Do we want Mastermind's Acquisition? Allows us to run seven copies of ad nauseam and angel's grace if we put one in the sideboard (or eight if we don't, I doubt its correct to put grace in the board) and lets us access alternative wincons/relevant hate cards from the sideboard.
I think Mystical Teachings has the same mana cost and serves the same purpose at instant speed with the bonus of Flashback to even allow you to get both pieces of the combo. Unless they change the rules on this and it will allow you to retrieve an exiled Ad Nauseam which was Surgical Extraction-ed then I would really consider this card. Coz there's only 2 cards that can fetch a card from exile, Pull from Eternity and Riftsweeper
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plays Ad Nauseam and Amulet Bloom in Modern
"He traded sand for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand."
—Afari, Tales
I think Mystical Teachings has the same mana cost and serves the same purpose at instant speed with the bonus of Flashback to even allow you to get both pieces of the combo. Unless they change the rules on this and it will allow you to retrieve an exiled Ad Nauseam which was Surgical Extraction-ed then I would really consider this card. Coz there's only 2 cards that can fetch a card from exile, Pull from Eternity and Riftsweeper
Putting ad naus in the sideboard would allow you to fetch one after being surgicaled. The bonus with this card is effectively allowing you to fetch for an answer to any hate card/alt wincon/bad matchup game 1 and effectively being 4 copies of said hate card/alt wincon.
If you're at 1 life and have a City of Brass as your only possible white source, can you tap the Brass for white and put the damage trigger on the stack to successfully cast Angel's Grace first and get protected?
2.) Have you tried 4 Phyrexian Unlifes and feel that 3 is really the right number for a fetch build? Since you don't run Spoils, when you are suddenly facing a lethal attack and have to buy time, I just realized that you lose that line of play wherein you can cast Spoils blind and naming Phyrexian Unlife for crucial situations (or even in response to a Chalice for 1 on the stack)
3.) How often do you whif when casting Peer Through Depths (with instances wherein you're desperate for a Pentad Prism to combo faster) plus Peer being more susceptible to Spell Snare?
4.) If your opener has a Serum Visions, brass, temple and 2 fetchlands, which do you prioritize in G1? I would assume the fetchland first then always fetching Hallowed Fountain and taking 3? against a blind matchup? Then scry with temple and then Serum Visions?
5.) Don't you prefer an Echoing Truth mainboard instead of Slaughter Pact? Or the Slaughter Pact just synergizes well with the lone Tolaria West (for let's say the Humans matchup?)
5.) How is your Eldrazi Tron matchup since you have more 1 cmc spells with 2 Haze and 2 PTEs - Why not Fatal Push? - since most of the problematic creatures are 2 cmc below. (except for Eidolon of Rhetoric, Thalia Heretic Cathar, Thought-Knot Seer)
6.) Which matchups do you put Celestial Purge?
7.) Don't you prefer a Boseiju rather than Silence since you are running a Tolaria anyway? - which matchups does Silence stand out?
What I really love about this deck is your proactiveness against Blood Moon decks having 4 fetches gives you that edge! I would assume that you always fetch an Island against a deck with Blood Moon?
Cheers!
2) 4 Unlife feels overkill to me. I never ran more than 3 nor less. It's the perfect number. 4 is for very aggro meta, but for a blind meta and a GP meta, I'd say that 3 is the sweet spot and leaves room for a flex slot.
3) Not often I whiff with Peer. It's really useful when Pentad gets off the board with Repeal or anything of that nature and in response, you use Peer to maximise the value.
4) G1, Fetchland, getting an Island, then Serum. Knowing that I have a Brass and a temple makes an edge having all the needed the color and the opponent can be tricked thinking your a control deck turn 1 or a blue based deck like DS.
5) Slaughter Pact or any Pact is good synergy with Tolaria. Echoing Truth is good post-board.
6) Eldrazi is ok on the play and having some protection : AG, Unlife, etc. Slaughter Pact is huge, fetching correctly also. It's 50/50 I would say.
7) I bring in Purge against DS, Burn and any Blood Moon deck. It's a catch all card, even against Abzan or Jund. Good all around card.
8) I have Silence and Boseiju in the side. I run Silence over Pact in the side in order to use it in the upkeep and force the opponent to do something, otherwise they are drop dead when going off.
Purge is a bit frustrating against Blood Moon, and I have less success with it than I do against DS, Burn and Abzan. I just run one - how many do you roll with?
I run 1 in the side, never more or less. It's good against Blood Moon and I use also Wear // Tear as well as fetches to get around it. To me, Blood Moon is the best police card : there's an Affinity deck in my meta that runs it maindeck because it's so good all around. So yeah, beware of BM.
Nothing can replace Mystical Teachings so far. It's instant speed, that's the best thing about it. It has synergies with the deck that no card can match. At sorcery speed, Glittering Wish just do it better I think than the spoiled card.
I'm glad to see you're also running my list. I've been on the deck for 3 years now, playing it 95% on the times in competitive tournaments (other times was Living End, Burn and Grixis Control). My manabase is crafted after years of testing, more than 1000 matches agansint at least 50 different decks. Here the most recent iteration:
To answer your questions, here's my reasoning for 6 temples : I was running 4 before and 2 more tech lands (moving between Oboro, Mikokoro and Gemstone Caverns). Having 6 temples adds more consistency in the first 2-3 turns when it doesn't matter that much to have tapped lands and they provide great digging in conjunction with Peer, Sleight and Serum.
For sideboard, I go usually that way against most decks :
Death Shadow:
Out: 2 Sleight of Hand, 1 Pentad Prism, 1 Lotus Bloom, 1 Mystical Teachings, 1 flex
In: 4 Leyline of Sanctity, 1 Celestial Purge, 1 Silence.
Storm:
Out: 1 Sleight of Hand, 1 Pentad Prism
In: 2 Path to Exile, 1 Silence,
Jund
Out: 2 Pact of Negation, 2 Sleight of Hand, 1 Pentad Prism, 1 Lotus Bloom.
In: 4 Leyline of Sanctity, 1 Celestial Purge, 1 Timely Reinforcements.
Burn
Out: 2 Pact of Negation, 1 Mystical Teachings, 1 Laboratory Maniac, 1 Sleight of Hand, 1 Pentad Prism, 1 Lotus Bloom.
In: 4 Leyline of Sanctity, 2 Ethereal Haze or Path to Exile, 1 Supreme Verdict.
Abzan Company
Out: 2 Pact of Negation, 1 Sleight of Hand, 1 Lotus Bloom.
In: 2 Path to Exile, 1 Supreme Verdict, 1 Wear//Tear (if they ever have Leyline).
Seems solide to me. I'm not sure about Bontu's, I haven't played with it. For 3 mana sorcery, I was on Drown in Sorrow for a long time. It could do the job for sure against Hatebears.
For BG/X :
- IN : 4 Leyline, 3 Grave Titan, 2 Thoughtseize, 2 Path to Exile.
For Hatebears:
- IN : 2 Drown in Sorrow, 2 Path to Exile. Maybe 2 Thoughtseize could be good too.
I've been attending a 1k / win-a-box in Montreal and got the box went 4-0-1 and won against DS, Elves and TitanShift in the finals. The deck was super solid and I had good matchups, I must admit. Affinity, UWR Control, UW Control, Dredge and draw against Storm. Everything was smooth sailing. It was the first time in a year I'd say I took down a 50ish tournament people. Biggest win was 236 player, so I'm far from it but still nice.
Just bought into this deck on MTGO, played a few games. The only substitute cards I'm running atm is Duress over Thoughtseize, Echoing Truth over Hurkyl's Recall, and Relic of Progenitus over Grafdigger's Cage but will fix this soon (they're all pretty fitting cards in their own right anyway). Anyway I was wondering; when do we want to board in our fatties (I'm using Dragonlord Dromoka and Grave Titan)? I've noticed people either use proactive fatties or reactive interaction like Path to Exile, Thoughtseize, Disenchant, bounce spells and board wipes, but haven't noticed much of a mix like what I've been trying. This is what I've got for my board so far:
Have you guys had success with the sideboard fatty plan, or is it better for us to stay reactive and combo-focused? Any advice on this list would be great.
PS. Mainboard is completely vanilla if that's relevant; 3 Negation, 3 Spoils, 1 Maniac, 1 Lightning Storm, 4-of for the rest.
I usually would put 2-3 fatties at the most but the problem with them is that they only answer specific matchups. Dromoka is win-more with us being favored against counter decks already (great in the mirror though). Grave Titan is great against BGX matchups since it can take over the game in 2 turns if unanswered. Godhead of Awe is only useful against Death Shadow decks. So I opt to just play more resilient cards against a wider meta. Path to Exile is great against Counters Company to stop the combo, also good against Storm killing their Barals / Electromancers. Death Shadow agsinst Kolaghan's Command shennanigans or early Delve creature or even an Ulamog. The problem with these creature sideboard cards is if you lose game 1. You lose the element of surprise in game 3. Also in a major tourney, you lose that suprise element as well when facing each other again in the Top 8 (in my experience)
Echoing Truth is a must especially if you face the dreaded 2 Gideons in play (very corner case) and is great against everything really (especially bouncing a Stony Silence) or even a Liliana of the Veil with the opponent not having any cards in hand when they +.
Hurkyl's Recall is meta dependent really but if there's a lot of good affinity players, I would usually pack 2. Otherwise just a 1 of.
I failed to defend my title 2 weeks ago 49 player invitational.(I luckily won the event last year) it's composed of several legs monthly for the whole year in different LGS here in the Philippines and only the top 4 qualifying from each leg for the final showdown. There were 49 players I believe and my decklist is below for anyone that's interested. I faced Bant Spirits in the Finals which was a dreadful matchup that I wanted to evade but he was really lucky drawing to his outs on both games before my combo turn.
P.S. I will probably buy back the Amulet Titan deck I sold last year just to get off everyone's radar. Everyone knows I play Ad Nauseam as soon as I step inside any LGS in Manila LOL
Good points, I've removed the fatties. Also I really like your list, I've found myself boarding in Leyline for the majority of my games so moving 3 to the main is a great idea. It's so strong against the current meta and provides literal free game-1 wins occasionally, and we can quite easily cast it if needed. Ratchet Bomb is a great cheap boardwipe I totally forgot about while making the sideboard, can also potentially remove other pesky permanents; slamming 2 of those in. Dreadship Reef is a nice utility land too. Thanks for the feedback.
Good points, I've removed the fatties. Also I really like your list, I've found myself boarding in Leyline for the majority of my games so moving 3 to the main is a great idea. It's so strong against the current meta and provides literal free game-1 wins occasionally, and we can quite easily cast it if needed. Ratchet Bomb is a great cheap boardwipe I totally forgot about while making the sideboard, can also potentially remove other pesky permanents; slamming 2 of those in. Dreadship Reef is a nice utility land too. Thanks for the feedback.
Dromoka is great. I love it. I'm not really on the plan of using it, I prefer Tar Pit which can be tutored with Tolaria in slow grindy matchups. But having 1 in the side is a nice addition. Ratchet Bomb is great ; I'm not sure of the utility of Cage in your SB. Having a 2nd Path would be good I think.
I need a second opinion on a play. Here is the context.
I am playing game 1 against a UR control deck which may or may not play the through the breach. On my turn 4 they snapcastered remanded my lotus bloom. They are tapped out. On my main phase, I have 2 darkslick shores and a gemstone mine. Relevant cards in my hand include 2 ad nauseams, a phyrexian unlife, and 2 spirit guides, 0 pacts and 0 lands. I am at 20 life. Is it correct to hardcast ad nauseam in an attempt to draw a large sum of cards (relevant cards being ramp, pact of negations, and angel's grace) that would make going off easier and prevent lethal with through the breach or should I cast phyrexian unlife, allowing me to to potentially combo off next turn if they tap out, but at the risk of dying to a through the breach.
This is a classic situation that comes up in the ANT vs Sneak and Show match up in legacy all the time.
Since they have a snap out--you can't really survive as long as you think--and if they breach you lose all your permanents. Best plan is wait most of the time (look at their list comp...they don't always have the combo like you may think) and build up until its safer I think.
We've fallen out of flavor since a year. The only good last run I remember was Hunt in Louisville in September 2017 if I'm correct (naturally, Byrd's 1st place was the best of the best for me). I'd like to discuss some metagame shifts, trends and sideboard configuration for specific matchups. I'm leaning toward Affinity and Storm. Thoughts guys?
What is the game plan versus storm? It seems like if they know what they are doing and combo off leaving themselves with remands/blue mana open and the ability to storm off again next turn, its almost impossible to win as they are a turn faster than us.
What is the game plan versus storm? It seems like if they know what they are doing and combo off leaving themselves with remands/blue mana open and the ability to storm off again next turn, its almost impossible to win as they are a turn faster than us.
I just bought Adn, so i have no experience. But, i do play alot of storm and i can imagine what you would want to do. Storm is faster, but you can cheat death and that will make storm fizzle (hopefully). So, pray that you have a Angels grace. Let him go of, and respond with grace after grapeshot (if possible, keep up atleast 2 white mana, for remand). If storm is popular in your local meta, 3 Leyline in main might be something to concider. Most of the decks run 3 grapeshots, and no empty MB. Hope i could help a lil bit
The problem with this is that this only works against inexperienced storm players. Someone who is smarter will hold up at least one blue land and try to find a remand while still comboing off, making it so you need both a second grace effect and a pact of negation to combo off; which is much harder to get by turn 4.
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"He traded sand for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand."
—Afari, Tales
Putting ad naus in the sideboard would allow you to fetch one after being surgicaled. The bonus with this card is effectively allowing you to fetch for an answer to any hate card/alt wincon/bad matchup game 1 and effectively being 4 copies of said hate card/alt wincon.
2) 4 Unlife feels overkill to me. I never ran more than 3 nor less. It's the perfect number. 4 is for very aggro meta, but for a blind meta and a GP meta, I'd say that 3 is the sweet spot and leaves room for a flex slot.
3) Not often I whiff with Peer. It's really useful when Pentad gets off the board with Repeal or anything of that nature and in response, you use Peer to maximise the value.
4) G1, Fetchland, getting an Island, then Serum. Knowing that I have a Brass and a temple makes an edge having all the needed the color and the opponent can be tricked thinking your a control deck turn 1 or a blue based deck like DS.
5) Slaughter Pact or any Pact is good synergy with Tolaria. Echoing Truth is good post-board.
6) Eldrazi is ok on the play and having some protection : AG, Unlife, etc. Slaughter Pact is huge, fetching correctly also. It's 50/50 I would say.
7) I bring in Purge against DS, Burn and any Blood Moon deck. It's a catch all card, even against Abzan or Jund. Good all around card.
8) I have Silence and Boseiju in the side. I run Silence over Pact in the side in order to use it in the upkeep and force the opponent to do something, otherwise they are drop dead when going off.
Cheers!
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
I run 1 in the side, never more or less. It's good against Blood Moon and I use also Wear // Tear as well as fetches to get around it. To me, Blood Moon is the best police card : there's an Affinity deck in my meta that runs it maindeck because it's so good all around. So yeah, beware of BM.
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
I'm glad to see you're also running my list. I've been on the deck for 3 years now, playing it 95% on the times in competitive tournaments (other times was Living End, Burn and Grixis Control). My manabase is crafted after years of testing, more than 1000 matches agansint at least 50 different decks. Here the most recent iteration:
4 Simian Spirit Guide
1 Laboratory Maniac
Lands (20)
2 City of Brass
2 Flooded Strand
2 Island
2 Polluted Delta
4 Temple of Deceit
2 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Plains
1 Tolaria West
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Swamp
1 Watery Grave
4 Ad Nauseam
4 Angel's Grace
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Pentad Prism
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
3 Pact of Negation
3 Phyrexian Unlife
2 Peer Through Depths
1 Mystical Teachings
1 Lightning Storm
1 Slaughter Pact
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Ethereal Haze
2 Path to Exile
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Celestial Purge
1 Echoing Truth
1 Silence
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Wear // Tear
To answer your questions, here's my reasoning for 6 temples : I was running 4 before and 2 more tech lands (moving between Oboro, Mikokoro and Gemstone Caverns). Having 6 temples adds more consistency in the first 2-3 turns when it doesn't matter that much to have tapped lands and they provide great digging in conjunction with Peer, Sleight and Serum.
For sideboard, I go usually that way against most decks :
Death Shadow:
Out: 2 Sleight of Hand, 1 Pentad Prism, 1 Lotus Bloom, 1 Mystical Teachings, 1 flex
In: 4 Leyline of Sanctity, 1 Celestial Purge, 1 Silence.
Storm:
Out: 1 Sleight of Hand, 1 Pentad Prism
In: 2 Path to Exile, 1 Silence,
Jund
Out: 2 Pact of Negation, 2 Sleight of Hand, 1 Pentad Prism, 1 Lotus Bloom.
In: 4 Leyline of Sanctity, 1 Celestial Purge, 1 Timely Reinforcements.
Burn
Out: 2 Pact of Negation, 1 Mystical Teachings, 1 Laboratory Maniac, 1 Sleight of Hand, 1 Pentad Prism, 1 Lotus Bloom.
In: 4 Leyline of Sanctity, 2 Ethereal Haze or Path to Exile, 1 Supreme Verdict.
Abzan Company
Out: 2 Pact of Negation, 1 Sleight of Hand, 1 Lotus Bloom.
In: 2 Path to Exile, 1 Supreme Verdict, 1 Wear//Tear (if they ever have Leyline).
Affinity
Out: 2 Pact of Negation, 1 Laboratory Maniac, 1 Mystical Teachings, 1 Sleight of Hand, 1 Lotus Bloom.
In: 2 Path to Exile, 2 Ethereal Haze, 1 Timely Reinforcement, 1 Supreme Verdict.
Tron
Out: 1 Laboratory Maniac.
In: 1 Wear//Tear.
UWR Control
Out: 1 Pentad Prism, 1 Slaughter Pact
In: 1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All, 1 Silence.
Zoo/Merfolk
Out: 2 Pact of Negation, 1 Laboratory Maniac, 1 Mystical Teachings, 1 Pentad Prism.
In: 2 Path to Exile, 2 Ethereal Haze, 1 Supreme Verdict.
This is not an absolute, just my take at the matchups I face. Cheers!
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
3 Grave Titan
2 Path to Exile
2 Thoughtseize
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
1 Pact of Negation
1 Echoing Truth
Seems solide to me. I'm not sure about Bontu's, I haven't played with it. For 3 mana sorcery, I was on Drown in Sorrow for a long time. It could do the job for sure against Hatebears.
For BG/X :
- IN : 4 Leyline, 3 Grave Titan, 2 Thoughtseize, 2 Path to Exile.
For Hatebears:
- IN : 2 Drown in Sorrow, 2 Path to Exile. Maybe 2 Thoughtseize could be good too.
Cheers!
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
I've been attending a 1k / win-a-box in Montreal and got the box
Cheers guys!
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
Just bought into this deck on MTGO, played a few games. The only substitute cards I'm running atm is Duress over Thoughtseize, Echoing Truth over Hurkyl's Recall, and Relic of Progenitus over Grafdigger's Cage but will fix this soon (they're all pretty fitting cards in their own right anyway). Anyway I was wondering; when do we want to board in our fatties (I'm using Dragonlord Dromoka and Grave Titan)? I've noticed people either use proactive fatties or reactive interaction like Path to Exile, Thoughtseize, Disenchant, bounce spells and board wipes, but haven't noticed much of a mix like what I've been trying. This is what I've got for my board so far:
2 Thoughtseize
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Pact of Negation
1 Disenchant
1 Patrician's Scorn
1 Path to Exile
1 Grave Titan
1 Dragonlord Dromoka
Have you guys had success with the sideboard fatty plan, or is it better for us to stay reactive and combo-focused? Any advice on this list would be great.
PS. Mainboard is completely vanilla if that's relevant; 3 Negation, 3 Spoils, 1 Maniac, 1 Lightning Storm, 4-of for the rest.
Echoing Truth is a must especially if you face the dreaded 2 Gideons in play (very corner case) and is great against everything really (especially bouncing a Stony Silence) or even a Liliana of the Veil with the opponent not having any cards in hand when they +.
Hurkyl's Recall is meta dependent really but if there's a lot of good affinity players, I would usually pack 2. Otherwise just a 1 of.
I failed to defend my title 2 weeks ago 49 player invitational.(I luckily won the event last year) it's composed of several legs monthly for the whole year in different LGS here in the Philippines and only the top 4 qualifying from each leg for the final showdown. There were 49 players I believe and my decklist is below for anyone that's interested. I faced Bant Spirits in the Finals which was a dreadful matchup that I wanted to evade but he was really lucky drawing to his outs on both games before my combo turn.
Decklist
https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=18059&f=MO
Last year when I won the event
https://pinoyplaneswalker.wordpress.com/2017/02/04/the-pinoy-planeswalker-series-finals/
P.S. I will probably buy back the Amulet Titan deck I sold last year just to get off everyone's radar. Everyone knows I play Ad Nauseam as soon as I step inside any LGS in Manila LOL
Cheers!
"He traded sand for skins, skins for gold, gold for life. In the end, he traded life for sand."
—Afari, Tales
Dromoka is great. I love it. I'm not really on the plan of using it, I prefer Tar Pit which can be tutored with Tolaria in slow grindy matchups. But having 1 in the side is a nice addition. Ratchet Bomb is great ; I'm not sure of the utility of Cage in your SB. Having a 2nd Path would be good I think.
Cheers!
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
I am playing game 1 against a UR control deck which may or may not play the through the breach. On my turn 4 they snapcastered remanded my lotus bloom. They are tapped out. On my main phase, I have 2 darkslick shores and a gemstone mine. Relevant cards in my hand include 2 ad nauseams, a phyrexian unlife, and 2 spirit guides, 0 pacts and 0 lands. I am at 20 life. Is it correct to hardcast ad nauseam in an attempt to draw a large sum of cards (relevant cards being ramp, pact of negations, and angel's grace) that would make going off easier and prevent lethal with through the breach or should I cast phyrexian unlife, allowing me to to potentially combo off next turn if they tap out, but at the risk of dying to a through the breach.
Since they have a snap out--you can't really survive as long as you think--and if they breach you lose all your permanents. Best plan is wait most of the time (look at their list comp...they don't always have the combo like you may think) and build up until its safer I think.
Aggro: Naya Burn RWG
Combo: Scapeshift RG
Control: Jeskai Control UWR
Legacy
Control: Miracles UW
Aggro: Burn R
The problem with this is that this only works against inexperienced storm players. Someone who is smarter will hold up at least one blue land and try to find a remand while still comboing off, making it so you need both a second grace effect and a pact of negation to combo off; which is much harder to get by turn 4.