"sea gate works for grindy late game match ups, but you definitely don't want to be running tapped lands. this deck is already slow when we don't draw the temples/dorks, adding tapped lands cripple us."
I agree with this. I don't think you want to slow the deck down even more.
I noticed that i keep getting flooded with lands on this deck. what if we reduced the nbr of lands to 22 instead of 24?
You can certainly try it. I didn't have many problems flooding out at Dallas but that doesn't mean the deck isn't prone to it. I also welcomed the extra lands if it was a displacer matchup. I would be cautious in messing with the lands to reduce the odds of you casting a turn two thought-knot and a turn three smasher. This becomes problematic if you decide to add lands that come into play tapped like man lands.
Greetings all! Long time lurker, I love this thread.
I recently gathered everything for Bant Eldrazi after briefly playing the BW Eldrazi and Taxes deck. Really I just wanted an excuse to play DJ-TK and the SmashMan. Going to be playing at my local FNM this week, which is mostly fair decks with a handful of combo decks and fast decks (Jund, Jeskai Control, Affinity, Merfolk, and Burn are expected). This thread has been really useful in helping me figure out what the deck should look like before I adjust it for my meta.
I do have a couple questions though:
1. Burn seems like it could be a pretty abysmal match-up for us, and I frequently see 3+ players playing it at my LGS. Should I board additional lifegain like Timely Reinforcements along with my planned Thragtusk? How about Leyline of Sanctity? More counterspells maybe?
2. I really enjoyed Judge Sewall's write up, and his board looks solid. I do have some concerns about running Natural State over Nature's Claim. Is the lifegain that much of a downside when we're playing big fatties like Smasher and Drowner? Has the targeting restriction ever really mattered? Or is World Breaker such a good catch-all that the restriction doesn't matter?
Thanks for taking the time to read! May the spaghetti be ever in your favor.
I'm glad you enjoyed the write up. The rationale, at least to me, for Natural State over Nature's Claim is that you end up being the beatdown deck more than you might think and not being able to kill them one turn because of the lifegain could be huge. You also have to ask yourself, what artifact/enchantment would you be wanting to destroy in modern right now that isn't CMC 3 or less? Maybe some local players are playing something you are concerned with.
I like having Timely Reinforcements over Leyline against burn. If you have a heavy burn meta, I would definitely find room for two timely in the side. You can also play it on turn two with a bird/noble. Hope that helps!
Also, since I've been advocating for Thalia lately, which 2 drop did you like more? Thalia or Spellskite?
For this particular tournament I liked Thalia better. Spellskite wasn't as relevant simply because I did not draw it the times I really needed to (especially against infect). I still like having Spellskite in the main because infect is a top deck and you can find it off of a turn one stirrings.
I didn't take the best notes and I may have mixed up which rounds I certain matches. Hopefully it is still helpful.
Round 1: Protean Hulk Combo (Footsteps of the Goryo)
I've seen this deck in action before but I don't believe I've ever played again it. This was not the way I wanted to start the day because I was hoping to play against fair decks and dodge combo matchups. As expected, he crushes me game 1. I bring in Grafdigger's Cage, Pithing Needle (for Viscera Seer), Stubborn Denial, and Thalia. Game two I have Cage out so he starts trying to beat me down through the air with reveilark. He misplays and should have copied my Reality Smasher with Body Double. Because of this, I get to attack him for lethal with my eldrazi monsters. In game three I have Grafdigger's cage again and also play a Thalia to disrupt him. The Thalia does work and slows him down a lot. I keep beating him down for a while and he has one more turn to go off. I can't remember the logistics of it, but he somehow deals with my cage and goes for the combo. I have a path to disrupt it and I win the match.
2-1 (Overall 1-0)
Round 2: G/B Infect
My opponent tells me that he chose G/B infect because he thought it would be better against Jeskai Nahiri (because of Phyrexian Crusader). This version of infect is strictly worse against me and is too slow. I don't remember many of the logistics of the matchup but I do remember that he had big problems getting through my Matter Reshapers and flickering effects with Displacer. I win game one and bring in Engineered Explosives, Pithing Needle (for Inkmoth), Dismember, Stubborn Denial, and potentially Thalia. The combination of path, dismember, and pressure is too much for him and I take game 2.
2-0 (Overall 2-0)
Round 3: Nahiri Control
I don't have any notes about this match. Most of my deck is good against him and I cruise through this one. I do remember that I brought in pithing needle and named Nahiri with it game 2 and he had two in hand at the end of the match.
2-0 (Overall 3-0)
Round 4: Jund
Another matchup that I was wanting to face this weekend. The guy is from Puerto Rico and said he flew in just to play in the tournament. As with the match above, I don't have many notes. I do remember that in game two he had a Liliana with five counters and an empty board and I top deck Reality Smasher to take it down. Reshaper and Drowner really shine in this matchup. He gets one of the games but I get the other two.
2-1 (Overall 4-0)
Round 5: Abzan company
I cannot remember this round at all. I have in my notes that he had an Archangel of Thune in his hand from seeing it with Thought-Knot so he must have been playing the spike feeder combo. I'll have more insight into this matchup later but I just can't remember anything about this round.
2-0 (Overall 5-0)
Round 6: N/A
I looked through my notes and I'm not sure what I played. I'm thinking it was Jund but I'm not sure. Sorry guys. I do know that I win the match.
?-? (Overall 6-0)
Round 7: Infect
This time I get to play real deal infect and, what appears to be, a good infect player. He said he traveled from St. Louis with a bunch of friends. I'm pretty sure he is the infect player who gets 18th place (Tom Koson). He gets game one with a very good hand. Games 2 and 3 I bring in EE, needle (inkmoth), dismember, stubborn denial, and thalia. Game two Thalia disrupts him enough to get the beats in while keeping his threats at bay. I remember game three getting to the midgame by keeping his inkmonths back with pithing needle. As the game continues, Displacer takes over the game and he is never able to attack again with his creatures.
2-1 (Overall 7-0)
Round 8: Infect (Andrew Jessup)
At this point I am feeling really good about how I was performing. I get called to the feature match area to play Andrew Jessup (who finished 2nd in the tournament). I hear from other people before the match that he is on infect. There is not much to say about this match. He has excellent hands both games and stomps me. My friend told me he saw his opening 7 in game one and said it was unbeatable. In game 2, I have thalia out, but he has the perfect combination of cards to with through it.
0-2 (Overall 7-1)
Round 9: Bushwacker Zoo
This deck can be very explosive and difficult for me to stabilize against. He has a very aggressive hand in game one and stomps me. I am able to stabilize in game two (it also helps that he was mana screwed). Game three was very close. On the next turn I would be able to attack for lethal but he top decks the surge guy and that, combined with a boros charm, is enough to kill me.
1-2 (Overall 7-2)
I ended day 1 at 7-2. It was somewhat disappointing considering that I started 7-0, but I am happy to be making day two.
Round 10: Ad Nauseam
I play against Zac Elsik piloting Ad Nauseam. He crushes me game one as I don't have any disruption and my clock was too slow. I bring in Pithing Needle (lightning storm), Stony Silence, Natural State, Stubborn Denial, and Thalia. Unfortunately I mulligan to 5 in game two but I have a turn 2 Thalia. When I cast it he looked at his hand and said that Thalia was insane against him. Unfortunately, because I had to mulligan, I don't have much pressure to back it up and give him plenty of time to assemble his combo pieces. At the end of the game, I had three Cavern of souls, three eldrazi temples, thalia, and a displacer in play (one of the caverns named human for thalia). In hand I have Stony Silence, Natural State, and Ancient Stirrings. He kills me the turn before I find colored mana.
0-2 (Overall 7-3)
Round 11: Abzan Company
Game one he combos off and I don't have a fast enough clock or enough paths to stop it. I bring in EE, Grafdigger's, Pithing Needle (viscera seer), and dismember. Games 2 and 3 come down to me having grafdigger's cage and him not being able to answer it in time. I was also able to disrupt him at the right times with path. He told me after the match that he brought in 6 or so cards just to deal with grafdigger's but he just couldn't find them in time.
2-1 (Overall 8-3)
Round 12: Bant Eldrazi
Game one he is on the play and has a faster draw than me. Games 2 and 3 I bring in Thragtusk, World Breaker, and Dismember. It may have been a mistake, but I also chose to take out my Spellskites. The rationale was that I wanted to be the one playing the threats and not the answers. He decided to keep his in. In game two, he has an early though-knot and sees my hand looking something like this: thragtusk, world breaker, reshaper, reality smahser, and thought-knot. He looks at it, laughs, and says "don't think I'm winning this one." Game three was very close. On the life pad I had 1 life to his 6 at the end of the game. It came down to drawing more threats and being able to flicker his reality smasher with a displacer.
2-1 (Overall 9-3)
Round 13: Abzan Company
I get to play Abzan Company for the third time. I was feeling ok about the matchup at this point since I had beaten it twice already. He combos me both games pretty quickly and I am unable to find cage in game 2.
0-2 (Overall 9-4)
Round 14: Merfolk
This was a difficult matchup. He was not only playing spreading sea's main, but also three or four copies of Sea's Claim. This was problematic because he had the potential to cut me off from colorless mana. He steamrolls me game one, especially because his creatures were unblockable. I bring in EE, needle (vial or mutavault depending on situation), and natural state. I don't remember much about game two other than that I won because I was able to dismember a master of waves at a key moment. Game three he was on the play and leads with an aether vial. I lead with a needle naming vial. He kept a land light hand and played three creatures the whole game. I cast a turn 2 thought-knot (off two temples) and a turn three smasher. He cannot recover.
2-1 (Overall 10-4)
Round 15: Affinity
At this point I was feeling the pressure because if I won this match I would make top 32. When he begins the game by playing lots of artifacts I sigh and realize I'm probably not getting game one. He kills me with inkmoth before I can get anything going. Games two and three I bring in needle (various targets), stony silence, dismember, and natural state. Game two I start out with a noble. He turn one thoughtseizes me and takes my stony silence; however, he has a pretty fair hand and the game starts to drag on. Displacer slowly started taking over the game and he eventually had to start chump blocking my spaghetti monsters. Game three I had to mulligan to five so I'm not feeling good about my chances. He leads on a glimmervoid and a vault skirge and passes the turn. I fetch and cast natural state on his vault skirge and then his glimmervoid is sacrificed end of turn. He plays another artifact and then I slam stony silence (I can picture Thalia throwing her hand in the air in triumph at this point). A couple of turns later I cast a reality smasher and the game is over.
2-1 (Overall 11-4)
I finished in 28th place and it feels nice to know that people are seeing my name and list in the top 32 section on the SCG website. Overall, I really liked the deck. It somewhat feels like Jund in the fact that it is a pile of good cards but it gets to go bigger than the midrange decks of the format and can play the long game very well with displacer and drowner. The infect matchup feels slightly unfavored but is winnable with early removal and displacer. In general, I would play this deck if you want to be favorable against the fair decks of the format (jund, grixis, jeskai, etc.) but still want to have game against the unfair decks. If you play this deck, you will lose most of your game 1 matches against combo decks; however, the sideboard should help you out and hopefully you can drop turn two thought-knots to take key elements from their hands. When picking things to take out, here is a general rule of thumb: against combo, side out most if not all drowners, paths (depending on the combo), and potentially shave ancient stirrings and/or reshaper. Against infect, shave on one or two drowner (card is good but really slow), reshaper, and stirrings. I also found myself taking out spellskites when I was firmly in the beatdown role.
As a funny side note, I named "snake" three times with cavern of souls during the tournament just to try to tilt my opponent. When I named it, either they were not playing counter magic or I already had two caverns in play.
I've been testing out Bant Eldrazi for the past three weeks now at my local gaming store for SCG Dallas next weekend. My overall record is 10-3. My three loses were to Allies (lots of lifegain), Boggles (he path'd my spellskites), and Primeval Titan/Valakut. Based on my testing, I added two Thalia, Guardian of Thraben to the sideboard. Here is the list I plan to take to SCG Dallas.
Although I can't remember every deck I won against, I know I beat infect (twice), grixis control (twice), U/B control, affinity, Tron, and elves. Any thoughts or suggests are appreciated.
Hi everyone. I've been testing this list the past month in preparation for SCG Dallas at the end of October. I am currently 13-1 with the list (losing to U/B mill) in local tournaments. I wanted to share my most recent list and tournament report for feedback. Here is what I ran yesterday:
Round 1: Grixis Control
I have found Grixis Control to be a favorable matchup for the deck. The entire first game he only saw one tron land but I was still able to get there through value cards like Wurmcoil Engine and Hangarback Walker. The key to this matchup, to me, is resolving Wurmcoil Engine. This, combined with bringing it back with Academy Ruins, is typically good enough in game one. This is what happened for the first game and we moved to sideboard. I brought in the 2Spell Snares, Negate, Relic of Progenitus, and Dismember. Unfortunately I do not remember what I took out. In game two I played a Relic of Progenitus and he said "I just realized how good that card is against me." The relic got me a lot of value through the first five turns until he eventually had to destroy it. By that time I set up tron and a couple of turns later I was able to Mindslaver lock him.
2-0
Round 2: Soul Sisters
I haven't played against soul sisters with this version of deck but I think, at least on paper, it has to be a decent matchup. I win game one on the backs of two Wurmcoil Engines, the first one he path'd. Repeal was an absolutely insane card against him. I wish I could play 8 copies versus this deck. I sided in 2 Chalice of the Void, 2 Spell Snares, Oblivion Stone, Spellskite, Negate, and Dismember. I, again, did not keep notes on what I sided out. He wins game two because of a misplay on my part. In the late game, I had tron online and a Spellskite and Platinum Angel on my side of the board. He has me at negative life and I am chipping away at him in the air. He plays a four drop and I use all of my blue mana to counter it. He then blows up my Platinum Angel with a removal spell because I forgot you cannot pay life you do not have (e.g., can't switch to Spellskite without blue mana if you are negative life). We move on to game three where he gets a fast start with lots of small creatures. I am able to keep them away for a while with Repeals and eventually get tron online. A few turns later I am able to Mindslaver lock him with me at a low life total.
2-1
Round 3: Mardu Tokens
I have never played against Mardu Tokens but, as with Soul Sisters, I think it might be a good matchup. Game one isn't much to write home about. He does not play anything until trying to resolve a Liliana of the Veil on turn three and I have the Condescend ready (X=1). I cast a Wurmcoil Engine later in the game and he cannot find a Path to Exile to deal with it. I saw a decent amount of discard spells in game one and I figured he had more in game two so I side in my two copies of Leyline of Sanctity but I did not draw them :(. I also brought in Negate, Oblivion Stone, and 2 Spell Snares. In game three he uses a discard spell to take my only answer to Figure of Destiny. The next turn he levels it up with three mana on the attack and I use my top deck'd Repeal to blow him out of the water. He is very upset but I play four copies for a reason. A couple of turns later I blow up all of his lands with Sundering Titan and he never recovers.
2-0
Round 4: Jeskai Twin
This deck plays Geist of Saint Traft, a bunch of burn, and the twin combo backed up by cheap counterspells. He is on the play game one which turns out to make a large difference. He is able to tempo me with Remands and Spell Snare on my Dimir Signet. This, combined with a turn three Geist of Saint Traft, was enough for him to get game two. I sided in the Negate, 2 Spell Snare, Spellskite, and possibly another Oblivion Stone just for Geist of Saint Traft. Game two was not much of a match because he gets stuck on two mana. I don't remember much more than that. The game did not last long. In game three we both do a lot of nothing in the opening turns except resolve draw spells and I resolve a copy or two of Dimir Signet. As the game progressed, however, I was gaining incremental advantage with my lands and was eventually able to assemble tron. At this point, he had plenty of counter magic, but it was soft permission (e.g., Mana Leak). I try to resolve a Mindslaver and he makes me pay extra with a Mana Leak so I can't activate it that turn. The following turn I was able to activate it plus put the lock in place. From his perspective, he was never really able to put early pressure on me or threaten the combo and by the time he had relevant threats I could easily go over the top with tron.
2-1
Overall, I am extremely happy with the mainboard. The only card I'm on the fence about is Hangarback Walker. I've only cast it one time and that was against the Grixis Control player. I think it's probably better against aggro decks, but Solemn Simulacrum allows for an accelerated Wurmcoil Engine against those decks without tron online. So it's a give and take. Both are good against the mid-range decks. I think I am going to continue to try a 1/1 split for now.
I'm on the fence about having 2 Chalice of the Void in the sideboard. I see their utility, but I haven't gotten much out of them yet, although, to be fair, I don't think I've played against many decks where they can really shine (e.g., Living End, Affinity). I am constantly changing the sideboard around so any tips or suggestions are welcome. Thanks for any feedback in advance.
Hi everyone. Wanted to provide you with a quick tournament report from a local event last weekend. I am working on the deck and planning on taking it to the SCG Modern Open in Dallas at the end of October. Here is what I'm working with right now and the tournament report:
Round 1: American Control
This was a good matchup overall but I wasn't sure if I was playing against a twin variant or not so I played fairly conservatively to keep up counterspells. It turns out she was playing straight American control. Sundering Titan was a key card in both games putting her out of the game. Especially when it was backed up with a Pact of Negation.
2-0
Round 2: Ad Nauseam
In game one I played a tempo game with Remand, Condescend, and Repeal and was eventually able to win the game with the Mindslaver lock. In game two he was on the play and a little faster. When he tried to go off he had two Pact of Negation to stop my counterspells and resolved an Ad Nauseam. By that time I had hit him twice with a Wurmcoil Engine and he could not kill me with what was left in his deck.
2-0
Round 3: Naya Company
In game one he was out to a fast start with Noble Hierarch and Loxodon Smiter. I eventually established tron and at one point could generate between 15 and 20 mana; however, I was unable to find a big finish card and he overwhelmed me. In game two I was on the play and he led out with a Noble Hierarch. On my turn I cast Repeal bouncing it to his hand. It turns out he was on a one lander and could just replay his creature. Fortunately I had another Repeal and set him even further behind. This set the pace for the rest of the match where I had plenty of tempo plays and blockers to delay the game until I had the combo lock. Game 3 was a good game and lasted for a while. At one point I cast three Remands on a Collected Company but was unable to find anything important when drawing the cards. He eventually resolved it and had various small creatures out including Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Kataki, War's Wage. He also cast a Blood Moon which put me under additional pressure. Fortunately I drew Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and had the nine mana available to cast it through Thalia. I cast it and cleared his board. He was unable to recover and I eventually won the game.
2-1
Round 4: American Control
We decided to intentionally draw but wanted to play it out for fun. There isn't much to report here because the matchup was so much in my favor. As with round one, Sundering Titan was a great card and wrecked his manabase. He was able to play and flip a Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and get some value out of it but it did not matter. Mono-Blue tron can go over the top of these types of decks very easily. Pact of Negation was again a great card combined with some of the large threats.
2-0
Overall I am very happy with the maindeck. I saw other people discussing Hangarback Walker and I think that could be a great addition. I think I will test some copies out. I could see playing two in the main and one in the side. Trying to find room is always the difficult part but the upside could be worth it. I highly encourage you to play some copies of Spell Snare in the sideboard. They come in against most of our bad matchups and have been great for me so far. I would love any input you might have for the deck and I'm going to keep working on it until SCG Dallas at the end of October. Hopefully I can play against lots of fair midrange and control decks :sunny:.
I've always been a fan of transformation sideboards and I was thinking about the possibility for this deck recently. Before reading further I want you to know that I am NOT advocating for this, just throwing it out as an idea. With that out of the way, I present a potential template for R/W Stax with a R/W Midrange transformation from the sideboard.
I took out 2 Magus of the Moon, 3 Ghostly Prison, 4 Ensnaring Bridge, 3 Anger of the Gods, 2 Leyline of Sanctity, 1 Warth of God and brought in the whole sideboard. What you take out would of course depend on what you were playing, but you get the idea. The things that HAVE to come out if you bring in the whole board would be Wrath, Bridge, Anger, but it's flexible outside of that. Also, if you are playing a great matchup already (like Affinity), you just keep everything the same and don't sideboard. Finally, even after sideboard, you get to keep the Chalice/Blood Moon plan if you want (like I did above). None of the sideboard cards cost one, so you can leave the Chalice's in to even protect your creatures against bolt/path.
With this setup, you get to blindside your opponent game one by playing Stax and blindside them again in game two when you go midrange on them. Anyways, just something to think about. Let me know what you think!
Yeah. Like I said, give it a try and let us know what you think. I am just skeptical because Chalice of the Void is so good. Additionally, Myth Realized is not great against Abrupt Decay, a card already great against us. It also gets hits by the enchantment removal out of the board AND probably won't be able to attack through our own Ensnaring Bridge. Do I think Myth Realized is good? Yes, but with the type of R/W Stax I play I don't think it would be an option.
With Myth Realized though, this strat has an AMAZING enchantment based threat that dodges all of our own board sweeps then smashes their face.
I do agree that Myth Realized could provide another angle of attack for the deck; however, I think you would have to abandon the Chalice of the Void strategy which is something I'm not willing to give up. It is an interesting win condition and I encourage you to give it a shot and report back. I just think that Chalice is too strong to let go.
Round 1: Green Homebrew
Not sure what all this guy had in his deck. Just a casual homebrew. He was nice but never found more than two lands in his deck.
2-0
Round 2: Werewolves
I had never played against werewolves before but it was a cool deck. He didn't have a sideboard and I won both games with Ensnaring Bridge. Not really much to report about this one.
2-0
Round 3: 4 Color Control
In the first game Blood Moon locks him up for the first part of the game; however, he started finding basics and started climbing back. He eventually got game one by bouncing an Ensnaring Bridge with Cryptic Command and attacking for lethal with Tasigur and friends.
Round 4: Angels
Out of the five rounds in the FNM, I ended up playing what I would consider 3 budget or really fringe decks. This guy's deck included a bunch of angels. He actually won game one because I couldn't find an Ensnaring Bridge and he just beat me to death in the air.
Both games two and three I had bridge out and it stopped him.
2-1
Round 5: Junk
Junk can be a swingy matchup and it really depends on if they have abrupt decay at the right moment. Game one I had a turn two Blood Moon and I eventually lock him out of the game. In game two I mulligan to six with no Leyline and he strips my hand apart and attacks me for lethal fairly quickly. Game three was grindy but I was able to get there off of the back of Leyline (always bring in four against Junk, it stops two modes of Liliana!!), Nevermore naming Abrupt Decay, and Ajani (which eventually blew up all of his lands). In case you were curious, for this matchup I brought in Elspeth, Wrath, Nevermore, 2x Leyline, Wurmcoil, RIP, and Baneslayer. I took out 4x Chalice, 2x Lightning Helix, 1 Anger, and 1 Prison.
2-1
Overall I went 4-1, but with three of the decks fairly budget. I think I want to do a 2/2 split between Anger and Wrath in the main instead of a 3/1 Split, especially since Delver is a smaller part of the metagame. There were two affinity decks that did well in the tournament. I REALLY wanted to play them but unfortunately didn't get the chance to.
Hi everyone. Sorry I haven't posted in a little bit. I gave up on Stax with Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time in the format; however, I feel that it is much better positioned now. How has everyone changed their list based on the bannings?
I agree with this. I don't think you want to slow the deck down even more.
You can certainly try it. I didn't have many problems flooding out at Dallas but that doesn't mean the deck isn't prone to it. I also welcomed the extra lands if it was a displacer matchup. I would be cautious in messing with the lands to reduce the odds of you casting a turn two thought-knot and a turn three smasher. This becomes problematic if you decide to add lands that come into play tapped like man lands.
I'm glad you enjoyed the write up. The rationale, at least to me, for Natural State over Nature's Claim is that you end up being the beatdown deck more than you might think and not being able to kill them one turn because of the lifegain could be huge. You also have to ask yourself, what artifact/enchantment would you be wanting to destroy in modern right now that isn't CMC 3 or less? Maybe some local players are playing something you are concerned with.
I like having Timely Reinforcements over Leyline against burn. If you have a heavy burn meta, I would definitely find room for two timely in the side. You can also play it on turn two with a bird/noble. Hope that helps!
For this particular tournament I liked Thalia better. Spellskite wasn't as relevant simply because I did not draw it the times I really needed to (especially against infect). I still like having Spellskite in the main because infect is a top deck and you can find it off of a turn one stirrings.
Leading up to the tournament I had been testing Bant Eldrazi at my LGS and had been relatively successful with the list. Based on testing and needing something early to disrupt combo decks, I added 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben to the board. Here is the deck I registered for the tournament: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=104425
For ease, here is the decklist:
2 Spellskite
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Drowner of Hope
4 Eldrazi Displacer
1 Eldrazi Skyspawner
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
Lands (24)
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Breeding Pool
3 Brushland
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Eldrazi Temple
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
2 Yavimaya Coast
4 Path to Exile
4 Ancient Stirrings
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Pithing Needle
1 Thragtusk
1 World Breaker
2 Stony Silence
2 Dismember
1 Natural State
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
I didn't take the best notes and I may have mixed up which rounds I certain matches. Hopefully it is still helpful.
Round 1: Protean Hulk Combo (Footsteps of the Goryo)
I've seen this deck in action before but I don't believe I've ever played again it. This was not the way I wanted to start the day because I was hoping to play against fair decks and dodge combo matchups. As expected, he crushes me game 1. I bring in Grafdigger's Cage, Pithing Needle (for Viscera Seer), Stubborn Denial, and Thalia. Game two I have Cage out so he starts trying to beat me down through the air with reveilark. He misplays and should have copied my Reality Smasher with Body Double. Because of this, I get to attack him for lethal with my eldrazi monsters. In game three I have Grafdigger's cage again and also play a Thalia to disrupt him. The Thalia does work and slows him down a lot. I keep beating him down for a while and he has one more turn to go off. I can't remember the logistics of it, but he somehow deals with my cage and goes for the combo. I have a path to disrupt it and I win the match.
2-1 (Overall 1-0)
Round 2: G/B Infect
My opponent tells me that he chose G/B infect because he thought it would be better against Jeskai Nahiri (because of Phyrexian Crusader). This version of infect is strictly worse against me and is too slow. I don't remember many of the logistics of the matchup but I do remember that he had big problems getting through my Matter Reshapers and flickering effects with Displacer. I win game one and bring in Engineered Explosives, Pithing Needle (for Inkmoth), Dismember, Stubborn Denial, and potentially Thalia. The combination of path, dismember, and pressure is too much for him and I take game 2.
2-0 (Overall 2-0)
Round 3: Nahiri Control
I don't have any notes about this match. Most of my deck is good against him and I cruise through this one. I do remember that I brought in pithing needle and named Nahiri with it game 2 and he had two in hand at the end of the match.
2-0 (Overall 3-0)
Round 4: Jund
Another matchup that I was wanting to face this weekend. The guy is from Puerto Rico and said he flew in just to play in the tournament. As with the match above, I don't have many notes. I do remember that in game two he had a Liliana with five counters and an empty board and I top deck Reality Smasher to take it down. Reshaper and Drowner really shine in this matchup. He gets one of the games but I get the other two.
2-1 (Overall 4-0)
Round 5: Abzan company
I cannot remember this round at all. I have in my notes that he had an Archangel of Thune in his hand from seeing it with Thought-Knot so he must have been playing the spike feeder combo. I'll have more insight into this matchup later but I just can't remember anything about this round.
2-0 (Overall 5-0)
Round 6: N/A
I looked through my notes and I'm not sure what I played. I'm thinking it was Jund but I'm not sure. Sorry guys. I do know that I win the match.
?-? (Overall 6-0)
Round 7: Infect
This time I get to play real deal infect and, what appears to be, a good infect player. He said he traveled from St. Louis with a bunch of friends. I'm pretty sure he is the infect player who gets 18th place (Tom Koson). He gets game one with a very good hand. Games 2 and 3 I bring in EE, needle (inkmoth), dismember, stubborn denial, and thalia. Game two Thalia disrupts him enough to get the beats in while keeping his threats at bay. I remember game three getting to the midgame by keeping his inkmonths back with pithing needle. As the game continues, Displacer takes over the game and he is never able to attack again with his creatures.
2-1 (Overall 7-0)
Round 8: Infect (Andrew Jessup)
At this point I am feeling really good about how I was performing. I get called to the feature match area to play Andrew Jessup (who finished 2nd in the tournament). I hear from other people before the match that he is on infect. There is not much to say about this match. He has excellent hands both games and stomps me. My friend told me he saw his opening 7 in game one and said it was unbeatable. In game 2, I have thalia out, but he has the perfect combination of cards to with through it.
0-2 (Overall 7-1)
Round 9: Bushwacker Zoo
This deck can be very explosive and difficult for me to stabilize against. He has a very aggressive hand in game one and stomps me. I am able to stabilize in game two (it also helps that he was mana screwed). Game three was very close. On the next turn I would be able to attack for lethal but he top decks the surge guy and that, combined with a boros charm, is enough to kill me.
1-2 (Overall 7-2)
I ended day 1 at 7-2. It was somewhat disappointing considering that I started 7-0, but I am happy to be making day two.
Round 10: Ad Nauseam
I play against Zac Elsik piloting Ad Nauseam. He crushes me game one as I don't have any disruption and my clock was too slow. I bring in Pithing Needle (lightning storm), Stony Silence, Natural State, Stubborn Denial, and Thalia. Unfortunately I mulligan to 5 in game two but I have a turn 2 Thalia. When I cast it he looked at his hand and said that Thalia was insane against him. Unfortunately, because I had to mulligan, I don't have much pressure to back it up and give him plenty of time to assemble his combo pieces. At the end of the game, I had three Cavern of souls, three eldrazi temples, thalia, and a displacer in play (one of the caverns named human for thalia). In hand I have Stony Silence, Natural State, and Ancient Stirrings. He kills me the turn before I find colored mana.
0-2 (Overall 7-3)
Round 11: Abzan Company
Game one he combos off and I don't have a fast enough clock or enough paths to stop it. I bring in EE, Grafdigger's, Pithing Needle (viscera seer), and dismember. Games 2 and 3 come down to me having grafdigger's cage and him not being able to answer it in time. I was also able to disrupt him at the right times with path. He told me after the match that he brought in 6 or so cards just to deal with grafdigger's but he just couldn't find them in time.
2-1 (Overall 8-3)
Round 12: Bant Eldrazi
Game one he is on the play and has a faster draw than me. Games 2 and 3 I bring in Thragtusk, World Breaker, and Dismember. It may have been a mistake, but I also chose to take out my Spellskites. The rationale was that I wanted to be the one playing the threats and not the answers. He decided to keep his in. In game two, he has an early though-knot and sees my hand looking something like this: thragtusk, world breaker, reshaper, reality smahser, and thought-knot. He looks at it, laughs, and says "don't think I'm winning this one." Game three was very close. On the life pad I had 1 life to his 6 at the end of the game. It came down to drawing more threats and being able to flicker his reality smasher with a displacer.
2-1 (Overall 9-3)
Round 13: Abzan Company
I get to play Abzan Company for the third time. I was feeling ok about the matchup at this point since I had beaten it twice already. He combos me both games pretty quickly and I am unable to find cage in game 2.
0-2 (Overall 9-4)
Round 14: Merfolk
This was a difficult matchup. He was not only playing spreading sea's main, but also three or four copies of Sea's Claim. This was problematic because he had the potential to cut me off from colorless mana. He steamrolls me game one, especially because his creatures were unblockable. I bring in EE, needle (vial or mutavault depending on situation), and natural state. I don't remember much about game two other than that I won because I was able to dismember a master of waves at a key moment. Game three he was on the play and leads with an aether vial. I lead with a needle naming vial. He kept a land light hand and played three creatures the whole game. I cast a turn 2 thought-knot (off two temples) and a turn three smasher. He cannot recover.
2-1 (Overall 10-4)
Round 15: Affinity
At this point I was feeling the pressure because if I won this match I would make top 32. When he begins the game by playing lots of artifacts I sigh and realize I'm probably not getting game one. He kills me with inkmoth before I can get anything going. Games two and three I bring in needle (various targets), stony silence, dismember, and natural state. Game two I start out with a noble. He turn one thoughtseizes me and takes my stony silence; however, he has a pretty fair hand and the game starts to drag on. Displacer slowly started taking over the game and he eventually had to start chump blocking my spaghetti monsters. Game three I had to mulligan to five so I'm not feeling good about my chances. He leads on a glimmervoid and a vault skirge and passes the turn. I fetch and cast natural state on his vault skirge and then his glimmervoid is sacrificed end of turn. He plays another artifact and then I slam stony silence (I can picture Thalia throwing her hand in the air in triumph at this point). A couple of turns later I cast a reality smasher and the game is over.
2-1 (Overall 11-4)
I finished in 28th place and it feels nice to know that people are seeing my name and list in the top 32 section on the SCG website. Overall, I really liked the deck. It somewhat feels like Jund in the fact that it is a pile of good cards but it gets to go bigger than the midrange decks of the format and can play the long game very well with displacer and drowner. The infect matchup feels slightly unfavored but is winnable with early removal and displacer. In general, I would play this deck if you want to be favorable against the fair decks of the format (jund, grixis, jeskai, etc.) but still want to have game against the unfair decks. If you play this deck, you will lose most of your game 1 matches against combo decks; however, the sideboard should help you out and hopefully you can drop turn two thought-knots to take key elements from their hands. When picking things to take out, here is a general rule of thumb: against combo, side out most if not all drowners, paths (depending on the combo), and potentially shave ancient stirrings and/or reshaper. Against infect, shave on one or two drowner (card is good but really slow), reshaper, and stirrings. I also found myself taking out spellskites when I was firmly in the beatdown role.
As a funny side note, I named "snake" three times with cavern of souls during the tournament just to try to tilt my opponent. When I named it, either they were not playing counter magic or I already had two caverns in play.
Although I can't remember every deck I won against, I know I beat infect (twice), grixis control (twice), U/B control, affinity, Tron, and elves. Any thoughts or suggests are appreciated.
9 Island
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Tower
2 Academy Ruins
Creatures (9)
3 Treasure Mage
2 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Hangarback Walker
1 Platinum Angel
1 Sundering Titan
4 Expedition Map
3 Dimir Signet
2 Mindslaver
1 Oblivion Stone
Instants (17)
4 Repeal
4 Remand
4 Condescend
3 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Pact of Negation
1 Dismember
Planeswalkers (1)
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Spell Snare
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Chalice of the Void
1 Dismember
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Spellskite
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Negate
Round 1: Grixis Control
I have found Grixis Control to be a favorable matchup for the deck. The entire first game he only saw one tron land but I was still able to get there through value cards like Wurmcoil Engine and Hangarback Walker. The key to this matchup, to me, is resolving Wurmcoil Engine. This, combined with bringing it back with Academy Ruins, is typically good enough in game one. This is what happened for the first game and we moved to sideboard. I brought in the 2Spell Snares, Negate, Relic of Progenitus, and Dismember. Unfortunately I do not remember what I took out. In game two I played a Relic of Progenitus and he said "I just realized how good that card is against me." The relic got me a lot of value through the first five turns until he eventually had to destroy it. By that time I set up tron and a couple of turns later I was able to Mindslaver lock him.
2-0
Round 2: Soul Sisters
I haven't played against soul sisters with this version of deck but I think, at least on paper, it has to be a decent matchup. I win game one on the backs of two Wurmcoil Engines, the first one he path'd. Repeal was an absolutely insane card against him. I wish I could play 8 copies versus this deck. I sided in 2 Chalice of the Void, 2 Spell Snares, Oblivion Stone, Spellskite, Negate, and Dismember. I, again, did not keep notes on what I sided out. He wins game two because of a misplay on my part. In the late game, I had tron online and a Spellskite and Platinum Angel on my side of the board. He has me at negative life and I am chipping away at him in the air. He plays a four drop and I use all of my blue mana to counter it. He then blows up my Platinum Angel with a removal spell because I forgot you cannot pay life you do not have (e.g., can't switch to Spellskite without blue mana if you are negative life). We move on to game three where he gets a fast start with lots of small creatures. I am able to keep them away for a while with Repeals and eventually get tron online. A few turns later I am able to Mindslaver lock him with me at a low life total.
2-1
Round 3: Mardu Tokens
I have never played against Mardu Tokens but, as with Soul Sisters, I think it might be a good matchup. Game one isn't much to write home about. He does not play anything until trying to resolve a Liliana of the Veil on turn three and I have the Condescend ready (X=1). I cast a Wurmcoil Engine later in the game and he cannot find a Path to Exile to deal with it. I saw a decent amount of discard spells in game one and I figured he had more in game two so I side in my two copies of Leyline of Sanctity but I did not draw them :(. I also brought in Negate, Oblivion Stone, and 2 Spell Snares. In game three he uses a discard spell to take my only answer to Figure of Destiny. The next turn he levels it up with three mana on the attack and I use my top deck'd Repeal to blow him out of the water. He is very upset but I play four copies for a reason. A couple of turns later I blow up all of his lands with Sundering Titan and he never recovers.
2-0
Round 4: Jeskai Twin
This deck plays Geist of Saint Traft, a bunch of burn, and the twin combo backed up by cheap counterspells. He is on the play game one which turns out to make a large difference. He is able to tempo me with Remands and Spell Snare on my Dimir Signet. This, combined with a turn three Geist of Saint Traft, was enough for him to get game two. I sided in the Negate, 2 Spell Snare, Spellskite, and possibly another Oblivion Stone just for Geist of Saint Traft. Game two was not much of a match because he gets stuck on two mana. I don't remember much more than that. The game did not last long. In game three we both do a lot of nothing in the opening turns except resolve draw spells and I resolve a copy or two of Dimir Signet. As the game progressed, however, I was gaining incremental advantage with my lands and was eventually able to assemble tron. At this point, he had plenty of counter magic, but it was soft permission (e.g., Mana Leak). I try to resolve a Mindslaver and he makes me pay extra with a Mana Leak so I can't activate it that turn. The following turn I was able to activate it plus put the lock in place. From his perspective, he was never really able to put early pressure on me or threaten the combo and by the time he had relevant threats I could easily go over the top with tron.
2-1
Overall, I am extremely happy with the mainboard. The only card I'm on the fence about is Hangarback Walker. I've only cast it one time and that was against the Grixis Control player. I think it's probably better against aggro decks, but Solemn Simulacrum allows for an accelerated Wurmcoil Engine against those decks without tron online. So it's a give and take. Both are good against the mid-range decks. I think I am going to continue to try a 1/1 split for now.
I'm on the fence about having 2 Chalice of the Void in the sideboard. I see their utility, but I haven't gotten much out of them yet, although, to be fair, I don't think I've played against many decks where they can really shine (e.g., Living End, Affinity). I am constantly changing the sideboard around so any tips or suggestions are welcome. Thanks for any feedback in advance.
8 Island
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Tower
2 Academy Ruins
Creatures (9)
3 Treasure Mage
2 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Platinum Angel
1 Sundering Titan
4 Expedition Map
3 Dimir Signet
2 Mindslaver
1 Oblivion Stone
Instants (18)
4 Repeal
4 Remand
4 Thirst for Knowledge
4 Condescend
1 Pact of Negation
1 Dismember
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Spell Snare
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Dragon's Claw
1 Dismember
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Spellskite
1 Batterskull
1 Echoing Truth
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Negate
Round 1: American Control
This was a good matchup overall but I wasn't sure if I was playing against a twin variant or not so I played fairly conservatively to keep up counterspells. It turns out she was playing straight American control. Sundering Titan was a key card in both games putting her out of the game. Especially when it was backed up with a Pact of Negation.
2-0
Round 2: Ad Nauseam
In game one I played a tempo game with Remand, Condescend, and Repeal and was eventually able to win the game with the Mindslaver lock. In game two he was on the play and a little faster. When he tried to go off he had two Pact of Negation to stop my counterspells and resolved an Ad Nauseam. By that time I had hit him twice with a Wurmcoil Engine and he could not kill me with what was left in his deck.
2-0
Round 3: Naya Company
In game one he was out to a fast start with Noble Hierarch and Loxodon Smiter. I eventually established tron and at one point could generate between 15 and 20 mana; however, I was unable to find a big finish card and he overwhelmed me. In game two I was on the play and he led out with a Noble Hierarch. On my turn I cast Repeal bouncing it to his hand. It turns out he was on a one lander and could just replay his creature. Fortunately I had another Repeal and set him even further behind. This set the pace for the rest of the match where I had plenty of tempo plays and blockers to delay the game until I had the combo lock. Game 3 was a good game and lasted for a while. At one point I cast three Remands on a Collected Company but was unable to find anything important when drawing the cards. He eventually resolved it and had various small creatures out including Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Kataki, War's Wage. He also cast a Blood Moon which put me under additional pressure. Fortunately I drew Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and had the nine mana available to cast it through Thalia. I cast it and cleared his board. He was unable to recover and I eventually won the game.
2-1
Round 4: American Control
We decided to intentionally draw but wanted to play it out for fun. There isn't much to report here because the matchup was so much in my favor. As with round one, Sundering Titan was a great card and wrecked his manabase. He was able to play and flip a Jace, Vryn's Prodigy and get some value out of it but it did not matter. Mono-Blue tron can go over the top of these types of decks very easily. Pact of Negation was again a great card combined with some of the large threats.
2-0
Overall I am very happy with the maindeck. I saw other people discussing Hangarback Walker and I think that could be a great addition. I think I will test some copies out. I could see playing two in the main and one in the side. Trying to find room is always the difficult part but the upside could be worth it. I highly encourage you to play some copies of Spell Snare in the sideboard. They come in against most of our bad matchups and have been great for me so far. I would love any input you might have for the deck and I'm going to keep working on it until SCG Dallas at the end of October. Hopefully I can play against lots of fair midrange and control decks :sunny:.
8 Plains
2 Mountains
2 Clifftop Retreat
4 Sacred foundry
4 Arid Mesa
4 Temple of Triumph
Creatures (6)
4 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Magus of the Moon
Sorcery (4)
1 Wrath of God
3 Anger of the Gods
4 Lightning Helix
Artifact (8)
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Ensnaring Bridge
Enchantment (11)
4 Blood Moon
2 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Ghostly Prison
2 Assemble the Legion
Planeswalkers (3)
2 Ajani Vengeant
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
3 Blade Splicer
2 Restoration Angel
4 Boros Charm
So, for game two, your opponent takes out their removal, brings in artifact/enchantment removal, and your deck transforms into this:
8 Plains
2 Mountains
2 Clifftop Retreat
4 Sacred foundry
4 Arid Mesa
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
3 Blade Splicer
2 Restoration Angel
Instant (8)
4 Lightning Helix
4 Boros Charm
4 Chalice of the Void
Enchantment (6)
4 Blood Moon
2 Assemble the Legion
Planeswalkers (3)
2 Ajani Vengeant
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant
I took out 2 Magus of the Moon, 3 Ghostly Prison, 4 Ensnaring Bridge, 3 Anger of the Gods, 2 Leyline of Sanctity, 1 Warth of God and brought in the whole sideboard. What you take out would of course depend on what you were playing, but you get the idea. The things that HAVE to come out if you bring in the whole board would be Wrath, Bridge, Anger, but it's flexible outside of that. Also, if you are playing a great matchup already (like Affinity), you just keep everything the same and don't sideboard. Finally, even after sideboard, you get to keep the Chalice/Blood Moon plan if you want (like I did above). None of the sideboard cards cost one, so you can leave the Chalice's in to even protect your creatures against bolt/path.
With this setup, you get to blindside your opponent game one by playing Stax and blindside them again in game two when you go midrange on them. Anyways, just something to think about. Let me know what you think!
I do agree that Myth Realized could provide another angle of attack for the deck; however, I think you would have to abandon the Chalice of the Void strategy which is something I'm not willing to give up. It is an interesting win condition and I encourage you to give it a shot and report back. I just think that Chalice is too strong to let go.
Hi everyone. Just a brief tournament report for you. There were around 20 or 25 at a local FNM. We played 5 rounds and I brought this list:
8 Plains
2 Mountains
2 Clifftop Retreat
4 Sacred foundry
4 Arid Mesa
4 Temple of Triumph
Creatures (6)
4 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Magus of the Moon
Sorcery (4)
1 Wrath of God
3 Anger of the Gods
4 Lightning Helix
Artifact (8)
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Ensnaring Bridge
Enchantment (11)
4 Blood Moon
2 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Ghostly Prison
2 Assemble the Legion
Planeswalkers (3)
2 Ajani Vengeant
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant
2 Defense Grid
2 Wear/Tear
1 Rest in Peace
1 Stony Silence
1 Wrath of God
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Nevermore
1 Kor Firewalker
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Aven Mindcensor
Round 1: Green Homebrew
Not sure what all this guy had in his deck. Just a casual homebrew. He was nice but never found more than two lands in his deck.
2-0
Round 2: Werewolves
I had never played against werewolves before but it was a cool deck. He didn't have a sideboard and I won both games with Ensnaring Bridge. Not really much to report about this one.
2-0
Round 3: 4 Color Control
In the first game Blood Moon locks him up for the first part of the game; however, he started finding basics and started climbing back. He eventually got game one by bouncing an Ensnaring Bridge with Cryptic Command and attacking for lethal with Tasigur and friends.
Game two was interesting. We were at a stalemate for a while until his planeswalkers start taking over. He had Ajani Vengeant, Jace, Architect of Thought, and Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver. He eventually built enough advantage to bounce Ensnaring Bridge and attack for lethal. Cryptic Command has always been a big problem for this deck.
0-2
Round 4: Angels
Out of the five rounds in the FNM, I ended up playing what I would consider 3 budget or really fringe decks. This guy's deck included a bunch of angels. He actually won game one because I couldn't find an Ensnaring Bridge and he just beat me to death in the air.
Both games two and three I had bridge out and it stopped him.
2-1
Round 5: Junk
Junk can be a swingy matchup and it really depends on if they have abrupt decay at the right moment. Game one I had a turn two Blood Moon and I eventually lock him out of the game. In game two I mulligan to six with no Leyline and he strips my hand apart and attacks me for lethal fairly quickly. Game three was grindy but I was able to get there off of the back of Leyline (always bring in four against Junk, it stops two modes of Liliana!!), Nevermore naming Abrupt Decay, and Ajani (which eventually blew up all of his lands). In case you were curious, for this matchup I brought in Elspeth, Wrath, Nevermore, 2x Leyline, Wurmcoil, RIP, and Baneslayer. I took out 4x Chalice, 2x Lightning Helix, 1 Anger, and 1 Prison.
2-1
Overall I went 4-1, but with three of the decks fairly budget. I think I want to do a 2/2 split between Anger and Wrath in the main instead of a 3/1 Split, especially since Delver is a smaller part of the metagame. There were two affinity decks that did well in the tournament. I REALLY wanted to play them but unfortunately didn't get the chance to.