Memory lapse would probably be okay, since it trades the cantripping effect of remand for making the opponent draw the same spell again, its a different kind of tempo win.
Counterspell im not so sure would be safe.
I really have no idea what to do at Sbing. Does anyone have a guide on what cards they usually take out?
you are running the control version of the deck, wrong thread imho
More than the control version, that seems like a weird hybrid of the 2 decks.
And vs thrun, i just put a geist in front of him, and lets see if thrun dares to attack, thats a rece you can never lose.
Well, that's lucky. I guess bad opponents never hurts
Taking advantage of opponents misplays is also an important part of the game. Think of it this way, if i didnt have castle, my opponent wouldnt have misplayed.
Its not like having castle will really make your deck better, but it doesnt hurt either, and it can come in handy, specially vs zoo.
Well, im still running castle and i have been satisfied with it, it has given me more than a few wins helping geist push through, and even a few times my oponentes forgot i had it.
I feel like Iona doesn't do as much as you would want her to, as if you are turn 4 Gift'ing and turn 5 using Rites, they will have at least something on board, meaning Pod can Pod to destroy her (Shriekmaw), Faeries can chump her for days with a bitterblossom up, Splinter Twin either already has the exarch/pestermite up so you have to call red meaning they can cryptic command, and she clearly doesn't do much against affinity.
I think you dont get the point of Iona. It doesnt matter that she is a 7/7 with flying (well, it does, but its not the reason you play her)
The point is, cutting one color off leaves your opp deck walking on one leg. Fae? cut blue and half their deck is usless, barring they hitting their most likely one or two off Gftt. Zoo? cut red and they cant bolt/helix. Uwr? cut white and they cant path. Pod? Cut red for kiki, and maybe green or black for melira. Twin? cut blue. Jund? cut black.
If you cut the color of removal in their deck, she is unkillable. Only then, she being a 7/7 becomes relevant.
Sure, they may have removal in 2 colors, but thats not very common. It doesnt matter that they can chump block her, since they are wasting resources to do so, and you keep playing your own game, while the useless cards in their hand keep piling.
I'm hesistant to jump on the Gifts Ungiven train, there isn't a much better top deck in stalled out matches, and it makes 1 of's in the sideboard that much better. That being said, against good player in matches where you are behind, the choices you make for Gifts telegraph what's in your hand, and they will never give you what you need the most to stabilize. It is slow against zoo. I'll be shocked at the times it doesn't get countered against faeries. Splinter twin either won't let it resolve, or will have twin in hand and just smile. Again, I think it is awesome in top deck stalled out matches, but I don't see it doing to much work anywhere else in this deck.
Do you really understand how that works? There is no telegraphing here.
Step 1: You EoT Gifts for unburial and a target (either elesh norn, iona, sphinxs of the steel winds or griselbrand, the most commmon choices).
Step 2: You reanimate.
Step 3: You proceed to win the game.
I dont care if the other player knows what i have in my hand. If he cant stop it, hes as good as dead, knowing or not.
It may be slow vs zoo, but thats not the main reason you play such a SB pack.
Vs fae? who cares, you are still playing that eot. If they counter it, they dont counter your other threats. Same with Twin, you say they have a twin in hand? And why should i care? its not like they can go off in my turn.
The only deck that i never want to tap out, since they can combo at instant speed is living end and i suppose ad nauseaum, but that doesnt see play.
The rest are sorcerery speed or win on their attack phases.
I don't think it's great.
-It requires tapping out on your turn and it makes the opponent's Remands into hard counters when they're hitting Unburial Rites. This matters against Twin and Faeries since both run Remands and they have few opportunities to use them against UWR Midrange.
-It still loses to removal spells and things like Cryptic Command bounce. Not only do you have to tap on your own turn, you've got to protect it against cheap removal by holding up mana or else just attempting to run it out naked.
-Zoo can still win with burn to the dome in the face of a turn 5 Elesh Norn. Iona is basically useless against Zoo.
-It takes six slots that, if you wanted a sweeper, could be solved with uncounterable Supreme Verdicts or even convoluted Engineered Explosives/Academy Ruins packs.
-Drawing Unburial Rites is atrocious and happens to me 100% of the time. On a more serious note, drawing Rites or Norn means that any Gifts you draw are pretty awful. Awful in that if you just wanted a 3U value spell for more cards, you're effectively running Inspiration in Modern.
I would love love love to be proven wrong by your testing results, though. I happen to like Gifts a lot.
Well, to be honest, im not running the unburial pack, i know how it works since i played 4C gifts before, and i can testify to its strength.
From the weaknesses you mark, the only relevant one is the 6 slots in the sideboard. I couldnt care less about remand, if you are afraid of it, wait a turn and try to snare their counter, a card you should run anyways.
Zoo does care about getting their table wiped, i can assure you that, iona is a pain too, since naming red completely cuts off their reach. Its not so easy to have double bolts either, and if you are at 5, im suspecting they already spent one or two of those.
Plus, you run helix too, its not like killing you with burn is so easy.
The unburial target CAN be removed with cryptic, but thats really not very efficient either. Maybe you should try dispels in the side to protect your big guys, or something along those lines.
Granted, having iona or elesh stuck in your hand is bad,but it doesnt happen all that often, so its a concession i can make. Also, if you plan on running this in the SB, you should play at least one blood crypt/godless shrine/watery grave to be able to hardcast unburial, should it happen to be stuck in your op hand.
The main point of the pack is that it will give you games out of nowhere, specially if your opponent doesnt expect it. But for that, you need to rework your main and side to let the fatties do their thing.
Pod isn't as bad of a matchup for Zoo as a lot of people think. I wouldn't use the 1-2 Videos on CFB as a sample size to predict the matchup. I'm not sure it's favorable for Zoo, but I haven't found it to be that far from 50/50 when testing my lists. Path to exile generally eats the big creatures that matter, and all the other creatures in Pod serve as bad chump blockers for zoo's larger creature base. If zoo is playing Grim Lavamancer & Ghor Clan Rampager, the matchup gets a lot easier for them as well.
Mmm im no expert on the MU, but it really doesnt seem all that favourable for zoo. Pod tends to play 2+ voices, and 2+ finks, together with acceleration to mitigate life loss from lands, and wall of roots to well, wall.
I dont see how 4 paths can fix that, assuming you draw all 4, and putting enough pressure before they go off, or outvalue you.
I'm hesistant to jump on the Gifts Ungiven train, there isn't a much better top deck in stalled out matches, and it makes 1 of's in the sideboard that much better. That being said, against good player in matches where you are behind, the choices you make for Gifts telegraph what's in your hand, and they will never give you what you need the most to stabilize. It is slow against zoo. I'll be shocked at the times it doesn't get countered against faeries. Splinter twin either won't let it resolve, or will have twin in hand and just smile. Again, I think it is awesome in top deck stalled out matches, but I don't see it doing to much work anywhere else in this deck.
Do you really understand how that works? There is no telegraphing here.
Step 1: You EoT Gifts for unburial and a target (either elesh norn, iona, sphinxs of the steel winds or griselbrand, the most commmon choices).
Step 2: You reanimate.
Step 3: You proceed to win the game.
I dont care if the other player knows what i have in my hand. If he cant stop it, hes as good as dead, knowing or not.
It may be slow vs zoo, but thats not the main reason you play such a SB pack.
Vs fae? who cares, you are still playing that eot. If they counter it, they dont counter your other threats. Same with Twin, you say they have a twin in hand? And why should i care? its not like they can go off in my turn.
The only deck that i never want to tap out, since they can combo at instant speed is living end and i suppose ad nauseaum, but that doesnt see play.
The rest are sorcerery speed or win on their attack phases.
I do. i never enter a room without at least 1 in my SB.
It takes care of random burn or RDW (you are always gonna see atleast 1 in a big event), is a decent enough card in the mirror, vs zoo, vs jund and other attritition style decks. I could also see it doing work vs affinity, if need be.
colonnade is awesome and is one of the best win-con of the deck. and it always scares your opponent just by being on the field.
i nearly always side geist out, indeed. but i think it is very incisive in g1 apart from the jund MU (which just got already worse with geist since now they also play kitchen finks, too). it's gonna stay by now (even if i saw and interesting italian list with 4x restoration and no geist)
Ahh i dont know how to say this without sounding mean, so i will just say it, and hope you dont take it the wrong way:
NEVER keep a hand with no red sources. How long have you been playing this deck? You should already know that. Specially when you have 2 red spells.
Restoration angel doesnt seem solid as a singleton, and as it was said before, playing him just for value isnt good at all, you need to play her whenever a an opening presents itself. even if it eats a path, thats one less path for your colonnades, trust me, that matters.
From what i get from your list posted before, your deck seems really weak to the mirror, no wonder you lost 2 games vs uwr. Also, double tectonic is a pretty common way of winning the uwr mirror by cutting red, thats the main reason i play 3 of them.
don't worry i am always appreciating comments that help me to improve my level of play.
it's been my fault infact.. but apart from keeping a bad hand in that game i cannot understand why i did so badly in the others.
now in a couple of days (saturday) i will face another big tournament, in which i know i will find:
- jund with white
- jund with no white
- jund dunno which list
- melira pod
- 2x monored
- 2x affinity
- urw
- tron
- infect
- martyr gainlife
- 2x merfolks
+ random decks
which changes would you advice for my SB and which card should replace the mono restoration? maybe a batterskull?
I would probably go with 2 spellskite, 2 stony silence, 1 timely reinforcements, and 1 wear/tear.
1 counterfluxis always a safe bet, and most likely 1 verdict and 1 hallowed burial, since melira and martyr can make their guys hard to get rid of with wrath effects.
For insurance, 2 rest in peace, and 1 batterskull (you could also play it main). That leaves 3 spots, so a celestial purge, an engineered explosives, and either a second counter (probably negate) or a another timely reinforcements.
Thats the SB i would probably go with to an event when im expecting those decks.
Since there is no twin or uwr control, both dispel and combust seem unnecesary, as is a second counterflux.
I would really like to see RG tron winning this thing, the deck is cool. Tokens is another deck i would like to see in top 8, but i dont think it will happen.
6 fae? 4 pod? zoo everywhere? are people here even serious about this at all?
The metagameisnt gonna be turned upside down ina mere month, and faeries isnt strong enough to put 6 people on top 8, and even if it were, with a single month of testing, their lists and play wont be refined enough.
I say fae will put 2 guy in top, zoo may put 2, and that will be just because everyone will be playing those decks since they are the new kids on the block.
i think pod will take 2 slots in top 8 maybe both melira, seems a bit stronger than kiki, with the other 4 being 1 uwr midrange, 1 jund, and 1 twin.
Counterspell im not so sure would be safe.
More than the control version, that seems like a weird hybrid of the 2 decks.
And vs thrun, i just put a geist in front of him, and lets see if thrun dares to attack, thats a rece you can never lose.
Taking advantage of opponents misplays is also an important part of the game. Think of it this way, if i didnt have castle, my opponent wouldnt have misplayed.
Its not like having castle will really make your deck better, but it doesnt hurt either, and it can come in handy, specially vs zoo.
I think you dont get the point of Iona. It doesnt matter that she is a 7/7 with flying (well, it does, but its not the reason you play her)
The point is, cutting one color off leaves your opp deck walking on one leg. Fae? cut blue and half their deck is usless, barring they hitting their most likely one or two off Gftt. Zoo? cut red and they cant bolt/helix. Uwr? cut white and they cant path. Pod? Cut red for kiki, and maybe green or black for melira. Twin? cut blue. Jund? cut black.
If you cut the color of removal in their deck, she is unkillable. Only then, she being a 7/7 becomes relevant.
Sure, they may have removal in 2 colors, but thats not very common. It doesnt matter that they can chump block her, since they are wasting resources to do so, and you keep playing your own game, while the useless cards in their hand keep piling.
Well, to be honest, im not running the unburial pack, i know how it works since i played 4C gifts before, and i can testify to its strength.
From the weaknesses you mark, the only relevant one is the 6 slots in the sideboard. I couldnt care less about remand, if you are afraid of it, wait a turn and try to snare their counter, a card you should run anyways.
Zoo does care about getting their table wiped, i can assure you that, iona is a pain too, since naming red completely cuts off their reach. Its not so easy to have double bolts either, and if you are at 5, im suspecting they already spent one or two of those.
Plus, you run helix too, its not like killing you with burn is so easy.
The unburial target CAN be removed with cryptic, but thats really not very efficient either. Maybe you should try dispels in the side to protect your big guys, or something along those lines.
Granted, having iona or elesh stuck in your hand is bad,but it doesnt happen all that often, so its a concession i can make. Also, if you plan on running this in the SB, you should play at least one blood crypt/godless shrine/watery grave to be able to hardcast unburial, should it happen to be stuck in your op hand.
The main point of the pack is that it will give you games out of nowhere, specially if your opponent doesnt expect it. But for that, you need to rework your main and side to let the fatties do their thing.
Mmm im no expert on the MU, but it really doesnt seem all that favourable for zoo. Pod tends to play 2+ voices, and 2+ finks, together with acceleration to mitigate life loss from lands, and wall of roots to well, wall.
I dont see how 4 paths can fix that, assuming you draw all 4, and putting enough pressure before they go off, or outvalue you.
Do you really understand how that works? There is no telegraphing here.
Step 1: You EoT Gifts for unburial and a target (either elesh norn, iona, sphinxs of the steel winds or griselbrand, the most commmon choices).
Step 2: You reanimate.
Step 3: You proceed to win the game.
I dont care if the other player knows what i have in my hand. If he cant stop it, hes as good as dead, knowing or not.
It may be slow vs zoo, but thats not the main reason you play such a SB pack.
Vs fae? who cares, you are still playing that eot. If they counter it, they dont counter your other threats. Same with Twin, you say they have a twin in hand? And why should i care? its not like they can go off in my turn.
The only deck that i never want to tap out, since they can combo at instant speed is living end and i suppose ad nauseaum, but that doesnt see play.
The rest are sorcerery speed or win on their attack phases.
Normally playing uwr midrange or esper control, but can play most decks without much trouble i think.
It takes care of random burn or RDW (you are always gonna see atleast 1 in a big event), is a decent enough card in the mirror, vs zoo, vs jund and other attritition style decks. I could also see it doing work vs affinity, if need be.
I would probably go with 2 spellskite, 2 stony silence, 1 timely reinforcements, and 1 wear/tear.
1 counterfluxis always a safe bet, and most likely 1 verdict and 1 hallowed burial, since melira and martyr can make their guys hard to get rid of with wrath effects.
For insurance, 2 rest in peace, and 1 batterskull (you could also play it main). That leaves 3 spots, so a celestial purge, an engineered explosives, and either a second counter (probably negate) or a another timely reinforcements.
Thats the SB i would probably go with to an event when im expecting those decks.
Since there is no twin or uwr control, both dispel and combust seem unnecesary, as is a second counterflux.
The metagameisnt gonna be turned upside down ina mere month, and faeries isnt strong enough to put 6 people on top 8, and even if it were, with a single month of testing, their lists and play wont be refined enough.
I say fae will put 2 guy in top, zoo may put 2, and that will be just because everyone will be playing those decks since they are the new kids on the block.
i think pod will take 2 slots in top 8 maybe both melira, seems a bit stronger than kiki, with the other 4 being 1 uwr midrange, 1 jund, and 1 twin.