Game 1 was against Green Stompy. My deck played perfectly on round 1 binding his Gigantosaurus and Ghalta. Round 2 I stumbled and got color screwed. Round 3, my deck pulled through despite my opponent sideboading Naturalize.
After that game, the rest of my night was just trash....
Game 2. A Rakdos deck that just outright pummeled me. I was mana screwed round 1 and color screwed round 2. Spectacle was just nuts.
Game 3 was marginally better against a RW deck. Round 1, I couldn't draw any cards to permanently deal with Hero of Precinct One and Judith, the Scourge Diva. Gates Ablaze and Deafening Clarion took care of his creatures but he always had more in hand. I wasn't finding Ixalan's Binding or anything else to control his creatures long enough to put pressure. Round 2 fared better after finding and holding Binding to hold Judith at bay until my Rams went down. Round 3 I had the most bizarre hand where I found and cast all four Circuitous Routes but didn't find a single creature or damage spell to play. Ugh....
Game 4 against another Rakdos. Round 1 was a struggle but ended up losing after he stole my Ram and I didn't have any other defenses. Round 2 was equally bad after he played two Duress and essentially dismantled my hand. For the rest of the game, I was essentially mana flooded. I think I pretty much tI ticked off my opponent when he tried to claim the Ram he stole keeps its +1/+1 from my Gates.
I'd have to say there were roughly 1 out of 3 rounds where Circuitous Route was a dead card or a card I really wanted to push down into the deck. Is that enough to remove the card from the deck? I'm not sure. Route feels like it's an all or nothing card. I play four or I play none. Anyone else feel that way about the card?
I'd have to say there were roughly 1 out of 3 rounds where Circuitous Route was a dead card or a card I really wanted to push down into the deck. Is that enough to remove the card from the deck? I'm not sure. Route feels like it's an all or nothing card. I play four or I play none. Anyone else feel that way about the card?
As you've seen, LeoninKha removed it from his deck, and so did I. I think it's very good if you're playing Nexus of Fate or an Explosion-based deck, bad if not.
As I'm playing on MTG Arena my deck diverges from what would be optimal for a 3-game deck. I'm playing lots of lifegain, that if you're playing against a lot of aggro like Rakdos it might help.
I'm testing some interesting cards like Arch of Orazca and Nezahal which are performing so far. I've cut a Guild Summit because it's very clunky early.
R1 vs Monoblue: 2-0
R2 vs Monored: 2-1 (what an amazing match, finished with the combo of kicked Fight with Fire + copying with Expansion // Explosion
R3 vs Monored: 2-0
R4 vs Temur Reclamation: 1-2 (could've gone either way)
I think I'm still going to change some things about my list but not sure what I'm putting in.
I see a bazillion players on Gates both on Magic Arena and FNMs, but there's no discussion, no Internet lists, no pros discussing it, it's odd. If anyone has a recent article, please share.
I finally managed a breakthrough on MTG Arena and I think I'll hit Mythic, if I do I'll post an article.
I also built a budget version on paper for FNMs (no Teferis or Viviens on paper for me).
It's such a flexible and powerful deck, I'll be very surprised if nobody takes it to the Mythic Invitational.
It's the one 2 comments up, with some tweaks: +1 Krasis -1 Insight, I changed the manabase and added Gateway Plazas for better mana and access to The Eldest Reborn and a single Assassin's Trophy, removed Mass Manipulation (meta call, lots of aggro), added an extra Negate, removed Shimmer and a Clarion (dead vs control and too redundant vs aggro).
Well, finally reached Diamond on Magic Arena, and deck tracker thinks I'll make Mythic in 60 games. Took me 163 games to reach Diamond on a 53% winrate.
This is my current list (geared for Arena Best of 1, don't try on Bo3!):
I know it's not optimal, it has a lot of flexible answers and 1-ofs, which I like (and it makes games more fun).
Best (and most common by far) matchup is monored (43-21), I like keeping a hand of 2 gates and a Plaza of Harmony and either Gates Ablaze or Ram, if you do so you're heavily favored.
2nd most common matchup is Esper (lots of Dovin's Acuity variants), I lost more than I won (15-19) but I think my latest iteration is 50-50.
3rd most common is White Weenie or Boros, I went 14-14, several cards like Adanto Vanguard and Dauntless Bodyguard and Tajic or Unbreakable Formation or even Chance for Glory give this deck trouble.
4th most common is Monoblue, I went 13-13, honestly feels worse and I thought I had a losing record.
5th most common and wost matchup are Temur Reclamation decks. They don't care about removal and outvalue you with Explosions. I think it should be better but I keep good hands vs aggro usually which suck vs Reclamation, I kill one or two but the 3rd sticks and I'm toast.
6th most common is Gruul, another good matchup (11-7) unless you're on the draw and they start with Elves into Rekindling Phoenix or Nullhide Ferox or Ghalta.
7h most common is Sultai, I went 7-5 vs them. Wildgrowth Walker can grow out of control and they sometimes outvalue you.
After a poor 2-2 record on Standard Showdown mainly due to mana issues (dont really recall what the matches were), I made the following changes to my list on post #50:
The extra land was very needed indeed and it showed today with another 4-0 record:
R1 vs Mirror: 2-0
R2 vs Selesnya Tokens: 2-0
R3 vs Boros Weenie: 2-1
R4 vs Monored (with the Chainwhirler + Status //Statue combo): 2-1
Having enough lands in the deck is extremely important in order to really benefit from Growth Spiral. I was having the problem that I would not have a land to put on the battlefield and sometimes I'd even have several copies of Spiral in my hand rotting because of this. Today was a different story all around; Growth Spiral is once again live!!
I thought maybe I missed something between post #50 and #58 and you had swapped cards between sideboard and mainboard but I couldn't figure out where some of the cards, like harpooner, went off to.
How do you feel about Ixalan's Binding? Seems to help against hard to get rid of or super annoying cards like Rekindling Phoenix and Judith, Scourge Diva. I've cut mine down to two main and one SB. I'm thinking of moving them all to SB or cutting it entirely. Lately PW's in my meta have become a real threat and I never seem to get a Binding in time before the ultimate fires off.
16 person FNM, won 4-0. Very hard matches, not sure how I won that last round as that guy usually beats me. He's a master at going Turn 1 dork, turn 2 Curious Obsession + protection... I sided into full control and managed to win a long game.
R1 vs Izzet Drakes: 2-1
R2 vs Selesnya Tokens: 2-0
R3 vs Esper Midrange: 1-1 (very hard match, on game 1 he had 3 Thought Erasures + Disinformation Campaign... not much I could do)
R4 vs Monoblue: 2-1
Yesterday, I decided to copy LeoninKha's deck as it's described in post #50 and #58 as I had all but six cards and my LGS had them in stock. Instinctively, I feel I should have included Ixalan's Binding and (especially) Archway Angel but I figured I'd give the deck a chance as-is. After playing it tonight. I think I'll add them in. It I'll have to figure out what to swap.
Circuitous Route vs Open the Gates
The difference in how this plays is astonishing. By jointly playing OtG with Growth Spiral I found far fewer times where I wanted to play Spiral and didn't whiff on the land drop. In fact all the times I played Spiral, I only whiffed once when I desperately needed to draw another card.
Chamber Sentry
I'm not a huge fan of this card. I never really found an opportunity to use Sentry other than as a chump blocker for 1CMC. The fact I have to tap it to remove the counters makes it an easy to kill target. Especially when the environment has a lot of straight up creature removal.
Expansion // Explosion
Expansion // Explosion was only marginally more interesting. I only used it twice. Once to copy Shimmer of Possibility to dig for an answer and Explosion in a desperate bid to draw an answer.
Fountain of Renewal
I like this card. I screwed up pretty badly and should have sacc'ed the cards to draw my answer. I completely forgot about that ability. As it is, it kept me afloat for a long time in all but the one match where I never drew the card.
I don't have much opinion about the sideboard yet.
Round 1 vs Gates 0-0.
Not a true mirror match as the deck used Entrancing Melody to steal my creatures, Mastermind's Acquisition to find answers and Archway Angel for life. Surprisingly few creatures except for 2 Rams and 2 Angels (I think). At one point he had my Ram at 14/14 and one of his own. I had to double Gates Ablaze to wipe the board and stay alive. I ground myself down to a meager 1 card, 13 life and one 19/19 Ram at the end of turns. He still had the bulk of his deck and 37 life but had no means to kill me. After a a judge was called over, it was deemed at tie. One of the more memorable plays was with Captive Audience on the board. At EoT, I cast Explosion to knock a bit of life off my opponent. Then cast every instant I drew to get some use out of them. Discarded my remaining hand on upkeep then top decked Knight of Autumn.
Round 2 vs GR 2-0
Not that bad a match. It got a little hairy when he threw down Gigantosaurus and I took a beating down to 7 life until I stabilized with an 11/11 Ram, and pushed for the win. Game two, he had a Gigantos in play, attacked, then cast a Gigantos and a Ghalta, Primal Hunger. I played both Depose, tapping his two biggest creatures then ran him over with my Ram, Collossus and Mesmerizing Benthid.
Round 3 WB 0-2 Ethereal Absolution, Afterlife and Divine Visitation need I say more? This annoying deck was made even more annoying that my opponent kept chatting with everyone else and didn't even seem to care about the game. I couldn't find my Autumns so game 2, I decided to swap in Crushing Canopy and Deafening Clarion (I forgot what I took out) to try and tamp down his enchantments and get a bit of life. I failed to draw any of the anti-enchantment cards, none of my digging cards, and got mana hosed. At least I got my Ablazes in both games so I was able to last that long at least.
You should definitely play Ixalan's Binding as its the best card to win the mirrormatch
Regarding Chamber Sentry, well, you could cut one or maybe even both but I personally like it because it gives me something to do early against aggro decks that also demands an answer. If played early it can eat a couple of monoblue's flyers or you can wait a bit and play it for 4 (or 5 obviously) against monored and force them to act.
Think of it as a tool to buy time that also happens to have a use in the lategame or when you're in topdeck mode. I think you'd be fine by cutting 1 and play something like another Shivan Fire, Lava Coil or even better: Ixalan's Binding.
The reason I play 2 is because I do want to see the card if the game goes long as I hate the whole topdeck thing.
After sideboard I usually cut 1 of them in favor of more removal if I'm against aggro.
PS: Dont forget to side in your Negates aggressively especially in matches like the WB you faced... from what you're saying I think I would've sided in 3 Negates + 3 Crushing Canopy and maybe even Disdainful Stroke... just no way I'd let those enchantments stay in the field for long.
PS2: The reason I don't like Archway Angel even after testing it is because its stats just don't match up well against the creatures that are played, for example, lets say you are against monoblue and they play Tempest Djinn... sure you gain a bunch of life but you are still just chumpblocking the Djinn... same story against Rekindling Phoenix. For me the Angel doesn't do enough to justify its casting cost and we already have a lot of things to gain life that are much more efficient.
Yes, in retrospect I should have swapped in the Negates against the WB deck. I'm not entirely sure why I didn't or what thought logic I was using.
I still haven't decided what I want to swap out for the three Ixalan's Bindings (maybe I should buy a fourth )
I thought long and hard about the Chamber Sentry and I'm still on the fence about it. I think I'm probably thinking of it in the context of Walking Ballista when I shouldn't. That's why I feel like I get frustrated with the limitation.
I dunno about that. The value with Archway Angel was never really about the body I guess, it seems to about the life gain. Kind of like those crazy powerful Planeswalkers where it gets killed before you can ultimate. Once I started seeing PW's as a one or two shot sorcery, then I started to evaluate them a lot differently. I don't even look at their ultimates during spoilers much anymore.
Last night I ran LeoninKHa's list with a few changes
-1 guild summit (3 has always felt optimal for me, drawing more than 2 makes for a dead draw)
+1 Dovin, Grand arbiter (Only had one matchup where it didn't get sided out, reclaimation. Seems ok. Flex slot)
-2 Chamber Sentry (Seemed very mediocre since the only way to get it as a 5/5 was to have Gateway plaza's in play)
+2 Hydroid Krasis (Amazing every time it was played, card has been nuts since day 1)
Went 4-0 only dropping a single game vs mono red who had to draw exactly a 3 damage burn spell or die on my turn.
Matchups went as follows:
R1 Mono red
R2 Gruul aggro
R3 Sultai
R4 Temur reclaimation
Promo won: Light up the stage.
Thoughts going forward:
Overall I like the build alot, very hedged against aggro decks, game 1 vs mono red was a joke when I drew both fountains, all 4 plaza of harmony and a knight of autumn after playing a krasis for 6. Multani was drawn in every game and was a huge roadblock for everyone, especially sultai. Sultai opponent tried to cast down Multani game 1, I asked him if he felt that was the correct target, he read his card and said "Oh....oh *****" so I didn't play any other creatures (aside from deploy to bait the cast down) for the rest of the game trying to draw aggressively into gates ablaze to take down his board and start winning.
I knew at least one of my matchups would be against some type of control so all my counterspell stuff stayed in.
Round 1: RB 2-1
Game 1: I drew, and kept, a two land hand with the correct colors and Growth Spiral. I had incorrectly gambled that I would draw my third land when I needed it. I got land screwed. Game 2 & 3 I didn't feel I needed to sideboard but took care to ensure a three land hand or guarantee one (such as with Open the Gates). He kept trying to hit me with cards like Judith but Ixalan's Binding crippled his strategy.
Round 2: BU 1-0-1
A control deck that seeks to dissamble my hand and steal cards from my library. First game effectively stalled because he got rid of two of my blazes and stole a Binding and a Benthid. Chamber Sentry was a star in this match allowing me to pick off his creatures one by one and returning Chamber to my hand. Eventually. I removed enough of his creatures that Chambers was finally able push damage through.
I speculated his creature thievery would cause problems so I removed every creature or spell from my deck that might give him advantage, notably Shalai, Benthid, Multani and Banefire and any counter spells. The gamble almost paid off. He milled a Gate Collossus which I put into play. Unfortunately, we went to time. We were both top decking lands but two more hits with my Collossus would have finished him off.
Round 3: U 0-2
I was land screwed first game. Both games, opponent quickly ran me over, countering every spell I cast. Game 2 was marginally better after sideboarding every single counterspell, Binding and anti-enchantment tech but I only drew three of my Blazes, one Binding and none of my much needed counterspells to get any spells to stick.
Round 4: WB 0-2
A really annoying life gain/angel/afterlife deck. My opponent managed to reach 40 life while plinking me with a 1/1 spirit token. I swapped Shalai for Archway and put in all my counter tech. Interestingly, he took out his counter tech and went heavy on anti-creature spells. Whereas I took out about 1/3 of my creatures (mostly the non-recurring ones) and went heavy on counterspells. Sadly, I was land hosed on an epic level, casting 15 lands and drawing very few spells only one of which was a counterspell. I died with 6 lands in my hand.
What was your reasons for adding Dovin?, I think its an interesting card but would like to hear your thoughts.
PD: I had poor showings on FNM and Showdown due to misplays and sideboarding incorrectly, only making 2-2 and 3-1 results (would've been another 2-2 but my friend conceded since I had 6 points and he had only 3).
One error was not sideboarding in Curshing Canopy against my Esper Control opponent... he had 3 Specters in play at one point...
Another error was playing an Izzet Guildgate on turn 1 instead of the Gruul one. Normally its correct to play the Izzet one because it lets you go turn 2 Growth Spiral, but in this particular game it wasnt so. Had I played the Gruul Guildgate, I would've been able to cast Open the Gates on turn 2 and find the white mana I needed to cast my Knights in time. This simple mistake cost me a match against monored... be careful with your land sequencing, its the most important part of playing this deck.
Game 1 was against Green Stompy. My deck played perfectly on round 1 binding his Gigantosaurus and Ghalta. Round 2 I stumbled and got color screwed. Round 3, my deck pulled through despite my opponent sideboading Naturalize.
After that game, the rest of my night was just trash....
Game 2. A Rakdos deck that just outright pummeled me. I was mana screwed round 1 and color screwed round 2. Spectacle was just nuts.
Game 3 was marginally better against a RW deck. Round 1, I couldn't draw any cards to permanently deal with Hero of Precinct One and Judith, the Scourge Diva. Gates Ablaze and Deafening Clarion took care of his creatures but he always had more in hand. I wasn't finding Ixalan's Binding or anything else to control his creatures long enough to put pressure. Round 2 fared better after finding and holding Binding to hold Judith at bay until my Rams went down. Round 3 I had the most bizarre hand where I found and cast all four Circuitous Routes but didn't find a single creature or damage spell to play. Ugh....
Game 4 against another Rakdos. Round 1 was a struggle but ended up losing after he stole my Ram and I didn't have any other defenses. Round 2 was equally bad after he played two Duress and essentially dismantled my hand. For the rest of the game, I was essentially mana flooded. I think I pretty much tI ticked off my opponent when he tried to claim the Ram he stole keeps its +1/+1 from my Gates.
I'd have to say there were roughly 1 out of 3 rounds where Circuitous Route was a dead card or a card I really wanted to push down into the deck. Is that enough to remove the card from the deck? I'm not sure. Route feels like it's an all or nothing card. I play four or I play none. Anyone else feel that way about the card?
As you've seen, LeoninKha removed it from his deck, and so did I. I think it's very good if you're playing Nexus of Fate or an Explosion-based deck, bad if not.
As I'm playing on MTG Arena my deck diverges from what would be optimal for a 3-game deck. I'm playing lots of lifegain, that if you're playing against a lot of aggro like Rakdos it might help.
I'm testing some interesting cards like Arch of Orazca and Nezahal which are performing so far. I've cut a Guild Summit because it's very clunky early.
3 Azorius Guildgate
4 Gruul Guildgate
4 Simic Guildgate
2 Selesnya Guildgate
4 Izzet Guildgate
1 Boros Guildgate
4 Plaza of Harmony
1 Arch of Orazca
1 Island
1 Dire Fleet Daredevil
2 Jadelight Ranger
3 Gatebreaker Ram
2 Knight of Autumn
1 Gate Colossus
1 Nezahal, Primal Tide
1 Hydroid Krasis
2 Shivan Fire
4 Gates Ablaze
2 Deafening Clarion
1 Sinister Sabotage
2 Vivien Reid
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
1 Shimmer of Possibility
1 Mass Manipulation
1 Settle the Wreckage
2 Chemister's Insight
R1 vs Monoblue: 2-0
R2 vs Monored: 2-1 (what an amazing match, finished with the combo of kicked Fight with Fire + copying with Expansion // Explosion
R3 vs Monored: 2-0
R4 vs Temur Reclamation: 1-2 (could've gone either way)
I think I'm still going to change some things about my list but not sure what I'm putting in.
I finally managed a breakthrough on MTG Arena and I think I'll hit Mythic, if I do I'll post an article.
I also built a budget version on paper for FNMs (no Teferis or Viviens on paper for me).
It's such a flexible and powerful deck, I'll be very surprised if nobody takes it to the Mythic Invitational.
It's the one 2 comments up, with some tweaks: +1 Krasis -1 Insight, I changed the manabase and added Gateway Plazas for better mana and access to The Eldest Reborn and a single Assassin's Trophy, removed Mass Manipulation (meta call, lots of aggro), added an extra Negate, removed Shimmer and a Clarion (dead vs control and too redundant vs aggro).
This is my current list (geared for Arena Best of 1, don't try on Bo3!):
4 Gatebreaker Ram
2 Jadelight Ranger
1 Knight of Autumn
1 Gate Colossus
2 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
2 Vivien Reid
1 Assassin's Trophy
3 Negate
1 Sinister Sabotage
1 Chemister's Insight
1 Thought Erasure
4 Gates Ablaze
1 Settle the Wreckage
1 Banefire
1 Entrancing Melody
1 Find // Finality
1 Circuitous Route
3 Guild Summit
1 The Eldest Reborn
1 Arch of Orazca
2 Azorius Guildgate
2 Boros Guildgate
3 Gateway Plaza
1 Golgari Guildgate
2 Gruul Guildgate
1 Island
4 Izzet Guildgate
1 Orzhov Guildgate
4 Plaza of Harmony
1 Selesnya Guildgate
4 Simic Guildgate
I know it's not optimal, it has a lot of flexible answers and 1-ofs, which I like (and it makes games more fun).
Best (and most common by far) matchup is monored (43-21), I like keeping a hand of 2 gates and a Plaza of Harmony and either Gates Ablaze or Ram, if you do so you're heavily favored.
2nd most common matchup is Esper (lots of Dovin's Acuity variants), I lost more than I won (15-19) but I think my latest iteration is 50-50.
3rd most common is White Weenie or Boros, I went 14-14, several cards like Adanto Vanguard and Dauntless Bodyguard and Tajic or Unbreakable Formation or even Chance for Glory give this deck trouble.
4th most common is Monoblue, I went 13-13, honestly feels worse and I thought I had a losing record.
5th most common and wost matchup are Temur Reclamation decks. They don't care about removal and outvalue you with Explosions. I think it should be better but I keep good hands vs aggro usually which suck vs Reclamation, I kill one or two but the 3rd sticks and I'm toast.
6th most common is Gruul, another good matchup (11-7) unless you're on the draw and they start with Elves into Rekindling Phoenix or Nullhide Ferox or Ghalta.
7h most common is Sultai, I went 7-5 vs them. Wildgrowth Walker can grow out of control and they sometimes outvalue you.
-1 Depose // Deploy
+1 Breeding Pool
And rearranged the sideboard into the following:
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Scrabbling Claws
1 Lava Coil
3 Crushing Canopy
1 Deafening Clarion
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
1 Banefire
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1 Fight with Fire
3 Negate
The extra land was very needed indeed and it showed today with another 4-0 record:
R1 vs Mirror: 2-0
R2 vs Selesnya Tokens: 2-0
R3 vs Boros Weenie: 2-1
R4 vs Monored (with the Chainwhirler + Status //Statue combo): 2-1
Having enough lands in the deck is extremely important in order to really benefit from Growth Spiral. I was having the problem that I would not have a land to put on the battlefield and sometimes I'd even have several copies of Spiral in my hand rotting because of this. Today was a different story all around; Growth Spiral is once again live!!
I thought maybe I missed something between post #50 and #58 and you had swapped cards between sideboard and mainboard but I couldn't figure out where some of the cards, like harpooner, went off to.
R1 vs Izzet Drakes: 2-1
R2 vs Selesnya Tokens: 2-0
R3 vs Esper Midrange: 1-1 (very hard match, on game 1 he had 3 Thought Erasures + Disinformation Campaign... not much I could do)
R4 vs Monoblue: 2-1
Got a Stomping Grounds and an FNM Growth Spiral
I walked away with a Mortify.
Some personal notes first:
Circuitous Route vs Open the Gates
The difference in how this plays is astonishing. By jointly playing OtG with Growth Spiral I found far fewer times where I wanted to play Spiral and didn't whiff on the land drop. In fact all the times I played Spiral, I only whiffed once when I desperately needed to draw another card.
Chamber Sentry
I'm not a huge fan of this card. I never really found an opportunity to use Sentry other than as a chump blocker for 1CMC. The fact I have to tap it to remove the counters makes it an easy to kill target. Especially when the environment has a lot of straight up creature removal.
Expansion // Explosion
Expansion // Explosion was only marginally more interesting. I only used it twice. Once to copy Shimmer of Possibility to dig for an answer and Explosion in a desperate bid to draw an answer.
Fountain of Renewal
I like this card. I screwed up pretty badly and should have sacc'ed the cards to draw my answer. I completely forgot about that ability. As it is, it kept me afloat for a long time in all but the one match where I never drew the card.
I don't have much opinion about the sideboard yet.
Round 1 vs Gates 0-0.
Not a true mirror match as the deck used Entrancing Melody to steal my creatures, Mastermind's Acquisition to find answers and Archway Angel for life. Surprisingly few creatures except for 2 Rams and 2 Angels (I think). At one point he had my Ram at 14/14 and one of his own. I had to double Gates Ablaze to wipe the board and stay alive. I ground myself down to a meager 1 card, 13 life and one 19/19 Ram at the end of turns. He still had the bulk of his deck and 37 life but had no means to kill me. After a a judge was called over, it was deemed at tie. One of the more memorable plays was with Captive Audience on the board. At EoT, I cast Explosion to knock a bit of life off my opponent. Then cast every instant I drew to get some use out of them. Discarded my remaining hand on upkeep then top decked Knight of Autumn.
Round 2 vs GR 2-0
Not that bad a match. It got a little hairy when he threw down Gigantosaurus and I took a beating down to 7 life until I stabilized with an 11/11 Ram, and pushed for the win. Game two, he had a Gigantos in play, attacked, then cast a Gigantos and a Ghalta, Primal Hunger. I played both Depose, tapping his two biggest creatures then ran him over with my Ram, Collossus and Mesmerizing Benthid.
Round 3 WB 0-2
Ethereal Absolution, Afterlife and Divine Visitation need I say more? This annoying deck was made even more annoying that my opponent kept chatting with everyone else and didn't even seem to care about the game. I couldn't find my Autumns so game 2, I decided to swap in Crushing Canopy and Deafening Clarion (I forgot what I took out) to try and tamp down his enchantments and get a bit of life. I failed to draw any of the anti-enchantment cards, none of my digging cards, and got mana hosed. At least I got my Ablazes in both games so I was able to last that long at least.
Regarding Chamber Sentry, well, you could cut one or maybe even both but I personally like it because it gives me something to do early against aggro decks that also demands an answer. If played early it can eat a couple of monoblue's flyers or you can wait a bit and play it for 4 (or 5 obviously) against monored and force them to act.
Think of it as a tool to buy time that also happens to have a use in the lategame or when you're in topdeck mode. I think you'd be fine by cutting 1 and play something like another Shivan Fire, Lava Coil or even better: Ixalan's Binding.
The reason I play 2 is because I do want to see the card if the game goes long as I hate the whole topdeck thing.
After sideboard I usually cut 1 of them in favor of more removal if I'm against aggro.
PS: Dont forget to side in your Negates aggressively especially in matches like the WB you faced... from what you're saying I think I would've sided in 3 Negates + 3 Crushing Canopy and maybe even Disdainful Stroke... just no way I'd let those enchantments stay in the field for long.
PS2: The reason I don't like Archway Angel even after testing it is because its stats just don't match up well against the creatures that are played, for example, lets say you are against monoblue and they play Tempest Djinn... sure you gain a bunch of life but you are still just chumpblocking the Djinn... same story against Rekindling Phoenix. For me the Angel doesn't do enough to justify its casting cost and we already have a lot of things to gain life that are much more efficient.
I still haven't decided what I want to swap out for the three Ixalan's Bindings (maybe I should buy a fourth )
I thought long and hard about the Chamber Sentry and I'm still on the fence about it. I think I'm probably thinking of it in the context of Walking Ballista when I shouldn't. That's why I feel like I get frustrated with the limitation.
I dunno about that. The value with Archway Angel was never really about the body I guess, it seems to about the life gain. Kind of like those crazy powerful Planeswalkers where it gets killed before you can ultimate. Once I started seeing PW's as a one or two shot sorcery, then I started to evaluate them a lot differently. I don't even look at their ultimates during spoilers much anymore.
R1 vs Selesnya Tokens: 2-1
R2 vs Monogreen Stompy: 2-0
R3 vs Monored: 2-1
The deck continues to perform! <3
-1 guild summit (3 has always felt optimal for me, drawing more than 2 makes for a dead draw)
+1 Dovin, Grand arbiter (Only had one matchup where it didn't get sided out, reclaimation. Seems ok. Flex slot)
-2 Chamber Sentry (Seemed very mediocre since the only way to get it as a 5/5 was to have Gateway plaza's in play)
+2 Hydroid Krasis (Amazing every time it was played, card has been nuts since day 1)
Went 4-0 only dropping a single game vs mono red who had to draw exactly a 3 damage burn spell or die on my turn.
Matchups went as follows:
R1 Mono red
R2 Gruul aggro
R3 Sultai
R4 Temur reclaimation
Promo won: Light up the stage.
Thoughts going forward:
Overall I like the build alot, very hedged against aggro decks, game 1 vs mono red was a joke when I drew both fountains, all 4 plaza of harmony and a knight of autumn after playing a krasis for 6. Multani was drawn in every game and was a huge roadblock for everyone, especially sultai. Sultai opponent tried to cast down Multani game 1, I asked him if he felt that was the correct target, he read his card and said "Oh....oh *****" so I didn't play any other creatures (aside from deploy to bait the cast down) for the rest of the game trying to draw aggressively into gates ablaze to take down his board and start winning.
I removed the following:
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Fight with Fire
1 Lava Coil
1 Shivan Fire
1 Chamber Sentry
1 Guild Summit
And added
1 Absorb
3 Ixalan's Binding
1 Banefire
1 Archway Angel
I knew at least one of my matchups would be against some type of control so all my counterspell stuff stayed in.
Round 1: RB 2-1
Game 1: I drew, and kept, a two land hand with the correct colors and Growth Spiral. I had incorrectly gambled that I would draw my third land when I needed it. I got land screwed. Game 2 & 3 I didn't feel I needed to sideboard but took care to ensure a three land hand or guarantee one (such as with Open the Gates). He kept trying to hit me with cards like Judith but Ixalan's Binding crippled his strategy.
Round 2: BU 1-0-1
A control deck that seeks to dissamble my hand and steal cards from my library. First game effectively stalled because he got rid of two of my blazes and stole a Binding and a Benthid. Chamber Sentry was a star in this match allowing me to pick off his creatures one by one and returning Chamber to my hand. Eventually. I removed enough of his creatures that Chambers was finally able push damage through.
I speculated his creature thievery would cause problems so I removed every creature or spell from my deck that might give him advantage, notably Shalai, Benthid, Multani and Banefire and any counter spells. The gamble almost paid off. He milled a Gate Collossus which I put into play. Unfortunately, we went to time. We were both top decking lands but two more hits with my Collossus would have finished him off.
Round 3: U 0-2
I was land screwed first game. Both games, opponent quickly ran me over, countering every spell I cast. Game 2 was marginally better after sideboarding every single counterspell, Binding and anti-enchantment tech but I only drew three of my Blazes, one Binding and none of my much needed counterspells to get any spells to stick.
Round 4: WB 0-2
A really annoying life gain/angel/afterlife deck. My opponent managed to reach 40 life while plinking me with a 1/1 spirit token. I swapped Shalai for Archway and put in all my counter tech. Interestingly, he took out his counter tech and went heavy on anti-creature spells. Whereas I took out about 1/3 of my creatures (mostly the non-recurring ones) and went heavy on counterspells. Sadly, I was land hosed on an epic level, casting 15 lands and drawing very few spells only one of which was a counterspell. I died with 6 lands in my hand.
I placed 5th out of 9 players.
What was your reasons for adding Dovin?, I think its an interesting card but would like to hear your thoughts.
PD: I had poor showings on FNM and Showdown due to misplays and sideboarding incorrectly, only making 2-2 and 3-1 results (would've been another 2-2 but my friend conceded since I had 6 points and he had only 3).
One error was not sideboarding in Curshing Canopy against my Esper Control opponent... he had 3 Specters in play at one point...
Another error was playing an Izzet Guildgate on turn 1 instead of the Gruul one. Normally its correct to play the Izzet one because it lets you go turn 2 Growth Spiral, but in this particular game it wasnt so. Had I played the Gruul Guildgate, I would've been able to cast Open the Gates on turn 2 and find the white mana I needed to cast my Knights in time. This simple mistake cost me a match against monored... be careful with your land sequencing, its the most important part of playing this deck.
In most games, I tend to play Gateway Plaza even if it means forgoing casting a spell for that turn. The color fixing is just way too valuable.