I played in my 1st modern tournament at a local shop last night. This shop is pretty competitive and about 20 people played. I ended up going 2-0-1. I feel very good about this deck. It performed well even though I am playing with some inferior cards while I am waiting for my cards to be delivered. Below is my decklist and my matchups.
Instants -6
4 path to exile
1 go for the throat
1 dismember
Sorcery-8
2 inquisition of kozilik
2 thoughtseize
4 lingering souls
Artifact-6
4 relic of progenitus
2 expedition map
Lands-25
4 eldrazi temple
3 eye of Ugin
2 Urborg tomb of yawgmoth
4 caves of koilos
2 godless shrine
3 ghost quarter
1 marsh flats
1 swamp
1 plains
1 cavern of souls
3 shambling vent
Sb
2 timely reinforcements
2 Kataki wars wage
2 drown in sorrow
2 spell skite
1 surgical extraction
1 crucible of worlds
2 disenchant
1 memoracide
1 celestial purge
1 curse of deaths hold
*I only had 1 reality smasher so my ideal list would include 2 smasher and go down to 3 TKS
*I am still waiting for my Archangel of the Vault, a 3rd godless shrine and a Bojuka big to come in the mail. I ended up shaving a marsh flats and added a 3rd eye of ugin and 2 more shambling vents in its place
*my sideboard was not ideal. Waiting on 2 stony silence to replace Kataki, flaying tendrils to replace drown in sorrows and a night of souls betrayal to replace a curse of deaths hold
Matchups
Game 1: Mirror BW Eldrazi: win (2-0) 1-0
This guy was a good player and had more experience than me. His list was similar to mine except his version ran 1 eldrazi displaced in main and a 2nd in the board. He also played a kozilik great distortion in main. He played 4 sowers and 0 TKS or Smashers. He played 3 IOK and 2 Thoughtseize.
Game 1 I beat him easily because he was stuck on all black mana until it was too late. Game 2 was very grindy but I played more lingering souls and 3 TKS won me the game by stripping his Lingering Souls, Kozilik and Ulamog.
MVP's: lingering souls, TKS and crucible of worlds (this card was amazing he boarded in up to 4 ghost quarters)
Game 2: Grixis Delver: win (2-0) 2-0
This guys deck played 4 delver, 4 snap caster a bunch of cantrips, bolts, removal and mana leaks
This was a very easy matchup. His deck didn't have many answers. Won both games pretty easily.
MVP's: discard spells, cavern of souls (best card against this deck), TKS, Reality Smasher (this card was amazing against them. Wish I had 2 of these)
Game 3: Grixis black control: draw (1-1) 2-0-1
This guy was a very good player. Probably best player all night. His deck was different than the previous deck because he was playing 4 jace, 4 snapcaster, at least 3 vendillion cliques, multiples pia and Kirran nalars and a ton of cantrips. Pia definately gives our deck a hard time.
Game 1 I beat him very easily. He was playing 3-4 main deck IOK's and they were ineffective. he blanked twice on them. He also had no answer for lingering souls
Game 2 was extremely Grindy and long. He side boarded in 10 cards that wee all good against me. Cards he brought in that hurt me were engineered explosives. This took care of all my tokens and shambling vents. Damnation was probably his best SB card. I had board control with a reality smasher, TKS and blight herder in play. He dropped a damnation and that turned the corner. Controlled rest of the game with pia, jace and vendillion clique.
Round 3 started and we only had 5 minutes left. We get into turns and he's goes down to 9 life after I drop a reality smasher and swing in. I also played lingering souls so I have 2 tokens on the board. I absolutely have a chance to win this before 5 turns end. He plays a damnation and its a wrap. No chance of winning in 5 turns. We end up playing it out and I easily win on about turn 8. I drew another lingering souls.
The LVP for this was TKS. I blanked on it pretty much every time. Maybe it was just bad luck.
MVP: Reality Smasher, Lingering Souls
Changes: I forgot to mention but all of my opponents boarded in more ghost quarters or tectonic edges. This really hurt because I only play 2 basics. I am thinking of going up to 4 total basics with a mix of plains, swamps and might throw in a waste. Crucible of worlds was excellent because of this.
Another issue is that the only time I had enough mana to search with my eye of ugin was in the mirror. The oblivion sower helped me ramp into this. That really turned the corner for me. In other matches didn't draw enough sower. I wonder if 2 sowers is enough. It was also hard to turn on blight herders in time. I drew very few relics and often used an exiled card on a strangler. I would find my self sitting on blight herders for a little while to get more value. The processed herders would also help to activate the eye.
Dismember and go for the throat were good but never amazing. I think warping wails might be better because it's exile ability was relevant and the counter ability would have saved me against damnation.
I would somehow like to fit in another IOK.
Wasteland strangler was just ok. I a usually boarded them out because I didn't play any aggro. Perhaps it makes sense to add some reality smasher? This would weaken the Aggro matchup. Maybe 2 is the right number of stranglers.
Reality smasher was very impressive. They had to always deal with this card right away. I would like to play 2.
Sower was also excellent. Would like to play 3 but not sure if I have room.
I would like to put surgical extraction in the main. That would make my processor creatures stronger. A lot of times I found myself sitting on these creatures waiting for a card to be exiled.
Ghost quarters wasn't tok impressive. Maybe I should go down to 2
Don't think I need 3 eyes with expedition map.
Don't like any fetches because of te ghost quarters and path to exiles that are all over the place.
Shambling vents was great. I think 1 is good.
Definately wish I had an archangel of the vault.
Cavern of souls was amazing.
Best SB card for me all night was crucible of worlds. I could really use some help on the rest of the SB. I was thinking of night of souls betrayals but that destroys my tokens which are very important.
This was a great start. I love this deck. Super grindy and the creatures ar e just so powerful. Very fun deck to play with.
Some thoughts on the various topics:
Since I know other people are testing w/ Reality Smasher: how worth it has he been to you? He is certainly a powerful difficult to remove threat but he's always seemed a little win more to me. I've never really felt that Smasher helped me win a game I wasn't already more or less in control of. I'm tentatively thinking of taking out my 2 md smashers for 2 md Spellskites, or maybe doing a 1-1 split. Thoughts?
Smasher to me if one of the most powerful cards in the deck, I have swung the tides multiple times with 1 swing alone. You must remember that many deck's resources are already strained via our discard and other big eldrazi, so even if he is removed it is most usually a great advantage for us anyway. As I mentioned earlier I removed my maps, they were replaced with skites which have been amazing in the aggro match-ups but also in protecting my TKS and further straining my opponents removal.
I have only had the opportunity to test out Reality Smasher briefly, but I've gotta say so far I'm pretty impressed. I run 2 and every time i drew them (well except for vs. Lantern Control with Ensnaring Bridge up) it has increased my clock compared to Sower or eaten away at their hand. The last part is especially good if you can get in an early game hand distruption spell (and with TKS we're running quite a few of those) or even if they've just mulliganed, since you're really depriving them of resources. I have to do a lot more testing, but so far my impression of it has been quite good.
MARS4597 I run a pretty similar creature base as you. The difference is that I run 1 less Thought-Knot Seer as it's not a card I want to draw into in longer games where my opponent is in top deck mode and 1 less Reality Smasher. I also run 1 main deck Spellskite, but that's still something I'm testing. I also cut 1 discard spell compared to you, because I added the 3 TKS. Instead you may want to consider running a main deck sweep (Flaying Tendrils or Languish) if you're expecting a lot of agro. If you want input on the mana base I suggest looking at the discussion deaddrift and I had on the two previous pages, there's some discussion and 3 configurations of the mana base to draw inspiration from. On Page 30 there's also a little discussion between me and Beautox which may be helpful.
Smasher is amazing. I wrote up a report from my local tourney last night. I want to go up to 2 of them. They are te most powerful card in the deck that turns the corners. Any decks with tokens brick wall and chump our creatures for days. This is a huge difference maker.
Obviously it's somewhat tuned towards aggro, since that's what I'm anticipating people to fall back on and because I'm hoping Eye + Ulamog is enough lategame inevitability
Your list looks good. However, I would change a few things. Herders should be a 4x. They are easily the most powerful creature in the deck if you can process with them. I would drop sower to 3 before herder. I don't like Go for the Throat personally. It sucks against affinity which is likely going to have a large meta share. I am a fan of dismember because you can cast it off of scions (people don't expect this) also it hits most major players in the format outside of prime time.
In your board with Twin gone I think you can reduce celestial purge to 1 and I am not sure what the purpose of NoSB is as it really hurts your token plan. I would recommend memoricide as it really helps in the scapeshift matchup and in he mirror.
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No idea because my favorite decks keep getting banned or having the rules changed against them
*my sideboard was not ideal. Waiting on 2 stony silence to replace Kataki, flaying tendrils to replace drown in sorrows and a night of souls betrayal to replace a curse of deaths hold
*my sideboard was not ideal. Waiting on 2 stony silence to replace Kataki, flaying tendrils to replace drown in sorrows and a night of souls betrayal to replace a curse of deaths hold
I don't know, I like Night of Souls' Betrayal in the sideboard. That card just wins some games. It turns off your tokens, but it can turn off your opponent's deck in the right matchup, and many of those matchups are tough ones for Eldrazi. You do lose the ability to sweep the board and cast Lingering Souls, unfortunately.
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Night of Souls' Betrayal is better in the Monoblack list. The decks you want it against are the decks that Souls already does a lot of work (Affinity, Infect), and it blanks Souls so you don't want them both at the same time, but you also don't want to cut Souls for those matchups. You're better off running Zealous Persecution.
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*my sideboard was not ideal. Waiting on 2 stony silence to replace Kataki, flaying tendrils to replace drown in sorrows and a night of souls betrayal to replace a curse of deaths hold
Hey all. So my meta is now infested with GR Tron which has been a pretty bad matchup in my experience. I'm trying to tune my stock list to be as good as possible against them.
I'm already playing 4 Ghost Quarters and quite a few cards to bring in from the board but the matchup is still tough. I've cut Oblivion Sower entirely for Reality Smasher because the latter is a much faster clock (though I have been able to assemble Tron off my opponent's lands using Sowers and I'll miss that "achievement unlocked" moment lol). I'm thinking of taking out a Strangler for a maindeck Surgical Extraction. Maybe I should be running Expedition Map for more virtual copies of Ghost Quarter. Maybe some Warping Wail to counter Sylvan Scrying or Ancient Stirrings? Probably too narrow.
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Legacy:UR Sneak and Show IUBG Team America IX Metalworker MUD Modern:UBR Blue Jund IWBX Eldrazi Processors IX Affinity IWRG Nacatl Burn IGR Tron IUBR Grishoalbrand
Sorry for the lack of response on Sorin. I am actually planning to pick one up tonight and run it. The main benefit I can see for us is that I have had games where I'm forced to tap and use Vault in order to stay alive. If I had an option like Sorin out, either he soaks damage for a turn and still gains me the life (albeit +1 more for each dude I have) or he means the following turn I can gain life without tapping out (meaning I can then spend my mana to tutor up more threats). Also his ult is not to be trifled with.
On Reality Smasher. The main reason I have moved to him is been his comparison to Oblivion Sower. Let's go through Sower first. You cast sower. You potentially get lands (cool!) if you don't have an urborg in play they are useless or cost you life to fetch your own stuff (if they are in your colors) but it gives you the ability to process later. The problem with Oblivion Sower is after he resolves (despite coming down at 6/4). If he eats a removal spell you are left with only the lands to benefit from him. Even if your opponent was tapped out when you cast him. Lots of destroy or exile removal running around. He can also be chumped for days. Reality Smasher comes down a turn sooner (at 5/3), has haste so if you catch your opponent with their pants down you can get in for 5 damage immediately. He also has trample so no chump blocking him. If they do have a removal, they also have to discard a card from hand giving you a 2 for 1. His cheaper cost also means with an Eye out, you can chain him off Blight Herder. The main difference is your meta. If you expect to run into a lot of counter magic (we really aren't seeing a ton of that right now), Oblivion Sower is better. If you are expecting to see more aggro decks, Reality Smasher is better. I like the 2/2 split because it gives you both options although I am leaning more and more to Smasher. It gives you that other option when that extra 5 damage will just kill your opponent. Just lets you tutor and end the game. (I had one game against zoo where I tutored 1 up with him at 10 and no blockers. I expected to push him down to 5 and force him to play a bit of defense since he didn't have lethal on board. I top decked my other one and swung for lethal.) Sower is great but at the end of the day.. he was just a beater and a closer (occasionally a ridiculously big blocker).
Flaying Tendrils has been extremely solid so far in my meta (which seems like most, aggro driven). I still wish it was an Anger (-3/-3) but it tends to hit enough to make a big difference. (Also curves nicely into a blight herder to really help swing those aggro matchups).
Hey all. So my meta is now infested with GR Tron which has been a pretty bad matchup in my experience. I'm trying to tune my stock list to be as good as possible against them.
I'm already playing 4 Ghost Quarters and quite a few cards to bring in from the board but the matchup is still tough. I've cut Oblivion Sower entirely for Reality Smasher because the latter is a much faster clock (though I have been able to assemble Tron using just Sowers and I'll miss that lol). I'm thinking of taking out a Strangler for a maindeck Surgical Extraction. Maybe I should be running Expedition Map for more virtual copies of Ghost Quarter. Maybe some Warping Wail to counter Sylvan Scrying or Ancient Stirrings? Probably too narrow.
If your meta is infested with Tron to the point you want to tailor to beat it at the cost of aggro, i'd highly suggest upping TS count over Inquisitions. I'd definitely run more expedition maps because in my experience if you GQ them twice before they can get to Tron.. they pretty much lose (also be sure to hit the same land so it reduces their chance of topdecking their final piece). I'd also recommend Aven Mindcensor (probably a 2x) and Surgical Extraction (also a 2x) in the mainboard.. This is if you want to take it to tron with no mercy (you are sacrificing other matchups to do so). I'd also run Evil Presence in the SB. You could really tailor your list to try and hose Tron if you absolutely wanted to.
Im playing a pretty standard list. However I am unsure about the full 2 Thoughtseize and 4 Inquisition of Kozilek along side 3 Thought-Knot Seer. I could see myself cutting Dismember and something else for 2 Reality Smasher. The manabase feels pretty consistent. I'm going to put in Marsh Flats when I get them. Any improvements anyone would make to my list?
Im playing a pretty standard list. However I am unsure about the full 2 Thoughtseize and 4 Inquisition of Kozilek along side 3 Thought-Knot Seer. I could see myself cutting Dismember and something else for 2 Reality Smasher. The manabase feels pretty consistent. I'm going to put in Marsh Flats when I get them. Any improvements anyone would make to my list?
I'd say dismember and an Oblivion Sower for 2 Reality Smashers. I haven't regretted moving down to 2 Oblivion sowers yet. I also don't think you need 3 eyes and 2 maps. I'd go to 2:2:2 eye/urborg/map and that gives you another slot for something else. I would recommend a basic Waste. You can fetch it with path or GQ and it lets you play all your things through a blood moon.
Im playing a pretty standard list. However I am unsure about the full 2 Thoughtseize and 4 Inquisition of Kozilek along side 3 Thought-Knot Seer. I could see myself cutting Dismember and something else for 2 Reality Smasher. The manabase feels pretty consistent. I'm going to put in Marsh Flats when I get them. Any improvements anyone would make to my list?
Very close to what I plan to be running (haven't had a chance to play in paper since release). I was planning on putting 2 smashers in the list as well. I would drop 1 IoK and 1 Extraction. Depending on the meta I might consider dropping 1 Map for another Strangler. If the meta that SCG Atlanta showed continues, strangler will just be an all star in combo with TKS and path.
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Languish is significantly worse with TKS. I would stick to AiD and flaying.
I agree, but there are still several threats out there, that Flaying Tendrils doesn't take care of. Most notably right now Stormchaser Mage which I've seen a lot of decks trying out lately. I wouldn't quite lay Languish to rest yet, but I agree that TKS makes it a lot less attractive.
Im playing a pretty standard list. However I am unsure about the full 2 Thoughtseize and 4 Inquisition of Kozilek along side 3 Thought-Knot Seer. I could see myself cutting Dismember and something else for 2 Reality Smasher. The manabase feels pretty consistent. I'm going to put in Marsh Flats when I get them. Any improvements anyone would make to my list?
I see a lot of lists cutting removal to make room for the new Eldrazi (or sometimes Expedition Map). Most of us are cutting 1-2 Wasteland Stranglers and some are also cutting down on Dismember/Doom Blade/Go for the Throat. Is this where we want to be? Personally I find that our strong removal suite often shifts the game in our favor.
So I cut 1 Strangler and 2 Oblivion Sower. Currently I am still running 2 Go for the Throats but will be testing out Warping Wail in their spot (as pseudo removal and see if I like it's versatility. The key thing to note is TKS is effectively removal since it lets you get rid of the biggest threat in their hand for good and he is large enough to effectively kill any creature the aggro decks are swinging with. Quite often he is a 2 1/2 for 1 (3 of their cards for him and then they get a random card off the top. Since the card could be a land or another dead draw based on situation and deck, I count it as 1/2). Essentially post-board we are trading those extra slots we free'd up with board clears and semi clears (flaying tendrils most notably) because spot removal isn't what we want to be doing against a lot of these decks.
Sorry for the lack of response on Sorin. I am actually planning to pick one up tonight and run it. The main benefit I can see for us is that I have had games where I'm forced to tap and use Vault in order to stay alive. If I had an option like Sorin out, either he soaks damage for a turn and still gains me the life (albeit +1 more for each dude I have) or he means the following turn I can gain life without tapping out (meaning I can then spend my mana to tutor up more threats). Also his ult is not to be trifled with.
Pretty much why I want to run him, I do believe however that he is a meta call. It's not like he does nothing vs non-aggro decks, because +1/+0ing your field can be massive, but I think his place in the MB or SB will be determined by the meta.
Sorry for the lack of response on Sorin. I am actually planning to pick one up tonight and run it. The main benefit I can see for us is that I have had games where I'm forced to tap and use Vault in order to stay alive. If I had an option like Sorin out, either he soaks damage for a turn and still gains me the life (albeit +1 more for each dude I have) or he means the following turn I can gain life without tapping out (meaning I can then spend my mana to tutor up more threats). Also his ult is not to be trifled with.
Pretty much why I want to run him, I do believe however that he is a meta call. It's not like he does nothing vs non-aggro decks, because +1/+0ing your field can be massive, but I think his place in the MB or SB will be determined by the meta.
I think against non aggro matchups (aside from Tron and Combo decks like Scapeshift and Adnauseum) he can still wreck their game because if they let him ultimate, they likely will struggle to find a way to win. Essentially I am going to place him in the All is Dust slot in my MB tonight to test him out. If he comes out great, if not.. whatever. I feel like that is the appropriate slot for him since All is Dust is best in those same matchups. (Coincidentally it pretty much ensures that Boggles has 1 turn to lethal you once you ult (provided you don't have removal for Dryad Arbor)).
This is what I am currently thinking. I really would like Warping Wail in there, but I just don't feel I have room. I did drop down to 3 souls, but souls is such a house against so many decks. My only concern with this list is compared to pre oath is the total removal has dropped if you don't consider TKS.
Creatures -15
3 wasteland strangler
4 thought knot seer
4 blight herder
1 reality smasher
2 oblivion sower
1 ulamog
Instants -6
4 path to exile
1 go for the throat
1 dismember
Sorcery-8
2 inquisition of kozilik
2 thoughtseize
4 lingering souls
Artifact-6
4 relic of progenitus
2 expedition map
Lands-25
4 eldrazi temple
3 eye of Ugin
2 Urborg tomb of yawgmoth
4 caves of koilos
2 godless shrine
3 ghost quarter
1 marsh flats
1 swamp
1 plains
1 cavern of souls
3 shambling vent
Sb
2 timely reinforcements
2 Kataki wars wage
2 drown in sorrow
2 spell skite
1 surgical extraction
1 crucible of worlds
2 disenchant
1 memoracide
1 celestial purge
1 curse of deaths hold
*I only had 1 reality smasher so my ideal list would include 2 smasher and go down to 3 TKS
*I am still waiting for my Archangel of the Vault, a 3rd godless shrine and a Bojuka big to come in the mail. I ended up shaving a marsh flats and added a 3rd eye of ugin and 2 more shambling vents in its place
*my sideboard was not ideal. Waiting on 2 stony silence to replace Kataki, flaying tendrils to replace drown in sorrows and a night of souls betrayal to replace a curse of deaths hold
Matchups
Game 1: Mirror BW Eldrazi: win (2-0) 1-0
This guy was a good player and had more experience than me. His list was similar to mine except his version ran 1 eldrazi displaced in main and a 2nd in the board. He also played a kozilik great distortion in main. He played 4 sowers and 0 TKS or Smashers. He played 3 IOK and 2 Thoughtseize.
Game 1 I beat him easily because he was stuck on all black mana until it was too late. Game 2 was very grindy but I played more lingering souls and 3 TKS won me the game by stripping his Lingering Souls, Kozilik and Ulamog.
MVP's: lingering souls, TKS and crucible of worlds (this card was amazing he boarded in up to 4 ghost quarters)
Game 2: Grixis Delver: win (2-0) 2-0
This guys deck played 4 delver, 4 snap caster a bunch of cantrips, bolts, removal and mana leaks
This was a very easy matchup. His deck didn't have many answers. Won both games pretty easily.
MVP's: discard spells, cavern of souls (best card against this deck), TKS, Reality Smasher (this card was amazing against them. Wish I had 2 of these)
Game 3: Grixis black control: draw (1-1) 2-0-1
This guy was a very good player. Probably best player all night. His deck was different than the previous deck because he was playing 4 jace, 4 snapcaster, at least 3 vendillion cliques, multiples pia and Kirran nalars and a ton of cantrips. Pia definately gives our deck a hard time.
Game 1 I beat him very easily. He was playing 3-4 main deck IOK's and they were ineffective. he blanked twice on them. He also had no answer for lingering souls
Game 2 was extremely Grindy and long. He side boarded in 10 cards that wee all good against me. Cards he brought in that hurt me were engineered explosives. This took care of all my tokens and shambling vents. Damnation was probably his best SB card. I had board control with a reality smasher, TKS and blight herder in play. He dropped a damnation and that turned the corner. Controlled rest of the game with pia, jace and vendillion clique.
Round 3 started and we only had 5 minutes left. We get into turns and he's goes down to 9 life after I drop a reality smasher and swing in. I also played lingering souls so I have 2 tokens on the board. I absolutely have a chance to win this before 5 turns end. He plays a damnation and its a wrap. No chance of winning in 5 turns. We end up playing it out and I easily win on about turn 8. I drew another lingering souls.
The LVP for this was TKS. I blanked on it pretty much every time. Maybe it was just bad luck.
MVP: Reality Smasher, Lingering Souls
Changes: I forgot to mention but all of my opponents boarded in more ghost quarters or tectonic edges. This really hurt because I only play 2 basics. I am thinking of going up to 4 total basics with a mix of plains, swamps and might throw in a waste. Crucible of worlds was excellent because of this.
Another issue is that the only time I had enough mana to search with my eye of ugin was in the mirror. The oblivion sower helped me ramp into this. That really turned the corner for me. In other matches didn't draw enough sower. I wonder if 2 sowers is enough. It was also hard to turn on blight herders in time. I drew very few relics and often used an exiled card on a strangler. I would find my self sitting on blight herders for a little while to get more value. The processed herders would also help to activate the eye.
Dismember and go for the throat were good but never amazing. I think warping wails might be better because it's exile ability was relevant and the counter ability would have saved me against damnation.
I would somehow like to fit in another IOK.
Wasteland strangler was just ok. I a usually boarded them out because I didn't play any aggro. Perhaps it makes sense to add some reality smasher? This would weaken the Aggro matchup. Maybe 2 is the right number of stranglers.
Reality smasher was very impressive. They had to always deal with this card right away. I would like to play 2.
Sower was also excellent. Would like to play 3 but not sure if I have room.
I would like to put surgical extraction in the main. That would make my processor creatures stronger. A lot of times I found myself sitting on these creatures waiting for a card to be exiled.
Ghost quarters wasn't tok impressive. Maybe I should go down to 2
Don't think I need 3 eyes with expedition map.
Don't like any fetches because of te ghost quarters and path to exiles that are all over the place.
Shambling vents was great. I think 1 is good.
Definately wish I had an archangel of the vault.
Cavern of souls was amazing.
Best SB card for me all night was crucible of worlds. I could really use some help on the rest of the SB. I was thinking of night of souls betrayals but that destroys my tokens which are very important.
This was a great start. I love this deck. Super grindy and the creatures ar e just so powerful. Very fun deck to play with.
Would appreciate any feedback and suggestions
Smasher is amazing. I wrote up a report from my local tourney last night. I want to go up to 2 of them. They are te most powerful card in the deck that turns the corners. Any decks with tokens brick wall and chump our creatures for days. This is a huge difference maker.
Your list looks good. However, I would change a few things. Herders should be a 4x. They are easily the most powerful creature in the deck if you can process with them. I would drop sower to 3 before herder. I don't like Go for the Throat personally. It sucks against affinity which is likely going to have a large meta share. I am a fan of dismember because you can cast it off of scions (people don't expect this) also it hits most major players in the format outside of prime time.
In your board with Twin gone I think you can reduce celestial purge to 1 and I am not sure what the purpose of NoSB is as it really hurts your token plan. I would recommend memoricide as it really helps in the scapeshift matchup and in he mirror.
Also, Engineered Explosives does not hit manlands. I sure wish it did, though.
Lol whoops I played around the explosives. I figured man land is 0 converted mana cost.
What would a better sweeper SB be over night of souls betrayel? Ratchet bomb, engineered explosives or keep curse of deaths hold?
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It is technically a creature with CMC of zero but explosives specifically states "non-land".
I love explosives but I don't like it in decks where I don't have the option to cast it on 3. I would use ratchet bomb, zealous persecution, or languish
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Caves of Koilos
3 Eye of Ugin
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Marsh Flats
2 Godless Shrine
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Swamp
2 Plains
1 Wastes
4 Blight Herder
4 Though-Knot Seer
4 Wasteland Strangler
4 Reality Smasher
1 Ulamog, The Ceaseless Hunger
Spells
4 Lingering Souls
4 Path to Exile
1 Dismember
4 Relic of Progenitus
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
2 Rest for the Weary
2 Timely Reinforcements
2 Disenchant
2 Stony Silence
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Flaying Tendrils
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Spellskite
I'm already playing 4 Ghost Quarters and quite a few cards to bring in from the board but the matchup is still tough. I've cut Oblivion Sower entirely for Reality Smasher because the latter is a much faster clock (though I have been able to assemble Tron off my opponent's lands using Sowers and I'll miss that "achievement unlocked" moment lol). I'm thinking of taking out a Strangler for a maindeck Surgical Extraction. Maybe I should be running Expedition Map for more virtual copies of Ghost Quarter. Maybe some Warping Wail to counter Sylvan Scrying or Ancient Stirrings? Probably too narrow.
Special thanks to Hakai Studios and SushiOtter for the sig!
Legacy: UR Sneak and Show I UBG Team America I X Metalworker MUD
Modern: UBR Blue Jund I WBX Eldrazi Processors I X Affinity I WRG Nacatl Burn I GR Tron I UBR Grishoalbrand
On Reality Smasher. The main reason I have moved to him is been his comparison to Oblivion Sower. Let's go through Sower first. You cast sower. You potentially get lands (cool!) if you don't have an urborg in play they are useless or cost you life to fetch your own stuff (if they are in your colors) but it gives you the ability to process later. The problem with Oblivion Sower is after he resolves (despite coming down at 6/4). If he eats a removal spell you are left with only the lands to benefit from him. Even if your opponent was tapped out when you cast him. Lots of destroy or exile removal running around. He can also be chumped for days. Reality Smasher comes down a turn sooner (at 5/3), has haste so if you catch your opponent with their pants down you can get in for 5 damage immediately. He also has trample so no chump blocking him. If they do have a removal, they also have to discard a card from hand giving you a 2 for 1. His cheaper cost also means with an Eye out, you can chain him off Blight Herder. The main difference is your meta. If you expect to run into a lot of counter magic (we really aren't seeing a ton of that right now), Oblivion Sower is better. If you are expecting to see more aggro decks, Reality Smasher is better. I like the 2/2 split because it gives you both options although I am leaning more and more to Smasher. It gives you that other option when that extra 5 damage will just kill your opponent. Just lets you tutor and end the game. (I had one game against zoo where I tutored 1 up with him at 10 and no blockers. I expected to push him down to 5 and force him to play a bit of defense since he didn't have lethal on board. I top decked my other one and swung for lethal.) Sower is great but at the end of the day.. he was just a beater and a closer (occasionally a ridiculously big blocker).
Flaying Tendrils has been extremely solid so far in my meta (which seems like most, aggro driven). I still wish it was an Anger (-3/-3) but it tends to hit enough to make a big difference. (Also curves nicely into a blight herder to really help swing those aggro matchups).
If your meta is infested with Tron to the point you want to tailor to beat it at the cost of aggro, i'd highly suggest upping TS count over Inquisitions. I'd definitely run more expedition maps because in my experience if you GQ them twice before they can get to Tron.. they pretty much lose (also be sure to hit the same land so it reduces their chance of topdecking their final piece). I'd also recommend Aven Mindcensor (probably a 2x) and Surgical Extraction (also a 2x) in the mainboard.. This is if you want to take it to tron with no mercy (you are sacrificing other matchups to do so). I'd also run Evil Presence in the SB. You could really tailor your list to try and hose Tron if you absolutely wanted to.
2 Wasteland Strangler
3 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Blight Herder
3 Oblivion Sower
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Non-Creature Spells
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Expedition Map
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Path to Exile
2 Surgical Extraction
4 Lingering Souls
1 Dismember
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Eye of Ugin
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Bojuka Bog
2 Shambling Vent
3 Godless Shrine
2 Swamp
2 Plains
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Windswept Heath
2 Stony Silence
3 Timely Reinforcements
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Flaying Tendrils
1 Celestial Purge
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Disenchant
1 Pithing Needle
1 Slaughter Pact
Im playing a pretty standard list. However I am unsure about the full 2 Thoughtseize and 4 Inquisition of Kozilek along side 3 Thought-Knot Seer. I could see myself cutting Dismember and something else for 2 Reality Smasher. The manabase feels pretty consistent. I'm going to put in Marsh Flats when I get them. Any improvements anyone would make to my list?
I'd say dismember and an Oblivion Sower for 2 Reality Smashers. I haven't regretted moving down to 2 Oblivion sowers yet. I also don't think you need 3 eyes and 2 maps. I'd go to 2:2:2 eye/urborg/map and that gives you another slot for something else. I would recommend a basic Waste. You can fetch it with path or GQ and it lets you play all your things through a blood moon.
Very close to what I plan to be running (haven't had a chance to play in paper since release). I was planning on putting 2 smashers in the list as well. I would drop 1 IoK and 1 Extraction. Depending on the meta I might consider dropping 1 Map for another Strangler. If the meta that SCG Atlanta showed continues, strangler will just be an all star in combo with TKS and path.
So I cut 1 Strangler and 2 Oblivion Sower. Currently I am still running 2 Go for the Throats but will be testing out Warping Wail in their spot (as pseudo removal and see if I like it's versatility. The key thing to note is TKS is effectively removal since it lets you get rid of the biggest threat in their hand for good and he is large enough to effectively kill any creature the aggro decks are swinging with. Quite often he is a 2 1/2 for 1 (3 of their cards for him and then they get a random card off the top. Since the card could be a land or another dead draw based on situation and deck, I count it as 1/2). Essentially post-board we are trading those extra slots we free'd up with board clears and semi clears (flaying tendrils most notably) because spot removal isn't what we want to be doing against a lot of these decks.
Pretty much why I want to run him, I do believe however that he is a meta call. It's not like he does nothing vs non-aggro decks, because +1/+0ing your field can be massive, but I think his place in the MB or SB will be determined by the meta.
I think against non aggro matchups (aside from Tron and Combo decks like Scapeshift and Adnauseum) he can still wreck their game because if they let him ultimate, they likely will struggle to find a way to win. Essentially I am going to place him in the All is Dust slot in my MB tonight to test him out. If he comes out great, if not.. whatever. I feel like that is the appropriate slot for him since All is Dust is best in those same matchups. (Coincidentally it pretty much ensures that Boggles has 1 turn to lethal you once you ult (provided you don't have removal for Dryad Arbor)).
2 Wasteland Strangler
3 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Reality Smasher
4 Blight Herder
3 Oblivion Sower
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Spells (20)
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Path to Exile
4 Relic of Progenitus
1 Dismember
4 Lingering Souls
1 All Is Dust
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
1 Swamp
1 Vault of the Archangel
2 Caves of Koilos
2 Godless Shrine
2 Plains
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Eye of Ugin
3 Ghost Quarter
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Marsh Flats
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Celestial Purge
2 Disenchant
2 Rest for the Weary
2 Spellskite
2 Stony Silence
2 Flaying Tendrils
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Memoricide