Its been fun everyone, but I have to leave you all. After much play testing leading up to this regionals, I have decided Pyro Prison isn't gonna cut it.
Here are my main issues with the deck and why I believe it won't do well in a major tourney in this current meta...
Lack of card filtering/draw: We go back and forth on faithless looting and tormenting voice, but these are bad cards regardless. Pyro Prison is forcing us into bad choices. Neither card is what we want to do, and if that leaves magma jet as our only way to dig... its pretty sad. Staring down a spell queller or mantis rider with a 2 damage spell as a red mage makes me cry inside.
Lack of life gain or stalling potential: Anger is great, but it clashes with rabblemaster. Bridges win, but sometimes all 4 are in your bottom 30 cards with no shuffle effects.
Win conditions: Chandra. Rabble. Koth. All reasonable, yet without lock pieces, all very fragile.
Interaction: Lock pieces, magma jet and angers. How do we deal with enchantments? How do we deal with huge creatures? How do we deal with Karn? Well most of those come down to the answer - pray for a lock piece.
Mana acceleration: I have had some turn 1 and turn 2 Chandras with this deck and it feels great. I have also had a thoughtsieze leave me with literally only rituals and lands. Drawing rituals after turn 3 is just a joke. The card is good for explosive starts, but bad at any other time.
I sat down, really worked on the list over and over, but without progress I became frustrated. We lose the majority of our games to ourselves. The deck is explosive, mean and ruthless for those unaware of our plans. However, I mulligan a lot with this deck. I find myself looking at bad hands often. The deck really lacks any form of consistency over 5+ rounds. Drawing the wrong half of the deck happens more than I want. Nothing feels worse than winning the first game and then losing the second two to bad draws. Finally I caved and made the decision to add another color after my playtesting group told me to stop shoehorning myself into mono-red. I went with a Sun&Moon variant that is a bit different and sure its not Pyro Prison, but its damn close.
I'm not posting this to lead anyone astray, or cause arguments, just letting everyone know where I'm going and what I'm playing.
Here's what white does for us...
Filter: Nahiri, scry lands, fetch lands - Finally we can use our lands for more than just mana. Nahiri is a beast. She offers exiled removal and card selection. Removal: Slagstorm, Helix, Nahiri - Removal that does not clash with our threats is always a plus. Lifegain allows us to not be rushing towards a lock pieces every game. Threats: All the walkers, Rabble, Siegegang - Back on that siege-gang train. This guy is a beast, and so is Gideon. A turn 2 Gideon feels unbeatable versus certain decks. Sidebaord: Leylines, RiP, Stony, Settle - I mean why play white? The sideboard. Just look at how none of these clash with our game plan.
Interesting things to note: layline offers us 4 new lock pieces. Siege-gang can be tutored with Nahiri to make 6 gobos. We have scry lands for turn 1 plays. We have bolt again - with lifegain. We can throw away lock pieces with Nahiri. We have settle the wreckage for blow-outs that don't affect our gobos. The look on an elves player's face when he pumped his army and attacked into 3 open mana, then I SSG into settle for the immediate win.
This color clears up a lot of issues. No longer is valakut or Storm even a real deck against us with layline. Dredge becomes a joke. Affinity also becomes a push-over. We now have board-wipes for heavy aggro and enchantments no longer hose us. Gideon clears up the ad nauseam match-up and offers a 5-6 rabblemaster. Finally we get to upgrade P&K to Siege-gang since he can be brought out manually or through our angry lithomancer while aiding active rabbles.
I'm not saying everyone just jump ship, but its important to think outside the box when deck building. Sticking to one color may be causing us to lose games that we should be winning. Close-minded rebukes will only leads to missed opportunities. At the core of this deck, pyro prison is still alive and well. Rabble will still do what it does in pyro prison, so will the lock pieces and chrandra, the main difference is we traded explosive starts for consistent finishes. We traded bad red cards for good boros options. White simply offers more.
Also, the new moon change really helps this deck come November.
I will check in on you all from time to time, but this is likely the last decklist I will post. Really learned a lot here and had a great time.
I think we may be asking ourselves the wrong questions. Its not about faithless versus Tvoice, its about removal versus filter.
We are a red prison deck, our filter options are a joke. Let's be serious here, faithless and Tvoice are by no means GOOD. They are decent. I'd rather have blue to filter, but that's not an option. Let's talk about why were are filtering...
1. Too many of the same lock pieces
2. Too many 4-drops and only a few lands
3. Discarding bad cards in certain match-ups
So what cards are downright bad in certain match ups?
Chalice - Any deck that doesn't run 1 and 2 drops that matter - Tron, e. Tron, Company decks
Generally Chalice will always be pretty good.
Moon - Mono-color aggro, two color decks - Elves, Fish, D&T, 8-rack, lantern, skred
Rare fringe decks basically.
Bridge - Control & Combo - Scapeshift, Abzan Coco, Storm, U/w Control, Grixis Control
Even those last two are debatable, meaning we almost always want a bridge.
Having two of the same lock pieces is often good insurance from single targeted removal. So is drawing two of them really that bad?
Too many lands - Behind lock pieces this isn't so bad. You will eventually draw out of it and win. This is especially true game 1.
Too few lands - Ouch. Hate drawing 2 lands, never seeing a 3rd and dying. We always want to reach 4.
If we increased the land count to 22, there is a better chance we don't get screwed, requiring less need for filters.
Let's talk about removal...
These are my only two considerations these days.
Magma Jet - Scry, burn, removal. Can be used with Chandra mana. Deals with storm combo pieces, mana dorks, abzan coco pieces, all of which must be killed.
Anger of the Gods - Board wipe + exile. So many decks don't like the exile ability, so this has replaced all other wipes for me. Sure Sweltering gives you a cycle option if rabble is doing work, but too often I don't want to pay 3 mana, and too often I am staring at creatures that will be back in two turns anyway.
I will be going to the SCG regional in San Diego November 4th to compete and put this deck on the map (paired with Ray's results). Here's what I'm taking tonight and will be taking to the regionals, barring any breakthroughs....
I took some of the lessons each of us has stumbled upon and made a deck around it. Tvoice and jet for filter, jet and anger for removal, Chandra for utility, haz for finishing and 22 lands for consistency. Preach all you want about P&K or Magus, but this (at least to me) is the most straight forward approach to prison in a meta filled with eldrazi, GDS and coco. Also, Chandra, pyromaster has been amazing in testing alongside her better half. There are so many times I am behind a bridge, with Chandra and I draw a second Chandra.... at least now there's a chance we get to play both.
If we are talking about removalless, all in on prison strategies, should we take a note from Lantern? Afterall, they really are all in.
Why not try Mishra's Bauble and Sorcerous Spyglass. This digs us deeper, lets us have near perfect information and protects us from combo, walkers, and even blanks fetches.
Food for thought. Love the idea of plusing chandra, with no mana open, but still hitting bauble.
Additionally, it empties the hand for haz and bridge. Fun times.
I experience salt every week. Generally from people playing stuff more degenerate than me. One time in particular, I remember walking outside to hit my weed-pen, and a couple of guys outside (including the guy I just beat) were *****-talking people who play "blood moon.dec" Seeing as I am the only one using blood moon as a 4-of, I knew they were discussing my free wins. I am a player who has always loved mono-red. I remember when red players used burning earth to punish Jund in RTR standard. If we are going to play a format where people are being greedy and reckless, SOMEONE HAS TO BE THE POLICE. Without Twin, someone has to step in and say "No you don't get to play 4 color good stuff" or "No you don't get to play 20 1-drops" and in this case, it falls to prison players.
Last Thursday I went 3-1 against G/W Value, Bant spirits, Jeskai Copy Cat and a loss to Dredge.
Most of my matches were very easy, but the dredge wasn't even close as I mulled to 5 both games without more than 3 lands between both games...
Here's what I brought:
Why have I made the changes we see above? I wanted consistency and more importantly, I wanted to be even more "degenerate" to maximize the salt levels.
Magma Jet - My meta is 70% creature decks, so removal is a must in the early game. 2 scrys is almost as good as T.Voice and jetting a 1 drop on turn 2 is amazing.
Molten Rain - Magus has consistently been a nightmare for me. He rarely lives longer than a turn or two and he can't close games. Molten rain is the ideal card for our deck in addition to 4 moons because often our opponents fetch basics. I want you to count the number of times you've wished you could hit the one land giving them the mana they need. As my friend and I drove to the tourney I said "I want to live the dream: on the draw, drop caverns, land, ramp and rain leaving me with 2 lands and the opponent with 0." He laughed and said "unlikely." Over the course of the tourney, I was able to live the dream once, but the amount of times it took people off an entire color was high. Example: taking the green coco player off their single green causes the opponent, who thinks they are safe from blood moon, to suddenly lose the game.
Lands - Without filtering in the traditional sense, we simply need to hit our lands on time. 22 is a necessary evil here. Tired of being on 3 lands with 4-drops stuck in my hand.
SB - People wanted to see my latest iteration so here it is. Very similar to everyone else's, but I have more creatures to contend with in my meta.
Anger of the Gods - Its the best sweeper for us. I'm tired of having rabble compete with wrath effects. Some of you should try slagstorm, but I find we should just not use sweepers mainbaord; bridges are our sweepers.
Often lock pieces aren't enough to win however and our aggressive elements are needed to get the job done. If our mainboard is highly focused on two paths to victory we have a higher chance of winning.
Plan A: Throw down some lock pieces very quickly and win the game. Example from last tourney - On the draw, caverns, land, SSG, ritual, Chandra, Chalice on 1.
Plan B: Throw down some threats very quickly and win the game. Example from last tourney - Turn 2 Rabble, Turn 3 Rabble, Turn 4 Hazoret, GG.
If our cards don't fall into plan A or B, they are worthless. Sideboarding is where we deal with factors we had not considered. Graveyard kicking our butt - bring in cages/angers. Counterspells making us sad - bring in grids/eidolons. For those of you losing faith in the deck, just be reminded that the top deck (E.Tron) in modern only accounts for a 6.5% of the meta. Even the tier 1 decks lose often enough to warrant such a small portion of the meta. I for one am in it for the long haul. I will say this deck has a very high skill ceiling. Knowing when to hold em and when to ship em is often the difference between and easy win and a hard loss. So keep sleeving up those mountains.
Also PS. How ******* amazing is it to be on the play and before your opponent has even considered which land to play first, we are dropping a caverns. So many times I get "but I'm on the play..."
I recently went 2-2 at my latest Thursday Modern Night with the same list as last time. I realized it didn't take long for my entire meta to adapt to me.
On average each player now has 2/3 card SPECIFICALLY for pyro prison. If that's not ******* ridiculous I don't know what is.
I learned many things while playing against decks made to stop us.
1. Bridge is fragile. We need to be a deck that doesn't rely on it as heavily.
2. Birds and Nobles are a major problem for us. I'm tired of seeing them. Maybe my meta is creature heavy so take this with a grain of salt.
3. Tier 1 decks are not the issue. We don't struggle against the best, we struggle against the middle of the road tier 2 decks.
To compensate for the hate, I shifted my deck into a new direction...
So why this new direction without Koth? To put it simply, Koth is a great way to win behind bridge, or even close the game on an empty board, but otherwise he's a really bad card. Hear me out as I can already feel Ray judging me... If we are in anyway behind would you rather see Koth or Hazoret? For me its Haz every-time. She's a pain in the ass for non-white decks. If we are top decking into an empty board, would you rather see Koth or Hazoret? For me its again Hazoret, because she guarantees we end the game without a random burn or coco making dudes to kill Koth. Behind a bridge, she's worse over time, but she empties our hand and gives us insurance if bridge dies.
Chandra, Pyromaster - Well for sure we get to run promo black versions sooooooooo there's that. In all seriousness though, she is the best way to kill mana dorks, tokens and remove blockers without wasting a removal. The fact that she increases as shes gunning down lingering souls or nobles is relevant. She also digs deeper into the deck than tormenting voice, faithless looting or even other Chandra as she can hit lands. The question becomes how do we make her ult relevant again?
Changing how we think of utility spells is the key. Let's not rely on bridge so heavily, which means a shift to more burn. Magma jet gets a lot of hate on this thread for no reason. 2 damage in this meta is always a good thing, even against control and storm. The scry 2 is so valuable, I've seen people path my jet target. Sweltering Suns very rarely gets cycled for me, so let's just turn them back into slagstorms like this thread originally proposed. It does the same effect, but can also go face when we have rabbles pushing through. Yes it deals us damage, but if we are low on life, I doubt we are throwing it at faces anyway. Chandra now has two major targets to hit when she ults. 6 damage and 9 damage are not unimportant numbers with this deck, and scry 2 x3 is also awesome. Most times Chandra will not need to ult as her other two abilities are good, but just in case we want to close, we have the option.
On another note let's take about the white splash once more because our lock was recently featured in a big tourney:
I'm not saying we should snap add white, but its relevant to note side-boarding and threat amounts.
I agree with those saying Eidolon is good, because it is. I am thinking of jumping to 3 after I saw a turn 1 Eidolon hose 8-wack.
Our sideboard needs to become highly meta-focused as it needs to combat local tier 2 decks trying to beat us. The tier 1 decks are already beaten by the lock. We need to make each sideboard decision based on the decks we lose to each week. This is why I will not longer be posting set side-board lists.
Again, take all of this with a grain of salt. I am re-positioning the deck to fight a meta of 8-wack, Infect, Affinity, Green-White Value, Ponza, Eldrazi Tron and bant Eldrazi. I'm tired of relying solely on bridge to beat all of those creatures. Let me know what you think.
PS. don't be discouraged by small event results, I truly believe our deck does best when the entire meta isn't inbred to beat us. Take this to a PPTQ and spike it.
Thank you so much for the quick answer. Yes I am falling victim to being a newbie, but the allure is hard to resist. I think we can all admit that Koth will be the first to be replaced if we get a stronger 4 drop walker out of Rivals. I often find that behind a bridge he does absolutely nothing until his ult. I've got a tourney on Thursday and will report back with the latest iteration of pyro prison. Thanks again for being so welcoming!
I know I'm new to the thread, but wanted to propose a color splash. It's been mentioned before, but white seems to give us so many options and improvements.
Fetches - Mostly fetching for a basic. Mountain or plains, we only really need one of each with blood moon.
Scry lands - Turn 1 they are amazing. Late game they are mountains thanks to blood moon. With the new rule change they come in untapped.
Dual lands - Really think we only need one of these, just because we may need it, though it might not even make the cut.
Card choices:
Ajani Vengeant - Protects himself better than Koth, Acts as Removal, Ult virtually wins the game.
Lightning Helix - Life Gain, Removal, Burn.
Sideboard:
Stony Silence - Great card to hose artifacts.
Rest in Peace - Better than Cage in some respects and works with Chalice better.
Disenchant - A way to remove enchantments without a fuss.
Hope you don't mind my brewing, just really excited about this deck and want to see if there are avenues that haven't been explored fully.
I absolutely love the new direction of this deck with more rituals, less land and more of a pivot to 1/3-lock 1/3-threats 1/3-Mana.
Going forward I think we should look at our threat package now that the PW rule is changing.
Is it time to consider the slightly weaker Chandra, Pyromaster?
Hazoret and Pia both have their merits, but there are several reasons I like the old chandra.
1. She kills Birds, Nobles and Tokens. These often get under bridge and they are quite hard to deal with without a wipe.
2. She makes way for lethal rabble swings. Her ability to stop blockers is relevant.
3. She acts as more "Card Draw" since she can exist with Torch of defiance which effectively gives us 2 cards a turn that don't affect bridge.
4. Her ult is not entirely irrelevant if we run more Jets as she can potentially just kill them for 6 damage and 3 sets of 2 scrys.
Here's how I imagine the current list should be built if we are taking it in this new direction.
It's really not magical Christmas land to imagine two Chandras out.
With bridge locking things up Planeswalkers are the best threats.
Final note, the black Chandra promo makes her 100% worth playing.
After playing another Thursday night magic, I went 4-0. I'm a believer of this deck now 100% after watching so many people struggle from behind the lock. Also, that feeling we get when the opponent is looking for a way out and we are just counting down the clock with our walkers - tightest butthole feeling ever. Let's run through my matches shall we?
R1: G/U Infect
This guy plays his pet infect deck each week and does pretty damn well with it despite its loss of probe. This match-up went from unwinnable with skred, to a joke. Blood moon or chalice or bridge all equate to a free win. For me, the best way to win is through blood moon, as it shuts down their man-lands.
Game 1: I kept a 1 land with a bunch of gas. He's on the play with a noble which I dispatch with jet and SSG, scrying into more lands. I stick a blood moon coupled with rabblemaster and he can't keep up.
Game 2: I'm on the draw again, but a caverns and a SSG means I have turn 1 magus of the moon (from the sideboard). I eventually land rabblemaster again and its over.
2-0W
R2: Bant Knightfall
I have played against green/white value town a lot, but this deck runs counters and mainboard lock hate.
Game 1: I was able to land the full lock on time which meant he was struggling to find pridemage, but after a second chalice on 2, he scooped for time.
Game 2: My grafdiggers from the side lands on turn 1, but my only lock piece gets quellered turn 3 and I can't find removal. Eventually huge knights kill me as I struggle to draw anything to lock it down.
Game 3: Holy ***** this game. I bring in damping matrix and spellskite in this match up because all I need to do is protect bridge, so I'm almost willing to mull to find one. My 7 is trash, so I keep a decent 6 with a bridge and skite. I land them on time, but he quickly follows with a kataki. Needless to say the entire game was a delicate balance of paying for kataki, having to use limited mana to play spells and keeping my hand empty. Not an easy task mind you as often I drew 4 mana spells with only 3 mana to spare. Eventually I find damping matrix coupled with my ensnaring which ensures victory. Remember, selfless spirit can't save them from a wipe if I have a matrix. After at least 15 turns, I finally draw 1 win condition and its enough to close.
2-1W
R3: Good ol' Naya Burn.
Game 1: On the draw... I never draw chalices when I need them, so I was praying when I saw him suspend rift bolt on turn 1. Off the top I get my chalice and slam it on 1 with SSG. He sighs, plays it out for a bit, but blood moon locks him out of multi-color and its all over. Rabble finishes.
Game 2: On the draw again (most of my games this tourney). I pick up a near perfect 7. Oh my... caverns, chalice, SSG, Chandra, Mountain, Mountain, Desperate. Play my chalice on 1 with caverns, exiling the mountain. He's got swift-spear out already but my turn 2 Chandra kills it and ticks up to victory. He asked to see my deck and questioned why we are able to play a legacy deck in modern minus some 2 mana lands. I swelled with pride.
2-0W
R4: Shaman Elves
This ******* guy has beaten me so many times with elves when I was on skred. Not today.
Game 1: I have a fast start with turn 2 rabble, turn 3 rabble into koth. He gets a absolutely amazing company and kills me for exactly 20 out of literally nowhere. Keep in mind he's dead next turn.
Game 2: So I learned after the game that he brings in a FULL PLAYSET of rec-sage. I manage to avoid the majority of them, him only hitting 1, and my grafdigger's plus 2 bridges lock it up. If I remember correctly Koth wins this one with his ult.
Game 3: I see 0 lock pieces in my opening hand mull... My 6 is sketchy, but its fast so I keep. Caverns plus SSG means I have turn 1 rabble. Mountain off the top means I turn 2 slam hazoret with desperate. 1 card in hand if I remember right and I start swinging at his mana dorks (I learned after that he's stuck with 2 rec-sages in hand waiting on my lock). A blood moon turn 3 keeps me at 1 card in hand and hazoret is doing work now that his mana is hurting. He cocos eventually to try to stabilize, but a magma jet clears the the way enough to close it next turn.
2-1W
I was so much more prepared for this tourney, mulled aggressively and dodged my fair share of rec-sages, but it worked. Walked away with $40 cash and couldn't be happier.
This is the exact 75 I ran. I do feel like there are some cards I need your opinions on. Is tormenting voice good? It helps on turns 2-5, but after that its pretty *****ty drawing it with bridge out. I mean the last thing we want is our army of tokens being forced to swing into bigger dudes because bridge + tormenting with no cards in hand is a saaaaaaaad day. If tormenting voice + bridge is a non-bo maybe we should consider faithless looting. Yes it's also a non-bo, but less so because I'd rather it be countered by chalice occasionally, than mess up our bridge lock. I've tested faithless before, and it cannot be said enough how nice the flashback is as well as seeing 2 off the top before throwing stuff away. Sure its straight card disadvantage, but is that a bad thing in this deck? 4 cards deep for 1 card seems worth it to me. also having it in your grave late game is a nice option if we are drawing dead.
The other card I want to consider is a sideboard of Blasphemous act. There have been so many times where an anger of suns is not good enough to clear a board that's stalled with bridge. Eldrazi, Value Town and even elves often gets too big. In many cases, act will cost 1 and clear the board no problem. Seems like a 1-of fun-of. Let me know guys.
Long time lurker, first time poster with an actual list and some results. Before this deck I played Affinity and elves for a year, then left magic for a year to start my small business and then came back to Skred for 6 months. From my testing with Skred, I fell in love with Hazoret. Turns out if she avoids thoughtsieze and path, she just wins every game (seriously). Most of my modern opponents pick her up, read her and groan because there's not many easy ways to remove her. After reading through this entire thread I was confused as to why none of you weren't just jamming her main. Our lock combo is sweet, but so is a chalice into turn 3 Hazoret, without an easy way to kill her. She acts as bridges 5/6 and yet another way to close the damn game even sitting behind bridges. Extra tormenting voice in your hand? No prob bob. Top deck war? Hazoret to the rescue.
Despite my time with Skred, I had a poor showing at ThursdayNM, going 2-2.
R1 - Bant Eldrazi - Long story short, drew 12 lands game three.... no Chandra or any threat until I died. This has been a constant problem in testing. Sit behind lock pieces and literally draw nothing until they find a way out... I'm a bit salty.
1-2 L
R2 - G/W Value - My buddy is on this list (he got paired down) and he was on a variant with Fauna Shaman, which meant he knew how to beat me and what bullets to retrieve. I mean we literally practice weekly, so he knows how to win, and that generally involves Bird+Rhonas.
1-2 L
R3 - 8 Rack - Easy lock pieces into two easy wins, not much to say.
2-0 W
R4 - Burn - Easy lock pieces into two easy wins, not much to say.
2-0 W
I have not had reps with the list and it showed. I lacked experience and knowledge of when to ship a bad hand. Keep in mind the list is what I altered the list to after the tourney. The main differences being, magus sideboard, 1 less land and more utility spells overall.
Keep in mind my sideboard is up in the air at this point, but the mainboard is pretty set. Why are so many of you on a bad card - stop playing Pia and Kiran, we are not Skred, and even in that deck the card was worthless. They are yet another way to stall, which is 70% of our deck already. I don't want to harp too much on Pia and Kiran, but after you drop the Nalaars and the opponent goes on to combo out completely ignoring the *****ty card, I can only take so much. Same goes for Magus of the Moon, seems like a lock piece that should be in the sideboard, not clogging up our game plan. From my testing I keep noticing, we eventually just need to pivot and kill our opponent.
With 22 lands I felt the flood happened too often, and with the 3/1 Chandra, Koth split, I found I often just never drew anything that actually closed the game. In this current build all of our threats work with or without our lock. Skred taught me that disrupting the opponent is important, but as a sort of tempo play, not a full control play. Modern has too many ways to get out of locks between artifact hate and alternate win conditions. In many cases, the lock wins, but the lock isn't 100% guaranteed.
I want the deck to play like Eldrazi Tron, set up a lock piece (which serves as disruption) then slam a win-con and well... win. I feel the current lists floating around this forum do not maximize the use of chalice. We love to hide behind bridge, but chalice is just as amazing. Chalice + Rabble//Hazoret basically wins the game in most cases. To include more ways to maximize the chalice ensures its just as effective as the other two pieces of lockdown. Also, a super fun combo I used in Skred, which works well here is Koth minus + Hazoret, as it is a fast way to empty our hand and present two threats at the same time. With bolt out of the meta, Koth minus is in a better position than we give it credit for.
If any of you find it frustrating that we are so threat light, this may be the variant for you. 12 lock pieces//12 threats. Or if I'm talking out of my ass, call me out, I'm an open-minded individual looking to take some criticism so I can get more wins. Looking forward to more posts, and more reps.
Here are my main issues with the deck and why I believe it won't do well in a major tourney in this current meta...
Lack of card filtering/draw: We go back and forth on faithless looting and tormenting voice, but these are bad cards regardless. Pyro Prison is forcing us into bad choices. Neither card is what we want to do, and if that leaves magma jet as our only way to dig... its pretty sad. Staring down a spell queller or mantis rider with a 2 damage spell as a red mage makes me cry inside.
Lack of life gain or stalling potential: Anger is great, but it clashes with rabblemaster. Bridges win, but sometimes all 4 are in your bottom 30 cards with no shuffle effects.
Win conditions: Chandra. Rabble. Koth. All reasonable, yet without lock pieces, all very fragile.
Interaction: Lock pieces, magma jet and angers. How do we deal with enchantments? How do we deal with huge creatures? How do we deal with Karn? Well most of those come down to the answer - pray for a lock piece.
Mana acceleration: I have had some turn 1 and turn 2 Chandras with this deck and it feels great. I have also had a thoughtsieze leave me with literally only rituals and lands. Drawing rituals after turn 3 is just a joke. The card is good for explosive starts, but bad at any other time.
I sat down, really worked on the list over and over, but without progress I became frustrated. We lose the majority of our games to ourselves. The deck is explosive, mean and ruthless for those unaware of our plans. However, I mulligan a lot with this deck. I find myself looking at bad hands often. The deck really lacks any form of consistency over 5+ rounds. Drawing the wrong half of the deck happens more than I want. Nothing feels worse than winning the first game and then losing the second two to bad draws. Finally I caved and made the decision to add another color after my playtesting group told me to stop shoehorning myself into mono-red. I went with a Sun&Moon variant that is a bit different and sure its not Pyro Prison, but its damn close.
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Siege-Gang Commander
Spells (7)
4 Lightning Helix
3 Slagstorm
Enchantments (4)
4 Blood Moon
Planeswalker (8)
2 Gideon of the Trials
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Nahiri, the Harbinger
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Ensnaring Bridge
Lands (23)
2 Gemstone Caverns
4 Arid Mesa
2 Mountain
7 Plains
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Rugged Prarie
4 Temple of Triumph
2 Rest in Peace
2 Defense Grid
2 Stony Silence
2 Molten Rain
2 Settle the Wreckage
4 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
I'm not posting this to lead anyone astray, or cause arguments, just letting everyone know where I'm going and what I'm playing.
Here's what white does for us...
Filter: Nahiri, scry lands, fetch lands - Finally we can use our lands for more than just mana. Nahiri is a beast. She offers exiled removal and card selection.
Removal: Slagstorm, Helix, Nahiri - Removal that does not clash with our threats is always a plus. Lifegain allows us to not be rushing towards a lock pieces every game.
Threats: All the walkers, Rabble, Siegegang - Back on that siege-gang train. This guy is a beast, and so is Gideon. A turn 2 Gideon feels unbeatable versus certain decks.
Sidebaord: Leylines, RiP, Stony, Settle - I mean why play white? The sideboard. Just look at how none of these clash with our game plan.
Interesting things to note: layline offers us 4 new lock pieces. Siege-gang can be tutored with Nahiri to make 6 gobos. We have scry lands for turn 1 plays. We have bolt again - with lifegain. We can throw away lock pieces with Nahiri. We have settle the wreckage for blow-outs that don't affect our gobos. The look on an elves player's face when he pumped his army and attacked into 3 open mana, then I SSG into settle for the immediate win.
This color clears up a lot of issues. No longer is valakut or Storm even a real deck against us with layline. Dredge becomes a joke. Affinity also becomes a push-over. We now have board-wipes for heavy aggro and enchantments no longer hose us. Gideon clears up the ad nauseam match-up and offers a 5-6 rabblemaster. Finally we get to upgrade P&K to Siege-gang since he can be brought out manually or through our angry lithomancer while aiding active rabbles.
I'm not saying everyone just jump ship, but its important to think outside the box when deck building. Sticking to one color may be causing us to lose games that we should be winning. Close-minded rebukes will only leads to missed opportunities. At the core of this deck, pyro prison is still alive and well. Rabble will still do what it does in pyro prison, so will the lock pieces and chrandra, the main difference is we traded explosive starts for consistent finishes. We traded bad red cards for good boros options. White simply offers more.
Also, the new moon change really helps this deck come November.
I will check in on you all from time to time, but this is likely the last decklist I will post. Really learned a lot here and had a great time.
Love you all.
We are a red prison deck, our filter options are a joke. Let's be serious here, faithless and Tvoice are by no means GOOD. They are decent. I'd rather have blue to filter, but that's not an option. Let's talk about why were are filtering...
1. Too many of the same lock pieces
2. Too many 4-drops and only a few lands
3. Discarding bad cards in certain match-ups
So what cards are downright bad in certain match ups?
Chalice - Any deck that doesn't run 1 and 2 drops that matter - Tron, e. Tron, Company decks
Generally Chalice will always be pretty good.
Moon - Mono-color aggro, two color decks - Elves, Fish, D&T, 8-rack, lantern, skred
Rare fringe decks basically.
Bridge - Control & Combo - Scapeshift, Abzan Coco, Storm, U/w Control, Grixis Control
Even those last two are debatable, meaning we almost always want a bridge.
Having two of the same lock pieces is often good insurance from single targeted removal. So is drawing two of them really that bad?
Too many lands - Behind lock pieces this isn't so bad. You will eventually draw out of it and win. This is especially true game 1.
Too few lands - Ouch. Hate drawing 2 lands, never seeing a 3rd and dying. We always want to reach 4.
If we increased the land count to 22, there is a better chance we don't get screwed, requiring less need for filters.
Let's talk about removal...
These are my only two considerations these days.
Magma Jet - Scry, burn, removal. Can be used with Chandra mana. Deals with storm combo pieces, mana dorks, abzan coco pieces, all of which must be killed.
Anger of the Gods - Board wipe + exile. So many decks don't like the exile ability, so this has replaced all other wipes for me. Sure Sweltering gives you a cycle option if rabble is doing work, but too often I don't want to pay 3 mana, and too often I am staring at creatures that will be back in two turns anyway.
I will be going to the SCG regional in San Diego November 4th to compete and put this deck on the map (paired with Ray's results). Here's what I'm taking tonight and will be taking to the regionals, barring any breakthroughs....
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Hazoret the Fervent
Spells (10)
4 Desperate Ritual
3 Magma Jet
1 Tormenting Voice
2 Anger of the Gods
4 Blood Moon
Planeswalker (6)
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Koth of the Hammer
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
Artifacts (8)
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Ensnaring Bridge
Lands (22)
4 Gemstone Caverns
18 Mountain
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Defense Grid
2 Abrade
2 Sorcerous spyglass
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Torpor Orb
2 Witchbane Orb
I took some of the lessons each of us has stumbled upon and made a deck around it. Tvoice and jet for filter, jet and anger for removal, Chandra for utility, haz for finishing and 22 lands for consistency. Preach all you want about P&K or Magus, but this (at least to me) is the most straight forward approach to prison in a meta filled with eldrazi, GDS and coco. Also, Chandra, pyromaster has been amazing in testing alongside her better half. There are so many times I am behind a bridge, with Chandra and I draw a second Chandra.... at least now there's a chance we get to play both.
Why not try Mishra's Bauble and Sorcerous Spyglass. This digs us deeper, lets us have near perfect information and protects us from combo, walkers, and even blanks fetches.
Food for thought. Love the idea of plusing chandra, with no mana open, but still hitting bauble.
Additionally, it empties the hand for haz and bridge. Fun times.
Could be worth testing.
Let the brew wars begin!
Magus vs Molten
Jet vs Voice
Hazoret vs P&K
The more of us testing different versions, the more we get a 99% optimized pyro prison list for a large PPTQ or RPTQ.
Last Thursday I went 3-1 against G/W Value, Bant spirits, Jeskai Copy Cat and a loss to Dredge.
Most of my matches were very easy, but the dredge wasn't even close as I mulled to 5 both games without more than 3 lands between both games...
Here's what I brought:
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Hazoret the Fervent
Spells (10)
4 Desperate Ritual
4 Magma Jet
2 Molten Rain
Enchantments (4)
4 Blood Moon
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Koth of the Hammer
Artifacts (8)
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Ensnaring Bridge
Lands (22)
3 Gemstone Caverns
1 Mutavault
18 Mountain
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Defense Grid
2 Abrade
2 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Spellskite
1 Torpor Orb
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Damping Matrix
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Witchbane Orb
Why have I made the changes we see above? I wanted consistency and more importantly, I wanted to be even more "degenerate" to maximize the salt levels.
Magma Jet - My meta is 70% creature decks, so removal is a must in the early game. 2 scrys is almost as good as T.Voice and jetting a 1 drop on turn 2 is amazing.
Molten Rain - Magus has consistently been a nightmare for me. He rarely lives longer than a turn or two and he can't close games. Molten rain is the ideal card for our deck in addition to 4 moons because often our opponents fetch basics. I want you to count the number of times you've wished you could hit the one land giving them the mana they need. As my friend and I drove to the tourney I said "I want to live the dream: on the draw, drop caverns, land, ramp and rain leaving me with 2 lands and the opponent with 0." He laughed and said "unlikely." Over the course of the tourney, I was able to live the dream once, but the amount of times it took people off an entire color was high. Example: taking the green coco player off their single green causes the opponent, who thinks they are safe from blood moon, to suddenly lose the game.
Lands - Without filtering in the traditional sense, we simply need to hit our lands on time. 22 is a necessary evil here. Tired of being on 3 lands with 4-drops stuck in my hand.
SB - People wanted to see my latest iteration so here it is. Very similar to everyone else's, but I have more creatures to contend with in my meta.
Anger of the Gods - Its the best sweeper for us. I'm tired of having rabble compete with wrath effects. Some of you should try slagstorm, but I find we should just not use sweepers mainbaord; bridges are our sweepers.
Often lock pieces aren't enough to win however and our aggressive elements are needed to get the job done. If our mainboard is highly focused on two paths to victory we have a higher chance of winning.
Plan A: Throw down some lock pieces very quickly and win the game. Example from last tourney - On the draw, caverns, land, SSG, ritual, Chandra, Chalice on 1.
Plan B: Throw down some threats very quickly and win the game. Example from last tourney - Turn 2 Rabble, Turn 3 Rabble, Turn 4 Hazoret, GG.
If our cards don't fall into plan A or B, they are worthless. Sideboarding is where we deal with factors we had not considered. Graveyard kicking our butt - bring in cages/angers. Counterspells making us sad - bring in grids/eidolons. For those of you losing faith in the deck, just be reminded that the top deck (E.Tron) in modern only accounts for a 6.5% of the meta. Even the tier 1 decks lose often enough to warrant such a small portion of the meta. I for one am in it for the long haul. I will say this deck has a very high skill ceiling. Knowing when to hold em and when to ship em is often the difference between and easy win and a hard loss. So keep sleeving up those mountains.
Also PS. How ******* amazing is it to be on the play and before your opponent has even considered which land to play first, we are dropping a caverns. So many times I get "but I'm on the play..."
I recently went 2-2 at my latest Thursday Modern Night with the same list as last time. I realized it didn't take long for my entire meta to adapt to me.
On average each player now has 2/3 card SPECIFICALLY for pyro prison. If that's not ******* ridiculous I don't know what is.
I learned many things while playing against decks made to stop us.
1. Bridge is fragile. We need to be a deck that doesn't rely on it as heavily.
2. Birds and Nobles are a major problem for us. I'm tired of seeing them. Maybe my meta is creature heavy so take this with a grain of salt.
3. Tier 1 decks are not the issue. We don't struggle against the best, we struggle against the middle of the road tier 2 decks.
To compensate for the hate, I shifted my deck into a new direction...
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
Lock Pieces(12)
4 Blood Moon
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Hazoret the Fervent
4 Magma Jet
3 Slagstorm
Lands (21)
18 Mountain
3 Gemstone Caverns
So why this new direction without Koth? To put it simply, Koth is a great way to win behind bridge, or even close the game on an empty board, but otherwise he's a really bad card. Hear me out as I can already feel Ray judging me... If we are in anyway behind would you rather see Koth or Hazoret? For me its Haz every-time. She's a pain in the ass for non-white decks. If we are top decking into an empty board, would you rather see Koth or Hazoret? For me its again Hazoret, because she guarantees we end the game without a random burn or coco making dudes to kill Koth. Behind a bridge, she's worse over time, but she empties our hand and gives us insurance if bridge dies.
Chandra, Pyromaster - Well for sure we get to run promo black versions sooooooooo there's that. In all seriousness though, she is the best way to kill mana dorks, tokens and remove blockers without wasting a removal. The fact that she increases as shes gunning down lingering souls or nobles is relevant. She also digs deeper into the deck than tormenting voice, faithless looting or even other Chandra as she can hit lands. The question becomes how do we make her ult relevant again?
Changing how we think of utility spells is the key. Let's not rely on bridge so heavily, which means a shift to more burn. Magma jet gets a lot of hate on this thread for no reason. 2 damage in this meta is always a good thing, even against control and storm. The scry 2 is so valuable, I've seen people path my jet target. Sweltering Suns very rarely gets cycled for me, so let's just turn them back into slagstorms like this thread originally proposed. It does the same effect, but can also go face when we have rabbles pushing through. Yes it deals us damage, but if we are low on life, I doubt we are throwing it at faces anyway. Chandra now has two major targets to hit when she ults. 6 damage and 9 damage are not unimportant numbers with this deck, and scry 2 x3 is also awesome. Most times Chandra will not need to ult as her other two abilities are good, but just in case we want to close, we have the option.
On another note let's take about the white splash once more because our lock was recently featured in a big tourney:
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=116446
I'm not saying we should snap add white, but its relevant to note side-boarding and threat amounts.
I agree with those saying Eidolon is good, because it is. I am thinking of jumping to 3 after I saw a turn 1 Eidolon hose 8-wack.
Our sideboard needs to become highly meta-focused as it needs to combat local tier 2 decks trying to beat us. The tier 1 decks are already beaten by the lock. We need to make each sideboard decision based on the decks we lose to each week. This is why I will not longer be posting set side-board lists.
Again, take all of this with a grain of salt. I am re-positioning the deck to fight a meta of 8-wack, Infect, Affinity, Green-White Value, Ponza, Eldrazi Tron and bant Eldrazi. I'm tired of relying solely on bridge to beat all of those creatures. Let me know what you think.
PS. don't be discouraged by small event results, I truly believe our deck does best when the entire meta isn't inbred to beat us. Take this to a PPTQ and spike it.
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
Lock Pieces (12)
4 Blood Moon
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
Threats (14)
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Ajani Vengeant
2 Hazoret the Fervent
3 Magma Jet
2 Lightning Helix
2 Sweltering Suns
Lands (21)
8 Mountain
2 Plains
3 Temple of Triumph
4 Arid Mesa
1 Sacred Foundry
3 Gemstone Caverns
Mana Base:
Fetches - Mostly fetching for a basic. Mountain or plains, we only really need one of each with blood moon.
Scry lands - Turn 1 they are amazing. Late game they are mountains thanks to blood moon. With the new rule change they come in untapped.
Dual lands - Really think we only need one of these, just because we may need it, though it might not even make the cut.
Card choices:
Ajani Vengeant - Protects himself better than Koth, Acts as Removal, Ult virtually wins the game.
Lightning Helix - Life Gain, Removal, Burn.
Sideboard:
Stony Silence - Great card to hose artifacts.
Rest in Peace - Better than Cage in some respects and works with Chalice better.
Disenchant - A way to remove enchantments without a fuss.
Hope you don't mind my brewing, just really excited about this deck and want to see if there are avenues that haven't been explored fully.
Going forward I think we should look at our threat package now that the PW rule is changing.
Is it time to consider the slightly weaker Chandra, Pyromaster?
Hazoret and Pia both have their merits, but there are several reasons I like the old chandra.
1. She kills Birds, Nobles and Tokens. These often get under bridge and they are quite hard to deal with without a wipe.
2. She makes way for lethal rabble swings. Her ability to stop blockers is relevant.
3. She acts as more "Card Draw" since she can exist with Torch of defiance which effectively gives us 2 cards a turn that don't affect bridge.
4. Her ult is not entirely irrelevant if we run more Jets as she can potentially just kill them for 6 damage and 3 sets of 2 scrys.
Here's how I imagine the current list should be built if we are taking it in this new direction.
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
2 Pyretic Ritual
Lock Pieces (12)
4 Blood Moon
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Any (4) of These Optional Threats
2 Hazoret the Fervent
2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Koth of the Hammer
4 Magma Jet
2 Sweltering Suns
Lands (20)
17 Mountain
3 Gemstone Caverns
It's really not magical Christmas land to imagine two Chandras out.
With bridge locking things up Planeswalkers are the best threats.
Final note, the black Chandra promo makes her 100% worth playing.
R1: G/U Infect
This guy plays his pet infect deck each week and does pretty damn well with it despite its loss of probe. This match-up went from unwinnable with skred, to a joke. Blood moon or chalice or bridge all equate to a free win. For me, the best way to win is through blood moon, as it shuts down their man-lands.
Game 1: I kept a 1 land with a bunch of gas. He's on the play with a noble which I dispatch with jet and SSG, scrying into more lands. I stick a blood moon coupled with rabblemaster and he can't keep up.
Game 2: I'm on the draw again, but a caverns and a SSG means I have turn 1 magus of the moon (from the sideboard). I eventually land rabblemaster again and its over.
2-0W
R2: Bant Knightfall
I have played against green/white value town a lot, but this deck runs counters and mainboard lock hate.
Game 1: I was able to land the full lock on time which meant he was struggling to find pridemage, but after a second chalice on 2, he scooped for time.
Game 2: My grafdiggers from the side lands on turn 1, but my only lock piece gets quellered turn 3 and I can't find removal. Eventually huge knights kill me as I struggle to draw anything to lock it down.
Game 3: Holy ***** this game. I bring in damping matrix and spellskite in this match up because all I need to do is protect bridge, so I'm almost willing to mull to find one. My 7 is trash, so I keep a decent 6 with a bridge and skite. I land them on time, but he quickly follows with a kataki. Needless to say the entire game was a delicate balance of paying for kataki, having to use limited mana to play spells and keeping my hand empty. Not an easy task mind you as often I drew 4 mana spells with only 3 mana to spare. Eventually I find damping matrix coupled with my ensnaring which ensures victory. Remember, selfless spirit can't save them from a wipe if I have a matrix. After at least 15 turns, I finally draw 1 win condition and its enough to close.
2-1W
R3: Good ol' Naya Burn.
Game 1: On the draw... I never draw chalices when I need them, so I was praying when I saw him suspend rift bolt on turn 1. Off the top I get my chalice and slam it on 1 with SSG. He sighs, plays it out for a bit, but blood moon locks him out of multi-color and its all over. Rabble finishes.
Game 2: On the draw again (most of my games this tourney). I pick up a near perfect 7. Oh my... caverns, chalice, SSG, Chandra, Mountain, Mountain, Desperate. Play my chalice on 1 with caverns, exiling the mountain. He's got swift-spear out already but my turn 2 Chandra kills it and ticks up to victory. He asked to see my deck and questioned why we are able to play a legacy deck in modern minus some 2 mana lands. I swelled with pride.
2-0W
R4: Shaman Elves
This ******* guy has beaten me so many times with elves when I was on skred. Not today.
Game 1: I have a fast start with turn 2 rabble, turn 3 rabble into koth. He gets a absolutely amazing company and kills me for exactly 20 out of literally nowhere. Keep in mind he's dead next turn.
Game 2: So I learned after the game that he brings in a FULL PLAYSET of rec-sage. I manage to avoid the majority of them, him only hitting 1, and my grafdigger's plus 2 bridges lock it up. If I remember correctly Koth wins this one with his ult.
Game 3: I see 0 lock pieces in my opening hand mull... My 6 is sketchy, but its fast so I keep. Caverns plus SSG means I have turn 1 rabble. Mountain off the top means I turn 2 slam hazoret with desperate. 1 card in hand if I remember right and I start swinging at his mana dorks (I learned after that he's stuck with 2 rec-sages in hand waiting on my lock). A blood moon turn 3 keeps me at 1 card in hand and hazoret is doing work now that his mana is hurting. He cocos eventually to try to stabilize, but a magma jet clears the the way enough to close it next turn.
2-1W
I was so much more prepared for this tourney, mulled aggressively and dodged my fair share of rec-sages, but it worked. Walked away with $40 cash and couldn't be happier.
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
Lock Pieces(12)
4 Blood Moon
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
Threats (12)
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Koth of the Hammer
1 Hazoret the Fervent
1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
3 Magma Jet
2 Tormenting Voice
2 Sweltering Suns
Lands (21)
18 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Gemstone Caverns
2 Magus of the Moon
2 Defense Grid
2 Abrade
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Witchbane Orb
1 By Force
1 Damping Matrix
2 Spellskite
2 Eidolon of the Great Revel
This is the exact 75 I ran. I do feel like there are some cards I need your opinions on. Is tormenting voice good? It helps on turns 2-5, but after that its pretty *****ty drawing it with bridge out. I mean the last thing we want is our army of tokens being forced to swing into bigger dudes because bridge + tormenting with no cards in hand is a saaaaaaaad day. If tormenting voice + bridge is a non-bo maybe we should consider faithless looting. Yes it's also a non-bo, but less so because I'd rather it be countered by chalice occasionally, than mess up our bridge lock. I've tested faithless before, and it cannot be said enough how nice the flashback is as well as seeing 2 off the top before throwing stuff away. Sure its straight card disadvantage, but is that a bad thing in this deck? 4 cards deep for 1 card seems worth it to me. also having it in your grave late game is a nice option if we are drawing dead.
The other card I want to consider is a sideboard of Blasphemous act. There have been so many times where an anger of suns is not good enough to clear a board that's stalled with bridge. Eldrazi, Value Town and even elves often gets too big. In many cases, act will cost 1 and clear the board no problem. Seems like a 1-of fun-of. Let me know guys.
Long time lurker, first time poster with an actual list and some results. Before this deck I played Affinity and elves for a year, then left magic for a year to start my small business and then came back to Skred for 6 months. From my testing with Skred, I fell in love with Hazoret. Turns out if she avoids thoughtsieze and path, she just wins every game (seriously). Most of my modern opponents pick her up, read her and groan because there's not many easy ways to remove her. After reading through this entire thread I was confused as to why none of you weren't just jamming her main. Our lock combo is sweet, but so is a chalice into turn 3 Hazoret, without an easy way to kill her. She acts as bridges 5/6 and yet another way to close the damn game even sitting behind bridges. Extra tormenting voice in your hand? No prob bob. Top deck war? Hazoret to the rescue.
Despite my time with Skred, I had a poor showing at ThursdayNM, going 2-2.
R1 - Bant Eldrazi - Long story short, drew 12 lands game three.... no Chandra or any threat until I died. This has been a constant problem in testing. Sit behind lock pieces and literally draw nothing until they find a way out... I'm a bit salty.
1-2 L
R2 - G/W Value - My buddy is on this list (he got paired down) and he was on a variant with Fauna Shaman, which meant he knew how to beat me and what bullets to retrieve. I mean we literally practice weekly, so he knows how to win, and that generally involves Bird+Rhonas.
1-2 L
R3 - 8 Rack - Easy lock pieces into two easy wins, not much to say.
2-0 W
R4 - Burn - Easy lock pieces into two easy wins, not much to say.
2-0 W
I have not had reps with the list and it showed. I lacked experience and knowledge of when to ship a bad hand. Keep in mind the list is what I altered the list to after the tourney. The main differences being, magus sideboard, 1 less land and more utility spells overall.
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Desperate Ritual
Lock Pieces(12)
4 Blood Moon
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Chalice of the Void
Threats (12)
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Koth of the Hammer
2 Hazoret the Fervent
3 Tormenting Voice
2 Magma Jet
2 Sweltering Suns
Lands (21)
18 Snow-Covered Mountain
3 Gemstone Cavern
2 Magus of the Moon
2 Defense Grid
2 Abrade
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Witchbane Orb
1 By Force
1 Damping Matrix
2 Spellskite
2 Eidolon of the Great Revel
Keep in mind my sideboard is up in the air at this point, but the mainboard is pretty set. Why are so many of you on a bad card - stop playing Pia and Kiran, we are not Skred, and even in that deck the card was worthless. They are yet another way to stall, which is 70% of our deck already. I don't want to harp too much on Pia and Kiran, but after you drop the Nalaars and the opponent goes on to combo out completely ignoring the *****ty card, I can only take so much. Same goes for Magus of the Moon, seems like a lock piece that should be in the sideboard, not clogging up our game plan. From my testing I keep noticing, we eventually just need to pivot and kill our opponent.
With 22 lands I felt the flood happened too often, and with the 3/1 Chandra, Koth split, I found I often just never drew anything that actually closed the game. In this current build all of our threats work with or without our lock. Skred taught me that disrupting the opponent is important, but as a sort of tempo play, not a full control play. Modern has too many ways to get out of locks between artifact hate and alternate win conditions. In many cases, the lock wins, but the lock isn't 100% guaranteed.
I want the deck to play like Eldrazi Tron, set up a lock piece (which serves as disruption) then slam a win-con and well... win. I feel the current lists floating around this forum do not maximize the use of chalice. We love to hide behind bridge, but chalice is just as amazing. Chalice + Rabble//Hazoret basically wins the game in most cases. To include more ways to maximize the chalice ensures its just as effective as the other two pieces of lockdown. Also, a super fun combo I used in Skred, which works well here is Koth minus + Hazoret, as it is a fast way to empty our hand and present two threats at the same time. With bolt out of the meta, Koth minus is in a better position than we give it credit for.
If any of you find it frustrating that we are so threat light, this may be the variant for you. 12 lock pieces//12 threats. Or if I'm talking out of my ass, call me out, I'm an open-minded individual looking to take some criticism so I can get more wins. Looking forward to more posts, and more reps.