I think these discussions of pros and cons of cards are great, specially with such inisght and detail. Thank you for bringing this discussion up Stéphane!
I think both are great cards and have slighlty differnt upsides for different matchups. Purely for the Temur Rhinos and Living End match ups, Drannith Magistrate might be better at first sight. They can't use Force of Negation to stop it, and the only way they have to deal with it is by spending 2 damage spells, Brazen Borrower or Fury. From my experience, our opponents usually take Force of Negation and Fury post sideboard. In that sense, it levels the playing field between Drannith Magistrate and Deafening Silence. Brazen Borrower becomes the only card to successfully intercat with both pieces of hate so no differences there. Being only 1 mana, Deafening Silence is of course more mana efficient which seems better to me. The fact Magistrate can block a Rhino is useful and can save our lives, but if we're trading our piece of hate away for a rhino, we are probably not in a great shape. Also like you mentioned, Deafening Silence doesn't die to wraths wich is great. The only concern is if they side Force of Vigor (which they usually don't) and blow the enchantment up. But asside from that, in this particular matchup I think I would go with Deafening Silence, altough they are really really close in what they do.
In a vaccum talking about both cards, I think Drannith Magistrate being an Emeria target doesn't offer much as if he dies, Before we get to Emeria they will probably already have spent their 4 Cascading Footfalls barring some rare games.
Altough Drannith Magistrate is good against Lurrus of the Dream-Den, I would only bring him against Lurrus matchups that didn't have much removal like Hammertime, and our game is already so favoured in that matchup that I don't think he would be good enough. In grixis versions I think he would just die and not do much. Killing Lurrus or exiling the grave would just be more effective in my oppinion. Agaisnt Burn I think it would just be a mild annoyance and altough it would be good to carry a Shadowspear or stop some lines, it wouldn't be nothing to backbreaking.
Deafening Silence worst charachetristic is being 2 sided. But we like the long game so, like you said I don't particularly think it's that much of a disadvantage.
I never used any of these cards but I will try Deafening Silence on my next few games. I will still keep Sanctum Prelate as I like it against Blitz, Hammertime, Izzet Tempo and some other match ups, and will instead take out my Damping Sphere. Amulet Titan is on the decline and I haven't seen Tron in my LGS for quite some time so time to lower some of those defenses and see how it goes.
Thanks once again for sparking up this discussion and hope this feedback was helpful!
Made top 8 once again going 3-1-1 and lost in the semi-finals against Jeskai Ascendancy.
Going very fast through the matchups but I am glad to talk more in deapth about any of them later
Round 1 won 2-0 against Temur Crashing Footfalls
Round 2 won 2-0 against Jeskai Ascendancy.
This is the same deck that beat me in the semi finals. I honestly didn't know much about how the deck worked and I kinda stumbled into a win by mana screwing them with Field of Ruin as they didn't run any basic mountains. Even when i thought they had no outs, they had 4 mana and no cards on board and they comboed, with me managing to stop the combo on time with a Prismatic Ending at instant speed with T3feri.
Round 3 was a draw 1-1 against UW control.
I had the upper hand in both games as this build didn't play Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and they didn't cast Shark Typhoon. ALtought they didn't cast it, they cycled it in game 2 for 8, making an 8/8 when I was at 8... Couldn't do much about it and that was the draw as we were already near turns.
Round 4 lost 0-2 against Jeskai Control.
Honestly this matchup felt much worse than I think it should be. They just had all the counterspells. They even countered 2 Wall of Omens back to back and played Teferi, Hero of Dominaria at turn 5 both games. It honestly felt like a horrible experiance but hopefully Fateful Absence might change my feeling in regard to this match up and build in specific.
Round 5 won 2-0 against BG elves.
Dealing with Heritage Druid, Elvish Archdruid and Ezuri, Renegade Leader fast and having a Wrath is they key to victory and that's exactly what happened, not much else to say.
Quarter final won 2-1 against Jeskai Control.
This was a different build from the one I lost to but with no concearns from time, we could take all the time in the world and eventually I outvalued him. Game 1 I was overwhelmed by Shark Typhoon but Seal of Cleansing solves that problem well post sideboard.
Semi Finals lost 0-2 against Jeskai Ascendancy.
Game 1 my draws didn't line up well with his gameplan and he managed to combo of without me having an answer. Game 2 I sideboarded very poorly in my oppinion, taking much of removal but leaving 3 Solitude. Of course he plays a turn 2 Hushbringer and I'm left there, just watching all my cards do nothing. I had no ideas of the Hushbringer and it just wrecked me. On a rematch I would do things very differently so I would very much like to see how that would go!
This is the list I went with. I tried Surgical Exctraction as I was concearned the new Esper Phoenix with Demilich made an appearance and it seemed like a good card oeverall, but I was less then impressed and I have already taken it out of the sideboard.
First of all, congratulations on all your endeavors Toshenko and welcome back!! Glad to know you still have time to give the deck a spin :b
Your list has a lot of cards that i haven't used for a long time so I'll try to give my thoughts on it as soon as i can as today i don't have that much time unfortunatly...
Stéphane, first of all congrats on another strong finish with the deck despite the blowout with hammertime. Happens to the best and in any other day could have been a 3-0.
About your sideboard changes in the professor package, altough I don't have experience with the build, I think it's nice and tight, and if for some reason you don't want any of the options, a looting effect is also good with the professor. The more free sideboard slots the better so I'm a fan of the change and hope it proves useful.
Regarding your comments on the matches:
Match 1: I completly agree with you, but at the time, not having remembered to make a plan for Orhov Stoneblade I went with my gut feeling. In hindsight I wouldn't have put Lavinia and just leave my removal as is. Right now i would maybe just put a Seal of Cleansing for their Sword of Fire and Ice and Batterskull value.
Match 2: Altough I was very high on our chances vs Crashing Footfalls i have lost my last 2 games against it and it made me rethink some of my options. T3feri is obviously great and due to the prevalance of this deck and UW control in my meta, is the reason i decided to put the 4th in the mainboard. All our hate is just buying time and Wraths are what actually win the game. Your list should be better than mine in that sense having access to more of those effects. Lost my last 2 game sagainst it 1-2 and both times were due to a big flood in game 3. I still think my previous wins over the deck were convincing enough to swtill think it's not a bad match up. The 8 life swing from the first rhinos are a heavy blow that starts making us susceptible to their Brazen Borrower and Fury. From talking to the pilots of the decks usually they bring Endurance and Klothys, God of Destiny, and if they don't know the deck they will bring Blood Moon, but my fellow players are already familiar with this build and they know Blood Moon doesn't affect it that much to be worth the slot. They might also take Force of Negation and put Mystical Dispute in and they usually take their Fury out. What I decided to take in my build was 3 Skyclave Apparition, as it doesn't target the rhinos, and 2 Prismatic Ending, leaving still 2 to deal with rhinos and the 3 drops.
Match 3: Once again, you were ahead of me on the curve and right now I tend to agree with that assessment, as Skyclave Apparition deals with everything except Titan. I think at the time my thought was just covering the scenario when they had a titan and a Dryad and i could clean them both in a turn. But overall with my new list I think I would manage to keep them both without much problem by taking the 4 Teferi, Time Raveler and 1 Mortarpod.
Match 4: After playing a bit more against elementals I opted not to bring Void Mirror because my Solitude dealing with their value engine early on or the evoke option in response to Ephemerate had just been to valueble. I totally understand where your coming from and I agree Wraths are the best way to deal with the board and that also takes Lavinia out. But in the midgame they already have the mana they want so they don't need to evoke anyhting and Lavinia loses her shine. Lavinia is a card I want early on to bridge me to the mid and late game, that's why I'm okay with her dying to a Wrath. With all this said, having a T3feri makes this a much easier matchup without them being able to play their instant speed tricks. Also Risen Reef just has to die. Made a mistake once to let one live. The proceeded to cast another Reef, into an evoke Mulldrifter... The amount of value was digusting... Don't be like me, kill your Reefs!
Match 5: Looking at your list I can see the troubles your having with only the 2 Path to Exile. Solitude and Skyclave Apparition makes the early game much smoother for me. I agree with your assessment of T3feri, it just doesn't do enough. I think Steel Sabotage is going a bit overboard, but if you have trouble with the deck, Hurkyl's Recall seems backbreaking to them also dealing with their lands.
First of all, congratulations on your defense, that's awesome!
Regarding your results, you're defenitly giving us good results with Professor of Symbology which i'll admit, it was a card i completly disregarded at first. Altough i don't like losing the sideboard slots, the lessons are indeed very good to solve some of the problems we have so i can see myself adapting to it. The truth is mot matchups have felt rather easy for me, hence my reluctance to change my list and the sideboard. But some of my sideboard cards have felt like "win more" sometimes so i think there's room for change. I definitly want to try it sometime, and I'm specially interested in the control matchups as it's what's giving me the most trouble now.
On that note, I went to another Modern Challange yesterday with 20 people, managing to once again make top8 but not managing to win this time, placing only in 3rd. Still a very good result and the Semi-finals game i think i could have won if i was better prepared. I'll talk more in depth in the next post about some of the games and some of things I'll be changing in the deck for future games.
About Fateful Absence, at first I really diregarded it as a Path effect with upside but for more mana and I wasn't really sold. After losing a game and barely surviving other against Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, I'm much higher on the card now Control is very prevalent in the meta now, so having 3 Solitude and 4 Prismatic Ending in the main, i'm thinking of cutting the 3 Path to Exile for Fateful Absence and see how it goes. I'll see if being one extra mana makes a huge difference in the aggro matchups, the not giving them a land advantage and most importantly, the usefulness against planeswalkers.
Hope you guys have a great day and I'll talk about the Challange and put the link to the top8 as soon as it is available
I actually haven't been paying very close atention to spoilers from the new edition but with prerelease weekend I'm definitly gonna catch up!
About the cards you mentioned.
1. Cathar Commando is a nice card indeed, specially for a common! The 3/1 body and flash are quite nice. The only thing holding it back is the 1 mana activtion on the ability. In the matchups I want to bring it in, Seal of cleansing is permanantly a threat that I can activate at any time, without having to chose if i want to activate it or play something. It's just super mana efficient. In hammertime or affinity we sometimes don't have the luxury of spending that extra mana and the 3/1 body isn't relevant enough for those match ups. It offers the versatility of a surprise blocker that can trade with something, but we already have so much removal that it's kinda redundant. I think it's biggest advantage is the flash speed interaction, and i can certainly see why you could chose this card. But mana efficiency is more important to me than the flash body in those match ups I want to bring my artifact and enchantment hate in.
2. Ambitious Farmhand is an amazing card in my opinion! drawing a plains for 2 mana, with the upside of eventually becoming a 3/3 lifelinker is seriously good! I haven't used Pilgrim's Eye in a long time, and it's advantage is the fact that it can get our island if we need it and it also has flying, to protect us mainly against Stormwing Entity and Murktide Regent. While i have personally fallen out of love with the card, Stéphane for example really likes it and this being one mana cheaper and not in direct competition with our stacked 3 mana drops,i think it's straight up better! I really like my build how it is right now as I don't put that much effort in getting an Emeria activation every game, but in slower builds that relly on it, i can definitly see it almost as an auto include.
3. This card is like a mini Glen Elendra Archmage which is a card that some previous builds have used before! While it lacks the persist and is a Mana Leak for noncreatures intead of a Negate, I can't deny the card feels good! And the disturb side is just a njce bonus for matchups where we want to resolve for example a Teferi, Time Raveler. I haven't given much thought to the card yet but against a meta filled with noncreature spells it seems very good. If combo or control rise in prominence i could see myself playing it.
What have you been theorizing with the card cofeeortea?
Like i said before, managed to go 3-1-1 on rounds and then won the 3 matches in the top8. Feel free to check the exact decks I played against in the links.
First round lost 2-0 to Orzhov Stoneblade.
This was a very though game. Dauthi Voidwalker and Kaya's Guile in the mainboard really wrecked me, the latter one specially when I went for some risky value lines that would put me in a great spot, the exile the grave at instant speed was borderline brackbreaking. I had already spoken about the difficulties I felt in this match up in the last post which had already some of my thoughts about this loss in it. Ephemerate to save a value card usualy is a 3 for 1 which is a huge amount of value. For this reason I think Teferi, Time Raveler is a great card in this match just to prevent that instant speed interaction that shuts a lot of their combos down. Game one was close and i think I didn't play optimally, specially around Ephemerate, and game 2 I was just stuck on 3 lands until turn 8 which didn't allow me to put much of a fight.
Round 2 won 2-0 against Temur Crashing Footfalls
Altough I'm starting to feel favoured in this match up, this game was a non game. My opponent got mana screwed in both games, the first one without blue mana, and the second one with only one land. This was a very easy win and I'll talk a bit more in the half-finals matchup that was against the same archtype by a different pilot.
Round 3 won 2-1 against Amulet Titan
I'm finally starting to beat Amulet Titan on a consistent basis! Kaldra Compleat is the card that wins this game. An early Kaldra puts a clock on them that was something we didn't have before. It can also plat defence to shut down their Primeval Titan, leaving them with only one path to victory, that being Dryad of the Ilysian Grove and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. Game one that's exactly what happened and a slower game from my opponent left my turn 3 Kaldra unchecked to beat them down fast. Prismatic Ending also did it's job by exiling their turn 1 Amulet of Vigor that could have given them the game. Game 2 was a slow, grindy game, where he threw everything at me and i just had all the answers, until eventually I didn't. He had turn one and turn 2 Amulet of Vigor, i had Prismatic Ending and Seal of Cleansing. He had 2 titans and 1 dryad. I had Solitude and Path to Exile. The difference was Tolaria West. Basically everytime he played a Primeval Titan, he brought a bounceland and Tolaria West, which would assure next turn he could transmute it for another Summoner's Pact and get any creature he saw fit. He did this twice and I ran out of answers for Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, that in conjunction with Valakut and a Bounceland, just bolted me to death. Game 3 was a faster game in which i managed to disrupt him a bit with Lavinia, Azorious Renegade, stopping Summoner's Pact, and bashed him with an early Kaldra again, which really seems to be a winning formula, and that's why they are forced to bring Dismember from the sideboard.
Round 4 was a draw, 1-1 against 4 color Elementals, which was also my opponent in the finals.
Never had played this match up so didn't exactly know what to expect. Round 1 I was basically foccused on killing his value engine, namely Risen Reef and Omnath, Locus of Creation. My thought was that if i focused their card advanatge engines, and tried to save instant speed removal to when he tried to Ephemerate something, it would be a massive blowout, and game one was basically that, with me outgrinding him with value. Game 2 was very different, where he actually got the better late game, which i honestly wasn't fully expecting. The 2 Endurance he brought from the sideboard were really felt. Just like in the first Orzhov match, instant speed graveyard removal was brutal for some blowouts, and keeping them looped with Ephemerate or bouncing him with his Teferi Time, Raveler lead to me having Emeria active for 8 turns and bringing nothing back. His Omnath also put him at 60 life giving him more than time to to whatever he wanted with the game. Eventually he uses Endurance on himself and starts the whole value cycle again. We go to turns and he wins game 2 on the 5th turn. I'll go more in deapth over what i did different on the finals matchup and what I learned from this game.
Round 5 won 2-0 against Affinity.
This was one of the quickest matches I've ever played and it was brutal for my opponent. Game 1 I had turn 1 Prismatic Ending, into turn 2 Stoneforge Mystic into turn 3 Kaldra Compleat and Path to Exile. Waited for him to fill the board up again while i was swinging with Kaldra to prep for a Supreme Verdict to which my opponent conceaded. Game 2 my oppening hand had Chalice of the Void, Seal of Cleansing and Fracturing Gust. He started and only played a land, and my turn i drop the Chalice on 0 locking a big part of his deck. From there it was just a game of waiting for my threats to come, which they eventually did and my opponent conceded.
Onto the Top 8!
It was actually ineresting as all the matchups i played in the top 8 i had played previously on rounds. 2 of my opponents were different but it followed the same pattern.
Quarterfinals won 2-0 against Amulet Titan.
I think my draws were quite good this game and I don't think the matchup should have been this easy. My opponent is an expert with the deck, an authority in Titan decks and i had played against him previsously (in the days of Field of the Dead) and had never beaten him. This time was different. As he was higher seed he started, with an Urza's Saga into Amulet of Vigor. I answered with Prismatic Ending turn one and Ghost Quarter turn 2 to stop him from fetching another amulet. Turn 3 played Stoneforge Mystic and from then on i started the beatdown. He didn't get more amulets, and with one less land his game was a lot clunkier which didn't allow him to put the defences he needed to survive Kaldra. Game 2 was all about one critical turn. On turn 3 I leave mana open for an Aven Mindcensor, to play it when he went to fetch with Expedition Map. He answers this with Summoner's Pact. I look at his mana and see he only has one green source, and was realying on his Dryad of the Ilysian Grove for the pact payment. Upon realizing this i evoke Solitude, which leaves him unable to pay for the pact and i win. He told me fe basically felt forced into that play as not casting pact there wpouldn't give him the tools to fight my game and would put him to far behinf. I only had 3 cards in hand and no mana vailable so he took the gamble, and in this case he lost.
In Semi-finals won 2-0 against Temur Crashing Footfalls
Like I said before and in previous posts, I'm starting to feel more confortable in this match up, even in game one with only Teferi, Time Raveler as a hate card. Having Wall of Omens is great to save us some life after the first cascade. The most important thing is having Supreme Verdict or 2 single removals to give us time to cast a bigger threat, preferably Sun Titan, which is usually the push we need to take control of the game. Game 2 be aware of Blood Moon out of the sideboard which can jank us out of the game if we're not paying attention.
Finally, in the finals won 2-1 against the same 4 color Elementals deck.
Started by losing game won being showered in value again. His Teferi, Time Raveler allowed him to basically do whatever he wanted with his Ephemerate without me having any ability to answer. Solitude and Endurance having Flash also allowed him to play many times at instant speed and that was the story of game one. Me not having the ability to interact as I didn't draw the answer for Teferi.
Games 2 and 3 were much more in my favour, applying early pressure with Kaldra, killing his Teferi as soon as i could and forcing him to evoke elementals without getting Ephemerate value out of them. Resolving my own Teferi, Time Raveler was also key to feeling safe to do whatever i wanted in my turn without any blowout, and that's the main reason why i brought the 4th out of the sidebaord. It was a fanatstic game, very enjoyable with 2 decks trying to out value each other and in the end, dealing with his key permanents faster and having more pressure with Kaldra was sufficient to win me the tournment!
Super proud of this tournment and how i navigated most matchups, including learning from one game to another. The results were also extremely positive as I didn't face any combo decks or Tron or other of our worse matchups which would have made my life much harded. Still, Played the meta decks as i've been doing for the last weeks and once again the results lead me to belive that this is a very favourable meta for Emeria.
Hope you're all having good games too and keep those wins coming!
Hey everyone, fantastic news! I managed to win today's challange going 3-1-1 to make top 8 on 6th and then winning the rest of the games! The tournment will appear on MTGGoldfish so I will leave the link here when it's available. Before this i managed to do 2 other FNMs for practice, going 4-0 on one and 2-0-1 on another. So in total these last tournments I went 12-1-2 which given the decks i played against i would say it's a very nice result.
Speaking first of the FNMs. First one went 4-0 going as follows:
Round 1 won 2-1 against Living End.
Managed to win game one which i absolutly did not expect. Putting 2 Wall of Omens on the board before the Living End assured me I had something to return on the next one. If we survive the first one, the follow ups are usually very advantegeous to us. Evoking Solitude even without target in response to Living End ensures it comes back and we gain a blocker and exile the biggest threat on the spot. In this match up be careful about returning too much stuff from the grave both with Emeria and Sun Titan as it can backfire with a Living End, specially an instant speed one. After sideboarding, with all the hate it becomes a good matchup in my opinion (depending on draws of course).
Using Prismatic Ending and Skyclave Apparition on key enchantments is key for this match. Taking the Totem armor ones like Hyena Umbra and Spider Umbra to prep for a Supreme Verdict or my favourite, when they only have 2 auras on a creature an one of them is Daybreak Coronet, you exile the other one and Coronet will fall as it won't be enchanting a creature that is enchanted by an aura anymore. The life threathning auras are the ones that grand Flying or protection from creatures like Spirit Mantle. Kaldra also offers a fantastic blocker against big Boggles. Post sideboard depending on the amount of enchantment hate you have, once again is a match up that gets better.
This match took quite a long time. Grief + Ephemerate really hurts. The thing that got me the most bessides that busted combo was not remembering Ephemerate when i went for my removal, giving my opponent a ton of card advantage. Maindeck Kaya's Guile was also a blowout for my graveyard plays and Solitude exiling our good threats was also quite good at denying our recurssion. This said, our late game is still better, and if they don't have their Ephemerate combos, the deck is very fair and straightforward, so we can easily not only keep up the face, but outpace them with value.
I think this match up is very favoured given the answers we have to deal with The Rack and Shrieking Affliction. My loss came from a mulligan to 5 because i saw no lands and of course, given the match this was close to a death sentence. In this match up I prioritize lands and removal for the racks above all else. Most of our cards draw us cards so their card neutral which is great for this match up. the match can go long but if they don't have their win cons, we're preety safe. Watch out for Karnstructs from Urza's Saga and Mishra's Factory . Don't be afraid to path your own creatures to make the land drop that will ensure a faster Sun Titan or Batterskull.
The more i play this match the more favoured i feel. Haven't lost against it and been playing it basically every week. Hate pieces like Teferi, Time Ravaler and all the sideboard ones are great of course, but what really puts the nail in their coffin is a well timed Supreme Verdict. If you put enough defences and get 4 rhinos with one you are on your way for a good game. They have answers for basically all our hate, with 2 damage spells or Brazen Borrower or destroying artifacts with Prismari Command. So we can only delay the innevitable. And when it happens, spot removal or Supreme is our out.
Be wary of Blood Moon after sideboarding also!
Already spoke a lot about this match up in other posts and i still feel very favoured in the match. Beware of Sigarda's Aid for the potential of out of nowhere wins, Esper Sentinel and Puresteel Paladin for card advantage and the çlatter one for it's ability to equip anything for 0 mana. Always try to keep instant speed removal up for an unexpected attack. Teferi is amazing at stopping their instant speed shenanigans, but the sideboard has better cards so i reluctantly take it out to make room for other more targeted hate pieces, but i can understand the choice to leave him in depending on the list we're using.
Round 3 was a Draw, 1-1 against Izzet Tempo with Murktide Regent.
This matchup still puzzles me a bit as I think in theory we have all the answers we need, but in practice they always seem to be sitting on a ton of counters and answers that throw me in for a loop. I also sideboarded wrongly, taking 2 of my Teferi, Time Raveler for the sideboard that i thought it would be better, but Teferi is just too good, preventing their counter game and bouncing Murktide Regent to hand is just too useful as it not only deals with it for a turn, but they have to exile part of their graveyard again which can be quite harmful to them. Instead after speaking with the pilot of the deck we agreed that it would be better to take Skyclave Apparition out, as he usually also takes the Ragavan's because of all my answers namely the feared Mortarpod which became a meme and a dreadful card in my LGS. With a little bit of tighter play i think i can start navigating through this matchup much better.
I would sideboard in the same, but i would take out instead: 3 Skyclave Apparition, 1 Path to Exile and 1 Mortarpod (this last one because i expect them to take ragavan's out, and it's hard to ping a Dragon's Rage Channeler when they are a Thoughtscour away from turning into a 3/3.
Also congrats on your experiences with Professor of Symbology Stéphane! i had seen you disccuss the card before but didn't think it would be on par with the rest of our choices, but you made it work so congrats. Great budgest choice for anyone who doesn't have the Stoneforge package and with more testing maybe it may even reveal itself as a legit contender for the 2 drop slot. The only thing that troubles me are the sideboard slots that it requires but of course, different versions of Emeria will place a different pressure on sideboard slots so good luck on your testings!
Tomorrow i will put the report from the actual big tournement so until there hope this provides more insight about how the deck is fairing.
First of all, I'm glad my list and results were able to inspire your list and contributed to your build! Hope the matchup discussions also helped a bit for general gameplan and sideboarding!
Going through all those games is basically impossible one by one, but in general, looking at my reports about the different matchups do you find that they correlate with your experiance or did you find that the navigation of these matchups was very different?
Also what do you consider to be the worse matchups in all these games you played? Burn and Tron as you targeted it the most?
About the points you made:
1. I completly agree that it's a devaststing combo. I used to run that same combo when Ranger-Captain of Eos came out and it felt miserable for my opponents. I have a soft spot for it so i can totally see why you're running it and like it so much. I still think that Stoneforge being a 2 drop with threat and silver bullet potential still edges it out if i had to chose one or the other but it's just trades we make. Against combo and control Ranger is much better and with this meta i can see why it works.
2. Yhea that goes along the point that we had talked about previously in regards to the 3 drop slot being so competitive. Court Hussar is a great card in this deck, no doubt about it. But with your build maybe dropping one, or one and one Ranger for some 2 drops might not be a bad idea. Because Wall of Omens is a great card and i would run it above Charming Prince. I used to run him for a long time but eventually had to cut him as I felt it just didn't do enough in the faster meta, even if all 3 of his abilities are relevant. Still love him but a though choice had to be made and he was the one that got the boot.
3. Well that's a point where we can hard agree on. With our draw engines and value we churn through our deck and eventually find our answers. This is much easier in a 60 card deck than in an 80 one. Also for those matchups where we just need a piece of hate in the opening hand it also comes much easier. Ranger fetching a one drop can also be used as a silver bullet. You already have Burrenton Forge Tender and when i used it i actually used 2 instead of Kor Firewalker as the chances of getting it are higher with ranger in the mix even if Kor Firewalker is the better card. Another card I used wasHex Parasite for planeswalkers and hardened scales. Giant killer, Giver of Runes or even Realmwright for a faster Emeria activation are other options and i'm sure now there many more, it's just a matter of seeing what works.
Hope that now that you have a tighter list and something you feel confortable with games go even better and if you can share the results so we can learn form your experiences!
The matchup can be tricky as they have a lot of tricks up their sleeves. One that kinda caught me of guard was a Kaldra Compleat out of the sideboard paired with Puresteel Paladin. Basically it forces us to have instant speed exile removal and it's always an awkward situation because we have to kill the paladin, but if we do so Kaldra and te creature it's equipping will remain and we will hav to deal with it eventually. It only happened to me once but i thought it's something worth mentioning. Dealing with Sigarda's Aid is the priority as this is their early wincon if we don't have instant based removal. One more thing is that Solitude, as good as it is, when it exiles something equipped with Colossus Hammer they actually gain a ton of life (at least 10, much more is it's like a karnstruct or something) which makes it harder to close the game fast (and that might be a reason for my slower games and some draws against this deck) but in the end we are still favoured, it might just take a bit longer.
About Hell's Kitchen, it is basically Standard Food on steroids Feasting Troll King and of course Cauldron Familiar are the win cons with all the food. Trail of Crumbs gives the deck a lot of reach and is a must kill card as the value is insane. Finale of Devastation can get them Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar for only 2 mana or Cauldron Familiar for 3 so they always have ways to get their threats. Urza's Saga is obviously very good but in general, it's just a matchup where if we get their key cards and with all our exile, we're still favoured in my opinion. I think Urza's Kitchen is the superior deck but this deck can be very grindy, and if it cathes you by surprise it can absolutly bury you in value!
I felt that without a very explosive start (like turn 1 or 2 with 2 Hollow One in play and Vengevine and so on) the deck didn't really reperesent a threat and i could easily deal with their board tradind 1 for 1 or waiting for the right time for a Supreme Verdict. Dragon's Rage Channeler is quite strong in the deck not only fuelling Delirium but putting Vengevine and Ox of Agonas in the grave which give the deck a lot of reach for the late game, often playing Ox once every turn, drawing and discarding like madman. Our exile based removal is fantastic and with sideboard makes it even better.
I think we're very favoured in this match up, and asside from some Sigarda's Aid cheeses without us having instant speed removal, we can control the board quite well.
This was going to be a 2-1 win, but unfortunatly my opponent took quite a long time in his plays and i just couldn't finish game 3 in time because of all the blockers he was presenting. I had previously drawn against this opponent because of the same time issue, but this being FNM and being there just to have a good time, there was never a slow play warning and all i can hope is next time the game moves at a faster pace.
The game i lost was precisely because i didn't have a Path to Exile or a Solitude when one of his unblocked creatures got equipped at instant speed with 2 Colossus Hammer because of the Sigarda's Aid that was on the table. Got a bit unlucky as i also didn't draw the Prismatic Ending or Skyclave Apparition for the enchantment but overall felt that it was very winnable and just ended up not drawing any of those answers.
Post sideboard i think the matchup only get better and cards like Chalice of the Void and Sanctum Prelate on 1 are preety much gg barring some answer they could have.
Like I had said before, removed my Burn specific hate some time ago because the deck seemed to drop in popularity, and it was definitly felt durning the games.
Game one he didn't play any permanents at all, just burn spells and i had a hand full of removal that did absolutly nothing. Didn't draw Batterskull or Stoneforge Mystic and without any lifelink, a couple of spells were enough to kill me.
The only card i had that was actually kinda good was Gideon of the Trials, and the rest of the sideboarded cards were just what i considered to be some small upgrades over the mainboard but without that much impact.
Game 2 manage to put Batterskull in play with mana to bounce it in case he could kill it instantly, be he had 2 Wear // Tear in hand and that caught me way ofguard. Solitude at turn 5 wasn't enough to keep me alive with it's lifelink and while game 2 was closer, he just had to deal with my lifelink 5 drops and it was game over.
After this round, Shadowspear gained it's sideboard slot back and with the rise of artifact and some enchantress decks, made me order a Heliod's Intervention which i'll try to slot it in when it arrives.
Day 2 got 3 wins and 1 Draw (which unfortuantly, once again, should have been a win)
Round 1 won 2-1 against Izzet Murktide
The basically have 12 Creatures, and if we deal with them, we win. That's what our deck does, and with only 4 Counterspell, they can't avoid everything.
Game 1 lost because i was forced into an early Supreme Verdict to deal with 2 Dragon's Rage Channeler that had delirium and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, and he just waited until the right time to play Murktide Regent, then countered my Path to Exile and i couldn't answer it in time.
Game 2 was easier with a board presence and Prismatic Ending, Mortarpod and Skyclave Apparition dealing very well with the 1 drops, and then saving Verdict and Instant removal for Murktide.
Game 3 was a turn 3 concession from my opponent as i play turn 2 Chalice of the Void on 1, he tries to play things just to fuel an early Murktide, and with a turn 3 Remorseful Cleric taking that option away, he just didn't have anyhting left.
I forgot to write my sideboard decisions in this match but i think this is what i would sideboard right now with the build i have. Honestly i Like the entire mainboard for this match up so even though i want to bring 5 cards in, the ones that are coming out are actually a bit difficult to me but this is what i would go with i think (feel free to leave your thoughts on it and help me make better decisions in the future ;p)
Round 2 won 2-0 against Hammertime.
This match went much more like what i thought it would happen in the last game i described. The only thing that can really ruin our lives is an unexpected Colossus Hammer at instant speed because of Sigarda's Aid. Specially deadly with Blinkmoth Nexus, which happened at turn 2 with a combo of turn one Blinkmoth, into Springleaf Drum, into Ornithopter, into Sigarda's Aid, and turn 2 swing with blinkmoth and put a hammer on it after blockers. Fortunatly i had a Path to Exile or it was just gg. I find Puresteel Paladin to be one of the most important cards because it allows them to draw with every equipment they play, giving them reach and being bale to freely pass equipements from a creature to another, and of course Sigarda's Aid because of the flash shenanigans they can pull of. Be mindfull of Shadowspear because of trample and the game should be favoured for us.
Round 3 was draw 1-1 against the BG Hell's Kitchen deck.
This game should have been a 2-1 and this was one of the only times i actually said to my opponent he had to play faster, as he sometimes had one card in hand, which i knew what it was because it had been bounced with Teferi, he had no other options, and he still took minutes on each turn. I also did this because he was an experianced player and it seemed borderline on purpose the loss of time...
This issue asside, i did not have experiance with this deck before so i only knew the basic Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar and Cauldron Familiar combos. Was unlucky on game 1 and had a hand with many 3 drops, most crucial of them Skycalve Apparition, but didn't manage to make the third land drop until turn 5. He had his engine going, had an Urza's Saga and i was just too far behind to catch up with his creatures hitting me, and getting hit by the cat oven combo.
I see this match up a bit like Hammertime, with low CMC permanents with a lot of value, that are juicy targets for Prismatic Ending, Skycalve Apparition, and Seal of Cleansing. Dealing with Witch's Oven is a must. Trail of Crumbs provides them with a lot of card advantage and The Underworld Cookbook fuels the whole food mechanics. Get rid of these key cards and remember Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar ability to remove our creatures and it shoudln't be a bad matchup.
As it's expected from a 5 color deck, their mana base is really fragile and Field of Ruin and Ghost Quarter will do wonders to keep them out of domain. General Ferrous Rokiric is a card that i was very afraid and i was a bit lucky in the games as i allways followed it up with a Teferi, Time Raveler bounce which slowed my opponent's game considerably. Scion of Draco at turn 2 is also quite nasty fro the buffs that it provides to other creatures and for being a 4/4 flier out of range from Prismatic Ending and Skycalve Apparition. I think the match up is good but it went even better than i expected because both games i drew 2 Field of Ruin and Ghost Quarter.
This is a good matchup and i have discussed it previously many times. The game i lost was kinda my fault for an underwhelming keep with no removal but some blockers, but my opponent playing 3 creatures on turns one and two and then having a vapor snag really threw me of balance, putting my life total very low which later he was able to wiggle down to 0.
Blocking every time i had a chance, trying to always save a Path to Exile or a Solitude for Stormwing Entity are crucial and with sideboard it becomes even better.
Round 2 won 2-1 against Mono White Death and Taxes
It's a tempo creature based deck that doesn't put pressure on the board to fast and is extremely susceptible to Supreme Verdict. It's good for us. Taking Aether Vial out, be that with Prismtaic Ending, Skyclave Apparition or bouncing it with Teferi, Time Raveler is very brutal as it makes them play a super fair game of mostly one creature per turn. The game my opponent won was very well played by him, using Aether Vial and Flickerwisp to avoid removal and get 2 for ones or even 3 for ones. I think i was a bit overconfident and it lead to some bad plays on my part but i brushed it up on game 3 where it was just an avalanche of value and blowing up his board once he got something going.
Round 3 won 2-1 against Temur Crashing Footfalls
Game one was an absolute slaughter, with me going first and my opponent having Gemstone Caverns, suspending 2 Crashing Footfalls on turn one, making 2 cascade spells on turns 2 and 3, and just countering the 2 Teferi, Time Raveler i tried to play. It hurt me to my core.
Fortunatly i had already started changing my sideboard to ajust to cascade decks, and so i was more confident in my ability to win the game. Although they have a ton of answers for the sideboard ( all the 2 damage spells, Prismari Command to blow up artifacts, Brazen Borrower to bounce anything back, Force of Vigor from the side), having so many pieces of disruption forces to slow them down, and wait for the right moment to do a Supreme Verdict, that i believe is the best answer against this deck.
Overall i think i played a very diversified set of decks, so it's not a bad sample of what the deck can do. I will probably play again this weekend so i'll try to put the results here when i can.
Feel free to discuss the reults or the sideboarding options as it was all of these discussions that made me able to have this list that i'm currently very content with.
Prismatic Ending has indeed changed many of normal answers in modern so it's a double edge sword as it affects many of our answers but it is also one we can use quite effectively.
Cavalier of Dawn seems like a good answer more grindy matchups like control, specially being able to be recurred by Emeria if it gets countered the first time. I'll have to try it out eventually but for now i don't quite know what to take without disrupting the deck's balance.
About the Yorion and the 80 card build, I'm not the biggest fan. I do not have experiance with that build but i find that as a reactive deck, many of my wins come from having the right cards when i need them, be them from the mainboard or sideboard. I know that against Blitz if i don't have a Path to Exile or a Solitude the possibility of dying to a Stormwing becomes very big. Against Living End i know if i don't draw my sideboard hate I'm very likely dead. Of course this is offset by the cards you put in the deck by the dilution of those key cards i want is a bit too much for liking. That said, many Yorion decks have achieved great results like Death and Taxes so, despite not being the greatest fan, there's surely some power to be gained with this build.
Regarding the hate discussion, this is more a local meta problem that i have and not something that can be translated into MTGO or bigger tournements, but because of my good results in the past months, people are actively sideboarding against me, with Rest in Peace,Torpor Orb and even Manriki-Gusari starting to be prevalant. For now it hasn't been the biggest problem as i have managed to avoid some of this hate but there's gonna be a big tournment coming up, with 5 rounds and top 8 which I think it will be the perfect oportunitty to test the power of the deck in a hypercompetitive environment with people prepared for Emeria.
This last weekend manage to put some more games in with the deck over 3 days, going 7-1-2 in total, with some changes being made to the mainboard and sideboard, namely the return to 3 Supreme Verdict and a Shadowspear in the side as my only loss was against burn and i truly felt there was almost no way i could win that matchup with the build i had previously.
I'll write about the games as soon as i can can, and hope you guys keep the good results flowing!
I had the same experiance as you in the 4 color matchups and they felt really good to play against. With your Spreading Seas i bet they went even smoother. I usually don't take the land destruction route as eveytime i did it in other match ups it seems they have way more basics then what the deck was supposed to have. But in this match up it was absolutly insane. Taking their domain and key colors away is just a free win.
And while your matchups were indeed very favoured in my opinion, it's still a very strong showing of the deck and hope to hear more from you when you have more results to post! Good luck on your games!
Hey everyone, hope things are going better with everyone!
I've been having more work due to Covid and haven't been able to post here as regularly as i'd like.
Sorry to hear your results weren't the best Stéphane but like you said, it's probably just a matter of getting back in the saddle and hopefully things will start going smoother.
About the cascade discussion, i forgot about Drannith Magistrate but it seems like a fantastic option namely against Temur Rhinos, as their damage spells are all 2 damage with the exception of Fury. I went with Chalice of the Void to cover more ground against other decks like Izzet Tempo with Murktide Regent and Death's Shadow decks, and Void Mirror for Tron and Eldrazi Tron matchups that while i haven't played in a while, are well positioned to make a return and know some players in my area that play them. I'm also now running Lavinia, Azorious Renegade not only because of cascade but all the other free spells like elementals but i could see dropping either void mirror or Lavinia for a Magistrate. I actually won against Living End and Temur Rhinos the 2 times i played against them, and while i think they are hard matchups, the sideboard felt very good and gave me the game.
Boros Burn is something i absolutly have to consider now too. I had taken all my dedicated sideboard for burn as i hadn't played it in months. But as per usual, burn is making a comeback and a game i had i lost super cleanly with him only casting burn spells and without a single permanent. Being such a removal heavy deck, with no targets my cards did basically nothing and when Stoneforge was killed on sight i had no way of winning. Already changed the sideboard a bit, by including Shadowspear again and like you mentioned in your matchup discussions, Heliod's Intervention is card that might be very well positioned right now with all the artifact decks, the ocasional enchantress and burn. Definitely need to make some room for it in the side.
I do find your draws were unfortunate but with time and speedier play they can easily become wins again. Unfortunatly it is the curse of the deck and i've been drawin some games purely because my opponents take way to long to make their plays even when they have 1 or 0 cards in hand. Was specially frustrated on one of the last FNM's thet i went 3-0-1, where i could have had 4 wins and instead had a draw that made me lose 1st place, in a game that was a certain win but my opponent just decided to really take it's time (i'll go more in depth when i do my matchup discussions).
I was also very surprised both by Affinity and Hardened Scales resiliency. Both the explosive start and the ability to switch counters around was definitely annoying and the card that for me had just turned every artifact deck so consistent: Urza's Saga. It's amazing how one card can swing a game so much. The same happens in the Hammertime matchup where even when i bounce and kill evryhting, that card just gives them the reach to hang on way more tuns than they were supposed to. While i've been winning all the matchups against Urza's Saga decks, i think they end up being far closer games than they had to be only because of that card.
Also Stéphane, what have been, in your opinion, the underperforming and overperfoming cards in your build?
This past weekend also went to FNM and went 2-1, losing a very fun and highly contested third round against the new Grixis Dress Down created by AspiringSpike.
I have made some adjustments to my sideboard, taking out Shadowspear, Kor Firewalker and Sorcerous Spyglass, and putting in Chalice of the Void, a 4th Teferi, Time Raveler and a Void Mirror. Shadowspear, Kor Firewalker came out because i mostly used them for the burn match up which doesn't seem to appear anymore and Sorcerous spyglass loses a bit of it's charm given the existance of Prismatic Ending and me not feeling the need to bring it as a devastating answer to whatever my opponents are doing. Chalice of the Void came in mostly as an answer for Cascade decks like Living End and Rhinos, bit it's also quite good against Izzet Blitz and Grixis Death's Shadow. 4th Teferi, Time Raveler came as another answer for Cascade decks (although a late one at turn 3 which still gives them a chance to do it once) and as a card to bring against control where i feel that i all the removal i have packed in my mainboard is mostly useless. Void Mirror as another answer for cascade decks and Tron (more Eldrazi Tron) (really went heavy on this anti cascade sideboard as i realizzed i had basically no answers for it on the sideboard and just need more, that could also deal with other decks, therefore this selection of cards).
Game 1 i think it's an instant loss. I have no way of interacting with my opponent is doing and when he decides to cascade, he can preety much one shot me without me being able to do anything.
Really glad i made the sideboard changes to take cascade matchups into account as they really saved me, as even if they dealt with one piece of hate, having multiples allowed me to never lose to a force of negation, a Brazen Borrower bouncing my hate card or a Grief taking it away before playing.
Dress Down is a legit card right now, and i encourage you to see it's gameplay to understand it's interactions, from turning Death's Shadow into 13/13 when it enters, to casting it at eot with Lurrus of the Dream-Den so it stays for our entire turn before being sacrificed. It's a very versitile card and it really wrecked me when i was counting with a Stoneforge Mystic to fetch me an equipment, or cancelling a Sun Titan trigger or simply a draw from Wall of Omens. Still the deck faired well against this new threat and it came down to who had the better topdeck, which my opponent ended up having. Still think our deck is favoured in the matchup being a Lurrus Death's Shadow deck, but the Dress Down is definitly something i have to keep in mind and play around more next time.
I think these discussions of pros and cons of cards are great, specially with such inisght and detail. Thank you for bringing this discussion up Stéphane!
I think both are great cards and have slighlty differnt upsides for different matchups. Purely for the Temur Rhinos and Living End match ups, Drannith Magistrate might be better at first sight. They can't use Force of Negation to stop it, and the only way they have to deal with it is by spending 2 damage spells, Brazen Borrower or Fury. From my experience, our opponents usually take Force of Negation and Fury post sideboard. In that sense, it levels the playing field between Drannith Magistrate and Deafening Silence. Brazen Borrower becomes the only card to successfully intercat with both pieces of hate so no differences there. Being only 1 mana, Deafening Silence is of course more mana efficient which seems better to me. The fact Magistrate can block a Rhino is useful and can save our lives, but if we're trading our piece of hate away for a rhino, we are probably not in a great shape. Also like you mentioned, Deafening Silence doesn't die to wraths wich is great. The only concern is if they side Force of Vigor (which they usually don't) and blow the enchantment up. But asside from that, in this particular matchup I think I would go with Deafening Silence, altough they are really really close in what they do.
In a vaccum talking about both cards, I think Drannith Magistrate being an Emeria target doesn't offer much as if he dies, Before we get to Emeria they will probably already have spent their 4 Cascading Footfalls barring some rare games.
Against Underwold Breach decks and Past in Flames decks i still prefer Deafening Silence as it shuts down their cantrips to search for an answer before they start those sequences.
Altough Drannith Magistrate is good against Lurrus of the Dream-Den, I would only bring him against Lurrus matchups that didn't have much removal like Hammertime, and our game is already so favoured in that matchup that I don't think he would be good enough. In grixis versions I think he would just die and not do much. Killing Lurrus or exiling the grave would just be more effective in my oppinion. Agaisnt Burn I think it would just be a mild annoyance and altough it would be good to carry a Shadowspear or stop some lines, it wouldn't be nothing to backbreaking.
Deafening Silence worst charachetristic is being 2 sided. But we like the long game so, like you said I don't particularly think it's that much of a disadvantage.
I never used any of these cards but I will try Deafening Silence on my next few games. I will still keep Sanctum Prelate as I like it against Blitz, Hammertime, Izzet Tempo and some other match ups, and will instead take out my Damping Sphere. Amulet Titan is on the decline and I haven't seen Tron in my LGS for quite some time so time to lower some of those defenses and see how it goes.
Thanks once again for sparking up this discussion and hope this feedback was helpful!
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/tournament/modern-madness-weatherlight-games-25-09-2021-p1?fbclid=IwAR3ifvTxJ6FqkTUbMdplILcFblgy6LT-ZkOv00wAciom2qrAj5cXn35ZU0s#paper - 1st to 9th place
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/tournament/modern-madness-weatherlight-games-25-09-2021-p2?fbclid=IwAR0i0kdILL7n77DW0Ai2I85B7MwEs4KGV6N-M3prBvtjNUYRrse23KgSN-k#paper - 10th to 18th place
Made top 8 once again going 3-1-1 and lost in the semi-finals against Jeskai Ascendancy.
Going very fast through the matchups but I am glad to talk more in deapth about any of them later
Round 1 won 2-0 against Temur Crashing Footfalls
Round 2 won 2-0 against Jeskai Ascendancy.
This is the same deck that beat me in the semi finals. I honestly didn't know much about how the deck worked and I kinda stumbled into a win by mana screwing them with Field of Ruin as they didn't run any basic mountains. Even when i thought they had no outs, they had 4 mana and no cards on board and they comboed, with me managing to stop the combo on time with a Prismatic Ending at instant speed with T3feri.
Round 3 was a draw 1-1 against UW control.
I had the upper hand in both games as this build didn't play Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and they didn't cast Shark Typhoon. ALtought they didn't cast it, they cycled it in game 2 for 8, making an 8/8 when I was at 8... Couldn't do much about it and that was the draw as we were already near turns.
Round 4 lost 0-2 against Jeskai Control.
Honestly this matchup felt much worse than I think it should be. They just had all the counterspells. They even countered 2 Wall of Omens back to back and played Teferi, Hero of Dominaria at turn 5 both games. It honestly felt like a horrible experiance but hopefully Fateful Absence might change my feeling in regard to this match up and build in specific.
Round 5 won 2-0 against BG elves.
Dealing with Heritage Druid, Elvish Archdruid and Ezuri, Renegade Leader fast and having a Wrath is they key to victory and that's exactly what happened, not much else to say.
Quarter final won 2-1 against Jeskai Control.
This was a different build from the one I lost to but with no concearns from time, we could take all the time in the world and eventually I outvalued him. Game 1 I was overwhelmed by Shark Typhoon but Seal of Cleansing solves that problem well post sideboard.
Semi Finals lost 0-2 against Jeskai Ascendancy.
Game 1 my draws didn't line up well with his gameplan and he managed to combo of without me having an answer. Game 2 I sideboarded very poorly in my oppinion, taking much of removal but leaving 3 Solitude. Of course he plays a turn 2 Hushbringer and I'm left there, just watching all my cards do nothing. I had no ideas of the Hushbringer and it just wrecked me. On a rematch I would do things very differently so I would very much like to see how that would go!
This is the list I went with. I tried Surgical Exctraction as I was concearned the new Esper Phoenix with Demilich made an appearance and it seemed like a good card oeverall, but I was less then impressed and I have already taken it out of the sideboard.
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
6 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Raugrin Triome
3 Hallowed Fountain
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Prairie Stream
3 Field of Ruin
1 Mistveil Plains
3 Flooded Strand
1 Snow-Covered Island
Creatures
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Wall of Omens
3 Skyclave Apparition
2 Court Hussar
3 Solitude
3 Sun Titan
2 Mortarpod
1 Kaldra Compleat
1 Batterskull
Planeswalker
3 Teferi, Time Raveler
Sorcery
4 Prismatic Ending
3 Supreme Verdict
Instant
3 Path to Exile
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Sanctifier en-Vec
1 Remorseful Cleric
1 Surgical Extraction
1 Damping Sphere
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Shadowspear
1 Teferi, Time Raveler
1 Void Mirror
1 Gideon of the Trials
1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
1 Sanctum Prelate
Your list has a lot of cards that i haven't used for a long time so I'll try to give my thoughts on it as soon as i can as today i don't have that much time unfortunatly...
Stéphane, first of all congrats on another strong finish with the deck despite the blowout with hammertime. Happens to the best and in any other day could have been a 3-0.
About your sideboard changes in the professor package, altough I don't have experience with the build, I think it's nice and tight, and if for some reason you don't want any of the options, a looting effect is also good with the professor. The more free sideboard slots the better so I'm a fan of the change and hope it proves useful.
Regarding your comments on the matches:
Match 1: I completly agree with you, but at the time, not having remembered to make a plan for Orhov Stoneblade I went with my gut feeling. In hindsight I wouldn't have put Lavinia and just leave my removal as is. Right now i would maybe just put a Seal of Cleansing for their Sword of Fire and Ice and Batterskull value.
Match 2: Altough I was very high on our chances vs Crashing Footfalls i have lost my last 2 games against it and it made me rethink some of my options. T3feri is obviously great and due to the prevalance of this deck and UW control in my meta, is the reason i decided to put the 4th in the mainboard. All our hate is just buying time and Wraths are what actually win the game. Your list should be better than mine in that sense having access to more of those effects. Lost my last 2 game sagainst it 1-2 and both times were due to a big flood in game 3. I still think my previous wins over the deck were convincing enough to swtill think it's not a bad match up. The 8 life swing from the first rhinos are a heavy blow that starts making us susceptible to their Brazen Borrower and Fury. From talking to the pilots of the decks usually they bring Endurance and Klothys, God of Destiny, and if they don't know the deck they will bring Blood Moon, but my fellow players are already familiar with this build and they know Blood Moon doesn't affect it that much to be worth the slot. They might also take Force of Negation and put Mystical Dispute in and they usually take their Fury out. What I decided to take in my build was 3 Skyclave Apparition, as it doesn't target the rhinos, and 2 Prismatic Ending, leaving still 2 to deal with rhinos and the 3 drops.
Match 3: Once again, you were ahead of me on the curve and right now I tend to agree with that assessment, as Skyclave Apparition deals with everything except Titan. I think at the time my thought was just covering the scenario when they had a titan and a Dryad and i could clean them both in a turn. But overall with my new list I think I would manage to keep them both without much problem by taking the 4 Teferi, Time Raveler and 1 Mortarpod.
Match 4: After playing a bit more against elementals I opted not to bring Void Mirror because my Solitude dealing with their value engine early on or the evoke option in response to Ephemerate had just been to valueble. I totally understand where your coming from and I agree Wraths are the best way to deal with the board and that also takes Lavinia out. But in the midgame they already have the mana they want so they don't need to evoke anyhting and Lavinia loses her shine. Lavinia is a card I want early on to bridge me to the mid and late game, that's why I'm okay with her dying to a Wrath. With all this said, having a T3feri makes this a much easier matchup without them being able to play their instant speed tricks. Also Risen Reef just has to die. Made a mistake once to let one live. The proceeded to cast another Reef, into an evoke Mulldrifter... The amount of value was digusting... Don't be like me, kill your Reefs!
Match 5: Looking at your list I can see the troubles your having with only the 2 Path to Exile. Solitude and Skyclave Apparition makes the early game much smoother for me. I agree with your assessment of T3feri, it just doesn't do enough. I think Steel Sabotage is going a bit overboard, but if you have trouble with the deck, Hurkyl's Recall seems backbreaking to them also dealing with their lands.
First of all, congratulations on your defense, that's awesome!
Regarding your results, you're defenitly giving us good results with Professor of Symbology which i'll admit, it was a card i completly disregarded at first. Altough i don't like losing the sideboard slots, the lessons are indeed very good to solve some of the problems we have so i can see myself adapting to it. The truth is mot matchups have felt rather easy for me, hence my reluctance to change my list and the sideboard. But some of my sideboard cards have felt like "win more" sometimes so i think there's room for change. I definitly want to try it sometime, and I'm specially interested in the control matchups as it's what's giving me the most trouble now.
On that note, I went to another Modern Challange yesterday with 20 people, managing to once again make top8 but not managing to win this time, placing only in 3rd. Still a very good result and the Semi-finals game i think i could have won if i was better prepared. I'll talk more in depth in the next post about some of the games and some of things I'll be changing in the deck for future games.
About Fateful Absence, at first I really diregarded it as a Path effect with upside but for more mana and I wasn't really sold. After losing a game and barely surviving other against Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, I'm much higher on the card now
Hope you guys have a great day and I'll talk about the Challange and put the link to the top8 as soon as it is available
I actually haven't been paying very close atention to spoilers from the new edition but with prerelease weekend I'm definitly gonna catch up!
About the cards you mentioned.
1. Cathar Commando is a nice card indeed, specially for a common! The 3/1 body and flash are quite nice. The only thing holding it back is the 1 mana activtion on the ability. In the matchups I want to bring it in, Seal of cleansing is permanantly a threat that I can activate at any time, without having to chose if i want to activate it or play something. It's just super mana efficient. In hammertime or affinity we sometimes don't have the luxury of spending that extra mana and the 3/1 body isn't relevant enough for those match ups. It offers the versatility of a surprise blocker that can trade with something, but we already have so much removal that it's kinda redundant. I think it's biggest advantage is the flash speed interaction, and i can certainly see why you could chose this card. But mana efficiency is more important to me than the flash body in those match ups I want to bring my artifact and enchantment hate in.
2. Ambitious Farmhand is an amazing card in my opinion! drawing a plains for 2 mana, with the upside of eventually becoming a 3/3 lifelinker is seriously good! I haven't used Pilgrim's Eye in a long time, and it's advantage is the fact that it can get our island if we need it and it also has flying, to protect us mainly against Stormwing Entity and Murktide Regent. While i have personally fallen out of love with the card, Stéphane for example really likes it and this being one mana cheaper and not in direct competition with our stacked 3 mana drops,i think it's straight up better! I really like my build how it is right now as I don't put that much effort in getting an Emeria activation every game, but in slower builds that relly on it, i can definitly see it almost as an auto include.
3. This card is like a mini Glen Elendra Archmage which is a card that some previous builds have used before! While it lacks the persist and is a Mana Leak for noncreatures intead of a Negate, I can't deny the card feels good! And the disturb side is just a njce bonus for matchups where we want to resolve for example a Teferi, Time Raveler. I haven't given much thought to the card yet but against a meta filled with noncreature spells it seems very good. If combo or control rise in prominence i could see myself playing it.
What have you been theorizing with the card cofeeortea?
First here are the links for the tournments (for some reason they divided it into top 10 and bottom 10 but it's all the same tournment.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/tournament/modern-madness-weatherlight-games-11-09-2021-p1#paper
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/tournament/modern-madness-weatherlight-games-11-09-2021-p2#paper
First of all this is the list i went with
1 Windswept Heath
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
6 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Raugrin Triome
3 Hallowed Fountain
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Prairie Stream
3 Field of Ruin
1 Mistveil Plains
3 Flooded Strand
1 Snow-Covered Island
Creatures
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Wall of Omens
3 Skyclave Apparition
2 Court Hussar
3 Solitude
3 Sun Titan
2 Mortarpod
1 Kaldra Compleat
1 Batterskull
Planeswalker
3 Teferi, Time Raveler
Sorcery
4 Prismatic Ending
3 Supreme Verdict
Instant
3 Path to Exile
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Sanctifier en-Vec
1 Remorseful Cleric
1 Fracturing Gust
1 Damping Sphere
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Shadowspear
1 Teferi, Time Raveler
1 Void Mirror
1 Gideon of the Trials
1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
1 Sanctum Prelate
Like i said before, managed to go 3-1-1 on rounds and then won the 3 matches in the top8. Feel free to check the exact decks I played against in the links.
First round lost 2-0 to Orzhov Stoneblade.
This was a very though game. Dauthi Voidwalker and Kaya's Guile in the mainboard really wrecked me, the latter one specially when I went for some risky value lines that would put me in a great spot, the exile the grave at instant speed was borderline brackbreaking. I had already spoken about the difficulties I felt in this match up in the last post which had already some of my thoughts about this loss in it. Ephemerate to save a value card usualy is a 3 for 1 which is a huge amount of value. For this reason I think Teferi, Time Raveler is a great card in this match just to prevent that instant speed interaction that shuts a lot of their combos down. Game one was close and i think I didn't play optimally, specially around Ephemerate, and game 2 I was just stuck on 3 lands until turn 8 which didn't allow me to put much of a fight.
Sideboarded out: 1 Mortarpod, 2 Prismatic Ending
Sideboarded in: 1 Aven Mindcensor, 1 Lavinia, Azorious Renegade, 1 Seal of Cleansing
Round 2 won 2-0 against Temur Crashing Footfalls
Altough I'm starting to feel favoured in this match up, this game was a non game. My opponent got mana screwed in both games, the first one without blue mana, and the second one with only one land. This was a very easy win and I'll talk a bit more in the half-finals matchup that was against the same archtype by a different pilot.
Sideboarded out: 1 Prismatic Ending, 2 Mortarpod, 3 Skyclave Apparition
Sideboarded in: 1 Teferi, Time Raveler, 1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade, 1 Damping Sphere, 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Chalice of the Void, 1 Void Mirror
Round 3 won 2-1 against Amulet Titan
I'm finally starting to beat Amulet Titan on a consistent basis! Kaldra Compleat is the card that wins this game. An early Kaldra puts a clock on them that was something we didn't have before. It can also plat defence to shut down their Primeval Titan, leaving them with only one path to victory, that being Dryad of the Ilysian Grove and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. Game one that's exactly what happened and a slower game from my opponent left my turn 3 Kaldra unchecked to beat them down fast. Prismatic Ending also did it's job by exiling their turn 1 Amulet of Vigor that could have given them the game. Game 2 was a slow, grindy game, where he threw everything at me and i just had all the answers, until eventually I didn't. He had turn one and turn 2 Amulet of Vigor, i had Prismatic Ending and Seal of Cleansing. He had 2 titans and 1 dryad. I had Solitude and Path to Exile. The difference was Tolaria West. Basically everytime he played a Primeval Titan, he brought a bounceland and Tolaria West, which would assure next turn he could transmute it for another Summoner's Pact and get any creature he saw fit. He did this twice and I ran out of answers for Dryad of the Ilysian Grove, that in conjunction with Valakut and a Bounceland, just bolted me to death. Game 3 was a faster game in which i managed to disrupt him a bit with Lavinia, Azorious Renegade, stopping Summoner's Pact, and bashed him with an early Kaldra again, which really seems to be a winning formula, and that's why they are forced to bring Dismember from the sideboard.
Sideboarded out: 3 Teferi, Time Raveler, 2 Mortarpod
Sideboarded in: 2 Seal of Cleansing, 1 Damping Sphere, 1 Aven Mindcensor, 1 Lavinia, Azorious Renegade
(After this game i realized the importance of Tolaria West into Summoner's Pact in my opponents win, so in my other game in top 8 against other Amulet Titan player, I added Void Mirror instead of 1 Skyclave Apparition)
Round 4 was a draw, 1-1 against 4 color Elementals, which was also my opponent in the finals.
Never had played this match up so didn't exactly know what to expect. Round 1 I was basically foccused on killing his value engine, namely Risen Reef and Omnath, Locus of Creation. My thought was that if i focused their card advanatge engines, and tried to save instant speed removal to when he tried to Ephemerate something, it would be a massive blowout, and game one was basically that, with me outgrinding him with value. Game 2 was very different, where he actually got the better late game, which i honestly wasn't fully expecting. The 2 Endurance he brought from the sideboard were really felt. Just like in the first Orzhov match, instant speed graveyard removal was brutal for some blowouts, and keeping them looped with Ephemerate or bouncing him with his Teferi Time, Raveler lead to me having Emeria active for 8 turns and bringing nothing back. His Omnath also put him at 60 life giving him more than time to to whatever he wanted with the game. Eventually he uses Endurance on himself and starts the whole value cycle again. We go to turns and he wins game 2 on the 5th turn. I'll go more in deapth over what i did different on the finals matchup and what I learned from this game.
Sideboarded out: 2 Prismatic Ending
Sideboarded out:: 1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade , 1 Void Mirror
(on the finals i made another change, putting in the 4th Teferi and taking another Prismatic Ending out.)
Round 5 won 2-0 against Affinity.
This was one of the quickest matches I've ever played and it was brutal for my opponent. Game 1 I had turn 1 Prismatic Ending, into turn 2 Stoneforge Mystic into turn 3 Kaldra Compleat and Path to Exile. Waited for him to fill the board up again while i was swinging with Kaldra to prep for a Supreme Verdict to which my opponent conceaded. Game 2 my oppening hand had Chalice of the Void, Seal of Cleansing and Fracturing Gust. He started and only played a land, and my turn i drop the Chalice on 0 locking a big part of his deck. From there it was just a game of waiting for my threats to come, which they eventually did and my opponent conceded.
Onto the Top 8!
It was actually ineresting as all the matchups i played in the top 8 i had played previously on rounds. 2 of my opponents were different but it followed the same pattern.
Quarterfinals won 2-0 against Amulet Titan.
I think my draws were quite good this game and I don't think the matchup should have been this easy. My opponent is an expert with the deck, an authority in Titan decks and i had played against him previsously (in the days of Field of the Dead) and had never beaten him. This time was different. As he was higher seed he started, with an Urza's Saga into Amulet of Vigor. I answered with Prismatic Ending turn one and Ghost Quarter turn 2 to stop him from fetching another amulet. Turn 3 played Stoneforge Mystic and from then on i started the beatdown. He didn't get more amulets, and with one less land his game was a lot clunkier which didn't allow him to put the defences he needed to survive Kaldra. Game 2 was all about one critical turn. On turn 3 I leave mana open for an Aven Mindcensor, to play it when he went to fetch with Expedition Map. He answers this with Summoner's Pact. I look at his mana and see he only has one green source, and was realying on his Dryad of the Ilysian Grove for the pact payment. Upon realizing this i evoke Solitude, which leaves him unable to pay for the pact and i win. He told me fe basically felt forced into that play as not casting pact there wpouldn't give him the tools to fight my game and would put him to far behinf. I only had 3 cards in hand and no mana vailable so he took the gamble, and in this case he lost.
Sideboarded out: 3 Teferi, Time Raveler, 2 Mortarpod, 1 Skyclave Apparition
Sideboarded in: 2 Seal of Cleansing, 1 Damping Sphere, 1 Aven Mindcensor, 1 Lavinia, Azorious Renegade, 1 Void Mirror.
In Semi-finals won 2-0 against Temur Crashing Footfalls
Like I said before and in previous posts, I'm starting to feel more confortable in this match up, even in game one with only Teferi, Time Raveler as a hate card. Having Wall of Omens is great to save us some life after the first cascade. The most important thing is having Supreme Verdict or 2 single removals to give us time to cast a bigger threat, preferably Sun Titan, which is usually the push we need to take control of the game. Game 2 be aware of Blood Moon out of the sideboard which can jank us out of the game if we're not paying attention.
Sideboarded out: 1 Prismatic Ending, 2 Mortarpod, 3 Skyclave Apparition
Sideboarded in: 1 Teferi, Time Raveler, 1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade, 1 Damping Sphere, 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Chalice of the Void, 1 Void Mirror
Finally, in the finals won 2-1 against the same 4 color Elementals deck.
Started by losing game won being showered in value again. His Teferi, Time Raveler allowed him to basically do whatever he wanted with his Ephemerate without me having any ability to answer. Solitude and Endurance having Flash also allowed him to play many times at instant speed and that was the story of game one. Me not having the ability to interact as I didn't draw the answer for Teferi.
Games 2 and 3 were much more in my favour, applying early pressure with Kaldra, killing his Teferi as soon as i could and forcing him to evoke elementals without getting Ephemerate value out of them. Resolving my own Teferi, Time Raveler was also key to feeling safe to do whatever i wanted in my turn without any blowout, and that's the main reason why i brought the 4th out of the sidebaord. It was a fanatstic game, very enjoyable with 2 decks trying to out value each other and in the end, dealing with his key permanents faster and having more pressure with Kaldra was sufficient to win me the tournment!
Sideboarded out: 3 Prismatic Ending
Sideboarded out:: 1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade , 1 Void Mirror, 1 Teferi, Time Raveler
Super proud of this tournment and how i navigated most matchups, including learning from one game to another. The results were also extremely positive as I didn't face any combo decks or Tron or other of our worse matchups which would have made my life much harded. Still, Played the meta decks as i've been doing for the last weeks and once again the results lead me to belive that this is a very favourable meta for Emeria.
Hope you're all having good games too and keep those wins coming!
Speaking first of the FNMs. First one went 4-0 going as follows:
Round 1 won 2-1 against Living End.
Managed to win game one which i absolutly did not expect. Putting 2 Wall of Omens on the board before the Living End assured me I had something to return on the next one. If we survive the first one, the follow ups are usually very advantegeous to us. Evoking Solitude even without target in response to Living End ensures it comes back and we gain a blocker and exile the biggest threat on the spot. In this match up be careful about returning too much stuff from the grave both with Emeria and Sun Titan as it can backfire with a Living End, specially an instant speed one. After sideboarding, with all the hate it becomes a good matchup in my opinion (depending on draws of course).
Sideboarded out: 4 Prismatic Ending, 1 Mortarpod, 3 Skyclave Apparition, 1 Path to Exile
Sideboarded in: 1 Teferi, Time Raveler, 1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade, 1 Damping Sphere, 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Chalice of the Void, 1 Void Mirror, 2 Sanctifier en-Vec, 1 Remorseful Cleric
Round 2 went 2-0 against Boggles.
Using Prismatic Ending and Skyclave Apparition on key enchantments is key for this match. Taking the Totem armor ones like Hyena Umbra and Spider Umbra to prep for a Supreme Verdict or my favourite, when they only have 2 auras on a creature an one of them is Daybreak Coronet, you exile the other one and Coronet will fall as it won't be enchanting a creature that is enchanted by an aura anymore. The life threathning auras are the ones that grand Flying or protection from creatures like Spirit Mantle. Kaldra also offers a fantastic blocker against big Boggles. Post sideboard depending on the amount of enchantment hate you have, once again is a match up that gets better.
Sideboarded out: 2 Mortarpod, 1 Solitude, 2 Teferi, Time Raveler
Sideboarded in: 2 Seal of Cleansing, 1 Chalice of the Void, 1 Shadowspear, 1 Fracturing Gust
Round 3 won 1-0 against Orzhov Stoneblade
This match took quite a long time. Grief + Ephemerate really hurts. The thing that got me the most bessides that busted combo was not remembering Ephemerate when i went for my removal, giving my opponent a ton of card advantage. Maindeck Kaya's Guile was also a blowout for my graveyard plays and Solitude exiling our good threats was also quite good at denying our recurssion. This said, our late game is still better, and if they don't have their Ephemerate combos, the deck is very fair and straightforward, so we can easily not only keep up the face, but outpace them with value.
Sideboarded out: 2 Mortarpod, 1 Prismatic Ending
Sideboarded in: 1 Aven Mindcensor, 1 Lavinia, Azorious Renegade, 1 Seal of Cleansing
Round 4 won 2-1 against 8 Rack.
I think this match up is very favoured given the answers we have to deal with The Rack and Shrieking Affliction. My loss came from a mulligan to 5 because i saw no lands and of course, given the match this was close to a death sentence. In this match up I prioritize lands and removal for the racks above all else. Most of our cards draw us cards so their card neutral which is great for this match up. the match can go long but if they don't have their win cons, we're preety safe. Watch out for Karnstructs from Urza's Saga and Mishra's Factory . Don't be afraid to path your own creatures to make the land drop that will ensure a faster Sun Titan or Batterskull.
Sideboarded out:3 Supreme Verdict, 2 Mortarpod, 1 Solitude, 1 Path to Exile
Sideboarded in: 2 Sanctifier en-Vec, 2 Seal of Cleansing, 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Chalice of the Void, 1 Gideon of the Trials
Second FNM went 2-0-1.
Round 1 won 2-0 against Temur Crashing Footfalls.
The more i play this match the more favoured i feel. Haven't lost against it and been playing it basically every week. Hate pieces like Teferi, Time Ravaler and all the sideboard ones are great of course, but what really puts the nail in their coffin is a well timed Supreme Verdict. If you put enough defences and get 4 rhinos with one you are on your way for a good game. They have answers for basically all our hate, with 2 damage spells or Brazen Borrower or destroying artifacts with Prismari Command. So we can only delay the innevitable. And when it happens, spot removal or Supreme is our out.
Be wary of Blood Moon after sideboarding also!
Sideboarded out: 1 Prismatic Ending, 2 Mortarpod, 3 Skyclave Apparition
Sideboarded in: 1 Teferi, Time Raveler, 1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade, 1 Damping Sphere, 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Chalice of the Void, 1 Void Mirror
Round 2 won 2-0 against Hammertime
Already spoke a lot about this match up in other posts and i still feel very favoured in the match. Beware of Sigarda's Aid for the potential of out of nowhere wins, Esper Sentinel and Puresteel Paladin for card advantage and the çlatter one for it's ability to equip anything for 0 mana. Always try to keep instant speed removal up for an unexpected attack. Teferi is amazing at stopping their instant speed shenanigans, but the sideboard has better cards so i reluctantly take it out to make room for other more targeted hate pieces, but i can understand the choice to leave him in depending on the list we're using.
Sideboarded out:3 Teferi , Time Raveler, 2 Mortarpod, 1 Skyclave Apparition
Sidboarded in: 2 Seal of Cleansing, 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Chalice of the Void, 1 Aven Mindcensor 1 Fracturing Gust
Round 3 was a Draw, 1-1 against Izzet Tempo with Murktide Regent.
This matchup still puzzles me a bit as I think in theory we have all the answers we need, but in practice they always seem to be sitting on a ton of counters and answers that throw me in for a loop. I also sideboarded wrongly, taking 2 of my Teferi, Time Raveler for the sideboard that i thought it would be better, but Teferi is just too good, preventing their counter game and bouncing Murktide Regent to hand is just too useful as it not only deals with it for a turn, but they have to exile part of their graveyard again which can be quite harmful to them. Instead after speaking with the pilot of the deck we agreed that it would be better to take Skyclave Apparition out, as he usually also takes the Ragavan's because of all my answers namely the feared Mortarpod which became a meme and a dreadful card in my LGS. With a little bit of tighter play i think i can start navigating through this matchup much better.
This is what i sideboarded out first:
2 Teferi, Time Raveler, 1 Path to Exile, 1 Sword of Fire and Ice (which i don't have anymore as i switched it for my 4th Prismatic Ending) and 1 Skyclave Apparition.
Siboarded in: 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Chalice of the Void, 2 Sanctifier en-Vec, 1 Remorseful Cleric
I would sideboard in the same, but i would take out instead: 3 Skyclave Apparition, 1 Path to Exile and 1 Mortarpod (this last one because i expect them to take ragavan's out, and it's hard to ping a Dragon's Rage Channeler when they are a Thoughtscour away from turning into a 3/3.
Also congrats on your experiences with Professor of Symbology Stéphane! i had seen you disccuss the card before but didn't think it would be on par with the rest of our choices, but you made it work so congrats. Great budgest choice for anyone who doesn't have the Stoneforge package and with more testing maybe it may even reveal itself as a legit contender for the 2 drop slot. The only thing that troubles me are the sideboard slots that it requires but of course, different versions of Emeria will place a different pressure on sideboard slots so good luck on your testings!
Tomorrow i will put the report from the actual big tournement so until there hope this provides more insight about how the deck is fairing.
First of all, I'm glad my list and results were able to inspire your list and contributed to your build! Hope the matchup discussions also helped a bit for general gameplan and sideboarding!
Going through all those games is basically impossible one by one, but in general, looking at my reports about the different matchups do you find that they correlate with your experiance or did you find that the navigation of these matchups was very different?
Also what do you consider to be the worse matchups in all these games you played? Burn and Tron as you targeted it the most?
About the points you made:
1. I completly agree that it's a devaststing combo. I used to run that same combo when Ranger-Captain of Eos came out and it felt miserable for my opponents. I have a soft spot for it so i can totally see why you're running it and like it so much. I still think that Stoneforge being a 2 drop with threat and silver bullet potential still edges it out if i had to chose one or the other but it's just trades we make. Against combo and control Ranger is much better and with this meta i can see why it works.
2. Yhea that goes along the point that we had talked about previously in regards to the 3 drop slot being so competitive. Court Hussar is a great card in this deck, no doubt about it. But with your build maybe dropping one, or one and one Ranger for some 2 drops might not be a bad idea. Because Wall of Omens is a great card and i would run it above Charming Prince. I used to run him for a long time but eventually had to cut him as I felt it just didn't do enough in the faster meta, even if all 3 of his abilities are relevant. Still love him but a though choice had to be made and he was the one that got the boot.
3. Well that's a point where we can hard agree on. With our draw engines and value we churn through our deck and eventually find our answers. This is much easier in a 60 card deck than in an 80 one. Also for those matchups where we just need a piece of hate in the opening hand it also comes much easier. Ranger fetching a one drop can also be used as a silver bullet. You already have Burrenton Forge Tender and when i used it i actually used 2 instead of Kor Firewalker as the chances of getting it are higher with ranger in the mix even if Kor Firewalker is the better card. Another card I used wasHex Parasite for planeswalkers and hardened scales. Giant killer, Giver of Runes or even Realmwright for a faster Emeria activation are other options and i'm sure now there many more, it's just a matter of seeing what works.
Hope that now that you have a tighter list and something you feel confortable with games go even better and if you can share the results so we can learn form your experiences!
The matchup can be tricky as they have a lot of tricks up their sleeves. One that kinda caught me of guard was a Kaldra Compleat out of the sideboard paired with Puresteel Paladin. Basically it forces us to have instant speed exile removal and it's always an awkward situation because we have to kill the paladin, but if we do so Kaldra and te creature it's equipping will remain and we will hav to deal with it eventually. It only happened to me once but i thought it's something worth mentioning. Dealing with Sigarda's Aid is the priority as this is their early wincon if we don't have instant based removal. One more thing is that Solitude, as good as it is, when it exiles something equipped with Colossus Hammer they actually gain a ton of life (at least 10, much more is it's like a karnstruct or something) which makes it harder to close the game fast (and that might be a reason for my slower games and some draws against this deck) but in the end we are still favoured, it might just take a bit longer.
About Hell's Kitchen, it is basically Standard Food on steroids
Feasting Troll King and of course Cauldron Familiar are the win cons with all the food. Trail of Crumbs gives the deck a lot of reach and is a must kill card as the value is insane. Finale of Devastation can get them Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar for only 2 mana or Cauldron Familiar for 3 so they always have ways to get their threats. Urza's Saga is obviously very good but in general, it's just a matchup where if we get their key cards and with all our exile, we're still favoured in my opinion. I think Urza's Kitchen is the superior deck but this deck can be very grindy, and if it cathes you by surprise it can absolutly bury you in value!
Went to 3 FNMs, going 1-1-1, 3-0-1 and 3-0.
First round won 2-0 against BR Hollow One with Vengevine
I felt that without a very explosive start (like turn 1 or 2 with 2 Hollow One in play and Vengevine and so on) the deck didn't really reperesent a threat and i could easily deal with their board tradind 1 for 1 or waiting for the right time for a Supreme Verdict. Dragon's Rage Channeler is quite strong in the deck not only fuelling Delirium but putting Vengevine and Ox of Agonas in the grave which give the deck a lot of reach for the late game, often playing Ox once every turn, drawing and discarding like madman. Our exile based removal is fantastic and with sideboard makes it even better.
Sideboarded out 3 Teferi , Time Raveler, 2 Mortarpod.
Sideboarded in: 2 Sanctifier en-Vec, 1 Remorseful Cleric, 1 Ashiok, Dream Render, 1 Celestial Purge
Round 2 was a draw, 1-1 against Hammertime.
I think we're very favoured in this match up, and asside from some Sigarda's Aid cheeses without us having instant speed removal, we can control the board quite well.
This was going to be a 2-1 win, but unfortunatly my opponent took quite a long time in his plays and i just couldn't finish game 3 in time because of all the blockers he was presenting. I had previously drawn against this opponent because of the same time issue, but this being FNM and being there just to have a good time, there was never a slow play warning and all i can hope is next time the game moves at a faster pace.
The game i lost was precisely because i didn't have a Path to Exile or a Solitude when one of his unblocked creatures got equipped at instant speed with 2 Colossus Hammer because of the Sigarda's Aid that was on the table. Got a bit unlucky as i also didn't draw the Prismatic Ending or Skyclave Apparition for the enchantment but overall felt that it was very winnable and just ended up not drawing any of those answers.
Post sideboard i think the matchup only get better and cards like Chalice of the Void and Sanctum Prelate on 1 are preety much gg barring some answer they could have.
Sideboarded out:3 Teferi , Time Raveler, 2 Mortarpod, 1 Sword of Fire and Ice
Sidboarded in: 2 Seal of Cleansing, 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Chalice of the Void, 1 Aven Mindcensor 1 Ashiok, Dream Render.
Round 3 lost 2-0 against Boros Burn
Like I had said before, removed my Burn specific hate some time ago because the deck seemed to drop in popularity, and it was definitly felt durning the games.
Game one he didn't play any permanents at all, just burn spells and i had a hand full of removal that did absolutly nothing. Didn't draw Batterskull or Stoneforge Mystic and without any lifelink, a couple of spells were enough to kill me.
The only card i had that was actually kinda good was Gideon of the Trials, and the rest of the sideboarded cards were just what i considered to be some small upgrades over the mainboard but without that much impact.
Game 2 manage to put Batterskull in play with mana to bounce it in case he could kill it instantly, be he had 2 Wear // Tear in hand and that caught me way ofguard. Solitude at turn 5 wasn't enough to keep me alive with it's lifelink and while game 2 was closer, he just had to deal with my lifelink 5 drops and it was game over.
Sideboarded out: 1 Kaldra Compleat, 2 Supreme Verdict, 2 Mortarpod, 1 Skyclave Apparition
Sideboarded in: 1 Gideon of the Trials, 1 Sanctifier en-Vec, 1 Chalice of the Void, 1 Celestial Purge, 1 Lavinia, Azoroius Renegade, 1 Sanctum Prelate
After this round, Shadowspear gained it's sideboard slot back and with the rise of artifact and some enchantress decks, made me order a Heliod's Intervention which i'll try to slot it in when it arrives.
Day 2 got 3 wins and 1 Draw (which unfortuantly, once again, should have been a win)
Round 1 won 2-1 against Izzet Murktide
The basically have 12 Creatures, and if we deal with them, we win. That's what our deck does, and with only 4 Counterspell, they can't avoid everything.
Game 1 lost because i was forced into an early Supreme Verdict to deal with 2 Dragon's Rage Channeler that had delirium and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, and he just waited until the right time to play Murktide Regent, then countered my Path to Exile and i couldn't answer it in time.
Game 2 was easier with a board presence and Prismatic Ending, Mortarpod and Skyclave Apparition dealing very well with the 1 drops, and then saving Verdict and Instant removal for Murktide.
Game 3 was a turn 3 concession from my opponent as i play turn 2 Chalice of the Void on 1, he tries to play things just to fuel an early Murktide, and with a turn 3 Remorseful Cleric taking that option away, he just didn't have anyhting left.
I forgot to write my sideboard decisions in this match but i think this is what i would sideboard right now with the build i have. Honestly i Like the entire mainboard for this match up so even though i want to bring 5 cards in, the ones that are coming out are actually a bit difficult to me but this is what i would go with i think (feel free to leave your thoughts on it and help me make better decisions in the future ;p)
Sideboard out: 1 Path to Exile, 1 Kaldra Compleat, 1 Skycalve Apparition, 2 Teferi Time Raveler
Sideboard in: 2 Sanctifier en-Vec, 1 Chalice of the Void, 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Remorseful Cleric
Round 2 won 2-0 against Hammertime.
This match went much more like what i thought it would happen in the last game i described. The only thing that can really ruin our lives is an unexpected Colossus Hammer at instant speed because of Sigarda's Aid. Specially deadly with Blinkmoth Nexus, which happened at turn 2 with a combo of turn one Blinkmoth, into Springleaf Drum, into Ornithopter, into Sigarda's Aid, and turn 2 swing with blinkmoth and put a hammer on it after blockers. Fortunatly i had a Path to Exile or it was just gg. I find Puresteel Paladin to be one of the most important cards because it allows them to draw with every equipment they play, giving them reach and being bale to freely pass equipements from a creature to another, and of course Sigarda's Aid because of the flash shenanigans they can pull of. Be mindfull of Shadowspear because of trample and the game should be favoured for us.
Sideboarded out:3 Teferi , Time Raveler, 2 Mortarpod, 1 Sword of Fire and Ice
Sidboarded in: 2 Seal of Cleansing, 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Chalice of the Void, 1 Aven Mindcensor 1 Ashiok, Dream Render.
Round 3 was draw 1-1 against the BG Hell's Kitchen deck.
This game should have been a 2-1 and this was one of the only times i actually said to my opponent he had to play faster, as he sometimes had one card in hand, which i knew what it was because it had been bounced with Teferi, he had no other options, and he still took minutes on each turn. I also did this because he was an experianced player and it seemed borderline on purpose the loss of time...
This issue asside, i did not have experiance with this deck before so i only knew the basic Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar and Cauldron Familiar combos. Was unlucky on game 1 and had a hand with many 3 drops, most crucial of them Skycalve Apparition, but didn't manage to make the third land drop until turn 5. He had his engine going, had an Urza's Saga and i was just too far behind to catch up with his creatures hitting me, and getting hit by the cat oven combo.
I see this match up a bit like Hammertime, with low CMC permanents with a lot of value, that are juicy targets for Prismatic Ending, Skycalve Apparition, and Seal of Cleansing. Dealing with Witch's Oven is a must. Trail of Crumbs provides them with a lot of card advantage and The Underworld Cookbook fuels the whole food mechanics. Get rid of these key cards and remember Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar ability to remove our creatures and it shoudln't be a bad matchup.
Sideboarded out: 1 Teferi , Time Raveler, 2 Mortarpod, 1 Sword of Fire and Ice
Sideboarded in: 2 Seal of Cleansing, 1 Ashiok, Dream Render, 1 Aven Mindcensor
Round 4 won 2-0 against 5 Color Domain.
As it's expected from a 5 color deck, their mana base is really fragile and Field of Ruin and Ghost Quarter will do wonders to keep them out of domain. General Ferrous Rokiric is a card that i was very afraid and i was a bit lucky in the games as i allways followed it up with a Teferi, Time Raveler bounce which slowed my opponent's game considerably. Scion of Draco at turn 2 is also quite nasty fro the buffs that it provides to other creatures and for being a 4/4 flier out of range from Prismatic Ending and Skycalve Apparition. I think the match up is good but it went even better than i expected because both games i drew 2 Field of Ruin and Ghost Quarter.
Sideboarded out: 2 Mortarpod
Sideboarded in: 1 Ashiok, Dream Render, 1 Aven Mindcensor
Day 3 went 3-0 to win FNM again.
Round 1 won 2-1 against Izzet Blitz.
This is a good matchup and i have discussed it previously many times. The game i lost was kinda my fault for an underwhelming keep with no removal but some blockers, but my opponent playing 3 creatures on turns one and two and then having a vapor snag really threw me of balance, putting my life total very low which later he was able to wiggle down to 0.
Blocking every time i had a chance, trying to always save a Path to Exile or a Solitude for Stormwing Entity are crucial and with sideboard it becomes even better.
Sideboarded out: 2 Sun Titan, 1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin, 1 Teferi, Time Raveler, 1 Kaldra Compleat
Sideboarded in: 1 Chalice of the Void, 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Gideon of the Trials, 2 Sanctifier en-Vec
Round 2 won 2-1 against Mono White Death and Taxes
It's a tempo creature based deck that doesn't put pressure on the board to fast and is extremely susceptible to Supreme Verdict. It's good for us. Taking Aether Vial out, be that with Prismtaic Ending, Skyclave Apparition or bouncing it with Teferi, Time Raveler is very brutal as it makes them play a super fair game of mostly one creature per turn. The game my opponent won was very well played by him, using Aether Vial and Flickerwisp to avoid removal and get 2 for ones or even 3 for ones. I think i was a bit overconfident and it lead to some bad plays on my part but i brushed it up on game 3 where it was just an avalanche of value and blowing up his board once he got something going.
Sideboarded out: 1 Mortarpod
Sideboarded in: 1 Seal of Cleansing
Round 3 won 2-1 against Temur Crashing Footfalls
Game one was an absolute slaughter, with me going first and my opponent having Gemstone Caverns, suspending 2 Crashing Footfalls on turn one, making 2 cascade spells on turns 2 and 3, and just countering the 2 Teferi, Time Raveler i tried to play. It hurt me to my core.
Fortunatly i had already started changing my sideboard to ajust to cascade decks, and so i was more confident in my ability to win the game. Although they have a ton of answers for the sideboard ( all the 2 damage spells, Prismari Command to blow up artifacts, Brazen Borrower to bounce anything back, Force of Vigor from the side), having so many pieces of disruption forces to slow them down, and wait for the right moment to do a Supreme Verdict, that i believe is the best answer against this deck.
Sideboarded out: 1 Sword of Fire and Ice, 2 Mortarpod, 3 Skyclave Apparition
Sideboarded in: 1 Teferi, Time Raveler, 1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade, 1 Damping Sphere, 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Chalice of the Void, 1 Void Mirror
Overall i think i played a very diversified set of decks, so it's not a bad sample of what the deck can do. I will probably play again this weekend so i'll try to put the results here when i can.
Feel free to discuss the reults or the sideboarding options as it was all of these discussions that made me able to have this list that i'm currently very content with.
This is the list i'll be going with for this week
1 Windswept Heath
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
6 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Raugrin Triome
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Prairie Stream
3 Field of Ruin
3 Flooded Strand
1 Snow-Covered Island
Creatures
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Wall of Omens
3 Skyclave Apparition
2 Court Hussar
3 Solitude
3 Sun Titan
2 Mortarpod
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Kaldra Compleat
1 Batterskull
Planeswalker
3 Teferi, Time Raveler
Sorcery
3 Prismatic Ending
3 Supreme Verdict
Instant
3 Path to Exile
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Sanctifier en-Vec
1 Remorseful Cleric
1 Heliod's Intervention
1 Damping Sphere
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Shadowspear
1 Teferi, Time Raveler
1 Void Mirror
1 Gideon of the Trials
1 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
1 Sanctum Prelate
Cavalier of Dawn seems like a good answer more grindy matchups like control, specially being able to be recurred by Emeria if it gets countered the first time. I'll have to try it out eventually but for now i don't quite know what to take without disrupting the deck's balance.
About the Yorion and the 80 card build, I'm not the biggest fan. I do not have experiance with that build but i find that as a reactive deck, many of my wins come from having the right cards when i need them, be them from the mainboard or sideboard. I know that against Blitz if i don't have a Path to Exile or a Solitude the possibility of dying to a Stormwing becomes very big. Against Living End i know if i don't draw my sideboard hate I'm very likely dead. Of course this is offset by the cards you put in the deck by the dilution of those key cards i want is a bit too much for liking. That said, many Yorion decks have achieved great results like Death and Taxes so, despite not being the greatest fan, there's surely some power to be gained with this build.
Regarding the hate discussion, this is more a local meta problem that i have and not something that can be translated into MTGO or bigger tournements, but because of my good results in the past months, people are actively sideboarding against me, with Rest in Peace,Torpor Orb and even Manriki-Gusari starting to be prevalant. For now it hasn't been the biggest problem as i have managed to avoid some of this hate but there's gonna be a big tournment coming up, with 5 rounds and top 8 which I think it will be the perfect oportunitty to test the power of the deck in a hypercompetitive environment with people prepared for Emeria.
This last weekend manage to put some more games in with the deck over 3 days, going 7-1-2 in total, with some changes being made to the mainboard and sideboard, namely the return to 3 Supreme Verdict and a Shadowspear in the side as my only loss was against burn and i truly felt there was almost no way i could win that matchup with the build i had previously.
I'll write about the games as soon as i can can, and hope you guys keep the good results flowing!
I had the same experiance as you in the 4 color matchups and they felt really good to play against. With your Spreading Seas i bet they went even smoother. I usually don't take the land destruction route as eveytime i did it in other match ups it seems they have way more basics then what the deck was supposed to have. But in this match up it was absolutly insane. Taking their domain and key colors away is just a free win.
And while your matchups were indeed very favoured in my opinion, it's still a very strong showing of the deck and hope to hear more from you when you have more results to post! Good luck on your games!
I've been having more work due to Covid and haven't been able to post here as regularly as i'd like.
Sorry to hear your results weren't the best Stéphane but like you said, it's probably just a matter of getting back in the saddle and hopefully things will start going smoother.
About the cascade discussion, i forgot about Drannith Magistrate but it seems like a fantastic option namely against Temur Rhinos, as their damage spells are all 2 damage with the exception of Fury. I went with Chalice of the Void to cover more ground against other decks like Izzet Tempo with Murktide Regent and Death's Shadow decks, and Void Mirror for Tron and Eldrazi Tron matchups that while i haven't played in a while, are well positioned to make a return and know some players in my area that play them. I'm also now running Lavinia, Azorious Renegade not only because of cascade but all the other free spells like elementals but i could see dropping either void mirror or Lavinia for a Magistrate. I actually won against Living End and Temur Rhinos the 2 times i played against them, and while i think they are hard matchups, the sideboard felt very good and gave me the game.
Boros Burn is something i absolutly have to consider now too. I had taken all my dedicated sideboard for burn as i hadn't played it in months. But as per usual, burn is making a comeback and a game i had i lost super cleanly with him only casting burn spells and without a single permanent. Being such a removal heavy deck, with no targets my cards did basically nothing and when Stoneforge was killed on sight i had no way of winning. Already changed the sideboard a bit, by including Shadowspear again and like you mentioned in your matchup discussions, Heliod's Intervention is card that might be very well positioned right now with all the artifact decks, the ocasional enchantress and burn. Definitely need to make some room for it in the side.
I do find your draws were unfortunate but with time and speedier play they can easily become wins again. Unfortunatly it is the curse of the deck and i've been drawin some games purely because my opponents take way to long to make their plays even when they have 1 or 0 cards in hand. Was specially frustrated on one of the last FNM's thet i went 3-0-1, where i could have had 4 wins and instead had a draw that made me lose 1st place, in a game that was a certain win but my opponent just decided to really take it's time (i'll go more in depth when i do my matchup discussions).
I was also very surprised both by Affinity and Hardened Scales resiliency. Both the explosive start and the ability to switch counters around was definitely annoying and the card that for me had just turned every artifact deck so consistent: Urza's Saga. It's amazing how one card can swing a game so much. The same happens in the Hammertime matchup where even when i bounce and kill evryhting, that card just gives them the reach to hang on way more tuns than they were supposed to. While i've been winning all the matchups against Urza's Saga decks, i think they end up being far closer games than they had to be only because of that card.
Also Stéphane, what have been, in your opinion, the underperforming and overperfoming cards in your build?
I have made some adjustments to my sideboard, taking out Shadowspear, Kor Firewalker and Sorcerous Spyglass, and putting in Chalice of the Void, a 4th Teferi, Time Raveler and a Void Mirror.
Shadowspear, Kor Firewalker came out because i mostly used them for the burn match up which doesn't seem to appear anymore and Sorcerous spyglass loses a bit of it's charm given the existance of Prismatic Ending and me not feeling the need to bring it as a devastating answer to whatever my opponents are doing.
Chalice of the Void came in mostly as an answer for Cascade decks like Living End and Rhinos, bit it's also quite good against Izzet Blitz and Grixis Death's Shadow. 4th Teferi, Time Raveler came as another answer for Cascade decks (although a late one at turn 3 which still gives them a chance to do it once) and as a card to bring against control where i feel that i all the removal i have packed in my mainboard is mostly useless. Void Mirror as another answer for cascade decks and Tron (more Eldrazi Tron) (really went heavy on this anti cascade sideboard as i realizzed i had basically no answers for it on the sideboard and just need more, that could also deal with other decks, therefore this selection of cards).
This is the deck i went with:
1 Windswept Heath
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
6 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Raugrin Triome
3 Hallowed Fountain
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Prairie Stream
3 Field of Ruin
4 Flooded Strand
1 Snow-Covered Island
Creatures
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Wall of Omens
4 Skyclave Apparition
2 Court Hussar
3 Solitude
3 Sun Titan
2 Mortarpod
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Kaldra Compleat
1 Batterskull
Planeswalker
3 Teferi, Time Raveler
Sorcery
3 Prismatic Ending
2 Supreme Verdict
Instant
3 Path to Exile
2 Seal of Cleansing
2 Sanctifier en-Vec
1 Remorseful Cleric
1 Ashiok, Dream Render
1 Damping Sphere
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Teferi, Time Raveler
1 Void Mirror
1 Gideon of the Trials
1 Celestial Purge
1 Sanctum Prelate
Round 1 - Won 2-0 against Izzet Blitz
Very favourable matchup as i have described previously, and it gets even better with sideboard.
Sideboarded out: 2 Sun Titan, 1 Kaldra Compleat, 2 Mortarpod
Sideboarded in: 2Sanctifier en-Vec, 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Celestial Purge, 1 Chalice of the Void
Round 2 - Won 2-1 against Living End
Game 1 i think it's an instant loss. I have no way of interacting with my opponent is doing and when he decides to cascade, he can preety much one shot me without me being able to do anything.
Really glad i made the sideboard changes to take cascade matchups into account as they really saved me, as even if they dealt with one piece of hate, having multiples allowed me to never lose to a force of negation, a Brazen Borrower bouncing my hate card or a Grief taking it away before playing.
Sideboarded out: 4 Skycalve Apparition[/card], 3 Prismatic Ending, 2 Mortarpod, 1 Kaldra Compleat
Sideboarded in: 2Sanctifier en-Vec, 1 Sanctum Prelate, 1 Chalice of the Void, 1 Teferi, Time Raveler, 1 Void Mirror, 1 Gideon of the Trials, 1 Remorseful Cleric, 1 Damping Sphere, 1 Ashiok, Dream Render
Round 3 - lost 1-2 against Grixis Dress Down
Dress Down is a legit card right now, and i encourage you to see it's gameplay to understand it's interactions, from turning Death's Shadow into 13/13 when it enters, to casting it at eot with Lurrus of the Dream-Den so it stays for our entire turn before being sacrificed. It's a very versitile card and it really wrecked me when i was counting with a Stoneforge Mystic to fetch me an equipment, or cancelling a Sun Titan trigger or simply a draw from Wall of Omens. Still the deck faired well against this new threat and it came down to who had the better topdeck, which my opponent ended up having. Still think our deck is favoured in the matchup being a Lurrus Death's Shadow deck, but the Dress Down is definitly something i have to keep in mind and play around more next time.
Sideboarded out: 3 Teferi, Time Raveler
Sideboarded in: 2 Sanctifier en-Vec, 1 Chalice of the Void