Everyone will tell you Rabble is gas. He's a 4-turn clock that gets under Bridge. Sometimes t1 Rabble is better than a lock piece. He's a core component.
Very true. I saw that Ray also mentioned them as key components.
Well, you talked me into it.
They're up at bat.
Is anyone else getting random error messages when trying to access this forum? sometimes it loads, and others, I get a runtime error. How are we to consult on taking over the Magic world when the server keeps going down!?!?
Is anyone else getting random error messages when trying to access this forum? sometimes it loads, and others, I get a runtime error. How are we to consult on taking over the Magic world when the server keeps going down!?!?
I've been having similar problems on and off. We keep telling you to get Discord as well most of those who post here post there as well and we have had the same discussion about the short comings of sarkhan where we have reached a consensus that yes he is great in a grindy meta but leaves much to be wanted in an aggro one.
I'm on Discaord as of an hour ago!!! Been chatting with Caligua on there. I'm hesistant to make the the official place to post stuff because I think this forum here is amazing and the ability to go back and read tournament reports and strategy is pretty simple.
Shoutouts to Raystack for being the supportive old sport as always! Glad to know you enjoyed both my long(ish) article of sorts and the follow up with the new deck list. You mentioned giving the extra land (here: Buried Ruin) a go - how's that feel for you? I did notice a missing Ritual in your decklist, intentional or did you swap one-for-one? Not a bad idea. But the numbers fanatic I am, reducing the ritual count from 9 to 8 reduces the % of having at least 1 in your opener from 70% to 65%. Is it too big a drop - not sure. I will say having a Ritual in your starting seven very often spells the difference between a good or a mediocre hand, though. 22 lands - love the half land, half spell term - and 9 ritual effects is a lot...but we are asking a lot also from our deck, hmm?
That being said...I did run my list back and what do you know - it was another 4-1, with the loss to - drum roll - Scales Affinity. And yes, it was the finals again. Other matches were Tron, Mardu Pyromancer, Grixis DS and Bogles. OK, so Bogles is kind of a snoozefest, but DS can be tricky at times and Mardu/Tron definitely can give you a lot of trouble. So I'm happy with the results.
But that Scaleffinity really bogs me down. Isn't there anything we can do? Maybe it's time to follow Russ' lead and bring the Shattering Sprees back.
There was one change, though...I removed the Faerie Macabres and put the 3 Eidolon of the Great Revels and 1 Grafdigger's Cage back. I think Russ was the one who said it - "do we even need GY hate?" I'm starting to think no. Even the Cage is kinda questionable - it's mostly being used as a hedge against CoCo and the likes. But even then it might be just too cute, 1 CMC is also a big problem. I don't know. Maybe the slot could be freed...hmm.
As for the results - I must say Molten Rain did it again! OK, this time backed with Eidolon. Maybe 4 Molten Rains is a bit excessive...2 might be the correct number. But given the huge popularity of both Tron and Basic Lands at the moment, it's not bad. MD Angers let me win against Mardu. Hazoret is also a definite keeper in the SB.
Buried Ruin is really nice. Having the opponent make you discard your Ensnaring Bridge and then just getting it back, while they can't do anything about it...well, even if that doesn't happen it's still a land. Can't go wrong with that, right? It helps with discards, is all I'm saying.
Not hugely sold on Avaricious Dragon. I mean, it's alright, but alright's not enough. Is it better thank PnK? Bah, I dunno. Just feels...bad.
I did ask this on Discord also, but how would you feel about Blood Knight in the SB? Could be alright against UW Control and anywhere you need a blocker. Just a thought. Might try it.
@Revenged -- You and I think very similarly. Which is of course to say, there's a lot more mountain for us to climb - improvement needed When you posted your main deck 'stock list', I noticed it is almost exactly the same as what I've been running. Except: I'm +1 Walking Ballista and you're +1 Pyretic Ritual, and as for Land: I'm +1 Mutavault and you're +1 Mountain - oh, and I'm running ramunap ruins - small difference there. ALSO on similarity, you took out my Version 1.0 Trash Dragons build for a 5-0 finish in a friendly, and accurately broke down its accelerated mechanics in a succinct article.
Aaaanyway. About the deck and the cards. I must say I didn't really miss the Eidolons or the Scabbies at all. I know - my wins against UW were quite lucky, but hey, that's what you need right? The issues with those is that they don't actually win you the game against Control. They are great with Combo (and Burn) but Control...uhh not really. A Moon and a Rabble is where it's at. Protected by a Chalice, that is. It's a bit of a tall order, but what can you do. I'd rather Moon them and wait for a threat - any will do! Even a Monkey will do the job. So - I do understand the rationale behind leaving them behind altogether, to clear up space for additional SB cards. I like this - a lot.
Shinka is spicy. It's an extremely corner case a card (only Piran?? Haz is useless in 99% of scenarios) but whatever. The deck isn't running Koth so who cares. Normally I also don't like 21 lands (I strongly believe you need more) but here 11 Rituals and 3 Sarkhans accompanied by 2 Avaricious do wonders. This will enable a powered-out lockpiece almost always - and Sarkhan and The Pet will take care of digging into more. This is a completely new angle in PP - one that's been missing a long time. Love it.
The rest of the deck is quite straightforward - freeing up SB slots enables more answers. Toolbox is a very good approach I think. It leaves a lot of room to have an answer to pretty much anything. Obviously I didn't need even half of that stuff in my matches - but that's fine! I didn't feel I was lacking anything either.
What I'd change - hmm, too early to say. I might go ahead and switch 1 Piran with a Bringer of Glory - but IDK. The list is pretty solid as it is. Maaaaybe I would dedicate a slot or two for Control...a Ricochet Trap or a Boil? Ray mentioned that he took out the Chainwhirler for a 4th Anger - a sound strat. I do like having a blocker against Mardu - but is an Anger better? Maybe. Ratchet Bomb is kinda sticking out like a sore thumb as well - never really found much use for it. But I do see that sometimes there is one.
So, yeah, like Sam Kinnison once told Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School the movie: "Good Answer. Good Answer. I like the way you think. I'll be watching you.”
Rodney: ‘Great professor. He really seems to care. About what? I have no idea.’
You noted the (8) Rituals - yeah, I'm with you nowadays. I've brought in the single Pyretic and dropped the Anger of the Gods count to (2). Fluffy just 5-0 again with (4) Anger in the MD, so it's a matchup dependent gamble either way - but, hey 4 worked for him, and you're doing 3. Sideboard: my 15th card is Grafdigger's cage - noticed you are up/down on that one too. Tough call, but I think it's kind of a 1/2 Anger of the Gods play, and it hurts Vizier/Coco - Dredge - Animator - Mardu...enough other decks.
As for the Hardened Scales Affinity Matchup, and our struggles against it? One Word: Shatterstorm Yup. Burn it allllll down. Fluffy has bopped one into his sideboard here and there, and it's always been on my mind (one of my absolute favorite cards from Antiquities). The rise of KCI made it a potential consideration. Affinity out there, sure, so there's that. Then? Hardened Scales Affinity.
These 3 decks are juggernauts. Shattering Spree can't contain them, never mind the 'replicate' sequencing nightmare in MODO once they start arcbound ravager saccing. Burn it all down, and nothing lives and nothing regenerates. I've got one in my sideboard. It's a doomsday device, but it should turn a game that's gone out of hand right back into a potential win. Heck! Ain't like we don't play a ton of non-combo spells already. 1 More on the Big Board!!!
Try a 2nd hazoret over the dragon in the main deck and let me know how that goes.
Oh man - this is EXACTLY what I ended up doing after spreading the 75 ahead of me and doing some thinking. But you mean have one more in the SB as well? Hmm. Might work? Have to test it.
@Revenged -- You and I think very similarly. Which is of course to say, there's a lot more mountain for us to climb - improvement needed When you posted your main deck 'stock list', I noticed it is almost exactly the same as what I've been running. Except: I'm +1 Walking Ballista and you're +1 Pyretic Ritual, and as for Land: I'm +1 Mutavault and you're +1 Mountain - oh, and I'm running ramunap ruins - small difference there. ALSO on similarity, you took out my Version 1.0 Trash Dragons build for a 5-0 finish in a friendly, and accurately broke down its accelerated mechanics in a succinct article. So, yeah, like the professor Sam Kinnison once told his student Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School the movie: "Good Answer. Good Answer. I like the way you think. I'll be watching you."
Right, so! Exact card choices don't matter, as long as the "core" stays quite intact. Mutavault, Mountain, Ruins...what does it matter. They are all going to be Mountains anyway as the game goes on, right? And yessss...Trash Dragons is da bomb. I'm kinda hesitant on taking it to a big tournament with an unknown meta due to its inherent inconsistency, but it's absolutely superb for goldfishing leagues. Oh yeah.
You noted the (8) Rituals - yeah, I'm with you nowadays. I've brought in the single Pyretic and dropped the Anger of the Gods count to (2). Fluffy just 5-0 again with (4) Anger in the MD, so it's a matchup dependent gamble either way - but, hey 4 worked for him, and you're doing 3. Sideboard: my 15th card is Grafdigger's cage - noticed you are up/down on that one too. Tough call, but I think it's kind of a 1/2 Anger of the Gods play, and it hurts Vizier/Coco - Dredge - Animator - Mardu...enough other decks.
OK, so. 22 lands + 9 rituals - looks like we're on the same boat on that indeed. The number of MD/SB sweepers should be 2/2, 3/1 or 4/0. I'm going to go ahead and say the first or the second option is the correct one...
But. Grafdigger's Cage. Let's give this one a bit more thought. It is a card - and it does things. Not saying that. But, to my mind, a SB slot is something that should, if not completely win you the match, at least tilt the game very strongly in your favour. Cage does neither. I'll explain.
CoCo decks are somewhat hurt by it, but it's still a very steep uphill climb. Let's say you play it immediately and they can't Collected Company/Chord of Calling. What happens, is that they will switch gears and start grinding value with Tireless Trackers and whatnot. If, and only if, you also have a Blood Moon AND they miss their basics AND they miss on their Birds/Hierarchs - you might have a chance. Cage by itself, does very little. I think the only way to win this fight is to go all in on threats, and pray.
Dredge - yes. It prevents GY shenanigans. But this MU is already good for us, so there's that. An additional hedge is not really needed, if we're already running Bridges and Angers. Speaking of which, at least one of either is still going to needed, since they can just hardcast their threats. Actually, I kinda group Dredge, Vengevine and Hollow One together. What's common among them is a Cage DOES slow them all down considerably by turning off their Plan A. All that being said, this/these matchup(s) is/are the one scenario where I kinda understand wanting a Cage. But is it enough to warrant an actual SB slot...uhh IDK.
Reanimator. OK - this is one matchup where the Cage really does shine. But still, it's nothing an Ensnaring Bridge and a Damping Matrix can't handle. It does fit the criteria of "be a silver bullet or bust", though. The thing is, this deck is quite rare to encounter nowadays - I can't even remember the last time I've seen it? Should we really be preparing for a random encounter? It's not like the slots in the SB are a dime a dozen, yes?
And the last one, Mardu Pyromancer. Hum. Faithless Looting and Lingering Souls are now un-flashbackable. And that's pretty much it. It's not like they can't still cast them, only the backside has a stop sign slapped on them. I don't think they care at all. This is also one game where you bring in all the threats and none of the fear. No guts, no glory.
So what's left? Storm, maybe...but I'd much rather have a Witchbane Orb since it helps a LOT with other decks as well. I suppose there are others but yeah. I'm sorry Cage. It's not really working out with us. I think it's time to let go.
As for the Hardened Scales Affinity Matchup, and our struggles against it? One Word: Shatterstorm Yup. Burn it allllll down. Fluffy has bopped one into his sideboard here and there, and it's always been on my mind (one of my absolute favorite cards from Antiquities). The rise of KCI made it a potential consideration. Affinity out there, sure, so there's that. Then? Hardened Scales Affinity.
These 3 decks are juggernauts. Shattering Spree can't contain them, never mind the 'replicate' sequencing nightmare in MODO once they start arcbound ravager saccing. Burn it all down, and nothing lives and nothing regenerates. I've got one in my sideboard. It's a doomsday device, but it should turn a game that's gone out of hand right back into a potential win. Heck! Ain't like we don't play a ton of non-combo spells already. 1 More on the Big Board!!!
A, WHAT. That's uhh...wow. Bringing out the big guns, are you? No, don't get me wrong, that might be the road to take indeed. They can't even use their Welding Jars! OK - I'm gonna go out on a limb and try the following list, based on all the ideas getting throwed around here.
@Revenged: Tight. We'll disagree here and there, but that's the point of a discussion forum. I do think that splashing non-basics into the mix are a definite need. I am totally behind a single Avaricious Dragon. Depending on the aggressiveness of the ramp in the overall build, I'm between 2-3 Sarkhan. Multiple Hazoret seems risky to me, as sideboard slots are precious and few. You'll see that I'm running 12 different options in my (15) and most of them are hammer-smash lockdown prison plays. All that said, I like what you've constructed above. I'll consider a Molten rain, but previous testing has not been positive overall.
And, finally, I'm giving the green light to both Leyline of the Void and Grafdigger's Cage as a singleton. In a given game, there are only so many turns. IF these knockabout fellas appear in the starting (7), then it's disco. So, take the chance, and pack 'em in - we have discard outlets and the cushion to adjust to the occasional dead draw.
Alllllrighty, that said. Got another 5-0 in a Modern Competitive League for y'all. It's a Trash Dragon build. TURBO Trash. (14) Ritual Effects and tons of Filter. Here She Be!
Well not today that is, but tomorrow. Finally seeing that beauty of a dragon on our banner.
So do expect some tournament report coming in this Sunday and maybe even a new banner with some fancy Pyro Prison artwork on it, if I finish 1st again.
I've decided to go into this tournament with the standard stock list slightly adjusted for our local meta. Although this time we'll probably have more random people with even more random decks, so it might be worth a shot not to pre adapt for the normal meta. But who knows?
So I'm still unsure about 2 points in this list:
1. The split of Walking Ballista, Avaricous Dragon and Pia and Kiran. Two cards to add and three amazing cards to chose from. At the moment I'm thinking 2 Ballistas to try out that Buried Ruin, but I'm not really sure about that. Your opinion on this would be great.
2. The last card for the Sideboard. I just have this one slot and I don't really know what to put in there. Here's what I'm expecting tomorrow so you guys can give me some advice:
1-3 Humans
~1 Mardu Pyro
0-1 G Tron
0-1 Storm
~1 Affinity either Scales or Homebrew close to normal
1 Death's Shadow Variant
0-1 KCI
0-1 B/R Hollow One
1+ U/W(/X) Control
1+ other Combo
And an unknown number of homebrew/random decks as we'll get some new players in tomorrow.
So what do you think? Should I make room in the board for 2 Molten Rain? Anything else you can think of? Something I am totally missing? I know this list seems random, it's just that I know what everyone's playing just not who is playing.
Anyway I'm off enjoying the afternoon here in Germany and will be back to check your answers at about 21 CEST. So read you guys then.
I think three sweepers in the main is a mistake. Fluffy and others will disagree, but 4 bridges and 3 sweepers are 7 dead cards vs tron and control. GREAT in matches where you want them, TERRIBLE in matches when you don't. In my experience, you only need two slagstorm main and two anger board. Slagstorm because vs control and tron, it's not completely useless and I've won many game 1's by slagstorming the face vs tron and control. replace the main deck anger with the Koth from the board.
2 walking ballista is a must, especially if you are expecting humans. being able to kill thalia on turn two is a BIG DEAL. The #1 way humans beats us is either we don't find a bridge or they stick a thalia.
I'm not a fan of avarciuos draogn and would personally drop him. Other have had success with it, but in my testing, it just dies really fast and often didn't do what I needed it to do, and thats stay alive for me to even untap with it. I've also moved away from P&K also for this reason. Stick to a max of 6 cards that cost 4 mana, otherwise you'll lose games because you won't be able to empty your hand fast enought. Yes,, dragon solves this problem, but It wasn't strong enough in my testing to warrant a slot. If you are playing Trash Dragons, you want dragon because you enpty your hand so fast due to all the rituals, you want to reload quick. But in a more traditional list, it's not fast enough and dies too often before you get to untap with it. I'm my testing, Hazoret is better in this slot. It can win the game (slowly) from behind a bridge, it's extremely difficult to kill, and vs tron, control, and combo, you don't have to play a bridge if you draw it. just hold the bridges in the event you draw a hazoret.
Lands, you can''t run more than 4 colorless lands in this deck. I've been playing this deck for 2 years and I get color-screwed a lot more than you would think in a mono-color deck. Pick one, scavager grounds or buried ruin. Personally, I would go with scavager grounds and a third ramunap ruins. Ruins gets you those last few points vs control and can also be sacrificed to grounds for multiple graveyard exile effects.
Lastly, sidebaord. If you take my advice and move koth to the maindeck, that'll leave you with two exra slots. YAY!! I would go with a chainwhirler and a cage. Grafdiggers cage is narrow, but very effective vs several decks, including Mardu Pyromancer that you reference. chainwhirler is a house vs mardu pyromancer, but it also good vs GW decks and humans. It's another way to deal with thalisa without paying the tax and sweeps up any noble hierachs. Overall solid card.
And just to show you that I'm not just giving you advice without taking it myself, this is the list I ran two weeks ago. went undefeated during the swiss and lost to tron in the top 8, Unfortunate, but still a solid showing. I was the #1 seed going into top 8. The only changes I would make at this point to my list would be remove P&K for a Hazoret maindeck (that'll make two in the 75).
@Araguel - try Dire Fleet Daredevil // many applications.
@Ernest - CD is the perfect splash card for my variant, as I’m basically driving a Dodge Viper - all engine. More so than a smooth ramp, I overcommit and then need adaptable answers - all 3 modes are useful. So, Abrade morphed into collective defiance.
I am very pleased with the deck design now. Elegant. I wouldn’t change anything before the next tourney. But, would encourage folks to consider Mutavault again - the 2/2 has been repeatedly effective.
Thanks Russ for the informative and backed up post. Even more information and advise than I had asked for. But that is always welcome as I am still learning the basics of specific matchups and how to use the flex slots in both Main- and Sideboard.
And thanks Ray for the suggestion, I totally forgot that Dire Fleet Daredevil was an option.
I think I‘ll follow most of Russ‘ advice, add 2 Ballista, remove the Anger in Favor of Koth and add a Chainwhirler to the Sidebord. I‘ll also add the third desert, but gonna stick with the Buried Ruin. Our local meta doesn’t use the Yard too often and I wanna see, if Ruins can really do the work and get me back something I want. But just in case I’ll throw the cage in the side and gonna start digging hard for it in Games 2 and 3. Don’t wanna lose to that random new Bridgevine or Dredge player
Maybe next time it’s the time to bust out the Pirate and see where we’ll sail from there.
Anyway thank you all for your amazing support and help. In the meantime Good Luck with your FNMs or Online Leagues and remember the most important thing:
Have fun!
Modern 1k PPTQ with 65 attendees and 7 rounds cut to top 8. Those that followed along on Twitter or Discord have the general breakdown and understand my final record. I'll talk to variance, deck decisions, and how the overall tournament went. I believe I made 1 punt, and perhaps one mulligan mistake (I can't call it a mistake though... you'll see when I get to it).
The sideboard is a little more wide ranged then noramlly online, and this is due to an 'unknown' meta and more of a "Big Event" or "GP" style sideboard. Your pieces need to be extremely impactful, but I need to be ready for a variety of matchups. There were two matchups I was afraid of going in. UW Miracles (I asked Evar0s about this matchup in Discord, a team member on streaming), and Jund. Every other matchup I felt decent at, and wouldn't mind missing KCI/Tron also, but felt those were manageable. As it is a paper matchup I will talk briefly about any observations before playing, as you can get little details. Onto the matchups!
Report
Match 1: Grixis Death Shadow
Pre-Game: Opponent is a really friendly player. You can tell he is nervous and appears to not play. In his shuffling he flips over a Temur Battle Rage. Although this does not necessairly indicate GDS, I know that Rabblemaster is non-desired in the opener. Let's shuffle up!
Game 1: I unfortunately have to mull to 5, not the best way to start off the day, and keep a hand that does not do enough. We'll just say after the 2nd Gurmag showed up on turn 4 I was dead to a Temur Battle Rage.
Game 2: This game is the game of note. My opponent basically did not respect Blood Moon. They do have a fetch land out (Bloodstained Mire) and an untapped blue source. I have the option of Blood Moon or Bridge. Feeling Bridge was more powerful I lead with Blood Moon. My opponent says "Resolves" I place on the table. My opponent declares "At your end step crack" and I tap the Blood Moon. He almost picked the deck up to look through and I said "It is a mountain you cannot fetch." My opponents punt here equaled a clear win.
Game 3: This one comes down to a Blood Moon and an eidolon. Although my opponent has a Tasigur and Angler I am able to establish a Goblin Rabble and a Eidolon. I have a few options in my hand and decide to play land and not play anything after (I have 4 lands in play, Hazoret in hand, and Chalice). The play here was to hopefully get my opponent to attack in and kill my eidolon. My life total was at 12. Opponent ends up playing their land pre-combat, swings in with everything. I immediately take the 9 damage as they are empty handed, and go to 3. Opponent activates Tasigur. Next turn land, hazoret, swing for lethal.
Match 2: Humans
Pre-Game: No indications. I have also not seen this person.
Game 1: Opponent leads with an aggressive human start. I end up ripping the Bridge off the top and lock the game out from here.
Game 2: Opponent gets a Thalia out and I just never find a 4th land.
Game 3: I am able to get a bridge down and before dying out to a Noble I find my Avaricious Dragon. Dragon + Sarkhan play the digging game while my opponent copies x2 Dragons. They were quite excited with the drawing of cards. I eventually ultimate Sarkhan and my opponent later tells me they were hoping I would not do that so they could kill my bridge. When I said "Ult Sarkhan, make 4 5/5s" my opponents eyes went wide and he said "FOUR?!" - Note, Avaricious dragon got a read from a judge as they thought I misrepresented my board state after killing a Freebooter and taking Chandra back but then putting Chandra in the graveyard. Ahhhh so many reads.
Match 3: Humans
Pre-Game: No indications. I have also not seen this person.
Game 1: Here I am able to Blood Moon my opponent. They miraculously find Island and Plains. I have them close to locked out but have a Hazoret. My gut tells me this will get copied and my opponent will win. I play the Hazoret anyway. This is my punt, next turn my opponent copies and now works off their 6 lands (yea a lot for humans...) and beats me in the Hazoret race. Hazoret mainboard lost points for me there :).
Game 2: My opponent looks to find everything on the board. My opponent finds a Meddling Mage and names Anger. I rip Slagstorm and we're good from there.
Game 3: Classic Humans - Lock them out, torpor orb concludes this game with Chandra found eventually.
Match 4: UW Miracles
Pre-Game: I know this person from a competitive LGS in town, and know this game will be played extremely tight. I also saw this person next to me Round 1. I recall they are on at least UW, did not see if they are Jeskai. Need a fast start.
Game 1: Opener after a mull of no lands leaves me with Land, x3 Simian Spirit Guide, Chandra. On the play. T1: Chandra. Opponents head goes sideways. My opponents next sets of lands are Field of Ruin, Island, Plains, mine are Mountain, Mountain, Mountain, Runamp. At my end step my opponent attempts a field of ruin to get a land, in response I ritual and sac the Desert to do 2. This gets a judge call and after the first judge indicates Field of Ruin fizzles the opponent appeals. I know this interaction works like this based on play but my opponent has heard otherwise. The appeal goes in my favor and the Field of Ruin fizzles. My opponent states "This just lost me the game." Fortunately my opponent rips their land, and a D-Sphere as Chandra is on 7. I at this time had a Sarkhan going also, and my opponent does find their 3rd blue source to cryptic. After this they move into Jace/Teferi and I lose.
Game 2: I get an early Chalice on 1. I joke with my opponent about fetching with their flooded strand the right color. They tell me they must risk it and go for Hallowed Fountain. I have a Chalice on 1, my opponent V. Cliques removing Hazoret. I top deck a Blood Moon. I'm pretty safe, my opponent has an Island and fancy Mountains. I have Chalice on 1 and Blood Moon, chandra to follow. Get her down. My opponent top decks a Plains (one of 2) and disenchants the blood moon. My next draw was chalice which was meant to go on 2. My opponent eventually tucks a Chandra that is at 7 with Teferi, and takes back the game.
Post-Game: Many people were around as this was on Table 1. Two people did say "It is nice to see 3-0s having a great conversation" and I geniuanlly ask my opponent "What are you most afraid of?" and he said "You did everything I'm afraid of. I literally just got the luckiest I have in months of magic and topped the answer or the land."
Match 5: Hollow One Bridgevine Mismash
Pre-Game: No indications. This person is from the competitive LGS.
Game 1: My opponent does some cycling with Street Wraiths and uses a bunch of Faithless Lootings. The only cards I do eventually see are a Goblin Guide and a Neonate... I'm confused but I put them on a different version of Bridgevine. I win this game easily.
Game 2: Assuming my opponent is on Bridgevine I keep in more Blood Moon's then I should (Bridgevine's 1 drops are mainly black but they run a lot of duals to work with the few red sources they have such as faithless looting), my opponent faithless and on T1 has x2 Hollow one (street wraith also). I lose quickly.
Game 3: I'm puzzled. I leave some Bridgevine tech (graveyard) and trim Blood Moons. This game is going decently and this is where the mulligan mistake maybe happened. I had x2 lands, Abrade, Anger, Ensarning Bridge, Sarkhan, Hazoret... is it a mistake? My opponent leads with Goblin Guide, and eventually gets a second. I work to Abrade one. I then have an Abrade and an Anger as options, I've yet to find my 3rd land (my opponent is stuck on 1). I opt to Abrade the Goblin when he comes in. Opponent plays another Goblin Guide, I abrade one after getting my land off the top (no way to prevent the trigger as their were two guides). Cool, I take this turn to play bridge. I have Sarkhan, Hazoret, Anger, Faerie Macabre and I pass turn. (Note 4 cards). My opponent with 1 Goblin Guide out goes: Burning-Tree Emissary x3 (I remove two bridevines in graveyard with Faerie) and then on top does the Surge Whacker. My opponent comes in for 15 damage. I kill one with an Abrade. I anger the board the next turn I am at 6 life. My opponent follows with another Goblin Guide, 4 life. I need to find a land to get rid of cards. Next turn 2 life, and following turn dead. I never found enough lands to pitch. The final turn my loot with Sarkhan would have given me a chance.
Match 6: Elves
Pre-Game: At this point I don't think I can make it but I'll have to double win for a chance.
Game 1: Turn 1 Blood Moon, they have a mana producing Elf. I abrade it the next turn. My opponent has nothing. Easy win after a Rabblemaster lands.
Game 2: My opponent during sideboard makes a few remarks regarding not getting to play magic and is conceeding that they had no way to play around T1 Moon, T2 removal. This next game... is an interesting one. My opponent takes some time as I have no ritualed out anything on 2 lands and is deciding how to deploy worried about a T3 Moon or T3 sweeper. I end up getting the sweeper. I follow this with Moon and Bridge and Chalice on 1 (in some order). My opponent is fairly locked but goes for a lead the stampede and finds Ezuri and Archelf. They choose to deploy the archelf to produce more green. As I have Moon/Bridge out, I opt to play a chalice on 3. This removals all of my removal but it blanks my opponents removal. Their answer is now Coco into Rec Sage. Two turns later I find a Torpor Orb, two turns later after that I find a chalice on 2. My board is: Bridge, Moon, Torpor Orb, Chalice on 1,2,3. I wait to draw Chandra. My opponent continues to play. I'm hoping they would just scoop so I can get a quick dinner. They coco out and Shaman of the Pack. They announce my life loss and I note "Torpor Orb, it is a vanilla 3/2" my opponent scoops.
Match 7: Jund
Pre-Game: A good friend. We talk a lot. We get... deck... checked... Can I break the curse? (I am 0-7 in matches after a deck check).
Game 1: Typical Jund. They have all the answers. They have all the Liliana's. They have all the Goyf and all the BBE.
Game 2: An extremely fast Blood Moon locks this game down.
Game 3: My opponent has a forest, dual, and a wooded foothills. I take the chance they are not running a Decay and deploy Blood Moon. My opponent fetches and you can see the upset in his face, he played the wrong fetch down. My opponen is on Forest Forest Dual. They do eventually draw x2 BBE and take care of my Eidolon I had deployed and do swing in twice for lethal. After the game my opponent said they were holding Maelstrom Pulse, and so the misplayed fetch cost them an easy win, though they won it.
It was a decent showing. Humans was the most abundant deck there. There were Infect/Boggles and a few other creature decks which we would have had no problem with. There was a singleton UW player (most were playing Jeskai) so I got the lottery of hitting the one player running it. We did avoid KCI, and Tron was in low numbers. Burn was there and then rogue decks. My deck was the talk of the PPTQ. Aside from being asked about the deck, getting a few new followers on Twitch, and the Judge asking to buy my playmat it was fun! Winnings were donated to new comers of the FNM variety this coming Friday.
Very true. I saw that Ray also mentioned them as key components.
Well, you talked me into it.
They're up at bat.
I've been having similar problems on and off. We keep telling you to get Discord as well most of those who post here post there as well and we have had the same discussion about the short comings of sarkhan where we have reached a consensus that yes he is great in a grindy meta but leaves much to be wanted in an aggro one.
That being said...I did run my list back and what do you know - it was another 4-1, with the loss to - drum roll - Scales Affinity. And yes, it was the finals again. Other matches were Tron, Mardu Pyromancer, Grixis DS and Bogles. OK, so Bogles is kind of a snoozefest, but DS can be tricky at times and Mardu/Tron definitely can give you a lot of trouble. So I'm happy with the results.
But that Scaleffinity really bogs me down. Isn't there anything we can do? Maybe it's time to follow Russ' lead and bring the Shattering Sprees back.
3 Gemstone Caverns
1 Buried Ruin
18 Mountain
Rito Oscuro
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
1 Pyretic Ritual
Removal
2 Abrade
3 Anger of the Gods
4 Blood Moon
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Ensnaring Bridge
Threats
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Sarkhan, Fireblood
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Koth of the Hammer
1 Avaricious Dragon
4 Molten Rain
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Torpor Orb
2 Damping Matrix
1 Boil
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Hazoret the Fervent
There was one change, though...I removed the Faerie Macabres and put the 3 Eidolon of the Great Revels and 1 Grafdigger's Cage back. I think Russ was the one who said it - "do we even need GY hate?" I'm starting to think no. Even the Cage is kinda questionable - it's mostly being used as a hedge against CoCo and the likes. But even then it might be just too cute, 1 CMC is also a big problem. I don't know. Maybe the slot could be freed...hmm.
As for the results - I must say Molten Rain did it again! OK, this time backed with Eidolon. Maybe 4 Molten Rains is a bit excessive...2 might be the correct number. But given the huge popularity of both Tron and Basic Lands at the moment, it's not bad. MD Angers let me win against Mardu. Hazoret is also a definite keeper in the SB.
Buried Ruin is really nice. Having the opponent make you discard your Ensnaring Bridge and then just getting it back, while they can't do anything about it...well, even if that doesn't happen it's still a land. Can't go wrong with that, right? It helps with discards, is all I'm saying.
Not hugely sold on Avaricious Dragon. I mean, it's alright, but alright's not enough. Is it better thank PnK? Bah, I dunno. Just feels...bad.
I did ask this on Discord also, but how would you feel about Blood Knight in the SB? Could be alright against UW Control and anywhere you need a blocker. Just a thought. Might try it.
Shinka is spicy. It's an extremely corner case a card (only Piran?? Haz is useless in 99% of scenarios) but whatever. The deck isn't running Koth so who cares. Normally I also don't like 21 lands (I strongly believe you need more) but here 11 Rituals and 3 Sarkhans accompanied by 2 Avaricious do wonders. This will enable a powered-out lockpiece almost always - and Sarkhan and The Pet will take care of digging into more. This is a completely new angle in PP - one that's been missing a long time. Love it.
The rest of the deck is quite straightforward - freeing up SB slots enables more answers. Toolbox is a very good approach I think. It leaves a lot of room to have an answer to pretty much anything. Obviously I didn't need even half of that stuff in my matches - but that's fine! I didn't feel I was lacking anything either.
What I'd change - hmm, too early to say. I might go ahead and switch 1 Piran with a Bringer of Glory - but IDK. The list is pretty solid as it is. Maaaaybe I would dedicate a slot or two for Control...a Ricochet Trap or a Boil? Ray mentioned that he took out the Chainwhirler for a 4th Anger - a sound strat. I do like having a blocker against Mardu - but is an Anger better? Maybe. Ratchet Bomb is kinda sticking out like a sore thumb as well - never really found much use for it. But I do see that sometimes there is one.
Rodney: ‘Great professor. He really seems to care. About what? I have no idea.’
You noted the (8) Rituals - yeah, I'm with you nowadays. I've brought in the single Pyretic and dropped the Anger of the Gods count to (2). Fluffy just 5-0 again with (4) Anger in the MD, so it's a matchup dependent gamble either way - but, hey 4 worked for him, and you're doing 3. Sideboard: my 15th card is Grafdigger's cage - noticed you are up/down on that one too. Tough call, but I think it's kind of a 1/2 Anger of the Gods play, and it hurts Vizier/Coco - Dredge - Animator - Mardu...enough other decks.
As for the Hardened Scales Affinity Matchup, and our struggles against it? One Word: Shatterstorm Yup. Burn it allllll down. Fluffy has bopped one into his sideboard here and there, and it's always been on my mind (one of my absolute favorite cards from Antiquities). The rise of KCI made it a potential consideration. Affinity out there, sure, so there's that. Then? Hardened Scales Affinity.
These 3 decks are juggernauts. Shattering Spree can't contain them, never mind the 'replicate' sequencing nightmare in MODO once they start arcbound ravager saccing. Burn it all down, and nothing lives and nothing regenerates. I've got one in my sideboard. It's a doomsday device, but it should turn a game that's gone out of hand right back into a potential win. Heck! Ain't like we don't play a ton of non-combo spells already. 1 More on the Big Board!!!
But. Grafdigger's Cage. Let's give this one a bit more thought. It is a card - and it does things. Not saying that. But, to my mind, a SB slot is something that should, if not completely win you the match, at least tilt the game very strongly in your favour. Cage does neither. I'll explain.
CoCo decks are somewhat hurt by it, but it's still a very steep uphill climb. Let's say you play it immediately and they can't Collected Company/Chord of Calling. What happens, is that they will switch gears and start grinding value with Tireless Trackers and whatnot. If, and only if, you also have a Blood Moon AND they miss their basics AND they miss on their Birds/Hierarchs - you might have a chance. Cage by itself, does very little. I think the only way to win this fight is to go all in on threats, and pray.
Dredge - yes. It prevents GY shenanigans. But this MU is already good for us, so there's that. An additional hedge is not really needed, if we're already running Bridges and Angers. Speaking of which, at least one of either is still going to needed, since they can just hardcast their threats. Actually, I kinda group Dredge, Vengevine and Hollow One together. What's common among them is a Cage DOES slow them all down considerably by turning off their Plan A. All that being said, this/these matchup(s) is/are the one scenario where I kinda understand wanting a Cage. But is it enough to warrant an actual SB slot...uhh IDK.
Reanimator. OK - this is one matchup where the Cage really does shine. But still, it's nothing an Ensnaring Bridge and a Damping Matrix can't handle. It does fit the criteria of "be a silver bullet or bust", though. The thing is, this deck is quite rare to encounter nowadays - I can't even remember the last time I've seen it? Should we really be preparing for a random encounter? It's not like the slots in the SB are a dime a dozen, yes?
And the last one, Mardu Pyromancer. Hum. Faithless Looting and Lingering Souls are now un-flashbackable. And that's pretty much it. It's not like they can't still cast them, only the backside has a stop sign slapped on them. I don't think they care at all. This is also one game where you bring in all the threats and none of the fear. No guts, no glory.
So what's left? Storm, maybe...but I'd much rather have a Witchbane Orb since it helps a LOT with other decks as well. I suppose there are others but yeah. I'm sorry Cage. It's not really working out with us. I think it's time to let go. A, WHAT. That's uhh...wow. Bringing out the big guns, are you? No, don't get me wrong, that might be the road to take indeed. They can't even use their Welding Jars! OK - I'm gonna go out on a limb and try the following list, based on all the ideas getting throwed around here.
3 Gemstone Caverns
1 Buried Ruin
18 Mountain
Rito Oscuro
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
1 Pyretic Ritual
Removal
2 Abrade
3 Anger of the Gods
4 Blood Moon
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Ensnaring Bridge
Threats
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Sarkhan, Fireblood
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Koth of the Hammer
1 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Molten Rain
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Shatterstorm
1 Shattering Spree
1 Witchbane Orb
2 Torpor Orb
2 Damping Matrix
1 Boil
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Hazoret the Fervent
And, finally, I'm giving the green light to both Leyline of the Void and Grafdigger's Cage as a singleton. In a given game, there are only so many turns. IF these knockabout fellas appear in the starting (7), then it's disco. So, take the chance, and pack 'em in - we have discard outlets and the cushion to adjust to the occasional dead draw.
Alllllrighty, that said. Got another 5-0 in a Modern Competitive League for y'all. It's a Trash Dragon build. TURBO Trash. (14) Ritual Effects and tons of Filter. Here She Be!
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
Creatures (6)
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Avaricious Dragon
1 Hazoret the Fervent
Planeswalkers (7)
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3 Sarkhan, Fireblood
Accelerators (11 [+3])
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
3 Pyretic Ritual
3 [+] Gemstone Caverns
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Collective Defiance
Lands (21)
14 Mountains
3 Gemstone Caverns
3 Ramunap Ruins
1 Mutavault
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Damping Matrix
1 Torpor Orb
1 Spellskite
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Witchbane Orb
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Shatterstorm
1 Abrade
1 Dire Fleet Daredevil
1 Leyline of the Void
It's Modern Paper League Time!
Well not today that is, but tomorrow. Finally seeing that beauty of a dragon on our banner.
So do expect some tournament report coming in this Sunday and maybe even a new banner with some fancy Pyro Prison artwork on it, if I finish 1st again.
I've decided to go into this tournament with the standard stock list slightly adjusted for our local meta. Although this time we'll probably have more random people with even more random decks, so it might be worth a shot not to pre adapt for the normal meta. But who knows?
Anyway let's start talking decklist:
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Blood Moon
Removal (5)
2 Abrade
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Slagstorm
Creatures (7)
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Hazoret the Fervent
0 - 2 Walking Ballista
0 - 1 Avaricous Dragon
0 - 1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Sarkhan, Fireblood
Rituals (9)
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
1 Pyretic Ritual
Lands (21)
14 Mountains
3 Gemstone Caverns
2 Ramunap Ruins
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Buried Ruin
1 Damping Matrix
2 Torpor Orb
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Boil
1 Koth of the Hammer
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Spellskite
1 Shattering Spree
So I'm still unsure about 2 points in this list:
1. The split of Walking Ballista, Avaricous Dragon and Pia and Kiran. Two cards to add and three amazing cards to chose from. At the moment I'm thinking 2 Ballistas to try out that Buried Ruin, but I'm not really sure about that. Your opinion on this would be great.
2. The last card for the Sideboard. I just have this one slot and I don't really know what to put in there. Here's what I'm expecting tomorrow so you guys can give me some advice:
1-3 Humans
~1 Mardu Pyro
0-1 G Tron
0-1 Storm
~1 Affinity either Scales or Homebrew close to normal
1 Death's Shadow Variant
0-1 KCI
0-1 B/R Hollow One
1+ U/W(/X) Control
1+ other Combo
And an unknown number of homebrew/random decks as we'll get some new players in tomorrow.
So what do you think? Should I make room in the board for 2 Molten Rain? Anything else you can think of? Something I am totally missing? I know this list seems random, it's just that I know what everyone's playing just not who is playing.
Anyway I'm off enjoying the afternoon here in Germany and will be back to check your answers at about 21 CEST. So read you guys then.
How did Collective Defiance work for you?
Any all-stars from the board worth mentioning?
I think three sweepers in the main is a mistake. Fluffy and others will disagree, but 4 bridges and 3 sweepers are 7 dead cards vs tron and control. GREAT in matches where you want them, TERRIBLE in matches when you don't. In my experience, you only need two slagstorm main and two anger board. Slagstorm because vs control and tron, it's not completely useless and I've won many game 1's by slagstorming the face vs tron and control. replace the main deck anger with the Koth from the board.
2 walking ballista is a must, especially if you are expecting humans. being able to kill thalia on turn two is a BIG DEAL. The #1 way humans beats us is either we don't find a bridge or they stick a thalia.
I'm not a fan of avarciuos draogn and would personally drop him. Other have had success with it, but in my testing, it just dies really fast and often didn't do what I needed it to do, and thats stay alive for me to even untap with it. I've also moved away from P&K also for this reason. Stick to a max of 6 cards that cost 4 mana, otherwise you'll lose games because you won't be able to empty your hand fast enought. Yes,, dragon solves this problem, but It wasn't strong enough in my testing to warrant a slot. If you are playing Trash Dragons, you want dragon because you enpty your hand so fast due to all the rituals, you want to reload quick. But in a more traditional list, it's not fast enough and dies too often before you get to untap with it. I'm my testing, Hazoret is better in this slot. It can win the game (slowly) from behind a bridge, it's extremely difficult to kill, and vs tron, control, and combo, you don't have to play a bridge if you draw it. just hold the bridges in the event you draw a hazoret.
Lands, you can''t run more than 4 colorless lands in this deck. I've been playing this deck for 2 years and I get color-screwed a lot more than you would think in a mono-color deck. Pick one, scavager grounds or buried ruin. Personally, I would go with scavager grounds and a third ramunap ruins. Ruins gets you those last few points vs control and can also be sacrificed to grounds for multiple graveyard exile effects.
Lastly, sidebaord. If you take my advice and move koth to the maindeck, that'll leave you with two exra slots. YAY!! I would go with a chainwhirler and a cage. Grafdiggers cage is narrow, but very effective vs several decks, including Mardu Pyromancer that you reference. chainwhirler is a house vs mardu pyromancer, but it also good vs GW decks and humans. It's another way to deal with thalisa without paying the tax and sweeps up any noble hierachs. Overall solid card.
And just to show you that I'm not just giving you advice without taking it myself, this is the list I ran two weeks ago. went undefeated during the swiss and lost to tron in the top 8, Unfortunate, but still a solid showing. I was the #1 seed going into top 8. The only changes I would make at this point to my list would be remove P&K for a Hazoret maindeck (that'll make two in the 75).
Hope this helps,
Russ
http://www.starcitygames.com/decks/123026
@Ernest - CD is the perfect splash card for my variant, as I’m basically driving a Dodge Viper - all engine. More so than a smooth ramp, I overcommit and then need adaptable answers - all 3 modes are useful. So, Abrade morphed into collective defiance.
I am very pleased with the deck design now. Elegant. I wouldn’t change anything before the next tourney. But, would encourage folks to consider Mutavault again - the 2/2 has been repeatedly effective.
FNM tonight. Get ‘em.
And thanks Ray for the suggestion, I totally forgot that Dire Fleet Daredevil was an option.
I think I‘ll follow most of Russ‘ advice, add 2 Ballista, remove the Anger in Favor of Koth and add a Chainwhirler to the Sidebord. I‘ll also add the third desert, but gonna stick with the Buried Ruin. Our local meta doesn’t use the Yard too often and I wanna see, if Ruins can really do the work and get me back something I want. But just in case I’ll throw the cage in the side and gonna start digging hard for it in Games 2 and 3. Don’t wanna lose to that random new Bridgevine or Dredge player
Maybe next time it’s the time to bust out the Pirate and see where we’ll sail from there.
Anyway thank you all for your amazing support and help. In the meantime Good Luck with your FNMs or Online Leagues and remember the most important thing:
Have fun!
Read you all this Sunday.
Modern 1k PPTQ with 65 attendees and 7 rounds cut to top 8. Those that followed along on Twitter or Discord have the general breakdown and understand my final record. I'll talk to variance, deck decisions, and how the overall tournament went. I believe I made 1 punt, and perhaps one mulligan mistake (I can't call it a mistake though... you'll see when I get to it).
4 Blood Moon
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
Ramp:
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Simian Spirit Guide
Planeswalker Win-Con:
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Sarkhan, Fireblood
1 Koth of the Hammer
Creature Win-Con:
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Hazoret the Fervent
1 Avaricious Dragon
3 Abrade
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Slagstorm
Lands:
3 Gemstone Cavern
16 Mountain
1 Ramunap Ruins
1 Scavenger Grounds
1 Spellskite
1 Hazoret the Fervent
1 Shattering Spree
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Damping Matrix
1 Anger of the Gods
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Torpor Orb
The sideboard is a little more wide ranged then noramlly online, and this is due to an 'unknown' meta and more of a "Big Event" or "GP" style sideboard. Your pieces need to be extremely impactful, but I need to be ready for a variety of matchups. There were two matchups I was afraid of going in. UW Miracles (I asked Evar0s about this matchup in Discord, a team member on streaming), and Jund. Every other matchup I felt decent at, and wouldn't mind missing KCI/Tron also, but felt those were manageable. As it is a paper matchup I will talk briefly about any observations before playing, as you can get little details. Onto the matchups!
Report
Match 1: Grixis Death Shadow
Pre-Game: Opponent is a really friendly player. You can tell he is nervous and appears to not play. In his shuffling he flips over a Temur Battle Rage. Although this does not necessairly indicate GDS, I know that Rabblemaster is non-desired in the opener. Let's shuffle up!
Match 2: Humans
Pre-Game: No indications. I have also not seen this person.
Match 3: Humans
Pre-Game: No indications. I have also not seen this person.
Match 4: UW Miracles
Pre-Game: I know this person from a competitive LGS in town, and know this game will be played extremely tight. I also saw this person next to me Round 1. I recall they are on at least UW, did not see if they are Jeskai. Need a fast start.
Match 5: Hollow One Bridgevine Mismash
Pre-Game: No indications. This person is from the competitive LGS.
Match 6: Elves
Pre-Game: At this point I don't think I can make it but I'll have to double win for a chance.
Match 7: Jund
Pre-Game: A good friend. We talk a lot. We get... deck... checked... Can I break the curse? (I am 0-7 in matches after a deck check).
Overall: 4-3
Wins: GDS, Humans, Humans, Elves
Losses: UW Miracles, HollowVine, Jund
It was a decent showing. Humans was the most abundant deck there. There were Infect/Boggles and a few other creature decks which we would have had no problem with. There was a singleton UW player (most were playing Jeskai) so I got the lottery of hitting the one player running it. We did avoid KCI, and Tron was in low numbers. Burn was there and then rogue decks. My deck was the talk of the PPTQ. Aside from being asked about the deck, getting a few new followers on Twitch, and the Judge asking to buy my playmat it was fun! Winnings were donated to new comers of the FNM variety this coming Friday.