MTG Salvation

With the uptick in dredge, this deck might be better positioned in the meta with it's running 4 MD relics.

Ponza, and really decks that utilize land destructino well, feel really hard to me. It might be just that Midrange in general is a dog to ponza, so I don't feel too bad considering every deck has its bad MU's. D & T feels like it's high;y dependent on whether they stick an early vial. Them having access to GQ + Arbiter can really hurt us the same way ponza does, but without the vial it feels relatively easy. I have found all flavors of tron to be pretty easy MU's. The main deck GQ's really shine in this MU, and the hand disruption keeps them off their big spells until you can get the GQ's (Unless they topdeck them).

This is the deck I am currently testing and will bring to FNM, and possibly an SCG on sat. My big unsure slot is surgical, I think that will become a RiP.

I'm testing out LtLH and am impressed so far. Her -2 feels really good, buying back even something as small as a tidehollow can have a huge effect. Bea, I think anguished deserves a slot, if not MB then in SB. It is literally the best "Catch-all" answer we have. Also, since you're running LoLH, wouldn't it be better to have higher sculler and strangler numbers? Since they can be bough back and have their effects reused.

So, I have been thinking a lot lately about jund and junk, the premiere midrange decks in the format, and grim player really bugs me. The card does so much for a 2 drop, it's crazy. Tidehollow is ok at the 2 drop spot, but I have found him to be awkward at times, with mana constraints. Plus, he isn't exactly great, or even ok, as the game goes on. Really random, but has anyone tested pack rat? It's a 2 drop threat that can be abused a bit through lingering souls and the new Lillian. Plus, as anyone who played in standard at the time can attest, if not dealt with quickly he can easily take over. It's just, I feel that slot is a bit soft in our decks, unless you're powering out a 3 drop Eldrazi via temple then the second turn I am either casting more disrupt ion or durdling waiting the answer threats. Just a thought I had, haven't had the chance to test it yet.

Are you running arena in the board or MD?


Titanshift is another MU I found rough, which is why I included both fulminator mage and Aven Mindcensor in the board.

Went 3-2 on MTGO tonight. Lost to 5c aggro and RG Ponza. I made a huge misplay against 5C aggro by keeping a really greedy one lander, which sucks because I had just pulled an LSV and crawled back to win the second game from 1 life. RG Ponza feels like such a bad MU, I got completely blown out.

I don't think I am going to change much in the way of the MD, honestly swapping the sorins and blight herders for reshapers feels like the best thing ever. Not sure what I can change in my board to cover those MU's without weakening others

Part of my reasoning for surgical is that it plays against multiple decks for one SB slot. Ripping a TBR out of Zooicide, the surgicalling it, can easily end the game against them, since we have a large number of ways to clog up the board. Liiem I said, might be a meta call, but I only saw 1 CoCo deck out of the 30+ people at my most recent modern tournament and it was Abzan CoCo, which we are already pre-boarded against with relic. I guess Cage is good against Elves, but taking a look at mtggoldfish, I see neither Elves nor CoCo decks making up a significant portion of the metagame. Like I said about Dredge, they expect to go against things like Cage and RiP in post-board games. Cage doesn't do anything if it gets blown up, which is largely different than other GY hate like RiP and relic which actually effect the GY even if they are dealt with.

I agree that mindcensor is better against the Valacut decks than it is against Chord decks, but Cage does nothing against the Valacut decks while at least Mindcensor offers something against the CoCo/Chord/Evo decks. For me, itas a matter of cage just not doing enough against dredge decks, while surgical having play accross a good chunk of the field. Will continue testing, should be going against a full gauntlet soon, it will be streamed.

Testing Hangarback Walker in place of the displacer and the blight herder. Considering the 9th place eldrazi list at gp guangzhou ran 4 of them MD, I figure I would try it out. Works well with Sorin. I think at times we are not applying enopugh pressure early on and I don;t see my mana base accommodating for 4 Scullers. Also considering bearer of silence, wish it was a little more pushed as a 3/1.

Honestly, I think I'm going to keep my.mana base the same. Granted, not playing scullers, but.I like the option of fetching up basics against a moon deck.

Also, considering cutting cage for surgically in my board. My reasoning is we already come in preboarded.against dredge via relics. Cage can stop some shenanigans, but only until they draw their nature's.claim and from then on they.can still.do their thing. I haven't.seen many chord or CoCo decks, which is something cage stops, but I also run aven mindcensor. Surgical can hit stuff I would.normally.have issues.with, whether it be ad nauseam or valacut. Thoughts?

Flaying Tendrils. Bomb, and ***? That feels like a lot of kill in a deck that already runs 3 stranglers, 4 paths, unmaking, CB, and dismember.

Splashing green gives access to abrupt decay, maelstrom pulse, ancient stirrings and BoP. Are the accelerations, card selection, and removal enough to justify the loss of Ghost Quarter ? Big reason for running Abzan over Bant would be access to blacks discard and removal suite, as well as access to Rhino.

The issue is not having 5 one mana discard spells. I feel like a good curve for us is almost jund like: T1 Disruption, T2 Removal/disruption, T3 Threat. CB is great, but I don't think its good enough to replace one of the 3 IoK's. You're right in all the MU's Timely is good in, its more a matter of how often I am seeing them in my meta. At least 2 of the decks I lost against would have been hosed by a well timed Aven.

Went 2-3 the other night, felt pretty beat up.

Match 1 1-2 Dredge

I lost to Dredge. Game 1 I saw no Relics at all, and most of my hand was removal and disruption so it didn't take him long. On the plus side, he had no idea what I was on going into game 2. Game 2 He blows up my first relic and starts building a board to kill me. I was sandbagging the second and popped it, exiling probably close to 30 cards. He had brough me to 7, but lingersouls tokens kept me in there and I started getting some beats in. Game 3 was similar to game 1, although I actually had a relic when I mulliganed to 5, he had a big turn and just got too much on the board.

Match 2 1-2 TitanShift
I sit down and see a turn 1 Search. Fun. I get blown out pretty hard with my hand feeling really durdly and he had the turn 5 shift. Game 2 was the opposite, where I just tore apart his hand and smashed in. Game 3 went down to the wire, with him pulling out so many mountains that he had no basics to search for when I chost quartered one of his valakuts. Unfortunately, I had drawn 2 wall of Omens and more discard spells with him topdecking, nothing really threatening other than the 2 thoughtknots on board. He topdecked a fetch for the win

Match 3 2-0 Jeskai Control
Felt strong this match, had the diplacer thoughtknot lock game 1 and IoK into Collective Brutality into TKS game 2. Too much disruption and threats for him to recover

Match 4 0-2 Amulet Hive Mind
Game 1 got Hive minded with just a Wall of Omens out. Game 2 got Primetimed with my kill spell pacted. Rough stuff.

Match 5 2-1 8Rack
Game 1 I took out ensnaring bridge and beat down with smashers and TKS. Game 2 I got locked out whil looking for Omens + Displacer combo to stop the bleeding. Game 3 was more smasher time, ripping his bridge.

Had a great time, loved the idea behind the deck, but felt my build was way off. The stony silences just sat there for the entire night, mocking me. The wall of omens did nothing, and the restoration angel was only marginally better. Brutality was great, sea gate did next to nothing, I think it drew me a card once, vault was alright. Conclusion I came to was not enough going on, I can have the disruption and removal, but without some sort of threat, I just look like a B/W Control deck with a subpar late game consisting of unpumped lingering souls tokens. On a positive note, I had smother in place of go for the throat and decided to have a last minute option to GFTT, which actually won me my game against titanshift.

Updated here, hopefully will get a chance to play more this weekend:


Big question is, with Vault, Sorin, 3 Shambling Vents, Kalitas, and CB, do I need to run timely? I get that it's great against aggro and burn, but I already have a significant amount of lifegain MB, and even more via CB and Kalitas in the side, plus I would like to fit in Aven Mindcensor, which would have done some work against both amulet and Titanshift.

The 9th place BR Eldrazi list from GP Guangzhou for reference sake:

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/465915#paper


Hangerback, Khalitas, and mutavault are all interesting choices. Could hangerback still be effective without K-command? Would hangerback be better with sorin? MD ratchet bomb is also interesting, as well as the endbringers.

Couple of commentss stormy. I dislike vendetta because my primary deck is zooicide, and vendetta at the wrong time can kill you.

I kind of like grim discovery, getting back a guy and a ghost quarter or something seems good.

The problem with brain maggot is the way it is phrased, which is after the "simplification" wizards has done with those types of cards. If your opponent kills the maggot in response, you get to look at their hand and that's it. If the opponent kills the sculler in response you opponent loses a card to exile for good.