I watched a deck tech with ross merrium a while back and he sait UR pheonix will be well posioned as long as thing in the ice is well positioned. It is used as board control and a big threat so it is pulling double duty here.
The four possible ban targets IMO are pheonix, thing in the ice, manamorphose or faithless looting. An arguemwnt can be made against any of these, but looting seems to have the most people against it right now.
I am curious, if it is banned, what will they ban? Faithless Looting and Arclight Phoenix seem to be the only plausible choices, but which one?
Honestly, probably Manamorphose. No good has ever come from any deck playing that card. The problem is what to do about Dredge too. In my opinion, that should be hit with Creeping Chill, Bloodghast, or Prized Amalgam too. But knowing WOTC, they'll be "super clever" and want to target Looting because it hits both decks and players have been clamoring for it. If they want to do the same thing they did with Pod and Twin, then you hit Arclight Phoenix itself and then tell players with a straight face that similar builds are fine without it.
If Faithless Looting does get banned, it plants Ancient Stirrings firmly in the "best Modern card" category once again (as it was during KCI). Even if it's safe now, I don't think anything is ever fully safe.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Buried in all the Looting hysteria Sam Black top 8'd Tampa with good old Lantern Control. Interesting to see given that Whir Prison has essentially taken its place recently. I guess being able to play a bunch of Surgicals main in a prison shell (which isn't something Whir can really do due to its Chalice plan) is an enticing prospect in this meta.
Buried in all the Looting hysteria Sam Black top 8'd Tampa with good old Lantern Control. Interesting to see given that Whir Prison has essentially taken its place recently. I guess being able to play a bunch of Surgicals main in a prison shell (which isn't something Whir can really do due to its Chalice plan) is an enticing prospect in this meta.
Be honest. You just want an uptick in these types of decks because they're easy targets for Tron, especially Lantern.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Buried in all the Looting hysteria Sam Black top 8'd Tampa with good old Lantern Control. Interesting to see given that Whir Prison has essentially taken its place recently. I guess being able to play a bunch of Surgicals main in a prison shell (which isn't something Whir can really do due to its Chalice plan) is an enticing prospect in this meta.
Be honest. You just want an uptick in these types of decks because they're easy targets for Tron, especially Lantern.
Haha nope, not if Black's list got adopted. 3 Assassin's Trophy and 2 Ghost Quarter to go with the 3 Surgicals isn't my idea of a good time. And Whir Prison is favored against Tron.
Wow after this last weekend MH1 is starting to look like containment priest or bust (bans).
If that card is in the set the next b&r should just be a picture of that card in the modern portion of the announcement.
So after this weekend has anyone's feelings on what should be in MH1 changed?
Initially I hoped for lots of tribal cards for the unsupported/non-perennial tribes and some old standard favourites that don't see play in legacy (Atog).
But now I'm wondering about FoW (or a varient, maybe life loss and sac an untapped island you control).
Besides doomsaying and ban-preaching, this is the world we are currently living in, try and beat it Phoenix is very much the best deck atm, but it is VERY far from unbeatable (and very far from Tier 0 Eldrazi levels). Just as it has been mentioned previously, people could win against Pod, or TC Delver. Find a way and beat the bird, until we see a ban (which for me is very likely at this point).
It's certainly beatable on paper, but it's also extremely consistent, as was clearly demonstrated yesterday when the Rock player (whose 75 was very geared towards defeating it) couldn't do a thing despite his t1 Spellbomb. There just aren't many decks out there right now that can jam two game plans at the same time so consistently. You focus on the wall, you get hit for 6 in the air every turn and burned out. You focus on the graveyard, all your creatures get bounced and you get hit for 7 and burned out.
TLDR2: I won't be hyperbolic saying this is Eldrazi winter, because people that are saying that probably want Twin back, so their agenda is to sell the format as horribly bad and scream for a Twin unban. They don't even believe this theirselves.
I'll flip that statement right back at you. Phoenix in less than half a year has put up better results and higher play-rate than Twin in the entire of 2015. You call it an agenda but they're justified to want twin back in the face of the weekend's results.
You say they have an agenda, but what about yourself.
Over 20% play rate over 2 GPs. 6 out of 16 top 8 spots in 2 GPs.
Twin's stats are rookie numbers compared to this and yet here you are defending it and deriding twin players.
Yeah they might be selling the format horribly, but that's no different from you sticking your fingers in your ears and yelling that this is the best Modern has ever been.
If you honestly believe this is the best Modern has ever been, than you're either deluded or a hypocrite.
Guys please opinions on japanese cards. Lost a 3/3 creature against Japan celestial colonade. This guy played all creatures and spells in english cards, but some cards in his manabase was japanese. I dont registrated this really ( my brain say its all fine and all english to me lets attack his empty board)...and i am sure it is a Kind of legal cheating. It is not ok, but i know legal. I Hate such people. I never forget colonade normally, but with this Tricks it can happen one time in 3 years and such people take advantage of this
If I am a customer spending premium amount of dollars, I expect a premium service. Jund falls into the category of a premium deck costing more dollars than a majority of the rest of the format. I'm not getting the desired performance ratio per dollars spent out of the Jund deck because WOTC decided to make the format more diverse.
Come on, Phönix is like a new born. Yesterday born, today in his best age and tomorrow maybe dying. Can we stop crying each some weeks to ban something again? That's sooooo boring guys
&TLDR1: This needs a lot of thought, as there is a real danger of killing the format if you touch Faithless Looting and/or Ancient Stirrings. I know a lot of people that own Griselrand, Mardu Mancer, Dredge, Hollow one, Bridgevine, Phoenix decks and multiple of them. Those people, and I assure you that they are many, won't literally have any intention of going back to the format if they lose one or multiple 1000$ decks.
I own Mardu Pyromancer, and have just began to enjoy using the deck.
Banning of looting would cripple the deck, so I hope looting does not get a ban.
No replacement for looting:
Tormenting Voice - cost 2 mana, dumps fewer cards into the yard and has no flashback.
Magmatic Insight - dumps lands into the yard, I need instant and sorceries put into the yard not land
Also, looting draws first before discarding, making it superior to any red card that digs the library.
My Mardu Pyro deck is not worth 1000$, but it would still be a monetary loss because have no other deck to put the Revelers in. The lands I can use in other decks.
Phoenix reaching 20% of the metagame at day 2 of both GPs is starting to look troublesome.
As others pointed out, Faithless Looting (and Ancient Stirrings) are played in a wide variety of decks, so the problem must lie elsewhere, and it's the ability to get free effects: drawing cards for free, free mana acceleration, getting damage for free and most importantly, getting creatures (which are recurrent sources of damage after all) for free.
Possible solutions would be banning more (or all of them) of these free effects; printing better hate for them (Containment Priest, Planar Void...), or going the opposite direction and generalizing them: free life gain, free removal, free counterspells... In my opinion, this kind of effects belong in Legacy and not Modern, so if Modern Horizons can't stop them, I'd start to think about bans.
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If Faithless Looting does get banned, it plants Ancient Stirrings firmly in the "best Modern card" category once again (as it was during KCI). Even if it's safe now, I don't think anything is ever fully safe.
Man I'll just keep playing with the cards that they give me - if they ever knock me out of the format I'll just play Highlander full time.
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Well, I can saw a woman in two, but you won't wanna look in the box when I'm through.
First, people should know how to play against UR Phoenix.
The dude who finished first this weekend with Grixis Shadow did beat UR Phoenix in final.
He said that both gds and phoenix want the draw in that matchup as it's a battle of raw resources. Phoenix needs a critical mass of cards in hand to function.
So.. If you are playing a control/midrange deck. Choose the draw against UR Phoenix. It'll help.
Serious question: How much worse off is Dredge if they jam 4 insolate neonate instead of 4 faithless looting? I think the deck really continues to function, to be honest. Insted, faithless looting destroys Mardu Mancer, grishoalbrand, bridgevine, hollow one, etc. Meaning either tier 2/3 decks, or a fair deck.
Is that what we want? I might be wrong here, I just want to hear opinions from Dredge experts or people who know the deck well enough.
I am going to test Dredge with that configuration during the weekend and get back with results.
I am not an expert but I think Dredge could still work, it would be a little less consistent, Insolent Neonate was replaced with Shriekhorn after GGT was banned as it was the most consistent choice (I read someone run the numbers for the change from Neonate to horn) but AFAIK nobody has tried to replace Loooting with something else. Neonate allows for some explosive draws where you are already dredging before T2, in a Christmas wonderland scenario, it could mean 4 Prized Amalgams + Narcomoeba on the battlefield ready to attack on turn 2 but being able to discard only 1 card with Neonate means you are more likely to find yourself with no dredgers on your draw phase.
Maybe they will print cheap creatures that interact with graveyards like Dryad Militant but exiling creatures instead of instants and sorceries or something like that, let's see what Horizon brings to the table and how Modern looks afterwards but the current scenario is quite worrying
Phoenix needs a critical mass of cards in hand to function.
Not really though. They can Opt into Opt into Gut Shot with an otherwise empty hand and a mere two lands in play and put anywhere between 3 to 12 power on the board just like that. This is the consistency issue. GDS won out here as it, too, has nut draws and is probably the number one deck in the format when it comes to raw power, but it could just as easily have gone the other way. I didn't watch the game, but my ten bucks says it was close.
Phoenix needs a critical mass of cards in hand to function.
Not really though. They can Opt into Opt into Gut Shot with an otherwise empty hand and a mere two lands in play and put anywhere between 3 to 12 power on the board just like that. This is the consistency issue. GDS won out here as it, too, has nut draws and is probably the number one deck in the format when it comes to raw power, but it could just as easily have gone the other way. I didn't watch the game, but my ten bucks says it was close.
I agree with your statement. Grixis vs Phoenix is usually pretty close. But I think it's right to chose the draw in this matchup.
The deck is clearly more concistent with more cards in hand.. Also, choosing the draw give you more chance to draw your surgical and push.
First, people should know how to play against UR Phoenix.
The dude who finished first this weekend with Grixis Shadow did beat UR Phoenix in final.
He said that both gds and phoenix want the draw in that matchup as it's a battle of raw resources. Phoenix needs a critical mass of cards in hand to function.
So.. If you are playing a control/midrange deck. Choose the draw against UR Phoenix. It'll help.
(just a lil advice (= ) Worked for him.
I think this is a very good point and also, I think that's why GB midrange is doing well against Phoenix.
My opinion, play B based decks, with 4-6 discard spells and removals and you should be set for the Phoenix matchup at about 55%.
In top 32 of GP Tampa (I think) was also a UB Faeries deck with 6 discard spells and Kalitas. Faeries have a very good Phoenix MU and with this build it is even better, I would argue at around 55-60%. You have enough removal to battle their TiTis and enough champ blockers for Phoenix with BB, until you can actually win the game. Also, the SSSs basically counter the entire deck.
In general, if you want to beat Phoenix, go B+something. That something should be to compensate for your other MUs.
Also, make sure you are packing some kind of mainboard GY hate, not so much for the Phoenix MU, but for dredge and because it hits other things as well. That should be Surgical if you have ways to discard it/shuffle it back (i.e. Jace, Collective Brutallity etc.) or Nihil Spellbomb.
Play two colors so you can run 3-4 Field of Ruins to make the Tron MU a bit better pre-board and not scoop to it. It is also good to fight against Amulet.
If you are on control (Uw or Ub) pack 3-5 sweepers.
I believe that there is a way to battle the current meta with midrange control decks, but that way is definitely 2 colored and possibly B based.
^ Yep, I agree that playing exactly two colors—no more, no less—is generally advisable if you’re trying to interact heavily in Modern. Golgari is very well positioned right now; in truth, it has been since the printing of Trophy, despite conventional wisdom insisting that BGx midrange is bad or unplayable right up until about a month ago!
We’re certainly at a bit of an impasse. The prospect of Horizons is both a blessing and a curse, with the product itself (when considered in tandem with recent design trends) boding very well for the format, while at the same time its imminent arrival acts as a check on the corrective action that may or may not otherwise be taken more quickly.
For me, it’s hard to see a future in which Looting impacts Modern positively on the whole. The graveyard is a crucial zone insofar as interesting gameplay and design is concerned; making all-in graveyard decks too strong and too consistent not only leads to binary matchups and games which devolve into hunts for sideboard hosers, it also lays heavy restrictions on potentially novel designs in future sets.
I therefore lean toward preferring a Looting ban rather than a ban on payoffs like Phoenix, Chill, or Bloodghast...however, my stance on this is not set in stone, and as always my utmost preference is for new answers instead of bans!
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I agree with your statement. Grixis vs Phoenix is usually pretty close. But I think it's right to chose the draw in this matchup.
The deck is clearly more concistent with more cards in hand.. Also, choosing the draw give you more chance to draw your surgical and push.
Of course, but this is old news for any serious GDS players. Ben Jones has been advocating for taking the draw in the mirror and other grindy matchups for a while now and it's clearly correct as any tempo advantage is negligible versus the long-term card advantage in the inevitable grind that ensues when these decks face off.
Either way, yes, this is one thing a pilot of one of the most powerful decks in the format can do to increase his chances. Good luck beating Phoenix if you're on a tier 2 deck though.
Has Gokurou ever asserted that modern is the best it's ever been in relation to the current phoenix meta? I keep seeing Renegade Rallier mention it over and over in response to posts that don't contain the statement.
Anyway, I'm probably a bit biased because I am very fond of Vengevine, but I'd actually prefer targeted bans at each of the "problem" decks even though it's "messier". For example, I'd very much prefer bans on Phoenix, Creeping Chill to bans on manamorphose or faithless looting. I don't like causing huge amounts of splash damage, and without the payoffs, the meta seems like it would shift back to the humans one, which most people were fine with.
Also, i don't think Hardened Scales gets dominant in the new meta. The matchup against control is so miserable that it might actually be worse.
Has Gokurou ever asserted that modern is the best it's ever been in relation to the current phoenix meta? I keep seeing Renegade Rallier mention it over and over in response to posts that don't contain the statement.
They didn't say that UWx are second and third as of now. They spoke of a specific timeframe and they were right in that one.
Also, yes, I believe Modern is one of the best Modern formats we have ever seen at the moment, so yeah, I am happy with that statement of theirs(that everything is fine for now, no changes are needed and that Modern will hopefully self regulate itself), because I 100% agree.
My opinion is still that it's hugely over represented as a deck, and even if it's too consistent, it's not that good, so I guess I am in line with all of those people.
Tampa: 19.5% Day 2 share, 10 UR Phoenix in top 32 so 31.25% of top 32 (4 in top 8)
Bilbao: 22.5% Day 2 share, 5 UR Phoenix in top 16 so also 31.25% of top 16 (2 in top 8)
So based on these 2, I'd say UR Phoenix over-performed in conversion to top places relative to share of day 2.
Guys please opinions on japanese cards. Lost a 3/3 creature against Japan celestial colonade. This guy played all creatures and spells in english cards, but some cards in his manabase was japanese. I dont registrated this really ( my brain say its all fine and all english to me lets attack his empty board)...and i am sure it is a Kind of legal cheating. It is not ok, but i know legal. I Hate such people. I never forget colonade normally, but with this Tricks it can happen one time in 3 years and such people take advantage of this
If I am a customer spending premium amount of dollars, I expect a premium service. Jund falls into the category of a premium deck costing more dollars than a majority of the rest of the format. I'm not getting the desired performance ratio per dollars spent out of the Jund deck because WOTC decided to make the format more diverse.
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The four possible ban targets IMO are pheonix, thing in the ice, manamorphose or faithless looting. An arguemwnt can be made against any of these, but looting seems to have the most people against it right now.
Honestly, probably Manamorphose. No good has ever come from any deck playing that card. The problem is what to do about Dredge too. In my opinion, that should be hit with Creeping Chill, Bloodghast, or Prized Amalgam too. But knowing WOTC, they'll be "super clever" and want to target Looting because it hits both decks and players have been clamoring for it. If they want to do the same thing they did with Pod and Twin, then you hit Arclight Phoenix itself and then tell players with a straight face that similar builds are fine without it.
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
If Faithless Looting does get banned, it plants Ancient Stirrings firmly in the "best Modern card" category once again (as it was during KCI). Even if it's safe now, I don't think anything is ever fully safe.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Be honest. You just want an uptick in these types of decks because they're easy targets for Tron, especially Lantern.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)If that card is in the set the next b&r should just be a picture of that card in the modern portion of the announcement.
So after this weekend has anyone's feelings on what should be in MH1 changed?
Initially I hoped for lots of tribal cards for the unsupported/non-perennial tribes and some old standard favourites that don't see play in legacy (Atog).
But now I'm wondering about FoW (or a varient, maybe life loss and sac an untapped island you control).
Very torn as I don't want more bannings.
Legacy - LED Dredge, ANT & WDnT
Besides doomsaying and ban-preaching, this is the world we are currently living in, try and beat it Phoenix is very much the best deck atm, but it is VERY far from unbeatable (and very far from Tier 0 Eldrazi levels). Just as it has been mentioned previously, people could win against Pod, or TC Delver. Find a way and beat the bird, until we see a ban (which for me is very likely at this point).
UB Faeries (15-6-0)
UWR Control (10-5-1)/Kiki Control/Midrange/Harbinger
UBR Cruel Control (6-4-0)/Grixis Control/Delver/Blue Jund
UWB Control/Mentor
UW Miracles/Control (currently active, 14-2-0)
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
RW Burn (9-1-0)
I do (academic) research on video games and archaeology! You can check out my open access book here: https://www.sidestone.com/books/the-interactive-past
It can be beaten, but just try beating it.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
Izzet Phoenix mutates into tier zero?
Maybe Dredge would splash blue to also be able to use careful Study.
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
I'll flip that statement right back at you. Phoenix in less than half a year has put up better results and higher play-rate than Twin in the entire of 2015. You call it an agenda but they're justified to want twin back in the face of the weekend's results.
You say they have an agenda, but what about yourself.
Over 20% play rate over 2 GPs. 6 out of 16 top 8 spots in 2 GPs.
Twin's stats are rookie numbers compared to this and yet here you are defending it and deriding twin players.
Yeah they might be selling the format horribly, but that's no different from you sticking your fingers in your ears and yelling that this is the best Modern has ever been.
If you honestly believe this is the best Modern has ever been, than you're either deluded or a hypocrite.
I own Mardu Pyromancer, and have just began to enjoy using the deck.
Banning of looting would cripple the deck, so I hope looting does not get a ban.
No replacement for looting:
Tormenting Voice - cost 2 mana, dumps fewer cards into the yard and has no flashback.
Magmatic Insight - dumps lands into the yard, I need instant and sorceries put into the yard not land
Also, looting draws first before discarding, making it superior to any red card that digs the library.
My Mardu Pyro deck is not worth 1000$, but it would still be a monetary loss because have no other deck to put the Revelers in. The lands I can use in other decks.
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Want to play a UW control deck in modern, but don't have jace or snaps?
Please come visit us at the Emeria Titan control thread
As others pointed out, Faithless Looting (and Ancient Stirrings) are played in a wide variety of decks, so the problem must lie elsewhere, and it's the ability to get free effects: drawing cards for free, free mana acceleration, getting damage for free and most importantly, getting creatures (which are recurrent sources of damage after all) for free.
Possible solutions would be banning more (or all of them) of these free effects; printing better hate for them (Containment Priest, Planar Void...), or going the opposite direction and generalizing them: free life gain, free removal, free counterspells... In my opinion, this kind of effects belong in Legacy and not Modern, so if Modern Horizons can't stop them, I'd start to think about bans.
Currently sleeved:
WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
Man I'll just keep playing with the cards that they give me - if they ever knock me out of the format I'll just play Highlander full time.
The dude who finished first this weekend with Grixis Shadow did beat UR Phoenix in final.
He said that both gds and phoenix want the draw in that matchup as it's a battle of raw resources. Phoenix needs a critical mass of cards in hand to function.
So.. If you are playing a control/midrange deck. Choose the draw against UR Phoenix. It'll help.
(just a lil advice (= ) Worked for him.
BGUSultai Shadow
BURGrixis Shadow
BGUSultai midrange
BRWMardu Pyromancer
BGRJund
I am not an expert but I think Dredge could still work, it would be a little less consistent, Insolent Neonate was replaced with Shriekhorn after GGT was banned as it was the most consistent choice (I read someone run the numbers for the change from Neonate to horn) but AFAIK nobody has tried to replace Loooting with something else. Neonate allows for some explosive draws where you are already dredging before T2, in a Christmas wonderland scenario, it could mean 4 Prized Amalgams + Narcomoeba on the battlefield ready to attack on turn 2 but being able to discard only 1 card with Neonate means you are more likely to find yourself with no dredgers on your draw phase.
Maybe they will print cheap creatures that interact with graveyards like Dryad Militant but exiling creatures instead of instants and sorceries or something like that, let's see what Horizon brings to the table and how Modern looks afterwards but the current scenario is quite worrying
Not really though. They can Opt into Opt into Gut Shot with an otherwise empty hand and a mere two lands in play and put anywhere between 3 to 12 power on the board just like that. This is the consistency issue. GDS won out here as it, too, has nut draws and is probably the number one deck in the format when it comes to raw power, but it could just as easily have gone the other way. I didn't watch the game, but my ten bucks says it was close.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
I agree with your statement. Grixis vs Phoenix is usually pretty close. But I think it's right to chose the draw in this matchup.
The deck is clearly more concistent with more cards in hand.. Also, choosing the draw give you more chance to draw your surgical and push.
BGUSultai Shadow
BURGrixis Shadow
BGUSultai midrange
BRWMardu Pyromancer
BGRJund
My opinion, play B based decks, with 4-6 discard spells and removals and you should be set for the Phoenix matchup at about 55%.
In top 32 of GP Tampa (I think) was also a UB Faeries deck with 6 discard spells and Kalitas. Faeries have a very good Phoenix MU and with this build it is even better, I would argue at around 55-60%. You have enough removal to battle their TiTis and enough champ blockers for Phoenix with BB, until you can actually win the game. Also, the SSSs basically counter the entire deck.
In general, if you want to beat Phoenix, go B+something. That something should be to compensate for your other MUs.
Also, make sure you are packing some kind of mainboard GY hate, not so much for the Phoenix MU, but for dredge and because it hits other things as well. That should be Surgical if you have ways to discard it/shuffle it back (i.e. Jace, Collective Brutallity etc.) or Nihil Spellbomb.
Play two colors so you can run 3-4 Field of Ruins to make the Tron MU a bit better pre-board and not scoop to it. It is also good to fight against Amulet.
If you are on control (Uw or Ub) pack 3-5 sweepers.
I believe that there is a way to battle the current meta with midrange control decks, but that way is definitely 2 colored and possibly B based.
UB Faeries (15-6-0)
UWR Control (10-5-1)/Kiki Control/Midrange/Harbinger
UBR Cruel Control (6-4-0)/Grixis Control/Delver/Blue Jund
UWB Control/Mentor
UW Miracles/Control (currently active, 14-2-0)
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
RW Burn (9-1-0)
I do (academic) research on video games and archaeology! You can check out my open access book here: https://www.sidestone.com/books/the-interactive-past
We’re certainly at a bit of an impasse. The prospect of Horizons is both a blessing and a curse, with the product itself (when considered in tandem with recent design trends) boding very well for the format, while at the same time its imminent arrival acts as a check on the corrective action that may or may not otherwise be taken more quickly.
For me, it’s hard to see a future in which Looting impacts Modern positively on the whole. The graveyard is a crucial zone insofar as interesting gameplay and design is concerned; making all-in graveyard decks too strong and too consistent not only leads to binary matchups and games which devolve into hunts for sideboard hosers, it also lays heavy restrictions on potentially novel designs in future sets.
I therefore lean toward preferring a Looting ban rather than a ban on payoffs like Phoenix, Chill, or Bloodghast...however, my stance on this is not set in stone, and as always my utmost preference is for new answers instead of bans!
YouTube Channel, with deck techs, gameplay, analysis, spoiler reviews, and more!
Of course, but this is old news for any serious GDS players. Ben Jones has been advocating for taking the draw in the mirror and other grindy matchups for a while now and it's clearly correct as any tempo advantage is negligible versus the long-term card advantage in the inevitable grind that ensues when these decks face off.
Either way, yes, this is one thing a pilot of one of the most powerful decks in the format can do to increase his chances. Good luck beating Phoenix if you're on a tier 2 deck though.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
Anyway, I'm probably a bit biased because I am very fond of Vengevine, but I'd actually prefer targeted bans at each of the "problem" decks even though it's "messier". For example, I'd very much prefer bans on Phoenix, Creeping Chill to bans on manamorphose or faithless looting. I don't like causing huge amounts of splash damage, and without the payoffs, the meta seems like it would shift back to the humans one, which most people were fine with.
Also, i don't think Hardened Scales gets dominant in the new meta. The matchup against control is so miserable that it might actually be worse.
UWUW ControlUW
UGWSpiritsUGW
GHardened ScalesG
WGRUKiki PodWGRU [RIP]
Edit:
Gonna call BS on this
Tampa: 19.5% Day 2 share, 10 UR Phoenix in top 32 so 31.25% of top 32 (4 in top 8)
Bilbao: 22.5% Day 2 share, 5 UR Phoenix in top 16 so also 31.25% of top 16 (2 in top 8)
So based on these 2, I'd say UR Phoenix over-performed in conversion to top places relative to share of day 2.
Counted from: https://www.channelfireball.com/the-9th-16th-place-decklists-of-grand-prix-bilbao/
and https://www.channelfireball.com/grand-prix-tampa-9-32-decklists/
A deck that's highly popular but "not that good" as you claim won't convert like this into top 32/16.