This is my first post, so please tell me if I'm in the wrong place.
I'm nearing my 100th THS draft, and am going to switch to constructed until BNG launches.
I decided to not devote the money to building the Gruul deck since the format will soon change, so I built the Black devotion deck.
I'm able to beat everything except the Gruul deck. Does anyone have advice on how to beat this deck (with Black Devotion or anything that's not the mirror match)?
I feel like Black Devotion has a shot, but only if you draw perfectly (i.e. 2 Thoughtseizes and 2 Hero's Downfalls and 3 swamps to begin with :D) but it's not consistent enough for me. Am I missing something here, is there another deck I should use? Or do I just bow to the fact that there's a reason the deck is so dominant?
unfortunatly mono B is a huge dog against GR imo, it simply doesn't have the ability to simultaenously pressure and stay alive vs the GR deck. Mono B has some form of inevitability in the very long game, but you just never get there. Your answers to stormbreath are very narrow and, other than downfall, cost a lot of mana (the gorgons). Downfall also usually needs to be used on xenagos, and polis crusher can also be hard to deal with. Plus, a lot of your key cards are actively bad in the matchup - gary is too slow, whip is slow and an active liability post-board if they bring in revelry, overlord is too hard to cast for > 2 devotion and dies to bow, read the bones is too slow, your cheap deathtouchers die to burn, erebos is hilariously bad.... idk, it's not the answer you want to hear, but if you line up the GR cards against the Mono B cards, one pile looks a whole lot better in the matchup.
This is my first post, so please tell me if I'm in the wrong place.
I'm nearing my 100th THS draft, and am going to switch to constructed until BNG launches.
I decided to not devote the money to building the Gruul deck since the format will soon change, so I built the Black devotion deck.
I'm able to beat everything except the Gruul deck. Does anyone have advice on how to beat this deck (with Black Devotion or anything that's not the mirror match)?
I feel like Black Devotion has a shot, but only if you draw perfectly (i.e. 2 Thoughtseizes and 2 Hero's Downfalls and 3 swamps to begin with :D) but it's not consistent enough for me. Am I missing something here, is there another deck I should use? Or do I just bow to the fact that there's a reason the deck is so dominant?
Thanks!
PJ
You shouldn't build one deck, what if when the next set releases, mono B isn't a real deck anymore. You should atleast have a back up plan. When I first started playing the format, I bought into Monoblack, then every week I would dump 25 tickets into buying the formats staples, and about a month and a half later, I have every deck in the format. I know that not everyone has the same financial income. But, you just said you did 100 drafts, that's 1100 tickets. Just a little something to think about.
You shouldn't build one deck, what if when the next set releases, mono B isn't a real deck anymore. You should atleast have a back up plan. When I first started playing the format, I bought into Monoblack, then every week I would dump 25 tickets into buying the formats staples, and about a month and a half later, I have every deck in the format. I know that not everyone has the same financial income. But, you just said you did 100 drafts, that's 1100 tickets. Just a little something to think about.
Yeah, I built the Boros Aggro deck as well and now I'm building a UR control deck, which I think actually has a shot against the Gruul deck? I'll have to test it out some. (Has anyone played with this?)
You're right though, I should really just buy all the cards so I'm ready for whatever becomes popular when BNG launches.
Yeah, I built the Boros Aggro deck as well and now I'm building a UR control deck, which I think actually has a shot against the Gruul deck? I'll have to test it out some. (Has anyone played with this?)
You're right though, I should really just buy all the cards so I'm ready for whatever becomes popular when BNG launches.
Thanks!
PJ
you should try the Naya deck, the one that is the same as the RG deck, but it splashes white for Chained to the rocks, and Elspeth, it has a pretty good matchup against Green red.
This is probably a much broader topic, but would it be feasible to sideboard 6 swamps and 4 Hero's Downfalls to deal with the Xenagoses and the Elspeths? Side out your Magma Jets and 6 Mountains and side in black to combat Planeswalkers?
I don't understand sideboard theory in general, and I know it's a waste of space to put lands in there, but I feel like it's a reasonable answer to Planeswalkers, and the main deck is so strong you don't really need to sideboard anything else...
This is probably a much broader topic, but would it be feasible to sideboard 6 swamps and 4 Hero's Downfalls to deal with the Xenagoses and the Elspeths? Side out your Magma Jets and 6 Mountains and side in black to combat Planeswalkers?
I don't understand sideboard theory in general, and I know it's a waste of space to put lands in there, but I feel like it's a reasonable answer to Planeswalkers, and the main deck is so strong you don't really need to sideboard anything else...
Thoughts?
Thanks!
PJ
that would be insane. I assume you're talking about the GR deck? Gr already has stormbreath dragon which eats planeswalkers quite nicely. If you're playing naya, you can also play glare of heresy for elspeth. Polis crusher trampling also does pretty well, nylea can be added for more trampling goodness if you really need. Time to feed or hunt the hunter clears blockers. And your burn itself (if it stays in post-board) can also get there, particularly if they +0 xenagos.
Anyway, on the broader topic of beating the GR deck, I've been going through the daily lists from the past few weeks and a few things have been showing up:
* A lot more aggro than previous, especially the UW heroic deck running 2-4 triton tactics.
* Mono black splashing white for elspeth.
* Shredding winds for stormbreath, even some maindeck.
* A few more tempo-oriented UG or mono U lists, with both voyage's end and griptide.
* A fair bit of maindeck curse of the swine in UG.
Just a few ideas, I'll be talking a bit more about the deck's position in the meta in my upcoming article later this week (which could end up being huge).
It's a matchup that I usually feel behind in, but that said, I've had success with viper's kiss main (stops monstrous and can go on an agent if desperate). Nykthos can help get you back into matches, I've been added more and more lately.
While straight gruul was beatable, even if still fairly dominant, it appears that naya is effectively unbeatable in the meta. I have a long discussion on it in my latest article:
As I discuss there, the meta is utterly broken, GRw makes up ~60% of the meta and GR another 10% on top of that. That's a higher proportion of the metagame than the lingering souls deck made up when it was banned. Luckily, of course, there's a new set around the corner which, as I discuss, seems to have some tools to fix this issue.
Does anyone have a sense of whether this is just a natural feature of one-set formats? I recall UW/bant being quite dominant in single set RTR, but also rakdos aggro and selesnya being viable options. My feeling is that at most UW/bant may have made up ~50%, which is a long way off ~70%. I didn't play single set ISD block, so I don't know what happened then.
Mono Black doesnt have enough threats like the GR decks do. I was playing Mono Black and then stopped since theres too much filler in the deck right now. Cards like Bateful Idolon and Vipers Kiss are terrible against the entire field, not just GR. Hero's Downfall, Gray Merchant, and Thoughtseize are great, but GR has too many threats. Its basically your Downfalls and Thoughtseizes against their Xenagos, Arbor Colossus, Pollus Crushers, Stormbreaths and Polukranos. Their threats outnumber yours typically.
When BNG comes out Mono Black will get better but right now its just best to play it, try to get lucky/hope to face other decks, and buy THS staples. THS staples wont get any cheaper and right now is the best time to start stocking up.
While straight gruul was beatable, even if still fairly dominant, it appears that naya is effectively unbeatable in the meta. I have a long discussion on it in my latest article:
As I discuss there, the meta is utterly broken, GRw makes up ~60% of the meta and GR another 10% on top of that. That's a higher proportion of the metagame than the lingering souls deck made up when it was banned. Luckily, of course, there's a new set around the corner which, as I discuss, seems to have some tools to fix this issue.
Does anyone have a sense of whether this is just a natural feature of one-set formats? I recall UW/bant being quite dominant in single set RTR, but also rakdos aggro and selesnya being viable options. My feeling is that at most UW/bant may have made up ~50%, which is a long way off ~70%. I didn't play single set ISD block, so I don't know what happened then.
Awesome article man, thanks for posting it. I'd like to think you took the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" line from me LOL.
The format has gone stale for sure. I've stopped playing. It's pretty much a coin toss every game based on who goes first, no real strategy left at all.
After doing mainly limited for the last few months I threw together a cheep mono black deck today and went 3-1. Only ran 2 Thoughsiezes and I added 4 Hearled of Torment to it. I think the decks was about $20-$25 to make $10 of it being the thoughtsiezes. The only reason I went 3-1 was because my matchups in round 1 and 2 was also mono black. Round 3 and 4 I ran into Naya both times. The only reason I won against this in rnd 3 was because I drew perfect hands with all my removal to keep them off their game. Round 4 I drew less removal and had no chance at keeping up with all the threats that deck has. The only way you can really win against that deck with mono black is get a early start and keep it up. You let it get to turn 5-6 and its over for you.
This is my first post, so please tell me if I'm in the wrong place.
I'm nearing my 100th THS draft, and am going to switch to constructed until BNG launches.
I decided to not devote the money to building the Gruul deck since the format will soon change, so I built the Black devotion deck.
I'm able to beat everything except the Gruul deck. Does anyone have advice on how to beat this deck (with Black Devotion or anything that's not the mirror match)?
I feel like Black Devotion has a shot, but only if you draw perfectly (i.e. 2 Thoughtseizes and 2 Hero's Downfalls and 3 swamps to begin with :D) but it's not consistent enough for me. Am I missing something here, is there another deck I should use? Or do I just bow to the fact that there's a reason the deck is so dominant?
Thanks!
PJ
You shouldn't build one deck, what if when the next set releases, mono B isn't a real deck anymore. You should atleast have a back up plan. When I first started playing the format, I bought into Monoblack, then every week I would dump 25 tickets into buying the formats staples, and about a month and a half later, I have every deck in the format. I know that not everyone has the same financial income. But, you just said you did 100 drafts, that's 1100 tickets. Just a little something to think about.
Dega midrange 1-0
Yeah, I built the Boros Aggro deck as well and now I'm building a UR control deck, which I think actually has a shot against the Gruul deck? I'll have to test it out some. (Has anyone played with this?)
You're right though, I should really just buy all the cards so I'm ready for whatever becomes popular when BNG launches.
Thanks!
PJ
you should try the Naya deck, the one that is the same as the RG deck, but it splashes white for Chained to the rocks, and Elspeth, it has a pretty good matchup against Green red.
Dega midrange 1-0
I don't understand sideboard theory in general, and I know it's a waste of space to put lands in there, but I feel like it's a reasonable answer to Planeswalkers, and the main deck is so strong you don't really need to sideboard anything else...
Thoughts?
Thanks!
PJ
that would be insane. I assume you're talking about the GR deck? Gr already has stormbreath dragon which eats planeswalkers quite nicely. If you're playing naya, you can also play glare of heresy for elspeth. Polis crusher trampling also does pretty well, nylea can be added for more trampling goodness if you really need. Time to feed or hunt the hunter clears blockers. And your burn itself (if it stays in post-board) can also get there, particularly if they +0 xenagos.
Anyway, on the broader topic of beating the GR deck, I've been going through the daily lists from the past few weeks and a few things have been showing up:
* A lot more aggro than previous, especially the UW heroic deck running 2-4 triton tactics.
* Mono black splashing white for elspeth.
* Shredding winds for stormbreath, even some maindeck.
* A few more tempo-oriented UG or mono U lists, with both voyage's end and griptide.
* A fair bit of maindeck curse of the swine in UG.
Just a few ideas, I'll be talking a bit more about the deck's position in the meta in my upcoming article later this week (which could end up being huge).
I bit the bullet and shelled out for the deck. I jumped in the 1-on-1 queue, got matched against the Naya deck and won =D.
"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!"
Thanks!
PJ
http://puremtgo.com/articles/around-block-37-uwr-control-broken-metagame
As I discuss there, the meta is utterly broken, GRw makes up ~60% of the meta and GR another 10% on top of that. That's a higher proportion of the metagame than the lingering souls deck made up when it was banned. Luckily, of course, there's a new set around the corner which, as I discuss, seems to have some tools to fix this issue.
Does anyone have a sense of whether this is just a natural feature of one-set formats? I recall UW/bant being quite dominant in single set RTR, but also rakdos aggro and selesnya being viable options. My feeling is that at most UW/bant may have made up ~50%, which is a long way off ~70%. I didn't play single set ISD block, so I don't know what happened then.
When BNG comes out Mono Black will get better but right now its just best to play it, try to get lucky/hope to face other decks, and buy THS staples. THS staples wont get any cheaper and right now is the best time to start stocking up.
Awesome article man, thanks for posting it. I'd like to think you took the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" line from me LOL.
The format has gone stale for sure. I've stopped playing. It's pretty much a coin toss every game based on who goes first, no real strategy left at all.
Keep the articles coming!
PJ