MTG Salvation

Alright, got to play out my first event last night.

Here's my list:

R1: Mardu Control 2-0
This was a strange match. My opponent was on Mardu, basically just removal/discard and a handful of big creatures. I'm able to put down more creatures than he can kill while also taking care of the one or two creatures he played in both games.

R2: Grixis Control 2-0
Game 1 is a slog. I resolve a creature, it hits him once or twice, it gets killed. Rinse repeat for a long time as my opponent manages to resolve Ancestral Vision twice. I manage to gain some ground with Lingering Souls, and get lucky closing out the game with three back-to-back Rhinos. Game 2 was much quicker. He's apparently sitting on a bit of a dud hand, and I end up with a board of Goyfs, Rhino, and a brutal Choke.

R3: Affinity 0-2
Game 1 I'm stuck on two land and he gets me fairly quickly with a couple creatures and Steel Overseer. Game 2 I mull to a reasonable 6, only to draw multiple Rhinos and Lingering Souls before I find a white source. A disappointing match to say the least.

R4: Grishoalbrand 2-0
Game 1 I have a T1 discard spell, see a do-nothing hand, so I just commit to board and try to kill him before he can draw the gas he needs. Game 2 I land Gaddock Teeg on T2, which buys me a ton of time to put down pressure and kill him.

I really enjoyed playing the deck. I'm going to give it another spin next Tuesday, hopefully get to see some different matchups.

The only times I drew Anguished Unmaking were when my opponent didn't have a board and/or I was already ahead. I still like it in theory and will keep it in. Land count seemed fine, usually hit a solid 4-5 drops over the course of the game. Got flooded once, got screwed once. Could probably use a third Liliana, but I'm waiting until EMA spoilers hit before I commit. I feel like she can't actually get any more expnensive, lol. Lingering Souls is beyond stellar, Abrupt Decay feels good but I could see a 2/1 split instead of the full 4.

Hey everyone, new junk player here. I've been floating around in limbo since the Twin banning, but I think I'm starting to settle down on a couple decks. Locally I'm going to be playing Junk and Tron, but I think Junk is gonna be my go-to for competitive events until the fall. This is true for both Legacy and Modern. I'm still learning the deck and all that jazz, and I'm still collecting the last few pricey cards I'll need in the future, but this is my first draft list for Tuesday night Modern. If anyone has any feedback, suggestions or advice please let me know.

Mmm, ban doesn't surprise me. It's obviously not good for us, but it could be worse. I've been planning around this, so I have a handful of ideas of where to take my builds post-Eye.

I'm probably going to try two things: upping my Ulamog count to 2 or 3, and I want to slot some Thought-Knot Seers into the deck. I think the one thing we can't do anymore is play Emrakul, which makes me very sad.

Probably. I'm working on D&T for Legacy right now, and if I'm not misremembering then the deck should be 100% the same between the two formats.

Also, I want to build blue decks without spending a few grand on my manabase. Not sure how the meta would shake out with shocks though, blue might still be a bit behind. UW would probably be pretty solid though, I could do that.

Oh man. I like eldrazi because they're inspired by eldritch/cosmic horror, so how CAN'T I LOVE a set with the word right in its name?!

Based on the name and logo alone this is going to be the greatest set of all time, calling it now.

Hey everyone, new RUG player here. I've been playing Grixis Delver for quite some time now and I've really enjoyed it. However, I recently acquired Goyfs and Hooting Mandrills is one of my favorite cards so these seemed like it was worth trying. I have drawn inspiration from the decks that topped ATL's Modern Classic. My list is as follows:



So I need to address a couple things. First, flipping Delver. I feel like I need to remove the Snaps entirely and just add more instant/sorceries. What are good options though? Possibly more countermagic, but I prefer proactive spells like the Bolts. Second, Disrupting Shoal. I hate Disrupting Shoal. Maybe I need to test it more but it never feels good to cast unless it's countering a game-winning combo piece. However, since this isn't Legacy, that doesn't happen very much before T3/4.

I know the new format has barely even begun to take shape, but two Temur Delver lists in top 16 has got me excited. I decided to get Goyfs yesterday for exactly this kind of deck.

Quote from Evaunits01 »

I like having 2 relics in my sideboard because its gotten me out of life loam locks and grixis stuff (snapcasters im looking at you)

Thrag I dont quite like, earliest you can cast it is turn 3 (with an egg), problem is you have to draw it. Another problem is you can search for it with an eye. If it lands its amazing I give you that plus it buys you like 2-3 turns, but I find it too slow. Feed the clan I just look at it as 2 mana gain gain 5 life at instant speed and I can cast it way earlier. But to each their own. I think my side board is looking like

3 Nature's Claim
2 Relics of Pro
2 Crucible of the World (There is way too much land hate going on right now)
1-2 Crumble to dust (more tron means I need to run this more)
3 Feed the Clans (against aggro/burn) [Might replace it with purse of Murasa, but I dont think the hyper aggro decks run land destruction)
1 Spellskite (against aggro, boggles)
2 Rending Volley (kiki chord is still a think)
1 Thragtusk

I know theres this whole debate about Life from the Loam and Crucible, but color mana is at a premium, and dredge has gotten me into trouble before. What do you think?

Concerning Loam v Crucible, I board my anti-land hate in against BGx the most, and Loam always seems better against them than Crucible. Not only does it help against fulminator mage, but it negates Liliana's +1 and can't be K-Commanded or Decayed. Then again, if BGx loses some of their metagame share then Crucible might be better. Finding it with Stirrings and general ease-of-use are both big pluses. So...I guess I'd say that either Crucible or Loam are fine, just as long as you have something to fight against land hate.

Quote from Evaunits01 »

I like your thinking, but sideboard wise what's your reasoning for 3 relics? Also do you feel thrag is too slow? I rather run feed the clan or that new 3 mana return land and creature gain 6 life card.

I do like ur main board, but I'm more 2 spells kite 2 ugin kinda guy

I like having Relics for decks like Living End, Storm, Grishoalbrand, and some other strange fringe stuff. I like having access to graveyard hate in the board just in case.

Thrag is slow against hyper aggressive decks, but I bring it in against a lot of other things too. Jund/Junk is a good example. Also anything Grixis. I'm never unhappy to draw the Thragtusk at any point if I've boarded it in.

I've always hated Feed the Clan style effects, but sometimes they're a necessary evil. Just didn't want to dedicate sideboard slots to it. I'll take Burn as a loss.

2 Skite/2 Ugin is probably fine, I spent a minute thinking it over while I was tweaking the deck. The reason I didn't do it is because Skite is marginally more useful against aggro (Ugin is useless against Affinity, near-useless against Burn). I'm kinda hedging against lots of Affinity/Infect/Burn etc.

I've been playing Tron for almost 3 years now. I remember the days when we were nothing more than a gimmicky Tier 2 oddity. Strange to think how we've ascended to Twin's throne after all this time. Tron is now the boogeyman that almost every other deck discusses, plans for, and fears. I feel like I'm in the twilight zone.

Alas, ban hysteria is something we now need to take seriously. I love Tron and I'll never part with it 100%, but I'll seriously consider liquidating my Groves if Tron does too well. They'll get me a couple Goyfs at least. Ugh, I hate this feeling. Tron was what got me into Modern.



Anyway, now that Twin is gone I've tweaked my deck a bit. Sideboard cuts, moved Emrakul out of the MB. Went back up to 4 Pyroclasm to combat Affinity, Infect, Burn. Not sure if triple Skite in the main is correct since Twin was one of the reasons for its inclusion, but if Bogles becomes a major player I'll probably keep the triple Skite package.



It's much too early to be making major changes to the deck but I like this configuration as a start point for the new meta. On my short list for future consideration is Thought-Knot Seer since I feel like it helps out combo matchups a bit. Also probably isn't 100% dead against anything short of your opponent having no hand.

Groves simply are better than Karplusan Forests, period. How often will it make a difference? That's reliant on how much aggro you play against. I think using Karplusans at locals is more than reasonable. Losing a game or two every month isn't that big a deal. I would never suggest going to a larger 9+ round event with them though. Even if they only cost you a single game out of a potential 27, that could be the game that knocks you out of Day 2 contention, out of money, or out of Top 8. So yeah Karplusan could only lose you like 5% of your games and make no difference 95% of the time, but you're gonna hit that 5% eventually, and it might be a game that really matters. Magic is as much a game of probabilities as it is strategy and tactics, and any disadvantage, however small, is still a disadvantage.

I'd be willing to bet that whoever entered that decklist just typo'd Sower over Stone.

Makes me wonder if we shouldn't consider builds that rely more heavily on newlamog. I thought the guy was insane before, now that he can have a wrath stapled to him...I just don't know. Seems out of control. I wonder if we'll get any other eldrazi that play well with kozilek's return.

First tournament report in a while, need to vent. Played at Modern States today with the following list:



R1: UR Twin 2-0
The games he was on the play he didn't have the combo on 4. Tron can win if you play well after that point.

R2: UR Twin 2-0
Didn't have combo on 4 on the play.

R3: Burn 0-2
I got lightning bolts shot at me. Triple Claim did nothing to assist.

R4: Melira Company 2-0
Found Relic in both games.

R5: Burn 1-2
Got lucky one game, had tron->coil on the play and he was on creatures that game. Got blasted into oblivion by lightning bolts the other two.

R6: Grixis Twin 2-0
He didn't have combo on 4 on the play.

R7: UR Storm
I found Relic.

R8: Grixis Twin 1-2
He was on the play G1 and G3 and had it on 4 each time. I didn't have any interaction G3.


Today...sucked. I played against Twin in half my matches, burn in a quarter. I just feel like that's absurd. Was one of the least interesting/fun events I've ever attended.

HOWEVER, I did learn that Ulamog is actually completely bananas. I cast that guy every game I won and it was incredible each time. I'm strongly considering moving Emrakul to the board and slotting a second Ulamog into the main. He was that good. And if you're wondering, the Crumble to Dusts are in there just to be cute. I actually sided them in a couple times when I just didn't have anything better to bring in. Cast it once against Burn, it was pretty funny.

As far as I'm concerned, going forward I'm going to treat Burn and Infect as auto-losses. They're unwinnable short of both you getting lucky and your opponent getting unlucky. Just gotta hope to dodge it going forward.

Whoa, I didn't even count the maindeck. I noticed he had somehow fit an extra spell in there and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what he cut.