Guys i have a couple of questions and things to report to you.
1)How are we in matters of Primer progress?.
2)I've been testing 23 lands like Sam, while playing 5 mana dorks. I also recently moved to 1 Reshaper and 1 Drowner for 3 Skyspawners just to see how they felt. The deck feels solid as always, but hands also felt more lean. You certainly flood out sometimes, but nevertheless you mostly find yourself with the exact number of lands and spells.
Right now i would advocate for 23 lands/5 Mana dork configuration.
3)Has someone tried Gideon Ally of Zendikar? What does acomplish in our sideboard?. What about Runed Halo?.
Thanks!!
i like the BOP cos it gives us a chump blocker against flyers. have u tried lead the stampede? great card engine. especially when we're flooded.
I haven't tried Lead. The thing that bugs me about that card is that it doesn't cover a "lack" in the deck. We usually have gas in our hand because most of our creatures single-handley beat decks by size and speed. We can slowroll threats in order to make the incremental feel and alpha strike.
This is an article from Ben Friedman.(Bant Eldrazi part is at the end).
Interesting changes he made. I don't like the much but are subject of testing. I think he went something like 6-2 with Bant at the SCG INVI.
As he says, i don't like Talisman along EE because it's pretty much a nonbo. Although it adds some consistency to our draws by filling the curve and acting as "Unboltable Birds". I do support the cuts on Lands. 22 seems on the low end, but it may be worth it to go for the Talisman route in order to avoid flooding out.
I think the main draw to talisman is that it's blood moon proof (also unboltable as you said) - I played an amount of RG Eldrazi and the talismans were just ok - but if you expect blood moon's its def a good option..
Running out of gas does happen - but its usually against decks with heavy removal - cutting lands or adding cards like Lead are not really the answer in my opinion as cutting lands leads you into mulligan oblivion and Lead is super narrow and terrible against super fast decks ( which is most of the format)..I beleive the answers lie in CoTV (on 1 blanks a ton of removal) or if you dont like Chalice play a couple of Skites..both of these cards are also obviously good against fast aggro decks.
In regards to Dredge - I really think 2-3x surgical extraction is the best way to go - Im constantly getting my RIP claimed or decayed - surgical will at the very least really slow them down and can completely hose them - even if it just slows them down youll still win the race most of the time (especially as surgical is phyrexian and you dont lose a turn like you would casting RIP)..
At times i do remove LtS for a 2nd EE before the start of any event. If i feel there'll be more aggro decks around.
I do think that the flexi-spot has yet to be fully optimised. But the main reason y i play LtS is due to the high probability of getting flooded w lands.
I'm fairly new to Bant Eldrazi, and I have a quick question. Why no Basic Island? Considering access to blue mana seems like one of our few outs to a Blood Moon, I would think it important to make room for a single Island.
I'm fairly new to Bant Eldrazi, and I have a quick question. Why no Basic Island? Considering access to blue mana seems like one of our few outs to a Blood Moon, I would think it important to make room for a single Island.
Hi, welcome to Bant Eldrazi.
1)Basica Island is unfetchable. Your fetchlands are only 4x Windswept Heath.
2)It doesn't accomplish much since you have no non-creature spells that require blue mana. Skyspawner and Drowner are easily casted with: Yavimaya Coast, Breeding Pool,Hallowed Fountain(Which doesn't accomplish much either in this deck) and Cavern of Souls. You have at least 9 solid mana sources to cast those spells. This is not counting mana dorks.
3)Blood Moon is hard to us because it doens't let us cast Waste mana. TKS and Smasher which are very good against Moon decks are practically uncastable unless you manage to put a Scion or play Talismans as mentioned above.
I'm fairly new to Bant Eldrazi, and I have a quick question. Why no Basic Island? Considering access to blue mana seems like one of our few outs to a Blood Moon, I would think it important to make room for a single Island.
I ran one of each basic in my bant eldrazi including 1 wastes. I did not feel that it hurt my mana spread. Only once did I feel like I needed a different land then what I had out and I was drawing nothing productive that whole game.
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Modern CEldraziTron, UBMill, GWBogles
Legacy GUInfect, CEldrazi
Standard GRGR Pummeler
I'm fairly new to Bant Eldrazi, and I have a quick question. Why no Basic Island? Considering access to blue mana seems like one of our few outs to a Blood Moon, I would think it important to make room for a single Island.
i play a single waste plus 5 mana dorks. Helpful when playing against B Moon.
Non fetchable but we can get them out if we path our creatures or if they path our creatures.
I've been testing with Pithing Needle, specifically to help shore up the Merfolk matchup. I know it's a weird choice, as a 4th EE might be better. However, it's done fairly well so far, naming Mutavault except against a Turn 1 vial. When naming vial, it eliminates their massive tempo advantage. When naming mutavault, it acts as a 1-mana removal spell. Games that we win against merfolk tend to go long and so the chance of it hitting a target is fairly high (the probability of the merfolk player having at least one of them on Turn 1 alone is about 65%). Of course, there's a chance that it completely blanks. However, I often find that the mana of the first two turns is wasted anyway, because of the way spreading seas screws our curve.
It also has uses in several weak matchups, in particular Abzan coco, Kiki-chord, Affinity, and Elves. It's also great against Tron where we only really care about two cards (karn and o-stone). And it's colorless!
So I'm buying into Bant Eldrazi and am currently a few cards short. Before I buy 2, I'd like to know the common opinion on Chalice's. Are there just better sideboard cards for the decks they beat?
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The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.
I've found the spirits matchup to be pretty close but slightly favorable. They are very bad at playing from behind and very good at staying ahead. It's pretty easy to get blown out by trying to remove their threats before playing your own and getting rattlechainsed or whatever. Usually it's best to establish a board presence as quickly as possible and force them to tap out or block, then remove their important spells. You can't really win without being the aggressor because you just can't block their guys.
Going back to the Merfolk matchup, scratch Pithing needle. A better card is Ratchet bomb. It's worse than EE as a topdeck, but I think it's actually better in the opening hand. Merfolk doesn't put enough pressure early on such that we need to crack EE as fast as possible. The reason I think Ratchet bomb is better than EE early for merfolk is because we can set it at 2 (usually active by Turn 4) and then keep it on there without having to hold up mana. This is huge because it severely stunts their development without hurting ours (unlike having to hold up mana for EE). Does the merfolk player commit more to the board or do they hold back? By asking them this question, we're allowed the tempo for our fatties to come down and do what they do.
The problem I have with Ratchet bomb is that it's pretty narrow for the fish matchup, where everything is at 2. It's definitely slower than EE (usually a whole turn slower) but is more mana efficient in the long run. What else would you think about it in? It's also good against elves on 1. Perhaps Abzan Coco on 1? Is it too slow for Infect / Death's shadow / UR Prowess? Or what about the dreaded Blood moon decks (castable even under a blood moon, and can also get rid of their higher CMC threats like a Koth?)?
Been playing Magic for over 13 years, competitively for over 8. I have a few finishes (Top 4 SCG Open, Top 32 a GP or 2, nothing crazy). I've been grinding PTQs, PPTQs, whatever I can for many years now, and enjoy it. It's brought me much frustration, to tears even, but it's brought me some of my favorite moments of my life and many friends and memories that I'll never forget.
Anyways enough about myself, you came for a report.
I've been playing Bant Eldrazi since it was UW Eldrazi during the "Cold winter of Eldrazi". Its changed colors, styles, etc. but its mostly the same deck: A midrange deck with the possibilities of T4 kills.
I won the 1st PPTQ of the season with the deck and just kept playing it, but mostly focused on standard since I couldn't PPTQ anymore and had no bigger Modern tourneys for a few months.
Fast forward to about a month and a half ago when I knew the RPTQ was coming up. I started testing every week about 1-2 times a week until the week before when I bit the bullet and bought the deck online and started playing minimum 2 leagues a day, streaming most of it to get help, plays I miss, etc. I focused mostly on the sideboard as I felt the main deck was rock-solid.
Here's the main I've been playing recently:
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Eldrazi Displacer
3 Eldrazi Skyspawner
2 Matter Reshaper
3 Drowner of Hope
2 Spellskite
4 Path to Exile
4 Ancient Stirrings
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Dismember
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Windswept Heath
1 Breeding Pool
1 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Brushland
3 Yavimaya Coast
3 Cavern of Souls
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island
The only thing I've mostly changed is the mana base, just recently adding a basic Island to the deck with the uptick of Blood Moon, but in the end I don't think its really needed and I could see it being another Brushland or maybe a Wastes, but that's what testing is for.
I prefer Skyspawner a lot more than Matter Reshaper, and honestly I just want to cut Reshaper all together, it's always the worst card in the deck for me and it's the first card I usually cut unless it's a match-up where its obviously good/fine (Jund, Burn, Grixis, UWR). Other than that Skyspawner is just so helpful in so many close match-ups (Affinity, Infect, the Mirror, Merfolk, any creature based matchup)
Most of the list is pretty stock otherwise, with a few singletons (EE and Dismember), but those are pretty common these days. The sideboard however is another story...
Usually you see the same cards (RiP, Graf Cage, etc.) but it's so dependent on what you expect to play and as well all know now, anything is possible in Modern.
This is what I ended up with on the day of:
2 Rest in Peace
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Natural State
1 Worship
2 Engineered Explosives
1 World Breaker
2 Stony Silence
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Blessed Alliance
I've been playing a mix of Negate, Stubborn Denial and sometimes Disdainful Stroke usually 1-2-1 as my meta usually has more Grixis, Combo, Titan/Tron decks but for this tourney I expected more Infect and Jund/Junk as I feel people tend to play the "best" deck at bigger tourneys with more on the line, so I cut the Stroke and Negate for World Breaker and 1 more Blessed Alliance.
Feeling confident, comfortable, and knowledgeable, my friend and myself headed for the 3 hour drive down to the RPTQ in Bellevue, Washington.
Showed up about 30-40 min to spare, wrote our decklists and tried to scout the room a bit and see what people were playing. A bit more Titan/Scapeshift decks then I hoped for but in the end, it's all about the pairings. Around 60ish players so we got 6 rounds.
Round 1 - Lantern Control...
Round 1 I ended up playing a local player who usually plays Ad Nauseam (that's what he qd with) but he recently switched to Lantern to my disappointment. Game 1 went as expected as he had the game basically locked on t4 and I didn't find a Thought-Knot in the opening turns. Game 2 I kept 3 Noble Hierarch, Reality Smasher, Forest, Eldrazi Temple on the mull to 6 on the play...can't really ask for too much more. He didn't have the t3 bridge and died quick. G3 we both mulled, but I had World Breaker, ancient stirrings, a few land and a hierarch. Game got to a point when he had bridge, needle on ee and a miller but not much else. I had drawn an ee and set up world breaker and ee on 3 to blow up everything and give him a 2 turn clock to find another bridge, he did not so squeaked out a win.
In
2 EE
2 Stony
1 World Breaker
1 Natural State
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Rest in Peace
Out
2 Matter Reshaper
4 Path to Exile
1 Dismember
3 Drowner of Hope
Round 2 - TitanBreach
Game 1 I keep an ok hand of stirrings, hierarch, skyspawner, 4 lands and promptly get t3d...Modern, am I right?
Game 2 I keep a solid hand with t2 thoughtknot if he doesn't have lightning bolt, sadly he did but T3 Thought knot was still good as he kept a pretty loose hand with no ramp, t4 smasher and the game was over
Game 3 was a doozy, he had the t3 breach against but lucky for me I had the stubborn denial. I thought knot on t3 and see he still has 2 more breach but only 1 creature in Hornet Queen, so I take it of course. Then he draws Woodfall Primus! He slams that and blows up 2 lands after it comes back from persist. I top deck back with a Path to Exile and bash him down to gime him one draw step. He draws Anger the Gods which give him another turn...I draw a land and just hope thought knot is good enough...and it gets there!
In
2 Stubborn Denial
1 World Breaker
Out
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Dismember
1 Matter Reshaper
2 not stellar matchups in a row is rough but luckly squeaked though. Friend is sadly 0-2 with Affinity, but he said he wasn't really in it from the beginning, kinda just came because he was q'd from top 8d last time
Round 3 - Jund
Nice! A good matchup. It can be close if they have discard into removal into liliana, but in general I'll play this matchup all day if I can
Game 1 was back and forth a little bit but I drew running Reality Smashers and he couldn't come back
Game 2 was panning out to be the same but some good topdecks from him and 17 of my 24 lands from me and a backbreaking damnation from him led us to a game 3
This one once again was just a slugfest but World Breaker and a timely path on his large Kalitas got me the victory
In
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Rest in Peace
1 World Breaker
Out
2 Spellskite
1 Matter Reshaper
That one almost went to time so didn't have much left before the next round
Round 4 - Grixis Death Shadow
This deck is a pretty solid matchup, however you have to keep a hand with interaction or else you'll just get turn 3'd...which is what happened game 1 since I didnt know what he was on...
Game 2 I kept a solid hand with lots of interaction and it wasn't that close
Game 3 was a kinda sketchy keep from him with not much to do. One removal spell and he was dead.
In
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Stubborn Denial
Out
2 Matter Reshaper
1 Drowner of Hope
2 Reality Smasher
1 Eldrazi Skyspawner
Top 8 confirmed! Pretty stoked to have all my practice pay off. I got to scout the top tables a bit to find a lot of Titan Breach and Affinity.
Round 5 - Infect
Playing against a friend and its an even 4 people, so drawing seems like an easy choice. Got to eat some snacks that I brought (Cranberries and Almonds!) and just relaxed and scouted a bit more
Round 6 - Mirror Match
So looking at the undefeateds at the moment it was 1 Infect, 2 Bant Eldrazi and a Titan Bloom deck, currently Im in 2nd with so so tiebreakers, if I draw I'll most likely come 5th or 6th depending on breakers playing against a 5-1, most of which were ok matchups (Jund vs Elves, Affinity vs Breach, and Affinity vs Jund). However if I play and win I'll be 1st probably playing the Bant eldrazi player again, if I lose I'm most likely in the reverse, so I was gunna play, however the Jund vs Elves match thought they could draw and lock themselves in top 8...That meant if I lost I could come 9th since my breakers weren't great...
I stuck with the draw to make sure I locked up top 8 and was going to 4th playing against the mirror or the Titan Bloom deck unfortunately. Sure enough I play against the Bloom Titan deck...
Top 8 - Titan Bloom
I'm on the play and mull to 6 with Hierarch, skyspawner, reality smasher and 3 lands. It doesn't have a Thought-Knot or a Path but I think a t3 Reality Smasher can get there. However he had t3 azuza into a stream of titans until I died, drawing lands for the rest of the game needing a path or displacer or drowner for game
G2 I mull again into a t3 Thought-Knot which should be good to snag a titan or pact in time. However his hand was 2 azuza and a bunch of lands, he has a tolaria west and gets a titan but I draw a spellskite so he can't go crazy and it gives me a chance to draw a path, drowner or something, but he topdecks a amulet and alas, drew no interaction and he peels a slaughter pact into reclaimation sage and that's the match...
In
2 Stubborn Denial
1 World Breaker
Out
2 Matter Reshaper
1 Dismember
Heartbroken, I shake my opponent's hand and wish him good luck at the Pro Tour. So close yet again.
Anyways, my friend in the top 8 also lost to the Grixis Shadow player, so the car ride back was Disapointmentville, a suburb of Salt Lake City.
Snagged some dinner along the way back, told so stories from the past, bought cheap liquor, and started planning for the next tourney on the horizon
Moving forward, I think the deck is still great. Obviously bad match-ups are bad but what deck doesn't have them. I would 100% find anything else other than Matter Reshaper as it was always the worst card, probably just another Skyspwaner and maybe the 4th Drowner again, maybe an Eternal Scourge.
Next big tourney for me will be the Face to Face Open coming up which is Modern, then GP Vancouver, also Modern
If you guys want more, to give feedback, suggestions, please feel free. I'm not a great writer and haven't really done a lot of these before but since I started streaming and doing Youtube videos with my friend, I felt I like should expand a bit and open up more.
Also if you'd like to watch some videos of magic playthroughs of Standard and Modern or my stream, I have them in my signature.
Hey guys instead of a World Breaker that some run in the sideboard what about Acidic Slime it can be used with displacer to bounce and destroy all lands. Also for some reason theres been some resurgence in Tron. Iam versing tron alot lately any advice for the matchup.
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Modern UBRWGHumansUBRWG UMerfolkU
Eldrazi Tron Legacy WDeath & TaxesW Pauper RGoblinsR EDH UGMerfolk ComboGU Standard UWApproachWU
I'm testing talisman for two weeks, it really do the job. We always can cast tks on turn 3 with that and hierarch. It help to cast explosives (lists running talisman also running 3 explosives)
Most deck siding land hate vs us, and talisman help to solve this weakness
I'm testing talisman for two weeks, it really do the job. We always can cast tks on turn 3 with that and hierarch. It help to cast explosives (lists running talisman also running 3 explosives)
Most deck siding land hate vs us, and talisman help to solve this weakness
On paper, Talismans should be great. The thing is, it's pretty much a nonbo with Engineered Explosives as x=2 is our most common configuration. It deals with Plating,Ravager,Steel Overseer,the entire merfolk deck, etc. Maybe side them out against Merfolk?.
Sidenote: Does Gemstone Caverns have a place in this deck? What do you think?.
Sidenote: Does Gemstone Caverns have a place in this deck? What do you think?.
I tested a 1-of a few months back. It can lead to some very strong starts when its in your opening hand like a T2 Reality Smasher. I just took out a Yavimaya Coast for it.
I'm testing talisman for two weeks, it really do the job. We always can cast tks on turn 3 with that and hierarch. It help to cast explosives (lists running talisman also running 3 explosives)
Most deck siding land hate vs us, and talisman help to solve this weakness
On paper, Talismans should be great. The thing is, it's pretty much a nonbo with Engineered Explosives as x=2 is our most common configuration. It deals with Plating,Ravager,Steel Overseer,the entire merfolk deck, etc. Maybe side them out against Merfolk?.
Sidenote: Does Gemstone Caverns have a place in this deck? What do you think?.
List that not playing talisman run spellskite that cost 2, same problem...
If you worry about Blood Moon - play GQ and Wastes. You should either draw GQ or Wastes and thus have wastes or Path your own dude and get Wastes. This is far less clunky then the talisman solution.
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Modern
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
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I haven't tried Lead. The thing that bugs me about that card is that it doesn't cover a "lack" in the deck. We usually have gas in our hand because most of our creatures single-handley beat decks by size and speed. We can slowroll threats in order to make the incremental feel and alpha strike.
http://www.gatheringmagic.com/benfriedman-11252016-tokyo-snow-drift/
This is an article from Ben Friedman.(Bant Eldrazi part is at the end).
Interesting changes he made. I don't like the much but are subject of testing. I think he went something like 6-2 with Bant at the SCG INVI.
As he says, i don't like Talisman along EE because it's pretty much a nonbo. Although it adds some consistency to our draws by filling the curve and acting as "Unboltable Birds". I do support the cuts on Lands. 22 seems on the low end, but it may be worth it to go for the Talisman route in order to avoid flooding out.
Running out of gas does happen - but its usually against decks with heavy removal - cutting lands or adding cards like Lead are not really the answer in my opinion as cutting lands leads you into mulligan oblivion and Lead is super narrow and terrible against super fast decks ( which is most of the format)..I beleive the answers lie in CoTV (on 1 blanks a ton of removal) or if you dont like Chalice play a couple of Skites..both of these cards are also obviously good against fast aggro decks.
In regards to Dredge - I really think 2-3x surgical extraction is the best way to go - Im constantly getting my RIP claimed or decayed - surgical will at the very least really slow them down and can completely hose them - even if it just slows them down youll still win the race most of the time (especially as surgical is phyrexian and you dont lose a turn like you would casting RIP)..
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
I do think that the flexi-spot has yet to be fully optimised. But the main reason y i play LtS is due to the high probability of getting flooded w lands.
SE sounds nice too for the sb.
Hi, welcome to Bant Eldrazi.
1)Basica Island is unfetchable. Your fetchlands are only 4x Windswept Heath.
2)It doesn't accomplish much since you have no non-creature spells that require blue mana. Skyspawner and Drowner are easily casted with: Yavimaya Coast, Breeding Pool,Hallowed Fountain(Which doesn't accomplish much either in this deck) and Cavern of Souls. You have at least 9 solid mana sources to cast those spells. This is not counting mana dorks.
3)Blood Moon is hard to us because it doens't let us cast Waste mana. TKS and Smasher which are very good against Moon decks are practically uncastable unless you manage to put a Scion or play Talismans as mentioned above.
I ran one of each basic in my bant eldrazi including 1 wastes. I did not feel that it hurt my mana spread. Only once did I feel like I needed a different land then what I had out and I was drawing nothing productive that whole game.
CEldraziTron, UBMill, GWBogles
Legacy
GUInfect, CEldrazi
Standard
GRGR Pummeler
i play a single waste plus 5 mana dorks. Helpful when playing against B Moon.
Non fetchable but we can get them out if we path our creatures or if they path our creatures.
It also has uses in several weak matchups, in particular Abzan coco, Kiki-chord, Affinity, and Elves. It's also great against Tron where we only really care about two cards (karn and o-stone). And it's colorless!
The problem I have with Ratchet bomb is that it's pretty narrow for the fish matchup, where everything is at 2. It's definitely slower than EE (usually a whole turn slower) but is more mana efficient in the long run. What else would you think about it in? It's also good against elves on 1. Perhaps Abzan Coco on 1? Is it too slow for Infect / Death's shadow / UR Prowess? Or what about the dreaded Blood moon decks (castable even under a blood moon, and can also get rid of their higher CMC threats like a Koth?)?
Hello everybody (fairly new to posting...)
Been playing Magic for over 13 years, competitively for over 8. I have a few finishes (Top 4 SCG Open, Top 32 a GP or 2, nothing crazy). I've been grinding PTQs, PPTQs, whatever I can for many years now, and enjoy it. It's brought me much frustration, to tears even, but it's brought me some of my favorite moments of my life and many friends and memories that I'll never forget.
Anyways enough about myself, you came for a report.
I've been playing Bant Eldrazi since it was UW Eldrazi during the "Cold winter of Eldrazi". Its changed colors, styles, etc. but its mostly the same deck: A midrange deck with the possibilities of T4 kills.
I won the 1st PPTQ of the season with the deck and just kept playing it, but mostly focused on standard since I couldn't PPTQ anymore and had no bigger Modern tourneys for a few months.
Fast forward to about a month and a half ago when I knew the RPTQ was coming up. I started testing every week about 1-2 times a week until the week before when I bit the bullet and bought the deck online and started playing minimum 2 leagues a day, streaming most of it to get help, plays I miss, etc. I focused mostly on the sideboard as I felt the main deck was rock-solid.
Here's the main I've been playing recently:
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Eldrazi Displacer
3 Eldrazi Skyspawner
2 Matter Reshaper
3 Drowner of Hope
2 Spellskite
4 Path to Exile
4 Ancient Stirrings
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Dismember
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Windswept Heath
1 Breeding Pool
1 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Brushland
3 Yavimaya Coast
3 Cavern of Souls
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island
The only thing I've mostly changed is the mana base, just recently adding a basic Island to the deck with the uptick of Blood Moon, but in the end I don't think its really needed and I could see it being another Brushland or maybe a Wastes, but that's what testing is for.
I prefer Skyspawner a lot more than Matter Reshaper, and honestly I just want to cut Reshaper all together, it's always the worst card in the deck for me and it's the first card I usually cut unless it's a match-up where its obviously good/fine (Jund, Burn, Grixis, UWR). Other than that Skyspawner is just so helpful in so many close match-ups (Affinity, Infect, the Mirror, Merfolk, any creature based matchup)
Most of the list is pretty stock otherwise, with a few singletons (EE and Dismember), but those are pretty common these days. The sideboard however is another story...
Usually you see the same cards (RiP, Graf Cage, etc.) but it's so dependent on what you expect to play and as well all know now, anything is possible in Modern.
This is what I ended up with on the day of:
2 Rest in Peace
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Natural State
1 Worship
2 Engineered Explosives
1 World Breaker
2 Stony Silence
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Blessed Alliance
I've been playing a mix of Negate, Stubborn Denial and sometimes Disdainful Stroke usually 1-2-1 as my meta usually has more Grixis, Combo, Titan/Tron decks but for this tourney I expected more Infect and Jund/Junk as I feel people tend to play the "best" deck at bigger tourneys with more on the line, so I cut the Stroke and Negate for World Breaker and 1 more Blessed Alliance.
Feeling confident, comfortable, and knowledgeable, my friend and myself headed for the 3 hour drive down to the RPTQ in Bellevue, Washington.
Showed up about 30-40 min to spare, wrote our decklists and tried to scout the room a bit and see what people were playing. A bit more Titan/Scapeshift decks then I hoped for but in the end, it's all about the pairings. Around 60ish players so we got 6 rounds.
Round 1 - Lantern Control...
Round 1 I ended up playing a local player who usually plays Ad Nauseam (that's what he qd with) but he recently switched to Lantern to my disappointment. Game 1 went as expected as he had the game basically locked on t4 and I didn't find a Thought-Knot in the opening turns. Game 2 I kept 3 Noble Hierarch, Reality Smasher, Forest, Eldrazi Temple on the mull to 6 on the play...can't really ask for too much more. He didn't have the t3 bridge and died quick. G3 we both mulled, but I had World Breaker, ancient stirrings, a few land and a hierarch. Game got to a point when he had bridge, needle on ee and a miller but not much else. I had drawn an ee and set up world breaker and ee on 3 to blow up everything and give him a 2 turn clock to find another bridge, he did not so squeaked out a win.
In
2 EE
2 Stony
1 World Breaker
1 Natural State
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Rest in Peace
Out
2 Matter Reshaper
4 Path to Exile
1 Dismember
3 Drowner of Hope
Round 2 - TitanBreach
Game 1 I keep an ok hand of stirrings, hierarch, skyspawner, 4 lands and promptly get t3d...Modern, am I right?
Game 2 I keep a solid hand with t2 thoughtknot if he doesn't have lightning bolt, sadly he did but T3 Thought knot was still good as he kept a pretty loose hand with no ramp, t4 smasher and the game was over
Game 3 was a doozy, he had the t3 breach against but lucky for me I had the stubborn denial. I thought knot on t3 and see he still has 2 more breach but only 1 creature in Hornet Queen, so I take it of course. Then he draws Woodfall Primus! He slams that and blows up 2 lands after it comes back from persist. I top deck back with a Path to Exile and bash him down to gime him one draw step. He draws Anger the Gods which give him another turn...I draw a land and just hope thought knot is good enough...and it gets there!
In
2 Stubborn Denial
1 World Breaker
Out
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Dismember
1 Matter Reshaper
2 not stellar matchups in a row is rough but luckly squeaked though. Friend is sadly 0-2 with Affinity, but he said he wasn't really in it from the beginning, kinda just came because he was q'd from top 8d last time
Round 3 - Jund
Nice! A good matchup. It can be close if they have discard into removal into liliana, but in general I'll play this matchup all day if I can
Game 1 was back and forth a little bit but I drew running Reality Smashers and he couldn't come back
Game 2 was panning out to be the same but some good topdecks from him and 17 of my 24 lands from me and a backbreaking damnation from him led us to a game 3
This one once again was just a slugfest but World Breaker and a timely path on his large Kalitas got me the victory
In
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Rest in Peace
1 World Breaker
Out
2 Spellskite
1 Matter Reshaper
That one almost went to time so didn't have much left before the next round
Round 4 - Grixis Death Shadow
This deck is a pretty solid matchup, however you have to keep a hand with interaction or else you'll just get turn 3'd...which is what happened game 1 since I didnt know what he was on...
Game 2 I kept a solid hand with lots of interaction and it wasn't that close
Game 3 was a kinda sketchy keep from him with not much to do. One removal spell and he was dead.
In
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Stubborn Denial
Out
2 Matter Reshaper
1 Drowner of Hope
2 Reality Smasher
1 Eldrazi Skyspawner
Top 8 confirmed! Pretty stoked to have all my practice pay off. I got to scout the top tables a bit to find a lot of Titan Breach and Affinity.
Round 5 - Infect
Playing against a friend and its an even 4 people, so drawing seems like an easy choice. Got to eat some snacks that I brought (Cranberries and Almonds!) and just relaxed and scouted a bit more
Round 6 - Mirror Match
So looking at the undefeateds at the moment it was 1 Infect, 2 Bant Eldrazi and a Titan Bloom deck, currently Im in 2nd with so so tiebreakers, if I draw I'll most likely come 5th or 6th depending on breakers playing against a 5-1, most of which were ok matchups (Jund vs Elves, Affinity vs Breach, and Affinity vs Jund). However if I play and win I'll be 1st probably playing the Bant eldrazi player again, if I lose I'm most likely in the reverse, so I was gunna play, however the Jund vs Elves match thought they could draw and lock themselves in top 8...That meant if I lost I could come 9th since my breakers weren't great...
I stuck with the draw to make sure I locked up top 8 and was going to 4th playing against the mirror or the Titan Bloom deck unfortunately. Sure enough I play against the Bloom Titan deck...
Top 8 - Titan Bloom
I'm on the play and mull to 6 with Hierarch, skyspawner, reality smasher and 3 lands. It doesn't have a Thought-Knot or a Path but I think a t3 Reality Smasher can get there. However he had t3 azuza into a stream of titans until I died, drawing lands for the rest of the game needing a path or displacer or drowner for game
G2 I mull again into a t3 Thought-Knot which should be good to snag a titan or pact in time. However his hand was 2 azuza and a bunch of lands, he has a tolaria west and gets a titan but I draw a spellskite so he can't go crazy and it gives me a chance to draw a path, drowner or something, but he topdecks a amulet and alas, drew no interaction and he peels a slaughter pact into reclaimation sage and that's the match...
In
2 Stubborn Denial
1 World Breaker
Out
2 Matter Reshaper
1 Dismember
Heartbroken, I shake my opponent's hand and wish him good luck at the Pro Tour. So close yet again.
Anyways, my friend in the top 8 also lost to the Grixis Shadow player, so the car ride back was Disapointmentville, a suburb of Salt Lake City.
Snagged some dinner along the way back, told so stories from the past, bought cheap liquor, and started planning for the next tourney on the horizon
Moving forward, I think the deck is still great. Obviously bad match-ups are bad but what deck doesn't have them. I would 100% find anything else other than Matter Reshaper as it was always the worst card, probably just another Skyspwaner and maybe the 4th Drowner again, maybe an Eternal Scourge.
Next big tourney for me will be the Face to Face Open coming up which is Modern, then GP Vancouver, also Modern
If you guys want more, to give feedback, suggestions, please feel free. I'm not a great writer and haven't really done a lot of these before but since I started streaming and doing Youtube videos with my friend, I felt I like should expand a bit and open up more.
Also if you'd like to watch some videos of magic playthroughs of Standard and Modern or my stream, I have them in my signature.
Thanks for reading.
https://www.youtube.com/user/GhostEmpireTV
My Stream
https://www.twitch.tv/ghostxempire
UBRWGHumansUBRWG
UMerfolkU
Eldrazi Tron
Legacy
WDeath & TaxesW
Pauper
RGoblinsR
EDH
UGMerfolk ComboGU
Standard
UWApproachWU
Most deck siding land hate vs us, and talisman help to solve this weakness
On paper, Talismans should be great. The thing is, it's pretty much a nonbo with Engineered Explosives as x=2 is our most common configuration. It deals with Plating,Ravager,Steel Overseer,the entire merfolk deck, etc. Maybe side them out against Merfolk?.
Sidenote: Does Gemstone Caverns have a place in this deck? What do you think?.
I tested a 1-of a few months back. It can lead to some very strong starts when its in your opening hand like a T2 Reality Smasher. I just took out a Yavimaya Coast for it.
Modern
C Colorless Eldrazi Stompy C
WUGC Bant Eldrazi CGUW
WBG Doran Formation GBW
Legacy
C Eldrazi Stompy C
Multiplayer Commander
GR Omnath, Locus of Rage RG
WU Brago, King Eternal UW
BG Slimefoot, the Stowaway GB
List that not playing talisman run spellskite that cost 2, same problem...
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver