Hi iostream, I edited my post with my shot at quantifying the importance of having untapped B on T1.
Your point about Walker leaving behind the same power is very good; my point was that Push doesn't need Revolt to kill it. I dig that you are on board with the resilience/card-advantage aspect of the deck, which I think is crucial. I suspect getting Revolt reliably might be a little trickier than generally assumed so far, is why I brought it up. I think you're right about Stony and Needle.
I really like the Cavern a lot, despite the Souls plan, but YMMV of course. If you want more early BW untapped duals I think Courtyard is the clear favorite, but Sea Gate Wreckage is also a strong contender here to replace a colorless source.
My favorite thing about Unmaking is that it hits everything but lands and makes me feel I don't need to double-up with Disenchant and Purge, for instance. It feels like it frees up slots for me. The exile effect is also relevant in a few corner cases such as when playing against Academy Ruins and Keranos, God of Storms. No doubt it is much more painful to cast, of course.
I am using 2 reshaper and two displacers. A bolt on displacer is a bolt less on our face, as it probably wont go towards our creatures. If displacer stocks, it can go nuts with stranglers. Also, it is a Card that can shut down affinity on game 1, unequiping plating, nulifying ravager counters and tapping máster of etherium. It is also useful against tokens, tron creatures, oposing smasher... And on a last resort, control draws with tks. I really really like having it among the mainboard.
Bro's, i'm still slamin' Reality Smasher at opponents face.
Yesterday i ran a 2-2 in a LGS tournament. I've won against Soul Sisters and UW Emeria, but sadly lost to Lantern Control (Ensnaring Bridge locked me out) and a pretty super-aggressive Jund Midrange Deck with Grim Flayer.
The Jund Deck really stomps me. He resolved 2 Dark Confidant, 2 Tarmogoyf, 2 Liliana of the veil, 2 grim Flayer which i couldn't handle Match 1.
Match 2 was even worse. He slammed like 10 Creatures, Liliana and killed me with tripple Lightning Bolt.
That was tough! He beats me down with 2 Flayer after i cracked 2 Relic of Progenitus!
I thought about cutting Eternal Scourge because it doesn't help me to race in a lot of situations.
Do you have any suggestions regarding his slot?
Personally, I think Matter Reshaper is the best T2 play this deck can be making. (Except for T1 Temple --> T2 Temple/TKS of course!) It is far better than Scourge, in my opinion. And running Reshaper over Scourge helps carve out space to side out the Relics in all the matches where they are not relevant against the opponent. Maybe try Eldrazi Displacer out, but it doesn't fill the early-game void like Reshaper does, because it is much more likely to die without value to a cheap mana investment like Bolt or Push from our opponent. Displacer is usually much stronger in the late game.
Against Jund, I have found the most success in embracing the topdeck war. If they don't stick a Bob then I can usually win this war. But if they do stick him it can be pretty tough.
You want targeted removal for creatures, and ways to deal with Lili. Look for Ghost Quarter, Souls, and Relic, of course. Fatal Push is real good against Jund's creature base. Pithing Needle and Ratchet Bomb should come in from the side, and so should Unmaking or Celestial Purge. Thoughtseize/IoK and Collective Brutality go out.
The top creature for removal, in my experience, is Kalitas--sandbag removal for that guy, if possible. Luckily Purge hits this card, because it is extremely dangerous for us. Kalitas turns off Reshaper's replacement effect, and if he starts making zombies then we're in trouble, because he's gonna get bigger than Smasher in a hurry while pushing the opponent's life total fast and hard in the wrong direction.
Here's my current SB plan vs. Jund (based on my current reconfiguration to accommodate Push):
OUT: 3x Thoughtseize, 1x Extraction, 1x Brutality, 1x Strangler, 1x Cavern of Souls (irrelevant). Possibly I might side out 2x Mind Stone on the play if I was worried about artifact hate. But the card draw and Revolt trigger--not to mention the ramp--can be pretty relevant in this match.
IN: 1x Path, 2x Needle, 2x Bomb, 1x Unmaking, 1x Wastes (possible Blood Moon from some lists). If Mind Stone comes out, then some blend of Damnation (for Thrun and lopsided board states), Blessed Alliance, and Go for the Throat/Dismember could be good.
Both Needle and Bomb are very strong in this match. They have a lot of two drops, and you can keep Bomb on 2 to slow them down while simultaneously threatening to tick up in their end step after they play Lili. Needle hits a huge number of targets in their deck, including the very dangerous Fulminator Mage out of the side.
What do you think about sideboarding in some Blight Herders against "Jund" ?
Grinding them with Eternal Scourge + Relic of Progenitus still seems like a good plan to me, I can also board in Lost Legacy and use it either to get rid of one of their win-cons (Goyf, Lili) or use it as "draw 4" to get all my Eternal Scourges.
What I find most difficult against Jund are the SB Fulminator Mages which they can reccur with Kolaghan's Command to destroy my mana.
Our best cards against jund are lingering souls, thought-knot seer, reality smasher, and matter reshaper. They are great because they provide value despite junds flavor of 1-for-1 removal. I ran a list which is very close to what deaddrift runs (I had some more discard spells and less removal) and have a very high win percentage against jund. I wouldn't play a blight herder over a reality smasher any day of the week. Reality smasher beats opponents down while blight herder provides blockers.
Eternal scourge is also good against jund. As deaddrift says, save removal for kalitas everything else is easy to deal with.
alright i did two modern events at GP San Jose. I'm making this brief since I'm super tired:
Modern 1
Match 1 Sultai
Game 1 - Had a double relic hand. He discarded one of them, but the other kept his monsters in check until I dropped a couple of reality smashers to overpower him.
Game 2 - Much of the same.
Match 2 Affinity
Game 1- I drew four reality smasher. Got two into play. Got him down to 1, but he won the race with plating.
Game 2- Overloaded him with removal. Lingering souls did its job and blocked the fliers that I didn't pick off.
Game 3- He mulled to five. Tried to kill me with inkmoth attached to plating. Disenchant the plating and chumped the inkmoth for the win.
Match 3 Junk
Game 1 - I had the perfect hand with mind stone, thought-knot, smasher, and eldrazi temple. He had double thoughtseize and then topdecked triple lingering souls.
Game 2 - I had double lingering souls and thought-knot seer. He had liliana, the last hope and path.
Match 1 Izzet Control
Game 1- I grind him with eldrazi and spirit tokens.
Game 2- I thoughtseize the blood moon he boarded in. He's stuck on two lands for awhile, which is a death sentence for him.
Board In - 2 Celestial Purge Out - 2 Fatal Push
Outcome: 1-0
Match 2 Soul Sisters
Game 1 - I remove many of his critters, but I'm over zealous with my tokens and he uses elspeth to give his 17/17 flying. I'm exactly at 0.
Game 2 - He's at 4 with an Archangel of Thune to block my spirit tokens. I use collective brutality drain him for two and to kill a sculler holding my other collective brutality. Having that extra reach helped.
Game 3 - I honestly don't remember this game, but I lose nevertheless.
Board In - 1 Zealous Persecution 1 Wrath of God Out - 2 Thoughtseize
Outcome: 1-1
Match 3 Eldrazi Tron
Game 1- We trade eldrazi, but he has more eldrazi than I do.
Game 2 - He mulls to five. I'm stuck on colorless lands for 10 turns and die as he draws enough cards to get back into the game.
Board In - 1 Crucible of Worlds, 1 Wrath of God, 2 Blessed Alliance, Out - 2 Fatal Push - 2 Relic
Outcome: 1-2
Match 4 Bant Eldrazi
Game 1 - Drowner of hope does its thing and taps my guys.
Game 2 - He has me at one with five creatures on the board and me with nothing. I topdeck wrath. I have one land for white mana only, but I ghost quarter one of my own lands to get my basic plains and cast the wrath. I claw back in and take the game.
Game 3 - I kill three thought-knot seers in one turn with blessed alliance, path, and fatal push. He has worship and a drowner.
Board In - 1 Wrath of God, - 2 Blessed Alliance. -3 Thoughtseize
Outcome: 1-3
The deck put up a pretty impressive fight if I lived long enough, even in matchups that are otherwise bad. But I also got got quite a few hands that forced me to mull. Oh well, variance is magic. I'll probably draft all day Saturday and maybe play modern again Sunday. Cheers
I've been facing a lot of aggros (merfolk, bushwacker zoo) and RW Prisons, so I started running 4 Herders and no Smashers.
Still not sure if it's a good choice. Herder has the pros to dodge BM, provide chump and <> mana. Besides it's sometimes hard condition to value, he has saved me enough games to give him a point. Smasher is amazing on Bant Eldrazi because you can consistently play him on T3, and this don't happen on this deck.
I've done a fair amount of testing, mostly against the fair decks of the format (Jund, blue control decks, etc), Affinity, and Burn. Here is what I have learned and some ideas that I think might be worth trying:
1) Relative to the BR Processors deck that I described in the previous page, the lack of K-Command and burn spells makes it more likely than the BR deck to run out of gas or fall a few points short of lethal, so I think prioritizing threat density is more important than I had previously realized. For this reason, I think Shambling Vent is indeed something you want, and I'm going to start running it at least as a 2-of. Sorry for doubting you, deaddrift!
A less obvious (and more controversial) change that this logic leads to is running Liliana, the Last Hope instead of Sorin, Solemn Visitor. They're both somewhat-situational value cards, but I think Liliana performs her job a little better in this deck. I know Sorin's anthem is great when you've got tokens, but it's mainly great when you've already established a board presence, whereas a Liliana can claw you back into a game where you've run out of gas by rebuying a Smasher or whatever, whereas I am basically never happy making a Vampire token with Sorin. When you're a ahead on board, the +1 can shut the door in the same way Sorin does by changing a lot of the combat math for your opponent. I know it's not as flashy as dealing 12+ and gaining a pile of life, but I think it might still be good enough. Against aggro decks like Affinity and Infect, it can singlehandedly win the game (even if they pump a Glistener Elf or whatever in response to the +1, it will die on their upkeep since Liliana's effect lasts until the beginning of your next turn, not until the end of turn.). Against other Lingering Souls decks, it just busts open the Spirit subgame in your favor.
It might not work out, but I think it's a logical idea to try.
2) Hangarback Walker is still good, but I think we can do even better. It was really required in BR in order to have some defense against Liliana of the Veil, but in this deck, Lingering Souls performs much of the same work. But what to replace it with? I know the standard reply will be Matter Reshaper, but I think this is too conservative still. My thoughts:
I think our imagination has been restricted a bit because we're afraid of just getting our creatures Fatal Pushed, but the problem is that Fatal Push actually hasn't taken over the format. Look at the top 16 of this weekend's SCG Modern Classic, for instance. Fatal Push is being played, but it isn't something you need to warp your entire gameplan around. i.e. I think it's OK to run some creatures that aren't guaranteed value even if they die to Push. For example, Jund and Abzan aren't unplayable all of a sudden, even though Grim Flayer and Tarmogoyf die to unrevolted Pushes. The key point is that they're very low opportunity-cost cards with very high ceilings. If they stick, they can win the game. Things like Matter Reshaper will almost never cause you to fall behind on cards, but it will rarely actually win you games outright, and there are plenty of board states where casting a Matter Reshaper does nothing.
From this perspective, I think Endless One could actually be good in this deck. You want to block 2/2's out of Zoo and Burn, and Endless One does that on turn 2 even without a Temple. On later turns, it can become even larger than Reality Smasher, and will just Abyss every other midrange deck's threats until they find a non-Bolt removal spell. In draws when you actually do have a Temple but no Relic, it is a play that allows you to hold Wasteland Strangler for later value, or double cast removal and a 2/2 blocker if you have it, which ought to stabilize most boards. It is also castable under Blood Moon, and represents adequate pressure against Sun and Moon decks that attempt to hide behind Blood Moon while playing only a small amount of removal that can deal with huge creatures.
3) Everyone is running 4 Path / 2 Push instead of 4 Push / 2 Path, and I'm not exactly sure why. The deck is trying to stabilize to TKS and Smasher, which means you don't want to be giving aggro decks an extra land's worth of tempo. You'll cast Path early if you have to, but I'd much rather cast Push. You might be worried about high-cmc threats like Tasigur or Angler, but I would argue that you shouldn't be since (a) we run a bunch of creatures that just flat out beat those in combat, and (b) we still have access to some Paths anyway, so it's not like we don't have outs. Push + GQ also allows us to try to get in front of very creature-dense decks like Bant Eldrazi or Naya/Abzan Company (where we're just not going to be able to kill all their threats 90% of the time), whereas Path feels counterproductive (e.g. Path Voice of Resurgence, untap into Collected Company??).
4) Early interaction. I think even though we have a ton of Thought-Knots, it would still be nice to have something closer to the the usual BGx density of discard spells to make it less likely we die in the early game. I think we're the best midrange deck, so let's not die before midgame.
I've been facing a lot of aggros (merfolk, bushwacker zoo) and RW Prisons, so I started running 4 Herders and no Smashers.
Still not sure if it's a good choice. Herder has the pros to dodge BM, provide chump and <> mana. Besides it's sometimes hard condition to value, he has saved me enough games to give him a point. Smasher is amazing on Bant Eldrazi because you can consistently play him on T3, and this don't happen on this deck.
Well, Herder doesn't come out any earlier than Smasher does, in terms of getting either on a T3 play. And I don't think Herder is good against Merfolk, because what will they have in the graveyard for Relic? Probably nothing, that's what. Running Herder instead of Smasher makes the deck more dependent on Processing and therefore on Relics, but Relics are only sometimes good. Being able to side them out without nerfing our own wincons is important.
With practice, you will not worry about playing around Blood Moon, if you run Marsh Flats and Mind Stones, and a Wastes somewhere in the 75.
iostream, I like that you are thinking critically and testing with the deck. Some good ideas there.
1) I think Lili Mark V could be real good, especially if opposing Lingering Souls decks make an upswing. I also think she supports the crucial card-advantage aspect that is so important for the deck, by getting things back from the yard and by killing small dudes on the other side. My only concern is that lifegain is very important, and Sorin has saved me many time when in the single digits on life. I think that running Lili over Sorin probably means adding more lifegain to the side to compensate.
2) Endless One is an amazing late game play, far better than Reshaper. I might try one and see how I like it. I am still a huge fan of Matter Reshaper's replacement effect though.
3) Right now I am on 3 Path/3 Push, with Path #4 in the side. Too soon for me to tell how I feel about it, though I feel certain that Push makes 4 Paths bad.
4) I love the early game discard plan. I have reluctantly shaved those slots over a period of many months, and as you note, I only felt able to do it because of TKS--and because we have had a good T1 play in Relic, and now in Push. Mind Stone is more proactive in ramping threats out, and is better in the late game since it is not a dead draw in a topdeck war, but I do miss my reliable T1 disruption. I think this list is extremely tight--as I mentioned earlier I have not been able to get below 61 in my current build testing Push and a single Extraction in the main.
1) I think Lili Mark V could be real good, especially if opposing Lingering Souls decks make an upswing. I also think she supports the crucial card-advantage aspect that is so important for the deck, by getting things back from the yard and by killing small dudes on the other side. My only concern is that lifegain is very important, and Sorin has saved me many time when in the single digits on life. I think that running Lili over Sorin probably means adding more lifegain to the side to compensate.
Completely agree on the lifegain part, and in fact my list has 5 such cards + Vault in the 75 to compensate. Not sure if it's enough.
4) I love the early game discard plan. I have reluctantly shaved those slots over a period of many months, and as you note, I only felt able to do it because of TKS--and because we have had a good T1 play in Relic, and now in Push. Mind Stone is more proactive in ramping threats out, and is better in the late game since it is not a dead draw in a topdeck war, but I do miss my reliable T1 disruption. I think this list is extremely tight--as I mentioned earlier I have not been able to get below 61 in my current build testing Push and a single Extraction in the main.
I agree that the extra discard is much worse in the lategame. My only problem with Mind Stone is that it kind of makes the deck have a lot of early game air. Relic into Mind Stone is a pretty weak opening against most decks, but I felt like I kind of had to make that play more often than I would like. Perhaps the problem was that I wasn't mulliganing enough? It's hard to say.
I think the way you hope to do, and can not infrequently do, is play Relic and Mind Stone together on T2 after a tapland investment T1. That T2 line is slow, especially on the draw, but gives you T3 Souls/Reshaper/Strangler + threaten Relic crack, or T3 Seer. (And this is on the draws that don't have a Temple!) But I have to say that you have me wondering about swapping a Mind Stone for another T1 disruption play... if I could get my hands on a single Spanish copy of Inquisition of Kozilek I'd run it in a heartbeat just for style points.
This is the list I have been running... Pretty satisfied with it so far! Went to four FNM level tournaments and got hese results:
2-2 (losing to a uw titan emeria and RG Shamans, wins on junk and burn),
2-2 (losing to affinity and dredge (u.u), wins on another affinity and jeskai ascendancy)
3-1 (Lost to affinity, wins on jund, Sun & moon and Bw tokens)
3-1 (Lost to GW hatebears, wins on Mardu midrange, infect and affinity)
All matches i Lost were because i mana screwed somewhere or missed side board cards (not a single removal agains affinity after boarding 12 cards!)
Using lots of one-ofs maindeck and copies on side board gives this deck a lot of options to deal with bad matchups on game 1 and improve a lot on game two. My affinity matches consists of 12 cards coming into main deck! There is a lot of removal to deal with any creature based decks, threats strong enough to put on pressure on midranges, lots of discards to stop combos and control... The only decks that are really bad to face are those that topdeck wins, tron and valakut (and sometimes nahiri), and for then I have 3 ghost quarters and 1 Surgical main deck.
Things that i am trying to fit in are a single Endbringer and maybe EMN Liliana. However endbringer would take a spot from smasher and i am not happy to have a 6CMC Card that does not put pressure right away or dies so easily. Let's see how it goes. Liliana on the other side is a very strong Card and just flat out Win games. However cutting displacer or reshaper Hurts me a lot (they are Great turn 2 drops).
Planning on taking the deck to GPT São Paulo next weekend and Will bring you results.
Hey Gang, Quick tournament report and Thoughts on the deck! (Sorry I've been away for so long, life catches up with you!)
Round 1 vs Mono White Felidar-Resto Combo...Lifegain...Mill?
Played vs a homebrew. Deck was designed to mill you out with Altar of the Brood plus the interaction between Felidar Guardian and Restoration Angel, but there isn't much time to do that when you have Reality Smashers getting in your face. Clean 2-0
Round 2 vs Scapeshift Combo
Only loss of the night, I fee like this matchup is just super bad for us in general, but we played it to our outs. Notably, I did get to T2 Strangler to process his Search for Tomorrow to force his Tribe Elder to go off. Even then, Its hard to beat a deck with Cryptics and Remands when you don't see your Cavern. Close two games, but we fell just short. 0-2
Round 3 vs Grixis Delver
Matchup feels like Goldfishing honestly. Having a great play of T2 Reshaper into T3 Thought Knot, then watching him terminate Reshaper and Fetch-Fatal Push Thought Knot Had me worried, but I got to take his Tasigur and he can't beat Lingering Souls plus Liliana Mark V's Ultimate. (WHO IS INSANE MORE ON THAT LATER)In game two He remands my T3 TKS three times, but eventually I get him to stick, eat a Terminate, then Surgical the Terminates from his deck, clearing the way for Daddy Smasher to get em. 2-0 Clean
Round 4 vs Panharmonicon Elves
Normally this matchup is a nightmare for me, but I had begun playing Kalitas mainboard over a second Mind Stone, and boy did he do it to em! Game 1 I hit t3 Lili, T4 Kalitas, and its a wrap, nothing more to say. Game 2 he has T3 Panharmonicon, and I die to two Shaman of the Packs off of a Collected Company. Game 3....What a match. I take his Lead the Stampede on T1 With thoughtseize, follow it up with Fatal Push, then Play Lili. He Untaps, Plays a land, passes; representing CoCo. I rip Kalitas off the topdeck like an absolute lucksack.....and watch him get Dismembered. I minus 2 Lili (INSANE I KNOW RIGHT?), Flip two Lingering Souls, and get back Kalitas. Obviously this is EXTREMELY Lucky, but it was awesome nonetheless. The Next turn I play Kalitas and Hold up Path, Plusing Lili to get a Zombie, he Cocos into Heritage Druid and Visionary. Still not attacking into my board, and lacking an Archdruid to protect his dorks from Lili, I make Kalitas into a 7/8 and Attack with him for the rest of the game. 2-1 Close matches.
...And all that was good enough for 3rd Place out of 18! Not too shabby.
In regards to the Lili/Fatal Push topics, I have been finding that I want to run a different Split of the 4-2 Path-Push I am currently Running, and Might actually cut a Relic to play a 3-4 Split. I think something that hasnt been mentioned yet is that Path turns on our processing as well, which although it is a small part of the deck, is still important. I have been playing a maindeck Lili ever Since I realized I could get back Reality Smashers, and I have never once had it be a dead Draw(except vs Ad Nauseum). I still think Playing a one-of Sorin is correct, because we are still relatively Weak to burn game 1, and any help there is appreciated. Sorin also clenches the aggro matchups with the addition of Push, making our removal and stabilization cleaner.
I think we should also consider the "card advantage" cards like Liliana, Sorin, and (to a lesser Extent) Kalitas, can give the deck. With Fatal Push being as good as it is, I am finding that I want to play more pushes to "turn on" Kalitas and to seal up the GBx matches. Sorin can essentially be a timewalk vs aggro decks if we play it correctly, although I am finding him to be weaker as time goes on. And I absolutely believe that Liliana should be in this deck 110% no questions asked, as she serves a threat vs control that they Have to deal with, and also Buys Back our creatures. Absolutely an essential card IMO. Jund cant compete with A smasher getting bought Back unless they have very large goyfs. Same with Abzan and stuff like Jeskai etc. She also shores up the affinity matchup, which in my experience has been absolutely terrible, but I feel that is a measure of my inexperience with the matchup.
Question for all my 'Drazi lovers: How to do we feel about the Processing in the deck? Do we even need it anymore? As time goes on, I realize that we are jamming 3-4 slots to turn on another 4, and whilst the deck is fine with these cards, I wonder if we couldn't turn those into more discard spells or (as previously Mentioned) Endless Ones. Endless One synergizes with Liliana for some solid plays, and can hold its own vs aggro. I have no intentions on changing anything, just want some more opinions on it.
It's been a while since I played this deck. Right now I'm looking for something to deal with my crazy meta, it's all over the place. Lately I've been losing to Grixis Delver, various control decks with Ancestral Vision, Breach Titan, Abzan Coco, but I also have merfolk, tron (GR and U varieties), infect on a regular basis, and the occasional affinity, burn, zoo, Jund, and Ad Nauseum. I've been playing a really off the wall Saultai artifact gifts control, but it's only been doing good against half the stuff I run into. With such a diverse meta, I feel I need a versatile deck choice. Would this be a good deck to run? Here's the last list I played, which dates back to around Septemberish of last year.
Looking at the list, I recall liking the Tidehallows against combo and heavy creature decks, and decks that didn't have tons of removal. They were generally sided out against control decks or jund/abzan that can just remove it easily. Can't remember why there's only 2 Smashers, other than space issues. I didn't care much for Mind Stone either, and just opted for a 25 land, 1 Expedition Map set up instead.
I haven't been posting play reports, but I have had the chance to play in a few FNM type events over the past week. I went 2-2 and 3-2 at my LGS and went 3-1 last night at a new shop out of state (a shop that was described to me as "spikey") using the list I proposed a couple weeks ago. I also happened to run into one of the writers for modernnexus.com (who is also a mod here) and had a good conversation with him about that site and about Eldrazi decks, which was fun.
TL;DR version of the deck changes: right now I have 3 Path, 3 Push, 3 Relic, 3 Strangler, 4 Reshaper, and 1 Extraction in the main, with a total of 61 cards. Thanks to Tituba9 and DCteamup for the ideas about cutting Relic and adding Extraction. I don't necessarily intend to remain at 61 cards, but I wanted to try out both Push as a 3-of, and Extraction as a corner case out to Tron and Valakut decks. Right now it is too soon to tell how I feel overall about the changes, but I do have some thoughts about some of them.
But first, a brief play report from last night:
vs. mono-W Humans: 2-0 (1-0)
I was on the draw. He started out much faster than me, but I was able to turn the corner easily by the mid game, with Souls chumping until I could Smash in for the win. Push was amazing here against his cheap dudes. I was able to trade a Reshaper for one of his attackers and flip it into a Strangler to get a second attacker in G2--that always feels good, and I have done the same thing to both a 5/6 Goyf and a 6/6 Titan before. Love Reshaper, especially when I can run it out T2.
vs. Affinity: 0-2 (1-1)
Kept a hand with Temple and GQ plus 2x Reshaper, 2x Seer, and a Smasher, blind on the draw--only to see him run out a T1 Opal/Drum/Skirge and then a Plating on T2. That game was over quickly as he flew over my head and I bricked on further lands. In G2 I kept a 6 with Flats and Temple plus 2x Push, Strangler, and Unmaking. I chose to fetch for a Shrine so I could play any of my cards that I might draw later, though I was worried about Blood Moon. I killed a couple of Overseers with the Pushes, but it turned out he had the Moon, and played it out on T4 to shut me off all my colors after I missed land draws for two turns. Flipping Reshaper into my sole Wastes was not enough to get around his big Ravager and Master of Etherium, and he took the win having drawn his hate while I whiffed on mine.
vs. Doubling Season/Superfriends: 2-1 (2-1)
On the draw again. He was able to get Season down in G1 and then go off with planeswalkers to overwhelm me. In G2 a lot of hand disruption kept him on the back foot and off his walkers, and Vault kept me out of range of dying to his Westvale Abbey tokens. In G3 he bricked by drawing only 1-CMC mana enablers while I Smashed him mercilessly.
vs. Jeskai Nahiri: 2-0 (3-1) Cavern of Souls won me G1, keeping my threats coming. In G2 he kept a marginal 6 that I shredded with Thoughtseize and Seer. I was able to process his Ancestral Vision with one counter on it, targeting my Seer in my second main phase while he was hellbent, which tilted him pretty strongly. After that he bricked on sweepers and I ran him over.
Thoughts:
Fatal Push is the real deal for sure. Love this new addition to the deck, and I think it will help quite a bit with the early-pressure matches that can be tough to turn around on in time. Playing three feels right to me so far. I definitely think that it means Path should go below four in the maindeck since I almost never want to play Path before T3 if I can help it (with a few exceptions).
I think Relic is still a key part of the build, since it is still the case that Modern is a highly graveyard-dependent format in general. I don't necessarily like running only three, but sacrifices must be made.
I also think Strangler is still an amazing 2-for-1 value play when it can process, and I love being able to attack an opponent's exile zone. That is rare, but always very unpleasant for them.
Surgical Extraction hasn't been relevant yet, but I also haven't faced Tron or Valakut yet, since adding one main and one side.
Matter Reshaper continues to be a feel-good card for me every time I cast it, and it makes openers with Temples much better because T2 Reshaper is always very good, while T2 Strangler is a pretty bad play unless it has processing fodder and a good target, which it often doesn't.
Both Vault and Cavern of Souls continue to provide lots of value. They are relevant only rarely, but are game-changers when in such cases.
Feeling good about the list, hoping to get a few matches against big mana soon to see how things work out in these challenging contests. Thanks to the forum as always for the conversation and good ideas.
Your point about Walker leaving behind the same power is very good; my point was that Push doesn't need Revolt to kill it. I dig that you are on board with the resilience/card-advantage aspect of the deck, which I think is crucial. I suspect getting Revolt reliably might be a little trickier than generally assumed so far, is why I brought it up. I think you're right about Stony and Needle.
I really like the Cavern a lot, despite the Souls plan, but YMMV of course. If you want more early BW untapped duals I think Courtyard is the clear favorite, but Sea Gate Wreckage is also a strong contender here to replace a colorless source.
My favorite thing about Unmaking is that it hits everything but lands and makes me feel I don't need to double-up with Disenchant and Purge, for instance. It feels like it frees up slots for me. The exile effect is also relevant in a few corner cases such as when playing against Academy Ruins and Keranos, God of Storms. No doubt it is much more painful to cast, of course.
Yesterday i ran a 2-2 in a LGS tournament. I've won against Soul Sisters and UW Emeria, but sadly lost to Lantern Control (Ensnaring Bridge locked me out) and a pretty super-aggressive Jund Midrange Deck with Grim Flayer.
The Jund Deck really stomps me. He resolved 2 Dark Confidant, 2 Tarmogoyf, 2 Liliana of the veil, 2 grim Flayer which i couldn't handle Match 1.
Match 2 was even worse. He slammed like 10 Creatures, Liliana and killed me with tripple Lightning Bolt.
That was tough! He beats me down with 2 Flayer after i cracked 2 Relic of Progenitus!
I thought about cutting Eternal Scourge because it doesn't help me to race in a lot of situations.
Do you have any suggestions regarding his slot?
Green @ it's best
I play a lot of jund and always find BW eldrazi processors a tough matchup. Perhaps you had bad draws
Against Jund, I have found the most success in embracing the topdeck war. If they don't stick a Bob then I can usually win this war. But if they do stick him it can be pretty tough.
You want targeted removal for creatures, and ways to deal with Lili. Look for Ghost Quarter, Souls, and Relic, of course. Fatal Push is real good against Jund's creature base. Pithing Needle and Ratchet Bomb should come in from the side, and so should Unmaking or Celestial Purge. Thoughtseize/IoK and Collective Brutality go out.
The top creature for removal, in my experience, is Kalitas--sandbag removal for that guy, if possible. Luckily Purge hits this card, because it is extremely dangerous for us. Kalitas turns off Reshaper's replacement effect, and if he starts making zombies then we're in trouble, because he's gonna get bigger than Smasher in a hurry while pushing the opponent's life total fast and hard in the wrong direction.
Here's my current SB plan vs. Jund (based on my current reconfiguration to accommodate Push):
Grinding them with Eternal Scourge + Relic of Progenitus still seems like a good plan to me, I can also board in Lost Legacy and use it either to get rid of one of their win-cons (Goyf, Lili) or use it as "draw 4" to get all my Eternal Scourges.
What I find most difficult against Jund are the SB Fulminator Mages which they can reccur with Kolaghan's Command to destroy my mana.
Eternal scourge is also good against jund. As deaddrift says, save removal for kalitas everything else is easy to deal with.
CBW midrange deck
CBW eldrazi processor deck
CBW bw eldrazi shadow midrange
The first trades with literally every Big-Dude in the format and provides some lifegain.
The latter nets 2 life and a card if he dies.
Green @ it's best
Wrecked jund 2-0, beat grixis control 2-1, draw against affinity (ghirapur aether grid really difficult to deal with, beat 4c delver 2-0.
I was running 4 GQ in the main because I was expecting Tron and didn't see it at all. I am switching 2 GQ for 2 caverns and moving a GQ to the SB.
The deck felt so smooth tonight. Push really makes the deck so balanced. I think 3x path and 3x push is the right number.
Other MVP's was archangel of the vault and the 1x Sorin.
Very happy and excited about this deck.
Modern 1
Match 1 Sultai
Game 1 - Had a double relic hand. He discarded one of them, but the other kept his monsters in check until I dropped a couple of reality smashers to overpower him.
Game 2 - Much of the same.
Board: In - 2 Celestial Purge 1 Wrath of God Out - 3 Thoughtseize.
Outcome: 1-0
Match 2 Affinity
Game 1- I drew four reality smasher. Got two into play. Got him down to 1, but he won the race with plating.
Game 2- Overloaded him with removal. Lingering souls did its job and blocked the fliers that I didn't pick off.
Game 3- He mulled to five. Tried to kill me with inkmoth attached to plating. Disenchant the plating and chumped the inkmoth for the win.
Board: In - 2 Disenchant, 2 Stony Silence, 1 Zealous Persecution, 1 Wrath of God, 1 Pithing Needle, 2 Blessed Alliance.
Out - 3 Thoughtseize, 3 Relic, 2 Reality Smasher, 1 Matter Reshaper
Outcome: 2-0
Match 3 Junk
Game 1 - I had the perfect hand with mind stone, thought-knot, smasher, and eldrazi temple. He had double thoughtseize and then topdecked triple lingering souls.
Game 2 - I had double lingering souls and thought-knot seer. He had liliana, the last hope and path.
Board: In - 2 Celestial Purge - 1 Zealous Persecution - 1 Wrath of God
Out: -3 Thoughtseize - 1
Outcome: 2-1
Match 4- Draw with Titan Breach.
Modern 2
Match 1 Izzet Control
Game 1- I grind him with eldrazi and spirit tokens.
Game 2- I thoughtseize the blood moon he boarded in. He's stuck on two lands for awhile, which is a death sentence for him.
Board In - 2 Celestial Purge Out - 2 Fatal Push
Outcome: 1-0
Match 2 Soul Sisters
Game 1 - I remove many of his critters, but I'm over zealous with my tokens and he uses elspeth to give his 17/17 flying. I'm exactly at 0.
Game 2 - He's at 4 with an Archangel of Thune to block my spirit tokens. I use collective brutality drain him for two and to kill a sculler holding my other collective brutality. Having that extra reach helped.
Game 3 - I honestly don't remember this game, but I lose nevertheless.
Board In - 1 Zealous Persecution 1 Wrath of God Out - 2 Thoughtseize
Outcome: 1-1
Match 3 Eldrazi Tron
Game 1- We trade eldrazi, but he has more eldrazi than I do.
Game 2 - He mulls to five. I'm stuck on colorless lands for 10 turns and die as he draws enough cards to get back into the game.
Board In - 1 Crucible of Worlds, 1 Wrath of God, 2 Blessed Alliance, Out - 2 Fatal Push - 2 Relic
Outcome: 1-2
Match 4 Bant Eldrazi
Game 1 - Drowner of hope does its thing and taps my guys.
Game 2 - He has me at one with five creatures on the board and me with nothing. I topdeck wrath. I have one land for white mana only, but I ghost quarter one of my own lands to get my basic plains and cast the wrath. I claw back in and take the game.
Game 3 - I kill three thought-knot seers in one turn with blessed alliance, path, and fatal push. He has worship and a drowner.
Board In - 1 Wrath of God, - 2 Blessed Alliance. -3 Thoughtseize
Outcome: 1-3
The deck put up a pretty impressive fight if I lived long enough, even in matchups that are otherwise bad. But I also got got quite a few hands that forced me to mull. Oh well, variance is magic. I'll probably draft all day Saturday and maybe play modern again Sunday. Cheers
I too discarded some bad habits and cut Scourge.
3 marsh flats
2 godless shrine
3 caves of koilos
3 shambling vent
2 swamp
1 plains
3 ghost quarter
1 vault of the archangel
1 sea gate wreckage
4 eldrazi temple
2 collective brutality
1 warping wail
4 path to exile
1 fatal push
1 anguished unmaking
3 relic of progenitus
1 sorin, lord of innistrad
4 lingering souls
2 mind stone
3 matter reshaper
4 wasteland strangler
4 thought-knot seer
3 reality smasher
1 surgical extraction
1 wastes
2 stony silence
2 rest in peace
2 blessed alliance
1 celestial purge
2 ratchet bomb
1 wrath of god
2 pithing needle
I have noticed an uptick of lingering souls, which may resolve in dropping a warping wail for a single ratchet bomb.
that's what i got my eye on for now.
Green @ it's best
Still not sure if it's a good choice. Herder has the pros to dodge BM, provide chump and <> mana. Besides it's sometimes hard condition to value, he has saved me enough games to give him a point. Smasher is amazing on Bant Eldrazi because you can consistently play him on T3, and this don't happen on this deck.
1) Relative to the BR Processors deck that I described in the previous page, the lack of K-Command and burn spells makes it more likely than the BR deck to run out of gas or fall a few points short of lethal, so I think prioritizing threat density is more important than I had previously realized. For this reason, I think Shambling Vent is indeed something you want, and I'm going to start running it at least as a 2-of. Sorry for doubting you, deaddrift!
A less obvious (and more controversial) change that this logic leads to is running Liliana, the Last Hope instead of Sorin, Solemn Visitor. They're both somewhat-situational value cards, but I think Liliana performs her job a little better in this deck. I know Sorin's anthem is great when you've got tokens, but it's mainly great when you've already established a board presence, whereas a Liliana can claw you back into a game where you've run out of gas by rebuying a Smasher or whatever, whereas I am basically never happy making a Vampire token with Sorin. When you're a ahead on board, the +1 can shut the door in the same way Sorin does by changing a lot of the combat math for your opponent. I know it's not as flashy as dealing 12+ and gaining a pile of life, but I think it might still be good enough. Against aggro decks like Affinity and Infect, it can singlehandedly win the game (even if they pump a Glistener Elf or whatever in response to the +1, it will die on their upkeep since Liliana's effect lasts until the beginning of your next turn, not until the end of turn.). Against other Lingering Souls decks, it just busts open the Spirit subgame in your favor.
It might not work out, but I think it's a logical idea to try.
2) Hangarback Walker is still good, but I think we can do even better. It was really required in BR in order to have some defense against Liliana of the Veil, but in this deck, Lingering Souls performs much of the same work. But what to replace it with? I know the standard reply will be Matter Reshaper, but I think this is too conservative still. My thoughts:
I think our imagination has been restricted a bit because we're afraid of just getting our creatures Fatal Pushed, but the problem is that Fatal Push actually hasn't taken over the format. Look at the top 16 of this weekend's SCG Modern Classic, for instance. Fatal Push is being played, but it isn't something you need to warp your entire gameplan around. i.e. I think it's OK to run some creatures that aren't guaranteed value even if they die to Push. For example, Jund and Abzan aren't unplayable all of a sudden, even though Grim Flayer and Tarmogoyf die to unrevolted Pushes. The key point is that they're very low opportunity-cost cards with very high ceilings. If they stick, they can win the game. Things like Matter Reshaper will almost never cause you to fall behind on cards, but it will rarely actually win you games outright, and there are plenty of board states where casting a Matter Reshaper does nothing.
From this perspective, I think Endless One could actually be good in this deck. You want to block 2/2's out of Zoo and Burn, and Endless One does that on turn 2 even without a Temple. On later turns, it can become even larger than Reality Smasher, and will just Abyss every other midrange deck's threats until they find a non-Bolt removal spell. In draws when you actually do have a Temple but no Relic, it is a play that allows you to hold Wasteland Strangler for later value, or double cast removal and a 2/2 blocker if you have it, which ought to stabilize most boards. It is also castable under Blood Moon, and represents adequate pressure against Sun and Moon decks that attempt to hide behind Blood Moon while playing only a small amount of removal that can deal with huge creatures.
3) Everyone is running 4 Path / 2 Push instead of 4 Push / 2 Path, and I'm not exactly sure why. The deck is trying to stabilize to TKS and Smasher, which means you don't want to be giving aggro decks an extra land's worth of tempo. You'll cast Path early if you have to, but I'd much rather cast Push. You might be worried about high-cmc threats like Tasigur or Angler, but I would argue that you shouldn't be since (a) we run a bunch of creatures that just flat out beat those in combat, and (b) we still have access to some Paths anyway, so it's not like we don't have outs. Push + GQ also allows us to try to get in front of very creature-dense decks like Bant Eldrazi or Naya/Abzan Company (where we're just not going to be able to kill all their threats 90% of the time), whereas Path feels counterproductive (e.g. Path Voice of Resurgence, untap into Collected Company??).
4) Early interaction. I think even though we have a ton of Thought-Knots, it would still be nice to have something closer to the the usual BGx density of discard spells to make it less likely we die in the early game. I think we're the best midrange deck, so let's not die before midgame.
Here's a list that I'd like to kick around:
2 Concealed Courtyard
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Godless Shrine
4 Marsh Flats
1 Plains
2 Shambling Vent
2 Swamp
1 Vault of the Archangel
4 Endless One
4 Lingering Souls
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
3 Wasteland Strangler
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
4 Fatal Push
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Path to Exile
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Collective Brutality
1 Damnation
2 Disenchant
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
3 Stony Silence
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Thoughtseize
With practice, you will not worry about playing around Blood Moon, if you run Marsh Flats and Mind Stones, and a Wastes somewhere in the 75.
iostream, I like that you are thinking critically and testing with the deck. Some good ideas there.
1) I think Lili Mark V could be real good, especially if opposing Lingering Souls decks make an upswing. I also think she supports the crucial card-advantage aspect that is so important for the deck, by getting things back from the yard and by killing small dudes on the other side. My only concern is that lifegain is very important, and Sorin has saved me many time when in the single digits on life. I think that running Lili over Sorin probably means adding more lifegain to the side to compensate.
2) Endless One is an amazing late game play, far better than Reshaper. I might try one and see how I like it. I am still a huge fan of Matter Reshaper's replacement effect though.
3) Right now I am on 3 Path/3 Push, with Path #4 in the side. Too soon for me to tell how I feel about it, though I feel certain that Push makes 4 Paths bad.
4) I love the early game discard plan. I have reluctantly shaved those slots over a period of many months, and as you note, I only felt able to do it because of TKS--and because we have had a good T1 play in Relic, and now in Push. Mind Stone is more proactive in ramping threats out, and is better in the late game since it is not a dead draw in a topdeck war, but I do miss my reliable T1 disruption. I think this list is extremely tight--as I mentioned earlier I have not been able to get below 61 in my current build testing Push and a single Extraction in the main.
Good thoughts, thanks for sharing!
Completely agree on the lifegain part, and in fact my list has 5 such cards + Vault in the 75 to compensate. Not sure if it's enough.
I agree that the extra discard is much worse in the lategame. My only problem with Mind Stone is that it kind of makes the deck have a lot of early game air. Relic into Mind Stone is a pretty weak opening against most decks, but I felt like I kind of had to make that play more often than I would like. Perhaps the problem was that I wasn't mulliganing enough? It's hard to say.
2-2 (losing to a uw titan emeria and RG Shamans, wins on junk and burn),
2-2 (losing to affinity and dredge (u.u), wins on another affinity and jeskai ascendancy)
3-1 (Lost to affinity, wins on jund, Sun & moon and Bw tokens)
3-1 (Lost to GW hatebears, wins on Mardu midrange, infect and affinity)
All matches i Lost were because i mana screwed somewhere or missed side board cards (not a single removal agains affinity after boarding 12 cards!)
[Deck]
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/01-02-17-bw-eldrazi/
Using lots of one-ofs maindeck and copies on side board gives this deck a lot of options to deal with bad matchups on game 1 and improve a lot on game two. My affinity matches consists of 12 cards coming into main deck! There is a lot of removal to deal with any creature based decks, threats strong enough to put on pressure on midranges, lots of discards to stop combos and control... The only decks that are really bad to face are those that topdeck wins, tron and valakut (and sometimes nahiri), and for then I have 3 ghost quarters and 1 Surgical main deck.
Things that i am trying to fit in are a single Endbringer and maybe EMN Liliana. However endbringer would take a spot from smasher and i am not happy to have a 6CMC Card that does not put pressure right away or dies so easily. Let's see how it goes. Liliana on the other side is a very strong Card and just flat out Win games. However cutting displacer or reshaper Hurts me a lot (they are Great turn 2 drops).
Planning on taking the deck to GPT São Paulo next weekend and Will bring you results.
Round 1 vs Mono White Felidar-Resto Combo...Lifegain...Mill?
Played vs a homebrew. Deck was designed to mill you out with Altar of the Brood plus the interaction between Felidar Guardian and Restoration Angel, but there isn't much time to do that when you have Reality Smashers getting in your face. Clean 2-0
Round 2 vs Scapeshift Combo
Only loss of the night, I fee like this matchup is just super bad for us in general, but we played it to our outs. Notably, I did get to T2 Strangler to process his Search for Tomorrow to force his Tribe Elder to go off. Even then, Its hard to beat a deck with Cryptics and Remands when you don't see your Cavern. Close two games, but we fell just short. 0-2
Round 3 vs Grixis Delver
Matchup feels like Goldfishing honestly. Having a great play of T2 Reshaper into T3 Thought Knot, then watching him terminate Reshaper and Fetch-Fatal Push Thought Knot Had me worried, but I got to take his Tasigur and he can't beat Lingering Souls plus Liliana Mark V's Ultimate. (WHO IS INSANE MORE ON THAT LATER)In game two He remands my T3 TKS three times, but eventually I get him to stick, eat a Terminate, then Surgical the Terminates from his deck, clearing the way for Daddy Smasher to get em. 2-0 Clean
Round 4 vs Panharmonicon Elves
Normally this matchup is a nightmare for me, but I had begun playing Kalitas mainboard over a second Mind Stone, and boy did he do it to em! Game 1 I hit t3 Lili, T4 Kalitas, and its a wrap, nothing more to say. Game 2 he has T3 Panharmonicon, and I die to two Shaman of the Packs off of a Collected Company. Game 3....What a match. I take his Lead the Stampede on T1 With thoughtseize, follow it up with Fatal Push, then Play Lili. He Untaps, Plays a land, passes; representing CoCo. I rip Kalitas off the topdeck like an absolute lucksack.....and watch him get Dismembered. I minus 2 Lili (INSANE I KNOW RIGHT?), Flip two Lingering Souls, and get back Kalitas. Obviously this is EXTREMELY Lucky, but it was awesome nonetheless. The Next turn I play Kalitas and Hold up Path, Plusing Lili to get a Zombie, he Cocos into Heritage Druid and Visionary. Still not attacking into my board, and lacking an Archdruid to protect his dorks from Lili, I make Kalitas into a 7/8 and Attack with him for the rest of the game. 2-1 Close matches.
...And all that was good enough for 3rd Place out of 18! Not too shabby.
In regards to the Lili/Fatal Push topics, I have been finding that I want to run a different Split of the 4-2 Path-Push I am currently Running, and Might actually cut a Relic to play a 3-4 Split. I think something that hasnt been mentioned yet is that Path turns on our processing as well, which although it is a small part of the deck, is still important. I have been playing a maindeck Lili ever Since I realized I could get back Reality Smashers, and I have never once had it be a dead Draw(except vs Ad Nauseum). I still think Playing a one-of Sorin is correct, because we are still relatively Weak to burn game 1, and any help there is appreciated. Sorin also clenches the aggro matchups with the addition of Push, making our removal and stabilization cleaner.
I think we should also consider the "card advantage" cards like Liliana, Sorin, and (to a lesser Extent) Kalitas, can give the deck. With Fatal Push being as good as it is, I am finding that I want to play more pushes to "turn on" Kalitas and to seal up the GBx matches. Sorin can essentially be a timewalk vs aggro decks if we play it correctly, although I am finding him to be weaker as time goes on. And I absolutely believe that Liliana should be in this deck 110% no questions asked, as she serves a threat vs control that they Have to deal with, and also Buys Back our creatures. Absolutely an essential card IMO. Jund cant compete with A smasher getting bought Back unless they have very large goyfs. Same with Abzan and stuff like Jeskai etc. She also shores up the affinity matchup, which in my experience has been absolutely terrible, but I feel that is a measure of my inexperience with the matchup.
Question for all my 'Drazi lovers: How to do we feel about the Processing in the deck? Do we even need it anymore? As time goes on, I realize that we are jamming 3-4 slots to turn on another 4, and whilst the deck is fine with these cards, I wonder if we couldn't turn those into more discard spells or (as previously Mentioned) Endless Ones. Endless One synergizes with Liliana for some solid plays, and can hold its own vs aggro. I have no intentions on changing anything, just want some more opinions on it.
Hope all of this rambling helps. Cheers guys!
3 Tidehollow Skuller
2 Matter Reshaper
1 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Wasteland Strangler
4 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Reality Smasher
Other Spells (19)
4 Relic of Progenitus
1 Expedition Map
4 Path to Exile
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
1 Collective Brutality
1 Anguished Unmaking
4 Lingering Souls
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
1 Windswept Heath
2 Godless Shrine
4 Caves of Koilos
2 Shambling Vent
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Swamp
1 Plains
2 Disenchant
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Flaying Tendrils
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Pithing Needle
2 All is Dust
1 Blood Baron of Viskopa
1 Curse of Death's Hold
Looking at the list, I recall liking the Tidehallows against combo and heavy creature decks, and decks that didn't have tons of removal. They were generally sided out against control decks or jund/abzan that can just remove it easily. Can't remember why there's only 2 Smashers, other than space issues. I didn't care much for Mind Stone either, and just opted for a 25 land, 1 Expedition Map set up instead.
TL;DR version of the deck changes: right now I have 3 Path, 3 Push, 3 Relic, 3 Strangler, 4 Reshaper, and 1 Extraction in the main, with a total of 61 cards. Thanks to Tituba9 and DCteamup for the ideas about cutting Relic and adding Extraction. I don't necessarily intend to remain at 61 cards, but I wanted to try out both Push as a 3-of, and Extraction as a corner case out to Tron and Valakut decks. Right now it is too soon to tell how I feel overall about the changes, but I do have some thoughts about some of them.
But first, a brief play report from last night:
vs. mono-W Humans: 2-0 (1-0)
I was on the draw. He started out much faster than me, but I was able to turn the corner easily by the mid game, with Souls chumping until I could Smash in for the win. Push was amazing here against his cheap dudes. I was able to trade a Reshaper for one of his attackers and flip it into a Strangler to get a second attacker in G2--that always feels good, and I have done the same thing to both a 5/6 Goyf and a 6/6 Titan before. Love Reshaper, especially when I can run it out T2.
vs. Affinity: 0-2 (1-1)
Kept a hand with Temple and GQ plus 2x Reshaper, 2x Seer, and a Smasher, blind on the draw--only to see him run out a T1 Opal/Drum/Skirge and then a Plating on T2. That game was over quickly as he flew over my head and I bricked on further lands. In G2 I kept a 6 with Flats and Temple plus 2x Push, Strangler, and Unmaking. I chose to fetch for a Shrine so I could play any of my cards that I might draw later, though I was worried about Blood Moon. I killed a couple of Overseers with the Pushes, but it turned out he had the Moon, and played it out on T4 to shut me off all my colors after I missed land draws for two turns. Flipping Reshaper into my sole Wastes was not enough to get around his big Ravager and Master of Etherium, and he took the win having drawn his hate while I whiffed on mine.
vs. Doubling Season/Superfriends: 2-1 (2-1)
On the draw again. He was able to get Season down in G1 and then go off with planeswalkers to overwhelm me. In G2 a lot of hand disruption kept him on the back foot and off his walkers, and Vault kept me out of range of dying to his Westvale Abbey tokens. In G3 he bricked by drawing only 1-CMC mana enablers while I Smashed him mercilessly.
vs. Jeskai Nahiri: 2-0 (3-1)
Cavern of Souls won me G1, keeping my threats coming. In G2 he kept a marginal 6 that I shredded with Thoughtseize and Seer. I was able to process his Ancestral Vision with one counter on it, targeting my Seer in my second main phase while he was hellbent, which tilted him pretty strongly. After that he bricked on sweepers and I ran him over.
Thoughts: