MTG Salvation

Just thought I'd post up a results thread from my last night's Monday Modern. I've been playing Nathan Jones' 75 since the GP Boston lists have come out and before the last two weeks, I've been muddling through that 2-2 to 3-1 type bracket landing me just out of contention for prize support. Last Monday and this Monday, I won both events though (3-1 on breakers and 3-0-1, draw coming to a good 5 color tribal zoo). Last night, in addition to that match, I played against G/W Hate Bears (this one was rough), Merfolk, and Burn. The burn player wasn't too experienced just yet and was burning my face when I had active Signal Pests on the board that ended up going lethal with Ornithopters. Against the 5 color tribal zoo, I misplayed at one point in the mid point of game 3 where I should have kept my Ravager alive instead of trading with his Wild Nacatl (I attacked into it, thinking i'd move the counters onto my etched champion and have lethal eventually). At the end of the game, he was left at 2 at the end of the 5 extra turns so that extra 3 or 4 damage done by the unblockable Etched Champion might have mattered (kinda hard to explain without seeing the board state). I had the GW matchup won until he resolved a Restoration Angel that I couldn't deal with so that match up was really, really close..I just barely eeked it out on damage. The Merfolk matchup was basically me attacking with flyers and hoping he didn't see Hurkyll's Recall..which, luckily he didn't this time. I don't foresee myself changing the list any time soon. That being said, it's a ridiculously hard deck when it comes to mulligans.

Quote from metalligimp »

Just thought I'd post up a results thread from my last night's Monday Modern. I've been playing Nathan Jones' 75 since the GP Boston lists have come out and before the last two weeks, I've been muddling through that 2-2 to 3-1 type bracket landing me just out of contention for prize support. Last Monday and this Monday, I won both events though (3-1 on breakers and 3-0-1, draw coming to a good 5 color tribal zoo). Last night, in addition to that match, I played against G/W Hate Bears (this one was rough), Merfolk, and Burn. The burn player wasn't too experienced just yet and was burning my face when I had active Signal Pests on the board that ended up going lethal with Ornithopters. Against the 5 color tribal zoo, I misplayed at one point in the mid point of game 3 where I should have kept my Ravager alive instead of trading with his Wild Nacatl (I attacked into it, thinking i'd move the counters onto my etched champion and have lethal eventually). At the end of the game, he was left at 2 at the end of the 5 extra turns so that extra 3 or 4 damage done by the unblockable Etched Champion might have mattered (kinda hard to explain without seeing the board state). I had the GW matchup won until he resolved a Restoration Angel that I couldn't deal with so that match up was really, really close..I just barely eeked it out on damage. The Merfolk matchup was basically me attacking with flyers and hoping he didn't see Hurkyll's Recall..which, luckily he didn't this time. I don't foresee myself changing the list any time soon. That being said, it's a ridiculously hard deck when it comes to mulligans.

I've maintained the same MD 60 every since I placed with it. I continually tinker with the SB based on what I think the meta will look like.

Quote from Danigg7 »

Hi, what do you prefer to play, Wear // Tear or Nature's Claim ?

It's generally accepted that Wear // Tear is better than Nature's Claim for our purposes. Both cards are mainly used for enchantment destruction, notably Stony Silence. While both cards can hit artifacts we have Ancient Grudge which is stronger for artifact destruction. It basically comes down to white mana + utility vs green mana and 4 life.

Here's a question; if I use Nature's Claim on my own Darksteel Citadel, is it really Magic-Christmas? It seems like it would be.

Yes. Your Darksteel Citadel will stay and you will gain 4 life.

Quote from lori610 »

Hey guys this is my decklist:

Zerou's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Land: 4 Darksteel Citadel 3 Glimmervoid 4 Blinkmoth Nexus 4 Inkmoth Nexus 1 Island Creature: 4 Ornithopter 3 Etched Champion 2 Memnite 4 Signal Pest 4 Arcbound Ravager 3 Steel Overseer 4 Vault Skirge 1 Master of Etherium	Artifact: 4 Mox Opal 4 Springleaf Drum 4 Cranial Plating Instant: 4 Galvanic Blast Sorcery: 3 Thoughtcast	Sideboard: 1 Whipflare 2 Ancient Grudge 1 Wear // Tear 2 Spellskite 3 Thoughtseize 1 Dismember 1 Torpor Orb 2 Blood Moon 1 Grafdigger's Cage 1 Spell Pierce

Which cards should I side IN/OUT against Tarmo Twin?
I tend to side too much stuff, because I have a lot of good cards in SB for this matchup.
But in this way I break my aggro plan and I lose speed and aggressiveness.

wow we run the same exact list, except for 3 thoughtcast in my list are 3 ensoul artifact.

So a couple thoughts from when I last posted:

I think I'm going to go 1 more memnite over the 4th Galvanic Blast. I wanna increase my keepable hands and also reduce my colour requirements.


I also think that Rest in Peace deserves a slot in the deck, along with possibly other hate for Treasure Cruise decks.

I also think having a little bit for burn can't hurt, as its just SO POPULAR right now

What are your guys's thoughts

Quote from MrSocash »

What do you guys think of the following list that won a 300 person tournament in Italy? http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=8317&d=247825&f=MO.

Personally I'm surprised that Stain the Mind actually has ome success as a sideboard card. And does anyone have any idea for which MU Darkblast is a sideboard card? UR Delver?

You mean to discuss new ideas? Get out of here. lol

Stain the Mind looks playable if you're running 3 or more Memnites.

Quote from MrSocash »

Dude, relax. I just meant that earlier Stain the Mind was considered as a bad SB possibility. Probably it is better than expected, otherwise it wouldn't have won a tournament. The question now, is whether this was a lucky shot or that Stain the Mind maybe has been undervaluated. In my opinion, that question deserves more discussion than a 'get out of here'

You do realize he was being sarcastic, right?

Maybe against jeskai storm you stain for glittering wish. That's the card that fixes their problems.

The thing about Stain the Mind, and Cranial Extraction effects in general, is that they're only really good against decks where if it resolves, you pretty much win the game. Such decks as Living End, Ad Nauseum, and Scapeshift.

I've heard there are players siding in Chalice of the Void against Ascendancy Combo, Burn, and UR Delver, which are three of the most played decks right now. It also screws over Infect, Living End, and Storm a little bit. Even Zoo is playing Chalice main. They kept Wild Nacatl and Kird Ape, replaced Lightning Bolt with Dead // Gone, and play Pyroclasm and Volcanic Fallout in the main. I think Affinity can play Chalice in the 75 as well, since our only 1 drops are Signal Pest, Springleaf Drum, and Galvanic Blast, and we are capable of playing Chalice for x=1 on turn 1.

Relax Mr Socash lol these forums are not the most friendly places especially for new ideas. This is coming from someone who knows. lol Now, Stain the Mind imo is THE card we have needed for quite some time. The reason is that their are sooo many different and effective combo decks out there. And, they keep getting fine tuned unlike us. The newest card we got has been Ensoul Artifact. I love the card, but it's been a long time since we were able to add something to the MB. So, as the combo decks get better we have less and less effective tools to beat them out. This card allows us to answer those many combo decks. It wont answer all, but it will answer most, which is more than I could ask for. Now, if only MTG would expand our SB to 16 slots...

Funny, I actually considered Stain the Mind when it first came out. I honestly think it's good but there really isn't anything worth taking out of the sideboard for it.

played at a modern swiss event at a shop with a 3-2 result, finishing at 10th place out of 22 player.
match 1 vs merfolk. 0-2, meet all the hate cards post sideboard. attribute loss due to loss of tempo from vapour snag and hurkyl recall
match 2 vs rakdos beatdown 2-0 very good match up as I am much faster than him.
match 3 vs RW Burn 1-2 I think I have mis-sideboard by taking out the wrong cards. also I kept a questionable hand on game 2 which is asking for trouble. did learn abit from the player post game about what I should do better.
match 4 vs UB faeris 2-0 good matchup, again I am too fast for him. he don't have enough hate in sideboard against my deck.
match 5 vs Burn/RDW 2-0 I have quite a good hand and he didn't have enough hate against my deck.

\lesson learnt during this event is my sideboarding skill need to improve. I should board stuff of similar cmc in and out to prevent tempo loss. signal pest and memnite should not be my priority in boarding as they are the one that can turn my metalcraft on early.
ensoul artefact is bad against merfolk which play vapour snag that can 1 for 2 my cards easily. should be sideboarding it out in future match against merfolk. hurkyl recall can be a bit devastating to my tempo is I have too much 2 drops. might board out stell overseer and ensoul artefact for whipflare, thoughtseize and wear//tear.

I have a question for you guys, should I be running an island or a mountain? I've always thought island but I'm running an equal number of red and blue cards in the mainboard but I have more red cards in the sideboard. Another thing to think about is that Blood moon means my basic land becomes more relevant and when blood moon is in play, an island would be better. So what do you think, Island or Mountain?

Here is the deck:

I would said island is better as after you blood moon, you have no lack of red source, but blue source is required for master of etherium and ensoul artefact, therefore island is better.
I do not like blood moon for sideboard in this deck because it kills 8 of my manland and also could affect my coloured mana source. however if your meta is full of scapeshift and multi-couloured deck, you could try to use blood moon, however from my testing, I find I can host some decks by other cards without use of blood moon.

Choke won me games the moment I put it down and they had no ander for it. It was against esper control and a black blue control deck. I personally really like choke.

Anyone try Chalice of the Void yet?

Quote from DXI-Edge »

Anyone try Chalice of the Void yet?

I mentioned it a few days ago, and everybody just ignored it! They were all too busy talking about Stain the Mind, and not a single acknowledgment was made to Chalice. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills! Anyway, I really think it's good right now with reasons stated in my previous comment, and I will try it out this weekend. Also, when we look at the SCG Minneapolis top 8 deck lists, and break them down to their 1-drops, we get:

Blue Moon - 14
UR Delver - 26
UR Delver - 36
Burn - 16
Bogles - 27
Burn - 18
Infect - 27
UR Delver - 30

As you can see, Chalice on 1 shuts down roughly a third to half of their decks.

Chalice is definitely a good hose ard. I just wonder what will you side out after boarding chalice? the reason so far of not boarding in chalice by affinity players are that it equally affect us and what measure can we take to reduce the impact on us? we have many hate cards that is against us, we do not want to put in extra hate against our own deck. if a good compromise is achieved, I think chalice will catch on.