I'm in the process of building this deck, any ideas or avenues I should consider? I like the idea of Blight Herder instead of Smasher in the deck, but how good is it? Is it too cute? Also, how good is Sorin Solemn Visitor in this?
Anyway lists welcome.
Thanks.
I personally find processing 2 cards a bit tough 60% of the time and lean toward not wanting to cast them until I can process (which is dumb, I know). I'm also of the impression that they soften us to boardwipes. Personally prefer Smasher because the trample, haste and self-protection clauses are very relevant. However, a lot of the more seasoned Processor veterans have been reporting success with Herder. For instance, Ride The Iguana has been rocking the Herders and pretty much smashing bacon with them from what I can tell. Also there is no harm in picking up both herder and smasher and developing something of an eldrazi toolkit of options to choose from. Herder was what made me want to play the deck in the first place, loved the idea and it was easier to acquire than Reality Smasher at the time (so it's also a great way to help budget into the deck).
You'll undoubtedly get responses from some of the guys and gals more qualified to process you through the BW bootcamp, but I hope you find this a little tidbit helpful in the interim. Good luck! You've made an excellent choice in picking a deck to build!
Thanks for the feedback Deadrift I'm not playing sculler and haven't been impressed with it either. I'm not saying it's a bad card, it just hasn't worked for me in my previous lists. But I do want to test Eldrazi Displacer at some point so I'll probably try it again. `Will take your advice to heart on running more duals if I do. I'm still testing Gemstone caverns so not too sure about that one either. Will be buying another Sorin shortly XD. I'm intrigued by Eternal Scourge. I desperately want scourge to work in this deck, lol. Although I've only ever run it as a singleton so far. Yolo, I'm taking three to my next fnm
From what I recall, Joe Soh's deck is an adaption of BR processor which doesn't have access to shambling vent so it tends to run mutavault instead. He was very likely already working with Mutavault and this may help explain why he ran the 4 Mutavaults (assuming he hasn't been paying much attention to this thread, if any). Shambling vent may have never occurred to him.
Personally, I've been finding shambling vent to be slow (I hate that it enters tapped) and sometimes a little awkward as the activation cost is pretty steep. So I'm considering replacing my two copies for 2 Mutavault and then this is what my manabase will look like afterward:
So is this a trap and will I come out from it with a feeling of having been violated by tentacles; or is that how my opponents will feel?
On another note, an interesting question was raised a few pages back on the thread: can we cut mindstone. I recall someone describing it as a 3 mana cycler. What is the consensus on this point? I've played about 4 games against blood moon at my local store and was able to fight through it and win 3 of them thanks to this card. It also seems to increase our chances of t3 TKS which seems to be where we want to play TKS.
I've taken advice from Herfs and Zirzhas on acquiring Marsh Flats for my version. Halfway there but would like to confirm the purpose they serve in the deck; is it primarily mana-fixing or is there a deck-thinnning argument to consider here. I keep considering the blood moon scenario and I'm concerned 3 fetches aren't enough to mana-fix prior to a blood moon resolving and I have these nagging thoughts about basic lands being better draws while we're in the red-light district. This is obviously coming from someone who hasn't yet played marsh flats in the deck. So another question I need to ask my esteemed mentors from the salvation army is whether the choice to run marsh flats is even made with blood moon in mind or not. I am fixated on blood moon because we are a 3-colour deck and I'm terrified of it, lol.
I've also managed to acquire a Sorin, Solemn Visitor, which I've enjoyed running in the deck with lingering souls. But I've been paying attention to Eldrazi Tron lists and was wondering if running 1-2 basilisk collar for the lifegain might be more efficient? Obviously, Sorin has the +1/0 clause and more modes which can be very relevant and Tron runs them not only for life-gain but for synergy with Walking Ballista as well.
Appreciate all your previous responses and would love an opinion on this stuff before I start cooking recklessly with lots of spice, lol.
Was wondering if anyone has removal suggestions agains U & W Planeswalkers and the UW control match-up in general. Do we ever SB out Strangler if they have visions? Lost the second game to UW Control because I assumed they'd remove Ancestral Visions mb after I processed one g1. g3 I straight-up lost to a resolved Elspeth (took out a Jace with Anguished Unmaking the turn before) couldn't deal with the token generation.
I played against the deck yesterday in a 6 round tournament (went 3-2-1) and the match ended in a draw. I don't think it is correct to board out stranglers in this matchup. First of all, the way to beat them in my opinion is to be too fast for them to handle. Thus, you don't want to board out your early threats. Second, their deck really relies on being able to refill their hand with visions. I don't think they ever board it out. I don't know if it is the correct play but I will almost always process their visions if given the opportunity. Even if it means killing the strangler itself if there are no other targets.
I don't think you should side out much of your removal. I could be mistaken but I like keeping it in. Push hits collonades and path hits Gideon if they animate him. Other than that, you rely on Anguished Unmaking for Jace and Elspeth (I run 1 main and 1 in the side). Pithing Needle is also a super useful card in a wide variety of situations. It shuts off any of their threats (collonades and walkers) and unless they counter it they only have Detention Sphere to deal with it. I run 2 in the side.
The matchup is tough but not unwinnable. Our temple draws are really good against them since we need to win before they can stabilize. Lingering Souls is also really good since they mostly rely on spot removal. Picking their hands apart with Thoughtseize and Thought-Knot Seer is also very good. I prioritize their wrath effects (Supreme Verdict and Detention Sphere if I have souls) unless I have a chance to take an Elspeth or a Gideon since they run so few win conditions.
I've been playing this deck exclusively for little over a month now.
Went 2-2 at my last fnm (wins: 8-whack, mono-blue boomerang; losses: UW Control, 8 rack) and 1-3-0 at the fnm before that (3 draws against Living end, Grixis Delver and a fevered visions deck and 1 win against UR Control) XD.
I've been enjoying gemstone caverns a lot as it potentially enables more turn 2 & 3 TKS and turn 3 & 4 Smashers respectively (last game I had, played a turn 2 TKS, turn 3 Smasher and t4 Sorin (with another Smasher in hand)). I tried doing a search of the thread but couldn't find much discussion concerning Gemstone Caverns. I cut Seagate Wreckage and a GQ in favour of it (been feeling GQ is a little lackluster against anything other than manlands as most of the time I need the mana it would otherwise produce and Seagate Wreckage was doing nothing for me. So I cut 1 of each from my previous list. Although, I could've been playing both wrong.)
I don't get enough practice in with the deck and find myself losing to misplays. Seeing the benefit of celestial purge now (will be acquiring some soon and will probably take out the wails). Thinking of getting 2 Marsh Flats later this month and might consider running Crucible of Worlds. I see Deadrift asked for anyone's thoughts on Sacred Ground as opposed to Crucible quite a while back. I would also be very much interested if anyone has any thoughts on this card. I'm assuming it hasn't made the sb cut because it's too narrow and we can't use it recur lands we sac ourselves?
Was wondering if anyone has removal suggestions agains U & W Planeswalkers and the UW control match-up in general. Do we ever SB out Strangler if they have visions? Lost the second game to UW Control because I assumed they'd remove Ancestral Visions mb after I processed one g1. g3 I straight-up lost to a resolved Elspeth (took out a Jace with Anguished Unmaking the turn before) couldn't deal with the token generation.
Hi etcherik! I am glad also to see new BW Eldrazi players around. This deck is a blast!
My best suggestion to you is to read the last 20 or so pages of discussion. There is soooo much useful Info, different builds and angles of attacks that choosing your playstile will be easy after that. This deck is not easy to pilot, you have many many choices to make, from which land to lay down turn 1, and what you are expecting to play three turns ahead to all the discards+removals decisions (do I take this kalithas now or take the k-command and hope to draw a path/push/unmaking to deal with him?). You need to study well your meta and each possibility of what the deck can do.
Also, I sincerely suggests you go after Marsh flats. They are what makes the deck playable. Polluted deltas or windswept Heath's are not enough.
Regarding your sideboard, I would cut stony to 2, extractions to 1 and the duress. Pithing needle is a must, and I like to play a couple fulminator mages to have an out to valakut/tron. Yahenni expertise is also a good card, and I like to play a 1/1 split of expertise and wrath.
And cut the eternal scourge... It will be a dead card 90% of time, as the modern meta today will rarely let you attack with it.
Anyway, have fun with the orzhov aliens!
Hi Zirzhas, thank you for the solid advice!
Played the deck again last and went 2-2. For reference, this is what my deck looked like after Herfs helped me with the sideboard yesterday.
My wins were against BG Deathcloud and Goblin tribal while my losses were against Naya Valakut and Infect. Infect loss was variance and bad luck. But the Valakut deck ran Nahiri, the Kaladesh Chandra, Through the Breach, Primeval Titan, Sakura Tribe Elder, Valakut and Emrakul? I've never seen that before. I got wrecked g1 and g2 and had to mull to 4 in the latter. Don't think I could've won that match without some crazy t2 Thought-knot seer nut draw unless I had something like Leonin arbiter... I left feeling extremely tilted and a little despondent.
Overall, I've been surprised with the deck's performance over the last two weeks. It seems like it's a powerhouse, I mean it carried me through a Bloodmoon last night against the goblins deck with lingering souls saving the day by putting up a wall of spirits (I drew into 3 copies)! But I'm nowhere near competent with the deck yet and haven't been able to draw out its strengths, being a noob with midrange and control. The deck seems like it has a lot of nuance and I'm in agreement that it's skill-intensive.
I wound up throwing Eternal Scourge in for testing after seeing Skred lists running it a while back. I thought it might be good against attrition decks but we're already very well suited for those match-ups anyway. And out of the games I've played with the deck, Eternal Scourge was relevant in one match: Deathcloud after the namesake made me lose my hand, my board and all my lands. The guy started killing me off with a manland and an eternal witness. I dropped scourge, and while I went down to 1 HP, it literally sucked up my opponent's removal (lol) and bought me enough time to draw into my own removal and threats. But otherwise it has been pretty useless and 90% of the time, it's the first card I cut unless it's an attrition game and even then I'm tempted to cut it to bring in more discard. So I'm definitely going to take your advice and cut it and then try to find more room for 2 Thoughtseizes.
I'm also eagerly going to take the rest of your advice Fulminators sound great. I'll pick up a Yahenni's expertise first chance I get and will try to begin acquiring the Marsh Flats over the next few months.
But right now I'm going to catch up on some reading on this thread and become very quiet until I'm in a position to contribute meaningfully or desperately need help from you guys
I like Blight Herder myself (as 2x-of SB card for midrange match-ups) but I'd never replace Reality Smasher with it as it is just a much better creature and a legitimate closer for the deck.
Hi Dennis, I like the idea of running Elspeth, Knight-errant mainboard (don't have access to any of the Sorins yet) Is she legitimately good in this deck though? Suppose I'll have to find out tonight I also what to try Blight Herder SB but what would we sb out for it in the midrange games? Sorry if these are dumb questions, I'm a complete novice with this deck.
Extra T1 discard is real, real good--I had room for 5 in that build, compared to 3 in my current deck. This helped a lot against some combo decks I played.
Sculler is extremely good as a T2 play followed by T3 Strangler, but it is very greedy in the manabase--I felt I only had room for 6 colorless-only lands (4x Temple and 2x GQ). No Cavern, no Vault, no Wreckage, one less GQ.
When using Herder, it is much harder to side out Relics. Herder is greedy for processing fodder, and it is so hard to get without Relic in play. This leads to keeping Relic in the 60 post-SB even in cases where its only function is to enable Herder instead of to interfere with the opponent's plans. No bueno.
Herder is still an amazing play when it processes. But it is still challenging to turn that on sometimes. Sculler and Path aren't really enough, especially if you're also trying to get value out of Strangler a turn or two before you're trying to also get value out of Herder. This makes me wonder about swapping out one Relic for a main-deck Surgical Extraction which can often get 4 cards into exile very early on, especially with all the hand disruption. It can also occasionally shut an opponent down if they have a key primary wincon (Bridge in Lantern, Titan in RG Valakut decks, etc.)
I definitely missed haste and trample in a couple of situations (against Nahiri and other planeswalkers, when at 3 and topdecking vs. Burn).
Working hypothesis: The choice of 5-drop finisher is meta-dependent. Corollary: Smasher and Sculler don't fit into the same deck. Herder is higher ceiling in some matchups (vs. control, vs. Suspend decks, vs. lots of targeted removal, vs. Blood Moon) and Smasher is higher ceiling in others (vs. Burn, vs. planeswalkers, oftentimes in late-game topdeck wars). Herder is lower floor though overall, because it's really pretty bad compared to Smasher if it doesn't process.
I'll probably keep testing the Sculler/Herder build, right now the jury (in my courtroom at least) is out. The crucial factor might turn out to be how much control and combo I start to see--Herder and lots of hand disruption are both very good against these decks.
Glad to see you finally testing out tidehollow sculler!!!!!!! You really need to add some eldrazi displacers to the deck so you can do the displacer + tidehollow combo on their draw step. I feel that wasteland strangler is a good card and amazing when you curve out. However, it is not a great end-game top-deck card and not the greatest at pushing your guys through their defenses. Displacer, on the other hand, is a great card throughout the game. It is extremly powerful to be able to flicker their creatures on their turn and freely attack the following turn. If you want to give tidehollow a fair shot, I would try something like this:
Or something from a previous post when I was brewing with fatal push.
I should add that I think that tidehollow is in a REALLY bad spot right now. Too many fatal pushes and k-command's running around.
I am also glad that people are starting to add more discard to the main board. It was always weird to me that people started cutting thoughtseize and iok. We want to get cards in their graveyard to exile then process. It is a core part of the deck. I would say that 6 discard spells is mandatory for a processor deck. With the iteration of the deck that I listed above, you have 9 ways to get in the opponents hand. That should be a nightmare for control.
I had a lot of fun with it and went 2-1-1 as follows:
1-1 vs Abzan Coco/GW Hatebears rogue brew (tough, actually went to turns and drew) [EDIT: Turns out this was Abzan Cocowisp, another deck under development in the mtgsalvation forums. Can be found here: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/686228-abzan-cocowisp]
2-0 vs Mono White Humans Aggro
2-0 vs Ad Nauseum (seemed like a very favourable match-up. Wasteland strangler ate a lotus bloom and burped it out of the exile zone g1. g2 Inquisition on phyrezian unlife into surgical extraction seemed to do the trick).
1-2 vs Jund (I don't know either. I thought this would be a more favourable match-up but apparently Kalitas messes up our Matter Reshapers and that lifegain puts them back up from behind the game. Found myself wishing I had Anguished Unmaking instead of Oblivion Ring. In future, I will have more dismembers and less discard in the SB and will board out the reshapers purely because of kalitas).
[EDIT: There were around 23 players and I ended up 8th overall.]
I will probably be trying the deck again at the next fnm
If anyone could give me some pointers on sideboarding with this deck or if anyone could lead me to some pointers, it would be very much appreciated.
Otherwise, any tips on improving my list and grinding out Jund/Abzan midrange would be very much appreciated (I'm very aggro oriented and inexperienced with a deck like ours).
I briefly recall seeing Eldrazi Displacer discussed over here but the consensus seemed to be that we want Lingering Souls over it despite the pseudo-lock with thought-knot seer, because Lingering Souls helps us trade more favourably and on our own terms with other midrange decks and helps chump aggro? I can definitely see the logic behind that but I was wondering if someone hasn't tried a version with displacer and found themselves liking it at all? (I saw this video with Corbin Hosler playing a Mardu variant that ran Eldrazi Displacer with Hangarback Walker so that has got my attention: http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=13671&writer=Corbin Hosler&articledate=12-12-2016)
Other than that, thank you all for developing this really neat, under-appreciated deck and let's hope we can push this thing closer to the top of the charts!
To me, your sideboard is a mess. We don't really need any additional graveyard hate because we run relics mainboard. If you are trying to ghost quarter tron's land then use surgical extraction that is your call. To me adding surgical dilutes the deck to much. With Tron we want to rip apart their hand with thoughtseize AND apply pressure. You can look at some previous posts here where deaddrift and I discussed the Tron matchup.
You can also tone down the number of life gain cards in your sideboard. Collective brutality is the best card (by far) that we have against burn. It absolutely wrecks them. All three modes are relevant. If you have 2 (total) you should be okay. I think that deaddrift talked about the sideboard more in depth than the primer in a previous post, but I cannot remember for sure.
Congrads on the 2-1-1 and, more importantly, on having fun!
Thanks Herfs, I'm also not happy with my sideboard. I did have them there for trying to attack manabases but I've been having doubts given the nonbo with relic of progenitus. I'm going to cut 2 surgical extraction, duress and timely reinforcements and then replace them with 2 Day of Judgment (I don't have access to damnation or wrath of god yet), pithing needle and dismember. Celestial Purge and Disenchant are easy enough for me to acquire. What which match-ups do we want to bring the celestial purges in for? Going to read the tron discussion now, thank you for your input so far and the links
I had a lot of fun with it and went 2-1-1 as follows:
1-1 vs Abzan Coco/GW Hatebears rogue brew (tough, actually went to turns and drew) [EDIT: Turns out this was Abzan Cocowisp, another deck under development in the mtgsalvation forums. Can be found here: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/686228-abzan-cocowisp]
2-0 vs Mono White Humans Aggro
2-0 vs Ad Nauseum (seemed like a very favourable match-up. Wasteland strangler ate a lotus bloom and burped it out of the exile zone g1. g2 Inquisition on phyrezian unlife into surgical extraction seemed to do the trick).
1-2 vs Jund (I don't know either. I thought this would be a more favourable match-up but apparently Kalitas messes up our Matter Reshapers and that lifegain puts them back up from behind the game. Found myself wishing I had Anguished Unmaking instead of Oblivion Ring. In future, I will have more dismembers and less discard in the SB and will board out the reshapers purely because of kalitas).
[EDIT: There were around 23 players and I ended up 8th overall.]
I will probably be trying the deck again at the next fnm
If anyone could give me some pointers on sideboarding with this deck or if anyone could lead me to some pointers, it would be very much appreciated.
Otherwise, any tips on improving my list and grinding out Jund/Abzan midrange would be very much appreciated (I'm very aggro oriented and inexperienced with a deck like ours).
I briefly recall seeing Eldrazi Displacer discussed over here but the consensus seemed to be that we want Lingering Souls over it despite the pseudo-lock with thought-knot seer, because Lingering Souls helps us trade more favourably and on our own terms with other midrange decks and helps chump aggro? I can definitely see the logic behind that but I was wondering if someone hasn't tried a version with displacer and found themselves liking it at all? (I saw this video with Corbin Hosler playing a Mardu variant that ran Eldrazi Displacer with Hangarback Walker so that has got my attention: http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=13671&writer=Corbin Hosler&articledate=12-12-2016)
Other than that, thank you all for developing this really neat, under-appreciated deck and let's hope we can push this thing closer to the top of the charts!
How does Tomb of the Spirit Dragon shape up for Lifegain; are we missing the critical mass of colourless creatures needed for it to be considered an effective option?
Not sure if this has been discussed before, but is corrupted crossroads a poor option for the manabase; also would we ever consider running pyxis of pandemonium potentially as a 1-of?
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I personally find processing 2 cards a bit tough 60% of the time and lean toward not wanting to cast them until I can process (which is dumb, I know). I'm also of the impression that they soften us to boardwipes. Personally prefer Smasher because the trample, haste and self-protection clauses are very relevant. However, a lot of the more seasoned Processor veterans have been reporting success with Herder. For instance, Ride The Iguana has been rocking the Herders and pretty much smashing bacon with them from what I can tell. Also there is no harm in picking up both herder and smasher and developing something of an eldrazi toolkit of options to choose from. Herder was what made me want to play the deck in the first place, loved the idea and it was easier to acquire than Reality Smasher at the time (so it's also a great way to help budget into the deck).
You'll undoubtedly get responses from some of the guys and gals more qualified to process you through the BW bootcamp, but I hope you find this a little tidbit helpful in the interim. Good luck! You've made an excellent choice in picking a deck to build!
Personally, I've been finding shambling vent to be slow (I hate that it enters tapped) and sometimes a little awkward as the activation cost is pretty steep. So I'm considering replacing my two copies for 2 Mutavault and then this is what my manabase will look like afterward:
So is this a trap and will I come out from it with a feeling of having been violated by tentacles; or is that how my opponents will feel?
On another note, an interesting question was raised a few pages back on the thread: can we cut mindstone. I recall someone describing it as a 3 mana cycler. What is the consensus on this point? I've played about 4 games against blood moon at my local store and was able to fight through it and win 3 of them thanks to this card. It also seems to increase our chances of t3 TKS which seems to be where we want to play TKS.
I've taken advice from Herfs and Zirzhas on acquiring Marsh Flats for my version. Halfway there but would like to confirm the purpose they serve in the deck; is it primarily mana-fixing or is there a deck-thinnning argument to consider here. I keep considering the blood moon scenario and I'm concerned 3 fetches aren't enough to mana-fix prior to a blood moon resolving and I have these nagging thoughts about basic lands being better draws while we're in the red-light district. This is obviously coming from someone who hasn't yet played marsh flats in the deck. So another question I need to ask my esteemed mentors from the salvation army is whether the choice to run marsh flats is even made with blood moon in mind or not. I am fixated on blood moon because we are a 3-colour deck and I'm terrified of it, lol.
I've also managed to acquire a Sorin, Solemn Visitor, which I've enjoyed running in the deck with lingering souls. But I've been paying attention to Eldrazi Tron lists and was wondering if running 1-2 basilisk collar for the lifegain might be more efficient? Obviously, Sorin has the +1/0 clause and more modes which can be very relevant and Tron runs them not only for life-gain but for synergy with Walking Ballista as well.
Appreciate all your previous responses and would love an opinion on this stuff before I start cooking recklessly with lots of spice, lol.
Thanks! This is exactly the advice I needed
I've been playing this deck exclusively for little over a month now.
Went 2-2 at my last fnm (wins: 8-whack, mono-blue boomerang; losses: UW Control, 8 rack) and 1-3-0 at the fnm before that (3 draws against Living end, Grixis Delver and a fevered visions deck and 1 win against UR Control) XD.
This is my current list:
2 Gemstone caverns
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Eldrazi Temple
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmouth
3 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Shambling Vent
1 Vault of the Archangel
2 Godless Shrine
Creatures:
3 Matter Reshaper
3 Wasteland Strangler
4 Thought-knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
3 Mindstone
4 Relic of Progenitus
Instants and Sorceries:
2 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Path to Exile
1 Collective Brutality
4 Lingering Souls
1 Anguished Unmaking
Planeswalkers:
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Thoughtseize
1 Pithing Needle
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Collective Brutality
2 Warping Wail
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Blessed Alliance
3 Stony Silence
1 Eternal Scourge
2 Day of Judgment
I've been enjoying gemstone caverns a lot as it potentially enables more turn 2 & 3 TKS and turn 3 & 4 Smashers respectively (last game I had, played a turn 2 TKS, turn 3 Smasher and t4 Sorin (with another Smasher in hand)). I tried doing a search of the thread but couldn't find much discussion concerning Gemstone Caverns. I cut Seagate Wreckage and a GQ in favour of it (been feeling GQ is a little lackluster against anything other than manlands as most of the time I need the mana it would otherwise produce and Seagate Wreckage was doing nothing for me. So I cut 1 of each from my previous list. Although, I could've been playing both wrong.)
I don't get enough practice in with the deck and find myself losing to misplays. Seeing the benefit of celestial purge now (will be acquiring some soon and will probably take out the wails). Thinking of getting 2 Marsh Flats later this month and might consider running Crucible of Worlds. I see Deadrift asked for anyone's thoughts on Sacred Ground as opposed to Crucible quite a while back. I would also be very much interested if anyone has any thoughts on this card. I'm assuming it hasn't made the sb cut because it's too narrow and we can't use it recur lands we sac ourselves?
Was wondering if anyone has removal suggestions agains U & W Planeswalkers and the UW control match-up in general. Do we ever SB out Strangler if they have visions? Lost the second game to UW Control because I assumed they'd remove Ancestral Visions mb after I processed one g1. g3 I straight-up lost to a resolved Elspeth (took out a Jace with Anguished Unmaking the turn before) couldn't deal with the token generation.
Thanks in advance guys!
Hi Zirzhas, thank you for the solid advice!
Played the deck again last and went 2-2. For reference, this is what my deck looked like after Herfs helped me with the sideboard yesterday.
3 Plains
2 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmouth
2 Shambling Vent
4 Caves of Koilos
2 Godless Shrine
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
1 Vault of the Archangel
4 Eldrazi Temple
Creatures (15):
3 Matter Reshaper
1 Eternal Scourge
3 Wasteland Strangler
4 Though-knot seer
4 Reality Smasher
4 Path to Exile
2 Fatal Push
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Collective Brutality
4 Lingering Souls
1 Anguished Unmaking
Artifacts (7):
4 Relic of Progenitus
3 Mindstone
1 Pithing Needle
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Blessed Alliance
2 Ratchet Bomb
1 Collective Brutality
3 Stony Silence
2 Dismember
1 Anguished Unmaking
2 Day of Judgment
My wins were against BG Deathcloud and Goblin tribal while my losses were against Naya Valakut and Infect. Infect loss was variance and bad luck. But the Valakut deck ran Nahiri, the Kaladesh Chandra, Through the Breach, Primeval Titan, Sakura Tribe Elder, Valakut and Emrakul? I've never seen that before. I got wrecked g1 and g2 and had to mull to 4 in the latter. Don't think I could've won that match without some crazy t2 Thought-knot seer nut draw unless I had something like Leonin arbiter... I left feeling extremely tilted and a little despondent.
Overall, I've been surprised with the deck's performance over the last two weeks. It seems like it's a powerhouse, I mean it carried me through a Bloodmoon last night against the goblins deck with lingering souls saving the day by putting up a wall of spirits (I drew into 3 copies)! But I'm nowhere near competent with the deck yet and haven't been able to draw out its strengths, being a noob with midrange and control. The deck seems like it has a lot of nuance and I'm in agreement that it's skill-intensive.
I wound up throwing Eternal Scourge in for testing after seeing Skred lists running it a while back. I thought it might be good against attrition decks but we're already very well suited for those match-ups anyway. And out of the games I've played with the deck, Eternal Scourge was relevant in one match: Deathcloud after the namesake made me lose my hand, my board and all my lands. The guy started killing me off with a manland and an eternal witness. I dropped scourge, and while I went down to 1 HP, it literally sucked up my opponent's removal (lol) and bought me enough time to draw into my own removal and threats. But otherwise it has been pretty useless and 90% of the time, it's the first card I cut unless it's an attrition game and even then I'm tempted to cut it to bring in more discard. So I'm definitely going to take your advice and cut it and then try to find more room for 2 Thoughtseizes.
I'm also eagerly going to take the rest of your advice Fulminators sound great. I'll pick up a Yahenni's expertise first chance I get and will try to begin acquiring the Marsh Flats over the next few months.
But right now I'm going to catch up on some reading on this thread and become very quiet until I'm in a position to contribute meaningfully or desperately need help from you guys
Thank you all once more!
Hi Dennis, I like the idea of running Elspeth, Knight-errant mainboard (don't have access to any of the Sorins yet) Is she legitimately good in this deck though? Suppose I'll have to find out tonight I also what to try Blight Herder SB but what would we sb out for it in the midrange games? Sorry if these are dumb questions, I'm a complete novice with this deck.
Thanks Herfs, I'm also not happy with my sideboard. I did have them there for trying to attack manabases but I've been having doubts given the nonbo with relic of progenitus. I'm going to cut 2 surgical extraction, duress and timely reinforcements and then replace them with 2 Day of Judgment (I don't have access to damnation or wrath of god yet), pithing needle and dismember. Celestial Purge and Disenchant are easy enough for me to acquire. What which match-ups do we want to bring the celestial purges in for? Going to read the tron discussion now, thank you for your input so far and the links
3 Plains
2 Swamp
4 Caves of Koilos
2 Godless Shrine
2 Shambling Vent
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmouth
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
4 Eldrazi Temple
Creatures (15):
3 Matter Reshaper
3 Wasteland Strangler
1 Eternal Scourge
4 Thought-knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Path to Exile
1 Collective Brutality
4 Lingering Souls
2 Fatal Push
Enchantments (1):
1 Oblivion Ring
Artifacts (7):
3 Mind Stone
4 Relic of Progenitus
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Duress
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Collective Brutality
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Blessed Alliance
3 Stony Silence
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Dismember
I had a lot of fun with it and went 2-1-1 as follows:
1-1 vs Abzan Coco/GW Hatebears rogue brew (tough, actually went to turns and drew) [EDIT: Turns out this was Abzan Cocowisp, another deck under development in the mtgsalvation forums. Can be found here: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/686228-abzan-cocowisp]
2-0 vs Mono White Humans Aggro
2-0 vs Ad Nauseum (seemed like a very favourable match-up. Wasteland strangler ate a lotus bloom and burped it out of the exile zone g1. g2 Inquisition on phyrezian unlife into surgical extraction seemed to do the trick).
1-2 vs Jund (I don't know either. I thought this would be a more favourable match-up but apparently Kalitas messes up our Matter Reshapers and that lifegain puts them back up from behind the game. Found myself wishing I had Anguished Unmaking instead of Oblivion Ring. In future, I will have more dismembers and less discard in the SB and will board out the reshapers purely because of kalitas).
[EDIT: There were around 23 players and I ended up 8th overall.]
I will probably be trying the deck again at the next fnm
If anyone could give me some pointers on sideboarding with this deck or if anyone could lead me to some pointers, it would be very much appreciated.
Otherwise, any tips on improving my list and grinding out Jund/Abzan midrange would be very much appreciated (I'm very aggro oriented and inexperienced with a deck like ours).
I briefly recall seeing Eldrazi Displacer discussed over here but the consensus seemed to be that we want Lingering Souls over it despite the pseudo-lock with thought-knot seer, because Lingering Souls helps us trade more favourably and on our own terms with other midrange decks and helps chump aggro? I can definitely see the logic behind that but I was wondering if someone hasn't tried a version with displacer and found themselves liking it at all? (I saw this video with Corbin Hosler playing a Mardu variant that ran Eldrazi Displacer with Hangarback Walker so that has got my attention: http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=13671&writer=Corbin Hosler&articledate=12-12-2016)
Other than that, thank you all for developing this really neat, under-appreciated deck and let's hope we can push this thing closer to the top of the charts!