You are Talking about drawing tracker and kolaghans command, wich is already crazy good, but my line of play would be (in top deck mode) drawstep discard, return best thread (bbe), and crack clue. This amount of card advantage is an easy win.
I'm actually talking about having the Tracker in play. But I know what you mean.
Clues are not really arkward to use, and you can save them until you need ca and not tempo. There are allways turns were you cant use your mana or you need to dig for an answer.
This is the situation I'm mainly talking about. It might be that I'm simply not using Tracker that well, which is not unthinkable. Clearly late in the game, when the board is stalled - Tracker is a great draw. The reason I suggested Olivia instead is that there's just so many games where, if she goes unanswered, you've pretty much won the game. I even think she's great against various creature based aggro decks (humans, affinity, etc.) - where Tracker would not be my go to threat. This is where Tracker would be too slow but Olivia should be enough to win the game after 2-3 turns in play (provided you can survive the turn where you cast her ofc.)
What are our thoughts on Tireless Tracker? I’m speaking predominantly about it as a one or two-of in the SB. When would we want it if we were to side it? Just for games where we want grind? What about against big mana?
And now, for thoroughness’ sake, what do we think about it as a one-of in the MB? I think it fits our strategy just fine. It’s an independently powerful card that generates value, sometimes absurd amount of value. There’s just no room for it. I feel like that’s the only thing holding us back from playing him, albeit that’s the only reason needed. There’s just no room. He would be an absolutely disgusting cascade though; just saying.
Im not trying to be avant-garde or anything here. Honestly I’m just a little salty that I keep losing to Junk and I’m a little jealous of this weapon in particular. I also just like bouncing ideas off y’all. I value the conglomeration of opinions on this thread quite a bit.
My main issue with the card is that it is very mana intensive to get going - and with the 4x four drops and lots of 3 drop value cards we have, I find it tough to get the advantage out of Tireless Tracker that you want. Like say you have a K Command in hand and a clue on board - with 5 mana. Would you rather K Command back a 2 drop and play it - or crack a clue and hope to draw into what?
I do like the card though - don't get me wrong - I just feel like it is often gonna force me to use my mana in a weird way if I want / need to crack the clues, thus not generating the true advantage the card is trying to make you generate. At the least I think some of the 3 drops in the list has got to go (possibly to the sideboard) if you want to run Tireless Tracker. Mind you - the card is almost a death sentence for Lantern if you get to play it. So depending on your meta it can be an all star.
With regards to Junk - of course it can be a sideboard card for that matchup too if you feel like you need it. Personally I think I'd rather run Olivia Voldaren as a way of breaking that matchup + 3 scoozes. Olivia seems to be doing everything we need to be doing in that matchup (assuming you can find some way of dealing with their PWs).
I know mages come in for a bunch of matchups (it is my go to filler when I have cards I want to get out of my deck) - what I’m suggesting/trying to do, is to find other good generic threats that can come in for those same matchups, essentially making us a better Aggro deck / having more threats. While Mage is good against control it isn’t not like it is putting up a very fast clock.
I would guess that the higher your cmc curve in the deck (more pws, pulses and k commands) the better your matchups against slow control decks get. Whereas low cmc discard and removal ups your game against Aggro. I’ve had incredible results against burn with my list lately - with only run the 2 brutalities in the side for the matchup. Being consistently able to kill their early creatures, following it up with painless discard into goyf makes that a winnable matchup. The preboarded matches basicly comes down to not drawing your bobs and TSes.
I haven’t played much against the humans deck. But I would guess that we side out two Lotv and TSes and bring in sweepers, spot removal and potentially more scoozes if they are in our board. Early confidant seems fine if the board is clear or you need more removal.
Do you guys think there might be some merit to not run Fulminator in the board and perhaps play some better more aggressive threats in those slots? I’m thinking generic creatures that can come in, in the same matchups? Hazoret comes to mind as a clear inclusion. Just wondering if attacking mana bases is where we should be in the titanshift/Tron matchups or if we could speed up our clock + disrupt with hand disruption for better results. My feeling is that it wouldn’t work, but I’d just love to not be forced into running mages in the board. I was looking for more hasty creatures that could be worth running, but I didn’t really find anything that made me that interested.
And if all that fails, could it perhaps be that simply conceding those matchups is a better plan?
To answer your last question: Personally, it's because I don't want and am not comfortable with "variance" from the "best" card in my deck.
I think one just needs to adjust their expectations from the cascade hit.
Here's what you're guarenteed from the cascade:
1. Any potential lands will go to bottom. This means if you have plenty of lands (more than you can use) you are moving dead draws to the bottom of the deck.
2. 4+ CMC cards will go to bottom. This is one of the reasons I try to avoid playing any other 4 drops than BBE, especially in the board. Usually the 4 CMC spells would be huge impact, and I don't want to potentially put those on the bottom of my deck, having to shuffle that and potentially a bunch of lands back in the deck.
3. You will hit some card that you can cast. If you choose not to cast it because the card would be actively bad for you (TS on low life, etc) then at least now that too is on the bottom of the deck and you won't draw it.
One could argue that your chances of drawing a land next turn is the same as it would be otherwise, seeing as you've now moved the top spell away from the deck. Without doing all the math involved I would expect that not to be the case on average. For every land you put on the bottom you've effectively dropped the percentage of drawing a land by the same amount as you would have if you removed that land from the deck (until you shuffle again).
It's a free spell, it's a two for one and it has the potential to help you "fix" your draws. It is clear that if you expect it to always cascade into just the card/kind of card you need, then there will be tons of variance. If, however, you expect just some of the things listed here, then you will be in great shape, and then the card truly does become the best card in the deck.
I have more and more turned my deck back into the way it looked prior to the BBE unbannings. I see it more and more as a way better Hazoret, of which I can maindeck 4 copies.
The comparison to Hazoret is quite straight forward: It's a hasty 4 drop that allows me to turn the corner way faster than what would otherwise be possible. Also it brings along additional value. The fact that BBE dies easier is not so important - if it dies to a removal spell it will still, in most matchups, have dealt 3 damage and brought another card for me as advantage.
Now, playing 4 4-drops does change the deck a bit - but I've stopped trying to build so much around BBE. Prior to BBE unban I played 0 K Commands main, right now I'm on 1. Other than that, I've shaved a couple of removal spells and gone from 3 to 4 bolts.
Also there's still the point of mana curve and number of manlands to think about. I think the idea of trying to play more one drops to support double spelling early is good. I also liked the points made by Jadine to try and polarize the curve towards less 2 drops and more 1 and 3 drops. I think we still haven't seen the last of what is going to happen with our mana curve - be it something like the very low curve I'm currently running or a more polarized curve that Jadine is running, or something completely different.
Playing BBE also really encourages us not to play other 4 drops (maindeck or board), as playing a similar 3 drop or below will increase our chances of seeing that spell during the game by a lot. This doesn't mean it is wrong, only that you need to really consider if there's a similar, but slightly worse, 3 drop you could be playing instead.
I think by far and large you can get quite far to not over do it on BBE. It is a great card, definitely a 4-drop for me - but it doesn't really change my initial playstyle with the deck. It does however allow me to be way more aggressive much sooner in the matchup. Also the card has probably taken ~10 minutes off of my average round time. Quite a bit of that is due to being able to turn the corner much quicker. It is rarely because I loose from a mana screwed or flooded hand, at least no more than it was before.
Obviously there's more people prepared for Jund now when you play against them - but that's just how it is once our deck is better positioned in the meta.
Thx Delver. I’m currently trying out the 4th mage in the board, just trying it out to see how much of a difference it makes in the matchups where you really need to draw it. Have not yet had the opportunity to try it out though. But i agree that I need more GY hate, probably a second spellbomb.
Do any of you have experience with the Blue steel matchup? I keep loosing against our local player that plays it, although it feels to me like it should be favored for me. I’m somewhat certain I’m playing the matchup wrong. I know it is somewhat of a fringe deck, it just annoys me
I have tried cutting down to 1 grudge in the board and moved the second k command to the board, this way I’m running 6 discard spells, 4 bolts and 3 pushes maindeck. I’m having some trouble finding space for everything I want in the board though. I’m liking the idea of a singleton golgari charm. Seems good against Bogles.
But idk, my board feels like sort of a mess right now. Here’s what I’m on.
For me there's a couple of things I've been very keen on, as of late, with my maindeck.
1. I want TONS of 1 mana interaction. I'm looking at playing a minimum of 12 mana spells. Currently at 5 discard and 7 removal spells - could see it being a 6/6 split instead, my local meta is just very flooded by creature decks. I keep the 6th 1 mana discard spell in the board as a Duress currently. If I were to play only 6 removal spells, I'd go with a 3/3 split of Push and Bolt, push has been great to have multiples of - I think in general we're underrating the card right now.
2. I want to reliably be able to kill 2 mana creatures. Instead of going deep on the grindy cards for the mirror match, I'm going for simple effective removal - which has the benefit of working out well against aggressive decks as well. I also want at least 3 spells to reliably deal with delve threats and the likes (2 terminates and 1 pulse maindeck for me). Also, I think dreadbore is so not worth running - the instant speed terminate is just so much better.
3. I find Liliana, the Last Hope to be a way better sideboard card than maindeck. I could see having 2 of her in the sideboard as an option - but for me at least, the one copy does the work so far. I supplement her with a Grim Lavamancer for the small creature removal package (in addition to all my maindeck removal spells).
As a new thing I'm going to try 4x fulminator's in the board. I played against a lot of decks that needed land destruction this weekend - boarded in 3 every time, but didn't see them reliably enough. In general I've hedged my list against generally useful cards (so besides the fulminators, a lot of 1 of cards). I still like the 2nd Pulse in the board to be able to board in against the decks playing creatures that are more difficult to deal with.
I also think we need to reconsider which matches it is fine to board out BBE - I think some matchups where we can operate just fine trading one for one - but needs to do it early and often, she might be too clunky. But it is a tough call as she does wonders wrt. turning the corner.
Just some thoughts - overall I think we cannot afford to skimp on 1 mana interaction spells. The postive tempo swing in dealing with threats for much less mana than the opponent spends on them is something we rely on quite a bit I think.
The simple strategy is to keep the board clean - and if they have an infect creature that can attack you next turn, if possible avoid tapping out to represent removal.
You want them to not be able to cast their pump spells in combat, in fear of their creature dying in response. Let them attack, accept the damage and then in their end step, make them trade pump/protection spells for your removal.
If you slam liliana to make them sack a creature, be aware of the dryad arbor fetch.
1. Should we be killing their creatures during our turn as well? It won't be the optimal efficient use of our mana, but doing this burns their protection / pump spells as well.
I would do this only if they are too low on mana to protect their creature. If you think the exchange of spells will not change during their turn, make them use their mana at the end of their own turn, such that you can hopefully kill it during your own turn following that.
2. My losses are always to Inkmoth Nexus and never to his actual infect creatures which I am able to kill. Is it necessary to board aggressively v.s. Inkmoth with 3 Fulminators and 2 Grudges? What do you shave?
Inkmoth is by far their best infect creature in the matchup. It doesn't die to either liliana and decay and pulse does not kill it. I always make an attempt to save the better removal spells for potential inkmoths (push and terminate, and ofc. bolt to some extent). If at all possible I want inkmoth to die the turn it gets activated.
3. Are we weaker to infect now that we have trimmed some removal and gone up in the curve? I find myself struggling to keep pace with their deployment of creatures sometimes, especially without Bob.
If you have trimmed some of the 1 mana removal, then I'd say yes. In my opinion this matchup is just as much about having cheap interaction, as it is having enough of it. You don't want to leave them feeling that if they have 2x hexproof spells that their creature cannot die.
4. In a specific scenario which happened to me last night - I was at 7 infect. I had 4 untapped lands, with a K Command and LOTV left in hand and a Grim Lavamancer on board. My opponent has no creatures, with 3 Inkmoths and 1 Breeding Pool. On his turn, he activates 2 Inkmoths and taps out. In this situation, would you have taken the 2 infect to go to 9, or try to kill both Inkmoths with K Command?
This depends quite a bit on cards in hand, etc - and how the game has gone. I would not find it an unreasonable line to let him declare attacks, lava mancer one inkmoth and then in response to potential phyrexian pump spell respond with k command. If he does not respond I'd take the remaining 1 infect and k command in end step.
In this specific instance you would have been better off not doing anything - but clearly the chances of him having 2x growth are low, I like acting here.
My sideboard plan against infect (using the list I posted earlier, but with second Liliana the last hope instead of the lavamancer in the board) is something like this:
- 4 BloodBraid elf (I don't really want to tap out for BBE, we don't need a high creature density, we just need to get rid of his creatures)
- 2 Thoughtseize (I think cutting some discard is decent, they are great as long as they don't have active threats you need to deal with, but tapping mana not to kill a creature later in the game can be rough. But should have probably cut some more Lilianas instead)
- 1 Liliana of the veil (It's hard to afford tapping out for this on 3, and she's not that awesome in this matchup. I think I should have cut 2-3 of her)
+ 2 Ancient Grudge (It kills the most important creature in the matchup, twice)
+ 1 Pithing Needle (Naming Inkmoth nexus)
+ 1 Pulse (It's generally a bad card in the matchup, but Shaper's Sanctuary is a card we need to get off the battlefield ASAP when we see it)
+ 1 Surgical Extraction (This card might be a bit too cute, I'd more or less want to target any of his infect creature's in the GY to leave him with 8 active threaths
+ 2 Liliana the Last Hope (with this on the board on time you basicly cut them down to just having to slam you with Inkmoth)
I can see arguments to boarding in Fulminator mage here as well, and it is probably a better card than the Extraction (possibly better than the LoTV as well).
There's also lots of bluffing going on in this matchup. While I don't like trying to make active gestures (such as reaching for the pen) - I will happily sit there and pretend to be holding removal while sitting with discard, lilianas or lands in hand. Be aware that your opponent does the same.
To summarize here's the cards from them that really matter in the matchup:
Once you realise that this matchup is just as much a fight about mana, than it is about available removal spells, then this becomes quite a different matchup. You want to kill Noble Hierarch on sight turn one if you have an extra removal spell at all (possibly even if you don't) as it is +1 infect per attack and also gives your opponent much more mana than you. Obviously Dark Confidant is a key card - but only if you're able to tap out for him.
My reasons for card selection goes much hand in hand with what EctoMark voiced. After starting out with much more clunky builds, heavy on 3 mana cards (sorcery speed much of the time as well) I came to the conclusion that being able to double spell early was very important - BBE will give me the late game power needed.
I'm quite heavy on Fatal Push as I have a very small local meta, and most decks are creature based. If it was less creature based I would probably run the 4th IoK here. I really value all the 1 drop spells in this build - and I would fit more if I could.
Some stuff to note:
I was very uncomfortable going down to 1 decay and 2 terminates, from the previous 2 and 3. The 2nd pulse in the board is both a way of trying to deal with the permanents either of these spells would previously be in charge of dealing with, and as a way of dealing with control decks. Also it doubles as a sweeper against tokens. I'm very happy with the 2nd pulse in the board, and also would never dream of maindecking it.
I have a couple of flex slots in the board that I'm currently experiementing with. The needle, lavamancer (I have so much removal already that I'm not really sure if it is needed, although it is a great card) and extraction is all cards I could see being something else. I have tried various cards in these slots. Everything from Hazoret, Anger, more brutalities, second Liliana the Last Hope and Kitchen finks are viable there.
I don't really fancy running Thrun in Jund anymore, the matchups it was supposed to be boarded in against you just don't need to shore up that much anymore, BBE does a nice job here.
I've really liked the 3 pushes main deck. There's still a ton of DS decks running around, and with my suite of removal I can deal with them quie comfortably. Also the mirror is important, where they also work overtime.
All in all I feel this deck runs very smooth - and has game against most, if not all, decks. Tron and Valakut decks are obviously still bad matchups, but now you have the chance of winning against them.
This is probably going a bit too deep, but Bonds of Mortality seems like it could have some game against bogles, geist - and some indestructible permanents, if need be. At the very least it draws a card, and it's an extra card type for Goyf as well. Probably not worth it right now, but could be worth considering if bogles gets to be a thing in the bigger meta?
Totally agree.[/quote]
I'm actually talking about having the Tracker in play. But I know what you mean.
This is the situation I'm mainly talking about. It might be that I'm simply not using Tracker that well, which is not unthinkable. Clearly late in the game, when the board is stalled - Tracker is a great draw. The reason I suggested Olivia instead is that there's just so many games where, if she goes unanswered, you've pretty much won the game. I even think she's great against various creature based aggro decks (humans, affinity, etc.) - where Tracker would not be my go to threat. This is where Tracker would be too slow but Olivia should be enough to win the game after 2-3 turns in play (provided you can survive the turn where you cast her ofc.)
My main issue with the card is that it is very mana intensive to get going - and with the 4x four drops and lots of 3 drop value cards we have, I find it tough to get the advantage out of Tireless Tracker that you want. Like say you have a K Command in hand and a clue on board - with 5 mana. Would you rather K Command back a 2 drop and play it - or crack a clue and hope to draw into what?
I do like the card though - don't get me wrong - I just feel like it is often gonna force me to use my mana in a weird way if I want / need to crack the clues, thus not generating the true advantage the card is trying to make you generate. At the least I think some of the 3 drops in the list has got to go (possibly to the sideboard) if you want to run Tireless Tracker. Mind you - the card is almost a death sentence for Lantern if you get to play it. So depending on your meta it can be an all star.
With regards to Junk - of course it can be a sideboard card for that matchup too if you feel like you need it. Personally I think I'd rather run Olivia Voldaren as a way of breaking that matchup + 3 scoozes. Olivia seems to be doing everything we need to be doing in that matchup (assuming you can find some way of dealing with their PWs).
I would guess that the higher your cmc curve in the deck (more pws, pulses and k commands) the better your matchups against slow control decks get. Whereas low cmc discard and removal ups your game against Aggro. I’ve had incredible results against burn with my list lately - with only run the 2 brutalities in the side for the matchup. Being consistently able to kill their early creatures, following it up with painless discard into goyf makes that a winnable matchup. The preboarded matches basicly comes down to not drawing your bobs and TSes.
I haven’t played much against the humans deck. But I would guess that we side out two Lotv and TSes and bring in sweepers, spot removal and potentially more scoozes if they are in our board. Early confidant seems fine if the board is clear or you need more removal.
And if all that fails, could it perhaps be that simply conceding those matchups is a better plan?
I think one just needs to adjust their expectations from the cascade hit.
Here's what you're guarenteed from the cascade:
1. Any potential lands will go to bottom. This means if you have plenty of lands (more than you can use) you are moving dead draws to the bottom of the deck.
2. 4+ CMC cards will go to bottom. This is one of the reasons I try to avoid playing any other 4 drops than BBE, especially in the board. Usually the 4 CMC spells would be huge impact, and I don't want to potentially put those on the bottom of my deck, having to shuffle that and potentially a bunch of lands back in the deck.
3. You will hit some card that you can cast. If you choose not to cast it because the card would be actively bad for you (TS on low life, etc) then at least now that too is on the bottom of the deck and you won't draw it.
One could argue that your chances of drawing a land next turn is the same as it would be otherwise, seeing as you've now moved the top spell away from the deck. Without doing all the math involved I would expect that not to be the case on average. For every land you put on the bottom you've effectively dropped the percentage of drawing a land by the same amount as you would have if you removed that land from the deck (until you shuffle again).
It's a free spell, it's a two for one and it has the potential to help you "fix" your draws. It is clear that if you expect it to always cascade into just the card/kind of card you need, then there will be tons of variance. If, however, you expect just some of the things listed here, then you will be in great shape, and then the card truly does become the best card in the deck.
I have more and more turned my deck back into the way it looked prior to the BBE unbannings. I see it more and more as a way better Hazoret, of which I can maindeck 4 copies.
The comparison to Hazoret is quite straight forward: It's a hasty 4 drop that allows me to turn the corner way faster than what would otherwise be possible. Also it brings along additional value. The fact that BBE dies easier is not so important - if it dies to a removal spell it will still, in most matchups, have dealt 3 damage and brought another card for me as advantage.
Now, playing 4 4-drops does change the deck a bit - but I've stopped trying to build so much around BBE. Prior to BBE unban I played 0 K Commands main, right now I'm on 1. Other than that, I've shaved a couple of removal spells and gone from 3 to 4 bolts.
Also there's still the point of mana curve and number of manlands to think about. I think the idea of trying to play more one drops to support double spelling early is good. I also liked the points made by Jadine to try and polarize the curve towards less 2 drops and more 1 and 3 drops. I think we still haven't seen the last of what is going to happen with our mana curve - be it something like the very low curve I'm currently running or a more polarized curve that Jadine is running, or something completely different.
Playing BBE also really encourages us not to play other 4 drops (maindeck or board), as playing a similar 3 drop or below will increase our chances of seeing that spell during the game by a lot. This doesn't mean it is wrong, only that you need to really consider if there's a similar, but slightly worse, 3 drop you could be playing instead.
I think by far and large you can get quite far to not over do it on BBE. It is a great card, definitely a 4-drop for me - but it doesn't really change my initial playstyle with the deck. It does however allow me to be way more aggressive much sooner in the matchup. Also the card has probably taken ~10 minutes off of my average round time. Quite a bit of that is due to being able to turn the corner much quicker. It is rarely because I loose from a mana screwed or flooded hand, at least no more than it was before.
Obviously there's more people prepared for Jund now when you play against them - but that's just how it is once our deck is better positioned in the meta.
Do any of you have experience with the Blue steel matchup? I keep loosing against our local player that plays it, although it feels to me like it should be favored for me. I’m somewhat certain I’m playing the matchup wrong. I know it is somewhat of a fringe deck, it just annoys me
Edit: realized it might not be known which deck I’m referring to, it is something like this list: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/646810#paper
I have tried cutting down to 1 grudge in the board and moved the second k command to the board, this way I’m running 6 discard spells, 4 bolts and 3 pushes maindeck. I’m having some trouble finding space for everything I want in the board though. I’m liking the idea of a singleton golgari charm. Seems good against Bogles.
But idk, my board feels like sort of a mess right now. Here’s what I’m on.
4 Dark Confidant
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Bloodbraid Elf
Spells:22
3 Fatal Push
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Thoughtseize
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Terminate
1 Kolaghan's Command
4 Liliana of the Veil
1 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
3 Bloodstained Mire
1 Forest
1 Mountain
2 Overgrown Tomb
3 Raging Ravine
1 Stomping Ground
2 Swamp
1 Twilight Mire
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wooded Foothills
4 Fulminator Mage
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Collective Brutality
1 Golgari Charm
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1. I want TONS of 1 mana interaction. I'm looking at playing a minimum of 12 mana spells. Currently at 5 discard and 7 removal spells - could see it being a 6/6 split instead, my local meta is just very flooded by creature decks. I keep the 6th 1 mana discard spell in the board as a Duress currently. If I were to play only 6 removal spells, I'd go with a 3/3 split of Push and Bolt, push has been great to have multiples of - I think in general we're underrating the card right now.
2. I want to reliably be able to kill 2 mana creatures. Instead of going deep on the grindy cards for the mirror match, I'm going for simple effective removal - which has the benefit of working out well against aggressive decks as well. I also want at least 3 spells to reliably deal with delve threats and the likes (2 terminates and 1 pulse maindeck for me). Also, I think dreadbore is so not worth running - the instant speed terminate is just so much better.
3. I find Liliana, the Last Hope to be a way better sideboard card than maindeck. I could see having 2 of her in the sideboard as an option - but for me at least, the one copy does the work so far. I supplement her with a Grim Lavamancer for the small creature removal package (in addition to all my maindeck removal spells).
As a new thing I'm going to try 4x fulminator's in the board. I played against a lot of decks that needed land destruction this weekend - boarded in 3 every time, but didn't see them reliably enough. In general I've hedged my list against generally useful cards (so besides the fulminators, a lot of 1 of cards). I still like the 2nd Pulse in the board to be able to board in against the decks playing creatures that are more difficult to deal with.
I also think we need to reconsider which matches it is fine to board out BBE - I think some matchups where we can operate just fine trading one for one - but needs to do it early and often, she might be too clunky. But it is a tough call as she does wonders wrt. turning the corner.
Just some thoughts - overall I think we cannot afford to skimp on 1 mana interaction spells. The postive tempo swing in dealing with threats for much less mana than the opponent spends on them is something we rely on quite a bit I think.
The simple strategy is to keep the board clean - and if they have an infect creature that can attack you next turn, if possible avoid tapping out to represent removal.
You want them to not be able to cast their pump spells in combat, in fear of their creature dying in response. Let them attack, accept the damage and then in their end step, make them trade pump/protection spells for your removal.
If you slam liliana to make them sack a creature, be aware of the dryad arbor fetch.
I would do this only if they are too low on mana to protect their creature. If you think the exchange of spells will not change during their turn, make them use their mana at the end of their own turn, such that you can hopefully kill it during your own turn following that.
Inkmoth is by far their best infect creature in the matchup. It doesn't die to either liliana and decay and pulse does not kill it. I always make an attempt to save the better removal spells for potential inkmoths (push and terminate, and ofc. bolt to some extent). If at all possible I want inkmoth to die the turn it gets activated.
If you have trimmed some of the 1 mana removal, then I'd say yes. In my opinion this matchup is just as much about having cheap interaction, as it is having enough of it. You don't want to leave them feeling that if they have 2x hexproof spells that their creature cannot die.
This depends quite a bit on cards in hand, etc - and how the game has gone. I would not find it an unreasonable line to let him declare attacks, lava mancer one inkmoth and then in response to potential phyrexian pump spell respond with k command. If he does not respond I'd take the remaining 1 infect and k command in end step.
In this specific instance you would have been better off not doing anything - but clearly the chances of him having 2x growth are low, I like acting here.
My sideboard plan against infect (using the list I posted earlier, but with second Liliana the last hope instead of the lavamancer in the board) is something like this:
- 4 BloodBraid elf (I don't really want to tap out for BBE, we don't need a high creature density, we just need to get rid of his creatures)
- 2 Thoughtseize (I think cutting some discard is decent, they are great as long as they don't have active threats you need to deal with, but tapping mana not to kill a creature later in the game can be rough. But should have probably cut some more Lilianas instead)
- 1 Liliana of the veil (It's hard to afford tapping out for this on 3, and she's not that awesome in this matchup. I think I should have cut 2-3 of her)
+ 2 Ancient Grudge (It kills the most important creature in the matchup, twice)
+ 1 Pithing Needle (Naming Inkmoth nexus)
+ 1 Pulse (It's generally a bad card in the matchup, but Shaper's Sanctuary is a card we need to get off the battlefield ASAP when we see it)
+ 1 Surgical Extraction (This card might be a bit too cute, I'd more or less want to target any of his infect creature's in the GY to leave him with 8 active threaths
+ 2 Liliana the Last Hope (with this on the board on time you basicly cut them down to just having to slam you with Inkmoth)
I can see arguments to boarding in Fulminator mage here as well, and it is probably a better card than the Extraction (possibly better than the LoTV as well).
There's also lots of bluffing going on in this matchup. While I don't like trying to make active gestures (such as reaching for the pen) - I will happily sit there and pretend to be holding removal while sitting with discard, lilianas or lands in hand. Be aware that your opponent does the same.
To summarize here's the cards from them that really matter in the matchup:
1. Inkmoth Nexus
2. Pendelhaven
3. Shaper's Sanctuary
Once you realise that this matchup is just as much a fight about mana, than it is about available removal spells, then this becomes quite a different matchup. You want to kill Noble Hierarch on sight turn one if you have an extra removal spell at all (possibly even if you don't) as it is +1 infect per attack and also gives your opponent much more mana than you. Obviously Dark Confidant is a key card - but only if you're able to tap out for him.
1 Abrupt Decay
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodbraid Elf
3 Bloodstained Mire
4 Dark Confidant
2 Fatal Push
1 Forest
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Liliana of the Veil
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Mountain
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Raging Ravine
2 Scavenging Ooze
1 Stomping Ground
2 Swamp
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Terminate
2 Thoughtseize
1 Treetop Village
1 Twilight Mire
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wooded Foothills
Sideboard
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Collective Brutality
1 Duress
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
1 Surgical Extraction
Also there's a link here if that is easier to view: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/962996#paper
My reasons for card selection goes much hand in hand with what EctoMark voiced. After starting out with much more clunky builds, heavy on 3 mana cards (sorcery speed much of the time as well) I came to the conclusion that being able to double spell early was very important - BBE will give me the late game power needed.
I'm quite heavy on Fatal Push as I have a very small local meta, and most decks are creature based. If it was less creature based I would probably run the 4th IoK here. I really value all the 1 drop spells in this build - and I would fit more if I could.
Some stuff to note:
I was very uncomfortable going down to 1 decay and 2 terminates, from the previous 2 and 3. The 2nd pulse in the board is both a way of trying to deal with the permanents either of these spells would previously be in charge of dealing with, and as a way of dealing with control decks. Also it doubles as a sweeper against tokens. I'm very happy with the 2nd pulse in the board, and also would never dream of maindecking it.
I have a couple of flex slots in the board that I'm currently experiementing with. The needle, lavamancer (I have so much removal already that I'm not really sure if it is needed, although it is a great card) and extraction is all cards I could see being something else. I have tried various cards in these slots. Everything from Hazoret, Anger, more brutalities, second Liliana the Last Hope and Kitchen finks are viable there.
I don't really fancy running Thrun in Jund anymore, the matchups it was supposed to be boarded in against you just don't need to shore up that much anymore, BBE does a nice job here.
I've really liked the 3 pushes main deck. There's still a ton of DS decks running around, and with my suite of removal I can deal with them quie comfortably. Also the mirror is important, where they also work overtime.
All in all I feel this deck runs very smooth - and has game against most, if not all, decks. Tron and Valakut decks are obviously still bad matchups, but now you have the chance of winning against them.