How is everyone's testing coming along? I've had a lot of life stuff happening (moving countries, etc) so haven't had time to do much other than check in here every few days.
Could we possibly get away with some number of Transgress now? Seeing the meta, at least in my area is quite midrange/control focussed.
Also, what's the correct number of Grasp/Push to keep in vs UR? I'm keeping in 2 Push atm.
Both UR decks that I played vs has multiple 4cmc Chandra mb and I must say, it did work from my 2nd opp.
G2 from him was T1 Dragonmaster and I was stuck on 4 lands for a while.
I've been out for a while with moving and still not sure when I'll be able to play properly again. Took your build to my last event Chaos, lost 2-0 vs 2 different UR Control decks, beat a Temur value deck (he had mana issues both games I won) and beat some other random deck I can't remember. Deck performed ok,
I feel like something else is needed vs UR, one opp did basically nut draw me and I kept drawing the relevant spells a turn late (3 visions out and then I draw the counters...) and the other loss was his board is a lot better imo. He lowers his curve whereas mine stays similar or gets slightly higher.
So took my list to the Sunday showdown thing my store is running and it went alright.
R1 vs Temur freestuff (nissa, the play from top of library guy, etc)
G1 I draw mono Pushes into Gorybringers. I misplayed by using a Grasp instead of a Push in a 2 drop early on.
G2 I kept a weakish 6, 3 land (slow lands), 1 hulk, negate and scatter and then just drew Hulks and died to 2 drops, on which I saw 1 in G1, so sided out some pushes.
0-1
R2 vs Bant Tokens
G1 I just managed to stabalise and got the win
G2 was a clinic. It tilted my opp off the face of the earth, kept wishing for rotation b/c then "control wouldn't be playable". I didn't draw a win con for ages despite chaining 3 back to back Pulls for 6+. Won with ~10 cards in deck (2 hulks, 2 glimmer and land).
1-1
R3 vs GB Aggro
G1 I missed 2 land drops and died with multiple hulks in hand
I'm stupidly not fully up-to-date with the new gb builds as I've had a lot of life stuff on and so I boarded out Yahenni's...
G2 was fairly easy, T2 kill, T3 lili, T5 ob nix, T6 pull...
G3 I should've died on turn 9 but he didn't notice the line and it left me on 1, I then topped the 2nd W and fumigated. I ended up stablising but went aggro a turn early and lost b/c of it... waiting a turn would've let me have a vent untapped to block with.
1-2
Overall, fairly happy with how it went. Annoyed about R3 and R1 I just drew the wrong end of the deck really.
R1 - 0-2 loss (was playing basketball so I scooped R1
R2 vs Simic Aetherflux 1-1-1 I arrived with 26 mins left in the round (due to issues at bball) and scooped G1 due to time. I smashed game 2 and I had the game under control in 3 but drew in turns (stuck on 3 lands for ~5 turns, ended up pulling for 1 to find the 4th).
R3 - bye ... so played 1.5 games in 3 rounds...
R4 vs abzan revolt 2-0. I felt like I just couldn't lose. kept 2 draw spells, 3 lands and 2 kill/wincons both games and yea... he didn't get to play magic. chained draw spells dropped hulk and countered everything. We had a 3rd game for fun and it ended up like the other 2 - resolved 4 draw spells, ended up with 5 counters, gearhulk and a kill spell to his top decking (in hand) with another hulk beating...
I really liked how the deck felt Chaos. Feels a lot like my modern (esper draw go).
I've managed to borrow cards for tonights event. Here is my proposed list (basically Chaos' but changed based off the above post). I'm currently unsure as to the amount of Pulls I'll be able to borrow, so see what I can come up with.
Alright, ladies and gentlemen. I need a little help. I've been crushing Standard locally with GB aggro, but I've also been test U/X control on the side online at my LGS. I've arrived at an Esper variant, but I feel like it's missing something to handle Mardu properly.
It's been fairly solid across the spectrum. I love Pull from Tomorrow, but I think four might be one too many. I just don't know that I want to replace it with another Glimmer of Genius. I also feel like I'm light on win-cons. The sideboard is a bit of a mess right now.
Any constructive criticism or help would be appreciated.
Could you look at Essence Extraction? Renewed Faith?
Why Glimmer over Hieroglyphic Illumination? How has Kefnet been?
I'll give it a whirl when some of my Amonkhet cards arrive, still missing some... will let you know how it works out after that.
My store seems to be infested with Approach Esper (apparently).
I haven't been able to play for a while and my order for the new set has not arrived. We have an event in a couple of days, so I'm probs just going to take a pre AHK Sultai ramp build. After the cards have arrived, I'll be brewing control lists and probably some midrange.
eh, it happens. Welcome to mtg haha, but thanks :).
Try out Dampening Pulse, it might be the card you're after (esp the UB player). Have you thought of trying Horribly Awry in your build Chaos?
EDIT: Just had another thought about Pulse, while it's slow at 4 cmc that doesn't deal with the board, it also messes with the crewing of vehicles in the mardu matchup.
So I took Chaos's list to a PPTQ today. Had 33 people, so 6 rounds and T8 cut.
R1 vs Mono R Aggro
I won both games easily, with no siding. I saw Scourge Wolf, Biomat Courier and Sin Prodder as the only creatures...
1-0
R2 vs Temur Tower
These were some really good games.
G1 He mulled to 5 and managed to stall for a bit (drew all my Anguished)
G2 I got hit by a T4 Hydra. I missed the Grasp with energy on the stack play, but he also missed the Attune T3 play to have the 3 energy when he played it. (drew 2 Anguished)
G3 He drew really well and had 2 Towers and backup with my draw no Anguished...
1-1
R3 vs BW Servo (paired down, he was 0-1-1)
This was a bit of a brew. Easy 2-0 with no boarding.
2-1
R4 vs Temur Tower - drew really well this round
G1 He mulls to 5 and stalls for so long!
G2 He runs over me with multiple towers and Helions
G3 I get ahead and my 2nd Glimmer was 2 Hulks (with Negate backup and Sorin on board). He then proceeded to draw 5 lands in a row (21 in deck and hadn't missed a land drop)
3-1
R5 vs Mardu Vehicles
I lost both games quite easily, had mana issues. I died on like T7 or 8 both games with 4 or 5 lands and multiple Hulks in hand. Only play I was iffy on was T5 I went Grasp/Disallow instead of Kalitas, but he had the Disintegration anyway.
3-2
R6 vs 4c Saheeli
I easily won G1 with Gearhulk beats
G2 I'd Quellered both of his Guardians and he drops a Tamiyo ticking up. I made my biggest misplays of the day by not just killing the Tamiyo then over 2 turns with beats. He had the Negate for the Anguished and the Hulked Anguished. He ends up ulting Tamiyo and dropping his hand. I end up wrathing and getting 9 Zombies, but he comboes the next turn through Disallow...
G3 I just get aggroed out and can't deal with the board.
3-3
All in all, I really enjoyed playing the deck and loved the sb strats. Well done with the build Chaos! Finished 15th of 33.
I'm assuming R aggro or BG will be the 2 main decks. Queller and/or Authority for the Esper lists? Tendrils mb?
Also, what's the correct number of Grasp/Push to keep in vs UR? I'm keeping in 2 Push atm.
Both UR decks that I played vs has multiple 4cmc Chandra mb and I must say, it did work from my 2nd opp.
G2 from him was T1 Dragonmaster and I was stuck on 4 lands for a while.
I feel like something else is needed vs UR, one opp did basically nut draw me and I kept drawing the relevant spells a turn late (3 visions out and then I draw the counters...) and the other loss was his board is a lot better imo. He lowers his curve whereas mine stays similar or gets slightly higher.
R1 vs Temur freestuff (nissa, the play from top of library guy, etc)
G1 I draw mono Pushes into Gorybringers. I misplayed by using a Grasp instead of a Push in a 2 drop early on.
G2 I kept a weakish 6, 3 land (slow lands), 1 hulk, negate and scatter and then just drew Hulks and died to 2 drops, on which I saw 1 in G1, so sided out some pushes.
0-1
R2 vs Bant Tokens
G1 I just managed to stabalise and got the win
G2 was a clinic. It tilted my opp off the face of the earth, kept wishing for rotation b/c then "control wouldn't be playable". I didn't draw a win con for ages despite chaining 3 back to back Pulls for 6+. Won with ~10 cards in deck (2 hulks, 2 glimmer and land).
1-1
R3 vs GB Aggro
G1 I missed 2 land drops and died with multiple hulks in hand
I'm stupidly not fully up-to-date with the new gb builds as I've had a lot of life stuff on and so I boarded out Yahenni's...
G2 was fairly easy, T2 kill, T3 lili, T5 ob nix, T6 pull...
G3 I should've died on turn 9 but he didn't notice the line and it left me on 1, I then topped the 2nd W and fumigated. I ended up stablising but went aggro a turn early and lost b/c of it... waiting a turn would've let me have a vent untapped to block with.
1-2
Overall, fairly happy with how it went. Annoyed about R3 and R1 I just drew the wrong end of the deck really.
Is it ever correct to board out a Pull?
R1 - 0-2 loss (was playing basketball so I scooped R1
R2 vs Simic Aetherflux 1-1-1 I arrived with 26 mins left in the round (due to issues at bball) and scooped G1 due to time. I smashed game 2 and I had the game under control in 3 but drew in turns (stuck on 3 lands for ~5 turns, ended up pulling for 1 to find the 4th).
R3 - bye ... so played 1.5 games in 3 rounds...
R4 vs abzan revolt 2-0. I felt like I just couldn't lose. kept 2 draw spells, 3 lands and 2 kill/wincons both games and yea... he didn't get to play magic. chained draw spells dropped hulk and countered everything. We had a 3rd game for fun and it ended up like the other 2 - resolved 4 draw spells, ended up with 5 counters, gearhulk and a kill spell to his top decking (in hand) with another hulk beating...
I really liked how the deck felt Chaos. Feels a lot like my modern (esper draw go).
3 Torrential Gearhulk
2 Enchantment
2 Cast Out
25 Instant
4 Grasp of Darkness
1 Anguished Unmaking
3 Negate
4 Disallow
3 Glimmer of Genius
4 Fatal Push
4 Pull from Tomorrow
2 Essence Scatter
26 Land
3 Prairie Stream
4 Sunken Hollow
4 Choked Estuary
3 Swamp
2 Plains
3 Island
3 Shambling Vent
2 Aether Hub
2 Fetid Pools
1 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
1 Liliana, The Last Hope
2 Sorcery
2 Yahenni's Expertise
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Baral, Chief of Compliance
1 Kefnet the Mindful
1 To the Slaughter
1 Negate
1 Anguished Unmaking
1 Essence Scatter
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Summary Dismissal
1 Void Shatter
1 Fumigate
1 Angel of Sanctions
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
EDIT: Could a single Ulamog come in as a win con?
Could you look at Essence Extraction? Renewed Faith?
Why Glimmer over Hieroglyphic Illumination? How has Kefnet been?
I'll give it a whirl when some of my Amonkhet cards arrive, still missing some... will let you know how it works out after that.
I haven't been able to play for a while and my order for the new set has not arrived. We have an event in a couple of days, so I'm probs just going to take a pre AHK Sultai ramp build. After the cards have arrived, I'll be brewing control lists and probably some midrange.
Try out Dampening Pulse, it might be the card you're after (esp the UB player). Have you thought of trying Horribly Awry in your build Chaos?
EDIT: Just had another thought about Pulse, while it's slow at 4 cmc that doesn't deal with the board, it also messes with the crewing of vehicles in the mardu matchup.
R1 vs Mono R Aggro
I won both games easily, with no siding. I saw Scourge Wolf, Biomat Courier and Sin Prodder as the only creatures...
1-0
R2 vs Temur Tower
These were some really good games.
G1 He mulled to 5 and managed to stall for a bit (drew all my Anguished)
G2 I got hit by a T4 Hydra. I missed the Grasp with energy on the stack play, but he also missed the Attune T3 play to have the 3 energy when he played it. (drew 2 Anguished)
G3 He drew really well and had 2 Towers and backup with my draw no Anguished...
1-1
R3 vs BW Servo (paired down, he was 0-1-1)
This was a bit of a brew. Easy 2-0 with no boarding.
2-1
R4 vs Temur Tower - drew really well this round
G1 He mulls to 5 and stalls for so long!
G2 He runs over me with multiple towers and Helions
G3 I get ahead and my 2nd Glimmer was 2 Hulks (with Negate backup and Sorin on board). He then proceeded to draw 5 lands in a row (21 in deck and hadn't missed a land drop)
3-1
R5 vs Mardu Vehicles
I lost both games quite easily, had mana issues. I died on like T7 or 8 both games with 4 or 5 lands and multiple Hulks in hand. Only play I was iffy on was T5 I went Grasp/Disallow instead of Kalitas, but he had the Disintegration anyway.
3-2
R6 vs 4c Saheeli
I easily won G1 with Gearhulk beats
G2 I'd Quellered both of his Guardians and he drops a Tamiyo ticking up. I made my biggest misplays of the day by not just killing the Tamiyo then over 2 turns with beats. He had the Negate for the Anguished and the Hulked Anguished. He ends up ulting Tamiyo and dropping his hand. I end up wrathing and getting 9 Zombies, but he comboes the next turn through Disallow...
G3 I just get aggroed out and can't deal with the board.
3-3
All in all, I really enjoyed playing the deck and loved the sb strats. Well done with the build Chaos! Finished 15th of 33.
EDIT: Spelling