Hi all, thinking about getting into this archetype. How do you guys feel about this deck's positioning post-GRN? I'm thinking about starting out by testing a list like this: http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=28383&iddeck=232250
I have most of the cards but I'm curious as to feedback before I take the plunge to purchase the remainder of the cards (namely Jace). Also, are there any other websites/groups/resources that actively discuss Grixis Control in Modern?
I plan to cut the one Retreat to Coralhelm and add in another Reflector Mage. KotR is good enough by itself that it doesn't need Retreat, at least in this build.
My SB is kind of a mess at the moment. For non-creature spells, I had a smattering of Blessed Alliance, Bojuka Bog, Unified Will, Worship, and Stony Silence. For creatures I put in Izzet Staticaster, Eidolon of Rhetoric, and I forget what else. But I plan to make some changes to make the SB more silver bullet-ish by replacing the Bogs with Remorseful Cleric, for example. And maybe Kataki in place of Stony Silence. I recognize Stony is generally better at shutting down artifact-based decks but with Kataki I have a far, far greater chance of actually seeing it (1 in the deck, plus 4 Chords, plus 4 CoCo's).
Hey all, sorry if this constitutes a thread hijack, but is this the best forum spot to discuss Bant Vizier Knightfall? I know a lot of people run standard Bant Knightfall whereas others run Counters Company, but I run a mash-up version that combines the two. I can't seem to find a thread that discusses that version of the deck exclusively. Is there a better primer/post/Reddit subforum/Facebook group I should be aware of? I started playtesting the deck and it feels really solid, and then I brought it to FNM this week and went 4-1 with all 2-0 match wins and a loss to Martyr Proc (which is kinda funny because you would think the infinite combo wouldn't care about life-gain). It feels like it has game against most decks with the ability to win via regular midrange beats, combo, or controlly EOT shenanigans.
Hey all, just getting back into this deck after fiddling around with a bunch of other decks. Saheeli Evolution was always a blast to play but felt a bit underpowered. However, with the printing of Shalai and with newer lists jamming Lotus Cobra in addition to Coiling Oracle as well as Renegade Rallier, the deck seems to have markedly improved. It has those crazy explosive plays out of nowhere thanks to Cobra, but now it can play a better midrange and also protect the combo (and general grind plan) with Shalai.
(1) Gavony Township - yay or nay? It is less useful now with Shalai being able to do the same effect, but on a stick?
(2) Why are lists still regularly running 2 basic Plains? With the sheer amount of G T1 drops it seems like a 3:1 Forest to Plains split makes more sense than 2:2.
(3) Magus of the Moon - I'm only seeing this as an occasional 1-of maindeck. To me it seems like a no-brainer include as a silver bullet that can easily steal wins - i.e., T1 fetch a basic Forest and play a dork, T2 crack a fetch for another basic and evolve into a Magus and lock your opponent out.
(4) Kiki-Jiki - Other than the obvious "it can combo out," I see a lot of people are running it 1-of mainboard. What is the strategy behind playing it? It seems a bit risky to clog up your hand with a card with RRR in its cost.
(5) Huntsmaster of the Fells - yay or nay in this meta?
Hey all, still lurking here after my 6-3 Open finish last month with the deck. After taking a short break, I want to start grinding the deck a bit more again. I've noticed a few changes recently with some of the higher placing decks, namely:
-Changing land configuration from 12 fetches and 6 fetchable lands to 11 fetches and 7 fetchable lands (minus a Scalding Tarn and plus a second Blood Crypt - is this to help cast Anger more easily?)
-Running 2 Anger of the Gods sideboard (before was zero or only occasionally)
-Running 2 Liliana, the Last Hope sideboard (before was a 1-of)
-Dropping Collective Brutality from the sideboard (was an auto 2-of inclusion)
-Dropping Surgical Extraction in sideboard (was a fairly regular 1-of)
There's some other changes I've noticed recently (a lot more 4-of Angler; 3 Bolt and 2 Stubborn Denial, 2 Fatal Push) but those topics and trends have been discussed at length in the forum. Just curious what you guys think about the above.
Hey all, been looking at some of the sideboards recently from some of the successfully performing lists. While cards like Rest in Peace and Stony Silence are obvious inclusions and require no explanation, I noticed that quite a few lists run copies of Mirran Crusader, and none run Damping Sphere. Can someone explain why Crusader is run in a deck with heavy creature density and inherent protection via hexproof? Also, why no Sphere? It seems like a very powerful card to bring in versus a variety of matchups - Tron, Eldrazi, and Storm (not sure if I am missing anything else in terms of auto-includes). Thoughts?
Hey all, I started assembling Blue Moon for fun and I noticed something I had a question about. I see nearly every list is running 4 Remand. Obviously that makes sense for any of the combo versions - TTB/Emrakul, Madcap Experiment, Kiki Moon. However, I am leaning towards making the "standard" control version with TITI/YP or even just the mix of Snap/Clique/P&K/Lavaman. In those versions, does it really make much sense to play Remand? Remand is a nice tempo play but in the standard control version you're just delaying them a turn at most, which doesn't seem to be very impactful in a deck that isn't comboing out like the aforementioned shells. In that particular shell (stock control), wouldn't it just be better to run Logic Knot instead as it permanently counters something?
Does someone have a SB/SCD (single card discussion) guide on the use of Temur Battle Rage? I mean, I understand what the card does functionally, but what are the best and worst MU's to bring it in? I don't have enough playtime under my belt to have a definitive answer on this. And I do think there are some nuances to it as well. For example, if someone says "take it out for grindy MU's" while pointing to playing against Jund, I think the argument does not apply when playing against a deck such as Mardu Pyromancer, since while it is a very grindy deck, being able to punch through Young Pyromancer tokens and Lingering Souls is important. Are people keeping it in against combo decks to race them? I kept them in against Amulet Titan and have no idea if that was the "correct" call.
Hey all, a couple questions while I tweak my deck heading into FNM (and SCG Minneapolis next month):
Temur Battle Rage - 2 in the 75 seems widely accepted. Are we still gung-ho about running 2 main or are people having success running 1 main and 1 side?
Lightning Bolt - I seem to be in the minority running 1 main and 0 side. Is Bolt rarely played because our creatures are already so big? Personally, I've found it nice as a removal to clear out creatures (especially Affinity and Humans, two main decks atm) and also occasionally break board stalls. When I ran up against Mardu Pyromancer I found the 3 damage key to finish off my opponent (after they have walled up with chump blockers).
Liliana of the Veil - I've been running a 1-of Liliana, the Last Hope in my SB but no LOTV because I don't own one, and secondly, I've been running a pair of Young Pyromancer in its place. Am I significantly missing out by not having at least 1 LOTV in my SB?
Is Nihil Spellbomb the "best" SB anti-GY card at our disposal that people generally play? What other options are people running to take on GYs?
Hey all, coming back to Bant after spending some time away from it. I know there's been some divergences in lists in terms of traditional Retreat combo vs. Jace vs. jamming both, etc. What I'm most curious about is - what happened to cards like Reflector Mage and to a lesser extent Courser of Kruphix and Selfless Spirit mainboard? Most lists that pop up don't seem to have any of those in the 60 with the exception of an occasional 1-of Selfless Spirit. Reflector Mage was MVP status much of the time behind Queller/KotR and dorks and Courser is just great value any time it hits play. Is there something with the meta that has caused this change? I'd still think Reflector Mage is good against Hollow One, Affinity, Tron, Humans if you plan to race them, Death's Shadow, and so on. So it's very good against a majority of the better decks, right? It also protects Jace well by bouncing potential threats on board. Also, I see decks jamming Voice of Resurgence main now as a 4-of, no questions asked. Against what decks are people finding that card to be most effective, Jeskai Control and the like?
Also, for those trying out Meddling Mage mainboard, what kind of success (or lack thereof) have you experienced?
Alright, as promised, here is my tourney report from SCG Milwaukee this weekend:
Round 1 - WIN vs. Jeskai Control (2-1) (1-0)
Game 1: I win the dice roll and Thoughtseize into uncountered Angler and Death's Shadow. He is not able to deal with the beats with having ineffective Bolts and Electrolyze and I kill him before Supreme Verdict.
Game 2: I punt this game pretty hard. I land a T2 Death's Shadow off of fetches and a T1 Thoughtseize and so I know he has Supreme Verdict in hand, but only 3 lands. I have a full grip of counterspells and draw another discard to look at his hand. I see the Supreme Verdict but decide to be aggressive and discard something else (I think a Snapcaster Mage) so he has no offensive action. Unfortunately the next turn he draws his 4th land, Verdicts, and kills my Death's Shadow. I never draw another creature and he eventually kills me with a Celestial Colonnade. Bad, bad play by me.
Game 3: I T1 Inquisition his Path to Exile, immediately Surgical Extraction it - and remove another Path to Exile from his hand - then drop a T2 Angler knowing full well he has no way to kill it other than a 4-drop Verdict. Fish Angel does what it does and I counter anything pertinent along the way.
Round 2 - WIN vs. Hollow One (2-0) (2-0)
Game 1: I flood the board with multiple creatures, and kill all of his except a single Hollow One that I don't care about because Death's Shadow and Angler are just bigger. I run him over before he develops any kind of a board.
Game 2: T1 he discards a Hollow One off of a random discard (Burning Inquiry) and I immediately Surgical it. Unfortunately he has sided in Young Pyromancer and Waste Not to try and grind me out. He gets several tokens of each but I eventually kill the YP with a Dismember, we trade Anglers, I play a second Angler and start attacking into the tokens. On one of the later turns I play an Inquisition and see he has a Bedlam Reveler remaining in hand but only 1 red mana. I play a Nihil Spellbomb to pop his GY to totally prevent him from casting it, draw a Temur Battle Rage off of the cantrip, and next turn proceed to Battle Rage an Angler thru a bunch of tokens to kill him.
Round 3 - WIN vs. Jeskai Control (2-1) (3-0)(this guy made Day 2)
Game 1: He is able to Path an early Death's Shadow and then kills me with a series of Helixes and Bolts because my life was around 9 life or so from aggressive fetches.
Game 2: I discard his creature removal spells, drop a Young Pyromancer, and watch it grow out of control by cantripping every turn (Serum Visions, Thought Scour, Thought Scour). I end the game with 5 tokens in play along with a YP.
Game 3: T1 discard his Path, T2 Angler, then ride Angler out to victory with 3 Stubborn Denials on the following: Electrolyze on T3 (to prevent card draw), Jace on T4 (to prevent unsummon effect), and Settle the Wreckage on T5.
At this point the deck has been doing well, I've been able to consistently discard my opponent on Turn 1, get a big Angler or DS turn 2, and use removal and counters to ride out wins.
Round 4 - LOSS vs. Hollow One (0-2) (3-1) (this guy made Day 2)
Game 1: I go first and Serum Visions. He goes Burning Inquiry and drops 2 Hollow One on his first turn. Fortunately I am okay since I am able to drop an Angler and our life totals seesaw back and forth. I eventually attack and bring him to 1 life, we are both at 1 life but I can't draw a burn, removal, or creature spell to block/kill him. He attacks and gets through with one attacker to kill me.
Game 2: He plays double Flameblade Adept and an early Angler. I play a T2 Angler and am able to Kommand to kill an Adept. Unfortunately I cannot stabilize in time as he loots a Flameblade Phoenix into his GY and proceeds to play it. The 2 in the air each turn kill me because I cannot draw removal spells. I sided out a bunch of Fatal Push this game which in retrospect was a mistake as that could have saved me a turn of air damage or killed a ground creature so I could attack more aggressively. GG not having experience versus Hollow One decks.
Round 5 - LOSS vs. Tron (0-2) (3-2)
Game 1: He goes T1 Ancient Stirrings, T2 Ancient Stirrings and Map, Tron into Karn. I have him down to 5 life but he exiles my creatures and I cannot draw the burn spells to finish him off.
Game 2: I look at his hand of 7 and it has: Power Plant, Mine, Tower (natural Tron, wtf?), Relic, Relic, Sylvan, Karn. Have a better hand, please? I'm actually able to do okay early on since I counter his Karn and drop a Death's Shadow, though it was only a 3/3 (and not ferocious for Stubborn Denial, which was important), he uses the Sylvan to find Sanctum of Ugin, plays something to find another Karn which I am able to deal with. I have him dead with a Death's Shadow but he top-decks another Karn and exiles my threat. He then eventually searches for and plays a giant Walking Ballista and kills me.
Round 6: LOSS vs. Kiki Chord (1-2) (3-3)
Game 1: He mulligans to 5, I drop an Angler and rip apart anything he tries to do.
Game 2: He combos with Deceiver Exarch and Kiki. I'm dumb and don't use my removal correctly to stop the combo. I'm bad at Magic.
Game 3: This game goes long, he Maelstrom Pulses the Liliana, the Last Hope I drop, Paths both of my threats. We are both in top deck mode and he rips a Chord, into Eternal Witness, grabbing Chord, then eventually grabbing the combo pieces he needs. I cannot draw anything and flood out on lands.
Round 7: WIN vs. Mardu Pyromancer (2-1) (4-3)
I don't have notes for these games other than that they were very grindy. One of the games he is able to restabilize with Bedlam Reveler, the other I am able to discard it so he runs out of gas. In G3 he does refill on gas, the round goes to time, however, I am able to Snapcaster Mage targeting a Temur Battle Rage in my GY, cast it on my Fish Angel, trample for exact lethal to win.
Round 8: WIN vs. Goblins (2-1) (5-3)
Game 1: He plays out a bunch of goblins, I am able to start stabilizing, however he casts Goblin Grenade to do exact lethal damage.
Game 2: I play multiple Push to kill off his creatures, drop a Fish Angel, gg. Never really in doubt since I strategically fetched for lands to preserve life.
Game 3: He plays a T1 Legion Loyalist, T2 War Marshall, T3 Bushwhacker. I go T2 Push on the Loyalist, T3 Snap and Push, blocking and killing Bushwhacker, T4 Kozilek's Return to wipe his board. He has no creatures in play and 1 card in hand. I cast Kommand making him discard the card, which turns out to be a Goblin Grenade (I was at 6 life). I stock up removal and use it to prevent him from ever sticking a creature on the board and kill him with a bunch of creatures.
Round 9: WIN vs. Infect (2-0) (6-3)
Game 1: I win dice roll, T1 IoK discarding an infect creature, T2 I push his Noble Hierarch, T3 I Scour and drop a Tasigur, he scoops.
Game 2: I T1 Push his Noble, T2 I IoK his Dismember and push his Glistener Elf, I follow up with Death's Shadow, he fetches for a Dryad Arbor and plays another Noble Hierarch and Glistener Elf. I topdeck an Izzet Staticaster and that is game. It only drags on a little bit because he topdecks back-to-back Finks, but there is never a doubt after I drop another Death's Shadow.
Overall the deck feels totally fine for the meta, there were never any matches that felt out of reach despite people saying GDS is out of style (whatever that means). Decks that run mainboard Relic could be an issue, as well as Rest in Peace out of the side. In general I am leaning towards putting in a 4th Angler over Tasigur since there were a few games where my opponent was low on life (between 1-5 life) and so the extra point of damage could be a difference-maker.
Hey all, went 6-3 at the SCG Open in Milwaukee, WI, good for 132nd of a record 1,062 people. Played pretty standard Grixis DS, non-Bauble list. Not a bad day, all in all - I'll fill in the details later. One of my first thoughts post-tourney is, though, should we strongly consider just running 4 Gurmag Angler and drop Tasigur, the Golden Fang altogether? Yes, even for the non-Bauble lists. Even with Relic of Progenitus around here and there I still didn't have problems delving out to get our fish angel friend. I feel like the 5 power is important in a meta with Reality Smasher, Tarmogoyf, and opposing Anglers. Other than the obvious "it's 1 mana cheaper so it's more likely to come down T2" argument I don't see the love for Bananaman in this shell and in this meta. I played him a few times and never got to activate his 4-mana ability, I should add.
Thanks for the responses above. Almost done with my SB prep for the Open. Any reason why we don't run Gaddock Teeg in the SB? He shuts down Storm, ANT, Tron, and other fringe decks such as UB Tezzeret Control. Is it because he's a non-bo with Collected Company? Since he's only a 1-of I don't see it as a significant issue, at least at first blush. Maybe I should just run another Negate or Unified Will instead?
Hey all! First time poster in this thread, though I've been monitoring it the past few months. I've had some decent success with Bant Spirits as of late - last three FNM's were 4-1 (2nd Place out of 33); 4-1 (3rd Place out of 36); and 1-3 drop (I hate Affinity and Tron). I'm going to be doing the SCG Milwaukee Open this weekend and considering running Spirits. I do have two questions in preparation, though:
1) I notice a lot of lists are running 1-2 Rhox War Monk. Why is that? I mean, I know he's great to bring in against Zoo and Burn, but isn't that why we run Blessed Alliance, which is also very effective in those MU's but has broader application? Are there other tasty MU's for which I should consider bringing in our rhino friend?
2) (a) What is your overall strategy for beating Jund and (b) how to you SB against them? Regarding (a), do you try to ignore their strategy and go over them with flyers ASAP? With regard to (b), I really don't know what to bring in. I have 2 Rest in Peace in the SB which is nice for neutering Tarmogoyf and Scavenging Ooze, but other than that it's a bunch of "meh" cards - e.g., Negate, that are okay but not great versus them. I do not run Unified Will in my SB. I bring in Negate with the thought that I counter the "oh-crap" cards that can really hurt us like Liliana of the Veil, Damnation, Anger of the Gods, that sort of thing. Otherwise I try to ignore their creatures and just swing over the top ASAP.
Hey all, first time poster in this thread. I've been wanting to tinker with Grixis Delver in Modern for some time now, so I'm happy to read through lists that have had moderate success. One thing I've noticed, though, is that none of them run discard. Can someone explain why that is the case? Is it because T1 is "always" a T1 Delver of Secrets or T1 Serum Visions? Or is there something more to it? Considering how powerful discard is (information and pseudo removal-wise) I'm just surprised to not see any in the 60 or the SB. Thanks!
http://www.tcdecks.net/deck.php?id=28383&iddeck=232250
I have most of the cards but I'm curious as to feedback before I take the plunge to purchase the remainder of the cards (namely Jace). Also, are there any other websites/groups/resources that actively discuss Grixis Control in Modern?
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Devoted Druid
3 Vizier of Remedies
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Spell Queller
1 Reflector Mage
1 Walking Ballista
1 Eternal Witness
4 Collected Company
1 Retreat to Coralhelm
And then 22 lands, including the Kessig Wolf Run package (i.e., including a Stomping Ground).
I plan to cut the one Retreat to Coralhelm and add in another Reflector Mage. KotR is good enough by itself that it doesn't need Retreat, at least in this build.
My SB is kind of a mess at the moment. For non-creature spells, I had a smattering of Blessed Alliance, Bojuka Bog, Unified Will, Worship, and Stony Silence. For creatures I put in Izzet Staticaster, Eidolon of Rhetoric, and I forget what else. But I plan to make some changes to make the SB more silver bullet-ish by replacing the Bogs with Remorseful Cleric, for example. And maybe Kataki in place of Stony Silence. I recognize Stony is generally better at shutting down artifact-based decks but with Kataki I have a far, far greater chance of actually seeing it (1 in the deck, plus 4 Chords, plus 4 CoCo's).
(1) Gavony Township - yay or nay? It is less useful now with Shalai being able to do the same effect, but on a stick?
(2) Why are lists still regularly running 2 basic Plains? With the sheer amount of G T1 drops it seems like a 3:1 Forest to Plains split makes more sense than 2:2.
(3) Magus of the Moon - I'm only seeing this as an occasional 1-of maindeck. To me it seems like a no-brainer include as a silver bullet that can easily steal wins - i.e., T1 fetch a basic Forest and play a dork, T2 crack a fetch for another basic and evolve into a Magus and lock your opponent out.
(4) Kiki-Jiki - Other than the obvious "it can combo out," I see a lot of people are running it 1-of mainboard. What is the strategy behind playing it? It seems a bit risky to clog up your hand with a card with RRR in its cost.
(5) Huntsmaster of the Fells - yay or nay in this meta?
-Changing land configuration from 12 fetches and 6 fetchable lands to 11 fetches and 7 fetchable lands (minus a Scalding Tarn and plus a second Blood Crypt - is this to help cast Anger more easily?)
-Running 2 Anger of the Gods sideboard (before was zero or only occasionally)
-Running 2 Liliana, the Last Hope sideboard (before was a 1-of)
-Dropping Collective Brutality from the sideboard (was an auto 2-of inclusion)
-Dropping Surgical Extraction in sideboard (was a fairly regular 1-of)
There's some other changes I've noticed recently (a lot more 4-of Angler; 3 Bolt and 2 Stubborn Denial, 2 Fatal Push) but those topics and trends have been discussed at length in the forum. Just curious what you guys think about the above.
Temur Battle Rage - 2 in the 75 seems widely accepted. Are we still gung-ho about running 2 main or are people having success running 1 main and 1 side?
Lightning Bolt - I seem to be in the minority running 1 main and 0 side. Is Bolt rarely played because our creatures are already so big? Personally, I've found it nice as a removal to clear out creatures (especially Affinity and Humans, two main decks atm) and also occasionally break board stalls. When I ran up against Mardu Pyromancer I found the 3 damage key to finish off my opponent (after they have walled up with chump blockers).
Liliana of the Veil - I've been running a 1-of Liliana, the Last Hope in my SB but no LOTV because I don't own one, and secondly, I've been running a pair of Young Pyromancer in its place. Am I significantly missing out by not having at least 1 LOTV in my SB?
Is Nihil Spellbomb the "best" SB anti-GY card at our disposal that people generally play? What other options are people running to take on GYs?
Also, for those trying out Meddling Mage mainboard, what kind of success (or lack thereof) have you experienced?
Round 1 - WIN vs. Jeskai Control (2-1) (1-0)
Game 1: I win the dice roll and Thoughtseize into uncountered Angler and Death's Shadow. He is not able to deal with the beats with having ineffective Bolts and Electrolyze and I kill him before Supreme Verdict.
Game 2: I punt this game pretty hard. I land a T2 Death's Shadow off of fetches and a T1 Thoughtseize and so I know he has Supreme Verdict in hand, but only 3 lands. I have a full grip of counterspells and draw another discard to look at his hand. I see the Supreme Verdict but decide to be aggressive and discard something else (I think a Snapcaster Mage) so he has no offensive action. Unfortunately the next turn he draws his 4th land, Verdicts, and kills my Death's Shadow. I never draw another creature and he eventually kills me with a Celestial Colonnade. Bad, bad play by me.
Game 3: I T1 Inquisition his Path to Exile, immediately Surgical Extraction it - and remove another Path to Exile from his hand - then drop a T2 Angler knowing full well he has no way to kill it other than a 4-drop Verdict. Fish Angel does what it does and I counter anything pertinent along the way.
Round 2 - WIN vs. Hollow One (2-0) (2-0)
Game 1: I flood the board with multiple creatures, and kill all of his except a single Hollow One that I don't care about because Death's Shadow and Angler are just bigger. I run him over before he develops any kind of a board.
Game 2: T1 he discards a Hollow One off of a random discard (Burning Inquiry) and I immediately Surgical it. Unfortunately he has sided in Young Pyromancer and Waste Not to try and grind me out. He gets several tokens of each but I eventually kill the YP with a Dismember, we trade Anglers, I play a second Angler and start attacking into the tokens. On one of the later turns I play an Inquisition and see he has a Bedlam Reveler remaining in hand but only 1 red mana. I play a Nihil Spellbomb to pop his GY to totally prevent him from casting it, draw a Temur Battle Rage off of the cantrip, and next turn proceed to Battle Rage an Angler thru a bunch of tokens to kill him.
Round 3 - WIN vs. Jeskai Control (2-1) (3-0)(this guy made Day 2)
Game 1: He is able to Path an early Death's Shadow and then kills me with a series of Helixes and Bolts because my life was around 9 life or so from aggressive fetches.
Game 2: I discard his creature removal spells, drop a Young Pyromancer, and watch it grow out of control by cantripping every turn (Serum Visions, Thought Scour, Thought Scour). I end the game with 5 tokens in play along with a YP.
Game 3: T1 discard his Path, T2 Angler, then ride Angler out to victory with 3 Stubborn Denials on the following: Electrolyze on T3 (to prevent card draw), Jace on T4 (to prevent unsummon effect), and Settle the Wreckage on T5.
At this point the deck has been doing well, I've been able to consistently discard my opponent on Turn 1, get a big Angler or DS turn 2, and use removal and counters to ride out wins.
Round 4 - LOSS vs. Hollow One (0-2) (3-1) (this guy made Day 2)
Game 1: I go first and Serum Visions. He goes Burning Inquiry and drops 2 Hollow One on his first turn. Fortunately I am okay since I am able to drop an Angler and our life totals seesaw back and forth. I eventually attack and bring him to 1 life, we are both at 1 life but I can't draw a burn, removal, or creature spell to block/kill him. He attacks and gets through with one attacker to kill me.
Game 2: He plays double Flameblade Adept and an early Angler. I play a T2 Angler and am able to Kommand to kill an Adept. Unfortunately I cannot stabilize in time as he loots a Flameblade Phoenix into his GY and proceeds to play it. The 2 in the air each turn kill me because I cannot draw removal spells. I sided out a bunch of Fatal Push this game which in retrospect was a mistake as that could have saved me a turn of air damage or killed a ground creature so I could attack more aggressively. GG not having experience versus Hollow One decks.
Round 5 - LOSS vs. Tron (0-2) (3-2)
Game 1: He goes T1 Ancient Stirrings, T2 Ancient Stirrings and Map, Tron into Karn. I have him down to 5 life but he exiles my creatures and I cannot draw the burn spells to finish him off.
Game 2: I look at his hand of 7 and it has: Power Plant, Mine, Tower (natural Tron, wtf?), Relic, Relic, Sylvan, Karn. Have a better hand, please? I'm actually able to do okay early on since I counter his Karn and drop a Death's Shadow, though it was only a 3/3 (and not ferocious for Stubborn Denial, which was important), he uses the Sylvan to find Sanctum of Ugin, plays something to find another Karn which I am able to deal with. I have him dead with a Death's Shadow but he top-decks another Karn and exiles my threat. He then eventually searches for and plays a giant Walking Ballista and kills me.
Round 6: LOSS vs. Kiki Chord (1-2) (3-3)
Game 1: He mulligans to 5, I drop an Angler and rip apart anything he tries to do.
Game 2: He combos with Deceiver Exarch and Kiki. I'm dumb and don't use my removal correctly to stop the combo. I'm bad at Magic.
Game 3: This game goes long, he Maelstrom Pulses the Liliana, the Last Hope I drop, Paths both of my threats. We are both in top deck mode and he rips a Chord, into Eternal Witness, grabbing Chord, then eventually grabbing the combo pieces he needs. I cannot draw anything and flood out on lands.
Round 7: WIN vs. Mardu Pyromancer (2-1) (4-3)
I don't have notes for these games other than that they were very grindy. One of the games he is able to restabilize with Bedlam Reveler, the other I am able to discard it so he runs out of gas. In G3 he does refill on gas, the round goes to time, however, I am able to Snapcaster Mage targeting a Temur Battle Rage in my GY, cast it on my Fish Angel, trample for exact lethal to win.
Round 8: WIN vs. Goblins (2-1) (5-3)
Game 1: He plays out a bunch of goblins, I am able to start stabilizing, however he casts Goblin Grenade to do exact lethal damage.
Game 2: I play multiple Push to kill off his creatures, drop a Fish Angel, gg. Never really in doubt since I strategically fetched for lands to preserve life.
Game 3: He plays a T1 Legion Loyalist, T2 War Marshall, T3 Bushwhacker. I go T2 Push on the Loyalist, T3 Snap and Push, blocking and killing Bushwhacker, T4 Kozilek's Return to wipe his board. He has no creatures in play and 1 card in hand. I cast Kommand making him discard the card, which turns out to be a Goblin Grenade (I was at 6 life). I stock up removal and use it to prevent him from ever sticking a creature on the board and kill him with a bunch of creatures.
Round 9: WIN vs. Infect (2-0) (6-3)
Game 1: I win dice roll, T1 IoK discarding an infect creature, T2 I push his Noble Hierarch, T3 I Scour and drop a Tasigur, he scoops.
Game 2: I T1 Push his Noble, T2 I IoK his Dismember and push his Glistener Elf, I follow up with Death's Shadow, he fetches for a Dryad Arbor and plays another Noble Hierarch and Glistener Elf. I topdeck an Izzet Staticaster and that is game. It only drags on a little bit because he topdecks back-to-back Finks, but there is never a doubt after I drop another Death's Shadow.
Overall the deck feels totally fine for the meta, there were never any matches that felt out of reach despite people saying GDS is out of style (whatever that means). Decks that run mainboard Relic could be an issue, as well as Rest in Peace out of the side. In general I am leaning towards putting in a 4th Angler over Tasigur since there were a few games where my opponent was low on life (between 1-5 life) and so the extra point of damage could be a difference-maker.
1) I notice a lot of lists are running 1-2 Rhox War Monk. Why is that? I mean, I know he's great to bring in against Zoo and Burn, but isn't that why we run Blessed Alliance, which is also very effective in those MU's but has broader application? Are there other tasty MU's for which I should consider bringing in our rhino friend?
2) (a) What is your overall strategy for beating Jund and (b) how to you SB against them? Regarding (a), do you try to ignore their strategy and go over them with flyers ASAP? With regard to (b), I really don't know what to bring in. I have 2 Rest in Peace in the SB which is nice for neutering Tarmogoyf and Scavenging Ooze, but other than that it's a bunch of "meh" cards - e.g., Negate, that are okay but not great versus them. I do not run Unified Will in my SB. I bring in Negate with the thought that I counter the "oh-crap" cards that can really hurt us like Liliana of the Veil, Damnation, Anger of the Gods, that sort of thing. Otherwise I try to ignore their creatures and just swing over the top ASAP.