MTG Salvation

Well. Don't think I've posted in here for a bit, but I have been continued playing versions of RW Prison off and on for the past few months. This weekend, I took a Suppression Field build to the Modern open. My recent efforts have been trying to find a path to beating control decks (Jeskai/Grixis), while retaining the good matchups against aggro, combo, and tron. That said, the field was overwhelmingly Infect, Eldrazi, Burn, and Affinity. On day 1, the only match I played that felt unwinnable was against RG Breach Ramp. Some close losses against Grixis Delver and Burn left me 6-3 at the end of the day, just enough to make me the only RW player into day 2. Sunday didn't go so well though, and I left at 8-6. Had some pretty terrible luck, but overall I was happy with the deck. The main change I would make is going up to 4 Chalices, and 3 SSG, maybe cutting Mindcensors. They are just so hard to use effectively.

Quote from KrackShott »

Have you tweaked your build at all since taking down the IQ?

I have about 6 flex slots that I change around depending on how I feel on a given day. Chalices, mana tithes, burn spells, pyroclasms. The core of the deck, prisons + magi + LD, is always solid. Unfortunate;y I wasn't able to make it to regionals last weekend, thanks to my car blowing up the day before. Not sure what the next significant modern event I'll be at is.

My testing against any of the Eldrazi aggro builds has been generally favorable. Only really lose to their best draws, e.g. multiple mimics into smasher on turn 3-4. They play no removal except Dismember, which doesn't kill Magus's fat ass. Only card to worry about is ratchet bomb, really, if they can get one early enough and sit it on 3.

Quote from drmarkb »

Sorry to Necro your quote, but the Lantern match has been intriguing me. I am getting half decent results with it- my list is quite close to yours, but I am running 4 Suppression field and a chalice over Fulminators, a wildfire and Ajani. Wondering if that is the difference? Game 2 my 4 Stony Silence, a Chalice and 3 Leylines have been effective, replacing the Bridge/Pyroclasm/Ghostly Prison cards. The S Field is really great against them if it resolves, slowing them to a crawl to enable more landkill to get ahead. Granted I have a bit more direct damage via Megaliths, a Roiling Terrain and an Outpost Siege that can be set in the "wrong" mode, but as I don't run Ajani I lose some too.

That build really had no shot against Lantern. Given that they board up to 8 discard spells, an opener with a Stony is just worse than one without, and the window to topdeck one is small. Since that tournament, I've gone to Leylines in the board, as well as a Kataki. And I might go back to Chalices in the main, if I think beating Lantern is a concern. Still probably a bad matchup overall, just too many dead cards, but not entirely unwinnable.

Hah. Owner of my LGS was putting some foil Boom//Busts in the display case when I walked in the other day, and said thanks to me for the $25 price tag. Not that I've seen anyone else wanting to play the deck really.

I've gone back and forth on Mana Tithes myself. I do like the idea of lowering my curve a bit, but I make an effort not to have dead cards. Still undecided. I do like the idea of a Roiling Terrain as a random finisher, going to test that in place of Riders.

I have moved to 3 Leylines in the board as well, for the black Eldrazi matchup, as well as Liliana decks, and of course burn.

Yeah, Keranos was often my name with Nevermore, in URx matchups. Even with Twin gone, the shell will still be around, as Jeskai/Grixis control. However, if everyone really bandwagons over to Tron/Eldrazi like some people seem to think, I'm a happy guy. Will probably be removing Bridge from the deck now, maybe put an Anger in the main, or another Helix. Affinity and Burn/Zoo will probably be on the rise as well.

Twin matchup can go either way. I'm going to lose to a hand full of Pierce/Remand/Cryptic, but they won't always have that. They have to keep countering the LD spells or fall behind on tempo, then as soon as they falter, I slam a Prison. Game 1, with a Prison in play, I have all the time in the world to eventually resolve a Bust/Worldfire. It's actually the post-board games that get a bit more difficult. They usually mostly bail on the combo and go UR Control, and a resolved Keranos is a problem, if they can counter enough LD to get to 5. I've gone back and forth on 1-2 Celestial Purge in the board, but it just feels too narrow. Winning usually involves resolving a Bust, via Boseiju/Defense Grid.

I mean... Siege forces you to play the cards on your turn as well, only it has to be that turn; you can't save them for later. The deck plays mostly at sorcery speed anyway, aside from bolt/helix and Mindcensor, and I really don't mind having to play those on my turn in exchange for drawing two a turn. Lots of decks just scoop to the Bridge + Cloister lock, especially game 1, and they end up so afraid of it that they bring in all their artifact hate post board. When, in reality, I only play a few artifacts, and often actually board bridge out, so they are stuck with dead cards getting locked out by Prison + Magus. GG.

Copy away. Wildfire is indeed awesome. Especially post Magus.
I've honestly had the opposite question. Why would one play Siege over Cloister? Drawing a card, comboing with bridge, and protecting from discard seems better than exiling a card you may or may not be able/want to cast that turn.

Hi guys. Don't think I've posted in this thread, but I've been playing a RW LD Prison deck for a little while, and just managed to take down a SCG IQ with it this weekend. I'm constantly changing a few cards around, trying to find an optimal build, but this is what I ran this time. Comments welcome.



Matches were:
R1: 5-color Zoo 2-0
R2: Lantern Control 0-2
R3: BR Stuff 2-0
R4: Abzan 2-1
R5: Boggles 2-1
T8: Doran 2-1
T4: Blitz Zoo 2-0
T2: Living End 2-0

Finals was a hoot, with us LDing each other back and forth, but I'm just better at that game. Deck has some unwinnable matchups, like Lantern Control, but anything creature-based is a breeze.

My bad on Nissa; I was thinking she cost 4. Haven't played her in a while, and mainly as a finisher after going infinite. Though, there were a handful of times where I just cast her on turn 4-5 and killed control opponents who had boarded in enchantment hate in place of Downfalls. Meta has changed though, and no one really plays things like Erase anymore. Languish is also a thing now. The midrange/control decks are my good matchups. It's the aggro decks that I lose to, which is why I made an effort to lean down/speed up the deck. If truly no one were playing aggro, sure, I'd bring in planeswalkers and Den Protector to make the slow matchups even better, but that's not the world in which I live. If I were to play a Xenagos, it would basically have to replace the Altar, and I am struggling to compare how many games a topdecked Xenagos would save me versus how many games can only be won with an Altar in the deck. I am skeptical, but I won't rule it out for testing.

If you want to play a 4 mana planeswalker that both interacts with the combo and can be a wincon on its own, Nissa, Worldwaker is miles better than Xenagos, the Reveler. I had one in the main before I cut down to a lower creature count, as I just never really wanted a 4-drop in my deck. Same reason I don't see the use of Den Protector, effectively a 5-drop. The strengths of this deck are speed and difficult interactivity; the last things I want are to slow the deck down and present more targets for removal. Jace is... ok, but does little to undo a mulligan like Humble Defector does. I would like him better if flipping him were optional.

The reason for Altar of the Brood is simply to allow a kill with only one creature in play. The speeds up the deck at least a turn on average, and makes it more possible to play through sweepers.

For reference, this is what I have been playing most recently, to decent success:

4-2 at a local PPTQ this weekend. Deck was great, no one was prepared for it, just got a bit too unlucky in my win-and-in match. Quite disappointing.

Wins: UG Midrange, Mardu Warriors, Jeskai Aggro, Goblins
Losses: MonoRed Aggro, GW Aggro

Got paired against MonoRed round one, lost the die roll, and died on turn 4 both games. As normal. It was the loss to GW that was depressing. Game one I somehow managed to fizzle after going through half of my library without finding a Helix, getting attacked down to 1, and being unable to cast DTT due to my only blue land being a Yavimaya Coast. Won game 2 easily, then mulled to five game 3, and couldn't do anything. Dream crushed.

I have tried various Astronomer builds, with or without Herald of the Pantheon, and scrapped it. It just requires way too many moving parts to work, and folds to removal. Digging for an Ascendancy, getting it into play, then dying with a hand/board full of crappy creatures instead of any way to trigger the Ascendancy feels bad. The idea of building this deck without Commune with the Gods and Dig Through Time just baffles me.

Jace is just bad in this deck. Flipping him is actively worse than just having a looter, and I would rather play Humble Defector to actually draw cards anyway.

Sphinx's Tutelage is a decent alternate win condition in grindy matchups, but I certainly wouldn't play it instead of Twinflame and/or Altar of the Brood kills. 1-2 copies in the board is plenty, if at all.

Meh. Languish is no more of a problem than Anger of the Gods ever was, and it comes a turn slower. Avoid overextending, and protect with Swan Song if possible.