Meddling Mage x 4 absolutely *****s on our worst match up, which is Tron variants
Clearly you've never played against living end, that is a worse matchup than tron. And the main reason I wanna play meddling mage.
The reason I want mage over eidolon is that mage is more useful in the matchups we need it, like tron, ad nauseam, and living end. Eidolon is great aginst control decks using snaps but remember eidolon restricts us too, meaning if we cast a spell and they counter it, we don't get another spell. Also, decks playing snap are already a very good matchup for us anyways. Also, hitting for two and coming down turn 2 instead of three is relevant since our curve is super packed on three already. Mage also has the potential to be good against random decks you may not expect to face where eidolon is a lot more restrictive in its ability to hate.
So, I'm going to try meddling mage in my sideboard once it arrives in the mail. I thought about adding a couple to the main deck but couldn't find room to squeeze anything out of the deck. MM will help both my living end and ad nauseam (among others) matchups and along with selfless spirit and multiple mages, become a near hard lock. I quite like how the deck can transition into a hatebears-style build post-board so my sideboard reflects this.
I have two bigger modern tourneys coming up in my area in the next two weekends and plan on playing the deck there with the mages added. Unfortunately, I won't have the element of surprise since everyone knows I play the deck by now (though I play it quite well, they may be afraid of it.) But MM will definitely get them, especially off a company since they can't respond once they see it.
My current sideboard:
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Reflector Mage
3 Unified Will
4 Meddling Mage
I ended up cutting my 2 blessed alliance and 2 stony silence. Being a company deck, I find staying creature heavy helps a lot. Company finds your sideboard cards and you don't draw so many spells that you apply little pressure.
By the way, for the love of Nylea, can someone please tell me how to format a decklist on here so I don't have to manually type them out like above, I'm using a tablet if that's relevant.
Dreadnaught33, my thoughts on meddling mage in the board is that it is a card that helps our traditional bad matchups like tron and ad nauseam while still being pretty good against jund shadow. Just name shadow or goyf (or both) after they've emptied their hand killing your stuff and force them to find more removal (and protect with spirit too). The reason you want 4 I think is so you can name a threat and then name things that can kill the mage. For example, against ad naus, you name ad nauseam first, then slaughter pact or echoing truth with subsequent ones (or whatever else they might have.) it's also important to remember not to name the card till the mage resolves as if it enters, the card is named and they can't respond by casting the spell.
I'm actually gonna order a playset myself. Now just to figure out if I want the Chris pikula art or the new shards one. Maybe two of each?
Prowling serpopard is a decent creature, but he isn't for this deck. Our list is way too tight already. I'd try him in naya company though. Seems exactly what that deck would want, an under costed threat with upside.
I figure that counterspells and Gaddock Teeg out of the sideboard should sway the post-board numbers considerably in our favor. Does anyone have testing data for this?
Gaddock Teeg and countermagic are great against tron, they have single-handedly won me games. I survived an emrakul swing once and swung lethal next turn because I didn't sac my Teeg that was stopping his karn coming down to hit my lethal knight.
I'm toying around with the idea of either building Bant or Abzan Company and want to ask how well this deck is positioned against Tron/EldraTron and Bant Eldrazi?
Greetings
In theory, all midrange decks have a poor matchup against tron. However, bant seems to be much better than abzan in my experience. I've played abzan company to several decent finishes and tron has always been a thorn (of amethyst) in my side, since you just have to get lucky there really. Whenever I play against tron with Bant however, I have a mainboard ghost quarter to help me stabilize while I beat their face in, and spell quellers to stop their maps/scryings/stirrings as well. It takes a little luck but you MUST interact with them and disrupt their plan. After sideboard, the matchup can seem trivial of you draw right. I have unified wills, Gaddock Teeg, and stony silence in my board. These cards are all stars against tron, unified will counters everything they have so I consider it better than negate since if you don't have creatures you're already losing. Gaddock Teeg has won me so many games since they bank on their Karns and ugins to win the game, protect him at all costs! Stony silence shuts off o-stone, maps and eggs, but also turns off your clues so plan accordingly. Selfless spirit is also great aginst o-stone and Pyroclasm effects (if those are still played). In short, tron is an okay matchup if you can interact with them. So choose bant to beat tron, but not abzan though I enjoy both decks immensely so don't let tron be your only decider.
Has anyone found success in Gavony Township where Kessig Wolf Run isn't winning the game?
I have gavony in my list but haven't really used it too much. Most of the time late game, I'm sinking my mana into cracking clues. But, whenever I play abzan company, another deck I am very proficient in, gavony just runs away with games. Therefore, I assume that gavony is just as good in this list but I just always have too much value going on to use it.
I also find that delver is a very easy matchup for us. Just find a path for their tasigur, trade your fliers for their flipped delvers and focus on getting to the late-game. We will win the late game, and their kill spells are nothing but a road bump if they don't have a clock on you. Be aware they can burn you out so be careful. Also, board in Izzet Staticaster for unflipped delvers and snapcasters.
Do you have a list? It sounds like your build is more combo-centric while most of ours are closer to being a fair value deck with the combo as an afterthought or not being included at all. I'd love to see what you're doing with lotus cobra though.
I have not played against storm but I imagine the matchup involves spell queller-ing the right spells and pathing their baral/Electromancer. You could also use scooze to hurt their past in flames plan.
I actually believe the deck is as tuned as I can get it for the current meta. I had answers for everything and always had a good balance between lands and creatures in my openers. Spell queller was a beast, I never had an opponent kill him to get their spell back. I also think unified will is the perfect counterspell for our deck. Negate felt too restrictive so I believe unified will is strictly better as if we don't have creatures on the field, something is wrong anyways.
Got second place at my states in Alabama with my same list run back again. I don't really wanna do another full report on the tourney though. We had 6 rounds. In the Swiss I played against and beat: Tron, Goblins, Living End, And Grixis Delver. I then ID'D the last two rounds to get third seed in top 8. In top 8, I beat some awesome brew playing hideaway lands, emrakul, amulet of vigor, prime time, knight, and spell queller. I then beat ad nauseam in top 4 and lost to living end in the finals. Pretty good day honestly. I absolutely love this deck and glad I proved to everyone around that it's not complete jank. I also had guys from my last time there come up and tell me how they'd told their entire Local groups about my deck cause they thought it was awesome.
@RPD: I'll consider the cliques, I'm just not sure where I'd fit them in. I'm also working on scapeshift so I'm not really sure I wanna drop the 25 bucks for them. Just the double blue is what makes me nervous about it being castable. I feel like the mana is just right at this point. 8 dorks feels like a lot but opening hands get so much better when you can skip straight to three for a turn 2 knight or queller. 7 felt like too little and I wouldn't increase my land count either cause flooding is a concern. I honestly like how the 3-drop slot is so packed, I feel like that's the payoff for playing this deck.
@Bentobocx: to me, worship just feels win-more, it's not a bad card but using it effectively is difficult. It comes in aginst rock decks and burn but I feel our matchup is good enough there that we don't need a 4 mana enchantment that makes our companies worse. But, I wouldn't say don't play it either, I'm mostly basing my opinion on theory, there are definitely situations where you just instantly win the game.
1) I don't play skite because I want my creatures to be proactive and a 0/4 isn't doing that. I'm not playing the knightfall combo so his protection value goes down. I don't play clique because the double blue cost seems restrictive to me and would have lots of times when it's uncastable. I have 1 ghost quarter main.
2) I took out the elspeth because I couldn't think of a matchup besides maybe jund that I would actually need her and having other cards in my board, like the third counterspell seemed a lot more useful.
3) there are none of those in my meta actually, but if there were, I'd imagine the matchup leans a lot on spell queller and pathing their SRAM/paladin/baral/Electromancer.
Hey, everyone! I'm back again with yet another successful tournament with this super amazing awesome should-be-tier-1 deck.
My mainboard is the same list from my above report, (the second one where I replaced the retreats with a courser and elspeth). My sideboard, for clarification was as follows: (in no particular order)
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Reflector Mage
2 Unified Will
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Negate
2 Stony Silence
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Izzet Staticaster
I will post my opinions on each of these cards after my report if y'all are interested. (Especially for all you folks asking about Gaddock Teeg.)
This tourney was a monthly modern that a large shop about 2 hours from me runs, top prize is a future sight goyf, with store credit awarded to other top 8 finishes. The event had about 36 people and 6 Rounds. Please note I hardly ever remember my opening hands.
Round 1: Abzan Midrange
Game 1: this was the pretty normal game you'd expect, he thoughtseizes me turn 1 and is impressed by my hand of value creatures and ends up taking my elspeth. His first two land drops are a concealed courtyard and plains though so I don't immediately know what he on but just go with my normal plan of dork into knight. We trade my creatures with his kill spells and he gets a grim flayer down. After I get hit a couple times for 2, he has delirium online but I get a huge knight on the field to hold the flayer back while I draw cards with tracker and assemble a lethal field.
Game 2: I saw a lingering souls game 1 so the Staticaster was immediately brought in. I mull to 6 and keep a 1 lander with great three drops, a voice, and a Staticaster. (I keep a lot of risky hands especially when I mulligan) but my scry is another land. He IOKs me and takes the voice I believe. I hit my second land, he plays a flayer and starts beating. I find a 3rd land and drop a knight. I use the knight the next turn to find a stomping ground to cast the Staticaster to deal with some spirits. I find a scooze next turn which is great considering my low life total. My knight is tapped on a turn when he attacks with his flayer and a shambling vent. I block and eat his only creature in the yard which shrinks his flayer and kills it, while I Staticaster the vent that was blocked by a courser. This leads to a big enough advantage for me to steal the game. (Sorry, a lot happened that game, tried to give you the highlights but it's confusing to remember, pretty much everyone in the shop was watching us at this point too.)
Unified will is not great here cause of souls and reflector mage is lackluster with siege rhino but I would consider it in the future, it's just hard to board out my creatures.
1-0
Round 2: Esper Midrange
Game 1: long story short he answers all my threats with paths and pushes and plays lingering souls and Geist for the win.
Game 2: He gets stuck on 2 land and never finds a 3rd, couldn't lose that one.
Game 3: my hand is a little land heavy but has 2 trackers so I keep. He IOKs one of them away and surgicals it. I play some a voice and knight but they get pathed and pushed while he upticks a lili of the last hope to kill my dorks until he ultimates her, I scoop them up.
Even though unified will is lessened by souls, I need the interaction for his removal spells and hard to answer threats. He also runs 4 paths, 4 push I believe which is much more efficient than abzan's less than 4 split.
1-1
Round 3: Superfriends
Game 1: I recognize this opponent as an abzan player from a previous tourney so I settle in for a midrange game. Turn 1 he plays stomping ground into arbor elf. Wait what? I'm thinking it could be ponza, or devotion. His next play is a windswept Heath and an oath of nissa to get it. I ask if he's playing that 4 color walker deck that Todd Stevens made. He seems surprised I know what he is doing. I start attacking with the knight I dropped last turn, spell queller his Nahiri and that's pretty much game.
Game 2: I don't quite remember this one but not much happened again and I won.
Round 4: RUG? Tron
Game 1: he drops a misty into a basic forest into expedition map. I have no idea what is going on and just do my normal thing. He plays another forest and 2 maps. He cracks one to find a steam vents and another for a tron piece over the next couple turns but it's too late and my board has overwhelmed him.
Game 2: turn 1 he drops a tormod's crypt. I get a Gaddock Teeg out which slows him down, along with a knight. He gets tron online and plays a wurmcoil. I stare at the negate in my hand, wishing it was a unified will. The next turn he attacks with the wurmcoil. I read my opponent and determine he won't see his crypt still sitting in play so I block with my knight then activate his ability to grab a fetch to grab a land to make him a 6/6 to trade. My opponent lets it happen, gets his wurms and passes. I'm kinda dumbfounded and proceed to easily trade some creatures with his wurms and then kill him. He reveals a hand of 2 ugins and 2 Karns, uncastable cause of Gaddock Teeg.
Round 5: GR Tron
Game 1: my opponent mulls to four and I have a normal hand, but it has three paths. Even though I know he's on tron I keep it against my better judgement. It has lands, a dork and a courser soooo... Anyways she mulls to four, plays sanctum and passes. I draw for turn, yep it's the fourth path.... I play some midrange creatures and he starts to find his tron pieces. I think to myself damn I messed this up. He gets tron online, plays planar bridge. The next turn he uses it to find ugin to wipe my board putting ugin at four. I path two of my creatures, determining they're not getting any better, still holding two of them. I play a knight and pass with with several lands in play. He casts a sundering Titan, I float a white and he exiles three of my lands, ticks ugin up bolting me. I use the white to path the Titan which he blows up two more of my lands. I then attack with knight for lethal since he just out so many lands there. He should've minus 3ed the ugin so I got very lucky.
Game 2: I play some creatures, he gets natural tron but has no threats. He finds a ugin and triggers sanctum getting emrakul which is castable next turn, I negate the ugin. I play a Teeg on my turn, leaving me with eight permanents in play including a knight, dork, stony silence and lands, I'm at 20. He is low enough to die to the knight next turn but not the Teeg. He plays the emrakul and takes his extra turn, he attacks and I have to sac 6 permanents. I need the knight to swing for the win but he has 1 card in hand. I have to decide if I should keep the silence or the Teeg as my only other permanent. Silence best so stone, but Teeg beats karn or ugin. I decide to keep Teeg and he reveals the karn in his hand and that's game.
Top 8: Round 1: RW Burn. This is a friend i came here with, so it's a little awkward but it's happened before so we're cool with it.
Game 1: he beats to a bloody pulp with goblins and swiftspears while killing my mana dorks with blaze and helix. Then triple burns my face.
Game 2: he has a heavy creature draw and doesn't answer my dorks this time allowing me to get some sizable blockers in play and stabilize while attacking safely.
Game 3: this goes really long, he gets me down to five, I have many blockers out. but I slowly gain back life with courser and scooze. He knows I have a negate in hand from a guide trigger which makes things tense. Eventually my creatures get there.
Game 1: Wasn't much of a game, I play bird into knight into elspeth and he has no answers, dying to a flying 7/7.
Game 2: we trade resources for a while then he finds an Olvia Voldaren that I cannot answer.
Game 3: pretty much the same as game 2 down to the olivia.
Board: 2 kitchen finks, 2 reflector mage, 2 unified will, 2 blessed alliance.
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So a top 4 finish is not too bad, got 50 in store credit and my deck was the talk of the tournament, every opponent loved playing against me and I had lots of spectators. This really is the best deck that no one is playing.
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Sideboard explanations:
-2 Kitchen Finks: great against burn and aggressive zoo decks. Also great at 2for1ing rock opponents.
- 2 Reflector mage: great against goyf decks and creatures without ETB abilities including zoo. I haven't seen him really shine yet though and may replace him.
-2 unified will and 1 Negate: countermagic to help against our worst matchups (tron and scapeshift) and useful against blue based control. Seriously considering going up to 3 Wills and dropping negate altogether as there were many time a unified will would have been better against tron to counter wurmcoil or sundering Titan, even ulamog if I'd seen him. Negate also doesn't counter Primetime.
- 2 Blessed Alliance: Great against burn, zoo, and midrange decks. Early and mid-game it's normal modes are quite good. Late game all three modes are super relevant, making them lose a creature and you untapping the fatties you just attacked them with for surprise blocks. Also combos with knight's ability and Staticaster in corner situations. I would never remove this and am considering another copy.
-2 stony silence: for affinity, tron, and ad nauseam. It is okay against tron. But I have not tested against affinity or ad nauseam much (currently on my schedule for this week) so I am unsure if it is necessary here, but it will stay until i find out just in case.
-2 Izzet Staticaster: answers lingering souls, affinity's near entire creature base, and other random x/1s in various decks like abzan company, hatebears, or snapcaster decks. I urge anyone who plays this deck to never cut this card from their board as it is one of the rewards for playing this archetype.
-2 Gaddock Teeg: my personal pet sideboard card that has saved my butt time and time again. Comes in against tron, control (to stop wraths and cryptic or at least draw removal spells out), scapeshift, abzan company, and sun and moon. Sometimes he severely hoses our opponents, but at the very least he buys us time to beat down while our opponent deals with him. High ceiling. Our companies being uncastable is an unfortunate side-effect but if you have him out in those matches, you should already be winning. You should not cut company when bringing him in unless you have other reasons to do so as company is still your best cards and helps find Teeg. Besides, you'll still need company if you never see him to have a chance in some matchups.
Most definitely. I didn't draw courser much today so I didn't get to mess with her much, elspeth was great at breaking up board stalls without exposing myself to backswings. I didn't miss the retreats once, especially since I sided them out a lot when I played. My philosophy is that your long-term game plan is good enough that you don't need the combo and the combo seemed kinda random and difficult to find. I even felt okay playing against traditionally bad matchups like tron. Also, Teeg is amazing, I used to play him in naya company's sideboard too. I've had so many games where my opponents had wraths, batterskulls, cryptics. and walkers in their hands when it was over, I would've been toast without him.
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Clearly you've never played against living end, that is a worse matchup than tron. And the main reason I wanna play meddling mage.
The reason I want mage over eidolon is that mage is more useful in the matchups we need it, like tron, ad nauseam, and living end. Eidolon is great aginst control decks using snaps but remember eidolon restricts us too, meaning if we cast a spell and they counter it, we don't get another spell. Also, decks playing snap are already a very good matchup for us anyways. Also, hitting for two and coming down turn 2 instead of three is relevant since our curve is super packed on three already. Mage also has the potential to be good against random decks you may not expect to face where eidolon is a lot more restrictive in its ability to hate.
I have two bigger modern tourneys coming up in my area in the next two weekends and plan on playing the deck there with the mages added. Unfortunately, I won't have the element of surprise since everyone knows I play the deck by now (though I play it quite well, they may be afraid of it.) But MM will definitely get them, especially off a company since they can't respond once they see it.
My current sideboard:
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Reflector Mage
3 Unified Will
4 Meddling Mage
I ended up cutting my 2 blessed alliance and 2 stony silence. Being a company deck, I find staying creature heavy helps a lot. Company finds your sideboard cards and you don't draw so many spells that you apply little pressure.
By the way, for the love of Nylea, can someone please tell me how to format a decklist on here so I don't have to manually type them out like above, I'm using a tablet if that's relevant.
I'm actually gonna order a playset myself. Now just to figure out if I want the Chris pikula art or the new shards one. Maybe two of each?
Gaddock Teeg and countermagic are great against tron, they have single-handedly won me games. I survived an emrakul swing once and swung lethal next turn because I didn't sac my Teeg that was stopping his karn coming down to hit my lethal knight.
In theory, all midrange decks have a poor matchup against tron. However, bant seems to be much better than abzan in my experience. I've played abzan company to several decent finishes and tron has always been a thorn (of amethyst) in my side, since you just have to get lucky there really. Whenever I play against tron with Bant however, I have a mainboard ghost quarter to help me stabilize while I beat their face in, and spell quellers to stop their maps/scryings/stirrings as well. It takes a little luck but you MUST interact with them and disrupt their plan. After sideboard, the matchup can seem trivial of you draw right. I have unified wills, Gaddock Teeg, and stony silence in my board. These cards are all stars against tron, unified will counters everything they have so I consider it better than negate since if you don't have creatures you're already losing. Gaddock Teeg has won me so many games since they bank on their Karns and ugins to win the game, protect him at all costs! Stony silence shuts off o-stone, maps and eggs, but also turns off your clues so plan accordingly. Selfless spirit is also great aginst o-stone and Pyroclasm effects (if those are still played). In short, tron is an okay matchup if you can interact with them. So choose bant to beat tron, but not abzan though I enjoy both decks immensely so don't let tron be your only decider.
I have gavony in my list but haven't really used it too much. Most of the time late game, I'm sinking my mana into cracking clues. But, whenever I play abzan company, another deck I am very proficient in, gavony just runs away with games. Therefore, I assume that gavony is just as good in this list but I just always have too much value going on to use it.
I also find that delver is a very easy matchup for us. Just find a path for their tasigur, trade your fliers for their flipped delvers and focus on getting to the late-game. We will win the late game, and their kill spells are nothing but a road bump if they don't have a clock on you. Be aware they can burn you out so be careful. Also, board in Izzet Staticaster for unflipped delvers and snapcasters.
Do you have a list? It sounds like your build is more combo-centric while most of ours are closer to being a fair value deck with the combo as an afterthought or not being included at all. I'd love to see what you're doing with lotus cobra though.
@Bentobocx: to me, worship just feels win-more, it's not a bad card but using it effectively is difficult. It comes in aginst rock decks and burn but I feel our matchup is good enough there that we don't need a 4 mana enchantment that makes our companies worse. But, I wouldn't say don't play it either, I'm mostly basing my opinion on theory, there are definitely situations where you just instantly win the game.
2) I took out the elspeth because I couldn't think of a matchup besides maybe jund that I would actually need her and having other cards in my board, like the third counterspell seemed a lot more useful.
3) there are none of those in my meta actually, but if there were, I'd imagine the matchup leans a lot on spell queller and pathing their SRAM/paladin/baral/Electromancer.
My mainboard is the same list from my above report, (the second one where I replaced the retreats with a courser and elspeth). My sideboard, for clarification was as follows: (in no particular order)
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Reflector Mage
2 Unified Will
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Negate
2 Stony Silence
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Izzet Staticaster
I will post my opinions on each of these cards after my report if y'all are interested. (Especially for all you folks asking about Gaddock Teeg.)
This tourney was a monthly modern that a large shop about 2 hours from me runs, top prize is a future sight goyf, with store credit awarded to other top 8 finishes. The event had about 36 people and 6 Rounds. Please note I hardly ever remember my opening hands.
Round 1: Abzan Midrange
Game 1: this was the pretty normal game you'd expect, he thoughtseizes me turn 1 and is impressed by my hand of value creatures and ends up taking my elspeth. His first two land drops are a concealed courtyard and plains though so I don't immediately know what he on but just go with my normal plan of dork into knight. We trade my creatures with his kill spells and he gets a grim flayer down. After I get hit a couple times for 2, he has delirium online but I get a huge knight on the field to hold the flayer back while I draw cards with tracker and assemble a lethal field.
Game 2: I saw a lingering souls game 1 so the Staticaster was immediately brought in. I mull to 6 and keep a 1 lander with great three drops, a voice, and a Staticaster. (I keep a lot of risky hands especially when I mulligan) but my scry is another land. He IOKs me and takes the voice I believe. I hit my second land, he plays a flayer and starts beating. I find a 3rd land and drop a knight. I use the knight the next turn to find a stomping ground to cast the Staticaster to deal with some spirits. I find a scooze next turn which is great considering my low life total. My knight is tapped on a turn when he attacks with his flayer and a shambling vent. I block and eat his only creature in the yard which shrinks his flayer and kills it, while I Staticaster the vent that was blocked by a courser. This leads to a big enough advantage for me to steal the game. (Sorry, a lot happened that game, tried to give you the highlights but it's confusing to remember, pretty much everyone in the shop was watching us at this point too.)
Board: 2 Staticaster, 2 Blessed Alliance, 2 kitchen finks.
Unified will is not great here cause of souls and reflector mage is lackluster with siege rhino but I would consider it in the future, it's just hard to board out my creatures.
1-0
Round 2: Esper Midrange
Game 1: long story short he answers all my threats with paths and pushes and plays lingering souls and Geist for the win.
Game 2: He gets stuck on 2 land and never finds a 3rd, couldn't lose that one.
Game 3: my hand is a little land heavy but has 2 trackers so I keep. He IOKs one of them away and surgicals it. I play some a voice and knight but they get pathed and pushed while he upticks a lili of the last hope to kill my dorks until he ultimates her, I scoop them up.
Board: 2 kitchen finks, 2 unified will, 1 negate, 2 Izzet Staticaster.
Even though unified will is lessened by souls, I need the interaction for his removal spells and hard to answer threats. He also runs 4 paths, 4 push I believe which is much more efficient than abzan's less than 4 split.
1-1
Round 3: Superfriends
Game 1: I recognize this opponent as an abzan player from a previous tourney so I settle in for a midrange game. Turn 1 he plays stomping ground into arbor elf. Wait what? I'm thinking it could be ponza, or devotion. His next play is a windswept Heath and an oath of nissa to get it. I ask if he's playing that 4 color walker deck that Todd Stevens made. He seems surprised I know what he is doing. I start attacking with the knight I dropped last turn, spell queller his Nahiri and that's pretty much game.
Game 2: I don't quite remember this one but not much happened again and I won.
Board: 2 unified will, 1 negate, 2 Gaddock Teeg.
2-1
Round 4: RUG? Tron
Game 1: he drops a misty into a basic forest into expedition map. I have no idea what is going on and just do my normal thing. He plays another forest and 2 maps. He cracks one to find a steam vents and another for a tron piece over the next couple turns but it's too late and my board has overwhelmed him.
Game 2: turn 1 he drops a tormod's crypt. I get a Gaddock Teeg out which slows him down, along with a knight. He gets tron online and plays a wurmcoil. I stare at the negate in my hand, wishing it was a unified will. The next turn he attacks with the wurmcoil. I read my opponent and determine he won't see his crypt still sitting in play so I block with my knight then activate his ability to grab a fetch to grab a land to make him a 6/6 to trade. My opponent lets it happen, gets his wurms and passes. I'm kinda dumbfounded and proceed to easily trade some creatures with his wurms and then kill him. He reveals a hand of 2 ugins and 2 Karns, uncastable cause of Gaddock Teeg.
Board: 2 unified will, 1 negate, 2 Gaddock Teeg.
3-1
Round 5: GR Tron
Game 1: my opponent mulls to four and I have a normal hand, but it has three paths. Even though I know he's on tron I keep it against my better judgement. It has lands, a dork and a courser soooo... Anyways she mulls to four, plays sanctum and passes. I draw for turn, yep it's the fourth path.... I play some midrange creatures and he starts to find his tron pieces. I think to myself damn I messed this up. He gets tron online, plays planar bridge. The next turn he uses it to find ugin to wipe my board putting ugin at four. I path two of my creatures, determining they're not getting any better, still holding two of them. I play a knight and pass with with several lands in play. He casts a sundering Titan, I float a white and he exiles three of my lands, ticks ugin up bolting me. I use the white to path the Titan which he blows up two more of my lands. I then attack with knight for lethal since he just out so many lands there. He should've minus 3ed the ugin so I got very lucky.
Game 2: I play some creatures, he gets natural tron but has no threats. He finds a ugin and triggers sanctum getting emrakul which is castable next turn, I negate the ugin. I play a Teeg on my turn, leaving me with eight permanents in play including a knight, dork, stony silence and lands, I'm at 20. He is low enough to die to the knight next turn but not the Teeg. He plays the emrakul and takes his extra turn, he attacks and I have to sac 6 permanents. I need the knight to swing for the win but he has 1 card in hand. I have to decide if I should keep the silence or the Teeg as my only other permanent. Silence best so stone, but Teeg beats karn or ugin. I decide to keep Teeg and he reveals the karn in his hand and that's game.
Board: 2 unified will, 1 negate, 2 stony silence, 2 Gaddock Teeg.
4-1
Round 6: ID With Bant Eldrazi
Top 8: Round 1: RW Burn. This is a friend i came here with, so it's a little awkward but it's happened before so we're cool with it.
Game 1: he beats to a bloody pulp with goblins and swiftspears while killing my mana dorks with blaze and helix. Then triple burns my face.
Game 2: he has a heavy creature draw and doesn't answer my dorks this time allowing me to get some sizable blockers in play and stabilize while attacking safely.
Game 3: this goes really long, he gets me down to five, I have many blockers out. but I slowly gain back life with courser and scooze. He knows I have a negate in hand from a guide trigger which makes things tense. Eventually my creatures get there.
Board: 2 kitchen finks, 2 unified will, 1 negate, 2 blessed alliance.
Top 8: Round 2: Jund.
Game 1: Wasn't much of a game, I play bird into knight into elspeth and he has no answers, dying to a flying 7/7.
Game 2: we trade resources for a while then he finds an Olvia Voldaren that I cannot answer.
Game 3: pretty much the same as game 2 down to the olivia.
Board: 2 kitchen finks, 2 reflector mage, 2 unified will, 2 blessed alliance.
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So a top 4 finish is not too bad, got 50 in store credit and my deck was the talk of the tournament, every opponent loved playing against me and I had lots of spectators. This really is the best deck that no one is playing.
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Sideboard explanations:
-2 Kitchen Finks: great against burn and aggressive zoo decks. Also great at 2for1ing rock opponents.
- 2 Reflector mage: great against goyf decks and creatures without ETB abilities including zoo. I haven't seen him really shine yet though and may replace him.
-2 unified will and 1 Negate: countermagic to help against our worst matchups (tron and scapeshift) and useful against blue based control. Seriously considering going up to 3 Wills and dropping negate altogether as there were many time a unified will would have been better against tron to counter wurmcoil or sundering Titan, even ulamog if I'd seen him. Negate also doesn't counter Primetime.
- 2 Blessed Alliance: Great against burn, zoo, and midrange decks. Early and mid-game it's normal modes are quite good. Late game all three modes are super relevant, making them lose a creature and you untapping the fatties you just attacked them with for surprise blocks. Also combos with knight's ability and Staticaster in corner situations. I would never remove this and am considering another copy.
-2 stony silence: for affinity, tron, and ad nauseam. It is okay against tron. But I have not tested against affinity or ad nauseam much (currently on my schedule for this week) so I am unsure if it is necessary here, but it will stay until i find out just in case.
-2 Izzet Staticaster: answers lingering souls, affinity's near entire creature base, and other random x/1s in various decks like abzan company, hatebears, or snapcaster decks. I urge anyone who plays this deck to never cut this card from their board as it is one of the rewards for playing this archetype.
-2 Gaddock Teeg: my personal pet sideboard card that has saved my butt time and time again. Comes in against tron, control (to stop wraths and cryptic or at least draw removal spells out), scapeshift, abzan company, and sun and moon. Sometimes he severely hoses our opponents, but at the very least he buys us time to beat down while our opponent deals with him. High ceiling. Our companies being uncastable is an unfortunate side-effect but if you have him out in those matches, you should already be winning. You should not cut company when bringing him in unless you have other reasons to do so as company is still your best cards and helps find Teeg. Besides, you'll still need company if you never see him to have a chance in some matchups.
Taking this to states next week so wish me luck!