Agreed on both counts. I don't think any splash is worth it right now, but a splash configuration without bounce-based disruption feels like it would be especially terrifying. Right now, there are plenty of decks in the metagame that will punish a deck that lacks that sort of disruption.
Speaking of bounce-based disruption... I'd like to revisit the inclusion of Echoing Truth in our 75s. Affinity is at a relative low, and E-Truth is functionally equivalent to Hurkyl's Recall against Lantern Control while having upside in many other matchups (most notably Dredge, where it can stymie a fast Prized Amalgam-fueled start). Any thoughts on it?
I started playing Surgical Extraction 3x (cutting Relic's and a Kira) to bolster the Dredge matchup but soon realized that bounce effects were pretty amazing vs Dredge and thus have added an E-Truth to my 75 (which is another out to Worship, Bridge and ok against Infect and Affinity). So I'd agree that E-Truth is pretty amazing against Dredge because often it is a race and bouncing all there Amalgalm's or whatever is huge.
After getting my ass handed to me by Grixis Control and Jund recently I'm definitely never leaving Relic's out of my 75 ever again - a lof of ppl say we are favoured against these decks but if you run no relic's, no Kira's and skimp on Dismember you are in for a bad time..
If you already want specific hate card against Infect play Spellskite. In this case you don't need to splash a color which isn't worth anway in my opinion and Spellskite is even better against Infect than Melira.
Infect is incredibly well prepared for Spellskite - its the number 1 hate card and they will pack 6+ answers for it. if you really want to beat infect you need cards like Gut Shot, Dismember etc or CoTV.
You're correct that Infect is well-prepared for Spellskite, but the strategy in building that sideboard would be that the Spellskite would be supplementing those other disruption cards in order to hit the Infect player from multiple angles. Not gonna say that it's a cure-all, but it should tax their answers to the point where the Skite can be effective.
The other problem with Skite is that it is really very narrow - its also good against Sui Zoo/Blue and there are arguments for bringing in Skite against Burn (but we hose burn anyway) but otherwise its pretty useless. Id play cards like gutshot over Skite as its great against infect and has utility against decks like Affinity - anyway just my 2 cents..
Yes, it's true that it's somewhat narrow in application, but it's a match-swinging draw against the Temur Battle Rage decks, and quite handy against Infect (and on the more fringe side, puts in good work against Bogles). I'd say "narrow but powerful" is exactly what I'm looking for in my 15th card out of the sideboard, which is how I feature Spellskite.
I don't think a powerful sideboard card against 4 incredibly strong decks that are pretty popular right now (Infect, Suicide Zoo, Izzet Blitz/Suicide Bloo, and Burn) is very narrow. Plus, it has game against Jund, Grixis and other K-Command and removal heavy decks.
While it might not be a catch-all answer for every deck in the meta, it is useful against more decks than gut shot which is only really good against infect, elves, and ok against affinity and delver. That's 2 good matchups for it and 2 okay matchups for it as opposed to 4 good matchups for Spellskite and a handful of okay matchups for it.
I don't think a powerful sideboard card against 4 incredibly strong decks that are pretty popular right now (Infect, Suicide Zoo, Izzet Blitz/Suicide Bloo, and Burn) is very narrow. Plus, it has game against Jund, Grixis and other K-Command and removal heavy decks.
While it might not be a catch-all answer for every deck in the meta, it is useful against more decks than gut shot which is only really good against infect, elves, and ok against affinity and delver. That's 2 good matchups for it and 2 okay matchups for it as opposed to 4 good matchups for Spellskite and a handful of okay matchups for it.
I agree its good vs battle rage decks. But I usually see Infect casting twisted image, naturalize, nature's claim or dismember on it immediately..YMMV. Kira is superior vs Jund, Grixis in my experience. We dont need it for burn IMO - match-up is totally fine with out it.
I've found Gut Shot to give you sufficient tempo as part of a package to make Infect a favourable matchup (~3 Spell Pierce, 3 Dismember, 2 Snag, E-Truth, Harbingers, Tidebinders). I also find it very strong against Affinity, Delver (YP version), Elves, mana dork decks (Eldrazi, CoCo, RG Ponza), I also board one in to hit Bobs.
All in all I dont see how Skite is better then Gut Shot given that Kira exists and that Infect will blow your Skite out of the water..
To be honest, Kira is unbearably clunky for me right now. I don't want to set my Vial on 3, I'm not afraid of spot removal (sweepers are the real problem, though I'll grant Skite does nothing against those either), and I don't want to essentially take what amounts to a turn off of my beatdown plan to cast a Wind Drake with upside against decks that don't touch my creatures. I'm out on Kira in this metagame.
If you dont have BGx, Grixis or UWR in your meta then you dont need her..My meta tends to play BGx with random Grixis and UWR decks..
Admittedly Kira is not the only strategy you can use for removal.dec - I might need to consider upping my Tec Edges as Tron is another relevant deck in my meta. As always though - its tough to fit everything in your 75..
We are favoured against Bant Eldrazi generally speaking. When they curve into T2 Thought-Knots then things get far mroe difficult but other than that, you are pretty well positioned against them. What in their decklists are troubling you?
Like you said, a well curved TKS, Smasher T3 and Path on my Lord next turn. Mostly of them run Explosives main deck too...thats hard
I usually side in Gut Shots to kill Hierarch. This way he "only" has Eldrazi lands to ramp up. Without those they are a draft deck.
If they are still a problem then Ceremonius Rejection could find some slots for various matchups.
I can't say I have too much trouble with Eldrazi. They have a bit of removal, but not a lot, and our beatdown and disruption lines up very well against theirs. I usually just upgrade Spell Pierce to Dispel and run it back.
Maindeck
13 Island
4 Mutavault
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
4 Master of Waves
4 Aether Vial
3 Spell Pierce
4 Spreading Seas
Sideboard
4 Gut Shot
4 Relic of Progenitus
3 Unified Will
2 Tidebinder Mage
2 Vapor Snag
Grixis Delver
Play
+4 Gut Shot
+4 Relic of Progenitus
-4 Aether Vial
-4 Spreading Seas
Draw
+4 Gut Shot
+4 Relic of Progenitus
-4 Cursecatcher
-4 Spreading Seas
Death and Taxes
+3 Gut Shot/Vapor Snag
-3 Spell Pierce
Eldrazi and Taxes
-3 Spell Pierce
-1 Cavern of Souls
+2 Vapor Snag
+2 Gut Shot
Martyr Life
-4 Harbinbger of the Tides
+1 Relic of Progenitus
+3 Unified Will
Bogels
+3 Unified Will
+2 Vapor Snag
-4 Harbinger of the Tides
-1 Cursecatcher
Merfolk
+2 Tidebinder Mage
+2 Vapor Snag
+1 Gut Shot
-3 Spell Pierce
-2 Spreading Seas
RG Tron
+3 Unified Will
-2 Master of Waves
-1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
RG Valakut
+3 Unified Will
+2 Tidebinder Mage
-4 Harbinger of the Tides
-1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
Grixis Control
+4 Relic of Progenitus
-4 Harbinger of the Tides
Lantern Control
+3 Unified Will
+3 Pray
-1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
-2 Harbinger of the Tides
-3 Hope
Nahiri Control
+3 Unified Will
+3 Relic of Progenitus
-4 Harbinger of the Tides
-2 Island
Dredge
Play
+4 Relic of Progenitus
-3 Spell Pierce
-1 Harbinger of the Tides
Draw
+4 Relic of Progenitus
-3 Spell Pierce
-1 Cursecatcher
Infect
+2 Vapor Snag
+2 Tidebinder Mage
+4 Gut Shot
-4 Master of Waves
-3 Merrow Reejerey
-1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
Abzan Company
+4 Gut Shot
+2 Tidebinder Mage
+2 Relic of Progenitus
-2 Harbinger of the Tides
-4 Master of Waves
-1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
-1 Spell Pierce
Bring to Light Scapeshift
+3 Unified Will
+2 Relic of Progenitus
-4 Spreading Seas
-1 Harbinger of the Tides
Ad Nauseam
+3 Unified Will
-3 Master of Waves
Goryo’s Vengeance
+3 Unified Will
+4 Relic of Progenitus
-1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
-4 Master of Waves
-2 Spreading Seas
Elves
+4 Gut Shot
+2 Tidebinder Mage
-1 Kira Great Glass Spinner
-3 Spell Pierce
-2 Spreading Seas
Storm/Thing in the ice
+4 Relic of Progenitus
+3 Unified Will
-1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
-2 Merrow Reejerey
-4 Spreading Seas
Living End
+4 Relic of Progenitus
+3 Unified Will
+2 Tidebinder Mage
-2 Spreading Seas
-1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
-4 Harbinger of the Tides
-2 Master of Waves
No way to confirm is this is real life or just fantasy, but apparently two blocks from now, magic might go to Atlazan, an Atlantean like plane...SURELY we'll get some cool 'folk out of that block, yes?
Are you starting to see a big rise in Dredge and other graveyard dependent decks online like I am?? Especially in Legacy, but I've seen a spike in Modern too.
Also, is there a specific reason you pulled Minamo, School at Water's Edge? I know it wasn't really a big deal to run it anyway, but it just kinda stood out by not being there. You have essentially the same mainboard I do, I like it a lot!
I started playing Surgical Extraction 3x (cutting Relic's and a Kira) to bolster the Dredge matchup but soon realized that bounce effects were pretty amazing vs Dredge and thus have added an E-Truth to my 75 (which is another out to Worship, Bridge and ok against Infect and Affinity). So I'd agree that E-Truth is pretty amazing against Dredge because often it is a race and bouncing all there Amalgalm's or whatever is huge.
After getting my ass handed to me by Grixis Control and Jund recently I'm definitely never leaving Relic's out of my 75 ever again - a lof of ppl say we are favoured against these decks but if you run no relic's, no Kira's and skimp on Dismember you are in for a bad time..
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
Infect is incredibly well prepared for Spellskite - its the number 1 hate card and they will pack 6+ answers for it. if you really want to beat infect you need cards like Gut Shot, Dismember etc or CoTV.
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
While it might not be a catch-all answer for every deck in the meta, it is useful against more decks than gut shot which is only really good against infect, elves, and ok against affinity and delver. That's 2 good matchups for it and 2 okay matchups for it as opposed to 4 good matchups for Spellskite and a handful of okay matchups for it.
Marath, Will of the Wild Tokens!! / Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund Dragons! / Muzzio, Visionary Architect / Brago, King Eternal / Daretti, Scrap Savant / Narset, Enlightened Master / Alesha, Who Smiles at Death / Bruna, Light of Alabaster / Marchesa, the Black Rose / Iroas, God of Victory / Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury / Omnath, Locus of rage / Titania, Protector of Argoth / Kozilek, the Great Distortion
Modern
Elves / Titanshift / Merfolk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPzcXT2lOK8
I agree its good vs battle rage decks. But I usually see Infect casting twisted image, naturalize, nature's claim or dismember on it immediately..YMMV. Kira is superior vs Jund, Grixis in my experience. We dont need it for burn IMO - match-up is totally fine with out it.
I've found Gut Shot to give you sufficient tempo as part of a package to make Infect a favourable matchup (~3 Spell Pierce, 3 Dismember, 2 Snag, E-Truth, Harbingers, Tidebinders). I also find it very strong against Affinity, Delver (YP version), Elves, mana dork decks (Eldrazi, CoCo, RG Ponza), I also board one in to hit Bobs.
All in all I dont see how Skite is better then Gut Shot given that Kira exists and that Infect will blow your Skite out of the water..
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Admittedly Kira is not the only strategy you can use for removal.dec - I might need to consider upping my Tec Edges as Tron is another relevant deck in my meta. As always though - its tough to fit everything in your 75..
Bant Eldrazi
UW Control
U Merfolk
Legacy
Merfolk
UR Delver
Like you said, a well curved TKS, Smasher T3 and Path on my Lord next turn. Mostly of them run Explosives main deck too...thats hard
If they are still a problem then Ceremonius Rejection could find some slots for various matchups.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPzcXT2lOK8
Legacy: Merfolk U; Shadow UB; Eldrazi Stompy C
Pauper: Delver U
Vintage: Merfolk U
Primers:
Edited Dec.9 to fix the Merfolk mirror.
Maindeck
13 Island
4 Mutavault
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4 Cursecatcher
4 Silvergill Adept
4 Harbinger of the Tides
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
4 Master of Waves
4 Aether Vial
3 Spell Pierce
4 Spreading Seas
Sideboard
4 Gut Shot
4 Relic of Progenitus
3 Unified Will
2 Tidebinder Mage
2 Vapor Snag
Jund
+4 Relic of Progenitus
+2 Tidebinder Mage
+1 Vapor Snag
-4 Aether Vial
-3 Spell Pierce
Affinity
+4 Gut Shot
+2 Vapor Snag
-3 Master of Waves
-3 Spell Pierce
Bant Eldrazi
+2 Vapor Snag
+2 Tidiebinder Mage
-3 Spell Pierce
-1 Cursecatcher
Burn
+2 Tidebinder Mage
-2 Merrow Reejerey
Grixis Delver
Play
+4 Gut Shot
+4 Relic of Progenitus
-4 Aether Vial
-4 Spreading Seas
Draw
+4 Gut Shot
+4 Relic of Progenitus
-4 Cursecatcher
-4 Spreading Seas
Abzan
+4 Relic of Progenitus
+2 Tidebinder Mage
+2 Vapor Snag
-4 Aether Vial
-3 Spell Pierce
-1 Cursecatcher
Death’s Shadow
+2 Tidebinder Mage
+2 Vapor Snag
-4 Master of Waves
Death and Taxes
+3 Gut Shot/Vapor Snag
-3 Spell Pierce
Eldrazi and Taxes
-3 Spell Pierce
-1 Cavern of Souls
+2 Vapor Snag
+2 Gut Shot
Martyr Life
-4 Harbinbger of the Tides
+1 Relic of Progenitus
+3 Unified Will
Bogels
+3 Unified Will
+2 Vapor Snag
-4 Harbinger of the Tides
-1 Cursecatcher
Merfolk
+2 Tidebinder Mage
+2 Vapor Snag
+1 Gut Shot
-3 Spell Pierce
-2 Spreading Seas
RG Tron
+3 Unified Will
-2 Master of Waves
-1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
RG Valakut
+3 Unified Will
+2 Tidebinder Mage
-4 Harbinger of the Tides
-1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
Grixis Control
+4 Relic of Progenitus
-4 Harbinger of the Tides
Lantern Control
+3 Unified Will
+3 Pray
-1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
-2 Harbinger of the Tides
-3 Hope
Nahiri Control
+3 Unified Will
+3 Relic of Progenitus
-4 Harbinger of the Tides
-2 Island
Dredge
Play
+4 Relic of Progenitus
-3 Spell Pierce
-1 Harbinger of the Tides
Draw
+4 Relic of Progenitus
-3 Spell Pierce
-1 Cursecatcher
Infect
+2 Vapor Snag
+2 Tidebinder Mage
+4 Gut Shot
-4 Master of Waves
-3 Merrow Reejerey
-1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
Abzan Company
+4 Gut Shot
+2 Tidebinder Mage
+2 Relic of Progenitus
-2 Harbinger of the Tides
-4 Master of Waves
-1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
-1 Spell Pierce
Bring to Light Scapeshift
+3 Unified Will
+2 Relic of Progenitus
-4 Spreading Seas
-1 Harbinger of the Tides
Ad Nauseam
+3 Unified Will
-3 Master of Waves
Goryo’s Vengeance
+3 Unified Will
+4 Relic of Progenitus
-1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
-4 Master of Waves
-2 Spreading Seas
Elves
+4 Gut Shot
+2 Tidebinder Mage
-1 Kira Great Glass Spinner
-3 Spell Pierce
-2 Spreading Seas
Storm/Thing in the ice
+4 Relic of Progenitus
+3 Unified Will
-1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
-2 Merrow Reejerey
-4 Spreading Seas
Living End
+4 Relic of Progenitus
+3 Unified Will
+2 Tidebinder Mage
-2 Spreading Seas
-1 Kira, Great Glass Spinner
-4 Harbinger of the Tides
-2 Master of Waves
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPzcXT2lOK8
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/atlazan-an-atlantean-plane
—Radha, Keldon warlord
Also, is there a specific reason you pulled Minamo, School at Water's Edge? I know it wasn't really a big deal to run it anyway, but it just kinda stood out by not being there. You have essentially the same mainboard I do, I like it a lot!
Twitch Channel - https://www.twitch.tv/moontimedweller
MODERN - Mono-Blue Merfolk & 7-Forest Goblin Charbelcher
LEGACY - Ruby Storm & Burn
PAUPER - Zombies, Bogles, & Burn