I'm really liking the changes so far. My goal was to create a list with maximum consistency, dropping the toolbox elements of older versions completely. This list is more narrow in its focus, admittedly, but I feel like it's also a lot more consistent.
Call me crazy, but I'm going to play a version without Ezuri at the GPT tomorrow. I'm running a GB build including four Shamans. (I can post the list in case anyone is interested.) Right now, I'm heavily considering adding a couple of Imperious Perfects to buff all those little dorks. Has anyone played with this card? Is it worth the slots? I'm not yet sure what to cut for them, maybe the Elvish Visionaries.
What's the general consensus on Eyeblight Massacre? I've been running it as a two-of in my sideboard as of late and liked it quite a lot. It definitely helped me out against Burn, Affinity, Merfolk as well as the non-Elf CoCo decks.
Has anyone been playing with Akoum Firebird? A 3/3 flyer with haste AND evasion for only four mana seems reasonable to me, and the built-in recursion seems nice for added lategame-power.
Greetings my fellow elf lovers
This is my first post in this thread. I've been playing Elves for the past few months and so far, I've really enjoyed how fast and cheeky the deck feels. I would also like to thank you guys for this great primer and thread.
I've noticed that quite a lot of people are running Abrupt Decay in their sideboards. I suppose this is meant as a remedy to make the tough Twin matchup a little better? If so, isn't it true that most of the time we don't have more than one black source of mana out, in which case they could just tap said source with Exarch/Pestermite at the end of our turn and go off without even having to worry about Decay?
I haven't been posting on the MTGS forums for quite some time and when I lately read through the Modern Banned List thread, I was really taken aback at the lack of complaints about Twin. Now don't get me wrong, I play Twin myself and would hate to see any part of the deck banned, but I do feel like the archetype has become somewhat dominant lately. And while simply being a deck to beat is no reason for a ban, Twin has been Tier 1 for a really long time (since the beginning of the format if I recall correctly). Again, I'm not calling for a Twin ban, I'm simply kinda scared of one since I enjoy playing the deck a lot. What do you guys think? Will Twin be the next deck to be nerfed or is it fine the way it is now?
I only play Merfolk from time to time. My main deck is actually Twin, but I also play Burn, Scape***** and to a lesser extent Storm.
I see peope can't seem to tolerate opinions here, which is a pity.
I tolerate opinions just fine. What I don't tolerate are opinions that aren't backed up by anything reasonable. When your opinion appears to amount to "I don't like the deck, so it needs a ban" then yeah, I'm not going to do much tolerating of it.
I personally think - and this is my opinion, which I'm allowed to have - Affinity matches are no fun since their draws are often just way too fast for any deck - be it Twin, Burn or Scapeshift - to interact with. While I feel fast kills are okay as long as a deck lacks lategame consistency (aka Infect or Amulet Bloom), Affinity has an absurdly good lategame, mostly due to Ravager.
No... no it doesn't. Affinity doesn't have anything close to an absurdly good lategame. Affinity's topdecks inherently start being pretty bad as the game goes on, as half of the deck are cards that do nothing on their own and are only there to power up the cards that actually matter. It's certainly a far cry from an actually absurdly good lategame, i.e. casting Emrakul.
This card basically blanks all of. The opponent's removal and is impossible to play around for many decks once it hits the board.
Remove the Arcbound Ravager, then (if they decide to sacrifice everything to it and move the counters), remove whatever they throw the counters onto. Do this and they've basically screwed themselves out of the game. I've done it plenty of times.
That's why I am for banning it.
Then ban stuff from Delver, Burn, Twin, and Junk, all of which are doing as well or even better than Affinity.
It's not like this would leave the deck unplayable.
Even if that's true (and it could very well leave it unplayable), what does that mean? If the deck isn't overpowered, and you've given no reason to believe it is outside of the fact that Arcbound Ravager happens to be a good card (let's ban all good cards! That'll solve things, right?), then the claim "it wouldn't leave it unplayable!" is without any real merit.
Let's ban Electrolyze! It's not like it'd leave any decks unplayable.
Someone said they had a 70% win rate with Soul Sisters against Affinity. If this were true, then you...
...either haven't played the matchup very often and just had some serious luck
...have really bad Affinity players in your meta (these do exist)
...or have a sideboard consisting of about 50% Affinity hate.
In no other way can I imagine would a Tier 3 deck like Soul Sisters be able to win 70% of its matches vs. Affinity.
You don't offer any actual explanation for why that 70% win rate is false other than the statement that because Soul Sisters is "Tier 3" it somehow can't handle Affinity, the implication being that a Tier 3 deck can't beat a Tier 1 deck. Odd, considering Soul Sisters seems to handle Burn just fine...
Indeed, the strength of Soul Sisters has always been that it clobbers aggro decks, which is what Affinity is. I don't see how it's particularly hard to believe that, gee, maybe the deck that's good against aggro decks... is good against an aggro deck. Next you'll be telling me that RG Tron has a good matchup against a midrange deck like Jund!
On the whole, you argue for an Affinity ban but give no good reason why the deck needs a ban beyond claims that are either highly questionable or entirely subjective.
Am I the only one who thinks Affinity should finally get a nerf? This deck has been around and Tier 1 for ages and has literally never had anything whatsoever banned. I know the numbers don't support my claim, but Affinity is just extremely unfun to play against (unless you are Twin). Your only chance to win a single game often consists in hoping to draw one of your hate cards, which is really not what competitive Magic should be about in my opinion. I'm not saying the whole deck should be killed, but at the current state of things, it is too powerful and pretty much impossibl to be defeated by other aggro decks. I'm calling it: Ban Ravager.
I too used to be on the ban a card from your deck so my deck can compete against it train(im assuming your playing merfolk), but then I realized what modern is: a "rock paper scissors" format with good hate for the top linear decks. Then I realized if you cant beat em join em. so now I play grixis delver, junk, burn, and twin and rotate based off of my meta and also change around sideboards.
that being said I agree affinity can be a bit too fast sometimes aka turn 3 wins
I only play Merfolk from time to time. My main deck is actually Twin, but I also play Burn, Scape***** and to a lesser extent Storm.
I see peope can't seem to tolerate opinions here, which is a pity. I personally think - and this is my opinion, which I'm allowed to have - Affinity matches are no fun since their draws are often just way too fast for any deck - be it Twin, Burn or Scapeshift - to interact with. While I feel fast kills are okay as long as a deck lacks lategame consistency (aka Infect or Amulet Bloom), Affinity has an absurdly good lategame, mostly due to Ravager. This card basically blanks all of. The opponent's removal and is impossible to play around for many decks once it hits the board. That's why I am for banning it. It's not like this would leave the deck unplayable.
Someone said they had a 70% win rate with Soul Sisters against Affinity. If this were true, then you...
...either haven't played the matchup very often and just had some serious luck
...have really bad Affinity players in your meta (these do exist)
...or have a sideboard consisting of about 50% Affinity hate.
In no other way can I imagine would a Tier 3 deck like Soul Sisters be able to win 70% of its matches vs. Affinity.
Am I the only one who thinks Affinity should finally get a nerf? This deck has been around and Tier 1 for ages and has literally never had anything whatsoever banned. I know the numbers don't support my claim, but Affinity is just extremely unfun to play against (unless you are Twin). Your only chance to win a single game often consists in hoping to draw one of your hate cards, which is really not what competitive Magic should be about in my opinion. I'm not saying the whole deck should be killed, but at the current state of things, it is too powerful and pretty much impossibl to be defeated by other aggro decks. I'm calling it: Ban Ravager.
I strongly encourage everyone who has trouble with Junk to try Mind Control. This card might seem like a budget solution at first, but it's actually extremely good in that it allows you to steal their dangerous creatures and they have hardly a way of answering it.
Hey buds, long time Modern player here (currently on Twin). I loved Kithkin in Standard (still have all the cards) and was wondering how viable it is in Modern.
The red splash seems kind of cool as it allows you to race faster with Bolt and Helix and gives access to the best SB card in Modern that is Blood Moon.
How many lands should I run for a trial Version? And are Cloudgoat Rangers still as good as they were in Standard?
Wurmcoil is great against BGx decks. Yes, Junk can Path it, but they won't always have it at the right time, and even if they do, we still have Dispel and Negate.
Wurmcoil kills every single one of their creatures in combat whilst surviving. Unlike the dragons, it can't even effectively be dealt with with Dismember or Slaughter Pact.
IMO, Wurm is much, much stronger than Batterskull. Oh yes, if you are siding in Batterskull against Affinity, you are definitely doing something wrong...
Creatures (37):
2 Elves of Deep Shadow
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Heritage Druid
4 Dwynen’s Elite
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Shaman of the Pack
4 Elvish Archdruid
2 Imperious Perfect
1 Elvish Champion
4 Collected Company
4 Blooming Marsh
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Forest
1 Pendelhaven
4 Thoughtseize
4 Reclamation Sage
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Eyeblight Massacre
1 Elvish Champion[/cards]
I'm really liking the changes so far. My goal was to create a list with maximum consistency, dropping the toolbox elements of older versions completely. This list is more narrow in its focus, admittedly, but I feel like it's also a lot more consistent.
Cheers, Anthreion
This is my first post in this thread. I've been playing Elves for the past few months and so far, I've really enjoyed how fast and cheeky the deck feels. I would also like to thank you guys for this great primer and thread.
I've noticed that quite a lot of people are running Abrupt Decay in their sideboards. I suppose this is meant as a remedy to make the tough Twin matchup a little better? If so, isn't it true that most of the time we don't have more than one black source of mana out, in which case they could just tap said source with Exarch/Pestermite at the end of our turn and go off without even having to worry about Decay?
Lol u mad?
Infraction for trolling
-ktkenshinx-
I only play Merfolk from time to time. My main deck is actually Twin, but I also play Burn, Scape***** and to a lesser extent Storm.
I see peope can't seem to tolerate opinions here, which is a pity. I personally think - and this is my opinion, which I'm allowed to have - Affinity matches are no fun since their draws are often just way too fast for any deck - be it Twin, Burn or Scapeshift - to interact with. While I feel fast kills are okay as long as a deck lacks lategame consistency (aka Infect or Amulet Bloom), Affinity has an absurdly good lategame, mostly due to Ravager. This card basically blanks all of. The opponent's removal and is impossible to play around for many decks once it hits the board. That's why I am for banning it. It's not like this would leave the deck unplayable.
Someone said they had a 70% win rate with Soul Sisters against Affinity. If this were true, then you...
...either haven't played the matchup very often and just had some serious luck
...have really bad Affinity players in your meta (these do exist)
...or have a sideboard consisting of about 50% Affinity hate.
In no other way can I imagine would a Tier 3 deck like Soul Sisters be able to win 70% of its matches vs. Affinity.
-CMC 1:
4 Goldmeadow Stalwart
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
-CMC 2:
4 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Wizened Cenn
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Lightning Helix
4 Boros Charm
-CMC: 3
4 Spectral Procession (I know it technically costs 6 mana, but in this deck we are always playing it for 3.)
-LANDS:
4 Mutavault
4 Arid Mesa
2 Clifftop Retreat
3 Sacred Foundry
1 Rugged Prairie
1 Mountain
5 Plains
-SIDEBOARD:
4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
4 Stony Silence
2 Deflecting Palm
2 Blood Moon
2 Spellskite
1 Rending Volley
The red splash seems kind of cool as it allows you to race faster with Bolt and Helix and gives access to the best SB card in Modern that is Blood Moon.
How many lands should I run for a trial Version? And are Cloudgoat Rangers still as good as they were in Standard?
Wurmcoil kills every single one of their creatures in combat whilst surviving. Unlike the dragons, it can't even effectively be dealt with with Dismember or Slaughter Pact.
IMO, Wurm is much, much stronger than Batterskull. Oh yes, if you are siding in Batterskull against Affinity, you are definitely doing something wrong...