- FuneralofGod
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Member for 16 years, 4 months, and 9 days
Last active Tue, Oct, 6 2020 01:51:37
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kevinjaylegacymaster posted a message on What happened to MTG?It sounds like you are simply experiencing the effects of nostalgia.Posted in: Opinions & Polls -
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FlyingDelver posted a message on Death's Shadow JundI am very saddened to read the news on MTGSalvation. I have strong empathy for the site as it helped to get where I am today. Thanks, everyone for reading my primers and I hope we can continue our journey together on my website and discord server, where I still continue to post content frequently!Posted in: Midrange
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/articles/49777-the-end-of-an-era
Cheers,
FlyingDelver -
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Superna7ural posted a message on Sultai MidrangePosted in: MidrangeQuote from FlyingDelver »@Superna7ural what does your list look like for reference?
I forgot who turned me onto Grim Flayer a while back, but it is probably the best card in the deck hands down.
I can also post SB plans I wrote down if anyone is interested in seeing those. -
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Crypt Rat posted a message on Magic as a Board Game (feat: Panglacial Wurm)(Older blog post on previous iterations of this deck.)Posted in: Homebrew and Variant Formats
Over a decade ago, I built a deck to take to high school with me that would let me play Magic with one of my friends without having to worry about whether he brought a deck and without having to worry about one of us having a better deck. While crude, this filled a role and I continued building and refining these when I went to college and they continued to be handy for games between classes. It's now the primary lens through which I evaluate new commons and uncommons.
The basic premise is that all players playing are drawing from the same library and sharing the same graveyard. I'm sure this has been discovered by many players before but I don't hear about it or decks being designed with this premise so it's been hard describing it to people as there isn't much to reference. I've recently settled on the concept of this way of playing as using Magic as as a board game which pretty cleanly gets to the crux of it. Each deck has its own style of play, making them experiences in a bottle.
I built seven 60-card 1v1 decks in this vein and transitioned two of them to 100-card 4-player decks. They have all had a lot of revisions over the years as I've found what works and what doesn't as well as what makes satisfying play. I have determined a lot of my own deck-building heuristics which I may go into another time if there's interest.
You might find this useful if:
- You like playing Magic when/where others might not bring a deck.
- You like playing limited, but don't have time to draft when you want to play.
- You don't want to worry about having a bad match-up.
- You want to recapture the play of certain limited environments.
- You like building decks.
- You want something to play Magic with a friend who has a small collection.
However, I have noticed that this is not ideal for:
- Capturing archetype vs different archetype play.
- Capturing game play that is all-in on some particular strategy.
- Allowing each player to express themselves through deck choice.
- Certain types of cards that are typically played purely tempo.
- Capturing the game play present in most other constructed formats.
I feel like the main strengths are being able to play anywhere you can find players, regardless of how many other cards anyone else brings.
Here's an example deck which encapsulates a ramp environment, centering on Panglacial Wurm as a ramp target / mana sink that any player who floods out can reach with an Evolving Wilds. The rest of the game play is battlecruiser / voltron-esque Magic.
(View on TappedOut)
This deck started out with the expressed intention of making a deck suitable for Panglacial Wurm. The original attempt had problems with creatures of varying sizes and was basically stuck with what removal Green had access to around the time of Alara. It didn't work and was eventually rebuilt around creatures that could scale in size and white's removal that didn't care how big they were. Pieces have come and gone as new cards have been printed and the most recent revision has cleaned out the last of the stragglers that had been held over from the 1v1 version of the deck. I'm pretty happy with where the deck is now. The deck is playable with around 4 mana, but even the eigth and ninth mana sources can be functional. There's a lot of things to do with your mana, which tends to make all draws of roughly card quality — it's about as hard as it'll get to draw too many lands.
This is certainly not the only style of deck that can be built with the initial premise of both players drawing from the same deck. The most successful decks feel like they have a game play hook that is unique to the deck. The other memorable ones for me have been morph-themed, mill-themed, and splashing-themed. I'd like to build a deck for silver-bordered play using Unstabled but due to the small card pool, that will be tricky.
Have you played Magic where everyone shares the same deck? Have you built decks specifically for that purpose? I'm curious to hear your experiences. -
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Underused Cards posted a message on Obzedat ControlI love Obzedat's Vengeance. It's such a spicy deck that causes so many problems for people since it dodges push bolt, and wraths.Posted in: Deck Creation (Modern)
I looked it over, and think you should add in a few more discard spells in your sideboard. Take out a Disdainful stroke for another thoughtseize or even add in Bontu's Last Reckoning/Yahenni's Expertise since a majority of your guys dodges them and you're playing a more grindy midrange deck -
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Akalah posted a message on Sultai MidrangeI've played something similar to your list. I didn't run architects (played thought scour). I've been goldfishing with them though and I'm not sure which is better honestly. I think I like them both together honestly (scour + architects). Architects is good for fueling delerium more so than fueling delve. Mandrills was ok for me, some matches I wished it was the angler some matches i was glad it was mandrills. As a small tangent, if you run 1 gurmag 1 mandrills you get to say you are playing hootie and the blowfish. /sigh i'm oldPosted in: Midrange
my only real critique would probably be -1 stubborn, +1 serum. I personally have almost always wanted the filtering vs the 4th denial as denial is sometimes really bad. I would also HIGHLY recommend 1-2 maelstrom pulse somewhere in your 75. You will find yourself having trouble killing 4+cmc cards. It really is one of the best catch-alls we can play. -
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Niallplaysmagic posted a message on Tempo in the Ice - The Return of Mono Blue Tempo (No Ninjas, No Bears, No Delvers)Hello!Posted in: Deck Creation (Modern)
I, like many of you judging by the amount of decks that have popped up, got pretty excited when I saw Thing in the Ice first spoiled. A 7/8 body with Evacuation stapled to it at Tarmogoyf cost? YES!
Where has that lead me? To the Ninja Bear Delver thread. Now, when Thing was first spoiled MANY people were quick to point to U/R delver and it's 'spells matter' deck construction as the most likely home for Thing - after all, you're already meeting much of the required criteria because you're running the 'spells matter' trio in Young Pyromancer, Delver of Secrets, and Snapcaster Mage. But where does this idea fall apart? The glaring anti-synergies between Pyromancer, Delver and Thing. Each takes it's own unique amount of investment to get maximum payoff and while Delver and YP can coexist, neither can coexist with Thing, so that idea was quickly dropped.
Frustrated that Thing was SO BAD in testing with YP and Delver, but not yet ready to give up on the idea of thing in a tempo shell (reactive control continues to not be good, soo....) I remembered the Ninja Bear Delver deck from a year back or so. Mono Blue absolutely all in tempo running Disrupting Shoal to help protect cheap threats from path/bolt and Cryptic Command to help give the deck an incredibly sturdy bridge into the lategame sounds like everything I'm looking to run alongside thing.
Do we just slot Thing Straight into the stock Ninja Bear Delver list? Let's take a look at the 'stock' list as brewed by Travis Woo.
So to answer the question - no, we do not want to slot Thing straight into the stock NBD list. Let's go over why:
- Ninja of the Deep Hours and Phantasmal Bear are awful cards. Period. This list while fun to play (SERIOUSLY fun, you must try it sometime) completely runs out of gas if it can't get anything going early. Seriously, if your opponent gets literally any amount of board presence on you, that's often game.
- Delver of Secrets just isn't good in modern. It pains me greatly to say it, but our mad-scientist bug friend just doesn't have a real home in modern. Without a reliable way to flip him on turn two (and barely a way to flip him turn three) I feel we can be a better deck without him, so I've cut delver entirely. He also has that glaring anti-synergy with thing so it just makes more sense to soldier on without him. C'est la vie. Also, do you know just how frustrating it is to have Delver NOT flip on you for 5 turns in a row? Feels bad, man. Real bad.
- The stock list REALLY struggles with fliers. Sure, you have Insectile Aberration, but if you don't want to sacrifice your invested delver, then what have you got? Nothing. Good luck dealing with Infect and Affinity, both matches are going to be rough.
- Reach. Seriously, there isn't any reach. Like, any. Lightning Bolt is Snapcaster Mage's best friend, and without it OR a 3 power creature that doesn't take investment, the deck can have a hell of a time closing out games.
So where does this leave us now? Well, here's the list I've been running lately that I've been VERY happy with:
DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards Instant
4 Cryptic Command
4 Disrupting Shoal
2 Psionic Blast
4 Remand
1 Spell Snare
4 Vapor Snag
Sorcery
3 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum VisionsCreature
4 Dimensional Infiltrator
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Thing in the Ice
2 Vendilion Clique
Land
18 Island
2 MutavaultSideboard
2 Dispel
2 Echoing Truth
2 Hibernation
3 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Reality Shift
1 Spell Snare
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
2 Vedalken Shackles
Let's go over some of the major changes and why I feel this is one of the coolest tempo decks I've ever played!
- Thing in the Ice - The most important and major change. 2 mana. 7/8. Evacuation. Seriously, this card is just insane. Playing a Thing in the Ice creates a subgame that FORCES your opponent to deal with it or lose in a hurry. Thing pairs EXTREMELY well with all of our other creatures (they all have flash and/or a relevant ETB trigger), Disrupting Shoal, and Vapor Snag/Cryptic Command to clear the way for it. I can't say enough good things about Thing as every time I've resolved one (which thanks to Disrupting Shoal is often safe on turn two!) it's changed the entire game in my favor. Aggro/Midrange decks can't commit to the board and combo decks have to find a way to stop it (through counter magic).
- Dimensional Infiltrator - The little flying Eldrazi that could. This card is COMPLETELY underrated and fits an incredible niche that the original NBD was sorely lacking.
Let's break down DI and it's uses:
- It's printed at a rate that has never been seen before (while, now there's another in Rattlechains but we can't fully take advantage of him in this deck so just ignore him) as a 2/1 flash flier for 1U. That's a GREAT rate as anyone who has played with Snapcaster knows that Snap beats are a real threat and will help you get there - now, make him relatively modern unblockable with flying and you've got a real creature worth the slots. Surprise block Inkmoth Nexi, Signal Pests, V Cliques, Etched Champions (Devoid is real!!!) and you've got a real winner that can apply sudden pressure to an opponent.
- Devoid - It's SO good here! Etched Champion is bummed, Goblin Piledriver is bummed, and Apostle's Blessing is bummed. These seem like mostly corner case situations, but considering two of these cards are staples in tier 1 decks, the pure upside comes up more than you think.
- V Clique - Not much needs to be said, this card has been and always will be great. Apply pressure and strip their hand of key spells. There is NO reason why the original list should have skipped this. Huge mistake.
- Psionic Blast - This one is arguably the spiciest inclusion in the whole deck FILLED with spicy inclusions. 4 direct damage in blue for the cost of 2 life. Done. Pblast-Snap-Pblast isn't as easy to pull off as Bolt-Snap-Bolt but it's just as scary for an opponent as 8 damage out of nowhere is pretty sizable. Together the Two PBlasts represent 16 points of damage and it's often enough to get you there. Sometimes I want one more, and sometimes they're dead in hand which leads me to think that 2 is correct. You WILL catch people off guard with this, and it's utility to kill x/4s should not be underrated. Hitting Restos is big game.
ALSO related to both Psionic Blast AND V Clique is that they shore up your pitch targets for Disrupting Shoal at 3 cmc. Being able to pitch things to Shoal Dismembers is VERY VERY important and it will come up more than you think.
So, I think this deck is real. It's played extremely well in testing with only a few real weaknesses as far as I can see:
UW Control - in general, UW control is actually pretty good for us, but beating Supreme Verdict is EXTREMELY difficult. The problem with thing is that it does take a little bit of elbow grease to get it up and running, and unfortunately you don't have much time before you're within Supreme Verdict range. I'm currently unsure about the best way to beat this.
Abrupt Decay - A problem card if there ever was one. Games against BGx become less about going all in on Thing and more about tempoing them out with your other creatures while disrupting.
Burn can be a little tricky, but having an 0/4 can help gum up the ground a little bit for you.
With that, let me know what you think. I'm going to continue testing this shell out and I'll be bringing it out to GP LA to see how it does on a bigger stage. All preliminary points to it being a real win though, so I'm excited. Cheers!
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Hypaspist posted a message on Eldrazi Controversy ThreadThe deck does currently have some insane openers.Posted in: Modern
I do feel though, that one of the reasons why the Channel Fireball version did so well was that Simian Spirit Guide into Chalice actually negated some of the worst matchups for the deck by largely blowing out affinity and infect. Without that tech you would have only seen the UR version and Lepore's processors in the top 8. Which is a very different framework.
The issue also with Pro Tour results are twofold. (and for my money, with this Pro Tour, threefold)
Firstly, it is a very insular metagame with only a limited number of players, meaning that there will naturally be less diversity because…
…Secondly, the Teams tend to swarm to one strategy (25 players on the exact same deck is going to post some numbers, for sure) this segues into the fact that…
…Thirdly, the shake up to the metagame in the pre-tour bannings created an environment where the teams cracked the code and made a deck that the metagame was completely unprepared for (and not particularly stable either), additionally in this point, both decks that were banned would have handily kept the Eldrazi decks down, though at the expense of themselves showing to be more oppressive.
As it stands now, I do not believe an emergency ban is warranted as you make the decision before the metagame has had an opportunity to correct itself. This will take a little time, but it’s entirely possible.
Now. Should the metagame roll forwards and the presence of the various flavours of Eldrazi deck (be they the colourless stompy aggro, the blue-red, the black base processors or whatever) are so oppressive that they are forcing people to play decks that are designed only to beat the Eldrazi, or wipe out huge chunks of previously competitive archetypes, then I think we have a legitimate basis for a banning.
I feel the metagame needs to be given the chance to breathe though, otherwise we never actually get to know whether the metagame can handle it, and two or three months of information is preferable to banning a brand new archetype that (even if it does, on the basis of one, very insular event) appears to be at first sight, oppressive.
TL:DR version.
No Emergency Ban.
Let the Format breathe.
Review in 2 ish months.
Be prepared to ban if self-correction is not forthcoming.
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zweiducks posted a message on BW Midrange/ "Deadguy Ale"Here's the list I ran last night:Posted in: Midrange
DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards Land(24):
4x Godless Shrine
4x Marsh Flats
3x Mutavault
2x Plains
4x Shambling Vent
4x Swamp
1x Vault of the Archangel
2x Verdant Catacombs
Planeswalker(1):
1x Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Creature(16):
4x Dark Confidant
2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
4x Pack Rat
4x Tidehollow Sculler
2x Wasteland StranglerInstant (7):
1x Darkblast
1x Doom Blade
4x Path to Exile
1x Slaughter Pact
Sorcery (12)
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Lingering Souls
4x ThoughtseizeSideboard (15)
2x Blood Baron of Vizkopa
2x Fulminator Mage
1x Go for the Throat
2x Kitchen Finks
3x Kor Firewalker
3x Stony Silence
2x Zealous Persecution
Went 3-0, playing against the mirror, RU Eldrazi (exact PT list) and Naya Burn.
I had a surprising amount of game against the Eldrazi deck, but it was still sweaty. I lost game one after a bit of a grind that went as you would expect if you watched any of the PT. For game 2&3 I boarded out the 4x Pack Rat (discarding cards doesn't seem good against them) and the 1x Darkblast to bring in 2x Fulminator Mage, 2x Zealous Persecution and 1x Go For the Throat.
The plan was to get as much out of his hand with discard as possible, and kill everything else until I could win with tokens. Inquisition did work stripping away his smaller Eldrazi like Eldrazi Skyspawner and Eldrazi Obligator while I took the bigger ones with Thoughtseize and Sculler... that's pretty straight forward. Wasteland Strangler came through big time in games 2 & 3 to process Reality Smasher sitting under my Scullers, taking down Skyspawners or Eldrazi Mimic in the process.
It actually doesn't feel terrible pathing a Reality Smasher and pitching a Lingering Souls when you know you can flash it back. It made me think that if I start seeing a lot more of this deck in my meta, playing some number of Big Game Hunter in my sideboard might be so janky it would work.
I also got to cast a huge Zealous Persecution against a board of Mimic, Mimic, Sky Spawner, Scion (*heavy breathing*) that let me then go Fulminator Mage into Fulminator Mage killing temples.
All in all, I had a certain amount of luck on my side, but I think this deck definitely has the tools to beat the Eldrazi lists. Obviously this is just one match and there is a lot more testing to do, but it gave me hope.
The rest of the night, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet was fantastic. Even if he drops and makes a trade, you kill something, gain 3 life, and get a zombie. I was never upset to draw him. -
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Kovo posted a message on Death's Shadow ZooMaybe something like this for Grixis?Posted in: Modern Archives - Proven
DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards Land (19)
1x Arid Mesa
3x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
3x Misty Rainforest
4x Scalding Tarn
1x Steam Vents
2x Verdant Catacombs
1x Watery Grave
Instant (13)
3x Brute Force
2x Expedite
4x Mutagenic Growth
4x Temur Battle RageSorcery (12)
4x Gitaxian Probe
4x Slip Through Space
4x Thoughtseize
Artifact (4)
4x Mishra's Bauble
Creature (12)
4x Death's Shadow
4x Kiln Fiend
4x Monastery SwiftspearSideboard (15)
3x Ancient Grudge
4x Apostle's Blessing
2x Dismember
4x Duress
2x Pyroclasm - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
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Example list: 1st place on MTGO PTQ
Noteworthy facts
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I've married, bought a house, and had two children since I wrote the original primer so I hardly have the time to update. Your help is greatly appreciated.
That being said, I've been working diligently on a Red/x version that utilizes Seasoned Pyromancer as I feel it's an insane power house in this kind of deck. At the current meta game status, graveyard hate is too pervasive for me to test at the upcoming GP Vegas, but I may try out my list at a few of the side events. Basically my concept is a Mardu control shell with a blue splash for Snap, Jace, and Gifts
3 Seasoned Pyromancer
2 Jace, Vryn's prodigy
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Remorseful Cleric
1 Sun Titan
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Spells
4 Faithless looting
4 Gifts ungiven
3 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Path to exile
2 Fatal Push
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Dreadbore
1 Terminate
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Lingering Souls
1 Kolaghan's command
1 Unburial Rites
1 Kaya's Guile
2 Unearth
2 Blackcleave cliffs
3 Bloodstained mire
2 Marsh Flats
2 Polluted Delta
1 Flooded Strand
1 Arid Mesa
1 Godless shrine
1 Blood crypt
1 Steam vents
1 Watery Grave
1 Sacred foundry
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Graven cairns
1 Mountain
2 Swamp
1 Plains
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Collective Brutality
1 Kolaghan's command
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Liliana, the Last hope
1 Anger of the gods
1 Damnation
1 Lightning Helix
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
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1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Unburial Rites
The other colors and overall play style of the deck is really up to you. Obviously Esper colors are required, but you can splash green, red, both, etc. I like playing basically BGx with a light blue and white splash for the Gifts package. But my recent list I've been working on is Mardu with a blue splash. See post #3980 above
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(I'm not volunteering to write the primer per se..because Flying Delver and Izzetmage are the BEST, but if no one is interested I would be willing to get started on it..anyone else interested?)
Personally I'm not sold on the Baubles in Abe & Jeremy's list from the SCG lineup but its hard to argue with their results. I can't imagine playing Shadow without Temur Battle Rage though. It makes winning matches like Tron and Burn so much easier. Even Hogaak can be difficult because they make a lot of blockers (despite 3 of their main cards inability to block).
Here is my list and some thoughts:
4 Death's Shadow
4 Street Wraith
4 Ranger-Captain of Eos
3 Dreadhorde Arcanist
1 Giver of Runes
Spells
4 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Path to Exile
2 Fatal Push
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Faithless Looting
2 Unearth
2 Temur Battle Rage
2 Nihil Spellbomb
4 Silent Clearing
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Marsh Flats
1 Arid Mesa
2 Godless Shrine
1 Blood Crypt
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Swamp
1 Plains
4 Yixlid Jailer
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Lingering Souls
1 Plague Engineer
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Collective Brutality
2 Kolaghan's Command
I'm always worried about losing to Tron and Burn so I've tailored my sideboard a bit. My biggest concern with the current stock list is that the sideboard has so many three-drops. It doesn't make sense to take out more than 1-2 captains so by bringing in something like 5-6 three drops I just worry it increases the curve too much post board. There are a few other lists that run zero baubles and instead run 3x Nihil Spellbomb and 20x land and then Seasoned Pyromancer as an additional way to help mitigate flooding. Seems promising but again, such a high mana curve with 5-6 maindeck three drops.
I really like Lightning Bolt in the deck as it gives another spell for Arcanist to target and it helps shore up the Infect and Humans match-ups. I won a game against Tron just by Bolting them twice and flashing it back twice with Arcanist (and a single attack from a 5/5 Shadow). In the few games I tried with the Bauble list I found that Arcanist often times swings blank because my graveyard has only Wraiths and Baubles. And regarding Arcanist and it's relevance against infect - he is sorcery speed even when your removal is instant, so it's good to have more instant speed removal in the case of Inkmoth Nexus. Bolt of course is also another way to hurt yourself when you need to swing big with Shadows.
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Looking at all 5 lists that have placed top 8 in the last few weeks, seems like Faithless Looting (albeit as a singleton) is staking its claim as a staple just like in GDS. I've been trying it again in my jund list, but I don't know if I'd run it in 4C just because I hate being pulled in too many directions with color.
I've been living the new mulligan rule on MTGO. Been toying with a more combo oriented list but not quite all-in like Shadow Zoo.
4 Death's Shadow
4 Street Wraith
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Grim Flayer
Spells
4 Manamorphose
4 Mishra's Bauble
3 Traverse the Ulvenwald
4 Thoughtseize
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Fatal Push
2 Dismember
1 Assassin's trophy
1 Tarfire
3 Temur Battle Rage
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Bloodstained mire
2 Wooded foothills
1 Polluted Delta
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Blood Crypt
1 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
1 Forest
3 Collective Brutality
3 Assassin's Trophy
1 Fulminator Mage
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Yixlid Jailer
1 Faerie Macabre
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Kolaghan's command
1 Ancient Grudge
Keeping in my Tron, Affinity, and Dredge - since those seem to be the decks on the rise due to the mulligan change. I like how it feels against Tron, haven't played the other two yet. Won two matches against Phoenix also
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2
4 Grim Flayer
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Snapcaster Mage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Spells (19)
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Fatal Push
2 Assassin's Trophy
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Traverse the Ulvenwald
2 Stubborn Denial
2 Serum Visions
Other (9)
4 Mishra's Bauble
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Nissa, Steward of Elements
3 Blooming Marsh
2 Darkslick Shores
1 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Polluted Delta
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Watery Grave
1 Breeding pool
1 Swamp
1 Forest
2 Collective Brutality
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Devour Flesh
1 Liliana of the Veil
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Ceremonious Rejection
4 Unmoored Ego
1 Cry of the Carnarium
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You wait to cast the trap in response to one of their triggers. For example, they dredge three cards with Life from the Loam, hitting a Creeping chill. With the chill trigger on the stack you cast ravenous and exile the whole graveyard. Now they can't choose to use the chill trigger.
Similar for Phoenix. You let them looting and play a bunch of other spells. Then when they attempt to move to combat, they place the Phoenix triggers on the stack, you respond with ravenous trap, exiling the whole graveyard including the Phoenix.
I will add that Ravenous Trap works great with Jace VP also because his ability allows you to cast it for free from your graveyard although not at instant speed which kinda hurts the trap aspect. Snapcaster however does not allow the trap to be cast for 0 as flashback