Link to one of these decks? I'm not seeing them posted.
I was looking at what I call Sultai Red and linked to 3 in my last post in the Sultai Midrange thread. If this link works out correctly it shows multiple successful Sultai Constrictor and Sultai non-Constrictor Energy decks. No, it doesn't. Here and here are a couple, but I thought I had seen more and more recently.
Seth Manfield cut back to 3 in his PT list. I have copied that and have considered going down to 2 maindeck. I don't consider it a sacred cow, but at what point do we have so few cards that are improved by Constrictor that Constrictor isn't good?
Winding Constrictor makes the deck tick. The +1/+1 counter synergy is key here. But like you all know, the snake also does wonders with energy generation. Glint-Sleeve Siphoner is a great example of that value. Also, Aether Hub becomes a "free" card draw or a +1/+1 counter. I wouldn't play the deck without it and the way I see it, I only have three creatures which don't have any benefit from it. Those cards rely purely on their own strenghts and are the main reason to splash blue in the deck obviously.
The problem with that line is Temur energy plays the long game better than you with better resources. Glorybringer and company are a hell of a crew.
Now this is a statement I can get behind, Glorybringer and Whirler Virtuoso would be very problematic. But, if not THE midrange game, it doesn't mean we can't play A midrange game. Sultai has the synergy, the more consistent mana base and sideboard tech going for it.
Store Championships coming up next week. Any new sweet tech that being been testing? I haven't been able to play for a few weeks, so I feel behind on the times.
Zitrone, good report and thanks for sharing! Don't let the silence fool you. It's been quiet on the Standard front, so there's been little activity here. Feel free to jump into the discussion when this thread can freely discuss Rivals of Ixalan (after all spoilers are revealed) and how it will influence the deck and meta.
It's not new, but Key to the City can be bonkers if you want to keep your deck aggressive. No one expects it after boarding. At least not right now. I bring it in against control just to draw extra cards. I bring it against other energy decks to invalidate their board. It's just good. People still have a tough time bringing in enough Abrade to deal with everything. Stay aggressive friends!
Store Championships coming up next week. Any new sweet tech that being been testing? I haven't been able to play for a few weeks, so I feel behind on the times.
Zitrone, good report and thanks for sharing! Don't let the silence fool you. It's been quiet on the Standard front, so there's been little activity here. Feel free to jump into the discussion when this thread can freely discuss Rivals of Ixalan (after all spoilers are revealed) and how it will influence the deck and meta.
Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!
I got rocked on Sultai Red Midrange last night. Based on those results and the feel of I am liking Constrictor more. The bad thing is that I have poisoned my local metas by playing Constrictor.
Somehow I roped myself into updating the OP for Temur, so I keep track of developments there also. Some of us are close to being able to cast UU spells. Some of the latest Temur tech is many and maindeck Vizier of Many Faces and Confiscation Coup has been around. We can do those also.
Gonti trumps Bristling Hydra nicely. I haven't tested it much, but I am on Skysovereign from the sideboard to help against Glorybringer. I am also on a build with two each of Hydra, Gonti and Hostage Taker. With a lot of GPG and Ramunap Red in my meta, I run 3 Deathgorge Scavenger in the sideboard.
This mostly seems stale, but that is kind of the story of this meta.
I appreciate the reports also, even if I just upvote rather than adding a comment that I don't think will be practically helpful.
I note that Gonti is appearing in deck lists as a one-of. Recognising the legendary nature of the card, has anyone got a view about whether 2 copies is viable?
I note that Gonti is appearing in deck lists as a one-of. Recognising the legendary nature of the card, has anyone got a view about whether 2 copies is viable?
I am probably misunderstanding, but I see other decks with different game plans playing as many as 3. Given that we start with Constrictor and need a critical mass of synergistic cards, we don't have as many slots for pure value plays.
In a vacuum, two of a legendary is fine and Gonti guarantees some value. But whether you have two additional discretionary slots and if it's good in your meta are different questions. When I am dead after it is Glorybrought or Ahn-Crop Crashed, having a card in exile doesn't help.
I note that Gonti is appearing in deck lists as a one-of. Recognising the legendary nature of the card, has anyone got a view about whether 2 copies is viable?
In my esteem, Gonti is best used in a recursion deck. You really want to land him, get the value, block with him to save life points and kill a creature, recur him, wash/rinse/repeat. He can be a 3-for-1 pretty easily by himself, but since there's no synergy with our deck, he doesn't make the top tier cut. In a recursion deck, though, he shines.
I’d been using only bristling hydra in the four drop slot after falling out of love with hostage taker. The Jaberwocki list was making use of a single Gonti but with more high CMC cards like Vraska and Torrential Gearhulk.
I guess I’m looking for something with better long game against Temur but which can still handle RR, vampires and mono black.
I took the base G/B package to showdown last night after hemming and hawing about what deck to bring. Hadn't piloted it in a while but it was like riding a bike.
I went 3-1, had to fight through UB control, naya midrange control (really liked his deck) and a poor new guy on his first FNM ever. only loss to temur, but, I blame myself for that because I kept a sketchy 7 game 1 and flooded out, then a sketchy 6 game 2 and never hit a third land.
Store championship on Friday and I'm contemplating running sultai. I have all the pieces to adapt the deck, but am wondering. Is it more difficult to pilot than base G/B? looking at the lists I am uncertain, but want the best chance to take home that playmat. Anyone have advice that has played both? Thanks.
Edit: Can anyone suggest gold cards against Glorybringer specifically? This is the number 1 card this deck is weak against in my opinion.
I took the base G/B package to showdown last night after hemming and hawing about what deck to bring. Hadn't piloted it in a while but it was like riding a bike.
I went 3-1, had to fight through UB control, naya midrange control (really liked his deck) and a poor new guy on his first FNM ever. only loss to temur, but, I blame myself for that because I kept a sketchy 7 game 1 and flooded out, then a sketchy 6 game 2 and never hit a third land.
Store championship on Friday and I'm contemplating running sultai. I have all the pieces to adapt the deck, but am wondering. Is it more difficult to pilot than base G/B? looking at the lists I am uncertain, but want the best chance to take home that playmat. Anyone have advice that has played both? Thanks.
Edit: Can anyone suggest gold cards against Glorybringer specifically? This is the number 1 card this deck is weak against in my opinion.
I'm not sure a G/B version of the deck is strong enough after the Ixalan rotation. It lost some of the key cards that made it competitive and it seems weak compared to the Sultai version. I'm just glad the sultai version came up, because the pre rotation G/B snake deck was my favourite.
I think the best removal for Glorybringer in this deck is Vraska's Contempt, Hostage Taker with a blossoming defense ready for backup and an Essence Scatter (if you can sneak it in the deck) Also Vraska the Relic Seeker's -3.
It's basically only really heavy and somewhat clunky cards to deal with a Glorybringer. That's why I think finding space for two essence scatters would be amazing.
I would love having two in them main board because the meta at my FNM is very temur heavy and Essence Scatter is just awesome, I'm just not sure what to take out.
Right on, thanks for the reply, took Sultai to the store championship tonight and missed top 8 by slim margin of tiebreakers. But that's ok, I could have just played better and been in. Was a really fun night. Between Glint Sleeve and Rogue Refiner, we just draw so many cards it's unreal.
Right on, thanks for the reply, took Sultai to the store championship tonight and missed top 8 by slim margin of tiebreakers. But that's ok, I could have just played better and been in. Was a really fun night. Between Glint Sleeve and Rogue Refiner, we just draw so many cards it's unreal.
It's a bit late but I link to random successful decks in the OP, so it might be worth a look. Here is the one straight GB MTGO 5-0 that I have noted. I'm glad you had fun anyway. I'm hoping for some luck tomorrow.
Edit: Got there at a store championship. Only 8 people. Beat UW Cycling, Grixis Control and Temur Energy. Played a pretty generic Sultai Snek with 3 Hostage Taker and 3 Bristling Hydra. Siphoner was an all-star for me and Hostage Taker stole a game against Temur, but the Temur player was basically mana screwed.
It's good to see the Hydra back in the lists! So powerfull!
Also, did you take out pushes and defense to make room? How did that work out for you, and what did you cut from the SB?
I also had a fairly decent run at my store championship. Got 3rd. Ended up losing game 3 to getting mana screwed in what I think is a good post-sideboard match (UW GPG). I ran with a fairly stock list, except I put in 2 Bristling Hydra in the main with only 2 Hostage Taker. Bristling Hydra has been really good lately. Jaberwocki's new build may have more merit than I initially believed (only because he said he wasn't even sure how it lined up against Temur energy). Hostage Taker is still quite useful, but I tend to like Vraska's Contempt more now.
It's good to see the Hydra back in the lists! So powerfull!
Also, did you take out pushes and defense to make room? How did that work out for you, and what did you cut from the SB?
I expected to face Ramunap Red and thought I might face Temur. In the event, there was no Ramunap Red and 2/8 were Temur. I added a Hydra, a Hostage Taker and a Push, while cutting 2 Gonti and a Spell Pierce. I will update the deck and edit in a link. Hydra was very good, Push and defense were not, but small sample size.
Edit: I just updated the deck in the deckbuilder: here (let me know if you want to, but can't see it). I changed more than I remembered changing and the revision history feature actually worked. To wit:
Revision: 2
A moment ago
Main Board
-2
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
+1
Bristling Hydra
+1
Blossoming Defense
+1
Hostage Taker
+1
Fatal Push
-1
Aethersphere Harvester
-1
Die Young
Side Board
-1
Spell Pierce
-1
Blossoming Defense
+1
Fatal Push
+1
Die Young
I also had a fairly decent run at my store championship. Got 3rd. Ended up losing game 3 to getting mana screwed in what I think is a good post-sideboard match (UW GPG). I ran with a fairly stock list, except I put in 2 Bristling Hydra in the main with only 2 Hostage Taker. Bristling Hydra has been really good lately. Jaberwocki's new build may have more merit than I initially believed (only because he said he wasn't even sure how it lined up against Temur energy). Hostage Taker is still quite useful, but I tend to like Vraska's Contempt more now.
Jaberwocki's new build? I've only seen him 5-0ing with Temur and 4-Color lately. How can I find this build? His twitter feed is amusing, so worth the visit, but I didn't see it there.
I have struggled against UW GPG. Why do you think we are favored?
I also had a fairly decent run at my store championship. Got 3rd. Ended up losing game 3 to getting mana screwed in what I think is a good post-sideboard match (UW GPG). I ran with a fairly stock list, except I put in 2 Bristling Hydra in the main with only 2 Hostage Taker. Bristling Hydra has been really good lately. Jaberwocki's new build may have more merit than I initially believed (only because he said he wasn't even sure how it lined up against Temur energy). Hostage Taker is still quite useful, but I tend to like Vraska's Contempt more now.
Jaberwocki's new build? I've only seen him 5-0ing with Temur and 4-Color lately. How can I find this build? His twitter feed is amusing, so worth the visit, but I didn't see it there.
I have struggled against UW GPG. Why do you think we are favored?
After sideboarding, they tend to go to a midrange plan that's easily worse than our synergies in general. They do bring in Angel of Sanctions to break some of that up, but often it ends up being too slow. Knowing that they can't play Fumigate in some situations without wrecking their own plan is pretty much the key to my success. That usually only leaves Settle the Wreckage as the only card I have to beat outside of a few Cast Out, which aren't usually a problem after game 1. The Scarab God and Deathgorge Scavenger usually wreck them. Sometimes I get to snatch their God-Pharaoh's Gift or Angel of Sanctions with Hostage Taker and make them cry. Bristling Hydra frustrates their Cast Out/Angel of Sanctions plan. From there, I usually let Glint-Sleeve Siphoner or The Scarab God do their work. It's never failed me, except when I've gotten land screwed. I think their deck is too slow post-sideboard and doesn't really adapt well. I think they should be playing four Ixalan's Binding against us, but I almost never see this card from that deck.
The Esper version, however, is just a nightmare.
I'll have to find that Sultai list for you later. Gotta prep for guests.
Here is a pic of the list. Jaberwocki may not have 5-0'd with it but the streamer who was playing it credited Jaberwocki. Jaberwocki came into the stream chat to talk a bit about it too.
My only problem was fighting Ramunap Red in the last round. We were pretty evenly matched, coming down to turns in the last game. I actually had the win in my grasp, but had a slight misplay because I forgot about Ramunap Ruins.
I beat RR more than I lose to it, so I feel pretty good about being a hair away from nabbing first place.
I liked servant of the conduit in the deck. I will replace the mainboard walking ballista with another servant. Servant helps a ton with being able to keep our first hands despite only 1-2 lands in it (assuming we have an attune or 2 with the one land.) It saved my butt one game where a kept a 2-land color fixed hand and proceeded to draw no lands over the 3-4 card draws. I was able to draw through my no land pocket with R. refiner and glint-sleeve thanks to servant. I won the game despite being on two lands for turns 3 and 4, and turn 5 finally drawing a tapped land. It wasn't pretty, but I didn't stand a chance without servant.
I think a servant or two could be what this deck really wants. I want to play 2 the scarab god and 6 4 cost spells, but be greedy and play only 21 lands. One servant didn't seem like quite enough to get away with it, but 2 should be the ticket to enabling the high casting cost and color hungry-cost of our spells. I also find I can side out the servants, when I side out the scarab god against RR. My sideboard plan against aggro decks is to get rid of the very high CMC spells and a servant or two, and add in Harsh Scrutiny and blossoming defense. This allows me to stay much more aggressive and proactive against these fast decks. I some how forgot about Die Young before I went to play. This card is exactly what I was missing when I wanted some better removal. I'll fit in 1 or 2 in the sideboard.
Bristling Hydra is still the all-star of the deck for me. It is even better than the Scarab God in that it creates a nearly unbeatable creature in combat on our turn 4. I have won so many games off of a hydra and an energy bank it's ridiculous. Snek swoops in unexpectedly late game with the hydra and energy on the board and the opponent goes from feeling confident they can't die on our turn to dead.
The deck is just good at pretty much everything. While we may not be the most explosive deck in the format, we are by far the most resilient and consistent I feel. Then again, I never seem to run into Temur decks at my gamestore. Happy New Year!
My store stopped hosting FNM for the last month due to a local Christmas event every friday night. They are back on schedule and I will be back to playing with Sultai snake every week again.
I think I agree on wanting two Servant of the Conduit. It definitely adds value in just being able to ramp into 4-cmc spells faster as well as getting to the point of playing two spells a turn slightly faster than Temur and sometimes Ramunap Red.
I've been goldfishing with 2 servant of the conduit. Here's all the good news:
Yes, being able to play this turn 2 and start casting 2 spells a turn asap is very helpful.
I've struggled with more mulligans than I like, and playing my Bristling Hydra, The scarab God and Vraska's contempt on time. Servant fixes all of these problems. With only 21 land, we can really struggle with finding our colors and lands to play our 3, 4 and 5 cmc spells on curve. Also, between rogue refiner and glint-sleeve siphoner, sometimes we are doing really well with the number of cards in hand, but want to play them faster.
Servant gains synergy with snake. Play a servant with snake out and it's an extra hexproof for hydra. We can also turn 2 servant into turn 3 glint-sleeve with a mana up for b. defense or fatal push, with the energy to draw a card turn 4 off glint-sleeve.
Servant punishes both aggro and control decks when our cards line up properly. We punish aggro by having an extra 2/2 and the ability to play a creature+b. defense or fatal push. Servant is also not the greatest target for early removal, as it's not extremely crucial to our game plan. On the flip side, it's almost always the best turn 2 play for us. Even if it's removed, dropping a cub or glint-sleeve into 2 energy turn 3 is much better than just playing them on turn 2 and hoping they don't get removed before we can get them going.
We punish control with servant by playing it turn 2, then playing 2 2 drops on turn 3, beating out their possible waiting counterspell. If we are on the play the first game, we may be able to stick a turn 3 bristling hydra and watch them cry.
A turn 3 Hydra or turn 4 The scarab god is just about enough to make any deck shake in it's boots.
In the end, our deck did better before the last rotation when it was much more aggressive. We also could use more snake synergy. The deck needs better mana/color fixing if we want to stay at 21 lands and run all of the 4/5 drops we like. I find I lost games mostly when I couldn't play the spells I want, when I wanted to. Servant to the rescue.
Here's my newest list with more info. about servant as it pertains to this deck below:
With 2 servant in the deck 4 bristling hydra become even better. I'm not a fan of Hostage taker over 4 hydras. Hydra allows us to stay aggressive, while hostage taker require us to finesse the board before playing it. Turn 3 Hydra will ruin people's days.
With 4 hydra and 2 the scarab god in the deck, Rhonas the indomitable is a boss. I have won more than one game drawing him later on with six mana and just trampling through for the win. I've also won more than one game playing him early. The resiliency between him and hydra is strong.
I've added a Cartouche of Knowledge in place of the second Rishkar I had in the deck. Again, drawing enough cards to fix our mana et. Having one more draw spell does wonders. It replaces rishkar, but can still help turn on Rhonas. We can put snake out of Abrade range. One of the best uses is for flying cubs, hydras and scarab gods. This card can come out of nowhere and win us the game a turn early, like rhonas. The fact that it's good early and late game on an evasive cantrip is decent. We just have to play it a little conservatively, lest our targeted creature become removed before it resolves. On the other hand, we can get really sneaky by playing this while saving a b. defense in hand, baiting them to target our best creature with removal only to give it hexproof, +2/+2 until end of turn, plus +1/+1 and flying permanently. I can see this card helping us trick Ramnuap red, or at least out pace them with a giant flyer.
Anybody seen some of the new green/black cards from Rivals of Ixalan? Some of them seem to have a lot of potential. I have a feeling the Sultai deck or the straight up green/black deck will get a power boost with the release of Rivals. I'm pretty hype
If this link works out correctly it shows multiple successful Sultai Constrictor and Sultai non-Constrictor Energy decks.No, it doesn't. Here and here are a couple, but I thought I had seen more and more recently.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.
Winding Constrictor makes the deck tick. The +1/+1 counter synergy is key here. But like you all know, the snake also does wonders with energy generation. Glint-Sleeve Siphoner is a great example of that value. Also, Aether Hub becomes a "free" card draw or a +1/+1 counter. I wouldn't play the deck without it and the way I see it, I only have three creatures which don't have any benefit from it. Those cards rely purely on their own strenghts and are the main reason to splash blue in the deck obviously.
Now this is a statement I can get behind, Glorybringer and Whirler Virtuoso would be very problematic. But, if not THE midrange game, it doesn't mean we can't play A midrange game. Sultai has the synergy, the more consistent mana base and sideboard tech going for it.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
Zitrone, good report and thanks for sharing! Don't let the silence fool you. It's been quiet on the Standard front, so there's been little activity here. Feel free to jump into the discussion when this thread can freely discuss Rivals of Ixalan (after all spoilers are revealed) and how it will influence the deck and meta.
Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!
Somehow I roped myself into updating the OP for Temur, so I keep track of developments there also. Some of us are close to being able to cast UU spells. Some of the latest Temur tech is many and maindeck Vizier of Many Faces and Confiscation Coup has been around. We can do those also.
Gonti trumps Bristling Hydra nicely. I haven't tested it much, but I am on Skysovereign from the sideboard to help against Glorybringer. I am also on a build with two each of Hydra, Gonti and Hostage Taker. With a lot of GPG and Ramunap Red in my meta, I run 3 Deathgorge Scavenger in the sideboard.
This mostly seems stale, but that is kind of the story of this meta.
I appreciate the reports also, even if I just upvote rather than adding a comment that I don't think will be practically helpful.
Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays all around!
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 a vacuum, two of a legendary is fine and Gonti guarantees some value. But whether you have two additional discretionary slots and if it's good in your meta are different questions. When I am dead after it is Glorybrought or Ahn-Crop Crashed, having a card in exile doesn't help.
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 my esteem, Gonti is best used in a recursion deck. You really want to land him, get the value, block with him to save life points and kill a creature, recur him, wash/rinse/repeat. He can be a 3-for-1 pretty easily by himself, but since there's no synergy with our deck, he doesn't make the top tier cut. In a recursion deck, though, he shines.
I’d been using only bristling hydra in the four drop slot after falling out of love with hostage taker. The Jaberwocki list was making use of a single Gonti but with more high CMC cards like Vraska and Torrential Gearhulk.
I guess I’m looking for something with better long game against Temur but which can still handle RR, vampires and mono black.
I went 3-1, had to fight through UB control, naya midrange control (really liked his deck) and a poor new guy on his first FNM ever. only loss to temur, but, I blame myself for that because I kept a sketchy 7 game 1 and flooded out, then a sketchy 6 game 2 and never hit a third land.
Store championship on Friday and I'm contemplating running sultai. I have all the pieces to adapt the deck, but am wondering. Is it more difficult to pilot than base G/B? looking at the lists I am uncertain, but want the best chance to take home that playmat. Anyone have advice that has played both? Thanks.
Edit: Can anyone suggest gold cards against Glorybringer specifically? This is the number 1 card this deck is weak against in my opinion.
I'm not sure a G/B version of the deck is strong enough after the Ixalan rotation. It lost some of the key cards that made it competitive and it seems weak compared to the Sultai version. I'm just glad the sultai version came up, because the pre rotation G/B snake deck was my favourite.
I think the best removal for Glorybringer in this deck is Vraska's Contempt, Hostage Taker with a blossoming defense ready for backup and an Essence Scatter (if you can sneak it in the deck) Also Vraska the Relic Seeker's -3.
It's basically only really heavy and somewhat clunky cards to deal with a Glorybringer. That's why I think finding space for two essence scatters would be amazing.
I would love having two in them main board because the meta at my FNM is very temur heavy and Essence Scatter is just awesome, I'm just not sure what to take out.
Edit: Got there at a store championship. Only 8 people. Beat UW Cycling, Grixis Control and Temur Energy. Played a pretty generic Sultai Snek with 3 Hostage Taker and 3 Bristling Hydra. Siphoner was an all-star for me and Hostage Taker stole a game against Temur, but the Temur player was basically mana screwed.
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.
It's good to see the Hydra back in the lists! So powerfull!
Also, did you take out pushes and defense to make room? How did that work out for you, and what did you cut from the SB?
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
Edit: I just updated the deck in the deckbuilder: here (let me know if you want to, but can't see it). I changed more than I remembered changing and the revision history feature actually worked. To wit:
Revision: 2
A moment ago
Main Board
-2
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
+1
Bristling Hydra
+1
Blossoming Defense
+1
Hostage Taker
+1
Fatal Push
-1
Aethersphere Harvester
-1
Die Young
Side Board
-1
Spell Pierce
-1
Blossoming Defense
+1
Fatal Push
+1
Die Young
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 have struggled against UW GPG. Why do you think we are favored?
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.
After sideboarding, they tend to go to a midrange plan that's easily worse than our synergies in general. They do bring in Angel of Sanctions to break some of that up, but often it ends up being too slow. Knowing that they can't play Fumigate in some situations without wrecking their own plan is pretty much the key to my success. That usually only leaves Settle the Wreckage as the only card I have to beat outside of a few Cast Out, which aren't usually a problem after game 1. The Scarab God and Deathgorge Scavenger usually wreck them. Sometimes I get to snatch their God-Pharaoh's Gift or Angel of Sanctions with Hostage Taker and make them cry. Bristling Hydra frustrates their Cast Out/Angel of Sanctions plan. From there, I usually let Glint-Sleeve Siphoner or The Scarab God do their work. It's never failed me, except when I've gotten land screwed. I think their deck is too slow post-sideboard and doesn't really adapt well. I think they should be playing four Ixalan's Binding against us, but I almost never see this card from that deck.
The Esper version, however, is just a nightmare.
I'll have to find that Sultai list for you later. Gotta prep for guests.
4x Glint-sleeve Siphoner
4x Longtusk Cub
1x servant of the conduit
1x Walking Ballista
4x Rogue Refiner
1x Rhonas the indomitable
2x Rishkar, Peema renegade
4x Bristling Hydra
2x The Scarab God
4x Attune with Aether
2x Blossoming defense
4x Fatal Push
2x Vraska's Contempt
land 21
4x Aether Hub
4x Blooming Marsh
4x Botanical Sanctum
1x Fetid Pools
1x Drowned Catacomb
4x forest
2x swamp
1x Island
1x Vraska's contempt
1x Lifecrafter's bestiary
2x Deathgorge Scavenger
2x Negate
1x Kitesail freebooter
2x Duress
2x Harsh Scrutiny
2x Walking Ballista
My only problem was fighting Ramunap Red in the last round. We were pretty evenly matched, coming down to turns in the last game. I actually had the win in my grasp, but had a slight misplay because I forgot about Ramunap Ruins.
I beat RR more than I lose to it, so I feel pretty good about being a hair away from nabbing first place.
I liked servant of the conduit in the deck. I will replace the mainboard walking ballista with another servant. Servant helps a ton with being able to keep our first hands despite only 1-2 lands in it (assuming we have an attune or 2 with the one land.) It saved my butt one game where a kept a 2-land color fixed hand and proceeded to draw no lands over the 3-4 card draws. I was able to draw through my no land pocket with R. refiner and glint-sleeve thanks to servant. I won the game despite being on two lands for turns 3 and 4, and turn 5 finally drawing a tapped land. It wasn't pretty, but I didn't stand a chance without servant.
I think a servant or two could be what this deck really wants. I want to play 2 the scarab god and 6 4 cost spells, but be greedy and play only 21 lands. One servant didn't seem like quite enough to get away with it, but 2 should be the ticket to enabling the high casting cost and color hungry-cost of our spells. I also find I can side out the servants, when I side out the scarab god against RR. My sideboard plan against aggro decks is to get rid of the very high CMC spells and a servant or two, and add in Harsh Scrutiny and blossoming defense. This allows me to stay much more aggressive and proactive against these fast decks. I some how forgot about Die Young before I went to play. This card is exactly what I was missing when I wanted some better removal. I'll fit in 1 or 2 in the sideboard.
Bristling Hydra is still the all-star of the deck for me. It is even better than the Scarab God in that it creates a nearly unbeatable creature in combat on our turn 4. I have won so many games off of a hydra and an energy bank it's ridiculous. Snek swoops in unexpectedly late game with the hydra and energy on the board and the opponent goes from feeling confident they can't die on our turn to dead.
The deck is just good at pretty much everything. While we may not be the most explosive deck in the format, we are by far the most resilient and consistent I feel. Then again, I never seem to run into Temur decks at my gamestore. Happy New Year!
My store stopped hosting FNM for the last month due to a local Christmas event every friday night. They are back on schedule and I will be back to playing with Sultai snake every week again.
Yes, being able to play this turn 2 and start casting 2 spells a turn asap is very helpful.
I've struggled with more mulligans than I like, and playing my Bristling Hydra, The scarab God and Vraska's contempt on time. Servant fixes all of these problems. With only 21 land, we can really struggle with finding our colors and lands to play our 3, 4 and 5 cmc spells on curve. Also, between rogue refiner and glint-sleeve siphoner, sometimes we are doing really well with the number of cards in hand, but want to play them faster.
Servant gains synergy with snake. Play a servant with snake out and it's an extra hexproof for hydra. We can also turn 2 servant into turn 3 glint-sleeve with a mana up for b. defense or fatal push, with the energy to draw a card turn 4 off glint-sleeve.
Servant punishes both aggro and control decks when our cards line up properly. We punish aggro by having an extra 2/2 and the ability to play a creature+b. defense or fatal push. Servant is also not the greatest target for early removal, as it's not extremely crucial to our game plan. On the flip side, it's almost always the best turn 2 play for us. Even if it's removed, dropping a cub or glint-sleeve into 2 energy turn 3 is much better than just playing them on turn 2 and hoping they don't get removed before we can get them going.
We punish control with servant by playing it turn 2, then playing 2 2 drops on turn 3, beating out their possible waiting counterspell. If we are on the play the first game, we may be able to stick a turn 3 bristling hydra and watch them cry.
A turn 3 Hydra or turn 4 The scarab god is just about enough to make any deck shake in it's boots.
In the end, our deck did better before the last rotation when it was much more aggressive. We also could use more snake synergy. The deck needs better mana/color fixing if we want to stay at 21 lands and run all of the 4/5 drops we like. I find I lost games mostly when I couldn't play the spells I want, when I wanted to. Servant to the rescue.
Here's my newest list with more info. about servant as it pertains to this deck below:
4x Winding Constrictor
4x Glint-sleeve Siphoner
4x Longtusk Cub
2x servant of the conduit
4x Rogue Refiner
1x Rhonas the indomitable
1x Rishkar, Peema renegade
4x Bristling Hydra
2x The Scarab God
non-creature 13
4x Attune with Aether
1x Cartouche of knowledge
2x Blossoming defense
4x Fatal Push
1x Die young
1x Vraska's Contempt
4x Aether Hub
4x Blooming Marsh
4x Botanical Sanctum
1x Fetid Pools
1x Drowned Catacomb
4x forest
2x swamp
1x Island
2x Blossoming Defense
1x Vraska's contempt
1x Lifecrafter's bestiary
2x Deathgorge Scavenger
2x Negate
1x Kitesail freebooter
2x Duress
2x Harsh Scrutiny
2x Walking Ballista
With 2 servant in the deck 4 bristling hydra become even better. I'm not a fan of Hostage taker over 4 hydras. Hydra allows us to stay aggressive, while hostage taker require us to finesse the board before playing it. Turn 3 Hydra will ruin people's days.
With 4 hydra and 2 the scarab god in the deck, Rhonas the indomitable is a boss. I have won more than one game drawing him later on with six mana and just trampling through for the win. I've also won more than one game playing him early. The resiliency between him and hydra is strong.
I've added a Cartouche of Knowledge in place of the second Rishkar I had in the deck. Again, drawing enough cards to fix our mana et. Having one more draw spell does wonders. It replaces rishkar, but can still help turn on Rhonas. We can put snake out of Abrade range. One of the best uses is for flying cubs, hydras and scarab gods. This card can come out of nowhere and win us the game a turn early, like rhonas. The fact that it's good early and late game on an evasive cantrip is decent. We just have to play it a little conservatively, lest our targeted creature become removed before it resolves. On the other hand, we can get really sneaky by playing this while saving a b. defense in hand, baiting them to target our best creature with removal only to give it hexproof, +2/+2 until end of turn, plus +1/+1 and flying permanently. I can see this card helping us trick Ramnuap red, or at least out pace them with a giant flyer.
Thoughts?