Playing 4-color seems a bit risky. One thing to think about when tinkering with colors, is when would it be better to just drop the Eldrazi and play Junk instead?
@ deaddrift:
B/W Eldrazi is the best, don't let no one tell you different.
I think the MB Spellskite will go back to being a Strangler, or maybe one of the other cards I'm thinking of. I kinda like 2 Stranglers, since they don't kill much in the current meta, but dayum are they good when they do.
I still like Ulamog for the matchups he is a good finisher in. Often times, just the threat of casting him can throw people off balance. But I totally agree in that he gets sided out a LOT. The only matchups I keep him in for are either grindy games against Jund/Junk, WU Eldrazi, Grixis Control, ect, but he goes out for everything else.
For the Wrath/Damn split, its just what I had. I'd rather have the 2 Damns, but you go with what you got.
One thing I've been giving a lot of thought to lately is how much like B/W Tokens this deck can become, trading anthem effects for massive creatures. I've considered looking to recent lists for inspiration for tech to give us the edge. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar + Oath of Gideon and Bitterblossom are some things I'm looking at. My only fear of doing that would be that it dilutes the angle B/W Eldrazi is going for.
Round 1 vs Elves - Loss 1-2
Game one is relatively short. I keep a 4 land hand and flood out while he plays a trio of Shaman of the Pack, sealing the game. Sideboard - IN: Wrath, Tendrils, Damnation, Ratchet Bomb, Pithing Needle, Timely. OUT: x4 Souls (Not a fan of them in this match-up), Spellskite, x2 Herder.
Game two, he dumps his hand by turn 4 and is met with a Damnation, and he can't recover.
Game three, I mull to 6 and keep a 3 lander, and get hit by a T2 Shaman into a T3 Shaman into a CoCo for DOUBLE SHAMANS on T4. Needless to say, I got wrecked. Notes for this matchup: Its really bad game one. Siding boardwipes helps games 2 and 3 a ton, but it really comes down to being able to disrupt them. Heritage Druid and Shaman of the Pack are the really nasty cards here. In retrospect, I should have brought in the Extractions to try and hit those. I also think siding out so many creatures was wrong, I'll have to work on this matchup more.
Round 2 vs W/U Eldrazi - Win 2-0
Game one, we both have low land hands, but while he draws into Drowners he can't cast, I play double Thoughtseize into a Smasher, and close the game out from there. Sideboard - IN: Wrath, Damnnation, Extractions. OUT: Spellskite, Stranglers, Timely.
Game two kicks off slow like game one, but picks up with a T3 Thought-Knot into a Smasher. He plays Path on my Thought-Knot, and Dismembers the Smasher. The game slows down, he resolves a Displacer that I path EoT. I draw into Sorin and start alternating Vampires and pumps until he kills Sorin. He plays a Mimic into a Drowner, and I rip a Path off the top and swing in for the win two turns later. Notes for this matchup: I feel we are VERY well positioned in this mirror. They lack the high amounts of disruption we can run, and we can grind much better than they can with Souls and Herders. Sorin was a huge pivot in my games, easily the turning points when I felt myself starting to lose my lead. Stranglers don't kill all too much in this matchup.
Round 3 vs Grixis Delver - Win 2-0
Game one was a quickie, T2 THought-Knot into T3 Smasher threw him off balance early, and he wasn't able to stabilize before I closed the game with a second Thought-Knot and Herder. Sideboard - IN: Disenchant, Ratchet Bomb. OUT: Timely, Spellskite.
Game two, he gets stuck on two lands with no red. I strip his hand of Terminates and Snapcasters while I pummel him down with a Herder and tokens. When he finally drew a third land, it was an Island. Notes for this matchup: Grixis variants are very good matchups for us, since they rely so much on the graveyard and we have MB grave hate. I brought in my anti Blood Moon stuff, but he didn't draw them. Even if they resolve a Blood Moon, its not the end of the world. If you can pull ahead early, Blood Moon can't save them. We also have an ace against BM in Herder, since we can cast Smasher and Thought-Knot off the tokens.
Round 4 vs Grixis Control - Win 2-0
Game one was interesting. I play a T3 Souls into a T4 flashback, and he plays a maindeck Damnation, which kind of took me off guard. I think he was hedging against Eldrazi and Aggro decks. I take that into account and start slow-rolling my threats out, only keeping 1-2 threats on board at a time. The game grinds on, and I close it out with a Blight Herder and token friends. Sideboard - IN: Disenchant, Surgicals, Ratchet Bomb. OUT: Stranglers, Spellskite, Timely.
Game two was just as grindy as the first, but I almost punted it early. He plays a T3 Ashiok, and I follow with Lingering Souls. But, I could have played a Smasher and killed Ashiok right away and kinda spaced on it until it was too late. I spent the next 4 or so turns killing Ashiok before he could exile too much of my library. Shamling Vent did a TON of work in this game, putting in at least 8 damage and keeping me out of Bolt-Snap-Bolt range. He drew three K-Commands, but was stuck on 5 lands, slowing down how fast he could use them, giving me time to draw into Relics and cut off his graveyard interaction. Eventually, I grinded him out with double Herders. Notes for this matchup: I sideboarded horribly wrong for this. I went in thinking he'd bring in Blood Moon, but it didn't hit me until during the game that his mana base was too weak to BM. Bringing in the Leylines would be awesome here. Overall, because of Relics, this matchup is good as long as we play smart and don't over-extend.
I was not very happy with the Spellskite in the main tonight. I didn't hit any matchups where it was relevant, and was sided out every matchup. I think this slot might become another discard spell or removal, I dunno. I also didn't draw the mainboard Timely at all, except for game two against Elves where he Inquisition'ed it. As always, Sorin was a house, stealing the games I played him in. Dismember also played out wonderfully, I don't think I'll ever take those out.
Some new cards I'd like to try at one point or another is BFZ Gideon and Bitterblossom. Having the flex spots where Spellskite, Timely, and Ulamog are gives me a little room to try new stuff out. Thoughts on those?
Just got home from a weekly modern event at a LGS. Went 3-1-0 with my list below. All in all, I feel like I played well, only losing to the colorless Eldrazi aggro deck. Anyway, here is my list and a quick tournament report.
As far as some of the card choices, I decided to cut Sower and Ulamog entirely from the list. In my testing, playing like a midrange deck, and less like a ramp deck, has led me to better success. Thought-Knot was an all-star tonight, and will probably remain as a 4-of as long as I play this list. The one-of Banishing Light was always nice to see, was never a bad draw. As far as the maindeck dismember, it could easily be a Spellskite. It was more of a meta choice, as I expected multiple Eldrazi decks, and felt the extra removal was important. I also like that this list has several flex spots (Dismember, Banishing Light, the 4th Seer).
Credit to Exatraz for the sideboard. I felt that I had relevant answers for each of the decks I played against tonight. I have x2 Sacred Ground available, but I dunno what I would remove for them, probably the Disenchant and something else.
Round 1 - Bushwhacker Zoo: 2-1 win (1-0)
Game one felt like a good match. I was on the play, opened with a caves and passed. His turn he dropped a fetch and passed. My turn two I play a GQ and pass. His turn two, he played a turn two Burning-Tree into another Burning-Tree into a Bushwhacker, and I path'ed one of the Burning-Trees. I followed up with a turn three Thought-Knot, pulling what gas he had left in his hand. TKS and a duo of Reality Smashers wrapped the game up. Side in - x2 Timely, x2 Ratchet Bomb, x1 Flaying Tendrils
Game two, he drew all four of his Burning-Trees and dumped them on turn two, and I couldn't get enough blockers out to stabilize. Game three, however, was rather close. He (again) had two Burning-Trees on board turn two with a Bushwhacker, but I had a pair of paths ready for them. He drew into more creatures while I played a pair of Thought-Knots as blockers, taking nothing from his hand as he had nothing left. I ended up top-decking a Smasher into Sorin into Flaying Tendrils and stole the game from there.
Round 2 - Resto Bant Chord: 2-0 win (2-0)
This was a homebrew that I honestly felt was super interesting, played Reflector Mage with Restoration Angel to try and control the game though tempo.
Game one, him on the play, opens with a Noble Hierarch. I Inquisition him, pulling a Clique from his hand, and follow it up with a turn Lingering Souls and flash it back on my next turn, forcing him to Verdict the board. Afterwards, I drop a Thought-Knot into a Herder into Sorin and wrap the game up. Side in - x2 Surgical, x1 Flaying Tendrils, x1 All is Dust. Since I didn't see Spike Feeder nor Archangel of Thune, I assumed he was playing the combo.
Game two, he started with a Birds of Paradise, I followed with an Inquisition, pulling a Reflector Mage and seeing two Resto Angels. On my turn two, I played a Thoughtseize and extracted a Resto Angel, at which point he explained what his deck was. From here on out, this game went much like the first. I dropped a Seer, taking a Verdict, then a Smasher. With so much hand attack, he couldn't interact with the Smasher, which sealed the win.
Round 3 - Colorless Eldrazi Aggro: 1-2 loss (2-1)
This was a match-up I wasn't looking forward to at all. This player was one of the people I spoke with extensively over the past few weeks about the Eldrazi Variants, so he was mostly familiar with what I was playing.
Game one, he drops Chalice on 1 on turn one. I drop a turn two Seer, pulling a Seer from his hand. He bricks his draw, playing a land into a Mimic and passes. I drop a Smasher on my next turn and swing in, follow it with Sorin, and wrap the game. Side in - x2 Timely Reinforcements, x2 Extraction, x1 Damnation, x2 Ratchet Bomb
Game two, he had the magic hand, dropping two Mimics and two Endless Ones on turn one. I tried to stabilize though a Path into Lingering Souls, drawing into Sorin and start grinding him out with GQ on his manlands. Unfortunately, he drew up to seven lands and tutor'ed up Ulamog. My last draw was a Relic, which I cracked right away and bricked. Game three, I mulled to five and bricked my first two draws and never caught up. After the match, he showed me that he sided in x3 Sower and x2 Ulamog, which I thought was interesting.
Round 4 - Burn: 2-0 win (3-1)
Game one, on the play, I dropped a Thought-Knot on turn two, he reacts by playing Atarka's Command, popping me for three and dropping a land to bolt my face. I pulled a Boros Charm, and he bricked his draws for the next few turns while my Seer clocked him like a real Goyf would. Side in - x2 Timely, x3 Leyline
Game two was an odd one. Turn one, he Spikes me, I play a Shrine and pass. Turn two, he Commands into another land into a suspended Rift Bolt. I play a turn two Strangler, eating the Bolt and killing my Strangler off, knowing I'd be able to play a Seer into a Smasher in the next two turns. He dropped a Swiftspear, I followed with a Seer, he responded with a Boros Charm to my face, revealing a grip of lands. I cast a Leyline a turn later, he end-stepped Revelry'd it. This game was sort of close, since he got me low enough that a good draw would be fatal. I ended the match with a cool 3 life. Had he not bricked the turn after he blew up my Leyline, he would have probably took that game.
I ended up in 2nd place, 1st going to the Eldrazi Aggro player. I still really like this list, and I feel like with a good draw, we definitely have a good chance against the aggro variants. I'd love to get more testing against it. I do feel that Ratchet Bomb is really slow against them, since by the time you can crack it, they've already done a lot of damage.
@ dEATHdEALER - Sudden Spoiling is an interesting proposition. It allows us to make very powerful trades. However, it would require that we have a meaningful board presence in order to make those trades happen. Since it makes mobs have 2 toughness, we'd have to either double up tokens per mob to trade, which is by all means not bad, or just Fog the other player and hope we can make a meaningful crackback. On that note, however, Sorin would allow us to 1:1 block and kill their creatures, but again, requires we have a decent board presence to take full advantage of. Having to hold 3 mana up to do it seems like a bad use of the turn's tempo. I'd rather cast Lingering Souls or flashback one and hold one mana open for Path or a Dismember in most cases.
I'm not saying it'd be bad, and I'm sure it could actually be good in some cases, but in thinking of our poor match-ups, having Flaying Tendrils or some other 3 cmc board wipe seems preferable.
@ Colt47 - You could always use Zealous Persecution if you want to superpower soul/scion tokens. It could be a good sideboard option for some of our worse matchups.
B/W Eldrazi is the best, don't let no one tell you different.
I think the MB Spellskite will go back to being a Strangler, or maybe one of the other cards I'm thinking of. I kinda like 2 Stranglers, since they don't kill much in the current meta, but dayum are they good when they do.
I still like Ulamog for the matchups he is a good finisher in. Often times, just the threat of casting him can throw people off balance. But I totally agree in that he gets sided out a LOT. The only matchups I keep him in for are either grindy games against Jund/Junk, WU Eldrazi, Grixis Control, ect, but he goes out for everything else.
For the Wrath/Damn split, its just what I had. I'd rather have the 2 Damns, but you go with what you got.
One thing I've been giving a lot of thought to lately is how much like B/W Tokens this deck can become, trading anthem effects for massive creatures. I've considered looking to recent lists for inspiration for tech to give us the edge. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar + Oath of Gideon and Bitterblossom are some things I'm looking at. My only fear of doing that would be that it dilutes the angle B/W Eldrazi is going for.
B/W Eldrazi Processor
Creatures - 15
x1 Spellskite
x2 Wasteland Strangler
x4 Thought-Knot Seer
x3 Reality Smasher
x4 Blight Herder
x1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Instants - 6
x4 Path to Exile
x2 Dismember
Sorceries - 9
x4 Lingering Souls
x1 Timely Reinforcements
x2 Inquisition of Kozilek
x2 Thoughtseize
Planeswalkers - 1
x1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Artifacts - 4
x4 Relic of Progenitus
Lands - 25
x2 Plains
x2 Swamp
x1 Waste
x1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
x1 Vault of the Archangel
x2 Eye of Ugin
x4 Eldrazi Temple
x4 Ghost Quarter
x1 Shambling Vent
x3 Godless Shrine
x4 Caves of Koilos
Sideboard
x1 Disenchant
x2 Timely Reinforcements
x1 Wrath of God
x2 Stony Silence
x3 Leyline of Sanctity
x2 Surgical Extraction
x1 Flaying Tendrils
x1 Damnation
x1 Ratchet Bomb
x1 Pithing Needle
Round 1 vs Elves - Loss 1-2
Game one is relatively short. I keep a 4 land hand and flood out while he plays a trio of Shaman of the Pack, sealing the game.
Sideboard - IN: Wrath, Tendrils, Damnation, Ratchet Bomb, Pithing Needle, Timely. OUT: x4 Souls (Not a fan of them in this match-up), Spellskite, x2 Herder.
Game two, he dumps his hand by turn 4 and is met with a Damnation, and he can't recover.
Game three, I mull to 6 and keep a 3 lander, and get hit by a T2 Shaman into a T3 Shaman into a CoCo for DOUBLE SHAMANS on T4. Needless to say, I got wrecked.
Notes for this matchup: Its really bad game one. Siding boardwipes helps games 2 and 3 a ton, but it really comes down to being able to disrupt them. Heritage Druid and Shaman of the Pack are the really nasty cards here. In retrospect, I should have brought in the Extractions to try and hit those. I also think siding out so many creatures was wrong, I'll have to work on this matchup more.
Round 2 vs W/U Eldrazi - Win 2-0
Game one, we both have low land hands, but while he draws into Drowners he can't cast, I play double Thoughtseize into a Smasher, and close the game out from there.
Sideboard - IN: Wrath, Damnnation, Extractions. OUT: Spellskite, Stranglers, Timely.
Game two kicks off slow like game one, but picks up with a T3 Thought-Knot into a Smasher. He plays Path on my Thought-Knot, and Dismembers the Smasher. The game slows down, he resolves a Displacer that I path EoT. I draw into Sorin and start alternating Vampires and pumps until he kills Sorin. He plays a Mimic into a Drowner, and I rip a Path off the top and swing in for the win two turns later.
Notes for this matchup: I feel we are VERY well positioned in this mirror. They lack the high amounts of disruption we can run, and we can grind much better than they can with Souls and Herders. Sorin was a huge pivot in my games, easily the turning points when I felt myself starting to lose my lead. Stranglers don't kill all too much in this matchup.
Round 3 vs Grixis Delver - Win 2-0
Game one was a quickie, T2 THought-Knot into T3 Smasher threw him off balance early, and he wasn't able to stabilize before I closed the game with a second Thought-Knot and Herder.
Sideboard - IN: Disenchant, Ratchet Bomb. OUT: Timely, Spellskite.
Game two, he gets stuck on two lands with no red. I strip his hand of Terminates and Snapcasters while I pummel him down with a Herder and tokens. When he finally drew a third land, it was an Island.
Notes for this matchup: Grixis variants are very good matchups for us, since they rely so much on the graveyard and we have MB grave hate. I brought in my anti Blood Moon stuff, but he didn't draw them. Even if they resolve a Blood Moon, its not the end of the world. If you can pull ahead early, Blood Moon can't save them. We also have an ace against BM in Herder, since we can cast Smasher and Thought-Knot off the tokens.
Round 4 vs Grixis Control - Win 2-0
Game one was interesting. I play a T3 Souls into a T4 flashback, and he plays a maindeck Damnation, which kind of took me off guard. I think he was hedging against Eldrazi and Aggro decks. I take that into account and start slow-rolling my threats out, only keeping 1-2 threats on board at a time. The game grinds on, and I close it out with a Blight Herder and token friends.
Sideboard - IN: Disenchant, Surgicals, Ratchet Bomb. OUT: Stranglers, Spellskite, Timely.
Game two was just as grindy as the first, but I almost punted it early. He plays a T3 Ashiok, and I follow with Lingering Souls. But, I could have played a Smasher and killed Ashiok right away and kinda spaced on it until it was too late. I spent the next 4 or so turns killing Ashiok before he could exile too much of my library. Shamling Vent did a TON of work in this game, putting in at least 8 damage and keeping me out of Bolt-Snap-Bolt range. He drew three K-Commands, but was stuck on 5 lands, slowing down how fast he could use them, giving me time to draw into Relics and cut off his graveyard interaction. Eventually, I grinded him out with double Herders.
Notes for this matchup: I sideboarded horribly wrong for this. I went in thinking he'd bring in Blood Moon, but it didn't hit me until during the game that his mana base was too weak to BM. Bringing in the Leylines would be awesome here. Overall, because of Relics, this matchup is good as long as we play smart and don't over-extend.
I was not very happy with the Spellskite in the main tonight. I didn't hit any matchups where it was relevant, and was sided out every matchup. I think this slot might become another discard spell or removal, I dunno. I also didn't draw the mainboard Timely at all, except for game two against Elves where he Inquisition'ed it. As always, Sorin was a house, stealing the games I played him in. Dismember also played out wonderfully, I don't think I'll ever take those out.
Some new cards I'd like to try at one point or another is BFZ Gideon and Bitterblossom. Having the flex spots where Spellskite, Timely, and Ulamog are gives me a little room to try new stuff out. Thoughts on those?
B/W Eldrazi Processor
Creatures - 14
x3 Wasteland Strangler
x4 Thought-Knot Seer
x3 Reality Smasher
x4 Blight Herder
Instants - 7
x4 Path to Exile
x1 Dismember
x2 Warping Wail
Sorceries - 8
x4 Lingering Souls
x2 Inquisition of Kozilek
x2 Thoughtseize
Enchantments - 1
x1 Banishing Light
Planeswalkers - 1
x1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Artifacts - 4
x4 Relic of Progenitus
Lands - 25
x1 Plains
x2 Swamp
x1 Waste
x1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
x1 Vault of the Archangel
x2 Eye of Ugin
x4 Eldrazi Temple
x4 Ghost Quarter
x2 Shambling Vent
x3 Godless Shrine
x4 Caves of Koilos
Sideboard
x1 Disenchant
x2 Timely Reinforcements
x2 Stony Silence
x3 Leyline of Sanctity
x2 Surgical Extraction
x1 Flaying Tendrils
x1 Damnation
x2 Ratchet Bomb
x1 All is Dust
As far as some of the card choices, I decided to cut Sower and Ulamog entirely from the list. In my testing, playing like a midrange deck, and less like a ramp deck, has led me to better success. Thought-Knot was an all-star tonight, and will probably remain as a 4-of as long as I play this list. The one-of Banishing Light was always nice to see, was never a bad draw. As far as the maindeck dismember, it could easily be a Spellskite. It was more of a meta choice, as I expected multiple Eldrazi decks, and felt the extra removal was important. I also like that this list has several flex spots (Dismember, Banishing Light, the 4th Seer).
Credit to Exatraz for the sideboard. I felt that I had relevant answers for each of the decks I played against tonight. I have x2 Sacred Ground available, but I dunno what I would remove for them, probably the Disenchant and something else.
Round 1 - Bushwhacker Zoo: 2-1 win (1-0)
Game one felt like a good match. I was on the play, opened with a caves and passed. His turn he dropped a fetch and passed. My turn two I play a GQ and pass. His turn two, he played a turn two Burning-Tree into another Burning-Tree into a Bushwhacker, and I path'ed one of the Burning-Trees. I followed up with a turn three Thought-Knot, pulling what gas he had left in his hand. TKS and a duo of Reality Smashers wrapped the game up.
Side in - x2 Timely, x2 Ratchet Bomb, x1 Flaying Tendrils
Game two, he drew all four of his Burning-Trees and dumped them on turn two, and I couldn't get enough blockers out to stabilize. Game three, however, was rather close. He (again) had two Burning-Trees on board turn two with a Bushwhacker, but I had a pair of paths ready for them. He drew into more creatures while I played a pair of Thought-Knots as blockers, taking nothing from his hand as he had nothing left. I ended up top-decking a Smasher into Sorin into Flaying Tendrils and stole the game from there.
Round 2 - Resto Bant Chord: 2-0 win (2-0)
This was a homebrew that I honestly felt was super interesting, played Reflector Mage with Restoration Angel to try and control the game though tempo.
Game one, him on the play, opens with a Noble Hierarch. I Inquisition him, pulling a Clique from his hand, and follow it up with a turn Lingering Souls and flash it back on my next turn, forcing him to Verdict the board. Afterwards, I drop a Thought-Knot into a Herder into Sorin and wrap the game up.
Side in - x2 Surgical, x1 Flaying Tendrils, x1 All is Dust. Since I didn't see Spike Feeder nor Archangel of Thune, I assumed he was playing the combo.
Game two, he started with a Birds of Paradise, I followed with an Inquisition, pulling a Reflector Mage and seeing two Resto Angels. On my turn two, I played a Thoughtseize and extracted a Resto Angel, at which point he explained what his deck was. From here on out, this game went much like the first. I dropped a Seer, taking a Verdict, then a Smasher. With so much hand attack, he couldn't interact with the Smasher, which sealed the win.
Round 3 - Colorless Eldrazi Aggro: 1-2 loss (2-1)
This was a match-up I wasn't looking forward to at all. This player was one of the people I spoke with extensively over the past few weeks about the Eldrazi Variants, so he was mostly familiar with what I was playing.
Game one, he drops Chalice on 1 on turn one. I drop a turn two Seer, pulling a Seer from his hand. He bricks his draw, playing a land into a Mimic and passes. I drop a Smasher on my next turn and swing in, follow it with Sorin, and wrap the game.
Side in - x2 Timely Reinforcements, x2 Extraction, x1 Damnation, x2 Ratchet Bomb
Game two, he had the magic hand, dropping two Mimics and two Endless Ones on turn one. I tried to stabilize though a Path into Lingering Souls, drawing into Sorin and start grinding him out with GQ on his manlands. Unfortunately, he drew up to seven lands and tutor'ed up Ulamog. My last draw was a Relic, which I cracked right away and bricked. Game three, I mulled to five and bricked my first two draws and never caught up. After the match, he showed me that he sided in x3 Sower and x2 Ulamog, which I thought was interesting.
Round 4 - Burn: 2-0 win (3-1)
Game one, on the play, I dropped a Thought-Knot on turn two, he reacts by playing Atarka's Command, popping me for three and dropping a land to bolt my face. I pulled a Boros Charm, and he bricked his draws for the next few turns while my Seer clocked him like a real Goyf would.
Side in - x2 Timely, x3 Leyline
Game two was an odd one. Turn one, he Spikes me, I play a Shrine and pass. Turn two, he Commands into another land into a suspended Rift Bolt. I play a turn two Strangler, eating the Bolt and killing my Strangler off, knowing I'd be able to play a Seer into a Smasher in the next two turns. He dropped a Swiftspear, I followed with a Seer, he responded with a Boros Charm to my face, revealing a grip of lands. I cast a Leyline a turn later, he end-stepped Revelry'd it. This game was sort of close, since he got me low enough that a good draw would be fatal. I ended the match with a cool 3 life. Had he not bricked the turn after he blew up my Leyline, he would have probably took that game.
I ended up in 2nd place, 1st going to the Eldrazi Aggro player. I still really like this list, and I feel like with a good draw, we definitely have a good chance against the aggro variants. I'd love to get more testing against it. I do feel that Ratchet Bomb is really slow against them, since by the time you can crack it, they've already done a lot of damage.
I'm not saying it'd be bad, and I'm sure it could actually be good in some cases, but in thinking of our poor match-ups, having Flaying Tendrils or some other 3 cmc board wipe seems preferable.