I have Kor Firewalker in my sideboard for any burn... I like cause its something that can't be burned and each time they burn me its less effective since I will be gain a life for each spell. Slowing the fast clock that burn puts a player on. With pod any delay gives best chance to setup for a combo and execute that same that combo. With that said I have cut Sigarda, Host of Herons from the main board to the sideboard. Eliminating Mirran Crusader from the sideboard and making an opening in the main board. This was done to make the deck a little cheaper, but now I have choice to decide what to put into the deck. I have three current options Melira, Sylvok Outcast (which I have one in the main), Voice of Resurgence (which is currently 2 in the main), and Cartel Aristocrat (currently none, but will be able to tutor from a Birds of Paradise to get that sac outlet for combo). So what do you guys think I should go with guys/gals?
3 sideboard cards that hit 2 decks is far from narrow.
You're saying you play 3 Firewalkers. It's an over-dedication to 2 MUs (he's good against Storm too). Pod is a deck where you play 1 copy of a card because many other cards in your deck also do something relevant. Delver is not that bad MU some people claim, and Burn is a good MU. We have lifegain, removal, Pontiff, fliers, disruption...
It's tough when they have an early Delver, but it has always been that way, and Firewalker doesn't help stopping it. He doesn't help a Treasure Cruise from happening either, nor a Vapor Snag into a burn spell from resolving.
Yes Firewalker is narrow because he indeed hits only a couple of MUs, and one of them is already good. In both cases why would you need 3 copies, or even 2 ?
Also, on board, Firewalker is very bad against any Anger of the Gods, Pyroclasm, and Firespouts you will encounter in any other red MU.
What I'm saying is you'd better have Firewalker + another card that attacks Delver at a different angle, and possibly helps you for a wide variety of MUs. Don't get me wrong, I believe Firewalker is a fine SB card right now.
I also disagree with the idea that Courser doesn't block, or at least should never block. Taking out a Goblin Guide or Young Pyromancer plus a burn spell is getting a lot out of one card.
Against Burn, I agree with you, I will probably block a Guide and an Eidolon of the Great Revel, but I won't block a Monastery Swifspear or a Vexing Devil. I better take 1 damage from the Swiftspear rather than block, for my opponent casts a spell to finish the Courser and his creature survives. Searing Blood and Searing Blaze are other problems I'd rather play around as much as I can.
Against Delver, it depends on my life total and players' hands. Not everybody plays Mutagenic Growth, but I wouldn't take the risk to block a Pyro rushing into a Courser / Eidolon for a supposedly suicidal attack. The only moment I would do that is when my life total is low (he's just pushing through), or when I have back-up in my hand and I'm sure to stabilize. But in the case of Eidolon, this card is just so good that I think I won't ever block anything but a Pyro's token.
I think the value you get out of these cards are worthier than taking out an opposing threat. We have other cards to deal with threats.
How is Firewalker bad against red sweepers? Sure, he can't save other creatures, but he doesn't die (protection from red means that any damage caused by a red source to him is prevented) and you still gain some life.
The question in my eyes about what to do about the two Cruise-fueled decks is not so much what hate to run but how much. Pod already has a lot of maindeckable cards that punish both Burn and Delver to varying degrees (Finks, Pontiff, Spellskite), and there's a lot of hatebears to pick from that can be boarded in in other matches (Eidolon, Forge-Tender, Firewalker, Thalia, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Aegis of the Gods). No one card is going to be the solution, you have to throw a few of them out and hope they slow your opponent down enough for you to get stable again.
I think a second Pontiff is the best way to attack Delver, at least for Melira with the sac outlets and the potential to Plague Wind their whole board by haunting an X/1 with the Pontiff's ETB trigger on the stack. Even without that bit of trickery, it still undoes everything Young Pyromancer is involved in. Eidolon of Rhetoric also seems strong here, by taking away their ability to make a prowess guy huge and forcing them to slow down; a 1/4 for 3 is also not an irrelevant defensive creature. Combined with the already-in-place discard, Decays, and lifegain, that should be enough to at least level out the matchup.
Burn looks a bit more awkward. Eidolon doesn't hamper them as much, since they'll just toss sorceries at you on their turn and instants on yours; that's vaguely helpful if you're in a position to gain some life during their turn, but in most circumstances you'll be in critical condition already. Kor Firewalker knocks a point of damage off every burn spell and doesn't die unless it blocks and you're Skullcracked, but WW means you're most likely going to have to hurt yourself if you want to cast it from your hand. Burrenton Forge-Tender, Thalia, and Aegis of the Gods all do the same thing, more or less: soak up one burn spell that would have otherwise hit you. Spirit of the Labyrinth is something I'm considering, because of its ability to blank Treasure Cruise at the time when Burn needs it most to reload; if you can bunker up with a Wall of Roots and/or Kitchen Finks and get them to run low on cards, then taking away their Draw 3 gives you a real chance to get back in the game, plus they'll have burnt up their graveyard for zero benefit and you get a body out of it. I also need to fiddle with my mainboard, which means no more being greedy with reaching into a fourth colour; more basics, Siege Rhino, either Ooze or Eidolon in the main.
So, in conclusion, here's the stuff I'm aiming for:
3 Kitchen Finks, 1 Siege Rhino, 1 Restoration Angel - gain life.
2 Orzhov Pontiff (1 MB, 1 SB) - sweep pests.
1 Scavenging Ooze - eat graveyards.
1 Spellskite - eat Bolts.
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric - general-purpose stop-sign.
1 Spirit of the Labyrinth - counters Cruise.
3 Inquisition of Kozilek - painless discard.
and maybe 1 Burrenton Forge-Tender, for when people remember that Volcanic Fallout destroys Delver.
Just because we are a pod deck doesn't mean you sideboard like one. Running a bunch of ones to "slow down" or stop a deck that can kill you in 4 to 5 turns and plays countermagic is probably the worst plan. The reason you can play 1 of Sigarda's or Thruns is because the game will go that long. You will have time to get them out and they will make a difference. To play multiple 1 ofs of 2cmc or less creatures all of which do different things in pod seems awful. You're hedging on drawing a 1 of, or hoping a 1 or 2 drops fits into your pod chain? Which you're hoping to resolve through removal and countermagic? That seems like a sure fire way to lose to delver and burn. I'm also confused how double white is that hard to cast in a deck with 7 one drop fixers and 4 to 5 lands that come in untapped for white. Temple Garden, Bird, tapped land firewalker. Take 2 damage? To advance mana and net life on each spell? Seems very fine by me.
If we were talking about tackling later games decks I'd agree to diversify answers or threats but that's simply not the case against burn or delver. You first pod or chord almost always wants to be a finks. Playing 3 cards that have pro red and gain you life on each red spell and don't require you to micromanage seems fine. I'm also not sure how anger is such a huge deal from delver decks when they kill their own creatures as well, don't answer your firewalker and don't kill your pod (which is the only way they would probably anger,as so to stop all voice and persist triggers.)
Just because we are a pod deck doesn't mean you sideboard like one. Running a bunch of ones to "slow down" or stop a deck that can kill you in 4 to 5 turns and plays countermagic is probably the worst plan. The reason you can play 1 of Sigarda's or Thruns is because the game will go that long. You will have time to get them out and they will make a difference. To play multiple 1 ofs of 2cmc or less creatures all of which do different things in pod seems awful. You're hedging on drawing a 1 of, or hoping a 1 or 2 drops fits into your pod chain? Which you're hoping to resolve through removal and countermagic? That seems like a sure fire way to lose to delver and burn. I'm also confused how double white is that hard to cast in a deck with 7 one drop fixers and 4 to 5 lands that come in untapped for white. Temple Garden, Bird, tapped land firewalker. Take 2 damage? To advance mana and net life on each spell? Seems very fine by me.
If we were talking about tackling later games decks I'd agree to diversify answers or threats but that's simply not the case against burn or delver. You first pod or chord almost always wants to be a finks. Playing 3 cards that have pro red and gain you life on each red spell and don't require you to micromanage seems fine. I'm also not sure how anger is such a huge deal from delver decks when they kill their own creatures as well, don't answer your firewalker and don't kill your pod (which is the only way they would probably anger,as so to stop all voice and persist triggers.)
It's all well and good to say "jam trips Firewalker, win forever against Cruise", but as much as the hysteria machine would have you believe otherwise, there are decks that are not Delver and Burn. For the same reason that you don't just keep four Leyline of the Voids in the sideboard of your Legacy deck because today might be the day that Dredge is out in big numbers, the final solution cannot be something that takes up so much space and is dead in every other game. What does Kor Firewalker do against Bogles? Soul Sisters? Green Stompy? UWR Control? Not a lot, but you can bet you'll see those decks out in force to prey on the new all-stars. Eventually, one of two things is going to happen: Cruise gets banned for making Burn and Delver oppressive, or the meta adjusts to keep those decks from being oppressive. Going all-in on one piece of hate might work in the short-term when it looks like nothing but Burn and Delver is putting up results, but it won't hold forever.
Also... diverse hatebears are bad, the first card you typically Chord for is CMC3 Kitchen Finks, and of course a mana dork survives long enough to tap for the second White? What?
Just because we are a pod deck doesn't mean you sideboard like one. Running a bunch of ones to "slow down" or stop a deck that can kill you in 4 to 5 turns and plays countermagic is probably the worst plan. The reason you can play 1 of Sigarda's or Thruns is because the game will go that long. You will have time to get them out and they will make a difference. To play multiple 1 ofs of 2cmc or less creatures all of which do different things in pod seems awful. You're hedging on drawing a 1 of, or hoping a 1 or 2 drops fits into your pod chain? Which you're hoping to resolve through removal and countermagic? That seems like a sure fire way to lose to delver and burn. I'm also confused how double white is that hard to cast in a deck with 7 one drop fixers and 4 to 5 lands that come in untapped for white. Temple Garden, Bird, tapped land firewalker. Take 2 damage? To advance mana and net life on each spell? Seems very fine by me.
If we were talking about tackling later games decks I'd agree to diversify answers or threats but that's simply not the case against burn or delver. You first pod or chord almost always wants to be a finks. Playing 3 cards that have pro red and gain you life on each red spell and don't require you to micromanage seems fine. I'm also not sure how anger is such a huge deal from delver decks when they kill their own creatures as well, don't answer your firewalker and don't kill your pod (which is the only way they would probably anger,as so to stop all voice and persist triggers.)
It's all well and good to say "jam trips Firewalker, win forever against Cruise", but as much as the hysteria machine would have you believe otherwise, there are decks that are not Delver and Burn. For the same reason that you don't just keep four Leyline of the Voids in the sideboard of your Legacy deck because today might be the day that Dredge is out in big numbers, the final solution cannot be something that takes up so much space and is dead in every other game. What does Kor Firewalker do against Bogles? Soul Sisters? Green Stompy? UWR Control? Not a lot, but you can bet you'll see those decks out in force to prey on the new all-stars. Eventually, one of two things is going to happen: Cruise gets banned for making Burn and Delver oppressive, or the meta adjusts to keep those decks from being oppressive. Going all-in on one piece of hate might work in the short-term when it looks like nothing but Burn and Delver is putting up results, but it won't hold forever.
Also... diverse hatebears are bad, the first card you typically Chord for is CMC3 Kitchen Finks, and of course a mana dork survives long enough to tap for the second White? What?
You have more than 3 cards in a sideboard you know? If every 3 cards in your sideboard covered 2 decks for instance you would cover roughly 10 decks. How many decks do you seriously expect to play against in a tourney. Also there is a term hedging, if you want to play "Safe" and look out for tier 2 and 3 decks, be my guest. But to simply say devoting 3 cards to decks that make up almost 30-35% of the meta atm is "narrow", well its a very, very silly thing to say.
What do you guys think of Sylvan Caryatid if I don't own Heirarch? Hexproof could help against the skred red deck I keep harping on about, but how does it stack up against the field compared the Avacyn's Pilgrim or Elves of Deep Shadow it would replace? I could also use a good planeswalker hoser for my board; Hexmage is probably out since I'd have to get it out through Blood Moon.
Im preparing for a GPT in Madrid and trying to fight my way through a delver and burn meta with a meliraless pod. A week ago this list did it here in Madrid:
Just saw Containment Priest in the Commander spoiler. Talk about dodging a bullet, that would have made one hateful card for Pod if it were Modern legal.
@World_Peace
Pilgrim is better than deep shadows and caryatid, you need you turn 1 mana dork, and white is more important than black
@Ramosgay
The list is extremely odd:
The mire doesn't make any sense, another Marsh Flats is way better.
2 Hierarch 2 Walls is more for a Zoo centric metagame, but it could work.
Cutting the Aven Mindcensor for another Thoughtseize seams more reasonable Thragtusk for Reveillark is all kinds of nope, it's over reacting to Burn, which is not that dramatic of a matchup.
I don't personally like Chord of Calling because it gets cut pretty much always and chording for a combo piece in Angel pod is a bit too difficult, but that's personal preference. Also the deck is called "Angel Pod" not "meliraless pod", meliraless pod seams like Junk pod, a pod deck without any combo
@VeroProDiGY
Pod is a toolbox deck, therefore you play a lot of singleton. That's deckbuilding 101
Toolbox deck has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. Don't blindly throw out terms which have nothing to do with an actual sideboard plan.
I actually personally think that putting 3 Kor Firewalkers in the sideboard when you're in a meta that you know is infested with Burn and UR Delver is fine. Probably the hate bear that this thread complains the least about when I put multiples in the board is Fulminator Mage, and yes, I need LD ASAP against Tron, so multiples do help. Burn kills fast enough that multiple Firewalkers is a good call against them...and Delver (it walls Monastery Swiftspear and Young Pyromancer's primary body)...and possibly Zoo...and possibly decks with red board wipes because Chord of Calling sucks even more against the fair ones...
...then again, I only board in Fulminators against Tron, Scapeshift, Amulet, and Summoning Trap Breach...and maybe UWR/Cruel Control if I have more cards to board out than to board in...
While i realise it doesnt have an ETB, why don't we use epochrasite, its a 4/4 if we pod into it, and when we pod it off it comes back three turns later as a 4/4 with haste. Probably not so great if we hard cast though.
I actually personally think that putting 3 Kor Firewalkers in the sideboard when you're in a meta that you know is infested with Burn and UR Delver is fine. Probably the hate bear that this thread complains the least about when I put multiples in the board is Fulminator Mage, and yes, I need LD ASAP against Tron, so multiples do help. Burn kills fast enough that multiple Firewalkers is a good call against them...and Delver (it walls Monastery Swiftspear and Young Pyromancer's primary body)...and possibly Zoo...and possibly decks with red board wipes because Chord of Calling sucks even more against the fair ones...
...then again, I only board in Fulminators against Tron, Scapeshift, Amulet, and Summoning Trap Breach...and maybe UWR/Cruel Control if I have more cards to board out than to board in...
I like Fulminator but multiples are outside of my budget. I run one in the sideboard for certain matchups and when it's good it's good. I find Tron is generally too resilient to really shut them down from Tron but it's good at cutting them off of colored sources. Best of all though is that thanks to the white leanings of the deck no one ever expects Fulminator Mage.
Against Cruel Control it's just not fair. Fulminator is amazing if you can get him and then do a pod chain of Eternal Witness into Entomber Exarch, into Reveillark, into sacing the Reveillark, returning Witness/Exarch and gravedigging them both to your hand. Once you get it going you can practically stone rain every turn with creatures that just don't die.
On the subject of 3 Kor Firewalkers though, I just don't know. The deck isn't set up well to get WW on T2 and devoting 3 copies of a card to such a narrow range of decks (even if those decks are popular) seems like a poor idea to me.
Against decks that run red sweepers, you better have a Burrenton Forge-Tender, or just any other x/4 creature. In these MUs you want disruption, clock, to protect your board. Firewalker is one of a selfish guy that won't pass Tarmo, Obstinate Baloth, Wurmcoil Engine, Boros Reckoner, because yes, these are the kinds of creatures you face against red sweeper decks.
I actually personally think that putting 3 Kor Firewalkers in the sideboard when you're in a meta that you know is infested with Burn and UR Delver is fine. Probably the hate bear that this thread complains the least about when I put multiples in the board is Fulminator Mage,
Fulmi boy is played x3 in very specific metagames (dailys, Pod being über-popular, so Tron being the basic anti-Pod challenger), and we choose a 3-piece hate because Tron is the worst MU ever. I completely agree with you Lectrys, it's a fine solution to have 3 Firewalkers in a very narrow field, like for an FNM. But come on, don't we agree Pod never needed a Burrenton or a Firewalker in the 75 against Burn because the MU is positive ? Let's have a million players run Burn, they won't stride over the Pod-fence very often. About Delver, adding a Firewalker for once, yeah fine, it's a very good idea. But 3 ?
But to simply say devoting 3 cards to decks that make up almost 30-35% of the meta atm is "narrow", well its a very, very silly thing to say.
No, no and no.
The deck already has several slots that fit perfectly well to the Delver MU. What you're implying by adding 3 Firewalkers is that you actually end up with way too many slots that fit to the MU. I'd like to see your SB actually, where you find room for the 2 extra men.
The 2nd Orzhov Pontiff is miles ahead of a 2nd Firewalker, an Eidolon of Rhetoric miles ahead of a 3rd Firewalker. The 2nd Scavenging Ooze, Lingering Souls, the removal package, all this is very good against Delver and good in various MUs where Firewalker is poor. There's a reason why the card is just fringely played and makes the cut only in specific fields.
Once again, devoting 3 cards that are bad against 70-75% of the metagame (based on your ratios), yeah it objectively makes the card narrow. It doesn't mean a narrow Firewalker is a bad idea. 3 is though. Creeping Corrosion is played x2 in narrow Affinity fields, Kataki too. They're fine when the field is abnormally infested with a certain deck, but these cards are still narrow.
We need to fix our 75 to face a meta filled by burn and delver. Any suggestions? I've found in Siege Rhino a possible solution to the problem.
I've been testing the match a ton as Delver/Pod are my two primary decks (and the two I have put together). I'm thinking about going back to Blasting Station. The meta is perfect for it right now, and it's fitting with my more recent philosophy of having easy to cast cards in order to save life as part of fighting Burn. I may adopt some Lingering Souls as well in my next deck revision.
Burn and Delver are becoming really big decks. The most logical solution to fighting against Delver, and burn to an extent, is to drop the Melira combo and switch to Angel Pod. Instead of drawing awkward combo pieces you get loads of value (A resolved Archangel of Thune can be a pretty big game). Here is a list that got top 8 at a decently big tournament:
I can't post links because I don't have five posts but it's on MTG Top 8 :X
You get a solid amount of lifegain going and Rhino stomps (literally) all over the tempo and chump with elemental plan. Scryb Sprite might be a little ambitious but it is some sweet tech against Delvers and ramps up your mana.
"Have you ever gotten tired of ALL the spells and ALL the cards being drawn in Legacy? Are you 7 years old and have trouble counting to large numbers like three? Billy Mays here with Death and Taxes, so no one can count past one ever again."
Siege Rhino is really, really good. It plays well with nearly everything, is easy to cast with our mana base, and is a huge lifeswing; all while being stapled to a big efficient threat. Also plays hilariously well with Restoration Angel. I'm running Rhino over the second Redcap in my Archangel list, and it's been one of the best cards. Podding Finks into Rhino is awesome against Burn too, since it's a gain of 5 life total that can be combined with Finks->Resto Angel next turn for even more damage.
Modern
Small Zoo (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/14-03-15-small-zoo/)
Green/White Hatebears (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/08-02-15-hate/)
Legacy
Affinity (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/stega/)
Commander
Heavenly Inferno Kaalia of the Vast (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/heavenly-inferno-revised/)
That's a Handful Nekusar, the Mindrazer (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/thats-a-handful/)
Uprising Sliver Overlord (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/up-rising/)
Retired Decks
Jundassic (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/jundassic/)
Melira Pod (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/22-09-14-melira-pod/)
Dark Naya Zoo (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/26-01-15-dark-naya-zoo/)
Naya Zoo (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/18-10-14-my-zoo/)
You're saying you play 3 Firewalkers. It's an over-dedication to 2 MUs (he's good against Storm too). Pod is a deck where you play 1 copy of a card because many other cards in your deck also do something relevant. Delver is not that bad MU some people claim, and Burn is a good MU. We have lifegain, removal, Pontiff, fliers, disruption...
It's tough when they have an early Delver, but it has always been that way, and Firewalker doesn't help stopping it. He doesn't help a Treasure Cruise from happening either, nor a Vapor Snag into a burn spell from resolving.
Yes Firewalker is narrow because he indeed hits only a couple of MUs, and one of them is already good. In both cases why would you need 3 copies, or even 2 ?
Also, on board, Firewalker is very bad against any Anger of the Gods, Pyroclasm, and Firespouts you will encounter in any other red MU.
What I'm saying is you'd better have Firewalker + another card that attacks Delver at a different angle, and possibly helps you for a wide variety of MUs. Don't get me wrong, I believe Firewalker is a fine SB card right now.
Against Burn, I agree with you, I will probably block a Guide and an Eidolon of the Great Revel, but I won't block a Monastery Swifspear or a Vexing Devil. I better take 1 damage from the Swiftspear rather than block, for my opponent casts a spell to finish the Courser and his creature survives. Searing Blood and Searing Blaze are other problems I'd rather play around as much as I can.
Against Delver, it depends on my life total and players' hands. Not everybody plays Mutagenic Growth, but I wouldn't take the risk to block a Pyro rushing into a Courser / Eidolon for a supposedly suicidal attack. The only moment I would do that is when my life total is low (he's just pushing through), or when I have back-up in my hand and I'm sure to stabilize. But in the case of Eidolon, this card is just so good that I think I won't ever block anything but a Pyro's token.
I think the value you get out of these cards are worthier than taking out an opposing threat. We have other cards to deal with threats.
How is Firewalker bad against red sweepers? Sure, he can't save other creatures, but he doesn't die (protection from red means that any damage caused by a red source to him is prevented) and you still gain some life.
By not being Burrenton Forge-Tender...? idk
The question in my eyes about what to do about the two Cruise-fueled decks is not so much what hate to run but how much. Pod already has a lot of maindeckable cards that punish both Burn and Delver to varying degrees (Finks, Pontiff, Spellskite), and there's a lot of hatebears to pick from that can be boarded in in other matches (Eidolon, Forge-Tender, Firewalker, Thalia, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Aegis of the Gods). No one card is going to be the solution, you have to throw a few of them out and hope they slow your opponent down enough for you to get stable again.
I think a second Pontiff is the best way to attack Delver, at least for Melira with the sac outlets and the potential to Plague Wind their whole board by haunting an X/1 with the Pontiff's ETB trigger on the stack. Even without that bit of trickery, it still undoes everything Young Pyromancer is involved in. Eidolon of Rhetoric also seems strong here, by taking away their ability to make a prowess guy huge and forcing them to slow down; a 1/4 for 3 is also not an irrelevant defensive creature. Combined with the already-in-place discard, Decays, and lifegain, that should be enough to at least level out the matchup.
Burn looks a bit more awkward. Eidolon doesn't hamper them as much, since they'll just toss sorceries at you on their turn and instants on yours; that's vaguely helpful if you're in a position to gain some life during their turn, but in most circumstances you'll be in critical condition already. Kor Firewalker knocks a point of damage off every burn spell and doesn't die unless it blocks and you're Skullcracked, but WW means you're most likely going to have to hurt yourself if you want to cast it from your hand. Burrenton Forge-Tender, Thalia, and Aegis of the Gods all do the same thing, more or less: soak up one burn spell that would have otherwise hit you. Spirit of the Labyrinth is something I'm considering, because of its ability to blank Treasure Cruise at the time when Burn needs it most to reload; if you can bunker up with a Wall of Roots and/or Kitchen Finks and get them to run low on cards, then taking away their Draw 3 gives you a real chance to get back in the game, plus they'll have burnt up their graveyard for zero benefit and you get a body out of it. I also need to fiddle with my mainboard, which means no more being greedy with reaching into a fourth colour; more basics, Siege Rhino, either Ooze or Eidolon in the main.
So, in conclusion, here's the stuff I'm aiming for:
3 Kitchen Finks, 1 Siege Rhino, 1 Restoration Angel - gain life.
2 Orzhov Pontiff (1 MB, 1 SB) - sweep pests.
1 Scavenging Ooze - eat graveyards.
1 Spellskite - eat Bolts.
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric - general-purpose stop-sign.
1 Spirit of the Labyrinth - counters Cruise.
3 Inquisition of Kozilek - painless discard.
and maybe 1 Burrenton Forge-Tender, for when people remember that Volcanic Fallout destroys Delver.
Think that's enough?
Erebos B | Ghost Council WB | Grimgrin UB | Jhoira UR
Jor Kadeen RW | Melek UR | Mimeoplasm GUB | Rasputin WU
Savra BG | Sisay GW | Teneb BGW | Thada Adel U | Wort BR
I draft and play EDH. If a Standard player can't understand who a card is for, it's probably for me.
I also write things about good films.
If we were talking about tackling later games decks I'd agree to diversify answers or threats but that's simply not the case against burn or delver. You first pod or chord almost always wants to be a finks. Playing 3 cards that have pro red and gain you life on each red spell and don't require you to micromanage seems fine. I'm also not sure how anger is such a huge deal from delver decks when they kill their own creatures as well, don't answer your firewalker and don't kill your pod (which is the only way they would probably anger,as so to stop all voice and persist triggers.)
It's all well and good to say "jam trips Firewalker, win forever against Cruise", but as much as the hysteria machine would have you believe otherwise, there are decks that are not Delver and Burn. For the same reason that you don't just keep four Leyline of the Voids in the sideboard of your Legacy deck because today might be the day that Dredge is out in big numbers, the final solution cannot be something that takes up so much space and is dead in every other game. What does Kor Firewalker do against Bogles? Soul Sisters? Green Stompy? UWR Control? Not a lot, but you can bet you'll see those decks out in force to prey on the new all-stars. Eventually, one of two things is going to happen: Cruise gets banned for making Burn and Delver oppressive, or the meta adjusts to keep those decks from being oppressive. Going all-in on one piece of hate might work in the short-term when it looks like nothing but Burn and Delver is putting up results, but it won't hold forever.
Also... diverse hatebears are bad, the first card you typically Chord for is CMC3 Kitchen Finks, and of course a mana dork survives long enough to tap for the second White? What?
Erebos B | Ghost Council WB | Grimgrin UB | Jhoira UR
Jor Kadeen RW | Melek UR | Mimeoplasm GUB | Rasputin WU
Savra BG | Sisay GW | Teneb BGW | Thada Adel U | Wort BR
I draft and play EDH. If a Standard player can't understand who a card is for, it's probably for me.
I also write things about good films.
You have more than 3 cards in a sideboard you know? If every 3 cards in your sideboard covered 2 decks for instance you would cover roughly 10 decks. How many decks do you seriously expect to play against in a tourney. Also there is a term hedging, if you want to play "Safe" and look out for tier 2 and 3 decks, be my guest. But to simply say devoting 3 cards to decks that make up almost 30-35% of the meta atm is "narrow", well its a very, very silly thing to say.
Pauper: Burn
Modern: Burn
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Marath, Will of the Wild - Ramp/Combo | Anafenza the Foremost - French | Uril, the Miststalker - Voltron | Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury - Goodstuff
Ghost Council of Orzhov - Tokens | Lazav, Dimir Mastermind - Control | Isamaru, Hound of Konda - Tiny Leaders
http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=15017&iddeck=111302
Notable changes are:
-1 reveillark + 1Thragtusk
+1 Kor firewalker in the side for a -1thoughtseize
a bloodstained mire i guess for thoughtseize turn 1 with minimal life loss. Only plays 2noble hierarch
Thoughts?
Toolbox deck has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. Don't blindly throw out terms which have nothing to do with an actual sideboard plan.
...then again, I only board in Fulminators against Tron, Scapeshift, Amulet, and Summoning Trap Breach...and maybe UWR/Cruel Control if I have more cards to board out than to board in...
I like Fulminator but multiples are outside of my budget. I run one in the sideboard for certain matchups and when it's good it's good. I find Tron is generally too resilient to really shut them down from Tron but it's good at cutting them off of colored sources. Best of all though is that thanks to the white leanings of the deck no one ever expects Fulminator Mage.
Against Cruel Control it's just not fair. Fulminator is amazing if you can get him and then do a pod chain of Eternal Witness into Entomber Exarch, into Reveillark, into sacing the Reveillark, returning Witness/Exarch and gravedigging them both to your hand. Once you get it going you can practically stone rain every turn with creatures that just don't die.
On the subject of 3 Kor Firewalkers though, I just don't know. The deck isn't set up well to get WW on T2 and devoting 3 copies of a card to such a narrow range of decks (even if those decks are popular) seems like a poor idea to me.
Against decks that run red sweepers, you better have a Burrenton Forge-Tender, or just any other x/4 creature. In these MUs you want disruption, clock, to protect your board. Firewalker is one of a selfish guy that won't pass Tarmo, Obstinate Baloth, Wurmcoil Engine, Boros Reckoner, because yes, these are the kinds of creatures you face against red sweeper decks.
Fulmi boy is played x3 in very specific metagames (dailys, Pod being über-popular, so Tron being the basic anti-Pod challenger), and we choose a 3-piece hate because Tron is the worst MU ever. I completely agree with you Lectrys, it's a fine solution to have 3 Firewalkers in a very narrow field, like for an FNM. But come on, don't we agree Pod never needed a Burrenton or a Firewalker in the 75 against Burn because the MU is positive ? Let's have a million players run Burn, they won't stride over the Pod-fence very often. About Delver, adding a Firewalker for once, yeah fine, it's a very good idea. But 3 ?
No, no and no.
The deck already has several slots that fit perfectly well to the Delver MU. What you're implying by adding 3 Firewalkers is that you actually end up with way too many slots that fit to the MU. I'd like to see your SB actually, where you find room for the 2 extra men.
The 2nd Orzhov Pontiff is miles ahead of a 2nd Firewalker, an Eidolon of Rhetoric miles ahead of a 3rd Firewalker. The 2nd Scavenging Ooze, Lingering Souls, the removal package, all this is very good against Delver and good in various MUs where Firewalker is poor. There's a reason why the card is just fringely played and makes the cut only in specific fields.
Once again, devoting 3 cards that are bad against 70-75% of the metagame (based on your ratios), yeah it objectively makes the card narrow. It doesn't mean a narrow Firewalker is a bad idea. 3 is though. Creeping Corrosion is played x2 in narrow Affinity fields, Kataki too. They're fine when the field is abnormally infested with a certain deck, but these cards are still narrow.
I've been testing the match a ton as Delver/Pod are my two primary decks (and the two I have put together). I'm thinking about going back to Blasting Station. The meta is perfect for it right now, and it's fitting with my more recent philosophy of having easy to cast cards in order to save life as part of fighting Burn. I may adopt some Lingering Souls as well in my next deck revision.
I can't post links because I don't have five posts but it's on MTG Top 8 :X
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Razorverge Thicket
3 Gavony Township
3 Forest
2 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
1 Swamp
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 Siege Rhino
1 Spellskite
1 Scryb Ranger
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Spike Feeder
1 Restoration Angel
1 Wilt-Leaf Liege
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Eternal Witness
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Birthing Pod
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Shriekmaw
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Mortify
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Dismember
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Auriok Champion
1 Spirit of the Labyrinth
My current tweaks are:
-1 Wilt-Leaf
-1 Noble
+1 Wall of Roots
+1 Orzhov Pontiff
You get a solid amount of lifegain going and Rhino stomps (literally) all over the tempo and chump with elemental plan. Scryb Sprite might be a little ambitious but it is some sweet tech against Delvers and ramps up your mana.
Modern
Small Zoo (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/14-03-15-small-zoo/)
Green/White Hatebears (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/08-02-15-hate/)
Legacy
Affinity (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/stega/)
Commander
Heavenly Inferno Kaalia of the Vast (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/heavenly-inferno-revised/)
That's a Handful Nekusar, the Mindrazer (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/thats-a-handful/)
Uprising Sliver Overlord (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/up-rising/)
Retired Decks
Jundassic (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/jundassic/)
Melira Pod (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/22-09-14-melira-pod/)
Dark Naya Zoo (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/26-01-15-dark-naya-zoo/)
Naya Zoo (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/18-10-14-my-zoo/)
Modern:
Bant Eldrazi
Merfolk
Abzan Company
EDH:
Mono-Green Omnath
Mono-White Odric Soup
Mono-Blue Muzzio
Mono-Red Feldon