I run a similar deck for FNM (paper only). Was always wondering about the 4 drops, like the 2x Tracker how important are they and what match ups are they favoured?
I also run 2x Rhonas but find my 4 power creatures lacking at times. Was using Woodland Wanderer for bigger beats.
Edit: The moderators should make a different thread for the aggro and the midrange decks, even if they share some similar cards.
75 as it stands. Will be making more updates w/ more games this weekend.
how is khenra and rishkar doing? i'm still skeptical about those two.
tried a G/R deck last FNM with the Charioteer (no Rishkar, though). went 2-2. losses were to Temur marvel.
with the Charioteer in play, Lathnu Hellion and Bristling Hydra became more effective. but it's not quite as impressive as i hoped. if it's the only creature on the board (or with dorks and/or 2/2 Longtusk Cubs) it's rather underwhelming.
so i am undecided on whether or not it's good to include them. seems to work fine for Lugger, though, so it has potential.
i'll switch to Temur Energy with Elder Deep Friend for next FNM. i went 3-1-1 at an FNM before with that. loss and draw were to Temur Marvel.
75 as it stands. Will be making more updates w/ more games this weekend.
how is khenra and rishkar doing? i'm still skeptical about those two.
tried a G/R deck last FNM with the Charioteer (no Rishkar, though). went 2-2. losses were to Temur marvel.
with the Charioteer in play, Lathnu Hellion and Bristling Hydra became more effective. but it's not quite as impressive as i hoped. if it's the only creature on the board (or with dorks and/or 2/2 Longtusk Cubs) it's rather underwhelming.
so i am undecided on whether or not it's good to include them. seems to work fine for Lugger, though, so it has potential.
i'll switch to Temur Energy with Elder Deep Friend for next FNM. i went 3-1-1 at an FNM before with that. loss and draw were to Temur Marvel.
i am so glad Marvel's gone. good riddance.
hear hear. since the banning, my LGS had no Marvel players, the FNM i had was pretty much a wild west senario where everyone were playing different decks. there was new perspectives, U/R control. U/B control, Tower variants, U/R Drakes, U/W control, Grixis Summonings and Jund Madness/BR Hazoret Key. i went back to the deck that started it all, with R/G Pummeler and went 4-0. i might change decks to Jund Energy aggro if the shift is into B/G and vehicles.
Looks like some people are confused as to the nature of the colors allowed here. Decks with a splash color are welcome. The title says RGx. The little x denotes a splash of a third color of choice.
I also lost to a rogue W/b weenie transformation and equipments deck. It seems the deck looses to aggro decks with good removal that develop their creatures as the game progresses. Zombies is another tough matchup in this category.
Here's an idea I'm considering and would like input on it. The aggro/weenie decks I tend to lose against die to Sweltering Sun, which I find myself siding in often these days. When I can draw this card opening hand, I stand a pretty good chance of beating them.
Could the solution to my problem be to play a more controlling deck with Sweltering Sun in the mainboard? The reason I'm at all considering it, is that we have a lot of cheap creatures that can avoid being destroyed by the sun. We can still advance our creature board state in the early turns and play sun without consequence to them. We can play these 1-3 drop creatures that can survive Sweltering Sun: Greenbelt Rampager, Heart of Kiran, Rhonas the Indomitable, Lathnu Hellion and Longtusk Cub sometimes.
The fact that the card cycles when not needed gives it a little extra flexibility in the slot too!
What do you think of a more midrange control style like this?
Went to a small 30~ man PPTQ. 3-0 double draw into top 8. Lost in quarters because I drew 7 spells over 28 cards seen.
I thought the deck was fine. I lost a game to Marvel in round 3 but didn't drop a game other than that in rounds.
My quarterfinals was... bad variance. It's pretty hard to win games that go on for longer than 3 turns when you draw 3 and 4 spells in those respective games.
Went to a small 30~ man PPTQ. 3-0 double draw into top 8. Lost in quarters because I drew 7 spells over 28 cards seen.
I thought the deck was fine. I lost a game to Marvel in round 3 but didn't drop a game other than that in rounds.
My quarterfinals was... bad variance. It's pretty hard to win games that go on for longer than 3 turns when you draw 3 and 4 spells in those respective games.
is it right to play Zero Aether Hubs?
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Modern U Merfolk U WUBRGPeopleGRBUW U Turbo Turns U UB Fae BU WBG Aristocrats GBW
I took the midrange version below to a ~14 person event, going 3-1. I beat Energy Snek, New Perspectives and UW Control while losing to UR control in the second round. The deck was strong, and the loss may have been due to bad sideboarding or play. Big Boat won me a game single-handedly from the side. Drawing Hazoret off an opponent's Memory is really bad. Tracker was great and Rhonas was good. For this meta, I want another Negate in the sideboard.
hear hear. since the banning, my LGS had no Marvel players, the FNM i had was pretty much a wild west senario where everyone were playing different decks. there was new perspectives, U/R control. U/B control, Tower variants, U/R Drakes, U/W control, Grixis Summonings and Jund Madness/BR Hazoret Key. i went back to the deck that started it all, with R/G Pummeler and went 4-0. i might change decks to Jund Energy aggro if the shift is into B/G and vehicles.
oh yeah. first FNM post ban and i went 3-0-1 with a typical Temur Energy list without Whirler Virtuoso, which could be a mistake on my part because i lost a game to a mirror match to 3 Thopter tokens.
feels good to win packs and FNM promo card for the first time in a long while.
to the abyss with Aetherworks Marvel.
btw guys, how do you sideboard against a mirror match? seems to me like it's a race to see who gets Glorybringer first. so maybe the deck needs 4 Harnessed Lightning, 4 Cut//Ribbons, 2 Confiscation Coup post board?
btw guys, how do you sideboard against a mirror match? seems to me like it's a race to see who gets Glorybringer first. so maybe the deck needs 4 Harnessed Lightning, 4 Cut//Ribbons, 2 Confiscation Coup post board?
Why don't you just shoot it with Chandra pre-board?
i could and i also have 4 Harnessed Lightning mainboard. but post board i wanna make sure i can kill those opposing Longtusk Cubs and Glorybringers. they seem to be the high priority targets for removal.
i could and i also have 4 Harnessed Lightning mainboard. but post board i wanna make sure i can kill those opposing Longtusk Cubs and Glorybringers. they seem to be the high priority targets for removal.
depends on who's on the play and on the draw. if you're on the play, go tempo. a creature or two, servant excluded and preferably a longtusk cub, then just protect them and clear the opponents creatures. if the opponent gets a hydra, hopefully that cub is big or check it with your own hydra. save your harnessed lightnings for glorybringers. on the draw, go midrange, remove creatures, chump block with rogue refiners. save your bombs unless needed. when the opponent has 2 or 3 cards then put them up. kozilek's return-elder deep fiend-kozilek's return usually does the trick or a controlled sweep with radiant flames.
i could and i also have 4 Harnessed Lightning mainboard. but post board i wanna make sure i can kill those opposing Longtusk Cubs and Glorybringers. they seem to be the high priority targets for removal.
depends on who's on the play and on the draw. if you're on the play, go tempo. a creature or two, servant excluded and preferably a longtusk cub, then just protect them and clear the opponents creatures. if the opponent gets a hydra, hopefully that cub is big or check it with your own hydra. save your harnessed lightnings for glorybringers. on the draw, go midrange, remove creatures, chump block with rogue refiners. save your bombs unless needed. when the opponent has 2 or 3 cards then put them up. kozilek's return-elder deep fiend-kozilek's return usually does the trick or a controlled sweep with radiant flames.
alright. thanks! i am not on the EDF package, though, but maybe with more removal when on the draw i can manage.
i could and i also have 4 Harnessed Lightning mainboard. but post board i wanna make sure i can kill those opposing Longtusk Cubs and Glorybringers. they seem to be the high priority targets for removal.
depends on who's on the play and on the draw. if you're on the play, go tempo. a creature or two, servant excluded and preferably a longtusk cub, then just protect them and clear the opponents creatures. if the opponent gets a hydra, hopefully that cub is big or check it with your own hydra. save your harnessed lightnings for glorybringers. on the draw, go midrange, remove creatures, chump block with rogue refiners. save your bombs unless needed. when the opponent has 2 or 3 cards then put them up. kozilek's return-elder deep fiend-kozilek's return usually does the trick or a controlled sweep with radiant flames.
alright. thanks! i am not on the EDF package, though, but maybe with more removal when on the draw i can manage.
I have been playing various RG decks for a couple months now including pre and post Marvel ban and I've had a good amount of success. I still don't really understand why Temur is more popular right now, straight RG is a much more streamlined version and the blue cards don't really help the weaker matchups. In any case, I've top8'd 2 PTQs in the past 2 months(one pre ban and one post) with the same 75, a combined swiss record of 12-0 and a 1-2 record in the elimination rounds The data from the first PTQ isn't as relevant since Marvel was still legal so I'll only be talking about the most recent one from GP Cleveland. First off, the list:
Like I said I tried a bunch of different things including the mana creatures Servant of the Conduit and Channeler Initiate but I found that they really weren't accomplishing much other than just trading for random 2 drops. The incentive to play the mana creatures for me would be to setup the turn of guy plus hold up Blossoming Defense a turn early, but you can just do that on turn 3 already without playing the mana dorks. And by cutting them for Heart of Kiran that allowed me to have a play on turn 2 that effectively Time Walked them if they decided to keep up a Harnessed Lightning or a Magma Spray. That followed up by a 2 drop, crew, leave up Defense turn felt like exactly where I wanted to be. If more people are moving towards Spray/Lightning/Push I don't think you want anything to do with either of the mana creatures. The rest of the deck is pretty stock and what you'll see out of most energy-based decks, taking a little from the BG decks with Greenbelt Rampager which I don't see a ton of RG or Temur based decks playing, and I don't really get it. Even just at face value as a 1 mana 3/4 is so far above the curve it's absurd, but the fact that you can use it as a repeatable energy source in conjunction with Longtusk Cub and Lathnu Hellion out of the SB just makes it feel incredibly versatile and can't imagine playing an energy-based deck without it. Especially if you're going to go down the Temur route and play Whirler Virtuoso, it seems particularly busted with that specifically. The sideboard is just a smattering of the better R and G SB cards you have access to, I would say the most unique of which being Hazoret. The reason I chose Hazoret is because not only will it come in against your various control decks like BW and UR, but it can also just serve as a trump on a board stall in energy-based mirrors, where not only can they not attack or block effectively but it also acts as a way to pressure a Chandra.
As far as the PTQ itself, not alot of interesting matches or plays to discuss, so here's the basic matchup rundown:
R1 BG Energy 2-0
R2 Mardu 2-0
R3 UB Metalwork Colossus 2-0
R4 MonoB Zombies 2-0
R5 UR Contror 2-0
Quarterfinals Temur Energy 0-2
The deck I lost to in top8 looked very similar to my deck as he also had Heart of Kiran along with the U cards you typically see splashed for in Rogue Refiner and Whirler Virtuoso. I still don't think Temur is where I want to be as I would prefer to have a more streamlined mana base and not have games randomly decided by those factors, and I just don't think the 3 mana value creatures are helping you where you may need help. I'm not sure if there is a particular strategy that is a difficult matchup, but the efficient beatdown draws that you see out of Mardu and BG can be tough, and Rogue Refiner looks particularly embarrassing in those games. UR control is by far the best matchup, as their removal spells in Magma Spray and Harnessed Lightning don't really kill all that much(Lightning only if they have a Hub early), and Sweltering Suns is laughably bad against you. Moving forward, i'm not sure if there's much I will be changing until Hour of Devastation is fully revealed and I can take a look at what the new-ish metagame might look like, or if it will be most of the same. Let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or all of the above.
Nice to see RGx Energy Aggro on the Proven (Standard) page! Also there was a Jund Energy list posted on CFB today (https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/nu-standard/). The list ran Cut // Ribbons instead of the Artifact package from past Jund Energy/Gods lists. What do people think about this?
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I'm a wizard from the great white north!
Standard Decks:
Dinosaurs
Aggro Retired
Aggro Retired
Tokens Retired
Temur White Retired
Dragons Retired
Monsters Retired
Aggro Retired
Midrange Retired
Zombies Retired
very informative sideboarding guide, which is what i need. with B/G and Temur Energy the dominant decks in the LGS< i'll be MBing some cards to deal with them more effectively game 1.
so... me not including Whirler Virtuoso was not really a mistake after all.
i think Strasky went overboard with the dorks, though. maybe split Channeler Initiate and Longtusk Cub will suffice. if the deck doesn't have Thopter tokens to dump the -1/-1 counters from the Initiate into, it could be a bad topteck mid game.
very informative sideboarding guide, which is what i need. with B/G and Temur Energy the dominant decks in the LGS< i'll be MBing some cards to deal with them more effectively game 1.
so... me not including Whirler Virtuoso was not really a mistake after all.
i think Strasky went overboard with the dorks, though. maybe split Channeler Initiate and Longtusk Cub will suffice. if the deck doesn't have Thopter tokens to dump the -1/-1 counters from the Initiate into, it could be a bad topteck mid game.
a teammate of mine runs temur energy. he sideboards 2 for zombies match ups together with removals. forget initiate go cub all the way or split it up with two cubs-two rhonas.
very informative sideboarding guide, which is what i need. with B/G and Temur Energy the dominant decks in the LGS< i'll be MBing some cards to deal with them more effectively game 1.
so... me not including Whirler Virtuoso was not really a mistake after all.
i think Strasky went overboard with the dorks, though. maybe split Channeler Initiate and Longtusk Cub will suffice. if the deck doesn't have Thopter tokens to dump the -1/-1 counters from the Initiate into, it could be a bad topteck mid game.
a teammate of mine runs temur energy. he sideboards 2 for zombies match ups together with removals. forget initiate go cub all the way or split it up with two cubs-two rhonas.
or is swapping my 2x Whirlers with 2x Rhonas better? thanks!
So I've been playing URg control with Dyanvolt Tower and Torrential Gearhulk, and I'm starting to think that the meta is becoming so overwhelmingly bad for it that it's time to change. I have almost all the parts for Temur Energy, though I have a few questions before I sink another $100 into the deck.
-- Does the printing of Solemnity worry us? It's very clearly a "energy-based decks can DIAF" card, and mardu seems like it'd be all too eager to just jam it against us.
--How important is Tireless Tracker for the deck? I dislike the idea of dropping $30 into a card that will lose almost all of its value in 3 months, would playing extra whirlers or perhaps Sylvan Advocate work well enough?
--With any deck that makes energy out the ass I'm drawn to Dynavolt Tower as a good sink for energy. Is that possible for a board option, or does the deck use the energy as quick as it makes it usually?
--I'm also half-tempted to just cut the two blue creatures and add black for Fatal Push and/or Unlicensed Disintegration, as well as Glint-Sleeve Siphoner. This would of course require a huge SB overhaul, but that's to be expected regardless.
Thanks for the responses in advance.
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Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
It's pretty bizzare how the mana favors wedges over shards so strongly right now. If you want to play green and red, and you do if you want to cast early Glorybringers, it really means it hurts so much to play the colors next to them.
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Target creature loses shroud until end of turn.
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I also run 2x Rhonas but find my 4 power creatures lacking at times. Was using Woodland Wanderer for bigger beats.
Edit: The moderators should make a different thread for the aggro and the midrange decks, even if they share some similar cards.
Nope.
I'm not splitting this up into two separate threads negating any posting velocity.
This is not an invitation to argue. This is a statement of fact.
4x Sylvan Advocate
4x Voltaic Brawler
4x Lathnu Hellion
2x Rhonas the Indomitable
2x Khenra Charioteer
1x Rishkar, Peema Renegade
4x Bristling Hydra
3x Glorybringer
4x Harnessed Lightning
3x Magma Spray
4x Game Trail
4x Cinder Glade
7x Forest
6x Mountain
2x Blossoming Defense
2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x Magma Spray
1x Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
2x Release the Gremlins
2x Prey Upon
2x Sweltering Suns
2x Tireless Tracker
1x Chandra, Flamecaller
75 as it stands. Will be making more updates w/ more games this weekend.
how is khenra and rishkar doing? i'm still skeptical about those two.
tried a G/R deck last FNM with the Charioteer (no Rishkar, though). went 2-2. losses were to Temur marvel.
with the Charioteer in play, Lathnu Hellion and Bristling Hydra became more effective. but it's not quite as impressive as i hoped. if it's the only creature on the board (or with dorks and/or 2/2 Longtusk Cubs) it's rather underwhelming.
so i am undecided on whether or not it's good to include them. seems to work fine for Lugger, though, so it has potential.
i'll switch to Temur Energy with Elder Deep Friend for next FNM. i went 3-1-1 at an FNM before with that. loss and draw were to Temur Marvel.
i am so glad Marvel's gone. good riddance.
hear hear. since the banning, my LGS had no Marvel players, the FNM i had was pretty much a wild west senario where everyone were playing different decks. there was new perspectives, U/R control. U/B control, Tower variants, U/R Drakes, U/W control, Grixis Summonings and Jund Madness/BR Hazoret Key. i went back to the deck that started it all, with R/G Pummeler and went 4-0. i might change decks to Jund Energy aggro if the shift is into B/G and vehicles.
Looks good except you'll need 4 attune with aether for sure. 4 Unlicensed Disintegration mainboard might be something to consider.
I'm having trouble beating a B/G counters deck at my LGS with my straight R/G build.
4x Voltaic Brawler
2x Longtusk Cub
3x Tireless Tracker
2x Rhonas the Indomitable
4x Bristling Hydra
2x Glorybringer
3x Heart of Kiran
3x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2x Nissa, Vital Force
2x Oath of Nissa
3x Incendiary Flow
3x Harnessed Lightning
4x Game Trail
2x Sheltered Thicket
4x Aether Hub
7x Forest
3x Mountain
1x Tireless Tracker
2x Heroic Intervention
2x Blossoming Defense
4x Sweltering Sun
1x Incendiary Flow
2x Magma Spray
3x Lifecrafter's Beastiary
Here's an idea I'm considering and would like input on it. The aggro/weenie decks I tend to lose against die to Sweltering Sun, which I find myself siding in often these days. When I can draw this card opening hand, I stand a pretty good chance of beating them.
Could the solution to my problem be to play a more controlling deck with Sweltering Sun in the mainboard? The reason I'm at all considering it, is that we have a lot of cheap creatures that can avoid being destroyed by the sun. We can still advance our creature board state in the early turns and play sun without consequence to them. We can play these 1-3 drop creatures that can survive Sweltering Sun: Greenbelt Rampager, Heart of Kiran, Rhonas the Indomitable, Lathnu Hellion and Longtusk Cub sometimes.
The fact that the card cycles when not needed gives it a little extra flexibility in the slot too!
What do you think of a more midrange control style like this?
4x Longtusk Cub
2x Lathnu Hellion
2x Rhonas the Indomitable
4x Bristling Hydra
3x Glorybringer
3x Heart of Kiran
3x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2x Nissa, Vital Force
2x Oath of Nissa
3x Sweltering Sun
3x Harnessed Lightning
4x Game Trail
2x Sheltered Thicket
4x Aether Hub
7x Forest
5x Mountain
1x Harnessed Lightning
2x Heroic Intervention
2x Blossoming Defense
1x Sweltering Sun
4x Incendiary Flow
2x Magma Spray
3x Tireless Tracker
4x Sylvan Advocate
4x Voltaic Brawler
4x Lathnu Hellion
2x Rhonas the Indomitable
2x Khenra Charioteer
1x Rishkar, Peema Renegade
4x Bristling Hydra
3x Glorybringer
4x Harnessed Lightning
3x Magma Spray
4x Game Trail
4x Cinder Glade
7x Forest
6x Mountain
2x Blossoming Defense
2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x Magma Spray
1x Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
2x Release the Gremlins
1x Cut//Ribbons
1x Lifecrafter Bestiary
1x Heroic Intervention
1x Sweltering Suns
2x Tireless Tracker
1x Chandra, Flamecaller
Went to a small 30~ man PPTQ. 3-0 double draw into top 8. Lost in quarters because I drew 7 spells over 28 cards seen.
I thought the deck was fine. I lost a game to Marvel in round 3 but didn't drop a game other than that in rounds.
My quarterfinals was... bad variance. It's pretty hard to win games that go on for longer than 3 turns when you draw 3 and 4 spells in those respective games.
is it right to play Zero Aether Hubs?
U Merfolk U
WUBRGPeopleGRBUW
U Turbo Turns U
UB Fae BU
WBG Aristocrats GBW
Depends.
My thought process is this:
-- If you are constricted on mana, you don't want to draw Aether Hubs since they are energy negative.
-- If you are flooding, they're energy positive.
-- If you can't cast your spells without playing Aether Hub, you should play Aether Hub (see: any 3 color deck).
-- If you plan on only drawing 4 lands a certain amount of games, you can think about Hub's purpose.
I tried to build the best GR mana base I could. Would Hub help some games? Yes. Would Hub hurt some games? Also yes.
4 Aether Hub
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Forest
2 Game Trail
2 Island
2 Lumbering Falls
2 Mountain
1 Sheltered Thicket
4 Spirebluff Canal
Creatures
1 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Servant of the Conduit
2 Rhonas the Indomitable
4 Rogue Refiner
2 Tireless Tracker
4 Bristling Hydra
1 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Glorybringer
4 Attune with Aether
4 Harnessed Lightning
3 Chandra, Flamecaller
2 Magma Spray
1 Release the Gremlins
1 Dissenter's Deliverance
3 Negate
1 Manglehorn
2 Sweltering Suns
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Confiscation Coup
1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
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.
oh yeah. first FNM post ban and i went 3-0-1 with a typical Temur Energy list without Whirler Virtuoso, which could be a mistake on my part because i lost a game to a mirror match to 3 Thopter tokens.
feels good to win packs and FNM promo card for the first time in a long while.
to the abyss with Aetherworks Marvel.
btw guys, how do you sideboard against a mirror match? seems to me like it's a race to see who gets Glorybringer first. so maybe the deck needs 4 Harnessed Lightning, 4 Cut//Ribbons, 2 Confiscation Coup post board?
Why don't you just shoot it with Chandra pre-board?
depends on who's on the play and on the draw. if you're on the play, go tempo. a creature or two, servant excluded and preferably a longtusk cub, then just protect them and clear the opponents creatures. if the opponent gets a hydra, hopefully that cub is big or check it with your own hydra. save your harnessed lightnings for glorybringers. on the draw, go midrange, remove creatures, chump block with rogue refiners. save your bombs unless needed. when the opponent has 2 or 3 cards then put them up. kozilek's return-elder deep fiend-kozilek's return usually does the trick or a controlled sweep with radiant flames.
alright. thanks! i am not on the EDF package, though, but maybe with more removal when on the draw i can manage.
for all those playing temur energy, this might help
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/a-guide-to-temur-energy-for-the-new-standard/
as for R/G pummeler, this is really useful. i'm also running the same list and it works wonders.
http://www.mtgmintcard.com/articles/writers/soh-weng-heng/sideboard-guide-for-red-green-pummeler
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Voltaic Brawler
3 Rhonas, the Indomitable
4 Bristling Hydra
4 Glorybringer
4 Heart of Kiran
4 Blossoming Defense
4 Attune With Aether
4 Harnessed Lightning
4 Aether Hub
4 Game Trail
2 Mountain
8 Forest
2 Manglehorn
3 Magma Spray
2 Sweltering Suns
4 Lathnu Hellion
2 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Prowling Serpopard
Like I said I tried a bunch of different things including the mana creatures Servant of the Conduit and Channeler Initiate but I found that they really weren't accomplishing much other than just trading for random 2 drops. The incentive to play the mana creatures for me would be to setup the turn of guy plus hold up Blossoming Defense a turn early, but you can just do that on turn 3 already without playing the mana dorks. And by cutting them for Heart of Kiran that allowed me to have a play on turn 2 that effectively Time Walked them if they decided to keep up a Harnessed Lightning or a Magma Spray. That followed up by a 2 drop, crew, leave up Defense turn felt like exactly where I wanted to be. If more people are moving towards Spray/Lightning/Push I don't think you want anything to do with either of the mana creatures. The rest of the deck is pretty stock and what you'll see out of most energy-based decks, taking a little from the BG decks with Greenbelt Rampager which I don't see a ton of RG or Temur based decks playing, and I don't really get it. Even just at face value as a 1 mana 3/4 is so far above the curve it's absurd, but the fact that you can use it as a repeatable energy source in conjunction with Longtusk Cub and Lathnu Hellion out of the SB just makes it feel incredibly versatile and can't imagine playing an energy-based deck without it. Especially if you're going to go down the Temur route and play Whirler Virtuoso, it seems particularly busted with that specifically. The sideboard is just a smattering of the better R and G SB cards you have access to, I would say the most unique of which being Hazoret. The reason I chose Hazoret is because not only will it come in against your various control decks like BW and UR, but it can also just serve as a trump on a board stall in energy-based mirrors, where not only can they not attack or block effectively but it also acts as a way to pressure a Chandra.
As far as the PTQ itself, not alot of interesting matches or plays to discuss, so here's the basic matchup rundown:
R1 BG Energy 2-0
R2 Mardu 2-0
R3 UB Metalwork Colossus 2-0
R4 MonoB Zombies 2-0
R5 UR Contror 2-0
Quarterfinals Temur Energy 0-2
The deck I lost to in top8 looked very similar to my deck as he also had Heart of Kiran along with the U cards you typically see splashed for in Rogue Refiner and Whirler Virtuoso. I still don't think Temur is where I want to be as I would prefer to have a more streamlined mana base and not have games randomly decided by those factors, and I just don't think the 3 mana value creatures are helping you where you may need help. I'm not sure if there is a particular strategy that is a difficult matchup, but the efficient beatdown draws that you see out of Mardu and BG can be tough, and Rogue Refiner looks particularly embarrassing in those games. UR control is by far the best matchup, as their removal spells in Magma Spray and Harnessed Lightning don't really kill all that much(Lightning only if they have a Hub early), and Sweltering Suns is laughably bad against you. Moving forward, i'm not sure if there's much I will be changing until Hour of Devastation is fully revealed and I can take a look at what the new-ish metagame might look like, or if it will be most of the same. Let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or all of the above.
Standard Decks:
Dinosaurs
Aggro Retired
Aggro Retired
Tokens Retired
Temur White Retired
Dragons Retired
Monsters Retired
Aggro Retired
Midrange Retired
Zombies Retired
thanks!
very informative sideboarding guide, which is what i need. with B/G and Temur Energy the dominant decks in the LGS< i'll be MBing some cards to deal with them more effectively game 1.
so... me not including Whirler Virtuoso was not really a mistake after all.
i think Strasky went overboard with the dorks, though. maybe split Channeler Initiate and Longtusk Cub will suffice. if the deck doesn't have Thopter tokens to dump the -1/-1 counters from the Initiate into, it could be a bad topteck mid game.
a teammate of mine runs temur energy. he sideboards 2 for zombies match ups together with removals. forget initiate go cub all the way or split it up with two cubs-two rhonas.
or is swapping my 2x Whirlers with 2x Rhonas better? thanks!
-- Does the printing of Solemnity worry us? It's very clearly a "energy-based decks can DIAF" card, and mardu seems like it'd be all too eager to just jam it against us.
--How important is Tireless Tracker for the deck? I dislike the idea of dropping $30 into a card that will lose almost all of its value in 3 months, would playing extra whirlers or perhaps Sylvan Advocate work well enough?
--With any deck that makes energy out the ass I'm drawn to Dynavolt Tower as a good sink for energy. Is that possible for a board option, or does the deck use the energy as quick as it makes it usually?
--I'm also half-tempted to just cut the two blue creatures and add black for Fatal Push and/or Unlicensed Disintegration, as well as Glint-Sleeve Siphoner. This would of course require a huge SB overhaul, but that's to be expected regardless.
Thanks for the responses in advance.
Currently Playing:
GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG
RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR
RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
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