Don't get me wrong, I think that the U/R version of the As foretold-Living end combo is way better than the Mono U version. This is what i've been tinkering with the As Foretold Living end in Cockatrice:
I think that the As foretold version of the deck is wayyy weaker against Counterspells, that's why i have several pieces of Spell pierce and Izzet Charm in the main. Also, wit the U/R version you can discard with either IzzetC. or Faithless looting your fatties, and normally you should be playing the biggest of the bunch in Modern. Chancellor of the Annex is Huge in your early game because it basically stops them from casting turn 1 their things, or even turn 2 if they have an slow hand. Urabrask the Hidden so that you can give your fatties haste (Since this always cast living end on your turn, it can be open to wraths).
What do you guys think? I have been having some success with it, the games i loose basically i lost to myself for not assembling the combo soon enough, but that was because i didn't have serum visions or faithless looting to start the engine going in the first few turns. This deck has a consistent turn 3 As foretold or Kari-zev.
Forbidden orchard would only seem reasonable if you want to go for a 5-colored deck, which i don't think it's the case if you wanna go competitive.
The most consistent Living end deck is the with the jund colors, way behind is the Blue-Red one were you can discard big fatties like griselbrand or Iona to the bin and turn 3 As foretold. Mono blue living end was just a novelty, it lacks the power or consistency.
UW Control gets a lot easier as you get more familiar with the deck. That was my experience at least. I used to have trouble with it and now I just prey on it. Keep them off Cryptic and Verdict if you can. Play your instants on their endstep to set yourself up for LE on your turn once they’re tapped out. Don’t forget how effective hardcasting your creatures can be against them. Don’t be too loose with your LE’s. It’s usually a long game and you only have three (or at least that seems to be the standard right now), so play them wisely. You don’t want to run out. They usually don’t have much presence in their yard so that makes it easier on you for subsequent LE’s. You don’t have to worry as much about what’s coming back out of their yard. Suspending LE is useful sometimes so that they tap out to counter it and you can go off after that since you’ll have the mana open for your cascades. Don’t forget you can’t use Ricochet Trap on Cryptic if they’ve chosen counter/bounce, so don’t forecast it needlessly if that’s the case. Use SSG to your advantage to throw them off. You have more mana available to you than they realize. You can bluff a lot in that MU, and so can they. Your Faeries are super important. Use them wisely. This applies to Search for Azcanta and Snapcaster.
That’s just a little off the top of my head. You’ll get better at the MU. Most control players are usually pretty good Magic players. Once you get more comfortable with LE the MU ought to improve.
I agree, it's much easier to control their manabase with fulminators and Beast within than to wait in cycling for a Ricochet trap. Also when they tap in turn 4 for a JTMS is just a bad play for them. You have to Outburst when they tap out or back to back cascades forcing them to use all their spells.
It's certainly ballsy to play only 2 Living end's on the main. What do you guys think about it? And the sideboard has 2 Kolaghan's and 2 Thragtusks. Interesting SB
I'll be honest, i never liked Deadshot minotaur because it bolts our Faerie macabre most of the time. Unless you are willing to go other route for graveyard hate like Leylines i don't think you should run it, since we got more fatties to run in that slot
Altough Vault of the Archangel is a pretty good tech card in white splash. Not sure how relevant it would be against burn, since it needs at least turn 5 to be activated.
So i've been taking a break from Modern a little, but returning to this format just made me realize how sweet is this deck. I mean, when the deck works is so sweet to cycle your hand. I've been testing 2 Thragtusk in the SB for grindy matchups, and so far it feels great. The value it gives is awesome and it's something most people don't expect.
I also prefer no Combo hate in the SB like Lost legacy even though it's a great card, i feel that we can race most combo decks unless they are some incredibly nasty ***** like Cheerios.
Has anyone tried phyrexian arena as a 1 or two of for card advantage?
I think that Phyrexian Arena is too slow for what we are trying to do here, at least the Gideon planeswalker Build. We are trying to control the board until turn 4 or 5 when you can cast your big gideons and start swinging.
Has anyone given any thoughts to Demonlord Belzenlok? it's a big finisher that also pulls you ahead in the game with their card draw. With our high cost sorceries if we are lucky we can have an ancestral vision-like effect attached to a big body.
Yawgmoth's Vile Offering Does look super sweet but i think it's payoff isn't as good for it's cost, also you need a planeswalker on board, which it's a constriction that you can't afford to have as a dead card in modeern.
First Matchup: TitanshiftRG 2-0
NOt that exiting really. When i got into modern on early 2016, i thought that deck was cool, but now the lack of interaction makes it extremely boring, specially against LE. First game I Violent Outburst on turn 3 and swinged on turn 4 for lethal with 2 Horrors on play.
Second game he got a relic on, and thankfully i sided in 3 ingots to counter them up. turn1 got rid of the relic and on turn 2 i casted a fulminator with SSG. I had a second fulminator in hand for turn 3 and in and a bunch of cyclers. turn 4 I casted one of my 2 sided in Slaughter games naming scapeshift. He had one on his hand and a Titan. WHen he casted the titan on his EOT i Living ended it and just swing on my turn, altough it wasn't lethal. He scoop'd anyways
Second Matchup: MerfolkU 2-1
First game he won the dice and started building his board while i was binnin my graveyard. He put a Cursecatcher on t1 but i still managed to pull a Livin End because of a SSG. i swear, those are life-saving. He saced anyway and started building his board again with the Vial. I had 4 creatures but one of them was Archfiend, and with at my turn i started putting counters on every merfolk and buffing my Horror, won the game 3 turns later.
Second game was a nightmare, he put a relic which i chewed on t1, then a vial on t1 and a cursecatcher. On turn 4 he put a second cursecatcher so it delayed the combo to turn 5. Even then he negated it after casting a Living end. Altough he targeted the Cascade spell, i told him that you should be countering the living end. I know that was a bad move but still it wasn't a supercompetitive tournament and i kinda knew him so i scoop'd next turn. I realized that the Slaughter games in this matchup are bad because of the clock merfolk puts on you.
Third game i manage to ingot both a relic and his vial, then shriekmaw his Curscatcher. From there i just tempoed the game until i casted my third cascade spell in mid game, with a huge Graveyard, like 10 creatures in it.
Third Matchup: Tron 2-0n . This guy has a kinda different tron than netdecking, he prefers using the Big papa Eldrazi as finishers. He was a friend of mine so i knew his deck kinda well, but anyways in both games i got a lot fulminators, and the second game i got him really good when i fulminated his two lands, living him with no lands but a relic, a chalice and an expedition map on. I chewed the chalice and started binning my creatures faster than the relic could exile them , but it didn't matter when he missed a second land drop he scooped right then.
4th matchup: GrixisSUBR 2-1. This was such a good matchup and make a lot of people watch us because of the third game.
So basically i invested a good amount of money in a playset of Grove of the burnwillows because of this matchup. It's crazy good to start giving your opponent life to kill his DS. anyways:
Game1: i'm on the play. Start standard, cycle at his EOT. He thouthseize me and gets a cascade spell, then start filling his graveyard with lands and wraiths for the early tasigur. He makes me discard a SSG with a Inquisition in turn 2 and puts a shadow on 11 life. He didn't realized i had a burnWillow on play so i make his life go to 12 on his eot and 13 to kill the little critter. On turn 3 he plays a tasigur, living the 2 wraiths on his bin. He starts swinguing with the tasigur then and i start looking for a cascade spell quickly. When i found one we are both at below 10 life and when i LE and return my creatures, he swings with the two bullets that became their streetwraiths because of a swamp i had. Don't judge me, i was low on landdrops.
I sided in almost all my SB: a set of Chewers, set of LoV, and my 2 Slaughter games. Sided out Fulminators, carabids, my Beast within and a copy of Demonic dread. I mulliganed to 6 without a leyline, because that hand was perfect. 2 ingots, 2 horrors, 1 Grove and 1 wraith. i the scry was a land. So i keep and start building. He IoK and gets nothing, then i start cycling. t2 he puts a nihill on it. I leave my cyclers and chew it next turn. He starts cycling his wraiths also, but i keep him in check with the burnwillow. Keep in mind i am making him gain life everyturn, so that we can delay the SD. He eventually casts a Gurmag and starts swinging. I cast a Violent which in turn he denies the LE with a stubborn denial, then on my turn i use my second cascade spell. Next turn i make lethal.
third game was so grindy, because we both got mulli, i to 5 and him to 6. I got my leyline and a bunch of cyclers, hi got thoughtseize and nihill. On turn 3 i drawed a chewer and destroyed his spellbomb. then i casted a Slaughter games targeting his DS. With leyline denying him early tasigur or Gurmag, i was a bit more relieved, so i started making up my bin. He countered a Living end so i started hard casting creatures. Got an archfiend which he killed it with a terminate, then that's when the grind starts. He puts another nihil, i exile my graveyard, then he puts a gurmag, i cascade it and get two creatures back, then we start swinging, he kills one and then casts a tasigur. lightning bolts to the face, liliana veil, etc etc. eventually i manage to sneak a wraith in there. I used all my Living ends and i finally killed him with a wraith and a +1 from the Outburst.
5 matchup: UW controlUW 1-2
First game he counters EVERYTHING. No kidding. he puts an early gideon, the new one, and starts swinging. Eventually i cast a living end in his attack phase, which he allows, then casts wraths a board on his second main. But play from me. He eventually kills me with snaps
Second game: Relics! this is a difficult choice because you don't know if he is playing either relics, graffdiger or RiP. Thank god he had relics so i chewed it up early. He then castes a clique on my draw. Dude that was a bad play, i cast Outburst in response to Clique ability and start working from there. He paths 2 of my guys tho. So i end up swinging a wraith at a Newly casted Gideon (the 5cmc). The thing is that by that time he is started to loose tempo so i Beast within the gideon, and start hardcasting creatures. He counters and Wraths the board twice, but i eventually sneak enough damage to make him scoop.
Game three was such a bummer. in early i secure my graveyard with ingots and beasts, then in midgame i cast my 2 slaughter games. I choose Gideon (3cmc) and then C. Command. by then he Negated a Living end Early, and i drawed another. So i started hardcasting and eventually i chipped away slowly with each creature. He then starts wrathing the board (as usual) and path to exile my creatures. He outtempo me and when he casted a Sphynx revelation x5 I just scoop'd.
Ok, but let me ask you. Are you using a full set of leyline of Sanctity? because i use my slot for an extra Beast Within, you know, for Voids and RiP. I don't know if i should go to a 3 of Leylines if that means that i will suffer to a RiP.
What's the plan against Lantern control? it has hand destroyer and completely shuts down our fatties, i carry 4 ingot chewers to get rid of the stuff but sometimes it isn't even enough.
Also i would like to add that as for sideboard is concerned, Leyline of the void is even better than before now. It negates a lot of decks and shuts of completely the mirror and dredge.
// 17 Creature
4 Curator of Mysteries
4 Street Wraith
1 Terastodon
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Griselbrand
3 Chancellor of the Annex
1 Urabrask the Hidden
1 Platinum Emperion
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
// 4 Enchantment
4 As Foretold
// 8 Instant
4 Izzet Charm
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Remand
2 Spell Pierce
3 Island
1 Mountain
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Steam Vents
2 Tolaria West
4 Scalding Tarn
// 13 Sorcery
4 Living End
4 Faithless Looting
4 Serum Visions
1 Kari Zev's Expertise
I think that the As foretold version of the deck is wayyy weaker against Counterspells, that's why i have several pieces of Spell pierce and Izzet Charm in the main. Also, wit the U/R version you can discard with either IzzetC. or Faithless looting your fatties, and normally you should be playing the biggest of the bunch in Modern. Chancellor of the Annex is Huge in your early game because it basically stops them from casting turn 1 their things, or even turn 2 if they have an slow hand. Urabrask the Hidden so that you can give your fatties haste (Since this always cast living end on your turn, it can be open to wraths).
What do you guys think? I have been having some success with it, the games i loose basically i lost to myself for not assembling the combo soon enough, but that was because i didn't have serum visions or faithless looting to start the engine going in the first few turns. This deck has a consistent turn 3 As foretold or Kari-zev.
The most consistent Living end deck is the with the jund colors, way behind is the Blue-Red one were you can discard big fatties like griselbrand or Iona to the bin and turn 3 As foretold. Mono blue living end was just a novelty, it lacks the power or consistency.
I agree, it's much easier to control their manabase with fulminators and Beast within than to wait in cycling for a Ricochet trap. Also when they tap in turn 4 for a JTMS is just a bad play for them. You have to Outburst when they tap out or back to back cascades forcing them to use all their spells.
4 Archfiend of Ifnir
4 Desert Cerodon
2 Faerie Macabre
4 Fulminator Mage
4 Horror of the Broken Lands
4 Monstrous Carabid
3 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Street Wraith
3 Demonic Dread
2 Living End
4 Violent Outburst
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Blooming Marsh
4 Copperline Gorge
1 Forest
1 Stomping Ground
2 Swamp
2 Faerie Macabre
3 Ingot Chewer
2 Kolaghan's Command
2 Ricochet Trap
4 Shriekmaw
2 Thragtusk
It's certainly ballsy to play only 2 Living end's on the main. What do you guys think about it? And the sideboard has 2 Kolaghan's and 2 Thragtusks. Interesting SB
Altough Vault of the Archangel is a pretty good tech card in white splash. Not sure how relevant it would be against burn, since it needs at least turn 5 to be activated.
I also prefer no Combo hate in the SB like Lost legacy even though it's a great card, i feel that we can race most combo decks unless they are some incredibly nasty ***** like Cheerios.
I think that Phyrexian Arena is too slow for what we are trying to do here, at least the Gideon planeswalker Build. We are trying to control the board until turn 4 or 5 when you can cast your big gideons and start swinging.
Has anyone given any thoughts to Demonlord Belzenlok? it's a big finisher that also pulls you ahead in the game with their card draw. With our high cost sorceries if we are lucky we can have an ancestral vision-like effect attached to a big body.
First Matchup: TitanshiftRG 2-0
NOt that exiting really. When i got into modern on early 2016, i thought that deck was cool, but now the lack of interaction makes it extremely boring, specially against LE. First game I Violent Outburst on turn 3 and swinged on turn 4 for lethal with 2 Horrors on play.
Second game he got a relic on, and thankfully i sided in 3 ingots to counter them up. turn1 got rid of the relic and on turn 2 i casted a fulminator with SSG. I had a second fulminator in hand for turn 3 and in and a bunch of cyclers. turn 4 I casted one of my 2 sided in Slaughter games naming scapeshift. He had one on his hand and a Titan. WHen he casted the titan on his EOT i Living ended it and just swing on my turn, altough it wasn't lethal. He scoop'd anyways
Second Matchup: MerfolkU 2-1
First game he won the dice and started building his board while i was binnin my graveyard. He put a Cursecatcher on t1 but i still managed to pull a Livin End because of a SSG. i swear, those are life-saving. He saced anyway and started building his board again with the Vial. I had 4 creatures but one of them was Archfiend, and with at my turn i started putting counters on every merfolk and buffing my Horror, won the game 3 turns later.
I sided in the set of ingots, all my shriekmaws and both slaughter games.
Second game was a nightmare, he put a relic which i chewed on t1, then a vial on t1 and a cursecatcher. On turn 4 he put a second cursecatcher so it delayed the combo to turn 5. Even then he negated it after casting a Living end. Altough he targeted the Cascade spell, i told him that you should be countering the living end. I know that was a bad move but still it wasn't a supercompetitive tournament and i kinda knew him so i scoop'd next turn. I realized that the Slaughter games in this matchup are bad because of the clock merfolk puts on you.
Third game i manage to ingot both a relic and his vial, then shriekmaw his Curscatcher. From there i just tempoed the game until i casted my third cascade spell in mid game, with a huge Graveyard, like 10 creatures in it.
Third Matchup: Tron 2-0n . This guy has a kinda different tron than netdecking, he prefers using the Big papa Eldrazi as finishers. He was a friend of mine so i knew his deck kinda well, but anyways in both games i got a lot fulminators, and the second game i got him really good when i fulminated his two lands, living him with no lands but a relic, a chalice and an expedition map on. I chewed the chalice and started binning my creatures faster than the relic could exile them , but it didn't matter when he missed a second land drop he scooped right then.
4th matchup: GrixisSUBR 2-1. This was such a good matchup and make a lot of people watch us because of the third game.
So basically i invested a good amount of money in a playset of Grove of the burnwillows because of this matchup. It's crazy good to start giving your opponent life to kill his DS. anyways:
Game1: i'm on the play. Start standard, cycle at his EOT. He thouthseize me and gets a cascade spell, then start filling his graveyard with lands and wraiths for the early tasigur. He makes me discard a SSG with a Inquisition in turn 2 and puts a shadow on 11 life. He didn't realized i had a burnWillow on play so i make his life go to 12 on his eot and 13 to kill the little critter. On turn 3 he plays a tasigur, living the 2 wraiths on his bin. He starts swinguing with the tasigur then and i start looking for a cascade spell quickly. When i found one we are both at below 10 life and when i LE and return my creatures, he swings with the two bullets that became their streetwraiths because of a swamp i had. Don't judge me, i was low on landdrops.
I sided in almost all my SB: a set of Chewers, set of LoV, and my 2 Slaughter games. Sided out Fulminators, carabids, my Beast within and a copy of Demonic dread. I mulliganed to 6 without a leyline, because that hand was perfect. 2 ingots, 2 horrors, 1 Grove and 1 wraith. i the scry was a land. So i keep and start building. He IoK and gets nothing, then i start cycling. t2 he puts a nihill on it. I leave my cyclers and chew it next turn. He starts cycling his wraiths also, but i keep him in check with the burnwillow. Keep in mind i am making him gain life everyturn, so that we can delay the SD. He eventually casts a Gurmag and starts swinging. I cast a Violent which in turn he denies the LE with a stubborn denial, then on my turn i use my second cascade spell. Next turn i make lethal.
third game was so grindy, because we both got mulli, i to 5 and him to 6. I got my leyline and a bunch of cyclers, hi got thoughtseize and nihill. On turn 3 i drawed a chewer and destroyed his spellbomb. then i casted a Slaughter games targeting his DS. With leyline denying him early tasigur or Gurmag, i was a bit more relieved, so i started making up my bin. He countered a Living end so i started hard casting creatures. Got an archfiend which he killed it with a terminate, then that's when the grind starts. He puts another nihil, i exile my graveyard, then he puts a gurmag, i cascade it and get two creatures back, then we start swinging, he kills one and then casts a tasigur. lightning bolts to the face, liliana veil, etc etc. eventually i manage to sneak a wraith in there. I used all my Living ends and i finally killed him with a wraith and a +1 from the Outburst.
5 matchup: UW controlUW 1-2
First game he counters EVERYTHING. No kidding. he puts an early gideon, the new one, and starts swinging. Eventually i cast a living end in his attack phase, which he allows, then casts wraths a board on his second main. But play from me. He eventually kills me with snaps
Second game: Relics! this is a difficult choice because you don't know if he is playing either relics, graffdiger or RiP. Thank god he had relics so i chewed it up early. He then castes a clique on my draw. Dude that was a bad play, i cast Outburst in response to Clique ability and start working from there. He paths 2 of my guys tho. So i end up swinging a wraith at a Newly casted Gideon (the 5cmc). The thing is that by that time he is started to loose tempo so i Beast within the gideon, and start hardcasting creatures. He counters and Wraths the board twice, but i eventually sneak enough damage to make him scoop.
Game three was such a bummer. in early i secure my graveyard with ingots and beasts, then in midgame i cast my 2 slaughter games. I choose Gideon (3cmc) and then C. Command. by then he Negated a Living end Early, and i drawed another. So i started hardcasting and eventually i chipped away slowly with each creature. He then starts wrathing the board (as usual) and path to exile my creatures. He outtempo me and when he casted a Sphynx revelation x5 I just scoop'd.
4 Archfiend of Ifnir
4 Desert Cerodon
4 Horror of the Broken Lands
4 Monstrous Carabid
4 Fulminator Mage
2 Twisted Abomination
3 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Demonic Dread
3 Living End
1 Beast Within
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
2 Blooming Marsh
1 Forest
4 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Shriekmaw
4 Leyline of the Void
2 Beast Within
2 Slaughter Games
What's the plan against Lantern control? it has hand destroyer and completely shuts down our fatties, i carry 4 ingot chewers to get rid of the stuff but sometimes it isn't even enough.
Also i would like to add that as for sideboard is concerned, Leyline of the void is even better than before now. It negates a lot of decks and shuts of completely the mirror and dredge.