I'm sure it is being played. I think the problem is GBx is not particularly well positioned at the moment. if the wind blows in one direction you will never know the deck was even at an event but if the wind blows the other way it can top 8. /shrug
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I beat UW control in the quarters of the PTQ today. Was a close but long match as expected. It is certainly tough matchup but he got kinda land screwed so I guess that was good for me g3 and my spells lined up well. I think I played decently enough. I then spoiled it by making a total BONEHEAD play in g3 of semis vs humans. Board was as follows: he has 2 buglers in play with a vial on 3 and I play a TKS with yahenni's expertise in hand. He reveals 2 reflector mages, mantis rider and a hostage taker. I stupidly take the mantis rider as that card is his best card vs me. Turns out I totally miss assessed hostage taker like an idiot and forgot that when he casts it He thoughtseizes me. Well he ticks up to 4 plays taker and casts my tks taking my yahennis. I'm totally boned from here outside a damnation. I'm disappointed in myself for doing that, it was totally dumb but I learned the hard way. oh well what can you do. It also happened that he drew all of this 3 toughness guys as I had flaying tendrils in hand.
Overall the deck performed well as it has been over the last year of me playing it. Dodging the blood moon matches (there were very few) this deck is a house. Had I played better I know I would have ended up winning especially considering I would be playing counters company in the finals. Still I went 5-1-1 over all so I have no complaints and I hope I gave this variant a little exposure.
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r1: Humans
g1 he flooded some and I was able to capitalize and he was too far behind to come back. g2 was close but he ripped a second mantis rider to finish me off. g3 was a slaughter. bunch of removal into a big scooze and tracker then a yahenni's to wipe his board and net me a goyf.
1-0
r2 martyr proc
2 games and both were easily won. He has tiny dudes and a bunch of spells which were all nabbed by discard and then steamrolled over. I haven't played against this much but it felt very good for me.
2-0
r3 G tron
g1 I was able to field of Ruin him off tron long enough to have a smasher into a second smasher get me there. g2 I should have lost honestly he bricked pretty hard for a while but when he did draw stuff I had answers for them and was able to scrape it out in the end. He had tron for basically the entire game. Goyf and eldrazi were MVP as was FoR. I had to battle through a wurmcoil, karn and 2 Oblivion stones.
3-0
r4 hollow one
g1 I have a couple discard and his hand is pure garbage with 2 bloodghast and something else. He rips faithless looting binning both, plays a land plus cycles wraith and plays a hollow boi. Just like that my hand of discard and stuff was completely garbage and I lose. He only saw 2 of my lands so he just assumed I was straight GB, obviously. g2 I am on the eldrazi plan and just straight steam roll him. He was obviously not expecting that. g3 he has the adept but I have removal after he tries to slam in for like 8 with it. I push it and he plays a hollow one which I untap and play a 5/6 goyf. He plays tasigur making my dude a 1/2 but I have a rec sage for the hollow boi and then a pulse for tasigur. From there it was easy.
4-0
r5: counters company
I was in 8th and there was 9 undefeated UGH. I beat him down g1 with a bunch of removal and into huge goyf and TKS. I then play some discard into smasher and that was that. From here the other undefeated player lost to so we were in the clear to ID into top 8! I think this match is pretty good for me especially being up a game going into game 2. I was confident I could have gone 5-0.
We play top 8 tomorrow 9am at GP Providence 3 more matches and it's off to the pro tour, imagine that! The meta here was seriously like 50% humans. There was an absurd amount, it was really stupid. Outside of that it was really diverse as one would expect. I would say UWx was the next most represented deck but no where near the numbers of humans.
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r1: bushwhacker zoo
g1 she doesn't have a blistering start and I'm on the play so after a few removal spells liliana is able to stabilize and then my huge idiots just take over. g2 she plays like a million guys and swings for 14 on t3 putting me to 4. I untap rip an untapped black source like a boss and flaying tendrils the entire board. from there I just had to dodge multiple bolts and TKS cleaned up her hand and stopped anything from coming in.
1-0
r2 grixis control
This was a very hard match tons of removal, counters and interaction. Notably Ashiok from opponent was just a huge beating and it won him g2 pretty convincingly even after I killed it, it just got so much value I couldn't come back. g3 I mull to 5 (ouch) but still end up making good choices and eventually winning the game. At the end he chose not to counter lili of the veil and hold it for something else and that really came back to bite him in the ass as Lili just controlled the entire board after a few turns. I was kinda surprised but I suppose I can't blame him I didn't know what he had in hand at that point but being forced to discard feels like a bad thing in a control deck.
2-0
r3 grixis goryo/breach fury of the horde combo
g1 his deck doesn't do much. My discard takes any key cards and scooze strips the griselbrands from his yard. I guess I was lucky he never drew emrakul or another gdaddy he could through the breach but I had a real deal clock. g2 he also doesn't do much and keeps a mega sketchy hand. My discard takes anything relevant and I eventually land a scooze which takes over combined with goyf. I saw the deck and let me tell you I was lucky to dodge leyline of sanctity. I coincidentally had a pulse in hand but that means I would have had to waste a turn killing that and not disrupting. which is 110% necessary that deck can nut draw you very quick.
3-0
r4 esper control standard....
yes this was a standard deck. AT 2-0-1 WTF?! IS THIS NARNIA what world are we in?! he actually beat real decks too, he drew only to mono white pillow fort. SO long story short my deck has a VERY hard time with teferi and the scarab god when combined with counters, multiple settle the wreckage and fumigates and things like vraska's contempt. He basically got shorted on white mana for too long and I was able to just stomp him but had he had double white when he needed it we would have had an entirely different match. I'm not gonna lie the majority of my deck was from the standard just before this one so who am I to say haha.
4-0
we split top 4 to cube but got to play a Bonus round
bonus: hollow one
game 1 my removal lined up very well for once and his deck didn't do a whole heck of a lot. g2 we have a very long game and both end at 1 life each but he missed an attack for 2 by playing defensive which I can respect but I would have just gone aggro. he went through most of his deck and didn't see many phoenix or bloodghast (2 each) I was able to deal with those albeit poorly and managed to sneak it out with the help of treetop village. I have a lot in the board to help with this match and when they aren't nut drawing me the deck is actually not that ba to beat. That being said, the deck is no joke and it is FAR from ever being a good matchup but it is certainly beatable. I'm now 4-2 vs it.
5-0
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More results from my rockdrazi list over past 2 weeks. No changes to decklist.
previous week 2-2. lost to hollow one and humans both having the most literal best draws vs me. Sometimes I draw well, sometimes they do, that's magic I guess. Both had games they killed me on t3. I beat jeskai control and sultai midrange.
This weeks results:
r1: colorless eldrazi (serum powder version)
Not much to say this is a decent matchup for me I have good removal and interaction for most of their guys. thing of note was g2 he on the play pitches 2 spirit guides and t1 TKS me...ouch. Thankfully I found removal after a couple turns and was able to turn the corner but my life was super low for the whole game.
1-0
r2: UR thing in the ice
Another easy match for me. I have discard and huge guys. Once I dealt with thing in the ice there's not much he can do to me.
2-0
r3: KCI
UGH this deck...g1 he mulls to 4 and STILL WINS through a scooze and a pulse....what the actual F. Admittedly I punted pretty hard with a wrong sequence of collective brutality and scooze activation so I deserved it but still. It was a mull to 4 in a combo deck. G2 I just get wrecked. Deck is so resilient it's really dumb.
2-1
r4: Jund
I get wrecked in this match. All his cards just lined up perfectly for what I was doing. He drew really well and I didn't. That's magic though sometimes these things happen. I drew 3 lands in a row and he drew all gas.
2-2
r5: burn
So far I've played burn about 10 times and lost only once. I can't say it's a good matchup as they are almost always close but maybe it's actually pretty good for me despite not having much in my board. g3 my opponent attacked into my guys for some reason and just threw them away. I can't figure out why. He was in a very bad position anyways, as I have 2 tks in play and a goyf vs his no cards in hand and a swifty+eidolon to my 11 life. Blocking gives him another turn maybe 2 but to just throw it away? I dunno.
3-2
So I was VERY lucky to only lost to undefeated players meaning my breakers were awesome despite my mediocre record. I lucked into top 8. I'm not going to complain. I was the only 9 pointer to make it.
top8: jund
different player but fun games. g1 he does jund things and just buries me. g2 I draw lucky and rip a second temple t3 like a boss and smasher him into another smasher. GG. g3 I was able to strip him of any of him cards and leave him stuck with a couple 4 drops thanks to brutality and TKS. He doesn't draw his 4th land until too late.
4-2
top4: mardu pyro
As expected I lose g1 pretty convincingly. I don't have any good way to deal with spirit tokens and didn't draw any removal for pyro for some reason. g2 and g3 were grindy but liliana last hope was straight up MVP. I have so much in the board to help with this match and I definitely need it.
5-2
We split finals and went home it was like 230 am...ouch. I think I might cut a tracker and play another liliana or scooze or something. I'm undecided. I love trackers and I think 2 might be the right amount. I may cut tasigur too but I never saw him once last night. I'll keep him in for now as he's been good in the past.
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I was playing reshaper for a long time as well and I'm not going to lie I miss it sometimes. Tracker+tasigur is just so much more value and punishes me less (smoother mana base and tracker helps with flooding). Reshaper is faster than tracker so that's a thing but I just love the solid GB shell more than I like eldrazi tribal (and tracker is one of my all time favorite cards). I've been debating going a lower curve build cutting some top end and maxing out on reshaper value but it is almost assuredly too cute, but maybe not.
I'm pretty confident I won't be going back to reshaper unless some new cards push me into it. Honestly though, TKS is both the best and worst card in the deck. Smusher is almost always MVP on the other hand, the card is bonkers in a GB shell.
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Since Rock is crammed in with abzan I'm goin to post my last 2 fnm reports here but I'll put them in spoiler tags so people can skip if not interested.
I've been on rockdrazi build for quite some time. I think it's just as viable as any other GBx variant but I certainly will not say it's better than any of them. although it's almost certainly better than sultai.
r1: serum powder colorless eldrazi
we had an epic g1 which ended at us both at 1 for many turns. If either of us draw a smusher we just die. He had sea gate wreckage active for a few turns till I found the field of ruin for it. Eventually I got there after he started to run out of gas. Thankfully outside of smusher his guys are actually smaller than mine. g2 he has a t2 smasher and well I couldn't race it. g3 I had a t2 TKS into a second so it was good to give him a taste of his own medicine. Turns out neither deck can really beat 2 temple draws haha. Magic is a silly game sometimes.
1-0
r2: abzan
we had 3 epic games as one would expect from 2 GB decks. g3 8 goyfs were seen and 7 were played (I chose a traker over goyf early on from oath). He ended up having a scooze for way too long and that ultimately won him the game as it chipped in and was able to gain him enough life. No regrets were fun games. I was 1 turn off damnation haha.
1-1
r3: jund
Jund is a much easier match than abzan. we exchanged a lot of resources but my guys are bigger and typically faster. My removal in general lines up much better. Having access to field of ruin was absolutely key in this match. g3 came down to a very close smasher+treetop for the win and I was dead on the swing back with his HUGE raging ravine. I couldn't find any removal for it so my line was I just swing in for lethal and make him have the removal to kill me. Turns out he didn't this time.
2-1
r4 mono green enchantress
This is actually a very brutal deck for other decks that don't have interaction and a clock. Well mine has both and i drew what I needed for a COMICALLY hilarious stomping of this deck. One highlight was g2 I t1 inquisition. t2 goyf, t3 field of ruin his nykthos + push his eidolon of blossoms and swing in for 5. Being so far ahead at that point there was nothing he could do but I follow up with TKS the next turn for good measure.
3-1
r1: hollow one
Lets put it this way, when hollow one doesn't just nut draw you with huge early fatties, it's not that hard of a deck to beat. Phoenix is still really annoying but I have things to fight it SB.
1-0
r2: Jeskai ascendancy
discard and fast clock made this match very easy. I got kinda lucky he bricked off the turn he tried. He didn't have a choice as he was dead next turn but perhaps he could have gotten there. g2 he boarded into lingering souls but I had a cage anyways. super sweet tech but in this instance it didn't matter.
2-0
r3: sultai control/midrange
Another match that went well for me. As another GB deck it basically whoever comes out ahead early will win and he was drawing cards and stuff but I had threats and discard so it didn't matter much. That's the one issue I have with adding blue. Azcanta, jace and visions and snaps are fantastic cards but when behind they kinda suck (except snap)
3-0
r4: naya bushwhacker zoo
I will admit I got hella lucky in this match. I've played this guy before and not only is he a great player but I'm a dog in this matchup. Turns out the 1 way I can beat him is if he floods and or doesn't have an insane burning-tree turn. He did flood enough so that he could never effectively apply pressure. Since my guys are huge there's only so much he can do after a certain point.
4-0
r5 top 4 mardu pyromancer
I thought this was a great matchup post SB and maybe that's true. The problem is game 1 outside a nut draw from me, I just can't deal with the souls and go wide strategy. plus MD moons doesn't help. In game 3 I kept a great hand but turns out he just has a blood moon he will slam on his t3 (my t2) and I had no way to answer it with no basics. It's amazing how punishing being on the draw can be in modern. I had everything I needed but sometimes you just get shut down. I have so much in SB for this match oh well. I think my takeaway is I need some number of early discard for just that problem.
4-1
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Hi all, bringing you guys a different Rock style list. I've been playing variations of this for over a year now with decent results although Im not really able to attend any large events. My meta is highly competitive though. Here's my latest FNM report. I have many more in the GB eldrazi midrange forum but that's a more eldrazi focused deck.
r1: jeskai nahiri
g1: he doesn't do much and I discard some of his removal, make sure to never play too much into sweepers and manage to dodge nahiri for easy win. g2 he was able to land nahiri and I couldn't get to her. That lady closes games quick. g3 long drawn out game but came down to top decks and i drew 3 lands in a row and he didn't
0-1
r2 GW death and taxes
g1 he lands a quick gavony and I couldn't race it. Never saw my eldrazi and mirran crusader closed the game very quick. G2 and 3 were just total slaughters. I have 4 sweepers coming in on top of a bunch of removal. FoR took care of gavony when relevant and since all my guys are huge there's not much cards like Thalia and voice of resurgence are going to do for him. Kalitas was mvp.
1-1
r3 jund
These were quick games. He kinda stumbles on mana but it didn't matter my removal lined up well and none of his did. TKS would remove things like terminate and everything else was too big. my deck doesn't care too much about lightning bolts and usually fatal push.
2-1
r4 humans
g1 I mull to 5 but manage to stall with a couple huge goyfs and a tracker. Tracker ended up drawing me like 5 cards. He was drawing irrelevant stuff and I just managed to draw the removal I needed for mantis rider while chipping in with a 5/6 goyf. g2 was hilarious. I just drew like a god and had all the removal in the world. My deck shut him down and smasher took it home easy.
3-1
Lucked into top 4
Semis burn
g1 I think he got flooded as he didn't do much. THankfully he was on mostly creature plan which my deck has no problem with. Was still close but I got there without too much anxiety. g2 I keep a semi slow hand but he gets stuck on 1 land for a few turns which gives me all the time I need. I slam kalitas and he gains me 9 life to close out the game.
4-1
finals mono U tron
This is a very competent player and while the deck is far from mainstream he plays it well and it is still very strong. g1 I manage to have a solid hand of discard and multiple field of ruins. He also drew too many power plants and I was able to shut him off tron lol. I was able to close out the game before he was able to find huge idiots thanks to liliana. g2 was a very long game. I was able to ruin and surgical him off tron but he had so many ways to slow me down that eventually a huge ballista ended me. I punted hard that game but I'm not sure it mattered. g3 went the opposite I end up getting a very early TKS when he didn't have an island and took his threat and thoughtseized his other threat. he assembles tron but it doesn't matter as he has nothing to play. I slam smusher and gg friend. tracker was MVP, drew me like 6+ cards in the match. turns out card is great who knew.
5-1
I love the GB style lists and have been on them forever. I have a love hate with Bob and haven't really found a GBx list i love outside of this. I love the eldrazi top end. TKS and Smushers are everything GB decks want to be doing and tracker and tasigur are doing everything else the deck wants. Mana can be awkward at times but nothing is color intensive outside liliana but that's where oath shines. Card is great. Feels like a necessary evil for my deck as it finds what I need early and late and occasionally pumps goyf. Deck has a lot of game. Fast aggro and certain combo can be a real issue.
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Current Decks:
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange BWG Abzan value evolution BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
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Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
Overall the deck performed well as it has been over the last year of me playing it. Dodging the blood moon matches (there were very few) this deck is a house. Had I played better I know I would have ended up winning especially considering I would be playing counters company in the finals. Still I went 5-1-1 over all so I have no complaints and I hope I gave this variant a little exposure.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
3 scavenging ooze
4 tarmogoyf
3 tireless tracker
4 thought-knot seer
3 reality smasher
spells
2 inquisition of kozilek
2 thoughtseize
3 fatal push
4 oath of nissa
1 cast down
1 abrupt decay
2 collective brutality
2 liliana of the veil
1 liliana, the last hope
1 maelstrom pulse
2 llanowar wastes
2 Blooming marsh
4 verdant catacombs
1 overgrown tomb
3 swamp
2 forest
1 twilight mire
1 treetop village
1 hissing quagmire
4 eldrazi temple
3 field of ruin
2 surgical extraction
2 flaying tendrils
1 damnation
1 yahenni's expertise
1 maelstrom pulse
1 thrun, the last troll
1 Kalitas, traitor of ghet
1 reclamation sage
2 fulminator mage
1 golgari charm
2 damping sphere
r1: Humans
g1 he flooded some and I was able to capitalize and he was too far behind to come back. g2 was close but he ripped a second mantis rider to finish me off. g3 was a slaughter. bunch of removal into a big scooze and tracker then a yahenni's to wipe his board and net me a goyf.
1-0
r2 martyr proc
2 games and both were easily won. He has tiny dudes and a bunch of spells which were all nabbed by discard and then steamrolled over. I haven't played against this much but it felt very good for me.
2-0
r3 G tron
g1 I was able to field of Ruin him off tron long enough to have a smasher into a second smasher get me there. g2 I should have lost honestly he bricked pretty hard for a while but when he did draw stuff I had answers for them and was able to scrape it out in the end. He had tron for basically the entire game. Goyf and eldrazi were MVP as was FoR. I had to battle through a wurmcoil, karn and 2 Oblivion stones.
3-0
r4 hollow one
g1 I have a couple discard and his hand is pure garbage with 2 bloodghast and something else. He rips faithless looting binning both, plays a land plus cycles wraith and plays a hollow boi. Just like that my hand of discard and stuff was completely garbage and I lose. He only saw 2 of my lands so he just assumed I was straight GB, obviously. g2 I am on the eldrazi plan and just straight steam roll him. He was obviously not expecting that. g3 he has the adept but I have removal after he tries to slam in for like 8 with it. I push it and he plays a hollow one which I untap and play a 5/6 goyf. He plays tasigur making my dude a 1/2 but I have a rec sage for the hollow boi and then a pulse for tasigur. From there it was easy.
4-0
r5: counters company
I was in 8th and there was 9 undefeated UGH. I beat him down g1 with a bunch of removal and into huge goyf and TKS. I then play some discard into smasher and that was that. From here the other undefeated player lost to so we were in the clear to ID into top 8! I think this match is pretty good for me especially being up a game going into game 2. I was confident I could have gone 5-0.
We play top 8 tomorrow 9am at GP Providence
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
2 scavenging ooze
4 tarmogoyf
3 tireless tracker
4 thought-knot seer
3 reality smasher
1 Tasigur, the golden fang
spells
2 inquisition of kozilek
2 thoughtseize
4 fatal push
4 oath of nissa
1 abrupt decay
2 collective brutality
2 liliana of the veil
1 liliana, the last hope
1 maelstrom pulse
2 llanowar wastes
2 Blooming marsh
4 verdant catacombs
1 overgrown tomb
3 swamp
2 forest
1 twilight mire
1 hissing quagmire
1 treetop village
4 eldrazi temple
3 field of ruin
1 surgical extraction
1 lost legacy
1 grafdigger's cage
1 golgari charm
2 flaying tendrils
1 damnation
1 night of souls' betrayal
1 thrun, the last troll
1 Kalitas, traitor of ghet
1 reclamation sage
1 fulminator mage
1 ratchet bomb
2 damping sphere
r1: bushwhacker zoo
g1 she doesn't have a blistering start and I'm on the play so after a few removal spells liliana is able to stabilize and then my huge idiots just take over. g2 she plays like a million guys and swings for 14 on t3 putting me to 4. I untap rip an untapped black source like a boss and flaying tendrils the entire board. from there I just had to dodge multiple bolts and TKS cleaned up her hand and stopped anything from coming in.
1-0
r2 grixis control
This was a very hard match tons of removal, counters and interaction. Notably Ashiok from opponent was just a huge beating and it won him g2 pretty convincingly even after I killed it, it just got so much value I couldn't come back. g3 I mull to 5 (ouch) but still end up making good choices and eventually winning the game. At the end he chose not to counter lili of the veil and hold it for something else and that really came back to bite him in the ass as Lili just controlled the entire board after a few turns. I was kinda surprised but I suppose I can't blame him I didn't know what he had in hand at that point but being forced to discard feels like a bad thing in a control deck.
2-0
r3 grixis goryo/breach fury of the horde combo
g1 his deck doesn't do much. My discard takes any key cards and scooze strips the griselbrands from his yard. I guess I was lucky he never drew emrakul or another gdaddy he could through the breach but I had a real deal clock. g2 he also doesn't do much and keeps a mega sketchy hand. My discard takes anything relevant and I eventually land a scooze which takes over combined with goyf. I saw the deck and let me tell you I was lucky to dodge leyline of sanctity. I coincidentally had a pulse in hand but that means I would have had to waste a turn killing that and not disrupting. which is 110% necessary that deck can nut draw you very quick.
3-0
r4 esper control standard....
yes this was a standard deck. AT 2-0-1 WTF?! IS THIS NARNIA what world are we in?! he actually beat real decks too, he drew only to mono white pillow fort. SO long story short my deck has a VERY hard time with teferi and the scarab god when combined with counters, multiple settle the wreckage and fumigates and things like vraska's contempt. He basically got shorted on white mana for too long and I was able to just stomp him but had he had double white when he needed it we would have had an entirely different match. I'm not gonna lie the majority of my deck was from the standard just before this one so who am I to say haha.
4-0
we split top 4 to cube but got to play a Bonus round
bonus: hollow one
game 1 my removal lined up very well for once and his deck didn't do a whole heck of a lot. g2 we have a very long game and both end at 1 life each but he missed an attack for 2 by playing defensive which I can respect but I would have just gone aggro. he went through most of his deck and didn't see many phoenix or bloodghast (2 each) I was able to deal with those albeit poorly and managed to sneak it out with the help of treetop village. I have a lot in the board to help with this match and when they aren't nut drawing me the deck is actually not that ba to beat. That being said, the deck is no joke and it is FAR from ever being a good matchup but it is certainly beatable. I'm now 4-2 vs it.
5-0
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
previous week 2-2. lost to hollow one and humans both having the most literal best draws vs me. Sometimes I draw well, sometimes they do, that's magic I guess. Both had games they killed me on t3. I beat jeskai control and sultai midrange.
This weeks results:
r1: colorless eldrazi (serum powder version)
Not much to say this is a decent matchup for me I have good removal and interaction for most of their guys. thing of note was g2 he on the play pitches 2 spirit guides and t1 TKS me...ouch. Thankfully I found removal after a couple turns and was able to turn the corner but my life was super low for the whole game.
1-0
r2: UR thing in the ice
Another easy match for me. I have discard and huge guys. Once I dealt with thing in the ice there's not much he can do to me.
2-0
r3: KCI
UGH this deck...g1 he mulls to 4 and STILL WINS through a scooze and a pulse....what the actual F. Admittedly I punted pretty hard with a wrong sequence of collective brutality and scooze activation so I deserved it but still. It was a mull to 4 in a combo deck. G2 I just get wrecked. Deck is so resilient it's really dumb.
2-1
r4: Jund
I get wrecked in this match. All his cards just lined up perfectly for what I was doing. He drew really well and I didn't. That's magic though sometimes these things happen. I drew 3 lands in a row and he drew all gas.
2-2
r5: burn
So far I've played burn about 10 times and lost only once. I can't say it's a good matchup as they are almost always close but maybe it's actually pretty good for me despite not having much in my board. g3 my opponent attacked into my guys for some reason and just threw them away. I can't figure out why. He was in a very bad position anyways, as I have 2 tks in play and a goyf vs his no cards in hand and a swifty+eidolon to my 11 life. Blocking gives him another turn maybe 2 but to just throw it away? I dunno.
3-2
So I was VERY lucky to only lost to undefeated players meaning my breakers were awesome despite my mediocre record. I lucked into top 8. I'm not going to complain. I was the only 9 pointer to make it.
top8: jund
different player but fun games. g1 he does jund things and just buries me. g2 I draw lucky and rip a second temple t3 like a boss and smasher him into another smasher. GG. g3 I was able to strip him of any of him cards and leave him stuck with a couple 4 drops thanks to brutality and TKS. He doesn't draw his 4th land until too late.
4-2
top4: mardu pyro
As expected I lose g1 pretty convincingly. I don't have any good way to deal with spirit tokens and didn't draw any removal for pyro for some reason. g2 and g3 were grindy but liliana last hope was straight up MVP. I have so much in the board to help with this match and I definitely need it.
5-2
We split finals and went home it was like 230 am...ouch. I think I might cut a tracker and play another liliana or scooze or something. I'm undecided. I love trackers and I think 2 might be the right amount. I may cut tasigur too but I never saw him once last night. I'll keep him in for now as he's been good in the past.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
I'm pretty confident I won't be going back to reshaper unless some new cards push me into it. Honestly though, TKS is both the best and worst card in the deck. Smusher is almost always MVP on the other hand, the card is bonkers in a GB shell.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
I've been on rockdrazi build for quite some time. I think it's just as viable as any other GBx variant but I certainly will not say it's better than any of them. although it's almost certainly better than sultai.
2 scavenging ooze
4 tarmogoyf
3 tireless tracker
4 thought-knot seer
3 reality smasher
1 Tasigur, the golden fang
spells
2 inquisition of kozilek
2 thoughtseize
3 fatal push
4 oath of nissa
1 cast down
1 abrupt decay
2 collective brutality
2 liliana of the veil
1 liliana, the last hope
1 maelstrom pulse
2 llanowar wastes
2 Blooming marsh
4 verdant catacombs
1 overgrown tomb
3 swamp
2 forest
1 twilight mire
1 treetop village
1 hissing quagmire
4 eldrazi temple
3 field of ruin
1 surgical extraction
1 maelstrom pulse
1 grafdigger's cage
1 lost legacy
2 flaying tendrils
1 damnation
1 night of souls' betrayal
1 thrun, the last troll
1 Kalitas, traitor of ghet
1 reclamation sage
1 fulminator mage
1 ratchet bomb
2 damping sphere
we had an epic g1 which ended at us both at 1 for many turns. If either of us draw a smusher we just die. He had sea gate wreckage active for a few turns till I found the field of ruin for it. Eventually I got there after he started to run out of gas. Thankfully outside of smusher his guys are actually smaller than mine. g2 he has a t2 smasher and well I couldn't race it. g3 I had a t2 TKS into a second so it was good to give him a taste of his own medicine. Turns out neither deck can really beat 2 temple draws haha. Magic is a silly game sometimes.
1-0
r2: abzan
we had 3 epic games as one would expect from 2 GB decks. g3 8 goyfs were seen and 7 were played (I chose a traker over goyf early on from oath). He ended up having a scooze for way too long and that ultimately won him the game as it chipped in and was able to gain him enough life. No regrets were fun games. I was 1 turn off damnation haha.
1-1
r3: jund
Jund is a much easier match than abzan. we exchanged a lot of resources but my guys are bigger and typically faster. My removal in general lines up much better. Having access to field of ruin was absolutely key in this match. g3 came down to a very close smasher+treetop for the win and I was dead on the swing back with his HUGE raging ravine. I couldn't find any removal for it so my line was I just swing in for lethal and make him have the removal to kill me. Turns out he didn't this time.
2-1
r4 mono green enchantress
This is actually a very brutal deck for other decks that don't have interaction and a clock. Well mine has both and i drew what I needed for a COMICALLY hilarious stomping of this deck. One highlight was g2 I t1 inquisition. t2 goyf, t3 field of ruin his nykthos + push his eidolon of blossoms and swing in for 5. Being so far ahead at that point there was nothing he could do but I follow up with TKS the next turn for good measure.
3-1
Lets put it this way, when hollow one doesn't just nut draw you with huge early fatties, it's not that hard of a deck to beat. Phoenix is still really annoying but I have things to fight it SB.
1-0
r2: Jeskai ascendancy
discard and fast clock made this match very easy. I got kinda lucky he bricked off the turn he tried. He didn't have a choice as he was dead next turn but perhaps he could have gotten there. g2 he boarded into lingering souls but I had a cage anyways. super sweet tech but in this instance it didn't matter.
2-0
r3: sultai control/midrange
Another match that went well for me. As another GB deck it basically whoever comes out ahead early will win and he was drawing cards and stuff but I had threats and discard so it didn't matter much. That's the one issue I have with adding blue. Azcanta, jace and visions and snaps are fantastic cards but when behind they kinda suck (except snap)
3-0
r4: naya bushwhacker zoo
I will admit I got hella lucky in this match. I've played this guy before and not only is he a great player but I'm a dog in this matchup. Turns out the 1 way I can beat him is if he floods and or doesn't have an insane burning-tree turn. He did flood enough so that he could never effectively apply pressure. Since my guys are huge there's only so much he can do after a certain point.
4-0
r5 top 4 mardu pyromancer
I thought this was a great matchup post SB and maybe that's true. The problem is game 1 outside a nut draw from me, I just can't deal with the souls and go wide strategy. plus MD moons doesn't help. In game 3 I kept a great hand but turns out he just has a blood moon he will slam on his t3 (my t2) and I had no way to answer it with no basics. It's amazing how punishing being on the draw can be in modern. I had everything I needed but sometimes you just get shut down. I have so much in SB for this match oh well. I think my takeaway is I need some number of early discard for just that problem.
4-1
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
2 scavenging ooze
4 tarmogoyf
3 tireless tracker
4 thought-knot seer
3 reality smasher
2 Tasigur, the golden fang
spells
2 inquisition of kozilek
2 thoughtseize
4 fatal push
4 oath of nissa
1 abrupt decay
2 collective brutality
2 liliana of the veil
1 liliana, the last hope
1 maelstrom pulse
2 llanowar wastes
2 Blooming marsh
4 verdant catacombs
1 overgrown tomb
3 swamp
2 forest
1 twilight mire
1 hissing quagmire
4 eldrazi temple
3 field of ruin
1 surgical extraction
1 choke
1 grafdigger's cage
1 lost legacy
2 flaying tendrils
1 damnation
1 night of souls' betrayal
1 thrun, the last troll
1 Kalitas, traitor of ghet
1 reclamation sage
1 fulminator mage
1 ratchet bomb
2 damping sphere
r1: jeskai nahiri
g1: he doesn't do much and I discard some of his removal, make sure to never play too much into sweepers and manage to dodge nahiri for easy win. g2 he was able to land nahiri and I couldn't get to her. That lady closes games quick. g3 long drawn out game but came down to top decks and i drew 3 lands in a row and he didn't
0-1
r2 GW death and taxes
g1 he lands a quick gavony and I couldn't race it. Never saw my eldrazi and mirran crusader closed the game very quick. G2 and 3 were just total slaughters. I have 4 sweepers coming in on top of a bunch of removal. FoR took care of gavony when relevant and since all my guys are huge there's not much cards like Thalia and voice of resurgence are going to do for him. Kalitas was mvp.
1-1
r3 jund
These were quick games. He kinda stumbles on mana but it didn't matter my removal lined up well and none of his did. TKS would remove things like terminate and everything else was too big. my deck doesn't care too much about lightning bolts and usually fatal push.
2-1
r4 humans
g1 I mull to 5 but manage to stall with a couple huge goyfs and a tracker. Tracker ended up drawing me like 5 cards. He was drawing irrelevant stuff and I just managed to draw the removal I needed for mantis rider while chipping in with a 5/6 goyf. g2 was hilarious. I just drew like a god and had all the removal in the world. My deck shut him down and smasher took it home easy.
3-1
Lucked into top 4
Semis burn
g1 I think he got flooded as he didn't do much. THankfully he was on mostly creature plan which my deck has no problem with. Was still close but I got there without too much anxiety. g2 I keep a semi slow hand but he gets stuck on 1 land for a few turns which gives me all the time I need. I slam kalitas and he gains me 9 life to close out the game.
4-1
finals mono U tron
This is a very competent player and while the deck is far from mainstream he plays it well and it is still very strong. g1 I manage to have a solid hand of discard and multiple field of ruins. He also drew too many power plants and I was able to shut him off tron lol. I was able to close out the game before he was able to find huge idiots thanks to liliana. g2 was a very long game. I was able to ruin and surgical him off tron but he had so many ways to slow me down that eventually a huge ballista ended me. I punted hard that game but I'm not sure it mattered. g3 went the opposite I end up getting a very early TKS when he didn't have an island and took his threat and thoughtseized his other threat. he assembles tron but it doesn't matter as he has nothing to play. I slam smusher and gg friend. tracker was MVP, drew me like 6+ cards in the match. turns out card is great who knew.
5-1
I love the GB style lists and have been on them forever. I have a love hate with Bob and haven't really found a GBx list i love outside of this. I love the eldrazi top end. TKS and Smushers are everything GB decks want to be doing and tracker and tasigur are doing everything else the deck wants. Mana can be awkward at times but nothing is color intensive outside liliana but that's where oath shines. Card is great. Feels like a necessary evil for my deck as it finds what I need early and late and occasionally pumps goyf. Deck has a lot of game. Fast aggro and certain combo can be a real issue.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster