I've got a pretty in depth post coming up, I was going to do it tonight but I've decided in competitive spirit to wait until after the tournament this weekend. I ran my list and what do you know, crushed a 5-0 (10-2 in games) competitive league tonight after work.
Round 1: Grixis Shadow 2-1. They won game 1 and I won post-board games, both of them through T1 AND T2 discard, it was insane. I never cast a chalice on 1 a single time in the match. A Hangarback nullified their liliana game 3 when I had a TKS and Endbringer on the board, both of which would have been great targets for her. I'm seeing more and more lists pop up with hangarback excluded entirely from the side and there's sooo many matchups where I bring it in and love to draw it, and that's without regarding the synergy with Scion of Urza.
Round 2: Blue Moon 2-0. I really like these new Blue Moon lists with no madcap or breach+emrakul, super easy to beat with cavern of souls. Its like a jeskai control without paths.
Round 3: Humans 2-0. The pilot of this game must have been pretty new and made some blatant mistakes. Game 1 was almost unwinnable for them however: Turn 3 tron playing double reshaper. They commit heavily going wide with 2 nobles a lieutenant a kitesail and a meddling mage, naming all is dust. I turn 4 ballista + sac sanctum for another ballista, then a reshaper chump reveals a third ballista and they just conceded. Game 2 they made some critical mistakes, they should have won the game. The biggest example was they had a T2 freebooter and had a choice of taking wail or spatial, and definitely should have taken wail to make me use contortion on the 1/2 flyer instead of a future mantis rider, but they chose wrongly and i used wail to get spatial back to hand then 2 turns later used the spatial on a rider and turned the corner. I also got a late game torpor orb and wurmcoil which sealed their fate.
Round 4: Storm 2-1. They got me game 1 but postboard play I had too much spot removal for their creatures. Game two I had a ratchet bomb to blow out 16 golbins (which is often their backup plan when we slow them/kill creatures), and game 3 I sent a past in flames to the GY when they cast gifts and then warping wailed the past in flames to counter it.
Round 5: Storm 2-0. The ******* god draw. HOLY. Game 1: T3 tron with chalice on 2 into T4 ulamog on the play. Cya. Game 2: spatial and dismember in opening hand to kill their first and only two creatures of the game, followed by TKS into TKS, they play 6 gobbos which was pretty decent for them as I'm too scared to give them a draw if they trade with a TKS, and I topdeck my last tron piece to ulamog away two of their lands taking them to 1 land and they concede.
I drew really well but also made some key plays with Buried Ruin and Cavern of souls. I did the Blue Moon player so dirty by making an uncounterable 5/5 ballista and using it to ping their board and jace, they used a lot of resources to save jace at 1 loyalty (they had a spellskite, which it turns out is pretty good against ballista pings), then the following turn I used buried ruin to recast a 4/4 uncounterable ballista and pinged the last loyalty on jace and attacked for lethal a couple turns later. Buried ruin is really good. Scion of Urza did make an appearance against Blue Moon where I ended up with 7 cards in hand on turn 6 with threats on the board, that was insane, and also made an appearance against Grixis Shadow and the token generation went wide enough that I stole a sick game 2 with a line I almost missed but realized at the last second for exactsies involving using endbringer to make a shadow uanble to block for turn, swinging them to 1 and pinging on their upkeep. Storm is a pretty good matchup post-board, but I feel that's only the case when we have 6 copies total of wail and contortion and dismember, shutting them off their creatures and using relic, TKS, chalice, etc. to buy enough turns. They cannot be allowed to stick a creature, and it's also necessary to have ratchet bomb at the ready for goblins, which outside of a god draw for them usually come later in the game giving us more draws to get the ratchet in hand.
I wanted to get on here and provide some feedback on the suicide version of the deck that I have been running for the past two weeks. Here is the list:
I will start by saying, traverse is really powerful, but I didn't really ever need it. It felt like it wasn't what I should be doing the majority of the time. Tonight I had a sideboard that included Death's Shadow, but the only time I actually cast Death's Shadow, I was playing against burn and was dead regardless of what I did. The second thing that I did not like about the traverse package is that you lose so much life with street wraith it really sets you behind. Basically if you don't win on turn 3, you're dead. I usually started the game at 15 life....cycle, fetch, looting, bauble pitch hulk and go. Now, to be fair, I had some terrible draws where I couldn't find what I needed to win, but I don't think that anything would help that.
Going forward, I am going to try Through the Breach. I think I will have 3 in the board for games 2 and 3. I am going to give the black red version a try with more card draw and less loss of life. Although my record isn't something I want to mention, I seriously enjoy playing the deck and am going to continue brewing with it.
I have always been a fan of Zur. I recently played this deck with the Solemnity lock to little success. There are strong things going on in the deck, but you need to be able to live long enough to do them. I would look to Saffron Olives deck (Esper Solemnity) as inspiration and see what improvements you want to make. For example, I think Lingerig Souls is really good in the deck and he doesn’t have it in the list.
There isn’t anything I didn’t like about that deck. It’s sweet. I know that usually the ETron matchup is tough. I just think ETron does a lot of the same stuff but has a much higher power level.
My local meta is a little bit of everything. Control and midrange has seen a bit of an uptick, so I’d be interested in learning more about those MU’s.
Hi all, I just sent in some trades to convert my colorless eldrazi stompy to Eldrazi Tron. I’d love to hear some tips on playing this deck. I’ve played a lot of aggressive strategies but I’m going to commit to this deck as it feels pretty strong overall. I really like the addition of the new Karn in the deck as a way to draw cards and close out the game.
Looking forward to discussing the deck going forward!
I played the traverse version last night and it was so much fun. Record wise I went 0-3. Honestly, I had some really unlucky stuff happen in each match. When I went off I won. The traverse package is legit. I run a list that is pretty much Jund, with a splash of blue for echoing truth. I would break down the matches but I’m on my phone and it would take forever.
Since I take so much damage from street wraith and fetch/shock I am going to try Deaths Shadow in the deck, not sure if it’s main or side, but I’m gonna try a few. I also tried the Madcap combo in the sideboard and never drew it. I’ll update my list on tappedout and share.
Question on the deck: if Reveilark, Hulk and one double are in the graveyard, Mogg Fanatic is in my hand and I cast a body double copying hulk, that my opponent terminates... am I able to combo? One Reveilark in 75.
I haven't played around with Bubble Hulk in a while, so I really only remember the 2015 results that first started getting this on the semi-competitive Modern radar. Many of those strategies were blue-based with Taigam's Scheming, Through the Breach, Izzet Charm, and blue cantrips. Some played Mannequin but not the majority of lists that made public T8s. Since 2016, there haven't been a lot of successful lists, so it's hard to iterate from a recently successful 75. Of course, this doesn't count the more local finishes that don't make published sites, and I'm not trying to discount those successes.
He ran the Grixis build with Breach/Footsteps, no blue cantrips, and 7 accelerators in Prism/SSG. I don't think it's a bad starting point but I also don't think we necessarily need blue at all anymore. Grishoalbrand has showed that BR decks are totally viable reanimator strategies, and I'd start from their example.
If we take Zhang's GP Toronto build of Grishoalbrand and remove all the Griselbrand-specific combo slots, we are left with only 42 cards in the deck which is a lot of space. The combo adds 15 (1 Fanatic, 2 Double, 2 Reveillark, 2 Seer, 4 Hulk, 4 Footsteps) taking us to 53. Add 2-3 Primus as a backup as well. We're also going to cut the D-Rits because that is more of a Grishoalbrand arcane thing than merely acceleration. We'll also cut a Breach because we have fewer winning creatures. That gets us down to something like this:
56 slots total with 4 flexes, and we're on the framework of a GP T8 deck with a similar gameplan. Our big advantage is that our combo is just as lethal as Grishoalbrand if it resolves but we get 4 flex slots that Grishoalbrand doesn't have. We might even pack in more if we trim an SSG here, a Lighting Axe there, etc. These flex slots could be very valuable. Indeed, I'm almost inclined to maindeck Blood Moon if we're BR anyway. Sure, we still have to address why we are playing Hulk instead of Grishoalbrand to begin with, but I think there are some distinct advantages for certain metagames. Has anyone else explored a list like this? Or approached the Hulk deck-building issue using a similar frame?
I like your thinking here but I have to ask, what problem does through the breach solve? The main argument is that grave hate will come in and we need to beat that in order to combo off. So even if you TTB a Hulk, it swings for 6 and then goes to the yard. If they have hate the we are still disrupted, correct?
I think black red maybe the place to go, but I’m going to give Jund a try with the traverse package to be able to search for Hulk or whatever creature I need. I’m also trying Insolent Neonate, as he’s a good discard outlet in case you draw Hulk. I’m going to give some more thought to it and plan to play it tomorrow night.
no particular reason other than real life stuff that had me leave magic then get back into it. when I got back into it I built other decks. I'm commenting here because I revisit the forum thinking I'm going to remake protean hulk at some point in the near future.
I’m going to give it a shot, but since you’ve played it before. Let me ask, is it good? What things need to improve to make it better, in your opinion?
sidebaord 1 labratory maniac, for the neonate combo win if needed. and 4 through the breach as back up plan to graveyard hate. 10 other cards to disrupt graveyard hate or fight through counters, or stall.
I've always been on the woodfall primus plan because its reliable value when it works, from either footsteps or breach.
wins are about 50-50 between going for primus/beatdown plan and combo.
you run primus because you know that it can be unreliable to consitently discard a protean hulk, so you need more stuff for footsteps of the goryo to reanimate.
At times i've taken the primus plan too far and added cards like Ashen Rider to ensure I get a 2 for 1, footsteps. At that point, what was needed was more filter cards, less creatures.
goblin dark-dwellers flashes back footsteps and is a decent body. I never tested it far enough to say whether more than 1 is good or not.
If you are playing Suicide list, then my advice or experience isn't going to help you as I've never played a suicide version. I've got experience with the combo in both modern and legacy.
Do you have a list or something more traditional in today’s Modern? Id Be interested to hear your thoughts on the deck, even in a standard build.
I’m thinking about giving this a run this week. Can anybody provide any tips on the deck? Trying to learn more on this one, but it seems like this thread is less than productive these days. Looking for tips on sideboarding if anybody could help, I appreciate it.
Hi All,
To update, U/B was very disruptive in testing, but actually struggled to find a great discard outlet, Thirst for Knowledge and Pieces of the Puzzle were great but a bit too slow, so shifted back to Grixis because Faithless Looting is the strongest at what it does, and Izzet Charm proves to be very efficient, especially compared to Remand.
However, it did prompt another brewing session (after being frustrated that Worldly Tutor or Eldamri's Call weren't legal, and Summoner's Pact awkward to combo with) to see just how fast and streamlined you could get Bubble Hulk.
Running it through a quick 50 game goldfish, it averaged a turn 3.53 kill, with 2 Fizzles/Mulls into oblivion. Likely faster in reality once I/you get the hang of mulligans. Happy to post the full excel spreadsheet of games, average amount of pain taken, and a note on the game(s) if its of interest.
One thing to note was Mishra's Bauble WAY over-performed, having that card with either Opt or Serum Visions and a Fetchland just felt like cheating with how quickly you could get through your deck.
Would be interested on people's thoughts on whether you'd keep or mull these hands:
1. 3 land Body Double Footsteps Traverse Serum
2. Tarn, 2 Hulk, Footsteps, Fanatic, Opt, Izzet
3. Hulk, Footsteps, Fanatic, 2 land, Street Wraith
I’m going to test this list out. It seems fun. Anybody playing a list similar? If so, what are your results looking like? Is Bosejiu a standard sideboard card?
Bouncelands dont make unlimited mana because you need them to come in untapped. And if they do (because of amulet) you dont need trade routes to make it work - since the lands bounce back to hand all by themselves.
I did come up with a list: https://deckstats.net/decks/86739/980427-retreat-scout-combo
Its a bit janky (obviously) but the tracker + trade routes gives you lots of redraws, and the power from Knight helps too. I imagine its just too inconsistent and too bad at fighting through bolt/push, but it looks fun and maybe it'll work?!?
It’s weak to bolt/push, but what about using landfall creatures and really going on the landfall theme? I haven’t put a list together yet, but using the manabase from Bant Knightfall with a few changes, sunscorched desert and radiant fountain to combo off of you can. Tolaria West or Wargste can help.
Thank you for the detailed write up, good job!
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Forest
1x Godless Shrine
2x Overgrown Tomb
3x Polluted Delta
1x Stomping Ground
2x Swamp
3x Wooded Foothills
3x Insolent Neonate
1x Mogg Fanatic
4x Protean Hulk
2x Reveillark
4x Street Wraith
2x Body Double
3x Viscera Seer
3x Collective Brutality
4x Faithless Looting
4x Footsteps of the Goryo
2x Makeshift Mannequin
2x Manamorphose
4x Mishra's Bauble
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
I will start by saying, traverse is really powerful, but I didn't really ever need it. It felt like it wasn't what I should be doing the majority of the time. Tonight I had a sideboard that included Death's Shadow, but the only time I actually cast Death's Shadow, I was playing against burn and was dead regardless of what I did. The second thing that I did not like about the traverse package is that you lose so much life with street wraith it really sets you behind. Basically if you don't win on turn 3, you're dead. I usually started the game at 15 life....cycle, fetch, looting, bauble pitch hulk and go. Now, to be fair, I had some terrible draws where I couldn't find what I needed to win, but I don't think that anything would help that.
Going forward, I am going to try Through the Breach. I think I will have 3 in the board for games 2 and 3. I am going to give the black red version a try with more card draw and less loss of life. Although my record isn't something I want to mention, I seriously enjoy playing the deck and am going to continue brewing with it.
There isn’t anything I didn’t like about that deck. It’s sweet. I know that usually the ETron matchup is tough. I just think ETron does a lot of the same stuff but has a much higher power level.
My local meta is a little bit of everything. Control and midrange has seen a bit of an uptick, so I’d be interested in learning more about those MU’s.
Looking forward to discussing the deck going forward!
Thanks for answering my question, I only run one Reveilark. I am moving to two.
Since I take so much damage from street wraith and fetch/shock I am going to try Deaths Shadow in the deck, not sure if it’s main or side, but I’m gonna try a few. I also tried the Madcap combo in the sideboard and never drew it. I’ll update my list on tappedout and share.
Question on the deck: if Reveilark, Hulk and one double are in the graveyard, Mogg Fanatic is in my hand and I cast a body double copying hulk, that my opponent terminates... am I able to combo? One Reveilark in 75.
I like your thinking here but I have to ask, what problem does through the breach solve? The main argument is that grave hate will come in and we need to beat that in order to combo off. So even if you TTB a Hulk, it swings for 6 and then goes to the yard. If they have hate the we are still disrupted, correct?
I think black red maybe the place to go, but I’m going to give Jund a try with the traverse package to be able to search for Hulk or whatever creature I need. I’m also trying Insolent Neonate, as he’s a good discard outlet in case you draw Hulk. I’m going to give some more thought to it and plan to play it tomorrow night.
I’m going to give it a shot, but since you’ve played it before. Let me ask, is it good? What things need to improve to make it better, in your opinion?
Is there any reason that you aren’t playing this anymore?
Do you have a list or something more traditional in today’s Modern? Id Be interested to hear your thoughts on the deck, even in a standard build.
I’m going to test this list out. It seems fun. Anybody playing a list similar? If so, what are your results looking like? Is Bosejiu a standard sideboard card?
It’s weak to bolt/push, but what about using landfall creatures and really going on the landfall theme? I haven’t put a list together yet, but using the manabase from Bant Knightfall with a few changes, sunscorched desert and radiant fountain to combo off of you can. Tolaria West or Wargste can help.