I top 4 (We split) my local FNM modern this last Friday with the following list.
I am still new at trying to report my matches so sadly I don't have much to share.
Match 1 vs Esper control 2-0
I was able to stick threats and protect them with counter magic and he never saw supreme verdict.
Young Pyromancer with counter back up is nuts. (This proved true multiple times in the day)
Match 2 UW Tron/Gifts 1-1 Draw
Round 1 - After grinding him down with YP and a flipped delver he gets desperate and jams a Gifts at EOT and I have no counters in hand with all my lands available. I hope he fears the remand , but he is dead if he can't resolve the unburialrights anyways. He jams the Eleshnorn he got with gifts and it is all down hill from there. I was able to get him to 1 after bolt, snap, bolt. But it didn't matter.
Round 2- This time I had the counter magic to back up my threats. It is just some beats and holding up counter for something deadly.
Match 3 vs Brew with Loam and mostly dredge stuff.
Note: His deck is built around getting people stuck below 4 lands which works well for us.
Round 1 - He arrives late and I know he has a grindy deck. I try to play fast and make too many mistakes. He locks me out with Hakan and I scoop to give my self time.
Round 2 and 3 - I land some early threats and keep counter magic. I let him blow up some lands and sac some to his Pox. He keeps me at 2 mana, and that is enough to disrupt his plan while Delver does the work.
Match 4 - Intentional draw.
Round 1 of top 8.
I 2-0 my opponent who is playing Esper. But I never get to see what he plays. He said it is aggressive, but his deck beat it self really.
Sorry for the crappy report. I will try and get better at them. I am wondering how to best board against twin with this list. And maybe advice on the optimal Burn/Abzan plan too.
Should I fit a 3rd claw? If so what should go.
Also, I was thinking about removing a remand or a Mana leak to add a Forked Bolt. Bad idea?
Notes:
*Deprive seems great. Have not had an issue with the bouncing land draw-back. It has helped in some friendlies where a land got sea'ed.
*YP is a house when unanswered
*Tasigur is great for aggro starts or grindy matches.
Side boarding is tough for me so any advise on that would be greatly appreciated. I hope on being more helpful in the future. I have played FNM level magic for a while, but I am now trying to be more mindful of my matches. So maybe my reports will include. If anyone has any sources on how to write good MTG match reports please post them.
(Sorry for any type-o or formatting errors. At work and trying to get this out fast.)
Concerning Thought Scour: after testing it I have to say that in the Grixis version it is actually a very good card. In the UR version it wasn't that relevant, especially not in 4 copies...but here it really allows to play Tasigur in a different way...not as a late game finisher, but more as a quick beater. This shows me how the Grixis version is still very new to me, I just played it for 2 weeks, and it's a different deck than the old UR version. Grixis Delver needs Thought Scour more than any other version of the deck I believe. I also understood that playing as many discard spells as I did is actually wrong as some users have already pointed out. So, well...I really need to test this deck a lot to get to a serious decklist.
It still needs a lot of work. Can anybody give me some advises?
For the mainboard: I recommend running 1-2 Gurmag Angler in conjunction with 2-3 Tasigur, since Gurmag can not only be played in multiples, but also allows you to attack through opposing tasigurs, rhinos, and goyfs when they are 4/5s or less. Also run at least 1 Murderous Cut as another delve card that can thin the graveyard making tasigur activations better. I would recommend also running a 1-1 split between electrolyze and Kommand, since electrolyze is amazing against delver decks, elves, infect, and melira company. As for the side i like to keep the curve rather low for mana cost and try to keep the deck more aggro based rather than control, so I personally don't run keranos in this case. Also counterflux isn't the best card to have, especially needing you to have 3 mana up at all times to make it live. I recommend running dispel instead.
Alright, now that I'm off work, I will help push this thread in the right direction. All my points here are pertaining to the PyroDelver version, so if you are playing the big delve feel free to chime in however doesnt apply to you.
1) 18 or 19 land? Untapped blue sources for both? (So far I run 19 land with 15 untapped blue but 16 total blue sources.) With 19 if you dont run the sulfur falls you have the same amount of untapped blue, but one less blue/red source. If you run 18 and cut a fetch, you go to 14 untapped blue (The bare minimum due to math, similar to turn 1 green sources for a birds deck) and 1 less of each.
2) 3/4 Snapcasters? I'm running 4, I dont think I would go any less than 4.
3) 2-4 Young Pyromancers? I'm running 2, but thats because I cut 1 for the 19th land. Could be correct to cut the 4th probe for the Pyro or the 19th land for the Pyro.
4) Spell discussion? I personally think that Spell Pierce is better than Remand in the current format, and helps our bad matchups while not affecting our others. (Spell Pierce is better vs. Jund, Burn, Delver and better with Tasigur on turn 2/3)
Matchups: According to ModernNexus, matchups are as follows:
vs. Abzan: 27.3% (6/22)
vs. Affinity: 50% (12/24)
vs. Burn: 40.4% (21/52)
vs. Jund: 61.1% (11/18)
vs. UR Twin: 63.2% (24/38)
vs. Amulet Bloom: 38.9% (7/18)
Note: Yes its a small sample size, but I agree with most of these except the affinity matchup, which in my opinion is favored as long as you respect it and pack proper hate. Surprisingly Jund is favored on here, I have it as a harder matchup. Also Bloom being unfavoured also is interesting, as I actually had it as a favourable matchup.
For what its worth, my current list which has been proving promising in testing. Made Top 4 in a recent local tournament, only losing to burn and the mirror. I have 2 modern GP's coming up where I will be testing this and Affinity (which for those of you who know me, is no shock).
Alright, now that I'm off work, I will help push this thread in the right direction. All my points here are pertaining to the PyroDelver version, so if you are playing the big delve feel free to chime in however doesnt apply to you.
1) 18 or 19 land? Untapped blue sources for both? (So far I run 19 land with 15 untapped blue but 16 total blue sources.) With 19 if you dont run the sulfur falls you have the same amount of untapped blue, but one less blue/red source. If you run 18 and cut a fetch, you go to 14 untapped blue (The bare minimum due to math, similar to turn 1 green sources for a birds deck) and 1 less of each.
I use 18 lands, with access to a minimum of 12 cantrips, depending on the build, I feel comfortable with this number, but some decks use the 19th land as a creature/land with the UB man land, can't think of its name but its a valid card to use in the deck.
2) 3/4 Snapcasters? I'm running 4, I dont think I would go any less than 4.
3) 2-4 Young Pyromancers? I'm running 2, but thats because I cut 1 for the 19th land. Could be correct to cut the 4th probe for the Pyro or the 19th land for the Pyro.
I run 3, due to the 5 delve spells i use with 2 tasigur, 2 angler, 1 cut. and the body on snapcaster isn't to run home about, i prefer having a 3rd young pyro since he wins games
4) Spell discussion? I personally think that Spell Pierce is better than Remand in the current format, and helps our bad matchups while not affecting our others. (Spell Pierce is better vs. Jund, Burn, Delver and better with Tasigur on turn 2/3)
I haven't tried pierce in the deck for a while. seems like a fair trade to remove Remand in favor of it. I will for certain have to test it out since it seems decent there
Matchups: According to ModernNexus, matchups are as follows:
vs. Abzan: 27.3% (6/22)
vs. Affinity: 50% (12/24)
vs. Burn: 40.4% (21/52)
vs. Jund: 61.1% (11/18)
vs. UR Twin: 63.2% (24/38)
vs. Amulet Bloom: 38.9% (7/18)
Note: Yes its a small sample size, but I agree with most of these except the affinity matchup, which in my opinion is favored as long as you respect it and pack proper hate. Surprisingly Jund is favored on here, I have it as a harder matchup. Also Bloom being unfavoured also is interesting, as I actually had it as a favourable matchup.
I found Jund to be favorable, its really due to the fact that we don't have to fight through Lingering Souls unlike Abzan. Young Pyromancer is a huge home run if he evades bolts and decays since he just creates the ultimate road block or offensive they can't handle. Also Bob at times can be helpful to ourselves or our opponents. If he comes down T2, kill on sight. If later, its reasonable to keep it alive.
For the mainboard: I recommend running 1-2 Gurmag Angler in conjunction with 2-3 Tasigur, since Gurmag can not only be played in multiples, but also allows you to attack through opposing tasigurs, rhinos, and goyfs when they are 4/5s or less. Also run at least 1 Murderous Cut as another delve card that can thin the graveyard making tasigur activations better. I would recommend also running a 1-1 split between electrolyze and Kommand, since electrolyze is amazing against delver decks, elves, infect, and melira company. As for the side i like to keep the curve rather low for mana cost and try to keep the deck more aggro based rather than control, so I personally don't run keranos in this case. Also counterflux isn't the best card to have, especially needing you to have 3 mana up at all times to make it live. I recommend running dispel instead.
Agreed about Gurmag Angler and Murderous Cut. I don't play Keranos so not sure about what you're saying on that regard.
Sideboard: -1 Threads of Disolyalty, -1 Counterflux, -1 Inquisition of Kozilek; +1 Rakdos Charm, +1 Rending Volley, +1 Duress;
What do you think?
I like the mainboard changes, also Duress is a decent discard spell, but the advantage to using inquisition over it is the ability to take creatures. But i also recommend using at least 1 magma spray, since Melira company and elves are starting to become huge. Also useful against affinity since it kills pretty much any of their dudes. I personally don't like using the charm since decent twin players know how to play around the charm, while it does kill artifacts, vandalblast is better at that, and exiling graveyards isn't the greatest thing to be doing right now. Overall fun list!
I've played bloom I think 4 times on MODO (?) and I've never lost to it. Game 1 tends to be hard, but depending on how draws line up winnable. We can't really interact with the god hand game 1 very well. Game 2 and 3 they have a tendency to slow down their deck to fight against the hate we're boarding in which seems to funnily enough play into the hate we're boarding in because it's just that strong.
I'm currently on 18 land 14 untapped lands turn 1 and thinking of cutting my sulfur falls to add in a spell pierce. The deck runs so many cantrips that it seems to consistently flood out, and any deck that is fast enough to punish slow mana starts I side out my delvers and into cheap interaction. On the flipside I'm running 3 snapcaster mage, and would not really want to move up to 4, the body just isn't super relevant for the deck. Sometimes it sits in your hand being a 2/1 flash for 2 that reads "kicker 2/3 (mana): draw 2 cards", the goal is to out tempo your opponents usually and at that mana conversion rate it's not really helping, not to mention the times you slam a turn 2 angler and then have to use it as an ambush viper. I'm pretty sure 3 is right.
I'm on 3 YP too, but I'm not sure about that one, some matchups I side out one (same with snapcaster), its bob-esque in that it acts as a lightning rod but it can run away with a game. The opportunity cost seems relatively high for YP I could see playing 2.
I'm not sure on the remand front, it helps power out delve fatties, is great with a YP in play and just punishes slow starts insanely. I like spell pierce too, but remanding a Rhino, CoCo, huntmaster etc is brutal. I want to get some spell pierces in the deck giving that I tend to be seeing less A decay now.
I never play the deck without at least 1 Deprive, since its Counterspell in our deck, good in the early game, amazing in the late game, and almost always a relevant draw. 1-1 Split on Electrolyze and Kolaghan's Command since the ability to Forked Bolt and draw a card is very relevant nowadays thanks to company decks everywhere. And Kommand is always a useful card except against Wilt-Leaf Liege decks, i tend to remove them there. But almost any other match i bring in my second from the board.
As for the sideboard, Magma spray comes in against Aggro decks like affinity, occasionally burn, company decks like elves and melira, faeries, and more depending on what you play. Its 1 mana, exile a dude without drawback. Fine card to have. Death's Shadow is against any aggressive deck that has a hard time removing creatures. Also killer against burn, affinity, mirror, wilt-leaf decks. Slaughter Pact, the ability to tap out t3 if necessary against twin without feeling scared for the combo is the greatest feeling ever, just make sure to put on your best poker face here. I bring it in against twin, jund, wilt-leaf, company decks, affinity, amulet bloom. If you have any other questions on other decisions i have made so far, just ask. But i think most of you will already know what cards come in where from the rest of the list.
1. When do you side in Go for the Throat, and why don't you play another Terminate/Murderous Cut instead? I side in Go for the Throat vs the Mirror, Twin and Jund decks (sometimes bloom as well). The reason Go for the Throat over terminate is it is less restrictive on the mana, and does the exact same thing. In none of these match ups do they have artifact creatures and none of them have creatures to regenerate. Its also better than Cut due to not wanting to go up to 6 delve spells and 4 snap casters.
2. When do you side in Magma Spray? Typically vs Abzan CoCo, Affinity, Burn and Soul Sisters. I like the exile effect specifically for Collected Company due to persist.
3. Why playing only 2 Pyromancer, which to me is one of the core cards of the deck? I originally was running 3/3, but I wanted the 4th snapcaster mage as I was always wanting multiples, something I didn't want so much for this version of Delver with Pyromancer. My spell suite was too tight and at the time I had always wanted 19 land, so I cut the Pyro. I also saw Allen Wu on youtube do the same, so it reinforced my thinking. I will go up to 3 if I cut a land, however.
I never play the deck without at least 1 Deprive, since its Counterspell in our deck, good in the early game, amazing in the late game, and almost always a relevant draw. 1-1 Split on Electrolyze and Kolaghan's Command since the ability to Forked Bolt and draw a card is very relevant nowadays thanks to company decks everywhere. And Kommand is always a useful card except against Wilt-Leaf Liege decks, i tend to remove them there. But almost any other match i bring in my second from the board.
As for the sideboard, Magma spray comes in against Aggro decks like affinity, occasionally burn, company decks like elves and melira, faeries, and more depending on what you play. Its 1 mana, exile a dude without drawback. Fine card to have. Death's Shadow is against any aggressive deck that has a hard time removing creatures. Also killer against burn, affinity, mirror, wilt-leaf decks. Slaughter Pact, the ability to tap out t3 if necessary against twin without feeling scared for the combo is the greatest feeling ever, just make sure to put on your best poker face here. I bring it in against twin, jund, wilt-leaf, company decks, affinity, amulet bloom. If you have any other questions on other decisions i have made so far, just ask. But i think most of you will already know what cards come in where from the rest of the list.
Very similar lists, however I'm not sold on Spellskite. The match ups its good in are Infect, Twin and Burn and I would say we are favoured vs Twin and Infect. Aren't there better cards for it, or do you side it in more often?
I may try the Death's Shadow's, when you bring them in for the mirror/affinity what do you side out? Also not sold on remand in the current meta, as like i said earlier its not very good vs the mirror or burn, and spell pierce is good against all decks now including CoCo (better than remand IMO)
Round 1: Splinter Twin 2-1 WIN
Game 1: Fairly easy time, got the T2 flip and a T3 Vendillion Clique took them off the combo allowing me to counter my way to victory.
Game 2: Very grindy, kept getting bolted and electrolyzed. Ended in a big counter spell fight with me losing because less blue mana.
Game 3: T2 Gurmag stole the game easily while supported by snapcasters and remands
Round 2: Grixis Delver 2-0 WIN
Game 1: Two flipped Delvers and a Tasigur stole it right out of the game putting my opponent at a huge disadvantage.
Game 2: Took them by surprise, converted the deck to a Grixis Twin deck.
Round 3: Abzan 0-2 LOSS
Game 1: the T1 thoughtseize hurt me pretty bad, taking my only remand in hand out of business, ended up losing to a T4 seige rhino
Game 2: First three turns didn't go so well and then a choke happened. Thoughtseize > Decay > Choke
Round 4: GR Tron 2-1 WIN
Game 1: Kept him off of his Karn for a decent amount of time but then double wurmcoil engine landed making me a sad puppy
Game 2 & 3: Aggressively mulligan for for my sowing salts, knocked Tron offline(thankfully).
I side in Spellskite quite often, the biggest matchups i side it in is burn, since its a horrible match for us, twin, blocks deceiver exarch, and forces them to deal with the spellskite if they are still on combo mode, forces infect into a fold, and can screw with affinity's gameplan as well. Also I have bogles in my meta, and spellskite is yet again another tool that forces a fold.
Here i side out all the remands since remand isn't the greatest card in the match due to opposing counter magic, dispel is in for hating out instants (we use a ton), staticaster for dealing with young pyro, delver, snapcaster, and tasigur when they butt heads. Kommand comes in due to amazing grind power it has, essentially negating a removal spell and either killing a threat or forcing discard. I try to deal a normal amount of damage to myself, and end up casting the shadows when necessary, but hopefully out of bolt range. Not a lot of people see this coming. Also 1 probe is removed since our opponent can switch to a burn out plan since we deal a fair amount of damage to ourselves. All star in the match is snapcaster mage.
Since some of you seem concerned with Collected decks including Elves, Melira, Anafenza etc...isn't Hibernation better against those decks than Magma Spray, especially as a 1x?
The biggest difference as per use of magma spray over hibernation is not only versatility, but also mana cost. MS exiles the card when killed, hibernation delays the inevitable for a turn. MS can hit not just green, but white, red, black, colorless, etc. Hibernation only hits green. Also most situations its just better safer to use 1 mana at instant speed to ensure the combo fails or to ensure their board state falters. When you want to cast hibernation, it shouldn't be too hard for them to rebuild. With this deck, our sideboard is invaluable, each space requires versatility to be worthy of a spot. Hibernation isn't as versatile as the magma spray. So i give points to MS over Hibernation. HOWEVER, a matchup where hibernation is always better is bogles, since it wrecks their enchantments that way, but overall MS is the better card right now.
EDIT: big Memory Lapse on hibernation being instant, not sorcery.
Since some of you seem concerned with Collected decks including Elves, Melira, Anafenza etc...isn't Hibernation better against those decks than Magma Spray, especially as a 1x?
The biggest difference as per use of magma spray over hibernation is not only versatility, but also mana cost. First off, MS is instant speed, hibernation is not. MS exiles the card when killed, hibernation delays the inevitable for a turn. MS can hit not just green, but white, red, black, colorless, etc. Hibernation only hits green. Also most situations its just better safer to use 1 mana at instant speed to ensure the combo fails or to ensure their board state falters. When you want to cast hibernation, it shouldn't be too hard for them to rebuild. With this deck, our sideboard is invaluable, each space requires versatility to be worthy of a spot. Hibernation isn't as versatile as the magma spray. So i give points to MS over Hibernation. HOWEVER, a matchup where hibernation is always better is bogles, since it wrecks their enchantments that way, but overall MS is the better card right now.
Unless I'm gravely mistaken, yes, Hibernation is an instant.
My bad then, i was going off memory. But i still hold my position, 1 mana answer is easier to hold up than a 3 mana temporary answer against melira or elves.
I personally wouldn't bring in hibernation against abzan, just because it hits goyfs, scoozes, and rhinos doesn't make it that strong. The only card affected really by it is a scooze with counters on it. The rhino loves being bounced to helix again, goyf just don't care period. And against hate bears, most of their creatures are white except for voice or smiter, where voice takes a spray of magma oh so greatly. And against elves, the key is just making sure their creatures do not last for more than a turn. If your opening hand doesn't have a t1-2 play to kill an elf, its a safe idea to mull it to find one. Even after putting spellskite on board, its still a hazard you have to fight through. Hibernation would only just set them back a little. The true key to win here is to keep killing elves while young pyro makes tokens. and against melira, similar strategy, T1 Bolt the bird is one of the most important plays in that matchup as well. While against bloom, if they hit a prime time off of summer bloom + amulet, and you can hibernation it back, you are already winning. Because thats a minimum of 3 turns in, and they seem rather low on mana. Also, prime time would have been bounced, but he already grabbed 2 more lands, making recasting much easier. Pure kill spells like terminate, cut, and slaughter pact actually deal with the threat, not delay it. I do have a soft spot for it though, its just that now is not a good time for it.
However, I have to say a 1x Hibernation could be sided in against quite a few decks:
* Elves
* Collected Melira/Anafenza
* Amulet Bloom
* Abzan
* GW Hatebears/Splashed Death and Taxes
* Boogles
Of course it isn't as versatile as Magma Spray, but it's not entirely specific on Collected decks.
In addition to that, I would add that a good Elves/Collected Melira/Anafenza pilot won't be stopped by a Magma Spray. Elves is a pretty resilient deck, more than one would think, I was beaten badly 2-0 by a good Elves player on Cockatrice. In both G1 and G2 he responded to my removal on Elvish Archdruid by casting a Chord of Calling and putting into play a Spellskite. Melira can do that as well. Furthermore, you don't have to see Hibernation only as a way to stop the combo, but also as a way to get ahead on the board/scoreboard. Collected Melira wins by aggro more often than by combo, and Hibernation can be a way not to be overwhelmed by their Oozes and other fatties.
Adding on to that, downside of Hibernation against Elves is that the one's with a white splash and smart enough to sideboard it can actually counter the spell with Judge's Familiar =p which is hilarious.
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Modern: U Merfolk | GR Tron | WUR Jeskai Control | WBG Abzan Company
I am just getting into playing Delver, running the Pyro-Delver version and trying to figure out what is the 'right' opening play. Game 1, on the play.
If we have a delver, is it fetch shock, go to 17 and play?
G-prove first, then delver, go to 15?
If no delver, fetch shock visions, 17
G-probe, visions, 15?
Or just drop a fetch then Eon tapped shock?
Thanks
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Modern
Currently Playing UW UW Control/Miracles R Skred Red
I am just getting into playing Delver, running the Pyro-Delver version and trying to figure out what is the 'right' opening play. Game 1, on the play.
If we have a delver, is it fetch shock, go to 17 and play?
G-prove first, then delver, go to 15?
If no delver, fetch shock visions, 17
G-probe, visions, 15?
Or just drop a fetch then Eon tapped shock?
Thanks
So far, I only Probe turn 1 if I have multiple lines and knowing my opponents hand will change how I open the turn with. But normally I would be bolting myself for the Delver, then probing turn 2 for 2 life anyways.
It might not be right, but that is my thought process.
In your second scenario I am def bolting my self for vision to try and look for some action cards. If I have YP in hand the probe will come out turn 2 after casting YP.
It depends on what you are expecting, I would take out 1 Rakdos charm and either 1 duress or inquisition of kozilek. The rest i feel is good. You never really need a second charm, and you don't want to have the 2 discard effects normally in the side. Either one of them are fine though.
I am just getting into playing Delver, running the Pyro-Delver version and trying to figure out what is the 'right' opening play. Game 1, on the play.
If we have a delver, is it fetch shock, go to 17 and play?
G-prove first, then delver, go to 15?
If no delver, fetch shock visions, 17
G-probe, visions, 15?
Or just drop a fetch then Eon tapped shock?
Thanks
This really depends on the hand. Do you have a YP/Angler/Tasigur? If I had a YP I would wait until he came down to probe. If I have angler/tas I may or may not do it turn 1 depending on my hand. If I don't have any of them then I am doing it turn 1 to try to get another threat/answers to removal.
I have put myself to 10 on turn 2 many times and still won. It is all about leveraging every early advantage you can to sneak out ahead of the opponent
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I am still new at trying to report my matches so sadly I don't have much to share.
Match 1 vs Esper control 2-0
I was able to stick threats and protect them with counter magic and he never saw supreme verdict.
Young Pyromancer with counter back up is nuts. (This proved true multiple times in the day)
Match 2 UW Tron/Gifts 1-1 Draw
Round 1 - After grinding him down with YP and a flipped delver he gets desperate and jams a Gifts at EOT and I have no counters in hand with all my lands available. I hope he fears the remand , but he is dead if he can't resolve the unburialrights anyways. He jams the Eleshnorn he got with gifts and it is all down hill from there. I was able to get him to 1 after bolt, snap, bolt. But it didn't matter.
Round 2- This time I had the counter magic to back up my threats. It is just some beats and holding up counter for something deadly.
Match 3 vs Brew with Loam and mostly dredge stuff.
Note: His deck is built around getting people stuck below 4 lands which works well for us.
Round 1 - He arrives late and I know he has a grindy deck. I try to play fast and make too many mistakes. He locks me out with Hakan and I scoop to give my self time.
Round 2 and 3 - I land some early threats and keep counter magic. I let him blow up some lands and sac some to his Pox. He keeps me at 2 mana, and that is enough to disrupt his plan while Delver does the work.
Match 4 - Intentional draw.
Round 1 of top 8.
I 2-0 my opponent who is playing Esper. But I never get to see what he plays. He said it is aggressive, but his deck beat it self really.
Sorry for the crappy report. I will try and get better at them. I am wondering how to best board against twin with this list. And maybe advice on the optimal Burn/Abzan plan too.
Should I fit a 3rd claw? If so what should go.
Also, I was thinking about removing a remand or a Mana leak to add a Forked Bolt. Bad idea?
Notes:
*Deprive seems great. Have not had an issue with the bouncing land draw-back. It has helped in some friendlies where a land got sea'ed.
*YP is a house when unanswered
*Tasigur is great for aggro starts or grindy matches.
Side boarding is tough for me so any advise on that would be greatly appreciated. I hope on being more helpful in the future. I have played FNM level magic for a while, but I am now trying to be more mindful of my matches. So maybe my reports will include. If anyone has any sources on how to write good MTG match reports please post them.
(Sorry for any type-o or formatting errors. At work and trying to get this out fast.)
Lands(18)
Creatures(14)
Sorcery(7)
Instants(21)
Sideboard (15)
For the mainboard: I recommend running 1-2 Gurmag Angler in conjunction with 2-3 Tasigur, since Gurmag can not only be played in multiples, but also allows you to attack through opposing tasigurs, rhinos, and goyfs when they are 4/5s or less. Also run at least 1 Murderous Cut as another delve card that can thin the graveyard making tasigur activations better. I would recommend also running a 1-1 split between electrolyze and Kommand, since electrolyze is amazing against delver decks, elves, infect, and melira company. As for the side i like to keep the curve rather low for mana cost and try to keep the deck more aggro based rather than control, so I personally don't run keranos in this case. Also counterflux isn't the best card to have, especially needing you to have 3 mana up at all times to make it live. I recommend running dispel instead.
On my tombstone, please write "Now his body fuels the Treasure Cruise"
Or you could Kommand him back...
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Modern:
BURGrixis DelverRUB
URUR DelverRU
URBlue MoonRU
RIPURUR TwinRURIP
Legacy:
URBGrixis DelverBRU
RUBGrixis PyromancerRUB
Commander:
URMelek, Izzet ParagonRU
URBJeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeRUB
1) 18 or 19 land? Untapped blue sources for both? (So far I run 19 land with 15 untapped blue but 16 total blue sources.) With 19 if you dont run the sulfur falls you have the same amount of untapped blue, but one less blue/red source. If you run 18 and cut a fetch, you go to 14 untapped blue (The bare minimum due to math, similar to turn 1 green sources for a birds deck) and 1 less of each.
2) 3/4 Snapcasters? I'm running 4, I dont think I would go any less than 4.
3) 2-4 Young Pyromancers? I'm running 2, but thats because I cut 1 for the 19th land. Could be correct to cut the 4th probe for the Pyro or the 19th land for the Pyro.
4) Spell discussion? I personally think that Spell Pierce is better than Remand in the current format, and helps our bad matchups while not affecting our others. (Spell Pierce is better vs. Jund, Burn, Delver and better with Tasigur on turn 2/3)
Matchups: According to ModernNexus, matchups are as follows:
vs. Abzan: 27.3% (6/22)
vs. Affinity: 50% (12/24)
vs. Burn: 40.4% (21/52)
vs. Jund: 61.1% (11/18)
vs. UR Twin: 63.2% (24/38)
vs. Amulet Bloom: 38.9% (7/18)
Note: Yes its a small sample size, but I agree with most of these except the affinity matchup, which in my opinion is favored as long as you respect it and pack proper hate. Surprisingly Jund is favored on here, I have it as a harder matchup. Also Bloom being unfavoured also is interesting, as I actually had it as a favourable matchup.
Thanks Hero's of the Plane
Modern
-------------
xRxAffinityxRx
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Young Pyromancer
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Gurmag Angler
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Thought Scour
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Spell Snare
1 Spell Pierce
2 Mana Leak
1 Deprive
2 Terminate
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Electrolyze
1 Murderous Cut
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Darkslick Shores
2 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Swamp
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Watery Grave
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Dispel
1 Magma Spray
1 Rending Volley
1 Vandalblast
2 Dragon's Claw
1 Flashfreeze
1 Go for the Throat
1 Negate
2 Blood Moon
1 Izzet Staticaster
Potential changes:
-1 Gitaxian Probe or Sulfur Falls, +1 Young Pyromancer
Sideboard may change this week depending on how testing with my team goes
Thanks Hero's of the Plane
Modern
-------------
xRxAffinityxRx
I use 18 lands, with access to a minimum of 12 cantrips, depending on the build, I feel comfortable with this number, but some decks use the 19th land as a creature/land with the UB man land, can't think of its name but its a valid card to use in the deck.
I run 3, due to the 5 delve spells i use with 2 tasigur, 2 angler, 1 cut. and the body on snapcaster isn't to run home about, i prefer having a 3rd young pyro since he wins games
I haven't tried pierce in the deck for a while. seems like a fair trade to remove Remand in favor of it. I will for certain have to test it out since it seems decent there
I found Jund to be favorable, its really due to the fact that we don't have to fight through Lingering Souls unlike Abzan. Young Pyromancer is a huge home run if he evades bolts and decays since he just creates the ultimate road block or offensive they can't handle. Also Bob at times can be helpful to ourselves or our opponents. If he comes down T2, kill on sight. If later, its reasonable to keep it alive.
I like the mainboard changes, also Duress is a decent discard spell, but the advantage to using inquisition over it is the ability to take creatures. But i also recommend using at least 1 magma spray, since Melira company and elves are starting to become huge. Also useful against affinity since it kills pretty much any of their dudes. I personally don't like using the charm since decent twin players know how to play around the charm, while it does kill artifacts, vandalblast is better at that, and exiling graveyards isn't the greatest thing to be doing right now. Overall fun list!
On my tombstone, please write "Now his body fuels the Treasure Cruise"
Or you could Kommand him back...
Check out my Youtube Page for online Magic Content!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcq-a5rTSNclFCS2o4_lVFw
Modern:
BURGrixis DelverRUB
URUR DelverRU
URBlue MoonRU
RIPURUR TwinRURIP
Legacy:
URBGrixis DelverBRU
RUBGrixis PyromancerRUB
Commander:
URMelek, Izzet ParagonRU
URBJeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeRUB
I'm currently on 18 land 14 untapped lands turn 1 and thinking of cutting my sulfur falls to add in a spell pierce. The deck runs so many cantrips that it seems to consistently flood out, and any deck that is fast enough to punish slow mana starts I side out my delvers and into cheap interaction. On the flipside I'm running 3 snapcaster mage, and would not really want to move up to 4, the body just isn't super relevant for the deck. Sometimes it sits in your hand being a 2/1 flash for 2 that reads "kicker 2/3 (mana): draw 2 cards", the goal is to out tempo your opponents usually and at that mana conversion rate it's not really helping, not to mention the times you slam a turn 2 angler and then have to use it as an ambush viper. I'm pretty sure 3 is right.
I'm on 3 YP too, but I'm not sure about that one, some matchups I side out one (same with snapcaster), its bob-esque in that it acts as a lightning rod but it can run away with a game. The opportunity cost seems relatively high for YP I could see playing 2.
I'm not sure on the remand front, it helps power out delve fatties, is great with a YP in play and just punishes slow starts insanely. I like spell pierce too, but remanding a Rhino, CoCo, huntmaster etc is brutal. I want to get some spell pierces in the deck giving that I tend to be seeing less A decay now.
Are we sure 19 lands isn't the way to go? Most of the time if I keep a 1 land hand, I don't draw another, which leads to quite a bit of mulliganing.
Modern
UBR Grixis Control
U Merfolk
Pauper
U Mono U Delver
Ancestral Visions is freed
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Young Pyromancer
3 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Gurmag Angler
Lands 18
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Polluted Delta
2 Steam Vents
1 Watery Grave
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Darkslick Shores
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
Instants 20
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Thought Scour
2 Mana Leak
2 Remand
2 Spell Snare
1 Deprive
2 Terminate
1 Murderous Cut
1 Electrolyze
1 Kolaghan's Command
3 Death's Shadow
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Spellskite
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Blood Moon
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Dispel
1 Vandalblast
1 Magma Spray
1 Negate
1 Kolaghan's Command
I never play the deck without at least 1 Deprive, since its Counterspell in our deck, good in the early game, amazing in the late game, and almost always a relevant draw. 1-1 Split on Electrolyze and Kolaghan's Command since the ability to Forked Bolt and draw a card is very relevant nowadays thanks to company decks everywhere. And Kommand is always a useful card except against Wilt-Leaf Liege decks, i tend to remove them there. But almost any other match i bring in my second from the board.
As for the sideboard, Magma spray comes in against Aggro decks like affinity, occasionally burn, company decks like elves and melira, faeries, and more depending on what you play. Its 1 mana, exile a dude without drawback. Fine card to have. Death's Shadow is against any aggressive deck that has a hard time removing creatures. Also killer against burn, affinity, mirror, wilt-leaf decks. Slaughter Pact, the ability to tap out t3 if necessary against twin without feeling scared for the combo is the greatest feeling ever, just make sure to put on your best poker face here. I bring it in against twin, jund, wilt-leaf, company decks, affinity, amulet bloom. If you have any other questions on other decisions i have made so far, just ask. But i think most of you will already know what cards come in where from the rest of the list.
On my tombstone, please write "Now his body fuels the Treasure Cruise"
Or you could Kommand him back...
Check out my Youtube Page for online Magic Content!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcq-a5rTSNclFCS2o4_lVFw
Modern:
BURGrixis DelverRUB
URUR DelverRU
URBlue MoonRU
RIPURUR TwinRURIP
Legacy:
URBGrixis DelverBRU
RUBGrixis PyromancerRUB
Commander:
URMelek, Izzet ParagonRU
URBJeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeRUB
Responses in bold.
Very similar lists, however I'm not sold on Spellskite. The match ups its good in are Infect, Twin and Burn and I would say we are favoured vs Twin and Infect. Aren't there better cards for it, or do you side it in more often?
I may try the Death's Shadow's, when you bring them in for the mirror/affinity what do you side out? Also not sold on remand in the current meta, as like i said earlier its not very good vs the mirror or burn, and spell pierce is good against all decks now including CoCo (better than remand IMO)
Thanks Hero's of the Plane
Modern
-------------
xRxAffinityxRx
4x Polluted Delta
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Steam Vents
1x Watery Grave
1x Bloodstained Mire
3x Island
1x Swamp
1x Mountain
1x Desolate Lighthouse
1x Sulfur Falls
Instants: 20
4x Thought Scour
4x Remand
2x Deprive
2x Cryptic Command
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Electrolyze
1x Terminate
1x Spell Snare
4x Serum Visions
3x Gitaxian Probe
Creatures: 14
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Snapcaster Mage
2x Vendilion Clique
2x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2x Gurmag Angler
4x Splinter Twin
4x Deceiver Exarch
2x Blood Moon
2x Rakdos Charm
2x Sowing Salt
1x Kolaghan's Command
Round 1: Splinter Twin 2-1 WIN
Game 1: Fairly easy time, got the T2 flip and a T3 Vendillion Clique took them off the combo allowing me to counter my way to victory.
Game 2: Very grindy, kept getting bolted and electrolyzed. Ended in a big counter spell fight with me losing because less blue mana.
Game 3: T2 Gurmag stole the game easily while supported by snapcasters and remands
Round 2: Grixis Delver 2-0 WIN
Game 1: Two flipped Delvers and a Tasigur stole it right out of the game putting my opponent at a huge disadvantage.
Game 2: Took them by surprise, converted the deck to a Grixis Twin deck.
Round 3: Abzan 0-2 LOSS
Game 1: the T1 thoughtseize hurt me pretty bad, taking my only remand in hand out of business, ended up losing to a T4 seige rhino
Game 2: First three turns didn't go so well and then a choke happened. Thoughtseize > Decay > Choke
Round 4: GR Tron 2-1 WIN
Game 1: Kept him off of his Karn for a decent amount of time but then double wurmcoil engine landed making me a sad puppy
Game 2 & 3: Aggressively mulligan for for my sowing salts, knocked Tron offline(thankfully).
Against the mirror, this is normally my plan
In: 3 Death's Shadow, 1 Izzet Staticaster, 1 Dispel, 1 Kommand
Out: 2 Remand, 2 Delver, 2 probe
Here i side out all the remands since remand isn't the greatest card in the match due to opposing counter magic, dispel is in for hating out instants (we use a ton), staticaster for dealing with young pyro, delver, snapcaster, and tasigur when they butt heads. Kommand comes in due to amazing grind power it has, essentially negating a removal spell and either killing a threat or forcing discard. I try to deal a normal amount of damage to myself, and end up casting the shadows when necessary, but hopefully out of bolt range. Not a lot of people see this coming. Also 1 probe is removed since our opponent can switch to a burn out plan since we deal a fair amount of damage to ourselves. All star in the match is snapcaster mage.
On my tombstone, please write "Now his body fuels the Treasure Cruise"
Or you could Kommand him back...
Check out my Youtube Page for online Magic Content!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcq-a5rTSNclFCS2o4_lVFw
Modern:
BURGrixis DelverRUB
URUR DelverRU
URBlue MoonRU
RIPURUR TwinRURIP
Legacy:
URBGrixis DelverBRU
RUBGrixis PyromancerRUB
Commander:
URMelek, Izzet ParagonRU
URBJeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeRUB
The biggest difference as per use of magma spray over hibernation is not only versatility, but also mana cost. MS exiles the card when killed, hibernation delays the inevitable for a turn. MS can hit not just green, but white, red, black, colorless, etc. Hibernation only hits green. Also most situations its just better safer to use 1 mana at instant speed to ensure the combo fails or to ensure their board state falters. When you want to cast hibernation, it shouldn't be too hard for them to rebuild. With this deck, our sideboard is invaluable, each space requires versatility to be worthy of a spot. Hibernation isn't as versatile as the magma spray. So i give points to MS over Hibernation. HOWEVER, a matchup where hibernation is always better is bogles, since it wrecks their enchantments that way, but overall MS is the better card right now.
EDIT: big Memory Lapse on hibernation being instant, not sorcery.
On my tombstone, please write "Now his body fuels the Treasure Cruise"
Or you could Kommand him back...
Check out my Youtube Page for online Magic Content!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcq-a5rTSNclFCS2o4_lVFw
Modern:
BURGrixis DelverRUB
URUR DelverRU
URBlue MoonRU
RIPURUR TwinRURIP
Legacy:
URBGrixis DelverBRU
RUBGrixis PyromancerRUB
Commander:
URMelek, Izzet ParagonRU
URBJeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeRUB
Unless I'm gravely mistaken, yes, Hibernation is an instant.
Modern - GB Elves, UW Ojutai Control
Legacy - BWG Junk Stoneblade
Gay and Proud
#MakeAmericaGreatAgain
On my tombstone, please write "Now his body fuels the Treasure Cruise"
Or you could Kommand him back...
Check out my Youtube Page for online Magic Content!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcq-a5rTSNclFCS2o4_lVFw
Modern:
BURGrixis DelverRUB
URUR DelverRU
URBlue MoonRU
RIPURUR TwinRURIP
Legacy:
URBGrixis DelverBRU
RUBGrixis PyromancerRUB
Commander:
URMelek, Izzet ParagonRU
URBJeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeRUB
On my tombstone, please write "Now his body fuels the Treasure Cruise"
Or you could Kommand him back...
Check out my Youtube Page for online Magic Content!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcq-a5rTSNclFCS2o4_lVFw
Modern:
BURGrixis DelverRUB
URUR DelverRU
URBlue MoonRU
RIPURUR TwinRURIP
Legacy:
URBGrixis DelverBRU
RUBGrixis PyromancerRUB
Commander:
URMelek, Izzet ParagonRU
URBJeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeRUB
Adding on to that, downside of Hibernation against Elves is that the one's with a white splash and smart enough to sideboard it can actually counter the spell with Judge's Familiar =p which is hilarious.
U Merfolk | GR Tron | WUR Jeskai Control | WBG Abzan Company
EDH:
G Ezuri, Renegade Leader, Fighting for Rivendell
WU Brago, King Eternal, Long Live the King
WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon, Worship the Dragon
If we have a delver, is it fetch shock, go to 17 and play?
G-prove first, then delver, go to 15?
If no delver, fetch shock visions, 17
G-probe, visions, 15?
Or just drop a fetch then Eon tapped shock?
Thanks
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
So far, I only Probe turn 1 if I have multiple lines and knowing my opponents hand will change how I open the turn with. But normally I would be bolting myself for the Delver, then probing turn 2 for 2 life anyways.
It might not be right, but that is my thought process.
In your second scenario I am def bolting my self for vision to try and look for some action cards. If I have YP in hand the probe will come out turn 2 after casting YP.
On my tombstone, please write "Now his body fuels the Treasure Cruise"
Or you could Kommand him back...
Check out my Youtube Page for online Magic Content!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcq-a5rTSNclFCS2o4_lVFw
Modern:
BURGrixis DelverRUB
URUR DelverRU
URBlue MoonRU
RIPURUR TwinRURIP
Legacy:
URBGrixis DelverBRU
RUBGrixis PyromancerRUB
Commander:
URMelek, Izzet ParagonRU
URBJeleva, Nephalia's ScourgeRUB
This really depends on the hand. Do you have a YP/Angler/Tasigur? If I had a YP I would wait until he came down to probe. If I have angler/tas I may or may not do it turn 1 depending on my hand. If I don't have any of them then I am doing it turn 1 to try to get another threat/answers to removal.
I have put myself to 10 on turn 2 many times and still won. It is all about leveraging every early advantage you can to sneak out ahead of the opponent