I don't get why the very latest Grixis lists run 3-4 Drown in the Loch myself. Might be my experience trying the card in Niv-Mizzet Reborn Midrange-Control, but I found that Drown in the Loch couldn't kill or counter enough early-game, even as a 2-of. If the answer is because those Grixis lists play 4 Thought Scour, I though we were supposed to mill ourselves with that card, not mill our opponent and improve their card selection and Goyfs.
Played with Mystic Sanctuary at FNM. The card is nuts. It was so good every time I fetched it. I'm only running one currently, and I don't want to cut Field of Ruins or more copies of Creeping Tar Pit for more copies. Perhaps the second Steam Vents goes for it? Or even the singluar Blood Crypt? In four FNMs now, I've not fetched the Rakdos shockland ever.
So, Throne of Eldraine launches very soon. What do people think of Mystic Sanctuary? I'm gonna test one in my deck, it looks solid, especially when it's fetchable. I can see playing more of it too if it proves good.
Another week, another modern FNM. 3-1 again, but this time the deck was much better. My Jund-esque Liliana list was fine, but we're blue, dammit. So I jammed the Cryptic Commands.
No data on Wrenn and Six unfortunately - but, I did play against UW control twice, and Esper control once, not dropping a single game against any of them. Having an early threat in Young Pyromancer, and hand attack were the big keys. In all the games, stalls happened where both players were waiting for the other to act. Having a 1 mana spell that lets you strip a spell and inform you whether you're clear to cast Jace, the Mind Sculptor was great. Ashiok, Dream Render proved great as well, turning off fetches and Stoneforge Mystic. Won one game by milling them out, and three games with Jace ults.
My loss was against Tron. It feels like we have the same issues that Jund has with it, with the 1 for 1s and card advantage being too slow. My meta is really inbred with control and having 9 cards to bring in is smart for my meta - but I wonder what else we can do about Tron. Crumble to Dust is a little slow, but it's one spell to turn off their deck. Damping Sphere is there, but they pack cards against that.
Wrenn & Six's addition brought a lot of early value to the deck in a seemingly bolt-proof card. The games my opponent resolved a turn 2 W&6 often led to multiple cycling land redraws and a threat towards a game-winning ultimate. After some consideration I realized that both Bolt and K Commands were lackluster in this position, as the 3 damage is hardly relevant and the discard mode is also neutered. While the general plan to side out discard and pack better topdecks makes sense, it clearly leaves more room for an early W&6 to take control of the game. In this sense, what cards do you generally side in and out? What is your gameplan against Jund? Does it make sense to up discard count and early interaction such as Spell Snare or Spell Pierce in order to avoid the scenario described above?
Thank you for your advice.
Off the top of my head, Spell Snare is a very neat answer that also hits Tarmogoyf, Scavenging Ooze and etc in just that match up. It'd rarely be a dead card in a match up. For more niche answers, the other I think of is Chandra's Defeat, which answers it later as well as while it's on the stack. However, I can't really see where else the card would be used - there must be a better answer elsewhere. Perhaps Dreadbore or Hero's Downfall?
The deck has worked wonderful in matches I wouldn't think I'd win in - Tron, for example - and lost in matches I thought I'd do great in, like against Zoo. My sideboard has evolved now I've gotten eight matches in - Ashiok, Dream Render is big game against Whirza, Valakut, Stoneforge, etc...overall it looks great in a lot of match ups. Shatterstorm is a maybe against Whirza - I'm not sold on this, but it being an extra, one-sided board wipe against Affinity sold me on trying it. Rise // Fall seems like a way better top-deck than Inquisition of Kozilek or Thoughtseize is, and so I want to try it out as well.
So with my beloved Dredge deck being neutered and Stoneforge being unbanned, I decided to get back to my roots and play some Grixis control at FNM tonight, and by golly did I have the most fun I've had in a long time. I suck at sideboarding, so let's post on here to get some feedback and improve things for next week.
Now, Future Sight is a favourite card of mine that I've been trying to jam whenever I can because I love it so. However I can well see replacing it with something more competitive. In the grindy matchups it's so very good, and this deck does tend to make things go long. Suggestions on replacements would be great.
I cast Bring to Light using five colourless mana, spend as if it were WUBRG thanks to Mycosynth Lattice. Is Converge 5 or 0? I've spent colourless mana as if it were coloured, but I haven't used any colours.
I suggest you run Radiant Fountain,it is a simple but reasonable card for us,then cut fetch land .y don't want to lose life yourself against aggro deck.and i will test more remove card for main deck,for example,Æther Spellbomb,Alchemist's Vial.
I may look dumb but ive been searching on the internet and never found the swan song infinite token. Could someone be kind enough to explain it to me?
Without Noxious Revival in your deck, you need to be very careful - specifically, you need to draw your deck down to exactly 1 card, and that 1 card must be Faith's Reward or Open the Vault. Faith's Reward is much better because you can do it at instant speed, and costs less, and if you've drawn 59 cards you really don't have an excuse for needing to use Open the Vaults.
H'okay - took Eggs to a PPTQ and went 4-2, coming in 9th overall and barely missing the top 8. I expected a lot more midrange - had four games against aggro decks. I deserved to be 3-3 with one opponent drawing awfully twice in a match.
One thing I was sore to miss was Sunbeam Spellbomb. I now own four of them, and am trying to work out how many I'm going to play. Some help sculpting the sideboard to handle aggro decks a little better would be nice. Pyroclasm underperformed, so that's going to be cut. Likewise, I'm wondering if I should lean on the infinite birds combo + Erase/Echoing Truth to handle answers like Leyline of Sanctity. Three Silence seems high too.
I'm with you on this one. Thought Scour is typically used to turn on our Snapcaster Mages, fuel Delve and give some targets for Kolaghan's Command. Drown in the Loch looks like good value, but I think the costs to turn it on make it worse than running Mana Leak and Fatal Push. I feel like this deck's biggest worry is early, and Drown in the Loch is more of a mid- or late-game card.
I'm not sold on Into the Story whatsoever. I've seen it being ran instead of Jace, the Mind Sculptor which just seems so much better.
Played with Mystic Sanctuary at FNM. The card is nuts. It was so good every time I fetched it. I'm only running one currently, and I don't want to cut Field of Ruins or more copies of Creeping Tar Pit for more copies. Perhaps the second Steam Vents goes for it? Or even the singluar Blood Crypt? In four FNMs now, I've not fetched the Rakdos shockland ever.
2 Young Pyromancer
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 The Scarab God
Instants
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Kolaghan's Command
2 Mana Leak
2 Fatal Push
1 Spell Snare
4 Cryptic Command
3 Opt
1 Thought Scour
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Dreadbore
1 Thoughtseize
Planeswalkers
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Lands
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Polluted Delta
2 Steam Vents
2 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
3 Island
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
2 Field of Ruin
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Fulminator Mage
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Ashiok, Dream Render
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Unmoored Ego
1 Shatterstorm
2 Collective Brutality
2 Thoughtseize
No data on Wrenn and Six unfortunately - but, I did play against UW control twice, and Esper control once, not dropping a single game against any of them. Having an early threat in Young Pyromancer, and hand attack were the big keys. In all the games, stalls happened where both players were waiting for the other to act. Having a 1 mana spell that lets you strip a spell and inform you whether you're clear to cast Jace, the Mind Sculptor was great. Ashiok, Dream Render proved great as well, turning off fetches and Stoneforge Mystic. Won one game by milling them out, and three games with Jace ults.
My loss was against Tron. It feels like we have the same issues that Jund has with it, with the 1 for 1s and card advantage being too slow. My meta is really inbred with control and having 9 cards to bring in is smart for my meta - but I wonder what else we can do about Tron. Crumble to Dust is a little slow, but it's one spell to turn off their deck. Damping Sphere is there, but they pack cards against that.
Off the top of my head, Spell Snare is a very neat answer that also hits Tarmogoyf, Scavenging Ooze and etc in just that match up. It'd rarely be a dead card in a match up. For more niche answers, the other I think of is Chandra's Defeat, which answers it later as well as while it's on the stack. However, I can't really see where else the card would be used - there must be a better answer elsewhere. Perhaps Dreadbore or Hero's Downfall?
2 Young Pyromancer
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 The Scarab God
Instants
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Kolaghan's Command
1 Electrolyze
2 Remand
2 Mana Leak
1 Terminate
2 Fatal Push
Sorceries
2 Thoughtseize
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Rise // Fall
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Liliana of the Veil
Lands
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Polluted Delta
2 Steam Vents
2 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
2 Island
2 Swamp
1 Mountain
2 Field of Ruin
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Fulminator Mage
2 Leyline of the Void
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Ashiok, Dream Render
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Unmoored Ego
1 Shatterstorm
2 Collective Brutality
The deck has worked wonderful in matches I wouldn't think I'd win in - Tron, for example - and lost in matches I thought I'd do great in, like against Zoo. My sideboard has evolved now I've gotten eight matches in - Ashiok, Dream Render is big game against Whirza, Valakut, Stoneforge, etc...overall it looks great in a lot of match ups. Shatterstorm is a maybe against Whirza - I'm not sold on this, but it being an extra, one-sided board wipe against Affinity sold me on trying it. Rise // Fall seems like a way better top-deck than Inquisition of Kozilek or Thoughtseize is, and so I want to try it out as well.
2 Young Pyromancer
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 The Scarab God
1 Vendilion Clique
Instants
2 Fatal Push
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Kolaghan's Command
1 Electrolyze
2 Remand
2 Mana Leak
1 Fact or Fiction
Sorceries
3 Thoughtseize
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Liliana of the Veil
Lands
4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Polluted Delta
2 Steam Vents
2 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
2 Island
2 Swamp
1 Mountain
2 Field of Ruin
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Fulminator Mage
2 Future Sight
3 Leyline of the Void
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Narset, Parter of Veils
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Unmoored Ego
Now, Future Sight is a favourite card of mine that I've been trying to jam whenever I can because I love it so. However I can well see replacing it with something more competitive. In the grindy matchups it's so very good, and this deck does tend to make things go long. Suggestions on replacements would be great.
You are not mistaken!
I'll definitely have to test without the fetchlands. Alchemist's Vial could flat-out replace Elsewhere Flask, and with two wincons main-deck already, I could replace Pyrite Spellbomb for something, such as Aether Spellbomb.
Without Noxious Revival in your deck, you need to be very careful - specifically, you need to draw your deck down to exactly 1 card, and that 1 card must be Faith's Reward or Open the Vault. Faith's Reward is much better because you can do it at instant speed, and costs less, and if you've drawn 59 cards you really don't have an excuse for needing to use Open the Vaults.
You have in play:
Krark-Clan Ironworks
2x Lotus Bloom/Mox Opal
Codex Shredder
Conjurer's Bauble
Artifacts to sac to KCI for mana without drawing cards.
You have in hand:
Faith's Reward
Swan Song
Cards in library: 1 Faith's Reward.
Sac/use artifacts for mana - need at least two repeatable coloured sources = Lotus Bloom/Mox Opal
Cast Faith's Reward
Cast Swan Song, counter Faith's Reward, make a Bird
Use Codex Shredder to return Swan Song
Use Conjurer's Bauble to put Faith's Reward into library and draw the other Faith's Reward.
Cast Faith's Reward. Return artifacts.
LOOP POINT
Sac/use artifacts for mana - need at least two repeatable coloured sources = Lotus Bloom/Mox Opal
Use Codex Shredder to return Faith's Reward
Cast Faith's Reward
Cast Swan Song, counter Faith's Reward, make a Bird
Use Conjurer's Bauble to put Faith's Reward into library and draw the other Faith's Reward.
Cast Faith's Reward. Return artifacts.
Sac/use artifacts for mana - need at least two repeatable coloured sources = Lotus Bloom/Mox Opal
Use Codex Shredder to return Swan Song
Use Conjurer's Bauble to put Faith's Reward into library and draw the other Faith's Reward.
Cast Faith's Reward
RETURN TO LOOP POINT - you are now back at the same point as the loop point, with Swan Song in hand, Faith's Reward in the grave AND in the library, and all artifacts in play.
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Flooded Strand
5 Island
2 Plains
4 Faith's Reward
3 Open the Vaults
2 Swan Song
4 Serum Visions
4 Reshape
1 Conjurer's Bauble
1 Codex Shredder
3 Elsewhere Flask
4 Ichor Wellspring
4 Krark-Clan Ironworks
4 Chromatic Star
4 Chromatic Sphere
4 Lotus Bloom
1 Pithing Needle
1 Altar of the Brood
2 Erase
2 Path to Exile
3 Silence
2 Defense Grid
2 Pyroclasm
2 Echoing Truth
One thing I was sore to miss was Sunbeam Spellbomb. I now own four of them, and am trying to work out how many I'm going to play. Some help sculpting the sideboard to handle aggro decks a little better would be nice. Pyroclasm underperformed, so that's going to be cut. Likewise, I'm wondering if I should lean on the infinite birds combo + Erase/Echoing Truth to handle answers like Leyline of Sanctity. Three Silence seems high too.
1 Pithing Needle
2 Erase
2 Path to Exile
2 Silence
3 Sunbeam Spellbomb
2 Defense Grid
2 Echoing Truth