Would you guys threat this death shadow deck like a Jund deck with death shadow or a death shadow deck with more midrange elements? Is it worth investigating and adding it to the primer?
It seems to be more of a Death's Shadow deck with a few more toolbox/midrange elements, to me.
Unfortunately finished 2-4'd Day 2 of Vancouver for a final result of 10-5 for 118th of 1550 and one pro point. Here's a brief write up, if you have any specific questions just let me know:
Background: I'm usually on Junk, Junk is even what I piloted to grab my byes for the GP, however switched to Jund as I believed the meta at the GP would be Bant Eldrazi, Eldrazi Tron, Tron and R/G Breach. While obviously these are not great match ups for either Junk or Jund I decided Jund were better in these match ups. This was also my first GP as a player so I wanted to play something I knew.
Round 1: Bye (1-0)
Round 2: Bye (2-0)
Round 3: Merfolk (3-0, 2-0)
Opponent definitely was nervous for this match. She had no byes and was very surprised to be 2-0 going into round 3 and it showed. Game 1 she had a couple loose attacks that allowed Goyf to eat a lord for free twice. Game 2 she went to 6, kept a vial on top with a 1 land hand. While she did draw straight lands which a very solid hand, two bolts and two Finks crushed.
Sideboard:
-4 Liliana of the Veil
-3 Thoughtseize
-1 Collective Brutality
+2 Kitchen Finks
+2 Anger of the Gods
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Damnation
+1 Engineered Explosives
Round 4: Boros Burn (4-0, 2-1)
Game 1 Opponent never found a second mountain for his hand of double Eidolon and Seering Blaze. A 5/6 Goyf ended up beating him down while I was still at 10. Game two I ended up getting stuck on a two land hand that had Anger of the Gods and Inquisition which a couple creatures. Opp had a handful of 3 bolts and a skullcrack but kept ripping Guides and swiftspears. Game 3 Opp drew a ton of lands while I had a Huntmaster flipped three times and a finks.
Sideboard:
-4 Dark Confidant
-3 Thoughtseize
+2 Kitchen Finks
+1 Collective Brutality
+2 Anger of the Gods
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Engineered Explosives
Round 5: Boogles (5-0, 2-1)
First of many matches at the top tables, however always dodging coverage since my opponent was never anyone special in the eyes of coverage. Game 1 I keep a sketch hand with no interaction, a bob, goyf, two lilis and three lands while my opponent mulls to five. Turns out two Lilis is really good vs Boogles. He finds only one boogle to suit up and gets edict'd on turn 3. Game 2 I keep another two liliana hand but this time he has a fetchland to grab a dryad arbor to protect his dude. Game 3 I keep a anger of the gods + liliana + dark confidant hand and opponent muls to five again.
I stopped taking sideboard notes at this point but it was something like this:
Sideboard:
-2 Huntmaster of the Fells
-1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
-1 Collective Brutality
+2 Anger of the Gods
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Engineered Explosives
Round 6: Eldrazi Tron (6-0, 2-1)
Opponent never finds tron game 1 but ends up being able to recurr a batterskull every turn into my huntmaster. Eventually a dark confidant finds a K-Command to finally clear the way for lethal. Game two he has natural tron + Karn. And Game 3 all I have from my notes is goyf beats + pulse.
Round 7: Sultai Control (6-1, 0-2)
Get the downpair to a guy who is 5-0-1. I put him on some AV control list and right. Game 1 he has the play and has three leaks and a Grim Flayer to my no Abrupt Decay or bolt hand and he leaks to victory. Game 2 we're top decking. He turns Cryptic, Snap, Snap and I run Fetch, Tomb, Fetch (With no fetchables left), Fetch Ended with the deck having only 3 Raging Ravines and 2 Blackcleave Cliffs left in the sub 30 card deck.
Round 8: Bant Eldrazi (7-1, 2-0)
Unfortunately another downpair to a player who is 5-1-1. PJSalt a little since breakers were fairly poor. Dark Confidant was MVP both games as opponent never had a answer. That was my only not from this match. For some reason in game 2 I ended at 1 life and opponent was at 19 and he conceded before I could deal more damage to him. Hmm.
Sideboard:
-1 Inqusition of Kozilek
-2 Kolaghan's Command
-4 Liliana of the Veil
+2 Kitchen Finks
+3 Fulminator Mage
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Damnation
Round 9: Affinity (8-1, 2-0)
Return to the top tables vs a Portland local who is 7-0-1. Feature matches are tables 1-5 and we're at table 6 Dream crushed big time for this guy who was going for undefeated. Game 1 opponent leads with with drum pass, which I IoQ back to take his only creature with a double plating, a Blinkmoth and Citadel. Dark Confidant keeps me head against his no pressure and a Kia/Kiran helps secure the win. Game 2 he mulls to 6, again leads with Drum pass. I IoQ him to reveal two blood moons, Inkmoth and Glimmervoid. He top decks Mox Opal but no way to turn it on. I turn double fetch but he's only able to get a forest before he blood moons. Luckily he again finds no threats to deal with bolts and a Pia/Kiran.
Sideboard:
-4 Liliana of the Veil
-3 Thoughtseize
+2 Anger of the Gods
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Damnation
+2 Ancient Grudge
+1 Engineered Explosives
End of Day One had me at 33rd overall at 8-1. For my first GP I was very very satisfied with this result. Breakers wise, everyone from rounds 6 to 9 advanced to Day Two so I felt solid. I can very confidently say that the deck was running on all cylinders all day except for its one loss. This was definitely not he case for Day Two.
Round 10: Ad Nauseam (9-1, 2-1)
There was four Level 2 Judges that advanced to Day 2 which all I knew. Jon and I were both at 8-1 so I was very suprised to see that I was playing against him the first round of Day Two. Yet again everyone round us was called over to coverage but us. While I was nervous I was happy I got to finally see how good of a match up Ad Nauseam is never having play against it before. Game 1 I never find a way to interact with him except for turn 1 IoQ. He's able to survive at 1 since I don't have any way to shove lots of damage through a Unlife. Game 2 and 3 were much easier with Grudges and Thoughtseizes. Opponent sideboard in Lingering Souls and Grave Titans which was cute. Game 2 I flip a Huntmaster off a Dark Confidant and was very confused as I thought I sided them out. Game 3 Kitchen Finks was MVP. The 3/2 beater for 3 was the pressure I needed (Shout out to FlyingDelver for pointing this out) before he was able to find a 6th land for a Grave Titan.
Sideboard:
-2 Huntmaster of the Fells
-1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
-3 Terminate
+2 Kitchen Finks
+1 Collective Brutality
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+2 Surgical
**Round 11: Erik Severson (Eventual 1st seed) Abzan Company (9-2, 0-2)
Hate to say but the list never ever wanted to function nicely for the rest of the tournament. Game 1 I have Discard + Goyf but unable to answer chaining Ralliers and Gavony. Game 2 is incredibly memorable because it sums up my Day Two and talked to local Portland grinders to verify my line of play. I'd love everyone else to chim in here too.
Turn 1: Blackcleave Cliffs, Thoughtseize revealing Noble Hierarch, Eternal Witness, Eternal Witness, Horizon Conopy, Verdant Catacombs, Windswept Heath, Gavony Township. Take E-Witt with the goal of Ravine + E-Ewit next turn making his hand just 5 lands
Turn 1o: Windswept Heath for Temple Garden to Noble
Turn 2: Draw Bloodstained Mire, I want to take his E-Witt so he cant get start chaining E-Witts. Thoughtseize and reveals he drew Tracker. Well Dont want him to E-Wit tracker so I take E-Wit and play the Ravine Tapped.
Turn 2o: Draws Spike Feeder and plays it with Canopy.
Turn 3: Draw Scavenging Ooze. Fetch for a Overgrown Tomb with the Mire and play Ooze.
Turn 3o: Opponent Draws and plays Tracker + Verdant. I shoot a E-Wit and he fetches to get another clue.
Turn 4: Draw Stomping Ground. So my hand is now Goyf, Terminate, Dark Confidant, Stomping Grounds. Opponent's hand is Unknown + Gavony Township. What's the play?
My Play:
Play Tarmogoyf and Terminate Tracker. There's no way we win this game with Tracker living. If Opponent found Archangel of Thune in two draw steps GG.
Well he did on his first one.
Sideboard:
-4 Liliana of the Veil
-2 Kolaghan's Command
+1 Collective Brutality
+2 Anger of the Gods
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Damnation
+1 Engineered Explosives
Round 12: Tron (9-3, 0-2)
Opponent never cast a Map or Sylvan Scrying but had natural tron + karn on turn 3 both games. Game 2 I IoQ him revealing Mine, Tower, Power Plant, Grove, Stone, K-Return and Stirrings. Having a Fulminator in my hand I take Stirrings. Turn 3 fulminate Tower. Opp has another stirrings and finds tower and turn 4 Karns
Sideboard:
-1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
-3 Savenging Ooze
-1 Collective Brutality
-3 Terminate
+3 Fulminator Mage
+1 Maelstrome Pulse
+2 Surgical Extraction
+2 Ancient Grudge
Round 13: GW Elves (9-4, 0-2)
Another L2 from the area. Lucky to play against him as I was pretty steamy. Game One here's the boardstate:
Me: 4/5 Goyf, LotV at 4, K-Command is the only card in hand, no creatures in the graveyard.
Him: 4 1/1s (One is a Heritage Druid, nothing else really is relevant) and a 2/2. No cards in hand.
What's the play?
My Play:
Pass. In Draw Step make him discard and shock the 2/2.
Well he drew Chord for Ezuri, Renegade Leader. Regenerate the 2/2.
Game 2 I bolt his turn one and two dork. He leads the stampede for 4 cards, two of which are Shamans of the Pack. Don't find much interaction just a handful of creatures. Next I lose 6 + 7 of them and survive at 1. EE wasn't able to do quite enough to save me. Wish I had any other sweeper instead.
Sideboard:
-4 Liliana of the Veil
+2 Anger of the Gods
+1 Damnation
+1 Engineered Explosives
Round 14: Eldrazi Tron (9-5, 1-2)
Yet again Eldrazi Tron opponent is able to chain Batterskulls, but this time I can't find a K-Command before he finds a smasher to make a 9/9. Get Game 2 with 3 5/6 goyfs. Round 2 have a 6/7 Goyf, him at 12 and both of us have no cards in hand. He draws All is Dust. I draw Thoughtseize. He draws Endbringer. I draw Surigcal Extraction. He draws Endbringer. I draw Overgrown Tomb. He draws Matter Reshaper. I draw Raging Ravine. He draws Batterskull and I saw enough.
Round 15: Death Shadow (10-5, 2-1)
Finally got to play against Death Shadow. Been ready all weekend after seeing it all around me at the top tables. He grabs Game 1 is close after I draw removals for his creatures. The board get clogged with opposing Goyfs. He traverses for Street Waith which Swampwalks to victory. Game 2 I grab with his lackluster draw and my goyfs being fueld by his yard. Game 3 comes down to a Raging Ravine with no counters vs a 5/5 death shadow while we both have no cards in hand I'm at 4 and he's at 3. I fetch to filter. He cuts me to a Abrupt Decay and I swing for lethal.
Sideboard:
-2 Huntmaster of the Fells
-1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
-1 Collective Brutality
-3 Liliana of the Veil
+2 Kitchen Finks
+3 Fulminator Mage
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Engineered Explosives
Finish 118th of 1550 and secure one pro point. Happy I made the switch to Jund for the event. All but two matches I would have preferred to be Jund over Junk.
They run 8 to 10 discard spells, and dropping a blood moon with a large death shadow is an awful feeling. Been playing on mtgo today with it, the deck is pure gas, I can't believe how consistent it can dig for lands and threats with so few of both. It honestly feels like it's a 52 card deck. I'm having issues sideboarding and sequencing, but I've been getting a lot of flat out free wins, too. The deck feels very protected due to so many discard spells.
Leyton may have said he wanted to avoid the jund matchup, but he also said in the finals that it didn't feel bad of a matchup either. I just beat Jund in a close game 30 minutes ago, the matchup feels VERY 50/50. I also beat Grixis a few minutes ago. Game 1 he won a super close one with bolt at the end, but games 2 and 3 it was just way too fast for him. He tapped out damnation to get rid of a quick 5/6 Goyf, I then dropped LOTV and shadow at the same time, dropped another Goyf and he couldn't stabilize. The deck is stupid efficient. I started that game with a mull to 6 and 1 land in the starting hand.
The deck could be a meta call, and trusty Jund is always tier 1 and great, so this is definitely not a sky is falling mentality, I just encourage for you guys to give it a try since we all basically have the pieces to the deck.
Apparently Junk is a nightmare for the deck, and Junk literally took back it's top spot as the GBx on mtgo an hour after Alyius said Jund is the top Gbx deck.
I think Jund's going to keep chugging along just fine, I'm not too high on fatal push, especially with so many Eldrazi and Scapeshift decks.
Oh I know. I've seen it online. I was just adding a highlight of what Josh said. I think it's actually better than previous incarnations of Death's Shadow aggro. However, if we were to have more Fatal Push main deck or sideboard, I think we can hang with them more efficiently. It is definitely a close match regardless.
We could potentially catch this deck with Blood Moon is my thinking.
Doubtful - they can just grab whatever basic they need with Traverse.
Traverse being an sorcery won't allow that if Blood Moon is already on the BF. They usually only run 1 basic forest and 1 basic swamp. So they need to have the forest out before you cast Blood Moon. If thats the case then yes, they can get the swamp, but otherwise they are caught with the pants down. Its definitely not the best plan, but when you play Blood Moon over Fulminators, then I would definitely board them in, just as you would board in Fulminators.
@FreeRoaming Congratz on the result! One question: Why did you board out TS against Merfolk? Don't you think its important to catch a Master of Waves which is very hard to deal for us. Also getting additional chances to catch Spreading Seas seems very important to me.
That's not a good solution either, there's so many eldrazi and ramp decks that we're not putting a noose on our SB
For the overall field, you are correct. I'm just throwing out ideas I've come up with for this specific match. You know... See what would make it a good match and then see what we could incorporate for a field.
@Spsiegel1987 The issue with the discard and Blood Moon is probably true, after thinking about it. If you don't have Fulminators though I guess I would still board it in.
Someone boarded in Fulminator against me and it didn't work either. I discarded the one, they found one not long after but I had a huge ass Shadow on the field, so it didn't do much. They blew the fulm, I put down a 4th land (only 3 now), casted lingering souls, and it was over. The next turn I casted Souls from the graveyard and dropped another Shadow in one turn
You pretty much need to straight up kill their creatures, pick apart their hand and lock them out with LOTV
Whatever the case, I think we can safely move Collective Brutality out of the main for now. What about Maelstrom Pulse? I feel it's useful but speed seems to be the name of the game.
@FreeRoaming Congratz on the result! One question: Why did you board out TS against Merfolk? Don't you think its important to catch a Master of Waves which is very hard to deal for us. Also getting additional chances to catch Spreading Seas seems very important to me.
Hmm you're definitely right. -2 K-Command and -1 Confidant? To be honest I don't know why I took them out. They're fantastic against Silvegirl/Spreading Seas which are the main problems. Master of Waves wasn't on my radar for problem cards since I never have a problem dealing with it at junk.
Whatever the case, I think we can safely move Collective Brutality out of the main for now. What about Maelstrom Pulse? I feel it's useful but speed seems to be the name of the game.
I feel like Pulse is still good, as being able to recover from a multiple goyf/shadow board is possible with this card. Its slow, but you definitely can get value. What I thought about, why not packing Surgical Extraction in to extract all the shadows?
@FreeRoaming Congratz on the result! One question: Why did you board out TS against Merfolk? Don't you think its important to catch a Master of Waves which is very hard to deal for us. Also getting additional chances to catch Spreading Seas seems very important to me.
Hmm you're definitely right. -2 K-Command and -1 Confidant? To be honest I don't know why I took them out. They're fantastic against Silvegirl/Spreading Seas which are the main problems. Master of Waves wasn't on my radar for problem cards since I never have a problem dealing with it at junk.
Well Jund has a lot more problems dealing with Master than Junk has for obvious reasons. KCommand seems like a good cut, I would do that. Besides this its though. CB overall is not the best, but can kill Master so I would keep it in. It could be worth to cut an Ooze or a Huntmaster probably.
I've been playing with Lost Legacy for awhile and it's gas. Clearly potentially slower than Surgical, but it's unconditional because it doesn't require it to be in the yard and you don't have to play around things like K-Command. It's just a good card overall against the combo decks, especially on the play.
That's funny, because I thought of the same thing, but opposite. Why not just take the traditional Jund shell, and speed up the deck with Death's Shadow, Temur Battle Rage, and Street Wraith? Dark Confidant and Street Wraith will help you draw into the cards you need, while making Death's Shadow bigger. This should help Jund go under big mana decks. Maybe it isn't consistent enough without Traverse, but I'd say it's worth a shot.
That's funny, because I thought of the same thing, but opposite. Why not just take the traditional Jund shell, and speed up the deck with Death's Shadow, Temur Battle Rage, and Street Wraith? Dark Confidant and Street Wraith will help you draw into the cards you need, while making Death's Shadow bigger. This should help Jund go under big mana decks. Maybe it isn't consistent enough without Traverse, but I'd say it's worth a shot.
Thats what the new death's shadow deck actually is. It is Jund and Death Shadow combined and already looks kinda good to me. No need to put Dark Confidant in there, it would be a worse version of the new Death Shadow Jund deck.
@Mishichi: Quite innovative list to say. But the problem is: What problems does it solve we have? We generally have a hard time against Tron basically. I think your list is actually slower at closing out games than a regular Jund list. How consistantly were you able to cast Emrakul on turn 5 (which is the fastest possible Emrakul)?
Having to run Tarfire should results in a good enough benefit to justify it in my opinion. This Death Shadow deck primarily doesn't want to fully take over the game like regular Jund. Your midrangy list surely does. And I can see the difference between 2 and 3 dmg can certainly be an issue here. Because your deck is obviously not as fast as the death shadow deck, and you also only run 2 terminates, so I can see you get sometimes just beaten down by opposing X/3 creatures due to this. For Death Shadow it doesn't matter all that much because its faster.
What do you actually do if you are up against this death shadow deck? I think you will be dead before you can cast emrakul. But these are just my concerns, have you tested the list somehow?
I like the idea of Emrakul Jund, Misichi. It is a sizable deck construction juggle for the sake of a Godzilla drop, but it certainly can be the "I Win" card.
Overall, it does slow down a traditional Jund build, as FlyingDelver suggests. And, that's the archetype's principal failing: speed of ramp. I would say that if Jund always went first And could draw a card on-the-play, it should top 8 every tournament. That's how close the line is - to absolute victory. This version backs you off the line.
Buuuuut, when you are ceding ground in your speediness, that's not a universal detriment. More specifically, don't dismiss Dark Confidant just yet. Consider Tron/Ad Nauseam/Lantern/Infect and any other number of decks that don't care about your life total. A flipped Emrakul, the Promised End means little on the 13 point slap to the mouth. For more fair matchups, it could be critical damage. But, what are the odds...really? And against these odds, you're surrendering the use of Bob.
I'd say keep (4) D. Confidant in the game. Then, load that single bullet in the chamber and spin it! Emrakul Jund Roulette is born.
Yep, probably you are right.
Doubtful - they can just grab whatever basic they need with Traverse.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
Background: I'm usually on Junk, Junk is even what I piloted to grab my byes for the GP, however switched to Jund as I believed the meta at the GP would be Bant Eldrazi, Eldrazi Tron, Tron and R/G Breach. While obviously these are not great match ups for either Junk or Jund I decided Jund were better in these match ups. This was also my first GP as a player so I wanted to play something I knew.
4x Tarmogoyf
3x Scavenging Ooze
2x Huntmaster of the Fells
1x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Thoughtseize
1x Collective Brutality
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Terminate
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Kolaghan's Command
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Wooded Foothils
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Blood Crypt
1x Stomping Grounds
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
3x Raging Ravine
1x Twilight Mire
2x Swamp
1x Forest
2x Kitchen Finks
3x Fulminator Mage
1x Collective Brutality
1x Maelstrom Pulse
2x Anger of hte gods
1x Damnation
2x Surgical Extraction
2x Ancient Grudge
1x Engineered Explosives
Round 1: Bye (1-0)
Round 2: Bye (2-0)
Round 3: Merfolk (3-0, 2-0)
Opponent definitely was nervous for this match. She had no byes and was very surprised to be 2-0 going into round 3 and it showed. Game 1 she had a couple loose attacks that allowed Goyf to eat a lord for free twice. Game 2 she went to 6, kept a vial on top with a 1 land hand. While she did draw straight lands which a very solid hand, two bolts and two Finks crushed.
Sideboard:
-4 Liliana of the Veil
-3 Thoughtseize
-1 Collective Brutality
+2 Kitchen Finks
+2 Anger of the Gods
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Damnation
+1 Engineered Explosives
Round 4: Boros Burn (4-0, 2-1)
Game 1 Opponent never found a second mountain for his hand of double Eidolon and Seering Blaze. A 5/6 Goyf ended up beating him down while I was still at 10. Game two I ended up getting stuck on a two land hand that had Anger of the Gods and Inquisition which a couple creatures. Opp had a handful of 3 bolts and a skullcrack but kept ripping Guides and swiftspears. Game 3 Opp drew a ton of lands while I had a Huntmaster flipped three times and a finks.
Sideboard:
-4 Dark Confidant
-3 Thoughtseize
+2 Kitchen Finks
+1 Collective Brutality
+2 Anger of the Gods
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Engineered Explosives
Round 5: Boogles (5-0, 2-1)
First of many matches at the top tables, however always dodging coverage since my opponent was never anyone special in the eyes of coverage. Game 1 I keep a sketch hand with no interaction, a bob, goyf, two lilis and three lands while my opponent mulls to five. Turns out two Lilis is really good vs Boogles. He finds only one boogle to suit up and gets edict'd on turn 3. Game 2 I keep another two liliana hand but this time he has a fetchland to grab a dryad arbor to protect his dude. Game 3 I keep a anger of the gods + liliana + dark confidant hand and opponent muls to five again.
I stopped taking sideboard notes at this point but it was something like this:
Sideboard:
-2 Huntmaster of the Fells
-1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
-1 Collective Brutality
+2 Anger of the Gods
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Engineered Explosives
Round 6: Eldrazi Tron (6-0, 2-1)
Opponent never finds tron game 1 but ends up being able to recurr a batterskull every turn into my huntmaster. Eventually a dark confidant finds a K-Command to finally clear the way for lethal. Game two he has natural tron + Karn. And Game 3 all I have from my notes is goyf beats + pulse.
Sideboard:
-3 Inqusition of Kozilek
-1 Collective Brutality
-2 Abrupt Decay
+2 Kitchen Finks
+3 Fulminator Mage
+2 Surgical Extraction
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
Round 7: Sultai Control (6-1, 0-2)
Get the downpair to a guy who is 5-0-1. I put him on some AV control list and right. Game 1 he has the play and has three leaks and a Grim Flayer to my no Abrupt Decay or bolt hand and he leaks to victory. Game 2 we're top decking. He turns Cryptic, Snap, Snap and I run Fetch, Tomb, Fetch (With no fetchables left), Fetch Ended with the deck having only 3 Raging Ravines and 2 Blackcleave Cliffs left in the sub 30 card deck.
Sideboard:
-2 Decay
-1 Bolt
+2 Finks
+1 Collective Brutality
Round 8: Bant Eldrazi (7-1, 2-0)
Unfortunately another downpair to a player who is 5-1-1. PJSalt a little since breakers were fairly poor. Dark Confidant was MVP both games as opponent never had a answer. That was my only not from this match. For some reason in game 2 I ended at 1 life and opponent was at 19 and he conceded before I could deal more damage to him. Hmm.
Sideboard:
-1 Inqusition of Kozilek
-2 Kolaghan's Command
-4 Liliana of the Veil
+2 Kitchen Finks
+3 Fulminator Mage
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Damnation
Round 9: Affinity (8-1, 2-0)
Return to the top tables vs a Portland local who is 7-0-1. Feature matches are tables 1-5 and we're at table 6 Dream crushed big time for this guy who was going for undefeated. Game 1 opponent leads with with drum pass, which I IoQ back to take his only creature with a double plating, a Blinkmoth and Citadel. Dark Confidant keeps me head against his no pressure and a Kia/Kiran helps secure the win. Game 2 he mulls to 6, again leads with Drum pass. I IoQ him to reveal two blood moons, Inkmoth and Glimmervoid. He top decks Mox Opal but no way to turn it on. I turn double fetch but he's only able to get a forest before he blood moons. Luckily he again finds no threats to deal with bolts and a Pia/Kiran.
Sideboard:
-4 Liliana of the Veil
-3 Thoughtseize
+2 Anger of the Gods
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Damnation
+2 Ancient Grudge
+1 Engineered Explosives
End of Day One had me at 33rd overall at 8-1. For my first GP I was very very satisfied with this result. Breakers wise, everyone from rounds 6 to 9 advanced to Day Two so I felt solid. I can very confidently say that the deck was running on all cylinders all day except for its one loss. This was definitely not he case for Day Two.
Round 10: Ad Nauseam (9-1, 2-1)
There was four Level 2 Judges that advanced to Day 2 which all I knew. Jon and I were both at 8-1 so I was very suprised to see that I was playing against him the first round of Day Two. Yet again everyone round us was called over to coverage but us. While I was nervous I was happy I got to finally see how good of a match up Ad Nauseam is never having play against it before. Game 1 I never find a way to interact with him except for turn 1 IoQ. He's able to survive at 1 since I don't have any way to shove lots of damage through a Unlife. Game 2 and 3 were much easier with Grudges and Thoughtseizes. Opponent sideboard in Lingering Souls and Grave Titans which was cute. Game 2 I flip a Huntmaster off a Dark Confidant and was very confused as I thought I sided them out. Game 3 Kitchen Finks was MVP. The 3/2 beater for 3 was the pressure I needed (Shout out to FlyingDelver for pointing this out) before he was able to find a 6th land for a Grave Titan.
Sideboard:
-2 Huntmaster of the Fells
-1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
-3 Terminate
+2 Kitchen Finks
+1 Collective Brutality
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+2 Surgical
**Round 11: Erik Severson (Eventual 1st seed) Abzan Company (9-2, 0-2)
Hate to say but the list never ever wanted to function nicely for the rest of the tournament. Game 1 I have Discard + Goyf but unable to answer chaining Ralliers and Gavony. Game 2 is incredibly memorable because it sums up my Day Two and talked to local Portland grinders to verify my line of play. I'd love everyone else to chim in here too.
Keep: Blackcleave Cliffs, Raging Ravine, Thoughtseize, Thoughtseize, Tarmogoyf, Dark Confidant, Terminate. Opponent keeps 7
Turn 1: Blackcleave Cliffs, Thoughtseize revealing Noble Hierarch, Eternal Witness, Eternal Witness, Horizon Conopy, Verdant Catacombs, Windswept Heath, Gavony Township. Take E-Witt with the goal of Ravine + E-Ewit next turn making his hand just 5 lands
Turn 1o: Windswept Heath for Temple Garden to Noble
Turn 2: Draw Bloodstained Mire, I want to take his E-Witt so he cant get start chaining E-Witts. Thoughtseize and reveals he drew Tracker. Well Dont want him to E-Wit tracker so I take E-Wit and play the Ravine Tapped.
Turn 2o: Draws Spike Feeder and plays it with Canopy.
Turn 3: Draw Scavenging Ooze. Fetch for a Overgrown Tomb with the Mire and play Ooze.
Turn 3o: Opponent Draws and plays Tracker + Verdant. I shoot a E-Wit and he fetches to get another clue.
Turn 4: Draw Stomping Ground. So my hand is now Goyf, Terminate, Dark Confidant, Stomping Grounds. Opponent's hand is Unknown + Gavony Township. What's the play?
My Play:
Play Tarmogoyf and Terminate Tracker. There's no way we win this game with Tracker living. If Opponent found Archangel of Thune in two draw steps GG.
Well he did on his first one.
Sideboard:
-4 Liliana of the Veil
-2 Kolaghan's Command
+1 Collective Brutality
+2 Anger of the Gods
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Damnation
+1 Engineered Explosives
Round 12: Tron (9-3, 0-2)
Opponent never cast a Map or Sylvan Scrying but had natural tron + karn on turn 3 both games. Game 2 I IoQ him revealing Mine, Tower, Power Plant, Grove, Stone, K-Return and Stirrings. Having a Fulminator in my hand I take Stirrings. Turn 3 fulminate Tower. Opp has another stirrings and finds tower and turn 4 Karns
Sideboard:
-1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
-3 Savenging Ooze
-1 Collective Brutality
-3 Terminate
+3 Fulminator Mage
+1 Maelstrome Pulse
+2 Surgical Extraction
+2 Ancient Grudge
Round 13: GW Elves (9-4, 0-2)
Another L2 from the area. Lucky to play against him as I was pretty steamy. Game One here's the boardstate:
Me: 4/5 Goyf, LotV at 4, K-Command is the only card in hand, no creatures in the graveyard.
Him: 4 1/1s (One is a Heritage Druid, nothing else really is relevant) and a 2/2. No cards in hand.
What's the play?
My Play:
Pass. In Draw Step make him discard and shock the 2/2.
Well he drew Chord for Ezuri, Renegade Leader. Regenerate the 2/2.
Game 2 I bolt his turn one and two dork. He leads the stampede for 4 cards, two of which are Shamans of the Pack. Don't find much interaction just a handful of creatures. Next I lose 6 + 7 of them and survive at 1. EE wasn't able to do quite enough to save me. Wish I had any other sweeper instead.
Sideboard:
-4 Liliana of the Veil
+2 Anger of the Gods
+1 Damnation
+1 Engineered Explosives
Round 14: Eldrazi Tron (9-5, 1-2)
Yet again Eldrazi Tron opponent is able to chain Batterskulls, but this time I can't find a K-Command before he finds a smasher to make a 9/9. Get Game 2 with 3 5/6 goyfs. Round 2 have a 6/7 Goyf, him at 12 and both of us have no cards in hand. He draws All is Dust. I draw Thoughtseize. He draws Endbringer. I draw Surigcal Extraction. He draws Endbringer. I draw Overgrown Tomb. He draws Matter Reshaper. I draw Raging Ravine. He draws Batterskull and I saw enough.
Sideboard:
-3 Inqusition of Kozilek
-1 Collective Brutality
-2 Abrupt Decay
+2 Kitchen Finks
+3 Fulminator Mage
+2 Surgical Extraction
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
Round 15: Death Shadow (10-5, 2-1)
Finally got to play against Death Shadow. Been ready all weekend after seeing it all around me at the top tables. He grabs Game 1 is close after I draw removals for his creatures. The board get clogged with opposing Goyfs. He traverses for Street Waith which Swampwalks to victory. Game 2 I grab with his lackluster draw and my goyfs being fueld by his yard. Game 3 comes down to a Raging Ravine with no counters vs a 5/5 death shadow while we both have no cards in hand I'm at 4 and he's at 3. I fetch to filter. He cuts me to a Abrupt Decay and I swing for lethal.
Sideboard:
-2 Huntmaster of the Fells
-1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
-1 Collective Brutality
-3 Liliana of the Veil
+2 Kitchen Finks
+3 Fulminator Mage
+1 Maelstrom Pulse
+1 Engineered Explosives
Finish 118th of 1550 and secure one pro point. Happy I made the switch to Jund for the event. All but two matches I would have preferred to be Jund over Junk.
Modern: Junk Midrange
They run 8 to 10 discard spells, and dropping a blood moon with a large death shadow is an awful feeling. Been playing on mtgo today with it, the deck is pure gas, I can't believe how consistent it can dig for lands and threats with so few of both. It honestly feels like it's a 52 card deck. I'm having issues sideboarding and sequencing, but I've been getting a lot of flat out free wins, too. The deck feels very protected due to so many discard spells.
Leyton may have said he wanted to avoid the jund matchup, but he also said in the finals that it didn't feel bad of a matchup either. I just beat Jund in a close game 30 minutes ago, the matchup feels VERY 50/50. I also beat Grixis a few minutes ago. Game 1 he won a super close one with bolt at the end, but games 2 and 3 it was just way too fast for him. He tapped out damnation to get rid of a quick 5/6 Goyf, I then dropped LOTV and shadow at the same time, dropped another Goyf and he couldn't stabilize. The deck is stupid efficient. I started that game with a mull to 6 and 1 land in the starting hand.
The deck could be a meta call, and trusty Jund is always tier 1 and great, so this is definitely not a sky is falling mentality, I just encourage for you guys to give it a try since we all basically have the pieces to the deck.
Apparently Junk is a nightmare for the deck, and Junk literally took back it's top spot as the GBx on mtgo an hour after Alyius said Jund is the top Gbx deck.
I think Jund's going to keep chugging along just fine, I'm not too high on fatal push, especially with so many Eldrazi and Scapeshift decks.
Traverse being an sorcery won't allow that if Blood Moon is already on the BF. They usually only run 1 basic forest and 1 basic swamp. So they need to have the forest out before you cast Blood Moon. If thats the case then yes, they can get the swamp, but otherwise they are caught with the pants down. Its definitely not the best plan, but when you play Blood Moon over Fulminators, then I would definitely board them in, just as you would board in Fulminators.
@FreeRoaming Congratz on the result! One question: Why did you board out TS against Merfolk? Don't you think its important to catch a Master of Waves which is very hard to deal for us. Also getting additional chances to catch Spreading Seas seems very important to me.
For the overall field, you are correct. I'm just throwing out ideas I've come up with for this specific match. You know... See what would make it a good match and then see what we could incorporate for a field.
You pretty much need to straight up kill their creatures, pick apart their hand and lock them out with LOTV
*****, would you though? All their spells are so cheap.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
Hmm you're definitely right. -2 K-Command and -1 Confidant? To be honest I don't know why I took them out. They're fantastic against Silvegirl/Spreading Seas which are the main problems. Master of Waves wasn't on my radar for problem cards since I never have a problem dealing with it at junk.
Modern: Junk Midrange
I feel like Pulse is still good, as being able to recover from a multiple goyf/shadow board is possible with this card. Its slow, but you definitely can get value. What I thought about, why not packing Surgical Extraction in to extract all the shadows?
This is true. Maybe its not worth it at all to bring in land hate.
Well Jund has a lot more problems dealing with Master than Junk has for obvious reasons. KCommand seems like a good cut, I would do that. Besides this its though. CB overall is not the best, but can kill Master so I would keep it in. It could be worth to cut an Ooze or a Huntmaster probably.
Thats what the new death's shadow deck actually is. It is Jund and Death Shadow combined and already looks kinda good to me. No need to put Dark Confidant in there, it would be a worse version of the new Death Shadow Jund deck.
@Mishichi: Quite innovative list to say. But the problem is: What problems does it solve we have? We generally have a hard time against Tron basically. I think your list is actually slower at closing out games than a regular Jund list. How consistantly were you able to cast Emrakul on turn 5 (which is the fastest possible Emrakul)?
Having to run Tarfire should results in a good enough benefit to justify it in my opinion. This Death Shadow deck primarily doesn't want to fully take over the game like regular Jund. Your midrangy list surely does. And I can see the difference between 2 and 3 dmg can certainly be an issue here. Because your deck is obviously not as fast as the death shadow deck, and you also only run 2 terminates, so I can see you get sometimes just beaten down by opposing X/3 creatures due to this. For Death Shadow it doesn't matter all that much because its faster.
What do you actually do if you are up against this death shadow deck? I think you will be dead before you can cast emrakul. But these are just my concerns, have you tested the list somehow?
Overall, it does slow down a traditional Jund build, as FlyingDelver suggests. And, that's the archetype's principal failing: speed of ramp. I would say that if Jund always went first And could draw a card on-the-play, it should top 8 every tournament. That's how close the line is - to absolute victory. This version backs you off the line.
Buuuuut, when you are ceding ground in your speediness, that's not a universal detriment. More specifically, don't dismiss Dark Confidant just yet. Consider Tron/Ad Nauseam/Lantern/Infect and any other number of decks that don't care about your life total. A flipped Emrakul, the Promised End means little on the 13 point slap to the mouth. For more fair matchups, it could be critical damage. But, what are the odds...really? And against these odds, you're surrendering the use of Bob.
I'd say keep (4) D. Confidant in the game. Then, load that single bullet in the chamber and spin it! Emrakul Jund Roulette is born.