Do you have a list? It sounds like your build is more combo-centric while most of ours are closer to being a fair value deck with the combo as an afterthought or not being included at all. I'd love to see what you're doing with lotus cobra though.
I have not played against storm but I imagine the matchup involves spell queller-ing the right spells and pathing their baral/Electromancer. You could also use scooze to hurt their past in flames plan.
I actually believe the deck is as tuned as I can get it for the current meta. I had answers for everything and always had a good balance between lands and creatures in my openers. Spell queller was a beast, I never had an opponent kill him to get their spell back. I also think unified will is the perfect counterspell for our deck. Negate felt too restrictive so I believe unified will is strictly better as if we don't have creatures on the field, something is wrong anyways.
Got second place at my states in Alabama with my same list run back again. I don't really wanna do another full report on the tourney though. We had 6 rounds. In the Swiss I played against and beat: Tron, Goblins, Living End, And Grixis Delver. I then ID'D the last two rounds to get third seed in top 8. In top 8, I beat some awesome brew playing hideaway lands, emrakul, amulet of vigor, prime time, knight, and spell queller. I then beat ad nauseam in top 4 and lost to living end in the finals. Pretty good day honestly. I absolutely love this deck and glad I proved to everyone around that it's not complete jank. I also had guys from my last time there come up and tell me how they'd told their entire Local groups about my deck cause they thought it was awesome.
@RPD: I'll consider the cliques, I'm just not sure where I'd fit them in. I'm also working on scapeshift so I'm not really sure I wanna drop the 25 bucks for them. Just the double blue is what makes me nervous about it being castable. I feel like the mana is just right at this point. 8 dorks feels like a lot but opening hands get so much better when you can skip straight to three for a turn 2 knight or queller. 7 felt like too little and I wouldn't increase my land count either cause flooding is a concern. I honestly like how the 3-drop slot is so packed, I feel like that's the payoff for playing this deck.
@Bentobocx: to me, worship just feels win-more, it's not a bad card but using it effectively is difficult. It comes in aginst rock decks and burn but I feel our matchup is good enough there that we don't need a 4 mana enchantment that makes our companies worse. But, I wouldn't say don't play it either, I'm mostly basing my opinion on theory, there are definitely situations where you just instantly win the game.
1) I don't play skite because I want my creatures to be proactive and a 0/4 isn't doing that. I'm not playing the knightfall combo so his protection value goes down. I don't play clique because the double blue cost seems restrictive to me and would have lots of times when it's uncastable. I have 1 ghost quarter main.
2) I took out the elspeth because I couldn't think of a matchup besides maybe jund that I would actually need her and having other cards in my board, like the third counterspell seemed a lot more useful.
3) there are none of those in my meta actually, but if there were, I'd imagine the matchup leans a lot on spell queller and pathing their SRAM/paladin/baral/Electromancer.
Hey, everyone! I'm back again with yet another successful tournament with this super amazing awesome should-be-tier-1 deck.
My mainboard is the same list from my above report, (the second one where I replaced the retreats with a courser and elspeth). My sideboard, for clarification was as follows: (in no particular order)
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Reflector Mage
2 Unified Will
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Negate
2 Stony Silence
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Izzet Staticaster
I will post my opinions on each of these cards after my report if y'all are interested. (Especially for all you folks asking about Gaddock Teeg.)
This tourney was a monthly modern that a large shop about 2 hours from me runs, top prize is a future sight goyf, with store credit awarded to other top 8 finishes. The event had about 36 people and 6 Rounds. Please note I hardly ever remember my opening hands.
Round 1: Abzan Midrange
Game 1: this was the pretty normal game you'd expect, he thoughtseizes me turn 1 and is impressed by my hand of value creatures and ends up taking my elspeth. His first two land drops are a concealed courtyard and plains though so I don't immediately know what he on but just go with my normal plan of dork into knight. We trade my creatures with his kill spells and he gets a grim flayer down. After I get hit a couple times for 2, he has delirium online but I get a huge knight on the field to hold the flayer back while I draw cards with tracker and assemble a lethal field.
Game 2: I saw a lingering souls game 1 so the Staticaster was immediately brought in. I mull to 6 and keep a 1 lander with great three drops, a voice, and a Staticaster. (I keep a lot of risky hands especially when I mulligan) but my scry is another land. He IOKs me and takes the voice I believe. I hit my second land, he plays a flayer and starts beating. I find a 3rd land and drop a knight. I use the knight the next turn to find a stomping ground to cast the Staticaster to deal with some spirits. I find a scooze next turn which is great considering my low life total. My knight is tapped on a turn when he attacks with his flayer and a shambling vent. I block and eat his only creature in the yard which shrinks his flayer and kills it, while I Staticaster the vent that was blocked by a courser. This leads to a big enough advantage for me to steal the game. (Sorry, a lot happened that game, tried to give you the highlights but it's confusing to remember, pretty much everyone in the shop was watching us at this point too.)
Unified will is not great here cause of souls and reflector mage is lackluster with siege rhino but I would consider it in the future, it's just hard to board out my creatures.
1-0
Round 2: Esper Midrange
Game 1: long story short he answers all my threats with paths and pushes and plays lingering souls and Geist for the win.
Game 2: He gets stuck on 2 land and never finds a 3rd, couldn't lose that one.
Game 3: my hand is a little land heavy but has 2 trackers so I keep. He IOKs one of them away and surgicals it. I play some a voice and knight but they get pathed and pushed while he upticks a lili of the last hope to kill my dorks until he ultimates her, I scoop them up.
Even though unified will is lessened by souls, I need the interaction for his removal spells and hard to answer threats. He also runs 4 paths, 4 push I believe which is much more efficient than abzan's less than 4 split.
1-1
Round 3: Superfriends
Game 1: I recognize this opponent as an abzan player from a previous tourney so I settle in for a midrange game. Turn 1 he plays stomping ground into arbor elf. Wait what? I'm thinking it could be ponza, or devotion. His next play is a windswept Heath and an oath of nissa to get it. I ask if he's playing that 4 color walker deck that Todd Stevens made. He seems surprised I know what he is doing. I start attacking with the knight I dropped last turn, spell queller his Nahiri and that's pretty much game.
Game 2: I don't quite remember this one but not much happened again and I won.
Round 4: RUG? Tron
Game 1: he drops a misty into a basic forest into expedition map. I have no idea what is going on and just do my normal thing. He plays another forest and 2 maps. He cracks one to find a steam vents and another for a tron piece over the next couple turns but it's too late and my board has overwhelmed him.
Game 2: turn 1 he drops a tormod's crypt. I get a Gaddock Teeg out which slows him down, along with a knight. He gets tron online and plays a wurmcoil. I stare at the negate in my hand, wishing it was a unified will. The next turn he attacks with the wurmcoil. I read my opponent and determine he won't see his crypt still sitting in play so I block with my knight then activate his ability to grab a fetch to grab a land to make him a 6/6 to trade. My opponent lets it happen, gets his wurms and passes. I'm kinda dumbfounded and proceed to easily trade some creatures with his wurms and then kill him. He reveals a hand of 2 ugins and 2 Karns, uncastable cause of Gaddock Teeg.
Round 5: GR Tron
Game 1: my opponent mulls to four and I have a normal hand, but it has three paths. Even though I know he's on tron I keep it against my better judgement. It has lands, a dork and a courser soooo... Anyways she mulls to four, plays sanctum and passes. I draw for turn, yep it's the fourth path.... I play some midrange creatures and he starts to find his tron pieces. I think to myself damn I messed this up. He gets tron online, plays planar bridge. The next turn he uses it to find ugin to wipe my board putting ugin at four. I path two of my creatures, determining they're not getting any better, still holding two of them. I play a knight and pass with with several lands in play. He casts a sundering Titan, I float a white and he exiles three of my lands, ticks ugin up bolting me. I use the white to path the Titan which he blows up two more of my lands. I then attack with knight for lethal since he just out so many lands there. He should've minus 3ed the ugin so I got very lucky.
Game 2: I play some creatures, he gets natural tron but has no threats. He finds a ugin and triggers sanctum getting emrakul which is castable next turn, I negate the ugin. I play a Teeg on my turn, leaving me with eight permanents in play including a knight, dork, stony silence and lands, I'm at 20. He is low enough to die to the knight next turn but not the Teeg. He plays the emrakul and takes his extra turn, he attacks and I have to sac 6 permanents. I need the knight to swing for the win but he has 1 card in hand. I have to decide if I should keep the silence or the Teeg as my only other permanent. Silence best so stone, but Teeg beats karn or ugin. I decide to keep Teeg and he reveals the karn in his hand and that's game.
Top 8: Round 1: RW Burn. This is a friend i came here with, so it's a little awkward but it's happened before so we're cool with it.
Game 1: he beats to a bloody pulp with goblins and swiftspears while killing my mana dorks with blaze and helix. Then triple burns my face.
Game 2: he has a heavy creature draw and doesn't answer my dorks this time allowing me to get some sizable blockers in play and stabilize while attacking safely.
Game 3: this goes really long, he gets me down to five, I have many blockers out. but I slowly gain back life with courser and scooze. He knows I have a negate in hand from a guide trigger which makes things tense. Eventually my creatures get there.
Game 1: Wasn't much of a game, I play bird into knight into elspeth and he has no answers, dying to a flying 7/7.
Game 2: we trade resources for a while then he finds an Olvia Voldaren that I cannot answer.
Game 3: pretty much the same as game 2 down to the olivia.
Board: 2 kitchen finks, 2 reflector mage, 2 unified will, 2 blessed alliance.
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So a top 4 finish is not too bad, got 50 in store credit and my deck was the talk of the tournament, every opponent loved playing against me and I had lots of spectators. This really is the best deck that no one is playing.
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Sideboard explanations:
-2 Kitchen Finks: great against burn and aggressive zoo decks. Also great at 2for1ing rock opponents.
- 2 Reflector mage: great against goyf decks and creatures without ETB abilities including zoo. I haven't seen him really shine yet though and may replace him.
-2 unified will and 1 Negate: countermagic to help against our worst matchups (tron and scapeshift) and useful against blue based control. Seriously considering going up to 3 Wills and dropping negate altogether as there were many time a unified will would have been better against tron to counter wurmcoil or sundering Titan, even ulamog if I'd seen him. Negate also doesn't counter Primetime.
- 2 Blessed Alliance: Great against burn, zoo, and midrange decks. Early and mid-game it's normal modes are quite good. Late game all three modes are super relevant, making them lose a creature and you untapping the fatties you just attacked them with for surprise blocks. Also combos with knight's ability and Staticaster in corner situations. I would never remove this and am considering another copy.
-2 stony silence: for affinity, tron, and ad nauseam. It is okay against tron. But I have not tested against affinity or ad nauseam much (currently on my schedule for this week) so I am unsure if it is necessary here, but it will stay until i find out just in case.
-2 Izzet Staticaster: answers lingering souls, affinity's near entire creature base, and other random x/1s in various decks like abzan company, hatebears, or snapcaster decks. I urge anyone who plays this deck to never cut this card from their board as it is one of the rewards for playing this archetype.
-2 Gaddock Teeg: my personal pet sideboard card that has saved my butt time and time again. Comes in against tron, control (to stop wraths and cryptic or at least draw removal spells out), scapeshift, abzan company, and sun and moon. Sometimes he severely hoses our opponents, but at the very least he buys us time to beat down while our opponent deals with him. High ceiling. Our companies being uncastable is an unfortunate side-effect but if you have him out in those matches, you should already be winning. You should not cut company when bringing him in unless you have other reasons to do so as company is still your best cards and helps find Teeg. Besides, you'll still need company if you never see him to have a chance in some matchups.
Most definitely. I didn't draw courser much today so I didn't get to mess with her much, elspeth was great at breaking up board stalls without exposing myself to backswings. I didn't miss the retreats once, especially since I sided them out a lot when I played. My philosophy is that your long-term game plan is good enough that you don't need the combo and the combo seemed kinda random and difficult to find. I even felt okay playing against traditionally bad matchups like tron. Also, Teeg is amazing, I used to play him in naya company's sideboard too. I've had so many games where my opponents had wraths, batterskulls, cryptics. and walkers in their hands when it was over, I would've been toast without him.
Hey, so I don't really post on here much just cause I never make time for it. I've been playing bant company for just a couple weeks but have played both naya company and abzan company in the past (actually just had a regional top 8 with abzan company) so I am familiar with the style of deck and this may be my favorite company list yet.
I have no idea how to post a decklist correctly so I will just list my deck:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Voice of Resurgence
2 Selfless Spirit
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Spell Queller
3 Tireless Tracker
1 Courser of Kruphix
4 Path to Exile
4 Collected Company
2 Retreat to Coralhelm
The above is what I ran for the first event, which was a tourney for 100 in store credit to first. (Was actually a playset of jace VP but we didn't want those and have to bother to trade them.) it was 5 rounds with a cut to top 8. Note I cannot remember all my boarding decisions here since I didn't think I'd make a report.
Round 1: Abzan Company
Game 1: This is a friend of mine from the area (it was about an hour and a half away from me) and he assumed I was on abzan company as well since I am known for it and my start of temple garden, mana dork was convincing. The spell queller surprised him though and I manage to grind out game 1 after I get a scooze to hold off his combo while I grow knight, draw cards off tracker, and activate gavony.
Game 2: he gets me down to 1 through using a viscera seer and blood artist but I get the artist off the field and gain some life with Kitchen finks and scooze until I grind him out.
Board: I can't recall exactly. But I know I had Gaddock Teeg, staticaster, and finks. I may have boarded in blessed alliance and reflector mage.
1-0
Round 2: Bad Standard Deck.
No need for a rundown here. The guy had a standard deck that wasn't even good for standard (some kinda of artifact/paradox engine thing) and had a bye for the first round which is why he was up a match. I stomped him soundly with beats.
2-0
Round 3: Sun and Moon
Game 1: I have a decent start, he has turn 3 Nahiri (SSG) and chalice on 1 on turn 2, he angers my board after a few turns and plays a Gideon Jura followed up by a Chandra, torch of defiance. It's a little what happened exactly but I think some companies caught me up, he drew no gas, I beat all 3 of his planeswalkers up and then him. I was shocked. I also never saw blood moon this game and wondered if he even had it.
Game 2: my hand allows me to aggressively fetch basics so I do so, along with a couple dorks. I get a knight out along with Gaddock Teeg and tracker. He angers after a while of not doing much to kill my Teeg and tracker. I play another Teeg and keep beating down. He draws, reveals a hand of uncastable wraths and such and that's the game.
Board: I brought in Gaddock Teeg to slow down his walkers and wraths, kitchen finks to overload his removal and negate/ unified will to counter moons and walkers.
3-0
Round 4: RW Burn
Game 1: he mulls to a 6 card one-lander and isn't fast enough to kill me before I get setup behind a knight, scooze, and courser and aggro him down.
Game 2: he has a super fast start on the play and I just can't keep up and die before my hate cards come on line.
Game 3: He has a creature heavy draw and I have lands, dorks, a finks, a knight and a negate. His goblin guide reveals a blessed alliance off the first trigger and I just play a normal game while he doesn't advance much, seemingly played scared of the alliance. I never actually cast it and win the game with beats.
Top 8: Goryo's Vengeance
I'm top seed so I get the play.
Game 1: he has a slow start and I have a turn 2 scooze off a dork that I never tap out of the ability. It goes unanswered and I get there naturally.
Game 2: I get the scooze lock up and after a few turns he nourish shoals and splices a through the breach. I counter the shoal with a negate. The next turn he is under 7 life, cast the through the breach and I have no answers. He puts in a griselbrand which immediately gets met with a path. He scoops.
Top 8, Round 2: Esper Midrange.
This was a friend from the same car so this was a little awkward.
Game 1: I have the play and we play a fairly normal game trading removal, discard and creatures. He gets some lingering souls out which I cannot answer and I die to them, also saw a Geist.
Game 2: same as you'd expect but I manage to get a fast enough start to get his life total low enough and he can't recover.
Game 3: This game went Super Long, we trade all our resources and he starts beating me with a collonade. I draw a tracker that goes unanswered and I start drawing cards while he holds back his collonade to block since the tracker is lethal. I draw some more threats, which is literally every creature in my deck since he's at 1 or 2. I alpha strike, he tries to push my Pridemage and blocks my tracker. I company into selfless spirt and that's that.
I then split the finals with the same guy from round 3 on sun and moon. We each got 85 in store credit which bought me some fetches.
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Then at tonight's FNM, I went undefeated (5-0) I changed the list by taking out the 2 Retreats and adding in a second courser and an Elspeth Knight-Errant.
Round 1: Soul Sisters
Game 1: Pretty standard stuff. He has some sisters to gain life while I beat him down with whatever is convenient. He doesn't really have any payoffs until he top decks a pridemate that immediately gets pathed. I close pretty quickly.
Game 2: he has a fast start with a sister turn 1, pridemate turn 2, and more sisters. His pridemate gets huge and I'm forced into chumping it while I wait for answers. Once I'm at about 8 life I find a path for it off a tracker and start to stabilize my board with good blockers while he draws lands I draw 12 CARDS off tracker this game. I also have the abilty to cast blessed alliance (both copies in my hand) fully escalated if he decided to get fancy. But he doesn't and I win 2-0
Round 2: Mono-Green stompy
Game 1: for this matchup which I've never played before, I prioritize trading my creatures for his when possible since I know I can win if we go long. I stabilize at ten once he empties his hand using his pump spells to kill my blockers. And kill him with a large scooze.
Game 2: he gets me to 1, while I skillfully trade creatures with him. I gain some life from finks and draw a tracker that quickly puts the game away.
Round 3: Goblins/8-Whack
Game 1: I'm kinda surprised since this guy doesn't normally play this and I've never seen him with it. I get beat by many quick tokens and a goblin grenade.
Game 2: I grind him out with blockers and a well placed blessed alliance that he scoops to. I draw 4-6 cards off goblin guides.
Game 3: I have a turn 2 Izzet staticaster which he can't deal with and I beat in with value dudes.
Round 4: Abzan Midrange
Game 1: traditional grind fest, but he finds some lingering souls I cannot answer.
Game 2: I keep a terrible 6-card hand with 1 land, a bird, and 3 drops. He IOKs me but takes one of the three drops. I draw lands and My bird doesn't die. I grind him out with tracker.
Game 3: same as game 2 but my hand is decent, tracker winds the game again, drawing me answers and brick walling his goyfs.
Board: 2 Izzet Staticaster, 2 Blessed Alliance, 2 Kitchen Finks, 1 Elspeth. In hindsight, I should've grabbed the counter magic, at least the negate.
4-0
Round 5: GR Tron
Game 1: a well placed knight into ghost quarter buys me enough time to kill him.
Game 2: he mulls to five, I spell queller his scrying to keep him off tron while I get a ghost quarter off a knight to further cement the lead. He never recovers.
Sorry, I suck at tournament reports since I can never remember my games in specifics. I plan on taking this to states, and will definitely change the board a bit, taking out the elspeth and adding another blessed alliance.
Utterpandemonium, a few questions about the shotgun version of the deck, using your list from above, how important are the pact of negations in the deck as it is a card I've never really liked too much but have accepted as a necessary evil. I have to buy them anyway for ad Nauseum so the cost isn't too big a deal.
Second, what is the wild slash in the sideboard for? Just for burrenton forge-tender or am I missing something else?
Third, how have the mana confluences felt in the deck? Obviously they fix your mana but are they too painful in combination with the other stuff?
And lastly, is the tainted strike necessary for a kill or can we reach lethal with just normal damage (assuming a one shot, not over turns).
Sorry for so many questions, I have been playing suicide zoo and wanted to check more rouge-ish decks after seeing how freaking good suicide was.
In a vacuum (assuming a blind Metagame) I'd say suicide zoo is probably better right now. Granted, I haven't been able to test this deck much due to not actually finding a build of the deck that is the 'norm' for the deck. There's like 5 different lists and I don't which one Is the right one.:sweat:
Went 4-0 again at a Wednesday modern tourney at my shop. This is the third time in the past month I've went undefeated. I beat RB control, RG Tron, Esper Control, and RG scapeshift. I decided to pick up a ranger of eos for my sideboard,mean anyone explain exactly how to use him? I assume against control decks and jund to fetch up a couple shadows to keep on grinding.
Also, can I cut the lightning helix from my sideboard, I feel there's never a time when you can actually cast it since you're doing so much else with your mana each turn. My list is pretty stock, still got the steppe lynx in the deck and pretty happy with them.
Finally in response to the above, how do I find this BecauseNiceThings decklist being talked about?
I don't much like the idea of gnarlwood dryad in this deck. It is neutered by delve spells, not to mention delirium is only obtainable maybe half the time by turn 1/2 which is when we want it to be a 3/3. Steppe lynx at least just needs lands and powers up naturally while we play our lands and do other things.
So, I just started playing this deck. I was playing abzan company for a while (still have it of course) but I decided to get a change of pace. Anyways, I played it for the first time in a tournament last night, just 4 rounds at my LGS. And the deck slaughtered everyone I played against, not just won but slaughtered them, I was very impressed. And my friends all play very competitive decks too.
A question I have is why is the deck so popular online, and in limited metas like pro tours and wmcq, while rarely appearing on the scg open circuits?
So, for the tron/scapeshift matchups, I'm trying out a mainboard Aven Mindcensor in the place of orzhov pontiff whom I moved to the sideboard as he doesn't seem great now in most matchups.
It shuts off fetches, any ramp spells, prime time triggers, sylvan scrying, expedition map, and nahiri's ult. (I dream of flashing it in in response to her ult. one day.) it seems very good right now, especially in my meta.
Also, wish me luck, I'm taking the deck to GP Charlotte but I'm not running any thoughtseize (I prefer sin collector) as I feel it's difficult to board in spells with company in the deck. The only non creatures in my board are path, decay, and Stony silence, all 2-ofs. Also, I keep hearing that people board out combo pieces in most matchups, where is this relevant? I feel like you always want the combo to be as viable as possible.
I top 8ed at an IQ this weekend, I would've made past quarter finals but due to a temporary loss of memory (like seriously I should get it checked) I forget to sac a birds to seer after blocking a vault skirge and it cost me the game and match as I could've both swung for lethal or would've drawn a chord that would've been under the land I would've put on the bottom. I can't believe I did something so stupid.
Do you have a list? It sounds like your build is more combo-centric while most of ours are closer to being a fair value deck with the combo as an afterthought or not being included at all. I'd love to see what you're doing with lotus cobra though.
@Bentobocx: to me, worship just feels win-more, it's not a bad card but using it effectively is difficult. It comes in aginst rock decks and burn but I feel our matchup is good enough there that we don't need a 4 mana enchantment that makes our companies worse. But, I wouldn't say don't play it either, I'm mostly basing my opinion on theory, there are definitely situations where you just instantly win the game.
2) I took out the elspeth because I couldn't think of a matchup besides maybe jund that I would actually need her and having other cards in my board, like the third counterspell seemed a lot more useful.
3) there are none of those in my meta actually, but if there were, I'd imagine the matchup leans a lot on spell queller and pathing their SRAM/paladin/baral/Electromancer.
My mainboard is the same list from my above report, (the second one where I replaced the retreats with a courser and elspeth). My sideboard, for clarification was as follows: (in no particular order)
2 Kitchen Finks
2 Reflector Mage
2 Unified Will
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Negate
2 Stony Silence
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Izzet Staticaster
I will post my opinions on each of these cards after my report if y'all are interested. (Especially for all you folks asking about Gaddock Teeg.)
This tourney was a monthly modern that a large shop about 2 hours from me runs, top prize is a future sight goyf, with store credit awarded to other top 8 finishes. The event had about 36 people and 6 Rounds. Please note I hardly ever remember my opening hands.
Round 1: Abzan Midrange
Game 1: this was the pretty normal game you'd expect, he thoughtseizes me turn 1 and is impressed by my hand of value creatures and ends up taking my elspeth. His first two land drops are a concealed courtyard and plains though so I don't immediately know what he on but just go with my normal plan of dork into knight. We trade my creatures with his kill spells and he gets a grim flayer down. After I get hit a couple times for 2, he has delirium online but I get a huge knight on the field to hold the flayer back while I draw cards with tracker and assemble a lethal field.
Game 2: I saw a lingering souls game 1 so the Staticaster was immediately brought in. I mull to 6 and keep a 1 lander with great three drops, a voice, and a Staticaster. (I keep a lot of risky hands especially when I mulligan) but my scry is another land. He IOKs me and takes the voice I believe. I hit my second land, he plays a flayer and starts beating. I find a 3rd land and drop a knight. I use the knight the next turn to find a stomping ground to cast the Staticaster to deal with some spirits. I find a scooze next turn which is great considering my low life total. My knight is tapped on a turn when he attacks with his flayer and a shambling vent. I block and eat his only creature in the yard which shrinks his flayer and kills it, while I Staticaster the vent that was blocked by a courser. This leads to a big enough advantage for me to steal the game. (Sorry, a lot happened that game, tried to give you the highlights but it's confusing to remember, pretty much everyone in the shop was watching us at this point too.)
Board: 2 Staticaster, 2 Blessed Alliance, 2 kitchen finks.
Unified will is not great here cause of souls and reflector mage is lackluster with siege rhino but I would consider it in the future, it's just hard to board out my creatures.
1-0
Round 2: Esper Midrange
Game 1: long story short he answers all my threats with paths and pushes and plays lingering souls and Geist for the win.
Game 2: He gets stuck on 2 land and never finds a 3rd, couldn't lose that one.
Game 3: my hand is a little land heavy but has 2 trackers so I keep. He IOKs one of them away and surgicals it. I play some a voice and knight but they get pathed and pushed while he upticks a lili of the last hope to kill my dorks until he ultimates her, I scoop them up.
Board: 2 kitchen finks, 2 unified will, 1 negate, 2 Izzet Staticaster.
Even though unified will is lessened by souls, I need the interaction for his removal spells and hard to answer threats. He also runs 4 paths, 4 push I believe which is much more efficient than abzan's less than 4 split.
1-1
Round 3: Superfriends
Game 1: I recognize this opponent as an abzan player from a previous tourney so I settle in for a midrange game. Turn 1 he plays stomping ground into arbor elf. Wait what? I'm thinking it could be ponza, or devotion. His next play is a windswept Heath and an oath of nissa to get it. I ask if he's playing that 4 color walker deck that Todd Stevens made. He seems surprised I know what he is doing. I start attacking with the knight I dropped last turn, spell queller his Nahiri and that's pretty much game.
Game 2: I don't quite remember this one but not much happened again and I won.
Board: 2 unified will, 1 negate, 2 Gaddock Teeg.
2-1
Round 4: RUG? Tron
Game 1: he drops a misty into a basic forest into expedition map. I have no idea what is going on and just do my normal thing. He plays another forest and 2 maps. He cracks one to find a steam vents and another for a tron piece over the next couple turns but it's too late and my board has overwhelmed him.
Game 2: turn 1 he drops a tormod's crypt. I get a Gaddock Teeg out which slows him down, along with a knight. He gets tron online and plays a wurmcoil. I stare at the negate in my hand, wishing it was a unified will. The next turn he attacks with the wurmcoil. I read my opponent and determine he won't see his crypt still sitting in play so I block with my knight then activate his ability to grab a fetch to grab a land to make him a 6/6 to trade. My opponent lets it happen, gets his wurms and passes. I'm kinda dumbfounded and proceed to easily trade some creatures with his wurms and then kill him. He reveals a hand of 2 ugins and 2 Karns, uncastable cause of Gaddock Teeg.
Board: 2 unified will, 1 negate, 2 Gaddock Teeg.
3-1
Round 5: GR Tron
Game 1: my opponent mulls to four and I have a normal hand, but it has three paths. Even though I know he's on tron I keep it against my better judgement. It has lands, a dork and a courser soooo... Anyways she mulls to four, plays sanctum and passes. I draw for turn, yep it's the fourth path.... I play some midrange creatures and he starts to find his tron pieces. I think to myself damn I messed this up. He gets tron online, plays planar bridge. The next turn he uses it to find ugin to wipe my board putting ugin at four. I path two of my creatures, determining they're not getting any better, still holding two of them. I play a knight and pass with with several lands in play. He casts a sundering Titan, I float a white and he exiles three of my lands, ticks ugin up bolting me. I use the white to path the Titan which he blows up two more of my lands. I then attack with knight for lethal since he just out so many lands there. He should've minus 3ed the ugin so I got very lucky.
Game 2: I play some creatures, he gets natural tron but has no threats. He finds a ugin and triggers sanctum getting emrakul which is castable next turn, I negate the ugin. I play a Teeg on my turn, leaving me with eight permanents in play including a knight, dork, stony silence and lands, I'm at 20. He is low enough to die to the knight next turn but not the Teeg. He plays the emrakul and takes his extra turn, he attacks and I have to sac 6 permanents. I need the knight to swing for the win but he has 1 card in hand. I have to decide if I should keep the silence or the Teeg as my only other permanent. Silence best so stone, but Teeg beats karn or ugin. I decide to keep Teeg and he reveals the karn in his hand and that's game.
Board: 2 unified will, 1 negate, 2 stony silence, 2 Gaddock Teeg.
4-1
Round 6: ID With Bant Eldrazi
Top 8: Round 1: RW Burn. This is a friend i came here with, so it's a little awkward but it's happened before so we're cool with it.
Game 1: he beats to a bloody pulp with goblins and swiftspears while killing my mana dorks with blaze and helix. Then triple burns my face.
Game 2: he has a heavy creature draw and doesn't answer my dorks this time allowing me to get some sizable blockers in play and stabilize while attacking safely.
Game 3: this goes really long, he gets me down to five, I have many blockers out. but I slowly gain back life with courser and scooze. He knows I have a negate in hand from a guide trigger which makes things tense. Eventually my creatures get there.
Board: 2 kitchen finks, 2 unified will, 1 negate, 2 blessed alliance.
Top 8: Round 2: Jund.
Game 1: Wasn't much of a game, I play bird into knight into elspeth and he has no answers, dying to a flying 7/7.
Game 2: we trade resources for a while then he finds an Olvia Voldaren that I cannot answer.
Game 3: pretty much the same as game 2 down to the olivia.
Board: 2 kitchen finks, 2 reflector mage, 2 unified will, 2 blessed alliance.
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So a top 4 finish is not too bad, got 50 in store credit and my deck was the talk of the tournament, every opponent loved playing against me and I had lots of spectators. This really is the best deck that no one is playing.
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Sideboard explanations:
-2 Kitchen Finks: great against burn and aggressive zoo decks. Also great at 2for1ing rock opponents.
- 2 Reflector mage: great against goyf decks and creatures without ETB abilities including zoo. I haven't seen him really shine yet though and may replace him.
-2 unified will and 1 Negate: countermagic to help against our worst matchups (tron and scapeshift) and useful against blue based control. Seriously considering going up to 3 Wills and dropping negate altogether as there were many time a unified will would have been better against tron to counter wurmcoil or sundering Titan, even ulamog if I'd seen him. Negate also doesn't counter Primetime.
- 2 Blessed Alliance: Great against burn, zoo, and midrange decks. Early and mid-game it's normal modes are quite good. Late game all three modes are super relevant, making them lose a creature and you untapping the fatties you just attacked them with for surprise blocks. Also combos with knight's ability and Staticaster in corner situations. I would never remove this and am considering another copy.
-2 stony silence: for affinity, tron, and ad nauseam. It is okay against tron. But I have not tested against affinity or ad nauseam much (currently on my schedule for this week) so I am unsure if it is necessary here, but it will stay until i find out just in case.
-2 Izzet Staticaster: answers lingering souls, affinity's near entire creature base, and other random x/1s in various decks like abzan company, hatebears, or snapcaster decks. I urge anyone who plays this deck to never cut this card from their board as it is one of the rewards for playing this archetype.
-2 Gaddock Teeg: my personal pet sideboard card that has saved my butt time and time again. Comes in against tron, control (to stop wraths and cryptic or at least draw removal spells out), scapeshift, abzan company, and sun and moon. Sometimes he severely hoses our opponents, but at the very least he buys us time to beat down while our opponent deals with him. High ceiling. Our companies being uncastable is an unfortunate side-effect but if you have him out in those matches, you should already be winning. You should not cut company when bringing him in unless you have other reasons to do so as company is still your best cards and helps find Teeg. Besides, you'll still need company if you never see him to have a chance in some matchups.
Taking this to states next week so wish me luck!
Hey, so I don't really post on here much just cause I never make time for it. I've been playing bant company for just a couple weeks but have played both naya company and abzan company in the past (actually just had a regional top 8 with abzan company) so I am familiar with the style of deck and this may be my favorite company list yet.
I have no idea how to post a decklist correctly so I will just list my deck:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Voice of Resurgence
2 Selfless Spirit
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Spell Queller
3 Tireless Tracker
1 Courser of Kruphix
4 Path to Exile
4 Collected Company
2 Retreat to Coralhelm
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
3 Sexy Altered Forest
1 Plains
1 Stomping Ground
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
1 Temple Garden
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Gavony Township
1 Kessig Wolf Run
Sideboard:
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Stony Silence
1 Negate
1 Unified Will
2 Reflector Mage
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Gaddock Teeg
The above is what I ran for the first event, which was a tourney for 100 in store credit to first. (Was actually a playset of jace VP but we didn't want those and have to bother to trade them.) it was 5 rounds with a cut to top 8. Note I cannot remember all my boarding decisions here since I didn't think I'd make a report.
Round 1: Abzan Company
Game 1: This is a friend of mine from the area (it was about an hour and a half away from me) and he assumed I was on abzan company as well since I am known for it and my start of temple garden, mana dork was convincing. The spell queller surprised him though and I manage to grind out game 1 after I get a scooze to hold off his combo while I grow knight, draw cards off tracker, and activate gavony.
Game 2: he gets me down to 1 through using a viscera seer and blood artist but I get the artist off the field and gain some life with Kitchen finks and scooze until I grind him out.
Board: I can't recall exactly. But I know I had Gaddock Teeg, staticaster, and finks. I may have boarded in blessed alliance and reflector mage.
1-0
Round 2: Bad Standard Deck.
No need for a rundown here. The guy had a standard deck that wasn't even good for standard (some kinda of artifact/paradox engine thing) and had a bye for the first round which is why he was up a match. I stomped him soundly with beats.
2-0
Round 3: Sun and Moon
Game 1: I have a decent start, he has turn 3 Nahiri (SSG) and chalice on 1 on turn 2, he angers my board after a few turns and plays a Gideon Jura followed up by a Chandra, torch of defiance. It's a little what happened exactly but I think some companies caught me up, he drew no gas, I beat all 3 of his planeswalkers up and then him. I was shocked. I also never saw blood moon this game and wondered if he even had it.
Game 2: my hand allows me to aggressively fetch basics so I do so, along with a couple dorks. I get a knight out along with Gaddock Teeg and tracker. He angers after a while of not doing much to kill my Teeg and tracker. I play another Teeg and keep beating down. He draws, reveals a hand of uncastable wraths and such and that's the game.
Board: I brought in Gaddock Teeg to slow down his walkers and wraths, kitchen finks to overload his removal and negate/ unified will to counter moons and walkers.
3-0
Round 4: RW Burn
Game 1: he mulls to a 6 card one-lander and isn't fast enough to kill me before I get setup behind a knight, scooze, and courser and aggro him down.
Game 2: he has a super fast start on the play and I just can't keep up and die before my hate cards come on line.
Game 3: He has a creature heavy draw and I have lands, dorks, a finks, a knight and a negate. His goblin guide reveals a blessed alliance off the first trigger and I just play a normal game while he doesn't advance much, seemingly played scared of the alliance. I never actually cast it and win the game with beats.
Board: 2 Blessed alliance, 2 Kitchen Finks, 1 Negate, 1 Unified Will.
4-0
Round 5: ID with Grixis Delver
4-0-1
Top 8: Goryo's Vengeance
I'm top seed so I get the play.
Game 1: he has a slow start and I have a turn 2 scooze off a dork that I never tap out of the ability. It goes unanswered and I get there naturally.
Game 2: I get the scooze lock up and after a few turns he nourish shoals and splices a through the breach. I counter the shoal with a negate. The next turn he is under 7 life, cast the through the breach and I have no answers. He puts in a griselbrand which immediately gets met with a path. He scoops.
Top 8, Round 2: Esper Midrange.
This was a friend from the same car so this was a little awkward.
Game 1: I have the play and we play a fairly normal game trading removal, discard and creatures. He gets some lingering souls out which I cannot answer and I die to them, also saw a Geist.
Game 2: same as you'd expect but I manage to get a fast enough start to get his life total low enough and he can't recover.
Game 3: This game went Super Long, we trade all our resources and he starts beating me with a collonade. I draw a tracker that goes unanswered and I start drawing cards while he holds back his collonade to block since the tracker is lethal. I draw some more threats, which is literally every creature in my deck since he's at 1 or 2. I alpha strike, he tries to push my Pridemage and blocks my tracker. I company into selfless spirt and that's that.
I then split the finals with the same guy from round 3 on sun and moon. We each got 85 in store credit which bought me some fetches.
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Then at tonight's FNM, I went undefeated (5-0) I changed the list by taking out the 2 Retreats and adding in a second courser and an Elspeth Knight-Errant.
Round 1: Soul Sisters
Game 1: Pretty standard stuff. He has some sisters to gain life while I beat him down with whatever is convenient. He doesn't really have any payoffs until he top decks a pridemate that immediately gets pathed. I close pretty quickly.
Game 2: he has a fast start with a sister turn 1, pridemate turn 2, and more sisters. His pridemate gets huge and I'm forced into chumping it while I wait for answers. Once I'm at about 8 life I find a path for it off a tracker and start to stabilize my board with good blockers while he draws lands I draw 12 CARDS off tracker this game. I also have the abilty to cast blessed alliance (both copies in my hand) fully escalated if he decided to get fancy. But he doesn't and I win 2-0
Board: 2 Izzet Staticaster, 2 Blessed Alliance, 2 Reflector Mage
1-0
Round 2: Mono-Green stompy
Game 1: for this matchup which I've never played before, I prioritize trading my creatures for his when possible since I know I can win if we go long. I stabilize at ten once he empties his hand using his pump spells to kill my blockers. And kill him with a large scooze.
Game 2: he gets me to 1, while I skillfully trade creatures with him. I gain some life from finks and draw a tracker that quickly puts the game away.
Board: 2 Blessed Alliance, 2 Kitchen Finks, 2 Reflector Mage.
2-0
Round 3: Goblins/8-Whack
Game 1: I'm kinda surprised since this guy doesn't normally play this and I've never seen him with it. I get beat by many quick tokens and a goblin grenade.
Game 2: I grind him out with blockers and a well placed blessed alliance that he scoops to. I draw 4-6 cards off goblin guides.
Game 3: I have a turn 2 Izzet staticaster which he can't deal with and I beat in with value dudes.
Board: 2 Izzet Staticaster, 2 Blessed Alliance, 2 Kitchen Finks, 2 Reflector Mage.
3-0
Round 4: Abzan Midrange
Game 1: traditional grind fest, but he finds some lingering souls I cannot answer.
Game 2: I keep a terrible 6-card hand with 1 land, a bird, and 3 drops. He IOKs me but takes one of the three drops. I draw lands and My bird doesn't die. I grind him out with tracker.
Game 3: same as game 2 but my hand is decent, tracker winds the game again, drawing me answers and brick walling his goyfs.
Board: 2 Izzet Staticaster, 2 Blessed Alliance, 2 Kitchen Finks, 1 Elspeth. In hindsight, I should've grabbed the counter magic, at least the negate.
4-0
Round 5: GR Tron
Game 1: a well placed knight into ghost quarter buys me enough time to kill him.
Game 2: he mulls to five, I spell queller his scrying to keep him off tron while I get a ghost quarter off a knight to further cement the lead. He never recovers.
Sorry, I suck at tournament reports since I can never remember my games in specifics. I plan on taking this to states, and will definitely change the board a bit, taking out the elspeth and adding another blessed alliance.
Second, what is the wild slash in the sideboard for? Just for burrenton forge-tender or am I missing something else?
Third, how have the mana confluences felt in the deck? Obviously they fix your mana but are they too painful in combination with the other stuff?
And lastly, is the tainted strike necessary for a kill or can we reach lethal with just normal damage (assuming a one shot, not over turns).
Sorry for so many questions, I have been playing suicide zoo and wanted to check more rouge-ish decks after seeing how freaking good suicide was.
Also, can I cut the lightning helix from my sideboard, I feel there's never a time when you can actually cast it since you're doing so much else with your mana each turn. My list is pretty stock, still got the steppe lynx in the deck and pretty happy with them.
Finally in response to the above, how do I find this BecauseNiceThings decklist being talked about?
A question I have is why is the deck so popular online, and in limited metas like pro tours and wmcq, while rarely appearing on the scg open circuits?
It shuts off fetches, any ramp spells, prime time triggers, sylvan scrying, expedition map, and nahiri's ult. (I dream of flashing it in in response to her ult. one day.) it seems very good right now, especially in my meta.
Also, wish me luck, I'm taking the deck to GP Charlotte but I'm not running any thoughtseize (I prefer sin collector) as I feel it's difficult to board in spells with company in the deck. The only non creatures in my board are path, decay, and Stony silence, all 2-ofs. Also, I keep hearing that people board out combo pieces in most matchups, where is this relevant? I feel like you always want the combo to be as viable as possible.
I top 8ed at an IQ this weekend, I would've made past quarter finals but due to a temporary loss of memory (like seriously I should get it checked) I forget to sac a birds to seer after blocking a vault skirge and it cost me the game and match as I could've both swung for lethal or would've drawn a chord that would've been under the land I would've put on the bottom. I can't believe I did something so stupid.
http://sales.starcitygames.com/deckdatabase/deckshow.php?event_ID=29&t[T2]=28&start_date=2016-05-14&end_date=2016-05-14&state=FL&city=Pensacola&order_1=finish&limit=8&t_num=1&action=Show+Decks
My list is 8th place, my friend Michael also played the deck and he's pretty good at it too, I showed a little bit about it.