Haven't been a fan of Kambal too much yet. Its certainly good vs Burn and Storm, but I have found that I would rather run the fourth CB against those. CB is more impactful than Kambal across the field. Also vs Control I would rather discard them than drain them for 2 and discard a bolt basically.
Kambal is also good vs janky stuff like KCI-combo or taking turns (if they dont finde a bounce spell/jace)
True, but in my opinion it seems silly to sacrifice how streamlined the Mardu version is mana-wise AND become even more susceptible to graveyard hate just for a little bit of power. I am glad to see a pyro deck doing so well though, in addition to the Mardu deck that day 2'd.
Played some matches online with the "usual" RBw deck against the 4 color deck. In the mirror, they are favored because traverse is really gas but in general I agree with you: I don't like to splash the fourth color.
I think it's a metagame dependent decision. If you are looking to beat Midrange/Control and creature decks all day you go with the 4c version. If you suspect more burn, big mana and other such decks, you go with the classic build. I'm in the process of trying to determine which one I am taking to GP Phx. Been playing a pretty stock Gerry T style list and it's been great so far but the lack of threats does come back to bite you sometimes.
Round 1 vs Grixis control (2-1)
Game 1: We were pretty even, until JTMS came down and I couldn’t deal with it in a timely fashion, and then he slams a Keranos...and I lose three turns later.
Game 2: He kept a two lander and I IoK a cantrip, and turn 3 molten rain him. He stumbles on lands for a while, which allows me to get advantage and win.
Game 3: See game 2, but he doesn’t find a third land. Hazoret allows me to end quickly and is a threat he can’t terminate.
1-0
Round 2 vs Jund (0-2)
Game 1: 2 bloodbraid elves, a LOTV, a Last Hope, and finally a ravine killed me, I didn’t draw that well either.
Game 2: Was very even, we were trading one for one for a while, then I drew 2 lands and IOK, with nothing in play or in my hand and lost to BBE.
1-1
Round 3 vs UG Folk (2-1)
Game 1: Nuts hand, turn 1 discard, then 2 double looting (hold onto land so he pierces the first one), turn 4 pyro and reveler, turn 5 I had 2 morphose, 2 kill spells. He dies turn 6.
Game 2: He merfolks me, I quad block a lord, and he CoCo’s and blows me out, was not expecting that but I was going to lose anyway, he just drew more threats than I had removals for.
Game 3: Lili comes down turn 3, turn 4 I have reveler. I knew he had coco in hand, and he topdecked a land turn 4, but it was a botanical sanctum that came in tapped. I Lili ultimate him and kill 2 lands, leaving him with vial and 2 lands. He scoops to my reveler the next turn.
2-1
Round 4 vs 4 color Retreat combo (2-0)
Game 1: Blood moon won me this game, went to like 4 life but stabilized with reveler and pyro tokens blocking his voices, he couldn’t get out of blood moon.
Game 2: We both have slow starts, I keep a slow hand of 4 lands and a spellbomb. He starts with leyline, and I cry, I didn’t side in wear // tear. We grind, I go to like 5, I had double pyromancer on turn 4 and he didn’t kill them, which allowed me to chump forever and he never finds Knight, so I win.
3-1
Round 5 vs Jeskai Geist? (2-0)
Game 1: I eat his hand with discard, and blood moon and reveler clean up after I drop to like 7.
Game 2: Blood moon him like turn 4. I try to oust his snap, he restoration angels it, but doesn’t use its ETB to oath on of my dudes. Resto brings me to 1, I win with 2 revelers on the board, by going looting, manamorphose, kommand to shock him and win. He complained to me that I was slow rolling him, but I was nervous and didn’t want to mess up the math, and am not used to killing opponents at 13 with 2 Revelers out. I think he was just salty because he only played 1 spell game 1, and like 5 game 2.
4-1
Round 6 vs Grixis Delver (Kevin Jones) (0-2)
Kevin Jones sits across from me, as I’m already a little shaky as one more match win means I at least top 16. I’ve been a huge fan of his, so it was fun to have a match with him. I know he’s on grixis delver, which leads to a bad game 1...
Game 1: kept a risky 7 of push, 3iok, crypt, looting, and I think reveler. Second land came on turn 3, third didn’t come because a fish killed me. I definitely think keeping that hand was risky, and I thought I’d try it because of decent disruption and looting, but probably should’ve mulled it.
Game 2: First hand no lands, second hand almost no interaction, so I went to 5. I grinded a long time thanks to souls, but Last Hope ruined me, then he had unanswered pyro and had a tasigur which he could activate. I draw 2 late game revelers that aren’t enough to save me from the pyro swarm.
4-2
(Note, talked to Kevin after the match, he said we should try direfleet, it would be been great that match, and I have some spots in my sideboard that didn’t really go so well so.....maybe? xD)
This is it, I know my breaker are AWFUL, so me being the one 5-2 in top 8 is impossible, so I fight on to avenge my friends who all dropped and attempt for the top 16....
Round 7 vs Jund (2-1)
Game 1: IOK into moon on 3, they only had 1 black, he doesn’t cast any more spells.
Game 2: don’t really remember, i mulled to 5 or 6 and lost to double LiLi and 1-2 BBE, wasn’t looking good at any point.
Game 3: We trade one for ones forever, seriously this was a long game they we grinded thru lands, removal, threats, PWs, etc. I go to like 7, and draw souls and LOTV off a lotting. The souls chimp while LOTV eats his last cards and edicts him twice. Then I draw reveler which draws souls, and then get another reveler to end the game.
(5-2)
First modern event, and I ended 5-2 and at 12th place! Was a tough fight, and I made some mistakes, but the field was what I expected and the deck felt good vs this field. So top cards:
1. Blood Moon single handily won me several games, I’m glad I left it in. I still think it’s good vs. control and Jund. Along with this, the land tax package of Molten Rain also performed well.
2. LOTV: I’m gonna be sad I have to return these to my friend, maybe I’ll play a hazoret and a last hope, but LOTV did work, eating cards, edict effect was strong, and her ultimate won me a game. Only awkward thing, sometimes I didn’t plus because I needed the cards in my hand. Maybe I’ll test a Nahiri to fill a similar role?
3. Manamorphose: this card with pyro out it nutty, I didn’t live the dream enough, but did it a few time. Super good with reveler and making black or white mans under moon. Amazing card, and I got some funny looks from my opponent after casting it sometimes which made me smile.
Overall, I think I need to work on mulligans and sideboarding. Hazoret didn’t perform that well, but just as a threat she was fine. Surgical and Wear//Tears did nothing, but that’s just because of the field. I dodged the 2 Tron players, but didn’t face either of the affinity players who also got top 16, maybe there is a world where I faced an affinity player instead of Kevin jones and I make top 8, but oh well. I’m happy with the results. I can answer any sideboard choices, or anything else if people wanna know.
Pretty good result! As for Blood Moon, that's sort of the reason it was played initially. It's sort of a free win card sometimes. just shuts off enough of your opponents things that allows you to either get super far ahead or incrementally gain advantages all over the place. It's just not a great card in general though in the deck.
2. LOTV: I’m gonna be sad I have to return these to my friend, maybe I’ll play a hazoret and a last hope, but LOTV did work, eating cards, edict effect was strong, and her ultimate won me a game. Only awkward thing, sometimes I didn’t plus because I needed the cards in my hand. Maybe I’ll test a Nahiri to fill a similar role?
Its not mandatory to tick up Lili every turn! Don't force yourself to do it if you need the cards.
Thanks! If you check the last page / my signature I have my list there, pretty standard stuff, gonna be running more Hazoret now because I probably won't have LOTV (my friend said he might lend them to me for GP Hartford tho, so fingers crossed!).
Pretty good result! As for Blood Moon, that's sort of the reason it was played initially. It's sort of a free win card sometimes. just shuts off enough of your opponents things that allows you to either get super far ahead or incrementally gain advantages all over the place. It's just not a great card in general though in the deck.
Congrats on the finish though.
Thanks! I get that blood moon doesn't always trade 1 for 1 like we want in this deck, but I think it is very good vs. Jeskai & Jund, and it trades for either removal (only Pulse for Jund, and sometimes the 2 mana exile a red/black card from Jeskai, but even then it trades). I kept it in because knowing the shop was very heavy control/midrange, and it worked out in those matchups, so I still think it is worthwile for the main deck, but as always that's up for debate and both sides have merit.
2. LOTV: I’m gonna be sad I have to return these to my friend, maybe I’ll play a hazoret and a last hope, but LOTV did work, eating cards, edict effect was strong, and her ultimate won me a game. Only awkward thing, sometimes I didn’t plus because I needed the cards in my hand. Maybe I’ll test a Nahiri to fill a similar role?
Its not mandatory to tick up Lili every turn! Don't force yourself to do it if you need the cards.
Yea I definitely didn't! I was just commentating that was the only awkward part of her sometimes. But it never mattered, because she was usually dead by more than 1 point of damage when I wouldn't tick her up. I'm debating on using a Nahiri in her spot, because she fills a similar role but for more mana, but I think that is a little loose so not totally sold yet. If LOTV price goes down / reprinted, I'm definitely picking some up tho!
I plan on sticking to a list pretty similar to my IQ one, but with upgrades to the sideboard as I get some explosives, and I'm going to try 1 Dire Fleet Daredevil because it seems sweet. I also picked up some Traverses to play around with, so we'll see how 4c feels, but I was doing a bit of testing with it proxied and it felt super shady due to the manabase. The other version I might also try out is Mardu Shadow, because that also seems like it could be pretty decent and improves the burn matchup a lot. But that deviates a bit from the Mardu Pyro standard so I probably won't be on that list for long.
I am not sure if this is the right place to post my 4C pyromancer brew, but I've been working on incorporating the current versions of Mardu and Grixis Pyromancer builds, because I think it would support Jace really well. This is my 4C pyromancer list:
So I have been testing out Decandio's 4c version of the deck and while it certainly has a higher power ceiling, I'm not sure if I like sacrificing the consistency we have enjoyed with straight Mardu. While Traverse and BBE were amazing IMO, playing cards like Bauble and Architects of Will hampered the gameplan too much at times leaving you with fewer instants and sorceries in yard. This led to worse Pyromancers and Revelers as well. I also feel that 18 lands was pure lunacy to try to actively cast 4 drops. So last night I decided to do a bit of combining of the two. This is ofcourse a non-blood moon version of the deck because you are splashing for 2 colors (green and white). White is literally just Lingering Souls and sideboard cards and Green is just Bloodbraid Elf and sideboard cards. It worked extremely well last night. BBE was good as advertised. The only time I was a little sad to see it was the more niche situations where you are empty handed and cascade into a faithless looting. Maybe it's right to just looting anyway on the off chance of binning more lootings and souls but I opted not to last night, maybe that's wrong. Gonna need some more testing. It's the same Mardu we know and love but I ran into very few games where I ran out of threats. The burn matchup is hurt a little by not running fast lands and instead relying on fetches and shocks but it did not feel that much worse than usual because BBE did help close out games in a quicker fashion than normal Mardu does consistently. I will admit I only played burn 3 times last night in my limited jamming and the players I played were... not the best (one had double skullcrack with Kambul out and decided to cast the 2nd one with the first on the stack after the Kambul trigger had already resolved. Thanks guy.) but none of the games where there was an obvious misplay seemed to actually cost them games. One game in particular (the one with the skullcrack play mentioned above) he was probably a <10% out but that play made it 0.
So I have been testing out Decandio's 4c version of the deck and while it certainly has a higher power ceiling, I'm not sure if I like sacrificing the consistency we have enjoyed with straight Mardu. While Traverse and BBE were amazing IMO, playing cards like Bauble and Architects of Will hampered the gameplan too much at times leaving you with fewer instants and sorceries in yard. This led to worse Pyromancers and Revelers as well. I also feel that 18 lands was pure lunacy to try to actively cast 4 drops. So last night I decided to do a bit of combining of the two. This is ofcourse a non-blood moon version of the deck because you are splashing for 2 colors (green and white). White is literally just Lingering Souls and sideboard cards and Green is just Bloodbraid Elf and sideboard cards. It worked extremely well last night. BBE was good as advertised. The only time I was a little sad to see it was the more niche situations where you are empty handed and cascade into a faithless looting. Maybe it's right to just looting anyway on the off chance of binning more lootings and souls but I opted not to last night, maybe that's wrong. Gonna need some more testing. It's the same Mardu we know and love but I ran into very few games where I ran out of threats. The burn matchup is hurt a little by not running fast lands and instead relying on fetches and shocks but it did not feel that much worse than usual because BBE did help close out games in a quicker fashion than normal Mardu does consistently. I will admit I only played burn 3 times last night in my limited jamming and the players I played were... not the best (one had double skullcrack with Kambul out and decided to cast the 2nd one with the first on the stack after the Kambul trigger had already resolved. Thanks guy.) but none of the games where there was an obvious misplay seemed to actually cost them games. One game in particular (the one with the skullcrack play mentioned above) he was probably a <10% out but that play made it 0.
I think Grim Flayer is the better Green Splash to go along with traverse in place of BBE. Bauble, Looting, a bunch of kill spells, and discard arent exactly prime BBE targets, ideally he would hit a souls or kcmd but thats just not going to happen as often. On the other hand, Grim Flayer always helps your deck by filling your yard and filtering your draws.... It plays so nicely into this graveyard based deck.
The 4 color list obviously increases your ability to pressure the opponent and assist with turning the corner from controlling the board to beating down more consistently but at the same time hampers our consistency in mana. I believe either Baubles or Manamorphoses(your choice) are necessary to running this complex mana base(i have chosen baubles as I have slowly been converting into a larger delirium based deck and have also chosen to go up to 19 lands to help combat some inconsistencies while most 4c lists only run 18.
With the increase in 2 drop threats we just dont have room for brutalities MD which really only hurts us vs burn, however a 4/4 on t2-4 that closes games faster and helps filter our draws usually makes up for it. This matchup is definitely still a little worse thanks to the mana as you mentioned though regardless of what green creatures we are playing.
I found myself pitching KCMD way to often or just delaying a great reveler because i wanted to get value out of the command first so im currently testing a whopping 0 kcmds. I think the increase in threat density from traverse allows us to get away with foregoing the buyback kcmd provides.
I'm currently toying with the landbase as I want to try and get to the 4 colors as quickly and efficiently as possible, both Stomping > Godless Shrine and Blood Crypt > Temple garden get us all our colors and casts all our spells outside terminate. But the 3rd land just needs red and were set.
Generally I agree but I never liked Flayer in any games I saw him. He died too easily or couldn't get through the board. He was mana restrictive and I just felt there were better options. I could see running him if you go all the way to Traverse but as you can see from my list, I did not. I like BBE as a pure value threat and the access to some sideboard cards that I feel help in a few matchups that RBw doesn't quite cut it. Like Golgari Charm is great, unique and versatile. Ancient Grudge is good against Lantern and I have liked having it's flashback as an option in other artifact driven matchups. If you are not playing Moon, the splash has been extremely easy and I haven't been hampered by it and again the speed and consistency of getting threats into play is huge.
Hey guys, recently hopped on the pyromancer parade and have been having good success with Gerry T's list. I plan on playing it at GP Phoenix, but I have a question for ya'll: With Boggles recently making a comeback and leylines having been incorporated into the MB, does Crackling Doom become a viable sideboard option as a 1-of? The casting cost is a little demanding and a bit pricey, but it's a clean answer to any hexproof threat regardless of leyline and can get around Dryad Arbor. It's also an instant so it doesn't deviate at all from our plan of filling up our graveyard for Revelers. This is my current sideboard configuration. Thinking about removing a Kambal for the Doom:
So I have been testing out Decandio's 4c version of the deck and while it certainly has a higher power ceiling, I'm not sure if I like sacrificing the consistency we have enjoyed with straight Mardu. While Traverse and BBE were amazing IMO, playing cards like Bauble and Architects of Will hampered the gameplan too much at times leaving you with fewer instants and sorceries in yard. This led to worse Pyromancers and Revelers as well. I also feel that 18 lands was pure lunacy to try to actively cast 4 drops. So last night I decided to do a bit of combining of the two. This is ofcourse a non-blood moon version of the deck because you are splashing for 2 colors (green and white). White is literally just Lingering Souls and sideboard cards and Green is just Bloodbraid Elf and sideboard cards. It worked extremely well last night. BBE was good as advertised. The only time I was a little sad to see it was the more niche situations where you are empty handed and cascade into a faithless looting. Maybe it's right to just looting anyway on the off chance of binning more lootings and souls but I opted not to last night, maybe that's wrong. Gonna need some more testing. It's the same Mardu we know and love but I ran into very few games where I ran out of threats. The burn matchup is hurt a little by not running fast lands and instead relying on fetches and shocks but it did not feel that much worse than usual because BBE did help close out games in a quicker fashion than normal Mardu does consistently. I will admit I only played burn 3 times last night in my limited jamming and the players I played were... not the best (one had double skullcrack with Kambul out and decided to cast the 2nd one with the first on the stack after the Kambul trigger had already resolved. Thanks guy.) but none of the games where there was an obvious misplay seemed to actually cost them games. One game in particular (the one with the skullcrack play mentioned above) he was probably a <10% out but that play made it 0.
I tried your maindeck tonight at thursday night modern and went 3-1 beating Bushwhacker Zoo, 4c Planeswalkers, 4c Saheeli, and losing to a BW Aggro/Go Wide deck with Lilianas and Sorins. In the loss I never really got going game 1 and in game two I mulled to five and he hit me with a Leyline of the Void to start so there was never really a chance.
The list definitely felt more powerful than standard Mardu Pyro but at the cost of having really clunky hands at times filled to the brim with expensive creature cards. Additionally, the mana was pretty rough but I'll chock that up to general inexperience navigating the manabase as I threw it together literally five minutes before the event started. I'll give it a go tomorrow night at a different modern event as well and see if I can iron out some of the issues I faced.
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Mardu Pyromancer
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4x Blackcleave Cliffs
2x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
3x Marsh Flats
2x Mountain
1x Sacred Foundry
2x Swamp
1x Wooded Foothills
4x Bedlam Reveler
4x Young Pyromancer
Sorcery (19)
2x Collective Brutality
2x Dreadbore
4x Faithless Looting
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Lingering Souls
3x Thoughtseize
2x Fatal Push
3x Kolaghan's Command
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Manamorphose
Enchantment (2)
2x Blood Moon
Planeswalker (1)
1x Liliana of the Veil
Sideboard
1x Anger of the Gods
2x Collective Brutality
1x Hazoret the Fervent
1x Liliana of the Veil
3x Molten Rain
2x Nihil Spellbomb
3x Surgical Extraction
2x Wear / Tear
This is what I'm pretty sure I'm bringing. If I can only get 1 LOTV, a Last Hope, second anger, or Kambal will be in the sideboard.
Kambal is also good vs janky stuff like KCI-combo or taking turns (if they dont finde a bounce spell/jace)
I like the deck, but the match up vs Burn and Tron seems worse. Matchup vs Jund and Jeskai seems to improve.
Seeing him fold to a Magus of the Moon firmly cemented my decision to stay in RBw when playing Pyromancer; the four color just seems too greedy imo
True, but in my opinion it seems silly to sacrifice how streamlined the Mardu version is mana-wise AND become even more susceptible to graveyard hate just for a little bit of power. I am glad to see a pyro deck doing so well though, in addition to the Mardu deck that day 2'd.
Round 1 vs Grixis control (2-1)
Game 1: We were pretty even, until JTMS came down and I couldn’t deal with it in a timely fashion, and then he slams a Keranos...and I lose three turns later.
Game 2: He kept a two lander and I IoK a cantrip, and turn 3 molten rain him. He stumbles on lands for a while, which allows me to get advantage and win.
Game 3: See game 2, but he doesn’t find a third land. Hazoret allows me to end quickly and is a threat he can’t terminate.
1-0
Round 2 vs Jund (0-2)
Game 1: 2 bloodbraid elves, a LOTV, a Last Hope, and finally a ravine killed me, I didn’t draw that well either.
Game 2: Was very even, we were trading one for one for a while, then I drew 2 lands and IOK, with nothing in play or in my hand and lost to BBE.
1-1
Round 3 vs UG Folk (2-1)
Game 1: Nuts hand, turn 1 discard, then 2 double looting (hold onto land so he pierces the first one), turn 4 pyro and reveler, turn 5 I had 2 morphose, 2 kill spells. He dies turn 6.
Game 2: He merfolks me, I quad block a lord, and he CoCo’s and blows me out, was not expecting that but I was going to lose anyway, he just drew more threats than I had removals for.
Game 3: Lili comes down turn 3, turn 4 I have reveler. I knew he had coco in hand, and he topdecked a land turn 4, but it was a botanical sanctum that came in tapped. I Lili ultimate him and kill 2 lands, leaving him with vial and 2 lands. He scoops to my reveler the next turn.
2-1
Round 4 vs 4 color Retreat combo (2-0)
Game 1: Blood moon won me this game, went to like 4 life but stabilized with reveler and pyro tokens blocking his voices, he couldn’t get out of blood moon.
Game 2: We both have slow starts, I keep a slow hand of 4 lands and a spellbomb. He starts with leyline, and I cry, I didn’t side in wear // tear. We grind, I go to like 5, I had double pyromancer on turn 4 and he didn’t kill them, which allowed me to chump forever and he never finds Knight, so I win.
3-1
Round 5 vs Jeskai Geist? (2-0)
Game 1: I eat his hand with discard, and blood moon and reveler clean up after I drop to like 7.
Game 2: Blood moon him like turn 4. I try to oust his snap, he restoration angels it, but doesn’t use its ETB to oath on of my dudes. Resto brings me to 1, I win with 2 revelers on the board, by going looting, manamorphose, kommand to shock him and win. He complained to me that I was slow rolling him, but I was nervous and didn’t want to mess up the math, and am not used to killing opponents at 13 with 2 Revelers out. I think he was just salty because he only played 1 spell game 1, and like 5 game 2.
4-1
Round 6 vs Grixis Delver (Kevin Jones) (0-2)
Kevin Jones sits across from me, as I’m already a little shaky as one more match win means I at least top 16. I’ve been a huge fan of his, so it was fun to have a match with him. I know he’s on grixis delver, which leads to a bad game 1...
Game 1: kept a risky 7 of push, 3iok, crypt, looting, and I think reveler. Second land came on turn 3, third didn’t come because a fish killed me. I definitely think keeping that hand was risky, and I thought I’d try it because of decent disruption and looting, but probably should’ve mulled it.
Game 2: First hand no lands, second hand almost no interaction, so I went to 5. I grinded a long time thanks to souls, but Last Hope ruined me, then he had unanswered pyro and had a tasigur which he could activate. I draw 2 late game revelers that aren’t enough to save me from the pyro swarm.
4-2
(Note, talked to Kevin after the match, he said we should try direfleet, it would be been great that match, and I have some spots in my sideboard that didn’t really go so well so.....maybe? xD)
This is it, I know my breaker are AWFUL, so me being the one 5-2 in top 8 is impossible, so I fight on to avenge my friends who all dropped and attempt for the top 16....
Round 7 vs Jund (2-1)
Game 1: IOK into moon on 3, they only had 1 black, he doesn’t cast any more spells.
Game 2: don’t really remember, i mulled to 5 or 6 and lost to double LiLi and 1-2 BBE, wasn’t looking good at any point.
Game 3: We trade one for ones forever, seriously this was a long game they we grinded thru lands, removal, threats, PWs, etc. I go to like 7, and draw souls and LOTV off a lotting. The souls chimp while LOTV eats his last cards and edicts him twice. Then I draw reveler which draws souls, and then get another reveler to end the game.
(5-2)
First modern event, and I ended 5-2 and at 12th place! Was a tough fight, and I made some mistakes, but the field was what I expected and the deck felt good vs this field. So top cards:
1. Blood Moon single handily won me several games, I’m glad I left it in. I still think it’s good vs. control and Jund. Along with this, the land tax package of Molten Rain also performed well.
2. LOTV: I’m gonna be sad I have to return these to my friend, maybe I’ll play a hazoret and a last hope, but LOTV did work, eating cards, edict effect was strong, and her ultimate won me a game. Only awkward thing, sometimes I didn’t plus because I needed the cards in my hand. Maybe I’ll test a Nahiri to fill a similar role?
3. Manamorphose: this card with pyro out it nutty, I didn’t live the dream enough, but did it a few time. Super good with reveler and making black or white mans under moon. Amazing card, and I got some funny looks from my opponent after casting it sometimes which made me smile.
Overall, I think I need to work on mulligans and sideboarding. Hazoret didn’t perform that well, but just as a threat she was fine. Surgical and Wear//Tears did nothing, but that’s just because of the field. I dodged the 2 Tron players, but didn’t face either of the affinity players who also got top 16, maybe there is a world where I faced an affinity player instead of Kevin jones and I make top 8, but oh well. I’m happy with the results. I can answer any sideboard choices, or anything else if people wanna know.
Congrats on the finish though.
Its not mandatory to tick up Lili every turn! Don't force yourself to do it if you need the cards.
Played against Jund, Storm, Grixis Shadow and Eldrazi & Taxes.
I was running this list (no blood moons, no manamorphose):
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
2x Blood Crypt
1x Sacred Foundry
3x Mountain
2x Swamp
1x Hazoret the Fervent
4x Bedlam Reveler
4x Young Pyromancer
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Terminate
1x Dreadbore
3x Kolaghan's Command
2x Collective Brutality
4x Faithless Looting
4x Lingering Souls
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Thoughtseize
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Liliana the last hope
2x Liliana of the Veil
2x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Wear//Tear
3x Molten Rain
2x Kambal, consul of Allocation
Loving this setup.
Thanks! If you check the last page / my signature I have my list there, pretty standard stuff, gonna be running more Hazoret now because I probably won't have LOTV (my friend said he might lend them to me for GP Hartford tho, so fingers crossed!).
Thanks! I get that blood moon doesn't always trade 1 for 1 like we want in this deck, but I think it is very good vs. Jeskai & Jund, and it trades for either removal (only Pulse for Jund, and sometimes the 2 mana exile a red/black card from Jeskai, but even then it trades). I kept it in because knowing the shop was very heavy control/midrange, and it worked out in those matchups, so I still think it is worthwile for the main deck, but as always that's up for debate and both sides have merit.
Yea I definitely didn't! I was just commentating that was the only awkward part of her sometimes. But it never mattered, because she was usually dead by more than 1 point of damage when I wouldn't tick her up. I'm debating on using a Nahiri in her spot, because she fills a similar role but for more mana, but I think that is a little loose so not totally sold yet. If LOTV price goes down / reprinted, I'm definitely picking some up tho!
I plan on sticking to a list pretty similar to my IQ one, but with upgrades to the sideboard as I get some explosives, and I'm going to try 1 Dire Fleet Daredevil because it seems sweet. I also picked up some Traverses to play around with, so we'll see how 4c feels, but I was doing a bit of testing with it proxied and it felt super shady due to the manabase. The other version I might also try out is Mardu Shadow, because that also seems like it could be pretty decent and improves the burn matchup a lot. But that deviates a bit from the Mardu Pyro standard so I probably won't be on that list for long.
1x Blackcleave Cliffs
1x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Godless Shrine
1x Island
2x Mountain
4x Polluted Delta
2x Spirebluff Canal
2x Steam Vents
1x Swamp
1x Watery Grave
2x Dreadbore
4x Faithless Looting
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Lingering Souls
4x Thoughtseize
3x Fatal Push
2x Kolaghan's Command
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Thought Scour
2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2x Snapcaster Mage
4x Young Pyromancer
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Collective Brutality
1x Engineered Explosives
2x Goblin Rabblemaster
3x Molten Rain
2x Nihil Spellbomb
3x Surgical Extraction
2x Wear
Would really love some feedback
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
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Verdant Catacombs
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Marsh Flats
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Blood Crypt
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Forest
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
Creatures (13):
4 Bedlam Reveler
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Young Pyromancer
1 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Faithless Looting
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Dreadbore
4 Lingering Souls
3 Kolaghan's Command
2 Collective Brutality
3 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Fatal Push
3 Molten Rain
2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
1 Golgari Charm
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Collective Brutality
2 Surgical Extraction
I think Grim Flayer is the better Green Splash to go along with traverse in place of BBE. Bauble, Looting, a bunch of kill spells, and discard arent exactly prime BBE targets, ideally he would hit a souls or kcmd but thats just not going to happen as often. On the other hand, Grim Flayer always helps your deck by filling your yard and filtering your draws.... It plays so nicely into this graveyard based deck.
The 4 color list obviously increases your ability to pressure the opponent and assist with turning the corner from controlling the board to beating down more consistently but at the same time hampers our consistency in mana. I believe either Baubles or Manamorphoses(your choice) are necessary to running this complex mana base(i have chosen baubles as I have slowly been converting into a larger delirium based deck and have also chosen to go up to 19 lands to help combat some inconsistencies while most 4c lists only run 18.
With the increase in 2 drop threats we just dont have room for brutalities MD which really only hurts us vs burn, however a 4/4 on t2-4 that closes games faster and helps filter our draws usually makes up for it. This matchup is definitely still a little worse thanks to the mana as you mentioned though regardless of what green creatures we are playing.
I found myself pitching KCMD way to often or just delaying a great reveler because i wanted to get value out of the command first so im currently testing a whopping 0 kcmds. I think the increase in threat density from traverse allows us to get away with foregoing the buyback kcmd provides.
I'm currently toying with the landbase as I want to try and get to the 4 colors as quickly and efficiently as possible, both Stomping > Godless Shrine and Blood Crypt > Temple garden get us all our colors and casts all our spells outside terminate. But the 3rd land just needs red and were set.
4 Bedlam Reveler
3 Young Pyromancer
1 Swamp
2 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Arid Mesa
2 Stomping Ground
4 Mishra's Bauble
1 Mountain
1 Forest
2 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lingering Souls
2 Terminate
4 Faithless Looting
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Wear // Tear
2 Collective Brutality
1 Hazoret the Fervent
1 Mogis, God of Slaughter
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
3 Molten Rain
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Collective Brutality
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Wear // Tear
2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Engineered Explosives
I tried your maindeck tonight at thursday night modern and went 3-1 beating Bushwhacker Zoo, 4c Planeswalkers, 4c Saheeli, and losing to a BW Aggro/Go Wide deck with Lilianas and Sorins. In the loss I never really got going game 1 and in game two I mulled to five and he hit me with a Leyline of the Void to start so there was never really a chance.
The list definitely felt more powerful than standard Mardu Pyro but at the cost of having really clunky hands at times filled to the brim with expensive creature cards. Additionally, the mana was pretty rough but I'll chock that up to general inexperience navigating the manabase as I threw it together literally five minutes before the event started. I'll give it a go tomorrow night at a different modern event as well and see if I can iron out some of the issues I faced.