I started picking up the pieces and had a question. Would it be too greedy to run a few sunpetal grove/concealed courtyard for maybe a 1-2 anointed procession?
I'll give it a shot over Revival. I definitely get the card disadvantage. The few times I actually gifted for it, I had to include cantrips if I didn't have any in hand do draw what I used Noxious on. I like the idea of Apostle's Blessing for sure.
I've been playing a few leagues with the deck, and over all it feels pretty good. I've been trying a single copy of Noxious Revival to guarantee I get what I want when casting gifts. I've slotted it in one of the flex cantrip slots.
Still not sold on what goes in that flex slot either. Tested a bit with Thought Scour, going to try Peer through Depths and a few others. How has everyone else's lists been running?
Lurker here for the most part, I just started playing D&T a few weeks ago and just wanted to say that this is probably one of the most supportive and positive group of people trying to push this deck forward.
Brad Hurst here. I did indeed take second place in the Missouri SCG States. I will attempt to answer some of the questions as well as a brief tournament report.
This was my first tournament above regular REL, so take anything I say with a grain of salt. I didn't take notes so I apologize for the lack of details.
Matchups were solid for the most part, I managed to dodge most of the aggressive decks in the room and matched up against several combo decks.
R1-Jund 0-2 (0-1)
I drew a lot of air, while facing disruption and pressure.
R2-Thopter/Gifts 2-1 (1-1)
A solid amount of draw-go magic here. We both drew a lot of cards, cast a lot of counter spells. Game 2 I couldn't draw/find an answer to Celestial Colonnade.
R3-Ad Nauseum 2-0 (2-1)
Chalices was clutch here. 0 to stop ramping with lotus bloom and stop pact of negations, my opponent wasn't able to go off through our counters. Game 2 I had a hand of Chalice x2, Jesters Cap, lands and a counterspell. Was able to get set up and Jesters Cap away his win cons.
R4-Scapeshift 2-0 (3-1)
This was the R/G titan/shift version of the deck, so he was soft to counterspells. Favorite moment of the round was Mindslaver, draw Scapeshift, casting it, sacrificing all lands and failing to find, and casting Summoner's Pact.
R5-Living End 2-1 (4-1)
Good back and forth this round. Fulminator Mages got their work in. Game 1 managed to stop any Living End from resolving, game 2 I wasn't able to do so and got ran over, and game 3 was a good match. I pitched 2-3 threats with Thirst that I was a ways from casting at the point, which was probably a mistake seeing as I was able to stop Living Ends from resolving. The game was a grind fest with me barely winning after resolving an Ugin.
R6-UW Humans 2-1 (5-1)
Timely Chalice of the Void and Tron these games. Overloaded Cyclonic Rift saved the third game followed by an Ugin resolution.
R7-Draw 0-0-3 (5-1-1)
Top 8 Was Jund (round 1 matchup), Kiki-Chord, Myself, R/G Titan-Shift, 1 drop Zoo, American Control, and 2 others that I didn't see.
Quarterfinals vs R/G Titan-Shift 2-1
I took game 1 with creature beats and stopping anything too threatening from resolving. Game 2 lost to a resolved Prime Time and Valakut(s). Game 3 I managed to take.
Semifinals vs Kiki-Chord 2-1
Fun back and forth games. I forget most of the details, but was a great set of games.
Finals vs 1 drop Zoo
I quite simply got ran over. I wasn't sure what I was facing, as my games didn't exactly finish quickly, so I wasn't able to see what everybody was on. I kept a reasonable hand against most matchups but it fell short here. Game 2 I go to a 5 card hand with some interaction, but again, it wasn't enough.
Over all, I really enjoyed the deck and how it played. I think I had 1 game where I had mana issues, so 24 lands felt ok here.
Warping Wail was great in the side board, main was alright. It was good in the Scapeshift and Thopter/Gift matches. My local meta runs heavy with Infect and Abzan-Company, so the Exile mode is decent, and the 1/1 mode is useful ever now and then. It is just versatile enough that I don't want to take it out.
Ratchet Bomb was initially for token matches Thopters, Resto Angels and the like, but it came in also against the UW humans, and Zoo match ups.
I would like to include an additional tutor at some point, I just need to fiddle with the list a bit.
I brought in Jesters Cap for any matches that relied on a few cards to win the game. As I faced several combo decks, I really like including this in the 75. Great when you can recur it with Academy Ruins. Good against Ad Nauseum, Scapeshift, Abzan Company, Thopter/Gifts, Storm and so on.
The one thing that I know that I did not like was Aetherize. I also wish I had an additional Chalice in the Side, but it will have to wait for now.
With Library of Leng you can just discard to the top of the deck rather than to gy (also great for setting up miracles), so you don't even have to add Ulamog (I run Kozilek myself for other mill players in my group)
Still not sold on what goes in that flex slot either. Tested a bit with Thought Scour, going to try Peer through Depths and a few others. How has everyone else's lists been running?
I just wanted to say thanks from the shadows.
This was my first tournament above regular REL, so take anything I say with a grain of salt. I didn't take notes so I apologize for the lack of details.
Matchups were solid for the most part, I managed to dodge most of the aggressive decks in the room and matched up against several combo decks.
R1-Jund 0-2 (0-1)
I drew a lot of air, while facing disruption and pressure.
R2-Thopter/Gifts 2-1 (1-1)
A solid amount of draw-go magic here. We both drew a lot of cards, cast a lot of counter spells. Game 2 I couldn't draw/find an answer to Celestial Colonnade.
R3-Ad Nauseum 2-0 (2-1)
Chalices was clutch here. 0 to stop ramping with lotus bloom and stop pact of negations, my opponent wasn't able to go off through our counters. Game 2 I had a hand of Chalice x2, Jesters Cap, lands and a counterspell. Was able to get set up and Jesters Cap away his win cons.
R4-Scapeshift 2-0 (3-1)
This was the R/G titan/shift version of the deck, so he was soft to counterspells. Favorite moment of the round was Mindslaver, draw Scapeshift, casting it, sacrificing all lands and failing to find, and casting Summoner's Pact.
R5-Living End 2-1 (4-1)
Good back and forth this round. Fulminator Mages got their work in. Game 1 managed to stop any Living End from resolving, game 2 I wasn't able to do so and got ran over, and game 3 was a good match. I pitched 2-3 threats with Thirst that I was a ways from casting at the point, which was probably a mistake seeing as I was able to stop Living Ends from resolving. The game was a grind fest with me barely winning after resolving an Ugin.
R6-UW Humans 2-1 (5-1)
Timely Chalice of the Void and Tron these games. Overloaded Cyclonic Rift saved the third game followed by an Ugin resolution.
R7-Draw 0-0-3 (5-1-1)
Top 8 Was Jund (round 1 matchup), Kiki-Chord, Myself, R/G Titan-Shift, 1 drop Zoo, American Control, and 2 others that I didn't see.
Quarterfinals vs R/G Titan-Shift 2-1
I took game 1 with creature beats and stopping anything too threatening from resolving. Game 2 lost to a resolved Prime Time and Valakut(s). Game 3 I managed to take.
Semifinals vs Kiki-Chord 2-1
Fun back and forth games. I forget most of the details, but was a great set of games.
Finals vs 1 drop Zoo
I quite simply got ran over. I wasn't sure what I was facing, as my games didn't exactly finish quickly, so I wasn't able to see what everybody was on. I kept a reasonable hand against most matchups but it fell short here. Game 2 I go to a 5 card hand with some interaction, but again, it wasn't enough.
Over all, I really enjoyed the deck and how it played. I think I had 1 game where I had mana issues, so 24 lands felt ok here.
Warping Wail was great in the side board, main was alright. It was good in the Scapeshift and Thopter/Gift matches. My local meta runs heavy with Infect and Abzan-Company, so the Exile mode is decent, and the 1/1 mode is useful ever now and then. It is just versatile enough that I don't want to take it out.
Ratchet Bomb was initially for token matches Thopters, Resto Angels and the like, but it came in also against the UW humans, and Zoo match ups.
I would like to include an additional tutor at some point, I just need to fiddle with the list a bit.
I brought in Jesters Cap for any matches that relied on a few cards to win the game. As I faced several combo decks, I really like including this in the 75. Great when you can recur it with Academy Ruins. Good against Ad Nauseum, Scapeshift, Abzan Company, Thopter/Gifts, Storm and so on.
The one thing that I know that I did not like was Aetherize. I also wish I had an additional Chalice in the Side, but it will have to wait for now.
Sorry for the wall of text.
Had some fun this weekend Mirrorweaveing a Fog Bank after our green player Tooth and Nailed a Pathbreaker Ibex and Craterhoof Behemoth (with haste enablers for the goat). He got sad real quick (then died before his next turn).