Is the Exile zone no longer considered outside the game? Years back I remember being able to cast Cunning Wish targeting a Cunning Wish you had previously removed, but I was playing MTGO Cube and was not able to use Mastermind's Acquisition to retrieve a card that had been exiled with the "outside the game" mode.
Still learning the ins and outs of the new list, have a pretty even split record against most decks. The new Jeskai Ascendancy / Emry, Lurker Of The Loch deck has been harsh, and Amulet Titan is a real struggle because of Field Of The Dead. Humans and other creature-centric match-ups have been a breeze.
Sideboarding has been very difficult, as removing too many cards neuters the strategy. Looking forward to testing it more without any changes. Every SB card has earned it's place.
I don't like the list's SB at all, though. I changed it significantly and have been pretty satisfied, though still learning what I should board out etc. It's hard to tell what match ups are good and bad with such a small sample size.
The free spells have been perfect for stumbling my opponent and letting me curve out simultaneously. I'm considering a third copy of each.
Life Goes On is boring, but a concession to burn. I'm feeling pretty good about that match with this list, though.
The counter spells have also been awesome, protecting me from the likes of Engineered Explosives out of Amulet Titan and pivotal combo pieces from other decks. Blue mana is manageable through Waterlogged Grove and Noble Hierarch. Playing 6 draw lands feels really good, too.
Dang, I guess I'm in the minority here but I think that Rancor is the best card in the deck and a key reason to play it. It deals more damage than any other single card in nearly every match-up, and is only ever really bad against Chalice Of The Void or a rare Spellskite. I would never play fewer than 4, especially in the lower to the ground zero 3CMC build I've been playing.
Pendelhaven has a near-zero opportunity cost, but can randomly be relevant. Drawing a late Experiment One against an opposing Wrenn And Six etc. It's fine against decks full of Lava Dart and Gut Shot as well. More 1/1 creatures justifies more copies. I was playing 2 when I ran a single Pelt Collector in addition. Turn 1 Experiment One into Turn 2 Pendelhaven activation then Rancor is a fine attack.
I'm staying almost mono-basics for the time. Stranding opponents with Field Of Ruin rather than the basic color fixing they want has been borderline free Stone Rain levels of powerful.
The new beast seems sweet! I think I'm going to want 2 SB, maybe 1 MD (if I stay on 22 land, which is the current plan.)
Haste is huge, it always trades up, it still pressures life totals while clearing Planeswalkers. It is at it's best against the Path To Exile decks and Assassin's Trophy decks so 4 CMC is more realistic.
What's everyone's SB split for battling artifacts? I always want to be best-prepared against Ensnaring Bridge and there are a lot of options to analyze...
Oxidize - One mana, kills Ensnaring Bridge through Welding Jar. I've kept 4 of these almost always, but may want to switch. Efficiently costed removal against critical mass artifact decks like Hardened Scales and Affinity, as well.
Force Of Vigor - Sometimes the best, sometimes too card-intensive. I like this as a 1-of, because sometimes you just cast it EOT and win. Also great against Auras which is a terrible match. Their Ensnaring Bridge can be more easily protected from this. I'll usually board in 1 copy against burn since they sometimes board in Ensnaring Bridge and it's also a painless answer to Eidolon Of The Great Revel.
If Wrenn And Six pushes X/1 creatures too far out of favor, Dryad Militant may leave the deck. If that happens it may finally be time for Call Of The Herd to shine, a card I've wanted to cast in this deck for quite some time.
Oh, totally. That's why I was jamming Repudiate // Replicate way back when. It was a pretty bad card, but it filled that roll very well. Veil Of Summer stops the Teferi, Time Raveler bounce, too. You just have to cast it in response to them casting him.
I swapped 4 Veil Of Summer into my SB and immediately played a match against Grixis control. I cast it 3 times, blowing out a Kologhan's Command being the most insane moment.
Veil Of Summer is absolutely insane. My only reason for not jamming it is that it's good against match-ups I already feel pretty good about. It does not stop Cryptic Command tap mode, I made the same comment earlier. That mode doesn't target a player. The card is really good in that it can substitute in place of a 1-drop creature against a deck with discard spells to counter that first spell and draw a card. Which is a pretty brutal turnaround or virtual Time Walk, even pulling you out of a mulligan, or setting an opponent further back if they started on 6.
Kitchen Finks does not do nearly enough right now. The match-ups where life preservation is important also require pressure, so the SB slots must be mana efficient. Fog, Life Goes On, and maaaybe Weather The Storm (due to it's utility against some combo) are better. Scavenging Ooze is better in grindy situations.
That deck also requires a lot of cards to actually combo. They can't mulligan down to too few cards. It requires Allosaurus Rider + 2 green spells + Neoform + at least 1 mana source, if one of the green spells was also a Chancellor Of The Tangle.
I know I just posted my SB on this page of the thread, but since there was a banning I have changed it quite a bit.
I substituted the 2 Blossoming Defense for 2 Dismember in the MD. I've played a few more random 2 player queue matches but I'll probably jump in a League finally tomorrow and/or Friday. I've been busy the last couple days and was waiting for the ban info.
Anyone else been jamming Barkhide Troll? Whoops, just realized M20 isn't out in paper until Friday.
I still stick with mono-Forests, but Prismatic Vista is just as good as any other fetch if you're not splashing. I don't think that's a regrettable financial decision, even at that price. The ceiling is pretty high for Modern lands.
With Bridge From Below having been banned, the Vengevine / Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis deck plays a bit more fair. Frees up those SB slots that I formerly had dedicated to Grafdigger's Cage. I think the Allosaurus Rider / Neoform deck is both too inconsistent, and too few and far between to keep them for that match-up.
I've got a few different things I'm wanting to try out.
I'm liking 22 lands for the sake of fewer mulligans. A third utility land does appeal to me. I may try a Hashep Oasis or a Waterlogged Grove. I used to pack a Pendelhaven, but that was when I was running 6 1/1 base creatures. I guess my last question for the MD is Experiment One vs. Pelt Collector? I've always maxed on Experiment One first. The Regenerate has been relevant a handful of times. It has also grown to 4/4 a handful of times. I think the toughness check matters if it's already wearing Rancor. I know this is a pretty common topic to cover in this thread, just not sure what the opinions are in this build.
Sideboarding with the deck has proven pretty difficult. I'm super satisfied with the main 60, but the extra 15 is ever-changing. What to board out is pretty tough without diluting the deck's plan too much.
Here's my current SB. Attacking all the degenerate decks that can win faster.
I still don't think I can beat a turn 2 Griselbrand if I only have the Pithing Needle. Unless I have double Avatar Of The Resolute early. I have been pretty consistently sticking him as a 6/5, though.
I'm 3-1 against UW control, which feels good. A lot better than the Steel Leaf Champion build faired. The only match I lost, they had Timely Reinforcements on turn 3 and Snapcaster Mage on turn 5 in game 1. Game 3 they miracled a Terminus with no set-up on turns 3 and 4 back-to-back when they were otherwise super dead. Ouch. I have otherwise been able to win through a turn 3 Timely Reinforcements, which also feels pretty liberating. That's probably my least favorite card to play against with the deck.
I can match pace with the creature plan against HogaakBridgeVineAltar, but lose to the Altar Of Dementia without a SB card. Still working that match-up out. I've only faced it twice.
I've played against about everything except Devoted Druid combo now, and I'm not sure how that match-up will fair.
Current record with the list is 17-7, in one League and the rest just 2-player queues. Probably jump into another League with it soon.
Scavenging Ooze - With Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis / Altar Of Dementia being the premier graveyard deck in the format right now...Scavenging Ooze just doesn't do enough. Tarmogoyf decks are few and far between, anymore. I'm confident enough against Izzet Arclight Phoenix builds, so the only time I would really like to have another is against Red Arclight Phoenix and traditional Dredge. I used to keep 4 copies in my 75 but it just plays a different game than the deck wants to right now, imo.
Steel Leaf Champion - The occasional Remand or far-more-common Planeswalker bounce (Teferi/Jace) is the worst feeling. Going wide has proven to be more powerful than it's evasion.
Veil Of Summer - I'm going to keep the it until I run into a relevant match or two and decide from there. The more I think about it, the more meh it seems. May just want an extra threat, instead. (The second Scavenging Ooze, perhaps.)
Aspect Of Hydra - I played 4 in all of my lists up until this build. Not having a GGG devotion creature made it the first suspect for cutting. Vines Of Vastwood usually provided the same role for a lethal attack in advance of the opponent's pivotal turn.
Forest - I'm still hung up on taking zero damage from my mana base. It just always feels like it matters if my opponent has Mountains. Treetop Village always delivers, but everything else hasn't done much for me.
Savage Swipe - This has typically read as a green Searing Blaze. 4 damage to target creature, and 2 to a player. Once in a while you have to trade it and your creature to bring something larger down (Thoughtknot Seer, for example.) I ran 4 Dismember previously. Far less Gurmag Angler now that Grixis has turned Esper.
Force Of Vigor - This card is either a blowout or a bit of a dud. It's a zero mana answer to Chalice Of The Void which the deck is pretty soft to, and a way through Ensnaring Bridge. Welding Jar embarrasses this card, though. Having to hold a Green card in your hand can make for some difficult choices, but in the match-ups that you want this card, you'll typically have a redundant 2CMC creature or something, anyway.
Hexdrinker - Usually insane. Just the threat of him on the table warps how opponent's play if they're trying to interact. The threat of leveling him has earned some concessions. Is also totally fine as a vanilla 2/1 for G. Having a brutal top deck like this alleviates some of the pressure pulling Scavenging Ooze may have put on.
The deck just feels far more consistent like this, and the London mulligan was a game changer as well. I'll post up more after I jam more matches over the weekend.
EDIT: I played 6 more matches, with 4-2 as a result.
Match against Eldrazi Tron where my opponent had it all in games 1 & 3. Two Eldrazi Temple, Chalice Of The Void on X=1 turn 2, and turn 4 All Is Dust, with threats on the 3rd and 5th turn both games. I was never in it. Solid curve through their clunky hand made for an easy game 2. Currently pretty indifferent on this match-up. Collector Ouphe is great against Walking Ballista. They had a lot of MD removal; Dismember, Warping Wail, and Spacial Contortion.
BG Midrange - I used Savage Swipe to kill their Hexdrinker. They weren't able to kill my second Hexdrinker and it 6/6'd the turn they passed to me at 6 life. Game 2 they had a Fatal Push but an otherwise durdly hand. I killed their Tarmogoyf and had 3 creatures of my own, one being a Strangleroot Geist. Only thing they could do was play Liliana Of The Veil and die to attacks.
Lost a match to Mono Green Devotion Ramp last night, then woke up today and turned 20 play points into 100 on MTGO in the 2 player queue with the following list...
Blossoming Defense is the worst card in the main deck, but is still pretty good. This is the current flex slot. I'm going to try Hunger Of The Howlpack in it's stead, while I still have all 4 troll in. It's in the same power realm as Aspect Of Hydra or Rancor, but I think the ceiling is a bit higher. Obvious first worry is the floor being a lot lower. I have also considered Spider Umbra in this space, for resilience. It's pretty embarrassing against exile and sacrifice abilities, but great in combat and against Red removal.
Veil Of Summer wasn't used in any of the match ups, so I can't really comment on it's importance. I think I'll definitely want to keep it if I remove the Blossoming Defense from the MD.
I don't miss having a big 3 CMC creature. Leaves a lot of room for mana efficient interaction.
Here's what I'm playing...
4 Experiment One
4 Hexdrinker
4 Pelt Collector
3 Questing Beast
4 Steel Leaf Champion
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Vines Of Vastwood
13 Forest
2 Nurturing Peatland
1 Pendelhaven
1 Treetop Village
4 Waterlogged Grove
1 Collector Ouphe
1 Dismember
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Fog
2 Force Of Vigor
2 Gut Shot
1 Krosan Grip
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Stubborn Denial
1 Unified Will
Sideboarding has been very difficult, as removing too many cards neuters the strategy. Looking forward to testing it more without any changes. Every SB card has earned it's place.
I dropped the Blossoming Defense for a third Questing Beast, and dropped down to 1 Treetop Village.
I don't like the list's SB at all, though. I changed it significantly and have been pretty satisfied, though still learning what I should board out etc. It's hard to tell what match ups are good and bad with such a small sample size.
1 Collector Ouphe
1 Dismember
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Force Of Vigor
2 Gut Shot
1 Krosan Grip
2 Life Goes On
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Stubborn Denial
1 Unified Will
The free spells have been perfect for stumbling my opponent and letting me curve out simultaneously. I'm considering a third copy of each.
Life Goes On is boring, but a concession to burn. I'm feeling pretty good about that match with this list, though.
The counter spells have also been awesome, protecting me from the likes of Engineered Explosives out of Amulet Titan and pivotal combo pieces from other decks. Blue mana is manageable through Waterlogged Grove and Noble Hierarch. Playing 6 draw lands feels really good, too.
I'm not sold on the 3 drop.
Questing Beast still seems absurdly powerful.
Okina, Temple To The Grandfathers should be taken into account with all these new legendary creatures, as well.
The more I think about Stonecoil Serpent, the more I want to play it in this deck.
Don't sleep on Oakhame Adversary in the SB, either.
I'm staying almost mono-basics for the time. Stranding opponents with Field Of Ruin rather than the basic color fixing they want has been borderline free Stone Rain levels of powerful.
The new beast seems sweet! I think I'm going to want 2 SB, maybe 1 MD (if I stay on 22 land, which is the current plan.)
Haste is huge, it always trades up, it still pressures life totals while clearing Planeswalkers. It is at it's best against the Path To Exile decks and Assassin's Trophy decks so 4 CMC is more realistic.
Wildborn Preserver seems more like Avatar Of The Resolute 5-8. Pretty medium. Experiment One does not trigger it.
I've been pining for a card like Wicked Wolf for a long time, a green Flametongue Kavu analog. This doesn't quite cut it for us, I don't think.
Really happy to see Green so pushed in the last couple sets. We were getting 0-1 playables per set for so long.
Oxidize - One mana, kills Ensnaring Bridge through Welding Jar. I've kept 4 of these almost always, but may want to switch. Efficiently costed removal against critical mass artifact decks like Hardened Scales and Affinity, as well.
Unravel The Aether / Deglamer - Gets around Welding Jar and Academy Ruins, as well as being the best out to a Wurmcoil Engine. Excess enchantment removal is a bonus.
Force Of Vigor - Sometimes the best, sometimes too card-intensive. I like this as a 1-of, because sometimes you just cast it EOT and win. Also great against Auras which is a terrible match. Their Ensnaring Bridge can be more easily protected from this. I'll usually board in 1 copy against burn since they sometimes board in Ensnaring Bridge and it's also a painless answer to Eidolon Of The Great Revel.
Krosan Grip - Gets through any protection, including Spellskite. Great against a Batterskull, as well. Mana-intensive.
Collector Ouphe - This card is insane in a lot of match-ups but doesn't deal with Ensnaring Bridge. Can't find room for any, but would like to.
Current post-banning with zero post-banning matches played:
4 Barkhide Troll
4 Dryad Militant
4 Experiment One
4 Hexdrinker
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Rancor
4 Savage Swipe
4 Vines Of Vastwood
19 Forest
1 Pendelhaven
2 Treetop Village
1 Dismember
1 Force Of Vigor
4 Oxidize
2 Relic Of Progenitus
1 Scavenging Ooze
4 Veil Of Summer
If Wrenn And Six pushes X/1 creatures too far out of favor, Dryad Militant may leave the deck. If that happens it may finally be time for Call Of The Herd to shine, a card I've wanted to cast in this deck for quite some time.
I swapped 4 Veil Of Summer into my SB and immediately played a match against Grixis control. I cast it 3 times, blowing out a Kologhan's Command being the most insane moment.
Kitchen Finks does not do nearly enough right now. The match-ups where life preservation is important also require pressure, so the SB slots must be mana efficient. Fog, Life Goes On, and maaaybe Weather The Storm (due to it's utility against some combo) are better. Scavenging Ooze is better in grindy situations.
I'm still liking Fog over Life Goes On. It works against Infect, is usually on parity against the red decks trying to grow their Monastery Swiftspear / Soul-Scar Mage for one big attack, and has also been really handy against the new Unearth / Lightning Skelemental deck.
I know I just posted my SB on this page of the thread, but since there was a banning I have changed it quite a bit.
2 Collector Ouphe
1 Dismember
2 Faerie Macabre
2 Fog
1 Force Of Vigor
2 Gut Shot
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Unravel The Aether
1 Weather The Storm
I substituted the 2 Blossoming Defense for 2 Dismember in the MD. I've played a few more random 2 player queue matches but I'll probably jump in a League finally tomorrow and/or Friday. I've been busy the last couple days and was waiting for the ban info.
Anyone else been jamming Barkhide Troll? Whoops, just realized M20 isn't out in paper until Friday.
With Bridge From Below having been banned, the Vengevine / Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis deck plays a bit more fair. Frees up those SB slots that I formerly had dedicated to Grafdigger's Cage. I think the Allosaurus Rider / Neoform deck is both too inconsistent, and too few and far between to keep them for that match-up.
I've got a few different things I'm wanting to try out.
Sideboarding with the deck has proven pretty difficult. I'm super satisfied with the main 60, but the extra 15 is ever-changing. What to board out is pretty tough without diluting the deck's plan too much.
Here's my current SB. Attacking all the degenerate decks that can win faster.
3 Force Of Vigor
3 Grafdigger's Cage
3 Gut Shot
3 Life Goes On
3 Pithing Needle
I still don't think I can beat a turn 2 Griselbrand if I only have the Pithing Needle. Unless I have double Avatar Of The Resolute early. I have been pretty consistently sticking him as a 6/5, though.
I'm 3-1 against UW control, which feels good. A lot better than the Steel Leaf Champion build faired. The only match I lost, they had Timely Reinforcements on turn 3 and Snapcaster Mage on turn 5 in game 1. Game 3 they miracled a Terminus with no set-up on turns 3 and 4 back-to-back when they were otherwise super dead. Ouch. I have otherwise been able to win through a turn 3 Timely Reinforcements, which also feels pretty liberating. That's probably my least favorite card to play against with the deck.
I can match pace with the creature plan against HogaakBridgeVineAltar, but lose to the Altar Of Dementia without a SB card. Still working that match-up out. I've only faced it twice.
I've played against about everything except Devoted Druid combo now, and I'm not sure how that match-up will fair.
Current record with the list is 17-7, in one League and the rest just 2-player queues. Probably jump into another League with it soon.
Steel Leaf Champion - The occasional Remand or far-more-common Planeswalker bounce (Teferi/Jace) is the worst feeling. Going wide has proven to be more powerful than it's evasion.
Veil Of Summer - I'm going to keep the it until I run into a relevant match or two and decide from there. The more I think about it, the more meh it seems. May just want an extra threat, instead. (The second Scavenging Ooze, perhaps.)
Aspect Of Hydra - I played 4 in all of my lists up until this build. Not having a GGG devotion creature made it the first suspect for cutting. Vines Of Vastwood usually provided the same role for a lethal attack in advance of the opponent's pivotal turn.
Forest - I'm still hung up on taking zero damage from my mana base. It just always feels like it matters if my opponent has Mountains. Treetop Village always delivers, but everything else hasn't done much for me.
Savage Swipe - This has typically read as a green Searing Blaze. 4 damage to target creature, and 2 to a player. Once in a while you have to trade it and your creature to bring something larger down (Thoughtknot Seer, for example.) I ran 4 Dismember previously. Far less Gurmag Angler now that Grixis has turned Esper.
Force Of Vigor - This card is either a blowout or a bit of a dud. It's a zero mana answer to Chalice Of The Void which the deck is pretty soft to, and a way through Ensnaring Bridge. Welding Jar embarrasses this card, though. Having to hold a Green card in your hand can make for some difficult choices, but in the match-ups that you want this card, you'll typically have a redundant 2CMC creature or something, anyway.
Hexdrinker - Usually insane. Just the threat of him on the table warps how opponent's play if they're trying to interact. The threat of leveling him has earned some concessions. Is also totally fine as a vanilla 2/1 for G. Having a brutal top deck like this alleviates some of the pressure pulling Scavenging Ooze may have put on.
Grafdigger's Cage - a concession to the state of Modern. This will change if the banlist changes. Relic Of Progenitus and/or an extra Scavenging Ooze, and a flex slot, likely.
The deck just feels far more consistent like this, and the London mulligan was a game changer as well. I'll post up more after I jam more matches over the weekend.
EDIT: I played 6 more matches, with 4-2 as a result.
2 matches against different 8-Rack opponents. Lost the first match, game 1 to Smallpox -> Ensnaring Bridge, game 3 to Smallpox -> Liliana Of The Veil -> Liliana Of The Veil. Could not race The Rack damage through all the edicts when out of gas. The other match I had Strangleroot Geist for his Smallpox and they didn't see Ensnaring Bridge. Nether Spirit was a frustrating blocker from their side, and solid tech in that deck.
Match against Eldrazi Tron where my opponent had it all in games 1 & 3. Two Eldrazi Temple, Chalice Of The Void on X=1 turn 2, and turn 4 All Is Dust, with threats on the 3rd and 5th turn both games. I was never in it. Solid curve through their clunky hand made for an easy game 2. Currently pretty indifferent on this match-up. Collector Ouphe is great against Walking Ballista. They had a lot of MD removal; Dismember, Warping Wail, and Spacial Contortion.
Match against Skred Red. They never cast Anger Of The Gods so perhaps luck was on my side. Game 1 they fired off 3 removal spells in the first 2 turns against my two 1CMC creatures and the Vines Of Vastwood I used to protect. After that my Barkhide Troll and Avatar Of The Resolute stuck. Those two creatures killed him over 3 turns while they played a Stormbreath Dragon and I played a Hexdrinker + Savage Swipe to kill it. Game 2 they had 1 early removal spell and then cast a Mind Stone into Planeswalkers; Chandra, Torch Of Defiance -> Koth Of The Hammer -> Koth Of The Hammer. I had 6 power in creatures attacking their life total with a 4/3 Avatar Of The Resolute killing the Planeswalkers as they were cast.
Match against UW Control. They used a Path To Exile on their second turn and a Force Of Negation on my Vines Of Vastwood. I felt ahead on cards, but I only had 2 creatures in my opening hand. They had Teferi, Time Raveler into Jace, The Mind Sculptor before I could re-establish anything. Games 2 and 3 were pretty similar to one another. They had some Path To Exile and Detention Sphere action, but I had Vines Of Vastwood and Barkhide Troll to deflect them. Timely Reinforcements is the most difficult part of this match up and they didn't cast any. Here I learned that even though Teferi, Time Raveler isn't doing much once he has used his -3 ability, he's a must kill so that we may use our Vines Of Vastwood etc reactively.
BG Midrange - I used Savage Swipe to kill their Hexdrinker. They weren't able to kill my second Hexdrinker and it 6/6'd the turn they passed to me at 6 life. Game 2 they had a Fatal Push but an otherwise durdly hand. I killed their Tarmogoyf and had 3 creatures of my own, one being a Strangleroot Geist. Only thing they could do was play Liliana Of The Veil and die to attacks.
I'm sticking with those 2 MD Blossoming Defense for now. I still haven't cast Veil Of Summer lol. Cheers gang.
4 Barkhide Troll
4 Dryad Militant
4 Experiment One
4 Hexdrinker
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Rancor
4 Savage Swipe
4 Vines Of Vastwood
20 Forest
2 Treetop Village
1 Collector Ouphe
2 Force Of Vigor
4 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Gut Shot
2 Life Goes On
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Unravel The Aether
2 Veil Of Summer
I beat out Eldrazi Tron, Hollow One with Hoagaak, Arisen Necropolis, Infect, Burn, Amulet Titan, Humans, Goblins, and Neoform combo.
Barkhide Troll has been awesome, but I may sub 1 out for another spell. Drawing 2 can be awkward.
Savage Swipe has pulled A LOT of weight.
Blossoming Defense is the worst card in the main deck, but is still pretty good. This is the current flex slot. I'm going to try Hunger Of The Howlpack in it's stead, while I still have all 4 troll in. It's in the same power realm as Aspect Of Hydra or Rancor, but I think the ceiling is a bit higher. Obvious first worry is the floor being a lot lower. I have also considered Spider Umbra in this space, for resilience. It's pretty embarrassing against exile and sacrifice abilities, but great in combat and against Red removal.
The sideboard has been plenty fine. Unravel The Aether and the 3rd and 4th Grafdigger's Cage are the worst cards, but feel necessary. I haven't seen a Wurmcoil Engine in a while.
Veil Of Summer wasn't used in any of the match ups, so I can't really comment on it's importance. I think I'll definitely want to keep it if I remove the Blossoming Defense from the MD.
I don't miss having a big 3 CMC creature. Leaves a lot of room for mana efficient interaction.