Been playing Magic for over 13 years, competitively for over 8. I have a few finishes (Top 4 SCG Open, Top 32 a GP or 2, nothing crazy). I've been grinding PTQs, PPTQs, whatever I can for many years now, and enjoy it. It's brought me much frustration, to tears even, but it's brought me some of my favorite moments of my life and many friends and memories that I'll never forget.
Anyways enough about myself, you came for a report.
I've been playing Bant Eldrazi since it was UW Eldrazi during the "Cold winter of Eldrazi". Its changed colors, styles, etc. but its mostly the same deck: A midrange deck with the possibilities of T4 kills.
I won the 1st PPTQ of the season with the deck and just kept playing it, but mostly focused on standard since I couldn't PPTQ anymore and had no bigger Modern tourneys for a few months.
Fast forward to about a month and a half ago when I knew the RPTQ was coming up. I started testing every week about 1-2 times a week until the week before when I bit the bullet and bought the deck online and started playing minimum 2 leagues a day, streaming most of it to get help, plays I miss, etc. I focused mostly on the sideboard as I felt the main deck was rock-solid.
Here's the main I've been playing recently:
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Eldrazi Displacer
3 Eldrazi Skyspawner
2 Matter Reshaper
3 Drowner of Hope
2 Spellskite
4 Path to Exile
4 Ancient Stirrings
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Dismember
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Windswept Heath
1 Breeding Pool
1 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Brushland
3 Yavimaya Coast
3 Cavern of Souls
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island
The only thing I've mostly changed is the mana base, just recently adding a basic Island to the deck with the uptick of Blood Moon, but in the end I don't think its really needed and I could see it being another Brushland or maybe a Wastes, but that's what testing is for.
I prefer Skyspawner a lot more than Matter Reshaper, and honestly I just want to cut Reshaper all together, it's always the worst card in the deck for me and it's the first card I usually cut unless it's a match-up where its obviously good/fine (Jund, Burn, Grixis, UWR). Other than that Skyspawner is just so helpful in so many close match-ups (Affinity, Infect, the Mirror, Merfolk, any creature based matchup)
Most of the list is pretty stock otherwise, with a few singletons (EE and Dismember), but those are pretty common these days. The sideboard however is another story...
Usually you see the same cards (RiP, Graf Cage, etc.) but it's so dependent on what you expect to play and as well all know now, anything is possible in Modern.
This is what I ended up with on the day of:
2 Rest in Peace
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Natural State
1 Worship
2 Engineered Explosives
1 World Breaker
2 Stony Silence
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Blessed Alliance
I've been playing a mix of Negate, Stubborn Denial and sometimes Disdainful Stroke usually 1-2-1 as my meta usually has more Grixis, Combo, Titan/Tron decks but for this tourney I expected more Infect and Jund/Junk as I feel people tend to play the "best" deck at bigger tourneys with more on the line, so I cut the Stroke and Negate for World Breaker and 1 more Blessed Alliance.
Feeling confident, comfortable, and knowledgeable, my friend and myself headed for the 3 hour drive down to the RPTQ in Bellevue, Washington.
Showed up about 30-40 min to spare, wrote our decklists and tried to scout the room a bit and see what people were playing. A bit more Titan/Scapeshift decks then I hoped for but in the end, it's all about the pairings. Around 60ish players so we got 6 rounds.
Round 1 - Lantern Control...
Round 1 I ended up playing a local player who usually plays Ad Nauseam (that's what he qd with) but he recently switched to Lantern to my disappointment. Game 1 went as expected as he had the game basically locked on t4 and I didn't find a Thought-Knot in the opening turns. Game 2 I kept 3 Noble Hierarch, Reality Smasher, Forest, Eldrazi Temple on the mull to 6 on the play...can't really ask for too much more. He didn't have the t3 bridge and died quick. G3 we both mulled, but I had World Breaker, ancient stirrings, a few land and a hierarch. Game got to a point when he had bridge, needle on ee and a miller but not much else. I had drawn an ee and set up world breaker and ee on 3 to blow up everything and give him a 2 turn clock to find another bridge, he did not so squeaked out a win.
In
2 EE
2 Stony
1 World Breaker
1 Natural State
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Rest in Peace
Out
2 Matter Reshaper
4 Path to Exile
1 Dismember
3 Drowner of Hope
Round 2 - TitanBreach
Game 1 I keep an ok hand of stirrings, hierarch, skyspawner, 4 lands and promptly get t3d...Modern, am I right?
Game 2 I keep a solid hand with t2 thoughtknot if he doesn't have lightning bolt, sadly he did but T3 Thought knot was still good as he kept a pretty loose hand with no ramp, t4 smasher and the game was over
Game 3 was a doozy, he had the t3 breach against but lucky for me I had the stubborn denial. I thought knot on t3 and see he still has 2 more breach but only 1 creature in Hornet Queen, so I take it of course. Then he draws Woodfall Primus! He slams that and blows up 2 lands after it comes back from persist. I top deck back with a Path to Exile and bash him down to gime him one draw step. He draws Anger the Gods which give him another turn...I draw a land and just hope thought knot is good enough...and it gets there!
In
2 Stubborn Denial
1 World Breaker
Out
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Dismember
1 Matter Reshaper
2 not stellar matchups in a row is rough but luckly squeaked though. Friend is sadly 0-2 with Affinity, but he said he wasn't really in it from the beginning, kinda just came because he was q'd from top 8d last time
Round 3 - Jund
Nice! A good matchup. It can be close if they have discard into removal into liliana, but in general I'll play this matchup all day if I can
Game 1 was back and forth a little bit but I drew running Reality Smashers and he couldn't come back
Game 2 was panning out to be the same but some good topdecks from him and 17 of my 24 lands from me and a backbreaking damnation from him led us to a game 3
This one once again was just a slugfest but World Breaker and a timely path on his large Kalitas got me the victory
In
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Rest in Peace
1 World Breaker
Out
2 Spellskite
1 Matter Reshaper
That one almost went to time so didn't have much left before the next round
Round 4 - Grixis Death Shadow
This deck is a pretty solid matchup, however you have to keep a hand with interaction or else you'll just get turn 3'd...which is what happened game 1 since I didnt know what he was on...
Game 2 I kept a solid hand with lots of interaction and it wasn't that close
Game 3 was a kinda sketchy keep from him with not much to do. One removal spell and he was dead.
In
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Stubborn Denial
Out
2 Matter Reshaper
1 Drowner of Hope
2 Reality Smasher
1 Eldrazi Skyspawner
Top 8 confirmed! Pretty stoked to have all my practice pay off. I got to scout the top tables a bit to find a lot of Titan Breach and Affinity.
Round 5 - Infect
Playing against a friend and its an even 4 people, so drawing seems like an easy choice. Got to eat some snacks that I brought (Cranberries and Almonds!) and just relaxed and scouted a bit more
Round 6 - Mirror Match
So looking at the undefeateds at the moment it was 1 Infect, 2 Bant Eldrazi and a Titan Bloom deck, currently Im in 2nd with so so tiebreakers, if I draw I'll most likely come 5th or 6th depending on breakers playing against a 5-1, most of which were ok matchups (Jund vs Elves, Affinity vs Breach, and Affinity vs Jund). However if I play and win I'll be 1st probably playing the Bant eldrazi player again, if I lose I'm most likely in the reverse, so I was gunna play, however the Jund vs Elves match thought they could draw and lock themselves in top 8...That meant if I lost I could come 9th since my breakers weren't great...
I stuck with the draw to make sure I locked up top 8 and was going to 4th playing against the mirror or the Titan Bloom deck unfortunately. Sure enough I play against the Bloom Titan deck...
Top 8 - Titan Bloom
I'm on the play and mull to 6 with Hierarch, skyspawner, reality smasher and 3 lands. It doesn't have a Thought-Knot or a Path but I think a t3 Reality Smasher can get there. However he had t3 azuza into a stream of titans until I died, drawing lands for the rest of the game needing a path or displacer or drowner for game
G2 I mull again into a t3 Thought-Knot which should be good to snag a titan or pact in time. However his hand was 2 azuza and a bunch of lands, he has a tolaria west and gets a titan but I draw a spellskite so he can't go crazy and it gives me a chance to draw a path, drowner or something, but he topdecks a amulet and alas, drew no interaction and he peels a slaughter pact into reclaimation sage and that's the match...
In
2 Stubborn Denial
1 World Breaker
Out
2 Matter Reshaper
1 Dismember
Heartbroken, I shake my opponent's hand and wish him good luck at the Pro Tour. So close yet again.
Anyways, my friend in the top 8 also lost to the Grixis Shadow player, so the car ride back was Disapointmentville, a suburb of Salt Lake City.
Snagged some dinner along the way back, told so stories from the past, bought cheap liquor, and started planning for the next tourney on the horizon
Moving forward, I think the deck is still great. Obviously bad match-ups are bad but what deck doesn't have them. I would 100% find anything else other than Matter Reshaper as it was always the worst card, probably just another Skyspwaner and maybe the 4th Drowner again, maybe an Eternal Scourge.
Next big tourney for me will be the Face to Face Open coming up which is Modern, then GP Vancouver, also Modern
If you guys want more, to give feedback, suggestions, please feel free. I'm not a great writer and haven't really done a lot of these before but since I started streaming and doing Youtube videos with my friend, I felt I like should expand a bit and open up more.
Also if you'd like to watch some videos of magic playthroughs of Standard and Modern or my stream, I have them in my signature.
Hey guys, started playing this deck last week and it's been sweet.
I've been playing Bant eldrazi for quite awhile now but wanted to switch it up a bit.
Trying out nasilemak's deck since he 8-1d the Mocs and then 5-0d a league.
2 Spellskite
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
1 Conduit of Ruin
3 Endbringer
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Spells (15)
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Expedition Map
2 Spatial Contortion
4 Dismember
1 All Is Dust
Lands (24)
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
3 Wastes
Sideboard (15)
2 Gut Shot
2 Pithing Needle
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Ratchet Bomb
2 Warping Wail
1 Orbs of Warding
2 All Is Dust
This deck plays similarly to Bant except just goes waaaaay bigger which makes it very good against Bant for one. Also surprisingly has a good matchup against most creature decks as it has a lot of removal. Decks that have been giving me trouble are just the ur suibluu deck (keep running into Jinga online) and decks with a lot of land destruction or blood moons.
I think it's got game against everything as you can just eldrazi nut draw them or just go way bigger with ulamog.
Did a deck series with the deck and been streaming it a bit if ya wanna check it out.
As you see in some of the videos, the draws of this deck sometimes just run people over.
I figured because of only being colourless, it wouldn't have many options for cards but there's a surprising amount of good cards against everything.
I have an rptq coming up in December so just testing it out more. Don't really like the orbs of warding for far. I've sided it in against burn and token but everybody brings in artifact hate. Merfolk brought in hurkyls recall against me, but I think he thought eldrazi were artifacts...since he played it when all I had was a thought knot and a matter Reshaper out...
All in all, the deck feels great and has some awesome draws and play to it but it might just be worse then playing gr tron or just Bant eldrazi due to consistency.
Hello U Tron family. I'm back on the deck again (Haven't played it since I top 32d GP Vancouver with it). Wondering why people aren't playing Talisman anymore. I understand just playing lands instead and I can get behind being less hurt by stony silence. I love some of the new card. Thought Knot has been great as well as Spatial contortion. Grats on Pierakor on some spicy tech with Epiphany. Im a fan so far.
Hello everybody (fairly new to posting...)
Been playing Magic for over 13 years, competitively for over 8. I have a few finishes (Top 4 SCG Open, Top 32 a GP or 2, nothing crazy). I've been grinding PTQs, PPTQs, whatever I can for many years now, and enjoy it. It's brought me much frustration, to tears even, but it's brought me some of my favorite moments of my life and many friends and memories that I'll never forget.
Anyways enough about myself, you came for a report.
I've been playing Bant Eldrazi since it was UW Eldrazi during the "Cold winter of Eldrazi". Its changed colors, styles, etc. but its mostly the same deck: A midrange deck with the possibilities of T4 kills.
I won the 1st PPTQ of the season with the deck and just kept playing it, but mostly focused on standard since I couldn't PPTQ anymore and had no bigger Modern tourneys for a few months.
Fast forward to about a month and a half ago when I knew the RPTQ was coming up. I started testing every week about 1-2 times a week until the week before when I bit the bullet and bought the deck online and started playing minimum 2 leagues a day, streaming most of it to get help, plays I miss, etc. I focused mostly on the sideboard as I felt the main deck was rock-solid.
Here's the main I've been playing recently:
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Eldrazi Displacer
3 Eldrazi Skyspawner
2 Matter Reshaper
3 Drowner of Hope
2 Spellskite
4 Path to Exile
4 Ancient Stirrings
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Dismember
4 Eldrazi Temple
4 Windswept Heath
1 Breeding Pool
1 Temple Garden
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Brushland
3 Yavimaya Coast
3 Cavern of Souls
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island
The only thing I've mostly changed is the mana base, just recently adding a basic Island to the deck with the uptick of Blood Moon, but in the end I don't think its really needed and I could see it being another Brushland or maybe a Wastes, but that's what testing is for.
I prefer Skyspawner a lot more than Matter Reshaper, and honestly I just want to cut Reshaper all together, it's always the worst card in the deck for me and it's the first card I usually cut unless it's a match-up where its obviously good/fine (Jund, Burn, Grixis, UWR). Other than that Skyspawner is just so helpful in so many close match-ups (Affinity, Infect, the Mirror, Merfolk, any creature based matchup)
Most of the list is pretty stock otherwise, with a few singletons (EE and Dismember), but those are pretty common these days. The sideboard however is another story...
Usually you see the same cards (RiP, Graf Cage, etc.) but it's so dependent on what you expect to play and as well all know now, anything is possible in Modern.
This is what I ended up with on the day of:
2 Rest in Peace
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Natural State
1 Worship
2 Engineered Explosives
1 World Breaker
2 Stony Silence
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Blessed Alliance
I've been playing a mix of Negate, Stubborn Denial and sometimes Disdainful Stroke usually 1-2-1 as my meta usually has more Grixis, Combo, Titan/Tron decks but for this tourney I expected more Infect and Jund/Junk as I feel people tend to play the "best" deck at bigger tourneys with more on the line, so I cut the Stroke and Negate for World Breaker and 1 more Blessed Alliance.
Feeling confident, comfortable, and knowledgeable, my friend and myself headed for the 3 hour drive down to the RPTQ in Bellevue, Washington.
Showed up about 30-40 min to spare, wrote our decklists and tried to scout the room a bit and see what people were playing. A bit more Titan/Scapeshift decks then I hoped for but in the end, it's all about the pairings. Around 60ish players so we got 6 rounds.
Round 1 - Lantern Control...
Round 1 I ended up playing a local player who usually plays Ad Nauseam (that's what he qd with) but he recently switched to Lantern to my disappointment. Game 1 went as expected as he had the game basically locked on t4 and I didn't find a Thought-Knot in the opening turns. Game 2 I kept 3 Noble Hierarch, Reality Smasher, Forest, Eldrazi Temple on the mull to 6 on the play...can't really ask for too much more. He didn't have the t3 bridge and died quick. G3 we both mulled, but I had World Breaker, ancient stirrings, a few land and a hierarch. Game got to a point when he had bridge, needle on ee and a miller but not much else. I had drawn an ee and set up world breaker and ee on 3 to blow up everything and give him a 2 turn clock to find another bridge, he did not so squeaked out a win.
In
2 EE
2 Stony
1 World Breaker
1 Natural State
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Rest in Peace
Out
2 Matter Reshaper
4 Path to Exile
1 Dismember
3 Drowner of Hope
Round 2 - TitanBreach
Game 1 I keep an ok hand of stirrings, hierarch, skyspawner, 4 lands and promptly get t3d...Modern, am I right?
Game 2 I keep a solid hand with t2 thoughtknot if he doesn't have lightning bolt, sadly he did but T3 Thought knot was still good as he kept a pretty loose hand with no ramp, t4 smasher and the game was over
Game 3 was a doozy, he had the t3 breach against but lucky for me I had the stubborn denial. I thought knot on t3 and see he still has 2 more breach but only 1 creature in Hornet Queen, so I take it of course. Then he draws Woodfall Primus! He slams that and blows up 2 lands after it comes back from persist. I top deck back with a Path to Exile and bash him down to gime him one draw step. He draws Anger the Gods which give him another turn...I draw a land and just hope thought knot is good enough...and it gets there!
In
2 Stubborn Denial
1 World Breaker
Out
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Dismember
1 Matter Reshaper
2 not stellar matchups in a row is rough but luckly squeaked though. Friend is sadly 0-2 with Affinity, but he said he wasn't really in it from the beginning, kinda just came because he was q'd from top 8d last time
Round 3 - Jund
Nice! A good matchup. It can be close if they have discard into removal into liliana, but in general I'll play this matchup all day if I can
Game 1 was back and forth a little bit but I drew running Reality Smashers and he couldn't come back
Game 2 was panning out to be the same but some good topdecks from him and 17 of my 24 lands from me and a backbreaking damnation from him led us to a game 3
This one once again was just a slugfest but World Breaker and a timely path on his large Kalitas got me the victory
In
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Rest in Peace
1 World Breaker
Out
2 Spellskite
1 Matter Reshaper
That one almost went to time so didn't have much left before the next round
Round 4 - Grixis Death Shadow
This deck is a pretty solid matchup, however you have to keep a hand with interaction or else you'll just get turn 3'd...which is what happened game 1 since I didnt know what he was on...
Game 2 I kept a solid hand with lots of interaction and it wasn't that close
Game 3 was a kinda sketchy keep from him with not much to do. One removal spell and he was dead.
In
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Stubborn Denial
Out
2 Matter Reshaper
1 Drowner of Hope
2 Reality Smasher
1 Eldrazi Skyspawner
Top 8 confirmed! Pretty stoked to have all my practice pay off. I got to scout the top tables a bit to find a lot of Titan Breach and Affinity.
Round 5 - Infect
Playing against a friend and its an even 4 people, so drawing seems like an easy choice. Got to eat some snacks that I brought (Cranberries and Almonds!) and just relaxed and scouted a bit more
Round 6 - Mirror Match
So looking at the undefeateds at the moment it was 1 Infect, 2 Bant Eldrazi and a Titan Bloom deck, currently Im in 2nd with so so tiebreakers, if I draw I'll most likely come 5th or 6th depending on breakers playing against a 5-1, most of which were ok matchups (Jund vs Elves, Affinity vs Breach, and Affinity vs Jund). However if I play and win I'll be 1st probably playing the Bant eldrazi player again, if I lose I'm most likely in the reverse, so I was gunna play, however the Jund vs Elves match thought they could draw and lock themselves in top 8...That meant if I lost I could come 9th since my breakers weren't great...
I stuck with the draw to make sure I locked up top 8 and was going to 4th playing against the mirror or the Titan Bloom deck unfortunately. Sure enough I play against the Bloom Titan deck...
Top 8 - Titan Bloom
I'm on the play and mull to 6 with Hierarch, skyspawner, reality smasher and 3 lands. It doesn't have a Thought-Knot or a Path but I think a t3 Reality Smasher can get there. However he had t3 azuza into a stream of titans until I died, drawing lands for the rest of the game needing a path or displacer or drowner for game
G2 I mull again into a t3 Thought-Knot which should be good to snag a titan or pact in time. However his hand was 2 azuza and a bunch of lands, he has a tolaria west and gets a titan but I draw a spellskite so he can't go crazy and it gives me a chance to draw a path, drowner or something, but he topdecks a amulet and alas, drew no interaction and he peels a slaughter pact into reclaimation sage and that's the match...
In
2 Stubborn Denial
1 World Breaker
Out
2 Matter Reshaper
1 Dismember
Heartbroken, I shake my opponent's hand and wish him good luck at the Pro Tour. So close yet again.
Anyways, my friend in the top 8 also lost to the Grixis Shadow player, so the car ride back was Disapointmentville, a suburb of Salt Lake City.
Snagged some dinner along the way back, told so stories from the past, bought cheap liquor, and started planning for the next tourney on the horizon
Moving forward, I think the deck is still great. Obviously bad match-ups are bad but what deck doesn't have them. I would 100% find anything else other than Matter Reshaper as it was always the worst card, probably just another Skyspwaner and maybe the 4th Drowner again, maybe an Eternal Scourge.
Next big tourney for me will be the Face to Face Open coming up which is Modern, then GP Vancouver, also Modern
If you guys want more, to give feedback, suggestions, please feel free. I'm not a great writer and haven't really done a lot of these before but since I started streaming and doing Youtube videos with my friend, I felt I like should expand a bit and open up more.
Also if you'd like to watch some videos of magic playthroughs of Standard and Modern or my stream, I have them in my signature.
Thanks for reading.
I've been playing Bant eldrazi for quite awhile now but wanted to switch it up a bit.
Trying out nasilemak's deck since he 8-1d the Mocs and then 5-0d a league.
2 Spellskite
4 Matter Reshaper
4 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Reality Smasher
1 Conduit of Ruin
3 Endbringer
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Spells (15)
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Expedition Map
2 Spatial Contortion
4 Dismember
1 All Is Dust
Lands (24)
1 Cavern of Souls
4 Eldrazi Temple
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Urza's Mine
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Tower
3 Wastes
Sideboard (15)
2 Gut Shot
2 Pithing Needle
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Ratchet Bomb
2 Warping Wail
1 Orbs of Warding
2 All Is Dust
This deck plays similarly to Bant except just goes waaaaay bigger which makes it very good against Bant for one. Also surprisingly has a good matchup against most creature decks as it has a lot of removal. Decks that have been giving me trouble are just the ur suibluu deck (keep running into Jinga online) and decks with a lot of land destruction or blood moons.
I think it's got game against everything as you can just eldrazi nut draw them or just go way bigger with ulamog.
Did a deck series with the deck and been streaming it a bit if ya wanna check it out.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjZ-98Vj_280Odr-CYXWPSg5xsCGFWsOo
As you see in some of the videos, the draws of this deck sometimes just run people over.
I figured because of only being colourless, it wouldn't have many options for cards but there's a surprising amount of good cards against everything.
I have an rptq coming up in December so just testing it out more. Don't really like the orbs of warding for far. I've sided it in against burn and token but everybody brings in artifact hate. Merfolk brought in hurkyls recall against me, but I think he thought eldrazi were artifacts...since he played it when all I had was a thought knot and a matter Reshaper out...
All in all, the deck feels great and has some awesome draws and play to it but it might just be worse then playing gr tron or just Bant eldrazi due to consistency.