Got another card that's pretty clearly aimed at Modern in Alpine Moon.
Seems like a solid SB choice for red decks that can't afford to run Blood Moon.
Hits Tron lands (they care about the suptype, not the cardname!), hits Valakut, hits Cavern of Souls, hits manlands (think Collonades in the Jeskai Mirror or Inkmoth Nexus) and other relevant utility lands like Azcanta the Sunken Ruin. And all that for only 1 mana!
This is by no means a Tron killer (between O-Stone and Nature's Claim it's more like a speedbump) but the low mana cost, versatility against other decks, the low cost and lastly the fact that the only deck building restriction it asks you for is playing red (unlike Damping Sphere) make me think this has high chances of seeing SB play in Modern. Solid card Wizards, nice!
I have a question about Abrade vs. Ancient Grudge. Isn't Abrade just better because it can be used vs. artifacts but also against creatures?
They are simply different cards. Abrade is more versatile but Grudge is a cheap 2 for 1 and just so, so good against Affinity, Lantern, KCI etc.
I would never leave the house without at least one Ancient Grudge in my SB. That said, in a meta like we have right now you can definitely consider running an Abrade as your 5th Bolt in the mainboard.
Since I'm currently traveling I didn't really play since the unbans and can't really tell you much about the new meta and especially Jund.
Looking at my spreadsheet I was 3-2 against Humans (We have the tools to beat them, sometimes we just don't draw them in time/they disrupt us too much, Huntmaster is very sweet at stabilizing here) and 3-1 against Hollow One (4/5 Goyfs are very good roadblocks and Cryptic is very good against them, sometimes the decks just gets it ridiculous attack you for 10 on turn 2 plays or screws you out of lands, though. Think the overall MU is favorable though).
If you only own the Vials I would highly advise you to proxy the deck up first and get some rounds in to see if you like it. It's a ton of fun to play but has a high ceiling and you will probably need some rounds to get used to it (it's situated kinda weirdly between tempo and midrange and deciding when to play which role isn't always easy).
If you plan on buying some Modern staples anyway though (you can use Tarns, Goyfs, Commands etc. for lots of other Modern decks) then go ahead and join the fun!
Something I haven't really seen discussed here is how good against Huntmaster is against disruptive creature decks like Humans or DnT.
Since they are usually very removal light it's way easier to stick it and it just rips those decks apart. It's the perfect stabilizer after they slowed your interaction down with Thalia and other stuff.
It's also just an overall very versatile card, being great against mentioned disruptive creature decks and solid against grindy decks as well as Burn. Heck I've won games against Lantern with it where he got in for the final 2-4 damage by flipping back and forth.
All that said I agree with everyone that his time in Jund since BBE got unleashed again.
His home is in RUG (where BBE doesn't fit since it nonboes with counterspells). He got company in Jace now in those colors, but I think those two 4-drops are so different that both with have their merit based on the meta and playstyle of the deck.
Search for Azquanta has proven to be a strong card, but it shines the most in real control decks, that are packed with anwers, which we are not. This is a midrange/tempo deck (at least RUG) and due to Vial we need to have a creature count of at least around 14 while also maintaining a high spell count for Snapcaster Mage.
Search for Azquanta doesn't help the tempo plan of this deck at all and our lategame is actually already quite strong (Snaps, E-Wit, Command etc.).
Unless the meta shifts to be even slower and more midrange/controllish I really can't find a place for it in the maindeck, putting like 2 copies in the SB for those grindy MUs could be an option though.
I like Vendilion Clique a lot more than Obstructionist. It's our best card against stuff like Ulamogs while it's also strong against Storm (Disruption+Clock) or Death's Shadow (I was able to discard their Stubborn Denial eot and then deal lethal with some combination of attacks/Cryptic/Bolt/Snaps/E-Wits multiple times). In cornercases Obstructionist can definitely be a blowout but on average Vendilion Clique is just the better card.
@Raven
As far as I can tell the list looks very solid. How does your SB look like?
Do you like 4x Remand right now? I am currently on 3 copies.
And what's your reason to not play Creeping Tar Pit? Seems like it could add some of the reach you're losing for not playing Bolt.
Glad to hear Traverse has been good for you!
I agree on the Spellbomb+Pulse/Brutality package. All individually strong but having sweet synergy with Traverse and Goyf.
You mind sharing your current list?
I honestly haven't played that much against Lantern, especially the new Whir version.
So far it seems to me to be a slightly favorable MU, in between early Goyf beats, maindeck Bridge bounce with Cryptic for final strikes and lots of reach in Snaps and E-Wits and instant speed card draw options our maindeck has a solid number of dangerous cards against them.
Stuff like Ancient Grudge out the SB are also really good.
That said the deck is very solid and can pull some very nutty and fast hands. I would really need to play the MU more to give a good good objective opinion here though.
So far I like my 2/3 Opt/SV split. Both are sweet cards and synergize in their own ways very well with our deck. Without at least 3 SV our Sorcery count gets to low for Goyf though.
@Fettuccine
We've had some discussion about altering the manabase to accomodate Blood Moon in this thread over last few pages, should be worth a read but overall I think the conclusion was that even while it's probably doable, needing to fetch for a Moon everytime we side it in even though we won't even see the card a majority of the time we side it in would possibly lose us more games than the ones we actually win with Moon.
But do your own testing if you still have enough time before the GP. If not I personally think it's better to stick to what you got and get more reps in, especially against MUs you expect to see a lot (Humans, Lantern, Affinity, Jeskai, Tron, Jund Shadow would be some of my guesses).
Welcome to the forum and sweet to hear you'll bring your deck a GP!
If I'm not mistaken, we were discussing Huntmaster vs P&K on reddit, right?
I spare to repeat my opinion on that one (maybe others can leave some opinions on that one), your list looks very sold to me, but I still have a few suggestions:
No land hate seems like a bad choice. Countermagic is useless if you're playing against Eldrazi Tron with Caverns out, it's pretty bad against Ulamogs and has proven very relevant in the Jeskai MU for me. Thanks to Vial (making sure our Snaps/E-Wits etb) we can hang in there with Jeskai if the games go long. But we simply can't answer their Colonnades without land hate.
Pyroclasm main does indeed seem weird. Answering Geist is neat, but thanks to Vial and flash creatures we have lots of ways to deal with him. Clasm just kills so much of our own stuff. Replaying it with Snap/E-Wit feels aweful. Playing Roast/Forked Bolt/Vapor Snag over it seems better to me as it's just a dead card against a lot of non aggro modern decks.
Did you consider playing 1x Traverse instead of the 22nd land (probably Lumbering Falls)? The card is just sooo good in grindy games and makes a solid tapland impression when you really struggle to hit your landdrops. With 4x Vials and the amount of cantripping this deck does I have been very happy running only 20-21 lands.
That sounds a lot more like a RUG Scapeshift splashing into the EC lock than an actual EC list to.
That said I tried something similar years ago (when RUG was still the go to version) and it didn't really worked out. There's only so much space for interactive cards in the list between ramp spells, a high number of lands and Scapeshift itself.
What MUs is it actually improving? If you plan to ramp to 7 to effectively use E-Wit, why not just add in some surprise fatties your opponent doesn't expext, to stabilize and win?
E-Wit turns on all of your opponents removal that would otherwise be dead to get access to a loop that's super vulnerable to removal.
Report:
Jeskai Control: 2-1
I start with Vial on the draw which lets him resolve a Search for Azquanta. We start trading resources, he plays very carefully but I manage to bait him into my counterspells and get rid of Search and counter his Sphinx’s revelation. Leaving me with Huntmaster and him no cards in hand. He topdecks Verdict and beats me down with a Colonnade I just can’t find an answer to.
SB:
In: 2x Spreading Seas, 2x Huntmaster, 1x Natural State, Dispel, Scooze
Out: 4x Goyf, Spell Pierce, 2x Lightning Bolt
Game 2 starts a lot slower with us only making landrops and cantripping the first 5 or 6 turns until we fight a counterwar over a Geist that I win, which lets me safely play my Vial and Seas his Colonnade. He can resolve Search for Azquanta but I draw Traverse the Ulvenwald and start some value chains with E/Wit, Snap and Familiar’s Ruse. We grind each other for a while, I come up ahead but his flipped Azquanta almost gets him back in the game but I can take it down on the back of Lumbering Falls, which he doesn’t have an answer to.
Game 3: My turn one Vial gets destroyed and with an active Loothouse he has the upper hand for the next 4+ turns but I manage to fight back and gain value edges here and there and get back into the driver’s seat until he finds a second Colonnade (seased the first one) and starts beating me down with it. I have to do the risky Electrolyze + snapback Bolt play, but he doesn’t have any counters either and I can get there before he finds another Colonnade
Heck of a match. Not sure if sideboarding out Goyfs is correct anymore when most Jeskai lists don’t seem to run RiP in the SB currently. Also having access to a card like Thrun in the SB would make this MU a lot easier. Not sure if it’s worth the SB slot only for the Jeskai/UW control MU if those are already quite good anyway. Another Spreading Seas/Stone Rain is probably just better, dealing with those pesky Colonnades is very good and they are also good against other decks.
Burn: 2-1
Game 1: I misplay twice by not opening with Spirebluff (after he opens with Rift Bolt) with Bolt in hand but Misty Rainforest, which I then also don’t crack to kill his turn 2 Eidolon. By wanting to save life I lose on tempo and can’t play turn 2 Goyf, try to kill his Eidolon but he saves it with Boros Charm. Don’t come back from that.
SB:
In: 2x Huntmaster, Dispel, Daredevil, Scooze
Out: 3x Remand, Vapor Snag, Electrolyze (should have been a Clique probably)
Game 2: He nullifies my Goyf block plan with Relic but is stuck on 1 land for 2 turns. Enough time for me to stall a little, get him to pop his Relic and get some creatures in the yard again to feed a big ass Scooze which I ride to victory.
Game 3: Keep a hand with lots of cheap interaction but only one land. Find the second land with Opt and proceed to counter/bolt all his stuff with recurring Snaps, Bolt, Dispel, Ruse and Command and finish him off with a Huntmaster.
Gb Tron: 2-1
Keep a very serviceable hand against Tron with Goyf, Remand, Clique and Command. His turn 1 Relic makes applying pressure a lot harder. But I fight and delay the inevitable while beating down with Clique. I bring him down to six when he lands an Ugin and I’m left with no board. Topdeck a bolt and and find another one with SV a turn later to kill him just before he would have killed me.
SB:
In: 2x Spreading Seas, Ceremonious Rejection, Ancient Grudge, Natural State
Out: Daredevil, Huntmaster, Scooze, 1x E-Wit, Electrolyze
Not sure on the Electrolyze and I think I should make room for another land destruction spell in my SB.
Game 2: I start with Vial, he takes my Remand away turn 2 and casts a turn 4 Karn I don’t have an answer to. Ulamog a turn later lets me skoop it up.
Game 3: If they don’t have Relic pressuring them with Goyf while delaying with Seas, Clique, Cryptic etc. works out pretty well. I can keep him on the backfoot the whole game and win by beatdown.
Mardu Midrange: 2-0
Opponent was new to the deck and that definitely showed with some questionable lines.
Game 1: I outvalue him with Snap/Ruse and Direfleet Daredevil. Including a line where I cast his own Inquisition on him with Daredevil, discard a K-Command, return Daredevil to my hand to counter a spell with Ruse, vial Daredevil in again to cast the K-Command I had him discard to get back Snapcaster and have him discard his last card. Felt sweeeeeet.
SB:
In: Daredevil, Dispel, Staticaster, Kozilek’s Return, E-Explosives, Scooze, 2x Huntmaster
Out: 4x Goyf, 2x Clique, 1x Remand, Vapor Snag
He plays a bunch of Lootings and lands a Blood Moon, but I have a Vial out and fetched a basic turn 1 so I don’t really care that much tick up my Vial to 4 with two Huntmaster and Dispel as protection in hand and ride them to victory.
Would be glad to hear some thoughts on my sideboarding decisions (still trying to find the time to write down a guide we could discuss here).
Overall I'm very happy with the deck, Dire Fleet Daredevil was sweet against Mardu, didn't draw him against the other decks. So far I like the 1x main, but I need more testing to be sure.
Obviously a small sample size but I just came back from GP London playing side events. My opponents were as follows (I entered 9 events). I didn't play command but in the interests of seeing if it would have been OK, here's the "metagame" in the actual order I played them with wins and losses.
- Ad nauseam (w)
- Devoted druid coco (L)
- jund (w)
- Jeskai (L)
- Lantern (L)
- Storm (w) [switch decks]
- Lantern (L)
- Burn (L)
- (???) (L) [hate this 0-3 run switch Decks]
- Jund moon (w)
- Burn (w)
- Burn (w)
- Burn (w) [really getting into the swing of things here dispatching three burn decks in short order]
- 8-whack (w)
- Burn (w)
- Abzan (w)
- Jund (w) [at this point my winnings are enough to get me a revised Tundra and a booster box of something recent]
- Tron (w)
- Jeskai (w)
- Melira coco (w)
- Tron (w)
- Affinity (w)
- Affinity (w)
- RG ponza (L)
- Merfolk (w) [another booster box plus a load of historic boosters]
So let's see.... If I'd been playing command I think I'd have struggled against that metagame.
As it was, my super deep winning streak was at the helm of RG tron. Turns out it's great against burn. Who knew.
Looking at my spreadsheet of right know 174 games played I'm positive against AN, Storm, Jeskai, Lantern and Burn (but close MU). The only ones really bad are Tron, Affinity depends on how good you are prepared and Jund/Junk I'm actually even but the sample size is low, same for Druid Combo.
Not many Tron/Eldrazi variants is always good in my book, against the rest of the field we have lots of more or less even MUs.
Doesn't seem like a bad metagame to me.
Has anyone toyed around with Dryad Arbor? Ramping through Aether Vial on turn 1 seems sweet, but maybe it's more cute than good.. I don't really play Eternal Command at the moment, was just a random thought that struck me..
I tested the card a long while ago. Vialing it out on turn 1 is obviously awesome, but way too inconsistent and the card is pretty bad on it's own.
There's a reason no other green Aether Vial decks are playing it.
In other news, the current monetization system in Arena looks totally unworkable for Modern. Basically, there's no selective crafting/dusting like in Hearthstone and collection is based entirely on grinding. There's also no trading. This would mean Modern and other non-rotating formats are totally unworkable in Arena and we would be stuck on MTGO. That, in turn, is bad because I don't foresee Wizards supporting two clients for long. We know that Arena isn't for Modern right now, but this would be bad news going forward for Modern's compatibility in Arena.
Thankfully, this system ALSO looks totally unworkable for Standard, so I think it's likely it will get changed. How the hell are pros supposed to play this game and stream it for an audience if they can't get the cards they need? How can Arena support even competitive Standard play without card creation? How is a TCG like Magic going to eliminate the trading element entirely? These questions will undoubtedly result in some changes to the game and the model, so there's hope yet.
For the record we only got more info on the free to play aspect until now. The easiest way to obtain specific cards will be via Wildcards you can open in boosters and via their Vault mechanic.
We don't have any info about it yet, but I'm pretty sure you will be able to buy wildcards for money and since you can't trade or sell cards you don't want/need anymore the price you pay for a standard deck on Arena should be still be lower than what you pay on MTGO or in paper. If not that definitely means Arena will have a very hard time to gain any traction as a competitive game.
Modern on Arena seemed unlikely to begin with to be honest.
After some back and forth I have not. The main factor was that when we side it in, we need to fetch to be ready for Blood Moon all the time, although we don't always even draw the card. While you could probably make it work, the payoff is too high. Add to that, that Eldrazi Tron's (the MU where Blood Moon would probably excel the most) meta numbers have actually gone down, I'm fine with my Spreading Seas, although I consider playing an additional Stone Rain in the board, will depend on how much Gx Tron I see expect.
Seems like a solid SB choice for red decks that can't afford to run Blood Moon.
Hits Tron lands (they care about the suptype, not the cardname!), hits Valakut, hits Cavern of Souls, hits manlands (think Collonades in the Jeskai Mirror or Inkmoth Nexus) and other relevant utility lands like Azcanta the Sunken Ruin. And all that for only 1 mana!
This is by no means a Tron killer (between O-Stone and Nature's Claim it's more like a speedbump) but the low mana cost, versatility against other decks, the low cost and lastly the fact that the only deck building restriction it asks you for is playing red (unlike Damping Sphere) make me think this has high chances of seeing SB play in Modern. Solid card Wizards, nice!
They are simply different cards. Abrade is more versatile but Grudge is a cheap 2 for 1 and just so, so good against Affinity, Lantern, KCI etc.
I would never leave the house without at least one Ancient Grudge in my SB. That said, in a meta like we have right now you can definitely consider running an Abrade as your 5th Bolt in the mainboard.
Looking at my spreadsheet I was 3-2 against Humans (We have the tools to beat them, sometimes we just don't draw them in time/they disrupt us too much, Huntmaster is very sweet at stabilizing here) and 3-1 against Hollow One (4/5 Goyfs are very good roadblocks and Cryptic is very good against them, sometimes the decks just gets it ridiculous attack you for 10 on turn 2 plays or screws you out of lands, though. Think the overall MU is favorable though).
If you only own the Vials I would highly advise you to proxy the deck up first and get some rounds in to see if you like it. It's a ton of fun to play but has a high ceiling and you will probably need some rounds to get used to it (it's situated kinda weirdly between tempo and midrange and deciding when to play which role isn't always easy).
If you plan on buying some Modern staples anyway though (you can use Tarns, Goyfs, Commands etc. for lots of other Modern decks) then go ahead and join the fun!
Since they are usually very removal light it's way easier to stick it and it just rips those decks apart. It's the perfect stabilizer after they slowed your interaction down with Thalia and other stuff.
It's also just an overall very versatile card, being great against mentioned disruptive creature decks and solid against grindy decks as well as Burn. Heck I've won games against Lantern with it where he got in for the final 2-4 damage by flipping back and forth.
All that said I agree with everyone that his time in Jund since BBE got unleashed again.
His home is in RUG (where BBE doesn't fit since it nonboes with counterspells). He got company in Jace now in those colors, but I think those two 4-drops are so different that both with have their merit based on the meta and playstyle of the deck.
Search for Azquanta doesn't help the tempo plan of this deck at all and our lategame is actually already quite strong (Snaps, E-Wit, Command etc.).
Unless the meta shifts to be even slower and more midrange/controllish I really can't find a place for it in the maindeck, putting like 2 copies in the SB for those grindy MUs could be an option though.
I like Vendilion Clique a lot more than Obstructionist. It's our best card against stuff like Ulamogs while it's also strong against Storm (Disruption+Clock) or Death's Shadow (I was able to discard their Stubborn Denial eot and then deal lethal with some combination of attacks/Cryptic/Bolt/Snaps/E-Wits multiple times). In cornercases Obstructionist can definitely be a blowout but on average Vendilion Clique is just the better card.
@Raven
As far as I can tell the list looks very solid. How does your SB look like?
Do you like 4x Remand right now? I am currently on 3 copies.
And what's your reason to not play Creeping Tar Pit? Seems like it could add some of the reach you're losing for not playing Bolt.
Edit:
@Fettuccine How'd GP Toronto go?
I agree on the Spellbomb+Pulse/Brutality package. All individually strong but having sweet synergy with Traverse and Goyf.
You mind sharing your current list?
So far it seems to me to be a slightly favorable MU, in between early Goyf beats, maindeck Bridge bounce with Cryptic for final strikes and lots of reach in Snaps and E-Wits and instant speed card draw options our maindeck has a solid number of dangerous cards against them.
Stuff like Ancient Grudge out the SB are also really good.
That said the deck is very solid and can pull some very nutty and fast hands. I would really need to play the MU more to give a good good objective opinion here though.
@Fettuccine
We've had some discussion about altering the manabase to accomodate Blood Moon in this thread over last few pages, should be worth a read but overall I think the conclusion was that even while it's probably doable, needing to fetch for a Moon everytime we side it in even though we won't even see the card a majority of the time we side it in would possibly lose us more games than the ones we actually win with Moon.
But do your own testing if you still have enough time before the GP. If not I personally think it's better to stick to what you got and get more reps in, especially against MUs you expect to see a lot (Humans, Lantern, Affinity, Jeskai, Tron, Jund Shadow would be some of my guesses).
If I'm not mistaken, we were discussing Huntmaster vs P&K on reddit, right?
I spare to repeat my opinion on that one (maybe others can leave some opinions on that one), your list looks very sold to me, but I still have a few suggestions:
No land hate seems like a bad choice. Countermagic is useless if you're playing against Eldrazi Tron with Caverns out, it's pretty bad against Ulamogs and has proven very relevant in the Jeskai MU for me. Thanks to Vial (making sure our Snaps/E-Wits etb) we can hang in there with Jeskai if the games go long. But we simply can't answer their Colonnades without land hate.
Pyroclasm main does indeed seem weird. Answering Geist is neat, but thanks to Vial and flash creatures we have lots of ways to deal with him. Clasm just kills so much of our own stuff. Replaying it with Snap/E-Wit feels aweful. Playing Roast/Forked Bolt/Vapor Snag over it seems better to me as it's just a dead card against a lot of non aggro modern decks.
Did you consider playing 1x Traverse instead of the 22nd land (probably Lumbering Falls)? The card is just sooo good in grindy games and makes a solid tapland impression when you really struggle to hit your landdrops. With 4x Vials and the amount of cantripping this deck does I have been very happy running only 20-21 lands.
That said I tried something similar years ago (when RUG was still the go to version) and it didn't really worked out. There's only so much space for interactive cards in the list between ramp spells, a high number of lands and Scapeshift itself.
What MUs is it actually improving? If you plan to ramp to 7 to effectively use E-Wit, why not just add in some surprise fatties your opponent doesn't expext, to stabilize and win?
E-Wit turns on all of your opponents removal that would otherwise be dead to get access to a loop that's super vulnerable to removal.
Here's the list I played:
4x Snapcaster Mage
2x Eternal Witness
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Dire Fleet Daredevil
2x Vendillion Clique
1x Huntmaster of the Fells
4x Aether Vial
3x Remand
3x Cryptic Command
3x Serum Visions
2x Opt
4x Lightning Bolt
1x Familiar's Ruse
1x Traverse the Ulvenwald
1x Electrolyze
1x Vapor Snag
1x Spell Pierce
1x Spell Snare
1x Forest
1x Steam Vents
1x Stomping Ground
2x Breeding Pool
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Misty Rainforest
2x Spirebluff Canal
1x Flooded Grove
1x Lumbering Falls
2x Spreading Seas
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Kozilek's Return
1x Ancient Grudge
1x Abrade
1x Ceremonious Rejection
1x Engineered Explosives
2x Huntmaster of the Fells
1x Dispel
1x Dire Fleet Daredevil
1x Natural State
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Scavenging Ooze
Report:
Jeskai Control: 2-1
I start with Vial on the draw which lets him resolve a Search for Azquanta. We start trading resources, he plays very carefully but I manage to bait him into my counterspells and get rid of Search and counter his Sphinx’s revelation. Leaving me with Huntmaster and him no cards in hand. He topdecks Verdict and beats me down with a Colonnade I just can’t find an answer to.
SB:
In: 2x Spreading Seas, 2x Huntmaster, 1x Natural State, Dispel, Scooze
Out: 4x Goyf, Spell Pierce, 2x Lightning Bolt
Game 2 starts a lot slower with us only making landrops and cantripping the first 5 or 6 turns until we fight a counterwar over a Geist that I win, which lets me safely play my Vial and Seas his Colonnade. He can resolve Search for Azquanta but I draw Traverse the Ulvenwald and start some value chains with E/Wit, Snap and Familiar’s Ruse. We grind each other for a while, I come up ahead but his flipped Azquanta almost gets him back in the game but I can take it down on the back of Lumbering Falls, which he doesn’t have an answer to.
Game 3: My turn one Vial gets destroyed and with an active Loothouse he has the upper hand for the next 4+ turns but I manage to fight back and gain value edges here and there and get back into the driver’s seat until he finds a second Colonnade (seased the first one) and starts beating me down with it. I have to do the risky Electrolyze + snapback Bolt play, but he doesn’t have any counters either and I can get there before he finds another Colonnade
Heck of a match. Not sure if sideboarding out Goyfs is correct anymore when most Jeskai lists don’t seem to run RiP in the SB currently. Also having access to a card like Thrun in the SB would make this MU a lot easier. Not sure if it’s worth the SB slot only for the Jeskai/UW control MU if those are already quite good anyway. Another Spreading Seas/Stone Rain is probably just better, dealing with those pesky Colonnades is very good and they are also good against other decks.
Burn: 2-1
Game 1: I misplay twice by not opening with Spirebluff (after he opens with Rift Bolt) with Bolt in hand but Misty Rainforest, which I then also don’t crack to kill his turn 2 Eidolon. By wanting to save life I lose on tempo and can’t play turn 2 Goyf, try to kill his Eidolon but he saves it with Boros Charm. Don’t come back from that.
SB:
In: 2x Huntmaster, Dispel, Daredevil, Scooze
Out: 3x Remand, Vapor Snag, Electrolyze (should have been a Clique probably)
Game 2: He nullifies my Goyf block plan with Relic but is stuck on 1 land for 2 turns. Enough time for me to stall a little, get him to pop his Relic and get some creatures in the yard again to feed a big ass Scooze which I ride to victory.
Game 3: Keep a hand with lots of cheap interaction but only one land. Find the second land with Opt and proceed to counter/bolt all his stuff with recurring Snaps, Bolt, Dispel, Ruse and Command and finish him off with a Huntmaster.
Gb Tron: 2-1
Keep a very serviceable hand against Tron with Goyf, Remand, Clique and Command. His turn 1 Relic makes applying pressure a lot harder. But I fight and delay the inevitable while beating down with Clique. I bring him down to six when he lands an Ugin and I’m left with no board. Topdeck a bolt and and find another one with SV a turn later to kill him just before he would have killed me.
SB:
In: 2x Spreading Seas, Ceremonious Rejection, Ancient Grudge, Natural State
Out: Daredevil, Huntmaster, Scooze, 1x E-Wit, Electrolyze
Not sure on the Electrolyze and I think I should make room for another land destruction spell in my SB.
Game 2: I start with Vial, he takes my Remand away turn 2 and casts a turn 4 Karn I don’t have an answer to. Ulamog a turn later lets me skoop it up.
Game 3: If they don’t have Relic pressuring them with Goyf while delaying with Seas, Clique, Cryptic etc. works out pretty well. I can keep him on the backfoot the whole game and win by beatdown.
Mardu Midrange: 2-0
Opponent was new to the deck and that definitely showed with some questionable lines.
Game 1: I outvalue him with Snap/Ruse and Direfleet Daredevil. Including a line where I cast his own Inquisition on him with Daredevil, discard a K-Command, return Daredevil to my hand to counter a spell with Ruse, vial Daredevil in again to cast the K-Command I had him discard to get back Snapcaster and have him discard his last card. Felt sweeeeeet.
SB:
In: Daredevil, Dispel, Staticaster, Kozilek’s Return, E-Explosives, Scooze, 2x Huntmaster
Out: 4x Goyf, 2x Clique, 1x Remand, Vapor Snag
He plays a bunch of Lootings and lands a Blood Moon, but I have a Vial out and fetched a basic turn 1 so I don’t really care that much tick up my Vial to 4 with two Huntmaster and Dispel as protection in hand and ride them to victory.
Would be glad to hear some thoughts on my sideboarding decisions (still trying to find the time to write down a guide we could discuss here).
Overall I'm very happy with the deck, Dire Fleet Daredevil was sweet against Mardu, didn't draw him against the other decks. So far I like the 1x main, but I need more testing to be sure.
Looking at my spreadsheet of right know 174 games played I'm positive against AN, Storm, Jeskai, Lantern and Burn (but close MU). The only ones really bad are Tron, Affinity depends on how good you are prepared and Jund/Junk I'm actually even but the sample size is low, same for Druid Combo.
Not many Tron/Eldrazi variants is always good in my book, against the rest of the field we have lots of more or less even MUs.
Doesn't seem like a bad metagame to me.
I tested the card a long while ago. Vialing it out on turn 1 is obviously awesome, but way too inconsistent and the card is pretty bad on it's own.
There's a reason no other green Aether Vial decks are playing it.
For the record we only got more info on the free to play aspect until now. The easiest way to obtain specific cards will be via Wildcards you can open in boosters and via their Vault mechanic.
We don't have any info about it yet, but I'm pretty sure you will be able to buy wildcards for money and since you can't trade or sell cards you don't want/need anymore the price you pay for a standard deck on Arena should be still be lower than what you pay on MTGO or in paper. If not that definitely means Arena will have a very hard time to gain any traction as a competitive game.
Modern on Arena seemed unlikely to begin with to be honest.