What does everyone think of Mission Briefing for this deck? It flips Delver, can set up Delver flips with Surveil, fuels Delve and can make goyf bigger, it just seems solid. Is there any reason the clock provided by Snapcaster is better than this? Or could it replace something else for the deck?
I can’t say much about the reasoning for a lot of my sideboard, I just went with what felt like it should work based on gut feeling, since I had no experience with how the deck would play out. I will be replacing one Grudge with a DRev and picking up an EE (it was excluded because I didn’t have any and didn’t feel like buying them lol), but I have to ask: what GY hate do we use? I don’t really see any in a lot of the lists.
For the earlier question about how I sideboarded vs UW and HS:
UW Control:
+Dispel +Mana Leak
-Vapor Snags
I experimented with Blood Moon but decided it probably wasn’t worth it. I feel like I want more for that MU though as it does feel atrocious. How do experienced players often sideboard for the control MU?
Hardened Scales:
+2 Grudge +1 Abrade +1 Rejection
-2 Pyro -1 Stubby -1 Flooting (I often made this cut, not sure if correct. In fact, I’m curious if Flooting is better than Thought scour in the deck, would love to get input on that as well.)
I’ve faced Hardenes Scales a lot thus far and the MU seems really iffy. It sometimes does feel like a coin toss between whether I have more removal or they have more threats, and sometimes I just tap down too far and die, though I’ll attribute that to inexperience with the MU.
So fun fact about this: I've known of the existence of this deck and this primer for awhile but never built the deck and finally decided to this past Tuesday, basing it off some of the lists I've seen in the last few pages and only changing some minor slots. Having never played the deck before, I joined a Friendly Leagut and 5-0'd, then jumped to that competitive league and 5-0'd as well, so at the time of that posting the deck had run insanely well for me and it feels very solid overall. Since then I have managed to lose some matches, but one thing I noticed is every match I lost felt winnable, and I felt like I lost because of mistakes I made, which in my experience isn't always the case in the format of the "matchup lottery". So basically thanks to everyone who contributes here for turning me on to my next Modern deck, I'll post the matchups from those two leagues below in case anyone has questions, though I'm not sure how much I can contribute considering I just started playing with this deck.
FRIENDLY:
-Hollow One 2-1
-Burn 2-0
-UW Control 2-1
-Bogles 2-1
-Tron 2-1
Dispel and Remand don't play around Angel's Grace because of Split Second, unless you mean Remanding their own Grapeshot in response to the Grace to use next turn. The counters do play around the combo itself though.
I like Mercy but, much like the black one in the cycle, the cost of not untapping may be too high.. also it would seem best against burn but they run Skullcrack and occasionally Atarka's Command, and that MU is usually pretty favorable anyway.
Usually 3 Pact, 1 Bloom, 1 Sleight and either a Pentad or a Spoils depending on what it is, how I'm feeling, play or draw etc. I play it by ear kind of, still pretty new to the deck though so I'd love to hear the opinions of our more experienced players.
Edit: for Grixis Shadow I actually leave in the Pacts and bring in Boseiju. Don't actually remember what I cut though..
For Shadow I just bring in Leylines and Grave Titans (a recent addition I've been experimenting with, and he's been amazing), and for Eldrazi Tron I do Leylines (not great, but it stops TKS)know and Truth + Wear/Tear for Chalice. Still rough no matter what though.
I know this topic has been revisited again and again, but has anyone been testing Grave Titan against DS decks these days? I'm going to tonight after work but I was wondering if anyone had any input. I never felt it was good enough against classic Jund, but I noticed last night while getting crushed that DSG's Stubborn Denials don't hit it, and they don't really run other counters. I was siding in the leylines + either Painful Truths or Esper Charm, but I'm beginning to feel that Grave Titan might be absurdly valuable as an uncounterable (to them) wincon that *****s out endless blockers.
U Tron vs Gx Tron... match up?
What do you think about?
It's absolutely miserable tbh. I have a really tough time winning, and honestly can't remember the last time I did.
I run 2 GQs now with a Crucible in the board (after seeing Pie run it I figured it could be worthwhile) and 2 Spreading Seas but they can rebuild Tron so much faster than we can and their on-cast triggers are backbreaking.
So, as someone new to the deck (running it proxied until I can finish it out), why don't people run Terminate? I can understand that Path hits more despite its downside and Helix gains life despite not always killing, but are these the only reasons I don't see Terminate in any lists? Or Dreadbore or a split of them? I'm not familiar enough with our MUs to know if it has something to do with that, but I am rather curious.
I picked up Eternal Scourge yesterday and wow, just wow. It's just so incredibly good!
He really is. He gives us an absurd late game against other Control and Midrange decks, and with maindeck relics he's quite literally eternal. I've had a number of games against UW Control and Jeskai where they lost games they should've won because my threat just kept coming back. He can be irritating against some abilities though, like new Lili's +1.
I personally prefer the sheer hitting power of Stormbreath. With so much Jund in my meta going over them and having something that doesn't go down to Bolt is nice. I may make the switch to Mom and Pop because white isn't very popular at my meta. As for Reckoner he still has a place in Skred. He can single handedly stabilize the board. My real question is about GDD. How do they do? Seems good in theory but I want to know how they perform in the grindy matchups.
You definitely should have PnK, and I wouldn't go lower than 3 copies with the insane amount of work they put in. That said, why are you trying to put them in the slot that Stormbreath is in? Stormbreath is a finisher, PnK is a stabilizer. Their role is to ensure we can make it to a point where our finishers can hit the board and close the game. I'm currently running 4 PnK and 3 Stormbreath, and I find they complement each other nicely.
As for GDD, I love them. They're great in grindy match ups and GDD->flashback Anger/Molten Rain is a pretty serious value swing. I went back to Stormbreath personally because I found that in a lot of my local matchups what I really need is the ability to turn the corner once I'm hitting five drops, rather than stabilizing and grinding out. However, GDD is my favorite 5-drop and I'd recommend giving him a shot.
I'd have to agree about SaffronOlive. His list looks pretty bad, and very dated. Also, his analysis on how to improve the deck on mtggoldfish seems pretty much outright wrong. No disrespect to him, obviously, I just think he hasn't spent enough time with the deck.
To me Skred seems like a deck that looks easy to play, almost like it runs itself, but actually has a relatively high ceiling due to the minor synergies you pick up as you go, and the occasional awkward feel of proper sequencing. Just my six cents.
I can’t say much about the reasoning for a lot of my sideboard, I just went with what felt like it should work based on gut feeling, since I had no experience with how the deck would play out. I will be replacing one Grudge with a DRev and picking up an EE (it was excluded because I didn’t have any and didn’t feel like buying them lol), but I have to ask: what GY hate do we use? I don’t really see any in a lot of the lists.
For the earlier question about how I sideboarded vs UW and HS:
UW Control:
+Dispel +Mana Leak
-Vapor Snags
I experimented with Blood Moon but decided it probably wasn’t worth it. I feel like I want more for that MU though as it does feel atrocious. How do experienced players often sideboard for the control MU?
Hardened Scales:
+2 Grudge +1 Abrade +1 Rejection
-2 Pyro -1 Stubby -1 Flooting (I often made this cut, not sure if correct. In fact, I’m curious if Flooting is better than Thought scour in the deck, would love to get input on that as well.)
I’ve faced Hardenes Scales a lot thus far and the MU seems really iffy. It sometimes does feel like a coin toss between whether I have more removal or they have more threats, and sometimes I just tap down too far and die, though I’ll attribute that to inexperience with the MU.
Greetings, I am the pilot.
So fun fact about this: I've known of the existence of this deck and this primer for awhile but never built the deck and finally decided to this past Tuesday, basing it off some of the lists I've seen in the last few pages and only changing some minor slots. Having never played the deck before, I joined a Friendly Leagut and 5-0'd, then jumped to that competitive league and 5-0'd as well, so at the time of that posting the deck had run insanely well for me and it feels very solid overall. Since then I have managed to lose some matches, but one thing I noticed is every match I lost felt winnable, and I felt like I lost because of mistakes I made, which in my experience isn't always the case in the format of the "matchup lottery". So basically thanks to everyone who contributes here for turning me on to my next Modern deck, I'll post the matchups from those two leagues below in case anyone has questions, though I'm not sure how much I can contribute considering I just started playing with this deck.
FRIENDLY:
-Hollow One 2-1
-Burn 2-0
-UW Control 2-1
-Bogles 2-1
-Tron 2-1
COMPETITIVE:
-Hardened Scales 2-1
-Mardu Pyromancer 2-1
-Tron 2-0
-Humans 2-1
-Storm 2-1
I like Mercy but, much like the black one in the cycle, the cost of not untapping may be too high.. also it would seem best against burn but they run Skullcrack and occasionally Atarka's Command, and that MU is usually pretty favorable anyway.
I second this, Wear // Tear is bae.
Edit: for Grixis Shadow I actually leave in the Pacts and bring in Boseiju. Don't actually remember what I cut though..
It's absolutely miserable tbh. I have a really tough time winning, and honestly can't remember the last time I did.
I run 2 GQs now with a Crucible in the board (after seeing Pie run it I figured it could be worthwhile) and 2 Spreading Seas but they can rebuild Tron so much faster than we can and their on-cast triggers are backbreaking.
He really is. He gives us an absurd late game against other Control and Midrange decks, and with maindeck relics he's quite literally eternal. I've had a number of games against UW Control and Jeskai where they lost games they should've won because my threat just kept coming back. He can be irritating against some abilities though, like new Lili's +1.
You definitely should have PnK, and I wouldn't go lower than 3 copies with the insane amount of work they put in. That said, why are you trying to put them in the slot that Stormbreath is in? Stormbreath is a finisher, PnK is a stabilizer. Their role is to ensure we can make it to a point where our finishers can hit the board and close the game. I'm currently running 4 PnK and 3 Stormbreath, and I find they complement each other nicely.
As for GDD, I love them. They're great in grindy match ups and GDD->flashback Anger/Molten Rain is a pretty serious value swing. I went back to Stormbreath personally because I found that in a lot of my local matchups what I really need is the ability to turn the corner once I'm hitting five drops, rather than stabilizing and grinding out. However, GDD is my favorite 5-drop and I'd recommend giving him a shot.
Jesus. She's amazing. I hope she plays out as awesome as a looks on paper!
To me Skred seems like a deck that looks easy to play, almost like it runs itself, but actually has a relatively high ceiling due to the minor synergies you pick up as you go, and the occasional awkward feel of proper sequencing. Just my six cents.