I wouldn't run curse of the swine, it's an expensive sorcery speed pseudo removal spell with card disadvantage on top of that
Agreed, but I did have a funny idea for a U/B deck that used Rapid Hybridization, Curse of the Swine, Ratchet Bomb, Swan Song, and Illness in the Ranks.
It would be like a U/B control deck either killing their creatures or turning them into tokens to destroy/weaken them with Illness in the Ranks. Jace, AoT would be in there too of course. Most likely an Ashiok too. Just an idea I have had in my head but never carried it out.
I did something similar last year with my grixis with Curse of Death's Hold, Staff of Nin, and the M12 Chandra. With Curses our I could use Staff to ping them and then again with chandra ping to kill almost everything on the board. The deck was backed by a whole lot of spot removal. I had fun with it. And it did alright against naya blitz once I got 1 Curse online.
Agreed, but I did have a funny idea for a U/B deck that used Rapid Hybridization, Curse of the Swine, Ratchet Bomb, Swan Song, and Illness in the Ranks.
It would be like a U/B control deck either killing their creatures or turning them into tokens to destroy/weaken them with Illness in the Ranks. Jace, AoT would be in there too of course. Most likely an Ashiok too. Just an idea I have had in my head but never carried it out.
I did something similar last year with my grixis with Curse of Death's Hold, Staff of Nin, and the M12 Chandra. With Curses our I could use Staff to ping them and then again with chandra ping to kill almost everything on the board. The deck was backed by a whole lot of spot removal. I had fun with it. And it did alright against naya blitz once I got 1 Curse online.
That seems like a fun strategy...
But the other thing I'm thinking, in a Mono Black or Mono Blue Devotion strategy, a lot of their creatures are helping them get Devotion.
All I'm saying is maybe 2 Swines in the MB, and maybe 1 more in the Side.
You ruin their Devotion strategy, you get rid of their bigs, even in a Midrange/Control matchup, Swine hits everything, all the big bombs. Baron, Demon, and others.
I think it's interesting too when you combine Swine with JACE's +1.
So now it's Ratchet Bomb and Rift and Swine AND Jace?
Being open minded is one thing but there comes a point where we a community need to reach out and help our fellow players into being as successful as they can be.
This is the competitive section of the forum and as far as competitive goes...Curse simply isn't.
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So now it's Ratchet Bomb and Rift and Swine AND Jace?
Being open minded is one thing but there comes a point where we a community need to reach out and help our fellow players into being as successful as they can be.
This is the competitive section of the forum and as far as competitive goes...Curse simply isn't.
Aren't we already running JACE, Anger of the Gods, Frostburn Weirds, and in the 75 most have Cyclonic Rift and most have been talking lately about having a Ratchet Bomb or 2 in the 75.
Acting like it's so far fetched and that Curse of the Swine requires such a commitment is a bit narrow, the only thing it requires is about 2 or 3 slots in the 75 for Curse as most of the other cards we already run.
If it works and fits the meta; which I think it does, it's worth examining?
Oh wait, no... nevermind.
Turn 2, we drop Frostburn
Turn 3, they drop Reckoner
Turn 4, we tap 3 mana and turn Reckoner to a Swine that does nothing to us because of Frostburn.
Turn 2, we drop Frostburn
Turn 4, they drop Demon
Turn 5, we play Swine and turn Demon into a 2/2 Swine that doesn't nothing.
Late game we can take a board that has Demons, Barons, Erebos, Thassa, any combination of very ugly tough to deal with threats, and turn them into Swines, and sweep with Anger.
Swines makes Anger never really dead, almost all decks are running creatures, even the Control decks.
Because there are so many devotion decks, I think Curse of Swine could be a viable option as Anger doesn't just wipe their board most times if we're talking about say Mono Black. Or any of the Black Devotion splashed variants.
Again, maybe Swine should be in the SB not main, but I don't think it's a terrible option.
It's not expensive either like people claim. It's 2 mana, then X.
Meaning you don't have to turn an entire ARMY into 2/2 Swines.
You can pick and choose the targets. If you got 1 or 2 Weirds, or a Anger in hand, turning 3 or 4 Creatures into 2/2 Swines knowing you have the backup doesn't seem like a terrible way to get rid of a board of Gods, and big midrange type bombs.
In 3 colors that doesn't have access to great board sweepers, Curse makes the board sweepers we have which aren't great and makes them much better.
Aren't we already running JACE, Anger of the Gods, Frostburn Weirds, and in the 75 most have Cyclonic Rift and most have been talking lately about having a Ratchet Bomb or 2 in the 75.
Acting like it's so far fetched and that Curse of the Swine requires such a commitment is a bit narrow, the only thing it requires is about 2 or 3 slots in the 75 for Curse as most of the other cards we already run.
If it works and fits the meta; which I think it does, it's worth examining?
Oh wait, no... nevermind.
Turn 2, we drop Frostburn
Turn 3, they drop Reckoner
Turn 4, we tap 3 mana and turn Reckoner to a Swine that does nothing to us because of Frostburn.
Turn 2, we drop Frostburn
Turn 4, they drop Demon
Turn 5, we play Swine and turn Demon into a 2/2 Swine that doesn't nothing.
Late game we can take a board that has Demons, Barons, Erebos, Thassa, any combination of very ugly tough to deal with threats, and turn them into Swines, and sweep with Anger.
Swines makes Anger never really dead, almost all decks are running creatures, even the Control decks.
Because there are so many devotion decks, I think Curse of Swine could be a viable option as Anger doesn't just wipe their board most times if we're talking about say Mono Black. Or any of the Black Devotion splashed variants.
Again, maybe Swine should be in the SB not main, but I don't think it's a terrible option.
It's not expensive either like people claim. It's 2 mana, then X.
Meaning you don't have to turn an entire ARMY into 2/2 Swines.
You can pick and choose the targets. If you got 1 or 2 Weirds, or a Anger in hand, turning 3 or 4 Creatures into 2/2 Swines knowing you have the backup doesn't seem like a terrible way to get rid of a board of Gods, and big midrange type bombs.
In 3 colors that doesn't have access to great board sweepers, Curse makes the board sweepers we have which aren't great and makes them much better.
The issue with this is that in order for a sub-par removal spell to be effective, you need to have a sub-par creature on the board. They're both weak on their own and too codependent on one another, this seriously dilutes your plan of attack. Go ahead an run curse of the swine, I don't think you'll like it at all though, we generally don't like tapping out anyways unless it actually kills stuff or lands a serious threat they have to deal with (or rakdos's Return). What you're talking about is way too Johnny for a competitive thread, the only time johnny works is when he naturally compliments spike
I got utterly smashed By aggressive decks. I went 0-4 at fnm and 2-4 before I dropped at the scg event.
FNM
Round 1 vs rdw - hyper aggressive 1 and 2 drops with madcap and reckoners and mogis. I could not keep up with the creatures and never hit an anger. Game 2 more of the same plus he landed burning earth I had no basics.
Round 2 vs GR monsters. He hit all his big monsters and I ran out of spot removal. I saw no mana dorks game so I boarded out anger. Game 2 he hits his mana dorks, apparently he was only running 8 instead of 12, and I can't keep up with the creatures and die.
Round 3 vs Boros with assemble the legion. Not enough removal and could not deal with assemble game 1.
Game 2 I slaughter games his legion but still lose to the creatures.
Round 4 vs junk whip, my friends deck with blood barons lotleth trolls, and ashen rider.
He runs me over game 1. Game 2 I take a baron with ashiok and counter a lot of what he cast but he drops three more eventually and I lost that race.
Take away, I was not super impressed with ashiok and my opponent mostly ignored it and raced me.
SCG Event
Round 1 vs Mono white 2-0
Game 1- he is dropping Pegasus, the pro multi color 1 drop and combat medics. I manage to keep the board clear and stabilized at 1 to kill him next turn with aetherling. He was racing with Heliod himself. He swung at jace for 1 turn otherwise he wins.
Game 2- stabilize at 1 life again and get him with aetherling . He silenced me and swung un for big chunks with brave the elements, I had the sphinx on board to block.
Round 2 vs mono red 0-2
Game 1 I manage to stay in the game long enough to get aetherling on the board and swing once but its too late by then. I get overrun and lose
Game 2 he manages get in 2-4 damage every turn, I could not keep up.
Round 3 vs mono blue devotion.
Game 1 drew no anger and no second mountain. Ashiok lead to an awkward standoff as I started chumping with cloudfin raptors and other cheap creatures. I was never able to draw out of it and he hit master and I lost.
Game 2 he hits double master and I never saw an anger it was over fast.
Round 4 vs br demons and dragons 1-2
Game 1: he drops a desecration demon I can't answer in 4 turns and wins, sad game.
Game 2 I slaughter games his demon and get sphinx and manage to win the game despite his Underworld connections out drawing me.
Game 3, variance got me. I never got off of three land and lost.
Round 5 vs American control 2-0
I smash this deck in game 1 by countering his early plays and landing aetherling
Game 2:slaughter games Elspeth, win the counter wars, win with aetherling.
Round 6 vs rdw. I play a guy I lost to in states. Deck was too fast to keep up with 0-2. Literally both games took 3 minutes each, including shuffles and mulls.
Went to subway and returned to play a trading post deck and dropped for side events. I could have beaten the post deck but conceded and dropped.
Played a red deck in single elimination for a box and watched the feature matches and went home. Red deck beat me too many times this weekend.
I liked the sphinx and want 2 of them. I think I will try some games with out ashiok and replace it with doomblades. It seems to be losing value and I can't make room for it in the side.
I got utterly smashed By aggressive decks. I went 0-4 at fnm and 2-4 before I dropped at the scg event.
FNM
Round 1 vs rdw - hyper aggressive 1 and 2 drops with madcap and reckoners and mogis. I could not keep up with the creatures and never hit an anger. Game 2 more of the same plus he landed burning earth I had no basics.
Round 2 vs GR monsters. He hit all his big monsters and I ran out of spot removal. I saw no mana dorks game so I boarded out anger. Game 2 he hits his mana dorks, apparently he was only running 8 instead of 12, and I can't keep up with the creatures and die.
Round 3 vs Boros with assemble the legion. Not enough removal and could not deal with assemble game 1.
Game 2 I slaughter games his legion but still lose to the creatures.
Round 4 vs junk whip, my friends deck with blood barons lotleth trolls, and ashen rider.
He runs me over game 1. Game 2 I steel a baron with ashiok and counter a lot of what he cast but he drops three more eventually and I lost that race.
Take away, I was not super impressed with ashiok and my opponent mostly ignored it and raced me.
SCG Event
Round 1 vs Mono white 2-0
Game 1- he is dropping Pegasus, the pro multi color 1 drop and combat medics. I manage to keep the board clear and stabilized at 1 to kill him next turn with aetherling. He was racing with Heliod himself. He swung at jace for 1 turn otherwise he wins.
Game 2- stabilize at 1 life again and get him with aetherling . He silenced me and swung un for big chunks with brave the elements, I had the sphinx on board to block.
Round 2 vs mono red 0-2
Game 1 I manage to stay in the game long enough to get aetherling on the board and swing once but its too late by then. I get overrun and lose
Game 2 he manages get in 2-4 damage every turn, I could not keep up.
Round 3 vs mono blue devotion.
Game 1 drew no bass and no second mountain. Ashiok lead to an awkward standoff as I started chomping with cloudfin raptors and other cheap creatures. I was never able to draw out of it and he hit master and I lost.
Game 2 he hits double master and I never saw an anger it was over fast.
Round 4 vs br demons and dragons 1-2
Game 1: he drops a desecration daemon I can't answer in 4 turns and wins, sad game.
Game 2 I slaughter games his daemon and get sphinx and manage to win the game despite his Underworld connections out drawing me.
Game 3, variance got me. I never got off of three land and lost.
Round 5 vs American control 2-0
I smash this deck in game 1 by countering his early plays and landing aetherling
Game 2:slaughter games Elspeth, win the counter wars, win with aetherling.
Round 6 vs rdw. I play a guy I lost to in states. Deck was too fast to keep up with 0-2. Literally both games took 3 minutes each, including shuffles and mulls.
Went to subway and returned to play a trading post deck and dropped for side events.
Played a red deck in single elimination for a box and watched the feature matches and went home. Red deck beat me too many times this weekend.
I liked the sphinx and want 2 of them. I think I will try some games with out ashiok and replace it with doomblades.
If you want some honest critique, your deck looks very inconsistent and doesn't seem to have a game-plan or a reliable way to get there. You're running AOTG, Dissolve, and Hero's Downfall in the same deck, there is no way you can cast all of those on turn three reliably, it's all over the place. The thoughtseize doesn't do too much work in the maindeck (what is the chance you having it in your opponing hand or when it matter?) and your removal suite just looks way too random to actually do anything. This is why you're having a hard time with the aggro decks, to be fair I do agree with the 2/1 dumbledore ling split.
On another note, I've consulted with the reddit spikes and they have given a lot of great input. After taking what they said into consideration, the deck runs a lot better
Aside from attacking my spelling which is anything from bad to downright terrible depending if I auto-correct or not, how about not listing cards as 5 of's in your 75's.
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Aside from attacking my spelling which is anything from bad to downright terrible depending if I auto-correct or not, how about not listing cards as 5 of's in your 75's.
And attacking your accidental spelling is different than attacking my accidental 5th Anger of the Gods how?
Because me pointing it out is an obvious attack on you personally. I'm tired of arguing with you and as much as I dislike you, I like this archetype more so lets try to get back OT shall we.
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/OT
Ok, now i'm gettin' tired of these flame wars!!!
We are all tryin' to get a good Grixis deck for this t2 that seems everything but easy! Stop provoking! Please!
/OT
I don't like Curse of the swine btw... the card needs support to be helpful (bombs or Aotg), and this is a weakness...
I know that we miss a good mass removal, but Curse isn't the way... And it's a sorcery!!! Do u really believe to cast it on Obzedat?
AotG IS useful against fast aggro, but not only! (i'm still testin' it, so i may be wrong...)...
However 4 seems a lot imho... get a 4th in Sb but Mb can be too heavy...
@ el Mocha: are u fine with those keyrunes? I've tryed them, but removed cause they are cracked pretty easily a lot of times...
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or I'll change it for you."
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The number one biggest problem in all honestly is simply testing data.
Aside from FNM reports we have next to nothing to base any of our tests on and with one list looking drastically different than the next, it makes it really hard to make any informed changes/ideas.
This is not just at the very high level though, Grixis is almost literally the least played shard in online and in paper magic, and it's not even close.
I'd say go for a version of the deck that you feel most comfortable with, observe your meta and constantly update your 75 to best be prepared for it. As for the much bigger events, beat Esper or go home and be as well prepared as you can be for the current slew of Mono coloured decks, they'll be here for a while.
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@ el Mocha: are u fine with those keyrunes? I've tryed them, but removed cause they are cracked pretty easily a lot of times...
They're performing quite well espescially considering that I have 4 spells that I want to playing at 5 mana (RR for x = 3 and prognostic sphinx). Keyrune has a lot going for it in this build with the mana fixing it provides, the difficulty there is in removing it (evading all sorcery speed removal), and its defensive/offensive capabilities.
There are also a lot of cards that used to be huge issues but can be kept in check since rakdos keyrune waters down their effectiveness by a great deal
. Hammer of Purphoros
. Xenagos: you can just kill the token and hit him directly without actually spending a card
. Jace pretty much has to + 1 on resolve with this on the field
. Boon Satyr
. Mutavault
I want to 4th anger in since it's crucial to stabilizing early for the t4 jace/t5 sphinx (and rr) this way I can dictate the pace for the rest of the game. Looking to add in a couple of hard counters now, but that might be a stretch and it could compromise the plan
Here is my decklist that I've been working on. I really wish I could tell you guys all about my awesome testing, but truthfully it seems like most of the people I play against are mediocre at best, and awful deckbuilders (I test with MWS).
As you can probably tell, my decks strategy is to disrupt the early game of my opponent, then put a very fast clock on them shortly thereafter. Warden of Evos Isle can sometimes only be a 2/2 flyer for 3, but honestly that can be very good by itself at times, forcing people with planeswalkers to kill it so he cant chip away at their loyalty every turn. The obvious upside is casting 5 drop flying beastly creatures on turn 4 (or reducing their cost so you can cast them AND something else on turn 6, for example).
My deck isnt especially weak to spot removal, with the full suite of the OH SO AMAZING prognostic sphinx. The 4 haste flying damage from stormbreath dragon has also been super amazing nearly every time I cast him.
As for steam augury, I really like this card. I have read some comments of people not liking the card that much, but if your deck is filled with redundancy in the areas that matter, its a cheap way to gain +1 or +2 card advantage typically end of turn. If you are only running a few threats especially, this card probably isnt for you, as they will give you everything but the card you need to actually win the game. When you have 8 really good threats (prognostic sphinx / stormbreath dragon), and 4 sub-par ones like I do, it REALLY shines. Another cool synergy is dumping cards to the GY with it and using the singleton whip to get them back later if it comes to that.
Oh, and prognostic sphinx is incredible, and should never ever be dismissed right away. Its simply great and everyone should TOTALLY try it.
Any questions / comments / concerns would be greatly appreciated!
Here is my decklist that I've been working on. I really wish I could tell you guys all about my awesome testing, but truthfully it seems like most of the people I play against are mediocre at best, and awful deckbuilders (I test with MWS).
As you can probably tell, my decks strategy is to disrupt the early game of my opponent, then put a very fast clock on them shortly thereafter. Warden of Evos Isle can sometimes only be a 2/2 flyer for 3, but honestly that can be very good by itself at times, forcing people with planeswalkers to kill it so he cant chip away at their loyalty every turn. The obvious upside is casting 5 drop flying beastly creatures on turn 4 (or reducing their cost so you can cast them AND something else on turn 6, for example).
My deck isnt especially weak to spot removal, with the full suite of the OH SO AMAZING prognostic sphinx. The 4 haste flying damage from stormbreath dragon has also been super amazing nearly every time I cast him.
As for steam augury, I really like this card. I have read some comments of people not liking the card that much, but if your deck is filled with redundancy in the areas that matter, its a cheap way to gain +1 or +2 card advantage typically end of turn. If you are only running a few threats especially, this card probably isnt for you, as they will give you everything but the card you need to actually win the game. When you have 8 really good threats (prognostic sphinx / stormbreath dragon), and 4 sub-par ones like I do, it REALLY shines. Another cool synergy is dumping cards to the GY with it and using the singleton whip to get them back later if it comes to that.
Oh, and prognostic sphinx is incredible, and should never ever be dismissed right away. Its simply great and everyone should TOTALLY try it.
Any questions / comments / concerns would be greatly appreciated!
Looks like a really cool idea, I just can't justify running warden over Rakdos Keyrune. With the warden, you can ramp into a t5 stormbreath dragon at best and it dies to your own sweepers. With the keyrune you have the exact same ability to ramp into a t5 dragon without dying to your own sweeper, plus is dodges more removal. The mana fixing it provides should make Hero's Downfall a lot easier to cast, but from judging your mana base I would just run dreadbore
Removal that the keyrune dodges that the warden doesn't
Dreadbore
Doom Blade
Ultimate Price
Supreme Verdict
Anger of the Gods
Removal that the warden dodges that the keyrune doesn't
Electrickery
It's better offensively because
. First Strike and one more Power
. Great for harassing planeswalkers
Better Defensively Because of the creatures/problem permanents mentioned in the post before yours
. Trades Favorably with Boon Satyr
. Keeps Hammer of Purphoros in Check
. Keeps Xenagos in Check
. Trades Favorably with Mutavault
Keyrune also makes casting your non-flying creature spells a lot easier on that same token
The only thing I can think of that the rakdos keyrune would lose in your game-plan is the evasiveness of flying, but I believe that this should be outweighed by the multiple benefits it has over the warden.
Edit - Oh yeah, rakdos keyrune mitigates a lot of damage taken from burning earth
After looking at the GP results and the last open, this deck, or even UB seemingly have a really good opening here.
We are seeing a lot of Devotion decks where counters and instant speed removal really allow you to maximize a lot of plays.
Against GR Devotion, you get things like Devour Flesh and Far // Away to start ousting their turn 2 plays which can be a hefty blow. Wring Flesh is a way to start getting at early game decks or creatures like RDW and Elvish Mystic from the board.
These Devotion decks can be grotesquely slow aside from GR which effectively lets you grind your way into an advantageous position with an AEtherling.
BG and BW Midrange decks are also clunky and their best angle against control decks are pin point removal, which really is a lot less of an issue when you run very few high impact cards and more of a redundancy in options, which these colors do exceptionally well.
The only other slice of the meta are these control decks, which can be patched up with 4 Thougthseize quite well and some options out of the board.
I am not sure if Grixis is best or if UB is probably the better route, it really depends on what all you need and want the red for.
I feel like things such as Frostburn Weird are just a waste of space if you are prepping to go to an SCG Open or a GP, where it might not work like it does in an FNM where there is a smaller and more predictable field. The only real reason I see for splashing Red is Dreadbore and Rakdos's Return and maybe Anger of Gods out of the board. I do not feel like the meta is aggressive enough for this card to be in the MB, but I could be wrong. Steam Augury is also not really as good as Inspiration in most cases. It requires you to have a lot of high value options and high counts or an complete redundancy in effects abroad (in this case our removal) but the times where you hit a finisher you need an extra removal it is bad.
These decks also quickly fall prey to instantspeed.dec when you start factoring in things like Disperse and Cyclonic Rift, where you can set them back an entire turn. The matches where this is not entirely true are Control and GR Devotion, but against the others it is pretty good.
I think anger of the gods is pretty crucial against
. Mono blue devotion
. Those gr ramp decks with 8 + dorks
. RDW
. BW Midrange
. as well as the other aggro decks in the format
It's such a powerful tempo disruptor and very well-positioned
I think anger of the gods is pretty crucial against
. Mono blue devotion
. Those gr ramp decks with 8 + dorks
. RDW
. BW Midrange
. as well as the other aggro decks in the format
It's such a powerful tempo disruptor and very well-positioned
I agree. I can't imagine ever putting Anger of the Gods only in my SB. If I knew I was only playing against control 90% of the time I would, but all I see/read about are decks such as those above in elMochaLatte's comment making up the majority of top 8s. I'm going to try without the Weirds though and replace them with removal to see how the deck reacts.
Anyone who has played with and without the Weirds tell me what they think.
Control mirror, ended up going to time which was annoying. I won Game 1 (was bluffing countermagic so much in this match lol), he won Game 2 by resolving Jace, Memory Adept and me not drawing into a Dreadbore, I believe post board is a better match-up anyway, with Thoughtseizes, Slaughter Games and what not, but yeah. I did Thoughtseize away his Aetherling, just couldn't deal with Adept in time. Didn't have enough time to finish Game 3.
I conceded to my team mate who was rocking the SCG B/W Midrange list so he was guaranteed into the Top 8, he ended up winning the tournament. We split the packs, he kept the playmat.
Overall went alright (2-2-1), but including Game's Day all the testing and other casual matches I found that:
- The deck had a good match-up against Mono-Blue Devotion, G/W Midrange, Mono-Red (most of the time) and Esper Control (especially after sideboarding), however
- It has a bad match-up against B/W Midrange, B/W/R Midrange and Mono-Black Devotion. Just too much disruption. All of them have access to Thoughtseize and Duress, I believe the Mono-Black decks run 4 of each. They all run 4x Hero's Downfalls and Dega also has access to Dreadbore, Rakdos's Return and Slaughter Games, so yeah. Doom Blades are annoying against them too, should start running some Ultimate Prices (in combination with other removal), it's good against other devotion decks as well.
Anyway, just thought I'd share my report. I also updated the Primer a little. I'll work on the Match Up Analysis section whenever I get a chance I guess. Probably will need 2 different sections for Draw-Go and Tap-Out though xD. Glad to hear Aziel & Cipher did well
Round 1: Vs WG Agro (2-1)
It was the interesting version with ethereal armor. I think this ones heavy in our favor, but bad luck and mistakes made it close.
G1: mull to 5 and got mana screwed. It happens.
SB:
+1 Anger of the Gods
+2 Devour Flesh
-1 Frostburn Weird
-1 Steam Augury
-1 Rakdos's Return
G2: Ended up really close, had to mull to 6 and the mana still wasn't spectacular, but meh. Ended up beating him to death with a Frostburn weird.
G3: Drew all of the removal and stomped him. Easy game.
Round 2: Vs Esper control (2-1)
I think it's in our favor, though damn did I get surprised out of his SB.
G1: I controlled the board until winning the AEtherling counterwars, and proceeded to, well, AEtherling him.
SB:
+3 Counterflux
+2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
+1 Jace, Memory Adept
+2 Izzet Charm
+2 Rakdos's Return
-2 Doom Blade
-3 Far // Away
-2 Turn // Burn
-3 Anger of the Gods
G2: So he lands Nightveil specters back to back turns 3 and 4. Um. K. Died to them drew no answers.
G3: By far the funniest game of magic I've ever played. Never dealt damage to him with my creatures. Try to unravel this:
I killed him with his Nightveil specters reanimated by my Ashiok and used the cards they got from his deck to remove the AEtherling his Nightveil specter stole from my deck and to cast his Jace to draw my counters for the counters his Nightveil specter stole from me.
Aaaaand breathe. So that game I won in a hilarious fashion. We each stole 6-7 cards min from each other.
Round 3: Vs BG rock (2-0)
Pretty easy matchup I honestly don't recall the games, so I won't write it out. But something with AEtherling happened.
Round 4: Vs RDW (2-0)
Not as easy as before, and again I don't recall them too well, but I jammed spot removal until Frostburn weirds found the win.
Round 5: Vs RDW (2-1)
This one was hard, and I remember it well.
G1: I managed to stabilize at 6 or so life after many Anger of the gods, and beat down with a Frostburn weird.
SB:
+1 Anger of the Gods
+2 Devour Flesh
+2 Izzet Charm
-1 Rakdos's Return
-1 Ratchet Bomb
-1 Steam Augury
-1 AEtherling
-1 Jace, Architect of Thought
G2: I mulled to 6 and drew ****, he curved Cackler - Ash Zealot - Pheonix - Burning earth. I conceded.
G3: I managed to stabilize at 5 life, then he cast a burning earth. I ticked away with a
Frostburn weird countering and removing his plays until he cast another burning earth. So me at 2 life, sat there fighting it away for another few turns until I managed to get the win. It was intense.
Has Ral Zarek just been absolutely terrible in this deck? I really liked the Grixis Superfriends shell and now you could throw Ashiok in there with Chandra, Ral + Big and Little Jace.
"If fetch lands are reprinted I really believe they will be in allied colors (aka Onslaught fetches). If the fetch lands are reprinted you better believe that we'll all be fetching up basics. This would lead me to believe that the set after THS may have a reprint as the temples can't be fetched but it's pure speculation." - posted 03/22/2014 proved correct during Khans spoiler season.
"The set releases for fall 2015 (Blood, Sweat and Tears) and fall 2016 (Lock, Stock and Barrel). One or both of those 2 blocks (I'm betting) are going to contain either Fetch reprints or (more likely) Filter reprints. Filter lands still need a reprint. They are getting pretty high up there and it's been longer than ZEN so it makes a little more sense that Filter lands would see print earlier that fetches." - posted 03/22/2014 proved incorrect about filters coming earlier than fetches, still pending on filters in Origins block.
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Agreed, but I did have a funny idea for a U/B deck that used Rapid Hybridization, Curse of the Swine, Ratchet Bomb, Swan Song, and Illness in the Ranks.
It would be like a U/B control deck either killing their creatures or turning them into tokens to destroy/weaken them with Illness in the Ranks. Jace, AoT would be in there too of course. Most likely an Ashiok too. Just an idea I have had in my head but never carried it out.
I did something similar last year with my grixis with Curse of Death's Hold, Staff of Nin, and the M12 Chandra. With Curses our I could use Staff to ping them and then again with chandra ping to kill almost everything on the board. The deck was backed by a whole lot of spot removal. I had fun with it. And it did alright against naya blitz once I got 1 Curse online.
That seems like a fun strategy...
But the other thing I'm thinking, in a Mono Black or Mono Blue Devotion strategy, a lot of their creatures are helping them get Devotion.
All I'm saying is maybe 2 Swines in the MB, and maybe 1 more in the Side.
You ruin their Devotion strategy, you get rid of their bigs, even in a Midrange/Control matchup, Swine hits everything, all the big bombs. Baron, Demon, and others.
I think it's interesting too when you combine Swine with JACE's +1.
Being open minded is one thing but there comes a point where we a community need to reach out and help our fellow players into being as successful as they can be.
This is the competitive section of the forum and as far as competitive goes...Curse simply isn't.
Aren't we already running JACE, Anger of the Gods, Frostburn Weirds, and in the 75 most have Cyclonic Rift and most have been talking lately about having a Ratchet Bomb or 2 in the 75.
Acting like it's so far fetched and that Curse of the Swine requires such a commitment is a bit narrow, the only thing it requires is about 2 or 3 slots in the 75 for Curse as most of the other cards we already run.
If it works and fits the meta; which I think it does, it's worth examining?
Oh wait, no... nevermind.
Turn 2, we drop Frostburn
Turn 3, they drop Reckoner
Turn 4, we tap 3 mana and turn Reckoner to a Swine that does nothing to us because of Frostburn.
Turn 2, we drop Frostburn
Turn 4, they drop Demon
Turn 5, we play Swine and turn Demon into a 2/2 Swine that doesn't nothing.
Late game we can take a board that has Demons, Barons, Erebos, Thassa, any combination of very ugly tough to deal with threats, and turn them into Swines, and sweep with Anger.
Swines makes Anger never really dead, almost all decks are running creatures, even the Control decks.
Because there are so many devotion decks, I think Curse of Swine could be a viable option as Anger doesn't just wipe their board most times if we're talking about say Mono Black. Or any of the Black Devotion splashed variants.
Again, maybe Swine should be in the SB not main, but I don't think it's a terrible option.
It's not expensive either like people claim. It's 2 mana, then X.
Meaning you don't have to turn an entire ARMY into 2/2 Swines.
You can pick and choose the targets. If you got 1 or 2 Weirds, or a Anger in hand, turning 3 or 4 Creatures into 2/2 Swines knowing you have the backup doesn't seem like a terrible way to get rid of a board of Gods, and big midrange type bombs.
In 3 colors that doesn't have access to great board sweepers, Curse makes the board sweepers we have which aren't great and makes them much better.
The issue with this is that in order for a sub-par removal spell to be effective, you need to have a sub-par creature on the board. They're both weak on their own and too codependent on one another, this seriously dilutes your plan of attack. Go ahead an run curse of the swine, I don't think you'll like it at all though, we generally don't like tapping out anyways unless it actually kills stuff or lands a serious threat they have to deal with (or rakdos's Return). What you're talking about is way too Johnny for a competitive thread, the only time johnny works is when he naturally compliments spike
1x prognostic sphinx
2x Aetherling
Planeswalkers 5
2x Ashiok
3x Jace Aot
Spells 26
2x Syncopate
1x Izzet Charm
1x Ultimate price
2x Thoughtseize
2x Dreadbore
2x Rakdos's Return
1x Divination
1x Read the Bones
2x Dissolve
4x Anger of the Gods
2x Heros Downfall
2x Steam Augury
4x Far//Away
4x Temple of Deceit
4x Watery Grave
4x Blood Crypt
4x Steam Vents
5x Mountain
4x Island
1x Swamp
1x Opportunity
2x Slaughter Games
1x Reap Intellect
2x Negate
2x Ratchet Bomb
3x Rakdos Charm
2x Counterflux
2x Mizzium Mortars
I played this at fnm and at scg seattle.
I got utterly smashed By aggressive decks. I went 0-4 at fnm and 2-4 before I dropped at the scg event.
FNM
Round 1 vs rdw - hyper aggressive 1 and 2 drops with madcap and reckoners and mogis. I could not keep up with the creatures and never hit an anger. Game 2 more of the same plus he landed burning earth I had no basics.
Round 2 vs GR monsters. He hit all his big monsters and I ran out of spot removal. I saw no mana dorks game so I boarded out anger. Game 2 he hits his mana dorks, apparently he was only running 8 instead of 12, and I can't keep up with the creatures and die.
Round 3 vs Boros with assemble the legion. Not enough removal and could not deal with assemble game 1.
Game 2 I slaughter games his legion but still lose to the creatures.
Round 4 vs junk whip, my friends deck with blood barons lotleth trolls, and ashen rider.
He runs me over game 1. Game 2 I take a baron with ashiok and counter a lot of what he cast but he drops three more eventually and I lost that race.
Take away, I was not super impressed with ashiok and my opponent mostly ignored it and raced me.
SCG Event
Round 1 vs Mono white 2-0
Game 1- he is dropping Pegasus, the pro multi color 1 drop and combat medics. I manage to keep the board clear and stabilized at 1 to kill him next turn with aetherling. He was racing with Heliod himself. He swung at jace for 1 turn otherwise he wins.
Game 2- stabilize at 1 life again and get him with aetherling . He silenced me and swung un for big chunks with brave the elements, I had the sphinx on board to block.
Round 2 vs mono red 0-2
Game 1 I manage to stay in the game long enough to get aetherling on the board and swing once but its too late by then. I get overrun and lose
Game 2 he manages get in 2-4 damage every turn, I could not keep up.
Round 3 vs mono blue devotion.
Game 1 drew no anger and no second mountain. Ashiok lead to an awkward standoff as I started chumping with cloudfin raptors and other cheap creatures. I was never able to draw out of it and he hit master and I lost.
Game 2 he hits double master and I never saw an anger it was over fast.
Round 4 vs br demons and dragons 1-2
Game 1: he drops a desecration demon I can't answer in 4 turns and wins, sad game.
Game 2 I slaughter games his demon and get sphinx and manage to win the game despite his Underworld connections out drawing me.
Game 3, variance got me. I never got off of three land and lost.
Round 5 vs American control 2-0
I smash this deck in game 1 by countering his early plays and landing aetherling
Game 2:slaughter games Elspeth, win the counter wars, win with aetherling.
Round 6 vs rdw. I play a guy I lost to in states. Deck was too fast to keep up with 0-2. Literally both games took 3 minutes each, including shuffles and mulls.
Went to subway and returned to play a trading post deck and dropped for side events. I could have beaten the post deck but conceded and dropped.
Played a red deck in single elimination for a box and watched the feature matches and went home. Red deck beat me too many times this weekend.
I liked the sphinx and want 2 of them. I think I will try some games with out ashiok and replace it with doomblades. It seems to be losing value and I can't make room for it in the side.
If you want some honest critique, your deck looks very inconsistent and doesn't seem to have a game-plan or a reliable way to get there. You're running AOTG, Dissolve, and Hero's Downfall in the same deck, there is no way you can cast all of those on turn three reliably, it's all over the place. The thoughtseize doesn't do too much work in the maindeck (what is the chance you having it in your opponing hand or when it matter?) and your removal suite just looks way too random to actually do anything. This is why you're having a hard time with the aggro decks, to be fair I do agree with the 2/1 dumbledore ling split.
On another note, I've consulted with the reddit spikes and they have given a lot of great input. After taking what they said into consideration, the deck runs a lot better
2 Rakdos Keyrune
Creatures (3)
1 Aetherling
2 Prognostic Sphinx
Planeswalkers (4)
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
Instants (15)
4 Quicken
3 Izzet Charm
3 Syncopate
3 Far // Away
2 Steam Augury
4 Dreadbore
4 Anger of the Gods
2 Rakdos's Return
Lands (26)
4 Blood Crypt
4 Steam Vents
4 Watery Grave
4 Temple of Deceit
1 Izzet Guildgate
7 Mountain
2 Island
4 Thoughtseize
1 Pithing Needle
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Doom Blade
1 Crypt Incursion
1 Psychic Strike
1 Far // Away
1 Rakdos's Return
No wonder you're aggro MU is so good
Yeah, I'm debating a 6th one but I don't know what to cut, suggestions? I would love some of you're input
Infraction for flaming.
-rujasu
Aside from attacking my spelling which is anything from bad to downright terrible depending if I auto-correct or not, how about not listing cards as 5 of's in your 75's.
And attacking your accidental spelling is different than attacking my accidental 5th Anger of the Gods how?
Ok, now i'm gettin' tired of these flame wars!!!
We are all tryin' to get a good Grixis deck for this t2 that seems everything but easy! Stop provoking! Please!
/OT
I don't like Curse of the swine btw... the card needs support to be helpful (bombs or Aotg), and this is a weakness...
I know that we miss a good mass removal, but Curse isn't the way... And it's a sorcery!!! Do u really believe to cast it on Obzedat?
AotG IS useful against fast aggro, but not only! (i'm still testin' it, so i may be wrong...)...
However 4 seems a lot imho... get a 4th in Sb but Mb can be too heavy...
@ el Mocha: are u fine with those keyrunes? I've tryed them, but removed cause they are cracked pretty easily a lot of times...
or I'll change it for you."
________________________________________
° D E C K °
Format: T1.5
- MONOBLACK CONTROL -
B.o0°*'"H"I"R"'*°0o.B
Format: Standard
- CONTROL -
UBR EOTSAYLUBR
Format: Modern
- CONTROL -
UBR CRUEL CONTROLUBR
Aside from FNM reports we have next to nothing to base any of our tests on and with one list looking drastically different than the next, it makes it really hard to make any informed changes/ideas.
This is not just at the very high level though, Grixis is almost literally the least played shard in online and in paper magic, and it's not even close.
I'd say go for a version of the deck that you feel most comfortable with, observe your meta and constantly update your 75 to best be prepared for it. As for the much bigger events, beat Esper or go home and be as well prepared as you can be for the current slew of Mono coloured decks, they'll be here for a while.
They're performing quite well espescially considering that I have 4 spells that I want to playing at 5 mana (RR for x = 3 and prognostic sphinx). Keyrune has a lot going for it in this build with the mana fixing it provides, the difficulty there is in removing it (evading all sorcery speed removal), and its defensive/offensive capabilities.
There are also a lot of cards that used to be huge issues but can be kept in check since rakdos keyrune waters down their effectiveness by a great deal
. Hammer of Purphoros
. Xenagos: you can just kill the token and hit him directly without actually spending a card
. Jace pretty much has to + 1 on resolve with this on the field
. Boon Satyr
. Mutavault
I want to 4th anger in since it's crucial to stabilizing early for the t4 jace/t5 sphinx (and rr) this way I can dictate the pace for the rest of the game. Looking to add in a couple of hard counters now, but that might be a stretch and it could compromise the plan
Anyways, here is my list:
4 Warden of Evos Isle
4 Prognostic Sphinx
4 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Whip of Erebos
Sorceries (3)
3 Anger of the Gods
Instants (19)
4 Steam Augury
4 Essence Scatter
4 Far / Away
3 Doom Blade
3 Hero's Downfall
1 Syncopate
4 Temple of Deceit
4 Steam Vents
4 Blood Crypt
4 Watery Grave
1 Island
8 Mountain
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Flames of the Firebrand
1 Doom Blade
2 Negate
3 Gainsay
2 Cyclonic Rift
3 Thoughtseize
1 Hypersonic Dragon
As you can probably tell, my decks strategy is to disrupt the early game of my opponent, then put a very fast clock on them shortly thereafter. Warden of Evos Isle can sometimes only be a 2/2 flyer for 3, but honestly that can be very good by itself at times, forcing people with planeswalkers to kill it so he cant chip away at their loyalty every turn. The obvious upside is casting 5 drop flying beastly creatures on turn 4 (or reducing their cost so you can cast them AND something else on turn 6, for example).
My deck isnt especially weak to spot removal, with the full suite of the OH SO AMAZING prognostic sphinx. The 4 haste flying damage from stormbreath dragon has also been super amazing nearly every time I cast him.
As for steam augury, I really like this card. I have read some comments of people not liking the card that much, but if your deck is filled with redundancy in the areas that matter, its a cheap way to gain +1 or +2 card advantage typically end of turn. If you are only running a few threats especially, this card probably isnt for you, as they will give you everything but the card you need to actually win the game. When you have 8 really good threats (prognostic sphinx / stormbreath dragon), and 4 sub-par ones like I do, it REALLY shines. Another cool synergy is dumping cards to the GY with it and using the singleton whip to get them back later if it comes to that.
Oh, and prognostic sphinx is incredible, and should never ever be dismissed right away. Its simply great and everyone should TOTALLY try it.
Any questions / comments / concerns would be greatly appreciated!
Looks like a really cool idea, I just can't justify running warden over Rakdos Keyrune. With the warden, you can ramp into a t5 stormbreath dragon at best and it dies to your own sweepers. With the keyrune you have the exact same ability to ramp into a t5 dragon without dying to your own sweeper, plus is dodges more removal. The mana fixing it provides should make Hero's Downfall a lot easier to cast, but from judging your mana base I would just run dreadbore
Removal that the keyrune dodges that the warden doesn't
Dreadbore
Doom Blade
Ultimate Price
Supreme Verdict
Anger of the Gods
Removal that the warden dodges that the keyrune doesn't
Electrickery
It's better offensively because
. First Strike and one more Power
. Great for harassing planeswalkers
Better Defensively Because of the creatures/problem permanents mentioned in the post before yours
. Trades Favorably with Boon Satyr
. Keeps Hammer of Purphoros in Check
. Keeps Xenagos in Check
. Trades Favorably with Mutavault
Keyrune also makes casting your non-flying creature spells a lot easier on that same token
The only thing I can think of that the rakdos keyrune would lose in your game-plan is the evasiveness of flying, but I believe that this should be outweighed by the multiple benefits it has over the warden.
Edit - Oh yeah, rakdos keyrune mitigates a lot of damage taken from burning earth
We are seeing a lot of Devotion decks where counters and instant speed removal really allow you to maximize a lot of plays.
Against GR Devotion, you get things like Devour Flesh and Far // Away to start ousting their turn 2 plays which can be a hefty blow. Wring Flesh is a way to start getting at early game decks or creatures like RDW and Elvish Mystic from the board.
These Devotion decks can be grotesquely slow aside from GR which effectively lets you grind your way into an advantageous position with an AEtherling.
BG and BW Midrange decks are also clunky and their best angle against control decks are pin point removal, which really is a lot less of an issue when you run very few high impact cards and more of a redundancy in options, which these colors do exceptionally well.
The only other slice of the meta are these control decks, which can be patched up with 4 Thougthseize quite well and some options out of the board.
I am not sure if Grixis is best or if UB is probably the better route, it really depends on what all you need and want the red for.
I feel like things such as Frostburn Weird are just a waste of space if you are prepping to go to an SCG Open or a GP, where it might not work like it does in an FNM where there is a smaller and more predictable field. The only real reason I see for splashing Red is Dreadbore and Rakdos's Return and maybe Anger of Gods out of the board. I do not feel like the meta is aggressive enough for this card to be in the MB, but I could be wrong. Steam Augury is also not really as good as Inspiration in most cases. It requires you to have a lot of high value options and high counts or an complete redundancy in effects abroad (in this case our removal) but the times where you hit a finisher you need an extra removal it is bad.
These decks also quickly fall prey to instantspeed.dec when you start factoring in things like Disperse and Cyclonic Rift, where you can set them back an entire turn. The matches where this is not entirely true are Control and GR Devotion, but against the others it is pretty good.
. Mono blue devotion
. Those gr ramp decks with 8 + dorks
. RDW
. BW Midrange
. as well as the other aggro decks in the format
It's such a powerful tempo disruptor and very well-positioned
I agree. I can't imagine ever putting Anger of the Gods only in my SB. If I knew I was only playing against control 90% of the time I would, but all I see/read about are decks such as those above in elMochaLatte's comment making up the majority of top 8s. I'm going to try without the Weirds though and replace them with removal to see how the deck reacts.
Anyone who has played with and without the Weirds tell me what they think.
4x Frostburn Weird
1x Aetherling
Planeswalkers (8)
4x Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
4x Jace, Architect of Thought
Instants (8)
2x Shock
2x Doom Blade
1x Turn // Burn
3x Far // Away
Sorceries (13)
2x Rakdos's Return
3x Divination
3x Dreadbore
1x Mizzium Mortars
4x Anger of the Gods
4x Watery Grave
4x Blood Crypt
4x Steam Vents
4x Temple of Deceit
2x Izzet Guildgate
3x Island
3x Mountain
2x Swamp
3x Thoughtseize
1x Dreadbore
2x Ratchet Bomb
2x Crypt Incursion
2x Slaughter Games
2x Master of Waves
2x Jace, Memory Adept
1x Aetherling
Round 1: Vs. "Mono"-Black Devotion (Splash Blue) 0-2.
He was splashing blue for Far // Away & Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver in the main and Jace, Memory Adept from the side. Game 1 lost to Whip of Erebos & Gray Merchant of Asphodel and in Game 2, a combination of several Ashioks and Memory Adepts got me.
Round 2: Vs. Junk Midrange 2-0
Combination of removal and Anger of the Gods took care of all his creatures (Loxodon Smiter/Fleecemane Lion/Pack Rat/Voice of Resurgence/Desecration Demon). He was running Bow of Nylea which I found annoying. Game 1 I ended up winning with my Aetherling and Game 2 I won with his own creatures using Ashiok.
Round 3: Vs. Esper Control 1-1-1
Control mirror, ended up going to time which was annoying. I won Game 1 (was bluffing countermagic so much in this match lol), he won Game 2 by resolving Jace, Memory Adept and me not drawing into a Dreadbore, I believe post board is a better match-up anyway, with Thoughtseizes, Slaughter Games and what not, but yeah. I did Thoughtseize away his Aetherling, just couldn't deal with Adept in time. Didn't have enough time to finish Game 3.
Round 4: Vs. Esper Control 2-0
Game 1, he lost to a well timed Rakdos's Return for 5, he discarded Aetherling, 2x Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Sphinx's Revelation and Hero's Downfall and I won with Aetherling. Game 2 I Thoughtseized away his disruption, Slaughter Game'd for Sphinx's Revelation, answered his Elspeth and won with Jace, Memory Adept.
Round 5: Vs. Orzhov Midrange 0-2
I conceded to my team mate who was rocking the SCG B/W Midrange list so he was guaranteed into the Top 8, he ended up winning the tournament. We split the packs, he kept the playmat.
Overall went alright (2-2-1), but including Game's Day all the testing and other casual matches I found that:
- The deck had a good match-up against Mono-Blue Devotion, G/W Midrange, Mono-Red (most of the time) and Esper Control (especially after sideboarding), however
- It has a bad match-up against B/W Midrange, B/W/R Midrange and Mono-Black Devotion. Just too much disruption. All of them have access to Thoughtseize and Duress, I believe the Mono-Black decks run 4 of each. They all run 4x Hero's Downfalls and Dega also has access to Dreadbore, Rakdos's Return and Slaughter Games, so yeah. Doom Blades are annoying against them too, should start running some Ultimate Prices (in combination with other removal), it's good against other devotion decks as well.
Anyway, just thought I'd share my report. I also updated the Primer a little. I'll work on the Match Up Analysis section whenever I get a chance I guess. Probably will need 2 different sections for Draw-Go and Tap-Out though xD. Glad to hear Aziel & Cipher did well
I like your logic on the keyrune swap. I'll definitely try that. Thanks for the in-depth insight!
2 AEtherling
3 Frostburn Weird
Instants (17)
3 Dissolve
2 Doom Blade
3 Far // Away
2 Izzet Charm
3 Steam Augury
2 Syncopate
2 Turn // Burn
Sorceries (7)
3 Anger of the Gods
3 Dreadbore
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Ratchet Bomb
Planeswalkers (4)
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
Lands (26)
4 Blood Crypt
1 Izzet Guildgate
1 Rakdos Guildgate
4 Steam Vents
4 Temple of Deceit
4 Watery Grave
5 Island
3 Mountain
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
3 Counterflux
2 Devour Flesh
2 Izzet Charm
1 Jace, Memory Adept
2 Pithing Needle
2 Rakdos's Return
Here's a match by match analysis:
Round 1: Vs WG Agro (2-1)
It was the interesting version with ethereal armor. I think this ones heavy in our favor, but bad luck and mistakes made it close.
G1: mull to 5 and got mana screwed. It happens.
SB:
+1 Anger of the Gods
+2 Devour Flesh
-1 Frostburn Weird
-1 Steam Augury
-1 Rakdos's Return
G2: Ended up really close, had to mull to 6 and the mana still wasn't spectacular, but meh. Ended up beating him to death with a Frostburn weird.
G3: Drew all of the removal and stomped him. Easy game.
Round 2: Vs Esper control (2-1)
I think it's in our favor, though damn did I get surprised out of his SB.
G1: I controlled the board until winning the AEtherling counterwars, and proceeded to, well, AEtherling him.
SB:
+3 Counterflux
+2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
+1 Jace, Memory Adept
+2 Izzet Charm
+2 Rakdos's Return
-2 Doom Blade
-3 Far // Away
-2 Turn // Burn
-3 Anger of the Gods
G2: So he lands Nightveil specters back to back turns 3 and 4. Um. K. Died to them drew no answers.
G3: By far the funniest game of magic I've ever played. Never dealt damage to him with my creatures. Try to unravel this:
I killed him with his Nightveil specters reanimated by my Ashiok and used the cards they got from his deck to remove the AEtherling his Nightveil specter stole from my deck and to cast his Jace to draw my counters for the counters his Nightveil specter stole from me.
Aaaaand breathe. So that game I won in a hilarious fashion. We each stole 6-7 cards min from each other.
Round 3: Vs BG rock (2-0)
Pretty easy matchup I honestly don't recall the games, so I won't write it out. But something with AEtherling happened.
Round 4: Vs RDW (2-0)
Not as easy as before, and again I don't recall them too well, but I jammed spot removal until Frostburn weirds found the win.
Round 5: Vs RDW (2-1)
This one was hard, and I remember it well.
G1: I managed to stabilize at 6 or so life after many Anger of the gods, and beat down with a Frostburn weird.
SB:
+1 Anger of the Gods
+2 Devour Flesh
+2 Izzet Charm
-1 Rakdos's Return
-1 Ratchet Bomb
-1 Steam Augury
-1 AEtherling
-1 Jace, Architect of Thought
G2: I mulled to 6 and drew ****, he curved Cackler - Ash Zealot - Pheonix - Burning earth. I conceded.
G3: I managed to stabilize at 5 life, then he cast a burning earth. I ticked away with a
Frostburn weird countering and removing his plays until he cast another burning earth. So me at 2 life, sat there fighting it away for another few turns until I managed to get the win. It was intense.
Anyhow, the changes I'm considering are:
MB:
+1 Frostburn Weird
-1 Ratchet Bomb
SB:
+1 Jace, Memory Adept
+3 Thoughtseize
-2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
-2 Pithing Needle
- whhhhhaaat?
Standard Decks:
UBRGrixis ControlRBU
"The set releases for fall 2015 (Blood, Sweat and Tears) and fall 2016 (Lock, Stock and Barrel). One or both of those 2 blocks (I'm betting) are going to contain either Fetch reprints or (more likely) Filter reprints. Filter lands still need a reprint. They are getting pretty high up there and it's been longer than ZEN so it makes a little more sense that Filter lands would see print earlier that fetches." - posted 03/22/2014 proved incorrect about filters coming earlier than fetches, still pending on filters in Origins block.