MTG Salvation

Quote from GustavitoHouses »

Thanks for the replies guys.

Sam: I can get behind playing 2nd and 3rd EE. Don't you think maybe playing 1 Talisman of Progress instead of 3rd EE?. -I guess u could, since EE is usually on 1 for Burn/Infect.

Also, how much playing 2 Reshapers affect my Burn and BGx matchups?. - Reshaper is good for the replacement effect it gives. Skyspawner helps against flyers and gives us a 2 for 1 with the scion. I personally play a 3/2 split favouring Reshaper.

Thanks.

Quote from tdewald »

I'm fairly new to Bant Eldrazi, and I have a quick question. Why no Basic Island? Considering access to blue mana seems like one of our few outs to a Blood Moon, I would think it important to make room for a single Island.

Quote from rothgar13 »

Yeah, I'd love to see a primer on this deck. I feel like I have a pretty good handle on what the stock list looks like, but the intricacies of flex spots and sideboard tech elude me at the moment.

Speaking of flex spots... I see that there's quite a bit of variability in the 2- and 3-drop spots (apart from Eldrazi Displacer, of course). I've seen a mix of Eldrazi Skyspawner, Matter Reshaper, Spellskite, and even Tarmogoyf there, and I'm wondering why there's such a relative lack of consensus. I'll start by saying that I don't like Spellskite in the mainboard of any deck other than Infect, especially one that's beatdown-oriented like this one is. Tarmogoyf is a bit more of a debate, but ultimately I'm not sure that I want to depend on the 'yard when Rest in Peace is one of the best cards this deck can bring in postboard. Thus, I'm leaning more toward the Eldrazi Skyspawner (which can help ramp out the bigger Eldrazi in a pinch) and Matter Reshaper tag-team. This is what I'm looking at as a preliminary 75:

Oceans of Regret v.1Magic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards

Creatures (28) 4 Drowner of Hope 4 Eldrazi Displacer 4 Eldrazi Skyspawner 4 Matter of Reshaper 4 Noble Hierarch 4 Reality Smasher 4 Thought-Knot Seer Instants (4) 4 Path to Exile Sorceries (4) 4 Ancient Stirrings Lands (24) 2 Adarkar Wastes 1 Breeding Pool 2 Brushland 2 Cavern of Souls 4 Eldrazi Temple 2 Flooded Strand 1 Forest 1 Hallowed Fountain 1 Island 2 Misty Rainforest 1 Plains 1 Temple Garden 2 Windswept Heath 2 Yavimaya Coast

Sideboard (15) 2 Dispel 2 Engineered Explosives 2 Natural State 2 Rest in Peace 2 Spellskite 2 Stony Silence 2 Stubborn Denial 1 World Breaker

My questions are whether anyone has any experience with Elder Deep-Fiend (which seems great, but I just don't have the reps to tell), and what tweaks could be made to the sideboard (I went counterspell-heavy, but that may not be the optimal call).

Quote from VidarThor »

I was wondering, what are bant eldrazi's hard matchups?

Quote from HIth_ransir »

Has anyone tried beast within? Seems good, easy to cast, destroys ANYTHING and the downside of an opposing 3/3 doesnt seem so bad against a deck so full of beef as ours.

Quote from Frossty »

I'm going to throw out a scenario and I'd like to see how you guys would have played it out. This happened to me last night:

I'm playing against a company deck - pretty sure it's abzan. It's turn 4 for me I believe and he just tapped out his 3 lands and he has I think a kitchen finks, a birds of paradise, and a viscera seer (don't remember 100% on this one, I just remember there being 3 creatures). They're all tapped except the birds. On board I have an Etched champion, arcbound ravager, signal pest, memnite, and a couple of other artifacts (drum, citadel, had a blinkmoth that I could animate). In my hand I have another etched champion.

Doing the math, I realize if I play the etched champion, attack with pest and the champion on the battlefield, I can sac all my artifacts and put the counters on the attacking champion after no blocks are declared (due to protection). All of the artifacts, plus the battle cry and its initial P/T is enough to kill my opponent. I counted and recounted at least 3 times. I had enough, but then I looked and saw the birds untapped. Does he have a path? I know my opponent, but I don't know how many paths he has, or if he even has them in the main! If I do this, I could get blown out and I lose. If I don't I should be able to kill him next turn with the two etched champions and pest (and blinkmoth) attacking.

So the question is, what do you do? What is the BEST option? Do you take the potentially higher risk and go for it? Or will he be able to combo off soon?

I ended up not going for it. I determined the risk was too high. I attacked with the pest and champion, hitting him for 3. Next turn he played a spellskite essentially shutting off my arcbound now. I was able to attack him for 8, but he gained some life and then comboed off the next turn

I'm still not 100% sure. Turns out, he didn't have any path to exile in his main deck so I would have won that game on the spot. I thought about it during the game and determined the risk was too high. Obviously hindsight is 20/20 so in that case against that specific opponent I could have done it. But do you do it against someone else playing that deck? The more I think about it, the more I want to say "yes, go for it", but I may be results oriented at this point.

Quote from rancored_elf

Yeah, I've most commonly heard them referred to as team bags. No idea why, but Jeff's right, start your search there!