MTG Salvation

Bit of a delayed mini-report for y'all from GP Toronto. 4-3 main event, but I was 4-1 going into round 6.

Here's what I ran:



Overall I went 3-1 in the last chance qualifier (almost securing 2 byes for the main event), 4-3 main event, 3-2 in the Mythic Qualifier the next day. I was really hoping to Day 2 again this year, but still not a bad showing. Had an absolute blast and I've been felt pretty motivated to play some Modern again.

As has been tradition, Skred is a pretty meta dependent deck. The top meta is (or was at the time of the event) Phoenix, Burn, Dredge, Amulet, Grixis Death Shadow. Main deck Angers and Relics clean up Phoenix and Dredge, Blood Moon is basically a win against GDS and Amulet, and Magma Jet helps us find what we need while taking care of the weenies or being incidental damage to face.

Let's talk cards.

4x Magma Jet: Shoutout to thnkr for testing and pushing this. I've consistently been surprised at how handy they are and how much you can count on them. Starting with 4x Magma Jet informed the rest of the tuning choices we made.

21 lands: I'm still not totally sure about this, but over the course of the weekend I honestly still felt like I flooded out more times than I was in a drought. Magma Jet and the usual Relic/Mindstone cycling are of course a huge help. I feel like maybe like .3 of a land extra might have been nice, but I didn't have time to experiment with 61 cards lists to find the perfect balance.

2x Hazoret: Goes toe to toe with almost any threat, the current meta has very little Path to worry about, and she's a complete stone wall with a built-in win con. I've gone up to 2x because of her value and ability to still weaponize the second copy if you happen to draw it.

1x Lava Coil: Mostly for the early Thing in the Ice or Prized Amalgam, but this could have easily been a Roast.

2x Goblin Dark-Dwellers: Cutting Stormbreath was a tough call, but again, with the lack of Path in the top meta, I just wanted the extra spot removal, Anger, Molten Rain, Surgical, and to be honest, even a free Magma Jet feels pretty good sometimes. The Menace is also quite relevant for pushing damage through. Really recommend trying it - Relic is not the obstacle you think it is when you plan accordingly.

2x Surgical Extraction (SB): I tested with a control expert who highly recommended this. It has relevant applications in a ton of matchups, but to be honest I still need to learn how and when to use it. I did get to use it against Dredge and Phoenix to great effect so I think it's worth the slots.

6x Lifegain artifacts (SB): This was kind of a trolly meta call, but it totally paid off since I ran into Burn twice. And to be honest, I had just accepted the combo deck losses if I ran into them (even though they're not great right now), so I felt I could afford the slots. See below for a hilarious board state against a poor Burn opponent.

This thread has been pretty inactive lately, but I really hope I can encourage you guys to start Skredding again - the time feels right!

I made Day 2 of GP Toronto with Skred!

Had a fun experience at FNM the other day. Crowd has been bigger lately because of the Fatal Push promo and we're seeing a mix of people coming in, including the hyper-competitive types from another shop that I don't usually play at.

The guy is on BG Rock and already I can tell he's the type of player I hate because when I cut his deck, he takes mine and shuffles it for like 30 seconds. It's an FNM bro.

Game 1 he's on the play and plays a Verdant Catacombs, passes. I play a Snow-Covered Mountain. End of turn, he foolishly fetches an Overgrown Tomb and mash shuffles 10+ times after doing so. Turn 3 I drop a Blood Moon on him, no response. I ride a turn 4 Koth to victory.

He comments, "Fun and interactive Magic..." while admitting he should have grabbed a basic.

Next game is even funnier to me. He actually fetches for basic Forest and Swamp this time, and has a Bob on the field by the time I drop a Blood Moon. You can see he's irked, but on his first Bob trigger after the Blood Moon, he finds a Maelstrom Pulse and has the mana to cast it. I figure he would want to actually play a game of Magic this time, but he decides not to play it. Next turn I Molten Rain his Swamp and lock him out of the game again and ride a Stormbreath to victory.

He goes on a small rant about how Blood Moon is his most hated card in Magic and how all the other "unfun" cards at least end the game quickly. I'm biting my tongue trying not to laugh, and all I could say after is "You had a Maelstrom Pulse."

I probably could have said more, but the salt was palpable. This was clearly the type of guy who felt he should have won because he had 4x Goyf and 4x Lily in his deck, and taking the win from him with a deck that costs less than those cards alone was so satisfying. Really refreshed my love for the deck even though I've been on it for over a year.

Not related to spoiler discussion, but I tried out a one of Hazoret the Fervent this week and want to echo the people who have been recommending her. Unbelievably good top deck, and to be honest even in the opening hand it's quite easy to sequence her. I played her after dropping P&K or Koth/Chandra, and never had a problem hitting 1 card in hand to activate her. Every time she came up I was happy to see her. I'd like to try running 2x but I'm unsure what to cut.

Skred coming in 22nd at this weekend's SCG Modern Open. Anyone in here?

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=114166

Really enjoyed reading all the recent tournament reports guys, thanks for taking the time to write them!

If Tron gains strength, personally I'll probably just go up to 4 Blood Moon main and 4 Molten Rain SB. I think we're still in good shape in the meta.

The main disadvantages of Fulminator are that you don't do damage and can't hit basics.

Fulminator could theoretically offer more beats and a potentially useful chump block + sac. But you lose the ability to take out their basics when under Blood Moon, or redirect damage to a planeswalker when you destroy a non-basic. (Relevant, in my opinion.)

You can definitely try it out. I don't see it being significantly better or worse, though I feel like Molten Rain is a better fit.

I've been playing the Adonis2k list (minus a couple substitutions because of availability: +1 Snow Mountain -1 Scrying Sheets, +1 Magma Jet -1 Roast, and some SB cards) for the last several weeks and I have to say I'm loving it. In paper events I've gone 3-1, 4-0, 3-1, so 10-2 overall. The deck is so insanely efficient that it feels like it plays itself sometimes. The meta is definitely ripe for us right now. One loss was the first time I played the deck in paper so I made some mistakes, and the other I had to mull to 5 twice in a row. Every Tier 1 deck is beatable, if not favored.

The more I play the deck, the more I respect both P&K and Eternal Scourge. Pia and Kiran are all-stars in this deck and I'm almost always happy to draw them. They clog the board and let you ult Koth most of the time, but also make combat tricky for the opponent, and they're just a huge swing against decks like Affinity, Infect, and Jund. Eternal Scourge is a sleeper, too. It's a surprisingly relevant body, and the synergy with Relic/Anger is fantastic. Someone I played against just gave me a pre-release promo copy of one the other day because he said it's the first time he'd seen anyone play the card and was impressed with what it did.

Thanks for sharing the list, Adonis2k, it's been a blast!

I'm wondering what the cuts would be for +2 Chandra TOD. I'm using her on Xmage and I think she's quite solid. I went -1 Chandra Pyromaster and -1 Mizzium Mortars but I'm not sure. I wouldn't feel good cutting a Koth or P&K - I really like these as 4-ofs for the consistency.

I'm also considering Obliterate as a 1-of because T2 Mind Stone, T3 Koth, T4 obliterate seems too fun to pass up.

Hello, fellow Norin enthusiasts! Been lurking for quite some time, but thought I'd join the discussion at this point what with the shiny new thread.

After playing the game on and off casually for ages, last summer I finally started getting into some competitive play at a LGS. I've always been a fan of strange card interactions and love eternally tweaking/brewing, and Norin has been my project for the past several months. I've had success in beating some high tier decks like Twin and Junk, and figured I'd share my take on everyone's favorite cautious adventurer:

Norin's Toolbox



As with most Norin decks, the base is there. Norin, Soul Sisters, Champion of the Parish, and Ajani's Homeboy, and Purph are all in the party. Where I've diverged a bit is by taking it in the enchantment direction. (Shout out to cloudman for the inspiration in the old thread!)

I don't mind stalling for a while with life gain while baiting out removal with Champion and Pridemate. In fact, usually the longer a game goes, the better it is for me. Idyllic Tutor works as a wild card to fetch either Purphoros or important hate in game 2/3, while Heliod's Pilgrim has access to an assortment of tools to buff up the team while being a Human to trigger Champion of Parish and be uncounterable with Cavern of Souls. Ajani Vengeant is always nice to find - slow down the game until you can ultimate, or just use him for the Lightning Helixes. I'm running City of Brass because with the amount of life this deck can gain, it's totally manageable and allows me to explore splashes more easily. (Also I've been a bit paranoid about the Pacts since the recent Pro Tour.)

Why enchantments?
Typically I see Norin decks run the one-of Legion Loyalist to grab with Ranger of Eos for the finish, but if it gets countered or bolted on the spot, then what? I like having some redundancy and a toolbox to pull from:
Angelic Destiny - Used when you have a small number of creatures on the board to make a Sister or Myr into a threat. Also relevant with Champion or Ajani's Pridemate on the field to give them evasion/first strike. Coming back to hand on death can be nice when it works, or will make the opponent groan to waste a Path to Exile on an enchanted Myr or Sister.
Elemental Mastery - If you have a big Champion or Pridemate on the field, this ends the game.
Fallen Ideal - When you've got a swarm of Myrs or Sisters, this can be used to essentially fling them all in one fell swoop. Also can give Champion/Pridemate evasion. (If you have City of Brass on the field.)
Blood Moon - Shuts down certain decks as we all know. Make sure to grab basic Plains in advance.
Mark of Asylum - This is more of a local meta call as I run into a lot of burn - especially Electrolyze which hurts our poor ladies quite a bit. Post board combines with Worship for a near auto-win against many decks.

In reference to the City of Brass above, I've also been looking into other options for these slots. Because we usually fetch these enchantments anyway, I'm slowly experimenting with things like Phyresis, Unflinching Courage, or good old Rancor. Just fetch the appropriate one based on what land is available.

Sideboard
Having a bunch of these enchantment fetchers also lets us have a huge sideboard toolbox of one-ofs to deal with lots of problems:
Aegis of the Gods - Discard/burn effects. Leyline is probably better but out of my budget for now.
Spirit Mantle - Relevant to defend against Infect or to push damage through.
Suppression Field - Shuts down Splinter Twin, can help a bit against Affinity.
Wheel of Sun and Moon - Prevents graveyard/Snapcaster shenanigans. This one's also an aura, meaning you can grab it with Heliod's Pilgrim as well.
Curse of the Nightly Hunt - Pretty much an auto-win against Soul Sisters and Merfolk in my experience.
Ghostly Prison - Generally useful against fast aggro, also against Splinter Twin.
Curse of Exhaustion - Slows the pace of things down to go in our favor, but particularly relevant against Control match ups. They now have to choose very carefully what to counter/bounce on your turn.
Worship - This will grind the game to a halt (works in our favor) or cause the opponent to concede outright. Hilarious if you can also have Mark of Asylum on the field.

Tough match ups
The decks that have been giving me the most trouble are Affinity, Infect, and various U/R variants that run burn with counters/bounces. (Though I haven't faced many control decks since adding the Caverns of Souls, which should help a lot.)

Conclusion
This isn't a deck that tries to win especially quickly, but it can take a beating and keep going - Norin is a survivor, if nothing else. Of course, an opening like Champion > Champion + Norin can win on turn 4 if you get the draw. I find it's just a ton of fun to play. Opponents are rarely prepared for the bag of tricks accessible with Idyllic Tutor and Heliod's Pilgrim. Being able to choose the most relevant win condition based on the current board state is a boon - if I already have Norin + Genesis Chamber, I'll pull Purphoros. Sisters + Ajani = Elemental Mastery. Random junk = Angelic Destiny.

Any feedback (especially about my trouble match ups) is very welcome!

Quote from Fireslinger »

“Remember the moral of the fireslinger fable: with power comes isolation.”
—Karn, silver golem

Behind the Player - A History of why I chose Pyro Prison - (Skip to red text if you'd like to get to the Pyro Prison content)
You may be wondering, why are we approaching my history within this community? This has been talked about Ad Nauseum on my stream, but let me Bring to Light why maybe red decks have been my Beck // Call. Why maybe I'm simply a Dragonmaster Outcast though I'll admit I try to have a Cryptic Command over "U" (Blue) decks. There may be an Ancient Grudge about the banning of Birthing Pod that made my decisions tough. So let's Rally the Ancestors in due Collected Company for a little reading of the Martial Law and pass the Knowledge Pool of why FluffyWolf settles to not be an Eternal Witness to his Primal Command of Green, nor Blue, nor White, nor Black. Let me tell you, why of all cards, I like Blood Moon, but... first... Backt o Basics.

In 2012, I returned to magic. This was after Return to Ravnica where I built a BW Exalted Deck, which I believe I still have at least the 60 maybe even the 75 saved off of what I played. I entered my first local tournament, and although I did not win I remember beating one of the top players after exalted triggers, Rancor, and Ajani, Caller of the Pride. I took this, and made the hasty swap to include some Restoration Angel in the deck for a GP. I did poorly. I obtained the playmat I hold cherished to me, and then I read up on Melissa Detora's Wolfrun Bant deck. I built it, I was struck, and Bant has been my thing since day one.



I explored and played heavily in Standard. Rotations came and this 'must rebuy cards' was eating at me. I am a man of investments, this format did not fit me. I explored into Modern, found a reddit post, and bought Scapeshift. I had read how powerful Cryptic Command was, I really liked the Lands Legacy deck, and was proficient at combo-control. I skipped over Birthing Pod as the deck, for cost reasons at the time. I knew I'd get that deck soon, but I needed to get into the format to see if I wanted to be that way.

I returned briefly to standard as Modern had not picked up enough in our area. KTK brought about the time where I carried two decks, Jeskai for Standard & RUG Scapeshift for Modern. Keep in mind I initially started my more competitive side as BW and Bant, but if you take me all the way back to when I began... I had things like Volcanic Dragon, Crimson Hellkite, I thought Firestorm Hellkite looked awesome and thought Jokulhaups was one of the strongest cards I had (Ice Age printing please). I also had a thing for equipment, specifically the Kaldra series. Big green creatures were obviously powerful, and the finer things of Tokens interested me (My first commander was Ghave, Guru of Spores) you can call me a "Junk" player, thank you. If you actually asked me, Bant, and Junk are some of my favorite combinations, but there was something missing, was it "Blue"?

Here I am, running Jeskai and RUG Scapeshift, and boy when Dig through Time showed up I knew what I was missing. Remember that I mentioned I wanted to play Pod, and the ban hammer was upon us. Regret, I missed out on the toolbox, what is this? Bring to Light yes! What was my favorite deck currently? Legacy Taxes, give me that Rishanda Port but not because it was oppressive to the opponent, no... because it required extensive knowledge of the decks your opponents were playing. You had to know their deck just as much as yours.

I explore options, I play Rally Fenza deck to a Top 8 and finish First. I explored Free Win Red, and the idea of controlling and locking my opponent out was great. The Chalice of the Void being on 1 or 2, but, I needed to know more about my opponents. It was also too slow. Scapeshift... Narset Cannon... Omnithragdoor was back in the day... Wolfrun Bant... Rally Fenza... BTL Scapeshift... Green Devotion Combo... During my development of Green Devotion combo, I noticed that time walking my opponent for a turn by picking their most useful land was amazing... what if they just couldn't use that land period? I stumble back to FWR, something told me this deck was more, that there was more power here, the meta and people over all these years were so greedy, I knew this, a Scapeshift player, everyone was at 18, 15, or even less. I found this community. I knew the power of a T3 Rabblemaster in Standard, how many times did I play Mantis Rider or Goblin Rabblemaster to hear my opponent go "Yep... that's a Mantis..." "Yep... that's a Rabblemaster..."

Reading... reading... T1 Blood Moon - Most would be sold on this. T1 Rabblemaster! - Most would be sold on this... Below, is what sold me on this.

Quote from Raystack »

...
Matchup Analysis

A "Sideboard Deck" doesn't have a bad matchup . Owing to our reactive nature, we are best suited to defeat linear, singularly focused decks. When pitted against opponents who also seek to control and overwhelm with selective denial and card advantage, our shrewd use of pro-active win conditions shine. Important Note: we are already partially 'pre-sideboarded' against our opponents in game 1, and then adapt into a full-on Bad Matchup for them after sideboarding. Opponents, on the other hand, rarely have a favorable Game 1 matchup against Red Prison, because they are building against Tier 1 decks. Even worse for them, their sideboards will typically blank on answers. Sure, they'll have some Affinity hate which applies to us as well, but otherwise Pyro Prison is very difficult to sideboard against.
...

Did you catch it? We are a Pre-Boarded deck. Many are going to say that's great. I see a mathematical problem to solve that is ever changing but pits your statistical odds in favor of your own pre-preparation, build, and understanding of your deck, and (check mark) the decks of the meta and format. Bingo, I could now understand all decks in the format that I chose. And as an aside, you will hear so many people tell us how terrible this deck is, how awful and how no skill is required. There may be the concept of 'auto-pilot' but I'll be damned if someone will tell me my preparation into the deck is not without some level of skill or effort.

I've built spreadsheets and done top 25 deck analysis to determine when prompted with the option to play any of our locks on T1, which statistically is the best, which mathematically hits the most decks, which will give me the best chance of winning. That pre-effort makes the mulligan choices simplistic at times and horrifically difficult at others, and yet my opponents at times will rant on about the lack of skill to play the deck. My friend, if only you knew the equations, stats, and other info I did. The test is easy, I make it look easy, I just did my homework beforehand... did you?

What have I check-marked now in my needs for a deck? Why was this likely the deck for me?

Quote from Alpine Moon »

“A rare and fascinating phenomenon.”
—Tamiyo

[x] - Competitive when built correctly (this can be said for everyone's decks that do well)
[x] - Required meta knowledge (not just knowing how to play your deck)
[x] - Tickles that inner Johnny combo, that token enjoyment, and feels inherently powerful
[x] - Fits in the realm of more Combo, Control, Midrange - You'll notice I am terrible at Aggro.
[x] - Not one dimensional - This may be my issue sometimes with aggro
[x] - Combo - Let me explain this one a step further. If you've watched you'll notice if I can find multi-card interactions this works wonders for me. Teferi & Knowledge Pool. - Rally Fenza & Graveyard with Persist Creatures, Scapeshift/Lands/Math, Bridge/Chalice/+Lock Piece. My combo is nomrmally assembling an unbeatable strategy. The pure adrenaline rush to getting there is... yep, awesome! If my opponent realizes an interaction that is going on I feel 1: I've taught my opponent something which is awesome 2: Gives me some pride that I have a depth of game knowledge aiding me with being a better magic player. (Notice this is a rather big checkbox, but I thought I'd explain it cause it essentially explains why the piece below fits in perfectly).
[ ] - Toolbox Deck and "Options" during gameplay - I missed Dig through Time, and unfortunately Pod was banned and BTL was not competitive... hmmm... Chord of Calling Decks? These have tempted me for so long.

Skip here if you are into more about Pyro Prison and less into FluffyWolf2

Redefinition of a Synonymous Card
Karn - When spoken in the world of Magic meant "Tron" and with "Tron" meant "Turn 3 Tron" - Groan. Newer players did not understand than learning the ability to cast a 7 Mana Spell that literally has on the text the ability to restart the game, awestruck.

Karn - The defining terminology to the Eldrazi. The keeper of Ulamog, the Buddy of Ugin, and owning a pet of Wurmcoil.

Karn - Tower... Mine... Plant...

Karn - An Anti Artifact Card. A Utility. Perhaps not dawning the Wizard who slings the spell and carries the back of the deck on his shoulders, but no... perhaps instead the Planeswalker providing foresight into the realm beyond, the sideboard, and expanding your deck to beyond the 60 with the efficiency of the 60.

Karn - Once synonyms with Tron, may soon be Synonymous with Toolbox, or... Maybe synonymous with Prison.

Quote from Spellbook »

“Everything the wise woman learned she wrote in a book, and when the pages were black with ink, she took white ink and began again.” —Karn, silver golem

Once was a household name to one particular archetype has now been broken of the mold. Time will tell how long Karn, the Great Creator expands his ever reaching hand, but keep this in mind, he is certainly shaping modern as we speak.

Red Prison - Today
There has been quite the shake-up in Modern. I'll dare say that even those among us would indicate Blood Moon is bad. Perhaps even magic planeswalkers have more foresight then we give them credit?

Quote from Engulf the Shore »

“The tides have begun to ignore the moon.” —Tamiyo’s journal

Either way, Red Decks are some of, if not THE most powerful cards in Modern at the moment. UR Phoenix, Storm, Burn, Hollow One, Dredge (The Red cards tend to finish it), GDS, Jund & Affinity have their smattering of them, even Mardu was prevalent, and let us not forget our good friend Ponza and Scapeshift/Titan Shift. Certainly, there are others on the rise, but you cannot deny Red has power and backing. So where do we fit?

Modern is extremely fast, we as a Prison deck restrict powerful decks from executing their plan 'on time' we slow the game down but in a restrict manner compared to control which seeks to control within the moment of spells, we simply seek to control the game itself. With the expanse of modern though, this becomes extremely difficult, and if we do not adapt and learn, we may be just like our fiery red head planeswalker.

Quote from Dovin"s Veto »

“I see you’ve learned nothing, Chandra. You’d still put a match to something rather than understand it.”

But we shouldn't be alarmed, in fact, we have a great following here to iterate the game plays and optimize the deck. We abound on our vast knowledge, past experiences, and the legacy of this deck to determine new lines, but we welcome all brought into our community for the fresh eyes.

Quote from Victual Sliver »

“We are kinfolk,” explained Karn to the sliver queen. “Just as you need your progeny to complete you, so do I need the pieces of the Legacy to make me whole.”

Toolbox - Something Different
Let me be the first to say this is going to be a challenge for many here. Toolbox decks are not accustomed to red players necessarily. Maybe the graveyard, maybe something with artifacts, but not toolbox. Some will play this deck to no end and have no luck, and others will dominate and find it steps from a perfect middle ground of exactly enough power and just enough edge. We will define the premises of a toolbox, and the initial 'how do I sideboard' here.

Quote from Time Reversal »

“Optimists see the world as they wish it to be. Pessimists see the world as it is. Must these roles be mutually exclusive?” —Evo Ragus

What is a Toolbox Deck
A toolbox deck utilizes tutors. In tutoring the player is given the option to find pieces necessary or deemed correct in a situation to further their gameplan. Typical tutor based decks in modern include cards like Chord of Calling, Summoner's Pack, Whir of Invention and Inventor's Fair, Mystical Teachings, Glittering Wish, Bring to Light and Tolaria West to name a few. Depending on the instantaneous nature of the tutored card determines the strategy to imply in your thought process when obtaining a card.

How a Toolbox Deck Sideboards
This one is difficult, and always be. There will be arguments in both camps to 'maintain your toolbox' and others to say 'your toolbox does not matter, go with gameplan B.' We must remember what our Gameplan A was prior to any toolbox action, and determine if Gameplan A was better then technically our Toolbox B plan. What do I mean with this?

When evaluating your cards, determine if a T3 Karn fetching what you need will help you. You will likely play that card on T4, and will you be dead? Here we are, if you read from the beginning you will have at least heard me say "Modern is a Turn 4 format" somewhere. This holds true to our beefy 4 Walker tutor. Not factoring London/Vancouver mulligan, deciding if the deck is 'slow enough' that is your opponent to warrant the toolbox may be critical to victories or losses. Let me provide an example.

Humans - Although you may say "3 Karn, YES! I have "3 More Bridges" in my deck" - Do you really? How many have lost to a T2 Thalia. Now your Karn is a T5 Karn, your Bridge is a T6 Bridge, and you're not playing efficient spells to ritual out your Karn quickly. T6 - T7, bridge good enough? Maybe if you board wipe, so leave it in, if you have more spot removal or minimal removal, maybe not. On this decision point you can decide, do I look for and bring in and 'neglect my sideboard toolbox' or do I split the difference.
This will be determined on playstyle - Which I hate to say, but is true.

If you see the deck in one light, or another, you will naturally mullgain in a certain fashion. Here I would likely tell you to drop 2 Karn, drop the package all together for a Bridge/Torpor Orb - but consider leaving a chalice out or consider leaving spellskite out. You may do the reverse where you bring in the torpor orb and the bridges and spellskite, and neglect Karn also - Both of these are correct. Both of these will come down to the mulligan, and BOTH of these will come down to your understanding of your opponents deck.

I'll have more on this later, maybe, maybe I'll do a video, maybe I won't have time, maybe maybe. I want to leave you this though that the deck is powerful, it is doing powerful things, but will be very frustrating to many people initially. Just like the learning curve initially of Pyro Prison, this is a new learning curve. Don't be frustrated immediately if it doesn't work, but find if it does work. Keep in mind original Pyro Prison is just as powerful, and don't be discouraged. We have a lot going on in Modern right now, we'll see how War of Spark and Modern Horizon's shake things up! Till then, sling spells Kinfolk!


https://www.streamdecker.com/deck/cjVSLMS_VX

Hey all, I'm actually the creator of the Naya Soul Humans list above. Happy to answer any questions. I just hit my 100th game win with the deck and am at exactly (oddly) 80% match and 70% game win rates.

I have a good friend of mine who plays a lot of Dragon Skred, and he's a huge proponent of Heart of Kiran in the deck. Turns out, it's a great combination with Sarkhan for few reasons. The first is you never really get to ult Sarkhan anyway. You're not playing to it and usually his plus abilities are better anyway. With that in mind, you can afford to get some extra value out of his counter by crewing a Serra Angel. Secondly, if your opponent attempts to kill Sarkhan with an attack, he's probably dying even if you could block. In that case, why not spend the counter to eat an attacker? I highly recommend you try it. I personally have no experience with the card, but I trust my friend enough to say you should give it a shot.

On a separate note, I have been given control of the Skred primer! I'm going to make a new one because a lot has happened since 2016.

Sorry for the wall of text, I have been meaning to make this post for a while but only have mobile right now.

Hey guys, been a while. I came in 27th place at GP Detroit with my Saheeli build. I was 11-2-1 (I am including 1 G3 I couldnt finish because my teammates lost as a win).

We don't always arrive at our destination at 1:30am Saturday morning to compete in a GP main event, but when we do, we top 32- My team, probably

4 Birds of Paradise
2 Noble Hierarch
4 Oath of Nissa
4 Louts Cobra
3 Voice of Resurgence
4 Renegade Rallier
4 Eldritch Evolution
4 Saheeli Rai
1 Reclamation Sage (Soon to be Knight of Autumn)
4 Felidar Guardian
1 Worship
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1 Restoration Angel
1 Kiki Jiki Mirror Breaker
1 Sun Titan

4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Hallowed Founatain
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Mountain

SB
2 Stony Silence
1 Rest in Peace
1 Path to Exile
1 Fiery Justice
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1 Inferno Titan
1 Devout Lightcaster
1 Manglehorn
1 Goblin Chainwhirler
1 Izzet Staticastor
1 Auriok Champion
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Tamiyo, Field Researcher
1 Nahiri, the Harbringer

This deck is insane. Often when you punt professionally, like myself, you win anyway. The only tier 1 deck I don't want to face every round of every tournament is Humans.

Speaking of which, I may or may not have been concerned about the humans matchup. I had 1 evening to test, and several stand up individuals went above and beyond to give me the practice I needed this tournament. Ron and Bobby, here is your mid paragraph internet fame. I know, I know, I go to far. So, anyway, after testing, 1 voice was cut from the main for a cheese win button in worship. That was a mistake. NEVER do that. My maindeck was otherwise stock and has not deviated since Shalai was printed. My sideboard was weird because Team Unified. I had a plan for humans, and like that Eminem song, I'm not afraid. I register my 75 with minutes to spare. I call fetchless storm will be here, and I don't bring a single card for it.

Round 1 Storm

G1- On the Draw
Well, can't say I was surprised. Even kept a fair 4 land, Voice, Rallier, Shalai hand. But hey, I am the best, so I draw a bird off the top. G1 is weird, I hide behind Shalai for 15 minutes and before I can get him he finds his MD unsubstainiate. Ded. this game took at least 15 minutes.

Board plan? Idk man, like 1 card. Get me.
G2- On the Play
Things have not gotten this awkward since that dance in 8th grade. I have a T2, you have a T2. Let's dance. With slow hands. awkward. So, I don't know what happened, the other 2 matches split so its on me. The pivotal turn I elect not to shock myself to set up for the kill the following turn. It would have put me to 11. Just a gut feeling. He proceeds to grapeshot for 11, and hast wipe my board and leave him with a baral and me with nothing. In our current, his darkest timeline, he gets beat to death after. We are boarding for G3 and time is called. IAMTHEBESTpleasekillme

0-0-1

Round 2- Mono G Tron

G1- On the Play
Hey, look. A fair hand! With a voice, Rallier, and Worhip + 4 lands to cast these spells! What could go wrong! T3 Tron. Got me.

Board plan + 2 Stony, 1 Manglehorn, 1 Magus of the moon
- 1 Worship, 1 Shalai, 2 Voice

G2- On the play
So, I know this is reddit. If a G1 natty tron doesn't take us to the red sea, how about a casual t1 map, t2 2nd tron piece, t3 O-stone and relic, t4 Ugin? Tell me about your jimmies. Good thing I can loose boys, she taps out for ugin, honestly a pretty reasonable play. I do the classic play this lotus cobra, play a fetch make 3 mana, play rallier recur fetch make 3 mana, evo cobra into cat, blink rallier get back that fetch, evo rallier get kiki. Had 2 fetches so a relic activation only got one. Tragic story, really.

G3 On the Draw
She has her 1st medium hand and I have my 1st good hand of the day. T3 kills is what we're here for. Turns out T2 Saheeli is a good play. 1 of my teamates pulls through.

1-0-1

Round 3- Mardu Pyro

G1- On the Play
Keep a hand of Oath, cobra, Saheeli, Rec Sage, 3 land. Lets do this. I love the mardu pyro matchup. I want to play it all day, every day, G1 reminds me why and he dies to combo.

Board Plan + 1 Chainwhirler, 1 Nahiri, 1 Tamiyo, 1 Inferno Titan
- 1 Felidar Gaurdian, 1 Evolution, 2 Noble

G2- On the Draw
His disruption was scripted by Tarantino himself. He topdecks flawlessly. I die with a worship out and an uncastable Auriok champion in hand due to fetching around blood moon.

G3- On the Play
Long story short is we had a couple judge calls this game do to a few mistakes on my opponents part. Relevant because we received a 5 minute time extension. I die on T2 of turns, him having dealt with Auriok champion, Shalai, Rallier, Voice, and Saheeli all on board at once, a worship joining them. I'm the the deciding match for the team. I fail. This is one of Mono Blue turns 2 losses on the day.

I should never lose this matchup. Discussion afterwards leads to taking worship out in the match. I win handily in either G2 or 3 if that worship is a voice and recur it with Rallier shenanigans.

1-1-1

Round 4 Mono G Tron

G1- On the Draw
He Turn 1 relics. Noice. Combo kill you T3 anyway? Good talk. G2.

Board plan + 2 Stony, 1 Manglehorn, 1 Magus of the moon
- 1 Worship, 1 Shalai, 2 Voice

G2- On the Draw
Nothing to see here, T3 kill him again. Salty but nice guy. We talked how the Lion's might be good this year. Looks like a clean double loss on his part. Mono U turns takes down Abzan and we are still alive.

2-1-1

Round 5- Esper Control (Black splash just for Surgical)

G1- On the Play
Goes a little long, which is a game I'm fine playing when my opponent isn't killing me. I dont have it in my notes, but I think he tapped out for Jace. Regardless, I top decked Saheeli with Cat and land in hand, birds and 4 lands in play. Play land, play cat, blink land, play Saheeli. Got 'im.

Board Plan + 1 Magus of the Moon, 1 Tamiyo, 1 Nahiri
- 2 Felidar, 1 Evo

G2- On the draw
We both mull to 6 and keep. My hand is good but not fast. I find my window on T6 when he has 6 lands out, 4 nonbasics to go with a plains and island. I had absorbed most of the resources from his hand. Evo resolves, I get magus. Win the game handily from there. Bringing Magus is usually not correct vs UW, he had 1 B producing land in his deck for surgical and fetched mostly basic G1. Sometimes you just gotta trust your instinct. Teamates get there.

3-1-1

As we are sitting down round 6 my mom contacts me and says she was in a car accident with my brother and sister. Other then her injury and the fact I know no one was killed I am in the dark. This is relevant the rest of the day, particularly round 6 as I am in space with my thoughts and concern. I did not have time to tell my team before we were in round 6 games either.

Round 6- On the Draw
My opponent goes T1 Island Vial. I turn and stare at my teamate until he looks and frowns. I say "It aint Merfolk. Win." It's humans. Long hair, don't care. The deciding moment is him putting meddling mage on felidar guardian, and dying to evo getting cat to get him with kiki.

Board Plan + 1 Path, 1 Justice, 1 Gearhulk, 1 Inferno Titan, 1 Auriok Champion, 1 Mangle horn
- 1 Rec Sage, 2 Felidar Guardian, 2 Evolution, 1 Voice

G3- On the Play
My opener has inferno Titan in it and no targets for freebooter. But 1 land. Keep. The turning point is when I aggressively evo a rallier on board into kiki and pass with nothing else in play. Titan comes down next turn and gets cloned by kiki, wiping everything bu auriok champion from his board. My opponent fails to do anything relevant. I draw restoration angel. I tap all of my mana for titan. You guys see the problem? My teamate did. Aggressively whispering dude play resto didn't snap me out of it. He had to bump my shoulder. I retap and play resto and win. Honestly either play wins that game from that spot, but ya. Better lucky then good. Also teamates. We win the match.

Tell team whatsup with fam. Can't have a punt that professional when it matters.

4-1-1

Round 7- Hardened Scales Affinity

The only other team from back home there, of course. Great players, one of them came in 2nd at an SCG not to long ago. Relevant, we know center will be control and mono blue turns has to face down as foretold living end goryo's vengeance foil kill you.dec. I tell turns he is dead, he agrees. I have to win for us to have a chance and am in the dark. They know what I'm on but not my teamates.

G1- On the draw
He presents lethal the following turn with ravager despite my clutch rec sage on hardened scales. So I untap and combo him from nowhere with a topdecked lotus cobra to power out my pieces.

Board Plan + 2 Stony, 1 Manglehorn, 1 Magus, 1 Path, 1 Gearhulk
- 2 Felidar, 1 Evo, 2 Voice, 1 worship

There is an argument to bring in chainwhirler and staticaster. I like to live life dangerously.

G2- On the Draw
He wisely Ballista's my t1 bird and I don't recover in the face of his pressure.

G3- On the Play (Mull to 6)
Keep a greedy 1 lander with stony and bird. I manage to get stony down. It buy me the time I need to combo even though I miss my 2nd land drop for a turn. Kci falls to UW in center, its up to turns who is in G3. Somehow. On T4 of turns with less then 10 cards in his deck, he finds his last part the waterviel to present lethal. We win.

5-1-1

R8- Bant Spirits, our win and in for day 2 (I am terrified of spirits, its just one of the matchups other Saheeli players dont mind that I cant seem to win)

G1- On the draw
T1 Mausoleum Wanderer. Panic. I get hit down to 10 and am dead to a lord. I look my opponent deep in his eyes, to the point he gets uncomfortable and asks what I'm doing. "Seeing if you have it. You don't." is my reply. I cast Sun titan with a Saheeli in the grave and 1 in play. He doesn't have path despite leaving a white mana untapped all game. Infinite Sun titan's get him.

Board Plan + 1 Magus, 1 Auriok Champion, 1 Gearhulk
- 2 voice, 1 Evolution

G2- On the Draw
I haven no notes, just life totals. Mine hit zero. I believe I recall a Coco at the end of my turn to hit me for exactsies.

G3- On the Play (both mull to 6)
Over at seat C turns is falling apart against a great matchup. well, normal Valakut is anyway. That dude is Nayashift. Hot. Anyway, I have a sexy 6 with a cobra and cat. My opponent takes his T2 playing a land and 2nd noble. His Queller shields are down, Path is up. Cobra is in play. I untap and draw Saheeli. I go for it. He dies.

I'm mentally gone and leave the table to call my fam, leaving my team to hand their business. Classless, I know. Turns falls, going to 6-2 day 1. KCI clutches against storm and we are day 2 bound.

We end up going out to dinner with the guys from round 8. Little awkward at 1st, wont lie. Great dudes. Turns out G3 the spirits guy should've swung with hierarch, played a land, dromoka's command fought and killed my cobra. NOW that kids, is a line.

6-1-1

Day 2

Round 9 KCI

G1- On the Draw
My opponent mulls to 6 and plays a T1 spellbomb. I combo kill him T3 before he can do the thing.

Board Plan + 2 Stony Silence, 1 Rest in Peace, 1 Manglehorn, 1 Path
- 3 Voice, 1 Worship, 1 Shalai

G2 On the Draw
He gets me. I have no notes. I am scrub.

G3 On the Play
I keep a 1 lander with Birds, oath, Stony. T1 bird eats lightning, I miss land in my drawstep. Damn. I oath, Miss land. Pass. I'm in trouble. He does stuff. I miss my land again. He does more stuff. Deck, are you really gonna hurt me, are you really gonna make me cry? Land. Stony, go. He doesnt have an answer. After a very long game filled with my hate pieces he answers stony, but fizzles in the face of manglehorn. I untap, talk to teamate, swing manglehorn in a bid to get him to shoot it with aether grid. He does. 2nd main rallier back stony. Next turn rec sage grid. I'm the deciding match, and I get there right before time with combo.

7-1-1

Round 10 UW Control

G1 On the Draw
So this game the voice in my head is screaming not to swing voice and rallier into settle the wreckage. Wrong format, man in my head is my response. I swing, get settled, have a voice token and 2 dorks to go with my saheeli. He flips terminus blind off the top. Fool thinks he is going to live. Notes unclear, combo stuck in ceiling fan. Um. I evo something, apparently Shalai, into cat and kill him. Sure. That's a reasonable conclusion to a game of magic.

Board plan + 1 Tamiyo, 1 Nahiri
- 1 Worship, 1 Rec Sage (Lord Jaraxxus would use his threaten emote here)

G2- On the Draw
I lose a long, grindy game with my opponent at 5. Good battle, great game.

G3
My opponent Mulls to 5 and keeps, scrying bottom. Both my teamates lose. I do include this as a win in my book selfishly, as I like the UW matchup and have yet to lose to a mull to 5. I had a really good hand. only 7 min left, too. Ah, well.

7-2-1

Round 11 Storm

G1- On the Draw
*****.

G2- On the Play
Cobra goes unanswered. He dies to a T3 kiki cat board.

G3- On the Draw
We both keep 1 landers (Triple BoP ftw), he mulls to 6 and bottoms. We both miss our 2nd land for 1 turn, even though he visions. I go for Saheeli after he plays baral. He untaps, misses his 3rd land drop, passes. I draw a fetch. I have and evo, and Cobra. He has 2 open mana. I jam cobra, tapping bird and land. He opts, then unsubstantiates. I say sure, and see the line. -2 Saheeli, target bird, play cobra, play fetch, evo cobra into cat. Unreal. My team pulls through.

8-2-1

Round 12- Humans

G1- On the Draw
Saheeli is in play while I'm at a healthy 11 with a voice and his token that blocked twice. he plays meddling mage, naming felidar guardian. I look at the evolution in my hand, and draw the cobra to evo.

G2- On the Draw
Tough mull to 5 for my opponent. I have a 1 land 7 with bird, oath, staticaster. Game gets awkward, and I evo staticaster into gearhulk to make him sac a dude. I start beating him down with resto after blink gearhulk at the end of his turn next turn cycle. somehwere in here he draws a vial and has it on 2. I draw cat, play cat, he says sure. I make 20 cats and swing with the tokens, he has one in hand. He activates vial, I say sure, image copies gearhulk. Spectators watching this match start whooping and make a little commotion from the sweetness of the play. I say nice, keep gearhulk, saheeli, oath, and resto. He dies the next turn when he cant block resto. Turns ends up drawing with hollow one, although he had what he needed to combo which is sad.

9-2-2

Round 13- Mono G Tron

G1- On the Play
T3 get him. Nothing to it.

Boarding same as Day 1

G2- On the Draw
All I have written down is UGIN in all caps.

G3- On the Play
T3 combo again. Sorry pal. I can feel the Tron gods notice my presence.

I was on fire day 2, calling cards off the top (including my opponents), keeping sketch hands that worked out perfectly, Giving my team lines in decks I have no idea how to pilot, I was liquid magma. 1 round in my way from a pro point, top 16 cash, and bragging to my dudes how jacked my shoulders were from carrying them up this mountain.

Round 14 Mono G Tron

G1 On the Play
T3 kill after mulling to 6. after I'm getting my deck back from being cut after playing cat I knock my dudes sideboard on the floor. Talk about coordination. we call a judge, its cool, but I feel the water hit me and my edge slip.

Board plan as way above

G2 On the Draw
I magus soft lock him t3, with a Felidar Guardian in play and a cobra. He is dead to a lot of cards off the top. Evo, Kiki, Saheeli, titan, you name it, I wanna draw it. But I dont, he plays karn and unlocks himself, I promptly topdeck kiki and survey the board. He is at 4. I can swing out and he can miss blocks and die. Thats my out. I cant combo because of a warping wail in his hand he tried to cast through magus and had to call a judge on himself for. I play kiki and swing, he wins, no joke, because he remembered to activate and block with his token from that land that costs 7 to make a 2/2. Got me.

G3
My 1st truly unkeepable hand, 4 land, 2 Saheeli, Resto. I mull to a reasonable double evo hand and even draw a dork. He warping wails the dork, goes thought knot into thought knot and I die. Its up to my teamates, Turns gets bogles but kci cant overcome grixis shadow.

Tron players, if Saheeli is in your meta, warping wail might be the single card I fear the most. I does everything I don't want happening in the matchup.

9-3-2

The prize payout was to 24. We came in a cucumber cool 27th. Still sweet.

Hello guys!
Long-time player here, posted few of my better results and decklist in the past (as Cedric_CZ, had to do new account). I will share my current build, because I feel that it's something new and very good - personally, I think that it's the best version of this deck I ever played.

For starters, I will just briefly present my philosophy regarding this deck.
1) No Skred, no snow-covered theme. For deep explanation, search my older posts.
2) Be agressive. Blood Moon is the best when paired with agression and Modern is a fast format.
3) This deck had always the problem with proactive 2-drops and 3-drops (beside the Moon). Best T2 play was Mind Stone, then nothing, then Hangarback Walker, then Magma Jet. Walker is fine, but slow, Jet is ok, but unexciting. On three, there is Scourge and Reckoner, both fine, both with some upsides, but again, nothing special. I was always dreaming about a day when they will print something really, really good in these spots.

...and now about the new stuff:
4) New Sarkhan, by itself, is almost that thing I was looking for. Problem is, that he is not presenting a threat by itself. So the key is to make him a threat!
5) How to do it? With a great, high-power 2-drop, that presents fast clock on offense, good body on defense and is immune to lot of removal! And that card is...

Heart of Kiran

T2 Heart, T3 Sarkhan, loot, crew, atack for 4, having 4/4 flying blocker at the ready is just nasty. Koth, animate Mountain, crew Heart, attack for 8, blocker ready, is brutal. Chandra, add mana, play Heart, be ready on denefse is playing it safe, as well as Pia and Kiran, crew Heart, attack and still having Thopter back to block. You can also throw it with Pia and Kiran
Heart of Kiran gives you a lot of chances on T5 kill, and that is a fine clock when you pair it with a disruption this deck provides. Heart blocks Mantis Rider, most of the Spirits, kills Liliana on the first hit (and is immune to her edict effect) and much more!

Another thing with Sarkhan is that you can discard redundant Hearts (and Blood Moons etc.), so it plays well also in this way. What is IMO bad on the Dragon versions I saw is that they are trying to play too many clunky dragons to make Sarkhan good. This way, you don't have to.

As a big removal spell for Anglers, Tasigurs, Eldrazi etc., I switched Roasts for Dismembers. This version is so fast, that paying life is not as big deal as it would be in a more midrange incarnation. Roast had the Lava Axe mode with Reckoner, but since I cut those, Dismember seems just better.

So - here is my list.



This is my current sideboard:

• 3x Shattering Spree
  
• 3x Chalice of the Void
  
• 2x Damping Sphere
  
• 2x Scab-Clan Berserker
  
• 2x Anger of the Gods
  
• 2x Dragon's Claw
  
• 1x Ensnaring Bridge

You can see that I don't have much anti-Bant Spirits stuff. Honestly, I'm not sure how to sideboard against them, what is good and what isn't. Probably more removal? Because Burn seems to be on a all-time low, I may switch Dragon's Claws with something against Spirits, like Rending Volley, or less narrow removal like Flame Slash. Any suggestions?

If you are interested, I can share my SB guide for the most popular 13 or so matchups.

Anyway, give Heart and Sarkhan a try! I really believe this combination

Cedric

Quote from Michai »

Hey long time follower and big fan of the deck finally got the last pieces today.

I was wondering if you @nal2 would be eventually so friendly to share a basic sideboard guide of yours :)?

Alright, here's a quick sideboard guide for my latest 5-0 deck on Magic Online.

vs Tron

+2 Gaddock Teeg
+2 Stony Silence

-3 Voice of Resurgence
-1 Reflector Mage

The plan is to assemble the combo asap. The more time they get, the more likely they assemble Tron or get to five mana to crack a Oblivion Stone. Mulligan if you don't have combo pieces or sideboard cards.

vs UR Storm

+ 2 Rest in Peace
+ 2 Gaddock Teeg
+ 1 Path to Exile
+ 1 Lightning Helix
+ 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric

- 2 Renegade Rallier
- 1 Eternal Witness
- 1 Reveillark
- 1 Acidic Slime
- 1 Militia Bugler
- 1 Oath of Nissa

This matchup should be pretty good after sideboard. Removal for their creatures come in and graveyard shenanigans come out since we are bringing in Rest in Peace. The last cards we take out, Bugler and Oath, could be something else, but we need to make some room for removal.

vs UW Control

+ 2 Gaddock Teeg
+ 1 Geist of Saint Traft

- 2 Reflector Mage
- 1 Lotus Cobra

I'm not gonna lie, this matchup is our worst imo. There are ways to win, but we need to get a little lucky and dodge Terminus which is the main reason this matchup is hard (not getting die triggers for Voice of Resurgence is rough).

vs Humans

+ 1 Path to Exile
+ 1 Lightning Helix
+ 1 Stonehorn Dignitary
+ 2 Worship

- 3 Voice of Resurgence
- 2 Renegade Rallier
- 1 Eternal Witness

This has turned into a pretty good matchup for me lately, especially if they start getting too reactive. The way we lose is if they go aggressive with Mantis Riders and Thalia's Lieutenants. I would recommend NOT sideboarding in Izzet Staticaster here, simply because they run 4 Phantasmal Image. You can also sideboard in Stony Silence in this matchup on the play, on the draw I think it's a little too slow.

vs Burn
+ 2 Worship
+ 1 Lightning Helix
+ 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
+ 1 Lone Missionary

- 1 Saheeli Rai
- 1 Eldritch Evolution
- 1 Lotus Cobra
- 1 Voice of Resurgence
- 1 Reveillark

This is a classic "a little bit here, a little bit here" sideboard since no maindeck cards are terrible. We do have some great sideboard cards though and the plan is to land a Lone Missionary and start getting it back with Ralliers and Felidar Guardians. I'm usually trimming some combo cards here since the combo is very fragile vs their spells and we usally win by gaining too much life and value or locking them out with Worship. Keeping Acidic Slime in is also important I believe, mainly because of Eidolon of the Great Revel.

vs Hollow One
+ 2 Rest in Peace
+ 1 Path to Exile
+ 1 Lightning Helix
+ 1 Stonehorn Dignitary
+ 1 Izzet Staticaster

- 2 Renegade Rallier
- 1 Voice of Resurgence
- 1 Eternal Witness
- 1 Eldritch Evolution
- 1 Reveillark

Again a "little bit here, a little bit here" sideboard, but here we bring in Rest in Peace so we can bring out some of our graveyard interaction cards. The upside with this matchup comparing to Burn is that they have less interaction so we can combo off more likely. The downside is Worship doesn't help vs Collective Brutality. Overall I think we're a bit favored in this matchup simply because we have so many blockers. Izzet Staticaster shines against Bloodghast, but can also kill Flameblade Adept with the help of Felidar Guardian.

vs Mardu Pyromancer

In this matchup I usually sideboard similar to the Hollow One matchup.

vs Jund

+ 1 Path to Exile
+ 1 Lightning Helix
+ 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric

- 1 Eldritch Evolution
- 1 Lotus Cobra
- 1 Oath of Nissa

This is a grindfest and while it's tempting to bring in Rest in Peace vs their Tarmogoyfs and such, I believe getting back Voice of Resurgance etc is very good vs all their discard and removal. We don't have a lot to bring out here, but I usually take out some Eldritch Evolutions vs deck with lots of discard/removals and/or counters. Eidolon of Rhetoric is here for Bloodbraid Elf and we can even bring in Izzet Staticaster for their Dark Confidant.

vs Grixis Shadow

This sideboard is very similar to the Jund matchup imo - sometimes we can bring in Rest in Peace, although grinding back our Voices are very strong. I haven't landed on which approach is the best, but the Rest in Peaces are better here because it hoses both Snapcaster Mage and their delve creatures.

vs Spirits

+ 2 Worship
+ 1 Path to Exile
+ 1 Lightning Helix
+ 1 Stonehorn Dignitary
+ 1 Izzet Staticaster
(+ 2 Gaddock Teeg if they're green)

- 2 Voice of Resurgence
- 2 Renegade Rallier
- 1 Acidic Slime
- 1 Eldritch Evolution

This matchup is similar to Humans with two exceptions - 1) Voice of Resurgance is better because of their flash creatures and 2) if they're on Bant, Gaddock Teeg hoses their Collected Company. Worship is also better in this matchups since they're less likely to have an answer for it.

Let me know if you have questions for some other matchups.

Quote from astebel »

Building Pyro Prison after watching FluffyWolf2 streams.

Why doesn't the deck run any fetchlands? Thin the deck a little. Watched lots of games where FluffyWolf2 drew lots of lands consecutively.

Even if the Blood Moon hits turn 1 or 2 the mana base just reverts back to mono mountain version.

Firstly welcome to Red. Secondly your question is a fine one. If you look back in my history of versions to this deck you will even see me play a Charbelcher version with the 21 land package. That one got this question of fetchlands a lot.

Deckbuilding is as narrow or as broad as you make it. A prime example of this is the question on fetchlands. So in our scenario we can run a total of 4 (Arid Mesa, Wooded Foothills, Bloodstained Mire, Scalding Tarn) for a grand total of 16/21 lands. In our current build you would need 10 lands out to draw Glorybringer and up tick with Chandra to cast our only second Goorybringer. So that is extreme but let’s shoot for the stars. That brings our total fetchlands from 16 down to 11. There is a problem though that leaves 7 mountains and 3 Caverns. So shave 3 more. We are now down to 8 fetches. Alright. 8 fetches and 10 lands to fetch. Seems alright.

As an avid scapeshift player there is nothing more then my delight of watching an opponent hit 18 life. This results in a turn faster for that deck. This is also true for aggro strategies.

Our worst matchups include very linear and aggressive decks. Let’s take Burn for example. Over the course of a game with that many fetches you would down your life total by no less then 2. We just gave them a Turn 0 Goblin Guide because of our deckbuilding. Ugh. That feels bad!

So did we come out on top though? With a possible mid game reduction of 4 cards (4 fetches) for 4 life we are now decreasing our chances of drawing a land by approximately (assume 8 (turn 8) cards in and you’ve drawn 4 fetches and fetched out 4 cards)

Draw 9 Fetch version (probability to draw a land): 31.7073%

This assumes you fetched 4 cards out meaning instead of 45 there are 41 cards and the reduction is from 17 to 13 lands.


Draw 9 Fetchless version: 31.7778%

This assumes you have no fetches. 45 cards remain with 17 targets.

This is just one draw deep.


If you draw two cards your probabilities are 53.9024% vs 61.81%. Obviously this is slowly becoming significant but the cost is 4 life. If given 2 draws versus 1 draw you also do the reverse of this with the probability to draw the card you need.



I’m on mobile on my lunch break but wanted to bring it up. I’d keep it fetchless. Maybe I’ll run a league to jam the theoretical max fetches and see how many times we would die to quickly :). I back things with numbers. Don’t think I’m blindly running Glorybringer and Abrades due to success. I’ve run the numbers


Edit. I believe my match checks out but please correct it I am off someone. Tried to do this while stuffing face full of sammich!!

I've owned Skred for a while, buying into it as a New Year's resolution to play more magic last year. I started on a stock list, altered to hell and back a few months, then went 0-4 for a few months in a row. I don't usually quit things, but that stomping streak coincided with a bad time in my life so I stopped playing MTG altogether. That said seeing your favorite deck on stream will do wonders for your interests in the game, and I wanted to try and ease back into playing again. I'm starting to feel like a person again and wanted to help inject some ideas into this Abrade and Magma Jet card discussion.

I liked to play a more Burn-ie Skred build. So I cycled in Forked Bolts, Magma Jets, Slagstorms, and Exquisite Firecrafts into the deck to see how they would work. I loved the utility of all these cards and I felt they helped grind out my opponent, but being out of the game for a bit I'm not sure how they fair anymore in current meta since the unbannings. So, if you willing to have the perspective of a lapsed Skredder, these are my experiences with some of the cards listed.

Magma Jet - As discussed it simply smoothing draws is powerful. In a lower CMC more burn heavy deck like my build, it helps tremendously. The added bonus of filtering the top deck for ToD's +1, Scrying Sheets, or (in a wild experiment) Thunderous Wrath* is super powerful and feels great. Taking out the Mind Stones feels bad when you are used to turn 3 Koth/Chandra/PnK, but being able to keep the board clean and smooth your draws felt nicer IMO. That said if you get to games where you have 15+ mana and you and your opponent are in the land of Grin, Mind Stone's pure card draw might be better.

*Note: Don't use TW. It is explosive but is just a bit too cute for my liking.

Exquisite Firecraft - This was a sideboard card that actually pulled a lot of work. I slotted it in instead of Ricochet Trap as my LGS apparently has never heard of that card and never has it in stock. Our 3-drop slot is focused on Sweepers, so it is an easy SB against low count creatures decks. The spell mastery has never really been a problem when I ran it, even with disruption (including our Relic) we can get 2 Instants or Sorceries in the bin fairly quickly. That said, I don't think this is ever mainboard material. If we wanted a dual purpose Removal/Damage Spell I've found Slagstorm to be better MD.

Slag Storm - Yeah, this is basically a Sweltering Suns that bolts instead of draws. I'm a player who is fine killing themselves a bit in order to beat the opponent. I prefer the damage aspect to the card draw of Sweltering Suns, but I will admit I've never played with Sweltering Suns. I think with the Magma Jet scry smoothing draws Slagstorm might be more flexible than Sweltering Suns. The self-damage from the bolt mode of Slagstorm is significant though, and it is really bad in fast aggro match-ups or late game when you and your opponent are low. Though you could be the monster who like the end matches with Double KO draws in which case this is your card.

Forked Bolt - This card is really strange. It is mostly another turn 1 play to kill dorks or to kill X/1's mid-game. The fact we have a lot of Sweepers does make this more of a contentious card. But I enjoyed the utility of it, and with the change to Planeswalker damage, it might have a good spot in certain builds of the deck.

Of note: I've loved Hazorret (Dog-Mom) in this deck. A lot of the card I mention being bad in the late she just turns into damage. I only run 1, so there is risk there, but she has yet to fail me. As mentioned by someone else she is like inverse Stormbreath. She beats face, draws removal, and kills if the opponent can't deal with her.

Cards I haven't tried, but have caught my eye but I'm going to test out:
Sweltering Suns - I've read about it here, and it was on my buy-list before I fell out of playing.

Abrade - More redundancy, more utility, more of what I like in my cards. 3 Damage or kill an Artifact. Funny enough, Abrade might be good in the mirror. Blowing up a Mindstone to cripple a traditional Skred decks reliance on turn 4 threats might it silly enough to work.

Searing Blood - Just another card I saw appearing in response to the rise of humans. Another 2 CMC card, it doesn't feel it will be as good as either magma jet or forked bolt, but I've had people swear up and down about it helping against 5c Humans.

Faithless Looting & Bedlam Reveler - I put these together because having one or the other doesn't feel correct. Faithless ideally gets rid of those dead cards I mentioned earlier. However, I feel FL doesn't do enough to overcome its card disadvantage. Bedlam is interesting as it dies to removal non-bolt/push but continues to draw cards. Both these cards are hurt by blowing up our Relic, but at the same time, this is a powerful engine if you can get it off. I want to try this eventually, adding a second Hazoret, and dropping down the curve a bit (less Mom and Dads and maybe only 1 Stormbreath) to see how it plays.

Other Red "HateBears" - This includes Direfleet Daredevil, Harsh Mentor, and Scab-Clan Berserker. Direfleet seems sweet, but too situational, eating a card from an opponents graveyard and casting it sounds powerful, but slows down my preferred plan of burn and churn. Harsh Mentor has the same problems, its a removal magnet that dies to all removal after maybe 1-2 triggers. I want my creatures to dodge some form of removal or have an immediate effect when I play them. Scab-Clan is a pet card of mine. It has the same issues as DD and HM, but the haste makes me want it to be good. There might be a build out there that goes more creature heavy with these three (or even Rampaging Ferocidon) instead of burn cards but that changes the deck to a more Skred & Taxes deck. Or Snow Tax if you will.

Squee - Newest Dominariat Card I saw. His stat line (2/1) leads me to feel he is weaker than Eternal Scourge (3/3); however I will test his out as he is stick has heck, isn't really taxing on our mana-base and if he gets Path'ed he nets a card, unlike Scourge who just dies to the target.

EDITED IN: Flamewake Phoenix - Fate Reforge might be my favorite set ever, lots of weird cards in it that I want to be good. Flamewake is one of those cards. We have a number of ways to recur it in this deck: Hazoret, Stormbreath, and +1 Koth, it's a hasty flyer, it sounds great, but I'm unsure of how it interacts with Relic. Squee and Eternal Scourge laugh at exile effect. Flamewake dies to a stiff breeze, but it keeps coming back, but usually when we are in the lead. It's interaction with Koth though does help give him stabilizing power, but even then it feels risky. Having never played a non-Scourge build I'm not sure much we care about creatures eating removal. Seems good with a Faithless Looting build.


Again, these are just some observations of mine to continue the discussion of Magma Jet and Abrade. Some of the cards mentioned have been used in the past Skred builds and might want to be looked at again depending on your builds. Specifically, a Faithless, Hazoret, Bedlam, Flamewake Phoenix build might be interested in the old Demigod of Revenge deck archetype. No idea if its good, but feels like a starting point.


EDIT:
Original Deck - https://www.mtgsalvation.com/decks/2902-skred
Burn Skred - https://www.mtgsalvation.com/decks/2903-hot-skred
Added in bit about Flamewake Phoenix.

Skred Tournament Report –Top 8 finish in - 65 Player Modern 2k

(this is a copy+paste of what I posted to reddit). I meant to get this report written up a few days ago but I’ve been pretty busy. I attended a 65 player modern tournament on April 7th and did fairly well with Skred. I apologize for the lack of details (like sideboarding notes, etc,) as I’ve never written a report like this before and was mainly there to have a good time, which I definitely succeeded in. I’ve been on Skred as my primary modern deck since October 2016 and I realize it seems a little weaker in this meta than it has been, but it surprised me with how well it held up at the event.

Decklist:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/skred-red-f2f-open/


Matches

KCI (Loss 0-2) – 0-1 Record

Started the day off with a loss. Not too familiar with the matchup and I had held up a relic game 1 thinking he needed to cast a sorcery to recur the graveyard and go off. Turns out it was a build that uses the mana to hardcast Emrakul, which happened both games. There was probably a lot of ways I could’ve handled the matchup better but my opponent was able to go off both games.


U/W Control (Win 2-0) – 1-1 Record

I’ve always found UW/x control decks to be pretty favorable due to the must answer nature of Skred’s threats and how poorly the removal lines up. Game 1 was pretty straightforward with me being on the front foot the whole time. A stormbreath and thopters from P&K did the majority of the work, and 3 bolts to the face cleaned things up once I had baited Cryptic mana out. Game 2 was pretty similar – I think the game was won by a monstrous Stormbreath.


Ponza (Win 2-1) – 2-1 Record

Another matchup that I’ve generally found to be favorable. He won the first match with some land destruction and me being unable to get back to 4 mana. Don’t remember the exactly details of games 2 and 3 but some molten rains directed at enchanted forests and removal for all elves did some work. The destroyed lands kept his mana in check and a Hazoret cleaned up the third game. Dealing with the combo of Nissa, P&K and BBE from my opponent was a bit of a tough value grind but in the end I managed to break through the stalls.


R/G Eldrazi (Win 2-0) – 3-1 Record

Wasn’t sure exactly what I was up against the first 2 turns of game 1 but I bolted the bird and the Hierarch that came out. I top decked a Blood Moon for turn 3 right before he got an Eldrazi Temple down and mana screwed him out of the game.
Game 2 turned into a topdeck war where I eventually got another Blood Moon down and Molten Rained his basic forest to keep him off Natural State. He ended up with 3 Matter Reshapers on the field before the moon hit so it was a tricky game of navigating that race without having to block too early. Eternal Scourge held off the attack for a bit and I finally blocked one Reshaper and Bolted the other one before turning the corner and finishing the game off.

Burn (Win 2-0) – 4-1 Record

The burn matchup is always a stressful one as it’s always a tossup a to whether or not the cards line up properly. Game 1 definitely played out how I wanted it to as I spent the first 3 turns removing his creatures (2 Swiftspears and an Eidolon). I got a blood moon down after killing Eidolon and it stranded some white spells in hand. From there, I closed out the game with both Eternal Scourges.
Game 2 went well with a good amount of removal, both Scourges out again, and a Dragons Claw that I drew into. I got on the beatdown pretty quickly so my opponent ended up having to direct burn spells at my Eternal Scourges. I think I finished the game at 18 life after the Claw Triggers gained about 7 or so.


Hollow One (Win 2-1) – 5-1 Record

This match was against a regular at our LGS and was friendly but also the best game of Magic I had all day. Game 1 I had a hard time catching up and eventually got run down by recursion without a relic available. Game 2 I found the disruption I needed and eventually closed out the game.
Game 3 was one of the best games I’ve played and had a lot of back and forth. I had access to 2 relics (both were eventually popped at the right times) but was choked on 3 mana (2 mountains and 1 stone) with a grip of 5 of my threats in hand. I was stuck doing nothing for a few turns but with the relics available before I finally hit the 4th land drop and the floodgates were open. From there, it was a matter of resource management to get my threats on board as quickly as possible through Koth and Chandra ramping, while preserving my life total through chump blocks and eventually answer most threats through bolts, Skreds and sweepers (including 2 for 3s to finish off Hollow Ones and Anglers). I stabilized at 1 life while chumping a Bloodghast and fading bolt off the top until I closed out the game with a Stormbreath and friends.


Mono Green Tron (ID) – 5-1-1 Record

Drew this round to secure top 8 and grab some food between rounds. Turns out my opponent was on some kind of G/x Tron. Glad I didn’t have to face that!

Bogles (Loss 1-2)

My opponent and I both knew our decks going into this match so we had an idea of how this was going to play out but I still had fun knowing it was probably a 90-10 matchup in his favor.
Game 1 was actually pretty close. Raced him with T3 P&K, and T4 and T5 Stormbreath. He was at 14 the last turn of the game and I had 13 damage + 1 bolt in hand (2 Stormbreaths, one monstrous and 2 thopters swinging in) but turn 0 Leyline made the bolt useless.
Game 2 went about as well as it could’ve. A turn 2 Ratchet Bomb managed to take out a totem armor and then a K-Return finished off 3 of his creatures at once. He didn’t draw many auras after that and I closed the game out quickly.
Game 3 was a loss with relevant cards in hand, but being on the draw made my 3 mana sweepers too slow. Tried to race but a Daybreak Coronet caused him to win the game and finish at 30+ life.

Thoughts/Card choices:

Stormbreath Dragon:
I had considered cutting 1 or 2 in place of Glorybringers and/or a Sarkhan for cuteness/removal factor but, as someone else on Reddit put it, “I’ve never been let down by Stormbreath Dragon.” I think the 3 of is pretty solid, although a singleton Glorybringer could be a reasonable meta call. Also, if you’re ever stuck at 4 mana with a Stormbreath and a P&K in hand, casting mom and pop will immediately result in a path directed at them so you can untap with 5 mana (happened 4 times that I can remember over the course of the tournament).

Eternal Scourge:
I have done a lot thinking about this card’s slot, as I feel other Skred players likely have, too. Sometimes it just feels bad but at the same time, I can’t seem to cut it. I used to run Reckoner when I first started playing the deck and I prefer what it does (walls small dudes, blocks eldrazi successfully and allows you to Skred the face) but I do acknowledge it will often eat their removal spell they’ve been holding and provide a tempo disadvantage. The week leading up to the tournament, I was scrutinizing this slot and was considering running Reckoner or Rabblemaster in its place but in the end I feel it was the right call to play Scourge. One day, something will come to take its place but for now I’ll be keeping them in the MD.

Sideboard:
I’m very happy with the sideboard. K-Return deals with anything pro-red in the format and provides an extra set of sweepers in matchups where that’s needed. I feel the 4 claws are necessary and I never leave home without them. Always seems to be at least 1 burn match anytime I play, even if they’re kinda bad in other matchups. I wish I had 4 Molten Rain when needed but 3 felt like a good number.


Conclusion:
I just can’t stop playing this deck! I feel the meta hasn’t been too friendly to Skred lately (maybe the rason for the lack of 5-0 finishes on MODO) but it still has legs.

FInished 2nd in a 70 people SCG-IQ today first time playing the deck!
Lots of fun. Will post a small report soon.