Anyone have a link to a good write-up on uses/rulings/tips of fulminator mage?
There isn't that much to it. You keep him around until the best opportunity presents itself. Attack or block with him as many times as possible against Scape, UWR, or the mirror. Against Tron you might "pop" him earlier. But he blocks wurm reasonably well if you sac during combat.
Do you have any specific rulings or questions about him?
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MODERN RGB Jund BGR WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY RUGB Delver GURB
EDH UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR BBB Skithiryx Control BB
was just bored and wanted to read detailed rulings that might rarely ever come up in actual games. just recently learned that it can "blank out" a resolved scapeshift and i thought that was neat.
Usually those GQ slots are either 2 Gavony or a 1-1 split of Gavony and Vault; I've never seen 2 GQ MB unless Tron or Scapeshift was in excess in the meta.
I tried a 1/1 split between Ghost Quarter and Gavony Township and I just never liked it. I understand on paper pumping your whole team sounds great and all with all the souls tokens but having access to 2 Strip Mine esc abilities is too good to pass up. There are so many matchups Ghost Quarter is good against, it's not even funny. Lets go over all the Tier 1 decks and lands it can hit
Tron: This is obvious.
Jund: Raging Ravine can steal games for them when we trade resources.
Abzan Company: Hitting their Gavony Townships is good. Honestly, from my past experience, they clog up the board more than we do in the late game so their Townships will hit harder than ours. So, IMO GQ is way better
Affinity: Inkmoth and Blinkmoth Nexus. How many games have we lost to these stupid lands stealing games? Too many.
Infect: Inkmoth Nexus.
Burn: This is my secret. This deck runs no basic plains or mountains. The tendency I've seen burn players do is fetch up Sacred Foundry and Stomping Ground and the rest will be mountains. So, stripping one of the dual lands cuts them off of that respective color. I've played against burn players that I Inquisition and see they reveal a hand full of Boros Charms. I GQ their Sacred Foundry and they can't cast any of their burn spells. This buys me time to clog the board and race.
Another option is if you suspect them having Atarka's Command in hand, you can GQ on their turn so they don't have green and land your own Kitchen Finks and Siege Rhino.
Gavony Township is good in slow grindy matchups but Ghost Quarter is good in almost every matchup. Dare I go into Tier 2 decks?
Scapeshift: Ghost Quarter isn't the best in the matchup but it gives me the personal ability to GQ their Valakut and then Surgical Extraction them away.
Grixis Control: Creeping Tarpit.
UWR Control: Celestial Colonnade
WX Death and Taxes: These decks seem to splash eldrazi nowadays so Eldrazi Temple.
Elves: Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Abzan Mirror: Mirrored manlands.
It only took one match where my affinity opponent went all in on an Inkmoth Nexus while I had a Gavony Township in play to switch it back to Ghost Quarter. I havn't looked back since, even with a tronless meta.
Also, judging by the recent SCG events, Tron is still very much alive. As long as Tron is even remotely Tier 2 and manlands are still around, Fulminators will take up 3 slots in my sideboard.
Anyone have a link to a good write-up on uses/rulings/tips of fulminator mage?
Honestly, Fulminator Mage isn't an easy card to use in practice than it is on paper. It's not a simple Stone Rain effect if you want to get maximum value out of it. You really need good knowledge of the format as a whole to truly utilize the 2/2 body it provides as well.
For example, I played against a RG Valakut deck last night and I boarded in 3 Fulminators. I landed a Fulminator turn 3 but prior to, I Turn 1 Duressed and Turn 2 Goyf. His hand consisted of 2 Summoner's Pact, a Primeval Titan and a Through the Breach. If you've paid attention to the latest trends, the Valakut decks are called VALAKUT and not Scapeshift for a reason. They maximize on Primeval Titans and sneak them in with Through the Breach and don't run any copies of scapeshift. I took Through the Breach. It would be a novice move to just strip a land turn 3 but you don't get to capitalize on the 2/2 body it provides. Then next turn, you swing with the 2/2 AND THEN you fulminate a land away, keeping your opponent off 5 lands just in case they topdeck another Through the Breach. 2 Damage is very relevant in this matchup since you're the aggro deck and racing.
Against a typical RUG Scapeshift deck, they run scapeshift and don't run Titans or Through the Breach. So, you can land a T3 Fulminator and constantly peck away for 2 and then hit their 6th/7th land (depending on if you are > or < 18 life) before they can scapeshift for lethal.
If they try to resolve Scapeshift, DON'T HIT THEIR VALAKUTS when they come into play. If they resolve Scapeshift, fetch 7 lands and 1 land is valakut, hitting the valakut does NOTHING. Those triggers still go on the stack and you take all the damage. Instead, if your Scapeshift opponent is loose, you Fulminate the non valakut land that is available. What happens is they fetch 1 Valakut and 6 mountains. All the triggers go on the stack. In response, you Fulminate a mountain. Then the triggers resolve, BUT they check if there are 5 other mountains upon resolution. for 5 lands, there are not but the land you destroyed, there are. So only 1 valakut trigger actually does damage and you take 3.
This is why Ghost Quarter isn't as effective against scapeshift unless they somehow run out of all of their mountains but it is still useful.
Another example of really knowing the opponent's deck is keeping your opponent off Cryptic Command mana. If you boarded in the Mages against Grixis Control, paying attention to keeping off triple blue is useful. And this is true with any multi-colored deck. Pay attention to what colors your opponent has access to and try to remember the cards that you can deny access to.
Just remember to try to maximize the value of the 2/2 body but don't there has to be a balance. Don't prioritize the 2 damage if your opponent untaps and plays a huge threat that you could have prevented by stripping away their resource.
I switched to 2 Ghost Quarters in the utility slot as well some months ago and have never looked back. Additional plays you can make with them besides the ones already names: ghost quarter your own land in response to spreading seas or blood moon. This has saved me multiple times already besides all the other utility. Gavony township and vault of the archangel give us extra power in the late game (which we already have plenty of), Ghost Quarter makes sure you reach that late game where your rhino's can take over.
edit: keep in mind, may red multi-colored decks (like Jund) don't run basic mountains so sometimes you can cut them off red mana with a well timed gq.
Why does abzan see so little play compared to jund?
Jund has better tools to fight the fast aggressive decks: bolt and a less painful manabase + a better way to cose games quickly (reach with bolt + raging ravine).
Against combo decks I think Jund is again a bit better because of the reach of bolt often shaving a turn of the clock. Abzan has a bit of a sideboard advantage here though because of white.
Against midrange abzan is better because it plays more powerfull creatures (Siege Rhino being the poster child here) and because lingering souls is so hard to answer for many slower decks.
Against control abzan is better mainly due to lingering souls.
ATM the meta is still full of aggro decks so jund is better.
Hi guys, I would like to report my results and matchups I faced during the Singapore's 1st ever SCG Invitational Qualifier that was held on 15th May.
Here's how I fared - 3 wins, 4 losses, 34th placing out of 65 players. It was fairly disappointing, as I didn't make the cut for top 8 playoffs, but I went home happy and it was a good experience and I know that I tried.
Round 1: Abzan vs Mono Blue Tron (2-0) Win
Game 1: My opponent didn’t drew enough threats, just kept drawing lands, the most he did was to resolve a chalice set at 1 counter. I casted an abrupt decay destroying his chalice and soon after I resolve a Liliana ticking her up to 7 loyalty. I used her ultimate, and my opponent found it hard to climb back when I separated his permanents into 2 piles. He was left with only 2 lands. Next game!
Game 2: I had to play aggressively this game as I was on the draw. He casted a spatial contortion at my goyf, he condescends my siege rhinos, and when the dust settled, it was an active rhino and a shambling vent activation that swung him for a few turns. He tried to salvage the situation by landing a thought knot seer, but unfortunately, it was sent to exile by path. I took over the game.
Round 2: Abzan vs Jund (2-1) Win
Oh boy, this was a matchup that I looked forward to playing against!
Game 1: My opponent drew too much gas off his bob, I was stuck at 3 lands, unable to play my threats, he kept removing my own bob and ooze with his spot removals. I scooped my cards when I saw he land a huntmaster of the fells.
Game 2: Nothing much to say here, lingering souls was a mirror breaker.
Game 3: I went aggressive as I was on the draw, I casted lingering souls, his Liliana was helpless as she edict one of my tokens and thereafter, she bite the dust when my token swung her at 1 loyalty. Thereafter, we both exchanged removals, and my opponent caught me by surprise when he casted slaughter games naming siege rhino. When the dust settled, he was looking at my overwhelming board state consisting of 4 souls, a 5/6 goyf and a stirring wildwood ready to hit the red zone. He went down to 2 life and with no removals in hand left, he offered a handshake and scooped his cards.
Round 3: Abzan vs Affinity (0-2) Loss
Game 1: Nothing much to say here, he drew a semi godlike hand and dumped 6 cards on the table even though he mulliganed to 6. I struggled to keep up with the robot menace and its an end of my turn galvanic blast to the face that sealed the game.
Game 2: Similarly to game 1, he dumped his hand onto the table, and the most I did was to cast lingering souls twice on turn 3 and turn 4. I was stuck on 3 lands during the whole game. An ornithopter equipped with a cranial plating swinging a few turns puts my life at jeopardy. And it was an end of my turn galvanic blast for the win. He made his creatures bigger than my soul tokens by giving them a +1/+1 buff from a blinkmoth activation. Nothing much I can do. That’s sad.
Round 4: Abzan vs Abzan Coco (0-2) Loss
Game 1: He outclassed me in the war of attrition and it was the spike feeder and archangel of thune combo that sealed game 1.
Game 2: I had to play aggressively this game. I had a 3/4 goyf, a 4/4 ooze and a batterskull ready to hit the red zone. He had some creatures, some of which were birds of paradise and also seer and a few others (I forgot). He had an active Gavony Township and it pumped his creatures to trade with mine. Thereafter, he comboed with vis seer, anafenza and redcap to win the game.
Round 5: Abzan vs RG Scapeshift (2-0) Win
Game 1: I kept gaining life off multiple siege rhinos and had an ooze to put the pressure. He found many lands to quickly assemble his combo but it was not lethal yet. I had Liliana ticking up for 3 turns ready to ultimate on the following turn. Then, he had a mountain landfall trigger with 2 Valakut triggers aiming at Lili to prevent her from ulti. Once the dust settled, it was 6/7 goyf that took over the game. 2 Valakut triggers dealing 6 damage can’t kill it!
Game 2: I knew obstinate baloths were coming, so I had to play a conservative game. My opponent mulliganed to 5 cards. I resolved Liliana and slammed goyf and rhino on the table. I ticked Lili +1, and baloth came down. I played defensively and his baloth couldn’t hit my Lili. My creatures were 4/5s. Next turn I plan to use her edict ability on the baloth and swing in with everything. It was goyf, rhino and a stirring wildwood activation that swung for lethal.
Round 6: Abzan vs Jund (1-2) Loss
Oh boy, another mirror matchup! Here we go!
Game 1: It was an aggressive game. My opponent’s bob was unanswered, he kept drawing threats. I scooped once kalitas, goyf and a 2/2 zombie hit the field and it was an empty board at my end.
Game 2: Vault of the Archangel to the rescue! I had many removals backup and swung in with rhino for the victory.
Game 3: This game was tight and epic. We both were engaged in a topdeck war. I resolved a Thrun, and with an opposing Lili sitting at one counter, I plan to swing at Lili on the next turn with Thrun. My opponent played 2 cards thereafter, a bob and a fulminator mage on defence. Damn! I can’t attack through. Lili edict my Thrun and sent it away. Next came the topdeck war. Goyf was decayed, I played my rhino, and it was terminated. We kept exchanging removals until we were hellbent. Once the dust settled, it was my opponent’s obstinate baloth that swung in for the win. So close, yet so far!
Round 7: Abzan vs 5 Colour Company (1-2) Loss
This game I was paired up against one of Singapore’s homegrown talents, Kelvin Chew.
Game 1: This game basically was a scavenging ooze war. Which one was bigger. My ooze was bigger than my opponent’s one. He had a few creatures on defense, including a Voice of Resurgence. I aimed my removals at his creatures and pathed his voice. My ooze swung in for the win.
Game 2: Kelvin used his creatures and went aggressive to beat me down. I tried to stabilize my life with a scavenging ooze on my own but he used Reflector mage to bounce my ooze back to my hand. His creatures swung in for the win.
Game 3: Kelvin assembled a huge board after I casted 2 Damnations wiping his board twice. I was surprised at the resiliency and determination that Kelvin did to get back to the game. There was a game to be played. I stared helplessly as Kelvin end turn casted collected company into more and more creatures. I played Kalitas and I pointed my spot removal at Knight of the Reliquary, granting me a 2/2 zombie token. I was unable to swing through and stabilize. He kept casting Coco at my end turn and his board was at 8 creatures, including some kitchen finks. He had about more than 12 power on the board and it was a Reflector mage that bounced my Kalitas back to my hand that sealed the deal and closed the game for me.
Nice ghost quarter write up. I like the notes on the burn matchup, i'll keep that in mind. Anyway, I tried junk at a modern outing today. Somehow squeezed my way to 4th place despite going just 2-2 so that feels good. I ran the dark confidants too. They never drew a single card but drew out opposing path to exile's all night long. Rhino would then hit the board the next turn and run away with the game. I'll keep confidant in the board for now.
Siege rhino, lingering souls, and liliana feel like the best cards. goyf and confidant were okay. path to exile was underwhelming, i almost want to cut the 4th copy.
Hi guys, I would like to report my results and matchups I faced during the Singapore's 1st ever SCG Invitational Qualifier that was held on 15th May.
Here's how I fared - 3 wins, 4 losses, 34th placing out of 65 players. It was fairly disappointing, as I didn't make the cut for top 8 playoffs, but I went home happy and it was a good experience and I know that I tried.
Round 1: Abzan vs Mono Blue Tron (2-0) Win
Game 1: My opponent didn’t drew enough threats, just kept drawing lands, the most he did was to resolve a chalice set at 1 counter. I casted an abrupt decay destroying his chalice and soon after I resolve a Liliana ticking her up to 7 loyalty. I used her ultimate, and my opponent found it hard to climb back when I separated his permanents into 2 piles. He was left with only 2 lands. Next game!
Game 2: I had to play aggressively this game as I was on the draw. He casted a spatial contortion at my goyf, he condescends my siege rhinos, and when the dust settled, it was an active rhino and a shambling vent activation that swung him for a few turns. He tried to salvage the situation by landing a thought knot seer, but unfortunately, it was sent to exile by path. I took over the game.
Round 2: Abzan vs Jund (2-1) Win
Oh boy, this was a matchup that I looked forward to playing against!
Game 1: My opponent drew too much gas off his bob, I was stuck at 3 lands, unable to play my threats, he kept removing my own bob and ooze with his spot removals. I scooped my cards when I saw he land a huntmaster of the fells.
Game 2: Nothing much to say here, lingering souls was a mirror breaker.
Game 3: I went aggressive as I was on the draw, I casted lingering souls, his Liliana was helpless as she edict one of my tokens and thereafter, she bite the dust when my token swung her at 1 loyalty. Thereafter, we both exchanged removals, and my opponent caught me by surprise when he casted slaughter games naming siege rhino. When the dust settled, he was looking at my overwhelming board state consisting of 4 souls, a 5/6 goyf and a stirring wildwood ready to hit the red zone. He went down to 2 life and with no removals in hand left, he offered a handshake and scooped his cards.
Round 3: Abzan vs Affinity (0-2) Loss
Game 1: Nothing much to say here, he drew a semi godlike hand and dumped 6 cards on the table even though he mulliganed to 6. I struggled to keep up with the robot menace and its an end of my turn galvanic blast to the face that sealed the game.
Game 2: Similarly to game 1, he dumped his hand onto the table, and the most I did was to cast lingering souls twice on turn 3 and turn 4. I was stuck on 3 lands during the whole game. An ornithopter equipped with a cranial plating swinging a few turns puts my life at jeopardy. And it was an end of my turn galvanic blast for the win. He made his creatures bigger than my soul tokens by giving them a +1/+1 buff from a blinkmoth activation. Nothing much I can do. That’s sad.
Round 4: Abzan vs Abzan Coco (0-2) Loss
Game 1: He outclassed me in the war of attrition and it was the spike feeder and archangel of thune combo that sealed game 1.
Game 2: I had to play aggressively this game. I had a 3/4 goyf, a 4/4 ooze and a batterskull ready to hit the red zone. He had some creatures, some of which were birds of paradise and also seer and a few others (I forgot). He had an active Gavony Township and it pumped his creatures to trade with mine. Thereafter, he comboed with vis seer, anafenza and redcap to win the game.
Round 5: Abzan vs RG Scapeshift (2-0) Win
Game 1: I kept gaining life off multiple siege rhinos and had an ooze to put the pressure. He found many lands to quickly assemble his combo but it was not lethal yet. I had Liliana ticking up for 3 turns ready to ultimate on the following turn. Then, he had a mountain landfall trigger with 2 Valakut triggers aiming at Lili to prevent her from ulti. Once the dust settled, it was 6/7 goyf that took over the game. 2 Valakut triggers dealing 6 damage can’t kill it!
Game 2: I knew obstinate baloths were coming, so I had to play a conservative game. My opponent mulliganed to 5 cards. I resolved Liliana and slammed goyf and rhino on the table. I ticked Lili +1, and baloth came down. I played defensively and his baloth couldn’t hit my Lili. My creatures were 4/5s. Next turn I plan to use her edict ability on the baloth and swing in with everything. It was goyf, rhino and a stirring wildwood activation that swung for lethal.
Round 6: Abzan vs Jund (1-2) Loss
Oh boy, another mirror matchup! Here we go!
Game 1: It was an aggressive game. My opponent’s bob was unanswered, he kept drawing threats. I scooped once kalitas, goyf and a 2/2 zombie hit the field and it was an empty board at my end.
Game 2: Vault of the Archangel to the rescue! I had many removals backup and swung in with rhino for the victory.
Game 3: This game was tight and epic. We both were engaged in a topdeck war. I resolved a Thrun, and with an opposing Lili sitting at one counter, I plan to swing at Lili on the next turn with Thrun. My opponent played 2 cards thereafter, a bob and a fulminator mage on defence. Damn! I can’t attack through. Lili edict my Thrun and sent it away. Next came the topdeck war. Goyf was decayed, I played my rhino, and it was terminated. We kept exchanging removals until we were hellbent. Once the dust settled, it was my opponent’s obstinate baloth that swung in for the win. So close, yet so far!
Round 7: Abzan vs 5 Colour Company (1-2) Loss
This game I was paired up against one of Singapore’s homegrown talents, Kelvin Chew.
Game 1: This game basically was a scavenging ooze war. Which one was bigger. My ooze was bigger than my opponent’s one. He had a few creatures on defense, including a Voice of Resurgence. I aimed my removals at his creatures and pathed his voice. My ooze swung in for the win.
Game 2: Kelvin used his creatures and went aggressive to beat me down. I tried to stabilize my life with a scavenging ooze on my own but he used Reflector mage to bounce my ooze back to my hand. His creatures swung in for the win.
Game 3: Kelvin assembled a huge board after I casted 2 Damnations wiping his board twice. I was surprised at the resiliency and determination that Kelvin did to get back to the game. There was a game to be played. I stared helplessly as Kelvin end turn casted collected company into more and more creatures. I played Kalitas and I pointed my spot removal at Knight of the Reliquary, granting me a 2/2 zombie token. I was unable to swing through and stabilize. He kept casting Coco at my end turn and his board was at 8 creatures, including some kitchen finks. He had about more than 12 power on the board and it was a Reflector mage that bounced my Kalitas back to my hand that sealed the deal and closed the game for me.
Nice write up, Arnold. Maybe I should do something like this for the deck I am playing with in the other thread too.
Usually those GQ slots are either 2 Gavony or a 1-1 split of Gavony and Vault; I've never seen 2 GQ MB unless Tron or Scapeshift was in excess in the meta.
I tried a 1/1 split between Ghost Quarter and Gavony Township and I just never liked it. I understand on paper pumping your whole team sounds great and all with all the souls tokens but having access to 2 Strip Mine esc abilities is too good to pass up. There are so many matchups Ghost Quarter is good against, it's not even funny. Lets go over all the Tier 1 decks and lands it can hit
Tron: This is obvious.
Jund: Raging Ravine can steal games for them when we trade resources.
Abzan Company: Hitting their Gavony Townships is good. Honestly, from my past experience, they clog up the board more than we do in the late game so their Townships will hit harder than ours. So, IMO GQ is way better
Affinity: Inkmoth and Blinkmoth Nexus. How many games have we lost to these stupid lands stealing games? Too many.
Infect: Inkmoth Nexus.
Burn: This is my secret. This deck runs no basic plains or mountains. The tendency I've seen burn players do is fetch up Sacred Foundry and Stomping Ground and the rest will be mountains. So, stripping one of the dual lands cuts them off of that respective color. I've played against burn players that I Inquisition and see they reveal a hand full of Boros Charms. I GQ their Sacred Foundry and they can't cast any of their burn spells. This buys me time to clog the board and race.
Another option is if you suspect them having Atarka's Command in hand, you can GQ on their turn so they don't have green and land your own Kitchen Finks and Siege Rhino.
Gavony Township is good in slow grindy matchups but Ghost Quarter is good in almost every matchup. Dare I go into Tier 2 decks?
Scapeshift: Ghost Quarter isn't the best in the matchup but it gives me the personal ability to GQ their Valakut and then Surgical Extraction them away.
Grixis Control: Creeping Tarpit.
UWR Control: Celestial Colonnade
WX Death and Taxes: These decks seem to splash eldrazi nowadays so Eldrazi Temple.
Elves: Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Abzan Mirror: Mirrored manlands.
It only took one match where my affinity opponent went all in on an Inkmoth Nexus while I had a Gavony Township in play to switch it back to Ghost Quarter. I havn't looked back since, even with a tronless meta.
Also, judging by the recent SCG events, Tron is still very much alive. As long as Tron is even remotely Tier 2 and manlands are still around, Fulminators will take up 3 slots in my sideboard.
Anyone have a link to a good write-up on uses/rulings/tips of fulminator mage?
Honestly, Fulminator Mage isn't an easy card to use in practice than it is on paper. It's not a simple Stone Rain effect if you want to get maximum value out of it. You really need good knowledge of the format as a whole to truly utilize the 2/2 body it provides as well.
For example, I played against a RG Valakut deck last night and I boarded in 3 Fulminators. I landed a Fulminator turn 3 but prior to, I Turn 1 Duressed and Turn 2 Goyf. His hand consisted of 2 Summoner's Pact, a Primeval Titan and a Through the Breach. If you've paid attention to the latest trends, the Valakut decks are called VALAKUT and not Scapeshift for a reason. They maximize on Primeval Titans and sneak them in with Through the Breach and don't run any copies of scapeshift. I took Through the Breach. It would be a novice move to just strip a land turn 3 but you don't get to capitalize on the 2/2 body it provides. Then next turn, you swing with the 2/2 AND THEN you fulminate a land away, keeping your opponent off 5 lands just in case they topdeck another Through the Breach. 2 Damage is very relevant in this matchup since you're the aggro deck and racing.
Against a typical RUG Scapeshift deck, they run scapeshift and don't run Titans or Through the Breach. So, you can land a T3 Fulminator and constantly peck away for 2 and then hit their 6th/7th land (depending on if you are > or < 18 life) before they can scapeshift for lethal.
If they try to resolve Scapeshift, DON'T HIT THEIR VALAKUTS when they come into play. If they resolve Scapeshift, fetch 7 lands and 1 land is valakut, hitting the valakut does NOTHING. Those triggers still go on the stack and you take all the damage. Instead, if your Scapeshift opponent is loose, you Fulminate the non valakut land that is available. What happens is they fetch 1 Valakut and 6 mountains. All the triggers go on the stack. In response, you Fulminate a mountain. Then the triggers resolve, BUT they check if there are 5 other mountains upon resolution. for 5 lands, there are not but the land you destroyed, there are. So only 1 valakut trigger actually does damage and you take 3.
This is why Ghost Quarter isn't as effective against scapeshift unless they somehow run out of all of their mountains but it is still useful.
Another example of really knowing the opponent's deck is keeping your opponent off Cryptic Command mana. If you boarded in the Mages against Grixis Control, paying attention to keeping off triple blue is useful. And this is true with any multi-colored deck. Pay attention to what colors your opponent has access to and try to remember the cards that you can deny access to.
Just remember to try to maximize the value of the 2/2 body but don't there has to be a balance. Don't prioritize the 2 damage if your opponent untaps and plays a huge threat that you could have prevented by stripping away their resource.
This write up was sweet, thank you
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I went back a few pages and didn't see anything so i thought I would ask,
Thoughts on sideboarding Blood Baron of Vizkopa Seems nearly unstoppable in the mirror/jund/grixis matchups alone..
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Abzan Vs. Jund: I wouldn't call Jund the strictly "better" deck (Ayiluss), but it does have it's advantages as folks have mentioned above. Namely, it's faster and more interactive against any of the linear aggressive/combo decks. Our manabase isn't necessarily more painful, just slower, as are our spells. We can mitigate this a bit by having access to Disfigure and upping our Path count, but at the end of day, Bolt is just a hard spell to replace. However, we are certainly the better long game deck. We make better use of Lili thanks to Souls synergy, and we are better positioned to outgrind Jund and UWR decks, as well as many other midrange battles. So Jund might be better positioned at the moment, yes, but that doesn't mean it's a better deck. We crush Jund, so there's that. Besides, it's not the worst thing that we're under the radar right now.
On Ghost Quarter: It's a good card, and I can see finding space for 1 copy, but I wouldn't play more than that personally. The problem is, you are most of the time down a card for using GQ. Yes, it answers some problems, but it also comes with a hefty cost. It's one thing to Path something and ramp your opponent. It's even worse to sacrifice a land and put yourself behind on mana. Beyond that, we just don't have that much room for colorless lands, unless you want to up the count to 25 (not a terrible idea). Even then, I'd rather have something proactive like Gavony or Westvale Abbey or maybe Vault. I'll give GQ a try again, but haven't loved it in the past. More than 1 definitely seems risky though.
Blood Baron: He's definitely hard to kill, but there is one major problem in my mind: he simply dies to Tarmogoyf. You don't want your 5-mana Ace for the mirror to fold to the most prominent 2-mana threat across the table. He still does great things in most situations, but for 5 mana there are better ways to go over top of your Grixis and Jund oponents. See: Sigarda Host of Herons.
Thrun is in a similarly awkward place. Great against UWR, decent against Grixis. But he's still just a big dumb 4-drop that doesn't swing through Tasigur or Goyf at the end of the day. I'd recommend other curve-toppers.
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MODERN RGB Jund BGR WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY RUGB Delver GURB
EDH UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR BBB Skithiryx Control BB
Hey I don't know where else to post this so I guess here will do, could I get some help with my sideboard? Either have an open discussion here or could someone who knows abzan well and has a good idea about the various matchups pm me? I have my mainboard set, but I only have the core of my sideboard (3 Fulminator mages, 2 Stony Silence, 2 Painful truths, 1 Damnation) I don't know how to fill the rest. But i have a pretty good idea of the percentage of decks i see in my meta, which I would like to cater the other slots towards, but I have never played this deck.
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“I am confident that if anyone actually penetrates our facades, even the most perceptive would still be fundamentally unprepared for the truth of House Dimir.”
Hey I don't know where else to post this so I guess here will do, could I get some help with my sideboard? Either have an open discussion here or could someone who knows abzan well and has a good idea about the various matchups pm me? I have my mainboard set, but I only have the core of my sideboard (3 Fulminator mages, 2 Stony Silence, 2 Painful truths, 1 Damnation) I don't know how to fill the rest. But i have a pretty good idea of the percentage of decks i see in my meta, which I would like to cater the other slots towards, but I have never played this deck.
In my opinion, the whole notion about playing Abzan because of better sideboard cards is truly false. What white sideboard cards are talking about that makes Abzan so much better? Stony Silence? Ok thats 1. Rest in Peace? No way were running that with our goyfa and souls. I run Worship in my board but even then, its not in any other Junk lists I have seen post-eldrazi.
If we compare Stony Silence to what Jund has access to, they already have Ancient Grudge which is still pretty good. On top of that, they have Shatterstorm already.
The real reason you want to play Abzan is Lingering Souls. End of question. Theres a reason why people get greedy and play Jund splashing Souls. Lingering Souls literally feels like having an extra card in hand. You clog the board with 2 tokens and if they get wrathed, you still have the other "half" of a card left.
There are games where hands do feel clunky with Souls, Rhinos, etc. But you can say the same when jund has a hand of k commands, Kalitas, and Liliana.
I personally love Thrun against other GBx decks; if they don't see it coming, they've usually got nothing for it. No other creature is likely to live long in the match-up. Even if they see it coming, all they usually have is one copy of Damnation.
I am going to give a shout out for Memoricide. This card seriously destroys decks. I brought it in vs. Ad Nauseam which was an easy win after it resolved.
Another matchup that I brought it in was Emeria UW control based around Sun Titan. We can beat the deck even if it gains value off of Flickerwisping a Wall of Omens but Sun Titan takes it over the top. Simple, Memoricide naming Sun Titan. Now, our top decks are better than theirs and our Goyfs and Rhinos outsize their walls and we grind through the beats.
Seriously, I think it is definitely worth a 1x slot. Especially with Nahiri control being popular now.
BGW ABZAN WGB
BGR JUND RGB
There isn't that much to it. You keep him around until the best opportunity presents itself. Attack or block with him as many times as possible against Scape, UWR, or the mirror. Against Tron you might "pop" him earlier. But he blocks wurm reasonably well if you sac during combat.
Do you have any specific rulings or questions about him?
RGB Jund BGR
WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY
RUGB Delver GURB
EDH
UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU
RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR
BBB Skithiryx Control BB
I tried a 1/1 split between Ghost Quarter and Gavony Township and I just never liked it. I understand on paper pumping your whole team sounds great and all with all the souls tokens but having access to 2 Strip Mine esc abilities is too good to pass up. There are so many matchups Ghost Quarter is good against, it's not even funny. Lets go over all the Tier 1 decks and lands it can hit
Tron: This is obvious.
Jund: Raging Ravine can steal games for them when we trade resources.
Abzan Company: Hitting their Gavony Townships is good. Honestly, from my past experience, they clog up the board more than we do in the late game so their Townships will hit harder than ours. So, IMO GQ is way better
Affinity: Inkmoth and Blinkmoth Nexus. How many games have we lost to these stupid lands stealing games? Too many.
Infect: Inkmoth Nexus.
Burn: This is my secret. This deck runs no basic plains or mountains. The tendency I've seen burn players do is fetch up Sacred Foundry and Stomping Ground and the rest will be mountains. So, stripping one of the dual lands cuts them off of that respective color. I've played against burn players that I Inquisition and see they reveal a hand full of Boros Charms. I GQ their Sacred Foundry and they can't cast any of their burn spells. This buys me time to clog the board and race.
Another option is if you suspect them having Atarka's Command in hand, you can GQ on their turn so they don't have green and land your own Kitchen Finks and Siege Rhino.
Gavony Township is good in slow grindy matchups but Ghost Quarter is good in almost every matchup. Dare I go into Tier 2 decks?
Scapeshift: Ghost Quarter isn't the best in the matchup but it gives me the personal ability to GQ their Valakut and then Surgical Extraction them away.
Grixis Control: Creeping Tarpit.
UWR Control: Celestial Colonnade
WX Death and Taxes: These decks seem to splash eldrazi nowadays so Eldrazi Temple.
Elves: Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Abzan Mirror: Mirrored manlands.
It only took one match where my affinity opponent went all in on an Inkmoth Nexus while I had a Gavony Township in play to switch it back to Ghost Quarter. I havn't looked back since, even with a tronless meta.
Also, judging by the recent SCG events, Tron is still very much alive. As long as Tron is even remotely Tier 2 and manlands are still around, Fulminators will take up 3 slots in my sideboard.
Honestly, Fulminator Mage isn't an easy card to use in practice than it is on paper. It's not a simple Stone Rain effect if you want to get maximum value out of it. You really need good knowledge of the format as a whole to truly utilize the 2/2 body it provides as well.
For example, I played against a RG Valakut deck last night and I boarded in 3 Fulminators. I landed a Fulminator turn 3 but prior to, I Turn 1 Duressed and Turn 2 Goyf. His hand consisted of 2 Summoner's Pact, a Primeval Titan and a Through the Breach. If you've paid attention to the latest trends, the Valakut decks are called VALAKUT and not Scapeshift for a reason. They maximize on Primeval Titans and sneak them in with Through the Breach and don't run any copies of scapeshift. I took Through the Breach. It would be a novice move to just strip a land turn 3 but you don't get to capitalize on the 2/2 body it provides. Then next turn, you swing with the 2/2 AND THEN you fulminate a land away, keeping your opponent off 5 lands just in case they topdeck another Through the Breach. 2 Damage is very relevant in this matchup since you're the aggro deck and racing.
Against a typical RUG Scapeshift deck, they run scapeshift and don't run Titans or Through the Breach. So, you can land a T3 Fulminator and constantly peck away for 2 and then hit their 6th/7th land (depending on if you are > or < 18 life) before they can scapeshift for lethal.
If they try to resolve Scapeshift, DON'T HIT THEIR VALAKUTS when they come into play. If they resolve Scapeshift, fetch 7 lands and 1 land is valakut, hitting the valakut does NOTHING. Those triggers still go on the stack and you take all the damage. Instead, if your Scapeshift opponent is loose, you Fulminate the non valakut land that is available. What happens is they fetch 1 Valakut and 6 mountains. All the triggers go on the stack. In response, you Fulminate a mountain. Then the triggers resolve, BUT they check if there are 5 other mountains upon resolution. for 5 lands, there are not but the land you destroyed, there are. So only 1 valakut trigger actually does damage and you take 3.
This is why Ghost Quarter isn't as effective against scapeshift unless they somehow run out of all of their mountains but it is still useful.
Another example of really knowing the opponent's deck is keeping your opponent off Cryptic Command mana. If you boarded in the Mages against Grixis Control, paying attention to keeping off triple blue is useful. And this is true with any multi-colored deck. Pay attention to what colors your opponent has access to and try to remember the cards that you can deny access to.
Just remember to try to maximize the value of the 2/2 body but don't there has to be a balance. Don't prioritize the 2 damage if your opponent untaps and plays a huge threat that you could have prevented by stripping away their resource.
edit: keep in mind, may red multi-colored decks (like Jund) don't run basic mountains so sometimes you can cut them off red mana with a well timed gq.
GBR Jund Midrange
GWU Bant Eldrazi
UG UG Infect
It also has to do with preference and most Pros go for the build that is tried and tested; Jund is old in Modern format years haha
Abzan is a great deck as well and it shouldn't deter you from trying it!
Abzan is favored in the pseudo-mirror and most grindy MU's.
BGW ABZAN WGB
BGR JUND RGB
Jund has better tools to fight the fast aggressive decks: bolt and a less painful manabase + a better way to cose games quickly (reach with bolt + raging ravine).
Against combo decks I think Jund is again a bit better because of the reach of bolt often shaving a turn of the clock. Abzan has a bit of a sideboard advantage here though because of white.
Against midrange abzan is better because it plays more powerfull creatures (Siege Rhino being the poster child here) and because lingering souls is so hard to answer for many slower decks.
Against control abzan is better mainly due to lingering souls.
ATM the meta is still full of aggro decks so jund is better.
Here's how I fared - 3 wins, 4 losses, 34th placing out of 65 players. It was fairly disappointing, as I didn't make the cut for top 8 playoffs, but I went home happy and it was a good experience and I know that I tried.
Round 1: Abzan vs Mono Blue Tron (2-0) Win
Game 1: My opponent didn’t drew enough threats, just kept drawing lands, the most he did was to resolve a chalice set at 1 counter. I casted an abrupt decay destroying his chalice and soon after I resolve a Liliana ticking her up to 7 loyalty. I used her ultimate, and my opponent found it hard to climb back when I separated his permanents into 2 piles. He was left with only 2 lands. Next game!
Game 2: I had to play aggressively this game as I was on the draw. He casted a spatial contortion at my goyf, he condescends my siege rhinos, and when the dust settled, it was an active rhino and a shambling vent activation that swung him for a few turns. He tried to salvage the situation by landing a thought knot seer, but unfortunately, it was sent to exile by path. I took over the game.
Round 2: Abzan vs Jund (2-1) Win
Oh boy, this was a matchup that I looked forward to playing against!
Game 1: My opponent drew too much gas off his bob, I was stuck at 3 lands, unable to play my threats, he kept removing my own bob and ooze with his spot removals. I scooped my cards when I saw he land a huntmaster of the fells.
Game 2: Nothing much to say here, lingering souls was a mirror breaker.
Game 3: I went aggressive as I was on the draw, I casted lingering souls, his Liliana was helpless as she edict one of my tokens and thereafter, she bite the dust when my token swung her at 1 loyalty. Thereafter, we both exchanged removals, and my opponent caught me by surprise when he casted slaughter games naming siege rhino. When the dust settled, he was looking at my overwhelming board state consisting of 4 souls, a 5/6 goyf and a stirring wildwood ready to hit the red zone. He went down to 2 life and with no removals in hand left, he offered a handshake and scooped his cards.
Round 3: Abzan vs Affinity (0-2) Loss
Game 1: Nothing much to say here, he drew a semi godlike hand and dumped 6 cards on the table even though he mulliganed to 6. I struggled to keep up with the robot menace and its an end of my turn galvanic blast to the face that sealed the game.
Game 2: Similarly to game 1, he dumped his hand onto the table, and the most I did was to cast lingering souls twice on turn 3 and turn 4. I was stuck on 3 lands during the whole game. An ornithopter equipped with a cranial plating swinging a few turns puts my life at jeopardy. And it was an end of my turn galvanic blast for the win. He made his creatures bigger than my soul tokens by giving them a +1/+1 buff from a blinkmoth activation. Nothing much I can do. That’s sad.
Round 4: Abzan vs Abzan Coco (0-2) Loss
Game 1: He outclassed me in the war of attrition and it was the spike feeder and archangel of thune combo that sealed game 1.
Game 2: I had to play aggressively this game. I had a 3/4 goyf, a 4/4 ooze and a batterskull ready to hit the red zone. He had some creatures, some of which were birds of paradise and also seer and a few others (I forgot). He had an active Gavony Township and it pumped his creatures to trade with mine. Thereafter, he comboed with vis seer, anafenza and redcap to win the game.
Round 5: Abzan vs RG Scapeshift (2-0) Win
Game 1: I kept gaining life off multiple siege rhinos and had an ooze to put the pressure. He found many lands to quickly assemble his combo but it was not lethal yet. I had Liliana ticking up for 3 turns ready to ultimate on the following turn. Then, he had a mountain landfall trigger with 2 Valakut triggers aiming at Lili to prevent her from ulti. Once the dust settled, it was 6/7 goyf that took over the game. 2 Valakut triggers dealing 6 damage can’t kill it!
Game 2: I knew obstinate baloths were coming, so I had to play a conservative game. My opponent mulliganed to 5 cards. I resolved Liliana and slammed goyf and rhino on the table. I ticked Lili +1, and baloth came down. I played defensively and his baloth couldn’t hit my Lili. My creatures were 4/5s. Next turn I plan to use her edict ability on the baloth and swing in with everything. It was goyf, rhino and a stirring wildwood activation that swung for lethal.
Round 6: Abzan vs Jund (1-2) Loss
Oh boy, another mirror matchup! Here we go!
Game 1: It was an aggressive game. My opponent’s bob was unanswered, he kept drawing threats. I scooped once kalitas, goyf and a 2/2 zombie hit the field and it was an empty board at my end.
Game 2: Vault of the Archangel to the rescue! I had many removals backup and swung in with rhino for the victory.
Game 3: This game was tight and epic. We both were engaged in a topdeck war. I resolved a Thrun, and with an opposing Lili sitting at one counter, I plan to swing at Lili on the next turn with Thrun. My opponent played 2 cards thereafter, a bob and a fulminator mage on defence. Damn! I can’t attack through. Lili edict my Thrun and sent it away. Next came the topdeck war. Goyf was decayed, I played my rhino, and it was terminated. We kept exchanging removals until we were hellbent. Once the dust settled, it was my opponent’s obstinate baloth that swung in for the win. So close, yet so far!
Round 7: Abzan vs 5 Colour Company (1-2) Loss
This game I was paired up against one of Singapore’s homegrown talents, Kelvin Chew.
Game 1: This game basically was a scavenging ooze war. Which one was bigger. My ooze was bigger than my opponent’s one. He had a few creatures on defense, including a Voice of Resurgence. I aimed my removals at his creatures and pathed his voice. My ooze swung in for the win.
Game 2: Kelvin used his creatures and went aggressive to beat me down. I tried to stabilize my life with a scavenging ooze on my own but he used Reflector mage to bounce my ooze back to my hand. His creatures swung in for the win.
Game 3: Kelvin assembled a huge board after I casted 2 Damnations wiping his board twice. I was surprised at the resiliency and determination that Kelvin did to get back to the game. There was a game to be played. I stared helplessly as Kelvin end turn casted collected company into more and more creatures. I played Kalitas and I pointed my spot removal at Knight of the Reliquary, granting me a 2/2 zombie token. I was unable to swing through and stabilize. He kept casting Coco at my end turn and his board was at 8 creatures, including some kitchen finks. He had about more than 12 power on the board and it was a Reflector mage that bounced my Kalitas back to my hand that sealed the deal and closed the game for me.
Siege rhino, lingering souls, and liliana feel like the best cards. goyf and confidant were okay. path to exile was underwhelming, i almost want to cut the 4th copy.
This write up was sweet, thank you
Thoughts on sideboarding Blood Baron of Vizkopa Seems nearly unstoppable in the mirror/jund/grixis matchups alone..
Abzan Vs. Jund: I wouldn't call Jund the strictly "better" deck (Ayiluss), but it does have it's advantages as folks have mentioned above. Namely, it's faster and more interactive against any of the linear aggressive/combo decks. Our manabase isn't necessarily more painful, just slower, as are our spells. We can mitigate this a bit by having access to Disfigure and upping our Path count, but at the end of day, Bolt is just a hard spell to replace. However, we are certainly the better long game deck. We make better use of Lili thanks to Souls synergy, and we are better positioned to outgrind Jund and UWR decks, as well as many other midrange battles. So Jund might be better positioned at the moment, yes, but that doesn't mean it's a better deck. We crush Jund, so there's that. Besides, it's not the worst thing that we're under the radar right now.
On Ghost Quarter: It's a good card, and I can see finding space for 1 copy, but I wouldn't play more than that personally. The problem is, you are most of the time down a card for using GQ. Yes, it answers some problems, but it also comes with a hefty cost. It's one thing to Path something and ramp your opponent. It's even worse to sacrifice a land and put yourself behind on mana. Beyond that, we just don't have that much room for colorless lands, unless you want to up the count to 25 (not a terrible idea). Even then, I'd rather have something proactive like Gavony or Westvale Abbey or maybe Vault. I'll give GQ a try again, but haven't loved it in the past. More than 1 definitely seems risky though.
Blood Baron: He's definitely hard to kill, but there is one major problem in my mind: he simply dies to Tarmogoyf. You don't want your 5-mana Ace for the mirror to fold to the most prominent 2-mana threat across the table. He still does great things in most situations, but for 5 mana there are better ways to go over top of your Grixis and Jund oponents. See: Sigarda Host of Herons.
Thrun is in a similarly awkward place. Great against UWR, decent against Grixis. But he's still just a big dumb 4-drop that doesn't swing through Tasigur or Goyf at the end of the day. I'd recommend other curve-toppers.
RGB Jund BGR
WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY
RUGB Delver GURB
EDH
UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU
RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR
BBB Skithiryx Control BB
1x Creeping Corrosion
1x Damnation
1x Feed the Clan
2x Fulminator Mage
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Golgari Charm
2x Kitchen Finks
1x Languish
1x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Stony Silence
1x Zealous Persecution
I'd remove a few things like GQ, Languish, and Charm in order to add 2 Truths and possibly Cage.
Also looking to add Sagarda HoH.
BGW ABZAN WGB
BGR JUND RGB
If we compare Stony Silence to what Jund has access to, they already have Ancient Grudge which is still pretty good. On top of that, they have Shatterstorm already.
The real reason you want to play Abzan is Lingering Souls. End of question. Theres a reason why people get greedy and play Jund splashing Souls. Lingering Souls literally feels like having an extra card in hand. You clog the board with 2 tokens and if they get wrathed, you still have the other "half" of a card left.
There are games where hands do feel clunky with Souls, Rhinos, etc. But you can say the same when jund has a hand of k commands, Kalitas, and Liliana.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Another matchup that I brought it in was Emeria UW control based around Sun Titan. We can beat the deck even if it gains value off of Flickerwisping a Wall of Omens but Sun Titan takes it over the top. Simple, Memoricide naming Sun Titan. Now, our top decks are better than theirs and our Goyfs and Rhinos outsize their walls and we grind through the beats.
Seriously, I think it is definitely worth a 1x slot. Especially with Nahiri control being popular now.