Another FNM report with my GB Karnage deck. I was finally able to get a lattice with my winnings. Score. Same list as in the previous post. no changes
r1: izzet phoenix
g1 comes down to me needing to draw removal to stop his dual phoenixes. If I do I'm highly favored to win if I don't I lose. I didn't. g2 hexdrinker followed by a lot of removal/discard and I win. g3 was similar but with relics and goyf beatdowns I took him down no problem. I just played relic as a nihil spellbomb basically. Nothing he could do and eating a card every turn was useless anyways.
1-0
r2 bushwhacker artifacts
In my opinion this list is inferior to the regular 8 whack. It's similar but potentially faster but also more inconsistant. plays things like ornithopters, memnite and signal pest with bomat couriers. G1 I wreck him. g2 I get virtual t3. I was at a real low life and there wasn't anything I could do or draw that could get me outa the swarm. g3 I was able to deal with his big threats aka whackers and pests and a giant goyf and scooze went to town.
2-0
r3 humans
Not much to say. I drew mediocre and never drew much removal and got absoutely curb stomped both games. Neither game was close at all. I drew 2 relics game one and they were just stone dead cards I didn't even have time to crack them. yikes.
2-1
r4 mono red prison
g1 lots of discard and a powered up hexdrinker got me there. g2 was long and drawn out but without lattice I wasn't able to lock him out before he was able to play a karn and lattice me with an SSG on the table facing my lili and karn. Big oof. I did get to have fun with relics and recurring my pithing needle, so that was fun as is liquimetal coating walkers to turn them off. SPeaking of which I got to coating an ensnaring bridge and then fatal push it. THAT was sweet in g1. g3 wasn't very exciting. t1 hexdrinker into 2 goyfs easily won it for me. I had removal for anything he could play. All in all, I was able to deal with Blood moon or it didn't matter. In g3 he had moon but I had 2 basics. Sure I had 3 dead lilianas in hand but it didn't matter. Feels good playing a lot of basics.
3-1
r4 eldrazi tron
ass trophy g1 took him off tron long enough for me to get down a karn and power up a hexdrinker. g2 was a little more exciting I had to beat through a couple eldrazi but eventually I was able to get down karn, get a batterskull and start swinging in. E tron is so much easier than regular tron. I'm still very scared of that. His chalices were mostly irrelevant but I will admit I'm not sure he drew very well.
4-1
top 8: UW control
g1 just tons of discard with a powered up hexdrinker took him down. I was lucky he never drew a walker or D sphere in the 2 critical turns he had before he went to progenitus mode. g2 I drew well and got all the things I needed more or less when I needed them so I had answers to his things. Few discard and then a liliana and I stripped him into top deck mode. Then we battled top cards till I slammed karn and a coating shutting off his walkers. I got to coating + karn + lili sac to kill a teferi so that was also fun. This deck has got to be the most frustrating thing to play against as UW. WHile I hate making people tilt it's hard to feel too bad when they are playing control
5-1
I made some great plays last night and some very poor ones. Had some bad sequences and a couple rookie mistakes so if guys you are are reading this, my bad. Hexdrinker was MVP this week. There were 3 specific times I wished I had the lattice as it would have just been game over. Instead I had to keep playing...1 time losing the other 2 I eventually got there but it should never have been a thing. Thankfully I got one now. I got to do all the things this week with coating shenanigans, relic getting things back from exile. Powered up hexdrinkers and almost ulting lilis. I had a 7/8 goyf at one point vs E. tron. Gosh I love this list. Humans matchup felt awful though. If hogaak gets banned things in my list certainly change but I'm not sure what. I need more mass removal or something vs that deck. I wonder if it's possible to add more basics and play snow things to play dead of winter. If it's possible to consistently have t3 3 damage wrath then that's the way to go. Cry of the carnarium is amazing but it just doesn't cut it vs humans unless I'm lucky. Perhaps trading relics for astrolabs and adding those to SB. This would be post hogaak tho. Cry is too important for that matchup.
Ran Back this list at FNM. Made a few small tweaks. +1 hexdrinker, -1 goyf. In SB +1 kalitas, +1 cry of the carnarium, -1 mycosynth lattice (don't own one and couldn't borrow it, sad) -1 fulminator. The deck didn't disappoint! Felt super good all night.
r1: hardened scales
g1 He has a semi slow start and with enough removal and disruption there was nothing he could do to stop hexdrinker and that raced everything he could throw at me. g2 was similar except I had more removal. Cry of the carnarium was a boss. Card is so good even if it is just -2/-2. I was able to dodge the t2 scales but It wouldn't have mattered much as I had a trophy for it in g2, still tho that deck is scary. MD karn helps a lot tho.
1-0 (2-0)
r2: merfolk
g1 not much to say, lots of removal and disruption and was able to dodge a critical spreading seas preventing him from swinging in for lethal. CHipped in for huge guys until both boards were gummed up. Hexdrinker full powered brought it home. G2 was fun as force of vigor was insane killing on t2 a vial and a spreading seas which was huge as i needed the color fixing. backed by liliana, the last hope combined with karn + batterskull there wasn't much he could do to recover. If I had a lattice, it would have just been game over but what can you do, bskull got me there eventually.
2-0 (4-0)
r3: izzet phoenix
g1 MD relics were huge and a single tireless tracker was able to race a couple phoenix. I ripped a push thanks to the clues and was able to kill one. Close game honestly, If he had found a bolt or something i was probably just dead...probably. g2 more relics shut off his graveyard and I just kept getting discard after discard. I dealt with his t2 TiTi and he wasn't able to do much. Here was a match that featured both goyf and relic together and no, it was never a problem. I use relic when necessary and just save it. I had to blow it once but he was immediately a 3/4 right after. Say what you will, but so far it's not an issue after 12 total matches with this build.
3-0, (6-0)
r4 hogaak
oh boy i was afraid of this match but i have SO much interaction for this match. Long story short, g1 he never drew a hogaak and I was able to get there eventually through hexdrinker and repeatedly killing his *****ters. g2 I find a LOT of interaction and I needed it all. That deck is so insane in it's ability to recover and swarm. good golly. Still tho, I had to assemble an insane amount of everything to get there. IT never felt free or easy but It's no unbeatable. My 1 conclusion from facing this a few times now is, my good hands will always beat their medium hands. I don't think I can ever beat their best but I do have tools to compete. I sure hope hogaak gets banned tho, that card is seriously effed up.
4-0 (8-0)
r5: grixis urza
opponent wanted to do other things so we drew. I wish I had forced him to at least play the match for fun. On paper, it seems really really good for me. With MD karn, relics disruption and removal it seems unbelievably good match. Of course I cannot confirm this. I regret not playing. Oh well.
ID into top 8
t8: hogaak
This was a short match. g1 he rips hogaak off the top on t2 (I inq him t1 to see he has a great hand but 1 land) and cast it (t1 gravecrawler into stitcher combined with my discard and a fetch). Hogaak proceeds to kill me as I didn't see a trophy until too late. He was on 1 mana the whole time. I kill hogaak and by that time he could replay it despite having 1 land. sigh. g2 I have some interaction but his hand was again insane. I have tons of removal and disruption but I never see a creature in like 8-9 turns and die to small chip shots turn after turn. brutal. I think I could have made better mull decisions especially for g1 knowing what I was up against. My medium hands are never going to beat hogaak.
4-1
Over all I love this build. It's so fun, has a great engine in Karn being able to search for things you may need and just having a lot of utility. MD relics are so good in the meta at large and when they aren't good it's an easy 4 cards to board out. It makes SB much easier than before. I'm going to invest in a lattice now. I've tried many variations of Rock builds but this one is my favorite. It fits my personal playstyle but I will admit it's probably not for everyone. GB is in a bad place right now but this angle feels great actually. Hogaak still feels terrible without leylines but we shall see how it shakes out with the upcoming ban announcement in a couple weeks. With good mull decions and decent hands it's beatable.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange BWG Abzan value evolution BUG BUG Midrange
this all being said, there's certainly room for improvement. Especially for an expected meta. I think I may also cut either 1x fulminator or damping sphere for 1 kalitas. Once hogaak goes away who knows what things will look like
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange BWG Abzan value evolution BUG BUG Midrange
hence going to 3 goyf. You have to realize 3 things:
1) It's my relic, I choose how it's used. It's not like you always have to use it, which people seem to forget. It's like saying scavenging ooze is also a nonbo with goyf when it's proven to not be. There's a solid chunk of matches you just board it out. This is all assuming you even have both pieces together. If you play smart and know how to use it, it's really not an issue.
2) Even if you do pop it, decks like these are meant to fill the yard fast. 1 fetch and a discard and he's a 3/4 again. It's really not hard, I'm surprised I would have to mention this in a GB forum
3) There are matches where goyf doesn't matter at all. Like hogaak. Being able to have relic is far better than a 4/5 goyf especially when you can get back your artifacts from exile with karn. Just as often, he's even bigger as you have other artifacts in the yard.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange BWG Abzan value evolution BUG BUG Midrange
r1 jund
both games were pretty similar in that We both do a little discard but my things just lined up better. game 1 I land karn on a near empty board but not a ton of mana so I grab batterskull and that takes it home. g2 he just floods a bit at the end and a hexdrinker got there after funneling mana into it little by little holding up removal.
1-0
r2 hogaak
this was vs endboss Sky Mason who, spoiler alert, beat me relatively soundly even though in 2 games I went, t1 relic, t2 scooze and still lost. g1 he just went super wide and couldn't stop that. g2 i flooded out at the end. if I had a mass removal spell of some kind I think I would have been ok. I was able to always answer the gaak but I could never find what I needed to stop the army of idiots.
1-1
r3 UW control
g1 i have discard into is awkward hand of nothing relevant and 2 cryptics and a verdict. Land a goyf and then karn and I start coating all his lands away. g2 we both mull to 5 but I have a decent hand just need a black. Well I luck rip a swamp off the top and double discard him. land a hexdrinker and go to town. easy as that.
2-1
r4 abzan
game 1 i have relic to deal with souls and goyf beatdowns with removal get me there easily. G2 he has endless siege rhinos combined with new sorin. g3 I make a mega bonehead lines of play. I have 2 options, go all aboard the hexdrinker plan and then play karn later or leave hexdrinker as a 2/1 and play karn and start coating away his lands seeing as he doesn't have great mana right now. Well I choose the greed play with karn and get so very punished. I knew as soon as I got the coating it was the wrong play. If i just level the drinker to a 4/4 there's literally nothing he can do about it. let alone getting it to a 6/6 which I could have done the next turn and won easily as I would have still had a karn. It was very embarrassing. I tried to get cute, it's my first time playing this, leave me alone haha
2-2*
r5 infect
both games went as such. Lots of discard and removal. g1 I killed him with liliana TLH and treetop villages, g2 it was karn into lattice on a clear board.
3-2
the deck felt great honestly. Got buried by hogaak which just proves how ridiculous the deck is but 1 shot GY things obviously don't cut it. I do think with some tweaks I can make it not bad tho. I'm going to add a flaying tendrils an that should help in the SB. Main I'm going to: -1 goyf +1 hexdrinker. I didn't have high hopes with this deck going into the tourney but the deck performed so much better than I thought. I have no idea how I beat something like mono red phoenix but can't prepare for everything. I doubt having a witchbane orb is going to fix that. maybe? I think I'm going to make those tweaks and run it back, it was certainly a fun take on GB even though I don't think it's by any means a top build.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange BWG Abzan value evolution BUG BUG Midrange
@Tears of Tomorrow (post EU) I apologize if this is going to be overly negative but I'll do my best to be constructive here. There are quite a few competing issues here with this deck. Firstly, you have a few different and competing strategies going on here. You have a bunch of mana dorks but the only thing you are ramping into is liliana who, by herself, is not modern playable (although I would love to be proven wrong). She barely impacts the board, and takes way too long to really do much. I can see her in a meta of just pure grindy midrange but that's just not modern. If you are able to ramp and play a 6 drop there are much better things you can be doing. You will want something that's just going to straight win you the game right then and there or in a turn or 2. Modern is brutal and efficient and you need to be as well.
secondly, smallpox is great! I love the card but not in a deck filled with creatures. Like, t1 you cast birds then t2 do you cast smallpox? that seems horrible. You will want a deck that can maximize the ability yet not have it impact you that much. I find it hard to believe you can ramp into your payoff card (liliana) when you are killing your own guys and lands. On that, 20 lands is probably not enough, you will need at least 2-3 more. There's no way you can reliably cast a 6 drop if you have priest and smallpox working against you. I do get that priest and 2 mana dorks is some cool ramp so I'm sure that will happen but if they have an answer you are just done for.
Another problem is the creature selection. You have no pressure at all with this list. If you go by modern being a t4 format, what turn does your deck typically kill on? Yes, most of these cards do attack but they are so weak and just get outclassed by everything in the format. An easy exchange would be llanowar elves for noble heirarch, it's strictly better in every way. You also have no way to recur a crawler unless you have liliana or a dead dissenter or another crawler. Priest is an interesting inclusion and I like that card but you have to build around it. Currently, you just don't have enough to maximize it's value, it's almost negative synergy. I would lean more heavily into it. We now have nether spirit and of course trusty bloodghast. Another issue with the ramp plan is you have no way of finding your payoff cards and no mana sinks at all. What makes tron such an effective ramp deck is it just has so many ways to find it's payoff cards and it's ramp, you rarely get stuck with one half or the other. You will find many scenarios you are drawing mana dorks and nothing to do with all your mana or the other way around.
next to the mana. I think it is fine overall but you need more blooming marsh. That's an easy pain free way to have t1 black or green which is oh so important. You need some manlands in here of some kind. Smallpox and priest are boosted so much by manlands and provide a decent mana sink later. You are also going to need nurturing peatland. You need the card advantage desperately. I'm not convinced 20 lands is enough. If you are having trouble with tron which I imagine you would, I think 1-2 field of ruin could help. Plus they help in other matches and killing utility lands is pretty huge which is not a guarantee with smallpox.
Sideboard. I wouldn't bother with putrefy. Abrupt decay is better. Between trophy and decay you don't need that card. Also, play 4 leyline. It's only good on t0 which you want the best chances of seeing and not having to mull into oblivion to find it. I think an easy swap is 4 leyline, 3 surgical. There's a bunch of different avenues you can go with SB. Smallpox and priest kinda hinder your ability to use some of the utility creatures. If this works for you than no need to get fancy.
I hope there's something here to help you in this long rambling post
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange BWG Abzan value evolution BUG BUG Midrange
I think it's fine. Has applications vs many other problematic decks. To hogaak specifically, there are certain (and usually not uncommon) scenarios where they can rebuild super easily or it would do just about nothing. Like, in response they sac some dudes and lose their tokens and that's about it. Perhaps that's enough if you have pressure. Like if they have a feeder on board already it's not going to do much with their recursive threats.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange BWG Abzan value evolution BUG BUG Midrange
this card seems like a solid late game mana sink. Probably too slow depending on the expected meta but for grindy matches this could be great. I love that is is colorless mana to level. That's pretty huge. High risk, high reward, kinda card. Maybe?
ATTACHMENTS
snek
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange BWG Abzan value evolution BUG BUG Midrange
vraska is not good. What archetypes do you want her against? How is she helping bad matches? Her card draw is at a serious early game disadvantage. You don't have expendable permanents. Yes against grindy she can be good late game but still, it still takes a stalled board for her to really shine. If she's just a t4 abrupt decay you can do so much better. Her ultimate isn't even a guaranteed win either.
The best way to sum up vraska is she doesn't even see play in standard...
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange BWG Abzan value evolution BUG BUG Midrange
Forgot an update last week but I went a sad 2-3 losing to dredge, merfolk and storm. I think I made some suboptimal choices vs the combo decks and certainly misplayed vs merfolk which punished me huge. Dredge is really scary with creeping chill. That card is so dumb. This FNM went much better and had a large 42 player turn out, I blame it on me forgetting my playmat last friday haha.
r1 mono W eldrazi taxes
These games weren't close at all. We have a little back and forth but my guys outclass his by a mile even though he has eldrazi. I just have so much more removal that answers everything.
1-0 (2-0)
r2 grixis DS
g1 he makes a strange block when he throws his 5/5 DS into my smasher at 8 life. I was fine with that obviously. I'm at 14. he then plays 2 gurmags. I play tracker draw some cards, find the removal I need and swing in for lethal. G2 he floods a bit holding up totally irrelevant counterspells like disdainful stroke and stubby D and I roll over him with goyfs and scooze.
2-0 (4-0)
r3 burn
g1 I get run over by cheap guys and forget to t1 fatal push thinking I could just do it t2 and still be fine. Not doing so put me far behind and eventually even farther when he boros charms to save his eidolon and then I'm in a really bad spot with a hand FULL of 1-3 drops. g2 was similar I eventually get locked under eidolon at 2 life and a smasher on the table but I didn't see kalitas, or obstinate or another smasher and obviously he found a spell after a couple turns.
2-1 (4-2)
r4 GB
g1 I just have the right removal and strip him of all his lilianas. g2 we had a long wonderful game of magic. It was probably the best game i've played in a long while. So much back and forth and at one point we had dueling scoozes, then stare downs, then advantages swapped back and forth, but tracker won me this game hands down with smashers. Tracker drew me like 10 cards literally. I eventually overwhelm him and he can't answer smasher with a couple goyfs. Such a good game.
3-1 (6-2)
r5 grixis as foretold
g1 he floods a lot after keeping a 5 land hand. g2 I just have a ton of answers and all he's doing is thoughtseizing me over and over to very little effect honestly. He gets to a point he's at like 12 life and just a couple of big guys after some discard and he's got nothing to stop them. I thought he was just on grixis control I never saw the as foretolds.
4-1 (8-2)
top 8: GB infect
I was really excited to play this match. g1 I get super lucky ripping assassin's trophy into fatal push back to back to stop his 2 inkmoth nexi. The trophy was huge as he went to become immense it for lethal. the next one was as I was at 6 poison but having the answer let my goyf and TKS easily cruise in for the win. g2 I just have more removal and liliana last hope killed or found me the guys I needed. I had a good hand and things lined up well. The match felt easy but I know it's not, if i miss on removal i know I can just immediately lose. Glad I didn't I guess
5-1 (10-2)
summary:
I never played a g3 all night which was very strange but I'm not going to complain. The deck felt great as always and certainly performed. I'm still debating some SB changes as I'm hoping to attend SCG Worcester next Saturday but I'm not sure I will be able to. I'm think I'm going to experience less midrange than in my meta. Basically more amulet/titan/spirits. I'm not sure there's much I can do to stop those matches honestly. I don't have a lot of experience vs those 3 decks but they all feel like really bad matchups when I have played them. Going to have to figure something out. GB has been doing well in my meta overall in a few different varieties of straight GB (normal, rockdrazi and infect) this week had those 3 decks in top 8. last week had 2 straight versions in top 8. There's a guy who top 8's with it almost every week. Almost everyone has been converted off jund for one reason or another.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange BWG Abzan value evolution BUG BUG Midrange
Went 3-1 at FNM with rockdrazi and came in 9th No deck list changes. I'll put it in spoiler tag so those who aren't interested can skip. Played vs Rich Shay so that's always exciting. Also played a couple non tier decks although one was actually pretty scary.
r1 counters company
g1 stuck on 2 lands and die. g2 had a good start but he got out 2 trackers and a knight of the reliquary and I was on damnation or bust. didn't happen. I play against this player a lot and last week gave him some tips as my meta has a LOT of GBx. That definitely came back to bite me haha.
0-1
g2 storm
This was the Rich Shay Match. We go to 3 games and have a ver nerve wracking g3 with me at 3 life through a bunch of gobos. I had to dodge bolt for a few turns and managed to do so. I made some poor decisions and should have wiped the gobos immediately and that put me in a really bad spot. now I know.
1-1
g3 seismic assault/loam
THis was actually a very cool deck that's pretty scary. The loam engine with assault is gross. we went to 3 games but I managed to get there g3 with huge beats. Goyf gets huge in this match and the explosiveness of smasher is hard to deal with. Scooze was MVP though. I underestimated countryside crusher and he WRECKED me g2.
2-1
g4 mono black devotion
g1 I jusr roll over him pretty easily. g2 he plays an early obliterator and I have no way to answer it. g3 he bring in an absurd amount of SB cards and they were pretty bad. He gets stuck on 3 mana and I was able to kill him pretty easy as 1 card a turn from his side with no way to pump his dread shades or play obliterators worked out for me.
3-1
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange BWG Abzan value evolution BUG BUG Midrange
@NosferatuRed I sent you an extensive message to that but I'll TL;DR it here:
It is at it's heart a GB deck. There's not a ton of difference except My top end is bigger and it's a little slower on average. It still suffers from many of the problems GB normally has except reality smasher is so unbelievably amazing and gets you out of certain and sometimes numerous situations other things wouldn't. I trade out fast discard for a slower discard on a stick for instance. The mana base is worse comparatively, but 3 FoR main certainly help more than in normal GB. I lose out on some manlands though which this version needs more of but just can't fit. So therefore, the deck is much softer to land destruction than GB. This version has better matchups vs some decks (control and tron) but also worse matchups elsewhere (fast aggro and jund). This deck is also slightly less of a dog to the wrong half problem. Rarely are my cards just dead draws late and teh threats are generally huge and hard to answer. That can also be a negative when you draw all the top end and stuck on 3 lands. Assassin's trophy has both simultaneously made this deck much better and worse depending on the meta.
I am unable to attend most big events, although I have made a couple and have been putting up good results. Is this better than GB? Probably not, but it attacks on a unique angle that a lot of decks have trouble with. I think it's better personally but that means nothing. I've been off straight GB for a while so I don't have the experience to say. I think it's a meta dependent list too. If yours has a lot of fast aggro and spirits or heavy Land destruction decks I would probably play GB over this. Otherwise I would choose this 100% of the time.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange BWG Abzan value evolution BUG BUG Midrange
I wouldn't knock disfigure it's actually a very solid card. It's definitely more well rounded than deathmark is. However is it the right tool for the job? If you need speed than 100% disfigure. However, as a 1 of against specific archetypes you most likely wont see it till mid-late game where it can kill things like powered up scoozes, champion of parishes, some spirits, etc. Disfigure as a combat trick can also be pretty huge and essentially kill things it otherwise couldn't. More often than not, disfigure is the better card.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange BWG Abzan value evolution BUG BUG Midrange
Another top 8 in the books for me at our 40 person FNM. Same list I've been on, Rockdrazi, no changes
r1 sultai midrange
g1 I just completely bury him. These matches seem to be whomever gets the first tracker wins. G2 he gets tracker and then I get buried. g3 I keep a hand with 2 eldrazi temples and 3 tks and 2 stone uncastable cards. I kept because it's a neat hand that never happens but I knew it was risky, if I never draw another land I just can't cast anything. WEELLLL that's exactly what happened. literally never drew a 3rd land and he was able to come back.
0-1
r2 hardened scales
both games were pretty easy now that I have a bit more experience in how the deck plays. Flaying tendrils MVP but with the right draws this deck is really scary. It has such awesome grind to it.
1-1
r3 UR wildfire
total brew but he had a bunch of land destroy and what not like blood moons and frost titans. It was kinda like skred red in a way, semi prisony but much worse. smushers put in work as did assassin's trophy.
2-1
r4 rock
we trade a LOT of resources and much back and forth. Honestly they were very fun games but my threats usually line up much better in these GBx mirrors. I beat him in 2 with goys and scoozes and trackers. just good ol fashioned magic.
3-1
r5 counters company
g1 i Just totally bury him with removal and hard beats and smusher to finish him off. g2 I get totally buried under his tracker/knight of reliquary combo. those 2 cards play very nicely together. g3 we have a mega long game. At one point i cast flaying tendrils and like 6 for 2 him (had to lose a treetop to trade with a courser) Eventually I get out kalitas and then a scooze who got monstrous and he ran out of answers.
4-1
top 8: jund
I was happy to play this as in general my threats line up and in my experience I would say I'm favored albeit slightly. However jund did jund things and his removal lined up perfectly and BBE's only hit gas despite so many potentially bad flips, was a close game tho. g2 I keep a 2 colored lands with 2 scoozes and a push but largely medium hand. I debated mulling looking for either more early game or more lands and probably should have but who wants to mull in an attrition matchup where every card counts. I eventually get to my 3rd land but that was it and just drew all my top end. Only playing 1 card a turn for 6-7 turns obviously is not going to beat jund.
4-2
I run 24 lands and got stuck on lands in very important games. Variance is always a thing and at 24 lands I guess I'll be prone to screw more than flood. Better mull decisions would have helped for sure but they were reasonable 7's against grindy decks. I only had to mull once for real vs Rock throughout the night and I will be more wary of this in the future. Overall I played pretty well and didn't make any obvious mistakes so I can't complain.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks:
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange BWG Abzan value evolution BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
g1 comes down to me needing to draw removal to stop his dual phoenixes. If I do I'm highly favored to win if I don't I lose. I didn't. g2 hexdrinker followed by a lot of removal/discard and I win. g3 was similar but with relics and goyf beatdowns I took him down no problem. I just played relic as a nihil spellbomb basically. Nothing he could do and eating a card every turn was useless anyways.
1-0
r2 bushwhacker artifacts
In my opinion this list is inferior to the regular 8 whack. It's similar but potentially faster but also more inconsistant. plays things like ornithopters, memnite and signal pest with bomat couriers. G1 I wreck him. g2 I get virtual t3. I was at a real low life and there wasn't anything I could do or draw that could get me outa the swarm. g3 I was able to deal with his big threats aka whackers and pests and a giant goyf and scooze went to town.
2-0
r3 humans
Not much to say. I drew mediocre and never drew much removal and got absoutely curb stomped both games. Neither game was close at all. I drew 2 relics game one and they were just stone dead cards I didn't even have time to crack them. yikes.
2-1
r4 mono red prison
g1 lots of discard and a powered up hexdrinker got me there. g2 was long and drawn out but without lattice I wasn't able to lock him out before he was able to play a karn and lattice me with an SSG on the table facing my lili and karn. Big oof. I did get to have fun with relics and recurring my pithing needle, so that was fun as is liquimetal coating walkers to turn them off. SPeaking of which I got to coating an ensnaring bridge and then fatal push it. THAT was sweet in g1. g3 wasn't very exciting. t1 hexdrinker into 2 goyfs easily won it for me. I had removal for anything he could play. All in all, I was able to deal with Blood moon or it didn't matter. In g3 he had moon but I had 2 basics. Sure I had 3 dead lilianas in hand but it didn't matter. Feels good playing a lot of basics.
3-1
r4 eldrazi tron
ass trophy g1 took him off tron long enough for me to get down a karn and power up a hexdrinker. g2 was a little more exciting I had to beat through a couple eldrazi but eventually I was able to get down karn, get a batterskull and start swinging in. E tron is so much easier than regular tron. I'm still very scared of that. His chalices were mostly irrelevant but I will admit I'm not sure he drew very well.
4-1
top 8: UW control
g1 just tons of discard with a powered up hexdrinker took him down. I was lucky he never drew a walker or D sphere in the 2 critical turns he had before he went to progenitus mode. g2 I drew well and got all the things I needed more or less when I needed them so I had answers to his things. Few discard and then a liliana and I stripped him into top deck mode. Then we battled top cards till I slammed karn and a coating shutting off his walkers. I got to coating + karn + lili sac to kill a teferi so that was also fun. This deck has got to be the most frustrating thing to play against as UW. WHile I hate making people tilt it's hard to feel too bad when they are playing control
5-1
I made some great plays last night and some very poor ones. Had some bad sequences and a couple rookie mistakes so if guys you are are reading this, my bad. Hexdrinker was MVP this week. There were 3 specific times I wished I had the lattice as it would have just been game over. Instead I had to keep playing...1 time losing the other 2 I eventually got there but it should never have been a thing. Thankfully I got one now. I got to do all the things this week with coating shenanigans, relic getting things back from exile. Powered up hexdrinkers and almost ulting lilis. I had a 7/8 goyf at one point vs E. tron. Gosh I love this list. Humans matchup felt awful though. If hogaak gets banned things in my list certainly change but I'm not sure what. I need more mass removal or something vs that deck. I wonder if it's possible to add more basics and play snow things to play dead of winter. If it's possible to consistently have t3 3 damage wrath then that's the way to go. Cry of the carnarium is amazing but it just doesn't cut it vs humans unless I'm lucky. Perhaps trading relics for astrolabs and adding those to SB. This would be post hogaak tho. Cry is too important for that matchup.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
3 hexdrinker
2 scavenging ooze
3 tarmogoyf
2 tireless tracker
spells
4 fatal push
4 inquisition of kozilek
3 thoughtseize
3 assassin's trophy
4 relic of progenitus
walkers
3 liliana of the veil
1 liliana, the last hope
4 karn, the great creator
1 blast zone
3 field of ruin
3 blooming marsh
1 hissing quagmire
2 treetop village
2 nurturing peatland
2 overgrown tomb
2 forest
4 swamp
4 verdant catacombs
1 fulminator mage
1 Kalitas, traitor of ghet
2 plague engineer
1 damnation
1 maelstrom pulse
1 force of vigor
1 batterskull
1 cry of the carnarium
1 liquimetal coating
1 pithing needle
2 damping sphere
1 grafdigger's cage
1 engineered explosives
g1 He has a semi slow start and with enough removal and disruption there was nothing he could do to stop hexdrinker and that raced everything he could throw at me. g2 was similar except I had more removal. Cry of the carnarium was a boss. Card is so good even if it is just -2/-2. I was able to dodge the t2 scales but It wouldn't have mattered much as I had a trophy for it in g2, still tho that deck is scary. MD karn helps a lot tho.
1-0 (2-0)
r2: merfolk
g1 not much to say, lots of removal and disruption and was able to dodge a critical spreading seas preventing him from swinging in for lethal. CHipped in for huge guys until both boards were gummed up. Hexdrinker full powered brought it home. G2 was fun as force of vigor was insane killing on t2 a vial and a spreading seas which was huge as i needed the color fixing. backed by liliana, the last hope combined with karn + batterskull there wasn't much he could do to recover. If I had a lattice, it would have just been game over but what can you do, bskull got me there eventually.
2-0 (4-0)
r3: izzet phoenix
g1 MD relics were huge and a single tireless tracker was able to race a couple phoenix. I ripped a push thanks to the clues and was able to kill one. Close game honestly, If he had found a bolt or something i was probably just dead...probably. g2 more relics shut off his graveyard and I just kept getting discard after discard. I dealt with his t2 TiTi and he wasn't able to do much. Here was a match that featured both goyf and relic together and no, it was never a problem. I use relic when necessary and just save it. I had to blow it once but he was immediately a 3/4 right after. Say what you will, but so far it's not an issue after 12 total matches with this build.
3-0, (6-0)
r4 hogaak
oh boy i was afraid of this match but i have SO much interaction for this match. Long story short, g1 he never drew a hogaak and I was able to get there eventually through hexdrinker and repeatedly killing his *****ters. g2 I find a LOT of interaction and I needed it all. That deck is so insane in it's ability to recover and swarm. good golly. Still tho, I had to assemble an insane amount of everything to get there. IT never felt free or easy but It's no unbeatable. My 1 conclusion from facing this a few times now is, my good hands will always beat their medium hands. I don't think I can ever beat their best but I do have tools to compete. I sure hope hogaak gets banned tho, that card is seriously effed up.
4-0 (8-0)
r5: grixis urza
opponent wanted to do other things so we drew. I wish I had forced him to at least play the match for fun. On paper, it seems really really good for me. With MD karn, relics disruption and removal it seems unbelievably good match. Of course I cannot confirm this. I regret not playing. Oh well.
ID into top 8
t8: hogaak
This was a short match. g1 he rips hogaak off the top on t2 (I inq him t1 to see he has a great hand but 1 land) and cast it (t1 gravecrawler into stitcher combined with my discard and a fetch). Hogaak proceeds to kill me as I didn't see a trophy until too late. He was on 1 mana the whole time. I kill hogaak and by that time he could replay it despite having 1 land. sigh. g2 I have some interaction but his hand was again insane. I have tons of removal and disruption but I never see a creature in like 8-9 turns and die to small chip shots turn after turn. brutal. I think I could have made better mull decisions especially for g1 knowing what I was up against. My medium hands are never going to beat hogaak.
4-1
Over all I love this build. It's so fun, has a great engine in Karn being able to search for things you may need and just having a lot of utility. MD relics are so good in the meta at large and when they aren't good it's an easy 4 cards to board out. It makes SB much easier than before. I'm going to invest in a lattice now. I've tried many variations of Rock builds but this one is my favorite. It fits my personal playstyle but I will admit it's probably not for everyone. GB is in a bad place right now but this angle feels great actually. Hogaak still feels terrible without leylines but we shall see how it shakes out with the upcoming ban announcement in a couple weeks. With good mull decions and decent hands it's beatable.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
1) It's my relic, I choose how it's used. It's not like you always have to use it, which people seem to forget. It's like saying scavenging ooze is also a nonbo with goyf when it's proven to not be. There's a solid chunk of matches you just board it out. This is all assuming you even have both pieces together. If you play smart and know how to use it, it's really not an issue.
2) Even if you do pop it, decks like these are meant to fill the yard fast. 1 fetch and a discard and he's a 3/4 again. It's really not hard, I'm surprised I would have to mention this in a GB forum
3) There are matches where goyf doesn't matter at all. Like hogaak. Being able to have relic is far better than a 4/5 goyf especially when you can get back your artifacts from exile with karn. Just as often, he's even bigger as you have other artifacts in the yard.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
2 hexdrinker
2 scavenging ooze
4 tarmogoyf
2 tireless tracker
spells
4 fatal push
4 inquisition of kozilek
3 thoughtseize
3 assassin's trophy
4 relic of progenitus
walkers
3 liliana of the veil
1 liliana, the last hope
4 karn, the great creator
1 blast zone
3 field of ruin
3 blooming marsh
1 hissing quagmire
2 treetop village
2 nurturing peatland
2 overgrown tomb
2 forest
4 swamp
4 verdant catacombs
2 fulminator mage
2 plague engineer
1 damnation
1 maelstrom pulse
1 force of vigor
1 batterskull
1 mycosynth lattice
1 liquimetal coating
1 pithing needle
2 damping sphere
1 grafdigger's cage
1 engineered explosives
r1 jund
both games were pretty similar in that We both do a little discard but my things just lined up better. game 1 I land karn on a near empty board but not a ton of mana so I grab batterskull and that takes it home. g2 he just floods a bit at the end and a hexdrinker got there after funneling mana into it little by little holding up removal.
1-0
r2 hogaak
this was vs endboss Sky Mason who, spoiler alert, beat me relatively soundly even though in 2 games I went, t1 relic, t2 scooze and still lost. g1 he just went super wide and couldn't stop that. g2 i flooded out at the end. if I had a mass removal spell of some kind I think I would have been ok. I was able to always answer the gaak but I could never find what I needed to stop the army of idiots.
1-1
r3 UW control
g1 i have discard into is awkward hand of nothing relevant and 2 cryptics and a verdict. Land a goyf and then karn and I start coating all his lands away. g2 we both mull to 5 but I have a decent hand just need a black. Well I luck rip a swamp off the top and double discard him. land a hexdrinker and go to town. easy as that.
2-1
r4 abzan
game 1 i have relic to deal with souls and goyf beatdowns with removal get me there easily. G2 he has endless siege rhinos combined with new sorin. g3 I make a mega bonehead lines of play. I have 2 options, go all aboard the hexdrinker plan and then play karn later or leave hexdrinker as a 2/1 and play karn and start coating away his lands seeing as he doesn't have great mana right now. Well I choose the greed play with karn and get so very punished. I knew as soon as I got the coating it was the wrong play. If i just level the drinker to a 4/4 there's literally nothing he can do about it. let alone getting it to a 6/6 which I could have done the next turn and won easily as I would have still had a karn. It was very embarrassing. I tried to get cute, it's my first time playing this, leave me alone haha
2-2*
r5 infect
both games went as such. Lots of discard and removal. g1 I killed him with liliana TLH and treetop villages, g2 it was karn into lattice on a clear board.
3-2
the deck felt great honestly. Got buried by hogaak which just proves how ridiculous the deck is but 1 shot GY things obviously don't cut it. I do think with some tweaks I can make it not bad tho. I'm going to add a flaying tendrils an that should help in the SB. Main I'm going to: -1 goyf +1 hexdrinker. I didn't have high hopes with this deck going into the tourney but the deck performed so much better than I thought. I have no idea how I beat something like mono red phoenix but can't prepare for everything. I doubt having a witchbane orb is going to fix that. maybe? I think I'm going to make those tweaks and run it back, it was certainly a fun take on GB even though I don't think it's by any means a top build.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
secondly, smallpox is great! I love the card but not in a deck filled with creatures. Like, t1 you cast birds then t2 do you cast smallpox? that seems horrible. You will want a deck that can maximize the ability yet not have it impact you that much. I find it hard to believe you can ramp into your payoff card (liliana) when you are killing your own guys and lands. On that, 20 lands is probably not enough, you will need at least 2-3 more. There's no way you can reliably cast a 6 drop if you have priest and smallpox working against you. I do get that priest and 2 mana dorks is some cool ramp so I'm sure that will happen but if they have an answer you are just done for.
Another problem is the creature selection. You have no pressure at all with this list. If you go by modern being a t4 format, what turn does your deck typically kill on? Yes, most of these cards do attack but they are so weak and just get outclassed by everything in the format. An easy exchange would be llanowar elves for noble heirarch, it's strictly better in every way. You also have no way to recur a crawler unless you have liliana or a dead dissenter or another crawler. Priest is an interesting inclusion and I like that card but you have to build around it. Currently, you just don't have enough to maximize it's value, it's almost negative synergy. I would lean more heavily into it. We now have nether spirit and of course trusty bloodghast. Another issue with the ramp plan is you have no way of finding your payoff cards and no mana sinks at all. What makes tron such an effective ramp deck is it just has so many ways to find it's payoff cards and it's ramp, you rarely get stuck with one half or the other. You will find many scenarios you are drawing mana dorks and nothing to do with all your mana or the other way around.
next to the mana. I think it is fine overall but you need more blooming marsh. That's an easy pain free way to have t1 black or green which is oh so important. You need some manlands in here of some kind. Smallpox and priest are boosted so much by manlands and provide a decent mana sink later. You are also going to need nurturing peatland. You need the card advantage desperately. I'm not convinced 20 lands is enough. If you are having trouble with tron which I imagine you would, I think 1-2 field of ruin could help. Plus they help in other matches and killing utility lands is pretty huge which is not a guarantee with smallpox.
Sideboard. I wouldn't bother with putrefy. Abrupt decay is better. Between trophy and decay you don't need that card. Also, play 4 leyline. It's only good on t0 which you want the best chances of seeing and not having to mull into oblivion to find it. I think an easy swap is 4 leyline, 3 surgical. There's a bunch of different avenues you can go with SB. Smallpox and priest kinda hinder your ability to use some of the utility creatures. If this works for you than no need to get fancy.
I hope there's something here to help you in this long rambling post
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
The best way to sum up vraska is she doesn't even see play in standard...
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
4 fatal push
4 oath of nissa
3 assassin's trophy
1 maelstrom pulse
2 liliana of the veil
1 liliana, the last hope
2 llanowar wastes
1 Blooming marsh
4 verdant catacombs
1 overgrown tomb
3 swamp
2 forest
1 twilight mire
2 treetop village
1 hissing quagmire
4 eldrazi temple
3 field of ruin
3 surgical extraction
1 flaying tendrils
1 damnation
3 collective brutality
1 maelstrom pulse
1 Obstinate baloth
1 Kalitas, traitor of ghet
1 reclamation sage
1 fulminator mage
1 golgari charm
1 damping sphere
r1 mono W eldrazi taxes
These games weren't close at all. We have a little back and forth but my guys outclass his by a mile even though he has eldrazi. I just have so much more removal that answers everything.
1-0 (2-0)
r2 grixis DS
g1 he makes a strange block when he throws his 5/5 DS into my smasher at 8 life. I was fine with that obviously. I'm at 14. he then plays 2 gurmags. I play tracker draw some cards, find the removal I need and swing in for lethal. G2 he floods a bit holding up totally irrelevant counterspells like disdainful stroke and stubby D and I roll over him with goyfs and scooze.
2-0 (4-0)
r3 burn
g1 I get run over by cheap guys and forget to t1 fatal push thinking I could just do it t2 and still be fine. Not doing so put me far behind and eventually even farther when he boros charms to save his eidolon and then I'm in a really bad spot with a hand FULL of 1-3 drops. g2 was similar I eventually get locked under eidolon at 2 life and a smasher on the table but I didn't see kalitas, or obstinate or another smasher and obviously he found a spell after a couple turns.
2-1 (4-2)
r4 GB
g1 I just have the right removal and strip him of all his lilianas. g2 we had a long wonderful game of magic. It was probably the best game i've played in a long while. So much back and forth and at one point we had dueling scoozes, then stare downs, then advantages swapped back and forth, but tracker won me this game hands down with smashers. Tracker drew me like 10 cards literally. I eventually overwhelm him and he can't answer smasher with a couple goyfs. Such a good game.
3-1 (6-2)
r5 grixis as foretold
g1 he floods a lot after keeping a 5 land hand. g2 I just have a ton of answers and all he's doing is thoughtseizing me over and over to very little effect honestly. He gets to a point he's at like 12 life and just a couple of big guys after some discard and he's got nothing to stop them. I thought he was just on grixis control I never saw the as foretolds.
4-1 (8-2)
top 8: GB infect
I was really excited to play this match. g1 I get super lucky ripping assassin's trophy into fatal push back to back to stop his 2 inkmoth nexi. The trophy was huge as he went to become immense it for lethal. the next one was as I was at 6 poison but having the answer let my goyf and TKS easily cruise in for the win. g2 I just have more removal and liliana last hope killed or found me the guys I needed. I had a good hand and things lined up well. The match felt easy but I know it's not, if i miss on removal i know I can just immediately lose. Glad I didn't I guess
5-1 (10-2)
summary:
I never played a g3 all night which was very strange but I'm not going to complain. The deck felt great as always and certainly performed. I'm still debating some SB changes as I'm hoping to attend SCG Worcester next Saturday but I'm not sure I will be able to. I'm think I'm going to experience less midrange than in my meta. Basically more amulet/titan/spirits. I'm not sure there's much I can do to stop those matches honestly. I don't have a lot of experience vs those 3 decks but they all feel like really bad matchups when I have played them. Going to have to figure something out. GB has been doing well in my meta overall in a few different varieties of straight GB (normal, rockdrazi and infect) this week had those 3 decks in top 8. last week had 2 straight versions in top 8. There's a guy who top 8's with it almost every week. Almost everyone has been converted off jund for one reason or another.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
r1 counters company
g1 stuck on 2 lands and die. g2 had a good start but he got out 2 trackers and a knight of the reliquary and I was on damnation or bust. didn't happen. I play against this player a lot and last week gave him some tips as my meta has a LOT of GBx. That definitely came back to bite me haha.
0-1
g2 storm
This was the Rich Shay Match. We go to 3 games and have a ver nerve wracking g3 with me at 3 life through a bunch of gobos. I had to dodge bolt for a few turns and managed to do so. I made some poor decisions and should have wiped the gobos immediately and that put me in a really bad spot. now I know.
1-1
g3 seismic assault/loam
THis was actually a very cool deck that's pretty scary. The loam engine with assault is gross. we went to 3 games but I managed to get there g3 with huge beats. Goyf gets huge in this match and the explosiveness of smasher is hard to deal with. Scooze was MVP though. I underestimated countryside crusher and he WRECKED me g2.
2-1
g4 mono black devotion
g1 I jusr roll over him pretty easily. g2 he plays an early obliterator and I have no way to answer it. g3 he bring in an absurd amount of SB cards and they were pretty bad. He gets stuck on 3 mana and I was able to kill him pretty easy as 1 card a turn from his side with no way to pump his dread shades or play obliterators worked out for me.
3-1
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
It is at it's heart a GB deck. There's not a ton of difference except My top end is bigger and it's a little slower on average. It still suffers from many of the problems GB normally has except reality smasher is so unbelievably amazing and gets you out of certain and sometimes numerous situations other things wouldn't. I trade out fast discard for a slower discard on a stick for instance. The mana base is worse comparatively, but 3 FoR main certainly help more than in normal GB. I lose out on some manlands though which this version needs more of but just can't fit. So therefore, the deck is much softer to land destruction than GB. This version has better matchups vs some decks (control and tron) but also worse matchups elsewhere (fast aggro and jund). This deck is also slightly less of a dog to the wrong half problem. Rarely are my cards just dead draws late and teh threats are generally huge and hard to answer. That can also be a negative when you draw all the top end and stuck on 3 lands. Assassin's trophy has both simultaneously made this deck much better and worse depending on the meta.
I am unable to attend most big events, although I have made a couple and have been putting up good results. Is this better than GB? Probably not, but it attacks on a unique angle that a lot of decks have trouble with. I think it's better personally but that means nothing. I've been off straight GB for a while so I don't have the experience to say. I think it's a meta dependent list too. If yours has a lot of fast aggro and spirits or heavy Land destruction decks I would probably play GB over this. Otherwise I would choose this 100% of the time.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
r1 sultai midrange
g1 I just completely bury him. These matches seem to be whomever gets the first tracker wins. G2 he gets tracker and then I get buried. g3 I keep a hand with 2 eldrazi temples and 3 tks and 2 stone uncastable cards. I kept because it's a neat hand that never happens but I knew it was risky, if I never draw another land I just can't cast anything. WEELLLL that's exactly what happened. literally never drew a 3rd land and he was able to come back.
0-1
r2 hardened scales
both games were pretty easy now that I have a bit more experience in how the deck plays. Flaying tendrils MVP but with the right draws this deck is really scary. It has such awesome grind to it.
1-1
r3 UR wildfire
total brew but he had a bunch of land destroy and what not like blood moons and frost titans. It was kinda like skred red in a way, semi prisony but much worse. smushers put in work as did assassin's trophy.
2-1
r4 rock
we trade a LOT of resources and much back and forth. Honestly they were very fun games but my threats usually line up much better in these GBx mirrors. I beat him in 2 with goys and scoozes and trackers. just good ol fashioned magic.
3-1
r5 counters company
g1 i Just totally bury him with removal and hard beats and smusher to finish him off. g2 I get totally buried under his tracker/knight of reliquary combo. those 2 cards play very nicely together. g3 we have a mega long game. At one point i cast flaying tendrils and like 6 for 2 him (had to lose a treetop to trade with a courser) Eventually I get out kalitas and then a scooze who got monstrous and he ran out of answers.
4-1
top 8: jund
I was happy to play this as in general my threats line up and in my experience I would say I'm favored albeit slightly. However jund did jund things and his removal lined up perfectly and BBE's only hit gas despite so many potentially bad flips, was a close game tho. g2 I keep a 2 colored lands with 2 scoozes and a push but largely medium hand. I debated mulling looking for either more early game or more lands and probably should have but who wants to mull in an attrition matchup where every card counts. I eventually get to my 3rd land but that was it and just drew all my top end. Only playing 1 card a turn for 6-7 turns obviously is not going to beat jund.
4-2
I run 24 lands and got stuck on lands in very important games. Variance is always a thing and at 24 lands I guess I'll be prone to screw more than flood. Better mull decisions would have helped for sure but they were reasonable 7's against grindy decks. I only had to mull once for real vs Rock throughout the night and I will be more wary of this in the future. Overall I played pretty well and didn't make any obvious mistakes so I can't complain.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster