I'm thinking that galvanic blasts are still the way to go right now. Having the 4 damage for 1 red to get the crucial life points of the opponent down is quite relevant in a lot of races to win games. I love thoughtcast, and have used it successfully before, but I did notice that you get to draw more ornithopters, and the like most of the time with them.
I also tried out twin for a couple of months before it got banned, but found it too inconsistent for my liking. What I like about affinity, is that you can mulligan quite a lot, but still manage to win versus an unprepared opponent, who thinks that since you drew only 5 cards, you are going to be easy to beat.
Hey guys, I was just wondering how the matchup for elves is with the new B/x Eldrazi decks in modern that have become quite popular? If this has been discussed before, sorry for the late question, as I'm finding it difficult to back read using my mobile.
As a relatively new player for the UR twin deck, I still don't agree with this recent announcement. I've never been satisfied with the consistency of the deck to combo out whenever I played it, and sideboarding was really a chore when you're trying to go on the control (keranos) path.
I think they should have at least waited for another pro-tour before banning the card. The influx of Eldrazi cards coming from OGW is already sure to shake-up the format. This really wasn't necessary at all. All my UR cards went back to my binders, and I'm probably going back to Abzan, or Affinity.
What would you use Origins Jace for? He's basically a looter that will get hit by the removal spells your opponents, which he can't use to kill GST. His abilities as a walker also are not that good for the deck's game plan as a tempo deck. The only GY cards you have are snapcaster mage, and the 2 delve spells DTT, and TC. Let me know how your testing goes with the new Jace.
A lot of players have moved away from GST in our local metagame as he gets blocked a lot by the myriad of green decks running rampant here.
I'm hearing the same things from my friends and other co-players in our local area, as POET. They want a lot more transparency in the reasoning, and process that goes into these bannings/decisions. I'm a U/W/x player myself, and I can't deny that using mystical tutor for all these years has been a very powerful tool for me in enabling a lot of wins, or game-breaking momentum changers. I also agree with the banning of this card, and feel that the format will survive without this one tutor regardless. Heck, it could even be unbanned again sometime in the future. Who knows right?
As the Duel Commander population grows, I think that this is one of the growing pains that we will encounter. With more diverse metagames, more players investing in decks, and testing their brews, we will hear more opinions. The RC Committee members have the unenviable task of being the bad guys, even if they don't intend to, or want to. It's a thank-less job to the group of people testing out cards that should be, or shouldn't be banned. We've gone through a lot of banning, and unban announcements in the past, and I think the format will survive. I think that if we can continue to send all our feedback, may it be positive, or negative to the RC doe Duel Commander, then I believe that we can influence them in hearing out some of our thoughts as well. If you want something to be done about your format, then you gotta take action too. Let's not judge the RC too harshly on this, but rather help them make more informed decisions in the future with information.
As a community of players in different parts of the world, I think we can all voice out our opinions more often to them via their feedback page in the official site, or in their FB page as well. I'll still keep playing Duel Commander, and I will keep giving them my thoughts on how to improve the format, to help them have an informed decision from our part of the world.
More power to all French Rules / Duel Commander players out there!
You can try Kick Engines in Cubao Expo, as they do regular monthly, or bi-monthly tournaments. There's also Robotboi in Philcoa Commonealth Avenue - every Wednesday and Friday night is Duel Commander, and tournaments fire even if there are only 4 players sometimes. Pat Sessions in Legarda also holds tournaments, but I'm not sure of the regularity for that shop. In any case, try joining the facebook group for MTG Commander Philippines for updated schedules of upcoming tournaments.
@force if ill: That's a fair point to make regarding Tasi appearing in a lot of top8 lists. It's just my opinion, which I based on me thinking you can't let any newer player use him in a tournament, and expect them to win with it. I guess that applies to all duel commander decks anyway. Playing your general for 1-mana most of the time in a control shell is quite unfair if you look at it in he opponents point of view.
Tasigur takes a lot of skill to pilot, and is even harder to win with than other control decks, as a lot of hate from GY, and spot removal, or control magic really makes games turn against him. I agree with Kwiznek, in that a good player can use a good Tasi list, and win with him, the same way that player can pick up other control generals, and win using those instead. In my experience playing the deck for two months now, you have to out-card advantage your opponent to win. All the small decisions, including which cards to delve-away are going to play critical roles in the games you play, to determine whether you win or not. I'm not advocating here that we should NOT ban Tasigur. What I'm merely pointing out is that we just have to find the right reason, that everyone would accept whenever we ban someone as a Commander.
I played against b10h4z4rd_j05h many times, and he likes those shuffle to library art/ench hate spells better, as we have a lot of Marath and Prossh players who have Xenagod, and Purphoros in their lists. He has Riding the Dilu Horse in his list too, which works better for him, as he is always on the General damage beatdown plan, while denying your mana resources.
Can't wait for the top8 decklists. No GAAIV really puzzles me. Titania, Zegana, Ezuri, & Rafiq (2) in the top 8! That's a lot of green based aggro decks there. Great turnout of 53 players too!
This was the list that I played last time (maybe 3 weeks ago). It's got a better match-up against aggro decks. But still finds a hard time dealing with Mid-range. Tweak it depending on how you expect your meta-game would be in your LGS before bringing it for a tournament. I haven't been playing GST much these past few weeks as well, so I don't want you to rely on this control list too much.
@Bastos: nice report and props for testing a lot of odd cards. Winning against Thrun is not easy so I think you did well in that match. If you have the wrath's in the deck, that means you are the control player. You don't have to lead with any creatures or with Geist, so you can clear their board when hey overcommit with theirs. How many lands do you run in the deck? Mulligan to 5 both games on he play is almost unwinnable vs GAAIV. Against Sigarda, you have to deny his early mana accelerators, and also use your wasteland effects to keep him off one color of mana. If you get the Parallax Tide w/ Stifle - that will also allow you a few turns to drop his life total. Thassa has been off my list for a few months now, as it's prett slow and has no impact as she comes into play vs aggro decks. Replace with acqueous form, or Steelshaper's Gift to tutor your swords.
Nicely done KingBrago! I think that s g should also read the whole thread from page 1, as you will be able to see the evolution of the GST deck through all the comments, decklists, and different card choic discussions that came along. I personally read through the whole thing before I started to build a list of my own. Getting the opinion of players on the cards they use in their decks are mostly all posted already if you back read the thread. You'll find a lot of interesting information, I guarantee it! You will not regret reading the whole thread. Hope you find the time though as it's grown ever so long now. But it should be worth it! If you have specific questions on card choices though, those can be answered by anyone here.
I don't own a Ravages of War yet, but I don't think it's a must have. Mystical Tutor sometimes plays the part of my 2nd Geddon, and that would be enough for you for now if on a budget.
wow! 3 control decks and a reanimator/control deck in the top 4! awesome turnout of 36 players too. Hop you guys got decklists and post them in mtg top8 too.
I also tried out twin for a couple of months before it got banned, but found it too inconsistent for my liking. What I like about affinity, is that you can mulligan quite a lot, but still manage to win versus an unprepared opponent, who thinks that since you drew only 5 cards, you are going to be easy to beat.
I think they should have at least waited for another pro-tour before banning the card. The influx of Eldrazi cards coming from OGW is already sure to shake-up the format. This really wasn't necessary at all. All my UR cards went back to my binders, and I'm probably going back to Abzan, or Affinity.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/gppit15/top-8-decklists-2015-11-22
I do like both lists for theUR Twin players.
A lot of players have moved away from GST in our local metagame as he gets blocked a lot by the myriad of green decks running rampant here.
As the Duel Commander population grows, I think that this is one of the growing pains that we will encounter. With more diverse metagames, more players investing in decks, and testing their brews, we will hear more opinions. The RC Committee members have the unenviable task of being the bad guys, even if they don't intend to, or want to. It's a thank-less job to the group of people testing out cards that should be, or shouldn't be banned. We've gone through a lot of banning, and unban announcements in the past, and I think the format will survive. I think that if we can continue to send all our feedback, may it be positive, or negative to the RC doe Duel Commander, then I believe that we can influence them in hearing out some of our thoughts as well. If you want something to be done about your format, then you gotta take action too. Let's not judge the RC too harshly on this, but rather help them make more informed decisions in the future with information.
As a community of players in different parts of the world, I think we can all voice out our opinions more often to them via their feedback page in the official site, or in their FB page as well. I'll still keep playing Duel Commander, and I will keep giving them my thoughts on how to improve the format, to help them have an informed decision from our part of the world.
More power to all French Rules / Duel Commander players out there!
You can try Kick Engines in Cubao Expo, as they do regular monthly, or bi-monthly tournaments. There's also Robotboi in Philcoa Commonealth Avenue - every Wednesday and Friday night is Duel Commander, and tournaments fire even if there are only 4 players sometimes. Pat Sessions in Legarda also holds tournaments, but I'm not sure of the regularity for that shop. In any case, try joining the facebook group for MTG Commander Philippines for updated schedules of upcoming tournaments.
This was the list that I played last time (maybe 3 weeks ago). It's got a better match-up against aggro decks. But still finds a hard time dealing with Mid-range. Tweak it depending on how you expect your meta-game would be in your LGS before bringing it for a tournament. I haven't been playing GST much these past few weeks as well, so I don't want you to rely on this control list too much.
1 Geist, of Saint Traft
Lands (37)
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Arid Mesa
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Command Tower
1 Dustbowl
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Flooded Strand
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Hallowed Fountain
8 Island
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Moorland Haunt
1 Mystic Gate
1 Nimbus Maze
4 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Seachrome Coast
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Tundra
1 Wastelend
1 Windswept Heath
Artifacts (4)
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Talisman of Progress
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Aqueous Form
1 Detention Sphere
1 Journey to Nowhere
1 Land Tax
1 Nevermore
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Parallax Tide
1 Parallax Wave
1 Steel of the Godhead
Planeswalkers (3)
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant
Sorceries (9)
1 Armageddon
1 Councils Judgement
1 Day of Judgement
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Terminus
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Wrath of God
Instants (29)
1 Brainstorm
1 Counterspell
1 Cryptic Command
1 Daze
1 Delay
1 Dig Through Time
1 Disenchant
1 Dismiss
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Force of Will
1 Force Spike
1 Mana Leak
1 Mana Tithe
1 Memory Lapse
1 Miscalculation
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Negate
1 Path to Exile
1 Perilous Research
1 Prohibit
1 Psionic Blast
1 Remand
1 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
1 Stifle
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Trickbind
1 Unexpectedly Absent
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Keening Apparition
1 Meddling Mage
1 Restoration Angel
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 True Name Nemesis
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
I don't own a Ravages of War yet, but I don't think it's a must have. Mystical Tutor sometimes plays the part of my 2nd Geddon, and that would be enough for you for now if on a budget.