MTG Salvation

Quote from MDFMJB »

if you dont have scalding tarns what would the next best manabase look like?

I have the same issue, so I go 4 Polluted Delta, 2 Flooded Strand and 2 Bloodstained Mire. If you feel like you're going into t1 shock into Bolt too often you can always add more Bloodstained Mires and take out an equivalent number of Flooded Strands. At the very least I went into a 7 round tournament with that ratio of fetches and I wasn't particularly bothered by my mana base.

I can't say for sure what the intention was, but Tasigur can be dropped a lot faster than the Dragons while providing a much fatter body than Arashin Cleric. There are still some issues with running him in a deck with 4 Dig Through Time, which is likely why he only ran 1, but it can be useful in the Aggro and Midrange matchup where Dragons might be too slow and the Arashin Clerics may not buy enough time. Of course, this is coming from someone who only has experience with Tasigur in Modern and hasn't been able to get away to play Standard, so take it as you will.

So I came back from a State Championship yesterday, and one thing I realized is that while I generally knew what to side in for the aggro match-ups like Merfolk and Affinity, I didn't really know the best cards to side out for the match-up. My first instinct was to side out the Tasigurs and Remands given the low chance that the game would grind long enough to get Tasigur out and Remand's lower effectiveness due the generally low mana cost of most cards in aggro decks. However, given my general inexperience (it was my first MtG tourney), I wasn't sure if my instincts were correct.

Quote from idSurge »

I would look at shifting a few things around Albegas, but take my recommendation with a bit of salt as I grind online exclusively these days it seems so thats my meta. :]

Dispel - 2 Main, 1 Board seems best for me.
Spell Snare - I had run them main, but I like them more in the board (2)
Tasigur, the Golden Fang - I like him a lot more in the Side as well.

Commands, Terminate, Negate, and Mana Leak can all be shuffled up to go to your expectation and play style. I find my main deck has shifted towards a more standard UR build, with only 1 Terminate and 1 Kolaghan's Command main, with 1 more of each in the Side. For most Tier 1 Matchup's thats been sufficient removal with Bolt to keep me going.

One thing that may be an issue is you dont have Electrolyze which can be a great card, and keeps us cycling.

Thanks for the reply. I may play around a bit with siding Spell Snares in favor of more Dispels since for every game Snares save me I seem to end up in another where they do nothing. I may still keep the Tasigurs in just because like having that back-up grind game available. Just so I can get a better understanding of your viewpoint, what are the major differences between the online meta and the offline meta?

So, a friend of mine and I are hitting up a Modern tournament with an unknown meta this Sunday, and I thought I’d get a second opinion on my deck to see if I’m over/underprepared for any decks

Sadly I don’t have any Scalding Tarns (hence the Flooded Strands), so I’m hoping to get by with what I have for lands since they’re a bit beyond my budget. Anyway, any advice would be welcomed, especially since it’s the first time I’ve tried putting together a side board for Magic.

I have some friends who want to get into competitive Modern, and since I don't own a lot of staples I thought I'd get some recommendations. I'm not really on a budget, but I'd rather avoid playing decks that have to run Goyfs just to save some cash. The only really pricy playset of staples I have is Snapcaster Mage, but I do have a full playset of Geist, Remand, Steam Vents and Hallowed Fountain (I tried building UWr Midrange back when Pod was good and never followed through). As for my preferred playstyle, I tend to prefer midrange and control strategies, but I'm open to just about anything but aggro. I know that UWr Midrange has seen some success, but given my general lack of pricy staples and the fact that it seems to be on the fringe of developing and tier 2, I wasn't sure if would be difficult to see success with it when I don't have a lot of meta knowledge.