Riffing off of patbou's post about the deck's alignment against other decks in the format a bit here.
The only deck in the format that looks reliably faster than us is Wr Humans. I think BR Vampires, if it's a deck, is probably an evasive beatdown deck, similar to the Spirits deck but trading interaction/disruption pieces for direct damage and more aggressively costed stats. I think they're a half-step faster than us if anything, and that the matchup is basically a damage race in which both sides are fairly evenly matched.
That is, until Heron's Grace Champion enters the discussion. You draw that and jam it on a halfway reasonable attack and you basically can't lose anymore.
Wr Humans is trickier because they are faster, since they play real 1-drops and we don't. But having Thraben Inspector (if we go that route) and especially Lambholt Pacifist does a lot to put roadblocks in the way. Heron's Grace Champion is our trump card here too. For anybody that played with Sorin, Solemn Visitor when he was in Standard, imagine that you only got one activation of Sorin, but in exchange you got a 3/3 and the activation came at instant-speed. Instant-speed is such a huge deal in this matchup because they play face-up all the time, so you never have to worry about any tricks.
I think Bant Humans is generally on pace with us too, but lacks our explosive capacity with the Hanweir duo. Those lists also seem like they're at least somewhat likely to miss on Heron's Grace Champion, as they have more-hyped options to round out their 75; a Humans Company mirror where one player has the Champion and the other doesn't is likely not to end well for the player without it.
Everything else is slower and we have lots of weapons for fighting them. The control decks in particular have a lot of trouble with us thanks to the usual suspects (Company instantly rebuilding after a sweeper -- especially souped-up now that we can hit Hanweir Garrison; Recruiter and Tracker grinding out extra cards), but also thanks to Hanweir Battlements.
I think our toughest games will be against decks that just go over the top of what we're doing in a reasonable timeframe, with some interaction along the way. I'm scared of Linvala, the Preserver since we don't have Ojutai's Command, and even Avacyn can go over the top of us too (though she's less effective at that if we're able to hit the 4-toughness range). Something like GW Tokens for instance seems like a potential problem, as I'm not sure we're fast enough to 'get under' Nissa and Gideon, and their lategame with Linvala and Avacyn is better than any lategame we can plausibly try to play. I might look at playing something like Dragonlord Dromoka or Eldrazi Displacer in the sideboard to compensate. I fear that the build-around-Emerge decks might also trump us, but I don't really know how those look, so it's hard to make good suggestions for how to approach those matchups. My thought process is that if you see any 'value 3-drops' like Nissa, Eldrazi Skyspawner, Matter Reshaper and your opponent is in UG or UR, I would try to attack those more aggressively than normal in order to cut them off of turn 4 Elder Deep-Fiend.
The last deck that comes to mind is GB Delirium, I'm not sure if we reliably get under them or how good they are against us once things like Mindwrack Demon and Ishkanah, Grafwidow hit the field. The good news is that we are resilient against Grim Flayer and have a lot of flash elements to hamper Liliana, the Last Hope's effectiveness. My gut says that if they're leaning on Languish and a lot of spot removal with just Ishkanak and Emrakul as win conditions, then we're probably fine -- Ishkanak is annoying but just something you have to grind through, and Emrakul in testing has been surprisingly ineffective against this deck due to the lack of noncreature spells to waste -- but that if they're focused more on the permanents like Liliana and Mindwrack Demon, they could be trouble for us.
Let me talk about some of the choices people are making. I'm on my phone so excuse the lack of card tags.
Reach on Atarka's Command is irrelevant in our deck against spirits. Why? It only counts when we are on the defensive, which IS NOT what we want to do. As someone that was testing out spirits, Dromoka's Command scared me the most, because it was played in decks I had most problems with and it was a removal played at instant speed. Sure they have counters, but they feel bad when it was just a bait to play CoCo safely. I had one scenario where Spell Queller countered my first Command only to die to a second one in the same turn, letting the first one get played again and losing my Rattlechains. I would be for Atarka's Command if we were going wider.
Hyper aggressive 1 drops are not what the deck wants. We are a three color deck. Lands are not very reliably coming in untapped, not to mention Always Watching is not in our lists to push the 2/1s over their 2/3s.
@TBuzzsaw : Thanks for the input. It's true that our deck should be aggressive vs Spirits, and Reach of no use against them. But *they* have 1-drops, and if they're on the play, and drop a Spell Queller on us to counter our T3, this changes the roles. Turn 4, with 3 flyers ramping damage above a useless Lambholt Pacifist while we're tapped out, who's the Beatdown? No longer us, sadly. Unless we, too, played a 1-drop on T1, and follow up with an aggressive T4 with either Dromoka's Command (fighting the Queller), Atarka's Command (burn and anthem), Thalia's Lieutenant (anthem) or Heron's Grace Champion (anthem + lifelink) to turn the tide and make opponent feel our clock. Without a T1 1-drop, maybe just Dromoka's Command or Heron's Grace Champion on our single 2-drop could turn the tide a bit, but Spirits can probably still race us. Atarka's Command is a defensive measure in that case, where T4 we instead play a 2-drop and set the trap for the next turn (better if we also had a 1-drop) to get a massive card advantage.
This leads me to beleive that to maintain our role as the Beatdown in many matchups, an aggressive 1-drop is probably required. Either we go that road for constant aggression, or we focus on an explosion (single attack following an EoT CoCo, supported by an anthem effect). Personnaly, I would prefer the two opportunities, but I may be too greedy!
See, I'm a true hybrid : Timmy/Johny/Spikes. I want to set up fun combos (Timmy), I love crafting my own decks (Johny), but I want to win at a competitive level (Spikes) with my own crazy ideas, proving that they work (Timmy/Johny/Spikes).
I've done some maths, and I've found out that, with any of these cards (1-2-3-4 drops), permuted in any ways, the deck could deal 20+ damage on T4 (alone in a vaccum, and if we attack every turn, total between 20 and 27) :
Any 2/1 on turn 1 (Expedition Envoy *or* Dragon Hunter)
Followed by either Thalia's Lieutenant *or* Hamlet Captain
Followed by either Hanweir Garrison *or* Veteran Warleader *or* Thalia's Lieutenant
Followed by either Atarka's Command *or* Heron's Grace Champion *or* Thalia's Lieutenant *or* Collected Company (with 2 Humans on a T2 or T3 Thalia's Lieutenant) *or* any other Human (if T2/T3 is either Lieutenant/Lieutenant or Lieutenant/Garrison).
With 48 possible permutations that can win the game in 4 turns, it may not be that rare to draw the right cards and do the trick. Against Control, when they play tap land, then Duress (get CoCo), then Read the Bones, and they die before getting to Languish (or Elder Deep Fiend, for the Emerge Deck), that's pretty cool. Of course, we don't play in a vaccuum, but getting the firepower to do that in 4 turns will at least put heavy pressure on most decks. If they didn't trade 1:1 on T2 or T3, they'll have to chump block on T4 (bye bye, Matter Reshaper), and will likely lose next turn anyway.
I think it would be a sound idea to at least squeeze 2-3 cards of each in the main deck (with 3 1-drop in the main, odds of drawing 1 or more on 7 cards are 1 in 3). Note that with Lambholt Pacifist, Hanweir Militia Captain, Tireless Tracker or Thalia, Heretic Cathar on T2 or T3, this always fail. Village Messenger will fall short most of the times, unless with a perfect sequence of Lieutenant/Garrison/Command.
That being said, I have revised my mana base to get better chances of playing W on first turn.
The manabase now has 9+4 untapped White sources for T1, with the 4 Shadow Lands that should ETB untapped (with 13 Forest/Plains to reveal). The 4 Battle Lands can be played tapped on T1 if nothing to cast, but can reasonnably ETB untapped on T3 or T4 with the 12 basic lands. No Evolving Wilds needed to fix the mana base, as the odds of getting the right colors on time are 84-86% (1=W, 2=G, 3=R) and speed is priority. I suppose it's normal to get screwed one game out 6...
Edit : I will consider getting Kytheon there, 1 or 2, instead of Expedition Envoy. If the 2/1 on T1 proves to be usefull, and not an hinderance, that could be a good thing. That way, if we draw it in the late game, the card will still matter (a 4/4 Human once flipped).
I am grateful that patbou first identified the key parts of this archetype and started this thread.
I feel delighted in the variety of ideas and level of interest.
I particularly value testing over theorycrafting in an unknown meta. As far as I can tell, scasseden has been doing real testing with the deck and TBuzzsaw has tested spirits (I think scasseden has also tested spirits), so I give their words significant weight in those areas.
At this point we have, as far as I can tell, a core along with a pile of cards whose relative value is unknown or meta-dependant.
I am grateful that patbou first identified the key parts of this archetype and started this thread.
I feel delighted in the variety of ideas and level of interest.
I particularly value testing over theorycrafting in an unknown meta. As far as I can tell, scasseden has been doing real testing with the deck and TBuzzsaw has tested spirits (I think scasseden has also tested spirits), so I give their words significant weight in those areas.
At this point we have, as far as I can tell, a core along with a pile of cards whose relative value is unknown or meta-dependant.
I see your point. I confess I have too much time thinking about the deck, and lack opportunity to test it. I'm practicing for Sealed tonight with friends (GP Montreal Sealed next week-end), but I'll try to squeeze a few games in between to get data...
I'll be playing FNM tonight with this deck. I'm missing 1 Thalia's Lieutenant (in the mail), hence the 1 Foul Emissary (which I was wanting to test out anyway). Results and hopefully something of a report later tonight/tomorrow.
While flipping a Hanweir Battlements is neat, if you can't win with one, you're probably not winning with two. Because it can be such a swingy play, I'll keep one in there as a good mana dump (both in haste and flipping). Really, though, the Garrison does enough work on his own without flipping, and makes humans, which are more relevant than eldrazi. I haven't done enough testing, but I'm not sold on Hamlet Captain, so I'm running Hanweir Militia Captain instead. Den Protector was a last minute thought, but seems like it could be very good. Enough Lieutenants, and it'll basically be unblockable. Ride Down and Incendiary Flow in the side are just fun cards I wanted to try out if they ever seem relevant.
I played tonight, went 2-2. My mana base was very bad, but I think I know what needs work. When the deck ran right it felt busted, it's just a matter of making the mana work properly.
I played tonight, went 2-2. My mana base was very bad, but I think I know what needs work. When the deck ran right it felt busted, it's just a matter of making the mana work properly.
What was your deck list? What were the difficult Matchups?
I didn't get to play at all Standard yesterday, but did 3-0 in three different Sealed Pools. I got some Hanweir Garrison, and Thalia, Heretic Cathar, but we saw absolutely no Heron's Grace Champion or Hanweir Battlements in all the boosters we've cracked. I'll get them at my store today, and hopefully meet some friends to test out the deck.
Round 1 vs 5c Walkers (W 2-0): There's not a lot to say about this match. He played Nissa, Sorin, and Sarkhan that I saw, and he cast an Engulf the Shore when he had no Islands out. Like I said, nothing to say about this match.
Round 2 vs BW Control (L 1-2): Game 2, I was stuck on two mana. Game 3, I drew very little other than land. Game 1, though, was a good back and forth, and showed me that this deck could be trouble. It plays such a critical mass of removal, it can be hard to punch through.
Round 3 vs Abzan Walkers (W 2-1): Playing against this list was very similar to the BW control deck; a critical mass of removal, backed by Kalitas and Walkers. Game 1 was going my way until I couldn't get around his Kalitas, then he played a second the turn after I finally killed the fist. Game 3 also required me to play around a Kalitas, but sideboarding in Declaration in Stone helped a lot here. Atarka's Command also gave me the W here, letting me attack for just over lethal with the pump+burn, while I was dead on board next turn.
Round 4 vs GW Humans (W 2-0): He mana screwed two games in a row. Woo.
Hamlet Captain is better than I thought. Even just bringing in the one from the side, if they didn't have an answer, he could get out of hand. I had a turn of attacking with HC, and flashing in Heron's Grace Champion. Hanweir Militia Captain let me down, but that may have been because he also had removal thrown at him immediately. I'll swap HMC for HC and see how it feels. Heron's Grace Champion is an absolute beast, usually giving 10+ life; that said, I still wouldn't run more than two for obvious (CoCo) reasons.
I sided Thalia in in nearly every match, but never missed her in my game 1s. If I can find a slot, I'll go back to 1 in the main. I also need to make a cut for a 25th land. Firemantle Mage was extremely underwhelming, since I had no other allies. Maybe in multiples, it'd be more playable, but if you're only counting on getting his trigger once, it's not worth it. Maybe a sideboard package with him and Lantern Scout could be an interesting way to out-aggro aggro. I got to see Foul Emissary in my hand and on a CoCo, and it didn't feel good in either place: Duskwatch just does it so much better.
The deck seems very strong, but definitely needs some refining (especially since my list had subpar test cards). Hanweir Garrison ends up having a huge target on his head, and against the control decks, I usually held on to them until after a Laguish. Den Protector is as good as you'd expect, nothing more, nothing less. Getting a CoCo back feels great, but not so great I wouldn't cut him for something else. He's worth testing, and probably just comes down to personal preference.
I also have a crazy idea I'm just going to throw out there, feel free to tell me I'm crazy.
I traded for the rest of the cards for the deck and got in one test match.
It was vs Zombies. Not close. I played one Zombie player with another one (on a different build) watching. After the match, they were talking about maindecking Languish and splashing for Nahiri's Wrath. 'Nuf said about how worried I am about Zombies currently.
I am thinking about how to provide feedback effectively given our different builds. Even though I just got one match in, I want to try a format that I think will be useful, so feedback will be appreciated.
My decklist: unchanged from this post.
Match 1: Zombies (Relentless Dead, Diregraf Colossus, new Liliana, Crypt Breaker, Gisa and Geralf, the make-Zombies kill spell).
G1 Summary: Play a few dudes not including Garrison, swing in, flash in Champion. With me having a bigger board and the life totals ~33-7, opponent looked at the next card and scooped.
G2 Summary: Played some dudes including Garrison and Hamlet Captain. Opponent plays some dudes and Gisa and Geralf. Swung in, flashing in Champion again. Opponent kills Hamlet Captain on blocks, then the Garrison next turn (32-16) with the Zombie-making kill spell. I play Trackers into the board stall, build up the board, start swinging. Opponent concedes with life totals at 44-7, two 9/8 Trackers on board and 10 clues piled up.
Noteworthy cards: Heron's Grace Champion: Good finisher, made racing academic Tireless Tracker: In board stall, card advantage took over game Abbot of Keral Keep: Solid 2 drop. Drew me a card once out of 3 times. Slight inconsistent card advantage with no effort, more punch than Inspector. Hanweir Militia Captain: Became big beef in board stall: good Hamlet Captain: fine, becomes must-remove when board state gets big. Thalia, Heretic Cathar: Zombies coming in tapped was very helpful, another must-remove. Collected Company: Still good card advantage, but Thalia's Lieutenant is the only immediately impactful card (without Reflector Mage). In lists with Abbot, it may be best to use precombat with open mana in board states without Garrison to take advantage of Abbot exiling.
Noteworthy plays: To get rid of Gisa and Geralf, I played Abbot, exiling Dromoka's Command. I then played Thalia's Lieutenant to put a counter on Heron's Grace Champion before DCom counter+fight to kill Gisa and Geralf. Pretty awkward. I still don't like Declaration in Stone in a midrange list like this. Considering Angelic Purge, as clue tokens or red human tokens are often available. With Emrakul around, supporting WW to allow Stasis Snare seems reasonable also.
Questions:
removal for big problem creatures is an issue (see above)
I like Recruiter for card advantage in control matchups. But Pacifist, so essential against GW and against Bant Company in the old meta, may not be necessary anymore now that we are more explosive and have lifegain. It seems like the most meta-dependant card.
I've run some tests today. The only games that I lost were the ones when the mana screwed up. In one of these, I was at my 6th land drop, and still no Green (12 in the main).
In the other, I was stuck at 2 lands. I almost won it anyway, with Expedition Envoy, Lambholt Pacifist and 3 Hamlet Captain. One Captain was Snared, but I only needed one more land to play Firemantle Mage (was 6th turn) and seal the deal, but my top deck couldn't give me anything else than Heron's Grace Champion (third one). Then Chandra cleaned my board, and I scooped.
But being stuck at 2 lands is not always defeat. My last game ended with opponent throwing a fit and raging to no end. I had Expedition Envoy, Hamlet Captain and Thalia's Lieutenant. Opponent was down to 3 life, but he just flashed in Avacyn to stop my attack. He also had 2 Tireless Tracker with each a counter and Sylvan Advocate. He attacked with Avacyn, no more, careful because he feared Firemantle Mage. It's then that I just burned him the last 3 damage with Atarka's Command.
Other than that, I had spectacular results with the deck. Expedition Envoy does it's job, and I don't think I'll cut it from the deck. Attacking for 2 or 3 on turn 2 is nice, and opponents don't trade their creatures to it. Even Tireless Tracker on T3 is shy to block it. Mostly, it's an extra body to pump with one of our many anthem effects (Hamlet Captain, Thalia's Lieutenant, Atarka's Command, Heron's Grace Champion). Having an extra attacker is sometimes just what this deck needs to finish the game. I would play a fourth if I could (for now ; I can change my mind anytime).
I haven't played Tireless Tracker myself in this deck, and instead Veteran Warleader. Of all the games that I played, I only played it once, and it was instantly dealt with (5/5 for 3 always scares the sh*t out of opponents). I suppose the same would have happened to Tracker if I had played it instead. So I can't tell it it was good or better, I just know it can get a lot of hate.
Dromoka's Command shined everytime I played it. Atarka's Command was as good. I'm still unsure which one is better.
I wish I could play a 2nd Hanweir Battlements, to experiment with Haste. But mana base feels stretched, and my brain can't see another configuration that would be acceptable. Ideas welcome.
I suppose the same would have happened to Tracker if I had played it instead.
I think in the scenario that the creature dies immediately, Tracker ends up being a little better since you can follow it with a land to replace Tracker even if it dies.
What were the matchups you tested?
I can't really see a way to give you another Battlements without hurting your T1 W. Obviously, + Battlements, +Evolving Wilds, -Mountain, -Fortified Village leaves your overall sources the same, but hurts t1 W.
I suppose the same would have happened to Tracker if I had played it instead.
I think in the scenario that the creature dies immediately, Tracker ends up being a little better since you can follow it with a land to replace Tracker even if it dies.
You are right, as long as we play Tracker turn 4+ and drop a land immediately... I will run some tests with both. I'm not very objective in the comparison : Veteran Warleader won me tournaments (including SSS at GP Toronto), and I feel he deserves some love and respect (more than what people give him credit for) ; and Tireless Tracker has always been considered "the ennemy". She's trying to lure and seduce me, and it feels like embracing the Dark Side if I turn my back on that */* Ally...
What were the matchups you tested?
I can't really see a way to give you another Battlements without hurting your T1 W. Obviously, + Battlements, +Evolving Wilds, -Mountain, -Fortified Village leaves your overall sources the same, but hurts t1 W.
I mainly played repeatedly against a Naya Midrange/Planeswalker deck (good pilot, he did 5-1-3 at GP Toronto with a deck of his very own brew, and would have made day 2 if not for that draw ; very proud of him). My old Ally deck used to lose 1-2 against him, with a very classic finish of him being at 1 Life, and me unable to do that last point of damage (that happened soooooo many times). So the deck is quite strong against Aggro. I think I did 5-2 yesterday, and would have played more games if he didn't raged quit after that burn victory on 2 lands. The fact that I couldn't stop laughting probably didn't help, but you know, that's the sort of things a father can afford with his 16 years old teenager (he'll get over it ; and yes, he's my boy, and I can say with no doubt that he's a better player than I am).
We're waiting to see the deck lists and meta of this week-end SCGCOL. We'll proxy the best decks and test out our decks against them...
A note about Collected Company : While it's true that we don't have any ETB effects other than Thalia's Lieutenant, here's how I play it...
If the Lieutenant is already on the Battlefield, playing an aggressive CoCo on our turn (before attacking) to get extra triggers on him is nice.
If Lambholt Pacifist is too shy to attack, revealing a Veteran Warleader on 3+ creatures will encourage her to join the melee (note that Hamlet Captain alone is not enough to coax her). Revealing 2 Humans on a 2/2 Lieutenant will do the same. And attacking with this extra creature can make the difference between losing and victory.
Attacking with Hanweir Garrison and no anthem but CoCo in hand, I would play it just for the lucky chance of revealing s Lieutenant.
On defense, before blockers are declared, a defensive CoCo can reveal a Hamlet Captain or two, and completely change oppoonent's maths. Same with Thalia's Lieutenant (revealed, or already on the Battlefield), and Veteran Warleader. The later can be a huge roadblock, and first strike not even necessary.
Of course, I wouldn't play like that against Control matchups that play sweepers, and will save CoCo for their end of turn (unless gambling is the only hope ; with no Lieutenant in play or in hand, we are more likely to get one or two on CoCo).
Mana base has been revised too, to get reliable untapped lands on turn 4+, and a 2nd Hanweir Battlements. Not sure about the side deck, however.
Considering that there is a lot of instants/flash in the deck, it makes sense to keep mana open end of turn. Both Tireless Tracker and Duskwatch Recruiter are great mana sinks when casting one of the instants/flash during opponent's turn isn't the best play (or we just bluffed).
I still think, for now, that Firemantle Mage is a great finisher against creatures heavy decks. I'm not looking to get a 2nd trigger from it, just to play it when it really matters (either early game to get rid of a Planeswalker, or late game to go lethal). It can do it's job without other Allies, I think.
I've decided to go that route, because we're not playing in a vacuum, and it's true that Tracker will do a better job in the long term than Veteran Warleader. I wanted the deck to be more aggressive, but the meta will not allow us to do that.
Well, we've got something of a metagame. Bant CoCO is still as present as ever, but the control decks seem to have evolved a bit. No thoughts on it right now, but some food for thought.
To beat the top 2 decks, I think we need to get ahead on board and operate at instant speed as much as possible. Being able to cast spells or otherwise use our mana when the opponent is tapped out will be the most important thing in some matchups. Five mana spells like Avacyn, Tragic Arrogance and Ishkanah also seem interesting. Having to tap out for a Heron's Grace Champion when we can't take advantage of the lifelink anthem makes him worse. Instant speed ways to kill Spell Queller seem good. Rending Volley, Draconic Roar and Savage Alliance all seem interesting.
Edit: Aerial Volley
Savage Alliance seems the best all around choice. Not only can this wipe some boards, but also I can see situations where an additional 1 point of damage can turn blocks (we, or them) in a massacre. Modes 2 and 3 add together too, so one target will suffer 3 damage total. Trample may sometimes be useful too.
I still think Heron's Grace Champion is a great card in the deck, but I can understand why Avacyn would be tempting. Maybe Sigarda? What do you suggest exactly?
Savage Alliance seems the best all around choice. Not only can this wipe some boards, but also I can see situations where an additional 1 point of damage can turn blocks (we, or them) in a massacre. Modes 2 and 3 add together too, so one target will suffer 3 damage total. Trample may sometimes be useful too.
I still think Heron's Grace Champion is a great card in the deck, but I can understand why Avacyn would be tempting. Maybe Sigarda? What do you suggest exactly?
For my list, theorycrafting, here is where I start.
First, the slightly revised list:
@hoser2 and @H1jAcK : What are the results of your decks so far?
I've been testing a few other CoCo decks (Werewolves, Tormented Thoughts + Lupine Prototype, Delirium + Clue engine with Ulvenwald Mysteries and Extractor of Sin, Humans Mysteries), but none seem to be able to compete well in the format. The Werewolf deck and the Human Mysteries are the ones that promise to be better once CoCo and Dromoka's Command rotate out, and I might be tempted to go back to Allies with Eldritch Evolution... But until then, I'm back trying to make this deck better.
I've been wondering if Incendiary Flow wouldn't be better than Aerial Volley in the sidedeck, just for the odds of hitting the dome in the late game...
I didn't have the deck tournament ready last Monday, so first real tournament tonight. I'm considering supporting WW for Gideon in the side and Avacyn as follows.
Despite bad results, I'm satisfied with the deck. I really need to improve my skills piloting it, however. And will make some changes to the main and side deck.
G/B DELIRIUM : win 2-1
Game 1 : Won with 2 Hamlet Captain and Hanweir Garrison. Opponent couldn't do much.
Game 2 : I didn't sideboard at all, since I saw not much of opponent's deck in the first game. He sideboarded many removal spells. We went to the long game, he was down at 7, and me at 24. He played Kalitas, then Languish to wipe my team and put four 2/2 on the Battlefield. Then Ishkanah to ensure I scooped, which I did.
Game 3 : I sideboarded well, and got Avacyn, Thalia and Declaration in stone in my opening hand. I top decked 2 Dromoka's Command, the first to manage the board, and second saved Avacyn after he tried to Languish her after Dead Weight (sac enchantment and +1/+1 counter saved the Archangel).
Note : That 1/1 death touch Green creature with deathtouch is pretty annoying, and fighting it with Command is card advantage to opponent. Need a way to deal with it.
BANT HUMANS : 0-1 lost
We played a single super long game that last 48 minutes. I lost it, and by the time our decks were shufffled for a 2nd game, the Timer was over. Clearly, the best player won, not the best deck. I made MANY mistakes (tapping wrong lands and losing 2 opportunities to Command end of turn, forgetting Clues, etc.), and would have clearly won the game, but I was fed up and tired, the board was full (including a 20/20, 17/17 and 13/13 Lieutenants under opponent's control), there were too many options (Clues to crack, creatures to cast and Haste with Battlements, Displacer to activate up to 4 times, etc.), and I just couldn't see the win, while it was all there. I failed an attack that put him down to 3 Life, but got me up to 57 life. He actually blocked with one too many creature (thanks to CoCo), and then attacked me for lethal (60+ damage). I should have waited just a turn, Flicker and tap 4 creatures end of his turn, then 3 more before I attack and Flicker Heron's Grace Champion. But I should give my opponent full credit for his great skills : he finished 2nd place at GP Montreal yesterday. So I was against a good deck piloted by a great player, and I did tons of mistakes...
Note : Declaration in Stone would have been god send to wipe the very fat Lieutenants (if we would have get to game 2-3).
BANT HUMANS : 0-2 lost
Game 1 : I missed 4th land drop on the draw, and opponent casted CoCo on his 4th *and* 5th turns, revealing 3 Reflector Mage.
Game 2 : I don't think I sided well (out 4 CoCo, 2 Garrison and 1 Captain ; in Avacyn, Sigarda, 2 Arlinn, 2 Firemantle Mage, Declaration in Stone ; I thought I was against Bant Company, not Bant Humans). Again, he got a better tempo (my 3rd land was tapped) with Inspector, Pacifist and Tracker on curve. I had 3 Heron's Champion that helped me gain a couple of turns, but Arlinn and Diplacer in my hand just couldn't get cast fast enough to make a difference against his fatties. I was able to attack him for lethal damage (14), but he had an annoying 1/1 Lieutenant in the way to block and win next turn.
Game 3 (just for the fun) : I won this one with a good curve and explosive finish. This reassures me that this matchup is not always in opponent's favor.
Eldrazi Displacer : As a one of, I really liked this non-Human. Excellent synergy with Lieutenant and Champion. Hanweir Garrison : A 2/3 vanilla creature against CoCo matchups and very fat Lieutenants or Trackers. Thraben Inspector : Considering adding the creature to the main deck. Bant Humans make good use of it. It can easily be a 2/3 or 3/4 with Lieutenant, Captain, Champion or Command, along with a Clue to gain card advantage. Declaration in Stone : should be 2-4 in the sidedeck to deal with Bant Humans or Bant Company. Firemantle Mage : Can be good against W/R Humans, but versus Bant Humans it didn't do it's job. Archangel Avacy : Worth considering it for the main deck, as well as Sigarda, Heron's Grace.
I went 2-2 tonight, but think it was a decent first effort. I played the deck above, but started a militia captain on the side and maindecked a third Dromoka's Command.
Match 1: UB Zombies
G1: I played stuff, he killed it as well as he could with 2 B mana and a Westvale Abbey. Eventually I played a Tracker that stuck and steamrolled him. He had been a Jund player in the previous Standard, so I put him on Some kind of Languish control.
Sideboarding: -3 Dromoka's Command, -3 Hamlet Captain, -1 Lambholt Pacifist, +1 Gideon, +1 Arlinn, +1 Duskwatch, +2 Eerie Interlude, +1 Avacyn, +1 Sigarda
G2: I got a few creatures down, one of which died. He played a Haunted Dead. I slammed Arlinn down and made a wolf. He Languished. I played more creatures, ticking Arlinn up, even though the creatures couldn't attack. He brought his Haunted Dead from the bin, discarding and madnessing From Under the Floorboards. In the key sequence, he cleared my board and played Liliana. I had minused Arlinn to kill a zombie (flipping her back to human). I played a Garrison and plussed Arlinn on it to kill Liliana.
Summary: Decent, but the opponent's draws were kinda bad. He never saw his Cryptbreakers, Relentless Dead, Mindbenders, or Voldaren Pariahs. I felt lucky.
W 2-0
Match 2: UW Spirits
G1: Mausoleum Wanderers into Spell Quellers and Clash of Wills. I missed a few early land drops and never got a foothold.
Sideboarding: +1 Dromoka's Command, +1 Archangel Avacyn, +1 Sigarda, +1 Duskwatch, +1 Lambholt, +1 Rending Volley, +1 Savage Alliance, +1 Hanweir Militia Captain, -3 Hamlet Captain, -3 Abbot of Keral Keep, -1 Tireless Tracker -1 Collected Company
G2: Opponent was stuck on 2 land forever. Rending Volley on a flashed in Rattlechains slowed him, particularly when he sacced a Mausoleum Wanderer to counter the Rending Volley. Sorry Charlie, no can counter. Eventually just played too much stuff and he died.
G3: On Stream (https://www.twitch.tv/geekfortress/v/81266933 1:36-1:47. Win on the back of CoCo into Thalia and Garrison with Militia Captain out. Summary: Mausoleum Wanderers and Spell Queller can be a beating when they curve out. If we can get on board, our damage rate is so much greater.
W 2-1 (2-0)
M3: UR Aggro (on stream 2:10-2:42)
G1: Early damage from Village Messengers into two naked Stratus Dancers and a Mirrorwing Dragon killed me before I could mount an offence. SB: +1 Dromoka's Command, +1 Archangel Avacyn, +1 Sigarda, +1 Duskwatch, +1 Lambholt, +1 Savage Alliance, +1 Hanweir Militia Captain, -3 Hamlet Captain, -3 Abbot of Keral Keep, -1 Tireless Tracker
G2: A couple of Heron's Grace Champions made racing academic
G3: Call of the Full Moon on a naked Stratus Dancer killed me before I got access to 3 mana. I punted by trying to get on board. I could have forced him to sac the enchantment and fought the Stratus Dancer with Dromoka's Command. It could have given me a few more turns Summary: Not an expected deck. I think I can get over 50% by playing better
L 2-1 (2-1)
M4 UW Spirits
G1: He curved out. I never got a foothold Sideboarding: +1 Dromoka's Command, +1 Archangel Avacyn, +1 Sigarda, +1 Duskwatch, +1 Lambholt, +1 Rending Volley, +1 Savage Alliance, +1 Hanweir Militia Captain, +2 Eerie Interlude, -3 Hamlet Captain, -3 Abbot of Keral Keep, -2 Tireless Tracker -2 Collected Company
G2: I got some creatures down, then played Heron's Grace Champion for no value at end of my turn, after opponent played some spirits. He couldn't race my board with lifelink.
G3: Kept a 5 lander. Drew more land. Died horribly.
Summary: Sideboarding was bad, leaving me with too few creatures. Probably should have mulled G3
L 2-1 (2-2) (6th of ~14)
Conclusions: It was competitive. With tweaking and better piloting, it can do even better. My opponents were mostly aggro/tempo, and there are slower decks in the meta, so tweaking the deck too hard to combat aggro could backfire even at this venue.
The cards:
Arlinn Kord: really good the time I mistakenly sided her in. I will probably replace Gideon with her so I can cut down a W source. Giving creatures haste with her front side can be really good.
Rending Volley: Narrow, but good against Spirits. Aerial volley wouldn't have worked as well against Spirits, but would have been better against the UR Aggro
Hamlet Captain: Sided out a lot, so hard to tell. Needing other creatures on board to have an impact
Heron's Grace Champion: I was very impressed. Even against spirits, where the only window to cast him was my EOT, his lifegain was good enough without the anthem effect.
Tireless Tracker: slow and fragile, but good in board stalls. Will be moving some to side
Duskwatch Recruiter: Excellent against spirits. He flips reliably and the cost reduction he provides for creatures is fantastic
Abbot of Keral Keep: generally missed giving an advantage. Not very impactful
I want better answers for Spell Queller (doesn't everybody?). Most answers seem counterable by Selfless Spirit and Mausoleum Wanderer
@hoser2 : Thanks for the update. What would you change on the deck after that experience? Were there cards that you wished were in the main? Or out of it? Would you change your Sideboard?
I didn't got to play against Spirit, but was rewarded with 2 games against Bant Humans. I definetly have to learn how to play that matchup...
Edit : BTW, that Spirit your opponent flickered should have entered the Battlefield tapped thanks to Thalia.
Edit : It's great that your store is streaming the games on twitch. I will recommend that to my store! As a side note, the game I played against Bant Humans that took 48 minutes to end 0-1, our Battlefield would have NEVER fit on the screen. There was about 25+ creatures, same amount of lands, plus all the Clues...
Eldrazi Displacer : As a one of, I really liked this non-Human. Excellent synergy with Lieutenant and Champion. Hanweir Garrison : A 2/3 vanilla creature against CoCo matchups and very fat Lieutenants or Trackers. Thraben Inspector : Considering adding the creature to the main deck. Bant Humans make good use of it. It can easily be a 2/3 or 3/4 with Lieutenant, Captain, Champion or Command, along with a Clue to gain card advantage. Declaration in Stone : should be 2-4 in the sidedeck to deal with Bant Humans or Bant Company. Firemantle Mage : Can be good against W/R Humans, but versus Bant Humans it didn't do it's job. Archangel Avacy : Worth considering it for the main deck, as well as Sigarda, Heron's Grace.
I think Tragic Arrogance would be a nice card to consider in the "mirror" match (CoCo G/W/x). Or is too slow? See above for my comment on how a board can stall and get unmanageable. This would have sealed the deal (if only we could have get to game 2 and side it in).
The only deck in the format that looks reliably faster than us is Wr Humans. I think BR Vampires, if it's a deck, is probably an evasive beatdown deck, similar to the Spirits deck but trading interaction/disruption pieces for direct damage and more aggressively costed stats. I think they're a half-step faster than us if anything, and that the matchup is basically a damage race in which both sides are fairly evenly matched.
That is, until Heron's Grace Champion enters the discussion. You draw that and jam it on a halfway reasonable attack and you basically can't lose anymore.
Wr Humans is trickier because they are faster, since they play real 1-drops and we don't. But having Thraben Inspector (if we go that route) and especially Lambholt Pacifist does a lot to put roadblocks in the way. Heron's Grace Champion is our trump card here too. For anybody that played with Sorin, Solemn Visitor when he was in Standard, imagine that you only got one activation of Sorin, but in exchange you got a 3/3 and the activation came at instant-speed. Instant-speed is such a huge deal in this matchup because they play face-up all the time, so you never have to worry about any tricks.
I think Bant Humans is generally on pace with us too, but lacks our explosive capacity with the Hanweir duo. Those lists also seem like they're at least somewhat likely to miss on Heron's Grace Champion, as they have more-hyped options to round out their 75; a Humans Company mirror where one player has the Champion and the other doesn't is likely not to end well for the player without it.
Everything else is slower and we have lots of weapons for fighting them. The control decks in particular have a lot of trouble with us thanks to the usual suspects (Company instantly rebuilding after a sweeper -- especially souped-up now that we can hit Hanweir Garrison; Recruiter and Tracker grinding out extra cards), but also thanks to Hanweir Battlements.
I think our toughest games will be against decks that just go over the top of what we're doing in a reasonable timeframe, with some interaction along the way. I'm scared of Linvala, the Preserver since we don't have Ojutai's Command, and even Avacyn can go over the top of us too (though she's less effective at that if we're able to hit the 4-toughness range). Something like GW Tokens for instance seems like a potential problem, as I'm not sure we're fast enough to 'get under' Nissa and Gideon, and their lategame with Linvala and Avacyn is better than any lategame we can plausibly try to play. I might look at playing something like Dragonlord Dromoka or Eldrazi Displacer in the sideboard to compensate. I fear that the build-around-Emerge decks might also trump us, but I don't really know how those look, so it's hard to make good suggestions for how to approach those matchups. My thought process is that if you see any 'value 3-drops' like Nissa, Eldrazi Skyspawner, Matter Reshaper and your opponent is in UG or UR, I would try to attack those more aggressively than normal in order to cut them off of turn 4 Elder Deep-Fiend.
The last deck that comes to mind is GB Delirium, I'm not sure if we reliably get under them or how good they are against us once things like Mindwrack Demon and Ishkanah, Grafwidow hit the field. The good news is that we are resilient against Grim Flayer and have a lot of flash elements to hamper Liliana, the Last Hope's effectiveness. My gut says that if they're leaning on Languish and a lot of spot removal with just Ishkanak and Emrakul as win conditions, then we're probably fine -- Ishkanak is annoying but just something you have to grind through, and Emrakul in testing has been surprisingly ineffective against this deck due to the lack of noncreature spells to waste -- but that if they're focused more on the permanents like Liliana and Mindwrack Demon, they could be trouble for us.
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
Reach on Atarka's Command is irrelevant in our deck against spirits. Why? It only counts when we are on the defensive, which IS NOT what we want to do. As someone that was testing out spirits, Dromoka's Command scared me the most, because it was played in decks I had most problems with and it was a removal played at instant speed. Sure they have counters, but they feel bad when it was just a bait to play CoCo safely. I had one scenario where Spell Queller countered my first Command only to die to a second one in the same turn, letting the first one get played again and losing my Rattlechains. I would be for Atarka's Command if we were going wider.
Hyper aggressive 1 drops are not what the deck wants. We are a three color deck. Lands are not very reliably coming in untapped, not to mention Always Watching is not in our lists to push the 2/1s over their 2/3s.
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
This leads me to beleive that to maintain our role as the Beatdown in many matchups, an aggressive 1-drop is probably required. Either we go that road for constant aggression, or we focus on an explosion (single attack following an EoT CoCo, supported by an anthem effect). Personnaly, I would prefer the two opportunities, but I may be too greedy!
See, I'm a true hybrid : Timmy/Johny/Spikes. I want to set up fun combos (Timmy), I love crafting my own decks (Johny), but I want to win at a competitive level (Spikes) with my own crazy ideas, proving that they work (Timmy/Johny/Spikes).
I've done some maths, and I've found out that, with any of these cards (1-2-3-4 drops), permuted in any ways, the deck could deal 20+ damage on T4 (alone in a vaccum, and if we attack every turn, total between 20 and 27) :
With 48 possible permutations that can win the game in 4 turns, it may not be that rare to draw the right cards and do the trick. Against Control, when they play tap land, then Duress (get CoCo), then Read the Bones, and they die before getting to Languish (or Elder Deep Fiend, for the Emerge Deck), that's pretty cool. Of course, we don't play in a vaccuum, but getting the firepower to do that in 4 turns will at least put heavy pressure on most decks. If they didn't trade 1:1 on T2 or T3, they'll have to chump block on T4 (bye bye, Matter Reshaper), and will likely lose next turn anyway.
I think it would be a sound idea to at least squeeze 2-3 cards of each in the main deck (with 3 1-drop in the main, odds of drawing 1 or more on 7 cards are 1 in 3). Note that with Lambholt Pacifist, Hanweir Militia Captain, Tireless Tracker or Thalia, Heretic Cathar on T2 or T3, this always fail. Village Messenger will fall short most of the times, unless with a perfect sequence of Lieutenant/Garrison/Command.
That being said, I have revised my mana base to get better chances of playing W on first turn.
3 Expedition Envoy
2-drop Creatures (10)
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Hamlet Captain
2 Lambholt Pacifist
3-drop Creatures (11)
4 Hanweir Garrison
3 Veteran Warleader
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2 Firemantle Mage
4-drop Creatures (3)
3 Heron's Grace Champion
4 Collected Company
2 Atarka's Command
2 Dromoka's Command
Lands (25)
4 Cinder Glade
4 Fortified Village
4 Battlefield Forge
5 Plains
4 Forest
3 Mountain
1 Hanweir Battlements
1 Expedition Envoy
1 Veteran Warleader
1 Heron's Grace Champion
2 Atarka's Command
3 Reckless Bushwhacker
2 Lambholt Pacifist
2 Hanweir Militia Captain
1 Firemantle Mage
2 Dromoka's Command
The manabase now has 9+4 untapped White sources for T1, with the 4 Shadow Lands that should ETB untapped (with 13 Forest/Plains to reveal). The 4 Battle Lands can be played tapped on T1 if nothing to cast, but can reasonnably ETB untapped on T3 or T4 with the 12 basic lands. No Evolving Wilds needed to fix the mana base, as the odds of getting the right colors on time are 84-86% (1=W, 2=G, 3=R) and speed is priority. I suppose it's normal to get screwed one game out 6...
Edit : I will consider getting Kytheon there, 1 or 2, instead of Expedition Envoy. If the 2/1 on T1 proves to be usefull, and not an hinderance, that could be a good thing. That way, if we draw it in the late game, the card will still matter (a 4/4 Human once flipped).
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
I feel delighted in the variety of ideas and level of interest.
I particularly value testing over theorycrafting in an unknown meta. As far as I can tell, scasseden has been doing real testing with the deck and TBuzzsaw has tested spirits (I think scasseden has also tested spirits), so I give their words significant weight in those areas.
At this point we have, as far as I can tell, a core along with a pile of cards whose relative value is unknown or meta-dependant.
The unknown value cards seem to me to include: Abbot of Keral Keep, Hamlet Captain, Lambholt Pacifist, Expedition Envoy, Hanweir Militia Captain, Atarka's Command, Firemantle Mage, Thraben Inspector, Veteran Warleader. I am most interested in reading or writing things like: card X was great (or garbage) in Y matchup and information about the new meta. Extensive theorycrafting in support of preconceived notions doesn't impress me, even though it may turn out to be correct. I totally support anybody trying out unproven cards and providing data about the results of their testing.
I am hoping to get some testing in on Sunday.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Boom! In my face!
I see your point. I confess I have too much time thinking about the deck, and lack opportunity to test it. I'm practicing for Sealed tonight with friends (GP Montreal Sealed next week-end), but I'll try to squeeze a few games in between to get data...
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
1 Hanweir Battlements
3 Battlefield Forge
4 Forest
2 Plains
1 Mountain
4 Canopy Vista
4 Cinder Glade
4 Evolving Wilds
CoCo'able Creatures (26)
3 Thalia's Lieutenant
1 Foul Emissary
4 Duskwatch Recruiter
3 Lambholt Pacifist
4 Hanweir Militia Captain
2 Den Protector
4 Hanweir Garrison
4 Tireless Tracker
1 Firemantle Mage
2 Heron's Grace Champion
Spells (8)
4 Dromoka's Command
4 Collected Company
Whateverboard (15)
1 Hamlet Captain
1 Lambholt Pacifist
1 Declaration in Stone
2 Incendiary Flow
4 Ride Down
3 Tragic Arrogance
3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
About some of my choices:
While flipping a Hanweir Battlements is neat, if you can't win with one, you're probably not winning with two. Because it can be such a swingy play, I'll keep one in there as a good mana dump (both in haste and flipping). Really, though, the Garrison does enough work on his own without flipping, and makes humans, which are more relevant than eldrazi. I haven't done enough testing, but I'm not sold on Hamlet Captain, so I'm running Hanweir Militia Captain instead. Den Protector was a last minute thought, but seems like it could be very good. Enough Lieutenants, and it'll basically be unblockable. Ride Down and Incendiary Flow in the side are just fun cards I wanted to try out if they ever seem relevant.
Want a cool banner like mine?
Go to Heroes of the Plane Studios!
Vizzerdrix Count = 183, 3 in Italian, 2 Foil
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
What was your deck list? What were the difficult Matchups?
I didn't get to play at all Standard yesterday, but did 3-0 in three different Sealed Pools. I got some Hanweir Garrison, and Thalia, Heretic Cathar, but we saw absolutely no Heron's Grace Champion or Hanweir Battlements in all the boosters we've cracked. I'll get them at my store today, and hopefully meet some friends to test out the deck.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
1 Hamlet Captain
1 Lambholt Pacifist
4 Atarka's Command
3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
3 Declaration in Stone
Round 1 vs 5c Walkers (W 2-0): There's not a lot to say about this match. He played Nissa, Sorin, and Sarkhan that I saw, and he cast an Engulf the Shore when he had no Islands out. Like I said, nothing to say about this match.
Round 2 vs BW Control (L 1-2): Game 2, I was stuck on two mana. Game 3, I drew very little other than land. Game 1, though, was a good back and forth, and showed me that this deck could be trouble. It plays such a critical mass of removal, it can be hard to punch through.
Round 3 vs Abzan Walkers (W 2-1): Playing against this list was very similar to the BW control deck; a critical mass of removal, backed by Kalitas and Walkers. Game 1 was going my way until I couldn't get around his Kalitas, then he played a second the turn after I finally killed the fist. Game 3 also required me to play around a Kalitas, but sideboarding in Declaration in Stone helped a lot here. Atarka's Command also gave me the W here, letting me attack for just over lethal with the pump+burn, while I was dead on board next turn.
Round 4 vs GW Humans (W 2-0): He mana screwed two games in a row. Woo.
Hamlet Captain is better than I thought. Even just bringing in the one from the side, if they didn't have an answer, he could get out of hand. I had a turn of attacking with HC, and flashing in Heron's Grace Champion. Hanweir Militia Captain let me down, but that may have been because he also had removal thrown at him immediately. I'll swap HMC for HC and see how it feels. Heron's Grace Champion is an absolute beast, usually giving 10+ life; that said, I still wouldn't run more than two for obvious (CoCo) reasons.
I sided Thalia in in nearly every match, but never missed her in my game 1s. If I can find a slot, I'll go back to 1 in the main. I also need to make a cut for a 25th land. Firemantle Mage was extremely underwhelming, since I had no other allies. Maybe in multiples, it'd be more playable, but if you're only counting on getting his trigger once, it's not worth it. Maybe a sideboard package with him and Lantern Scout could be an interesting way to out-aggro aggro. I got to see Foul Emissary in my hand and on a CoCo, and it didn't feel good in either place: Duskwatch just does it so much better.
The deck seems very strong, but definitely needs some refining (especially since my list had subpar test cards). Hanweir Garrison ends up having a huge target on his head, and against the control decks, I usually held on to them until after a Laguish. Den Protector is as good as you'd expect, nothing more, nothing less. Getting a CoCo back feels great, but not so great I wouldn't cut him for something else. He's worth testing, and probably just comes down to personal preference.
I also have a crazy idea I'm just going to throw out there, feel free to tell me I'm crazy.
3 Forest
1 Island
1 Mountain
2 Plains
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Yavimaya Coast
2 Port Town
1 Shivan Reef
3 Canopy Vista
1 Battlefield Forge
4 Cinder Glade
3 Lambholt Pacifist
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Tireless Tracker
4 Hanweir Garrison
4 Reflector Mage
2 Heron's Grace Champion
4 Dromoka's Command
2 Declaration in Stone
4 Collected Company
I'm not great with complicated mana bases, I'd definitely take some help on that if anyone is good at it.
Want a cool banner like mine?
Go to Heroes of the Plane Studios!
Vizzerdrix Count = 183, 3 in Italian, 2 Foil
It was vs Zombies. Not close. I played one Zombie player with another one (on a different build) watching. After the match, they were talking about maindecking Languish and splashing for Nahiri's Wrath. 'Nuf said about how worried I am about Zombies currently.
I am thinking about how to provide feedback effectively given our different builds. Even though I just got one match in, I want to try a format that I think will be useful, so feedback will be appreciated.
My decklist: unchanged from this post.
Match 1: Zombies (Relentless Dead, Diregraf Colossus, new Liliana, Crypt Breaker, Gisa and Geralf, the make-Zombies kill spell).
G1 Summary: Play a few dudes not including Garrison, swing in, flash in Champion. With me having a bigger board and the life totals ~33-7, opponent looked at the next card and scooped.
G2 Summary: Played some dudes including Garrison and Hamlet Captain. Opponent plays some dudes and Gisa and Geralf. Swung in, flashing in Champion again. Opponent kills Hamlet Captain on blocks, then the Garrison next turn (32-16) with the Zombie-making kill spell. I play Trackers into the board stall, build up the board, start swinging. Opponent concedes with life totals at 44-7, two 9/8 Trackers on board and 10 clues piled up.
Noteworthy cards:
Heron's Grace Champion: Good finisher, made racing academic
Tireless Tracker: In board stall, card advantage took over game
Abbot of Keral Keep: Solid 2 drop. Drew me a card once out of 3 times. Slight inconsistent card advantage with no effort, more punch than Inspector.
Hanweir Militia Captain: Became big beef in board stall: good
Hamlet Captain: fine, becomes must-remove when board state gets big.
Thalia, Heretic Cathar: Zombies coming in tapped was very helpful, another must-remove.
Collected Company: Still good card advantage, but Thalia's Lieutenant is the only immediately impactful card (without Reflector Mage). In lists with Abbot, it may be best to use precombat with open mana in board states without Garrison to take advantage of Abbot exiling.
Noteworthy plays: To get rid of Gisa and Geralf, I played Abbot, exiling Dromoka's Command. I then played Thalia's Lieutenant to put a counter on Heron's Grace Champion before DCom counter+fight to kill Gisa and Geralf. Pretty awkward. I still don't like Declaration in Stone in a midrange list like this. Considering Angelic Purge, as clue tokens or red human tokens are often available. With Emrakul around, supporting WW to allow Stasis Snare seems reasonable also.
Questions:
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
In the other, I was stuck at 2 lands. I almost won it anyway, with Expedition Envoy, Lambholt Pacifist and 3 Hamlet Captain. One Captain was Snared, but I only needed one more land to play Firemantle Mage (was 6th turn) and seal the deal, but my top deck couldn't give me anything else than Heron's Grace Champion (third one). Then Chandra cleaned my board, and I scooped.
But being stuck at 2 lands is not always defeat. My last game ended with opponent throwing a fit and raging to no end. I had Expedition Envoy, Hamlet Captain and Thalia's Lieutenant. Opponent was down to 3 life, but he just flashed in Avacyn to stop my attack. He also had 2 Tireless Tracker with each a counter and Sylvan Advocate. He attacked with Avacyn, no more, careful because he feared Firemantle Mage. It's then that I just burned him the last 3 damage with Atarka's Command.
Other than that, I had spectacular results with the deck. Expedition Envoy does it's job, and I don't think I'll cut it from the deck. Attacking for 2 or 3 on turn 2 is nice, and opponents don't trade their creatures to it. Even Tireless Tracker on T3 is shy to block it. Mostly, it's an extra body to pump with one of our many anthem effects (Hamlet Captain, Thalia's Lieutenant, Atarka's Command, Heron's Grace Champion). Having an extra attacker is sometimes just what this deck needs to finish the game. I would play a fourth if I could (for now ; I can change my mind anytime).
I haven't played Tireless Tracker myself in this deck, and instead Veteran Warleader. Of all the games that I played, I only played it once, and it was instantly dealt with (5/5 for 3 always scares the sh*t out of opponents). I suppose the same would have happened to Tracker if I had played it instead. So I can't tell it it was good or better, I just know it can get a lot of hate.
Dromoka's Command shined everytime I played it. Atarka's Command was as good. I'm still unsure which one is better.
I wish I could play a 2nd Hanweir Battlements, to experiment with Haste. But mana base feels stretched, and my brain can't see another configuration that would be acceptable. Ideas welcome.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
I think in the scenario that the creature dies immediately, Tracker ends up being a little better since you can follow it with a land to replace Tracker even if it dies.
Want a cool banner like mine?
Go to Heroes of the Plane Studios!
Vizzerdrix Count = 183, 3 in Italian, 2 Foil
I can't really see a way to give you another Battlements without hurting your T1 W. Obviously, + Battlements, +Evolving Wilds, -Mountain, -Fortified Village leaves your overall sources the same, but hurts t1 W.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
You are right, as long as we play Tracker turn 4+ and drop a land immediately... I will run some tests with both. I'm not very objective in the comparison : Veteran Warleader won me tournaments (including SSS at GP Toronto), and I feel he deserves some love and respect (more than what people give him credit for) ; and Tireless Tracker has always been considered "the ennemy". She's trying to lure and seduce me, and it feels like embracing the Dark Side if I turn my back on that */* Ally...
I mainly played repeatedly against a Naya Midrange/Planeswalker deck (good pilot, he did 5-1-3 at GP Toronto with a deck of his very own brew, and would have made day 2 if not for that draw ; very proud of him). My old Ally deck used to lose 1-2 against him, with a very classic finish of him being at 1 Life, and me unable to do that last point of damage (that happened soooooo many times). So the deck is quite strong against Aggro. I think I did 5-2 yesterday, and would have played more games if he didn't raged quit after that burn victory on 2 lands. The fact that I couldn't stop laughting probably didn't help, but you know, that's the sort of things a father can afford with his 16 years old teenager (he'll get over it ; and yes, he's my boy, and I can say with no doubt that he's a better player than I am).
We're waiting to see the deck lists and meta of this week-end SCGCOL. We'll proxy the best decks and test out our decks against them...
A note about Collected Company : While it's true that we don't have any ETB effects other than Thalia's Lieutenant, here's how I play it...
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Hamlet Captain
3 Duskwatch Recruiter
2 Lambholt Pacifist
3-drop Creatures (11)
4 Hanweir Garrison
3 Tireless Tracker
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2 Firemantle Mage
4-drop Creatures (3)
3 Heron's Grace Champion
Instants (8)
4 Collected Company
2 Atarka's Command
2 Dromoka's Command
3 Cinder Glade
4 Canopy Vista
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Plains
4 Forest
2 Mountain
2 Hanweir Battlements
1 Heron's Grace Champion
2 Atarka's Command
2 Dromoka's Command
4 Reckless Bushwhacker
2 Lambholt Pacifist
2 Hanweir Militia Captain
2 Firemantle Mage
Mana base has been revised too, to get reliable untapped lands on turn 4+, and a 2nd Hanweir Battlements. Not sure about the side deck, however.
Considering that there is a lot of instants/flash in the deck, it makes sense to keep mana open end of turn. Both Tireless Tracker and Duskwatch Recruiter are great mana sinks when casting one of the instants/flash during opponent's turn isn't the best play (or we just bluffed).
I still think, for now, that Firemantle Mage is a great finisher against creatures heavy decks. I'm not looking to get a 2nd trigger from it, just to play it when it really matters (either early game to get rid of a Planeswalker, or late game to go lethal). It can do it's job without other Allies, I think.
I've decided to go that route, because we're not playing in a vacuum, and it's true that Tracker will do a better job in the long term than Veteran Warleader. I wanted the deck to be more aggressive, but the meta will not allow us to do that.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
SCG Open - Columbus, OH
Here's the day 2 metagame breakdown as well:
Want a cool banner like mine?
Go to Heroes of the Plane Studios!
Vizzerdrix Count = 183, 3 in Italian, 2 Foil
Columbus card frequency (from MTGGoldfish):
1 Reflector Mage 140 54.69%
2 Spell Queller 134 53.12%
3 Sylvan Advocate 131 51.56%
4 Dromoka's Command 124 50.00%
To beat the top 2 decks, I think we need to get ahead on board and operate at instant speed as much as possible. Being able to cast spells or otherwise use our mana when the opponent is tapped out will be the most important thing in some matchups. Five mana spells like Avacyn, Tragic Arrogance and Ishkanah also seem interesting. Having to tap out for a Heron's Grace Champion when we can't take advantage of the lifelink anthem makes him worse. Instant speed ways to kill Spell Queller seem good. Rending Volley, Draconic Roar and Savage Alliance all seem interesting.
Edit: Aerial Volley
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
I still think Heron's Grace Champion is a great card in the deck, but I can understand why Avacyn would be tempting. Maybe Sigarda? What do you suggest exactly?
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
For my list, theorycrafting, here is where I start.
First, the slightly revised list:
3 Abbot of Keral Keep
1 Duskwatch Recruiter
2 Hamlet Captain
4 Hanweir Militia Captain
1 Lambholt Pacifist
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Hanweir Garrison
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Tireless Tracker
Creatures 4cmc/Flash (4)
4 Heron's Grace Champion
4 Collected Company
2 Dromoka's Command
Lands (25 13W 14G 14R)
2 Battlefield Forge
4 Canopy Vista
4 Cinder Glade
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Forest
2 Hanweir Battlements
4 Mountain
3 Plains
1 Rending Volley
2 Dromoka's Command (W/r Humans, Mono-U Prison?, Company, GW Tokens)
1 Duskwatch Recruiter (W/r Humans, Control)
1 Lambholt Pacifist (W/r Humans, Company, GW Tokens)
3 Hallowed Moonlight (Company)
1 Ride Down
2 Eerie Interlude (Control)
1 Savage Alliance (Spirits, W/r Humans on the draw?, GW Tokens?)
2 Arlinn Kord (Control)
1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace (Control, Company)
Sideboarding vs Bant Company
+1 Rending Volley, +2 Dromoka's Command, +1 Duskwatch Recruiter, +3 Hallowed Moonlight, +1 Lambholt Pacifist, +1 Savage Alliance, -1 Hamlet Captain, -3 Hanweir Militia Captain, -4 Heron's Grace Champion
Sideboarding vs UW Spirits
+1 Rending Volley, +2 Dromoka's Command, +1 Duskwatch Recruiter, +1 Lambholt Pacifist, +1 Savage Alliance, -1 Hamlet Captain, -1 Hanweir Militia Captain, -2 Heron's Grace Champion
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
I've been testing a few other CoCo decks (Werewolves, Tormented Thoughts + Lupine Prototype, Delirium + Clue engine with Ulvenwald Mysteries and Extractor of Sin, Humans Mysteries), but none seem to be able to compete well in the format. The Werewolf deck and the Human Mysteries are the ones that promise to be better once CoCo and Dromoka's Command rotate out, and I might be tempted to go back to Allies with Eldritch Evolution... But until then, I'm back trying to make this deck better.
I've been wondering if Incendiary Flow wouldn't be better than Aerial Volley in the sidedeck, just for the odds of hitting the dome in the late game...
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
3 Abbot of Keral Keep
1 Duskwatch Recruiter
3 Hamlet Captain
3 Hanweir Militia Captain
1 Lambholt Pacifist
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Hanweir Garrison
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Tireless Tracker
Creatures 4+cmc/Flash (4)
3 Heron's Grace Champion
1 Archangel Avacyn
4 Collected Company
2 Dromoka's Command
Lands (25 16W 13G 13R)
1 Battlefield Forge
4 Canopy Vista
4 Cinder Glade
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Forest
1 Hanweir Battlements
3 Mountain
1 Needle Spires
6 Plains
1 Rending Volley
2 Dromoka's Command (W/r, Mono-U, Company, GW Tokens)
1 Duskwatch Recruiter (W/r, Control)
1 Lambholt Pacifist (W/r, Company, GW Tokens)
2 Hallowed Moonlight (Company)
2 Eerie Interlude (Control)
1 Savage Alliance (Spirits, W/r (draw), GW Tokens?)
1 Arlinn Kord (Control)
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Heron's Grace Champion
1 Archangel Avacyn
1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace (Control, Company)
Edit: Re: Incendiary Flow: Exiling Gisela doesn't seem bad either.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Hamlet Captain
2 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Lambholt Pacifist
3-drop Creatures (10)
4 Hanweir Garrison
3 Tireless Tracker
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1 Eldrazi Displacer
4-drop Creatures (3)
3 Heron's Grace Champion
4 Collected Company
4 Dromoka's Command
Lands (25)
3 Cinder Glade
4 Canopy Vista
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Plains
4 Forest
1 Mountain
2 Hanweir Battlements
1 Heron's Grace Champion
4 Atarka's Command
2 Hanweir Militia Captain
2 Firemantle Mage
2 Arlinn Kord
1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
1 Archangel Avacyn
1 Radiant Flames
1 Declaration in Stone
Despite bad results, I'm satisfied with the deck. I really need to improve my skills piloting it, however. And will make some changes to the main and side deck.
G/B DELIRIUM : win 2-1
Game 1 : Won with 2 Hamlet Captain and Hanweir Garrison. Opponent couldn't do much.
Game 2 : I didn't sideboard at all, since I saw not much of opponent's deck in the first game. He sideboarded many removal spells. We went to the long game, he was down at 7, and me at 24. He played Kalitas, then Languish to wipe my team and put four 2/2 on the Battlefield. Then Ishkanah to ensure I scooped, which I did.
Game 3 : I sideboarded well, and got Avacyn, Thalia and Declaration in stone in my opening hand. I top decked 2 Dromoka's Command, the first to manage the board, and second saved Avacyn after he tried to Languish her after Dead Weight (sac enchantment and +1/+1 counter saved the Archangel).
Note : That 1/1 death touch Green creature with deathtouch is pretty annoying, and fighting it with Command is card advantage to opponent. Need a way to deal with it.
BANT HUMANS : 0-1 lost
We played a single super long game that last 48 minutes. I lost it, and by the time our decks were shufffled for a 2nd game, the Timer was over. Clearly, the best player won, not the best deck. I made MANY mistakes (tapping wrong lands and losing 2 opportunities to Command end of turn, forgetting Clues, etc.), and would have clearly won the game, but I was fed up and tired, the board was full (including a 20/20, 17/17 and 13/13 Lieutenants under opponent's control), there were too many options (Clues to crack, creatures to cast and Haste with Battlements, Displacer to activate up to 4 times, etc.), and I just couldn't see the win, while it was all there. I failed an attack that put him down to 3 Life, but got me up to 57 life. He actually blocked with one too many creature (thanks to CoCo), and then attacked me for lethal (60+ damage). I should have waited just a turn, Flicker and tap 4 creatures end of his turn, then 3 more before I attack and Flicker Heron's Grace Champion. But I should give my opponent full credit for his great skills : he finished 2nd place at GP Montreal yesterday. So I was against a good deck piloted by a great player, and I did tons of mistakes...
Note : Declaration in Stone would have been god send to wipe the very fat Lieutenants (if we would have get to game 2-3).
BANT HUMANS : 0-2 lost
Game 1 : I missed 4th land drop on the draw, and opponent casted CoCo on his 4th *and* 5th turns, revealing 3 Reflector Mage.
Game 2 : I don't think I sided well (out 4 CoCo, 2 Garrison and 1 Captain ; in Avacyn, Sigarda, 2 Arlinn, 2 Firemantle Mage, Declaration in Stone ; I thought I was against Bant Company, not Bant Humans). Again, he got a better tempo (my 3rd land was tapped) with Inspector, Pacifist and Tracker on curve. I had 3 Heron's Champion that helped me gain a couple of turns, but Arlinn and Diplacer in my hand just couldn't get cast fast enough to make a difference against his fatties. I was able to attack him for lethal damage (14), but he had an annoying 1/1 Lieutenant in the way to block and win next turn.
Game 3 (just for the fun) : I won this one with a good curve and explosive finish. This reassures me that this matchup is not always in opponent's favor.
Eldrazi Displacer : As a one of, I really liked this non-Human. Excellent synergy with Lieutenant and Champion.
Hanweir Garrison : A 2/3 vanilla creature against CoCo matchups and very fat Lieutenants or Trackers.
Thraben Inspector : Considering adding the creature to the main deck. Bant Humans make good use of it. It can easily be a 2/3 or 3/4 with Lieutenant, Captain, Champion or Command, along with a Clue to gain card advantage.
Declaration in Stone : should be 2-4 in the sidedeck to deal with Bant Humans or Bant Company.
Firemantle Mage : Can be good against W/R Humans, but versus Bant Humans it didn't do it's job.
Archangel Avacy : Worth considering it for the main deck, as well as Sigarda, Heron's Grace.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
Match 1: UB Zombies
G1: I played stuff, he killed it as well as he could with 2 B mana and a Westvale Abbey. Eventually I played a Tracker that stuck and steamrolled him. He had been a Jund player in the previous Standard, so I put him on Some kind of Languish control.
Sideboarding: -3 Dromoka's Command, -3 Hamlet Captain, -1 Lambholt Pacifist, +1 Gideon, +1 Arlinn, +1 Duskwatch, +2 Eerie Interlude, +1 Avacyn, +1 Sigarda
G2: I got a few creatures down, one of which died. He played a Haunted Dead. I slammed Arlinn down and made a wolf. He Languished. I played more creatures, ticking Arlinn up, even though the creatures couldn't attack. He brought his Haunted Dead from the bin, discarding and madnessing From Under the Floorboards. In the key sequence, he cleared my board and played Liliana. I had minused Arlinn to kill a zombie (flipping her back to human). I played a Garrison and plussed Arlinn on it to kill Liliana.
Summary: Decent, but the opponent's draws were kinda bad. He never saw his Cryptbreakers, Relentless Dead, Mindbenders, or Voldaren Pariahs. I felt lucky.
W 2-0
Match 2: UW Spirits
G1: Mausoleum Wanderers into Spell Quellers and Clash of Wills. I missed a few early land drops and never got a foothold.
Sideboarding: +1 Dromoka's Command, +1 Archangel Avacyn, +1 Sigarda, +1 Duskwatch, +1 Lambholt, +1 Rending Volley, +1 Savage Alliance, +1 Hanweir Militia Captain, -3 Hamlet Captain, -3 Abbot of Keral Keep, -1 Tireless Tracker -1 Collected Company
G2: Opponent was stuck on 2 land forever. Rending Volley on a flashed in Rattlechains slowed him, particularly when he sacced a Mausoleum Wanderer to counter the Rending Volley. Sorry Charlie, no can counter. Eventually just played too much stuff and he died.
G3: On Stream (https://www.twitch.tv/geekfortress/v/81266933 1:36-1:47. Win on the back of CoCo into Thalia and Garrison with Militia Captain out.
Summary: Mausoleum Wanderers and Spell Queller can be a beating when they curve out. If we can get on board, our damage rate is so much greater.
W 2-1 (2-0)
M3: UR Aggro (on stream 2:10-2:42)
G1: Early damage from Village Messengers into two naked Stratus Dancers and a Mirrorwing Dragon killed me before I could mount an offence.
SB: +1 Dromoka's Command, +1 Archangel Avacyn, +1 Sigarda, +1 Duskwatch, +1 Lambholt, +1 Savage Alliance, +1 Hanweir Militia Captain, -3 Hamlet Captain, -3 Abbot of Keral Keep, -1 Tireless Tracker
G2: A couple of Heron's Grace Champions made racing academic
G3: Call of the Full Moon on a naked Stratus Dancer killed me before I got access to 3 mana. I punted by trying to get on board. I could have forced him to sac the enchantment and fought the Stratus Dancer with Dromoka's Command. It could have given me a few more turns
Summary: Not an expected deck. I think I can get over 50% by playing better
L 2-1 (2-1)
M4 UW Spirits
G1: He curved out. I never got a foothold
Sideboarding: +1 Dromoka's Command, +1 Archangel Avacyn, +1 Sigarda, +1 Duskwatch, +1 Lambholt, +1 Rending Volley, +1 Savage Alliance, +1 Hanweir Militia Captain, +2 Eerie Interlude, -3 Hamlet Captain, -3 Abbot of Keral Keep, -2 Tireless Tracker -2 Collected Company
G2: I got some creatures down, then played Heron's Grace Champion for no value at end of my turn, after opponent played some spirits. He couldn't race my board with lifelink.
G3: Kept a 5 lander. Drew more land. Died horribly.
Summary: Sideboarding was bad, leaving me with too few creatures. Probably should have mulled G3
L 2-1 (2-2) (6th of ~14)
Conclusions: It was competitive. With tweaking and better piloting, it can do even better. My opponents were mostly aggro/tempo, and there are slower decks in the meta, so tweaking the deck too hard to combat aggro could backfire even at this venue.
The cards:
Edited for completeness. Edits in italics
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
I didn't got to play against Spirit, but was rewarded with 2 games against Bant Humans. I definetly have to learn how to play that matchup...
Edit : BTW, that Spirit your opponent flickered should have entered the Battlefield tapped thanks to Thalia.
Edit : It's great that your store is streaming the games on twitch. I will recommend that to my store! As a side note, the game I played against Bant Humans that took 48 minutes to end 0-1, our Battlefield would have NEVER fit on the screen. There was about 25+ creatures, same amount of lands, plus all the Clues...
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
I think Tragic Arrogance would be a nice card to consider in the "mirror" match (CoCo G/W/x). Or is too slow? See above for my comment on how a board can stall and get unmanageable. This would have sealed the deal (if only we could have get to game 2 and side it in).
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.