What do you guys think about the number of lands? Are we ok with 24? Or should we up that to 25? Unless I'm mistaken, Mardu Vehicles decks ran 25 lands when they were playing the Midrange version... and Abzan Midrange was also on 25 lands back in Khans' Standard (despite also playing Sylvan Caryatid). Proven Tier 1 decks with a Midrange plan tend to play 25 lands, and I think we should...
Edit : The fact that Ramunap Red runs 24 lands with a curve that stops at 4 (except for 2 Glorybringer in the SB), and nowhere as much mana needs than us, should give us a hint that 24 is not the right number for us, no? Also note that Energy decks tend to run 22 lands + 4 Servant of the Conduit and 4 Attune with Aether (30 mana dedicated cards to not miss a land drop and play their threats right on curve). I think we are stretching our luck by not playing 25-26 lands.
The only way to know for sure is to try 25 lands and see how it goes. The main difference between this deck and theirs is that we've got actual card filtering early on and raw card draw later, so it makes it easier to run into lands later in the game than in Mardu. The only exception was when Smuggler's Copter was legal, and honestly I don't think I would care if they unbanned that guy now.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Right. I'll test with 25 lands, as I think this is where we should be. And hopefully at tomorrow's FNM (but maybe not, as I have 2 Scarab God and 4 Drowned Catacomb in the mail, and I may not receive tomorrow).
Edit : I think land #25 could be Field of Ruin. It's an overpriced Evolving Wilds that can tap for C when it ETB and can mess with opponent's special lands.
Edit (again) : According to Frank Karsten's Magic Math, we're right on the frontier between 24 and 25 lands (average CMC is 2.72 ; see his Conclusion). Using the Linear Progression method, we need 24.54 lands (16 + 3.14 * CMC).
I would say 25 lands in the main deck, but I would systematically side out 1 land when on the draw.
Some cards I've seen getting used that no one is probably thinking about is Gideon's Intervention, which I'm not sure we really got an answer for, actually. I've been thinking of throwing in a one or two of Negate or Censor.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Trial is the cheapest edict option and if Merfolk isn't a major part of the meta walk the plank is better at double black. Mana curve is a major reason he plays those cards in the deck. He wanted 10-11 2 cmc cards, though double black means there is a chance some of those cards come down turn 3. We sort of want a mana open for siren stormtamer.
I feel like wizards really should have kept grasp in the format. Three mana sorcery speed removal with upside is really not good.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Surprisingly, and unexpectedly, all my cards arrived by mail this afternoon. The deck was complete, no cards missing. So I played the above list exactly, except for one thing : an extra card was added by mistake. Instead of swapping a Swamp for a foiled Swamp, I added the foiled Swamp to the deck. So I played all night with 61 cards and 26 lands. I only realized it after the very last game was over.
2-0 vs UW Approach (play) : Siren Stormtamer counters Settle the Wreckage. Opponent didn't know I could do that. But even if he knew, there wasn't much he could have done to turn the tide.
IN : 3 Duress, 2 Negate, 2 Doomfall, 1 Gonti, 1 Lost Legacy ;
OUT : 4 Fatal Push, 1 Trial of Ambition, 1 Walk the Plank, 3 Hostage Taker (should have been 2 Takers and 1 Island on the draw).
2-0 vs Ramunap Red (play) : Gifted Aetherborn was MVP game 1. Opponent couldn’t get rid of it and I added another to the board, then kidnapped Kari Zev and turned her to my cause. Game 2 I did a mistake and played Aetherborn before Siren Stormtamer. I realized my mistake right away, and of course Abrade removed my creature before I could protect it. Fortunately, I top decked another Aetherborn soon after, countered Chandra, kidnapped Hazoret and successfully bribed him to fight for The Pirate God.
IN : 3 Essence Extraction ;
OUT : 1 The Scarab God, 1 Liliana, Death's Majesty, 1 Island.
2-0 vs UW Monument (draw) : For 7 mana, I removed 2 creatures and got 3 on the battlefield! I did this by first kidnapping Fairgrounds Warden with Hostage Taker. This got me back my Kitesail Apprentice (exiling River's Rebuke). Then I turned the Warden against its owner and exiled Glory-Bound Initiate with Warden's ability. Game 2, I had a big board when he managed the mana to cast River's Rebuke. I only had an Island untapped. Fine, just enough to counter a spell that targets me with Siren Stormtamer. For good measure, I reanimated the Siren next turn with Liliana, to grind to victory without fear of a board wipe. At one point, I kidnapped Aven Windguide and convinced it to fight on the winning side. At another point, I had to kill another Aven to protect Liliana from flying Tokens (2 to activate Field of Ruin, triggering Revolt, fetching an untapped Swamp to finally cast Fatal Push).
IN : 2 Negate, 3 Duress.
OUT : 1 Trial of Ambition, 3 Champion of Wits (because of the curve), 1 Island.
So... 61 cards and 26 lands (by mistake) was the right combination for a flawless victory. I never felt I ever flood, even when I did. In one game vs UW Approach, I played 6 spells and 8 lands, but won it on the back of The Scarab God. The thing is that this deck has SO MUCH to do with all the cards and abilities available to us, that we barely have enough ressources to exploit all the possibilities. I will still go back to 60 cards and 25 lands (and side out a land on the draw), but this convinced me that the right land count should défitely not be 24.
All in all, the deck is as fun to play as expected. It is super good and powerful. I never felt helpless, and grinded each victory with a patient Midrange plan. With 12 removals, 11 counterspells/disruptions and 16 for card advantage, I don't think we have a single bad matchups, and The Pirate God is probably even favored against all types of decks.
There's a PPTQ next week... I can't wait to cash in and get some cash back on my investment.
Edit : I added the Field of Ruin + Fatal Push « combo » to the special plays section of the primer. Results updated in my signature (and these includes test games on XMage).
I'm just hoping that The Scarab God doesn't go the way of Smuggler's Copter, where we basically have a meta of nothing but decks that run it. Also, thanks for pointing out that little factoid about Fumigate vs Settle the Wreckage. That makes Siren Stormtamer insanely good right now, since that basically stops the worst one sided board wipe the format has. It also stops River's Rebuke, which is going to be relevant later once Rivals comes out.
I'm thinking we will probably see players start using Hour of Devastation again since the one big card everyone was afraid of is far too easy to blank with edicts. I've actually seen games where someone basically runs Revel in Riches with tokens, intentionally runs board wipes to generate treasure tokens, and just wins. It's like "Surprise! Running Hidden Stockpile with Revel in Riches and nothing but token generating cards + board wipes can win games!"
I'm just glad that card is only "when a creature an opponent controls dies..." and not "when a creature dies...". If it was the later we'd be getting treasure token combo kills left and right.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I'm still waiting on some cards to arrive. My LGS has been selling out of a ton of blue and black staples due to a lot of GP grinders in my area building UB control decks. The other major deck in my area is God-Pharaoh's Gift, which is really crazy good right now as well.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I just got the remainder of the cards I was considering for the deck. Couldn't play on Friday since I didn't get my last copies of Fetid Pools and Drowned Catacombs yet. I'll try for my store's Standard Monday event next week.
I think RGx Energy decks are our worse matchups. Other than sweepers, what could help us against them? Harsh Scrutiny seems like a good choice. Maybe instead of Walk the Plank in the main deck? Other ideas on how to best play the deck in this matchup?
Against energy the best weapon is Unsummon. They're going to use energy for three things: Generate mana, pump something, or blast something with harness lightning. Let them over-extend into spending energy and pump Longtusk Cub. If they do it, then Unsummon. The other card to side in against them is Bontu's Last Reckoning, as it deals with Bristling Hydra and Carnage Tyrant when they side those in. Another option is Essence Scatter, which can stop just about anything as long as we know it is coming. Otherwise, we're already running 4x Gifted Aetherborn and have removal in the main.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Alright, another report here. My last Scarab God arrived in time for Standard Showdown and let me just say, this deck is a blast to play. I finished 3-0 at a smaller turnout of 9 people. The only difference between my deck and the deck in this thread is -1 Liliana +1 Baral's Expertise MB. -1 Liliana -1 Lost Legacy +1 Gonti +1 Harsh Scrutiny in the SB.
First round, against W/B aggro. My opponent was very new to the game and had built the majority of his deck from a booster box of Ixalan. He did have some Yahenni, Undying Partisans and Liliana, Death's Majestys but mostly Ixalan cards. I felt really bad dropping a Scarab God and explaining everything it does. I mulliganed to 6 on the draw both games, but I don't think he had much of a chance anyway. Neither of us sideboarded. 2-0.
Second round, against W/B tokens. First game on the play, two early Kitesails stole his pieces, Stormtamer on the board and Dispersal protected me from a Fumigate. Scarab God finished it out. SB'd out 1 Evolving Wilds, 1 Trial of Ambition, 1 Vraska's Contempt, 1 Walk the Plank, 2 Lookout's Dispersal. SB'd in 3 Duress, 2 Negate, 1 Doomfall. Second game turn 1 Duress showed Stockpile, Procession, Anointer Priest, Legion's Landing and some lands. Took Stockpile. T3 Kitesail took Procession. Stalled out the board with Gifted Aetherborn and won with a bunch of flyers. 2-0
Third round, Temur Energy (Worlds build). I think this matchup is 50/50. It's tough to say. I won the first game on the play. T1 tap land, T2 Gifted Aetherborn, T3 Kitesail taking his only removal (Harnessed Lightning) and Pushed his cub on his turn, T4 stole his Whirler with Hostage Taker, T5 played his Whirler and held up Dispersal, got Glorybringer with it. Everything went perfectly and I dropped Scarab God into his tapped out lands and it survived long enough for me to drop Stormtamer.
SB'd out 2 Hostage Taker, 1 Trial of Ambition, 1 Field of Ruin, 1 Champion of Wits, 1 Kitesail. SB'd in 2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury, 1 Bontu's, 1 Negate, 1 Harsh Scrutiny, 1 Doomfall. The primer states that Energy midrange decks don't have much removal, but that is incorrect. Temur runs 7 MD removal for Hostage Taker +1 more Abrade from the SB as well as a couple MD Essence Scatters and Confiscation Coups thrown in for good measure. My SB plan was to take out Hostage Taker for Gonti ensuring I get the card advantage if he resolves and then add hand hate and a sweeper as a panic button.
I just got straight wrecked in game 2. Opening hand had 1 swamp, 2 islands, 2 Gifted Aetherborn, 1 Gonti, and 1 Dispersal. Found the second black source on turn 5 and never drew a fatal push for the T2 cub which did pretty much all of the work. On turn 5 I Hostage Taker'd his Glorybringer and he Confiscation Coup'd it on his turn and then replayed Glorybringer his next turn for the win. Ouch.
Game 3 went much better (i.e. had Fatal Push for the T2 cub lol.) Sided back in the Field of Ruin and took out the Negate. Basically if you can get to the point where you resolve a Scarab God with protection, and you're not super far behind, you just win. At one point I had Stormtamer and Scarab God on the field and he Harnessed Lightning'd the God on his turn. I sac'd Stormtamer and had enough mana to reanimate it and activate it again when he tried to Coup it. Temur gives a lot of great targets for Scarab God. 2-1.
Never drew the Baral's Expertise against Temur, but it would've done some serious work on every T5. I was chatting with my opponent, who is a good friend, after the matches and he agreed that Baral's would be a very difficult to overcome tempo swing for Temur especially casting a Hostage Taker with it. Also if it helps, he sided in 1 Chandra, 1 Abrade, and 1 Confiscation Coup taking out 2 Servant and 1 Whirler.
All in all, I'm super impressed with the list. Some refinements that could be made would be fitting in that 4th Stormtamer somehow and possibly the 3rd Vraska's Contempt. I was running 25 lands siding 1 out on the draw, but I think it might be right to actually just run 24 and put Stormtamer in instead of an Evolving Wilds.
BONUS: My girlfriend plays Ramunap Red exclusively and the matchup is easily 60/40 in our favor, possibly better than that. We've played 3 rounds now and I've won 5 games, losing only 1 round out of 3. We'll keep testing, of course, 3 rounds isn't a lot, but our deck really puts Ramunap on the back foot which isn't where they want to be.
Alright, another report here. My last Scarab God arrived in time for Standard Showdown and let me just say, this deck is a blast to play. I finished 3-0 at a smaller turnout of 9 people. The only difference between my deck and the deck in this thread is -1 Liliana +1 Baral's Expertise MB. -1 Liliana -1 Lost Legacy +1 Gonti +1 Harsh Scrutiny in the SB.
First round, against W/B aggro. My opponent was very new to the game and had built the majority of his deck from a booster box of Ixalan. He did have some Yahenni, Undying Partisans and Liliana, Death's Majestys but mostly Ixalan cards. I felt really bad dropping a Scarab God and explaining everything it does. I mulliganed to 6 on the draw both games, but I don't think he had much of a chance anyway. Neither of us sideboarded. 2-0.
Second round, against W/B tokens. First game on the play, two early Kitesails stole his pieces, Stormtamer on the board and Dispersal protected me from a Fumigate. Scarab God finished it out. SB'd out 1 Evolving Wilds, 1 Trial of Ambition, 1 Vraska's Contempt, 1 Walk the Plank, 2 Lookout's Dispersal. SB'd in 3 Duress, 2 Negate, 1 Doomfall. Second game turn 1 Duress showed Stockpile, Procession, Anointer Priest, Legion's Landing and some lands. Took Stockpile. T3 Kitesail took Procession. Stalled out the board with Gifted Aetherborn and won with a bunch of flyers. 2-0
Third round, Temur Energy (Worlds build). I think this matchup is 50/50. It's tough to say. I won the first game on the play. T1 tap land, T2 Gifted Aetherborn, T3 Kitesail taking his only removal (Harnessed Lightning) and Pushed his cub on his turn, T4 stole his Whirler with Hostage Taker, T5 played his Whirler and held up Dispersal, got Glorybringer with it. Everything went perfectly and I dropped Scarab God into his tapped out lands and it survived long enough for me to drop Stormtamer.
SB'd out 2 Hostage Taker, 1 Trial of Ambition, 1 Field of Ruin, 1 Champion of Wits, 1 Kitesail. SB'd in 2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury, 1 Bontu's, 1 Negate, 1 Harsh Scrutiny, 1 Doomfall. The primer states that Energy midrange decks don't have much removal, but that is incorrect. Temur runs 7 MD removal for Hostage Taker +1 more Abrade from the SB as well as a couple MD Essence Scatters and Confiscation Coups thrown in for good measure. My SB plan was to take out Hostage Taker for Gonti ensuring I get the card advantage if he resolves and then add hand hate and a sweeper as a panic button.
I just got straight wrecked in game 2. Opening hand had 1 swamp, 2 islands, 2 Gifted Aetherborn, 1 Gonti, and 1 Dispersal. Found the second black source on turn 5 and never drew a fatal push for the T2 cub which did pretty much all of the work. On turn 5 I Hostage Taker'd his Glorybringer and he Confiscation Coup'd it on his turn and then replayed Glorybringer his next turn for the win. Ouch.
Game 3 went much better (i.e. had Fatal Push for the T2 cub lol.) Sided back in the Field of Ruin and took out the Negate. Basically if you can get to the point where you resolve a Scarab God with protection, and you're not super far behind, you just win. At one point I had Stormtamer and Scarab God on the field and he Harnessed Lightning'd the God on his turn. I sac'd Stormtamer and had enough mana to reanimate it and activate it again when he tried to Coup it. Temur gives a lot of great targets for Scarab God. 2-1.
Never drew the Baral's Expertise against Temur, but it would've done some serious work on every T5. I was chatting with my opponent, who is a good friend, after the matches and he agreed that Baral's would be a very difficult to overcome tempo swing for Temur especially casting a Hostage Taker with it. Also if it helps, he sided in 1 Chandra, 1 Abrade, and 1 Confiscation Coup taking out 2 Servant and 1 Whirler.
All in all, I'm super impressed with the list. Some refinements that could be made would be fitting in that 4th Stormtamer somehow and possibly the 3rd Vraska's Contempt. I was running 25 lands siding 1 out on the draw, but I think it might be right to actually just run 24 and put Stormtamer in instead of an Evolving Wilds.
BONUS: My girlfriend plays Ramunap Red exclusively and the matchup is easily 60/40 in our favor, possibly better than that. We've played 3 rounds now and I've won 5 games, losing only 1 round out of 3. We'll keep testing, of course, 3 rounds isn't a lot, but our deck really puts Ramunap on the back foot which isn't where they want to be.
Good point on Baral's Expertise. That actually kind of supports my thoughts with unsummon. I just realized my last post cut off before I got to explaining why I liked Unsummon for the match up more than Fatal Push, and it was largely because it could hit any creature regardless of mana cost without having to use revolt. Baral's Expertise sounds like it would work similarly to River's Rebuke in my merfolk mana ramp build. Basically, it one side sweeps with the hostage taker and the only recourse Temur has is to sideboard in Carnage Tyrant, which is why I end up having River's Rebuke in the 75. I may side it out for Baral's Expertise, as putting a creature on the field while sweeping at 5 mana sounds pretty good.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I've updated my results in my signature. Here's the details :
VS AGGRO : Good matchup in general because we can control the early game and then win the long game on the back of card advantage. 5-1 so far (GW% at 79). All wins at 2-0 (including Ramunap Red), except vs BW Vampires (2-1), and the only loss is to RG Dinosaurs (1-2).
VS CONTROL : Undefeated so far in the matchups (5-0), with two victories at 2-0 vs UW Approach and the rest at 2-1 vs UW Approach, Grixis Control and Grixis Torment (GW% at 77).
VS COMBO : Results are better vs low-creatures Combo decks (2-0 vs RB Cycle and 2-1 vs UB Marionette). Creatures-based Combo decks are 50-50 matchups so far [2-1 and 1-2 vs Esper Tokens ; 2-0 and 0-2 vs RG Pummeler). GW% is 60.
VS MIDRANGE : I don't have much data on this archetype... 2-1 vs 4-Colors Energy and 2-1 vs Jund Scorpion God (GW% is 67). I'm deliberately excluding a 0-2 loss to Temur Energy where I didn't really played due to extreme variance (super flood game 1 and mulligan to 5 game 2), but still this loss is on my mind...
The Pirate God is not unbeatable, but it has good matchup vs Aggro and Control. Less so vs Combo, and just a bit favorable vs Midrange. To understand what went wrong in the matchups I've lost, I did some researches, a lot of thinking, and I want to share my thoughts with you here. Bear with me, I hope you'll find my work interesting...
WHAT I KNOW ABOUT MAGICFirst, I'll assume readers are familiar with What I Know About Magic. I'll constantly refer to content of that article. If you haven't read it so far, I encourage you to read it now before you continue. It's an amazing article.
BTW, just to make things clear about what Midrange is on the metagame clock... Although sweepers are Midrange's trademark, Midrange is better defined by what sweepers accomplish : « clearly visible and blatantly obvious card advantage », quoting the author of the above mentioned article. Glimmer of Genius doesn't fit the Midrange's definition of card advantage. Sure it’s a 2-for-1, but for the same mana cost, Midrange will play instead Hostage Taker to dominate the battlefield with a single card (3-for-1, like a reversed sweeper).
Knowing ourselves better is half the battle. So, where do we fit exactly on the metagame clock? A certain type of matchup reveals to us our true identity...
THE PIRATE GOD VS COMBO/AGGRO50-50 isn't bad, but still my worst, and it's against aggressive Combo decks, like RG Pummeler and Esper Tokens. Their Combo beats our Midrange strategy, and their Aggro plan beats our Aggro-Control plays. But our Aggro-Control plan beats their Combo, and our Midrange cards can exhaust their Aggro plan. The matchup is like a dance, and recognizing on which axis the opponent is currently playing, and when he'll want to do the change, is super important. But in the end, it may be all about winning the coin toss and good draws on the top deck. The 50-50 results make a lot of sense.
THE PIRATE GOD IS AN AGGRO-CONTROL/MIDRANGE DECKI guessed from the start that we were both Midrange and Aggro-Control. Results confirm that. Being both Aggro-Control and Midrange is what makes this deck fantastic. Because we can fight on two different sides of the clock game 1, we don't really have bad matchups, and our worsts are more 50-50 coin toss than clearly bad matchups. Post SB, we can enhance the axis on which the opponent is the most vulnerable to. This is particularly easy to do against decks that fight on just one axis, or two axis that are next to each other on the metagame clock. Ramunap Red is pure Aggro and loses badly to our Midrange plan ; when they're out of ressources and go in top deck mode, we're just done warming up and our card advantage puts ahead. UW Approach is a Control/Combo deck, so going full throttle on Aggro-Control beats it (thus why we side out Hostage Taker).
So now that we know ourselves really well (Aggro-Control/Midrange), let's try to understand our ennemies better...
THE PIRATE GOD'S NEMESISAccording to the above mentioned results, the only other « bad » matchups are vs RG Dinosaurs, Jund Scorpion God, Temur Energy and 4-Colors Energy (and I would guess Sultai Energy belongs in this list). All these decks have something in common : they all have a strong Aggro plan. But other than just playing on the Aggro axis of the metagame clock, they - like us - fight on another side of the clock.
RG Dinosaurs uses some Combo elements through their Ramp creatures. Not only Drover of the Mighty and Otepec Huntmaster let them cast their Dinosaur spells ahead of their curve, both accelerators provide other substantial advantages. One is a 3/3 for 2 in the mid to late game, and the other gives Haste to an accelerated Dinosaur. It's already bad to face a Ripjaw Raptor on turn 3, it's even worse if you add Haste to the 4/5 body. And with Regisaur Alpha that spreads Haste, the deck is Combo enough for me. They also have some Midrange elements to get card advantage from Ripjaw Raptor (we'll have to chump block, sooner or later) and Regisaur Alpha. In the end, RG Dinosaurs is an Aggro/Combo deck, and is thus a 50-50 matchup for The Pirate God, much like Esper Tokens and RG Pummeler (who are Combo/Aggro).
All Energy decks play Servant of the Conduit to Ramp their creatures on the battlefield (T3 Bristling Hydra and T4 Glorybringer or Verdurous Gearhulk). In this aspect, they are much like RG Dinosaurs, but to a lesser extent. While RG Dinosaurs is more Combo and less Midrange (on top of Aggro), Energy decks are more Midrange and less Combo (on top of being Aggro, too).
Energy's Midrange plan is not so different than ours. Rogue Refiner blatantly draws a card. Whirler Virtuoso creates Thopter tokens without spending mana. Glorybringer is a 2-for-1 that is hard to remove (Fatal Push won't do, and sorcery speed removals won't prevent it from doing its job). I think The Pirate God's Midrange plan is stronger than Energy's, since we play more cards that get us card advantage. So we can beat their Aggro plan by being more Midrange than they are. But their Aggro plan clearly beats our Aggro-Control strategy (as is expected on the metagame clock). Like our Aggro/Combo and Combo/Aggro matchups, I would say that the Aggro/Midrange matchups are also a 50-50 coin toss for The Pirate God (which I can't say is more Aggro-Control than Midrange ; the two plans seem equally weighted in our deck).
So what do we do from there to beat these other round-the-clock decks?
I have a few ideas, and I'll post them tonight in another post... give me your thoughts in the mean time.
Alright, I just picked this deck recently, and the mono-red match-up is nowhere close to 50-50, it's more like 40-60 and you have a very low chance of winning if they draw 2+ ruins.
Out of 6 Games played against Rx decks, I won 2 and one was super close and the other was to a misplay on my opponent's part.
That being said I've found Abzan tokens and Control to be freerolls being 11-1 against those strategies. I have yet to play against Esper Tokens so I will hold my judgement on the matchup for that deck, but I imagine it is hard due to scarab god having access to our graveyard. I feel like I need a Gonti somewhere in this list for opposing Scarab God decks.
I'm 3-0 against Sultai Energy, and I've yet to play against Temur.
Alright, I just picked this deck recently, and the mono-red match-up is nowhere close to 50-50, it's more like 40-60 and you have a very low chance of winning if they draw 2+ ruins.
Out of 6 Games played against Rx decks, I won 2 and one was super close and the other was to a misplay on my opponent's part.
That being said I've found Abzan tokens and Control to be freerolls being 11-1 against those strategies. I have yet to play against Esper Tokens so I will hold my judgement on the matchup for that deck, but I imagine it is hard due to scarab god having access to our graveyard. I feel like I need a Gonti somewhere in this list for opposing Scarab God decks.
I'm 3-0 against Sultai Energy, and I've yet to play against Temur.
So the question presents itself, can we improve the Rx matchup to make this deck worth playing over tokens or UB control?
My experience with Ramunap Red is different. Play Gifted Aetherborn and protect it. If so, delay until turn 3 or 4 and play something else instead. Remember that you're not the beatdown. The early game should be exclusively dedicated to playing removals and chump blocking with Champion of Wits. Once you have a strong Aetherborn in play (with 1-2 mana open for Siren Stormtamer's ability or Lookout's Dispersal), aggression should slow downm. Don't use Gifted Aetherborn to attack until you've stabilized. Block with it instead. You'll remove a creature in the process, prevent damage from that attacker and gain 2 life. That, in itself, is a HUGE swing in our favor.
Late game, enter Hostage Taker and The Scarab God, and you should turn the corner. Remember to use Field of Ruin to destroy a desert before they get to 5 lands. And be careful once they get to 4 lands : it's better to counter Hazoret than to exile it with Vraska's Contempt. That way, you can eternalize Hazoret as a 4/4 Haste with The Scarab God. At worst, kidnap Hazoret before turning it against the opponent (but you'll still have suffered one attack with it). Also, bringing back Gifted Aetherborn from the graveyard with Liliana or The Scarab God is super important. Gaining just 4-5 life in this matchup is often enough (with Essence Extraction, Vraska's Contempt and Gifted Aetherborn). Gain more and opponent can no longer race you. 4/4 creatures cannot be killed by any of their removals, and that’s something in our favor once we get to the late game).
With 16 « removals » (4 Fatal Push, 1 Trial of Ambition, 1 Walk the Plank, 2 Vraska's Contempt, 4 Hostage Taker's ability and 4 Deathtouch on Gifted Aetherborn), you shouldn't have problems preventing them from winning before the late game, where you'll just dominate the battlefield.
Conclusion : If you lose badly to a pure Aggro deck (Ramunap Red doesn't have a plan eslewhere on the metagame clock), maybe it's because you play too much the Aggro-Control aspect of the deck, and not enough the Midrange personnality of The Pirate God. Midrange beats Aggro (unless sh!t happens).
One last thing about Ramunap Red. They can't have it both ways : sacrificing a land to burn you and have enough lands to eternalize Earthshaker. Even less when they discard extra lands to Hazoret's ability. These 3 features are incompatible, and you shouldn't worry about all of them at the same time.
BTW, I've updated the above post about the metagame clock. I'll post more details later, but I believe we should beat Energy decks with Essence Scatter and Harsh Scrutiny, and not bounce effects (Unsummon or Baral's Expertise). We just don't want some of their creatures to resolve, at all (Hydra, Glorybringer, Virtuoso). Cleaning the board with a sweeper won't do if they have a good supply of energy to create thopters at instant speed with the next Virtuoso, or to pump the next Cub or Hydra that hits the board. We just don't want any of their key creatures to hit the battlefield and trigger their ETB ability, even if it's just to gain them some energy. Because our Midrange plan is better than theirs, if we can heavily control the early game with removals, counterspells and hand disruption, we should have a favorable matchup. I'm considering Essence Scatter and Harsh Scrutiny in the main deck instead of Walk the Plank and Trial of Ambition, or maybe in the SB. Opinion?
Essence Scatter seems much better imo, from my experience walk the plank has been really awkward since most of the spells operate at instant speed and your turn is normally spent taking cards in one way or another.
I can't beat a turn 4 Hazoret, I simply just never have an answer and the game snowballs from there. Usually, I can beat a Chandra but a resolved Hazoret is impossible to beat without contempt or a hostage taker do I just let them play bomat Courier+Khenra+Crasher and pound my face turn 4 and try to make a comeback since I countered Hazoret?
Of the games I've played against mono-red I have drawn Vraska's Contempt twice and Hostage Taker three times, both cards are key to winning the matchup in my opinion.
The games I've won have been mostly due to him not getting a fast start and I get to resolve a turn 5 scarab god
every game i've lost it's because my opponent gets to 8 lands and starts shooting deserts at me with my low life total.
This happens time and time again to me, maybe the essence scatter could help with this I just need to stop the bleeding from the earlier game namely Ahn-Crop Crasher and Rampaging Ferocidon after board. Essence Scatter is also an efficient answer to Hazoret from UR and Opposing Scrab Gods from Temur and UB in G1.
At this rate I may be reconfiguring my deck list before I even get all the cards in the mail to build it. I think I still like Saffron Olive's list a little more due to the hostage taker, though I'm still feeling like I want at least one River's Rebuke in the sideboard since it answers token strategies.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
So I'm currently 2-2 against Temur Opponents tonight which was the main thing I wanted to test, the UB CfB list really wants the Siren as a big harnessed lightning to make you recast the scarab god is huge especially if they have the mana for a scarab god or chandra afterwards. I got one game in with a Ramanup red opponent and one in with a Temur Aggro opponent. I lost my Temur Aggro game and won the Red matchup. SO as of now, the record is 3-3.
My main takeaways from playing the UB Midrange deck are
-Essence Scatter is amazing possibly want 1 mainboard going forward in all UB pirate/midrange builds
-Gonti, Lord of Luxury is an absurd magic card against midrange decks
-Contraband Kingpin is very good against Mono-Red
-The midrange variant is very weak to decks like vehicles and temur aggro due to not having cheap counters available from pirates
-Chart a course was nice, but I'd rather have the body from Champion of Wits which also provides a ton of value in the late game.
-Main benefits of this deck are the Torrential Gearhulks and the draw spells.
I like both decks, but I need to play both more before I make a decision. I will be taking one of these lists to a PPTQ on Saturday.
Edit : The fact that Ramunap Red runs 24 lands with a curve that stops at 4 (except for 2 Glorybringer in the SB), and nowhere as much mana needs than us, should give us a hint that 24 is not the right number for us, no? Also note that Energy decks tend to run 22 lands + 4 Servant of the Conduit and 4 Attune with Aether (30 mana dedicated cards to not miss a land drop and play their threats right on curve). I think we are stretching our luck by not playing 25-26 lands.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Edit : I think land #25 could be Field of Ruin. It's an overpriced Evolving Wilds that can tap for C when it ETB and can mess with opponent's special lands.
Edit (again) : According to Frank Karsten's Magic Math, we're right on the frontier between 24 and 25 lands (average CMC is 2.72 ; see his Conclusion). Using the Linear Progression method, we need 24.54 lands (16 + 3.14 * CMC).
I would say 25 lands in the main deck, but I would systematically side out 1 land when on the draw.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
Bontu's Last Reckoning is for Temur Energy as a panic button. You basically side it in and hope you don't have to use it.
Lost Legacy is a combo breaker and meant to be used against Approach of the Second Sun, The Scarab God, and other kinds of decks that have a key piece to make them run. It's generally worth one sideboard slot because Duress already does a lot of work for a lot less mana. Also, this hits Anointed Procession and Hidden Stockpile.
Dispossess is strictly for God Pharaoh's Gift decks. Probably worth a one of.
Essence Extraction is the best option we probably have against ramunap red. They are running Rampaging Ferocidon now with Chandra, Torch of Defiance to really make things a nightmare for a lot of decks.
Some cards I've seen getting used that no one is probably thinking about is Gideon's Intervention, which I'm not sure we really got an answer for, actually. I've been thinking of throwing in a one or two of Negate or Censor.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
6 Swamp
5 Island
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Fetid Pools
3 Evolving Wilds
2 Ifnir Deadlands
1 Field of Ruin
Creatures (22)
3 Siren Stormtamer
4 Kitesail Freebooter
4 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Champion of Wits
4 Hostage Taker
3 The Scarab God
4 Fatal Push
1 Trial of Ambition
1 Walk the Plank
4 Lookout's Dispersal
2 Vraska's Contempt
1 Liliana, Death's Majesty
3 Duress
2 Negate
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
2 Doomfall
3 Essence Extraction
1 Liliana, Death's Majesty
1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
1 Lost Legacy
I updated the PRIMER with v1.1. I wish I could find room for The fourth Siren Stormtamer in the main deck...
I doubt Dispossess will be required in my meta, so I didn't add it to SB.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
Why not replace them with 2x Never // Return or even maindeck Doomfall ?
I feel like wizards really should have kept grasp in the format. Three mana sorcery speed removal with upside is really not good.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
Surprisingly, and unexpectedly, all my cards arrived by mail this afternoon. The deck was complete, no cards missing. So I played the above list exactly, except for one thing : an extra card was added by mistake. Instead of swapping a Swamp for a foiled Swamp, I added the foiled Swamp to the deck. So I played all night with 61 cards and 26 lands. I only realized it after the very last game was over.
2-0 vs UW Approach (play) : Siren Stormtamer counters Settle the Wreckage. Opponent didn't know I could do that. But even if he knew, there wasn't much he could have done to turn the tide.
All in all, the deck is as fun to play as expected. It is super good and powerful. I never felt helpless, and grinded each victory with a patient Midrange plan. With 12 removals, 11 counterspells/disruptions and 16 for card advantage, I don't think we have a single bad matchups, and The Pirate God is probably even favored against all types of decks.
There's a PPTQ next week... I can't wait to cash in and get some cash back on my investment.
Edit : I added the Field of Ruin + Fatal Push « combo » to the special plays section of the primer. Results updated in my signature (and these includes test games on XMage).
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
I'm thinking we will probably see players start using Hour of Devastation again since the one big card everyone was afraid of is far too easy to blank with edicts. I've actually seen games where someone basically runs Revel in Riches with tokens, intentionally runs board wipes to generate treasure tokens, and just wins. It's like "Surprise! Running Hidden Stockpile with Revel in Riches and nothing but token generating cards + board wipes can win games!"
I'm just glad that card is only "when a creature an opponent controls dies..." and not "when a creature dies...". If it was the later we'd be getting treasure token combo kills left and right.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
I'm still waiting on some cards to arrive. My LGS has been selling out of a ton of blue and black staples due to a lot of GP grinders in my area building UB control decks. The other major deck in my area is God-Pharaoh's Gift, which is really crazy good right now as well.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
First round, against W/B aggro. My opponent was very new to the game and had built the majority of his deck from a booster box of Ixalan. He did have some Yahenni, Undying Partisans and Liliana, Death's Majestys but mostly Ixalan cards. I felt really bad dropping a Scarab God and explaining everything it does. I mulliganed to 6 on the draw both games, but I don't think he had much of a chance anyway. Neither of us sideboarded. 2-0.
Second round, against W/B tokens. First game on the play, two early Kitesails stole his pieces, Stormtamer on the board and Dispersal protected me from a Fumigate. Scarab God finished it out. SB'd out 1 Evolving Wilds, 1 Trial of Ambition, 1 Vraska's Contempt, 1 Walk the Plank, 2 Lookout's Dispersal. SB'd in 3 Duress, 2 Negate, 1 Doomfall. Second game turn 1 Duress showed Stockpile, Procession, Anointer Priest, Legion's Landing and some lands. Took Stockpile. T3 Kitesail took Procession. Stalled out the board with Gifted Aetherborn and won with a bunch of flyers. 2-0
Third round, Temur Energy (Worlds build). I think this matchup is 50/50. It's tough to say. I won the first game on the play. T1 tap land, T2 Gifted Aetherborn, T3 Kitesail taking his only removal (Harnessed Lightning) and Pushed his cub on his turn, T4 stole his Whirler with Hostage Taker, T5 played his Whirler and held up Dispersal, got Glorybringer with it. Everything went perfectly and I dropped Scarab God into his tapped out lands and it survived long enough for me to drop Stormtamer.
SB'd out 2 Hostage Taker, 1 Trial of Ambition, 1 Field of Ruin, 1 Champion of Wits, 1 Kitesail. SB'd in 2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury, 1 Bontu's, 1 Negate, 1 Harsh Scrutiny, 1 Doomfall. The primer states that Energy midrange decks don't have much removal, but that is incorrect. Temur runs 7 MD removal for Hostage Taker +1 more Abrade from the SB as well as a couple MD Essence Scatters and Confiscation Coups thrown in for good measure. My SB plan was to take out Hostage Taker for Gonti ensuring I get the card advantage if he resolves and then add hand hate and a sweeper as a panic button.
I just got straight wrecked in game 2. Opening hand had 1 swamp, 2 islands, 2 Gifted Aetherborn, 1 Gonti, and 1 Dispersal. Found the second black source on turn 5 and never drew a fatal push for the T2 cub which did pretty much all of the work. On turn 5 I Hostage Taker'd his Glorybringer and he Confiscation Coup'd it on his turn and then replayed Glorybringer his next turn for the win. Ouch.
Game 3 went much better (i.e. had Fatal Push for the T2 cub lol.) Sided back in the Field of Ruin and took out the Negate. Basically if you can get to the point where you resolve a Scarab God with protection, and you're not super far behind, you just win. At one point I had Stormtamer and Scarab God on the field and he Harnessed Lightning'd the God on his turn. I sac'd Stormtamer and had enough mana to reanimate it and activate it again when he tried to Coup it. Temur gives a lot of great targets for Scarab God. 2-1.
Never drew the Baral's Expertise against Temur, but it would've done some serious work on every T5. I was chatting with my opponent, who is a good friend, after the matches and he agreed that Baral's would be a very difficult to overcome tempo swing for Temur especially casting a Hostage Taker with it. Also if it helps, he sided in 1 Chandra, 1 Abrade, and 1 Confiscation Coup taking out 2 Servant and 1 Whirler.
All in all, I'm super impressed with the list. Some refinements that could be made would be fitting in that 4th Stormtamer somehow and possibly the 3rd Vraska's Contempt. I was running 25 lands siding 1 out on the draw, but I think it might be right to actually just run 24 and put Stormtamer in instead of an Evolving Wilds.
BONUS: My girlfriend plays Ramunap Red exclusively and the matchup is easily 60/40 in our favor, possibly better than that. We've played 3 rounds now and I've won 5 games, losing only 1 round out of 3. We'll keep testing, of course, 3 rounds isn't a lot, but our deck really puts Ramunap on the back foot which isn't where they want to be.
Good point on Baral's Expertise. That actually kind of supports my thoughts with unsummon. I just realized my last post cut off before I got to explaining why I liked Unsummon for the match up more than Fatal Push, and it was largely because it could hit any creature regardless of mana cost without having to use revolt. Baral's Expertise sounds like it would work similarly to River's Rebuke in my merfolk mana ramp build. Basically, it one side sweeps with the hostage taker and the only recourse Temur has is to sideboard in Carnage Tyrant, which is why I end up having River's Rebuke in the 75. I may side it out for Baral's Expertise, as putting a creature on the field while sweeping at 5 mana sounds pretty good.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
WHAT I KNOW ABOUT MAGIC
First, I'll assume readers are familiar with What I Know About Magic. I'll constantly refer to content of that article. If you haven't read it so far, I encourage you to read it now before you continue. It's an amazing article.
BTW, just to make things clear about what Midrange is on the metagame clock... Although sweepers are Midrange's trademark, Midrange is better defined by what sweepers accomplish : « clearly visible and blatantly obvious card advantage », quoting the author of the above mentioned article. Glimmer of Genius doesn't fit the Midrange's definition of card advantage. Sure it’s a 2-for-1, but for the same mana cost, Midrange will play instead Hostage Taker to dominate the battlefield with a single card (3-for-1, like a reversed sweeper).
Knowing ourselves better is half the battle. So, where do we fit exactly on the metagame clock? A certain type of matchup reveals to us our true identity...
THE PIRATE GOD VS COMBO/AGGRO
50-50 isn't bad, but still my worst, and it's against aggressive Combo decks, like RG Pummeler and Esper Tokens. Their Combo beats our Midrange strategy, and their Aggro plan beats our Aggro-Control plays. But our Aggro-Control plan beats their Combo, and our Midrange cards can exhaust their Aggro plan. The matchup is like a dance, and recognizing on which axis the opponent is currently playing, and when he'll want to do the change, is super important. But in the end, it may be all about winning the coin toss and good draws on the top deck. The 50-50 results make a lot of sense.
THE PIRATE GOD IS AN AGGRO-CONTROL/MIDRANGE DECK
I guessed from the start that we were both Midrange and Aggro-Control. Results confirm that. Being both Aggro-Control and Midrange is what makes this deck fantastic. Because we can fight on two different sides of the clock game 1, we don't really have bad matchups, and our worsts are more 50-50 coin toss than clearly bad matchups. Post SB, we can enhance the axis on which the opponent is the most vulnerable to. This is particularly easy to do against decks that fight on just one axis, or two axis that are next to each other on the metagame clock. Ramunap Red is pure Aggro and loses badly to our Midrange plan ; when they're out of ressources and go in top deck mode, we're just done warming up and our card advantage puts ahead. UW Approach is a Control/Combo deck, so going full throttle on Aggro-Control beats it (thus why we side out Hostage Taker).
So now that we know ourselves really well (Aggro-Control/Midrange), let's try to understand our ennemies better...
THE PIRATE GOD'S NEMESIS
According to the above mentioned results, the only other « bad » matchups are vs RG Dinosaurs, Jund Scorpion God, Temur Energy and 4-Colors Energy (and I would guess Sultai Energy belongs in this list). All these decks have something in common : they all have a strong Aggro plan. But other than just playing on the Aggro axis of the metagame clock, they - like us - fight on another side of the clock.
RG Dinosaurs uses some Combo elements through their Ramp creatures. Not only Drover of the Mighty and Otepec Huntmaster let them cast their Dinosaur spells ahead of their curve, both accelerators provide other substantial advantages. One is a 3/3 for 2 in the mid to late game, and the other gives Haste to an accelerated Dinosaur. It's already bad to face a Ripjaw Raptor on turn 3, it's even worse if you add Haste to the 4/5 body. And with Regisaur Alpha that spreads Haste, the deck is Combo enough for me. They also have some Midrange elements to get card advantage from Ripjaw Raptor (we'll have to chump block, sooner or later) and Regisaur Alpha. In the end, RG Dinosaurs is an Aggro/Combo deck, and is thus a 50-50 matchup for The Pirate God, much like Esper Tokens and RG Pummeler (who are Combo/Aggro).
All Energy decks play Servant of the Conduit to Ramp their creatures on the battlefield (T3 Bristling Hydra and T4 Glorybringer or Verdurous Gearhulk). In this aspect, they are much like RG Dinosaurs, but to a lesser extent. While RG Dinosaurs is more Combo and less Midrange (on top of Aggro), Energy decks are more Midrange and less Combo (on top of being Aggro, too).
Energy's Midrange plan is not so different than ours. Rogue Refiner blatantly draws a card. Whirler Virtuoso creates Thopter tokens without spending mana. Glorybringer is a 2-for-1 that is hard to remove (Fatal Push won't do, and sorcery speed removals won't prevent it from doing its job). I think The Pirate God's Midrange plan is stronger than Energy's, since we play more cards that get us card advantage. So we can beat their Aggro plan by being more Midrange than they are. But their Aggro plan clearly beats our Aggro-Control strategy (as is expected on the metagame clock). Like our Aggro/Combo and Combo/Aggro matchups, I would say that the Aggro/Midrange matchups are also a 50-50 coin toss for The Pirate God (which I can't say is more Aggro-Control than Midrange ; the two plans seem equally weighted in our deck).
So what do we do from there to beat these other round-the-clock decks?
I have a few ideas, and I'll post them tonight in another post... give me your thoughts in the mean time.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
Out of 6 Games played against Rx decks, I won 2 and one was super close and the other was to a misplay on my opponent's part.
That being said I've found Abzan tokens and Control to be freerolls being 11-1 against those strategies. I have yet to play against Esper Tokens so I will hold my judgement on the matchup for that deck, but I imagine it is hard due to scarab god having access to our graveyard. I feel like I need a Gonti somewhere in this list for opposing Scarab God decks.
I'm 3-0 against Sultai Energy, and I've yet to play against Temur.
4 Champion of Wits
4 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Hostage Taker
4 Kitesail Freebooter
1 Noxious Gearhulk
3 Siren Stormtamer
3 The Scarab God
// 1 Enchantment
1 Trial of Ambition
// 10 Instant
4 Fatal Push
4 Lookout's Dispersal
2 Vraska's Contempt
4 Drowned Catacomb
1 Evolving Wilds
4 Fetid Pools
3 Ifnir Deadlands
4 Island
1 Scavenger Grounds
2 Submerged Boneyard
5 Swamp
// 1 Planeswalker
1 Liliana, Death's Majesty
1 Walk the Plank
// 1 Enchantment
1 Cartouche of Ambition
// 5 Instant
3 Essence Extraction
2 Negate
// 1 Planeswalker
1 Liliana, Death's Majesty
// 8 Sorcery
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
3 Doomfall
3 Duress
So the question presents itself, can we improve the Rx matchup to make this deck worth playing over tokens or UB control?
Standard
UB UB Midrange UB
Modern
GRWUBTribal Flames ZooGRWUB
RUGTemur DelverRUG
Legacy
UW Stoneblade UW
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/deck-of-the-day-ub-midrange-2/
Standard
UB UB Midrange UB
Modern
GRWUBTribal Flames ZooGRWUB
RUGTemur DelverRUG
Legacy
UW Stoneblade UW
My experience with Ramunap Red is different. Play Gifted Aetherborn and protect it. If so, delay until turn 3 or 4 and play something else instead. Remember that you're not the beatdown. The early game should be exclusively dedicated to playing removals and chump blocking with Champion of Wits. Once you have a strong Aetherborn in play (with 1-2 mana open for Siren Stormtamer's ability or Lookout's Dispersal), aggression should slow downm. Don't use Gifted Aetherborn to attack until you've stabilized. Block with it instead. You'll remove a creature in the process, prevent damage from that attacker and gain 2 life. That, in itself, is a HUGE swing in our favor.
Late game, enter Hostage Taker and The Scarab God, and you should turn the corner. Remember to use Field of Ruin to destroy a desert before they get to 5 lands. And be careful once they get to 4 lands : it's better to counter Hazoret than to exile it with Vraska's Contempt. That way, you can eternalize Hazoret as a 4/4 Haste with The Scarab God. At worst, kidnap Hazoret before turning it against the opponent (but you'll still have suffered one attack with it). Also, bringing back Gifted Aetherborn from the graveyard with Liliana or The Scarab God is super important. Gaining just 4-5 life in this matchup is often enough (with Essence Extraction, Vraska's Contempt and Gifted Aetherborn). Gain more and opponent can no longer race you. 4/4 creatures cannot be killed by any of their removals, and that’s something in our favor once we get to the late game).
With 16 « removals » (4 Fatal Push, 1 Trial of Ambition, 1 Walk the Plank, 2 Vraska's Contempt, 4 Hostage Taker's ability and 4 Deathtouch on Gifted Aetherborn), you shouldn't have problems preventing them from winning before the late game, where you'll just dominate the battlefield.
Conclusion : If you lose badly to a pure Aggro deck (Ramunap Red doesn't have a plan eslewhere on the metagame clock), maybe it's because you play too much the Aggro-Control aspect of the deck, and not enough the Midrange personnality of The Pirate God. Midrange beats Aggro (unless sh!t happens).
One last thing about Ramunap Red. They can't have it both ways : sacrificing a land to burn you and have enough lands to eternalize Earthshaker. Even less when they discard extra lands to Hazoret's ability. These 3 features are incompatible, and you shouldn't worry about all of them at the same time.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
Standard
UB UB Midrange UB
Modern
GRWUBTribal Flames ZooGRWUB
RUGTemur DelverRUG
Legacy
UW Stoneblade UW
I can't beat a turn 4 Hazoret, I simply just never have an answer and the game snowballs from there. Usually, I can beat a Chandra but a resolved Hazoret is impossible to beat without contempt or a hostage taker do I just let them play bomat Courier+Khenra+Crasher and pound my face turn 4 and try to make a comeback since I countered Hazoret?
Of the games I've played against mono-red I have drawn Vraska's Contempt twice and Hostage Taker three times, both cards are key to winning the matchup in my opinion.
The games I've won have been mostly due to him not getting a fast start and I get to resolve a turn 5 scarab god
every game i've lost it's because my opponent gets to 8 lands and starts shooting deserts at me with my low life total.
This happens time and time again to me, maybe the essence scatter could help with this I just need to stop the bleeding from the earlier game namely Ahn-Crop Crasher and Rampaging Ferocidon after board. Essence Scatter is also an efficient answer to Hazoret from UR and Opposing Scrab Gods from Temur and UB in G1.
Standard
UB UB Midrange UB
Modern
GRWUBTribal Flames ZooGRWUB
RUGTemur DelverRUG
Legacy
UW Stoneblade UW
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
My main takeaways from playing the UB Midrange deck are
-Essence Scatter is amazing possibly want 1 mainboard going forward in all UB pirate/midrange builds
-Gonti, Lord of Luxury is an absurd magic card against midrange decks
-Contraband Kingpin is very good against Mono-Red
-The midrange variant is very weak to decks like vehicles and temur aggro due to not having cheap counters available from pirates
-Chart a course was nice, but I'd rather have the body from Champion of Wits which also provides a ton of value in the late game.
-Main benefits of this deck are the Torrential Gearhulks and the draw spells.
I like both decks, but I need to play both more before I make a decision. I will be taking one of these lists to a PPTQ on Saturday.
MY midrange list
4 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Kitesail Freebooter
3 The Scarab God
2 Torrential Gearhulk
2 Hostage Taker
// 1 Enchantment
1 Search for Azcanta
// 14 Instant
2 Essence Scatter
2 Vraska's Contempt
4 Fatal Push
2 Glimmer of Genius
3 Supreme Will
1 Essence Extraction
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Fetid Pools
4 Drowned Catacomb
1 Field of Ruin
8 Swamp
5 Island
// 4 Sorcery
4 Chart a Course
// 4 Creature
2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
2 Contraband Kingpin
// 1 Enchantment
1 Arguel's Blood Fast
// 4 Instant
2 Essence Extraction
2 Negate
4 Duress
2 Doomfall
My Pirate God [convientiional] list
4 Champion of Wits
4 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Hostage Taker
4 Kitesail Freebooter
1 Noxious Gearhulk
3 Siren Stormtamer
3 The Scarab God
// 12 Instant
4 Fatal Push
4 Lookout's Dispersal
2 Vraska's Contempt
2 Essence Scatter
// 24 Land
4 Drowned Catacomb
1 Evolving Wilds
4 Fetid Pools
3 Ifnir Deadlands
4 Island
2 Submerged Boneyard
5 Swamp
1 Field of Ruin
1 Liliana, Death's Majesty
3 Essence Extraction
2 Negate
// 1 Planeswalker
1 Liliana, Death's Majesty
// 8 Sorcery
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
3 Doomfall
3 Duress
Standard
UB UB Midrange UB
Modern
GRWUBTribal Flames ZooGRWUB
RUGTemur DelverRUG
Legacy
UW Stoneblade UW