I didn't end up running Chalice - Ran exactly the list I posted, -1 Chameleon Colossus -1 Maelstrom Pulse in the board, +1 Baloth +1 Disdainful Stroke.
Won my first match super easily, my opponent had 5 cards in his 75 that mattered - 1 Boil side, 4 Spreading Seas main.
I know there's a few Hollow One and Storm players, so I like Relic as a freeby card against them in the main.
This is the list I've been tweaking for a local 42 person Modern League that starts on Monday. I was testing a list without Remand but also without as many ramp spells as this one is running, and it felt terrible - after adding more ramp spells, I don't miss remand at all. With less ramp in the deck, remand buys you a turn (though that happens less and less with how fast the format has gotten), in which you can hit a land drop and then cast Scapeshift. Why not just ramp and win a turn sooner instead?
A lot of the deck is pretty locked in, the only slots I am still playing with are the Anger in the main, the Relics, and the cards for the Repeal/Into the Roil slot. The logic on Into the Roil is that it's better at bouncing Delve creatures, and if I am Blood Moon'd in game 1 I can find a card to bounce it off of a Bring to Light with all non-basics + 1 Island and 1 Forest. Not having to have the basic swamp in play to be able to BTL for a Cryptic is nice.
I know some players aren't too hot on Jace, and while he is not awesome in some matchups, I expect a lot of control and midrange in the league.
The Relics have been decent, not stellar all the time but when they're good they're great and when they're bad they cantrip. I did lose a match with an old build of this deck when someone Surgical Extraction'd my Valakut, and I like that they answer that line.
I'm posting here because I want people's thoughts on my sideboard - I'm not running the Madcap combo because, after round 1, everyone's decklists will be public to eachother. I feel like losing out on the surprise factor makes that plan way worse.
When I realized that I only have 3 cards main and 1 side with a CMC of 1 (and one of those is an X spell), I started thinking about Chalice of the Void out of the board. I would obviously have to cut some cards for it, but there's been a recent uptick in Death's Shadow decks here and I am trying to figure out a sideboard plan that's good against them. I could run 2 Negate and cut the Dispel, and in the matchups where both Relic and Chalice are good (Storm, KCI, Hollow One(?)... any others?) I am probably not too upset if I can't play my Relic because I've got a Chalice on 1 - it'll be hard for my opponent to win through that anyway.
Has anyone tried Chalice in the board? If so, how was it? Would it be worth bringing in vs. Humans even though they have vial?
Curiosity has been pretty useful as a one of, I found that two were too clunky. Trimmed a Thought Scour for the Tarfire essentially, as I expect a lot of mana dork decks/decks where having a big goyf is relevant.
I've seen people running 3/4 Huntmasters with 16 lands, you only bring them in for grindy matchups (bonus points if they run paths), so you usually will make it to 4 mana naturally with all your cantripping.
I feel like cutting delver makes our early game too weak, doesn't it? If you keep them in, they act as lightning rods for bolts that allow yp and snapcaster to get in for more damage. They also fuel delve when they get bolted, which I have had be relevant multiple times.
I'm also not totally convince that cutting bolt is right, since bolt snap bolt is a very real win condition.
I played against a suboptimally built Mono Red deck R1, GW Devotion R2/R3, and an Abzan Constellation deck R4.
I'm super pleased with Vault atm, my local meta had a lot of Esper Dragons for a while so people swung towards decks and cards that were good against that but pretty bad against vault (Deathmist Raptor namely). The card is tough to play with, though, and I was really pleased with how I managed the boardstate. I often will play out Vault but then use removal spells to keep things under control while taking a bit of damage until I decide it's time to wipe the board. It's a clunky but very powerful card.
Any input on card choices, etc?
Round 1 - BW Warriors, newer player.
Not eventful, he missequenced his Thoughtseizes but probably would have still lost.
Round 2 - Abzan Aggro
These were scary games. Games 1 and 2 were pretty standard, game 3 I kept an iffy hand - 2 lands, 3 roast, and a Stoke the Flames. He kept a really slow hand for the matchup and I was able to one for one him and then start beating down to win.
Round 3 - Esper Dragons.
This matchup is abysmal for him, and I won game 3 through 3 Drown in Sorrow and 2 Surge of Righteousness. He sided in 11 cards and still lost. Brutal.
Round 4 - UW Heroic
These games didn't feel all that close, I have a lot of cheap removal. In game 3 I sequenced really well to leave him at 3 life, with me controlling an eidolon. There was no combination of spells for him to cast to deal lethal to me that wouldn't also kill him.
Round 5 - Jeskai Midrange.
These were the closest games of the tournament, his deck seems very well set up against mine. In game 2 he kept a very greedy hand and got punished which forced a game 3 that I drew amazingly in. I felt pretty unfavoured the whole time so I was pleased to win.
I paid the $10 buy in my store offered, so in all I won a play mat, $30 store credit, and the $20 Thunderbreak Regent.
(And then another $55 store credit, play mat - which I gave to 2nd place - and Thunderbreak).
It felt really powerful. My final record was 4-0-1, with an unintentional draw.
Round 1 - Mono Green Aggro. Win.
I lost game 1 to a quick start followed up by a Surrak, not much I could have done differently.
Won game 2 off the back of cheap removal and a Dragonlord Silumgar.
Game 3 I was on the draw so I brought in Thoughtseizes and was able to turn 2 Thoughtseize him seeing a hand of Surrak, Collected Company, Rangers Guile, and lands. He had a mystic in play. I took company, baited the rangers guile by Blight'ing the elf, and then one for one'd the rest of his plays.
Round 2 - RWb Midrange splash Crackling Doom. Win.
I won game 1 despite him having Crackling Doom for my Ojutais, and then swept game 2. This matchup seems really bad for him, and I can't imagine how RW without Doom could ever win.
Round 3 - Jeskai Midrange. Unintentional draw.
He seemed surprised when I led with a tapped UB land, as he'd been expecting me to play Mono Red again (which is what I played in Saturdays game day, facing this same opponent in the finals). This didn't end up mattering and I still lost game 1.
Game 2 was a grindfest that I won on the back of better support for my Ojutais (he also had two copies)
Game 3 went to turns, and the final boardstate was him at 6 with a soulfire grandmaster out, and me controlling his Ojutai, the Ashiok that got me his Ojutai, his Monastery Mentor, and my Dragonlord Silumgar that got me his Monastery Mentor. There was no way he would have killed me the next turn as he had zero cards in hand.
Round 4 - GW Aggro. Win.
I lost game 1, then sideboarded into more removal. He can't beat dragons.
Game 2 I was on the play so I brought in my Ashioks, they did work by exiling Deathmists and then chumping with Fleecemanes.
Game 3:
Step 1: 1 for 1.
Step 2: Draw cards.
Step 3: ??????
Step 4: Ultimate his own Ajani to gain 100 life. (AKA profit)
Round 5 - Temur Dragons. Win.
I did lose game 2, but games 1 and 3 seemed pretty representative of this matchup.
Her deck had 4-6 mana bombs, my deck has 2-3 mana answers and card draw. Didn't feel very scared at any point.
I won Saturdays Game Day with Mono Red aggro (5-0) and this one with Dragon Control (4-0-1), both decks felt very powerful and I would play either of them again, though I'm more likely to play this deck as I love me some counterspells.
I went 3-0 to get first seed in the top 4, and then conceded to my opponent because he's going to Vegas and I'm not. He was on UWR Flash so I'm not sure how that would have gone, Blood Moon would have been excellent post board.
I won round 1 against Burn, it was a subpar list and pilot (it was his first modern tournament though, and a lot of his mistakes were things like casting Boros Charm on my end step instead of when I was tapped out during his turn).
I won round 2 against UWR Twin, and this contained my favourite play of the tournament. My opponent passes the turn to me, he controls a tapped clique and an untapped exarch and is at 14 life. I have no cards in hand, 7 lands, a Delver of Secrets, Gurmag Angler, and Snapcaster Mage. Delver reveals Kolaghan's Command, and I attack with all of my creatures for 10. He doesn't block with exarch as he knows I would kill it with command, falls to 4, and I pass the turn. He draws, casts a probe with mana, draws... And slams Splinter Twin on his Exarch.
I respond by casting Command to deal 2 to him, and return a Snapcaster from my grave to hand. 4 mana left. Snapcaster flashes back Thought Scour, I mill Young Pyromancer, Tasigur, and flip the last card off the top of my deck: Lightning Bolt!
In game 3 I blood moon him and he doesn't cast anything after that.
Round 3 I won in a challenging three games against Abzan.
Game one I got crushed, game 2 was a grindfest that I eventually came out on top of, and game 3 saw me answer his turn 3 choke with a turn 3 blood moon. We both struggled to cast anything (I had a Mountain and a Blood Crypt, he had a Forest and 4 Mountains). I drew 2 YP's in that game and just used them and bolts to generate a swarm of tokens to chump his Goyf with while beating down.
The deck was a blast, and the fun combined with the success that I had this weekend led me to selling my Splinter Twins for a bit of extra cash as I'm perfectly content to keep playing this deck for the foreseeable future (and Twins are definitely being reprinted in MM2)
I played in two grinders today going a combined total of 6-1-1 (plus splitting the end of the last one with my buddy) against a pretty healthy slice of the meta.
In matches, I went -
2-0 vs Affinity
1-1 vs Burn
0-0-1 vs Mirror (even had main deck shackles and blood moon)
1-0 vs Abzan
1-0 vs Infect
1-0 vs UWR Control
I have a GP next weekend, and the deck I've been testing (RUG Shackles) turns out to have a worse matchup against Abzan than I originally thought it did. I figure that if I play something with a sketchy Abzan matchup, it might as well have as many free wins as possible.
Twin it is!
Now for the hard part, and apparently very topical given all the discussion of splitting this thread (I agree that it should be split):
I have access to all the cards I could want for any variation of twin, which of the three (TasiTwin, TarmoTwin, and TempoTwin) appears to be best positioned going into Grand Prix Vancouver?
I did test tarmomoon pretty intensively before GP Milan in december 2014, and while goyfs really helps you in delver and pod matchups, they are at their worst in eg. Affinity - in my opinion, especially after bannings, goyfs are unnecessary - you want to have more answers and less threats, since your plan is to go very long, and eventually, you will find some stuff to get the job done. Besides that, green doesn't offer much besides goyf, and I'm much more willing to splash either black or white. In white, you have all the hatechantments/lifegain/sphinx's revelation/even removal(only sideboard, like celestial purge or even valorious stance), and Geist of Saint Traft as a beater of a choice. In black, you have discard, better removal and Tasigur, which is much closer to tarmozord than geist. However, black doesn't solve neither your problem with pesky enchantments like choke (although, with any splash you can set your explosives up to three), nor gives you some lifegain against burn.
TL;DR - I'd advise to stay with a straight UR list, since it gives you either more stable and less painful manabase, and you can play with Tectonic Edges/Lighthouse/even Academy Ruins, where TecEdge is the best of a bunch IMO. If you want the beater pretty badly, I would recommend splashing white for rev's, timely, wear//tear and geist, and if you want your beater REALLY badly and more jund-style, black is the way for you.
Best Regards & Much Love,
TFSS
From the testing that I got done tonight I don't really agree with your reasoning.
Goyf pressures your opponents Abrupt Decays, allowing Shackles and Blood Moon to stick around.
It's fantastic on defense vs any ground deck.
It gets so big vs Affinity that it allows you to race them towards the end of the game before they draw into a Plating or Galvanic Blast or just fly in with man lands.
It blocks opposing Goyfs and Siege Rhinos.
It comes down early, either on turn 2, turn 3 with Spell Snare, or turn 4 with Leak/Remand.
The sequence of turn 2 Goyf into turn 3 Blood Moon or Shackles is really strong because it forces them to have a lot of answers in a short span of time.
This is probably the wrong thread for discussing it but I haven't found a better place.
Won my first match super easily, my opponent had 5 cards in his 75 that mattered - 1 Boil side, 4 Spreading Seas main.
I know there's a few Hollow One and Storm players, so I like Relic as a freeby card against them in the main.
2 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4 Steam Vents
3 Stomping Ground
1 Cinder Glade
2 Mountain
2 Forest
3 Island
1 Swamp
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Breeding Pool
1 Flooded Grove
BTL Package:
4 Bring to Light
3 Scapeshift
1 Damnation
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Hunting Wilds
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Search for Tomorrow
3 Farseek
Other Spells:
4 Cryptic Command
4 Izzet Charm
1 Repeal
1 Into the Roil
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Relic of Progenitus
BTL Targets:
1 Slaughter Games
1 Crumble to Dust
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Glen-Elendra Archmage
1 Shatterstorm
Creatures:
2 Obstinate Baloth
1 Chameleon Colossus
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Krosan Grip
1 Destructive Revelry
1 Maelstrom Pulse
Counterspells:
1 Dispel
1 Negate
This is the list I've been tweaking for a local 42 person Modern League that starts on Monday. I was testing a list without Remand but also without as many ramp spells as this one is running, and it felt terrible - after adding more ramp spells, I don't miss remand at all. With less ramp in the deck, remand buys you a turn (though that happens less and less with how fast the format has gotten), in which you can hit a land drop and then cast Scapeshift. Why not just ramp and win a turn sooner instead?
A lot of the deck is pretty locked in, the only slots I am still playing with are the Anger in the main, the Relics, and the cards for the Repeal/Into the Roil slot. The logic on Into the Roil is that it's better at bouncing Delve creatures, and if I am Blood Moon'd in game 1 I can find a card to bounce it off of a Bring to Light with all non-basics + 1 Island and 1 Forest. Not having to have the basic swamp in play to be able to BTL for a Cryptic is nice.
I know some players aren't too hot on Jace, and while he is not awesome in some matchups, I expect a lot of control and midrange in the league.
The Relics have been decent, not stellar all the time but when they're good they're great and when they're bad they cantrip. I did lose a match with an old build of this deck when someone Surgical Extraction'd my Valakut, and I like that they answer that line.
I'm posting here because I want people's thoughts on my sideboard - I'm not running the Madcap combo because, after round 1, everyone's decklists will be public to eachother. I feel like losing out on the surprise factor makes that plan way worse.
When I realized that I only have 3 cards main and 1 side with a CMC of 1 (and one of those is an X spell), I started thinking about Chalice of the Void out of the board. I would obviously have to cut some cards for it, but there's been a recent uptick in Death's Shadow decks here and I am trying to figure out a sideboard plan that's good against them. I could run 2 Negate and cut the Dispel, and in the matchups where both Relic and Chalice are good (Storm, KCI, Hollow One(?)... any others?) I am probably not too upset if I can't play my Relic because I've got a Chalice on 1 - it'll be hard for my opponent to win through that anyway.
Has anyone tried Chalice in the board? If so, how was it? Would it be worth bringing in vs. Humans even though they have vial?
I've seen people running 3/4 Huntmasters with 16 lands, you only bring them in for grindy matchups (bonus points if they run paths), so you usually will make it to 4 mana naturally with all your cantripping.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Thought Scour
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Simic Charm
4 Disrupting Shoal
3 Stubborn Denial
3 Mana Leak
1 Curiosity
1 Tarfire
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Wooded Foothills
2 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
1 Stomping Ground
3 Island
1 Forest
3 Blood Moon
2 Destructive Revelry
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Pyroclasm
2 Feed the Clan
1 Dismember
I'm looking at taking this list to a $1k PPTQ on Saturday. Does anyone have any suggestions for things to change?
I'm also not totally convince that cutting bolt is right, since bolt snap bolt is a very real win condition.
You could be right, though.
To clarify Emracool, this is your current list?
4 Loxodon Smiter
4 Siege Rhino
4 Tidehollow Sculler
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
4 Abrupt Decay
3 Path to Exile
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Thoughtseize
3 Forest
1 Gavony Township
2 Godless Shrine
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
2 Stirring Wildwood
1 Swamp
1 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Sunpetal Grove
3 Lingering Souls
2 Nature's Claim
3 Scavenging Ooze
2 Stony Silence
2 Golgari Charm
5 Island
5 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
4 Temple of Deceit
4 Dismal Backwater
1 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
1 Radiant Fountain
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Opulent Palace
Win-cons
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
4 Bile Blight
2 Ultimate Price
4 Anticipate
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Negate
4 Dissolve
3 Hero's Downfall
1 Silence the Believers
3 Perilous Vault
1 AEtherspouts
1 Dragonlord's Prerogative
4 Dig Through Time
3 Encase in Ice
3 Pharika's Cure
1 Negate
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Drown in Sorrow
1 Virulent Plague
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Pearl Lake Ancient
I played against a suboptimally built Mono Red deck R1, GW Devotion R2/R3, and an Abzan Constellation deck R4.
I'm super pleased with Vault atm, my local meta had a lot of Esper Dragons for a while so people swung towards decks and cards that were good against that but pretty bad against vault (Deathmist Raptor namely). The card is tough to play with, though, and I was really pleased with how I managed the boardstate. I often will play out Vault but then use removal spells to keep things under control while taking a bit of damage until I decide it's time to wipe the board. It's a clunky but very powerful card.
Any input on card choices, etc?
3 Lightning Berserker
4 Foundry Street Denizen
2 Eidolon of the Great Revel
3 Zurgo Bellstriker
2 Goblin Heelcutter
2 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Lightning Strike
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Wild Slash
4 Dragon Fodder
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Roast
2 Hall of Triumph
2 Arc Lightning
2 Twin Bolt
2 Eidolon of the Great Revel
3 Searing Blood
Round 1 - BW Warriors, newer player.
Not eventful, he missequenced his Thoughtseizes but probably would have still lost.
Round 2 - Abzan Aggro
These were scary games. Games 1 and 2 were pretty standard, game 3 I kept an iffy hand - 2 lands, 3 roast, and a Stoke the Flames. He kept a really slow hand for the matchup and I was able to one for one him and then start beating down to win.
Round 3 - Esper Dragons.
This matchup is abysmal for him, and I won game 3 through 3 Drown in Sorrow and 2 Surge of Righteousness. He sided in 11 cards and still lost. Brutal.
Round 4 - UW Heroic
These games didn't feel all that close, I have a lot of cheap removal. In game 3 I sequenced really well to leave him at 3 life, with me controlling an eidolon. There was no combination of spells for him to cast to deal lethal to me that wouldn't also kill him.
Round 5 - Jeskai Midrange.
These were the closest games of the tournament, his deck seems very well set up against mine. In game 2 he kept a very greedy hand and got punished which forced a game 3 that I drew amazingly in. I felt pretty unfavoured the whole time so I was pleased to win.
I paid the $10 buy in my store offered, so in all I won a play mat, $30 store credit, and the $20 Thunderbreak Regent.
(And then another $55 store credit, play mat - which I gave to 2nd place - and Thunderbreak).
I had an awesome weekend.
2 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
3 Anticipate
2 Bile Blight
2 Crux of Fate
4 Dig Through Time
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Dissolve
2 Foul-Tongue Invocation
3 Hero's Downfall
4 Silumgar's Scorn
2 Thoughtseize
2 Ultimate Price
2 Caves of Koilos
4 Dismal Backwater
2 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
3 Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
4 Temple of Deceit
4 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Flooded Strand
2 Bile Blight
1 Dragonlord Silumgar
2 Dragonlord's Prerogative
2 Drown in Sorrow
1 Foul-Tongue Invocation
1 Negate
1 Thoughtseize
1 Ultimate Price
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1 Perilous Vault
1 Pharika's Cure
It felt really powerful. My final record was 4-0-1, with an unintentional draw.
Round 1 - Mono Green Aggro. Win.
I lost game 1 to a quick start followed up by a Surrak, not much I could have done differently.
Won game 2 off the back of cheap removal and a Dragonlord Silumgar.
Game 3 I was on the draw so I brought in Thoughtseizes and was able to turn 2 Thoughtseize him seeing a hand of Surrak, Collected Company, Rangers Guile, and lands. He had a mystic in play. I took company, baited the rangers guile by Blight'ing the elf, and then one for one'd the rest of his plays.
Round 2 - RWb Midrange splash Crackling Doom. Win.
I won game 1 despite him having Crackling Doom for my Ojutais, and then swept game 2. This matchup seems really bad for him, and I can't imagine how RW without Doom could ever win.
Round 3 - Jeskai Midrange. Unintentional draw.
He seemed surprised when I led with a tapped UB land, as he'd been expecting me to play Mono Red again (which is what I played in Saturdays game day, facing this same opponent in the finals). This didn't end up mattering and I still lost game 1.
Game 2 was a grindfest that I won on the back of better support for my Ojutais (he also had two copies)
Game 3 went to turns, and the final boardstate was him at 6 with a soulfire grandmaster out, and me controlling his Ojutai, the Ashiok that got me his Ojutai, his Monastery Mentor, and my Dragonlord Silumgar that got me his Monastery Mentor. There was no way he would have killed me the next turn as he had zero cards in hand.
Round 4 - GW Aggro. Win.
I lost game 1, then sideboarded into more removal. He can't beat dragons.
Game 2 I was on the play so I brought in my Ashioks, they did work by exiling Deathmists and then chumping with Fleecemanes.
Game 3:
Step 1: 1 for 1.
Step 2: Draw cards.
Step 3: ??????
Step 4: Ultimate his own Ajani to gain 100 life. (AKA profit)
Round 5 - Temur Dragons. Win.
I did lose game 2, but games 1 and 3 seemed pretty representative of this matchup.
Her deck had 4-6 mana bombs, my deck has 2-3 mana answers and card draw. Didn't feel very scared at any point.
I won Saturdays Game Day with Mono Red aggro (5-0) and this one with Dragon Control (4-0-1), both decks felt very powerful and I would play either of them again, though I'm more likely to play this deck as I love me some counterspells.
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Young Pyromancer
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Gurmag Angler
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
3 Thought Scour
2 Spell Snare
1 Deprive
2 Remand
2 Mana Leak
2 Murderous Cut
1 Terminate
2 Electrolyze
1 Kolaghan's Command
2 Steam Vents
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
1 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
3 Island
1 Dragon's Claw
2 Dispel
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Flashfreeze
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Spellskite
1 Rakdos Charm
2 Rending Volley
1 Negate
1 Swerve
I went 3-0 to get first seed in the top 4, and then conceded to my opponent because he's going to Vegas and I'm not. He was on UWR Flash so I'm not sure how that would have gone, Blood Moon would have been excellent post board.
I won round 1 against Burn, it was a subpar list and pilot (it was his first modern tournament though, and a lot of his mistakes were things like casting Boros Charm on my end step instead of when I was tapped out during his turn).
I won round 2 against UWR Twin, and this contained my favourite play of the tournament. My opponent passes the turn to me, he controls a tapped clique and an untapped exarch and is at 14 life. I have no cards in hand, 7 lands, a Delver of Secrets, Gurmag Angler, and Snapcaster Mage. Delver reveals Kolaghan's Command, and I attack with all of my creatures for 10. He doesn't block with exarch as he knows I would kill it with command, falls to 4, and I pass the turn. He draws, casts a probe with mana, draws... And slams Splinter Twin on his Exarch.
I respond by casting Command to deal 2 to him, and return a Snapcaster from my grave to hand. 4 mana left. Snapcaster flashes back Thought Scour, I mill Young Pyromancer, Tasigur, and flip the last card off the top of my deck: Lightning Bolt!
In game 3 I blood moon him and he doesn't cast anything after that.
Round 3 I won in a challenging three games against Abzan.
Game one I got crushed, game 2 was a grindfest that I eventually came out on top of, and game 3 saw me answer his turn 3 choke with a turn 3 blood moon. We both struggled to cast anything (I had a Mountain and a Blood Crypt, he had a Forest and 4 Mountains). I drew 2 YP's in that game and just used them and bolts to generate a swarm of tokens to chump his Goyf with while beating down.
The deck was a blast, and the fun combined with the success that I had this weekend led me to selling my Splinter Twins for a bit of extra cash as I'm perfectly content to keep playing this deck for the foreseeable future (and Twins are definitely being reprinted in MM2)
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Spell Snare
3 Remand
2 Mana Leak
1 Harvest Pyre
1 Electrolyze
3 Cryptic Command
1 Vedalken Shackles
2 Blood Moon
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Pestermite
3 Deceiver Exarch
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Desolate Lighthouse
1 Mountain
8 Island
1 Keranos
1 Batterskull
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Negate
1 Spellskite
1 Combust
1 Flashfreeze
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Wear/Tear
1 Stony Silence
1 Dispel
1 Swerve
1 Grim Lavamancer
I played in two grinders today going a combined total of 6-1-1 (plus splitting the end of the last one with my buddy) against a pretty healthy slice of the meta.
In matches, I went -
2-0 vs Affinity
1-1 vs Burn
0-0-1 vs Mirror (even had main deck shackles and blood moon)
1-0 vs Abzan
1-0 vs Infect
1-0 vs UWR Control
Deck felt very good.
I will post a report tomorrow!
Twin it is!
Now for the hard part, and apparently very topical given all the discussion of splitting this thread (I agree that it should be split):
I have access to all the cards I could want for any variation of twin, which of the three (TasiTwin, TarmoTwin, and TempoTwin) appears to be best positioned going into Grand Prix Vancouver?
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Spell Snare
2 Remand
3 Mana Leak
2 Electrolyze
3 Cryptic Command
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
1 Batterskull
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Vedalken Shackles
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Stomping Ground
1 Breeding Pool
1 Academy Ruins
1 Forest
1 Mountain
7 Island
3 Blood Moon
From the testing that I got done tonight I don't really agree with your reasoning.
Goyf pressures your opponents Abrupt Decays, allowing Shackles and Blood Moon to stick around.
It's fantastic on defense vs any ground deck.
It gets so big vs Affinity that it allows you to race them towards the end of the game before they draw into a Plating or Galvanic Blast or just fly in with man lands.
It blocks opposing Goyfs and Siege Rhinos.
It comes down early, either on turn 2, turn 3 with Spell Snare, or turn 4 with Leak/Remand.
The sequence of turn 2 Goyf into turn 3 Blood Moon or Shackles is really strong because it forces them to have a lot of answers in a short span of time.
This is probably the wrong thread for discussing it but I haven't found a better place.