@KittyMix - lol missed your post since it came up while I was writing my recap. Would be really cool to go over the two lists. I feel like the 2 Avengers I ran really helped me out, even though they drew out the most pushes.
@SpiderSpace - funny I feel the exact same way about my 75.
Hey all! Been a while since I've posted but I thought I'd pop in and share my GP Vegas experience. It was my 5th modern tourney and my first GP ever!
Got to meet up with SpiderSpace in person and talk shop too - what a great guy!
Round 1 - Fish 2-0
He was newer to the deck and got blown out by combat tricks when he over-committed.
MVP's - vial/wisp, Ghost Quarter (he played a white splash), Big Thalia, Horizon Canopy, Blessed Alliance (sooooo good, Avenger
Round 2 - Boros Burn 0-2
Deck lost to itself. He didn't have crazy draws - took him like 7 turns to kill me game 2. Screwed game 1, flooded game 2.
Round 3 - Elves 1-2
The game I won I GQ'd his only forest and Mirran Crusader put on a 5 turn clock.
The games I lost were blow outs (got double company into double shaman'd for 20 lol >< )
MVP's - Mirran Crusader, Ratchet bomb, path.
Round 4 - Burn 2-1
Lost game 1 to a topdecked bolt
Games 2 and 3 were very close. He fought through 2 turn 0 Leylines in G3 but BFT was unreal and nearly won the game on her own. He died to a lethal air attack at 2 life sitting with 2 eidelons in play and burn spells in hand.
MVP's Eidelon (lol in his deck) BFT, Thalia, wingmare, Avenger, Blessed Alliance.
Round 5 - Abzan 0-2
He ground me out with lingering souls. He played very slow too Wisp matches up horribly against souls. Would have been a different story if I ever drew the ratchet bomb and RIP.
Round 6 - Grixis Shadow 2-1
Very close, dramatic AWESOME games of magic. We both made some major play errors but blessed alliance won me that match. Super nice guy who lived locally in Vegas. Crusader is nuts in this matchup! Took him off red so crusader lived.
MVP's - Arbiter, Mindcensor, GQ'c, tec edge, mirran crusader, leyline of sanctity (had a hand full of discard)
Round 7 - Eldrazi Tron - 2-0
Both games I kept him off temple and tron. had both thalia's in play (vialed one in) to stop a turn 4 smasher dead in it's tracks.
MVP's - Big Thalia + Vial, GQ, arbiter, path to exile
Round 8 - Tron - No Contest
Opponent was playing tron and not having a good weekend. He told not to bother getting out my deck and just signed my match slip. Felt like a mulligan for my round to loss to my own deck.
MVP - Karma
Round 9 - Abzan company vizier/finks double combo 1-2
Very close games - Game 3 I got him to overcommit into Wrath of God but he top-decked Eternal witness and a Company into Chord. Sometimes they just have it.
I was so exhausted by the end that I was ok with not making day 2. I was happy enough with the 5-4 record. I felt that my opponents who won largely played better and earned their wins. I learned a lot about playing all these different decks I've had no experience with.
Can't wait to play more GP's! Hopefully I can meet more of y'all there too
If anyone wants the decklist I submitted, I'd be happy to post it.
I'm new to this discussion, but has anyone considered adding Mangara of Corondor in the Mono-white version of the deck?
It can be used as a walking piece of removal and has some OP interactions with Restoration angel, Flickerwisp(with vail), and Eldrazi Displacer.
In addition it allows for a mana denial package with Tech edge, and Ghost Quarter. Overall in testing the deck on Tappedout, it's work quite well as a 2-3 of.
Also running new Thalia as a 4 of, is proving to be great disruption, and the 3/2 first strike, as well as protection from Eiganjo Castle, is nice.
I have run Mangara since I started playing modern D&T (which was basically the first day the original primer was posted). I initially started with 3, then 2, now 1. I have cut him several times, but always come back to a singleton. I like having a card in the deck that can take out any permanent if needed. Yes, needing to tap sucks, but I usually vial him in at end of turn so it is less of a problem. Running spellskite helps protect him until he can do his thing. The new selfless spirit will help this as well. I have on numerous occasions been able to flicker him to remove 2+ permanents. I don't think I have ever lost a game when that happened. I have even lived the dream of playing Mangara in a WU D&T build where I used Minamo, School at Water's Edge to untap and exile again and then flicker, and then do it again the next turn to exile 4 permanents!
I also run 3-4 resto angels to maximize my flicker/blink effects. The reason I like Mangara is the flexibility. Need a stone rain? Mangara has you covered. Need to unmake a creature. Mangara is there again? And once in a while he does a couples points of damage that wins the game.
The Minamo interaction is sweet. I wonder if there's a home for Mangara in UW spirit/taxes? Also, in a RW (eldrazi?) build, the interaction with hanweir battlements could be cool - you could vial in leaving up a garrison activtion incase they want to try and remove him before you untap forcing them to have 2 removal spells. The garrison would also make topdeck Mangara better late game. Hmmmm...
I'm new to this discussion, but has anyone considered adding Mangara of Corondor in the Mono-white version of the deck?
It can be used as a walking piece of removal and has some OP interactions with Restoration angel, Flickerwisp(with vail), and Eldrazi Displacer.
In addition it allows for a mana denial package with Tech edge, and Ghost Quarter. Overall in testing the deck on Tappedout, it's work quite well as a 2-3 of.
Also running new Thalia as a 4 of, is proving to be great disruption, and the 3/2 first strike, as well as protection from Eiganjo Castle, is nice.
Hey KP_TCG, welcome to the forum! In regards to Mangara, yes this has been covered countless times in the old primer thread - the overwhelming majority of players feel it is far to slow in a removal heavy meta, being that it needs to live an entire turn cycle to do anything. However, some people do run a copy in their SB and have had some success, but that is quite rare. I've even seen legacy versions drop the card recently due to the prevalence of delver varients, infect and storm, against which mangara is basically a time walk for the caster.
Hi folks. Thalia, Heretic Cathar and Selfless Spirit will both get a place in my Mono White DnT Deck. Here is the List I'm considering to play this weekend on a PPTQ. The hate Card choices are with focus on Decks like Jund, Infect, Suicide Zoo and Nahiri Control Decks. Had some thoughts about decreasing the land count to 21 due to the lower curve but will not be playing 31 creatures though, probably could see a Dismember or Gut Shot in the Maindeck therefore. If you have any questions or suggestions I'm here.
The list looks like it could be good, but a couple things pop out to me. Do you feel you need 3 crusaders in such a bolt heavy meta? It can be a poor draw against jeskai, which is already a trickier matchup. I think 2 would be fine. 22 lands is probably the lowest you want to go without a MD 4 drop which makes me wonder why you are not running any copies of Resto, especially with 4 wisp, 3 splicer and 2 finks in the board - I think it would be worth running a single copy. Also with linvala and gideon in the board, I think you might want 23 lands - the horizon canopies help a lot with flooding out. And with only 14 white sources, there will likely be games you cannot play any of your 4 familiars on turn 1, or even your crusaders on turn 3.
As far as equipment goes, I might consider running a maindeck copy of basilisk collar - with 11 ish first strikers you would be favored in ground combat.
I like the list though - it's very low to the ground and it's nice to see someone else running wingmares - they do work in air for me almost every time they come out. Speaking of low to the ground and work in the air, I wouldn't mind seeing another serra avenger in there. Good luck this weekend!!
My guess is new Thalia - he's been testing RW Ajani & taxes (Kittyprison?) on MTGO and really wants to try the new Thalia as it's a great curve/combo into Ajani.
Hey all, just finished my prerelease - ended up making 8th place with a UG emerge deck. I didn't open anything relevant sadly, but my opponent in the last round (we made a prize arrangement and he got 4th), who also plays D&T, pulled a Thalia and she is sooo good in limited, even with all basic lands! I can only imagine how broken Thalia will feel playing on curve in our decks. Hoping to pull some down the line and test!
I agree completely; it's a terrible top deck in most matches except burn, but so is aether vial. I actually run that very SB configuration of three leylines and two Stony silence as well as two rest in peace. Leyline is a great catch-all sideboard card that is fairly easy to decide whether you should board in or not. In the words of Ricky from Trailer Park Boys "it's better to have a gun and need it than not have a gun and not need it."
As far as mirran crusader goes, I run two of him in the main - he helps shore up some of our bad matches and I'm rarely disappointed to see him in game 1. Wish I had a jund deck on hand to practice against ;-)
Against Jund I board out my AEther vials, because they are such terrible topdecks. Against burn they are very likely to bring in destructive revelry anyway so it's not such a slam dunk there either.
Yes, terrible might have been overstating it but in general I feel it is to narrow of a sideboard card to be worth the slots. Especially since you really want to run at least 3 to have a good shot at having it in your opener.
True and well stated - vs jund I find you want as much value against jund so usually take out a couple vials (and on the draw vs burn), wingmares and maybe some number of arbiter/mindcensors. I also have a singleton copy of wilt-leaf liege I side in for archangel of tithes. Speaking of value, 2 copies of RIP can trump 4x goyf + some number of scooze and tasigur.
Value math: [3 leyline + 2 RIP] can mitigate the effects of [7 of their cards at multiple copies each]. Are you guaranteed to draw either/both when it matters? No, but it sure helps a LOT if you do and they can't find a decay. I think of it as playing to your outs. How am I going to win this matchup.
What do you bring in vs jund? What outs do you play to?
I agree completely; it's a terrible top deck in most matches except burn, but so is aether vial. I actually run that very SB configuration of three leylines and two Stony silence as well as two rest in peace. Leyline is a great catch-all sideboard card that is fairly easy to decide whether you should board in or not. In the words of Ricky from Trailer Park Boys "it's better to have a gun and need it than not have a gun and not need it."
As far as mirran crusader goes, I run two of him in the main - he helps shore up some of our bad matches and I'm rarely disappointed to see him in game 1. Wish I had a jund deck on hand to practice against ;-)
Leyline of sanctity is a terrible idea vs jund. We are not a combo deck and we don't need to protect some vital pieces. Whenever you have a leyline you also only have a six card hand, god forbid if you have more then one.
I know a lot of good jund players actually board out their discard since they know the matchup is much more about grinding and out topdecking. In which case discard spells become a liability.
Honestly I don't like it as a sideboard card for this deck in general. To me it's strictly a card for combo decks.
Hmmm, terrible? It does shut off discard, Lilliana's -2, and bolts to the face. It's won me games against against a number of decks, though admittedly never had a chance to test against jund. It's good vs grixis, some storm, burn, and mill. I bring it in at least 2-3 games per tourney. As always, YMMV, but terrible? Naw.
I'm with sheepz here - 2 of in my current mono w build. I've had so many opponents point a bolt at the golem and then I can just flicker and make another. It's also a decent topdeck - can stall the ground for one more turn while you swing in the air for the win.
My C lands like to party together when I go to tourneys - I'm jealous if you can get away with 13 or 14 W sources lol. I may try running elspeth in the side for a better mirror matchup and take out arbiters/wingmares.
Has the pro W from SOLAS ever prevented you from using elspeth's 2nd ability/resto? I feel like I'd rather run SOFAS or collar with her just to be safe.
Try the collar with elspeth in a league and let us know how it goes! If you can screen record too that would be sweet. I know you've put up good results at tourneys so I'd like to see you play the mono W list
@SpiderSpace - funny I feel the exact same way about my 75.
Got to meet up with SpiderSpace in person and talk shop too - what a great guy!
Round 1 - Fish 2-0
He was newer to the deck and got blown out by combat tricks when he over-committed.
MVP's - vial/wisp, Ghost Quarter (he played a white splash), Big Thalia, Horizon Canopy, Blessed Alliance (sooooo good, Avenger
Round 2 - Boros Burn 0-2
Deck lost to itself. He didn't have crazy draws - took him like 7 turns to kill me game 2. Screwed game 1, flooded game 2.
Round 3 - Elves 1-2
The game I won I GQ'd his only forest and Mirran Crusader put on a 5 turn clock.
The games I lost were blow outs (got double company into double shaman'd for 20 lol >< )
MVP's - Mirran Crusader, Ratchet bomb, path.
Round 4 - Burn 2-1
Lost game 1 to a topdecked bolt
Games 2 and 3 were very close. He fought through 2 turn 0 Leylines in G3 but BFT was unreal and nearly won the game on her own. He died to a lethal air attack at 2 life sitting with 2 eidelons in play and burn spells in hand.
MVP's Eidelon (lol in his deck) BFT, Thalia, wingmare, Avenger, Blessed Alliance.
Round 5 - Abzan 0-2
He ground me out with lingering souls. He played very slow too
Round 6 - Grixis Shadow 2-1
Very close, dramatic AWESOME games of magic. We both made some major play errors but blessed alliance won me that match. Super nice guy who lived locally in Vegas. Crusader is nuts in this matchup! Took him off red so crusader lived.
MVP's - Arbiter, Mindcensor, GQ'c, tec edge, mirran crusader, leyline of sanctity (had a hand full of discard)
Round 7 - Eldrazi Tron - 2-0
Both games I kept him off temple and tron. had both thalia's in play (vialed one in) to stop a turn 4 smasher dead in it's tracks.
MVP's - Big Thalia + Vial, GQ, arbiter, path to exile
Round 8 - Tron - No Contest
Opponent was playing tron and not having a good weekend. He told not to bother getting out my deck and just signed my match slip. Felt like a mulligan for my round to loss to my own deck.
MVP - Karma
Round 9 - Abzan company vizier/finks double combo 1-2
Very close games - Game 3 I got him to overcommit into Wrath of God but he top-decked Eternal witness and a Company into Chord. Sometimes they just have it.
I was so exhausted by the end that I was ok with not making day 2. I was happy enough with the 5-4 record. I felt that my opponents who won largely played better and earned their wins. I learned a lot about playing all these different decks I've had no experience with.
Can't wait to play more GP's! Hopefully I can meet more of y'all there too
If anyone wants the decklist I submitted, I'd be happy to post it.
The Minamo interaction is sweet. I wonder if there's a home for Mangara in UW spirit/taxes? Also, in a RW (eldrazi?) build, the interaction with hanweir battlements could be cool - you could vial in leaving up a garrison activtion incase they want to try and remove him before you untap forcing them to have 2 removal spells. The garrison would also make topdeck Mangara better late game. Hmmmm...
Hey KP_TCG, welcome to the forum! In regards to Mangara, yes this has been covered countless times in the old primer thread - the overwhelming majority of players feel it is far to slow in a removal heavy meta, being that it needs to live an entire turn cycle to do anything. However, some people do run a copy in their SB and have had some success, but that is quite rare. I've even seen legacy versions drop the card recently due to the prevalence of delver varients, infect and storm, against which mangara is basically a time walk for the caster.
Thalia HC on the other hand...
The list looks like it could be good, but a couple things pop out to me. Do you feel you need 3 crusaders in such a bolt heavy meta? It can be a poor draw against jeskai, which is already a trickier matchup. I think 2 would be fine. 22 lands is probably the lowest you want to go without a MD 4 drop which makes me wonder why you are not running any copies of Resto, especially with 4 wisp, 3 splicer and 2 finks in the board - I think it would be worth running a single copy. Also with linvala and gideon in the board, I think you might want 23 lands - the horizon canopies help a lot with flooding out. And with only 14 white sources, there will likely be games you cannot play any of your 4 familiars on turn 1, or even your crusaders on turn 3.
As far as equipment goes, I might consider running a maindeck copy of basilisk collar - with 11 ish first strikers you would be favored in ground combat.
I like the list though - it's very low to the ground and it's nice to see someone else running wingmares - they do work in air for me almost every time they come out. Speaking of low to the ground and work in the air, I wouldn't mind seeing another serra avenger in there. Good luck this weekend!!
My guess is new Thalia - he's been testing RW Ajani & taxes (Kittyprison?) on MTGO and really wants to try the new Thalia as it's a great curve/combo into Ajani.
True and well stated - vs jund I find you want as much value against jund so usually take out a couple vials (and on the draw vs burn), wingmares and maybe some number of arbiter/mindcensors. I also have a singleton copy of wilt-leaf liege I side in for archangel of tithes. Speaking of value, 2 copies of RIP can trump 4x goyf + some number of scooze and tasigur.
Value math: [3 leyline + 2 RIP] can mitigate the effects of [7 of their cards at multiple copies each]. Are you guaranteed to draw either/both when it matters? No, but it sure helps a LOT if you do and they can't find a decay. I think of it as playing to your outs. How am I going to win this matchup.
What do you bring in vs jund? What outs do you play to?
As far as mirran crusader goes, I run two of him in the main - he helps shore up some of our bad matches and I'm rarely disappointed to see him in game 1. Wish I had a jund deck on hand to practice against ;-)
Hmmm, terrible? It does shut off discard, Lilliana's -2, and bolts to the face. It's won me games against against a number of decks, though admittedly never had a chance to test against jund. It's good vs grixis, some storm, burn, and mill. I bring it in at least 2-3 games per tourney. As always, YMMV, but terrible? Naw.
Has the pro W from SOLAS ever prevented you from using elspeth's 2nd ability/resto? I feel like I'd rather run SOFAS or collar with her just to be safe.
Try the collar with elspeth in a league and let us know how it goes! If you can screen record too that would be sweet. I know you've put up good results at tourneys so I'd like to see you play the mono W list