I went 5-0 at my local FNM this past week with this list.
Round 1 vs Elves (win 2-1)
Game 1 a turn 3 branchwalker allows me to find my third land (a treetop village) and stay on curve to win. It is worth noting that the 2/1 body got outclassed by my opponents pendelhaven. Game 2 is mostly irrelevant I was on the draw and a turn to slow to stabilize. Game 3 I have damnation in hand the entire game and never have to use it to win.
Round 2 vs Ad Naseum (win 2-0)
From the standpoint of the new cards this was uneventful. Game 1 I discarded his Lightning Storm and then he milled past his laboratory maniac. Game 2 I went up the curve with him discarding everything before he could play it when he did not have a leyline.
Round 3 vs Sultai Reclamation (win 2-0)
Both games pressure backed with discard got there. In game 2 my Ashiok locked him off of his mystical teachings and won me the game.
Round 4 vs Burn (win 2-0)
I think we are already very good against burn as I rarely lose this matchup. Having the surprise angle of Branchwalker allowed me to have more pressure quickly and also made the sideboard rest in peace he brought in look bad. (For the record I am already not in favor of siding that card in vs Rock as I would rather have a damage spell)
Round 5 vs Azorius Taking Turns (win 2-0)
Once again pressure plus discard got me there. I weathered his extra turn cards and focused on denying him card advantage in the matchup. Another 2 drop to begin the pressure helped as Scavenging ooze is not great in the matchup.
Final Thoughts
I was quite pleased with the Branchwalkers throughout the event. I never found myself wishing it was another card and several times it was helpful smoothing out my draws. It also gave me interesting lines in the removal heavy matchups where I could run him out into removal and save my better creatures for later. I will definitely be testing more with this card.
Well then, I need to either copy your list or move into your neighborhood.
I'm not sure why edict is even being mentioned considering triumph is better in every way.
No, it isn't. It can't rid you of a Bob that's going to kill you next turn. It can't get you two life from a Fink to keep you alive for another turn. It can't put a creature that's about to be exiled into the graveyard so that you can recur it later.
Corner cases, yes, and perhaps insignificant, but I'm not sure either belongs main-deck and, excepting LGS environments, I'm not sure either belongs in the 75.
Hello Rock pilots. I have a question that I've been mulling over in my mind of late that I think your expertise might provide some valuable insight to.
I am a longtime fan of Thrun and played one or two in all of my midrange decks years ago (often in the main). Then, it seemed like he became less good in the meta, and I moved him to the SB. Eventually, I removed him completely. However, I recently saw this list in the top 16 of the MOCS. I also noticed four U/W Control lists in that top 16; I feel control in general might be on an up-tick with the printing of several new toys in War of the Spark. Thrun can't be countered, can't be hit with any sort of targeted removal, bounce, etc..., can regenerate through non-Wrath non-Terminus sweepers such as Supreme Verdict, and is great at putting a reasonable clock on an opponent or killing a planeswalker. He's not just good against control though. He can help in a variety of match-ups including against aggro as a good blocker and midrange as a difficult to remove threat. Unfortunately, he's incredibly slow against combo.
Kalitas on the other hand is quite strong as well, though it seems most people prefer to SB a copy or two. Obviously, a 3/4 lifelink that creates extra bodies when opposing creatures die is pretty good against creature-based aggro, but since Kalitas doesn't have an enter-the-battlefield or leaves-the-battlefield value trigger attached getting him bounced (say with a Reflector Mage or something) or removed is pretty annoying. The other apparent advantage Kalitas brings is his ability to hose GY creatures and creatures with death triggers; making sure Dredge creatures or Arclight Phoenix stays dead when you kill it is nice. However, it seems to me that Dredge is less popular with all the hate running around lately.
What do you think?
Sol Malka runs a copy of Thrun main-deck. He has some credibility.
I’m not very experienced with the current metagame in modern as I’ve been away from magic, but I’ve returned.
That being said, I’m running two copies of Bile Blight in the 75. One main, one board.. it’s won me multiple games vs. Humans and I know given my experience I can’t possibly have been the one to come up with something that’s potentially groundbreaking.
I guess my question is why is bile blight not played at all given the popularity of humans? It’s still a decent enough removal spell in the format right?
Bile Blight has been mentioned but it isn't popular. In addition to the BB cost, it's really only good in a few match-ups. If one faces those match-ups every Friday then it might be a fine card to play. It might even be worth altering the mana-base for it.
Most Rock players these days are running three or four colorless lands and several G-only lands. BB on turn two is tough for them. If one is hoping to catch multiple cards with the same name, he might not mind waiting to cast Bile Blight, but there's a risk of holding it.
Personally, I prefer Nameless Inversion as a one-of. It has different strengths and weaknesses and is only popular in Delirium lists. I'm still hoping to get Haakon going with it once before I die. Yes, I have one copy of Haakon in my side-board. I know it's bad, don't bother telling me it's bad but if I ever pull off even two castings of Nameless off of him, it's going to be glorious!
My LGS has a lot of big mana and an increasing # of Shadow/Bogles decks; honestly I'm just trying out Triumph because it's new, but it seems reasonable in a meta with decks that play one or two fatties at a time (Amulet, Tron, Shadow, Bogles, etc). I've been less impressed with Ass Trophy and Push because of their drawbacks, either ramping my opponent faster than Path or being far less useful mid-late game. I also replaced 2 of my Pushes with Nameless Inversion (grow Goyf, hits the majority of non-big mana creatures at my store, tag Awoken Horror with its bounce trigger on the stack and make it bounce itself back to its owner's hand) and Victim of Night (kills virtually everything important at my LGS's meta except for Gurmag Angler and Dredge), although I might go down a Triumph and back up a Push.
Is any one running the new Delirium Rock with Spawn of Mayhem? I put a low bid on a set on eBay and somehow managed to win, so I got a Walking Ballista and gave it a shot.
I got smoked twice by Boros Burn. I actually took a game against Humans and I was prety much given one game by Storm. I beat the hell out of the bye.
I didn't have the extra Collective Brutalities in the side-board. This was partly because I didn't want to take them out of the other deck and partly because I had some pet cards I wanted to try out. These might have helped against Burn but it looks like a worse match-up than the conventional builds.
A really good draw seems like it will keep up with Humans, as a big flyer is a plus, so this might be one match-upwhere this build has a slight advantage.
The first game, the Storm player went off the turn I drew both main-board Nihil Spellbombs off of Mishra's Baubles. His turn, of course. The second game he durndled until I killed him. The third game I got an early Spellbomb but it was so long before I got any creatures in play he was able to sculpt a winning hand without his graveyard.
The bye match-up seems about the same.
So, does anyone like this build? What match-ups do you think it improves? It seems to pretty well give up on big mana and I don't see it being any better against Control, it 's probably worse. Given that conventional Rock isn't exactly cooking with gas these days, I'm not sure what to do.
Selling the Lilies while they are still crazy expensive seems like the smart move, to be honest.
There is a Delirium Rock build floating around; perhaps you've seen it. It contains one Walking Ballista. Which I gather is mostly for helping achieve Delirium. I could be wrong about that.
The thing is though, it started me thinking that it would be a good tool in some match-ups. It is a pretty good way to take out a Mirran Crusader, for instance.
Has this ever occurred to anyone or is there something painfully obvious I'm missing that make this an asinine idea?
Anyone have any advice on how I could build a manabase with 3 treetop villages and 3 field of ruins (in a 24 land build)? I really wanted to do it and got inspired by Gerry T's deck that he posted a couple weeks ago with this mana:
The 2 twilight mires help get double black if it happens to be your only black source (since this manabase is light on black lands), but I worry it could be too greedy with only 16 black-producing lands. Thoughts?
16 is probably enough to reliably have B on turn-one, if I recall corectly, but I don't recall how many are called for to get double-B on turn three, but I'm sure someone will chime in.
Fetches might be better than Twilight Mires in terms of reliability but I don't mind a copy or two of Mire and there aren't that many cards in this list that don't play nicely with them, namely the Fields. The second Forest is questionable in my mind, but it may be necessary in your build.
hmm that makes sense .. btw this is a good spoiler.. do you guys think this will have a slot on the deck?
it a diabolic edict on steroids
Maybe not an auto-include, maybe not even main-deck, but certainly playable. I wouldn't quibble with anyone playing it main-deck, but it seems better suited for the side-board. Unless, of course, one's LGS is over-run with Bogles.
hello i just recently finish building this deck.. and god my local meta is infested with tron decks .. im planning to add lost legacy on my sideboard or do a sultai version just to run unmored ego.. any suggestions?
Splashing a color for Unmoored Ego might be the thing to do but it's a big step and requires a great deal more thought than I am going to put into it. Lost Legacy is about useless against Tron; it doesn't hit lands or artifacts.
If you are able to focus your build just to beat Tron, then there are other cards to consider, such as Damping Sphere, but if you really need to beat Tron, you might want to switch decks.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Corner cases, yes, and perhaps insignificant, but I'm not sure either belongs main-deck and, excepting LGS environments, I'm not sure either belongs in the 75.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Most Rock players these days are running three or four colorless lands and several G-only lands. BB on turn two is tough for them. If one is hoping to catch multiple cards with the same name, he might not mind waiting to cast Bile Blight, but there's a risk of holding it.
Personally, I prefer Nameless Inversion as a one-of. It has different strengths and weaknesses and is only popular in Delirium lists. I'm still hoping to get Haakon going with it once before I die. Yes, I have one copy of Haakon in my side-board. I know it's bad, don't bother telling me it's bad but if I ever pull off even two castings of Nameless off of him, it's going to be glorious!
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
The list I copied is here.
I got smoked twice by Boros Burn. I actually took a game against Humans and I was prety much given one game by Storm. I beat the hell out of the bye.
I didn't have the extra Collective Brutalities in the side-board. This was partly because I didn't want to take them out of the other deck and partly because I had some pet cards I wanted to try out. These might have helped against Burn but it looks like a worse match-up than the conventional builds.
A really good draw seems like it will keep up with Humans, as a big flyer is a plus, so this might be one match-upwhere this build has a slight advantage.
The first game, the Storm player went off the turn I drew both main-board Nihil Spellbombs off of Mishra's Baubles. His turn, of course. The second game he durndled until I killed him. The third game I got an early Spellbomb but it was so long before I got any creatures in play he was able to sculpt a winning hand without his graveyard.
The bye match-up seems about the same.
So, does anyone like this build? What match-ups do you think it improves? It seems to pretty well give up on big mana and I don't see it being any better against Control, it 's probably worse. Given that conventional Rock isn't exactly cooking with gas these days, I'm not sure what to do.
Selling the Lilies while they are still crazy expensive seems like the smart move, to be honest.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
It looks as if it might be good for a laugh at least. It might just blow something like Spirits out.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
The thing is though, it started me thinking that it would be a good tool in some match-ups. It is a pretty good way to take out a Mirran Crusader, for instance.
Has this ever occurred to anyone or is there something painfully obvious I'm missing that make this an asinine idea?
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Fetches might be better than Twilight Mires in terms of reliability but I don't mind a copy or two of Mire and there aren't that many cards in this list that don't play nicely with them, namely the Fields. The second Forest is questionable in my mind, but it may be necessary in your build.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Maybe not an auto-include, maybe not even main-deck, but certainly playable. I wouldn't quibble with anyone playing it main-deck, but it seems better suited for the side-board. Unless, of course, one's LGS is over-run with Bogles.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Splashing a color for Unmoored Ego might be the thing to do but it's a big step and requires a great deal more thought than I am going to put into it. Lost Legacy is about useless against Tron; it doesn't hit lands or artifacts.
If you are able to focus your build just to beat Tron, then there are other cards to consider, such as Damping Sphere, but if you really need to beat Tron, you might want to switch decks.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn