For what it's worth i'm still no fan of this Vial+CoCo mashup in the deck (maybe because the amount of my hands with a T1 Vial is only slightly above zero) so i may go back to Rattlechains + Birds over Vial + Image in the future.
Funny thing about this, in the last 3 tournaments my starting hands that included vials (which have been a decent amount) always had 2 of them...
Birds of Paradise are ok as a budget replacement for Hierarch. Loosing the exalted trigger will hurt you from time to time but it should be manageable nonetheless
Definitely, I've been toying around with bant spirits since spring or so (before the new lord pushed it to t1) and I had 1 hierarch and 3 birds. While hierarch is better birds are a very solid replacement. Same thing for the manabase cavern is good (vs control of course) and canopies help you a bit if you flood but is still playable without.
The turnout was lower than expercted, ended up being a 60 ppl tournament instead of the 100+ I immagined, so only 6 rounds. I brought a (now) stock Bant list with 3 vials, the deck was a blast to play as usual. In the end I opted to keep the 3 vials and add the third Thalia, Guardian of Thraben in the sb to counter the (expected) flood of GBx I mentioned a few posts above.
R1 Tron 2-1
G1 I put up a fast clock with Geist and a lord and get there.
G2 he does tron things with a t3 Karn and t4 Ulamog
G3 I Queller one map and counter the second one, he remains stuck on 2 lands and my lords help me get him before he manages to build up tron
R2 UR Breach 2-1
G1 fast clock plus disruption wins me the game
G2 he manages to control the game until a breach + Emkakuul
G3 replay of G1 plus counters and thalia to help
R3 Mirror 1-2
G1 lords+vial allowed me to grow a wanderer big enough to counter his coco and take over from there
G2 he has a decent hand plus I completely whiff on coco...
G3 It's a good fight with removal from both sides but he has more lords and blows me up in combat. Very nice match overall with very complex combat steps.
R4 Burn 2-0
G1 he gets me to 5 life but I get double captain and he cannot kill my guys anymore, I eventually have lethal in the air before he can draw enough burn to finish me off
G2 he mulls to 5 and floods
R5 Infect 2-0
G1 he has 3 elfs but not enough pump spells, I manage to go wide with coco and get enough blockers to avoid the 10 poisons. I eventually swing for lethal in the air
G2 I path the first Blighted Agent and queller the second, he doesn't draw any more creatures after that
R6 UR Wizards 1-2
G1 I go wide and block his burn with quellers and wanderers I then swing for lethal with the help of a couple of lords
G2 I get stuck on 3 lands with 2 cocos in hand while he slowly chips away one damage at a time with Soulscar Mage
G3 I have cavern to cast my spirits but no white source for my path so he eventually kills my guys and swing with 3 transformed delvers
I did not draw any of my 3 sideboard Thalias in either G2 or G3.
Ecept being a bit salty after R6 I think the deck is extremely solid and I had a ton of fun playing it. I believe Collected company makes Bant the superior version at the moment, the ability to rebuild after a sweeper is really valuable. On the other hand I am biased because I love the card so...
So, I am playing a ~100 ppl tournament next weekend and Bant spirits is one of the two decks I'm considering (other being Hardened scales). Due to Assassin's trophy I'm expecting a lot of GBx (already popular befor GRN in my area), do you guys think is worth going back to 4x Rattlechains to blank more one for one removal or does vial remain superior?
The "problem" with KCI is that plays a different game form almost any other deck in the format. The usual maindeck choices of midrange and control decks don't line up well against it and trying to fight with 2/3/4 of sideboard cards is not enough to disrupt it. The high learning curve keeps it in check for now but I am afraid of what the meta might look if it becomes more popular...
I see SB cards as improvements. So I won't specifically look out for those few cards I boarded in, but instead try to get a fast opener for the fast games against Combo. The SB cards are there to put just enough stress on my opponent so that I win faster.
This is the way I've been playing so far. With these fast combos (relatively frequent T3) you basically hope that they don't have it before turn 4/5 where we can consistenttly win.
I would probably reformulate my question to: would you mulligan a 7 cards hand that wins on turn 4/5 but that lack interaction? If so, would you go lower than 6 for the same reason? Either on the play or on the draw.
I am looking to improve my winrate vs combo decks (storm, KCI, etc). I know that's not a great matchup to begin with, so lets assume game 1 goes to them.
I would say I have an average of 6 "hate" cards frome sideboard.
Considering that Affinity doesn't mulligan so well, how aggressively would you look for your sideboard in your starting hand?
I never played Glint Nest Crane, and I would never put Board the Weatherlight into my deck - 2 mana do nothing is useless. Karn has been pretty good - the less linear the metagame the more absurd it is. If Jund and Control were popular I'd probably have 4 between the main and side, as it is online I'd only play a couple since combo and hyper-aggro are too prevalent.
This.
Been playing Karn, scion of urza all weekend in side events at GP Bologna. It's good even in racing situations (at least G1), the ability to attack and keep a relatively big blocker back is awsome.
Not sure if I'd go to 4 even in a slower meta, the only way it has been bad for me it's when it was stuck in my hand.
I guess it remain to be seen:
You think a tezzeret or karn scion o mf urza would be good vs the tron matchup?
I tried Tezzeret, agent of Bolas a while ago but because of the two color requirement was a bit too inconsistent for me.
Concerning Karn, Scion of Urza I am willing to give it a try. I think it might have the potential of making your very good draw even better (turn 2 Karn ), and helps with grindier matchups thanks to the card draw. On the other hand 4 cmc might be too much, I guess we'll see.
There aren't really any artifact decks where I play
Unless your meta is full of eldrazi or tron why don't you go for more Etched champion main?
About Damping Sphere I don't know. On one side I don't like to play artifact sideboard cards, but on the other it's less narrow than some enchantments.
Yeah, I took tron as the first example that passed trough my mind. In any case, in my meta, blood moon has been under-performing lately, but maybe I will be putting it back in to replace shapers' sanctuary.
The only enchantment I would personally add as of now is Bitterblossom for the grindier matchups.
I cut blood moon in favor of Ceremonious Rejection because of valakut deck's falling slightly out of favor. In the tron matchup I find blood moon a bit mediocre and I prefer Ceremonious Rejection to counter those damn Walking Ballista .
These are all considerations based on my meta of course.
Funny thing about this, in the last 3 tournaments my starting hands that included vials (which have been a decent amount) always had 2 of them...
Definitely, I've been toying around with bant spirits since spring or so (before the new lord pushed it to t1) and I had 1 hierarch and 3 birds. While hierarch is better birds are a very solid replacement. Same thing for the manabase cavern is good (vs control of course) and canopies help you a bit if you flood but is still playable without.
R1 Tron 2-1
G1 I put up a fast clock with Geist and a lord and get there.
G2 he does tron things with a t3 Karn and t4 Ulamog
G3 I Queller one map and counter the second one, he remains stuck on 2 lands and my lords help me get him before he manages to build up tron
R2 UR Breach 2-1
G1 fast clock plus disruption wins me the game
G2 he manages to control the game until a breach + Emkakuul
G3 replay of G1 plus counters and thalia to help
R3 Mirror 1-2
G1 lords+vial allowed me to grow a wanderer big enough to counter his coco and take over from there
G2 he has a decent hand plus I completely whiff on coco...
G3 It's a good fight with removal from both sides but he has more lords and blows me up in combat. Very nice match overall with very complex combat steps.
R4 Burn 2-0
G1 he gets me to 5 life but I get double captain and he cannot kill my guys anymore, I eventually have lethal in the air before he can draw enough burn to finish me off
G2 he mulls to 5 and floods
R5 Infect 2-0
G1 he has 3 elfs but not enough pump spells, I manage to go wide with coco and get enough blockers to avoid the 10 poisons. I eventually swing for lethal in the air
G2 I path the first Blighted Agent and queller the second, he doesn't draw any more creatures after that
R6 UR Wizards 1-2
G1 I go wide and block his burn with quellers and wanderers I then swing for lethal with the help of a couple of lords
G2 I get stuck on 3 lands with 2 cocos in hand while he slowly chips away one damage at a time with Soulscar Mage
G3 I have cavern to cast my spirits but no white source for my path so he eventually kills my guys and swing with 3 transformed delvers
I did not draw any of my 3 sideboard Thalias in either G2 or G3.
Ecept being a bit salty after R6 I think the deck is extremely solid and I had a ton of fun playing it. I believe Collected company makes Bant the superior version at the moment, the ability to rebuild after a sweeper is really valuable. On the other hand I am biased because I love the card so...
This is the way I've been playing so far. With these fast combos (relatively frequent T3) you basically hope that they don't have it before turn 4/5 where we can consistenttly win.
I would probably reformulate my question to: would you mulligan a 7 cards hand that wins on turn 4/5 but that lack interaction? If so, would you go lower than 6 for the same reason? Either on the play or on the draw.
I am looking to improve my winrate vs combo decks (storm, KCI, etc). I know that's not a great matchup to begin with, so lets assume game 1 goes to them.
I would say I have an average of 6 "hate" cards frome sideboard.
Considering that Affinity doesn't mulligan so well, how aggressively would you look for your sideboard in your starting hand?
I guess the meta still needs some time to settle...
This.
Been playing Karn, scion of urza all weekend in side events at GP Bologna. It's good even in racing situations (at least G1), the ability to attack and keep a relatively big blocker back is awsome.
Not sure if I'd go to 4 even in a slower meta, the only way it has been bad for me it's when it was stuck in my hand.
I guess it remain to be seen:
I tried Tezzeret, agent of Bolas a while ago but because of the two color requirement was a bit too inconsistent for me.
Concerning Karn, Scion of Urza I am willing to give it a try. I think it might have the potential of making your very good draw even better (turn 2 Karn
Unless your meta is full of eldrazi or tron why don't you go for more Etched champion main?
About Damping Sphere I don't know. On one side I don't like to play artifact sideboard cards, but on the other it's less narrow than some enchantments.
I cut blood moon in favor of Ceremonious Rejection because of valakut deck's falling slightly out of favor. In the tron matchup I find blood moon a bit mediocre and I prefer Ceremonious Rejection to counter those damn Walking Ballista
These are all considerations based on my meta of course.
I am on this
2 Spell Pierce
2 Ghirapur Aether Grid
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Back to Nature
1 Etched Champion
2 Rest in Peace
1 Whipflare
1 Shapers' sanctuary
1 Spellskite
Very similar to this
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/a-new-affinity-for-2018-top-16-at-grand-prix-phoenix/
I have to say that I am not very impressed with Shapers' sanctuary, but the rest has been working fine.