I havent made notices while playing only afterwarts to remember what I had sideboarded. I do not remember that much:
Vs. Boogles:
Game 1:
I do not know what I played the first 2 turns besides some lands, while he started with "boogle" into Ethereal Armor/Spider Umbra and attacked. Turn 3 i played Lingering souls to stall the board while he played another Aura. I used the following Turns to Play Blight Herder, Sower and Vault from the archangel, while he played some creatures. I drew another lingering souls which took him to 1 life. He then used his last Fetchland and reduced his life to Zero *GG*
Game 2:
My oppenent kept a very slow had with something like "Leyline of S./3Boogle/Spider Umbra/Land/Land". He put Leyline into Play and casted one of his creatures. My Hand was pretty slow and i took some hits from his 2/2 creature. Turn 3 I casted Thought-Knot Seer and removed one of his creatures. Turn 4 or 5 he slamemd Daybreak Coronet on his boogle and starting beeting me. Two Turns later i casted Ulamog to remove his auras but he had path for him. Since he drew very badly he had not found any other auras to enchant his creaures. I used Eye of Ugin to Cast Kozilek and refilled my Hand. After that the game was pretty much over.
Vs. Titanshift:
Game 1:
He played some ramp spells while i attacked with blight herder. He miscounted his lands and thought he did not have enought to cast scapeshift and conceded. Well he had enought :-P
Game 2:
I casted an early discard spell and took Scapeshift out of his Hand, leaving him behind with just some Ramp Spells. While i used my turns to cast Blight Herder and Wasteland Strangler he used his turns to ramp. I put him down to 4 and played Thought-Knot Seer while he had 2 Cards in Hand (Scapeshift and Commune with Lava). He decided to Play Commune with Lava in Response to the Exile Trigger, because he was missing 1 land to cast scapeshift for the win. Commune revealed Scapeshift + Land + XX and he won the next turn.
Game 3:
Pretty much the same as Game 2. I casted some creatures while he used his Ramp and took the Game with Scapeshift.
I will edit the Cards i have boarded, when i get home.
How did Thought-knot seer remove a creature if he has leyline>?
There was an SCG (Modern) Classic Tournament with OGW & Post Bans, here's the results: http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=97989 TL;DR No Tron in Top 16. Tons of Aggro. Merfolk, Burn, Zoo, Affinity.
Temur Delver got 1st, Jund got 2nd.
Still a small-ish tournament however, take results for what you will.
Reality Smasher must have done some decent blocking and some decent finishing of games to help carry this list to 13th in this aggro meta.
Sideboard looks pretty standard I guess, except for random Celestial Colonnade. I guess that was to hedge against any UWr Control decks that might've been present, and he can activate it after getting their blue mana with Sower, or maybe he didn't have a 15th card and just grabbed anything to fill the slot.
Not sure Eldrazi Displacer did anything for him, no idea. Flaying Tendrils was his sweeper of choice. It looks like it did some work here, costing only 3 instead of 4 like Damnation or Languish.
I think we should consider using Flaying Tendrils as the primary sweeper. It really does kill most of these aggro decks.
Unless there are 2 Merfolk lords out.
Costing only 3, you can cast it @ 4 mana vs Cursecatcher.
The zoo decks were fast Zoo. Nacatl/Kird Ape/Experiment one/Burning Tree Emmissary. Sure Nacatl/Ape/Tarmogoyf can potentially survive Tendrils, but I don't think you get to 4 mana for big sweepers, especially on the draw.
Affinity. One of the lists is running only 1 Etched champion, but up to 3 Master of Etherium.
Either way, good lord look at all the aggro. Even in my very similar BW version, I'm considering mainboard sweepers or Timely Reinforcements.
Also, no matter how much I try to hedge against burn, I found that I'm like 1-5 vs. burn in matches.
I think the meta is just showing how much worse Reality Smasher is looking in black/white mainboard the more I see tourney results. I don't think the card is very good vs aggro at all especially if you don't get it down on 3.
Card is good in a different meta or different style of eldrazi deck. B/W seems to be the attrition version and the 50% matchup against everything deck and I don't think Reality Smasher helps that.
How I see it is the matchups where Reality Smasher can come down on 3 and cause havoc are the same matchups where a blight herder would have done the same thing because the slower deck are too our advantage and that seems to be where Reality Smasher shines.
If you're looking for a life gain land - Tomb of the Spirit Dragon is the card you're looking for. That, or Miren the Moaning Well.
To be fair Tomb of the Spirit Dragon is awful verse modern aggro decks because the only time you would ever have enough mana and creatures to gain the life back would be after a blight herder then you also have to untap. Tomb doesn't solve any of the problems.
That being said if you're looking to survive off aggro decks with lands you'll find your self losing a lot. Your best chance is a hedge of vault of archangel and maybe shambling vents and actually having early interaction in your deck. Other wise you're just throwing away percentage points.
I find it funny you say you hate the white splash when that is the one splash that plays best against all the "Weaknesses" you stated. Better removal and earlier pressure with Path and Lingering Souls/Timely Reinforcements + Vault/Shambling Vents as well as great sideboard options to combat Blood Moon, Seas, Affinity and Fulminator.
BW is seeing the most results recently because it stalls aggro decks the best and has the best side board options. Its main removal spell also helps turn on the processors.
I agree
Black/white is just the best in an open meta.
If a meta becomes more defined I'm sure other colors may shine. But white just gives you too much hedging game 1 with a great sideboard.
Its one thing to talk a lot of hype about a deck its another to being to produce results so lets get into the thick of it. The staff, judges & commentators at mtg card market in Chicago were great hosts for their 2k modern event it was capped at 80 people and you can catch archive of the stream here. I foolishly didn't pre register and had to show up at 9:30 in the morning to put my name second on the wait list, only 2 or 3 people didn't show up to the event so I was fortunate enough to get to play. The rounds were executed sharply, awesome.
Just one simple change MD & SB from my previous list, I cut slaughter pact, its no longer needed with twin and bloom gone. MD Surgical does work, added 1 pithing needle as a great catch all in the SB.
Rnd 1 vs. Jake - Jeskai Control, win the roll.
Game 1: we both mull to 6, I disrupt his hand, and cast herder he lets the process trigger resolve then attempts to mana leak, i sac the scions in resp and have a 4/5. Herder and Vents go the distance with beats.
Game 2: I stick a crucible on 3 and eventually get him under a GQ lock, other highlights of this game include me warping wail a bribery and killing him with his own Celestial Colonnade and Ulamog for lethal.
2-0, 1-0
Rnd 2 vs. Justin - Burn, lose the roll.
Game 1: T2 i get to process a suspended rift bolt and kill a guide with strangler and surgical a bolt taking one from his hand, nearly turn the corner but he top decks a burn spell before i can close it out.
Game 2: Similar situation I'm nearly stabilized just need to fade 1 draw step before i get my vents online, it doesn't happen.
0-2, 1-1
Rnd 3 vs. Dominic - Living End, win the roll
Game 1: I keep a low curve(greedy) 1 land hand with relic and map, eventually I get there, warping wail creates a scion and he goes for living end forgetting scion can be sac'd to blow up the relic, it doesn't end well.
Game 2: relic again puts in work, he ignot chewers the first, but there is a second in hand. Lingering souls puts in work.
2-0, 2-1
Rnd 4 vs. Arthur - Jund, win the roll.
Game 1: Mull to 6, Pia and Kiran do work against me and I feel like I'm asleep at the wheel making misplays, focus.
Game 2: Opponent mulls to 6, Early disruption even though I cut most of the discard and I curve out.
Game 3: I keep a hand with lands and spells, T1 he IoKs me and takes my relic, T1 i draw and play map and we're off the races. you can see the whole game here, it was broken up into three parts. part 1. part 2. part 3. During that match he pyroclasm's me and i sac my scions in resp the reason i didn't grab ulamog with eye in that case was because I thought he might have another thoughtseize, so i grabbed sower.
2-1, 3-1
Rnd 5 vs. Kyle - Grixis Delver, lose the roll.
Game 1: He is able to power out an early angler its welcomed by Path, Souls and relic do work.
Game 2: Super close, hes at 1 life i'm at 5, with 2 spirits and vents available, he thoughtscours into electrolyze into terminate, take it in stride.
Game 3: This is a grind fest, but you know whats a grindy card? lingering souls, game goes to turns and on my last turn 8 souls go over the top for the win.
2-1, 4-1
Rnd 6 vs. Jack – Boggles, lose the roll.
Game 1: I’m in the dark and I get steam rolled by a 6/6 pro creature trample boggle.
Game 2: Spellskite in the opener, I GQ his Horizon Canopy and the surgical it (there are only so many dead cards you can take out against them) to turn on blight herder. Blight beats close it out.
Game 3: Spellskite, discard , disenchant and ratchet bomb. I’m down to 8 before I’m able to stablize with ratchet bomb, he gets his rancor back and plays the Kor, goes to target it and I Path in resp. herder and sower team up with skite back up and we close it out.
2-1, 5-1
At this point standings are posted and I’m currently in 7th with 15 points and solid breakers, but there is someone with 13 points and amazing breakers that threaten to kick out one of the two other players with 15 points. My opponent is one of those so I’m not afforded the opportunity to draw in to the top 8.
Rnd 7 vs. Yichao – Affinity, lose the roll.
Game 1: Mull to 5, He has the nut draw, my t3 souls aren’t fast enough its over before it really ever began.
Game 2: T2 stony silence, and man land beats with disruption finish it.
Game 3: he has a strong open, but t2 I disenchant one of his man lands, T3 I cast flaying tendrils he opts to put a counter on hangarback walker, sure but its exiled. Herder and sower tag team to close it out.
2-1, 6-1
After the 7 rounds of swiss I’m first place the top 8 consists of the following in order: BW Eldrazi, Ajundi, Infect, UR Delver, Affinity, Naya Company, Burn & Ad Nauseam. I Personally feel the Ad Nauseam match up isn’t bad by any stretch especially with 7 MD ways to interact with their hand in 3 IoK, 2 TS & 3 TKS, and the ability to interact favorably with lotus. My only loss is in top 8 as well.
Quarter Finals vs. Keith – Ad Nauseam, elect to be on the play.
Game 1: Hes at 9 I’ve been tearing apart his hand and have lethal on board hes left to the mercy of his top decks, he casts angel’s grace and we’re on to game 2.
Game 2: Mull to 6, Keep the following with my opponent on the fence if hes going to mull (I feel hes deciding if a ok hand with leyline will be good enough, and I was right) : Urborg, Thoughtseize, Surgical, Map, Disenchant & wasteland. Scry leaving vents on the top. I need to draw non come into play tap land by T3 or else its over. Its over. Had I drawn any non tap land I could’ve disenchanted his leyline, thought seized his ad nauseam and extracted it. Them the breaks.
I just want to say warping wail was the MVP of the day, stopped a bribery, exiled cliques/snapcasters/bobs/robots/delvers
Great tournament overall, all of my opponents were gracious and I really appreciated that. Left with some cash in my pocket so I feel great after possibly not being able to play due to the cap; lesson learned pre register!! If you’re in Chicagoland they’ve got another 2k coming up at the end of February and MTGcardmarket are great hosts.
big ups on repping Warping Wail I too love the card and see it as at least a 2 of. Do you really still like Wasteland Strangler? Have you thought of going up to 3 or 4 seers and trying out Matter Reshaper? Very good card. I know you get the niche situations of stealing suspended cards but I think getting turn 2 or 3 seers is a lot more valuable while also giving you a 4/4 and not needing the processor requirement to just slam.
This is what I'm running after running a 24 land, double expedition map version at FNM to a 4-0 run though I take it with a grain of salt as far as that goes week 1 of new set and it being FNM.
Endbringer might be bad I'm just looking for another mid game drop in the fair games that is also a good tutor-able target to finish a game if Ulamog has come and gone.
Could be a Kozilek, Could be a 2nd Ulamog, could be a 4th Sower. Not sure yet.
I did beat boggles but might be looking for another edict effect in the board. Did get pretty lucky with lillys and flaying tendrils.
Takes from week 1 OGW:
Matter Reshaper and Thought-knot seer are very good. The grindyness of Reshaper in the midrange matchups while also being a great blocker in the early game matchups that will also give you an extra card after it trades is great.
Seer helps vs the non interactive matchups to slow them down while also being a clock vs the midrange/slower decks if you use it to protect your hand.
Warping Wail seems to be good enough in the early game vs birds, nobles and blighted agents. Helps keep you a little honest vs Living End and any sorcery type combo decks. Biggest advantage is that no one sees it coming because why would they expect countermagic from a b/w deck. Countering a Past in Flames when storm has exactly 4 mana while starting to go off was a nice touch.
1 of Seagate is great especially when you're playing your own Lillys. I won through a Liliana ultimate against a jund player due to my own lilly and a seagate.
Flayed Tendrils seems about as good as advertised.
I'll be removing the Slaughter Pact and something else to add in 2 Reality Smashers, probably an Oblivion Sower (to go down to 2) or See (to go down to 3) for next week... Also, what ended up being the consensus on Endbringer? Was he just too cute/slow for the deck? He seemed promising at first, at least to me.
Reality Smasher seems about as bad as Endbringer would when you're considering this isn't an aggro deck at all. Sideboard seems like a good idea for Smasher for the slower/combo matchups but it serves no purpose as a 2 of in game 1.
Endbringer on the other hand is just a good card at 4 drop. Pings 1/1s, foggs a creature or draws a card. Reality Smasher just starts a clock that will have little follow up on turn 3 or 4. If this was some type of aggro version Smasher seems fine. Assuming we have eye of ugin and judging these cards off best case scenario.
Finally had a friday off of work to take this deck to FNM. 30-ish people showed up for Modern, with 4 rounds and a cut to top 4 afterwards. I went 3-1 in my regular rounds, and barely squeaked into T4 where I lost to Tron. Here's my current deck and a short report:
ROUND 1: Melira Chord
Game 1 started out slowly, with me picking off a few of his Chords and CoCo's and trying to fight my way through the lifegain from 3 Kitchen Finks and killing any copies of Anafenza immediately. On turn 7 I was able to cast my Ulamog which he immediately Path'd, though he couldn't do much else to advance his combo while I had an active Relic in play. A misplay on my part saw me crack the relic to get an extra draw, after which he tapped his whole board for a Chord and got his final Finks with the combo on board. Game 2 I just wasn't able to draw into a single piece of removal while he kept swinging at me with an ever-growing Scavenging Ooze that kept his life total high and mine low. (0-2)
(0-1)
ROUND 2: Nacatl Burn
This is a girl that I've gone against every wednesday night Modern event for the past several weeks. We both knew the matchup well enough, but she was a very good pilot for the deck and could pull wins if I wasn't careful. In game 1 I'm able to close out the game by having my Wasteland Strangler process her suspended Rift Bolt and kill one of her 2 Swiftspears, after which I just swung through with Seers and Sowers. Game 2 goes very much the same way, with me starting the game with a Leyline in play and once again processing a rift bolt to kill her creature. (2-0)
(1-1)
ROUND 3: Grixis Control
Game 1 went started off with him using Inquisition on me. I don't believe he'd seen or heard of this deck before now, as he took a long time to read over the Processors in my hand and comment on how they don't seem good for the format. I get a turn 1 Relic in play and start using it to keep him off Snapcaster targets or Delve fuel, then happily using my "terrible" Strangler to kill his turn 2 Jace. Even with relic in play, he's still able to wrestle control of the game with a lucky Tasigur and Pia and Kiran Nalaar. Game 2 is over very quickly when I get a very lucky Oblivion Sower for 6 lands while I had Eye and Urborg in play. He scooped right after that. Game 3 was an oddity. I keep a hand with a Thought-Knot Seer, Leyline, Relic, and Thoughtseize, putting the Leyline into play right away. This upsets him a bit and when I thoughtseize him turn 1 I see why. He had for some reason kept a hand of 4 lands and only 2 lightning bolts. He fights through it though and I surgical extraction all of his Scalding Tarns and follow up with my Sower. I use Eye to tutor up Kozilek and cast him to refill my hand, and in the same turn had enought mana from Temples and Eye to also cast 2 Blight Herders and a Thought-Knot Seer for a decisive win. (2-1)
(2-1)
ROUND 4: Grixis Control
Another Grixis control deck, but this is against a very good friend of mine, and a friend who helped me test this deck on several occasions. We both knew this matchup was favorable for me. Game 1 was very grindy with both of us removing and discarding a lot of targets. I finally win when I'm able to Tutor up Kozilek and Ulamog and cast them both over 2 turns. During game 2 my deck bricked HARD, sticking me with only 4 lands total, one of which was an Eye with no Urborg support. He lands a turn 2 Snapcaster with no targets, and I actually ended up dying to it as he swung each turn. I just couldn't get anything on board between all of his remands and additional Snapcasters. Game 3 was just the opposite, with him having to mulligan down to 5 and not seeing his second land until the turn before I killed him. Rough games all around, and I felt bad for winning that way against him. (2-1)
(3-1)
TOP FOUR ROUND 1: RG Tron
Here it was, the one deck that I absolutely didn't want to have to go against tonight. Game 1 I was able to get an early Thoughtseize and seer to rip out his Karn and Ulamog before he got his last land, but that turn he got a topdeck Karn and cast him, and was able to just take over the game from there. Game 2 I stuck a turn 2 Seer and started swinging in. I was also able to cast a Lingering Souls and flashback it. He never sees a Karn, but does cast Ulamog and killed my Seer and a token, then swung back. I was able to just take 2 attacks from him because of Grove of the Burnwillows and him using Nature's Claim on my relic. It came down to the wire here, with him at 2 life and staring down 2 Spirit tokens and only ulamog in play, but I was at 5 life and had less than 10 cards in my deck. On the end of my turn, he manages to save himself by using his Eye of Ugin to tutor up his last Spellskite and using his second Nature's Claim on it, putting him up to 6 life and out of range of my spirit tokens, buying him one more turn to kill me with Ulamog. Very close game. (0-2)
Overall I'm very pleased with the deck. I added in the Kozilek and full set of seers to test them out, and was super happy with how they both performed, with Seers being an all-star and me also tutoring for Kozilek more often than Ulamog surprisingly. I just have to be able to adjust my sideboard more for next week to have better tools against Tron. I also found that the single card I was least happy to see at any time was Bojuka Bog. I feel like my exile sources are enough already, and the coming into play tapped leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm almost wondering if it's worth swapping that out for either Sea Gate Wreckage or another Ghost Quarter for now.
Is there a reason you're still playing Slaughter pact? Especially since you still have 2 Wasteland and 2 dismember along side your 4 paths?
Are we really speaking about cutting relic for surgical extraction because it hits "primary cards"? Which cards of which decks? I think we are speaking about mainly combo decks and tron. Let's see: combo decks in modern are ad nauseam, living end, grisoalbrand, storm, scapeshift, knightfall, Melira leap. Relic all alone shuts down 5 of these decks; I can play surgical in sb and take it in g2 to have more possibility to destroy them. Tron: tron is one of the worst matchup, maybe the worst. It's true that surgical is efficient, but I'm not totally sure I want 2 surgical main only for tron. Others deck against surgical is so good? I don't see other decks, while relic shuts down many modern sinergies and cards: tarmo, snapcaster, jace, any card with delve, kolaghan's command ( grave effect ), knight of reliquary, scavenging ooze Ecc... The strength of the deck is that it can play 4 relic main because they are useful to processing, while also they disrupt other decks' strategies. I won't swap relic for surgical; we can think about 2 surgical main ( not taking off relic ) if tron will be the next big thing
Rest in peace is not good if you play lingering souls. Leyline of the void, let's say is a turn 1 play ( for 0 ); you can play relic turn 1 or discard turn 1 and relic turn 2, with the difference that: a) relic let you to draw one card in mid-late game ( I would not underestimate this thing ) b) surgical extraction is a sb card, and it doesn't work with the card you said. Actually it's true that gq+surgical is one of the best plan against tron, but you need the card in the grave
I agree that main surgical is ambitious ND kind of pointless and it meant for the sideboard but I'm fine with 3 relics as I'm not playing any wasteland strangers cause I think the card is just not good. 4 path, 2 warping wail, 3 thought knot seer and 3 relics feels like enough processing for my 4 herders as well as my 5 discard spells, 2 lilianas to get cards in their yard.
I find that copying Eldrazi Temple or Eye of Ugin with Vesuva allows for easy casts by t3! Tell me what you think, because I'm considering buying up all of the rest of this deck and playing it for real for real.
PS This deck's SB needs help.
as far as I know Vesuva can not copy eye of ugin. Well it can copy it, but then you have to choose which one you want to keep. As far as copying Eldrazi temple that is more than doable. Problem with playing a 4 of, of a card like Vesuva is that you are often left with clunky hands of no black sources. We already play 7 mandatory colorless lands in eyes and temples, and then another 3 if you count ghost quarter being an auto include. It's hard to go up to 14 lands that don't produce any colors at all. One of Vesuva might be cool but that is as far as I would go with it. Depending on how many colors you play its hard to find room for that many colorless/utility lands and Vesuva seems like a very poor utility land at that.
90% agree with all of this though I would still play 2 or 3 of them main. Playing warping wail, path and TKS it isn't too hard to turn on Blight Herder but I do agree a more discard and removal base deck is better which is why I have 2 Lilianna, 5 sorcery discards, as well as more in the board while shaving my relic and expedition map numbers.
Why would you play 2 main and not just Surgicals? Because you can cycle them to draw a card?
In testing so far I have GQ + SE a Tron deck right out of game 1-3. Relic doesn't.
Have Thoughtsiezed Ad Nauseum, Scapeshift, Grisslebrand, etc. right out of games because of T+SE.
I'm not a fan of Relic atm. Getting our "pieces" and threats down early while providing removal and discard is how we win. Not processing BS. I've been testing this deck A LOT and I am not a fan of Relic at all.
Also how many of you guys even realize that Crib Swap is an Eldrazi spell that exiles and does have its mana cost reduced by 2 if Eye is out?
Surgical require them to already have a worthwhile card in the graveyard plus it doesn't shut off graveyard decks, snap caster etc. Sure it's better if you can surgical tron lands or something but that would require land destruction in which you only have 2 ghost quarters maybe 3. Only other better application is thoughtseizing a namesake card and then surgical extraction it but I'd rather just save that for the sideboard cause I feel pretty favored vs most of those decks ie Scapeshift,ad nauseam, living end etc. and yes of course, at worst, it draws me a card.
And I'd rather have path as an always one mana instant then a sometimes one mana instant. Sure the downside is smaller in a 1/1 changeling then it is a basic land but I'm not really worried about someone over running me on lands. Also path gives me the option of accelerating or color fixing my own mana if need be by pathing a scion of my own etc. Sure the shapeshifter/changeling eldrazi synergy is cool but none of those cards really interest me too much.
Twin is gone. Amulet never cared. Affinity doesn't care about Relic. Naya Burn doesn't care minus their 1-of Grim Lavamancer. R/G Tron doesn't care. Merfolk doesn't care. Scapeshift doesn't care. Ad Nauseum doesn't care. Boggles? Nope.
Abzan Junk does care as it hits Ooze, Finks, Tasigur, Goyf, Lingering Souls.
Jund kinda cares with Ooze, Finks, and Kolagan's Command.
Infect only gets Become Immense.
Abzan CoCoCombo decks it hits because all of the graveyard interaction.
Grixis Control does care because of Snapcaster, Tasigur, Jace VP, Kolagan's Command.
Kiki Chord only hits Eternal Witness.
Lantern Control hits Academy Ruin interactions?
Grishoalbrand ... close to murder but still has Through the Breach so?
Living End ... murdered?
In the end Strangler is getting cut in most decks. Blight Herder is unreliable unless you have discard + Relic like effect. And then there is Oblivion Sower to which people are dropping down to 3 in most cases.
The "enablers" just aren't cutting it anymore. Oblivion Sower is still ridiculous but completely unreliable. If I said 51%+ of the field in the new modern was Affinity, Tron, Burn, Merfolk, Infect and Eldrazi. Would you doubt me? Personally, I can easily see cutting Relic and playing a more hand disruptive list with more removal that actually impacts the board instead of cute interactions.
Relic has been a SB at best for me and even then I would rather play Surgical because of the free wins you get if you hit their primary card like Scapeshift or a Tron land.
Face it people. Relic was good. It isn't anymore.
90% agree with all of this though I would still play 2 or 3 of them main. Playing warping wail, path and TKS it isn't too hard to turn on Blight Herder but I do agree a more discard and removal base deck is better which is why I have 2 Lilianna, 5 sorcery discards, as well as more in the board while shaving my relic and expedition map numbers.
Questionable cuts would be one hand disruption spell for a 3rd Lingering Souls. 1 Blight Herder for a Lingering Souls/Relic/25th Land.
Kozilek is a pet card could easily be a 2nd Tendrils
There may need to be another white source in the deck, but I want to be able to cast all my spells through a blood moon so I had to keep a wastes in. Sea Gate Wreckage may prove to be a bust and could become a plains. I only justify running one less white then I would like because I still play with 3 maps.
For every game where I don't draw the amount of exile effects I need, you will have a game where you draw too many/cycle for too many irrelevant cards/don't live long enough.
For every game that goes to "Turn 10+" where you're cycling for extra cards, I'll just be holding on to cards that interact.
For the 8% ? I think it is from running 3 to 4 relics, do you really think that 8% is worth being on the side of the scenarios where you waste your mana cycling, and or cycle into nothing, or would you rather be on the side where you at least get to cast something and/or kill something and live an extra turn.
That's what it comes down to for me. Sure I may not get the nut draw and free win 60% of the time but I'll get it 50% of the time while being able to interact more readily in the other 40% of games. Those numbers are just for show and not an exact amount but like I said the difference between 3 and 4 relics Is I think 8% feel free to correct me.
How did Thought-knot seer remove a creature if he has leyline>?
I think the meta is just showing how much worse Reality Smasher is looking in black/white mainboard the more I see tourney results. I don't think the card is very good vs aggro at all especially if you don't get it down on 3.
Card is good in a different meta or different style of eldrazi deck. B/W seems to be the attrition version and the 50% matchup against everything deck and I don't think Reality Smasher helps that.
How I see it is the matchups where Reality Smasher can come down on 3 and cause havoc are the same matchups where a blight herder would have done the same thing because the slower deck are too our advantage and that seems to be where Reality Smasher shines.
To be fair Tomb of the Spirit Dragon is awful verse modern aggro decks because the only time you would ever have enough mana and creatures to gain the life back would be after a blight herder then you also have to untap. Tomb doesn't solve any of the problems.
That being said if you're looking to survive off aggro decks with lands you'll find your self losing a lot. Your best chance is a hedge of vault of archangel and maybe shambling vents and actually having early interaction in your deck. Other wise you're just throwing away percentage points.
I find it funny you say you hate the white splash when that is the one splash that plays best against all the "Weaknesses" you stated. Better removal and earlier pressure with Path and Lingering Souls/Timely Reinforcements + Vault/Shambling Vents as well as great sideboard options to combat Blood Moon, Seas, Affinity and Fulminator.
better off playing Radiant Fountain at that point. Which is also a pretty loose idea
I agree
Black/white is just the best in an open meta.
If a meta becomes more defined I'm sure other colors may shine. But white just gives you too much hedging game 1 with a great sideboard.
big ups on repping Warping Wail I too love the card and see it as at least a 2 of. Do you really still like Wasteland Strangler? Have you thought of going up to 3 or 4 seers and trying out Matter Reshaper? Very good card. I know you get the niche situations of stealing suspended cards but I think getting turn 2 or 3 seers is a lot more valuable while also giving you a 4/4 and not needing the processor requirement to just slam.
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Eye of Ugin
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Caves of Koilos
2 Godless Shrine
1 Fetid Heath
1 Marsh Flats
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Sea gate Wreckage
2 Swamp
2 Plains
Creature: 15
3 Matter Reshaper
3 Thought-knot Seer
4 Blight Herder
3 Oblivion Sower
1 Endbringer
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
2 Liliana of the Veil
Instant: 6
4 Path to Exile
2 Warping Wail
Sorcery: 9
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
3 Lingering Souls
1 Timely Reinforcements
Artifact: 3
3 Relic of Progenitus
2 Duress
2 Flaying Tendrils
1 Liliana of the Veil
2 Memoricide
2 Disenchant
2 Celestial Purge
1 Eldrazi Displacer
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Spellskite
1 All is Dust
Endbringer might be bad I'm just looking for another mid game drop in the fair games that is also a good tutor-able target to finish a game if Ulamog has come and gone.
Could be a Kozilek, Could be a 2nd Ulamog, could be a 4th Sower. Not sure yet.
I did beat boggles but might be looking for another edict effect in the board. Did get pretty lucky with lillys and flaying tendrils.
Takes from week 1 OGW:
Matter Reshaper and Thought-knot seer are very good. The grindyness of Reshaper in the midrange matchups while also being a great blocker in the early game matchups that will also give you an extra card after it trades is great.
Seer helps vs the non interactive matchups to slow them down while also being a clock vs the midrange/slower decks if you use it to protect your hand.
Warping Wail seems to be good enough in the early game vs birds, nobles and blighted agents. Helps keep you a little honest vs Living End and any sorcery type combo decks. Biggest advantage is that no one sees it coming because why would they expect countermagic from a b/w deck. Countering a Past in Flames when storm has exactly 4 mana while starting to go off was a nice touch.
1 of Seagate is great especially when you're playing your own Lillys. I won through a Liliana ultimate against a jund player due to my own lilly and a seagate.
Flayed Tendrils seems about as good as advertised.
Reality Smasher seems about as bad as Endbringer would when you're considering this isn't an aggro deck at all. Sideboard seems like a good idea for Smasher for the slower/combo matchups but it serves no purpose as a 2 of in game 1.
Endbringer on the other hand is just a good card at 4 drop. Pings 1/1s, foggs a creature or draws a card. Reality Smasher just starts a clock that will have little follow up on turn 3 or 4. If this was some type of aggro version Smasher seems fine. Assuming we have eye of ugin and judging these cards off best case scenario.
Is there a reason you're still playing Slaughter pact? Especially since you still have 2 Wasteland and 2 dismember along side your 4 paths?
I agree that main surgical is ambitious ND kind of pointless and it meant for the sideboard but I'm fine with 3 relics as I'm not playing any wasteland strangers cause I think the card is just not good. 4 path, 2 warping wail, 3 thought knot seer and 3 relics feels like enough processing for my 4 herders as well as my 5 discard spells, 2 lilianas to get cards in their yard.
as far as I know Vesuva can not copy eye of ugin. Well it can copy it, but then you have to choose which one you want to keep. As far as copying Eldrazi temple that is more than doable. Problem with playing a 4 of, of a card like Vesuva is that you are often left with clunky hands of no black sources. We already play 7 mandatory colorless lands in eyes and temples, and then another 3 if you count ghost quarter being an auto include. It's hard to go up to 14 lands that don't produce any colors at all. One of Vesuva might be cool but that is as far as I would go with it. Depending on how many colors you play its hard to find room for that many colorless/utility lands and Vesuva seems like a very poor utility land at that.
Surgical require them to already have a worthwhile card in the graveyard plus it doesn't shut off graveyard decks, snap caster etc. Sure it's better if you can surgical tron lands or something but that would require land destruction in which you only have 2 ghost quarters maybe 3. Only other better application is thoughtseizing a namesake card and then surgical extraction it but I'd rather just save that for the sideboard cause I feel pretty favored vs most of those decks ie Scapeshift,ad nauseam, living end etc. and yes of course, at worst, it draws me a card.
And I'd rather have path as an always one mana instant then a sometimes one mana instant. Sure the downside is smaller in a 1/1 changeling then it is a basic land but I'm not really worried about someone over running me on lands. Also path gives me the option of accelerating or color fixing my own mana if need be by pathing a scion of my own etc. Sure the shapeshifter/changeling eldrazi synergy is cool but none of those cards really interest me too much.
90% agree with all of this though I would still play 2 or 3 of them main. Playing warping wail, path and TKS it isn't too hard to turn on Blight Herder but I do agree a more discard and removal base deck is better which is why I have 2 Lilianna, 5 sorcery discards, as well as more in the board while shaving my relic and expedition map numbers.
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Caves of Koilos
3 Eye of Ugin
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Godless Shrine
1 Marsh Flats
1 Fetid Heath
1 Plains
2 Swamp
1 Wastes
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
3 Matter Reshaper
3 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Blight Herder
3 Oblivion Sower
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Planeswalker: 2
2 Liliana of the Veil
Artifact: 6
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Expedition Map
Instant: 6
2 Warping Wail
4 Path To Exile
Sorcery: 7
2 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Lingering Souls
1 Pithing Needle
2 Duress
1 Disfigure
2 Disenchant
2 Lingering Souls
1 Vault of The Archangel
1 Spellskite
1 Liliana of the Veil
2 Memoricide
1 Flaying Tendrils
1 Kozilek, The Great Distortion
What I am playing for Black/white version
Questionable cuts would be one hand disruption spell for a 3rd Lingering Souls. 1 Blight Herder for a Lingering Souls/Relic/25th Land.
Kozilek is a pet card could easily be a 2nd Tendrils
There may need to be another white source in the deck, but I want to be able to cast all my spells through a blood moon so I had to keep a wastes in. Sea Gate Wreckage may prove to be a bust and could become a plains. I only justify running one less white then I would like because I still play with 3 maps.
For every game that goes to "Turn 10+" where you're cycling for extra cards, I'll just be holding on to cards that interact.
For the 8% ? I think it is from running 3 to 4 relics, do you really think that 8% is worth being on the side of the scenarios where you waste your mana cycling, and or cycle into nothing, or would you rather be on the side where you at least get to cast something and/or kill something and live an extra turn.
That's what it comes down to for me. Sure I may not get the nut draw and free win 60% of the time but I'll get it 50% of the time while being able to interact more readily in the other 40% of games. Those numbers are just for show and not an exact amount but like I said the difference between 3 and 4 relics Is I think 8% feel free to correct me.