I never took out pod, in any matchup including the 2 GW or W hatebears matchups. In most matchups, I take out a kiki, either a glen-elendra or a redcap, 1 wall if my opponent wasn't attacking me, and combinations of finks, voice, linvala and ooze. There is always atleast 1 kiki to exploit opportunities.
gotcha. i've ordered 3 chords and 2 more roots from Face to Face that will be waiting for me when i get back from Richmond. definitely going to pilot your list. first change--lose the 2 domri. thanks brian and congrats again.
Hey Brian! Congratulations, awesome to see this deck putting up results :3
Your list looks great, just 2 questions:
-Why only 1 Exarch? I can understand lack of Phantasmal Image, I cut it myself, but winning from two 2-drops and a Pod is good too, and because of Wall, you run quite a lot of them.
-What about 1 Domri in the sideboard for fairer matchups?
I do realize a lot of lists run 2 Exarchs for the purpose of the two 2-drops chain. However, I believe it is not worth it because deceiver exarch isn't the most powerful of creatures on its own. As with the explanation with phantasmal image, activating pod 4 times for a chain is extremely risky, especially if they interrupt it and all you are left with is a deceiver exarch. Atleast comboing with restoration angel, you are left with a strong creature. Usually double podding into redcap or glen elendra puts your far enough ahead on board to win, and if you really need to, combo off with the one persister next run.
As to the 1 Domri in the sideboard, it isn't a bad idea. It would probably replace Thragtusk or Thrun if it ever did happen. Thragtusk just wins you the game usually against fair decks though. Also remember, sideboarding creatures is MUCH better than sideboarding any other spell. You can have 9 ways to play that sideboard creature, but only 1 copy if it is a planeswalker.
subbak: was it valentin mackl or patrick dickman? the tarmo twin?
Nope. Dan Lanthier. Apparently he hasn't got a huge record, but he did place well in a Canadian national, won another one, and won a few PTQs. Obviously a better and more dedicated player than me. As he said "on and off the Pro Tour". It may be that he was boasting to put me a little off my game (I did ask about it because of his Mana Deprived T-shirt).
Note that I don't want this to come off as insulting or anything. He did beat me in a very sneaky way, but it was neither unsporting nor even close to being shady, and I must say I admire the confidence it takes to make the bluff work.
Eternal Witness is a card that is never sided out against any matchup for me. The #1 reason why it is in the deck (other than being synergistic with restoration angel and being an overall good card) is that you can do the 1 card combo with chord. Chording to eternal witness, getting back chord, chording to restoration angel etc etc. #2 reason is that it buys back your hate cards that you side in. Getting back a spellskite twin dealt with, an avalanche riders against scapeshift (which nailed the coffin against my round 15 scapeshift opponent), recurring path to exile and fiery justice 5 times is just great. #3 reason is that even though kitchen finks is your go to 2 -> 3 pod chain, if you suspect your opponent has a path to exile or pillar of flame for a finks, podding into eternal witness and getting back a creature ENSURES 100% that you have creatures to use with your pod.
Thanks a lot. I guess I just never had an occasion to use it intelligently (or never saw it if I had one), except that one time where I punted by revealing it without being able to cast it, and then my opponent played Bojuka Bog... I probably shouldn't be drawing conclusions from only 14 rounds, especially since it was in my deck for less than 20 games.
I did play staticaster back in the day, but in the current meta it is pretty dead. It's most important target is dark confidant, which after it hits it is pretty useless on board. Having it against other pod decks is VERY awkward. It is ok against tempo twin, killing pestermite, clique and snapcaster but I mostly rather just have voice to resolve my spells and make their remands and blue creatures so much worse.
I agree about the awkwardness of Staticaster in the mirror match, but isn't killing Affinity's small dudes (including Nexus in reaction to Ravager's Modular trigger) and Lingering Souls tokens also worth mentionning? Also with either Kiki-Jiki (that's a long shot...) or Angel (much more realistic) it can kill x/2s.
I was going to mention how having Flash creatures is nice, but it's actually pretty useless in every matchup where Flash really matters, except U/R Twin.
I'll try to test without him and see what happens.
You do have a point with Staticaster's strength in the affinity matchup, but that one good matchup does not justify mainboarding it. Having it good in one matchup and terrible against the rest of the field means that it will 90% of the time it will be a dead card and sweet in that maybe one game against affinity and infect. Then why don't we play it in the sideboard then you ask. Well because there's a lot better sideboard cards against affinity and infect than izzet staticaster. Like say shatterstorm. Lingering souls is not a card that is played right now. In B/W tokens, it is usually backed up by honor of the pure. Also you have no problems with lingering souls since your flying creatures AKA restoration angel are just bigger. I am pretty happy to have my opponent spend 5 mana and so many resources for 4 1/1 flying tokens.
I liked how Mihara handled Obliterator in the Pro Tour matchup vs. Duke. He stole it with Zealous Conscripts and copied with Kiki and swung back for the win in one of the games. I haven't been able to find Mihara's list from Valencia which one of the commentators called "teched out" with Burning Tree Emmissaries. Have you seen that version or have an opinion on BTE in kiki pod?
With regards to the deceiver exarch #2 instead of voice, I think voice is just a better card overall in most matchups. Against UWR, it is an early 2 drop that your opponents either must counter or use mana on their turn to bolt which allows you to resolve a pod or other important spell on your following turn. True you could end step deceiver exarch and tap down one of their lands, but I don't think most decks care about a 1/4.
Against Twin, tempo is key. You must try to get a creature to stick on the battlefield and start pressuring them asap while keeping your shields up against the combo. Voice does this beautifully as it makes remand, and their blue pieces absolutely horrible.
One matchup in which exarch and voice are debatable and close is against zoo. The front side of voice doesn't block zoo's creatures well while deceiver exarch can tap down a guy. Honestly though in that matchup, your blockers aren't living.
Deceiver exarch tapping down an attacker doesn't solve the aggro problem, it just delays it a turn. Voice can very easily solve the aggro problem by creating a large elemental. It also allows you to better matchup against decks with remand who can tempo you out. I would rather have voice then exarch against scapeshift, twin, uwr, jund, pod and gw hatebears. I would rather have exarch against affinity (tapping down their cranial plated guy), tron, storm. As you can see voice is just better against most of the field, exarch is only better when people are doing completely unfair things and you need to slow them down a turn and set up your own combo.
You mention tapping down an opposing land to prevent them from playing removal on your turn. Wouldn't voice just be better suited for that role? Let them play their removal on your turn! My UWR opponent round 14 cast snapcaster, helix targeting my voice on my turn allowing me to get 3 elementals! I considered flashing in restoration angel to counter it but assumed he had a wrath and decided otherwise, as 3 elementals + other stuff is more than enough pressure. Turns out he didn't and lost. If it just absorbs a bolt, all the better!
I am also surprised I played a 1 of shatterstorm. It was a very last minute sideboard change. I took out sowing salt from my board to put it in as I thought tron would not be played as much, even though the tron matchup is where I needed my sideboard cards more. I had played a last chance GPT on friday and played affinity 3/5 rounds. Also while walking around the venue, saw a lot of affinity. The shatterstorm was purely a metagame call for GP richmond and should probably be changed. Shatterstorm might not even have been the right card, fracturing gust to also hit boggles might have been better, vandalblast to be a bit more flexible might have been ok. I had already covered the artifact hate creature with kataki and just wanted something to destroy affinity as affinity can come back from kataki and ancient grudge. The finals was the ONLY time I cast shatterstorm during the whole GP and it is ONLY good against affinity. Change the slot to what? Whatever suits your style. Whatever you think the metagame is going to be.
In regards to the discussion of Deceiver Exarch there is one major play that hasn't been mentioned yet. Against Twin if you tap their Exarch/Pestermite with him that buys you a very crucial turn to come up with an answer. And if like me you mainboard a copy of Linvala then you can pod the Exarch into her and buy yourself even more time.
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First off, big kudos to Brian for coming and explaining some of his choices, always nice to pick someone's brain that has had success at a major event. Also wanted to thank you for solving one of my big problems with the deck, which is the 2 "flex" land spots you gave to Fire-Lit Thicket. Small change, but very effective, I much prefer the Thickets to another basic or Rugged Prairie, I rarely find myself wanting that much W. Sideboard choices were nice as well...I'd played Combust for a long time in my GR Tron deck and it was an all-star, it's performed very well in my playtesting.
Would you mind giving some sideboard analysis for some cards? A lot are fairly obvious, but some stand out:
What matchups do you bring in Fiery Justice? Anything with a lot of low-toughness creatures (Affinity, Pod decks, Elves)?
How often do you bring in Avalanche Riders? Obviously good against a deck like Tron, but does it come in against UWR (for Colonnade) and any 3-color decks to disrupt the manabase? Or is that too cute?
Thragtusk only comes in against aggro decks (Affinity, Zoo, Burn) as well as "fair" decks? (UWR, Jund, etc)
As for my own testing, I've been running with this list (and your land/sideboard changes) and it feels very strong (at least in the MTGO meta). It went 3-0 (6-1 in games) in an 8-man last night, beating a Naya deck with Knight of the Reliquary and two Melira Pod decks. I cut 1 Chord of Calling and 1 Wall of Roots as 3 Chords always seemed to clog up my hand, and I wanted another "action" card instead of the 3rd Wall. Bonkers card, but it seems like too many especially with the rise of combo, where I seem to be boarding out Chords very often.
I also cut Eternal Witness, but I'm much less sure of whether or not it's correct. It is nice to have some recursion, but I've never really felt like I needed it. It is possible it's right to still have 1 Witness and 2 Kitchen Finks, but I need more testing on this front.
Izzet Staticaster is an absolutely insane card and I'm totally in love with it. I can't count the number of times I've flashed it in versus another Pod deck and taken 3 or more dorks with it between end step/untap step after they overextend. It's definitely a bad card in some matchups, but being able to double-shoot with it and Deceiver Exarch/Restoration Angel/Zealous Conscripts feels just filthy at times :). It's certainly a dead card in some matchups, but it's a great all-around card that I almost never mind seeing and it's a card that can easily be boarded out for better cards instead of having to shave down the numbers of other good cards.
I also went back to Phantasmal Image and a second Exarch, losing that Pod chain hurts because there are moments when your opponent taps out and you only have that 1-turn window to combo off, and I'd hate to miss it. It's also just a very flexible, cheaply-costed card that enables some really cool interactions and lines. For me personally, it just makes the deck more fun to play! Would love to hear comments from anybody, this is just what I've found in my testing on MTGO, and apologies for length!
Why isn't reveillark player in Kiki pod? Is because of no sacrifice outlets? Seemes nice with resto angel, witness and it could pickup the combo pieces
Probably because podding to 5 usually wins the game (Kiki-Jiki)
First off, big kudos to Brian for coming and explaining some of his choices, always nice to pick someone's brain that has had success at a major event. Also wanted to thank you for solving one of my big problems with the deck, which is the 2 "flex" land spots you gave to Fire-Lit Thicket. Small change, but very effective, I much prefer the Thickets to another basic or Rugged Prairie, I rarely find myself wanting that much W. Sideboard choices were nice as well...I'd played Combust for a long time in my GR Tron deck and it was an all-star, it's performed very well in my playtesting.
Would you mind giving some sideboard analysis for some cards? A lot are fairly obvious, but some stand out:
What matchups do you bring in Fiery Justice? Anything with a lot of low-toughness creatures (Affinity, Pod decks, Elves)?
How often do you bring in Avalanche Riders? Obviously good against a deck like Tron, but does it come in against UWR (for Colonnade) and any 3-color decks to disrupt the manabase? Or is that too cute?
Thragtusk only comes in against aggro decks (Affinity, Zoo, Burn) as well as "fair" decks? (UWR, Jund, etc)
As for my own testing, I've been running with this list (and your land/sideboard changes) and it feels very strong (at least in the MTGO meta). It went 3-0 (6-1 in games) in an 8-man last night, beating a Naya deck with Knight of the Reliquary and two Melira Pod decks. I cut 1 Chord of Calling and 1 Wall of Roots as 3 Chords always seemed to clog up my hand, and I wanted another "action" card instead of the 3rd Wall. Bonkers card, but it seems like too many especially with the rise of combo, where I seem to be boarding out Chords very often.
I also cut Eternal Witness, but I'm much less sure of whether or not it's correct. It is nice to have some recursion, but I've never really felt like I needed it. It is possible it's right to still have 1 Witness and 2 Kitchen Finks, but I need more testing on this front.
Izzet Staticaster is an absolutely insane card and I'm totally in love with it. I can't count the number of times I've flashed it in versus another Pod deck and taken 3 or more dorks with it between end step/untap step after they overextend. It's definitely a bad card in some matchups, but being able to double-shoot with it and Deceiver Exarch/Restoration Angel/Zealous Conscripts feels just filthy at times :). It's certainly a dead card in some matchups, but it's a great all-around card that I almost never mind seeing and it's a card that can easily be boarded out for better cards instead of having to shave down the numbers of other good cards.
I also went back to Phantasmal Image and a second Exarch, losing that Pod chain hurts because there are moments when your opponent taps out and you only have that 1-turn window to combo off, and I'd hate to miss it. It's also just a very flexible, cheaply-costed card that enables some really cool interactions and lines. For me personally, it just makes the deck more fun to play! Would love to hear comments from anybody, this is just what I've found in my testing on MTGO, and apologies for length!
Edit: Formatting
I apologize in advance about the less comprehensive answers as I do not have time to flesh out all the answers.
I do not understand why people ran Rugged prairie in the first place. Your only double white spell is Linvala. Fire-lit thicket allows you green and red sources for your eternal witness, kitchen finks, scavenging ooze activations, chord of calling mana, redcap, kiki-jiki and allows you to still cast green spells even if your starting lands are something like steam vents and fire-lit thicket.
Sideboard:
Fiery Justice: pod, affinity, merfolk, elves (that's still a thing?), jund (kills bobs, goyfs and lillianas), hatebears. Do not make the mistake of boarding it in against zoo as their usually it can only kill 1 of their guys.
Avalanche riders: UWR to kill colonnades, tron and scapeshift
Thragtusk: UWR, Jund, Zoo, Burn. Not good enough against affinity as it doesn't fly, costs 5 and usually affinity hits in way larger chunks than the 5 life you gain.
The number of chords is the way it is in order to be able to have cards that interact with unfair decks. i.e Chording for spellskite against twin. It also makes the deck more redundant and consistent. It allows the deck to be able to turn 4 combo kill pretty consistently while also having quite a strong plan 2 of beating down.
I have already explained my stance on eternal witness in a previous post.
I have never found staticaster to be insane. Double shooting with Deceiver Exarch/Restoration Angel/Zealous Conscripts as you describe can be filthy but I would just rather pair those 3 cards with kiki-jiki from a chord. It's only OK against Dark confidant and pestermite, but other than that, you have to have things line up well. Staticaster in the pod mirror is very awkward.
As to the PI and second exarch, there's no right or wrong answer. I didn't play them because I didn't feel I would ever need them due to the fact that podding a 2 drop into glen elendra or redcap usually secures the board. It's also a question of playstyle (some people just like to go for it!). Again, I believe I have explained those two slots and the reasoning for their absence in my list.
Well, an article about kikipod written by you would be awesome
It is in the works, I have contacted/been contacted various places and will give an update when things are finished.
Yep ,keep us updated
On a separate issue, why is kikipod that unpopular in mtgo? We have same meta share than goblins right now according to mtggoldfish lol
It is unpopular on mtgo because of numerous reasons:
- modern is not a format in which people can just switch decks at a moment's notice due to card prices.
- it is a hard deck to pilot optimally, so people just don't want to put in the time to learn it
- Pros still advocate melira pod even though it has a MUCH weaker combo and worse aggro plan. Our pods are better, our beatdown is better, our combo is more consistent. The trade-off is our manabase.
- On modo, people don't scoop when you have the combo. This is especially frustrating against soul sisters having to manually create 1000 exarchs.
Why isn't reveillark player in Kiki pod? Is because of no sacrifice outlets? Seemes nice with resto angel, witness and it could pickup the combo pieces
Probably because podding to 5 usually wins the game (Kiki-Jiki)
What fsbrain said. As sweet as restoration angel on a reveillark would be, restoration angel on kiki jiki is a bit more effective.
Thragtusk: UWR, Jund, Zoo, Burn. Not good enough against affinity as it doesn't fly, costs 5 and usually affinity hits in way larger chunks than the 5 life you gain.
Speaking of that, what do you think of using Obstinate Baloth instead? Sure Thragtusk can net you a beast if you Angel him or when they remove him, but you're never going to pod him away, he's harder to cast, harder to Pod or Chord for (both of those are relevant because these matchups don't like to give you time), and Bolt is roughly as efficient against it as against Obstinate Baloth. If it was only that, Thragtusk would still probably be preferable, but Liliana is still a card and the blowout of getting Baloth in play on a Liliana +1 is probably worth it, even though realistically it will happen about once every 7 games (so probably at most one time in a given event).
I also sideboarded him (Baloth) against Merfolk. Do you not do that with Thragtusk, or did you just forget them in the list of aggro decks?
- Pros still advocate melira pod even though it has a MUCH weaker combo and worse aggro plan. Our pods are better, our beatdown is better, our combo is more consistent. The trade-off is our manabase.
And also the ability to run catch-all answers like Abrupt Decay and Thoughtseize, no? Or do you consider our hate to be better/on a level with those cards?
- On modo, people don't scoop when you have the combo. This is especially frustrating against soul sisters having to manually create 1000 exarchs.
That's extremely rude and unsporting. I cannot believe Wizards allows that, there should be a way for Modo players to call a judge for those situations (there would still be a lot less judges required than in paper events). Oh well, I don't play modo so not my problem, but having whole strategies discouraged by the interface seems very wrong.
Obstinate Baloth is the 16th card in the sideboard that barely made it. I decided to go with thragtusk as it is slightly more synergistic with restoration and also MUCH better against zoo. I was expecting to face more zoo during the GP, and thragtusk is just game ending against zoo as opposed to the baloth. In general, thragtusk just ends games against fair decks like hatebears or jund. From my experience you almost NEVER discard baloth against a jund opponent. Baloth used to be ok with lillianas running around everywhere, but without that being the case, baloth just isn't as good anymore. If you wanted to run a 4 drop that gains you life, run loxodon hierarch as it has a much more relevant ability than baloth. I do not sideboard Thragtsuk/Baloth against Merfolk. Your usual plan against merfolk is to assemble the combo as fast as possible. Thinking you can outrace their unblockable islandwalk creatures is a usually a losing strategy.
Thoughtseize and Abrupt Decay are indeed very strong cards and make their Twin matchup much much easier. I however find that Melira pod is just too fair. In this format of broken things, I like consistently killing on turn 4 rather than being reactive. I personally think Melira pod durdles too much, while Kiki-pod is looking to kill you in short order or just lock you out of the game.
As to modo, the chess clock is a very real thing. Even though you are playing the same game with the same rules, things can play out very differently. Triggers happen automatically, people prey on the high probability of misclicking when comboing with kiki-jiki and the metagame is extremely different.
is there anyone has the decklist of mihara on GP valencia?thanks in advance
I too want to see his sweet list. I tried running summoning traps but the deck just isn't built around it yet and the trap is only good in your opening hand. You also have to hope your opponent counters something which is awkward...
Blue Tron (That's still a thing?):
+2 negate
+1 aven mindcensor
+1 avalanche riders
+1 ancient grudge
-1 murderous redcap
-1 linvala
-1 spellskite
-1 ooze
-1 Wall of roots
Edit: For those of you who are unfamiliar with Mangara, if she leaves play before her ability resolves (like blinking with Resto while the ability is on the stack) then the other permanent is still exiled (permanently) but you keep your newly blinked Mangara.
Well, an article about kikipod written by you would be awesome
seconded.
My Kiki-pod and GP Richmond article has been posted on Manadeprived.com. You can find it by following this link. I will also be on an upcoming podcast on quietspeculation.com and be a guest next week on the Eh Team, look forward to those as well! Please feel free to read when you have the time and I would love to hear any and all comments! Thanks again!
Thanks lev1atan, it really means a lot to me to see people enjoying my article and I appreciate your comment. It motivates me to write more articles and enjoy magic that much more. I am trying to set up a stream on twitch to champion kiki-pod and go through some of my plays and thoughts throughout matches. My username on twitch is the same as it is on here "ryzaru" so you can follow me there. I am only starting out though so there are still a few things I need to iron out like lag issues, banning trolls etc. Thanks again guys.
P.S. lev1atan, i already see you follow me on twitch so thanks again!
Hey guys I recently switched off UWR control to kiki pod, I felt that right now having a reactive plan and trying to kill people with colonnade is a little slow in the current field of decks.
Just wondering if I could find a general guideline/list on sideboarding against popular decks in the meta, I feel as if I'm making mistakes after g1's and boarding out things I shouldn't be.
Is there a Sideboarding primer around anywhere? Did Liu post a guide I missed? I feel pretty good about knowing what I need to put in, but not so much on what to take out, when to dilute the combo, and so on.
Thanks.
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gotcha. i've ordered 3 chords and 2 more roots from Face to Face that will be waiting for me when i get back from Richmond. definitely going to pilot your list. first change--lose the 2 domri. thanks brian and congrats again.
I do realize a lot of lists run 2 Exarchs for the purpose of the two 2-drops chain. However, I believe it is not worth it because deceiver exarch isn't the most powerful of creatures on its own. As with the explanation with phantasmal image, activating pod 4 times for a chain is extremely risky, especially if they interrupt it and all you are left with is a deceiver exarch. Atleast comboing with restoration angel, you are left with a strong creature. Usually double podding into redcap or glen elendra puts your far enough ahead on board to win, and if you really need to, combo off with the one persister next run.
As to the 1 Domri in the sideboard, it isn't a bad idea. It would probably replace Thragtusk or Thrun if it ever did happen. Thragtusk just wins you the game usually against fair decks though. Also remember, sideboarding creatures is MUCH better than sideboarding any other spell. You can have 9 ways to play that sideboard creature, but only 1 copy if it is a planeswalker.
You do have a point with Staticaster's strength in the affinity matchup, but that one good matchup does not justify mainboarding it. Having it good in one matchup and terrible against the rest of the field means that it will 90% of the time it will be a dead card and sweet in that maybe one game against affinity and infect. Then why don't we play it in the sideboard then you ask. Well because there's a lot better sideboard cards against affinity and infect than izzet staticaster. Like say shatterstorm. Lingering souls is not a card that is played right now. In B/W tokens, it is usually backed up by honor of the pure. Also you have no problems with lingering souls since your flying creatures AKA restoration angel are just bigger. I am pretty happy to have my opponent spend 5 mana and so many resources for 4 1/1 flying tokens.
I liked how Mihara handled Obliterator in the Pro Tour matchup vs. Duke. He stole it with Zealous Conscripts and copied with Kiki and swung back for the win in one of the games. I haven't been able to find Mihara's list from Valencia which one of the commentators called "teched out" with Burning Tree Emmissaries. Have you seen that version or have an opinion on BTE in kiki pod?
With regards to the deceiver exarch #2 instead of voice, I think voice is just a better card overall in most matchups. Against UWR, it is an early 2 drop that your opponents either must counter or use mana on their turn to bolt which allows you to resolve a pod or other important spell on your following turn. True you could end step deceiver exarch and tap down one of their lands, but I don't think most decks care about a 1/4.
Against Twin, tempo is key. You must try to get a creature to stick on the battlefield and start pressuring them asap while keeping your shields up against the combo. Voice does this beautifully as it makes remand, and their blue pieces absolutely horrible.
One matchup in which exarch and voice are debatable and close is against zoo. The front side of voice doesn't block zoo's creatures well while deceiver exarch can tap down a guy. Honestly though in that matchup, your blockers aren't living.
Deceiver exarch tapping down an attacker doesn't solve the aggro problem, it just delays it a turn. Voice can very easily solve the aggro problem by creating a large elemental. It also allows you to better matchup against decks with remand who can tempo you out. I would rather have voice then exarch against scapeshift, twin, uwr, jund, pod and gw hatebears. I would rather have exarch against affinity (tapping down their cranial plated guy), tron, storm. As you can see voice is just better against most of the field, exarch is only better when people are doing completely unfair things and you need to slow them down a turn and set up your own combo.
You mention tapping down an opposing land to prevent them from playing removal on your turn. Wouldn't voice just be better suited for that role? Let them play their removal on your turn! My UWR opponent round 14 cast snapcaster, helix targeting my voice on my turn allowing me to get 3 elementals! I considered flashing in restoration angel to counter it but assumed he had a wrath and decided otherwise, as 3 elementals + other stuff is more than enough pressure. Turns out he didn't and lost. If it just absorbs a bolt, all the better!
I am also surprised I played a 1 of shatterstorm. It was a very last minute sideboard change. I took out sowing salt from my board to put it in as I thought tron would not be played as much, even though the tron matchup is where I needed my sideboard cards more. I had played a last chance GPT on friday and played affinity 3/5 rounds. Also while walking around the venue, saw a lot of affinity. The shatterstorm was purely a metagame call for GP richmond and should probably be changed. Shatterstorm might not even have been the right card, fracturing gust to also hit boggles might have been better, vandalblast to be a bit more flexible might have been ok. I had already covered the artifact hate creature with kataki and just wanted something to destroy affinity as affinity can come back from kataki and ancient grudge. The finals was the ONLY time I cast shatterstorm during the whole GP and it is ONLY good against affinity. Change the slot to what? Whatever suits your style. Whatever you think the metagame is going to be.
I hope this answers your question
Why did he steal Obliterator? Style points!
Maybe I should just write an article somewhere....
seconded.
Standard:
GWBSomething dont really care any more.
Legacy:
GWBNic Fit
WBDeadguy Ale
EDH:
GWB Karador, Ghost Chieftain
RUGRiku, of the Twin Reflections
UR Melek, Izzet Paragon
Artwork by Bornnover of Hakai Studios
That's what Magic is about, after all. A game of poker. With dragons.
Trade Thread http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=8732945#post8732945
It is in the works, I have contacted/been contacted various places and will give an update when things are finished.
Would you mind giving some sideboard analysis for some cards? A lot are fairly obvious, but some stand out:
As for my own testing, I've been running with this list (and your land/sideboard changes) and it feels very strong (at least in the MTGO meta). It went 3-0 (6-1 in games) in an 8-man last night, beating a Naya deck with Knight of the Reliquary and two Melira Pod decks. I cut 1 Chord of Calling and 1 Wall of Roots as 3 Chords always seemed to clog up my hand, and I wanted another "action" card instead of the 3rd Wall. Bonkers card, but it seems like too many especially with the rise of combo, where I seem to be boarding out Chords very often.
I also cut Eternal Witness, but I'm much less sure of whether or not it's correct. It is nice to have some recursion, but I've never really felt like I needed it. It is possible it's right to still have 1 Witness and 2 Kitchen Finks, but I need more testing on this front.
Izzet Staticaster is an absolutely insane card and I'm totally in love with it. I can't count the number of times I've flashed it in versus another Pod deck and taken 3 or more dorks with it between end step/untap step after they overextend. It's definitely a bad card in some matchups, but being able to double-shoot with it and Deceiver Exarch/Restoration Angel/Zealous Conscripts feels just filthy at times :). It's certainly a dead card in some matchups, but it's a great all-around card that I almost never mind seeing and it's a card that can easily be boarded out for better cards instead of having to shave down the numbers of other good cards.
I also went back to Phantasmal Image and a second Exarch, losing that Pod chain hurts because there are moments when your opponent taps out and you only have that 1-turn window to combo off, and I'd hate to miss it. It's also just a very flexible, cheaply-costed card that enables some really cool interactions and lines. For me personally, it just makes the deck more fun to play! Would love to hear comments from anybody, this is just what I've found in my testing on MTGO, and apologies for length!
Edit: Formatting
RUG RUG Delver GUR
RG GR Tron (Retired) GR
WURG Kiki Pod (Retired) GRUW
BRG Jund (Retired) GRB
Probably because podding to 5 usually wins the game (Kiki-Jiki)
I apologize in advance about the less comprehensive answers as I do not have time to flesh out all the answers.
I do not understand why people ran Rugged prairie in the first place. Your only double white spell is Linvala. Fire-lit thicket allows you green and red sources for your eternal witness, kitchen finks, scavenging ooze activations, chord of calling mana, redcap, kiki-jiki and allows you to still cast green spells even if your starting lands are something like steam vents and fire-lit thicket.
Sideboard:
Fiery Justice: pod, affinity, merfolk, elves (that's still a thing?), jund (kills bobs, goyfs and lillianas), hatebears. Do not make the mistake of boarding it in against zoo as their usually it can only kill 1 of their guys.
Avalanche riders: UWR to kill colonnades, tron and scapeshift
Thragtusk: UWR, Jund, Zoo, Burn. Not good enough against affinity as it doesn't fly, costs 5 and usually affinity hits in way larger chunks than the 5 life you gain.
The number of chords is the way it is in order to be able to have cards that interact with unfair decks. i.e Chording for spellskite against twin. It also makes the deck more redundant and consistent. It allows the deck to be able to turn 4 combo kill pretty consistently while also having quite a strong plan 2 of beating down.
I have already explained my stance on eternal witness in a previous post.
I have never found staticaster to be insane. Double shooting with Deceiver Exarch/Restoration Angel/Zealous Conscripts as you describe can be filthy but I would just rather pair those 3 cards with kiki-jiki from a chord. It's only OK against Dark confidant and pestermite, but other than that, you have to have things line up well. Staticaster in the pod mirror is very awkward.
As to the PI and second exarch, there's no right or wrong answer. I didn't play them because I didn't feel I would ever need them due to the fact that podding a 2 drop into glen elendra or redcap usually secures the board. It's also a question of playstyle (some people just like to go for it!). Again, I believe I have explained those two slots and the reasoning for their absence in my list.
It is unpopular on mtgo because of numerous reasons:
- modern is not a format in which people can just switch decks at a moment's notice due to card prices.
- it is a hard deck to pilot optimally, so people just don't want to put in the time to learn it
- Pros still advocate melira pod even though it has a MUCH weaker combo and worse aggro plan. Our pods are better, our beatdown is better, our combo is more consistent. The trade-off is our manabase.
- On modo, people don't scoop when you have the combo. This is especially frustrating against soul sisters having to manually create 1000 exarchs.
What fsbrain said. As sweet as restoration angel on a reveillark would be, restoration angel on kiki jiki is a bit more effective.
my sideboard are:
3 PTE
2 negate
2 combust
1 ethersworn canonist
1 aven mindscensor
1 avalanche rider
1 thrun
1 ancient grudge
1 fiery justice
1 kataki
1 thrugtusk
CONGRATS TO BRIAN!
THANKS!
Obstinate Baloth is the 16th card in the sideboard that barely made it. I decided to go with thragtusk as it is slightly more synergistic with restoration and also MUCH better against zoo. I was expecting to face more zoo during the GP, and thragtusk is just game ending against zoo as opposed to the baloth. In general, thragtusk just ends games against fair decks like hatebears or jund. From my experience you almost NEVER discard baloth against a jund opponent. Baloth used to be ok with lillianas running around everywhere, but without that being the case, baloth just isn't as good anymore. If you wanted to run a 4 drop that gains you life, run loxodon hierarch as it has a much more relevant ability than baloth. I do not sideboard Thragtsuk/Baloth against Merfolk. Your usual plan against merfolk is to assemble the combo as fast as possible. Thinking you can outrace their unblockable islandwalk creatures is a usually a losing strategy.
Thoughtseize and Abrupt Decay are indeed very strong cards and make their Twin matchup much much easier. I however find that Melira pod is just too fair. In this format of broken things, I like consistently killing on turn 4 rather than being reactive. I personally think Melira pod durdles too much, while Kiki-pod is looking to kill you in short order or just lock you out of the game.
As to modo, the chess clock is a very real thing. Even though you are playing the same game with the same rules, things can play out very differently. Triggers happen automatically, people prey on the high probability of misclicking when comboing with kiki-jiki and the metagame is extremely different.
I too want to see his sweet list. I tried running summoning traps but the deck just isn't built around it yet and the trap is only good in your opening hand. You also have to hope your opponent counters something which is awkward...
I am going to base the sideboarding off of my list:
Merfolk:
+3 PTE
+1 Fiery Justice
+2 combust
-1 glen elendra
-1 finks
-2 ooze
-1 spellskite
-1 linvala
Blue Tron (That's still a thing?):
+2 negate
+1 aven mindcensor
+1 avalanche riders
+1 ancient grudge
-1 murderous redcap
-1 linvala
-1 spellskite
-1 ooze
-1 Wall of roots
UWR control/midrange:
+1 avalanche riders
+1 thrun
+1 thragtusk
-1 linvala
-1 redcap
-1 kiki-jiki
These are my general sideboarding strategies, feel free to adjust to your liking
Edit: For those of you who are unfamiliar with Mangara, if she leaves play before her ability resolves (like blinking with Resto while the ability is on the stack) then the other permanent is still exiled (permanently) but you keep your newly blinked Mangara.
RUG RUG Delver GUR
RG GR Tron (Retired) GR
WURG Kiki Pod (Retired) GRUW
BRG Jund (Retired) GRB
My Kiki-pod and GP Richmond article has been posted on Manadeprived.com. You can find it by following this link. I will also be on an upcoming podcast on quietspeculation.com and be a guest next week on the Eh Team, look forward to those as well! Please feel free to read when you have the time and I would love to hear any and all comments! Thanks again!
P.S. lev1atan, i already see you follow me on twitch so thanks again!
Just wondering if I could find a general guideline/list on sideboarding against popular decks in the meta, I feel as if I'm making mistakes after g1's and boarding out things I shouldn't be.
Is there a Sideboarding primer around anywhere? Did Liu post a guide I missed? I feel pretty good about knowing what I need to put in, but not so much on what to take out, when to dilute the combo, and so on.
Thanks.