So for the Frost Walker fans out there, is he winning you games? I can't think of many matches where I am not playing against tokens or Satyr Wayfinders. I mean even Azban is using him now with Sidisi, Undead Vizier being just another one of the best cards in Standard they've added to their arsenal. I also think his Ferocious enabling is kind of meh considering he dies to spot removal even with a Stubborn Denial in hand. Crater's claws+2 is risky if your opponent has any mana open because he dies to 1 mana spells and sometimes half a card (Dromoka's Command, Azban Charm).
I can see Frost Walker coming up huge in an Ascendency Build or maybe in the board, but I just think he stands around staring at a 1/1 or 3 too often to be in the main deck of the typical Temur Aggro/Midrange build. I'll give him another shot if their are convincing arguments, but he is kind of dead to me right now.
I think if you're seeing a lot of tokens and 1/1s either running a couple Wild Slash, Magma Spray, Twin Bolt, or Arc Lightning either main or side to keep things out of your way.
Really Frost Walker eats coursers and caryatids, and makes Heir of the Wilds almost always trade up or can't be blocked.
Really against Abzan I'd probably side into Disdainful Stroke anyways.
I think it's been said before, in the match-ups Frost Walker is good in, he's REALLY good. Against tokens and maybe green decks running wayfinder not so much. And yes, in a deck that'S running the Ascendancy he's kind of a must.
There are other ways of making him better that haven't been explored yet, like Goblin Heelcutter and Chandra Pyromaster or even Frenzied Goblin. I'm pretty happy with him turning on denial game one against hordling outburst or whip of erebos even if he isn't great game one.
There are other ways of making him better that haven't been explored yet, like Goblin Heelcutter and Chandra Pyromaster or even Frenzied Goblin. I'm pretty happy with him turning on denial game one against hordling outburst or whip of erebos even if he isn't great game one.
I see your point about how these cards could help Frost Walker but it's kind of ironic that all 3 eat an opposing Frost Walker for free. I understand you would side him out but still another negative for him main deck.
We're talking about a 2 drop. You don't need to waste effort to make it better. It is exactly what it is. Extremely fragile but an incredible rate on power stats. If the opponent aims to beat you with removal or the pure stats on their creatures it's tin a good place. Frenzied Goblin effect is one really awkward place but it's also the place you no qualms trading your 2 cmc threat for some 2cmc burn. This card is a curve concern. You play it for redundancy. I mean saying it's bad against Hordeling Outburst is a bit like saying Lightning Strike is. Sure on t2 when you have no other play you would just hold the strike and find a place to make more value later. But what if they don't have it. Wild Slash? Who cares? A card for a card is about all you can hope for. You don't always get to follow up an Heir and Claws a Rabblemaster on a elfless on the draw game.
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I've been playing Nacci's list for about the last week or so solid. This deck seems awesome against control and really terrible against literally everything else. Anyone else having this problem?
5. For some reason there are a decent number of Hornet Nests showing up right now in sideboards. Not really sure why given all the fliers.
Hornet Nest is very good at gumming things up vs mono-red, which, before last weekend, was plenty prevalent in the meta. I suspect even more so at FNM than on the Open circuit.
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I've been playing Nacci's list for about the last week or so solid. This deck seems awesome against control and really terrible against literally everything else. Anyone else having this problem?
Sort of. I feel Nacci's list is doing some things right but others less so. The reason it feels a dog in so many matchups I imagine comes from 2 factors:
1. Self Preservation getting in the way. You have to know when you have to go for it. It's an uncomfortable feeling for a lot of players to play that aggressively. Like when is it correct to attack a Frost Walker into an Elvish Mystic. The timing of this sort of deck requires a sort of trust in the top of your deck and acceptance of it not getting there. I think it's super easy to miss the right lines in his list because sometimes you are playing just if you were RDW. Other times your Frost Walkers are meant to be Lightning Strikes so to speak and you have to find straddle this line where you make it awkward for your opponent to figure out if they should the aggro deck. This is especially true in aggro matchups where some hands are actually a turn faster than theirs if you trust your deck or more often recognizing you are a turn faster than theirs to get within claws range, but have no way of really finishing if you don't get the claws but you play on tempo that makes them have to slow down and block which gives you CA virtually through your superior creatures. Basically stabilizing by being aggressive. It's a gamble, but it's the most versatile playing a heavier creature package and faster deck without resorting to slow cards and strategies that make you just a dog to the bigger midrange decks.
2. Nacci's deck isn't actually that great at finishing the plan when disrupted early. Again there are 2 problems here. Firstly his threat density relies too much on Goblin Rabblemaster. You get hands where Rabblemaster has to be the card since you have Elves, Heirs and Frost Walkers and it isn't enough. I think Boon Satyr as a finish is suspect leaving him with only really 12 cards that are seemingly finisher level threats and no way to smooth that out. 12 is a little short. Classically in these decks you want about 14. I also think Surrak is a bit conditional. This is still a 2 and 4 format. It doesn't actually lend to the tension as much as you'd hope. I realize there is a nice interaction with Boon Satyr but consider. If the opponent has the Wild Slash and say the stoke all the tension is removed. Slash taking out the enabler buys the turn to untap with Stoke to take it out. Against you they have to diversify their removal, so sequences that push them to have the same sort of removal repeatedly is much better. This is actually a sound argument for Rabblemaster other the potential of just getting 2 for 1 off cheap sweepers that I see gaining popularity makes it you want some 3's with 4 backs. Obviously you don't always get Knuckleblade, but a 3 drop with a 4 back is tough to kill early, a 4 drop with a 2 back might come down when they've already expended their resources. This sort of gap is where Surrak is awkward because if they successfully disrupt you, they disrupt you good. See I think that's why he only has 2 Stormbreaths. If they kill the 2 drop, you actually tend to hold Surrak like a 5 drop. I question just not going all in on dragons as well. I don't think the first Ashcloud is better than the 4th Thunderbreak. At which point miser Draconic Roars start looking nicer. All this leads to incredible pressure on Crater's Claws to deliver at the end, and I think the card isn't that good across the board. I like it but it's rarely a card that I always want a 2 of. I like the 6 reactive spell ratio main I just think it needs a little tweaking perhaps.
5. For some reason there are a decent number of Hornet Nests showing up right now in sideboards. Not really sure why given all the fliers.
Hornet Nest is very good at gumming things up vs mono-red, which, before last weekend, was plenty prevalent in the meta. I suspect even more so at FNM than on the Open circuit.
Yeah definitely. It's just one of those cards that opponents can play around to a certain degree.. like attack freely into it and then have the spell that gives 2 guys first strike.. or target creature can't block. It's good gumming the board in some midrange matchups but I wonder if there are other solutions there.
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Current list:
Made some shifts. Shaman still wins me tons of games and provides me a green plan where I try to get them to trade early and then if they do gum the board use Xenagos activations to draw several cards a turn. I still like that making a window for Shaman is easy and one hit usually does it.. a 5/5 Thunderbreak Regent or Stormbreath is hard for a lot opponents to deal with effectively. Sideboard is still an experiment. I suspect I don't even need the Encases (haven't cast them yet) and the burn package is wrong but I've got a general plan. Where against some decks it's the Frost Walker for Burn plan, and for others it's the Coursers/Satyr for Back to Nature's or Encase's depending on the matchup.
On a sideboarding note, one of the weirdest things about CVM's article to me was that he boarded out Xenagos in the mirror or Temur matchup. I board mine in. I think the card is one of the best ways to win the match. You don't want to be choked on mana. Even if you can be aggressive on the ground it will stall eventually. Obviously winning in the sky is big but if you can stall the sky too having a way to gain advantage is really good. It might be that I view myself as the aggro deck in all the mirror matches since I'm generally ahead. Xenagos is a lot better when you are ahead. Most of the time when you play the Gx mirror you board into a plan where you can disrupt their mana to get ahead, but if your opponent is on Caryatid there is no point. I actually have found in this Caryatid format the best move you can make to disrupt their mana is not giving them room to play Caryatid. Obviously I'd slash every elf I could see but I don't think that's the way to play this for Temur who can have a more aggressive curve. All things equal and you both get Elf starts you want to be playing threats when they are playing Courser and Caryatid. It gives you the momentum to keep ahead. Normally you can't play a 2 drop that matchups up to 4/5 drops favorably but in this format you can and the Caryatid trap makes it all the easier.
The mana might be too greedy. I wanted to go 23 lands since I tend to flood out a lot at 24. I realized it wasn't because I was playing too many lands really.. It sort of was. But I'd flood out about equally at 23 lands. It's just that usually these type of decks can't afford to play more than 20 mana sources that don't do anything. They always have manlands.. or ability lands. Some additional way to leverage an elf etc.. Even Scry lands I can could every 2 as 1 against the land count. So like a 24 land deck with 6 scry lands is like 21 do nothing mana count. Unfortunately I don't think we can play more than 6 taplands, so going to 23 with a Haven and 1 scry land is closer atleast. Courser actually is in the deck largely to bridge that gap.
Finally where's Dragonlord Atarka? In the opponents graveyard after I easily disdainful stroke when I've managed to keep ahead the whole game that they have no choice but go for some hail mary expensive trump. I think that it's so close right now to being able to maindeck Stroke but I'm not willing to commit that far. Every standard is different, for sure but there is this threshold for the amount of ramp and output that I think these sort of decks need, and I feel we are more in the Falkenrath, Thundermaw Tempo time right now that the Mythic Conscription time. It's super hard to have that 7 drop and have to rely on 2 mana ramp. I'd be all over Atarka if there were 8 elves in this format (or maybe a bird). To it's always been obvious that Elf is so much more powerful than pretty much any 2 mana accelerator creature ever printed(Lotus Cobra is the exception) because of timing. There is a reason these decks never could play Farseek or Rampant Growth, and Carytid arguably the best of that kind printed is close but it's still not quite right. The only way to make a 2 mana creature as good as a 1 mana creature is for it to be able to be played for 2 mana, and have the potential(not guarentee) to generate up to 2 mana on it's own the next turn. Rattleclaw fails this because it costs 3 to morph so it needs Elf to be Cobra level. I'm not saying it's wrong to play 2 mana ramp creatures. I played Monsters all last year practically. Just recognize it means that it is impossible to keep the pressure in the way these decks like to all the way to the finish. Playing Atarka is much more like jamming Elesh Norn into your GW aggro midrange deck. Sure it's good.. Sure you will probably get to that much mana, but you could also possibly win with a lot less investment and with less chance of slipping. Mostly I think 7 is just fringe too much. I can accept 6 drops in that spot sometimes especially if they are complete trumps in certain matchups but it's a lot harder for 7's I think.
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--- Side Notes ---
I've been intrigued by the card Profaner of the Dead. He could absolutely hose token and mono red decks, wipe out mana dorks against devotion decks and give us a way to alpha strike against Hornet Queen (sack Flamewake Phoenix, revive it, swing...sounds fun. Xenagos tokens work nicely too). Could be some hilarious "secret tech" to pull out on somebody. Thoughts?
But the problem is that I can't really find room for it in the sideboard. If it were a 3 drop, I'd probably be more willing to jam it. Also, the games I have struggles with are the ones where my opponent just draws perfect removal, which would hurt the power of Profaner.
Profaner seems ok, but I am doubtful that it actually works out how you'd hope. Well there are good matchups for it, but you need to shore up other places which can do with like burn spells. I doubt the timing against green decks will help much since you have to sacrifice itself or something sizeable which is about as awkward as finding a window with Icy Blast, but atleast that hits pretty absolutely. I love the idea of using a body to get ahead but it's the less than instead of equal or less than that makes that awkward. I'd bounce tokens all day long at the expense of an Elvish Mystic, but getting into 2 drops or it sacrificing itself may prove to awkward.
On a side note you guys winning a ton right now? I love this influx of UB.
Seriously watching the pro tour top 8 something was so super clear to me. Most of those GR vs UB matches were close. Like way closer than the outcome would have you believe. Like within a turn. The problem was always the same. The UB player was able to always play 2 relevant spells first in a turn. That singleton plummet in the quarter finals is what won that round. I'm not suggesting playing a bunch of plummets but that you just need 1 cheap way to interact with UB early and it's almost impossible to win. Temur with permission is so hard for them. I actually won a mulligan to 3. I've done that before. I just had the Stubborn Denial for his first Dig Through time that he went for when he shrugged off a frost walker, yes he had enough to ultimate price it, but he couldn't pay for the force spike and I drew out of it. See the issue is that he didn't hit his land drops any better than me since he wasn't drawing cards. He was actually relying on killing my stuff to fill the graveyard for delve and I wasn't playing stuff since I needed cards. We managed to get to parity even though I started with 3 on the play and he had 7.
Obviously UB isn't really a concern for, so I guess the real question is if the plan is good enough elsewhere. The hardest thing right now I don't think is figuring out a good threat package.. We have a few decent shells lying around. It's the spells. It's really hard to cover the bases. Maybe with the right threat package this will all become obvious. I think GRx needs a little bit of a shift. Beating control is trivial but not for the popular GR lists right now.. there probably is a sweet spot.
EDIT:
Other observations:
1. I was trying to pinpoint what made the UB matchup seem even better than the past (I know hard to believe considering how good it was before). Obviously being more tap out makes it easy to leverage Disdainful Stroke to create a window, but the other non dragons deck still seems even worse than normal. Ultimate Price I think makes the difference. Between that in the list in the PT and the clear need after the results to move to Bile Blight against aggro instead of relying on sorcery speed sweepers their deck is not well positioned to beat Savage Knuckleblade.
2. The dragons control deck does pretty much invalidate most of our planeswalkers. You can't really sit on Xenagos to victory. Even the rate of 4 drop, make a 2/2 die to Hero's Downfall usually isn't good enough. You already have to play around specifically Disdainful Stroke along with their other answers. Any walker that doesn't do something big when it comes in is a waste of time. That means Chandra is not really good, Xenagos, Sarkhan the Dragonspeaker... Sarkhan Unbroken seems decent as does Nissa but we aren't able to leverage Nissa as I'd want and these are both 5 drops and I don't think the timing is right. We want ETB value that allows us to leave up mana and slides under Stroke.
3. I'm not really sure why I'm focusing so much on already a really good matchup. It's mainly because I want to examine sideboard cards. If I take for granted some cards are good against control and they aren't as much and that is a large reason I'm playing them it's a waste. Like I play Chandra for different decks and it's great there (red token decks, green decks, Abzan, Satyr Wayfinder decks). However Xenagos is for green decks and control. I like Xenagos but I'm not sure it's worth risking drawing multiples anymore. I've been toying with Den Protector. Again it dodges ultimate price when flipped. And it let's you buy back something big. As I mentioned above usually you are one threat short of winning. I find Heir of the Wilds a lot worse rate against the control decks. Frost Walker is much better there. Den protector does all the things I described in the first 2 points which makes it seem decent.
4. So why not go all in on Deathmist, Den Protector, with Dragons on top. That actually might be a deck. My hunch is individual cards aren't quite good enough. You'd need a better end game to get the pay off on that setup against most decks. Mostly it would have to GR. I don't think the blue splash is feasible and if it were I think Knuckleblade is a bit awkward. That being said I've played a few decks with the Raptor, Protector Core and they all needed a lot of removal to deal with fliers. It's possible playing your own fliers remedies that. I definitely think it's worth exploring, but it doesn't try to jam the tempo window as hard. I mean if you watched any of the scg versus videos with Raptor the last few weeks you know stuff doesn't seem to quite work. Sure those lists weren't optimal but I suspect the same is true. As much as I like my Eternal Witnesses to trigger Vengevines neither of these cards are those cards. I found I could win that matchup by being really aggressive, and then either straining their mana so I could kill the morph before they could flip it, or Claws them to the face. That all being said someone is going to come up with a good list with those cards in the same way CVM's list from 2 weeks ago looked pretty sweet. I'm not sure it will be sustainable but I'm convinced it will be a thing.
--- Side Notes ---
I've been intrigued by the card Profaner of the Dead. He could absolutely hose token and mono red decks, wipe out mana dorks against devotion decks and give us a way to alpha strike against Hornet Queen (sack Flamewake Phoenix, revive it, swing...sounds fun. Xenagos tokens work nicely too). Could be some hilarious "secret tech" to pull out on somebody. Thoughts?
But the problem is that I can't really find room for it in the sideboard. If it were a 3 drop, I'd probably be more willing to jam it. Also, the games I have struggles with are the ones where my opponent just draws perfect removal, which would hurt the power of Profaner.
Sideboard? Why not 1 or 2 in the main, dropping a Boon Satyr or Heir of the Wilds? If Profaner of the Dead exploits itself, that clears a huge chunk of the board. Exploit a Savage Knuckleblade, and it's basically a one sided evacuation. Thuderbreak, stormbreath, courser, wingmate, Brimaz, soulfire, Surrak, and the list goes on. All 4 cmc toughness or less.
If you sac the profaner itself, due to the triggered (exploit), I think you loose the bounce ability. Apart from that, the bounce ability works with the Resistance, not the cost.
In the ruling's section of Profaner of the Dead:
"2/25/2015 You can sacrifice the creature with exploit if it’s still on the battlefield. This will cause its other ability to trigger."
So the bounce will work.
And I don't understand what you mean by "the bounce ability works with the Resistance, not the cost"
*EDIT* You mean "Toughness", and I accidentally said "CMC". Still, all the cards I listed are 4 toughness, and would get bounced. I think in many cases, you could setup a 1 sided field bounce.
If you sac the profaner itself, due to the triggered (exploit), I think you loose the bounce ability. Apart from that, the bounce ability works with the Resistance, not the cost.
In the ruling's section of Profaner of the Dead:
"2/25/2015 You can sacrifice the creature with exploit if it’s still on the battlefield. This will cause its other ability to trigger."
So the bounce will work.
And I don't understand what you mean by "the bounce ability works with the Resistance, not the cost"
*EDIT* You mean "Toughness", and I accidentally said "CMC". Still, all the cards I listed are 4 toughness, and would get bounced. I think in many cases, you could setup a 1 sided field bounce.
Profaner of the Dead only exploits for LESS than the exploited creatures toughness. So, not quite as good unfortunately.
So if he exploits himself, he bounces 1/1's and 2/2's. (So mostly tokens and morphs.)
After testing all week I think this is my plan for this weekend. Notable changes is moving back to 24 lands. 23 just isn't enough. I also tried Haven a bunch but I think it's too much of a liability, and where I really want that ability I can use Den Protector post-board. I also went up on Twin Bolts. I have been finding it very good against most aggro decks and the red deck recently has been a bit pesky. It's not always a hard matchup but the instant speed removes all the trickery out of battling tokens even if it only takes 2/3rds of a Hordeling Outburst. I did put one scouring sands in. Mainly on cost. Barrage is fine but I can't help but feel it's a little awkward. We aren't seeing the Hornet Queen decks anymore but we are seeing Hornet's Nest. I also went to playing Lightning Strike main. This is just a concession to control decks and their popularity. This way I have zero dead cards main against them. In general Regent has changed the dynamic so much in the flier matchups that the 3 damage burn spell has a lot less pressure to succeed. Part of me feels like I should have one more Encase or Plummet or something but Disdainful Stroke really is this decks hit all. Sometimes you are exactly one mana off though the whole game.
Current plan is -
Control:
-1 Lightning Strike
-3 Heir of the Wilds
-3 Crater's Claws
+1 Stubborn Denial
+3 Disdainful Stroke
+2 Den Protector
+1 Xenagos. the Reveler
if it's even bigger or like full on devotion I will additionally trade for Chandra Pyromaster, If it's a chord or see the unwritten deck I will keep in a Stubborn Denial
Red Aggro
-1 Crater's Claws
-2 Frost Walker
-4 Stormbreath
+2 Den Protector
+1 Draconic Roar
+3 Twin Bolt
+1 Xenagos, the Reveler
RW Tokens:
-1 Lightning Strike
-3 Crater's Claws
-3 Frost Walker
-2 Shaman of the Great Hunt
+1 Stubborn Denial
+2 Den Protector
+3 Twin Bolt
+1 Scouring Sands
+1 Chandra Pyromaster
+1 Xenagos, the Reveler
Jeskai Tokens
-1 Lightning Stike
-1 Xenagos the Reveler
-1 Boon Satyr
-3 Frost Walker
+3 Twin Bolt
+1 Stubborn Denial
+2 Back to Nature
That's roughly it. Generally speaking I've gotten towards a point where if I identify the colours their playing it's pretty straight forward to board even if you aren't sure what their plan exactly is. This is especially important to me when playing green decks and mirrors. I want to clearly define my role in those midrange mashups. Since I'm the most aggressive green deck and play on par with them til the very end (no Atarka's etc.. here) it means that regardless of if they are Abzan Aggro, Abzan Midrange or GR pseudo devotion the same base plan works well enough. I mean sure if I note they are on the End Hostilities sideboard plan I can go for a few more control cards, but in general I can lean on the fact in boarding that I'm quicker to critical mass than them. I had a Temur mirror where the guy was roasting everything I was playing and he noticed some mana issues so he killed my elf. The thing was I was able to play 4 consecutive threats that hit hard for 3 mana (Frost Walker, Knuckleblade, Heir, Frost Walker) while he wasn't developing his board. It's this awkwardness that even the lowliest 2 cmc threats in this deck will trade with dragons puts incredible pressure on the opponent and their life total.
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Tournament Report – April 18th, 2015
Gamers Helping Gamers Charity 2K - Catskill, NY
Record: 6-2-1
Final Standing: 2nd place
Working for TCGplayer is a blast. One of the best things about the company is how much it wants to give back to the community. My supervisors have a ton of amazing long-term ideas for getting involved with the community and giving back in a big way. One of the big Magic-related ones is a charity tournament. We decided that the best thing to do in order to prepare for that would be arming ourselves with as much knowledge and information on how charity events are run as possible. We were lucky to find a 2K charity event at Kirwan's Game Store just a few hours down the road.
I went with two friends and co-workers from TCG: "Cool Guy" Jon, and Dan, the guy who's really pushing for all our community outreach. Traveling with friends is a great way to make time pass quickly, and the 3 hour car ride flew by.
I wasn't expecting much going into the event. I'd played only a little bit of magic post-DTK, finishing pretty dismally at SCGSyracuse with Temur Aggro/Midrange. I was excited watching PT coverage, because I saw all the UBx Control decks. As a die-hard Stubborn Denial player, nothing made me happier than that. So I continued playing with Temur, while Jon brought his PPTQ-winning Abzan Aggro deck, and Dan decided to play "Sidisi-Atarka Whip."
A lot of the sideboard is a concession to the pretty abysmal Mono-Red matchup. The UBx Control match is pretty easy, especially post-board. I was somewhat concerned with the Abzan Aggro matchup, but I wasn't terribly worried about it. Most of the deck's matches want to be the ones where you're on the offensive.
Round 1 vs. Scott M (Mono-Red Devotion) 2-1 - WIN
Interesting deck, and Scott completely ran me over the first game...though I almost had lethal. Game 2 was much better; I had all the right aggression and removal to keep him clear of anything he was going to do. Game 3 was more of a nail-biter; with both of us drawing things out. I had a Hornet Nest and 4 insect tokens out and just slowly chipped away at him over the course of a few turns. He tried one last time to have some blockers in the way, but I landed a Surrak, the Hunt Caller and that was that.
Round 2 vs. Dan F (Sidisi-Atarka Whip) 1-2 - LOSS
I got paired up against my friend Dan this round. And while I ran him over in the first game, he managed to hit Hornet Queen in the second with Whip of Erebos out and I knew I couldn't win. The third game ended with him dropping a Dragonlord Atarka to my 3 lands, and there was no way I was winning that.
Round 3 vs. Mark M (UB Dragon Control) 2-1 - WIN
I noticed that Mark was on the Dragon-Control deck while walking around the venue, so I was feeling pretty confident in the matchup, even though he was on the play. Pre-board I have so many good spells against him, and almost everything I play has haste. The only damage I took all the first game was due to my own pain and fetch lands. Game 2 was different; I opened way too slowly and gave him too much chance to respond to what I was doing. I did manage to knock him down to six, but he'd already stolen 2 of my creatures with Ashiok and countered my last-ditch Crater's Claws for lethal. Game 3 was more of the first. I had insurance against Crux of fate by having a mix of dragons and non-dragons out, was able to counter his AEtherspouts with Stubborn Denial, and just held up threats until he was forced to play on his turn. He ended up unable to do that and just died.
Round 4 vs. Jeremy L (Jeskai Aggro) 2-1 - WIN
This matchup has always been rough for me and Game 1 showed it. He had an insane amount of aggression with Raise the Alarm, Dragon Fodder, and Goblin Rabblemaster...with just enough removal to keep me from doing anything. Game 2 was the opposite. I had everything I needed: Wild Slash for the Rabblemaster, Fanatic of Xenagos, and a Hornet Nest. He hit Anger of the Gods on my board to give me three insect tokens, and I dropped a Surrak next turn to swing for 8 damage. He killed the Surrak and an insect and was forced to 2. Then to 1. And then died. I did the same in Game 3, except this time I hit the Roast on my Hornet Nest to give myself 5 flying attackers.
Round 5 vs. Chris S (Abzan Company) 2-0 - WIN
I had no idea what he was playing at first, but some early attacks and a timely Boon Satyr bestow helped me clear his board. Game 2 came close, he clogged up the ground with Pharika snakes, Coursers, Warrior Tokens, and a Siege Rhino. So even with my Thunderbreak I was in trouble at 3. All the same, I hit a Stormbreath off the top and killed him at the last possible minute.
Round 6 vs. Max M (Abzan Aggro) 0-0-3 ID - DRAW
We were locked for Top 8 and drew in.
Top 8 vs. Randall S (Bant Heroic) 2-0 - WIN
The eight of us decided to split the 2K prize evenly since the payout was so top-heavy. In that case we just chose to play for glory. I was feeling no pressure at all against one of my worst matchups in Heroic. Still, I had some early aggression and despite being knocked to 5 I was able to wrap up the win with some Stormbreath and Thunderbreak flying action. Game 2 was even more in my favor. I roasted his 5/5 Hero of Iroas, leaving him with just some 1/2's and 0/4's. He had Encase in Ice for two of my creatures, but Surrak was still on the field giving everyone haste regardless, and I wrapped up the win.
Top 4 vs. Chris P (Esper Dragon Control) 2-0 - WIN
As we sat down, my opponent was very cordial and excitedly explained how happy he was to beat his worst matchup in Mono Red while on the draw last round. I suspected he was on UBx since those decks have a tough time with Mono Red...and that was great news for me! The only damage I ever took that game was to my own lands, and I just continued churning out threats he couldn't deal with. Game 2 was all in my favor. Again I had a good mix of dragons and non-dragons to keep him stuck off Crux of Fate. And I had the Disdainful Stroke for his attempt at a Dragonlord Silumgar. After he tapped out for that, I had enough mana to cast a Xenagos, the Reveler and just continue making 2/2 tokens to join the remaining 11 power on my board and attack with. Not even Ojutai and a Foul-Tongue Invocation could help him.
Finals vs. Jon C (Abzan Aggro) 0-2 – LOSS
Cool Guy Jon is MUCH better at Wizard Squares than I am. He's been playing competitively for MUCH longer and just has a better sense for the game. He's one of the (if not THE) first people I go to when I'm looking for card choices and deck advice. I've played against his Abzan deck a lot, and it's probably 60-40 in his favor. Unfortunately for me, the games in the Finals were pretty solidly in that 60 percentile, and he ran me over pretty handily. Still, we had a great time. Jon is always a blast to play.
All in all I was quite happy with how the day went. Frost Walker was fine, but I'm not sure how happy I was with it throughout the day. I'm going to test Scaleguard Sentinels instead of it. It doesn't turn on Ferocious, but it can become a 3/4 and compete with a good chunk of the rest of the format.
1st matchup was vs. UB Dragon control. Game 1 I took him down turn 3 with Elvish Mystic into Goblin Rabblemaster into Goblin Rabblemaster. G2 I boarded out the Rabblemasters and Surraks, put in some counters and the uncounterable Surrak. He was all in on the anti-rabblemaster plan, with Virulent Plague and Bile Blights. We went to turn 12 or so when I had double Crater's Claws to finish him off.
2nd match was vs. G/W Devotion. G1 I was too fast with 2 Frost Walkers beating him down. G2 I didn't draw into enough action, but G3 I had him down in no time with a monstrous Stormbreath Dragon and 2 Thunderbreak Regents.
3rd matchup was vs. Abzan aggro. 1st game was close, but Thunderbreak Regents killed him in the end. G2 I boarded in the Disdainful Strokes to counter his Rhino's. That worked out great.
4th matchup was vs. Gruul Dragons. Lost the 1st match due to mana screw. G2 was easy for me, boarding in Disdainfuls to counter the Regents. Feed the Clans ended the game with me on 19 life. Last game was a close one, but the Feed the Clans made me stabalize enough to attack for lethal.
Considering how this went, along with most FNM's, I'm rather happy with the list as is. I might want to put in 1 more land, though I'm not sure what to cut at the moment. The Xenagos PW's are also a test, I haven't seen them enough to make a definite decision on those yet.
I must say it looks wonky. No Mystics, heavy top end, I don't really like the removal suite or the creaturebase. Yet he got 10th with this, so there's that.
My biggest issue with his list (other than the creature suite) is the 4 Stubborn Denial. I only ever ran 3 when UB(g) was a big part of the meta during FRF. Now with so many control and midrange finishers being creatures it just seems like a risky move to run a full 4. Against Whip it essentially only counters Whip itself...maybe a removal spell. Having 4 against Abzan Aggro and watching them curve from Lion into Anafenza into Rhino is another miserable feeling. I fully support 2, and can understand 3. But 4? I think that's going too deep.
3rd matchup was vs. Abzan aggro. 1st game was close, but Thunderbreak Regents killed him in the end. G2 I boarded in the Disdainful Strokes to counter his Rhino's. That worked out great.
What are the other targets for Disdainful Stroke against Abzan Aggro though? Other than Rhino, a Sorin, and maybe a Wingmate Roc if they bring those in, everything on their curve dodges it. And they're perfectly happy just playing those 1-3 drop creatures and making them impossible to deal with.
What are the other targets for Disdainful Stroke against Abzan Aggro though? Other than Rhino, a Sorin, and maybe a Wingmate Roc if they bring those in, everything on their curve dodges it. And they're perfectly happy just playing those 1-3 drop creatures and making them impossible to deal with.
The smaller threats are not much of a concern to me, I can burn them away or attack into his threats profitable. Rhino's have 5 toughness, making it a lot harder. A T4 rhino is almost a certainty against Abzan, so I just let my T3 pass with perhaps a 2 CMC threat if I have a Mystic.
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I can see Frost Walker coming up huge in an Ascendency Build or maybe in the board, but I just think he stands around staring at a 1/1 or 3 too often to be in the main deck of the typical Temur Aggro/Midrange build. I'll give him another shot if their are convincing arguments, but he is kind of dead to me right now.
Really Frost Walker eats coursers and caryatids, and makes Heir of the Wilds almost always trade up or can't be blocked.
Really against Abzan I'd probably side into Disdainful Stroke anyways.
I think it's been said before, in the match-ups Frost Walker is good in, he's REALLY good. Against tokens and maybe green decks running wayfinder not so much. And yes, in a deck that'S running the Ascendancy he's kind of a must.
There are other ways of making him better that haven't been explored yet, like Goblin Heelcutter and Chandra Pyromaster or even Frenzied Goblin. I'm pretty happy with him turning on denial game one against hordling outburst or whip of erebos even if he isn't great game one.
I see your point about how these cards could help Frost Walker but it's kind of ironic that all 3 eat an opposing Frost Walker for free. I understand you would side him out but still another negative for him main deck.
GWU Knightfall Modern
UW Tempo Legacy
UGR Burning Wish Cobra Vintage
Hornet Nest is very good at gumming things up vs mono-red, which, before last weekend, was plenty prevalent in the meta. I suspect even more so at FNM than on the Open circuit.
Sort of. I feel Nacci's list is doing some things right but others less so. The reason it feels a dog in so many matchups I imagine comes from 2 factors:
1. Self Preservation getting in the way. You have to know when you have to go for it. It's an uncomfortable feeling for a lot of players to play that aggressively. Like when is it correct to attack a Frost Walker into an Elvish Mystic. The timing of this sort of deck requires a sort of trust in the top of your deck and acceptance of it not getting there. I think it's super easy to miss the right lines in his list because sometimes you are playing just if you were RDW. Other times your Frost Walkers are meant to be Lightning Strikes so to speak and you have to find straddle this line where you make it awkward for your opponent to figure out if they should the aggro deck. This is especially true in aggro matchups where some hands are actually a turn faster than theirs if you trust your deck or more often recognizing you are a turn faster than theirs to get within claws range, but have no way of really finishing if you don't get the claws but you play on tempo that makes them have to slow down and block which gives you CA virtually through your superior creatures. Basically stabilizing by being aggressive. It's a gamble, but it's the most versatile playing a heavier creature package and faster deck without resorting to slow cards and strategies that make you just a dog to the bigger midrange decks.
2. Nacci's deck isn't actually that great at finishing the plan when disrupted early. Again there are 2 problems here. Firstly his threat density relies too much on Goblin Rabblemaster. You get hands where Rabblemaster has to be the card since you have Elves, Heirs and Frost Walkers and it isn't enough. I think Boon Satyr as a finish is suspect leaving him with only really 12 cards that are seemingly finisher level threats and no way to smooth that out. 12 is a little short. Classically in these decks you want about 14. I also think Surrak is a bit conditional. This is still a 2 and 4 format. It doesn't actually lend to the tension as much as you'd hope. I realize there is a nice interaction with Boon Satyr but consider. If the opponent has the Wild Slash and say the stoke all the tension is removed. Slash taking out the enabler buys the turn to untap with Stoke to take it out. Against you they have to diversify their removal, so sequences that push them to have the same sort of removal repeatedly is much better. This is actually a sound argument for Rabblemaster other the potential of just getting 2 for 1 off cheap sweepers that I see gaining popularity makes it you want some 3's with 4 backs. Obviously you don't always get Knuckleblade, but a 3 drop with a 4 back is tough to kill early, a 4 drop with a 2 back might come down when they've already expended their resources. This sort of gap is where Surrak is awkward because if they successfully disrupt you, they disrupt you good. See I think that's why he only has 2 Stormbreaths. If they kill the 2 drop, you actually tend to hold Surrak like a 5 drop. I question just not going all in on dragons as well. I don't think the first Ashcloud is better than the 4th Thunderbreak. At which point miser Draconic Roars start looking nicer. All this leads to incredible pressure on Crater's Claws to deliver at the end, and I think the card isn't that good across the board. I like it but it's rarely a card that I always want a 2 of. I like the 6 reactive spell ratio main I just think it needs a little tweaking perhaps.
Yeah definitely. It's just one of those cards that opponents can play around to a certain degree.. like attack freely into it and then have the spell that gives 2 guys first strike.. or target creature can't block. It's good gumming the board in some midrange matchups but I wonder if there are other solutions there.
--------------------------
Current list:
Made some shifts. Shaman still wins me tons of games and provides me a green plan where I try to get them to trade early and then if they do gum the board use Xenagos activations to draw several cards a turn. I still like that making a window for Shaman is easy and one hit usually does it.. a 5/5 Thunderbreak Regent or Stormbreath is hard for a lot opponents to deal with effectively. Sideboard is still an experiment. I suspect I don't even need the Encases (haven't cast them yet) and the burn package is wrong but I've got a general plan. Where against some decks it's the Frost Walker for Burn plan, and for others it's the Coursers/Satyr for Back to Nature's or Encase's depending on the matchup.
On a sideboarding note, one of the weirdest things about CVM's article to me was that he boarded out Xenagos in the mirror or Temur matchup. I board mine in. I think the card is one of the best ways to win the match. You don't want to be choked on mana. Even if you can be aggressive on the ground it will stall eventually. Obviously winning in the sky is big but if you can stall the sky too having a way to gain advantage is really good. It might be that I view myself as the aggro deck in all the mirror matches since I'm generally ahead. Xenagos is a lot better when you are ahead. Most of the time when you play the Gx mirror you board into a plan where you can disrupt their mana to get ahead, but if your opponent is on Caryatid there is no point. I actually have found in this Caryatid format the best move you can make to disrupt their mana is not giving them room to play Caryatid. Obviously I'd slash every elf I could see but I don't think that's the way to play this for Temur who can have a more aggressive curve. All things equal and you both get Elf starts you want to be playing threats when they are playing Courser and Caryatid. It gives you the momentum to keep ahead. Normally you can't play a 2 drop that matchups up to 4/5 drops favorably but in this format you can and the Caryatid trap makes it all the easier.
Anyway here is the current list:
2 Forest
2 Mountains
2 Island
4 Frontier Biovac
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Yavimaya Coast
1 Temple of Epiphany
1 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
3 Mana Confluence
Creatures(30):
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Heir of the Wilds
3 Frost Walker
3 Courser of Kruphix
1 Boon Satyr
4 Savage Knuckleblade
4 Thunderbreak Regent
3 Shaman of the Great Hunt
4 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Stubborn Denial
3 Crater's Claw
1 Draconic Roar
Other(1):
1 Xenagos, the Reveler
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Magma Spray
2 Twin Bolt
1 Draconic Roar
3 Disdainful Stroke
2 Back to Nature
2 Encase in Ice
1 Chandra Pyromaster
2 Xenagos, the Reveler
The mana might be too greedy. I wanted to go 23 lands since I tend to flood out a lot at 24. I realized it wasn't because I was playing too many lands really.. It sort of was. But I'd flood out about equally at 23 lands. It's just that usually these type of decks can't afford to play more than 20 mana sources that don't do anything. They always have manlands.. or ability lands. Some additional way to leverage an elf etc.. Even Scry lands I can could every 2 as 1 against the land count. So like a 24 land deck with 6 scry lands is like 21 do nothing mana count. Unfortunately I don't think we can play more than 6 taplands, so going to 23 with a Haven and 1 scry land is closer atleast. Courser actually is in the deck largely to bridge that gap.
Finally where's Dragonlord Atarka? In the opponents graveyard after I easily disdainful stroke when I've managed to keep ahead the whole game that they have no choice but go for some hail mary expensive trump. I think that it's so close right now to being able to maindeck Stroke but I'm not willing to commit that far. Every standard is different, for sure but there is this threshold for the amount of ramp and output that I think these sort of decks need, and I feel we are more in the Falkenrath, Thundermaw Tempo time right now that the Mythic Conscription time. It's super hard to have that 7 drop and have to rely on 2 mana ramp. I'd be all over Atarka if there were 8 elves in this format (or maybe a bird). To it's always been obvious that Elf is so much more powerful than pretty much any 2 mana accelerator creature ever printed(Lotus Cobra is the exception) because of timing. There is a reason these decks never could play Farseek or Rampant Growth, and Carytid arguably the best of that kind printed is close but it's still not quite right. The only way to make a 2 mana creature as good as a 1 mana creature is for it to be able to be played for 2 mana, and have the potential(not guarentee) to generate up to 2 mana on it's own the next turn. Rattleclaw fails this because it costs 3 to morph so it needs Elf to be Cobra level. I'm not saying it's wrong to play 2 mana ramp creatures. I played Monsters all last year practically. Just recognize it means that it is impossible to keep the pressure in the way these decks like to all the way to the finish. Playing Atarka is much more like jamming Elesh Norn into your GW aggro midrange deck. Sure it's good.. Sure you will probably get to that much mana, but you could also possibly win with a lot less investment and with less chance of slipping. Mostly I think 7 is just fringe too much. I can accept 6 drops in that spot sometimes especially if they are complete trumps in certain matchups but it's a lot harder for 7's I think.
GWU Knightfall Modern
UW Tempo Legacy
UGR Burning Wish Cobra Vintage
Rnd 1 beat Sidisi Whip 2-1
Rnd 2 beat jeskai tokens 2-0
Rnd 3 lost to Jund midrange 2-0
Rnd 4 beat Abzan control 2-0
Rnd 5 ID
Top 8
Lost to sidisi whip splash atarka
Seems like standard is going back to whip style decks despite what happened at the PT.
My list was
4x Caryatid
4x Knuckleblade
4x flamewake
2x courser
2x ashcloud
3x thunderbreak
2x shaman
2x surrak(4cmc)
4x stormbreath
2x claws
3x reality shift
2x roast
3x denial
23 lands
SIDEBOARD
1x Keranos
2x roast
4x disdainful stroke
3x seismic rupture
3x magma spray
1x revelry
1x back to nature
Deck seemed alright...i wasnt sure on the list since i was unsure what people would be playing.
It's something I brought up in a previous post:
But the problem is that I can't really find room for it in the sideboard. If it were a 3 drop, I'd probably be more willing to jam it. Also, the games I have struggles with are the ones where my opponent just draws perfect removal, which would hurt the power of Profaner.
On a side note you guys winning a ton right now? I love this influx of UB.
Seriously watching the pro tour top 8 something was so super clear to me. Most of those GR vs UB matches were close. Like way closer than the outcome would have you believe. Like within a turn. The problem was always the same. The UB player was able to always play 2 relevant spells first in a turn. That singleton plummet in the quarter finals is what won that round. I'm not suggesting playing a bunch of plummets but that you just need 1 cheap way to interact with UB early and it's almost impossible to win. Temur with permission is so hard for them. I actually won a mulligan to 3. I've done that before. I just had the Stubborn Denial for his first Dig Through time that he went for when he shrugged off a frost walker, yes he had enough to ultimate price it, but he couldn't pay for the force spike and I drew out of it. See the issue is that he didn't hit his land drops any better than me since he wasn't drawing cards. He was actually relying on killing my stuff to fill the graveyard for delve and I wasn't playing stuff since I needed cards. We managed to get to parity even though I started with 3 on the play and he had 7.
Obviously UB isn't really a concern for, so I guess the real question is if the plan is good enough elsewhere. The hardest thing right now I don't think is figuring out a good threat package.. We have a few decent shells lying around. It's the spells. It's really hard to cover the bases. Maybe with the right threat package this will all become obvious. I think GRx needs a little bit of a shift. Beating control is trivial but not for the popular GR lists right now.. there probably is a sweet spot.
EDIT:
Other observations:
1. I was trying to pinpoint what made the UB matchup seem even better than the past (I know hard to believe considering how good it was before). Obviously being more tap out makes it easy to leverage Disdainful Stroke to create a window, but the other non dragons deck still seems even worse than normal. Ultimate Price I think makes the difference. Between that in the list in the PT and the clear need after the results to move to Bile Blight against aggro instead of relying on sorcery speed sweepers their deck is not well positioned to beat Savage Knuckleblade.
2. The dragons control deck does pretty much invalidate most of our planeswalkers. You can't really sit on Xenagos to victory. Even the rate of 4 drop, make a 2/2 die to Hero's Downfall usually isn't good enough. You already have to play around specifically Disdainful Stroke along with their other answers. Any walker that doesn't do something big when it comes in is a waste of time. That means Chandra is not really good, Xenagos, Sarkhan the Dragonspeaker... Sarkhan Unbroken seems decent as does Nissa but we aren't able to leverage Nissa as I'd want and these are both 5 drops and I don't think the timing is right. We want ETB value that allows us to leave up mana and slides under Stroke.
3. I'm not really sure why I'm focusing so much on already a really good matchup. It's mainly because I want to examine sideboard cards. If I take for granted some cards are good against control and they aren't as much and that is a large reason I'm playing them it's a waste. Like I play Chandra for different decks and it's great there (red token decks, green decks, Abzan, Satyr Wayfinder decks). However Xenagos is for green decks and control. I like Xenagos but I'm not sure it's worth risking drawing multiples anymore. I've been toying with Den Protector. Again it dodges ultimate price when flipped. And it let's you buy back something big. As I mentioned above usually you are one threat short of winning. I find Heir of the Wilds a lot worse rate against the control decks. Frost Walker is much better there. Den protector does all the things I described in the first 2 points which makes it seem decent.
4. So why not go all in on Deathmist, Den Protector, with Dragons on top. That actually might be a deck. My hunch is individual cards aren't quite good enough. You'd need a better end game to get the pay off on that setup against most decks. Mostly it would have to GR. I don't think the blue splash is feasible and if it were I think Knuckleblade is a bit awkward. That being said I've played a few decks with the Raptor, Protector Core and they all needed a lot of removal to deal with fliers. It's possible playing your own fliers remedies that. I definitely think it's worth exploring, but it doesn't try to jam the tempo window as hard. I mean if you watched any of the scg versus videos with Raptor the last few weeks you know stuff doesn't seem to quite work. Sure those lists weren't optimal but I suspect the same is true. As much as I like my Eternal Witnesses to trigger Vengevines neither of these cards are those cards. I found I could win that matchup by being really aggressive, and then either straining their mana so I could kill the morph before they could flip it, or Claws them to the face. That all being said someone is going to come up with a good list with those cards in the same way CVM's list from 2 weeks ago looked pretty sweet. I'm not sure it will be sustainable but I'm convinced it will be a thing.
GWU Knightfall Modern
UW Tempo Legacy
UGR Burning Wish Cobra Vintage
4 Sylvan Caryatid
3 Courser of Kruphix
2 Savage Knuckleblade
4 Thunderbreak Regent
4 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Dragonlord Atarka
Planeswalkers
3 Xenagos, the Reveler
3 Sarkhan Unbroken
Instant
2 Lightning Strike
2 Dig Through Time
Sorcery
1 Crater's Claws
2 Roast
3 Anger of the Gods
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Forest
3 Mountain
3 Yavimaya Coast
3 Shivan Reef
1 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
4 Frontier Bivouac
4 Temple of Abandon
1 Temple of Mystery
1 Crater's Claws
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Negate
1 Roast
3 Hornet Nest
2 Seismic Rupture
1 AEtherspouts
3 Nissa, Worldwaker
It's not perfect and I'm still tweaking it week to week, but I've had a pretty positive win-to-loss ratio with this more controlling style of Temur.
cmctoughness or less."2/25/2015 You can sacrifice the creature with exploit if it’s still on the battlefield. This will cause its other ability to trigger."
So the bounce will work.
And I don't understand what you mean by "the bounce ability works with the Resistance, not the cost"
*EDIT* You mean "Toughness", and I accidentally said "CMC". Still, all the cards I listed are 4 toughness, and would get bounced. I think in many cases, you could setup a 1 sided field bounce.
Profaner of the Dead only exploits for LESS than the exploited creatures toughness. So, not quite as good unfortunately.
So if he exploits himself, he bounces 1/1's and 2/2's. (So mostly tokens and morphs.)
Sure he can be a big blow-out, but I still prefer Anger of the Gods or Seismic Rupture for Temur board wipes.
Or forget wiping the board and just Barrage of Boulders so they can't block and swing in for the win.
2 Forest
3 Mountains
2 Island
4 Frontier Biovac
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Yavimaya Coast
1 Temple of Epiphany
1 Shivan Reef
3 Mana Confluence
Creatures(30):
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Heir of the Wilds
3 Frost Walker
4 Savage Knuckleblade
2 Courser of Kruphix
1 Boon Satyr
4 Thunderbreak Regent
3 Shaman of the Great Hunt
4 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Stubborn Denial
3 Crater's Claw
1 Lightning Strike
Other(1):
1 Xenagos, the Reveler
1 Stubborn Denial
3 Twin Bolt
1 Draconic Roar
3 Disdainful Stroke
2 Back to Nature
1 Scouring Sands
2 Den Protector
1 Chandra Pyromaster
1 Xenagos, the Reveler
Current plan is -
Control:
-1 Lightning Strike
-3 Heir of the Wilds
-3 Crater's Claws
+1 Stubborn Denial
+3 Disdainful Stroke
+2 Den Protector
+1 Xenagos. the Reveler
Green Decks:
-2 Stubborn Denial
-1 Lightning Strike
-1 Boon Satyr
+1 Xenagos
+3 Disdainful Stroke
if it's even bigger or like full on devotion I will additionally trade for Chandra Pyromaster, If it's a chord or see the unwritten deck I will keep in a Stubborn Denial
Red Aggro
-1 Crater's Claws
-2 Frost Walker
-4 Stormbreath
+2 Den Protector
+1 Draconic Roar
+3 Twin Bolt
+1 Xenagos, the Reveler
RW Tokens:
-1 Lightning Strike
-3 Crater's Claws
-3 Frost Walker
-2 Shaman of the Great Hunt
+1 Stubborn Denial
+2 Den Protector
+3 Twin Bolt
+1 Scouring Sands
+1 Chandra Pyromaster
+1 Xenagos, the Reveler
Jeskai Aggro
-1 Crater's Claws
-1 Xenagos, the Reveler
+1 Stubborn Denial
+1 Draconic Roar
Jeskai Tokens
-1 Lightning Stike
-1 Xenagos the Reveler
-1 Boon Satyr
-3 Frost Walker
+3 Twin Bolt
+1 Stubborn Denial
+2 Back to Nature
That's roughly it. Generally speaking I've gotten towards a point where if I identify the colours their playing it's pretty straight forward to board even if you aren't sure what their plan exactly is. This is especially important to me when playing green decks and mirrors. I want to clearly define my role in those midrange mashups. Since I'm the most aggressive green deck and play on par with them til the very end (no Atarka's etc.. here) it means that regardless of if they are Abzan Aggro, Abzan Midrange or GR pseudo devotion the same base plan works well enough. I mean sure if I note they are on the End Hostilities sideboard plan I can go for a few more control cards, but in general I can lean on the fact in boarding that I'm quicker to critical mass than them. I had a Temur mirror where the guy was roasting everything I was playing and he noticed some mana issues so he killed my elf. The thing was I was able to play 4 consecutive threats that hit hard for 3 mana (Frost Walker, Knuckleblade, Heir, Frost Walker) while he wasn't developing his board. It's this awkwardness that even the lowliest 2 cmc threats in this deck will trade with dragons puts incredible pressure on the opponent and their life total.
GWU Knightfall Modern
UW Tempo Legacy
UGR Burning Wish Cobra Vintage
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Savage Knuckleblade
4 Thunderbreak Regent
4 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Whisperwood Elemental
2 Crater's Claw
2 Stubborn Denial
4 Lightning Strike
4 Wild Slash
24 lands
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Savage Knuckleblade
4 Thunderbreak Regent
4 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Whisperwood Elemental
2 Crater's Claw
2 Stubborn Denial
4 Lightning Strike
4 Wild Slash
24 lands
Gamers Helping Gamers Charity 2K - Catskill, NY
Record: 6-2-1
Final Standing: 2nd place
Working for TCGplayer is a blast. One of the best things about the company is how much it wants to give back to the community. My supervisors have a ton of amazing long-term ideas for getting involved with the community and giving back in a big way. One of the big Magic-related ones is a charity tournament. We decided that the best thing to do in order to prepare for that would be arming ourselves with as much knowledge and information on how charity events are run as possible. We were lucky to find a 2K charity event at Kirwan's Game Store just a few hours down the road.
I went with two friends and co-workers from TCG: "Cool Guy" Jon, and Dan, the guy who's really pushing for all our community outreach. Traveling with friends is a great way to make time pass quickly, and the 3 hour car ride flew by.
I wasn't expecting much going into the event. I'd played only a little bit of magic post-DTK, finishing pretty dismally at SCGSyracuse with Temur Aggro/Midrange. I was excited watching PT coverage, because I saw all the UBx Control decks. As a die-hard Stubborn Denial player, nothing made me happier than that. So I continued playing with Temur, while Jon brought his PPTQ-winning Abzan Aggro deck, and Dan decided to play "Sidisi-Atarka Whip."
Here's the list I was playing:
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Heir of the Wilds
3 Frost Walker
2 Boon Satyr
3 Surrak, the Hunt Caller
3 Thunderbreak Regent
1 Polukranos, World Eater
3 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Savage Knuckleblade
3 Fanatic of Xenagos
Spells (7)
3 Crater's Claws
2 Roast
2 Stubborn Denial
3 Forest
2 Mountain
3 Yavimaya Coast
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Mana Confluence
3 Frontier Bivouac
1 Shivan Reef
3 Temple of Abandon
1 Temple of Epiphany
1 Temple of Mystery
2 Wild Slash
3 Disdainful Stroke
2 Hornet Nest
1 Surrak Dragonclaw
2 Feed the Clan
1 Roast
1 Scouring Sands
1 Barrage of Boulders
1 Xenagos, the Reveler
1 Plummet
A lot of the sideboard is a concession to the pretty abysmal Mono-Red matchup. The UBx Control match is pretty easy, especially post-board. I was somewhat concerned with the Abzan Aggro matchup, but I wasn't terribly worried about it. Most of the deck's matches want to be the ones where you're on the offensive.
Round 1 vs. Scott M (Mono-Red Devotion) 2-1 - WIN
Interesting deck, and Scott completely ran me over the first game...though I almost had lethal. Game 2 was much better; I had all the right aggression and removal to keep him clear of anything he was going to do. Game 3 was more of a nail-biter; with both of us drawing things out. I had a Hornet Nest and 4 insect tokens out and just slowly chipped away at him over the course of a few turns. He tried one last time to have some blockers in the way, but I landed a Surrak, the Hunt Caller and that was that.
Round 2 vs. Dan F (Sidisi-Atarka Whip) 1-2 - LOSS
I got paired up against my friend Dan this round. And while I ran him over in the first game, he managed to hit Hornet Queen in the second with Whip of Erebos out and I knew I couldn't win. The third game ended with him dropping a Dragonlord Atarka to my 3 lands, and there was no way I was winning that.
Round 3 vs. Mark M (UB Dragon Control) 2-1 - WIN
I noticed that Mark was on the Dragon-Control deck while walking around the venue, so I was feeling pretty confident in the matchup, even though he was on the play. Pre-board I have so many good spells against him, and almost everything I play has haste. The only damage I took all the first game was due to my own pain and fetch lands. Game 2 was different; I opened way too slowly and gave him too much chance to respond to what I was doing. I did manage to knock him down to six, but he'd already stolen 2 of my creatures with Ashiok and countered my last-ditch Crater's Claws for lethal. Game 3 was more of the first. I had insurance against Crux of fate by having a mix of dragons and non-dragons out, was able to counter his AEtherspouts with Stubborn Denial, and just held up threats until he was forced to play on his turn. He ended up unable to do that and just died.
Round 4 vs. Jeremy L (Jeskai Aggro) 2-1 - WIN
This matchup has always been rough for me and Game 1 showed it. He had an insane amount of aggression with Raise the Alarm, Dragon Fodder, and Goblin Rabblemaster...with just enough removal to keep me from doing anything. Game 2 was the opposite. I had everything I needed: Wild Slash for the Rabblemaster, Fanatic of Xenagos, and a Hornet Nest. He hit Anger of the Gods on my board to give me three insect tokens, and I dropped a Surrak next turn to swing for 8 damage. He killed the Surrak and an insect and was forced to 2. Then to 1. And then died. I did the same in Game 3, except this time I hit the Roast on my Hornet Nest to give myself 5 flying attackers.
Round 5 vs. Chris S (Abzan Company) 2-0 - WIN
I had no idea what he was playing at first, but some early attacks and a timely Boon Satyr bestow helped me clear his board. Game 2 came close, he clogged up the ground with Pharika snakes, Coursers, Warrior Tokens, and a Siege Rhino. So even with my Thunderbreak I was in trouble at 3. All the same, I hit a Stormbreath off the top and killed him at the last possible minute.
Round 6 vs. Max M (Abzan Aggro) 0-0-3 ID - DRAW
We were locked for Top 8 and drew in.
Top 8 vs. Randall S (Bant Heroic) 2-0 - WIN
The eight of us decided to split the 2K prize evenly since the payout was so top-heavy. In that case we just chose to play for glory. I was feeling no pressure at all against one of my worst matchups in Heroic. Still, I had some early aggression and despite being knocked to 5 I was able to wrap up the win with some Stormbreath and Thunderbreak flying action. Game 2 was even more in my favor. I roasted his 5/5 Hero of Iroas, leaving him with just some 1/2's and 0/4's. He had Encase in Ice for two of my creatures, but Surrak was still on the field giving everyone haste regardless, and I wrapped up the win.
Top 4 vs. Chris P (Esper Dragon Control) 2-0 - WIN
As we sat down, my opponent was very cordial and excitedly explained how happy he was to beat his worst matchup in Mono Red while on the draw last round. I suspected he was on UBx since those decks have a tough time with Mono Red...and that was great news for me! The only damage I ever took that game was to my own lands, and I just continued churning out threats he couldn't deal with. Game 2 was all in my favor. Again I had a good mix of dragons and non-dragons to keep him stuck off Crux of Fate. And I had the Disdainful Stroke for his attempt at a Dragonlord Silumgar. After he tapped out for that, I had enough mana to cast a Xenagos, the Reveler and just continue making 2/2 tokens to join the remaining 11 power on my board and attack with. Not even Ojutai and a Foul-Tongue Invocation could help him.
Finals vs. Jon C (Abzan Aggro) 0-2 – LOSS
Cool Guy Jon is MUCH better at Wizard Squares than I am. He's been playing competitively for MUCH longer and just has a better sense for the game. He's one of the (if not THE) first people I go to when I'm looking for card choices and deck advice. I've played against his Abzan deck a lot, and it's probably 60-40 in his favor. Unfortunately for me, the games in the Finals were pretty solidly in that 60 percentile, and he ran me over pretty handily. Still, we had a great time. Jon is always a blast to play.
All in all I was quite happy with how the day went. Frost Walker was fine, but I'm not sure how happy I was with it throughout the day. I'm going to test Scaleguard Sentinels instead of it. It doesn't turn on Ferocious, but it can become a 3/4 and compete with a good chunk of the rest of the format.
2 Forest
2 Mountain
2 Mana Confluence
1 Temple of Abandon
1 Temple of Epiphany
4 Frontier Bivouac
4 Yavimaya Coast
3 Shivan Reef
4 Frost Walker
2 Heir of the Wilds
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Savage Knuckleblade
4 Thunderbreak Regent
2 Surrak, the Hunt Caller
2 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Crater's Claws
2 Draconic Roar
1 Icy Blast
2 Xenagos, the Reveler
Sideboard:
1x Surrak Dragonclaw
4x Stubborn Denial
3x Disdainful Stroke
3x Magma Spray
3x Anger of the Gods
1st matchup was vs. UB Dragon control. Game 1 I took him down turn 3 with Elvish Mystic into Goblin Rabblemaster into Goblin Rabblemaster. G2 I boarded out the Rabblemasters and Surraks, put in some counters and the uncounterable Surrak. He was all in on the anti-rabblemaster plan, with Virulent Plague and Bile Blights. We went to turn 12 or so when I had double Crater's Claws to finish him off.
2nd match was vs. G/W Devotion. G1 I was too fast with 2 Frost Walkers beating him down. G2 I didn't draw into enough action, but G3 I had him down in no time with a monstrous Stormbreath Dragon and 2 Thunderbreak Regents.
3rd matchup was vs. Abzan aggro. 1st game was close, but Thunderbreak Regents killed him in the end. G2 I boarded in the Disdainful Strokes to counter his Rhino's. That worked out great.
4th matchup was vs. Gruul Dragons. Lost the 1st match due to mana screw. G2 was easy for me, boarding in Disdainfuls to counter the Regents. Feed the Clans ended the game with me on 19 life. Last game was a close one, but the Feed the Clans made me stabalize enough to attack for lethal.
Considering how this went, along with most FNM's, I'm rather happy with the list as is. I might want to put in 1 more land, though I'm not sure what to cut at the moment. The Xenagos PW's are also a test, I haven't seen them enough to make a definite decision on those yet.
My biggest issue with his list (other than the creature suite) is the 4 Stubborn Denial. I only ever ran 3 when UB(g) was a big part of the meta during FRF. Now with so many control and midrange finishers being creatures it just seems like a risky move to run a full 4. Against Whip it essentially only counters Whip itself...maybe a removal spell. Having 4 against Abzan Aggro and watching them curve from Lion into Anafenza into Rhino is another miserable feeling. I fully support 2, and can understand 3. But 4? I think that's going too deep.
What are the other targets for Disdainful Stroke against Abzan Aggro though? Other than Rhino, a Sorin, and maybe a Wingmate Roc if they bring those in, everything on their curve dodges it. And they're perfectly happy just playing those 1-3 drop creatures and making them impossible to deal with.
The smaller threats are not much of a concern to me, I can burn them away or attack into his threats profitable. Rhino's have 5 toughness, making it a lot harder. A T4 rhino is almost a certainty against Abzan, so I just let my T3 pass with perhaps a 2 CMC threat if I have a Mystic.