Most importantly, a lot of this stuff, what goes and what comes out, is different on the play or draw. On the play against Bant, TKS is great because he can steal CoCo before they cast it, but on the draw they might have already jammed their most important spell. Him attacking on the play is better than him blocking on the draw too. I would be more likely to trim some number of Gideons on the draw, because he can't pull you back into games from behind. Stuff like that.
You want Kalitas in against GB. Cut Ob and the Moonlights. Dead Weight is good. You can afford cutting a single Anguish, which you're holding back for Ormendahl.
Keep the Secure in against Bant. Cut Anguished Unmaking; it's too big of an effect when exiling isn't exactly necessary.
Declaration just isn't great in a deck that wants to outgrind its opponents.
This is fascinating to me, I really need to delve a little deeper into the SB choices for this deck. Do you know of any resources out there that go MU by MU and explain the reasoning? Not just an in/out list? Just finished the League, went 1-4. Worst league I have played since they came out with them. I agree with tchntm43 on the previous page, 25 lands led to a lot of unkeepable hands. Played Humans (0-2), G(b) Ramp (0-2), MonoB Eldrazi (0-2), RG Ramp (2-0), UR Eldrazi (1-2).
So I'm trying to get better at figuring out SB plans from netdecks and in general, and I've decided to take the list from NY through a few leagues on MTGO. I'm preparing a SB plan and am really struggling to find the MUs to bring in some of his choices.
MonoW Humans
+2 Dead Weight
+3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
-2 Hallowed Moonlight
-2 Transgress the Mind
-1 Read the Bones
The more I go through this, the more I'm not sure if this is a decent SB for the online metagame. The MB Moonlights are a pretty bold choice that obviously paid off for Mansfield, but I'm wondering if those should just be Declaration in Stones and move 1 more Moonlight into the SB in place of Bearer of Silence. When would you bring in Bearer or ThoughtKnot? I figured Dead Weight was for Humans, didn't think of another deck that we really want that in. I also tend to shave Read the Bones, Discard, and ObNix before anything else, is this poor practice?
I wanted 4 Read the Bones in the maindeck, but I always was quick to shave 1 after boarding. Not that they weren't good, but since I was ostensibly bringing in good cards for the matchup and removing bad ones, I felt I didn't need the filtering as much post-board.
An analog for Avacyn would be very difficult, but another Linvala might suffice.
Thanks so much for the writeup, another Linvala is where I landed as well in the meantime. I was playing a split of this list and another creatureless version all day and felt like I was missing the Evolving Wilds in the other list for the singleton Descend upon the Fishermen, your base feels a little better. How do you feel about Kalitas in the list? I've seen a lot of discussion back and forth on him, seeming to land somewhere between 0-2 in the 75. I have three I picked up before the spike, think I might sell one to fund an Avacyn.
7 rounds of swiss:
2-1 vs Bant Company
2-0 vs Bant Company
2-1 vs Naya Midrange
0-2 vs BW Control
2-1 vs W Humans
2-0 vs Bant Company
1-1-1 vs Bant Company
Top 8: 2-0 vs Bant Company
Top 4: 2-1 vs BW Control
Finals: 0-2 vs Bant Company
Obviously lots of Bant Company at the tournament, and I thought the deck matched up well with it (until the final match, of course). Gideon, Hallowed Moonlight, and Languish overperformed all day. Most games were won with token beatdown, of course, but 4 games were ended with Ormendahl, Profane Prince, and 1 was won specifically with Avacyn, the Purifier.
I don't think I would have changed any cards in the maindeck in retrospect. I never played against any Ramp decks, so I guess I could have cut down on the Pitiless Horde and Infinite Obliteration, but I used all of the other SB cards.
Would you mind sharing your SB strategy for the top few decks? I love the look of this build and want to try it out online tonight. Any analogue for the 1x copy of Avacyn until I get my hands on one?
What do you guys think of the new Eldrazi deck? I was on my way to a 5-0 in a League and got rolled by this deck unexpectedly. Getting your blooms snagged by their processors is such a beating.
I'm on Togores' list and I think I'll side as such:
+4 Leyline of Sanctitiy
+1 Slaughter Pact
+1 Laboratory Maniac
+1 Echoing Truth
-3 Pact of Negation
-4 Lotus Bloom
Is it worth bringing in Darkness or Duress effects? I feel like we need to be as fast as possible against them since they are basically playing Sol Lands and disruption followed by unbeatable bombs. How have you guys fared against the deck recently?
My whole SB for reference:
3 Darkness
1 Patrician's Scorn
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Pact of Negation
1 Echoing Truth
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Duress
2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
How do you guys Sideboard against the utopia sprawl mono green nyxwave deck? I know it's not super popular, but I faced it in a league today and I feel like my instincts were off.
After goldfishing them game one with double bloom, AN, Unlife, Pact, and 2 lands in my opener, I sideboarded -3 pact of negation -1 dreadship reef +2 darkness +1 slaughter pact +1 patrician's scorn. I lost the second game as they Karn -3 and Primal Commanded my Unlife and Blooms.
Game three I sided the pacts back in and cut the scorn, slaughter pact, and one darkness. I goldfished them again with a double bloom hand, but I really feel like my instincts were completely off here, how would you guys so against them? I'm running Togores's list and sb.
This has been the most fun I've had in Modern in quite some time. I'm running this list in the Tourney Practice rooms and haven't yet taken it to a daily, but it seems like we beat most fair decks handily.
I've lost to twin quite hard though, and haven't faced Abzan yet. If you don't draw Beast Within or Dismember, it feels unwinnable. I've also struggled against UR Delver, twice, though it's not a huge part of the meta. Being only mono-G, how much more does the W splash offer? I can count on my hands how many times I've had to mulligan with this deck through 20 matches, it feels like it would take away some consistency.
Favorite Playstyle (Aggro, Midrange, Control, Combo): Not sure yet, but... LINEAR. Leaning towards Combo.
How Competitive (For Fun, Local Tournament, MTGO, PTQ/GP): I want to learn about the format/grind tickets on MTGO. Eventually FNMs/PPTQs//SCG Events
Favorite Cards/Colors: Anything with a one-sentence game plan.
Budget: ~$150
Staples Owned: Paper:
All Shocks
KTK Fetches
Remand
SB Hate Cards (T. Orb, G. Cage, Hurkyll's Recall, Stony Silence, Leyline of Sanct., etc.)
MTGO:
Eidolon
Pauper Burn (Few burn staples)
Mutavault
Aether Vial
~1/2 the KTK fetches
Hey all, I've read through the past few pages of this thread and decided to make my own post. I'm looking for a linear deck that will allow me to get into modern, won't break my bank, and is linear in it's goals while playing that I can focus on what my opponent is doing and learn the signals of the format rather than sweating and agonizing over every decision I have to make.
I've been recommended Burn and Boggles, both seem fun. Boggles worries me in that it doesn't build into anything else, and folds to Spellskite until you topdeck Path. Bloom Titan also looked quite fun, I've proxied it in Paper and have been goldfishing with it for a while. I couldn't find many performing Burn lists on MTGOGoldfish (at least ones that went 3-1/4-0 in dailies, which is my ultimate goal). I'd like to find a deck that doesn't interact much with my opponent, and with which I can just grind tickets on MTGO with a not-horrendous EV after getting some reps in with the deck.
This is fascinating to me, I really need to delve a little deeper into the SB choices for this deck. Do you know of any resources out there that go MU by MU and explain the reasoning? Not just an in/out list? Just finished the League, went 1-4. Worst league I have played since they came out with them. I agree with tchntm43 on the previous page, 25 lands led to a lot of unkeepable hands. Played Humans (0-2), G(b) Ramp (0-2), MonoB Eldrazi (0-2), RG Ramp (2-0), UR Eldrazi (1-2).
For reference, here is the list.
3 Anguished Unmaking
3 Grasp of Darkness
2 Ruinous Path
2 Ultimate Price
4 Languish
1 Planar Outburst
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Sorin, Grim Nemesis
2 Hallowed Moonlight
4 Read the Bones
3 Secure the Wastes
2 Transgress the Mind
1 Blighted Fen
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Forsaken Sanctuary
3 Plains
6 Swamp
4 Shambling Vent
3 Westvale Abbey
1 Bearer of Silence
2 Dead Weight
3 Duress
1 Eldrazi Displacer
1 Hallowed Moonlight
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Thought-Knot Seer
2 Transgress the Mind
1 Ultimate Price
This is where I'm at so far on the top few decks:
GW Tokens
+3 Kalitas. Traitor of Ghet
+1 Hallowed Moonlight
+1 Eldrazi Displacer
-3 Ob Nixilis Reignited
-1 Read the Bones
-1 Ultimate Price?
GB Aristocrats
+1 Eldrazi Displacer
+1 Hallowed Moonlight
(Dead Weight for Husks?)
-1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
-1 Read the Bones
Bant Company
+1 Ultimate Price
+1 Hallowed Moonlight
+1 Thought-Knot Seet
+3 Kalitas, ToG?
-3 Secure the Wastes
-3 ?
MonoW Humans
+2 Dead Weight
+3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
-2 Hallowed Moonlight
-2 Transgress the Mind
-1 Read the Bones
The more I go through this, the more I'm not sure if this is a decent SB for the online metagame. The MB Moonlights are a pretty bold choice that obviously paid off for Mansfield, but I'm wondering if those should just be Declaration in Stones and move 1 more Moonlight into the SB in place of Bearer of Silence. When would you bring in Bearer or ThoughtKnot? I figured Dead Weight was for Humans, didn't think of another deck that we really want that in. I also tend to shave Read the Bones, Discard, and ObNix before anything else, is this poor practice?
Thanks so much for the writeup, another Linvala is where I landed as well in the meantime. I was playing a split of this list and another creatureless version all day and felt like I was missing the Evolving Wilds in the other list for the singleton Descend upon the Fishermen, your base feels a little better. How do you feel about Kalitas in the list? I've seen a lot of discussion back and forth on him, seeming to land somewhere between 0-2 in the 75. I have three I picked up before the spike, think I might sell one to fund an Avacyn.
Would you mind sharing your SB strategy for the top few decks? I love the look of this build and want to try it out online tonight. Any analogue for the 1x copy of Avacyn until I get my hands on one?
I'm on Togores' list and I think I'll side as such:
+4 Leyline of Sanctitiy
+1 Slaughter Pact
+1 Laboratory Maniac
+1 Echoing Truth
-3 Pact of Negation
-4 Lotus Bloom
Is it worth bringing in Darkness or Duress effects? I feel like we need to be as fast as possible against them since they are basically playing Sol Lands and disruption followed by unbeatable bombs. How have you guys fared against the deck recently?
My whole SB for reference:
3 Darkness
1 Patrician's Scorn
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Pact of Negation
1 Echoing Truth
1 Laboratory Maniac
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Duress
2 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
After goldfishing them game one with double bloom, AN, Unlife, Pact, and 2 lands in my opener, I sideboarded -3 pact of negation -1 dreadship reef +2 darkness +1 slaughter pact +1 patrician's scorn. I lost the second game as they Karn -3 and Primal Commanded my Unlife and Blooms.
Game three I sided the pacts back in and cut the scorn, slaughter pact, and one darkness. I goldfished them again with a double bloom hand, but I really feel like my instincts were completely off here, how would you guys so against them? I'm running Togores's list and sb.
I think he means Darkslick Shores, might have used Drowned Catacomb at one point.
Would it be a good idea to get a list of Xmage usernames of people who are willing to help newbies out test decks? I'll be on the rest of the night.
I've lost to twin quite hard though, and haven't faced Abzan yet. If you don't draw Beast Within or Dismember, it feels unwinnable. I've also struggled against UR Delver, twice, though it's not a huge part of the meta. Being only mono-G, how much more does the W splash offer? I can count on my hands how many times I've had to mulligan with this deck through 20 matches, it feels like it would take away some consistency.
How Competitive (For Fun, Local Tournament, MTGO, PTQ/GP): I want to learn about the format/grind tickets on MTGO. Eventually FNMs/PPTQs//SCG Events
Favorite Cards/Colors: Anything with a one-sentence game plan.
Budget: ~$150
Staples Owned:
Paper:
MTGO:
Hey all, I've read through the past few pages of this thread and decided to make my own post. I'm looking for a linear deck that will allow me to get into modern, won't break my bank, and is linear in it's goals while playing that I can focus on what my opponent is doing and learn the signals of the format rather than sweating and agonizing over every decision I have to make.
I've been recommended Burn and Boggles, both seem fun. Boggles worries me in that it doesn't build into anything else, and folds to Spellskite until you topdeck Path. Bloom Titan also looked quite fun, I've proxied it in Paper and have been goldfishing with it for a while. I couldn't find many performing Burn lists on MTGOGoldfish (at least ones that went 3-1/4-0 in dailies, which is my ultimate goal). I'd like to find a deck that doesn't interact much with my opponent, and with which I can just grind tickets on MTGO with a not-horrendous EV after getting some reps in with the deck.