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  • posted a message on The State of Modern Thread (B&R 02/07/2018)
    Quote from idSurge »
    Why even worry about it right now, is still a fringe deck. The true elephant in the room is a Tron shaped one, I really hope that is proven by this PT.


    Seriously, when is enough enough with Tron? For a while it was "well this deck is just inconsistent and has polarized matchups". Then it became "well it never puts up major tournament results". Like where is the justification now? A good number of it's bad matchups have been pushed from the format, it still has insanely good matchups running around, it's no longer inconsistent, it's been putting up tournament results in droves now and part of that is even with new hate cards like Damping Sphere in the format.

    Hitting Stirrings will help because then you at least have a choke point for them. Hit all their threats out of hand. They'll easily get mana still but hitting their threats and they'll have to rely on draws and eggs to find their threats. Then if the deck still puts up these kinds of results. Swing the hammer.
    Posted in: Modern Archives
  • posted a message on The State of Modern Thread (B&R 02/07/2018)
    I don't know what MTG site you were looking at but:

    https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/premierplay/protour/pt25a

    Says right in the first couple sentences.
    Posted in: Modern Archives
  • posted a message on The State of Modern Thread (B&R 02/07/2018)
    Quote from idSurge »
    Ah I was hoping this weekend wasnt just Standard...Matt Nass could have shown up and gotten the deck banned for us by winning it again. Looks like we wait till September.

    As to the deck itself, its resiliency to hate by abusing the Mana Ability rules, is unprecedented. That it just main boards EE and laughs at even MORE hate cards, is just icing.


    It's not just standard. It's Team Trios (one on Standard, one on Modern and one on Legacy). The meta will be different than traditional Modern events though.
    Posted in: Modern Archives
  • posted a message on The State of Modern Thread (B&R 02/07/2018)
    Part of why nobody has done it has just been that we haven't had a huge sample size in available data to show this. As we get more stats I'm sure more will show these numbers too. I know many of the local grinders I play with have expressed these time concerns with KCI already as well but they don't have exact numbers to prove the sentiments (because we don't see MTGO data like WotC does). As we start PPTQ season though there has been the saying among KCI players against UW control that if you get to sub 10 min left in the round, you should try to combo off. Even if you brick, your opponent likely won't kill you before the end of the turns and you'll either get the draw or the win if you say won game 1 and are in game 2 (pretty common for the UW control vs KCI matchups). These guys aren't even slow playing intentionally. They are just going through the combo at a reasonable rate and there are a lot of decisions to be made. The combo just happens to take that length of time.

    Likewise, time reasons is why I really dislike the UW Control deck. I'd love some numbers to back it up but it seems like they almost always go to time in round unless they lose. The deck is decent enough but man I dislike the lack of good quick wincons. Part of it is on pilots not knowing when they need to slam that door shut and turn the corner and instead spend more time not losing.
    Posted in: Modern Archives
  • posted a message on The State of Modern Thread (B&R 02/07/2018)
    Storm has also become extremely deterministic nowadays anyway. Did they cast Gifts with RRR floating? You are dead if you don't have interaction. KCI doesn't have that deterministic point and that is a major issue. I have my own gripes about storm but at least a competent pilot can kill you quickly.
    Posted in: Modern Archives
  • posted a message on The State of Modern Thread (B&R 02/07/2018)
    My brief chime in on Humans. I think the deck and all it's cards are actually fine. If you want to look at why it's performing so well in Modern, you have to look at how the metagame preys on decks that would normally be able to be tuned to beat a deck like this.

    As for KCI IMO it's just the final straw for all the reasons mentioned above. I'd hit stirrings because it hits other offenders in the format like Lantern and Tron. While (speaking of Tron specifically) it ebbs and flows, IMO it's put up some awful numbers in the last year for a deck that is supposed to be wildly inconsistent. Long have those days passed. Hitting Stirrings will make them far more likely to brick. I have a long long history of hating Tron and wanting it banned from the format but I will settle with a nerf to it's consistency. It's a pretty telling sign that almost all Stirring decks end up being degenerate at the end of the day.
    Posted in: Modern Archives
  • posted a message on Bubble Hulk
    Quote from x1uo3yd »
    Quote from Noctali7 »
    May I ask whether you could suggest a cheap(er) alternative manabase to build the deck on MTGO? The other cards are rather affordable, it's just the fetchlands (and shocklands, to a lesser extent) really...
    If you trim down to Rakdos (like ktkenshinx and Exatraz have done on the previous page) you can save yourself the cost of those Scalding Tarns.

    Their manabases each run some number of Fetches/Fastlands which are on the expensive end, but you can probably get by replacing them with a manabase centered around Shocks/Checklands.

    You should probably grab a few MTGO copies of Through the Breach with the savings; it's a useful card for dodging graveyard hate and is cheaper on MTGO right now than it has been in a long time.



    Run Painlands before checklands IMO. You need them to come in untapped on turn 1 and turn 4. Quick update where I am at with the list. I really really love it but I have to shelve it for the time being. My meta is just overwhelmed in UW and Jeskai control deck which has been fine and I've been feasting on (instant speed recursion is dumb) but in order to shore up their KCI matchups, a lot are moving to surgical which obviously we can't really beat. Oh well. I'm going to keep playing in on my stream and tweaking and updating until the surgicals die down locally. This is definitely a deck that will need to ebb and flow like that in the current Modern format.
    Posted in: Combo
  • posted a message on Pyro Prison || Goblinized Mono-Red Control : The Sideboard Deck
    My thoughts exactly. The problem is they can still combo off through Matrix and then just pop it anyway to kill you. If you have Chalice out as well you are already in a pretty great spot (same with Eidolon) but if you have multiple hate pieces out you don't have anything to worry about. I also feel like Spyglass is better against more decks in the field.
    Posted in: Control
  • posted a message on Pyro Prison || Goblinized Mono-Red Control : The Sideboard Deck
    Uh, Damping Matrix isn't actually good against KCI right? It doesn't stop mana abilities which means they just combo off, draw their deck, pop your matrix and then kill you.
    Posted in: Control
  • posted a message on Bubble Hulk
    You are right. I have realized this in games too. Granted I do like having Wild Cantor because it can ramp you for quick kills on occassion and when you get infinite mana (say you don't have the full combo) you can use the infin scry to set up what you need on top and then flashback looting or cast something else from hand. It may not be necessary but I have liked having it as an option. I'm continuing to tweak as I figure stuff out as well. Currently Liliana Death's Majesty has been great. Dodges an increase in Spell Quellers that I have noticed and doesn't actually rely on the GY since she can just make Zombies if needed. I should mention that I am actually not worried about Cryptic Command with this deck at all. Between Makeshift Manniquin and Through the Breach (and leaving Seer in play rather than freely sacing it off) I've been able to really pressure a lot of my control opponents cryptics. If they tap out for it at EOT I have set it up so I can win on my turn. I've also seen very little RiP running around and more Relic/Cage/Spellbomb. I did run into 1 Jeskai player running surgical and we just can't beat that card so *shrugs*
    Posted in: Combo
  • posted a message on DredgeBrand'Z (Infinite life, infinite mana, infinite turns, infinite EVERYTHING)
    So... you are saying I shouldn't try to stream this deck?
    Posted in: Deck Creation (Modern)
  • posted a message on Bubble Hulk
    Ok brief update. Another week of non-comp REL and another clean night. Pretty easy breezy 4-0. Only dropped a single game all night. Unlike last week, none of my opponents new the combo and that definitely helped. That said, I don't know if any of them truly horrendously misplayed that cost them games. Definitely some miscues but without knowing hands its hard to tell. I played Dredge, Jeskai control, Jeskai Tempo and Mono-R Burn. This is my current list:



    Ok huge disclaimer about my current list. The MB is just great. I could tweak numbers here or there but I've absolutely been in love with the 60. Oh I do need to swap a mountain for a Steam Vents but other than that I've loved the 60. The sideboard hasn't been bad, I just don't know what Im doing with it. So far I haven't encountered matchups that felt bad enough that I wanted to address it with sideboard slots outside what I currently have but ratios and such are still way up in the air. Essentially the only cards I really like are the Through the Breach, Thoughtseizes, Wear//Tear and Abrade. The rest is pretty flexible. Now I know what the main eye is drawn to... the Lilianas. Essentially I ended up with 3-4 slots in my board that used to be Damping Spheres or Blood Moons and I've just determined over my testing that I am just racing those decks and I don't want those cards. My thought then is that I want those slots to address other matchups. I don't know what those matchups are but there are several options. Play anti-hate cards like Pithing Needle to hit Relic and Scavenging Ooze, Play cards that attack from a different axis like walkers or Hazoret, Play cards that help you race like Rituals or something. I really want to test Hazoret but I only had my mono-b Canlander deck on me in addition to my modern deck and I did want to try out Lilianas as well. Specifically Liliana Death's Majesty. I like that she plays both roles. She's a 5 mana reanimation spell if you've baited the cryptic at EOT. If your opponent has relic or scooze you can just tick up and make zombies for the beat down plan. The other big thing after she resolves is that she helps set up turns against Relic where you can downtick her to try and reanimate and hold up Makeshift Manniquin to respond to the relic activation. Anyway, those are very flexible slots that I am trying to determine what I want. Currently I like the idea of having threats to bring in against against decks that might have gy hate or ones where Woodfall Primus isn't at his best. I think I boiled those threats down to 3 options but I am definitely open to other suggestions (Planeswalkers, Hazoret, Hollow One).

    Oh and as usual, I was put on Camera for the feature match in round 3 which starts at ~ 2:06:00 here

    I do come on camera to talk a bit about the deck and give yall shoutouts. Anyway, I am going to keep tweaking with the sideboard and Im probably rocking this for any Modern 1k or PPTQ in the upcoming season.

    Posted in: Combo
  • posted a message on Bubble Hulk
    White also let's you run Wear//Tear which is nice. Also it gives you an option to Evoke Reveillark to start the combo. I like it.


    I don't think I want to replace Mannequin. I think I'd go "in addition to". Mannequin is really good against the Jeskai decks because it's instant speed and it also makes it so they can't actually deal with Hulk if they let it resolve (they get rid of hulk and they die). I think you don't run 4 but like 2-3 Mannequin and 2-3 Breach seems like a reasonable split. Breach gets awkward because it wants the creatures in hand rather than yard as well so it's something to consider.



    Went 3-1 at my non-comp REL Modern event last night. Did I mention there were 70 players? Yeah, it's pretty nuts. They got me on camera where I usually cast from for round 3 when I was up 2-0 if you want to see me brick off super super hard in my only loss of the night https://www.twitch.tv/videos/278782616 starts at 2:07:00ish. I do an interview just before to explain how the combo works and my general impressions. both games were fairly close, I drew a million cards in game 1 and missed a hulk or reanimation spell. Game 2 I could Makeshift Mannequin but had no way to target so I decided to dig some more and he found his way to combo. Something we learned about the KCI matchup, it's a straight up race, they don't have good interaction for you but you need to know how to play around the interaction they do have. The KCI player is my roommate and we talked later that night and kept flip flopping on if EE was a good answer to the combo because it's super awkward and here is the gist. It's not, but you must play around it. How do you do that? Use Reveilark's trigger to get back both body doubles. That's it. If you target Mogg Fanatic and Reveilark which is common, you lose because they blow EE and your combo stops. If you get both body doubles and they blow the board, you have 1 copy Seer and the other copy Reveillark and combo anyway.

    This reminds me of another incident that came up on the night where I think a card selection could be adjusted. It's possible we want 3 Body doubles and here is why. If you draw both Reveilarks, you can't combo off unless you already have a Seer in play before you hulk tutor. The problem currently is that your first hulk goes and gets Seer+Double, copy Hulk. Second "hulk" trigger goes and gets 2nd double and Neonate. The problem now is that the Body double has to copy a card in yard like Hulk before you can discard your reveilark. If you have a 3rd body double in your deck, you'd be able to discard the reveilark and then go get the last body double to finish the combo. This may not be a totally relevant situation but I think it could be relevant enough that it warrants running 3.

    Let's talk about my victims on the night. First up was a bant company list. Game 1 we both did very little for like 7 turns as I spun lots and lots of wheels but couldn't find a reanimation spell. He eventually found what he needed to kill me. Games 2 & 3 I had turn 3 and 4 combos respectively playing through spell quellers (tap out for footsteps, he quellers, exile SSG Lightning Axe and laugh my way to the bank).


    Round 2 I played against Jeskai. Game 1 is where I experienced the Body double problem. He draw step cliques me to see whats happening. Takes footsteps. I draw footsteps. Silly Magic the Gathering. However I realize that I can't kill him because the double Reveilarks stranded in my hand. Instead I flood the board with Fanatic, a neonate, 2 Seers and a SSG. This forces him to verdict the next turn and i discard a reveilark in response. I untap with double makeshift mannequin so EOT I go for it, he cryptics. I untap and combo. Game 2 I end stepped Manneqiun on Woodfall Primus. He counters. I untap and I footsteps Woodfall and blow up both his white sources. He untaps and digs with snapcaster mage and serum visions. I untap and Blood Moon. Did I mention I ran Blood Moon in my Sideboard last night? It was kinda great. We only ever need 1 black source and wild cantor does do some fixing for us in a weird way. He conceded after 3 draws of things that don't kill a 5/5 trampler.

    Round 3 was the KCI deck we talked about earlier.

    Round 4 was just nonsense. Good nonsense for me. Unfortuante nonsense for my opponent. So I win the die roll and set myself up for turn 2 footsteps on woodfall primus. But my opponent leads on Seachrome Coast and leaves it up so I decide to collective brutality instead just to see whats up instead (also I really wanted to double stone rain rather than just single stone rain). I see that he is on the Mono-U living end deck with multiple Nimble Obstructionist which is neat. I yank a path leaving him with nothing really important and only 1 land in hand, a tolaria west. He plays it tapped for turn and passes. Double stone rain does the work from there. Game 2 I play out Seer and Neonate on turns 1 and 2 (with a temple for an extra scry. I have footsteps but need a payoff. He taps out of As Foretold into living end for turn 3. In response I scry to the bottom and then rummage with neonate. living end resolves and I scry to the bottom with seer at EOT. I draw hulk for turn and get to discard it with neonate to combo off on turn 3. Luckily my opponent wasn't super salty but seriously, games like this are why I think this deck has serious potential. Lots of just "oops, I just killed you turn 2-3", shame you didn't get to play magic.
    Posted in: Combo
  • posted a message on Bubble Hulk
    Deck felt sweet. I can't really say if this deck is actually doing something better than say Grishoalbrand but any deck with the potential to kill on turn 3 or sooner tends to be poised to do well in Modern. Im not sold that pyroclasm is the sweeper you want in the side. Maybe it needs to be Anger or EE instead? My match against humans kinda demonstrated how quickly pyroclasm gets outclassed. Im also not sure the Labman plan is necessary. The only reason you'd need that kill is if your opponent has Leyline or Witchbane Orb to keep you from killing them. I'm considering Wild Cantor instead. You can make infinite mana and then use the card draw from Neonate to get Woodfall Primus to blow up any hate card that is in play.

    Deck was sweet though, love the simple manabase. Loved Night's Whisper which did a boat load of work. Through the Breach could potentially be moved to the main as a solid backup plan. I agree with your assessment that Woodfall is probably too slow against aggro decks but I think he's just what you need against a lot of other decks. being able to blow up lands or hate pieces while keeping a body around is brutal.

    Those are my initial thoughts. Im scrounging up the few cards I don't own for the deck and plan to take a pretty close approximation of it to my Thursday non-comp REL event tonight and then the local Modern 1k on Saturday. I usually cast these events but other people stepped up to do it and if I am gonna play, I might as well have some fun.
    Posted in: Combo
  • posted a message on Bubble Hulk
    Quote from ktkenshinx »
    Quote from necrosed »
    If you're saccing Hulk already, there's no point in searching for anything else other than a game win combo.

    I'm not super interested in finding other creatures off Hulk. But I'm very interested in finding good creatures that work with Through the Breach and Footsteps as a backup win condition against GY hate. This is one of the defining success points of Grishoalbrand and this deck should try to adopt it where possible.

    EDIT: Current list for reference (not optimized)




    Hey guys, so I was looking for something fun and busted to play for my stream last night and I stumbled upon this deck. Now I know you said it wasn't optimized but I said screw it and ran it anyway. One of the most fun leagues I've ever played and Bubble Troubled our way to a casual 4-1. Deck is an absolute riot.


    https://www.twitch.tv/videos/278040224


    It's the last league of the night and starts at the 3:40:00ish mark.
    Posted in: Combo
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