On wurmcoil and thragtusk:
Both fulfill similar roles in my list. Thragtusk seems better against burn and white decks while wurmcoil can always trade with multiple cards against death's shadow. Running two primal commands allowed me to have situations where I could choose which of the two were better in a given situation. In addition to thragtusk, the two stormbreaths help in matches where you're playing against path. The slot that the wurmcoil traded with was that of the 4th inferno titan. Titan is easily the fastest finisher we have access to but dies to terminate. I didn't get to play the wurmcoil against DS in the swiss but it ended up being as good/better than thragtusk against E-Tron & naya. Just playing against my roommate who is on grixis DS showed me that it's a strong card against the deck.
It's a card that shines in certain matchups. Against DS it usually will rot in the hand, that's why I hedged against the deck by playing wurmcoil, slime, thrags. Also, Tron & DS are two decks that in my experience really need land destruction or blood moon to shore up, which leads up to a land advantage/lategame where bonfire can shine. Against E-Tron yesterday I had a miracle bonfire wipe a board of smasher, TKS, conduit of ruin. It may be a card to move to the SB against DS if you have colossus. I also don't see a better replacement anywhere. Mortars won't kill many relevant threats in those matchups.
Hey, I'm Jon Elgan. I top 8'd the classic yesterday. I've been following this thread since January and used it as a basis for my list. I'm very confident about the main, not so much the side. Sudden shocks should probably be bolts or affinity hate, fracturing gust should probably be shatterstorm (though I did see a bogles player). Wurmcoil and slime in the main were fantastic. Primal command was great. Bonfire was great & did things no other card could have done. Ended up winning two matches off of miracles. I should've mulliganed in the top 8 playing against the 5 color shadow list, I hadn't seen deaths shadow the first two games and kept a 7 game three that had anger, finks, primal command, lands, arbor elf. He ended up playing the half of the deck that I hadn't seen yet. Probably would've gotten the match if my hand had a moon in it. Running no beast withins was a personal choice, I have rarely had that card be good in my play but that's just based on the matchups I've had. I feel like the deck is very well positioned and only lost to grixis delver in the swiss.
Deck I faced: 2 eldrazi tron, rg scapeshift, burn, naya company, grixis delver, mardu nahiri, then drew into top 8.
Could be Duress the right answer against Tron and CoCoCo?
I really don't think so. Tron has a ton of card draw to get whatever gas you took from their hand, and usually they'll have more than one game ending card. Against coco it might be good before they have 4 mana, but even then it could have no targets in their hand.
This is probably a silly question, since I don't really see any lists running it, but have any of you tried restoration angelin this deck? It's one of my favorite cards ever printed, so I'm probably just trying to force it into decks where it doesn't belong, but it seems like rhinos and finks make some pretty good targets for a 1- or 2-of. Is there any room to try to fit it in? Or, has it already been tried? Thanks!
I've been wondering about that card too, could be a nice fun-of that can give you an edge in some matchups. It'll usually give you life and it can block delvers. It'd also be good in the matchups where you have to hold up removal. Might not be the best choice for the deck but I'd test it and see how it works for you.
Is a 4 path/2 decay split better than a 3/3 split? Other than that this list looks really similar to mine, I think taking out a land for the third kitchen finks would be okay
What's the plan against Grixis delver decks? They are popping up alot. All I can think about is rest in peace and tormod's crypt. Crypt seems nice since you can play it turn 1 so a turn 2 Tasigur will be difficult for them, but RiP might be better in the long run. Also RiP is better against kitchen finks combo and therefore more flexible.
Grixis is usually an easy match for me. Just realize that you need to save your paths for tasigurs, board into more removal. I would not run rest in peace in this deck and tormods crypt is kinda boring, personally I would board in 1 relic of progenitus
What is your guys opinion on cutting 2x Thoughtseize for 2x Abrupt Decay mainboard, and sideboard the 4 Thoughtseize?
It is still good vs twins, infect, or burn, and better opinion vs merfolk, affinity, zoo. The only downsides about not having the 2 thoughtseize is playing vs U/W/R control, tron and scapeshift.
I personally run a twin disruption suite of 3 paths, 3 decays, and 2 qasali with 3 thoughseize in the board. I feel like the removal is a better universal answer and game one I still have 8 cards to disrupt their combo.
Recently took a GW Enchantress list to a 3-1 finish in a legacy daily, should've been 4-0 but got stuck on 1 land until I lost G3 against UWR Delver. Beat Miracles, Goblins, Shardless BUG very easily. The BUG player didn't have a clue how to play against this deck, made a lot of awful choices with his thoughtseizes. I've just been playing the deck a couple days so correct me if I speak out of place, but I feel like in paper magic this deck is more of a meta choice: it's really fun to play and is a unique deck in the format, but loses to quicker combos pretty easily. The upside of the deck is the redundancy and buildup of the win similar to elves versus the 1 or 2 card combos AKA sneak/show.
Took a budget version of this deck to FNM, missing hierarchs and VoR, and took 2nd place. Won against storm 2-0, goblins 2-1 (he hit me for 18 damage on turn four during the second game), elves combo 2-0, and lost 0-2 against UWR. In the last match I got him down to 1 life during both games, and if I had hierarch out instead of birds I would've won. Felt pretty good about the deck overall.
Seems like a worse True Believer in most situations, which we already don't run. Dies to enchantment and creature removal and I don't think we ever need to target ourselves, so no reason why hexproof would be better than shroud.
Guys what do you think about the new Ajani? is he viable as 1 of for this deck?
With Thalia out he costs 6 mana. He can impact the board immediately when he comes down with the +1 counter ability, but I don't feel like he does enough for the investment. A lot of games I don't even get that much mana.
Both fulfill similar roles in my list. Thragtusk seems better against burn and white decks while wurmcoil can always trade with multiple cards against death's shadow. Running two primal commands allowed me to have situations where I could choose which of the two were better in a given situation. In addition to thragtusk, the two stormbreaths help in matches where you're playing against path. The slot that the wurmcoil traded with was that of the 4th inferno titan. Titan is easily the fastest finisher we have access to but dies to terminate. I didn't get to play the wurmcoil against DS in the swiss but it ended up being as good/better than thragtusk against E-Tron & naya. Just playing against my roommate who is on grixis DS showed me that it's a strong card against the deck.
Deck I faced: 2 eldrazi tron, rg scapeshift, burn, naya company, grixis delver, mardu nahiri, then drew into top 8.
4 Arbor Elf
2 Birds of Paradise
3 Inferno Titan
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Thragtusk
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
4 Blood Moon
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Stone Rain
2 Primal Command
3 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
8 Forest
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Mountain
3 Stomping Ground
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Anger of the Gods
1 Fracturing Gust
3 Kitchen Finks
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Sudden Shock
2 Trinisphere
I really don't think so. Tron has a ton of card draw to get whatever gas you took from their hand, and usually they'll have more than one game ending card. Against coco it might be good before they have 4 mana, but even then it could have no targets in their hand.
Is a 4 path/2 decay split better than a 3/3 split? Other than that this list looks really similar to mine, I think taking out a land for the third kitchen finks would be okay
Grixis is usually an easy match for me. Just realize that you need to save your paths for tasigurs, board into more removal. I would not run rest in peace in this deck and tormods crypt is kinda boring, personally I would board in 1 relic of progenitus
I personally run a twin disruption suite of 3 paths, 3 decays, and 2 qasali with 3 thoughseize in the board. I feel like the removal is a better universal answer and game one I still have 8 cards to disrupt their combo.
With Thalia out he costs 6 mana. He can impact the board immediately when he comes down with the +1 counter ability, but I don't feel like he does enough for the investment. A lot of games I don't even get that much mana.