MTG Salvation

I'd try something like this,



Take this with a grain of salt as I'm just getting back into standard after playing only draft and sealed. I can't say I'm a fan of Eldrazi Mimic, but I've never played with the card so it might be really good. I'm really not a fan of flayer though, he's good but I think raising the curve with creatures that have a significant effect on the board is worth it. As I mentioned in earlier lists, I'm a big fan of just going black/colorless because you can run more utility lands and pain lands to help cast things like Grasp of Darkness, but I don't know your meta, so perhaps Black/Red is better.

@Qwazarr: Flayer doesn't have haste, otherwise it would be pretty damn good. I think Grasp is too hard to cast unless you go mono and really cut back on colourless only.

@Barbarian: Interesting direction. I think Grixis would be sweet, but I don't think we can realistically support the color requirements. That's the main thing I would work on with your list. Your source counts are quite low, especially on Black.

Has anyone tested Matter reshaper? I'm getting 2 in puca trade so I might just find a way to stuff them in my deck.

They are a solid card. They help give the deck some staying power

Surely. If they kill it its a plus. I'm going to look at the deck again and see what I can concoct.

Played my list at FNM tonight. It was going to be a draw in the 2nd round against a friend. I gave them the win since it looked slightly in their favour.

Otherwise, also played 4-color not Black, Abzan Aggro, and Sphinx Tutelage and won out. The poor Tutelage player never had a hope.

Some observations:

• Mimic was great. Triggering it was common, and even got to make it into a 5/5 a couple times.
• Bearer was never bad, but sometimes it was spectacular. Killed an Ojutai through counter magic at one point.
• Hangarback was a bit slow and I found myself siding him out a bit, but I didn't come up against aggro where he is much better.
• Reshaper was solid, but nothing real special. The value was appreciated, but it never felt amazing.
• Thought-Knot Seer was surprisingly good. I thought the card was overhyped. It was. But it was still quite good.
• Smasher was awesome. At one point we were topdecking and I cast it right into the Abzan opponent who had Charm in hand but no card to discard, so it just ended up killing them.
• Forerunner was great when I could cast it, but the mana cost is tricky. I don't want to play Dominator Drone or something, but maybe just more interaction? It's hard, since it was very good otherwise. I think maybe retooling the manabase is the first step.
• Sea Gate never activated it. I think 4 might be too many. I think I'll add some more colored sources as per a Forerunner and go back to 2x.
• Oran Rief was great. ETB was awkward in a couple spots but didn't really hurt my sequencing too much, but with Mimic and Hangarback it was fantastic.
• Consuls, also never activated. There was at least one spot it might have been handy, but didn't get a chance.
• Tomb was always a welcome sight. Several spots that racing could have been a thing. I think I want to go to 2-3 in the deck.
• Contortion was alright. I didn't draw it very much. Once vs Tutelage, but I was able to turn it into a Lava Spike off my Seer.
• Ghostfire Blade decided to go on walkabout, as I only drew it once. I lost that game too. I reserve judgement until I see it a bit more in sanctioned games.

I won't bore you with sideboard stuff. Anyways, if I can get this mana thing right, the deck feels sweet.

That's great intel. Most of the cards you mentioned have performed similar in my games. Still havent tried the matter reshaper, but it sounds like an ok card. I took out consuls from my list, but now that I have the 4 vile aggregates back I might just put one or two in again. For sea gate I always thought 4 was too much. I run 2 but thinking of running just 1.

Ok so hopefully I have time today to test this online since I don't have all the cards on paper and won't be able to go to the store to play. Here's what I've got:

My Thought-Knot Seers have been in the usps distribution facility since Tuesday morning. I called up USPS and they said they fixed the problem but still no movement on the tracking number. Of all the packages to get lost it had to be the most important one...


But I digress, congrats on your good games Nevelo. As much as I really wanted to play Eldrazi aggro I'll find something else to play tonight, hopefully something fun with Goblin Dark-Dwellers

@Carboman23 I think the Vile Aggregates should be swapped out for 2 more Matter Shapers and a fourth Reality Smasher.

I think Sea Gate is one of those cards that you always want access but a lot of times you don't need. Which is the main reason I wouldn't want to go below two. Most of my games did not go long enough that drawing cards was necessary. However, I think against a grinder matchup, like control, they'll be a lot more relevant.

I'm thinking I'll go 2 Oran, 3 Tomb, 2 Seagate and +2 Fetch.

Updated list:

Went 4-0 with this list at fnm. My store is usually 5 rounds and pretty competitve, but for whatever reason, was only 4 rounds tonight, and I only played against 2 of what I would consider "meta" decks. I played in order Ascendancy combo, 4c dragons/midrange, jeskai black (or possibly mardu blue at this point) and URb prowess. Here's my list:



Some thoughts:

1.I played the 2 dust stalkers in part to justify the red splash, reasoning that they are also good for mimics, but so far, the card has underperformed. In the midrange matchup, it often trades down, and in the control matchups, they can keep the board clear so that it takes your whole turn to cast. I like forerunner a lot, and I like dust stalker in theory, but it has been mediocre so far.

2. The mana held up for me tonight, but it was a near thing. Forerunner and some sb cards are the reason to play red, but there were some clunky draws, and some games where I top decked a colored source right when I needed one to let me win games I probably should have lost.

3. I got to live the dream with Eldrazi Obligator out of the board against my 4c dragons/midrange opponent. I kill his 2 drop with a roast, his 3 drop with a kicked bearer of silence, and then stole his 6/6 woodland wanderer and attack for lethal.

4. I think that 3 sea gate wreckage and 1-2 ruins of oran-rief should be the starting point for the utility lands. Against my jeskai opponent I drew at least 5 cards off sea gate, and oran rief also did work in several matchups. It coming into play tapped is the only reason why I could see 1 instead of 2.

5. I haven't played or tested against either atarka red or rally, but neither of those strike me as particularly good matchups. The atarka match can be worked on in the SB with various red cards and or flaying tendrils, but I have no clue what to do about rally. To be fair, I haven't actually played it, but it seems bad, and there doesn't seem to be any particular good solutions in R/B.

Anyways, I liked the deck, and it was refreshing to play something new and different.

I can't say I've had much experience vs Rally either. Theoretically Flaying is good against Rally due to the exiling effect. Though, if they have a sac outlet it is kind of moot. Perhaps Transgress should be Duress so that we can hit a Rally with it. Thought-Knot can help there a little bit too. I think killing them quickly might be the key strategy. We could take a page out of RDW and run a Magmatic Chasm or two in the board.

Would Warping Wail help against Rally? It can exile Jace, Sidisi's Faithful, or Cutthroat. And blue-based versions can run Dispel...

What about Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet in the sb?

I read about Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet as well, but It seems that just one migght be hard to fetch for. Unless you draw it forst hand your chances of being able t cast him on time are pretty slim.

I think a couple might be worth trying, will do if I can get my hands on some (seems like everyone around me is out of stock). A blue splash for dispel could be a thing too, but Jace can flashback a rally.

I think double of any color that isn't devoid is asking for a lot if you're running R/B.

Oh, I'm running just B

Cranial archive Awesome response to the rally deck!

Quote from vish3 »

Played this list to a 5-2 result in pptq today - have many 1 ofs as was experimenting and only had 2 matter reshapers

4 Shambling Vent
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Swamp
2 Plains
2 Crumbling Vestige
1 Ruins of Oran-rief
2 Tomb of the Spirit Dragon
2 Sea Gate Wreckage
2 Blighted Fen
3 Reaver Drone
4 Bearer of Silence
2 Hangarback Walker
1 Ayli Eternal Pilgrim
2 Matter Reshaper
4 Wasteland Strangler
1 Drana Liberator of Malakir
1 Liliana Heretical Healer
4 Thought Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
2 Sorin Solemn Visitor
4 Spartial Contortion
3 Transgress the Mind
2 Silkwrap
1 Ghostfire Blade

Sideboard
1 Transgress the Mind
1 Hangarback Walker
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
3 Gideon Ally of Zendikar
2 Kalitas Traitor of Ghet
1 Utter End
1 Read the Bones
1 Duress
1 Hallowed Moonlight
2 Inifinite Obliteration
1 Cranial Archive

Thoughts appreciated

Can you tell us what decks you played against and what did and didn't work? I'm sure we'd appreciated some new info.

Going to try this list for a bit and see. I don't discard the posibility of splashig another color just for the fact that standard is changing as we speak. That G/U company that won the scg open looks troublesome.

Quote from Carboman23 »

That G/U company that won the scg open looks troublesome.

Please don't actively post misinformation on the forum.

Thanks!

Has anyone else tested mirrorpool in their builds?