I feel like trinket mage is too slow, treasure mage is fine since he has so much more flexibility. finding only the ballista/one/zero drops seems like not enough to warrant a specific tutor, I'd rather run fabricate if you want something to find the ballista. I feel like if ballista is so good we always want to find it then wed be better off running 2-4 of them rather than a clunky mage that finds them.
however if anyone as been testing the ballista id be interested to hear how its working for you, I can't imagine it being great right now, it would be best vs infect/affinity of course. might be interesting to try out but I feel like oblivion stone is just better for what it does. killing manlands/being cheaper seem to be what it has going for it, but stone just seems overall better
I know Pierakor and others say they play spreading seas for tron, but what do you guys think of shifting borders (do you think more crucibles is just better?)
a few modern events are coming up soon where I live and with the probe banning u tron seems alot better in the metagame.
The two main things I was wondering is how you guys feel vs RG Valakut, and if you feel chalice is worth it vs junk because it stops path.
I will post a list soon, still working on one for the current metagame
I also see most people have cut their sundering titans
experimenting with serum visions. Ill post what I think of it when i get more testing in. probably bad but you never know
I really want to try out Refurbish ;____;
here's my list DocNicka, for the event I was playing +1 needle +1 hawk -2 visions.
my advice for beating tron is playing ghost quarter, crumble to dust and surgical extraction I play none of those making the matchup one hundred times hard. I just find playing those cards makes most other matchups alot shakier so I don't run any . you don't even need crumble. just having 1-2 quarters and a few surgicals makes it so much more manageable.
I find for knowing what path to take to beat tron you have to see their hand. without knowing their hand you won't know if they already have tron or if they already have threats. which makes it hard to know what to mill which is why discard spells are very important. for that information. when you have the information you will know whether to try and give them no threats or mana screw them, I found that it is generally easier to mana screw them but it always depends on their hand . also if you play tezzeret he gives you options to just knock them off balance long enough and he can kill easily in 2-3 turns. so you don't need to lock them, but just buy enough time
I would never run wreckage unless I was playing a two color version., if you feel you have space for more colorless lands I would play ghost quarter since it helps alot in some tough MUs like tron and rg valakut
maybe if BGx became like REALLY popular I would run one or two
finished 4-3. think the deck is great but just got some bad draws in vs grixis and a very lucky grishoal opp.
round 1 lost to grishoalbrand because their nuts hands are very nuts
round 2 beat burn. had witchbane orb in both my starting hands g2 and g3 but won the games fairly ok
round 3 lost to grixis control. g1 forget he could us AV on me and lost because of that, g2 whiffed a tez +1 and then he topdecked an EE. his draws were pretty good as in drawing a k command or cryptic in between those 1 blank draws he got but yeah.
1-2 feels bad but feel the deck is still great and I didn't make any obvious stupid mistakes. ill play the rest of this out
round 4 beat infect 2-0. g1 got lucky and topdecked an ensnaring bridge
round 5 lost to RG tron. 1-2. almost got him g3.. needed a land so I could activate shredder or a lantern but failed to find one of those in 5 turns and 3 for a tapland 4 for a untapped land and then he drew out of the manascrew I created for him
round 6 beat burn easily again. also had the orb in my starting hand wish made me which it was leyline again but im gonna keep playing the orb
I cut my red for blue and like it. makes academy/tezz easier. I run 3-4 of the glint nest cranes depending on what I am feeling like. been working amazing so far.
the blocking from the cranes is really really nice.
i've been playing alot recently so I can't remember but if you want I can find the exact decks. I find that I don't lose to any decks that much besides red white control and the big red green decks but I have taken steps to beat those more.
Storm and dredge can also be tougher and surgical does help almost all those matchups but not as much as the specific hate cards I play to beat them (Leyline, Cage, Crumble)
also this jidden guy seems to 5-0 alot and has some interesting card choices. here is his most recent decklist for example
the bauble is nice because in this deck its much more than a cantrip like that, activates fair/opal on turn1 more and can act as a crappy lantern with the academy ruins.
I might cut mine for a collective brutality but it's also just another card with the hawk as that can miss I find a good 15% of the time, though that's just a number I made up on the spot. not an exact one might be higher or lower
ive found crane to be best vs GW death and taxes which can be more annoying than most decks, but it is so amazing vs infect and affinity. my opp once had 2 vault skirges, a memnite and 2 overseers (which I needled) and he could not attack into crane. also excellent signal pest blocker.
I cut my red for blue and like it. makes academy/tezz easier. I run 3-4 of the glint nest cranes depending on what I am feeling like. been working amazing so far.
the blocking from the cranes is really really nice.
The thing for me with bridge is you usually win when you have bridge, and if you don't it's because you are missing other lock pieces which tezz finds faster. while he also produces a faster clock. thats my opinion on that. though I will say I have now lost two games to red white control by them having rest in peace + leyline and I get milled out. and both those games I had a tezz. so she would be better in that case
I was milled out because I had no more decay/claims in my deck. having to decay their chalices/stony silences to survive earlier. having one or two be milled by me because they would have a game ending card on top when I had a decay(they had leyline so I had to bell) etc. though I think if I play more carefully I can try to prevent this more in the future, since this deck is gaining popularity I added a two quiet disrepairs to my sideboard which I also think can do work vs RG breach as with a inventors fair you can gain 3 life a turn
here's my current list. been running no surgicals main for a while, I just don't think that card does anything. almost everytime it's in my hand I am thinking whether to keep or mull it is a card that does nothing. i think there are other ways to deal with the problem it tries to deal with
tezzeret is kind of my surgical in that way, if they have something I can't deal with like a past in flames game one or something like that he gives a two turn sometimes three turn clock.
whereas he is also good vs other decks like if I have a mediocre hand but it can go turn 2 or turn 3 tezz it becomes a keep whereas if that was a surgical it would be a mull
trying 2 baubles to make more hands keepabable while also enabling mox opals on turn 1.
been playing the hawks for a while and love them. really great for burn/infect/affinity.
I am trying out a crumble to dust, I saw someone cast it vs me in the mirror and thought it might be nice, what do you guys think? haven't cast it yet but trying one in my sideboard
however if anyone as been testing the ballista id be interested to hear how its working for you, I can't imagine it being great right now, it would be best vs infect/affinity of course. might be interesting to try out but I feel like oblivion stone is just better for what it does. killing manlands/being cheaper seem to be what it has going for it, but stone just seems overall better
a few modern events are coming up soon where I live and with the probe banning u tron seems alot better in the metagame.
The two main things I was wondering is how you guys feel vs RG Valakut, and if you feel chalice is worth it vs junk because it stops path.
I will post a list soon, still working on one for the current metagame
I also see most people have cut their sundering titans
I really want to try out Refurbish ;____;
here's my list DocNicka, for the event I was playing +1 needle +1 hawk -2 visions.
my advice for beating tron is playing ghost quarter, crumble to dust and surgical extraction I play none of those making the matchup one hundred times hard. I just find playing those cards makes most other matchups alot shakier so I don't run any . you don't even need crumble. just having 1-2 quarters and a few surgicals makes it so much more manageable.
I find for knowing what path to take to beat tron you have to see their hand. without knowing their hand you won't know if they already have tron or if they already have threats. which makes it hard to know what to mill which is why discard spells are very important. for that information. when you have the information you will know whether to try and give them no threats or mana screw them, I found that it is generally easier to mana screw them but it always depends on their hand . also if you play tezzeret he gives you options to just knock them off balance long enough and he can kill easily in 2-3 turns. so you don't need to lock them, but just buy enough time
maybe if BGx became like REALLY popular I would run one or two
round 1 lost to grishoalbrand because their nuts hands are very nuts
round 2 beat burn. had witchbane orb in both my starting hands g2 and g3
round 3 lost to grixis control. g1 forget he could us AV on me and lost because of that, g2 whiffed a tez +1 and then he topdecked an EE. his draws were pretty good as in drawing a k command or cryptic in between those 1 blank draws he got but yeah.
1-2 feels bad but feel the deck is still great and I didn't make any obvious stupid mistakes. ill play the rest of this out
round 4 beat infect 2-0. g1 got lucky and topdecked an ensnaring bridge
round 5 lost to RG tron. 1-2. almost got him g3.. needed a land so I could activate shredder or a lantern but failed to find one of those in 5 turns and 3 for a tapland 4 for a untapped land and then he drew out of the manascrew I created for him
round 6 beat burn easily again. also had the orb in my starting hand wish made me which it was leyline again but im gonna keep playing the orb
round 7 beat suicide zoo easily.
added a third graf cage because dredge is insanely popular on modo right now
also it might have been a misplay to play the void before stirrings, I was not thinking clearly but very minor. still a potential mistake
i've been playing alot recently so I can't remember but if you want I can find the exact decks. I find that I don't lose to any decks that much besides red white control and the big red green decks but I have taken steps to beat those more.
Storm and dredge can also be tougher and surgical does help almost all those matchups but not as much as the specific hate cards I play to beat them (Leyline, Cage, Crumble)
also this jidden guy seems to 5-0 alot and has some interesting card choices. here is his most recent decklist for example
the bauble is nice because in this deck its much more than a cantrip like that, activates fair/opal on turn1 more and can act as a crappy lantern with the academy ruins.
I might cut mine for a collective brutality but it's also just another card with the hawk as that can miss I find a good 15% of the time, though that's just a number I made up on the spot. not an exact one might be higher or lower
ive found crane to be best vs GW death and taxes which can be more annoying than most decks, but it is so amazing vs infect and affinity. my opp once had 2 vault skirges, a memnite and 2 overseers (which I needled) and he could not attack into crane. also excellent signal pest blocker.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/503749#online
the blocking from the cranes is really really nice.
I was milled out because I had no more decay/claims in my deck. having to decay their chalices/stony silences to survive earlier. having one or two be milled by me because they would have a game ending card on top when I had a decay(they had leyline so I had to bell) etc. though I think if I play more carefully I can try to prevent this more in the future, since this deck is gaining popularity I added a two quiet disrepairs to my sideboard which I also think can do work vs RG breach as with a inventors fair you can gain 3 life a turn
tezzeret is kind of my surgical in that way, if they have something I can't deal with like a past in flames game one or something like that he gives a two turn sometimes three turn clock.
whereas he is also good vs other decks like if I have a mediocre hand but it can go turn 2 or turn 3 tezz it becomes a keep whereas if that was a surgical it would be a mull
trying 2 baubles to make more hands keepabable while also enabling mox opals on turn 1.
been playing the hawks for a while and love them. really great for burn/infect/affinity.