Ok everyone, got my Tournament Results for Tuesday Night Modern with 25 people.
Tuesday Night Modern (25 People):
Round 1 Boggles (2-0) [1-0]:
Game 1 on the draw I lead off with a thoughtseize. He already has the Elf in play and his hand is Hyena Umbra, lands and 2 Daybreak Coronets. I rip the Hyena Umbra. He draws a Kor Spirit dancer and plays it but I path it turn 2. I then play T3 Reality Smasher and start coming in for damage. He paths the Smasher and discards one of the Daybreaks. He finds a hyena Umbra and is in business on his end. I find Lingering Souls and chump for a turn. I then topdeck an Oblivion Sower. The giant 5/8 kept him from swinging in every turn and I was able to crack back with fliers in the air. Eventually I got to enough mana to tutor and cast Ulamog hitting one of his lands and Hyena Umbra (making daybreak fall off). He scooped. Game 2 he kept an aggressive opener (no lander all gas with a Leyline of Sanctity). I curve T1 Map into T2 Ratchet Bomb into T4 Reality Smasher. He missed his land drop on both his first 2 turns so I was able to sit on Bomb at 1. When dropped the boggle and tried to enchant it the following turn I cracked map and bomb. This let me drop a T4 Reality Smasher which put the clock on. He ended up finding another creature but I had lethal onboard (4 Lingering Souls and reality Smasher) which meant he'd have to chump block in order not to die. Only finding 1 land the whole game doomed him. I'm glad I was able to punish him for such an aggressive keep (he wasn't expecting Ratchet Bomb at all).
Round 2 Naya Company (2-0) [2-0]:
Game 1 I mulliganed to 6 but had a decent enough opener. He unfortunately had to mull to 4 on the draw. I turn 1 Thoughtseize and he scoops in response (so I have no idea yet what I am playing). This guy has played a lot of elves so I brought in some but not all of the Elves sideboard (2x Flaying Tendrils, 1x Damnation and 2x Surgical Extractions). Game 2 He starts off by dropping back to back voices (I path the first and use Flaying Tendrils to kill the 2nd.. usually I'd hold tendrils back but I had a reality smasher for the next turn). I play reality smasher again turn 3 and get in for 5. He paths it and plays a Loxodon Smiter. I keep pulling lands which really hurt as he steadily started getting in for the beats (as I chumped with Souls tokens the best I could). Eventually I got enough mana to tutor with Eye of Ugin so I got and played Ulamog (knowing I'm likely playing into another Path). He had just used Knight of the Reliquary to fetch up Wolf's run and had hit me to 3. I needed to remove it ASAP. I exile the knight and the Wolf's Run. Sure enough He has the path. Fine. I found a blight herder off the top which allowed me to stall a turn and kill one of his dudes. I kept 1 scion token back. This allowed me to play and cast another Blight Herder. At this point (if I remember correctly) he had a Scavenging Ooze, 2 creatures in all graveyards and 2 Loxodon Smiters. The biggest issue here was that if he swings in, he gets blocked across the board and loses 2 of his creatures. He opts not to swing. I find another land (which is fine because I had been formulating a plan for the last several turns as my out). I now had enough mana to Tutor for Reality Smasher with Eye of Ugin, play him and then swing out. I now had enough mana to activate Vault of the Archangel as well. I had lethal in damage on the swing so he HAD to block. He cast a Collected Company and found another Knight (5/5) and a vanilla 5/4 for GWR. He blocks with all but his scooze allowing 1 scion to get through. I sacrifice that scion for deathtouch and lifelink off of Vault. He gets trampled over for 3 damage from the Smasher and I go from 3 life to 22. I had lethal on him if I had a 3rd Reality smasher in the deck to tutor up but because I didn't it gave him time to find more Coco's to stall. In the end I dropped a Sorin and just powered through with Tokens and dudes every turn. I am most certainly going to increase my Reality Smasher count. If more control decks rise up, I'll probably put Sowers back in but otherwise I have had several situations arise where I could crack in for lethal in these grindy games by finding another Smasher but I have already used my 2.
Round 3 Affinity (1-2) [2-1]:
Game 1 I kept a reasonable hand but he ended up with a double cranial plating on Vault Skirge and I couldn't find Lingering Souls or any of the 6 mainboard kill spells for it. Game 2 I mulled down to 6 and found a turn 2 Stony Silence. I had to grind and remove his Signal Pest and a few other creatures. He still nearly killed me before I found Lingering Souls and restabalized. Eventually I found lifegain and was able to put this game out of reach. Game 3 I had another T2 Stony Silence and lots of stall and grind.. only problem is I got stuck on 4 lands with a hand full of gas. Had I been able to find that 5th land, I'd have easily won this game. He ended up killing me with Aether Grid through a Sorin Emblem. It felt pretty bad. Oh well, can't win them all.
Round 4 Budget Burn (2-1) [3-1]:
So this list is "budget" in that it didn't have Eidolon and Atarka's command the other cards were all there. He was running Deflecting Palm as well. Game 1 he did his burn thing and I got to swing in with Reality Smasher with Sorin activation. He had the double skull crack in hand to finish me off. Game 2 I inquisitioned his hand and saw 2 Skullcrack and 2 Deflecting Palm. I take a skull crack and get a T3 TKS to take the 2nd one. He draws a land and plays it. This lets me know that he only had both Deflecting Palms in hand so I cast Timely Reinforcements and go back to 18. From there I swung in to bait the first palm (14). He draws a spike (11). I use my next turn to animate Shambling vent to give him the awkward choice. He Deflecting Palms the TKS so I take 4 but gain 2 off Vent (9). He draws another spike (6). I play a Sorin from hand and he scoops. Game 3 was essentially the same. I cleared his hand of Skull Crack effects and used a timely to keep me in the game and set up a swing with Vault of the Archangel and TKS to put the game out of reach life wise for him so he scooped.
So over the last 4 tournaments (Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Tuesday) I am 13-3. I am super excited about upcoming regionals. I think I should do pretty well. Got to hope I dodge my bad matchups but I am really liking the flow of the deck. I had posted before about going to a 3-1 split of Reality Smasher and Oblivion Sower and that is definitely going to happen now. The lack of counterspells, the fact I have Cavern of Souls to answer those I run into and the fact he can flip the pace of the game by himself have me sold on him in this current Meta. The only thing I want to try is either putting 3 Leyline of Sanctity in the sideboard or add 1-2 Rest for the Weary. I think I might want Leyline because it helps against the Scapeshift matchup which is terrible. (As well as the other matchups it helps like Burn and Ad Nauseum and such). I'll probably cut the Damnation as I don't think I need the 4 mana board sweep. Ratchet Bomb and Flaying Tendrils seem to be fine enough as sweepers. One thing someone brought up that is also a possibility (though even more expensive) is Consume the Meek. This one is at instant speed, kills man lands and pretty much leaves our things untouched. It's not a terrible option though I don't think it's good enough. Anyway, I don't expect a lot of this deck at the PT because it has no proven history at major events (I think pros will want to see results before jumping on it) but hopefully we can make a big splash with it this weekend.
Went to a modern event today, this was my first time playing the deck for real (ie not playtesting). Ended up at 2-2, but I don't think I made a lot of misplays either so I'm happy with that at least.
I love your list, i just build mine based on yours, but i made some changes:
-1 Eye of Ugin
+1 Shambling Vent
-2 Reality Smasher
+2 Thought-Knot Seer
-1 Dismember
+1 Go for the Throat
-1 Warping Wail
+1 Thoughtseize
The sideboard looks great so i will test it like that, looks a nice build to start testing
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Modern: RW R/W Burn WB B/W TokensXU MonuU Tron // UWX UW Tron R GoblinsW Soul SistersRWG Small ZooWUR WUR Geist/Control/Kiki-Resto Combo/NahiriUR Splinter Twin (90% Japanese)/ Grixis TwinRUB UR Delver / Grixis Delver UR Blue MoonBWU Ad NauseamWDeath and TaxesRUB Grixis ControlUMerfolksX Affinity RGB Living End UR Storm/PiF Combo RGX R/G TRON GWU Bant Eldrazi BW Eldrazi and Taxes RUBGoryos Vengeance UB Faeries Legacy:BRx Renimator Playing right now:Standard: Jeskai Control Modern; GoryosVengeance/UBFaeries/Affinity Legacy: BRx Reanimator Pauper: UR Drake (banned) Commander: Merieke Ri Berit Esper
Hey everyone, I am new to this archetype, what do we think of running Marsh Flats in the manabase? I've seen lists that do, and some that don't. What are the advantages of each?
Hey everyone, I am new to this archetype, what do we think of running Marsh Flats in the manabase? I've seen lists that do, and some that don't. What are the advantages of each?
It really is a preference call. When running just pain lands, you take on average 3.5 damage per game. This makes them slightly worse damage wise than Fetches. The reason some of us go without Fetches is because your average T1 play costs you less life and doesn't punish you as much for Thoughtseize. When I had fetches, I almost never fetched a basic (because you need both colors and might as well get them). This would put you at 15 after a T1 Thoughtseize.. ow. With Painlands you are only at 17 and can then play accordingly. I also preferred pain lands because it slightly increased the number of lands that can tap for <C>. Because of this, I have never been stuck with all color sources and not been able to cast TKS and Reality Smasher. The benefit of Fetches is it lets you play Rest for the Weary, You can play it without but it does make the card slightly worse.
So over the last 4 tournaments (Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Tuesday) I am 13-3. I am super excited about upcoming regionals. I think I should do pretty well. Got to hope I dodge my bad matchups but I am really liking the flow of the deck. I had posted before about going to a 3-1 split of Reality Smasher and Oblivion Sower and that is definitely going to happen now. The lack of counterspells, the fact I have Cavern of Souls to answer those I run into and the fact he can flip the pace of the game by himself have me sold on him in this current Meta. The only thing I want to try is either putting 3 Leyline of Sanctity in the sideboard or add 1-2 Rest for the Weary. I think I might want Leyline because it helps against the Scapeshift matchup which is terrible. (As well as the other matchups it helps like Burn and Ad Nauseum and such). I'll probably cut the Damnation as I don't think I need the 4 mana board sweep. Ratchet Bomb and Flaying Tendrils seem to be fine enough as sweepers. One thing someone brought up that is also a possibility (though even more expensive) is Consume the Meek. This one is at instant speed, kills man lands and pretty much leaves our things untouched. It's not a terrible option though I don't think it's good enough. Anyway, I don't expect a lot of this deck at the PT because it has no proven history at major events (I think pros will want to see results before jumping on it) but hopefully we can make a big splash with it this weekend.
Congrats on the outstanding results Exatraz! I like the tip about Consume the Meek, too; though it probably is too slow, it's nice to know about.
Hey everyone, I am new to this archetype, what do we think of running Marsh Flats in the manabase? I've seen lists that do, and some that don't. What are the advantages of each?
TBH I don't really get the no-fetch plan. I like to be able to pull either duals or basics depending on the situation, and playing fetches effectively increases my dual count above the 8 I could get from Caves and Shrine alone. However I don't play Shambling Vent so those who do have a fourth option for BW sources.
They tap for black under an Urborg, and they allow me to crack/fetch in response to (or in anticipation of) a Blood Moon as well, which are a not-inconsiderable plusses, to my way of thinking.
For Leyline 3 has always worked for me if I'm willing to mulligan and not let it blind me to viable hands without it. I don't know the exact numbers, but I've alway preferred to have that extra slot in the sideboard and the decreased chance of drawing it later as a dead draw from having 3. It really depends on how it balances out for you. Possibly that's something for somebody who's good with the math though, though it's probably already been done.
The one thing I am noticing is that Pathed Smashers letting the opponent also drop Loxodon Smiter or a WiltLeaf Liege seems to be coming up more anecdotally in people FNM/tournament reports so I can't imagine it's not getting noticed by the various GW decks. I understand how well it's doing for people, but I'm still not sure time will tell that more than 2 Smashers are required for the deck.
Wholly agree that three is the right number for Leyline. As I mentioned in an earlier post, three gives you a 50% chance of seeing one in the opening seven or the first mull to six, when those draws are considered as a single probability event. I'm kinda going back and forth in my mind about using it in place of Rest for the Weary.
I will be watching out for Smiter and Liege. Thanks to the forum for all the handy tips.
Not hearing complaints about land destruction, so Sacred Ground doesn't seem necessary for now. But I think it's nice to have as an option.
I'm a huge fan of Surgical...I run 2 main board and it does work in every matchup. The ability to use discard and extract major deck components is extremely powerful. In turns of burn I have used it to remove problem cards t1, extract, turn on t2 strangler that kills a guide/swiftspear/nacatl that then trades for another card. The two life you take is actually much less than what you would have taken. To compensate for running this main I don't run thoughtseize, and use TKS for higher cmc cards.
For Leyline to be effective you really need to be running 4 to give you a higher chance of seeing it in your opening hand. Hard casting it is not where i want to be.
I unfortunately only have 3 inquisitions, but I kind of like the 3/2 split with thoughtseize just because of the way T1 discard means a T3 Thought-Knot. That definitely something I'll keep in mind thought.
For Leyline 3 has always worked for me if I'm willing to mulligan and not let it blind me to viable hands without it. I don't know the exact numbers, but I've alway preferred to have that extra slot in the sideboard and the decreased chance of drawing it later as a dead draw from having 3. It really depends on how it balances out for you. Possibly that's something for somebody who's good with the math though, though it's probably already been done.
The one thing I am noticing is that Pathed Smashers letting the opponent also drop Loxodon Smiter or a WiltLeaf Liege seems to be coming up more anecdotally in people FNM/tournament reports so I can't imagine it's not getting noticed by the various GW decks. I understand how well it's doing for people, but I'm still not sure time will tell that more than 2 Smashers are required for the deck.
It's going to be a thing (bring in Smiters) but honestly, I don't care. ALL our midrange threats kill their Smiters. Liege is a bit harder on you but something to remember, TKS can strip Liege and Smiters from hand without consequence. For me any game with those cards in it ends up grindy and they are top decking anyway. First this allows for Reality Smasher to get in if they are holding onto a Path and no other cards. Secondly, they will have to topdeck the Leige/Smiter and probably will have enough mana to play it anyway. It's something you have to play around for sure but not something I am worried about.
So over the last 4 tournaments (Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Tuesday) I am 13-3. I am super excited about upcoming regionals. I think I should do pretty well. Got to hope I dodge my bad matchups but I am really liking the flow of the deck. I had posted before about going to a 3-1 split of Reality Smasher and Oblivion Sower and that is definitely going to happen now. The lack of counterspells, the fact I have Cavern of Souls to answer those I run into and the fact he can flip the pace of the game by himself have me sold on him in this current Meta. The only thing I want to try is either putting 3 Leyline of Sanctity in the sideboard or add 1-2 Rest for the Weary. I think I might want Leyline because it helps against the Scapeshift matchup which is terrible. (As well as the other matchups it helps like Burn and Ad Nauseum and such). I'll probably cut the Damnation as I don't think I need the 4 mana board sweep. Ratchet Bomb and Flaying Tendrils seem to be fine enough as sweepers. One thing someone brought up that is also a possibility (though even more expensive) is Consume the Meek. This one is at instant speed, kills man lands and pretty much leaves our things untouched. It's not a terrible option though I don't think it's good enough. Anyway, I don't expect a lot of this deck at the PT because it has no proven history at major events (I think pros will want to see results before jumping on it) but hopefully we can make a big splash with it this weekend.
Congrats on the outstanding results Exatraz! I like the tip about Consume the Meek, too; though it probably is too slow, it's nice to know about.
Wholly agree that three is the right number for Leyline. As I mentioned in an earlier post, three gives you a 50% chance of seeing one in the opening seven or the first mull to six, when those draws are considered as a single probability event. I'm kinda going back and forth in my mind about using it in place of Rest for the Weary.
I will be watching out for Smiter and Liege. Thanks to the forum for all the handy tips.
Not hearing complaints about land destruction, so Sacred Ground doesn't seem necessary for now. But I think it's nice to have as an option.
Dissected your post a bit with some things to comment on. Thanks! I am feeling really confident about where I am at with this deck. So much so that I feel like if the matchups aren't totally against me, I might be able to place pretty well at regionals.
On Leyline.. 3 is totally the right number. I am really stuck though as to what I want to cut to try them out.
Honestly, I haven't encountered a ton of land destruction in this past week or so. Right after OGW was released and bans took effect, there was a ton. I think the difference being is that with all the aggro, folks stopped seeing RG Tron as much and took out some of their hate. This has inadvertently helped lately. Definitely a good card to keep in mind for the future though.
if they path my reality smasher and discard loxodon smiter, why does smiter get put onto the field. Reality smasher makes them (additional cost of casting a spell) discard. But thats an additional cost right? Or am I getting this wrong?
Hey everyone, I am new to this archetype, what do we think of running Marsh Flats in the manabase? I've seen lists that do, and some that don't. What are the advantages of each?
It really is a preference call. When running just pain lands, you take on average 3.5 damage per game. This makes them slightly worse damage wise than Fetches. The reason some of us go without Fetches is because your average T1 play costs you less life and doesn't punish you as much for Thoughtseize. When I had fetches, I almost never fetched a basic (because you need both colors and might as well get them). This would put you at 15 after a T1 Thoughtseize.. ow. With Painlands you are only at 17 and can then play accordingly. I also preferred pain lands because it slightly increased the number of lands that can tap for <C>. Because of this, I have never been stuck with all color sources and not been able to cast TKS and Reality Smasher. The benefit of Fetches is it lets you play Rest for the Weary, You can play it without but it does make the card slightly worse.
Great explanation. I also dislike fetches because my meta plays a lot of paths and GQ.
On Leyline.. 3 is totally the right number. I am really stuck though as to what I want to cut to try them out.
In terms of possible cuts I noticed you were running 2 Duress. Are they for anything other than the Burn match-up? Plus between the 2 Ratchet Bomb, Damnation and the 2 Flaying you have 5 wrath effects which possibly leaves room for a third possible cut? I'm not sure how helpful that is for you, but it's probably where I'd go.
I take your point on the Smasher vs Smiter/Liege by the way. I think I just need to draw and play it more to see how it works out.
Yeah I'll probably cut the Damnation. Duress also comes in vs Control, Scapeshift, Tokens and Tron besides Burn (as well as random combo decks like Ad Nauseum). I have been thinking about that slot but discard is so much more versatile so I don't think I'd cut there.
Side note: I am almost finished with posting to the magic subreddits. Someone (in a post about counterspell) claimed that we played an "unskilled deck" when I try to correct them on this, they ofcourse kept insisting this deck took no skill to build and play.. I really hope that either this deck is too strong and can win it all or we can shut up these fear mongers who just make things worse for the perception of this deck. Clearly he hasn't played against it or with it. Just reposting a narrative. Anyway... back to regularly scheduled programming.
If Tron is this difficult to beat even after sideboarding, would it not make more sense to simply declare the matchup a lost cause and devote its sideboard slots to other cards that help shore up less one-sided matchups that could use the help like Burn, Affinity, Zoo, and Fish?
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My 360 Peasant+ Cube!. Modern borders where possible, usually with the newest (or "best") art, and always the most readable card text. I also run all 10 painlands. My playgroup is super casual, as we have a fair number of newer or less experienced players. Typically we draft with 4 to 6 people, using 5 packs of 9.
Not hearing complaints about land destruction, so Sacred Ground doesn't seem necessary for now. But I think it's nice to have as an option.
I've heard rumors that some decks that can run Fulminator mage is gonna play 4 copies of it maindeck due to the prelevance of Tron (after the twin ban) and the rise of this deck (if it takes a large share of the meta). If that becomes an issue Sacred Ground might be a option which i think will be very real.
I play 3 Ghost quarters due to tron, but the rest of the matchups I think 2 might be enought. I also play an Tectonic edge in side together with Crucible - both which I side in against tron (i swap vault for tectonic against infect also). Otherwise the crucible have been a "dead" card in my sideboard which im thinking about replacing.
My idea is that maybe drop the SB hate against tron because that game seems swingy, we either win or they win - depends on who can ramp faster - they have consistency but we have a sideboard option against them. Instead we focus on burn and fast aggro and try to get better game 2 and 3 against those matchups.
Vs Burn we could add 3 Leyline of sanctity + 2 rest for the weary + 2 spellskite = would such a package make the red burn/naya burn matchup favourable?
Also, what sideboard package can we play to hate on affinity? they play cranial plating, steel overseer, inkmoth nexus, blood moon, and some aether grid - disenchant seems decent, but what more?
Wholly agree that three is the right number for Leyline. As I mentioned in an earlier post, three gives you a 50% chance of seeing one in the opening seven or the first mull to six, when those draws are considered as a single probability event. I'm kinda going back and forth in my mind about using it in place of Rest for the Weary.
With 3 Leyline in sideboard your chance of drawing one in opener or first mull is around 38%, 4 is actually not much better at 40%...so I can see 3 being the right risk/reward number. My problem with the card as a sideboard option is that it just takes up too many slots. And I really don't want it to be my first draw (5% probability). At least with timely reinforcements (that vault synergy) or rest for the weary there is a payoff without the gamble of having it in the opener. I also imagine burn would bring in destructive revelry, which has other targets in our deck.
I feel that 3 ghost quarters are too much. I have yet to play against tron locally, but the normal tron players aren't playing tron anymore. In my local meta affinity isn't played so much either, at least the proper version. Jund always has had a low showing, with more eldrazi players popping up.
If Tron is this difficult to beat even after sideboarding, would it not make more sense to simply declare the matchup a lost cause and devote its sideboard slots to other cards that help shore up less one-sided matchups that could use the help like Burn, Affinity, Zoo, and Fish?
Essentially this is what I have already done. My sideboard currently comes in against several matchups because of it's versatility.
I feel that 3 ghost quarters are too much. I have yet to play against tron locally, but the normal tron players aren't playing tron anymore. In my local meta affinity isn't played so much either, at least the proper version. Jund always has had a low showing, with more eldrazi players popping up.
This has already started to happen in my meta as well. RG tron was expected so Burn was everywhere at the first FNM post-ban and then Infect last week. I really hope folks leave them at home for regionals.
I'm expecting a lot of burn, zoo, and affinity at our regional. Just the way the format seems to have adjusted too.
I also feel like my thoughtseizes may hurt but since I lack IOK, ill just have to deal with it. With Md Sorin and the vault, I already feel much better. Dismember has been working though, doom blade works just as well with no life loss. I did have issues with an onboard siege rhino, but reality smasher doesn't care.
With the leylines, I do feel like 3 is the better number as well. Even thought we may have to deal with removal against decks like burn, even if it slows them down 2 turns, thats still 2 turns of setbacks, which may be enough to stabilize. Plus with ad nauseum and scapeshift, they are pretty amazing. Rest for the weary is good, but can't hold off those decks for long. PLus there's always timely reinforcements.
My concern is 2 flaying tendrils going to be enough to sideboard against things like zoo and robots? I know I also have 6 main boad removal spells.
Don't give up on the tron matchup it's really not that bad, especially with Thought-Knots and Smashers, they are a fantastic clock and stony silence/ghost quarter offers a good bit of interaction.
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Tuesday Night Modern (25 People):
Round 1 Boggles (2-0) [1-0]:
Game 1 on the draw I lead off with a thoughtseize. He already has the Elf in play and his hand is Hyena Umbra, lands and 2 Daybreak Coronets. I rip the Hyena Umbra. He draws a Kor Spirit dancer and plays it but I path it turn 2. I then play T3 Reality Smasher and start coming in for damage. He paths the Smasher and discards one of the Daybreaks. He finds a hyena Umbra and is in business on his end. I find Lingering Souls and chump for a turn. I then topdeck an Oblivion Sower. The giant 5/8 kept him from swinging in every turn and I was able to crack back with fliers in the air. Eventually I got to enough mana to tutor and cast Ulamog hitting one of his lands and Hyena Umbra (making daybreak fall off). He scooped. Game 2 he kept an aggressive opener (no lander all gas with a Leyline of Sanctity). I curve T1 Map into T2 Ratchet Bomb into T4 Reality Smasher. He missed his land drop on both his first 2 turns so I was able to sit on Bomb at 1. When dropped the boggle and tried to enchant it the following turn I cracked map and bomb. This let me drop a T4 Reality Smasher which put the clock on. He ended up finding another creature but I had lethal onboard (4 Lingering Souls and reality Smasher) which meant he'd have to chump block in order not to die. Only finding 1 land the whole game doomed him. I'm glad I was able to punish him for such an aggressive keep (he wasn't expecting Ratchet Bomb at all).
Round 2 Naya Company (2-0) [2-0]:
Game 1 I mulliganed to 6 but had a decent enough opener. He unfortunately had to mull to 4 on the draw. I turn 1 Thoughtseize and he scoops in response (so I have no idea yet what I am playing). This guy has played a lot of elves so I brought in some but not all of the Elves sideboard (2x Flaying Tendrils, 1x Damnation and 2x Surgical Extractions). Game 2 He starts off by dropping back to back voices (I path the first and use Flaying Tendrils to kill the 2nd.. usually I'd hold tendrils back but I had a reality smasher for the next turn). I play reality smasher again turn 3 and get in for 5. He paths it and plays a Loxodon Smiter. I keep pulling lands which really hurt as he steadily started getting in for the beats (as I chumped with Souls tokens the best I could). Eventually I got enough mana to tutor with Eye of Ugin so I got and played Ulamog (knowing I'm likely playing into another Path). He had just used Knight of the Reliquary to fetch up Wolf's run and had hit me to 3. I needed to remove it ASAP. I exile the knight and the Wolf's Run. Sure enough He has the path. Fine. I found a blight herder off the top which allowed me to stall a turn and kill one of his dudes. I kept 1 scion token back. This allowed me to play and cast another Blight Herder. At this point (if I remember correctly) he had a Scavenging Ooze, 2 creatures in all graveyards and 2 Loxodon Smiters. The biggest issue here was that if he swings in, he gets blocked across the board and loses 2 of his creatures. He opts not to swing. I find another land (which is fine because I had been formulating a plan for the last several turns as my out). I now had enough mana to Tutor for Reality Smasher with Eye of Ugin, play him and then swing out. I now had enough mana to activate Vault of the Archangel as well. I had lethal in damage on the swing so he HAD to block. He cast a Collected Company and found another Knight (5/5) and a vanilla 5/4 for GWR. He blocks with all but his scooze allowing 1 scion to get through. I sacrifice that scion for deathtouch and lifelink off of Vault. He gets trampled over for 3 damage from the Smasher and I go from 3 life to 22. I had lethal on him if I had a 3rd Reality smasher in the deck to tutor up but because I didn't it gave him time to find more Coco's to stall. In the end I dropped a Sorin and just powered through with Tokens and dudes every turn. I am most certainly going to increase my Reality Smasher count. If more control decks rise up, I'll probably put Sowers back in but otherwise I have had several situations arise where I could crack in for lethal in these grindy games by finding another Smasher but I have already used my 2.
Round 3 Affinity (1-2) [2-1]:
Game 1 I kept a reasonable hand but he ended up with a double cranial plating on Vault Skirge and I couldn't find Lingering Souls or any of the 6 mainboard kill spells for it. Game 2 I mulled down to 6 and found a turn 2 Stony Silence. I had to grind and remove his Signal Pest and a few other creatures. He still nearly killed me before I found Lingering Souls and restabalized. Eventually I found lifegain and was able to put this game out of reach. Game 3 I had another T2 Stony Silence and lots of stall and grind.. only problem is I got stuck on 4 lands with a hand full of gas. Had I been able to find that 5th land, I'd have easily won this game. He ended up killing me with Aether Grid through a Sorin Emblem. It felt pretty bad. Oh well, can't win them all.
Round 4 Budget Burn (2-1) [3-1]:
So this list is "budget" in that it didn't have Eidolon and Atarka's command the other cards were all there. He was running Deflecting Palm as well. Game 1 he did his burn thing and I got to swing in with Reality Smasher with Sorin activation. He had the double skull crack in hand to finish me off. Game 2 I inquisitioned his hand and saw 2 Skullcrack and 2 Deflecting Palm. I take a skull crack and get a T3 TKS to take the 2nd one. He draws a land and plays it. This lets me know that he only had both Deflecting Palms in hand so I cast Timely Reinforcements and go back to 18. From there I swung in to bait the first palm (14). He draws a spike (11). I use my next turn to animate Shambling vent to give him the awkward choice. He Deflecting Palms the TKS so I take 4 but gain 2 off Vent (9). He draws another spike (6). I play a Sorin from hand and he scoops. Game 3 was essentially the same. I cleared his hand of Skull Crack effects and used a timely to keep me in the game and set up a swing with Vault of the Archangel and TKS to put the game out of reach life wise for him so he scooped.
So over the last 4 tournaments (Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Tuesday) I am 13-3. I am super excited about upcoming regionals. I think I should do pretty well. Got to hope I dodge my bad matchups but I am really liking the flow of the deck. I had posted before about going to a 3-1 split of Reality Smasher and Oblivion Sower and that is definitely going to happen now. The lack of counterspells, the fact I have Cavern of Souls to answer those I run into and the fact he can flip the pace of the game by himself have me sold on him in this current Meta. The only thing I want to try is either putting 3 Leyline of Sanctity in the sideboard or add 1-2 Rest for the Weary. I think I might want Leyline because it helps against the Scapeshift matchup which is terrible. (As well as the other matchups it helps like Burn and Ad Nauseum and such). I'll probably cut the Damnation as I don't think I need the 4 mana board sweep. Ratchet Bomb and Flaying Tendrils seem to be fine enough as sweepers. One thing someone brought up that is also a possibility (though even more expensive) is Consume the Meek. This one is at instant speed, kills man lands and pretty much leaves our things untouched. It's not a terrible option though I don't think it's good enough. Anyway, I don't expect a lot of this deck at the PT because it has no proven history at major events (I think pros will want to see results before jumping on it) but hopefully we can make a big splash with it this weekend.
I love your list, i just build mine based on yours, but i made some changes:
-1 Eye of Ugin
+1 Shambling Vent
-2 Reality Smasher
+2 Thought-Knot Seer
-1 Dismember
+1 Go for the Throat
-1 Warping Wail
+1 Thoughtseize
The sideboard looks great so i will test it like that, looks a nice build to start testing
RW R/W Burn WB B/W TokensXU MonuU Tron // UWX UW Tron
R GoblinsW Soul SistersRWG Small ZooWUR WUR Geist/Control/Kiki-Resto Combo/NahiriUR Splinter Twin (90% Japanese)/ Grixis TwinRUB UR Delver / Grixis Delver UR Blue MoonBWU Ad NauseamWDeath and TaxesRUB Grixis ControlUMerfolksX Affinity RGB Living End UR Storm/PiF Combo RGX R/G TRON GWU Bant Eldrazi BW Eldrazi and Taxes RUBGoryos Vengeance UB Faeries
Legacy:BRx Renimator
Playing right now: Standard: Jeskai Control Modern; GoryosVengeance/UBFaeries/Affinity Legacy: BRx Reanimator Pauper: UR Drake (banned) Commander: Merieke Ri Berit Esper
It really is a preference call. When running just pain lands, you take on average 3.5 damage per game. This makes them slightly worse damage wise than Fetches. The reason some of us go without Fetches is because your average T1 play costs you less life and doesn't punish you as much for Thoughtseize. When I had fetches, I almost never fetched a basic (because you need both colors and might as well get them). This would put you at 15 after a T1 Thoughtseize.. ow. With Painlands you are only at 17 and can then play accordingly. I also preferred pain lands because it slightly increased the number of lands that can tap for <C>. Because of this, I have never been stuck with all color sources and not been able to cast TKS and Reality Smasher. The benefit of Fetches is it lets you play Rest for the Weary, You can play it without but it does make the card slightly worse.
TBH I don't really get the no-fetch plan. I like to be able to pull either duals or basics depending on the situation, and playing fetches effectively increases my dual count above the 8 I could get from Caves and Shrine alone. However I don't play Shambling Vent so those who do have a fourth option for BW sources.
They tap for black under an Urborg, and they allow me to crack/fetch in response to (or in anticipation of) a Blood Moon as well, which are a not-inconsiderable plusses, to my way of thinking.
Wholly agree that three is the right number for Leyline. As I mentioned in an earlier post, three gives you a 50% chance of seeing one in the opening seven or the first mull to six, when those draws are considered as a single probability event. I'm kinda going back and forth in my mind about using it in place of Rest for the Weary.
I will be watching out for Smiter and Liege. Thanks to the forum for all the handy tips.
Not hearing complaints about land destruction, so Sacred Ground doesn't seem necessary for now. But I think it's nice to have as an option.
It's going to be a thing (bring in Smiters) but honestly, I don't care. ALL our midrange threats kill their Smiters. Liege is a bit harder on you but something to remember, TKS can strip Liege and Smiters from hand without consequence. For me any game with those cards in it ends up grindy and they are top decking anyway. First this allows for Reality Smasher to get in if they are holding onto a Path and no other cards. Secondly, they will have to topdeck the Leige/Smiter and probably will have enough mana to play it anyway. It's something you have to play around for sure but not something I am worried about.
Dissected your post a bit with some things to comment on. Thanks! I am feeling really confident about where I am at with this deck. So much so that I feel like if the matchups aren't totally against me, I might be able to place pretty well at regionals.
On Leyline.. 3 is totally the right number. I am really stuck though as to what I want to cut to try them out.
Honestly, I haven't encountered a ton of land destruction in this past week or so. Right after OGW was released and bans took effect, there was a ton. I think the difference being is that with all the aggro, folks stopped seeing RG Tron as much and took out some of their hate. This has inadvertently helped lately. Definitely a good card to keep in mind for the future though.
if they path my reality smasher and discard loxodon smiter, why does smiter get put onto the field. Reality smasher makes them (additional cost of casting a spell) discard. But thats an additional cost right? Or am I getting this wrong?
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=499393 My Sales Thread
Whenever Reality Smasher becomes the target of a spell an opponent controls, counter that spell unless its controller discards a card.
Great explanation. I also dislike fetches because my meta plays a lot of paths and GQ.
Yeah I'll probably cut the Damnation. Duress also comes in vs Control, Scapeshift, Tokens and Tron besides Burn (as well as random combo decks like Ad Nauseum). I have been thinking about that slot but discard is so much more versatile so I don't think I'd cut there.
Side note: I am almost finished with posting to the magic subreddits. Someone (in a post about counterspell) claimed that we played an "unskilled deck" when I try to correct them on this, they ofcourse kept insisting this deck took no skill to build and play.. I really hope that either this deck is too strong and can win it all or we can shut up these fear mongers who just make things worse for the perception of this deck. Clearly he hasn't played against it or with it. Just reposting a narrative. Anyway... back to regularly scheduled programming.
Stony Silence, Flaying Tendrils ?
With 3 Leyline in sideboard your chance of drawing one in opener or first mull is around 38%, 4 is actually not much better at 40%...so I can see 3 being the right risk/reward number. My problem with the card as a sideboard option is that it just takes up too many slots. And I really don't want it to be my first draw (5% probability). At least with timely reinforcements (that vault synergy) or rest for the weary there is a payoff without the gamble of having it in the opener. I also imagine burn would bring in destructive revelry, which has other targets in our deck.
Essentially this is what I have already done. My sideboard currently comes in against several matchups because of it's versatility.
2x Timely Reinforcements
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Duress
2x Stony Silence
2x Flaying Tendrils
2x Ratchet Bomb
1x Celestial Purge
1x Disenchant
1x Damnation
The things I bring in vs Tron now are only things that also help other matchups as well (Duress, Surgical, Stony usually)
This has already started to happen in my meta as well. RG tron was expected so Burn was everywhere at the first FNM post-ban and then Infect last week. I really hope folks leave them at home for regionals.
I also feel like my thoughtseizes may hurt but since I lack IOK, ill just have to deal with it. With Md Sorin and the vault, I already feel much better. Dismember has been working though, doom blade works just as well with no life loss. I did have issues with an onboard siege rhino, but reality smasher doesn't care.
With the leylines, I do feel like 3 is the better number as well. Even thought we may have to deal with removal against decks like burn, even if it slows them down 2 turns, thats still 2 turns of setbacks, which may be enough to stabilize. Plus with ad nauseum and scapeshift, they are pretty amazing. Rest for the weary is good, but can't hold off those decks for long. PLus there's always timely reinforcements.
My concern is 2 flaying tendrils going to be enough to sideboard against things like zoo and robots? I know I also have 6 main boad removal spells.