MTG Salvation

Hey all, I see some discussion on the As Foretold / Living End builds. I decided to brew something up based off of that and record some gameplay with it on my YouTube channel for anyone interested in seeing how that type of Living End build generally plays out.

I decided to incorporate the old Living End Twin concept back when Twin was legal. I think the As Foretold / Living End synergy is very powerful, but it's not always enough to win the game, especially against decks that don't care about your board. Having an infinite combo helps beat matchups like Tron and Storm.

You can find the deck tech and the first match (of 3) here: UR Living End Kiki Gameplay Videos.

I watched a couple people stream versions of the new U End deck all week (Mostly HolyShamgar) and I finally put it together tonight and played a couple leagues. I changed a bunch of things after the first league, I didn't like the mana leaks and I found the stifle birds to be very good out of the board so put them in the main. I felt like mana leak would be better as negate since the best thing about leak is that it can target creatures, but you don't usually want creatures going to your opponents graveyard.

Anyway, it's still a work in progress and sideboarding is REALLY tough, I definitely need to figure out what to cut in what matchups, but here is my current list: Would love any feedback / advice or even better if anyone wants to test something similar! 19 creatures is definitely a lot, could probably cut a few.

Feels like a mistake to not have at least a couple copies of Search for Azcanta in this deck.

Well I went 4-1 in competitive, barely lost game 3 for the 5-0. PWs and GY hate was tough sometimes and I faced a lot of it, but you can win through it. Urborg would be fine, I do really like the bojuka bog though and you want a lot of untapped blue sources to cycle and play As Foretold ASAP, but I'm sure a Urborg could be squeezed in. I took out the Archfiend and Drift of Phantasms for 2 MB Negates, we'll see how it goes.

Hey guys. Seeing as the U list runs a maximum of 12 cards in common with the Jund based build that has been on the Modern radar for the life of the format, I think prolonged discussion of this new deck belongs in it own primer. This thread is about the Tier 2 deck which has put up tournament results consistently over the past number of years, not a deck which also plays the card Living End. The decks are completely different in construction.

Agreed with Ken here - I was actually about to say the same thing. The U End deck is great at being different but it isn’t our deck - fundamentally different games.

So, I took Living End to FNM for the first time in a while. The store I went to has some guys who play rogue decks all the time, while others just jam the latest and greatest meta choices.

Round 1 -

My opponent opens on Temple of Triumph, which I promptly blow up on t2 with SSG in Fulminator. He played a tapped Sacred Foundry on his t2, which I blew up with my t3 Fulminator. He eventually plays out a couple of basics, getting 3 mana with a Rugged Prairie into a Phyrexian Unlife. I'm legitimately confused, trying to rack my brain if Ad Nauseum has gone to Mardu colors. I end up killing him through Unlife over two turns but I really had no idea what he was on.

Game two, I don't have any land destuction, and he builds out a board of Rest in Peace, Nahiri and Chandra, TOD. I figured out what he was up to. He eventually grinds me out with his walkers.

Game three was pretty easy as he got stuck on 2 lands. I cycled a few times and cascaded into a quick win.

1-0, 2-1

Match 2

I played this guy a few weeks back when I was on Ponza, and I expected him to be on his B/W Eldrazi Processors deck as he spent a bunch of money on it to enter the format. I was correct, and kept a hand that could interact with his early stuff, including Shriekmaw. I won the roll, and cycled on t1 and t2. On his t3, he cast Tidehollow Sculler and got to look at my double Violent Outburst. He tanked for a second until he realized I was going to get it back anyway. After a cascade, he scooped.

Game two, I really hurt his lands, which really made his Thalia tax unbearable when he wanted to Path my board after I cascaded. He actually had to double chump me just to be able to Path two creatures. By then, I just hardcasted some draft trash and overwhelmed him.

2-0, 4-1

Match 3

Technically the finals since this store does run 4 round events, and so I declined when my opponent offered the split. He was on B/W Eldrazi, but not processors. He threw me off in Game 1 by playing a Cavern and naming humans. He then cast Kitesail Freebooter. However, I was able to overcome his slow draw, and ended up cascading into a single swing.

Game 2, he completely buried me with discard, though I stabilized at 1 and very nearly came back. However, his Paths removed my Street Wraiths, and I was forced to trade my creatures for damage. Eventually, he found a Lingering Souls to defeat me.

Game 3, I got out a Blood Moon on t2, which cut him off white and colorless for the whole game. Unfortunately, I cut myself of Black, which made cycling the Horrors in my hand impossible. I ended up dealing 16 points of damage with a pair of Fulminator Mages, finishing him off with Simian Spirit Guide. We both laughed that I legitimately killed him with 3 Grey Ogres. Not Plan A, not Plan B, not even sure it is Plan C, but it got me there and got me the full payout!

3-0, 6-2

All in all, a good exercise for the deck and for me as a pilot, though I was hoping to face some blue decks as that is where I feel least prepared for now.

lol and he loses the match in the most embarassing way possible. Conceeding after casting the match winning spell has to hurt.

1st of all, how do guys not know that triggers have to be checked before resolving. BUT more importantly, he had a chance to win earlier anyway. When Scapeshift is cast he only has 7 lands, and we all know you need Valakut and 6 mountains to win. So just beast within him then! He can only sac 6 lands, so can't win the game gg.

Massive massive massive double punt.

That's one of the few ways to win the Scapeshift matchup, so every needs to take note.

Hello all!

Picking up Living End again and I could really use some help with the manabase.

I really like THIS deck list and want to use it as a starting point for my deck. I love the MD Faerie Macabre’s. So here’s the deal. I own four copies of all the Jund fastlands, and 4x Verdant Catacombs, but I was really hoping I could make an optimized list WITHOUT the Verdant Catacombs because they’re already being used in my Junk (I’ve always known it as Junk. I’m Having a hard time calling it Abzan) deck. The aforementioned deck list has solely Black and Red creatures, all with Black or Red cycling costs (not including the colorless or life costs), and the spells that require Green are few. The only reason I could think of that Verdant Catacombs would provide advantage over Bloodstained Mire (which I’m about to purchase the Onslaught playset of) here would be that the Catacombs could fetch a Forest to mitigate a Blood Moon. So, please, tell me, if you were going to put together that same main deck except for the lands, and could choose any lands to go with it, how would you set it up?
I assume 4x Blackcleave Cliffs and one of each Jund shockland, but what about after that? How many of each basic? How many fastlands and which ones besides Cliffs? Copperline Gorge or Blooming Marsh? Fetchlands? If so how many and which ones? What about Grove of the Burnwillows? Utility lands like Kessig Wolf Run?

I’m just really not sure how to approach the lands and it’s been awhile since I’ve sleeved up this deck. In addition to that, LE has picked up a lot of new cards while I was on a hiatus from Magic. Any help is greatly appreciated. I have a problem where I have to have what are (IMO) really cool looking lands. The fetches and shocks have to be old, the basics have to be Alpha, Beta, APAC or something cool, etc. So before I invest relatively heavily in this deck’s lands, I want to be pretty sure of what I’m getting myself into.

Thanks again in advance for any assistance. I really do appreciate the time some people take on forums to respond to other people’s inquiries/cries for help.

I'm fairly adamant that you want 4x Verdant Catacombs. They are the only fetches that get every land in the deck (personally I do not run a basic Mountain). Foothills can get the shocks, but can't get basic Swamp which can hurt a Burn matchup, specifically. Mire similarly can't get Forest.

I run 6 fastlands, 4x Blackcleave Cliffs and 2x Blooming Marshes. Additionally, I run 2 Grove of the Burnwillows, which I've found to be better than Copperline Gorge. The lifegain is rarely an issue, and can randomly hose a Death's Shadow player.

My one utility land (which used to be a Dryad Arbor) is now Kessig Wolf Run. That card has over performed for me quite often. It laughs at Lingering Souls tokens, and can shave a turn off your clock. Definitely a good include.

Verdant is not must need for the deck I think. Bloodstained Mire is one other option if you can't afford Verdant.

Aww for the next GP, which is at my hometown, I might bring Living End, if I bring Abzan I will get smashed by Tron/Scapeshift for sure, too much Tron at my local meta game.

Ok. I really appreciate the responses. I do want to make the best deck possible, so if Verdant Catacombs are in fact optimal then Catacombs it is. There's no reason my Junk deck can't share.

I tested the list out a bunch today on Cockatrice and it was running like a top. I'm super rusty and, to be honest, was never that great of a pilot to begin with, but despite all that I still won quite a few matches. Faerie Macabre was an all-star most of the time, though sometimes I wished it was another Beast Within (against Humans) or Fulminator Mage (against, say, Titanshift). No card can be everything all the time though. I completely blew out Affinity. That was probably the highlight of the day. They sac'd everything with Arcbound Ravager in response to LE, and I double Faerie'd them like a champ.

UW Control was really tough. I couldn't pull through with the win. I don't know if it was just because I'm an inexperienced pilot or if the matchup is normally that difficult.

The Humans matchup was close and hard fought but I ended up winning in three. Getting through all those Thalia, Guardian of Thraben's and Meddling Mage's was tough. Still, once I managed to go off, that was all she wrote. Shriekmaw was the MVP.

I played a bunch of matches but those were the only ones that really stuck out to me.

I have a few more questions:

I think every recent LE list I've seen has 8x cascade spells. I remember awhile back that 7x used to be the magic number. Why the change? Is 7x ever correct these days?

I realized I'm terrible at sideboarding for this deck (though this isn't much different than any other deck for me). When do I side out Simian Spirit Guide? When do I side out Street Wraith's? Should I side in my lifegain cards (for burn) in any other matchup?

Kari Zev's Expertise? Seems super situational (even though I find myself with Living End's in my hand with disproportionate frequency). Ever worth it? Does the creature stealing part make up for when the card is mostly dead?

Sorry if some/all of this has been covered recently/before. I'm still working my way backwards through this thread. Just trying to get (relatively) proficient with this deck as quickly as possible.

That's all I have for now.

Thanks for any and all help!

Piney:

I run 7 Cascades. I've dropped one of the Demonic Dread's and haven't noticed a problem with finding a cascade spell.

I almost never take out the Simian's. Getting out a cascade a turn early or where you've missed the 3rd land drop is crazy good. As is powering out a Fulminator mage a turn early vs Eldrazi/Tron. They're especially important for me as I play the full set of Archfiends and like having the Simian's as a just in case chip in to get them cycled.

As for Street wraiths, I bin them in race games. For me they come out vs Burn but also Titan Shift with some life gain cards taking their place.

I've been a huge supported of Kari Zev's as I loathe seeing a Living End stuck in my hand. But I've also removed that. I really, incredibly dislike Demonic Dread as a spell due to the target requirements and Kari Zev's is even more situational. That and I needed another spot for main deck Kolaghan's Command. That's been an incredibly key card for me lately.

splashed for 2 Bring to Light, it plays better to have the extra enabler.

Quote from Tigerpawx »

Verdant is not must need for the deck I think. Bloodstained Mire is one other option if you can't afford Verdant.

Aww for the next GP, which is at my hometown, I might bring Living End, if I bring Abzan I will get smashed by Tron/Scapeshift for sure, too much Tron at my local meta game.

When discussing what is optimal, Verdant Catacombs is optimal. Can you 'get away with' playing Mires? Sure, but that's not the same thing.

On the UW matchup, your goal is to overload their mana by combining land destruction (Fulminator their Blue sources aggressively, Beast Within their basic Islands) and two cascade spells. Your goal should be to keep them on 3 lands. Play an Outburst on their end step, and if they counter, untap and cascade while they are tapped.

In these games it is often correct to suspend a Remanded/drawn Living End and employ a similar strategy. Don't be afraid to start hard casting dudes as well, since they then have to choose between countering your guy or your spells. Many players side out some number of PtE against us for more counters, so they are occasionally soft to a Carabid or Horror.

I went 3 and split top in a 4 round 28 player event yesterday with LE.
Played Grapeshot, Naya Zoo (goyfs and Kotr), and EldraziTron in that order.

Decklist is at home but some observations

• The land denial strategy this deck has is just the best thing you can do in this format against most decks. A lot of my games were very much won, in effect on turn 2 when I SSG'ed out a Fulminator or Beast within. 4 beasts and 4 SSG main for me, cannot see a compelling reason not to.
• I think that Horror of the broken lands is win more. I preferred to keep my mana base resilient and all but immune to Bloodmoon buy only running red cyclers (with the exception of 1 horror). That way I don't need any basic mountains, just Forest and Swamp. In every case where the Horror was in my hand it complicated my decision tree, and in every instance where it was in play it was either already on an overwhelming boardstate, or it could have been literally anything and won. I whole heartedly prefer Deadshot now, and really would not have run it if I was not already maxed on deadshot. May just take it out for utility like Archfiend.
• 20 lands is too much, and I have seen recent lists with that. I played something like 17-19 (I forget off hand) and it was fine.

The more I play this deck the more I believe it is one of the best list in the format and maybe one of my favorite decks of all time. It is, for all it's worth, a 1 card combo deck, and everything you use to search your one card just so happens to make it better.

4 beast within main seems excessive since at some point you would rather draw another card especially in aggro matchup. i think 3 is the magic number. currently packing 2 beast within and 1 kolaghan's command in main.

horror of the broken lands is awkward sometimes but the additional power from cycling sometimes gets you there. there are situation when the opponent choose to kill desert cerodon only to get squashed by oversized horror. plus unlike the old man monstrous carabid, horror can block if necessary so that is a plus.

18-19 land is enough since simian spirit guide can be counted as a land. most deck packs 3 of the noble primate and most time we only need 3 mana to go off so safe to assume 21 mana source is enough most of the time.