Herald of Torment and Voice of Resurgence just aren't where you want to be with this deck. Read the Bones is better in the early game where a third turn Underworld Connection won't draw a card if you have a Caryatid in play, but a scry land in your hand or if you have no Caryatid and three untapped lands. I think that makes sense.
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One of these day I have to get myself organizized.
So I ended up playing the decklist I posted above at FNM tonight. Unfortunately most people here aren't extremeply competitve but I did get to play against a very good American Control/Midrange deck that took us to time (and I lost) 1-2 and a Black splash white deck where I went 2-1. Overall I went 3-1 with the deck.
First:
Archangel + anything that gains life is amazing. The synergy with Courser is flipping awesome, along with the synergy with Ooze, Elspeth, etc. You name, it I found that this card is great. It also pretty much puts out a huge threat that your opponent needs to deal with, otherwise they are going to lose.
Secondly, Elspeth is so great. Half the time I was siding in my 3rd copy to deal with plenty of stuff, and I actually found her -3 to be useful a few times where players had stuff like Blood Baron or Desc Demon out.
Lastly, this deck just provides so many options when dealing with things. From Abrupt Decay to Hero's Downfall, nothing sticks around for long. And with the Temples in addition to the Coursers, finding what you need (or just finding something great like Obzedat) is never hard. It's alot of fun when your revealing the next card you'll draw and its something Obzedat or Archangel and you know its something they simply can't deal with.
Lets see if I can also remember each game....
First game was against American Control/Midrange.
R1: I lost, he simply got out too many guys with Elspeth and Assemble the Legion, in conjunction with simply controlling the board. I did get him down pretty far in life, but he stabilized.
R2: I won, using Obzedat, Elspeth, etc. and destroying everything he had. Also playing lots of Thoughtseize in the begining couple of turns, taking out stuff like Sphinx's Rev and his Elspeth.
R3: Funny match. We got to time. Both of us had Elspeth out. Were both below 10. We keep trading tokens, but then he Aurelia Fury's my Elspeth and myself, stalling me. He alt's his, getting the emblem. Swings for game, I lose.
Second game was against some GW deck (guy was new to MTG)
R1: I get out Archangel, Courser, Elspeth, keep destroying his dudes and gaining life.
R2: Same thing. Was scared when he got out a couple big 6/5 guys with trample but I killed both, swinged next turn and won.
Third game was against Black/splash white.
R1: I won here, we traded guys forever and eventually got some creatures to stick after he started top decking. Took a good while, but I beat him down with Advent and Obzedat.
R2: I hate Blood Baron. Very hard to deal with this card, I think the only one that can really deal with it is Elspeth and Thoughtseize, and if you can flash in a Advent when its attacking.
R3: Vraska won me the match, funny enough. Put a ton of pressure on him with playing two Advents in the same turn, unexiling my Obzedat, and having the 3 Assassin tokens out. Lolz were had.
Forth Game was for 3rd place overall. This guy was playing a Golgari deck.
Pretty much same stuff as Round 2 honestly. Ooze and Archangel worked systematically here along with Courser.
Overall good games, valuable information. Huge tournament coming up in a few weeks, so I'll probably take this and get some real tournament results.
Lastly I pulled a foil Stomping Ground tonight so I was pretty happy!
I went 4-1 with the Gerald Fabiano's list tonight at fnm with my only loss coming to a close game 3 to mono red aggro. I played 3 monoblack/white splash and won pretty handily. I think our endgame is just better than theirs, plus we can filter our deck so much better with mentioned courser + scry lands. I also beat an american control list which honestly was a cakewalk with voice, hand disruption, and mistcutters. Gonna be playing at an iq tomorrow with the same list.
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Changes from Reid's list.
-2 Archangel of thune, +2 Bloodbaron Of Vizkopa: This was a no brainer for me. I see black devotion, esper, and BW midrange continuing to be successful, and blood baron is great against all three. Archangel is a very powerful card, and can turn rather lackluster boards into lethal attacks, but then again she just dies much easier.
-1 Scavenging Ooze, +1 Underworld Connections: Ooze is great, but 4? Idk about that. I moved the 4th to the SB for now in anticipation of GR dredge and reanimator style decks being successful. This freed up one more MD spot for the Underworld Connections. He actually mentions this change in his article.
Other than that its pretty much card for card, and the deck is testing great! Lifebane zombie is going to continue to be a problem for decks like this. This is another reason i pushed for the second MD underworld connections.
I've recently been interested in playing this deck, but I would like to know, besides Temple of Malady, are any new cards worth playing? The deck seems to maybe benefit from Pharika, God of Affliction against various aggro decks but I don't think it has a place in the mainboard so possibly side. These are just ideas from someone who hasn't played since Theros was released so I'm not really familiar with the meta.
I'm thinking deicideas a 1-of in the sb. Banishing light could be good unless the meta changes to more enchantment removal. It is technically better than heroes downfall with so little enchantment removal right now.
The 1-of vraska and last breath have both been pretty good. Mana hasnt really been too much of an issue and gets better with JOU. We also get to use banishing light with JOU and a 1-2 of mana confluence(maybe).
Esper can be ether a terrible matchup, or an amazing matchup game because you could just draw into all your removal, but at least abrupt decay hits d sphere and downfall hits their walkers.
Thoughts on list?
EDIT: I also kinda want to fit 2 Underworld Connections.
The 1-of vraska and last breath have both been pretty good. Mana hasnt really been too much of an issue and gets better with JOU. We also get to use banishing light with JOU and a 1-2 of mana confluence(maybe).
Esper can be ether a terrible matchup, or an amazing matchup game because you could just draw into all your removal, but at least abrupt decay hits d sphere and downfall hits their walkers.
Thoughts on list?
EDIT: I also kinda want to fit 2 Underworld Connections.
I fully agree about Vraska. She's been considerably better than I expected.
As for advice, I would cut a couple Reaper of the Wilds for another threat. It's a disappointing card to begin with, and your second one in play is pretty much a 4-mana Leatherback Baloth.
I just recently moved further away from any location to play magic and with work keeping me late on Fridays most of the time I don't have time to travel 45 minutes to play FNM. But I got to play this week and I went 3-1 with this archetype with some changes that gave me the edge in a lot of match ups.
My matches were like this....
Round 1 vs Mono Black Post (2-0)
Round 2 vs RW burn (2-1)
Round 3 vs Mono Black Devotion (1-2)
Round 4 vs BW Devotion (2-0)
After playing in FNM if I were to make it out to play something more like this...
I would also throw in some banishing light. Maybe a reprisal or two somewhere. Testing and seeing the renewed format develop will show what needs to be changed but even as the deck is now, most the time I feel like the odds of favorite to win any given game.
I will likely play this list or a variant of it in the upcoming SCG Knoxville TN Open series.
I think you should definitely try another copy of Archangel of Thune, the synergy between that card and most other life gaining cards can be amazing and catastrophic against your opponent at any point in the game. You board can easily become overwhelming. I've actually bumped up to 3 copys of it since I like the card so much.
In terms of JOU I definietly can see Banishing Light and Mana Confluence as good additions to the deck. Who dosen't want an Oblivion Ring?
I think you should definitely try another copy of Archangel of Thune, the synergy between that card and most other life gaining cards can be amazing and catastrophic against your opponent at any point in the game. You board can easily become overwhelming. I've actually bumped up to 3 copys of it since I like the card so much.
In terms of JOU I definietly can see Banishing Light and Mana Confluence as good additions to the deck. Who dosen't want an Oblivion Ring?
I think you should definitely try another copy of Archangel of Thune, the synergy between that card and most other life gaining cards can be amazing and catastrophic against your opponent at any point in the game. You board can easily become overwhelming. I've actually bumped up to 3 copys of it since I like the card so much.
In terms of JOU I definietly can see Banishing Light and Mana Confluence as good additions to the deck. Who dosen't want an Oblivion Ring?
As good as the Archangel is, I have found Blood baron much more powerful in regard to the abundance of Mono Black in my meta. Not to mention the guy blows the midrange mirror wide open too.
I think you should definitely try another copy of Archangel of Thune, the synergy between that card and most other life gaining cards can be amazing and catastrophic against your opponent at any point in the game. You board can easily become overwhelming. I've actually bumped up to 3 copys of it since I like the card so much.
In terms of JOU I definietly can see Banishing Light and Mana Confluence as good additions to the deck. Who dosen't want an Oblivion Ring?
As good as the Archangel is, I have found Blood baron much more powerful in regard to the abundance of Mono Black in my meta. Not to mention the guy blows the midrange mirror wide open too.
I agree with this 100%. The interactions between archangel + ooze + courser are cute and not to be ignored, but I have completely cut archangel out of my list. My meta game is full of B/X devotion, UW/x control, and there has been a resurgence in black bases midrange decks. Against all of these I feel like id rather have blood baron over archangel. Black decks not running red for mortars are going to have a very difficult time removing blood baron. Control decks can ONLY verdict to handle him. Im not going to argue that archangel should not be considered, but I feel like its a meta call. All her cool interactions have not won me a single game that I wasn't going to win already. Maybe im wrong, maybe the sample size is too small on my side. But id like to gget everyone's thoughts?
This 75 seems pretty close to Jeff Hoogland's list over this past weekend in Cincy. If you watched his Sideboard broadcast at the tournament, he made a few good points especially with sideboard strategy. I also like his inclusion of 1x Lifebane Zombie to the main as a hedge. I will tell you in early testing that Advent of the Wurm is absurd! Its a great way of dealing with an opposing blood baron, or providing pressure following a verdict. But in the end a 5/5 trample at flash speed and 4 mana is incredible.
I feel like deicide deserves a spot in the 75 some where, but right now Im happy with Golgari Charm. Sure it doesnt handle gods like deicide but blinding light does and id rather have the flexibility of golgari charm, which is useful in all three modes against different decks. I do feel like if we start seeing gods wreck havoc on the format, I will change my mind. but for now its a no.
Krovax, I will take your suggestion on the Blood Baron and give it a shot. Also, I really like how your list is looking, and I might give it a shot. The only thing I see potentially worrying some is the 1x Elspeth, but, I guess the Ajani helps dig.
I see underworld connections in the MB. As much as I believe its a great card, Read the Bones might be better to help dig deep and find things that matter more quickly, rather then playing Underworld Connections on turn 3 or 4 and drawing 1 card.
I also see a singleton Lifebane Zombie. Is it necessary? If you don't draw in your first couple of turns or in your opening hand, it might as well be useless except to see their hand... and that's not even guaranteeing there playing white or green. I might play another Blood Baron instead, or something else... like a final Abrupt Decay.
The SCG Knoxville Open is this weekend and I have been playing Junk Midrange lately and still contemplated other archetypes for the tournament. I have went back and forth on MBD,U/w control, Jund Monsters, Jund Midrange...but I have finally decided to just stick to what I've been playing.
Now, with the tournament just days away I am frantically working out the final list details. The decks I expect to see the most consist of the Big Four. A large amount of U/w/x control and Mono Black/x Devotion. While seeing a good number of G/R/x monsters and likely the mirror match. Like most of you on here I am playing a close variant of Hoogland's 3rd place list from Cincinnati. I am looking for a way to give myself a better chance vs the MBD and control matchups.
Here is my list..
Well part of the reason is the matchups that I do want the Mistcutter Hydra is the same one where I cut the Caryatid to the board. I prefer knowing the Hydra can come down quickly as a fast beater vs control and with cutting Caryatids to the board it feels like it becomes much slower and not as reliable a beater.
That being said I feel like they may be necessary to the game plan vs control.
Mistcutter Hydras are indeed a key to beating control. Protection from blue and haste? Sounds good to me!
Its also a great mana sink late game too, since control matchups can generally take a considerable amount of time provided the opposing control player is playing good. So drawing into one at any point in the game is great against them.
Downfalls are that against esper, they have access to black, which means a considerable amount of decent removal that can take care of it the turn it comes out, even if it cant be countered. Bant also has a few answers, such as Selesyna Charm.
My biggest problem is I would want 3 Hydra in the Sideboard and I feel like a lot of my options in the board are rather solid already. So cutting something may turn out to be a bit difficult.
Wouldnt a pumped up Witchstalker be an absolute powerhouse ? No point remvovel works, there are almost "no" creatures with protection from "green".
Only mass removel, elspeth, counters (when playing it), devour flesh & celestial flare could actually kill it.
No it wouldn't be. Junk Midrange is a deck that plays defense more often than not and when it is finally geared up and set up to win the game does it begin to be the aggressor of the game. Witchstalker doesn't truly benefit our gameplan what so ever.
If anything the interactions you dreamed of are cute at best, yet not needed in a midrange deck like this. We are much better off with the creature base we do have already.
On to a development note for SCG Knoxville I have been contemplating removing the main deck Lifebane Zombie and adding the 4th Abrupt decay. With Mono Black/green Devotion winning the first open of the season there will be plenty of targets to hit with 4 abrupt decays and I want more of a guarantee that I will find 1 or 2 in a given game more often than not. I was reading Duke's articles on Junk and he made it abundantly clear that in the MBD match our main priority is blowing up their Underworld Connections while we contain their board and set up our own Connections. On top of being able to destroy a fresh Pack Rat in the early stages of the game, hitting Lifebane Zombie is good too because more often than not the guy is a 3 point swing we can't block.
Then decay is exceptional vs Control. But we all already know how good it is vs control.
So I am looking at cutting the MD Zombie and playing the fourth Decay because I think the meta this weekend will be flooded with the Finalists decklists from Cincinnati. In addition to these two top decks to deal with I believe Junk Midrange is still well equipped to deal with Monsters.
Here is my sideboard I am currently thinking of going with for the open
Blood Baron is much more relevant in this deck than the Witchstalker for starters. He can definitely be the nail in the coffin vs a good amount of the meta. It's all personal preference though. You go ahead and try out Witchstalker and keep us updated with how he is doing for you.
On Thoughtseize.
Jeff Hoogland's comment of "if we're playing the answer cards to the problems then we don't need that thoughtseize and we can play more good cards in the deck." Or something to the extent of that. I am finding that to be true. I would rather play more powerful cards than to topdeck a thoughtseize in a topdeck war. When we're holding all the answers we don't need to rip things from their hand.
Hoogland's choice to play no Thoughtseize paid off with a strong finish. I have thought if I could fit in a set or even a couple of Thoughtseize I would. But, I like the redundancy that playing a ton of 3-4 ofs provide vs all the other TS decks.
Plus, we don't just lose to problem cards now that we have Banishing Light. We have answers to just about everything now a days.
Sin Collector is superior to TS in the control matchup because it can exile those troublesome instants and sorceries so the control player can't just elixir them back into their deck to be played again.
Oh, no. I haven't forgotten TS and how it impacts games. But in my testing most games I never casted TS I still came out on top.
The reason I chose Collector over TS is because I feel control will be highly represented this weekend and exiling those Sphinx's revelations instead of discarding them will help on my route to victory.
If I were to cut something for TS it would have to be Lifebane Zombie. This would give me six disruption spells vs control. Plus 3 disruption spells vs other decks when I feel I need them.
I run 2 copys, with the other 2 in the sideboard. As much as it is a great disruption card, it is NOT needed half the time, really only against certain matchups. Even just for the see hand effect, you could very well play sin collector or lifebane zombie in the SB and bring them in against matchups that matter.
i would still keep sin collector and lifebane zombie in my SB. both of them are great in their respective matchups.
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Junk Rhino - Standard
Melira Pod - Modern
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First:
Archangel + anything that gains life is amazing. The synergy with Courser is flipping awesome, along with the synergy with Ooze, Elspeth, etc. You name, it I found that this card is great. It also pretty much puts out a huge threat that your opponent needs to deal with, otherwise they are going to lose.
Secondly, Elspeth is so great. Half the time I was siding in my 3rd copy to deal with plenty of stuff, and I actually found her -3 to be useful a few times where players had stuff like Blood Baron or Desc Demon out.
Lastly, this deck just provides so many options when dealing with things. From Abrupt Decay to Hero's Downfall, nothing sticks around for long. And with the Temples in addition to the Coursers, finding what you need (or just finding something great like Obzedat) is never hard. It's alot of fun when your revealing the next card you'll draw and its something Obzedat or Archangel and you know its something they simply can't deal with.
Lets see if I can also remember each game....
First game was against American Control/Midrange.
R1: I lost, he simply got out too many guys with Elspeth and Assemble the Legion, in conjunction with simply controlling the board. I did get him down pretty far in life, but he stabilized.
R2: I won, using Obzedat, Elspeth, etc. and destroying everything he had. Also playing lots of Thoughtseize in the begining couple of turns, taking out stuff like Sphinx's Rev and his Elspeth.
R3: Funny match. We got to time. Both of us had Elspeth out. Were both below 10. We keep trading tokens, but then he Aurelia Fury's my Elspeth and myself, stalling me. He alt's his, getting the emblem. Swings for game, I lose.
Second game was against some GW deck (guy was new to MTG)
R1: I get out Archangel, Courser, Elspeth, keep destroying his dudes and gaining life.
R2: Same thing. Was scared when he got out a couple big 6/5 guys with trample but I killed both, swinged next turn and won.
Third game was against Black/splash white.
R1: I won here, we traded guys forever and eventually got some creatures to stick after he started top decking. Took a good while, but I beat him down with Advent and Obzedat.
R2: I hate Blood Baron. Very hard to deal with this card, I think the only one that can really deal with it is Elspeth and Thoughtseize, and if you can flash in a Advent when its attacking.
R3: Vraska won me the match, funny enough. Put a ton of pressure on him with playing two Advents in the same turn, unexiling my Obzedat, and having the 3 Assassin tokens out. Lolz were had.
Forth Game was for 3rd place overall. This guy was playing a Golgari deck.
Pretty much same stuff as Round 2 honestly. Ooze and Archangel worked systematically here along with Courser.
Overall good games, valuable information. Huge tournament coming up in a few weeks, so I'll probably take this and get some real tournament results.
Lastly I pulled a foil Stomping Ground tonight so I was pretty happy!
Melira Pod - Modern
Sig by DarkNightCavalier @ Heroes of the Plane Studios
here's the 75:
4x Sylvan Caryatid
4x Courser of Kruphix
3x Scavenging Ooze
2x Obzadat, Ghost Council
2x Bloodbaron of Vizkopa
2x Polukronos, World Eater
Other Spells: 18
4x Thoughtseize
4x Abrupt Decay
4x Hero's Downfall
1x Read the Bones
2x Underworld Connections
2x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1x Vraska, the Unseen
4x Temple Garden
4x Overgrown Tomb
2x Godless Shrine
4x Temple of Plenty
4x Temple of SIlence
1x Golgari Guildgate
3x Forest
3x Swamp
1x Scavenging Ooze
2x Underworld Connections
1x Pithing Needle
2x Lifebane Zombie
3x Mistcutter Hydra
1x Dark Betrayal
1x Golgari Charm
1x Unravel the Aether
1x Duress
2x Doom Blade
Changes from Reid's list.
-2 Archangel of thune, +2 Bloodbaron Of Vizkopa: This was a no brainer for me. I see black devotion, esper, and BW midrange continuing to be successful, and blood baron is great against all three. Archangel is a very powerful card, and can turn rather lackluster boards into lethal attacks, but then again she just dies much easier.
-1 Scavenging Ooze, +1 Underworld Connections: Ooze is great, but 4? Idk about that. I moved the 4th to the SB for now in anticipation of GR dredge and reanimator style decks being successful. This freed up one more MD spot for the Underworld Connections. He actually mentions this change in his article.
Other than that its pretty much card for card, and the deck is testing great! Lifebane zombie is going to continue to be a problem for decks like this. This is another reason i pushed for the second MD underworld connections.
BUGShardless SultaiBUG
Modern
URSplinter TwinUR
BWGAbzan MidrangeBWG
Standard
URWJeskai TokensURW
2 Mutavault
3 Temple Garden
2 Plains
2 Swamp
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Godless Shrine
4 Temple of Silence
4 Temple of Plenty
1 Forest
4 Sylvan Caryatid
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
4 Reaper of the Wilds
2 Courser of Kruphix
// Spells
3 Selesnya Charm
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Vraska the Unseen
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Thoughtseize
4 Advent of the Wurm
3 Hero's Downfall
2 Bile Blight
1 Last Breath
The 1-of vraska and last breath have both been pretty good. Mana hasnt really been too much of an issue and gets better with JOU. We also get to use banishing light with JOU and a 1-2 of mana confluence(maybe).
Esper can be ether a terrible matchup, or an amazing matchup game because you could just draw into all your removal, but at least abrupt decay hits d sphere and downfall hits their walkers.
Thoughts on list?
EDIT: I also kinda want to fit 2 Underworld Connections.
Standard:RWUJeskai WinsRWU
Modern:GWBMelira PodGWB
Legacy:WDeath & TaxesW
I fully agree about Vraska. She's been considerably better than I expected.
As for advice, I would cut a couple Reaper of the Wilds for another threat. It's a disappointing card to begin with, and your second one in play is pretty much a 4-mana Leatherback Baloth.
3 blood baron of vizkopa
4 sylvan caryatid
3 courser of kruphix
3 scavenging ooze
1 obzedat, ghost council
2 polukranos, world eater
2 elspeth, sun's champion
1 vraska, the unseen
3 abrupt decay
1 putrefy
1 bile blight
3 hero's downfall
2 advent of the wurm
2 underworld connections
4 thoughtseize
4 temple of plenty
3 swamp
3 forest
4 temple of silence
2 godless shrine
1 golgari guildgate
4 overgrown tomb
2 mistcutter hydra
1 underworld connections
2 doom blade
1 sin collector
1 revoke existence
2 dark betrayal
1 golgari charm
1 duress
1 obzedat, ghost council
1 pithing needle
2 lifebane zombie
My matches were like this....
Round 1 vs Mono Black Post (2-0)
Round 2 vs RW burn (2-1)
Round 3 vs Mono Black Devotion (1-2)
Round 4 vs BW Devotion (2-0)
After playing in FNM if I were to make it out to play something more like this...
3 blood baron of vizkopa
4 sylvan caryatid
4 courser of kruphix
2 scavenging ooze
1 obzedat, ghost council
2 polukranos, world eater
2 elspeth, sun's champion
1 vraska, the unseen
3 abrupt decay
1 putrefy
1 bile blight
3 hero's downfall
1 whip of erebos
2 underworld connections
4 thoughtseize
4 temple of plenty
3 swamp
3 forest
4 temple of silence
2 godless shrine
1 golgari guildgate
4 overgrown tomb
2 mistcutter hydra
1 underworld connections
1 doom blade
1 bile blight
1 sin collector
1 deicide
2 dark betrayal
1 golgari charm
1 duress
1 obzedat, ghost council
1 pithing needle
2 lifebane zombie
I would also throw in some banishing light. Maybe a reprisal or two somewhere. Testing and seeing the renewed format develop will show what needs to be changed but even as the deck is now, most the time I feel like the odds of favorite to win any given game.
I will likely play this list or a variant of it in the upcoming SCG Knoxville TN Open series.
In terms of JOU I definietly can see Banishing Light and Mana Confluence as good additions to the deck. Who dosen't want an Oblivion Ring?
A couple other cards I was thinking about was Atheros, God of Passage and also Aegis of the Gods. Aegis could be a good SB card against control matchups.
Melira Pod - Modern
How is aegis a good SB card vs control? It stops devour flesh and rakdos return I guess but that's a pretty narrow card to dedicate SB space too.
Modern: Eldrazi Tron, UW Tron, GR Tron, BW Tokens, WU Death and Taxes
As good as the Archangel is, I have found Blood baron much more powerful in regard to the abundance of Mono Black in my meta. Not to mention the guy blows the midrange mirror wide open too.
I agree with this 100%. The interactions between archangel + ooze + courser are cute and not to be ignored, but I have completely cut archangel out of my list. My meta game is full of B/X devotion, UW/x control, and there has been a resurgence in black bases midrange decks. Against all of these I feel like id rather have blood baron over archangel. Black decks not running red for mortars are going to have a very difficult time removing blood baron. Control decks can ONLY verdict to handle him. Im not going to argue that archangel should not be considered, but I feel like its a meta call. All her cool interactions have not won me a single game that I wasn't going to win already. Maybe im wrong, maybe the sample size is too small on my side. But id like to gget everyone's thoughts?
Here is my proposed 75.
4x Sylvan Carytid
4x Courser of Kruphix
2x Blood Baron of Vizkopa
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Obzedat, Ghost Council
1x Lifebane Zombie
Planewalkers: 4
2x Ajani, Mentor of Hero's
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1x Vraska, the Unseen
Other Spells: 17
4x Hero's Downfall
3x Abrupt Decay
2x Banishing Light
2x Thoughtseize
2x Underworld Connections
4x Advent of the Wurm
2x Mana Confluence
4x Temple of Malady
3x Temple of Silence
3x Temple of Plenty
4x Overgrown Tomb
4x Temple Garden
2x Godless Shrine
2x Forest
1x Swamp
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Erebos, God of the Dead
2x Sin Collector
1x Underworld Conenctions
2x Thoughtseize
2x Bile Blight
2x Putrefy
1x Doom Blade
2x Golgari Charm
This 75 seems pretty close to Jeff Hoogland's list over this past weekend in Cincy. If you watched his Sideboard broadcast at the tournament, he made a few good points especially with sideboard strategy. I also like his inclusion of 1x Lifebane Zombie to the main as a hedge. I will tell you in early testing that Advent of the Wurm is absurd! Its a great way of dealing with an opposing blood baron, or providing pressure following a verdict. But in the end a 5/5 trample at flash speed and 4 mana is incredible.
I feel like deicide deserves a spot in the 75 some where, but right now Im happy with Golgari Charm. Sure it doesnt handle gods like deicide but blinding light does and id rather have the flexibility of golgari charm, which is useful in all three modes against different decks. I do feel like if we start seeing gods wreck havoc on the format, I will change my mind. but for now its a no.
BUGShardless SultaiBUG
Modern
URSplinter TwinUR
BWGAbzan MidrangeBWG
Standard
URWJeskai TokensURW
I see underworld connections in the MB. As much as I believe its a great card, Read the Bones might be better to help dig deep and find things that matter more quickly, rather then playing Underworld Connections on turn 3 or 4 and drawing 1 card.
I also see a singleton Lifebane Zombie. Is it necessary? If you don't draw in your first couple of turns or in your opening hand, it might as well be useless except to see their hand... and that's not even guaranteeing there playing white or green. I might play another Blood Baron instead, or something else... like a final Abrupt Decay.
Melira Pod - Modern
Now, with the tournament just days away I am frantically working out the final list details. The decks I expect to see the most consist of the Big Four. A large amount of U/w/x control and Mono Black/x Devotion. While seeing a good number of G/R/x monsters and likely the mirror match. Like most of you on here I am playing a close variant of Hoogland's 3rd place list from Cincinnati. I am looking for a way to give myself a better chance vs the MBD and control matchups.
Here is my list..
2 blood baron of vizkopa
4 sylvan caryatid
3 scavenging ooze
2 obzedat, ghost council
4 courser of kruphix
1 lifebane zombie
2 elsepth, sun's champion
3 abrupt decay
4 hero's downfall
4 advent of the wurm
2 banishing light
2 underworld connections
3 godless shrine
1 mana confluence
4 overgrown tomb
1 swamp
3 temple garden
3 temple of malady
4 temple of plenty
4 temple of silence
1 deicide
1 golgari charm
1 erebos, god of the dead
2 putrefy
1 underworld connections
2 thoughtseize
3 sin collector
2 bile blight
2 lifebane zombie
How would you go about tuning the list based off of what the results of the latest open were?
That being said I feel like they may be necessary to the game plan vs control.
Its also a great mana sink late game too, since control matchups can generally take a considerable amount of time provided the opposing control player is playing good. So drawing into one at any point in the game is great against them.
Downfalls are that against esper, they have access to black, which means a considerable amount of decent removal that can take care of it the turn it comes out, even if it cant be countered. Bant also has a few answers, such as Selesyna Charm.
Melira Pod - Modern
No it wouldn't be. Junk Midrange is a deck that plays defense more often than not and when it is finally geared up and set up to win the game does it begin to be the aggressor of the game. Witchstalker doesn't truly benefit our gameplan what so ever.
If anything the interactions you dreamed of are cute at best, yet not needed in a midrange deck like this. We are much better off with the creature base we do have already.
On to a development note for SCG Knoxville I have been contemplating removing the main deck Lifebane Zombie and adding the 4th Abrupt decay. With Mono Black/green Devotion winning the first open of the season there will be plenty of targets to hit with 4 abrupt decays and I want more of a guarantee that I will find 1 or 2 in a given game more often than not. I was reading Duke's articles on Junk and he made it abundantly clear that in the MBD match our main priority is blowing up their Underworld Connections while we contain their board and set up our own Connections. On top of being able to destroy a fresh Pack Rat in the early stages of the game, hitting Lifebane Zombie is good too because more often than not the guy is a 3 point swing we can't block.
Then decay is exceptional vs Control. But we all already know how good it is vs control.
So I am looking at cutting the MD Zombie and playing the fourth Decay because I think the meta this weekend will be flooded with the Finalists decklists from Cincinnati. In addition to these two top decks to deal with I believe Junk Midrange is still well equipped to deal with Monsters.
Here is my sideboard I am currently thinking of going with for the open
1 golgari charm
1 underworld connections
3 mistcutter hydra
3 sin collector
2 putrefy
2 bile blight
On Thoughtseize.
Jeff Hoogland's comment of "if we're playing the answer cards to the problems then we don't need that thoughtseize and we can play more good cards in the deck." Or something to the extent of that. I am finding that to be true. I would rather play more powerful cards than to topdeck a thoughtseize in a topdeck war. When we're holding all the answers we don't need to rip things from their hand.
Plus, we don't just lose to problem cards now that we have Banishing Light. We have answers to just about everything now a days.
Sin Collector is superior to TS in the control matchup because it can exile those troublesome instants and sorceries so the control player can't just elixir them back into their deck to be played again.
The reason I chose Collector over TS is because I feel control will be highly represented this weekend and exiling those Sphinx's revelations instead of discarding them will help on my route to victory.
If I were to cut something for TS it would have to be Lifebane Zombie. This would give me six disruption spells vs control. Plus 3 disruption spells vs other decks when I feel I need them.
I run 2 copys, with the other 2 in the sideboard. As much as it is a great disruption card, it is NOT needed half the time, really only against certain matchups. Even just for the see hand effect, you could very well play sin collector or lifebane zombie in the SB and bring them in against matchups that matter.
i would still keep sin collector and lifebane zombie in my SB. both of them are great in their respective matchups.
Melira Pod - Modern