I won against RG Tron and UW control/blink, tied with 4c gifts (looked more like Abzan to me, didn't see gifts in 2 games) and lost to WR soul sisters / lifelink brew. I also saw a couple more people on Tron (mostly U), a bunch of Eldrazi & Taxes and Grixis Delvers / Control.
First thing I noticed is that I don't have enough ways to deal with creatures. The 2 Dismembers are fine and Echoing Truth is a nice catch all (although not so great against Siege Rhino) but in games I couldn't find a Spreading Seas and was facing a couple of creatures I just couldn't get through. This was especially true against the RW brew that played Archangel of Thune + Lone Rider, but I'm not too worried about my sideboard not being too relevant for brews I won't see much.
I think Vapor Snag needs to come in. I also think a second Kira, Great Glass-Spinner in the sideboard would help as there are a lot of grixis / jeskai decks running around at that store. Vapor Snag also helps there to save my creatures.
I've also never played vs. affinity at that store in the 4 months or so I've been playing there (I know there's 1 guy playing it but I don't know if he's there every week) so maybe the recalls aren't needed. I could probably replace them by Sea's Claim for more mana disruption with all the tron / 3 colour decks running around. Spreading Seas was amazing yesterday, winning me 2 games on its own.
Just to clarify something, Shattering Spree gives a crap about Chalice @1. Why? Cause the Replicated copies are not cast and thus not countered by Chalice. So you can basically cast it, replicate it twice and kill two Artifacts.
Ah! I was just wondering that. That's great then, I think Shattering Spree will be the artifact hate of choice then. Also a good way to get around a counter if you have the mana to spare and are fearing a counter.
PS: This is also true for the Shoal version. Sometimes it is better to go Night's Whisper on turn 2 first, before casting that Looting in your hand.
Agreed. Looting hoping to find a combo piece never seems to work for me. The addition of Collective Brutality as a new discard outlet makes it better though where I don't mind looting earlier if I have an extra land in hand and can pitch it along with whatever else I don't really need knowing I can discard to Collective Brutality later if I find a Goryo's Vengeance before a TTB.
My meta has no affinity but I've been seeing more and more Grafdigger's Cage and Chalice on 1 (not too bad) and 2 (terrible!) so I really need artifact hate in my sideboard. What do you guys recommend to get rid of specific artifacts? Meaning I don't thing Shatterstorm is required since I only really want to destroy 1-2 things. I was thinking Shattering Spree? I also saw on Echoing Ruin on Gatherer but don't think I've ever seen that card in a list anywhere. My main concern is with Chalice on 1 I can't get rid of anything using Shattering Spree.
I also added Defense Grid to my sideboard after Kathal mentioned it in here but didn't get to use it yet. I brought it in against UB Faeries on Monday but it got countered the one time I saw it. It would've won me the game next turn had I been able to resolve it though so I think I'll keep it in the sideboard for now.
EDIT: Now that I think about it, has anybody tried Kolaghan's Command at all? One of the mode is an instant speed discard if you target yourself. Returning a creature to your hand form the graveyard could be a surprise against a Relic activation. Rakdos Charm could also be decent in the sideboard as instant speed artifact removal.
I'm using the exact same main except I run 3 swamps and 2 verdant catacombs. I seem to be having a hard time post-board so it might be time to review my sideboard though. Looking at my past results I seem to win game 1 a lot then just lose 2 and 3.
If you don't like hard counter decks, than run some sweet Defense Grid. Card is bonkers against them ^^
Otherwise, I kicked the Leylines in the SB, since they were to clunky for me. So only Blood Moons, Defense Grid, Shatter Storm, Shattering Spree, Sudden Shock, Pyroclasm, Anger and Surgical Extraction is in the board now.
Greetings,
Kathal
I agree about the leylines. Drawing one is such a bad feeling and I don't think we can afford to mulligan for them. Most times I'd rather have a fast hand than a slow one with a leyline. I play against a lot of burn though so I'm not sure yet. Atarka's command and skullcrack are the things I worry the most about and leyline doesn't really help.
Doesn't defense grid slow you down a lot? Not being able to goryo's or TTB on the opponent's end step would slow me down quite a bit.
I went 3-0 at modern night this week beating Ad Nauseum, Grixis Delver and Jund. I'm really liking Emrakul instead of the second Borborygmos, it feels like I win swinging with an Emrakul and Griselbrand way more often than I win with Borborygmos.
Collective Brutality is still awesome but I think 3 might be too many. I would go down to 2 but I'm not sure what to take replace it with.
I didn't take notes but all 3 matches felt like I had a good chance to win. Ad Nauseum is a bit tricky but we're faster than them so just need to make sure to combo before they do which isn't unrealistic. I borded in Pacts of Negation and Duress and pacts came in handy in game 2 and 3.
Against Delver Collective Brutality just does so much work. Killing a Delver and making them discard a counter on top of discarding a Griselbrand is just so much value. My opponent tried to spell snare my shoal+wurm which I had let happened a couple of times since I picked up the deck but last week I learned that the cmc becomes 13 so that's good to know.
Against Jund I combo on my opponent end of turn 2 in game 1 with the nut draw. I board in Blood Moons and Leyline. Unfortunately I don't see any of them in game 2 until I draw 2 Leyline in a row which sucks. Game 3 I have a terrible opening 7 so go down to 6 and get a Leyline. My opponent's hand has a thoughtseize and inquisition so that's 2 blank cards at least for a while. I'm a bit unlucky with draws and I never find a Griselbrand but I have a goryo's in hand and facing a goyf but not much else. Eventually I draw Emrakul, pitch it to Collective Brutality and swing for the win.
I think all 3 of those matchups are pretty good for us. My biggest concern right now are hard counter decks. I'm thinking of adding a Boseiju to my sideboard, maybe even main, but I've seen a couple UW lists recently playing Ghost Quarters and crucible which is already tough enough for us since it can really tax black mana. 2 colours also allows them to play a lot of basics so blood moon isn't too disrupting. Thoughts?
Chalice is definitely a tricky card, and way more relevant on the play than on the draw. There are some deckbuilding costs to it (ie not running Serum Visions which people have already moved away from) but I'm pretty sure cutting Faithless would be a mistake to allocate Chalice.
Oh sorry if I sounded like I was suggesting removing Faithless Looting for Chalice of the Void, I meant to say that with a chalice in play, faithless can't be played (and, maybe I'm wrong but it couldn't be flashback either as it doesn't affect the CMC, right?) which is a pretty big hit.
I do agree that chalice is great against a lot of decks though and a lot of them seem to be bad match ups so it's definitely worth talking about it. I've never played against Bogles but I would think it's a pretty tough match up (no removal main, they life link, run path main, etc..) where chalice would help but I think Spellskite might be better.
Losing faithless looting is pretty tough if you chalice on 1, you'd be left with tormenting voice as the discard spell along with collective brutality. You'd almost have to chalice once you're ready to combo which isn't that bad as it would stop Dispel, Path and Bolt amongst other things.
The thing I feel the deck needs sometimes it's a way to slow down the opponent's deck when our deck is having a slow game and I think chalice would definitely do that for some decks.
Played in a GPT today. Went 3-2 with a bye and played burn twice.
Round 1 - Bye
Round 2 - RB Burn
Game 1 I'm on the play, my opponent plays a Grim Lavamancer on his turn 1 and I kill it and make my opponent discard a burn spell with Collective Brutality (I can't believe how great this card fits in the deck) discarding a Griselbrand to pay the escalate cost and see my opponent's hand a bit slow. On my next turn I draw Gory's Vengeance, play my land for the turn and bring Griselbrand back at the end of my opponent's next turn and combo off.
Game 2 I don't see geist at all which makes my sideboarding choices very bad. My opponent counters my spell aggressively, and eventually I just run out of action and die to colonnade / vendillion clique beat.
I also faced straight up UW control earlier this week and had a tough time. I might bring in Boseiju, Who Shelters All but again a lot of those control decks run Ghost Quarter so who knows. Tips?
Round 4 - Jund
Game 1: My opponent plays 2 Blackcleave Cliffs in a row with a turn 1 Thoughtseize but I have some redundancy in hand. I'm able to bring Griselbrand back on my opponent's EOT3 and bring an emrakul in play on my first main phase and swing for the win.
Game 2: No Leyline in my opening 7 so I mull to 6... still no Leyline and my 6 are terrible so I mull to 5. No Leyline but I have 2 pieces of combo and some lands so I decide to keep. My opponent's opening hand has 2 Inquisition of Kozilek and 1 Thoughtseize so my hand gets completely destroyed. On turn 3 Liliana of the Veil comes down and I can't get anything going. I eventually die to goyf.
Game 3: Still no Leyline in my opening 7. I didn't take any notes of this game but it was similar to game 2 where I just can't keep up with all the hand disruption.
Round 5 - Naya Burn
At this point I had just missed top 4 and the players who made it decided to split the pool netting 125$ in store credit each so I'm a bit disappointed but my opponent and I decide to play anyway just for fun. I also want more practice against burn so I'm happy to play.
Game 1: I get to a point where I'm thinking I can go off the next turn so seeing how my opponent has 2 lands untapped I Nourishing Shoal on his end step. For some reason I was thinking Atarka's Command[/card] was 1RG which clearly it isn't. At this point my life total is too low to draw from Griselbrand without attacking first, which I do but unfortunately don't draw anything interesting in my first 7 to keep going.
Game 2: Finally! My opening hand as a Leyline! I also have a Shoal+Wurm in my opening hand and some lands but not much else. I decide to keep anyway, play the Leyline on turn 0 then a land on turn 1 followed by the Shoal+Wurm right away. I end up drawing into 3 more Shoal+Wurm before finding a Griselbrand casting every one of them whenever I feel safe, gaining 11 each time. Along with the Leyline in play this slows down my opponent a lot but I can't seem to find action. I have a Goryo's Vengeance in hand for a long time and not much else and eventually my opponent draws a Destructive Revelry, destroys my leyline and deals 20 damage to my face. Luckily I'm at 21, so down to 1. On my turn I draw a Faithless Looting and with not much else in hand I cast it, drawing a land and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. I discard emrakul, goryo's in reponse and swing for the win. Very clutch.
Game 3: No Leyline but a pretty decent opening 7 including a Collective Brutality and a Tormenting Voice so I'm able to clear the way by killing a Goblin Guide, making my opponent discard a Path to Exile and eventually getting a Griselbrand in play. I had previously shoal'd when my opponent was tapped out so I can draw 14 safely getting me a Borborygmos Enraged, a Faithless Looting and some lands to go with the Goryo's Vengence I already had in hand so I win this game.
Very happy with my 2 wins to burn after complaining about the matchup earlier this week. It's a pretty tough matchup though I think but I feel a lot better about it. I also think I had a shot vs Jund, especially in that game 2 if I had a Leyline in play. My opponent's starting hand of 3 discard spells + Liliana would've been a lot less interesting with it in play.
UW(r) is still a mystery to me but I'm looking forward to play more blue decks and figuring out how to play against counter spells.
I played with 3 Collective Brutality yesterday and felt like I saw it a lot, maybe even too much. I think you might be right with going down to 2. I'm playing a GPT tomorrow so will report on that as well.
FNM yesterday went 2-2. I didn't take notes but very short recap:
Match 1 - U Tron
Game 1 my opponent started really aggressive with counter spells, using Remand on my turn 2 Night's Whisper, then countering a Faithless Looting which I found a bit strange. Turns out he had a quick active tron along with Spell Burst he could buy back every time so it locked me out of the game. I eventually scooped after he dropped an Academy Ruins and was ready to lock me out.
Game 2 I mull to 5 but get a lucky on the 5 I keep. On my turn 2 I Collective Brutality pitching a Griselbrand and making him discard his only counter. I goryo's on his end step and have to explain that Griselbrand stays until my next end step. He argues a bit, calls a judge that confirms the oracle text I had pulled up on my phone and I combo on my turn.
Game 3 I had a pretty good starting hand, start with a Duress, followed up by a Collective Brutality to mess up his hand a bit. He taps out to play a Platinum Angel, I bring back Griselbrand at his EOT, get a Borborygmos Enraged and kill the angel before dumping more lands to the dome for the kill.
Match 2 - UW Control
Match 2 is against the judge that confirmed the wording on Goryo's Vengeance in my match 1. In game 1 I Collective Brutality on my turn setting up my combo the following turn and make my opponent discard a Path to Exile, the rest of his hand is good for me (some lands, draw spells and a Kitchen Finks I think). He draws a Snapcaster Mage and lets me bring Griselbrand back on his end step then paths it. I try going off at instant speed but can't draw into any action. I end up dying to snapcaster / colonnade beat.
In game 2 he gets a Restoration Angel in play quickly. I have to TTB during my first main phase to get a Griselbrand in play but can only afford to draw 7 cards, none of which are wurms (I had a shoal in hand). I attack to gain 7, draw another 7 and still no wurm and scoop as I would die to damage next turn.
Match 3 - Burn
Game 1 I keep an OK hand but it's just too slow and I lose by turn 3.
I have a pretty slow 7 and no Leyline so I mull to 6. My 6 is pretty good but no Leyline. I again die on turn 3 after burn shenanigans. I hate this match up so much.
Match 4 - RG Land Destruction
Game 1 I'm a bit confused as I've never seen this deck before. Turn 2 Blood Moon then he starts blowing up my only swamp and eventually I'm on no land and die to Inferno Titan.
Game 2 I'm expecting the Blood Moon so I play around it and fetch for some basic swamps. I take one of his land destruction spells and pitch a Borborygmos Enraged. I notice his hand is pretty slow after that as he's holding mostly lands and ramp spells. He makes the mistake of activating his Relic of Progenitus to get rid of my graveyard with only the borborygmos in there which is great for me as I'm holding [rreach[/card] at this point and I end up comboing not long after.
I really don't know what to do against burn, especially game 1. Leyline gives a fighting chance but it has to be in your opening hand and even then, you have to play against Atarka's Command and Skullcrack. My opponent on UW control was just a much better player than I am so I wasn't expecting much.
This is the list I've been running, similar to what's been posted here quite a bit and inspired by (if I remember correctly) a list posted by xBattleSpawnx at some point.
I've replaced the second Borborygmos Enraged by an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn a couple of weeks ago and I've really liked it. I was a bit afraid to end up in situations where it ends up shuffling my graveyard back into my library when I don't want to but I haven't really encountered this issue yet. I don't run into a lot of Thoughtseize and even then they would usually happen early in the game where it doesn't really matter. The one downside is that she uses the attack step but that also hasn't been much of a problem either.
I was also running 3 Blood Moon main but I'm thinking of replacing them by 3 Collective Brutality and moving them to the sideboard. One of the stores I play at has multiple people on hate bears (it shuts down eldrazi but still), merfolks, elves and storm. The other store has a lot more decks that are affected by it but I don't ever seem to play them.
I originally had some artifacts hate in the sideboard but as far as I could tell nobody plays affinity so I removed it. I played against lantern last week though and saw 2 more players on it at the other store this week so I might be bringing Shatterstorm back in.
Reejerey + Vial do not work togetger, because Reejery triggers on cast and not when something comes into play. But all in all you are right, that could be a section in the primer.
You're right, I was thinking it was an ETB effect like Deceiver Exarch
I just ordered the missing parts for this deck so I should be playing it next week at my local modern events. I've been reading the thread so far and glad there's going to be a new primer focusing on the Nahiri build.
One thing that I've been thinking about and that might be worth including in the primer is different situations and whether or not you should ult Nahiri then. Part of it is figuring out which deck can interact with a resolved Emrakul. For instance against merfolks with a Merrow Reejerey in play and an untapped Æther Vial. There's probably a bunch of counterable ways (Cryptic Command, Living End) that might be worth mentioning.
So it has been a while since I have been able to hit up a tournament, but with only about 20 days left until the GP, I should be hitting up quite a few over the next couple of weeks. I have been testing against my gauntlet and online though. As a result I've made a few changes to the deck (RB Classic style) that I'd love to get some feedback on.
Basically I've dropped Night's Whisper in favor of Lightning Bolt giving me a little extra removal against fast aggro, as well as some extra reach (lost a few too many games after an Emrakul for my liking). This did require me to cut an IoK out of the main in order to run 3 bolts, but it did allow me to cut an Anger of the Gods out of the side, giving me a total of 7 targeted discard spells in the 75 still for the control matches.
My biggest concern is the mana base right now since I am only running 8R producing lands vs 13B (though if we factor SSG and Blood Moon, the R sources go up quite a bit. In testing it has been fine, but I only have roughly 10 games in w/ bolt in the build and I don't know if that will put more stress on the red sources or not.
I'm running a RB shoal version but might drop shoal for something like this. I've had issues closing games with a borborygmos and I think EOT griselbrand to emrakul the next turn might be more consistent.
I've also been playing this deck for about 3 weeks and just realised yesterday that you can TTB or GV at the end of your opponent's turn and have the creature for your entire next turn... that will change a LOT of things, ah!
4 Cursecatcher
4 Harbinger of the Tides
1 Kira, Great Glass-Spinner
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Master of the Pearl Trident
4 Master of Waves
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
Spells / Other (11)
2 Dismember
4 Spreading Seas
1 Echoing Truth
4 Æther Vial
7 Island
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
4 Mutavault
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
4 Wanderwine Hub
3 Cavern of Souls
3 Dispel
4 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Negate
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Tidebinder Mage
I won against RG Tron and UW control/blink, tied with 4c gifts (looked more like Abzan to me, didn't see gifts in 2 games) and lost to WR soul sisters / lifelink brew. I also saw a couple more people on Tron (mostly U), a bunch of Eldrazi & Taxes and Grixis Delvers / Control.
First thing I noticed is that I don't have enough ways to deal with creatures. The 2 Dismembers are fine and Echoing Truth is a nice catch all (although not so great against Siege Rhino) but in games I couldn't find a Spreading Seas and was facing a couple of creatures I just couldn't get through. This was especially true against the RW brew that played Archangel of Thune + Lone Rider, but I'm not too worried about my sideboard not being too relevant for brews I won't see much.
I think Vapor Snag needs to come in. I also think a second Kira, Great Glass-Spinner in the sideboard would help as there are a lot of grixis / jeskai decks running around at that store. Vapor Snag also helps there to save my creatures.
I've also never played vs. affinity at that store in the 4 months or so I've been playing there (I know there's 1 guy playing it but I don't know if he's there every week) so maybe the recalls aren't needed. I could probably replace them by Sea's Claim for more mana disruption with all the tron / 3 colour decks running around. Spreading Seas was amazing yesterday, winning me 2 games on its own.
I think I'll pick a couple up and try them out on Thursday.
Ah! I was just wondering that. That's great then, I think Shattering Spree will be the artifact hate of choice then. Also a good way to get around a counter if you have the mana to spare and are fearing a counter.
Thanks for the info!
Agreed. Looting hoping to find a combo piece never seems to work for me. The addition of Collective Brutality as a new discard outlet makes it better though where I don't mind looting earlier if I have an extra land in hand and can pitch it along with whatever else I don't really need knowing I can discard to Collective Brutality later if I find a Goryo's Vengeance before a TTB.
My meta has no affinity but I've been seeing more and more Grafdigger's Cage and Chalice on 1 (not too bad) and 2 (terrible!) so I really need artifact hate in my sideboard. What do you guys recommend to get rid of specific artifacts? Meaning I don't thing Shatterstorm is required since I only really want to destroy 1-2 things. I was thinking Shattering Spree? I also saw on Echoing Ruin on Gatherer but don't think I've ever seen that card in a list anywhere. My main concern is with Chalice on 1 I can't get rid of anything using Shattering Spree.
I also added Defense Grid to my sideboard after Kathal mentioned it in here but didn't get to use it yet. I brought it in against UB Faeries on Monday but it got countered the one time I saw it. It would've won me the game next turn had I been able to resolve it though so I think I'll keep it in the sideboard for now.
EDIT: Now that I think about it, has anybody tried Kolaghan's Command at all? One of the mode is an instant speed discard if you target yourself. Returning a creature to your hand form the graveyard could be a surprise against a Relic activation. Rakdos Charm could also be decent in the sideboard as instant speed artifact removal.
I agree about the leylines. Drawing one is such a bad feeling and I don't think we can afford to mulligan for them. Most times I'd rather have a fast hand than a slow one with a leyline. I play against a lot of burn though so I'm not sure yet. Atarka's command and skullcrack are the things I worry the most about and leyline doesn't really help.
Doesn't defense grid slow you down a lot? Not being able to goryo's or TTB on the opponent's end step would slow me down quite a bit.
I went 3-0 at modern night this week beating Ad Nauseum, Grixis Delver and Jund. I'm really liking Emrakul instead of the second Borborygmos, it feels like I win swinging with an Emrakul and Griselbrand way more often than I win with Borborygmos.
Collective Brutality is still awesome but I think 3 might be too many. I would go down to 2 but I'm not sure what to take replace it with.
I didn't take notes but all 3 matches felt like I had a good chance to win. Ad Nauseum is a bit tricky but we're faster than them so just need to make sure to combo before they do which isn't unrealistic. I borded in Pacts of Negation and Duress and pacts came in handy in game 2 and 3.
Against Delver Collective Brutality just does so much work. Killing a Delver and making them discard a counter on top of discarding a Griselbrand is just so much value. My opponent tried to spell snare my shoal+wurm which I had let happened a couple of times since I picked up the deck but last week I learned that the cmc becomes 13 so that's good to know.
Against Jund I combo on my opponent end of turn 2 in game 1 with the nut draw. I board in Blood Moons and Leyline. Unfortunately I don't see any of them in game 2 until I draw 2 Leyline in a row which sucks. Game 3 I have a terrible opening 7 so go down to 6 and get a Leyline. My opponent's hand has a thoughtseize and inquisition so that's 2 blank cards at least for a while. I'm a bit unlucky with draws and I never find a Griselbrand but I have a goryo's in hand and facing a goyf but not much else. Eventually I draw Emrakul, pitch it to Collective Brutality and swing for the win.
I think all 3 of those matchups are pretty good for us. My biggest concern right now are hard counter decks. I'm thinking of adding a Boseiju to my sideboard, maybe even main, but I've seen a couple UW lists recently playing Ghost Quarters and crucible which is already tough enough for us since it can really tax black mana. 2 colours also allows them to play a lot of basics so blood moon isn't too disrupting. Thoughts?
Oh sorry if I sounded like I was suggesting removing Faithless Looting for Chalice of the Void, I meant to say that with a chalice in play, faithless can't be played (and, maybe I'm wrong but it couldn't be flashback either as it doesn't affect the CMC, right?) which is a pretty big hit.
I do agree that chalice is great against a lot of decks though and a lot of them seem to be bad match ups so it's definitely worth talking about it. I've never played against Bogles but I would think it's a pretty tough match up (no removal main, they life link, run path main, etc..) where chalice would help but I think Spellskite might be better.
The thing I feel the deck needs sometimes it's a way to slow down the opponent's deck when our deck is having a slow game and I think chalice would definitely do that for some decks.
Round 1 - Bye
Round 2 - RB Burn
Game 1 I'm on the play, my opponent plays a Grim Lavamancer on his turn 1 and I kill it and make my opponent discard a burn spell with Collective Brutality (I can't believe how great this card fits in the deck) discarding a Griselbrand to pay the escalate cost and see my opponent's hand a bit slow. On my next turn I draw Gory's Vengeance, play my land for the turn and bring Griselbrand back at the end of my opponent's next turn and combo off.
Sideboard: +4 Leyline of Sanctity, -2 Night's Whisper, -1 Tormenting Voice, -1 Faithless Looting
Game 2 I don't have a Leyline in my not-so-great opening 7 so I mull to 6, still no Leyline. Again I use Collective Brutality to get a Griselbrand in the yard killing a Goblin Guide and making my opponent discard a burn spell and see a Skullcrack so I know to play around it. My opponent burns himself quite a bit with his Eidolon of the Great Revel and I get to play a Nourishing Shoal safely to bring me back up to 15 life or so. Eventually I discard an Emrakul, the Aeons Turn to Collective Brutality and seal the game by swinging with emmy.
Round 3 - Jeskai Control
Game 1 my opponent plays a Geist of Saint Traft on turn 3 and beats me down with it.
Sideboard: +2 Anger of the Gods, +2 Pact of Negation, -1 Shoal/Wurm, -1 Tormenting Voice, -1 Collective Brutality
Game 2 I don't see geist at all which makes my sideboarding choices very bad. My opponent counters my spell aggressively, and eventually I just run out of action and die to colonnade / vendillion clique beat.
I also faced straight up UW control earlier this week and had a tough time. I might bring in Boseiju, Who Shelters All but again a lot of those control decks run Ghost Quarter so who knows. Tips?
Round 4 - Jund
Game 1: My opponent plays 2 Blackcleave Cliffs in a row with a turn 1 Thoughtseize but I have some redundancy in hand. I'm able to bring Griselbrand back on my opponent's EOT3 and bring an emrakul in play on my first main phase and swing for the win.
Sideboard: +4 Leyline, -1 Tormenting Voice, -1Shoal/Wurm, -1TTB
Game 2: No Leyline in my opening 7 so I mull to 6... still no Leyline and my 6 are terrible so I mull to 5. No Leyline but I have 2 pieces of combo and some lands so I decide to keep. My opponent's opening hand has 2 Inquisition of Kozilek and 1 Thoughtseize so my hand gets completely destroyed. On turn 3 Liliana of the Veil comes down and I can't get anything going. I eventually die to goyf.
Game 3: Still no Leyline in my opening 7. I didn't take any notes of this game but it was similar to game 2 where I just can't keep up with all the hand disruption.
Round 5 - Naya Burn
At this point I had just missed top 4 and the players who made it decided to split the pool netting 125$ in store credit each so I'm a bit disappointed but my opponent and I decide to play anyway just for fun. I also want more practice against burn so I'm happy to play.
Game 1: I get to a point where I'm thinking I can go off the next turn so seeing how my opponent has 2 lands untapped I Nourishing Shoal on his end step. For some reason I was thinking Atarka's Command[/card] was 1RG which clearly it isn't. At this point my life total is too low to draw from Griselbrand without attacking first, which I do but unfortunately don't draw anything interesting in my first 7 to keep going.
Sideboard: +4 Leyline, +1 Pyroclasm, -4 Night's Whisper, -1 Tormenting Voice, -1 Faithless Looting
Game 2: Finally! My opening hand as a Leyline! I also have a Shoal+Wurm in my opening hand and some lands but not much else. I decide to keep anyway, play the Leyline on turn 0 then a land on turn 1 followed by the Shoal+Wurm right away. I end up drawing into 3 more Shoal+Wurm before finding a Griselbrand casting every one of them whenever I feel safe, gaining 11 each time. Along with the Leyline in play this slows down my opponent a lot but I can't seem to find action. I have a Goryo's Vengeance in hand for a long time and not much else and eventually my opponent draws a Destructive Revelry, destroys my leyline and deals 20 damage to my face. Luckily I'm at 21, so down to 1. On my turn I draw a Faithless Looting and with not much else in hand I cast it, drawing a land and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. I discard emrakul, goryo's in reponse and swing for the win. Very clutch.
Game 3: No Leyline but a pretty decent opening 7 including a Collective Brutality and a Tormenting Voice so I'm able to clear the way by killing a Goblin Guide, making my opponent discard a Path to Exile and eventually getting a Griselbrand in play. I had previously shoal'd when my opponent was tapped out so I can draw 14 safely getting me a Borborygmos Enraged, a Faithless Looting and some lands to go with the Goryo's Vengence I already had in hand so I win this game.
Very happy with my 2 wins to burn after complaining about the matchup earlier this week. It's a pretty tough matchup though I think but I feel a lot better about it. I also think I had a shot vs Jund, especially in that game 2 if I had a Leyline in play. My opponent's starting hand of 3 discard spells + Liliana would've been a lot less interesting with it in play.
UW(r) is still a mystery to me but I'm looking forward to play more blue decks and figuring out how to play against counter spells.
FNM yesterday went 2-2. I didn't take notes but very short recap:
Match 1 - U Tron
Game 1 my opponent started really aggressive with counter spells, using Remand on my turn 2 Night's Whisper, then countering a Faithless Looting which I found a bit strange. Turns out he had a quick active tron along with Spell Burst he could buy back every time so it locked me out of the game. I eventually scooped after he dropped an Academy Ruins and was ready to lock me out.
Sideboard: +Duress, +Pact of Negation, +Blood Moon. Removed a Wurm/Shoal, Tormenting Voice
Game 2 I mull to 5 but get a lucky on the 5 I keep. On my turn 2 I Collective Brutality pitching a Griselbrand and making him discard his only counter. I goryo's on his end step and have to explain that Griselbrand stays until my next end step. He argues a bit, calls a judge that confirms the oracle text I had pulled up on my phone and I combo on my turn.
Game 3 I had a pretty good starting hand, start with a Duress, followed up by a Collective Brutality to mess up his hand a bit. He taps out to play a Platinum Angel, I bring back Griselbrand at his EOT, get a Borborygmos Enraged and kill the angel before dumping more lands to the dome for the kill.
Match 2 - UW Control
Match 2 is against the judge that confirmed the wording on Goryo's Vengeance in my match 1. In game 1 I Collective Brutality on my turn setting up my combo the following turn and make my opponent discard a Path to Exile, the rest of his hand is good for me (some lands, draw spells and a Kitchen Finks I think). He draws a Snapcaster Mage and lets me bring Griselbrand back on his end step then paths it. I try going off at instant speed but can't draw into any action. I end up dying to snapcaster / colonnade beat.
In game 2 he gets a Restoration Angel in play quickly. I have to TTB during my first main phase to get a Griselbrand in play but can only afford to draw 7 cards, none of which are wurms (I had a shoal in hand). I attack to gain 7, draw another 7 and still no wurm and scoop as I would die to damage next turn.
Match 3 - Burn
Game 1 I keep an OK hand but it's just too slow and I lose by turn 3.
Sideboard: +4 Leylines, +Pyroclasm, -Night's Whisper
I have a pretty slow 7 and no Leyline so I mull to 6. My 6 is pretty good but no Leyline. I again die on turn 3 after burn shenanigans. I hate this match up so much.
Match 4 - RG Land Destruction
Game 1 I'm a bit confused as I've never seen this deck before. Turn 2 Blood Moon then he starts blowing up my only swamp and eventually I'm on no land and die to Inferno Titan.
Sideboard: +Duress, +Pyroclasm removing a Wurm/Shoal and a Tormenting Voice.
Game 2 I'm expecting the Blood Moon so I play around it and fetch for some basic swamps. I take one of his land destruction spells and pitch a Borborygmos Enraged. I notice his hand is pretty slow after that as he's holding mostly lands and ramp spells. He makes the mistake of activating his Relic of Progenitus to get rid of my graveyard with only the borborygmos in there which is great for me as I'm holding [rreach[/card] at this point and I end up comboing not long after.
Game 3 he gets a lot of ramp but not so much land destruction but he has an Inferno Titan and Thrun, the Last Troll in play. I'm taking some damage but he shocked himself down to 15 and on my turn 4 I play my 4th land and Through The Breach and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn for the win.
Final: 2-2
I really don't know what to do against burn, especially game 1. Leyline gives a fighting chance but it has to be in your opening hand and even then, you have to play against Atarka's Command and Skullcrack. My opponent on UW control was just a much better player than I am so I wasn't expecting much.
GPT tomorrow, hopefully no burn there!
4 Griselbrand
1 Borborygmos Enraged
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Worldspine Wurm
Spells (28)
4 Faithless Looting
4 Night's Whisper
2 Tormenting Voice
4 Through the Breach
4 Goryo's Vengeance
4 Nourishing Shoal
2 Desperate Ritual
1 Manamorphose
3 Blood Moon
5 Swamp
1 Mountain
2 Blood Crypt
4 Temple of Malice
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Pact of Negation
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Pyroclasm
2 Duress
2 Sudden Shock
2 Thoughtseize
I've replaced the second Borborygmos Enraged by an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn a couple of weeks ago and I've really liked it. I was a bit afraid to end up in situations where it ends up shuffling my graveyard back into my library when I don't want to but I haven't really encountered this issue yet. I don't run into a lot of Thoughtseize and even then they would usually happen early in the game where it doesn't really matter. The one downside is that she uses the attack step but that also hasn't been much of a problem either.
I was also running 3 Blood Moon main but I'm thinking of replacing them by 3 Collective Brutality and moving them to the sideboard. One of the stores I play at has multiple people on hate bears (it shuts down eldrazi but still), merfolks, elves and storm. The other store has a lot more decks that are affected by it but I don't ever seem to play them.
Hate bears has been pretty rough. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben on turn 2 is really annoying, along with Path to Exile, Thought-Knot Seer and all the flicker craziness they get up to. Game 1 in particular, with no removal, is just awful. I'm hoping Collective Brutality might help.
I originally had some artifacts hate in the sideboard but as far as I could tell nobody plays affinity so I removed it. I played against lantern last week though and saw 2 more players on it at the other store this week so I might be bringing Shatterstorm back in.
You're right, I was thinking it was an ETB effect like Deceiver Exarch
One thing that I've been thinking about and that might be worth including in the primer is different situations and whether or not you should ult Nahiri then. Part of it is figuring out which deck can interact with a resolved Emrakul. For instance against merfolks with a Merrow Reejerey in play and an untapped Æther Vial. There's probably a bunch of counterable ways (Cryptic Command, Living End) that might be worth mentioning.
I'm running a RB shoal version but might drop shoal for something like this. I've had issues closing games with a borborygmos and I think EOT griselbrand to emrakul the next turn might be more consistent.
I've also been playing this deck for about 3 weeks and just realised yesterday that you can TTB or GV at the end of your opponent's turn and have the creature for your entire next turn... that will change a LOT of things, ah!