Round 1 Jeskai Harbringer (1-1-1)[0-0-1]:
Game 1 I quickly got him down to 1 life but my draws wouldn't find me a Reality Smasher to seal the deal. The MB GQ and World Breaker helped kill Collanades and I ripped Emrakul out of his hand early (trolololol) but he still got there with a snapcaster swing in, bolt, snap, bolt, bolt, helix play. Game 2 I did find more payoff cards and won in normal fashion but unfortunately there was no time for a game 3.
Round 2 Infect (2-1)[1-0-1]: I still forgot to include my Spellskites in the list (them and my EE were sitting at home). I was desperately hoping to fade this matchup without the skites. Game 1 he won pretty handedly. Game 2 he went T1 Heirarch, T2 Inkmoth, Spellskite and I was like "Welp this game is likely over. He was tapped out so I used a Path to Exile on his Spellskite now and had enough mana to pay for 1 Displacer activation. At this point I knew I was just fading Vines most likely. He goes to his turn, plays a land, animates Inkmoth Swings in for Exalted and plays double groundswell with Heirarch open for the Vines. I announce my flicker activation and hear the most wonderful question from my opponent, "Wait, you can blink my creatures with that?!" I won that game on the back of leaving mana open to double flicker and Displacer coming in for 4 a turn with Exalted. Game 3 wasn't as much of a blowout but same style. I dropped Noble and Bop into Displacer. One turn he went to cast Vines on one of his guys (kicked it too). I cast Stubborn Denial which forced him to tap out for vines to resolve. I then chumped with BoP. I now had an opening because he had 2 cards in hand and I only had 2 Infect. I cast TKS and see he had a Mutagenic Growth and a Slip through Space. I ripped the pump and passed turn. He had to draw 2 +4/+4 power pumps or a Become Immense and any other pump spell or I had him dead on board. He didn't draw it and I won. Woof.
Round 3 Jeskai Harbringer (2-0)[2-0-1]: This went much like Round 1 should have gone. Cavern of Souls was just too much for him to manage and I smashed his face in both games fairly quickly.
Round 4 Grixis Thing in the Ice (2-0)[3-0-1]: You know what Thing in the Ice and Delver hate? Eldrazi Displacer. It eventually stuck both games and they were unable to get out from under it's power.
Sunday Morning Modern (29 people):
So I should say that there was supposed to be a Super IQ Plus in the area on Sunday that apparently had been postponed because of the RPTQ going on. Unfortunately nobody thought to update the website so I drove all the way there first only to find out it had been cancelled and drove all the way back to the store I do play at for their tournament. I did remember my Spellskites and EE this time though so my list was as such:
Round 1 Grixis Control (2-0)[1-0]: Man I love our control matchup. They just don't have enough answers when you get Cavern of Souls out. I also ripped the good cards out of his hand and and reduced Snapcaster Mage to chump duties. All in all, a very successful round.
Round 2 Bushwacker Burn(1-2)[1-1]: Best way I can describe this deck was it was like Nacatl Burn that took one step further in for the Burning Tree into Bushwacker Zooish route. Game 1 he got me on turn 3 on the play (turn 2 swings in with a goblin guide and I still have him on Burn. I Path it, post combat he drops Burning Tree into Swiftspear and Nacatl. Next turn he had the Atarka Command and Lava Spike for the win. Game 2 I landed a TKS turn 2 and saw he had a Goblin Guide, Nacatl, Boros Charm x2, Atarka's Command and a Helix. I rip the Helix because I want him to extend onto the board. He drops the 2 1 drops as expected and passes the turn (that way I don't get a free kill with TKS). I drop the EE I had been holding in my hand on 1, popped it and swung in for 5 because of Heirarch. He couldn't catch up after that. Game 3 he drew a nutty amount of burn spells and chucked them at my face while I couldn't find a larger Eldrazi to save my life.
Round 3 Naya Burn (0-2)[1-2]: Got lethaled on turn 3 again. Searing Blaze my Matter Reshaper crash in with double Swift spear and bolt. Game 2 I managed to stall out the game but even through 2 Ancient Stirrings I couldn't find an Eldrazi that wasn't in my opening hand. After the game I revealed the top 20 cards til I hit an Eldrazi. Seriously wtf.
Round 4 Merfolk (2-0)[2-2]: So I had no idea how massively advantaged we are in this matchup. Game 1 I stalled out the board until I had enough mana to blink Drowner of Hope twice and then tap his entire team down during end step. Game 2 I performed a massive blowout with EE on 2 hitting her lords and Spreading Seas after she declared her team as attackers. I then blew the board and blocked for the blowout. To be fair I did get Triple Hierarch out for game 2 and she used her T2 casting Echoing Truth to bounce them back to my hand (I was gunning for the T3 Drowner I had in hand). After I dropped everything back on board I was swinging for 8 a turn with Drowner.
Ug I love this deck for most of it's matchups (even against the aggro decks like Infect and Affinity) but Burn straight up sucks. I am really considering adding in more to the SB if I start to see it creep back into favor (Swagtusk seems great for Burn and the Control matchups. Blinking him is just so much dumb value too). I'd also consider a couple Kitchen Finks since they drop early, block attackers, are awkward to remove and gain life.
Anyway, I'll be staying on this deck for the time being because Control is EVERYWHERE for me locally and this has a hilarious matchup against it.
Quick tournament report from last nights Thursday Night Magic ~30 People:
Disclaimer: I threw the deck together when I arrived at my LGS after work. I forgot a couple cards at home and with my meta being overrun by control decks.. the following was my decklist:
Meh, list was close enough and while it definitely needs tuning.. it does get the job done and the core pieces are there.
Round 1 Grixis Control (2-0)[1-0]:
Game 1 I led with a Noble Hierarch and on turn 2 he goes to bolt it. I use my open mana to path it and drop a T3 Reality Smasher and started breaking down face. He used a dreadbore+discard to kill it on his turn 3. I rip a Stirrings off the top, use it and find another Smasher and drop it to keep the beats coming. He kills my Smasher yet again but is tapped out with no cards in hand. I don't have a ton of gas in hand (1 TKS) and his visions comes off suspend next turn. I animate Mutavault and crash in to put him at 1. Visions resolves and he passes the turn. I play a TKS and see he got 3 lands and a Spell Snare. Animate Mutavault and lethal him. Game 2 I landed a turn 1 Grafdiggers Cage and a T3 TKS to see I had stranded 2 Snapcasters in his hand. He couldn't find a red source early and by the time he did I had lethal and a Drowner of Hope to tap down Thing in the Ice and his flashed in Snapcaster Mage.
Round 2 Goblins (2-1)[2-0]:
Game 1 was pretty cut and dry. I kept an ok hand but it couldn't catch up to his draw. I was forced to use a path on a Goblin Piledriver which allowed him to kill a Matter Reshaper. I was about 1 turn from stabilizing but he had the extra bolts to kill me before then. Game 2 was much different I ramped out a turn 3 Drowner of hope to tap his 2 attackers. I then dropped a Eldrazi Displacer and crashed in for 7 with Drowner. He scooped to game 3 because he couldn't get around the lock I had created. Game 3 I stabilized in similar fashion and was able to lethal him down. He had me at 9 and his only out was double Goblin Grenade.. Luckily he didn't draw it.
Round 3 RG Land Destruction (0-2)[2-1]:
This match was pretty miserable but not very common. His deck runs a bunch of Stone Rain, Acid Moss and Beast Within effects to accompany 4 Blood Moons which we tries to ramp out turn 2 with Utopia Sprawl. Game 1 there wasn't much I could do as he dropped the Blood Moon on turn 3 and then followed it up by destroying my basic. He eventually gets to Inferno Titan killing both my mana dorks and I move to game 2. I almost got there this game. He tries to jam a turn 2 Blood Moon which gets hit by Stubborn Denial. I then drop a T3 TKS and take a Beast within. He has essentially nothing left in hand. I get a turn of breathing room til he finds another Blood Moon. I fetch in response and get my basic plains because I have 2 Paths in hand for his Inferno Titans. I knock him down to 8 on my turn. He topdecks a Thrun and has enough mana to regenerate it... frick. The next topdeck is a Stone Rain which hits my Plains. I made a little misplay here because I floated white and meant to path my TKS to get my Waste (so I could play the 2 TKS I had stranded in hand and then hopefully draw into a Reality Smasher which could swing through the Thrun). I don't know if it actually mattered because he found a Fulimator Mage within the next couple turns and I never drew the Smasher which is what I'd need to win. Oh well, when you play a deck with a manabase like this you accept that you can lose to Mono Blood Moon/Land Destruction.dek.
Game 4 Jeskai Control(2-0)[3-1]:
This is a very good player from my area who typically plays Jund but has a lot of practice with other decks (he split the top prize for a showdown at GP LA with Titanshift last weekend too). Unfortunately neither of these games were very close. Game 1 he had to mulligan down to 4 and Game 2 he got stuck on 2 lands. The only remarkable thing (could have been just because he was bitter about the bad variance) was that he insists that Jeskai Control is heavily favored in that matchup. I have a hard time believing that to be the case for several reasons. They want to counter most of your big threats which Cavern of Souls refuses to let them do. Secondly I bring in Mark of Asylum out of the board which means their only way to kill my threats is Verdict, Elspeth -2 for power>3 and Path to Exile. Between Displacer, Smasher and TKS, I find it hard to believe that they would be able to keep many of those threats long enough to win the game. Snapcaster gets shut down by Grafdigger's Cage and Word Breaker does work if the game does go long. Elspeth Sun's Champion isn't even that great of an answer to a full board from us. Her tokens can be tapped with Drowner of Hope, blinked with Displacer and Trampled over with Smasher. This makes them unable to protect her efficiently. Her -2 can kill TKS, Smasher and Drowner for sure but that leaves Scions, Mutavault, Displacer, Reshaper and the Hierarch to kill her on the crack back (god forbid another Smasher held in hand). I am not advocating the matchup is entirely in our favor either but he refused to believe that had he not gotten land screwed, he clearly would come out the winner.
Anyway, I am back at it again tonight and will post likely on Tuesday about how it went (I typically post my tournament reports while I am at work and I have Monday off for Memorial Day). Anyway, have a great weekend yall and remember to keep Smashing!
I agree with you assessment. If you want the pieces, get them now. I would start with Nobles, than Caverns (if they're not reprinted in EMA). I'm pretty sure the prices will jump big time if this takes down a tournament when Modern season hits this August.
I don't see Caverns being reprinted in EMA but it could be reprinted in Eldritch Moon. It doesn't harm standard a ton to reprint it and it will need one sooner or later.
I'm torn on this as I only need the caverns but have my main deck to play in the meantime still. I also don't think they will be in EMA, but hopefully reprinted soon... I just can't quite justify over $30 each for the three more I need, but those are the only cards I'm lacking...
Also, I know this isn't the price discussion forums, but does anyone else feel like some of the eldrazi are going to go way up in price a few years down the road after their sets are out of print. Thought Knot feels like a $15-20 card to me, but may just be too niche due to colorless mana.
Totally now is the time to pick up all the staples. I think Cavern of Souls is at $50 to $60 right now and I can see it staying there for the most part. It's not used in a ton of decks but any deck that is pseudo-tribal is going to want as many as possible (especially if counterspell oriented control decks are around like they are now). I think currently they are in the "nice to have" list and only "required" if you are expecting a ton of control matchups (my meta is swarmed with them atm). Use Corrupted Crossroads if you don't have them.
I have all the pieces because I rebought the Eldrazi I sold out on back before the March Triple GP weekend. I picked them up the week the B&R update took effect so I got in fairly cheap because I agree, TKS and Smasher are going to be great going forward. We have one guy at my shop playing GBC as well. Essentially it's Jund but without Bob and the Red cards. Instead it runs Reshaper, TKS, Smasher. He has been doing pretty well because it turns out Liliana and Smasher are besties. What I am getting at is that these cards are extremely easy to fit into any given strategy by twisting the manabase with a few colorless sources. They are also decent->strong on a normal curve, strong->great on a slightly accelerated curve and great->busted on magic christmas curves.
I agree with you assessment. If you want the pieces, get them now. I would start with Nobles, than Caverns (if they're not reprinted in EMA). I'm pretty sure the prices will jump big time if this takes down a tournament when Modern season hits this August.
I don't see Caverns being reprinted in EMA but it could be reprinted in Eldritch Moon. It doesn't harm standard a ton to reprint it and it will need one sooner or later.
I liked this article more than Pascal´s. You can sense that Todd invested more time in the deck whereas Pascal played because his team was on it.
Maybe it´s a good time to grab all the pieces now, this deck might be the real thing.
I totally like where this deck is at. It plays the aggro game as well as the midrangey game. The utility of all the cards really increases it's value. It's not as weak to Tron as other decks are (due to being much better against Pyroclasm and Ugin sweeps).
Pascal´s article on Bant Eldrazi. He says pretty much all the things we already talked about.
Reshaper>Skyspawner for mana purposes. Although Skyspawner helps with the Infect and Affinity matchup.
Mimic is there to race combo(and Rg Tron i guess?). He has one in the SB also, which i think he swapped with Drowner against combo decks.
Such a beautiful deck.....if Eldrazi Winter didn´t hit you hard i guess..
I've been a fan of Eldrazi even through Eldrazi Winter (in which I abandoned playing the BW Processor variant because I made stupid profit on my cards as well as played a lot of random other things). I've been bouncing between 2 Eldrazi decks since then (BW Processor and Eldrazi & Taxes). I will start testing this out because it looks like a solid list. I'll let you all know how it goes.
I agree with all this. Also Exalted Thalia becomes very hard to block. Would we consider running a Gavony Township in the landbase at any point? Seems like something we could afford to run as a 1x.
The deck requires at least 14 green sources if that's what you are curious about. I haven't seen a list anywhere not hitting that number and CoS is not a factor in that.
Exactly. If you are playing a Cavern of Souls T1 and calling Human you are doing it wrong (or you have 2 CoS in hand).
Yeah, removal is a problem for this deck, lucklily, most removal doesn´t work against this deck(Abrupt Decay, Lightning Bolt). Although Jeskai can Path him, but not too worried about that matchup, it seems good.
So, on another note, i´ve been testing Eldrazi Mimic, and i think it is quite good.
I found that this deck is all about grinding against grindy decks and racing against faster decks. You certainly can´t play the control role against fast decks like Bogles, Affinity and Burn. Ancient Tomb and mana dorks makes racing very easy. You just have to mulligan until a fast hands shows up.
Also, i think Plan A for this deck is to close the game ASAP, so Mimic does that very well, it´s a must answer for the opposing deck, and it fits in the curve perfectly. I wouldn´t go above 1 tho...
I just wonder if something like Thalia would be better though since we don't run a ton of non-creature spells and it can wrench up our opponents plans.
Yeah, maybe 10 mana is too much, especially against removal decks like Jund and Jeskai, where dorks and often Lands don´t make it through the whole game.
Although, I´ve never won or came back with World Breaker. Maybe i need more reps against Control and Midrange. To be fair, i get him in almost every time, i almost never find him because i close the game before he arrives..
That is why he is typically just a 1x out of the side. He is for those grindy matchup where your opponents don't have a great way to exile him (admittedly Jeskai and Jund do have ways but they must have those specific answers.
These went into top 18 of GP Charlotte. Not really surprised since the deck is quite good.
One of the lists though, went for Oath of Nissa and Sakura tribe elder.
I dont like neither of those cards in Bant Eldrazi, at least right now. Playing more noncreature spells than the necesary seems bad. 8 is already quite high, but Path and Stirrings are that good. I found myself topdecking creatures a lot in the "8 spell" build, which is good in the grindy matchups, and when racing.
The other list is more like Pascal´s, although he cutted the Mimic for another Skite. I think this is flex spots subject so, we will have to get more into he deck to know what´s best for sure.
PS: Has anyone felt the need of Ulamog in the sb as a 1-of maybe?.
I like him against Control, Midrange, and maaybee Abzan Coco, where milling 20 a turn after infinite like is real deal.
I think that is why folks are opting for World Breaker in the side. He is a recurring threat that gets value against control and midrange. I'll need to get reps in with the list but I don't think we will be at 10 mana often.
I mean Heirach taps for U so it doesn't seem like it'd be that rough all things considered. It's not even a 4x that we are talking but a 1-2x
I'd go ahead and test it if I were you. Maybe I'm wrong and you'll have access to blue mana early enough.
Totally agree. I count 12 U sources in the 24 lands so even ignoring the Hierarch you still might be able to drop it on turn 2-3 (remember Cavern can tap for U as well.
From what I saw on the coverage, the blue splash helped immensely as well from tapping down blockers or potential attackers with drowner or to an example of a single negate that was a complete blowout and led to a game win for Pascal. I don't recall what match that was, but it was quite good and blue cards won the deck multiple games.
Counter magic also seems to have some nice synergy with Thought Knot Seer as you get a peek into their hand and some known information on where and how to use your counters.
I think it was against Grixis, his reality smasher was blocked with a tasigur, and then Corey tried to kologhans command. Reality Smasher triggers, Corey discards a card, then a negate means he got 3 for 1ed. It was a misplay to kologhans after, should have done it before blocks, but then Smasher wouldn´t have attacked in.
Well you wait for attackers to be declared but before blocks you hit it. That way if it resolves you block, if not you can opt not to.
Playing today against Jund, i felt Matter Reshaper.
I want to cut him because he´s bad against many other decks, but so good against midrange.
I wont cut him probably but it makes me feel like the upside of battling midrange and bolt decks in general with more ease is just better than blocking random Nexus or flyers.
Playing today against Jund, i felt Matter Reshaper.
I want to cut him because he´s bad against many other decks, but so good against midrange.
I wont cut him probably but it makes me feel like the upside of battling midrange and bolt decks in general with more ease is just better than blocking random Nexus or flyers.
He is actually not all that bad because he is a 3/2. With exalted he becomes a 4/3 clock which is fast enough to race some other decks and against decks where you aren't racing you can trade with him and get bonus value off the top (since you either get the card into your hand or into play. Value either way.)
I mean Heirach taps for U so it doesn't seem like it'd be that rough all things considered. It's not even a 4x that we are talking but a 1-2x
I'd go ahead and test it if I were you. Maybe I'm wrong and you'll have access to blue mana early enough.
Totally agree. I count 12 U sources in the 24 lands so even ignoring the Hierarch you still might be able to drop it on turn 2-3 (remember Cavern can tap for U as well.
From what I saw on the coverage, the blue splash helped immensely as well from tapping down blockers or potential attackers with drowner or to an example of a single negate that was a complete blowout and led to a game win for Pascal. I don't recall what match that was, but it was quite good and blue cards won the deck multiple games.
Counter magic also seems to have some nice synergy with Thought Knot Seer as you get a peek into their hand and some known information on where and how to use your counters.
I totally agree. Also getting full usage out of Heirarch is just absolutely peachy because of all the awkward amazing things this card does.
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Friday Night Magic 59 people:
4x Noble Hierarch
2x Birds of Paradise
4x Eldrazi Displacer
4x Matter Reshaper
4x Thought-knot Seer
4x Reality Smasher
4x Drowner of Hope
1x Worldbreaker
Planeswalker:
1x Ajani, Mentor of Heros
Instant/Sorceries:
4x Path to Exile
4x Ancient Stirrings
Lands:
4x Eldrazi Temple
4x Windswept Heath
3x Brushlands
3x Cavern of Souls
2x Yavimaya Coast
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Breeding Pool
1x Temple Garden
1x Forest
1x Plains
1x Waste
1x Mutavault
1x Ghost Quarter
4x Stubborn Denial
3x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Stony Silence
1x Disenchant
3x Wrath of God
1x Mark of Asylum
1x Endbringer
Round 1 Jeskai Harbringer (1-1-1)[0-0-1]:
Game 1 I quickly got him down to 1 life but my draws wouldn't find me a Reality Smasher to seal the deal. The MB GQ and World Breaker helped kill Collanades and I ripped Emrakul out of his hand early (trolololol) but he still got there with a snapcaster swing in, bolt, snap, bolt, bolt, helix play. Game 2 I did find more payoff cards and won in normal fashion but unfortunately there was no time for a game 3.
Round 2 Infect (2-1)[1-0-1]: I still forgot to include my Spellskites in the list (them and my EE were sitting at home). I was desperately hoping to fade this matchup without the skites. Game 1 he won pretty handedly. Game 2 he went T1 Heirarch, T2 Inkmoth, Spellskite and I was like "Welp this game is likely over. He was tapped out so I used a Path to Exile on his Spellskite now and had enough mana to pay for 1 Displacer activation. At this point I knew I was just fading Vines most likely. He goes to his turn, plays a land, animates Inkmoth Swings in for Exalted and plays double groundswell with Heirarch open for the Vines. I announce my flicker activation and hear the most wonderful question from my opponent, "Wait, you can blink my creatures with that?!" I won that game on the back of leaving mana open to double flicker and Displacer coming in for 4 a turn with Exalted. Game 3 wasn't as much of a blowout but same style. I dropped Noble and Bop into Displacer. One turn he went to cast Vines on one of his guys (kicked it too). I cast Stubborn Denial which forced him to tap out for vines to resolve. I then chumped with BoP. I now had an opening because he had 2 cards in hand and I only had 2 Infect. I cast TKS and see he had a Mutagenic Growth and a Slip through Space. I ripped the pump and passed turn. He had to draw 2 +4/+4 power pumps or a Become Immense and any other pump spell or I had him dead on board. He didn't draw it and I won. Woof.
Round 3 Jeskai Harbringer (2-0)[2-0-1]: This went much like Round 1 should have gone. Cavern of Souls was just too much for him to manage and I smashed his face in both games fairly quickly.
Round 4 Grixis Thing in the Ice (2-0)[3-0-1]: You know what Thing in the Ice and Delver hate? Eldrazi Displacer. It eventually stuck both games and they were unable to get out from under it's power.
Sunday Morning Modern (29 people):
So I should say that there was supposed to be a Super IQ Plus in the area on Sunday that apparently had been postponed because of the RPTQ going on. Unfortunately nobody thought to update the website so I drove all the way there first only to find out it had been cancelled and drove all the way back to the store I do play at for their tournament. I did remember my Spellskites and EE this time though so my list was as such:
4x Noble Hierarch
1x Bird of Paradise
2x Spellskite
4x Matter Reshaper
4x Eldrazi Displacer
4x Thought-knot Seer
4x Reality Smasher
4x Drowner of Hope
1x World Breaker
Instants/Sorceries:
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Path to Exile
Lands:
4x Windswept Heath
4x Eldrazi Temple
3x Cavern of Souls
3x Brushlands
2x Yavamaya Coast
1x Mutavault
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Temple Garden
1x Breeding Pool
1x Forest
1x Plains
1x Waste
1x Ghost Quarter
3x Engineered Explosives
3x Stubborn Denial
3x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Timely Reinforcements
2x Stoney Silence
1x Mark of Asylum
1x Disenchant
Round 1 Grixis Control (2-0)[1-0]: Man I love our control matchup. They just don't have enough answers when you get Cavern of Souls out. I also ripped the good cards out of his hand and and reduced Snapcaster Mage to chump duties. All in all, a very successful round.
Round 2 Bushwacker Burn(1-2)[1-1]: Best way I can describe this deck was it was like Nacatl Burn that took one step further in for the Burning Tree into Bushwacker Zooish route. Game 1 he got me on turn 3 on the play (turn 2 swings in with a goblin guide and I still have him on Burn. I Path it, post combat he drops Burning Tree into Swiftspear and Nacatl. Next turn he had the Atarka Command and Lava Spike for the win. Game 2 I landed a TKS turn 2 and saw he had a Goblin Guide, Nacatl, Boros Charm x2, Atarka's Command and a Helix. I rip the Helix because I want him to extend onto the board. He drops the 2 1 drops as expected and passes the turn (that way I don't get a free kill with TKS). I drop the EE I had been holding in my hand on 1, popped it and swung in for 5 because of Heirarch. He couldn't catch up after that. Game 3 he drew a nutty amount of burn spells and chucked them at my face while I couldn't find a larger Eldrazi to save my life.
Round 3 Naya Burn (0-2)[1-2]: Got lethaled on turn 3 again. Searing Blaze my Matter Reshaper crash in with double Swift spear and bolt. Game 2 I managed to stall out the game but even through 2 Ancient Stirrings I couldn't find an Eldrazi that wasn't in my opening hand. After the game I revealed the top 20 cards til I hit an Eldrazi. Seriously wtf.
Round 4 Merfolk (2-0)[2-2]: So I had no idea how massively advantaged we are in this matchup. Game 1 I stalled out the board until I had enough mana to blink Drowner of Hope twice and then tap his entire team down during end step. Game 2 I performed a massive blowout with EE on 2 hitting her lords and Spreading Seas after she declared her team as attackers. I then blew the board and blocked for the blowout. To be fair I did get Triple Hierarch out for game 2 and she used her T2 casting Echoing Truth to bounce them back to my hand (I was gunning for the T3 Drowner I had in hand). After I dropped everything back on board I was swinging for 8 a turn with Drowner.
Ug I love this deck for most of it's matchups (even against the aggro decks like Infect and Affinity) but Burn straight up sucks. I am really considering adding in more to the SB if I start to see it creep back into favor (Swagtusk seems great for Burn and the Control matchups. Blinking him is just so much dumb value too). I'd also consider a couple Kitchen Finks since they drop early, block attackers, are awkward to remove and gain life.
Anyway, I'll be staying on this deck for the time being because Control is EVERYWHERE for me locally and this has a hilarious matchup against it.
Disclaimer: I threw the deck together when I arrived at my LGS after work. I forgot a couple cards at home and with my meta being overrun by control decks.. the following was my decklist:
4x Noble Hierarch
2x Birds of Paradise
4x Eldrazi Displacer
4x Matter Reshaper
4x Thought-knot Seer
4x Reality Smasher
4x Drowner of Hope
1x Worldbreaker
Planeswalker:
1x Ajani, Mentor of Heros
Instant/Sorceries:
4x Path to Exile
4x Ancient Stirrings
Lands:
4x Eldrazi Temple
4x Windswept Heath
3x Brushlands
3x Cavern of Souls
2x Yavimaya Coast
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Breeding Pool
1x Temple Garden
1x Forest
1x Plains
1x Waste
1x Mutavault
1x Ghost Quarter
4x Stubborn Denial
3x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Stony Silence
1x Disenchant
3x Wrath of God
1x Mark of Asylum
1x Endbringer
Meh, list was close enough and while it definitely needs tuning.. it does get the job done and the core pieces are there.
Round 1 Grixis Control (2-0)[1-0]:
Game 1 I led with a Noble Hierarch and on turn 2 he goes to bolt it. I use my open mana to path it and drop a T3 Reality Smasher and started breaking down face. He used a dreadbore+discard to kill it on his turn 3. I rip a Stirrings off the top, use it and find another Smasher and drop it to keep the beats coming. He kills my Smasher yet again but is tapped out with no cards in hand. I don't have a ton of gas in hand (1 TKS) and his visions comes off suspend next turn. I animate Mutavault and crash in to put him at 1. Visions resolves and he passes the turn. I play a TKS and see he got 3 lands and a Spell Snare. Animate Mutavault and lethal him. Game 2 I landed a turn 1 Grafdiggers Cage and a T3 TKS to see I had stranded 2 Snapcasters in his hand. He couldn't find a red source early and by the time he did I had lethal and a Drowner of Hope to tap down Thing in the Ice and his flashed in Snapcaster Mage.
Round 2 Goblins (2-1)[2-0]:
Game 1 was pretty cut and dry. I kept an ok hand but it couldn't catch up to his draw. I was forced to use a path on a Goblin Piledriver which allowed him to kill a Matter Reshaper. I was about 1 turn from stabilizing but he had the extra bolts to kill me before then. Game 2 was much different I ramped out a turn 3 Drowner of hope to tap his 2 attackers. I then dropped a Eldrazi Displacer and crashed in for 7 with Drowner. He scooped to game 3 because he couldn't get around the lock I had created. Game 3 I stabilized in similar fashion and was able to lethal him down. He had me at 9 and his only out was double Goblin Grenade.. Luckily he didn't draw it.
Round 3 RG Land Destruction (0-2)[2-1]:
This match was pretty miserable but not very common. His deck runs a bunch of Stone Rain, Acid Moss and Beast Within effects to accompany 4 Blood Moons which we tries to ramp out turn 2 with Utopia Sprawl. Game 1 there wasn't much I could do as he dropped the Blood Moon on turn 3 and then followed it up by destroying my basic. He eventually gets to Inferno Titan killing both my mana dorks and I move to game 2. I almost got there this game. He tries to jam a turn 2 Blood Moon which gets hit by Stubborn Denial. I then drop a T3 TKS and take a Beast within. He has essentially nothing left in hand. I get a turn of breathing room til he finds another Blood Moon. I fetch in response and get my basic plains because I have 2 Paths in hand for his Inferno Titans. I knock him down to 8 on my turn. He topdecks a Thrun and has enough mana to regenerate it... frick. The next topdeck is a Stone Rain which hits my Plains. I made a little misplay here because I floated white and meant to path my TKS to get my Waste (so I could play the 2 TKS I had stranded in hand and then hopefully draw into a Reality Smasher which could swing through the Thrun). I don't know if it actually mattered because he found a Fulimator Mage within the next couple turns and I never drew the Smasher which is what I'd need to win. Oh well, when you play a deck with a manabase like this you accept that you can lose to Mono Blood Moon/Land Destruction.dek.
Game 4 Jeskai Control(2-0)[3-1]:
This is a very good player from my area who typically plays Jund but has a lot of practice with other decks (he split the top prize for a showdown at GP LA with Titanshift last weekend too). Unfortunately neither of these games were very close. Game 1 he had to mulligan down to 4 and Game 2 he got stuck on 2 lands. The only remarkable thing (could have been just because he was bitter about the bad variance) was that he insists that Jeskai Control is heavily favored in that matchup. I have a hard time believing that to be the case for several reasons. They want to counter most of your big threats which Cavern of Souls refuses to let them do. Secondly I bring in Mark of Asylum out of the board which means their only way to kill my threats is Verdict, Elspeth -2 for power>3 and Path to Exile. Between Displacer, Smasher and TKS, I find it hard to believe that they would be able to keep many of those threats long enough to win the game. Snapcaster gets shut down by Grafdigger's Cage and Word Breaker does work if the game does go long. Elspeth Sun's Champion isn't even that great of an answer to a full board from us. Her tokens can be tapped with Drowner of Hope, blinked with Displacer and Trampled over with Smasher. This makes them unable to protect her efficiently. Her -2 can kill TKS, Smasher and Drowner for sure but that leaves Scions, Mutavault, Displacer, Reshaper and the Hierarch to kill her on the crack back (god forbid another Smasher held in hand). I am not advocating the matchup is entirely in our favor either but he refused to believe that had he not gotten land screwed, he clearly would come out the winner.
Anyway, I am back at it again tonight and will post likely on Tuesday about how it went (I typically post my tournament reports while I am at work and I have Monday off for Memorial Day). Anyway, have a great weekend yall and remember to keep Smashing!
Totally now is the time to pick up all the staples. I think Cavern of Souls is at $50 to $60 right now and I can see it staying there for the most part. It's not used in a ton of decks but any deck that is pseudo-tribal is going to want as many as possible (especially if counterspell oriented control decks are around like they are now). I think currently they are in the "nice to have" list and only "required" if you are expecting a ton of control matchups (my meta is swarmed with them atm). Use Corrupted Crossroads if you don't have them.
I have all the pieces because I rebought the Eldrazi I sold out on back before the March Triple GP weekend. I picked them up the week the B&R update took effect so I got in fairly cheap because I agree, TKS and Smasher are going to be great going forward. We have one guy at my shop playing GBC as well. Essentially it's Jund but without Bob and the Red cards. Instead it runs Reshaper, TKS, Smasher. He has been doing pretty well because it turns out Liliana and Smasher are besties. What I am getting at is that these cards are extremely easy to fit into any given strategy by twisting the manabase with a few colorless sources. They are also decent->strong on a normal curve, strong->great on a slightly accelerated curve and great->busted on magic christmas curves.
I don't see Caverns being reprinted in EMA but it could be reprinted in Eldritch Moon. It doesn't harm standard a ton to reprint it and it will need one sooner or later.
I totally like where this deck is at. It plays the aggro game as well as the midrangey game. The utility of all the cards really increases it's value. It's not as weak to Tron as other decks are (due to being much better against Pyroclasm and Ugin sweeps).
I've been a fan of Eldrazi even through Eldrazi Winter (in which I abandoned playing the BW Processor variant because I made stupid profit on my cards as well as played a lot of random other things). I've been bouncing between 2 Eldrazi decks since then (BW Processor and Eldrazi & Taxes). I will start testing this out because it looks like a solid list. I'll let you all know how it goes.
Not casting bribery for Emrakul... that made me so sad.
Exactly. If you are playing a Cavern of Souls T1 and calling Human you are doing it wrong (or you have 2 CoS in hand).
I just wonder if something like Thalia would be better though since we don't run a ton of non-creature spells and it can wrench up our opponents plans.
That is why he is typically just a 1x out of the side. He is for those grindy matchup where your opponents don't have a great way to exile him (admittedly Jeskai and Jund do have ways but they must have those specific answers.
I think that is why folks are opting for World Breaker in the side. He is a recurring threat that gets value against control and midrange. I'll need to get reps in with the list but I don't think we will be at 10 mana often.
Well you wait for attackers to be declared but before blocks you hit it. That way if it resolves you block, if not you can opt not to.
He is actually not all that bad because he is a 3/2. With exalted he becomes a 4/3 clock which is fast enough to race some other decks and against decks where you aren't racing you can trade with him and get bonus value off the top (since you either get the card into your hand or into play. Value either way.)
I totally agree. Also getting full usage out of Heirarch is just absolutely peachy because of all the awkward amazing things this card does.