Please stop recommending Snapcaster and counterspells everyone, that's like saying Treasure Cruise is an improvement for Merfolk.
I don't really agree with this analogy or mindset, but here's a bunch of suggestions: Wall of omens is good.
24 lands seems a little low for a deck with 6 6 drops. You probably want some way to ramp up to 6 because modern is approximately a turn 4-5 format
Aven riftwatcher is a bit slow vs burn and isn't that awesome vs delver. They are ok, but overall low impact.
I play sun titan in my commander deck which uses him to lock people out of the game with fleshbag maurader. Fleshbag isn't good versus young pyromancer, but its an interesting card that you might want to try.
I personally don't like Hide //Seek unless you can cast both sides. Right now you only have 4 red sources to cast it. Not the end of the world, but you may want to consider a Stain the mindor some other card that performs that effect. That way you can hit all of the copies of the card you want to hit.
There have been some pretty drastic shifts in the mtgo metagame since worlds. According to the website I use to look at the metagame: Twin (almost) doesn't exist, tron doesn't exist, boggles is dying off, and jeskai ascendancy is on the rise. Additionally pod is more popular than delver. I'm working on some changes to the list to reflect this. I've cut 3 ghost quarters and 1 basic plains from my list and added 1 more emeria, 1 more mistviel plains (in anticipation for the mirror which is also starting to happen), 1 arid mesa, and 1 sacred foundry. What is this red source for? well here is my new sideboard that I just 3-0'd an 8 man with:
I cut 1 scorn and 1 blind obedience because their primary use matchups are no longer popular on mtgo. I also cut 1 disenchant to add a more versatile card. I added 1 castigate because I needed more tools to fight combo matchups. I also added Hide/Seek. Hide/Seek is basically disenchant, except that it has several upsides. The first is that you can bring it in versus basically everyone if you are worried about enchantment/artifact hate. I was playing against burn the other day, and I didn't bring in my disenchants game two and lost to leyline. Today, I brought in the hide/seeks and my opponent didn't have leyline, so I just used it to gain 8 life by hitting one of his cruises. The second is that it fights both the Ascendancy combos. Are they going for a gifts into Iona? Seek in response and hit their iona (or if you are concerned for elesh norn as well, just take their rites). This mode also hoses Ad Nauseam which I faced the other day. Not a huge matchup, but it is nice to incidentally have this. You can also use Seek to exile valakuts from scapeshift's deck. You can also bring this in vs pod. It kills the pod, or removes their infinite combo from the game or whatever other bullets (linvala, scooze) they might have. I like this card, but feel like it is only good if you can cast both sides.
Going forward, I may add more of these and potentially 1 more red source to the deck
ShivanDragon1701: Mistveil plains is a great land you should play atleast 1 of. It makes a great hawk loop, can be searched for with your fetch lands (also counts for emeria), and fights random surgical extractions. I don't think the Day/Wrath split is necessary because you already have 2 other wrath effects that are of different names, and no one in their right mind is going to surgical your wrath of god when you have sun titan/emeria in your deck. Other than that the curve seems a little high.
Overall I like the deck idea.
I definitely am interested in hearing how it plays out. It could be a great tool to fight the rise of certain combos such as the ascendancy deck with re-animator sideboard. I'm just concerned because of the creature counts. In my current list there are 19 creatures. 5 cost 4 mana leaving 15 left to accelerate the stain. Then, on top of that squadron hawk in the overwhelming majority of games comes down, searches out 3 more which make a nest in your hand and never get cast. That leaves 12 creatures left to accelerate a stain. Martyr really costs 2 mana, I've never cast one on turn 1, that leaves six 1-drops in the deck for the turn 3 stain.
My only concern is with Stain the mind. I have not played with it (or any of the variants) but a few things come to mind:
1. This deck usually doesn't have many creatures in play early game, is memoricide better? I imagine its debatable, with stain having higher upside as you could cast it as early as turn 3, or turn 4 if you want to leave up martyr mana. I'd say generally I only have 1 creature in play by the time either would get cast meaning memoricide costs the same without tapping my creature
2. Thinking about costs: will it come down fast enough to hit what it wants to?
3. It isn't white (my personal preference is to have all my nonlands include white in their casting cost that way you can maximize martyr activations). This concern isn't that great as it is only a 1 of, but it will cause some problems with the fast 6/6 draw, which usually beats the decks that Stain is good against.
Basically if number 2 isn't a problem I imagine it would be good.
Another option I was thinking about was potentially a 4th aven mindcesor. Pod is getting big again, and it also stops the gift sideboard plan of ascendacy. I'm apprehensive to try this out as I think 4 avens is too much on the draw.
Speaking of ascendacy, if it gets big I think that upping the disenchant count could be correct. My earlier versions of the list ran Keening Apparition because it can pressure life totals before saccing itself to kill a twin or ascendacy (as in both those matchups pressure is important). I cut it because disenchant is more versatile. What are your thoughts on this?
I recently added linvala after speaking to a person claiming to be Besteffen Van De Veen on mtgo on a trial basis. The midrange plan of pod really doesn't work and she is the only card that can completely shut down their angel combo(EDIT: she also turns off scooze. I hate scooze). She does come out versus a lot of decks, but its all about the percentages of the field each one is that matters. Currently my mtgo season 1 spreadsheet has pod as the 2nd most popular deck I have faced and affinity as the 3rd. She is good in both of those matchups. That being said if you don't want to shell out the money for her, I don't think she is THAT much better than alternatives.
Scorn is specifically for the boggles matchup (the 4th most common matchup I faced in season 12 on mtgo), but it also has utility versus some other matchups like ascendacy (which is non existent on mtgo currently). I do like the fracturing gust idea, however it seems slow versus boggles. Just yesterday my opponent went turn 1 boggle, turn 2 double armor, turn 3 spirit mantle. I was on the draw. Because I cast squadron hawk and scorn on the same turn I was able to stabilize versus a really strong start. If you do not expect boggles don't run them. If you do I really don't think there is a better option.
Command is such a versatile card, but at 6 mana I really can't justify more than 1. Two might be correct, but that opens you up to hands with multiple 6 mana sweepers which can get very awkward. The deck can run 1-ofs and get to them reliably because of its ability to stall out for almost forever.
Leyline and nevermore need to both be in play to do anything. Leyline stops their combo/burn/whatever and nevermore is supposed to name the card you think they have to deal with your leyline. Nevermore almost never stops an entire combo (name twin, they cast kiki. Name deceiver, they cast pestermite. Can't name pod on the draw because it comes down before nevermore and even if you do, some lists run chord which can grab a pridemage or sage). That plan only really works reliably if you run 4 of each and I can't justify 8 slots in the sideboard especially since all the infinite combos right now are not targeted. Runed Halo seems better than leyline right now to me, but even then most decks have multiple ways to kill you (for example pod can swing with any creature, twin has two combo creatures, ascendancy has faerie conclave and the tapper). If I'm running an enchantment (for example ghostly prison) it should shut down most paths to victory for my opponent. All of these cards can be good in certain metagames, but in my opinion this isn't the time for them.
Guildmage is a fast win enabler and board stall breaker. She got moved to the sideboard for room to test linvala out. This deck is designed to stall the game out indefinitely. On mtgo if you have a computer made within the last 4 years and stable internet, you don't need to worry about time. Many times I'll finish game 1 and my opponent will have used up 15 minutes from their clock (equivalent of a 30-40 minute game on paper because of shuffling, etc). Paper this is not the case. You do actually need to close game 1 out at least. On paper I would run her main deck.
As for stoney silence, it only stops birthing pod vs the pod decks. Disenchant also stops birthing pod, but also stops ascendancy. Affinity isn't a tough matchup, I'd rather run more disenchants than stoney silences. Delver doesn't run relic and that is the most popular deck on mtgo, however I usually am not too concerned with relic most of the time as you can play around it pretty easily in most board states. What you cannot play around is cage. Disenchant also conveniently also kills cage (and forces them to pop relic when you want them to). For Tron: Stoney silence turns off map on the play (not the draw) and o stone. Disenchant can kill o stone before they use it. If they have 8 mana, you need to have them already on the back foot, otherwise you are dead to karn, or anything else.
More matchups, how I play them, and how I sideboard:
This match up, if played correctly is your best one. It is not the easiest match-up (Delver is the easiest because they have no tools to interact with you, but they have creature based damage which is slightly better than burn damage at killing you). The key to playing this matchup out is pretending they ALWAYS HAVE SKULLCRACK. The only time you should act as though they don't have skull crack is if you get a specific read that they don't have it. Playing around skullcrack means that if they have 2 mana up, do not crack martyr unless they try to kill it or you are about to die. This places a 2 mana tax on them the entire game because they need to represent skullcrack at all times or else you will just 4-7 for 1 them with martyr. Orzhov charm is amazing here as you can respond to their skullcrack by charming your martyr back and cracking it again. You gain 3 less life than the first crack, but lets face it, you are playing against burn. Gaining 12 instead of 15 isn't the end of the world. In this matchup I side out Linvala, Wayfarer, Kami, wraths, and bring in BO and guildmage
Try to get a fast 6/6 and GQ them off of tron. Wayfarer is your best card in this matchup because you can use it to establish a lock using mistveil to recycle GQs after you run out. Realistically you will lose this matchup most of the time unless you get lucky. On MTGO you can sometimes beat them with the mtgo clock, but that isn't an option for paper magic. For this matchup I bring in Castigate (trying to hit Karn or emrakul which you cannot beat either of), Aven (to shut down map), Austere Command (to sweep their big creatures and artifacts), disenchant, and guildmage (for the fast win). I bring out 4 Prison (does nothing vs "320298370 mana the deck", linvala (they don't have creatures she hits), Kami (their creatures are slow), and 2 day of judgement (hurts you more than them).
Pretty easy matchup since its a glorified aggro deck. You want to save your GQs for their inkmoth's or strip mining them after you have multiple prisons in play. They run 1 basic island usually. In this matchup bring in command and wrath, bring out wayfarer, and 1 other card. I used to cut guildmage, but hes already in the sideboard. As of right now I'd recommend maybe 1 squadron hawk if you are on the draw because drawing a second always sucks and this is about twice as likely if you play second. Additionally you can search for fewer at a time when you are on the draw. This sideboarding is all in theory because I haven't played affinity with the current list so take it as such. EDIT: I just faced Affinity, won game 1, sided out the things I said I would side out on the draw plus I also sided out one serra ascendant because I forgot that disenchant is also a card that can come in. I sometimes side down on win conditions vs decks where I can assure a win late game, because the time I get to the win condition doesn't really matter.
This matchup is an actual race. You need to kill them before they infinite combo you or midrange you to death. Generally this is doable because "midranging you to death" is pretty hard. The combo is the scarey part (and also scooze). Kill scooze and combo pieces if you can. For this matchup I side in the wrath, the disenchant, the command, the guildmage, and the avens. I side out Squadron hawks (low impact), 2 proclamations (because you can't durdle around and scooze hurts it anyway), and the Wayfarer because it is also too slow. It should be noted that during these matches I always feel like I'm going to lose, but then end up winning somehow.
Hopefully these help. If you have any questions about any of these more in depth, or any match-ups I didn't go over that you want let me know!
Sorry if I'm interpreting this incorrectly, but I assume you mean what is the goal in each match-up and what I bring in to help so that way you can take that information and fill out the last few slots with whatever else could perform that role. Specific cards that I side in and out are based on the list I posted above.
The goal here is to not die. Fortunately for us, our entire deck's premise is to not die! In this match-up I side out linvala and side in the 3rd wrath.
The goal in this match-up is the get above certain life total thresholds and stay there. A 7 land scapeshift does 18 damage, and an 8 land scapeshift does 36 damage at most. This number changes based on if you GQ'd a valakut pre scapeshift and how many mountains are left in the deck. I'd say 98% of scapeshift decks run 10 mountains (2 basics). Keep an accurate mountain count because this changes how much damage they can do. Additionally if they scapeshifted leaving 0 basic mountains left in their deck and 6 mountains in play you can GQ one of their mountains with the valakut triggers on the stack and the whole combo does 6 damage (because the mountain you destroyed still sees the other 5, but the rest only see 4). In this matchup I just bring out the pile of dead cards (prison, linvala, Kami, and 1 path leaving in 2 because they side in creatures) and bring in things that marginally help like Aven mindcensor (stops combo if they don't deal with it), castigate (goodbye combo or creature), austere command (better than wrath because you keep your stuff they don't) and the guildmage (awesome card I need to find room for main deck again). Keep in mind you can castigate an obstinate baloth away because castigate exiles.
The goal here is to disrupt the combo and kill them before they can break the lock. In this matchup I bring in Castigate (discard their twin/kiki), BO (slows them down to a 2 turn combo, or 3 if they are using kiki), disenchant (stops twin and forces a relic), and guildmage (closes the game out on 4 mana instantaneously) and bring out Squadron hawk (low impact), wraths (does nothing), Wayfarer, and a proclamation (I bring out some number of proclamations versus decks that I can't durdle forever against). It might be correct to bring out 2 procs and leave in the wayfarer, however I do not have the reps in with the card to know for sure. My initial impression of the card is that it is too slow here. Don't side in scorn because it blows up your lock if they let it resolve.
These decks are glorified burn decks pretending to be control decks. The main difference is that they might have an infinite combo in kiki+resto. Play it out like you are playing versus a slow burn deck and try to leave up spot removal and/or prison if they have 4 mana up and 2 or more red sources to protect yourself from their free win. In these matchups my sideboarding varies depending on what I've seen and what I think they might have. If I didn't see the combo I don't bring in BO. I always leave in Prison because they have a lot of creatures. The key to winning post board games is learning how to beat relic. Relic is easily beatable by if at all possible never leaving a martyr in your graveyard alone. You want to force them to pop the relic to get rid of your martyr. If they pop the relic if you can, try to respond with a charm. Once you have the proc +7 mana combo up they usually pop it after you pay the 6 mana. This doesn't cost you a card which is nice. If you were holding a martyr after they relic just cast it the next time you have 2 mana and continue to go off the next turn. If you have multiple martyrs make sure you try to leave one in your hand for this line, as well as to protect it from getting killed and them nailing 2 martyrs for 1 relic.
This matchup is about as close to a coin flip as you can possibly get. Martyr lock only stalls them until they get a second armor (the 1 drop aura that pumps for all other auras). Kami is key here as it stops ALL the damage. If you can get a fast 6/6 it helps a lot. In this matchup I side out paths (they only kill the kor, the kor helps your secondary win condition versus boggles which is decking them), linvala, wayfarer (you always have more lands), and 1 ghost prison (bringing in the enchant sweepers limits the effectiveness of multiple prisons (which is the best plan game 1).
I have a meeting now. I'll post the rest of the match-ups
later.
Yesterday I was send a message from a person on mtgo asking to discuss some cards in the deck. After conversing a little the person claimed to Besteffen Van De Veen (the person who top 8'd GP Madrid with the deck). I cannot verify if that was actually the case but if it was that is pretty cool. After our discussion we both agreed to try out some of each others card choices. With that in mind I took a break from cubing and did a daily today. I also decided to do a write up.
I do not recommend moving the guildmage to the sideboard, I just didn't have time to figure out a cut and she shines the strongest after they have graveyard hate so she got the move temporarily.
Round 1- WBR Control- 4 Relic, Sorin, lingering souls, lots of removal, mardu charm, Ajani Vengant
Game 1: I won the die roll and started out with a tapped land and passed. My opponent goes turn 1 relic. I play a turn 2 martyr and then we pass back and forth till they cast sorin on turn 4. I sac martyr, and charm it back into play going to 40 life. We went back and forth a lot, but he cast 3 relics and won on turn 20.
Sided out: 1 wrath, 1 Kami, 1 Wayfarer, 1 Proclamation, 1 Linvala
Sided in: 2 Castigate, 1 Austere Command, 1 Disenchant, 1 Guildmage
Game 2: I got the engine online and won a long game.
Game 3: My opponent mulliganed to 6, cast a bunch of removal, I got proc online with over 30 life bringing back serra's every turn until they scooped to emeria+7plains and proc in hand while low on life.
Rounds 2- Mindslaver Tron
Game 1: I lost the die roll and then got demolished by a turn 3 tron + mindslaver
Sided out: 1 kami, 2 wrath, 4 Ghostly Prison, 3 path to exile, 2 Proc
Sided in: 3 Aven Mindcensor, 4 BO, 1 Command, 2 Castigate, 1 Disenchant, 1 Guildmage
Game 2: Very close, lost on turn 15 to a sundering titan and 2 wurm tokens during a partial mindslaver lock (BO makes it every other turn)after getting him to 2 life
Round 3- Regular Tron
Game 1: This game was insane. I started out winning the die roll and leading off with a turn 2 martyr, into turn 3 sac play 2 serra. My opponent dropped an O stone, I swung him down to 7, and played ranger searching up 2 more serra. My opponent blew up my stuff, I cast my next 2 serra. My opponent cast a second O stone, blew my stuff up. I cast proc, he cast o stone, I cast proc, he cast emrakul. I had enough permanents in play where if he swung he would lose (I was at 45 life exactly). He top decked a eye of ugin using his extra turn got a sundering titan with it, blew up 2 of my lands, which forced me to sac down to 1 serra, and I hit him to 1 life before losing. My opponent said "I've never seen such a good soul sisters draw" I told him that it was because this deck isn't soul sisters (huge pet peeve of mine when people call "Martyr Proc" "Soul Sisters").
Sided out: 4 Prisons, 1 Kami, 1 Linvala, 3 path to exile, 2 Day of judgement
Sided in: 3 Aven, 2 castigate, 1 guildmage, 3 BO, 1 Command, 1 disenchant
Game 2: not very interesting because he kept a 1 lander. I burned him out on turn 4 with guild mage.
Game 3: I locked my opponent out using ghost quarter, wayfarer, and mistveil plains, disenchanted his o stone.
Round 4- Faeries
Game 1: I lost the die roll. My opponent did some stuff, I went off with Proc and Martyr. My opponent got sassy with me about how I was playing a durdle fest before scooping because he/she was dying to their own bitter blossom.
Sided Out: 1 Linvala, 1 proclamation of rebirth, 1 serra ascendant
Sided in: 1 Wrath, 1 Command, 1 disenchant
Game 2: Similar to game 1 but I had to win through a relic. After I dealt with the Relic I started recurring serras till my opponent eventually scooped while at 5 life with 20 seconds left on the clock. I was in the 60-80 range with 15-20minutes left on the clock.
I feel like these matchups were not very typical for the modern metagame, and despite facing my worst matchup twice managed to get a reasonable 3-1 finish. I am surprised I beat RG tron and lost to U tron. U tron is a better matchup than RG tron (they are both bad matchups, but U is easier for me to interact with).
I cut Linvala every match this tournament so I cannot say if she is good or not. Versus what basically amounted to 4 control decks she didn't really do much. Game 3 vs RG tron convinced me that Wayfarer is worth consideration
I agree with you on kami, however I disagree with you on Athreos. I do love his effect, but it just doesn't do much of anything in most matchups. Athreos's ability is at its best when you are putting a clock on them and want recursive threats. This deck is the exact opposite of a fast clock most of the time. The main principle of this deck is "survive till I can't die" and athreos doesn't help you survive, nor does he stop you from dying unless they are also almost dead.
Delver: Does almost nothing vs Delver
Burn: Does almost nothing vs Burn
Boggles: Does less than nothing vs Boggles because they have lifelink enchantments
Scapeshift: The optimal play pattern vs scapeshift is to get above 36 life and stay there. He doesn't aid in that plan
UWR: They have paths which limit his ability to recur your non martyr threats, he could be relevant lategame here, but doesn't stop them from killing you
Twin: vs infinite combo we don't have time to durdle
Pod: vs infinite Combo we don't have time to durdle
Tron: Helps with O Stone, dies to karn and if they have wurm coil he does nothing
The Rock: Scooze is there only out. They can't beat him
Aven Mindcensor is Key vs pod and Tron. It shuts down birthing pod and chord of calling, as well as map and sylvan scrying out of tron. Sometimes its a little slow vs tron, but you need all the help you can get in that matchup. I also will bring in aven vs scapeshift. It soaks up a burn spell most of the time, but if they don't kill it they can't combo. There are enough main deck dead slots where its fine to bring it in. I also bring it in vs Ranger or eos and squadron hawk decks.
As far as the extirpate hitting key cards: How do you plan to get the key cards into the graveyard?
On Leyline: Leyline is not good in the current metagame (MTGO). I don't know exactly how good it is on paper. It stops redcap (which people have dropped for the angel combo), valakut (which is already a great matchup), and storm (not in the metagame).
Here's my decklist I'm working with currently. I'm still up in the air about a lot of the SB... I was hoping I could get some critiques and advice. I'm brand new to this deck, and I'm still having issues with what to tutor and when. I drop a Ranger, and I get X and Y and should have got X and Z or X and X... If you guys want any rationale on why I play a certain card MD or SB, I'll let you know. I'm just typing this up quick because the Wife and I are trying to get Thanksgiving ready... Please, hit me with criticism!
I don't like stoney silence because aven is better vs pod and tron, affinity is already a very favorable matchup. I don't like the idea of playing extripate because it doesn't really do anything to effect the board and also isn't white.
Also before you asked about DoJ over wrath. I run DoJ because it is less expensive and out of the over 100 tournament matches I have played with the deck the ability to regenerate has only cost me 1 game (but not the match). Thrun is the only modern playable card that regens, and not many lists run him. Obstinate Baloth is better in the current meta. On paper I actually play wraths.
The deck taps out a lot so anything that stops them from "just winning" is good. The most relevant part of BO is the CMC 2 which is different from Ghostly Prison which has a CMC of 3. This is good for when the twin (or UWR) player has EE or echoing truth. It stops a mass slaughter of your shields. You are never safe if you only have 1 out because they can just Cryptic it. With BO they can't cryptic your GP because you can just recast it while they are not comboing.
Season12 PreGP includes all my matches from the beginning of season 12 (MTGO) untill 1 week after the Modern GP (I'm making a new one once I stop cubing). In this tab you can see the matchup percentages, and whatnot.
Graphs is winrate over time, plus aggro, combo, control, and midrange % over time lines for reference. I only classify a deck as 1 catagory even though many could be two (for example scapeshift and twin I count as combo, while they are "combo-Control" decks.
The current decklist includes the sideboard and it looks like the what comes in portion got cut off when I published it... darn you google drive...
Cuts are what I don't play but have tested and why.
Ignore the data tab, its all the numbers that go into the chart.
I cut Athreos, decided he was a pet card and only good vs the rock. Also for everyone who hasn't seen it on the mothership or mtgogoldfish, my current decklist is:
Wall of omens is good.
24 lands seems a little low for a deck with 6 6 drops. You probably want some way to ramp up to 6 because modern is approximately a turn 4-5 format
Aven riftwatcher is a bit slow vs burn and isn't that awesome vs delver. They are ok, but overall low impact.
I play sun titan in my commander deck which uses him to lock people out of the game with fleshbag maurader. Fleshbag isn't good versus young pyromancer, but its an interesting card that you might want to try.
2 Hide//Seek
3 Castigate
3 Blind Obidience
3 Aven Mindcesor
1 Day of judgement
1 Austere Command
1 patrician's scorn
1 Vizkopa Guildmage
Going forward, I may add more of these and potentially 1 more red source to the deck
Overall I like the deck idea.
My only concern is with Stain the mind. I have not played with it (or any of the variants) but a few things come to mind:
1. This deck usually doesn't have many creatures in play early game, is memoricide better? I imagine its debatable, with stain having higher upside as you could cast it as early as turn 3, or turn 4 if you want to leave up martyr mana. I'd say generally I only have 1 creature in play by the time either would get cast meaning memoricide costs the same without tapping my creature
2. Thinking about costs: will it come down fast enough to hit what it wants to?
3. It isn't white (my personal preference is to have all my nonlands include white in their casting cost that way you can maximize martyr activations). This concern isn't that great as it is only a 1 of, but it will cause some problems with the fast 6/6 draw, which usually beats the decks that Stain is good against.
Basically if number 2 isn't a problem I imagine it would be good.
Another option I was thinking about was potentially a 4th aven mindcesor. Pod is getting big again, and it also stops the gift sideboard plan of ascendacy. I'm apprehensive to try this out as I think 4 avens is too much on the draw.
Speaking of ascendacy, if it gets big I think that upping the disenchant count could be correct. My earlier versions of the list ran Keening Apparition because it can pressure life totals before saccing itself to kill a twin or ascendacy (as in both those matchups pressure is important). I cut it because disenchant is more versatile. What are your thoughts on this?
Scorn is specifically for the boggles matchup (the 4th most common matchup I faced in season 12 on mtgo), but it also has utility versus some other matchups like ascendacy (which is non existent on mtgo currently). I do like the fracturing gust idea, however it seems slow versus boggles. Just yesterday my opponent went turn 1 boggle, turn 2 double armor, turn 3 spirit mantle. I was on the draw. Because I cast squadron hawk and scorn on the same turn I was able to stabilize versus a really strong start. If you do not expect boggles don't run them. If you do I really don't think there is a better option.
Command is such a versatile card, but at 6 mana I really can't justify more than 1. Two might be correct, but that opens you up to hands with multiple 6 mana sweepers which can get very awkward. The deck can run 1-ofs and get to them reliably because of its ability to stall out for almost forever.
Leyline and nevermore need to both be in play to do anything. Leyline stops their combo/burn/whatever and nevermore is supposed to name the card you think they have to deal with your leyline. Nevermore almost never stops an entire combo (name twin, they cast kiki. Name deceiver, they cast pestermite. Can't name pod on the draw because it comes down before nevermore and even if you do, some lists run chord which can grab a pridemage or sage). That plan only really works reliably if you run 4 of each and I can't justify 8 slots in the sideboard especially since all the infinite combos right now are not targeted. Runed Halo seems better than leyline right now to me, but even then most decks have multiple ways to kill you (for example pod can swing with any creature, twin has two combo creatures, ascendancy has faerie conclave and the tapper). If I'm running an enchantment (for example ghostly prison) it should shut down most paths to victory for my opponent. All of these cards can be good in certain metagames, but in my opinion this isn't the time for them.
Guildmage is a fast win enabler and board stall breaker. She got moved to the sideboard for room to test linvala out. This deck is designed to stall the game out indefinitely. On mtgo if you have a computer made within the last 4 years and stable internet, you don't need to worry about time. Many times I'll finish game 1 and my opponent will have used up 15 minutes from their clock (equivalent of a 30-40 minute game on paper because of shuffling, etc). Paper this is not the case. You do actually need to close game 1 out at least. On paper I would run her main deck.
As for stoney silence, it only stops birthing pod vs the pod decks. Disenchant also stops birthing pod, but also stops ascendancy. Affinity isn't a tough matchup, I'd rather run more disenchants than stoney silences. Delver doesn't run relic and that is the most popular deck on mtgo, however I usually am not too concerned with relic most of the time as you can play around it pretty easily in most board states. What you cannot play around is cage. Disenchant also conveniently also kills cage (and forces them to pop relic when you want them to). For Tron: Stoney silence turns off map on the play (not the draw) and o stone. Disenchant can kill o stone before they use it. If they have 8 mana, you need to have them already on the back foot, otherwise you are dead to karn, or anything else.
later.
9 Plains
4 Ghost Quarter
1 Swamp
1 Mistveil Plains
4 Godless Shrine
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Marsh Flats
NonLands:
4 Ghostly Prison
4 Proclamation of Rebirth
4 Martyr of Sands
4 Ranger of Eos
3 Path to Exile
4 Serra Ascendant
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Orzhov Charm
2 Day of Judgment
1 Kami of False Hope
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Weathered Wayfarer
4 Blind Obedience
3 Aven Mindcensor
1 Disenchant
1 Day of Judgment
2 Patrician's Scorn
1 Austere Command
2 Castigate
1 Vizkopa Guildmage
Game 1: I won the die roll and started out with a tapped land and passed. My opponent goes turn 1 relic. I play a turn 2 martyr and then we pass back and forth till they cast sorin on turn 4. I sac martyr, and charm it back into play going to 40 life. We went back and forth a lot, but he cast 3 relics and won on turn 20.
Sided out: 1 wrath, 1 Kami, 1 Wayfarer, 1 Proclamation, 1 Linvala
Sided in: 2 Castigate, 1 Austere Command, 1 Disenchant, 1 Guildmage
Game 2: I got the engine online and won a long game.
Game 3: My opponent mulliganed to 6, cast a bunch of removal, I got proc online with over 30 life bringing back serra's every turn until they scooped to emeria+7plains and proc in hand while low on life.
Game 1: I lost the die roll and then got demolished by a turn 3 tron + mindslaver
Sided out: 1 kami, 2 wrath, 4 Ghostly Prison, 3 path to exile, 2 Proc
Sided in: 3 Aven Mindcensor, 4 BO, 1 Command, 2 Castigate, 1 Disenchant, 1 Guildmage
Game 2: Very close, lost on turn 15 to a sundering titan and 2 wurm tokens during a partial mindslaver lock (BO makes it every other turn)after getting him to 2 life
Game 1: This game was insane. I started out winning the die roll and leading off with a turn 2 martyr, into turn 3 sac play 2 serra. My opponent dropped an O stone, I swung him down to 7, and played ranger searching up 2 more serra. My opponent blew up my stuff, I cast my next 2 serra. My opponent cast a second O stone, blew my stuff up. I cast proc, he cast o stone, I cast proc, he cast emrakul. I had enough permanents in play where if he swung he would lose (I was at 45 life exactly). He top decked a eye of ugin using his extra turn got a sundering titan with it, blew up 2 of my lands, which forced me to sac down to 1 serra, and I hit him to 1 life before losing. My opponent said "I've never seen such a good soul sisters draw" I told him that it was because this deck isn't soul sisters (huge pet peeve of mine when people call "Martyr Proc" "Soul Sisters").
Sided out: 4 Prisons, 1 Kami, 1 Linvala, 3 path to exile, 2 Day of judgement
Sided in: 3 Aven, 2 castigate, 1 guildmage, 3 BO, 1 Command, 1 disenchant
Game 2: not very interesting because he kept a 1 lander. I burned him out on turn 4 with guild mage.
Game 3: I locked my opponent out using ghost quarter, wayfarer, and mistveil plains, disenchanted his o stone.
Game 1: I lost the die roll. My opponent did some stuff, I went off with Proc and Martyr. My opponent got sassy with me about how I was playing a durdle fest before scooping because he/she was dying to their own bitter blossom.
Sided Out: 1 Linvala, 1 proclamation of rebirth, 1 serra ascendant
Sided in: 1 Wrath, 1 Command, 1 disenchant
Game 2: Similar to game 1 but I had to win through a relic. After I dealt with the Relic I started recurring serras till my opponent eventually scooped while at 5 life with 20 seconds left on the clock. I was in the 60-80 range with 15-20minutes left on the clock.
I cut Linvala every match this tournament so I cannot say if she is good or not. Versus what basically amounted to 4 control decks she didn't really do much. Game 3 vs RG tron convinced me that Wayfarer is worth consideration
Delver: Does almost nothing vs Delver
Burn: Does almost nothing vs Burn
Boggles: Does less than nothing vs Boggles because they have lifelink enchantments
Scapeshift: The optimal play pattern vs scapeshift is to get above 36 life and stay there. He doesn't aid in that plan
UWR: They have paths which limit his ability to recur your non martyr threats, he could be relevant lategame here, but doesn't stop them from killing you
Twin: vs infinite combo we don't have time to durdle
Pod: vs infinite Combo we don't have time to durdle
Tron: Helps with O Stone, dies to karn and if they have wurm coil he does nothing
The Rock: Scooze is there only out. They can't beat him
As far as the extirpate hitting key cards: How do you plan to get the key cards into the graveyard?
On Leyline: Leyline is not good in the current metagame (MTGO). I don't know exactly how good it is on paper. It stops redcap (which people have dropped for the angel combo), valakut (which is already a great matchup), and storm (not in the metagame).
I don't like stoney silence because aven is better vs pod and tron, affinity is already a very favorable matchup. I don't like the idea of playing extripate because it doesn't really do anything to effect the board and also isn't white.
Also before you asked about DoJ over wrath. I run DoJ because it is less expensive and out of the over 100 tournament matches I have played with the deck the ability to regenerate has only cost me 1 game (but not the match). Thrun is the only modern playable card that regens, and not many lists run him. Obstinate Baloth is better in the current meta. On paper I actually play wraths.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/195F6RFL7jmDPqJ_RvSVisgdNOamf1KnYdm4LNIPCGVU/pubhtml
Here is a rundown of all the tabs:
Season12 PreGP includes all my matches from the beginning of season 12 (MTGO) untill 1 week after the Modern GP (I'm making a new one once I stop cubing). In this tab you can see the matchup percentages, and whatnot.
Graphs is winrate over time, plus aggro, combo, control, and midrange % over time lines for reference. I only classify a deck as 1 catagory even though many could be two (for example scapeshift and twin I count as combo, while they are "combo-Control" decks.
The current decklist includes the sideboard and it looks like the what comes in portion got cut off when I published it... darn you google drive...
Cuts are what I don't play but have tested and why.
Ignore the data tab, its all the numbers that go into the chart.
Hope it helps!
4 Martyr of Sands
4 Ranger of Eos
4 Serra Ascendant
4 Squadron Hawk
1 Vizkopa Guildmage
1 Wall of Omens
2 Day of Judgment
4 Proclamation of Rebirth
4 Orzhov Charm
3 Path to Exile
4 Ghostly Prison
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Godless Shrine
4 Marsh Flats
1 Mistveil Plains
9 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Austere Command
3 Aven Mindcensor
4 Blind Obedience
3 Castigate
1 Disenchant
2 Patrician's Scorn
Also I haven't played modern since cube came back on mtgo. I'll get back to it once cube is over haha