@deaddrift, I definitely enjoy your posts, so hope you continue with your involvement in the thread.
I played BW Eldrazi to a Top 4 finish at an 19-player PPTQ this weekend. I didn't really take notes, so just reconstructing what I can.
vs Jeskai Control 2-1 [1-0]
OP: Lingering Souls, Thought-Knot Seer, Reality Smasher
UP: 7 card hands
Notes: Game 1, I mulled to 6 on the play, but was able to deploy a few threats. He was a heavier planeswalker build than normal, with Nahiri, Ajani, andGideon Jura. I got him to 9 before he was able to stabilize off of a Supreme Verdict and Nahiri ult. Game 2, I mulled to 6 on the play again. Got an early Lingering Souls and he didn't have a sweeper. They go the distance. Game 3, I mull to 4(!), but he kept a 1-lander with Serum Visions on the play. Bottomed 2 on the Visions and still missed his land. He got it the next turn, but then missed his third land for several turns. I played Lingering Souls and Thought-Knot Seer. He revealed Nahiri, Ajani, and Gideon in hand. I took Ajani, as I thought it was his best way back in the game and he was so far away from 5 mana. He eventually got to 4 lands and minused Nahiri on TKS. He was still looking for Gideon mana, but didn't find it until he was at 1, and it was a fetchland.
vs Abzan 2-1 [2-0]
OP: Relic of Progenitus, Though-Knot Seer, Reality Smasher
He was the Flayer version of the deck, but Relic of Progenitus managed his graveyard, allowing Wasteland Strangler to pick off some guys. I ended game 1 at 20 life, with an early Thought-Knot Seer providing pressure. Game 2, he was on the mana denial plan, bringing in Fulminators and Tectonic Edge. I had some spirits, but he got a Scavenging Ooze down to gain some life and put a clock on while I drew blanks. Game 3, I got a quick Smasher down while he stumbled on mana and it ended very quickly.
vs GR Tron 0-2 [2-1]
OP: his Karn
UP: Getting paired down against Tron
Game 1, I drew two Ghost Quarters, but it just didn't matter. He had too many ways to dig for his pieces. I got him to 7, but he stuck a Karn and that was it. Game 2, I got him to 1, but he Nature's Claimed his Spellskite to go to 5, blew an O-Stone, and Karn'd me out once again.
vs Lantern Control 2-1 [3-1]
OP: Lingering Souls
I knew what I was in for after seeing him play next to me the previous round. Yuck. Game 1, I mulled to 6 and he got a quick Ensnaring Bridge, Lantern, Codex Shredder, and spellbombed me out in short order. Game 2, he mulled to 6. I went Lingering Souls into Reality Smasher while he bricked on mana. Game 3, I got him to 1 with a couple spirits and a Reality Smasher. He Bell'd and Shred'd several times and at the last possible moment found an Ensnaring Bridge. Then Spellskite backup, then Aether Grid. He started shooting me for 3 a turn. Down to 15, to 12, to 9. Then he draws and laughes. "Punished" he said, showing me a 1-of Thoughtseize that he had drawn and was unable to cast at 1 life, leaving him dead to spirits. He should have sniped them off with Aether Grid instead of going first at my life total. An exciting win, when I thought I was surely locked out of the game!
vs Burn 0-0-3 [3-1-1]
ID into top 8!
Top 8 archetypes:
Abzan vs UW Tron
Burn vs UG Infect
BG Infect vs BW Tokens
GR Tron vs BW Eldrazi
Quarterfinals: vs GR Tron2-1
OP: Thoughtseize
Well, maybe I should have thought through that ID some more, as I get matched against the Tron deck that smashed me in swiss, and he is on the play. Game 1, he mulls to 6. I Thoughtseize him and see Sylvan Scrying, World Breaker, Wurmcoil Engine x2, and a Power-Plant. I take the Scrying and hope he doesn't draw into tron. I get some spirits down to chip away, but I don't have much pressure. He keeps hitting land drops up to 5. One more and he'll have Wurmcoil online. Brick, brick, brick! Got lucky there. Game 2, I got super cute and decided it would be a good idea to Ghost Quarter his land on turn 1 and hope he had his Forest in hand. It didn't work and he crushed me while I was effectively a turn behind. Game 3, he mulliganed and I went with the ol' fetch, shock, Thoughtseize line. He had 2 colorless lands, 2 Ancient Stirrings, a Chromatic Sphere, Sylvan Scrying, and Spellskite. I take the Sphere as his only way to make green. Then I follow it up with Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher to get win.
vs UW Tron 0-2
UP: My mana
Ugh, who made this top 8 bracket? This deck had the Gifts-Rites package for Elesh Norn & Iona, but also the Thopter-Sword combo. The games were uninteresting however, as I was stuck on two lands for forever in game 1 and had 7 lands but no colorless mana in game 2.
The UW Tron player wound up winning the event, defeating BG Infect in the finals (Elesh Norn OP).
deaddrift, I used your list at a 68-player PPTQ this weekend with some slight changes (1 Inquisition for Thoughtseize because sitting down to register my friend said there was quite a bit of burn (there wasn't), 1 Eternal Scourge for Matter Reshaper after people were saying good things about early testing, 2 Wraths for 2 Damnations because I don't own any).
Unfortunately I got paired with GR Tron in round one. I made a bad mistake in game one because I did not think he had mana up for O-Stone so I played a second Reality Smasher to go for lethal, but I missed an untapped land and got wrecked. Got a quick win in game 2, but mulled to 5 in game 3 and lost easily.
Round 2, I got a quick win 2-1 win against Jeskai Nahiri. Turn 2 Thought-Knot into turn 3 Reality Smasher for game 1. I got stuck on two lands with a Spreading Seas on one in game 2. Game 3, I got an early Thought-Knot. He Clique'd away my Reality Smasher, but I consecutively drew Blight Herder, Blight Herder, Reality Smasher to overwhelm his back-to-back Nahiri's and kill him.
Round 3 was against Uw Merfolk. He was able to build up his board in game 1 and then play Spreading Seas to push through lethal. Game 2 was very stalled, with me leaving up 2 Ghost Quarters to fend off 2 Mutavaults and the threat of Spreading Seas. I played a couple of defensive Reality Smashers, then a Blight Herder with tokens, and finally drew Sorin to swing the race. Game 3 I was mauled by a triple lord draw with Aether Vial on turn 1 as well. That dropped me to 1-2.
Round 4 was against Grixis Delver. I got turn 2 Thought-Knot, exiling Remand. He got turn 3 Gurmag Angler, which I Pathed, and I was able to beat down for the win. Game 2, he played Delvers on turns 1 and 2. I played the Eternal Scourge. It got some damage in, along with him taking some pain from his mana base. He revealed Kolaghan's Command to flip the Delvers. I Pathed one of them and he chose to get the land and shuffle away the command. He attacked for 3 that turn, but decided to trade the Insectile Aberration with Eternal Scourge the next turn. He countered both halves of Lingering Souls, but I drew a second copy and the four spirits finished him off. 2-2
Game 4 was Jeskai Nahiri again. He scooped to a turn 3 Reality Smasher game 1. Game 2, he kept a sketchy 1 land hand with Celestial Colonnade. I Thoughtseized away a Path, leaving 2 Bolts, another Path, a Snapcaster, and Timely Reinforcements. Then I Ghost Quartered the Colonnade to make him choose white or red. He got a plains. I played Thought-Knot the next turn which took the Snapcaster and ate the Path. I followed that up with Reality Smasher and 4 spirits to secure the win. 3-2
Round 6 was against Living End with Kiki/Exarch combo. He was not happy to see main deck Relic of Progenitus (2 in my opening 7). Smashers did the bulk of the work to win both games. I probably was overzealous in game 2, using Surgical Extractions on his turn 1 cycled Deadshot Minotaur and turn 3 Fulminator Mage, instead of waiting to get a Living End, but it worked out ok. 4-2
Round 7 was against Elves. I got an early Thought-Knot to take one of her two copies of Collected Company in hand, but she actually drew the other two as well and overwhelmed me. Game 2, I had to mull to 5, couldn't find Wrath, and Lingering Souls didn't help against Ezuri's pump. 4-3 final record.
I really enjoyed the deck. It crushed the deck I wanted to beat (Jeskai). I expected quite a bit of Jund too, which there was. I just didn't run into it. I am definitely planning on running the deck again at other upcoming PPTQs and possibly GP Indianapolis.
Also if you are interested, the Top 8 archetypes were 2 GR Tron, 1 Burn, 1 Lantern Control, 1 Bogles, 1 Abzan, 1 Ad Nauseam, and 1 Living End.
Quarters: Abzan>Ad Nauseam, Burn>Tron, Tron>Living End, Lantern>Bogles.
Semis: Burn>Tron, Lantern>Abzan.
Finals: Burn>Lantern.
Power of the Moon is card 68, though the translated name is incorrect. Maybe Lunar Force or Light of the Moon instead? It has to be before Mausoleum Wanderer, whose name was confirmed in the 7/7 Daily Update on the mothership.
Matthew Dilks' BW Eldrazi on SCG stream at 10-2. Didn't get to see much. Was in a bad spot against Naya Company when they joined and he lost pretty quickly after that.
Lost in the semis vs Ad Nauseam - beat him game one because he never saw his Ad Naus, lost games two and three to Leyline of Sanctity in his opening seven both times.
Leyline is nasty not just because it turns off most of our ability to process stuff, but also because it stops targeted discard, which is most of the interaction I have against Ad Naus. The white list has a few extra tools for dealing with Leyline and for interacting with Ad Naus (Disenchant, Stony Silence), but there's just no beating a t0 Leyline for Mono-Black it seems like.
Leyline shuts down Oblivion Sower's ability and the targeted discard, but the Processors don't target the opponent, so Wasteland Strangler and Blight Herder are fine.
Matthew Dilks' BW Eldrazi on SCG stream at 10-2. Didn't get to see much. Was in a bad spot against Naya Company when they joined and he lost pretty quickly after that.
Apparently we're getting Kozilek and the first HUGE change to magic in forever. New basic land type. Colorless basic land. The game will be changed and will never be the same.https://mythicspoiler.com/newspoilers.html
You may want to check the thread in the rumor mill with 800+ posts/80,000 views.
At FNM last week, I was playing Highlander Maze's End, but my Jund midrange opponent caught me off guard in game two by siding in 4 of my favorite card, Possibility Storm. An epic match ensued with two Possibility Storms in play, allowing me to storm a Ral Zarek into Jace, Memory Adept and Vraska, the Unseen. Jace milled his library very low, and Vraska killed his threatening Borborygmous. However with no sorceries left in his library, he was able to cast a Dreadbore from hand, have it get shuffled back into his library on the first storm trigger, and then cast it on the second storm trigger to kill Jace, preserving his library and allowing him to kill Vraska and then me, forcing a 1-1 draw in extra turns.
https://www.twitch.tv/channelfireball
Edit: Annnnd 0-2 to Dredge with T1 Relic, T4 Kalitas. Didn't even matter...
I played BW Eldrazi to a Top 4 finish at an 19-player PPTQ this weekend. I didn't really take notes, so just reconstructing what I can.
vs Jeskai Control 2-1 [1-0]
OP: Lingering Souls, Thought-Knot Seer, Reality Smasher
UP: 7 card hands
Notes: Game 1, I mulled to 6 on the play, but was able to deploy a few threats. He was a heavier planeswalker build than normal, with Nahiri, Ajani, andGideon Jura. I got him to 9 before he was able to stabilize off of a Supreme Verdict and Nahiri ult. Game 2, I mulled to 6 on the play again. Got an early Lingering Souls and he didn't have a sweeper. They go the distance. Game 3, I mull to 4(!), but he kept a 1-lander with Serum Visions on the play. Bottomed 2 on the Visions and still missed his land. He got it the next turn, but then missed his third land for several turns. I played Lingering Souls and Thought-Knot Seer. He revealed Nahiri, Ajani, and Gideon in hand. I took Ajani, as I thought it was his best way back in the game and he was so far away from 5 mana. He eventually got to 4 lands and minused Nahiri on TKS. He was still looking for Gideon mana, but didn't find it until he was at 1, and it was a fetchland.
vs Abzan 2-1 [2-0]
OP: Relic of Progenitus, Though-Knot Seer, Reality Smasher
He was the Flayer version of the deck, but Relic of Progenitus managed his graveyard, allowing Wasteland Strangler to pick off some guys. I ended game 1 at 20 life, with an early Thought-Knot Seer providing pressure. Game 2, he was on the mana denial plan, bringing in Fulminators and Tectonic Edge. I had some spirits, but he got a Scavenging Ooze down to gain some life and put a clock on while I drew blanks. Game 3, I got a quick Smasher down while he stumbled on mana and it ended very quickly.
vs GR Tron 0-2 [2-1]
OP: his Karn
UP: Getting paired down against Tron
Game 1, I drew two Ghost Quarters, but it just didn't matter. He had too many ways to dig for his pieces. I got him to 7, but he stuck a Karn and that was it. Game 2, I got him to 1, but he Nature's Claimed his Spellskite to go to 5, blew an O-Stone, and Karn'd me out once again.
vs Lantern Control 2-1 [3-1]
OP: Lingering Souls
I knew what I was in for after seeing him play next to me the previous round. Yuck. Game 1, I mulled to 6 and he got a quick Ensnaring Bridge, Lantern, Codex Shredder, and spellbombed me out in short order. Game 2, he mulled to 6. I went Lingering Souls into Reality Smasher while he bricked on mana. Game 3, I got him to 1 with a couple spirits and a Reality Smasher. He Bell'd and Shred'd several times and at the last possible moment found an Ensnaring Bridge. Then Spellskite backup, then Aether Grid. He started shooting me for 3 a turn. Down to 15, to 12, to 9. Then he draws and laughes. "Punished" he said, showing me a 1-of Thoughtseize that he had drawn and was unable to cast at 1 life, leaving him dead to spirits. He should have sniped them off with Aether Grid instead of going first at my life total. An exciting win, when I thought I was surely locked out of the game!
vs Burn 0-0-3 [3-1-1]
ID into top 8!
Top 8 archetypes:
Abzan vs UW Tron
Burn vs UG Infect
BG Infect vs BW Tokens
GR Tron vs BW Eldrazi
Quarterfinals:
vs GR Tron2-1
OP: Thoughtseize
Well, maybe I should have thought through that ID some more, as I get matched against the Tron deck that smashed me in swiss, and he is on the play. Game 1, he mulls to 6. I Thoughtseize him and see Sylvan Scrying, World Breaker, Wurmcoil Engine x2, and a Power-Plant. I take the Scrying and hope he doesn't draw into tron. I get some spirits down to chip away, but I don't have much pressure. He keeps hitting land drops up to 5. One more and he'll have Wurmcoil online. Brick, brick, brick! Got lucky there. Game 2, I got super cute and decided it would be a good idea to Ghost Quarter his land on turn 1 and hope he had his Forest in hand. It didn't work and he crushed me while I was effectively a turn behind. Game 3, he mulliganed and I went with the ol' fetch, shock, Thoughtseize line. He had 2 colorless lands, 2 Ancient Stirrings, a Chromatic Sphere, Sylvan Scrying, and Spellskite. I take the Sphere as his only way to make green. Then I follow it up with Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher to get win.
vs UW Tron 0-2
UP: My mana
Ugh, who made this top 8 bracket? This deck had the Gifts-Rites package for Elesh Norn & Iona, but also the Thopter-Sword combo. The games were uninteresting however, as I was stuck on two lands for forever in game 1 and had 7 lands but no colorless mana in game 2.
The UW Tron player wound up winning the event, defeating BG Infect in the finals (Elesh Norn OP).
Unfortunately I got paired with GR Tron in round one. I made a bad mistake in game one because I did not think he had mana up for O-Stone so I played a second Reality Smasher to go for lethal, but I missed an untapped land and got wrecked. Got a quick win in game 2, but mulled to 5 in game 3 and lost easily.
Round 2, I got a quick win 2-1 win against Jeskai Nahiri. Turn 2 Thought-Knot into turn 3 Reality Smasher for game 1. I got stuck on two lands with a Spreading Seas on one in game 2. Game 3, I got an early Thought-Knot. He Clique'd away my Reality Smasher, but I consecutively drew Blight Herder, Blight Herder, Reality Smasher to overwhelm his back-to-back Nahiri's and kill him.
Round 3 was against Uw Merfolk. He was able to build up his board in game 1 and then play Spreading Seas to push through lethal. Game 2 was very stalled, with me leaving up 2 Ghost Quarters to fend off 2 Mutavaults and the threat of Spreading Seas. I played a couple of defensive Reality Smashers, then a Blight Herder with tokens, and finally drew Sorin to swing the race. Game 3 I was mauled by a triple lord draw with Aether Vial on turn 1 as well. That dropped me to 1-2.
Round 4 was against Grixis Delver. I got turn 2 Thought-Knot, exiling Remand. He got turn 3 Gurmag Angler, which I Pathed, and I was able to beat down for the win. Game 2, he played Delvers on turns 1 and 2. I played the Eternal Scourge. It got some damage in, along with him taking some pain from his mana base. He revealed Kolaghan's Command to flip the Delvers. I Pathed one of them and he chose to get the land and shuffle away the command. He attacked for 3 that turn, but decided to trade the Insectile Aberration with Eternal Scourge the next turn. He countered both halves of Lingering Souls, but I drew a second copy and the four spirits finished him off. 2-2
Game 4 was Jeskai Nahiri again. He scooped to a turn 3 Reality Smasher game 1. Game 2, he kept a sketchy 1 land hand with Celestial Colonnade. I Thoughtseized away a Path, leaving 2 Bolts, another Path, a Snapcaster, and Timely Reinforcements. Then I Ghost Quartered the Colonnade to make him choose white or red. He got a plains. I played Thought-Knot the next turn which took the Snapcaster and ate the Path. I followed that up with Reality Smasher and 4 spirits to secure the win. 3-2
Round 6 was against Living End with Kiki/Exarch combo. He was not happy to see main deck Relic of Progenitus (2 in my opening 7). Smashers did the bulk of the work to win both games. I probably was overzealous in game 2, using Surgical Extractions on his turn 1 cycled Deadshot Minotaur and turn 3 Fulminator Mage, instead of waiting to get a Living End, but it worked out ok. 4-2
Round 7 was against Elves. I got an early Thought-Knot to take one of her two copies of Collected Company in hand, but she actually drew the other two as well and overwhelmed me. Game 2, I had to mull to 5, couldn't find Wrath, and Lingering Souls didn't help against Ezuri's pump. 4-3 final record.
I really enjoyed the deck. It crushed the deck I wanted to beat (Jeskai). I expected quite a bit of Jund too, which there was. I just didn't run into it. I am definitely planning on running the deck again at other upcoming PPTQs and possibly GP Indianapolis.
Also if you are interested, the Top 8 archetypes were 2 GR Tron, 1 Burn, 1 Lantern Control, 1 Bogles, 1 Abzan, 1 Ad Nauseam, and 1 Living End.
Quarters: Abzan>Ad Nauseam, Burn>Tron, Tron>Living End, Lantern>Bogles.
Semis: Burn>Tron, Lantern>Abzan.
Finals: Burn>Lantern.
WPN page
Caleb Durward has a video with UB up on Channel Fireball.
Dilks finished in 10th place at 12-3.
Leyline shuts down Oblivion Sower's ability and the targeted discard, but the Processors don't target the opponent, so Wasteland Strangler and Blight Herder are fine.
Ruh Roh found the "expedition" art link
A user on reddit linked to this wotc tweet.
You may want to check the thread in the rumor mill with 800+ posts/80,000 views.