So how are you supposed to beat the Anointed Procession tokens deck with Mono Red Aggro? I just played a matchup and the guy simply ran away with life gain getting up to 50 the first game and 70 the second game. Without Ferocidon there was simply nothing I could do.
You can sideboard in Sweltering Suns or if needed Hour of Devastation. Aside from that hit them with Glorybringer because they usually don't have fliers.
Yeah well I was hitting this dude with 2 Glorybringers but he was gaining like 12 a turn from lifelink and making tokens. Board wipes are the only way to win?
So how are you supposed to beat the Anointed Procession tokens deck with Mono Red Aggro? I just played a matchup and the guy simply ran away with life gain getting up to 50 the first game and 70 the second game. Without Ferocidon there was simply nothing I could do.
Yes it does affect your performance because you can't sideboard against 30 decks. I couldn't even sideboard against the 9 I played in the first three tournaments. There just isn't enough room in the sideboard. So you have to sideboard against certain matchups and then just "kick" other matchups and hope you don't see them. So for example I had no room in my SB the Kor Firewalkers I would have normally put in against Burn because my SB was devoted to things like Affinity and Tron. As such, I had no changes between games 1 and 2. Not good.
So if you don't see the matchups you kicked, you will do well in the tournament (or at least decent). If you do see them, you'll do poorly. And therein lies the problem. I don't want to go to a tournament where I might go 3-0 or I might go 0-3 simply depending on what I see. I'd rather go to a tournament knowing that if I play well I should at least pick up some wins no matter what I am seeing.
I've been playing Magic since 2008 and only just recently got into playing Modern a few weeks ago. I'm glad I came across this article because it puts into writing all of the gripes I have with the format and why I probably won't be playing it anymore. It's all just based on luck. As I have been playing, I've found it almost impossible to prepare for tournaments because I don't know what my opponents will be playing that particular night. I've found no matter what the matchup is, however, the point is usually to simply race me to their combo before I kill them. If they combo off, I lose. If they don't, I win. It's just a matter of whether or not they have the particular cards they need or whether or not I have the particular cards I need. Or more specifically in games two/three, which one of us draws the "you win" sideboard card first. That's not skill...and it's not really that fun either.
I've noticed that when I win games, I feel like I didn't deserve the win or make any decisions leading up to the win. I was just handed the win. The same is true of my losses. There is nothing I could have done differently in most of the games that could have changed the outcome. So what's really the point in playing?
I'll stick to draft, sealed, and standard until this format gets healthier.
So I listed a complete naya burn deck on ebay for sale and some guy sent me a lowball offer with the message that "I'd offer more but this isn't a very competitive deck." (Disclaimer it runs everything in the standardized deck list, including all fetches).
I messaged him back that it is a tier 1 deck and linked this thread and he's like "no tier 1 decks for Modern are all $1,000 and up, this deck is casual at best."
Yes. When he played Journey to Nowhere I changed the setting before it resolved so that when he targeted my Commander, he would be exiled under Journey and not go into the Command zone. This worked as intended. He was exiled and showed up under Journey to Nowhere as normal. Then the next turn I O-Ringed Journey. The ability triggered which said when Journey to Nowhere leaves the battlefield return the creature exiled with it to the battlefield, but with that on the stack, my Commander instantly shot into the Command zone for seemingly no reason.
You can't move it to the Command Zone if it would enter the battlefield. It will just enter the battlefield.
Also worth noting is that the effect putting it into the Command Zone is a choice made by that card's owner. If you don't want to put it into the Command Zone you don't have to.
That's what I thought as well. Apparently MTGO disagrees because when I O-Ringed his Journey the Commander immediately moved into my Command Zone for some odd reason when we had both expected it to hit the battlefield.
Guy casts Journey to Nowhere on my Commander. I chose to let it go into Exile. I cast Oblivion Ring on Journey to Nowhere. Does the Commander re-enter the battlefield as the card states, or enter the Command zone?
Another question: why do we play Destructive Revelry over Shattering Spree? Yes Revelry hits enchantments an deals 2 but doesn't a Chalice of the Void shut us DOWN? Wouldn't it be better to have a playset of Shattering Spree to potentially destroy Chalices? Also Spree seems better against Affinity too, just blow up their whole board.
Searing Blaze is an amazing card against creature decks (stuff like Elves, Collected Company decks, Infect), because it says "RR: Lightning Bolt a player and Lightning Bolt a creature that player controls", but it's going to be dead against decks without many creatures (and would get sideboarded out). It gets worse in multiples, but you should be able to trigger landfall enough times to deal 3 with it.
If the Liliana Zombie deck had creatures in play, Searing Blaze is a live card. If they have a Bloodghast, it might feel bad using it as a fog, but it still deals damage.
Blaze should be good against Delver decks, and Burn is strong against Delver decks. The Burn mirror is something you just have to learn. The player who wins is generally the one who gets recurring damage from creatures through, and Blaze keeps your gameplan going by dealing damage to the player while it kills one of their recurring damage sources.
I was running 2 Skullcrack and 4 Searing Blaze I may go up to 4 Skullcrack and 2 Searing Blaze.
I won game one in the mirror. He got game two because he dropped a Swiftspear turn 3. I Searing Blazed it and he double bolted me. It survived and I took 9. Couldn't come back.
Game three he won because he stuck a Kor Firewalker. Nothing I could do after that - thus 4 Skullcracks might be better.
So I just started playing modern literally tonight. I went ahead and picked up a pretty standard burn list. Can anybody tell me why Searing Blaze is good? It was a dead card every single time I drew it. I went 1-2 at the tournament tonight and when I lost it was because I had one to two Searing Blaze in hand and he was under five life so had I had anything else, I would have won it.
I lost to Burn - which from what I understand Searing Blaze is supposed to be good so I didn't side it out.
I beat Delver. Then I lost to a zombie deck that used several lilianas, a lot of kill spells, and a lot of hand discarding.
This is very similar to Daniel Fournier's 9-1 PT Ixalan list. I think the only difference I see in the main is 2 Crasher/3 Ferocidon where he had 1/4.
I'm thinking of running something close to that list as well, but have gone to 3 Shock and 2 Magma Spray in the main (may swap the numbers), which allows me to run 2 Defeat in the side where he didn't. One thing that I've noticed though, is the differing opinions on how to side against Temur/4c. I've seen some articles say to bring in Harvester, Glorybringer, Chandra, (and taking out Abrade), but others say to not try to "out-mid-range" them, and stay aggressive, bringing in Harsh Mentor, Chandra's Defeat, and extra Abrades. Which is a better plan?
Also, I get that Blazing Volley is one sided, but is it not worth trying Fiery Cannonade instead? It seems a little more versatile than Volley, becoming (among other things) a board wipe in the mirror.
I just 3-0'd my LGS standard showdown and I can attest that Fiery Cannonade wrecked mono-white vamps. Wiping their board on their own turn makes it almost impossible for them to recover.
Yeah well I was hitting this dude with 2 Glorybringers but he was gaining like 12 a turn from lifelink and making tokens. Board wipes are the only way to win?
So if you don't see the matchups you kicked, you will do well in the tournament (or at least decent). If you do see them, you'll do poorly. And therein lies the problem. I don't want to go to a tournament where I might go 3-0 or I might go 0-3 simply depending on what I see. I'd rather go to a tournament knowing that if I play well I should at least pick up some wins no matter what I am seeing.
Tournament 1
Naya Burn
8 Rack
Humans
Tournament 2
Emrakul Ramp
Affinity
Ad Naseum Combo
Tournament 3
Spirits
Eldrazi tron
Dredge
9 games, 9 different decks.
I've noticed that when I win games, I feel like I didn't deserve the win or make any decisions leading up to the win. I was just handed the win. The same is true of my losses. There is nothing I could have done differently in most of the games that could have changed the outcome. So what's really the point in playing?
I'll stick to draft, sealed, and standard until this format gets healthier.
I messaged him back that it is a tier 1 deck and linked this thread and he's like "no tier 1 decks for Modern are all $1,000 and up, this deck is casual at best."
What on earth?
That's what I thought as well. Apparently MTGO disagrees because when I O-Ringed his Journey the Commander immediately moved into my Command Zone for some odd reason when we had both expected it to hit the battlefield.
I was running 2 Skullcrack and 4 Searing Blaze I may go up to 4 Skullcrack and 2 Searing Blaze.
I won game one in the mirror. He got game two because he dropped a Swiftspear turn 3. I Searing Blazed it and he double bolted me. It survived and I took 9. Couldn't come back.
Game three he won because he stuck a Kor Firewalker. Nothing I could do after that - thus 4 Skullcracks might be better.
So I just started playing modern literally tonight. I went ahead and picked up a pretty standard burn list. Can anybody tell me why Searing Blaze is good? It was a dead card every single time I drew it. I went 1-2 at the tournament tonight and when I lost it was because I had one to two Searing Blaze in hand and he was under five life so had I had anything else, I would have won it.
I lost to Burn - which from what I understand Searing Blaze is supposed to be good so I didn't side it out.
I beat Delver. Then I lost to a zombie deck that used several lilianas, a lot of kill spells, and a lot of hand discarding.
I just 3-0'd my LGS standard showdown and I can attest that Fiery Cannonade wrecked mono-white vamps. Wiping their board on their own turn makes it almost impossible for them to recover.