So I went to my local and played Friday, basically beat myself.
Round 1 v burn.
Game one I do Titan things and kill turn 3 on the draw. At 3 life btw.
I board in sigarda, x2 spell pierce and negate for u pact, bog and explosives and ballista.
Game two is grindy and he gets there I just can't keep up.
Game 3 I beat myself, I had Titan/ asuza in play during turns, I got slayers and Garrison instead of just getting double bounce and gaining a ton with my crossroads over the next two turns, instead I pumped Titan and swung for lethal he had one card.... It was d. Palm. -_- totally didn't read that one.
Round two I played against tron. I turn 3 both games, it was sick.
I boarded out ballista and explosives, for x2 pierce and negate and I got rid of a bog I believe.
Round three I played against mono white hatebears.... I lost twice very fast... Then dropped.
I had no chance, he played turn one plains go, I play a snake and pass. He plays ghost quarter into leonin arbiter...
Game two was more interesting, I lead with mine, snake and pass. He plays vial and passes, turn two I play ghost quarter and pass, leave my snake up for protection with a bounce in hand. He plays land, upticks vial and passes. I don't draw anything else relevant, so I keep my same line up and pass. I have a pact and multiple Azusa at this point. He plays ghost quarter, vial is on 2 and passes. I play a bog and pass again nothing really sweet going on for me. He end step plays mindscensor -_- not good. So I responded with Killing his quarter and he untaps upticks vial to 3 and plays land and says go. I have a path at this point, but I'm not going to walk into anything so I just had to hold it up, play Azusa and ramp a little and say go. So basically he responds to everything I try to do from here on out and ends up playing two flickerwisp and displacer.. can't do much. Sad day. Looking to retry things on Friday at my home shop.
I agree, I am currently on the path list for fnm and subsequently for my next event until further changes. I will be sitting on red or black depending on the format of course but I think white is where I'm going to stay for now.
On another note I was curious if you had some more details on sideboarding? I would like to compare notes if at all possible. I just want all the input I can have prior to my team event, more minds are better than one and maybe I'm doing things wrong. Overall I have general concepts and reasoning but I would like some more insight into the recent metagame. I would say I feel fair with my comfortability level of sideboarding. Generally speaking siding out the non ideal lands in specific matchups, shaving a snake in "bolt" decks and things of that sort. I just had mixed opinions and feelings like against uw control as a small example of sideboarding out like bog x2 amulet and maybe shave x1 trinket mage? For another cavern and ruic thar and your pierce/negate I mean it seems fine all together as you're going more for a grindy game anyway and amulet is a bad topdeck against a deck like that where you want more threat's. Like just logic like that? I feel 50/50 on some things and wanted a little more indepth clarity.
That makes sense, I was going on the premises that abrade was only marginally worse then trophy or path due to flexibility of hitting the stuff in bad matchups.
Like you said d. Sphere is ok against us, I mean Azusa or snake usually out ramp it anyway let alone a Titan. So it just slows us down essentially. Vial on the other hand, I would let sit, I would rather hit the creature it plays instead. Those are all just preference though, and I know those were just example.
All together I just liked the flexibility of path/ trophy to answer the bigger creatures that present the clock or to hit the problem enchantment or such and cranial against combo as a hedge (basically our bad matchups).
I typically don't board in rec sage unless I confirmed have targets. He is typically a game 3 guy in some matchups so having the catch all type is decent I think. Again I think no matter what you play like you said the core of the deck is so good it really doesn't matter and it's all preference and marginal points either way.
On Harvey's list, I like the iteration of through the breach it offers a different angle and still has some game against blood moon. But otherwise I agree it's slower, I prefer the mid-range/ trinket mage version, overall think it's not only more consistent but also better.
At the same event rossum and Edgar were on the black splash for a. Trophy and cranial out of the board. I am currently a huge fan, as the trophy provides a clean answer to everything, big fish creatures or blood moon ect. and the the white splash for path giving them a land anyway isn't an issue to me. I don't think abrade is good enough right now to be on the red hard splash, as it's truly only great when both modes are good not just a lackluster shatter or bad bolt. But the cranial helps against, ironworks and Phoenix and storm ect. So I believe the black splash is something to be said moving forward.
That makes sense, im gonna go that route then. I'm expecting in no particular order:
Spirits
Ur Phoenix
Tron
Dredge
Uw control
Jund/rock
Grixis shadow
Humans
Ironworks
Storm
Burn
I wanted to have a solid plan against them. Speculatively, I have read the sideboard guide, but do you have anything more in depth as far as some of these matches are concerned?
@sicsmoo those were solid points, my other question is how do you feel about the 3 o stones and 3 ballista and 3 relics vs the 2-4 ballista-o stone? My current list is running all 3 ofs and it seems to be decent. I like the extra utility with ballista as o stone can be Dead is some matches and ballista is still a threat. Any thoughts?
Also I took your advice on the board
4 claims
4 Thragtusk
1 cage
1 crucible
3 tks
2 spatial contortion
I like the versatility, and jamming the Thragtusk hard against a lot. But I also think with the metagame I wanna be at 4 claims right now but I'm teetering between that or 1 emrakul or the second cage.
@sicsmoo that makes sense, I guess I was just thinking of how hot it will be in legacy or vitage, but modern maybe a sideboard card like teeg in humans or Spirits. Besides we board out karns against them anyway. So that makes sense. Expanding on that on an unrelated note, I'm planning on attending the team open in indy. I'm obviously on the green giants and my main board is pretty standard, but my board is decently looking something like:
4 claim
1 cage
2 contortion
4 Thragtusk
2 TKS
2 Tarmogoyf
Obviously the goyfs are relatively the flex spots. But my thoughts are burn/ storm or cheesy aggro decks might be in high showing at an event as such. Any thoughts?
Ok so fairly new to the archetype here, well modern dredge at least. I have been heavily reading up and for the most part am starting to understand matchups and more importantly sideboarding. Still have some questions about everything..
First is 20 or 21 lands that relevant? I notice a decent amount of people like to sideboard out the land occasionally depending how deep you're going? I haven't seen any inconsistency with just the 20 though.
Is there that much of a significant difference between dredge 3 v 4, I feel that 6 v 4 is huge post ban of course but now being imp is our biggest and with the rise of affinity, CoCo and other creature based decks like humans randomly, storm the "Boogeyman" having maindeck darkblast v thug would be better?
Driven/ despair v failure/ comply... I currently play the one main despair and so far is so so for me. Granted again my experience is very limited, however it is great at times mostly the menace pushing through damage but others feels like a win more or just irrelevant. The comply version though that levy posted seems sweet, has anyone had more success with that v storm or Titan shift? His article had decent points to it.
True, but lately Abzan's been playing 2 Abrupt Decay and 2 Maelstrom Pulse, and Rock tends to go up to three Decays. U/W Control (generally) plays a total of 4 Planeswalkers in the main, 3 of which are Gideons. The deck can't really afford to drop Jace, Architect of Thought because he's an important part of their plan against Lingering Souls, and they can only play so many 4+ drop win conditions. I just don't think it's that big a concern, we have the tools to answer those cards and those tools are good against some of the other top decks in the format.
I think double Liliana is a very big deal and I'm really looking forward to testing with a higher number of them.
I hope you're right
By all means I'd be excited if Jund just decided to replace the K-Commands for 2 LTLH or something and it makes a difference. We'll see. I was playing Abzan on mtgo yesterday and just wasn't having fun, I wanted it to be jund, but jund sucks right now.
I agree, they only play 4 no more than 5. With that Gideon of the Trials will be much better now.
As for The Rock, Last Hope is good but only as in certain match ups. So i doubt she will be played more of 3-1 or 3-2 at most split in favor of veil in the 75.
I am playing Sol's list (first i'm thoroughly impressed in the current meta) except minus 1 decay for 1 victim of the night and here is the reason, i can't say enough about abrupt decay for one. Its that simple its insane and kills virtually everything right now, but that is the problem virtually not actually. So with that being said personally i feel a slight variance is in order and with the top decks being Etron, Affinity, Scapeshift, Gifts, burn and shadow the only thing that victim doesn't hit out of those is the Zombie fish (other notables :Huntmaster, Olivia, dredge things, Kalitas and mutavault). Notably it does kill the eldrazi menace, affinity everything, titan and man lands so its psudo your higher end push being instant speed. Overall its just really decently positioned right now i believe and worth a x1.
With all that said, the rest of the 59 are solid and spot on.
My sideboard is about 13 similar, non local specific. The differences are i do not run Gaze of granite instead i have opted for x1 Unravel the Aether, it is spot removal in place of global removal which in turn is abnormal however it costs less, is instant speed and gets rid of wurmcoil engine clean while still hitting things in affinity including lands and also deals with enchantments. Lastly my sideboard card of choice is x1 kitchen finks in place of the Bloodghast, being tutorable via traverse with the advantage it gives in midrange and burn matches is excellent.
Looking to hear how you do tonight with Bobs. I have felt lately that I wanted to jam him, but just can't settle on where I want to be. The ultimate debate right now is where do we want to be now and in the near future? A closer to the ground version with traverse or a more midrange classic version? I think 3 decay is a good start tho.
Hello! So, for some time, Grixis Delver has been one of my favorite decks, eventually edging out Grixis control. I'm looking to get into the classic list, running no Death's Shadows. I'm open to comments/criticisms about my current list, but I have tried to deck it somewhat to my local meta. Its fairly burn heavy, a few Revolt Zoo's thrown in, Ad Nauseum, Storm, a few tron players (One Mono-Blue, one Eldrazi), and depending on the week, Grixis Death's Shadow, or Amulet bloom. The rest is some homebrewed stuff, dredge, Jund, and a budget infect. Also a few control decks running around - Jeskai Nahiri and Grixis Control.
The mainboard brutalities were for burn/zoo. Not sure about electrolyze, I think I might want to up the snare count by one, but not really too sure.
For the side, the Thoughtseizes were for Ad Naseum, Amulet Bloom, and any other combo deck I might run into. Surgicals are in there for Storm and Dredge, Staticaster for Zoo, extra push for zoo/burn/infect/anything else. Engineered Explosives for zoo/burn/infect, Grixis Shadow, maybe some other matchups. Ceremonious Rejection for tron, Dragon's Claw for burn, Countersquall for Ad Naseum, Storm, Control Matchups. Lilliana, the Last Hope for grindy matchups - Jund, Control?
At least that's my thoughts, any input is awesome!
Do you realize you're missing 2 maindeck cards at 58?
So I went to my local and played Friday, basically beat myself.
Round 1 v burn.
Game one I do Titan things and kill turn 3 on the draw. At 3 life btw.
I board in sigarda, x2 spell pierce and negate for u pact, bog and explosives and ballista.
Game two is grindy and he gets there I just can't keep up.
Game 3 I beat myself, I had Titan/ asuza in play during turns, I got slayers and Garrison instead of just getting double bounce and gaining a ton with my crossroads over the next two turns, instead I pumped Titan and swung for lethal he had one card.... It was d. Palm. -_- totally didn't read that one.
Round two I played against tron. I turn 3 both games, it was sick.
I boarded out ballista and explosives, for x2 pierce and negate and I got rid of a bog I believe.
Round three I played against mono white hatebears.... I lost twice very fast... Then dropped.
I had no chance, he played turn one plains go, I play a snake and pass. He plays ghost quarter into leonin arbiter...
Game two was more interesting, I lead with mine, snake and pass. He plays vial and passes, turn two I play ghost quarter and pass, leave my snake up for protection with a bounce in hand. He plays land, upticks vial and passes. I don't draw anything else relevant, so I keep my same line up and pass. I have a pact and multiple Azusa at this point. He plays ghost quarter, vial is on 2 and passes. I play a bog and pass again nothing really sweet going on for me. He end step plays mindscensor -_- not good. So I responded with Killing his quarter and he untaps upticks vial to 3 and plays land and says go. I have a path at this point, but I'm not going to walk into anything so I just had to hold it up, play Azusa and ramp a little and say go. So basically he responds to everything I try to do from here on out and ends up playing two flickerwisp and displacer.. can't do much. Sad day. Looking to retry things on Friday at my home shop.
On another note I was curious if you had some more details on sideboarding? I would like to compare notes if at all possible. I just want all the input I can have prior to my team event, more minds are better than one and maybe I'm doing things wrong. Overall I have general concepts and reasoning but I would like some more insight into the recent metagame. I would say I feel fair with my comfortability level of sideboarding. Generally speaking siding out the non ideal lands in specific matchups, shaving a snake in "bolt" decks and things of that sort. I just had mixed opinions and feelings like against uw control as a small example of sideboarding out like bog x2 amulet and maybe shave x1 trinket mage? For another cavern and ruic thar and your pierce/negate I mean it seems fine all together as you're going more for a grindy game anyway and amulet is a bad topdeck against a deck like that where you want more threat's. Like just logic like that? I feel 50/50 on some things and wanted a little more indepth clarity.
Like you said d. Sphere is ok against us, I mean Azusa or snake usually out ramp it anyway let alone a Titan. So it just slows us down essentially. Vial on the other hand, I would let sit, I would rather hit the creature it plays instead. Those are all just preference though, and I know those were just example.
All together I just liked the flexibility of path/ trophy to answer the bigger creatures that present the clock or to hit the problem enchantment or such and cranial against combo as a hedge (basically our bad matchups).
I typically don't board in rec sage unless I confirmed have targets. He is typically a game 3 guy in some matchups so having the catch all type is decent I think. Again I think no matter what you play like you said the core of the deck is so good it really doesn't matter and it's all preference and marginal points either way.
On Harvey's list, I like the iteration of through the breach it offers a different angle and still has some game against blood moon. But otherwise I agree it's slower, I prefer the mid-range/ trinket mage version, overall think it's not only more consistent but also better.
At the same event rossum and Edgar were on the black splash for a. Trophy and cranial out of the board. I am currently a huge fan, as the trophy provides a clean answer to everything, big fish creatures or blood moon ect. and the the white splash for path giving them a land anyway isn't an issue to me. I don't think abrade is good enough right now to be on the red hard splash, as it's truly only great when both modes are good not just a lackluster shatter or bad bolt. But the cranial helps against, ironworks and Phoenix and storm ect. So I believe the black splash is something to be said moving forward.
Spirits
Ur Phoenix
Tron
Dredge
Uw control
Jund/rock
Grixis shadow
Humans
Ironworks
Storm
Burn
I wanted to have a solid plan against them. Speculatively, I have read the sideboard guide, but do you have anything more in depth as far as some of these matches are concerned?
Also I took your advice on the board
4 claims
4 Thragtusk
1 cage
1 crucible
3 tks
2 spatial contortion
I like the versatility, and jamming the Thragtusk hard against a lot. But I also think with the metagame I wanna be at 4 claims right now but I'm teetering between that or 1 emrakul or the second cage.
4 claim
1 cage
2 contortion
4 Thragtusk
2 TKS
2 Tarmogoyf
Obviously the goyfs are relatively the flex spots. But my thoughts are burn/ storm or cheesy aggro decks might be in high showing at an event as such. Any thoughts?
So this guy? Are we just going on the premises of more contortion in the board?
First is 20 or 21 lands that relevant? I notice a decent amount of people like to sideboard out the land occasionally depending how deep you're going? I haven't seen any inconsistency with just the 20 though.
Is there that much of a significant difference between dredge 3 v 4, I feel that 6 v 4 is huge post ban of course but now being imp is our biggest and with the rise of affinity, CoCo and other creature based decks like humans randomly, storm the "Boogeyman" having maindeck darkblast v thug would be better?
Driven/ despair v failure/ comply... I currently play the one main despair and so far is so so for me. Granted again my experience is very limited, however it is great at times mostly the menace pushing through damage but others feels like a win more or just irrelevant. The comply version though that levy posted seems sweet, has anyone had more success with that v storm or Titan shift? His article had decent points to it.
I agree, they only play 4 no more than 5. With that Gideon of the Trials will be much better now.
As for The Rock, Last Hope is good but only as in certain match ups. So i doubt she will be played more of 3-1 or 3-2 at most split in favor of veil in the 75.
With all that said, the rest of the 59 are solid and spot on.
My sideboard is about 13 similar, non local specific. The differences are i do not run Gaze of granite instead i have opted for x1 Unravel the Aether, it is spot removal in place of global removal which in turn is abnormal however it costs less, is instant speed and gets rid of wurmcoil engine clean while still hitting things in affinity including lands and also deals with enchantments. Lastly my sideboard card of choice is x1 kitchen finks in place of the Bloodghast, being tutorable via traverse with the advantage it gives in midrange and burn matches is excellent.
Do you realize you're missing 2 maindeck cards at 58?