Hi all, can someone explain me the lack of affinity in lasts top 8?
Tons of hate against it, especially with the unbannings/ thopter combo for people to worry about now. It's still a fantastic deck and has the best game 1 match-ups, but essentially every color has crippling hate towards it.
Thought I'd post the R/W list I've been messing with recently. I still feel like mono white is the way to go, but this has been a lot of fun and gotten some surprisingly good results at local FNM's and the like.
There's a lot of Living End in my local meta, so doing nothing on the draw and discarding Akroma has quickly become one of my favorite/funniest turn 1's. The sideboard is still very much a work in progress, so I welcome any thoughts or opinions.
Wow, did anyone see the latest 5-0 list from Modern League. He's running 4 Dark Confidant in Eldrazi & Taxes, that seems like a lot of life loss. I didn't even bother testing it originally because it seemed like a crazy idea.
wow! and no finks to alleviate the life loss?? I can't imagine that working long-term, but it seems to have done so here...commence testing!
@Waxx: The mana base is easily the hardest part to work around in the w/b eldrazi build, even moreso than any other color splash. Committing that many resources to colorless is just dangerous with variance. IMO the deck runs much more smoothly when easing away from the LD and subbing in more w/b mana stability, but at that point, it really does start to become a different deck altogether.
Ensoul is good and very viable. I've considered throwing one or two in the main. Also, I second running thoughtcast vs. day's undoing. Day's is just too inconsistent for my taste. I could see putting a singleton in the board, but still feel better just running x2/x3 casts instead.
@Elf Makes sense. Finks is crucial to balance that life loss in the B/W build, and it's already hard to mess with the main too much. I really like the move to 3 scullers. That B/W can be such a killer to fix your mana to.
here ias the list I am gonna try for the 5k this weekend. Went to a lot of 3 ofs (may be wrong) in order to add the dryad militants, for aforementioned reasons (early exile aggresion/protection from aggression and early target. looking at the list's at least mildly relevant (sometimes very relevant) versus Jund, coco, infect (blocker that forces pump and anti become immense), burn (great against since it blocks early creatures even better if they run lavamancer), junk, kiki chord, scapeshift (nulls snapcaster but that's it), and all 3 color control variants. Also a lot of 3 ofs to see what I want to cut for GP LA.
Interesting, really looking forward to hearing the results. I've been seeing more people forego any Mirran Crusader, but I feel like it puts great pressure up in the jund matchup despite being bolt-able. Especially if you're running one of the swords. Regardless, good luck!
I think Fling is still a totally viable route, but the question is what do you take out? As far as flex spots, Galvanic Blast is a broader and more applicable option IMO, and Thoughtcast is crucial (and seeing more play recently) to refill your gas. Taking out the artifact creatures seems counterproductive unless you're already running 5+ 3-drops.
Personally I also find the ELdrazi & Taxes worse than just straight mono white.
Way more awkward hands like when only wastes mana is a ghost quarter you need to use with arbiter etc.
Especially that last point came up quite a bit. Even if I did have additional wastes, without an active vial or eldrazi temple thought knot seer becomes hard to cast if you also want to aggressively disrupt their mana.
For the monowhite lists I have really been liking 2 Judge's Familiar. Sure it's a low power creature but at least it adds some more turn 1 plays. It also helps protect Thalia and Arbiter a bit.
In general the lack of turn 1 plays outside of AEther vial is quite difficult. This week I lost the die roll to bushwacker zoo and because of that I lost the match (had I won the die roll I would have won). Going up to 2 sunlance in the sideboard in an attempt to give me more turn 1 possibilities.
Longtime lurker, first time poster.
Agree on both points. Even a small secondary splash (be it black, blue, or red) really hurts your base if not careful. It's not like hatebears where you get the dorks to even you out.
I think if you're running mono-white, 2 familiars (at least) are a necessity. It can trade with an affinity fliers and protect the t2 arbiter/thalia plays. I'm running 3 now and considering going for the full set.
Tons of hate against it, especially with the unbannings/ thopter combo for people to worry about now. It's still a fantastic deck and has the best game 1 match-ups, but essentially every color has crippling hate towards it.
3 Judge's Familiar
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Leonin Arbiter
4 Blade Splicer
2 Serra Avenger
4 Flickerwisp
1 Restoration Angel
2 Akroma, Angel of Fury
3 Eldrazi Displacer
2 Magus of the Moon
4 Path to Exile
4 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
4 Ghost Quarter
3 Tectonic Edge
10 Plains
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Rest In Peace
2 Stony Silence
1 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Mirran Crusader
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Spellskite
2 Cunning Sparkmage
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Worship
There's a lot of Living End in my local meta, so doing nothing on the draw and discarding Akroma has quickly become one of my favorite/funniest turn 1's. The sideboard is still very much a work in progress, so I welcome any thoughts or opinions.
wow! and no finks to alleviate the life loss?? I can't imagine that working long-term, but it seems to have done so here...commence testing!
Oh boy.
Interesting, really looking forward to hearing the results. I've been seeing more people forego any Mirran Crusader, but I feel like it puts great pressure up in the jund matchup despite being bolt-able. Especially if you're running one of the swords. Regardless, good luck!
I think Fling is still a totally viable route, but the question is what do you take out? As far as flex spots, Galvanic Blast is a broader and more applicable option IMO, and Thoughtcast is crucial (and seeing more play recently) to refill your gas. Taking out the artifact creatures seems counterproductive unless you're already running 5+ 3-drops.
Longtime lurker, first time poster.
Agree on both points. Even a small secondary splash (be it black, blue, or red) really hurts your base if not careful. It's not like hatebears where you get the dorks to even you out.
I think if you're running mono-white, 2 familiars (at least) are a necessity. It can trade with an affinity fliers and protect the t2 arbiter/thalia plays. I'm running 3 now and considering going for the full set.