We play such a long game that the one turn delay (on haste creatures) makes no difference. If our plan was to apply pressure in the mid-game, then perhaps as the card limits the effectiveness of blockers somewhat.
Being 1cmc is still worth considering the effects. I just like how it plays into a curve with Suppression Field and Storage Matrix.
3 Chalice of the Void
4 Suppression Field
2 Lightning Helix
3 Anger of the Gods
4 Boom // Bust
4 Stone Rain
4 Molten Rain
1 Crucible of Worlds
2 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
4 Magus of the Tabernacle
4 Ghostly Prison
1 Stormbreath Dragon
I would definately recommend people trying this deck-archetype out, cuz it's both fun and really good in the actual meta.
First match was against Coco-Company, they had no chance as they both run a greedy mana base, and anger of the gods take care of pretty much every dude they play...
Second was vs a Mardu-control brew. They had me with a few discard spells, but played too many dead cards (removal) and their tokens from lingering souls did pretty much nothing against Magus and Ghostly prison. One time they had a Liliana at 6, and I had 2 suppression fields out, so they couldn't both play a spell and activate her... I just waited a few turns, playing nothing (to keep my hand intact with her going +1 each turn) until I got a Goblind Dark-Dweller and turned the fight (had 2 Boom/Bust in the grave so...). With no mana on board, they couldn't activate her, or do anything about my goblin, so it was just a few turns before they were dead.
Third up was Burn. Straight, ordinary naya burn. They were on the play but I held a hand with Chalice, so I got a few spells from them before turning the tide of battle with lots of land destruction and a lightning helix played twice (one from hand, one from graveyard). Match 2 they had a great start, killing me on turn 3. Match 3 I got both Leyline and Chalice on hand, so it was pretty much game at that point, and they never drew their enchantment-removal.
Fourth I met the Death & Taxes deck in modern. Pretty much a heatbear-deck with some eldrazi elements going. This was a hard matchup, both because of Thalia (making pretty much every card in my deck worthless) but also because how much discard and card-steal they had... At last matchm in time I turned the tide with Bust, with them having a Bitterblossom in game (I guess from sideboard vs control?) ticking them at 1 each turn. With two ghostly in play, they could just sit there wait for 4 new lands to attack with one of their tokens each turn... but forntunately for me, that took too long for them.
Last, fifth match me and my opponent never played, we just drawed into the top 8.
And in the quarterfinals I met Elves! I hate that deck as they rarely care about their lands except for the few first turns, as they have lots of mana-givers. Unfortunately for them, I play Anger and pretty much kill everything they play. Tabernacle did do some stuff, but their Druid-lord that taps for 1 green for each elf did the trick, so they rarely had any problems with keeping their dudes on board. That is, until I killed that sucker. Therefrom i turned the tide in my favour, beating them slowly to death with my magus and destroying their lands.
Semifinals... Dredge. The new modern-beast back again, with new engines... I knew it was played, but I couldn't play RiP because of my Flagstones and Goblins, so I had to make a call... I made the wrong choice, as I picked Tormod's, which pretty much does nothing except buying you a turn against dredge. So I got owned by a few large Trolls, and a flashbacked Conflagrate on 11. Though, I learned a lesson... I'm now changing my 2 Tormod's to 2 Sun och Wheel and Moon (just need to buy 2) as they shut down all my opponents stuff, and I get to play Goblins and Flagstones as usual. Also looking for another Linvala, as it completely shuts down lots of good creatures in the meta, and It's another wincon in my not so win-con heavy decklist.
How did Blessed Alliance help you in sideboard matchups, against burn and not against it? Was it better than Kor Firewalker for you or did you feel like it did more work in general?
Yea I run 4 Arbiters in my Mono White build and it is very good with PtE and GQ against the greedy midrange/control decks. I just feel having 4 bonfires will sometimes lead to games where you end up with a semi-dead card in the opening hand that gets outclassed as the game drags on. Nahiri helps there with filtering but is it worth having that huge opportunity cost when you really want it as a miracle card?
To celebrate the promotion of RW Lockdown, I present to you an actual Lockdown build that you may not have seen before.
I give you
"Ghostlock and Taxes"
(it's a lazy name)
I'm leaning heavily on Leonin Arbiter and Aven Mindcensor here...
This deck is much more reliant on turn order and sequencing of plays than most Lockdown decks. You have to be able to maximize PtE and Ghost Quarter activation benefits. Ghost Quarter is essentially a Wasteland in the early game if Leonin Arbiter is on the table. You may want to wait a turn sometimes so that you can have one of your tax creatures on the table before you cast PtE.
The lock is a poor modern players version of Wastelock, but the presence of Blood Moon in the main means you really only need to eliminate their basic lands.
Does Blood Moon nonbo with Ghost Quarter? Not exactly. It certainly restricts what you can do once Blood Moon hits the board, but you only need to be careful about picking your spot. If you can slam a Blood Moon on turn 3 against a Jund player that has no basics, then who cares if you can't activate your Ghost Quarters? You've already got him locked out for a while.
Is Aven Mindcensor nonbo with Nahiri? Again not exactly. This is one of those situations where the interactions look more dangerous than they actually are. If Aven Mindcensor is on the board then you've got a creature you can race with (especially given Slayers' Stronghold), so you don't really need to Ultimate in that case. Just keep using Nahiri's +2. In this case the Nahiri's role would be to protect your life total and to support the Mindcensor.
Is Bonfire of the Damned nonbo with Nahiri? Not exactly. It's still a very swingy card, but if you draw it off a Nahiri then you usually have enough mana to make a better version of pyroclasm out of it, which is the card that I was originally using in that spot.
Also if you play blood moon and chalice wouldn't it be better to replace lightning bolt with helix, and playing another white removal that would'nt be shut down with chalice like oblivion ring, journey to nowhere, or not enchantment based like valorous stance?
Powering out the lock pieces is very good if they are within your opening hand but it does not guarantee a win. Plenty of people just die to a 2cmc vanilla creature because they don't have the clock. Running too many fast mana cards dilutes the deck of stronger pieces. Modern's card pool just isn't in the place where doing something like that would guarantee a win. Chalice on 1 is a strong play against most decks but it doesn't neuter them and neither are people's mana bases are diluted like they are in Legacy/Vintage. That's why the deck constraints are tied to running some mixture of targeted removal/sweepers to bridge the gap for the late game win conditions.
Then do you think that kind of strategies could only be used by dragon/eldrazi stompy and affinity style of decks? I mean I understand the difference with the classic eldrazi stompy of LSV and team channelfireball, Nahiri doesn't have that kind of aggro.
Mostly. The issue arises in consistency. Gemstone caverns is a terrible draw but excellent in the opening hand. Extra SSGs after using the first generally are way less impactful. This archetype isn't trying to combo finish an opponent but grind them out and every piece needs to work together. The lists that run SSG give up some consistency for more explosive starts and I think it's definitely a route to take but going full blown just isn't worth it. The card disadvantage is definitely an issue with deckbuilding around caverns/SSG. The eldrazi list CFB used at the PT could afford to run chalice and SSG because their t2 and t3 plays beat every other deck in the field.
Also if you play blood moon and chalice wouldn't it be better to replace lightning bolt with helix, and playing another white removal that would'nt be shut down with chalice like oblivion ring, journey to nowhere, or not enchantment based like valorous stance?
Powering out the lock pieces is very good if they are within your opening hand but it does not guarantee a win. Plenty of people just die to a 2cmc vanilla creature because they don't have the clock. Running too many fast mana cards dilutes the deck of stronger pieces. Modern's card pool just isn't in the place where doing something like that would guarantee a win. Chalice on 1 is a strong play against most decks but it doesn't neuter them and neither are people's mana bases are diluted like they are in Legacy/Vintage. That's why the deck constraints are tied to running some mixture of targeted removal/sweepers to bridge the gap for the late game win conditions.
I think I did it. It's not a lockdown deck but it is a pure RW control deck. No splash. The main control elements are Blood Moon, Aven Mindcensor, Spellskite, targeted removal and Nahiri.
Thraben Inspector comes first. This card has been deceptively good for me. He's a 1/2 creature for W, but he also drops a Clue token artifact. You have to pay two colorless to use it, but you can do it any time. Just wait until the end of your opponent's turn when you've got some mana up. It won't get destroyed. Nobody is going to waste an Abrupt Decay on a token. They'll take care of the creature instead. Later in the game it's a good top-deck. It's 3 mana for a creature and a draw. It is one of the rare 1 cmc creatures that you'll never be sad to draw.
Wall of Omens isn't quite as good. It is similarly used, but you get the advantage of being able to stonewall tons of early threats.
Gryff's Boon is a superior white version of Rancor. It (along with Slayers' Stronghold) gives every creature in the deck (except for the Walls of course) a clock against your opponent. If you've got 2 basic lands, a Spellskite, a Slayers' Stronghold, a Gryff's Boon and a Thraben Inspector on the field then you've got a resilient 5 turn clock. Keep in mind that the Thraben Inspector frequently draws one of these pieces himself when you cash in his clue.
Nahiri is the main win-con and she's usually hitting the board with a lot of support in front of her. This is a deck built around Nahiri. Restoration Angel is also very dangerous in this deck. She usually blinks a Wall or an Inspector to net another draw, and then she's swinging. Aven Mindcensor is a solid threat if you have buffs, and even a Spellskite can seal the deal sometimes.
Here's what I've found (or speculate) in matchups:
Against Tron, Eldrazi and anything that has a greedy manabase you've got 3 Blood Moon and 2 Ghost Quarter in the main. If you like you can tweak either number up by one. You've also got Aven Mindcensor. Post-sideboard you might want Kataki or Stony Silence.
Against Infect you're running plenty of targeted removal and 3 Maindeck Spellskites. I would have a fourth Spellskite in the sideboard for sure. It might come down to the spellskites but that's a pretty effective way to battle Infect.
Against Affinity you should have a chance, but you might have to win the post-board matchups. At this point I think you could easily have Kataki and/or Stony Silence in the sideboard.
Against Jund - I've been beating Jund. Their discard has never felt less threatening to me and they often don't seem to have sufficient threat density. It's never an easy matchup but I feel like it's in my favor.
Against combo decks you're leaning on Aven Mindcensor a little bit. My deck is capable of playing a weak version of the beatdown and I do have a decent collection of hate cards and targeted removal. I'm not sure exactly how this would work. It has occurred to me that Duergar Hedge-Mage might be useful to me in some of these matchups. I could also conceivably just include Story Circle in my sideboard.
Zoo and Burn - these could be negative pre-board matchups. Spellskite should play strong against both and they're pretty much what Lightning Bolts were designed to stop, but I might have a problem with the higher threat-density.
I think I've got a decent game against Control decks. I think that they're going to have to bolt or counter my ETB creatures or else risk falling behind me in card advantage. They've got better draw cards overall than I do, but I'll be casting my drawn cards when they're casting their draw spells. Gryff's Boon and Slayers' Stronghold should be a particularly challenging pair of threats for them. It will be hard for them to keep my board completely clear, and if they try too hard then I'll sneak Nahiri through.
I'm feeling pretty good about this build so far.
Is there a reason there's not at least one or two fetchable duals in your list? I feel like sometimes you may want to play Ember Hauler on turn 2 to build a board state and your current mana base doesn't support it if you drop a plains for inspector. I understand the effect you're looking for but it does seem a bit slow given the mana base constraints. Have you considered Seal of Fire there instead?
I could see something crazy in your list like Prophetic Flamespeaker doing some potential work given the precedents of 1 drops and synergy with stronghold.
Shall we talk about the RW control deck that t8 the SCG Open this weekend? Way more planeswalkers than I would've thought possible.
Solid list that probably feasted on the amount of tron that made day 2 and fairly low amounts of aggro. The one of stormbreath seems pretty good in a meta where you expect path. The conscripts are cool since you can take an opponent's permanent or one of their walkers and use it against them. I don't know what this list would do if the day 2 meta was more aggro though but that's just the nature of magic.
I've been very absent-minded about cards. I don't know why I picked Suppression Bonds when I could have picked Banishing Light. I also suggested Norin works well with Faithless Looting but I meant to say Squee.
Since you're not playing Nahiri you probably don't have the same constant concern about using her +2. Her +2 is why I keep experimenting with stuff like Hammer of Bogardan and Faithless Looting.
I accept that I may indeed be too far up the curve.
In my past I've always tried to worry about coping with permission last. It might be a bad idea nowadays, but old habits die hard. I've got myself to a point where I feel excellent against the first mid-range deck. Now I need to see if I can deal with the rest without breaking the core structure of my own deck too much.
Probably best to run a 2/2 split for echoing truth and surgical reasons if you decide to keep 4 o-ring effects.
Regarding the Naya build, I had someone do something similar to me at SCG last May that was a Sultai version with Frost Titan and Trinisphere lock on top of the ramp. I could see considerations for Trinisphere since Acid-Moss ramps you but with thopter sword back in the meta it might also be worse.
Starting at 4 loyalty and having a +2 loot effect in a lockdown deck is pretty good. Also it's Nahiri and not Elspeth/Ajani/Gideon so planeswalker diversity is a thing if you like to run multiple walkers. Also blind obedience gains some increased value.
Being 1cmc is still worth considering the effects. I just like how it plays into a curve with Suppression Field and Storage Matrix.
Wizards prints something we can use!
How did Blessed Alliance help you in sideboard matchups, against burn and not against it? Was it better than Kor Firewalker for you or did you feel like it did more work in general?
4 Bonfire seems a lot to me, especially when it does not trigger off Nahiri.
Mostly. The issue arises in consistency. Gemstone caverns is a terrible draw but excellent in the opening hand. Extra SSGs after using the first generally are way less impactful. This archetype isn't trying to combo finish an opponent but grind them out and every piece needs to work together. The lists that run SSG give up some consistency for more explosive starts and I think it's definitely a route to take but going full blown just isn't worth it. The card disadvantage is definitely an issue with deckbuilding around caverns/SSG. The eldrazi list CFB used at the PT could afford to run chalice and SSG because their t2 and t3 plays beat every other deck in the field.
Powering out the lock pieces is very good if they are within your opening hand but it does not guarantee a win. Plenty of people just die to a 2cmc vanilla creature because they don't have the clock. Running too many fast mana cards dilutes the deck of stronger pieces. Modern's card pool just isn't in the place where doing something like that would guarantee a win. Chalice on 1 is a strong play against most decks but it doesn't neuter them and neither are people's mana bases are diluted like they are in Legacy/Vintage. That's why the deck constraints are tied to running some mixture of targeted removal/sweepers to bridge the gap for the late game win conditions.
Is there a reason there's not at least one or two fetchable duals in your list? I feel like sometimes you may want to play Ember Hauler on turn 2 to build a board state and your current mana base doesn't support it if you drop a plains for inspector. I understand the effect you're looking for but it does seem a bit slow given the mana base constraints. Have you considered Seal of Fire there instead?
I could see something crazy in your list like Prophetic Flamespeaker doing some potential work given the precedents of 1 drops and synergy with stronghold.
Solid list that probably feasted on the amount of tron that made day 2 and fairly low amounts of aggro. The one of stormbreath seems pretty good in a meta where you expect path. The conscripts are cool since you can take an opponent's permanent or one of their walkers and use it against them. I don't know what this list would do if the day 2 meta was more aggro though but that's just the nature of magic.
Probably best to run a 2/2 split for echoing truth and surgical reasons if you decide to keep 4 o-ring effects.