Yeah, Ghost Quarter is quite a beast lately. If I didn't feel Gavony Township was too good to cut, I'd be playing 2 GQ. It's wonderful to draw against Bloom, Merfolk, Infect, Affinity, Jund, Grixis, etc. Basically any deck with problematic lands. It also has some utility in targeting your own lands in a pinch, which isn't something to be ignored.
@SabinFrost Metagame prevalence is basically the way all magic-related sites judge Tiers. There is no best deck in Modern, there is only ever a best deck for a certain meta. If I'm going to play at my local meta, then I may construct my sideboard wildly different. However, that isn't relevant when taken to big SCG events and/or GPs. For big events, Tiers based on metagame prevalence are going to be better than any other form for getting across to players how they should be boarding. Aside from this exceedingly useful information, there is - as Patrick Chapin put it - only a few percentages in difference between the best deck in modern and the twentieth best deck in modern. Therefore, what's important passed the Tiers is simply playing a deck you know is powerful and playing it to the best of your ability.
TLDR; Tiers that aren't based on metagame prevalence are almost pointless for competitive Modern.
I see that Junk is a "Tier Two" Deck now... interesting. Anyways this is the list I played to a 13th place finish at GP OKC a month or so back and played it to a lack luster 9th place at the recent RPTQ. I really like this list as it is right now and can not see myself playing another deck in the near future.
Main Deck
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Fulminator Mage
4 Siege Rhino
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3 Path to Exile
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Dismember
4 Lingering Souls
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
3 Liliana of the Veil
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats
1 Windswept Heath
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Treetop Village
2 Twilight Mire
1 Gavony Township
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Forest
1 Plains
2 Swamp
Sideboard
2 Zealous Persecution
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Stony Silence
3 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Damnation
1 Hallowed Moonlight
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Liliana of the Veil
I wrote about parts of the RPTQ in this article I just finished.
I see that Junk is a "Tier Two" Deck now... interesting. Anyways this is the list I played to a 13th place finish at GP OKC a month or so back and played it to a lack luster 9th place at the recent RPTQ. I really like this list as it is right now and can not see myself playing another deck in the near future.
Main Deck
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Fulminator Mage
4 Siege Rhino
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3 Path to Exile
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Dismember
4 Lingering Souls
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
3 Liliana of the Veil
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats
1 Windswept Heath
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Treetop Village
2 Twilight Mire
1 Gavony Township
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Forest
1 Plains
2 Swamp
Sideboard
2 Zealous Persecution
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Stony Silence
3 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Damnation
1 Hallowed Moonlight
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Liliana of the Veil
I wrote about parts of the RPTQ in this article I just finished.
Please let me know what you think about the list and the article.
Thanks
Eric
Great write up! Really enjoyed the read (even the legacy part). Glad to see you running the Gavony/GQ split, as I definitely think its where we want to be right now with our utility lands.
Pile of questions incoming:
How were the Noble Hierarchs performing?
Would you change the maindeck Fulminator Mage going forward to something like Kitchen Finks? I've tried a maindeck Fulmi in the past and consistently found it lackluster.
Why three Fulminators in the board if you're already maindecking one?
Is Leyline of Sanctity really worth it to you over something like Kitchen Finks, Timely Reinforcements, or Feed the Clan? If so, why?
Also, if I could suggest a bit of formatting in the decklists both here on the forum and in your blog-post itself. Things like Lands: 24, Creatures: 17, etc. make it much easier to see the nuances of your list rather than having to count them ourselves.
Thanks for the write up! Hopeful for more Abzan reports from you in the future.
Hey,Eric, I really enjoyed your writeup. While noble isn't a good card to topdeck, a 3 of and seeing it in the first 3 turns is nice
I think I may try your deck out tonight, minus a few things and the sideboard.
Do you find yourself missing that 4th Lilianna? What about maelstrom pulse? 1 fulminator seems lackluster
I mainly play jund so I only have 1 Marsh flat, which I hate, so I'll have to go 4 windswept and 1 marsh flat, which can be major against burn and aggro
I've thought of running it on multiple occasions but the way it can smooth out their manabase makes it seem a hassle. I can stop them needing to crack a fetchland for example saving a life. You've got the issue of Blood Moon as well. I don't know, it's pretty minor but the pros vs the cons I've never felt comfortable running it.
I see that Junk is a "Tier Two" Deck now... interesting. Anyways this is the list I played to a 13th place finish at GP OKC a month or so back and played it to a lack luster 9th place at the recent RPTQ. I really like this list as it is right now and can not see myself playing another deck in the near future.
Main Deck
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Fulminator Mage
4 Siege Rhino
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3 Path to Exile
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Dismember
4 Lingering Souls
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
3 Liliana of the Veil
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats
1 Windswept Heath
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Treetop Village
2 Twilight Mire
1 Gavony Township
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Forest
1 Plains
2 Swamp
Sideboard
2 Zealous Persecution
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Stony Silence
3 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Damnation
1 Hallowed Moonlight
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Liliana of the Veil
I wrote about parts of the RPTQ in this article I just finished.
Please let me know what you think about the list and the article.
Thanks
Eric
Great write up! Really enjoyed the read (even the legacy part). Glad to see you running the Gavony/GQ split, as I definitely think its where we want to be right now with our utility lands.
Pile of questions incoming:
How were the Noble Hierarchs performing?
Would you change the maindeck Fulminator Mage going forward to something like Kitchen Finks? I've tried a maindeck Fulmi in the past and consistently found it lackluster.
Why three Fulminators in the board if you're already maindecking one?
Is Leyline of Sanctity really worth it to you over something like Kitchen Finks, Timely Reinforcements, or Feed the Clan? If so, why?
Also, if I could suggest a bit of formatting in the decklists both here on the forum and in your blog-post itself. Things like Lands: 24, Creatures: 17, etc. make it much easier to see the nuances of your list rather than having to count them ourselves.
Thanks for the write up! Hopeful for more Abzan reports from you in the future.
Thanks for the feed back, I will keep the deck list formatting in mind for the future. To answer your questions.
- Noble Hierarch as a three of in the deck is pretty important. You to you don't want to have more than one in your opening hand, so three gives us the number of maximizing having one while hopefully not having two. The difference between a turn two Liliana vs a turn three or a turn three Rhino vs turn four is a lot. Also a turn one Hierarch into turn two Goyf + discard spell is a very strong start as well. The ramp is important but so is the mana fixing because the mana in the deck is actually not that good. Exalted also helps you attack through other Goyfs and makes a singe lingering soul token a faster clock.
-As far as the Fulminator Mage in the main deck goes, I did not want 4 main deck Liliana but wanted access to both 4 Liliana and 4 Fulminator Mage. Some times it is lackluster, once in a blue moon you hit it on turn two on the play and your opponent gets color or mana screwed. I really like it in the main in conjunction with the Ghost Quarter. I really think having the two extra cards in the main deck helps a lot against man lands when playing against affinity, infect, and junk/jund
- As far as Leyline goes you might be correct. It might be time to put away the training wheels and put on my big boy pants as the burn match up is not even that bad. That said, I do think that leyline is a little easer to just cast if you draw it with Hierarch (granted most of the damage is already done by that point) and leyline is also an answer/sort of answer to a lot of random combos like Eggs, Ad Nauseam, Lantern Control, Storm and any combo decks relying heavily on discard. You can also just discard it to Liliana to grow your Goyfs.
Hey,Eric, I really enjoyed your writeup. While noble isn't a good card to topdeck, a 3 of and seeing it in the first 3 turns is nice
I think I may try your deck out tonight, minus a few things and the sideboard.
Do you find yourself missing that 4th Lilianna? What about maelstrom pulse? 1 fulminator seems lackluster
I mainly play jund so I only have 1 Marsh flat, which I hate, so I'll have to go 4 windswept and 1 marsh flat, which can be major against burn and aggro
Thanks,
I generally do not find myself missing the Liliana, but for the games where I want to make sure I hit one or multiple I side the 4th in. The fulminator in the main is basically a concession to not wanting three main deck Liliana but also wanting access to four fulminator and four Liliana. I also like having the fulminator in the main with the ghost quarter to help against man lands in affinity, infect, and jund/junk. If you are ok with only having 3 fulminator in your 75 then maelstrom pulse is a better card in the main. While I like the current configuration of my side board I am interested in what you would play. Good luck tonight.
I have a question. How would 3 Voice of Resurgence and 1 Tasigur work in place of Tarmogoyf? I do not currently own any nor do I have the money to buy them.
Perhaps a creature base like:
4 Siege Rhino
3 Voice of Resurgence
3 Scavenging Ooze
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
I have a question. How would 3 Voice of Resurgence and 1 Tasigur work in place of Tarmogoyf? I do not currently own any nor do I have the money to buy them.
Perhaps a creature base like:
4 Siege Rhino
3 Voice of Resurgence
3 Scavenging Ooze
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
I have a question. How would 3 Voice of Resurgence and 1 Tasigur work in place of Tarmogoyf? I do not currently own any nor do I have the money to buy them.
Friday night magic report:
Round 1 (0-0): Goblin agro
- Game 1: dealt with threats, kept board presence up
- Game 2: I lost to a goblin bushwacker party, swung for a bunch couldnt stop it all.
- Game 3: Scavenging ooze MVP. Really enjoying it as a 3 of in my deck that I've been testing lately, probably won't go back to 2. Also dromokas command saved the game for me, he bolted me while I was at 3 and i dromokas and stopped it and traded with one of his goblins.
Round 3 (2-0): Regular Tron
- Game 1: I drew in to both my mainboard Ghost quarter's, was enough to set him back and souls took over the game.
- Game 2: Drew both the GQ's again and a lilly took down a lot of his threats before he could get online
Round 4 (3-0): JUND
- Game 1: Won this with 5 consecutive activation's of treetop village, he never drew into a bolt or something to deal with it and we just kept trading basic resources.
- Game 2: Lost the top deck battle, he drew into three Tarmogoyf's before I hit even one.
- Game 3: Got locked into a stalemate with him having a Raging ravine and me having a Siege rhino and neither of us being able to attack, it came down to him either keeping mana open to activate ravine or to play things, and he kept playing stuff but I kept finding answers and Treetop village again did a lot of work to close it out.
I'm considering Gavony Township over Vault of the Archangel but so far there are not many good arguments for it. Also considering a fourth Liliana of the veil but not sure what to cut for it, or if it's even necessary. I am also looking at taking out the Utter end for a Zealous persecution - pretty sure this is going to happen, not much contention here. I'm playing around with the idea of cutting both Stony silence and putting in two other sideboard cards, I feel the affinity match-up is not even that bad for us and Tron I am just looking to dodge and steal wins with GQ and one side-board fulminator.
Thank you, I've been developing it for quite a while, I feel like it is in a good place. I think you are right about cutting one of the creature removals for Lily. Given the options I would cut Dismember but shift it to the sideboard rather than eliminating it. Can you explain the rationale behind not needing the fourth Liliana of the veil? I would like to hear some arguments or evidence that four copies is not necessary.
Are four copies more relevant in the version that runs Noble hierarch? or not even still?
A sideboard is something designed to combat an expected meta and to improve un-favorable match-ups. With that in mind...
You can not say that any cards are "not necessary", because you do not know my meta.
Also instead of just making one off statements about your own opinions about cards, try to be constructive and suggest different cards or explain why you think certain cards should not be present. Saying: "card A is bad because of generic statement B" is not doing anything for anyone.
My best strategy for combating merfolk is to keep them off spreading seas. Use Abrupt decay to destroy it or Ghost quarter to destroy our own land with seas attached to it, if they can't swing unblocked they will likely trade unfavorably against Tarmogoyf, tasigur, the golden fang, and Siege rhino. That combined with our removal can keep them fairly weak.
Naya company, try Kitchen finks and Languish, languish will kill most of there stuff but keep our stuff alive.
Has anyone tried running Aven Mindcensor MB with path and GQ?
It makes the deck more like a traditional black control deck in that it attacks the hand(inquisition, TS), creatures (path), noncreatures (abrupt decay), graveyard (scooze) and lands (GQ and Mindcensor), while having CA (lily and Bob) as well as threats (goyf, scooze, souls) .
Aven Mindcensor seems really strong with Tron, Amulet Bloom, Grixis, and Jund being tier 1 decks. We can protect mind censor with discard. T1 discard taking out removal followed by turn 2 Bob and T3 mindcensor seems really strong.
Path is good against every tier 1 deck.
GQ is good against every tier 1 deck except for burn.
Now I know my list is missing Siege Rhino, but I've found him to be underwhelming. Scooze eating 2 bodies can be a 4 drop as it gets Scooze out of bolt range. Also mindcensor + path or mindcensor + GQ can be a 4 drop, or just 2 2 drops.
Thoughts?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern
JundBGR
RW Blood MoonRW
Pauper
Delver U
Elves G
Control B
Commander
Edgar Markov BRW
Captain Sisay GW
Niv-Mizzet, Parun UR
Tymna and Ravos WB
Has anyone tried running Aven Mindcensor MB with path and GQ?
It makes the deck more like a traditional black control deck in that it attacks the hand(inquisition, TS), creatures (path), noncreatures (abrupt decay), graveyard (scooze) and lands (GQ and Mindcensor), while having CA (lily and Bob) as well as threats (goyf, scooze, souls) .
Aven Mindcensor seems really strong with Tron, Amulet Bloom, Grixis, and Jund being tier 1 decks. We can protect mind censor with discard. T1 discard taking out removal followed by turn 2 Bob and T3 mindcensor seems really strong.
Path is good against every tier 1 deck.
GQ is good against every tier 1 deck except for burn.
Now I know my list is missing Siege Rhino, but I've found him to be underwhelming. Scooze eating 2 bodies can be a 4 drop as it gets Scooze out of bolt range. Also mindcensor + path or mindcensor + GQ can be a 4 drop, or just 2 2 drops.
Thoughts?
I like the idea of Mindcensor, but 4 MB GQ is too much for me. If we were running BG Obliterator, then the GQs make sense, but I think with Junk the mana base will be too strained.
My matchups were basically perfect, BW Tokems (L), 2x Burn(WL), 2x Fast Zoo, 1 Big Zoo (L), 2x Affinity, Grixis Delver, Jund, Infect, GW Hatebears, UW Titan Control. Didn't have enough positive variance to carry me to X-2. In particular my losses to Zoo and Burn, they drew very well (whereas I drew very well in my victories vs affinity).
-3 mindcensor/mage +3 anti combo hate (something like 2nd moonlight, eidolon of rhetoric and a duress). Thats just gamble based on the meta you expect. In a world where decks like living end or ad Naus are more popular I like that plan better.
I do not think Jund is advantaged against anything except maybe Hatebears/Melira Combo (if you have access to stuff like lavamancer/olivia). Which is why i dont understand why anyone plays it.
@SabinFrost Metagame prevalence is basically the way all magic-related sites judge Tiers. There is no best deck in Modern, there is only ever a best deck for a certain meta. If I'm going to play at my local meta, then I may construct my sideboard wildly different. However, that isn't relevant when taken to big SCG events and/or GPs. For big events, Tiers based on metagame prevalence are going to be better than any other form for getting across to players how they should be boarding. Aside from this exceedingly useful information, there is - as Patrick Chapin put it - only a few percentages in difference between the best deck in modern and the twentieth best deck in modern. Therefore, what's important passed the Tiers is simply playing a deck you know is powerful and playing it to the best of your ability.
TLDR; Tiers that aren't based on metagame prevalence are almost pointless for competitive Modern.
Modern Decks:
Grixis Twin
Abzan/Junk Midrange
Main Deck
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Fulminator Mage
4 Siege Rhino
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3 Path to Exile
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Dismember
4 Lingering Souls
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
3 Liliana of the Veil
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats
1 Windswept Heath
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Treetop Village
2 Twilight Mire
1 Gavony Township
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Forest
1 Plains
2 Swamp
Sideboard
2 Zealous Persecution
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Stony Silence
3 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Damnation
1 Hallowed Moonlight
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Liliana of the Veil
I wrote about parts of the RPTQ in this article I just finished.
https://ericembrown.wordpress.com/2015/11/13/a-tale-of-two-tournaments/
Please let me know what you think about the list and the article.
Thanks
Eric
Great write up! Really enjoyed the read (even the legacy part). Glad to see you running the Gavony/GQ split, as I definitely think its where we want to be right now with our utility lands.
Pile of questions incoming:
How were the Noble Hierarchs performing?
Would you change the maindeck Fulminator Mage going forward to something like Kitchen Finks? I've tried a maindeck Fulmi in the past and consistently found it lackluster.
Why three Fulminators in the board if you're already maindecking one?
Is Leyline of Sanctity really worth it to you over something like Kitchen Finks, Timely Reinforcements, or Feed the Clan? If so, why?
Also, if I could suggest a bit of formatting in the decklists both here on the forum and in your blog-post itself. Things like Lands: 24, Creatures: 17, etc. make it much easier to see the nuances of your list rather than having to count them ourselves.
Thanks for the write up! Hopeful for more Abzan reports from you in the future.
Modern Decks:
Grixis Twin
Abzan/Junk Midrange
I think I may try your deck out tonight, minus a few things and the sideboard.
Do you find yourself missing that 4th Lilianna? What about maelstrom pulse? 1 fulminator seems lackluster
I mainly play jund so I only have 1 Marsh flat, which I hate, so I'll have to go 4 windswept and 1 marsh flat, which can be major against burn and aggro
I've thought of running it on multiple occasions but the way it can smooth out their manabase makes it seem a hassle. I can stop them needing to crack a fetchland for example saving a life. You've got the issue of Blood Moon as well. I don't know, it's pretty minor but the pros vs the cons I've never felt comfortable running it.
I'd like to hear your thoughts.
Thanks for the feed back, I will keep the deck list formatting in mind for the future. To answer your questions.
- Noble Hierarch as a three of in the deck is pretty important. You to you don't want to have more than one in your opening hand, so three gives us the number of maximizing having one while hopefully not having two. The difference between a turn two Liliana vs a turn three or a turn three Rhino vs turn four is a lot. Also a turn one Hierarch into turn two Goyf + discard spell is a very strong start as well. The ramp is important but so is the mana fixing because the mana in the deck is actually not that good. Exalted also helps you attack through other Goyfs and makes a singe lingering soul token a faster clock.
-As far as the Fulminator Mage in the main deck goes, I did not want 4 main deck Liliana but wanted access to both 4 Liliana and 4 Fulminator Mage. Some times it is lackluster, once in a blue moon you hit it on turn two on the play and your opponent gets color or mana screwed. I really like it in the main in conjunction with the Ghost Quarter. I really think having the two extra cards in the main deck helps a lot against man lands when playing against affinity, infect, and junk/jund
- As far as Leyline goes you might be correct. It might be time to put away the training wheels and put on my big boy pants as the burn match up is not even that bad. That said, I do think that leyline is a little easer to just cast if you draw it with Hierarch (granted most of the damage is already done by that point) and leyline is also an answer/sort of answer to a lot of random combos like Eggs, Ad Nauseam, Lantern Control, Storm and any combo decks relying heavily on discard. You can also just discard it to Liliana to grow your Goyfs.
Eric
Thanks,
I generally do not find myself missing the Liliana, but for the games where I want to make sure I hit one or multiple I side the 4th in. The fulminator in the main is basically a concession to not wanting three main deck Liliana but also wanting access to four fulminator and four Liliana. I also like having the fulminator in the main with the ghost quarter to help against man lands in affinity, infect, and jund/junk. If you are ok with only having 3 fulminator in your 75 then maelstrom pulse is a better card in the main. While I like the current configuration of my side board I am interested in what you would play. Good luck tonight.
Eric
Perhaps a creature base like:
4 Siege Rhino
3 Voice of Resurgence
3 Scavenging Ooze
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Modern:
Death's Shadow Jund
Death's Shadow Grixis
Junk
Legacy:
Grixis Delver
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/budget-modern/589204-100-junk-abzan-bgw-midrange-guide
Green @ it's best
Round 1 (0-0): Goblin agro
- Game 1: dealt with threats, kept board presence up
- Game 2: I lost to a goblin bushwacker party, swung for a bunch couldnt stop it all.
- Game 3: Scavenging ooze MVP. Really enjoying it as a 3 of in my deck that I've been testing lately, probably won't go back to 2. Also dromokas command saved the game for me, he bolted me while I was at 3 and i dromokas and stopped it and traded with one of his goblins.
Boarded out: Thoughtseizex3, Dismemberx1
Boarded in: Languish, Kitchen finksx2, Dromoka's command
Round 2 (1-0): Some janky deck with Kiln fiend
Round 3 (2-0): Regular Tron
- Game 1: I drew in to both my mainboard Ghost quarter's, was enough to set him back and souls took over the game.
- Game 2: Drew both the GQ's again and a lilly took down a lot of his threats before he could get online
Boarded out: Lingering soulsx4
Boarded in: Stony silencex2, Fulminator magex1(Only one in SB), Pithing needle
Round 4 (3-0): JUND
- Game 1: Won this with 5 consecutive activation's of treetop village, he never drew into a bolt or something to deal with it and we just kept trading basic resources.
- Game 2: Lost the top deck battle, he drew into three Tarmogoyf's before I hit even one.
- Game 3: Got locked into a stalemate with him having a Raging ravine and me having a Siege rhino and neither of us being able to attack, it came down to him either keeping mana open to activate ravine or to play things, and he kept playing stuff but I kept finding answers and Treetop village again did a lot of work to close it out.
Boarded out: Thoughtseizex3, Inquisition of Kozilekx4
Ended the night 4-0
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Marsh Flats
1 Windswept Heath
1 Godless Shrine
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Temple Garden
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Forest
2 Swamp
1 Plains
2 Stirring Wildwood
2 Treetop Village
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Twilight Mire
1 Urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
2 Ghost Quarter
4 Siege Rhino
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Scavenging Ooze
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Spells 20
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
3 Path to Exile
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Dismember
4 Lingering Souls
Plainswalker 3
3 Liliana of The Veil
1 Languish
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Stony Silence
1 Spellskite
1 Creeping corrosion
1 Dromoka's Command
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Thrun, the last troll
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Utter End
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
I'm considering Gavony Township over Vault of the Archangel but so far there are not many good arguments for it. Also considering a fourth Liliana of the veil but not sure what to cut for it, or if it's even necessary. I am also looking at taking out the Utter end for a Zealous persecution - pretty sure this is going to happen, not much contention here. I'm playing around with the idea of cutting both Stony silence and putting in two other sideboard cards, I feel the affinity match-up is not even that bad for us and Tron I am just looking to dodge and steal wins with GQ and one side-board fulminator.
Are four copies more relevant in the version that runs Noble hierarch? or not even still?
You can not say that any cards are "not necessary", because you do not know my meta.
Also instead of just making one off statements about your own opinions about cards, try to be constructive and suggest different cards or explain why you think certain cards should not be present. Saying: "card A is bad because of generic statement B" is not doing anything for anyone.
I'll just address one card you seem to not like?:
Spellskite is very relevant against: Infect (mutagenic growth, vines of vastwood, Might of old krosa), Splintertwin (Splinter Twin), Affinity (Welding jar, Galvanic blast, Arcbound ravager, Etched champion), Burn (Lightning bolt, or any card that does 3 damage and can be redirected, Monastery swiftspear, Goblin guide). All of which are tier 1 and three of which we are unfavoured in. I feel this is a better argument for spellskite over: "spellskite is not necessary".
Naya company, try Kitchen finks and Languish, languish will kill most of there stuff but keep our stuff alive.
It makes the deck more like a traditional black control deck in that it attacks the hand(inquisition, TS), creatures (path), noncreatures (abrupt decay), graveyard (scooze) and lands (GQ and Mindcensor), while having CA (lily and Bob) as well as threats (goyf, scooze, souls) .
Aven Mindcensor seems really strong with Tron, Amulet Bloom, Grixis, and Jund being tier 1 decks. We can protect mind censor with discard. T1 discard taking out removal followed by turn 2 Bob and T3 mindcensor seems really strong.
Path is good against every tier 1 deck.
GQ is good against every tier 1 deck except for burn.
This is the list I was thinking of using:
4 inquisition
3 thoughtseize
4 path to exile
4 abrupt decay
4 lily
4 souls
Creatures 13
4 Bob
4 goyf
2 scooze
3 Aven mindcensor
Lands 24
4 Marah flats
4 verdant catacombs
1 overgrown tomb
1 temple garden
1 godless shrine
2 swamp
2 forrest
1 plains
4 ghost quarter
2 stirring wildwood
1 urborg
1 twilight mire
2 stony silence
2 fulminator mage
4 kitchen finks
1 sigarda
1 thoughtseize
2 zealous persecution
1 sorin, solemn visitor
2 timely reinforcements
Now I know my list is missing Siege Rhino, but I've found him to be underwhelming. Scooze eating 2 bodies can be a 4 drop as it gets Scooze out of bolt range. Also mindcensor + path or mindcensor + GQ can be a 4 drop, or just 2 2 drops.
Thoughts?
JundBGR
RW Blood MoonRW
Pauper
Delver U
Elves G
Control B
Commander
Edgar Markov BRW
Captain Sisay GW
Niv-Mizzet, Parun UR
Tymna and Ravos WB
I like the idea of Mindcensor, but 4 MB GQ is too much for me. If we were running BG Obliterator, then the GQs make sense, but I think with Junk the mana base will be too strained.
What are people liking more between these two? I have been liking Vault quite a bit
Anafenza the Foremost 1
Tasigur, the Golden Fang 1
Tarmogoyf 4
Scavenging Ooze 2
Siege Rhino 3
Noble Hierarch 3
Liliana of the Veil 3
Thoughtseize 3
Lingering Souls 4
Maelstrom Pulse 2
Path to Exile 3
Abrupt Decay 3
Inquisition of Kozilek 3
Gideon Jura 1
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 1
Gavony Township 1
Marsh Flats 2
Twilight Mire 1
Overgrown Tomb 2
Stirring Wildwood 1
Verdant Catacombs 4
Windswept Heath 3
Temple Garden 1
Godless Shrine 1
Shambling Vents 2
Basics 4
Ghost Quarter 1
SB: 15
Painful Truths 1
Damnation 1
Stony Silence 2
Timely Reinforcements 2
Celestial Purge 1
Zealous Persecution 1
Fulminator Mage 1
Duress 1
Aven Mindcensor 2
Engineered Explosives 1
Elspeth Sun's Champion 1
Hallowed Moonlight 1
Edit: Deck tags didnt work.
My matchups were basically perfect, BW Tokems (L), 2x Burn(WL), 2x Fast Zoo, 1 Big Zoo (L), 2x Affinity, Grixis Delver, Jund, Infect, GW Hatebears, UW Titan Control. Didn't have enough positive variance to carry me to X-2. In particular my losses to Zoo and Burn, they drew very well (whereas I drew very well in my victories vs affinity).
In general:
Good matchups:
Zoo, Burn, Jund, Twin, Grixis Decks
Close/Slightly Favored: Affinity/Bloom/Scapeshift/Infect
Bad: fringe Combo (ad Naus/living end/Melira Company etc), merfolk, Tron.
I think you are very wrong if you play Jund over Junk. If your meta is light on land decks you can make the combo matchups much better.
">Helping to Invent Thopter/Depths in Old Ext
Creator of the Magic Humor Videos:
The Vintage Metagame The Original
-3 mindcensor/mage +3 anti combo hate (something like 2nd moonlight, eidolon of rhetoric and a duress). Thats just gamble based on the meta you expect. In a world where decks like living end or ad Naus are more popular I like that plan better.
I do not think Jund is advantaged against anything except maybe Hatebears/Melira Combo (if you have access to stuff like lavamancer/olivia). Which is why i dont understand why anyone plays it.
">Helping to Invent Thopter/Depths in Old Ext
Creator of the Magic Humor Videos:
The Vintage Metagame The Original