How would you guys sideboard with this deck against hate bears (expecting Leylines and RiPs) I'm thinking of boarding really heavily, something like:
-4 Gifts, -2 remand, -1 Apostle's Blessing, -1 Grapeshot, -1 Electromancer, -1 or 2 PiF? -1 Sleight + 3x Empty, 2x Pieces, 2x Pyroclasm, 1 Echoing Truth, 1 repeal, 3 Bolt. That's almost the entire SB, too much or seems good? Thanks!
So I tried the whole pieces/empty package last night and taking out all the gifts and I really didn't like it... Only 2 out of 6 games where I did that did my opponents actually have GY hate or Leyline (which I could have bounced but I had no combo in hand anyway) and my deck just felt super diluted and I couldn't find anything. I lost to Death's Shadow after like 12 turns of doing nothing and eventually playing a super weak Empty. I'd really like to know Elfkid's plan against certain decks as well. I feel like cutting 1 gifts is all I'd want to do from now on, playing against expected hate that ends up not showing up seems pretty bad.
edit: highlight of the night had to be playing 22 goblins on turn 3 against Lantern.
blessing is crazy good. its only dead against decks that pack no removals, which is basically none. Even RG tron tried to catch my mancer with an early pyro.
His face when I downticked my life counter by 2 changed from confusion (I think he was going to start saying pyroclasm hits creatures not players) to the dawning realization, to the horror after I laid my blessing gently over his pyroclasm.
"Protection from red," I whispered.
And so began the rituals of doom.
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Hey Everyone, yesterday I went to my LGS to play some modern. Thursdays usually have a decent turn out, but this one had 26 people, which was a pleasant surprise! Anyway, I placed 3rd in the event and we all split top 4. Here is the list that I run:
Creatures 9
1x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Goblin Electromancer
4x Baral, Chief of Compliance
Spells 33
4x Desperate Ritual
4x Pyretic Ritual
4x Sleight of Hand
4x Serum Visions
4x Manamorphose
4x Gifts Ungiven
2x Past in Flames
2x Remand
2x Peer Through Depths
2x Grapeshot
1x Empty the Warrens
Lands 18
4x Spirebluff Canal
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
2x Island
1x Mountain
1x Snow Covered Island
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Polluted Delta
1x Flooded Strand
1x Hallowed Fountain
Sideboard 15
3x Lightning Bolt
2x Blood Moon
2x Empty the Warrens
2x Dispel
2x Wear//Tear
1x Swan Song
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Echoing Truth
1x Dismember
Round 1: Affinity (2-0)
Game 1:
I am on the draw and I keep a hand with a couple cantrips and a goblin electromancer. He plays turn 1 Vault Skirge and a I spin my wheels a little bit. He plays a turn 2 signal pest and memnite and passes. I cantrip again drawing a grapshot and play a land tap and pass. He swings in for some damage and plays a etched champion. I play my elctromancer then cast manamorphose...he responds with a glavanic blast and I cast grapeshot and nuke his board except for the etched champion. He swings in a couple more times and I eventually end of turn gifts and proceed to go off.
I keep a hand with an enabler a wear/tear lightning bolt and few lands and a cantrip. He plays a turn 1 ornothopter and springleaf drum. I cantrip and find a ritual and stack a gifts on top. He plays a turn 2 cranial plating and hits me for a couple points. I draw play my land a pass. he plays etched champion and tries to attack with the ornothopter, but I kill his plating. I then play some lands and cantrip of the next few turns bolting his non etched champion threat. Eventually I do the same thing and end of turn gifts for the win.
Round 2: Bant Knightfall (2-1)
Game 1:
This game went pretty quick and easy. He later told me that he has never played against storm and it was apparent as he let me play a turn 2 baral and then he tapped out to play a knight and I storm him out a turn 3.
This game played out a little weird and I should have had a better shot at winning, but I "mathed" wrong. He plays a couple a mana dork and a turn 2 knight. I bolt the knight and on turn 3 I play a baral and he counters it with a spell queller. He then plays a scavenging ooze and eats some of my stuff. I kill dismember his spell queller and cast my baral. I cast a ritual and he responds with a path. I respond with a manamorphose and then I gifts for the normal mana package plus a grapeshot. I was choked on blue mana at this point and he gives me the rituals. I begin to count and think that I had enough to past in flames and have enough mana floating to play out my rituals and possibly win. I start to play out this line and realize that I only have 5 mana floating, which is 1 short of what I needed. He then picks apart my graveyard and kills me.
Game 3: (Same sideboard plan)
This game was pretty fast as well. I cantrip and load up my hand and at the end of turn 4 I gifts for the mana package. He taps out to play spell queller (I knew he had this based on how he was playing). I already had a rital, baral and grapeshot in hand so I play my land, play baral, cast ritual then grapeshot his spell queller and cast my gifts. At this point is was pretty deterministic and I storm off.
Round 3 Grixis Deathshadow (0-2)
Game 1:
This game was disappointing as I think I could have won if I drew slightly better. I keep a hand of electromancer, 2 rituals, land serum visions, gifts and something else (can't remember). He thoughtseizes my gifts away and I serum putting an empty on top. He thoughtseizes my electromancer and plays a death's shadow. I draw and make 8 goblins. He then plays another shadow and an angler. At this point the shadows are 3/3's and he swings in with the team for a couple of turns and I try to chip shot him, but all I drew were lands 4 turns in a row. Finally, I draw a peer through depths, but that is promptly stubborn denialed. Eventually, he overwhelmed me and I had to chump all my goblins away. I feel that if I drew slightly better then I could have gotten there.
Game 2: (Out: 2x Remand, 1x Simian Spirit Guide, 1x Goblin Electromancer, 1x Sleight of Hand, 1x Past in Flames In: 2x Blood Moon, 2x Dispel, 2x Empty the Warrens)
This was another game that really was disappointing. I start out with a very mediocre 7 card hand of like 3 lands, blood moon, empty, grapeshot, gifts. I mulligan to 6 and I have a no lander. Go to 5 and have the best 5 card hand....few cantrips and some lands. He strips my hand and plays a turn 2 Tasigur. I muster up a small goblin army and he plays an engineered explosives. I'm hellbent and it didn't take long for him to beat me with Tasigur.
Round 4: Grixis Deathshadow (2-0)
Game 1:
This was a funny game...I don't remember much but it he was spinning his tires a little bit and didn't deploy a threat for a few turns...eventually landing a Tasigur and a 2/2 shadow. I was able to make 8 goblins and I had a hand of 2 PiF. I draw a manamorphose into baral and played PiF and generated enough mana to make 12 more goblins...it was pretty much over after that.
Game 2: (Same sideboard plan as previous game)
I have a hand of 2 Lands, Ritual, Blood Moon and some random stuff. I keep that hand since it can turn 2 blood moon. He turn 1 serum visions...I play a land. He turn 2 thoughtscours and plays an untapped water grave. I play my 2nd land...cast ritual...cast blood moon. He stares at his hand for a while and I can already tell that he doesn't have a stubborn denial. It resolves and 2 turns later he concedes.
Round 5: Burn (2-0)
3rd round in a row where I am unfavored by a fairly wide margin. Anyway, I keep a hand that is pretty decent with an electromancer, ritual, gifts, remand, serum visions and 2 lands. Im on the play and I visions getting another land and putting a manamorphose on top. He starts out suspending a rift bolt. I play may 2nd land and hold up remand...he bolts me and tries to cast an eidolon. I remand it and draw a card. I play my 3rd land and cast my goblin electromancer. He replays eidolon and passes. I draw another ritual and cast a ritual then cast my grapshot targeting his eidolon. I then precede to go off.
Game 2: (Out: 2x Remand, Simian Spirit Guide, Sleight of Hand, Empty the Warrens In: 3x Lightning Bolt, 2x Wear//Tear)
This one was underwhelming...I keep a decent hand with a bolt. He mulligans to 6 and plays a turn 2 eidolon. I bolt it and continue to sculpt my hand with cantrips. He floods out and I eventually storm him out around turn 6 or 7.
Take Aways
I love this deck! It is very good and super consistent...I felt that all of my opponents felt play scared and uncertain, which certainly worked to my advantage. I also realized that grixis death's shadow is a very hard matchup and I need to get super lucky to win. Even when you are on the empty plan it is still very difficult since they bring in explosives and/or izzet staticaster. I personally don't feel that pieces of the puzzle and empty the warrens is enough or even the right direction....I don't know what else to do and maybe I should just chalk it up to an extremely bad matchup. On the other hand, burn doesn't feel like a horrible matchup...if we can't answer an eidolon its unwinnable, but after game 1 I have 5 cards that can kill it. The only time I can't outrace burn is when they have those creature hands...other than that I feel like it is, at the very least, a 50-50 matchup. I also realized that any creature based deck like affinity and company decks are so favorable and if devoted druid becomes more popular storm is really going to be in a better spot.
Simian Spirit Guide in theory makes a lot of sense, but it literally did not impact a single game and hasn't for the past 2 weeks. I might just cut it for another peer through depths or remand.
Very helpful for me as a new storm player. I tried siding out all the gifts for the warrens/pieces, my first time playing the deck, and it seemed pretty weak to me. I think I will try something similar to your plan, probably going to try 1 apostle's blessing next time. How is cyclonic rift compared to just a repeal? I can see rift winning games for you against certain decks for sure, but it's probably tough to rift and go off on the same turn.
Thanks! To be honest Rift is often times just a 1 mana bounce spell...sometimes overload is relevant in the late game. If chalice is something you feel you will face I would just run the repeal...though it is nice to only need 1 u versus 2-4 mana. I am going to make some changes as I am super soft to chalice on 2...maybe find space for a repeal and Shattering Spree
Thanks! To be honest Rift is often times just a 1 mana bounce spell...sometimes overload is relevant in the late game. If chalice is something you feel you will face I would just run the repeal...though it is nice to only need 1 u versus 2-4 mana. I am going to make some changes as I am super soft to chalice on 2...maybe find space for a repeal and Shattering Spree
After a record of 3 - 6 with my own playgroup, I ground out many many many rounds by myself (the cool part about this deck is you can train alone, and just make the best decisions on the goldfish's part to make your own life hard), and watched a lot of videos too.
Finally, I brought the deck to FNM. This is my list:
I went 3-0 against the Gifts Storm, Eldratron and Elves. I'm typing from memory and you know how that is. If you see something illogical, please point it out and I'll squeeze those brain cells again.
VS Gifts Storm:
I win the die roll. He goes off first on his turn 3, putting 12 goblins on the board to my 1 baral. I don't have the pieces to go off on my turn 3, but apparently that was the gas in his hand expended, because he has little else to do but swing. My Baral blocks a token, and then I go off next turn, but my finisher is 23 copies of grapeshot, so I win this race.
Sideboarding: 4 Thing in the Ice, 1 Dismember, 1 Negate IN,
2 Remands, 1 Electromancer, 1 Noxious Revival, 1 Sleight of Hand, 1 Peer through Depths OUT.
Reasoning: I know lots of Storm decks like to bring in Bolts and the mirror would be no exception since it catches the reducers, so I bring in Thing which I know will be an issue. I also hedge on the fact that Stormers would board out bounce spells in the mirror since u usually just want to kill the reducer dead, meaning there would be no outs to my Thing.
Game 2 I get stuck on 2 lands while his draws are more or less smooth. I threaten a remand that I don't have for quite a few turns, but eventually he has mana to even play through that and he goes off. A noteworthy moment was his Baral facing off my Electromancer, and he bolted my mancer. I responded with a manaless Dismember, which bought me a turn. Too bad I didn't draw the lands I needed to capitalize on that turn.
Game 3 I win with the Thing plan, having drawn 2. The appearance of Thing clearly takes my opponent by surprise. Dealing with Thing requires Dismember or Grapeshot at 4 storm, which he doesn't have. A noteworthy moment was a Gifts that I cast with no reducer in hand, and I wanted one, BAD. I'd sided out noxious, so baral/mancer/noxious was off the menu. I thought really hard, and this was what I presented: Mancer, Blessing, Past, Morphose. I wanted him to think I was only pulling 1 reducer and protection for redundancy and that I was holding Baral. He bought the bluff and gave me the Mancer. I gifts again putting the Thing at 1, and bring out the standard package. He considers the board, then scoops.
VS Eldratron
This should be an easy MU but I actually lose the game to chalice on 2. The trouble actually started with a chalice on 1, which didn't suck too bad other than blanking the sleight in my hand, but then I drew no gas other than rituals and then on turn 4 he slammed a chalice on 2. I didn't waste any time and picked up my cards, which in hindsight actually let me win this. I saw: Matter Reshaper, Basilisk Collar, Chalice.
Sideboarding: 3 blood moons, 1 shatterstorm, 2 Negate IN,
1 Sleight, 2 Remand, 1 Apostle's blessing, 1 Mancer, 1 Noxious Revival
Reasoning: The blood moons are straightforward, shatterstorm and negates are there to help me catch chalices. I chose to drop my 3 weakest cantrips, apostles blessing is pointless against colorless spells like Ballista, and I didnt think I would need the redundancy for the mancer effect, since they're light on removal.
Game 2 went about as smoothly as I could ask for. I landed a turn 2 Moon via ritual. A mild hiccup here as he surgicaled the pyretic i had used to cast the moon. However, with some degree of luck I proceed to make 12 goblin tokens next turn via the remaining rituals. With no colorless mana to cast his creatures, he only able to cast a ballista for 2 but its not enough to save him.
Game 3 gets pretty hairy. I don't moon him until turn 4, by which time he has used a map to get his basic waste AND a couple of mindstones out. Time is called and we're in last 5 turns. (see game 1 where I scooped quick) I'm lucky that he only lands a shaper + collar combination and gets to 23 life, which isn't a big deal when I finally get myself in the desired Gift+3 mana position, and go off. I finish the game and take the win with a double Grapeshot at storm 11 and 12.
VS Elves
I win the die roll. Turn 1 I fetch shock and serum visions. His turn 1 Heritage. Turn 2, Mancer for me. His turn 2 is crazy. Its THE elf start: tap 2 lands, cast Dwynen's Elite, tap 3 elves for 3 NETTLE SENTINELS OMFG, tap 3 sentinels for ARCHDRUID (at this point I'm like "WHAT"), the nettles untap and he taps them again to play a heritage. OK, no big deal, just 20 power on the board turn 2. His hand is literally empty. That was all 9 cards, the starting 7 and his turn 1 and 2 draws. "My goblin is slightly outnumbered I think," draws a chuckle from those watching. I take a deep breath, untap, and try to recall Caleb's plays. He's faced t2 TKS, Affinity explosions. I can do this. IIRC, my hand is something like: Morphose, Grapeshot, Gifts, Remand, Ritual. So I have no land to play this turn, but I do have a reducer. I decide that my plan is to get the druid and whatever else I can without spending more cards than I need to. So its going to be the morphose, ritual, remand and grapeshot.
I open with a Morphose, float U and R. S1 U1 R1. I draw a morphose.
Morphose. S2 U1 R2. Draw peer.
Peer. Pick up a Ritual, gonna need this later if I want to go off. S3 U0 R2.
Grapeshot, S4 U0 R1. 3 storm copies of GS. 2 target Archdruid, the extra is pointed at a Heritage.
Remand (using Island) my GS, draw a Flooded strand. Not too shabby.
The dust settles and the power opposite has been halved, and I'm down 0 cards. I got lucky with those morphose draws for sure, but I'm feeling pretty good now with 2 ritual, 3 lands in play and gifts in hand. If my reducer doesn't die, I can get the gift+3 mana next turn.
He untaps, swings for 9 leaving his heritage behind, I don't block the token with my mancer. I don't want to risk ANYTHING. His 1 draw isn't anything useful, he passes the turn and I go off. Survived an elfsplosion!
Sideboarding: 4 Thing in the Ice, 2 Pyroclasm IN,
2 Remand, 1 Empty, 1 Noxious, 1 Apostle's Blessing, 1 mancer OUT.
Reasoning: I had faced Thing Storm as an elf player before, and I knew how HORRIBLE it felt. Now I was going to be on the other end of it. Pyroclasms are... well, this is what they're here for.
I dropped Empty because a bunch of 1/1s are probably not how I'm going to win. Both remands were out, I didnt think remanding a coco or chord would be particularly appealing as opposed to just having a pyroclasm. Apostles, mancer and noxious out for the same reason they were out against Tron; sparse removals expected, redundancy and protection are overkill.
Game 2, opponent starts with a leyline of the void before laying a forest into dork. The past in flames and gifts in my hand are looking preeetty dumb right now, but I also have Thing in my hand so I don't feel too bad. I take some damage, land my first thing, block a couple turns, play a couple cantrips. With my 1st thing at 2 ice counters I draw and play a second thing and my board is mancer thing thing, which looks pretty decent opposite his mediocre board of 5 elves. I flip the first thing via rital + gifts, fetching pyroclasm, ritual, morphose, gifts. He gives me morphose and ritual. My 2nd thing is now at 2 ice counter. I swing for 7, pass. He replays his board. Over to me, I ritual into manamorphose for no reason (since past is useless) but it flips the 2nd thing. The elves disappear (oh I remember when it was done to me alright) and I swing for 14 for the game and an FNM Aether Hub.
Thoughts: I love my Thing in the Ice plan. I intend to grind some games with the list against Affinity to see if I really need those bolts or if I can stick with this plan C. My rationale is that bolts are often used to buy a little time by killing Nacatls or key creatures, but I'd rather advance my position while making a larger impact as far as delaying tactics are concerned. Thus far I'm quite pleased with it. The apostle's blessing, noxious revival and dismembers all made their impacts as well, saving reducers from bolts, grabbing me an extra ritual, making gifts for reducers possible and killing reducers for 0 mana and 4 life. I'm pretty happy with these techs and will be sticking with them.
Right now I'm thinking about whether I want to replace my Peer with a Scroll. Its a toughie, because sometimes u just really want a scroll for gifts, but last night Peer let me win by letting me grab the ritual I needed for Gifts+3mana. I suppose it boils down to the situations u find yourself in.
Hey guys, getting into Storm after seeing Caleb Scherer play it (he's at my LGS) and wanting some help with my list. I don't have a SB yet, but that will come soon.
Hey guys, getting into Storm after seeing Caleb Scherer play it (he's at my LGS) and wanting some help with my list. I don't have a SB yet, but that will come soon.
I like this list for the most part however personally I would cut the [[noxious revival]] and 1 [[grapeshot]] and add 1 [[empty the warrens]] and 1 [[remand]] or [[peer through depths]]. I feel like having 3 [[grapeshot]] is unnecessary w/ the gifts package and [[noxious revival]] is more of a win more card. I say add 1 [[peer through depths]] or [[remand]] because it adds either card draw or tempo which is important while setting up your combo; also I say add 1 [[empty the warrens]] (more in sideboard if you can) because god forbid your grapeshots get surgical-ed or you get leylined and you have no way to win.
As for you land base it seems fine right now however a bit painful. I would not recommend more than 3 shocklands for this deck because you do not really need them. For me personally I usually first fetch for a basic island (if I have a cantrip) or a [[steam vents]] (tapped) T1 then fetch for red T2. If you have more [[flooded strand]] definitely add them. Usually I run 8 fetch (pref 4 [[scalding tarn]]), 4 [[spirebluff canal]], 2-3 [[steam vents]], 3-2 basics for a total of 18 lands. Also the basic mountain is usually not needed but if you run a scalding tarn might as well run 1 for the one time you need to conserve life.
Your list overall has all the core elements of a gifts storm deck. I wish you luck, and let us know how it goes at FNM. Have fun!
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Modern Decks: URGifts StormRU UBRGrixis ShadowRBU
Noxious Revival isn't a win more card. It lets you gifts for a reducer, it lets you ensure your manamophose draw is something u want if that spell is in the GY (for eg u need 2 rituals but u have 1 and a morphose, you can ritual, revival that ritual back on top, morphose into that ritual and add more mana). Revival helped me get enough mana on more than 1 occasion. Far from letting me win more, it was letting me win when I wasn't supposed to.
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I don't like Noxious Revival...it's card disadvantage which only further screws up your plan against discard...it also only really functions in specific gifts piles or if you have some pieces in your hand. The former is relevant and is the best case scenario for the card, but even then it's not effecient. The latter won't ever really work out either if your hand is getting torn up as whatever you put back on top won't really be enough to go off since you will have multiple holes in your hand.
To be honest if a deck like Grixis death shadow hits you with several discard spells early on then your chance of winning is very small...this goes for almost every deck including storm....it's why 6-8 discard spells are in this style of decks. However, If you got thoughtseized or IoK just once then you could usually hang around in those games. It comes down to whether your opponent drew well or extraordinarily well.
On another note, I tend to value hands with a lot of cantrips very highly in these matchups as it lessens the impact discard spells have on you and they allow you to set up your draws and sculpt your hand.
On the topic of HOU, i think Nimble Obstructionist is going to be a problem. It will fit easily into Uxx draw go, making the MU pretty tough. Unless I'm mistaken, that cycle ability will let the opponent counter the storm trigger off of our grapeshot or empty. The card itself is strong enough to maindeck, giving U decks the maindeck ability to deal with Ulamog triggers, cascade triggers from living end and resto balance, storm triggers from us - things that normally give them a headache.
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So Noxious Revival isn't a win-more card. I use it over the MD Empty which I utterly despise. From all the games that I have played on MTGO there's never been a time where a MD Empty was helpful but enough times Noxious Revival has been. The card disadvantage isn't an issue since this is not the storm decks of the old. You don't need a critical mass per se. Just a few key cards. Noxious Revival allows for neat sequences with Gift piles, natural storm wins, and has allowed me to win in what would have been an unwinnable situation a few times. It's a flex card and not for everyone. But the win-more part is unsure as is the card disadvantage part. The card does get sided out a fair amount of times, but so does Remand. Things change post board with Storm. That's always the case.
With that said, it's not a 61st card. Don't do that. It's your 60th card. If you're making it your 61st card, just cut it and go to 60 with your current build. With Storm, don't ever go over 60. The deck plays with percentages too much for you to do that. It seems insignificant, but you're only going to screw yourself for a flex card. Noxious Revival isn't for everyone and if you're new to the deck, I'd actually leave it at home.
I actually think 3 Grapeshots are fine now. You can get a lot of natural storm wins without an enabler. It's good at picking off random creatures. I think the meta is fine for 3. The issue I see some of you is leaning WAY too hard on Gifts. Gifts is an engine but you can win without. You have a higher threat density now than in the previous storm builds because of the 8 enablers. Be proactive. You'll sneak more wins than you should by using 3.
Nimble Obstructionist isn't a problem. They need to keep 3 up. If they let me start my thing I can beat it. Countering 1 Grapeshot doesn't stop the engine. Goldfish games assuming they have it. You'll see what I mean. You just need to sequence a little tighter, but that's the type of hate that's easy to beat. Surgicial Extraction cost just 2 life and does more than this bird. It is good against Empty, however, so I'll give it that.
Hi everyone. tl;dr just looking for a little more depth on final card choices after the 'core' is taken care of -
Long version: I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel or ask a million questions on why for everything, just trying to understand some of the final cards and why they may or may not be superior to others. Please excuse my rambling until the end where I actually talk about those options.
After review of some of the most recent deck lists, as with all combo decks across all formats I think there is a general core that comprises 90%+ of the deck and typically goes unchecked.
4 Goblin Electromancer
4 Baral, Chief of Compliance
4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Past in Flames
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Serum Visions
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Pyretic Ritual
4 Manamorphose
1 Grapeshot
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Remand
I realize that many decks are now running more of PiF, Grapeshot, and Remand. I just wanted to establish that there is at least 1 of each irregardless of the pilots choices. In addition to the 36 card core above, the typical 60 card deck runs a count of 18 land, leaving 6 cards to flirt with.
So on to what I really want to discuss, I'm looking at running 2 PiF, 2 Grapeshot, and probably 2 Remand, but that's without much thought/testing. In regard to the remaining choices it seems to be a toss up. These are cards I've identified most commonly in other decks and of course the primer:
Remand - No questions in the value here with 1 or two copies, but is there consideration for more than two copies?
Merchant Scroll - There was a top finishing deck that ran 4 copies of Merchant Scroll, from what I can tell providing 4 additional paths to Gifts or Remand, basically trying to provide more a consistent early win. Am I correct in thinking that is the purpose of running any copies of Merchant Scroll MD?
Peer Through Depths - also shows up frequently, and usually never more than a quantity of 2. This seems to be just a tool for a little extra digging, yes?
Thought Scour - is a card I actually like. I saw a group of MTGO players running this and swore by it. Brings digging, some synergy with PiF.
Just looking for more thoughts on why some pilots choose these cards over the others.
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GBR Elves UBR ANT R Burn
UR Gift Storm GB/GR/GW/G Karn Tron GW Aura RW Burn
GBWUR Child of Alara BWR Kaalia of the Vast UWR Narset, Enlightened Master GWR Uril, the Miststalker
"Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right." - Henry Ford
Meant to post this last night, but I took some notes during a Modern event that I took Storm to on Monday. I'm really looking for some advice on my sideboard--It's pretty outdated at this point. I was thinking of doing +1 each of Shatterstorm, Shattering Spree, Vandalblast, and -2 Dispel, -1 Hurkyl's. Other suggestions are more than welcome!
Round 1: Burn 1-2 Game 1: He burns me out while I dig for a reducer. Nothing remarkable here, Burn did what Burn does.
IN: 2x Empty the Warrens, 3x Dispel
OUT: 3x Remand, 2x Merchant Scroll Game 2: I went for a turn 2 Goblin swarm and won off the back of a small horde of goblins. No problems here other than him coming close-ish to the kill. Game 3: Mull to 5 off a no-land 7 and an all-land 6. Kept a pretty bad 5 (something like Empty, Dispel, Land, Land, reducer) but it was probably better than any 4 I could have kept.
Round 2: Mono R Goblin Tribal 0-2 Game 1: Kept a hand missing just a reducer effect, but I had the cantrips to hopefully get me there. No luck, got beat to death by gobbos.
IN: 4x Lightning Bolt, 2x Echoing Truth
OUT: 3x Remand, 2x Merchant Scroll, 1x Thought Scour Game 2: Started off strong, but misplayed pretty hard. I started to go off, he bolted my 'mancer, I attempted to go off in response to get as much value as I could. I could have stopped at one point and probably had enough mana left over to continue going off by flashing things back, but I got greedy and went for a second gifts in response before realizing that I wouldn't have enough mana to cast PiF and then flash things back with a dead Electromancer. Live and learn!
Round 3: Blue Steel 2-0
Game 1: So... I didn't get to see much of this guy's deck, and it looked like it could have been a super cool brew... if I hadn't gone off on him turn three. He tapped out to cast an Etherium Sculptor and one other thing, and there was nothing keeping me from just grapeshotting his face.
IN: 2x Echoing Truth, 1x Hurkyl's Recall, 1x Empty
OUT: 2x Remand, 1x Merchant Scroll, 1x Thought Scour
Game 2: Again, he had time to cast (and swing with) a looter scooter, but I went off on turn three for the second time that night. I honestly felt a bit bad, but sometimes you just get the nut. Twice in a row.
Round 4: STORM MIRROR (2-0... kinda) Game 1: So, at this point I was in a position where it wasn't possible for me to prize out even if I won 2-0 against this guy. He was 2-1 and got the pairdown, so we just played friendlies and he took the win on the sheet. Anyhow, game 1 I actually managed to go off turn two with Ritual, Morphose, 'Mancer, etc. He just laughed and shook his head.
IN: 1x Quicken, courtesy of the shop.
OUT: 1x Thought Scour Game 2: "But CthuluHoop, there's no Quicken in your sideboard!" Yeah, I know. The shop gave us each a single Quicken to side in. I was planning to Merchant Scroll for it just to scare him... but it was just kinda chilling in my opening hand. Along with a Grapeshot. Landed turn 2 'mancer, proceeded to legit brick on rituals until he went off... giving me the chance to live the dream with a Quickened Grapeshot. Felt good.
Anyhow, I'm decently happy with how the night went. Two bad matchups in a row, an easy matchup, and then just a fun game of magic to close things out. If you have any suggestions at all on how to update my sideboard against a fairly open meta, please feel free to send them my way!
So on to what I really want to discuss, I'm looking at running 2 PiF, 2 Grapeshot, and probably 2 Remand, but that's without much thought/testing. In regard to the remaining choices it seems to be a toss up. These are cards I've identified most commonly in other decks and of course the primer:
Remand - No questions in the value here with 1 or two copies, but is there consideration for more than two copies?
Merchant Scroll - There was a top finishing deck that ran 4 copies of Merchant Scroll, from what I can tell providing 4 additional paths to Gifts or Remand, basically trying to provide more a consistent early win. Am I correct in thinking that is the purpose of running any copies of Merchant Scroll MD?
Peer Through Depths - also shows up frequently, and usually never more than a quantity of 2. This seems to be just a tool for a little extra digging, yes?
Thought Scour - is a card I actually like. I saw a group of MTGO players running this and swore by it. Brings digging, some synergy with PiF.
Just looking for more thoughts on why some pilots choose these cards over the others.
I personally am running Merchant Scroll at the moment. Initially I was using them just to have extra virtual copies of Gifts/sideboard cards... but honestly it just hasn't performed well. I'm personally thinking of switching to 2x Peer instead, and keeping the singleton Thought Scour.
How do you think Merchant Scroll performed? I noticed your first 2 MU's you boarded both copies out, your 3rd MU you boarded 1 out.
Do you think more copies of Thought Scour may have been better?
Asking as these are the cards I'm trying to do a little digging on to see peoples thoughts.
::EDIT:: Just saw your 2nd post, didn't realize it was you. You answered my question before asking. hah
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
GBR Elves UBR ANT R Burn
UR Gift Storm GB/GR/GW/G Karn Tron GW Aura RW Burn
GBWUR Child of Alara BWR Kaalia of the Vast UWR Narset, Enlightened Master GWR Uril, the Miststalker
"Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right." - Henry Ford
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-4 Gifts, -2 remand, -1 Apostle's Blessing, -1 Grapeshot, -1 Electromancer, -1 or 2 PiF? -1 Sleight + 3x Empty, 2x Pieces, 2x Pyroclasm, 1 Echoing Truth, 1 repeal, 3 Bolt. That's almost the entire SB, too much or seems good? Thanks!
Here is my current deck:
1x Apostle's Blessing
4x Desperate Ritual
4x Gifts Ungiven
4x Manamorphose
2x Peer Through Depths
4x Pyretic Ritual
2x Remand
Creature (8)
4x Baral, Chief of Compliance
4x Goblin Electromancer
Land (18)
3x Island
1x Mountain
3x Polluted Delta
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Spirebluff Canal
3x Steam Vents
1x Empty the Warrens
2x Grapeshot
2x Past in Flames
4x Serum Visions
4x Sleight of Hand
1x Dispel
1x Echoing Truth
3x Empty the Warrens
3x Lightning Bolt
2x Pieces of the Puzzle
2x Pyroclasm
1x Repeal
1x Shattering Spree
1x Swan Song
edit: highlight of the night had to be playing 22 goblins on turn 3 against Lantern.
His face when I downticked my life counter by 2 changed from confusion (I think he was going to start saying pyroclasm hits creatures not players) to the dawning realization, to the horror after I laid my blessing gently over his pyroclasm.
"Protection from red," I whispered.
And so began the rituals of doom.
BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
Creatures 9
1x Simian Spirit Guide
4x Goblin Electromancer
4x Baral, Chief of Compliance
Spells 33
4x Desperate Ritual
4x Pyretic Ritual
4x Sleight of Hand
4x Serum Visions
4x Manamorphose
4x Gifts Ungiven
2x Past in Flames
2x Remand
2x Peer Through Depths
2x Grapeshot
1x Empty the Warrens
Lands 18
4x Spirebluff Canal
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
2x Island
1x Mountain
1x Snow Covered Island
1x Misty Rainforest
1x Polluted Delta
1x Flooded Strand
1x Hallowed Fountain
Sideboard 15
3x Lightning Bolt
2x Blood Moon
2x Empty the Warrens
2x Dispel
2x Wear//Tear
1x Swan Song
1x Cyclonic Rift
1x Echoing Truth
1x Dismember
Round 1: Affinity (2-0)
Game 1:
I am on the draw and I keep a hand with a couple cantrips and a goblin electromancer. He plays turn 1 Vault Skirge and a I spin my wheels a little bit. He plays a turn 2 signal pest and memnite and passes. I cantrip again drawing a grapshot and play a land tap and pass. He swings in for some damage and plays a etched champion. I play my elctromancer then cast manamorphose...he responds with a glavanic blast and I cast grapeshot and nuke his board except for the etched champion. He swings in a couple more times and I eventually end of turn gifts and proceed to go off.
Game 2 (Out: 2x Remand, 1x Goblin Electromancer, 1x Simian Spirit Guide, 1x Sleight of Hand. In: 3x Lightning Bolt, 2x Wear//Tear)
I keep a hand with an enabler a wear/tear lightning bolt and few lands and a cantrip. He plays a turn 1 ornothopter and springleaf drum. I cantrip and find a ritual and stack a gifts on top. He plays a turn 2 cranial plating and hits me for a couple points. I draw play my land a pass. he plays etched champion and tries to attack with the ornothopter, but I kill his plating. I then play some lands and cantrip of the next few turns bolting his non etched champion threat. Eventually I do the same thing and end of turn gifts for the win.
Round 2: Bant Knightfall (2-1)
Game 1:
This game went pretty quick and easy. He later told me that he has never played against storm and it was apparent as he let me play a turn 2 baral and then he tapped out to play a knight and I storm him out a turn 3.
Game 2: (Out: 2x Remand, 1x Simian Spirit Guide, 1x Sleight of Hand, 1x Goblin Electromancer, 1x Peer Through Depths In: 3x Lightning Bolt, 1x Dismember, 1x Cyclonic Rift, 1x Echoing Truth)
This game played out a little weird and I should have had a better shot at winning, but I "mathed" wrong. He plays a couple a mana dork and a turn 2 knight. I bolt the knight and on turn 3 I play a baral and he counters it with a spell queller. He then plays a scavenging ooze and eats some of my stuff. I kill dismember his spell queller and cast my baral. I cast a ritual and he responds with a path. I respond with a manamorphose and then I gifts for the normal mana package plus a grapeshot. I was choked on blue mana at this point and he gives me the rituals. I begin to count and think that I had enough to past in flames and have enough mana floating to play out my rituals and possibly win. I start to play out this line and realize that I only have 5 mana floating, which is 1 short of what I needed. He then picks apart my graveyard and kills me.
Game 3: (Same sideboard plan)
This game was pretty fast as well. I cantrip and load up my hand and at the end of turn 4 I gifts for the mana package. He taps out to play spell queller (I knew he had this based on how he was playing). I already had a rital, baral and grapeshot in hand so I play my land, play baral, cast ritual then grapeshot his spell queller and cast my gifts. At this point is was pretty deterministic and I storm off.
Round 3 Grixis Deathshadow (0-2)
Game 1:
This game was disappointing as I think I could have won if I drew slightly better. I keep a hand of electromancer, 2 rituals, land serum visions, gifts and something else (can't remember). He thoughtseizes my gifts away and I serum putting an empty on top. He thoughtseizes my electromancer and plays a death's shadow. I draw and make 8 goblins. He then plays another shadow and an angler. At this point the shadows are 3/3's and he swings in with the team for a couple of turns and I try to chip shot him, but all I drew were lands 4 turns in a row. Finally, I draw a peer through depths, but that is promptly stubborn denialed. Eventually, he overwhelmed me and I had to chump all my goblins away. I feel that if I drew slightly better then I could have gotten there.
Game 2: (Out: 2x Remand, 1x Simian Spirit Guide, 1x Goblin Electromancer, 1x Sleight of Hand, 1x Past in Flames In: 2x Blood Moon, 2x Dispel, 2x Empty the Warrens)
This was another game that really was disappointing. I start out with a very mediocre 7 card hand of like 3 lands, blood moon, empty, grapeshot, gifts. I mulligan to 6 and I have a no lander. Go to 5 and have the best 5 card hand....few cantrips and some lands. He strips my hand and plays a turn 2 Tasigur. I muster up a small goblin army and he plays an engineered explosives. I'm hellbent and it didn't take long for him to beat me with Tasigur.
Round 4: Grixis Deathshadow (2-0)
Game 1:
This was a funny game...I don't remember much but it he was spinning his tires a little bit and didn't deploy a threat for a few turns...eventually landing a Tasigur and a 2/2 shadow. I was able to make 8 goblins and I had a hand of 2 PiF. I draw a manamorphose into baral and played PiF and generated enough mana to make 12 more goblins...it was pretty much over after that.
Game 2: (Same sideboard plan as previous game)
I have a hand of 2 Lands, Ritual, Blood Moon and some random stuff. I keep that hand since it can turn 2 blood moon. He turn 1 serum visions...I play a land. He turn 2 thoughtscours and plays an untapped water grave. I play my 2nd land...cast ritual...cast blood moon. He stares at his hand for a while and I can already tell that he doesn't have a stubborn denial. It resolves and 2 turns later he concedes.
Round 5: Burn (2-0)
3rd round in a row where I am unfavored by a fairly wide margin. Anyway, I keep a hand that is pretty decent with an electromancer, ritual, gifts, remand, serum visions and 2 lands. Im on the play and I visions getting another land and putting a manamorphose on top. He starts out suspending a rift bolt. I play may 2nd land and hold up remand...he bolts me and tries to cast an eidolon. I remand it and draw a card. I play my 3rd land and cast my goblin electromancer. He replays eidolon and passes. I draw another ritual and cast a ritual then cast my grapshot targeting his eidolon. I then precede to go off.
Game 2: (Out: 2x Remand, Simian Spirit Guide, Sleight of Hand, Empty the Warrens In: 3x Lightning Bolt, 2x Wear//Tear)
This one was underwhelming...I keep a decent hand with a bolt. He mulligans to 6 and plays a turn 2 eidolon. I bolt it and continue to sculpt my hand with cantrips. He floods out and I eventually storm him out around turn 6 or 7.
Take Aways
I love this deck! It is very good and super consistent...I felt that all of my opponents felt play scared and uncertain, which certainly worked to my advantage. I also realized that grixis death's shadow is a very hard matchup and I need to get super lucky to win. Even when you are on the empty plan it is still very difficult since they bring in explosives and/or izzet staticaster. I personally don't feel that pieces of the puzzle and empty the warrens is enough or even the right direction....I don't know what else to do and maybe I should just chalk it up to an extremely bad matchup. On the other hand, burn doesn't feel like a horrible matchup...if we can't answer an eidolon its unwinnable, but after game 1 I have 5 cards that can kill it. The only time I can't outrace burn is when they have those creature hands...other than that I feel like it is, at the very least, a 50-50 matchup. I also realized that any creature based deck like affinity and company decks are so favorable and if devoted druid becomes more popular storm is really going to be in a better spot.
Simian Spirit Guide in theory makes a lot of sense, but it literally did not impact a single game and hasn't for the past 2 weeks. I might just cut it for another peer through depths or remand.
Hope you all enjoyed the write up!
After a record of 3 - 6 with my own playgroup, I ground out many many many rounds by myself (the cool part about this deck is you can train alone, and just make the best decisions on the goldfish's part to make your own life hard), and watched a lot of videos too.
Finally, I brought the deck to FNM. This is my list:
4 Goblin Electromancer
4 Baral, Chief of Compliance
Combo (6)
4 Gifts Ungiven
2 Past in Flames
Cantrips (11)
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Serum Visions
1 Peer through Depths
2 Remand
Ramp (12)
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Pyretic Ritual
4 Manamorphose
2 Grapeshot
1 Empty the Warrens
Tech (2)
1 Apostle's Blessing
1 Noxious Revival
Lands (18)
3 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
2 Sulfur Falls
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
4 Thing in the Ice
2 Pyroclasm
1 Shatterstorm
1 Dismember
1 Into the Roil
3 Blood Moon
1 Empty the Warrens
2 Negate
I went 3-0 against the Gifts Storm, Eldratron and Elves. I'm typing from memory and you know how that is. If you see something illogical, please point it out and I'll squeeze those brain cells again.
VS Gifts Storm:
I win the die roll. He goes off first on his turn 3, putting 12 goblins on the board to my 1 baral. I don't have the pieces to go off on my turn 3, but apparently that was the gas in his hand expended, because he has little else to do but swing. My Baral blocks a token, and then I go off next turn, but my finisher is 23 copies of grapeshot, so I win this race.
Sideboarding: 4 Thing in the Ice, 1 Dismember, 1 Negate IN,
2 Remands, 1 Electromancer, 1 Noxious Revival, 1 Sleight of Hand, 1 Peer through Depths OUT.
Reasoning: I know lots of Storm decks like to bring in Bolts and the mirror would be no exception since it catches the reducers, so I bring in Thing which I know will be an issue. I also hedge on the fact that Stormers would board out bounce spells in the mirror since u usually just want to kill the reducer dead, meaning there would be no outs to my Thing.
Game 2 I get stuck on 2 lands while his draws are more or less smooth. I threaten a remand that I don't have for quite a few turns, but eventually he has mana to even play through that and he goes off. A noteworthy moment was his Baral facing off my Electromancer, and he bolted my mancer. I responded with a manaless Dismember, which bought me a turn. Too bad I didn't draw the lands I needed to capitalize on that turn.
Game 3 I win with the Thing plan, having drawn 2. The appearance of Thing clearly takes my opponent by surprise. Dealing with Thing requires Dismember or Grapeshot at 4 storm, which he doesn't have. A noteworthy moment was a Gifts that I cast with no reducer in hand, and I wanted one, BAD. I'd sided out noxious, so baral/mancer/noxious was off the menu. I thought really hard, and this was what I presented: Mancer, Blessing, Past, Morphose. I wanted him to think I was only pulling 1 reducer and protection for redundancy and that I was holding Baral. He bought the bluff and gave me the Mancer. I gifts again putting the Thing at 1, and bring out the standard package. He considers the board, then scoops.
VS Eldratron
This should be an easy MU but I actually lose the game to chalice on 2. The trouble actually started with a chalice on 1, which didn't suck too bad other than blanking the sleight in my hand, but then I drew no gas other than rituals and then on turn 4 he slammed a chalice on 2. I didn't waste any time and picked up my cards, which in hindsight actually let me win this. I saw: Matter Reshaper, Basilisk Collar, Chalice.
Sideboarding: 3 blood moons, 1 shatterstorm, 2 Negate IN,
1 Sleight, 2 Remand, 1 Apostle's blessing, 1 Mancer, 1 Noxious Revival
Reasoning: The blood moons are straightforward, shatterstorm and negates are there to help me catch chalices. I chose to drop my 3 weakest cantrips, apostles blessing is pointless against colorless spells like Ballista, and I didnt think I would need the redundancy for the mancer effect, since they're light on removal.
Game 2 went about as smoothly as I could ask for. I landed a turn 2 Moon via ritual. A mild hiccup here as he surgicaled the pyretic i had used to cast the moon. However, with some degree of luck I proceed to make 12 goblin tokens next turn via the remaining rituals. With no colorless mana to cast his creatures, he only able to cast a ballista for 2 but its not enough to save him.
Game 3 gets pretty hairy. I don't moon him until turn 4, by which time he has used a map to get his basic waste AND a couple of mindstones out. Time is called and we're in last 5 turns. (see game 1 where I scooped quick) I'm lucky that he only lands a shaper + collar combination and gets to 23 life, which isn't a big deal when I finally get myself in the desired Gift+3 mana position, and go off. I finish the game and take the win with a double Grapeshot at storm 11 and 12.
VS Elves
I win the die roll. Turn 1 I fetch shock and serum visions. His turn 1 Heritage. Turn 2, Mancer for me. His turn 2 is crazy. Its THE elf start: tap 2 lands, cast Dwynen's Elite, tap 3 elves for 3 NETTLE SENTINELS OMFG, tap 3 sentinels for ARCHDRUID (at this point I'm like "WHAT"), the nettles untap and he taps them again to play a heritage. OK, no big deal, just 20 power on the board turn 2. His hand is literally empty. That was all 9 cards, the starting 7 and his turn 1 and 2 draws. "My goblin is slightly outnumbered I think," draws a chuckle from those watching. I take a deep breath, untap, and try to recall Caleb's plays. He's faced t2 TKS, Affinity explosions. I can do this. IIRC, my hand is something like: Morphose, Grapeshot, Gifts, Remand, Ritual. So I have no land to play this turn, but I do have a reducer. I decide that my plan is to get the druid and whatever else I can without spending more cards than I need to. So its going to be the morphose, ritual, remand and grapeshot.
I open with a Morphose, float U and R. S1 U1 R1. I draw a morphose.
Morphose. S2 U1 R2. Draw peer.
Peer. Pick up a Ritual, gonna need this later if I want to go off. S3 U0 R2.
Grapeshot, S4 U0 R1. 3 storm copies of GS. 2 target Archdruid, the extra is pointed at a Heritage.
Remand (using Island) my GS, draw a Flooded strand. Not too shabby.
The dust settles and the power opposite has been halved, and I'm down 0 cards. I got lucky with those morphose draws for sure, but I'm feeling pretty good now with 2 ritual, 3 lands in play and gifts in hand. If my reducer doesn't die, I can get the gift+3 mana next turn.
He untaps, swings for 9 leaving his heritage behind, I don't block the token with my mancer. I don't want to risk ANYTHING. His 1 draw isn't anything useful, he passes the turn and I go off. Survived an elfsplosion!
Sideboarding: 4 Thing in the Ice, 2 Pyroclasm IN,
2 Remand, 1 Empty, 1 Noxious, 1 Apostle's Blessing, 1 mancer OUT.
Reasoning: I had faced Thing Storm as an elf player before, and I knew how HORRIBLE it felt. Now I was going to be on the other end of it. Pyroclasms are... well, this is what they're here for.
I dropped Empty because a bunch of 1/1s are probably not how I'm going to win. Both remands were out, I didnt think remanding a coco or chord would be particularly appealing as opposed to just having a pyroclasm. Apostles, mancer and noxious out for the same reason they were out against Tron; sparse removals expected, redundancy and protection are overkill.
Game 2, opponent starts with a leyline of the void before laying a forest into dork. The past in flames and gifts in my hand are looking preeetty dumb right now, but I also have Thing in my hand so I don't feel too bad. I take some damage, land my first thing, block a couple turns, play a couple cantrips. With my 1st thing at 2 ice counters I draw and play a second thing and my board is mancer thing thing, which looks pretty decent opposite his mediocre board of 5 elves. I flip the first thing via rital + gifts, fetching pyroclasm, ritual, morphose, gifts. He gives me morphose and ritual. My 2nd thing is now at 2 ice counter. I swing for 7, pass. He replays his board. Over to me, I ritual into manamorphose for no reason (since past is useless) but it flips the 2nd thing. The elves disappear (oh I remember when it was done to me alright) and I swing for 14 for the game and an FNM Aether Hub.
Thoughts: I love my Thing in the Ice plan. I intend to grind some games with the list against Affinity to see if I really need those bolts or if I can stick with this plan C. My rationale is that bolts are often used to buy a little time by killing Nacatls or key creatures, but I'd rather advance my position while making a larger impact as far as delaying tactics are concerned. Thus far I'm quite pleased with it. The apostle's blessing, noxious revival and dismembers all made their impacts as well, saving reducers from bolts, grabbing me an extra ritual, making gifts for reducers possible and killing reducers for 0 mana and 4 life. I'm pretty happy with these techs and will be sticking with them.
Right now I'm thinking about whether I want to replace my Peer with a Scroll. Its a toughie, because sometimes u just really want a scroll for gifts, but last night Peer let me win by letting me grab the ritual I needed for Gifts+3mana. I suppose it boils down to the situations u find yourself in.
BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
4x Goblin Electromancer
3x Grapeshot
2x Past in Flames
4x Serum Visions
4x Sleight of Hand
4x Gifts Ungiven
4x Manamorphose
1x Noxious Revival
2x Peer Through Depths
4x Pyretic Ritual
2x Remand
3x Island
1x Mountain
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Shivan Reef
4x Spirebluff Canal
4x Steam Vents
Thanks a lot, guys!
UWR Control
BR Hollow One
Hey Atomic Empire,
I like this list for the most part however personally I would cut the [[noxious revival]] and 1 [[grapeshot]] and add 1 [[empty the warrens]] and 1 [[remand]] or [[peer through depths]]. I feel like having 3 [[grapeshot]] is unnecessary w/ the gifts package and [[noxious revival]] is more of a win more card. I say add 1 [[peer through depths]] or [[remand]] because it adds either card draw or tempo which is important while setting up your combo; also I say add 1 [[empty the warrens]] (more in sideboard if you can) because god forbid your grapeshots get surgical-ed or you get leylined and you have no way to win.
As for you land base it seems fine right now however a bit painful. I would not recommend more than 3 shocklands for this deck because you do not really need them. For me personally I usually first fetch for a basic island (if I have a cantrip) or a [[steam vents]] (tapped) T1 then fetch for red T2. If you have more [[flooded strand]] definitely add them. Usually I run 8 fetch (pref 4 [[scalding tarn]]), 4 [[spirebluff canal]], 2-3 [[steam vents]], 3-2 basics for a total of 18 lands. Also the basic mountain is usually not needed but if you run a scalding tarn might as well run 1 for the one time you need to conserve life.
Your list overall has all the core elements of a gifts storm deck. I wish you luck, and let us know how it goes at FNM. Have fun!
Modern Decks:
URGifts StormRU
UBRGrixis ShadowRBU
BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
To be honest if a deck like Grixis death shadow hits you with several discard spells early on then your chance of winning is very small...this goes for almost every deck including storm....it's why 6-8 discard spells are in this style of decks. However, If you got thoughtseized or IoK just once then you could usually hang around in those games. It comes down to whether your opponent drew well or extraordinarily well.
On another note, I tend to value hands with a lot of cantrips very highly in these matchups as it lessens the impact discard spells have on you and they allow you to set up your draws and sculpt your hand.
BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
With that said, it's not a 61st card. Don't do that. It's your 60th card. If you're making it your 61st card, just cut it and go to 60 with your current build. With Storm, don't ever go over 60. The deck plays with percentages too much for you to do that. It seems insignificant, but you're only going to screw yourself for a flex card. Noxious Revival isn't for everyone and if you're new to the deck, I'd actually leave it at home.
I actually think 3 Grapeshots are fine now. You can get a lot of natural storm wins without an enabler. It's good at picking off random creatures. I think the meta is fine for 3. The issue I see some of you is leaning WAY too hard on Gifts. Gifts is an engine but you can win without. You have a higher threat density now than in the previous storm builds because of the 8 enablers. Be proactive. You'll sneak more wins than you should by using 3.
Nimble Obstructionist isn't a problem. They need to keep 3 up. If they let me start my thing I can beat it. Countering 1 Grapeshot doesn't stop the engine. Goldfish games assuming they have it. You'll see what I mean. You just need to sequence a little tighter, but that's the type of hate that's easy to beat. Surgicial Extraction cost just 2 life and does more than this bird. It is good against Empty, however, so I'll give it that.
BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
Long version: I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel or ask a million questions on why for everything, just trying to understand some of the final cards and why they may or may not be superior to others. Please excuse my rambling until the end where I actually talk about those options.
After review of some of the most recent deck lists, as with all combo decks across all formats I think there is a general core that comprises 90%+ of the deck and typically goes unchecked.
4 Goblin Electromancer
4 Baral, Chief of Compliance
4 Gifts Ungiven
1 Past in Flames
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Serum Visions
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Pyretic Ritual
4 Manamorphose
1 Grapeshot
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Remand
I realize that many decks are now running more of PiF, Grapeshot, and Remand. I just wanted to establish that there is at least 1 of each irregardless of the pilots choices. In addition to the 36 card core above, the typical 60 card deck runs a count of 18 land, leaving 6 cards to flirt with.
So on to what I really want to discuss, I'm looking at running 2 PiF, 2 Grapeshot, and probably 2 Remand, but that's without much thought/testing. In regard to the remaining choices it seems to be a toss up. These are cards I've identified most commonly in other decks and of course the primer:
Remand - No questions in the value here with 1 or two copies, but is there consideration for more than two copies?
Merchant Scroll - There was a top finishing deck that ran 4 copies of Merchant Scroll, from what I can tell providing 4 additional paths to Gifts or Remand, basically trying to provide more a consistent early win. Am I correct in thinking that is the purpose of running any copies of Merchant Scroll MD?
Peer Through Depths - also shows up frequently, and usually never more than a quantity of 2. This seems to be just a tool for a little extra digging, yes?
Thought Scour - is a card I actually like. I saw a group of MTGO players running this and swore by it. Brings digging, some synergy with PiF.
Just looking for more thoughts on why some pilots choose these cards over the others.
UBR ANT
R Burn
GB/GR/GW/G Karn Tron
GW Aura
RW Burn
BWR Kaalia of the Vast
UWR Narset, Enlightened Master
GWR Uril, the Miststalker
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
3 Shivan Reef
2 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Mountain
Rituals (12)
4 Pyretic Ritual
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Manamorphose
4 Baral, Chief of Compliance
3 goblin Electromancer
Cantrips (12)
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
3 Remenad
1 Thought Scour
Engine (6)
4 Gifts Ungiven
2 Past in Flames
Wincon (3)
2 Grapeshot
1 Empty the Warrens
2 Merchant Scroll
2 Echoing Truth
1 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Empty the Warrens
3 Blood Moon
3 Dispel
4 Lightning Bolt
Round 1: Burn 1-2
Game 1: He burns me out while I dig for a reducer. Nothing remarkable here, Burn did what Burn does.
IN: 2x Empty the Warrens, 3x Dispel
OUT: 3x Remand, 2x Merchant Scroll
Game 2: I went for a turn 2 Goblin swarm and won off the back of a small horde of goblins. No problems here other than him coming close-ish to the kill.
Game 3: Mull to 5 off a no-land 7 and an all-land 6. Kept a pretty bad 5 (something like Empty, Dispel, Land, Land, reducer) but it was probably better than any 4 I could have kept.
Round 2: Mono R Goblin Tribal 0-2
Game 1: Kept a hand missing just a reducer effect, but I had the cantrips to hopefully get me there. No luck, got beat to death by gobbos.
IN: 4x Lightning Bolt, 2x Echoing Truth
OUT: 3x Remand, 2x Merchant Scroll, 1x Thought Scour
Game 2: Started off strong, but misplayed pretty hard. I started to go off, he bolted my 'mancer, I attempted to go off in response to get as much value as I could. I could have stopped at one point and probably had enough mana left over to continue going off by flashing things back, but I got greedy and went for a second gifts in response before realizing that I wouldn't have enough mana to cast PiF and then flash things back with a dead Electromancer. Live and learn!
Round 3: Blue Steel 2-0
Game 1: So... I didn't get to see much of this guy's deck, and it looked like it could have been a super cool brew... if I hadn't gone off on him turn three. He tapped out to cast an Etherium Sculptor and one other thing, and there was nothing keeping me from just grapeshotting his face.
IN: 2x Echoing Truth, 1x Hurkyl's Recall, 1x Empty
OUT: 2x Remand, 1x Merchant Scroll, 1x Thought Scour
Game 2: Again, he had time to cast (and swing with) a looter scooter, but I went off on turn three for the second time that night. I honestly felt a bit bad, but sometimes you just get the nut. Twice in a row.
Round 4: STORM MIRROR (2-0... kinda)
Game 1: So, at this point I was in a position where it wasn't possible for me to prize out even if I won 2-0 against this guy. He was 2-1 and got the pairdown, so we just played friendlies and he took the win on the sheet. Anyhow, game 1 I actually managed to go off turn two with Ritual, Morphose, 'Mancer, etc. He just laughed and shook his head.
IN: 1x Quicken, courtesy of the shop.
OUT: 1x Thought Scour
Game 2: "But CthuluHoop, there's no Quicken in your sideboard!" Yeah, I know. The shop gave us each a single Quicken to side in. I was planning to Merchant Scroll for it just to scare him... but it was just kinda chilling in my opening hand. Along with a Grapeshot. Landed turn 2 'mancer, proceeded to legit brick on rituals until he went off... giving me the chance to live the dream with a Quickened Grapeshot. Felt good.
Anyhow, I'm decently happy with how the night went. Two bad matchups in a row, an easy matchup, and then just a fun game of magic to close things out. If you have any suggestions at all on how to update my sideboard against a fairly open meta, please feel free to send them my way!
UBRGDredge
Under Construction
WUBAd Nauseam
I personally am running Merchant Scroll at the moment. Initially I was using them just to have extra virtual copies of Gifts/sideboard cards... but honestly it just hasn't performed well. I'm personally thinking of switching to 2x Peer instead, and keeping the singleton Thought Scour.
UBRGDredge
Under Construction
WUBAd Nauseam
How do you think Merchant Scroll performed? I noticed your first 2 MU's you boarded both copies out, your 3rd MU you boarded 1 out.
Do you think more copies of Thought Scour may have been better?
Asking as these are the cards I'm trying to do a little digging on to see peoples thoughts.
::EDIT:: Just saw your 2nd post, didn't realize it was you. You answered my question before asking. hah
UBR ANT
R Burn
GB/GR/GW/G Karn Tron
GW Aura
RW Burn
BWR Kaalia of the Vast
UWR Narset, Enlightened Master
GWR Uril, the Miststalker