Double tournament report of the “All Creatures!” deck:
Part One….
I attended a PPTQ early in the fall at Epic Loot in Dayton, OH with my youngest (he was playing Grixis Delver….of course). I took the following with me:
In the main, I swapped out the Mystic Snakes for the Spell Quellers. Other than Tron and the random deck, Queller can counter most everything in Modern. Even though the snake counters it for good and they can get the spell back from the spirit, the mana savings seemed more important. I benched the Qasali Pridemages for the Reclamation Sages since they only need one color and many times the Pridemage would be destroyed before whatever important artifact or enchantment was played.
I knew I wanted a full set of Thalia's Lieutenant and made the easy choice of taking out the Lightning Maulers and the harder choice of taking out a couple Meddling Mages. They’ve definitely earned they’re keep over time, so I stuck one into the sideboard. I wanted to keep the human component up and so I leaned toward a couple Deputy of Acquittals. I liked the thought of increasing the size of my Champions and Lieutenants at will and saving something from removal.
I borrowed the Auriok Champions for the SCG tournament and didn’t have any myself, so I went with the next best (or possibly better) Kor Firewalker. I never drew into the Auriok Champions at SCG, so it’s hard to say how they were , but these are quite a bit cheaper on the pocketbook and still do a number on burn decks. I’ve also noticed more Anger of the Gods coming out of sideboards as well, so the little “Kithkin that could” was tagged in to help. The Spellskites weren’t terrible, but didn’t really help to increase board presence or push the game forward, just stalled it out, so that’s where I slotted the Meddling Mages. 2 Lavinias were too much and wasted space as the Stonecloaker and Gaddock Teeg ended up being, so they hit the brick as well. I also last minute added the Aegis of the Gods to help against Burn and any targeted effects (e.g. Ad Nauseam).
approx. 37 people; 6 rounds:
R1: Esper Control 2-1
I don’t recall most of this match, but I don't think he had a lot of true removal and I was able to beat down games 1 and 3. Game 2 I flooded out somewhat and it allowed him to control the game and smack me with spirit tokens.
R2: R/W Burn 2-0
I was able to capitalize on his removal light hand and go fast and wide early on him. Once I had 2 Siege Rhinos on the board he conceded. In the second game I got both Kor Firewalkers out early and even though he did path one of them they helped my ride to victory.
R3: R/W Burn 2-0
Very similar to the previous match with one small snafu. In game one I was able to stabilize against his early aggression and my creatures soaked up a lot of the damage. Once I got enough on the board and started the Siege Rhino engine it was over. Game two I started off with a very good hand; 3 lands, Burrenton Forge-Tender, Kor Firewalker, Aegis of the Gods, and one other card I don’t recall. After a few turns I already had the game in hand pretty well. Then at one point he said something and I misunderstood it as “pass” so I went ahead and drew my card. Right afterwards he stopped and asked, “Why did you draw? I didn’t pass.” Apparently he was signifying something else and I didn’t hear it very well. It’s on me, since it there was a lot of conversational noise going on at that moment and I should have confirmed. So, we stopped and checked with the judge. He reviewed the situation then had my opponent look at my hand take one card and shuffle it back into my deck. I already had the Forge Tender and Firewalker in play so he chose the Aegis (best choice for him at the time) and we resumed play. Not much changed the game state otherwise and soon after that he conceded.
R4: Naya Burn 0-2
This guy ran really well and I didn’t (I didn’t draw a single sideboard card in the second game). I did make a poor choice not blocking in the first game and I got down too low to swing back (it was a bad choice if he had an Atarka's Command in hand and he did). The second game I held out a little longer and even threw out 2 Siege Rhinos, but he played well and all of his remaining burn went to my face for exact.
R5: R/G Stompy 1-2
I curved out in the first game pretty well and before I knew it I was getting beat down by a Stormbreath Dragon in the second game. That one card nullifies so much of this deck. I was able to deal with just about everything else, but that dragon. The third game ended up being pretty interesting. By the time I lost I had probably 10 creatures on board with 2 of them being an 8/8 and 9/9 Champion of the Parish. He had probably 6 to 7 creatures with 2 of them being his Stormbreaths. I did get him down to 11 at one point and another turn or two I would have been able to swing out and get him close, but then he played a Thragtusk and made it quite a bit more difficult. I’m sure there still was a turn where I could have put some pressure on him, but alas, he monstrous’d his dragons and smacked me for exact.
One of the silly (frustrating) things that happened in this last game as well was that I drew Meddling Mage on turn 4 and named Anger of the Gods since with the current board state that would have really messed me up (5 creatures at 3 or less toughness) and I was trying to finish the game before he drew into those dragons. Next 2 turns he plays both dragons and never drew the Anger (which he did have in the deck).
R6: Bant Spirits 0-2
By this point I figured I was probably out of the top 8, but didn’t let that stop me. Unfortunately this round told me I was done. The sad thing wasn’t that he won, but I definitely lost. I’m not salty at my opponent. He was a fine guy and played alright, just my deck decided we were done. In the first game I got him down to 3 and died 4-5 turns later with three Mantis Riders in my hand (I started with two) and no way to produce red mana. 13 of the 23 lands in the deck can produce red mana and I didn’t draw a single one or one Siege Rhino to close the deal. He won that game with a single Selfless Spirit and two Noble Hierarchs in play swinging at me for 4 a turn for 4 turns. I drew way too many lands in the second game. Started with 3 or 4 and ended with 13 between battlefield and hand by the time I died (at least I had red mana, right?). I believe he played Collected Company 3 times in that game.
I still ended up in 15th place for a return on my investment for the day (my 4th and 5th round opponents were in the top 8) so I felt pretty decent about the whole experience. It was a bummer going 3 up and 3 down, but I learned a lot and finally was able to stand up to the burn decks.
I liked all of the changes to the deck except for the Deputies (never really had a good opportunity to play them for value) and no way to kill Stormbreath Dragons except naming them with Meddling Mage.
The cool thing with a 5C cocoless deck is that the manabase is super strong, which is impossible otherwise. Ziggurat + Cavern + potential Reflecting Pool is very comfortable to play with. Also Thalia V1 becomes a one-sided bear-effect.
Spell Queller is pretty dangerous to play with since there's nothing to protect it + the rest of the deck plays out main phase + it's a Human list I see above.
That list has the flaw of being in between two strategies : Humans and goodstuff. If there's Rhino and Queller, I ain't sure some Humans will be better than non-humans at the same mana cost (Voice / Scooze over Deputy for example). Thalia's Lieutenant and Champion of the Parish are nonbo with 9 creatures, this is too meh.
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Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
Interesting deck! Have you considered Collected Company? I know it doesn't hit everything (Siege Rhino), but it could be very powerful.
I've thought about testing it, but it does take away from some effectiveness with the land base and missing a few creatures. Will have to give it a go.
The cool thing with a 5C cocoless deck is that the manabase is super strong, which is impossible otherwise. Ziggurat + Cavern + potential Reflecting Pool is very comfortable to play with. Also Thalia V1 becomes a one-sided bear-effect.
Spell Queller is pretty dangerous to play with since there's nothing to protect it + the rest of the deck plays out main phase + it's a Human list I see above.
That list has the flaw of being in between two strategies : Humans and goodstuff. If there's Rhino and Queller, I ain't sure some Humans will be better than non-humans at the same mana cost (Voice / Scooze over Deputy for example). Thalia's Lieutenant and Champion of the Parish are nonbo with 9 creatures, this is too meh.
Yea, there have been times where Spell Queller can be an issue (similar to Fiend Hunter), but so far they've been more focused on the beaters then what the Queller is holding and timing is everything (played a fun game against Grixis Control and had 2 Meddling Mages out naming Bolt and Terminate. He tried to bounce one with Cryptic Command and I Queller'd it for the win).
I haven't really seen it as a flaw with mixing the human focus (the base) and goodstuff (extra). There's a 75% concentration of humans and I haven't had problems getting the Champions and Lieutenants pretty big. I've been looking at each creature and it's overall effectiveness. The humans allow me to play the aggressive game and the other non-human creatures allow me some reach in areas that the humans don't have (currently).
I agree on the Deputy though, and even though he was a test, I was hesitant anyway. I like the thought of Voice, but then for this deck he's just another beater, though Scavenging Ooze in the side would be good with Dredge being a thing.
FYI avalancheharpo, most of the Human discussion has migrated over to this thread here.
Part One….
I attended a PPTQ early in the fall at Epic Loot in Dayton, OH with my youngest (he was playing Grixis Delver….of course). I took the following with me:
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Mantis Rider
4 Siege Rhino
4 Spell Queller
2 Meddling Mage
2 Lyev Skyknight
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Fiend Hunter
2 Anafenza, the Foremost
2 Deputy of Acquittals
1 Reclamation Sage
4 Ancient Ziggurat
4 Cavern of Souls
3 Horizon Canopy
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
1 Steam Vents
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Godless Shrine
2 Plains
1 Island
2 Forest
3 Reclamation Sage
2 Sin Collector
2 Meddling Mage
2 Avalanche Riders
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Kor Firewalker
1 Lavinia of the Tenth
1 Burrenton-Forge Tender
Here’s what I switched out from the last tournament (minus the land base changes):
Main:
-3 Mystic Snake
-3 Qasali Pridemage
-2 Lightning Mauler
-2 Meddling Mage
-1 Lyev Skyknight
+4 Thalia's Lieutenant
+4 Spell Queller
+1 Reclamation Sage
+2 Deputy of Acquittals
SB:
-2 Spellskite
-2 Auriok Champion
-1 Lavinia of the Tenth
-1 Qasali Pridemage
-1 Gaddock Teeg
-1 Stonecloaker
+3 Reclamation Sage
+2 Kor Firewalker
+1 Meddling Mage
+ Aegis of the Gods
+1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
In the main, I swapped out the Mystic Snakes for the Spell Quellers. Other than Tron and the random deck, Queller can counter most everything in Modern. Even though the snake counters it for good and they can get the spell back from the spirit, the mana savings seemed more important. I benched the Qasali Pridemages for the Reclamation Sages since they only need one color and many times the Pridemage would be destroyed before whatever important artifact or enchantment was played.
I knew I wanted a full set of Thalia's Lieutenant and made the easy choice of taking out the Lightning Maulers and the harder choice of taking out a couple Meddling Mages. They’ve definitely earned they’re keep over time, so I stuck one into the sideboard. I wanted to keep the human component up and so I leaned toward a couple Deputy of Acquittals. I liked the thought of increasing the size of my Champions and Lieutenants at will and saving something from removal.
I borrowed the Auriok Champions for the SCG tournament and didn’t have any myself, so I went with the next best (or possibly better) Kor Firewalker. I never drew into the Auriok Champions at SCG, so it’s hard to say how they were , but these are quite a bit cheaper on the pocketbook and still do a number on burn decks. I’ve also noticed more Anger of the Gods coming out of sideboards as well, so the little “Kithkin that could” was tagged in to help. The Spellskites weren’t terrible, but didn’t really help to increase board presence or push the game forward, just stalled it out, so that’s where I slotted the Meddling Mages. 2 Lavinias were too much and wasted space as the Stonecloaker and Gaddock Teeg ended up being, so they hit the brick as well. I also last minute added the Aegis of the Gods to help against Burn and any targeted effects (e.g. Ad Nauseam).
approx. 37 people; 6 rounds:
R1: Esper Control 2-1
I don’t recall most of this match, but I don't think he had a lot of true removal and I was able to beat down games 1 and 3. Game 2 I flooded out somewhat and it allowed him to control the game and smack me with spirit tokens.
R2: R/W Burn 2-0
I was able to capitalize on his removal light hand and go fast and wide early on him. Once I had 2 Siege Rhinos on the board he conceded. In the second game I got both Kor Firewalkers out early and even though he did path one of them they helped my ride to victory.
R3: R/W Burn 2-0
Very similar to the previous match with one small snafu. In game one I was able to stabilize against his early aggression and my creatures soaked up a lot of the damage. Once I got enough on the board and started the Siege Rhino engine it was over. Game two I started off with a very good hand; 3 lands, Burrenton Forge-Tender, Kor Firewalker, Aegis of the Gods, and one other card I don’t recall. After a few turns I already had the game in hand pretty well. Then at one point he said something and I misunderstood it as “pass” so I went ahead and drew my card. Right afterwards he stopped and asked, “Why did you draw? I didn’t pass.” Apparently he was signifying something else and I didn’t hear it very well. It’s on me, since it there was a lot of conversational noise going on at that moment and I should have confirmed. So, we stopped and checked with the judge. He reviewed the situation then had my opponent look at my hand take one card and shuffle it back into my deck. I already had the Forge Tender and Firewalker in play so he chose the Aegis (best choice for him at the time) and we resumed play. Not much changed the game state otherwise and soon after that he conceded.
R4: Naya Burn 0-2
This guy ran really well and I didn’t (I didn’t draw a single sideboard card in the second game). I did make a poor choice not blocking in the first game and I got down too low to swing back (it was a bad choice if he had an Atarka's Command in hand and he did). The second game I held out a little longer and even threw out 2 Siege Rhinos, but he played well and all of his remaining burn went to my face for exact.
R5: R/G Stompy 1-2
I curved out in the first game pretty well and before I knew it I was getting beat down by a Stormbreath Dragon in the second game. That one card nullifies so much of this deck. I was able to deal with just about everything else, but that dragon. The third game ended up being pretty interesting. By the time I lost I had probably 10 creatures on board with 2 of them being an 8/8 and 9/9 Champion of the Parish. He had probably 6 to 7 creatures with 2 of them being his Stormbreaths. I did get him down to 11 at one point and another turn or two I would have been able to swing out and get him close, but then he played a Thragtusk and made it quite a bit more difficult. I’m sure there still was a turn where I could have put some pressure on him, but alas, he monstrous’d his dragons and smacked me for exact.
One of the silly (frustrating) things that happened in this last game as well was that I drew Meddling Mage on turn 4 and named Anger of the Gods since with the current board state that would have really messed me up (5 creatures at 3 or less toughness) and I was trying to finish the game before he drew into those dragons. Next 2 turns he plays both dragons and never drew the Anger (which he did have in the deck).
R6: Bant Spirits 0-2
By this point I figured I was probably out of the top 8, but didn’t let that stop me. Unfortunately this round told me I was done. The sad thing wasn’t that he won, but I definitely lost. I’m not salty at my opponent. He was a fine guy and played alright, just my deck decided we were done. In the first game I got him down to 3 and died 4-5 turns later with three Mantis Riders in my hand (I started with two) and no way to produce red mana. 13 of the 23 lands in the deck can produce red mana and I didn’t draw a single one or one Siege Rhino to close the deal. He won that game with a single Selfless Spirit and two Noble Hierarchs in play swinging at me for 4 a turn for 4 turns. I drew way too many lands in the second game. Started with 3 or 4 and ended with 13 between battlefield and hand by the time I died (at least I had red mana, right?). I believe he played Collected Company 3 times in that game.
I still ended up in 15th place for a return on my investment for the day (my 4th and 5th round opponents were in the top 8) so I felt pretty decent about the whole experience. It was a bummer going 3 up and 3 down, but I learned a lot and finally was able to stand up to the burn decks.
I liked all of the changes to the deck except for the Deputies (never really had a good opportunity to play them for value) and no way to kill Stormbreath Dragons except naming them with Meddling Mage.
…..Part two coming soon….
Spell Queller is pretty dangerous to play with since there's nothing to protect it + the rest of the deck plays out main phase + it's a Human list I see above.
That list has the flaw of being in between two strategies : Humans and goodstuff. If there's Rhino and Queller, I ain't sure some Humans will be better than non-humans at the same mana cost (Voice / Scooze over Deputy for example). Thalia's Lieutenant and Champion of the Parish are nonbo with 9 creatures, this is too meh.
It isn't really a "hatebears" but rather a goodstuff creatures deck.
I've thought about testing it, but it does take away from some effectiveness with the land base and missing a few creatures. Will have to give it a go.
Yea, there have been times where Spell Queller can be an issue (similar to Fiend Hunter), but so far they've been more focused on the beaters then what the Queller is holding and timing is everything (played a fun game against Grixis Control and had 2 Meddling Mages out naming Bolt and Terminate. He tried to bounce one with Cryptic Command and I Queller'd it for the win).
I haven't really seen it as a flaw with mixing the human focus (the base) and goodstuff (extra). There's a 75% concentration of humans and I haven't had problems getting the Champions and Lieutenants pretty big. I've been looking at each creature and it's overall effectiveness. The humans allow me to play the aggressive game and the other non-human creatures allow me some reach in areas that the humans don't have (currently).
I agree on the Deputy though, and even though he was a test, I was hesitant anyway. I like the thought of Voice, but then for this deck he's just another beater, though Scavenging Ooze in the side would be good with Dredge being a thing.
Nice
Yea, I've been posting here for the last year since I didn't see anything else closer at the time. I'll share Part two over there then.