39 lands seems fine with the 2 Signets, 2 Talismans and the Mind Stone, I rarely "have too much mana" because I always want to do as much as I can in a turn to break my opponent's game (Rakdos's Return at 7 is awesome).
The main win condition is Thraxi. Control the game HARD and only then you can start playing him. Don't cast him if you have to all-tap while your opponent have cards in his hands or if he can do anything in the next turn.
The other win condition I have and it happened often, is Obliterate + Bolas/Jace/Ugin. I won 2 games last weekend with Jace/Obliterate.
This deck is awesome against aggro. I haven't played a lot against Combo to say but there is plenty of cards to help against that, and against control, with such a low amount of creatures you make a lot their cards dead in their hand while yours are almost always useful in any game.
I had 2 round-winning plays from Rally. My opponents had lethal on next turn while having 10+ life and I managed to Rally for the win. One time from a end-of-turn Collected into 2 Cutthroat and a topdeck Rally (this game is so easy!), and the second time from attacking with 2 Husks with a Rally for 14 damages.
I personally think that Rally and Company are almost needed for this deck to work. You can just explode from nowhere! Your opponent sees 2-3 1/1 creatures on the board with a graveyard that is so-so with his 13-14 life, but your Rally into Husk and Cutthroat can win you the game, even without the Ascendancy (but I wouldn't take this card out!).
In my 4th round I played against a Boros Midrange and he was at 31 life and I was at 4. He have a Thunderbreak Regent on the field, while I had a Cutthroat and 3 Husks (2 with a +1/+1 from Ascendancy). I sacrifice my Blisterpods, Sultai Emissaries etc to make fliers to block and replacement Scions / Manifests while I chip away slowly his HP with Cutthroat. I end up drawing my Rally for the win after 3-4 turns and some luck.
I could very well do without the Mortuary Mire and put anything else, I wouldn't miss it since I want my creatures in the yard.
Leap and Ascendancy: good cards, Leap make your opponent's 1-for-1 not so good since you can just get a replacement for your card and Ascendancy gives you a flying spirit to block Mantis Riders etc.
Liliana was great when I flipped her.
Elvish Visionary is the only card I could consider to replace but I can't think of something else right now.
My sideboard need a lot of work for my Meta but it's a WIP.
50$ draft with top 3 of our modern league having a free entry since we contributed 1$ each player each week since a few months, and up to top 8 will have reduced prices...
50$... draft... and they're selling the box at 360...
Yeah... I'm top 3 in the league, after that... **** off...
I think it's in their interests to keep deck prices higher than Standard because otherwise, what would be the point ?
If Modern cost only 200-300$ more than Standard for the best decks, why would new players play Standard ? Just put 100$ more on your deck and you'll have to keep it forever ! (unless it gets banned...)
They want to keep the prices high, but still far from Legacy ones.
They have been making LD appropriate to the format. Acidic slime, tectonic edge, fulmintor mage, and goblin ruinblaster have all seen play in their time in standard.
By Stone Rain I mostly meant a LD card that is better than Craterize or Demolish, it can be any good LD card like Fulminator Mage, which might have been a good card to reprint in RTR imo.
But my point was mostly for 1 good LD will not make a deck dedicated to that strategy 100% like Pox can be in Legacy.
How does 4 Stone Rain may make a deck a "LD.dec" ? Especially since Snappy will rotate out soon.
1 LD card wouldn't make a deck oppressive on that regard, printing 2-3 good LD cards "would".
Maybe a "Destroy target land, then exile ~"
Here's my list:
1 Badlands
1 Blood Crypt
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Bojuka Bog
1 City of Brass
1 Command Tower
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Desolate Lighthouse
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Flooded Strand
3 Island
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Misty Rainforest
2 Mountain
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Swamp
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Temple of Malice
1 Underground River
1 Underground Sea
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Volcanic Island
1 Wasteland
1 Watery Grave
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Ancestral Vision
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Brainstorm
1 Condescend
1 Counterflux
1 Counterspell
1 Crosis's Charm
1 Cruel Ultimatum
1 Crux of Fate
1 Cryptic Command
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Damnation
1 Decree of Pain
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Edict
1 Dig Through Time
1 Dismember
1 Dreadbore
1 Duress
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Far / Away
1 Fire / Ice
1 Force of Will
1 Hymn to Tourach
1 Innocent Blood
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Into the Roil
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Mana Leak
1 Miscalculation
1 Murderous Cut
1 Obliterate
1 Order of Succession
1 Painful Truths
1 Ponder
1 Preordain
1 Rakdos's Return
1 Remand
1 Sadistic Sacrament
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Spell Snare
1 Stifle
1 Thoughtseize
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Rooftop Storm
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Dimir Signet
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Talisman of Indulgence
1 Mind Stone
1 Coercive Portal
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Nihil Spellbomb
39 lands seems fine with the 2 Signets, 2 Talismans and the Mind Stone, I rarely "have too much mana" because I always want to do as much as I can in a turn to break my opponent's game (Rakdos's Return at 7 is awesome).
The main win condition is Thraxi. Control the game HARD and only then you can start playing him. Don't cast him if you have to all-tap while your opponent have cards in his hands or if he can do anything in the next turn.
The other win condition I have and it happened often, is Obliterate + Bolas/Jace/Ugin. I won 2 games last weekend with Jace/Obliterate.
This deck is awesome against aggro. I haven't played a lot against Combo to say but there is plenty of cards to help against that, and against control, with such a low amount of creatures you make a lot their cards dead in their hand while yours are almost always useful in any game.
Comments?
4x Zulaport Cutthroat
4x Blisterpod
3x Nantuko Husk
3x Elvish Visionary
3x Catacomb Sifter
3x Sultai Emissary
2x Merciless Executioner
2x Liliana, Heretical Healer
Instant
4x Collected Company
3x Rally the Ancestors
3x Evolutionary Leap
3x Abzan Ascendancy
Lands
3x Forest
2x Swamp
2x Plains
1x Mortuary Mire
4x Sandsteppe Citadel
2x Canopy Vista
2x Cave of Koilos
3x Llanowar Wastes
4x Windswept Heath
2x Anafenza, the Foremost
2x Caustic Caterpillar
2x Plummet
3x Duress
3x Bone Splinters
2x Abzan Charm
1x Merciless Executioner
I had 2 round-winning plays from Rally. My opponents had lethal on next turn while having 10+ life and I managed to Rally for the win. One time from a end-of-turn Collected into 2 Cutthroat and a topdeck Rally (this game is so easy!), and the second time from attacking with 2 Husks with a Rally for 14 damages.
I personally think that Rally and Company are almost needed for this deck to work. You can just explode from nowhere! Your opponent sees 2-3 1/1 creatures on the board with a graveyard that is so-so with his 13-14 life, but your Rally into Husk and Cutthroat can win you the game, even without the Ascendancy (but I wouldn't take this card out!).
In my 4th round I played against a Boros Midrange and he was at 31 life and I was at 4. He have a Thunderbreak Regent on the field, while I had a Cutthroat and 3 Husks (2 with a +1/+1 from Ascendancy). I sacrifice my Blisterpods, Sultai Emissaries etc to make fliers to block and replacement Scions / Manifests while I chip away slowly his HP with Cutthroat. I end up drawing my Rally for the win after 3-4 turns and some luck.
I could very well do without the Mortuary Mire and put anything else, I wouldn't miss it since I want my creatures in the yard.
Leap and Ascendancy: good cards, Leap make your opponent's 1-for-1 not so good since you can just get a replacement for your card and Ascendancy gives you a flying spirit to block Mantis Riders etc.
Liliana was great when I flipped her.
Elvish Visionary is the only card I could consider to replace but I can't think of something else right now.
My sideboard need a lot of work for my Meta but it's a WIP.
4 Blisterpod
4 Carrier Thrall
4 Zulaport Cutthroat
4 Nantuko Husk
3 Elvish Visionary
3 Grim Haruspex
3 Merciless Executioner
3 Sidisi's Faithful
4 Leaf Gilder
4 Collected Company
4 Rally the Ancestors
Lands
3 Canopy Vista
4 Windswept Heath
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
3 Yavimaya Coast
1 Blighted Steppe
1 Plains
2 Forest
2 Swamp
edit: ninja'd
50$... draft... and they're selling the box at 360...
Yeah... I'm top 3 in the league, after that... **** off...
But they give 2 box total as price.
If Modern cost only 200-300$ more than Standard for the best decks, why would new players play Standard ? Just put 100$ more on your deck and you'll have to keep it forever ! (unless it gets banned...)
They want to keep the prices high, but still far from Legacy ones.
I noticed that too. Wondering if it's just a re-copy mistake or just fake.
By Stone Rain I mostly meant a LD card that is better than Craterize or Demolish, it can be any good LD card like Fulminator Mage, which might have been a good card to reprint in RTR imo.
But my point was mostly for 1 good LD will not make a deck dedicated to that strategy 100% like Pox can be in Legacy.
1 LD card wouldn't make a deck oppressive on that regard, printing 2-3 good LD cards "would".
Maybe a "Destroy target land, then exile ~"
WoTC doesn't make more money off a box at 300 or 500. They'd make more money printing more boxes, not by making the price higher than MSRP.
We do not know what's left to be spoiled...