2 dispel
3 baloth (I'm still loving 4 tbh but three is the absolute minimum)
1 big dude (surrak/inferno, your preference. I like surrak because uncounterable flash is pretty mega)
1 izzet staticaster just the best at what it does)
1 engineered explosives (basically necessary right now)
2 anger of the gods (again, necessary)
Beyond that, I reckon you could get some mileage out of different things. I like chalice. Depends on your expected meta. Some graveyard hate could be decent too. Negate is always a strong option.
Any more questions just ask.
hey Purkle, this is a sideboard plan I came up with.
What I like about this board is that its solid against a meta full of linear aggro. I expect chalice on 1 to do most of the heavy lifting in my matchups. I agree that 4 baloth is good as well, shoring up a lot of my midrange matchups. I moved up to 2 surrak because I felt that I needed an edge against control.
My biggest issues with the list are: No mass artifact hate and low diversity in answers.
My question to you is: Do I have too much hate for the linear matchup? I was looking at my deck and saw that for the burn matchup I side in 9 cards, but only have 8 cards that I can side out easily.
- 2 electro, -2 Charm, -4 remand seems simple, but I feel like I want to put in +4 baloth, +3 chalice, +2 dispell
What do? Diversify my sideboard? anything in the main look blatantly wrong? is this ok? am I being to critical? set me straight.
IF you made it this far, thanks again.
Donk.
it's looking solid. i'd try to find some way to include izzet staticaster in the sideboard, because the card is nuts against infect/affinity. anger/staticaster and maybe chalice are your tools for the affinity matchup. chalice is amazing against infect but you also need those sweepers.
dredge looks winnable with 3 anger in the 75. hmm... yeah seems decent. maybe swap 1 surrak for staticaster or something. not sure you need two, although he's obviously a great card.
finally, be really careful of running scalding tarn if you've only got one breeding pool. you'll often need to fetch an untapped green source, so it can be a pain. traditionally, we don't run any scalding tarns at all for this exact reason.
drop a basic forest. you'll probably only ever need 2 and cutting you off izzet charm/lyze when you topdeck one is baaaad. if you don't have the blue-green filter land (flooded grove), another breeding pool would do just fine.
and just for the extra green source, one of those basic mountains could be a cinder glade, no problem. just that little extra bit of consistency.
have fun!
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
Purkle have you tried Spell Pierce instead of dispel? Ive been using it for a couple months- my sb counter package is 2 negate and 1 pierce. Ive found our game vs control decks to be very much in our favor because of prismatic omen, so musch so that I really didnt need the dispel. It still hits everything in burn decks, and has the added bonus of hitting walkers and most importantly Crumble to Dust. Thats actually what prompted the switch on my end- got crumbled with a dispel in hand. Maybe 2 or 3 times in over a hundred games have I wished it was a dispel. Also it may seem crazy to bring in vs Tron, but it is a blowout when they are on curve.
Purkle have you tried Spell Pierce instead of dispel? Ive been using it for a couple months- my sb counter package is 2 negate and 1 pierce. Ive found our game vs control decks to be very much in our favor because of prismatic omen, so musch so that I really didnt need the dispel. It still hits everything in burn decks, and has the added bonus of hitting walkers and most importantly Crumble to Dust. Thats actually what prompted the switch on my end- got crumbled with a dispel in hand. Maybe 2 or 3 times in over a hundred games have I wished it was a dispel. Also it may seem crazy to bring in vs Tron, but it is a blowout when they are on curve.
yeah i'm down with that, your reasoning is sound. I prefer to bring in the 1-mana counters from the sideboard (easier to hold up while developing your board, easier to get online early, harder for your opponent to play around)
spell pierce is a card i've been hot on before. it's a difficult toss-up between an actual hard "nope" from dispel (which is fantastic in a lot of tricky matchups such as grishoalbrand, burn, infect etc) but I see your point about Tron and i've played spell pierce in Eternal Command and Splinter Twin in the past, and it's worked well. perhaps it just fell out of favour.
mostly, i feel favoured against tron anyway. I'm predominantly worried about the quick aggro or linear decks. those are where i've dedicated my sideboard slots in the majority. I could spare a couple of spots to dealing with other threats though, and Spell Pierce is one of the first places i'd look for a general "all-round-decent" counter.
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
I also have a question about chalice of the void. I have never played with them before, but will be borrowing a couple from a friend for a pptq tomorrow. Do they get sided out on the draw normally? I can see playing it for 0 vs affinity, and 1 vs zooicide and infect, but it seems like they would be slow if you are not on the play.
I also have a question about chalice of the void. I have never played with them before, but will be borrowing a couple from a friend for a pptq tomorrow. Do they get sided out on the draw normally? I can see playing it for 0 vs affinity, and 1 vs zooicide and infect, but it seems like they would be slow if you are not on the play.
that's a good question!
generally the wisdom with chalice is just jam it no matter what (and in full numbers, never just side 1 in, bring in them all).
the reasoning is that whether you get to drop it on turn 2 or 3, it has such a huge effect on certain decks that it's predominantly "game over" the moment it hits the board, provided you can back up your chalice with a reasonably brisk win.
at this point, your opponent isn't helpless, but in all likelihood you just cut them off every spell in their deck except for more agents and the 2-to-4 become immense that the deck plays. this reduces their clock more than Melira (because even with melira they can still pump their way to victory) and can sometimes just shut them out of a game if they don't get a significant threat down in time. it also allows you to pick off their creatures with impunity, and remand anything they do without fear of being countered.
against burn it's a similar story. you shut off their main sources of damage (but not some of the fringe spells) and against some hands can cut them off completely. when you're dropping baloths and there's a chalice gumming things up, you are winning that game.
against death's shadow zoo you are cutting them off a lot of their main spells and threats, but notably not the "combo" which uses become immense.
against storm (this came up in a large tournament for me several weeks ago) you shut off their entire deck pretty much.
it even works as splash damage against a host of other decks as well, because Modern is rife with decks playing 14+ 1-mana spells (but don't go trigger happy. chalice isn't always the best option to board in).
my advice would be (regarding chalice) that just like it worked in Eldrazi, chalice is a roadblock - you still need some pressure or a fairly quick clock to get there and win. it does a fantastic job at gumming up the works, and keeping an opening hand with Chalice + any random selection of decent spells is going to be a good prospect against quite a few decks (8-rack anyone?), and it helps to think of it like Blood Moon. Moon and Chalice tend to disrupt opponents on a similar kind of axis (stranding cards in their hand), but you've still got to be quick about assembling a win after you've taken a turn playing your disruptive spell.
good luck in the pptq. where are you based?
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Im near Manhattan, KS. Thanks for the reply- I dont really like the fact that Im going in without even having tested the card, but your breakdown of it is helpful.
Im near Manhattan, KS. Thanks for the reply- I dont really like the fact that Im going in without even having tested the card, but your breakdown of it is helpful.
if you've not played with the card before, a piece of advice for you (it may save you a game loss)
Chalice triggers when your opponents cast stuff. many opponents will still try to cast 1-cost spells to catch you off-guard so you miss the trigger and accidentally let them resolve. unfortunately if you miss the trigger, their spell does resolve. it's up to you to remember!
just an FYI.
also, casting chalice on 2 is a fine option against certain board states and potential game-losing scenarios. there have been times when I had the win next turn (shift in my hand or something similar) and the only way i'd lose was if they cast a particular 2 or 3-cost spell. in those instances, to protect my path to victory, i've made a questionable play by jamming chalice on a higher number than 1. at those points in the game though, you tend to get by with your big spells so it's justifiable to make plays like this.
main piece of advice, be flexible with your thinking. this deck can sometimes present quite convoluted paths to victory, and a decent player will think creatively around the problem. there's often secondary lines of play which yield more damage or triggers, or are generally safer or more efficient.
for instance, if you have an omen in play and lands in hand (including a valakut), make the valakut the 6th land you drop, because you are guaranteed the trigger and in addition it can catch opponents out who think you haven't got the engine online or in hand yet. it's saved my butt a few times.
also, if you fear crumble to dust, try getting more than one valakut on the field, and out of your hand (not always an option but it does sometimes present itself)
Finally; sequencing:
1) always get breeding pool first with your fetchland, over the red shocks.
2) Never fetch basics with your fetchlands unless you have to (because your tutors can only get basics and the deck runs 5)
3) with an omen in play, your fetches tap for mana. Don't crack them. They become lightning bolts later. It could win you the game. Against burn and such, a quick omen can mean several life saved.
Welp I went 4-2 in the PPTQ tonight, missing top 8 on tiebreakers. 2 4-2s made it but I ended up 11th out of 34. Breakers were bad because I started 0-2 and then won the next 4 without dropping a game but the damage was done. Oh well.
Round 1
Lost 1-2 to Naya Nahiri Moon. is what Im calling it.
Games 1 and 3 were defined by me having awkward mana to begin with and him having turn 2 Blood Moons, turn 3 Nahiri on the play both times. Normally not too worried about a moon by itself, but Nahiri makes for a quick clock when Im having trouble casting spells.
Round 2
Lost 1-2 to Jeskai Control
2nd round in a row losing a game to Nahiris ultimate. Game 2 went better- landed Prismatic Omen, kept him off Nahiri, then resolved a Titan for the win. Game 3 had me with a like 5 turn window to win and I just couldnt find a wincon. At this point Im feeling pretty disappointed, but I decide to stick around for the rest of the tournament anyway. We had a lunch break and I had an excellent margarita, so Im attributing my wins the rest of the day to that.
Round 3
Win 2-0 vs Mardu Tokens
This guy is a friend of mine and I know his deck pretty well. Normally a great matchup for me but hes made some effort to beat combo decks that tokens are bad against by including mb slaughter games and crumble to dust. Doesnt matter- I beat him pretty handily. He also plays a couple Nahiris for some reason, so played 3 nahiri decks in a row...
Round 4
Win 2-0 vs Skred Red
Im not very familiar with the deck but Im able to keep him off of Koth and new Chandra and win pretty easily. I think they run blood moon but i never saw it.
Round 5
Win 2-0 vs Jeskai control
Nahiri again, but this time it turns out more the way I expect the matchup to go. His bolts and snapcasters get my life total low both games but in the end I resolve my wincons.
Round 6
Opponent dropped after seeing tiebreakers so 2-0. He was on Jund which I feel pretty good against anyway.
A couple notes- I brought in chalices vs nahiri decks to shut off bolts, visions, spell pierce, snare. Never played a match were they are great but I think they are good enough to stay in my board.
I removed pithing needle from my board to make make room for the chalices. One of the reasons I did it is because I felt there wouldnt be many Nahiris there. woops.
I didnt make it on tiebreakers, even though I had over 71% game win. (3rd highest) My opponents game win % was at an abyssmal 38%. Thats what I get for losing my first 2.
My list is back a couple pages if anyone is interested in it- its close to Purkles except I run 2 angers, 1 snap, and 2 izzet charms main in place of 1 titan, 2 electrolyze and 2 explore, and serums instead of sleight of hand.
Welp I went 4-2 in the PPTQ tonight, missing top 8 on tiebreakers. 2 4-2s made it but I ended up 11th out of 34. Breakers were bad because I started 0-2 and then won the next 4 without dropping a game but the damage was done. Oh well.
Round 1
Lost 1-2 to Naya Nahiri Moon. is what Im calling it.
Games 1 and 3 were defined by me having awkward mana to begin with and him having turn 2 Blood Moons, turn 3 Nahiri on the play both times. Normally not too worried about a moon by itself, but Nahiri makes for a quick clock when Im having trouble casting spells.
Round 2
Lost 1-2 to Jeskai Control
2nd round in a row losing a game to Nahiris ultimate. Game 2 went better- landed Prismatic Omen, kept him off Nahiri, then resolved a Titan for the win. Game 3 had me with a like 5 turn window to win and I just couldnt find a wincon. At this point Im feeling pretty disappointed, but I decide to stick around for the rest of the tournament anyway. We had a lunch break and I had an excellent margarita, so Im attributing my wins the rest of the day to that.
Round 3
Win 2-0 vs Mardu Tokens
This guy is a friend of mine and I know his deck pretty well. Normally a great matchup for me but hes made some effort to beat combo decks that tokens are bad against by including mb slaughter games and crumble to dust. Doesnt matter- I beat him pretty handily. He also plays a couple Nahiris for some reason, so played 3 nahiri decks in a row...
Round 4
Win 2-0 vs Skred Red
Im not very familiar with the deck but Im able to keep him off of Koth and new Chandra and win pretty easily. I think they run blood moon but i never saw it.
Round 5
Win 2-0 vs Jeskai control
Nahiri again, but this time it turns out more the way I expect the matchup to go. His bolts and snapcasters get my life total low both games but in the end I resolve my wincons.
Round 6
Opponent dropped after seeing tiebreakers so 2-0. He was on Jund which I feel pretty good against anyway.
A couple notes- I brought in chalices vs nahiri decks to shut off bolts, visions, spell pierce, snare. Never played a match were they are great but I think they are good enough to stay in my board.
I removed pithing needle from my board to make make room for the chalices. One of the reasons I did it is because I felt there wouldnt be many Nahiris there. woops.
I didnt make it on tiebreakers, even though I had over 71% game win. (3rd highest) My opponents game win % was at an abyssmal 38%. Thats what I get for losing my first 2.
My list is back a couple pages if anyone is interested in it- its close to Purkles except I run 2 angers, 1 snap, and 2 izzet charms main in place of 1 titan, 2 electrolyze and 2 explore, and serums instead of sleight of hand.
Sounds like you saw a rather wonky snapshot of the current meta but that's what happens. Well done all the same.
Re; jeskai.
I think it's a positive matchup. In the past I've run stuff like gigadrowse to fight through counters but ultimately I feel like omen gets us the inevitability that we need. The trick is keeping them off Nahiri, which can be done in a few ways.
Pithing needle is a card I always ran in Tron and eldrazi. Is it worth it here? It's average-to-decent against affinity and jeskai, while picking up some points against lantern and fringe stuff. Hasn't been on my radar tbh.
I'm back down to 2 chalice. It's a windmill slam against burn, infect, suicide zoo, storm, thing ascension and a few other decks, but 3 of them was eating too much space. I'm torn what to replace it with, but i feel like a broader spread of hate cards could be decent. Some graveyard hate or simply an extra anger of the gods could go a long way. I'll keep testing.
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
The reason I really like pithing needle mainly has to do with shutting off manlands like inkmoth, as well as stopping ravager, overseer, or cranial plating, and even lightning storm in ad naus, random problem walkers, and combo pieces like viscera seer, thopter foundry, etc. It is just a very versatile card, and i will be finding room for it in my board again.
Another contributing factor to my round 2 loss was the fact that I mulled to 5 in game 1, and still was a top deck land away from winning on turn 5; he had tapped out to play nahiri and I was on 5 lands with a shift and omen in hand. My draw was a STE, and he had the counters up after that to win.
And yes, the meta was definitely weird.
I will be grinding a lot of games on mtgo over the next month to prepare for GP Dallas, hopefully i can post respectable record there.
Have been playing RG Titanshiftfor the last half a year or so, but I decided I want to go back to the more traditional RUG Scapeshift decks. My current list is the following:
(The Sideboard is a mess, haven't really tweaked it so there are a lot of weird choices in there)
So as you see, I just took the Madcap/Emperion Combo and jammed it into my Scapeshift deck. I don't think the combo is good enough to create a whole new archetype, but rather needs an existing deck. To my surprise, it works quite well. Emperion does a lot of things I want against multiple decks I usually have not a great MU against, especially against aggro decks like Zooicide, Burn and to an extent also Affinity (as long as they were not on the Infect plan from the beginning). Some decks just fold to it because they have no way of dealing with a resolved Emperion on T3/T4 and it feels great being able to pressure the opponent or even kill them while searching for Scapeshift instead of trying not to die while casting Cryptic Commands and Remands to hold them back. The amount of counterspells in the deck are also great at protecting the big, friendly giant while he bashes in the opponent face (not literally). And hardcasting him is also possible, so he is not a completely dead card in hand. During the early turns you can pitch him to Izzet Charm and later he can act as a second wincon besides Scapeshift. It also creates and interesting dynamic during sideboarding where the opponent has to think about boarding out removal or keeping it in the main deck.
But of course the comboalso has its drawbacks. Terminate and Path to Exile can easily deal with Emperion, have a low cost and are wildly played in Abzan, Jund, Grixis and Jeskai Nahiri. On the other hand, the land you get from Path should not be underestimated since we usually enjoy every land drop we can get. But still, that doesn't change the fact that it answers Emperion pretty easily. the combo also requires between 5 and 7 slots in the MB that could otherwise be filled with more Snapcasters, Bolts or Serum Visions.
I have been testing this configuration for the last two days and this is basically the "Alpha Version" of the deck. So far I have been enjoying it and it looks promising, but there is still a lot of testing to be done.
Oh, and RUG Madshift is simply a grest thing to call the deck.
Lejoon I have been playing your pptq list online and doing pretty well with it. I am thinking about putting it together in paper. About 40-50% of my store is on Infect, Burn, or Jund and there are alot of bloodmoons floating around. Would you recommend any changes from your list for this meta?
Sp I have been trying something the last couple of days and so far the results have been pretty promising. I dropped 2 Remands for 2 Explores. I have never played a blue deck in modern without the full complement of remands, but I noticed online that they come out in nearly every single game. The tier 1 rankings on modern nexus back that up- out vs Bant Eldrazi, out vs Burn, out vs Infect, out vs Affinity, out vs Dredge, not great vs Jund, okay vs Tron, Breach Titan, and Abzan, not very good vs Jeskai as its only effective vs Nahiri herself. I am considering dropping all of them for explores but right now Im just testing the 2/2 split.
I have been playing a slightly more midrange black version of bring to light scapeshift for a while. This leans heavily on the ability for bring to light to be able to get the right bullet at the right time. It uses madcap experiment from kaladesh as a silver bullet for decks that rely on damage-based removal, such as burn and dredge.
Sp I have been trying something the last couple of days and so far the results have been pretty promising. I dropped 2 Remands for 2 Explores. I have never played a blue deck in modern without the full complement of remands, but I noticed online that they come out in nearly every single game. The tier 1 rankings on modern nexus back that up- out vs Bant Eldrazi, out vs Burn, out vs Infect, out vs Affinity, out vs Dredge, not great vs Jund, okay vs Tron, Breach Titan, and Abzan, not very good vs Jeskai as its only effective vs Nahiri herself. I am considering dropping all of them for explores but right now Im just testing the 2/2 split.
Frankly if you think that it is bad against the decks above other than Infect, Burn and Affinity then you are playing the deck "wrong". It is one of the best cards in the deck together with Cryptic Command.
And it is _really good_ against Jeskai, Jund, Abzan, Tron, RG Titan Shift/Breach and a plethora of tier 2 decks. It is even "OK" against Eldrazi since upside is there and cost is low if they have cavern.
Alright let me explain my reasoning a little more. As the format continues its trend torward fast linear decks the past several months with the rise of zooicide and dredge etc, our meta share drops in favor of our more consistently fast brethren in RG Titanshift and breach/titan. While they are being proactive we are being reactive, and right now that doesnt cut it. I am merely experimenting by cutting reaction for proaction.
I overly generalized my anylasis of it in particular matchups in my initial post. But we are on the verge of dropping back to T3 and being faster I think is the answer right now.
2-3 coppies depending on Meta, whether they are running BtL and how many coppies of Valakut they're running. Most, but not all, Omen lists run 3-4 Valakut's because you always want to see one if you're forced to go the "land drop bolts till you win" route. The biggest reasons to go the Omen route is the increased inevitability from Titan and Omen+Valakut triggers. A turn 4 Titan is pretty solid against most decks, and its ability to search up a Valakut to start bolting things makes it even more dangerous in our lists, but keep in mind you're giving up 6-8 pieces of main deck interaction as well as weakening your manabase with an extra Valakut or two. The decision is not without trade offs, but in the current meta haveing extra grinding potential and a faster clock is a pretty appealing thought.
I play BTL Scapeshift and with how modern has become I find myself to be boarding out remand nearly every match. Would it be crazy to completely cut them. If I do I'd probably play 2x Repeal and 2x Bolt
The format is to quick for remand right now and also cryptic. I feel better just running 4 mana leaks and a combination of izzet charms and worldly counsel to dig through my deck. Removing cryptic also lets you improve your mana base and gives you access to cards like path to exile which is super powerful in the meta right now. Have negates or dispels in the side and really control decks are not a problem.
Is there a list I can use as a very strong core? I noticed ChannelFireball uploaded a bring to light scapeshift deck bit the manabase was wonky and it felt slow. I'm thinking of buying into this deck and frankly, I don't have the time to read all 198 pages of discussion here. We still run titans and prismatic omen right?
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it's looking solid. i'd try to find some way to include izzet staticaster in the sideboard, because the card is nuts against infect/affinity. anger/staticaster and maybe chalice are your tools for the affinity matchup. chalice is amazing against infect but you also need those sweepers.
dredge looks winnable with 3 anger in the 75. hmm... yeah seems decent. maybe swap 1 surrak for staticaster or something. not sure you need two, although he's obviously a great card.
finally, be really careful of running scalding tarn if you've only got one breeding pool. you'll often need to fetch an untapped green source, so it can be a pain. traditionally, we don't run any scalding tarns at all for this exact reason.
drop a basic forest. you'll probably only ever need 2 and cutting you off izzet charm/lyze when you topdeck one is baaaad. if you don't have the blue-green filter land (flooded grove), another breeding pool would do just fine.
and just for the extra green source, one of those basic mountains could be a cinder glade, no problem. just that little extra bit of consistency.
have fun!
yeah i'm down with that, your reasoning is sound. I prefer to bring in the 1-mana counters from the sideboard (easier to hold up while developing your board, easier to get online early, harder for your opponent to play around)
spell pierce is a card i've been hot on before. it's a difficult toss-up between an actual hard "nope" from dispel (which is fantastic in a lot of tricky matchups such as grishoalbrand, burn, infect etc) but I see your point about Tron and i've played spell pierce in Eternal Command and Splinter Twin in the past, and it's worked well. perhaps it just fell out of favour.
mostly, i feel favoured against tron anyway. I'm predominantly worried about the quick aggro or linear decks. those are where i've dedicated my sideboard slots in the majority. I could spare a couple of spots to dealing with other threats though, and Spell Pierce is one of the first places i'd look for a general "all-round-decent" counter.
that's a good question!
generally the wisdom with chalice is just jam it no matter what (and in full numbers, never just side 1 in, bring in them all).
the reasoning is that whether you get to drop it on turn 2 or 3, it has such a huge effect on certain decks that it's predominantly "game over" the moment it hits the board, provided you can back up your chalice with a reasonably brisk win.
for instance, let's say you're on the draw with some realistic scenarios:
turn 1
opponent - pendelhaven + noble hierarch
you - forest + search for tomorrow
turn 2
opponent - breeding pool + blighted agent
you - Misty rainforest + hold up mana for remand
turn 3
opponent - enters combat, swings for 2 infect with exalted (holds up mana for pump in case of removal - a common play)
you - search comes off suspend, land + chalice of the void on 1 (holding up remand)
at this point, your opponent isn't helpless, but in all likelihood you just cut them off every spell in their deck except for more agents and the 2-to-4 become immense that the deck plays. this reduces their clock more than Melira (because even with melira they can still pump their way to victory) and can sometimes just shut them out of a game if they don't get a significant threat down in time. it also allows you to pick off their creatures with impunity, and remand anything they do without fear of being countered.
against burn it's a similar story. you shut off their main sources of damage (but not some of the fringe spells) and against some hands can cut them off completely. when you're dropping baloths and there's a chalice gumming things up, you are winning that game.
against death's shadow zoo you are cutting them off a lot of their main spells and threats, but notably not the "combo" which uses become immense.
against storm (this came up in a large tournament for me several weeks ago) you shut off their entire deck pretty much.
it even works as splash damage against a host of other decks as well, because Modern is rife with decks playing 14+ 1-mana spells (but don't go trigger happy. chalice isn't always the best option to board in).
my advice would be (regarding chalice) that just like it worked in Eldrazi, chalice is a roadblock - you still need some pressure or a fairly quick clock to get there and win. it does a fantastic job at gumming up the works, and keeping an opening hand with Chalice + any random selection of decent spells is going to be a good prospect against quite a few decks (8-rack anyone?), and it helps to think of it like Blood Moon. Moon and Chalice tend to disrupt opponents on a similar kind of axis (stranding cards in their hand), but you've still got to be quick about assembling a win after you've taken a turn playing your disruptive spell.
good luck in the pptq. where are you based?
if you've not played with the card before, a piece of advice for you (it may save you a game loss)
Chalice triggers when your opponents cast stuff. many opponents will still try to cast 1-cost spells to catch you off-guard so you miss the trigger and accidentally let them resolve. unfortunately if you miss the trigger, their spell does resolve. it's up to you to remember!
just an FYI.
also, casting chalice on 2 is a fine option against certain board states and potential game-losing scenarios. there have been times when I had the win next turn (shift in my hand or something similar) and the only way i'd lose was if they cast a particular 2 or 3-cost spell. in those instances, to protect my path to victory, i've made a questionable play by jamming chalice on a higher number than 1. at those points in the game though, you tend to get by with your big spells so it's justifiable to make plays like this.
main piece of advice, be flexible with your thinking. this deck can sometimes present quite convoluted paths to victory, and a decent player will think creatively around the problem. there's often secondary lines of play which yield more damage or triggers, or are generally safer or more efficient.
for instance, if you have an omen in play and lands in hand (including a valakut), make the valakut the 6th land you drop, because you are guaranteed the trigger and in addition it can catch opponents out who think you haven't got the engine online or in hand yet. it's saved my butt a few times.
also, if you fear crumble to dust, try getting more than one valakut on the field, and out of your hand (not always an option but it does sometimes present itself)
Finally; sequencing:
1) always get breeding pool first with your fetchland, over the red shocks.
2) Never fetch basics with your fetchlands unless you have to (because your tutors can only get basics and the deck runs 5)
3) with an omen in play, your fetches tap for mana. Don't crack them. They become lightning bolts later. It could win you the game. Against burn and such, a quick omen can mean several life saved.
Round 1
Lost 1-2 to Naya Nahiri Moon. is what Im calling it.
Games 1 and 3 were defined by me having awkward mana to begin with and him having turn 2 Blood Moons, turn 3 Nahiri on the play both times. Normally not too worried about a moon by itself, but Nahiri makes for a quick clock when Im having trouble casting spells.
Round 2
Lost 1-2 to Jeskai Control
2nd round in a row losing a game to Nahiris ultimate. Game 2 went better- landed Prismatic Omen, kept him off Nahiri, then resolved a Titan for the win. Game 3 had me with a like 5 turn window to win and I just couldnt find a wincon. At this point Im feeling pretty disappointed, but I decide to stick around for the rest of the tournament anyway. We had a lunch break and I had an excellent margarita, so Im attributing my wins the rest of the day to that.
Round 3
Win 2-0 vs Mardu Tokens
This guy is a friend of mine and I know his deck pretty well. Normally a great matchup for me but hes made some effort to beat combo decks that tokens are bad against by including mb slaughter games and crumble to dust. Doesnt matter- I beat him pretty handily. He also plays a couple Nahiris for some reason, so played 3 nahiri decks in a row...
Round 4
Win 2-0 vs Skred Red
Im not very familiar with the deck but Im able to keep him off of Koth and new Chandra and win pretty easily. I think they run blood moon but i never saw it.
Round 5
Win 2-0 vs Jeskai control
Nahiri again, but this time it turns out more the way I expect the matchup to go. His bolts and snapcasters get my life total low both games but in the end I resolve my wincons.
Round 6
Opponent dropped after seeing tiebreakers so 2-0. He was on Jund which I feel pretty good against anyway.
A couple notes- I brought in chalices vs nahiri decks to shut off bolts, visions, spell pierce, snare. Never played a match were they are great but I think they are good enough to stay in my board.
I removed pithing needle from my board to make make room for the chalices. One of the reasons I did it is because I felt there wouldnt be many Nahiris there. woops.
I didnt make it on tiebreakers, even though I had over 71% game win. (3rd highest) My opponents game win % was at an abyssmal 38%. Thats what I get for losing my first 2.
My list is back a couple pages if anyone is interested in it- its close to Purkles except I run 2 angers, 1 snap, and 2 izzet charms main in place of 1 titan, 2 electrolyze and 2 explore, and serums instead of sleight of hand.
Sounds like you saw a rather wonky snapshot of the current meta but that's what happens. Well done all the same.
Re; jeskai.
I think it's a positive matchup. In the past I've run stuff like gigadrowse to fight through counters but ultimately I feel like omen gets us the inevitability that we need. The trick is keeping them off Nahiri, which can be done in a few ways.
Pithing needle is a card I always ran in Tron and eldrazi. Is it worth it here? It's average-to-decent against affinity and jeskai, while picking up some points against lantern and fringe stuff. Hasn't been on my radar tbh.
I'm back down to 2 chalice. It's a windmill slam against burn, infect, suicide zoo, storm, thing ascension and a few other decks, but 3 of them was eating too much space. I'm torn what to replace it with, but i feel like a broader spread of hate cards could be decent. Some graveyard hate or simply an extra anger of the gods could go a long way. I'll keep testing.
Another contributing factor to my round 2 loss was the fact that I mulled to 5 in game 1, and still was a top deck land away from winning on turn 5; he had tapped out to play nahiri and I was on 5 lands with a shift and omen in hand. My draw was a STE, and he had the counters up after that to win.
And yes, the meta was definitely weird.
I will be grinding a lot of games on mtgo over the next month to prepare for GP Dallas, hopefully i can post respectable record there.
1x Snapcaster Mage
2x Platinum Emperion
2x Anticipate
2x Izzet charm
3x Peer through Depths
4x Remand
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Electrolyze
4x Search for Tomorrow
3x Cryptic Command
3x Madcap Experiment
4x Scapeshift
1x cinder Glade
1x Flooded Grove
3x Forest
3x Island
1x Lumbering Falls
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Mountain
4x Steam Vents
4x Stomping Ground
2x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
3x Obstinate Baloth
1x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1x engineered Explosives
2x Dispel
1x Negate
2x Sudden Shock
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Pulse of Murasa
(The Sideboard is a mess, haven't really tweaked it so there are a lot of weird choices in there)
So as you see, I just took the Madcap/Emperion Combo and jammed it into my Scapeshift deck. I don't think the combo is good enough to create a whole new archetype, but rather needs an existing deck. To my surprise, it works quite well. Emperion does a lot of things I want against multiple decks I usually have not a great MU against, especially against aggro decks like Zooicide, Burn and to an extent also Affinity (as long as they were not on the Infect plan from the beginning). Some decks just fold to it because they have no way of dealing with a resolved Emperion on T3/T4 and it feels great being able to pressure the opponent or even kill them while searching for Scapeshift instead of trying not to die while casting Cryptic Commands and Remands to hold them back. The amount of counterspells in the deck are also great at protecting the big, friendly giant while he bashes in the opponent face (not literally). And hardcasting him is also possible, so he is not a completely dead card in hand. During the early turns you can pitch him to Izzet Charm and later he can act as a second wincon besides Scapeshift. It also creates and interesting dynamic during sideboarding where the opponent has to think about boarding out removal or keeping it in the main deck.
But of course the comboalso has its drawbacks. Terminate and Path to Exile can easily deal with Emperion, have a low cost and are wildly played in Abzan, Jund, Grixis and Jeskai Nahiri. On the other hand, the land you get from Path should not be underestimated since we usually enjoy every land drop we can get. But still, that doesn't change the fact that it answers Emperion pretty easily. the combo also requires between 5 and 7 slots in the MB that could otherwise be filled with more Snapcasters, Bolts or Serum Visions.
I have been testing this configuration for the last two days and this is basically the "Alpha Version" of the deck. So far I have been enjoying it and it looks promising, but there is still a lot of testing to be done.
Oh, and RUG Madshift is simply a grest thing to call the deck.
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
2 Explore
4 Cryptic Command
2 Remand
2 Izzet Charm
1 Electrolyze
4 Prismatic Omen
2 Anger of the Gods
4 Serum Visions
1 Snapcaster Mage
2 Primeval Titan
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4 Stomping Ground
4 Steam Vents
1 Cinder Glade
1 Mountain
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Breeding Pool
1 Flooded Grove
3 Island
2 Forest
1 Ancient Grudge
4 Obstinate Baloth
1 Spell Pierce
2 Negate
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Chalice of the Void
1 Krosan Grip
1 Sudden Shock
1 Izzet Staticaster
4x Blood Crypt
3x Bloodstained Mire
2x Forest
1x Island
1x Mountain
1x Overgrown Tomb
2x Steam Vents
4x Stomping Ground
2x Swamp
2x Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4x Wooded Foothills
Instant (6)
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Kolaghan's Command
1x Lightning Bolt
2x Terminate
1x Anger of the Gods
4x Bring to Light
1x Damnation
2x Farseek
1x Kodama's Reach
1x Madcap Experiment
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Scapeshift
4x Search for Tomorrow
Creature (11)
2x Eternal Witness
1x Gonti, Lord of Luxury
1x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1x Obstinate Baloth
1x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1x Platinum Emperion
4x Sakura-Tribe Elder
1x Agent of Erebos
1x Crumble to Dust
2x Duress
1x Farseek
1x Glen Elendra Archmage
1x Gonti, Lord of Luxury
1x Harmonize
1x Rekindled Flame
1x Scapeshift
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Shatterstorm
1x Slaughter Games
1x Terminate
1x Thoughtseize
Alright let me explain my reasoning a little more. As the format continues its trend torward fast linear decks the past several months with the rise of zooicide and dredge etc, our meta share drops in favor of our more consistently fast brethren in RG Titanshift and breach/titan. While they are being proactive we are being reactive, and right now that doesnt cut it. I am merely experimenting by cutting reaction for proaction.
I overly generalized my anylasis of it in particular matchups in my initial post. But we are on the verge of dropping back to T3 and being faster I think is the answer right now.
RGTron
UGInfect
URStorm
WUBRAd Nauseam
BRGrishoalbrand
URGScapeshift
WBGAbzan Company
WUBRGAmulet Titan
BRGLiving End
WGBogles