Flameberga, how useful was Barter in Blood in the sideboard? A one-of seemed a bit random to me.
Also perhaps Evil Twin should be in the sideboard so we don't just scoop to Sigarda and it does have some synergy against most other midrangy cards (AoS, Thragtusk, ect)
I ran FlickerSlime last rotation, so this deck looks beyond fun to me
Some suggestions:
Zegana? A big problem I've had so far in playtesting is that in many of our mana-filled hands, we run out of steam pretty quickly. Zegana can help refresh our hands with even just a slime on the field and give us a solid beater body. In addition, she is blinkable with resto angel, so synergy.
Another card I think that is being ignored is Faith's Reward. Perhaps it's really janky, but if someone supreme veredicts while we have 2 slimes on the field, imagine the value.
Also, my sideboard is pretty devoted to fight the aggromatch up right now. I think we have pretty good matchups against midrange and control, at least from what I see. Just my 2 cents though.
Lastly, I think I'm gonna give a 1-of Deadeye Navigator a try and see how it works. I feel like if he stay/a slime that he is soulbonded to stays for more than one turn, you basically win.
Anyways I just want to hear your guys experiences vs Naya Blitz and Aristocrats. The nut draw of champion, BTE and mauler is just brutal. Only thing I can pray for is having a pillar of slip in my opening hand to kill the champ if not it is down hill. Magmaquake... I'm in a love hate relationship with. Those stupid lingering souls just sit up there laughing at me while they eat away at me.
I have actually never had a problem with aristocrats once sideboarding happens. Izzet Staticaster is really, really good against them from experience, killing all of their spirit tokens and Blood Artist. Far//Away also gets rid of Falkenrath Aristocrat. I think the matchup is pretty nice in our favor, but maybe I'm just mad lucky against them.
Naya Blitz and G/R Aggro in general, I'm sadly not great against. I have recently moved Pillars to mainboard and hoping that killing the parish on turn one is good enough to keep us fighting
I'll be very honest, I lose quite consistently to aggro decks, especially G/R aggro.
Is it crazy that I'm thinking about siding in Frostburn Weird or Murmuring Phantasm? And if not. which would be the more solid choice? Or is there better things to run? I'm quite tired of the aggro slams and would love answers
I guess I'm still pretty clouded in judgment by my crushing loss. My complaint seems to be more toward Bant than Voice.
Bant gets early game beaters we have to remove, outramps us with farseek, can save creatures with resto. make us 2 for 1 with Thragtusk, can run countermagic to compete with us, AND get access to Sphinx's Rev and Zegana.
Like I would use spells and tap out on my turn to kill voice and thrag, only the opponent to sphinx's rev at the end of turn and now have a crippling advantage over me.
Is the match-up hard or am I just bad? (probably the latter).
What do we do about Voice of Resurgence if we don't draw Pillar of Flame? I got destroyed by it at this fnm because I thought I had to play my removal during my turn, leaving me no mana for counterspells for the thragtusk or Zegana.
Probably already suggested and performed, but doesn't Ray of Revelation help against the bant enchantments matchup? Also helps us against Rest in Peace and Ground seal.
While suggesting, would High Priest of Penance be any good against hyperaggro?
Extreme honesty, not hating just stating, I'm not having a lot of success with this deck.
There is a good chance that I am playing the deck poorly (wouldn't surprise me). That said, I'm coming across several problems
1. We're really weak to removal. I ran Mizzium Skin instead of Sheltering Words (since they do the same thing, hexproof wise) and getting Devour Fleshed or something sucks a lot
2. We seem to get a lot of dead cards, in my experience. I get my 5/5 Jace's out, and my I draw am ind sculpt. It doesn't do me much good when they already have 10+. When I want to punch in and win, I start wishing it was something else. That said, its very difficult to balance, since you need mill cards early to even get a 5/5 Phantasm
Naturally, I could just be playing the deck poorly, but a lot of my wins are a lucky top-deck essence harvest, or just milling my opponent out.
I played 4 of my friends and it went like
2-0 vs Bant Enchantments (Devour Flesh, MVP)
1-2 vs America Control (won only due to mana screw on opponent's side. Planeswalkers/Assemble the Legion. No counterspells. GG)
0-2 vs Boros Control (too fast. My removal did little)
2-0 vs Gruul Control (oddly slower and my removal never got boros charmed or anything)
Initial Thoughts:
Aetherize did little to help, in my opinion. Many times I wished it was a killspell or something
Undying Evil was never used. But I'm scared of removal.....i dunno
50-50 on Victim of the Night. Worked today, but I didn't fight Zombies/Olivia/Huntsmaster, so I dunno
Aggro matchup is brutal. Does splashing green for Shelthering Words and Abrupt Decay really help?
Future Thoughts:
- Syncopate: Good for some early game disruption?
- Spell Rupture: Might not be great because you need a boardstate, but seems amazing protection for your consuming or phantasm
- Grisly Spectacle: Ok, probably not very good. But instant speed removal that beefs up consuming/gets us closer to 10 can be a thought?
- Whispering Madness: Also not that great probably, but it gives us some steam while making their graveyard bigger
- Golgari Charm: I might sub out undying evil for it if I go green. Regenerate gives us power against supreme veredict. Destroys Rest in Peace and Detention Sphere.
Aven Mindcensor is also white, and I try to keep white to a minimum. And it is a creature with one toughness, thus easily destroyed. Maybe its worth testing Stranglehold instead?
It is possible that I'm being overly optimistic, but I don't think our role changes too much come gatecrash
I completely agree, Grixis got the short end of the stick. But at the same time, I feel like Gatecrash really only offers creatures and things that help creatures. We're really good against creatures, so we may have an edge, even if we get little
As mentioned, Devour Flesh is a nice tool we get that helps deal with the pesky hexproof that used to be a much bigger problem
I like Dimir Charm personally
I didn't really like fighting token decks, so Illness in the Ranks seems good in the sideboard.
Once again, I agree we got near nothing, but the meta seems to be going more toward creatures. And that's good for us. Really speculation, of course
I'm confused, because you say Lone Revenant did a lot of work, but you sided it out game 2 in three out of your four matches, generally against creature-based decks. That tells me you'd rather have Olivia in the maindeck, either alongside Lone Revenant or in place of it. Personally, I run both, but since you were siding the Revenant out so I'm a little intrigued as to your rationale here. Otherwise, I like the list except for the 2 Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius in the sideboard, as I can't figure out why they're there. It just seems like an odd sideboarding choice.
Sorry, I should have clarified. Lone Revenant did do a lot of work...in the U/W Mill matchup. I believe I would have won those games had he not top deck Supreme Veredicts, as every-time I checked his hand, he only had detention spheres and such. That said, my general strat is to side out Lones game 2 because I notice that my opponents side out a lot of their creature removal due to their ineffectiveness game 1. That said, Perhaps I should run both, you make a good point.
Personally, I completely agree with your stance on Niv-Mizzet. I put him in sideboard since I believe he is a very solid card....but I don't know when to really side him in and such. Perhaps I'll switch him out
I never got those witchbane orbs that I thought I'd test. Turns out, that would bite me
Game 1: G/W Aggro 2-0
Round 1: He plays Dryad Militant, I play Pillar of Flame. And it continues like this. Eventually, I let him get a small board-state because I have a magmaquake in hand. Little do I know, we uses rootborn defense and saves them all. Thankfully, I had a snapcaster game in hand and managed to flashback the quake. Keyrune eventually wins me the game
Sideboard: -2 Lone Revenant, +2 Olivia
Round 2: I keep a poor hand, but it had a think twice, a searing spear, and a rakdos keyrune, so I thought I'd be set. He starts with another dryad Militant. I have nothing turn 1. He hits and plays another. I searing spear one. And continue to draw land. I eventually have to play my think twice. That said, I eventually draw another magmaquake and syncopate the rootborn defense. Keyrune wins again.
Overall, I believe we do quite well against G/W aggro. At least, from my experiences.
Game 2: B/G The Rock 2-0
Round 1: He gets mana flooded. I don't. Lone Rev cleans house
Sideboard: -2 Lone Revenant, +2 Olivia
Round 2: Kill everything he has. Exile Wolfir Avenger with Syncopate. Dreadbore Vraska. Ect ect.
Pretty easy matchup, since we are so good against creatures.
Game 3: G/R Werewolves 2-0
Round 1: He tries playing creatures. I kill em even despite his Full Moon's Rise. He almost plays a surprise Thundermaw when I only have 2 mana left, but I manage to surprise him with a syncopate for just enough.
Round 2: Pretty much the same as round 1 until he plays a card he sideboarded in, Heretic's Punishment. That said, a beefy olivia wins me the "race"
Grixis Control, good against creatures. Who knew?
Game 4: U/W Mill 1-2
This game was really frustrating. I was tired, hungry, mad I didn't get those witchbane orbs, other poor excuses. I mis-played very hard.
Round 1: He has no creatures, I get milled. Just about the general story
Sideboard: +3 Negate, +2 Niv-Mizzet, +1 Nicol bolas, +3 Slaughter Games (No idea why I didn't side in olivia. tired), -3 Ultimate Price, -2 Sever, -3 Mizzium Mortars, -1 Pillar of Flame (Kept magmaquake because he had jace. Still bad move)
Round 2: barely beat him with Niv-Mizzet. 10 cards left in deck.
Round 3: I get very unlucky. I lose my nicol Bolas and Niv Mizzets near the beginning. I draw a slaughter games, and for some reason don't call Increasing Confusion, but dissipate for god knows why. I play a lone Rev, he supreme veredicts it. I play another, he does it again. I lose a lot of my best stuff due to mill. Eventually, I start racing him with Searing Spears and Snapcaster attacks. However, He plays jace and mills me for 10. I dreadbore it, He increasings me one last time. I'm down to two cards. I draw my 1st card, its think twice. I then attack him, bringing him down to 2. I play think twice with a million mana left annnnd, I remember I sided out my last pillar and kept a magmaquake. Regrets.
Overall 3-1 (sorry for the pillar of text), my thoughts are
- Lone Revenant did a lot of work. Many people had no idea how to get rid of him. I kinda think I want 3 in mainboard instead of 2.
- I have no idea what to do with Syncopates. Some games they're clutch. Others they are dead and dissipate would be worlds better
- Slaughter Games didn't do much even when sided in, but maybe it's because I'm dumb. Might switch for dissipates or something
- Maybe I'm still paranoid from that last game, but I'm thinking about a one of Psychic Spiral on the sideboard. Snapcaster lets me bring it back even if milled. I dunno yet.
So thoughts? Suggestions? I'm thinking about Thoughtflare, since there are times I'm scared with 0-1 cards in hand. But I dunno yet
Also perhaps Evil Twin should be in the sideboard so we don't just scoop to Sigarda and it does have some synergy against most other midrangy cards (AoS, Thragtusk, ect)
Some suggestions:
Zegana? A big problem I've had so far in playtesting is that in many of our mana-filled hands, we run out of steam pretty quickly. Zegana can help refresh our hands with even just a slime on the field and give us a solid beater body. In addition, she is blinkable with resto angel, so synergy.
Another card I think that is being ignored is Faith's Reward. Perhaps it's really janky, but if someone supreme veredicts while we have 2 slimes on the field, imagine the value.
Also, my sideboard is pretty devoted to fight the aggromatch up right now. I think we have pretty good matchups against midrange and control, at least from what I see. Just my 2 cents though.
Lastly, I think I'm gonna give a 1-of Deadeye Navigator a try and see how it works. I feel like if he stay/a slime that he is soulbonded to stays for more than one turn, you basically win.
I have actually never had a problem with aristocrats once sideboarding happens. Izzet Staticaster is really, really good against them from experience, killing all of their spirit tokens and Blood Artist. Far//Away also gets rid of Falkenrath Aristocrat. I think the matchup is pretty nice in our favor, but maybe I'm just mad lucky against them.
Naya Blitz and G/R Aggro in general, I'm sadly not great against. I have recently moved Pillars to mainboard and hoping that killing the parish on turn one is good enough to keep us fighting
I'll be very honest, I lose quite consistently to aggro decks, especially G/R aggro.
Is it crazy that I'm thinking about siding in Frostburn Weird or Murmuring Phantasm? And if not. which would be the more solid choice? Or is there better things to run? I'm quite tired of the aggro slams and would love answers
Bant gets early game beaters we have to remove, outramps us with farseek, can save creatures with resto. make us 2 for 1 with Thragtusk, can run countermagic to compete with us, AND get access to Sphinx's Rev and Zegana.
Like I would use spells and tap out on my turn to kill voice and thrag, only the opponent to sphinx's rev at the end of turn and now have a crippling advantage over me.
Is the match-up hard or am I just bad? (probably the latter).
While suggesting, would High Priest of Penance be any good against hyperaggro?
For the control matchup, it gets rid of board wipes and planeswalkers, which were my biggest fear
It gets rid of a lot of their guys in reanimator as well as unburial rites
Gets rid of Thragtusk, Olivia, and Huntsmask in Jund
Restoration Angel, Thragtusk, and Obzebat in other Junk decks
Less useful against Aggro, but we got other stuff
thoughts?
There is a good chance that I am playing the deck poorly (wouldn't surprise me). That said, I'm coming across several problems
1. We're really weak to removal. I ran Mizzium Skin instead of Sheltering Words (since they do the same thing, hexproof wise) and getting Devour Fleshed or something sucks a lot
2. We seem to get a lot of dead cards, in my experience. I get my 5/5 Jace's out, and my I draw am ind sculpt. It doesn't do me much good when they already have 10+. When I want to punch in and win, I start wishing it was something else. That said, its very difficult to balance, since you need mill cards early to even get a 5/5 Phantasm
Naturally, I could just be playing the deck poorly, but a lot of my wins are a lucky top-deck essence harvest, or just milling my opponent out.
4x Drowned Catacomb
7x Island
7x Swamp
4x Watery Grave
4x Psychic Strike
2x Victim of Night
3x Devour Flesh
3x Dream Twist
4x Thought Scour
1x Ultimate Price
1x Think Twice
2x Essence Harvest
4x Mind Sculpt
3x Consuming Aberration
4x Deathrite Shaman
4x Jace's Phantasm
3x Wight of Precinct Six
3x Aetherize
3x Illness in the Ranks
1x Mind Grind
2x Undying Evil
2x Dimir charm
1x Devour Flesh
3x Negate
I played 4 of my friends and it went like
2-0 vs Bant Enchantments (Devour Flesh, MVP)
1-2 vs America Control (won only due to mana screw on opponent's side. Planeswalkers/Assemble the Legion. No counterspells. GG)
0-2 vs Boros Control (too fast. My removal did little)
2-0 vs Gruul Control (oddly slower and my removal never got boros charmed or anything)
Initial Thoughts:
Aetherize did little to help, in my opinion. Many times I wished it was a killspell or something
Undying Evil was never used. But I'm scared of removal.....i dunno
50-50 on Victim of the Night. Worked today, but I didn't fight Zombies/Olivia/Huntsmaster, so I dunno
Aggro matchup is brutal. Does splashing green for Shelthering Words and Abrupt Decay really help?
Future Thoughts:
- Syncopate: Good for some early game disruption?
- Spell Rupture: Might not be great because you need a boardstate, but seems amazing protection for your consuming or phantasm
- Grisly Spectacle: Ok, probably not very good. But instant speed removal that beefs up consuming/gets us closer to 10 can be a thought?
- Whispering Madness: Also not that great probably, but it gives us some steam while making their graveyard bigger
- Golgari Charm: I might sub out undying evil for it if I go green. Regenerate gives us power against supreme veredict. Destroys Rest in Peace and Detention Sphere.
Thoughts?
Sadly, Stranglehold is not modern.
I completely agree, Grixis got the short end of the stick. But at the same time, I feel like Gatecrash really only offers creatures and things that help creatures. We're really good against creatures, so we may have an edge, even if we get little
As mentioned, Devour Flesh is a nice tool we get that helps deal with the pesky hexproof that used to be a much bigger problem
I like Dimir Charm personally
I didn't really like fighting token decks, so Illness in the Ranks seems good in the sideboard.
Once again, I agree we got near nothing, but the meta seems to be going more toward creatures. And that's good for us. Really speculation, of course
Sorry, I should have clarified. Lone Revenant did do a lot of work...in the U/W Mill matchup. I believe I would have won those games had he not top deck Supreme Veredicts, as every-time I checked his hand, he only had detention spheres and such. That said, my general strat is to side out Lones game 2 because I notice that my opponents side out a lot of their creature removal due to their ineffectiveness game 1. That said, Perhaps I should run both, you make a good point.
Personally, I completely agree with your stance on Niv-Mizzet. I put him in sideboard since I believe he is a very solid card....but I don't know when to really side him in and such. Perhaps I'll switch him out
Thanks for the suggestions!
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Steam Vents
3 Sulfur Falls
2 Drowned Catacombs
4 Island
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
//Creatures 5
2 Lone Revenant
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Rakdos Keyrune
//Others 29
2 Magmaquake
3 Ultimate Price
4 Pillar of Flame
4 Think Twice
4 Syncopate
3 Mizzium Mortar
1 Tribute to Hunger
3 Searing Spear
2 Sever the Bloodline
3 Dreadbore
1 Tribute to Hunger
3 Slaughter Games
3 Negate
2 Olivia Voldaran
2 Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
3 Izzet Staticaster
I never got those witchbane orbs that I thought I'd test. Turns out, that would bite me
Game 1: G/W Aggro 2-0
Round 1: He plays Dryad Militant, I play Pillar of Flame. And it continues like this. Eventually, I let him get a small board-state because I have a magmaquake in hand. Little do I know, we uses rootborn defense and saves them all. Thankfully, I had a snapcaster game in hand and managed to flashback the quake. Keyrune eventually wins me the game
Sideboard: -2 Lone Revenant, +2 Olivia
Round 2: I keep a poor hand, but it had a think twice, a searing spear, and a rakdos keyrune, so I thought I'd be set. He starts with another dryad Militant. I have nothing turn 1. He hits and plays another. I searing spear one. And continue to draw land. I eventually have to play my think twice. That said, I eventually draw another magmaquake and syncopate the rootborn defense. Keyrune wins again.
Overall, I believe we do quite well against G/W aggro. At least, from my experiences.
Game 2: B/G The Rock 2-0
Round 1: He gets mana flooded. I don't. Lone Rev cleans house
Sideboard: -2 Lone Revenant, +2 Olivia
Round 2: Kill everything he has. Exile Wolfir Avenger with Syncopate. Dreadbore Vraska. Ect ect.
Pretty easy matchup, since we are so good against creatures.
Game 3: G/R Werewolves 2-0
Round 1: He tries playing creatures. I kill em even despite his Full Moon's Rise. He almost plays a surprise Thundermaw when I only have 2 mana left, but I manage to surprise him with a syncopate for just enough.
sideboard: -2 Lone Revenant, -1 Syncopate, +1 Tribute to Hunger, +2 Olivia
Round 2: Pretty much the same as round 1 until he plays a card he sideboarded in, Heretic's Punishment. That said, a beefy olivia wins me the "race"
Grixis Control, good against creatures. Who knew?
Game 4: U/W Mill 1-2
This game was really frustrating. I was tired, hungry, mad I didn't get those witchbane orbs, other poor excuses. I mis-played very hard.
Round 1: He has no creatures, I get milled. Just about the general story
Sideboard: +3 Negate, +2 Niv-Mizzet, +1 Nicol bolas, +3 Slaughter Games (No idea why I didn't side in olivia. tired), -3 Ultimate Price, -2 Sever, -3 Mizzium Mortars, -1 Pillar of Flame (Kept magmaquake because he had jace. Still bad move)
Round 2: barely beat him with Niv-Mizzet. 10 cards left in deck.
Round 3: I get very unlucky. I lose my nicol Bolas and Niv Mizzets near the beginning. I draw a slaughter games, and for some reason don't call Increasing Confusion, but dissipate for god knows why. I play a lone Rev, he supreme veredicts it. I play another, he does it again. I lose a lot of my best stuff due to mill. Eventually, I start racing him with Searing Spears and Snapcaster attacks. However, He plays jace and mills me for 10. I dreadbore it, He increasings me one last time. I'm down to two cards. I draw my 1st card, its think twice. I then attack him, bringing him down to 2. I play think twice with a million mana left annnnd, I remember I sided out my last pillar and kept a magmaquake. Regrets.
Overall 3-1 (sorry for the pillar of text), my thoughts are
- Lone Revenant did a lot of work. Many people had no idea how to get rid of him. I kinda think I want 3 in mainboard instead of 2.
- I have no idea what to do with Syncopates. Some games they're clutch. Others they are dead and dissipate would be worlds better
- Slaughter Games didn't do much even when sided in, but maybe it's because I'm dumb. Might switch for dissipates or something
- Maybe I'm still paranoid from that last game, but I'm thinking about a one of Psychic Spiral on the sideboard. Snapcaster lets me bring it back even if milled. I dunno yet.
So thoughts? Suggestions? I'm thinking about Thoughtflare, since there are times I'm scared with 0-1 cards in hand. But I dunno yet