I'm on 17 lands and 2x Blood Crypt and I've been happy with it so far. 17 is enough but I still like 2nd Blood Crypt even without Anger of the Gods. As Rothgar said 10 fetch lands seems like the right number.
As far as Anger of the Gods goes I agree with Spellcheck. As long as Dredge isn't concern I much prefer Grim Lavamancer than Anger. Lavamancer served me better than Anger would against creature based decks.
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My decks:
Modern:
Mardu Pyromancer
Grixis Shadow
Traverse Shadow
Jund
Abzan
The Rock
This is the result a particular 3-0 at the shop, which obviously isn't representative, but I have been playing something within a couple cards of this and have been very happy with it.
This particular event, I played against Phoenix, UWR Control, and UW Control.
Phoenix is always an interesting dance, but game one I had Pushes for TitI and TBRed to victory, and game two I turn two Surgicaled the birds and he flopped around and died.
As we all know, UW control of all flavors can be a bad matchup, but my sideboard felt great here. Ditch the TBRs because they are bad against removal, Looting because it is disadvantage, trim some Bolts and Dismembers, and bring a pile of planeswalkers and card advantage. The last few slots can be tricky depending on if they have creatures or planeswalkers where burn and removal are good, and how many Rest in Peace, etc. you expect to see, which can lead to you trim on Delve. Bringing in the extra Stubborn Denial and the Brutalities means you can knock out their early game plan and prevent them from getting unbeatable Jace/Teferi/Cryptic shenanigans started, giving you time to stick and protect a threat.
I feel pretty confident in a lot of my deck choices. The Tasigur can and probably should be a 4th Angler, but this was me just being a bit lazy because I didn't have a 4th foil Angler. That being said, there are times when you can't delve 6 for the zombie fish but have enough for banana fun time, so don't dismiss Tasigur.
I think this manabase is perfect. I have never been comfortable playing only one Crypt, and I think it is wrong. It is definitely wrong if you have Anger in the deck, but even without you want 7 fetchables. Field of Ruin, Assassin's Trophy, etc. have only made this more important than it used to be. Especially with Baubles, only 10 fetches is enough.
I cannot for the life of me figure out why people play less than 4 Thought Scour in this deck. For all the powerful plays the deck can make, turn two Gurmag Angler has always been the best thing the deck does, and I want to maximize this. Playing Bauble and going all the way to playing Faithless Looting in your fair Grixis are testaments to how good this plan is, yet we trim the best enabler to 2 or 3? Going down to 3 Snaps and trimming K Command from the main moderately decrease the utility, but this has always been a Delve enabler first and foremost, and Command and LtLH are still hanging out in the board. If people want to sell me on three Scours I will listen, but it will take a lot to convince me.
The removal numbers are always a crapshoot. I can make good arguments for the strengths of Push, Bolt, and Dismember. 2 is the ceiling on Dismember, but I can buy anything from 1 to 4 of the other two. Zero of either feels wrong. Terminate underwhelms me at the moment but if mirrors start being more common they start looking good. If it gets to that point, keep Dreadbore or even Liliana's Defeat in mind for the board.
The cantrip numbers are all over the place, but make sense to me. As I mentioned above, Thought Scour is a 4. I like Baubles, they let us cut a land and help with Angler. Serum Visions is my pick for next best blue option, but when I am playing 4 Bolt versions then Opt isn't out of the question. People consistently underuse and underrate Snapcaster-blue selection cantrip. It is not as sexy as Push or Thoughtseize, but it is a hugely powerful play in midrange/control games. You can't just go all in on Baubles and and Faithless Looting and ignore the fact that Snapcaster Mage is still the most rawly powerful card in the deck. I was initially skeptical of Looting, and in all honesty I long for a return to a metagame when I can cut it and start playing maindeck K Commands again, but that is just not what is going on in the streets right now. I have always wanted a way to ditch extra fetchlands when we start to flood, and it is a nice little bonus when it gets binned by Scour.
The sideboard feels close to correct, but I could see tinkering a bit. If phoenix stays around in numbers, then bumping up to three Surgicals is probably right. The EE and Anger are borderline, but still powerful and flexible. Surgical is the best answer to Phoenix, and Anger is underwhelming here. Taking 6 damage in the air, then untapping and fetch-shocking double red to cast a 3 mana sorcery against a Bolt deck is a recipe for disaster. If it killed Thing and Drake it could be better. If things like Elves or Company pick back up, it is still one of the best things we can be doing.
Ceremonious Rejection takes a hit with KCI gone, but it is still the single best sideboard card we have in several matchups. I have played as many as three, but 2 feels fine.
Collective Brutality is an interesting one right now. I have played exactly two for a very long time. It is obviously the best card against specifically Burn, but the fact that it is an extra Duress for combo and control while being secretly great against CoCo always made made be happy to give if the slots. It is really hard to evaluate where Burn will go from here, and just how good the Light up the Stage/ Skewer the Critics builds end up being. I would not be surprised if this needs to be a 3 if the Lava Spike enthusiasts add to their ranks.
The Liliana of the Veil could be something else, but people are also sleeping on how rawly powerful the card is. There is tension with Stubborn Denial and Snapcaster which can't be ignored, but Thoughtseize-creature-LotV has won a lot of games of Magic. We will never be a dedicated LotV deck, but in sideboard games we are often a grindy Grixis midrange deck, so we shouldn't underestimate the queen of black midrange. I have seen people play a flip Jace in this spot, and I like it in theory but haven't tried it yet(I have played it in Legacy Infect to good effect, which is a different deck but can utilize it for very similar reasons).
So, those are my way-longer-than-expected thoughts on the State of the Shadow Union. Would love thoughts, feedback, and tales of other peoples' experiences recently. Stay strong and keep Thoughtseizeing fools.
Hey all, just a quick question on our match up against dredge... There will be a dredge player entering my meta game, so I want to be prepared for the match up. How does game one play? I have anger and extirpates in my side board which should make the match up a lot better post side board. Thanks for all answers in advance.
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Current Modern Decks:
Ad Nauseam
Grixis Death's Shadow
The Dredge match-up is pretty bad, but we still have our outs. Winning the roll, you can stop their turn 1 looter and gain a little advantage. I don't know if given the choice, would it be better doing it with Thoughtseize (a card that loses value quickly in the game but that can be ineffective if your opponent has more than one possible turn one play) or with Stubborn Denial (a card that will be relevant later in the game). After this, your most reliable plan is Shadow with Battle Rage.
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Who is truer: you who are, or you who are to be?
Currently sleeved: WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
Hi, just finished my first GDS deck, have no real experience playing it outside of some testing online. Here is my sb plan for some popular decks based on other people experience and ideas. Any comments would be highly appreciated, just note in mind that I'm not going to add some expensive options (EE's, LtLH, LotV, Surgicals) to my sb anytime soon.
Hi, just finished my first GDS deck, have no real experience playing it outside of some testing online. Here is my sb plan for some popular decks based on other people experience and ideas. Any comments would be highly appreciated, just note in mind that I'm not going to add some expensive options (EE's, LtLH, LotV, Surgicals) to my sb anytime soon.
I'd like to make a few comments on your sideboard plans.
Against UW Control you want Dismember to kill Colonnade and Lyra. Spellbomb is bad against opponents who might even bring Rest in Peace against you, so that's an easy switch.
Against Jund, Street Wraith can become a beater late game. It is true that cycling it against them is pretty bad, but Mishra's Bauble does more or less the same and can't attack. I'm not sure about how valuable are Denials against them.
Against Phoenix, your plan doesn't fold to opponent's Surgical Extraction on their own Phoenix, yet it's harder to make it work and less effective. Dunno if random Magma Spray (to look for budget options) could be effective; probably more in other decks. I'm not sold on the idea of letting them play first; even if they need lots of cards to work, we can still race them.
I don't have enough experience with this deck against Affinities, but I have the impression you're overboarding against them. Anger of the Gods is a nonbo with Lavamancer and Staticaster, and it's the worst card of the three, and Brutality doesn't do much either.
Nihil Spellbomb isn't the card you want to bring in the mirror match. You don't want to play it early to stop a possible Gurmag Angler, you don't want to wait with it to counter a possible Snapcaster Mage, so in the end it's just a two mana draw a card. Looking at cards in your sideboard, I think Spellskite would do more work there, if it weren't because people tend to board Kolaghan's Command as a value card... Even if Liliana of the Veil is meant for the mirror match, I think it usually gets decided before it can be played, so just be selective taking mulligans, something for which I agree it's better to be on the draw.
Against Dredge you forgot to list Anger of the Gods, but I guess that's something that mid tournament you'd realize and quickly correct. I also believe Spellskite could be included against them, as it blocks all their ground beaters and can counter a Conflagrate.
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Currently sleeved: WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
I like taking out all of the TBR against most decks with lots of removal. UW, UWR, Jund, Mirror, etc. It is really tough to connect with and you can't afford it getting stuck in your hand.
I don't think you need to take out all of your Wraith's against Jund, and I also don't think you need to go up to 4 Stubborn Denial. It is fine to have a few for removal and planeswalkers, but these are also terrible topdecks. In game one, some of your best uses for it are actually against t1 discard, and they will often trim some discard post-board. If you need another card to bring in Collective Brutality is also fine, because a split card Duress/kill target Ooze or Bob is adequate if not exciting. The Push/Bolt/Decay-proof Swampwalk beats are also very real.
On a related note, I am skeptical of the 4th Denial in the mirror, as well. You want some, and a lot of people will bring in a bunch of spells (from my list above the 3 Planeswalkers and 2 Commands are auto-in and all cost 3) so they actually may increase in value post-board, but if you get stuck with a hand of 2 Denials and no creatures and removal you run into trouble.
Zero removal against UW or UWR is tricky. I like to have at least 1 or 2 ways to kill Collonade in my deck. It shouldn't be your Plan A but it is possible to just get cheesed out by Collonade after paying too much life. Look at their creature options and figure out what they may sideboard. If they rely heavily on Collonade stick with Push, if you run into people with things like Clique, Spell Queller (not common but not unheard of either), Baneslayer/Lyra, or others then adjust accordingly. Also, remember that Bolt kills planeswalkers and so it isn't just an auto-cut either.
Finally, Collective Brutality is a must-include against Storm.
I'm playing in a local modern tournament this weekend, planning to take GDS to the tournament. It's been a while since I played the deck extensively, but I played it when it was the deck to beat. I'm posting the list here as I have not yet had the luxury to test some of the newer matchups since then, and thus does not really know if I've got all my bases covered to some extent by the sideboard. I'm quite nervous about the burn matchup given that I have no Collective Brutality - I guess part of me is hoping that people try to go for the busted burn decks with all one drops that I can then foil by discard etc. to make some of their cards cost 3 when they should've been at 1 - but I'm not sure how viable this plan is.
Also I'm sort of unclear/scared about Hardened Scales and Dredge. I'm hedging more towards beating scales (and tron, and the random eldrazi decks) - as usually there's no dredge players in my meta, so I'm expecting 1 or at most 2 dredge decks to show up.
I'm choosing not to play baubles as I like the ability to grind a bit more. I value the full set of serum visions to be able to keep weird 1 land hands with serum visions - and also to facilitate the 2 maindeck Kolaghan's commands. Please consider this playstyle if you are going to try to convince me running baubles - I have them, and I have played that configuration as well. I see the strengths of that build, but also some of the weaknesses (more awkward opening hands, snapcaster gets worse). The Tasigur is there instead of the 4th angler specifically because I'm not running baubles. I do get to activate him at times, but rarely get good cards back. I'm also playing 2 fulminators in the sideboard to help against the control and big mana decks - which I'm strongly suspecting will be a somewhat large part of the meta. I've always hated the usual configuration of this deck inability to deal with problematic lands - so I've found adding this card to the sideboard does quite a bit for me.
Expected decks to show up (in no particular order):
Humans
Spirits
Tron
Affinity
Hardened Scales
Phoenix
Burn
UW/UWx Control
Some midrange decks (mirror or GBx)
Some combo (storm / ad nauseum)
Titanshift
Amulet Titan
What have people's experience been with the new burn decks? Should a list without collective brutality be fine, or do I need some other kind of weird counterspell (ie. delay? - can also be helpful against other decks i suppose). Would I be able to make minor adjustments to make dredge a better matchup or should I just go with the cards already here and accept that it is quite a bad matchup - that I might not even face? Any suggestions / comments here would be greatly appreciated
A weird question but are we 100% positive that 3 snaps are the way to go nowdays? With K Command being demoted to sideboard and snaps quite often being just a bad Ambush Viper, maybe it's not crazy to consider cutting 1 out?
A weird question but are we 100% positive that 3 snaps are the way to go nowdays? With K Command being demoted to sideboard and snaps quite often being just a bad Ambush Viper, maybe it's not crazy to consider cutting 1 out?
After reading that, I still think that 3 Snaps is better. Even though the meta game has appeared to speed up a bit with the KCI ban, I still think that these guys provide too much value to pass up - a possible blocker or finisher if necessary, as well as a cast of another removal spell/cantrip/stub. I don't think that the meta is fast enough to cut down to two... yet? I don't think that 3 will change any time soon, however.
TLDR; the card provides too much value and support for our deck, the meta would have to be extremely fast to justify cutting to 2 snaps.
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Current Modern Decks:
Ad Nauseam
Grixis Death's Shadow
Last FNM went 4:0 (10 people). This was my third time to play with GDS on FNM and first time that came first. Deck is so fun to play.
I play with 4x Bauble and 17 lands and don't have problems.
1. vs Mono blue - 2:1
2. vs Izzet Phoenix - 2:0
3. vs Tron - 2:0
4. vs Bant Spirits - 2:1
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Modern: Elves(GB), Merfolk(U), Grixis Death Shadow Standard: Dinosaurs(GR) Commander: The Ur-Dragon, Arahbo-Roar of the World, Zacama-Primal Calamity, Nath of the Gilt-Leaf
Last FNM went 4:0 (10 people). This was my third time to play with GDS on FNM and first time that came first. Deck is so fun to play.
I play with 4x Bauble and 17 lands and don't have problems.
1. vs Mono blue - 2:1
2. vs Izzet Phoenix - 2:0
3. vs Tron - 2:0
4. vs Bant Spirits - 2:1
what's in your sideboard and what you've sided in in those matchups?
I've always wondered why people call Collective Brutality a bad Duress or what not. It's not Duress at all. CB doesn't hit artifacts like Duress can. It's not even the same card.
Strand doesn't fetch Crypt or Swamp. Mesa doesn't fetch Island, Swamp, Grave. Short answer, no. Long answer, some games you'll be fine, some games you'll lose because of this and it's the saddest way to go.
I understand and agree with your point. If the deck didn´t need the Tarns, ppl wouldn´t use them and they wouldn´t cost the price of a little house ^^
But, i´m not an hardcore player. I try to attend a FNM twice a month tops. I´m gonna have another kid soon, so i´ll be skipping a lot of FNMs next year or 2.
So with this is mind, which fetch should do the job better? I have, besides de Mires and Deltas, 2 Flats and 1 Mesa. I was thinking about buying 1 or 2 Strands to get by. Or can i use the Flats also? We crave blue, right?
Meanwhile i´ll try to save up some money to buy them, or maybe they´ll get reprinted.
If you are to run off color fetches I would put a priority on being able to fetch watery grave. It is the best land in the deck by miles, and your basics are in those 2 colors. Back in 2017 the winner of GP Copenhagen did just this, I believe he was using flooded strands, marsh flats would probably be my go to however, as I think blood crypt is a better land than steam vents.
As far as Anger of the Gods goes I agree with Spellcheck. As long as Dredge isn't concern I much prefer Grim Lavamancer than Anger. Lavamancer served me better than Anger would against creature based decks.
Modern:
Mardu Pyromancer
Grixis Shadow
Traverse Shadow
Jund
Abzan
The Rock
https://deck.hareruyamtg.com/en/deck/222686/show/
This is the result a particular 3-0 at the shop, which obviously isn't representative, but I have been playing something within a couple cards of this and have been very happy with it.
This particular event, I played against Phoenix, UWR Control, and UW Control.
Phoenix is always an interesting dance, but game one I had Pushes for TitI and TBRed to victory, and game two I turn two Surgicaled the birds and he flopped around and died.
As we all know, UW control of all flavors can be a bad matchup, but my sideboard felt great here. Ditch the TBRs because they are bad against removal, Looting because it is disadvantage, trim some Bolts and Dismembers, and bring a pile of planeswalkers and card advantage. The last few slots can be tricky depending on if they have creatures or planeswalkers where burn and removal are good, and how many Rest in Peace, etc. you expect to see, which can lead to you trim on Delve. Bringing in the extra Stubborn Denial and the Brutalities means you can knock out their early game plan and prevent them from getting unbeatable Jace/Teferi/Cryptic shenanigans started, giving you time to stick and protect a threat.
I feel pretty confident in a lot of my deck choices. The Tasigur can and probably should be a 4th Angler, but this was me just being a bit lazy because I didn't have a 4th foil Angler. That being said, there are times when you can't delve 6 for the zombie fish but have enough for banana fun time, so don't dismiss Tasigur.
I think this manabase is perfect. I have never been comfortable playing only one Crypt, and I think it is wrong. It is definitely wrong if you have Anger in the deck, but even without you want 7 fetchables. Field of Ruin, Assassin's Trophy, etc. have only made this more important than it used to be. Especially with Baubles, only 10 fetches is enough.
I cannot for the life of me figure out why people play less than 4 Thought Scour in this deck. For all the powerful plays the deck can make, turn two Gurmag Angler has always been the best thing the deck does, and I want to maximize this. Playing Bauble and going all the way to playing Faithless Looting in your fair Grixis are testaments to how good this plan is, yet we trim the best enabler to 2 or 3? Going down to 3 Snaps and trimming K Command from the main moderately decrease the utility, but this has always been a Delve enabler first and foremost, and Command and LtLH are still hanging out in the board. If people want to sell me on three Scours I will listen, but it will take a lot to convince me.
The removal numbers are always a crapshoot. I can make good arguments for the strengths of Push, Bolt, and Dismember. 2 is the ceiling on Dismember, but I can buy anything from 1 to 4 of the other two. Zero of either feels wrong. Terminate underwhelms me at the moment but if mirrors start being more common they start looking good. If it gets to that point, keep Dreadbore or even Liliana's Defeat in mind for the board.
The cantrip numbers are all over the place, but make sense to me. As I mentioned above, Thought Scour is a 4. I like Baubles, they let us cut a land and help with Angler. Serum Visions is my pick for next best blue option, but when I am playing 4 Bolt versions then Opt isn't out of the question. People consistently underuse and underrate Snapcaster-blue selection cantrip. It is not as sexy as Push or Thoughtseize, but it is a hugely powerful play in midrange/control games. You can't just go all in on Baubles and and Faithless Looting and ignore the fact that Snapcaster Mage is still the most rawly powerful card in the deck. I was initially skeptical of Looting, and in all honesty I long for a return to a metagame when I can cut it and start playing maindeck K Commands again, but that is just not what is going on in the streets right now. I have always wanted a way to ditch extra fetchlands when we start to flood, and it is a nice little bonus when it gets binned by Scour.
The sideboard feels close to correct, but I could see tinkering a bit. If phoenix stays around in numbers, then bumping up to three Surgicals is probably right. The EE and Anger are borderline, but still powerful and flexible. Surgical is the best answer to Phoenix, and Anger is underwhelming here. Taking 6 damage in the air, then untapping and fetch-shocking double red to cast a 3 mana sorcery against a Bolt deck is a recipe for disaster. If it killed Thing and Drake it could be better. If things like Elves or Company pick back up, it is still one of the best things we can be doing.
Ceremonious Rejection takes a hit with KCI gone, but it is still the single best sideboard card we have in several matchups. I have played as many as three, but 2 feels fine.
Collective Brutality is an interesting one right now. I have played exactly two for a very long time. It is obviously the best card against specifically Burn, but the fact that it is an extra Duress for combo and control while being secretly great against CoCo always made made be happy to give if the slots. It is really hard to evaluate where Burn will go from here, and just how good the Light up the Stage/ Skewer the Critics builds end up being. I would not be surprised if this needs to be a 3 if the Lava Spike enthusiasts add to their ranks.
The Liliana of the Veil could be something else, but people are also sleeping on how rawly powerful the card is. There is tension with Stubborn Denial and Snapcaster which can't be ignored, but Thoughtseize-creature-LotV has won a lot of games of Magic. We will never be a dedicated LotV deck, but in sideboard games we are often a grindy Grixis midrange deck, so we shouldn't underestimate the queen of black midrange. I have seen people play a flip Jace in this spot, and I like it in theory but haven't tried it yet(I have played it in Legacy Infect to good effect, which is a different deck but can utilize it for very similar reasons).
So, those are my way-longer-than-expected thoughts on the State of the Shadow Union. Would love thoughts, feedback, and tales of other peoples' experiences recently. Stay strong and keep Thoughtseizeing fools.
Ad Nauseam
Grixis Death's Shadow
Currently sleeved:
WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
List:
2 Blood Crypt
2 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
4 Polluted Delta
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Death's Shadow
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Street Wraith
4 Gurmag Angler
4 Thought Scour
4 Thoughtseize
4 Mishra's Bauble
3 Serum Visions
3 Stubborn Denial
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Dismember
2 Fatal Push
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Temur Battle Rage
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Abrade
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Collective Brutality
1 Spellskite
1 Spell Snare
1 Fatal Push
U/W & Jeskai Control
In: +1 Disdainful Stroke, +1 Stubborn Denial, +1 Spell Snare, +1 Kolaghan's Command, +1 Collective Brutality, +2 Nihil Spellbomb
Out: -2 Fatal Push, -2 Dismember, -2 Lighting Bolt, -1 Temur Battle Rage
Tron
In: +1 Stubborn Denial, +1 Disdainful Stroke, +1 Abrade, +1 Kolaghan's Command, +2 Ceremonious Rejection
Out: -2 Fatal Push, -2 Dismember, -2 Lighting Bolt
Jund
In: +1 Stubborn Denial, +1 Fatal Push, +1 Spell Snare, +1 Kolaghan's Command
Out: -4 Street Wraith
Phoenix (choose draw)
In: +1 Anger of the Gods, +2 Nihil Spellbomb, +1 Stubborn Denial
Out: -2 Street Wraith, -2 Lighting Bolt
Burn
In: +1 Stubborn Denial, +1 Abrade, +1 Anger of the Gods, +1 Kolaghan's Command, +1 Collective Brutality, +1 Spell Snare, +1 Fatal Push, +1 Spellskite
Out: -4 Street Wraith, -2 Dismember, -2 Thoughtseize
Affinity
In: +1 Abrade , +1 Anger of the Gods, +1 Fatal Push, +1 Kolaghan's Command, +1 Collective Brutality , +1 Grim Lavamancer, +2 Ceremonious Rejection, +1 Spellskite, +1 Izzet Staticaster, +1 Spell Snare
Out: -4 Street Wraith, -3 Stubborn Denial, -3 Gurmag Angler, -1 Thoughtseize
Hardened Scales
In: +1 Abrade , +1 Anger of the Gods, +1 Fatal Push, +1 Kolaghan's Command, +1 Collective Brutality , +1 Grim Lavamancer, +2 Ceremonious Rejection, +1 Spellskite, +1 Izzet Staticaster
Out: -4 Street Wraith, -3 Stubborn Denial, -2 Gurmag Angler, -1 Thoughtseize
Titan
In: +1 Stubborn Denial, +1 Disdainful Stroke, +1 Kolaghan's Command, +1 Collective Brutality, +1 Abrade
Out: -2 Fatal Push, -2 Lightning Bolt, -1 Dismember
Mirror (choose draw)
In: +1 Stubborn Denial, +1 Fatal Push, +1 Kolaghan's Command, 2 Nihil Spellbomb
Out: -2 Lightning Bolt, -1 Street Wraith, -2 TBR
Humans
In: +1 Abrade, +1 Kolaghan’s Command +1 Collective Brutality +1 Spell Snare +1 Anger of the Gods, +1 Grim Lavamancer, +1 Fatal Push, +1 Izzet Staticaster
Out: -4 Street Wraith, -3 Stubborn Denial, -1 Gurmag Angler
Spirits
In: +1 Abrade, +1 Kolaghan’s Command +1 Collective Brutality, +1 Anger of the Gods, +1 Grim Lavamancer, +1 Fatal Push, +1 Izzet Staticaster
Out: -4 Street Wraith, -2 Gurmag Angler, -1 Serum Visions
Dredge
In: +1 Stubborn Denial, +2 Nihil Spellbomb, +1 Disdainful Stroke
Out: - 2 Fatal Push, -1 Inquisition of Kozilek, -1 Dismember
Storm:
In: +1 Stubborn Denial, +1 Disdainful Stroke, +1 Izzet Staticaster, +1 Spell Snare
Out: - 2 Fatal Push, -2 Dismember
I'd like to make a few comments on your sideboard plans.
Against UW Control you want Dismember to kill Colonnade and Lyra. Spellbomb is bad against opponents who might even bring Rest in Peace against you, so that's an easy switch.
Against Jund, Street Wraith can become a beater late game. It is true that cycling it against them is pretty bad, but Mishra's Bauble does more or less the same and can't attack. I'm not sure about how valuable are Denials against them.
Against Phoenix, your plan doesn't fold to opponent's Surgical Extraction on their own Phoenix, yet it's harder to make it work and less effective. Dunno if random Magma Spray (to look for budget options) could be effective; probably more in other decks. I'm not sold on the idea of letting them play first; even if they need lots of cards to work, we can still race them.
I don't have enough experience with this deck against Affinities, but I have the impression you're overboarding against them. Anger of the Gods is a nonbo with Lavamancer and Staticaster, and it's the worst card of the three, and Brutality doesn't do much either.
Nihil Spellbomb isn't the card you want to bring in the mirror match. You don't want to play it early to stop a possible Gurmag Angler, you don't want to wait with it to counter a possible Snapcaster Mage, so in the end it's just a two mana draw a card. Looking at cards in your sideboard, I think Spellskite would do more work there, if it weren't because people tend to board Kolaghan's Command as a value card... Even if Liliana of the Veil is meant for the mirror match, I think it usually gets decided before it can be played, so just be selective taking mulligans, something for which I agree it's better to be on the draw.
Against Dredge you forgot to list Anger of the Gods, but I guess that's something that mid tournament you'd realize and quickly correct. I also believe Spellskite could be included against them, as it blocks all their ground beaters and can counter a Conflagrate.
Currently sleeved:
WUR Copycat ft. Stoneforge Mystic
I like taking out all of the TBR against most decks with lots of removal. UW, UWR, Jund, Mirror, etc. It is really tough to connect with and you can't afford it getting stuck in your hand.
I don't think you need to take out all of your Wraith's against Jund, and I also don't think you need to go up to 4 Stubborn Denial. It is fine to have a few for removal and planeswalkers, but these are also terrible topdecks. In game one, some of your best uses for it are actually against t1 discard, and they will often trim some discard post-board. If you need another card to bring in Collective Brutality is also fine, because a split card Duress/kill target Ooze or Bob is adequate if not exciting. The Push/Bolt/Decay-proof Swampwalk beats are also very real.
On a related note, I am skeptical of the 4th Denial in the mirror, as well. You want some, and a lot of people will bring in a bunch of spells (from my list above the 3 Planeswalkers and 2 Commands are auto-in and all cost 3) so they actually may increase in value post-board, but if you get stuck with a hand of 2 Denials and no creatures and removal you run into trouble.
Zero removal against UW or UWR is tricky. I like to have at least 1 or 2 ways to kill Collonade in my deck. It shouldn't be your Plan A but it is possible to just get cheesed out by Collonade after paying too much life. Look at their creature options and figure out what they may sideboard. If they rely heavily on Collonade stick with Push, if you run into people with things like Clique, Spell Queller (not common but not unheard of either), Baneslayer/Lyra, or others then adjust accordingly. Also, remember that Bolt kills planeswalkers and so it isn't just an auto-cut either.
Finally, Collective Brutality is a must-include against Storm.
Also I'm sort of unclear/scared about Hardened Scales and Dredge. I'm hedging more towards beating scales (and tron, and the random eldrazi decks) - as usually there's no dredge players in my meta, so I'm expecting 1 or at most 2 dredge decks to show up.
I'm choosing not to play baubles as I like the ability to grind a bit more. I value the full set of serum visions to be able to keep weird 1 land hands with serum visions - and also to facilitate the 2 maindeck Kolaghan's commands. Please consider this playstyle if you are going to try to convince me running baubles - I have them, and I have played that configuration as well. I see the strengths of that build, but also some of the weaknesses (more awkward opening hands, snapcaster gets worse). The Tasigur is there instead of the 4th angler specifically because I'm not running baubles. I do get to activate him at times, but rarely get good cards back. I'm also playing 2 fulminators in the sideboard to help against the control and big mana decks - which I'm strongly suspecting will be a somewhat large part of the meta. I've always hated the usual configuration of this deck inability to deal with problematic lands - so I've found adding this card to the sideboard does quite a bit for me.
4 Death's Shadow
3 Gurmag Angler
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Street Wraith
Spells
4 Serum Visions
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Thoughtseize
1 Terminate
1 Dismember
3 Fatal Push
1 Lightning Bolt
3 Stubborn Denial
2 Temur Battle Rage
4 Thought Scour
2 Kolaghan's Command
2 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Island
4 Polluted Delta
3 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Fatal Push
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Snapcaster Mage
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Liliana of the Veil
Expected decks to show up (in no particular order):
Humans
Spirits
Tron
Affinity
Hardened Scales
Phoenix
Burn
UW/UWx Control
Some midrange decks (mirror or GBx)
Some combo (storm / ad nauseum)
Titanshift
Amulet Titan
What have people's experience been with the new burn decks? Should a list without collective brutality be fine, or do I need some other kind of weird counterspell (ie. delay? - can also be helpful against other decks i suppose). Would I be able to make minor adjustments to make dredge a better matchup or should I just go with the cards already here and accept that it is quite a bad matchup - that I might not even face? Any suggestions / comments here would be greatly appreciated
Here's the list that plays 2 for example
After reading that, I still think that 3 Snaps is better. Even though the meta game has appeared to speed up a bit with the KCI ban, I still think that these guys provide too much value to pass up - a possible blocker or finisher if necessary, as well as a cast of another removal spell/cantrip/stub. I don't think that the meta is fast enough to cut down to two... yet? I don't think that 3 will change any time soon, however.
TLDR; the card provides too much value and support for our deck, the meta would have to be extremely fast to justify cutting to 2 snaps.
Ad Nauseam
Grixis Death's Shadow
I play with 4x Bauble and 17 lands and don't have problems.
1. vs Mono blue - 2:1
2. vs Izzet Phoenix - 2:0
3. vs Tron - 2:0
4. vs Bant Spirits - 2:1
Standard: Dinosaurs(GR)
Commander: The Ur-Dragon, Arahbo-Roar of the World, Zacama-Primal Calamity, Nath of the Gilt-Leaf
what's in your sideboard and what you've sided in in those matchups?
RUBDa ShadowBUR
Can i replace them with Strands and Mesas?
Strand doesn't fetch Crypt or Swamp. Mesa doesn't fetch Island, Swamp, Grave. Short answer, no. Long answer, some games you'll be fine, some games you'll lose because of this and it's the saddest way to go.
Abzan Traverse / Traverse Shadow / UR Kiki
But, i´m not an hardcore player. I try to attend a FNM twice a month tops. I´m gonna have another kid soon, so i´ll be skipping a lot of FNMs next year or 2.
So with this is mind, which fetch should do the job better? I have, besides de Mires and Deltas, 2 Flats and 1 Mesa. I was thinking about buying 1 or 2 Strands to get by. Or can i use the Flats also? We crave blue, right?
Meanwhile i´ll try to save up some money to buy them, or maybe they´ll get reprinted.
Thanks.
Modern: Grixis DS ; UR Phoenix ; Storm ; Burn
Standard: MonoRed ; Ral Spells ; UR Phoenix ; Izzet Drakes
Commander: Locust God
Should i also get a Strand? (instead of the Mesa)