What do you excel against? What do you have problems with?
I'd say the hardest matchup is probably atarka red. The deck does very well against abzan aggro and has a slightly favorable matchup against esper control.
What are good sideboard cards against the more popular decks?
Surge of righteousness is obvious very good against atarka red and BW warriors, you can also sneak it in vs dark jeskai and at times Abzan. Transgress the mind is really strong vs ramp decks and vs esper control. Hallowed moonlight acts as a counterspell vs rally decks and you can also use is vs Red decks that play cards like hordeling outburtst Infinite obliteration is also great against rally decks and is also quite strong vs ramp decks (naming Ugin or Ulamog) Quarantine field is extremely underrated right now and is really strong against mardu midrange, where you can often hit both a creature and a planeswalker with it. It's also very good vs esper control. Complete disregard is great against BW warriors and rally decks where the exile effect is very relevant and it essentially hits all of their creatures.
Sweepers like languish and planar outburst are always very good to have in the 75 Dark petition is seeing a lot of play recently and understandably, it essentially doubles as any card in your sideboard when facing non-aggressive decks. the spell mastery effect is often triggered too since these decks usually only play 4-8 creature spells.
I'm personally a very big fan of myth realized since, again, these decks play very few creatures spells and this card dodges a lot of conventional removal. it's great in the control mirror as a secondary finisher
there are a lot of other options though that i've missed
Since we run Caves of Koilos which can tap for colorless mana I think we should run a couple Eldrazi Displacer in the main. I'm working on a updated list.
Since we run Caves of Koilos which can tap for colorless mana I think we should run a couple Eldrazi Displacer in the main. I'm working on a updated list.
Theres also Blighted Fen which also adds colorless mana.
With Oath comes a bunch of new cards that can help the deck. Just to name a few..
Piloted this deck last night at a standard tourney at my lgs. It was my first time playing a paper MTG tournament in close to 9-10 years!
Went 2-1 with my only loss to Esper Dragons due to manascrew the first match and manaflood the second.
Round 1 against G/W
My opponent played aggressively the first match, dropping 3 Gideons! Ruinous Path, Utter End and Secure the Wastes at the end of his turn took care of the Gideons. A second Secure the Wastes and a Sorin helped sealed the deal.
2nd match was all Ob Nixilis. He's so good in our deck, with his card advantage and board control. He was really the MVP for me last night.
Round 2 against Esper Dragons
First match, manascrewed for the first several turns. By the time I got my mana in order, he had full board control.
Second match, manaflood =(
Round 3 against 4 Color Rally
First match, opponent got manascrewed. Scooped after EOT Secure the Wastes for 8 and Sorin on my turn.
Second match was a good one. He was able to get going and even flipped his Jace. The turn or two before he was about to get an emblem from Jace, Ruinous Path ruined his plans.
Ob Nixilist helped me run through my deck for multiple Secure the Wastes.
All in all, pretty happy with the results. I definitely want to test more against other faster decks so Im better prepared.
Piloted this deck last night at a standard tourney at my lgs. It was my first time playing a paper MTG tournament in close to 9-10 years!
Went 2-1 with my only loss to Esper Dragons due to manascrew the first match and manaflood the second.
Round 1 against G/W
My opponent played aggressively the first match, dropping 3 Gideons! Ruinous Path, Utter End and Secure the Wastes at the end of his turn took care of the Gideons. A second Secure the Wastes and a Sorin helped sealed the deal.
2nd match was all Ob Nixilis. He's so good in our deck, with his card advantage and board control. He was really the MVP for me last night.
Round 2 against Esper Dragons
First match, manascrewed for the first several turns. By the time I got my mana in order, he had full board control.
Second match, manaflood =(
Round 3 against 4 Color Rally
First match, opponent got manascrewed. Scooped after EOT Secure the Wastes for 8 and Sorin on my turn.
Second match was a good one. He was able to get going and even flipped his Jace. The turn or two before he was about to get an emblem from Jace, Ruinous Path ruined his plans.
Ob Nixilist helped me run through my deck for multiple Secure the Wastes.
All in all, pretty happy with the results. I definitely want to test more against other faster decks so Im better prepared.
Congrats, can you post your list? this is a underrated deck it has a lot of good matchups and is fun to play. Good point about Blighted Fen tapping for colorless that gives us 6 sources main deck without adding anything , 4 Caves of Koilos 2 Blighted fen.
Im using a slightly modified version Brett Tetley's decklist from the StarCity Games Cincinnati tourney from 01/03/2016. His version had an extra Ultimate Price and one less Blighted Fen. I felt the Fen would be decent against Hexproof dragons and it helps the mana. Some changes I want to make are to make room for another Secure the Wastes. I just don't know what to take out.
Im using a slightly modified version Brett Tetley's decklist from the StarCity Games Cincinnati tourney from 01/03/2016. His version had an extra Ultimate Price and one less Blighted Fen. I felt the Fen would be decent against Hexproof dragons and it helps the mana. Some changes I want to make are to make room for another Secure the Wastes. I just don't know what to take out.
I think Oath of Gideon has very very good synergy with this deck. T3 oath into t4 Gideon or Sorin is pretty nuts. I'm thinking about adding a 4th but having a hard time figuring what to take out.
So what are you cutting for the Oaths? I see an Ultimate Price and a Ruinous Path being cut? I think I would cut the Valorous before the second Path. But it is really hard to know what this deck needs without knowing how the meta is shaping up.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
One of these day I have to get myself organizized.
So what are you cutting for the Oaths? I see an Ultimate Price and a Ruinous Path being cut? I think I would cut the Valorous before the second Path. But it is really hard to know what this deck needs without knowing how the meta is shaping up.
You hit the nail on the head with the last sentence. Right now I am just playtesting and toying around with different variations. But I am sure I want to use Oath of Gideon in the deck somewhere.
This look like "Esper" Tokens, in established have a deck-post with a deck really simillar and tournament reports.
It's actually a very different deck. It doesn't curve out into Wingmate Roc. It has a much more controlling style of play with the planeswalkers. Sometimes you combo finish people with an EOT Secure into a Gideon emblem, but often your hand is chock full of removal. The deck often holds up mana for Blighted Fen activations or Secure. Some folks bash Read the Bones and think that it ought to be Painful Truth with an esper manabase and that is simply wrong.
This deck is really just the best Ob Nixilis shell in the format.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
One of these day I have to get myself organizized.
This look like "Esper" Tokens, in established have a deck-post with a deck really simillar and tournament reports.
It's actually a very different deck. It doesn't curve out into Wingmate Roc. It has a much more controlling style of play with the planeswalkers. Sometimes you combo finish people with an EOT Secure into a Gideon emblem, but often your hand is chock full of removal. The deck often holds up mana for Blighted Fen activations or Secure. Some folks bash Read the Bones and think that it ought to be Painful Truth with an esper manabase and that is simply wrong.
This deck is really just the best Ob Nixilis shell in the format.
Spot on with that explanation. Ive personally won matches with EOT Secure the Wastes into Gideon Emblem/Sorin +1
I also agree with your feelings towards Read the Bones and Ob Nixilis is pretty insane in this deck. Complete control style of play
Interesting inclusion of the Inverter of Truth. Have you playtested with it yet? If so, how did it go?
I haven't play tested it yet but a 6/6 flying creature for 4cmc is insane not to mention it gets pumped by Sorin and Gideon. Grasp of Darkness kills a lot of dudes at instant speed.
Death's Grasp seems like a better fit than Valorous Stance and Ultimate Price. More mana intensive in its' casting but kills Jace, Anafenza, Mantis Rider, Eldrazi Displacer, Thought-Knot Seer, etc.. all at instant speed. Ultimate Price might not make the cut anymore due to so many devoid creatures coming in.
Also considering dropping 1x Utter End and adding back 1x Ruinous Path
Death's Grasp seems like a better fit than Valorous Stance and Ultimate Price. More mana intensive in its' casting but kills Jace, Anafenza, Mantis Rider, Eldrazi Displacer, Thought-Knot Seer, etc.. all at instant speed. Ultimate Price might not make the cut anymore due to so many devoid creatures coming in.
Also considering dropping 1x Utter End and adding back 1x Ruinous Path
Ultimate Price should be in the sb at the moment there's to much devoid. -1 Utter End +1 Ruinous Path should be ok. This decks has a lot of 3cmc spells I like Decks to have a better curve but it is what it is.
Death's Grasp seems like a better fit than Valorous Stance and Ultimate Price. More mana intensive in its' casting but kills Jace, Anafenza, Mantis Rider, Eldrazi Displacer, Thought-Knot Seer, etc.. all at instant speed. Ultimate Price might not make the cut anymore due to so many devoid creatures coming in.
Also considering dropping 1x Utter End and adding back 1x Ruinous Path
What does Ruinous Path do for you that Utter end doesnt? I think against the diversity of threats in week 1 and against Ulamog you want Utter End. I'm also really into that instant speed action so take that opinion for what it's worth.
Since I'm spouting off my opinion in this thread now, I guess I should support my claims with the fact that I was the player who top 8ed the Cincinnati Classic alongside Brett Tetley on the first weekend of the year. The Rally player that he lost to in the top 8 was my only loss in the Swiss and I scooped to Majors in order to give him the points and because I didn't want to have to deal with the slogfest that is the Rally in an untimed match.
Given that information, I want to squeeze 2 Kalitas into the sideboard alongside the two Hallowed Moonlight.
Death's Grasp seems like a better fit than Valorous Stance and Ultimate Price. More mana intensive in its' casting but kills Jace, Anafenza, Mantis Rider, Eldrazi Displacer, Thought-Knot Seer, etc.. all at instant speed. Ultimate Price might not make the cut anymore due to so many devoid creatures coming in.
Also considering dropping 1x Utter End and adding back 1x Ruinous Path
What does Ruinous Path do for you that Utter end doesnt? I think against the diversity of threats in week 1 and against Ulamog you want Utter End. I'm also really into that instant speed action so take that opinion for what it's worth.
Since I'm spouting off my opinion in this thread now, I guess I should support my claims with the fact that I was the player who top 8ed the Cincinnati Classic alongside Brett Tetley on the first weekend of the year. The Rally player that he lost to in the top 8 was my only loss in the Swiss and I scooped to Majors in order to give him the points and because I didn't want to have to deal with the slogfest that is the Rally in an untimed match.
Given that information, I want to squeeze 2 Kalitas into the sideboard alongside the two Hallowed Moonlight.
You bring up a very good point with Utter End vs Ruinous Path. I didn't consider Ulamog, although I definitely should have, as we will definitely see him in the metagame (moreso than we already do). I guess my reasoning was that Ruinous Path came out at one mana less and also has the awaken ability which you can use to pump up a shambling vents.
I didn't even consider Kalitas in the board! Excellent suggestion. I will try that in my playtesting as well.
I'm thinking of playing this deck at a PPTQ, but it seems it was a hard time vs Ramp and 4c Rally, the two best decks in the format going forward IMO.
Obviously post board they get better, but can you even win these matchups?
The issue against Rally is that they can't kill us quickly and we can't beat them quickly pre-board. Game 1 often takes thirty minutes. Post-board you can just beat them down with Mentor tokens. Hallowed Moonlight, Infinite Obliteration, and now Kalitas really put a damper on their gameplan.
Similarly, you can actually kill all of ramp's threats with Silkwrap for Hangarback, Utter End and Snare for Ulamog, Blighted Fen and Valorous Stance for Atarka. The trick becomes keeping pressure on them with Seeker of the Way and Mentor post-board. I also think this matchup, prior to Kozilek's Return, being printed was one that was often decided by an EOT Secure into an emblem effect. I haven't tested this matchup often, but I don't think it is bad for us. That being said, Kozilek's Return is big game against us.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
One of these day I have to get myself organizized.
I'm just trying to decide between this and Mardu Tokens list from GP Oakland and not sure what to play. I love the card advantage in this deck which the Tokens deck has none of.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Surge of righteousness is obvious very good against atarka red and BW warriors, you can also sneak it in vs dark jeskai and at times Abzan.
Transgress the mind is really strong vs ramp decks and vs esper control.
Hallowed moonlight acts as a counterspell vs rally decks and you can also use is vs Red decks that play cards like hordeling outburtst
Infinite obliteration is also great against rally decks and is also quite strong vs ramp decks (naming Ugin or Ulamog)
Quarantine field is extremely underrated right now and is really strong against mardu midrange, where you can often hit both a creature and a planeswalker with it. It's also very good vs esper control.
Complete disregard is great against BW warriors and rally decks where the exile effect is very relevant and it essentially hits all of their creatures.
Sweepers like languish and planar outburst are always very good to have in the 75
Dark petition is seeing a lot of play recently and understandably, it essentially doubles as any card in your sideboard when facing non-aggressive decks. the spell mastery effect is often triggered too since these decks usually only play 4-8 creature spells.
I'm personally a very big fan of myth realized since, again, these decks play very few creatures spells and this card dodges a lot of conventional removal. it's great in the control mirror as a secondary finisher
there are a lot of other options though that i've missed
Theres also Blighted Fen which also adds colorless mana.
With Oath comes a bunch of new cards that can help the deck. Just to name a few..
Grasp of Darkness
Flaying Tendrils
Thought-Knot Seer
Went 2-1 with my only loss to Esper Dragons due to manascrew the first match and manaflood the second.
Round 1 against G/W
My opponent played aggressively the first match, dropping 3 Gideons! Ruinous Path, Utter End and Secure the Wastes at the end of his turn took care of the Gideons. A second Secure the Wastes and a Sorin helped sealed the deal.
2nd match was all Ob Nixilis. He's so good in our deck, with his card advantage and board control. He was really the MVP for me last night.
Round 2 against Esper Dragons
First match, manascrewed for the first several turns. By the time I got my mana in order, he had full board control.
Second match, manaflood =(
Round 3 against 4 Color Rally
First match, opponent got manascrewed. Scooped after EOT Secure the Wastes for 8 and Sorin on my turn.
Second match was a good one. He was able to get going and even flipped his Jace. The turn or two before he was about to get an emblem from Jace, Ruinous Path ruined his plans.
Ob Nixilist helped me run through my deck for multiple Secure the Wastes.
All in all, pretty happy with the results. I definitely want to test more against other faster decks so Im better prepared.
4 Seeker of the Way
Enchantments
3 Silkwrap
3 Stasis Snare
Instants
3 Secure the Wastes
2 Utter End
1 Ultimate Price
1 Valorous Stance
1 Murderous Cut
3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Sorceries
4 Read the Bones
2 Ruinous Path
1 Planar Outburst
6 Plains
5 Swamp
Lands
4 Blighted Fen
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Scoured Barrens
4 Shambling Vent
27 lands are to many for a deck that tops out at 5cmc so I would loose a Blighted Fen.
4 Seeker of the Way
Enchantments
3 Silkwrap
3 Stasis Snare
Instants
3 Secure the Wastes
2 Utter End
1 Ultimate Price
1 Valorous Stance
1 Murderous Cut
3 Oath of Gideon
Planeswalkers
3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Sorceries
4 Read the Bones
1 Ruinous Path
6 Plains
5 Swamp
Lands
3 Blighted Fen
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Scoured Barrens
4 Shambling Vent
Its actually BW Control. Theres no blue in it, so I don't think you can consider it Esper.
You hit the nail on the head with the last sentence. Right now I am just playtesting and toying around with different variations. But I am sure I want to use Oath of Gideon in the deck somewhere.
4 Hangarback Walker
1 merciless executioner
2 Inverter of Truth
Planeswalkler
3 Ob Nixilis Reignited
3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
4 Grasp of Darkness
3 Oath of Gideon
1 Ruinous Path
3 Stasis Snare
2 Utter End
4 Read the Bones
3 Secure the Wastes
7 Plains
4 Swamp
2 Blighted Fen
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Scoured Barrens
4 Shambling Vent
Interesting inclusion of the Inverter of Truth. Have you playtested with it yet? If so, how did it go?
This deck is really just the best Ob Nixilis shell in the format.
Spot on with that explanation. Ive personally won matches with EOT Secure the Wastes into Gideon Emblem/Sorin +1
I also agree with your feelings towards Read the Bones and Ob Nixilis is pretty insane in this deck. Complete control style of play
4 Seeker of the Way
Enchantments
3 Silkwrap
3 Stasis Snare
Instants
3 Secure the Wastes
2 Utter End
2 Grasp of Darkness
1 Murderous Cut
3 Oath of Gideon
Planeswalkers
3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Sorceries
4 Read the Bones
1 Ruinous Path
6 Plains
5 Swamp
Lands
3 Blighted Fen
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Scoured Barrens
4 Shambling Vent
Death's Grasp seems like a better fit than Valorous Stance and Ultimate Price. More mana intensive in its' casting but kills Jace, Anafenza, Mantis Rider, Eldrazi Displacer, Thought-Knot Seer, etc.. all at instant speed. Ultimate Price might not make the cut anymore due to so many devoid creatures coming in.
Also considering dropping 1x Utter End and adding back 1x Ruinous Path
Since I'm spouting off my opinion in this thread now, I guess I should support my claims with the fact that I was the player who top 8ed the Cincinnati Classic alongside Brett Tetley on the first weekend of the year. The Rally player that he lost to in the top 8 was my only loss in the Swiss and I scooped to Majors in order to give him the points and because I didn't want to have to deal with the slogfest that is the Rally in an untimed match.
Given that information, I want to squeeze 2 Kalitas into the sideboard alongside the two Hallowed Moonlight.
3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
6 Plains
5 Swamp
3 Blighted Fen
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Scoured Barrens
4 Shambling Vent
1 Grasp of Darkness
3 Silkwrap
3 Stasis Snare
3 Oath of Gideon
4 Read the Bones
2 Ruinous Path
2 Utter End
1 Planar Outburst
3 Monastery Mentor
2 Hallowed Moonlight
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
4 Duress
2 Infinite Obliteration
1 Planar Outburst
1 Transgress the Mind
Obviously post board they get better, but can you even win these matchups?
You bring up a very good point with Utter End vs Ruinous Path. I didn't consider Ulamog, although I definitely should have, as we will definitely see him in the metagame (moreso than we already do). I guess my reasoning was that Ruinous Path came out at one mana less and also has the awaken ability which you can use to pump up a shambling vents.
I didn't even consider Kalitas in the board! Excellent suggestion. I will try that in my playtesting as well.
Thanks for the input!
Similarly, you can actually kill all of ramp's threats with Silkwrap for Hangarback, Utter End and Snare for Ulamog, Blighted Fen and Valorous Stance for Atarka. The trick becomes keeping pressure on them with Seeker of the Way and Mentor post-board. I also think this matchup, prior to Kozilek's Return, being printed was one that was often decided by an EOT Secure into an emblem effect. I haven't tested this matchup often, but I don't think it is bad for us. That being said, Kozilek's Return is big game against us.
I'm just trying to decide between this and Mardu Tokens list from GP Oakland and not sure what to play. I love the card advantage in this deck which the Tokens deck has none of.