I have only had 1 match against Assassin's trophy and it really didnt have an effect on the match. The abzan match Monday was the only one and he only managed to see it once in Game 2 where I kept a stupid hand (very bad decision). I was leaning heavily on the vial in my hand and he used the trophy to destroy the vial, it did ramp me however and made the game at least a little more manageable since I kept a 0 land hand with a land scry to the top.
Another small event last night, 10 players.
Finished 3-1.
W 2-1 Skred
W 2-0 UR Wizards
L 1-2 Counters Company
W 2-1 Abzan
Not a whole lot to say about this one. Blood Moon got me in game 1 vs skred. Combo'ed out turn 3 in game 1 vs counters company. Kept a horrible 6 in game 2 vs abzan.
Its a mixed bag playing against storm. I've had amazing 2-0 blow outs, but also many 0-2 blow outs. At the SCG IQ last week I got to blow out storm 2-0 and it felt great but its total chance if they have a nut hand. I love when they board in empty the warrens, I always board in syphon slivers for this very reason.
Round 1, tron, 2-1. He managed turn 4 tron but managed zero threats as i cast 2 coco to seal it. Game 2 he saw threats and i failed to get going. Game 3, turn 1 vial, turn 2 Lord, turn 3 blur and vial in Lord swing 10, turn 4 vial in necrotic, cast manaweft cast galerider, fly over his wurmcoil for a win.
Round 2, storm 0-2. Opponent had nut hands both games, couldn't stop him even with 8 sideboard cards.
Round 3, hardened affinity, 2-1. Super bad game 1, simply stated i was terrible. Game 2 dropped a turn 3 harmonic and a turn 4 coco brought in a second harmonic and created 4 triggers, game over. Game 3 top decked a harmonic on turn 3 and it was enough.
Round 4, humans, 2-1. On the draw, i start off with galerider and 3 lords in hand and simply flew over with big creatures, no reflectors. Game 2, humans did human things, came out too fast. Game 3, top decked a galerider on turn 6 to get above the blockers for a win.
With only 10 players and a few drops, the last round i was paired with the only 3-0 player left. After the round there were 3 of us at 3-1 so it came down to breakers. I ended up 1st because 2 of my opponents also finished 3-1 (humans and storm).
Scg IQ today in Little Rock.
60 players.
4-2, 18th place.
Blue steel 2-1. Had a slow start game 1 and couldn't recover. Games 2 and 3 saw harmonic slivers and just destroyed everything he played.
Storm 2-0. A perfectly timed dismember in response to his first ritual fizzled his storm and I was on a mull to 5 cards. Game 2, a well timed warping wail countered a flashed back past in flames to force an empty the warrens for only 10. I followed up with syphon sliver and a coco to seal it.
Amulet titan 1-2. Snuck out a win in game one on some cheese hand. Failed to see damping spheres in either side board game. Got comboed out turn 3 of game 2. 2 board wipes ended game 3 quickly.
Humans 1-2. Simply put I screwed up in this match. I made mistakes in game 1 and got stuck on 2 lands in game 3.
Jeskai control 2-0. Game 1 was a massacre. Game 2 was interesting, I had 2 lords, a blur and manaweft in play, went to cast necrotic, he cryptic commands tapping team and bouncing my vial, necrotic resolves, i paid 3 and sacked it to blow up the detention sphere on my sedge and I swing for 5... lol
Mono u tron 2-1. Game 1 i saw both necrotic but got ugin'd. Game 2 and 3 I blew up every artifact he played and killed so many tron lands...
Looking back, I played pretty well but the mistakes in round 4 killed me. Wish I could go back and eat before the round instead of after, I might have thought better.
Too difficult to cast, you'd have to name shapeshifter with Cavern in order to have a decent chance at casting this card. The mana base really prohibits non-sliver creatures in the deck.
Nice report, Can you link your list? Every time I seem to play against burn they have a great hand, never fortunate enough to have them mull that deep. During the shadow match did you see any diffusion slivers? Auras/bogles is a tough match up if they have the correct auras especially in game 1.
Its been good at generating some value from opponent removal spells. Since its just a 1 of it isnt seen often but the few times have been pretty good. In grindy matchups its providing a few extra turns to get thru all the removal.
Having difficulty firing Legacy in my area as of late. I am still on the All-in build, but havent gotten to play in a while. Anyone with events since the last banning?
I had some sideboarding info in the report, my go to cuts are the sentinel and daarkheart that are main as they are the flex spots. From there its a matter of preference; when I bring in hivelord I always cut 1 CoCo for it, in control matchups its ok to cut the dismembers for frenetics, for affinity/hardened scales/kci/lantern cut 3 diffusion for 3 harmonic, Tron/storm/kci/amulet titan bring in damping spheres usually the flex creatures or diffusions are cut for these.
There is a lot of variation in modern, a list of ins and outs simply is not useful since very few decks are going to be stock net decks. Everyone has their own piece of flavor to add.
Assassin's Trophy actually makes Sedge even more important. Just imagine being able to vial in a mana sliver in response or fetch a swamp to regen your sliver and get a basic out of it.
My first opinion of the card was "great! now our diffusion slivers are better" no more uncounterable destruction. Assassin's Trophy is a strict upgrade to decay and will replace it entirely in most decks using decay. I spoke to my local Abzan/Jund player and he plans to go so far as to cut decay, maelstrom pulse and even a push or 2 for this new card. I expect similar moves across the board.
Round 1, humans 2-1.
Game 1, kept a suspect hand with a basic forest and watery grave for lands... didnt pan out, couldnt build a board with the poor land base and lost the game quickly.
Game 2, Sided in 2 syphon slivers in place of diffusion slivers. Dropped syphon on turn 3 after a sinew and went to town attacking and gaining life. My life gain out paced his deck completely.
Game 3, this was a risk for me, I kept a slow hand without the life gain but I had a TON of lords. I stabilized at 5 life but eventually got 5 lords into play and there was nothing for him to do but chump block until his board was gone and I swung with an alpha strike for the win.
Round 2, valuetown 2-0.
Game 1, Kept a great hand with a perfect curve out, T1 Galerider, T2 lord, T3 sedge, etc. I took 2 hits from a voice but it was over quick.
Game 2, Didnt sideboard at all, just ran it back main. VERY similar to first game except vial instead of Galerider. A Collected company dropped double lord on turn 3 due to a path giving me a basic a turn early.
Round 3, RB Hollow one 2-0.
Game 1, He cast 2 burning inquiries early on, the first really hurt, the second fixed the damage. This guy was fairly new to modern and was not prepared, made many mistakes.
Game 2, brought in 2 Relics from side, he had a better game and got me down to 5 life before my alpha strike killed him from 18.
Round 4, Titan Shift 2-0.
Game 1, Simply out raced the combo, I took 1 point of damage from my own fetch and killed him from 10.
Game 2, brought in syphon slivers and warping wails, opponent managed to cast a titan and brought in the first valakut and a mountain with it, he chose to deal 3 to my sedge... who happened to be a 4/4 at the time. I killed him with exact damage from 14 the next turn.
Round 5, intentional draw into top 8 at the #1 seed.
Round 6, UW control 2-1.
Game 1, on a mulligan to 5 I kept a 2 land hand with a sedge predatory and a 5th card I cant rememeber right now. The only damage I manage to take that game is from a fetch and shock... I won on a mull to 5!!!
Game 2, brought in Frenetics hivelord and warping wails. His mass removal was found in this game, he had to hard cast terminus but I killed his colonade with necrotic at the same time.
Game 3, Found frenetic this game... in response to a verdict I was able to save 3/6 of my slivers and that was basically the end of things from there.
Round 7, RB Hollow one 2-1. Rematch from round 3.
Game 1, curved out perfectly and won on turn 4. Galerider into lord into sedge into lord.
Game 2, Same side plan as round 3. I had a slower start and was unable to get out quick enough to match up with a turn 1 Hollow one.
Game 3, Very close game but in the end hollow one simply cannot stop a field full of flyers.
Round 8, humans 2-0.
Game 1, Saw some reflector mages but thankfully I had a vial out to replay everything, vial is also good against meddling mage... getting around that card was fun!
Game 2, ground humans cannot stop flying slivers. I saw galerider and was able to not be blocked the whole game.
Finished 3-1.
W 2-1 Skred
W 2-0 UR Wizards
L 1-2 Counters Company
W 2-1 Abzan
Not a whole lot to say about this one. Blood Moon got me in game 1 vs skred. Combo'ed out turn 3 in game 1 vs counters company. Kept a horrible 6 in game 2 vs abzan.
Round 1, tron, 2-1. He managed turn 4 tron but managed zero threats as i cast 2 coco to seal it. Game 2 he saw threats and i failed to get going. Game 3, turn 1 vial, turn 2 Lord, turn 3 blur and vial in Lord swing 10, turn 4 vial in necrotic, cast manaweft cast galerider, fly over his wurmcoil for a win.
Round 2, storm 0-2. Opponent had nut hands both games, couldn't stop him even with 8 sideboard cards.
Round 3, hardened affinity, 2-1. Super bad game 1, simply stated i was terrible. Game 2 dropped a turn 3 harmonic and a turn 4 coco brought in a second harmonic and created 4 triggers, game over. Game 3 top decked a harmonic on turn 3 and it was enough.
Round 4, humans, 2-1. On the draw, i start off with galerider and 3 lords in hand and simply flew over with big creatures, no reflectors. Game 2, humans did human things, came out too fast. Game 3, top decked a galerider on turn 6 to get above the blockers for a win.
With only 10 players and a few drops, the last round i was paired with the only 3-0 player left. After the round there were 3 of us at 3-1 so it came down to breakers. I ended up 1st because 2 of my opponents also finished 3-1 (humans and storm).
60 players.
4-2, 18th place.
Blue steel 2-1. Had a slow start game 1 and couldn't recover. Games 2 and 3 saw harmonic slivers and just destroyed everything he played.
Storm 2-0. A perfectly timed dismember in response to his first ritual fizzled his storm and I was on a mull to 5 cards. Game 2, a well timed warping wail countered a flashed back past in flames to force an empty the warrens for only 10. I followed up with syphon sliver and a coco to seal it.
Amulet titan 1-2. Snuck out a win in game one on some cheese hand. Failed to see damping spheres in either side board game. Got comboed out turn 3 of game 2. 2 board wipes ended game 3 quickly.
Humans 1-2. Simply put I screwed up in this match. I made mistakes in game 1 and got stuck on 2 lands in game 3.
Jeskai control 2-0. Game 1 was a massacre. Game 2 was interesting, I had 2 lords, a blur and manaweft in play, went to cast necrotic, he cryptic commands tapping team and bouncing my vial, necrotic resolves, i paid 3 and sacked it to blow up the detention sphere on my sedge and I swing for 5... lol
Mono u tron 2-1. Game 1 i saw both necrotic but got ugin'd. Game 2 and 3 I blew up every artifact he played and killed so many tron lands...
Looking back, I played pretty well but the mistakes in round 4 killed me. Wish I could go back and eat before the round instead of after, I might have thought better.
I had some sideboarding info in the report, my go to cuts are the sentinel and daarkheart that are main as they are the flex spots. From there its a matter of preference; when I bring in hivelord I always cut 1 CoCo for it, in control matchups its ok to cut the dismembers for frenetics, for affinity/hardened scales/kci/lantern cut 3 diffusion for 3 harmonic, Tron/storm/kci/amulet titan bring in damping spheres usually the flex creatures or diffusions are cut for these.
There is a lot of variation in modern, a list of ins and outs simply is not useful since very few decks are going to be stock net decks. Everyone has their own piece of flavor to add.
Round 1, humans 2-1.
Game 1, kept a suspect hand with a basic forest and watery grave for lands... didnt pan out, couldnt build a board with the poor land base and lost the game quickly.
Game 2, Sided in 2 syphon slivers in place of diffusion slivers. Dropped syphon on turn 3 after a sinew and went to town attacking and gaining life. My life gain out paced his deck completely.
Game 3, this was a risk for me, I kept a slow hand without the life gain but I had a TON of lords. I stabilized at 5 life but eventually got 5 lords into play and there was nothing for him to do but chump block until his board was gone and I swung with an alpha strike for the win.
Round 2, valuetown 2-0.
Game 1, Kept a great hand with a perfect curve out, T1 Galerider, T2 lord, T3 sedge, etc. I took 2 hits from a voice but it was over quick.
Game 2, Didnt sideboard at all, just ran it back main. VERY similar to first game except vial instead of Galerider. A Collected company dropped double lord on turn 3 due to a path giving me a basic a turn early.
Round 3, RB Hollow one 2-0.
Game 1, He cast 2 burning inquiries early on, the first really hurt, the second fixed the damage. This guy was fairly new to modern and was not prepared, made many mistakes.
Game 2, brought in 2 Relics from side, he had a better game and got me down to 5 life before my alpha strike killed him from 18.
Round 4, Titan Shift 2-0.
Game 1, Simply out raced the combo, I took 1 point of damage from my own fetch and killed him from 10.
Game 2, brought in syphon slivers and warping wails, opponent managed to cast a titan and brought in the first valakut and a mountain with it, he chose to deal 3 to my sedge... who happened to be a 4/4 at the time. I killed him with exact damage from 14 the next turn.
Round 5, intentional draw into top 8 at the #1 seed.
Round 6, UW control 2-1.
Game 1, on a mulligan to 5 I kept a 2 land hand with a sedge predatory and a 5th card I cant rememeber right now. The only damage I manage to take that game is from a fetch and shock... I won on a mull to 5!!!
Game 2, brought in Frenetics hivelord and warping wails. His mass removal was found in this game, he had to hard cast terminus but I killed his colonade with necrotic at the same time.
Game 3, Found frenetic this game... in response to a verdict I was able to save 3/6 of my slivers and that was basically the end of things from there.
Round 7, RB Hollow one 2-1. Rematch from round 3.
Game 1, curved out perfectly and won on turn 4. Galerider into lord into sedge into lord.
Game 2, Same side plan as round 3. I had a slower start and was unable to get out quick enough to match up with a turn 1 Hollow one.
Game 3, Very close game but in the end hollow one simply cannot stop a field full of flyers.
Round 8, humans 2-0.
Game 1, Saw some reflector mages but thankfully I had a vial out to replay everything, vial is also good against meddling mage... getting around that card was fun!
Game 2, ground humans cannot stop flying slivers. I saw galerider and was able to not be blocked the whole game.