+2 Thoughtseize, +2 Whipflare, +1 Spellskite, +1 Chalice of the Void, +1 Dismember, +1 Sea Gate Wreckage. I don't like the Stubborn Denial, Spell Pierce is probably going to better so you don't get blown out. I have no experience with Ghirapur but I would imagine if you can land it, you'll probably win, and Delver will board out most of its counterspells post board which helps you to land it especially after a Thoughtseize. Chalice on 1 on the play turn 1 would probably win you the game. If you are boarding in Chalice, I would board out more copies of Signal Pest as opposed to Steel Overseer.
-2 Memnite, -3 Signal Pest, -3 Steel Overseer. You're not going to have an explosive start with all the extra removals Delver is board in, so Memnites are low value top decks and worse than Ornithopter because it's more susceptible to Electrolyze and Forked Bolt. Steel Overseer probably won't be able to stick post board one way or another.
It does seem really fast, and jar lets you dump threats without worry of them getting destroyed. Do you think it would be smart to work some number of Galv Blasts in?
I don't really like a full set of thoughtcast main deck, but I suppose it can be a meta-dependent call. However, I think if you're playing that many thoughtcasts already, a seagate wreckage anywhere in the 75 would be redundant. I'd also probably switch the ray of revelation for a wear/tear since it seems a bit weak already to the mirror and you still get the anti-stony tech. With bant eldrazi running around, I also think it's helpful to have a master of etherium or two somewhere in there. Probably cut a welding jar for one if you're set on the thoughtcasts.
Took Dickerson's list for a spin tonight. 2-2, beat bogles and a tron brew, lost to the mirror and naya zoo. Thoughtcast is really not where you want to be; drawing cards means nothing if you can't answer stony silence (if you can even produce blue mana), and in several matches the direct damage from galvanic blast would have won me the game. Master of Etherium was also missed, as etched champion is embarrassing in the mirror and I found my self wanting something powerful to replace it.
The 3 grids from the SB come in against any deck that brings in Stony. Any deck playing Stony, mostly also plays Path, so you can get the island/mountain from your deck depending which one you need. I prefer a 2-2 split between blast and thoughtcast, while having 2 thoughtcast in SB for the attrition mu. But that's personal preference.
What do you guys think of hanweir battlements as a one or two-of? Giving haste to an Overseer, Master or Signal Pest looks sweet? Or a topdecked Ornithopter, equip cranial, give it haste? Bolt your Overseer? Respond: Give Overseer haste, put a counter on each creature #value
Anyone tested this?
I've played a list very similar; aether grid is great when they stony silence you turn 2. As I mentioned in my last post, I think you want to go more heavily on Galvanic blasts since interaction can really be key in terms of interacting with creature combos or clearing a critical blocker. Thoughtcast can be a metal call/personal preference, but I think its safer to have more interaction. No ancient grudge in the side seems like a mistake as it can pull you ahead in the mirror.
As for Battlements, I'm not sure its better than Sea-Gate Wreckage. Haste is great with the cards you mentioned, but it essentially requires 2 mana, one of which has to be colored. In top-deck mode, I could see it being very useful, but I'm really not sure what I'd cut to play it...maybe play a 1 of battlements in the board?
On a different note, has anyone thought about Boros Charm? 4 damage (not super exciting, but good) indestructible, and double strike to lethal something all seem like modes we want. The main restriction being the casting cost of course.
2x Grafdigger goes a long way. It's an artifact for 1 cmc and like you said, we're trying to race them anyways. It's a little weaker in Affinity than it might be in other decks because they're bringing in their Grudges no matter what against us and that Dredge + Flashback means they would more often than not have access to it. Nevertheless, if we're racing and it stops them popping out dudes for a turn, I think that's worth 1 mana.
I'm also thinking of adjusting the MoE / Champion ratio in my 75. Dredge doesn't have much interaction anyways and the Master puts up a huge body and makes combat more favorable for your team. Plus we were already talking about additional Masters earlier in reference to increased Bant Eldrazi / E&T.
On a different note, has anyone thought about Boros Charm? 4 damage (not super exciting, but good) indestructible, and double strike to lethal something all seem like modes we want. The main restriction being the casting cost of course.
i really don't like 16 lands.... you are not going to notice it too much but it hurts in small and imperceptible ways.... it decreases your odds on 1 and 2 landers which are the sweetspots... and usually you are putting in a welding jar or galvanic or something that isn't going to change the decision between a mull or keep... and you want to optimize the amount of keeps you have since going down a card already hurts your clock....
i estimate the impact between 2-5% more mulliganing... which could be anywhere from 1-2 games in a long tourney.... and i would never ditch the basic... although there's an argument to ditch the island in respect to the merfolk matchup....g
i've also moved to a 3 etched / 1 moe build... it is a very creature heavy meta and moe isn't all that great in those instances.... and i've realized that 5 3 drops also increase mulligans by a fair bit... i think the 3 drop slot needs to stay at 4 although i'm less sure on that front since the math is more complicated...
also to add... i def do think that galv blast is preferred maindeck... you really only prefer thoughtcast in matchups like jund/jeskai but blast is better in those matchups than thoughtcast is in the matchups that blasts are good in... it takes care of kalitas which hurt all of your ravager draws and you can take care of collonade and nahiri after ticking down... i do love thoughtcast but i think it belongs in the side...
grafdigger's is very good but i think the matchup is unfavorable to the point that you really need one more hate card for it and the best one is tormod's... when you don't draw your grafdigger's or if they draw artifact removal you need an out to exile their yard because aside from lands, amalgams or bloodghast's every card is very tough to deal with....
you will also need whipflare because one stinkweed imp or a bunch of narcomoeba's will put up a roadblock until they feel like popping their conflagarate...
i've been putting in etched since it's very good at beating board stalls which happen often... signal pest isn't that great but i'm unsure if it's worth it to remove...
you also def need something like welding jar and counter magic since a resolved conflagarate is game over...
thanks. i goldfished the deck a few times and do find myself sometimes wanting an extra land on occasion.
galv blast is probably something you notice more when actually playing games, like hitting 4 toughness kalitas and collanades.
i love master of etherium though. there are so many times i face down a stony silence or lingering souls and wouldn't mind top decking a master of etherium.
i need to make a sideboard for the deck too, last time i played was before the crazy eldrazi stuff, i still have twin hate in the sideboards.
i find it odd that dredge is a bad matchup, we should simply be faster than them.
eh i guess conflagrate is pretty rough though. as well as random flying things they have.
i think i'll use the deck list posted by Baron_Sengir_007, i'll probably use that as a starting point. not sold on the 4 spell pierce in the side but whatever.
i really don't like 16 lands.... you are not going to notice it too much but it hurts in small and imperceptible ways.... it decreases your odds on 1 and 2 landers which are the sweetspots... and usually you are putting in a welding jar or galvanic or something that isn't going to change the decision between a mull or keep... and you want to optimize the amount of keeps you have since going down a card already hurts your clock....
i estimate the impact between 2-5% more mulliganing... which could be anywhere from 1-2 games in a long tourney.... and i would never ditch the basic... although there's an argument to ditch the island in respect to the merfolk matchup....g
i've also moved to a 3 etched / 1 moe build... it is a very creature heavy meta and moe isn't all that great in those instances.... and i've realized that 5 3 drops also increase mulligans by a fair bit... i think the 3 drop slot needs to stay at 4 although i'm less sure on that front since the math is more complicated...
also to add... i def do think that galv blast is preferred maindeck... you really only prefer thoughtcast in matchups like jund/jeskai but blast is better in those matchups than thoughtcast is in the matchups that blasts are good in... it takes care of kalitas which hurt all of your ravager draws and you can take care of collonade and nahiri after ticking down... i do love thoughtcast but i think it belongs in the side...
I'm wondering about four 3 drops vs five as well; has it really increased mulligans by that much?
well it's a little bit more complicated but if you mull any hand with 2 or more 3 drops... which i think is a safe mull.... then having 5 vs 4 is a difference of 3.7%.... meaning you'll probably mull that much more often by adding another 3 drop....
the reason is it's more complicated is because you'll see one 3 drop more frequently in your opening.... about 8% more.... with lands... you know you'll need at least 1 most likely 2 and ideally 3 by the first 10 cards you draw... but it's not clear unless you know who you're playing against whether that 3 drop is better or worse for your hand....
it's a question of whether you'd rather see overseer or moe but knowing that moe needs to be clearly better in more matchups since it does come with that mulligan handicap...
idk, a rough sketch of a sideboard. might want more graveyard hate. probably not using thoughtseize enough. if i drop thoughtseize from the sideboard, i'll probably replace city of brass with a steam vents or something. i'm pretty happy with the mainboard but am still finding my way with the sideboard. plan on having it finished by monday or tuesday. i'll dig through the last few pages to see what others are doing too. sooooo... idk give your input.
edit: should probably remove etched champions against eldrazi and tron
-2 Memnite, -3 Signal Pest, -3 Steel Overseer. You're not going to have an explosive start with all the extra removals Delver is board in, so Memnites are low value top decks and worse than Ornithopter because it's more susceptible to Electrolyze and Forked Bolt. Steel Overseer probably won't be able to stick post board one way or another.
Also, Josh Dickerson put up a suggested affinity list. 16 lands, 4 thoughtcasts. What do you think of it?
http://articles.mtgcardmarket.com/the-current-modern-metagame/
Affinity
Death & Taxes
Mardu Nahiri
Forcing people to merge with twitch is stupid
GWUBAtraxa and Her Superfriends
WUB Oloro, the Life Drain Train
URG Animar, Soul of Elements
WBR Kaalia of the Vast
BWTeysa Karlov, Scion of Orzhov
R Purphoros, Goblins of Pain ($100 Budget Challenge)
U Talrand, Fun Police (Needs updating)
I don't believe conspiracy is modern legal.
Good point, only if they were printed in a modern set. Forgot about that. Got a little excited at possibilities.
GWUBAtraxa and Her Superfriends
WUB Oloro, the Life Drain Train
URG Animar, Soul of Elements
WBR Kaalia of the Vast
BWTeysa Karlov, Scion of Orzhov
R Purphoros, Goblins of Pain ($100 Budget Challenge)
U Talrand, Fun Police (Needs updating)
I've played a list very similar; aether grid is great when they stony silence you turn 2. As I mentioned in my last post, I think you want to go more heavily on Galvanic blasts since interaction can really be key in terms of interacting with creature combos or clearing a critical blocker. Thoughtcast can be a metal call/personal preference, but I think its safer to have more interaction. No ancient grudge in the side seems like a mistake as it can pull you ahead in the mirror.
As for Battlements, I'm not sure its better than Sea-Gate Wreckage. Haste is great with the cards you mentioned, but it essentially requires 2 mana, one of which has to be colored. In top-deck mode, I could see it being very useful, but I'm really not sure what I'd cut to play it...maybe play a 1 of battlements in the board?
On a different note, has anyone thought about Boros Charm? 4 damage (not super exciting, but good) indestructible, and double strike to lethal something all seem like modes we want. The main restriction being the casting cost of course.
2x Grafdigger goes a long way. It's an artifact for 1 cmc and like you said, we're trying to race them anyways. It's a little weaker in Affinity than it might be in other decks because they're bringing in their Grudges no matter what against us and that Dredge + Flashback means they would more often than not have access to it. Nevertheless, if we're racing and it stops them popping out dudes for a turn, I think that's worth 1 mana.
I'm also thinking of adjusting the MoE / Champion ratio in my 75. Dredge doesn't have much interaction anyways and the Master puts up a huge body and makes combat more favorable for your team. Plus we were already talking about additional Masters earlier in reference to increased Bant Eldrazi / E&T.
Temur Battle Rage was talked about for a while.
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
I'm also guessing galv-blasts are preffered over thoughtcasts.
thinking of doing 3 memnite, 3 master of etherium, 2 etched, with 1 or 2 etched champion in sideboard. rest will be a stock build.
i estimate the impact between 2-5% more mulliganing... which could be anywhere from 1-2 games in a long tourney.... and i would never ditch the basic... although there's an argument to ditch the island in respect to the merfolk matchup....g
i've also moved to a 3 etched / 1 moe build... it is a very creature heavy meta and moe isn't all that great in those instances.... and i've realized that 5 3 drops also increase mulligans by a fair bit... i think the 3 drop slot needs to stay at 4 although i'm less sure on that front since the math is more complicated...
also to add... i def do think that galv blast is preferred maindeck... you really only prefer thoughtcast in matchups like jund/jeskai but blast is better in those matchups than thoughtcast is in the matchups that blasts are good in... it takes care of kalitas which hurt all of your ravager draws and you can take care of collonade and nahiri after ticking down... i do love thoughtcast but i think it belongs in the side...
grafdigger's is very good but i think the matchup is unfavorable to the point that you really need one more hate card for it and the best one is tormod's... when you don't draw your grafdigger's or if they draw artifact removal you need an out to exile their yard because aside from lands, amalgams or bloodghast's every card is very tough to deal with....
you will also need whipflare because one stinkweed imp or a bunch of narcomoeba's will put up a roadblock until they feel like popping their conflagarate...
i've been putting in etched since it's very good at beating board stalls which happen often... signal pest isn't that great but i'm unsure if it's worth it to remove...
you also def need something like welding jar and counter magic since a resolved conflagarate is game over...
galv blast is probably something you notice more when actually playing games, like hitting 4 toughness kalitas and collanades.
i love master of etherium though. there are so many times i face down a stony silence or lingering souls and wouldn't mind top decking a master of etherium.
i need to make a sideboard for the deck too, last time i played was before the crazy eldrazi stuff, i still have twin hate in the sideboards.
eh i guess conflagrate is pretty rough though. as well as random flying things they have.
I'm wondering about four 3 drops vs five as well; has it really increased mulligans by that much?
the reason is it's more complicated is because you'll see one 3 drop more frequently in your opening.... about 8% more.... with lands... you know you'll need at least 1 most likely 2 and ideally 3 by the first 10 cards you draw... but it's not clear unless you know who you're playing against whether that 3 drop is better or worse for your hand....
it's a question of whether you'd rather see overseer or moe but knowing that moe needs to be clearly better in more matchups since it does come with that mulligan handicap...
4 ornithopter
4 vault skirge
4 signal pest
4 arcbound ravager
4 steel overseer
2 master of etherium
2 etched champion
4 cranial plating
4 galvanic blast
4 springleaf drum
4 mox opal
4 inkmoth nexus
4 darksteel citadel
2 glimmervoid
1 city of brass
1 mountain
1 island
2 etched champion
2 thoughtseize
2 ghirapur aether grid
1 whipflare
1 dismember
1 ancient grudge
1 wear//tear
1 blood moon
1 grafdigger's cage
1 relic of progenitus
1 chalice of the void
1 spellskite
Jund____________-1 memnite -1 master of etherium // +2 etched champion
Affinity________-2 signal pest -2 etched champion // +2 ghirapur aether grid +1 wear//tear +1 ancient grudge
Bant Eldrazi____-1 memnite -1 signal pest // +1 whipflare +1 dismember
Zoo_____________-1 memnite -1 signal -1 master of etherium // +1 etched champion +1 spellskite +1 chalice
Merfolk_________-1 memnite -1 signal // +1 whipflare +1 dismember
Dredge__________-1 memnite -1 skirge // +1 relic of progenitus +1 grafdigger's cage (bring in etched champion???)
Burn____________-1 overseer -2 master of etherium -1 memnite // +2 etched champion +1 spellskite +1 chalice
Infect__________-2 etched -2 master -2 signal // +2 ghirapur grid +1 whipflare + 1 dismember +1 spelskite +1 chalice
U/W Nahiri______-1 ornithopter -1 vault skirge -1 overseer -1 master -1 land?? // +2 ghirapur grid +2 etched +1 cage
Junk____________-1 memnite -1 master -1 galv blast // +2 etched champion +1 whipflare (kinda want rest in peace here)
R/G Breach______-3 galvanic blast?? // +2 thoughtseize +1 blood moon
Tron____________-4 galvanic blast?? // +2 thoughtseize +1 blood moon +1 ancient grudge
idk, a rough sketch of a sideboard. might want more graveyard hate. probably not using thoughtseize enough. if i drop thoughtseize from the sideboard, i'll probably replace city of brass with a steam vents or something. i'm pretty happy with the mainboard but am still finding my way with the sideboard. plan on having it finished by monday or tuesday. i'll dig through the last few pages to see what others are doing too. sooooo... idk give your input.
edit: should probably remove etched champions against eldrazi and tron