I played fairly stock in the Open and didn't fare too well, going 4-5 on day 1. It's my first Open so I'm not too upset by the results, but I'd hoped to do better. Here's my report on the day:
Round 1: Bogles (W)
Game 1: Turn 2 I played Chalice on 1 and he was stuck with a Daybreak Coronet in hand and no way to get the creature enchanted. Turn 4 Tron was enough.
Game 2: I saw my Ratchet Bomb on Turn 2 and had natural Tron on turn 3. His Gaddock Teeg did prevent me from dropping my Chalice when I wanted to, but the Tron was enough, backed up with a Quarter on his Arbor with pants on and a timely crack of the Ratchet Bomb on 1.
Round 3: Scapeshift (L)
Game 1: He played Primeval Titan early. I had to trade a Dismember and a Ballista for it, but trade I did, and he untapped and slammed Scapeshift.
Game 2: I stalled out a bit, keeping an all-Temple no-Eldrazi hand with Surgical figuring I'd see one eventually, but didn't. Tapped out on T5 to play a Batterskull and try to race, but he played Valakut into Scapeshift. If I'd known he had 3 Valakuts in hand from a Seer or similar information, I think I win that game easily, but I'm still pretty sure that the Batterskull play wins me more games in that situation than doing nothing and hoping he has to play a Valakut before Scapeshift.
Round 4: RG Tron (W)
Game 1: He keeps a hand with 1 land and 5 baubles and never sees a second land. He scoops early.
Game 2: He leads on Map, and I play Pithing Needle naming Map to try and keep him from an easy Tron. It works, as he has to play a Grove and Sylvan Scrying to pull piece 2. I play Chalice on 1, he plays his Tron land and has another Scrying for the third piece, but I respond with a Ghost Quarter and a Ballista on 1. Quarter his land on his upkeep, he fetches his Forest and slams a third Sylvan Scrying. I Thought-Knot him and see a hand of lands and a very-useless Map, and he has no play on his next turn beyond finishing Tron. I attack in with Seer, he untaps and plays a Wurmcoil Engine. With Mine-Mine-Plant-Plant my lands in play, I keep chumping with Ballistas and shooting him before damage so he can't gain life, until I rip the Tower off the top and play Reality Smasher and Endbringer. After preventing Wurmcoil from blocking, I swing for lethal.
Round 5: Todd Anderson on Grixis Shadow
Game 1: I get my hand ripped apart by discard (never saw my Nephalia Academy) and he goes all-in on a Death's Shadow, dropping himself to 4. I rip a Smasher off the top and that's lethal.
Game 2: I mull to six here, but accidentally draw an extra card on my first draw step because I went mid-draw to notate his life change. I got a "Seeing Extra Cards" warning and he got to take my Karn and shuffle it away, making my very nice hand much less nice. I still do hit Tron on turn 3 but have to settle for Mind Stone and a topdecked Batterskull rather than my Karn. End of my turn he breaks my Batterskull and makes me discard, then untaps and goes all-in on a Shadow, down to 5. I go for Chalice on 1 and it eats a Rejection, then follow up with Map and Reshaper. He fetches, shocks, and Pushes my Reshaper and hits me with a Thoughtsieze, taking the Endbringer I flipped off my Reshaper trigger. He attacks me down to 2, plays a Young Pyromancer, and passes the turn hellbent. I topdeck a whole lot of nothing, crack my Mind Stone, and rip All is Dust. Now that I'm stable, I just have to dodge Bolt, and I do: he draws and passes the turn. I draw a Ballista, but he's representing Ceremonious Rejection and I have no other threats to deploy. Luckily, I remember my Map, crack it for Cavern naming Construct, and drop the Ballista for lethal.
Round 6: Merfolk (L)
Game 1: This matchup feels hellish with anything slower than Turn 3 All is Dust, and I definitely didn't have that. 4 Lords and a Spreading Seas make short work of me here.
Game 2: I don't see a Ratchet Bomb in my opener, but I've got 2 Tron lands, All is Dust, a Map, and Ugin in hand. After being taken off Tron twice by Spreading Seas, I manage to hit Tron much later than I'm comfortable with. I'm facing down a lot of damage at this point, but I have enough to All is Dust through his two Cursecatchers. I slam it and it eats a Negate, and I think I've lost. He draws and attacks me down to 2, whiffing for one crucial turn on the last lord for lethal, and I untap into Ugin without enough mana for Spell Pierce. He doesn't have it, and -2 from Ugin resets the board to a reasonable game state, and I'm able to use Ugin to pick off the Merfolk as they come off the top until I ult Ugin and he concedes.
Game 3: 4 of his 8 Seas lock me off {C} and he beats down with two Lords for an easy game 3.
Round 7: Jund (L)
Game 1: Olivia just slowly but surely takes the game over as I have no real answers aside from my Dismembers, which I don't see.
Game 2: He only lands one discard spell, an Inquisition, and I'm sitting on turn 2 Seer, turn 3 Smasher, turn 4 Smasher, and after he draws for his turn 3 he concedes.
Game 3: I trade threat for threat most of the game, until he's tapped out with a Bob, a Lili on 2, and Olivia on the battlefield, and I've got a Ballista on 3. I take the 2-for-1 and eat Bob and Lilli, and don't draw another spell for the rest of the game while he hits me for 3 in the air.
That loss guaranteed I couldn't make Day 2 regardless of 64th place records, but no more side events were firing so I played the day out.
Round 8: Mirror (W)
This whole round boiled down to who managed to drop bigger things faster. Game 1 he got out of the gate incredibly fast with a turn 2 seer, game 2 I returned the favor, and Game 3 came down to both of us misplaying Tron and Ghost Quarters. I forgot to GQ a Tron piece when he cracked Map to finish it, and then he forgot to GQ my tron during my upkeep (I'd had to tap a Tron land to crack my own Map so my Tron was delayed by a turn), so I entered my main phase with 11 mana untapped and two card types in the graveyard. Emrakul, the Promised End was a blowout and he went into his extra turn with two lands in play and another in hand, and after his draw step he conceded.
Round 9: Elves (L)
At this point I was a bit too tired to actually take notes, so the gist of our two games was something like this:
Game 1: Turn 2 Archdruid, no Dismember in hand. Turn 3 he's dropped his hand and another good chunk of his library onto the field.
Game 2: Turn 2 Archdruid, no Ratchet Bomb. He holds off on an attack that isn't lethal to dump his hand even further onto the field, and I'm not able to punish him for it.
Thoughts on the list I registered
After playing against real competition (not just my friends on Amulet and Skred and the occasional game at my LGS) I'm beginning to think the list I registered is a good list, but was prepared for a different meta than the one I saw at the Open. Cavern of Souls was barely relevant in one matchup (and he didn't even actually have the Rejection; I found out afterwards that he only ran the two he'd already cast), my hedge-bet Nephalia Academy really did work against discard every time I saw it, and I often found myself with more Ghost Quarters than I needed. I also found the deck to have issues topdecking a lot of the time, as if my threat density was a bit low or something. After I made a few changes before side events, the deck really felt smoother and more like what I wanted out of the deck. Here's what I ended up putting in:
2x Hangarback Walker - These really shone against all sorts of aggro decks, giving me enough time to stabilize and never being 1-for-1 with most removal
1x Conduit of Ruin - This card was much better than I initially thought it was, turning my next topdeck into a game-ending creature, whether it was the Newlamog I brought back into the 75, Grandma, or the spicy Platinum Angel that I added as another target for the Conduit. This card is the mirror-match breaker, doing a decent Eye of Ugin impression while still being a 5/5 that can enter through a Blood Moon.
I cut the Mind Stones, which may be a mistake, but I never found myself missing them in my matches. I'm sure that the few side events I played aren't enough to conclusively tell me whether they can be cut or not, but the deck seemed to still fire on all cylinders without them. I'm curious to hear from other people who've tested without the Stones and whether it worked out for them or not.
As for utility lands, I've got two that I'm considering, one that I'm really thinking is good and one I'm not entirely sold on:
Westvale Abbey - I really like the idea of this land, especially against DS variants, as it can help produce blockers when you're digging for a finisher or even just a good answer, and when it flips it's this huge, indestructible, evasive threat that can stabilize life totals in one combat step. I'm thinking this is a great replacement for Cavern of Souls in the deck moving forward, though if someone gives me a good reason why it's bad I'll wholeheartedly listen.
Tomb of the Spirit Dragon - This one I'm not so hot on, because the Burn matchup seems to be pretty good to begin with and even when we're behind the 8 ball against Burn, this seems too slow to me. I'll admit, there are some games where I've stabilized at 3 or 4 and I'm just praying he doesn't topdeck burn to the face, and this card would really help there, but most of the time it seems like too little, too late.
So, what do you think of my little tweaks? Do they seem viable, or am I out of my mind? Tell me and tell me why!
After playing against real competition (not just my friends on Amulet and Skred and the occasional game at my LGS) I'm beginning to think the list I registered is a good list, but was prepared for a different meta than the one I saw at the Open. Cavern of Souls was barely relevant in one matchup (and he didn't even actually have the Rejection; I found out afterwards that he only ran the two he'd already cast), my hedge-bet Nephalia Academy really did work against discard every time I saw it, and I often found myself with more Ghost Quarters than I needed. I also found the deck to have issues topdecking a lot of the time, as if my threat density was a bit low or something. After I made a few changes before side events, the deck really felt smoother and more like what I wanted out of the deck. Here's what I ended up putting in:
2x Hangarback Walker - These really shone against all sorts of aggro decks, giving me enough time to stabilize and never being 1-for-1 with most removal
1x Conduit of Ruin - This card was much better than I initially thought it was, turning my next topdeck into a game-ending creature, whether it was the Newlamog I brought back into the 75, Grandma, or the spicy Platinum Angel that I added as another target for the Conduit. This card is the mirror-match breaker, doing a decent Eye of Ugin impression while still being a 5/5 that can enter through a Blood Moon.
Thought I'd share on just a part of your writeup. Thanks for it and with more games/reps your record will improve. Don't try to compare yourself to Stevens. He plays all the time and has the experience at this level. He's a "talent" for sure but with experience comes success.
Cavern of Souls should never be more than one copy. Really how much counter is out there in ANY meta right now, let alone competitive lists like this event.
Nephalia Academy is an EXCELLENT choice for all the IoK and T'seize out there, especially with DS variants, Counters Company and Abzan lists. I'd go so far to say that in the current competitive meta, TWO copies of this card may be the correct choice.
Hangarback Walker is value and much like Wurmcoil fights through removal. The flying evasion is a bonus for sure.
Ghost Quarters need to be at a 3 main, not 4 as I'm just not seeing a lot of Scapeshift or classic Tron out there. Of course it works in the mirror but that works both ways as well.
And now to my secret weapon and you hit the nail on the head. Conduit of Ruin will break through the mirror, especially if you give yourself 2 or 3 targets for it. If you would run up to a list like Stevens I would like your odds on taking down that mirror match. He was banking that no one was going to go over the top of him, someone will some day. The other 2 lists in the top 32 could have, I'm not sure he played them or not. As more people copycat his list this angle of attack becomes more relevant.
Lastly. Westvale Abbey is a stretch unless you are running a full 4 Hangaback Walker. Try a Buried Ruin or a another man-land in that slot if you feel the need.
Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
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Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I bought some Westvale Abbey because it's such a cool card, but agree with WarMachinePrime that it would make a lot more sense in Hangarback heavy deck. I may try it if I ever get a 2nd Hangarback, but for now my Abbeys are going into a casual Soldier deck. It's definitely a neat angle that would give the deck another win condition.
I also like Conduit of Ruin, but I only run it if I have "Grandma" and Ulamog in the list, which is what I do in casual games now.
For serious competition, I hate to say it but the correct thing is probably just to copy Todd and hope for the best.
I cut the Mind Stones, which may be a mistake, but I never found myself missing them in my matches. I'm sure that the few side events I played aren't enough to conclusively tell me whether they can be cut or not, but the deck seemed to still fire on all cylinders without them. I'm curious to hear from other people who've tested without the Stones and whether it worked out for them or not.
I've only been playing the deck for a couple weeks, but I haven't been playing with Mind Stone in my list. I was planning to initially but when I first put the deck together my Mind Stone's were still in the mail so I just played without them. I've only played in 2 local tournaments at my LGS, so I know it's not a very big sample size to go on, but I have yet to have any games where I wish I had one. I've done fairly well with the deck so far, going 3-1 and 4-0 in the 2 tournaments I've played so I'm just going to continue without them until I find a time where I want them.
I bought some Westvale Abbey because it's such a cool card, but agree with WarMachinePrime that it would make a lot more sense in Hangarback heavy deck. I may try it if I ever get a 2nd Hangarback, but for now my Abbeys are going into a casual Soldier deck. It's definitely a neat angle that would give the deck another win condition.
I also like Conduit of Ruin, but I only run it if I have "Grandma" and Ulamog in the list, which is what I do in casual games now.
For serious competition, I hate to say it but the correct thing is probably just to copy Todd and hope for the best.
Note that the 5th and 20th place decks were not running his exact list and each had at least one titan in them. He has the experience with the deck and a unique set of skills. It doesn't mean he is the utmost authority on the deck although it is hard to argue results. Find YOUR success and go with it, don't copy and hope the success will come.
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Playing since 1994: Currently MAGS (HomeBrew),Standard & Pauper (Pioneer and Modern are degenerate trash formats)
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
After playing against real competition (not just my friends on Amulet and Skred and the occasional game at my LGS) I'm beginning to think the list I registered is a good list, but was prepared for a different meta than the one I saw at the Open. Cavern of Souls was barely relevant in one matchup (and he didn't even actually have the Rejection; I found out afterwards that he only ran the two he'd already cast), my hedge-bet Nephalia Academy really did work against discard every time I saw it, and I often found myself with more Ghost Quarters than I needed. I also found the deck to have issues topdecking a lot of the time, as if my threat density was a bit low or something. After I made a few changes before side events, the deck really felt smoother and more like what I wanted out of the deck. Here's what I ended up putting in:
2x Hangarback Walker - These really shone against all sorts of aggro decks, giving me enough time to stabilize and never being 1-for-1 with most removal
1x Conduit of Ruin - This card was much better than I initially thought it was, turning my next topdeck into a game-ending creature, whether it was the Newlamog I brought back into the 75, Grandma, or the spicy Platinum Angel that I added as another target for the Conduit. This card is the mirror-match breaker, doing a decent Eye of Ugin impression while still being a 5/5 that can enter through a Blood Moon.
Thought I'd share on just a part of your writeup. Thanks for it and with more games/reps your record will improve. Don't try to compare yourself to Stevens. He plays all the time and has the experience at this level. He's a "talent" for sure but with experience comes success.
Cavern of Souls should never be more than one copy. Really how much counter is out there in ANY meta right now, let alone competitive lists like this event.
Nephalia Academy is an EXCELLENT choice for all the IoK and T'seize out there, especially with DS variants, Counters Company and Abzan lists. I'd go so far to say that in the current competitive meta, TWO copies of this card may be the correct choice.
Hangarback Walker is value and much like Wurmcoil fights through removal. The flying evasion is a bonus for sure.
Ghost Quarters need to be at a 3 main, not 4 as I'm just not seeing a lot of Scapeshift or classic Tron out there. Of course it works in the mirror but that works both ways as well.
And now to my secret weapon and you hit the nail on the head. Conduit of Ruin will break through the mirror, especially if you give yourself 2 or 3 targets for it. If you would run up to a list like Stevens I would like your odds on taking down that mirror match. He was banking that no one was going to go over the top of him, someone will some day. The other 2 lists in the top 32 could have, I'm not sure he played them or not. As more people copycat his list this angle of attack becomes more relevant.
Lastly. Westvale Abbey is a stretch unless you are running a full 4 Hangaback Walker. Try a Buried Ruin or a another man-land in that slot if you feel the need.
Best wishes, let us know your results.
I do have one thing to mention with regards to Westvale that I feel is important and gets overlooked a lot: it makes nearly every big and scary creature in modern that doesn't have trample have an effective 1 power when you're flooded and trying to buy more time to rip an AiD or something similar. I've considered the 4 Walker approach, but really think that Ballista is better against the field, and so the Abbey may be a bit of a stretch to ever transform, but the Bitterblossom impression it can do is especially relevant against Shadow decks these days.
All told though, thanks for your insight about the lands and Conduit. Mind if I see the 75 you're currently sleeving up?
I cut the Mind Stones, which may be a mistake, but I never found myself missing them in my matches. I'm sure that the few side events I played aren't enough to conclusively tell me whether they can be cut or not, but the deck seemed to still fire on all cylinders without them. I'm curious to hear from other people who've tested without the Stones and whether it worked out for them or not.
I've only been playing the deck for a couple weeks, but I haven't been playing with Mind Stone in my list. I was planning to initially but when I first put the deck together my Mind Stone's were still in the mail so I just played without them. I've only played in 2 local tournaments at my LGS, so I know it's not a very big sample size to go on, but I have yet to have any games where I wish I had one. I've done fairly well with the deck so far, going 3-1 and 4-0 in the 2 tournaments I've played so I'm just going to continue without them until I find a time where I want them.
Have you guys faced Blood Moon? You'll miss it the first time you're in a situation where you have only red mana. Without 2 Mind Stones, you only have 6 cards to get colorless - two Wastes, and 4 Expedition Map to tutor for a Waste. If you guys really don't want to play Mind Stone, maybe consider going up to 4 Wastes.
I test against Skred Red on a weekly basis and have yet to miss it that much. My current 75 isn't really C-dependent and they often can't deal with a threat that I stick. And I've got Warping Wail in the sideboard that I bring in when I think I may be C-starved.
I cut the Mind Stones, which may be a mistake, but I never found myself missing them in my matches. I'm sure that the few side events I played aren't enough to conclusively tell me whether they can be cut or not, but the deck seemed to still fire on all cylinders without them. I'm curious to hear from other people who've tested without the Stones and whether it worked out for them or not.
I've only been playing the deck for a couple weeks, but I haven't been playing with Mind Stone in my list. I was planning to initially but when I first put the deck together my Mind Stone's were still in the mail so I just played without them. I've only played in 2 local tournaments at my LGS, so I know it's not a very big sample size to go on, but I have yet to have any games where I wish I had one. I've done fairly well with the deck so far, going 3-1 and 4-0 in the 2 tournaments I've played so I'm just going to continue without them until I find a time where I want them.
Have you guys faced Blood Moon? You'll miss it the first time you're in a situation where you have only red mana. Without 2 Mind Stones, you only have 6 cards to get colorless - two Wastes, and 4 Expedition Map to tutor for a Waste. If you guys really don't want to play Mind Stone, maybe consider going up to 4 Wastes.
I haven't had to play against Blood Moon yet. I also haven't had to deal with any Spreading Seas or Sea's Claim either. I suppose I'm sort of lucky since practically no one in my local meta plays Blood Moon, Merfolk, or anything else which would really punish me for not having Mind Stone. I'm not opposed to playing them, its just that since I can get away with using them as flex spots I will until it is no longer beneficial.
Mind Stone is also another way to "cheat" TKS or Reality Smasher our a turn early. The card is valuable, and should always be a 2-of in your 75. You can't argue with results, and every deck that wins runs Mind Stone.
I would say that Mind Stone is pretty huge for the deck, for three reasons:
- It ramps into T3 TKS with no Temple or Map in hand, or T3 Smasher with 1 Temple in hand. These two creatures are significantly better when played ahead of curve rather than fairly, and in this aspect they are basically Eldrazi Temple 5 and 6 in the opening hand.
- It smoothes out both flooding and mana screw. You can use it to help cast all the expensive cards in the deck through less land draws when tron fails to assemble, or you can cantrip it for a threat late in the game, whether you had it in the opening hand or just top decked it turn 12.
- Resilience to Blood Moon. Yes, you could Map for one of your two wastes if you don't draw your wastes naturally, but by the time you get your wastes you might be looking at a board of planeswalker(s) and Stormbreath Dragons from Skred, you'd be dead against Affinity, and against storm you'd also be dead because you can't Warping Wail, TKS, or Spatial Contortion without a colorless source. Mind Stone helps us smash through a blood moon and turn it into a massive tempo loss for the opponent. Blood moon isn't about them auto winning from it, it's about buying time for tempo.
I was on /r/modernmagic and saw the weekly Modern Tiered List post, and I noticed that most decks in tier 1 are weak to relic game 1. Both versions of Death's Shadow (Jund, Grixis), Dredge, Storm, and GWx Company are potentially heavily impacted by a relic, leaving Burn and Affinity where it doesn't do anything. Even half of the decks in Tier 2 are affected by it. I think relic is a great addition to the deck, for two reasons:
- Dredge, Storm, and GWx Company are all decks we need some Game 1 help against, and they combined make up a significant part of the meta that is not Shadow or Eldrazi Tron. 4 relics post-sideboard totally change the Dredge and Storm matchups. Devoted Druid decks can combo at will if they have a god opening hand game 1 unless we have Dismember(s) in ours. Relic can help us interact or draw extra cards before turn 3 in that matchup.
- I think a large factor in Todd's success with the deck through the past month or more is the streamlined and consistent build of the deck he runs. Through Endbringer, Matter Reshaper, Sea Gate, Mind Stone, and now Relic, this deck's late game plan is to see a lot of cards in our deck, draw a lot of cards to smother the board in Eldrazi or draw into an All is Dust or Karn to remove the opponents board. Endbringer and Karn can do so many things for you late game that anything beyond that isn't necessary. Decks that draw and see a lot of their cards do well (Serum Visions, Thought Scour, Street Wraith, and Bauble are all cards Shadow decks use to see a lot of their cards, thereby a lot of their threats). Drawing cards is one of the best things you can do in Magic, and cantrips that provide somewhat consistent bonuses are always great for this reason. The meta is prime for mainboard relics right now, and from personal experience I an say it boosted my BW Eldrazi deck's performance with how much graveyard interaction and cantripping it gave me game 1.
Clearly with a guy running the Sanctum + Ulamog package in the top 32, going that route instead is totally viable. Rather than the above plan, you're looking for either a Sanctum, your Ulamog, or an expedition map to get Sanctum, and you slam that down and it ends any stalemate game or game that would otherwise be a loss in 1 or more turns. You'll get a 7 cost card by the, even using a chalice or ballista if you have to. Ulamog can and will get you there, but there will also be game 1's against decks like Burn or Storm where you don't make it past turn 3, or games where you fall just short of casting an Ulamog in your hand and lose because of it. I really like drawing extra cards beyond my draw for turn, so I'm definitely more drawn to the consistent build a la Todd Stevens' list. And I'm super pumped to try out maindeck relics.
I test against Skred Red on a weekly basis and have yet to miss it that much. My current 75 isn't really C-dependent and they often can't deal with a threat that I stick. And I've got Warping Wail in the sideboard that I bring in when I think I may be C-starved.
That only helps if you play it before the Blood Moon comes down on turn 3. It can technically produce a colorless mana, but only once, and only if you play it beforehand ... it's a def weak solution to Blood Moon.
I would say that Mind Stone is pretty huge for the deck, for three reasons:
- It ramps into T3 TKS with no Temple or Map in hand, or T3 Smasher with 1 Temple in hand. These two creatures are significantly better when played ahead of curve rather than fairly, and in this aspect they are basically Eldrazi Temple 5 and 6 in the opening hand.
- It smoothes out both flooding and mana screw. You can use it to help cast all the expensive cards in the deck through less land draws when tron fails to assemble, or you can cantrip it for a threat late in the game, whether you had it in the opening hand or just top decked it turn 12.
- Resilience to Blood Moon. Yes, you could Map for one of your two wastes if you don't draw your wastes naturally, but by the time you get your wastes you might be looking at a board of planeswalker(s) and Stormbreath Dragons from Skred, you'd be dead against Affinity, and against storm you'd also be dead because you can't Warping Wail, TKS, or Spatial Contortion without a colorless source. Mind Stone helps us smash through a blood moon and turn it into a massive tempo loss for the opponent. Blood moon isn't about them auto winning from it, it's about buying time for tempo.
I was on /r/modernmagic and saw the weekly Modern Tiered List post, and I noticed that most decks in tier 1 are weak to relic game 1. Both versions of Death's Shadow (Jund, Grixis), Dredge, Storm, and GWx Company are potentially heavily impacted by a relic, leaving Burn and Affinity where it doesn't do anything. Even half of the decks in Tier 2 are affected by it. I think relic is a great addition to the deck, for two reasons:
- Dredge, Storm, and GWx Company are all decks we need some Game 1 help against, and they combined make up a significant part of the meta that is not Shadow or Eldrazi Tron. 4 relics post-sideboard totally change the Dredge and Storm matchups. Devoted Druid decks can combo at will if they have a god opening hand game 1 unless we have Dismember(s) in ours. Relic can help us interact or draw extra cards before turn 3 in that matchup.
- I think a large factor in Todd's success with the deck through the past month or more is the streamlined and consistent build of the deck he runs. Through Endbringer, Matter Reshaper, Sea Gate, Mind Stone, and now Relic, this deck's late game plan is to see a lot of cards in our deck, draw a lot of cards to smother the board in Eldrazi or draw into an All is Dust or Karn to remove the opponents board. Endbringer and Karn can do so many things for you late game that anything beyond that isn't necessary. Decks that draw and see a lot of their cards do well (Serum Visions, Thought Scour, Street Wraith, and Bauble are all cards Shadow decks use to see a lot of their cards, thereby a lot of their threats). Drawing cards is one of the best things you can do in Magic, and cantrips that provide somewhat consistent bonuses are always great for this reason. The meta is prime for mainboard relics right now, and from personal experience I an say it boosted my BW Eldrazi deck's performance with how much graveyard interaction and cantripping it gave me game 1.
Clearly with a guy running the Sanctum + Ulamog package in the top 32, going that route instead is totally viable. Rather than the above plan, you're looking for either a Sanctum, your Ulamog, or an expedition map to get Sanctum, and you slam that down and it ends any stalemate game or game that would otherwise be a loss in 1 or more turns. You'll get a 7 cost card by the, even using a chalice or ballista if you have to. Ulamog can and will get you there, but there will also be game 1's against decks like Burn or Storm where you don't make it past turn 3, or games where you fall just short of casting an Ulamog in your hand and lose because of it. I really like drawing extra cards beyond my draw for turn, so I'm definitely more drawn to the consistent build a la Todd Stevens' list. And I'm super pumped to try out maindeck relics.
Thumbs up on the thorough explanation of the Mind stone benefits. Foils have been ordered.
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Legacy: Burn (18-6-1 over multiple events)
Eldrazi and Taxes (under construction)
Modern: Eldrazi Tron (All sanctioned events; Record: 38-9-2 over ~12 Wed/Fri Night Modern events: 78% match win rate; last updated 9.13.17)
Jeskai Harbinger
Naya Burn (20-6-2 over multiple 1K and FNM events; retired)
Building: Esper control and a mill deck for fun and some variety.
I was mostly looking for feedback on the sideboarding. I haven't actually played the deck yet, but figured I'd work out a plan before I started testing.
Regarding your sideboard notes, I like the concept, I'm working on something similar. I like how you have the rule quoted their too, that's smart. I also like how you made it into a nice compact grid to fit on one sheet. I also like that you list the Needle cards to name.
On my notes I'm not listing numbers ... they will be wrong as you tweak your list. I just list the cards in the order of preference for adding in, and the order of preference for removal. I don't want to be tweaking the numbers in the notes every time I add/remove a card.
Finally, an interesting exercise to do would be to go through all the matchups, count how often you side a card in, normalized against the percent meta share for each deck. That could produce a "most likely to be useful" list. The value of such a list could be to highlight cards that you may want to remove or increase in quantity.
One more thing - the UWx control decks almost always run GQ and/or Tectonic Edge, so you may want to consider Crucible of Worlds in those matchups. I lost to a Jeskai Nahiri player recently who was running 4 Tectonic Edge main.
Ok, two more things - for Storm, you should consider Ratchet Bomb. They also use Empty the Warrens (especially if you have Cage out), and Ratchet Bomb on 0 removes all their tokens.
So I played in Charlotte open and went 6-3 losing my win and in in the last round to storm.
RD 1: Vs. Bant spirits (L)
Game 1 He had enough flying pressure to race me and won. Game 2 I beat him with Reality smasher and
TKS. Game 3 he was able to flash in Mausoleum Wanderer and counter my All is dust.
RD 2: Vs. Bring to light scapeshift (L)
Game 1 I was able to counter his scapeshift with warping wail and kill him the turn after he cast it. In games 2 and 3 He cast scapeshift and I wasn't able to counter it.
RD 4: Vs. vizier coco (W)
We only played 1 game because it took so long. Basically he gained 4 billion life and said "I don't think you can deal this much damage" I told him that I didn't have to, I killed all of his Vizier of Remedies/card] so he was unable to shoot me to death with walking ballista and then I castulamog, the ceasless hunger and milled him, he was very salty.
RD 5: Vs. Storm (W)
Game 1 My opponent goes off on turn 3 and makes 11 tokens and grapeshots me for 4 the following turn I cast all is dust with natural tron. After that he plays a Baral and I proceed to beat him with reality smasher. Game 2 I play a chalice of the void on 1 and he was unable to overcome it.
RD 6: Vs. GR madcap experiment / land destruction (W)
Game 1 He crushed me with turn 2 and 3 stone rain and then played a stormbreath dragon. Games 2 and 3 were close but I was able to stabilize with batterskull and wurmcoil engine.
RD 8: Vs. Abzan (W)
This was probably the easiest match, very straightforward.
RD 9: VS. Storm (L)
I face someone who plays at my local, I was able to counter his first past in flmaes with warping wail and still died the following turn. Game 2 I cast chalice of the void on 1. The following turn he cast shatterstorm and goes off.
I added nephalia academy specially for this tournament and it was decent overall. I still main deck hangarback walker it is consistently great. Im still playing conduit of ruin in conjunction with ulamog, the ceaseless hunger and platinum angel. I recently went up to a 2nd copy of all is dust in the main in place of Ulamog which has been great. Platinum angel
is still great and im glad that theres a copy of it in Greg Gentiles' list who came in 5th. I've been playing westvale abbey for months now and it's great. Its one of the best lands we have access to, it allows you to make a creature every turn and you don't need hangarback walker
for it to be good the 1/1s will block for days and can even be aggressive. I think people are to focused on flipping it and making ormendahl instead of using its first ability and making a army of 1/1s which is huge, also there will be times where you will crack your expedition map on end step for westvale abbey and kill them the following turn with your flying 9/7 hasty demon. tomb of the spirit dragon is still very good in a variety of situations and has saved me many times. I was the guy with the foil eldrazi tron deck and the "A" hat in case some of you saw me.
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Round 1: Bogles (W)
Game 1: Turn 2 I played Chalice on 1 and he was stuck with a Daybreak Coronet in hand and no way to get the creature enchanted. Turn 4 Tron was enough.
Game 2: I saw my Ratchet Bomb on Turn 2 and had natural Tron on turn 3. His Gaddock Teeg did prevent me from dropping my Chalice when I wanted to, but the Tron was enough, backed up with a Quarter on his Arbor with pants on and a timely crack of the Ratchet Bomb on 1.
Round 2: RG Ponza (L)
Game 1: This one was over in 4 turns. Turn 2 Stone Rain into turn 3 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss into turn 4 Inferno Titan. I battled it out but could never quite stabilize.
Game 2: I was in this one and ahead for much of the game, keeping Chandra, Torch of Defiance well in check, but I lost to a miracled Bonfire of the Damned. Oh well, that's just what that card does.
Round 3: Scapeshift (L)
Game 1: He played Primeval Titan early. I had to trade a Dismember and a Ballista for it, but trade I did, and he untapped and slammed Scapeshift.
Game 2: I stalled out a bit, keeping an all-Temple no-Eldrazi hand with Surgical figuring I'd see one eventually, but didn't. Tapped out on T5 to play a Batterskull and try to race, but he played Valakut into Scapeshift. If I'd known he had 3 Valakuts in hand from a Seer or similar information, I think I win that game easily, but I'm still pretty sure that the Batterskull play wins me more games in that situation than doing nothing and hoping he has to play a Valakut before Scapeshift.
Round 4: RG Tron (W)
Game 1: He keeps a hand with 1 land and 5 baubles and never sees a second land. He scoops early.
Game 2: He leads on Map, and I play Pithing Needle naming Map to try and keep him from an easy Tron. It works, as he has to play a Grove and Sylvan Scrying to pull piece 2. I play Chalice on 1, he plays his Tron land and has another Scrying for the third piece, but I respond with a Ghost Quarter and a Ballista on 1. Quarter his land on his upkeep, he fetches his Forest and slams a third Sylvan Scrying. I Thought-Knot him and see a hand of lands and a very-useless Map, and he has no play on his next turn beyond finishing Tron. I attack in with Seer, he untaps and plays a Wurmcoil Engine. With Mine-Mine-Plant-Plant my lands in play, I keep chumping with Ballistas and shooting him before damage so he can't gain life, until I rip the Tower off the top and play Reality Smasher and Endbringer. After preventing Wurmcoil from blocking, I swing for lethal.
Round 5: Todd Anderson on Grixis Shadow
Game 1: I get my hand ripped apart by discard (never saw my Nephalia Academy) and he goes all-in on a Death's Shadow, dropping himself to 4. I rip a Smasher off the top and that's lethal.
Game 2: I mull to six here, but accidentally draw an extra card on my first draw step because I went mid-draw to notate his life change. I got a "Seeing Extra Cards" warning and he got to take my Karn and shuffle it away, making my very nice hand much less nice. I still do hit Tron on turn 3 but have to settle for Mind Stone and a topdecked Batterskull rather than my Karn. End of my turn he breaks my Batterskull and makes me discard, then untaps and goes all-in on a Shadow, down to 5. I go for Chalice on 1 and it eats a Rejection, then follow up with Map and Reshaper. He fetches, shocks, and Pushes my Reshaper and hits me with a Thoughtsieze, taking the Endbringer I flipped off my Reshaper trigger. He attacks me down to 2, plays a Young Pyromancer, and passes the turn hellbent. I topdeck a whole lot of nothing, crack my Mind Stone, and rip All is Dust. Now that I'm stable, I just have to dodge Bolt, and I do: he draws and passes the turn. I draw a Ballista, but he's representing Ceremonious Rejection and I have no other threats to deploy. Luckily, I remember my Map, crack it for Cavern naming Construct, and drop the Ballista for lethal.
Round 6: Merfolk (L)
Game 1: This matchup feels hellish with anything slower than Turn 3 All is Dust, and I definitely didn't have that. 4 Lords and a Spreading Seas make short work of me here.
Game 2: I don't see a Ratchet Bomb in my opener, but I've got 2 Tron lands, All is Dust, a Map, and Ugin in hand. After being taken off Tron twice by Spreading Seas, I manage to hit Tron much later than I'm comfortable with. I'm facing down a lot of damage at this point, but I have enough to All is Dust through his two Cursecatchers. I slam it and it eats a Negate, and I think I've lost. He draws and attacks me down to 2, whiffing for one crucial turn on the last lord for lethal, and I untap into Ugin without enough mana for Spell Pierce. He doesn't have it, and -2 from Ugin resets the board to a reasonable game state, and I'm able to use Ugin to pick off the Merfolk as they come off the top until I ult Ugin and he concedes.
Game 3: 4 of his 8 Seas lock me off {C} and he beats down with two Lords for an easy game 3.
Round 7: Jund (L)
Game 1: Olivia just slowly but surely takes the game over as I have no real answers aside from my Dismembers, which I don't see.
Game 2: He only lands one discard spell, an Inquisition, and I'm sitting on turn 2 Seer, turn 3 Smasher, turn 4 Smasher, and after he draws for his turn 3 he concedes.
Game 3: I trade threat for threat most of the game, until he's tapped out with a Bob, a Lili on 2, and Olivia on the battlefield, and I've got a Ballista on 3. I take the 2-for-1 and eat Bob and Lilli, and don't draw another spell for the rest of the game while he hits me for 3 in the air.
That loss guaranteed I couldn't make Day 2 regardless of 64th place records, but no more side events were firing so I played the day out.
Round 8: Mirror (W)
This whole round boiled down to who managed to drop bigger things faster. Game 1 he got out of the gate incredibly fast with a turn 2 seer, game 2 I returned the favor, and Game 3 came down to both of us misplaying Tron and Ghost Quarters. I forgot to GQ a Tron piece when he cracked Map to finish it, and then he forgot to GQ my tron during my upkeep (I'd had to tap a Tron land to crack my own Map so my Tron was delayed by a turn), so I entered my main phase with 11 mana untapped and two card types in the graveyard. Emrakul, the Promised End was a blowout and he went into his extra turn with two lands in play and another in hand, and after his draw step he conceded.
Round 9: Elves (L)
At this point I was a bit too tired to actually take notes, so the gist of our two games was something like this:
Game 1: Turn 2 Archdruid, no Dismember in hand. Turn 3 he's dropped his hand and another good chunk of his library onto the field.
Game 2: Turn 2 Archdruid, no Ratchet Bomb. He holds off on an attack that isn't lethal to dump his hand even further onto the field, and I'm not able to punish him for it.
Thoughts on the list I registered
After playing against real competition (not just my friends on Amulet and Skred and the occasional game at my LGS) I'm beginning to think the list I registered is a good list, but was prepared for a different meta than the one I saw at the Open. Cavern of Souls was barely relevant in one matchup (and he didn't even actually have the Rejection; I found out afterwards that he only ran the two he'd already cast), my hedge-bet Nephalia Academy really did work against discard every time I saw it, and I often found myself with more Ghost Quarters than I needed. I also found the deck to have issues topdecking a lot of the time, as if my threat density was a bit low or something. After I made a few changes before side events, the deck really felt smoother and more like what I wanted out of the deck. Here's what I ended up putting in:
2x Hangarback Walker - These really shone against all sorts of aggro decks, giving me enough time to stabilize and never being 1-for-1 with most removal
1x Conduit of Ruin - This card was much better than I initially thought it was, turning my next topdeck into a game-ending creature, whether it was the Newlamog I brought back into the 75, Grandma, or the spicy Platinum Angel that I added as another target for the Conduit. This card is the mirror-match breaker, doing a decent Eye of Ugin impression while still being a 5/5 that can enter through a Blood Moon.
I cut the Mind Stones, which may be a mistake, but I never found myself missing them in my matches. I'm sure that the few side events I played aren't enough to conclusively tell me whether they can be cut or not, but the deck seemed to still fire on all cylinders without them. I'm curious to hear from other people who've tested without the Stones and whether it worked out for them or not.
As for utility lands, I've got two that I'm considering, one that I'm really thinking is good and one I'm not entirely sold on:
So, what do you think of my little tweaks? Do they seem viable, or am I out of my mind? Tell me and tell me why!
Thought I'd share on just a part of your writeup. Thanks for it and with more games/reps your record will improve. Don't try to compare yourself to Stevens. He plays all the time and has the experience at this level. He's a "talent" for sure but with experience comes success.
Cavern of Souls should never be more than one copy. Really how much counter is out there in ANY meta right now, let alone competitive lists like this event.
Nephalia Academy is an EXCELLENT choice for all the IoK and T'seize out there, especially with DS variants, Counters Company and Abzan lists. I'd go so far to say that in the current competitive meta, TWO copies of this card may be the correct choice.
Hangarback Walker is value and much like Wurmcoil fights through removal. The flying evasion is a bonus for sure.
Ghost Quarters need to be at a 3 main, not 4 as I'm just not seeing a lot of Scapeshift or classic Tron out there. Of course it works in the mirror but that works both ways as well.
And now to my secret weapon and you hit the nail on the head. Conduit of Ruin will break through the mirror, especially if you give yourself 2 or 3 targets for it. If you would run up to a list like Stevens I would like your odds on taking down that mirror match. He was banking that no one was going to go over the top of him, someone will some day. The other 2 lists in the top 32 could have, I'm not sure he played them or not. As more people copycat his list this angle of attack becomes more relevant.
Lastly. Westvale Abbey is a stretch unless you are running a full 4 Hangaback Walker. Try a Buried Ruin or a another man-land in that slot if you feel the need.
Best wishes, let us know your results.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I also like Conduit of Ruin, but I only run it if I have "Grandma" and Ulamog in the list, which is what I do in casual games now.
For serious competition, I hate to say it but the correct thing is probably just to copy Todd and hope for the best.
I've only been playing the deck for a couple weeks, but I haven't been playing with Mind Stone in my list. I was planning to initially but when I first put the deck together my Mind Stone's were still in the mail so I just played without them. I've only played in 2 local tournaments at my LGS, so I know it's not a very big sample size to go on, but I have yet to have any games where I wish I had one. I've done fairly well with the deck so far, going 3-1 and 4-0 in the 2 tournaments I've played so I'm just going to continue without them until I find a time where I want them.
Note that the 5th and 20th place decks were not running his exact list and each had at least one titan in them. He has the experience with the deck and a unique set of skills. It doesn't mean he is the utmost authority on the deck although it is hard to argue results. Find YOUR success and go with it, don't copy and hope the success will come.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
I do have one thing to mention with regards to Westvale that I feel is important and gets overlooked a lot: it makes nearly every big and scary creature in modern that doesn't have trample have an effective 1 power when you're flooded and trying to buy more time to rip an AiD or something similar. I've considered the 4 Walker approach, but really think that Ballista is better against the field, and so the Abbey may be a bit of a stretch to ever transform, but the Bitterblossom impression it can do is especially relevant against Shadow decks these days.
All told though, thanks for your insight about the lands and Conduit. Mind if I see the 75 you're currently sleeving up?
Have you guys faced Blood Moon? You'll miss it the first time you're in a situation where you have only red mana. Without 2 Mind Stones, you only have 6 cards to get colorless - two Wastes, and 4 Expedition Map to tutor for a Waste. If you guys really don't want to play Mind Stone, maybe consider going up to 4 Wastes.
I haven't had to play against Blood Moon yet. I also haven't had to deal with any Spreading Seas or Sea's Claim either. I suppose I'm sort of lucky since practically no one in my local meta plays Blood Moon, Merfolk, or anything else which would really punish me for not having Mind Stone. I'm not opposed to playing them, its just that since I can get away with using them as flex spots I will until it is no longer beneficial.
Also, don't run Westvale Abbey, WTF.
- It ramps into T3 TKS with no Temple or Map in hand, or T3 Smasher with 1 Temple in hand. These two creatures are significantly better when played ahead of curve rather than fairly, and in this aspect they are basically Eldrazi Temple 5 and 6 in the opening hand.
- It smoothes out both flooding and mana screw. You can use it to help cast all the expensive cards in the deck through less land draws when tron fails to assemble, or you can cantrip it for a threat late in the game, whether you had it in the opening hand or just top decked it turn 12.
- Resilience to Blood Moon. Yes, you could Map for one of your two wastes if you don't draw your wastes naturally, but by the time you get your wastes you might be looking at a board of planeswalker(s) and Stormbreath Dragons from Skred, you'd be dead against Affinity, and against storm you'd also be dead because you can't Warping Wail, TKS, or Spatial Contortion without a colorless source. Mind Stone helps us smash through a blood moon and turn it into a massive tempo loss for the opponent. Blood moon isn't about them auto winning from it, it's about buying time for tempo.
I was on /r/modernmagic and saw the weekly Modern Tiered List post, and I noticed that most decks in tier 1 are weak to relic game 1. Both versions of Death's Shadow (Jund, Grixis), Dredge, Storm, and GWx Company are potentially heavily impacted by a relic, leaving Burn and Affinity where it doesn't do anything. Even half of the decks in Tier 2 are affected by it. I think relic is a great addition to the deck, for two reasons:
- Dredge, Storm, and GWx Company are all decks we need some Game 1 help against, and they combined make up a significant part of the meta that is not Shadow or Eldrazi Tron. 4 relics post-sideboard totally change the Dredge and Storm matchups. Devoted Druid decks can combo at will if they have a god opening hand game 1 unless we have Dismember(s) in ours. Relic can help us interact or draw extra cards before turn 3 in that matchup.
- I think a large factor in Todd's success with the deck through the past month or more is the streamlined and consistent build of the deck he runs. Through Endbringer, Matter Reshaper, Sea Gate, Mind Stone, and now Relic, this deck's late game plan is to see a lot of cards in our deck, draw a lot of cards to smother the board in Eldrazi or draw into an All is Dust or Karn to remove the opponents board. Endbringer and Karn can do so many things for you late game that anything beyond that isn't necessary. Decks that draw and see a lot of their cards do well (Serum Visions, Thought Scour, Street Wraith, and Bauble are all cards Shadow decks use to see a lot of their cards, thereby a lot of their threats). Drawing cards is one of the best things you can do in Magic, and cantrips that provide somewhat consistent bonuses are always great for this reason. The meta is prime for mainboard relics right now, and from personal experience I an say it boosted my BW Eldrazi deck's performance with how much graveyard interaction and cantripping it gave me game 1.
Clearly with a guy running the Sanctum + Ulamog package in the top 32, going that route instead is totally viable. Rather than the above plan, you're looking for either a Sanctum, your Ulamog, or an expedition map to get Sanctum, and you slam that down and it ends any stalemate game or game that would otherwise be a loss in 1 or more turns. You'll get a 7 cost card by the, even using a chalice or ballista if you have to. Ulamog can and will get you there, but there will also be game 1's against decks like Burn or Storm where you don't make it past turn 3, or games where you fall just short of casting an Ulamog in your hand and lose because of it. I really like drawing extra cards beyond my draw for turn, so I'm definitely more drawn to the consistent build a la Todd Stevens' list. And I'm super pumped to try out maindeck relics.
WG G/W Tron GW
BG G/B Tron GB
GG Mono G Tron GG
RG G/R Tron GR
That only helps if you play it before the Blood Moon comes down on turn 3. It can technically produce a colorless mana, but only once, and only if you play it beforehand ... it's a def weak solution to Blood Moon.
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
2 Wastes
Spells
2 All Is Dust
2 Dismember
2 Endbringer
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Walking Ballista
Planeswalkers
2 Karn Liberated
Artifacts
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Expedition Map
2 Mind Stone
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Hangarback Walker
2 Pithing Needle
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Warping Wail
1 Wurmcoil Engine
C Kozilek C
GB Gitrog GB
G Titania G
WU Brago WU
GB MerenGB
Duel Commander Decks
UR Keranos UR
BRG Jund BRG
GR Tron GR GW Tron GW
C Eldrazi Tron (SB) C
BG Lantern Control BG
UW Control (SB) UW
Thumbs up on the thorough explanation of the Mind stone benefits. Foils have been ordered.
Eldrazi and Taxes (under construction)
Modern: Eldrazi Tron (All sanctioned events; Record: 38-9-2 over ~12 Wed/Fri Night Modern events: 78% match win rate; last updated 9.13.17)
Jeskai Harbinger
Naya Burn (20-6-2 over multiple 1K and FNM events; retired)
Building: Esper control and a mill deck for fun and some variety.
Aside from not having a 2nd Cavern, it looks identical to Todd Stevens' list. What type of feedback are you looking for?
C Kozilek C
GB Gitrog GB
G Titania G
WU Brago WU
GB MerenGB
Duel Commander Decks
UR Keranos UR
BRG Jund BRG
GR Tron GR GW Tron GW
C Eldrazi Tron (SB) C
BG Lantern Control BG
UW Control (SB) UW
On my notes I'm not listing numbers ... they will be wrong as you tweak your list. I just list the cards in the order of preference for adding in, and the order of preference for removal. I don't want to be tweaking the numbers in the notes every time I add/remove a card.
Finally, an interesting exercise to do would be to go through all the matchups, count how often you side a card in, normalized against the percent meta share for each deck. That could produce a "most likely to be useful" list. The value of such a list could be to highlight cards that you may want to remove or increase in quantity.
One more thing - the UWx control decks almost always run GQ and/or Tectonic Edge, so you may want to consider Crucible of Worlds in those matchups. I lost to a Jeskai Nahiri player recently who was running 4 Tectonic Edge main.
Ok, two more things - for Storm, you should consider Ratchet Bomb. They also use Empty the Warrens (especially if you have Cage out), and Ratchet Bomb on 0 removes all their tokens.
As for UWx control, I feel silly seeing as how I have that deck and didn't think of that.
Thanks for the tips.
C Kozilek C
GB Gitrog GB
G Titania G
WU Brago WU
GB MerenGB
Duel Commander Decks
UR Keranos UR
BRG Jund BRG
GR Tron GR GW Tron GW
C Eldrazi Tron (SB) C
BG Lantern Control BG
UW Control (SB) UW
RD 1: Vs. Bant spirits (L)
Game 1 He had enough flying pressure to race me and won. Game 2 I beat him with Reality smasher and
TKS. Game 3 he was able to flash in Mausoleum Wanderer and counter my All is dust.
RD 2: Vs. Bring to light scapeshift (L)
Game 1 I was able to counter his scapeshift with warping wail and kill him the turn after he cast it. In games 2 and 3 He cast
scapeshift and I wasn't able to counter it.
RD 3: Vs. Mono white prison [W]
Game 1 After he locked the board up with ghostly prison and Sphere of Safety I activated endbringer to draw a card and eventually found all is dust. Game 2 I cast an early ulamog, the ceaseless hunger that finished the game in short order.
RD 4: Vs. vizier coco (W)
We only played 1 game because it took so long. Basically he gained 4 billion life and said "I don't think you can deal this much damage" I told him that I didn't have to, I killed all of his Vizier of Remedies/card] so he was unable to shoot me to death with walking ballista and then I castulamog, the ceasless hunger and milled him, he was very salty.
RD 5: Vs. Storm (W)
Game 1 My opponent goes off on turn 3 and makes 11 tokens and grapeshots me for 4 the following turn I cast all is dust with natural tron. After that he plays a Baral and I proceed to beat him with reality smasher. Game 2 I play a chalice of the void on 1 and he was unable to overcome it.
RD 6: Vs. GR madcap experiment / land destruction (W)
Game 1 He crushed me with turn 2 and 3 stone rain and then played a stormbreath dragon. Games 2 and 3 were close but I was able to stabilize with batterskull and wurmcoil engine.
RD 7: Vs. Grixis shadow (W)
This match was difficult, Nephalia Academy/card] really shined by blanking all his hand disruption. batterskull
was a house being able to bounce it was huge. My maindeck hangarback walker is still great. In the last game my opponent made a mistake by taking my all is dust instead of my walking ballista I was able to ping him for the win.
RD 8: Vs. Abzan (W)
This was probably the easiest match, very straightforward.
RD 9: VS. Storm (L)
I face someone who plays at my local, I was able to counter his first past in flmaes with warping wail and still died the following turn. Game 2 I cast chalice of the void on 1. The following turn he cast shatterstorm and goes off.
I added nephalia academy specially for this tournament and it was decent overall. I still main deck hangarback walker it is consistently great. Im still playing conduit of ruin in conjunction with ulamog, the ceaseless hunger and platinum angel. I recently went up to a 2nd copy of all is dust in the main in place of Ulamog which has been great. Platinum angel
is still great and im glad that theres a copy of it in Greg Gentiles' list who came in 5th. I've been playing westvale abbey for months now and it's great. Its one of the best lands we have access to, it allows you to make a creature every turn and you don't need hangarback walker
for it to be good the 1/1s will block for days and can even be aggressive. I think people are to focused on flipping it and making ormendahl instead of using its first ability and making a army of 1/1s which is huge, also there will be times where you will crack your expedition map on end step for westvale abbey and kill them the following turn with your flying 9/7 hasty demon. tomb of the spirit dragon is still very good in a variety of situations and has saved me many times. I was the guy with the foil eldrazi tron deck and the "A" hat in case some of you saw me.