to get 16,777,216 Krakens. Are we done yet? Nope! Cast Thromok the Insatiable, devouring all your krakens to make a 281,474,976,710,656/281,474,976,710,656 Thromok. Where do we go from here though? Let your opponent cast Death Mutation on him! Why, that's 7.20575940x10^16 tokens! Good thing we have Body Double to make another Thromok the Insatiable who will be a 5.19229686x10^33/5.19229686x10^33! Seems big enough, but not for us! Since we're red anyways, lets cast a Furnace of Rath, Dictate of the Twin Gods, and a Fire Servant! Now it's time to Fling your guy, dealing a spicy 4.15383749x10^34 damage to your opponent. To put that in perspective, there are an estimated 3x10^23 stars in the known universe. You dealt more damage than there are stars. That'll give your opponent something to think about. PROTIP: Dodge Spellskite decks
No. twin has nothing to do with it. It has to do with a shift away from abrupt decay to things that kill 4cmc creatures, meaning that people are more likely to have answers for obliterator. Its really a metagame call. Id rather be playing Jund right now. Olivia is even better against siege rhino.
Standard Mardu Midrange Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
Alright, so lets say your commander is Riku of Two Reflections. Combo commander, to be sure, but lets push this into the realm of absurd. You cast Palinchron and do your Riku thing to make infinite mana because we're going to need it. Forget about your extra Palinchron tokens. A million flying 4/5s is boring. So now you cast Enter the Infinite, because drawing your deck is important. Follow it up with a Obstinate Familiar because not decking yourself is equally important. Laboratory Maniac could work here too, but we're gonna go some more levels deep. Cast a Greater Good because we want a tasteful sac outlet. Follow this up with Parallel Lives, Doubling Season,Copy Enchantment, Clever Impersonator, Mycosynth Latice, Phyrexian Metamorph, and Copy Artifact giving you 6 double token effects. Here's where it gets fun now. Cast a Reef Worm. Sac it to greater good and get 256 Fish, which you sac to get 65,536 whales, which you sac to get 16,777,216 Krakens. Are we done yet? Nope! Cast Thromok the Insatiable, devouring all your krakens to make a 281,474,976,710,656/281,474,976,710,656 Thromok. Where do we go from here though? Let your opponent cast Death Mutation on him! Why, that's 7.20575940x10^16 tokens! Good thing we have Body Double to make another Thromok the Insatiable who will be a 5.19229686x10^33/5.19229686x10^33! Seems big enough, but not for us! Since we're red anyways, lets cast a Furnace of Rath, Dictate of the Twin Gods, and a Fire Servant! Now it's time to Fling your guy, dealing a spicy 4.15383749x10^34 damage to your opponent. To put that in perspective, there are an estimated 3x10^23 stars in the known universe. You dealt more damage than there are stars. That'll give your opponent something to think about. PROTIP: Dodge Spellskite decks
Play this deck at a GPT. Was fortunate not to meet any burn decks.
Game 1 - 1:1
Mono Red Storm Goblin Deck with Blood moon
Match 1 On Play - Lost to turn 2 Blood Moon
Match 2 On Play - Opponent was at 2 land so with able to take down match 2 with basic lands. I made a mistake of resolving Surgical Extraction without paying the casting cost. That was like a warning.
Match 3 On Draw - Bow of Nylea made up some life vs the 8 little red goblin tokens. The goblins hiding behind 2 Ensnaring Bridge did not help. On hindsight, I made too many mistakes for this match and should have exiled some different cards with Tasigur, The Golden Fang.
Game 2 - 2:1
Bogles
Match 1 On Play - Opponent mulligans to 5 and thus Liliana of the Veil was able to take down the match easily.
Match 2 On Draw - Opponent mulligans to 6 to open with Leyline of Sanctity
Match 3 On Play - Turn 1 Engineered Explosives was able to slow down Bogles for Siege Rhinos to take down the game.
Game 3 - 2:0
Twin
Match 1 On Play - Discarding Turn 1 Splinter Twin and Liliana of The Veil coming in the play took the match down.
Match 2 On Draw - Hmm did not remember much about this match. Discards and Siege Rhino attacks.
Game 4 - 2:1
Infect
Match 1 On Draw - Opponent mulligans to 6. I Inquisition of Kozilek away a Blighted Agent. With the opponent with 2 land drop, the Abrupt Decay should havve been saved for the infect creature instead. Lost this match.
Match 2 On Play - Engineered Explosives bought many turns and a win.
Match 3 On Draw - Sudden Death was good taking down an infect creature when the opponent cast Might of Old Krosa.
Game 5 - 2:1
Ad Nauseam
Match 1 On Play - Discards and Liliana of the Veil took this down quickly.
Match 2 On Draw - I took away his Serum Visions instead of Angel's Grace which would have been better as it is a key part of the combo and he would have to dig for it to go off.
Match 3 On Play - This is madness as I've kept a hand of 4 Lands, 2 Noble Hierarch and a Beast Within. Using Beast Within on a land was like duh from the opponent and myself. It should have been saved for the Lotus Bloom. The opponent had multiple Ad Nauseam and went off digging 7 - 10 cards to be down to 2 life without getting the last piece of the puzzle being Phyrexian Unlife or Angel's Grace. Won with a topdecked Siege Rhino.
Got into Top 8:
Game vs JUND
Match 1 - Lost as did not considered Batterskull combat trip of equipping to manland.
Match 2 - Lost to Stormbreath Dragon and Olivia Voldaren. The dynamic duo of dragon and vampire took the game.
That ends a day
Thoughts:
More practice as I need to play faster. No intentional slow roll though. Its brainfreeze.
More practice vs Jund ... Need to get the miracle out of Maelstrom Pulse to rid Batterskull
With Noble Hierarch, its always sideout on the draw, in for the play as on the play, its a little slow.
I know we don't have a ton of room for utility lands, but have the merits of Vault of the Archangel vs. Gavony Township already been discussed? I feel like almost every argument I make for one, could be made for the other. IE makes your lingering souls better, lets you grind better, helps in the mirror, etc. Just looking for other people's thoughts.
I like Vault of the Archangel best in builds capitalizing on large singular creatures (Tarmogoyf, Knight of the Reliquary, Rhino and Tasgiur). You will still win most standstill battles since most creatures in the mirror are x/(x+1) in power and toughness. A huge swing for life gain in any fair matchup is, well, huge.
For builds relying on pumping more creatures out faster with BoP, Noble Hierarch and Lingering Souls, Gavony Township activation are a much greater beating while being lackluster in match-ups where you might only have one or two creatures on the field.
This is probably a really dumb question, and I feel like I already know the answer, but would like to ask anyway.
Is Windswept Heath substantially worse than Verdant Catacombs due to not fetching black? This isn't a question of whether I have one or the other (I have a playset of both, and Marsh Flats), it's a question of which ones are signed. Heaths are, Vance Kovacs doesn't sign cards so I can't get my verdants signed.
Getting cards in my deck signed is my version of pimping. It's more unique, and cheaper than getting foil versions of the cards.
This is probably a really dumb question, and I feel like I already know the answer, but would like to ask anyway.
Is Windswept Heath substantially worse than Verdant Catacombs due to not fetching black? This isn't a question of whether I have one or the other (I have a playset of both, and Marsh Flats), it's a question of which ones are signed. Heaths are, Vance Kovacs doesn't sign cards so I can't get my verdants signed.
Getting cards in my deck signed is my version of pimping. It's more unique, and cheaper than getting foil versions of the cards.
Play against a blood moon deck and then you tell me. I'd almost rather run Delta before heath if I didn't have verdants in the list. I'm sure people will understand if you explain to them that the card can't be signed--its like printings that don't come in foil.
This is probably a really dumb question, and I feel like I already know the answer, but would like to ask anyway.
Is Windswept Heath substantially worse than Verdant Catacombs due to not fetching black? This isn't a question of whether I have one or the other (I have a playset of both, and Marsh Flats), it's a question of which ones are signed. Heaths are, Vance Kovacs doesn't sign cards so I can't get my verdants signed.
Getting cards in my deck signed is my version of pimping. It's more unique, and cheaper than getting foil versions of the cards.
If you happen to be playing a list that isn't heavy on black, windswept heath is more ideal, but if you're playing the typical list with liliana then you really want verdant catacombs over windswept heath.
Is Windswept Heath substantially worse than Verdant Catacombs due to not fetching black? This isn't a question of whether I have one or the other (I have a playset of both, and Marsh Flats), it's a question of which ones are signed. Heaths are, Vance Kovacs doesn't sign cards so I can't get my verdants signed.
The primary reason why you want Verdant Catacombs for G/B is because of how strong it is on T1. You have the option to get Swamp for games 2/3 and/or take less damage while being able to play disruption on T1. In most builds as well, having access to B is more important than having access to W. It varies slightly by build, but often you may not need W until T4 or T5; whereas quite often you need access to B consistently in the early turns for discard, Abrupt Decay, Liliana, etc. So having early, consistent access to B without the potential pain of Fetch into Shock. This is also one of the reasons why Marsh Flats tends to be slightly more important than Windswept Heath. Like you can play Junk without Catacombs, but it's clearly suboptimal.
All that said, the more you play Abzan as a mix of Little Kid Luck where you play multiple mana dorks, less removal, less liliana, less discard, then the higher priority heads towards Windswept Heath over any other fetchland.
I had started writing a large bit on mana bases in Junk, but it was annoying. But here's the basic's of it. Whenever you're building a deck you need to look at two different things. First what are your overall mana requirements; e.g. X G, X W, X B and understand the percentages of each amount. Second what are the pivotal points at which you need specific colors; e.g. do you usually want access to B on T1, G on T2 and BB and/or W on T3. Because each of those separate marks are things that you need to be considering. The mix of these two factors is why you don't want to be playing multiple colorless/utility lands if you're playing 24 or fewer lands because it lowers the likelihood of consistently having access to specific colors on time. It's also a reason why I advocate for Murmuring Bosk in Abzan because it gives you access to all your colors reasonably cheaply, is fetchable by most fetchlands and helps you cast your spells on time a majority of the time.
I posted about my Rock deck a week and a half ago, and asked for suggestions/thoughts but no one responded because no one likes straight B/G Rock! [post#1567 in this thread]
But, for those of you thinking Obliterator Rock is dead, it's not... I just got 12th place at the 220 man SCG event in Dallas, beating two pros along the way.
I won't go into all the detail unless you specifically ask, but I'll tell you what I played against and some of the cards that worked well.
W: Bogles (that deck is almost a bye for B/G decks)
W: Soul Sisters
W: Jund (Todd Anderson)
W: Grixis Twin
L: Burn
L: Robots
W: Burn (Anthony Lowry)
W: Robots, with Tarmogoyf
Few small notes:
- I was able to cast Obliterator with Treetop, Treetop, Tectonic Edge and Urborg once.(I almost think I want a second Urborg.)
- I beat Todd Anderson on two lands after he Fulminator Mage'd me three times in one game (two hard-cast, and Kolaghan's Command getting one back) because I was able to cheat in a Baloth on the command that he was never able to answer.
- Vampire Nighthawks were good against both burn and affinity.
- Crux of Fate is only because I don't own Damnation (but it should be that if you want to play my list).
- Bow of Nylea was super good against Robots. (gain 3 life, or shoot your flier EVERY SINGLE turn)
- Leyline was for Storm, Protean Hulk, Living End and Delve decks but I never boarded it in because I didn't see those decks (still like it as a one-of though).
- Victim of Night was so good all day (killing an Inkmoth when I was at eight poison, for example). (Only time it was "bad" was against Todd's Olivia; otherwise, it was an all-star.)
Deck felt real strong, and I'm honestly thinking of taking it to GP Charlotte next month.
I like rest for the weary, but in burn games where you aren't allowed to be greedy with mana--I'm often a little choked on white (probably just my personal fetching choices) unless land drops just fall into place. As I bring in disfigure and take out path, this is more true. I don't like how you can only play around stuff at instant speed off of a fetch, which you may not always have or have already cracked in order to keep up tempo.
---
I've been playing with a grave titan in my side for the mirror--and loving it. It could and probably should be something else, but...I just like it and it usually always wins me the game when I land it. I am however, looking for cheaper mirror breakers and also looking at the new mm2 spoilers (not to be discussed PLZ). Has anyone ever played with Creakwood liege? Seems like it could work, I also would like to experiment with ascendant evincar and crovax, ascendant hero--for funsies. Besides drawing better (swapping discard for stuff) and trying to outplay your opponent in the junk mirror, does anyone do anything else to try and seal the match? My 5-1-1 record over the last two weeks includes a loss to junk, and a draw (that I would have lost in 1 more turn) to junk. The pilots are probably just more experienced with the deck than I, so I'm looking for a cheap shot. I also like spicy/bad cards. Assume I'm playing the stock list with no dorks/finks.
DECKS:
MODERN:
BUILT:
WBGJunkWBG
BURGrixis ControlBUR
BUILDING:
BGEldraziBG
I really want to build a sideboard that doesn't fold to tron but I can't really find any actual trumps--any one know of any? I was thinking gaddock teeg and hero's downfall--is there anything better in addition to the stony silences? Is it worth bothering even trying to win this match up?
Standard Mardu Midrange
Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange
CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
Mimeoplasm Midrange, CHAINER CHAINER HIGH VOLTAGE
Rafiq of the Astral Slide, 67land.dec Child of Alara, Gisela <3 Sunforger
TRADE!?WUBRGMy Pauper Cube
Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper, Phage the Uncastable, Azusa Lost but Stompy, Crosis Combo Breaker, All-In-Skullbriar, Rafiq/Jenara ETB army, Hazezon Swarm, Glissa Voltron!, Jarad Zombie Tribal, Zedruu Pillowfort, Reaper King Artifact Shenanagains
Standard Mardu Midrange
Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange
CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
Mimeoplasm Midrange, CHAINER CHAINER HIGH VOLTAGE
Rafiq of the Astral Slide, 67land.dec Child of Alara, Gisela <3 Sunforger
TRADE!?WUBRGMy Pauper Cube
Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper, Phage the Uncastable, Azusa Lost but Stompy, Crosis Combo Breaker, All-In-Skullbriar, Rafiq/Jenara ETB army, Hazezon Swarm, Glissa Voltron!, Jarad Zombie Tribal, Zedruu Pillowfort, Reaper King Artifact Shenanagains
Standard Mardu Midrange
Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange
CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
2 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Plains
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Marsh Flats
2 Windswept Heath
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
1 Temple Garden
2 Twilight Mire
2 Techtonic Edge
Creatures
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Siege Rhino
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
1 Tasigur, The Golden Fang
4 Abrupt Decay
3 Path to Exile
1 Dromoka's Command
3 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Lingering Souls
1 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Stony Silence
2 Dromoka's Command
1 Beast Within
1 Sudden Death
1 Zealous Persecution
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Bow of Nylea
Play this deck at a GPT. Was fortunate not to meet any burn decks.
Game 1 - 1:1
Mono Red Storm Goblin Deck with Blood moon
Match 1 On Play - Lost to turn 2 Blood Moon
Match 2 On Play - Opponent was at 2 land so with able to take down match 2 with basic lands. I made a mistake of resolving Surgical Extraction without paying the casting cost. That was like a warning.
Match 3 On Draw - Bow of Nylea made up some life vs the 8 little red goblin tokens. The goblins hiding behind 2 Ensnaring Bridge did not help. On hindsight, I made too many mistakes for this match and should have exiled some different cards with Tasigur, The Golden Fang.
Game 2 - 2:1
Bogles
Match 1 On Play - Opponent mulligans to 5 and thus Liliana of the Veil was able to take down the match easily.
Match 2 On Draw - Opponent mulligans to 6 to open with Leyline of Sanctity
Match 3 On Play - Turn 1 Engineered Explosives was able to slow down Bogles for Siege Rhinos to take down the game.
Game 3 - 2:0
Twin
Match 1 On Play - Discarding Turn 1 Splinter Twin and Liliana of The Veil coming in the play took the match down.
Match 2 On Draw - Hmm did not remember much about this match. Discards and Siege Rhino attacks.
Game 4 - 2:1
Infect
Match 1 On Draw - Opponent mulligans to 6. I Inquisition of Kozilek away a Blighted Agent. With the opponent with 2 land drop, the Abrupt Decay should havve been saved for the infect creature instead. Lost this match.
Match 2 On Play - Engineered Explosives bought many turns and a win.
Match 3 On Draw - Sudden Death was good taking down an infect creature when the opponent cast Might of Old Krosa.
Game 5 - 2:1
Ad Nauseam
Match 1 On Play - Discards and Liliana of the Veil took this down quickly.
Match 2 On Draw - I took away his Serum Visions instead of Angel's Grace which would have been better as it is a key part of the combo and he would have to dig for it to go off.
Match 3 On Play - This is madness as I've kept a hand of 4 Lands, 2 Noble Hierarch and a Beast Within. Using Beast Within on a land was like duh from the opponent and myself. It should have been saved for the Lotus Bloom. The opponent had multiple Ad Nauseam and went off digging 7 - 10 cards to be down to 2 life without getting the last piece of the puzzle being Phyrexian Unlife or Angel's Grace. Won with a topdecked Siege Rhino.
Got into Top 8:
Game vs JUND
Match 1 - Lost as did not considered Batterskull combat trip of equipping to manland.
Match 2 - Lost to Stormbreath Dragon and Olivia Voldaren. The dynamic duo of dragon and vampire took the game.
That ends a day
Thoughts:
More practice as I need to play faster. No intentional slow roll though. Its brainfreeze.
More practice vs Jund ... Need to get the miracle out of Maelstrom Pulse to rid Batterskull
With Noble Hierarch, its always sideout on the draw, in for the play as on the play, its a little slow.
For builds relying on pumping more creatures out faster with BoP, Noble Hierarch and Lingering Souls, Gavony Township activation are a much greater beating while being lackluster in match-ups where you might only have one or two creatures on the field.
BWGJunkBWG
BRGJundBRG
B1Eldrazi ShopsB1
UAzami, Lady of ScrollsU
BGMeren of Clan Nel TothBG
BUWJenara, Asura of WarBUW
GURAnimar, Soul of ElementsGUR
Is Windswept Heath substantially worse than Verdant Catacombs due to not fetching black? This isn't a question of whether I have one or the other (I have a playset of both, and Marsh Flats), it's a question of which ones are signed. Heaths are, Vance Kovacs doesn't sign cards so I can't get my verdants signed.
Getting cards in my deck signed is my version of pimping. It's more unique, and cheaper than getting foil versions of the cards.
Play against a blood moon deck and then you tell me. I'd almost rather run Delta before heath if I didn't have verdants in the list. I'm sure people will understand if you explain to them that the card can't be signed--its like printings that don't come in foil.
If you happen to be playing a list that isn't heavy on black, windswept heath is more ideal, but if you're playing the typical list with liliana then you really want verdant catacombs over windswept heath.
Modern Junk Primer
Legacy ANT Primer
L1 Judge
The primary reason why you want Verdant Catacombs for G/B is because of how strong it is on T1. You have the option to get Swamp for games 2/3 and/or take less damage while being able to play disruption on T1. In most builds as well, having access to B is more important than having access to W. It varies slightly by build, but often you may not need W until T4 or T5; whereas quite often you need access to B consistently in the early turns for discard, Abrupt Decay, Liliana, etc. So having early, consistent access to B without the potential pain of Fetch into Shock. This is also one of the reasons why Marsh Flats tends to be slightly more important than Windswept Heath. Like you can play Junk without Catacombs, but it's clearly suboptimal.
All that said, the more you play Abzan as a mix of Little Kid Luck where you play multiple mana dorks, less removal, less liliana, less discard, then the higher priority heads towards Windswept Heath over any other fetchland.
I had started writing a large bit on mana bases in Junk, but it was annoying. But here's the basic's of it. Whenever you're building a deck you need to look at two different things. First what are your overall mana requirements; e.g. X G, X W, X B and understand the percentages of each amount. Second what are the pivotal points at which you need specific colors; e.g. do you usually want access to B on T1, G on T2 and BB and/or W on T3. Because each of those separate marks are things that you need to be considering. The mix of these two factors is why you don't want to be playing multiple colorless/utility lands if you're playing 24 or fewer lands because it lowers the likelihood of consistently having access to specific colors on time. It's also a reason why I advocate for Murmuring Bosk in Abzan because it gives you access to all your colors reasonably cheaply, is fetchable by most fetchlands and helps you cast your spells on time a majority of the time.
-ktkenshinx-
But, for those of you thinking Obliterator Rock is dead, it's not... I just got 12th place at the 220 man SCG event in Dallas, beating two pros along the way.
Decklist for reference: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=84978
((Changes since last post: -Setessan Tactics, -Garruk Wildspeaker, -Woodland Cemetery; +Slaughter Pact, +Phyrexian Obliterator #3, +Twilight Mire))
I won't go into all the detail unless you specifically ask, but I'll tell you what I played against and some of the cards that worked well.
W: Bogles (that deck is almost a bye for B/G decks)
W: Soul Sisters
W: Jund (Todd Anderson)
W: Grixis Twin
L: Burn
L: Robots
W: Burn (Anthony Lowry)
W: Robots, with Tarmogoyf
Few small notes:
- I was able to cast Obliterator with Treetop, Treetop, Tectonic Edge and Urborg once.(I almost think I want a second Urborg.)
- I beat Todd Anderson on two lands after he Fulminator Mage'd me three times in one game (two hard-cast, and Kolaghan's Command getting one back) because I was able to cheat in a Baloth on the command that he was never able to answer.
- Vampire Nighthawks were good against both burn and affinity.
- Crux of Fate is only because I don't own Damnation (but it should be that if you want to play my list).
- Bow of Nylea was super good against Robots. (gain 3 life, or shoot your flier EVERY SINGLE turn)
- Leyline was for Storm, Protean Hulk, Living End and Delve decks but I never boarded it in because I didn't see those decks (still like it as a one-of though).
- Victim of Night was so good all day (killing an Inkmoth when I was at eight poison, for example). (Only time it was "bad" was against Todd's Olivia; otherwise, it was an all-star.)
Deck felt real strong, and I'm honestly thinking of taking it to GP Charlotte next month.
Decks I'm playing in Modern right now:
URB Grixis Reveler (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-grixis-reveler/)
UB Faeries (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/ub-fae-2/)
UW Azorious Control (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-ojutai-control-2/)
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant catacombs
4 Marsh Flats
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Tectonic Edge
2 Godless Shrine
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
1 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Plains
4 Noble Hierarch or Birds of Paradise
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Loxodon Smiter
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Siege Rhino
2 Tasigur
//control 15
4 Thoughtseize
4 Path to Exile
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Dromoka's Command
2 Liliana of the Veil
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
The point isn't to lock anyone out or play a bad control deck, the point is to play big ass dudes and see your opponent scramble to keep up.
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