So I played at GP LA last weekend. 3 events(2 PTQs and GP) with 3 different version of the deck(my version, showtime version, and stickballruss version)
I played my version(2 dismember+2 abrade) with 8 rabble on Friday PTQ.
4-2 record
losses to human and abzan midrange
I played showtime version on GP
3-3 drop
losses to human, jund, mono red phoenix
Played stickballruss version with 4 rabble+2 walking ballista+more interaction on Sunday PTQ
Went 4-1-1. Drew last round for prize split.
Loss to u/r phoenix
Overall the deck felt good. Stick's version felt the best since it feels like playing a control/prison hybrid deck that can finish people off with a fast rabble draw and have more interaction. MVP by far this weekend was hazoret. It won so many games by itself(won't go below 2 copies MD).
Overall match record:
2-0 against Death shadow
1-2 against GB/X goyf deck
1-0 against GB midrange homebrew(no goyf, sakura tribe elder, not deathcloud)
2-1 against u/r pheonix
1-1 against mono red pheonix
1-0 against tron
1-0 against ad naus
0-2 against human
1-0 against harden scale
1-0 against amulet titan
Hey Jokerstyle - The land destruction angle has been tried. The biggest issue is that Molten Rain and Stone Rain cost 3. And, that slot is sooooo overcrowded for us. With Modern being so fast, it's hard to get ahead of people with mana dorks or utopia sprawl on an LD plan.
xBankX1 - Taking the boots to the competition and giving them a kickin' (4) 4-1s in the last couple days. Outstanding! As for mono-red Burn, I do keep in some Bridges. If it's straight red Burn 'traditional', then I take out all of the bridges. What do I bring in against Phoenix, mono-red?
Went 4-1 again, beat 3x tron decks(really lucky) and death shadow. Lost to Humans(triple meddling mage game 3 on Chandra, Koth, and Anger). I had 3x bridge down but draw one of each of the named card and he played venser to bounce a bridge to get my hand size big enough to swing to lethal.
All 3 of my losses came from red based decks (2x burn and 1x mono red phoenix).
Do you guys keep in your bridges or add in cages vs mono red phoenix? They have enough burns to kill you hiding behind a bridge, but their creatures(reveler and phoenix) are also annoy to deal with. its a weird sideboard matchup.
Also burn seems a lot harder now that they pack skrewer the critics. One was able to get me after i kind of locked them out behind moon and chalice on 1 but they had enough 3 mana burns to get through.
I also changed to 4 eidolon maindeck. They been great.
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Hi, I saw you on mtggoldfish and actually started playing the deck again. Also 5-0'd 2 times with the deck yesterday and today, have you tried dismember, its been one of my favorite card. Currently playing 2 main with 1 extra in side. I also moved all sweeper to sideboard but I still kept in the 4 single target removal in main deck(abrades+dismember). So many wins comes from turn 1-2 rabblemaster or legionaire and a removal to get rid of a goyf or snapcaster.
Shock is not cast until they have priority; it is not cast in the middle of Mission Briefing resolving. Mission Briefing resolves and then priority is passed. If the other player is the active player, they can Extirpate Shock knowing that is the card that was chosen and they can do so before the Mission Briefing player can cast Shock.
THANKS just to confirm if it is my turn though, I have priority so I can cast it before my opponent can extirpate. Is that correct?
I have a quick question on mission briefing and extirpate. Say I cast mission briefing and my opponent has extirpate
My understanding is active player has priority. If I cast mission briefing on my turn. Once I resolve mission briefing, say I put a shock into my graveyard and I choose it as target to be able to cast it from graveyard. I get priority so I can cast it before my opponent can cast extirpate. Is that right?
If I cast mission briefing at the end of my opponent's turn, does that mean my opponent can extirpate before I get to cast the shock since he gets priority after spell resolves?
Or should I just stick to Blood Moons + EE and use the last space for something else?
Jund attacks mainly in the angle of hand discard+graveyard hate. If they can't attack your graveyard, you really don't need ooze. Hazoret dies to liliana. Grave titan has been the best 1 card trump against jund since liliana can't do anything and they board out most other removals. Personally i like boarding in 4x leyline+1 engineered explosives+1 grave titan against jund.
read the bone(good against control and midrange)
grave titan-unexpected win condition that can be hard cast and breached(leaves 4 tokens)
extra collective brutality-this card always over perform. Triple mode versus burn feels like cheating.
I generally like 1 abrade but since you already run 2 engineered explosives I don't think it is necessary.
I will be pretty much swapping out bant knightfall for one of these goryo's decks. Of the two, which one is better moving forward; the esper goryo version, or the grishoalbrand version. As I am only able to invest into one of these so the initial decision is rather important for me.
Modern is a format with a lot of decks that don't interact that well against each other. My personal strategy for modern is either go way over the top(tron), don't let them cast or do anything(blood moon/chalice/bridge decks), balls out aggro(infect/affinity/human), or un-interactive combo decks(this deck/ad naus/storm). I don't like midrange/control that much because if your answer doesn't match their threat then you lose.
Matchup lottery did definitely not favor me this time around.
Round 1 - 4-color Death's Shadow
My teammate. I know what he's playing but don't know his exact current version.
G1: He plays 3 discard spells but no pressure. I loot and hug. Eventually I draw a vengeance and go off.
-Brutality, -Axe, -Wurm, -Breach, -Ritual, -Looting, +Chalices, +Moons, +EE
G2: I realize my mistake of siding in Chalices on the draw when he plays DS and spellbomb on turn two. This time he had no discard but quick pressure (with spellbomb as disruption).
G3: Same sideplan. Mull to a questionable 6 of temples and card draw. Decide to keep as it's kind of ok vs. discard. He gets an early Tarmogoyf and some discard. I'm on the backfoot the whole game, and manage to land a Chalice, which he Decays. Then I get down a Moon, but the Goyf gets me before I find the combo. 1-2 (0-1)
This truly feels like a bad matchup. A quick Moon would be lights out, but it's hard to stick against a discard deck.
Round 2 - 5-color homebrew
G1: He plays Inquisition, Lingering Souls, Bolt and Helix, so I'm thinking some sort of Mardu midrange. He always has a white source open, so I'm afraid to Breach a Wurm in fear of a Path. He suprises me by fetching a green shockland and drops a Bloodbraid Elf! Cascade hits Kolaghan's Command and I'm forced to form a new plan. He attacks, I shoal and survive with one open mana and SSG, Vengeance, Breach in hand and a Borb in the yard. I feel my only way to win is to Vengeance in his end step and either draw a creature or hit enough lands with Borb. I draw a Wurm and Breach for the win. His lone card was all the time a Forest, not a Path.
-Axe, -Brutality, +EE, +Spree
G2: He plays a turn 2 RIP, I counter with an EE. I sculpt a nice hand against no pressure, and finally Breach a Wurm with a Vengeance backup-plan. He Terminates the Wurm but the tokens go all the way.
After the games he shows me how he sided in 3 RIPs and 2 Surgicals. 2-0 (1-1)
Round 3 - Lantern
At this point I've seen most decks in the event. There's some Trons, Goblin deck, UR Breach, at least one more brew and a Zombie Hunt in addition to the 4-c DS and the rainbowbrew I've played. I was hoping to face a nice heavy Tron or a slow midrange deck. My prayers went unanswered.
G1: I look at my hand and a t2 Griseldaddy stares back at me. I play my land and loot away the demon. He lauhgs, plays a Spire of Industry, Bauble and passes. Lantern. Our enemy #1. Well, what's he gonna do against a turn 2 Necropotence-on-a-stick. Game one: a homerun. I count my blessings and move to sideboarding.
-Axe, -Brutality, -Wurm, -Breach, +Sprees, +EE
G2: He plays a turn one Cage and a turn two Lantern + millrock. I loot a Griselbrand and play an EE for one. T4 he draws a Pithing Needle and goes deep into the tank. I have 4 cards in hand. He has an Whir on top. He decides to hold his Needle and plays a second Bridge. I have a chance to go for it, and I take it: Endstep break EE and mainstep Vengeance. I drew 14, shoaled a Borb and drew 7 more (at 7 life). Then I ran out of shoals. Gasp. I have the option to either exile a mana-ape to loot, or exile two apes to spree and attack, or play red land and/or manamorphose before any of these. I decide not to morphose and instead burn the bridges and attack to draw 7. Jackpot. Land>SSG>Loot away a Borb>Manamorphose for B>Vengeance Borbie>throw enough lands in his face to slay the metallic dragon! Wohoo! 2-0 (2-1)
Round 4 - Storm
We know what each other is playing, and agree that the dice roll in crucial in this matchup. I end up losing the roll.
G1: I have almost a perfect hand, only missing one land to t2 combo. I draw, loot and Whisper for a few turns. Nope. When I finally hit the second land, he Remands me twice and goes off.
-Hugs, -Wurm, -Breach, +Chalices, +Pacts. I'm quite sure he sides the Goblin-plan out, and some permission in. I consider bringing in Nahiri's for more removal/enabler.
G2: I start with a good hand of Pact, Brutality, Vengeance and a Looting. He plays a turn 2 Electromancer. I Brutality it and see a hand of Negate, Remand and a Swan Song which I bin. He plays a land, performs a Sleight a Hand and passes. I reanimate the big guy, he remands and I pact. I proceed to an easy win.
-Chalice +EE
G3: I mull to a questionable 6 with chalice and some card draw. He also mulled to 6 and scried to bottom. I spent my first turns sculpting, and then play the Chalice. He plays a Baral. I draw a Brutality, and consider playing it, but opt to play a looting and a scryland instead. The reasoning was that he had mana open for a Remand, and I needed to advance my board if I ever dreamed of winning. Well, got punished. He went for it and got there. 1-2 (2-2)
Maybe should have sided out the last Chalice as well, and bring in Nahiri's as an additional way of removal?
2-2. Well the games went 6-4 against a very hostile field, and I won against the #1 enemy, so I'm definitely content with the result.
Notes on the deck:
-The Hugs are (finally) starting to grow on me. I specifically like them against discard, as they represent a whole 3 new cards for them to worry about.
-I like the lone EE on the side. It's very easy to bring in blind.
-I'm testing a Nahiri's Wrath on the side for midrange matchups. Serves as an extra enabler and a way to buy time against Goyfs and such.
-It would be nice to hear how good Grave Titan has been. I don't own any yet and am considering buying some.
/J
Grave titan has been ok for me. I might remove it. I generally bring it in against discard heavy matchup and matchup where I bring in a lot of my sideboard sweeper. There was a few games it rotted in my hand(19 lands). The only game I remember winning with it completely was against a jund player who looked like he sided out majority of his unconditional removal and died when i cast it turn 4.
I still am ambient on hugs. i know they are needed but I would love to be able to play draw into discard like chart a course. Too many games where I cast it discarding big G then immediately draw through the breach.
I played my version(2 dismember+2 abrade) with 8 rabble on Friday PTQ.
4-2 record
losses to human and abzan midrange
I played showtime version on GP
3-3 drop
losses to human, jund, mono red phoenix
Played stickballruss version with 4 rabble+2 walking ballista+more interaction on Sunday PTQ
Went 4-1-1. Drew last round for prize split.
Loss to u/r phoenix
Overall the deck felt good. Stick's version felt the best since it feels like playing a control/prison hybrid deck that can finish people off with a fast rabble draw and have more interaction. MVP by far this weekend was hazoret. It won so many games by itself(won't go below 2 copies MD).
Overall match record:
2-0 against Death shadow
1-2 against GB/X goyf deck
1-0 against GB midrange homebrew(no goyf, sakura tribe elder, not deathcloud)
2-1 against u/r pheonix
1-1 against mono red pheonix
1-0 against tron
1-0 against ad naus
0-2 against human
1-0 against harden scale
1-0 against amulet titan
Thanks Ray, Ill your board strat.
All 3 of my losses came from red based decks (2x burn and 1x mono red phoenix).
Do you guys keep in your bridges or add in cages vs mono red phoenix? They have enough burns to kill you hiding behind a bridge, but their creatures(reveler and phoenix) are also annoy to deal with. its a weird sideboard matchup.
Also burn seems a lot harder now that they pack skrewer the critics. One was able to get me after i kind of locked them out behind moon and chalice on 1 but they had enough 3 mana burns to get through.
I also changed to 4 eidolon maindeck. They been great.
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just a question, how do you sideboard for the jund and grixis shadow matchup?
Hi user, I dont think card advantage is what this deck is looking for.
Most of the time, you are going for a turn 1-2 lock piece or turn 1-2 legion warboss/rabblemaster or mull to that.
I played another 5 leagues with this deck. Gone 4-1 3 times and 3-2 twice.
Been seeing a lot of new 4 color prison deck so Im back to 4 abrade main. Also saw a few affinity.
THANKS just to confirm if it is my turn though, I have priority so I can cast it before my opponent can extirpate. Is that correct?
My understanding is active player has priority. If I cast mission briefing on my turn. Once I resolve mission briefing, say I put a shock into my graveyard and I choose it as target to be able to cast it from graveyard. I get priority so I can cast it before my opponent can cast extirpate. Is that right?
If I cast mission briefing at the end of my opponent's turn, does that mean my opponent can extirpate before I get to cast the shock since he gets priority after spell resolves?
Jund attacks mainly in the angle of hand discard+graveyard hate. If they can't attack your graveyard, you really don't need ooze. Hazoret dies to liliana. Grave titan has been the best 1 card trump against jund since liliana can't do anything and they board out most other removals. Personally i like boarding in 4x leyline+1 engineered explosives+1 grave titan against jund.
read the bone(good against control and midrange)
grave titan-unexpected win condition that can be hard cast and breached(leaves 4 tokens)
extra collective brutality-this card always over perform. Triple mode versus burn feels like cheating.
I generally like 1 abrade but since you already run 2 engineered explosives I don't think it is necessary.
Modern is a format with a lot of decks that don't interact that well against each other. My personal strategy for modern is either go way over the top(tron), don't let them cast or do anything(blood moon/chalice/bridge decks), balls out aggro(infect/affinity/human), or un-interactive combo decks(this deck/ad naus/storm). I don't like midrange/control that much because if your answer doesn't match their threat then you lose.
Grave titan has been ok for me. I might remove it. I generally bring it in against discard heavy matchup and matchup where I bring in a lot of my sideboard sweeper. There was a few games it rotted in my hand(19 lands). The only game I remember winning with it completely was against a jund player who looked like he sided out majority of his unconditional removal and died when i cast it turn 4.
I still am ambient on hugs. i know they are needed but I would love to be able to play draw into discard like chart a course. Too many games where I cast it discarding big G then immediately draw through the breach.