This is preforming ok
The 2 craters claws are currently the 2 flex cards, with all the abzan around atm the 4th strike and slash were often not great in the mid game. Board is heavily abzan: +3 griffs +2 outpost siege + 2 burnaway +2 glare + 1 valorous stance -3 strikes -4 satyr - 3 slash
Lands still a work in progress.
I feel like I could use 2-4 more creatures, would like 2 stormbreaths but 5 mana is often a bit of a strech to play on curve
This is preforming ok
The 2 craters claws are currently the 2 flex cards, with all the abzan around atm the 4th strike and slash were often not great in the mid game. Board is heavily abzan: +3 griffs +2 outpost siege + 2 burnaway +2 glare + 1 valorous stance -3 strikes -4 satyr - 3 slash
Lands still a work in progress.
I feel like I could use 2-4 more creatures, would like 2 stormbreaths but 5 mana is often a bit of a strech to play on curve
Cards that are dependent on your opponent doing a certain thing tend to be weaker -- in your list Deflecting Palm and Arcbond. While your opponent may unwittingly walk into them game 1, they'll know what's up game 2 and play around them -- meaning you can either leave them in having them do little or that you have 8x cards you have to sideboard out.
I would add 4x Hordeling Outburst (it'll make your Stoke the Flames a lot better, trust me) and 1x Battlefield Forge. If you have the $ you should look into Goblin Rabblemaster. The burn in standard isn't at a high enough quality or density to not run creatures that lethal your opponent.
This is preforming ok
The 2 craters claws are currently the 2 flex cards, with all the abzan around atm the 4th strike and slash were often not great in the mid game. Board is heavily abzan: +3 griffs +2 outpost siege + 2 burnaway +2 glare + 1 valorous stance -3 strikes -4 satyr - 3 slash
Lands still a work in progress.
I feel like I could use 2-4 more creatures, would like 2 stormbreaths but 5 mana is often a bit of a strech to play on curve
Cards that are dependent on your opponent doing a certain thing tend to be weaker -- in your list Deflecting Palm and Arcbond. While your opponent may unwittingly walk into them game 1, they'll know what's up game 2 and play around them -- meaning you can either leave them in having them do little or that you have 8x cards you have to sideboard out.
I would add 4x Hordeling Outburst (it'll make your Stoke the Flames a lot better, trust me) and 1x Battlefield Forge. If you have the $ you should look into Goblin Rabblemaster. The burn in standard isn't at a high enough quality or density to not run creatures that lethal your opponent.
have tried outburst and raise the alarms , this started off as r/w tokens. having more burn and instants is better
I took out a battlefield forge when I increased the number of fetches, so I don't get in to the situation of having nothing to fetch. If only arid mesa or Rav duals were available.
While I agree that the palm and arcbond can be situational, its not as bad as you think. I often arcbond my own creature and can use my burn to sweep board/gain life. There are few decks where palm is bad , even if its making them play around it. They still need to get my life to zero before I get thiers.
I might try 2 or 3 rabblemasters as the extra creatures i think this needs
2-0 vs Abzan aggro. Pretty easy match-up, honestly. Chained, Stance, and Strike easily took care of his threats. He had very few ways of dealing with my threats.
1-2 vs Abzan mid-range. Literally the only reason I lost was due to land problems. Easily won game 1. Game 2 I literally drew 7 lands in a row (scryed 2 away, also). Didn't draw any threats/answers so he was able to start creating a board presence, which I obviously couldn't deal with. Game 3 I got stuck on 2 lands. Variance is a b*tch. Oh well.
2-1 vs Sultai constellation/delve. Game 1 was over super quick. Too slow when I aggro out hard. Game 2 I mulled to 4, was super grindy, and came down to top-decking. Game 3 went to turns, but I pulled 2 Dragons and he just wasn't able to deal with them. Erase was an all-star here.
2-0 vs 4-color aggro (no blue). Again, Chained, Strike, and Stance did lots of work while Rabblemaster and the Phoenix got out of control. When he was able to deal with Rabblemaster, he couldn't deal with all of the goblin tokens. Ended the last game with a Strike to the dome.
---
Notes:
All-star of the night is definitely Valorous Stance. Rhinos, Tasigurs, Soulflayers, Coursers, etc. never lasted over one turn on the board. It's SUCH a huge tempo swing to smack this down on the end of their turn while they're tapped out. 2 Stances with 4 Chained actually seems perfect.
Could have REALLY used Arc Lightning, especially against the Sultai deck. Will probably take out the Eruptions for them. I saw... maybe one Mountain the entire night, ha.
I really like the synergy of Collateral Damage with tokens and stoke the flame. In a magical christmas land scenario you would obviously at some point have tokens out. You stoke the flames tapping 2 tokens paying RR for 4 damage then collateral damage one of the tokens thats 7 damage for 3 mana and all you lost is a 1/1 token. If you some how have Outpost Siege out then you do 8 damage for 3 mana.
Im surprised theres not more posts in this thread. Switched from ABzan to this deck for the past month and have been destroying FNM. Monastery Mentor is amazing. I run 3 of. I almost always drop him turn 3. Turn 4 I play Rabblemaster and chain their big dude they have out, trigger, swing for 3. Next turn, if they have another big dude, chain him again, swing for close to game and usually they scoop at that point.
Hey guys, I'm gonna be playing R/W aggro at game day this weekend, and I'm hoping to get a little help with my deck/sideboard, I really want to win the playmat.
My meta is pretty small and there are only a few decks I am really concerned about and I'm hoping you guys can help me streamline my deck to deal with these specific threats. Mardu Midrange, G/B constellation, Abzan Whip, and R/G Midrange. The one deck I'm absolutely sure I won't face is Jeskai Ascendancy.
This is the deck I played at fnm last week, where I went 3-1.
Match 1 2-0 This match was against some 4 color ridiculous brew that didn't put up any real resistance.
Match 2 2-0 vs R/G Midrange Game one I was on the play and things went smoothly for me. Game two he dropped a turn four Hornet Queen. With Siege Outpost in Dragons mode, and Monastery Mentor I was able to grind this game out.
Match 3 1-2 vs Mardu Midrange Game one, I won a top deck war solely due to Outpost Siege in Khans mode. Games 2 and 3 he dropped back to back Rabblemasters that I didn't have answers for on time. Game 3 was actually quite close but multiple Crackling Doom made the difference.
Match 4 2-1 vs G/B Constellation Game one I got stomped, Doomwake Giant took me to town. Game two and three were both close, Valorous Stance did a lot of work for me.
After the event I've made the follow changes to the sideboard
-1 Valorous Stance (It did a lot of work for me but sometimes I really just needed this to be an Arc Lightning
-2 End Hostilities (I'm really unsure about this, I feel like its weakening me against the decks that want to go over top of me, but so far my worst matchups have been decks going under.
Just a few notes about the deck and some card choices.
- By friday I'll have all the lands to optimize my lands to what they should be
- Raise the alarm is probably the first card I'd currently consider cutting from the main, its there as Hordeling Outburst #5 and because tokens work well with Outpost Siege
- I feel like with Outpost Siege, Chained to the Rocks, and Banishing Light that I'm too vulnerable to enchantment hate after sideboard
- I'm considering a massive sideboard change to make my deck much more controlling after board, Elspeth, End Hostilities, etc - Would anyone recommend going this route? If so do you have a sideboard in mind?
- Adding a Monastery Mentor or Brimaz, King of Oreskos is probably not an option for me by this weekend
Ok this is going long now I do have more questions and concerns for anyone willing to help me out but I'll wait to see if I get some replies.
I'm open to consider any changes that make sense, like I said I really want to win that playmat.
This past saturday i played a 86 man PPTQ..the largest one yet here in Brazil... and i ended in second, after 7 rounds my result were 6-1, lost to Jeskai Tokens..were a close game but he had better draws than me..I've earned myself a ticket to the finals and after a close match against BG Constellation...the match result were 2-1 for BG and both games i lost were due to lands flood..
My pairings were:
Round 1 - Abzan Agro = 2-0 -> Abzan Agro is a very good match-up for RW..we have better removals and more must answers threats plus burn.
Round 2 - Sidisi Whip = 2-0 -> Due RW removals package, we have a fast clock than this archetype..by the time they had the engine rolling they almost always are in a burn range.
Round 3 - Abzan Agro = 2-0
Round 4 - Red Deck Wins = 2-0 -> This match it's not easy, but it's not hard at all. They are faster but eventually lose the gas and that's where when RW get's stronger with life gain, burn and must answers threats.
Round 5 - Jeskai Tokens = 1-2 -> Lost game 3 due land flood and my opponent had better draws. This match were the most difficult and closest for me. Jeskai have better draws in form of Treasure and Ascendancy.
Round 6 - Jeskai Tempo/Burn = 2-0 -> RW it's more consistent then Jeskai Tempo/Burn, they have way too many tap lands. Their threats falls to RW burn and removals package. Stormbreat Dragon shines this match.
Round 7 - Jeskai Tempo/Burn = 2-0 (My opponent didn't want to ID, so we played and i smashed him)
Quarterfinals - Abzan with Blue but not sure = Honestly i don't know what to talk about this match up just because i couldn't see the blue splash that he had. All his threats were removed and i were just faster than him. 2-0 for me.
Seminifals - Abzan Agro from round 1 = Easy match up for RW. Again RW has better removals and more must answer threats. 2-0 for me.
Finals - BG Constellation = Lost game due land floods and were smashed with Insect tokens. Game 2 i were faster than him and close the game befeore the queen enters the battlefield. Game 3 were almos the same as game 1.
I've lost this match against a good friend so i didn't got upset about it.
I've earned a great GP Sao Paulo ticket and 54 boosters, 27 from Khans and 27 from Fate.
The deck played smoothly in every game i had.
This is what i've played:
While I cannot post my list just yet (at work without it), I noticed a huge trend in B/U Control and Sultai Control. I don't run any rabbles mainly because I don't own any and my list is more centered around Temur Battle Rage. I had a hard time getting anything to stick around long enough to deal with Ashiok.
How do deal with control match ups? Do I just find them hard for no reason or is there something wrong with my list (which I will post later)?
Last FNM I went 3-2. Played against control 4 out of five matches.
Edit: here is my deck list. I have changed it since the FNM but still very similar
Right now I see 3 flex spots in the main list that I'm undecided about. Those would be the 2 scrolls and the 1 Soulfire. The scroll did win me two games so I do like it but open to ideas. I would love to add in Rabbles but like I said earlier, I don't own any.
One thing I have thought about as well for the control matches is adding 2 Break Through the Line. Since all but 2 Creatures start at power 2 before being pumped it might be worth the slots. I do like Arcbond for the midrange game but my plan is to win before then.
While I cannot post my list just yet (at work without it), I noticed a huge trend in B/U Control and Sultai Control. I don't run any rabbles mainly because I don't own any and my list is more centered around Temur Battle Rage. I had a hard time getting anything to stick around long enough to deal with Ashiok.
How do deal with control match ups? Do I just find them hard for no reason or is there something wrong with my list (which I will post later)?
Last FNM I went 3-2. Played against control 4 out of five matches.
Hard to say without a decklist but in general the idea to playing against control is play around the counters/board wipes. So try to get a threat in early before they develop counter mana and then try to make them react how you want them to.
Depends on what kind of control you are playing against. If you fear board wipes try to find the line of enough decent threats they have to react to them but holding back enough you can recover. Start playing more of your sorcery spells 2nd main phase if you can. Around counters try to get anything you can down while they are tapped out try to have more smaller and/or instant speed stuff then bait their counters with some moderate threat. If they counter it go with the better one you have lined up now their counter mana is gone if they don't just leave it at that.
Goal is to race them applying pressure constantly without running straight into everything they would/could play. Shift your playing a little instead of racing your life total against theirs you are racing to kill them before they can establish board position. Make sure to have a sb that can allow you to get more threatening cards to replace more of your value or tempo cards. Things like the value of lifelink on your creatures mean little to control decks nor does a lot of your pure creature removal. But most control have a hard time with very fast agro. Threats resilient to their control are nice to like enchantments and/or artifacts since those controls don't tend to run much hate against them
While I cannot post my list just yet (at work without it), I noticed a huge trend in B/U Control and Sultai Control. I don't run any rabbles mainly because I don't own any and my list is more centered around Temur Battle Rage. I had a hard time getting anything to stick around long enough to deal with Ashiok.
How do deal with control match ups? Do I just find them hard for no reason or is there something wrong with my list (which I will post later)?
Last FNM I went 3-2. Played against control 4 out of five matches.
The important thing to remember is that U/B Control and BUG Control are two radically different decks (and radically different matchups) despite significant overlap in the cards they run.
U/B Control is the worst matchup for this deck, particularly for slower, more interactive builds of R/W. The deck is quite capable of holding up BB as early as turn 2 for Bile Blight or Pharika's Cure and operates at instant speed, picking off early threats, and negating burn with Radiant Fountain and Dismal Backwater. Best bet Game 1 is to play a faster version of the deck and/or hope your opponent draws poorly, but U/B is actually very consistent due to the two-color manabase. After sideboard you can cut Chained to the Rocks for Mastery of the Unseen plus Banishing Light and any other threats/CA you have available. They can't deal with enchantments, so if you play Mastery on T2, you should be able to win. Their only way to deal with a resolved Mastery after board is usually Ugin, which usually won't come down fast enough. If they do resolve an Ugin, they'll -2 it, you'll still have face-down manifest creatures, and you can Banishing Light the Ugin on your turn. With some practice, the matchup is winnable but still unfavorable.
BUG/Sultai control is a good matchup. It's a slower deck with fewer answers. The lands CIPT and don't gain life, and the manabase is greedier. Garruk and Kiora are terrible against R/W. You have a much higher chance of winning before they can stabilize, even if you're a slower R/W build.
Outpost Siege is good against either deck because it draws cards and doesn't die to a Hero's Downfall. I like Chandra more in creature-heavy metas, but with control and specifically Hero's Downfall on the rise, Siege is stronger.
I play Gryffs in my sideboard with Sarkhan and Outpost Siege. These all come in against control (either straight U/B or Sultai). I've found that Sarkhan is just a little harder for control to deal with. Gryffs are awesome in response to a DTT or after a board wipe. Depending on my hand, I'll just keep swinging for 2 until they have to use some kind of spot removal for it. They have a lot, but they also only have so many.
tl;dr version: Be aggressive, but don't overextend.
The important thing to remember is that U/B Control and BUG Control are two radically different decks (and radically different matchups) despite significant overlap in the cards they run.
U/B Control is the worst matchup for this deck, particularly for slower, more interactive builds of R/W. The deck is quite capable of holding up BB as early as turn 2 for Bile Blight or Pharika's Cure and operates at instant speed, picking off early threats, and negating burn with Radiant Fountain and Dismal Backwater. Best bet Game 1 is to play a faster version of the deck and/or hope your opponent draws poorly, but U/B is actually very consistent due to the two-color manabase. After sideboard you can cut Chained to the Rocks for Mastery of the Unseen plus Banishing Light and any other threats/CA you have available. They can't deal with enchantments, so if you play Mastery on T2, you should be able to win. Their only way to deal with a resolved Mastery after board is usually Ugin, which usually won't come down fast enough. If they do resolve an Ugin, they'll -2 it, you'll still have face-down manifest creatures, and you can Banishing Light the Ugin on your turn. With some practice, the matchup is winnable but still unfavorable.
BUG/Sultai control is a good matchup. It's a slower deck with fewer answers. The lands CIPT and don't gain life, and the manabase is greedier. Garruk and Kiora are terrible against R/W. You have a much higher chance of winning before they can stabilize, even if you're a slower R/W build.
Outpost Siege is good against either deck because it draws cards and doesn't die to a Hero's Downfall. I like Chandra more in creature-heavy metas, but with control and specifically Hero's Downfall on the rise, Siege is stronger.
Thank you for the advice. I agree with the outpost siege and have since added two to the sideboard specifically for those match ups. I've since updated my post with the list I'm running now which I changed quite a bit because of the control games. Still not thrilled with the mana base as CIPT lands are a tempo loss I believe but need the colours.
Outpost Siege in my opinion is better than Chandra mainboard...it's harder to get rid off and adds more value for tokens and generates a huge tempo advantage..Currently i'm running 2 mainboard and 1 sideboard and i'm always happy when i cast one.
3 Wild Slash
4 Lightning Strike
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Deflecting Palm
2 Valorous Stance
2 Crater's Claws
4 Monastery Mentor
3 Soulfire Grand Master
4 Satyr Firedancer
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Plains
3 Battlefield Forge
4 Temple of Triumph
2 Evolving Wilds
2 Flooded Strand
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Hushwing Gryff
3 Gods Willing
1 Valorous Stance
2 Outpost Siege
2 Erase
2 Burn Away
2 Glare of Heresy
This is preforming ok
The 2 craters claws are currently the 2 flex cards, with all the abzan around atm the 4th strike and slash were often not great in the mid game. Board is heavily abzan: +3 griffs +2 outpost siege + 2 burnaway +2 glare + 1 valorous stance -3 strikes -4 satyr - 3 slash
Lands still a work in progress.
I feel like I could use 2-4 more creatures, would like 2 stormbreaths but 5 mana is often a bit of a strech to play on curve
Cards that are dependent on your opponent doing a certain thing tend to be weaker -- in your list Deflecting Palm and Arcbond. While your opponent may unwittingly walk into them game 1, they'll know what's up game 2 and play around them -- meaning you can either leave them in having them do little or that you have 8x cards you have to sideboard out.
I would add 4x Hordeling Outburst (it'll make your Stoke the Flames a lot better, trust me) and 1x Battlefield Forge. If you have the $ you should look into Goblin Rabblemaster. The burn in standard isn't at a high enough quality or density to not run creatures that lethal your opponent.
have tried outburst and raise the alarms , this started off as r/w tokens. having more burn and instants is better
I took out a battlefield forge when I increased the number of fetches, so I don't get in to the situation of having nothing to fetch. If only arid mesa or Rav duals were available.
While I agree that the palm and arcbond can be situational, its not as bad as you think. I often arcbond my own creature and can use my burn to sweep board/gain life. There are few decks where palm is bad , even if its making them play around it. They still need to get my life to zero before I get thiers.
I might try 2 or 3 rabblemasters as the extra creatures i think this needs
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2 Ashcloud Phoenix
Spells
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Chained to the Rocks
3 Lightning Strike
2 Valorous Stance
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
10 Mountain
5 Plains
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Battlefield Forge
1 Evolving Wilds
3 Erase
3 Hushwing Gryff
3 Glare of Heresy
2 Outpost Siege
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
2 Peak Eruption
This is how the night went:
2-0 vs Abzan aggro. Pretty easy match-up, honestly. Chained, Stance, and Strike easily took care of his threats. He had very few ways of dealing with my threats.
1-2 vs Abzan mid-range. Literally the only reason I lost was due to land problems. Easily won game 1. Game 2 I literally drew 7 lands in a row (scryed 2 away, also). Didn't draw any threats/answers so he was able to start creating a board presence, which I obviously couldn't deal with. Game 3 I got stuck on 2 lands. Variance is a b*tch. Oh well.
2-1 vs Sultai constellation/delve. Game 1 was over super quick. Too slow when I aggro out hard. Game 2 I mulled to 4, was super grindy, and came down to top-decking. Game 3 went to turns, but I pulled 2 Dragons and he just wasn't able to deal with them. Erase was an all-star here.
2-0 vs 4-color aggro (no blue). Again, Chained, Strike, and Stance did lots of work while Rabblemaster and the Phoenix got out of control. When he was able to deal with Rabblemaster, he couldn't deal with all of the goblin tokens. Ended the last game with a Strike to the dome.
---
Notes:
All-star of the night is definitely Valorous Stance. Rhinos, Tasigurs, Soulflayers, Coursers, etc. never lasted over one turn on the board. It's SUCH a huge tempo swing to smack this down on the end of their turn while they're tapped out. 2 Stances with 4 Chained actually seems perfect.
Could have REALLY used Arc Lightning, especially against the Sultai deck. Will probably take out the Eruptions for them. I saw... maybe one Mountain the entire night, ha.
Mana Base
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Temple of Triumph
2 Mana Confluence
7 Mountain
5 Plains
Creature Base
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Monastery Mentor
2 brimaz king of oreskos
4 Seeker of the way
3 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
Instant/Sorcery
4 Wild slash
2 Collateral Damage
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
1 Outpost Siege
3 Stoke the Flames
3 Chained to the rocks
2 deflecting palm
2 Erase
1 Archbond
4 Valorous Stance
3 Arc Lightning
3 Hordeling Outburst
I really like the synergy of Collateral Damage with tokens and stoke the flame. In a magical christmas land scenario you would obviously at some point have tokens out. You stoke the flames tapping 2 tokens paying RR for 4 damage then collateral damage one of the tokens thats 7 damage for 3 mana and all you lost is a 1/1 token. If you some how have Outpost Siege out then you do 8 damage for 3 mana.
last weekend PTQ and a PPTQ most popular deck RW by far
My meta is pretty small and there are only a few decks I am really concerned about and I'm hoping you guys can help me streamline my deck to deal with these specific threats. Mardu Midrange, G/B constellation, Abzan Whip, and R/G Midrange. The one deck I'm absolutely sure I won't face is Jeskai Ascendancy.
This is the deck I played at fnm last week, where I went 3-1.
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Monastery Mentor
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Stormbreath Dragon
Instants and Sorcery - 17
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Lightning Strike
1 Raise the Alarm
4 Stoke the Flames
2 Valorous Stance
2 Wild Slash
4 Chained to the Rocks
2 Outpost Siege
Planeswalkers - 1
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
Lands - 23
2 Battlefield Forge
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Mana Confluence
10 Mountain
5 Plains
3 Temple of Triumph
1 Wind-scarred Crag
1 Ashcloud Phoenix
1 Banishing Light
2 End Hostilities
2 Erase
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Hushwing Gryff
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
1 Soulfire Grand Master
2 Valorous Stance
FNM results were as follows:
Match 1 2-0 This match was against some 4 color ridiculous brew that didn't put up any real resistance.
Match 2 2-0 vs R/G Midrange Game one I was on the play and things went smoothly for me. Game two he dropped a turn four Hornet Queen. With Siege Outpost in Dragons mode, and Monastery Mentor I was able to grind this game out.
Match 3 1-2 vs Mardu Midrange Game one, I won a top deck war solely due to Outpost Siege in Khans mode. Games 2 and 3 he dropped back to back Rabblemasters that I didn't have answers for on time. Game 3 was actually quite close but multiple Crackling Doom made the difference.
Match 4 2-1 vs G/B Constellation Game one I got stomped, Doomwake Giant took me to town. Game two and three were both close, Valorous Stance did a lot of work for me.
That was my first time running the deck since Fate Reforged came out and I liked it a lot, Wild Slash, Valorous Stance, Outpost Siege, and Monastery Mentor were all awesome for me all night.
After the event I've made the follow changes to the sideboard
-1 Valorous Stance (It did a lot of work for me but sometimes I really just needed this to be an Arc Lightning
-2 End Hostilities (I'm really unsure about this, I feel like its weakening me against the decks that want to go over top of me, but so far my worst matchups have been decks going under.
+2 Arc Lightning
+1 Scouring Sands
Just a few notes about the deck and some card choices.
- By friday I'll have all the lands to optimize my lands to what they should be
- Raise the alarm is probably the first card I'd currently consider cutting from the main, its there as Hordeling Outburst #5 and because tokens work well with Outpost Siege
- I feel like with Outpost Siege, Chained to the Rocks, and Banishing Light that I'm too vulnerable to enchantment hate after sideboard
- I'm considering a massive sideboard change to make my deck much more controlling after board, Elspeth, End Hostilities, etc - Would anyone recommend going this route? If so do you have a sideboard in mind?
- Adding a Monastery Mentor or Brimaz, King of Oreskos is probably not an option for me by this weekend
Ok this is going long now I do have more questions and concerns for anyone willing to help me out but I'll wait to see if I get some replies.
I'm open to consider any changes that make sense, like I said I really want to win that playmat.
Cheers
My pairings were:
Round 1 - Abzan Agro = 2-0 -> Abzan Agro is a very good match-up for RW..we have better removals and more must answers threats plus burn.
Round 2 - Sidisi Whip = 2-0 -> Due RW removals package, we have a fast clock than this archetype..by the time they had the engine rolling they almost always are in a burn range.
Round 3 - Abzan Agro = 2-0
Round 4 - Red Deck Wins = 2-0 -> This match it's not easy, but it's not hard at all. They are faster but eventually lose the gas and that's where when RW get's stronger with life gain, burn and must answers threats.
Round 5 - Jeskai Tokens = 1-2 -> Lost game 3 due land flood and my opponent had better draws. This match were the most difficult and closest for me. Jeskai have better draws in form of Treasure and Ascendancy.
Round 6 - Jeskai Tempo/Burn = 2-0 -> RW it's more consistent then Jeskai Tempo/Burn, they have way too many tap lands. Their threats falls to RW burn and removals package. Stormbreat Dragon shines this match.
Round 7 - Jeskai Tempo/Burn = 2-0 (My opponent didn't want to ID, so we played and i smashed him)
Quarterfinals - Abzan with Blue but not sure = Honestly i don't know what to talk about this match up just because i couldn't see the blue splash that he had. All his threats were removed and i were just faster than him. 2-0 for me.
Seminifals - Abzan Agro from round 1 = Easy match up for RW. Again RW has better removals and more must answer threats. 2-0 for me.
Finals - BG Constellation = Lost game due land floods and were smashed with Insect tokens. Game 2 i were faster than him and close the game befeore the queen enters the battlefield. Game 3 were almos the same as game 1.
I've lost this match against a good friend so i didn't got upset about it.
I've earned a great GP Sao Paulo ticket and 54 boosters, 27 from Khans and 27 from Fate.
The deck played smoothly in every game i had.
This is what i've played:
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Battlefield Forge
1 Evolving Wilds
5 Plains
10 Mountain
Creatures
3 Seeker of the Way
3 Soulfire Grand Master
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Chained to the Rocks
4 Stoke the Flames
2 Valorous Stance
3 Lightning Strike
1 Collateral Damage
2 Outpost Siege
3 Glare of Heresy
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
3 End Hostilities
2 Abzan Advantage
3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Wind-Scarred Crag
1 Erase
Sideboard Guide along the match-ups.
Abzan Agro:
-4 Goblin Rabblemaster
-4 Hordeling Outburst
-1 Ramdon (if i'm on the play)
+3 End Hostilities
+3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
+2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
+1 Wind-Sacrred Crag (on play)
Sultai Whip and BG Constellation
-4 Hordling Outburst
-2 Goblin Rabblemasters
+2 Abzan Advantage
+1 Erase
+3 End Hostilities
Jeskai Tempo/Burn
-2 Goblin Rabblemaster
-1 Hordeling Outburst
+3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Jeskai Tokens
-4 Goblin Rabblemaster
-1 Soulfire Grand Master
-2 Valorous Stance
-1 Collateral Damage
-1 Hordeling Outburst
+2 Abzan Advantage
+1 Erase
+3 End Hostilities
+3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Hope it helps you guys out.
Tks for reading!!
UR Twin - RIP
How do deal with control match ups? Do I just find them hard for no reason or is there something wrong with my list (which I will post later)?
Last FNM I went 3-2. Played against control 4 out of five matches.
Edit: here is my deck list. I have changed it since the FNM but still very similar
3 Favored Hoplite
2 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Seeker of the Way
1 Soulfire Grand Master
3 Monastery Mentor
2 Anax and Cymede
Spells
4 Titan's Strength
4 Gods Willing
4 Defiant Strike
2 Chained to the Rocks
2 Wild Slash
2 Coordinated Assault
3 Temur Battle Rage
2 Valorous Stance
2 Scroll of the Masters
5 Mountain
6 Plains
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wind-Scarred Crag
2 Temple of Triumph
2 Chained to the Rocks
2 Valorous Stance
2 Glare of Heresy
4 Lightning Strike
1 Temur Battle Rage
2 Arcbond
2 Outpost Siege
Right now I see 3 flex spots in the main list that I'm undecided about. Those would be the 2 scrolls and the 1 Soulfire. The scroll did win me two games so I do like it but open to ideas. I would love to add in Rabbles but like I said earlier, I don't own any.
One thing I have thought about as well for the control matches is adding 2 Break Through the Line. Since all but 2 Creatures start at power 2 before being pumped it might be worth the slots. I do like Arcbond for the midrange game but my plan is to win before then.
Hard to say without a decklist but in general the idea to playing against control is play around the counters/board wipes. So try to get a threat in early before they develop counter mana and then try to make them react how you want them to.
Depends on what kind of control you are playing against. If you fear board wipes try to find the line of enough decent threats they have to react to them but holding back enough you can recover. Start playing more of your sorcery spells 2nd main phase if you can. Around counters try to get anything you can down while they are tapped out try to have more smaller and/or instant speed stuff then bait their counters with some moderate threat. If they counter it go with the better one you have lined up now their counter mana is gone if they don't just leave it at that.
Goal is to race them applying pressure constantly without running straight into everything they would/could play. Shift your playing a little instead of racing your life total against theirs you are racing to kill them before they can establish board position. Make sure to have a sb that can allow you to get more threatening cards to replace more of your value or tempo cards. Things like the value of lifelink on your creatures mean little to control decks nor does a lot of your pure creature removal. But most control have a hard time with very fast agro. Threats resilient to their control are nice to like enchantments and/or artifacts since those controls don't tend to run much hate against them
The important thing to remember is that U/B Control and BUG Control are two radically different decks (and radically different matchups) despite significant overlap in the cards they run.
U/B Control is the worst matchup for this deck, particularly for slower, more interactive builds of R/W. The deck is quite capable of holding up BB as early as turn 2 for Bile Blight or Pharika's Cure and operates at instant speed, picking off early threats, and negating burn with Radiant Fountain and Dismal Backwater. Best bet Game 1 is to play a faster version of the deck and/or hope your opponent draws poorly, but U/B is actually very consistent due to the two-color manabase. After sideboard you can cut Chained to the Rocks for Mastery of the Unseen plus Banishing Light and any other threats/CA you have available. They can't deal with enchantments, so if you play Mastery on T2, you should be able to win. Their only way to deal with a resolved Mastery after board is usually Ugin, which usually won't come down fast enough. If they do resolve an Ugin, they'll -2 it, you'll still have face-down manifest creatures, and you can Banishing Light the Ugin on your turn. With some practice, the matchup is winnable but still unfavorable.
BUG/Sultai control is a good matchup. It's a slower deck with fewer answers. The lands CIPT and don't gain life, and the manabase is greedier. Garruk and Kiora are terrible against R/W. You have a much higher chance of winning before they can stabilize, even if you're a slower R/W build.
Outpost Siege is good against either deck because it draws cards and doesn't die to a Hero's Downfall. I like Chandra more in creature-heavy metas, but with control and specifically Hero's Downfall on the rise, Siege is stronger.
I play Gryffs in my sideboard with Sarkhan and Outpost Siege. These all come in against control (either straight U/B or Sultai). I've found that Sarkhan is just a little harder for control to deal with. Gryffs are awesome in response to a DTT or after a board wipe. Depending on my hand, I'll just keep swinging for 2 until they have to use some kind of spot removal for it. They have a lot, but they also only have so many.
tl;dr version: Be aggressive, but don't overextend.
What burn are you referring to?
Thank you for the advice. I agree with the outpost siege and have since added two to the sideboard specifically for those match ups. I've since updated my post with the list I'm running now which I changed quite a bit because of the control games. Still not thrilled with the mana base as CIPT lands are a tempo loss I believe but need the colours.
UR Twin - RIP
Keep up the good work!
UR Twin - RIP