I remember a card (forgot it's name), that basically says prevent all damage, opponent looses life equal to attackers, which made me attack more conservativelly (for lethal exactly).
Lantern Control you'll want (ideally multiple) Reclamation Sage to deal with things like Ensnaring Bridge (Welding Jar can hurt here, though). Fracturing Gust is expensive but another option.
Versus Living End: you can either Chord out a Tajuru Preserver, run Thoughtseize to remove the Living End, or something similar. Relic of Progenitus. If you're doing GW you can also do something like Rest in Peace.
Versus Ad Nauseam, you'll need to probably win really quickly. They won't generally have any disruption main board, and they may just have 1-2 removal spells post-sideboard. Thoughtseize works here too.
The card is Angel's Grace - very strong at keeping Ad Naus alive vs Creature strategies.
Thoughtseize is great. I run 2 Stain the Mind in the side, and that helps (though Ad Naus also runs Lab Maniac and Spoils from the Vault, so it has an alternate wincon).
You're right, though - swing in and hit hard. The only other thing to keep in mind is that the deck relies on artifacts to ramp into a quick turn 3/4 kill, so a main-deck Rec Sage can win the game for you game 1.
(I run a Glittering Wish variant of Ad Naus as my other modern deck, so I'm familiar with the play - though not brilliant at it!)
I pulled a version of this deck together after looking at how it's done over the last little while.
It looks like it was a great option while Eldrazi was a thing, but how do you feel it's situated now?
I took it to a 4 round Modern event.
Round 1 was Jeskai Nahiri Control, and the games didn't feel TERRIBLE, but they were long and drawn out (accepting a large amount of possible user error there! Still pretty new to the deck).
But then I found what feels to be a bit of an Achilles heel for the deck - Combo.
The games didn't feel remotely close, and though I played them out, I struggled to think of an out present in the deck. (I sided in Ancient Grudges and Ray of Revelations to deal with enchantments, and Ad Nauseum's mana rocks - forced an opponent to sac two lotus blooms in upkeep when had the final combo piece scried on top of their deck).
This was the first deck I built for Modern, but I've been away for a while, and when I could play, mainly jammed Elves. I started changing to the Wish variant a while ago when the forum was talking about it... and now I'm back and it looks like I've stayed refining something people have left behind!! Oh well!
Two of the fastest cracking games I've run with the deck. Turn 3 both times. I'd feel bad for my opponent, but I usually run Elves, and I've been pipped at the post by Affinity too many times to feel bad for them!
Result: 2-0
Round 2 - Jeskai Ascendency
Fate Stitcher and Glittering Wish to effectively storm without storm - just get the critters big and bash for lethal.
Game 1 I got there quicker than he did. Game 2 he beat me to it (I pulled a Wear/Tear off a Glittering Wish, so he played Silence, THEN landed Ascendency). Game 3 I missed two land drops with the win in hand... when you don't get over the line, you don't get over the line.
Result: 1-2
Round 3: Silvers
As opposed to round 1, these were three of the closest damn games! Game 1 I got there... but not by enough! He'd gained a bunch of life off of syphon slivers in some quick beats, raced up to 33 life, which I had JUST enough to meet with lands, then he had two lands in hand! I SHOULD have just gone for Lab Maniac plan instead, but that's my inexperience with the deck right there!
Game 2, when he had the 'sack sliver to gain 3' in hand, and went up to 41 in response to my Ad Nauseum, I went the Pentad Prism into Lab Maniac plan instead. (I stupidly thought Spoils would draw my deck out, not pull me to 0... so I misplayed and proceeded to wait through his turn!). He went for a CoCo, but I'd kept both pacts and a grace in hand. Grace in upkeep, win at draw.
Game 3 he was quick, but I was quicker. Just. JUST. CoB and a bunch of pump slivers pulled me to 1 as I went off.
Result: 2-1
Round 4: Abzan Company
I hate this deck (but loved my opponent). Game 1, he got the turn 3 on the play... what do you do? Game 2 I was going off on untap, with Ad, Grace and Wish in hand. He landed a Sin Prodder... and thankfully didn't know how the deck worked! 1 in 3 chance of the right answer, but he picked Ad and I went off unimpeeded.
Game 3 was just weird... it was a risky keep, but I'm a gambling man. 2xLotus, Ad, Grace, SSG, Pact of Neg and Prism. After deliberating for far too long, I kept. I drew NO LAND. I drew a second pact. He was on the play, but didn't go off T3. Not enough pressure on board to get me over the line - when he passed T3 I had trouble holding it all in. Ticked down the suspend and waited. T4 he tried to play things... but pact kept me very safe and cosy. Upkeep, got the lotus, cracked for white, Graced and went off.
Result: 3-1
End result - my only loss went 4-0, and his final opponent had 2% worse resistence than I did, so I managed to nab a 2nd place with that! Not too shabby, despite how rusty I felt!
With the Bramblewood Paragon ruling - I had this come up at my last Modern event.
The judge there ruled that if you flip two BP off CoCo they both get a +1/+1. He said it was similar to how Scapeshift/Valakut works. I'm a bit hazy on it all, but the answer was 'yes' so I was happy with that.
The problem is, waiting for combo enablers like Ad Nauseum or Living End to be in the graveyard normally means they've cast it, by which time, it's too late.
Stain the Mind you get to choose anything, which, once you know the match up, can be incredible. I'm tempted to run a third!
Thanks for being a spokesperson Mikeduges!! I think there's definitely some room for us to move the deck around some.
Brentane, this may answer your thoughts as well:
I'm still playing around, but - what if we moved into Sultai colours with a heavier Warrior subtheme?
Joraga Warcallers and Bramblewood Paragons have felt good to me for a while, and Thornweald Archers proved strong against Affinity. What if we try Skyrider Elf? It's a Warrior, so it doesn't need to be a dead draw on CoCo if we have a Paragon. Could even make an argument for Beastcaller Savant - smooth out the mana for Shaman, and could get us a 3/3 or 4/4 Skyrider before Paragon triggers.
Want to interact with your opponents more? Why not take to the sky?
My main worry is that we're weak to Living End. We're strong against Eldrazi, but what is the meta going to be if the bannings happen? Affinity is already fairly dominant, and without Eldrazi, I think it'll stay there... and for me, Affinity is a 50/50 match at best.
OK, finally home and rested enough to write some basics up. Here's how GP Melbourne went for me (it'll be a little lax on specifics!).
1 - Affinity
There are two matchups I hate... Abzan Company and Affinity. I've just faced them on God draws too many times.
My Thornweald Archers pulled double time and pushed this to game three... but a lack of evasion really hurts us, and although I knocked him to 2, I couldn't stop the bugs from flying over.
Loss, 2-1
2 - Knowledge Pool
I'd NEVER seen this deck before. For those like me - blue/white control deck, focusing on casting Knowledge Pool, so every spell you cast gets exiled into a communal pool, and you can cast a different spell for free from the pool... then locking down by casting Curse of Exhaustion - target player can only cast one spell per turn.
So with the lock in place, you never get to cast a thing, while they can, and slowly grind you out.
Game 1 he found the curse, but no pool... and the curse landed turn 4, by which point I was 1 spell per turn anyway! (CoCo into 2 shamans is only 1 spell... right?)
Game 2 he found three knowledge pools, which was AWESOME. Cast and exile Elvish Mystic for 1, resolve CoCo! He finally found the lock piece at 16 life... he counted and thought he'd be safe enough to get his board wipe from the pool next turn... he forgot to count the Archdruid, and I slapped in for 23.
Win 2-0
3 - UW Eldrazi
A VERY salty opponent who was having a bad day, and didn't want to speak to me or acknowledge my existence. Little did I know, in some of the shuffling during Game 2, his vicious handling SPLIT 7 of my sleeves in the middle!! And they were brand new KMC Hypermats too! I let the judge team know at the end of the round, and they went to watch him for Round 4 just in case he did it to someone else.
Made me feel MUCH better about rolling him in straight sets.
Win 2-0
4 - Affinity
A lovely opponent and some of the grindiest games I've had. Game 1 I had a nut draw and got there quickly. Game 2 was SLOW, Thornwealds out again. He sacked multiple artifacts to Archbound Ravager boost his Inkmoth, and I dismembered it in response... but he got me to 4 then top decked a Galvanic Blast. Game 3 was equally grindy, and with him at 2 life, he top decked the win.
He came away sweating and praising my play, which was lovely of him, but man, frustrating! (I cracked packs next to him for the sealed the next day - really nice guy!).
5 - Burn
I was really worried about this matchup... I didn't need to be.
My opponent made several large misplays - I went t1 Heritage, t2 Elite... end of turn she bolted my face (instead of bolting the Heritage in response to the Elite trigger and stranding me with a 2/2). The worst missplay was in game 2 when I had an archdruid and spellskite on board. She tapped out and swung with a Swiftspeer and Goblin Guide... doubting she had a gutshot, I blocked the Swiftspeer with the Archdruid, Guide with the skite, and killed the Swiftspeer.
Win 2-0
6 - Burn
And then I faced burn again in the next round! My opponent was better on his plays, but man, I must have had some amazing draws. I remember Burn being a hard match up... I finished Game 2 on 20 life thanks to an Essence Warden and good blockers.
Win 2-0
7 - Abzan Company
Where's all the UW Eldrazi?! I LIKE that match up!
This match up? Not so much. Game 1 was a quick win for the little green men. Game 2 he got the combo, but in response I chorded for an essence warden. He bolstered creatures huge, but I blocked, heritage tapped to an ezuri regen, and stalled the board until he could find a bird - if had to WORK for that victory.
Game 3... he hit the combo pieces off a CoCo flip turn 3. Hargh.
Loss 2-1.
8 - Infect
You know when your infect opponent just gets the cards to hit you, unblockable, for 10 infect on turn 3 and there's nothing you can do to interact with it?
Yeah, that happened.
Loss 2-1
9 - UR Eldrazi
Playing fast and for fun. 3 games, but neither of us took them too seriously. It was a nice end to the day.
Win 2-1
And there we have it. 5-4 result, but at one stage 4-2 was looking like I'd push through to day 2. C'est la vie.
I made a last minute switch to 4 warcallers and 2 new nissa instead of the Bramblewood Paragons, which I think was good... not sure about which way to tune the deck next...
Glad to see some success for the deck out and around the place! Thanks for the awesome community, gang!
I'll do a full write up in the next day or so... I hit a few very close match ups (and got rolled by infect), and ended the day 5-4.
I only faced eldrazi twice, and was fine both times. Affinity squeaked two wins past me, and abzan co got me again. Loads of fun, but got to 4-2 only to fall.
I think I saw you closing up Syreal! Amazing stuff! Glad you're there keeping the dream alive!
- Windswept Heath can fetch any forest in the deck, so it can grab your Overgrown Tombs. It's just cheaper for most players than Verdant Catacombs.
- We replace Chord with Lead BECAUSE it's similar to CoCo. In matchups with lots of spot removal - Jund/Grixis - we need to refill our board with multiple threats, not just 1. Chord gets one elf on the field. CoCo gets a choice of 2. Lead can put up to 5 in your hand, which, against an opponent who spent the first few turns 1 for 1ing your threats, is big game.
- I don't play G/W, so I can't help you there. Shaman is anything but slow. If you go t1 dork, t2 heritage/Dwynen/Archdruid (which is fairly common), you can tap the Archdruid t3 for CoCo, hit 2 shamans, and slap your opponent for 14 damage before combat. If you're living the dream and have a Chord in hand, you can respond to the Shaman's entering the field with a chord for 3, and your opponent takes 24. Also, they may seem slow in a vacuum, but when you start to grind and your opponent has blockers, but has dealt themselves 3-5 damage of fetch/shocks, a Shaman slap can win the game from out of nowhere.
The card is Angel's Grace - very strong at keeping Ad Naus alive vs Creature strategies.
Thoughtseize is great. I run 2 Stain the Mind in the side, and that helps (though Ad Naus also runs Lab Maniac and Spoils from the Vault, so it has an alternate wincon).
You're right, though - swing in and hit hard. The only other thing to keep in mind is that the deck relies on artifacts to ramp into a quick turn 3/4 kill, so a main-deck Rec Sage can win the game for you game 1.
(I run a Glittering Wish variant of Ad Naus as my other modern deck, so I'm familiar with the play - though not brilliant at it!)
It looks like it was a great option while Eldrazi was a thing, but how do you feel it's situated now?
I took it to a 4 round Modern event.
Round 1 was Jeskai Nahiri Control, and the games didn't feel TERRIBLE, but they were long and drawn out (accepting a large amount of possible user error there! Still pretty new to the deck).
But then I found what feels to be a bit of an Achilles heel for the deck - Combo.
Round 2 Storm
Round 3 Ad Nauseum
Round 4 Jeskai Ascendancy Combo
The games didn't feel remotely close, and though I played them out, I struggled to think of an out present in the deck. (I sided in Ancient Grudges and Ray of Revelations to deal with enchantments, and Ad Nauseum's mana rocks - forced an opponent to sac two lotus blooms in upkeep when had the final combo piece scried on top of their deck).
Can anyone offer advice on how to tackle combo?
I love Stain the Mind for combo. Took a Grapeshot from an all in Storm. So much fun.
This was the first deck I built for Modern, but I've been away for a while, and when I could play, mainly jammed Elves. I started changing to the Wish variant a while ago when the forum was talking about it... and now I'm back and it looks like I've stayed refining something people have left behind!! Oh well!
Took this to a local 12 man last night:
3 Phyrexian Unlife
4 Ad Nauseam
2 Spoils of the Vault
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Pentad Prism
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Serum Visions
3 Sleight of Hand
1 Slaughter Pact
2 Pact of Negation
1 Lightning Storm
1 Laboratory Maniac
4 Glittering Wish
2 Gemstone Mine
1 Island
1 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Plains
2 City of Brass
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Holy Day
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Echoing Truth
1 Patrician's Scorn
1 Slaughter Games
1 Flamespout
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Dragonlord Dromoka
1 Wear/Tear
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Bring to Light
4 Rounds in, and this is the way it played out:
Round 1 - Affinity
Two of the fastest cracking games I've run with the deck. Turn 3 both times. I'd feel bad for my opponent, but I usually run Elves, and I've been pipped at the post by Affinity too many times to feel bad for them!
Result: 2-0
Round 2 - Jeskai Ascendency
Fate Stitcher and Glittering Wish to effectively storm without storm - just get the critters big and bash for lethal.
Game 1 I got there quicker than he did. Game 2 he beat me to it (I pulled a Wear/Tear off a Glittering Wish, so he played Silence, THEN landed Ascendency). Game 3 I missed two land drops with the win in hand... when you don't get over the line, you don't get over the line.
Result: 1-2
Round 3: Silvers
As opposed to round 1, these were three of the closest damn games! Game 1 I got there... but not by enough! He'd gained a bunch of life off of syphon slivers in some quick beats, raced up to 33 life, which I had JUST enough to meet with lands, then he had two lands in hand! I SHOULD have just gone for Lab Maniac plan instead, but that's my inexperience with the deck right there!
Game 2, when he had the 'sack sliver to gain 3' in hand, and went up to 41 in response to my Ad Nauseum, I went the Pentad Prism into Lab Maniac plan instead. (I stupidly thought Spoils would draw my deck out, not pull me to 0... so I misplayed and proceeded to wait through his turn!). He went for a CoCo, but I'd kept both pacts and a grace in hand. Grace in upkeep, win at draw.
Game 3 he was quick, but I was quicker. Just. JUST. CoB and a bunch of pump slivers pulled me to 1 as I went off.
Result: 2-1
Round 4: Abzan Company
I hate this deck (but loved my opponent). Game 1, he got the turn 3 on the play... what do you do? Game 2 I was going off on untap, with Ad, Grace and Wish in hand. He landed a Sin Prodder... and thankfully didn't know how the deck worked! 1 in 3 chance of the right answer, but he picked Ad and I went off unimpeeded.
Game 3 was just weird... it was a risky keep, but I'm a gambling man. 2xLotus, Ad, Grace, SSG, Pact of Neg and Prism. After deliberating for far too long, I kept. I drew NO LAND. I drew a second pact. He was on the play, but didn't go off T3. Not enough pressure on board to get me over the line - when he passed T3 I had trouble holding it all in. Ticked down the suspend and waited. T4 he tried to play things... but pact kept me very safe and cosy. Upkeep, got the lotus, cracked for white, Graced and went off.
Result: 3-1
End result - my only loss went 4-0, and his final opponent had 2% worse resistence than I did, so I managed to nab a 2nd place with that! Not too shabby, despite how rusty I felt!
Any thoughts and feedback very welcome!
The judge there ruled that if you flip two BP off CoCo they both get a +1/+1. He said it was similar to how Scapeshift/Valakut works. I'm a bit hazy on it all, but the answer was 'yes' so I was happy with that.
It was huge game against Twin back before the ban.
There may be some others it works well in - like Jund (don't kill my lord, kill the Spellskite instead).
Doesn't do much against less interactive aggro decks like Affinity or Merfolk.
Depending on how interactive it's being, it could be nice against Abzan CoCo if they keep pathing/Fiend Hunting you.
The problem is, waiting for combo enablers like Ad Nauseum or Living End to be in the graveyard normally means they've cast it, by which time, it's too late.
Stain the Mind you get to choose anything, which, once you know the match up, can be incredible. I'm tempted to run a third!
Brentane, this may answer your thoughts as well:
I'm still playing around, but - what if we moved into Sultai colours with a heavier Warrior subtheme?
Joraga Warcallers and Bramblewood Paragons have felt good to me for a while, and Thornweald Archers proved strong against Affinity. What if we try Skyrider Elf? It's a Warrior, so it doesn't need to be a dead draw on CoCo if we have a Paragon. Could even make an argument for Beastcaller Savant - smooth out the mana for Shaman, and could get us a 3/3 or 4/4 Skyrider before Paragon triggers.
Want to interact with your opponents more? Why not take to the sky?
My main worry is that we're weak to Living End. We're strong against Eldrazi, but what is the meta going to be if the bannings happen? Affinity is already fairly dominant, and without Eldrazi, I think it'll stay there... and for me, Affinity is a 50/50 match at best.
Thoughts?
Could work great with the Warcaller, ensuring a pump.
What do people think about that?
1 - Affinity
There are two matchups I hate... Abzan Company and Affinity. I've just faced them on God draws too many times.
My Thornweald Archers pulled double time and pushed this to game three... but a lack of evasion really hurts us, and although I knocked him to 2, I couldn't stop the bugs from flying over.
Loss, 2-1
2 - Knowledge Pool
I'd NEVER seen this deck before. For those like me - blue/white control deck, focusing on casting Knowledge Pool, so every spell you cast gets exiled into a communal pool, and you can cast a different spell for free from the pool... then locking down by casting Curse of Exhaustion - target player can only cast one spell per turn.
So with the lock in place, you never get to cast a thing, while they can, and slowly grind you out.
Game 1 he found the curse, but no pool... and the curse landed turn 4, by which point I was 1 spell per turn anyway! (CoCo into 2 shamans is only 1 spell... right?)
Game 2 he found three knowledge pools, which was AWESOME. Cast and exile Elvish Mystic for 1, resolve CoCo! He finally found the lock piece at 16 life... he counted and thought he'd be safe enough to get his board wipe from the pool next turn... he forgot to count the Archdruid, and I slapped in for 23.
Win 2-0
3 - UW Eldrazi
A VERY salty opponent who was having a bad day, and didn't want to speak to me or acknowledge my existence. Little did I know, in some of the shuffling during Game 2, his vicious handling SPLIT 7 of my sleeves in the middle!! And they were brand new KMC Hypermats too! I let the judge team know at the end of the round, and they went to watch him for Round 4 just in case he did it to someone else.
Made me feel MUCH better about rolling him in straight sets.
Win 2-0
4 - Affinity
A lovely opponent and some of the grindiest games I've had. Game 1 I had a nut draw and got there quickly. Game 2 was SLOW, Thornwealds out again. He sacked multiple artifacts to Archbound Ravager boost his Inkmoth, and I dismembered it in response... but he got me to 4 then top decked a Galvanic Blast. Game 3 was equally grindy, and with him at 2 life, he top decked the win.
He came away sweating and praising my play, which was lovely of him, but man, frustrating! (I cracked packs next to him for the sealed the next day - really nice guy!).
5 - Burn
I was really worried about this matchup... I didn't need to be.
My opponent made several large misplays - I went t1 Heritage, t2 Elite... end of turn she bolted my face (instead of bolting the Heritage in response to the Elite trigger and stranding me with a 2/2). The worst missplay was in game 2 when I had an archdruid and spellskite on board. She tapped out and swung with a Swiftspeer and Goblin Guide... doubting she had a gutshot, I blocked the Swiftspeer with the Archdruid, Guide with the skite, and killed the Swiftspeer.
Win 2-0
6 - Burn
And then I faced burn again in the next round! My opponent was better on his plays, but man, I must have had some amazing draws. I remember Burn being a hard match up... I finished Game 2 on 20 life thanks to an Essence Warden and good blockers.
Win 2-0
7 - Abzan Company
Where's all the UW Eldrazi?! I LIKE that match up!
This match up? Not so much. Game 1 was a quick win for the little green men. Game 2 he got the combo, but in response I chorded for an essence warden. He bolstered creatures huge, but I blocked, heritage tapped to an ezuri regen, and stalled the board until he could find a bird - if had to WORK for that victory.
Game 3... he hit the combo pieces off a CoCo flip turn 3. Hargh.
Loss 2-1.
8 - Infect
You know when your infect opponent just gets the cards to hit you, unblockable, for 10 infect on turn 3 and there's nothing you can do to interact with it?
Yeah, that happened.
Loss 2-1
9 - UR Eldrazi
Playing fast and for fun. 3 games, but neither of us took them too seriously. It was a nice end to the day.
Win 2-1
And there we have it. 5-4 result, but at one stage 4-2 was looking like I'd push through to day 2. C'est la vie.
I made a last minute switch to 4 warcallers and 2 new nissa instead of the Bramblewood Paragons, which I think was good... not sure about which way to tune the deck next...
Glad to see some success for the deck out and around the place! Thanks for the awesome community, gang!
I only faced eldrazi twice, and was fine both times. Affinity squeaked two wins past me, and abzan co got me again. Loads of fun, but got to 4-2 only to fall.
I think I saw you closing up Syreal! Amazing stuff! Glad you're there keeping the dream alive!
That's at least 3 of us here for the GP?
I'm sitting outside the venue, getting ready to figure it all out. Good luck to my sylvan brethren!!
(Damn, I'm such a nerd...)
Nissa gives us a chump or buffs the team permanently.
I don't like switching to pain lands to allows us access to Sea Gate, but I'm open to hearing how it goes.
GP Melbourne is tomorrow, so of course, I'm second guessing my constructed deck!!
Welcome to the team!
- Windswept Heath can fetch any forest in the deck, so it can grab your Overgrown Tombs. It's just cheaper for most players than Verdant Catacombs.
- We replace Chord with Lead BECAUSE it's similar to CoCo. In matchups with lots of spot removal - Jund/Grixis - we need to refill our board with multiple threats, not just 1. Chord gets one elf on the field. CoCo gets a choice of 2. Lead can put up to 5 in your hand, which, against an opponent who spent the first few turns 1 for 1ing your threats, is big game.
- I don't play G/W, so I can't help you there. Shaman is anything but slow. If you go t1 dork, t2 heritage/Dwynen/Archdruid (which is fairly common), you can tap the Archdruid t3 for CoCo, hit 2 shamans, and slap your opponent for 14 damage before combat. If you're living the dream and have a Chord in hand, you can respond to the Shaman's entering the field with a chord for 3, and your opponent takes 24. Also, they may seem slow in a vacuum, but when you start to grind and your opponent has blockers, but has dealt themselves 3-5 damage of fetch/shocks, a Shaman slap can win the game from out of nowhere.
Hope that helps!