I've been working with this deck since pre-release. Like most of you I've been tweaking the rattleclaw/caryatid ratio a lot. I am very intrigued by the list that took down Nebraska's state championship. It won amidst a field dominated by Abzan Midrange and Jeskai Tempo which seems to be the two dominant lists after the last two weeks. There are a couple differences between this list and the majority of the list I've seen floating around.
First thing you'll notice is there are no caryatids. This deck is a little more aggressive when it comes to your mana dorks. I personally like this, it means late game your dorks aren't sitting around like walls when you would like to be attacking. You can actually trade or get some damage in potentially. Another aggressive addition is the Rabblemaster. I know this inclusion is a little controversial. I intend to test with it in the next week in order to find out for myself.
The sideboard is also worth noting. The 4 counterspells, while lackluster against aggro, are really good against Abzan and Jeskai Tempo. Both spells hit every planeswalker you have to worry about. Stubborn Denial is almost always on and hits all removal and things like Jeskai Ascendancy, while Disdainful Stroke is there to deal with almost every finisher as well as combo enablers like Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time.
I'm really excited by this list. It showed that it can win vs. the best decks in standard at the moment and seems pretty aggressive on it's own.
If not, it seems like you just copy pasted that deck. Similar to the deck I'm running and I used the Nebraska winning deck I mentioned above to base my deck off of. You can obviously use the deck, but to say you came up with it is shady.
I never said it was my deck. While I didn't mention the guy's name, I never took credit for it either. I merely stated that I was working with a tempo list since the prerelease and that a list that won the nebraska states intrigued me. Try re-reading the 3rd sentence in my post.
I've been working with this deck since pre-release. Like most of you I've been tweaking the rattleclaw/caryatid ratio a lot. I am very intrigued by the list that took down Nebraska's state championship. It won amidst a field dominated by Abzan Midrange and Jeskai Tempo which seems to be the two dominant lists after the last two weeks. There are a couple differences between this list and the majority of the list I've seen floating around.
First thing you'll notice is there are no caryatids. This deck is a little more aggressive when it comes to your mana dorks. I personally like this, it means late game your dorks aren't sitting around like walls when you would like to be attacking. You can actually trade or get some damage in potentially. Another aggressive addition is the Rabblemaster. I know this inclusion is a little controversial. I intend to test with it in the next week in order to find out for myself.
The sideboard is also worth noting. The 4 counterspells, while lackluster against aggro, are really good against Abzan and Jeskai Tempo. Both spells hit every planeswalker you have to worry about. Stubborn Denial is almost always on and hits all removal and things like Jeskai Ascendancy, while Disdainful Stroke is there to deal with almost every finisher as well as combo enablers like Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time.
I'm really excited by this list. It showed that it can win vs. the best decks in standard at the moment and seems pretty aggressive on it's own.
After more testing vs. rabble red, this deck folds pretty hard. Not a huge surprise. It's also not a huge surprise that it's not competitively viable. I will abandon testing for now in favor for more viable standard decks, but I have concluded that this deck is a very fun casual deck to play, especially if you like these cards. It's also relatively cheap and, with good card selection in future sets (hopefully cheap cantrips that offer protection), it might just get a boost that it needs to be viable.
This will be an ongoing process, but right off the bat there are a few cards that worry me and I'd like to address them in a tentative sideboard.
Biggest threats (aka cards that suck):
Circle of Flame - I know I'm running this in my Temur Midrange deck, and I imagine a lot of other people will too. It's mostly a problem for Sage as I'll want to attack and remove his counters after damage. That 1 damage will kill him if I do that. Mainboard protection effects are probably my best bet just looking at it on paper, but if multiple color threats are coming my way (mardu), giving sage pro red may leave him open to Hero's Downfall.
Agent of Fates - Mono black runs it. Very often I will only have one creature so any sacrifice effect is a problem. When I see the card, occasionally I can play around it by waiting for a second creature, but even then it's a big threat that I'd like to have an answer for.
Crackling Doom - Another sac effect I don't want to see.
Board Wipes - The list of wipes we have to worry about are pretty weak vs. this deck (bye-bye supreme verdict). I'm not sure it's something I need to prepare for, but in the interest of being thorough, I will consider them. I can play around Drown in Sorrow since I only need to boost my creature to 3 toughness. Anger of the Gods deals damage, and protection will give me shelter. End Hostilities seems like it might just come down too late to make a difference. Elspeth isn't a concern either, for sage anyways, as I'll be able to remove counters in response.
Phyrexian Revoker - Actually not the biggest threat. It will certainly be naming sage, but it's not a game loss even without mainboard removal. I can still trigger heroic, and attack with protection if I have the spell to do it.
I'll add more threats as they become apparent or are suggested to me.
Potential Answers:
Sideboard stuff should be 1 or 2 cmc at the most. I'd like sideboard cards to target my creatures whenever possible. Any synergy with Treasure Cruise or Commune with the Gods is welcome too. Ultimately the sideboard needs to answer threats efficiently while not interrupting my game plan whenever possible.
Swan Song - Cheap counter that stops most removal. The 2/2 flyer might be an issue however.
Retraction Helix - Not sure why I need this yet as I tend to ignore what my opponent is up to for the most part, but I'm aware that I have the effect should a need arise.
Triton Tactics - This could be pretty good vs. burn/aggro decks.
Crypsis - Another card I'm not sure if I'll need but just keeping it in mind.
Setessan Tactics - Awesome removal. Is it good enough in this build? I like the idea of having it vs. rabble though.
Turn to Frog - interesting removal option. Also can point it at my sage for a heroic trigger and he won't lose his counters.
Glimpse the Sun God, Icy Blast - I think glimpse is slightly better in this deck but both are worth considering as they can slow your opponents aggression and target your own creatures. A neat trick is declaring attackers, then before you go to blocker step, tap down his creatures and your own if you have the mana. Your own creatures are already tapped and attacking so it's like a free heroic trigger and allows their damage to get through.
Thanks for the constructive feedback! I'm definately considering Battlefield Thaumaturge. He makes Dragonscale Boon a lot more reasonable to cast. I'm also not liking Ranger's Guile. Hexproof is a little less useful than I thought, whereas protection offers us a nice blocker, allows us to be unblockable in many situations, and gives us protection from removal.
I haven't tested vs. rabble red, but I did give it a go vs. the new mono black aggro and surprisingly it wasn't an auto fold. A lot of times when I won my life was very low, but getting sage going on consecutive turns is all you need to steal the game back from the brink of loss. I found Favored Hoplite to be ok, but not outstanding. I'm not removing it from the maybeboard, but going forward I will test without it a bit.
This deck is extremely creature light, but for good reason. I need to have higher probability top-decking heroic triggers (since preordain and ponder are out of the question XD). This means I mulligan aggressively, sometimes down to 4 cards. This isn't unique to this deck though, as Modern Infect and Hexproof will often do the same thing. Commune with the gods is supposed to help us get the sage or scales we need, and has the nice benifit of powering Treasure Cruise.
Vs. mono black aggro - This was a decent matchup. I got a 50% win percentage. Most games that I won, I was below 5 life, but when you take 4 turns in a row, you don't really need a lot of life. Treasure Cruise is the card I've been wanting in this deck since the beginning, I just didn't realize it right away. I bumped it up to 4 and my consistency has gone through the roof. I was able to cast it for U about 7/8 times I saw it. Commune with the Gods has become even more of a key player now as it not only does it find a sage/hero or scales, but it also powers our cruise.
Vs. abzan midrange - I had shockingly good results vs. this. Partially because my deck is so wierd that my opponent didn't play optimally I think. I will definitely need to test a lot more to be certain, but I was able to take a lot of games off of my opponent. Since I haven't made sideboard yet, I was basically playing a bunch of game ones. The biggest thing I learned though was you don't necessarily need Hardened Scales to be doing things, you just need it to start your turns combo.
Playtesting will continue! Tonight I'm going to take on Rabble Red, and some GRx monster builds.
This is a deck I've been trying to make off and on since the heroic mechanic was revealed. It was originally an attempt to break Sage of Hours. I've gone through several different versions, several colors and several different potential game plans including those with and without the sage. What I currently have is certainly a little janky, but when it goes off, it is pretty fun and can win out of nowhere. Who doesn't want to win a game with 4 time walks in a row?
This is a deck with lots of spells that target creatures. The whole point is to get 1+ hardened scales into play and from there target the crap out of your dudes. The win con here is either Sage of Hours, Favored Hoplite or Fabled Hero. All are capable of winning the games when Hardened Scales is on the battlefield. With sage (by far most fun way to win) you will be netting many consecutive turns all the while swinging as a 6/6 or higher while the hoplite and hero just gets big, and can avoid taking damage with a single heroic trigger or swing with a big double strike respectively.
The main type of spells we're going to prefer here are those that protect your creatures against removal. The second type of spell that we will want to play will add +1/+1 counters to our creatures. The only card that gives us both is Feat of Resistance and it's one of our all-stars. Another bonus we're happy to see is scry as it lets us filter past cards we really don't need at any given point (this is why there are 8 scrylands).
Here's some of the plays you'll be looking to pull off:
Hardened Scales + Solidarity of Heroes = It basically reads add 5 +1/+1 counters to any creature. You'll get 2 counters with the heroic trigger and three when it resolves giving you 5 from a 2 mana card! It also means if you targeted your sage, you got a time walk. This card is even more insane if your creature already has counters as it can be all you need to win. And it gets still crazier when you have the mana to target 2 or more of your creatures.
Hardened Scales + Dragonscale Boon = 1 Scales gives you 5 +1/+1 counters. It's a time walk for sage and 10 damage for your Hero. And while it's much less likely to happen, it's worth noting 3 Scales in play will net you 2 time walks for your Sage or 20 damage for your Hero. Solidarity is much better, but this is the second best time walk we have and we have to take it. (this might be a card we look to replace when future sets are released)
I'd love some feedback on this. Yes, I'm a spike, and I know it's not a tier one strat, but my inner Johnny won't let me ignore Sage of Hours. This won't be my Standard deck of choice for tournaments, but I think it's going to be my favorite kitchen table deck and who knows, maybe one of you out there can read this and help this thing become a broken deck that can be hated by all.
Just discoverd this show. I like it a lot (especially that Freddie Hubbard intro). Can't wait to hear you discuss the impact of Khan's in modern. Keep up the good work!
I don't like him. The old Sorin from Innistrad is much more powerful, imo...
Don't think that the old one being better makes this something you should hate.
I'd like to play with it before I judge, and obviously whether or not it fits in a viable deck will have something to do with it, but it seems pretty powerful. The power of SLOI is he could make an emblem immediately. While this one doesn't do that, it does make strictly better tokens.
All in all I like it and want to see it in action.
There is no way fetchlands will be $10 if modern temples are $10. If they stay at $20-$25 I'm done with this game. I just invested in lands to finally be able to play competitive magic after rotation and then they likely have destroyed standard for the sake of modern. I'm not buying $25 lands that will rotate out.
This is completely irrational. Who cares if they rotate out? They will still be played in... um... every constructed format!!!
Ok so I had an epiphany at work. Dropped the restoration angel since it won't save Iona. That alone I think would have made it worth it vs. decks with 2 color removal (ie black white). Too bad Iona is an angel.
I chose to replace RA with Brimaz. He passes the bolt test, makes stuff for Elesh to pump and just seems all around efficient and tough to deal with.
Also I'm trying to shift away from blue except for mana leak and gifts. Nothing drastic but I ended up ditching both thirst for knowledge and adding Elspeth.
Venomous72 was right. Lingering souls are the star of this deck. Super efficient, evasive, good with Lilly, Elspeth, gifts, and finally Elesh. There is hardly a drawback for mainboarding 4. I rarely wanted to side them out.
I did 4 rounds. I went 2-0 vs. BW Tokens. The next matchup was UWR Geist. That matchup was hard though game 1 felt winnable despite the loss. Game two was unfortunate as I only got 3 lands :/
The third matchup was like a tempo goyf twin deck. That matchup actually felt good despite the losses. My epic bad luck continued as i didn't draw a gifts or board wipe. I was very prepared for the combo though, and didn't fall to that.
The final round was vs. Affinity. Game 1 was really close but a loss. Game two, never drew my sideboard stuff and got mana screwed yet again. Really considering that 26th land. Talked myself out of it some how between this post and the last.
All and all this deck looked pretty good. I look forward to more testing in 2 weeks at the next modern event.
I've upped the lands to 26. I feel like missing land drops happened slightly too frequently with 25 lands.
Also dropped a snappy because I felt like I drew them too much early on with nothing in the graveyard. They are great in gifts packages, but I'm not playing green so if I gifts I'm probably trying to double entomb for a win. There are still two however should I need to include one to get something I need with gifts like board wipe or removal.
just be warned it's a you lose the game effect for this deck.
I agree. It's the single biggest hate card you can see for the deck. Even worse than rest in peace because blood moon turns off your man lands which is your alternate win con.
I really like the Chromatic lantern idea. I want to try it. At worse it's an overpriced mana rock. Slow but still welcome in a deck like this. At best it hoses our worst hate card. It can also be cast post blood moon since it's an artifact.
And if you need any more convincing to try it out, remember that affinity is more than capable of a turn 2 blood moon.
My list got crushed by ad nauseam too. I'm going to retool in preparation for next friday. I'll post my new list for pointers soon. I'm thinking Venomous is right about lingering souls. I also think Sun Titan was a little too cute in my list. I'll be looking for other options.
I never said it was my deck. While I didn't mention the guy's name, I never took credit for it either. I merely stated that I was working with a tempo list since the prerelease and that a list that won the nebraska states intrigued me. Try re-reading the 3rd sentence in my post.
4 Forest
4 Yavimaya Coast
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Mana Confluence
4 Frontier Bivouac
2 Temple of Abandon
2 Mountain
Creature
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Savage Knuckleblade
3 Polukranos, World Eater
3 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Temur Charm
2 Crater's Claws
Planeswalker
3 Xenagos, the Reveler
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Back to Nature
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Keranos, God of Storms
3 Magma Spray
2 Sagu Mauler
2 Stubborn Denial
First thing you'll notice is there are no caryatids. This deck is a little more aggressive when it comes to your mana dorks. I personally like this, it means late game your dorks aren't sitting around like walls when you would like to be attacking. You can actually trade or get some damage in potentially. Another aggressive addition is the Rabblemaster. I know this inclusion is a little controversial. I intend to test with it in the next week in order to find out for myself.
The sideboard is also worth noting. The 4 counterspells, while lackluster against aggro, are really good against Abzan and Jeskai Tempo. Both spells hit every planeswalker you have to worry about. Stubborn Denial is almost always on and hits all removal and things like Jeskai Ascendancy, while Disdainful Stroke is there to deal with almost every finisher as well as combo enablers like Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time.
I'm really excited by this list. It showed that it can win vs. the best decks in standard at the moment and seems pretty aggressive on it's own.
This will be an ongoing process, but right off the bat there are a few cards that worry me and I'd like to address them in a tentative sideboard.
Biggest threats (aka cards that suck):
Circle of Flame - I know I'm running this in my Temur Midrange deck, and I imagine a lot of other people will too. It's mostly a problem for Sage as I'll want to attack and remove his counters after damage. That 1 damage will kill him if I do that. Mainboard protection effects are probably my best bet just looking at it on paper, but if multiple color threats are coming my way (mardu), giving sage pro red may leave him open to Hero's Downfall.
Agent of Fates - Mono black runs it. Very often I will only have one creature so any sacrifice effect is a problem. When I see the card, occasionally I can play around it by waiting for a second creature, but even then it's a big threat that I'd like to have an answer for.
Crackling Doom - Another sac effect I don't want to see.
Board Wipes - The list of wipes we have to worry about are pretty weak vs. this deck (bye-bye supreme verdict). I'm not sure it's something I need to prepare for, but in the interest of being thorough, I will consider them. I can play around Drown in Sorrow since I only need to boost my creature to 3 toughness. Anger of the Gods deals damage, and protection will give me shelter. End Hostilities seems like it might just come down too late to make a difference. Elspeth isn't a concern either, for sage anyways, as I'll be able to remove counters in response.
Erase, Back to Nature, Deicide, Naturalize, etc. - Cheap removal for Hardened Scales that most players will likely side.
Phyrexian Revoker - Actually not the biggest threat. It will certainly be naming sage, but it's not a game loss even without mainboard removal. I can still trigger heroic, and attack with protection if I have the spell to do it.
I'll add more threats as they become apparent or are suggested to me.
Potential Answers:
Sideboard stuff should be 1 or 2 cmc at the most. I'd like sideboard cards to target my creatures whenever possible. Any synergy with Treasure Cruise or Commune with the Gods is welcome too. Ultimately the sideboard needs to answer threats efficiently while not interrupting my game plan whenever possible.
Swan Song - Cheap counter that stops most removal. The 2/2 flyer might be an issue however.
Retraction Helix - Not sure why I need this yet as I tend to ignore what my opponent is up to for the most part, but I'm aware that I have the effect should a need arise.
Triton Tactics - This could be pretty good vs. burn/aggro decks.
Crypsis - Another card I'm not sure if I'll need but just keeping it in mind.
Ephemeral Shields, Ajani's Presence Mortal's Resolve - Anti-board wipe?
Hold at Bay - I like it. It can replace protection effects in aggro heavy match, as well as protect me when I'm desperate.
Raise the Alarm - Potential answer to sacrifice effects.
Setessan Tactics - Awesome removal. Is it good enough in this build? I like the idea of having it vs. rabble though.
Turn to Frog - interesting removal option. Also can point it at my sage for a heroic trigger and he won't lose his counters.
Glimpse the Sun God, Icy Blast - I think glimpse is slightly better in this deck but both are worth considering as they can slow your opponents aggression and target your own creatures. A neat trick is declaring attackers, then before you go to blocker step, tap down his creatures and your own if you have the mana. Your own creatures are already tapped and attacking so it's like a free heroic trigger and allows their damage to get through.
I haven't tested vs. rabble red, but I did give it a go vs. the new mono black aggro and surprisingly it wasn't an auto fold. A lot of times when I won my life was very low, but getting sage going on consecutive turns is all you need to steal the game back from the brink of loss. I found Favored Hoplite to be ok, but not outstanding. I'm not removing it from the maybeboard, but going forward I will test without it a bit.
This deck is extremely creature light, but for good reason. I need to have higher probability top-decking heroic triggers (since preordain and ponder are out of the question XD). This means I mulligan aggressively, sometimes down to 4 cards. This isn't unique to this deck though, as Modern Infect and Hexproof will often do the same thing. Commune with the gods is supposed to help us get the sage or scales we need, and has the nice benifit of powering Treasure Cruise.
EDIT 10/1/2014:
My new list looks like this:
4x Sage of Hours
4x Hardened Scales
4x Defiant Strike
4x Gods Willing
4x Feat of Resistance
4x Solidarity of Heroes
3x Dragonscale Boon
4x Treasure Cruise
4x Temple of Plenty
4x Temple of Mystery
4x Temple of Enlightenment
4x Flooded Strand
1x Island
3x Plains
3x Forest
Playtesting:
Vs. mono black aggro - This was a decent matchup. I got a 50% win percentage. Most games that I won, I was below 5 life, but when you take 4 turns in a row, you don't really need a lot of life. Treasure Cruise is the card I've been wanting in this deck since the beginning, I just didn't realize it right away. I bumped it up to 4 and my consistency has gone through the roof. I was able to cast it for U about 7/8 times I saw it. Commune with the Gods has become even more of a key player now as it not only does it find a sage/hero or scales, but it also powers our cruise.
Vs. abzan midrange - I had shockingly good results vs. this. Partially because my deck is so wierd that my opponent didn't play optimally I think. I will definitely need to test a lot more to be certain, but I was able to take a lot of games off of my opponent. Since I haven't made sideboard yet, I was basically playing a bunch of game ones. The biggest thing I learned though was you don't necessarily need Hardened Scales to be doing things, you just need it to start your turns combo.
Playtesting will continue! Tonight I'm going to take on Rabble Red, and some GRx monster builds.
This is a deck with lots of spells that target creatures. The whole point is to get 1+ hardened scales into play and from there target the crap out of your dudes. The win con here is either Sage of Hours, Favored Hoplite or Fabled Hero. All are capable of winning the games when Hardened Scales is on the battlefield. With sage (by far most fun way to win) you will be netting many consecutive turns all the while swinging as a 6/6 or higher while the hoplite and hero just gets big, and can avoid taking damage with a single heroic trigger or swing with a big double strike respectively.
The main type of spells we're going to prefer here are those that protect your creatures against removal. The second type of spell that we will want to play will add +1/+1 counters to our creatures. The only card that gives us both is Feat of Resistance and it's one of our all-stars. Another bonus we're happy to see is scry as it lets us filter past cards we really don't need at any given point (this is why there are 8 scrylands).
So here is my current list:
EDITED 10/1/2014
4x Sage of Hours
4x Hardened Scales
4x Defiant Strike
4x Gods Willing
4x Feat of Resistance
4x Solidarity of Heroes
3x Dragonscale Boon
4x Treasure Cruise
4x Temple of Plenty
4x Temple of Mystery
4x Temple of Enlightenment
4x Flooded Strand
1x Island
3x Plains
3x Forest
4 Favored Hoplite
4 Sage of Hours
2 Fabled Hero
Enchantments
4 Hardened Scales
Instants
4 Gods Willing
4 Ranger's Guile
4 Feat of Resistance
4 Solidarity of Heroes
4 Dragonscale Boon
4 Commune With the Gods
Lands
4 Temple of Mystery
4 Temple of Plenty
3 Plains
1 Island
3 Forest
3 Windswept Heath
4 Flooded Strand
Here's some of the plays you'll be looking to pull off:
Hardened Scales + Solidarity of Heroes = It basically reads add 5 +1/+1 counters to any creature. You'll get 2 counters with the heroic trigger and three when it resolves giving you 5 from a 2 mana card! It also means if you targeted your sage, you got a time walk. This card is even more insane if your creature already has counters as it can be all you need to win. And it gets still crazier when you have the mana to target 2 or more of your creatures.
Hardened Scales + Dragonscale Boon = 1 Scales gives you 5 +1/+1 counters. It's a time walk for sage and 10 damage for your Hero. And while it's much less likely to happen, it's worth noting 3 Scales in play will net you 2 time walks for your Sage or 20 damage for your Hero. Solidarity is much better, but this is the second best time walk we have and we have to take it. (this might be a card we look to replace when future sets are released)
I'd love some feedback on this. Yes, I'm a spike, and I know it's not a tier one strat, but my inner Johnny won't let me ignore Sage of Hours. This won't be my Standard deck of choice for tournaments, but I think it's going to be my favorite kitchen table deck and who knows, maybe one of you out there can read this and help this thing become a broken deck that can be hated by all.
Don't think that the old one being better makes this something you should hate.
I'd like to play with it before I judge, and obviously whether or not it fits in a viable deck will have something to do with it, but it seems pretty powerful. The power of SLOI is he could make an emblem immediately. While this one doesn't do that, it does make strictly better tokens.
All in all I like it and want to see it in action.
This is completely irrational. Who cares if they rotate out? They will still be played in... um... every constructed format!!!
I chose to replace RA with Brimaz. He passes the bolt test, makes stuff for Elesh to pump and just seems all around efficient and tough to deal with.
Also I'm trying to shift away from blue except for mana leak and gifts. Nothing drastic but I ended up ditching both thirst for knowledge and adding Elspeth.
Here's what I ended up using:
4x Marsh Flats
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Celestial Colonnade
3x Godless Shrine
2x Watery Grave
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Island
2x Plains
2x Swamp
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Tectonic Edge
Creatures
2x Spellskite
2x Snapcaster Mage
3x Kitchen Finks
1x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
1x Slaughter Pact
3x Path to Exile
1x Go for the Throat
4x Mana Leak
4x Gifts Ungiven
Sorceries
4x Lingering Souls
1x Wrath of God
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Day of Judgment
1x Unburial Rites
Planeswalkers
3x Liliana of the Veil
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
3x Leyline of Sanctity
3x Stony Silence
2x Celestial Purge
2x Disenchant
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Chromatic Lantern
1x Timely Reinforcements
Venomous72 was right. Lingering souls are the star of this deck. Super efficient, evasive, good with Lilly, Elspeth, gifts, and finally Elesh. There is hardly a drawback for mainboarding 4. I rarely wanted to side them out.
I did 4 rounds. I went 2-0 vs. BW Tokens. The next matchup was UWR Geist. That matchup was hard though game 1 felt winnable despite the loss. Game two was unfortunate as I only got 3 lands :/
The third matchup was like a tempo goyf twin deck. That matchup actually felt good despite the losses. My epic bad luck continued as i didn't draw a gifts or board wipe. I was very prepared for the combo though, and didn't fall to that.
The final round was vs. Affinity. Game 1 was really close but a loss. Game two, never drew my sideboard stuff and got mana screwed yet again. Really considering that 26th land. Talked myself out of it some how between this post and the last.
All and all this deck looked pretty good. I look forward to more testing in 2 weeks at the next modern event.
4x Marsh Flats
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Celestial Colonnade
3x Godless Shrine
2x Watery Grave
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x City of Brass
1x Island
2x Plains
2x Swamp
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Tectonic Edge
Creatures
2x Spellskite
2x Snapcaster Mage
3x Kitchen Finks
1x Restoration Angel
1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1x Iona, Shield of Emeria
1x Slaughter Pact
3x Path to Exile
1x Doom Blade
3x Mana Leak
2x Thirst For Knowledge
4x Gifts Ungiven
Sorceries
3x Lingering Souls
1x Wrath of God
1x Supreme Verdict
1x Day of Judgment
1x Unburial Rites
Planeswalkers
3x Liliana of the Veil
1x Sphinx of the Steel Wind
3x Leyline of Sanctity
3x Stony Silence
2x Celestial Purge
2x Disenchant
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Nihil Spellbomb
1x Chromatic Lantern
1x Timely Reinforcements
I've upped the lands to 26. I feel like missing land drops happened slightly too frequently with 25 lands.
Also dropped a snappy because I felt like I drew them too much early on with nothing in the graveyard. They are great in gifts packages, but I'm not playing green so if I gifts I'm probably trying to double entomb for a win. There are still two however should I need to include one to get something I need with gifts like board wipe or removal.
I agree. It's the single biggest hate card you can see for the deck. Even worse than rest in peace because blood moon turns off your man lands which is your alternate win con.
I really like the Chromatic lantern idea. I want to try it. At worse it's an overpriced mana rock. Slow but still welcome in a deck like this. At best it hoses our worst hate card. It can also be cast post blood moon since it's an artifact.
And if you need any more convincing to try it out, remember that affinity is more than capable of a turn 2 blood moon.