I did badly with my list at FNM going 1-2. I lost to another grixis brew involving Dreadhorde Arcanist and Burn. I beat Storm.
It's perhaps not unexpected that my weakpoints would be aggro and a deck like storm would be stripped down to nothing, but I felt like I was lacking options in my games. I lost to a simple 1/3 trample value creature (arcanist), which is ridiculous for grixis. I wasn't finding any of my pushes or terminates. Conversely I would find myself with countersqualls when facing creatures, pushes when facing Bump in the night... ugh.
I think I'll be increasing the number of cantrips to assist in finding the right answers for the right times.
As far as hitting spells and digging through the deck, I've found that the combination of Thought Scour and Jace, Vryn's Prodigy help me get trough the deck pretty well. Considering how many removal spells we have access to, the ability to dig deeper should take care of that, and the aggro decks shouldn't be a problem. Also, the aggro matches is where Kalitas shines. He's also not terrible against phoenix because of the exile clause.
Hey all,
Since Bolas hit the format I've been testing him out, and I'm glad to see that everyone's pretty much on the same page when it comes to the Grixis Tapout style of deck. I've had very good results with the deck so far, and I'm looking forward to grinding more games to get down to a solid 75. The current build that I'm on is pretty similar to the ones already posted. The only major difference I've noticed is that I'm on 2 JVP. I've actually considered to a 3-3 split with him and snap. That being said I'm not there yet. My current build:
I saw that some people were down on Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet in the maindeck… I've bee extremely happy with him. The incremental life gain that he comes with can help to stabilize appropriately. That being said, there is definitely more testing to be done. Let's see what we can do to put Grixis back on the map!
Of course this is not the end all be all of the deck, but I must say it performed extremely well. Deafening Clarionhas been the perfect answer to all of the early threats, while Settle the Wreckage and Cleansing Nova have cleaned up anything else that I couldn't catch early on. The biggest surprise, however, is how fast Niv-Mizzet, Paruncan close a game out. I just wanted to try him out, but he exceeded all expectations by a mile. Surprisingly enough, the strict mana specifications haven't been that big of an issue. Rarely are you trying to jam him out there on turn 6. All in all the deck has been great. I'll keep you guys updated with any further changes, and/or results!
On another note, it would be nice to have a way to recuperate some of the life loss. Blood Operative sucks, and there's not really any Gifted Aetherborn typ card that I can think of.
The life loss can be a little rough sometimes, but the card selection you get from Notion Rain is crucial. I do love Chemister's Insight, but I like it in control decks. In that style of deck, you are holding up mana for counter-magic, or other interactions. Taking that into consideration, it makes the instant speed aspect of the card relevant. Here we don't necessarily have that here. After testing with Chemister's Insight in Jeskai Control, (9 leagues in), I definitely have an idea of how powerful that card can be. Perhaps there is a way to split the difference on the card advantage spells. Maybe 3/1 in favor of Notion Rain? Hell, maybe even a 2/2 split.
I have been extensively testing Jeskai Control (the deck I was most likely on), and per usual wanted to throw something else together, to test against. We built multiple variations of all of the decks that we thought would matter in the first couple weeks of a post rotation meta. I played this a few times and realized it had some legs. Some of the numbers might not be proper, but this seems like a hell of a start for sure. I'll keep you guys updated with any results for sure!
I actually like Electrolyze quite a bit. Against the Vengevine decks picking off Bloodghasts and the like, to give us enough time to find a board wipe, is often enough to help us stabilize. Electrolyze also helps in the grindy U/W/X Control mirrors, as the extra card we get out of it is nothing to scoff at. I do think that Anger of the Gods and/or Settle the Wreckage are necessary in the Sideboard.
I actually haven't had a terrible time with the matchup against tron. Between Damping Sphere, Field of Ruin followed by a Surgical Extraction, and some well timed Cryptics, it seems to work out. Also, getting hella aggro with Snapcaster Mage doesn't hurt.
Hey what's up guys? So I see that there is still some lists opting to not jam Fatal Push at all in their 75, sometimes there is one in the board of those list. The meta overall seems to be rather aggressively slanted, so it seems as though push would be solid. I've been going between 1-2 Push's maindeck, and I couldn't imagine not jamming them, I the current meta. Thoughts on that?
The list that I am referring to, reference is Wafo-Tapa's latest list. https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1056684#paper In his list there are no walkers at all, but it feels sweet. Anytime I see a list by someone who knows what they're doing I like to take the time to acknowledge their card choices, and try the deck out. That's the beautiful; thing about MTGO. No sleeving and unsleeving! haha
From the way they sounded from the booth he did well, himself, but it appears tat the rest of the team didn't quite keep up. Glad to see Teferi. 3 Search for Azcanta's seems excessive, but good for him if it works. Either way, glad to see at least one Snapcaster deck do decent this weekend.
On the sunject of Search, I've actually been testing Think Twice in the spot of the Searchs, thanks to the latest list of MrCafouillette, from earlier this week.
That might be right. I haven't had as poor an experience with Jace as some people have. In most matches I want to find it at least once. I was underwhelmed with Gideon of the Trials in this deck and I enjoy it much more in straight UW. That being said, that's why I opted to not swap a jace.
This deck is hot, I put it together earlier today actually, and it's CRACKIN. I actually just posted about it in the Esper thread because I'm not quite sure where it belongs. All that aside, deck has some legs for sure!
As far as hitting spells and digging through the deck, I've found that the combination of Thought Scour and Jace, Vryn's Prodigy help me get trough the deck pretty well. Considering how many removal spells we have access to, the ability to dig deeper should take care of that, and the aggro decks shouldn't be a problem. Also, the aggro matches is where Kalitas shines. He's also not terrible against phoenix because of the exile clause.
Since Bolas hit the format I've been testing him out, and I'm glad to see that everyone's pretty much on the same page when it comes to the Grixis Tapout style of deck. I've had very good results with the deck so far, and I'm looking forward to grinding more games to get down to a solid 75. The current build that I'm on is pretty similar to the ones already posted. The only major difference I've noticed is that I'm on 2 JVP. I've actually considered to a 3-3 split with him and snap. That being said I'm not there yet. My current build:
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
PLANESWALKERS:
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God
REMOVAL:
3 Fatal Push
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Liliana's Triumph
2 Terminate
3 Kolaghan's Command
HAND HATE:
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
1 Rise/Fall
4 Serum Visions
2 Thought Scour
LAND:
1 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Darkslick Shores
2 Island
1 Mountain
2 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Countersquall
1 Dreadbore
2 Narset, Parter of Veils
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Damnation
1 Shatterstorm
1 Engineered Explosives
I saw that some people were down on Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet in the maindeck… I've bee extremely happy with him. The incremental life gain that he comes with can help to stabilize appropriately. That being said, there is definitely more testing to be done. Let's see what we can do to put Grixis back on the map!
1x Niv-Mizzet, Parun
PLANESWALKERS (6):
2x Ral, Izzet Viceroy
4x Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
CARD ADVANTAGE (9):
2x Radical Idea
2x Mission Briefing
2x Chemister's Insight
1x Expansion / Explosion
2x Search for Azcanta
REMOVAL (12):
3x Shivan Fire
2x Seal Away
1x Lava Coil
2x Deafening Clarion
3x Settle the Wreckage
1x Cleansing Nova
4x Sinister Sabotage
2x Syncopate
LANDS (26):
3x Clifftop Retreat
2x Field of Ruin
4x Glacial Fortress
4x Sacred Foundry
4x Steam Vents
4x Sulfur Falls
3x Island
2x Plains
2x Dawn of Hope
2x Invoke the Divine
1x Cleansing Nova
1x Lyra Dawnbringer
2x Disdainful Stroke
2x Essence Scatter
2x Negate
2x Dire Fleet Daredevil
1x Deafening Clarion
Of course this is not the end all be all of the deck, but I must say it performed extremely well. Deafening Clarionhas been the perfect answer to all of the early threats, while Settle the Wreckage and Cleansing Nova have cleaned up anything else that I couldn't catch early on. The biggest surprise, however, is how fast Niv-Mizzet, Paruncan close a game out. I just wanted to try him out, but he exceeded all expectations by a mile. Surprisingly enough, the strict mana specifications haven't been that big of an issue. Rarely are you trying to jam him out there on turn 6. All in all the deck has been great. I'll keep you guys updated with any further changes, and/or results!
4x Kitesail Freebooter
1x Plague Mare
3x Thief of Sanity
3x Doom Whisperer
2x Dream Eater
REMOVAL (13):
3x Dead Weight
2x Cast Down
2x Moment of Craving
2x Ritual of Soot
4x Vraska's Contempt
4x Notion Rain
2x Discovery//Dispersal
DISCARD (4):
4x Thought Erasure
LANDS (24):
4x Drowned Catacomb
2x Field of Ruin
4x Watery Grave
4x Island
10x Swamp
2x Disdainful Stroke
3x Negate
3x Duress
2x Arguel's Blood Fast
1x Cast Down
2x Plaguecrafter
1x Golden Demise
1x Plague Mare
I have been extensively testing Jeskai Control (the deck I was most likely on), and per usual wanted to throw something else together, to test against. We built multiple variations of all of the decks that we thought would matter in the first couple weeks of a post rotation meta. I played this a few times and realized it had some legs. Some of the numbers might not be proper, but this seems like a hell of a start for sure. I'll keep you guys updated with any results for sure!
On the sunject of Search, I've actually been testing Think Twice in the spot of the Searchs, thanks to the latest list of MrCafouillette, from earlier this week.
This deck is hot, I put it together earlier today actually, and it's CRACKIN. I actually just posted about it in the Esper thread because I'm not quite sure where it belongs. All that aside, deck has some legs for sure!