I'd rather have Modern be unique than be closer to Legacy. It's funny seeing that blue isn't so prevalent in this format.
Legacy is my favorite format and I'd rather not Modern be Legacy Lite. Modern has decks that are unique to it in the form of Scapeshift, Twin, and others.
Lim-Dul's Vault[/card]? I have tested it and tend to be happy every time I see it. It's no MT, but being able to stack my draws for a few turns and find the specific spell I need right now has been pretty nice.
I don't like LDV due to the potential lifeloss and how much Reanimate already hurts.
On the topic of Show and Tell, I always love a second angle of attack.
I finally gave in and bought Rishadan Ports the greatest hurdle of me going to this deck. If I do run this deck I wanted to run Smokestack, Crucible of Worlds, and Zuran Orb maindecked. Would a RUG Intuition list fare better or would going straight R/G be the better fit?
For the sheer amount of stuff you can do in a GP it's worth it. If it's a format you play it'll be even better. GP NJ was my first GP ever and had a blast. Legacy is my main format and I live less than 20 minutes away from there.
Going to a GP where you don't play the format can be a little painful. I went to GP Baltimore and it was sealed, I had to suffer 4 rounds just to drop to finally play Legacy.
The sheer amount of stuff you can do in terms of side events make GP's very fun.
This is exactly what I was looking for! I really appreciate the break down that you gave. Any chance you could post your 75? I'm thinking about adding in the Show and Tell package, but haven't yet.
Regardless I usually take out Daze if I'm on the draw.
BUG Delver
-Reanimate is meh in this match up because of Deathrite Shaman. You can do some tricks with Exhume to get around DRS (entomb in response to a DRS activation with exhume on the stack). Reanimate is also hard if you get off to a slow start. A couple of early delver or Goyf hits and you dont have the life to spend. -3 or 4 Reanimate, +2 Show and Tell, +1-2 Pithing Needle
-They are running Liliana of the Veil so we are pretty vulnerable to Edict. Grave Titan and Sigarda gets around that as soon as they come into play. They are three color so Iona is less effective here. -Iona and + Grave Titan/sigarda.
-They rely on DRS, Scavenging Ooze, and Lilly mostly to hate us out. You may see some Relic of Progenitus or Nihil Spellbomb. Those are all vulnerable to Pithing Needle. Since we are banking on the possibiliy of the Show and Tell strategy a little harder, careful Study is also card disadvantage so in a grind match like this, it will hurt you in the long game. -2 Daze -1 Careful Study + 3 Pithing Needle
-Discard effects are good in this match up. You can cut a Daze or a Careful Study if you want.
UR/RUG Delver
-They are an aggressive deck so we dont have the life to spare on casting Reanimate. I put in my Show and Tells here. -3 Reanimate (4 if you don't have Empyrial Archangel. Empyrial Archangel redirects damage so I don't feel so bad reanimating this ever)
-I'd bring it Abrupt Decay to combat Grafdigger's Cage, some extra countermagic like flusterstorm to win a counterwar, and maybe the show and tell package.
Dredge
Don't do them any favors, take out your exhumes and show and tell. Their creatures aren't as big of a threat so show and tells are better. -4 Exhume +2 Show and Tell/Random grave hate
Storm Decks
-Add Duress or any other counter / hand disruption. Take out a Daze if on the draw and a Careful Study if on the play.
-Take out Elesh Norn since they dont have any creatures. Add in grave Titan since it is a faster clock. Sire of Insanity on turn 1-2 breaks them.
Sneak and Show
-Do not add your own S&T package here. Their creatures are on par/better than yours. They also will most likely remove their show and tells too.
-We are the faster combo deck so we need to capitalize on it. Use your black power to discard here and add in more countermagic.
-Tydespout Tyrant is your best friend in this match up as it'll bounce their fatties. Elesh Norn does nothing for us so put in a pithing needle to shut off sneak attack. If you have Blazing Archon, he will shut them down.
Elves
-You may need to Bring in your S&T package depending on the hate they have. Pithing Needle stops their Deathrite Shamans. Daze is not very good in this match up because their deck churns so much mana out. Elesh Norn should never be sided out. If anything you can consider a Grave Titan for a faster clock.
Death & Taxes
-Put in your S&T Package. They will probably be running Rest In Piece. With containment priest these days you might want to pack some extra counterspells.
-Abrupt Decay/Bounce their rest in peace/resolved containment priest. -2 Daze +2 Abrupt Decay/Bounce
-Massacre is solid in this matchup. However Serra Avengers and Brimaz survive the -2/-2 effects and can still swing at you with a sword equipped. If your meta is chock full of D&T I'd run dread of night in multiples, but that is a very extreme option and rather narrow.
-Pithing Needle is another card that shuts them down. You should -2 Careful Study and +2 Pithing Needle.
-They are running Karakas so some legendaries are better than others. Iona Shuts them down, Elesh shuts them down, Tydespout stays in because he can bounce a Karakas, so replace a Gris with a Grave Titan for some beating of the face.
Miracles
-Expect Rest in Peace
-Abrupt Decay deals with Rest in Pieces and Counterbalance. Careful study is card disadvantage and this is a rather grindy matchup so -2 Careful Study and + 2 Abrupt Decay
-Daze is less good on the draw so you may want to cut those and add Pithing Needle to deal with Top, JTMS, or Karakas.
-They run no creatures so -Elesh and +Grave Titan. You may actually end up hard casting Grave Titan in this match up.
-Duress might be ok here, but depends if you run MD thoughtseizes.
-Evasive creatures are good in this matchup. Inkwell Leviathan, Aetherling (some reanimator players love this as this thing can be near impossible to remove with open mana), and Empyrial Archangel.
Burn-
They hurt and hurt fast so Reanimate tends to be cut in favor of the show and tell package. Worst things they can bring are: Ashen Riders which are useless if they aren't in their hand, Ensnaring Bridge which can be dealt with Tidespout/Abrupt Decay/Bounce, and Sulfuric Vortex.
I take out Elesh Norn for this as their creatures don't turn the tides of the match and add in more discard. Just stick that Iona on red in the first turn and you're golden 90% of the time.
In celebration of finishing my undergrad loans/new job I decided to build the deck on paper and took it to the LGS. I tried to make the deck as powerful as I can. I removed Counterspell in favor of Mana Drain. Sneak Attack is pretty damn amazing. Your primer has helped a lot in the construction of this deck MrTyx.
Five players in this match:
Jhoira (me)
Narset some chaos thing with timesifter
Zurgo Helmsmasher, weenie aggro
Maralen some deck with a boat load of lands
Maralen some strange hybrid of ANT with tutors
The game went on so long we had to end the game prematurely since the shop was closing. But Mana Drain ended up helping knock someone out, the Narset player ended up show and telling Omniscience while everyone including me dropped a mana rock/land. He "hardcasts" a blightsteel and I Mana Drain it allowing me on my turn to cast an Ulamog. I knock out the durdly Maralen player since all he did the whole game was drop swamps and a Boseiju. I get killed by Maralen #2 as he did an Ad Nauseam at the end of a player's turn, dropped a boatload of 1-2 drop mana rocks and two ritual type spells so I take a Storm 17 Tendrils knocking me out. Then we eventually we lost track of who's turn was it due to timesifter. Around that time the store owner told us we had to pack up.
For once I failed to be the biggest target on the table, all the players seemed to go after the durdly Maralen.
I guess if you drop a baneslayer angel that you don't really need the pro black which is what I was thining with feast and famine. She can always block a grislebrand for days and can kill it with any of the swords. I was thinking that body and mind is probably the next option under fire and ice since pro blue is nice, and milling out your opponent of win cons/answers could be relevant. Of course making the wolves does add extra aggression and defense depending on what you need them for.
I'm not a fan of the swords as they are a mana sink, I'd rather run a Jitte or Batterskull.
The meta slowed down a bit with the demise of TC but Delver is still the bane of this deck's existence in my opinion. I'd love for the Humility, Moat, Elspeth lock to work but it takes way too many turns to assemble.
I usually bring this deck out when I see the Miracles players coming out to play to crap on them. This deck really makes their life miserable. Though answering a Jace at times can be difficult.
I need some help. I had the original idea to have 3 "main" decks for Legacy as it is my favourite format. One of these "main decks" that I almost completely own is Reanimator. I wanted a deck that just puts out the fiercest creature I can put out. I love it's toolbox-like nature. Although, I am starting to drift away from the deck, considering putting together Sneak & Show or Omni-tell instead. It just seems as of late, Omni-tell and Sneak & Show are just more powerful at the moment. Also I would love Emarkyl to be put onto the field to scare my opponent and I think I would love to put it into play instead of Griselbrand. What do you guys think? Are they more powerful than Reanimator?
P.S. Which Griselbrand you guys reckon looks better? Original or Grand Prix?
Discard is on the uptick along with people wanting to use those containment priests that UWR Delver have been sitting on so the last thing I would do is consider playing SnT, Omnitell however is nice. GP Russel Brand looks more menacing.
For now I'm gonna play with Painter and Jund as those decks were getting neglected during TC's heyday.
Was there a huge uproar like this when Survival was banned?
Do you really count this as a huge uproar? Go check the Modern forums if you want to see a real ruckus. Interestingly enough, there are a lot of parallels between Pod decks and Survival decks, but I digress.
For TC in Legacy, this was entirely expected to anyone who spent more time actually playing Legacy than talking about it. I thought they'd give it another 3 months possibly, but no one should really be surprised by this. It's just unfortunate that we didn't get any relevant unbans to go with it.
Well, I guess I meant the entire B&R announcement including Birthing Pod. I'm sure there was an universal sigh of relief when MM was banned.
The legacy ban for TC was coming, but it was rather fast.
Legacy is my favorite format and I'd rather not Modern be Legacy Lite. Modern has decks that are unique to it in the form of Scapeshift, Twin, and others.
I don't like LDV due to the potential lifeloss and how much Reanimate already hurts.
On the topic of Show and Tell, I always love a second angle of attack.
Going to a GP where you don't play the format can be a little painful. I went to GP Baltimore and it was sealed, I had to suffer 4 rounds just to drop to finally play Legacy.
The sheer amount of stuff you can do in terms of side events make GP's very fun.
Creatures (7)
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Empyrial Archangel
1 Tidespout Tyrant
3 Griselbrand
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
2 Lotus Petal
2 Ponder
3 Thoughtseize
4 Brainstorm
4 Careful Study
4 Entomb
4 Reanimate
1 Animate Dead
2 Daze
4 Exhume
2 Show and Tell
1 Misdirection
4 Force of Will
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Tropical Island
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Flusterstorm
2 Dread of Night
2 Duress
2 Pithing Needle
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Show and Tell
1 Grave Titan
1 Sire of Insanity
Regardless I usually take out Daze if I'm on the draw.
BUG Delver
-Reanimate is meh in this match up because of Deathrite Shaman. You can do some tricks with Exhume to get around DRS (entomb in response to a DRS activation with exhume on the stack). Reanimate is also hard if you get off to a slow start. A couple of early delver or Goyf hits and you dont have the life to spend. -3 or 4 Reanimate, +2 Show and Tell, +1-2 Pithing Needle
-They are running Liliana of the Veil so we are pretty vulnerable to Edict. Grave Titan and Sigarda gets around that as soon as they come into play. They are three color so Iona is less effective here. -Iona and + Grave Titan/sigarda.
-They rely on DRS, Scavenging Ooze, and Lilly mostly to hate us out. You may see some Relic of Progenitus or Nihil Spellbomb. Those are all vulnerable to Pithing Needle. Since we are banking on the possibiliy of the Show and Tell strategy a little harder, careful Study is also card disadvantage so in a grind match like this, it will hurt you in the long game. -2 Daze -1 Careful Study + 3 Pithing Needle
-Discard effects are good in this match up. You can cut a Daze or a Careful Study if you want.
UR/RUG Delver
-They are an aggressive deck so we dont have the life to spare on casting Reanimate. I put in my Show and Tells here. -3 Reanimate (4 if you don't have Empyrial Archangel. Empyrial Archangel redirects damage so I don't feel so bad reanimating this ever)
-I'd bring it Abrupt Decay to combat Grafdigger's Cage, some extra countermagic like flusterstorm to win a counterwar, and maybe the show and tell package.
Dredge
Don't do them any favors, take out your exhumes and show and tell. Their creatures aren't as big of a threat so show and tells are better. -4 Exhume +2 Show and Tell/Random grave hate
Storm Decks
-Add Duress or any other counter / hand disruption. Take out a Daze if on the draw and a Careful Study if on the play.
-Take out Elesh Norn since they dont have any creatures. Add in grave Titan since it is a faster clock. Sire of Insanity on turn 1-2 breaks them.
Sneak and Show
-Do not add your own S&T package here. Their creatures are on par/better than yours. They also will most likely remove their show and tells too.
-We are the faster combo deck so we need to capitalize on it. Use your black power to discard here and add in more countermagic.
-Tydespout Tyrant is your best friend in this match up as it'll bounce their fatties. Elesh Norn does nothing for us so put in a pithing needle to shut off sneak attack. If you have Blazing Archon, he will shut them down.
Elves
-You may need to Bring in your S&T package depending on the hate they have. Pithing Needle stops their Deathrite Shamans. Daze is not very good in this match up because their deck churns so much mana out. Elesh Norn should never be sided out. If anything you can consider a Grave Titan for a faster clock.
Death & Taxes
-Put in your S&T Package. They will probably be running Rest In Piece. With containment priest these days you might want to pack some extra counterspells.
-Abrupt Decay/Bounce their rest in peace/resolved containment priest. -2 Daze +2 Abrupt Decay/Bounce
-Massacre is solid in this matchup. However Serra Avengers and Brimaz survive the -2/-2 effects and can still swing at you with a sword equipped. If your meta is chock full of D&T I'd run dread of night in multiples, but that is a very extreme option and rather narrow.
-Pithing Needle is another card that shuts them down. You should -2 Careful Study and +2 Pithing Needle.
-They are running Karakas so some legendaries are better than others. Iona Shuts them down, Elesh shuts them down, Tydespout stays in because he can bounce a Karakas, so replace a Gris with a Grave Titan for some beating of the face.
Miracles
-Expect Rest in Peace
-Abrupt Decay deals with Rest in Pieces and Counterbalance. Careful study is card disadvantage and this is a rather grindy matchup so -2 Careful Study and + 2 Abrupt Decay
-Daze is less good on the draw so you may want to cut those and add Pithing Needle to deal with Top, JTMS, or Karakas.
-They run no creatures so -Elesh and +Grave Titan. You may actually end up hard casting Grave Titan in this match up.
-Duress might be ok here, but depends if you run MD thoughtseizes.
-Evasive creatures are good in this matchup. Inkwell Leviathan, Aetherling (some reanimator players love this as this thing can be near impossible to remove with open mana), and Empyrial Archangel.
Burn-
They hurt and hurt fast so Reanimate tends to be cut in favor of the show and tell package. Worst things they can bring are: Ashen Riders which are useless if they aren't in their hand, Ensnaring Bridge which can be dealt with Tidespout/Abrupt Decay/Bounce, and Sulfuric Vortex.
I take out Elesh Norn for this as their creatures don't turn the tides of the match and add in more discard. Just stick that Iona on red in the first turn and you're golden 90% of the time.
Creatures (15)
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Spellskite
1 Deceiver Exarch
1 Pestermite
1 Trinket Mage
1 Archaeomancer
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Chancellor of the Spires
1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Blightsteel Colossus
1 Mana Crypt
1 Brainstorm
1 Mana Vault
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Ponder
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Swan Song
1 Vandalblast
1 Counterspell
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Fury Charm
1 Izzet Signet
1 Mana Drain
1 Mind Stone
1 Remand
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Crystal Shard
1 Dack Fayden
1 Hinder
1 Mimic Vat
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Wipe Away
1 Cryptic Command
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Leyline of Anticipation
1 Rite of Replication
1 Sneak Attack
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Acquire
1 Apocalypse
1 Bribery
1 Evacuation
1 Force of Will
1 Future Sight
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Time Warp
1 Treachery
1 Time Spiral
1 Obliterate
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Decree of Annihilation
1 Omniscience
1 Time Stretch
1 Arid Mesa
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Command Tower
1 Crystal Vein
1 Desolate Lighthouse
1 High Market
1 Izzet Guildgate
1 Lonely Sandbar
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Mountain
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Remote Isle
1 Riptide Laboratory
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Shivan Reef
1 Smoldering Crater
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Steam Vents
1 Strip Mine
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Temple of Epiphany
1 Tolaria West
1 Volcanic Island
2 Snow-Covered Mountain
9 Island
1 Jhoira of the Ghitu
Five players in this match:
Jhoira (me)
Narset some chaos thing with timesifter
Zurgo Helmsmasher, weenie aggro
Maralen some deck with a boat load of lands
Maralen some strange hybrid of ANT with tutors
The game went on so long we had to end the game prematurely since the shop was closing. But Mana Drain ended up helping knock someone out, the Narset player ended up show and telling Omniscience while everyone including me dropped a mana rock/land. He "hardcasts" a blightsteel and I Mana Drain it allowing me on my turn to cast an Ulamog. I knock out the durdly Maralen player since all he did the whole game was drop swamps and a Boseiju. I get killed by Maralen #2 as he did an Ad Nauseam at the end of a player's turn, dropped a boatload of 1-2 drop mana rocks and two ritual type spells so I take a Storm 17 Tendrils knocking me out. Then we eventually we lost track of who's turn was it due to timesifter. Around that time the store owner told us we had to pack up.
For once I failed to be the biggest target on the table, all the players seemed to go after the durdly Maralen.
I've seen variants of Mono-U Omnitell that don't use the release the ant's wincon and just bash face with an "hardcast" Emrakrul.
In terms of OP's question:
I'm biased to Reanimator as it's been the strongest performing deck for me. For some reason it doesn't attract as much ire as Sneak and Show.
Though in terms of UWR strategies and wasteland coming back, I would give Omnitell a stab.
I'm not a fan of the swords as they are a mana sink, I'd rather run a Jitte or Batterskull.
Though it be nice to see BaM actually being used.
I usually bring this deck out when I see the Miracles players coming out to play to crap on them. This deck really makes their life miserable. Though answering a Jace at times can be difficult.
Discard is on the uptick along with people wanting to use those containment priests that UWR Delver have been sitting on so the last thing I would do is consider playing SnT, Omnitell however is nice. GP Russel Brand looks more menacing.
For now I'm gonna play with Painter and Jund as those decks were getting neglected during TC's heyday.
Sneak/Show, Omnitell, 12 Post, and Tin-Fins
But if Jace is apparently closer to your playstyle then get him.
Well, I guess I meant the entire B&R announcement including Birthing Pod. I'm sure there was an universal sigh of relief when MM was banned.
The legacy ban for TC was coming, but it was rather fast.