Well, despite being not-quite-fully-recovered from a cold, I decided to go to the SCG Super IQ near-ish my home. I had a very good start to the day (3-0!), and a very poor finish (3-3). Still, pretty happy with my first attempt at a serious tournament.
Round 1: Affinity (2-0; 1-0 overall)
Game 1: I went down to ~4 against triple Vault Skirge, with some poison from Inkmoth, but able to Snare a couple key threats (Overseer, Ravager), and sequence Bolts/Helixes/Paths to prevent lethal and keep the board minimal. Eventually I was able to win with Colonnade and Snapcaster attacks.
Game 2: The second game played out much like the first. He had a faster start with Mox Opals, but I had ample removal, including using Nahiri to remove a Ravager and eat an attack. As in the first game, Colonnade attacks closed out the game.
Round 2: Jund (2-0; 2-0 overall)
Game 1 and 2 both were mostly the same. Jund played the normal Jund game (with Grim Flayer), but I had the right answers to her creatures and planeswalkers, and closed out both games fairly easily. One point I enjoyed was Pathing a Grim Flayer after she left one card on top, and after she declined to search, Ghost Quartering her Raging Ravine. Path and Quarter upgraded to Swords and Strip Mine
Round 3: RG Valakut (2-1; 3-0 overall)
Game 1: I kept a one-land hand with AV and SV, suspended AV, and missed a land drop on turns 1 and 2, and took until AV came off suspend to hit 4 lands. Not much of a game, but I played it out to see a bit more of his deck.
Game 2: I sideboarded a bit strangely, perhaps, bringing out two Nahiris for two Surgical Extractions. It paid off, as I drew an opener with two lands (one of which was Ghost Quarter), Snapcaster, and SE. I SE'd his Farseek on T2, seeing that he had a Valakut in hand. On turn 4, he had not played his Valakut yet, so to try to entice him to, I played a fourth land and held my Ghost Quarter. He had no play, so on his end step, I Cryptic'd to bounce Snapcaster & draw a card. On my turn 5, I GQ'd and Snap-SE'd his Valakut. A few turns later, he was able to land a Gaea's Revenge (!!), but by this time he was down to 10, and I was able to take a single hit from the green creature to flash in a second Snapcaster (with more burn) and attack back for the win.
Game 3: I had T3 Geist of Saint Traft, and rode Geist + a couple burn spells to a quick victory.
Round 4: Burn (0-2; 3-1 overall)
Games 1 and 2: Unfortunately, not much to say here. I flooded pretty badly both games, ending with 4 cards in hand both games (4 lands in hand G1, and 3 lands in hand G2). Pretty disappointing, as I knew he was on Burn and liked my chances reasonably well.
Round 5: Bant Eldrazi (0-2; 3-2 overall)
Game 1: I drew Bolts and Helixes instead of Paths, and died to Reality Smasher that I spent four cards to kill (Bolt-Helix-land-Remand) and then a Drowner of Hope to finish the job.
Game 2: He brought in the Tamiyo, Field Researcher, which seems like pretty good tech against a control deck. I slowed the attack, but couldn't stop him from drawing 3 off Tamiyo, and then was left with the choice of Verdicting his board, letting him ultimate Tamiyo, and seeing whether I could survive to Snap-Verdict, or wasting a Helix to bring Tamiyo to 4, in which case I was pretty close to dead before I could Verdict next turn, and Tamiyo would still be around. I took the 'Let Tamiyo ultimate' route, which led to the same outcome but had the bonus of being pretty amusing for both of us. (He said it was the only time he's actually ultimate'd Tamiyo.) I did manage to hang on another turn or two, but died shortly after. As in game 1, I don't think I saw a single Path in this game.
Round 6: Jeskai Flash (0-2; 3-3 overall)
G1 & G2: My opponent was on the Spell Queller / Restoration Angel / Blade Splicer version of Jeskai. I don't know how this holds up against the field, but against Jeskai Harbinger it seems very good. He has more threats (Restoration Angel blinking Blade Splicer is no joke), many of which have flash, and is basically a Faeries deck against a more dedicated control deck.
* * *
Some general comments:
* Nahiri didn't close out a single game. She provided a bit of value (exile / filter then take some damage), but was not a major player. In the Jeskai mirror, though, she felt like more of a liability than an asset, but this may just be my own inexperience.
* Bant Eldrazi is a pretty tough matchup. I had two Supreme Verdict in the sideboard largely for this matchup, but they almost still don't seem like enough. Path to Exile is critical.
* I think I need to learn to play blue mirrors better. It seems especially difficult against Grixis Control (which has Tasigur it can drop for B while holding up countermagic) and Jeskai Flash, which can play on my end step and hold up countermagic against Nahiri (or even Geist). Not to mention that decks with more threats seem to be able to press the issue sooner, putting me on the back foot. Any tips on this point would be welcome.
In regards to Grixis Delver I usually only use my Spell Snares on Snapcaster (only) unless I REALLY need something else to resolve but I let a lot of fights go. I try to stop K-Command and Snap the rest is simple.
One thing to note about Wheel is that unlike RIP it doesn't immediately affect the opponent's graveyard, so if you draw into it mid-game and the opponent's graveyard is already pumped full of Snap targets or Amalgams and Ghasts, Wheel's going to take more time to start disrupting your opponent's plays than RIP
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Decks
Modern: UWUW Control UBRGrixis Shadow URIzzet Phoenix
Like tapping stones has said an awful lot, if I want a sideboard card for dredge, I'd rather just play RiP.
It doesn't matter if it makes it harder for me to win too, because unless its answered (in which case its also not hurting me anymore) dredge has to legitimately hard cast its creatures to win, which is not going to beat us.
Wheel gets hit by all of the hate dredge has for rip, but doesn't even provide us with anything if it gets killed the turn after its cast.
I'm pretty satisfied with my mix of 2x Rip 1x Surgical. I've found the utility/flexibility of SE to just not be that great and the cards gives diminishing returns in any non-dredge matchup where I'd want it. It's different when you have access to discard, but if you have to rely on things hitting the graveyard "naturally" then having multiple surgicals becomes a nuisance. As a singleton however it's nice to bring in against many matchups.
I'm pretty satisfied with my mix of 2x Rip 1x Surgical. I've found the utility/flexibility of SE to just not be that great and the cards gives diminishing returns in any non-dredge matchup where I'd want it. It's different when you have access to discard, but if you have to rely on things hitting the graveyard "naturally" then having multiple surgicals becomes a nuisance. As a singleton however it's nice to bring in against many matchups.
Surgical is inherent card disadvantage unless you get lucky and spike something from the hand...but it has to already be in the graveyard. I agree with LSV that Surgical is one of the most overrated bad card in MTG. I don't disagree that the effect is powerful, it's just wildly inconsistant and often doesn't do what you want it to do.
Even Slaughter Games is card disadvantage but at least it hits 100% of the time. RIP is the best grave hate bar none.
No doubt about that RIP is the ultimate Hate for GY.
@TappingStones: Nonetheless we have ways to get stuff to the GY... Counters, removals etc. Beyond that the only thing i see is a 2 or 3x1 at best. Surgical saved me multiple times not only against Dredge but even combo, and midrange it could comes handy.
Perhaps it's me, but how it could be card disadvantage??
Unless you take a card out of their hand, SE is card disadvantage (the cards you take out of their deck does not affect their card resource)
This point is kind of mute if you use SE the correct way, however. Card advantage doesn't mean much against dredge as their graveyard is their resource, not their hand. If you can cripple a combo deck by taking away one of their key pieces, it's worth the card disadvantage. If you use SE against blue decks to "counter" a snapcaster mage it is still technically card disadvantage as they still get their 2/1 but the actual purpose of the card is nullified.
Is anyone still playing this deck? Any new takes on it? Successes, difficulties? It certainly seems like Grixis is receiving all the attention at the moment. Even with graveyard hate, I wonder if the ability to have a higher threat density with Kolaghan's Command is something Jeskai should also seek to emulate?
I haven't played Modern in a couple weeks (busy on Tues.; played Legacy [for the first time] a few times instead), but am hoping to in the new year. I've been considering testing other builds of Jeskai (even a more aggressive shell), but also feel like this deck has all the right tools, and is maybe just missing something small, or just more experience for the pilot (me).
There just really isn't much to post about right now; no big results to go over, and from my perspective the meta is kind of "solved" in that there really isn't anything I'd change about my list right now; infect and dredge are big, some broad cards versus the midrangey brews that spike tournaments, forfeit the tron MU as it is fairly uncommon. For better and for worse the deck has grown into a relatively solid block with little flex slots and whenever I deviated from it I ended up disliking the change
I can't seem to find any kind of thread for the more pure control style UWR Deck that Alex placed with at Dallas. Can anybody point me in the right direction?
I can't seem to find any kind of thread for the more pure control style UWR Deck that Alex placed with at Dallas. Can anybody point me in the right direction?
It's here, but it's dead. You'll have to go to the end of the thread to get the most recent updates, but I think the thread has been defunct since early this year. Good luck.
Round 1: Affinity (2-0; 1-0 overall)
Game 1: I went down to ~4 against triple Vault Skirge, with some poison from Inkmoth, but able to Snare a couple key threats (Overseer, Ravager), and sequence Bolts/Helixes/Paths to prevent lethal and keep the board minimal. Eventually I was able to win with Colonnade and Snapcaster attacks.
Game 2: The second game played out much like the first. He had a faster start with Mox Opals, but I had ample removal, including using Nahiri to remove a Ravager and eat an attack. As in the first game, Colonnade attacks closed out the game.
Round 2: Jund (2-0; 2-0 overall)
Game 1 and 2 both were mostly the same. Jund played the normal Jund game (with Grim Flayer), but I had the right answers to her creatures and planeswalkers, and closed out both games fairly easily. One point I enjoyed was Pathing a Grim Flayer after she left one card on top, and after she declined to search, Ghost Quartering her Raging Ravine. Path and Quarter upgraded to Swords and Strip Mine
Round 3: RG Valakut (2-1; 3-0 overall)
Game 1: I kept a one-land hand with AV and SV, suspended AV, and missed a land drop on turns 1 and 2, and took until AV came off suspend to hit 4 lands. Not much of a game, but I played it out to see a bit more of his deck.
Game 2: I sideboarded a bit strangely, perhaps, bringing out two Nahiris for two Surgical Extractions. It paid off, as I drew an opener with two lands (one of which was Ghost Quarter), Snapcaster, and SE. I SE'd his Farseek on T2, seeing that he had a Valakut in hand. On turn 4, he had not played his Valakut yet, so to try to entice him to, I played a fourth land and held my Ghost Quarter. He had no play, so on his end step, I Cryptic'd to bounce Snapcaster & draw a card. On my turn 5, I GQ'd and Snap-SE'd his Valakut. A few turns later, he was able to land a Gaea's Revenge (!!), but by this time he was down to 10, and I was able to take a single hit from the green creature to flash in a second Snapcaster (with more burn) and attack back for the win.
Game 3: I had T3 Geist of Saint Traft, and rode Geist + a couple burn spells to a quick victory.
Round 4: Burn (0-2; 3-1 overall)
Games 1 and 2: Unfortunately, not much to say here. I flooded pretty badly both games, ending with 4 cards in hand both games (4 lands in hand G1, and 3 lands in hand G2). Pretty disappointing, as I knew he was on Burn and liked my chances reasonably well.
Round 5: Bant Eldrazi (0-2; 3-2 overall)
Game 1: I drew Bolts and Helixes instead of Paths, and died to Reality Smasher that I spent four cards to kill (Bolt-Helix-land-Remand) and then a Drowner of Hope to finish the job.
Game 2: He brought in the Tamiyo, Field Researcher, which seems like pretty good tech against a control deck. I slowed the attack, but couldn't stop him from drawing 3 off Tamiyo, and then was left with the choice of Verdicting his board, letting him ultimate Tamiyo, and seeing whether I could survive to Snap-Verdict, or wasting a Helix to bring Tamiyo to 4, in which case I was pretty close to dead before I could Verdict next turn, and Tamiyo would still be around. I took the 'Let Tamiyo ultimate' route, which led to the same outcome but had the bonus of being pretty amusing for both of us. (He said it was the only time he's actually ultimate'd Tamiyo.) I did manage to hang on another turn or two, but died shortly after. As in game 1, I don't think I saw a single Path in this game.
Round 6: Jeskai Flash (0-2; 3-3 overall)
G1 & G2: My opponent was on the Spell Queller / Restoration Angel / Blade Splicer version of Jeskai. I don't know how this holds up against the field, but against Jeskai Harbinger it seems very good. He has more threats (Restoration Angel blinking Blade Splicer is no joke), many of which have flash, and is basically a Faeries deck against a more dedicated control deck.
* * *
Some general comments:
* Nahiri didn't close out a single game. She provided a bit of value (exile / filter then take some damage), but was not a major player. In the Jeskai mirror, though, she felt like more of a liability than an asset, but this may just be my own inexperience.
* Bant Eldrazi is a pretty tough matchup. I had two Supreme Verdict in the sideboard largely for this matchup, but they almost still don't seem like enough. Path to Exile is critical.
* I think I need to learn to play blue mirrors better. It seems especially difficult against Grixis Control (which has Tasigur it can drop for B while holding up countermagic) and Jeskai Flash, which can play on my end step and hold up countermagic against Nahiri (or even Geist). Not to mention that decks with more threats seem to be able to press the issue sooner, putting me on the back foot. Any tips on this point would be welcome.
It's been mentioned before, but what does it do that Rest in Peace doesn't cover? Same converted mana cost but less difficult to cast.
Doesn't affect your Snapcasters or Emrakul trigger.
that's why I was considering it, doesn't affect the controller at all
Modern:
UWUW Control
UBRGrixis Shadow
URIzzet Phoenix
It doesn't matter if it makes it harder for me to win too, because unless its answered (in which case its also not hurting me anymore) dredge has to legitimately hard cast its creatures to win, which is not going to beat us.
Wheel gets hit by all of the hate dredge has for rip, but doesn't even provide us with anything if it gets killed the turn after its cast.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
Surgical is inherent card disadvantage unless you get lucky and spike something from the hand...but it has to already be in the graveyard. I agree with LSV that Surgical is one of the most overrated bad card in MTG. I don't disagree that the effect is powerful, it's just wildly inconsistant and often doesn't do what you want it to do.
UWR Control
Legacy:
W D&T
Unless you take a card out of their hand, SE is card disadvantage (the cards you take out of their deck does not affect their card resource)
This point is kind of mute if you use SE the correct way, however. Card advantage doesn't mean much against dredge as their graveyard is their resource, not their hand. If you can cripple a combo deck by taking away one of their key pieces, it's worth the card disadvantage. If you use SE against blue decks to "counter" a snapcaster mage it is still technically card disadvantage as they still get their 2/1 but the actual purpose of the card is nullified.
I haven't played Modern in a couple weeks (busy on Tues.; played Legacy [for the first time] a few times instead), but am hoping to in the new year. I've been considering testing other builds of Jeskai (even a more aggressive shell), but also feel like this deck has all the right tools, and is maybe just missing something small, or just more experience for the pilot (me).
I'll play GP Kobe in May (and GP Beijing right before that-but it's sealed not modern).
The deck is very good and has strong match-ups against many popular decks. I'm happy with my chances against most decks.
4 Nahiri, the Harbinger
3 Lightning Helix
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
2 Spell Snare
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2 Remand
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Engineered Explosives
4 Serum Visions
3 Ancestral Vision
3 Mana Leak
1 Vendilion Clique
3 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
1 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain
3 Arid Mesa
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Hallowed Fountain
3 Spirebluff Canal
1 Scalding Tarn
2 Negate
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Rest in Peace
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Dispel
It's here, but it's dead. You'll have to go to the end of the thread to get the most recent updates, but I think the thread has been defunct since early this year. Good luck.
EDIT: Fixed the link. My bad.