Hey guys, here's a "what's the play" for you. I almost misplayed but luckily waited long enough to fully take in the situation.
The game state is the one in the attached image. You know the opponent has a drowner in hand and a blessed alliance, from when you tidehollowed.
Here's what I did:
Attack with thought knot. Wait for him to blessed alliance, then vial in flicker, flickering my thought knot. This lets me take the drowner, which won the game.
This kind of situation is why the only deck I'll ever play in modern is taxes! Just switched from GW (which was 54-30) to E&T (which is now sitting at 32-14 in leagues). I'm super pumped for concealed courtyard, I'll probably drop the two vents and a plains and run 3. I realllly dislike the card shambling vent.
@Eronrelentless how about basilisk collar? Also, what do you think about -1 crusader and +1 avenger? Just curious what your thoughts are
Basilisk Collar seems strong in Creature Battles with your First Strikers but it's a defensive Card then and your opponent will just let your Thalias pass and take the 2 or 3 damage. I would only play this card in the Deck if you are using some kind of Timmy like Cunning Sparkmage in a WR List.
Well sorry for ignoring the Mirran Crusader questions. It's debate less that Mirran Crusader is one of the most potent Creatures in Modern despite dying to Lightning Bolt. It's almost unbeatable against Jund/Abzan, Infect, Suicide Zoo, Dredge, Company and Living End. Also it provides a very good Clock against the Combo Decks like Ad Nauseam. Paired with Sword of War and Peace or Sword of Fire and Ice it is unstoppable and kills the opponent in 2 attacks. I would say that this is the best Beater below 4 Mana that the Deck has and it can compete with almost every Creature which costs one Mana more than itself.
Eron,
I am trying a list like yours on MTGO after having played GW hatebears, and a couple other lists. It's performing very well so far, my first friendly league gave me the 5-0. I'm wondering, when do you bring in the Gideons? I'm thinking Jund/Jeskai/assorted other control decks. However, in those matches I always want to hit my sphere creatures quickly, which seems like it would make the Gideons incredibly hard to cast. Have you found this to be the case?
Hi folks. Thalia, Heretic Cathar and Selfless Spirit will both get a place in my Mono White DnT Deck. Here is the List I'm considering to play this weekend on a PPTQ. The hate Card choices are with focus on Decks like Jund, Infect, Suicide Zoo and Nahiri Control Decks. Had some thoughts about decreasing the land count to 21 due to the lower curve but will not be playing 31 creatures though, probably could see a Dismember or Gut Shot in the Maindeck therefore. If you have any questions or suggestions I'm here.
Congrats on your results online, out of curiosity, what kind of win rate are you pulling in leagues with your mono white lists?
I see Eldritch Evolution as a combo accelerant than a value card. Evolving a voice into a Rhino for 3 mana is really not that impressive; Wilted-Abzan has been playing turn 2 voices into turn 3 Rhinos for ages, without having to sac it's voice and without getting blown out by a counter spell. Even still, it hasn't been putting up results. Having to sac a creature may be a smaller downside in a deck with voice and finks, but generally it still is a downside if your goal is to grind people out.
I think the power of this card is to find the missing combo piece (or the silver bullet hate card) very quickly before the opponent can do anything about it, and generally I think it's stronger with the two card combos since it can accelerate out the 5-drop.
My version I have yet to lose a game to TRON upto mmassive amounts of disruption and a clock. I had played TRON for about a year though so that might help. I feel TRON is on paper a bad matchup, but a good one if you know what to take and sequencing.
Powerhawk, I agree the card is insane. I also agree the deck is an entirely different deck as it has gotten me killer results, it doesn't lose its disruption and is less fragile against disruption as you run subpar disruption with naya and thus less resiliency without adding consistency to your mana base the mana is just as consistent. I feel it becomes so all in on the card. I personally will be sticking to my deck. I do think the best shell is naya run the big three drops and even a nacatyl. In addition Township. Let me know how it works out when you release a list I will test it and see what I would change.
The question is: what type of deck would it fit best?
My initial thoughts are:
1. Some sort of elf deck
2. Some sort of Gx goodstuff deck: finks, voice, reliquary, scooze, etc.
3. Anything that runs green and a lot of creatures
It might even be worth running in something like GW Soul Sisters.
What do you all think?
I've tested it in a few lists and it's been good in all of them.
Here are two of them I've messed with:
The first list is all out aggro, I need to fine tune it some more. It plays knights and 1 of utility lands. This deck has no trouble battling through goyfs, rhinos, and tasigurs. It also has access to rending volley in the sideboard for twin.
The Death and Taxes list is probably not so good in a field full of lingering souls and electrolyzes, though collected company+flickerwisp/splicer is a sweet combination. The first list is likely better right now. Suppose your opponent has a goyf or tasigur down, and you have company but no path. If you company into say a blade splicer and a voice, you can't swing through. However, if you company into a knight/thoctar, and anything else, you are getting through. This is also why I don't have brimaz in these lists.
I believe Anticipate is better than Telling time, from a statistical modeling perspective it makes sense.
Conditional on not having selected a card, that means that the conditional expected value of that card to you is less than that of a random card.
This is also a reason for collected company actually having a secondary "value" effect: on average the cards it puts to the bottom are cards that worth less to you than an average card, given that you didn't select these cards.
Just saw Collected Company and I decided to throw 4 copies into Hatebears and do some test hands just to see how it would do. This card is the real deal. Not only do we get card advantage in a green shell, but we also are able to choose the best 2 hatebears out of 6 cards and deploy them onto the battlefield. This card is insane for us, and the card affects the design of the deck as well. Now you can run less copies of certain silver bullet hatebears because you can more consistently get them. This also improves our sideboard plans, allowing us to get our backbreaking creatures much more easily in the appropriate matchups.
What cards did you decide to cut for the 4 Collected Company? Do you mind showing the list you used?
The changes I made from my previous list were taking out 2 Restoration Angels (placeholders anyways), 1 Liege, and 1 Sigarda. I also shifted to a more creatures based sideboard due to the collected company. Right now I'm testing this list as well as a more death and taxes oriented list. Both have their merits. Below is the hatebears list. The hyper-geometric probability calculator puts us at a 88.687% chance to hit 2 or more creatures with company, and a 98.529% chance to hit at least 1 creature with company.
I've been testing something similar and it's been insane as well, the value plus ramp is just incredible. How have you been liking ooze? I'd think about playing a couple brimaz over ooze. I also wasn't playing wilt leaf to increase the odds of hitting two creatures.
I've been testing th deck with collected company, no rhino, and more three drops. Collected company is insane, I think it is much better than wilt lief or rhino if you build around it. Getting a smiter plus a voice at instant speed is just absolutely insane.
Knight of the reliquary has been underperforming though, I might just drop black and go naya for wooly loctar and wild nacatl. Also considering a hatebears shell.
Collected company is bonkers in a gw aggro style deck with voice, smiter, finks, knight, etc. as well. Really looking forward to trying this card out, in place of wilt leaf liege. The ability to upkeep it is really great against control.
Isn't mindcensor in these lists almost exclusively for bloom titan?
I have found the matchup (at least in my list) in our favor.Also, a one of wont do anything without a way to tutor it or Gods luck.
I know what you mean that you will rarely draw one. However, from a purely statistical perspective, you are still marginally improving your win percentage.
In fact, we know side boarding up to 4 cards can be worse because there are diminishing returns to hate cards, i.e., drawing multiples is often very bad because they are redundant. It's the first copy that statistically has the most impact.
Another thing to keep in mind with side boarding decisions is that increasing your win percentage by 1% has the greatest impact on your match win percentage when your per game win percentage is around 50%. That is, if you can choose between increasing your win percentage by an identical amount in a horrible, mediocre, or great matchup, it is best to do so in the mediocre matchup.
The game state is the one in the attached image. You know the opponent has a drowner in hand and a blessed alliance, from when you tidehollowed.
Here's what I did:
Attack with thought knot. Wait for him to blessed alliance, then vial in flicker, flickering my thought knot. This lets me take the drowner, which won the game.
This kind of situation is why the only deck I'll ever play in modern is taxes! Just switched from GW (which was 54-30) to E&T (which is now sitting at 32-14 in leagues). I'm super pumped for concealed courtyard, I'll probably drop the two vents and a plains and run 3. I realllly dislike the card shambling vent.
Eron,
I am trying a list like yours on MTGO after having played GW hatebears, and a couple other lists. It's performing very well so far, my first friendly league gave me the 5-0. I'm wondering, when do you bring in the Gideons? I'm thinking Jund/Jeskai/assorted other control decks. However, in those matches I always want to hit my sphere creatures quickly, which seems like it would make the Gideons incredibly hard to cast. Have you found this to be the case?
Congrats on your results online, out of curiosity, what kind of win rate are you pulling in leagues with your mono white lists?
I think the power of this card is to find the missing combo piece (or the silver bullet hate card) very quickly before the opponent can do anything about it, and generally I think it's stronger with the two card combos since it can accelerate out the 5-drop.
Well that is the approach highlighted in the primer on the first page.
http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=9064&d=251636&f=MO
Mana dorks aren't so bad of a top deck in a deck that runs having township, and they are critical to have in your opener.
I made a post about a couple of the lists I've been testing over here if you are interested:
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/597844-dtk-spoilers-modern-discussion?page=34
I am interested to hear any suggestions.
I've tested it in a few lists and it's been good in all of them.
Here are two of them I've messed with:
The first list is all out aggro, I need to fine tune it some more. It plays knights and 1 of utility lands. This deck has no trouble battling through goyfs, rhinos, and tasigurs. It also has access to rending volley in the sideboard for twin.
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Windswept Heath
4 Arid Mesa
2 Forest
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Stomping Ground
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Plains
1 Slayers' Stronghold
1 Temple Garden
1 Kessig Wolf Run
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Loxodon Smiter
3 Woolly Thoctar
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Collected Company
4 Path to Exile
The Death and Taxes list is probably not so good in a field full of lingering souls and electrolyzes, though collected company+flickerwisp/splicer is a sweet combination. The first list is likely better right now. Suppose your opponent has a goyf or tasigur down, and you have company but no path. If you company into say a blade splicer and a voice, you can't swing through. However, if you company into a knight/thoctar, and anything else, you are getting through. This is also why I don't have brimaz in these lists.
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Birds of Paradise
4 Leonin Arbiter
4 Flickerwisp
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Loxodon Smiter
4 Blade Splicer
4 Collected Company
4 Path to Exile
Lands
4 Temple Garden
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Horizon Canopy
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Tectonic Edge
3 Forest
2 Plains
I also had it in an abzan/wilt liege style deck. I didn't find black was adding much to that list though.
Conditional on not having selected a card, that means that the conditional expected value of that card to you is less than that of a random card.
This is also a reason for collected company actually having a secondary "value" effect: on average the cards it puts to the bottom are cards that worth less to you than an average card, given that you didn't select these cards.
I've been testing something similar and it's been insane as well, the value plus ramp is just incredible. How have you been liking ooze? I'd think about playing a couple brimaz over ooze. I also wasn't playing wilt leaf to increase the odds of hitting two creatures.
Knight of the reliquary has been underperforming though, I might just drop black and go naya for wooly loctar and wild nacatl. Also considering a hatebears shell.
1) It's value, selection, and ramp.
2) It's instant speed, so you can upkeep it against control decks and surprise block creature decks.
The scenarios I'm envisioning are hitting 2 of finks, voice, smiter, or knight of the reliquary.
I did the math and the odds of hitting only 1 creature in a deck with 30 targets are 8%, and hitting zero creatures, 1%.
I know what you mean that you will rarely draw one. However, from a purely statistical perspective, you are still marginally improving your win percentage.
In fact, we know side boarding up to 4 cards can be worse because there are diminishing returns to hate cards, i.e., drawing multiples is often very bad because they are redundant. It's the first copy that statistically has the most impact.
Another thing to keep in mind with side boarding decisions is that increasing your win percentage by 1% has the greatest impact on your match win percentage when your per game win percentage is around 50%. That is, if you can choose between increasing your win percentage by an identical amount in a horrible, mediocre, or great matchup, it is best to do so in the mediocre matchup.