I went 2-2 tonight. Sparing the deatils I played a RDW deck who splashed black out of the sideboard and then proceeded to cast 3 infests in the same game! Then in the 4th round I lost to some u/w jank because I saw no cards in the last game. All in all I love this deck and with the exception of some crap draws I would have placed better.( I landed 2x BFT's and each time he had the infest to kill them!)
Rd1 1-0
Beating a 2000 rated player in B/W token mirror match in rd1, god hand both games for me, even his 2 tidehollow scullers in back to back turns could not hold me back, double procession + glorious anthem both games for me off windbrisk = i win.
Rd2 Another B/W token mirror 1-1
G1 See everything from KoTM to CGR and win with ease on the back of double life link from Loxodon Warhammer on knight. Was at 50 life and he was at 5 as he scoopsied.
G2 I fanned a decent hand, but his T2 Sculler, T3 Sculler, T4 Sculler, T5 Thoughtseize seals the deal.
G3 I keep a one lander just because I feel like if I get two more lands before turn 5 I win. In retrospect this is always a bad idea. I have 2 spectral, KoTM, Anthem, Ajani in hand. I play Windbrisk T1, see 3 lands and a Thoughtseize... Needless to say I see one more land by T4 only and by then I am already in backpedaling mode, it was obv a dumb thing to do.
R3 B/W aggro... I am playing B/W all day... 2-1
He plays some janky mcjank I smash him.
R4 RDW that crushed me in top4 last week, he is also 2-1 and we both need to win to make Top8. I talk some trash before we sit down how I am gonna crush him now because I want him to tilt. 3-1
G1 I open up a hand with KoTM, Cloudgoat, Anthem, 4 lands. I keep and proceed to molest him. His fanatics block the KoTM and shoot me, but after I drop CGR and 2nd anthem, he scoops.
G2 I side in 4 BFT's and my 1 Aura of Silence, lol. He is talking trash at this point telling me to mulligan cuz its over. I fan open a pretty good hand with 1 unmake, 1 terror, 3 lands, Blossom and something else.. but no BFT or AoS.. I decided not to mulligan because I want to show how good my hand is. I tell him he is going to lose and say Ill keep. He plays Mountain followed by FoD. I T2 sculler him and see 2 Flame javs and a Pyroclasm, electing to take one of the Fjavs. We play around for a bit and I drop my blossom as he keeps smashing me with FoD for 2 and then for 4 twice.
Then he drop Ghitu encampment and I drop Ajani and give my KoTM and my Blossom token +1/+1 and KoTM goes in for 3 life. On his turn he burns my knight and attacks figure to me (11 life) and encampment on ajani (3 counters). I chump w/ the faerie on ajani and go to 7 hoping he just Fjavs ajani next turn. I elect Ajani (4) to gain me 2 life going to 8 (-1 from blossom), he cringes a bit and goes to draw. He flame javs ajani and attacks me for 6 as I ferociously terror his figure and chump the land. He cringes and passes turn. I go to 7, and drop a spectral procession (keeping a glorious anthem & unmake in hand as I only have 5 lands and its very hard to operate as I cant draw my 6th land at all for 4 turns now.) I pass turn and he drops demigod and attacks as I chump block with the faerie token. He passes turn I go to 6 and finally draw my land and drop an Anthem attacking him for 10 w/ 5 spectral tokens (i guess i chumped something), taking him down to 3 life. I pass turn having unmake mana open for his Demigod and after he attacks with land and demigod he gets unmade and he scoops.
I have to give props to whoever suggested I keep blossoms in for RDW, it did make it a scarier game as I had to do something in the last 5 turns to win or it was my blossom killing me, but it really helped me stabilize.
Top8 vs some BS Elemental.dec with fulminators, horde of notions, wtf.
G1 he mulls to 5 and sees only 1 land I cruise to a T3 scoop step after Sculler and thoughtseize violate him even more.
G2 i mull to 6 cuz my opening hand is 7 lands. i keep and he goes off on me with dubs mulldrifter and then a lark. My relic of progenitus never had anything to remove from the yard. I lose as he wispmares my world away.
G3 I put in the 4 wraths and take out the scullers. I need to smash his board if he gets crazy draws... I fan open a decent hand but a T3 Fulminator mage and T4 Fulminator mage put me out of business and my 2 wraths in hand never make it to the board. Lesson learned, play pithing needles like I used to in the board.
All in all I like thoughtseizes main alot, but I saw that there is 2 more kithkin decks and now there is 2 more B/W tokens... thinking about this board now:
3 Pithing needle (so amazing against manlands, figure, cavalier, fulminator mage, colossus, PLANESWALKER.DEC)
4 BFT (I think I need 2 ranger of eos cuz I just cant draw them, lol)
2 Elspeth
2 Relic (house vs Lark.dec)
2 Wispmare (MVP of mirror for sure)
2 Wrath of god
Right now, a lot of testing needs to be done before those issues will be solved. I personally like PtE over Terror, because of it's amazingly good, even with the drawback. Plus, it's never really a dead card.
That's a good point. It can be so frustrating to play a deck with a lot of black and/or artifact creatures, and Terror becomes nearly useless... And there are a few esper decks at the shop where I play, plus that one woman with a nearly mono black deck... Darn, now I'm a lot less sure of myself about Terror. I'll try it with PtE when it comes out and see what I like better. But I do like the idea of never having a dead drop again.
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"I am confident that if anyone actually
penetrates our facades, even the most
perceptive would still be fundamentally
unprepared for the truth of House Dimir."
That's a good point. It can be so frustrating to play a deck with a lot of black and/or artifact creatures, and Terror becomes nearly useless... And there are a few esper decks at the shop where I play, plus that one woman with a nearly mono black deck... Darn, now I'm a lot less sure of myself about Terror. I'll try it with PtE when it comes out and see what I like better. But I do like the idea of never having a dead drop again.
Maybe it would be worth thinking about doing 2 and 2. At least then if its a mostly dead card against a lot of black creatures, drawing into a PtE will help you. Even in the same game, early terror might help out a lot and then after say turn four or five, the extra land might not help them as much (obviously depending on the deck).
I played this deck during yesterday's FNM. Since there were a lot of people, we played 5 rounds to top 8.
Round 1, Faeries. This guy drew pretty well all 3 games, but game 2, I ripped his hand apart w/ Seizes and Scullers. He won game 1 with Mistbind Cliques and no removal from me. Game 2, his hand was ripped. Game 3 was close, but I think eventually Tokens did lethal after I Wispmare 2 BB. 2-1
Round 2, I play Vengeant Lark. Both games, he is stuck on 3 mana and actually does a good job for that (FoDs). However w/ me at 4 mana and 5 mana, I eventually overwhelm him having him on the ropes the whole time. 2-0.
Round 3, I play Bant Control, a very annoying deck. I overwhelm him with early pressure and by holding back cards. 2-0.
Round 4, I play the best player playing 5 CC. He has been ranked 1990 before, but has since gone way down to 1890. I was 0-8 lifetime against him in Constructed. He wins game 1, getting CA and board position easily as I draw too many lands. Game 2, I overwhelm him w/ tokens and Ajani. Game 3, I thought he had it, but the cards in his hand were no good. He couldn't draw mass destruction, although I had a little rebuild in my hand. 2-1.
Round 5, I play because I have a good matchup. I beat DDW 2-0 with tokens and Ajani both games.
Top 8, I play another player playing the same 5CC as the guy from round 4. Game 1, he beats me w/ 3 Cryptic Command and then Cruel Ultimatum for lethal. I had 11 BB tokens. Game 2, I overwhelm him w/ tokens eventually and game 3, I have him on the ropes the whole game as he has 6 lands and 4 spells in his GY, 1 in his hand.
Top 4, I play a rookie playing the guy from Round 4's DDW. He beats me game 1 and is pretty confident w/ his Flame Javelins. Game 2, Spectral Procession and Ajani and his drawing 4 lands in a row make a short game. Game 3 was tough, with him getting an early FoD, Ashenmoor Gouger, and Boggart Ram-Gang. All 3 games he played FoD 1st turn and Mogg Fanatic 2nd turn. Eventually I make the mistake when he attacks w/ all 3 of not saccing my BFT since I only had 2 blockers BFT and Wispmare. I had to attack w/ KoM to gain some life to go to 4 life (Glorious Anthem out, me at 1). My next draw was a BFT, so I may have won. I think I was getting frustrated that he drew 3 Flame Javelins and kept aiming them at my head, but it is no excuse. I lose 1-2. I would have been in the finals vs. the guy with 5 CC from Round 4.
Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Maybe it would be worth thinking about doing 2 and 2. At least then if its a mostly dead card against a lot of black creatures, drawing into a PtE will help you. Even in the same game, early terror might help out a lot and then after say turn four or five, the extra land might not help them as much (obviously depending on the deck).
It would probably be worth a try, but I don't really like running less than three copies of a card like that. The way I see it, if I spread myself too thin, I'm only decreasing my chances of getting the right one for the right situation. My chances are just as good that I get the PtE early game and can't afford the tempo loss, and Terror late game and it doesn't help as much.
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"I am confident that if anyone actually
penetrates our facades, even the most
perceptive would still be fundamentally
unprepared for the truth of House Dimir."
Well, PtE isnt' a guaranteed tempo loss, especially if you thougthseized or tidehollow sculler'd beforehand and know what their curve is gonna look like. Then you can cast it a turn earlier ot later, depending on what your curve looks like/when are they not gonna capitalize on the extra land.
GB Elves <-man I hate this deck, it has a 50/50 matchup against Tier 1/2 but loses to jank aggro most of the time. UB Faeries <-only reason it's good is because of all those people that's still playing 5CC. WB Tokens <-so boring, there's only 2 ways to play this deck. RB Blightning <-Autopilotting you to victory 0-2 drop.
???B Super Secret Tech <-dude, this thing is nuts! 90/10 against all matchups.
Well, PtE isnt' a guaranteed tempo loss, especially if you thougthseized or tidehollow sculler'd beforehand and know what their curve is gonna look like. Then you can cast it a turn earlier ot later, depending on what your curve looks like/when are they not gonna capitalize on the extra land.
Very true. That land is a heck of a drawback, but there are definitely ways around it. I've been doing some proxy testing, and it's looking good for PtE. I was a strong Terror supporter for a while, but I may have to back down on this one. All the evidence so far seems to say PtE is the better call. I know I'm going to swap it in once it's legal.
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"I am confident that if anyone actually
penetrates our facades, even the most
perceptive would still be fundamentally
unprepared for the truth of House Dimir."
I still like Terror, it's a great card, but PtE is so much more versatile, and even though it was a drawback, I think it's not nearly enough not to play it.
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Amazing Avy & Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios [4/22/11]
FWIW I thought I'd throw in my $.02 regarding Terror vs. Path to Exile. I think Path is perfect for this deck. I have been frustrated with Terror on many occasions, even tempted to replace a couple with Unmake, but Unmake is just too costly for a removal spell for this deck. Only lots more testing will tell for sure, but I don't think the drawback of PtE will be very relevant compared to it's advantages. Also, in a matchup where the removal isn't all that great you can use your third turn (if you don't have or want to play Spectral Procession, obv.) casting Sculler and PTE with the ability on the stack to nab a card for good and accel yourself into something bigger next turn. Probably not going to happen enough to be a deciding factor, but I think it's neat
What I'm pondering is this: What do you guys think of Scepter of Fugue for the sideboard? It would mainly be for 5CC but I could definitely see it being useful in other matchups. Against 5CC it comes down under most countermagic, and it's hard for them to deal with, from what I've seen most lists aren't playing Bant Charm anymore or any other artifact hate. So the question is, is it worth the mana investment, and does it hurt them enough? The way I see it working is get it down early, play a threat the next turn, then start working on their hand till they deal with your threat. Gives you something relevant to do while not overextending, and you obviously don't HAVE to use it every turn if you have something better to do. Let's you rip apart their hand even more with any spare mana.
I guess I'd like to hear from anyone who has more experience actually playing with 5CC, is losing a card a turn actually all that painful, or would all the draw in the deck basically make up for it?
What I'm pondering is this: What do you guys think of Scepter of Fugue for the sideboard? It would mainly be for 5CC but I could definitely see it being useful in other matchups. Against 5CC it comes down under most countermagic, and it's hard for them to deal with, from what I've seen most lists aren't playing Bant Charm anymore or any other artifact hate. So the question is, is it worth the mana investment, and does it hurt them enough? The way I see it working is get it down early, play a threat the next turn, then start working on their hand till they deal with your threat. Gives you something relevant to do while not overextending, and you obviously don't HAVE to use it every turn if you have something better to do. Let's you rip apart their hand even more with any spare mana.
Scepter of Fugue is a nuts card. At two black mana, however, it is very hard to cast reliably with this deck. If the manabase can be tweaked a bit to increase the odds of this, I'm 100% for its inclusion.
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Scepter of Fugue is a nuts card. At two black mana, however, it is very hard to cast reliably with this deck. If the manabase can be tweaked a bit to increase the odds of this, I'm 100% for its inclusion.
Is it really that hard? I mean, more than half the lands in the deck are dual lands. The deck even plays Terror, which means that you have to reliably be able to hit that cost often. I suppose if you're trying to play it on turn two though, yeah. Is landing it turn two really that important? There are much more important things to do on that turn, I'd think.
Is it really that hard? I mean, more than half the lands in the deck are dual lands. The deck even plays Terror, which means that you have to reliably be able to hit that cost often. I suppose if you're trying to play it on turn two though, yeah. Is landing it turn two really that important?
Yes, it certainly is hard to get two black mana with this deck 100% of the time. It's not totally necessary to get it out turn two (it's usually better later anyway), but you get my point.
And, well...the deck might not play Terror for long.
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Yes, it certainly is hard to get two black mana with this deck 100% of the time. It's not totally necessary to get it out turn two (it's usually better later anyway), but you get my point.
And, well...the deck might not play Terror for long.
I'm a big fan of the Scepter as well. Hitting BB turn 2 might be an issue, but I don't think getting out 2nd turn is vital, as it can be helpful all game.
As for the Terror comparison, it's completely irrelevant, as hitting 1B is incredibly easier than hitting BB. Unless you draw a Fetid Heath, or a Swamp/Caves, it's not going to happen. That being said, again we don't necessarily need the Scepter out t2.
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Amazing Avy & Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios [4/22/11]
Yes, it certainly is hard to get two black mana with this deck 100% of the time. It's not totally necessary to get it out turn two (it's usually better later anyway), but you get my point.
And, well...the deck might not play Terror for long.
Fair enough. I haven't played with this deck much, but I've never had a problem with it.
I was just under the assumption that the deck could play this if the deck played Terror for so many months.
Yeah. I...didn't read the card. My bad. I remembered the cost of the activated ability and not the cost of the card.
Happens to the best of us, and me too.
Chris, what are your thoughts on Celestial Purge vs Wispmare, & Mark of Asylum? If I remember correctly, you like the body Wispmare gives us over the instant speed of Purge.
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Amazing Avy & Sig by mchief111 @ Rising Studios [4/22/11]
Chris, what are your thoughts on Celestial Purge vs Wispmare, & Mark of Asylum? If I remember correctly, you like the body Wispmare gives us over the instant speed of Purge.
Wispmare is just better against Faeries, and that's huge.
It can also be played for one or three, which makes it versatile. The flying body is just cake.
The jury is out on Mark of Asylum as far as I'm concerned. A 2cc enchantment that doesn't pump our men or make them seems kind of awkward, but it might not be that bad. I don't know yet.
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The jury is out on Mark of Asylum as far as I'm concerned. A 2cc enchantment that doesn't pump our men or make them seems kind of awkward, but it might not be that bad. I don't know yet.
I would definitely not run Mark of Asylum as my only protection from burn. Now, that said, I do run two copies of it (on SB obviously). I also have three BFT on the side. I think that while the two both protect our critters from burn, the situations where you want each are very different, and I like being prepared for either or both if need be. The only thing that really bothers me about the mark is that I have trouble deciding what to side out for it. I don't really like losing creatures in a deck like this, but all the non-creature spells are so important...
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"I am confident that if anyone actually
penetrates our facades, even the most
perceptive would still be fundamentally
unprepared for the truth of House Dimir."
I would definitely not run Mark of Asylum as my only protection from burn. Now, that said, I do run two copies of it (on SB obviously). I also have three BFT on the side. I think that while the two both protect our critters from burn, the situations where you want each are very different, and I like being prepared for either or both if need be. The only thing that really bothers me about the mark is that I have trouble deciding what to side out for it. I don't really like losing creatures in a deck like this, but all the non-creature spells are so important...
the thing about mark is, I'd rather have the versatility the forge-tenders allow. nothing is better than ripping several tenders against a red deck with ajani on the field, getting in for several points. what else would you remove for the marks anyway? Runed Halos, which potentially help with game 2 stillmoon and banefire?
not only that, but mark is a dead draw if your opponent happens to have Everlasting Torment in for games 2 and 3, which some red decks have to combat protection and lifegain. forge-tenders atleast have evasion.
Take your monoblack deck, then set aside 14 swamps. Add 4 Creeping Tar Pits, 4 Darkslick Shores, 4 Drowned Catacombs, and 2 Jwar isle Refuge and add 4 Jace, the Mindsculptors. Your monoblack deck is instantly better. Better yet, drop those refuges, throw in some islands and some mana leaks, and lo and behold, you're now playing a real deck. Congratulations. Welcome to the world of competitive M:TG.
I think it's awkward for a deck that is touted to recover very well from mass-removal to pack SB cards to combat mass-removal. In addition, I don't know that it's a bad thing when your opponent 1-for-1 burns your creatures.
Scepter of Fugue is a nuts card. At two black mana, however, it is very hard to cast reliably with this deck. If the manabase can be tweaked a bit to increase the odds of this, I'm 100% for its inclusion.
I was wondering do you think this card should be main deck or sided either way how many would you run? Personaly i would run 2-3 side
Yeah man I agree, he's great against aggro- but I'm talking about 5cc.
Thanks to xeno for the sig and avvy!!!
Rd1 1-0
Beating a 2000 rated player in B/W token mirror match in rd1, god hand both games for me, even his 2 tidehollow scullers in back to back turns could not hold me back, double procession + glorious anthem both games for me off windbrisk = i win.
Rd2 Another B/W token mirror 1-1
G1 See everything from KoTM to CGR and win with ease on the back of double life link from Loxodon Warhammer on knight. Was at 50 life and he was at 5 as he scoopsied.
G2 I fanned a decent hand, but his T2 Sculler, T3 Sculler, T4 Sculler, T5 Thoughtseize seals the deal.
G3 I keep a one lander just because I feel like if I get two more lands before turn 5 I win. In retrospect this is always a bad idea. I have 2 spectral, KoTM, Anthem, Ajani in hand. I play Windbrisk T1, see 3 lands and a Thoughtseize... Needless to say I see one more land by T4 only and by then I am already in backpedaling mode, it was obv a dumb thing to do.
R3 B/W aggro... I am playing B/W all day... 2-1
He plays some janky mcjank I smash him.
R4 RDW that crushed me in top4 last week, he is also 2-1 and we both need to win to make Top8. I talk some trash before we sit down how I am gonna crush him now because I want him to tilt. 3-1
G1 I open up a hand with KoTM, Cloudgoat, Anthem, 4 lands. I keep and proceed to molest him. His fanatics block the KoTM and shoot me, but after I drop CGR and 2nd anthem, he scoops.
G2 I side in 4 BFT's and my 1 Aura of Silence, lol. He is talking trash at this point telling me to mulligan cuz its over. I fan open a pretty good hand with 1 unmake, 1 terror, 3 lands, Blossom and something else.. but no BFT or AoS.. I decided not to mulligan because I want to show how good my hand is. I tell him he is going to lose and say Ill keep. He plays Mountain followed by FoD. I T2 sculler him and see 2 Flame javs and a Pyroclasm, electing to take one of the Fjavs. We play around for a bit and I drop my blossom as he keeps smashing me with FoD for 2 and then for 4 twice.
Then he drop Ghitu encampment and I drop Ajani and give my KoTM and my Blossom token +1/+1 and KoTM goes in for 3 life. On his turn he burns my knight and attacks figure to me (11 life) and encampment on ajani (3 counters). I chump w/ the faerie on ajani and go to 7 hoping he just Fjavs ajani next turn. I elect Ajani (4) to gain me 2 life going to 8 (-1 from blossom), he cringes a bit and goes to draw. He flame javs ajani and attacks me for 6 as I ferociously terror his figure and chump the land. He cringes and passes turn. I go to 7, and drop a spectral procession (keeping a glorious anthem & unmake in hand as I only have 5 lands and its very hard to operate as I cant draw my 6th land at all for 4 turns now.) I pass turn and he drops demigod and attacks as I chump block with the faerie token. He passes turn I go to 6 and finally draw my land and drop an Anthem attacking him for 10 w/ 5 spectral tokens (i guess i chumped something), taking him down to 3 life. I pass turn having unmake mana open for his Demigod and after he attacks with land and demigod he gets unmade and he scoops.
I have to give props to whoever suggested I keep blossoms in for RDW, it did make it a scarier game as I had to do something in the last 5 turns to win or it was my blossom killing me, but it really helped me stabilize.
Top8 vs some BS Elemental.dec with fulminators, horde of notions, wtf.
G1 he mulls to 5 and sees only 1 land I cruise to a T3 scoop step after Sculler and thoughtseize violate him even more.
G2 i mull to 6 cuz my opening hand is 7 lands. i keep and he goes off on me with dubs mulldrifter and then a lark. My relic of progenitus never had anything to remove from the yard. I lose as he wispmares my world away.
G3 I put in the 4 wraths and take out the scullers. I need to smash his board if he gets crazy draws... I fan open a decent hand but a T3 Fulminator mage and T4 Fulminator mage put me out of business and my 2 wraths in hand never make it to the board. Lesson learned, play pithing needles like I used to in the board.
All in all I like thoughtseizes main alot, but I saw that there is 2 more kithkin decks and now there is 2 more B/W tokens... thinking about this board now:
3 Pithing needle (so amazing against manlands, figure, cavalier, fulminator mage, colossus, PLANESWALKER.DEC)
4 BFT (I think I need 2 ranger of eos cuz I just cant draw them, lol)
2 Elspeth
2 Relic (house vs Lark.dec)
2 Wispmare (MVP of mirror for sure)
2 Wrath of god
That's a good point. It can be so frustrating to play a deck with a lot of black and/or artifact creatures, and Terror becomes nearly useless... And there are a few esper decks at the shop where I play, plus that one woman with a nearly mono black deck... Darn, now I'm a lot less sure of myself about Terror. I'll try it with PtE when it comes out and see what I like better. But I do like the idea of never having a dead drop again.
"I am confident that if anyone actually
penetrates our facades, even the most
perceptive would still be fundamentally
unprepared for the truth of House Dimir."
Maybe it would be worth thinking about doing 2 and 2. At least then if its a mostly dead card against a lot of black creatures, drawing into a PtE will help you. Even in the same game, early terror might help out a lot and then after say turn four or five, the extra land might not help them as much (obviously depending on the deck).
Round 1, Faeries. This guy drew pretty well all 3 games, but game 2, I ripped his hand apart w/ Seizes and Scullers. He won game 1 with Mistbind Cliques and no removal from me. Game 2, his hand was ripped. Game 3 was close, but I think eventually Tokens did lethal after I Wispmare 2 BB. 2-1
Round 2, I play Vengeant Lark. Both games, he is stuck on 3 mana and actually does a good job for that (FoDs). However w/ me at 4 mana and 5 mana, I eventually overwhelm him having him on the ropes the whole time. 2-0.
Round 3, I play Bant Control, a very annoying deck. I overwhelm him with early pressure and by holding back cards. 2-0.
Round 4, I play the best player playing 5 CC. He has been ranked 1990 before, but has since gone way down to 1890. I was 0-8 lifetime against him in Constructed. He wins game 1, getting CA and board position easily as I draw too many lands. Game 2, I overwhelm him w/ tokens and Ajani. Game 3, I thought he had it, but the cards in his hand were no good. He couldn't draw mass destruction, although I had a little rebuild in my hand. 2-1.
Round 5, I play because I have a good matchup. I beat DDW 2-0 with tokens and Ajani both games.
Top 8, I play another player playing the same 5CC as the guy from round 4. Game 1, he beats me w/ 3 Cryptic Command and then Cruel Ultimatum for lethal. I had 11 BB tokens.
Top 4, I play a rookie playing the guy from Round 4's DDW. He beats me game 1 and is pretty confident w/ his Flame Javelins. Game 2, Spectral Procession and Ajani and his drawing 4 lands in a row make a short game. Game 3 was tough, with him getting an early FoD, Ashenmoor Gouger, and Boggart Ram-Gang. All 3 games he played FoD 1st turn and Mogg Fanatic 2nd turn. Eventually I make the mistake when he attacks w/ all 3 of not saccing my BFT since I only had 2 blockers BFT and Wispmare. I had to attack w/ KoM to gain some life to go to 4 life (Glorious Anthem out, me at 1). My next draw was a BFT, so I may have won.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)It would probably be worth a try, but I don't really like running less than three copies of a card like that. The way I see it, if I spread myself too thin, I'm only decreasing my chances of getting the right one for the right situation. My chances are just as good that I get the PtE early game and can't afford the tempo loss, and Terror late game and it doesn't help as much.
"I am confident that if anyone actually
penetrates our facades, even the most
perceptive would still be fundamentally
unprepared for the truth of House Dimir."
GB Elves <-man I hate this deck, it has a 50/50 matchup against Tier 1/2 but loses to jank aggro most of the time.
UB Faeries <-only reason it's good is because of all those people that's still playing 5CC.
WB Tokens <-so boring, there's only 2 ways to play this deck.
RB Blightning <-Autopilotting you to
victory0-2 drop.???B Super Secret Tech <-dude, this thing is nuts! 90/10 against all matchups.
Very true. That land is a heck of a drawback, but there are definitely ways around it. I've been doing some proxy testing, and it's looking good for PtE. I was a strong Terror supporter for a while, but I may have to back down on this one. All the evidence so far seems to say PtE is the better call. I know I'm going to swap it in once it's legal.
"I am confident that if anyone actually
penetrates our facades, even the most
perceptive would still be fundamentally
unprepared for the truth of House Dimir."
What I'm pondering is this: What do you guys think of Scepter of Fugue for the sideboard? It would mainly be for 5CC but I could definitely see it being useful in other matchups. Against 5CC it comes down under most countermagic, and it's hard for them to deal with, from what I've seen most lists aren't playing Bant Charm anymore or any other artifact hate. So the question is, is it worth the mana investment, and does it hurt them enough? The way I see it working is get it down early, play a threat the next turn, then start working on their hand till they deal with your threat. Gives you something relevant to do while not overextending, and you obviously don't HAVE to use it every turn if you have something better to do. Let's you rip apart their hand even more with any spare mana.
I guess I'd like to hear from anyone who has more experience actually playing with 5CC, is losing a card a turn actually all that painful, or would all the draw in the deck basically make up for it?
Scepter of Fugue is a nuts card. At two black mana, however, it is very hard to cast reliably with this deck. If the manabase can be tweaked a bit to increase the odds of this, I'm 100% for its inclusion.
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Is it really that hard? I mean, more than half the lands in the deck are dual lands. The deck even plays Terror, which means that you have to reliably be able to hit that cost often. I suppose if you're trying to play it on turn two though, yeah. Is landing it turn two really that important? There are much more important things to do on that turn, I'd think.
Yes, it certainly is hard to get two black mana with this deck 100% of the time. It's not totally necessary to get it out turn two (it's usually better later anyway), but you get my point.
And, well...the deck might not play Terror for long.
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I'm a big fan of the Scepter as well. Hitting BB turn 2 might be an issue, but I don't think getting out 2nd turn is vital, as it can be helpful all game.
As for the Terror comparison, it's completely irrelevant, as hitting 1B is incredibly easier than hitting BB. Unless you draw a Fetid Heath, or a Swamp/Caves, it's not going to happen. That being said, again we don't necessarily need the Scepter out t2.
Fair enough. I haven't played with this deck much, but I've never had a problem with it.
I was just under the assumption that the deck could play this if the deck played Terror for so many months.
Again, though, Terror is only a single black.
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Yeah. I...didn't read the card. My bad. I remembered the cost of the activated ability and not the cost of the card.
Happens to the best of us, and me too.
Chris, what are your thoughts on Celestial Purge vs Wispmare, & Mark of Asylum? If I remember correctly, you like the body Wispmare gives us over the instant speed of Purge.
Wispmare is just better against Faeries, and that's huge.
It can also be played for one or three, which makes it versatile. The flying body is just cake.
The jury is out on Mark of Asylum as far as I'm concerned. A 2cc enchantment that doesn't pump our men or make them seems kind of awkward, but it might not be that bad. I don't know yet.
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I would definitely not run Mark of Asylum as my only protection from burn. Now, that said, I do run two copies of it (on SB obviously). I also have three BFT on the side. I think that while the two both protect our critters from burn, the situations where you want each are very different, and I like being prepared for either or both if need be. The only thing that really bothers me about the mark is that I have trouble deciding what to side out for it. I don't really like losing creatures in a deck like this, but all the non-creature spells are so important...
"I am confident that if anyone actually
penetrates our facades, even the most
perceptive would still be fundamentally
unprepared for the truth of House Dimir."
the thing about mark is, I'd rather have the versatility the forge-tenders allow. nothing is better than ripping several tenders against a red deck with ajani on the field, getting in for several points. what else would you remove for the marks anyway? Runed Halos, which potentially help with game 2 stillmoon and banefire?
not only that, but mark is a dead draw if your opponent happens to have Everlasting Torment in for games 2 and 3, which some red decks have to combat protection and lifegain. forge-tenders atleast have evasion.
I was wondering do you think this card should be main deck or sided either way how many would you run? Personaly i would run 2-3 side
Although I doubt it will be used, it would definitely be in the SB if it saw any play.
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View my MTGS-era TFK articles here!