So far I've used Consign // Oblivion once against a brew using Sunbird's Invocation. bounced it the turn he played it and then used the discard function to grab his last two cards on my turn.
I kinda put it in the sideboard to deal with any random enchantments I come across, but it could sometimes take out Scarab God or Hazoret I guess. It needs a lot more testing, I'm not really sure if it's worth the two slots.
Harsh Scrutiny, on the other hand, has been great to me even as a singleton. I bring it in against U/B control, but that matchup is already pretty far in our favor. It's mostly great against Temur and any deck with Scarab God though, so I bring it in a lot. I believe Patbou is even MBing it.
Round 1: Grixis Control 2-1. I've played this fella before and he knew he had to play around Dispersals. The important thing here is to land early threats and protect them as much as possible. I side out 1 Hostage Taker but sometimes you just gotta play Hostage Taker with no extra value to keep the pressure on.
Round 2: U/B Aggro 2-1. A brew with Heart of Kiran, Gifted Aetherborn, Dread Wanderer, Vampire Conquistador, Wanted Scoundrels, etc. Game 1 I landed Scarab God turn 5 and he conceded because he had no maindeck removal. Game 2 he rolled over me with Heart of Kiran and Wanted Scoundrels. Game 3 I Freebooter'd his Hour of Glorys and landed Scarab God again and he conceded. I didn't sideboard this round.
Round 3: Ramunap Red 2-0. GF again! I'm convinced this matchup is a total coin flip. My hands just lined up perfectly both games. Second game she played 3 Hazorets. I countered 2 and Vraska's took care of the third and she ran out of gas. Essence Scatter is great in this matchup.
Round 4: Sultai Energy Split. We still played it out after deciding to split, and he absolutely crushed me. Turns out Scarab God into Vraska into Carnage Tyrant is pretty strong. I'm 0-4 against Sultai so far and I'm not really sure what to do about that. The games are either over in the first 6 turns or they go super long. They just have so many huge bombs, it's hard to keep up.
So yeah, I love the 2/3 split of Scatter/Dispersal. 3 Champion of Wits felt good. The maindeck Doomfalls performed well taking out a Scarab God and a Hazoret in Game 1s through the course of the night. I'm really missing out by not running Liliana though, and I think I'll need to add her soon. Consign // Oblivion feels meh, I didn't ever really want to bring them in even against the Heart of Kirans. I'll probably keep testing them though.
How many Metallic Rebuke's are you running in your version? I still find operating at instant speed to be so awkward. This awkwardness is why I'm not liking Spell Swindle.
Side note: I have really liked Chard a Course so far. Just like your point of being able to keep 2 land hands with Metalspinner's Puzzleknot, Chart fills the same role.
I don't like Rebuke in the deck. The deck is kinda built around durdling until Marionette or Tezzeret go off, rather than countering things. I initially had the same thought about Spell Swindle being unnecessary, but Conley's explanation for it is that it can occasionally just win you the game with T5 Swindle into T6 Marionette. He went as far as to say it's the most powerful card in the deck for that reason. Watching his streams, it actually has won him the game on a couple occasions.
I hate to be this picky, but the blue puzzleknot is NOT card advantage. It's literally no different than scrying with Treasure Map, Hidden Stockpile, or Contraband Kingpin.
Sure, just like those cards I just mentioned, it helps set up your following draws, but it will not pull you ahead at all. A deck like this wants to have cards be fairly versatile. Blue puzzleknot really is there to help facilitate the combo.
I think Daleos got mixed up. It's either Metalspinner's Puzzleknot or Implement of Examination. The last thing this deck needs is more scrying. Instant speed card draw on an artifact can be nice though because it allows us to rip a card or two off the top when we are in the middle of 3 scry 1's so none of the scry is wasted. It's also just another artifact to sacrifice to Master.
I'm still on board the Champion of Wits bus, but I'm going to try cutting down to 3. Drawing multiples in the early game can get clunky. Champion of Wits just does so much in the deck and we want to draw at least 1 sometime in early/mid game. It filters away Dispersal's after they've outlived their usefulness, it filters away cards that don't fit the side of the clock we're playing in a matchup, it chump blocks early on and it helps us find land sometimes.
I also think it's important that we don't end up too spell heavy. If there's a way to get a similar effect on a creature, that's should be what we opt for. For that reason, I think we can rule out Search for Azcanta against control. We really want to try and play Aggro-Control in those matchups and dropping creatures early is how we do it, not by trying to out control them.
Arguel's Blood Fast is interesting and worth trying. But I'd lean toward Dreamstealer as the card we'd want against Control for the reasons I mentioned.
As for Liliana, I have no experience with her in the deck. As you know, I was running Baral's Expertise in her place for a while and I've recently cut that for Vizier of Many Faces and dropped to 24 lands. I think Liliana fits well and I'll probably move to adding her in eventually, but I wanted to comment on the Hostage Taker thing. It doesn't nullify all drawbacks, as instant speed removal still disrupts any card advantage we'd gain from her. I know, I know, "dies to removal" isn't a perfect metric, but it's worth mentioning.
I've had games where Lookout's Dispersal becomes useless, but it generally takes quite a while. I've also had it win me the late game once against an opposing Scarab God being cast and I forced him to pay an extra 4 turning off his activation for that turn. 4 mana tax stays relevant for a long time and it's basically "Counter target spell" all the way through the midgame.
One thing from the Jaberwocki list that I find really interesting to try is the Torrential Gearhulk/Glimmer/Commit//Memory package. Being able to Memory at the end of an opponents turn seems really good for us in a lot of matchups.
I've shown my list to a grinder who knows the metagame pretty well. Here are some of his comments :
Siren Stormtamer may look good, but it's not. Good players will work around it, and it's worse than Blossoming Defense.
Hostage Taker is amazing in Esper Gift, because it's eternalized for free (so all lands available to cast the exiled card). It's also good in Temur Black, because it's easy to protect with Blossoming Defense. But Hostage Taker is probably more a liability than an asset in our deck, because we can't protect it effectively.
Lookout's Dispersal can be worked around by good players. If we pass the turn with two lands untapped for Dispersal, opponent can kill our Pirate EOT and then we can't cast our counterspell on Hydra or Glorybringer (or whatever). Essence Scatter is way better.
We have to assume that at any given competitive event, half the crowd is playing Temur Energy. Our maindeck should be geared toward this matchup.
Temur Energy will side out Servant of the Conduit and Whirler Virtuoso vs us. They know well that we will not win fast, and will thus side in cards that will perform in the long game. Fatal Push becomes a really bad card for us post SB. It can only target Longtusk Cub, and that is very narrowl.
I respect the extra perspective, but I don't agree with all of it.
Siren Stormtamer: The whole point of this is to make the opponent work around it. It fills the same role as Blossoming Defense, it forces our opponent to have two removals to take out our main threats. Not only that, but it pulls other duties here too. It's a pirate and turns on Lookout's Dispersal and it's a creature that reads "UUB2: counter target spell that targets Scarab God" when it's in the graveyard.
Hostage Taker: Sure, Esper Gifts can get use out of it a bit earlier, I guess. But Esper Gifts can't protect it at all from removal. We also have the advantage of Kitesail Freebooter letting us know if the coast is clear. I'm still not understanding how he's fine with Blossoming Defense but not Stormtamer. The only matchup that I feel Stormtamer is lacking in is Sultai Energy with Walking Ballista, but Blossoming Defense isn't super great there either. Just because Stormtamer is on the field and not in our hand like Blossoming Defense, doesn't mean it's rendered useless. Even if our opponent knows we can counter any removal, it still means they need two removals. Sure they can kill Stormtamer if we drop it early, but there again that means they used a removal spell.
Lookout's Dispersal: This one I can sort of agree. I've already moved to a 3/2 split between Dispersal/Scatter. And I had the thought of EoT removal turning off our Dispersal sometimes, but again, that forces them to use a removal on our creatures specifically in our deck to eat removal. Dispersal is still good, just don't rely heavily on the reduced cost in the mid game when you suspect your opponent will drop a bomb unless you have removal of your own to follow up.
Temur: It's a given that Temur is rampant and our deck should be able to compete against it. I'm now running 3 Bontu's in the side for the Energy matchups. Game 1 isn't horrible either. It is strange that he thinks Temur is supposed to side out Whirler, I haven't seen that yet. I haven't felt comfortable siding out Fatal Push. Even if Longtusk Cub was the only thing it hit, it'd be worth it. T2 Longtusk Cub can get way out of hand.
I also learned a few interesting things during the tournament :
Don't forget that The Scarab God's upkeep ability is both Scry X and opponent loses X life.
In an Hostage Taker battle, if you take opponent's HT with yours and there are no other interesting targets, you should cast opponent's HT and exile your own with it. He won't be able to mess with it without triggering a chain reaction.
If your Hostage Taker exiles your own creature that was under opponent’s control, if HT leaves the battlefield, the exiled creature will return to the battlefield under your control (as the owner) and not to the last controller.
Another tip about Scarab God. You can respond to the scry/drain trigger on the stack during your upkeep with a Scarab God activation and it'll count the newly eternalized creature for the scry/drain.
I've seen Chart a Course in some lists. I have a couple problems with the card. It can't be reanimated with Scarab God, and it can't be eternalized in grindy matchups. Both of those things have been relevant in several games for me so far.
Chart a Course beefs up our early card draw a bit, but it weakens our late game and I'm not sure the trade off is worth it. Doesn't hurt trying though and keeping in mind how the game would've played out differently if a Champion of Wits would've been in its place.
As for the green splash for Vraska, no way. It's not worth messing with the mana base to have an answer for enchantments.
If you're having a ton of problems with the tokens deck, why not try out Consign // Oblivion? It has a ton of applications in our deck and fits with the general idea of what we're trying to do. It's tempo and card advantage. It bounces to set up for a counterspell. It removes tokens.
Not only does it deal with enchantments, but it also deals with any other problem permanents that slip through our counter magic, if even just for a turn.
Standard Showdown tonight. My last post said it was Showdown, but I had a brain fart, that was an FNM. I went 2-2 tonight for a 4th place finish.
First round: Bye
Second round: Sultai Energy 0-2. First game it got to the point where I had Aetherborn, Hostage Taker, Rogue Refiner, Scarab God on the field and he was at 8, I was at 9. He had Winding Constrictor and a Ballista that he had worked up to 8 counters threatening lethal next turn. I was forced to double Ifnir Deadlands to stay alive, one taking 3 counters off of Ballista, the other killing Constrictor. I swung in with everything and he blocked Scarab God with Ballista and emptied his counters onto my Aetherborn and Refiner leaving him at 6. I thought I had it in the bag. He topdecked Rogue Refiner into another Walking Ballista on 4. Passed to me and I double Scarab God activation in response to the Scarab God scry trigger on Refiner (drew a land) and Aetherborn draining him to 4. I attacked with Scarab God and he chumped with Refiner. He topdecked his FOURTH Ballista on 5 and killed me... Second game, he played 3 Hydras in a row turns 4-6 and I had no counter magic. I got Scarab God down on turn 5 and held off the hydras for a little while with that. It was close, he drew and played his own Scarab God, and I grabbed the last creature out of our graveyards in response. Eventually I'd killed two of his hydras and he was at 5 with me at 6. And thennnnn... Ballista off the top for lethal -_- I'm starting to hate topdecked Ballistas lol. Never saw Bontu's that game. It's fun to play against Sultai otherwise, though. The games go really long usually. If I'd have won the second match, it would've been a tie.
Third round: Ramunap Red 0-2. Against my GF again. She was 2-0 and got paired down against me. She still had a shot at 1st so I was rooting for her... But I still didn't go easy (not that it mattered.) First game, I countered her Hazoret T4, but my draws didn't line up as well as hers after that. Second game, she just absolutely steamrolled me early on and finished me off with Glorybringers. Ramunap's nut draws definitely beat anything we can do. Same SB plan as my last post. I'm glad she won because she went on to beat my second round opponent in the finals for her first tournament win!
Fourth Round: Grixis Control 2-0. First game we both mulligan'd to 5. Kept a hand with 2 land, Champion of Wits, Essence Scatter, and Stormtamer. Drew into a Lookout's Dispersal and lands, but I guess that was enough. Countered his Turn 6 Scarab God with Scatter and Turn 8 or 9 Nicol Bolas with Dispersal. Drew and landed Scarab God for the eventual win. Sided in 3 Duress, 2 Negate, 2 Doomfall, sided out 2 Hostage Taker, 4 Fatal Push, 1 Lookout's Dispersal. Game 2 I kept a very nice hand of Swamp, Catacomb, Duress, Aetherborn, Stormtamer, 2 Freebooter. Found a negate for his Sweltering Suns which would've been horrible for me and continued to aggro-control him to death.
Not too happy about losing to Sultai again as I still think it's favorable for us, but overall it was still a fun couple of games. Finished 4th for the night because of my tiebreakers and GF finished 1st so I can't complain.
Oh, I was also running Vizier of Many Faces in place of my Baral's Expertise (Liliana's spot in the default list), but I never saw him in any of my games so I can't comment on him yet.
Changes I want to make include -1 Lookout's Dispersal MB for +1 Essence Scatter and -1 Gonti SB for +1 Bontu's Last Reckoning. Baral's Expertise has been really hit or miss and it feels like I'm siding it out a lot. I'm looking for something else to put in it's spot, possibly +1 Vraska's Contempt.
Standard Showdown tonight. Went 3-1 for 4th place finish.
Round 1: Dino Enrage. 2-0. This was against the store owner and he was testing out a janky Naya Walking Ballista Dinos deck. We didn't SB against each other. First game I got off to a strange start with 3 Gifted Aetherborn and a Siren Stormtamer by turn 4. He assembled a weird combo of that Dino with enrage that makes 3/3s, a Walking Ballista with 3 counters and a spell that makes a creature indestructible until end of turn. He made 3 3/3s with Ballista. Next turn I Baral's Expertise'd and Aetherborns got me there. Second game was pretty similar, a couple Aetherborn kept the board under control until I landed Scarab God for game.
Round 2: Ramunap Red. 2-0. This was against my GF and after a lot more testing from the last time I posted, the matchup is closer to 50/50 so I was a bit worried going in. I lost the die roll but ended up drawing the perfect hand to go against hers the first game, pushing a Bomat and Dispersal on T4 Hazoret. Kitesail ripped her only removal and Hostage Taker grabbed a Crasher and I got through with an Aetherborn a lot. Sided out 1 Baral's Expertise, 1 Hostage Taker, 1 Walk the Plank, 1 Champion of Wits, and 1 Siren Stormtamer, sided in 3 Essence Extraction, 2 Doomfall. Game 2 I had a hand of Fatal Push, Aetherborn, Essence Extraction, Freebooter, Scarab God, Catacomb, Swamp. I ripped enough lands to drop Scarab God turn 5 and she had no way of getting rid of it.
Round 3: Sultai Energy 0-2. I kept a 5 land hand with Champion of Wits and Fatal Push. Thought it was keepable with the Champion of Wits, which was probably fine. But I proceeded to just draw land every turn and then Champion of Wits found 2 lands. I played 2 spells that game. Oh well. Game 2 was probably one of the most entertaining matches ever. I sided out 3 Kitesail Freebooter, 1 Champion of Wits, 1 Baral's Expertise, sided in 2 Bontu's, 1 Harsh Scrutiny, 2 Doomfall. I got a great start and Harsh Scrutiny took out a Bristling Hydra, Push got Cub, Doomfall grabbed a Ballista from his hand. He dropped T6 Carnage Tyrant out of left field and I played Bontu's leaving us both basically empty handed. The rest of the match was so grindy and hilarious. Every time one of us would get the upper hand, the other would draw the exact answer needed. At one point he played a Glint-Sieve Siphoner and then Vizier of Many Faces copying it. I pushed the copy at end of his turn and then Hostage Taker took the original on my turn and I played it. Drew a card off of it eventually and he pushed it. I had him at 2 and I was at 14 at one point. He was able to stabilize and gain life with Deathgorge Scavenger and I Deadlands'd it. He eventually topdecked a huuuuge Walking Ballista and killed me with it. At the end of the match I had 15 cards left in my library and I had not seen Scarab God ONCE. All I had to do was draw it to win, but nope. I can't even be mad though, that match was amazing and it took so long everyone had gathered around to watch the shenanigans.
Round 4: Temur Energy. 2-0. Good ol' Temur *groans*. First game I controlled the early game and just out midranged him until I could drop Scarab God with protection. That was literally it, he couldn't beat a resolved Scarab God with Stormtamer on the field. I was fairly certain he was going to side into more control, so I sided out 1 Field of Ruin, 1 Baral's Expertise, 2 Champion of Wits, 2 Hostage Taker, 2 Lookout's Disperal (I run 1 Essence Scatter main) and sided in 2 Bontu's, 1 Harsh Scrutiny, 2 Negate, 1 Duress, 2 Doomfall.
Second game was some good ol' midrange strats. Duress and Freebooter took out Essence Scatter and Harnessed Lightning letting me land T5 Scarab God. He didn't rip an answer, but he did land 3 Whirlers and a Bristling Hydra up to this point so it wasn't over immediately. After my Scarab God, though, he unnecessarily played out the rest of his hand onto the field and I got a nice 6-for-1 with Bontu's. He wasn't expecting a sweeper. Replayed Scarab God and it carried me. He managed to find a Confiscation Coup, but I had enough mana to reanimate and sacrifice a Stormtamer and he scooped showing me the Negate backup in his hand. Lol.
Lots of good games tonight and I'm pretty happy overall. Some matchups are a coinflip like Ramunap, but against other midrange strategies and slower aggro we seem to be favored. I really feel I should've won the Sultai match, but flooding the first game and never finding Scarab God the second game was pretty brutal.
Closing notes: Bontu's is great against Energy decks, it might be worth fitting a 3rd in the SB. 3 of the 5 Energy decks tonight were running Carnage Tyrants in the SB as tech against Temur and control so look out for that. Essence Scatter was extremely strong in the MB. Some matches are really grindy and a 4 mana tax becomes negligible at a certain point. I think I'm going to try 1 more Essence Scatter over a Lookout's Dispersal for a total of 2 Scatters/3 Dispersal.
Don't forget that Kingpin can comeback as a 4/4 lifelink in the late game with The Scarab God's ability.
Poll #2 : Should we side out Vraska’s Contempt vs Control? I guess the answer will be different if it’s UB Control or UW Approach... I'm not sure we want this removal for the matchup, but it's a bit creepy to think a God, Gearhulk or Planeswalker could hit the battlefield and be unable to deal with it.
Poll #1: I think Essence Extraction is correct in this list against Aggro. Contraband Kingpin DOES force a 2-for-1 without Chandra or Glorybringer a lot of the time, but we don't get to utilize his scry at all. Essence Extraction trades for everything except Hazoret and Glorybringer at instant speed and gains 3 life immediately. We also already have a lot of good targets for our God. It's probably worth testing still, but my gut says pass.
Poll #2: This one's interesting. My first thought is to leave them in. Adding in Doomfalls gives a lot of answers to U/B's threats... Idk how worrisome Gideon really is for us, but Approach sides in Caracals and Gearhulks under fear of Lost Legacy so there are certainly worthy targets. I guess the question comes down to what do we side in their place? We already take out 4 Hostage Taker, 4 Fatal Push for 3 Duress, 2 Negate, 2 Doomfall, 1 Liliana. I run 1 Essence Scatter in place of Trial of Ambition and don't run Lost Legacy at all. Idk what else I'd side in those matchups.
I kinda put it in the sideboard to deal with any random enchantments I come across, but it could sometimes take out Scarab God or Hazoret I guess. It needs a lot more testing, I'm not really sure if it's worth the two slots.
Harsh Scrutiny, on the other hand, has been great to me even as a singleton. I bring it in against U/B control, but that matchup is already pretty far in our favor. It's mostly great against Temur and any deck with Scarab God though, so I bring it in a lot. I believe Patbou is even MBing it.
Anyone have thoughts on running a couple Glyph Keeper on the top end?
6 Swamp
5 Island
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Fetid Pools
3 Evolving Wilds
2 Ifnir Deadlands
1 Field of Ruin
Creatures (22)
3 Siren Stormtamer
4 Kitesail Freebooter
4 Gifted Aetherborn
3 Champion of Wits
4 Hostage Taker
3 The Scarab God
4 Fatal Push
2 Essence Scatter
1 Walk the Plank
2 Doomfall
3 Lookout's Dispersal
2 Vraska's Contempt
3 Duress
2 Negate
3 Bontu's Last Reckoning
3 Essence Extraction
1 Harsh Scrutiny
2 Consign // Oblivion
1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
Round 1: Grixis Control 2-1. I've played this fella before and he knew he had to play around Dispersals. The important thing here is to land early threats and protect them as much as possible. I side out 1 Hostage Taker but sometimes you just gotta play Hostage Taker with no extra value to keep the pressure on.
Round 2: U/B Aggro 2-1. A brew with Heart of Kiran, Gifted Aetherborn, Dread Wanderer, Vampire Conquistador, Wanted Scoundrels, etc. Game 1 I landed Scarab God turn 5 and he conceded because he had no maindeck removal. Game 2 he rolled over me with Heart of Kiran and Wanted Scoundrels. Game 3 I Freebooter'd his Hour of Glorys and landed Scarab God again and he conceded. I didn't sideboard this round.
Round 3: Ramunap Red 2-0. GF again! I'm convinced this matchup is a total coin flip. My hands just lined up perfectly both games. Second game she played 3 Hazorets. I countered 2 and Vraska's took care of the third and she ran out of gas. Essence Scatter is great in this matchup.
Round 4: Sultai Energy Split. We still played it out after deciding to split, and he absolutely crushed me. Turns out Scarab God into Vraska into Carnage Tyrant is pretty strong. I'm 0-4 against Sultai so far and I'm not really sure what to do about that. The games are either over in the first 6 turns or they go super long. They just have so many huge bombs, it's hard to keep up.
So yeah, I love the 2/3 split of Scatter/Dispersal. 3 Champion of Wits felt good. The maindeck Doomfalls performed well taking out a Scarab God and a Hazoret in Game 1s through the course of the night. I'm really missing out by not running Liliana though, and I think I'll need to add her soon. Consign // Oblivion feels meh, I didn't ever really want to bring them in even against the Heart of Kirans. I'll probably keep testing them though.
I don't like Rebuke in the deck. The deck is kinda built around durdling until Marionette or Tezzeret go off, rather than countering things. I initially had the same thought about Spell Swindle being unnecessary, but Conley's explanation for it is that it can occasionally just win you the game with T5 Swindle into T6 Marionette. He went as far as to say it's the most powerful card in the deck for that reason. Watching his streams, it actually has won him the game on a couple occasions.
I think Daleos got mixed up. It's either Metalspinner's Puzzleknot or Implement of Examination. The last thing this deck needs is more scrying. Instant speed card draw on an artifact can be nice though because it allows us to rip a card or two off the top when we are in the middle of 3 scry 1's so none of the scry is wasted. It's also just another artifact to sacrifice to Master.
I also think it's important that we don't end up too spell heavy. If there's a way to get a similar effect on a creature, that's should be what we opt for. For that reason, I think we can rule out Search for Azcanta against control. We really want to try and play Aggro-Control in those matchups and dropping creatures early is how we do it, not by trying to out control them.
Arguel's Blood Fast is interesting and worth trying. But I'd lean toward Dreamstealer as the card we'd want against Control for the reasons I mentioned.
As for Liliana, I have no experience with her in the deck. As you know, I was running Baral's Expertise in her place for a while and I've recently cut that for Vizier of Many Faces and dropped to 24 lands. I think Liliana fits well and I'll probably move to adding her in eventually, but I wanted to comment on the Hostage Taker thing. It doesn't nullify all drawbacks, as instant speed removal still disrupts any card advantage we'd gain from her. I know, I know, "dies to removal" isn't a perfect metric, but it's worth mentioning.
I've had games where Lookout's Dispersal becomes useless, but it generally takes quite a while. I've also had it win me the late game once against an opposing Scarab God being cast and I forced him to pay an extra 4 turning off his activation for that turn. 4 mana tax stays relevant for a long time and it's basically "Counter target spell" all the way through the midgame.
One thing from the Jaberwocki list that I find really interesting to try is the Torrential Gearhulk/Glimmer/Commit//Memory package. Being able to Memory at the end of an opponents turn seems really good for us in a lot of matchups.
I respect the extra perspective, but I don't agree with all of it.
Siren Stormtamer: The whole point of this is to make the opponent work around it. It fills the same role as Blossoming Defense, it forces our opponent to have two removals to take out our main threats. Not only that, but it pulls other duties here too. It's a pirate and turns on Lookout's Dispersal and it's a creature that reads "UUB2: counter target spell that targets Scarab God" when it's in the graveyard.
Hostage Taker: Sure, Esper Gifts can get use out of it a bit earlier, I guess. But Esper Gifts can't protect it at all from removal. We also have the advantage of Kitesail Freebooter letting us know if the coast is clear. I'm still not understanding how he's fine with Blossoming Defense but not Stormtamer. The only matchup that I feel Stormtamer is lacking in is Sultai Energy with Walking Ballista, but Blossoming Defense isn't super great there either. Just because Stormtamer is on the field and not in our hand like Blossoming Defense, doesn't mean it's rendered useless. Even if our opponent knows we can counter any removal, it still means they need two removals. Sure they can kill Stormtamer if we drop it early, but there again that means they used a removal spell.
Lookout's Dispersal: This one I can sort of agree. I've already moved to a 3/2 split between Dispersal/Scatter. And I had the thought of EoT removal turning off our Dispersal sometimes, but again, that forces them to use a removal on our creatures specifically in our deck to eat removal. Dispersal is still good, just don't rely heavily on the reduced cost in the mid game when you suspect your opponent will drop a bomb unless you have removal of your own to follow up.
Temur: It's a given that Temur is rampant and our deck should be able to compete against it. I'm now running 3 Bontu's in the side for the Energy matchups. Game 1 isn't horrible either. It is strange that he thinks Temur is supposed to side out Whirler, I haven't seen that yet. I haven't felt comfortable siding out Fatal Push. Even if Longtusk Cub was the only thing it hit, it'd be worth it. T2 Longtusk Cub can get way out of hand.
Another tip about Scarab God. You can respond to the scry/drain trigger on the stack during your upkeep with a Scarab God activation and it'll count the newly eternalized creature for the scry/drain.
Chart a Course beefs up our early card draw a bit, but it weakens our late game and I'm not sure the trade off is worth it. Doesn't hurt trying though and keeping in mind how the game would've played out differently if a Champion of Wits would've been in its place.
If you're having a ton of problems with the tokens deck, why not try out Consign // Oblivion? It has a ton of applications in our deck and fits with the general idea of what we're trying to do. It's tempo and card advantage. It bounces to set up for a counterspell. It removes tokens.
Not only does it deal with enchantments, but it also deals with any other problem permanents that slip through our counter magic, if even just for a turn.
First round: Bye
Second round: Sultai Energy 0-2. First game it got to the point where I had Aetherborn, Hostage Taker, Rogue Refiner, Scarab God on the field and he was at 8, I was at 9. He had Winding Constrictor and a Ballista that he had worked up to 8 counters threatening lethal next turn. I was forced to double Ifnir Deadlands to stay alive, one taking 3 counters off of Ballista, the other killing Constrictor. I swung in with everything and he blocked Scarab God with Ballista and emptied his counters onto my Aetherborn and Refiner leaving him at 6. I thought I had it in the bag. He topdecked Rogue Refiner into another Walking Ballista on 4. Passed to me and I double Scarab God activation in response to the Scarab God scry trigger on Refiner (drew a land) and Aetherborn draining him to 4. I attacked with Scarab God and he chumped with Refiner. He topdecked his FOURTH Ballista on 5 and killed me... Second game, he played 3 Hydras in a row turns 4-6 and I had no counter magic. I got Scarab God down on turn 5 and held off the hydras for a little while with that. It was close, he drew and played his own Scarab God, and I grabbed the last creature out of our graveyards in response. Eventually I'd killed two of his hydras and he was at 5 with me at 6. And thennnnn... Ballista off the top for lethal -_- I'm starting to hate topdecked Ballistas lol. Never saw Bontu's that game. It's fun to play against Sultai otherwise, though. The games go really long usually. If I'd have won the second match, it would've been a tie.
Third round: Ramunap Red 0-2. Against my GF again. She was 2-0 and got paired down against me. She still had a shot at 1st so I was rooting for her... But I still didn't go easy
Fourth Round: Grixis Control 2-0. First game we both mulligan'd to 5. Kept a hand with 2 land, Champion of Wits, Essence Scatter, and Stormtamer. Drew into a Lookout's Dispersal and lands, but I guess that was enough. Countered his Turn 6 Scarab God with Scatter and Turn 8 or 9 Nicol Bolas with Dispersal. Drew and landed Scarab God for the eventual win. Sided in 3 Duress, 2 Negate, 2 Doomfall, sided out 2 Hostage Taker, 4 Fatal Push, 1 Lookout's Dispersal. Game 2 I kept a very nice hand of Swamp, Catacomb, Duress, Aetherborn, Stormtamer, 2 Freebooter. Found a negate for his Sweltering Suns which would've been horrible for me and continued to aggro-control him to death.
Not too happy about losing to Sultai again as I still think it's favorable for us, but overall it was still a fun couple of games. Finished 4th for the night because of my tiebreakers and GF finished 1st so I can't complain.
Oh, I was also running Vizier of Many Faces in place of my Baral's Expertise (Liliana's spot in the default list), but I never saw him in any of my games so I can't comment on him yet.
6 Swamp
5 Island
4 Drowned Catacomb
4 Fetid Pools
3 Evolving Wilds
2 Ifnir Deadlands
1 Field of Ruin
Creatures (22)
3 Siren Stormtamer
4 Kitesail Freebooter
4 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Champion of Wits
4 Hostage Taker
3 The Scarab God
4 Fatal Push
1 Essence Scatter
1 Walk the Plank
4 Lookout's Dispersal
2 Vraska's Contempt
1 Baral's Expertise
3 Duress
2 Negate
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
2 Doomfall
3 Essence Extraction
1 Harsh Scrutiny
2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
Changes I want to make include -1 Lookout's Dispersal MB for +1 Essence Scatter and -1 Gonti SB for +1 Bontu's Last Reckoning. Baral's Expertise has been really hit or miss and it feels like I'm siding it out a lot. I'm looking for something else to put in it's spot, possibly +1 Vraska's Contempt.
Round 1: Dino Enrage. 2-0. This was against the store owner and he was testing out a janky Naya Walking Ballista Dinos deck. We didn't SB against each other. First game I got off to a strange start with 3 Gifted Aetherborn and a Siren Stormtamer by turn 4. He assembled a weird combo of that Dino with enrage that makes 3/3s, a Walking Ballista with 3 counters and a spell that makes a creature indestructible until end of turn. He made 3 3/3s with Ballista. Next turn I Baral's Expertise'd and Aetherborns got me there. Second game was pretty similar, a couple Aetherborn kept the board under control until I landed Scarab God for game.
Round 2: Ramunap Red. 2-0. This was against my GF and after a lot more testing from the last time I posted, the matchup is closer to 50/50 so I was a bit worried going in. I lost the die roll but ended up drawing the perfect hand to go against hers the first game, pushing a Bomat and Dispersal on T4 Hazoret. Kitesail ripped her only removal and Hostage Taker grabbed a Crasher and I got through with an Aetherborn a lot. Sided out 1 Baral's Expertise, 1 Hostage Taker, 1 Walk the Plank, 1 Champion of Wits, and 1 Siren Stormtamer, sided in 3 Essence Extraction, 2 Doomfall. Game 2 I had a hand of Fatal Push, Aetherborn, Essence Extraction, Freebooter, Scarab God, Catacomb, Swamp. I ripped enough lands to drop Scarab God turn 5 and she had no way of getting rid of it.
Round 3: Sultai Energy 0-2. I kept a 5 land hand with Champion of Wits and Fatal Push. Thought it was keepable with the Champion of Wits, which was probably fine. But I proceeded to just draw land every turn and then Champion of Wits found 2 lands. I played 2 spells that game. Oh well. Game 2 was probably one of the most entertaining matches ever. I sided out 3 Kitesail Freebooter, 1 Champion of Wits, 1 Baral's Expertise, sided in 2 Bontu's, 1 Harsh Scrutiny, 2 Doomfall. I got a great start and Harsh Scrutiny took out a Bristling Hydra, Push got Cub, Doomfall grabbed a Ballista from his hand. He dropped T6 Carnage Tyrant out of left field and I played Bontu's leaving us both basically empty handed. The rest of the match was so grindy and hilarious. Every time one of us would get the upper hand, the other would draw the exact answer needed. At one point he played a Glint-Sieve Siphoner and then Vizier of Many Faces copying it. I pushed the copy at end of his turn and then Hostage Taker took the original on my turn and I played it. Drew a card off of it eventually and he pushed it. I had him at 2 and I was at 14 at one point. He was able to stabilize and gain life with Deathgorge Scavenger and I Deadlands'd it. He eventually topdecked a huuuuge Walking Ballista and killed me with it. At the end of the match I had 15 cards left in my library and I had not seen Scarab God ONCE. All I had to do was draw it to win, but nope. I can't even be mad though, that match was amazing and it took so long everyone had gathered around to watch the shenanigans.
Round 4: Temur Energy. 2-0. Good ol' Temur *groans*. First game I controlled the early game and just out midranged him until I could drop Scarab God with protection. That was literally it, he couldn't beat a resolved Scarab God with Stormtamer on the field. I was fairly certain he was going to side into more control, so I sided out 1 Field of Ruin, 1 Baral's Expertise, 2 Champion of Wits, 2 Hostage Taker, 2 Lookout's Disperal (I run 1 Essence Scatter main) and sided in 2 Bontu's, 1 Harsh Scrutiny, 2 Negate, 1 Duress, 2 Doomfall.
Second game was some good ol' midrange strats. Duress and Freebooter took out Essence Scatter and Harnessed Lightning letting me land T5 Scarab God. He didn't rip an answer, but he did land 3 Whirlers and a Bristling Hydra up to this point so it wasn't over immediately. After my Scarab God, though, he unnecessarily played out the rest of his hand onto the field and I got a nice 6-for-1 with Bontu's. He wasn't expecting a sweeper. Replayed Scarab God and it carried me. He managed to find a Confiscation Coup, but I had enough mana to reanimate and sacrifice a Stormtamer and he scooped showing me the Negate backup in his hand. Lol.
Lots of good games tonight and I'm pretty happy overall. Some matchups are a coinflip like Ramunap, but against other midrange strategies and slower aggro we seem to be favored. I really feel I should've won the Sultai match, but flooding the first game and never finding Scarab God the second game was pretty brutal.
Closing notes: Bontu's is great against Energy decks, it might be worth fitting a 3rd in the SB. 3 of the 5 Energy decks tonight were running Carnage Tyrants in the SB as tech against Temur and control so look out for that. Essence Scatter was extremely strong in the MB. Some matches are really grindy and a 4 mana tax becomes negligible at a certain point. I think I'm going to try 1 more Essence Scatter over a Lookout's Dispersal for a total of 2 Scatters/3 Dispersal.
Poll #1: I think Essence Extraction is correct in this list against Aggro. Contraband Kingpin DOES force a 2-for-1 without Chandra or Glorybringer a lot of the time, but we don't get to utilize his scry at all. Essence Extraction trades for everything except Hazoret and Glorybringer at instant speed and gains 3 life immediately. We also already have a lot of good targets for our God. It's probably worth testing still, but my gut says pass.
Poll #2: This one's interesting. My first thought is to leave them in. Adding in Doomfalls gives a lot of answers to U/B's threats... Idk how worrisome Gideon really is for us, but Approach sides in Caracals and Gearhulks under fear of Lost Legacy so there are certainly worthy targets. I guess the question comes down to what do we side in their place? We already take out 4 Hostage Taker, 4 Fatal Push for 3 Duress, 2 Negate, 2 Doomfall, 1 Liliana. I run 1 Essence Scatter in place of Trial of Ambition and don't run Lost Legacy at all. Idk what else I'd side in those matchups.