However, chump blocking is pseudo-lifegain that scales with the creatures attacking you and can't be prevented by Rampaging Ferocidon.
Which is irrelevant as Rampaging Ferocidon is banned in standard. But I do agree that History of Benalia is more powerful as the means to stabilize, in a control deck vigilance is really important as they provide a clock while also blocking.
Thanks! I have played a lot with Noble Hierarchs, but I traded mine after I was done with Infect. Of course I can ask for some Hierarchs if I'm playing a GP or something, but I wanted to know for people that have played the deck, how important they feel they are, for example, those are paramount on infect, while here might just be the best dork available if anything. I can just run the deck with Birds or Elves while I get another set back (if).
Hey guys, I'm currently transforming my Colorless Eldrazi into this, I really love this version. Unfortunately, I won't be able to get Noble Hierarchs any time soon. How much does it affect the deck? Is it better to trade them for Birds of Paradise or Llanowar Elves? Or is it better to just go Amulets instead? Or just don't build at all?
On another note, what are your thoughts on Blood Sun?
It is in page 10 of this Primer (kinda old), it was talked about back then and I played it a LOT and loved it, it is way better the more Midrange decks in the meta (as with Jund) as top decking dorks is awful, it also has better G1 vs non interactive decks/combo, it completely removes the mana dorks in favor of cheap interaction, Fatal Push, Abrupt Decay, Iok, Thoughtseize, etc... the creature package from 2 cmc and up is mainly the same.
Hey guys! I just saw UB Mill played at a FNM level tournament yesterday and I really liked what i saw, I dunno many cards that would work with this strategy, but I would love to hear your opinions. Seem like nobody likes Jace here? Well, my "Streamlined" version of the deck does as follows.
So... is it really necessary to sacrifice the 2 color mana base (less painful and more consistent) and Ghost Quarters for White for Path to Exile + Sideboard? options?? I saw a UB version with maindeck Surgical Extraction destroy Scapeshift.
I personally believe more fetches should be played. With Prismatic Omen in play, that's 2 triggers. I could be wrong, but that's my thinking.
Well I'm playing 1 less land and let's be fair Prismatic Omen is not even half the games on the board. Although 2 Windswept Heath would definitely help my T1 green mana, I'm running Farseek not Khalni Heart Expedition, so I might cut 2 basics or 1 of each dual. Thanks for the reply.
There was another user who cut Khalni Heart Expedition to maximum 2 Goblin Dark Dwellers (it was some post above). You could look into that. 4 Farseeks seem like a lot, so I would look to cut those down to 2 if you want to make room for GDD.
I dunno, Farseek is great for consistency, I would cut 1-2 Explore before the first Farseek, as I don't have Khalni-Heart Expedition that slot is used by it. But I will really like to try Goblin Dark Dwellers at least 1 I guess.
I've been running 3 Chalices myself in the SB, what matchups are you bringing it in, out of curiosity?
At least... Infect, Burn, Boggles, Affinity G2, Storm, which I have found it's a great Silver Bullet, specially vs Storm, also I brought it vs Living End and was a great way to just reach the turn to kill him as I drew 2 of them at 0 and didn't hurt my tempo.
Hey guys! I'm just starting out with Titanshift and it's going well! I have a couple of questions for the more experienced players here. First the decklist:
A couple of questions... is there a reason to play 27 lands? I'm playing 26 with less fetches (and more mountains), I like the full sets of the shocks and battle lands because I am not playing any Khalni-Heart Expedition, instead Farseek can fetch those early. Although I'm open to add 2 Windswept Heath instead of any two mountains. Suggestions? (If 27 are needed, cutting the 4th Explore seems like the best call).
On to the sideboard. I main 2 Anger of the Gods due to meta call, my meta is geared towards aggro (Affinity, Merkfolk, Esper Mentor, Abzan Aggro, etc...) but in larger tournaments I usually find Infect, Burn and Zoo all around. Is Chalice of the Void a viable sideboard card? It seems to resolve a lot of bad matchups by itself, helps a ton vs Affinity, Burn, Infect, UR Storm, etc... even Jeskai control and such, so that's why my choice for flexible Enchantment and Artifact removal is Destructive Revelry, as it avoids my Chalice and the 2 damage vs the 4 lifegain can be an entire turn and casting it along with Scapeshift to get rid of a Leyline is no problem.
How about the flex slots on the mainboard? I went with 2 Prismatic Omen and 2 Summoner's Pact, because I read that's kind of the norm, the Pacts have been great, the Omens don't appear enough, but when they do they have been awesome. Is Commune with Lava played anymore? Should Inferno Titan be GDD? maybe add 2 somewhere? I like the 3 Anger 3 Baloth split in the 75 and I'm confortable with it. I really like to try Chalice but maybe I can avoid a lot by hearing your comments on it.
What is the correct number of Fetchlands aside from 4 Wooded Foothills?? If not running Khalni Heart Expedition, do we even need more than 4? I ask because some people are running X copies of Cinder Glade and Stomping Grounds but some are running the full 4/4, I know having more dual mountains is best for the deck, but I wonder what would a correct manabase be? 4, 5, 6 fetchlands? More mointains? I'm going to try this deck and nobody has talked about the rationale behind the number of mountains/fetchlands. Thanks guys!
R The easiest (less mana) combo with Dualcaster Mage is with Twinflame, but it does not appear under R or in the UR section. Also, most of those combos require a creature already on the battlefield.
I never played competitive and I will start with this deck. I tested several times on cockatrice and I find it funny, but I have no money to buy 4 Scalding Tarn. Do you believe that they are essential or I can play with 4 Flooded Strand 2 Polluted Delta, or 4 Flooded Strand 1 Polluted Delta and 1 Wooded Foothills?
About that, any 6 blue fecthes will do, I found myself fetching for a lonely Mountain almost never (maybe in the Burn matchups?).
Initially I didn't have any Visions of Beyond and after reading a bit seemed it is the card being sideboarded out most often, I also didn't like Cryptic Command as part of my interaction suite as it seemed to slow and with 18 lands reaching 4 and leave mana open didn't seem good, some people who have played the deck mentioned it is there to bounce any problematic permanent mainly slowing us down and that Repeal would do a nice impression. So my modifications over the "original" decklist were.
People dislike Izzet Charm mostly because it is card disadvantage when looting (although it can sculpt your hand nicely) but I added it mainly because of the extra interaction with Cryptic gone, I wanted some sort of "hard" counter if needed, and became pretty handy while dealing with Tron and Affinity on time, the extra removal is also nice. Along with Electrolyze and Repeal it brings my interaction spells up to 14, lowers my curve and plays pretty nice (also it is a bit more "budget" friendly if that matters to some). Deck still needs more testing, but is looking fine so far.
I was thinking of playing something similar when I saw Sylvan Advocate, but the first card that came to mind was Ojutai's Command in a more control/tempo build. Counter your bomb and return Sylvan Advocate with 6 lands seems powerful enough. I planed on incluiding Reflector Mage as part of the tempo plan.
Hey guys! I like the idea of Assault Loam, I have tried Jund pox loam (with pyro) in the past but felt lacking and the multiple double colored mana in almost every direction it's absurd with the mana curve, So... we all know Blood Moon is bonkers right know in modern, and I would pretty much like to play it in the shell, this is a rought first draft of something I would like to play the core being:
Still issues with the win condition, I feel Countryside Crusher is super strong after a Loam (6/6 for 3) and can end games fast with Assault. This is a rough sketch and maybe needs some Pyroclasm/Anger main board, I split 2/2 Mulch and Commune because it is important to either find Blood Moon/Seismic Assault or Countryside Crusher/Eternal Witness (we might have dredged the enchantment) and without testing I dunno what is more relevant.
It's actually pretty different from each side. Kytheon is probably the best creature of all 5, meanwhile I think Nissa is super strong as a Planeswalker, balance is in how easy will be to turn them, and I think Nissa's got the worst ability of all in terms of becoming a PW.
Which is irrelevant as Rampaging Ferocidon is banned in standard. But I do agree that History of Benalia is more powerful as the means to stabilize, in a control deck vigilance is really important as they provide a clock while also blocking.
On another note, what are your thoughts on Blood Sun?
4 Hedron Crab
4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
4 Jace's Phantasm
Instant (16)
4 Archive Trap
4 Surgical Extraction
4 Thought Scour
4 Visions of Beyond
Planeswalker (2)
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Sorcery (8)
4 Glimpse the Unthinkable
4 Mind Funeral
4 Darkslick Shores
2 Flooded Strand
3 Ghost Quarter
4 Island
4 Polluted Delta
1 Nephalia Drownyard
2 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
1 Extirpate
1 Dragon's Claw
1 Crypt Incursion
1 Darkness
1 Leyline of the Void
1 Damnation
1 Tormod's Crypt
So... is it really necessary to sacrifice the 2 color mana base (less painful and more consistent) and Ghost Quarters for White for Path to Exile + Sideboard? options?? I saw a UB version with maindeck Surgical Extraction destroy Scapeshift.
Well I'm playing 1 less land and let's be fair Prismatic Omen is not even half the games on the board. Although 2 Windswept Heath would definitely help my T1 green mana, I'm running Farseek not Khalni Heart Expedition, so I might cut 2 basics or 1 of each dual. Thanks for the reply.
I dunno, Farseek is great for consistency, I would cut 1-2 Explore before the first Farseek, as I don't have Khalni-Heart Expedition that slot is used by it. But I will really like to try Goblin Dark Dwellers at least 1 I guess.
At least... Infect, Burn, Boggles, Affinity G2, Storm, which I have found it's a great Silver Bullet, specially vs Storm, also I brought it vs Living End and was a great way to just reach the turn to kill him as I drew 2 of them at 0 and didn't hurt my tempo.
4 Primeval Titan
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
Enchantment (2)
2 Prismatic Omen
Instant (6)
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Summoner's Pact
Sorcery (18)
2 Anger of the Gods
4 Explore
4 Farseek
4 Scapeshift
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Cinder Glade
3 Forest
7 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Anger of the Gods
4 Chalice of the Void
2 Crumble to Dust
2 Destructive Revelry
1 Inferno Titan
3 Obstinate Baloth
2 Relic of Progenitus
A couple of questions... is there a reason to play 27 lands? I'm playing 26 with less fetches (and more mountains), I like the full sets of the shocks and battle lands because I am not playing any Khalni-Heart Expedition, instead Farseek can fetch those early. Although I'm open to add 2 Windswept Heath instead of any two mountains. Suggestions? (If 27 are needed, cutting the 4th Explore seems like the best call).
On to the sideboard. I main 2 Anger of the Gods due to meta call, my meta is geared towards aggro (Affinity, Merkfolk, Esper Mentor, Abzan Aggro, etc...) but in larger tournaments I usually find Infect, Burn and Zoo all around. Is Chalice of the Void a viable sideboard card? It seems to resolve a lot of bad matchups by itself, helps a ton vs Affinity, Burn, Infect, UR Storm, etc... even Jeskai control and such, so that's why my choice for flexible Enchantment and Artifact removal is Destructive Revelry, as it avoids my Chalice and the 2 damage vs the 4 lifegain can be an entire turn and casting it along with Scapeshift to get rid of a Leyline is no problem.
How about the flex slots on the mainboard? I went with 2 Prismatic Omen and 2 Summoner's Pact, because I read that's kind of the norm, the Pacts have been great, the Omens don't appear enough, but when they do they have been awesome. Is Commune with Lava played anymore? Should Inferno Titan be GDD? maybe add 2 somewhere? I like the 3 Anger 3 Baloth split in the 75 and I'm confortable with it. I really like to try Chalice but maybe I can avoid a lot by hearing your comments on it.
About that, any 6 blue fecthes will do, I found myself fetching for a lonely Mountain almost never (maybe in the Burn matchups?).
https://www.reddit.com/r/ModernMagic/comments/3rnlzm/primer_unstorm_exploring_the_fringe_combo_decks/
There is a post about my FNM testing the deck, I made some changes to it, and here is the list I ran:
4 Pyromancer Ascension
//Instant (26)
2 Electrolyze
2 Izzet Charm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Manamorphose
4 Noxious Revival
4 Remand
2 Repeal
4 Thought Scour
//Sorcery (12)
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
1 Breeding Pool
2 Flooded Strand
1 Hallowed Fountain
5 Island
1 Mountain
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Lightning Helix
2 Pyroclasm
3 Swan Song
2 Timely Reinforcements
2 Wear // Tear
4 Young Pyromancer
Initially I didn't have any Visions of Beyond and after reading a bit seemed it is the card being sideboarded out most often, I also didn't like Cryptic Command as part of my interaction suite as it seemed to slow and with 18 lands reaching 4 and leave mana open didn't seem good, some people who have played the deck mentioned it is there to bounce any problematic permanent mainly slowing us down and that Repeal would do a nice impression. So my modifications over the "original" decklist were.
People dislike Izzet Charm mostly because it is card disadvantage when looting (although it can sculpt your hand nicely) but I added it mainly because of the extra interaction with Cryptic gone, I wanted some sort of "hard" counter if needed, and became pretty handy while dealing with Tron and Affinity on time, the extra removal is also nice. Along with Electrolyze and Repeal it brings my interaction spells up to 14, lowers my curve and plays pretty nice (also it is a bit more "budget" friendly if that matters to some). Deck still needs more testing, but is looking fine so far.
Still issues with the win condition, I feel Countryside Crusher is super strong after a Loam (6/6 for 3) and can end games fast with Assault. This is a rough sketch and maybe needs some Pyroclasm/Anger main board, I split 2/2 Mulch and Commune because it is important to either find Blood Moon/Seismic Assault or Countryside Crusher/Eternal Witness (we might have dredged the enchantment) and without testing I dunno what is more relevant.
//Artifact
1 Crucible of Worlds
//Creature (11)
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Countryside Crusher
3 Eternal Witness
//Enchantment (6)
3 Blood Moon
3 Seismic Assault
//Instant (4)
4 Lightning Bolt
//Sorcery (13)
2 Commune with the Gods
4 Faithless Looting
1 Flame Jab
4 Life from the Loam
2 Mulch
3 Copperline Gorge
2 Fire-Lit Thicket
5 Forest
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Mountain
2 Raging Ravine
1 Rootbound Crag
3 Stomping Ground
1 Tectonic Edge
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Destructive Revelry
2 Obstinate Baloth
3 Pyroclasm
3 Rending Volley
1 Thragtusk
Thoughts?