MTG Salvation

Oh I left planeswalker hate question
Probably because I didnt know good tools vs planeswalkers
Pithing Needle and Vampire Hexmage are weak because 1) they are narrow 2) first they cast planeswalker and get card advantage from it, then we cast our answer and it eliminates planeswalker. so a card disadvantage which is very bad for 8Rack (yes you can needle walker in advance but this has its own cons, most decks tend to use various walkers)
Eliminate, Hero's Downfall and Murderous Rider are also kinda weak because again they use planeswalker, then we get rid of it. They 2-for-1'ed us.
I used to get rid of walkers with Rack + Muta but now this plan is 10 times worse because Rack cant hit and walkers are much better (cheaper and more card advantage)
Nether Spirit I think should be in main so it kinda helps to keep walkers in check

Quote from redsavina »

I love playing 8 Rack. Its totally my favorite modern deck, however, with so many planeswalkers in the meta now, I need a better way to deal with them, especially since The Rack now longer redirects damage to planeswalkers (why couldnt they revise the text on that card to keep the redirect ability?).

For mono black, what recommendations do you have for Planeswalker removal? I run Pithing Needle in the sideboard, but I have had a game where I actually had the win, but the planeswalker in play prevented me from ever winning (dont remember the card name, but it was a passive ability that if the planeswalker was in play, the player couldnt lose even after 0 life). If I cant deal with a Planeswalker on the board, it feels like game over, even if they arent doing much more than that.

Yes that change hurt 8Rack a lot. Our grind plan breaks apart when they gain card advantage every turn (recent walkers tend to do that, older ones werent so oppressive). Companion decks also should be very good vs us. Starting every game with 8 cards is huge vs 8Rack

Quote from Sr_Dralnu »

Quote from Dizi »

Thks a lot for yours feedback both of you.
Now I have a doubt. I do not know if I splash white or if I invest in the mono black with 2 or 3 lili to replace Davriel ...
( I do not have the W cards yet )

List of the last night local meta :

1 Amulet titan
1 Bant eldrazi
1 WB Pikula
1 Spirit stoneblade
1 Mono W eldrazi
1 RG valakut
1 Goblins
1 10 rack
1 Bant stoneblade
1 Bant soulherder
1 G tron
1 U faeries
2 Jeskai stoneblade
1 UW Spirit
1 Jund

I made changes on the deck following your advice,
It could be cool this way I must tray it on untapin.

ty

Here is my decklist if you want to take some ideas:

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/673286#paper

Next Sunday there is a big competition in my local store. I will tell you how my 10-racks did it.

Did you use Ghost Quarter before? Imo it's pretty weak in 8Rack, good vs Tron, but not worth it to run main because color requirements are high. Also I'm not a fan of Liliana's Triumph, imo it's win-more, I would prefer versatility of Funeral Charm or power of Wrench Mind

I think deck's concept is weak right now. All these decks that WANT to have some cards in the graveyard.. Usual card advantage game doesnt apply to them, so 8Rack is not functional against them.

Quote from H8Rack »

How would we play neither spirit? Is it a singleton?

I dunno, 1 or 2

Wow I missed Nether Spirit reprint, that should be great with Racks maybe becoming a strong deck again
I dont think Dead of Winter is good, I tend to play with Mutavault, Urborg, Swamp, discard all other Swamps, play Mutavaults. Flaying Tendrils, Bontu, Damnation all are better than this. I dont see much payoffs for some snow build which replacec Mutavault and Urborg to be better. Even with all snow thats more of a standard power level wrath.
Defile same

Quote from Dressedspring1 »

To be honest I can’t tell how you managed to simultaneously respond to my post while also not reading my post, I’m impressed though.



Leyline of sanctity is a card we have splashed white for disenchant specifically to deal with. It is a card that sees play in the modern format of magic the gathering (TM) which we have to deal with. The fact that it has added utility against Jace and Teferi as well as hitting everything relevant from Tron (which is a horrible matchup) makes it worth considering. Your glib response that 4CMC cards don’t see play in modern is either trolling or just a sincere lack of familiarity with the format, but either way it’s not particularly helpful.



See also; the prevalence of disdainful stroke in modern sideboards

I checked statistics before posting, 4 cmc is alot https://www.mtggoldfish.com/format-staples/modern/full/creatures https://www.mtggoldfish.com/format-staples/modern/full/spells.

"We splashed white to deal with Leyline of sanctity" is not true. Maybe you splashed white to deal with Leyline. My long stance is that Leyline isnt even a big problem. It introduces inconsistency to opp deck (keep bad hand but with Leyline, topdeck Leyline, mulligans and Leyline itself cost a card), I can win Leyline with the right half of my deck without sideboard and I have tools in my monoblack sideboard to deal with it.
People splashed white because it provided different tools. Stony Silence, Lingering Souls, Disenchant and maybe others. Disenchant not only deals with Leyline, it destroys artifacts and enchantments which we otherwise cant. With Chalice being one of the major concerns.

Quote from Dressedspring1 »

I actually think if we're open to splashing that Despark is the most exciting card in the set aside from Davriel. It's a single card that simultaneously deals with both leyline as well as the card advantage walkers that give us trouble like Jace and Teferi with a bit of utility in being useful against some creatures. I've played anguished unmaking in the past when I was splashing white and I think that this is generally going to be better when we want it, although I'm unconvinced that boarding to go after the leylines is ever going to be better than delirium skeins which was the direction I eventually settled on.

Despark is bad, this is Modern, people dont want to play expensive cards here. Its dead 90% of the time

GP decklist

The list for sure is adapted to beat meta with a lot of Dredge and Phoenix, thats why Bojuka Bog and 3 Raven's Crime. Tron hate is also big here with 2 Fields main and 3 Spheres, 2 Fulmninator side (btw Amulet was one of the best matchups for 8Rack, im like 10-0 games vs it.)

Choices that concern me
Nezumi side. Unuseal choice, I dont see him as strong sb card as he is narrow, slow and fragile. In side I'd prefer Dark Confidant, Delirium Skeins or Scepter of Fugue
4 Collective Brutality, maybe with Bridge this becomes one of the best card, but Im not sure its that good. Without Bridge even its inclusion in maindeck is questionable as its great only in very few matchups and meh in many
2 Dakmor Salvage, afaik that land is only for minicombo with Raven's Crime which is at 3. I think gain from a single Dakmor is already marginal to the point of being personal preference, but second is a lot
2 Urborgs. 4 is standard, I understand 3, but imo there is almost nothing to gain going to 2, only lose consistency, though this rack list has lower requirements for black (but 6 colorless sources!)
3 Ravens Crime. maybe thats a worst meta for Crime but imo Racks should play 4 to minimize loses to mana flood.
I wanted to say this sideboard lacks tools vs Aggro and Burn in particular but with 4 Brutalities main and only 1 Thoughtseize this should be good vs aggro, a nice strat to free sideboard space.

I like a more aggressive stance here as usual approach of trading cards stopped to work imo, its became too hard to play fair

8Rack top9 Grand Prix Yokohama https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1829930#paper

I didnt play Davriel maybe you are right and he is too slow
Nezumi is definitely slow and fragile, he does everything we want, but he does it bad

Quote from Marcovitch »

in my pov, davriel is a budget liliana of the veil.
of course it does all what the deck needs, but it brings nothing that our deck is missing (to level up our MU vs tron for example).
your goal with that deck is to discard the hand of your opponnent down to 0 as quick as possible, and to maintain it.

Well thats not quite right
8rack is somewhat a combo deck. It wants discard AND rack its opponent. One doesnt work without the other.
Thats a common scenario: bogles and auras, Angel's Grace and Ad Nauseam, Tron lands and payoffs
By using Davriel we higher counts on both setup and payoff cards, so we lower probability of fail.

Especially vs Tron we cant let them draw cards and just uptick Lili. Eventually they will assemble tron and hit their huge threats we cant handle. We need to close game fast.

Grafdigger's Cage stops Raven's Crime
Thats not a reason to not play this card, but usually people choose sideboard cards that go well with maindeck

Quote from protoaddict »

Came here for Davrel. I plan on putting the following together, and I actually think he is quite the get for the list, not some budget option:

Timba's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
4 Liliana of the veil 2 Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage 4 The rack 4 Shrieking Affliction 4 Thoughtseize 4 Liliana's Triumph 4 Smallpox 4 Fatal Push 2 Raven's Crime 4 Inquisition of Kozilek 2 Sign in Blood	4 Mutavault 18 Swamp	Sideboard 4 Relic of Progenitus 4 Leyline of the void 4 Pithing Needle 3 Wrench Mind

The only card I'm really wondering if I should consider is Waste Not, and the sideboard is really just a concession to dredge and Phoenix being what it is right now. I'm also of the mindset that some of the Relics could very easily be in the maindeck.

I like both new cards
but I like pw more, because its both effects we need in one card, consistency is very important here
removal is a bit of winmore card
Sign in Blood is a bad choice imo, its for attrition matchups and super bad vs aggro, so its not for maindeck
to play 6 3-drops we need 23-24 lands (this number goes lower if we cut Smallpox but I dont think we should)
If my assumptions are correct the best decklist shuld be

With fetches (+Fatal Push), Murderous Cut and Dakmor Salvage being personal preferences.
But for test purposes it is better to higher nubmers for new cards

Quote from Num »

Hello fellow rackers
As the primer says, 8rack is an highly customizable shell. So I went ahead and wanted to build a creature heavier version... This is the list I play-tested in a recent FNM:

12-Rack Rat CopterMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creature 4 Pack Rat 4 Nezumi Shortfang 4 Rotting Rats 4 Burglar Rat 4 Chittering Rats Enchantment 4 Shrieking Affliction Land 1 Swarmyard 3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 2 Ghost Quarter 2 Mutavault 14 Swamp	Artifact 4 The Rack 4 Smuggler's Copter Instant 2 Dismember Sorcery 4 Inquisition of Kozilek	Sideboard 1 Ghost Quarter 3 Nihil Spellbomb 1 Pithing Needle 2 Ravenous Trap 4 Fatal Push 2 Dismember 2 Duress

There were 20 opponents in the FNM and I ended up losing in the semi-finals.
The star was Smuggler's Copter to get more value out of "enter the battlefield" rats such as Burglar Rat or Rotting Rats.

The only addition in the list above from the deck I used at the FNM is Chittering Rats. I found that depite all the discard rats, some opponents kept lands in hand to wreck the main plan. I thought that Chittering Rats could be a way out (unless they fetch), while comboing with the other rats and copter. Although Wrench Mind could also work...

I lost in semi-finals against Burn, which was just too good at top-decking... Do you think I should consider Funeral Charm as an instant speed discard? It also gives swampwalk to the pumped up Pack Rat. Alternatively, Aether Vial could instant cast rats in this setup to discard in the draw phase or crew copters. Another play I see with the vial is cycling with copter and vialing a rat in before the damage phase to pump a pack rat... Or vial a Pack Rat in and double it for just 3 mana

I'm open to any suggestion. This is not meant to be a budget deck, just a creature/tribal rat twist on 8Rack.

Cheers

Id definitely get rid of Ghost Quarter, Mutavault and Swarmyard are much better in rats deck. Id rise colorless land count to atleast 6 because deck is not very hungry for black. Maybe even 8.
Id definitely use Ravenous Rats it looks like what we are looking for
I dont like Rotting Rats very much, its equal effect makes it soso.
Chittering Rats is also a bit expensive for its effect.
Smuggler's Copter does nothing on its own and is not essential for our strategy so Id cut 1-2 copies.
Funeral Charm is a versatile card, all modes seem relevant, it can be ok
Vial is most likely bad here