I really liked this idea when I saw it, too. But after trying it some, I agreed with the mtggoldfish guy's assessment--you either need to cut some of the double white costing cards, or increase your white sources. I went with the former.
The sideboard is still a work in progress. But I think Blessed Alliance instead of wraths in the mainboard has been the most impactful change. Eases the strain on colors, while giving you more early interaction. Plus, when you have lots of mana later on, you're free to escalate twice to really take advantage of the card. I added the Wurmcoil to give a 6 mana play besides Elspeth, and as a slight hedge against burn in the main (in addition to Blessed Alliance).
Tezzeret's Gambit probably seems like a weird choice, but after lots of practice games, I realized the deck only truly loses to itself if you can't get to 4 mana for a Sad Robot. (Also, the only other play for 3 mana is laying down an Oblivion Stone for later.) So the Gambit gives something to do at 3 mana that should help you bridge to 4.
I've been playing my list a lot more. So far I've placed in 4 of 6 local tournaments, with an overall record of 15-7-1. The only change I made is -1 Surgical Extraction +1 Pyroclasm in the sideboard.
The list beats grixis delver handily, which is part of why my results are good. Because Blood Moon represents much of its disruption, it tends to do poorly vs creature heavy mono color decks like mono white hatebears and mono red goblins.
Hey there,
As I've said above, I'm going up against an Elves deck this weekend, so I am keen to see how it goes. I'll make sure to report back here. Did you continue to have difficulties with the creature heavy/mono-coloured decks after side-boarding? Did you remove the Blood Moons?
In games 2/3, obviously you side out all the moon effects vs mono red. Against hatebears I keep the magus and 1 moon in if they're running a lot of utility lands, but I'm not sure if that's correct or not.
Fast go-wide strategies seem to be the bad matchups for this build. (I lost badly to BW tokens too.) Game 1s are very difficult and the postboard ones hinge on drawing a sweeper in the early turns. It's why I went up to a 2nd Pyroclasm in the side.
I've been playing my list a lot more. So far I've placed in 4 of 6 local tournaments, with an overall record of 15-7-1. The only change I made is -1 Surgical Extraction +1 Pyroclasm in the sideboard.
The list beats grixis death shadow and delver handily, which is part of why my results are good. Because Blood Moon represents much of its disruption, it tends to do poorly vs creature heavy mono color decks like mono white hatebears and mono red goblins.
I went to my 2nd ever Modern tournament and went 3-0-1 with B/R, coming in 3rd. The draw conceivably could have been a win, as I was beating down without resistance under Blood Moon when turns ran out. There were 35-40 people at the tournament. The decks I played against were R/G Titanshift, UW Control, Esper Control, and Infect. I think the Demigod of Revenge and Faithless Looting builds are super interesting; however, I was worried about the collateral damage from all of the Surgical Extraction being played in basically everything nowadays. So I went with a slightly more aggressive approach:
Match 1 vs R/G Titanshift
Game 1: I am new to Modern, and unfamiliar with many of the decks/interactions. For some reason, when I drew Blood Moon, I had in my mind "Why would I want to make all his lands Mountains? Then they'll ALL trigger Valakut!!!1" So I wound up discarding 3 Blood Moons to LOTV before dying to a Primeval Titan. Pretty much right after the game ended, I realized my mistake, and asked my opponent never to tell anyone about it ever.
Game 2: He accelerates mana. I play Dark Confidant, which he bolts. I play Pack Rat, and on his T3 he uses Chandra, Torch of Defiance to minus and kill it. Then on my turn I play Goblin Rabblemaster and kill Chandra with the haste token. He stalled on 4 lands with no answers to my creature, so I won 2 turns after.
At this point I was pretty excited to even have won once.
Match 2 vs UW Control
Game 1: I went first. My opening hand had Blood Moon. My T1 Thoughtseize showed that he had 2 Flooded Strand and a Celestial Colonnade for lands. I took his 1 Serum Visions and left him with a bunch of late game cards. On my T3, I decided to not play the Blood Moon to see if he would crack the fetches for non-basics at the end of my turn, which he did. The following turn I used IOK to clear the way and then he lost because he had only Mountains.
Game 2: He stopped 2 consecutive Liliana of the Veil, but could not stop the 3rd
2-0
At this point I'm starting to believe that I'm just playing with a pile of individually powerful cards that are carrying me to victory. I don't really mind.
Match 3 vs Esper Control
Game 1: I clear the way with discard for a T3 LOTV, and start ticking up. On his T5 though, he randomly hardcasts a Leyline of Sanctity, which stops me from -6ing him the next turn. However, by that time, the game had basically already progressed to me discarding my draw to Pack Rat each turn and then +1 LOTV. He is quickly overrun. LOTV ends the game on 11 Loyalty.
Game 2: He sideboarded heavily. Even though I didn't play any moon effects in G1, he brought in Esper Charms anticipating them. He also fetched for all basics at the start of the game. Several charms and several Celestial Purge took out numerous Blood Moon and Liliana of the Veil, among other things. The thing I like about this deck is each creature can more or less win the game on its own if left unchecked. So he wound up having to use 4x Supreme Verdict, each on only a single copy of either Goblin Rabblemaster or Pack Rat. Well into the late game, when we were both nearly decked, I had an opening to play my last Pack Rat, mentally noting (and celebrating) that he'd already used up all his Supreme Verdict. And then he played Wrath of God. I lost to an Elspeth a few turns later.
Game 3: Game 2 had gone pretty long, and there was only about 6 minutes left. I got an opening hand light on threats but heavy on discard. In hindsight, I probably should have mulliganed for something more aggressive to try to win before time ran out. But at the time I was afraid of going from an all right 7 to a no land 6 or worse. On my T1, I Thoughtseize and take Celestial Purge. On T2, I Collective Brutality and take Path to Exile. On T3 I Thoughtseize again to take a 2nd Path to Exile, leaving him with a few Supreme Verdict. On T4 with the creature removal out of the way I play Magus of the Moon. His only basic is 1 plains. I start the Magus beatdowns, and even have some Lightning Bolts too, but it's not a fast enough clock to win before turn 5 in time.
2-0-1
At this point I was just happy he hadn't opened with his apparently maindecked Leylines in any of the 3 games.
Match 4 vs G/u Infect
Game 1: I have Lightning Bolt and Fatal Push for this T1 and T2 plays, and once LOTV comes down he can't really put anything together.
My deck seems pretty well-suited to dealing with his already, and so I barely sideboard at all. I take out 1 Pack Rat for my Pithing Needle for his utility lands.
Game 2: He starts off with Noble Hierarch. I Thoughseize away Spell Pierce, but leave him with 2x Vines of Vastwood. He plays Spellskite. On my turn I attempt to Fatal Push his Hierarch while he's still tapped out to avoid the Vines. He doesn't redirect with Spellskite. He doesn't have another creature to play on his turn, and my T3 LOTV eats the skite. Once again the game quickly ends with a combination of LOTV +1s and Goblin Rabblemaster.
I've been testing this now, and it's super fun:
// 10 Artifact
4 Expedition Map
4 Talisman of Progress
2 Oblivion Stone
// 14 Creature
4 Walking Ballista
4 Solemn Simulacrum
3 Thalia's Lancers
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
// 6 Instant
4 Path to Exile
2 Blessed Alliance
4 Urza's Tower
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Mine
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Gemstone Caverns
8 Plains
// 6 Planeswalker
4 Karn Liberated
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
// 1 Sorcery
1 Tezzeret's Gambit
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Celestial Purge
1 Disenchant
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Tamiyo's Journal
2 Rest in Peace
1 Field of Ruin
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Wrath of God
The sideboard is still a work in progress. But I think Blessed Alliance instead of wraths in the mainboard has been the most impactful change. Eases the strain on colors, while giving you more early interaction. Plus, when you have lots of mana later on, you're free to escalate twice to really take advantage of the card. I added the Wurmcoil to give a 6 mana play besides Elspeth, and as a slight hedge against burn in the main (in addition to Blessed Alliance).
Tezzeret's Gambit probably seems like a weird choice, but after lots of practice games, I realized the deck only truly loses to itself if you can't get to 4 mana for a Sad Robot. (Also, the only other play for 3 mana is laying down an Oblivion Stone for later.) So the Gambit gives something to do at 3 mana that should help you bridge to 4.
In games 2/3, obviously you side out all the moon effects vs mono red. Against hatebears I keep the magus and 1 moon in if they're running a lot of utility lands, but I'm not sure if that's correct or not.
Fast go-wide strategies seem to be the bad matchups for this build. (I lost badly to BW tokens too.) Game 1s are very difficult and the postboard ones hinge on drawing a sweeper in the early turns. It's why I went up to a 2nd Pyroclasm in the side.
Good luck vs the elves!
The list beats grixis death shadow and delver handily, which is part of why my results are good. Because Blood Moon represents much of its disruption, it tends to do poorly vs creature heavy mono color decks like mono white hatebears and mono red goblins.
I went to my 2nd ever Modern tournament and went 3-0-1 with B/R, coming in 3rd. The draw conceivably could have been a win, as I was beating down without resistance under Blood Moon when turns ran out. There were 35-40 people at the tournament. The decks I played against were R/G Titanshift, UW Control, Esper Control, and Infect. I think the Demigod of Revenge and Faithless Looting builds are super interesting; however, I was worried about the collateral damage from all of the Surgical Extraction being played in basically everything nowadays. So I went with a slightly more aggressive approach:
4 Dark Confidant
4 Pack Rat
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Magus of the Moon
SPELLS
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Fatal Push
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Terminate
3 Blood Moon
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
4 Swamp
4 Blood Crypt
4 Mutavault
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Mountain
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Pithing Needle
2 Rakdos Charm
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Pyroclasm
2 Collective Brutality
1 Fulminator Mage
Match 1 vs R/G Titanshift
Game 1: I am new to Modern, and unfamiliar with many of the decks/interactions. For some reason, when I drew Blood Moon, I had in my mind "Why would I want to make all his lands Mountains? Then they'll ALL trigger Valakut!!!1" So I wound up discarding 3 Blood Moons to LOTV before dying to a Primeval Titan. Pretty much right after the game ended, I realized my mistake, and asked my opponent never to tell anyone about it ever.
Game 2: He accelerates mana. I play Dark Confidant, which he bolts. I play Pack Rat, and on his T3 he uses Chandra, Torch of Defiance to minus and kill it. Then on my turn I play Goblin Rabblemaster and kill Chandra with the haste token. He stalled on 4 lands with no answers to my creature, so I won 2 turns after.
Game 3: A T3 Blood Moon followed by a T4 Goblin Rabblemaster he can't answer makes for another quick win.
1-0
At this point I was pretty excited to even have won once.
Match 2 vs UW Control
Game 1: I went first. My opening hand had Blood Moon. My T1 Thoughtseize showed that he had 2 Flooded Strand and a Celestial Colonnade for lands. I took his 1 Serum Visions and left him with a bunch of late game cards. On my T3, I decided to not play the Blood Moon to see if he would crack the fetches for non-basics at the end of my turn, which he did. The following turn I used IOK to clear the way and then he lost because he had only Mountains.
Game 2: He stopped 2 consecutive Liliana of the Veil, but could not stop the 3rd
2-0
At this point I'm starting to believe that I'm just playing with a pile of individually powerful cards that are carrying me to victory. I don't really mind.
Match 3 vs Esper Control
Game 1: I clear the way with discard for a T3 LOTV, and start ticking up. On his T5 though, he randomly hardcasts a Leyline of Sanctity, which stops me from -6ing him the next turn. However, by that time, the game had basically already progressed to me discarding my draw to Pack Rat each turn and then +1 LOTV. He is quickly overrun. LOTV ends the game on 11 Loyalty.
Game 2: He sideboarded heavily. Even though I didn't play any moon effects in G1, he brought in Esper Charms anticipating them. He also fetched for all basics at the start of the game. Several charms and several Celestial Purge took out numerous Blood Moon and Liliana of the Veil, among other things. The thing I like about this deck is each creature can more or less win the game on its own if left unchecked. So he wound up having to use 4x Supreme Verdict, each on only a single copy of either Goblin Rabblemaster or Pack Rat. Well into the late game, when we were both nearly decked, I had an opening to play my last Pack Rat, mentally noting (and celebrating) that he'd already used up all his Supreme Verdict. And then he played Wrath of God. I lost to an Elspeth a few turns later.
Game 3: Game 2 had gone pretty long, and there was only about 6 minutes left. I got an opening hand light on threats but heavy on discard. In hindsight, I probably should have mulliganed for something more aggressive to try to win before time ran out. But at the time I was afraid of going from an all right 7 to a no land 6 or worse. On my T1, I Thoughtseize and take Celestial Purge. On T2, I Collective Brutality and take Path to Exile. On T3 I Thoughtseize again to take a 2nd Path to Exile, leaving him with a few Supreme Verdict. On T4 with the creature removal out of the way I play Magus of the Moon. His only basic is 1 plains. I start the Magus beatdowns, and even have some Lightning Bolts too, but it's not a fast enough clock to win before turn 5 in time.
2-0-1
At this point I was just happy he hadn't opened with his apparently maindecked Leylines in any of the 3 games.
Match 4 vs G/u Infect
Game 1: I have Lightning Bolt and Fatal Push for this T1 and T2 plays, and once LOTV comes down he can't really put anything together.
My deck seems pretty well-suited to dealing with his already, and so I barely sideboard at all. I take out 1 Pack Rat for my Pithing Needle for his utility lands.
Game 2: He starts off with Noble Hierarch. I Thoughseize away Spell Pierce, but leave him with 2x Vines of Vastwood. He plays Spellskite. On my turn I attempt to Fatal Push his Hierarch while he's still tapped out to avoid the Vines. He doesn't redirect with Spellskite. He doesn't have another creature to play on his turn, and my T3 LOTV eats the skite. Once again the game quickly ends with a combination of LOTV +1s and Goblin Rabblemaster.
Final record 3-0-1
The end.