Got Destroyed by infect, critiques welcome. I might have made a mistake I am not aware of. Sorry for the quietness, shop is still working on setting up commentary
Round 1: 2-0 against Bant Eldrazi, That one-of Wall of Resurgence saved the day. Blocks eldrazi all day and came back from 1 life through a shambling vents with 3 counters.
Round 2: 2-1 mono black Infect, Crusader is a menace but thankfully having Wasteland strangler and Displacer blinks held them back. Got a free win game 1 from him missing one land drop then getting Ghost Quarter + Arbitered
Round 3: Video Link
Round 4: Lost to Lantern Control, I really need help on this one, I almost never win against this annoying deck
Harsh games!
I'm not an expert in D&T, so i'll just give you my 2 cents! Since infect runs only 20~ lands and 8~ fetches, i don't usually side out arbiters against them on the play. If we can choke them on mana, we usually have enough time to seal the deal. On that last game, i'm pretty sure you could have easily won if that spirit was a cat, as your opponent didn't play around it and would be locked out of the game by a path on the dork. That second game, however, i don't really know what to say other than it was pretty bad luck to get one shotted after a TKS... Good luck!
which version of Taxes is most effective against Scapeshift (RG) & Ad Nauseam?
Don't know if anyone answered this, but it seems like i have an edge against Ad Nauseam whenever i'm playing Tidehollow Sculler. Not sure about Scapeshift though as i'm new to D&T and haven't played the matchup enough times. So i'm leaning towards something like E&T but the mana base is giving me nightmares, lol.
I played monowhite alot and i really like it. The main problem is matchups like Elves, Grixis and Esper. Not sure about BGx, but it's not that good either. I feel like i could make these matchups better by adding black, but i'm not liking E&T so far. I might try to play something similar to Catmix's BW lists. I just don't know if want to be playing Lingering Souls maindeck. Anyways, i just want to play Tidehollow Sculler, Lingering souls and maybe Zealous Persecution. Wasteland Strangler has some potential too, but he's really clunky sometimes.
I'm not a fan of Grim Flayer simply because were cutting Rhinos/Tasigur/Kalitas for him. I agree that he's better than Rhino against combo, but wouldn't Bob be just better in this case?
I'm considering breaking into this archetype. Has a hybrid version of this deck and hatebears been tested? The Arbiter/Aven + Path/GQ combo seems suitable here
Wow so they nerfed the amulet deck and killed twin. I was expecting the other way around. What the hell?
This new metagame will be messed up.
I guess SFM and AV are pretty safe now at least? All of a sudden attacking with a batterkull or drawing 3 cards on turn 4 are both looking pretty silly.
But I am leaning towards your side a bit. I'm a little disappointed that fair decks aren't looking so hot right now, and depending on how Eldrazi handle burn, affinity, merfolk and any other major decks, it could be the midrange deck of choice. It destroys GBx decks, and Twin's not doing so hot against them, remanding and countering their cards still has backbreaking effects, so they're relying on the combo more
Since it taps for B/G, i guess this new manland will still see play. Too bad we can't have a Treetop Village that taps for B. Or even a Forbidding Watchtower with deathtouch.
Starting to think Painful Truths is the....truth....in this deck.
Pay 3 draw 3 is damn good in the grindy matchups. I can easily kick a Finks or something to the sideboard for this card.
Anyone tested it much?
Also, Dismember is the tits and I love this card. I honestly think if you are not running this card in the main you are making a mistake. Saved my ass on turn 1 against infect last week. It's so good.
Painful Truths is just too good not to have somewhere in the 75 in my opinion. Turns out Treasure Cruise is very good even at 3 mana and probably too good at 2.
I really like that list. Looks pretty well rounded. I really like running 10 removal spells and even though i don't like Voice of Resurgence that much in this deck, some people certainly had success doing so. I also used to run a single Sorin, Solemn Visitor, but i'm now trying out a Gideon Jura instead. I don't know if cutting a Liliana of the Veil for another Sorin is correct though. It could work if you're running some number of Bitterblossom, but i really wouldn't know what to cut in this case.
As for Tasigur, the Golden fang, i think he fits better our game plan than Gurmag Angler. Being a little easier to cast and having a card advantage engine is probably better than +1 power, in my opinion. I never really tried Aven Mindcensor. I can see it being decent in some matchups, but i really don't know
Painful Truths is amazing. I'm really impressed with this card after trying it out. It almost fells like a fixed version of Treasure Cruise. Very very good aginst people trying to outgrind you.
Hey again!
I've made some adjustments now and would love it if you took another look at the list
Although Painful Truths is an amazing drawspell in black, it can be dead in quite a few matchups + the fact that it is quite a slow card. I replaced the Maelstrom Pulse with an Abzan Charm to keep our high removal count aswell as being quite a bit more flexible than a straight drawspell like Painful Truths.
I saw a list running a languish in the board and that got me thinking, wouldn't it be very possible to "only" run creatures that survive it along with a ton of other removal in the main? I mean, this archetype loves 2-for-1s or greater.
With the creatures like it is now all of them survive a Languish, except for the Lingering Souls and Bitterblossom tokens and most times the Scooze.
I think with our high removal count 3x Liliana is enough and a 1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor can help us stabilize/break through with his +1 or help us rebuild with his -2.
Obzedat, Ghost Council is there for stalemates, aswell as the fact that he is a freaking 5/5 that's got some built in removal dodging. Tasigur, the Golden Fang is similar, but he get's us great card advantage in the case that we end up in a sort of boardstall. Also, 4/5 for a single black is great.
The problem I have now though is that the deck is at 61 cards
The deck now is 17 "creatures" (counting Lingering Souls and Bitterblossom), and I think that's where I'll have to cut a card since it was at 16 before.
Perhaps I should cut Tasigur or Obzedat, or maybe even both and run 2x Bitterblossom?
Or do we simply cut the Bitterblossom and go fullout control and maybe go up to 2x Languish somehow?
Other than that, having a Sorin, Solemn Visitor + Bitterblossom side plan seems like a fine idea. There are a lot of versions of this deck that are viable. It's hard to say which one is better It depends on your particular meta.
I have a lot of fast aggro decks in my meta, so maindecking Kitchen Finks is fine. Plus i'm still a big fan of Painful Truths!. I think this card will be a Modern staple on sideboards of midrange decks. Or even in the main deck in some cases.
About your sideboard, how are those Contaminated Grounds performing? I like the idea but it is really a shame that it doesn't cantrip like Spreading Seas. That would be perfect.
On the SFM topic, i don't think she will be unbanned! I'd love to see my favorite color being more than just a splash color though. If she does get unbanned, we'd probably run her as a 3-of with a couple equipment (Batterskull+some sword). Can't decide which Sword is correct though. Also, probably would be correct to run some numbers of Dark Confidants, even if that leaves our deck really vulnerable to Lightning Bolts and Kolaghan's Commands.
Harsh games!
I'm not an expert in D&T, so i'll just give you my 2 cents! Since infect runs only 20~ lands and 8~ fetches, i don't usually side out arbiters against them on the play. If we can choke them on mana, we usually have enough time to seal the deal. On that last game, i'm pretty sure you could have easily won if that spirit was a cat, as your opponent didn't play around it and would be locked out of the game by a path on the dork. That second game, however, i don't really know what to say other than it was pretty bad luck to get one shotted after a TKS... Good luck!
Don't know if anyone answered this, but it seems like i have an edge against Ad Nauseam whenever i'm playing Tidehollow Sculler. Not sure about Scapeshift though as i'm new to D&T and haven't played the matchup enough times. So i'm leaning towards something like E&T but the mana base is giving me nightmares, lol.
I played monowhite alot and i really like it. The main problem is matchups like Elves, Grixis and Esper. Not sure about BGx, but it's not that good either. I feel like i could make these matchups better by adding black, but i'm not liking E&T so far. I might try to play something similar to Catmix's BW lists. I just don't know if want to be playing Lingering Souls maindeck. Anyways, i just want to play Tidehollow Sculler, Lingering souls and maybe Zealous Persecution. Wasteland Strangler has some potential too, but he's really clunky sometimes.
I've been trying this out:
2 Fetid Heath
3 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Godless Shrine
2 Isolated Chapel
2 Plains
3 Shambling Vent
2 Swamp
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Dark Confidant
4 Leonin Arbiter
2 Pack Rat
Instant (10)
2 Disfigure
2 Dismember
4 Path to Exile
2 Zealous Persecution
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls
4 Smallpox
2 Thoughtseize
Planeswalker (3)
3 Liliana of the Veil
Needs some tuning but it's pretty fun to play.
This new metagame will be messed up.
I guess SFM and AV are pretty safe now at least? All of a sudden attacking with a batterkull or drawing 3 cards on turn 4 are both looking pretty silly.
My thoughts exactly.
Painful Truths is just too good not to have somewhere in the 75 in my opinion. Turns out Treasure Cruise is very good even at 3 mana and probably too good at 2.
I really like playing a more controlling version of Abzan. But i also like running a faster versions with Dark confidant
Your lists reminds me of this list that top 8'ed a SCG open and i really enjoyed watching on camera:
http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/336586
Maybe running Bitterblossom with Languish is a nombo, but sometimes that is acceptable (http://www.channelfireball.com/home/getting-away-with-nonbos/). We'd have to test. The other thing i noticed is that you're running 3 Shambling Vents. I'd be more inclied to run more Stirring Wildwoods if i'm playing Obzedat, Ghost Council. Since he's double black AND white, we'd need more white sources that are not tied to our black sources.
Other than that, having a Sorin, Solemn Visitor + Bitterblossom side plan seems like a fine idea. There are a lot of versions of this deck that are viable. It's hard to say which one is better It depends on your particular meta.
I'm running something close to this:
http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/351327
I have a lot of fast aggro decks in my meta, so maindecking Kitchen Finks is fine. Plus i'm still a big fan of Painful Truths!. I think this card will be a Modern staple on sideboards of midrange decks. Or even in the main deck in some cases.
About your sideboard, how are those Contaminated Grounds performing? I like the idea but it is really a shame that it doesn't cantrip like Spreading Seas. That would be perfect.
On the SFM topic, i don't think she will be unbanned! I'd love to see my favorite color being more than just a splash color though. If she does get unbanned, we'd probably run her as a 3-of with a couple equipment (Batterskull+some sword). Can't decide which Sword is correct though. Also, probably would be correct to run some numbers of Dark Confidants, even if that leaves our deck really vulnerable to Lightning Bolts and Kolaghan's Commands.