Haven't posted on here in years and it has also been quite a while since I updated my Blue Tron deck. I was inspired by this set with the Karn, the Great Creator and Blast Zone. My list is currently unfinished and some of what I had versus what I want but it is very similar to yours, Cat. I'm using 2 x Karn, the Great Creator and 1 x Ugin, the Ineffable (don't have old Ugin and I think he will act as a similar card advantage engine to Karn, Scion of Urza) for planeswalkers. I don't have Walking Ballista so Hangerback Walker is sitting in that slot. Torrential Gear Hulk is in to be Snapcaster two-ish and tutorable with Treasure Mage. Don't have Gemstone Caverns but Blast Zone is filling that slot. Toolbox sideboard includes Mycosynth Lattice for tutorable lock. Maybe 1 or 2 more cards different but that is it.
There aren't a lot of people who play Modern at my LGS but maybe I can get a few to bring their decks for between draft rounds practice and see what I can do with this...
Cheers and I'm glad to be playing around with this again.
Played in a smallish Gameday. I went 4-0 through the swiss to be first seed in the top 8 and promptly lost the first round of the top eight...
Round 1 played a pretty stock Jeskai Tokens deck. Brought in Scouring Sands and Searing Bloods and worked to keep his board clear. 2-1 in games.
Round 2 played a green and white little kid homebrew that just took too long to get going. 2-0 in games with 4-1 total.
Round 3 played a stock Mardu midrange list. Butcher with lifelink is such a pain. Tried to hit early and often while keeping his board as clear as possible. Brought in Scouring Sands and Searing Bloods again because I didn't think he had reasonable ways to board out enough creatures that where good targets. 2-1 in games with a 6-2 overall.
Round 4 played an Abzan Aggro list that tops with Tasigur. Went 2-0 in games but game 2 was a near thing. Game 1 I basically rolled over him. Game 2 I my third to the last round involved using a searing blood and titan's strength to trade a Monastery Mentor and 3 damage for Anafenza, putting my opponent to 2 with 2 Coursers, a Rhino, Tasigur, and a Deathdealer Rak also out. I saw a Stoke with the scry and kept it on top even though I had 3 lands and was losing my last creature. I knew I had 2 turns before he could kill me and 15 lands left in my deck. Only way I could see to win because he was likely to hit a land drop and go to 4 (he did) and then I topdecked the land at 3 life to take it. Fun and tough game. 2-0 in games with an 8-2 overall.
Going into top 8 with 4 Match wins I came up against a Jeskai Ascendancy deck that dropped Hordeling Outburst for Monastery Mentor. I kept a 1 land hand game 1 with 5 of 6 cards playable and 2 were titan's strength. Didn't find my second land until turn 5 and couldn't get back in. Had a good early start but he hit his landdrops and I ended up on the back foot. I still don't think I should have mulliganed. Game 2 I kept a 3 land hand with an Eidolon of the Great Revel and some action. Drew 9 lands and no other creatures. Got him to 10 or less in both games but I wasn't strongly in either.
Overall, I didn't find Humble Defector to be worth it. I found that there were times that I could draw cards and then use him for collateral damage or draw cards, pass him across and let him give me a target for searing blood, but it was just too cute. If I would have had Outpost Siege available, I probably would have gone for a more Tom Ross regionals style build.
Totally agree! Played Gruul today. I am running 2 Temple Garden in mine. I did not put any Naturalize in the sideboard. I think they are necessary... Barely beat a Bant hexproof for the Gameday playmat and had what felt like a bajillion O-rings and D-spheres thrown my way throughout the day.
Have you had a chance to test it yet? I was curious if that goblin would find a home over the knight. It provides more immediate pressure but do you totally want to drop pro white? I see the weird in the board which can block a lot though. We are playing block and modern for the next few weeks but I want to sleeve something like this for the next standard.
Played a Sledgehammer Red deck last night at a 5 round FNM. Won overall though I don't like the a part because we asked for a judge because I was confused on a priority and damage issue with instants and planeswalkers. Don't think the judge made the right call but my opponent rolled with it and we played on to me winning that game in another few turns...
I was going into a pretty unknown meta. I hadn't played standard at all since 4 January of this year. I had been looking at making a Dega-Control deck but didn't have the time to put it together and had always wanted to sleeve up a Sledgehammer style deck.
I boarded out 2 Stonewrights and 1 Pillar of Flame to bring in 2 Annihilating Fire and 1 Flames of the Firebrand. Chose to pass on Grafdigger's Cage which may have been a mistake as it could have killed the Snapcaster interaction and Faithless Looting flashbacks...
The games usually consisted of me getting early beats, him stabilizing and then me waiting to get a certain level of threat density in hand that I would force him to either tap out or use up his answers before I ran out of things to throw at him. The game he won was 2 flipped Delvers after stabilizing.
Round 2 against a Boros homebrew (2-0)
First game aggro curved while he stalled on 2 land and needed 3. Cackler to Cackler to Reckoner to Hellrider for turn 4 win game one. Sided out 2 Stonewrights and brought in 2 Annihilating Fires - I felt removal would be more important than reach with Boros colors out. I honestly don't remember how game two played out other than it was a win.
Round 3 against a Humanimator (2-0)
Game 1, I kept removing threats and throwing beats and pushed through to get there; he never got the combo off. Game 2 I sided in Grafdiggers and the Annihilating Fires. Exiled his combo humans with Fires and Flames. Pushed through in Game 2 with a combination of Reckoners and a Hellion Token plus burn.
Round 4 against a Jund Midrange (2-0)
Played against Mark who is a tough opponent (like Tony in round 1) - almost never makes mistakes and always brings a tough deck.
Game 1 just got there with red beats and removal though double Hellrider helped finish it. He probably would have turned it around and taken it in one more turn.
Game 2 had the bad call I was referring to earlier that let me keep a Reckoner that should have been sacrificed. I hate it when you find out a call was incorrect later. Anyway sided in 3 Traitorous Blood and 1 Annihilating Fire. Won the game because of Traitorous Blood on Desecration Demon followed by Zealous Conscripts on Desecration Demon the following turn.
Round 5 against a Bant Control (2-0)
Played against a gentleman who used to be a high level judge and is getting back into playing. He played a solid Bant Control list but only one Sphinx's Revelation and no Thragtusk or Geist of Saint Traft in there. Though my deck isn't superfast compared to some of the current crop of aggro, it still puts up a good clock and the speed factor is what got him. He hadn't brought a sideboard so I didn't adjust my board on this either.
Overall, I think 4 stonewrights is too much, though I really do want to see 1 most games. I did like the 3-1 split between Thundermaw and Conscripts as a threaten hedge. I did get screwed to a turn 3 Ash Zealot instead of 2 with the initial Hellion Crucible in hand but I think two was okay and it never affected dropping a turn 3 reckoner throughout the night as I had and drew enough mountains in that game to stick the reckoner turn 3 and drop the crucible on turn 4.
I liked this list for just big red fun. If I play it again, it will get some tweaking, particularly the sideboard but in the main, Sledgehammer is still a strong deck.
Round 1 was against R/W Puresteel Paladin Equipment Deck; 2-0
Game 1 went long as I stalled out the other deck out, gathered tron and then fetched up Sundering Titan and Wurmcoil. Game 2 went much faster as I established a Mindslaver lock on round 7 or 8 and then used that with a Wurmcoil on the field to finish. Did not board anything here; not enough time in the round to waste on it.
Round 2 was against MonoW Human Aggro-Control; 2-0
Game 1 I stabilized at 3 life with a Platinum Angel, he didn't draw into O-Rings or Fiend Hunters and I smacked him down in the air. Game 2 I again stabilized at 3 life with Platinum Angel and then we went up down and around with Wurmcoil and countered O-rings via Jester's Scepter (fun card btw). For Game 2, I boarded out Sundering Titan and 4 Remand for extra Wurmcoil, Jester's Scepter, 2 Ratchet Bombs and a Fabricate to add to the Ratchet fetchability.
Round 3 was against Robots; 0-2
Game 1 I drew my 7, no lands. I drew my 6, no lands. I drew my 5, 2 Islands, Tower, Mine, and O-Stone. Kept and got blown out before I could use the O-Stone. Game 2 I drew my 7, no lands. I drew my 6, 1 Mine, 1 Island, 1 Condescend, 1 Ratchet Bomb, 1 Treasure Mage, and 1 Expedition Map. I tried but again was blown out even though I Ratchet Bombed away the Cranial Plating, I couldn't keep up and he had dropped things so that there was a 0 drop, 1 drop, 2 drop, Darksteel Citadel, and Blinkmoth Nexus X 2 (Nexi :D). I boarded in 2 Pithing Needle, 2 Hurkyl's Recall, 2 Ratchet Bomb, 1 Fabricate removing 4 Remand, 3 Repeal.
Round 4 was against a homebrew Burn; 1-1
This deck ran a more midrange and controlling approach while ready to do a little slugging on the ground. Slow play and I couldn't assemble tron caused Game 1 to go long. I made the mistake of tapping out to cast Mindslaver and that proved to be the mistake that allowed my opponent to burn me for 9. I was on the clock against Chandra M13 who was ready to ultimate.
Game 2 I assembled tron and countered or slowed my opponent until I put together a Mindslaver Lock post Wurmcoil and controlled her until death.
So 2 - 1 - 1 somehow got me into the top 8 of 20 people. Apparently there were a number of other draws during the evening.
I faced another Robots deck that simply curved into turn 3 and 4 kills both games despite a ratchet bomb removing a memnite game 2. Just simply crushed by speed. I just couldn't keep up with either Robot deck.
I lost the die roll to Robots both times and the mulliganing in Round 3 hurt too.
I haven't had much practice with this deck yet and could definitely use some advice on sideboarding against Robots.
I really did enjoy playing this deck because I often play Aggro or Combo and I do like to mix things up.
The final 2 decks were the second Robots deck I faced and a Jund deck that replaced Bloodbraid Elf with Huntmaster of the Fells. It was midnight and they decided to draw.
I played half a dozen games versus a true Modern Burn deck tonight for some more practice and kept my strategy and boarding simple. Preboard, assume control and try to counter and slow him down while drawing cards was priority, then get a Wurmcoil out and beat face. Board out Sundering Titan and 3 Remands for 2 Spellskite, Jester's Scepter and 1 Wurmcoil. Same strategy as preboard.
Played BlueTron in a FNM Modern with 20 players tonight.
Played stock deck and my own sideboard. Will post sideboard and match details later.
Summary:
Rnd 1: R/W Puresteel Paladin Equipment Deck; 2-0
Rnd 2: W Human Aggro Control; 2-0
Rnd 3: Robots; 0-2
Rnd 4: Burn; 1-1
Top 8
Quarter Final: Robots: 0-2
I enjoyed the deck but dealing with the speed of some of the decks I faced was tough. Round 3 was particularly tough with mulligan to 5 game 1 and mulligan to 6 game 2; the draws both games were subpar too but that is luck.
I'll give a real write up with list and boarding tomorrow.
I was starting to think the same as you MidnightV. This week is modern for FNM and it appears my job will make me miss the following two weeks... <sigh>
I've just gotten the rest of the cards I needed for the base deck and will have a chance to play it next week. Thank goodness that modern is now sanctioned for FNM.
I played Splinter Twin last time with about 2/3's of a good Splinter Twin deck. While I love that combo, I've wanted to play a Tron deck for a long time.
The meta is pretty undefined because there is only about 7 true modern decks with the rest being standard decks with a few tweaks from older cards.
4 Robots - Monoblue, Tempered Steel, Blue/Black Tezz, and one of the most common build
1 Burn
1 Jund - this one is about 2/3's of the Jund list because he doesn't have goyf, bob, or thoughtseize
1 monoblack infect
So I'm looking at my sideboard options...
Have any of you looked at or tried Venarian Glimmer? Is it too reactive, too mana intensive? I haven't tested it yet but it appeared to be useful - peak at the hand, discard and best: surprise - targetted discard in monoblue?!
Have you done anymore with Boros Sledgehammer? I'm currently thinking about playing a Sledgehammer build but I'm not sure if I will keep it red or splash into either black or white...
I know this is a block constructed deck but it still made me think a bit about new cards and was an interesting test.
Soooo...
Been stuck working so hard the last almost 2 months that I hadn't been able to play or anything.
Got to play in Gameday yesterday in a field of 15. I went to the store to see what they were going to do and found out that instead of standard, they were running the Gameday block constructed. I scavenged my Dos Rakis purchased a fat pack of Gatecrash (first I had gotten a chance to get) and picked up some singles. I put this deck together in an hour:
So I piloted this to winning 3 of 4 seeding rounds and made top 4 and then 1st Place from there.
Round 1: Gruul midrange Aggro - won die roll
Won this 2 - 0 pretty quickly. His deck looked good but I just kept going under it. Game 1, I went first and curved out with mountain - Denizen, mountain - GHC and swing for 2, mountain - Ash Zealot - Mugging on his 2 drop and swing for 7, plains - Spark Trooper - swing lethal before he can put any of his three 4-drops out. Game 2 was a little more interactive but mostly I just sped through underneath and he couldn't keep up.
Round 2: Naya $$$$$ Bling deck - lost die roll
Won this 2 - 1. Boros Reckoner is a pain to play against, and you take pain fighting through him, but that is the only answer my deck has. Game 1, I curved out under him taking him out by turn 5 or 6. Game 2, I would likely have had him but he used a Boros Charm to make an Experiment One have double strike killing my Spark Trooper and then Loxodon Smiter started appearing and another Boros Reckoner and then Aurelia, the Warleader appeared. Yep, done. Game 3, slow start for him because of guildgates and I go underneath again.
Because this was block constructed and my opponent didn't have access to checklands, he was pretty slow off the block on all three games having to play a large number of guildgates to stabilize his mana. This really hurt the three color decks that I played against.
Round 3: Boros with even R/W balance - lost die roll
Loss 0 - 2. My opponent took the Boros event deck, stripped out all the non-block cards and replaced them with block keeping a solid split between R/W. Game 1 on the draw, I kept a hand with 3 mountains, a mugging, an ash zealot, 2 mizzium mortars thinking that on the play that removal would be fine and I could play control until I could switch momentum to beatdown. I just couldn't get there, I couldn't remove creatures fast enough and he got battalion with 2 Boros Elite and a Firefist Striker pretty quickly, even with me removing some of his early plays, he got me just as he ran out of gas with cards and battalion allowed him to win the race once I had gotten creatures out - I think he had 4 life left at the end of this game. Game 2 - I kept a hand with 3 creatures and four lands, didn't work out for me. I drew a creature on my first draw and then flooded into 7 lands in a row and couldn't keep up - my only truly bad luck game of the day.
I have to give this player major props for a cool deck. Win 2-1. Game 1, it was another curve out underneath with a turn 8 or 9 win with my opponent ramping mana but not getting anything and slowing me down with his charms. Game 2, he stayed alive with a lot of bounce, Verdant Haven lifegain as well as Supreme Verdict to sweep the board twice. He also did some straight up good playing and was a great opponent. He won game 2 off a hard-cast Worldspine Wurm which my lone Ash Zealot cringed from. I was at 8 life and he was at 1 when he cast the wurm. Fun game. Game 3 came down to a top deck fight with me finally burning him out with Annihilating Fire for the last few points of damage.
Cut to top 4
Semi Bracket: Boros with even R/W balance (same as Round 3) - won the die roll this time.
Won the round 2 - 0. Game 1 just became a race and I came out swinging first. Game 2 I had a mixed removal and creature hand and cast a turn five Firemane Avenger to seal the deal on the game. Electrickery is an all star against Boros to get rid of the Boros Elite and Firefist Striker. That combined with Mugging is really what one game 2. Annihilating Fire is too slow here and I boarded 2 out for the 2 Electrickery -- major difference
Won the round 2 - 1. Tough games. Game 1, I had to fight through Detention Sphere, High Priest of Penance, Orzhov Charm, Nightveil Spectre and Supreme Verdict. Really tough fight getting through all that removal. Game 2, sent me into another tangle of removal, I tried to not overextend but I ran out of gas and then he cast Obzedat, Ghost Council and got something else on the board and quickly destroyed me between those and more removal. Game 3 sent us both into top-deck mode with lots of removal and fighting back and forth. At one point I had 2 on the ground facing 2 Nightveil Spectre but he couldn't attack with them without dying to my return attacks. The stall got board-wiped and then some more beating and removal with me finishing the game with a top-decked Spark Trooper. Really tough games.
Overall take-aways for me: In block, 3 color is almost too greedy because of the lack of checklands, you can't develop your board fast enough against a 1 or 2 color deck because they will have a better manabase. Firefist Striker and Foundry Street Denizen are much better than initially anticipated. Firefist Striker takes the place of our Pyreheart Wolf pretty well because he is cheaper though it does cause you to have to extend out one more creature to the board. Foundry Street Denizen only ever swung for less than 2 damage 1 time in all the games I played him out. I only got him to swing for 3 once but it was 2 almost all the time. I think Legion Loyalist could be a good fit for this deck and wish I would have been able to come up with a few copies of him in time.
I'm not entirely happy with my boarding, particularly vs Crazy Simic and Esper Ghost Council but I did get through. Act of Treason is a particularly good card. In game 3 vs Esper Ghost Council, I took his Desecration Demon to smash through a good chunk of damage with let me push through with creatures and burn to end it before running out of gas.
I don't think I like Bomber Corps and Skinbrand Goblin in the side and I don't really think they make main board. I put in the goblin to use as a cheap creature and for bloodrush but I didn't seem to want it. I put in the bomber thinking it would work against Boros and 1/1 token generation but didn't want a 1 power creature boarded in against what I was playing. I probably should have sided in Skullcrack a few times but wasn't thinking about it.
I know this is a Block Constructed Deck rather than fully standard but I posted this here because I think Firefist Striker deserves some thought and Foundry Street Denizen has potential to be added to R/x sligh aggro as another one drop. Also, if you are adding white, Spark Trooper can just be ugly.
Comments on better card choices or boarding choices are welcome.
I think this will become the base of my block constructed deck as well as gives me some insight into what I want to do for a R/w aggro deck.
Been stuck working so hard the last almost 2 months that I hadn't been able to play or anything.
Got to play in Gameday yesterday in a field of 15. I went to the store to see what they were going to do and found out that instead of standard, they were running the Gameday block constructed. I scavenged my Dos Rakis purchased a fat pack of Gatecrash (first I had gotten a chance to get) and picked up some singles. I put this deck together in an hour:
So I piloted this to winning 3 of 4 seeding rounds and made top 4 and then 1st Place from there.
Round 1: Gruul midrange Aggro - won die roll
Won this 2 - 0 pretty quickly. His deck looked good but I just kept going under it. Game 1, I went first and curved out with mountain - Denizen, mountain - GHC and swing for 2, mountain - Ash Zealot - Mugging on his 2 drop and swing for 7, plains - Spark Trooper - swing lethal before he can put any of his three 4-drops out. Game 2 was a little more interactive but mostly I just sped through underneath and he couldn't keep up.
Round 2: Naya $$$$$ Bling deck - lost die roll
Won this 2 - 1. Boros Reckoner is a pain to play against, and you take pain fighting through him, but that is the only answer my deck has. Game 1, I curved out under him taking him out by turn 5 or 6. Game 2, I would likely have had him but he used a Boros Charm to make an Experiment One have double strike killing my Spark Trooper and then Loxodon Smiter started appearing and another Boros Reckoner and then Aurelia, the Warleader appeared. Yep, done. Game 3, slow start for him because of guildgates and I go underneath again.
Because this was block constructed and my opponent didn't have access to checklands, he was pretty slow off the block on all three games having to play a large number of guildgates to stabilize his mana. This really hurt the three color decks that I played against.
Round 3: Boros with even R/W balance - lost die roll
Loss 0 - 2. My opponent took the Boros event deck, stripped out all the non-block cards and replaced them with block keeping a solid split between R/W. Game 1 on the draw, I kept a hand with 3 mountains, a mugging, an ash zealot, 2 mizzium mortars thinking that on the play that removal would be fine and I could play control until I could switch momentum to beatdown. I just couldn't get there, I couldn't remove creatures fast enough and he got battalion with 2 Boros Elite and a Firefist Striker pretty quickly, even with me removing some of his early plays, he got me just as he ran out of gas with cards and battalion allowed him to win the race once I had gotten creatures out - I think he had 4 life left at the end of this game. Game 2 - I kept a hand with 3 creatures and four lands, didn't work out for me. I drew a creature on my first draw and then flooded into 7 lands in a row and couldn't keep up - my only truly bad luck game of the day.
I have to give this player major props for a cool deck. Win 2-1. Game 1, it was another curve out underneath with a turn 8 or 9 win with my opponent ramping mana but not getting anything and slowing me down with his charms. Game 2, he stayed alive with a lot of bounce, Verdant Haven lifegain as well as Supreme Verdict to sweep the board twice. He also did some straight up good playing and was a great opponent. He won game 2 off a hard-cast Worldspine Wurm which my lone Ash Zealot cringed from. I was at 8 life and he was at 1 when he cast the wurm. Fun game. Game 3 came down to a top deck fight with me finally burning him out with Annihilating Fire for the last few points of damage.
Cut to top 4
Semi Bracket: Boros with even R/W balance (same as Round 3) - won the die roll this time.
Won the round 2 - 0. Game 1 just became a race and I came out swinging first. Game 2 I had a mixed removal and creature hand and cast a turn five Firemane Avenger to seal the deal on the game. Electrickery is an all star against Boros to get rid of the Boros Elite and Firefist Striker. That combined with Mugging is really what one game 2. Annihilating Fire is too slow here and I boarded 2 out for the 2 Electrickery -- major difference
Won the round 2 - 1. Tough games. Game 1, I had to fight through Detention Sphere, High Priest of Penance, Orzhov Charm, Nightveil Spectre and Supreme Verdict. Really tough fight getting through all that removal. Game 2, sent me into another tangle of removal, I tried to not overextend but I ran out of gas and then he cast Obzedat, Ghost Council and got something else on the board and quickly destroyed me between those and more removal. Game 3 sent us both into top-deck mode with lots of removal and fighting back and forth. At one point I had 2 on the ground facing 2 Nightveil Spectre but he couldn't attack with them without dying to my return attacks. The stall got board-wiped and then some more beating and removal with me finishing the game with a top-decked Spark Trooper. Really tough games.
Overall take-aways for me: In block, 3 color is almost too greedy because of the lack of checklands, you can't develop your board fast enough against a 1 or 2 color deck because they will have a better manabase. Firefist Striker and Foundry Street Denizen are much better than initially anticipated. Firefist Striker takes the place of our Pyreheart Wolf pretty well because he is cheaper though it does cause you to have to extend out one more creature to the board. Foundry Street Denizen only ever swung for less than 2 damage 1 time in all the games I played him out. I only got him to swing for 3 once but it was 2 almost all the time. I think Legion Loyalist could be a good fit for this deck and wish I would have been able to come up with a few copies of him in time.
I'm not entirely happy with my boarding, particularly vs Crazy Simic and Esper Ghost Council but I did get through. Act of Treason is a particularly good card. In game 3 vs Esper Ghost Council, I took his Desecration Demon to smash through a good chunk of damage with let me push through with creatures and burn to end it before running out of gas.
I don't think I like Bomber Corps and Skinbrand Goblin in the side and I don't really think they make main board. I put in the goblin to use as a cheap creature and for bloodrush but I didn't seem to want it. I put in the bomber thinking it would work against Boros and 1/1 token generation but didn't want a 1 power creature boarded in against what I was playing. I probably should have sided in Skullcrack a few times but wasn't thinking about it.
I know this is a Block Constructed Deck rather than fully standard but I posted this here because I think Firefist Striker deserves some thought and Foundry Street Denizen has potential to be added to R/x sligh aggro as another one drop. Also, if you are adding white, Spark Trooper can just be ugly.
I am also going to post this in the Tourney Thread. Comments on better card choices or boarding choices are welcome.
I think this will become the base of my block constructed deck as well as gives me some insight into what I want to do for a R/w aggro deck.
Look man, I don't know what to tell you. I started off playing Shred-Freak and everytime I attack with him he gets blocked by something he can't kill then dies where Gore-House Chainwalker would of ran over or at-least traded with the creature. Sure it sucks when Chainwalker gets charmed to the top but that's really not a good reason to play card that's worse than it.
And I would also say that Lightning Mauler is much better than Shred-Freak, I don't see how it's sub-optimal to bond the Mauler to a one drop on turn 2 in your mind if you think that Shred-Freak is a good card, then you should think that a turn 2 2/1 haste is a good play right?
All right, only 20 matches against random things at the game store and with friends. Played the following:
What Shred Freak did best for me was enabling Brimstone Volley. Unfortunately, he often didn't trade with what killed him (except against some Exalted deck). Now, this isn't the online meta or high level tournaments but a smattering of decks from very competitive aggro either G/W or R or R/B and Bant Control to home brew B/G, G Fightclub, and exalted. From my previous experiences with R and retesting shredder here, I will honestly say, more than 3/4 of the time, I would rather have chainwalker.
Also the point that L.K. made about Lightning Mauler being even to Shred Freak when bonded to your turn one drop is important. Mauler is often shredder with upside... Gotta say shredder is falling back out again.
I like your passion in defending shred freak, as well as presenting your arguments for why. I ran shred early in the season and found him useful in some matches... Especially those that focused so heavily on sorcery speed removal or bounce. I do appreciate the fact that he can be left back for defense unlike chainwalker. Guess he may have to go back in for testing again...
I did try Stonewright but it just never really worked out for me in the deck tests that I did on cockatrice and in person. I might give it another look see though. I do like your suggestion about Tormond's crypt though and I think it is something that should be added.
I like the versatility FoF gives me over Brimstone Valley.
FoF is great. I just find that the instant speed of Volley is more useful preboard and bring in FoF postboard if there are a lot of X/1 creatures running around.
Haven't posted on here in years and it has also been quite a while since I updated my Blue Tron deck. I was inspired by this set with the Karn, the Great Creator and Blast Zone. My list is currently unfinished and some of what I had versus what I want but it is very similar to yours, Cat. I'm using 2 x Karn, the Great Creator and 1 x Ugin, the Ineffable (don't have old Ugin and I think he will act as a similar card advantage engine to Karn, Scion of Urza) for planeswalkers. I don't have Walking Ballista so Hangerback Walker is sitting in that slot. Torrential Gear Hulk is in to be Snapcaster two-ish and tutorable with Treasure Mage. Don't have Gemstone Caverns but Blast Zone is filling that slot. Toolbox sideboard includes Mycosynth Lattice for tutorable lock. Maybe 1 or 2 more cards different but that is it.
There aren't a lot of people who play Modern at my LGS but maybe I can get a few to bring their decks for between draft rounds practice and see what I can do with this...
Cheers and I'm glad to be playing around with this again.
Played what I called "Humble Red" which is sligh/burn but using Humble Defector.
List:
4 Akroan Crusader
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Monastery Swiftspear
3 Humble Defector
4 Titan's Strength
3 Lightning Strike
2 Searing Blood
4 Stoke of Flames
2 Dragon Mantle
4 Hammerhand
Sideboard
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Flamewake Phoenix
1 Humble Defector
1 Lightning Strike
1 Mountain
1 Scouring Sands
2 Searing Blood
2 Wild Slash
Played in a smallish Gameday. I went 4-0 through the swiss to be first seed in the top 8 and promptly lost the first round of the top eight...
Round 1 played a pretty stock Jeskai Tokens deck. Brought in Scouring Sands and Searing Bloods and worked to keep his board clear. 2-1 in games.
Round 2 played a green and white little kid homebrew that just took too long to get going. 2-0 in games with 4-1 total.
Round 3 played a stock Mardu midrange list. Butcher with lifelink is such a pain. Tried to hit early and often while keeping his board as clear as possible. Brought in Scouring Sands and Searing Bloods again because I didn't think he had reasonable ways to board out enough creatures that where good targets. 2-1 in games with a 6-2 overall.
Round 4 played an Abzan Aggro list that tops with Tasigur. Went 2-0 in games but game 2 was a near thing. Game 1 I basically rolled over him. Game 2 I my third to the last round involved using a searing blood and titan's strength to trade a Monastery Mentor and 3 damage for Anafenza, putting my opponent to 2 with 2 Coursers, a Rhino, Tasigur, and a Deathdealer Rak also out. I saw a Stoke with the scry and kept it on top even though I had 3 lands and was losing my last creature. I knew I had 2 turns before he could kill me and 15 lands left in my deck. Only way I could see to win because he was likely to hit a land drop and go to 4 (he did) and then I topdecked the land at 3 life to take it. Fun and tough game. 2-0 in games with an 8-2 overall.
Going into top 8 with 4 Match wins I came up against a Jeskai Ascendancy deck that dropped Hordeling Outburst for Monastery Mentor. I kept a 1 land hand game 1 with 5 of 6 cards playable and 2 were titan's strength. Didn't find my second land until turn 5 and couldn't get back in. Had a good early start but he hit his landdrops and I ended up on the back foot. I still don't think I should have mulliganed. Game 2 I kept a 3 land hand with an Eidolon of the Great Revel and some action. Drew 9 lands and no other creatures. Got him to 10 or less in both games but I wasn't strongly in either.
Overall, I didn't find Humble Defector to be worth it. I found that there were times that I could draw cards and then use him for collateral damage or draw cards, pass him across and let him give me a target for searing blood, but it was just too cute. If I would have had Outpost Siege available, I probably would have gone for a more Tom Ross regionals style build.
Totally agree! Played Gruul today. I am running 2 Temple Garden in mine. I did not put any Naturalize in the sideboard. I think they are necessary... Barely beat a Bant hexproof for the Gameday playmat and had what felt like a bajillion O-rings and D-spheres thrown my way throughout the day.
Good luck with it.
The deck was a very basic build:
1 Zealous Conscripts
4 Hellrider
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Ash Zealot
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stonewright
4 Pillar of Flame
1 Devil's Play
2 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Hellion Crucible
23 Mountain
2 Pithing Needling
1 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Street Spasm
2 Annihilating Fire
4 Mizzium Mortars
1 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Traitorous Blood
I was going into a pretty unknown meta. I hadn't played standard at all since 4 January of this year. I had been looking at making a Dega-Control deck but didn't have the time to put it together and had always wanted to sleeve up a Sledgehammer style deck.
5 rounds, went 5-0 (10-1 in overall games)
Round 1 against a Grixis Control (2-1)
All close games and Tony is a great player. He decided he needed to play control with Duskmantle Seer and Snapcaster Mage but also had to include 4 Delver of Secrets and 4 Augur of Bolas last night. Very solid deck.
I boarded out 2 Stonewrights and 1 Pillar of Flame to bring in 2 Annihilating Fire and 1 Flames of the Firebrand. Chose to pass on Grafdigger's Cage which may have been a mistake as it could have killed the Snapcaster interaction and Faithless Looting flashbacks...
The games usually consisted of me getting early beats, him stabilizing and then me waiting to get a certain level of threat density in hand that I would force him to either tap out or use up his answers before I ran out of things to throw at him. The game he won was 2 flipped Delvers after stabilizing.
Round 2 against a Boros homebrew (2-0)
First game aggro curved while he stalled on 2 land and needed 3. Cackler to Cackler to Reckoner to Hellrider for turn 4 win game one. Sided out 2 Stonewrights and brought in 2 Annihilating Fires - I felt removal would be more important than reach with Boros colors out. I honestly don't remember how game two played out other than it was a win.
Round 3 against a Humanimator (2-0)
Game 1, I kept removing threats and throwing beats and pushed through to get there; he never got the combo off. Game 2 I sided in Grafdiggers and the Annihilating Fires. Exiled his combo humans with Fires and Flames. Pushed through in Game 2 with a combination of Reckoners and a Hellion Token plus burn.
Round 4 against a Jund Midrange (2-0)
Played against Mark who is a tough opponent (like Tony in round 1) - almost never makes mistakes and always brings a tough deck.
Game 1 just got there with red beats and removal though double Hellrider helped finish it. He probably would have turned it around and taken it in one more turn.
Game 2 had the bad call I was referring to earlier that let me keep a Reckoner that should have been sacrificed. I hate it when you find out a call was incorrect later.
Round 5 against a Bant Control (2-0)
Played against a gentleman who used to be a high level judge and is getting back into playing. He played a solid Bant Control list but only one Sphinx's Revelation and no Thragtusk or Geist of Saint Traft in there. Though my deck isn't superfast compared to some of the current crop of aggro, it still puts up a good clock and the speed factor is what got him. He hadn't brought a sideboard so I didn't adjust my board on this either.
Overall, I think 4 stonewrights is too much, though I really do want to see 1 most games. I did like the 3-1 split between Thundermaw and Conscripts as a threaten hedge. I did get screwed to a turn 3 Ash Zealot instead of 2 with the initial Hellion Crucible in hand but I think two was okay and it never affected dropping a turn 3 reckoner throughout the night as I had and drew enough mountains in that game to stick the reckoner turn 3 and drop the crucible on turn 4.
I liked this list for just big red fun. If I play it again, it will get some tweaking, particularly the sideboard but in the main, Sledgehammer is still a strong deck.
8 Island
1 Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
1 Tectonic Edge
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
1 Platinum Angel
3 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Sundering Titan
4 Treasure Mage
2 Wurmcoil Engine
4 Expedition Map
2 Mindslaver
1 Oblivion Stone
4 Remand
3 Repeal
1 Spell Burst
3 Talisman of Dominance
4 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Jester's Scepter
2 Spellskite
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Hurkyl's Recall
3 Dismember
1 Fabricate
Round 1 was against R/W Puresteel Paladin Equipment Deck; 2-0
Game 1 went long as I stalled out the other deck out, gathered tron and then fetched up Sundering Titan and Wurmcoil. Game 2 went much faster as I established a Mindslaver lock on round 7 or 8 and then used that with a Wurmcoil on the field to finish. Did not board anything here; not enough time in the round to waste on it.
Round 2 was against MonoW Human Aggro-Control; 2-0
Game 1 I stabilized at 3 life with a Platinum Angel, he didn't draw into O-Rings or Fiend Hunters and I smacked him down in the air. Game 2 I again stabilized at 3 life with Platinum Angel and then we went up down and around with Wurmcoil and countered O-rings via Jester's Scepter (fun card btw). For Game 2, I boarded out Sundering Titan and 4 Remand for extra Wurmcoil, Jester's Scepter, 2 Ratchet Bombs and a Fabricate to add to the Ratchet fetchability.
Round 3 was against Robots; 0-2
Game 1 I drew my 7, no lands. I drew my 6, no lands. I drew my 5, 2 Islands, Tower, Mine, and O-Stone. Kept and got blown out before I could use the O-Stone. Game 2 I drew my 7, no lands. I drew my 6, 1 Mine, 1 Island, 1 Condescend, 1 Ratchet Bomb, 1 Treasure Mage, and 1 Expedition Map. I tried but again was blown out even though I Ratchet Bombed away the Cranial Plating, I couldn't keep up and he had dropped things so that there was a 0 drop, 1 drop, 2 drop, Darksteel Citadel, and Blinkmoth Nexus X 2 (Nexi :D). I boarded in 2 Pithing Needle, 2 Hurkyl's Recall, 2 Ratchet Bomb, 1 Fabricate removing 4 Remand, 3 Repeal.
Round 4 was against a homebrew Burn; 1-1
This deck ran a more midrange and controlling approach while ready to do a little slugging on the ground. Slow play and I couldn't assemble tron caused Game 1 to go long. I made the mistake of tapping out to cast Mindslaver and that proved to be the mistake that allowed my opponent to burn me for 9. I was on the clock against Chandra M13 who was ready to ultimate.
Game 2 I assembled tron and countered or slowed my opponent until I put together a Mindslaver Lock post Wurmcoil and controlled her until death.
So 2 - 1 - 1 somehow got me into the top 8 of 20 people. Apparently there were a number of other draws during the evening.
I faced another Robots deck that simply curved into turn 3 and 4 kills both games despite a ratchet bomb removing a memnite game 2. Just simply crushed by speed. I just couldn't keep up with either Robot deck.
I lost the die roll to Robots both times and the mulliganing in Round 3 hurt too.
I haven't had much practice with this deck yet and could definitely use some advice on sideboarding against Robots.
I really did enjoy playing this deck because I often play Aggro or Combo and I do like to mix things up.
The final 2 decks were the second Robots deck I faced and a Jund deck that replaced Bloodbraid Elf with Huntmaster of the Fells. It was midnight and they decided to draw.
I played half a dozen games versus a true Modern Burn deck tonight for some more practice and kept my strategy and boarding simple. Preboard, assume control and try to counter and slow him down while drawing cards was priority, then get a Wurmcoil out and beat face. Board out Sundering Titan and 3 Remands for 2 Spellskite, Jester's Scepter and 1 Wurmcoil. Same strategy as preboard.
Played stock deck and my own sideboard. Will post sideboard and match details later.
Summary:
Rnd 1: R/W Puresteel Paladin Equipment Deck; 2-0
Rnd 2: W Human Aggro Control; 2-0
Rnd 3: Robots; 0-2
Rnd 4: Burn; 1-1
Top 8
Quarter Final: Robots: 0-2
I enjoyed the deck but dealing with the speed of some of the decks I faced was tough. Round 3 was particularly tough with mulligan to 5 game 1 and mulligan to 6 game 2; the draws both games were subpar too but that is luck.
I'll give a real write up with list and boarding tomorrow.
I've just gotten the rest of the cards I needed for the base deck and will have a chance to play it next week. Thank goodness that modern is now sanctioned for FNM.
I played Splinter Twin last time with about 2/3's of a good Splinter Twin deck. While I love that combo, I've wanted to play a Tron deck for a long time.
The meta is pretty undefined because there is only about 7 true modern decks with the rest being standard decks with a few tweaks from older cards.
4 Robots - Monoblue, Tempered Steel, Blue/Black Tezz, and one of the most common build
1 Burn
1 Jund - this one is about 2/3's of the Jund list because he doesn't have goyf, bob, or thoughtseize
1 monoblack infect
So I'm looking at my sideboard options...
Have any of you looked at or tried Venarian Glimmer? Is it too reactive, too mana intensive? I haven't tested it yet but it appeared to be useful - peak at the hand, discard and best: surprise - targetted discard in monoblue?!
3 Dismember
3 Pithing Needle
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Repeal
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Hurkyll's Recall
3 Spreading Seas
This is what I'm currently considering... The Spreading Seas are for that Inkmoth Nexus in addition to the mb tectonic rift...
I would greatly appreciate suggestions for sideboard against different matches and what you think comes out of the mainboard...
Thanks all!
I know this is a block constructed deck but it still made me think a bit about new cards and was an interesting test.
Soooo...
Been stuck working so hard the last almost 2 months that I hadn't been able to play or anything.
Got to play in Gameday yesterday in a field of 15. I went to the store to see what they were going to do and found out that instead of standard, they were running the Gameday block constructed. I scavenged my Dos Rakis purchased a fat pack of Gatecrash (first I had gotten a chance to get) and picked up some singles. I put this deck together in an hour:
2 X Spark Trooper
1 X Firemane Avenger
4 X Skyknight Legionnaire
4 X Ash Zealot
4 X Chainwalker
4 X Firefist Striker
4 X Rakdos Cackler
4 X Foundry Street Denizen
3 X Annihilating Fire
3 X Madcap Skills
2 X Mugging
3 X Mizzium Mortars
Lands:
1 X Sacred Foundry
14 X Mountain
7 X Plains
3 X Bomber Corps
3 X Skinbrand Goblin
2 X Electrickery
1 X Shattering Blow
2 X Skullcrack
2 X Arrows of Justice
2 X Act of Treason
So I piloted this to winning 3 of 4 seeding rounds and made top 4 and then 1st Place from there.
Round 1: Gruul midrange Aggro - won die roll
Won this 2 - 0 pretty quickly. His deck looked good but I just kept going under it. Game 1, I went first and curved out with mountain - Denizen, mountain - GHC and swing for 2, mountain - Ash Zealot - Mugging on his 2 drop and swing for 7, plains - Spark Trooper - swing lethal before he can put any of his three 4-drops out. Game 2 was a little more interactive but mostly I just sped through underneath and he couldn't keep up.
Round 2: Naya $$$$$ Bling deck - lost die roll
Won this 2 - 1. Boros Reckoner is a pain to play against, and you take pain fighting through him, but that is the only answer my deck has. Game 1, I curved out under him taking him out by turn 5 or 6. Game 2, I would likely have had him but he used a Boros Charm to make an Experiment One have double strike killing my Spark Trooper and then Loxodon Smiter started appearing and another Boros Reckoner and then Aurelia, the Warleader appeared. Yep, done. Game 3, slow start for him because of guildgates and I go underneath again.
Because this was block constructed and my opponent didn't have access to checklands, he was pretty slow off the block on all three games having to play a large number of guildgates to stabilize his mana. This really hurt the three color decks that I played against.
Round 3: Boros with even R/W balance - lost die roll
Loss 0 - 2. My opponent took the Boros event deck, stripped out all the non-block cards and replaced them with block keeping a solid split between R/W. Game 1 on the draw, I kept a hand with 3 mountains, a mugging, an ash zealot, 2 mizzium mortars thinking that on the play that removal would be fine and I could play control until I could switch momentum to beatdown. I just couldn't get there, I couldn't remove creatures fast enough and he got battalion with 2 Boros Elite and a Firefist Striker pretty quickly, even with me removing some of his early plays, he got me just as he ran out of gas with cards and battalion allowed him to win the race once I had gotten creatures out - I think he had 4 life left at the end of this game. Game 2 - I kept a hand with 3 creatures and four lands, didn't work out for me. I drew a creature on my first draw and then flooded into 7 lands in a row and couldn't keep up - my only truly bad luck game of the day.
Round 4: Crazy WUG creation using Unexpected Results and Urban Evolution and Azorius Charm and Simic Charm to slow down faster decks. This also had Verdant Haven and the "Lantern of Mana Colors" for fixing though he still played a number of guildgates. Won the die roll.
I have to give this player major props for a cool deck. Win 2-1. Game 1, it was another curve out underneath with a turn 8 or 9 win with my opponent ramping mana but not getting anything and slowing me down with his charms. Game 2, he stayed alive with a lot of bounce, Verdant Haven lifegain as well as Supreme Verdict to sweep the board twice. He also did some straight up good playing and was a great opponent. He won game 2 off a hard-cast Worldspine Wurm which my lone Ash Zealot cringed from. I was at 8 life and he was at 1 when he cast the wurm. Fun game. Game 3 came down to a top deck fight with me finally burning him out with Annihilating Fire for the last few points of damage.
Cut to top 4
Semi Bracket: Boros with even R/W balance (same as Round 3) - won the die roll this time.
Won the round 2 - 0. Game 1 just became a race and I came out swinging first. Game 2 I had a mixed removal and creature hand and cast a turn five Firemane Avenger to seal the deal on the game. Electrickery is an all star against Boros to get rid of the Boros Elite and Firefist Striker. That combined with Mugging is really what one game 2. Annihilating Fire is too slow here and I boarded 2 out for the 2 Electrickery -- major difference
Final Bracket: Esper Control with Obzedat, Ghost Council - won the die roll
Won the round 2 - 1. Tough games. Game 1, I had to fight through Detention Sphere, High Priest of Penance, Orzhov Charm, Nightveil Spectre and Supreme Verdict. Really tough fight getting through all that removal. Game 2, sent me into another tangle of removal, I tried to not overextend but I ran out of gas and then he cast Obzedat, Ghost Council and got something else on the board and quickly destroyed me between those and more removal. Game 3 sent us both into top-deck mode with lots of removal and fighting back and forth. At one point I had 2 on the ground facing 2 Nightveil Spectre but he couldn't attack with them without dying to my return attacks. The stall got board-wiped and then some more beating and removal with me finishing the game with a top-decked Spark Trooper. Really tough games.
Overall take-aways for me: In block, 3 color is almost too greedy because of the lack of checklands, you can't develop your board fast enough against a 1 or 2 color deck because they will have a better manabase. Firefist Striker and Foundry Street Denizen are much better than initially anticipated. Firefist Striker takes the place of our Pyreheart Wolf pretty well because he is cheaper though it does cause you to have to extend out one more creature to the board. Foundry Street Denizen only ever swung for less than 2 damage 1 time in all the games I played him out. I only got him to swing for 3 once but it was 2 almost all the time. I think Legion Loyalist could be a good fit for this deck and wish I would have been able to come up with a few copies of him in time.
Sideboarding:
Against Gruul, -2 Foundry Street Denizen and +2 Act of Treason on the draw on game 2.
Against Naya, -2 Foundry Street Denizen and +2 Act of Treason on the draw (Game 2 and 3)
Against Boros, -2 Annihilating Fire, +2 Electrickery and on the draw, -2 Foundry Street Denizen and +2 Act of Treason.
Against Crazy Simic, -3 Madcap Skills, +2 Act of Treason and +1 Skinbrand Goblin (this really should have been a Skullcrack - didn't think at the time) - left the deck this way for game 3 as well.
Same Boarding against Boros the second time.
Against Esper Ghost Council, -3 Madcap Skills, -1 Annihilating Fire, +2 Act of Treason, +1 Arrows of Justice
I'm not entirely happy with my boarding, particularly vs Crazy Simic and Esper Ghost Council but I did get through. Act of Treason is a particularly good card. In game 3 vs Esper Ghost Council, I took his Desecration Demon to smash through a good chunk of damage with let me push through with creatures and burn to end it before running out of gas.
I don't think I like Bomber Corps and Skinbrand Goblin in the side and I don't really think they make main board. I put in the goblin to use as a cheap creature and for bloodrush but I didn't seem to want it. I put in the bomber thinking it would work against Boros and 1/1 token generation but didn't want a 1 power creature boarded in against what I was playing. I probably should have sided in Skullcrack a few times but wasn't thinking about it.
I know this is a Block Constructed Deck rather than fully standard but I posted this here because I think Firefist Striker deserves some thought and Foundry Street Denizen has potential to be added to R/x sligh aggro as another one drop. Also, if you are adding white, Spark Trooper can just be ugly.
Comments on better card choices or boarding choices are welcome.
I think this will become the base of my block constructed deck as well as gives me some insight into what I want to do for a R/w aggro deck.
Been stuck working so hard the last almost 2 months that I hadn't been able to play or anything.
Got to play in Gameday yesterday in a field of 15. I went to the store to see what they were going to do and found out that instead of standard, they were running the Gameday block constructed. I scavenged my Dos Rakis purchased a fat pack of Gatecrash (first I had gotten a chance to get) and picked up some singles. I put this deck together in an hour:
2 X Spark Trooper
1 X Firemane Avenger
4 X Skyknight Legionnaire
4 X Ash Zealot
4 X Chainwalker
4 X Firefist Striker
4 X Rakdos Cackler
4 X Foundry Street Denizen
3 X Annihilating Fire
3 X Madcap Skills
2 X Mugging
3 X Mizzium Mortars
Lands:
1 X Sacred Foundry
14 X Mountain
7 X Plains
3 X Bomber Corps
3 X Skinbrand Goblin
2 X Electrickery
1 X Shattering Blow
2 X Skullcrack
2 X Arrows of Justice
2 X Act of Treason
So I piloted this to winning 3 of 4 seeding rounds and made top 4 and then 1st Place from there.
Round 1: Gruul midrange Aggro - won die roll
Won this 2 - 0 pretty quickly. His deck looked good but I just kept going under it. Game 1, I went first and curved out with mountain - Denizen, mountain - GHC and swing for 2, mountain - Ash Zealot - Mugging on his 2 drop and swing for 7, plains - Spark Trooper - swing lethal before he can put any of his three 4-drops out. Game 2 was a little more interactive but mostly I just sped through underneath and he couldn't keep up.
Round 2: Naya $$$$$ Bling deck - lost die roll
Won this 2 - 1. Boros Reckoner is a pain to play against, and you take pain fighting through him, but that is the only answer my deck has. Game 1, I curved out under him taking him out by turn 5 or 6. Game 2, I would likely have had him but he used a Boros Charm to make an Experiment One have double strike killing my Spark Trooper and then Loxodon Smiter started appearing and another Boros Reckoner and then Aurelia, the Warleader appeared. Yep, done. Game 3, slow start for him because of guildgates and I go underneath again.
Because this was block constructed and my opponent didn't have access to checklands, he was pretty slow off the block on all three games having to play a large number of guildgates to stabilize his mana. This really hurt the three color decks that I played against.
Round 3: Boros with even R/W balance - lost die roll
Loss 0 - 2. My opponent took the Boros event deck, stripped out all the non-block cards and replaced them with block keeping a solid split between R/W. Game 1 on the draw, I kept a hand with 3 mountains, a mugging, an ash zealot, 2 mizzium mortars thinking that on the play that removal would be fine and I could play control until I could switch momentum to beatdown. I just couldn't get there, I couldn't remove creatures fast enough and he got battalion with 2 Boros Elite and a Firefist Striker pretty quickly, even with me removing some of his early plays, he got me just as he ran out of gas with cards and battalion allowed him to win the race once I had gotten creatures out - I think he had 4 life left at the end of this game. Game 2 - I kept a hand with 3 creatures and four lands, didn't work out for me. I drew a creature on my first draw and then flooded into 7 lands in a row and couldn't keep up - my only truly bad luck game of the day.
Round 4: Crazy WUG creation using Unexpected Results and Urban Evolution and Azorius Charm and Simic Charm to slow down faster decks. This also had Verdant Haven and the "Lantern of Mana Colors" for fixing though he still played a number of guildgates. Won the die roll.
I have to give this player major props for a cool deck. Win 2-1. Game 1, it was another curve out underneath with a turn 8 or 9 win with my opponent ramping mana but not getting anything and slowing me down with his charms. Game 2, he stayed alive with a lot of bounce, Verdant Haven lifegain as well as Supreme Verdict to sweep the board twice. He also did some straight up good playing and was a great opponent. He won game 2 off a hard-cast Worldspine Wurm which my lone Ash Zealot cringed from. I was at 8 life and he was at 1 when he cast the wurm. Fun game. Game 3 came down to a top deck fight with me finally burning him out with Annihilating Fire for the last few points of damage.
Cut to top 4
Semi Bracket: Boros with even R/W balance (same as Round 3) - won the die roll this time.
Won the round 2 - 0. Game 1 just became a race and I came out swinging first. Game 2 I had a mixed removal and creature hand and cast a turn five Firemane Avenger to seal the deal on the game. Electrickery is an all star against Boros to get rid of the Boros Elite and Firefist Striker. That combined with Mugging is really what one game 2. Annihilating Fire is too slow here and I boarded 2 out for the 2 Electrickery -- major difference
Final Bracket: Esper Control with Obzedat, Ghost Council - won the die roll
Won the round 2 - 1. Tough games. Game 1, I had to fight through Detention Sphere, High Priest of Penance, Orzhov Charm, Nightveil Spectre and Supreme Verdict. Really tough fight getting through all that removal. Game 2, sent me into another tangle of removal, I tried to not overextend but I ran out of gas and then he cast Obzedat, Ghost Council and got something else on the board and quickly destroyed me between those and more removal. Game 3 sent us both into top-deck mode with lots of removal and fighting back and forth. At one point I had 2 on the ground facing 2 Nightveil Spectre but he couldn't attack with them without dying to my return attacks. The stall got board-wiped and then some more beating and removal with me finishing the game with a top-decked Spark Trooper. Really tough games.
Overall take-aways for me: In block, 3 color is almost too greedy because of the lack of checklands, you can't develop your board fast enough against a 1 or 2 color deck because they will have a better manabase. Firefist Striker and Foundry Street Denizen are much better than initially anticipated. Firefist Striker takes the place of our Pyreheart Wolf pretty well because he is cheaper though it does cause you to have to extend out one more creature to the board. Foundry Street Denizen only ever swung for less than 2 damage 1 time in all the games I played him out. I only got him to swing for 3 once but it was 2 almost all the time. I think Legion Loyalist could be a good fit for this deck and wish I would have been able to come up with a few copies of him in time.
Sideboarding:
Against Gruul, -2 Foundry Street Denizen and +2 Act of Treason on the draw on game 2.
Against Naya, -2 Foundry Street Denizen and +2 Act of Treason on the draw (Game 2 and 3)
Against Boros, -2 Annihilating Fire, +2 Electrickery and on the draw, -2 Foundry Street Denizen and +2 Act of Treason.
Against Crazy Simic, -3 Madcap Skills, +2 Act of Treason and +1 Skinbrand Goblin (this really should have been a Skullcrack - didn't think at the time) - left the deck this way for game 3 as well.
Same Boarding against Boros the second time.
Against Esper Ghost Council, -3 Madcap Skills, -1 Annihilating Fire, +2 Act of Treason, +1 Arrows of Justice
I'm not entirely happy with my boarding, particularly vs Crazy Simic and Esper Ghost Council but I did get through. Act of Treason is a particularly good card. In game 3 vs Esper Ghost Council, I took his Desecration Demon to smash through a good chunk of damage with let me push through with creatures and burn to end it before running out of gas.
I don't think I like Bomber Corps and Skinbrand Goblin in the side and I don't really think they make main board. I put in the goblin to use as a cheap creature and for bloodrush but I didn't seem to want it. I put in the bomber thinking it would work against Boros and 1/1 token generation but didn't want a 1 power creature boarded in against what I was playing. I probably should have sided in Skullcrack a few times but wasn't thinking about it.
I know this is a Block Constructed Deck rather than fully standard but I posted this here because I think Firefist Striker deserves some thought and Foundry Street Denizen has potential to be added to R/x sligh aggro as another one drop. Also, if you are adding white, Spark Trooper can just be ugly.
I am also going to post this in the Tourney Thread. Comments on better card choices or boarding choices are welcome.
I think this will become the base of my block constructed deck as well as gives me some insight into what I want to do for a R/w aggro deck.
All right, only 20 matches against random things at the game store and with friends. Played the following:
4 X Hellrider
3 X Pyreheart Wolf
4 X Ash Zealot
4 X Shred Freak
4 X Rakdos Cackler
3 X Stromkirk Noble
2 X Stonewright
4 X Searing Spear
4 X Brimstone Volley
4 X Pillar of Flames
2 X Flames of the Firebrand
2 X Hellion Crucible
20 X Mountain
What Shred Freak did best for me was enabling Brimstone Volley. Unfortunately, he often didn't trade with what killed him (except against some Exalted deck). Now, this isn't the online meta or high level tournaments but a smattering of decks from very competitive aggro either G/W or R or R/B and Bant Control to home brew B/G, G Fightclub, and exalted. From my previous experiences with R and retesting shredder here, I will honestly say, more than 3/4 of the time, I would rather have chainwalker.
Also the point that L.K. made about Lightning Mauler being even to Shred Freak when bonded to your turn one drop is important. Mauler is often shredder with upside... Gotta say shredder is falling back out again.
Edit: fixed from card to deck
I like your passion in defending shred freak, as well as presenting your arguments for why. I ran shred early in the season and found him useful in some matches... Especially those that focused so heavily on sorcery speed removal or bounce. I do appreciate the fact that he can be left back for defense unlike chainwalker. Guess he may have to go back in for testing again...
Cheers
FoF is great. I just find that the instant speed of Volley is more useful preboard and bring in FoF postboard if there are a lot of X/1 creatures running around.