I personally have been enjoying the tango lands in my sort of budget version of the deck. With 5 basics, I almost always can fetch on t1 basic on t2 and then my tangos are useful for the rest of the game, at no life cost. If land distruction, Fulminator Mage is heavy in your meta, then I understand paying the extra $$. I think that 1 Prairie Stream and 1 Canopy Vista deserve a mention or test.
The issue is that Knightfall is a first and foremost a tempo deck. I bring this point up because having lands come into play tapped can be a huge tempo disadvantage. This fact alone can very easily lead to use losing the game. I would argue that most of the reason Sejiri Steppe isn't run in any professional builds is because it comes into play tapped. If I were to run it, it would be the only forced tap land in the deck, yet I steer clear of it because it has to be tapped.
Would/do you run any? I like them when cracking a fetch late game, when 2 life can really matter.
That's usually not a problem when you're good at this deck. The deck is so hard that you have to consider so many corner cases from turn 1. That's why we play 10 Fetch lands because it offers the ability to fetch basics early and have shock lands come in tapped, or fetch shock lands and have basics to supplement any mana considerations we're missing in the later stages of the game. The flexibility is not something you can replace with things like tango lands and the like.
I just finished Kelvin's newest article, and it's a worthwhile read. As are the rest of his Knightfall articles if you haven't read those yet. There's only one minor point I disagreed about. Here is his opinion on cards he tried that did not make the cut.
Quote from Kelvin Chew »
Meddling Mage or Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
I will only play these two cards if I expect a lot of Goryo's Vengeance decks or Puresteel Paladin combo decks. Otherwise, it is too narrow and it is very taxing on your sideboard slots just to accomodate two very narrow uses.
For Meddling Mage, I agree with his point. There aren't many decks beyond Puresteel Paladin.dec that I'd actually want to lean on that card. However, if Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is "too narrow" then so is Negate (both untrue). Having played Thalia in the sideboard of creature decks since her printing, I can attest that card does significant work against a very broad range of decks. That range includes some of our tougher match ups, like Tron, Ad Nauseum and Grixis.
My point isn't that you NEED Thalia in every sideboard. It's simply that she is good enough.
Link to the article? I agree with your evaluation of Thalia. She is valuable in a ton of matchups. Right now I'm playing Gaddock Teeg in her usual slot and he's also been excellent.
Link to the article? I agree with your evaluation of Thalia. She is valuable in a ton of matchups. Right now I'm playing Gaddock Teeg in her usual slot and he's also been excellent.
I would run a split of Gaddock and Thalia personally.
Thalia is good against stuff like infect and control decks.
Gaddock obliterates tron.
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I much prefer playing Thalia in Naya Midrange, where I can go t1 Nacatl, t2 Thalia. A more aggressive shell is where Thalia really shines as the tax effect is much more prominent and noticeable.
Negates haven't failed me yet in Bant, and I feel they are better with Bant's more controlled style of play.
Having tried out the Botanical Sanctum in place of the 10th fetch, I have to say it's quite good. Coming into play tapped didn't present itself as an issue.
Eldritch Evolution out of the sideboard is actually really good, highly encourage everyone to try it if you haven't already. You can beat quite a lot of stuff with a turn 1 dork into turn 2 evolution into the toolbox creature of your choice.
Just today I did, t2 evolution on the play getting staticaster against elves.
Had boarded in evolution + eidolon vs Breaking-Entering Combo but I didn't draw into it. Negates and paths were good enough.
Also was able to evolve an eternal witness into Sigarda vs Grixis.
Guys please opinions on japanese cards. Lost a 3/3 creature against Japan celestial colonade. This guy played all creatures and spells in english cards, but some cards in his manabase was japanese. I dont registrated this really ( my brain say its all fine and all english to me lets attack his empty board)...and i am sure it is a Kind of legal cheating. It is not ok, but i know legal. I Hate such people. I never forget colonade normally, but with this Tricks it can happen one time in 3 years and such people take advantage of this
If I am a customer spending premium amount of dollars, I expect a premium service. Jund falls into the category of a premium deck costing more dollars than a majority of the rest of the format. I'm not getting the desired performance ratio per dollars spent out of the Jund deck because WOTC decided to make the format more diverse.
I like the inclusion of Botanical Sanctum, especially since more lists are running Vendilion Clique and Reflector mages in either main or side, but wouldn't a Hinterland Harbor be better? You're often trying to get a forest on turn 1, and that would allow the Harbor to enter untapped on turn 2 and beyond. Is being guaranteed its untapped on turns one, two, and three better than harbor being untapped as early as turn 2?
I like the inclusion of Botanical Sanctum, especially since more lists are running Vendilion Clique and Reflector mages in either main or side, but wouldn't a Hinterland Harbor be better? You're often trying to get a forest on turn 1, and that would allow the Harbor to enter untapped on turn 2 and beyond. Is being guaranteed its untapped on turns one, two, and three better than harbor being untapped as early as turn 2?
I'm not convinced, it is not a forest or a plains, which helps knight ramp and combo.
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Reduced combo potential of botanical sanctum is not really relevant since such a small percentage of wins are by combo. Personally, since picking up the deck in September last year, roughly 10% of my game 1 wins have been via combo. And retreats are almost always the first cards to be cut post board.
Knightfall is a midrange deck. The combo is purely incidental and secondary.
Guys please opinions on japanese cards. Lost a 3/3 creature against Japan celestial colonade. This guy played all creatures and spells in english cards, but some cards in his manabase was japanese. I dont registrated this really ( my brain say its all fine and all english to me lets attack his empty board)...and i am sure it is a Kind of legal cheating. It is not ok, but i know legal. I Hate such people. I never forget colonade normally, but with this Tricks it can happen one time in 3 years and such people take advantage of this
If I am a customer spending premium amount of dollars, I expect a premium service. Jund falls into the category of a premium deck costing more dollars than a majority of the rest of the format. I'm not getting the desired performance ratio per dollars spent out of the Jund deck because WOTC decided to make the format more diverse.
Reduced combo potential of botanical sanctum is not really relevant since such a small percentage of wins are by combo. Personally, since picking up the deck in September last year, roughly 10% of my game 1 wins have been via combo. And retreats are almost always the first cards to be cut post board.
Knightfall is a midrange deck. The combo is purely incidental and secondary.
Combo or no combo, we still play 4 Knight. It's really important for this deck to have Knight be a 4/4 when we play it on turn 2 or 3. Some versions run other creatures that gain value from fetches (Courser, Tireless Tracker). Botanical Sanctum does not advance this game plan, and has a minimal benefit to mana consistency/painlessness since we have to draw it naturally. I would definitely play another fetch over it.
I dismissed it in the past for the same reasons you just mentioned. Then I tried it and felt it was good. The potential issues you cited never came up.
But what do I know. The guy who put knightfall on the map has been playing with it since KLD was released, if you want to dismiss a better opinion without trying it then that's your personal choice. For what it's worth I don't think there's anything wrong with 10 fetches. I can see why he chose to play the sanctum based on his Brisbane list and his latest article (his post board plans can get very blue heavy) and for now I'll be sticking with it. My current list is loosely based on his so I decide to copy his mana base.
But of course if some other player runs more trackers or w/e then 10 fetches is probably a better choice, the deck is highly customizable after all. Your mileage may vary. Steve Rubin for example did very well in MOCS playoffs with a 10 fetch version with 1 courser and 3 trackers, but only 1 retreat.
Guys please opinions on japanese cards. Lost a 3/3 creature against Japan celestial colonade. This guy played all creatures and spells in english cards, but some cards in his manabase was japanese. I dont registrated this really ( my brain say its all fine and all english to me lets attack his empty board)...and i am sure it is a Kind of legal cheating. It is not ok, but i know legal. I Hate such people. I never forget colonade normally, but with this Tricks it can happen one time in 3 years and such people take advantage of this
If I am a customer spending premium amount of dollars, I expect a premium service. Jund falls into the category of a premium deck costing more dollars than a majority of the rest of the format. I'm not getting the desired performance ratio per dollars spent out of the Jund deck because WOTC decided to make the format more diverse.
Not sure if anybody touched this in a much earlier part of this thread, but how do you guys feel about 1-2 worship in the sideboard? I see that Kelvin Chew isn't a fan which I obviously respect, but i've found and many of my play testing buddies seem to think having one might bail us out in certain matchups. Any thoughts? I'm doing an IQ on sunday, so i need to lock all this down soon!
Botanical sanctum is a card that makes no sense in this deck, many people tell me to change it for a fetchland, but it still overperforms most of the time. I don't know why it's good, but it is. Hopefully after more matches I can understand why it's so good, it's an interesting card choice for sure. I'm not sure if hinterland harbor is worth it, I think that T1 untapped is more important than T4+ untapped.
@dreadnaught33, I've played worship in my sideboard for a really long time and I agree with Kelvin. The card is narrower than it seems (4 mana do nothing enchantment is tough with the speed and power level of the format, it's bad against any kind of enchantment removal/sweepers) and when it's good, most decks have outs (eldrazi can deck you with tks, merfolk has vapor snag and echoing truth, dredge has brutality, elves has shaman of the pack). In the end, I wanted worship for those four matchups and there are better cards against them that fit our plan better (reflector mage/alliance vs eldrazi, teeg/staticaster/negate vs elves, clique/alliance vs merfolk, staticaster/ooze vs dredge)
Not sure if anybody touched this in a much earlier part of this thread, but how do you guys feel about 1-2 worship in the sideboard? I see that Kelvin Chew isn't a fan which I obviously respect, but i've found and many of my play testing buddies seem to think having one might bail us out in certain matchups. Any thoughts? I'm doing an IQ on sunday, so i need to lock all this down soon!
Super meta dependent; playing worship is entirely predicated on aggressive dmg-based linear decks. If you're against like Naya Blitz 39821398812 times at fnm, play worship and kek. Likewise with Dredge, play worship and they can't win, especially if they don't know you're on it.
New list and I think this is probably the most tuned list. Just came back from FNM and won some Misty Rainforests.
Maindeck - 61
Creatures:
Noble Hierarch x 4
Birds of Paradise x 3
Knight of the Reliquary x 4
Spell Queller x 4
Vendilion Clique x 1
Courser of Kruphix x 2
Tireless Tracker x 2
Selfless Spirit x 2
Spellskite x 1
Voice of Resurgence x 2
Scavenging Ooze x 2
Qasali Pridemage x 2
Spells:
Elspeth, Knight-Errant x 1
Path to Exile x 4
Collected Company x 4
Retreat to Coralhelm x 1
lands:
Windswept Heath x 4
Wooded Foothills x 3
Misty Rainforest x 2
Flooded Strand x 1
Breeding Pool x 1
Hallowed Fountain x 1
Temple Garden x 1
Stomping Ground x 1
Horizon Canopy x 1
Gavony Township x 1
Kessig Wolf Run x 1
Ghost Quarter x 1
Plains x 1
Forest x 3
Sideboard:
Izzet Staticaster x 2
Reflector Mage x 2
Eidolon of Rhetoric x 1
Gaddock Teeg x 1
Eldritch Evolution x 1
Blessed Alliance x 2
Negate x 1
Unified Will x 3
Stony Silence x 2
There should probably be more Reflector Mage and maybe Elspeth, Sun's Champion (it hits many of the top decks of the format currently) but it open meta this seems to be the correct list.
Surgical is a card i've been considering. Might almost want two in place of the bojuka bog, it seems to help against a lot of decks to have something like this they won't expect, but maybe i'm way off. Any thoughts on my list would be appreciated!
I've always been on two. I think it's excellent two drop. I do, however, think that if your meta is flooded with Death's Shadow, you want less selfless and more Voice of Resurgence. Otherwise, in an unknown and wide meta, you should play a pair of Selfless Spirit.
Top 8'd a 38 man GPT with this deck. Recently switched from Abzan Company and I haven't had the chance to get my Misty Rainforest yet. I would have also put in Gaddock Teeg and Unified Will in the side board but I was not able to get it in time. I have not had the chance to play burn yet so I don't know how Rhox War Monk fares in that matchup.
6 Rounds Total for the tournament. Played 5 Rounds and drew the last one to get into top 8. The Top 8 decided to split the Prize.
I knew that there were a lot of Combo and Tron decks here so I went with 3 Retreats plus 1 Vendilion Clique. Also, I couldn't remember most of my opening hands so I only mentioned what I remembered.
Round 1: Pyromancer's Ascension 2-0 Game 1: He got stuck at one land while I hold up a spell queller and deal lethal to him after I resolve a Coco. I did not get to see his pyromancer's ascension in this game. Game 2: I played some creatures and beat him down. I destroyed his pyromancer's ascension with a Qasali Pridemage and I counter his Gifts Ungiven with a Negate. It was a pretty fast game. Sideboarding: -3 Voice of Resurgence, -1 Tireless Tracker, -2 Courser of Kruphix, +4 Negate, +2 Reflector Mage (I expected him to play Baral and electromancer)
Round 2: Bring to Light Scape shift 2-1 Game 1: Drew a hand with 2 Lands, 1 Dork, 1 KotR, 1 Coralhelm, and forgot the others. I was on the play so I was able to combo off with him not having an answer, he had 2 open mana but I thought if he did not bolt my dork the first turn, he did not have the lightning bolts. He scooped when I showed the retreat on turn 3 after playing Knight on turn 2. Game 2: I kept a hand with 1 queller, that's as far as I remember, I tempoed him out with a queller into his Kodama's Reach when he was at 5 lands. I brought him down to 1 before he Bring to Lighted into a Scapeshift. I also made a mistake of using Collected Company on his end step because I was afraid of Anger of the Gods clearing the board, but the just used Izzet Charm to counter my EOT CoCo. Game 3: I mulled into a 1 Voice of Resurgence, 1 Dork, 2 Negate Hand, and 2 others. I don't remember what happened that much but Voice of Resurgence did almost all the damage while I was holding up the negates, he used Vendilion Clique on me and saw 2 negates--he put one on the bottom and I drew a Spell Queller. He thought it was his chance to combo so he used a Bring to Light to get an Anger of the Gods to bait my negate, he was thinking that if don't counter the Anger, he could at least stall some time to draw more counters for my negate. I used negate on the Anger then he proceeded to use Scapeshift and I Spell Queller it, th[/card]en swinging for lethal the next turn.
Sideboarding: -2 Scavenging Ooze, -1 Tireless Tracker, -1 Path to Exile, +4 Negate. I should have just sided out more PTEs but I thought he was bringing in more creatures so I left. I saw his sideboard after the match and he did not have Obstinate Baloth or stuff like that.
Round 3: UB Mill 1-2 Game 1: Turn 2 Mesmeric Orb, Turn 3 another Mesmeric Orb. I was able to get him to lethal range with an elemental token and Voice of Resurgence. He dropped Ensnaring Bridge with 4 cards in hands, I swing with Voice of Resurgence with Kessig Wolf Run dropping him to around 3 or 4. At my upkeep, he activated his Shelldock Isle and casted glimpse the unthinkable, we moved to game 2. Game 2: I was able to counter his Mesmeric Orb with Negate and just beat him down with a lot of cards remaining in my library. Game 3: I kept a hand with 2 KotR, 1 Dork, and 1 Retreat thinking I could win this easliy but Turn 1 and 2 Hedron Crab was just to much. When I played the KotR, he bounced it, delaying me. When I got to play the Retreat, I had 4 Cards in my deck. Despite the Knight being 20/20, I could not end the game because he had chump blockers and I was only able to tap 1.
Round 4: Eldrazi Tron 2-0 Game 1: Kept another Combo Hand containing a 2 Retreat, 1 Knight of the Reliquary, 1 Temple Garden, and 2 Forests but I decided to keep it. Turn 3 I played Knight of the Reliquary. Turn 4 I had no blue mana so I used Knight of the Reliquary to fetch a Breeding Pool to play Retreat, I had to Path my other creature to get a land to untap the Knight of the Reliquary and I combo'd from there. Game 2: I mulled to 6 with a hand containing 1 Spell Queller, 2 Hierarchs, 1 Stomping Ground, 1 Negate, and 1 card I forgot. I scryed a noble hierarch on the top. I thought to myself that I wasn't getting a better hand if I just draw 5 cards which will also get destroyed by Walking Balista so I kept the hand. Turns out he did not have the Walking Balista. He had such a slow start with tower, tower, ghost quarter though so I was able to play the 3 hierarch. I Spell Queller his Thought Knot Seer and rode the 3 times Exalted Spell Queller to victory with negate countering his dismember Sideboaring: -2 Scavenging Ooze, -1 Tireless Tracker, -3 Voice of Resurgence, -1 Retreat to Coralhelm, + 3 Negate, + 2 Reflector Mage, +2 Stony Silence.
Round 5: Esper Geist 2-0 Game 1: I don't remember much but I just beat him down with Voice of Resurgence. Game 2: I was able to get 2 Voice of Resurgence into play. He used engineered explosive to blow them up. I think he was color screwed in this game, not having black for around 5 turns. He was not able to race me as I used Blessed Alliance on his Guest of Saint Traft at the attack triggering the Angel Token, he dispels it and I negate the dispel.I was lucky to have had a Kessig Wolf Run to trample in damage after he used a total of 3 Timely Reinforcements. I did not play that much creature, prolonging the game. I was playing around the board sweeps I thought he might have boarded in. Sideboarding: -4 Spell Queller, -3 Retreat to Coralhelm, -1 Birds of Paradise. +4 Negate, +2 Blessed Alliance, +2 Rhox War Monk. Spell Queller isn't that good in this matchup seeing his tons of removal, so I opted for Negates and put in Rhox War Monk. In hindsight, Spell Queller does just eat the removals that could be targeted at my other relevant creatures.
Afterthoughts: This deck is fun as hell, having a fighting chance against all the decks is great. Also not being completely blowed out by Anger of the Gods feels nice. I did not put in Selfless Spirit because I don't think it is that good in this deck. It is a lot more suited in a deck that can tutor for it than trying to get lucky with Cocoing into it when the enemy uses a board wipe
Round 3: UB Mill 1-2 Game 1: Turn 2 Mesmeric Orb, Turn 3 another Mesmeric Orb. I was able to get him to lethal range with an elemental token and Voice of Resurgence. He dropped Ensnaring Bridge with 4 cards in hands, I swing with Voice of Resurgence with Kessig Wolf Run dropping him to around 3 or 4. At my upkeep, he activated his Shelldock Isle and casted glimpse the unthinkable, we moved to game 2. Game 2: I was able to counter his Mesmeric Orb with Negate and just beat him down with a lot of cards remaining in my library. Game 3: I kept a hand with 2 KotR, 1 Dork, and 1 Retreat thinking I could win this easliy but Turn 1 and 2 Hedron Crab was just to much. When I played the KotR, he bounced it, delaying me. When I got to play the Retreat, I had 4 Cards in my deck. Despite the Knight being 20/20, I could not end the game because he had chump blockers and I was only able to tap 1.
Afterthoughts: This deck is fun as hell, having a fighting chance against all the decks is great. Also not being completely blowed out by Anger of the Gods feels nice. I did not put in Selfless Spirit because I don't think it is that good in this deck. It is a lot more suited in a deck that can tutor for it than trying to get lucky with Cocoing into it when the enemy uses a board wipe
I would recommend cutting the retreats vs mill. An early combo helps won the matchup, but their deck pretty much combos for us. Also, Scavenging Ooze is quite potent in this matchup. He easily becomes quite large and he removes creatures from you're graveyard before your opponent casts crypt incursion.
Also, selfless spirit serves a purpose in knightfall. I bring this up to say try it before you drop it. There is a reason it's there.
That's usually not a problem when you're good at this deck. The deck is so hard that you have to consider so many corner cases from turn 1. That's why we play 10 Fetch lands because it offers the ability to fetch basics early and have shock lands come in tapped, or fetch shock lands and have basics to supplement any mana considerations we're missing in the later stages of the game. The flexibility is not something you can replace with things like tango lands and the like.
For Meddling Mage, I agree with his point. There aren't many decks beyond Puresteel Paladin.dec that I'd actually want to lean on that card. However, if Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is "too narrow" then so is Negate (both untrue). Having played Thalia in the sideboard of creature decks since her printing, I can attest that card does significant work against a very broad range of decks. That range includes some of our tougher match ups, like Tron, Ad Nauseum and Grixis.
My point isn't that you NEED Thalia in every sideboard. It's simply that she is good enough.
BGX Midrange
URX Control
I would run a split of Gaddock and Thalia personally.
Thalia is good against stuff like infect and control decks.
Gaddock obliterates tron.
Negates haven't failed me yet in Bant, and I feel they are better with Bant's more controlled style of play.
------------------------------------------------------
3-0 at Thursday Night Modern with Knightfall. Tried out a list based on Kelvin Chew's recent article with some small changes in the main and side.
2-1 vs GB elves
2-0 vs Expertise/cascade/breaking-entering combo
2-1 vs Grixis control
4x noble hierarch
3x birds of paradise
3x voice of resurgence
2x qasali pridemage
2x scavenging ooze
1x selfless spirit
1x Geist of Saint traft
1x tireless tracker
1x eternal witness
2x courser of kruphix
4x knight of the reliquary
4x spell queller
spells
4x collected company
4x path to exile
2x retreat to coralhelm
4x windswept heath
4x misty rainforest
1x flooded strand
1x botanical sanctum
1x hallowed fountain
1x breeding pool
1x stomping ground
1x temple garden
1x ghost quarter
1x kessig wolf run
1x gavony township
3x forest
1x plains
1x sigarda host of herons
2x reflector mage
2x izzet staticaster
2x kitchen finks
1x eidolon of rhetoric
2x negate
1x eldritch evolution
2x blessed alliance
1x stony silence
1x spellskite
Having tried out the Botanical Sanctum in place of the 10th fetch, I have to say it's quite good. Coming into play tapped didn't present itself as an issue.
Eldritch Evolution out of the sideboard is actually really good, highly encourage everyone to try it if you haven't already. You can beat quite a lot of stuff with a turn 1 dork into turn 2 evolution into the toolbox creature of your choice.
Just today I did, t2 evolution on the play getting staticaster against elves.
Had boarded in evolution + eidolon vs Breaking-Entering Combo but I didn't draw into it. Negates and paths were good enough.
Also was able to evolve an eternal witness into Sigarda vs Grixis.
I'm not convinced, it is not a forest or a plains, which helps knight ramp and combo.
Knightfall is a midrange deck. The combo is purely incidental and secondary.
Combo or no combo, we still play 4 Knight. It's really important for this deck to have Knight be a 4/4 when we play it on turn 2 or 3. Some versions run other creatures that gain value from fetches (Courser, Tireless Tracker). Botanical Sanctum does not advance this game plan, and has a minimal benefit to mana consistency/painlessness since we have to draw it naturally. I would definitely play another fetch over it.
GWU Knightfall Spirit Company GWU
GWB Abzan Evolution GWB
But what do I know. The guy who put knightfall on the map has been playing with it since KLD was released, if you want to dismiss a better opinion without trying it then that's your personal choice. For what it's worth I don't think there's anything wrong with 10 fetches. I can see why he chose to play the sanctum based on his Brisbane list and his latest article (his post board plans can get very blue heavy) and for now I'll be sticking with it. My current list is loosely based on his so I decide to copy his mana base.
But of course if some other player runs more trackers or w/e then 10 fetches is probably a better choice, the deck is highly customizable after all. Your mileage may vary. Steve Rubin for example did very well in MOCS playoffs with a 10 fetch version with 1 courser and 3 trackers, but only 1 retreat.
Not sure if anybody touched this in a much earlier part of this thread, but how do you guys feel about 1-2 worship in the sideboard? I see that Kelvin Chew isn't a fan which I obviously respect, but i've found and many of my play testing buddies seem to think having one might bail us out in certain matchups. Any thoughts? I'm doing an IQ on sunday, so i need to lock all this down soon!
Right now I'm running Kelvin's SB: 3 blessed alliance, 3 reflector mage, 1 eldritch evolution, 1 finks, 1 izzet staticaster, 2 negate, 2 unified will, 1 clique, and 1 stony silence.
@dreadnaught33, I've played worship in my sideboard for a really long time and I agree with Kelvin. The card is narrower than it seems (4 mana do nothing enchantment is tough with the speed and power level of the format, it's bad against any kind of enchantment removal/sweepers) and when it's good, most decks have outs (eldrazi can deck you with tks, merfolk has vapor snag and echoing truth, dredge has brutality, elves has shaman of the pack). In the end, I wanted worship for those four matchups and there are better cards against them that fit our plan better (reflector mage/alliance vs eldrazi, teeg/staticaster/negate vs elves, clique/alliance vs merfolk, staticaster/ooze vs dredge)
L: Maverick
Super meta dependent; playing worship is entirely predicated on aggressive dmg-based linear decks. If you're against like Naya Blitz 39821398812 times at fnm, play worship and kek. Likewise with Dredge, play worship and they can't win, especially if they don't know you're on it.
Maindeck - 61
Creatures:
Noble Hierarch x 4
Birds of Paradise x 3
Knight of the Reliquary x 4
Spell Queller x 4
Vendilion Clique x 1
Courser of Kruphix x 2
Tireless Tracker x 2
Selfless Spirit x 2
Spellskite x 1
Voice of Resurgence x 2
Scavenging Ooze x 2
Qasali Pridemage x 2
Spells:
Elspeth, Knight-Errant x 1
Path to Exile x 4
Collected Company x 4
Retreat to Coralhelm x 1
lands:
Windswept Heath x 4
Wooded Foothills x 3
Misty Rainforest x 2
Flooded Strand x 1
Breeding Pool x 1
Hallowed Fountain x 1
Temple Garden x 1
Stomping Ground x 1
Horizon Canopy x 1
Gavony Township x 1
Kessig Wolf Run x 1
Ghost Quarter x 1
Plains x 1
Forest x 3
Sideboard:
Izzet Staticaster x 2
Reflector Mage x 2
Eidolon of Rhetoric x 1
Gaddock Teeg x 1
Eldritch Evolution x 1
Blessed Alliance x 2
Negate x 1
Unified Will x 3
Stony Silence x 2
There should probably be more Reflector Mage and maybe Elspeth, Sun's Champion (it hits many of the top decks of the format currently) but it open meta this seems to be the correct list.
Surgical is a card i've been considering. Might almost want two in place of the bojuka bog, it seems to help against a lot of decks to have something like this they won't expect, but maybe i'm way off. Any thoughts on my list would be appreciated!
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Spell Queller
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 Courser of Kruphix
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Tireless Tracker
Spells
4 Collected Company
4 Path to Exile
3 Retreat to Coralhelm
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Breeding Pool
2 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Stomping Ground
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Gavony Township
1 Kessig Wolfrun
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Negate
3 Blessed Alliance
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Stony Silence
2 Reflector Mage
2 Rhox War Monk
Top 8'd a 38 man GPT with this deck. Recently switched from Abzan Company and I haven't had the chance to get my Misty Rainforest yet. I would have also put in Gaddock Teeg and Unified Will in the side board but I was not able to get it in time. I have not had the chance to play burn yet so I don't know how Rhox War Monk fares in that matchup.
6 Rounds Total for the tournament. Played 5 Rounds and drew the last one to get into top 8. The Top 8 decided to split the Prize.
I knew that there were a lot of Combo and Tron decks here so I went with 3 Retreats plus 1 Vendilion Clique. Also, I couldn't remember most of my opening hands so I only mentioned what I remembered.
Round 1: Pyromancer's Ascension 2-0
Game 1: He got stuck at one land while I hold up a spell queller and deal lethal to him after I resolve a Coco. I did not get to see his pyromancer's ascension in this game.
Game 2: I played some creatures and beat him down. I destroyed his pyromancer's ascension with a Qasali Pridemage and I counter his Gifts Ungiven with a Negate. It was a pretty fast game.
Sideboarding: -3 Voice of Resurgence, -1 Tireless Tracker, -2 Courser of Kruphix, +4 Negate, +2 Reflector Mage (I expected him to play Baral and electromancer)
Round 2: Bring to Light Scape shift 2-1
Game 1: Drew a hand with 2 Lands, 1 Dork, 1 KotR, 1 Coralhelm, and forgot the others. I was on the play so I was able to combo off with him not having an answer, he had 2 open mana but I thought if he did not bolt my dork the first turn, he did not have the lightning bolts. He scooped when I showed the retreat on turn 3 after playing Knight on turn 2.
Game 2: I kept a hand with 1 queller, that's as far as I remember, I tempoed him out with a queller into his Kodama's Reach when he was at 5 lands. I brought him down to 1 before he Bring to Lighted into a Scapeshift. I also made a mistake of using Collected Company on his end step because I was afraid of Anger of the Gods clearing the board, but the just used Izzet Charm to counter my EOT CoCo.
Game 3: I mulled into a 1 Voice of Resurgence, 1 Dork, 2 Negate Hand, and 2 others. I don't remember what happened that much but Voice of Resurgence did almost all the damage while I was holding up the negates, he used Vendilion Clique on me and saw 2 negates--he put one on the bottom and I drew a Spell Queller. He thought it was his chance to combo so he used a Bring to Light to get an Anger of the Gods to bait my negate, he was thinking that if don't counter the Anger, he could at least stall some time to draw more counters for my negate. I used negate on the Anger then he proceeded to use Scapeshift and I Spell Queller it, th[/card]en swinging for lethal the next turn.
Sideboarding: -2 Scavenging Ooze, -1 Tireless Tracker, -1 Path to Exile, +4 Negate. I should have just sided out more PTEs but I thought he was bringing in more creatures so I left. I saw his sideboard after the match and he did not have Obstinate Baloth or stuff like that.
Round 3: UB Mill 1-2
Game 1: Turn 2 Mesmeric Orb, Turn 3 another Mesmeric Orb. I was able to get him to lethal range with an elemental token and Voice of Resurgence. He dropped Ensnaring Bridge with 4 cards in hands, I swing with Voice of Resurgence with Kessig Wolf Run dropping him to around 3 or 4. At my upkeep, he activated his Shelldock Isle and casted glimpse the unthinkable, we moved to game 2.
Game 2: I was able to counter his Mesmeric Orb with Negate and just beat him down with a lot of cards remaining in my library.
Game 3: I kept a hand with 2 KotR, 1 Dork, and 1 Retreat thinking I could win this easliy but Turn 1 and 2 Hedron Crab was just to much. When I played the KotR, he bounced it, delaying me. When I got to play the Retreat, I had 4 Cards in my deck. Despite the Knight being 20/20, I could not end the game because he had chump blockers and I was only able to tap 1.
Sideboarding: -1 Tireless Tracker, -2 Courser of Kruphix, -1 Scavinging Ooze, +4 Negate.
Round 4: Eldrazi Tron 2-0
Game 1: Kept another Combo Hand containing a 2 Retreat, 1 Knight of the Reliquary, 1 Temple Garden, and 2 Forests but I decided to keep it. Turn 3 I played Knight of the Reliquary. Turn 4 I had no blue mana so I used Knight of the Reliquary to fetch a Breeding Pool to play Retreat, I had to Path my other creature to get a land to untap the Knight of the Reliquary and I combo'd from there.
Game 2: I mulled to 6 with a hand containing 1 Spell Queller, 2 Hierarchs, 1 Stomping Ground, 1 Negate, and 1 card I forgot. I scryed a noble hierarch on the top. I thought to myself that I wasn't getting a better hand if I just draw 5 cards which will also get destroyed by Walking Balista so I kept the hand. Turns out he did not have the Walking Balista. He had such a slow start with tower, tower, ghost quarter though so I was able to play the 3 hierarch. I Spell Queller his Thought Knot Seer and rode the 3 times Exalted Spell Queller to victory with negate countering his dismember
Sideboaring: -2 Scavenging Ooze, -1 Tireless Tracker, -3 Voice of Resurgence, -1 Retreat to Coralhelm, + 3 Negate, + 2 Reflector Mage, +2 Stony Silence.
Round 5: Esper Geist 2-0
Game 1: I don't remember much but I just beat him down with Voice of Resurgence.
Game 2: I was able to get 2 Voice of Resurgence into play. He used engineered explosive to blow them up. I think he was color screwed in this game, not having black for around 5 turns. He was not able to race me as I used Blessed Alliance on his Guest of Saint Traft at the attack triggering the Angel Token, he dispels it and I negate the dispel.I was lucky to have had a Kessig Wolf Run to trample in damage after he used a total of 3 Timely Reinforcements. I did not play that much creature, prolonging the game. I was playing around the board sweeps I thought he might have boarded in.
Sideboarding: -4 Spell Queller, -3 Retreat to Coralhelm, -1 Birds of Paradise. +4 Negate, +2 Blessed Alliance, +2 Rhox War Monk. Spell Queller isn't that good in this matchup seeing his tons of removal, so I opted for Negates and put in Rhox War Monk. In hindsight, Spell Queller does just eat the removals that could be targeted at my other relevant creatures.
Afterthoughts: This deck is fun as hell, having a fighting chance against all the decks is great. Also not being completely blowed out by Anger of the Gods feels nice. I did not put in Selfless Spirit because I don't think it is that good in this deck. It is a lot more suited in a deck that can tutor for it than trying to get lucky with Cocoing into it when the enemy uses a board wipe
Also, selfless spirit serves a purpose in knightfall. I bring this up to say try it before you drop it. There is a reason it's there.