I don't like playing 7 mana dorks in a deck that has SO many 3 drops, so I added the 8th one and took out 1 Scavenging Ooze. Other than that, it's 74 of 75 cards the same. I don't feel like I've played the deck enough to make too many changes, but I have yet to use the 2 Surgical Extraction, if I remember correctly.
P.S. - I love your avatar. Knight of the Reliquary was one of my favorite creatures for many years. Then Deathrite Shaman and Scavenging Ooze got printed and the card lost a lot of its luster. I am really glad to be playing her again!
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
I just finished top 4 at a local PPTQ. Lost the semifinals to a good matchup, but well variance happens. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with the list and my performance.
Round 1 vs Affinity won 2-0
G1 Double reflector mage was able to make me gain lots of tempo, while my opponent was stuck on 1 land.
G2 Nothing noteworthy
SB: +1 burrenton +2 finks +3 staticaster -2 retreat -3 voice -1 tracker
Round 2 vs Abzan midrange won 2-1
G1 lost to gideon ally of zendikar. Too good.
G2/3 Rough games, with some mulligans on my side, but I found a decent number of cocos to keep traction. Staticaster was a beast, killing lingering tokens and bob.
SB: +2 finks +1 tracker +3 staticaster -2 retreat -2 qasali -2 birds of paradise
Round 3 vs Vizier Knightfall won 2-0
G1 My opponent wasn't able to assemble the combo, so it played like a mirror while I had queller and his creatures were weaker than mine (vizier for example). That situation favors me, and I won
G2 Kind of the same situation, but I had to kill some devoted druids.
SB: +2 negate +2 gaddock +1 finks +1 vendilion +3 staticaster -2 retreat -2 qasali -3 voice -2 queller (I sided out queller and voice because it's awful when facing reflector mage)
Round 4 vs Abzan vizier won 2-0
G1 managed to path and reflect away some creatures and hit for the win
G2 kind of the same, but with way more tools. One sweet play: I managed to kill 3 birds of paradise with staticaster, with gavony activation on the stack.
SB: +2 negate +2 gaddock +1 vendilion +3 staticaster -2 retreat -2 qasali -3 voice -1 flooded strand
Draw rounds 5 and 6, I finish first in the swiss, good tiebreakers.
Quarterfinals vs Goryo's Esper Gifts won 2-0
G1 he cast cantrips, lingering and reanimated jace VP. I casted creatures bigger than lingering, killed jace and left my opponent at three. He hardcasted Elesh norn, killed some of my creatures but not all of them. Next turn I drew retreat to coralhelm, tapped elesh norn and swung for the win
G2 was grindier, my board was wrathed a few times but I was able to attack my opponent until he was at 3. He reanimated elesh norn again, and killed some more creatures. I activated gavony few turns in a row because most of the creatures in my hand died immediately when hitting the field (like tracker and teeg). I then drew spell queller, flashed it end of turn, untapped, activated gavony and hit him for 1. Winning vs elesh norn, TWICE, felt good.
SB: +2 negate +2 teeg +1 vendilion +2 finks +1 tracker -2 retreat -2 qasali -4 reflector
Semifinals vs Dredge lost 1-2
G1 my opponent had a slow start and I had the retreat combo (in an already controlled board though, I didn't really need it but it was something to end the game fast)
G2 I kept a suuuper slow hand of 4 lands 2 knights 1 company. At that point in time it seemed like a good idea, but it's stupid don't keep hands that do nothing until turn 3 vs dredge please. I died and did literally zero damage to my opponent
G3 variance strikes. Mull a hand similar to the one in G2, keep a hand with 2 lands birds path staticaster company. Company got thoughtseized away and I just drew non red lands (unable to cast my staticaster).
SB: +1 burrenton +2 finks +3 staticaster -2 retreat -2 qasali -1 tracker -1 queller
I'm a bit unsure on the dredge sideboard. I thought about siding gaddock teeg to stop conflagrate (which is one of dredge's main ways of dealing with our creatures or just closing the game. Anyway, they don't block well and die to collective brutality, which they play 4. Also, it really makes no sense, the dredge player oversideboarded vs me (sided black leyline, thoughtseize and more cards) and still managed to dredge consistently. Whatever, bad beats, but it was a fun day
Thanks for the post RPD. I'm inspired by your sideboard, it seems like sometimes i over board in spells and i love how yours stays creature heavy.
Would you ever consider not playing the retreats at all? It looks like you boarded them out every game. Still worth the spot to you? I've considered something like Bento's plan of elspeth in that spot, or just more creatures like courser.
Did reflector ever feel awkward MD? I still hesitate to maindeck it- but then your board again looks amazing without having to spend 3 spots on reflector.
Only thing i would change would be to have either a third ooze or bojuka bog in board, exactly for dredge and other matches like that. I'd be tempted to cut a third staticaster, but honestly it seemed like the MVP for you today. Any changes you're thinking of making after this? Again, great post man.
@dreadnaught33 I think that, for this deck, sideboards filled with creatures are more effective than the spell heavy ones. And there are some good spells for our SB: stony silence, explosives, blessed alliance, planeswalkers... but most of those functions can be covered effectively by creatures. Also, when sideboarding, if you have many noncreatures, the correct thing to do is boarding out some companies (so the remaining ones are more powerful) and that feels so bad... I don't want to put myself in that situation.
Retreat has been discussed a lot and for me it stays maindeck, as a 2 of, in every list I play. This deck is so good at winning good matchups game one (like, other midrange decks, some kinds of control and aggro) that you don't really mind having two dead cards vs them. It's like playing pre boarded games vs tron/valakut/ad nauseam, so at least we have more chances of stealing game one. And it isn't a completely dead card either, you can get some scry value, untap your creatures after attacking, tap opposing creatures with fetchlands, tap opposing elesh norns to swing for lethal
I think that the correct number of reflector mage MD is either 3 or 4. It's too good. It's as awkward as path.
Third ooze is reasonable, I had to cut it to fit the fourth reflector mage but it is a good card. I often boarded out the third ooze when I played that many, so playing only two didn't feel wrong. I don't like bojuka, feels narrow and low power level. I prefer having higher numbers of the good sideboard creatures (like teeg or staticaster). The third staticaster was something that I added today for this tournament and as you can see in the report, that card was perfect.
Any changes... I'm thinking about changing the 1 flooded strand for 1 green fetchland. Not being able of fetching my red source vs dredge tilted me really hard, but I'm unsure if it's what I should do. Other than that, the list was okay. I'll update my thoughts after playing more tournaments
I have to have Elspeth in there to bring in when I need to be aggressive/grindy matches, plus that girl is part of the bant flavor trio of power women with knight and noble right? I've liked 3 ooze main, abzan, Rock decks, dredge and stuff are big in my meta. If I find myself pining for 4 mages main, I'll get there. Thanks again for the advice. I'll update after next tournament.
Have any of you guys felt like Kitchen Finks doesn't have a specific deck it really serves a purpose against? I've been getting the impression lately that I should play a more dedicated burn hate card like Kor Firewalker or more dedicated attrition cards like Tracker + Courser or planeswalkers.
Very interested in your deck to play at SCG Syracuse. Long time fan of knightfall. Recently took a break to play the devoted company decks and now I'm back to knightfall a week before the open lol. Interested into what your opinion of 1-2 selfless spirit in the main. Card is very good against UW control. Also have never been a fan of 8 mana dorks. Understanding the amount of 3 drops in the deck however the amount of hands that have a ton of mana and nothing to do with it. Also, hitting a company with 2 mana dorks isn't exactly great (for the most part). Just wanted to get a solid opinion before I head into the open with this deck
@calebCalhoun For me, finks is a card I include whenever I want to be attacking, blocking and having great companies. When you cast it for 3 mana on turn 3 it's usually bad, but if you reveal reflector mage and finks out of a company the story is different. Of course great synergies with gavony township. I side it in vs dredge, burn, death and taxes, bant eldrazi, control...
@PastorCF I recently played vs UW control (beautiful games by the way) and while selfless is a nice card, they can just path it and next turn wrath the board. I wrote a long post some weeks ago about my vision on how to play that pairing.
Mana dorks are essential and I'm happy playing eight. I would play all the way up to 10 if there was another one with the power level of birds and hierarch. Hands without acceleration are so much worse than the ones with it. And don't count dorks for company purposes. Optimal number of hits is 20, and most lists play that number of 2 drops + 3 drops.
@PastorCF I really like Selfless Spirit because it is a 2 power flyer, but of note, one significant board wipe is All Is Dust, which Selfless Spirit can't stop. Also, if you play enough Voice of Resurgence or planeswalkers, board wipes can be played around with Company decks, so Selfless Spirit might be expendable unless your meta is full of traditional board wipes.
Thanks for your insight, Bento. I played in a tournament this Sunday with a similar list. You convinced me to play with 3 Courser of Kruphix, and they felt great to draw and play against all decks. I went 3-2, which I felt was pretty good for playing this list for the first time (I've been playing Vizier combo version and am less experienced in grind/beatdown version). I just missed top 8, and I had a good matchup against Burn, but had bad draws (kept a hand with one fetchland and Ghost Quarter and Township, but couldn't find another colour land to play multicolour spells). I played Burn (2-0), Grixis Delver (2-0), Eldrazi Tron (0-2), Burn (0-2), Kiki-Vizier-Copycat (2-0). The only matchup I felt a bit overwhelmed was Eldrazi Tron, but that was more due to inexperience and also a bad sideboard (I need to add Unified Will and Gaddock Teeg to sideboard).
So, Courser was great. I also tried out 2 Elspeth. Elspeth was very threatening whenever she came down, but it still feels a bit awkward to play. I'm never sure which ability to use: pump or create a soldier. She never lasted too long on the board, but I'm still new to playing her.
I'm not sure about Ghost Quarter in the main. Playing 3 utility lands in the main feels like a liability. More than once, I needed a coloured land and drew Ghost Quarter, and I prefer consistency in my deck. Ghost Quarter might be better in Value Company decks that are primarily Green/White. Maybe I was just unlucky.
Match 1: Mono Green Stompy - W (2-0) (1-0)
Game 1: When playing against another fair midrange creature deck, T1 dork, T2 KotR, T3 CoCo into KotR plus Voice followed by Path to Exile on his Rhonas makes this a safe win.
Game 2: This game got pretty nutty. He played a bunch of early threats – Evolution One, double Strangleroot Geist, Rhonas – but I had a CoCo into Spell Queller to deal with the Rhonas, then after he Rancored a Strangleroot Geist and attacked, I CoCo’ed into 2x Voice to purposely chump block and have both die and make two massive tokens (I had several dorks in play at this point). I had yet another Spell Queller in hand to alpha strike and counter the Fog he played to try and survive.
Match 2: Taking Turns – W (2-1) (2-0)
Game 1: T1 dork, T2 KotR for early beats. I actually had a misplay here where my opponent immediately conceded after I responded to a Time Warp (5 cmc) with a Spell Queller (only exiles 4 cmc or less). By the time we realized it we were already shuffling for the next game. Whoops. It probably was a toss-up at that point, maybe slight lean in my favor because he did have a Dictate of Kruphix in play but no other extra-turn cards in hand to combo off.
Game 2: I mulliganed down to 6 and was on the draw, had a Ghost Quarter but no green land sources in hand – I did have a bunch of dorks and good-stuff ready to play – I decided to keep the risky hand and didn’t see a green source the entire time until he comboed and killed me.
Game 3: Since I was on the play I went T1 dork into T2 KotR for early beats, T3 Reflector Mage just to add damage (I didn’t have anything else good to side in its place), then T4 I Spell Queller’ed Cryptic Command, T5 cast Negate on his Time Warp and that was game.
Match 3: RW Prison – Draw (1-1-1) (2-0-1)
Game 1: My notes are a bit sparse here but I remember he cast a T2 Blood Moon (and he was on the play), luckily I had a Forest in hand to keep my hopes afloat. I was able to eventually cast a CoCo with the single Forest and 3 non-basic Mountains (lol) but from whatever I played out he responded with Anger of the Gods and wiped my board. I did play a mana dork or two in there but they died to Lightning Helixes. I eventually die to Chandra and Nahiri.
Game 2: My notes are sparse here as well, but from what I recall I was able to stick a double KotR early, he was able to take care of one of them (with a Nahiri?) and the other with a Blessed Alliance eventually, however by that point my KotR had put a bunch of lands into play (including Kessig Wolf Run) and the Courser of Kruphix that survived an Anger of the Gods got pumped big-time and swung and killed him.
Game 3: We only had like 6 minutes heading into the last game and we had a straight up draw due to lack of time.
Match 4: Death & Taxes – W (2-1) (3-0-1)
Game 1: My notes are a bit sparse here but I remember him being a bit screwed on lands (he only had 2 in play most of the game) and because I had a bunch of mana dorks in play I was fine mana-wise. I “returned” the favor of DNT land-screw by fetching up a Ghost Quarter with KotR and killing off one of his lands that he couldn’t search for because he had 2x Leonin Arbiter in play. My ground game was just better than his – at peak he had 2x Leonin Arbiter and a Thalia – which doesn’t scare a massive KotR plus Exalted triggers from 2x Noble and a Qasali. I also had a BoP in play to block as needed.
Game 2: This game was very back and forth but his situation looked much better than Game 1 by getting out an early Vial and ticked it up to 3, which eventually resulted in him flickering in a Flickerwisp to save one creature, then eventually he broke the board stall by casting a Mirran Crusader and Vial’ing in another Mirran Crusader. I wasn’t ever able to stabilize or find the Kessig Wolf Run I needed to get through.
Game 3: Another back and forth game that went to turns. He had an Arbiter in play and was able to flicker his Blade Splicer three(!) different times for tons of Golems. He also had 2 Vials plus a bunch of lands to do whatever he wanted. I was able to slow him down somewhat with Reflector Mage and I had 3 or so mana dorks in play to chump block to keep my life stable. I had a KotR that was attacking every turn to keep him on the defensive, and a VoR and used the Reflector defensively as well. The board stall was broken when I played a CoCo finding an Izzet Staticaster and a Scavenging Ooze to stabilize my life, then a turn or two later I drew into a 2nd Izzet Staticaster and machine-gun mode was on. It took a few turns but eventually I was able to machine gun everything down and killed him with KotR plus Voice token beats.
This match went way over time so it was one of the most stressful matches I’ve played. Everyone was standing around watching us including the judge. I made multiple misplays but fortunately the Staticasters made my life easier by shooting everything down to clear the way.
Match 5: Burn – W (2-1) (4-0-1)
Game 1: Fortunately my opponent had to mulligan twice and I was on the play, so I was able get an early KotR on board and he had to use a removal spell to take care of the Spell Queller that had exiled one of his spells. The KotR was “only” a 6/6 but two swings plus a few of his fetches meant I was able to get him down to 0 exactly.
Game 2: I mulliganed and kept a 6-card hand with 3 lands, 2 Finks, and a Courser. My scry was another land so I threw it down to the bottom. As you’d expect being on the draw against Burn with a slow hand, I died horribly. I did make it to a T3 in which I was able to actually cast the Finks, but he responded with Skull Crack.
Game 3: This is one of those games where you skirt the line of death with Burn. He got out an early Goblin Guide and hit me once, and the second time I was able to Path in response to the reveal trigger to still get the land and remove the creature without taking the combat damage. I was able to get out a KotR and a Spell Queller exiling a spell, however he used a Helix on the Queller to go from 11 back up to 14 (the previous turn the KotR was a 5/5 and hit him from 17 down to 12, then he cracked a fetch to go down to 11). At this point I was at 9 life, he hits me with a 3-damage burn spell and I am down to 6. I play an Ooze that I had been sandbagging in my hand. He hits me with Boros Charm down to 2. He has a burn spell in hand, however there are a few creatures in the bin and he isn’t able to kill me without me activating Ooze in response to get up to 4 life to avoid dying (by dropping from 4 down to 1). Eventually over the next few turns I am able to sequence my green mana such that I can activate Ooze here and there without dying. Unfortunately I recall having to keep my KotR up from attacking because he had a Goblin Guide in play and I needed to fetch for more Forests to eat creatures if need be. My life yo-yo’s from 2 up to 4, he Bolts me down to 1, that turn I am able to attack with KotR and he has to block with Guide so I eat Guide (safely) to go up to 2. He holds a card in hand again because of my Ooze and he is at 13 life (he was at 14 and cracked a fetch at some point to go to 13). On that turn, I have 12 damage on board between my KotR and Ooze (I think they were both 6/6’s), however I top-deck a fetch land which I throw in the bin to pump my KotR and deal exactly 13 damage to drop him to 0. What a game.
At this point I have 4 wins, 0 losses, and 1 draw. I am tied for 1st with 3 others but due to breakers I am 4th.
For Match 6, I intentionally draw with my opponent to guarantee a spot at 4-0-2.
For final pairings, going into the final round I was 4th, however the guy in 7th was 4-1 and had a play-in game and won and vaulted everyone to 1st with 15 points (5-1-0). Unfortunately, that meant I dropped from 4th to 5th, and that also meant I would be on the draw versus the play against whoever my opponent was, which happened to be… the opponent I unintentionally drew with during Swiss.
Quarterfinals: RW Prison – L (1-2)
Game 1: On the draw, I am able to Spell Quell his Blood Moon, but his Anger of the Gods kills my mana dork, a 3/3 KotR, and the Queller, meaning he got back the Blood Moon I was fighting over anyway. In retrospect I should have held up the KotR until it was at least a 4/4 and sequenced my lands differently so that I wouldn’t have to waste resources dealing with the Blood Moon. I eventually draw two dorks but they both meet Lightning Helix, and the Chandra on board makes it game.
Game 2: On the play, I get early dorks into a Courser of Kruphix and EOT CoCo into double KotR. The next turn he tries to Wrath of God my board, but I CoCo again into a Spell Queller to counter it and swing for a billion. The Spell Queller off of CoCo was actually not risky because it had been flipped/revealed from the Courser so I knew I had the creature-counterspell fired up and ready to go.
Game 3: Unfortunately a frustrating end to the tournament. He lands an early Blood Moon and removes my dork with a Helix which is not the end of the world because I have a basic Forest, basic Plains, and one other land in play. I have 3(!) CoCo in hand and he has a Chandra on board with Blood Moon. If I get any kind of 4th mana source I am waltzing into the semi-finals. Unfortunately, the 3 CoCo rot in my hand the entire game as I sit there for 4 straight turns unable to draw a land or mana dork. Them’s the breaks, I guess.
So I ended 5th overall after losing (the other favored seeds won as well, from what I saw). The total tournament players were 40-some. I heard one person say 40 players and another say 52.
In addition to my Bant Knightfall deck, other decks from what I could see in the Top 8 included Smallpox (1st after Swiss), Titanshift, Esper Control, RW Prison, ANT, and Counters Company. I don’t know what the last deck was.
MVP: Spell Queller; KotR and CoCo for obvious reasons. Spell Queller may be the best card in the deck. 8 mana dorks seem the way to go so you can more or less guarantee a T2 3-drop or T3 CoCo.
LVP: 2-drop spot; Retreat to Coralhelm. Voice did very little other than the trendy Match 1 interaction with CoCo and being a wall against DNT. Most of the time my opponents just ignored or played around it. Qasali Pridemage was fine but I only run it as a 1-of mainboard. Ooze really only had relevance against Burn, but for whatever reason it didn’t have the massive impact I was looking for. I will chalk that up to MU’s being poor (Taking Turns, RW Prison, etc.).
I never played Retreat to Coralhelm a single time all tournament and, honestly, I don’t even know how significant of a play it would be. It’s not retrievable via CoCo and my KotR were pretty ridiculous as it was being all-stars anyway. I suppose it is fine as a 2-of, but for being a creature-combo deck there really wasn’t ever a “combo kill” involving Retreat.
Final Thoughts: If Spell Queller didn’t exist I would think that Counters Company is just a better deck, however Spell Queller is a game-changer by being able to hold up mana for either a Queller or EOT CoCo depending on what your opponent does. I can see why Kelvin Chew proposed a hybrid between Bant Knightfall and Abzan Counters Company as that could potentially get the better-combo angle of Counters Company (with better 2-drops) to pair alongside the amazing benefits of Bant – Spell Queller, Negate out of the sideboard, the fact that KotR can “combo” itself and wreck face np, etc. I haven’t decided whether I will continue to run traditional Bant or try Vizier Knightfall. We shall see! Thanks for reading.
@RPD thank you very much for the insight! Wondering if you have a sideboard guide against some of the tier one decks currently in the format. More of just something to go off then exacts. Unless you have an exact way to do, either is fine
So hey guys, I'm going to GP Birmingham with my team in just over 10 days, and as I promised I'll be writing up a full tournament report, like I did with my win-a-box a few pages back.
Our team are all aiming to at the least make day 2, but I want top 64.
So short and long of it, could you all take a look at my 75 and criticize the hell out of it. I've been keeping up with every possible avenue of Knightfall information online, and would love to have to justify my picks to you lot, as giving a reason for why I'm doing what I'm doing might be really fruitful in terms of discussion.
Mainboard;
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Birds of Paradise
3 Voice of Resurgence
3 Scavenging Ooze
2 Qasali Pridemage
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Spell Queller
4 Reflector Mage
1 Courser of Kruphix
4 Path to Exile
4 Collected Company
2 Retreat to Coralhelm
Sideboard;
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Stony Silence
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Izzet Staticaster
3 Eidolon of Rhetoric
2 Dusk//Dawn
2 Negate
1 Nissa, Steward of Elements
After recent playtesting with the deck, I'm not sold on running both 4-of Reflector Mage and also 4-of Path to Exile mainboard. I feel like it may be better to throw some of those cards in the SB. Does anyone agree or disagree with that assessment?
Also, is there any particular reason why Selfless Spirit has gone out of flavor? That used to be an auto-include and now traditional Bant lists don't even run it. It seems quite good against not just board wipes but even in creature-based matchups where the flying is relevant. Thoughts?
Hey TNDS, I like your list a lot. Couple questions:
1) Have you tested enough to know 7 dorks is enough, especially with 15 3 drops? I go back and forth myself, but I'd love to hear your reasoning.
2) Dusk/Dawn- How has this played? Seems like an interesting, if slow/christmas-land type choice for our deck.
3) The 3 eidolon of rhetoric jumps out at me. I personally favor cards like Gaddock Teeg, Clique, even Thalia there, but i think 1-2 could be alright.
4) I appreciate you having courser in there. I'm personally on a 3 mage/ 2 courser split main right now, I think that the card is still very very good in our deck, it does so many things for us. After Kelvin Chew slammed it, I think the stock went down too far IMHO. Obviously, with knight its great and tracker also its almost game over which prompts- 4a) is there a reason you don't run tracker? Too slow?
5) I also appreciate the one Nissa in the board. I'm into her too, I know people have varying opinions on her in here, but she can do serious work for us. I think having one or two PW makes sense to give us game vs control and midrange, but again people have varying opinions. I know that RPD doesn't run any and seems to do very well.
6) So no unified will huh? Don't like it? I am all about 2 negate, but i always have 1-2 unified will too (Bant gives the GW player the counters advantage), although I'll be honest it's not always great. Ppl cite the scapeshift matchup in particular, but usually that just delays inevitable death by countering one prime time. Also interested in your defense here.
Anyways, best of luck mate. I'm about to go to a bunch of tournaments here in the US too, and I will report on my results. I've been on Naya Rallier company as well, as I think both decks have advantages and disadvantages in modern right now. Cheers!
Yeah Courser is amazing. The life gain, 2/4 body, and card advantage is so good that you almost always want to have it in play. The only reason why people aren't high on it right now is because they are main boarding (as opposed to having the 4 in the sideboard) Reflector Mage as a hedge towards the best decks in the format, which just so happens to get destroyed by rattling of Reflector Mages and friends from hard casts or CoCo.
You have to look at Elspeth as a super fast clock that deck didn't have access to. If you look at the stats of your creatures, they are all 2 powered, aside from Knight of the Reliquary and Tireless Tracker. Putting Elspeth into the equation changes your 2 power creatures into 5 powered flying threats that will kill your opponent in 4 turns or less (depending on their life total). In my lists that I play, i strictly always play 4 Courser and 4 Voice. This allows me to clog the board up with efficient blockers and forms of card advantage. Stick an Elspeth onto the board on t3 or when you've developed your board will make it so difficult to kill her (going up to 5 loyalty is no joke) so you're almost always sending a creature in the air unless you know they can kill her.
Ghost Quarter is important because it's the best utility land in the format. Against decks that set up Tron (Traditional or Eldrazi) you need to have Ghost Quarter or you will just lose flat out to the free mana they have by assembling it. Also, the format isn't just the top tier decks. Modern is a HUUUUUGEEE format and sometimes you may never play against an Eldrazi Tron deck or Death Shadow deck so it's verily important to have access to very good tools to protect you from the volatility of the format. It's also very good at getting you basics AND if you're playing the combo, it helps you get 2 lands into the grave (preferably ghost quarter-ing a fetchland during the combo sequence).
Ghost Quarter protects you from ALL the manlands, lands attached with utopia sprawls, getting mana screwed with no access to white (ghost quarter yourself), sniping Ghost Quarters or Tectonic Edges from sniping your Gavony Township and Kessig Wolf Run/Rogue's Passage, saving your Knight of the Reliquary (you can ghost quarter yourself for +2/+2), potentially mana screw someone, Ghost Quarter other utility lands like Gavony Township, shoot a land that spreading seas is targeting to save you from mana screw and deny them a draw (spell fizzles), and much more. If you have Ramunap Excavator and Azusa, Lost but Seeking, you can Strip Mine your opponent out o the game with a single Ghost Quarter.
We've all been screwed by a colorless land here and there but that's just a part of playing utility lands. You get a powerful flexible land, but the drawback is that it's colorless. It sucks, but hey, can't have it all you know?
Honestly, the Reflector Mage in the main is all about what you're trying to Hedge against. If @TNDS is trying to have a main already pre-boarded, to some degree, against Death's Shadow, Eldrazi, and a swath of creature decks, then, if he plays nothing but those decks he will be rewarded. If he gets sweet MUs WITH Reflector Mage in the main, like how @RPD recently did on his post about a PPTQ that he participated in, then I agree with his decision to MB them.
However, looking at the Modern format as a whole, I do agree that the Reflector Mages, in some amount, should be in the sideboard. If it were up to me, I would shove all 4 of them in the side and have the deck constructed in a way that's resilient to particular archetypes. You can still win games without Reflector Mage against Death's Shadow and Eldrazi Tron, it's just that it's much easier to win with them.
I do understand where @TNDS is coming from with Reflector Mage, as it has a splash effect, hitting ALL creature decks, like Affinity, Elves, Company variants, and more. It just that this particular discussion is meaningless unless he explains to us HIS personal reasoning as to why he's made these choices.
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Found this list online that I liked.
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=16059&d=298873&f=MO
I don't like playing 7 mana dorks in a deck that has SO many 3 drops, so I added the 8th one and took out 1 Scavenging Ooze. Other than that, it's 74 of 75 cards the same. I don't feel like I've played the deck enough to make too many changes, but I have yet to use the 2 Surgical Extraction, if I remember correctly.
P.S. - I love your avatar. Knight of the Reliquary was one of my favorite creatures for many years. Then Deathrite Shaman and Scavenging Ooze got printed and the card lost a lot of its luster. I am really glad to be playing her again!
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)1 Botanical Sanctum
1 Breeding Pool
1 Flooded Strand
3 Forest
1 Gavony Township
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Plains
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Collected Company
4 Path to Exile
2 Retreat to Coralhelm
//Creatures
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
4 Reflector Mage
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Spell Queller
1 Tireless Tracker
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 Negate
2 Unified Will
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Gaddock Teeg
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
3 Izzet Staticaster
Round 1 vs Affinity won 2-0
G1 Double reflector mage was able to make me gain lots of tempo, while my opponent was stuck on 1 land.
G2 Nothing noteworthy
SB: +1 burrenton +2 finks +3 staticaster -2 retreat -3 voice -1 tracker
Round 2 vs Abzan midrange won 2-1
G1 lost to gideon ally of zendikar. Too good.
G2/3 Rough games, with some mulligans on my side, but I found a decent number of cocos to keep traction. Staticaster was a beast, killing lingering tokens and bob.
SB: +2 finks +1 tracker +3 staticaster -2 retreat -2 qasali -2 birds of paradise
Round 3 vs Vizier Knightfall won 2-0
G1 My opponent wasn't able to assemble the combo, so it played like a mirror while I had queller and his creatures were weaker than mine (vizier for example). That situation favors me, and I won
G2 Kind of the same situation, but I had to kill some devoted druids.
SB: +2 negate +2 gaddock +1 finks +1 vendilion +3 staticaster -2 retreat -2 qasali -3 voice -2 queller (I sided out queller and voice because it's awful when facing reflector mage)
Round 4 vs Abzan vizier won 2-0
G1 managed to path and reflect away some creatures and hit for the win
G2 kind of the same, but with way more tools. One sweet play: I managed to kill 3 birds of paradise with staticaster, with gavony activation on the stack.
SB: +2 negate +2 gaddock +1 vendilion +3 staticaster -2 retreat -2 qasali -3 voice -1 flooded strand
Draw rounds 5 and 6, I finish first in the swiss, good tiebreakers.
Quarterfinals vs Goryo's Esper Gifts won 2-0
G1 he cast cantrips, lingering and reanimated jace VP. I casted creatures bigger than lingering, killed jace and left my opponent at three. He hardcasted Elesh norn, killed some of my creatures but not all of them. Next turn I drew retreat to coralhelm, tapped elesh norn and swung for the win
G2 was grindier, my board was wrathed a few times but I was able to attack my opponent until he was at 3. He reanimated elesh norn again, and killed some more creatures. I activated gavony few turns in a row because most of the creatures in my hand died immediately when hitting the field (like tracker and teeg). I then drew spell queller, flashed it end of turn, untapped, activated gavony and hit him for 1. Winning vs elesh norn, TWICE, felt good.
SB: +2 negate +2 teeg +1 vendilion +2 finks +1 tracker -2 retreat -2 qasali -4 reflector
Semifinals vs Dredge lost 1-2
G1 my opponent had a slow start and I had the retreat combo (in an already controlled board though, I didn't really need it but it was something to end the game fast)
G2 I kept a suuuper slow hand of 4 lands 2 knights 1 company. At that point in time it seemed like a good idea, but it's stupid don't keep hands that do nothing until turn 3 vs dredge please. I died and did literally zero damage to my opponent
G3 variance strikes. Mull a hand similar to the one in G2, keep a hand with 2 lands birds path staticaster company. Company got thoughtseized away and I just drew non red lands (unable to cast my staticaster).
SB: +1 burrenton +2 finks +3 staticaster -2 retreat -2 qasali -1 tracker -1 queller
I'm a bit unsure on the dredge sideboard. I thought about siding gaddock teeg to stop conflagrate (which is one of dredge's main ways of dealing with our creatures or just closing the game. Anyway, they don't block well and die to collective brutality, which they play 4. Also, it really makes no sense, the dredge player oversideboarded vs me (sided black leyline, thoughtseize and more cards) and still managed to dredge consistently. Whatever, bad beats, but it was a fun day
L: Maverick
Would you ever consider not playing the retreats at all? It looks like you boarded them out every game. Still worth the spot to you? I've considered something like Bento's plan of elspeth in that spot, or just more creatures like courser.
Did reflector ever feel awkward MD? I still hesitate to maindeck it- but then your board again looks amazing without having to spend 3 spots on reflector.
Only thing i would change would be to have either a third ooze or bojuka bog in board, exactly for dredge and other matches like that. I'd be tempted to cut a third staticaster, but honestly it seemed like the MVP for you today. Any changes you're thinking of making after this? Again, great post man.
Retreat has been discussed a lot and for me it stays maindeck, as a 2 of, in every list I play. This deck is so good at winning good matchups game one (like, other midrange decks, some kinds of control and aggro) that you don't really mind having two dead cards vs them. It's like playing pre boarded games vs tron/valakut/ad nauseam, so at least we have more chances of stealing game one. And it isn't a completely dead card either, you can get some scry value, untap your creatures after attacking, tap opposing creatures with fetchlands,
tap opposing elesh norns to swing for lethalI think that the correct number of reflector mage MD is either 3 or 4. It's too good. It's as awkward as path.
Third ooze is reasonable, I had to cut it to fit the fourth reflector mage but it is a good card. I often boarded out the third ooze when I played that many, so playing only two didn't feel wrong. I don't like bojuka, feels narrow and low power level. I prefer having higher numbers of the good sideboard creatures (like teeg or staticaster). The third staticaster was something that I added today for this tournament and as you can see in the report, that card was perfect.
Any changes... I'm thinking about changing the 1 flooded strand for 1 green fetchland. Not being able of fetching my red source vs dredge tilted me really hard, but I'm unsure if it's what I should do. Other than that, the list was okay. I'll update my thoughts after playing more tournaments
L: Maverick
I have to have Elspeth in there to bring in when I need to be aggressive/grindy matches, plus that girl is part of the bant flavor trio of power women with knight and noble right? I've liked 3 ooze main, abzan, Rock decks, dredge and stuff are big in my meta. If I find myself pining for 4 mages main, I'll get there. Thanks again for the advice. I'll update after next tournament.
@PastorCF I recently played vs UW control (beautiful games by the way) and while selfless is a nice card, they can just path it and next turn wrath the board. I wrote a long post some weeks ago about my vision on how to play that pairing.
Mana dorks are essential and I'm happy playing eight. I would play all the way up to 10 if there was another one with the power level of birds and hierarch. Hands without acceleration are so much worse than the ones with it. And don't count dorks for company purposes. Optimal number of hits is 20, and most lists play that number of 2 drops + 3 drops.
L: Maverick
So, Courser was great. I also tried out 2 Elspeth. Elspeth was very threatening whenever she came down, but it still feels a bit awkward to play. I'm never sure which ability to use: pump or create a soldier. She never lasted too long on the board, but I'm still new to playing her.
I'm not sure about Ghost Quarter in the main. Playing 3 utility lands in the main feels like a liability. More than once, I needed a coloured land and drew Ghost Quarter, and I prefer consistency in my deck. Ghost Quarter might be better in Value Company decks that are primarily Green/White. Maybe I was just unlucky.
Here is my updated decklist: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/value-bant-company-60-modern-tournament/
The one I played in the tournament was pretty much the same (-1 Pridemage, +1 Reflector Mage), but the sideboard was completely different.
Decklist:
Creatures (28)
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Noble Hierarch
3x Voice of Resurgence
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Qasali Pridemage
4x Knight of the Reliquary
4x Spell Queller
4x Reflector Mage
2x Courser of Kruphix
Non-Creature Spells (10)
4x Collected Company
4x Path to Exile
2x Retreat to Coralhelm
Lands (22)
4x Windswept Heath
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Flooded Strand
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Botanical Sanctum
1x Horizon Canopy
3x Forest
1x Plains
1x Breeding Pool
1x Temple Garden
1x Stomping Ground
1x Kessig Wolf Run
1x Gavony Township
Sideboard (15)
2x Blessed Alliance
3x Izzet Staticaster
3x Kitchen Finks
2x Negate
2x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Qasali Pridemage
2x Stony Silence
Match 1: Mono Green Stompy - W (2-0) (1-0)
Game 1: When playing against another fair midrange creature deck, T1 dork, T2 KotR, T3 CoCo into KotR plus Voice followed by Path to Exile on his Rhonas makes this a safe win.
Game 2: This game got pretty nutty. He played a bunch of early threats – Evolution One, double Strangleroot Geist, Rhonas – but I had a CoCo into Spell Queller to deal with the Rhonas, then after he Rancored a Strangleroot Geist and attacked, I CoCo’ed into 2x Voice to purposely chump block and have both die and make two massive tokens (I had several dorks in play at this point). I had yet another Spell Queller in hand to alpha strike and counter the Fog he played to try and survive.
Match 2: Taking Turns – W (2-1) (2-0)
Game 1: T1 dork, T2 KotR for early beats. I actually had a misplay here where my opponent immediately conceded after I responded to a Time Warp (5 cmc) with a Spell Queller (only exiles 4 cmc or less). By the time we realized it we were already shuffling for the next game. Whoops. It probably was a toss-up at that point, maybe slight lean in my favor because he did have a Dictate of Kruphix in play but no other extra-turn cards in hand to combo off.
Game 2: I mulliganed down to 6 and was on the draw, had a Ghost Quarter but no green land sources in hand – I did have a bunch of dorks and good-stuff ready to play – I decided to keep the risky hand and didn’t see a green source the entire time until he comboed and killed me.
Game 3: Since I was on the play I went T1 dork into T2 KotR for early beats, T3 Reflector Mage just to add damage (I didn’t have anything else good to side in its place), then T4 I Spell Queller’ed Cryptic Command, T5 cast Negate on his Time Warp and that was game.
Match 3: RW Prison – Draw (1-1-1) (2-0-1)
Game 1: My notes are a bit sparse here but I remember he cast a T2 Blood Moon (and he was on the play), luckily I had a Forest in hand to keep my hopes afloat. I was able to eventually cast a CoCo with the single Forest and 3 non-basic Mountains (lol) but from whatever I played out he responded with Anger of the Gods and wiped my board. I did play a mana dork or two in there but they died to Lightning Helixes. I eventually die to Chandra and Nahiri.
Game 2: My notes are sparse here as well, but from what I recall I was able to stick a double KotR early, he was able to take care of one of them (with a Nahiri?) and the other with a Blessed Alliance eventually, however by that point my KotR had put a bunch of lands into play (including Kessig Wolf Run) and the Courser of Kruphix that survived an Anger of the Gods got pumped big-time and swung and killed him.
Game 3: We only had like 6 minutes heading into the last game and we had a straight up draw due to lack of time.
Match 4: Death & Taxes – W (2-1) (3-0-1)
Game 1: My notes are a bit sparse here but I remember him being a bit screwed on lands (he only had 2 in play most of the game) and because I had a bunch of mana dorks in play I was fine mana-wise. I “returned” the favor of DNT land-screw by fetching up a Ghost Quarter with KotR and killing off one of his lands that he couldn’t search for because he had 2x Leonin Arbiter in play. My ground game was just better than his – at peak he had 2x Leonin Arbiter and a Thalia – which doesn’t scare a massive KotR plus Exalted triggers from 2x Noble and a Qasali. I also had a BoP in play to block as needed.
Game 2: This game was very back and forth but his situation looked much better than Game 1 by getting out an early Vial and ticked it up to 3, which eventually resulted in him flickering in a Flickerwisp to save one creature, then eventually he broke the board stall by casting a Mirran Crusader and Vial’ing in another Mirran Crusader. I wasn’t ever able to stabilize or find the Kessig Wolf Run I needed to get through.
Game 3: Another back and forth game that went to turns. He had an Arbiter in play and was able to flicker his Blade Splicer three(!) different times for tons of Golems. He also had 2 Vials plus a bunch of lands to do whatever he wanted. I was able to slow him down somewhat with Reflector Mage and I had 3 or so mana dorks in play to chump block to keep my life stable. I had a KotR that was attacking every turn to keep him on the defensive, and a VoR and used the Reflector defensively as well. The board stall was broken when I played a CoCo finding an Izzet Staticaster and a Scavenging Ooze to stabilize my life, then a turn or two later I drew into a 2nd Izzet Staticaster and machine-gun mode was on. It took a few turns but eventually I was able to machine gun everything down and killed him with KotR plus Voice token beats.
This match went way over time so it was one of the most stressful matches I’ve played. Everyone was standing around watching us including the judge. I made multiple misplays but fortunately the Staticasters made my life easier by shooting everything down to clear the way.
Match 5: Burn – W (2-1) (4-0-1)
Game 1: Fortunately my opponent had to mulligan twice and I was on the play, so I was able get an early KotR on board and he had to use a removal spell to take care of the Spell Queller that had exiled one of his spells. The KotR was “only” a 6/6 but two swings plus a few of his fetches meant I was able to get him down to 0 exactly.
Game 2: I mulliganed and kept a 6-card hand with 3 lands, 2 Finks, and a Courser. My scry was another land so I threw it down to the bottom. As you’d expect being on the draw against Burn with a slow hand, I died horribly. I did make it to a T3 in which I was able to actually cast the Finks, but he responded with Skull Crack.
Game 3: This is one of those games where you skirt the line of death with Burn. He got out an early Goblin Guide and hit me once, and the second time I was able to Path in response to the reveal trigger to still get the land and remove the creature without taking the combat damage. I was able to get out a KotR and a Spell Queller exiling a spell, however he used a Helix on the Queller to go from 11 back up to 14 (the previous turn the KotR was a 5/5 and hit him from 17 down to 12, then he cracked a fetch to go down to 11). At this point I was at 9 life, he hits me with a 3-damage burn spell and I am down to 6. I play an Ooze that I had been sandbagging in my hand. He hits me with Boros Charm down to 2. He has a burn spell in hand, however there are a few creatures in the bin and he isn’t able to kill me without me activating Ooze in response to get up to 4 life to avoid dying (by dropping from 4 down to 1). Eventually over the next few turns I am able to sequence my green mana such that I can activate Ooze here and there without dying. Unfortunately I recall having to keep my KotR up from attacking because he had a Goblin Guide in play and I needed to fetch for more Forests to eat creatures if need be. My life yo-yo’s from 2 up to 4, he Bolts me down to 1, that turn I am able to attack with KotR and he has to block with Guide so I eat Guide (safely) to go up to 2. He holds a card in hand again because of my Ooze and he is at 13 life (he was at 14 and cracked a fetch at some point to go to 13). On that turn, I have 12 damage on board between my KotR and Ooze (I think they were both 6/6’s), however I top-deck a fetch land which I throw in the bin to pump my KotR and deal exactly 13 damage to drop him to 0. What a game.
At this point I have 4 wins, 0 losses, and 1 draw. I am tied for 1st with 3 others but due to breakers I am 4th.
For Match 6, I intentionally draw with my opponent to guarantee a spot at 4-0-2.
For final pairings, going into the final round I was 4th, however the guy in 7th was 4-1 and had a play-in game and won and vaulted everyone to 1st with 15 points (5-1-0). Unfortunately, that meant I dropped from 4th to 5th, and that also meant I would be on the draw versus the play against whoever my opponent was, which happened to be… the opponent I unintentionally drew with during Swiss.
Quarterfinals: RW Prison – L (1-2)
Game 1: On the draw, I am able to Spell Quell his Blood Moon, but his Anger of the Gods kills my mana dork, a 3/3 KotR, and the Queller, meaning he got back the Blood Moon I was fighting over anyway. In retrospect I should have held up the KotR until it was at least a 4/4 and sequenced my lands differently so that I wouldn’t have to waste resources dealing with the Blood Moon. I eventually draw two dorks but they both meet Lightning Helix, and the Chandra on board makes it game.
Game 2: On the play, I get early dorks into a Courser of Kruphix and EOT CoCo into double KotR. The next turn he tries to Wrath of God my board, but I CoCo again into a Spell Queller to counter it and swing for a billion. The Spell Queller off of CoCo was actually not risky because it had been flipped/revealed from the Courser so I knew I had the creature-counterspell fired up and ready to go.
Game 3: Unfortunately a frustrating end to the tournament. He lands an early Blood Moon and removes my dork with a Helix which is not the end of the world because I have a basic Forest, basic Plains, and one other land in play. I have 3(!) CoCo in hand and he has a Chandra on board with Blood Moon. If I get any kind of 4th mana source I am waltzing into the semi-finals. Unfortunately, the 3 CoCo rot in my hand the entire game as I sit there for 4 straight turns unable to draw a land or mana dork. Them’s the breaks, I guess.
So I ended 5th overall after losing (the other favored seeds won as well, from what I saw). The total tournament players were 40-some. I heard one person say 40 players and another say 52.
In addition to my Bant Knightfall deck, other decks from what I could see in the Top 8 included Smallpox (1st after Swiss), Titanshift, Esper Control, RW Prison, ANT, and Counters Company. I don’t know what the last deck was.
MVP: Spell Queller; KotR and CoCo for obvious reasons. Spell Queller may be the best card in the deck. 8 mana dorks seem the way to go so you can more or less guarantee a T2 3-drop or T3 CoCo.
LVP: 2-drop spot; Retreat to Coralhelm. Voice did very little other than the trendy Match 1 interaction with CoCo and being a wall against DNT. Most of the time my opponents just ignored or played around it. Qasali Pridemage was fine but I only run it as a 1-of mainboard. Ooze really only had relevance against Burn, but for whatever reason it didn’t have the massive impact I was looking for. I will chalk that up to MU’s being poor (Taking Turns, RW Prison, etc.).
I never played Retreat to Coralhelm a single time all tournament and, honestly, I don’t even know how significant of a play it would be. It’s not retrievable via CoCo and my KotR were pretty ridiculous as it was being all-stars anyway. I suppose it is fine as a 2-of, but for being a creature-combo deck there really wasn’t ever a “combo kill” involving Retreat.
Final Thoughts: If Spell Queller didn’t exist I would think that Counters Company is just a better deck, however Spell Queller is a game-changer by being able to hold up mana for either a Queller or EOT CoCo depending on what your opponent does. I can see why Kelvin Chew proposed a hybrid between Bant Knightfall and Abzan Counters Company as that could potentially get the better-combo angle of Counters Company (with better 2-drops) to pair alongside the amazing benefits of Bant – Spell Queller, Negate out of the sideboard, the fact that KotR can “combo” itself and wreck face np, etc. I haven’t decided whether I will continue to run traditional Bant or try Vizier Knightfall. We shall see! Thanks for reading.
After recent playtesting with the deck, I'm not sold on running both 4-of Reflector Mage and also 4-of Path to Exile mainboard. I feel like it may be better to throw some of those cards in the SB. Does anyone agree or disagree with that assessment?
1) Have you tested enough to know 7 dorks is enough, especially with 15 3 drops? I go back and forth myself, but I'd love to hear your reasoning.
2) Dusk/Dawn- How has this played? Seems like an interesting, if slow/christmas-land type choice for our deck.
3) The 3 eidolon of rhetoric jumps out at me. I personally favor cards like Gaddock Teeg, Clique, even Thalia there, but i think 1-2 could be alright.
4) I appreciate you having courser in there. I'm personally on a 3 mage/ 2 courser split main right now, I think that the card is still very very good in our deck, it does so many things for us. After Kelvin Chew slammed it, I think the stock went down too far IMHO. Obviously, with knight its great and tracker also its almost game over which prompts- 4a) is there a reason you don't run tracker? Too slow?
5) I also appreciate the one Nissa in the board. I'm into her too, I know people have varying opinions on her in here, but she can do serious work for us. I think having one or two PW makes sense to give us game vs control and midrange, but again people have varying opinions. I know that RPD doesn't run any and seems to do very well.
6) So no unified will huh? Don't like it? I am all about 2 negate, but i always have 1-2 unified will too (Bant gives the GW player the counters advantage), although I'll be honest it's not always great. Ppl cite the scapeshift matchup in particular, but usually that just delays inevitable death by countering one prime time. Also interested in your defense here.
Anyways, best of luck mate. I'm about to go to a bunch of tournaments here in the US too, and I will report on my results. I've been on Naya Rallier company as well, as I think both decks have advantages and disadvantages in modern right now. Cheers!
You have to look at Elspeth as a super fast clock that deck didn't have access to. If you look at the stats of your creatures, they are all 2 powered, aside from Knight of the Reliquary and Tireless Tracker. Putting Elspeth into the equation changes your 2 power creatures into 5 powered flying threats that will kill your opponent in 4 turns or less (depending on their life total). In my lists that I play, i strictly always play 4 Courser and 4 Voice. This allows me to clog the board up with efficient blockers and forms of card advantage. Stick an Elspeth onto the board on t3 or when you've developed your board will make it so difficult to kill her (going up to 5 loyalty is no joke) so you're almost always sending a creature in the air unless you know they can kill her.
Ghost Quarter is important because it's the best utility land in the format. Against decks that set up Tron (Traditional or Eldrazi) you need to have Ghost Quarter or you will just lose flat out to the free mana they have by assembling it. Also, the format isn't just the top tier decks. Modern is a HUUUUUGEEE format and sometimes you may never play against an Eldrazi Tron deck or Death Shadow deck so it's verily important to have access to very good tools to protect you from the volatility of the format. It's also very good at getting you basics AND if you're playing the combo, it helps you get 2 lands into the grave (preferably ghost quarter-ing a fetchland during the combo sequence).
Ghost Quarter protects you from ALL the manlands, lands attached with utopia sprawls, getting mana screwed with no access to white (ghost quarter yourself), sniping Ghost Quarters or Tectonic Edges from sniping your Gavony Township and Kessig Wolf Run/Rogue's Passage, saving your Knight of the Reliquary (you can ghost quarter yourself for +2/+2), potentially mana screw someone, Ghost Quarter other utility lands like Gavony Township, shoot a land that spreading seas is targeting to save you from mana screw and deny them a draw (spell fizzles), and much more. If you have Ramunap Excavator and Azusa, Lost but Seeking, you can Strip Mine your opponent out o the game with a single Ghost Quarter.
We've all been screwed by a colorless land here and there but that's just a part of playing utility lands. You get a powerful flexible land, but the drawback is that it's colorless. It sucks, but hey, can't have it all you know?
Honestly, the Reflector Mage in the main is all about what you're trying to Hedge against. If @TNDS is trying to have a main already pre-boarded, to some degree, against Death's Shadow, Eldrazi, and a swath of creature decks, then, if he plays nothing but those decks he will be rewarded. If he gets sweet MUs WITH Reflector Mage in the main, like how @RPD recently did on his post about a PPTQ that he participated in, then I agree with his decision to MB them.
However, looking at the Modern format as a whole, I do agree that the Reflector Mages, in some amount, should be in the sideboard. If it were up to me, I would shove all 4 of them in the side and have the deck constructed in a way that's resilient to particular archetypes. You can still win games without Reflector Mage against Death's Shadow and Eldrazi Tron, it's just that it's much easier to win with them.
I do understand where @TNDS is coming from with Reflector Mage, as it has a splash effect, hitting ALL creature decks, like Affinity, Elves, Company variants, and more. It just that this particular discussion is meaningless unless he explains to us HIS personal reasoning as to why he's made these choices.