Getting ready to pop my Modern cherry on Thursday. Got my Soul Sisters cards in and I'm afraid. I'll probably post a list in a bit so that I can get laughed at.
I have a question regarding land count. I thought that 22 lands was the norm, but I'm creeping on the MTGO decklists and most of the recent lists run 21. Is that fine or is it too greedy?
21 seems fine to me. You really don't need that many lands in this deck (or at least I don't see the need). Most lists barely even need 4 lands (for ranger/spectral) and 1/3 of the deck is made up of 1 cmc spells (half of the last 1/3 are 2 drops). If your deck runs more 3/4 drops (Mindcensor/Hero of Bladhold) or alot of citp tap lands (Windbrisk Heights) or sac lands (Ghost Quarters) you might want to think about it more but...
Not sure about the sideboard, but I don't know my shop's meta so perhaps I shouldn't make changes until getting dominated on Thursday. Also, how do Swords perform in this deck? I want to test them out, but the fact that most decks don't run them might be a bad sign.
looks pretty good
id try and find a spot for 2 or 3 Auriok Champions in the 75. It dodges pretty much all spot removal in the format plus Whipflare and Pyroclasm. It pretty much ruins Jund's day.
Personally im running Kataki, War's Wage over Sundering Growth as I dont want to run out of bodies on the field. The instant speed of Growth and the occasional populate trigger is nice, but against a swarm of artifacts which Robots/Affinity tends to play fast, the ability to force them to decide on what to keep is really nice. And turn 2 Kataki unanswered pretty much will win you the game.
I'm probably going to add in an O-ring myself to deal with what I cannot Path.
I'm also tempted to add maybe 1 or 2 Wraths to my sideboard as I've had games where I couldnt get a single creature to stick and wound up with my opponent having a pretty nice board swinging over at my empty one.
Swords are a personal choice, some people really like them others dont. They are not necessary and are mostly "win more" cards. Its not often that you drop in a sword and come back from losing a game. For the most part it just puts you over the top in a grindy match.
One last word of advice BEWARE OF INKMOTHS they will end you! I've lost multiple games to them when i didnt draw into any of the Ghost Quarters or Paths. Get rid of them as soon as they become a threat. Against infect it doesnt matter if you have 48 life, 10 poison is 10 poison, which is part of the reason i ran G/B infect in Zendikar/Scars standard.
Honestly, i need to work on my sideboarding, i have no problem with knowing which cards are best to bring in, I just have issues with knowing what to take out.....also i need to mulligan more aggressively for my sideboard cards as most of the time I wind up not even seeing them.
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I forgot about Auriok Champion. That's kind of a ridiculous card. I could see dropping a Martyr of Sands and a Soul's Attendant for two Champions. I can see a Champion carrying a Sword pretty well too. I definitely like Swords for putting you over the top in grind-fests. I'm not one to slam one down before building a board state. Play a Sword, get your guys removed, and put yourself behind a turn or two. Not quite worth it.
I like the sound of Kataki, War's Wage, but I kind of want to run Sundering Growth out of pure paranoia. I guess it's mainly out of my irrational hatred of Splinter Twin and Spellskite. Speaking of Spellskite, is it worth running in the sideboard for Infect, or is Infect dead?
For the most part infect is dead. It will still show up in large tournaments and there may be players in your local meta, but it hasn't seen top rankings in a while. Inkmoth Nexus is still a threat in affinity decks and other rogue-ish decks. I've played against a R/G Titans deck that ran them along with Kessig Wolf Run.
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I forgot about Auriok Champion. That's kind of a ridiculous card. I could see dropping a Martyr of Sands and a Soul's Attendant for two Champions. I can see a Champion carrying a Sword pretty well too. I definitely like Swords for putting you over the top in grind-fests. I'm not one to slam one down before building a board state. Play a Sword, get your guys removed, and put yourself behind a turn or two. Not quite worth it.
I like the sound of Kataki, War's Wage, but I kind of want to run Sundering Growth out of pure paranoia. I guess it's mainly out of my irrational hatred of Splinter Twin and Spellskite. Speaking of Spellskite, is it worth running in the sideboard for Infect, or is Infect dead?
Might just be me but I dont feel comfortable dropping down on martyrs and serra ascendants, against most decks its free win. Against bad matchups, it usually is one of the only ways to strike em down.
I havent played my soul sisters in a while but the last time i played it, martyr ascendant wrecked against Tron which i was favored to lose.
Spellskite is worth running because infect is still one of your bad matchups, the real reason why its good though is that it can help you against splinter twin as well as bogle, so it has many uses. It also is a decent sideboard against removal-heavy decks like the UWR, packed with lightning bolts and helixes
Sundering growth is good, I run em on my list's SB. Its just very versatile since being mono color, you should be wary against swords as they could completely blow you out if one of the protection it grants is white
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Standard UWUW Spirit FlashUW Modern BWEldrazi and TaxesBW UMono Blue ControlU WURGRestore BalanceWURG Legacy WDeath and TaxesW
Spellskite is worth running because infect is still one of your bad matchups, the real reason why its good though is that it can help you against splinter twin as well as bogle, so it has many uses. It also is a decent sideboard against removal-heavy decks like the UWR, packed with lightning bolts and helixes
I wish I had put Spellskites in the board.
Just got back from a small Modern tournament at the local card shop. Ran a list that was almost the same as the one I posted, except I dropped a Stony Silence in the board for a Dismember. It was my first Modern tournament and I was in Missed Trigger City for much of the night.
Played UWR in the first round. There was so much removal. All my X/1's shook with fear. Imagine that I sideboarded wrong. Brought in Rest in Peace for Snapcaster. Which is maybe too narrow. But repeated Lightning Helix and other removals helped him stabilize in a big way.
Played Melira Pod in the second round. He never got a Pod online in G1, but he got some big beaters going with Gavony. And by big beaters I mean Birds of Paradise. But pumped Spectral Procession tokens got there G1. Thank you, based Honor. G2 I drew both Stony Silence and Rest in Peace. He spent time looking for answers and died to airborne squawk beats.
Third match I played some sort of Jund deck with white thrown in. First game my opponent floods out a bit and I get an Ajani's Pridemate to a 10/10. It goes ham. Second game he sticks a Dark Confidant after making me discard a Path to Exile on turn one. His Bob doesn't get him very good draws, though he does get removal for most of my larger threats. But squawk got there again.
Went to top 4 after that (which I had no business being a part of), and got paired up with UWR Control. Electrolyze, Snapcaster-Bolt, Verdict. Etc. I couldn't stick a threat. Both games were me playing guys and them getting axe-murdered immediately.
yeah, im definitely considering getting myself from Spellskites. Currently vs UWR i bring in Immortal Servitude and Hero of Bladehold. Servitude brings back everything they've burned or countered on and Hero survives through most burn spells. Spellskite on the other hand would cost me less mana and save all my dudes from spot removal. The issue is getting them to resolve. I went up against a deck that ran a playset of Cryptic Commands, as well as a bunch of Remands and Mana Leaks plus Snapcaster. Its hard to get a spell to resolve against that and then just watch it get burned to a crisp.
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Tested against UWR earlier. I went 3-0 against it. I figured the match-up was in his favor, and I did have some trouble getting past so much removal. But it feels like even if they can shoot down our fast hands with Ascendant or Pridemate, we can still win by just flooding the board. Getting a Spectral Procession or Hero of Bladehold to land seems to do a lot of work, just because we're getting so many creatures out of 1 card. Any hand that can flood the board (even if it's just Sisters) with a Honor of the Pure seems to be good.
I never saw him put down a Supreme Verdict. He said he played them, just never drew them.
Mistveil Plains is nice with the hawks, but I'm still not sure if I want it. Our own Rest in Peace can disrupt it. And it comes into play tapped, which is horrible in the early game.
As for sideboard, I've been playing 4x Surgical Extraction. With the mainboard Ghost Quarters, it can really devastate Tron, but it's still a bad matchup. They can smash us if we don't attack fast enough.
Do I understand correctly that Hero of Bladehold triggers sisters while attacking?
Yes. It triggers both Sisters and Ajani's Pridemate during the Attack Phase. I originally added it just because that reason, but the card is insane by itself. It dodges Lightning Bolt and Abrupt Decay like a champ, and honestly wins games by itself. The synergy with the other cards in the deck is a nice plus.
Do I understand correctly that Hero of Bladehold triggers sisters while attacking?
Also, make sure you stack both of his triggers properly, i.e. put battle cry on the stack first then the token maker 2nd. That way the tokens ETB first and then receive the battle cry bonus.
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Legacy:
combo elves
Modern:
White Rock (41-24-4 in matches. Beginning 10/14/14. Last updated 1/2/15)
List:
Speaking about the Bladehold, I read it is a good sideboard card. But what about mainboard? I'm running 2 Bladeholds in the main, to see how they work. Is it too much?
I am testing Archangel of Thune over HoB in the sideboard right now. Bringing it in against UWR Midrange. Also, in testing, Path of Bravery has been an amazing replacement for HotP. It makes it so I can keep hands with Ajani Pridemate that lack soul sisters.
the thing about Hero of Bladehold is that she add additional bodies to the field. Yes, Archangel can give all of your guys a pump each time you gain life, but its the bodies that Hero provides that make it so good. It lets you recover much faster from board wipes.
Path of Bravery is incredibly tempting to run. The life gain will constantly pump Ajani's but it doesn't help your other creatures unless your good on life, which you should be. The question is: "Is the extra mana worth the life gain at the cost of the pump being conditional"
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I'm doubtful that Path of Bravery is worth it. It's significantly slower against decks that we have to race (such as Tron), and against aggro, I have been stuck on the defensive and fallen to 10 life or less quite often. (I stabilized with Martyr in those games.) It's nice that it buffs itself (with enough attacking creatures), but it's a paper tiger against aggro as soon as we fall to 20 life or less.
I have a question regarding land count. I thought that 22 lands was the norm, but I'm creeping on the MTGO decklists and most of the recent lists run 21. Is that fine or is it too greedy?
4 Martyr of Sands
4 Serra Ascendant
3 Soul Warden
4 Soul's Attendant
4 Ajani's Pridemate
4 Squadron Hawk
2 Aven Mindcensor
1 Hero of Bladehold
2 Ranger of Eos
4 Path to Exile
3 Honor of the Pure
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
3 Spectral Procession
Mana
3 Ghost Quarter
18 Plains
2 Brave the Elements
3 Rest in Peace
3 Stony Silence
2 Sundering Growth
2 Suppression Field
1 Immortal Servitude
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
Not sure about the sideboard, but I don't know my shop's meta so perhaps I shouldn't make changes until getting dominated on Thursday. Also, how do Swords perform in this deck? I want to test them out, but the fact that most decks don't run them might be a bad sign.
id try and find a spot for 2 or 3 Auriok Champions in the 75. It dodges pretty much all spot removal in the format plus Whipflare and Pyroclasm. It pretty much ruins Jund's day.
Personally im running Kataki, War's Wage over Sundering Growth as I dont want to run out of bodies on the field. The instant speed of Growth and the occasional populate trigger is nice, but against a swarm of artifacts which Robots/Affinity tends to play fast, the ability to force them to decide on what to keep is really nice. And turn 2 Kataki unanswered pretty much will win you the game.
I'm probably going to add in an O-ring myself to deal with what I cannot Path.
I'm also tempted to add maybe 1 or 2 Wraths to my sideboard as I've had games where I couldnt get a single creature to stick and wound up with my opponent having a pretty nice board swinging over at my empty one.
Swords are a personal choice, some people really like them others dont. They are not necessary and are mostly "win more" cards. Its not often that you drop in a sword and come back from losing a game. For the most part it just puts you over the top in a grindy match.
One last word of advice BEWARE OF INKMOTHS they will end you! I've lost multiple games to them when i didnt draw into any of the Ghost Quarters or Paths. Get rid of them as soon as they become a threat. Against infect it doesnt matter if you have 48 life, 10 poison is 10 poison, which is part of the reason i ran G/B infect in Zendikar/Scars standard.
Honestly, i need to work on my sideboarding, i have no problem with knowing which cards are best to bring in, I just have issues with knowing what to take out.....also i need to mulligan more aggressively for my sideboard cards as most of the time I wind up not even seeing them.
-Anonymous
I like the sound of Kataki, War's Wage, but I kind of want to run Sundering Growth out of pure paranoia. I guess it's mainly out of my irrational hatred of Splinter Twin and Spellskite. Speaking of Spellskite, is it worth running in the sideboard for Infect, or is Infect dead?
-Anonymous
Might just be me but I dont feel comfortable dropping down on martyrs and serra ascendants, against most decks its free win. Against bad matchups, it usually is one of the only ways to strike em down.
I havent played my soul sisters in a while but the last time i played it, martyr ascendant wrecked against Tron which i was favored to lose.
Spellskite is worth running because infect is still one of your bad matchups, the real reason why its good though is that it can help you against splinter twin as well as bogle, so it has many uses. It also is a decent sideboard against removal-heavy decks like the UWR, packed with lightning bolts and helixes
Sundering growth is good, I run em on my list's SB. Its just very versatile since being mono color, you should be wary against swords as they could completely blow you out if one of the protection it grants is white
UWUW Spirit FlashUW
Modern
BWEldrazi and TaxesBW
UMono Blue ControlU
WURGRestore BalanceWURG
Legacy
WDeath and TaxesW
I wish I had put Spellskites in the board.
Just got back from a small Modern tournament at the local card shop. Ran a list that was almost the same as the one I posted, except I dropped a Stony Silence in the board for a Dismember. It was my first Modern tournament and I was in Missed Trigger City for much of the night.
Played UWR in the first round. There was so much removal. All my X/1's shook with fear. Imagine that I sideboarded wrong. Brought in Rest in Peace for Snapcaster. Which is maybe too narrow. But repeated Lightning Helix and other removals helped him stabilize in a big way.
Played Melira Pod in the second round. He never got a Pod online in G1, but he got some big beaters going with Gavony. And by big beaters I mean Birds of Paradise. But pumped Spectral Procession tokens got there G1. Thank you, based Honor. G2 I drew both Stony Silence and Rest in Peace. He spent time looking for answers and died to airborne squawk beats.
Third match I played some sort of Jund deck with white thrown in. First game my opponent floods out a bit and I get an Ajani's Pridemate to a 10/10. It goes ham. Second game he sticks a Dark Confidant after making me discard a Path to Exile on turn one. His Bob doesn't get him very good draws, though he does get removal for most of my larger threats. But squawk got there again.
Went to top 4 after that (which I had no business being a part of), and got paired up with UWR Control. Electrolyze, Snapcaster-Bolt, Verdict. Etc. I couldn't stick a threat. Both games were me playing guys and them getting axe-murdered immediately.
I now see why there's recommendations for maindeck Auriok Champion and Spellskite in the side.
-Anonymous
I never saw him put down a Supreme Verdict. He said he played them, just never drew them.
ex-Moderator
Legacy love.
4x Flagstones of Trokair
4x Windbrisk Heights
3x Ghost Quarter
1x Mistveil Plains
Mistveil Plains is nice with the hawks, but I'm still not sure if I want it. Our own Rest in Peace can disrupt it. And it comes into play tapped, which is horrible in the early game.
As for sideboard, I've been playing 4x Surgical Extraction. With the mainboard Ghost Quarters, it can really devastate Tron, but it's still a bad matchup. They can smash us if we don't attack fast enough.
If we run Ghost Quarters mainboard, I don't think we should run Sundering Growth but Disenchant.
Also, against Storm, Eggs or Scapeshift, Angel's Grace works really good.
Yes. It triggers both Sisters and Ajani's Pridemate during the Attack Phase. I originally added it just because that reason, but the card is insane by itself. It dodges Lightning Bolt and Abrupt Decay like a champ, and honestly wins games by itself. The synergy with the other cards in the deck is a nice plus.
ex-Moderator
Legacy love.
Also, make sure you stack both of his triggers properly, i.e. put battle cry on the stack first then the token maker 2nd. That way the tokens ETB first and then receive the battle cry bonus.
Legacy:
combo elves
Modern:
White Rock (41-24-4 in matches. Beginning 10/14/14. Last updated 1/2/15)
List:
4 Dark Confidant
3 Siege Rhino
1 Thrun, The Last Troll
Spells - 20
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
4 abrupt decay
2 maelstrom pulse
1 slaughter pact
1 path to exile
1 Disfigure
1 damnation
3 lingering souls
NCP - 4
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Bow of Nylea
4 verdant Catacombs
2 marsh flats
2 windswept heath
2 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Plains
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 overgrown tomb
1 godless shrine
1 temple garden
1 Treetop Village
2 stirring wildwood
2 Tectonic Edge
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Thrun, the last troll
2 Duress
1 Creeping Corrosion
2 Stony Silence
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Back to nature
1 Utter End
1 Golgari Charm
Would work as a lifegain deck.
Path of Bravery is incredibly tempting to run. The life gain will constantly pump Ajani's but it doesn't help your other creatures unless your good on life, which you should be. The question is: "Is the extra mana worth the life gain at the cost of the pump being conditional"
-Anonymous