I haven't updated the primer in a while, namely because I felt like there just weren't new cards worth mentioning. Also, it seemed like Mardu was eclipsing tokens.
1- Lingering Souls by far. You can't run the deck without them.
2- 2-3 Auriok Champion in your 75 is a must. It will single handedly win you games agains Jund, Grixis, and burn. They can't attack past it, it chumps for days, and you get extra life for playing the deck. I never lost to Jund with an Auriok in play and the match up is already heavily favored.
3- I wouldn't run any other walkers other than maybe Sorin.
4- Windbrisk Heights depends on meta. If anything, I would run more card draw or splash red for Faithless Looting.
5- Anthems depends on creature suite. If you only run tokens, then virtue 4x is fine. If you run other creatures, then Honor of the Pure should be favored. Zealous persecution is a must have in the current meta at a 2-3 of. That card itself will win games especially against Jund and affinity.
Lingering Souls is the best token generator. Spectral Procession is probably next. Bitterblossom and Raise the Alarm are both good; one or the other is nearly always played and a mix is fine too. Start is a mediocre token generator at best but it has a mediocre removal spell in Finish attached to it so it seems some play as a one or two-of.
Auriok Champion is not a bad card but it has fallen out of favor lately. Sorin, Solemn Visitor and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar are the only plainswalkers that see frequent play. Sorin, Lord of Innistrad gets a mention and a try-out now and then, but isn't generally regarded as worthwhile. Elspeth, Knight-Errant is not awful and Elspeth Tirel was once regarded as the premier PW for the deck but has fallen out of use entirely. Modern is just too fast now for five-mana cards in decks without acceleration.
Windbrisk Heights is not worth playing in my view; I ran it for a long time and it usually bit me in the butt and I don't think it ever really accomplished anything. If you want to try one, go for it.
Most lists have run only the four Intangible Virtues as dedicated anthems for a good long while now. There are other, anthem-like effects available and there are just too many other needs for the deck. More anthems means an more aggro approach and that is just not what the deck is good at. It's solidly mid-range and needs to grind.
I was actually going to respond, but you actually lined up what I was going to say pretty much perfectly. It's actually kind of spooky
1.- Lingering Souls is the best, followed close by Bitterblossom. BB is more build dependent, so if you are running an aggro shell, it might not shine.
2.- I would personally just include a couple in the SB if you really want to play them. Otherwise dont. They are good in MU where we are already favoured, and burn, but collective brutality is more impactful there.
4.- Not worth it. Play 3 taplands max and let them be shambling vent. The lifelink is quite relevant in a deck full of BB and Thoughtseize.
5.- 4 is enough, Gideon, Ally of zendikar emblem can come up handy sometimes if you really need an extra pump effect. spear of heliod is just not good enough, and honor of the pure works better in monowhite versions, but is terrible with BB.
The way BW tokens is currently built, no. You're only using half of her ability, which isn't impressive since there is no power gain, just lifelink, in which cast Sorin is better in most respects, strictly better if you consider that virtue already supplies the vigilance.
Teysa makes aristocrat's blood artist and other such effects stronger by doubling them. That is arguably the stronger of her 2 abilities, and we don't have that as-is.
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The way BW tokens is currently built, no. You're only using half of her ability, which isn't impressive since there is no power gain, just lifelink, in which cast Sorin is better in most respects, strictly better if you consider that virtue already supplies the vigilance.
Teysa makes aristocrat's blood artist and other such effects stronger by doubling them. That is arguably the stronger of her 2 abilities, and we don't have that as-is.
If anyone has matchup data for Arclight Phoenix, Dredge, Grixis Shadow, Humans, etc, then please post.
Also, I feel like BW Tokens might actually be decent against the present meta. Dredge and those types of matchups were decent. Humans might be a problem. Merfolk isn't really a problem with Fatal Push around. Tron always has sucked (but you can't win them all).
If anyone has matchup data for Arclight Phoenix, Dredge, Grixis Shadow, Humans, etc, then please post.
Also, I feel like BW Tokens might actually be decent against the present meta. Dredge and those types of matchups were decent. Humans might be a problem. Merfolk isn't really a problem with Fatal Push around. Tron always has sucked (but you can't win them all).
i've been playing against dredge a lot with Mardu Tokens, which essentially replaces sorins with nahiris and intangibles with creativities. My control suite is similar to BW tokens.
Path to exile has to pull a lot of weight, and intangible is very important in this match up for getting to keep as many tokens after a conflagrate as possible. Without graveyard hate the damage from creeping chill and ever-returning ghasts and amalgams is hard to survive. The discard is often useless after turn 3; I board those out for hate cards like RIP, ravenous trap and Rakdos charm.
Grixis Shadow is easy, this is probably because I haven't met people who play temur battle rage, or maybe they did play it but never drew it. Discard hits them hard, they have to choose whether to stubborn denial our token spells or our plentiful removal. And once an intangible hits the board they have to be extra careful since our fliers basically read "unblockable" to them.
Arclight Phoenix (mono red version) is another deck i've had a lot of experience against, it being flavor of the month. If you don't have intangible(s) on the board, a flurry of gutshots aimed at tokens, returning phoenixes and then them restocking with reveler can be too much for our game plan to handle.
Decks I've yet to encounter or not in meaningful numbers yet are humans (seem to have gone underground?), UR Phoenix (I'm just not getting paired with em, though they're in my meta). I do meet a lot of spirits. And I'll say the combination of Queller + Drogskol captain is SUPER annoying.
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BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
I mostly play Shadow now and I think that, even with battle rage, the matchup would favor tokens. Pyromancer seems to be about 50-50, but that's only because there are clear targets for the removal. Tokens could be anything and that makes it tougher to judge. Discard hits Grixis decks VERY hard. They rely on card advantage and Shadow takes advantage of the painful mana base and the fact that lots of small spells can steamroll into a lot of damage later. If you take away their ability to interact, limited threat base, and/or countermagic the deck just folds. RiP is okay in that matchup, at least against me, because I will tend to board out Anglers when I suspect graveyard hate in favor of some stickier threats. That isn't true of all players. Also, if you can keep a continuous set of tokens available, chump blocking will eventually put you in a position to pull ahead. Tokens will almost always be better in the long run.
That's why most times the out for shadow to actually close the game is via battle rage. Without it, they're facing a steady queue of chump blockers and their endgame is definitely not on par with BW tokens. When playing against shadow there will usually be a window where "oh, if they have a TBR right now I'm dead". Especially since BW has no reach, so if the shadow player can win by going to 1 life and casting TBR, they are safe to do so.
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Collective Brutality is a reasonable card in BW tokens. It isn't much but it provides a little reach. I think it's important to have especially if one sees decks with Worship. It's almost never really completely dead and it gives one another card that can discard Temur Battle Rage.
We have here in the past sort of joked about using Sign in Blood for reach, but CB is legitimate.
Collective was super legit when Burn and Storm were rampant. I've found that Dredge has become the deck to beat now - free helixes to the face is no joke and their creatures demand exile effects. Path right now carries more value than Push for that reason...
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Rest in Peace is pretty much the best shot against Dredge. Settle the Wreckage might work once. Relic of Progenitus has been used to combat Delve back when Treasure Cruise was a thing, but I doubt it's good enough against Dredge. One could try it he were excessively attached to his Lingering Souls, but I think one has to bite that particular bullet and play RiP.
Surgical Extraction is another card that probably isn't good enough. But it might help a little and it does have application elsewhere.
Due to some (Over)Zealous Persecution by my spam filter it seems that I missed the whole Curse being taken over by Fandom thing and that appears to have messed with my account.
I've been able to restore my account name and it looks like I can still post, but my old posts all seem to be deleted. Since I posted quite a bit in this thread, that might make things confusing for someone reading the older pages of this thread.
If anyone has any questions concering some of my old posts, feel free to message me and I'll try to remember what I said
I'm new to BW tokens but I've been playing modern in a competitive fashion for 5 years (albeit nothing but a RPTQ top 16 to my name ;)) I just finished my first league with the following list and piloted it to a 4-1 finish!!
4 Bitterblossom
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Fatal Push
3 Field of Ruin
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Godless Shrine
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Intangible Virtue
1 Isolated Chapel
4 Lingering Souls
4 Marsh Flats
3 Path to Exile
3 Plains
3 Raise the Alarm
2 Shambling Vent
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Start / Finish
3 Swamp
3 Thoughtseize
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Zealous Persecution
Sideboard:
2 Auriok Champion
3 Damping Sphere
1 Day of Judgment
4 Rest in Peace
4 Stony Silence
1 Wrath of God
Round 1: UR Wizards
2-1 Win
I have to imagine this is a favorable matchup for us. Bitterblossom, Lingering Souls, and Sorin all really shine here. Zealous persecution is also great as ALL of their threats minus a flipped delver are X/1s. I didn't even sideboard. Just gotta watch the life total with thoughtseize, fetchs, and BB because they can bolt you out!!
Round 2: Storm
0-2 Loss
Not enough pressure game 1 led them to an easy victory, but thats modern. Game 2 i mulliganed to 5 because my 7 and 6 card hands had no lands. My 5 had 1 land and 2 rest in peace, a push and 1 raise the alarm. I push their first baral and miss my second land drop. Then i resolve a turn 3 rest in peace and they kill me on their turn 4 with double grapeshot, rituals, and 2nd baral. I think this matchup is favorable because we have so much meaningful interaction and we can apply pressure quickly. We just need to have the perfect mix of both!
Round 3: Mono-Green Elves
2-1 Win
Game 1 they mulligan to 5 and my removal spells backed by BB and Virtue just eat them alive. Game 2 They had the nuts and I died!
Game 3 We get into a grind fest and they were at 21 life after a turn 3 fracturing gust. I managed to kill them from 21 with only 2 faerie tokens because we both LITERALLY drew lands for the rest of the game. Overall I think our average draw is favorable to them but any above average draw will kill us quickly. I also think the BG version of elves is better against us because shaman of the pack is a house (perspective of playing from the other side a handfull of times)
Round 4: BR Vengevine
2-1 Win
Game 1 despite them having 2 lootings they never could assemble the dreadful bridge from below + viscera seer combo and i had plenty of pressure but only 1 piece of interaction, luckily it was path to exile!! Game 2 I kept a great hand but it didnt have a rest in peace and they had a quick double bridge from below draw so i died! Game 3 i had turn 2 rest in peace backed by pressure easy game! I really think this matchup is very favorable for us.
Round 5: Hardened Scales Affinity
2-1 Win
Game 1 turn 1 IOK into turn 2 Thoughtseize took all of thier threats and I easily won the game! Game 2 My stony silence got hit by natures claim and i didnt have enough pressure to take advantage of it. then they killed me with a huge ravager. Game 3 i had the turn 2 stony backed by pressure. They blew up stony again but i had a back up. If they dont have ravager or ballista we are favored. However both of those cards are very hard to deal with if you dont have stony.
Keep in mind when I say "I think X matchup is..." just know that this is my initial assessment and those opinions may change after more data is collected. Also I am not a tokens veteran, I would look to those people for advice on the deck.
I dont want to make any changes to my deck just yet without more practice/data. However, I really want 1 more copy of zealous persecution. Anyone have any recommendations to cut???
Do you guys think bitterblossom is a must have in today's modern meta, or is the Raise the Alarm version still playable? It's been a while since I played modern, but I used to have moderate success at my lgs with the below decklist. It tries to play a little more aggressively with only 23 lands and Legion's Landing which worked decently most of the time. Zealous Persecution has also been a gamechanger so often that I decided to run 3 mainboard.
I do realize this deck is probably a bit outdated for today's meta. I had a read of the last few pages of this thread, but have a hard time deciding how to improve the list. I'd probably make the following changes:
- 1 Swamp
+ 2 Shambling Vent /////// Land count up to 24
- 1 Zealous Persecution
- 2 Secure the Wastes
+ 2 Fatal Push
How does the landbase look after adding Shambling Vents? Will I run out of steam lategame with only 3 planeswalkers and no Bitterblossom? If I decided to remove the Legion's Landing, what should I replace them with?
Rest in Peace is pretty much the best shot against Dredge. Settle the Wreckage might work once. Relic of Progenitus has been used to combat Delve back when Treasure Cruise was a thing, but I doubt it's good enough against Dredge. One could try it he were excessively attached to his Lingering Souls, but I think one has to bite that particular bullet and play RiP.
Surgical Extraction is another card that probably isn't good enough. But it might help a little and it does have application elsewhere.
For reference, I'm playing 2 Rest in peace and 1 Surgical extraction in my side to combat graveyard-focused decks. Dredge, RB Hollow one, UR Arcligh phoenix, Living End, Gift Storm, etc. There's a lot of grave focused deck right now. Thinking of going up one copy of RiP.
Or... Could the meta be calling for relic of progenitus (or Nihil Spellbomb if one cares that much for their lingering souls) to be played in the main? We are a meta-dependant deck after all and aside from Lingering souls, which isn't even completely shut down by relic, we don't need our graveyard and those options are not completely dead if we run into other decks. Maybe it could be worth testing if the meta sees a lot of the above decks.
(It did work for skred red for the longest time after all)
I dont want to make any changes to my deck just yet without more practice/data. However, I really want 1 more copy of zealous persecution. Anyone have any recommendations to cut???
Thanks for reading!
I would cut start//finish for the 4th path and the 2nd persecution.
I would also change the wraths in your board to kaya's wrath, that card has really impressed me. Kaya herself is also great in modern, despite what some people say.
I also feel like you have one too many 4 drops, but that's less of an issue.
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If MTG is a part of your life, the formats are like relationships:
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
Also, Kaya's wrath is not better than wrath of god or damnation: casting costs, ruins your manabase if you play GQ, the no regenerate clause is also important...
Also, Kaya's wrath is not better than wrath of god or damnation: casting costs, ruins your manabase if you play GQ, the no regenerate clause is also important...
Agreed. We don't need to constraint ourselves with that kind of casting cost when Wrath of God and Damnation are around. We usually already lost most if not all of our token to chump blocks and removal if we're to wipe the board, so the life gain clause on Kaya's wrath is not very good, and to make it worthwhile life gain, we need to overextend our tokens, which is also a bad idea.
There's plenty of wrath effect we can run. I've personally already gave a try to Flaying Tendrils and Hour of reckoning at some point in the past and while I don't run them anymore, I feel like both are better than Kaya's wrath. There's also Engineered explosives, but it's kind of expensive $$$ wise.
1- Lingering Souls by far. You can't run the deck without them.
2- 2-3 Auriok Champion in your 75 is a must. It will single handedly win you games agains Jund, Grixis, and burn. They can't attack past it, it chumps for days, and you get extra life for playing the deck. I never lost to Jund with an Auriok in play and the match up is already heavily favored.
3- I wouldn't run any other walkers other than maybe Sorin.
4- Windbrisk Heights depends on meta. If anything, I would run more card draw or splash red for Faithless Looting.
5- Anthems depends on creature suite. If you only run tokens, then virtue 4x is fine. If you run other creatures, then Honor of the Pure should be favored. Zealous persecution is a must have in the current meta at a 2-3 of. That card itself will win games especially against Jund and affinity.
(W/B)BW Tokens(W/B) | (B/R)Rakdos Burn(B/R) | (U/R)Gift Storm(U/R)
1.- Lingering Souls is the best, followed close by Bitterblossom. BB is more build dependent, so if you are running an aggro shell, it might not shine.
2.- I would personally just include a couple in the SB if you really want to play them. Otherwise dont. They are good in MU where we are already favoured, and burn, but collective brutality is more impactful there.
3.- Gideon, Ally of zendikar is superior in my opinion. Also, see answer 6.
4.- Not worth it. Play 3 taplands max and let them be shambling vent. The lifelink is quite relevant in a deck full of BB and Thoughtseize.
5.- 4 is enough, Gideon, Ally of zendikar emblem can come up handy sometimes if you really need an extra pump effect. spear of heliod is just not good enough, and honor of the pure works better in monowhite versions, but is terrible with BB.
BW BW Tokens
RG Dredgeplendid Reclamation
RW Boros Burn
GB Elves
RB Dark Goblins
WU Azorius' Relic
COuld see any play?
Teysa makes aristocrat's blood artist and other such effects stronger by doubling them. That is arguably the stronger of her 2 abilities, and we don't have that as-is.
BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
If anyone has matchup data for Arclight Phoenix, Dredge, Grixis Shadow, Humans, etc, then please post.
Also, I feel like BW Tokens might actually be decent against the present meta. Dredge and those types of matchups were decent. Humans might be a problem. Merfolk isn't really a problem with Fatal Push around. Tron always has sucked (but you can't win them all).
i've been playing against dredge a lot with Mardu Tokens, which essentially replaces sorins with nahiris and intangibles with creativities. My control suite is similar to BW tokens.
Path to exile has to pull a lot of weight, and intangible is very important in this match up for getting to keep as many tokens after a conflagrate as possible. Without graveyard hate the damage from creeping chill and ever-returning ghasts and amalgams is hard to survive. The discard is often useless after turn 3; I board those out for hate cards like RIP, ravenous trap and Rakdos charm.
Grixis Shadow is easy, this is probably because I haven't met people who play temur battle rage, or maybe they did play it but never drew it. Discard hits them hard, they have to choose whether to stubborn denial our token spells or our plentiful removal. And once an intangible hits the board they have to be extra careful since our fliers basically read "unblockable" to them.
Arclight Phoenix (mono red version) is another deck i've had a lot of experience against, it being flavor of the month. If you don't have intangible(s) on the board, a flurry of gutshots aimed at tokens, returning phoenixes and then them restocking with reveler can be too much for our game plan to handle.
Decks I've yet to encounter or not in meaningful numbers yet are humans (seem to have gone underground?), UR Phoenix (I'm just not getting paired with em, though they're in my meta). I do meet a lot of spirits. And I'll say the combination of Queller + Drogskol captain is SUPER annoying.
BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
Thanks for the info.
BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
We have here in the past sort of joked about using Sign in Blood for reach, but CB is legitimate.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
Surgical Extraction is another card that probably isn't good enough. But it might help a little and it does have application elsewhere.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
I've been able to restore my account name and it looks like I can still post, but my old posts all seem to be deleted. Since I posted quite a bit in this thread, that might make things confusing for someone reading the older pages of this thread.
If anyone has any questions concering some of my old posts, feel free to message me and I'll try to remember what I said
BWB/W Tokens
Pauper:
RUGAffinity
EDH:
BWAyli, Eternal Pilgrim
I'm new to BW tokens but I've been playing modern in a competitive fashion for 5 years (albeit nothing but a RPTQ top 16 to my name ;)) I just finished my first league with the following list and piloted it to a 4-1 finish!!
4 Bitterblossom
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Fatal Push
3 Field of Ruin
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Godless Shrine
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Intangible Virtue
1 Isolated Chapel
4 Lingering Souls
4 Marsh Flats
3 Path to Exile
3 Plains
3 Raise the Alarm
2 Shambling Vent
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Start / Finish
3 Swamp
3 Thoughtseize
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Zealous Persecution
Sideboard:
2 Auriok Champion
3 Damping Sphere
1 Day of Judgment
4 Rest in Peace
4 Stony Silence
1 Wrath of God
Round 1: UR Wizards
2-1 Win
I have to imagine this is a favorable matchup for us. Bitterblossom, Lingering Souls, and Sorin all really shine here. Zealous persecution is also great as ALL of their threats minus a flipped delver are X/1s. I didn't even sideboard. Just gotta watch the life total with thoughtseize, fetchs, and BB because they can bolt you out!!
Round 2: Storm
0-2 Loss
Not enough pressure game 1 led them to an easy victory, but thats modern. Game 2 i mulliganed to 5 because my 7 and 6 card hands had no lands. My 5 had 1 land and 2 rest in peace, a push and 1 raise the alarm. I push their first baral and miss my second land drop. Then i resolve a turn 3 rest in peace and they kill me on their turn 4 with double grapeshot, rituals, and 2nd baral. I think this matchup is favorable because we have so much meaningful interaction and we can apply pressure quickly. We just need to have the perfect mix of both!
Round 3: Mono-Green Elves
2-1 Win
Game 1 they mulligan to 5 and my removal spells backed by BB and Virtue just eat them alive. Game 2 They had the nuts and I died!
Game 3 We get into a grind fest and they were at 21 life after a turn 3 fracturing gust. I managed to kill them from 21 with only 2 faerie tokens because we both LITERALLY drew lands for the rest of the game. Overall I think our average draw is favorable to them but any above average draw will kill us quickly. I also think the BG version of elves is better against us because shaman of the pack is a house (perspective of playing from the other side a handfull of times)
Round 4: BR Vengevine
2-1 Win
Game 1 despite them having 2 lootings they never could assemble the dreadful bridge from below + viscera seer combo and i had plenty of pressure but only 1 piece of interaction, luckily it was path to exile!! Game 2 I kept a great hand but it didnt have a rest in peace and they had a quick double bridge from below draw so i died! Game 3 i had turn 2 rest in peace backed by pressure easy game! I really think this matchup is very favorable for us.
Round 5: Hardened Scales Affinity
2-1 Win
Game 1 turn 1 IOK into turn 2 Thoughtseize took all of thier threats and I easily won the game! Game 2 My stony silence got hit by natures claim and i didnt have enough pressure to take advantage of it. then they killed me with a huge ravager. Game 3 i had the turn 2 stony backed by pressure. They blew up stony again but i had a back up. If they dont have ravager or ballista we are favored. However both of those cards are very hard to deal with if you dont have stony.
Keep in mind when I say "I think X matchup is..." just know that this is my initial assessment and those opinions may change after more data is collected. Also I am not a tokens veteran, I would look to those people for advice on the deck.
I dont want to make any changes to my deck just yet without more practice/data. However, I really want 1 more copy of zealous persecution. Anyone have any recommendations to cut???
Thanks for reading!
4 Marsh Flats
3 Windswept Heath
3 Godless Shrine
4 Concealed Courtyard
3 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Fetid Heath
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
4 Path to Exile
Tokens: 15
3 Legion's Landing
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Lingering Souls
4 Spectral Procession
4 Intangible Virtue
3 Zealous Persecution
PW/lategame: 5
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Secure the Wastes
The sideboard will probably include Rest in Peace, Pithing Needle, Stony Silence, Damping Sphere etc. Maybe Auriok Champion.
I do realize this deck is probably a bit outdated for today's meta. I had a read of the last few pages of this thread, but have a hard time deciding how to improve the list. I'd probably make the following changes:
- 1 Swamp
+ 2 Shambling Vent /////// Land count up to 24
- 1 Zealous Persecution
- 2 Secure the Wastes
+ 2 Fatal Push
How does the landbase look after adding Shambling Vents? Will I run out of steam lategame with only 3 planeswalkers and no Bitterblossom? If I decided to remove the Legion's Landing, what should I replace them with?
Or... Could the meta be calling for relic of progenitus (or Nihil Spellbomb if one cares that much for their lingering souls) to be played in the main? We are a meta-dependant deck after all and aside from Lingering souls, which isn't even completely shut down by relic, we don't need our graveyard and those options are not completely dead if we run into other decks. Maybe it could be worth testing if the meta sees a lot of the above decks.
(It did work for skred red for the longest time after all)
(W/B)BW Tokens(W/B) | (B/R)Rakdos Burn(B/R) | (U/R)Gift Storm(U/R)
I would cut start//finish for the 4th path and the 2nd persecution.
I would also change the wraths in your board to kaya's wrath, that card has really impressed me. Kaya herself is also great in modern, despite what some people say.
I also feel like you have one too many 4 drops, but that's less of an issue.
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
Also, Kaya's wrath is not better than wrath of god or damnation: casting costs, ruins your manabase if you play GQ, the no regenerate clause is also important...
BW BW Tokens
RG Dredgeplendid Reclamation
RW Boros Burn
GB Elves
RB Dark Goblins
WU Azorius' Relic
There's plenty of wrath effect we can run. I've personally already gave a try to Flaying Tendrils and Hour of reckoning at some point in the past and while I don't run them anymore, I feel like both are better than Kaya's wrath. There's also Engineered explosives, but it's kind of expensive $$$ wise.
(W/B)BW Tokens(W/B) | (B/R)Rakdos Burn(B/R) | (U/R)Gift Storm(U/R)