Nice job indeed. A lot of people are talking about it. I've seen more of it online lately, though it can be tough to tell from scapeshift until they breach.
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Modern UB Tezzerator UBW Gifts B 8Rack
Legacy RB Goblins
This deck: lots of basic Mountains, plays Arid Mesa. Wants a lot of red so that Titan can fire off 3-damage shots earlier.
Scapeshift: more shocklands, plays Misty Rainforest. Wants a lot of blue for counters and draw.
Before getting to 5 lands you should be able to tell which deck it is. A Scapeshift player isn't going to search for Stomping Ground 2+ times in a row.
A naturally drawn Valakut is also more likely to come from this deck than Scapeshift (4 vs 2).
I think that if there's anyone qualified to write a primer for this deck, it's Rbd340, since he piloted it to it's highest finish yet. If he doesn't want to do the specific writing, I'd be happy to talk to him about the deck and write it up for him.
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Well, I can saw a woman in two, but you won't wanna look in the box when I'm through.
A couple weeks back I made a post on the 'What Deck Should I Play' forum, and someone suggested I play this very deck. Since I already had most of the cards for it, I decided to sleeve it up and play it Modern night at my LGS. I went 2-2
Round 1: RUG Midrange (brew?) 1-2
Game 1, I get a bad opening hand. He lands a goyf, I double bolt it. I can't get out enough lands to combo off, and he beats me down with a baloth. Game 2, I side in the right hate but never see it, I end up comboing off quickly anyway. Game 3, my opponent shoots down most of my stuff with counters and disruption spell snare on my farseek, vapor snag on my titan. He manages to cast a goyf then treasure cruise into a couple of bolts and a snappy for the win
Round 2: Griselbrand Fist of Suns Reanimator 1-2
This matchup really boiled down to whoever cast through the breach first lol. Game 1, I get the perfect opening hand, and a few turns later combo for the win. Game he gets out Griselbrand turn 2, attacks for 7, draws 7, then gets emrakul out a couple turns later with fist of suns. Game 3 stalled out for quite a while, I was unable to topdeck any gas, while my opponent breaches in another emrakul.
Round 3: bye
Round 4:Scapeshift 2-1
Game 1, I breach in Titan turn 3, tutoring 2 valakuts and 2 mountains for a total of 18 damage to the face for the win
Game 2, I got gitaxian probed turn 1, and my opponent proceeded to counter all my business spells and hate cards, and eventually scapeshifted to win after top decking dig through time.
Game 3, I play around his counters, cast boil destroying 4 of his 5 lands then proceeded to beat down with a trapped in gaea's revenge
2-2
Bad Cards: lightning bolt/anger(mostly due to no relevant matchups),worldspine wurm (emrakul is miles ahead)
Good cards: Gaea's revenge
Altogether, not bad for a deck I have no previous experience playing. Might make a few more tweaks here and there. I think we really need something for generating card advantage, so we don't run into terrible topdecks. I'm beginning to envy Scapeshift because of dig through time...
courser of kruphix does sounds like a reasonable card to run in this deck. I can't say how well it works yet but it is definitely worth testing. Would have to look at the pros/cons:
Pros:
1. filters your topdecks, increasing the likelihood of drawing into gas, and also increasing the likelihood of
Hitting your land drops when you need it.
2. Since you know what your next draw is, it allows you to adjust your gameplay accordingly, and change it with
shuffle effects if you don't like what you're seeing (land tutors, Titan, fetches)
3. Provides you with a Bolt-proof blocker against early attackers.
4. Synergies with Titan/fetches/land tutors that can provide a decent amount of lifegain, which can be relevant
In a lot matchups.
Cons:
1. Gives away vital information to your opponent about your next draw, allowing them to adjust their gameplay
Which puts them in a better position to disrupt our combo. This is especially true if our top card happens to
Be one of our business spells (breach, trap, Titan, emrakul) and our opponent is holding up counterspells.
2. Doesn't ramp
3. Not that great as an attacker
4. Competes in the same slot against obstinate baloth and solemn simulacrum which arguably provide
Similar or better value.
I can't really comment on Courser of Kruphix, because I'm happy with Obstinate Baloth, although, I'll admit, I'm thinking of switching over to Sad Robot for the extra ramp and card draw.
If I had to say one of the most important things in my experiment with this deck - which is admittedly, not that much, especially not compared to Rbd - is that you need to know when a hand is 'good enough'. This deck doesn't mulligan very well.
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Well, I can saw a woman in two, but you won't wanna look in the box when I'm through.
Can this deck still be competitive without Emrakuls? I sold all my copies and I don't really want to pay $200 for a playset. What would be a good replacement for them?
Why would you play it over extra copies of Farseek?
You need double green for Baloth, Titan and Trap, but at the same time you want those green lands to be Mountains as well, so that Valakut comes online faster. Farseek solves this by searching for Stomping Ground.
To be honest, in this deck, there just isn't a replacement for Emrakul.
When you Through The Breach in an Emrakul, a lot of the time, you're not going to do enough damage to kill them immediately; this deck doesn't play many ways to go to the dome (Rbd340's version, which is what I'm playing with some tweaks, doesn't even run bolt). So if you Through The Breach in an Emrakul on turn 4 (which is a number I pulled out of nowhere), you'll deal a bunch of damage, but not necessarily enough to kill them.
What really matters is the Annihilator; having to sacrifice a bunch of permanents early in the game is crippling for most decks, especially if they're slower and more controlling.
Emrakul is so good not particularly because he's a big stompy; he's good because he's a big stompy that is difficult to deal with and even if he's around for only one turn, he gives you an amazing amount of advantage on board.
Blightsteel is also bad because it's the only creature that deals infect- if I swing with Blightsteel off Through the Breach and they block with two 1/1s, I basically haven't done anything Forked Bolt wouldn't do better unless I get another Blightsteel, because we have no way of dealing more infect.
While this deck is nominally a combo deck, often the combo doesn't kill in one hit. So, to make up for that, we need to use combo pieces that give us significant onboard advantage- Primeval Titan getting lands, thinning the library, etc, and Emrakul, causing them to have to sacrifice a bunch of lands. As such, Worldspine Wurm is probably the best Emrakul replacement- but it's just no the same, because it doesn't put them behind so much as it puts you ahead.
I have given some thought to Kozilek/Ulamog, which deliver similar annihilator effects, though for less value, but ultimately the deck works best with Emrakul and isn't nearly as good without him. On the brightside, I saw several copies of Emmy for as little as $34 at GP Ottawa last weekend so as Modern decks go, it could be waaaay worse. Plus, building this deck also gives you the core pieces to play GR Primal Scapeshift, so you could switch it up if you get bored.
/M
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Some people like to win MtG matches in the Red Zone. I prefer to win the way God intended: on the stack.
I played this deck a lot over the last few days. I used Rbd340's list, with Scalding Tarn instead of Arid Mesa and -4 Leyline, +2 Obstinate Baloth +2 Pithing Needle in the SB. I don't like Leyline because it's uncastable, and if you draw it at any time outside turn 0 it just clogs up your hand.
I board in Needle vs the BG decks (Junk and Pod). I expect them to side out Abrupt Decay, so Needle works as a 1-mana answer to Liliana and Pod.
Don't be afraid to use Anger of the Gods to kill one creature. A common one is if you're on the play and your opponent plays a turn 2 Young Pyromancer. Kill it with Anger. It seems wasteful to do so, but if you save Anger for later, he may have Remand in response, which gives him another token. By not killing it immediately, you will also take 2 damage from the attack.
This deck is a lot like RG Tron in some ways - you have maindeck sweepers and hate artifacts (Tron: Pyroclasm, Relic; Breach: Anger, Chalice). Chalice is a lot better than Relic in the current meta though. You also have a good late game - no, not Emrakul, but Valakut. Once you get 2 or 3 Valakuts down, every land or ramp spell from then on becomes 6-9 damage. Most other decks would really rather draw nonlands in the late game, but with this deck you can kill them whether you topdeck a land, ramp spell, or an actual threat.
Plan ahead and try to get 2 green sources when you're on 4 lands. Baloth, Titan, Trap and double ramp spell all need 2 green.
Most of the time it's correct to sandbag Mountains or leave fetches uncracked if you're already at 6 mana (i.e. 6 lands and 1 uncracked fetch). This way, if you topdeck Titan, you can play the Mountain or crack the fetch for extra damage. Ignore this if Valakut is already on the field and you have enough other Mountains to trigger it.
Speaking of not cracking fetches, if you already have 2 green sources, you can basically keep subsequent fetches uncracked until you really need the mana. For example, if you're on 5 lands (2 green, 1 fetch) and just need one more to cast Titan/Trap, leave the fetch uncracked! If you crack it, you reduce the chance of topdecking a land. Furthermore, 2 green sources is enough to cast all your bombs - if you topdeck a sixth land, you can just crack the fetch for a basic Mountain, you'll still be able to cast your spells.
My impressions on the decks I played against:
Burn is an easy matchup. Both hate pieces do some work against them. I only bring in 2 Baloths.
UR Delver is slightly unfavorable. If they splash for Goyf or Geist it becomes unfavorable, because they have a serious clock and Goyf doesn't die to Anger. Make full use of your instant spells (Boil, Breach, Trap) to overload their mana - cast one on their EOT, force them to tap out, then follow up with another on your turn.
UWR Control is favorable. They have no clock against you and you have all the time in the world to setup an instant speed threat on their EOT. Combust comes in for Clique.
Pod is favorable. You have maindeck Anger of the Gods and they can't stop your combo kill of Breach + Emrakul. Postboard, I bring in 2 Combusts and 2 Needles for Game 2 (since they will board out Abrupt Decay and Reclamation Sage). If it goes to Game 3 AND they saw Needle, then I switch to Combust + Unravel + Grudge.
Junk, I'm not sure whether the matchup is favorable or not. I sideboard differently though; I take out Through the Breach, since the combo requires you to have 2 cards in hand, which is tough against a discard deck. Chalice stays in; it counters 7-8 of their discard spells, so I think it's worth the anti-synergy with Needle. Lingering Souls can actually leave them with enough to survive Emrakul and attack back for the last few points of damage.
8 Rack (yes, I actually played this twice, won both times. Each time, I lost the first game and killed them in the next two). Side out Breach and Anger, side in Needle, Baloth and artifact removal. You need the artifact removal for Ensnaring Bridge; if they don't draw that, you can blow up a Rack instead. Raven's Crime is horrendous but my opponents left them in. Oh well, can't complain about a free Baloth.
Zoo is slightly favorable. It's like Burn, but doesn't lose to Chalice as badly. Against either version I would board in Baloths; small Zoo can't attack past it, and it trades with Smiter in Big Zoo. Small: -2 Chalice, +2 Baloth. Big: -3 Chalice, -1 Farseek/Emrakul, +2 Baloth, +2 Combust.
The mirror is a coinflip. First to Breach Emrakul wins. Anger and Chalice are totally dead in this matchup. With Rbd's sideboard, take out Anger and Chalice for Leyline (stops Valakut) and Sowing Salt. Myself, I would bring in Needle, Salt and enchantment removal. I changed Arid Mesa to Scalding Tarn partially for this matchup, since with my SB I can name Arid Mesa with Needle at no cost to myself. (The other reason is that you might be able to hoodwink some players into thinking that you're on Scapeshift, although I would never count on that happening.) Mulligan aggressively into Breach + Emrakul. The only other keepable hand is one with a lot of ramp spells.
Blood Moon sort of wrecks our late-game inevitability by turning off Valakut.
Personally, I think that Boil is an excellent card in the sideboard- if they tap out for anything (versus Twin, I usually do it in response to their casting an Exarch), they lose pretty much all of their lands, which is a really good tempo advantage.
The only flaw that this deck has for someone who has my usual play style is that there isn't any card draw to make it more likely to get your Through The Breaches and Emrakuls, but that's okay.
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Well, I can saw a woman in two, but you won't wanna look in the box when I'm through.
Is there any merit to using Dramatic Entrance and Worldspine Wurm over the current configuration? Dramatic also leads to a permanent titan. Maybe as a budget option?
Is there any merit to using Dramatic Entrance and Worldspine Wurm over the current configuration? Dramatic also leads to a permanent titan. Maybe as a budget option?
Interesting idea, but I think budget is really the only reason to play it.
There are some scenarios where Breach or Emrakul will get there are Entrance/Wurm won't:
- they don't have anything and are below 19 life, you have Breach + Titan in your hand. You Breach in Titan, get 2 Valakuts, attack, get 2 mountains, Valakut triggers hit for 12, Titan hits for 6. KO. If you have Entrance + Titan...well, Entrance just acts as a Simian Spirit Guide.
- they're threatening to kill you with fliers or combo next turn, you have Breach + Emrakul in your hand. You Breach in Emrakul and wipe their field. If you have Entrance + Wurm, you lose.
On the other hand Wurm is much easier to hardcast than Em, but hitting 11 lands with your opponent still alive at that point doesn't happen that often.
I like how Dramatic Entrance is an instant though, you get to use the same tricks as you could with Breach.
Is there any merit to using Dramatic Entrance and Worldspine Wurm over the current configuration? Dramatic also leads to a permanent titan. Maybe as a budget option?
Interesting idea, but I think budget is really the only reason to play it.
There are some scenarios where Breach or Emrakul will get there are Entrance/Wurm won't:
- they don't have anything and are below 19 life, you have Breach + Titan in your hand. You Breach in Titan, get 2 Valakuts, attack, get 2 mountains, Valakut triggers hit for 12, Titan hits for 6. KO. If you have Entrance + Titan...well, Entrance just acts as a Simian Spirit Guide.
- they're threatening to kill you with fliers or combo next turn, you have Breach + Emrakul in your hand. You Breach in Emrakul and wipe their field. If you have Entrance + Wurm, you lose.
On the other hand Wurm is much easier to hardcast than Em, but hitting 11 lands with your opponent still alive at that point doesn't happen that often.
I like how Dramatic Entrance is an instant though, you get to use the same tricks as you could with Breach.
Yeah this is the same conclusion I came too as well. One thought I did have is that Summoner's Pact also becomes somewhat viable if you're using it with either Entrance or Trap, and maybe lets you create a sort of toolbox of large green creatures like Terastodon, Woodfall Primus etc. Also maybe instead of Worldspine Wurm, who can get path to exiled randomly, maybe Progenitus? Unless they wrath you've won, but it's a two turn kill still.
The biggest issue I can see is that when you go for a higher green focus, Valakut's ability to give you a lot of inevitability ends up diminished, which is what I really like about this deck, since it gives you a lot of power in the late game.
If you were going for a mono-green version, there are some guidelines I'd keep in mind:
- The Summoner's Pact Toolbox idea is a really fun one, but you'd need to make sure that any of your creatures in your toolbox has at least some qualities that would make you at least always happy to hit them off of Summoning Trap (big and stompy, for example).
- Apart from a one-of Progenitus, I'd want all of our toolbox creatures to be mono-green, or at most two colours, since going with Dramatic Entrance restricts us a fair bit manawise. This does, however, have the advantage of allowing you to move off of the Valakut plan- GB is a possible example, especially since Grave Titan gets immediate value off of both Summoning Trap and Dramatic Entrance.
It seems fun, but since one of the things I love about this deck is that you can use Valakut very effectively for burst damage or to get you through the end of the game, I'm not entirely sold. That said, I'll give it a go brewing it tomorrow, since I think it could be a decent deck in its own right.
EDIT: I wrote this at 2AM in the morning, so I reread it and realized that Grave Titan does diddly with Dramatic Entrance. Hooray!
Hi everyone, I've written the primer for this deck. It's now the first post in this thread. Let me know if you spot any errors.
The matchups section is currently incomplete, and I'd like some help there. I'd appreciate the advice of anyone who's played this deck in the following matchups:
1) UR Delver. Rbd thinks it's favored but I'm compelled to believe it's slightly unfavorable. Which is it? Does it change for the worse if they splash green for Goyf or white for Geist? Goyf survives Anger and Geist can't be targeted by Valakut.
2) Junk. Is it favorable or not? Is Rbd's sideboard plan correct? He takes out Chalice, while I take out Breach since the combo requires you to have 2 cards in hand and Junk will just make you discard all your cards. I know he has Leyline, but that doesn't stop Liliana's discard, and you can't always count on having Leyline in your opening hand.
3) Scapeshift
4) Affinity
UB Tezzerator
UBW Gifts
B 8Rack
Legacy
RB Goblins
This deck: lots of basic Mountains, plays Arid Mesa. Wants a lot of red so that Titan can fire off 3-damage shots earlier.
Scapeshift: more shocklands, plays Misty Rainforest. Wants a lot of blue for counters and draw.
Before getting to 5 lands you should be able to tell which deck it is. A Scapeshift player isn't going to search for Stomping Ground 2+ times in a row.
A naturally drawn Valakut is also more likely to come from this deck than Scapeshift (4 vs 2).
| Ad Nauseam
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Big Johnny.
Interesting...there's an article on Reddit pertaining to legacy about how to tell what deck is being played based on their first turn land drop.
UB Tezzerator
UBW Gifts
B 8Rack
Legacy
RB Goblins
Here's my list:
3 Bloodstained Mire
4 Stomping Ground
3 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
8 Mountain
2 Forest
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Primeval Titan
2 Obstinate Baloth
1 Gaea's Revenge
2 Worldspine Wurm
1 Emrakul, the aeons torn
3 Farseek
3 Lightning Bolt
3 Anger of the Gods
4 Summoning Trap
4 Through the Breach
2 Combust
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Unravel the Aether
1 Nature's Claim
1 Volcanic Fallout
2 Chalice of the Void
2 Boil
2 Beast within
2 Sowing Salt
1 Thragtusk
Round 1: RUG Midrange (brew?) 1-2
Game 1, I get a bad opening hand. He lands a goyf, I double bolt it. I can't get out enough lands to combo off, and he beats me down with a baloth. Game 2, I side in the right hate but never see it, I end up comboing off quickly anyway. Game 3, my opponent shoots down most of my stuff with counters and disruption spell snare on my farseek, vapor snag on my titan. He manages to cast a goyf then treasure cruise into a couple of bolts and a snappy for the win
Round 2: Griselbrand Fist of Suns Reanimator 1-2
This matchup really boiled down to whoever cast through the breach first lol. Game 1, I get the perfect opening hand, and a few turns later combo for the win. Game he gets out Griselbrand turn 2, attacks for 7, draws 7, then gets emrakul out a couple turns later with fist of suns. Game 3 stalled out for quite a while, I was unable to topdeck any gas, while my opponent breaches in another emrakul.
Round 3: bye
Round 4:Scapeshift 2-1
Game 1, I breach in Titan turn 3, tutoring 2 valakuts and 2 mountains for a total of 18 damage to the face for the win
Game 2, I got gitaxian probed turn 1, and my opponent proceeded to counter all my business spells and hate cards, and eventually scapeshifted to win after top decking dig through time.
Game 3, I play around his counters, cast boil destroying 4 of his 5 lands then proceeded to beat down with a trapped in gaea's revenge
2-2
Bad Cards: lightning bolt/anger(mostly due to no relevant matchups),worldspine wurm (emrakul is miles ahead)
Good cards: Gaea's revenge
Altogether, not bad for a deck I have no previous experience playing. Might make a few more tweaks here and there. I think we really need something for generating card advantage, so we don't run into terrible topdecks. I'm beginning to envy Scapeshift because of dig through time...
Pros:
1. filters your topdecks, increasing the likelihood of drawing into gas, and also increasing the likelihood of
Hitting your land drops when you need it.
2. Since you know what your next draw is, it allows you to adjust your gameplay accordingly, and change it with
shuffle effects if you don't like what you're seeing (land tutors, Titan, fetches)
3. Provides you with a Bolt-proof blocker against early attackers.
4. Synergies with Titan/fetches/land tutors that can provide a decent amount of lifegain, which can be relevant
In a lot matchups.
Cons:
1. Gives away vital information to your opponent about your next draw, allowing them to adjust their gameplay
Which puts them in a better position to disrupt our combo. This is especially true if our top card happens to
Be one of our business spells (breach, trap, Titan, emrakul) and our opponent is holding up counterspells.
2. Doesn't ramp
3. Not that great as an attacker
4. Competes in the same slot against obstinate baloth and solemn simulacrum which arguably provide
Similar or better value.
Anyway, that's my two cents on courser of kruphix
If I had to say one of the most important things in my experiment with this deck - which is admittedly, not that much, especially not compared to Rbd - is that you need to know when a hand is 'good enough'. This deck doesn't mulligan very well.
You need double green for Baloth, Titan and Trap, but at the same time you want those green lands to be Mountains as well, so that Valakut comes online faster. Farseek solves this by searching for Stomping Ground.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
When you Through The Breach in an Emrakul, a lot of the time, you're not going to do enough damage to kill them immediately; this deck doesn't play many ways to go to the dome (Rbd340's version, which is what I'm playing with some tweaks, doesn't even run bolt). So if you Through The Breach in an Emrakul on turn 4 (which is a number I pulled out of nowhere), you'll deal a bunch of damage, but not necessarily enough to kill them.
What really matters is the Annihilator; having to sacrifice a bunch of permanents early in the game is crippling for most decks, especially if they're slower and more controlling.
Emrakul is so good not particularly because he's a big stompy; he's good because he's a big stompy that is difficult to deal with and even if he's around for only one turn, he gives you an amazing amount of advantage on board.
Blightsteel is also bad because it's the only creature that deals infect- if I swing with Blightsteel off Through the Breach and they block with two 1/1s, I basically haven't done anything Forked Bolt wouldn't do better unless I get another Blightsteel, because we have no way of dealing more infect.
While this deck is nominally a combo deck, often the combo doesn't kill in one hit. So, to make up for that, we need to use combo pieces that give us significant onboard advantage- Primeval Titan getting lands, thinning the library, etc, and Emrakul, causing them to have to sacrifice a bunch of lands. As such, Worldspine Wurm is probably the best Emrakul replacement- but it's just no the same, because it doesn't put them behind so much as it puts you ahead.
/M
I board in Needle vs the BG decks (Junk and Pod). I expect them to side out Abrupt Decay, so Needle works as a 1-mana answer to Liliana and Pod.
Don't be afraid to use Anger of the Gods to kill one creature. A common one is if you're on the play and your opponent plays a turn 2 Young Pyromancer. Kill it with Anger. It seems wasteful to do so, but if you save Anger for later, he may have Remand in response, which gives him another token. By not killing it immediately, you will also take 2 damage from the attack.
This deck is a lot like RG Tron in some ways - you have maindeck sweepers and hate artifacts (Tron: Pyroclasm, Relic; Breach: Anger, Chalice). Chalice is a lot better than Relic in the current meta though. You also have a good late game - no, not Emrakul, but Valakut. Once you get 2 or 3 Valakuts down, every land or ramp spell from then on becomes 6-9 damage. Most other decks would really rather draw nonlands in the late game, but with this deck you can kill them whether you topdeck a land, ramp spell, or an actual threat.
Plan ahead and try to get 2 green sources when you're on 4 lands. Baloth, Titan, Trap and double ramp spell all need 2 green.
Most of the time it's correct to sandbag Mountains or leave fetches uncracked if you're already at 6 mana (i.e. 6 lands and 1 uncracked fetch). This way, if you topdeck Titan, you can play the Mountain or crack the fetch for extra damage. Ignore this if Valakut is already on the field and you have enough other Mountains to trigger it.
Speaking of not cracking fetches, if you already have 2 green sources, you can basically keep subsequent fetches uncracked until you really need the mana. For example, if you're on 5 lands (2 green, 1 fetch) and just need one more to cast Titan/Trap, leave the fetch uncracked! If you crack it, you reduce the chance of topdecking a land. Furthermore, 2 green sources is enough to cast all your bombs - if you topdeck a sixth land, you can just crack the fetch for a basic Mountain, you'll still be able to cast your spells.
My impressions on the decks I played against:
Burn is an easy matchup. Both hate pieces do some work against them. I only bring in 2 Baloths.
UR Delver is slightly unfavorable. If they splash for Goyf or Geist it becomes unfavorable, because they have a serious clock and Goyf doesn't die to Anger. Make full use of your instant spells (Boil, Breach, Trap) to overload their mana - cast one on their EOT, force them to tap out, then follow up with another on your turn.
UWR Control is favorable. They have no clock against you and you have all the time in the world to setup an instant speed threat on their EOT. Combust comes in for Clique.
Pod is favorable. You have maindeck Anger of the Gods and they can't stop your combo kill of Breach + Emrakul. Postboard, I bring in 2 Combusts and 2 Needles for Game 2 (since they will board out Abrupt Decay and Reclamation Sage). If it goes to Game 3 AND they saw Needle, then I switch to Combust + Unravel + Grudge.
Junk, I'm not sure whether the matchup is favorable or not. I sideboard differently though; I take out Through the Breach, since the combo requires you to have 2 cards in hand, which is tough against a discard deck. Chalice stays in; it counters 7-8 of their discard spells, so I think it's worth the anti-synergy with Needle. Lingering Souls can actually leave them with enough to survive Emrakul and attack back for the last few points of damage.
8 Rack (yes, I actually played this twice, won both times. Each time, I lost the first game and killed them in the next two). Side out Breach and Anger, side in Needle, Baloth and artifact removal. You need the artifact removal for Ensnaring Bridge; if they don't draw that, you can blow up a Rack instead. Raven's Crime is horrendous but my opponents left them in. Oh well, can't complain about a free Baloth.
Zoo is slightly favorable. It's like Burn, but doesn't lose to Chalice as badly. Against either version I would board in Baloths; small Zoo can't attack past it, and it trades with Smiter in Big Zoo. Small: -2 Chalice, +2 Baloth. Big: -3 Chalice, -1 Farseek/Emrakul, +2 Baloth, +2 Combust.
The mirror is a coinflip. First to Breach Emrakul wins. Anger and Chalice are totally dead in this matchup. With Rbd's sideboard, take out Anger and Chalice for Leyline (stops Valakut) and Sowing Salt. Myself, I would bring in Needle, Salt and enchantment removal. I changed Arid Mesa to Scalding Tarn partially for this matchup, since with my SB I can name Arid Mesa with Needle at no cost to myself. (The other reason is that you might be able to hoodwink some players into thinking that you're on Scapeshift, although I would never count on that happening.) Mulligan aggressively into Breach + Emrakul. The only other keepable hand is one with a lot of ramp spells.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Personally, I think that Boil is an excellent card in the sideboard- if they tap out for anything (versus Twin, I usually do it in response to their casting an Exarch), they lose pretty much all of their lands, which is a really good tempo advantage.
The only flaw that this deck has for someone who has my usual play style is that there isn't any card draw to make it more likely to get your Through The Breaches and Emrakuls, but that's okay.
[center][color=Blue]
Edric Spy and die
Azami the lady of the draw
Naya Zoo
Past decks
Orloro
sharuum the hegemond
Mono black control
splinter twin
Interesting idea, but I think budget is really the only reason to play it.
There are some scenarios where Breach or Emrakul will get there are Entrance/Wurm won't:
- they don't have anything and are below 19 life, you have Breach + Titan in your hand. You Breach in Titan, get 2 Valakuts, attack, get 2 mountains, Valakut triggers hit for 12, Titan hits for 6. KO. If you have Entrance + Titan...well, Entrance just acts as a Simian Spirit Guide.
- they're threatening to kill you with fliers or combo next turn, you have Breach + Emrakul in your hand. You Breach in Emrakul and wipe their field. If you have Entrance + Wurm, you lose.
On the other hand Wurm is much easier to hardcast than Em, but hitting 11 lands with your opponent still alive at that point doesn't happen that often.
I like how Dramatic Entrance is an instant though, you get to use the same tricks as you could with Breach.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.
Yeah this is the same conclusion I came too as well. One thought I did have is that Summoner's Pact also becomes somewhat viable if you're using it with either Entrance or Trap, and maybe lets you create a sort of toolbox of large green creatures like Terastodon, Woodfall Primus etc. Also maybe instead of Worldspine Wurm, who can get path to exiled randomly, maybe Progenitus? Unless they wrath you've won, but it's a two turn kill still.
The biggest issue I can see is that when you go for a higher green focus, Valakut's ability to give you a lot of inevitability ends up diminished, which is what I really like about this deck, since it gives you a lot of power in the late game.
If you were going for a mono-green version, there are some guidelines I'd keep in mind:
- The Summoner's Pact Toolbox idea is a really fun one, but you'd need to make sure that any of your creatures in your toolbox has at least some qualities that would make you at least always happy to hit them off of Summoning Trap (big and stompy, for example).
- Apart from a one-of Progenitus, I'd want all of our toolbox creatures to be mono-green, or at most two colours, since going with Dramatic Entrance restricts us a fair bit manawise. This does, however, have the advantage of allowing you to move off of the Valakut plan- GB is a possible example, especially since Grave Titan gets immediate value off of both Summoning Trap and Dramatic Entrance.
It seems fun, but since one of the things I love about this deck is that you can use Valakut very effectively for burst damage or to get you through the end of the game, I'm not entirely sold. That said, I'll give it a go brewing it tomorrow, since I think it could be a decent deck in its own right.
EDIT: I wrote this at 2AM in the morning, so I reread it and realized that Grave Titan does diddly with Dramatic Entrance. Hooray!
The matchups section is currently incomplete, and I'd like some help there. I'd appreciate the advice of anyone who's played this deck in the following matchups:
1) UR Delver. Rbd thinks it's favored but I'm compelled to believe it's slightly unfavorable. Which is it? Does it change for the worse if they splash green for Goyf or white for Geist? Goyf survives Anger and Geist can't be targeted by Valakut.
2) Junk. Is it favorable or not? Is Rbd's sideboard plan correct? He takes out Chalice, while I take out Breach since the combo requires you to have 2 cards in hand and Junk will just make you discard all your cards. I know he has Leyline, but that doesn't stop Liliana's discard, and you can't always count on having Leyline in your opening hand.
3) Scapeshift
4) Affinity
Thanks in advance for answering.
| Ad Nauseam
| Infect
Big Johnny.