Just spoke to a couple of friends and the hot rumor on the web is Ensnaring Bridge getting banned on Monday. Mostly to nuke Lantern, but will hurt us as well.
Zayl, sounds like you won the games you were supposed to and lost to a deck that has MD tools to beat us, as well as being built to be a Blood Moon deck itself. Most lists i've seen of Mardu Pyromancer have MD/SB Blood Moons, so we loose the advantage we have against most multi-color decks. Mardu Pyromancer will be a problem for us if it creeps into the meta game. The UR version is a bit easier as we can still hide behind Bridge and Moon and just try and keep them off their basic Islands, as well as utilize Spellskite to great effect to protect Bridge. Mardu's terminates make quick work of Spellskite allowing KCommand to do the work against us.
Stickballruss may have the answer with Burning earth....but they can run on one swamp just fine to flashback Souls....going to be a tough nut to crack.
FYI, i did end up with 4x Eidolon in the main last night...did some great lifting as a blocker and additional damage source. Also slows the game down as players are reluctant to just keep casting spells and taking the damage if they don’t have an answer.
So - finish off a rough week at work...1 employee fired, another injured at work, production issues, etc with some R&R at FNM with one of my best friends. Get there early to try and snag some cards to finish off the Mardu Pyromanccer list (I was looking for something different and have a long love affair with YP)....they have Marsh Flats, but no Bedlam Revelers, so plan A is out the window. We head to the local bar around the corner and proceed to try and cobble together a Jeskai Control deck from what I have with me...we put together a rough list of cards, sleeve them up without spilling any beer on them....the table caught some beer, but no cards thankfully and back to CT at about 10 to 8. Where i proceed to sit down and decide, f*&% it, I'm playing the mono-red Blood Moon deck again. Start furiously swapping cards around from the two decks and finish sleeving up a serviceable list as parings are announced.
Ended up crushing the event at 5-0 and getting value to a set of Marsh Flats....here are a couple of memorable plays from the night.
Rd 3 against Zoo. Get crushed game 1 as Zoo does what it does and I don't see a sweeper. Side in some extra Angers and such and off we go. he floods the board and gets me to 11 and I cast Slagstorm off of 2 lands and a SSG. He untaps and sacs all his land to make 2x 4/4 elemental tokens with Devastating Summons, I proceed to cast Ratchet Bomb and sweep them off the table and then he scoops when he bricks and I drop a Rabblemaster. Game 3 is similar with his early rush...I establish control with a Chalice on 1 and then end up hiding behind a Bridge and Chandra before the Kalaar parents show up to send some flying tokens at his head to win.
Rd 5 against a lantern style deck. He sits down asking about my record and then proceeds to ask if I'm ready to go to time. I say no and he laughs at me and says that i better buckle up for a long ride. G1 he drop an island and Map, I accelerate out a Rabblemaster and he scoops on T3. G2 I have a Gemstone during his upkeep, play Chalice on 1, Rabblemaster on T2 and he scoops on T4. Match was over before my friend finished cutting his opponents deck I think. When I walk over he asks if we split or something and I said, nope, 2-0 me and he looks at me like I'm insane...once his match is over he laughs over the dudes comments.
I won't publish the list as it was very random....played Eidoln's main, only 2x Blood Moons, etc. Just drew well and had very favorable match-ups for the night. Only real issue I had was against an Infect player that made it a point to keep casting cards into a Chalice on 1 and making me call out the counters. Basically, cheated to make the games much closer than they should have been with Hierarch's plinking under a bridge and a Spell Pierce on a Chandra that would have ended a game very quickly. Would have been pissed if I had lost that match.
Woke up to a balmy -5 degrees here in central OH. Good thing I’m packing Pyro to keep me warm.
Made it to the site and picked up the Eidolons i needed. Only difference from Russ’ deck is a MD Anger due to only 1 Slagstorm. Opted to cut Boil from SB to keep Hazoret and also took Russ’ comment about adding the Damping Matrix.
45 min to go time. Large turnout for the event.
I did just see what looks like another Pyro Prison deck on a nearby table. Will try and confirm as the day goes by.
Rd1 1-0 (2-1) vs Zoo
Game one lost as i kept a weak hand off a mulligan and zoo did what it does. He see Rabblemaster so he thinks I’m on 8-whack
Game 2 he dumps his hand t1 and T2 and walks into an Anger. Chalice on 1 and then Chandra and Koth arrive to take care of business.
G3 i drop a double Cavern on his upkeep into a T1 Blood Moon. SSG and Koth along with another Chalice on 1 seals the game. I did make a mistake by not using Koths ultimate to wipe his board that made the end dicey, but Eidlon kept him from casting anything and i won through the mistake.
Rd 2 - lost to RW Burn. Worst match up. Chalice won me game one but couldn’t slow him down with his artifact destruction game 2 & 3.
Rd 3 - lost 0-2 to a weird control brew abusing Jester’s Cap and a bunch of tutor effects. Had early control of game 2 but EE wiped my board and that was it.
Rd 4. Just not my day at this point. Lost to Kiki Chord when he’s able to Reclamation Sage my bridge and attack for the win in Game 2. Chalice slowed him down a bit, but not enough. Time to just enjoy the rest of the day at this point and have fun on the back tables
Twas the night before the SCG Open and the mountains belched lava that ran beneath the bridges that kept the critters and townfolk from fleeing....
That's as creative as I can get. Just finished the last deck adjustments after reviewing all the suggestions. Going with Russ's list with the small change to the sideboard, assuming I can find three Eidilon and the one Matrix at the site in the morning.
Looking forward to many T1 Blood Moons on the day.....
BTW, the event I won last year was a shop IQ for the Invitational...this is a much bigger pond today, but hoping to ride the lava wave like Russ did and put together another T8 for Pyro Prison.
Hello all. Spent some time dusting off the physical cards last night to get ready for this weekend. Currently have Stickballruss’s 75 ready to go. Looking for any last minute suggestions from the group for this weekend.
Has there been any resolution on the MD inclusion of Pia and Kiran?
Is Boil and Hazoret still viable in the SB?
I’m thinking of upping the number of Anger of the Gods or Slagstorm that the deck has access to with Elves, Humans and Goblins becoming a bit stronger. Reports from the local shot over the last couple of weeks have shown they are still popular in the Columbus area.
Any advice appreciated. I’ll try and keep you all up to date on Saturday...anyone else making the trip to Columbus this weekend?
Hey Fluffy, was able to watch most of those last two matches. I didn’t see anything obvious other than some rough and unexpected match-ups. Running into mono-red 8-whack and then mono-green belcher hurts the deck running Blood Moon effects. Hard to plan when you get into the x-1 or x-2 brackets of a Tournament.
Been trying to catch up on the threads over the past couple of months since I’ve been away...great stuff guys.
I have to admit, hammer of bogardan has always been one of my favorite cards, and one of two that i actively collect when i have the chance....the other being hoodwink, still looking for a foil version if anyone needs any Christmas ideas for me....:):)
Anyway, color me surprised when i saw someone was using Hammer to some effect....i didn’t realize it was Modern legal. Would love to know everyone’s thoughts on using the card in the deck.
Thanks Ray...glad to be back and talking about the deck...upping to multiple Balista seems solid to me and glad others have found the same. That day seems like so long ago in the evolution of the deck and the Modern metagame....wow.
And so add some spice to the deck, Santa just dropped off a package from SCG contains some beautiful Brand new Un-mountains that are getting sleeved up for the deck after i hit send on this post.
Can’t wait to get the cards flying again.
Thanks Caligula, i had to brush the dust off the card case after no playing with physical cards in about 3 months. Wishing i had the deck online so i could get games in when i had time in the evenings...may do that as i get closer to the 1/6 event. If any Pyro Prison players are heading to Columbus in Jan, please let me know and we can compare notes and such,
I’ll likly stick with 2x Koth at this point unless something better is uncovered for the lone Pia in the deck.
I really like 2 Koth in the deck, as he is a great clock if allowed unchecked behind a fast Moon. I’ve always been happy to see on early and had upped to 2 in the deck i played last summer. A third Ballista is an option for sure.
Hey all...it's me MVilla888 (Mike Villa) back from a self-imposed exile from the game for the past few months....actually just IRL work keeping me too busy to even think about MTG since I had to cancel going to the SCG Invitational back in the summer. But the light is at the end of the tunnel and I'm trying to get caught up on all that has happened with the deck these last few months.
Grats to Russ (Stickballruss) for the great run last weekend...well done and I really like the innovation with the deck. I have to agree with the tossing of Tormenting Voice, as I had it bite me a couple of times as well in matches that mattered. I am interested in what will replace Pia in your notes after the tourney. Also like the addition of Walking Ballista to the deck as a faster clock once the lock is in place as well as a mana sink as needed every turn to help end the game a bit quicker. Love it.
Would be interested in what you might be tweaking in addition to Pia in the deck....I have the SCG event on Jan 6 here in my backyard, so hoping to dust off the Blood Moons and start crushing folks again.
Thanks to all for keeping this deck going...hope to chalk up another great finish here in a couple of weeks.
Hey all...sorry I've been away for awhile, still salty after RL kept me away from the Invitational. But, good news, have this Sat blocked out to dust off the blood moons and head to the local shop for a modern event. Not going to change much at this point, but would be interested if there has been any recent tech against death's shadow decks.
Will report out from the T8 hopefully again this weekend.
Stickballruss may have the answer with Burning earth....but they can run on one swamp just fine to flashback Souls....going to be a tough nut to crack.
Ended up crushing the event at 5-0 and getting value to a set of Marsh Flats....here are a couple of memorable plays from the night.
Rd 3 against Zoo. Get crushed game 1 as Zoo does what it does and I don't see a sweeper. Side in some extra Angers and such and off we go. he floods the board and gets me to 11 and I cast Slagstorm off of 2 lands and a SSG. He untaps and sacs all his land to make 2x 4/4 elemental tokens with Devastating Summons, I proceed to cast Ratchet Bomb and sweep them off the table and then he scoops when he bricks and I drop a Rabblemaster. Game 3 is similar with his early rush...I establish control with a Chalice on 1 and then end up hiding behind a Bridge and Chandra before the Kalaar parents show up to send some flying tokens at his head to win.
Rd 5 against a lantern style deck. He sits down asking about my record and then proceeds to ask if I'm ready to go to time. I say no and he laughs at me and says that i better buckle up for a long ride. G1 he drop an island and Map, I accelerate out a Rabblemaster and he scoops on T3. G2 I have a Gemstone during his upkeep, play Chalice on 1, Rabblemaster on T2 and he scoops on T4. Match was over before my friend finished cutting his opponents deck I think. When I walk over he asks if we split or something and I said, nope, 2-0 me and he looks at me like I'm insane...once his match is over he laughs over the dudes comments.
I won't publish the list as it was very random....played Eidoln's main, only 2x Blood Moons, etc. Just drew well and had very favorable match-ups for the night. Only real issue I had was against an Infect player that made it a point to keep casting cards into a Chalice on 1 and making me call out the counters. Basically, cheated to make the games much closer than they should have been with Hierarch's plinking under a bridge and a Spell Pierce on a Chandra that would have ended a game very quickly. Would have been pissed if I had lost that match.
Later all...Mike
Made it to the site and picked up the Eidolons i needed. Only difference from Russ’ deck is a MD Anger due to only 1 Slagstorm. Opted to cut Boil from SB to keep Hazoret and also took Russ’ comment about adding the Damping Matrix.
45 min to go time. Large turnout for the event.
I did just see what looks like another Pyro Prison deck on a nearby table. Will try and confirm as the day goes by.
Rd1 1-0 (2-1) vs Zoo
Game one lost as i kept a weak hand off a mulligan and zoo did what it does. He see Rabblemaster so he thinks I’m on 8-whack
Game 2 he dumps his hand t1 and T2 and walks into an Anger. Chalice on 1 and then Chandra and Koth arrive to take care of business.
G3 i drop a double Cavern on his upkeep into a T1 Blood Moon. SSG and Koth along with another Chalice on 1 seals the game. I did make a mistake by not using Koths ultimate to wipe his board that made the end dicey, but Eidlon kept him from casting anything and i won through the mistake.
Rd 2 - lost to RW Burn. Worst match up. Chalice won me game one but couldn’t slow him down with his artifact destruction game 2 & 3.
Rd 3 - lost 0-2 to a weird control brew abusing Jester’s Cap and a bunch of tutor effects. Had early control of game 2 but EE wiped my board and that was it.
Rd 4. Just not my day at this point. Lost to Kiki Chord when he’s able to Reclamation Sage my bridge and attack for the win in Game 2. Chalice slowed him down a bit, but not enough. Time to just enjoy the rest of the day at this point and have fun on the back tables
That's as creative as I can get. Just finished the last deck adjustments after reviewing all the suggestions. Going with Russ's list with the small change to the sideboard, assuming I can find three Eidilon and the one Matrix at the site in the morning.
Looking forward to many T1 Blood Moons on the day.....
BTW, the event I won last year was a shop IQ for the Invitational...this is a much bigger pond today, but hoping to ride the lava wave like Russ did and put together another T8 for Pyro Prison.
Will keep everyone posted as I promised.
Mike
Has there been any resolution on the MD inclusion of Pia and Kiran?
Is Boil and Hazoret still viable in the SB?
I’m thinking of upping the number of Anger of the Gods or Slagstorm that the deck has access to with Elves, Humans and Goblins becoming a bit stronger. Reports from the local shot over the last couple of weeks have shown they are still popular in the Columbus area.
Any advice appreciated. I’ll try and keep you all up to date on Saturday...anyone else making the trip to Columbus this weekend?
I have to admit, hammer of bogardan has always been one of my favorite cards, and one of two that i actively collect when i have the chance....the other being hoodwink, still looking for a foil version if anyone needs any Christmas ideas for me....:):)
Anyway, color me surprised when i saw someone was using Hammer to some effect....i didn’t realize it was Modern legal. Would love to know everyone’s thoughts on using the card in the deck.
And so add some spice to the deck, Santa just dropped off a package from SCG contains some beautiful Brand new Un-mountains that are getting sleeved up for the deck after i hit send on this post.
Can’t wait to get the cards flying again.
I’ll likly stick with 2x Koth at this point unless something better is uncovered for the lone Pia in the deck.
Hey all...it's me MVilla888 (Mike Villa) back from a self-imposed exile from the game for the past few months....actually just IRL work keeping me too busy to even think about MTG since I had to cancel going to the SCG Invitational back in the summer. But the light is at the end of the tunnel and I'm trying to get caught up on all that has happened with the deck these last few months.
Grats to Russ (Stickballruss) for the great run last weekend...well done and I really like the innovation with the deck. I have to agree with the tossing of Tormenting Voice, as I had it bite me a couple of times as well in matches that mattered. I am interested in what will replace Pia in your notes after the tourney. Also like the addition of Walking Ballista to the deck as a faster clock once the lock is in place as well as a mana sink as needed every turn to help end the game a bit quicker. Love it.
Would be interested in what you might be tweaking in addition to Pia in the deck....I have the SCG event on Jan 6 here in my backyard, so hoping to dust off the Blood Moons and start crushing folks again.
Thanks to all for keeping this deck going...hope to chalk up another great finish here in a couple of weeks.
Will report out from the T8 hopefully again this weekend.