Thanks, @LeviatanCL. Ad Nauseam is currently my frontrunner as I already have a small chunk of the deck. I'm still considering building some tier 3 combo deck for fun though. Seismic Swans is sick and actually won a reasonably large tournament locally to me recently!
I want to get some advice which deck might be a good choice for midrange.
I got Bg elves right now (including caverns).
But I wanted to invest for a midrange deck to have 2 avaible modern decks.
RG ponza and mardu pyromancer I'm interested the most with. (moderns deadguy ale also, since I played it.. but sold it 2 years ago or so)
what are your thoughts on these decks?
rg ponza i would love to play BBE, but some say its sometimes very dissapointing because of bad variance
pyromancer I dont know if the powerlvl is that fine
deadguy hasnt got a good finisher
own: 1 LtlH, 3 assassins trophy, singletons fetches because edh, souls, IoKs, fatal pushes, the shocklands
nothing so much that it leads drastictly into any direction
rly difficult for me. Aiming for bg rock is a long way for the whole package of LotV, goyf and confidant
any advice would be great guys
I'll second the advice to play Mardu Pyromancer. The deck is VERY fun and if I wasn't all in on combo at the moment I'd probably be playing it myself. It just does so many fantastic things.
I recently finished building Dredge and am having a blast with the deck so far, but I'm really needing an option that is less graveyard based for when my local meta inevitably overcorrects and starts running absurd amounts of graveyard hate.
Ideally if like to try something new, and while I'm open to buying the cards I need I'd like to limit my budget to around $600. Previously I've played Storm, Death and Taxes, UW Control, Titanshift, Affinity, Merfolk, Esper Draw Go, and Mardu Pyromancer.
Currently the options I'm looking at are Merfolk, Ad Nauseam, Titanshift, Infect, or some sort of absurd tier 3 jank that I can relax with on my weeks off Dredge. Probably something like 7 Land Belcher. Absurd, yes? Glass cannon? Also yes. Bad deck? Absolutely. Still fun though.
Mostly just looking for opinions or suggestions. I'd like to stay in the realm of combo decks if possible, Merfolk is the exception as I really enjoyed that deck the last time I played it.
I don't have much of an opinion on Kiki Chord because I haven't played it in over a year, maybe even 2 years. I'm not sure if it's all that good in the meta and seeing that hardly anyone plays it kind of confirms that.
Abzan Company or Abzan Counters in my opinion is pretty strong. I feel like it's a top 10 deck for sure and you can certainly do very well with it.
I think of the two I prefer Abzan Company/Counters Company. It doesn't quite feel like Kiki-Pod, of course, but it seems alright. I just like to get other people's opinions before I start testing a deck myself.
off topic but: why dont test on xmage, i prefer mtgo to test/play, but xmage (or other free programs) are great to "see if i like this deck".
My experiences with XMage have been a bit odd. I like it, but it doesn't seem to like my computer for some reason. Lots of crashes and hangs that keep me from really getting to do too much with it, which is a shame. Otherwise I'd definitely be testing decks on XMage.
Not sure if this is the right place for this post, but I'm kinda in a weird spot with decks right now so this is probably it.
Right now I'm trying to decide if I just need to take a break and sell out of Magic for awhile or continue searching for a deck that suits me long term. I've basically bounced between decks for my entire Modern career other than a longish stint on Esper Draw Go and Storm (back when it played Probe and Ascension). I've just never been able to find a deck that has felt "right". Currently I once again have Storm and once again have discovered that I'm really not a fan of Gifts Storm, and also have Amulet Titan. I'd wanted to get Titan for quite awhile but surprise surprise it really just doesn't feel right.
My all time favorite modern deck was Kiki Pod, which was actually my first deck in Modern. I know there are some decks in Modern that emulate the feel of Kiki Pod somewhat, but I'm just not sure how good they are. I've just moved and my new LGS looks to be pretty competitive (moreso than my previous LGS). At this point part of me wants to sell out for a little while and put the money toward stuff for my new apartment, but another part of me wants to at least give Kiki Chord or the Abzan Company deck a shot before doing so.
What are people's thoughts on those two decks? I need some opinions on them before I give either one a shot since I don't know anyone locally that plays them.
To keep a long story short, I currently don't have any sort of a trade binder after a tight financial situation required me having to buylist most of my collection that wasn't in my Mardu Pyromancer deck. I'm now in a position to go about rebuilding my trade binder with about $50/week dedicated to growing my collection again. The problem is... I'm not sure of the best way to go about rebuilding a good binder.
Back when I initially built my trade binder I was mostly an EDH player and often took apart decks when I lost interest in them. Thus, my binder was mostly EDH cards that I acquired through building and deconstructing decks, and I wasn't specifically seeking to build a binder. Now, however, I'm not actively looking to build any decks and I no longer play EDH. Should I just save up a sizable chunk of money and then make a post on one of the B/S/T Facebook pages looking to buy Modern/Legacy staples at a discount? Should I just randomly pick up staples as I come across them? The whole finance side of MTG is pretty foreign to me, but I'm mostly just looking to get myself back into a position where I have a decent trade binder, preferably with trades that are more aligned with the Modern/Legacy crowd.
I try and keep all my decks in the same color sleeves like purklefluff, although at the moment I'm not sticking to that and its probably going to bite me once people realize when set of sleeves I keep Affinity in and which has Death and Taxes.
As far as playtesting a new deck goes, I tend to test it on XMage first, and run about 50-ish games with it just to get a feel for the deck. I've not always done this, but started doing it recently when trying to decide on what my second permanent modern deck would be before settling on Affinity. I tend to avoid playtesting new decks at my LGS if I'm going to be playing them there mostly for the reasons you've stated. The LGS I play at regularly while I'm at college is fairly small (10-16 people on a good night) and people like to alter their sideboards if they know what you're going to be playing for the night.
I officially finished foiling out my Affinity deck today
Would love to see some pictures of the fully foiled deck--I'm currently trying to decide between pimping Affinity or Mono W Death and Taxes as my post-graduation "Holy crap I have a real job now" present to myself.
Recently sold out of a deck that I'd picked up on MTGO after selling out of it on paper. I honestly wasn't sure what to expect, and I definitely wasn't expecting to get as much as I did for the deck.
Super easy process to follow, sent the .csv file late at night, got a response with an offer early the next morning, and had the money in my PayPal account before noon. I'd absolutely recommend selling/buying through MTGOTraders and will be doing so in the future if I need to sell more cards.
Definitely would recommend either Affinity or Amulet Titan. It seems like you want to play combo, but more so that you just want a deck with a lot of different options. Decks like Infect, Ad Nauseam, and Grishoalbrand seem too linear for you. You're going to get bored quickly from the extremely repetitive gameplay. Affinity and Amulet both offer enough different ways to play out games that I think you'll enjoy it.
You know... that's actually a pretty good point. I think I've basically been barking up the wrong tree for most of my magic-playing life. I've basically always played fairly linear decks other than DnT. Death's Shadow Zoo, Burn, Storm, Merfolk (not as linear as the others). I had Affinity briefly once in the past but never took the time to actually learn it properly and dropped the deck after punting in front of a crowd. I think I just might have to pick that deck back up!
I'm once again in the position of looking for a "new" deck, so I figured I'd come and get some opinions. Currently I'm playing Mono W Death and Taxes as my main deck, and while I absolutely love it I don't want to get burnt out on it. I've done that in the past when I only have a single deck, and I want to try and head that problem off before it happens.
I recently picked up UR Gifts Storm (60/75 altered into full arts, deck is GORGEOUS) in paper, and also decided to pick the deck up on MTGO to practice with. While I used to enjoy the deck greatly... I've just not found myself enjoying it at all lately. I love playing combo decks, but Storm just doesn't seem to do it for me anymore. If I sell both my paper deck and the MTGO deck, I should be able to free up about $500 to invest in a new deck. I have no problem with saving up to pick up the remainder of whatever I want to play or trading for it over time, however I am looking to limit the total value of the new deck to around $1000ish, give or take a bit.
Here's a list of the decks I'm considering this time around: Affinity, Grishoalbrand, UR Breach, UG Infect, Ad Nauseam, Amulet Titan.
All of them have at least some combo aspect (although Affinity is more aggro-combo than straight combo, same with Infect). Grishoalbrand and Breach are very much at the top end of my budget, although I already have 2/4 Through the Breaches. If I do choose to go one of the other routes, I can sell those as well to help me pick up whatever I settle on. Ad Nauseam I'm not entirely sure about--I may wind up asking to borrow our local Ad Naus player's deck for an FNM to get a feel for it. In the past I haven't been too impressed when I've played it, but I figure I may as well give the deck a second chance. Amulet Titan is a deck that I've always thought looks incredibly fun, but have never had the chance to pick it up and try it out.
What do you all use to represent mana/storm count in paper? Where can you find the red/blue mana cards that SCG uses on stream?
I personally use a pen and paper to track my floating mana and storm count. A bit easier than dice in my experience, but you have to get used to holding the pen and fiddling with your hand at the same time as you go off. I just have a column for each (R, U, S, and then beneath that I write my totals and each time I use mana or increase my storm count I cross out the previous total and record the next one.
Any advice for someone playing Storm on MTGO for the first time? I just picked the deck back up in paper after a short time off it, and have decided to pick it up online to help improve my skill with the deck. I have absolutely zero experience with MTGO, however, so if you've got any tips or suggestions I'd love to hear them.
...
Lessons I've learned against GBx decks: Take out all vials. Jund it's really hard and now they have Last Hope to shut us down significantly out of the game. I know the feeling...
Anyway, I wish better lucky on your next tournament! I can't see a single card to disagree. Just personal choices, though
Yep, Whisperwood Elemental was the one. With no way to remove it that thing gets scary fast. I'll definitely give the no-vials sideboard plan a shot the next time I run up against a GBx deck... which could be awhile. The 3-ish individuals that were all on Jund (one with a completely foiled out list) aren't regulars and only show up every few months. Other than flooding out on lands multiple times I was definitely pretty happy with how the deck performed. I've thought about cutting 1 Resto Angel and going down to 22 lands... but I'm not quite sure if I want to do that just yet.
Hey everyone! I was finally able to get the last few pieces I needed to run the deck at a smallish local tournament this past weekend. My current list is below, but there are some changes I'm planning to make. Saturday was my first actual event with the deck, and aside from a small amount of practice and some reading of the forums here beforehand I really didn't have all that much experience going into things. My sideboarding is probably atrocious as I'm still learning the deck, so forgive me for probably making some absurd sideboarding mistakes. The biggest problem I've run into is figuring out what to take out in general. Everything just feels so important to the plan so I've mostly just cut down on the top end of the deck so far, but I don't think that feels correct.
Planned Changes: After playing the deck on Saturday, there are a few changes I'm planning to make. +2 Eldrazi Displacer, +2 Shefet Dunes; -2 Plains, -1 Aven Mindcensor, -1 ???. I have yet to decide on what the last card I'm going to remove is. I haven't been too impressed with Aven Mindcensor just yet, but I don't think I want to cut them entirely from the deck.
With that out of the way, on to the actual tournament report. Again, my sideboarding decisions (particularly what I took out) are probably abhorrent. I apologize. I wound up going 1-2-drop as I had a bit of a headache that started in the middle of round 1 and just got worse as the night went on.
Round 1: GW Valuetown (1-2) Game 1: Started out with a fantastic hand (2 lands, Vial, Thalia, Leonin, Inspector, Wisp). Unfortunately I wound up drawing a string of lands and my decent opening hand wound up fizzling out fairly fast after the first few turns of the game as I had nothing else to do.
Game 2: I managed to cut him off white a few times, and it was fairly easy to just beat him down at that point and Flickerwisp out his white lands when he managed to get them into play. Game 3: I was fairly far ahead and managed to whittle him down to 5 before he dropped a creature that I simply couldn't deal with and I never saw a single Path. I don't remember the name of the creature, but it was a 4/4 that costed 2GG and manifested the top 2 cards of his library every one of his end steps. By the time I was able to even think about removing it I was so far behind that it didn't even matter.
Round 2: Saheeli Evolution (2-0) Game 1: I once again had a hand that was just about as good as a starting hand could get. This time around instead of drawing lands I drew into a string of Land destruction that let me destroy all the lands he had in play by turn 4 and earned a quick concession.
Game 2: Mulled to 6 and kept a slow-ish hand. He opened up with an absolutely terrifying turn 3 in which he strung together Lotus Cobra triggers off a fetchland, Renegade Ralliered the fetchland back for more triggers, and ended the turn with a fairly scary board that required nothing more than an Evolution to win on the spot. A Path combined with several Inspectors allowed me to stabilize and vials on 3 and 4 respectively allowed me to blow him out with a few cheeky Flickerwisp plays. I did make pretty huge mistake that almost lost me the game by blocking one of his dudes with my Forge Tender, but it wound up not making much of a difference.
Round 3: Jund (0-2) Game 1: He opens up with a Thoughtseize, says "Oh, you're on THAT deck." and proceeds to play a turn 2 Bob that nearly kills him. I manage to whittle him down to 1, then draw nothing but lands in the late game and he manages to pull out the win.
Game 2: I had pretty much no hope this game as everything I played was removed within a turn of it hitting the board. He managed to activate Last Hope's ultimate, and that closed things out handily.
I'll second the advice to play Mardu Pyromancer. The deck is VERY fun and if I wasn't all in on combo at the moment I'd probably be playing it myself. It just does so many fantastic things.
I recently finished building Dredge and am having a blast with the deck so far, but I'm really needing an option that is less graveyard based for when my local meta inevitably overcorrects and starts running absurd amounts of graveyard hate.
Ideally if like to try something new, and while I'm open to buying the cards I need I'd like to limit my budget to around $600. Previously I've played Storm, Death and Taxes, UW Control, Titanshift, Affinity, Merfolk, Esper Draw Go, and Mardu Pyromancer.
Currently the options I'm looking at are Merfolk, Ad Nauseam, Titanshift, Infect, or some sort of absurd tier 3 jank that I can relax with on my weeks off Dredge. Probably something like 7 Land Belcher. Absurd, yes? Glass cannon? Also yes. Bad deck? Absolutely. Still fun though.
Mostly just looking for opinions or suggestions. I'd like to stay in the realm of combo decks if possible, Merfolk is the exception as I really enjoyed that deck the last time I played it.
I think of the two I prefer Abzan Company/Counters Company. It doesn't quite feel like Kiki-Pod, of course, but it seems alright. I just like to get other people's opinions before I start testing a deck myself.
My experiences with XMage have been a bit odd. I like it, but it doesn't seem to like my computer for some reason. Lots of crashes and hangs that keep me from really getting to do too much with it, which is a shame. Otherwise I'd definitely be testing decks on XMage.
Right now I'm trying to decide if I just need to take a break and sell out of Magic for awhile or continue searching for a deck that suits me long term. I've basically bounced between decks for my entire Modern career other than a longish stint on Esper Draw Go and Storm (back when it played Probe and Ascension). I've just never been able to find a deck that has felt "right". Currently I once again have Storm and once again have discovered that I'm really not a fan of Gifts Storm, and also have Amulet Titan. I'd wanted to get Titan for quite awhile but surprise surprise it really just doesn't feel right.
My all time favorite modern deck was Kiki Pod, which was actually my first deck in Modern. I know there are some decks in Modern that emulate the feel of Kiki Pod somewhat, but I'm just not sure how good they are. I've just moved and my new LGS looks to be pretty competitive (moreso than my previous LGS). At this point part of me wants to sell out for a little while and put the money toward stuff for my new apartment, but another part of me wants to at least give Kiki Chord or the Abzan Company deck a shot before doing so.
What are people's thoughts on those two decks? I need some opinions on them before I give either one a shot since I don't know anyone locally that plays them.
Back when I initially built my trade binder I was mostly an EDH player and often took apart decks when I lost interest in them. Thus, my binder was mostly EDH cards that I acquired through building and deconstructing decks, and I wasn't specifically seeking to build a binder. Now, however, I'm not actively looking to build any decks and I no longer play EDH. Should I just save up a sizable chunk of money and then make a post on one of the B/S/T Facebook pages looking to buy Modern/Legacy staples at a discount? Should I just randomly pick up staples as I come across them? The whole finance side of MTG is pretty foreign to me, but I'm mostly just looking to get myself back into a position where I have a decent trade binder, preferably with trades that are more aligned with the Modern/Legacy crowd.
As far as playtesting a new deck goes, I tend to test it on XMage first, and run about 50-ish games with it just to get a feel for the deck. I've not always done this, but started doing it recently when trying to decide on what my second permanent modern deck would be before settling on Affinity. I tend to avoid playtesting new decks at my LGS if I'm going to be playing them there mostly for the reasons you've stated. The LGS I play at regularly while I'm at college is fairly small (10-16 people on a good night) and people like to alter their sideboards if they know what you're going to be playing for the night.
Would love to see some pictures of the fully foiled deck--I'm currently trying to decide between pimping Affinity or Mono W Death and Taxes as my post-graduation "Holy crap I have a real job now" present to myself.
Super easy process to follow, sent the .csv file late at night, got a response with an offer early the next morning, and had the money in my PayPal account before noon. I'd absolutely recommend selling/buying through MTGOTraders and will be doing so in the future if I need to sell more cards.
You know... that's actually a pretty good point. I think I've basically been barking up the wrong tree for most of my magic-playing life. I've basically always played fairly linear decks other than DnT. Death's Shadow Zoo, Burn, Storm, Merfolk (not as linear as the others). I had Affinity briefly once in the past but never took the time to actually learn it properly and dropped the deck after punting in front of a crowd. I think I just might have to pick that deck back up!
I recently picked up UR Gifts Storm (60/75 altered into full arts, deck is GORGEOUS) in paper, and also decided to pick the deck up on MTGO to practice with. While I used to enjoy the deck greatly... I've just not found myself enjoying it at all lately. I love playing combo decks, but Storm just doesn't seem to do it for me anymore. If I sell both my paper deck and the MTGO deck, I should be able to free up about $500 to invest in a new deck. I have no problem with saving up to pick up the remainder of whatever I want to play or trading for it over time, however I am looking to limit the total value of the new deck to around $1000ish, give or take a bit.
Here's a list of the decks I'm considering this time around: Affinity, Grishoalbrand, UR Breach, UG Infect, Ad Nauseam, Amulet Titan.
All of them have at least some combo aspect (although Affinity is more aggro-combo than straight combo, same with Infect). Grishoalbrand and Breach are very much at the top end of my budget, although I already have 2/4 Through the Breaches. If I do choose to go one of the other routes, I can sell those as well to help me pick up whatever I settle on. Ad Nauseam I'm not entirely sure about--I may wind up asking to borrow our local Ad Naus player's deck for an FNM to get a feel for it. In the past I haven't been too impressed when I've played it, but I figure I may as well give the deck a second chance. Amulet Titan is a deck that I've always thought looks incredibly fun, but have never had the chance to pick it up and try it out.
I personally use a pen and paper to track my floating mana and storm count. A bit easier than dice in my experience, but you have to get used to holding the pen and fiddling with your hand at the same time as you go off. I just have a column for each (R, U, S, and then beneath that I write my totals and each time I use mana or increase my storm count I cross out the previous total and record the next one.
Yep, Whisperwood Elemental was the one. With no way to remove it that thing gets scary fast. I'll definitely give the no-vials sideboard plan a shot the next time I run up against a GBx deck... which could be awhile. The 3-ish individuals that were all on Jund (one with a completely foiled out list) aren't regulars and only show up every few months. Other than flooding out on lands multiple times I was definitely pretty happy with how the deck performed. I've thought about cutting 1 Resto Angel and going down to 22 lands... but I'm not quite sure if I want to do that just yet.
12 Plains
4 Tectonic Edge
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Eiganjo Castle
Creatures (27)
4 Blade Splicer
4 Flickerwisp
4 Leonin Arbiter
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Restoration Angel
4 Thraben Inspector
2 Aven Mindcensor
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Aether Vial
2 Smuggler's Copter
Instant (4)
4 Path to Exile
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
2 Sunlance
2 Stony Silence
2 Rest in Peace
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Mirran Crusader
2 Gideon of the Trials
1 Dusk // Dawn
Planned Changes: After playing the deck on Saturday, there are a few changes I'm planning to make. +2 Eldrazi Displacer, +2 Shefet Dunes; -2 Plains, -1 Aven Mindcensor, -1 ???. I have yet to decide on what the last card I'm going to remove is. I haven't been too impressed with Aven Mindcensor just yet, but I don't think I want to cut them entirely from the deck.
With that out of the way, on to the actual tournament report. Again, my sideboarding decisions (particularly what I took out) are probably abhorrent. I apologize. I wound up going 1-2-drop as I had a bit of a headache that started in the middle of round 1 and just got worse as the night went on.
Round 1: GW Valuetown (1-2)
Game 1: Started out with a fantastic hand (2 lands, Vial, Thalia, Leonin, Inspector, Wisp). Unfortunately I wound up drawing a string of lands and my decent opening hand wound up fizzling out fairly fast after the first few turns of the game as I had nothing else to do.
- In: 2x Oblivion Ring, 2x Mirran Crusader, 2x Sunlance
- Out: 2x Restoration Angel, 1x Plains, 1x Aven Mindcensor, 1x Thraben Inspector, 1x Aether Vial
Game 2: I managed to cut him off white a few times, and it was fairly easy to just beat him down at that point and Flickerwisp out his white lands when he managed to get them into play.Game 3: I was fairly far ahead and managed to whittle him down to 5 before he dropped a creature that I simply couldn't deal with and I never saw a single Path. I don't remember the name of the creature, but it was a 4/4 that costed 2GG and manifested the top 2 cards of his library every one of his end steps. By the time I was able to even think about removing it I was so far behind that it didn't even matter.
Round 2: Saheeli Evolution (2-0)
Game 1: I once again had a hand that was just about as good as a starting hand could get. This time around instead of drawing lands I drew into a string of Land destruction that let me destroy all the lands he had in play by turn 4 and earned a quick concession.
- In: 2x Burrenton Forge-Tender, 2x Oblivion Ring
- Out: 1x Restoration Angel, 1x Plains, 2x Smuggler's Copter
Game 2: Mulled to 6 and kept a slow-ish hand. He opened up with an absolutely terrifying turn 3 in which he strung together Lotus Cobra triggers off a fetchland, Renegade Ralliered the fetchland back for more triggers, and ended the turn with a fairly scary board that required nothing more than an Evolution to win on the spot. A Path combined with several Inspectors allowed me to stabilize and vials on 3 and 4 respectively allowed me to blow him out with a few cheeky Flickerwisp plays. I did make pretty huge mistake that almost lost me the game by blocking one of his dudes with my Forge Tender, but it wound up not making much of a difference.Round 3: Jund (0-2)
Game 1: He opens up with a Thoughtseize, says "Oh, you're on THAT deck." and proceeds to play a turn 2 Bob that nearly kills him. I manage to whittle him down to 1, then draw nothing but lands in the late game and he manages to pull out the win.
- In: 2x Gideon of the Trials, 1x Dusk // Dawn, 2x Rest in Peace, 2x Mirran Crusader
- Out: 2x Restoration Angel, 1x Plains, 1x Aether Vial, 2x Aven Mindcensor, 1x Leonin Arbiter
Game 2: I had pretty much no hope this game as everything I played was removed within a turn of it hitting the board. He managed to activate Last Hope's ultimate, and that closed things out handily.