I've been doing a bunch of testing in the last few days with Bant and it's just so good. The deck offers plenty of decision making room for the pilot but isn't overly complicated so I think it is a good choice for large multi around events too as you are much less likely to become fatigued. The power level on some of the draws are just insane too and there isn't much fat to trim or questionable slots to place in the deck at the moment in my opinion. There really only seems to be 2-4 flex spots to play with at the moment.
A lot of modern decks just can't do anything to beat us pre board as they can't keep up with our good or better draws and the sideboard slots allow us to really shift into a favorable matchup against some of our weaker pre board match ups. Loving the deck, nothing feels better than turn 2 Thought Knot followed up with Reality Smasher next turn and then into a turn 4 or 5 drowner (it sounds like christmas land, but it happens more than I would have expected).
As for tier status, I fully expect this deck to be up into developing soon and even tier 2 following more good results.
3-1 at last night's Monday Modern with a 22-24 person turnout.
Won against Abzan Company(Cage doing all the work and 4 Ancient Stirrings into 4 Drowners to break the board stall), Dredge(he was new to the deck and playing the Bridge from below version which is horribly against us due to its slow nature), and Death and Taxes(I start with a Waste in hand and use my first turn fetch to grab a Forest and Stirrings into a Temple; opponent plays 2 Ghost Quarters and hits the Temple which I replace with a Plains which he hits with the other Quarter and I grab another Forest[running over 20 lands makes Ghost Quarter not nearly as deadly against us as it does to other decks] I win with a Reality Smasher and Displacer on board against his one Resto Angel).
My only loss was too Affinity(Game 1 I kept a slow hand and he kills me with lethal damage on turn 5), Game 2 I mull to 5 and hit none of my hate and proceed to draw only expensive creatures and he poisons me to death on turn 5. I almost want to go up to 3 Stony Silence in the SB due to how awful this match-up is(every other match felt much more fair and once I got the lead it was very hard for my opponent to compete).
Overall happy with the deck definitely want to try a 3/3/3 split of Displacer, Skyspawner, and Matter Reshaper; most of my opponents couldn't believe how good Ancient Stirrings was in the deck and how it got around all the search hate and Graffdigger's Cage(only had one true whiff all night with a reveal of mana dorks and lands, against Affinity).
Round 1 Jeskai Harbringer (1-1-1)[0-0-1]:
Game 1 I quickly got him down to 1 life but my draws wouldn't find me a Reality Smasher to seal the deal. The MB GQ and World Breaker helped kill Collanades and I ripped Emrakul out of his hand early (trolololol) but he still got there with a snapcaster swing in, bolt, snap, bolt, bolt, helix play. Game 2 I did find more payoff cards and won in normal fashion but unfortunately there was no time for a game 3.
Round 2 Infect (2-1)[1-0-1]: I still forgot to include my Spellskites in the list (them and my EE were sitting at home). I was desperately hoping to fade this matchup without the skites. Game 1 he won pretty handedly. Game 2 he went T1 Heirarch, T2 Inkmoth, Spellskite and I was like "Welp this game is likely over. He was tapped out so I used a Path to Exile on his Spellskite now and had enough mana to pay for 1 Displacer activation. At this point I knew I was just fading Vines most likely. He goes to his turn, plays a land, animates Inkmoth Swings in for Exalted and plays double groundswell with Heirarch open for the Vines. I announce my flicker activation and hear the most wonderful question from my opponent, "Wait, you can blink my creatures with that?!" I won that game on the back of leaving mana open to double flicker and Displacer coming in for 4 a turn with Exalted. Game 3 wasn't as much of a blowout but same style. I dropped Noble and Bop into Displacer. One turn he went to cast Vines on one of his guys (kicked it too). I cast Stubborn Denial which forced him to tap out for vines to resolve. I then chumped with BoP. I now had an opening because he had 2 cards in hand and I only had 2 Infect. I cast TKS and see he had a Mutagenic Growth and a Slip through Space. I ripped the pump and passed turn. He had to draw 2 +4/+4 power pumps or a Become Immense and any other pump spell or I had him dead on board. He didn't draw it and I won. Woof.
Round 3 Jeskai Harbringer (2-0)[2-0-1]: This went much like Round 1 should have gone. Cavern of Souls was just too much for him to manage and I smashed his face in both games fairly quickly.
Round 4 Grixis Thing in the Ice (2-0)[3-0-1]: You know what Thing in the Ice and Delver hate? Eldrazi Displacer. It eventually stuck both games and they were unable to get out from under it's power.
Sunday Morning Modern (29 people):
So I should say that there was supposed to be a Super IQ Plus in the area on Sunday that apparently had been postponed because of the RPTQ going on. Unfortunately nobody thought to update the website so I drove all the way there first only to find out it had been cancelled and drove all the way back to the store I do play at for their tournament. I did remember my Spellskites and EE this time though so my list was as such:
Round 1 Grixis Control (2-0)[1-0]: Man I love our control matchup. They just don't have enough answers when you get Cavern of Souls out. I also ripped the good cards out of his hand and and reduced Snapcaster Mage to chump duties. All in all, a very successful round.
Round 2 Bushwacker Burn(1-2)[1-1]: Best way I can describe this deck was it was like Nacatl Burn that took one step further in for the Burning Tree into Bushwacker Zooish route. Game 1 he got me on turn 3 on the play (turn 2 swings in with a goblin guide and I still have him on Burn. I Path it, post combat he drops Burning Tree into Swiftspear and Nacatl. Next turn he had the Atarka Command and Lava Spike for the win. Game 2 I landed a TKS turn 2 and saw he had a Goblin Guide, Nacatl, Boros Charm x2, Atarka's Command and a Helix. I rip the Helix because I want him to extend onto the board. He drops the 2 1 drops as expected and passes the turn (that way I don't get a free kill with TKS). I drop the EE I had been holding in my hand on 1, popped it and swung in for 5 because of Heirarch. He couldn't catch up after that. Game 3 he drew a nutty amount of burn spells and chucked them at my face while I couldn't find a larger Eldrazi to save my life.
Round 3 Naya Burn (0-2)[1-2]: Got lethaled on turn 3 again. Searing Blaze my Matter Reshaper crash in with double Swift spear and bolt. Game 2 I managed to stall out the game but even through 2 Ancient Stirrings I couldn't find an Eldrazi that wasn't in my opening hand. After the game I revealed the top 20 cards til I hit an Eldrazi. Seriously wtf.
Round 4 Merfolk (2-0)[2-2]: So I had no idea how massively advantaged we are in this matchup. Game 1 I stalled out the board until I had enough mana to blink Drowner of Hope twice and then tap his entire team down during end step. Game 2 I performed a massive blowout with EE on 2 hitting her lords and Spreading Seas after she declared her team as attackers. I then blew the board and blocked for the blowout. To be fair I did get Triple Hierarch out for game 2 and she used her T2 casting Echoing Truth to bounce them back to my hand (I was gunning for the T3 Drowner I had in hand). After I dropped everything back on board I was swinging for 8 a turn with Drowner.
Ug I love this deck for most of it's matchups (even against the aggro decks like Infect and Affinity) but Burn straight up sucks. I am really considering adding in more to the SB if I start to see it creep back into favor (Swagtusk seems great for Burn and the Control matchups. Blinking him is just so much dumb value too). I'd also consider a couple Kitchen Finks since they drop early, block attackers, are awkward to remove and gain life.
Anyway, I'll be staying on this deck for the time being because Control is EVERYWHERE for me locally and this has a hilarious matchup against it.
I think this deck is just that good against the control decks. Anyway @Extraz, I have added 2 Chalices and 3 Leyline for the burn and affinity match up.
I think this deck is just that good against the control decks. Anyway @Extraz, I have added 2 Chalices and 3 Leyline for the burn and affinity match up.
What is your sideboard exactly? EE and Grafdigger's have been amazing. Admittedly I have seen 0 Affinity so far in my local meta so I don't know how that matchup feels. I did add the 1 Thragtusk last night and while I didn't face burn, it was money against the decks I did face (tournament report below)
Anyone up to making a Primer for this deck?
Also, anyone have any idea when this deck will get bumped up to competitive?
I think this is technically the Primer. It will likely get bumped to Competitive when it puts up results (remember that this list just barely sprung up at the SCG Open and GP LA&CHA. I think we will see it rise in popularity if the meta stays as slow and grindy as it is now.
Alrighty yall, my DnD group I play with on Tuesday was out of town so I went and hit up one of my LGS for Modern! Below is my list and tournament report for your consumption:
Round 1 Grixis Control (2-1)[1-0]:
Game 1 he got me with a mainboard Anger of the Gods. I couldn't find a Cavern of Souls or good Eldrazi to save my life after that and got stuck in loops of Cryptic Commands as he beat down with Tasigur. Game 2 and 3 were much different. Game 2 he bolted my T1 Hierarch, Terminated my T2 Matter Reshaper (flipped to reveal Mutavault), Crunched in with T3 Smasher followed by T4 Drowner of Hope and T5 Thragtusk. Game 3 I got Displacer and Thragtusk to untap and blinking Thragtusk twice during his end step forced the concession.
Round 2 Jund (2-0)[2-0]:
This was this guy's first time playing Jund and he was steadily running into the realization of how difficult that deck actually is to play. I fought my way through 3 removal spells early but things like Matter Reshaper don't care as much. He dropped a Liliana which I crunched with Smasher and I set up him dropping 2 Goyfs and me dropping Drowner to tap them down and crunch in for lethal. I got a T4 Drowner game 2 and he just doesn't have enough answers for that.
Round 3 Dredge (2-0)[3-0]:
Game 1 He started going off to the races early with a dredge into 2 Narcomebas and a Prized Amalgam. Unfortunately I think he made a grave mistake and attacked into my untapped Matter Reshaper. I blocked and traded with the Prized Amalgam (removing a Bridge from Below from his yard and giving him a 2/2 Zombie) and I revealed Eldrazi Displacer off the top. I then drop TKS and yank his Stinkweed Imp. He now was on 3 lands without any dredgers in the yard. I followed up with Smasher and closed out the game quickly. Game 2 was a game you can attribute the win to taking the correct lines of play. His first dredge for 6 got 3 Narcomeba's but no Bridge from Belows. I had an EE in hand and I could have opted to put it on 2 and blow them up without him getting any additional value out of it. Instead I opted to hold onto them for later when he might have Zombies chumming up the board that I want to remove. I stuck an early TKS and Smasher instead and started crashing in. We got to this final board state. He had 3 Bridges in yard, 2 Narcomeba's and 2 Zombie tokens but was at 8 life. I had a Noble Hierarch, Smasher and TKS. My plan of attack was to drop Drowner of Hope and tap down the 2 Zombies. I'd crash in for a total of 4 and he'd get "a billion" Zombies. I'd then follow up with EE on 0 and blow them up so I could crash in for lethal. I topdecked an Eldrazi Temple however and was able to play my Drowner, tap down the 2 Narcomeba's and then play EE on 0 and destroy the tokens. I think my opponents playstyle and deck were pretty bad though. Dredge decks are fragile in their nature anyway but he wasn't running typical things like Loam to ensure he got his land drops. In addition, he made his way through MOST of his library (had ~10 cards left) in game 2 but I wasn't pressured in the least. He kept trying to race me with Narcomeba's attacking in the air. 2 damage to 9 on the crackback isn't how you beat Eldrazi. The fact I didn't even remotely need Grafdigger's Cage was a huge sign for me that his deck wasn't built properly (as I have seen the good variants do exceedingly well). Best part of it all was that my opponent was SUPER salty after the game about how his deck "dumped" on him (completely ignoring that I yanked a Stinkweed Imp I knew was in hand both games and his deck had almost 0 grind to it). I think we are favored in this matchup altogether though. Narcomeba is great chump to Goyf when you have a ton of bridges in the yard but it just can't keep up with Reality Smasher.
Round 4 Flash Bant Tokens (2-0)[4-0]:
This is a buddy of mine and we have played against each other extensively while I was on Eldrazi & Taxes. In the end his deck is really solid and runs a semi control game plan while making tokens with things like Advent of the Wurm, Blade Splicer (with Resto Angel in the list as well), Voice and Geist and then using a couple of the populate cards (namely the Fog to you and the one that makes things indestructible). It's a pretty solid overall list against the meta as the 5/5 Trample Wurms for 4 do get there. It does absolutely 100% crumble to Eldrazi Displacer though. He knows it, I know it and most of the time when it hits the field and he doesn't have the answer, he just scoops it up. Against Eldrazi & Taxes he can at least attempt to counter it with a Mana Leak but with this list, Cavern of Souls and a faster clock just hoses him completely.
All in all it was a good tournament. There were lots of weird decks running around this meta because it's fairly small (like Soul Sisters and Ad Nauseum) but somehow I dodged all that and ran right into this decks wheelhouse. Man, if I could face Jund every round with this deck I might be alright with that. Swagdaddy was a baller and I think I will keep him in the 1x slot in the SB. His synergy with Displacer, in addition to the immense power he brings on his own is totally worth it. This list just has such raw power potential that it is comically unfair at times to decks that are trying to play fair. The meta could easily speed up again and then we might be in more trouble but my meta loves control with an undying fury so as long as there are competitive control decks, that's what I'll be seeing a lot of.
Something i didn´t get from your post, do you actually think this deck is bad positioned against aggro?.
I´m pretty sure Affinity is bad, but Burn and Infect are not that bad.
This is a topic where i´ve seen players say that this deck has no real bad matchups, to players say that Aggro just crushes you.
I can say the deck is capable of beating several strategies, because of its midranagey nature. Do you feel otherwise?.
I actually think it's different I think Infect and Affinity is actually alright matchups (but you can easily lose from being out raced if you don't have an answer to what they are doing). Burn I think is really bad if you don't have enough of a plan for it. Most of their damage comes from their hand so clogging the board with large blockers doesn't work (and Eldrazi Displacer becomes even less solid). Also without recurring lifegain they can still race you from an empty hand.
Personally I think this deck DOES have bad matchups against Hyper Aggro because they force you to play the control route. You'd much rather pin your ears back like against Midrange and Control and just have at the other player. I classify this deck as a "Battlecruiser" deck. It wants to play like an aggro deck but it uses large midrangey creatures to get it done. It's not as susceptible to things that the other aggro decks are (ie bolt, pyroclasm, lifegain, etc.) but it gets that resilience at the cost of speed. I'd say this deck has a bad matchup against a deck like Elves as well. They go super wide, super fast and if you don't answer the right thing and they don't have a backup, they will likely win. Also saying these are bad matchups isn't like saying that the matchup is like Jund vs Tron. Our "bad" matchups are ones where we are not favored to win and usually ones where we have to become the control deck.
Currently all the control and midrange decks running around in the format are keeping the Aggro decks in check and that lets us slot in and take advantage of that absence.
I have lost a total of 3 matches over 4 tournaments (16 rounds). 2 were Burn and 1 was RG Mono Land Destruction/Blood Moon. Again admittedly there isn't a ton of aggro in my meta but those have always been the harrowing matchups for me.
Yeah, I'm thinking of putting world breaker back in the main, my meta has a lot of lantern control and I need at least one out besides hoping tks nabs bridge in time.but costing seven instead of six can be relevant...
Yeah, I'm thinking of putting world breaker back in the main, my meta has a lot of lantern control and I need at least one out besides hoping tks nabs bridge in time.but costing seven instead of six can be relevant...
Remember you can still attack through bridge with Spellskite and Noble Hierarch. In fact most of the time it's a really easy way to lethal them because they can't come up with enough answers to them and you can keep applying damage. I recommend World Breaker in the main for anyone whose meta isn't overflowing with aggro decks though. He is really good and worst case gets sided out (which makes an easy cut slot when you are looking for them). Against the matchups where you do grind he makes a ton of difference even if you just hit a land with him (keeping people off things like Snap Cryptic and such is pretty big).
So I've been playing the deck online and I gotta say I'm amazed on how consistent it is.
I've been looking through the lists here and didn't saw a list with less than 24 lands. After playing a few games I cut a Cavern of Souls and never looked back. Any opinions here?
And on a less serious note:
I had one of the most fun games I ever had in modern yesterday with the deck against U-Tron.
I had a slow start and he got lucky finding Tron early although I quartered the correct land, we trade resources until he resolves an Oblivion Stone and kills my board but Matter Reshaper reveals a Displacer. He plays a Sundering Titan (which was a misplay) and destroyed my only two basic land type lands. I untap with two Eldrazi Temples and a Painland. Blink the Titan to kill two of his own Islands, attack, play a fetch, end turn, blink Titan again during his upkeep to destroy both of his remaining Islands, he concedes.
SO MUCH FUN!
So I've been playing the deck online and I gotta say I'm amazed on how consistent it is.
I've been looking through the lists here and didn't saw a list with less than 24 lands. After playing a few games I cut a Cavern of Souls and never looked back. Any opinions here?
And on a less serious note:
I had one of the most fun games I ever had in modern yesterday with the deck against U-Tron.
I had a slow start and he got lucky finding Tron early although I quartered the correct land, we trade resources until he resolves an Oblivion Stone and kills my board but Matter Reshaper reveals a Displacer. He plays a Sundering Titan (which was a misplay) and destroyed my only two basic land type lands. I untap with two Eldrazi Temples and a Painland. Blink the Titan to kill two of his own Islands, attack, play a fetch, end turn, blink Titan again during his upkeep to destroy both of his remaining Islands, he concedes.
SO MUCH FUN!
You really trolled him ha ha. I only own 3 Caverns so I have been running 1 Mutavault instead of the 4th and it's been alright so far. It gives me the colorless and occasionally lets me put more pressure (or keep pressure on if they board wiped). I could try a Gavony Township but with this list, if you have dudes onboard you are likely winning anyway and don't need the +1+1 counters (not to mention they get reset by displacer and most of the time you'd rather just blink something for value). I have also been considering Westvale Abbey. We can end up with a board of things we don't care about (Matter Reshaper, Mana Dorks, Scion Tokens etc) and sure it dies to Path but they only have so many of those and we still have Reality Smasher, Drowner and TKS they have to hit with it. I also really like it as a Pseudo-Bitter Blossom effect late game.
It sounds like Thragtusk was an all star when it came in. I haven't been impressed with world breaker (perhaps I just haven't had a good chance to use it) and might try a thragtusk in that slot in the main even. Also, if the meta shifts at all and if we can swing the mana I'm wondering if a pair of kitchen finks in the sideboard might be helpful against the faster decks out there such as burn and aggro, not quite as good as thragtusk but you definitely get added value out of it with displacer as well by blinking and removing the -1/-1 counters for extra life and a recurring blocker.
Reporting in for today's Wednesday Night Magic! I went 2-2 sadly but the deck is super fun to play and I believe it'll be at least a tier 2 deck in the future. Threw the deck together the day before the actual tourney. I don't exactly remember play by play as my memory isn't that great but I will give some comments on the decks that I have faced.
Some mentions about the deck.
1. Didn't have a 4th Noble Hierach. Had to make do with what I had
2. Didn't have 2 Spellspkites so I opted for 2 Scavenging Ooze.
3. Went 3 Displacers and 3 Skyspawners.
4. Sideboard is very clunky due to the fact I didn't have most cards and had to make do with what I had at the very moment.
5. Also, no cavern of souls just cause I didn't have them.
Round 1 [Mono Red Kiln Fiend] - Seemed budget as the player just moved to modern from standard. 2-0
This match was pretty easy due to him not having enough threats to compete with my thought-knot and path. Not much to say about this match up except get rid of their creatures and board in some spell pierces to throw off their combo.
Round 2 [UW Thopter-Sword combo] - Haven't faced a thopter sword deck before [1-2]
Couldn't get any naturlize or celestial purge before he started going wider than me. Could've played this match-up a lot better IMO.
Round 3 [Naya Burn] - [1-2]
Couldn't stabilize fast enough with all those burn spells. Sideboard helped tremendously the second game. Went to game three couldn't and only had a timely reinforcements and wasn't able to stabilize.
Round 4 [GW Life Gain?] [2-0]
Some janky deck with life gain wasn't too great.
Overall, the deck feels really good when it goes off. Sometimes I'm stuck with a lot lands on board or in my hand. 24 might be too much..not sure yet. Other times I summon one reality smasher/drowner and it doesn't impact the board too much. Westvale Abbey was a pretty fun card and it was great late game as sort of just getting through the grindy matchups.
Can we survive on 22-23 lands rather than 24? I find the land flood to be real late game.
I just expressed the same thoughts two posts above.
Currently I'm running 23 lands and 2x Oath of Nissa maindeck. It's clearly worse than Stirrings but still better than Modern's best blue cantrip (Serum Visions lol.
Works fine for me so far.
I think the land base is actually the part of the deck that has the most room for innovation, as almost everybody here is just copying the landbase of the deck that got top 8 at the GP. The other parts of the deck are super tight with only 2-3 flexspots.
Ideas like Blighted Cataract or Westvale Abbey definetely derserve some testing.
Can we survive on 22-23 lands rather than 24? I find the land flood to be real late game.
I just expressed the same thoughts two posts above.
Currently I'm running 23 lands and 2x Oath of Nissa maindeck. It's clearly worse than Stirrings but still better than Modern's best blue cantrip (Serum Visions lol.
Works fine for me so far.
I think the land base is actually the part of the deck that has the most room for innovation, as almost everybody here is just copying the landbase of the deck that got top 8 at the GP. The other parts of the deck are super tight with only 2-3 flexspots.
Ideas like Blighted Cataract or Westvale Abbey definetely derserve some testing.
I'm trying 2Impulse instaed of the one flex slot and one land, for now it's working well,impulse saved my ass twice in 6 testing games becouse i needed to path to exile a big creature
Can we survive on 22-23 lands rather than 24? I find the land flood to be real late game.
I just expressed the same thoughts two posts above.
Currently I'm running 23 lands and 2x Oath of Nissa maindeck. It's clearly worse than Stirrings but still better than Modern's best blue cantrip (Serum Visions lol.
Works fine for me so far.
I think the land base is actually the part of the deck that has the most room for innovation, as almost everybody here is just copying the landbase of the deck that got top 8 at the GP. The other parts of the deck are super tight with only 2-3 flexspots.
Ideas like Blighted Cataract or Westvale Abbey definetely derserve some testing.
I definitely think Westvale Abbey is worth a test here. It's not about flipping it like it is in Standard. You wil games with it on the back of treating it like a Bitterblossom on turns you have nothing better going on. Just keep pumping out 1/1's. I think we could have games where we will flip it too and because of Stubborn Denial and the Abundance of large threats we have, our opponent may not have the right kill spells. I actually like 24 lands and sure on occasion I get a little flooded but I am almost never mana screwed. This deck is so land hungry that if you start drawing consecutive Smasher and Drowners you need to have the mana to play them.
Can we survive on 22-23 lands rather than 24? I find the land flood to be real late game.
I just expressed the same thoughts two posts above.
Currently I'm running 23 lands and 2x Oath of Nissa maindeck. It's clearly worse than Stirrings but still better than Modern's best blue cantrip (Serum Visions lol.
Works fine for me so far.
I think the land base is actually the part of the deck that has the most room for innovation, as almost everybody here is just copying the landbase of the deck that got top 8 at the GP. The other parts of the deck are super tight with only 2-3 flexspots.
Ideas like Blighted Cataract or Westvale Abbey definetely derserve some testing.
I'm trying 2Impulse instaed of the one flex slot and one land, for now it's working well,impulse saved my ass twice in 6 testing games becouse i needed to path to exile a big creature
I don't think it's worth it. If we want to play more cantrips then we will play Oath of Nissa. The difference between 1 and two mana is huuuge and will we sometimes just need that path or stony silence we would be diluting our otherwise super proactive gameplan by playing anticipate, which let's it do more harm than good.
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A lot of modern decks just can't do anything to beat us pre board as they can't keep up with our good or better draws and the sideboard slots allow us to really shift into a favorable matchup against some of our weaker pre board match ups. Loving the deck, nothing feels better than turn 2 Thought Knot followed up with Reality Smasher next turn and then into a turn 4 or 5 drowner (it sounds like christmas land, but it happens more than I would have expected).
As for tier status, I fully expect this deck to be up into developing soon and even tier 2 following more good results.
Won against Abzan Company(Cage doing all the work and 4 Ancient Stirrings into 4 Drowners to break the board stall), Dredge(he was new to the deck and playing the Bridge from below version which is horribly against us due to its slow nature), and Death and Taxes(I start with a Waste in hand and use my first turn fetch to grab a Forest and Stirrings into a Temple; opponent plays 2 Ghost Quarters and hits the Temple which I replace with a Plains which he hits with the other Quarter and I grab another Forest[running over 20 lands makes Ghost Quarter not nearly as deadly against us as it does to other decks] I win with a Reality Smasher and Displacer on board against his one Resto Angel).
My only loss was too Affinity(Game 1 I kept a slow hand and he kills me with lethal damage on turn 5), Game 2 I mull to 5 and hit none of my hate and proceed to draw only expensive creatures and he poisons me to death on turn 5. I almost want to go up to 3 Stony Silence in the SB due to how awful this match-up is(every other match felt much more fair and once I got the lead it was very hard for my opponent to compete).
Overall happy with the deck definitely want to try a 3/3/3 split of Displacer, Skyspawner, and Matter Reshaper; most of my opponents couldn't believe how good Ancient Stirrings was in the deck and how it got around all the search hate and Graffdigger's Cage(only had one true whiff all night with a reveal of mana dorks and lands, against Affinity).
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Standard Deck:
BUPirates
Modern Deck:
B8-Rack
Friday Night Magic 59 people:
4x Noble Hierarch
2x Birds of Paradise
4x Eldrazi Displacer
4x Matter Reshaper
4x Thought-knot Seer
4x Reality Smasher
4x Drowner of Hope
1x Worldbreaker
Planeswalker:
1x Ajani, Mentor of Heros
Instant/Sorceries:
4x Path to Exile
4x Ancient Stirrings
Lands:
4x Eldrazi Temple
4x Windswept Heath
3x Brushlands
3x Cavern of Souls
2x Yavimaya Coast
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Breeding Pool
1x Temple Garden
1x Forest
1x Plains
1x Waste
1x Mutavault
1x Ghost Quarter
4x Stubborn Denial
3x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Stony Silence
1x Disenchant
3x Wrath of God
1x Mark of Asylum
1x Endbringer
Round 1 Jeskai Harbringer (1-1-1)[0-0-1]:
Game 1 I quickly got him down to 1 life but my draws wouldn't find me a Reality Smasher to seal the deal. The MB GQ and World Breaker helped kill Collanades and I ripped Emrakul out of his hand early (trolololol) but he still got there with a snapcaster swing in, bolt, snap, bolt, bolt, helix play. Game 2 I did find more payoff cards and won in normal fashion but unfortunately there was no time for a game 3.
Round 2 Infect (2-1)[1-0-1]: I still forgot to include my Spellskites in the list (them and my EE were sitting at home). I was desperately hoping to fade this matchup without the skites. Game 1 he won pretty handedly. Game 2 he went T1 Heirarch, T2 Inkmoth, Spellskite and I was like "Welp this game is likely over. He was tapped out so I used a Path to Exile on his Spellskite now and had enough mana to pay for 1 Displacer activation. At this point I knew I was just fading Vines most likely. He goes to his turn, plays a land, animates Inkmoth Swings in for Exalted and plays double groundswell with Heirarch open for the Vines. I announce my flicker activation and hear the most wonderful question from my opponent, "Wait, you can blink my creatures with that?!" I won that game on the back of leaving mana open to double flicker and Displacer coming in for 4 a turn with Exalted. Game 3 wasn't as much of a blowout but same style. I dropped Noble and Bop into Displacer. One turn he went to cast Vines on one of his guys (kicked it too). I cast Stubborn Denial which forced him to tap out for vines to resolve. I then chumped with BoP. I now had an opening because he had 2 cards in hand and I only had 2 Infect. I cast TKS and see he had a Mutagenic Growth and a Slip through Space. I ripped the pump and passed turn. He had to draw 2 +4/+4 power pumps or a Become Immense and any other pump spell or I had him dead on board. He didn't draw it and I won. Woof.
Round 3 Jeskai Harbringer (2-0)[2-0-1]: This went much like Round 1 should have gone. Cavern of Souls was just too much for him to manage and I smashed his face in both games fairly quickly.
Round 4 Grixis Thing in the Ice (2-0)[3-0-1]: You know what Thing in the Ice and Delver hate? Eldrazi Displacer. It eventually stuck both games and they were unable to get out from under it's power.
Sunday Morning Modern (29 people):
So I should say that there was supposed to be a Super IQ Plus in the area on Sunday that apparently had been postponed because of the RPTQ going on. Unfortunately nobody thought to update the website so I drove all the way there first only to find out it had been cancelled and drove all the way back to the store I do play at for their tournament. I did remember my Spellskites and EE this time though so my list was as such:
4x Noble Hierarch
1x Bird of Paradise
2x Spellskite
4x Matter Reshaper
4x Eldrazi Displacer
4x Thought-knot Seer
4x Reality Smasher
4x Drowner of Hope
1x World Breaker
Instants/Sorceries:
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Path to Exile
Lands:
4x Windswept Heath
4x Eldrazi Temple
3x Cavern of Souls
3x Brushlands
2x Yavamaya Coast
1x Mutavault
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Temple Garden
1x Breeding Pool
1x Forest
1x Plains
1x Waste
1x Ghost Quarter
3x Engineered Explosives
3x Stubborn Denial
3x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Timely Reinforcements
2x Stoney Silence
1x Mark of Asylum
1x Disenchant
Round 1 Grixis Control (2-0)[1-0]: Man I love our control matchup. They just don't have enough answers when you get Cavern of Souls out. I also ripped the good cards out of his hand and and reduced Snapcaster Mage to chump duties. All in all, a very successful round.
Round 2 Bushwacker Burn(1-2)[1-1]: Best way I can describe this deck was it was like Nacatl Burn that took one step further in for the Burning Tree into Bushwacker Zooish route. Game 1 he got me on turn 3 on the play (turn 2 swings in with a goblin guide and I still have him on Burn. I Path it, post combat he drops Burning Tree into Swiftspear and Nacatl. Next turn he had the Atarka Command and Lava Spike for the win. Game 2 I landed a TKS turn 2 and saw he had a Goblin Guide, Nacatl, Boros Charm x2, Atarka's Command and a Helix. I rip the Helix because I want him to extend onto the board. He drops the 2 1 drops as expected and passes the turn (that way I don't get a free kill with TKS). I drop the EE I had been holding in my hand on 1, popped it and swung in for 5 because of Heirarch. He couldn't catch up after that. Game 3 he drew a nutty amount of burn spells and chucked them at my face while I couldn't find a larger Eldrazi to save my life.
Round 3 Naya Burn (0-2)[1-2]: Got lethaled on turn 3 again. Searing Blaze my Matter Reshaper crash in with double Swift spear and bolt. Game 2 I managed to stall out the game but even through 2 Ancient Stirrings I couldn't find an Eldrazi that wasn't in my opening hand. After the game I revealed the top 20 cards til I hit an Eldrazi. Seriously wtf.
Round 4 Merfolk (2-0)[2-2]: So I had no idea how massively advantaged we are in this matchup. Game 1 I stalled out the board until I had enough mana to blink Drowner of Hope twice and then tap his entire team down during end step. Game 2 I performed a massive blowout with EE on 2 hitting her lords and Spreading Seas after she declared her team as attackers. I then blew the board and blocked for the blowout. To be fair I did get Triple Hierarch out for game 2 and she used her T2 casting Echoing Truth to bounce them back to my hand (I was gunning for the T3 Drowner I had in hand). After I dropped everything back on board I was swinging for 8 a turn with Drowner.
Ug I love this deck for most of it's matchups (even against the aggro decks like Infect and Affinity) but Burn straight up sucks. I am really considering adding in more to the SB if I start to see it creep back into favor (Swagtusk seems great for Burn and the Control matchups. Blinking him is just so much dumb value too). I'd also consider a couple Kitchen Finks since they drop early, block attackers, are awkward to remove and gain life.
Anyway, I'll be staying on this deck for the time being because Control is EVERYWHERE for me locally and this has a hilarious matchup against it.
http://www.wizardryfoundry.com
Current Deck:
Also, anyone have any idea when this deck will get bumped up to competitive?
Modern
UGWRB Humans
G Mono-Green Tron
UWBR Ad Nauseam
What is your sideboard exactly? EE and Grafdigger's have been amazing. Admittedly I have seen 0 Affinity so far in my local meta so I don't know how that matchup feels. I did add the 1 Thragtusk last night and while I didn't face burn, it was money against the decks I did face (tournament report below)
I think this is technically the Primer. It will likely get bumped to Competitive when it puts up results (remember that this list just barely sprung up at the SCG Open and GP LA&CHA. I think we will see it rise in popularity if the meta stays as slow and grindy as it is now.
Alrighty yall, my DnD group I play with on Tuesday was out of town so I went and hit up one of my LGS for Modern! Below is my list and tournament report for your consumption:
Tuesday Night Modern 25 People:
4x Noble Hierarch
1x Bird of Paradise
2x Spellskite
4x Matter Reshaper
4x Eldrazi Displacer
4x Thought-knot Seer
4x Reality Smasher
4x Drowner of Hope
1x World Breaker
Instants/Sorceries:
4x Ancient Stirrings
4x Path to Exile
Lands:
4x Windswept Heath
4x Eldrazi Temple
3x Cavern of Souls
3x Brushlands
2x Yavimaya Coast
1x Mutavault
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Temple Garden
1x Breeding Pool
1x Forest
1x Plains
1x Waste
1x Ghost Quarter
3x Engineered Explosives
3x Stubborn Denial
3x Grafdigger's Cage
2x Timely Reinforcements
2x Stony Silence
1x Mark of Asylum
1x Thragtusk
Round 1 Grixis Control (2-1)[1-0]:
Game 1 he got me with a mainboard Anger of the Gods. I couldn't find a Cavern of Souls or good Eldrazi to save my life after that and got stuck in loops of Cryptic Commands as he beat down with Tasigur. Game 2 and 3 were much different. Game 2 he bolted my T1 Hierarch, Terminated my T2 Matter Reshaper (flipped to reveal Mutavault), Crunched in with T3 Smasher followed by T4 Drowner of Hope and T5 Thragtusk. Game 3 I got Displacer and Thragtusk to untap and blinking Thragtusk twice during his end step forced the concession.
Round 2 Jund (2-0)[2-0]:
This was this guy's first time playing Jund and he was steadily running into the realization of how difficult that deck actually is to play. I fought my way through 3 removal spells early but things like Matter Reshaper don't care as much. He dropped a Liliana which I crunched with Smasher and I set up him dropping 2 Goyfs and me dropping Drowner to tap them down and crunch in for lethal. I got a T4 Drowner game 2 and he just doesn't have enough answers for that.
Round 3 Dredge (2-0)[3-0]:
Game 1 He started going off to the races early with a dredge into 2 Narcomebas and a Prized Amalgam. Unfortunately I think he made a grave mistake and attacked into my untapped Matter Reshaper. I blocked and traded with the Prized Amalgam (removing a Bridge from Below from his yard and giving him a 2/2 Zombie) and I revealed Eldrazi Displacer off the top. I then drop TKS and yank his Stinkweed Imp. He now was on 3 lands without any dredgers in the yard. I followed up with Smasher and closed out the game quickly. Game 2 was a game you can attribute the win to taking the correct lines of play. His first dredge for 6 got 3 Narcomeba's but no Bridge from Belows. I had an EE in hand and I could have opted to put it on 2 and blow them up without him getting any additional value out of it. Instead I opted to hold onto them for later when he might have Zombies chumming up the board that I want to remove. I stuck an early TKS and Smasher instead and started crashing in. We got to this final board state. He had 3 Bridges in yard, 2 Narcomeba's and 2 Zombie tokens but was at 8 life. I had a Noble Hierarch, Smasher and TKS. My plan of attack was to drop Drowner of Hope and tap down the 2 Zombies. I'd crash in for a total of 4 and he'd get "a billion" Zombies. I'd then follow up with EE on 0 and blow them up so I could crash in for lethal. I topdecked an Eldrazi Temple however and was able to play my Drowner, tap down the 2 Narcomeba's and then play EE on 0 and destroy the tokens. I think my opponents playstyle and deck were pretty bad though. Dredge decks are fragile in their nature anyway but he wasn't running typical things like Loam to ensure he got his land drops. In addition, he made his way through MOST of his library (had ~10 cards left) in game 2 but I wasn't pressured in the least. He kept trying to race me with Narcomeba's attacking in the air. 2 damage to 9 on the crackback isn't how you beat Eldrazi. The fact I didn't even remotely need Grafdigger's Cage was a huge sign for me that his deck wasn't built properly (as I have seen the good variants do exceedingly well). Best part of it all was that my opponent was SUPER salty after the game about how his deck "dumped" on him (completely ignoring that I yanked a Stinkweed Imp I knew was in hand both games and his deck had almost 0 grind to it). I think we are favored in this matchup altogether though. Narcomeba is great chump to Goyf when you have a ton of bridges in the yard but it just can't keep up with Reality Smasher.
Round 4 Flash Bant Tokens (2-0)[4-0]:
This is a buddy of mine and we have played against each other extensively while I was on Eldrazi & Taxes. In the end his deck is really solid and runs a semi control game plan while making tokens with things like Advent of the Wurm, Blade Splicer (with Resto Angel in the list as well), Voice and Geist and then using a couple of the populate cards (namely the Fog to you and the one that makes things indestructible). It's a pretty solid overall list against the meta as the 5/5 Trample Wurms for 4 do get there. It does absolutely 100% crumble to Eldrazi Displacer though. He knows it, I know it and most of the time when it hits the field and he doesn't have the answer, he just scoops it up. Against Eldrazi & Taxes he can at least attempt to counter it with a Mana Leak but with this list, Cavern of Souls and a faster clock just hoses him completely.
All in all it was a good tournament. There were lots of weird decks running around this meta because it's fairly small (like Soul Sisters and Ad Nauseum) but somehow I dodged all that and ran right into this decks wheelhouse. Man, if I could face Jund every round with this deck I might be alright with that. Swagdaddy was a baller and I think I will keep him in the 1x slot in the SB. His synergy with Displacer, in addition to the immense power he brings on his own is totally worth it. This list just has such raw power potential that it is comically unfair at times to decks that are trying to play fair. The meta could easily speed up again and then we might be in more trouble but my meta loves control with an undying fury so as long as there are competitive control decks, that's what I'll be seeing a lot of.
Til next time. Keep Smashing!
I´m pretty sure Affinity is bad, but Burn and Infect are not that bad.
This is a topic where i´ve seen players say that this deck has no real bad matchups, to players say that Aggro just crushes you.
I can say the deck is capable of beating several strategies, because of its midranagey nature. Do you feel otherwise?.
I actually think it's different I think Infect and Affinity is actually alright matchups (but you can easily lose from being out raced if you don't have an answer to what they are doing). Burn I think is really bad if you don't have enough of a plan for it. Most of their damage comes from their hand so clogging the board with large blockers doesn't work (and Eldrazi Displacer becomes even less solid). Also without recurring lifegain they can still race you from an empty hand.
Personally I think this deck DOES have bad matchups against Hyper Aggro because they force you to play the control route. You'd much rather pin your ears back like against Midrange and Control and just have at the other player. I classify this deck as a "Battlecruiser" deck. It wants to play like an aggro deck but it uses large midrangey creatures to get it done. It's not as susceptible to things that the other aggro decks are (ie bolt, pyroclasm, lifegain, etc.) but it gets that resilience at the cost of speed. I'd say this deck has a bad matchup against a deck like Elves as well. They go super wide, super fast and if you don't answer the right thing and they don't have a backup, they will likely win. Also saying these are bad matchups isn't like saying that the matchup is like Jund vs Tron. Our "bad" matchups are ones where we are not favored to win and usually ones where we have to become the control deck.
Currently all the control and midrange decks running around in the format are keeping the Aggro decks in check and that lets us slot in and take advantage of that absence.
I have lost a total of 3 matches over 4 tournaments (16 rounds). 2 were Burn and 1 was RG Mono Land Destruction/Blood Moon. Again admittedly there isn't a ton of aggro in my meta but those have always been the harrowing matchups for me.
Remember you can still attack through bridge with Spellskite and Noble Hierarch. In fact most of the time it's a really easy way to lethal them because they can't come up with enough answers to them and you can keep applying damage. I recommend World Breaker in the main for anyone whose meta isn't overflowing with aggro decks though. He is really good and worst case gets sided out (which makes an easy cut slot when you are looking for them). Against the matchups where you do grind he makes a ton of difference even if you just hit a land with him (keeping people off things like Snap Cryptic and such is pretty big).
I've been looking through the lists here and didn't saw a list with less than 24 lands. After playing a few games I cut a Cavern of Souls and never looked back. Any opinions here?
And on a less serious note:
I had one of the most fun games I ever had in modern yesterday with the deck against U-Tron.
I had a slow start and he got lucky finding Tron early although I quartered the correct land, we trade resources until he resolves an Oblivion Stone and kills my board but Matter Reshaper reveals a Displacer. He plays a Sundering Titan (which was a misplay) and destroyed my only two basic land type lands. I untap with two Eldrazi Temples and a Painland. Blink the Titan to kill two of his own Islands, attack, play a fetch, end turn, blink Titan again during his upkeep to destroy both of his remaining Islands, he concedes.
SO MUCH FUN!
You really trolled him ha ha. I only own 3 Caverns so I have been running 1 Mutavault instead of the 4th and it's been alright so far. It gives me the colorless and occasionally lets me put more pressure (or keep pressure on if they board wiped). I could try a Gavony Township but with this list, if you have dudes onboard you are likely winning anyway and don't need the +1+1 counters (not to mention they get reset by displacer and most of the time you'd rather just blink something for value). I have also been considering Westvale Abbey. We can end up with a board of things we don't care about (Matter Reshaper, Mana Dorks, Scion Tokens etc) and sure it dies to Path but they only have so many of those and we still have Reality Smasher, Drowner and TKS they have to hit with it. I also really like it as a Pseudo-Bitter Blossom effect late game.
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I also post recordings of those streams on Youtube: broodwarjcavidgamer
Standard Deck:
BUPirates
Modern Deck:
B8-Rack
4 Windswept Heath
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Brushlands
3 Yavimaya Coast
1 Westvale abbey
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
2 Forest
2 Plains
1 Waste
1 Ghost Quarter
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Bird of Paradise
2 Scavenging ooze
4 Matter Reshaper
3 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Thought-knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
4 Drowner of Hope
3 Eldrazi Skyspawner
Spells
4 Ancient Stirrings
4 Path to Exile
2 Feed the Clan
2 Dismember
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Thragtusk
2 Tormod's Crypt
2 Naturlize
1 Celestial Purge
3 Spell Pierce
Some mentions about the deck.
1. Didn't have a 4th Noble Hierach. Had to make do with what I had
2. Didn't have 2 Spellspkites so I opted for 2 Scavenging Ooze.
3. Went 3 Displacers and 3 Skyspawners.
4. Sideboard is very clunky due to the fact I didn't have most cards and had to make do with what I had at the very moment.
5. Also, no cavern of souls just cause I didn't have them.
Round 1 [Mono Red Kiln Fiend] - Seemed budget as the player just moved to modern from standard. 2-0
This match was pretty easy due to him not having enough threats to compete with my thought-knot and path. Not much to say about this match up except get rid of their creatures and board in some spell pierces to throw off their combo.
Round 2 [UW Thopter-Sword combo] - Haven't faced a thopter sword deck before [1-2]
Couldn't get any naturlize or celestial purge before he started going wider than me. Could've played this match-up a lot better IMO.
Round 3 [Naya Burn] - [1-2]
Couldn't stabilize fast enough with all those burn spells. Sideboard helped tremendously the second game. Went to game three couldn't and only had a timely reinforcements and wasn't able to stabilize.
Round 4 [GW Life Gain?] [2-0]
Some janky deck with life gain wasn't too great.
Overall, the deck feels really good when it goes off. Sometimes I'm stuck with a lot lands on board or in my hand. 24 might be too much..not sure yet. Other times I summon one reality smasher/drowner and it doesn't impact the board too much. Westvale Abbey was a pretty fun card and it was great late game as sort of just getting through the grindy matchups.
I just expressed the same thoughts two posts above.
Currently I'm running 23 lands and 2x Oath of Nissa maindeck. It's clearly worse than Stirrings but still better than Modern's best blue cantrip (Serum Visions lol.
Works fine for me so far.
I think the land base is actually the part of the deck that has the most room for innovation, as almost everybody here is just copying the landbase of the deck that got top 8 at the GP. The other parts of the deck are super tight with only 2-3 flexspots.
Ideas like Blighted Cataract or Westvale Abbey definetely derserve some testing.
Impulse is not modern legal...
I definitely think Westvale Abbey is worth a test here. It's not about flipping it like it is in Standard. You wil games with it on the back of treating it like a Bitterblossom on turns you have nothing better going on. Just keep pumping out 1/1's. I think we could have games where we will flip it too and because of Stubborn Denial and the Abundance of large threats we have, our opponent may not have the right kill spells. I actually like 24 lands and sure on occasion I get a little flooded but I am almost never mana screwed. This deck is so land hungry that if you start drawing consecutive Smasher and Drowners you need to have the mana to play them.
I don't think it's worth it. If we want to play more cantrips then we will play Oath of Nissa. The difference between 1 and two mana is huuuge and will we sometimes just need that path or stony silence we would be diluting our otherwise super proactive gameplan by playing anticipate, which let's it do more harm than good.