Depends on the version. Shoal lists have the ability to gain life so Eidolon isn't a big deal. The classic version has a little bit rougher of a time, but can get around it w/ through the Breach or sweepers before combo-ing.
Eidolon of the Great Revel is usually trouble for this deck. I usually have at least 1 Manamorphose and 1 Desperate Ritual in hand when this lands. Then I tend to draw into more Manamorphose, so it's pretty tough when someone does turn 1 Goblin Guide, turn 2 Eidolon of the Great Revel, turn 3 triple Lightning Bolt or LB and Atarka's Command up. That's tough to beat and Eidolon always comes with those types of cards.
Played in a 29 person FNM today. I got owned.
Round 1 vs. UWR Vision. I get him pretty easily. I splice stuff and play some stuff EoT and Griselbrand doesn't fizzle. 2-0.
Round 2 vs. Abzan Company. Pretty easy games. In the first game, I turn 2 him. It turns out that he had a turn 3 infinite life on top next turn. In the next game, he keeps after a mulligan, as I do. I Pyroclasm his board after double Inquisition of Kozilek. It leaves him with no gas and I draw Faithless Looting into Night's Whisper into combo. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. UR Faeries. Both of these games are a struggle. I keep a solid 6, but fail to find a 2nd land for quite a while. He counters my gas and then I draw all lands near the end. I ended up with only 28 cards left in my library. In the next game, I keep 1 land, Faithless Looting, Goryo's Vengeance, Griselbrand, double Pact of Negation, and something else. I don't find a land until he has 6. I do Goryo's Vengeance. He does Spell Snare. I do Pact of Negation. he does Spellstutter Sprite. I do Pact of Negation. He does 2nd Spellstutter Sprite. On to my turn, in response to the Pact trigger, Goryo's Vengeance, he has another Spell Snare. I guess that's what happens when someone gets to 6 mana when I finally get to 2. 0-2.
Round 4 vs. Reckless Zoo. He has a slow draw. He hits with some Kird Apes. I do a Nourishing Shoal and he doesn't have Atarka's Command. But I find only blanks. When I die, the next card was Goryo's Vengeance. In the next game, I get him with turn 4 Through the Breach/Worldspine Wurm. In the final game, I kept drawing blanks, but managed to save an Inquisition of Kozilek, which took Atarka's Command from his hand. I had to go to the discard step for Griselbrand that I had just drawn. On his upkeep, I Goryo's Vengeance it, but he does Atarka's Command that he just drew in response to me blocking, so I was at 7 life and couldn't pay life to find something. I had Nourishing Shoal, but no Green cards in hand. 1-2.
Round 5 vs. Lantern control. He basically got all of the Pithing Needles and Bridges that he could. He didn't Pithing Needle Borborygmos Enraged in game 1, so I kept trying to find 6 land for my Through the Breach/Borborygmos Enraged to kill him. The turn before I drew the 6th land, he drew Spellskite, so I scooped. In the next game, he Surgical Extraction Through the Breach, Griselbrand, and Borborygmos Enraged. 0-2.
2-3 is my worst finish in quite a while. (Once did 2-5 at a WMCQ)
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
That kind of sounds like my IQ last weekend. I was on tilt since game 3 in round 2 against fish (mull to 4 to find a land) and finished 2-5 overall. I made some changes though for States this weekend and it feels a bit smoother / more consistent. I've also put together the shoal version online to add to my testing for the GP. I know I'll be sleeving up Griselbrand, but what version? Who knows haha.
It's ever so tempting to keep a 1 land hand with Faithless Looting, especially when you've already mulliganed a time or two.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
My opener was 2 guides and a looting, 6 was 1 guide and a looting, 5 was 3 guides and a looting lol. Part of me thinks I maybe could have gotten away with that 7, but it was unreal. Still almost got there though. My 4 had land, looting, spirit guide, Griselbrand. T1 looting got me a Goryo's and another griselbrand. He then cast Graffdiggers on his T1 and all hope vanished lol.
That's pretty unlucky, but as much as I don't want to admit it, that's the variance that this deck has sometimes. Soemtimes you dodge their one-of. Other times, their one-of gets you because you don't draw well enough. When I first was playing the deck, I was consistently doing turn 2, 3, and 4 Through the Breach with both Griselbrand and Worldspine Wurm. In the past month, it's been much more rare than the Goryo's Vengeance kill.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I've been playing Grishoalbrand since the middle of January. I love the power in the deck and the outs it has to kill any opponent before they get to play Msgic. I hate the inconsistency and ability to lose to itself, and the number of draws that are complete blanks outside of comboing off. I've played a variety of Serum Visions decks throughout my time in Modern, and Grishoalbrand certainly has given me the largest proportion of losing records, though it of course has the unbeatable draws on the other side of things.
How many of you have experience playing the Griselbrand/Emrakul UBR list along the lines of what some of the Japanese players ran at the Pro Tour? Here's a quick list of my observations compared to the Shoal list:
- there are fewer strictly conditional cards (e.g. Shoal), so you have fewer games where awkward draws lead to your deck doing absolutely nothing
- the deck gets to play more intrinsically powerful cards, like Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Lightning Bolt, discard spells; the interactive package helps especially improve matchups like Infect that are quite difficult for Shoal
- Goryo's Vengeance has twice as many targets with Emrakul, so there's a greater range of card combinations that lead to a fatty in play
- reanimating a creature does not always end the game on the spot, and Griselbrand in particular can actually be relatively weak because it does not lead to a combo kill
- need to attack to win- no combo kill and no ability to win at instant speed
- overall seems less swingy in both directions than Shoal; matchups across the board seem pretty reasonable, but there are fewer free wins
I'd love to compare notes with someone who's given the build some work. Anyone out there?
I haven't played the list that you are talking about, but I did play Grixis Reanimator (with Fury of the Horde) 2 years ago (I believe). It may have been longer. It was more weak to removal since Griselbrand may not always find you enough gas to win in subsequent turns. It was possible to lose with Emrakul's annihilator if done too early in the game. If you had waited, you're open to more disruption. I know this won't help much since it is a different Grixis list, but that was my experience.
I played in a 22 person GPT yesterday.
Round 1 vs. Affinity. 2-0.
Round 2 vs. Abzan Company. 1-2.
Round 3 vs. Infect. 0-2.
Round 4 vs. Skred. 2-0.
Round 5 vs. Grixis Control. 2-0.
I finished 3-2 for ... 9th place.
Drew blanks against Abzan Company in the 2 games. Drew 7 Nourishing Shoal vs. Infect in 2 game, including my mulligans though. I actually sided out 1 Nourishing Shoal in game 2. This was the first time I've ever sided out that card.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Rd 1 vs Jund: 0-2
Should have been a better match then it ended up being. Early Emrakul brings him down to 1 and I simply proceeded to top deck land while he was able to get a Liliana out and stabilize. Bad beats. Game 2 I kept a decent hand, but proceeded to draw 3/4 Through the Breach and 3/4 Emrakul while being stuck on 1 land.
Rd 2 vs U/W Control: 2-0
Pretty easy games. One of the advantages to running the "classic" version is I can run a lot of discard to clear the way.
Rd 3 vs "Big" Zoo: 0-2
I was super greedy in game 1. EOT reanimate Griselbrand w/ Through the breach and Emrakul in hand, draw 7, fail to find an untapped mana source to be able to through the breach.I was at 1 life, so I couldn't crack a fetch. I do a couple of lootings hoping to hit a goryo's and win on the spot, but I fizzle out. This would turn out to be a theme throughout the day. Simply reanimating to chump block would have given me a lot more flexibility and saved a few life points, but I wouldn't have been able to win on that turn. Oh well. Game 2 I made some land sequencing errors and it cost me big time. Live and learn.
Rd 4 vs BW Tokens: 2-1
Game 1 was pretty straight forward. Blood Moon kept him off being able to flash back lingering souls and Emrakul mopped up the board. Game 2 Rest in Peace kept me off of the easy route and unfortunately I never found a Breach. Game 3 was pretty gross w/ Triple Emrakul and Double breach. My opponent wasn't too thrilled.
Rd 5 vs Jund: 2-0
Game 1 and 2 were both T3 Griselbrand into T4 Emrakul. My opponent was very salty about it with sarcastic comments like "nice interactive deck," despite me casting more IoK/ Thoughtseize than he did in both games.
Rd 6 vs Jeskai Control: 2-0
T2 Thoughtseize reveals a hand of Vendilion Clique, and 3x Snapcaster Mage (he bolted me in response to the TS). I take the Clique, Loot dumping Griselbrand into the yard and reanimate on T3. Opponent immediately concedes. Game 2 I shred his hand apart with IoK and TS, then Griselbrand into Emrakul next turn. This opponent, though not happy, took it graciously and we chatted a bit afterwards about his resto / kiki control deck since my buddy is currently building it.
Rd 7 vs Burn: 1-2
At this point I was in 26th place and no X-2s were making it into the top 8. I steal game 1 with a reanimated Emrakul. Game 2 I foolishly kept a slow hand, but a SSG would have allowed me to T4 Emrakul for the win. Game 3 I mull to 5 looking for a leyline and get stuck on 4 lands with Emrakul and Through the Breach in hand. I took a "safer" line of play, attempting to attack with Griselbrand which met a path to exile (didn't draw 7 in this case). He double bolted himself in order to pump a swiftspear up and bring me to 1 and I top deck a fetchland for my 5th land.
Overall the deck did great. It felt pretty consistent and well situated for the meta. That being said, I was a little loose with my sequencing and most of my losses were from my own mistakes vs the deck being outclassed. I've been putting in a lot of reps with the deck over the past month or so, but it was an enlightening experience. 4-3 is nowhere near impressive, but at lest it showed me where I needed to tighten up my game. This was my last big paper event until the GP next month unfortunately, I've got MTGO and some smaller LGS events are still going on to test / tune the deck. Any feedback is always welcome.
Good job. I like the writeup. I actually considered going to States myself, but since it was 88 mi from my home and my store's GPT was 22 mi, I opted for the closer one. 25 person GPT, but I played GW Trap instead, getting 9th place for the 2nd day (and GPT) in a row.
I actually felt a little bad about what the guys from yesterday's GPT said about Grishoalbrand. I feel like they want to try to out "Midrange" you, but nothing out "Midranges" Jund, Junk, or Grixis. So why would I try to interact with a Tier 1 deck that is the best at interacting? So I played a deck that looks like GW Aggro, but has Windbrisk Heights, Through the Breach, and 1 Summoning Trap to power out Emrakul, the Aeon's Torn and Terastodon.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
So it has been a while since I have been able to hit up a tournament, but with only about 20 days left until the GP, I should be hitting up quite a few over the next couple of weeks. I have been testing against my gauntlet and online though. As a result I've made a few changes to the deck (RB Classic style) that I'd love to get some feedback on.
Basically I've dropped Night's Whisper in favor of Lightning Bolt giving me a little extra removal against fast aggro, as well as some extra reach (lost a few too many games after an Emrakul for my liking). This did require me to cut an IoK out of the main in order to run 3 bolts, but it did allow me to cut an Anger of the Gods out of the side, giving me a total of 7 targeted discard spells in the 75 still for the control matches.
My biggest concern is the mana base right now since I am only running 8R producing lands vs 13B (though if we factor SSG and Blood Moon, the R sources go up quite a bit. In testing it has been fine, but I only have roughly 10 games in w/ bolt in the build and I don't know if that will put more stress on the red sources or not.
Take my response with a grain of salt, since it has been way to long since I played this version.
IMO, I wouldn't run all 4 SSG, I would even consider to run Pentad Prism over it (allows turn 3 TTB). Also, you are running more lands, which makes the need of SSG also less. I dislike the lack of raw carddraw, especially in combination with 7 Looting spells (Voice is at least even). I would suggest you to run 2 Read the Bones (they are better than Night's Whisper in your deck) instead of 1 Tormenting Voice and 1 SSG.
As for the Manabase, I definitely want the playset Temple here. You are already relative low on dig spells, hence getting a "free" one is great. I know, that it bites with the Blood Moon plan, but you can switch one Polluted Delta and 1 Swamp for them without having a "real" impact.
As for the SB, I do not really like it (the 1 of LotV looks really strange e.g.), but I cannot help you here, because of my lack of experience with that shell.
Greetings,
Kathal
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What I play or have:
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
The list is still based on CalebD's MOCS list, so I wouldn't consider it 100% rock solid.
LotV used to be a 2 of in the SB, but I've rarely been bringing her in. I would love to run her in the main (as a 2 of), but Blood Moon has just been super strong for me.
I'll consider Read the Bones, since the card draw issue is certainly a concern(and why Night's Whisper was added to begin with). In testing Whipser was fine, but it seemed like I had a lot of card advantage to begin with and was a bit redundant. Maybe I can find room for a 2/2 split between Voice and RTB.
I wouldn't mind a play set of temples. I've been happy since adding it in.
I also hadn't considered cutting SSG at all, so maybe that is more of a flex spot than I initially thought. Prism has been on my radar, but always a little lower priority vs some of my other experiments. Not sure what I'd cut to make it work in a number that matters since a 1 of is probably not worth it.
Thanks for the feedback though. I'll definitely experiment with the suggestions.
BattleSpawn - Are you going to the Grand Prix Los Angeles? I wish I could go myself, but am going to be out of town. I most likely would run Bogles or Grishoalbrand and with 2 Byes, I would need to only 4-3 to Day 2. I'm pretty frazzled that I won't be able to go.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I'll be heading to GP Charlotte. Even though LA is closer, the costs were about the same and my buddy convinced me to swap.
I'm still testing shoal, but I haven't been overly impressed yet (deck is fine, but I don't know if I'll have the time / confidence to pilot it adequately). The more control(ish) build is more my style.
Good to know. I didn't even realize that Charlotte had a Modern GP coming up. I wish you luck. I honestly hope that Grishoalbrand does pretty good at these tournaments; just not too good that people complain and something bad happens.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Hey all, wanted to share the Goryo's Vengeance/Necrotic Ooze list I've had some success with recently: 7-0(-2) at a competitive cash tournament, and good finishes in some smaller events. I'd recommend it as a starting point for anyone going to the GPs or just playing Modern in general.
Btw. could I add your report/primer to the opening post? The Ooze version is the only one, I have the least experience about, hence adding it would make the primer better ^^
Greetings,
Kathal
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What I play or have:
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
Played in a 29 person FNM today. I got owned.
Round 1 vs. UWR Vision. I get him pretty easily. I splice stuff and play some stuff EoT and Griselbrand doesn't fizzle. 2-0.
Round 2 vs. Abzan Company. Pretty easy games. In the first game, I turn 2 him. It turns out that he had a turn 3 infinite life on top next turn. In the next game, he keeps after a mulligan, as I do. I Pyroclasm his board after double Inquisition of Kozilek. It leaves him with no gas and I draw Faithless Looting into Night's Whisper into combo. 2-0.
Round 3 vs. UR Faeries. Both of these games are a struggle. I keep a solid 6, but fail to find a 2nd land for quite a while. He counters my gas and then I draw all lands near the end. I ended up with only 28 cards left in my library. In the next game, I keep 1 land, Faithless Looting, Goryo's Vengeance, Griselbrand, double Pact of Negation, and something else. I don't find a land until he has 6. I do Goryo's Vengeance. He does Spell Snare. I do Pact of Negation. he does Spellstutter Sprite. I do Pact of Negation. He does 2nd Spellstutter Sprite. On to my turn, in response to the Pact trigger, Goryo's Vengeance, he has another Spell Snare. I guess that's what happens when someone gets to 6 mana when I finally get to 2. 0-2.
Round 4 vs. Reckless Zoo. He has a slow draw. He hits with some Kird Apes. I do a Nourishing Shoal and he doesn't have Atarka's Command. But I find only blanks. When I die, the next card was Goryo's Vengeance. In the next game, I get him with turn 4 Through the Breach/Worldspine Wurm. In the final game, I kept drawing blanks, but managed to save an Inquisition of Kozilek, which took Atarka's Command from his hand. I had to go to the discard step for Griselbrand that I had just drawn. On his upkeep, I Goryo's Vengeance it, but he does Atarka's Command that he just drew in response to me blocking, so I was at 7 life and couldn't pay life to find something. I had Nourishing Shoal, but no Green cards in hand. 1-2.
Round 5 vs. Lantern control. He basically got all of the Pithing Needles and Bridges that he could. He didn't Pithing Needle Borborygmos Enraged in game 1, so I kept trying to find 6 land for my Through the Breach/Borborygmos Enraged to kill him. The turn before I drew the 6th land, he drew Spellskite, so I scooped. In the next game, he Surgical Extraction Through the Breach, Griselbrand, and Borborygmos Enraged. 0-2.
2-3 is my worst finish in quite a while. (Once did 2-5 at a WMCQ)
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)How many of you have experience playing the Griselbrand/Emrakul UBR list along the lines of what some of the Japanese players ran at the Pro Tour? Here's a quick list of my observations compared to the Shoal list:
- there are fewer strictly conditional cards (e.g. Shoal), so you have fewer games where awkward draws lead to your deck doing absolutely nothing
- the deck gets to play more intrinsically powerful cards, like Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Lightning Bolt, discard spells; the interactive package helps especially improve matchups like Infect that are quite difficult for Shoal
- Goryo's Vengeance has twice as many targets with Emrakul, so there's a greater range of card combinations that lead to a fatty in play
- reanimating a creature does not always end the game on the spot, and Griselbrand in particular can actually be relatively weak because it does not lead to a combo kill
- need to attack to win- no combo kill and no ability to win at instant speed
- overall seems less swingy in both directions than Shoal; matchups across the board seem pretty reasonable, but there are fewer free wins
I'd love to compare notes with someone who's given the build some work. Anyone out there?
I played in a 22 person GPT yesterday.
Round 1 vs. Affinity. 2-0.
Round 2 vs. Abzan Company. 1-2.
Round 3 vs. Infect. 0-2.
Round 4 vs. Skred. 2-0.
Round 5 vs. Grixis Control. 2-0.
I finished 3-2 for ... 9th place.
Drew blanks against Abzan Company in the 2 games. Drew 7 Nourishing Shoal vs. Infect in 2 game, including my mulligans though. I actually sided out 1 Nourishing Shoal in game 2. This was the first time I've ever sided out that card.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)4x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Mountain
3x Polluted Delta
6x Swamp
2x Temple of Malice
Instant (8)
4x Goryo's Vengeance
4x Through the Breach
2x Damnation
4x Faithless Looting
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Night's Whisper
3x Thoughtseize
3x Tormenting Voice
Creature (12)
4x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4x Griselbrand
4x Simian Spirit Guide
2x Blood Moon
3x Anger of the Gods
1x Blood Moon
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Liliana of the Veil
1x Quicksilver Amulet
3x Shatterstorm
Rd 1 vs Jund: 0-2
Should have been a better match then it ended up being. Early Emrakul brings him down to 1 and I simply proceeded to top deck land while he was able to get a Liliana out and stabilize. Bad beats. Game 2 I kept a decent hand, but proceeded to draw 3/4 Through the Breach and 3/4 Emrakul while being stuck on 1 land.
Rd 2 vs U/W Control: 2-0
Pretty easy games. One of the advantages to running the "classic" version is I can run a lot of discard to clear the way.
Rd 3 vs "Big" Zoo: 0-2
I was super greedy in game 1. EOT reanimate Griselbrand w/ Through the breach and Emrakul in hand, draw 7, fail to find an untapped mana source to be able to through the breach.I was at 1 life, so I couldn't crack a fetch. I do a couple of lootings hoping to hit a goryo's and win on the spot, but I fizzle out. This would turn out to be a theme throughout the day. Simply reanimating to chump block would have given me a lot more flexibility and saved a few life points, but I wouldn't have been able to win on that turn. Oh well. Game 2 I made some land sequencing errors and it cost me big time. Live and learn.
Rd 4 vs BW Tokens: 2-1
Game 1 was pretty straight forward. Blood Moon kept him off being able to flash back lingering souls and Emrakul mopped up the board. Game 2 Rest in Peace kept me off of the easy route and unfortunately I never found a Breach. Game 3 was pretty gross w/ Triple Emrakul and Double breach. My opponent wasn't too thrilled.
Rd 5 vs Jund: 2-0
Game 1 and 2 were both T3 Griselbrand into T4 Emrakul. My opponent was very salty about it with sarcastic comments like "nice interactive deck," despite me casting more IoK/ Thoughtseize than he did in both games.
Rd 6 vs Jeskai Control: 2-0
T2 Thoughtseize reveals a hand of Vendilion Clique, and 3x Snapcaster Mage (he bolted me in response to the TS). I take the Clique, Loot dumping Griselbrand into the yard and reanimate on T3. Opponent immediately concedes. Game 2 I shred his hand apart with IoK and TS, then Griselbrand into Emrakul next turn. This opponent, though not happy, took it graciously and we chatted a bit afterwards about his resto / kiki control deck since my buddy is currently building it.
Rd 7 vs Burn: 1-2
At this point I was in 26th place and no X-2s were making it into the top 8. I steal game 1 with a reanimated Emrakul. Game 2 I foolishly kept a slow hand, but a SSG would have allowed me to T4 Emrakul for the win. Game 3 I mull to 5 looking for a leyline and get stuck on 4 lands with Emrakul and Through the Breach in hand. I took a "safer" line of play, attempting to attack with Griselbrand which met a path to exile (didn't draw 7 in this case). He double bolted himself in order to pump a swiftspear up and bring me to 1 and I top deck a fetchland for my 5th land.
Overall the deck did great. It felt pretty consistent and well situated for the meta. That being said, I was a little loose with my sequencing and most of my losses were from my own mistakes vs the deck being outclassed. I've been putting in a lot of reps with the deck over the past month or so, but it was an enlightening experience. 4-3 is nowhere near impressive, but at lest it showed me where I needed to tighten up my game. This was my last big paper event until the GP next month unfortunately, I've got MTGO and some smaller LGS events are still going on to test / tune the deck. Any feedback is always welcome.
I actually felt a little bad about what the guys from yesterday's GPT said about Grishoalbrand. I feel like they want to try to out "Midrange" you, but nothing out "Midranges" Jund, Junk, or Grixis. So why would I try to interact with a Tier 1 deck that is the best at interacting? So I played a deck that looks like GW Aggro, but has Windbrisk Heights, Through the Breach, and 1 Summoning Trap to power out Emrakul, the Aeon's Torn and Terastodon.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)4x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Mountain
3x Polluted Delta
6x Swamp
2x Temple of Malice
Instant (11)
4x Goryo's Vengeance
4x Through the Breach
3x Lightning Bolt
2x Damnation
4x Faithless Looting
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Thoughtseize
3x Tormenting Voice
Creature (12)
4x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4x Griselbrand
4x Simian Spirit Guide
Enchantment (2)
2x Blood Moon
2x Anger of the Gods
1x Blood Moon
1x Engineered Explosives
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Liliana of the Veil
1x Quicksilver Amulet
3x Shatterstorm
Basically I've dropped Night's Whisper in favor of Lightning Bolt giving me a little extra removal against fast aggro, as well as some extra reach (lost a few too many games after an Emrakul for my liking). This did require me to cut an IoK out of the main in order to run 3 bolts, but it did allow me to cut an Anger of the Gods out of the side, giving me a total of 7 targeted discard spells in the 75 still for the control matches.
My biggest concern is the mana base right now since I am only running 8R producing lands vs 13B (though if we factor SSG and Blood Moon, the R sources go up quite a bit. In testing it has been fine, but I only have roughly 10 games in w/ bolt in the build and I don't know if that will put more stress on the red sources or not.
IMO, I wouldn't run all 4 SSG, I would even consider to run Pentad Prism over it (allows turn 3 TTB). Also, you are running more lands, which makes the need of SSG also less. I dislike the lack of raw carddraw, especially in combination with 7 Looting spells (Voice is at least even). I would suggest you to run 2 Read the Bones (they are better than Night's Whisper in your deck) instead of 1 Tormenting Voice and 1 SSG.
As for the Manabase, I definitely want the playset Temple here. You are already relative low on dig spells, hence getting a "free" one is great. I know, that it bites with the Blood Moon plan, but you can switch one Polluted Delta and 1 Swamp for them without having a "real" impact.
As for the SB, I do not really like it (the 1 of LotV looks really strange e.g.), but I cannot help you here, because of my lack of experience with that shell.
Greetings,
Kathal
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)
LotV used to be a 2 of in the SB, but I've rarely been bringing her in. I would love to run her in the main (as a 2 of), but Blood Moon has just been super strong for me.
I'll consider Read the Bones, since the card draw issue is certainly a concern(and why Night's Whisper was added to begin with). In testing Whipser was fine, but it seemed like I had a lot of card advantage to begin with and was a bit redundant. Maybe I can find room for a 2/2 split between Voice and RTB.
I wouldn't mind a play set of temples. I've been happy since adding it in.
I also hadn't considered cutting SSG at all, so maybe that is more of a flex spot than I initially thought. Prism has been on my radar, but always a little lower priority vs some of my other experiments. Not sure what I'd cut to make it work in a number that matters since a 1 of is probably not worth it.
Thanks for the feedback though. I'll definitely experiment with the suggestions.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)I'm still testing shoal, but I haven't been overly impressed yet (deck is fine, but I don't know if I'll have the time / confidence to pilot it adequately). The more control(ish) build is more my style.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)1 Noxious Revival
3 Life from the Loam
4 Lightning Axe
4 Grisly Salvage
1 Tormenting Voice
4 Faithless Looting
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Necrotic Ooze
4 Borborygmos Enraged
4 Griselbrand
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
2 Copperline Gorge
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Mortuary Mire
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
2 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Abrupt Decay
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Life from the Loam
1 Pyroclasm
Report/primer (plus thoughts on other Goryo's Vengeance decks) here.
Btw. could I add your report/primer to the opening post? The Ooze version is the only one, I have the least experience about, hence adding it would make the primer better ^^
Greetings,
Kathal
Modern/Legacy
either funpolice (Delver, Deathcloud, UW Control) or the fun decks (especially those ft. Griselbrand)