You can't cast turn 1 discard with Ruins. Also River of Tears is just a very fine card for lanterns purposes, I don't get why many people hate it so much. Sure you can punt with it, but assuming, that you play your deck reasonably well that's not really an issue.
I tried the Acquisition, and it was simply way too expensive to use. Maybe if it has 3cmc, but at 4cmc I was just always wishing it were Infernal Tutor instead. Which sucks because Acquisition's artwork is gorgeous.
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So let's go over my Rounds, and what I can remember from them.
Round 1 - VS Burn
So the tournament started off a little rough. I got to the tournament venue 10 minutes before the tournament started, but due to bad communication between myself, the judge running the event, and the store holding the event, pairings had already been posted for round 1 as I was finished getting registered. As such I got paired against the player who received the bye for Round 1. Imagine that. You get told you are going to have a free win, only to instead have to play against Lantern Control.
Anyway, game 1 gets under way and I get myself quickly situated with a Lantern and a Shredder. I end up drawing my Witchbane Orb, and by the end of his second turn I've realized he's on a burn only hand since he hasn't played a single creature. As such I don't mill the 2nd Mox Opal I have on top so that I can slam my WItchbane Orb into play on turn 3. He immediately concedes after reading Witchbane Orb.
Game 2 goes about just as well for him unfortunately. Lands a Goblin Guide on turn 1 and hits me with it twice. On my second turn I play an artifact to turn on my Opal, which I then follow with a Collective Brutality for all three modes. Boy was he angry. The board gets to a point where I am at 4 life, neither of us have any cards in hand, I have an Inventors' Fair, and he has a Monastery Swiftspear. Unfortunately for me I don't have enough mana to crack the Fair to look for a Bridge, so I am doing my best to keep him off anything while also finding any moment I can to get myself into a Whir or a Bridge. Eventually I find the remaining lock pieces I need, and he has me mill him out, though 10 minutes were left on the clock so there was no real pressure for me on my end.
Current Record: 1-0
Round 2 VS Jeskai Geist
This was a fun round. Mainly because my opponent seemed actually happy to be playing against Lantern Control. I don't remember the specifics of what happened during the games however.
Current Record: 2-0
Round 3 VS UW Walkers
Another way you could think of this deck is "OOPS! All Gideons!" that also runs Jace, Architect of Thought. Game 1 I kept a hand with 2 discard spells, 2 Ancient Stirrings, a Lantern, and 2 land. Didn't find a single Bridge or Mill Rock, drew 10 more mana sources, and ended up just dying to Gideons and Celestial Colonnade.
Game 2, I start off with a Lantern and Codex Shredder, and then my opponent windmill slams Runed Halo on the board naming my poor Shredder. The turn after I am staring at my hand with a Whir and Pyxis in hand. I have the mana to cast Whir if I need to, but I decided to play the Pyxis. This was a mistake. On my opponent's next turn they play Gideon of the Trials and emblem. I should have held up the Whir so that in response to Gideon I could get a Pithing Needle. But nope, I messed that one up. SO now my Abrupt Decays are taxed with needing to deal with Halo And a Gideon. And then he plays Rest in Peace. And then a Stony Silence. And then I am suddenly wishing I had kept my Engineered Explosives in against his deck. I ended up hitting both of my Decays, but there were too many targets for me to have to deal with. I ended up losing the match to Detention Sphere letting his Gideon attack for lethal.
Current Record: 2-1
Round 4 VS Affinity1
So this round had a lot of interesting lines of play that I am proud of. My opponent starts off Game 1 with an Ornithopter and Signal Pest, which are literally the worst creatures for me to see his start with. He drops a second Pest on turn 2 and I suddenly start to see the writing on the wall. On my third turn I have a Whir in hand with enough artifacts and mana to grab a Bridge. I decide to wait for his turn in case he plays something like Master of Etherium so I can catch him off guard. Instead, he plays a Cranial Plating and equips it to one of the Pests tapping himself out. Sweet. Beginning of Combat I Whir for my Bridge and only have to take 1 damage. On my next turn I untap and play the Pithing Needle I had in hand naming Plating so he can't move it around, and locking that Pest from ever attacking again. Over the next few turns I further establish my lock, get my other Needle which names Arcbound Ravager, and mill his 2 remaining Signal Pests. As soon as I find my Pyrite Spellbomb and kill the Pest in play that can attack he concedes the game.
Game 2 was over quick. Turn 2 he has a Memnite with Plating on it hitting me for 6. I couldn't find a Bridge fast enough and he had a Welding Jar to protect himself from my Abrupt Decay. To game 3 we go!
Game 3 he started off with some Nexuses and a Ravager. When I finally got a discard spell I had to choose between Cranial Plating and Ghirapur Aether Grid. I took the Plating since it kills me a lot faster. Later on I have a lock established, but my opponent is still pinging me for 3 every turn because of that Aether Grid I didn't have him discard. On my turn I draw a Mishra's Bauble, and because of my Lantern I see I have a Whir on top. So I play the Bauble and immediately crack it. On my opponent's upkeep I draw Whir and cast it for 1. I then look at my opponent and ask, "Does Whir resolve?" He says that yes, my Whir resolves. So I grab a Pithing Needle and name Aether Grid. One Judge call later my opponent is picking up his cards after uttering, "F&$% this *****."
Current Record: 3-1
Round 5 - I.D.
Going into Round 5, I had the best breakers of everybody at 3-1. As such, both myself and my opponent (who was just under me) were able to I.D into TOp 8 while everyone else in the 3-1 bracket had to play for them to get in. However for those that did play to get into Top 8, those that won would have the first 2 seats
Top 8 VS Burn
I was nervous going into Top 8. I had no idea what my opponent was playing, and the last time I played this specific player, he was playing Eldrazi Tron with the best luck I have ever had the misfortune of playing against. Turns out this time he was on Burn. He plays a Lava Spike on Turn 1, and I follow up on my Turn 1 with a Lantern. More burn spells on top. Oh boy. His turn 2 he plays another Lava Spike and passes. "He has no second land." I think to myself. On my 2nd turn I play an Inquisition which shows me a hand full of 2 CMC burn spells and a Lightning Bolt. I take the Bolt, play a Codex Shredder, and then proceed to keep him off of land and anything that costs 1 mana. Not going to lie, I didn't let me opponent draw a second land he could use (I ended up Needling 2 of 3 fetchlands he had) until I had Witchbane Orb set up. It was the best feeling ever.
Game 2 I get a stranglehold on my opponent pretty quickly, but I don't have a Bridge. I'm essentially surviving off of having millrocks with a lantern, and some early discard spells. He has 2 Grim Lavamancers and Swiftspear that are doing a number on my life total. And here is my favourite moment of the day. It is my turn. My opponent has Exquisite Firecraft on top of his library. I will be drawing a Whir of Invention of my next turn. I am at 11 life with a Bridge in play. At the end of my turn my opponent uses his one untapped Lavamancer to put me down to 9. I do the math in my head, concluding he can only put me to 1, and I'd rather him have a sorcery speed burn spell as opposed to an instant speed one since I want to try to catch some type of Burn with my Whir next turn grabbing Witchbane Orb. He draws, firecrafts me down to 5, then uses one of his lavamancers. I'm at 3. So I mill a couple burn cards off the top of his deck and untap and draw my Whir of Invention. And then it hits me. I need to use a Spire of Industry for blue mana to cast the Whir. Meaning my opponent can just respond and kill me with Lavamancer. The only way for me to pull this off is for me to pass the turn, and hope that my opponent tries to use Lavamancer at the end of my turn. Thus I'll be free to Whir for my Witchbane and keep myself alive. So I pull off my best poker face ever and proceed to pass the turn. My opponent takes the bait and activates Lavamancer. BAM! Whir for Witchbane! After shuffling the top card of my library is my Inventors' Fair and I know that I have this game in the bag. My opponent ends up conceding a few turns later. I am so glad I was not only able to find the small way to victory I had through the immense mistake I made, but that I was also lucky enough to have it work out for me.
Top 4 VS UB Control
You know what is really annoying? When your opponent immediately realizes his Snapcasters are better suited to start attacking you as soon as possible, and your opponent has a grip full of counter spells. It's really hard to win games through multiple Cryptic Commands when you can't draw any discard
Overall I had a great time at the tournament and am glad that I've finally been able to put up some good results with Lantern. This has really invigorated me with concerns to playing competitively. Don't know if any of you watch them, but I'll be trying to upload a lot more Lantern Control content on my YouTube channel in the future
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Modern Decks: UBG Lantern Control GBU BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
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Great report, @Skitzafreak! And congrats on the finish.
FYI guys, as more and more Tezzies have been showing up in Lantern builds, we've been talking about Lantern / Tezzerator hybrids on the Tezzerator primer thread lately. And one guy (shout out @Molz7) took down a 2K tournament with his version of it. Thought you should be aware of this twist. Quoting him. Check it out:
The tournament was a ~2k for a handful of duals. I ended up winning with only a single game loss all day.
Round 1: boggles
Round 2: uw control
Round 3: 4 color control (K commands, counters, snaps, Rev)
Round 4: blue moon breach emrakul
Round 5: living end
Double draw
Quarterfinals: dredge
Semi finals: temur moon
Finals: red black goryo breach
Ancient stirrings was great. I mulliganed a lot to 5 and still won.
Many times I needed thopter combo to win through leyline/emrakul/gideons and lantern portion helped make my draws smoother and post board keep hate away.
Overall very impressed. Many decisions and a long tournament but I had a blast and clearly did very well. Losing 1 game to fused wear tear on my search/foundry and then snap wear tear + ashiok.
I'd suggest giving it a shot!
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MODERN Blue Lantern, UBx Tezzerator. OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
It seems like this idea has been simmering for years, but has finally started taking off! To be honest this is awesome, and I really want to try this out!!
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Been playing BG Lantern since the release of Kaladesh and now trying to play the Whir Version. So far I was only playtesting with a couple of friends abd a few local tourneys. Has anyone feel like its more difficult to empty your hand than the BG version ? I mean I was practicing on fast decks like burn and storm, sometimes I am one turn away from bridge or I have bridge but I still have cards on my hand, or I am one turn away from casting whir to witchbane orb. I am not saying though that BG version is better, I mean the times I won is because at times the deck is very consistent
I must admit that I am also trying to learn the new sideboard cards. Anyone can share the thought process on Ashiok, Nightmare WeaverLiliana of the Veil as sideboard cards for Grixis Death Shadow and Tron ? Is it still fine to side in Leylines on Grixis Death shadow and what to sideout besides lantern ?
I think Whir needs to run more Brutalities a la thnkr's build. I play Golgari and get away with 2 Brutalities just fine, but Whir does not have the luxury of just dumping their hand whenever they want like Golgari can.
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As for the Thopter/Sword inclusion, I'm personally not a fan of it because it loses to the two most common sideboard hate angles: Artifacts and graveyard hate.
I do have some interesting stuff to share. I got to play a paper event again. Last one was States, early 2017 It was only a small local event, 11 players total. There were two Burn decks, one Jund, one Eldrazitron, one Esper Mill, one Merfolk, one 8rack, one MonoB Devotion, one rogue Footsteps of the Goryo deck, and 5c Shadow. I wanted to swap out my Nature's Claim for Ray of Reclamation, but couldn't find the one I'd set aside a few weeks ago, so just kept with the Claim.
Round 1: Bye. Well then...
Round 2: MonoB Devotion [2-0]
I could have lost game one to a punt, playing my second Needle and naming a fetch instead of Leechridden Swamp, but Inventors' Fair saved me when I was at two life, so opp would put me to one life, I'd gain it back, etc. Whir'd for Witchbane and that shut down the rest of his deck along with Bridge. Game two I'm able to get a quick lock and Bridge, easy day.
Round 3: Footsteps of the Goryo deck [2-0]
Game one was actually very close. I Whir'd in a Grafdigger's Cage in response to his Unburial Rites. I didn't know his hand because I drew no discard, but it seemed like I had the lock and it was all said and done, until he got his eighth land and hardcast Ashen Rider, exiling my only maindeck Cage. This meant that he was going to be able to cast all the Unburial Rites he wanted to get more Riders and Woodfall Primus triggers. It took a lot of very tricky milling/exiling with Pyxis to prevent that, and playing multiple Bridges. I eventually just had too many outs to his lines. He could try to destroy my Bridges with Primus, but he didn't have enough lethal on board before I just got them back with Ruins, or he could destroy my Ruins but then not have enough triggers to destroy all of my Bridges, and still didn't have enough lethal, etc. Eventually I just milled him out before he could get there.
Game two I sided out a lot of my discard (he ran maindeck Leylines) and Witchbane Orb, bringing in Welding Jars, Jester's Cap, Seal of Primordium, another Cage, and Torpor Orb. He was playing white, so I expected Stony Silence. This was a match where I really wished I'd had that Ray of Reclamation, as it would have been much better than Abrupt Decay. I Whir in a Cage in response to a Footsteps, which slows his deck down to a crawl. I then Whir in Bridge and Torpor Orb. I let him draw a Needle he'd sided in because I had a Seal of Primordium. If he named Seal, I'm okay, and if he names something else, I just use Seal to remove it, so it was fine. He realizes that Torpor Orb and Bridge lock out the rest of his deck, as his only removal is in the form of ETB effects.
Round 4: ID with EldraziTron into top 4. I felt comfortable that I would win the match, since it's a relatively good matchup, but figured I'd just enjoy my free way into top 4.
Top four consisted of Jund, EldraziTron, Merfolk, and me. I figured that I had a 66% chance of not playing against Jund. Nope, I play against Jund :/
Semifinals: Jund [1-2]
Game one I end up losing to two off-the-top blind Abrupt Decays taking Bridges. Rough going. I side out a lot of discard, siding in Jars, Leylines, Needle.
Game two I win with a quick lock. He kept a hand full of threats, and I ran out a Needle on turn one, naming Liliana of the Veil. He'd kept a hand with one, so Bridge and that Needle bought me the time to assemble the lock. I then carefully milled my opponent and myself, setting up a solid boardstate with both Jars and all three Bridges.
Game three I keep a decent opener with Leyline, Whir, and a Pyxis. I end up Whirring for Lantern first, to try to not allow my opponent to draw any serious answers (like Grudge, which he ran two of). When I did, I saw a Decay on top, exiled it. Pyxis was great because it allowed me to control while keeping two Tarmogoyfs small. However, he happened to already have another Decay in hand and was able to kill me with Goblin Rabblemaster that same turn, before I could Whir for another Bridge (another Whir was on top). I had considered using my first Whir for a Welding Jar, but in hindsight he would have won anyways because then he would have also drawn the second Decay that I'd exiled, so I was dead no matter what I did there.
All fun, altogether. I made my money back.
As for Torpor Orb, I'm very happy with that card. In every game I've Whir'd it in, it's flat out won the game for me. It completely shut down UW Control (focused on Snapcaster Mage, Restoration Angel, Vendilion Clique, and Wall of Omens), that Footsteps deck I talk about above, and the Kiki-Evolution deck I recently faced online. All it takes is one to shut down quite a few cards, so it fills in much like Bridge, Needle, Cage, Orb, etc. Single cards, like Torpor Orb, that can shut out a swathe of the opponents cards has a record of proving very good for the deck. I would highly suggest giving it a shot. I only wish there were some low-cmc artifact with ETB that destroyed artifacts or enchantments, and we'd be set!
Sam Black was rocking a single Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver in his sb he top 8'd GP Santa Clara with. Would love for this to become the norm, it seems real strong in this deck.
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Great report, @Skitzafreak! And congrats on the finish.
FYI guys, as more and more Tezzies have been showing up in Lantern builds, we've been talking about Lantern / Tezzerator hybrids on the Tezzerator primer thread lately. And one guy (shout out @Molz7) took down a 2K tournament with his version of it. Thought you should be aware of this twist. Quoting him. Check it out:
The tournament was a ~2k for a handful of duals. I ended up winning with only a single game loss all day.
Round 1: boggles
Round 2: uw control
Round 3: 4 color control (K commands, counters, snaps, Rev)
Round 4: blue moon breach emrakul
Round 5: living end
Double draw
Quarterfinals: dredge
Semi finals: temur moon
Finals: red black goryo breach
Ancient stirrings was great. I mulliganed a lot to 5 and still won.
Many times I needed thopter combo to win through leyline/emrakul/gideons and lantern portion helped make my draws smoother and post board keep hate away.
Overall very impressed. Many decisions and a long tournament but I had a blast and clearly did very well. Losing 1 game to fused wear tear on my search/foundry and then snap wear tear + ashiok.
I'd suggest giving it a shot!
I ended up 4-0 at a small tournament with this exact list. First time running the thopter nonsense, and its backbreaking.
2-0 blue moon
2-0 etron
2-0 esper mill
2-0 Abzan stuff (I felt bad for this dude, bc I was his second lantern match of the night.)
I sloppily played most of the games and still won. For months I’ve been tinkering with new tech for the lantern, trying to make it faster and/or more resistant to the “punt and die” it does so gracefully. Words cant do this thing justice in my opinion, put this together!
So I found a few cell-linking errors on my spreadsheet while talking with people on reddit, and after fixing it I found some pretty crazy statistics. Turns out, Mox Opal is not performing very well at all. And it's not just sample size. This is from a sample of 418 games with one Opal in the opener. It gets even worse with two Opals in the opener, though the sample size is down to 58 games for this happening. Either way, there is a function in place to account for sample size, and even with that, Opal is performing...not well at all. I think I'm going to start testing with 3 Opals for a bit, and put another land in that spot. The numbers for lands in the opener, both counting and not counting Opal, are virtually the same. Counting "explosive hands", where Opal is turned online immediately, doesn't score very well either.
So I found a few cell-linking errors on my spreadsheet while talking with people on reddit, and after fixing it I found some pretty crazy statistics. Turns out, Mox Opal is not performing very well at all. And it's not just sample size. This is from a sample of 418 games with one Opal in the opener. It gets even worse with two Opals in the opener, though the sample size is down to 58 games for this happening. Either way, there is a function in place to account for sample size, and even with that, Opal is performing...not well at all. I think I'm going to start testing with 3 Opals for a bit, and put another land in that spot. The numbers for lands in the opener, both counting and not counting Opal, are virtually the same. Counting "explosive hands", where Opal is turned online immediately, doesn't score very well either.
So, I am not good with spreadsheets. What exactly am I looking at? lol
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Modern Decks: UBG Lantern Control GBU BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
On the Weighted Data Trends tab, in column A I have each card name or data point I've made a pivot table for. In column B is the number of wins without that card in the opening hand. In column C is the total number of games without that card in the opening hand. Column D calculates the win % with that number.
For Opal, we've won 704 of 994 games in which Opal wasn't in our starting hand, for a 70.82% win percentage.
In column E is the number of wins with one of that card in the opening hand, and column F is the total number of games with that card in the opener. Column G calculates the win % from columns E and F. For Opal, we have 289 wins out of 418 games, coming out to 69.14%.
Column H finds the difference between win % with vs. win % without. Our win % with Opal in the opener went down 1.69%. I also want to weigh that value for sample size, which is what column I does. This function creates a fractional multiplier. It counts the total number of games that the card was in the opening hand and divides this by the total number of games. Column J is the product of the change in win % and the weight fraction multipler, coming out to -0.55% for Opal. This tab does this for all of the cards and data points listed, and I have it color-coded to show the best-to-worst performers. You'll see that Opal is among the worst performers.
So overall the data is showing that we win less games with Mox Opal in our opening hand than we do with Mox Opal not in our opener? That's what I am gathering from you've said (too early in the morning for me too parse all that XD)
So with that in mind, I'd like to throw out a hypothesis.
Do people keep riskier hands because they have a Mox Opal in it? I know personally, that I have kept hands that would have been instant mulligans if the Mox Opal I had, had been a land. However instead I've usually kept the hand because with the Opal I am able to play Lantern + Rock on turn 1. Let me give you an example hand:
There is a good chance I would keep this hand against most decks. Maybe I'm just playing poorly, I don't know, but if that Mox Opal were another land, I'd mulligan this hand, and there are a few reasons for it:
1. With a land instead of Opal, I already know I won't be able to have an empty hand for a Bridge. And this gets even worse if my next card if a land.
2. I can only play Lantern or Shredder turn 1, not both. If I was able to play both I'd be able to get the lock started from my opponent's turn 0 which is great. Having only one of them allows me to either mill a random card from my or my opponent's deck, or I get to see what they and myself are drawing.
I think the draw of getting the start of the lock set up on Turn 1 is a draw that cause a lot of people to keep hands that contain an Opal, which could explain the win percentage drop. It isn't that Opal is bad, it's just that psychologically it makes us play bad.
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Modern Decks: UBG Lantern Control GBU BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
This is all conjecture. The spreadsheet makes suggestions, but it doesn't say why so we have to guess. I have no idea why Shredder is listed so low.
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Hi yeah I know , I meant for post board game for maybe Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas ??
Lantern Control
(with videos)
Uc Tron
Netdecking explained
Netdecking explained, Part 2
On speculators and counterfeits
On Interaction
Every single competitive deck in existence is designed to limit the opponent's ability to interact in a meaningful way.
Record number of exclamation points on SCG homepage: 71 (6 January, 2018)
"I don't want to believe, I want to know."
-Carl Sagan
MODERN – LANTERN (aka Fateseal or Barbershop)
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RG BBE Ponza
UX Eldrazi Tron
UR Jace Breach
Here is the list I ran:
4x Glimmervoid
4x Mox Opal
4x Spire of Industry
3x Botanical Sanctum
3x Darkslick Shores
1x Academy Ruins
1x Inventors' Fair
2x Island
Artifacts:
4x Codex Shredder
4x Lantern of Insight
4x Mishra's Bauble
3x Ensnaring Bridge
2x Pithing Needle
2x Pyxis of Pandemonium
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Pyrite Spellbomb
1x Witchbane Orb
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Whir of Invention
3x Thoughtseize
2x Abrupt Decay
1x Collective Brutality
2x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Pithing Needle
1x Porphyry Nodes
1x Pyroclasm
1x Seal of Primordium
2x Search for Azcanta
2x Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
2x Welding Jar
So let's go over my Rounds, and what I can remember from them.
Round 1 - VS Burn
So the tournament started off a little rough. I got to the tournament venue 10 minutes before the tournament started, but due to bad communication between myself, the judge running the event, and the store holding the event, pairings had already been posted for round 1 as I was finished getting registered. As such I got paired against the player who received the bye for Round 1. Imagine that. You get told you are going to have a free win, only to instead have to play against Lantern Control.
Anyway, game 1 gets under way and I get myself quickly situated with a Lantern and a Shredder. I end up drawing my Witchbane Orb, and by the end of his second turn I've realized he's on a burn only hand since he hasn't played a single creature. As such I don't mill the 2nd Mox Opal I have on top so that I can slam my WItchbane Orb into play on turn 3. He immediately concedes after reading Witchbane Orb.
Game 2 goes about just as well for him unfortunately. Lands a Goblin Guide on turn 1 and hits me with it twice. On my second turn I play an artifact to turn on my Opal, which I then follow with a Collective Brutality for all three modes. Boy was he angry. The board gets to a point where I am at 4 life, neither of us have any cards in hand, I have an Inventors' Fair, and he has a Monastery Swiftspear. Unfortunately for me I don't have enough mana to crack the Fair to look for a Bridge, so I am doing my best to keep him off anything while also finding any moment I can to get myself into a Whir or a Bridge. Eventually I find the remaining lock pieces I need, and he has me mill him out, though 10 minutes were left on the clock so there was no real pressure for me on my end.
Current Record: 1-0
Round 2 VS Jeskai Geist
This was a fun round. Mainly because my opponent seemed actually happy to be playing against Lantern Control. I don't remember the specifics of what happened during the games however.
Current Record: 2-0
Round 3 VS UW Walkers
Another way you could think of this deck is "OOPS! All Gideons!" that also runs Jace, Architect of Thought. Game 1 I kept a hand with 2 discard spells, 2 Ancient Stirrings, a Lantern, and 2 land. Didn't find a single Bridge or Mill Rock, drew 10 more mana sources, and ended up just dying to Gideons and Celestial Colonnade.
Game 2, I start off with a Lantern and Codex Shredder, and then my opponent windmill slams Runed Halo on the board naming my poor Shredder. The turn after I am staring at my hand with a Whir and Pyxis in hand. I have the mana to cast Whir if I need to, but I decided to play the Pyxis. This was a mistake. On my opponent's next turn they play Gideon of the Trials and emblem. I should have held up the Whir so that in response to Gideon I could get a Pithing Needle. But nope, I messed that one up. SO now my Abrupt Decays are taxed with needing to deal with Halo And a Gideon. And then he plays Rest in Peace. And then a Stony Silence. And then I am suddenly wishing I had kept my Engineered Explosives in against his deck. I ended up hitting both of my Decays, but there were too many targets for me to have to deal with. I ended up losing the match to Detention Sphere letting his Gideon attack for lethal.
Current Record: 2-1
Round 4 VS Affinity1
So this round had a lot of interesting lines of play that I am proud of. My opponent starts off Game 1 with an Ornithopter and Signal Pest, which are literally the worst creatures for me to see his start with. He drops a second Pest on turn 2 and I suddenly start to see the writing on the wall. On my third turn I have a Whir in hand with enough artifacts and mana to grab a Bridge. I decide to wait for his turn in case he plays something like Master of Etherium so I can catch him off guard. Instead, he plays a Cranial Plating and equips it to one of the Pests tapping himself out. Sweet. Beginning of Combat I Whir for my Bridge and only have to take 1 damage. On my next turn I untap and play the Pithing Needle I had in hand naming Plating so he can't move it around, and locking that Pest from ever attacking again. Over the next few turns I further establish my lock, get my other Needle which names Arcbound Ravager, and mill his 2 remaining Signal Pests. As soon as I find my Pyrite Spellbomb and kill the Pest in play that can attack he concedes the game.
Game 2 was over quick. Turn 2 he has a Memnite with Plating on it hitting me for 6. I couldn't find a Bridge fast enough and he had a Welding Jar to protect himself from my Abrupt Decay. To game 3 we go!
Game 3 he started off with some Nexuses and a Ravager. When I finally got a discard spell I had to choose between Cranial Plating and Ghirapur Aether Grid. I took the Plating since it kills me a lot faster. Later on I have a lock established, but my opponent is still pinging me for 3 every turn because of that Aether Grid I didn't have him discard. On my turn I draw a Mishra's Bauble, and because of my Lantern I see I have a Whir on top. So I play the Bauble and immediately crack it. On my opponent's upkeep I draw Whir and cast it for 1. I then look at my opponent and ask, "Does Whir resolve?" He says that yes, my Whir resolves. So I grab a Pithing Needle and name Aether Grid. One Judge call later my opponent is picking up his cards after uttering, "F&$% this *****."
Current Record: 3-1
Round 5 - I.D.
Going into Round 5, I had the best breakers of everybody at 3-1. As such, both myself and my opponent (who was just under me) were able to I.D into TOp 8 while everyone else in the 3-1 bracket had to play for them to get in. However for those that did play to get into Top 8, those that won would have the first 2 seats
Top 8 VS Burn
I was nervous going into Top 8. I had no idea what my opponent was playing, and the last time I played this specific player, he was playing Eldrazi Tron with the best luck I have ever had the misfortune of playing against. Turns out this time he was on Burn. He plays a Lava Spike on Turn 1, and I follow up on my Turn 1 with a Lantern. More burn spells on top. Oh boy. His turn 2 he plays another Lava Spike and passes. "He has no second land." I think to myself. On my 2nd turn I play an Inquisition which shows me a hand full of 2 CMC burn spells and a Lightning Bolt. I take the Bolt, play a Codex Shredder, and then proceed to keep him off of land and anything that costs 1 mana. Not going to lie, I didn't let me opponent draw a second land he could use (I ended up Needling 2 of 3 fetchlands he had) until I had Witchbane Orb set up. It was the best feeling ever.
Game 2 I get a stranglehold on my opponent pretty quickly, but I don't have a Bridge. I'm essentially surviving off of having millrocks with a lantern, and some early discard spells. He has 2 Grim Lavamancers and Swiftspear that are doing a number on my life total. And here is my favourite moment of the day. It is my turn. My opponent has Exquisite Firecraft on top of his library. I will be drawing a Whir of Invention of my next turn. I am at 11 life with a Bridge in play. At the end of my turn my opponent uses his one untapped Lavamancer to put me down to 9. I do the math in my head, concluding he can only put me to 1, and I'd rather him have a sorcery speed burn spell as opposed to an instant speed one since I want to try to catch some type of Burn with my Whir next turn grabbing Witchbane Orb. He draws, firecrafts me down to 5, then uses one of his lavamancers. I'm at 3. So I mill a couple burn cards off the top of his deck and untap and draw my Whir of Invention. And then it hits me. I need to use a Spire of Industry for blue mana to cast the Whir. Meaning my opponent can just respond and kill me with Lavamancer. The only way for me to pull this off is for me to pass the turn, and hope that my opponent tries to use Lavamancer at the end of my turn. Thus I'll be free to Whir for my Witchbane and keep myself alive. So I pull off my best poker face ever and proceed to pass the turn. My opponent takes the bait and activates Lavamancer. BAM! Whir for Witchbane! After shuffling the top card of my library is my Inventors' Fair and I know that I have this game in the bag. My opponent ends up conceding a few turns later. I am so glad I was not only able to find the small way to victory I had through the immense mistake I made, but that I was also lucky enough to have it work out for me.
Top 4 VS UB Control
You know what is really annoying? When your opponent immediately realizes his Snapcasters are better suited to start attacking you as soon as possible, and your opponent has a grip full of counter spells. It's really hard to win games through multiple Cryptic Commands when you can't draw any discard
Overall I had a great time at the tournament and am glad that I've finally been able to put up some good results with Lantern. This has really invigorated me with concerns to playing competitively. Don't know if any of you watch them, but I'll be trying to upload a lot more Lantern Control content on my YouTube channel in the future
Modern Decks:
UBG Lantern Control GBU
BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks
UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU
BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
MODERN – LANTERN (aka Fateseal or Barbershop)
Primer – Subreddit – Facebook – Decklist – Gameplay
Thnkr's Content: Gameplay – Datasheet
Each eye sees a different possibility for tomorrow.
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FYI guys, as more and more Tezzies have been showing up in Lantern builds, we've been talking about Lantern / Tezzerator hybrids on the Tezzerator primer thread lately. And one guy (shout out @Molz7) took down a 2K tournament with his version of it. Thought you should be aware of this twist. Quoting him. Check it out:
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
MODERN – LANTERN (aka Fateseal or Barbershop)
Primer – Subreddit – Facebook – Decklist – Gameplay
Thnkr's Content: Gameplay – Datasheet
Each eye sees a different possibility for tomorrow.
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Been playing BG Lantern since the release of Kaladesh and now trying to play the Whir Version. So far I was only playtesting with a couple of friends abd a few local tourneys. Has anyone feel like its more difficult to empty your hand than the BG version ? I mean I was practicing on fast decks like burn and storm, sometimes I am one turn away from bridge or I have bridge but I still have cards on my hand, or I am one turn away from casting whir to witchbane orb. I am not saying though that BG version is better, I mean the times I won is because at times the deck is very consistent
I must admit that I am also trying to learn the new sideboard cards. Anyone can share the thought process on Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver Liliana of the Veil as sideboard cards for Grixis Death Shadow and Tron ? Is it still fine to side in Leylines on Grixis Death shadow and what to sideout besides lantern ?
Lantern Control
(with videos)
Uc Tron
Netdecking explained
Netdecking explained, Part 2
On speculators and counterfeits
On Interaction
Every single competitive deck in existence is designed to limit the opponent's ability to interact in a meaningful way.
Record number of exclamation points on SCG homepage: 71 (6 January, 2018)
"I don't want to believe, I want to know."
-Carl Sagan
MODERN – LANTERN (aka Fateseal or Barbershop)
Primer – Subreddit – Facebook – Decklist – Gameplay
Thnkr's Content: Gameplay – Datasheet
Each eye sees a different possibility for tomorrow.
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I do have some interesting stuff to share. I got to play a paper event again. Last one was States, early 2017
Round 1: Bye. Well then...
Round 2: MonoB Devotion [2-0]
I could have lost game one to a punt, playing my second Needle and naming a fetch instead of Leechridden Swamp, but Inventors' Fair saved me when I was at two life, so opp would put me to one life, I'd gain it back, etc. Whir'd for Witchbane and that shut down the rest of his deck along with Bridge. Game two I'm able to get a quick lock and Bridge, easy day.
Round 3: Footsteps of the Goryo deck [2-0]
Game one was actually very close. I Whir'd in a Grafdigger's Cage in response to his Unburial Rites. I didn't know his hand because I drew no discard, but it seemed like I had the lock and it was all said and done, until he got his eighth land and hardcast Ashen Rider, exiling my only maindeck Cage. This meant that he was going to be able to cast all the Unburial Rites he wanted to get more Riders and Woodfall Primus triggers. It took a lot of very tricky milling/exiling with Pyxis to prevent that, and playing multiple Bridges. I eventually just had too many outs to his lines. He could try to destroy my Bridges with Primus, but he didn't have enough lethal on board before I just got them back with Ruins, or he could destroy my Ruins but then not have enough triggers to destroy all of my Bridges, and still didn't have enough lethal, etc. Eventually I just milled him out before he could get there.
Game two I sided out a lot of my discard (he ran maindeck Leylines) and Witchbane Orb, bringing in Welding Jars, Jester's Cap, Seal of Primordium, another Cage, and Torpor Orb. He was playing white, so I expected Stony Silence. This was a match where I really wished I'd had that Ray of Reclamation, as it would have been much better than Abrupt Decay. I Whir in a Cage in response to a Footsteps, which slows his deck down to a crawl. I then Whir in Bridge and Torpor Orb. I let him draw a Needle he'd sided in because I had a Seal of Primordium. If he named Seal, I'm okay, and if he names something else, I just use Seal to remove it, so it was fine. He realizes that Torpor Orb and Bridge lock out the rest of his deck, as his only removal is in the form of ETB effects.
Round 4: ID with EldraziTron into top 4. I felt comfortable that I would win the match, since it's a relatively good matchup, but figured I'd just enjoy my free way into top 4.
Top four consisted of Jund, EldraziTron, Merfolk, and me. I figured that I had a 66% chance of not playing against Jund. Nope, I play against Jund :/
Semifinals: Jund [1-2]
Game one I end up losing to two off-the-top blind Abrupt Decays taking Bridges. Rough going. I side out a lot of discard, siding in Jars, Leylines, Needle.
Game two I win with a quick lock. He kept a hand full of threats, and I ran out a Needle on turn one, naming Liliana of the Veil. He'd kept a hand with one, so Bridge and that Needle bought me the time to assemble the lock. I then carefully milled my opponent and myself, setting up a solid boardstate with both Jars and all three Bridges.
Game three I keep a decent opener with Leyline, Whir, and a Pyxis. I end up Whirring for Lantern first, to try to not allow my opponent to draw any serious answers (like Grudge, which he ran two of). When I did, I saw a Decay on top, exiled it. Pyxis was great because it allowed me to control while keeping two Tarmogoyfs small. However, he happened to already have another Decay in hand and was able to kill me with Goblin Rabblemaster that same turn, before I could Whir for another Bridge (another Whir was on top). I had considered using my first Whir for a Welding Jar, but in hindsight he would have won anyways because then he would have also drawn the second Decay that I'd exiled, so I was dead no matter what I did there.
All fun, altogether. I made my money back.
As for Torpor Orb, I'm very happy with that card. In every game I've Whir'd it in, it's flat out won the game for me. It completely shut down UW Control (focused on Snapcaster Mage, Restoration Angel, Vendilion Clique, and Wall of Omens), that Footsteps deck I talk about above, and the Kiki-Evolution deck I recently faced online. All it takes is one to shut down quite a few cards, so it fills in much like Bridge, Needle, Cage, Orb, etc. Single cards, like Torpor Orb, that can shut out a swathe of the opponents cards has a record of proving very good for the deck. I would highly suggest giving it a shot. I only wish there were some low-cmc artifact with ETB that destroyed artifacts or enchantments, and we'd be set!
Lantern Control
(with videos)
Uc Tron
Netdecking explained
Netdecking explained, Part 2
On speculators and counterfeits
On Interaction
Every single competitive deck in existence is designed to limit the opponent's ability to interact in a meaningful way.
Record number of exclamation points on SCG homepage: 71 (6 January, 2018)
"I don't want to believe, I want to know."
-Carl Sagan
RG BBE Ponza
UX Eldrazi Tron
UR Jace Breach
MODERN – LANTERN (aka Fateseal or Barbershop)
Primer – Subreddit – Facebook – Decklist – Gameplay
Thnkr's Content: Gameplay – Datasheet
Each eye sees a different possibility for tomorrow.
CWUBBCCCCCCCBGBGBGCCCCCCCGGURC
Lantern Control
(with videos)
Uc Tron
Netdecking explained
Netdecking explained, Part 2
On speculators and counterfeits
On Interaction
Every single competitive deck in existence is designed to limit the opponent's ability to interact in a meaningful way.
Record number of exclamation points on SCG homepage: 71 (6 January, 2018)
"I don't want to believe, I want to know."
-Carl Sagan
So, I am not good with spreadsheets. What exactly am I looking at? lol
Modern Decks:
UBG Lantern Control GBU
BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks
UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU
BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
For Opal, we've won 704 of 994 games in which Opal wasn't in our starting hand, for a 70.82% win percentage.
In column E is the number of wins with one of that card in the opening hand, and column F is the total number of games with that card in the opener. Column G calculates the win % from columns E and F. For Opal, we have 289 wins out of 418 games, coming out to 69.14%.
Column H finds the difference between win % with vs. win % without. Our win % with Opal in the opener went down 1.69%. I also want to weigh that value for sample size, which is what column I does. This function creates a fractional multiplier. It counts the total number of games that the card was in the opening hand and divides this by the total number of games. Column J is the product of the change in win % and the weight fraction multipler, coming out to -0.55% for Opal. This tab does this for all of the cards and data points listed, and I have it color-coded to show the best-to-worst performers. You'll see that Opal is among the worst performers.
Lantern Control
(with videos)
Uc Tron
Netdecking explained
Netdecking explained, Part 2
On speculators and counterfeits
On Interaction
Every single competitive deck in existence is designed to limit the opponent's ability to interact in a meaningful way.
Record number of exclamation points on SCG homepage: 71 (6 January, 2018)
"I don't want to believe, I want to know."
-Carl Sagan
So with that in mind, I'd like to throw out a hypothesis.
Do people keep riskier hands because they have a Mox Opal in it? I know personally, that I have kept hands that would have been instant mulligans if the Mox Opal I had, had been a land. However instead I've usually kept the hand because with the Opal I am able to play Lantern + Rock on turn 1. Let me give you an example hand:
Lantern of Insight, Codex Shredder, Mishra's Bauble, Mox Opal, Glimmervoid, Botanical Sanctum, Spire of Industry
There is a good chance I would keep this hand against most decks. Maybe I'm just playing poorly, I don't know, but if that Mox Opal were another land, I'd mulligan this hand, and there are a few reasons for it:
1. With a land instead of Opal, I already know I won't be able to have an empty hand for a Bridge. And this gets even worse if my next card if a land.
2. I can only play Lantern or Shredder turn 1, not both. If I was able to play both I'd be able to get the lock started from my opponent's turn 0 which is great. Having only one of them allows me to either mill a random card from my or my opponent's deck, or I get to see what they and myself are drawing.
I think the draw of getting the start of the lock set up on Turn 1 is a draw that cause a lot of people to keep hands that contain an Opal, which could explain the win percentage drop. It isn't that Opal is bad, it's just that psychologically it makes us play bad.
Modern Decks:
UBG Lantern Control GBU
BRG Bridge-Vine GRB
Commander Decks
UBG Muldrotha, Value Elemental GBU
BRG Windgrace Real-Estate Ltd. GRB
#PayThePros
MODERN – LANTERN (aka Fateseal or Barbershop)
Primer – Subreddit – Facebook – Decklist – Gameplay
Thnkr's Content: Gameplay – Datasheet
Each eye sees a different possibility for tomorrow.
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