reading some comments in this thread do make me chuckle. Modern’s fine and you know ? i might just try them arch light decks. They seem very fun to pilot.
Still need to ban stirrings? need to ban chill?
brah,formats fine. let’s enjoy this top 8 for what it represents.
Hey all, just finished up playing SCG Dallas Regionals. Took 4th place with my semis loss being too.... -drum roll- Tron lol. I started rd 1 against tron and i ended against tron. Overall great day and fun.
Results:
Win Rd 1) vs Tron (GW Version) 2-0
Win Rd 2) vs Elves 2-0
Win Rd 3) vs Humans 2-0
Win Rd 4) vs GW Value Town 2-0
Win Rd 5) Vs Hardened Scales Affinity 2-1
Loss Rd 6) Vs Grishoalbrand 0-2
Win Rd 7) Vs Infect 2-1 Win (Miracles can happen)
ID Rd 8) ID
Top 8:
Quarters:
Win Vs UR Pheonix w/ Thing in the Ice 2-0
Semis:
Loss Vs Tron (LoL) 0-2
My Turn to lose on the draw, it happens.
Overall I had a lot of fun playing today. Beating Infect and Hardened Scales was a highlight for sure. Starting the day with Tron and Ending the Day with Tron was ironic. Win in the morning, loss in the evening. We all know how great the mirror is!
Oh yeah, I got the SCG Invitational Invite too. HA!
With SCG regional's coming up this Sat, I've been jamming again. Did 2 leagues and both were 3-2 results. Played a rare paper event and went 3-0-1 for a nice bit of store credit. My paper record with tron is a staggering 29-8
SCG Classic 6-2
Trios (personal record) 7-2
PPTQ 1 7-2
PPTQ 2 6-2
Random modern event (20 people) 3-0-1.
On mtgo I've gone back to TKS in my Sb, and have stayed at 5 Forest. Cannot stress how important it is for have 5 Basics. Almost every deck I've against played has GQ/ and or Fields in multiples. I tried the old 3x Goyf build in paper and goyf did approximately 14 pts of damage to my UW control opponent in G2 (G1 my opponent had the crucible + GQ/Field lock, I could not have won without 5 basics, said opponent will also be at Regionals). I prefer goyf over Carnage Tyrant, it comes down early and gets under many of UW's permission. If they are so inclined to path a 2 drop that is a fine exchange.
I played against Arch light phoenix in both leagues and beat it after Sb. I found the TKS useful, exiling their Phoenix and random draw spells. Both Sb'd games were won by TKS. Against storm TKS won me yet another match due to stripping away key cards in the right spot.
Not sure what's better, goyf (for UW, and Midrange) or TKS (hedge against combo and our worst match ups).
I haven't found a good SB guide either but if you read through this thread and watch some infect gameplay I think you'll find some useful info. What match ups are you wanting SB plans for?
Nice to see this deck make an appearance again. I've been working on my infect game for a bit now and am strongly considering it for GP Oakland in Jan 2019. If the format continues along the axis of linear decks, Infect is a fantastic choice.
have 8 weeks before that so, here's where I'm starting:
So Aggro, Midrange, Control and Combo are all represented. I believe there are a few Tron and Titan Breach decks at x-1 as well. While Dredge beating the hate is a bit worrisome, waiting too see how Day 2 pans is going to be interesting. Watching KCI get crushed on stream a few times was worth it.
Seems like Owen's GW Tron list lays the smack down on Dredge and GY based decks. I know there was previous discussion on whether it was time to explore the GW build. RIP, Relics, Timely's, Cage's are all confirmed to be in Owern's SB. That is some massive hate.
What was wrong with the coverage? All the KCI decks? Or Owen going G/W tron to beat Dredge, or Dredge demolishing Burn like it was playing against a starter deck?
Coverage saying that "The reasons all the pros are playing decks like KCI, is because they are trying to break standard" was priceless.
How do you all feel about Invisible Stalker atm? I have 4 in my Sb but rarely board it as of late. Having looked at the latest lists it seems like it's correct to cut the card. I'm assuming this is due to the decline of Mardu Pyromancer midrange in general?
I've put off buying into Humans because it's not my style but man does it feel great to shut down various combo decks and still go toe to toe with the control/ midrange decks of the format. It's one Achilles's heel is Tron. The Tron vs Humans match ups favors tron, it's worse if the Tron deck has 3-4 Ballista's.
Aside from that, Humans is quite good. While Spirits is able to operate better on the tempo axis, Humans isn't far behind in that category. If we had to chose between Spirits and Humans right now, what's the better deck atm?
For those of you who have tested Humans vs Spirits (I haven't yet) what's that like? Who's favored in the head to head?
Isn't Infect very nicely positioned for what the SCG meta has represented? While both GP meta and SCg may vary I still look at Infect and see it is tyhe combo deck to slay other combo decks. Speaking of Unfair, Infect is one of my favorite decks, and I still get players who tell me, "Infect sucks play against". I ask them if they'd like to test against "tron" and they promptly stop complaining
if chupes is on the decline, (which it is atm) then Ghalta is pretty great. Didn't go so well last night in the league but I played against the exact arch types I figured the deck would be weak against. They were still close 1-2's, but the deck needs to be tuned.
Hey all I've been testing a version of this arch type with some interesting results:
Vs Anything UR/x, it seems like Dinos has the edge. When I set out to create a deck that would have an innate strength against damage based removal, I remembered Ripjaw Raptor. This card dodges: Lightning Strike Lava Coil Shock Deafening Clarion
The pay offs are good, and we tend to be favored against other U based decks aside from Mono Blue Tempo. While more testing it needed, I drew some ideas from the 2 Gruul Dino lists that went 5-0 in the competitive leagues.
Weakness to Go Wide Strategies like Tokens, but I think this deck has legs. Against GB midrange you can usually get on board with bigger threats. tyrant is great here and while we are weak to Chupes, on the play an early Reggie backed by a haste 4/5 or 7/6 really puts the pressure on them.
Against aggro we are innately good, the green x/4 bodies provide good early blockers.
Against control, we can pressure nicely and do not have to over commit to the board often. The match ups against Jeskai have been close but I've won more than lost.
The Sb is tailored to beating go wide strategies. The removal is aimed at taking out x/4's (Drakes from izzet). We may be a bit weaker to Angels but the stomps go a long way.
Still need a ton of testing, T3 Reggie into T4 Tyrant with Haste is very powerful.
Thunderherd Migration is the glue that makes this deck tick. People forget how strong an actual Rampant Growth effect is. In this standard going from 2-4 on T3 is huge.
We need Stomping Ground badly. LIKE T1 Shockland is important, it's one of the things holding this back.
Woo, back to playing Tron after spending some time testing standard. I fell like as of right now, 4 Claims is a bit much. We can go back to 3 Claims, upping the relic count to a minimum of 3. I assume my league tonight will feature anti dredge tech, and or combo decks. Are we feeling a little better about TKS now or is it still meh?
Jumping into a league tonight! Also got 3 goyfs in paper to back up my SB plans. WOO! Played a standard Win A Box and it basically translated into a 3rd goyf. Anyhow, Sicsmoo TY again for this new gem of a SB guide.
We had many conversations about that !!! I kept telling him "Man save money for University!", he smiled and just foiled it out. He suffered with dredge after the bannings, he even picked up Bant Eldrazi in before it's utter extinction.
In the end, he had 1 modern deck, and he learned to play the *** out of it. We tested for SCG team Dallas, and I put him through the Tron ringer. While the match up is no longer in favor for Tron, he learned a lot. Now I'm the one suffering and looking towards other decks. But as the saying goes, Mastery and dedication matter more in modern. I'm not sure what to play competitively in modern anymore, but I may be asking Ian about Dredge very soon
blue is dead in modern
unban twin!
reading some comments in this thread do make me chuckle. Modern’s fine and you know ? i might just try them arch light decks. They seem very fun to pilot.
Still need to ban stirrings? need to ban chill?
brah,formats fine. let’s enjoy this top 8 for what it represents.
The list I ran:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1247692#paper
Results:
Win Rd 1) vs Tron (GW Version) 2-0
Win Rd 2) vs Elves 2-0
Win Rd 3) vs Humans 2-0
Win Rd 4) vs GW Value Town 2-0
Win Rd 5) Vs Hardened Scales Affinity 2-1
Loss Rd 6) Vs Grishoalbrand 0-2
Win Rd 7) Vs Infect 2-1 Win (Miracles can happen)
ID Rd 8) ID
Top 8:
Quarters:
Win Vs UR Pheonix w/ Thing in the Ice 2-0
Semis:
Loss Vs Tron (LoL) 0-2
My Turn to lose on the draw, it happens.
Overall I had a lot of fun playing today. Beating Infect and Hardened Scales was a highlight for sure. Starting the day with Tron and Ending the Day with Tron was ironic. Win in the morning, loss in the evening. We all know how great the mirror is!
Oh yeah, I got the SCG Invitational Invite too. HA!
SCG Classic 6-2
Trios (personal record) 7-2
PPTQ 1 7-2
PPTQ 2 6-2
Random modern event (20 people) 3-0-1.
On mtgo I've gone back to TKS in my Sb, and have stayed at 5 Forest. Cannot stress how important it is for have 5 Basics. Almost every deck I've against played has GQ/ and or Fields in multiples. I tried the old 3x Goyf build in paper and goyf did approximately 14 pts of damage to my UW control opponent in G2 (G1 my opponent had the crucible + GQ/Field lock, I could not have won without 5 basics, said opponent will also be at Regionals). I prefer goyf over Carnage Tyrant, it comes down early and gets under many of UW's permission. If they are so inclined to path a 2 drop that is a fine exchange.
I played against Arch light phoenix in both leagues and beat it after Sb. I found the TKS useful, exiling their Phoenix and random draw spells. Both Sb'd games were won by TKS. Against storm TKS won me yet another match due to stripping away key cards in the right spot.
Not sure what's better, goyf (for UW, and Midrange) or TKS (hedge against combo and our worst match ups).
What would you all recommend?
have 8 weeks before that so, here's where I'm starting:
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Glistener Elf
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Blighted Agent
1 Spellskite
Spells (27)
4 Blossoming Defense
1 Distortion Strike
3 Groundswell
4 Might of Old Krosa
4 Mutagenic Growth
1 Spell Pierce
4 Vines of Vastwood
1 Apostle's Blessing
2 Dismember
3 Become Immense
2 Breeding Pool
2 Forest
4 Inkmoth Nexus
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Pendelhaven
4 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Dispel
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Shaper's Sanctuary
2 Spell Pierce
2 Dissenter's Deliverance
1 Spellskite
2 Viridian Corrupter
Dropped the Stalkers from the SB altogether. Hasn't been what the meta needs atm.
Coverage saying that "The reasons all the pros are playing decks like KCI, is because they are trying to break standard" was priceless.
Aside from that, Humans is quite good. While Spirits is able to operate better on the tempo axis, Humans isn't far behind in that category. If we had to chose between Spirits and Humans right now, what's the better deck atm?
For those of you who have tested Humans vs Spirits (I haven't yet) what's that like? Who's favored in the head to head?
Vs Anything UR/x, it seems like Dinos has the edge. When I set out to create a deck that would have an innate strength against damage based removal, I remembered Ripjaw Raptor. This card dodges:
Lightning Strike
Lava Coil
Shock
Deafening Clarion
and pretty much everything outside of an amped up Beacon Bolt. So with that in mind, I looked at the payoffs for the deck:
Carnage Tyrant Control Hoser
Deathgorge Scavenger Main Deck!
Regisaur Alpha greatly improved with the rotation of Glorybringer
Thrashing Brontodon a forgotten All star that blocks and deals with Artifacts and Enchantments.
The pay offs are good, and we tend to be favored against other U based decks aside from Mono Blue Tempo. While more testing it needed, I drew some ideas from the 2 Gruul Dino lists that went 5-0 in the competitive leagues.
My starting point:
4 Carnage Tyrant
4 Regisaur Alpha
4 Ripjaw Raptor
3 Thrashing Brontodon
2 Deathgorge Scavenger
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Drover of the Mighty
4 Thunderherd Miigration
4 Savage Stomp
4 Commune with Dinosaurs
Lands
12 Forest
7 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
2 Banefire
3 Fiery Cannonade
1 Deathgorge Scavenger
2 Reckless Rage
1 Thrashing Brontodon
3 Vivien Reid
3 Lava Coil
Notes:
Weakness to Go Wide Strategies like Tokens, but I think this deck has legs. Against GB midrange you can usually get on board with bigger threats. tyrant is great here and while we are weak to Chupes, on the play an early Reggie backed by a haste 4/5 or 7/6 really puts the pressure on them.
Against aggro we are innately good, the green x/4 bodies provide good early blockers.
Against control, we can pressure nicely and do not have to over commit to the board often. The match ups against Jeskai have been close but I've won more than lost.
The Sb is tailored to beating go wide strategies. The removal is aimed at taking out x/4's (Drakes from izzet). We may be a bit weaker to Angels but the stomps go a long way.
Still need a ton of testing, T3 Reggie into T4 Tyrant with Haste is very powerful.
Thunderherd Migration is the glue that makes this deck tick. People forget how strong an actual Rampant Growth effect is. In this standard going from 2-4 on T3 is huge.
We need Stomping Ground badly. LIKE T1 Shockland is important, it's one of the things holding this back.
Jumping into a league tonight! Also got 3 goyfs in paper to back up my SB plans. WOO! Played a standard Win A Box and it basically translated into a 3rd goyf. Anyhow, Sicsmoo TY again for this new gem of a SB guide.
In the end, he had 1 modern deck, and he learned to play the *** out of it. We tested for SCG team Dallas, and I put him through the Tron ringer. While the match up is no longer in favor for Tron, he learned a lot. Now I'm the one suffering and looking towards other decks. But as the saying goes, Mastery and dedication matter more in modern. I'm not sure what to play competitively in modern anymore, but I may be asking Ian about Dredge very soon