In case someone is looking for an alternate version because they do not own any Nobles yet. I replaced Noble with 4 of Birds of Paradise, 1 Boreal Druid, (5th bird in this case) and 2 Qasali Pridemages for the Exalted trigger and mainboard Artifact/Enchantment removal. Not ideal but it is still an option.
Commander GUR Maelstrom Wanderer BWU Sydri, Galvanic Genius BGB Meren of Clan Nel Toth WGW Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith RRR Feldon of the Third Path WWW Heliod, God of the Sun
FSM's newbie's write up for Bant Eldrazi.
So whenever you start to build out a new deck you need a place to start. Instead of just copying one deck to start from I collated data from 20 different decks from several different sites (all built since the start of the year) to try and get me what the 'average' deck was. This was to avoid using some deck as a starting point that was an oddball and it gave me an excuse to build an excel spreadsheet (hey what can I say I like spreadsheets). Anyway I thought I would share my findings for anyone else interested.
First thing you notice when you go through 20 decks is about 80% of the main deck is all the same. You also notice everyone wants to throw in a card that no one else does as a one of. Not sure if this is because they think smarter than anyone else or just want to say it's their deck and not a 'netdeck' or what. (It would be an interesting study to find out why people put a specific card in from a psychological aspect). This is just a few of the cards that showed up in the main in only 1 (of 20) decks. Sideboards are even worse; there were 28 different cards in twenty 15 card sideboards
Anyway on to the deck break down
Land counts ran from 22-24
Six Decks have 22 land
Nine Decks have 23 land
Five Decks have 24 land
If you count Birds of Paradise and Talismans as mana sources (Talisman of Progress or Unity) things group up a bit more.
1 deck at 22 "mana sources"
1 deck at 23 "mana sources"
12 decks at 24 "mana sources"
6 decks at 25 "mana sources"
Note: I didn't count Noble Hierarch since she was a 4 of in every deck. I was more interested in the variables
One of the 25 mana decks ran 2 birds and one ran 3 Talisman (the only decks to run those counts) so I think the 24 is the right/most accepted count.
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So do you run Birds or Talismans?? They both effectively come online turn two, Birds can chump but you can pull a Talisman with a Stirrings in a pinch. Birds are easier for an opponent to deal with though. I think I am going to run birds to begin with since I have them already but certainly would like to hear people’s thoughts on Birds v Talismans.
That leaves aprox 2-4 'flex' spots depending on your Souls/Y Coast counts to fill with utility lands/birds/tailismans.
Some of the lands in those flex spots that were used and the number of decks that used them.
(Side thought, has anyone thought of running Gavony Township out of the Sideboard to bring out in mirror matches? I want my own super uber secret tech lol)
Creatures,
Every deck ran 4 ofs of the follow 4 creatures so I would count them as a given.
Decks ran between 24-27 creatures, pretty evenly splits, 5, 5, 4, 6] so that gives you another 8-11 flex spots. Drowner of Hope was a 75 of 80 spots with only three decks not running 4 so you could probably count that as pretty close to an auto 4 of unless you had a really good reason not to.
Eldrazi Skyspawner was next with 51 out of 80, it was at least a 2 of in 18 of the decks. Nobody only ran only 1, Twelve decks ran 2 or 3 and six ran 4.
Matter Reshaper was next with 35 out of 80. It kind of was all over the place with three decks running 4 and eight running 0.
Eternal Witness was 13 out of 80 although it seemed if you were going to run it, run 2 as six of the seven decks w/ E Wit ran them ran as a 2 of.
Any feedback is appreciated. Specifically your thoughts on
Birds v Tailismans
4 Eldrazi Skyspawner or 2/2 split with Eternal Witness
How does Matter Reshaper help advance the win, is it just a big cantrip?
Have a great day and may you be touched by his noodly appendage!
Tested witness briefly. Didn't like it. Felt like it takes way too much time for you to pitch something useful for it into the grave to get full value off of it... prefer 4th drowner over a witness.
Tested GQ, not that impressed. It has utility but it usually feels pretty marginal. Out of 20 games or so, it hasn't been the deciding factor. Will do more testing.
Meta has been shifting to a lot more Jund & Burn - it's reasonable to add in reshapers again. I still dislike the card and it's easily the worst card in our 75, but it's the easiest to play on turn 2 and has decent value in those matchups.
Was 2-2 after throwing a match to hatebears early and landing myself in the "stupid decks" section of the hall, then a couple of easy beats in a row, ended up 5-4 drop so I could play side events today
Matchups were:
UW control - W (displacer/tks lock in 2 straight games)
Elves - W (Last minute cage purchases for the side paid off)
Hatebears - L (G3 path'd my smasher, I zoned out and didn't flicker it in response, couldn't recover...with him on 3 and only a wisp on board....)
Some lifegain&removal.dek pos brew (I did 45 damage and still lost, the salt was real) - L
Shaman tribal? - W (t3,4,5 smashers g1, t4 worship g2 with his rec sages still in his side)
Jund - W
Affinity - L (nuts in first and 3rd games, g2 stony got there)
Wilted Abzan - W
Bant mirror - L. Super close game, just drew different sides of the deck
All in all fairly happy with how the day went, issues with the missus the night before had me at 5hrs sleep before the event so all things considered didn't do too badly.
Things I would change: hatebears misplay, obv. - I ran 2/2 UWill/Stubborn side, 3 games I wished the UWill was any other creature counter.
Other than quite happy with the deck
Off to grind some modern and edh events for prize tix! Wish me luck all!!
Mini side event report: Bantdrazi got there for one modern on demand and daretti got there for a commander event, snagged enough prize tix for a booster box and a FTV:Lore. Masterpiece EE in the box!
I ended up going 10-5. I was @ 8-3 vs Grixis Delver (with AV/cryptic main deck) - the game should have been a draw but we both kind of forgot about the clock. I made a misplay which would have won me the game and in the end I died with my opponent on three life after the judge instructed us to go to turns. The dream of cashing pretty much ended here . Anyway was a good tournament - I wish we had more GP opportunities in Australia.
Round 1 - Allies
Not much to say - my opponent was inexperienced - happy to get an effective bye.
(1-0)
Round 2 - Dredge
Only had 3x gy hate cards (No RIP) as I thought this deck was dead - it isn't (Two dredge decks in the top 8). Very close game 3. I had to survive combat on his turn and avoid getting burnt out by a conflagrate to my face. I had Drowner, 2x scions and a dork on board. I was able to chump and stay alive while retaining a scion. With path and smasher in hand I was able to clear the way by pathing an imp and tapping down a blood ghast to deal exact lethal with smasher and drowner.
(2-0)
Round 3 - RG Tron
Cheap counters and natural state where critical to disrupt early attempts to achieve Tron. I also had plenty of TKS to snatch key pieces. Game 3 was tight - and my opponent seemed to make a greedy play when he placed a 'hat' on his World Breaker with O-Stone. I had a dork and displacer in play. As soon as he tapped out I destroyed O-Stone and dropped a sandbagged smasher. I later pathed a wurm and kept displacing other threats and won quickly with smasher beats while holding up counters.
(3-0)
Round 4 - UWR Nahiri
My opponent was on a variation with lots of PWs - esp game two when he had Nahiri, Chandra and Jace AOT (he later showed my Big Elspeth). This variation also ran 3x Blood Moon sb.
(3-1)
Round 5 - Midrange Junk
Engineered Explosives was critical - I wiped his board of two drops and lingering souls multiple times. In anycase Bant Eldrazi is the clear favourite here.
(4-1)
Round 6 - Mirror
The mirror seems to be die roll dependent. I won the die roll.
(5-1)
Round 7 - RG Breach Titan
Fun opponent and good times where had. I won game 1 with super fast TKS and smashers. Game 2 was pretty close he died on 6 life the turn before i would have killed him. Game 3 I mulled pretty low in an attempt to get a fast hand - I got in one swing with smasher before getting 16+ dmg dealt to me the following turn - ouch.
(5-2)
Round 8 - Mirror
If I remember correctly my opponent ended up 19th overall. He got game 1. I got worship down game 2. Game 3 I was forced to mull to 5.
(5-3)
Round 9 - Mirror
Im starting to wonder if it's all mirrors from now on. I needed this to scrape in to day 2. In game 3 it came down to Ancient Stirrings needing to find me something special - the first 4 cards didnt help my situation - card 5 was a smasher and it was enough to eek out a victory.
(6-3)
DAY 2
Round 10 - Affinity
Game 1 got steam rolled. Game 2 I was about to get steam rolled again but landed a Worship the turn before I was dead - I kept his Inkmoth at bay with GQ and Path. Game 3 was one of the most memorable games of the tournament. He windmill slammed Blood Moon turn 2. I fortunately had basic forest in play and a dork. He later attempted to blast my dork but I pathed my dork to find basic plains. I was then able to EE the Moon away while landing a Worship. At this point he had Steel Overseer and blinkmoth pumping up 2x Inkmopth Nexus. Things were looking pretty grim but I had a drowner stalling his infect kill. I had run out of scions and had to path the overseer. I was dead on board next turn, I drew my singleton pithing needle - the mtg gods where with me today. He announced that he was hoping to draw an answer to needle - but it never eventuated. Eventually after chumping several Drowner attacks I pushed through with a smasher and drowner.
(7-3)
Round 11 - RG Torn
In both games I won I had multiple early TKS and good disruption like Stony Silence and counter spells. Game 3 he mulled to 4.
(8-3)
Round 12 - Eldrazi Tron
I like this matchup as Bant has a clear advantage - cards like EE and Displacer give them a huge headache. This is on top of better ramp, better removal, better tutoring and better sb - I really hope this deck stays hyped. I played against it in the GPT grinders on the Friday before the GP - had no problems either day.
(9-3)
Round 13 - Grixis Delver/Cntrl - I think it was basically Grixis Control with 4x Delver of Secrets.
Game 3 I made a blunder - anyway I died with my opponent on 3 life. Live and learn.
(9-4)
Round 14 - Mirror
My fourth mirror match - I lost the die roll and both games - he was just faster and I think I was on tilt from the previous match - my will to play tight was fading.
(9-5)
Round 15 - Jund with Assault/Loam
I manage to survive him recurring GQ and killing my lands (which I just kept drawing fortunately). I EE his Assault and get game 1. I really had no idea how to sb for this deck - I think I over sideboard for game 2 and got crushed. I sideboarded for game 3 as if it was just regular Jund and got relic to keep his goyfs small and stop loam shenanigans. Further to that I had early smasher pressure and drowners which just overwhelmed him.
(10-5)
What are people doing in response to the rise of Shadow atm? I'd like to get a better handle on this match-up as the "new" lists are much more resilient then the lists prior to the Git Probe ban. It seems pretty die roll dependent - we certainly aren't in bad shape but Fulminator Mage from the sb has been problematic on top of all the other things that we have to deal with. The other change I've noticed from the "old" lists are 9-12 discard spells - they truly shred your hand - I think we need more redundancy in removal and gy hate? What do other people think?
Our best cards are:
Engineered Explosives
Path to Exile
Blessed Alliance
Dismember?? (Lifeloss)
Relic of Progenitus
Rest In Peace
Surgical Extraction?? (Doesnt play well with PtE)
Worship?? They do run collective brutality so not sure about this one..
Left Field Idea's
Besides attacking their threats and grave yard Shadow decks are also weak to cheap/fast land destruction - Merfolk showed at GP Vancouver that Spreading Sea's goes a long way. Another thought is that Shadow decks heavily rely on discard to clear the way for their threats - so perhaps Leyline of Sanctity could maybe be worth testing (it's also golden against Valakut, Grapeshot decks and useful against BGx).
Chalice of the Void? As a huge fan of CoTV I will be testing this - however my initial thoughts are that it won't be as effective as it used to be - they have 2 cmc threats that get around Chalice on 1 and it cuts you off your own answers like Path and Relic. Further to this the "new" decks are running Abrupt Decay and K Command - I think we will need to look elsewhere for answers..
Detention Sphere?? This is a bit crazy and hard on our mana but they play just 1 copy of abrupt decay and all their threats are redundant (4x Goyf; 4x Shadow) - likely EE is just better due to utility and ease on mana.
Just thinking about this too. I'm not really changing anything.
How I'd board against them:
In
+ 3 mainboard EE
+ 1 ratchet bomb
+ 2 RIP
+ 1 Chalice
+ 2 Unified will (win-more, but it locks out the game as soon as you have more creatures than them. need to test)
I think chalice is still reasonable. Their curve is typically turn 1 discard turn 2 threat. That means every time we have a chalice on turn 2 and they don't have a goyf we have a huge advantage. It also shuts off Traverse.
EE spiked originally because of death's shadow. It's still great.
Really random, but Leonin arbiter is also great (while also being really good against valakut)
Im interested in your reasoning for the cards that you are cutting - this is def something that I have difficulty with - you are keeping all your drowners in? They sure are powerful if you live long enough to have 6 mana to cast them (through Mages as well)I was thinking that cards like spawner and reshaper are cards that are ok to keep in - perhaps im cutting the wrong cards..
It's probably right to cut down to 2-3, but I would definitely leave some in. It's basically 1-2 time walks once resolved against a threat light deck like dsz. You still need some kind of win con beyond just thought-knot beats because you definitely have to side out smasher. Skyspawner and Reshaper are just okay... they don't do anything against rampager or battle rage and also die to tarfire
GP Vancouver Report 10-5 142/1552
Decklist:
Creatures: 27
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Matter Reshaper
2 Eternal Witness
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
4 Drowner of Hope
Spells: 10
4 Path to Exile
4 Ancient Stirrings
2 Engineered Explosives
Lands: 23
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Windswept Heath
3 Cavern of Souls
3 Brushland
2 Yavimaya Coast
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
Sideboard: 15
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Stony Silence
2 Rest in Peace
2 Natural State
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Engineered Explosives
Round 3: 2-0 Greg on Abzan Coco
Game 1: I win the dice roll and start the game on the play. I mull to 5, and keep a hand of Cavern, Temple, and 3 ancient stirrings. Scry a noble hierarch to the bottom, and manage to hit a green source on turn 2. Fetch Shocking, and quickly lose to my opponent going infinite on turn 4.
In: Stubborn Denial x2, Rest in Peace x2, and a Grafdigger’s Cage x1
Out: Matter Reshaper x 3, Displacer x2.
Game 2: I keep a 7 card hand on the play, we both go back and forth playing mana dorks, I get a turn 3 TKS into Turn 4 Smasher to swing in twice for the win.
Game 3: Same as game 2, I mull once keep a solid 6, and curve out well, taking my opponenet from 16 to 11, and from 11 to 3, then swinging for the win.
Round 4: 3-0 Patrick on Affinity
Game 1: I win the die, keep 7 cards and my opponenet mulls to 5. I curve out well, and swing in fast, to keep the pressure going, my opponent tries to stay a float with a vault skirge, but paths and recurrings paths get me to the win.
Game 2: I keep a hand of EEx2, Path, 2 lands one of which is a fetch, and a creature, can’t remember what the last card was. My opponent goes Land, Memnite Memnite Springleaf drum. I was still waking up, and punt this game away. I for whatever reason thing Memnite is 1 CMC even though I know better, and drop an EE on 1 planning to wipe the board. Opponent then plays and inkmoth and arcbound and opal. I play a noble and fetch and pass turn, next turn my opponent swings in with verything leaving just the opal untapped, I play another land and pass turn, opponent galv blasts the noble, now that he is tapped out, I path the arcbound he puts a counter on the memnite, and I pop the EE, assuming I am going to wipe the creatures. Obviously all I hit is spring leaf drum, and I have to use my 2nd EE to wipe the creatures, and Have no EE to deal with the Cranial plating that later comes.
Game 3: I keep a hand of Noble, Displacer, Land Land, Stony Silence, Path, Path. Turn 1 noble, into turn 2 stony holding up path, keeps my opponenet on no mana sources, with just a vault skirge, I eventually get a displacer drowner combo up to lock up the game.
Round 5: 4-0 Thomas on Jund
Game 1: I win the die roll, and this is a very grindy game, be slowly grind into eachother till we get into a board stall with Drowners, he has bob and double huntmaster which has made winning very hard. I can’t get in and he keeps picking off my creatures and dealing damage to me. I drop an EE on 0, to wipe out the Wolfs and activate it so I can swing in, however I didn’t activate my drowner and lose both scions, and can’t recover from the board state.
In 2 Rest in Peace, 2 Kitchen Finks, 1 Engineered Explosive, 1 Disdainful Stroke
Out: 2 Thought-Knot Seer, 2 Eternal Witness, 1 Eldrazi Displacer, 1 Birds of Paradise.
Game 2: I start the game out playing a shock land into a noble I believe, opponent starts with a fetch, I turn 2 cast a kitchen finks, and pass. Game goes back and forth with no one being able to hold an advantage, I manage to stick a drowner and displacer, however displacer dies from Olivia only netting me 1 displace. I stick another Displacer, with Drowner Displacer and Reality Smasher on board, Opponent is at 6, with 7 mana I attempt to move to combat, opponent activates Olivia to do 1 damage to displacer, he activates Olivia to gain control of Displacer, I Displace Olivia in response, 1 judge call later and a lethal swing is achieved.
Out: 2 Thought-Knot Seer,
In: 2 Eternal Witness.
Game 3: Opponent starts the game with a tapped land, I play a fetch. Game goes back and forth as we grind each other outI get him to 2, he drops a scooze, I Engineered Explosives for 2, he gains 4. Swing with Rsmasher to bring him to 1 and then I play a noble main 2, oops.. He doesn’t get anything and I win.
Round 6: 5-0 Against Bobby on Amulet Titan
Game 1: He does Amulet things, and I try to fight through multiple titans, I path 2 or 3 of them, and have the board stalled up with Reshaper, and double displacer and mana. But 1 EE for 3, seals the deal.
Game 2: I keep a decent hand and we both fight through lots of different hate, I manage to stick a drowner on board and keep displacing a signal pest to keep myself from taking 2x the amount of damage each turn. I have a displacer and a stony silence in hand, Opponent has inkmoth, blinkmoth, signal pest, and vault skirge and mox opal. I get him to tap out, and play the displacer and get blown out by a galvanic blast. I was a bit tired here, and didn’t think about forcing him to use his mox opal for red by playing stony silence, and then main 2 displacer. Big punt, and I lose the round.
Round 8: 5-2 Jason on Burn
Game 1: I lose the die roll, keep a decent 7, of 2 nobles some lands and some early interaction.
He turn 1 swift spear takes me to 19, I fetch forest play noble, he shocks and searing blazes my noble. I play another noble and it gets hard cast riftbolted on his next turn he swings for 2 with swift spear. Finally I play a 3rd noble, and drop a displacer, I manage to stick things on the board and chunk my opponent from 18 to 13 to 7, forcing him to topdeck a burn spell after ghost quartering his only white land. He draws a land and I swing for the win.
In: 2 Stubborn Denial, 2 Kitchen Finks, 2 Chalice of the Void
Out: 1 Eldrazi Displacer, 2 Eternal Witness, 2 Reality Smasher, 1 Drowner of Hope
Game 2: I keep a good 7, I had Kitchen Finks, Stubborn Denial, Heath, 2 Thought-Knots, Temple, and Path. He opens with a Nacatl, and passes. I draw play a fetch, and pass. He plays a swift spear, lava spikes me, and swings with nacatl, I path the Nacatl and take the swiftspear damage. I play a plains untapped and pass. He swings with swift spear I path the swift spear. I then go Thought-knot seer, get hit by a burn spell, and take drev he has a land in hand. He plays a land and passes. I swing for 4. I get to 12 life, with a Thought-knot and Thought-knot out, he has 1 card in hand an eidolon on board and is at 10 life. I swing for 8, he responds before blocks with deflecting palm on Thought-knot I stubborn denial the deflecting palm, we both take 2, I go to 12 he goes to 8, he blocks with eidolon draws and plays a swiftspear and I attack for the win.
Round 9: 6-2 Paul on Valakut
Game 1: He does valakut things, I path his Primetime in response to the etb trigger and he scapeshifts next turn.
I don’t remember how I sided, but probably some amount of stubborn denials and disdain ful stroke coming out.
Game 2: Semi grindy game, I am at 5 he is at 5, but he manages to land a titan and has 4 valakuts I lose.
Round 10: Christopher on Grixis Control
Game 1: I do eldrazi things, he removes them, I path a tasigur, and have cavern I manage to pull through with creatures and win the game.
Game 2: Grindy game I land a early RIP off a matter reshaper trigger, we grind eachother out, I get him to 6, he removes my threats and lands double snapcaster for beats of 2 and 4 each turn as I flood out.
Game 3: I keep a hand of Temple, Temple, Cavern, Fetch land, Reality Smasher, Reality Smasher, Drowner of Hope. I turn 1 Temple, Turn 2 Temple, Turn 3 Smasher swing 5, Turn 4 Drowner tap tasigur swing 5, and get cryptic, cryptic, snap cryptic, snap cryptic, damnationed. He has 1 land untapped after the damnation, and I have 8 mana. I cast Eternal Witness bring back smasher, cast smasher and bring him from 3 to 0, he took a lot of damage from fetch shocking to cast on curve.
Round 11: 7-3 Brandon on Abzan Aristocrats
Game 1: I keep a slow hand, and he develops a board state with sac outlets and 2 drainers I lose
Game 2: I keep a strong hand curve out into Thoughtknot on 3 and Smasher on 4 and swing before he can get started.
Game 3: I keep a strong hand, of Land Land, Rest in Peace, Engeineered Explosives and some small creatures. I get turn 2 Tidehollowed, he takes the RIP, I EE for 2 and pass, he plays a zulaport and swings for 2. I Pop EE wiping the board. And pass, he return the ranks for 1, puts tidehollow on board, and has a choice of Thought-Knot or Rest in Peace, he takes Rest in Peace, and I cast Thought-Knot taking rally over voice. He casts Voice, and I draw another EE, EE for 2, land a displacer/drowner and win game.
Round 12: 8-3 Jacob on Living End
Game 1: Fulminator mage does work, living end resolves, I lose
In: Stubborn Denial x2, Chalice x2 Rest in Peace x2
Out: Matter Reshaper x2, Drowner of Hope x4
Game 2: I keep a 1 lander with chalice, I get stuck on 1 land he beast withins chalice on his turn 4 and goes off following turn I have just a reshaper on board and lose.
Round 13: 8-4 Corey on Dredge
Game 1: We both keep 7, I am on the play I keep a slow hand and get dredged.
Game 2: I have a slow 7, mull to 6 have a slow 6, mull to 5 have no lands, mull to 4 Keep a hand of Temple, and 3 other lands, scrying a cavern to the bottom. I play a temple, and pass, he neonates a dredger to the yard, does’t land a creature. I draw a temple and pass, he dredges out I manage to get pressure on, I get him to 5, but he gets too many creatures and beats me.
Round 14: 8-5 Jordan on GW Enchantress
Game 1: He lands a early ghostly prison, into a turn 4 enchantment type ghostly prison into another ghostly prison. I swing in early by paying 2 twice and 4, taking him to 9 with a exalted matter reshaper. He gains life with the 2 drop that lets you gain life from enchantments and lands a courser of cruphix. I get a drowner displacer combo going and generate enough scions to tap him, pay to attack and win.
Game 2: I turn 2 Thought-knot, swing for 5, turn 3, swing for 5. My Thought-knot gets Oblivion Ringed, and he has a ghostly prison out, I have EE in hand, and just slowly deploy threats, I land a drowner, he gets another ghostly prison out, I play EE for 3 wipe the Courser, Oblivion Ring, and 2 Ghostly prisons and swing for lethal.
Round 15: 8-6 Brandon on Abzan Coco
Game 1: Opponent asks if I want to concede before we play, since no money was on the line, I say no. I lose the Diceroll, keep a decent hand get him to 7, he gets me to 7, I think I am good but miscalculated blocks and damage, because of archangel scooze die by 1, before I swing and win.
Game 2: I keep a hand of Temple, Fetch, Path, 2 EE, Displacer, Smasher. Grindy game, I keep removing his threats, and displacer and drowner to tap him down in upkeep as we top deck, so he can’t chord for more since he has 3 lands. He has 13 life, 3 Finks, 1 Anafenza and a birds, 3 lands, draws plays horizon canopy and passes. I untap swing in with smasher, displacer and drowner for 13 and win.
Game 3: Wish him good luck, and I am met by silence, my opponent does’t say anything for the rest of the game. I keep a strong 7, and he mulls to 6, plays a land and passes. I play a noble and pass back, he draws and passes, I play a land and pass, he draws and passes, I play a thought knot, he has Coco, Ewitt, Kfinks, Skite, and Meliria. I take Ewitt and pass. He draws hits a land plays Meliria and passes. I swing for 5, he doesn’t block and I play a EE on 2 with 2 mana up and pass. He draws doesn’t hit anything and passes. I play a displacer, path his meliria swing for 5, and displace thought-knot and take coco. He never really gets anything going and I take the game.
Thoughts:
Deck seemed to play well, not sure if Matter reshaper package was the right choice, I don’t like chalice it was a last minute audible, after losing to cheerios in a side event, and the fact everyone was buying opals at the vendors. I should have stuck with Worship x2, or 2 more disdainful strokes.
I really liked the Kitchen Finks, Thragtusk is too slow, and it really helped me with the agro matchups and being able to get it back with ewitt, displace it with thought-knot and hit it off a reshaper was great.
Skyspawner may have been better, ramp faster into threats against valakut and other combo decks, and have a flier for affinity, but I would probably run my same list back if there was GP this weekend, minus the chalice.
I was watching a crap ton of vids from Ghash, he's definitely not happy to see Bant Eldrazi. His sideboarding has looked something like this
+2 Anger of the gods (if you run Skyspawner)
+All Fatal pushes come in
-1 K Command out
-2 Mishra Bauble
-3 to 4 tarfires
He made it clear that Drowner of Hope ABSOLUTELY cannot come down, you basically win on the spot if you do, they can't handle you tapping down their creatures and coming in like that.
Chalice is so so, it's not as effective as you believe. They're pinging down their life the first few turns anyway, they have the Decay and the K-Commands. They also run 8 discard
If you land Worship, it's also game, no Death Shadow lists run enchantment hate, the 75 is already too tight to squeeze one in. If you can avoid having it in your opening hand, you're good. Do not keep a mediocre to crappy hand just because worship is in your opening hand, they're effectively running a 52 card deck and there's a good chance you'll be blown out if you put all your eggs in that basket for an opening hand. Death shadow is going to look to stripping you of Drowners or killing you before you drop it
EE is a huge blowout, Shadow decks are going to extend because they can't afford to sit around or play cautiously while you drop 4/4s and 5/5s
Can anyone enlighten me as to why natural state is so prevalent now?
My rule of thumb for sideboard cards is that a hand with that card must be keepable on the basis of having that card alone without acceleration.
I can't think of any matchups that require a natural state other than something like blood moon (in which case it's bad if they have chalice) or lantern control. Against affinity it's decent but doesn't singlehandedly win you the game unlike stony, and in that case even pithing needle is a reasonable substitute.
I also feel like most matchups that natural state is brought in are also suitable for needle. For example, needle is better against tron. It's reasonable against affinity, lantern, RW prison, eldrazi tron. Plus it covers kiki-chord and abzan company too.
I noticed you SB'ed TKS against Jund. While I do get the logic of that (bad in a lategame where neither of you has any cards in hand), since it's one of the cards that lead to our nuttiest draws, I've never considered taking the guy out. How did you feel about that?
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UWGBant EldraziUWG Decided I don't like Todd Stevens decks.
I like Needle as well - I usually run at least one. You make very good points - I keep my Natural State's in mostly because of Moon and Bridge (my list is super weak to Moon) and random cards like Crucible.
Just watched John Sauer lose a game to death's shadow because of Gemstone caverns in a 22 land list. Had that land been the 4th cavern (which imo should never be cut, it's the best land second to temple), a hallowed fountain, or adarkar wastes, he would have cleanly won that game.
I just can't understand why people try to be so greedy with our mana base. We pretty much have the highest mana requirements of any tier 1 or 2 deck. Pretty sure running any cute utility lands in a list (a la Ben Friedman's original talisman list) is just flat out wrong. GQ is just slightly better because it can fetch plains in a pinch, but that's also generally just a losing proposition to disrupt your mana development. Again, we need at least 10 true white sources, 12 blue sources with cavern, 13 true green sources, 14 colorless from our lands alone. That's a minimum.
speaking of lands, I know Bant Eldrazi's matchup with Death's Shadow is fine enough, but how do you feel about Nephalia Academy somewhere in the list just to disable their discard (which is effectively half their gameplan)?
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4x Birds of Paradise
1x Boreal Druid
1x Breeding Pool
3x Brushland
3x Cavern of Souls
3x Drowner of Hope
3x Eldrazi Displacer
4x Eldrazi Skyspawner
4x Eldrazi Temple
2x Engineered Explosives
2x Forest
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Hallowed Fountain
4x Path to Exile
1x Plains
2x Qasali Pridemage
4x Reality Smasher
1x Spellskite
1x Temple Garden
4x Thought-Knot Seer
4x Windswept Heath
3x Yavimaya Coast
3x Blessed Alliance
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Rest in Peace
2x Spellskite
2x Stony Silence
3x Stubborn Denial
1x Worship
Link to deck @ TappedOut.net
GURB Grixis/Jund Shadow
RBG Dredge
xUx U Ballista Tron
Commander
GUR Maelstrom Wanderer
BWU Sydri, Galvanic Genius
BGB Meren of Clan Nel Toth
WGW Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith
RRR Feldon of the Third Path
WWW Heliod, God of the Sun
So whenever you start to build out a new deck you need a place to start. Instead of just copying one deck to start from I collated data from 20 different decks from several different sites (all built since the start of the year) to try and get me what the 'average' deck was. This was to avoid using some deck as a starting point that was an oddball and it gave me an excuse to build an excel spreadsheet (hey what can I say I like spreadsheets). Anyway I thought I would share my findings for anyone else interested.
First thing you notice when you go through 20 decks is about 80% of the main deck is all the same. You also notice everyone wants to throw in a card that no one else does as a one of. Not sure if this is because they think smarter than anyone else or just want to say it's their deck and not a 'netdeck' or what. (It would be an interesting study to find out why people put a specific card in from a psychological aspect). This is just a few of the cards that showed up in the main in only 1 (of 20) decks. Sideboards are even worse; there were 28 different cards in twenty 15 card sideboards
Anyway on to the deck break down
Land counts ran from 22-24
Six Decks have 22 land
Nine Decks have 23 land
Five Decks have 24 land
If you count Birds of Paradise and Talismans as mana sources (Talisman of Progress or Unity) things group up a bit more.
1 deck at 22 "mana sources"
1 deck at 23 "mana sources"
12 decks at 24 "mana sources"
6 decks at 25 "mana sources"
Note: I didn't count Noble Hierarch since she was a 4 of in every deck. I was more interested in the variables
One of the 25 mana decks ran 2 birds and one ran 3 Talisman (the only decks to run those counts) so I think the 24 is the right/most accepted count.
.
So do you run Birds or Talismans?? They both effectively come online turn two, Birds can chump but you can pull a Talisman with a Stirrings in a pinch. Birds are easier for an opponent to deal with though. I think I am going to run birds to begin with since I have them already but certainly would like to hear people’s thoughts on Birds v Talismans.
Onto the lands specifically,
The standard base I found was..
4x Eldrazi Temple
4x Windswept Heath
3x or 4x Cavern of Souls
3x Brushland
2x or 3x Yavimaya Coast
1x Breedingpool
1x Temple Garden
1x Forest
1x Plains
Every deck ran those lands/counts.
That leaves aprox 2-4 'flex' spots depending on your Souls/Y Coast counts to fill with utility lands/birds/tailismans.
Some of the lands in those flex spots that were used and the number of decks that used them.
Ghost Quarter 11
Hallowed Fountain 10
Sea Gate Wreckage 7
Forest (2nd one) 7
Island 4
Wastes 2
Horizon Canopy 1
(Side thought, has anyone thought of running Gavony Township out of the Sideboard to bring out in mirror matches? I want my own super uber secret tech lol)
Creatures,
Every deck ran 4 ofs of the follow 4 creatures so I would count them as a given.
Decks ran between 24-27 creatures, pretty evenly splits, 5, 5, 4, 6] so that gives you another 8-11 flex spots.
Drowner of Hope was a 75 of 80 spots with only three decks not running 4 so you could probably count that as pretty close to an auto 4 of unless you had a really good reason not to.
Eldrazi Skyspawner was next with 51 out of 80, it was at least a 2 of in 18 of the decks. Nobody only ran only 1, Twelve decks ran 2 or 3 and six ran 4.
Matter Reshaper was next with 35 out of 80. It kind of was all over the place with three decks running 4 and eight running 0.
Eternal Witness was 13 out of 80 although it seemed if you were going to run it, run 2 as six of the seven decks w/ E Wit ran them ran as a 2 of.
Then there were a few Spellskite, Elder Deep-Fiend, and World Breaker one ofs to round out creatures.
I've lumped everything else into Other,
Every deck ran the following
- 4x Ancient Stirrings
- 4x Path to exile
- 3x Engineered Explosives
( EE is a Total between Main and Side usually 2 in the Main)Dismember was next as a 1 of in about 1/2 the decks
After that it quickly drops into a lot of pet cards like
all pretty much only in one deck.
Sideboards were pretty much all over the place. Here is a list of all the sideboards cards and the number of decks they showed up in. Finks seems kind of good but Sunlance and Krosan Grip seemed pretty random IMO. The one guy who ran Chalice ran it as a 4 of out his SB.
Stony Silence 16x
Stubborn Denial 16x
Blessed Alliance 16x
Natural State 16x
Grafdigger's Cage 13x
Worship 13x
Disdainful Stroke 12x
Rest in Peace 10x
Engineered Explosives 9x
Negate 8x
Elspeth, Sun's Champion 8x
Spellskite 6x
Relic of Progenitus 5x
Unified Will 5x
Thragtusk 3x
World Breaker 3x
Disenchant 2x
Dismember 2x
Tragic Arrogance 2x
Chalice of the Void 1x
Kitchen Finks 1x
Nature's Claim 1x
Drowner of Hope 1x
Eternal Witness 1x
Krosan Grip 1x
Nissa, Vital Force 1x
Pithing Needle 1x
Sunlance 1x
So, after all of that number crunching this is what I plan to build out.
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Windswept Heath
3 Brushland
2 Yavimaya Coast
1 Breeding Pool
1 Temple Garden
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
26 Creatures
4 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Drowner of Hope
2 Eldrazi Skyspawner
2 Eternal Witness
1 Matter Reshaper
1 Birds of Paradise
11 Other
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Path to exile
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Dismember
2 Stony Silence
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Natural State
2 Rest in Peace
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Worship
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Any feedback is appreciated. Specifically your thoughts on
Birds v Tailismans
4 Eldrazi Skyspawner or 2/2 split with Eternal Witness
How does Matter Reshaper help advance the win, is it just a big cantrip?
Have a great day and may you be touched by his noodly appendage!
Tested GQ, not that impressed. It has utility but it usually feels pretty marginal. Out of 20 games or so, it hasn't been the deciding factor. Will do more testing.
Meta has been shifting to a lot more Jund & Burn - it's reasonable to add in reshapers again. I still dislike the card and it's easily the worst card in our 75, but it's the easiest to play on turn 2 and has decent value in those matchups.
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
Was 2-2 after throwing a match to hatebears early and landing myself in the "stupid decks" section of the hall, then a couple of easy beats in a row, ended up 5-4 drop so I could play side events today
Matchups were:
UW control - W (displacer/tks lock in 2 straight games)
Elves - W (Last minute cage purchases for the side paid off)
Hatebears - L (G3 path'd my smasher, I zoned out and didn't flicker it in response, couldn't recover...with him on 3 and only a wisp on board....)
Some lifegain&removal.dek pos brew (I did 45 damage and still lost, the salt was real) - L
Shaman tribal? - W (t3,4,5 smashers g1, t4 worship g2 with his rec sages still in his side)
Jund - W
Affinity - L (nuts in first and 3rd games, g2 stony got there)
Wilted Abzan - W
Bant mirror - L. Super close game, just drew different sides of the deck
All in all fairly happy with how the day went, issues with the missus the night before had me at 5hrs sleep before the event so all things considered didn't do too badly.
Things I would change: hatebears misplay, obv. - I ran 2/2 UWill/Stubborn side, 3 games I wished the UWill was any other creature counter.
Other than quite happy with the deck
Off to grind some modern and edh events for prize tix! Wish me luck all!!
PS - GL today IAB!
Wish there were more GPs in aus
Round 1 - Allies
Not much to say - my opponent was inexperienced - happy to get an effective bye.
(1-0)
Round 2 - Dredge
Only had 3x gy hate cards (No RIP) as I thought this deck was dead - it isn't (Two dredge decks in the top 8). Very close game 3. I had to survive combat on his turn and avoid getting burnt out by a conflagrate to my face. I had Drowner, 2x scions and a dork on board. I was able to chump and stay alive while retaining a scion. With path and smasher in hand I was able to clear the way by pathing an imp and tapping down a blood ghast to deal exact lethal with smasher and drowner.
(2-0)
Round 3 - RG Tron
Cheap counters and natural state where critical to disrupt early attempts to achieve Tron. I also had plenty of TKS to snatch key pieces. Game 3 was tight - and my opponent seemed to make a greedy play when he placed a 'hat' on his World Breaker with O-Stone. I had a dork and displacer in play. As soon as he tapped out I destroyed O-Stone and dropped a sandbagged smasher. I later pathed a wurm and kept displacing other threats and won quickly with smasher beats while holding up counters.
(3-0)
Round 4 - UWR Nahiri
My opponent was on a variation with lots of PWs - esp game two when he had Nahiri, Chandra and Jace AOT (he later showed my Big Elspeth). This variation also ran 3x Blood Moon sb.
(3-1)
Round 5 - Midrange Junk
Engineered Explosives was critical - I wiped his board of two drops and lingering souls multiple times. In anycase Bant Eldrazi is the clear favourite here.
(4-1)
Round 6 - Mirror
The mirror seems to be die roll dependent. I won the die roll.
(5-1)
Round 7 - RG Breach Titan
Fun opponent and good times where had. I won game 1 with super fast TKS and smashers. Game 2 was pretty close he died on 6 life the turn before i would have killed him. Game 3 I mulled pretty low in an attempt to get a fast hand - I got in one swing with smasher before getting 16+ dmg dealt to me the following turn - ouch.
(5-2)
Round 8 - Mirror
If I remember correctly my opponent ended up 19th overall. He got game 1. I got worship down game 2. Game 3 I was forced to mull to 5.
(5-3)
Round 9 - Mirror
Im starting to wonder if it's all mirrors from now on. I needed this to scrape in to day 2. In game 3 it came down to Ancient Stirrings needing to find me something special - the first 4 cards didnt help my situation - card 5 was a smasher and it was enough to eek out a victory.
(6-3)
DAY 2
Round 10 - Affinity
Game 1 got steam rolled. Game 2 I was about to get steam rolled again but landed a Worship the turn before I was dead - I kept his Inkmoth at bay with GQ and Path. Game 3 was one of the most memorable games of the tournament. He windmill slammed Blood Moon turn 2. I fortunately had basic forest in play and a dork. He later attempted to blast my dork but I pathed my dork to find basic plains. I was then able to EE the Moon away while landing a Worship. At this point he had Steel Overseer and blinkmoth pumping up 2x Inkmopth Nexus. Things were looking pretty grim but I had a drowner stalling his infect kill. I had run out of scions and had to path the overseer. I was dead on board next turn, I drew my singleton pithing needle - the mtg gods where with me today. He announced that he was hoping to draw an answer to needle - but it never eventuated. Eventually after chumping several Drowner attacks I pushed through with a smasher and drowner.
(7-3)
Round 11 - RG Torn
In both games I won I had multiple early TKS and good disruption like Stony Silence and counter spells. Game 3 he mulled to 4.
(8-3)
Round 12 - Eldrazi Tron
I like this matchup as Bant has a clear advantage - cards like EE and Displacer give them a huge headache. This is on top of better ramp, better removal, better tutoring and better sb - I really hope this deck stays hyped. I played against it in the GPT grinders on the Friday before the GP - had no problems either day.
(9-3)
Round 13 - Grixis Delver/Cntrl - I think it was basically Grixis Control with 4x Delver of Secrets.
Game 3 I made a blunder - anyway I died with my opponent on 3 life. Live and learn.
(9-4)
Round 14 - Mirror
My fourth mirror match - I lost the die roll and both games - he was just faster and I think I was on tilt from the previous match - my will to play tight was fading.
(9-5)
Round 15 - Jund with Assault/Loam
I manage to survive him recurring GQ and killing my lands (which I just kept drawing fortunately). I EE his Assault and get game 1. I really had no idea how to sb for this deck - I think I over sideboard for game 2 and got crushed. I sideboarded for game 3 as if it was just regular Jund and got relic to keep his goyfs small and stop loam shenanigans. Further to that I had early smasher pressure and drowners which just overwhelmed him.
(10-5)
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
Our best cards are:
Engineered Explosives
Path to Exile
Blessed Alliance
Dismember?? (Lifeloss)
Relic of Progenitus
Rest In Peace
Surgical Extraction?? (Doesnt play well with PtE)
Worship?? They do run collective brutality so not sure about this one..
Left Field Idea's
Besides attacking their threats and grave yard Shadow decks are also weak to cheap/fast land destruction - Merfolk showed at GP Vancouver that Spreading Sea's goes a long way. Another thought is that Shadow decks heavily rely on discard to clear the way for their threats - so perhaps Leyline of Sanctity could maybe be worth testing (it's also golden against Valakut, Grapeshot decks and useful against BGx).
Chalice of the Void? As a huge fan of CoTV I will be testing this - however my initial thoughts are that it won't be as effective as it used to be - they have 2 cmc threats that get around Chalice on 1 and it cuts you off your own answers like Path and Relic. Further to this the "new" decks are running Abrupt Decay and K Command - I think we will need to look elsewhere for answers..
Detention Sphere?? This is a bit crazy and hard on our mana but they play just 1 copy of abrupt decay and all their threats are redundant (4x Goyf; 4x Shadow) - likely EE is just better due to utility and ease on mana.
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
How I'd board against them:
In
+ 3 mainboard EE
+ 1 ratchet bomb
+ 2 RIP
+ 1 Chalice
+ 2 Unified will (win-more, but it locks out the game as soon as you have more creatures than them. need to test)
Out:
- 4 Reality smasher
- Matter reshaper
- Skyspawner
I think chalice is still reasonable. Their curve is typically turn 1 discard turn 2 threat. That means every time we have a chalice on turn 2 and they don't have a goyf we have a huge advantage. It also shuts off Traverse.
EE spiked originally because of death's shadow. It's still great.
Really random, but Leonin arbiter is also great (while also being really good against valakut)
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
Decklist:
Creatures: 27
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Matter Reshaper
2 Eternal Witness
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
4 Drowner of Hope
Spells: 10
4 Path to Exile
4 Ancient Stirrings
2 Engineered Explosives
Lands: 23
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Windswept Heath
3 Cavern of Souls
3 Brushland
2 Yavimaya Coast
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
Sideboard: 15
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Stony Silence
2 Rest in Peace
2 Natural State
1 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Engineered Explosives
Round 3: 2-0 Greg on Abzan Coco
Game 1: I win the dice roll and start the game on the play. I mull to 5, and keep a hand of Cavern, Temple, and 3 ancient stirrings. Scry a noble hierarch to the bottom, and manage to hit a green source on turn 2. Fetch Shocking, and quickly lose to my opponent going infinite on turn 4.
In: Stubborn Denial x2, Rest in Peace x2, and a Grafdigger’s Cage x1
Out: Matter Reshaper x 3, Displacer x2.
Game 2: I keep a 7 card hand on the play, we both go back and forth playing mana dorks, I get a turn 3 TKS into Turn 4 Smasher to swing in twice for the win.
Game 3: Same as game 2, I mull once keep a solid 6, and curve out well, taking my opponenet from 16 to 11, and from 11 to 3, then swinging for the win.
Round 4: 3-0 Patrick on Affinity
Game 1: I win the die, keep 7 cards and my opponenet mulls to 5. I curve out well, and swing in fast, to keep the pressure going, my opponent tries to stay a float with a vault skirge, but paths and recurrings paths get me to the win.
In: Natural State x2, Engineered Explosives x1, Stony Silence x2
Out: Thought-Knot seer x4, Matter Reshaper x1
Game 2: I keep a hand of EEx2, Path, 2 lands one of which is a fetch, and a creature, can’t remember what the last card was. My opponent goes Land, Memnite Memnite Springleaf drum. I was still waking up, and punt this game away. I for whatever reason thing Memnite is 1 CMC even though I know better, and drop an EE on 1 planning to wipe the board. Opponent then plays and inkmoth and arcbound and opal. I play a noble and fetch and pass turn, next turn my opponent swings in with verything leaving just the opal untapped, I play another land and pass turn, opponent galv blasts the noble, now that he is tapped out, I path the arcbound he puts a counter on the memnite, and I pop the EE, assuming I am going to wipe the creatures. Obviously all I hit is spring leaf drum, and I have to use my 2nd EE to wipe the creatures, and Have no EE to deal with the Cranial plating that later comes.
Game 3: I keep a hand of Noble, Displacer, Land Land, Stony Silence, Path, Path. Turn 1 noble, into turn 2 stony holding up path, keeps my opponenet on no mana sources, with just a vault skirge, I eventually get a displacer drowner combo up to lock up the game.
Round 5: 4-0 Thomas on Jund
Game 1: I win the die roll, and this is a very grindy game, be slowly grind into eachother till we get into a board stall with Drowners, he has bob and double huntmaster which has made winning very hard. I can’t get in and he keeps picking off my creatures and dealing damage to me. I drop an EE on 0, to wipe out the Wolfs and activate it so I can swing in, however I didn’t activate my drowner and lose both scions, and can’t recover from the board state.
In 2 Rest in Peace, 2 Kitchen Finks, 1 Engineered Explosive, 1 Disdainful Stroke
Out: 2 Thought-Knot Seer, 2 Eternal Witness, 1 Eldrazi Displacer, 1 Birds of Paradise.
Game 2: I start the game out playing a shock land into a noble I believe, opponent starts with a fetch, I turn 2 cast a kitchen finks, and pass. Game goes back and forth with no one being able to hold an advantage, I manage to stick a drowner and displacer, however displacer dies from Olivia only netting me 1 displace. I stick another Displacer, with Drowner Displacer and Reality Smasher on board, Opponent is at 6, with 7 mana I attempt to move to combat, opponent activates Olivia to do 1 damage to displacer, he activates Olivia to gain control of Displacer, I Displace Olivia in response, 1 judge call later and a lethal swing is achieved.
Out: 2 Thought-Knot Seer,
In: 2 Eternal Witness.
Game 3: Opponent starts the game with a tapped land, I play a fetch. Game goes back and forth as we grind each other outI get him to 2, he drops a scooze, I Engineered Explosives for 2, he gains 4. Swing with Rsmasher to bring him to 1 and then I play a noble main 2, oops.. He doesn’t get anything and I win.
Round 6: 5-0 Against Bobby on Amulet Titan
Game 1: He does Amulet things, and I try to fight through multiple titans, I path 2 or 3 of them, and have the board stalled up with Reshaper, and double displacer and mana. But 1 EE for 3, seals the deal.
In: Disdainful stroke x1, Chalice x2 EEx1
Out: 1 Birds of Paradise, 2 Matter Reshaper
Game 2: My deck doesn’t fire, I kept a decent hand but get stuck on lands, and he takes an easy game 2.
Round 7: 5-1 Matt on Affinity
Game 1: I lose the die roll, mull to a medium 6, and get destroyed by affinity doing affinity things.
In: 2 Stony Silence, 2 Natural State, 1 Engineered Explosives, 2 Chalice of the Void
Out: 4 Thought-Knot Seer, 3 Matter Reshaper.
Game 2: I keep a decent hand and we both fight through lots of different hate, I manage to stick a drowner on board and keep displacing a signal pest to keep myself from taking 2x the amount of damage each turn. I have a displacer and a stony silence in hand, Opponent has inkmoth, blinkmoth, signal pest, and vault skirge and mox opal. I get him to tap out, and play the displacer and get blown out by a galvanic blast. I was a bit tired here, and didn’t think about forcing him to use his mox opal for red by playing stony silence, and then main 2 displacer. Big punt, and I lose the round.
Round 8: 5-2 Jason on Burn
Game 1: I lose the die roll, keep a decent 7, of 2 nobles some lands and some early interaction.
He turn 1 swift spear takes me to 19, I fetch forest play noble, he shocks and searing blazes my noble. I play another noble and it gets hard cast riftbolted on his next turn he swings for 2 with swift spear. Finally I play a 3rd noble, and drop a displacer, I manage to stick things on the board and chunk my opponent from 18 to 13 to 7, forcing him to topdeck a burn spell after ghost quartering his only white land. He draws a land and I swing for the win.
In: 2 Stubborn Denial, 2 Kitchen Finks, 2 Chalice of the Void
Out: 1 Eldrazi Displacer, 2 Eternal Witness, 2 Reality Smasher, 1 Drowner of Hope
Game 2: I keep a good 7, I had Kitchen Finks, Stubborn Denial, Heath, 2 Thought-Knots, Temple, and Path. He opens with a Nacatl, and passes. I draw play a fetch, and pass. He plays a swift spear, lava spikes me, and swings with nacatl, I path the Nacatl and take the swiftspear damage. I play a plains untapped and pass. He swings with swift spear I path the swift spear. I then go Thought-knot seer, get hit by a burn spell, and take drev he has a land in hand. He plays a land and passes. I swing for 4. I get to 12 life, with a Thought-knot and Thought-knot out, he has 1 card in hand an eidolon on board and is at 10 life. I swing for 8, he responds before blocks with deflecting palm on Thought-knot I stubborn denial the deflecting palm, we both take 2, I go to 12 he goes to 8, he blocks with eidolon draws and plays a swiftspear and I attack for the win.
Round 9: 6-2 Paul on Valakut
Game 1: He does valakut things, I path his Primetime in response to the etb trigger and he scapeshifts next turn.
I don’t remember how I sided, but probably some amount of stubborn denials and disdain ful stroke coming out.
Game 2: Semi grindy game, I am at 5 he is at 5, but he manages to land a titan and has 4 valakuts I lose.
Round 10: Christopher on Grixis Control
Game 1: I do eldrazi things, he removes them, I path a tasigur, and have cavern I manage to pull through with creatures and win the game.
In: 2 Kitchen finks, 2 Rest in Peace, 1 Disdainful Stroke
Out: 1 Eldrazi Displacer, 1 Birds of Paradise, 1 Thought-knot Seer, 2 Engineered Explosives.
Game 2: Grindy game I land a early RIP off a matter reshaper trigger, we grind eachother out, I get him to 6, he removes my threats and lands double snapcaster for beats of 2 and 4 each turn as I flood out.
Game 3: I keep a hand of Temple, Temple, Cavern, Fetch land, Reality Smasher, Reality Smasher, Drowner of Hope. I turn 1 Temple, Turn 2 Temple, Turn 3 Smasher swing 5, Turn 4 Drowner tap tasigur swing 5, and get cryptic, cryptic, snap cryptic, snap cryptic, damnationed. He has 1 land untapped after the damnation, and I have 8 mana. I cast Eternal Witness bring back smasher, cast smasher and bring him from 3 to 0, he took a lot of damage from fetch shocking to cast on curve.
Round 11: 7-3 Brandon on Abzan Aristocrats
Game 1: I keep a slow hand, and he develops a board state with sac outlets and 2 drainers I lose
In: Engineered Explosives x1, Rest in Peace x2, Kitchen Finks x2
Out: Matter Reshaper x4, Drowner x1
Game 2: I keep a strong hand curve out into Thoughtknot on 3 and Smasher on 4 and swing before he can get started.
Game 3: I keep a strong hand, of Land Land, Rest in Peace, Engeineered Explosives and some small creatures. I get turn 2 Tidehollowed, he takes the RIP, I EE for 2 and pass, he plays a zulaport and swings for 2. I Pop EE wiping the board. And pass, he return the ranks for 1, puts tidehollow on board, and has a choice of Thought-Knot or Rest in Peace, he takes Rest in Peace, and I cast Thought-Knot taking rally over voice. He casts Voice, and I draw another EE, EE for 2, land a displacer/drowner and win game.
Round 12: 8-3 Jacob on Living End
Game 1: Fulminator mage does work, living end resolves, I lose
In: Stubborn Denial x2, Chalice x2 Rest in Peace x2
Out: Matter Reshaper x2, Drowner of Hope x4
Game 2: I keep a 1 lander with chalice, I get stuck on 1 land he beast withins chalice on his turn 4 and goes off following turn I have just a reshaper on board and lose.
Round 13: 8-4 Corey on Dredge
Game 1: We both keep 7, I am on the play I keep a slow hand and get dredged.
Game 2: I have a slow 7, mull to 6 have a slow 6, mull to 5 have no lands, mull to 4 Keep a hand of Temple, and 3 other lands, scrying a cavern to the bottom. I play a temple, and pass, he neonates a dredger to the yard, does’t land a creature. I draw a temple and pass, he dredges out I manage to get pressure on, I get him to 5, but he gets too many creatures and beats me.
Round 14: 8-5 Jordan on GW Enchantress
Game 1: He lands a early ghostly prison, into a turn 4 enchantment type ghostly prison into another ghostly prison. I swing in early by paying 2 twice and 4, taking him to 9 with a exalted matter reshaper. He gains life with the 2 drop that lets you gain life from enchantments and lands a courser of cruphix. I get a drowner displacer combo going and generate enough scions to tap him, pay to attack and win.
In: Engineered Explosives X1, Stubborn Denial x2
Out: Matter Reshaper x3
Game 2: I turn 2 Thought-knot, swing for 5, turn 3, swing for 5. My Thought-knot gets Oblivion Ringed, and he has a ghostly prison out, I have EE in hand, and just slowly deploy threats, I land a drowner, he gets another ghostly prison out, I play EE for 3 wipe the Courser, Oblivion Ring, and 2 Ghostly prisons and swing for lethal.
Round 15: 8-6 Brandon on Abzan Coco
Game 1: Opponent asks if I want to concede before we play, since no money was on the line, I say no. I lose the Diceroll, keep a decent hand get him to 7, he gets me to 7, I think I am good but miscalculated blocks and damage, because of archangel scooze die by 1, before I swing and win.
In: Grafdigger’s Cage x1, Rest in Peace x2, Stubborn Denial x2, Disdainful Stroke x1, Engineered Explosives x1
Out: Birds of Paradise x1, Eternal Witness x2, Matter Reshaper x4
Game 2: I keep a hand of Temple, Fetch, Path, 2 EE, Displacer, Smasher. Grindy game, I keep removing his threats, and displacer and drowner to tap him down in upkeep as we top deck, so he can’t chord for more since he has 3 lands. He has 13 life, 3 Finks, 1 Anafenza and a birds, 3 lands, draws plays horizon canopy and passes. I untap swing in with smasher, displacer and drowner for 13 and win.
Game 3: Wish him good luck, and I am met by silence, my opponent does’t say anything for the rest of the game. I keep a strong 7, and he mulls to 6, plays a land and passes. I play a noble and pass back, he draws and passes, I play a land and pass, he draws and passes, I play a thought knot, he has Coco, Ewitt, Kfinks, Skite, and Meliria. I take Ewitt and pass. He draws hits a land plays Meliria and passes. I swing for 5, he doesn’t block and I play a EE on 2 with 2 mana up and pass. He draws doesn’t hit anything and passes. I play a displacer, path his meliria swing for 5, and displace thought-knot and take coco. He never really gets anything going and I take the game.
Thoughts:
Deck seemed to play well, not sure if Matter reshaper package was the right choice, I don’t like chalice it was a last minute audible, after losing to cheerios in a side event, and the fact everyone was buying opals at the vendors. I should have stuck with Worship x2, or 2 more disdainful strokes.
I really liked the Kitchen Finks, Thragtusk is too slow, and it really helped me with the agro matchups and being able to get it back with ewitt, displace it with thought-knot and hit it off a reshaper was great.
Skyspawner may have been better, ramp faster into threats against valakut and other combo decks, and have a flier for affinity, but I would probably run my same list back if there was GP this weekend, minus the chalice.
+2 Anger of the gods (if you run Skyspawner)
+All Fatal pushes come in
-1 K Command out
-2 Mishra Bauble
-3 to 4 tarfires
He made it clear that Drowner of Hope ABSOLUTELY cannot come down, you basically win on the spot if you do, they can't handle you tapping down their creatures and coming in like that.
Chalice is so so, it's not as effective as you believe. They're pinging down their life the first few turns anyway, they have the Decay and the K-Commands. They also run 8 discard
If you land Worship, it's also game, no Death Shadow lists run enchantment hate, the 75 is already too tight to squeeze one in. If you can avoid having it in your opening hand, you're good. Do not keep a mediocre to crappy hand just because worship is in your opening hand, they're effectively running a 52 card deck and there's a good chance you'll be blown out if you put all your eggs in that basket for an opening hand. Death shadow is going to look to stripping you of Drowners or killing you before you drop it
EE is a huge blowout, Shadow decks are going to extend because they can't afford to sit around or play cautiously while you drop 4/4s and 5/5s
One thing with Worship is that they usually run 2x Brutality..
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
My rule of thumb for sideboard cards is that a hand with that card must be keepable on the basis of having that card alone without acceleration.
I can't think of any matchups that require a natural state other than something like blood moon (in which case it's bad if they have chalice) or lantern control. Against affinity it's decent but doesn't singlehandedly win you the game unlike stony, and in that case even pithing needle is a reasonable substitute.
I also feel like most matchups that natural state is brought in are also suitable for needle. For example, needle is better against tron. It's reasonable against affinity, lantern, RW prison, eldrazi tron. Plus it covers kiki-chord and abzan company too.
UWGBant EldraziUWGDecided I don't like Todd Stevens decks.UBRGrixis ControlUBR
UUUAnd anything that plays 4x Cryptic CommandUUU
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
I just can't understand why people try to be so greedy with our mana base. We pretty much have the highest mana requirements of any tier 1 or 2 deck. Pretty sure running any cute utility lands in a list (a la Ben Friedman's original talisman list) is just flat out wrong. GQ is just slightly better because it can fetch plains in a pinch, but that's also generally just a losing proposition to disrupt your mana development. Again, we need at least 10 true white sources, 12 blue sources with cavern, 13 true green sources, 14 colorless from our lands alone. That's a minimum.