I'm likely to try and just go super narrow on my sideboard spots this week. Something like 4 Brutality, 3 Negate, 1 Dispel, 3 Crumble, 2 Disdainful stroke, 2 Damnation along with 3 fields in the main and just expect to see no other decks in the room. One thing that has helped me a little in casual games against them was going back to ancestral vision (zero jace and one search) purely for the sake of mana efficiency.
Jace really helps a ton if you can walk into an empty board against those matches but you don't typically have the ability to tap out so early and expect to survive. At least with AV you can cross your fingers that you can interact enough to get there and keep the ball rolling so to speak.
Speaking of the upcoming hate artifact in dominaria I wonder if it will become correct to side them in along side of dispels to stop their nature's claims? Being able to shut them down even if you're on the draw if great and if you're on the play you can stop T3 tron with protection. /Speculation
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And on that day, Garfield said unto the world "Go ye forth and durdle!"
Hey mates, how dyall feel against UW control? is it a favorable match or not?
Sharing my decklist and sideboard guide for this one, as I feel it's slightly favored, but I somehow managed to be beaten to death today by it.
Deck: grixis control.dec
Counts : 60 main / 15 sideboard
Creatures:7
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Spells:29
2 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Spell Snare
4 Thought Scour
1 Countersquall
1 Dreadbore
2 Logic Knot
2 Search for Azcanta
1 Terminate
4 Kolaghan's Command
4 Cryptic Command
1 Damnation
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Lands:24
1 Blood Crypt
2 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Field of Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
2 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
How are people doing in more competitive environments? The last week or so has been pretty rough on MTGO for me. BBEs and Blood Moons everywhere. Tron is manageable, but this "diverse" BBE meta is hurting the corner turn. I am even considering jumping on Jeskai for a bit to prepare for an SCG Team Event.
ponza and tron are giving me nightmares, but I've managed yesterday to beat burn, mardu, UW control and humans...
I'm thinking about increasing the number of main countersqualls, as they're great against tron, any thoughts?
Current sideboard (my main list is posted, only recent change was +1 EE -1 damnation)
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Dispel
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Collective Brutality
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Anger of the Gods
ponza and tron are giving me nightmares, but I've managed yesterday to beat burn, mardu, UW control and humans...
I'm thinking about increasing the number of main countersqualls, as they're great against tron, any thoughts?
Current sideboard (my main list is posted, only recent change was +1 EE -1 damnation)
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Dispel
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Collective Brutality
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Anger of the Gods
edited once
I've actually been going between 2 negate and 2 mana leak lately. Leak has been surprisingly good and helps a ton against ponza, once they have enough mana to play around it either you're dead or you have enough mana for snap/knot/cryptic and you don't mind being "down" a card. I've also traded my SB dispels for some combination of strokes and extra negates for the same reasons of tron and BM decks. Amusingly your listed SB isn't far off of the typical one that I run which is kinda cute. My area is heavily saturated with BM decks and boggles so I've had to throw a few extra EE/Ratchet bombs into my side which is super feel bad, but it does get the job done if that's a primary concern.
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And on that day, Garfield said unto the world "Go ye forth and durdle!"
So what happens vs leylines or rest in peace? Hope to cryptic bounce and then thoughtseize? I can't see the deck getting very far without snapcaster or flipped azcanta for CA? And sanctity is rough as it turns off Jace ultimate and burn to the dome.
Or am I overthinking how much these cards hurt?
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Modern
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
The one thing that interests me is no search for Azcanta. But I guess he wanted to play mostly at instant speed save for a few sorcery speed finishers. Surely one is better than the 4th electrolyze. Think of milling think twice, that value.
So what happens vs leylines or rest in peace? Hope to cryptic bounce and then thoughtseize? I can't see the deck getting very far without snapcaster or flipped azcanta for CA? And sanctity is rough as it turns off Jace ultimate and burn to the dome.
Or am I overthinking how much these cards hurt?
It looks like he just wanted to play with some of his pet cards. I'm surprised there's no teachings.
He's never beating an average hand from burn or tron.
Obviously enchantments are strong vs grixis. You can't really solve that. Playing delve creatures to beat leyline is bad vs rest in peace. He was hoping to dodge it.
I recently faced Burn, RG eldrazi, dredge and jeskai traft. The burn matchup was OK (using 2 dispel 3 collective brutality, managed a 2-0), against dredge I think I should mulligan more aggressively (went 1-2), against RG eldrazi I was smashed to death and against traft I was 'bogled' to death (the remands make this matchup extra hard, and post-sideboard RIPs hurt as well. Hasn't been a good week...
How do we feel in relation to Damping Sphere? 2/3 SB?
I want to try Precognition Field so bad, even if it ends up sucking...
Hey guys, I was playing UR Pyro for a bit until eventually deciding to move back to Grixis Control, but decided to try something a bit different. Taking inspiration from Mardu Pyromancer, this is a very tap-out heavy list that's designed to use discard to clear removal and disrupt aggressive strategies before dropping a Young Pyromancer or delve fatty into play.
It feels like it turns the corner a bit more aggressively than classic Grixis lists tend to, mostly because you don't have to wait to hold up countermagic after stripping away your opponent's removal spells.
I only just took it for it's first spin tonight, going 3-1, which isn't terrible. Wins against Ad Naus, Jeskai Control, and a close win against Affinity. Lost to Blue Tron, which is to be mostly expected.
Mana base feels like it can be tightened a bit, going to swap out the Drowned Catacombs for Darkslick Shores when I get the opportunity to pick one up. Sideboard isn't terrible, but still a work in progress.
Recently have been playing a lot of jeskai and have been very impressed with it in the new post BBE/Jace meta. The jund matchup is pretty good (probably 60/40)- and jeskai has game against almost every deck in the format. I wanted to see if I could adapt what I'm seeing in the evolution of jeskai control and put it into grixis- I feel like grixis control has really failed to evolve- sticking with delve threats when many decks have picked up dismember or you can get liliana'd, continuing to use thought scour even though it's a terrible card that doesn't fit a real control game plan. Perhaps this is because there aren't that many pilots left on pure grixis control and many have switched to grixis shadow or other jace decks, or perhaps it's the fact that people seem to be married to corey burkhart's grixis control lists that have done so well over the past few years (not bashing corey, he is a control master). Recently I've been playing jeskai lists popularized by the likes of Ben Nikolich and Brandon Dolloway --> http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=119736 . These lists are low to the ground and mana efficient to get you through the early game, have solid mana that won't screw you often, and have excellent late game finishers in search for azcanta, jace, manlands, and recurred burn with snapcaster. Overall the lists feel very dialed in.
So why not grixis?
While jeskai certainly has some nicer tools than grixis does versus certain aspects of the metagame (path to exile, lightning helix, secure the wastes, supreme verdict probably being the biggest of them), the grixis colors also have some nicer cards that are more valuable in certain matchups as well (k- command, terminate, collective brutality, surgical extraction, etc.). I've been doing some testing with a new list that tries to mirror the jeskai list in many ways and it feels great so far- here is what I've landed on
Here are the ways that the deck has been adapted:
-the mana base is designed very similarly- 4 of each blue fetch, 5 shocks, 5 basics, 3 manlands, 2 checklands, 1 field of ruin (you could stretch this to 2 if you want to give up some consistency, anything over 2 is absolutely silly for a 3 color deck with relatively greedy mana requirements).
-4 serum visions- the dig is better for a pure control list than something like thought scour that gives no card selection.
-similar suite of removal--> path is now push, electrolyze is now k command, helix is now terminate, verdict is now damnation. The numbers have been adjusted slightly here and there- but overall the concept is the same- stay low to the ground to survive the early game, allow your late game card selection and finishers do the rest.
-similar suite of countermagic--> 3 cryptics, 3 logic knots, 1 negate effect (countersquall), 1 spell snare
-similar finishers--> 2 azcanta, 2 jace, 3 manlands are core. In jeskai, potential flex slot finishers are gideon of the trials, Gideon AoZ, secure the wastes, and sphinx's rev. Personally I'm really high on secure the wastes because of it's mana cost flexibility and ability to act as an instant speed win con, as well as gideon of the trials because I think 3 mana walkers are at a premium right now.
When thinking about the 1-of win cons that grixis could bring to the table, a few cards came to mind- liliana last hope seems good because all of her abilities can be relevant, and she puts pressure on your opponent to deal with her. I could totally be off on this one, but I think scarab god is an absolute beast at the moment. He matches up well against almost all creatures in the format, he recurs himself for grindy matchups, and he ends the game extremely quickly if left unchecked- it seems like the 5 cmc is quite reasonable for all that he does and as a one of I'm not too worried about the cost.
I'd like some help with the sideboard to shore up the bad matchups (storm, tron, dredge, burn, etc.), and also am looking for some opinions as to which win cons would fit those flex slots the best in the current metagame. Any help is appreciated!
Great to have you here, could you share the list, bitte?
I`m thinking alot about Nimble obstructionist lately. Were you the one using 3x Pia and Kiran Nalaar and 3x Nimble Obstructionist?
Jace really helps a ton if you can walk into an empty board against those matches but you don't typically have the ability to tap out so early and expect to survive. At least with AV you can cross your fingers that you can interact enough to get there and keep the ball rolling so to speak.
Speaking of the upcoming hate artifact in dominaria I wonder if it will become correct to side them in along side of dispels to stop their nature's claims? Being able to shut them down even if you're on the draw if great and if you're on the play you can stop T3 tron with protection. /Speculation
Sharing my decklist and sideboard guide for this one, as I feel it's slightly favored, but I somehow managed to be beaten to death today by it.
Deck: grixis control.dec
Counts : 60 main / 15 sideboard
Creatures:7
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Spells:29
2 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Spell Snare
4 Thought Scour
1 Countersquall
1 Dreadbore
2 Logic Knot
2 Search for Azcanta
1 Terminate
4 Kolaghan's Command
4 Cryptic Command
1 Damnation
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Lands:24
1 Blood Crypt
2 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Field of Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
2 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
Sideboard:15
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Dispel
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Collective Brutality
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Anger of the Gods
And here's my SB guide:
UW Control
+2 fulminator
+2 dispel
+2 stroke
+2 extraction
+1 explosives
-3 bolt
-1 terminate
-1 damnation
-2 thought scour
-2 push
* Grixis Control A!
* Grixis Control B!
I'm thinking about increasing the number of main countersqualls, as they're great against tron, any thoughts?
Current sideboard (my main list is posted, only recent change was +1 EE -1 damnation)
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Dispel
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Collective Brutality
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Anger of the Gods
edited once
I've actually been going between 2 negate and 2 mana leak lately. Leak has been surprisingly good and helps a ton against ponza, once they have enough mana to play around it either you're dead or you have enough mana for snap/knot/cryptic and you don't mind being "down" a card. I've also traded my SB dispels for some combination of strokes and extra negates for the same reasons of tron and BM decks. Amusingly your listed SB isn't far off of the typical one that I run which is kinda cute. My area is heavily saturated with BM decks and boggles so I've had to throw a few extra EE/Ratchet bombs into my side which is super feel bad, but it does get the job done if that's a primary concern.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/modern-challenge-2018-04-01
Esper draw go Control!
Twitch stream: http://www.twitch.tv/pimpdonny
@PimpDonny seeing a cruel control making 2nd place felt really good
Or am I overthinking how much these cards hurt?
* Esper Draw-Go
* Tezzeret Whir
* Blue Tron
It looks like he just wanted to play with some of his pet cards. I'm surprised there's no teachings.
He's never beating an average hand from burn or tron.
Obviously enchantments are strong vs grixis. You can't really solve that. Playing delve creatures to beat leyline is bad vs rest in peace. He was hoping to dodge it.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/competitive-modern-constructed-league-2018-04-03
PIJIU4U's list is so similar to mine but me likes them azcantas
UB Faeries (15-6-0)
UWR Control (10-5-1)/Kiki Control/Midrange/Harbinger
UBR Cruel Control (6-4-0)/Grixis Control/Delver/Blue Jund
UWB Control/Mentor
UW Miracles/Control (currently active, 14-2-0)
BW Eldrazi & Taxes
RW Burn (9-1-0)
I do (academic) research on video games and archaeology! You can check out my open access book here: https://www.sidestone.com/books/the-interactive-past
How do we feel in relation to Damping Sphere? 2/3 SB?
I want to try Precognition Field so bad, even if it ends up sucking...
It feels like it turns the corner a bit more aggressively than classic Grixis lists tend to, mostly because you don't have to wait to hold up countermagic after stripping away your opponent's removal spells.
I only just took it for it's first spin tonight, going 3-1, which isn't terrible. Wins against Ad Naus, Jeskai Control, and a close win against Affinity. Lost to Blue Tron, which is to be mostly expected.
Mana base feels like it can be tightened a bit, going to swap out the Drowned Catacombs for Darkslick Shores when I get the opportunity to pick one up. Sideboard isn't terrible, but still a work in progress.
Thoughts?
1 Gurmag Angler
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Instants
3 Fatal Push
3 Kolaghan's Command
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Terminate
4 Thought Scour
Sorceries
3 Ancestral Vision
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Serum Visions
2 Thoughtseize
1 Blood Crypt
1 Drowned Catacomb
2 Field of Ruin
2 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
2 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Collective Brutality
1 Damnation
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Mana Leak
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Thoughtseize
So why not grixis?
While jeskai certainly has some nicer tools than grixis does versus certain aspects of the metagame (path to exile, lightning helix, secure the wastes, supreme verdict probably being the biggest of them), the grixis colors also have some nicer cards that are more valuable in certain matchups as well (k- command, terminate, collective brutality, surgical extraction, etc.). I've been doing some testing with a new list that tries to mirror the jeskai list in many ways and it feels great so far- here is what I've landed on
1x Blood Crypt
3x Creeping Tar Pit
1x Drowned Catacomb
1x Field of Ruin
3x Island
1x Mountain
4x Polluted Delta
4x Scalding Tarn
2x Steam Vents
1x Sulfur Falls
1x Swamp
2x Watery Grave
3x Cryptic Command
3x Fatal Push
2x Kolaghan's Command
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Logic Knot
1x Spell Snare
2x Terminate
1x Collective Brutality
2x Damnation
4x Serum Visions
2x Search for Azcanta Flip
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
4x Snapcaster Mage
1x The Scarab God
1x Ceremonious rejection
1x Collective Brutality
1x Disdainful Stroke
2x Dispel
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Vendilion Clique
Here are the ways that the deck has been adapted:
-the mana base is designed very similarly- 4 of each blue fetch, 5 shocks, 5 basics, 3 manlands, 2 checklands, 1 field of ruin (you could stretch this to 2 if you want to give up some consistency, anything over 2 is absolutely silly for a 3 color deck with relatively greedy mana requirements).
-4 serum visions- the dig is better for a pure control list than something like thought scour that gives no card selection.
-similar suite of removal--> path is now push, electrolyze is now k command, helix is now terminate, verdict is now damnation. The numbers have been adjusted slightly here and there- but overall the concept is the same- stay low to the ground to survive the early game, allow your late game card selection and finishers do the rest.
-similar suite of countermagic--> 3 cryptics, 3 logic knots, 1 negate effect (countersquall), 1 spell snare
-similar finishers--> 2 azcanta, 2 jace, 3 manlands are core. In jeskai, potential flex slot finishers are gideon of the trials, Gideon AoZ, secure the wastes, and sphinx's rev. Personally I'm really high on secure the wastes because of it's mana cost flexibility and ability to act as an instant speed win con, as well as gideon of the trials because I think 3 mana walkers are at a premium right now.
When thinking about the 1-of win cons that grixis could bring to the table, a few cards came to mind- liliana last hope seems good because all of her abilities can be relevant, and she puts pressure on your opponent to deal with her. I could totally be off on this one, but I think scarab god is an absolute beast at the moment. He matches up well against almost all creatures in the format, he recurs himself for grindy matchups, and he ends the game extremely quickly if left unchecked- it seems like the 5 cmc is quite reasonable for all that he does and as a one of I'm not too worried about the cost.
I'd like some help with the sideboard to shore up the bad matchups (storm, tron, dredge, burn, etc.), and also am looking for some opinions as to which win cons would fit those flex slots the best in the current metagame. Any help is appreciated!
fulminators is pretty classic sideboard tech, especially with recursion baked into your MD.
edit: oh yeah and slaughter pact seems juicy with jace.
UWGSnow-Bant Control
BURGrixis Death's Shadow
GWBCoCo Elves
WCDeath and Taxes(sold)Great to have you here, could you share the list, bitte?
I`m thinking alot about Nimble obstructionist lately. Were you the one using 3x Pia and Kiran Nalaar and 3x Nimble Obstructionist?
edit> I found the list you were using 5 days ago
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-ubr-48603#paper
* Grixis Control A!
* Grixis Control B!
Main:
1 Blood Crypt
4 Polluted Delta
2 Island
4 Scalding Tarn
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Creeping Tar Pit
2 Watery Grave
3 Gurmag Angler
3 Young Pyromancer
4 Thoughtseize
3 Kolaghan's Command
2 Fatal Push
2 Terminate
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Liliana of the Veil
4 Thought Scour
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
Side:
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Keranos, God of Storms
2 Collective Brutality
2 Countersquall
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Entrancing Melody
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Painful Truths
Youtube Channel
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Nimble Obstructionist
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Venser, Shaper Savant
Spells 24
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Suffer the Past
1 Fatal Push
1 Pharika's Cure
1 Magma Spray
2 Terminate
1 Shadow of Doubt
1 Mana Leak
1 Countersquall
1 Desperate Ravings
1 Search for Azcanta
1 Tribute to Hunger
1 Soul Manipulation
2 Kolaghan's Command
2 Electrolyze
2 Kozilek's Return
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Cryptic Command
1 Vraska's Contempt
3 Island
2 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Wandering Fumarole
1 Faerie Conclave
1 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
1 Steam Vents
1 Smoldering Marsh
1 Sunken Hollow
3 Polluted Delta
2 Scalding Tarn
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Desolate Lighthouse
1 Temple of Deceit
2 Field of Ruin