Has anyone tried running Zealous Persecution? It seems like it might be a strong finisher, something this deck lacks without Lightning Bolt and one of the biggest issues I've had. It certainly could have been a great trump card against the Bushwhacker Zoo decks I lost to last weekend and could also help ruin combat math against other black decks running Tasigur and Angler, Tarmogoyf decks, and Eldrazi.
The last tournament I went to I had 10 maindeck removal spells and my match-ups were varied enough that a lot of times I felt like I had 8+ dead cards in my main game one. I trimmed my removal down this time and added the discard package with the hope that I'd have less totally dead cards in my game ones and then upgrading them post-board. Overall I'd say the discard spells were pretty neutral - they were useful in my opening hand but at no point did they make or break a game.
Grixis Delver 1-2: This was a cool list that splashed White for Lingering Souls out of the board. I mulliganed to five in the third game, kept a one lander with a Delver, and drew four straight lands.
Abzan Coco 2-0: I think this is a pretty good match-up.
Naya Revolt Bushwhacker Zoo 0-2: Another mulligan to five where I just ran out of cards to fight his stuff.
Grixis Delver 2-1: Some very fun, grindy games where Lingering Souls was the MVP.
Naya Revolt Bushwhacker Zoo 1-2: Lingering Souls feels like it should be good here but two 1/1s can't trade profitably with all the three toughness creatures he has (Wild Nacatl, Narnam Renegade, Kird Ape) and neither can Snapcaster Mage. I really just needed more removal spells.
RG Scapeshift 0-2: In the second game I Thoughtsiezed a Chalice of the Void on turn two from a pretty mediocre hand but he drew another off the top and locked me out.
It was unfortunate that most of my games this time were against decks where a lot of main-deck removal would have been good. I felt a little unlucky to mulligan to five in the deciding games of rounds one and three so I'm not too down on the overall bad result. I'm not sure if I'd keep the discard in the deck or not. I sided some or all of it out almost every game but that was sort of the plan anyway.
I'm thinking about maybe replacing the discard with a third Path to Exile, a second Collective Brutality, a Dispel, and two Sleight of Hands.
Abzan Coco 2-1: Lots of removal, Dispel, and Spell Snare were too strong.
Bant Eldrazi 2-1: I don't think this is a good matchup but I had turn 2 Spreading Seas for his Eldrazi Temple in games two and three.
RW Planeswalker Prison 0-2: I wasn't ever in these games.
GW Dudes 2-1: Kind of like the first round but without the Viscera Seer combo.
Jund 0-2: My deck didn't behave at all. In game one I survived two Liliana ultimates and lost with my opponent at one life.
Living End 2-0: His deck let him down a bit but I think post board I had the counter magic to handle this.
RW Plansewalker Prison 2-1: Same as my round 3 opponent but this time his deck just couldn't draw what it needed.
Merfolk 0-2: Kind of a bummer to end on a loss against what feels like a good matchup for me.
The deck clearly has something going for it although I did manage to dodge Tron, RG ramp, and mostly got lucky against Bant Eldrazi. Lingering Souls is great at stalling for time, getting value from Thought Scour, stabilizing, and pushing damage. Fatal Push is a good card but it isn't a Lightning Bolt replacement. There were a lot of games where removal was totally dead but a Bolt would have been useful, or having real reach would have helped close out the game. Playing eight spells that ONLY kill creatures meant that sometimes I had a lot of dead cards in my deck. Collective Brutality was a flexible card but two felt like too many.
I do think there's potential here but my list is certainly not tuned. I'm not sure how to reconcile needing a critical mass of removal spells and limiting dead cards in non-creature based match-ups.
There's one extra slot in the deck right now that I don't know what to do with - maybe a 9th cantrip. I'm not sold on the two Remands but I think they're better than Mana Leak, Spell Snare, and Spell Pierce against the decks I'm most worried about (Eldrazi and big mana decks like RG Valakut and Tron). It also feels bad playing Leak and Pierce in a deck with Path. I'm not a very good player though so maybe that's all incorrect.
I'm not confident on the sideboard either, especially the Surgicals. I'm not sure how to beat Dredge without help but it just got nerfed and they take up 3 slots that could be something else.
I lost badly to RG Tron and a RG ramp deck running Valakut and Primeval Titan, both of which were anticipated bad matchups. I had hoped to play against Infect and Affinity all day but only saw Infect once and got a quick win. I had close games against Burn (lost because I didn't realize he was playing creature heavy and I kept a hand with two Dispels), Kiki-Chord (win), Grixis Control (win), and one Blood Moon stomp against a Sultai goodstuff deck.
Maindeck Blood Moons were amazing and won me three game one's all on their own. The singleton Stormchaser is fun but I wouldn't cut any of the other 13 creatures to add a second.
There wasn't a ton of Eldrazi running around the New England regional that I saw. That matchup has felt slightly unfavorable to me the two times I've played it but not awful by any means. The maindeck Blood Moons help, as do the 4 Spreading Seas in the board.
How do you feel about the one Mountain when you can't fetch it? I'm running 8 blue KTK fetches as well and I go back and forth about whether it should be another Island or if I want the Mountain in the event of Path or Ghost Quarter.
White Blessed Spirits - I could see this working in a white deck if one was to heavily push enchantments, probably will not get tested at all.
Is Blessed Spirits really so hard to get going? I've got 6 white enchantments and 14 others in the cube. A 2/2 flyer for 3 isn't terrible and the potential upside for running cards I'd want anyway (most of my white enchantments are removal) seems worth it. The counters stay if the enchantments go away and they get applied on cast so a counter spell won't stop them either.
Doesn't Staticaster do all the things you're describing Electrolyze doing, with the benefit that I can do it every turn? It doesn't draw a card, but if I activate it twice that's more or less a card, and if it eats a removal spell that seems like a win for me as well.
I had a Gurmag Angler in place of the Clique but I kept getting stuck with two Delve spells in my hand and not being able to cast them both. Maybe I've been unlucky over a small sample size (I think I have about 10 rounds over 3 FNM's with the deck so far).
I'd love to add a Sower but I don't own one and I'm not sure I can get one before Sunday.
I feel OK with my sideboard plan against Burn, Affinity, and Twin but I don't have a solid idea of what to do against Abzan. I'd like to bring in the 2 Flashfreeze, 2 Blood Moon, Terminate, Kolaghan's Command, and Izzet Staticaster but I'm not sure what to take out. Electrolyze could go since it is only effective against half of a Lingering Souls, and then I'm looking at things like Lightning Bolt (doesn't kill Rhinos or 'Goyfs), Delvers (terrible top deck, dies to everything, can't fight anything effectively), and maybe a Spell Snare and / or Mana Leak. Taking out Bolts feels wrong but maybe it isn't, and taking out Delvers seems reasonable except that there aren't a ton of threats in the deck to begin with.
I'd love to hear people's thoughts on the matchup.
Went 1-5 at SCG states today. Haven't played modern in several months and this was my first time playing this deck. Lost twice to Burn, once to Living End to my own play mistakes, and twice to Abzan (little kid and regular).
Deck was a lot of fun even though I didn't play it very well. I know at least one other person was on this deck at the tournament and he made top 8.
I feel pretty OK about my sideboard plan in general but I'm too sure about what to do against Abzan. I want to bring in the 2 Blood Moon, 2 Flashfreeze, 1 Monastery Siege, and 1 Terminate. I think I want to take out 2 Delver of Secrets, 2 Lightning Bolt, and 2 Spell Snare. I can also see myself bringing in the Kolaghan's Command for a Remand or something.
I'd love any suggestions on the match up or my deck / board in general.
In black I have Tormented Hero, Vampire Lacerator, and Nezumi Cutthroat plus Rager. Cutthroat makes the Rager's ability a bit redundant. Ogre Marauder, Bellowing Saddlebrute, and Viscera Dragger are some other possible options.
I had a lot of success with Sprinting Warbrute and Blood-Chin Rager at prerelease. My deck had 4 other low cost Warriors so my Rager results may be a bit ahead of curve but he was great.
The new command seemed super awesome when I read it the first time but I'm cooling off on it a bit. I certainly don't want to maindeck a shock effect, a random discard effect, or a single target artifact destruction effect so if it was in the main I'd be doing it for the reanimate ability and crossing my fingers that one of the other three abilities was relevant pre-board. Electrolyze seems like a more consistent card and is probably what I'd look to cut if I were adding the command in the main but right now I don't see myself doing that.
Out of the board I think the best case scenario would be a 2 for 1 against affinity.
I am not particularly excited by KoloCommand but suppose it warrants testing. I just dont see it ever being better than electrolyze for 3 mana. In the board it absolutely does not replace rakdos charm because it simply is not as versitile despite having more modes (the discard mode will never be an option, really). And if you want it specifically for affinity, my gut says shatterstorm is just better but since you are saving 1 mana and RB is generally easier to produce than RR it might be worth it. My lack of excitement comes from not having affinity specific hate in my board and I feel like its already a pretty decent matchup, despite some of us seeming to have trouble with it. I guess its build specific. Having maindeck darkblast definitely improves your game against them.
Your thoughts on it being a cheaper, slightly easier to cast Shatterstorm feels like what I'd want most out of this. It also has the benefit of being an instant so you can cast it during combat if they've gone all in on a Ravager or don't have the mana to move Cranial Plating around. I have a Rakdos Charm and Shatterstorm in my board right now and I could see swapping the Shatterstorm for the new command.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Lingering Souls
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Gurmag Angler
Cantrips (8)
4 Serum Visions
4 Thought Scour
4 Fatal Push
2 Path to Exile
1 Collective Brutality
Counter Spells (4)
3 Spell Snare
1 Deprive
Discard (5)
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtsieze
1 Path to Exile
1 Blessed Alliance
2 Countersquall
2 Dispel
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Painful Truths
3 Stony Silence
3 Spreading Seas
The last tournament I went to I had 10 maindeck removal spells and my match-ups were varied enough that a lot of times I felt like I had 8+ dead cards in my main game one. I trimmed my removal down this time and added the discard package with the hope that I'd have less totally dead cards in my game ones and then upgrading them post-board. Overall I'd say the discard spells were pretty neutral - they were useful in my opening hand but at no point did they make or break a game.
It was unfortunate that most of my games this time were against decks where a lot of main-deck removal would have been good. I felt a little unlucky to mulligan to five in the deciding games of rounds one and three so I'm not too down on the overall bad result. I'm not sure if I'd keep the discard in the deck or not. I sided some or all of it out almost every game but that was sort of the plan anyway.
I'm thinking about maybe replacing the discard with a third Path to Exile, a second Collective Brutality, a Dispel, and two Sleight of Hands.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Lingering Souls
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Gurmag Angler
1 Vendilion Clique
Cantrips (8)
4 Serum Visions
4 Thought Scour
4 Fatal Push
2 Path to Exile
2 Collective Brutality
1 Dismember
1 Go for the Throat
Counter Spells (5)
3 Spell Snare
2 Mana Leak
1 Go for the Throat
2 Countersquall
2 Dispel
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Painful Truths
3 Stony Silence
3 Spreading Seas
Took this list to SCG states today and went 5-3
The deck clearly has something going for it although I did manage to dodge Tron, RG ramp, and mostly got lucky against Bant Eldrazi. Lingering Souls is great at stalling for time, getting value from Thought Scour, stabilizing, and pushing damage. Fatal Push is a good card but it isn't a Lightning Bolt replacement. There were a lot of games where removal was totally dead but a Bolt would have been useful, or having real reach would have helped close out the game. Playing eight spells that ONLY kill creatures meant that sometimes I had a lot of dead cards in my deck. Collective Brutality was a flexible card but two felt like too many.
I do think there's potential here but my list is certainly not tuned. I'm not sure how to reconcile needing a critical mass of removal spells and limiting dead cards in non-creature based match-ups.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Lingering Souls
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Gurmag Angler
1 Smuggler's Copter
Cantrips (8)
4 Serum Visions
4 Thought Scour
4 Fatal Push
2 Path to Exile
2 Collective Brutality
1 Dismember
1 Go for the Throat
Counter Spells (4)
1 Dispel
1 Deprive
2 Remand
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Countersquall
1 Dispel
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Painful Truths
3 Stony Silence
3 Surgical Extraction
There's one extra slot in the deck right now that I don't know what to do with - maybe a 9th cantrip. I'm not sold on the two Remands but I think they're better than Mana Leak, Spell Snare, and Spell Pierce against the decks I'm most worried about (Eldrazi and big mana decks like RG Valakut and Tron). It also feels bad playing Leak and Pierce in a deck with Path. I'm not a very good player though so maybe that's all incorrect.
I'm not confident on the sideboard either, especially the Surgicals. I'm not sure how to beat Dredge without help but it just got nerfed and they take up 3 slots that could be something else.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Stormchaser Mage
1 Grim Lavamancer
Sorcery (11)
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
2 Forked Bolt
1 Roast
Instant (13)
3 Remand
2 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Harvest Pyre
1 Izzet Charm
3 Blood Moon
Lands (19)
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
3 Steam Vents
2 Sulfur Falls
5 Island
1 Mountain
4 Spreading Seas
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Dispel
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Magma Spray
1 Roast
1 Shattering Spree
1 Vandalblast
1 Threads of Disloyalty
I lost badly to RG Tron and a RG ramp deck running Valakut and Primeval Titan, both of which were anticipated bad matchups. I had hoped to play against Infect and Affinity all day but only saw Infect once and got a quick win. I had close games against Burn (lost because I didn't realize he was playing creature heavy and I kept a hand with two Dispels), Kiki-Chord (win), Grixis Control (win), and one Blood Moon stomp against a Sultai goodstuff deck.
Maindeck Blood Moons were amazing and won me three game one's all on their own. The singleton Stormchaser is fun but I wouldn't cut any of the other 13 creatures to add a second.
There wasn't a ton of Eldrazi running around the New England regional that I saw. That matchup has felt slightly unfavorable to me the two times I've played it but not awful by any means. The maindeck Blood Moons help, as do the 4 Spreading Seas in the board.
How do you feel about the one Mountain when you can't fetch it? I'm running 8 blue KTK fetches as well and I go back and forth about whether it should be another Island or if I want the Mountain in the event of Path or Ghost Quarter.
Is Blessed Spirits really so hard to get going? I've got 6 white enchantments and 14 others in the cube. A 2/2 flyer for 3 isn't terrible and the potential upside for running cards I'd want anyway (most of my white enchantments are removal) seems worth it. The counters stay if the enchantments go away and they get applied on cast so a counter spell won't stop them either.
I had a Gurmag Angler in place of the Clique but I kept getting stuck with two Delve spells in my hand and not being able to cast them both. Maybe I've been unlucky over a small sample size (I think I have about 10 rounds over 3 FNM's with the deck so far).
I'd love to add a Sower but I don't own one and I'm not sure I can get one before Sunday.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Young Pyromancer
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Vendilion Clique
Spells 28
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Thought Scour
2 Remand
2 Mana Leak
2 Spell Snare
1 Deprive
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Murderous Cut
1 Terminate
1 Electrolyze
1 Kolaghan's Command
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
2 Watery Grave
2 Steam Vents
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Sulfur Falls
3 Island
1 Swamp
3 Dragon's Claw
2 Blood Moon
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Flashfreeze
1 Negate
1 Dispel
1 Terminate
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Kolaghan's Command
I feel OK with my sideboard plan against Burn, Affinity, and Twin but I don't have a solid idea of what to do against Abzan. I'd like to bring in the 2 Flashfreeze, 2 Blood Moon, Terminate, Kolaghan's Command, and Izzet Staticaster but I'm not sure what to take out. Electrolyze could go since it is only effective against half of a Lingering Souls, and then I'm looking at things like Lightning Bolt (doesn't kill Rhinos or 'Goyfs), Delvers (terrible top deck, dies to everything, can't fight anything effectively), and maybe a Spell Snare and / or Mana Leak. Taking out Bolts feels wrong but maybe it isn't, and taking out Delvers seems reasonable except that there aren't a ton of threats in the deck to begin with.
I'd love to hear people's thoughts on the matchup.
Went 1-5 at SCG states today. Haven't played modern in several months and this was my first time playing this deck. Lost twice to Burn, once to Living End to my own play mistakes, and twice to Abzan (little kid and regular).
Deck was a lot of fun even though I didn't play it very well. I know at least one other person was on this deck at the tournament and he made top 8.
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Young Pyromancer
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Gurmag Angler
4 Thought Scour
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
3 Mana Leak
2 Remand
2 Spell Snare
2 Electrolyze
2 Murderous Cut
1 Terminate
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
2 Steam Vents
2 Watery Grave
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Darkslick Shores
3 Island
1 Swamp
3 Dragon's Claw
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Flashfreeze
2 Dispel
2 Blood Moon
1 Rending Volley
1 Terminate
1 Monastery Siege
1 Kolaghan's Command
I feel pretty OK about my sideboard plan in general but I'm too sure about what to do against Abzan. I want to bring in the 2 Blood Moon, 2 Flashfreeze, 1 Monastery Siege, and 1 Terminate. I think I want to take out 2 Delver of Secrets, 2 Lightning Bolt, and 2 Spell Snare. I can also see myself bringing in the Kolaghan's Command for a Remand or something.
I'd love any suggestions on the match up or my deck / board in general.
Out of the board I think the best case scenario would be a 2 for 1 against affinity.
Your thoughts on it being a cheaper, slightly easier to cast Shatterstorm feels like what I'd want most out of this. It also has the benefit of being an instant so you can cast it during combat if they've gone all in on a Ravager or don't have the mana to move Cranial Plating around. I have a Rakdos Charm and Shatterstorm in my board right now and I could see swapping the Shatterstorm for the new command.