I've played GR Tron for years but I switched to this deck as a way to ramping without being soft to URx decks. My build plays 0 interaction MB, as I find it easier in G1 to just win than try to disrupt my opponent's strategy.
One question: why are there two threads for the deck, one without Through the Breach and one with? I run 4x Breach and 4x Scapeshift and they really well together. Breach during your opponent's end step is nearly always 18 damage. If it's countered, then you can play titan as normal the next turn and you've successfully ramped into a Scapeshift the following. The other deck messes about with stuff like Summoner's Trap and more creatures, which I think definitely dilutes the focus, but Through the Breach does real work.
Also, has anyone experimented with Wurmcoil Engines in the Obstinate Baloth slot? Wurmcoil has been taking over and winning games for me that the Baloth would just stall for. Baloth can't really deal with large Tarmogoyfs, Dredge, or Suicide Zoo nearly as well as Wurmcoil.
I've played dozens of matches of both GB and GR and while I love things about all three colors, I'm very skeptical that Jund <> is feasible. Have you all found that this is the case?
Strategy
GR Eldrazi uses lands like Eye of Ugin and Eldrazi Temple to drop large threats such as Reality Smasher supported by sweepers like Kozilek's Return and great digging tools like Ancient Stirrings and Sylvan Scrying, all backed up by the best dual in modern, Grove of the Burnwillows. The deck plays like a mixture of ramp decks like Heartless Eldrazi and non-reactive decks like Zoo. By playing threats that must be answered in quick succession, GR Eldrazi works to overwhelm our opponent's defenses in size and number.
Eldrazi Threats
Reality Smasher
A natural 2-for-1 that comes out of no where and eats Tasigurs for days, very key to the deck.
Thought-Knot Seer
Often a Turn 2 or Turn 3 threat that can knock an opponent off curve while presenting a real clock. Has some downsides with your opponents blink effects and/or them removing in response to its ETB trigger.
Oblivion Sower
Another 6 drop, but with an even less relevant text box. Since GR doesn't run many exile effects and no Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, don't expect much more than 1 land from ramp with his cast trigger. That said, 5/8 is a very, very hard body to deal with. He'll take on opposing Gurmag Anglers and Reality Smashers all day.
Endbringer
A fine 6 drop that can quickly take the game out of control's hands. Combined with Generator Servant and he creates more value than you'd think, being able to swing for 5 and draw a card next turn.
World Breaker
Much less likely to get stuck in your hand than Ulamog, but also less powerful, World Breaker is a solid beater than can disrupt your opponents mana or artifact plan without needing many turns to set him up. Also, he has the ability to come back from the grave which could come in handy once in a while.
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
The new king Eldrazi, Ulamog needs no introduction. Good not to run too many though, since a tiny bit of hand or land disruption can make him a dead card for the rest of the game.
Non-Eldrazi Threats
Thragtusk
A great resiliant beater with a lifegain clause, if not in the main should probably be in the SB.
Kitchen Finks
Another resiliant card with a lifegain clause, however his GG requirement makes him surprisingly hard to cast when he's most relevant.
Vexing Devil
A great way to more than bolt your opponent, but of course he only furthers your boardstate at your opponent's whim.
Tarmogoyf
The posterchild of Modern, the Goyf is less powerful in the Eldrazi decks due to the lack of fetchlands, and further in a GR build due to the lack of hand disruption.
Removal
Lightning Bolt
5-star removal, only fails when trying to knock down opposing Eldrazi.
Pyroclasm
A great way to deal with tokens, affinity, or burn. Obviously comes up short vs. midrange or when you need instant-speed removal.
Tendo Ice Bridge
Much, much weaker than either dual, it can still let you cast Ancient Stirrings or [Sylvan Scrying[/card] for a better land when needed.
Fire-Lit Thicket
A great way to generate your colors or colorless, it can be fairly weak on Turns 1-3, so 4-of is not recommended.p
I've seen people saying Reality Smasher doesn't contribute to our main game plan. But I disagree, he applies pressure early in case we stumble. They need to answer him.. Since he is a 2 for 1 he clears the way for our plan.
This.
Smasher is an immediate threat that, outside of the mirror or Tron, is often the biggest thing on the field. Ulamog is fun, but there are plenty of games where he can't come down in time, but having a T3 or T4 Smasher would be enough to swing the game.
A colorless turn 1 play is appealing. It lets you play HS or TKS on turn 2, and crack the map later, or just crack the map on turn 2, which is no tempo loss in comparison to Scrying. Scrying is right in the turn-2 slot, already occupied a fair amount of times. Plus, you keep a lot of hands that have actually no green sources in them, so Scrying in a colorless opener is basically a mulligan.
I'm not convinced that destroying the consistency of the deck for an effect we already have with an artifact is worth it.
Fair enough, I don't run Map or Scrying but I was curious.
I run 4 Stirrings, 3 Scrying, and 0 Maps. Why? Because T1 Stirrings is the one of the best plays we have, and lets you keep hands with 0 threats or 0 Eldrazi lands. If you have both of those but no green, then later you get to dig for an answer when the boardstate becomes stale. Its really good.
Yes, Map is better than Scrying for turns 1 and 2, but if we already have a great T1 play then that means Map becomes worse than Scrying for T2. This can also be relevant later when you need to find an extra colorless or Eldrazi land for your top-level threat. The difference between 3cc to play and crack vs. 2cc can mean the difference between fetching and playing your threat or having to wait until the next turn.
The processor deck pre-dates the Heartless deck by about a month. Bx processor became so popular since it was the first deck to use the new Eldrazi and heavy maindeck graveyard hate which attacks many of the most popular decks on a previously unknown axis which they were/are vulnerable to.
In contrast, Heartless has no maindeck GY hate, but rather works to go over top existing decks. This might not be so bad since most graveyard-based decks are adapting in light of the Bx processor deck in an attempt to shore up this newly-identified weakspot.
Finally a good deck list (my opinion), I think 'we' are trying to over think this going into other colours. This decks strength is in colourless mana Eldrazi, the Lands & Heartless. Heartless n the 5-6 swamps give us a game against Bloodmoon & GQ. Just keep the pressure up with the fatties, then slam home with Ulamog when we are ramping.
I've found Mono-B to have huge problems with consistency as well as just being too slow for tier 1 and tier 1.5 archtypes that can go 'under' an Ulamog ie. Burn, Affinity, Infect, and anything aggro or tempo. They all out-game Mono-B Heartless by applying pressure faster with a little bit of disruption (GQ, Remand, removal for Conduit or Heartless).
Splashing (or more) a color opens up new SB and MB options like Path, Stirrings, Kozilek's Return, etc. which give the deck more stability vs. the field.
Here's a new version of my list. No Oblivion Sowers and fewer 7+ drops are the big changes. Not sure if Sowers or Conduits are better, but the 6 drop slot is too crowded with both and Endbringer. I also added the Thragtusks to the main as a way of better stabilizing the aggro, burn, and tempo matchups. I tried Basilisk Collars but they were a little lackluster. Kitchen Finks might also be good as it is also an early threat, but I'm not sure the manabase can produce GG quickly enough.
So I've removed Oblivion Sowers and some number of Conduits to run Endbringer and its ridiculous - giant body attached to recurring value. Anyone else tried it yet?
Anyone else finding Conduit of Ruin something of a liability? More than a few times I've searched up Ulamog only to have Conduit countered or removed, giving my opponent a near-time walk while I draw an uncastable card and try to find more ramp. Oblivion Sower almost feels like the safer bet, though obviously w/o the search clause.
Casting AD isn't bad at all, because the goal isn't to run it out on the first threat you see. If you wanted to cast it on turns 2 or 3 it might be rough, but thats because we're dropping as many Eldrazi lands as possible to get out 4/4 and 5/5s and put our opponent under pressure. I've found the best play to be using them on targets around turn 4 or 5 to maximize a swing by our beaters.
On the same note, I don't miss hand disruption because I prioritize building our manabase to drop TKS and Smashers. TBH I can see adding 2 or more IOK to the board but in the main they probably slow us down more than our opponent (except in the case of combo, which would be worth bringing it in from the board then)
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Primeval Titan
Ramp + Dig
3 Summoner's Pact
4 Search for Tomorrow
4 Khalni Heart Expedition
4 Farseek
I Win
4 Through the Breach
2 Prismatic Omen
4 Scapeshift
4 Cinder Glade
2 Forest
7 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground
4 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Windswept Heath
3 Guttural Response
4 Anger of the Gods
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Fracturing Gust
3 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Ancient Grudge
I've played GR Tron for years but I switched to this deck as a way to ramping without being soft to URx decks. My build plays 0 interaction MB, as I find it easier in G1 to just win than try to disrupt my opponent's strategy.
One question: why are there two threads for the deck, one without Through the Breach and one with? I run 4x Breach and 4x Scapeshift and they really well together. Breach during your opponent's end step is nearly always 18 damage. If it's countered, then you can play titan as normal the next turn and you've successfully ramped into a Scapeshift the following. The other deck messes about with stuff like Summoner's Trap and more creatures, which I think definitely dilutes the focus, but Through the Breach does real work.
Also, has anyone experimented with Wurmcoil Engines in the Obstinate Baloth slot? Wurmcoil has been taking over and winning games for me that the Baloth would just stall for. Baloth can't really deal with large Tarmogoyfs, Dredge, or Suicide Zoo nearly as well as Wurmcoil.
GR ELDRAZI MIDRANGE
Strategy
GR Eldrazi uses lands like Eye of Ugin and Eldrazi Temple to drop large threats such as Reality Smasher supported by sweepers like Kozilek's Return and great digging tools like Ancient Stirrings and Sylvan Scrying, all backed up by the best dual in modern, Grove of the Burnwillows. The deck plays like a mixture of ramp decks like Heartless Eldrazi and non-reactive decks like Zoo. By playing threats that must be answered in quick succession, GR Eldrazi works to overwhelm our opponent's defenses in size and number.
Eldrazi Threats
Reality Smasher
A natural 2-for-1 that comes out of no where and eats Tasigurs for days, very key to the deck.
Thought-Knot Seer
Often a Turn 2 or Turn 3 threat that can knock an opponent off curve while presenting a real clock. Has some downsides with your opponents blink effects and/or them removing in response to its ETB trigger.
Conduit of Ruin
Another 5/5 body, albeit with a less impressive textbox than Reality Smasher in this build. Still a great way to ramp into additional threats or to present World Breaker next turn. Or live the dream and tutor up Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Oblivion Sower
Another 6 drop, but with an even less relevant text box. Since GR doesn't run many exile effects and no Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, don't expect much more than 1 land from ramp with his cast trigger. That said, 5/8 is a very, very hard body to deal with. He'll take on opposing Gurmag Anglers and Reality Smashers all day.
Endbringer
A fine 6 drop that can quickly take the game out of control's hands. Combined with Generator Servant and he creates more value than you'd think, being able to swing for 5 and draw a card next turn.
World Breaker
Much less likely to get stuck in your hand than Ulamog, but also less powerful, World Breaker is a solid beater than can disrupt your opponents mana or artifact plan without needing many turns to set him up. Also, he has the ability to come back from the grave which could come in handy once in a while.
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
The new king Eldrazi, Ulamog needs no introduction. Good not to run too many though, since a tiny bit of hand or land disruption can make him a dead card for the rest of the game.
Non-Eldrazi Threats
Thragtusk
A great resiliant beater with a lifegain clause, if not in the main should probably be in the SB.
Kitchen Finks
Another resiliant card with a lifegain clause, however his GG requirement makes him surprisingly hard to cast when he's most relevant.
Vexing Devil
A great way to more than bolt your opponent, but of course he only furthers your boardstate at your opponent's whim.
Tarmogoyf
The posterchild of Modern, the Goyf is less powerful in the Eldrazi decks due to the lack of fetchlands, and further in a GR build due to the lack of hand disruption.
Removal
Lightning Bolt
5-star removal, only fails when trying to knock down opposing Eldrazi.
Pyroclasm
A great way to deal with tokens, affinity, or burn. Obviously comes up short vs. midrange or when you need instant-speed removal.
Firespout
Harder to use than Pyroclasm, but this won't leave Wild Nacatl and Kird Apes on the field.
Kozilek's Return
The new sweeper on the block, it takes care of Etched Champions and is searchable with Ancient Stirrings all at instant speed. Its second mode is largely irrelevant.
Ramp
Generator Servant
The red Heartless Summoning, he shines by giving haste to your Endbringers and World Breakers while not weakening your threats to within bolt range.
Bird of Paradise
Cheap, great mana fixing. The bird can be a liability though if you're struggling on colors.
Sylvan Caryatid
Much safer than Bird of Paradise, and a decent blocker vs. Burn too. Its 2cc cost can seriously slow the deck down though.
Lands
Grove of the Burnwillows
The best dual in Modern, unlike all of the shocks it even generates colorless.
Karplusan Forest
A more painful version of Grove of the Burnwillows, both together make up the backbone of the manabase.
Tendo Ice Bridge
Much, much weaker than either dual, it can still let you cast Ancient Stirrings or [Sylvan Scrying[/card] for a better land when needed.
Fire-Lit Thicket
A great way to generate your colors or colorless, it can be fairly weak on Turns 1-3, so 4-of is not recommended.p
Sideboard
Ancient Grudge
Premium Affinity hate with Flashback
Nature's Claim
Also premium Affinity hate that does double duty against Blood Moon as well.
Crumble to Dust
Backbreaking against other Eldrazi builds and Tron.
Spellskite
Great vs. Bogles or Infect, also protects Thought-Knot from being insta-Path'd for value.
Feed the Clan
Already good vs. burn, in this deck its Ferocious is very easy to trigger, making it even better.
Example Decklist
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Conduit of Ruin
2 World Breaker
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Ramp
4 Generator Servant
4 Bird of Paradise
Removal
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Kozilek's Return
4 Ancient Stirrings
3 Sylvan Scrying
Lands
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
4 Karplusan Forest
4 Tendo Ice Bridge
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Eye of Ugin
2 Forest
1 Mountain
3 Feed the Clan
3 Crumble to Dust
2 Pyroclasm
2 Spellskite
2 Crucible of Worlds
3 Ancient Grudge
This.
Smasher is an immediate threat that, outside of the mirror or Tron, is often the biggest thing on the field. Ulamog is fun, but there are plenty of games where he can't come down in time, but having a T3 or T4 Smasher would be enough to swing the game.
I run 4 Stirrings, 3 Scrying, and 0 Maps. Why? Because T1 Stirrings is the one of the best plays we have, and lets you keep hands with 0 threats or 0 Eldrazi lands. If you have both of those but no green, then later you get to dig for an answer when the boardstate becomes stale. Its really good.
Yes, Map is better than Scrying for turns 1 and 2, but if we already have a great T1 play then that means Map becomes worse than Scrying for T2. This can also be relevant later when you need to find an extra colorless or Eldrazi land for your top-level threat. The difference between 3cc to play and crack vs. 2cc can mean the difference between fetching and playing your threat or having to wait until the next turn.
In contrast, Heartless has no maindeck GY hate, but rather works to go over top existing decks. This might not be so bad since most graveyard-based decks are adapting in light of the Bx processor deck in an attempt to shore up this newly-identified weakspot.
And yeah, GB Heartless is the best
I've found Mono-B to have huge problems with consistency as well as just being too slow for tier 1 and tier 1.5 archtypes that can go 'under' an Ulamog ie. Burn, Affinity, Infect, and anything aggro or tempo. They all out-game Mono-B Heartless by applying pressure faster with a little bit of disruption (GQ, Remand, removal for Conduit or Heartless).
Splashing (or more) a color opens up new SB and MB options like Path, Stirrings, Kozilek's Return, etc. which give the deck more stability vs. the field.
4 Reality Smasher
4 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Endbringer
2 Conduit of Ruin
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 World Breaker
2 Thragtusk
Other
3 Heartless Summoning
Removal
2 All Is Dust
1 Dismember
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Murderous Cut
1 Slaughter Pact
2 Go for the Throat
1 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Ancient Stirrings
3 Sylvan Scrying
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Eye of Ugin
4 Llanowar Wastes
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Twilight Mire
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Tendo Ice Bridge
1 Spellskite
2 Duress
3 Nature's Claim
2 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Feed the Clan
2 Warping Wail
1 Languish
1 Crucible of Worlds
Here's a new version of my list. No Oblivion Sowers and fewer 7+ drops are the big changes. Not sure if Sowers or Conduits are better, but the 6 drop slot is too crowded with both and Endbringer. I also added the Thragtusks to the main as a way of better stabilizing the aggro, burn, and tempo matchups. I tried Basilisk Collars but they were a little lackluster. Kitchen Finks might also be good as it is also an early threat, but I'm not sure the manabase can produce GG quickly enough.
On the same note, I don't miss hand disruption because I prioritize building our manabase to drop TKS and Smashers. TBH I can see adding 2 or more IOK to the board but in the main they probably slow us down more than our opponent (except in the case of combo, which would be worth bringing it in from the board then)