@the_codaddy - I have been very impressed with Glyph Keeper. Forcing them to spend 2 removal on it just feels really good against most control decks. Then buy it back for 7 mana is pretty nuts. Against Temur, Glorybringer has been doing a lot of work for me also. But I am still trying to work out the correct 75 cards.
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Modern
Currently Playing UW UW Control/Miracles R Skred Red
played Jeskai at a very small PPTQ today, went 2-2 but the good news is that I 2-0 both my Temur Match ups. I lost to Mardu Vehicles and to a teammate on ramunap red (1-2).
I think (no I'm sure), the Jeskai SB needs to have Authority of the Consuls, it's the one card I missed and I think a few Regal C's to shore up the aggro match ups. Other than that, I would play Jeskai in a field of energy. The Sb is something I didn't really have down until after today's PPTQ. Will post the update list in a few hours.
Harnessed Lightning was pretty much Doom blade all day. Card was an ace all day. I thought about how push would've performed and I know for sure that lightning is more versatile it's on line. I will be running Jeskai again tomorrow.
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Standard Arena: Eh? Gruul or Die
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now: G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record) C Eldrazi Tron (9-5) UG Infect RW Burn
Last night at FNM, I was talking to some of the other guys there about which they liked better in my Approach deck, Fatal or Harness. It was a pretty even split. I like Jeskai because of Harness and the mana base. Currently trying the draw-go style decks and there is almost no way for me to turn on the Revolt part of Fatal, so imo, it is just not as strong.
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Modern
Currently Playing UW UW Control/Miracles R Skred Red
yeah i tried him and he was the definition of average. I also really like Glyph Keeper. Great card to bring in against temur. I dont like cats in that matchup. Too many ways to take them out.
@MarioAugusto88 - nice work at the PPTQ. Hour sounds like an interesting card because you are right, everyone seems to be playing around Settle now. Quick question, when you bring in Vraska's Contempt, how often do you run into mana issues casting it? I like the looks of Esper but the mana base just seems pretty rough (that is the main reason I am on Jeskai, mana base is a lot smoother, IMO).
A bunch of UWx Approach decks did well in Baltimore this weekend. Most interesting is U/W Approach Jorge Esquivel. Pretty standard except no Search for Azcanta main just one in the sideboard. Assuming he brings it in against control. As much as I like Search, it does kinda make sense, I usually board them out against Temur and Aggro and those are 75-80% of the meta right now.
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Modern
Currently Playing UW UW Control/Miracles R Skred Red
top 8’d 30 person pptq. undefeated in the swiss, lost in top 8 to my buddy on jeskai gift ( he took the tournanent down).
2-0 vs uw tokens
2-0 vs temur
2-1 vs temur ( i got a game loss here becuase i forgot to register 2 cast outs. didnt matter i slam dunked this match in regardless)
r4 id
r5 id
quarters vs jeskai gift. this is a team deck we have been working on. it has consisteny been in the finals and g1 was super tight and technical. g2 i mull to 5 whomp whomp.
yeah my swiss record was 100 percent % win rate. the game loss didnt matter, the deck crushed. my team put 3 into top 8 and 2 into finals along with the eventual winner.
jeskai approach has issues vs gpg. uw may be the better option if gpg is in your meta but my win rate vs temur is 100% in the last week. it is a slam dunk. mono red match up is dicey but winnable. deck felt great.
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Standard Arena: Eh? Gruul or Die
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now: G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record) C Eldrazi Tron (9-5) UG Infect RW Burn
Moving forward: The lack of Control (aside from Approach decks) means that Baral is replaceable. That said, I bring him in against Temur in G3 if I lose on the draw (it hasn't happened yet). Cards I want to cut from the SB:
Pull from Tomorrow, the control mirror is not something I think we should hedge against for now. While there were 2 approach decks in the top 8 yesterday; there were only 4 control decks in the entire room.
Jace's Defeat, I had this card in the 75 specifically as a mana efficient answer to UB based decks. My meta doesn't have a high enough share of UB Gift, or UB Control, OR UB midrange to merit a slot right now. It is hell of effective against them.
Baral, Chief of Compliance is our answer to UB original Sb plan of Glint sleeves and Aetherborn. Well, UB has fallen off the map and control mirrors aren't exactly that common atm. I do like Baral G3 in every energy match up. It just so happens that this version of approach is very favored against them that G3 doesn't happen that often. It may not be the time to cut this card yet but it's something I've been considering.
@pumpmonkey, Hour of Revelation might be a silver bullet in that match up. The plan against GPG was to cut Fumigate (You really don't want to tap out against this deck and put things into their yard) and rely on Settle the Wreckage and permission. It would've worked G1 but my friend drew the 2nd Siren Stormtamer after I casted Memory off a flashed in gearhulk. I had settle ready to go and he just had it...ugh lol. I gave my friend the hardest match up in the top 8. He rolled everyone, I mean we built jeskai gpg to crush energy and it did.
I like your sideboard strategy a lot better than mine. Mine has been (I post at the beginning of this page) to drop Search and Censors in Game 2/3. That just never really felt right. I like the looks of just cuts some of the numbers to make room instead.
So far, 1 Pull From Tomorrow seems to be enough in the 75, so if you keep one main, I can see dropping the one sideboard. Or just leave it in the side and drop the one main to open up a slot.
Jace's Defeat I am right on the fence on. When it works, it sure feels good but a lot of the time it is just OK. May bump up to 4 Negate instead or swap it for a Essence Scatter, which you can use as a pseudo spot removal.
I haven't played that much with Baral, Chief of Compliance but when I do, he seems really strong. Has a big target on his back, which I like. Most of the time, I will spend a few turns fighting over him which just plays into our favor. If he sticks, 1 less to cast everything is a huge plus.
Most of the games that I have lost, other than just not drawing the cards I need, have been because they counter my board wipe and it puts me so far behind I can't recover. That is one of the main reasons I like running 4 Harnessed Lightning, it takes the pressure off of forcing me to turn 4 Settle or turn 5 Fumigate to keep from dying. I can now keep the board clear as much as possible then do a board wipe later. Not being afraid to take some hits has been the biggest improvement to my game since I started playing Approach. Have always heard, 'Use your life total as a resource', finally starting to try and do that.
One card I saw a lot of in Atlanta that worked really well against Temur was River's Rebuke. Not sure it fits nicely into our deck or not but was back breaking in Temur mirror matches.
One card I saw a lot of in Atlanta that worked really well against Temur was River's Rebuke. Not sure it fits nicely into our deck or not but was back breaking in Temur mirror matches.
Clue me in.
Why do this instead of playing more Fumigate?
It hits everything the other guy has on board. Walkers, Artifacts, Enchantments, tokens, everything. But leaves all of yours. If you bring in more creatures/walkers in game 2, this may be a good way to clear their board and swing in for lethal. Or at least force them to rebuild. Can see this being really good against tokens also.
Not sure this is what we need but every time I saw it resolve, it won the game.
And your comment about Opt being our Attune with Aether is 100% correct. I have been trying out the Draw-Go style decks and Opt makes a very big difference in how smooth it runs. When it first came out and I tried it I was not impressed because I just thought I would rather have more cards that did something instead. But now that I look at it more as a way to sculpt my hand instead or just as a way to find another land, a 4 set feels like the right number.
Rebukeis better in other matchups like abzan procession, but still pretty good against temur. However, the more desert's hold, etc. You play, the worse it gets.
So, I finally got a chance to run my Approach deck since last month, I was busy with work and didn't have time to go to the store and play a tourney.
I played the Standard Showdown last Sat, which was 3 rounds and 20+ players and finished with a 2-1 record, coming in at 6th and getting one of those Ixalan SS packs and winning some store credit as well. Here is how it went down:
Round 1 - VS U/W/B God-Pharaoh's Gift deck - 2-1
The good news is that I playtested 3 games against this guy before the tourney, while we were both waiting in the store so we knew each other's decks and sideboards well and I did beat him 2-1 in the playtesting as well. The bad news is that the deck is fairly resilient and plays a lot of hand destruction after sideboarding.
Game 1 - He did his thing and I just didn't draw enough to stop him in time from sacrificing his Gate to the Afterlife to put GOG into play and win.
Game 2 - I put in my creatures and he started by Duressing me, then used Kitesail Freebooter to get another card, but after that I drew into my creatures and beat him down fast.
Game 3 - This was harder since he Duressed me again firs turn, then 2nd turn freebooter, then 3rd turn freebooter and he took a Settle the Wreckage with each one. The bad news was that I had to draw into creatures and I didn't, the good news was that he was almost out of cards in his hand and beating me down slowly with the 2 flyers. I got to 7 mana and cast the first approach to go from 15 life to 22 life, and he beat me down again, but I started to draw into my creatures and finished him off with a couple of Sunscourge Champions. The match-up is not hard, but I didn't have any graveyard hate in my sideboard before the tourney because I didn't play at this store for 1 month and last time there were no GOG decks, so I had to fight my way through without specific help.
Round 2 - VS U/G/R Energy - Glorybringers, Hydras, Cubs and Harnessed Lightning - 2-1
Game 1 - I countered the first 3 creatures that he tried playing with Essence Scatter x2 and one Disallow and then managed to kill the creature he did get out with Cast Out and after that I cast Approach twice to win.
Game 2 - He got creatures out quickly, and I couldn't draw any sweepers for the whole game so I lost to his creature army.
Game 3 - I got a Thaumatic Compass out on turn 2, and then turn 3 I went for a land, turn 4 I Cast Out his Cub that had a couple of energy bonuses on it, Turn 5 I used the compass to get another land and flip it. Turn 6 I cast the first Approach to go from 13 life to 20 life. Turn 7 I cast the 2nd Approach which I had in my hand since the beginning of the game to win the game. He didn't know that I had 2 Approaches in my opening hand and the compass which would help me search for land, make sure I don't miss a land drop and get my 7th land for sure.
Round 3 - VS U/W God-Pharaoh's Gift deck played by Pascal Maynard at the pro tour - 1-2
Game 1 - He cast a couple of sacred cats on turn 1 and turn 2 and started to beat me with them, then he cast another creature, then drew some cards. I cast approach the first time and then after 2 turns I drew into the second approach and cast it again to win the game. I thought it would be an easy match win but I was mistaken.
Game 2 - He cast a lot of card draw and dropped some good creatures into the graveyard and turn 4 he cast Refurbish and I didn't have a counter, he got the GOG into play and made a copy of the [card]Angel of Invention[card] and he beat me down with it in a couple of turns.
Game 3 - I couldn't draw creatures, he cast card draw spells for the first 5 turns, dropping 3 Gift of the God Pharaoh into his graveyard, he cast Refurbish on turn 5 and I countered it, then 2 turns later he cast another Refurbish which went through but before the combat step I cast forsake the worldly to exile it. Little did I know that the turn after he would cast the 3rd Refurbish of the game, I tried to Negate it only to have him Negate my spell and get the 3rd GOG into play, make an angel and go to combat and it was all over from there. I may have been able to win had he not cast 3 Refurbishes between turn 5 and turn 8 of the game of which 2 I dealt with and the 3rd one went through. Unlike the first opponent this guy was smart, kept him combo in the deck and sideboarded Negates and Spell Pierce to make sure he would get to cast his combo cards.
So, I have learned that although the match-up is in our favor in game 1 it can get hard to win if they opponent sideboards in a lot of counters to make sure they get their Refurbish out. Of course I didn't draw enough of my creatures in that game either and also I didn't draw or cast Search of Azcanta in any of the games of this past tourney, or perhaps in only one game but I don't remember for sure.
MVP's of the deck:
1. Thaumatic Compass - it is insane against energy decks, being able to keep a Glorybringer back or a big Cub for a few turns, it's just a beast and as usual you can have more than 1 to flip because the land is not legendary.
2. Approach of the Second Sun - the namesake of this deck won me pretty much all games except for one where I beat down with creatures.
3. Champion of Wits & Sunscourge Champion - offer a 1 - 2 punch at drawing cards and gaining life and are amazing once Eternalized.
So, after playing this tourney the deck is 5-1 so far in the past 2 tourneys, in October I went 3-0 and this month I went 2-1 with the deck. Here is the latest version that I will be playing next month in December with the improved sideboard and some maindeck changes:
2 Kefnet the mindful - OUT - I didn't get them out most games and when I did, he did nothing so he is getting cut.
IN- 1 Sunscourge Champion (full playset) and 1 Wakening Sun's Avatar (testing one as an alternate win condition and board wiper that's a creature so he can't be Negated by opponents)
Sideboard Changes:
I took out some cards that didn't do much for me including the 4 Regal Caracals so the cats are out, I only got to cast them once yesterday and they didn't do much.
IN = 2 Crook of Condemnation - need to deal with the GOG decks since I had to play against 2 of them yesterday, also would deal with Scarab God decks as well.
2 Bishop of Rebirth - underrated card, but will be playable in my deck so I can go aggro and it helps to bring in all my 3 casting cost creatures back from the graveyard and into play for free.
2 Sailor of means - I will be testing these against aggro decks since they have a good blocker body at 1/4 so they can block against mono red or eat a burn spell. They will also give me a treasure for extra mana, and they can come back to Bishop of Rebirth.
1 Gift of the God Pharaoh - Fight fire with fire, I play a lot of useful creatures maindeck and sideboard so this is against the similar deck or mirror match.
1 Spell Swindle - I am going to try this against Energy decks to have an extra counter for glorybringers and such and have some extra mana to use the next turn or in the future.
Let me know what you think of these new changes to the deck!
to me Opt still feels like a cycle with a scry. Anyone done the math for its effectiveness
in my case i tried it and to me i felt id rather have more interaction in the form of anything even Aether Meltdown
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Modern UBRWGHumansUBRWG UMerfolkU
Eldrazi Tron Legacy WDeath & TaxesW Pauper RGoblinsR EDH UGMerfolk ComboGU Standard UWApproachWU
I noticed people playing negates and spell pierces against my deck to deal with non creatures spells so a wrath on a creature would be awesome. He is also an alternate win condition in game one.
As for sunscourge champion I try to hard cast it first or discard it to champion of wits. As for eternalizing it, I try to discard another champion, or champion of wits, or an extra land or a counterspell card, the 2nd search for azcanta if I have one out already or...other cards.
After sideboarding I can use the bishop to put it into play without having to eternalize it.
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"May he who is without mana cast the first spell!"
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I am seeing more Esper Approach list that is running 2 Vraska's Comptemt main board. Esper Approach by darthjacen Just curious how it is playing. It looks like a very rough mana base considering you are trying to have double blue on 3, double white and double black on 4. When I tried it, it felt like all my lands was coming in tapped and I was always a turn behind. Could be I was just not sequencing my lands right.
Is anyone here running Espher? And how are they doing?
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Modern
Currently Playing UW UW Control/Miracles R Skred Red
to me Opt still feels like a cycle with a scry. Anyone done the math for its effectiveness
in my case i tried it and to me i felt id rather have more interaction in the form of anything even Aether Meltdown
There is no Opt in my UWR Suns deck. I don't feel I have abnormal mana problems. My deck also runs only 25 lands
Anybody have any thoughts about Axis of Immortality against Mono Red? It's pretty pricey at 6 mana, but seems like it would be pretty big game against them especially now that Rampaging Ferocidon is so rampant.
EDIT: Nevermind, apparently ferodican stops this from working.
@kpal - I have been trying a lot of stuff the last few weeks. Tried the 4 Opt's and Gearhulk main. But back to what I ran at the GP. Very close to your list except 4 Cast Out and 3 Settle without the Essence Scatter and Negate main. But really like the idea of 4 extra counters.
And after being off of him for a few weeks, I feel like, at least for me, it is a mistake not to run Gideon main board. He just wins games. Or just as important keeps me from losing games. Sometimes I have the board clear but can't draw an Approach and start swinging with Gideon. A lot of decks can't deal with him, especially if I have a hand full of counters. Just my 2 cents.
Right now my sideboard looks something like this. But still playing with a lot of different stuff to see what works best.
An interesting idea me and a buddy were talking about was Shielded Aether Thief. Would do good against Aggro and could be used almost like a fog against a huge hydra or cub. Doesn't win games but slow them down long enough for your other big threats to make it to the board. Not completely sold but worth testing. May try them out at FNM this week. Will let you guys know how they work.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
I think (no I'm sure), the Jeskai SB needs to have Authority of the Consuls, it's the one card I missed and I think a few Regal C's to shore up the aggro match ups. Other than that, I would play Jeskai in a field of energy. The Sb is something I didn't really have down until after today's PPTQ. Will post the update list in a few hours.
Harnessed Lightning was pretty much Doom blade all day. Card was an ace all day. I thought about how push would've performed and I know for sure that lightning is more versatile it's on line. I will be running Jeskai again tomorrow.
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now:
G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record)
C Eldrazi Tron (9-5)
UG Infect
RW Burn
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
C Long Live Eldrazi C
Definitely.
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=11439737#post11439737
Reality is only what man allows it to be. Few shape it so that many may accept it.
A bunch of UWx Approach decks did well in Baltimore this weekend. Most interesting is U/W Approach Jorge Esquivel. Pretty standard except no Search for Azcanta main just one in the sideboard. Assuming he brings it in against control. As much as I like Search, it does kinda make sense, I usually board them out against Temur and Aggro and those are 75-80% of the meta right now.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
2-0 vs uw tokens
2-0 vs temur
2-1 vs temur ( i got a game loss here becuase i forgot to register 2 cast outs. didnt matter i slam dunked this match in regardless)
r4 id
r5 id
quarters vs jeskai gift. this is a team deck we have been working on. it has consisteny been in the finals and g1 was super tight and technical. g2 i mull to 5 whomp whomp.
yeah my swiss record was 100 percent % win rate. the game loss didnt matter, the deck crushed. my team put 3 into top 8 and 2 into finals along with the eventual winner.
jeskai approach has issues vs gpg. uw may be the better option if gpg is in your meta but my win rate vs temur is 100% in the last week. it is a slam dunk. mono red match up is dicey but winnable. deck felt great.
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now:
G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record)
C Eldrazi Tron (9-5)
UG Infect
RW Burn
Are you running the same list you posted on page 6? You mind posting your sideboard strategy for Temur and Red? Thanks
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
Vs Temur/4c Energy
Out: (7)
-2 Censor
-1 Search for Azcanta
-1 Pull From Tomorrow
-2 Approach of the Second Sun
-1 Commit // Memory
In: (7)
+3 Negate
+2 Abrade
+1 Torrential Gearhulk
+1 The Locust God Temur in particular does not have an answer to this after SB
Vs Ramnunap Red
Out: (8)
-2 Search for Azcanta
-1 Disallow
-1 Pull from Tomorrow
-1 Glimmer of Genius
-2 Censor
-1 Commit // Memory
In: (8)
+3 Fiery Cannonade
+3 Negate
+2 Abrade
Moving forward: The lack of Control (aside from Approach decks) means that Baral is replaceable. That said, I bring him in against Temur in G3 if I lose on the draw (it hasn't happened yet). Cards I want to cut from the SB:
Pull from Tomorrow, the control mirror is not something I think we should hedge against for now. While there were 2 approach decks in the top 8 yesterday; there were only 4 control decks in the entire room.
Jace's Defeat, I had this card in the 75 specifically as a mana efficient answer to UB based decks. My meta doesn't have a high enough share of UB Gift, or UB Control, OR UB midrange to merit a slot right now. It is hell of effective against them.
Baral, Chief of Compliance is our answer to UB original Sb plan of Glint sleeves and Aetherborn. Well, UB has fallen off the map and control mirrors aren't exactly that common atm. I do like Baral G3 in every energy match up. It just so happens that this version of approach is very favored against them that G3 doesn't happen that often. It may not be the time to cut this card yet but it's something I've been considering.
@pumpmonkey, Hour of Revelation might be a silver bullet in that match up. The plan against GPG was to cut Fumigate (You really don't want to tap out against this deck and put things into their yard) and rely on Settle the Wreckage and permission. It would've worked G1 but my friend drew the 2nd Siren Stormtamer after I casted Memory off a flashed in gearhulk. I had settle ready to go and he just had it...ugh lol. I gave my friend the hardest match up in the top 8. He rolled everyone, I mean we built jeskai gpg to crush energy and it did.
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now:
G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record)
C Eldrazi Tron (9-5)
UG Infect
RW Burn
So far, 1 Pull From Tomorrow seems to be enough in the 75, so if you keep one main, I can see dropping the one sideboard. Or just leave it in the side and drop the one main to open up a slot.
Jace's Defeat I am right on the fence on. When it works, it sure feels good but a lot of the time it is just OK. May bump up to 4 Negate instead or swap it for a Essence Scatter, which you can use as a pseudo spot removal.
I haven't played that much with Baral, Chief of Compliance but when I do, he seems really strong. Has a big target on his back, which I like. Most of the time, I will spend a few turns fighting over him which just plays into our favor. If he sticks, 1 less to cast everything is a huge plus.
Most of the games that I have lost, other than just not drawing the cards I need, have been because they counter my board wipe and it puts me so far behind I can't recover. That is one of the main reasons I like running 4 Harnessed Lightning, it takes the pressure off of forcing me to turn 4 Settle or turn 5 Fumigate to keep from dying. I can now keep the board clear as much as possible then do a board wipe later. Not being afraid to take some hits has been the biggest improvement to my game since I started playing Approach. Have always heard, 'Use your life total as a resource', finally starting to try and do that.
One card I saw a lot of in Atlanta that worked really well against Temur was River's Rebuke. Not sure it fits nicely into our deck or not but was back breaking in Temur mirror matches.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
Why do this instead of playing more Fumigate?
C Long Live Eldrazi C
Not sure this is what we need but every time I saw it resolve, it won the game.
And your comment about Opt being our Attune with Aether is 100% correct. I have been trying out the Draw-Go style decks and Opt makes a very big difference in how smooth it runs. When it first came out and I tried it I was not impressed because I just thought I would rather have more cards that did something instead. But now that I look at it more as a way to sculpt my hand instead or just as a way to find another land, a 4 set feels like the right number.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=11439737#post11439737
Reality is only what man allows it to be. Few shape it so that many may accept it.
I played the Standard Showdown last Sat, which was 3 rounds and 20+ players and finished with a 2-1 record, coming in at 6th and getting one of those Ixalan SS packs and winning some store credit as well. Here is how it went down:
Round 1 - VS U/W/B God-Pharaoh's Gift deck - 2-1
The good news is that I playtested 3 games against this guy before the tourney, while we were both waiting in the store so we knew each other's decks and sideboards well and I did beat him 2-1 in the playtesting as well. The bad news is that the deck is fairly resilient and plays a lot of hand destruction after sideboarding.
Game 1 - He did his thing and I just didn't draw enough to stop him in time from sacrificing his Gate to the Afterlife to put GOG into play and win.
Game 2 - I put in my creatures and he started by Duressing me, then used Kitesail Freebooter to get another card, but after that I drew into my creatures and beat him down fast.
Game 3 - This was harder since he Duressed me again firs turn, then 2nd turn freebooter, then 3rd turn freebooter and he took a Settle the Wreckage with each one. The bad news was that I had to draw into creatures and I didn't, the good news was that he was almost out of cards in his hand and beating me down slowly with the 2 flyers. I got to 7 mana and cast the first approach to go from 15 life to 22 life, and he beat me down again, but I started to draw into my creatures and finished him off with a couple of Sunscourge Champions. The match-up is not hard, but I didn't have any graveyard hate in my sideboard before the tourney because I didn't play at this store for 1 month and last time there were no GOG decks, so I had to fight my way through without specific help.
Round 2 - VS U/G/R Energy - Glorybringers, Hydras, Cubs and Harnessed Lightning - 2-1
Game 1 - I countered the first 3 creatures that he tried playing with Essence Scatter x2 and one Disallow and then managed to kill the creature he did get out with Cast Out and after that I cast Approach twice to win.
Game 2 - He got creatures out quickly, and I couldn't draw any sweepers for the whole game so I lost to his creature army.
Game 3 - I got a Thaumatic Compass out on turn 2, and then turn 3 I went for a land, turn 4 I Cast Out his Cub that had a couple of energy bonuses on it, Turn 5 I used the compass to get another land and flip it. Turn 6 I cast the first Approach to go from 13 life to 20 life. Turn 7 I cast the 2nd Approach which I had in my hand since the beginning of the game to win the game. He didn't know that I had 2 Approaches in my opening hand and the compass which would help me search for land, make sure I don't miss a land drop and get my 7th land for sure.
Round 3 - VS U/W God-Pharaoh's Gift deck played by Pascal Maynard at the pro tour - 1-2
Game 1 - He cast a couple of sacred cats on turn 1 and turn 2 and started to beat me with them, then he cast another creature, then drew some cards. I cast approach the first time and then after 2 turns I drew into the second approach and cast it again to win the game. I thought it would be an easy match win but I was mistaken.
Game 2 - He cast a lot of card draw and dropped some good creatures into the graveyard and turn 4 he cast Refurbish and I didn't have a counter, he got the GOG into play and made a copy of the [card]Angel of Invention[card] and he beat me down with it in a couple of turns.
Game 3 - I couldn't draw creatures, he cast card draw spells for the first 5 turns, dropping 3 Gift of the God Pharaoh into his graveyard, he cast Refurbish on turn 5 and I countered it, then 2 turns later he cast another Refurbish which went through but before the combat step I cast forsake the worldly to exile it. Little did I know that the turn after he would cast the 3rd Refurbish of the game, I tried to Negate it only to have him Negate my spell and get the 3rd GOG into play, make an angel and go to combat and it was all over from there. I may have been able to win had he not cast 3 Refurbishes between turn 5 and turn 8 of the game of which 2 I dealt with and the 3rd one went through. Unlike the first opponent this guy was smart, kept him combo in the deck and sideboarded Negates and Spell Pierce to make sure he would get to cast his combo cards.
So, I have learned that although the match-up is in our favor in game 1 it can get hard to win if they opponent sideboards in a lot of counters to make sure they get their Refurbish out. Of course I didn't draw enough of my creatures in that game either and also I didn't draw or cast Search of Azcanta in any of the games of this past tourney, or perhaps in only one game but I don't remember for sure.
MVP's of the deck:
1. Thaumatic Compass - it is insane against energy decks, being able to keep a Glorybringer back or a big Cub for a few turns, it's just a beast and as usual you can have more than 1 to flip because the land is not legendary.
2. Approach of the Second Sun - the namesake of this deck won me pretty much all games except for one where I beat down with creatures.
3. Champion of Wits & Sunscourge Champion - offer a 1 - 2 punch at drawing cards and gaining life and are amazing once Eternalized.
So, after playing this tourney the deck is 5-1 so far in the past 2 tourneys, in October I went 3-0 and this month I went 2-1 with the deck. Here is the latest version that I will be playing next month in December with the improved sideboard and some maindeck changes:
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Irrigated Farmland
2 Hostile Desert
1 Ipnu Rivulet
1 Shefet Dunes
6 Island
7 Plains
Creatures(8)
1 Wakening Sun's Avatar
4 Sunscourge Champion
3 Champion of Wits
2 Search for Azcanta
3 Cast out
Artifacts(2)
2 Thaumatic Compass
Spells(21)
4 Essence Scatter
2 Negate
2 Supreme Will
2 Disallow
2 Pull from Tomorrow
3 Settle the Wreckage
3 Fumigate
3 Approach of the Second Sun
2 Crook of Condemnation
2 Bishop of Rebirth
3 Vizier of Deferment
2 Forsake the Worldly
2 Negate
2 Sailor of Means
1 Spell Swindle
1 God-Pharaoh's Gift
Maindeck changes:
2 Kefnet the mindful - OUT - I didn't get them out most games and when I did, he did nothing so he is getting cut.
IN- 1 Sunscourge Champion (full playset) and 1 Wakening Sun's Avatar (testing one as an alternate win condition and board wiper that's a creature so he can't be Negated by opponents)
Sideboard Changes:
I took out some cards that didn't do much for me including the 4 Regal Caracals so the cats are out, I only got to cast them once yesterday and they didn't do much.
IN = 2 Crook of Condemnation - need to deal with the GOG decks since I had to play against 2 of them yesterday, also would deal with Scarab God decks as well.
2 Bishop of Rebirth - underrated card, but will be playable in my deck so I can go aggro and it helps to bring in all my 3 casting cost creatures back from the graveyard and into play for free.
2 Sailor of means - I will be testing these against aggro decks since they have a good blocker body at 1/4 so they can block against mono red or eat a burn spell. They will also give me a treasure for extra mana, and they can come back to Bishop of Rebirth.
1 Gift of the God Pharaoh - Fight fire with fire, I play a lot of useful creatures maindeck and sideboard so this is against the similar deck or mirror match.
1 Spell Swindle - I am going to try this against Energy decks to have an extra counter for glorybringers and such and have some extra mana to use the next turn or in the future.
Let me know what you think of these new changes to the deck!
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Mtg Lifestyle
What are you discarding to eternalize Sunscourge Champion?
C Long Live Eldrazi C
in my case i tried it and to me i felt id rather have more interaction in the form of anything even Aether Meltdown
UBRWGHumansUBRWG
UMerfolkU
Eldrazi Tron
Legacy
WDeath & TaxesW
Pauper
RGoblinsR
EDH
UGMerfolk ComboGU
Standard
UWApproachWU
I noticed people playing negates and spell pierces against my deck to deal with non creatures spells so a wrath on a creature would be awesome. He is also an alternate win condition in game one.
As for sunscourge champion I try to hard cast it first or discard it to champion of wits. As for eternalizing it, I try to discard another champion, or champion of wits, or an extra land or a counterspell card, the 2nd search for azcanta if I have one out already or...other cards.
After sideboarding I can use the bishop to put it into play without having to eternalize it.
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Mtg Lifestyle
Is anyone here running Espher? And how are they doing?
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens
C Long Live Eldrazi C
EDIT: Nevermind, apparently ferodican stops this from working.
Glorybringer out of the sideboard is great tech by Pump Monkey.
Its been wining me a lot of game 2 & 3
Same said with Glyph Keeper
Adding my list for reference:
4 censor
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Negate
2 Essence Scatter
2 Search for Azcanta
4 Disallow
4 Glimmer of Genius
2 Settle the Wreckage
2 Cast Out
3 Fumigate
3 Approach of the Second Sun
1 Pull from Tomorrow
2 Gideon of the Trials
Land 25
4 Irrigated Farmland
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Inspiring Vantage
3 Aether Hub
4 Island
2 Plains
C Long Live Eldrazi C
And after being off of him for a few weeks, I feel like, at least for me, it is a mistake not to run Gideon main board. He just wins games. Or just as important keeps me from losing games. Sometimes I have the board clear but can't draw an Approach and start swinging with Gideon. A lot of decks can't deal with him, especially if I have a hand full of counters. Just my 2 cents.
Right now my sideboard looks something like this. But still playing with a lot of different stuff to see what works best.
1 Jace's Defeat
2 Abrade
3 Glyph Keeper
3 Glorybringer
2 The Locust God
An interesting idea me and a buddy were talking about was Shielded Aether Thief. Would do good against Aggro and could be used almost like a fog against a huge hydra or cub. Doesn't win games but slow them down long enough for your other big threats to make it to the board. Not completely sold but worth testing. May try them out at FNM this week. Will let you guys know how they work.
Modern
Currently Playing
UW UW Control/Miracles
R Skred Red
Retired
BU Faeries
RGW Naya Burn
BW B/W Tokens