Ok as the day goes on the spoiler below will contain the match summaries.
Round 10 jeskai nahiri (0-2) major foods both games. .again I have always advocated for 23 lands but I have flooded out 3+consecutive labs draws in a row, had over 13 lands played game 2 with one pocket of 3 lands in a row and another of 4. When all I needed was a single creature but by the time I got through the flood opponent had plenty of removal I may stay trying 21land build
Round 11 beat Landen 2 1 Gabe one they went off Game 2 I got all the Haye with leyline and stony, Game 3 he kept a questionable hand and I win easily after mull to 5
Round 12 wb non taxes eldrazi:o won the early Gabe but 2 souls each game and 2 to 3 strangler's got me.
I went 5-4 in L.A and went 1-3 against jund. I think the problem is that they just out removal us. Stranglers can't take out goyfs and that's the problem because path has to be saved for kalitas. One thing that is effective is rest in pace. dropping that with goyfs on board is great. I might bring in dismembers or even doom blades to keep up with them. I've been considering testing a kalitas because I want to do what they do with it. Reality smasher is graeat too. I ran one and i'm thinking of testing two.
MB:
-4 Isolated Chapel
-1 Thalia
-1 Wasteland Strangler
+4 Caves of Koilos
+1 Eldrazi Displacer
+1 Mangara of Corondor
SB:
-1 Relic of Progenitus
+1 Disenchant
The eldrazi switch followed after putting in corondor. Corondor was because I was expecting a lot of Nahiri and Lantern.
Losses were to Lantern (punted), and twice to Jund (I honestly don't know how to win this match-up).
Apologies in advance for any spelling/formatting, I'm on my phone.
I have the same problem, is almost impossible beat JUND
I used to face the same problem with Jund - couldn't seem to win at all. 1 thing I've learnt from this forum though is that Jund's manabase is really weak. ALWAYS attack their red source with GQ. They never have any basic mountains (at least so far for me). If you have an arbiter out when you GQ them on turn 3 or so, it really sets them back quite abit. They're stretched also trying to find the BB for Lili.
If you have Reality Smashers - bring them in they outclass all of Jund's creatures besides a fat Scooze, Finks are good vs Lili edict, and Burrenton Forge-Tender / Kor Firewalker will help protect your important creatures. Flickerwisp also helps to reset an Ooze.
MB:
-4 Isolated Chapel
-1 Thalia
-1 Wasteland Strangler
+4 Caves of Koilos
+1 Eldrazi Displacer
+1 Mangara of Corondor
SB:
-1 Relic of Progenitus
+1 Disenchant
The eldrazi switch followed after putting in corondor. Corondor was because I was expecting a lot of Nahiri and Lantern.
Losses were to Lantern (punted), and twice to Jund (I honestly don't know how to win this match-up).
Apologies in advance for any spelling/formatting, I'm on my phone.
I have the same problem, is almost impossible beat JUND
I used to face the same problem with Jund - couldn't seem to win at all. 1 thing I've learnt from this forum though is that Jund's manabase is really weak. ALWAYS attack their red source with GQ. They never have any basic mountains (at least so far for me). If you have an arbiter out when you GQ them on turn 3 or so, it really sets them back quite abit. They're stretched also trying to find the BB for Lili.
If you have Reality Smashers - bring them in they outclass all of Jund's creatures besides a fat Scooze, Finks are good vs Lili edict, and Burrenton Forge-Tender / Kor Firewalker will help protect your important creatures. Flickerwisp also helps to reset an Ooze.
I think the green decks have it easier vs control/midrange, either with the help of oath of nissa (like in my version) or eternal witness (like Jendo87's version and in my sideboard) which are both excellent at grinding value. When i was on straight w/b i had a hard time beating those decks too. For those in that position maybe adding more value stuff would help, like wall of omens? I'm sure there's a way to fix this...
Hey all. I day 2'd my first GP at Charlotte (6-2-1) with a B/W Eldrazi Taxes build. What follows is a LONG report of just the first 9 rounds (I 1-2/dropped on day 2 and didn't want to write more), so if it's too much, let me know, and I won't post such an exhaustive report again.
Game 1 Saw Groundbreaker, Primal Forcemage, Uktabi Drake, backed up by Summoner’s Pact to recharge the hand and deal a final blow. You know what kills a green Ball Lightning, though? A 2/1 first strike Thalia. And I only needed one. She cut off all of his ground attacks.
Game 2 Lost because I didn’t read the card Timbermare and recognize that it tapped ALL creatures, including my blockers. I took something non-lethal with a drawstep-vialed Sculler and knew I messed up when I saw the look on my opponent’s face. I thought I had him dead on a crackback after a block. Lesson learned: always read cards you don’t know.
Game 3 I won easily off of a double Temple, Thought Knot into Smasher draw.
Round 2 W 2-1 Kiki-Chord
Game 1 Aggro’d him out fairly quickly. The power of Reality Smasher is not to be underestimated. Combo pieces I Path to Exile’d as they came up.
Game 2 Lost a grindy matchup to infinite Redcap after a great Collected Company + Chord from him. My opponent started to become tilted when I kept vialing in Tidehollows and Thought-Knots on his draw step to exile relevant cards.
Game 3 Attrition battle from the get-go. Purges, Paths, Ghost Quarters to kill his Ravines and relevant lands. I had a plan to keep him off of green after he stumbled on mana, and it saved me. He didn’t have enough sources open to Chord for a couple of turns. Smasher into Smasher. Stole a win at 7 life with no cards left in hand.
Round 3 W 2-0 Burn
Game 1 Kept a land light hand and was actually relieved to see Goblin Guide (it gave me two lands). After it lost its usefulness, I lived the dream and Wasteland Strangler’d a Rift Bolt.
Game 2 Sided in Kor Firewalker, 2x Celestial Purge, 2x Timely Reinforcements, Spellskite. Took out 3x Leonin Arbiters, Relic, and 2x Thoughtseizes to speed up my clock. Mulliganed a slow hand into a 6 with Timely. He Destructive Revelried a T1 Vial from me, and got me to 5 by his Turn 3, but I cast Timely the following turn that was able to stabilize me. I also wound up Ghost Quartering two of my own lands to get enough to activate Shambling Vent AND leave Path up. I felt like I needed a Fetid Heath in the deck instead of one Plains, maybe.
An interesting interaction came up where he attacked into a Kor Firewalker. I should’ve known something was up, but I didn’t know yet that a Skullcrack negates protection effects, because those are considered “damage prevention.” Cool to know.
Round 4 Draw Grixis Delver
Game 1 T1 Aether Vial on the play basically eliminated half the cards in his hand (counter spells). Quick and dirty. Smasher, again, was an all star. I quite honestly don’t know how I would’ve won half of my games without it.
Game 2 Trading blows with man-lands. Slogfest draw-go where we eliminated each other’s threats, and I made a mistake again with my rookie-ness not reading a card I didn’t know, Goblin Darkdweller. I left one blocker back. MENACE, sigh. I know … make fun of me, but also recognize that I’m a Commander player who never expected to win one game, much less make a Day 2 of my first Grand Prix with a deck I’d literally put together the day before.
Game 3 Vial an all-star again. Exiling all relevant cards from his hand during drawsteps. Unfortunely, we went to time, and neither of us could finish one another off. I had him at 6 with a Vent that had been attacking steadily.
Round 5 W 2-1 Mono-Blue Tron
Game 1 Blistering start. Thalia, TKS, into Smasher. GG.
Game 2 Got him to 6 before he stabilized and landed a Wurmcoil. I had a Smasher but I was also fighting against a Karn, managed to get it off of the board with a Vialed-in Flickerwisp, bounce your blocker, let trample damage through shenanigans. It was too much, though. He found Ulamog and I scooped.
Game 3 This game was my favorite. T1 Vial. T2 Thalia, T3 TKS. One white mana open, and he attempts a Dismember on TKS, taking 4 damage to do so. I Mana Tithe’d it (my favorite sideboard tech by a long shot – it singlehandedly won me three matches). He was stunned, just shook his head. “Good deck, bro.” Later I heard him telling the story to his friend, so I’m glad he got something out fun out of it. We laughed about it despite losing never really being fun for anyone who’s 4-0-1 and competitive
Round 6 L 0-2 Jund
Game 1 2x Terminates, Thoughtseize, Inquisition, Kolaghan’s Command in his opening hand just dismantled any forward moment I had. I Path’d one Kalitas, but his second one landed unanswered, and he ran away with it.
Game 2 Close, but my luck with top-deck Smashers ran out. Got him to 4 and we went draw-go for a while with a sideboard Rest in Peace keeping his Goyfs and Snaps pretty useless. I had a chance to Path a Goyf early, but I didn’t take it and should’ve. Once he had an opening to kill the Rest in Peace, his Goyf quickly grew to a 4/5 and he was able to Thoughtseize my Path. I’m sure I played this wrong, but I can’t remember the exact sequence which made me want to tap out … I think it was greed and a Shambling Vent. Him being so low made me do something stupid, and I paid the price.
Round 7 L 1-2 Jund
Game 1 He grew a giant Scavenging Ooze. Saw a Damnation before dying, but I drew no removal for his 7-power Scooze. Game over for me.
Game 2 Decided to play smart and not over-extend after seeing Damnation. Leonin Arbiter was an all-star. I was Path-ing and Ghost Quartering him into oblivion. The single bear almost got there on his own attacking for five straight turns while I kept my opponent off of his mana and protected it from removal via Vial and Flickerwisp. Top deck Smasher sealed it.
Game 3 Felt good about my hand. T1 Vial BUT he had three discard spells right off the bat and just dismantled me. I made a mistake and played a Leonin unnecessarily into an Anger of the Gods. No excuse or reasoning. I knew he had it … no idea what I was thinking. I don’t know if that cost me the game, as I was playing on the back foot for a lot of it, but I noted it as a stupid decision and promised to not do it again, nonetheless.
Round 8 W 2-1 Nahiri Harbinger
Game 1 Grindy, but I lost to a Snapcaster basically … 19, 17, 15, 11, 9, 7, 5 reads my life total. Final nail … Emrakul. I was trying to draw out removal with Bears, and bounce-reset his Nahiri via Flickerwisp, which I succeeded at, but I spent so much on resources doing it that she didn’t take too long to get back up to ultimate.
Game 2 I felt great in this matchup after sideboard, honestly. 2x Celestial Purge, 2x Rest in Peace, Surgical Extraction, and Pithing Needle in for 4x Sculler, Strangler, and 1 Smasher. I found the Scullers pretty inept in the matchup game 1 since they’d get bolted away easily and really only provided a bad speedbump to his main win-con. It worked out. Vial and Thalia should be in your opening hand if you can get it … they both really mess this deck up. And Celestial Colonnade stands no chance against Ghost Quarters. Vialed Smasher sealed the deal.
Game 3 He drew the Emrakul. I took apart his hand otherwise. We still wound up trading back and forth for a while (removal, creature, removal, counter, etc), and by this time, his friends had gathered around and we were stalemated. Top deck Thought Knot. Vialed in on draw step. Top Deck Reality Smasher. Vialed in. And unbelieveably (I even showed his friend the card before I even looked at it, and his reaction was all I needed – Smasher). Much laughter. Great example of how you can enjoy a game even if it doesn’t go your way. Shout out to Preston if you read this.
Round 9 W 2-1 Nahiri Harbinger
Game 1 Took him out in the first game with a protected bear. We were both drawing some blanks. Sorry I can’t remember the specifics, but his life total tells a story – 10, 8, 6, 4, 2. It was also a 25 minute game, so I know it was grindy, and my opponent was pretty upset with me for calling a judge to clarify whether or not cards exiled with Displacer could be instead-speed processed with a Vialed in Strangler. (No, they can’t.) “You should know what your cards do,” is a paraphrase of what he said. I agreed. And then he died.
Game 2 He took early control and Emrakuled me before I scooped up.
Game 3 We were rushing to finish in 14 minutes. It went to time. I killed him with exactsies on Turn 5 of extra turns. I must be the Top Deck king … extra turn 1 Smasher (which he paid dearly to remove) into a winning extra-turn 3 draw of Thought-Knot that I Vialed in to an empty board on his draw step and took his last card (Anger of the Gods, I believe) with it so that I could swing on my final turn 5 for the 4 I needed to take it. He then lectured me about how to play modern “at this level.” I just let him go with it, and apologized for any slow play, noting that I was new to the deck and only had one modern challenge even the day before to practice it.
In the back of my mind, though, after having played a Grixis Delver and three Harbinger builds, I couldn’t help but think that if you didn’t want the games to draw on forever, you shouldn’t play a U/R deck that literally just stops people from advancing the game state and tries to win the damage race with man-lands and a 2/1 wizard.
DAY 2!!!! 6-2-1 ... I went 1-2 and dropped on Day 2 because I was totally exhausted by then (you heard about the terrible Day 1 games going 'til midnight, right?), but I did finally have a good game against JUND in my half-asleep state and didn’t feel totally at a loss against them for my one win.
Thanks again for all the people who put work into this deck. I love it and had a ton of fun playing it. I plan on getting it online soon so that I can start perfecting it and working towards another GP. Final thought is the 4 Vials, 22 Lands, and MD Smashers felt great to me. Also, Mana Tithe is SPECTACULARLY fun. I Mana Tithed a T2 Goyf, an important Cryptic Command v. Jeskai, and 4-damage Dismember v. Mono Blue Tron. Each time, it felt like that one card both put my opponent in the frame of mind where they hesitated with everything thereafter, and I also felt like those counters swung the game my way. I would definitely recommend one in the SB to bring in when you're on the draw, as you will most likely be behind, and it can save you from getting crushed by a speedy deck that's tapping out.
Ok so for those of you that had followed I went into day two at 6-3 then went 1-2 day two and dropped. A lot of flooding issues, but after the initial tilt, I realized these type of things just happen (just wish it wasn't at a GP) and that 23 lands has done me good much more than bad in the combined 2 years or so that I have played death and taxes. What I am excited about is after I dropped from the main event I go the brewing itch and decided to go with a Mono-white eldrazi death and taxes list, so i got out my box of death and taxes options and brewed up the following, probably still needs some tuning but it was enough to go 2-0 then split prizes in a 8-man beating jeskai nahiri and burn. The main spot I am thinking of changing is the Phyrexian revoker spot in the main, just figured I would plug it in so that I could get in the event. Honestly i have just as much fun tuning and brewing as i do playing the actual deck. The sideboard (for comparative reasons) was the same I used in the main event and was not optimized for the eldrazi build. So here it is
After consideration i am highly considering adding 2x ghostfire blade to the deck as a few more 1 drops on top of vial. It attaches to 13 creatures (16 if you count mutavault) and even late game is easily cast with thalia in play. maybe too cute but i will probably try this at a smaller tournament to see how it goes.
Notes from GP
Mirran crusader: Variance was a bit too high. Great against coco and infect (presumably jund/junk) and the nythos green build, but bad in other matches since bolt is still very much a force in modern, and many times he can just be chumped by snapcasters and the like. Still probably a good sideboard choice but only main in the right meta.
The deck performed much more consistently with the 3rd mutavault over the 1x sea gate wreckage.
arbiter won a few games on it's own, and even in games it didn't win it still did a good job time walking opponents which gives us the tempo we need.
Mindcensor same as arbiter was nice to have and picks up the slack in the mid game where arbiter starts to become less relevant also pushes damage through the air and provides immediate pressure after a board wipe.
Militant did a decent job. A couple games drew him late and was sad, but always happy to see early game and at times in the mid game. Hates on snappy, tarmogoyf, and lingering souls (which is still hard for mono white to fight though.)
Nice list, I'm definitely going to check it out. I've been doing a lot of playtesting with Wb Eldrazi & Taxes, and the mana issues were really hard to ignore. Giving up Tidehollow Sculler and Wasteland Strangler might not be as bad as I thought it would be. I'll try your list and see what happens. In place of hand disruption we get some nice additions. What about Serra Avenger? Though I will admit flickering Blade Splicer is quite the benefit. Eating Ancestral Visions was fun, but it required too many stars to align.
Nice list, I'm definitely going to check it out. I've been doing a lot of playtesting with Wb Eldrazi & Taxes, and the mana issues were really hard to ignore. Giving up Tidehollow Sculler and Wasteland Strangler might not be as bad as I thought it would be. I'll try your list and see what happens. In place of hand disruption we get some nice additions. What about Serra Avenger? Though I will admit flickering Blade Splicer is quite the benefit. Eating Ancestral Vision was fun, but it required too many stars to align.
I love avenger, she is amazing off vial, but still dies to bolt and I was trying to keep WW to a minimum and variance or dependent cards to a minimum as well. it could definitely be in the revoker slot if you like it. Again this is a list I am going to attempt to make competitive and with my first test drive of it, definitely has some potential but don't take it as a battle-hardened deck just yet. As always I will post results as go to tournaments through out the weeks.
Yeah, I'm going to do a lot of testing too. I'll try to report back here so we can help each other sort out some of the shortcomings. Testing with you original build now, and I'm loving it.
MB:
-4 Isolated Chapel
-1 Thalia
-1 Wasteland Strangler
+4 Caves of Koilos
+1 Eldrazi Displacer
+1 Mangara of Corondor
SB:
-1 Relic of Progenitus
+1 Disenchant
The eldrazi switch followed after putting in corondor. Corondor was because I was expecting a lot of Nahiri and Lantern.
Losses were to Lantern (punted), and twice to Jund (I honestly don't know how to win this match-up).
Apologies in advance for any spelling/formatting, I'm on my phone.
I have the same problem, is almost impossible beat JUND
I used to face the same problem with Jund - couldn't seem to win at all. 1 thing I've learnt from this forum though is that Jund's manabase is really weak. ALWAYS attack their red source with GQ. They never have any basic mountains (at least so far for me). If you have an arbiter out when you GQ them on turn 3 or so, it really sets them back quite abit. They're stretched also trying to find the BB for Lili.
If you have Reality Smashers - bring them in they outclass all of Jund's creatures besides a fat Scooze, Finks are good vs Lili edict, and Burrenton Forge-Tender / Kor Firewalker will help protect your important creatures. Flickerwisp also helps to reset an Ooze.
I know all those things, but usually they're just able to kill my Leonin then all the rest of the things, as well as disrupt my hand and use Kommand to auto 2-1 (Vial + any creature but TK, Tidehollow + something else). I'm not playing Reality Smashers because I don't like having a 5 drop in the deck, but I could definitely see how they'd be good in the matchup (especially given TK feels like the best card there right now).
I'm sorry you had a jerk for your last game. I'm hoping it was just because everyone was tired and hungry by that point. You played pretty good "at this level", so bravo!
@HugeElfBoy (and others brewing in monoW-drazi D&T) Any thoughts on a 1-of Wasteland Strangler nanosplash? Looking at those manabase failure tables and treating 4xVials as "4 lands" with 1xStrangler on the top axis it looks like only an 8% failure rate (i.e. 92% of the times you draw a Strangler in your opening hand you'll be able to vial it out). I'm pretty sure the math still works that way. Its definitely putting more pressure on vial staying online, but the numbers are better than I would have thought.
That's ignoring any other changes like Plains-->Caves, which would be a pain(land). (But jokes aside, 4 black sources gives a similar 8% chance for a Turn-3 hardcast failure.)
I'm trying it out (in a WC-only land base) but have only put in a few games so far and haven't drawn the beast yet. Of course I imagine I'll like topdecking Strangler with a vial online well enough- but I'm really wondering how jarring those 8% of games will be to draw Strangler without a vial out and knowing there's no black anywhere in the deck.
I'm sorry you had a jerk for your last game. I'm hoping it was just because everyone was tired and hungry by that point. You played pretty good "at this level", so bravo!
No worries Esplanade. I am a counselor by trade so I used some "de-escalation" skills to make the salty less salty. He flew in early that morning and had little sleep. Understandable that by midnight, losing a win and in game to a top Decker like me, he'd be disappointed in himself. Hopefully in the future, I'll get better at the deck and he'll get better at dealing with lucksacks. Variance!
I'm 6-3 in day two of GP LA with Eldrazi Taxes. I worked a lot on developing the older WB version, came back to it again with eldrazi addition.
I know all those things, but usually they're just able to kill my Leonin then all the rest of the things, as well as disrupt my hand and use Kommand to auto 2-1 (Vial + any creature but TK, Tidehollow + something else). I'm not playing Reality Smashers because I don't like having a 5 drop in the deck, but I could definitely see how they'd be good in the matchup (especially given TK feels like the best card there right now).
Hi Skeet. I loved having three of them in my deck vs. Jund, and I only ran 22 lands. There were turns where I needed a land, but Reality Smasher overperformed for me all day. Having three in the main always felt like it was my out, and I won a lot of stalemates by topdecking it. Against the decks that ran Bolt-style removal, they really had to expend a lot of resources to get rid of him.
My successes vs. Jund (won 1 match and four games in total) out of four matches came from aggressive, early Ghost Quarters and Path to Exiles with Leonin on the field, ol' Smashee just smashing face, and SB Rest in Peace, Celestial Purge. I wouldn't give up on the matchup. I don't think it's a great % for us, but my feeling after those four matches is that it's decent enough if we don't overextend and play a long, slow game just sticking a threat and trying to protect it, while working the red mana denial angle. This strategy also worked well for me against Delver. I ran that guy out of basics.
Hey, I don't think I've ever posted here, but I've been playing death and taxes (the mono white version) for awhile now, and living in North Carolina now, decided I should have my first gp ever be GP Charolette.
I ended day one at 7-2 after facing a bad last two rounds, but started day two at 9-2 after two rounds. I quickly found myself running out of steam as I got two losses back to back and ended up just dropping at 9-4.
My deck was a little unconventional because I attempted to meta, and some worked amazingly, others are the reason I didn't do so well. I'll add spoiler tags with deck lists and the match ups after I write it all up here.
As a quick note. Brimaz was easily the reason I won most of my matches. People showed me there hands after full of just bad cards like bolt or anger or pyroclasm or gut shot and it really felt good.
Why the hell i choosed this deck, that lose everytime to jund and coco, like the most 2 popular deck, going to re sell instantly this *****.
Yes, the deck can be frustrating to play. It is not an easy deck. You have to remember that D&T is a meta deck. If you want to have success you need to make adjustments. You can tune the deck to dominant Jund and Coco, but it will cost you against others.
As a quick note. Brimaz was easily the reason I won most of my matches. People showed me there hands after full of just bad cards like bolt or anger or pyroclasm or gut shot and it really felt good.
Yes, 3/4 are very hard to remove for most decks. That is the reason I still play 3-4 Resto Angels. 3/4 flying with flash even without blinking something for value is awesome. I used Brimaz for a little while. My issue was he had no evasion and with only 3 power could not get past x/4 blockers. I have not tried him since the Splinter Twin ban (exarch once being the main x/4 blocker). With the increase in bolts flying around, might be time to try Brimaz again!
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My Modern decks: Death and Taxes, Hatebears, Well Oiled Machine, Merfolk, Nyx Wave, Soul Sisters, Stompy, Matyr Proc, Naya Zoo, Robots (I refuse to call it affinity!), Bogles, Kiki Chord
@HugeElfBoy (and others brewing in monoW-drazi D&T) Any thoughts on a 1-of Wasteland Strangler nanosplash? Looking at those manabase failure tables and treating 4xVials as "4 lands" with 1xStrangler on the top axis it looks like only an 8% failure rate (i.e. 92% of the times you draw a Strangler in your opening hand you'll be able to vial it out). I'm pretty sure the math still works that way. Its definitely putting more pressure on vial staying online, but the numbers are better than I would have thought.
That's ignoring any other changes like Plains-->Caves, which would be a pain(land). (But jokes aside, 4 black sources gives a similar 8% chance for a Turn-3 hardcast failure.)
I'm trying it out (in a WC-only land base) but have only put in a few games so far and haven't drawn the beast yet. Of course I imagine I'll like top-decking Strangler with a vial online well enough- but I'm really wondering how jarring those 8% of games will be to draw Strangler without a vial out and knowing there's no black anywhere in the deck.
I would have to ask charons or something like that to run the math, but it seems reasonable to cast on a micro splash, but I want to try a steady mono-white eldrazi for a few weeks before adding or subtracting from it, just to get the feel of it in actual games before i start tweaking to up the power level or meta-game. The sideboard definitely needs a to be optimized to the list though. 2 more smasher needs to be in side against mid range and control, he was an al star versus nahiri control due to they can;t protect nahiri with a snapcaster chump block. maybe instead of pain lands if you would like to try, Cavern of Souls can be cast early to ensure tour taxers hit and flickered late to eldrazi to make sure you can cast the strangler and make sure your late games bombs hit the field.
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I always valued Deathandcatmix's opinion when working on it before, so I just grabbed his list from here: http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=12115&d=269483&f=MO
I swapped:
MB:
-4 Isolated Chapel
-1 Thalia
-1 Wasteland Strangler
+4 Caves of Koilos
+1 Eldrazi Displacer
+1 Mangara of Corondor
SB:
-1 Relic of Progenitus
+1 Disenchant
The eldrazi switch followed after putting in corondor. Corondor was because I was expecting a lot of Nahiri and Lantern.
Losses were to Lantern (punted), and twice to Jund (I honestly don't know how to win this match-up).
Apologies in advance for any spelling/formatting, I'm on my phone.
Death and Taxes Videos
Traproot Graphics
Modern:
Fateseal Control | Current Version on TappedOut
Modern Death and Taxes | Current Version on TappedOut
Bant Tempo | Current Version on TappedOut
Round 10 jeskai nahiri (0-2) major foods both games. .again I have always advocated for 23 lands but I have flooded out 3+consecutive labs draws in a row, had over 13 lands played game 2 with one pocket of 3 lands in a row and another of 4. When all I needed was a single creature but by the time I got through the flood opponent had plenty of removal I may stay trying 21land build
Round 11 beat Landen 2 1 Gabe one they went off Game 2 I got all the Haye with leyline and stony, Game 3 he kept a questionable hand and I win easily after mull to 5
Round 12 wb non taxes eldrazi:o won the early Gabe but 2 souls each game and 2 to 3 strangler's got me.
WDeath and TaxesW
RWGBurnGWR
I used to face the same problem with Jund - couldn't seem to win at all. 1 thing I've learnt from this forum though is that Jund's manabase is really weak. ALWAYS attack their red source with GQ. They never have any basic mountains (at least so far for me). If you have an arbiter out when you GQ them on turn 3 or so, it really sets them back quite abit. They're stretched also trying to find the BB for Lili.
If you have Reality Smashers - bring them in they outclass all of Jund's creatures besides a fat Scooze, Finks are good vs Lili edict, and Burrenton Forge-Tender / Kor Firewalker will help protect your important creatures. Flickerwisp also helps to reset an Ooze.
I think the green decks have it easier vs control/midrange, either with the help of oath of nissa (like in my version) or eternal witness (like Jendo87's version and in my sideboard) which are both excellent at grinding value. When i was on straight w/b i had a hard time beating those decks too. For those in that position maybe adding more value stuff would help, like wall of omens? I'm sure there's a way to fix this...
The deck I settled on:
4 Aether Vial
2 Thoughtseize
1 Relic of Progenitus
4 Leonin Arbiter
4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Flickerwisp
4 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Wasteland Strangler
3 Reality Smasher
2 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Godless Shrine
3 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Shambling Vent
2 Stony Silence
2 Celestial Purge
2 Zealous Persecution
1 Spellskite
1 Kor Firewalker
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Pithing Needle
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Mana Tithe
Round 1 W 2-1 Mono-Green Ball Lightning
Game 1 Saw Groundbreaker, Primal Forcemage, Uktabi Drake, backed up by Summoner’s Pact to recharge the hand and deal a final blow. You know what kills a green Ball Lightning, though? A 2/1 first strike Thalia. And I only needed one. She cut off all of his ground attacks.
Game 2 Lost because I didn’t read the card Timbermare and recognize that it tapped ALL creatures, including my blockers. I took something non-lethal with a drawstep-vialed Sculler and knew I messed up when I saw the look on my opponent’s face. I thought I had him dead on a crackback after a block. Lesson learned: always read cards you don’t know.
Game 3 I won easily off of a double Temple, Thought Knot into Smasher draw.
Round 2 W 2-1 Kiki-Chord
Game 1 Aggro’d him out fairly quickly. The power of Reality Smasher is not to be underestimated. Combo pieces I Path to Exile’d as they came up.
Game 2 Lost a grindy matchup to infinite Redcap after a great Collected Company + Chord from him. My opponent started to become tilted when I kept vialing in Tidehollows and Thought-Knots on his draw step to exile relevant cards.
Game 3 Attrition battle from the get-go. Purges, Paths, Ghost Quarters to kill his Ravines and relevant lands. I had a plan to keep him off of green after he stumbled on mana, and it saved me. He didn’t have enough sources open to Chord for a couple of turns. Smasher into Smasher. Stole a win at 7 life with no cards left in hand.
Round 3 W 2-0 Burn
Game 1 Kept a land light hand and was actually relieved to see Goblin Guide (it gave me two lands). After it lost its usefulness, I lived the dream and Wasteland Strangler’d a Rift Bolt.
Game 2 Sided in Kor Firewalker, 2x Celestial Purge, 2x Timely Reinforcements, Spellskite. Took out 3x Leonin Arbiters, Relic, and 2x Thoughtseizes to speed up my clock. Mulliganed a slow hand into a 6 with Timely. He Destructive Revelried a T1 Vial from me, and got me to 5 by his Turn 3, but I cast Timely the following turn that was able to stabilize me. I also wound up Ghost Quartering two of my own lands to get enough to activate Shambling Vent AND leave Path up. I felt like I needed a Fetid Heath in the deck instead of one Plains, maybe.
An interesting interaction came up where he attacked into a Kor Firewalker. I should’ve known something was up, but I didn’t know yet that a Skullcrack negates protection effects, because those are considered “damage prevention.” Cool to know.
Round 4 Draw Grixis Delver
Game 1 T1 Aether Vial on the play basically eliminated half the cards in his hand (counter spells). Quick and dirty. Smasher, again, was an all star. I quite honestly don’t know how I would’ve won half of my games without it.
Game 2 Trading blows with man-lands. Slogfest draw-go where we eliminated each other’s threats, and I made a mistake again with my rookie-ness not reading a card I didn’t know, Goblin Darkdweller. I left one blocker back. MENACE, sigh. I know … make fun of me, but also recognize that I’m a Commander player who never expected to win one game, much less make a Day 2 of my first Grand Prix with a deck I’d literally put together the day before.
Game 3 Vial an all-star again. Exiling all relevant cards from his hand during drawsteps. Unfortunely, we went to time, and neither of us could finish one another off. I had him at 6 with a Vent that had been attacking steadily.
Round 5 W 2-1 Mono-Blue Tron
Game 1 Blistering start. Thalia, TKS, into Smasher. GG.
Game 2 Got him to 6 before he stabilized and landed a Wurmcoil. I had a Smasher but I was also fighting against a Karn, managed to get it off of the board with a Vialed-in Flickerwisp, bounce your blocker, let trample damage through shenanigans. It was too much, though. He found Ulamog and I scooped.
Game 3 This game was my favorite. T1 Vial. T2 Thalia, T3 TKS. One white mana open, and he attempts a Dismember on TKS, taking 4 damage to do so. I Mana Tithe’d it (my favorite sideboard tech by a long shot – it singlehandedly won me three matches). He was stunned, just shook his head. “Good deck, bro.” Later I heard him telling the story to his friend, so I’m glad he got something out fun out of it. We laughed about it despite losing never really being fun for anyone who’s 4-0-1 and competitive
Round 6 L 0-2 Jund
Game 1 2x Terminates, Thoughtseize, Inquisition, Kolaghan’s Command in his opening hand just dismantled any forward moment I had. I Path’d one Kalitas, but his second one landed unanswered, and he ran away with it.
Game 2 Close, but my luck with top-deck Smashers ran out. Got him to 4 and we went draw-go for a while with a sideboard Rest in Peace keeping his Goyfs and Snaps pretty useless. I had a chance to Path a Goyf early, but I didn’t take it and should’ve. Once he had an opening to kill the Rest in Peace, his Goyf quickly grew to a 4/5 and he was able to Thoughtseize my Path. I’m sure I played this wrong, but I can’t remember the exact sequence which made me want to tap out … I think it was greed and a Shambling Vent. Him being so low made me do something stupid, and I paid the price.
Round 7 L 1-2 Jund
Game 1 He grew a giant Scavenging Ooze. Saw a Damnation before dying, but I drew no removal for his 7-power Scooze. Game over for me.
Game 2 Decided to play smart and not over-extend after seeing Damnation. Leonin Arbiter was an all-star. I was Path-ing and Ghost Quartering him into oblivion. The single bear almost got there on his own attacking for five straight turns while I kept my opponent off of his mana and protected it from removal via Vial and Flickerwisp. Top deck Smasher sealed it.
Game 3 Felt good about my hand. T1 Vial BUT he had three discard spells right off the bat and just dismantled me. I made a mistake and played a Leonin unnecessarily into an Anger of the Gods. No excuse or reasoning. I knew he had it … no idea what I was thinking. I don’t know if that cost me the game, as I was playing on the back foot for a lot of it, but I noted it as a stupid decision and promised to not do it again, nonetheless.
Round 8 W 2-1 Nahiri Harbinger
Game 1 Grindy, but I lost to a Snapcaster basically … 19, 17, 15, 11, 9, 7, 5 reads my life total. Final nail … Emrakul. I was trying to draw out removal with Bears, and bounce-reset his Nahiri via Flickerwisp, which I succeeded at, but I spent so much on resources doing it that she didn’t take too long to get back up to ultimate.
Game 2 I felt great in this matchup after sideboard, honestly. 2x Celestial Purge, 2x Rest in Peace, Surgical Extraction, and Pithing Needle in for 4x Sculler, Strangler, and 1 Smasher. I found the Scullers pretty inept in the matchup game 1 since they’d get bolted away easily and really only provided a bad speedbump to his main win-con. It worked out. Vial and Thalia should be in your opening hand if you can get it … they both really mess this deck up. And Celestial Colonnade stands no chance against Ghost Quarters. Vialed Smasher sealed the deal.
Game 3 He drew the Emrakul. I took apart his hand otherwise. We still wound up trading back and forth for a while (removal, creature, removal, counter, etc), and by this time, his friends had gathered around and we were stalemated. Top deck Thought Knot. Vialed in on draw step. Top Deck Reality Smasher. Vialed in. And unbelieveably (I even showed his friend the card before I even looked at it, and his reaction was all I needed – Smasher). Much laughter. Great example of how you can enjoy a game even if it doesn’t go your way. Shout out to Preston if you read this.
Round 9 W 2-1 Nahiri Harbinger
Game 1 Took him out in the first game with a protected bear. We were both drawing some blanks. Sorry I can’t remember the specifics, but his life total tells a story – 10, 8, 6, 4, 2. It was also a 25 minute game, so I know it was grindy, and my opponent was pretty upset with me for calling a judge to clarify whether or not cards exiled with Displacer could be instead-speed processed with a Vialed in Strangler. (No, they can’t.) “You should know what your cards do,” is a paraphrase of what he said. I agreed. And then he died.
Game 2 He took early control and Emrakuled me before I scooped up.
Game 3 We were rushing to finish in 14 minutes. It went to time. I killed him with exactsies on Turn 5 of extra turns. I must be the Top Deck king … extra turn 1 Smasher (which he paid dearly to remove) into a winning extra-turn 3 draw of Thought-Knot that I Vialed in to an empty board on his draw step and took his last card (Anger of the Gods, I believe) with it so that I could swing on my final turn 5 for the 4 I needed to take it. He then lectured me about how to play modern “at this level.” I just let him go with it, and apologized for any slow play, noting that I was new to the deck and only had one modern challenge even the day before to practice it.
In the back of my mind, though, after having played a Grixis Delver and three Harbinger builds, I couldn’t help but think that if you didn’t want the games to draw on forever, you shouldn’t play a U/R deck that literally just stops people from advancing the game state and tries to win the damage race with man-lands and a 2/1 wizard.
DAY 2!!!! 6-2-1 ... I went 1-2 and dropped on Day 2 because I was totally exhausted by then (you heard about the terrible Day 1 games going 'til midnight, right?), but I did finally have a good game against JUND in my half-asleep state and didn’t feel totally at a loss against them for my one win.
Thanks again for all the people who put work into this deck. I love it and had a ton of fun playing it. I plan on getting it online soon so that I can start perfecting it and working towards another GP. Final thought is the 4 Vials, 22 Lands, and MD Smashers felt great to me. Also, Mana Tithe is SPECTACULARLY fun. I Mana Tithed a T2 Goyf, an important Cryptic Command v. Jeskai, and 4-damage Dismember v. Mono Blue Tron. Each time, it felt like that one card both put my opponent in the frame of mind where they hesitated with everything thereafter, and I also felt like those counters swung the game my way. I would definitely recommend one in the SB to bring in when you're on the draw, as you will most likely be behind, and it can save you from getting crushed by a speedy deck that's tapping out.
4 Thalia, guardian of Thraben
4 Leonin Arbiter
1 Spellskite
2 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Blade Splicer
4 Flickerwisp
3 Eldrazi Displacer
2 Aven Mindcensor
4 thought-knot seer
2 Reality Smasher
4 aether Vial
4 Path to exile
Lands 23
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Mutavault
12 Plains
3 Leyline of sanctity
2 sunlance
2 stony silence
2 rest in peace
2 celestial purge
1 grafdigger's cage
1 burrenton forge-tender
1 spellskite
1 mark of asylum
After consideration i am highly considering adding 2x ghostfire blade to the deck as a few more 1 drops on top of vial. It attaches to 13 creatures (16 if you count mutavault) and even late game is easily cast with thalia in play. maybe too cute but i will probably try this at a smaller tournament to see how it goes.
Notes from GP
Mirran crusader: Variance was a bit too high. Great against coco and infect (presumably jund/junk) and the nythos green build, but bad in other matches since bolt is still very much a force in modern, and many times he can just be chumped by snapcasters and the like. Still probably a good sideboard choice but only main in the right meta.
The deck performed much more consistently with the 3rd mutavault over the 1x sea gate wreckage.
arbiter won a few games on it's own, and even in games it didn't win it still did a good job time walking opponents which gives us the tempo we need.
Mindcensor same as arbiter was nice to have and picks up the slack in the mid game where arbiter starts to become less relevant also pushes damage through the air and provides immediate pressure after a board wipe.
Militant did a decent job. A couple games drew him late and was sad, but always happy to see early game and at times in the mid game. Hates on snappy, tarmogoyf, and lingering souls (which is still hard for mono white to fight though.)
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I know all those things, but usually they're just able to kill my Leonin then all the rest of the things, as well as disrupt my hand and use Kommand to auto 2-1 (Vial + any creature but TK, Tidehollow + something else). I'm not playing Reality Smashers because I don't like having a 5 drop in the deck, but I could definitely see how they'd be good in the matchup (especially given TK feels like the best card there right now).
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I'm sorry you had a jerk for your last game. I'm hoping it was just because everyone was tired and hungry by that point. You played pretty good "at this level", so bravo!
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That's ignoring any other changes like Plains-->Caves, which would be a pain(land).
I'm trying it out (in a WC-only land base) but have only put in a few games so far and haven't drawn the beast yet. Of course I imagine I'll like topdecking Strangler with a vial online well enough- but I'm really wondering how jarring those 8% of games will be to draw Strangler without a vial out and knowing there's no black anywhere in the deck.
No worries Esplanade. I am a counselor by trade so I used some "de-escalation" skills to make the salty less salty. He flew in early that morning and had little sleep. Understandable that by midnight, losing a win and in game to a top Decker like me, he'd be disappointed in himself. Hopefully in the future, I'll get better at the deck and he'll get better at dealing with lucksacks. Variance!
Hi Skeet. I loved having three of them in my deck vs. Jund, and I only ran 22 lands. There were turns where I needed a land, but Reality Smasher overperformed for me all day. Having three in the main always felt like it was my out, and I won a lot of stalemates by topdecking it. Against the decks that ran Bolt-style removal, they really had to expend a lot of resources to get rid of him.
My successes vs. Jund (won 1 match and four games in total) out of four matches came from aggressive, early Ghost Quarters and Path to Exiles with Leonin on the field, ol' Smashee just smashing face, and SB Rest in Peace, Celestial Purge. I wouldn't give up on the matchup. I don't think it's a great % for us, but my feeling after those four matches is that it's decent enough if we don't overextend and play a long, slow game just sticking a threat and trying to protect it, while working the red mana denial angle. This strategy also worked well for me against Delver. I ran that guy out of basics.
I ended day one at 7-2 after facing a bad last two rounds, but started day two at 9-2 after two rounds. I quickly found myself running out of steam as I got two losses back to back and ended up just dropping at 9-4.
My deck was a little unconventional because I attempted to meta, and some worked amazingly, others are the reason I didn't do so well. I'll add spoiler tags with deck lists and the match ups after I write it all up here.
As a quick note. Brimaz was easily the reason I won most of my matches. People showed me there hands after full of just bad cards like bolt or anger or pyroclasm or gut shot and it really felt good.
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Yes, the deck can be frustrating to play. It is not an easy deck. You have to remember that D&T is a meta deck. If you want to have success you need to make adjustments. You can tune the deck to dominant Jund and Coco, but it will cost you against others.
Yes, 3/4 are very hard to remove for most decks. That is the reason I still play 3-4 Resto Angels. 3/4 flying with flash even without blinking something for value is awesome. I used Brimaz for a little while. My issue was he had no evasion and with only 3 power could not get past x/4 blockers. I have not tried him since the Splinter Twin ban (exarch once being the main x/4 blocker). With the increase in bolts flying around, might be time to try Brimaz again!
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