Congratulations on Ad Nauseam's GP win! I read the primer soon after learning about the result to understand how this deck actually works, and was not disappointed to find the information as very helpful. I'd make this a pet deck, except I'm already committed to UB Mill.
Thanks for the primer write-up. I'm in the process of assembling pieces for this deck, with my prior experience having piloted several variations of 8Rack and Merfolk. I did have general questions to help clarify what this deck does.
i) Where do we draw the line between UW control and UW superfriends(e.g. http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/385314#paper)? Is it 6 or more planeswalkers, namely Jace, Architect of Thought? Or the lack of counters and Cryptic Command?
ii) Why do some UW control lists play ~15 creatures with Supreme Verdict? This seems counter-intuitive to me, as you are opening up a vulnerability of being caught off-balance by having to wipe your own board state or else having a dead card in hand.
iii) What is the general feeling towards Serum Visions? It's rarely seen in lists, but I would like to know what other cards would play well with it. Here's a list that did well with a playset in the main: http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/388112#online
I saw Brad Nelson fold to double Goblin Dark Dwellers too. Mardu green just has much better late game than anyone else. How would you like to play 8 Crackling Doom and 8 Kolaghan's Command?
I've played a dozen games against various other Modern decks my friends have - Grixis Twin (pre-ban), Grixis Delver, Affinity, Merfolk, and most recently Mono-Black Eldrazi. My impression is that this list has a lot of potential against most decks, except anything that plays a set of Pyroclasm or Anger of the Gods in the main. One way to think about it is greenless-Jund. Kolaghan's Command does a decent impersonation of Abrupt Decay, and Pack Rat + Mutavault can become a bigger threat than Tarmogoyf. I'm not sold on the 4-drops (Chandra, Pyromaster and Outpost Siege), as most of the time I'd rather just maindeck 2x Blood Moon.
My matchup notes that this does very well against most creature-based decks, but I haven't tested against Tron or Scapeshift - two of the worst matchups I suspect. Has anyone played something close to this list?
Question on Pack Rats. Why did you make rat tokens in your second main phase? I saw this happen in matches 2 & 3. Aren't you concerned that he may [[Crytic Command]] before his attacks in match 2 when you're tapped out and at 4 life? I saw you make plays like that in match 3, but they weren't as big of a deal. I think you could have lost match 2 by not keeping track of his outs.
Hangarback Walker does sound interesting. It's like playing Lingering Souls without splashing for White. I think it could be a good inclusion over Nyxathid, as long as we're not playing against a deck with Path to Exile.
Speaking of the primer, will there be an inclusion of Tom Ross' list and strategy? He did win an open with it, and it does play 8 racks. If nothing else, I think a link is helpful.
Agreed with BW. Painlessly splashing a Timely Reinforcements or Lingering Souls would be nice. Maybe next set. As a BR player, I would tweak the ratio of my lands to replace 1 shock for 1 slowland.
Congrats Fat_Buddha on your good showings. Are you sure you were playing dailies and not 8-man queues? I was under the impression that all Daily winners are tracked here: http://www.mtggoldfish.com/tournaments/modern#paper
I play 2 Anger MB, and one in the SB that should really be a Damnation. I'm general, Anger is great against almost all non-green creatures, but lousy against devoted Green decks like Elves. Hence, you should also consider Damnation for the hard removal.
You should be boarding in Nyxathid in most games anyway, so there's one out to Leyline. It sounds like you play Pack Rat, so that should also remain in your deck if you think your opponent may have Leyline - which is probably 80% for UW Control. Can't help you much beyond that, but I am interested to hear more about how your games went against BR rack (mostly b/c that's my weapon of choice).
i) Where do we draw the line between UW control and UW superfriends(e.g. http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/385314#paper)? Is it 6 or more planeswalkers, namely Jace, Architect of Thought? Or the lack of counters and Cryptic Command?
ii) Why do some UW control lists play ~15 creatures with Supreme Verdict? This seems counter-intuitive to me, as you are opening up a vulnerability of being caught off-balance by having to wipe your own board state or else having a dead card in hand.
iii) What is the general feeling towards Serum Visions? It's rarely seen in lists, but I would like to know what other cards would play well with it. Here's a list that did well with a playset in the main: http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/388112#online
4x Blackcleave Cliffs
2x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Lavaclaw Reaches
1x Mountain
4x Mutavault
3x Polluted Delta
4x Swamp
Creature (11)
4x Dark Confidant
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
3x Pack Rat
1x Chandra, Pyromaster
4x Liliana of the Veil
Instant (12)
3x Kolaghan's Command
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Slaughter Pact
2x Terminate
Sorcery (8)
1x Duress
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Thoughtseize
Enchantment (1)
1x Outpost Siege
3x Anger of the Gods
1x Bile Blight
1x Bitterblossom
2x Blood Moon
2x Hangarback Walker
1x Leyline of the Void
1x Nyxathid
4x Sun Droplet
I've played a dozen games against various other Modern decks my friends have - Grixis Twin (pre-ban), Grixis Delver, Affinity, Merfolk, and most recently Mono-Black Eldrazi. My impression is that this list has a lot of potential against most decks, except anything that plays a set of Pyroclasm or Anger of the Gods in the main. One way to think about it is greenless-Jund. Kolaghan's Command does a decent impersonation of Abrupt Decay, and Pack Rat + Mutavault can become a bigger threat than Tarmogoyf. I'm not sold on the 4-drops (Chandra, Pyromaster and Outpost Siege), as most of the time I'd rather just maindeck 2x Blood Moon.
My matchup notes that this does very well against most creature-based decks, but I haven't tested against Tron or Scapeshift - two of the worst matchups I suspect. Has anyone played something close to this list?
Question on Pack Rats. Why did you make rat tokens in your second main phase? I saw this happen in matches 2 & 3. Aren't you concerned that he may [[Crytic Command]] before his attacks in match 2 when you're tapped out and at 4 life? I saw you make plays like that in match 3, but they weren't as big of a deal. I think you could have lost match 2 by not keeping track of his outs.
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/31178_8-Rack-In-Modern.html