I know Oblivion Sower is really good - objectively - but is it still the right card for this build?
Or does a creature base like this in the face of the aggro meta make more sense:
3-4x Wasteland Strangler
4x Blight Herder
3x TKS
3x Reality Smasher
1x Eldrazi Displacer (to abuse Strangler/TKS ETB effect and also its just a great late game card)
1x Ulamog
Caveat: I haven't tested yet. I'll be testing something similar though. Just wondering if anyone else was thinking about dropping Oblivion Sower? I know how amazing the card can be when it hits, but its the only card that is not a virtual guaranteed 2 for 1.
Mahindra Bheodaris list looks I interesting scg Atlanta 13th ... I'm just picking up the deck ...biggest problem I'm having is against a blue white control deck running jace-architect-of-thought...maybe reality smasher will help. Dunno. But really hurts when your 1/1s are 0/1s and they ultimate playing your ulamog and another Jace ..
JAoT is a pain. But he isn't played that much, especially since twin is gone now. He may make a big of a come back though. Sorin is a good counter for him, as is zealous persecution. Smasher is a very good way to deal with him, as are any of your larger creatures. UW decks normally don't clog the field. Some decks also field pithing needle out of the board, which is something to consider.
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Happy Friday you Eldritch Abominations! I have a lovely tournament report for you after my Thursday Night Modern Tournament with 40 folks in attendance (kinda a small crowd on the night because of other events in the area. The Legacy event that fires around the same time barely got off as well). Alright awaaaay we go:
Round 1 Mono Green Stompy (2-1) [1-0]:
Game 1 did not start off well for me on the draw. He led off Dryad Militant into Dryad Militant and Rancor. I had to use Lingering Souls to chump, he played the GGG 4/5. I couldn't find a land to drop and he ended up getting in for lethal. Game 2 was a different matter. I out grinded him and was able to get Rancors exiled when they hit the yard (or played a TKS when it was in his hand). This allowed me to spot remove and chump his dudes. Eventually I got Vault of the Archangel online and took an insurmountable health lead. I did get a nifty play with Warping Wail. He was swinging in with Dungrove Elder trying to get some extra damage pushed through, I cast Warping Wail and make a dude. Block and then activate the Vault. Cya Dungrove. Game 3 was won off the back of Sorin, Solemn Visitor (who I was testing in my "All is Dust" slot for the night). I was at 4 life when I topdecked him and had a TKS in play. He had an Avatar of the Resolute with 1 +1/+1 counter. He is forced to hold off because they would just trade and I would gain 5 life and still have Sorin onboard. I bricked the next 2 turns but kept ticking Sorin. He found a Rancor off the top and swung into Sorin so he wouldn't ult. I blocked, gained life and Sorin took 2. I topdecked a Timely Reinforcements and cast it (to gain 6 more life and putting me WAY out of reach) and ticked Sorin. He topdecked a land. I then found a Reality Smasher, played, ticked Sorin up and Swung for 6 lifelink. He scooped.
Round 2 BW Eldrazi (2-1) [2-0]:
First time playing the actual mirror match, let alone another Eldrazi deck with the new cards. We were sitting next to each other round 1 and I had seen some of the differences between our decks but he was nice enough to discuss the difference between our decks while we played (it's semi-competitive at my store but there is little information I think I could really gain in this mirror match that matters while we are playing. it's really about who has the better top decks). The key differences between our decks that game into play, he was not running Vault of the Archangel. Instead he had Tomb of the Spirit Dragon. We each had a 1x Sorin. He was running a 2/4 split of Herders to Sowers while I was running a 4/2. Our sideboards were essentially completely different which made games 2 and 3 interesting. Each change showed a bit of their own merits. I won game 1 on the back of Vault of the Archangel. It caused bad trades from him and put me so far ahead in life total that I ground him out. Game 2 I was bricking on gas and he managed to pull ahead in life with Tomb of the Spirit Dragon. I just couldn't find lands to play the things I had in hand and wasn't drawing answers (or Lingering Souls to stall). Game 3 I had a stupid stupid good hand. I got to Turn 3 Reality Smasher and he was on his back foot the entire game. He sorta would have managed to stabilize but I lagged my Vault of the Archangel in hand til the turn I could play and activate it. The result was him dying to lethal because he couldn't block Reality Smasher effectively (because Trample and Deathtouch is dumb, he'd have to block with 5 creatures in order to take no damage and I had enough damage with other creatures to lethal anyway. The thing that made this match very interesting was that our sideboard choices were much different. He had more midrange Eldrazi in his sideboard which I was fortunate he didn't draw more of and he took out Stranglers. I left my Stranglers in (as 3/2 beat sticks) and brought in 2x Surgical Extraction, 2x Timely Reinforcements and 2x Ratchet Bomb. I know what you are thinking because he asked the same thing "Ratchet Bomb? Why?!" I brought them in for the situation where he would be able to flood the board with tokens and I couldn't. It sort of worked in one of the games to bring us back to parity on actual bodies in play. The main reason he didn't draw enough Midrange guys is because I was able to hit 2 of them with Surgicals. This happened to me a couple weeks back against the BU Eldrazi deck and I know how much of a killer it is in the mirror. Seriously, bring in your surgicals and try and hit their Mid-range guys. It makes their draws a LOT worse and usually hinders their ability to close out the game. All in all it was a fun round with lots of intriguing discussion and decisions.
Round 3 Ralph Levy's New Loam Pox (2-0) [3-0]:
Ok some backstory.. I left my backpack with all my Modern cards/decks in my truck one night after coming back from FNM at like 1am and having a film shoot early that Saturday morning (this was back in October). Unfortunately someone smash and grabbed it and I had to start from scratch. The first deck I built was Ralph Levy's Loam Pox deck because they most expensive pieces is the land base which could easily be transferred back into GBx (Junk has always been my favorite wedge). Because of this, I am intricately familiar with the way this deck runs and operates. Ralph recently released an updated list which has been picked up by 2-3 folks that come to my LGSs. It's a decent meta call because the version I used to run housed aggro and creature strategies. I personally don't like the changes because they feel all in on Zombie Infestation and he took out one of the strongest cards in the deck.. Smallpox. Ok all that being said, here is how the games went. Game 1 I cast a T1 Thoughtseize and knew immediately what he was on. Luckily he had jack all in hand. Pretty much this game consisted of me holding open Warping Wail to counter Life from the Loam or Smallpox as I know some folks are still running it.. because it's really good. He ghost quartered me 3 times and I got basics out of the deal. No biggie. After T3 I had a pretty simple game plan. I had a Map in hand. If he cast Life from the Loam to try and get the GQs, I counter with Warping Wail (effectively ending his turn). I then play and crack map for Bog and hit the snot out of his GY. Luckily he didn't try that until I had already beat him down effectively with a myriad of dudes on board (he did cast it the turn before he died, I countered but he had a 2nd one. the main difference was he couldn't make enough Zombies to stay alive at that point and I was able to swing in for the win. Game 2 was 2nd verse, same as the first essentially. He managed to get more dudes in play (including playing a Golgari Brownscale which was kind of a pain to get rid of), but I ground the game into my favor and had a Relic in play the entire game.
Round 4 Jeskai Control (0-2) [3-1]:
So we actually ID so we could split the prize pool but we played it out just for fun. I had some pretty bad draws in both games though the games were pretty intriguing and close. The main thing I lacked in this matchup is my 1x Cavern of Souls. I had to trade it off in order to acquire all the new Eldrazi pieces that I wanted. With the store credit from last night... I'll be able to pick it up again. He also was top decking like a baller. Example, I thoughtseized his hand and saw the way was clear for me to play newlamog.. he topdecks Cryptic command. Things like that were the story of this game. This might be a tough matchup in the end because Sphinx Rev gives them SO much card advantage. I think once I get a Cavern it should be better because I won't have to worry as much about the counters and can start jamming dudes. He wasn't running Supreme Verdicts (which is a good thing for us) because of all the aggro decks he was expecting, he ran Anger. It's totally a meta call and I understand it. This is one of those decks that fights fairly against things we try and do and actually can succeed so be careful.
All in all it was a great night where I cruised through good matchups for the most part. Only downside of the night is having to listen to folks already start clamoring that Eye of Ugin is too strong a card... ug. Anyway some verdicts on the cards I was testing tonight:
2x Warping Wail instead of 2x Go for the Throat: All in all they were alright. I am still not entirely convinced because there were times when it sat in hand and wasn't really good and there were other times where it felt pretty good. Gonna take it for another run or two and see how it feels after that.
1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor instead of 1x All is Dust: Oh my hell this card pulled it's weight. Definitely a meta decision because it wasn't great against the Control deck round 4 but against every other deck that tried to beat me to the face.. it's just another MD source of repeatable massive lifegain. Totally earned it's spot in the MD for at least the next 2-3 tournaments and very well might make my list for regionals. It's definitely not overkill to have this and Vault in the deck together either. They were never out at the same time and it seemed like it increased my likelihood for Game 1 lifegain.
Ok those are my thoughts for now. I'll be around off and on throughout the day and as usual, dark on the weekends. I will jump back on Monday with a tournament report for my FNM.
Has anybody attempted to run Appetite for Brains in the sideboard? I haven't tested it yet, but I have two in my board for Tron and the mirror match where I might not want IoK. This gives me the ability to keep pressure up with turn one discard where I might otherwise side it out. I think I might not be seeing it at all because we have so many good options for the board, but I would like to hear the opinions of other spaghetti slingers to see if it is worth trying.
Just thought I'd drop a quick note...
Last night I did some tinkering and went 3-0-1 in a 23 person tourney.
The gist of it is I started with the SCG black white list, cut lingering souls, Liliana & thoughtseize to make room for 4x Thought-Not and 4x Reality Smasher, I went up to 3x Eye of Ugin, 2x Cavern of Souls
I am really liking the deck, I beat Scapeshift, Dredge, and Grixis Delver, and the burn games I played were actually pretty close, I think I won 2 he won 3 games in testing. Thought-Not and Reality Smasher were both fantastic. There was NO way I was going to get beat scapeshift without uncounterable Thought-Nots, and being able to curve Thought-Not into Reality Smasher can put a ton of decks on the defensive. Vault of the archangel is really really great with reality smasher, thinking of going to 2. I will try to follow up later with my exact list and more details but I'm not that into modern and after playing this deck twice this week I am totally hooked. I'd really like to get some reps in with tron & affinity as well.
Eldrazi is getting so many tools with Thought not and reality smasher coming out. Turn two eldrazi is pretty scary. My friend played it against me and took my removal and I did not last much longer. This deck is so much fun to watch
Thanks again for the report. What is your discard suite looking like?
Because I didn't want to spend $30 a pop on Inquisitions, I have 3 Thoughtseize 1 Inquisition and 3 TKS (if you want to count those). I have 2 duress out of the SB currently as well. Honestly I might go down to a 2/2 split of inquisition and TS but probably won't flip it completely. My burn matchup suffers a bit but TS does help against a lot of other decks since you can rob just about anything from their hand.
I love using cavern of souls in the Eldrazi, Im just having a hard time on which lands to cut back. I'm going to give sorin a try tomorrow night though and see how he holds up. I dont have IOK so Ill be using 2 duress and 4 TS in the main. Got to get in the final tweaks before regionals next week.
Thanks again for the report. What is your discard suite looking like?
Because I didn't want to spend $30 a pop on Inquisitions, I have 3 Thoughtseize 1 Inquisition and 3 TKS (if you want to count those). I have 2 duress out of the SB currently as well. Honestly I might go down to a 2/2 split of inquisition and TS but probably won't flip it completely. My burn matchup suffers a bit but TS does help against a lot of other decks since you can rob just about anything from their hand.
I looked back and couldn't find your list. Do you mind reposting it?
I have a cavern that I kind of want to put in, but I can't find a spot. But that being said I am not sure how needed it is. There aren't a lot of pure control running around and the processors already hurt control. But i guess with Oath, we have fewer on cast triggers. I am not running maps, but I guess if I was I would drop an eye. I just can't find a place to squeeze them in.
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Round 4 Jeskai Control (0-2) [3-1]:
So we actually ID so we could split the prize pool but we played it out just for fun. I had some pretty bad draws in both games though the games were pretty intriguing and close. The main thing I lacked in this matchup is my 1x Cavern of Souls. I had to trade it off in order to acquire all the new Eldrazi pieces that I wanted. With the store credit from last night... I'll be able to pick it up again. He also was top decking like a baller. Example, I thoughtseized his hand and saw the way was clear for me to play newlamog.. he topdecks Cryptic command. Things like that were the story of this game. This might be a tough matchup in the end because Sphinx Rev gives them SO much card advantage. I think once I get a Cavern it should be better because I won't have to worry as much about the counters and can start jamming dudes. He wasn't running Supreme Verdicts (which is a good thing for us) because of all the aggro decks he was expecting, he ran Anger. It's totally a meta call and I understand it. This is one of those decks that fights fairly against things we try and do and actually can succeed so be careful.
All in all it was a great night where I cruised through good matchups for the most part. Only downside of the night is having to listen to folks already start clamoring that Eye of Ugin is too strong a card... ug. Anyway some verdicts on the cards I was testing tonight:
2x Warping Wail instead of 2x Go for the Throat: All in all they were alright. I am still not entirely convinced because there were times when it sat in hand and wasn't really good and there were other times where it felt pretty good. Gonna take it for another run or two and see how it feels after that.
1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor instead of 1x All is Dust: Oh my hell this card pulled it's weight. Definitely a meta decision because it wasn't great against the Control deck round 4 but against every other deck that tried to beat me to the face.. it's just another MD source of repeatable massive lifegain. Totally earned it's spot in the MD for at least the next 2-3 tournaments and very well might make my list for regionals. It's definitely not overkill to have this and Vault in the deck together either. They were never out at the same time and it seemed like it increased my likelihood for Game 1 lifegain.
Ok those are my thoughts for now. I'll be around off and on throughout the day and as usual, dark on the weekends. I will jump back on Monday with a tournament report for my FNM.
I had to play a Esper control last night which had soooooooooo much removal it became such a grindy topdeck battle. I also had a similar experience where I cleared the way with discard, played Reality Smasher straight into a freshly top deck'd path to exile on turn 3... That being said, Reality smasher is an all-star in those match ups. Control decks are not uncommon in my meta and I was considering running Newzilek in the SB for such match ups as even if he is countered it's still absolute value.
I lost to BG elves as they are way to fast and I can't stop top deck'd shaman of the packs.. This match up made me change my basics rom 2 plains, 1 swamp to 1 plains 2 swamps. Originally I thought urborg would be fine to find black but since my SB has so much double black I'd rather ensure those board wipes can be fetched for if I need to path my own guys or GQ my lands to get the 2nd black source.
I played against Infect which surprisingly feels like we are favored.. I went in expecting to be dead in 2 turns but just destroyed him from too many different angles.
Funnily enough last night I ran into a deck I never would have expected to give me trouble. Mono W soul sisters just did not care about anything I did. I swung, he took it to face and gained more with matyr, I board wiped, and he just played Eos to get more dudes.. I originally thought I had just kept bad hands and maybe misplayed here and there, so we played a few more games while waiting for the next round and I never got there.. Maybe I'm just bad..
The other BW Eldrazi player was playing a endbringer to great success though, so that is interesting.
Thanks again for the report. What is your discard suite looking like?
Because I didn't want to spend $30 a pop on Inquisitions, I have 3 Thoughtseize 1 Inquisition and 3 TKS (if you want to count those). I have 2 duress out of the SB currently as well. Honestly I might go down to a 2/2 split of inquisition and TS but probably won't flip it completely. My burn matchup suffers a bit but TS does help against a lot of other decks since you can rob just about anything from their hand.
I looked back and couldn't find your list. Do you mind reposting it?
I have a cavern that I kind of want to put in, but I can't find a spot. But that being said I am not sure how needed it is. There aren't a lot of pure control running around and the processors already hurt control. But i guess with Oath, we have fewer on cast triggers. I am not running maps, but I guess if I was I would drop an eye. I just can't find a place to squeeze them in.
This is the thing. An embarrassment of riches with not enough room for all the good cards we want to play. Difficult decisions must be made. It's enough to make a fella want to run a 61 card deck.
Thanks again for the report. What is your discard suite looking like?
Because I didn't want to spend $30 a pop on Inquisitions, I have 3 Thoughtseize 1 Inquisition and 3 TKS (if you want to count those). I have 2 duress out of the SB currently as well. Honestly I might go down to a 2/2 split of inquisition and TS but probably won't flip it completely. My burn matchup suffers a bit but TS does help against a lot of other decks since you can rob just about anything from their hand.
I looked back and couldn't find your list. Do you mind reposting it?
I have a cavern that I kind of want to put in, but I can't find a spot. But that being said I am not sure how needed it is. There aren't a lot of pure control running around and the processors already hurt control. But i guess with Oath, we have fewer on cast triggers. I am not running maps, but I guess if I was I would drop an eye. I just can't find a place to squeeze them in.
Jeskai control is picking up steam and it's pretty well placed honestly. It's a typical draw go strategy as well (what people have been begging for in Modern. Go figure you kill off an oops I win button and a hard to interact with deck like Bloom Titan and a control deck emerges). The main coffin nail is that they use 4x Electrolyze MB (at least the guy I played did) so he can mitigate Lingering Souls and Blight Herder tokens. They could care less about you ramping as long as they have counter magic open for your dudes or a Path in hand. They also bring in Stony Silences to reduce the effectiveness of Relic so they can Snap Cryptics and such. Keranos is still a house. Worst part without Cavern is that you can't tutor up Newlamog and just pray it gets through. If it gets countered you are still struggling to find ways to close out the game (because the auto 2 for 1 is great and all but you usually hit like Keranos and Colonnade. They can get there with their other things.. god forbid they Crypic counter bounce Keranos). It's more of a 50/50 matchup. You also can't outgrind Sphinx Rev if you have no pressure onboard. Cavern is also critical for Reality Smashers because it's stupid awkward for them to deal with outside of a board wipe, it applies pressure and will almost always 2 for 1.
As far as adding in Cavern, I'll probably take out a Godless Shrine for it. My sideboard is really in a constant state of flux but after playing the Jeskai Control deck last night, I think I'll add a 1x Celestial Purge back to the Sideboard. I may remove All is Dust or Damnation all together for it. So far the list has run pretty smoothly. Initially I added Shambling Vent as a stop gap for Cavern of Souls when I traded it off but it has earned it's spot. There are just times where you have a ton of land and nothing to spend it on. Animating and leaching 2 life off your opponent (or knocking their planeswalkers down 2) has been great. I think we run enough specialty lands that make folks choose what they want to destroy and that makes things super awkward if hindsight shows they chose the wrong one (because it all boils down to situation). If I owned a Crucible of Worlds I would totally be running 1 as well. On the maps.. personally I really like them. It's not that they feel critical to the deck and more that they have let me tutor for the specific land I need or want in each particular game. It feels so much better than hoping to topdeck it. Also I don't run fetches and while it hasn't happened yet, it is another out against a Blood Moon to get the basics I need. (Ironically my most tutored for land has probably be Bojuka Bog. Give me the GY exile I need when I need it and gets me to mana as well. Occasionally I get Eye but usually only if I top deck one late. Otherwise I get Temple... a lot. Eye is great but without Urborg it doesn't further your mana drops and usually I am making sure I get to Lingering Souls. By the way, to anyone thinking removing it... it's a house upon which modern is built.. ok hyperbole but still. The card is one of the best in Modern in many situations and I'd never think of cutting them.
I had to play a Esper control last night which had soooooooooo much removal it became such a grindy topdeck battle. I also had a similar experience where I cleared the way with discard, played Reality Smasher straight into a freshly top deck'd path to exile on turn 3... That being said, Reality smasher is an all-star in those match ups. Control decks are not uncommon in my meta and I was considering running Newzilek in the SB for such match ups as even if he is countered it's still absolute value.
I lost to BG elves as they are way to fast and I can't stop top deck'd shaman of the packs.. This match up made me change my basics rom 2 plains, 1 swamp to 1 plains 2 swamps. Originally I thought urborg would be fine to find black but since my SB has so much double black I'd rather ensure those board wipes can be fetched for if I need to path my own guys or GQ my lands to get the 2nd black source.
I played against Infect which surprisingly feels like we are favored.. I went in expecting to be dead in 2 turns but just destroyed him from too many different angles.
Funnily enough last night I ran into a deck I never would have expected to give me trouble. Mono W soul sisters just did not care about anything I did. I swung, he took it to face and gained more with matyr, I board wiped, and he just played Eos to get more dudes.. I originally thought I had just kept bad hands and maybe misplayed here and there, so we played a few more games while waiting for the next round and I never got there.. Maybe I'm just bad..
The other BW Eldrazi player was playing a endbringer to great success though, so that is interesting.
I actually made the same thought process mistake on basics as well and it cost me a match on Tuesday. If I had been running 2 Swamps I could have cracked relic EOT, untapped and cast Flaying Tendrils to clear the guys entire board (he was playing Bant Coco Goodstuff and was using Knight of the Reliquary to find GQ and Tech edge every turn to blow up my things). I totally forgot that my only cards with 2 of the same color in their cost are Damnation and Flaying Tendril. Haven't regretted making the switch at all.
Thanks again for the report. What is your discard suite looking like?
Because I didn't want to spend $30 a pop on Inquisitions, I have 3 Thoughtseize 1 Inquisition and 3 TKS (if you want to count those). I have 2 duress out of the SB currently as well. Honestly I might go down to a 2/2 split of inquisition and TS but probably won't flip it completely. My burn matchup suffers a bit but TS does help against a lot of other decks since you can rob just about anything from their hand.
I looked back and couldn't find your list. Do you mind reposting it?
I have a cavern that I kind of want to put in, but I can't find a spot. But that being said I am not sure how needed it is. There aren't a lot of pure control running around and the processors already hurt control. But i guess with Oath, we have fewer on cast triggers. I am not running maps, but I guess if I was I would drop an eye. I just can't find a place to squeeze them in.
This is the thing. An embarrassment of riches with not enough room for all the good cards we want to play. Difficult decisions must be made. It's enough to make a fella want to run a 61 card deck.
Just check several pages back. I mistakenly forgot to unsideboard an extra Ghost Quarter before the tournament and ended up going 4-0 with a 61 card deck. Whoops. Better to be Eldrazi than good amirite?
I am only playing 1 map main and I have no idea what else to cut to get the second in. I really want to keep 1 surgical extraction main and 2 removal spells above the set of paths. Everything else is pretty standard.
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I am only playing 1 map main and I have no idea what else to cut to get the second in. I really want to keep 1 surgical extraction main and 2 removal spells above the set of paths. Everything else is pretty standard.
I really don't like fetches. Opponents will be packing a ton of ghost quarters and paths.
I am only playing 1 map main and I have no idea what else to cut to get the second in. I really want to keep 1 surgical extraction main and 2 removal spells above the set of paths. Everything else is pretty standard.
My mana base looks similar to you. I will cut my Vent for a cavern and retain two maps.
This puts me with 14B, 11W, 12C (add 1 more if you count Caverns as a colored source for creature spells only though). If you face a lot of Paths, I think we can cut a Godless Shrine or Caves and add more basics. Fetches did helped a lot from my experience. Minimum I would play is 2.
I keep trying to play this deck but out of 10 games, I've won 2. I either never get a creature, enough mana, or I get my hand torn apart with big spells left over. What am I suppose to do to get this deck working properly. What is a proper starting hand?
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Modern: U Merfolk | GR Tron | WUR Jeskai Control | WBG Abzan Company
Or does a creature base like this in the face of the aggro meta make more sense:
3-4x Wasteland Strangler
4x Blight Herder
3x TKS
3x Reality Smasher
1x Eldrazi Displacer (to abuse Strangler/TKS ETB effect and also its just a great late game card)
1x Ulamog
Caveat: I haven't tested yet. I'll be testing something similar though. Just wondering if anyone else was thinking about dropping Oblivion Sower? I know how amazing the card can be when it hits, but its the only card that is not a virtual guaranteed 2 for 1.
Modern: Bogles // 8-Whack/Goblins // UW Titan // Hollow One // Affinity // Dredge
EDH: Nissa, Vastwood Seer // Atraxa, Praetor's Voice // Meren of Clan Nel Toth
Round 1 Mono Green Stompy (2-1) [1-0]:
Game 1 did not start off well for me on the draw. He led off Dryad Militant into Dryad Militant and Rancor. I had to use Lingering Souls to chump, he played the GGG 4/5. I couldn't find a land to drop and he ended up getting in for lethal. Game 2 was a different matter. I out grinded him and was able to get Rancors exiled when they hit the yard (or played a TKS when it was in his hand). This allowed me to spot remove and chump his dudes. Eventually I got Vault of the Archangel online and took an insurmountable health lead. I did get a nifty play with Warping Wail. He was swinging in with Dungrove Elder trying to get some extra damage pushed through, I cast Warping Wail and make a dude. Block and then activate the Vault. Cya Dungrove. Game 3 was won off the back of Sorin, Solemn Visitor (who I was testing in my "All is Dust" slot for the night). I was at 4 life when I topdecked him and had a TKS in play. He had an Avatar of the Resolute with 1 +1/+1 counter. He is forced to hold off because they would just trade and I would gain 5 life and still have Sorin onboard. I bricked the next 2 turns but kept ticking Sorin. He found a Rancor off the top and swung into Sorin so he wouldn't ult. I blocked, gained life and Sorin took 2. I topdecked a Timely Reinforcements and cast it (to gain 6 more life and putting me WAY out of reach) and ticked Sorin. He topdecked a land. I then found a Reality Smasher, played, ticked Sorin up and Swung for 6 lifelink. He scooped.
Round 2 BW Eldrazi (2-1) [2-0]:
First time playing the actual mirror match, let alone another Eldrazi deck with the new cards. We were sitting next to each other round 1 and I had seen some of the differences between our decks but he was nice enough to discuss the difference between our decks while we played (it's semi-competitive at my store but there is little information I think I could really gain in this mirror match that matters while we are playing. it's really about who has the better top decks). The key differences between our decks that game into play, he was not running Vault of the Archangel. Instead he had Tomb of the Spirit Dragon. We each had a 1x Sorin. He was running a 2/4 split of Herders to Sowers while I was running a 4/2. Our sideboards were essentially completely different which made games 2 and 3 interesting. Each change showed a bit of their own merits. I won game 1 on the back of Vault of the Archangel. It caused bad trades from him and put me so far ahead in life total that I ground him out. Game 2 I was bricking on gas and he managed to pull ahead in life with Tomb of the Spirit Dragon. I just couldn't find lands to play the things I had in hand and wasn't drawing answers (or Lingering Souls to stall). Game 3 I had a stupid stupid good hand. I got to Turn 3 Reality Smasher and he was on his back foot the entire game. He sorta would have managed to stabilize but I lagged my Vault of the Archangel in hand til the turn I could play and activate it. The result was him dying to lethal because he couldn't block Reality Smasher effectively (because Trample and Deathtouch is dumb, he'd have to block with 5 creatures in order to take no damage and I had enough damage with other creatures to lethal anyway. The thing that made this match very interesting was that our sideboard choices were much different. He had more midrange Eldrazi in his sideboard which I was fortunate he didn't draw more of and he took out Stranglers. I left my Stranglers in (as 3/2 beat sticks) and brought in 2x Surgical Extraction, 2x Timely Reinforcements and 2x Ratchet Bomb. I know what you are thinking because he asked the same thing "Ratchet Bomb? Why?!" I brought them in for the situation where he would be able to flood the board with tokens and I couldn't. It sort of worked in one of the games to bring us back to parity on actual bodies in play. The main reason he didn't draw enough Midrange guys is because I was able to hit 2 of them with Surgicals. This happened to me a couple weeks back against the BU Eldrazi deck and I know how much of a killer it is in the mirror. Seriously, bring in your surgicals and try and hit their Mid-range guys. It makes their draws a LOT worse and usually hinders their ability to close out the game. All in all it was a fun round with lots of intriguing discussion and decisions.
Round 3 Ralph Levy's New Loam
Pox(2-0) [3-0]:Ok some backstory.. I left my backpack with all my Modern cards/decks in my truck one night after coming back from FNM at like 1am and having a film shoot early that Saturday morning (this was back in October). Unfortunately someone smash and grabbed it and I had to start from scratch. The first deck I built was Ralph Levy's Loam Pox deck because they most expensive pieces is the land base which could easily be transferred back into GBx (Junk has always been my favorite wedge). Because of this, I am intricately familiar with the way this deck runs and operates. Ralph recently released an updated list which has been picked up by 2-3 folks that come to my LGSs. It's a decent meta call because the version I used to run housed aggro and creature strategies. I personally don't like the changes because they feel all in on Zombie Infestation and he took out one of the strongest cards in the deck.. Smallpox. Ok all that being said, here is how the games went. Game 1 I cast a T1 Thoughtseize and knew immediately what he was on. Luckily he had jack all in hand. Pretty much this game consisted of me holding open Warping Wail to counter Life from the Loam or Smallpox as I know some folks are still running it.. because it's really good. He ghost quartered me 3 times and I got basics out of the deal. No biggie. After T3 I had a pretty simple game plan. I had a Map in hand. If he cast Life from the Loam to try and get the GQs, I counter with Warping Wail (effectively ending his turn). I then play and crack map for Bog and hit the snot out of his GY. Luckily he didn't try that until I had already beat him down effectively with a myriad of dudes on board (he did cast it the turn before he died, I countered but he had a 2nd one. the main difference was he couldn't make enough Zombies to stay alive at that point and I was able to swing in for the win. Game 2 was 2nd verse, same as the first essentially. He managed to get more dudes in play (including playing a Golgari Brownscale which was kind of a pain to get rid of), but I ground the game into my favor and had a Relic in play the entire game.
Round 4 Jeskai Control (0-2) [3-1]:
So we actually ID so we could split the prize pool but we played it out just for fun. I had some pretty bad draws in both games though the games were pretty intriguing and close. The main thing I lacked in this matchup is my 1x Cavern of Souls. I had to trade it off in order to acquire all the new Eldrazi pieces that I wanted. With the store credit from last night... I'll be able to pick it up again. He also was top decking like a baller. Example, I thoughtseized his hand and saw the way was clear for me to play newlamog.. he topdecks Cryptic command. Things like that were the story of this game. This might be a tough matchup in the end because Sphinx Rev gives them SO much card advantage. I think once I get a Cavern it should be better because I won't have to worry as much about the counters and can start jamming dudes. He wasn't running Supreme Verdicts (which is a good thing for us) because of all the aggro decks he was expecting, he ran Anger. It's totally a meta call and I understand it. This is one of those decks that fights fairly against things we try and do and actually can succeed so be careful.
All in all it was a great night where I cruised through good matchups for the most part. Only downside of the night is having to listen to folks already start clamoring that Eye of Ugin is too strong a card... ug. Anyway some verdicts on the cards I was testing tonight:
2x Warping Wail instead of 2x Go for the Throat: All in all they were alright. I am still not entirely convinced because there were times when it sat in hand and wasn't really good and there were other times where it felt pretty good. Gonna take it for another run or two and see how it feels after that.
1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor instead of 1x All is Dust: Oh my hell this card pulled it's weight. Definitely a meta decision because it wasn't great against the Control deck round 4 but against every other deck that tried to beat me to the face.. it's just another MD source of repeatable massive lifegain. Totally earned it's spot in the MD for at least the next 2-3 tournaments and very well might make my list for regionals. It's definitely not overkill to have this and Vault in the deck together either. They were never out at the same time and it seemed like it increased my likelihood for Game 1 lifegain.
Ok those are my thoughts for now. I'll be around off and on throughout the day and as usual, dark on the weekends. I will jump back on Monday with a tournament report for my FNM.
Last night I did some tinkering and went 3-0-1 in a 23 person tourney.
The gist of it is I started with the SCG black white list, cut lingering souls, Liliana & thoughtseize to make room for 4x Thought-Not and 4x Reality Smasher, I went up to 3x Eye of Ugin, 2x Cavern of Souls
I am really liking the deck, I beat Scapeshift, Dredge, and Grixis Delver, and the burn games I played were actually pretty close, I think I won 2 he won 3 games in testing. Thought-Not and Reality Smasher were both fantastic. There was NO way I was going to get beat scapeshift without uncounterable Thought-Nots, and being able to curve Thought-Not into Reality Smasher can put a ton of decks on the defensive. Vault of the archangel is really really great with reality smasher, thinking of going to 2. I will try to follow up later with my exact list and more details but I'm not that into modern and after playing this deck twice this week I am totally hooked. I'd really like to get some reps in with tron & affinity as well.
Because I didn't want to spend $30 a pop on Inquisitions, I have 3 Thoughtseize 1 Inquisition and 3 TKS (if you want to count those). I have 2 duress out of the SB currently as well. Honestly I might go down to a 2/2 split of inquisition and TS but probably won't flip it completely. My burn matchup suffers a bit but TS does help against a lot of other decks since you can rob just about anything from their hand.
I looked back and couldn't find your list. Do you mind reposting it?
I have a cavern that I kind of want to put in, but I can't find a spot. But that being said I am not sure how needed it is. There aren't a lot of pure control running around and the processors already hurt control. But i guess with Oath, we have fewer on cast triggers. I am not running maps, but I guess if I was I would drop an eye. I just can't find a place to squeeze them in.
I had to play a Esper control last night which had soooooooooo much removal it became such a grindy topdeck battle. I also had a similar experience where I cleared the way with discard, played Reality Smasher straight into a freshly top deck'd path to exile on turn 3... That being said, Reality smasher is an all-star in those match ups. Control decks are not uncommon in my meta and I was considering running Newzilek in the SB for such match ups as even if he is countered it's still absolute value.
I lost to BG elves as they are way to fast and I can't stop top deck'd shaman of the packs.. This match up made me change my basics rom 2 plains, 1 swamp to 1 plains 2 swamps. Originally I thought urborg would be fine to find black but since my SB has so much double black I'd rather ensure those board wipes can be fetched for if I need to path my own guys or GQ my lands to get the 2nd black source.
I played against Infect which surprisingly feels like we are favored.. I went in expecting to be dead in 2 turns but just destroyed him from too many different angles.
Funnily enough last night I ran into a deck I never would have expected to give me trouble. Mono W soul sisters just did not care about anything I did. I swung, he took it to face and gained more with matyr, I board wiped, and he just played Eos to get more dudes.. I originally thought I had just kept bad hands and maybe misplayed here and there, so we played a few more games while waiting for the next round and I never got there.. Maybe I'm just bad..
The other BW Eldrazi player was playing a endbringer to great success though, so that is interesting.
Jeskai control is picking up steam and it's pretty well placed honestly. It's a typical draw go strategy as well (what people have been begging for in Modern. Go figure you kill off an oops I win button and a hard to interact with deck like Bloom Titan and a control deck emerges). The main coffin nail is that they use 4x Electrolyze MB (at least the guy I played did) so he can mitigate Lingering Souls and Blight Herder tokens. They could care less about you ramping as long as they have counter magic open for your dudes or a Path in hand. They also bring in Stony Silences to reduce the effectiveness of Relic so they can Snap Cryptics and such. Keranos is still a house. Worst part without Cavern is that you can't tutor up Newlamog and just pray it gets through. If it gets countered you are still struggling to find ways to close out the game (because the auto 2 for 1 is great and all but you usually hit like Keranos and Colonnade. They can get there with their other things.. god forbid they Crypic counter bounce Keranos). It's more of a 50/50 matchup. You also can't outgrind Sphinx Rev if you have no pressure onboard. Cavern is also critical for Reality Smashers because it's stupid awkward for them to deal with outside of a board wipe, it applies pressure and will almost always 2 for 1.
So here is the list I ran last night:
3x Wasteland Strangler
3x Thought-Knot Seer
4x Blight Herder
2x Reality Smasher
2x Oblivion Sower
1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Instants (6):
4x Path to Exile
2x Warping Wail
Sorceries (7):
4x Lingering Souls
1x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Thoughtseize
Artifacts (6):
4x Relic of Progenitus
2x Expedition Map
1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Lands (25):
4x Eldrazi Temple
4x Godless Shrine
4x Cave of Koilos
2x Eye of Ugin
2x Urborg, Tomb of the Yawgmoth
2x Ghost Quarter
2x Swamp
1x Plains
1x Waste
1x Vault of the Archangel
1x Bojuka Bog
1x Shambling Vent
1x All is Dust
1x Disenchant
1x Damnation
2x Flaying Tendrils
2x Ratchet Bomb
2x Duress
2x Stony Silence
2x Timely Reinforcements
2x Surgical Extraction
As far as adding in Cavern, I'll probably take out a Godless Shrine for it. My sideboard is really in a constant state of flux but after playing the Jeskai Control deck last night, I think I'll add a 1x Celestial Purge back to the Sideboard. I may remove All is Dust or Damnation all together for it. So far the list has run pretty smoothly. Initially I added Shambling Vent as a stop gap for Cavern of Souls when I traded it off but it has earned it's spot. There are just times where you have a ton of land and nothing to spend it on. Animating and leaching 2 life off your opponent (or knocking their planeswalkers down 2) has been great. I think we run enough specialty lands that make folks choose what they want to destroy and that makes things super awkward if hindsight shows they chose the wrong one (because it all boils down to situation). If I owned a Crucible of Worlds I would totally be running 1 as well. On the maps.. personally I really like them. It's not that they feel critical to the deck and more that they have let me tutor for the specific land I need or want in each particular game. It feels so much better than hoping to topdeck it. Also I don't run fetches and while it hasn't happened yet, it is another out against a Blood Moon to get the basics I need. (Ironically my most tutored for land has probably be Bojuka Bog. Give me the GY exile I need when I need it and gets me to mana as well. Occasionally I get Eye but usually only if I top deck one late. Otherwise I get Temple... a lot. Eye is great but without Urborg it doesn't further your mana drops and usually I am making sure I get to Lingering Souls. By the way, to anyone thinking removing it... it's a house upon which modern is built.. ok hyperbole but still. The card is one of the best in Modern in many situations and I'd never think of cutting them.
I actually made the same thought process mistake on basics as well and it cost me a match on Tuesday. If I had been running 2 Swamps I could have cracked relic EOT, untapped and cast Flaying Tendrils to clear the guys entire board (he was playing Bant Coco Goodstuff and was using Knight of the Reliquary to find GQ and Tech edge every turn to blow up my things). I totally forgot that my only cards with 2 of the same color in their cost are Damnation and Flaying Tendril. Haven't regretted making the switch at all.
Just check several pages back. I mistakenly forgot to unsideboard an extra Ghost Quarter before the tournament and ended up going 4-0 with a 61 card deck. Whoops. Better to be Eldrazi than good amirite?
3 Ghost Quarter
2 Caves if Koilos
2 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Godless Shrine
2 Eye of Ugin
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Eldrazi Temple
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
1 Vault of the Archangel
I am only playing 1 map main and I have no idea what else to cut to get the second in. I really want to keep 1 surgical extraction main and 2 removal spells above the set of paths. Everything else is pretty standard.
I really don't like fetches. Opponents will be packing a ton of ghost quarters and paths.
My mana base looks similar to you. I will cut my Vent for a cavern and retain two maps.
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Marsh Flats
4 Caves of Koilos
2 Eye of Ugin
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Godless Shrine
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Cavern of Souls
This puts me with 14B, 11W, 12C (add 1 more if you count Caverns as a colored source for creature spells only though). If you face a lot of Paths, I think we can cut a Godless Shrine or Caves and add more basics. Fetches did helped a lot from my experience. Minimum I would play is 2.
U Merfolk | GR Tron | WUR Jeskai Control | WBG Abzan Company
EDH:
G Ezuri, Renegade Leader, Fighting for Rivendell
WU Brago, King Eternal, Long Live the King
WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon, Worship the Dragon