It's been a while since I was active on this thread, but I've been playing Lantern on and off for a few months and have been using thnkr's list recently. I'm headed to GP Vancouver and convinced a friend to pilot it as well. I stopped just before the Eldrazi menace, and haven't had a chance to test against the deck. Tron's gotten a bit stronger as well.
I'm planning for the following decks, with low/mid/high frequency:
Affinity (mid/high)
Burn (high)
Cheeri0s (low)
Dredge (mid)
Eldrazi (low/mid)
Infect (high)
Jund (mid)
Tron (high)
Does anyone have a short sideboard/needle list for these? I've got a few notes for Burn, Jund, and Tron from about a year ago but with Collective Brutality I don't know how things changed up.
I'm particularly grateful for any tips on Eldrazi and Dredge (though I expect Dredge is a decent matchup)
I've been goldfishing the Reddit list for a bit, and I always feel like I want more Izzet Charms and Taigam's Scheming.
What about some Burning Inquiry? I feel like the drawback is a lot less bad for this deck than the opponent's gameplan. Since most of the pieces can safely be in the graveyard and with a good chance of drawing another loot effect, it should usually be an improvement (with a possibility of outright killing the opponent's plan).
Alternatively, what's first to cut for a 4th charm + scheming?
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Edit: Burning Inquiry wasn't amazing, but Think Twice felt surprisingly good. It was nice to loot, as well as an end of turn effect after a visions. I cut 1 island, and a lightning axe for 2. I feel like it's running a bit heavy on land, and the discard effect on lightning axe was rarely the piece I was missing (more often a reanimate spell)
@numberoverzero, what did you side in Cage for if you were unaware it stopped CoCo? Chord of Calling? That really sucked. Also most people are replacing Maeltrom Pulse with K. Command, so aside from costing 1 less its not that big an issue. If you are thinking about replacing Surgical and want something to speed Mox, Tormod's Crypt works, but Nihil's cantrip really does matter. About Leyline, the few times its been played against me, when I can't break it I've been able to play around it thanks to Lootings to filter the discard spells or even Codex for Bell/Pyxis. Looking forward to the Looting tests.
@numberoverzero For the collected company mistake, i think its fine that you let your opponent look at the top 6 cards of his library. But once he attempts to put anything into play. You point to your Grafdigger's Cage to indicate that he can't put them into play. Looking at the top 6 is still legal though.
Yeah, I brought Cage in exclusively for Company (didn't see Chord in his MD on the surgical). I was aware of the interaction, just slipped in the moment and it cost me the round. The slightest mistakes can cost us, and this was much worse than slight
How far can my opponent go before it's too late to stop them? Can I let them reveal the two creatures and then point out they can't enter to cage? Seems like an opportunity for more information (provided we don't let any actions occur after the reveal, since [as I found out] then it's too late to back up game state).
First tournament with Grove replacing Copperline Gorge. Otherwise no changes - considered running Faithless Looting briefly and decided to stick with what I knew.
Is burn winnable? Really, I've practiced the matchup and it feels hopeless. Maybe I'm boarding incorrectly?
This should have been a 3-1 report but I threw R2 entirely by not reading my cards.
Mulligans were brutal, R1G1 I went to 4 just to see a single land. When your hand looks great for a pre-board game but it's against burn, do you toss it back to try and find Sun Droplet? Because I still died t4.
Round 1: Dega (WBR) Goodstuff
G1 Mulled to 4 before finding a land. Lingering Souls beats me down and Tidehollow Sculler exiles a bridge from my hand. I blind mill until I'm at 8 to get more info, don't see anything scary, and go to G2.
SB -3 Gitaxian Probe -2 Pithing Needle -1 Surgical Extraction +2 Sun Droplet +2 Thoughtseize +2 Welding Jar
G2 I kept a strong 7, t1 Lantern, Opal into t2 Spellskite, Thoughtseize into t3 Bridge. I get a welding jar out and he scoops.
G3 I keep a good hand, he keeps an ok hand. I lock on t5 and carefully mill him over before getting the Spellbomb recursion going. Important note here: Grove of the Burnwillows was my only red source (using a glimmervoid for Academy Ruins) which would make spellbomb a 14 turn clock. I self-milled to Glimmervoid in 2 turns, saving 14 - 2 - 7 = 5 turns. He had double Helix in hand which meant I saved another 3 turns. This is highly relevant because I knew his whole hand, and had 3 mill rocks in place, and he was STILL trying to slowroll me! This includes spending 5 seconds to play Lingering Souls before looking at the board, pausing for a second, and then saying "pass". I managed to get him on t4 of extra turns for exact lethal, and I know he was slow-playing for the draw (including the many times where he asked what I had his life total at and looking at the clock at the same time). I'm not great about calling judges, but I'll get one the next time anything like this comes up. Really cheap play at an FNM...
Edit: Also double Sun Droplet was clutch this game, he bolted and I gained 6 while he realized that they both got counters. Ended at 24 and I stopped upkeeping the triggers to make turns faster.
R2: GW Collected Company Goodstuff
G1 I get the lock online and slow the mill to 1/turn, planning to side out the wincon in G2 and go full defensive. He scoops with 22 left on the clock.
G2 TERRIBLE MISTAKE I mull to 6 and keep a strong 6 if only it had colored mana - Ruins, Cage, Decay, Pyroclasm, 2 rocks. I land the Cage and eventually hit a glimmervoid for a pyroclasm. Blanking on more action. He casts Collected Company his mainphase, I let it resolve and sigh, he pulls out Flickerwisp and Elvish Visionary, drawing one and setting end of turn trigger. At this point a bystander mentions that Cage should stop that, I facepalm hard, call a judge. He says we can't rewind (questionable) since I don't know what card he drew. I untap, play a land and pass. He topdecks Kataki thanks to the 6 dig + 2 extra draw from Visionary. Two turns later I topdeck the Pyroclasm I needed for Kataki, go to game 3.
G3 I get beat down unable to find a red source for the two pyroclasms in hand. I probably kept a questionable 7, I tilted so hard from G2's mistake that I didn't expect to win this one. Read your cards everyone
R3: Dega (WBR) Taxes
G1 I keep a generally strong 7, trying hard to shake the tilt. He reads my t1 Lantern, I lock t3, he scoops after watching me mill a few turns and getting the feel for things. During sideboarding he mentions he's over from Beijing for the weekend, and had come to play Legacy (which was replaced by Modern this week) and pulled the list together last minute. Wish I'd gotten his list because it looked brutal for most decks. Unfortunately his international magic experience ran into the fun police
SB -3 Probe -1 Surgical +2 Jar +2 Thoughtseize
G2 I see good cards again, and he plays Phyrexian Revoker naming Codex Shredder. I drop a spellbomb and blow it up when I'm ready to recur an Ancient Stirrings to get deeper for Ruins to start the loop. Probe saw an Eidolon in his hand and he only had 1 red source, so I was milling exclusively red sources for his Eidolon. The board is locked, 3 Bridge + Jar + Spellskite and 5 mill effects. I finish the loop with 15 minutes on the clock.
R4: Burn (RWg)
G1 I lose t3 after Abrupt Decaying an Eidolon and Surgicaling it on his draw step. Even getting 1 out of his hand, I count up the damage and there's enough that I can't redirect to kill me. Scoop after a long look at his deck with Surgical.
G2 Keep a terrible 7, still bummed about missing my shot at the promo. Something awful like Opal Opal Ruins Ruins Spellbomb Inquisition. Nothing important happens, I scoop at 10 life with his hand full of burn.
I need to mulligan more aggressively, and I'll be trying out Faithless Looting. Probes get cut every game which is fine - they're there for aggressive Needles or playing too greedy into Shatterstorms. I think Looting would have been better in almost every game I saw a probe - getting dead cards out of my hand or at least milling myself and staying hellbent.
I've had some locks milling lands in testing, but it's never worked well in real games. I can't get enough mill effects and needle and lantern early enough to keep them cut off, and they end up with a hand full of good stuff and just unload. Easier to let them draw everything and only mill a few pieces that kill me dead.
Also, read your cards. I'm still kicking myself over the Cage/CoCo incident, that was just monumentally stupid and straight up lost me the round.
EDIT: And some thoughts on recent comments.
I'm not looking to change the deck too drastically all at once - I'm glad to find a group that understands we need to mutate one card at a time to understand the impact each change has in isolation. The following are just musings - I'm only testing Looting next week.
I think while Probe -> Needle fetch *can* be brutal, it can also be a whiff. I suspect Faithless Looting can just get us out of more mediocre hands or help dig faster when we need a lock piece, which is more important more often. I'll be testing it extensively for at least the next week, probably two.
I've been thinking about Leyline, and how much it hurts us. I'm surprised I haven't seen it more from my opponents, or even aggressively mulliganing for it. I want to fit some Quiet Disrepair in the sideboard, maybe for 1 of the Nature's Claim and 1 ?? I'd be ok saying Burn is straight unwinnable and getting back 2 more slots (I'd keep at least 1 Sun Droplet side, maybe 2).
I love Surgical Extraction but it feels dead in a lot of matches. Is it there for combo and slowing Tron down? I think I'll keep it main but it hasn't been a blowout recently. Made a game against Scapeshift easier, but milling and discard won that for me anyway.
I think once the lock is in place it's important to be familiar with the spellbomb win - I had multiple games in testing run over the clock, when I should have been self-milling to hit spellbombs earlier. THis is the problem with over-milling the opponent's dead cards that I alluded to in my report - I should have been using those shredders on myself when their topdeck was dead to hit spellbomb earlier, instead of milling them more to try to close it out. It's also probably the fastest against RG Tron, which is super critical when we're down a game.
It's probably worth goldfishing things like setting up the spellbomb kill and land ramping with self-mill/shredder recursion so that when you're in the heat of a game, you can focus on the milling and do the rest automatically.
@artfranc007 Anger of the Gods seems win-more, and I'd be worried about hitting RR consistently.
What is the board state that Ensnaring Bridge isn't solving? Or rather, Bridge + Pyrite Spellbomb (for clearing Heirarchs and other small creatures) and Abrupt Decays (for Spellskites and anything a single Spellbomb doesn't clear). You're going to miss every manland as well, right?
I feel like I'd rather have more Welding Jar to protect a bridge than an Anger that I can't Ancient Stirrings for. If it's for creature removal, even a Lightning Bolt feels like it'd be better (easier to cast, easier to go hellbent for bridge, hits manlands, clears most small creatures, throw it at the face on an empty board).
The need to go hellbent early against aggro decks can't be understated - I often boarded Spellskites out for Welding Jars when they were only protecting bridges (non-burn decks). It also helps metalcraft, which Anger does not.
@numberoverzero Great report. And you did very well there. Congratz! Can i also ask you on your general opinion on Infernal Tutor? It's one of the cards i've considered playing since you can't always rely on Ancient Stirrings to find the card you need. And what were your overall thoughts for Thoughtseize? Did you like it coming out from the sideboards?
Initially I was skeptical of tutor - Infernal Tutor replaced one of my two Surgical Extraction. I think extraction effects are generally not great, but when we control the top of their library it's insane. It's been a pet card of mine for a while, so losing one wasn't fun. It also felt like a downgrade in aggro matchups and anything that used the graveyard - I'd have to cast all my other spells before I could try to spend 2 mana to get a 1 mana spell to pull a good card out. Against Storm, it means I need to cast this Ensnaring Bridge before I can extract that Grapeshot I made them discard. Ugh.
However, I don't think I'll play without it again. The opposite is true in any match where I used it to get any card that wasn't Surgical Extraction - it could have been another dead card that I burned. Because I only sometimes used it to grab Extraction, and had many matchups where I would have used it to get non-extraction cards it makes the cut. Against affinity I would have used it to get a redundant bridge, or a pyroclasm. Against anyone with permanent hate, I'd grab an Abrupt Decay. Need one more Shredder to feel safe against that boarded-up Jund player with 4 Kolghan's Command, 2 Shatterstorm, and an Ancient Grudge? You got it, here you go.
It's not a blank card when we have good cards in hand, so your hand doesn't need to be empty.
Of note, it's an extra copy of all your sideboard cards. Grafdigger's Cage #3, Pyroclasm #4...
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Thoughtseize was an all-star when I wanted it. It was hugely important against Storm, and Scapeshift, and I'd bring it in against any grindy matchup where I expect hate cards. Honestly, I'd probably bring it in against anyone with "look at the top x cards" spells that I can't stop with mill, and anyone where the life loss isn't significant. I didn't ever struggle to decide whether or not it came in, it was pretty clear cut.
Do they have cards, or can they side into cards, that are bad bad news when not milled?
Do I need to answer those cards before some turn? Does increasing the density of discard spells 50% satisfy that requirement?
This is insanely powerful and incredibly tiring. The salt is real. The urge to over-mill when the lock is online is strong and almost cost me a game.
I plan to swap Copperline Gorge for Grove of the Burnwillows since the lifegain is very very rarely relevant, while the CIPT has been relevant on more than one occasion (need to Academy Ruins and cast Ensnaring bridge in the same turn, need to Shredder recursion and cast in the same turn, leaving U up for Spellskite...) but am one short. I'll run 1/1 for the next set of games.
I was going to try Faithless Looting in place of Gitaxian Probe but last night proved to me how important seeing their hand was - the card draw was occasionally important. While I still hate seeing it in hand with Ensnaring Bridge, seeing their hand early saved me in at least two games.
Round 1: Affinity
G1 I went down to 17 before getting the lock online. He had a good 6 against an unknown opponent but with my Spellskite in play his Ensoul Artifact was dead. Hellbent with Ensnaring bridge and he'd already activated Steel Overseer with his 0 power creatures out, he made the correct decision to go to game 2 after 5 minutes.
G2 I kept a strong 7, Bell, Decay, Pyroclasm, Glimmervoid, Extraction, Blackcleave Cliffs, Ancient Stirrings. His opening is strong again, with Steel Overseer pumping twice and I go to 17, then 13. Abrupt decay hits a Ravager, and I burn Pyroclasm with his other ravager out to force him to move counters onto Ornithopter to keep it alive, then Abrupt Decay the thopter. Surgical hits Cranial Plating, and I see 2x Wear Tear, 2x Ancient Grudge. I miss the Thoughtcast which is relevant. I start milling but he hits runner runner runner with Thoughtcast on the stack, and I have to shredder -> bell -> lantern to keep him from it. Two turns later topdeck Grudge kills bridge and his 6/6 monsters kill me (Overseer pumps every turn).
I realize Welding Jar needs to be in here, and pull out 1 Spellskite 1 SUrgical Extraction. While both are good, an empty hand is more important for Bridge (the match hinges on that one card) and Jar is mostly better than Spellskite.
G3 I get needle on Cranial Plating, go down to 13 and 1 poison, keep the board clear and Ghost Quarter two inkmoth nexus before getting the lock online. He scoops when my second Spellskite hits the field with Academy Ruins available and both Wear/Tear have already passed.
R2: Scapeshift
G1 we both keep 7 and I lead with lantern - my opening is Opal, Ruins, Shredder, Lantern, Spellskite, Bridge, Wastes. Top card of his library is Scapeshift, so that's a minor tell. He has to read Lantern, which is a great sign. Painland + bolt brings me to 16, and he misses a turn where he can get in for 1 by attacking with Elder (since I can't block with Spellskite, 2 bolts in hand) but otherwise it's not close. I mill a Valakut and Extract it, mill a bit more and he scoops.
SB -2 Pithing Needle -2 Bridge -2 Abrupt Decay +2 Sun Droplet +2 Grafdigger's Cage +2 Welding Jar
I don't think my sideboard matters too much in the matchup, but I saw Snapcasters and try to hedge against not having enough mill effects (Cage) and potential beats (leaving 2 bridge in). I feel great having 1 needle because of Infernal Tutor and it means I can safely grab mill rocks off Ancient Stirrings because I can use Tutor to grab any anti-hate I need.
G2 he snap keeps 7 aggressively, and I keep 7 - Shredder, Blackcleave Cliffs, Spellskite, Lantern, IoK, Ghost Quarter, Stirrings. This looks like a fantastic mix of protection, disruption, and mill to get started. He drops t1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and says something like "let's see you extract that". I stare at the Ghost Quarter in my hand and try to figure out how many turns I can sandbag it before pulling the trigger. T1 lantern into T2 IoK takes the Oblivion Stone out of his hand, which I didn't think about - it's been so long since I played Scapeshift that his sideboard was entirely unknown to me. I expected some Ancient Grudge but learned afterwards he doesn't board them. "Affinity's an auto loss, no reason to board for it" I think he said. I play conservatively, Tutor for Surgical Extraction, IoK him and take Dispel out of his hand, then Ghost Quarter the Valakut and Extract it. He tilts hard and I feel bad, but he doesn't scoop and insists that I mill him. While I surgical I write down every card that isn't a land and number of copies (I figure at this point he should scoop so the people watching don't know his entire deck and sideboard tech, but to each his own). The rest of the game he draws lands, tries to set up shuffles to protect key cards against 5 mill stones, and doesn't come close to doing so. I win with 5 minutes left on the clock.
R3: Storm (classic)
These were exhausting, mind-bending games. They have sooo many cards to look below the top of their deck, and I must have made mistakes. My opponent was a fantastic pilot, and knew his deck very well. At first I thought it was unstorm (Noxious Revival/Manamorphose/Lightning Bolt) but soon realized it was classic storm (Past in Flames).
I'm on the draw and we both keep 7; Tutor, Spellskite, Glimmervoid, Copperline Gorge, Lantern, Spellskite, Opal. I don't remember much of this game, except going hellbent with Lantern and 2 rocks out, realizing two may not be enough, and then getting Surgical Extraction with Tutor. I hold the extraction and plan to self-mill for IoK to take the grapeshot and extract it, but he scoops and the extraction remains a secret (turns out he knew the deck so it wasn't as secret as I thought, but still felt like I could safely durdle G1 to the 1-0-1 round win).
Most of the sideboard felt dead - thoughtseize the obvious exception. My goal then was to make sure I could empty my hand for Infernal Tutor, and in that case Jar is better than Spellskite. I'm not meaningfully redirecting enough Grapeshots to keep myself alive, since classic storm doesn't barely win, it's 60+ damage. There may be some artifact hate but I think he can race Affinity, so I don't expect the jars to do much more than accelerate me a turn with Opals. Nature's Claim could hit Ascension and that's about it.
G2 we both keep 7 and I didn't take pictures of the rest of my hands. I see grapeshot in hand and goblin electromancer, he probes me and sees the decay in hand. I go to 14 and can't find a discard spell to get his grapeshot in the graveyard before he gets dispel for my extraction. He goes off for a lot.
G3 I believe we both keep 7. IoK takes his Pyretic Ritual since he's got one land and a hand full of expensive spells. Next turn he visions into another ritual, setting a land on top. I draw IoK and play shredder, mill the land, IoK the second ritual. At this point he has to find land, and I get going with mill rocks. I manage to mill all 4 pyretic rituals, and hit 1 desperate ritual. He starts to go off, but I manage to interrupt enough manamorphose/peer through depths off the top to fizzle him. He passes, I self-mill EoT into Extraction, and take the desperate ritual in the GY, 2 in deck, 1 in hand. This was the best time to fire it off, since he had dispel in hand and was tapped out. I count the lands in his deck, and realize with two Past in Flames in his hands, I MUST keep him off 6 lands. I manage to keep him on 3 as we go into turns, despite his many attempts to draw into them. On turn 4 of turns he draws a fourth land, tanks, and can't go off even if he casts Past in Flames (has exactly 4 mana, not 5). Keeping him off lands because of what I saw off Gitaxian Probe kept me from losing G3. I could have won if we didn't go to turns since he had 5 cards left in his library, but we were both tanking HARD trying to figure out the lines.
R4 My opponent asks for the draw since he doesn't want to play Lantern. We figure out that it's more money to give me the win and split, so my final record is 3-0-1. He was on Zoo, and I feel very confident that (aside from play mistakes) I could have closed it out. He showed me the sideboard and there were only two pieces of hate I'd have to worry about.
I love this deck. I didn't take it to the modern PPTQ in Bellevue because I was exhausted, but I changed many opinions on how viable it was in just 3 rounds. People went from "how did you lose as affinity? Just blow up his things" to "I don't even know how to fight that" (mostly from watching the storm match where I switched milling strategies three times). When you see someone dig 2-3 cards deep every turn and get stuck on 3 lands until they go to turns, you realize maybe controlling the draw step is a big deal.
I'll keep playing, and hopefully refine my style enough to win against burn and storm. I'm excited to try the RG Tron matchup since I expect it'll need a decent amount of practice.
I played against Grishoalbrand in my second round with the deck (ever) last week. It's mostly in our favor, but there are some clever outs to be had on their side. My opponent was running 1 Necrotic Ooze which dodged my Pithing Needles (set to Gris and Borbor). Ensnaring bridge is REQUIRED to deal with Through the Breach + Worldspine Wurm. My game two was locked up (both needles out, controlling draws) and he had faithless + ttb in hand that I couldn't strip (Duress already took one ttb). That let him loot -> flashback loot -> loot (off the first) for a ttb next turn which killed me. Game 3 he went off with Necrotic Ooze.
For reference, I had fantastic hands G2/G3. In G2 for example, I Surgical'd the Griselbrand he binned on his t1 before my first draw, and put needle on Borborygmos Enraged on t1. Spent the rest of my time digging for bridge, died to 15/15 trample. Noteworthy in G3: I almost milled enough lands that he couldn't get me with Borborygmos. He had 15 (5 lands) when I was at 13, with 2 cards left in the library. If I'd milled once or twice more in the early turns (I held off thinking I was just helping) I might have won.
My sideboard was slightly off, but I doubt it was significant enough to cost me the games. Maybe, I'm still new to the deck.
-2 Gitaxian Probe
-2 Pyrite Spellbomb
+2 Welding Jar
+2 Grafdigger's Cage
should have been:
-2 Abrupt Decay
-2 Spellskite
+2 Welding Jar
+2 Grafdigger's Cage
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@zerodown (re: faithless looting)
I'm interested in Faithless Looting instead of Gitaxian Probe for the reasons stated above. It's nice that it decreases hand size, whereas Gitaxian Probe is yet another card to try to dump for bridge. On the other hand, full information about their hand has been extremely relevant in a few games (particularly needling a fetchland that cut my opponent off white in hatebears - I got lantern and milled every land while he discarded to hand size with an empty board). I don't think it is necessary, and might try a 1-2 probe-looting split. I've lost games where I couldn't get deep enough fast enough (especially that Pyroclasm two cards down) and rarely because knowing the hand would have had me play differently. Lantern -> Bridge -> Rocks -> Concede is generally how games play out for me.
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@shadowgripper (re: sideboard)
Cutting Nature's Claim entirely seems risky. I understand the risk of holding it in hand, but in bad matchups it can be a bit of lifegain. Notably good when they Destructive Revelry and you Nature's Claim in response. Or a resolved Eidolon (that card wrecks me). I think I'll try the Extraction -> Tutor swap and cut the Bow + 1 Nature's Claim for 2 Thoughtseize, which is great for non-burn since they'll probably slow down and may have more hate in hand. Elves is a frustrating matchup, so far. Need to mill Chord of Calling, Reclamation Sage, Collected Company, Fracturing Gust... Maybe the extra Thoughtseize will help out.
I'd love a sideboard guide. Maybe even a 'key cards by matchup' guide. I'm completely lost when it comes to burn, the G1 is extremely painful without DUress/IoK. Even sideboarding I feel like it's going to be a bumpy ride. Do all three Pyroclasm come in? All probe/needle out?
I remember this was the second modern deck I put together. Took it apart real fast when no one wanted to play against it
Coming back, it seems like Ghost Quarter is really strong right now (Tron, Amulet, Grixis/Jund). I tried swapping 2 Pyrite Spellbomb for 1 Ghost Quarter 1 Crucible of Worlds, and it feels amazing. Because of Academy Ruins you can mill over Crucible and then recur it, making every self mill when a land is on top like an extra draw.
Is spellbomb that important for creature removal, or is it 90% a wincon? I'd be fine with ghost quartering every turn until they concede if it's not needed as removal.
Honestly, I want a second Crucible but I don't know what I'd cut. Maybe it's more of a finisher and doesn't need to be more than 1-of.
Only checked the last three pages, but has Jaya Ballard, Task Mage been discussed yet? Seems good for Bridge versions.
How is Chalice of the Void these days? I love the card but realize its utility has decreased without Treasure Cruise running around. Is it time to break out the Lightning Bolts again, or is there a build where I can jam four?
Is Outpost Siege still the go-to over Bottled Cloister? Immunity to Thoughtseize and Inquision seems more relevant now than before.
Edit: Here's what I've got so far. Feels rough, I'm worried I either don't have enough removal or enough land destruction. Am I trying to dip too far into landkill and board clear?
It seems like the recent RWg formula is roughly 19 lands + 14 creatures + 27 spells. Is there any documentation on when to deviate from this? Can we make it even more specific? Here are some questions that, as someone that hasn't played the deck much, I can't answer.
I've seen the following mana splits in many lists, top8 and throughout the last 5 pages. When is each better?
The following spells seem to be core to any RWg lists. When do these get trimmed down? Is it safe to start with these as a base, and say there are 7 spell flex slots?
For flex spots, I see some mix of the following spells. How should we pick between these? I'm currently on 2 Helix, 3 Blaze, 2 Volley because it's the common selection in more than 50% of the t8 for non mtgo events. When should I be swapping Skullcrack in for some of these?
I'm also -1 on sigil; if we're talking about fast decks, it's not going to be more than +2 in good situations. The extra toughness on Spidersilk Net and Kite Shield, however, are quite relevant.
Not sold on Myth Realized over Mentor (linear over exponential growth) but open to seeing it tested.
I'm on 20 cheerios with 4/3 Visions/Sleight and I think the slight increase in topdeck manipulation is better than 1 cheerio.
I like the mana base, would probably split 1/1 plains/island though.
No silence sideboard? Seems key for fast matches, over something like Path to Exile.
Hurkyl's Recall feels odd without Muddle the Mixture. Combined with the above point, why not cut this and get 2-3 Void Snare paired with 3 Silence?
Why isn't Horizon Canopy in here? Did I miss some discussion back a few pages? Is the existing lifeloss already enough that it's not worth the eventual card?
Here's the list; only modification is to replace Spellskite with Noxious Revival:
2x Academy Ruins
4x Blooming Marsh
1x Forest
4x Ghost Quarter
4x Glimmervoid
2x Inventors' Fair
4x Mox Opal
1x Swamp
Core
4x Codex Shredder
4x Ensnaring Bridge
3x Ghoulcaller's Bell
4x Lantern of Insight
3x Pithing Needle
1x Pyxis of Pandemonium
3x Surgical Extraction
2x Abrupt Decay
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Collective Brutality
1x Infernal Tutor
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Noxious Revival
2x Grafdigger's Cage
4x Leyline of Sanctity
1x Pithing Needle
2x Seal of Primordium
3x Thoughtseize
3x Welding Jar
I'm planning for the following decks, with low/mid/high frequency:
Does anyone have a short sideboard/needle list for these? I've got a few notes for Burn, Jund, and Tron from about a year ago but with Collective Brutality I don't know how things changed up.
I'm particularly grateful for any tips on Eldrazi and Dredge (though I expect Dredge is a decent matchup)
What about some Burning Inquiry? I feel like the drawback is a lot less bad for this deck than the opponent's gameplan. Since most of the pieces can safely be in the graveyard and with a good chance of drawing another loot effect, it should usually be an improvement (with a possibility of outright killing the opponent's plan).
Alternatively, what's first to cut for a 4th charm + scheming?
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Edit: Burning Inquiry wasn't amazing, but Think Twice felt surprisingly good. It was nice to loot, as well as an end of turn effect after a visions. I cut 1 island, and a lightning axe for 2. I feel like it's running a bit heavy on land, and the discard effect on lightning axe was rarely the piece I was missing (more often a reanimate spell)
Yeah, I brought Cage in exclusively for Company (didn't see Chord in his MD on the surgical). I was aware of the interaction, just slipped in the moment and it cost me the round. The slightest mistakes can cost us, and this was much worse than slight
How far can my opponent go before it's too late to stop them? Can I let them reveal the two creatures and then point out they can't enter to cage? Seems like an opportunity for more information (provided we don't let any actions occur after the reveal, since [as I found out] then it's too late to back up game state).
Interesting games are R1G3, R2G2, R3G2.
2x Academy Ruins
2x Blackcleave Cliffs
2x Ghost Quarter
4x Glimmervoid
2x Grove of the Burnwillows
4x Llanowar Wastes
1x Tendo Ice Bridge
Artifact (24)
4x Codex Shredder
4x Ensnaring Bridge
4x Ghoulcaller's Bell
4x Lantern of Insight
3x Mox Opal
3x Pithing Needle
2x Pyrite Spellbomb
3x Spellskite
2x Abrupt Decay
4x Ancient Stirrings
2x Duress
3x Gitaxian Probe
1x Infernal Tutor
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Surgical Extraction
1x Ancient Grudge
2x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Nature's Claim
3x Pyroclasm
4x Sun Droplet
2x Thoughtseize
2x Welding Jar
First tournament with Grove replacing Copperline Gorge. Otherwise no changes - considered running Faithless Looting briefly and decided to stick with what I knew.
Is burn winnable? Really, I've practiced the matchup and it feels hopeless. Maybe I'm boarding incorrectly?
This should have been a 3-1 report but I threw R2 entirely by not reading my cards.
Mulligans were brutal, R1G1 I went to 4 just to see a single land. When your hand looks great for a pre-board game but it's against burn, do you toss it back to try and find Sun Droplet? Because I still died t4.
Round 1: Dega (WBR) Goodstuff
G1 Mulled to 4 before finding a land. Lingering Souls beats me down and Tidehollow Sculler exiles a bridge from my hand. I blind mill until I'm at 8 to get more info, don't see anything scary, and go to G2.
SB -3 Gitaxian Probe -2 Pithing Needle -1 Surgical Extraction +2 Sun Droplet +2 Thoughtseize +2 Welding Jar
G2 I kept a strong 7, t1 Lantern, Opal into t2 Spellskite, Thoughtseize into t3 Bridge. I get a welding jar out and he scoops.
G3 I keep a good hand, he keeps an ok hand. I lock on t5 and carefully mill him over before getting the Spellbomb recursion going. Important note here: Grove of the Burnwillows was my only red source (using a glimmervoid for Academy Ruins) which would make spellbomb a 14 turn clock. I self-milled to Glimmervoid in 2 turns, saving 14 - 2 - 7 = 5 turns. He had double Helix in hand which meant I saved another 3 turns. This is highly relevant because I knew his whole hand, and had 3 mill rocks in place, and he was STILL trying to slowroll me! This includes spending 5 seconds to play Lingering Souls before looking at the board, pausing for a second, and then saying "pass". I managed to get him on t4 of extra turns for exact lethal, and I know he was slow-playing for the draw (including the many times where he asked what I had his life total at and looking at the clock at the same time). I'm not great about calling judges, but I'll get one the next time anything like this comes up. Really cheap play at an FNM...
Edit: Also double Sun Droplet was clutch this game, he bolted and I gained 6 while he realized that they both got counters. Ended at 24 and I stopped upkeeping the triggers to make turns faster.
R2: GW Collected Company Goodstuff
G1 I get the lock online and slow the mill to 1/turn, planning to side out the wincon in G2 and go full defensive. He scoops with 22 left on the clock.
G2 TERRIBLE MISTAKE
G3 I get beat down unable to find a red source for the two pyroclasms in hand. I probably kept a questionable 7, I tilted so hard from G2's mistake that I didn't expect to win this one. Read your cards everyone
R3: Dega (WBR) Taxes
G1 I keep a generally strong 7, trying hard to shake the tilt. He reads my t1 Lantern, I lock t3, he scoops after watching me mill a few turns and getting the feel for things. During sideboarding he mentions he's over from Beijing for the weekend, and had come to play Legacy (which was replaced by Modern this week) and pulled the list together last minute. Wish I'd gotten his list because it looked brutal for most decks. Unfortunately his international magic experience ran into the fun police
SB -3 Probe -1 Surgical +2 Jar +2 Thoughtseize
G2 I see good cards again, and he plays Phyrexian Revoker naming Codex Shredder. I drop a spellbomb and blow it up when I'm ready to recur an Ancient Stirrings to get deeper for Ruins to start the loop. Probe saw an Eidolon in his hand and he only had 1 red source, so I was milling exclusively red sources for his Eidolon. The board is locked, 3 Bridge + Jar + Spellskite and 5 mill effects. I finish the loop with 15 minutes on the clock.
R4: Burn (RWg)
G1 I lose t3 after Abrupt Decaying an Eidolon and Surgicaling it on his draw step. Even getting 1 out of his hand, I count up the damage and there's enough that I can't redirect to kill me. Scoop after a long look at his deck with Surgical.
SB -3 Probe -1 Surgical -2 Needle -1 ? +4 Droplet +2 Welding Jar +1 Nature's Claim
G2 Keep a terrible 7, still bummed about missing my shot at the promo. Something awful like Opal Opal Ruins Ruins Spellbomb Inquisition. Nothing important happens, I scoop at 10 life with his hand full of burn.
I need to mulligan more aggressively, and I'll be trying out Faithless Looting. Probes get cut every game which is fine - they're there for aggressive Needles or playing too greedy into Shatterstorms. I think Looting would have been better in almost every game I saw a probe - getting dead cards out of my hand or at least milling myself and staying hellbent.
I've had some locks milling lands in testing, but it's never worked well in real games. I can't get enough mill effects and needle and lantern early enough to keep them cut off, and they end up with a hand full of good stuff and just unload. Easier to let them draw everything and only mill a few pieces that kill me dead.
Also, read your cards. I'm still kicking myself over the Cage/CoCo incident, that was just monumentally stupid and straight up lost me the round.
EDIT: And some thoughts on recent comments.
It's probably worth goldfishing things like setting up the spellbomb kill and land ramping with self-mill/shredder recursion so that when you're in the heat of a game, you can focus on the milling and do the rest automatically.
What is the board state that Ensnaring Bridge isn't solving? Or rather, Bridge + Pyrite Spellbomb (for clearing Heirarchs and other small creatures) and Abrupt Decays (for Spellskites and anything a single Spellbomb doesn't clear). You're going to miss every manland as well, right?
I feel like I'd rather have more Welding Jar to protect a bridge than an Anger that I can't Ancient Stirrings for. If it's for creature removal, even a Lightning Bolt feels like it'd be better (easier to cast, easier to go hellbent for bridge, hits manlands, clears most small creatures, throw it at the face on an empty board).
The need to go hellbent early against aggro decks can't be understated - I often boarded Spellskites out for Welding Jars when they were only protecting bridges (non-burn decks). It also helps metalcraft, which Anger does not.
Initially I was skeptical of tutor - Infernal Tutor replaced one of my two Surgical Extraction. I think extraction effects are generally not great, but when we control the top of their library it's insane. It's been a pet card of mine for a while, so losing one wasn't fun. It also felt like a downgrade in aggro matchups and anything that used the graveyard - I'd have to cast all my other spells before I could try to spend 2 mana to get a 1 mana spell to pull a good card out. Against Storm, it means I need to cast this Ensnaring Bridge before I can extract that Grapeshot I made them discard. Ugh.
However, I don't think I'll play without it again. The opposite is true in any match where I used it to get any card that wasn't Surgical Extraction - it could have been another dead card that I burned. Because I only sometimes used it to grab Extraction, and had many matchups where I would have used it to get non-extraction cards it makes the cut. Against affinity I would have used it to get a redundant bridge, or a pyroclasm. Against anyone with permanent hate, I'd grab an Abrupt Decay. Need one more Shredder to feel safe against that boarded-up Jund player with 4 Kolghan's Command, 2 Shatterstorm, and an Ancient Grudge? You got it, here you go.
It's not a blank card when we have good cards in hand, so your hand doesn't need to be empty.
Of note, it's an extra copy of all your sideboard cards. Grafdigger's Cage #3, Pyroclasm #4...
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Thoughtseize was an all-star when I wanted it. It was hugely important against Storm, and Scapeshift, and I'd bring it in against any grindy matchup where I expect hate cards. Honestly, I'd probably bring it in against anyone with "look at the top x cards" spells that I can't stop with mill, and anyone where the life loss isn't significant. I didn't ever struggle to decide whether or not it came in, it was pretty clear cut.
2x Academy Ruins
2x Blackcleave Cliffs
2x Copperline Gorge
2x Ghost Quarter
4x Glimmervoid
4x Llanowar Wastes
1x Tendo Ice Bridge
Artifact (24)
4x Codex Shredder
4x Ensnaring Bridge
4x Ghoulcaller's Bell
4x Lantern of Insight
3x Mox Opal
3x Pithing Needle
2x Pyrite Spellbomb
3x Spellskite
2x Abrupt Decay
4x Ancient Stirrings
2x Duress
3x Gitaxian Probe
1x Infernal Tutor
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Surgical Extraction
1x Ancient Grudge
2x Grafdigger's Cage
1x Nature's Claim
3x Pyroclasm
4x Sun Droplet
2x Thoughtseize
2x Welding Jar
Main:
Side:
This is insanely powerful and incredibly tiring. The salt is real. The urge to over-mill when the lock is online is strong and almost cost me a game.
I plan to swap Copperline Gorge for Grove of the Burnwillows since the lifegain is very very rarely relevant, while the CIPT has been relevant on more than one occasion (need to Academy Ruins and cast Ensnaring bridge in the same turn, need to Shredder recursion and cast in the same turn, leaving U up for Spellskite...) but am one short. I'll run 1/1 for the next set of games.
I was going to try Faithless Looting in place of Gitaxian Probe but last night proved to me how important seeing their hand was - the card draw was occasionally important. While I still hate seeing it in hand with Ensnaring Bridge, seeing their hand early saved me in at least two games.
Round 1: Affinity
G1 I went down to 17 before getting the lock online. He had a good 6 against an unknown opponent but with my Spellskite in play his Ensoul Artifact was dead. Hellbent with Ensnaring bridge and he'd already activated Steel Overseer with his 0 power creatures out, he made the correct decision to go to game 2 after 5 minutes.
SB -3 Probe -2 Duress +1 Nature's Claim +3 Pyroclasm +1 Ancient Grudge
G2 I kept a strong 7, Bell, Decay, Pyroclasm, Glimmervoid, Extraction, Blackcleave Cliffs, Ancient Stirrings. His opening is strong again, with Steel Overseer pumping twice and I go to 17, then 13. Abrupt decay hits a Ravager, and I burn Pyroclasm with his other ravager out to force him to move counters onto Ornithopter to keep it alive, then Abrupt Decay the thopter. Surgical hits Cranial Plating, and I see 2x Wear Tear, 2x Ancient Grudge. I miss the Thoughtcast which is relevant. I start milling but he hits runner runner runner with Thoughtcast on the stack, and I have to shredder -> bell -> lantern to keep him from it. Two turns later topdeck Grudge kills bridge and his 6/6 monsters kill me (Overseer pumps every turn).
I realize Welding Jar needs to be in here, and pull out 1 Spellskite 1 SUrgical Extraction. While both are good, an empty hand is more important for Bridge (the match hinges on that one card) and Jar is mostly better than Spellskite.
G3 I get needle on Cranial Plating, go down to 13 and 1 poison, keep the board clear and Ghost Quarter two inkmoth nexus before getting the lock online. He scoops when my second Spellskite hits the field with Academy Ruins available and both Wear/Tear have already passed.
R2: Scapeshift
G1 we both keep 7 and I lead with lantern - my opening is Opal, Ruins, Shredder, Lantern, Spellskite, Bridge, Wastes. Top card of his library is Scapeshift, so that's a minor tell. He has to read Lantern, which is a great sign. Painland + bolt brings me to 16, and he misses a turn where he can get in for 1 by attacking with Elder (since I can't block with Spellskite, 2 bolts in hand) but otherwise it's not close. I mill a Valakut and Extract it, mill a bit more and he scoops.
SB -2 Pithing Needle -2 Bridge -2 Abrupt Decay +2 Sun Droplet +2 Grafdigger's Cage +2 Welding Jar
I don't think my sideboard matters too much in the matchup, but I saw Snapcasters and try to hedge against not having enough mill effects (Cage) and potential beats (leaving 2 bridge in). I feel great having 1 needle because of Infernal Tutor and it means I can safely grab mill rocks off Ancient Stirrings because I can use Tutor to grab any anti-hate I need.
G2 he snap keeps 7 aggressively, and I keep 7 - Shredder, Blackcleave Cliffs, Spellskite, Lantern, IoK, Ghost Quarter, Stirrings. This looks like a fantastic mix of protection, disruption, and mill to get started. He drops t1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and says something like "let's see you extract that". I stare at the Ghost Quarter in my hand and try to figure out how many turns I can sandbag it before pulling the trigger. T1 lantern into T2 IoK takes the Oblivion Stone out of his hand, which I didn't think about - it's been so long since I played Scapeshift that his sideboard was entirely unknown to me. I expected some Ancient Grudge but learned afterwards he doesn't board them. "Affinity's an auto loss, no reason to board for it" I think he said. I play conservatively, Tutor for Surgical Extraction, IoK him and take Dispel out of his hand, then Ghost Quarter the Valakut and Extract it. He tilts hard and I feel bad, but he doesn't scoop and insists that I mill him. While I surgical I write down every card that isn't a land and number of copies (I figure at this point he should scoop so the people watching don't know his entire deck and sideboard tech, but to each his own). The rest of the game he draws lands, tries to set up shuffles to protect key cards against 5 mill stones, and doesn't come close to doing so. I win with 5 minutes left on the clock.
R3: Storm (classic)
These were exhausting, mind-bending games. They have sooo many cards to look below the top of their deck, and I must have made mistakes. My opponent was a fantastic pilot, and knew his deck very well. At first I thought it was unstorm (Noxious Revival/Manamorphose/Lightning Bolt) but soon realized it was classic storm (Past in Flames).
I'm on the draw and we both keep 7; Tutor, Spellskite, Glimmervoid, Copperline Gorge, Lantern, Spellskite, Opal. I don't remember much of this game, except going hellbent with Lantern and 2 rocks out, realizing two may not be enough, and then getting Surgical Extraction with Tutor. I hold the extraction and plan to self-mill for IoK to take the grapeshot and extract it, but he scoops and the extraction remains a secret (turns out he knew the deck so it wasn't as secret as I thought, but still felt like I could safely durdle G1 to the 1-0-1 round win).
SB -1 Pithing Needle -3 Spellskite -3 Ensnaring Bridge + 2 Welding Jar +2 Grafdigger's Cage +1 Nature's Claim +2 Thoughtseize
Most of the sideboard felt dead - thoughtseize the obvious exception. My goal then was to make sure I could empty my hand for Infernal Tutor, and in that case Jar is better than Spellskite. I'm not meaningfully redirecting enough Grapeshots to keep myself alive, since classic storm doesn't barely win, it's 60+ damage. There may be some artifact hate but I think he can race Affinity, so I don't expect the jars to do much more than accelerate me a turn with Opals. Nature's Claim could hit Ascension and that's about it.
G2 we both keep 7 and I didn't take pictures of the rest of my hands. I see grapeshot in hand and goblin electromancer, he probes me and sees the decay in hand. I go to 14 and can't find a discard spell to get his grapeshot in the graveyard before he gets dispel for my extraction. He goes off for a lot.
G3 I believe we both keep 7. IoK takes his Pyretic Ritual since he's got one land and a hand full of expensive spells. Next turn he visions into another ritual, setting a land on top. I draw IoK and play shredder, mill the land, IoK the second ritual. At this point he has to find land, and I get going with mill rocks. I manage to mill all 4 pyretic rituals, and hit 1 desperate ritual. He starts to go off, but I manage to interrupt enough manamorphose/peer through depths off the top to fizzle him. He passes, I self-mill EoT into Extraction, and take the desperate ritual in the GY, 2 in deck, 1 in hand. This was the best time to fire it off, since he had dispel in hand and was tapped out. I count the lands in his deck, and realize with two Past in Flames in his hands, I MUST keep him off 6 lands. I manage to keep him on 3 as we go into turns, despite his many attempts to draw into them. On turn 4 of turns he draws a fourth land, tanks, and can't go off even if he casts Past in Flames (has exactly 4 mana, not 5). Keeping him off lands because of what I saw off Gitaxian Probe kept me from losing G3. I could have won if we didn't go to turns since he had 5 cards left in his library, but we were both tanking HARD trying to figure out the lines.
R4 My opponent asks for the draw since he doesn't want to play Lantern. We figure out that it's more money to give me the win and split, so my final record is 3-0-1. He was on Zoo, and I feel very confident that (aside from play mistakes) I could have closed it out. He showed me the sideboard and there were only two pieces of hate I'd have to worry about.
I love this deck. I didn't take it to the modern PPTQ in Bellevue because I was exhausted, but I changed many opinions on how viable it was in just 3 rounds. People went from "how did you lose as affinity? Just blow up his things" to "I don't even know how to fight that" (mostly from watching the storm match where I switched milling strategies three times). When you see someone dig 2-3 cards deep every turn and get stuck on 3 lands until they go to turns, you realize maybe controlling the draw step is a big deal.
I'll keep playing, and hopefully refine my style enough to win against burn and storm. I'm excited to try the RG Tron matchup since I expect it'll need a decent amount of practice.
I played against Grishoalbrand in my second round with the deck (ever) last week. It's mostly in our favor, but there are some clever outs to be had on their side. My opponent was running 1 Necrotic Ooze which dodged my Pithing Needles (set to Gris and Borbor). Ensnaring bridge is REQUIRED to deal with Through the Breach + Worldspine Wurm. My game two was locked up (both needles out, controlling draws) and he had faithless + ttb in hand that I couldn't strip (Duress already took one ttb). That let him loot -> flashback loot -> loot (off the first) for a ttb next turn which killed me. Game 3 he went off with Necrotic Ooze.
For reference, I had fantastic hands G2/G3. In G2 for example, I Surgical'd the Griselbrand he binned on his t1 before my first draw, and put needle on Borborygmos Enraged on t1. Spent the rest of my time digging for bridge, died to 15/15 trample. Noteworthy in G3: I almost milled enough lands that he couldn't get me with Borborygmos. He had 15 (5 lands) when I was at 13, with 2 cards left in the library. If I'd milled once or twice more in the early turns (I held off thinking I was just helping) I might have won.
My sideboard was slightly off, but I doubt it was significant enough to cost me the games. Maybe, I'm still new to the deck.
should have been:
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@zerodown (re: faithless looting)
I'm interested in Faithless Looting instead of Gitaxian Probe for the reasons stated above. It's nice that it decreases hand size, whereas Gitaxian Probe is yet another card to try to dump for bridge. On the other hand, full information about their hand has been extremely relevant in a few games (particularly needling a fetchland that cut my opponent off white in hatebears - I got lantern and milled every land while he discarded to hand size with an empty board). I don't think it is necessary, and might try a 1-2 probe-looting split. I've lost games where I couldn't get deep enough fast enough (especially that Pyroclasm two cards down) and rarely because knowing the hand would have had me play differently. Lantern -> Bridge -> Rocks -> Concede is generally how games play out for me.
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@shadowgripper (re: sideboard)
Cutting Nature's Claim entirely seems risky. I understand the risk of holding it in hand, but in bad matchups it can be a bit of lifegain. Notably good when they Destructive Revelry and you Nature's Claim in response. Or a resolved Eidolon (that card wrecks me). I think I'll try the Extraction -> Tutor swap and cut the Bow + 1 Nature's Claim for 2 Thoughtseize, which is great for non-burn since they'll probably slow down and may have more hate in hand. Elves is a frustrating matchup, so far. Need to mill Chord of Calling, Reclamation Sage, Collected Company, Fracturing Gust... Maybe the extra Thoughtseize will help out.
Coming back, it seems like Ghost Quarter is really strong right now (Tron, Amulet, Grixis/Jund). I tried swapping 2 Pyrite Spellbomb for 1 Ghost Quarter 1 Crucible of Worlds, and it feels amazing. Because of Academy Ruins you can mill over Crucible and then recur it, making every self mill when a land is on top like an extra draw.
Is spellbomb that important for creature removal, or is it 90% a wincon? I'd be fine with ghost quartering every turn until they concede if it's not needed as removal.
Honestly, I want a second Crucible but I don't know what I'd cut. Maybe it's more of a finisher and doesn't need to be more than 1-of.
How is Chalice of the Void these days? I love the card but realize its utility has decreased without Treasure Cruise running around. Is it time to break out the Lightning Bolts again, or is there a build where I can jam four?
Is Outpost Siege still the go-to over Bottled Cloister? Immunity to Thoughtseize and Inquision seems more relevant now than before.
Edit: Here's what I've got so far. Feels rough, I'm worried I either don't have enough removal or enough land destruction. Am I trying to dip too far into landkill and board clear?
I've seen the following mana splits in many lists, top8 and throughout the last 5 pages. When is each better?
11 fetches
4 Mountain
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
10 fetches
4 Mountain
3 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
Is there any contention over the following creature list?
4 Goblin Guide
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Monastery Swiftspear
The following spells seem to be core to any RWg lists. When do these get trimmed down? Is it safe to start with these as a base, and say there are 7 spell flex slots?
4 Boros Charm
4 Lava Spike
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Rift Bolt
For flex spots, I see some mix of the following spells. How should we pick between these? I'm currently on 2 Helix, 3 Blaze, 2 Volley because it's the common selection in more than 50% of the t8 for non mtgo events. When should I be swapping Skullcrack in for some of these?
Here's what I'd change to:
4x Flooded Strand
3x Hallowed Fountain
1x Island
1x Plains
3x Seachrome Coast
2x Windswept Heath
Wincon (8)
4x Myth Realized
4x Puresteel Paladin
Combo (9)
1x Grapeshot
4x Mox Opal
4x Retract
4x Accorder's Shield
4x Bone Saw
4x Kite Shield
4x Paradise Mantle
4x Spidersilk Net
Utility (9)
2x Noxious Revival
4x Serum Visions
3x Sleight of Hand
2x Angel's Grace
2x Echoing Truth
4x Kor Firewalker
4x Silence
3x Void Snare