MTG Salvation

Video is ok, play is suboptimal but decent for someone who doesn't pilot this deck all the time. I think how many fatal push vs dismember main is directly rated to what your expecting in the meta game. If I expect to face a ton of etron, bant eldrazi, bigger cmc midrange decks I would pack more dismembers. In this current meta I'm a 4 fatal push guy main maybe 1 dismember as well.

Tom Ross advocated for dismember when Fatal Push didn't exist. Dismember as a 4 of is no longer viable IMO. My current build runs 1 Dismember and I am going to take it out for a lil the last hope once the planeswalker rules change. Its really just another piece of removal that can get rid of something small so your smallpox/lily can take care of anything big.

I do run 4 Fatal Push main as well and I think 4 of main is just where we want to be with this deck.

I actually don't drop thoughtseize against burn its always gonna be a reduction in dmg casting it.

Interesting read Darkx87 just a couple things I think a bit differently about or perhaps would like to discuss more. What role do you feel EE has in this deck? You talk about bringing it in which match ups would it make the cut? Do you find fetchlands needed? I play mono black and it is very rare I want to trigger revolt and I cant. I honestly cant think of a situation it has come up in the last 4 months. Ratchet bombs is a clean answer to chalice and tokens plus a bunch of other stuff it can be a bit slow but ive never found it to slow for what its purpose in the sideboard is. I play 4 Dark confidants in my board and I can see a whole bunch of scenarios in your post where I would have brought them in its something to consider.

I have to agree the best card in modern for card advantage with 8 rack is Dark Confidant. Splashing blue is not something I would consider as it doesn't have any spells that a:win me the game or b: make opponents hand smaller or c: deal with a card that stops me from doing a and b.

I think skewering the mana base for abrupt decay isn't a great idea myself what does it kill that we are really worried about? If its just chalice ratchet bomb or disenchant is a much better answer. I personally prefer Ratchet Bomb.

The dark confidants are new so I am bringing them in a lot lol I wouldn't recommend some of the sideboarding I do. I do what feels intuitive at the time. I brought DCs in against revolt zoo a few weeks ago in a pptq. Should I have? I don't know it worked and I won. Mainly DC is for a lot of grindy match ups so bgx, u/w control stuff like that where I am assuming a lot of removal has been sideboarded. I will bring them in if I side out a couple racks to which I do against kolaghans command decks and anything that brings in efficient removal like destructive revelry. Fulminators are for tron, ramp type decks and any deck that plays man lands that can get annoying. So affinity I will bring in a couple fulminators because generally I find that match comes down to man lands a fair bit. The 1 gq main is mainly for man lands as well. I don't bring in surgicals a lot in tron match ups because I have lost to tron after I surgical extracted a tron land. Trons a ***** match up and that's just the fact of playing 8 rack. Surgicals are more for snap caster decks, reanimator and grave yard decks. I have basically conceded my dredge match up its abysmal when you have side board for it so screw it.

E Tron will just use walking ballista to kill you through a bridge and it costs them 0 cards in hand to do it.

I think a common misconception in this thread is that bridge wins games and it doesn't. Bridge is not a win con its a stall out. If I am playing merfolk and someone puts a bridge down playing 8 rack I basically just stall out for game one and work on a draw. Bridge IMO is a trap its takes away from what the deck is trying to do and that is get a player to 0 cards and kill them with racks. Personally I think Ratchet Bomb is a way better sideboard card in 8 rack then disenchant. Ratchet bomb is just as good as against chalice and it can be used in so many more applications its good against lingering souls which is a terrible card for us to play against. Its good against affinity maybe better then disenchant depending on affinity players hand. The only card that ratchet bomb is worse against is leyline of sanctity. Leyline of Sanctity is another trap card IMO. The decks that run it our match up is great against already (bogles, ad nauseum)that I don't even care when a leyline is played. Most decks that run leyline mull to get it so even if they mulligan once to get a leyline we have already removed 2 cards from their hand before we have done anything that's pretty sweet value for a discard deck already.

I have been thinking more and more about Liliana the Last Hope and I am going to test it. The fact that it is a win con is interesting and it does help out some of our tougher go wide match ups with its plus 1. I am going to put 1 in my main and 1 in side removing a dismember main for it.

Lil of the last hope does nothing for me in this deck, I am curious if you test it though and your thoughts. On paper it doesn't actually seem to have any modes I want.

Quote from tarotplz »

Noob question here,

Is it ever correct to keep a hand without any turn 1 discard (IoK, TS, RC etc.) if it has good plays at say 2 and 3. Maybe a Smallpox in a matchup where it´s relevant or Wrench Mind into Lili.

How important is it to get in there right away with discard to disrupt their gameplan?

Game 1 on the draw I might if I had a fatal push or dismember in hand. Its honestly very rare to not have a turn 1 discard we play a lot of them.

Game 2 totally dependent on match up but there is a lot of matches I would keep no turn 1 discard on game 2. Remember most of the time your looking at 8 cards before you make a play so its pretty reasonable that you almost always have a t1 discard.

Habanero: Tron is our worst match up so a couple losses to them is normal. Titantshift is one of our better match ups though they need a lot of help against us. Just remember to prioritize ramp spells with targeted discard against titanshift they will never resolve one of their big threats that is in their first cards against us, unless you keep a sketch hand or get terribly unlucky. Titanshifts big play is at 6 mana for primetime or 7 mana for scapeshift (they need 8 mana if your above 18 life) If you can keep them off 6 mana for a bit your normally in pretty good shape. Its the deck that you are going to lose to if they have a great top deck later in the game, so a clock is a priority for me in the opener as well. A different example of a combo deck like storm my priority is discard/removal because I will find a clock eventually and they are a critical mass of cards deck to go off, just be wary if they get high on mana and a flashbacked past in flames is available in the yard.

I say pass turn then point to any spells I have on board and say "trigger". I make it all one sentence. Eventually you get used to it but it is still very easy to forget them and once forgotten its a missed trigger and the dmg does not resolve.

Hello all I have a PPTQ report with my current list posted above.

Round 1: Mono U Tron, this could possibly be our worst match up. I lost in 2 games. They play a lot of artifacts so wrench mind isn't great against them and they don't tend to use up cards fast like RG tron can. He won game 1 with a wurmcoil after natural tron then game 2 with an ugin after natural tron. They also play a fair bit of card draw which isn't easy.

Round 2: Abzan, I won in 3 game 2 I couldn't deal with Bob and it buried me which is generally the case in this match up. Bob and Lingering souls are there best cards against us.

Round 3: Jund, I won in 2 games it was a relatively new player and the match up is good for us.

Round 4: Titanshift, this was a friend I drove down with and we considering drawing to keep us both live for top8 but then we went ahead and played it out because it was to early to draw. I won in 3 games he stole game 2 on me at 1 life with a timely top deck.

Round 5: Grixis delver with light splash of black, a very interesting deck with some brew cards in it. Every game was a race and they were very exciting. Double rack effects were a high priority in winning these matches. I won in 3 games.

Round 6: I got the pair down so I had to play it out instead of ID into top 8. Abzan again he wasn't familiar with 8 rack and I won in 2 games.

Top 8: I entered in first place which I wasn't to thrilled about because I had chosen to draw every game I had played so far.

Round 7: A friend on grixis delver the same person from round 5. Games very close again came down to top decks and preserving life totals it played out very much like a burn match up. I won in 3 games.

Round 8: Storm, I won with discard and mutavault beat downs in 2 games. I didn't see any rack effects until the very end of game 2 but the discard was enough to keep him off his game.

Round 9: The other fella I drove up with on Bushwacker Zoo. I chose to take the play in this match up and this match up only all day long. It turned out to be needed because he had a great starting hand with simian spirit guide and a bunch of mana producing creatures that he could popped out turn 1 and I woulda died to them. I discarded simian spirit guide with turn 1 discard then smallpoxed twicein a row for the win game 1. Game 2 he got stuck on 1 land and couldn't produce a critical mass of creatures to overwhelm my removal. I won in 2. Good for a rptq invite and 162 bucks in store credit. I had a lot of fun and had a lot of 50/50 match ups which is always nice. There were 34 players at this event and the only 3 players on Tron so it was a pretty favourable field for 8 rack.

A lot of times I side out The rack for bobs just to change up my game plan a bit. I loved bob all day long. The 1 ghost quarter main is to trigger revolt but its also really nice against man lands because they can be a pain. I would play a bontu's main if I felt the field was heavy with small creature decks it would replace my dismember in the main.

Fatal Push is amazing in mono-black just as it is in multi color. The multi color lists only run 4 fetches so its pretty much just as good in mono black. I personally don't think the small splash is worth it for a couple disenchants and fragmentize. The only reason I would consider a splash is for lingering souls. My ratchet bombs pretty much take care of anything other then leyline of sanctity that disenchant or fragmentize would be useful against and ratchet bomb can deal with lingering souls which is a terrible card against us. Honestly I don't find leyline that big of deal and never have most of the decks that play it (bogles, ad naus) we are so favored against them that its pretty much a non issue and anytime someone mulligans to find a leyline that is good for us, which is common when playing the card.

I think your right about Bob I think it will come in a lot of matches.

I play two Bontu's in the side and its great, 2 Ratchet Bomb as well help out a ton.

I have recently started running 4 Dark Confidants in my side as my creature package. I am unsure what all matches I want them in. I definetly want them in when I board out a few racks so against artifact removal/chalice/leyline decks but are any of you using them elsewhere? For example do they come in for Burn? Tron? I think I want them in these matches but I am unsure and would love to hear others opinions about when to play this card. Current List for reference.