Personally I don't think it's very good, it can't pull off consistency.
You have 12 possible cards in your opener that you don't even know what they are going to be, which is a real deckbuilding cost, especially for a combo deck. Makes mulligans a nightmare and probably costs you a lot of games.
Trying to reach delirium for traverse seems linke a nonbo for trying to combo off early. And trying to hit the singleton Ballista off an Ancient stirring is statistically unlikely, so the deck plays a lot less infinite mana payoff than the traditional counters deck does. It often get's stuck doing nothing.
Bandit hall as tapland really hurts a deck that wants to cast oaths and baubles t1 and druids t2.
I have seen a few lists online running 4 Duskwatch Recruiter vs my 2. How many of you guys are running that number and how do you like it as compared to just 2?
I run the full 4 since I am not of the seemingly common opinion that you need to "run as few as possible". It's still a good card even if you are not in the process of comboing off.
Hello all, I've been playing variations of thtis deck since collected company came out, and I'm just wondering why we don't use 1 of Melira, Sylvok Outcast. Is there some reason it's sub-optimal?
It's a Nonbo with Devoted Druid. it prevents you from being able to pay the cost to untap it.
It saves you precisely 3 life to Path with his trigger on stack if they have a Valakut in play, 6 if they don’t and are grabbing 2.
Seems meh
Let's say they have 5 mountains and breach a titan. If you do nothing they get two valakuts and then 2 mountains, meaning 12 damage on 4 triggers which is just straight up a game loss for us. If you make them fetch a 6th mountain and they then can only tutor up two lands, either mountain and valakut or 2 valakuts, it seriously saves 9 or 12 damage PLUS the 6 damage of the attack of the titan and gives us another turn to try to combo off. (and even if they have one valakut already in play which is unlikely because they can't fetch for those early, the 5th mountain entering from path doesn't trigger so they only get to only deal 6 off the etb, still saving you at least 6 plus the attack)
Forget it I just looked up that breach seems to be quite rare these days. Path isn't really good against non-breach titans.
Why? Path in response to the titan etb trigger saves you a lot of damage, especially if the used Breach. It might backfire if they follow that up with another scapeshift or titan, but it's worth the risk to avoid staight up loosing. It's not like there aren't enough cards that can be cut in the matchup.
- I know my Affinity opponent had some absolute nut-draws, but I really felt I couldn’t race him. Anyone got any experience?
Your sideboard plan against affinity is just too weak. The answer to the question of "what beats affinity" is always the same, Stony Silence.
Oh, and please try to type the cards correctly in your posts. It's a pain having to look up cards you don't remember the exact wording of just because someone is too lazy to spellcheck their post.
First game was a weird deck with Unexpected Results that felt like a really bad, random reanimator. Went 2-1-0 only because I flooded like crazy in the beginning game where I held a bad hand.
Second game was Eldrazi Tron. Went 1-2-0, stomped it in the first game with a quick combo. Even though he never even had tron online, game 2 and 3 where really hard fights since he had a very strong sideboard plan (brought in 14 cards against me) and had answers all the time. Kept my combo down with removal and had the ghost quarters to kill Township. 2nd game was sealed by All Is Dust and second game I couldn't get any card advantage going successfully. I think some of my budget choices played into that loss.
Third game (went 2-1-0) was against a black-based Waste Not deck that I have never seen before and that could pull out a surprise win on their turn 3 with their nut draw of 2xLiliana's Caress+Simian Spirit Guide+Burning Inquiry, Game 2 was a more grindy one where I topdecked Collected Company for the win. Game 3 he didn't generate enough value and I won by smashing face with [[Krallenhorde Howler]].
Last game was UR control with Kiki/Pestermite/Exarch combo, went 2-1-0. Won the first game due to a mistake of my opponent where he tapped out at the wrong time where I could combo off in response. Second game he straight up out-valued me (Electrolyze is not a card this deck wants to see), but third game he couldn't get snapcaster value due to graveyard hate and a bit of flooding, his answers dried up and I comboed off.
Conclusion: I really like this deck. Easy to pick up, but a lot to learn before I will master it. I didn't really miss the Finks combo all that much, playing 4 Duskwatch and a Rhonas to guarantee that the combo means a win seems much more imprtant. The games I lost were because I lost control of the board, not because of a low life total.
opening hand on the play against eldrazi & taxes. you're currentl 1-1 and this is for the match.
additional info - only removal spell you've seen is path to exile.
1x razorverge thicket
1x noble hierarch
2x devoted druid
1x vizier of remedies
1x collected company
1x chord of calling
would you keep?
No. Good hand against any other deck but the chance to be land-locked is too high. Together with the high chance that they'll take vizier from our hand and stop us from chording. Plus, they should have about 6 spells that kill our manadorks. And if one of these things happen that's almost a guaranteed loss.
I think the Matthew list is just trying to play the meta. Showing a vizier and a devoted druid to mislead the opponent into sideboarding wrong against the combo when in reality he's just playing a toolboxy grindy value game.
I think a big part of the reasoning is if we drop a coco it doesn't matter if it's one more mana and we often have a 1-drop manadork that makes 2-drops inefficient. 3 mana instead of 2 isn't that much of a downside, but I think it's still risky to have your combo disruption potentially moved to turn 3.
Personally I don't think it's very good, it can't pull off consistency.
You have 12 possible cards in your opener that you don't even know what they are going to be, which is a real deckbuilding cost, especially for a combo deck. Makes mulligans a nightmare and probably costs you a lot of games.
Trying to reach delirium for traverse seems linke a nonbo for trying to combo off early. And trying to hit the singleton Ballista off an Ancient stirring is statistically unlikely, so the deck plays a lot less infinite mana payoff than the traditional counters deck does. It often get's stuck doing nothing.
Bandit hall as tapland really hurts a deck that wants to cast oaths and baubles t1 and druids t2.
1 Forest
4 Hall of the Bandit Lord
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Murmuring Bosk
2 Temple Garden
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Windswept Heath
CREATURES
1 Deadshot Minotaur
4 Devoted Druid
1 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Street Wraith
4 Vizier of Remedies
1 Walking Ballista
1 Wild Cantor
4 Ancient Stirrings
1 Manamorphose
4 Pact of Negation
4 Summoner's Pact
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
2 Weird Harvest
OTHER SPELLS
2 Conjurer's Bauble
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Oath of Nissa
1 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
1 Defense Grid
1 Devout Lightcaster
4 Mirran Crusader
1 Mystic Enforcer
4 Path to Exile
1 Qasali Ambusher
2 Reclamation Sage
Seems like gambling.
I run the full 4 since I am not of the seemingly common opinion that you need to "run as few as possible". It's still a good card even if you are not in the process of comboing off.
It's a Nonbo with Devoted Druid. it prevents you from being able to pay the cost to untap it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ModernMagic/comments/7gmk1s/vizir_combo_bant_or_abzan_which_is_more/
What is your opinion, bant or abzahn? Or is the difference so small that it's down to taste?
Let's say they have 5 mountains and breach a titan. If you do nothing they get two valakuts and then 2 mountains, meaning 12 damage on 4 triggers which is just straight up a game loss for us. If you make them fetch a 6th mountain and they then can only tutor up two lands, either mountain and valakut or 2 valakuts, it seriously saves 9 or 12 damage PLUS the 6 damage of the attack of the titan and gives us another turn to try to combo off. (and even if they have one valakut already in play which is unlikely because they can't fetch for those early, the 5th mountain entering from path doesn't trigger so they only get to only deal 6 off the etb, still saving you at least 6 plus the attack)Forget it I just looked up that breach seems to be quite rare these days. Path isn't really good against non-breach titans.
Why? Path in response to the titan etb trigger saves you a lot of damage, especially if the used Breach. It might backfire if they follow that up with another scapeshift or titan, but it's worth the risk to avoid staight up loosing. It's not like there aren't enough cards that can be cut in the matchup.
Your sideboard plan against affinity is just too weak. The answer to the question of "what beats affinity" is always the same, Stony Silence.
Oh, and please try to type the cards correctly in your posts. It's a pain having to look up cards you don't remember the exact wording of just because someone is too lazy to spellcheck their post.
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Devoted Druid
4x Duskwatch Recruiter
3x Elvish Mystic
4x Eternal Witness
2x Renegade Rallier
1x Rhonas the Indomitable
2x Scavenging Ooze
1x Selfless Spirit
1x Spellskite
4x Vizier of Remedies
1x Walking Ballista
4x Forest
2x Gavony Township
1x Marsh Flats
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Plains
1x Scattered Groves
2x Temple Garden
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Windswept Heath
Instant (8)
4x Chord of Calling
4x Collected Company
1x Aegis of the Gods
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Chameleon Colossus
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1x Fatal Push
1x Golgari Charm
1x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Kataki, War's Wage
1x Kitesail Freebooter
2x Path to Exile
1x Spellskite
2x Stony Silence
1x Tormod's Crypt
Went 3-1-0
First game was a weird deck with Unexpected Results that felt like a really bad, random reanimator. Went 2-1-0 only because I flooded like crazy in the beginning game where I held a bad hand.
Second game was Eldrazi Tron. Went 1-2-0, stomped it in the first game with a quick combo. Even though he never even had tron online, game 2 and 3 where really hard fights since he had a very strong sideboard plan (brought in 14 cards against me) and had answers all the time. Kept my combo down with removal and had the ghost quarters to kill Township. 2nd game was sealed by All Is Dust and second game I couldn't get any card advantage going successfully. I think some of my budget choices played into that loss.
Third game (went 2-1-0) was against a black-based Waste Not deck that I have never seen before and that could pull out a surprise win on their turn 3 with their nut draw of 2xLiliana's Caress+Simian Spirit Guide+Burning Inquiry, Game 2 was a more grindy one where I topdecked Collected Company for the win. Game 3 he didn't generate enough value and I won by smashing face with [[Krallenhorde Howler]].
Last game was UR control with Kiki/Pestermite/Exarch combo, went 2-1-0. Won the first game due to a mistake of my opponent where he tapped out at the wrong time where I could combo off in response. Second game he straight up out-valued me (Electrolyze is not a card this deck wants to see), but third game he couldn't get snapcaster value due to graveyard hate and a bit of flooding, his answers dried up and I comboed off.
Conclusion: I really like this deck. Easy to pick up, but a lot to learn before I will master it. I didn't really miss the Finks combo all that much, playing 4 Duskwatch and a Rhonas to guarantee that the combo means a win seems much more imprtant. The games I lost were because I lost control of the board, not because of a low life total.
No. Good hand against any other deck but the chance to be land-locked is too high. Together with the high chance that they'll take vizier from our hand and stop us from chording. Plus, they should have about 6 spells that kill our manadorks. And if one of these things happen that's almost a guaranteed loss.
I think a big part of the reasoning is if we drop a coco it doesn't matter if it's one more mana and we often have a 1-drop manadork that makes 2-drops inefficient. 3 mana instead of 2 isn't that much of a downside, but I think it's still risky to have your combo disruption potentially moved to turn 3.