Hey everyone, I'm new to playing the Abzan archtype in Modern. So the question that's been on my mind is how does Abzan fare better against Eldrazi Tron? Or even Tron in general? I feel like it is our worst matchup and we autolose game 1 at the very least. I always found it's better to be more proactive, but that requires a lucky curve. Are there any tips to making the matchup better for us, or at least more bearable? Cause outside of using Fulminator Mage or Stony Silence, I don't see a way to beat this deck?
Also, how good is the Fulminator/Surgical Extraction package against them? Worth sideboarding in?
Can anyone help me with matchup advice? I'm having trouble beating Merfolk, Goblins, and more recently, Slivers. AKA Hyper aggressive tribal decks that either hit hard or use Aether Vial to cheat in creatures past our counterspell's.
Stuff I'm having trouble with:
-Lines of play
-Keeping in counterspells after game 1.
-What exactly to board out.
-Which creatures we have to worry about the most.
-When to hold up countermagic if we have to, or casting a draw spell like Serum Visions being more important that holding up a counter.
I'm really, really struggling against these decks, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Hey guys, I need some help with a few aggro-based matchups.
How do I fare better against Merfolk, Goblins, and RW Burn? Is there any trick to keep in mind while playing these matchups? For the second one in particular, should I focus less on removing their creatures and more on countering their bushwhackers? For the first one, how do I sideboard properly and what are the proper plays? Also, I was thinking about bumping Timely Reinforcements to 2 again in the board. Is it still a good idea in this meta full of Eldrazi Tron and Grixis Shadow?
Does anyone know how this deck is supposed to win against a resolved Blood Moon? There are Skred Red decks that are played regularly at my local's, and one of them in particular is a weird homebrew that can accelerate into T2 Blood Moon and T3 Mwonvuli Acid Moss to get rid of any non-mountain basic lands in play. It is probably my worst matchup with this deck and Cryptic Command's are too slow to deal with them.
How do you feel about the use of Ancestral Vision (Preferably as a four of) in the Esper Transcendent list? I have a full playset that I'm itching to use, but is scrying with Serum Visions that much more important on top of the immediate card draw it provides?
Hey, I just wanted to ask, how does this deck beat Krark-Clan Ironworks.dec? It seems like there's very little interaction to be had between this deck and Ironworks since they can just sac all their artifacts to Ironworks and keep going off with Faith's Reward/Open the Vaults. I heard that I need to pressure them early in the game, but that is easier said than done when the only creatures we run are Tasigur, Snapcaster Mage, Creeping Tar Pit, and Fulminator Mage in the board.
Hey guys, I just wanted to ask a very simple question about whether I should play Ancestral Vision or Serum Visions when I have them in my opening hand and I can play them first turn. It seems very matchup dependent. But more importantly, hand dependent. Like, if I need to draw certain land to smooth out my plays, I go for Serum. But if I need to get raw card advantage ASAP, I play Ancestral first. The latter being much more important for the grindier matchups like Jund and the mirror and the former being more important for more aggressive matchups like Burn.
Any tips on the Bant Eldrazi matchup? I feel it is nigh unwinnable as we can't counter their Eldrazi, and their threats hit way too fast. Even Nahiri isn't fast enough to deal with them.
So I want to post a quick tournament report here for Game Day today. I've attended a couple of them in my time, but today was the first time I went undefeated and ultimately won the event. Here is the list I ran for today:
A very interesting deck. It ran Herald of the Pantheon along with a couple of the retreat enchantments and really maximizes it's value off fetchland landdrops. So at one point, he had 2 Herald's out along with two Retreat to Hagra's, and he was draining me pretty fast, and even landed a Siege Rhino soon after. But I was able to have a better board presence as he had no removal for whatever creatures I put on the battlefield. Game two I held a better board presence than he did, as all he had was a Retreat to Kazandu to gain him life, but I kept beating him in with Siege Rhino's and Anafenza's, with Reflector Mage to bounce his creatures so my army can get a clean hit on him. Final score was 2-0.
Round 2: VS U/R Vortex Control
Another weird deck that drew cards and ran things like Molten Vortex along with some other removal and counter's. He kept killing my small creatures, but I eventually landed a Siege Rhino followed by a Wingmate Roc and as he tried to kill them all, I had the Stubborn Denial's to take care of his answers. Game two was more of the same, he tried to combo out when he cast Day's Undoing but I was able to Dromoka's Command in response to pump up my Rhino and get rid of his Molten Vortex. Afterwards, I landed another Rhino and another Roc and went to town from there. Final score: 2-0.
Round 3: Grixis Tutelage
I actually played this same player last night at FNM. First round. Sphinx's Tutelage proved to be a scary card to deal with, but overall not bad as long as you have your creatures to beat down with. And that's exactly what I did. Except I also countered his Treasure Cruise's by stubbornly denying them. Won on the back of Anafenza. Game two was more of the same, except at one point where I had an army and blue mana open, he tried to Crux of Fate but I countered with Disdainful Stroke. I went to town from there. Final score: 2-0.
Final Round: B/R Dragons/Tokens
This was against one of the very best players in our store. But usually when we play, it's always at the last round of an event in which him and I are always undefeated beforehand, so this was nothing I wasn't used to. First game, he played alot of incremental advantage cards like Thoptor Engineer and Pia and Kiran Nalaar. I kind of misplayed when he played Pia and Kiran and he had the engineer out so his P&K tokens got haste. I could have Murderous Cut to delay him alittle, but with my board state and his answers, that's all I could really do as he played Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury. So moving onto the next game, I have no idea how to side in vs this matchup, but I figured the Stubborn Denial's were not good for me on the play, so I boarded in Hallowed Moonlight knowing he gets alot of incremental advantage off his spells that give him tokens. I saw the Hallowed Moonlight in my hand, but my other spells were 3X Gideon and land. So I mulled to six. Had a Warden snapkeep hand and played it out from there. He had answers for my Warden and Anafenza, but I was able to land a Tasigur into play and keep racing him from there. As he tried to land a Kolaghan to save himself, I stroked it and kept the offensive on with Tasigur and Wingmate Roc. Moving onto game three, I realized that Gideon was not good in this matchup, so I boarded back in two of my Stubborn Denial's and both my Dromoka's Commands. This was a weird game. I accidentally kept a pretty bad six land hand after I saw I had Warden and Wooded Foothills but the other cards were just counter's. So I play my Foothills, but I don't crack it right away as I drew into an Anafenza after scrying away a Murderous Cut at the beginning. So knowing I had to get another color, I went to crack at the end of his turn for a Canopy Vista. Luckly, I drew into a Smoldering Marsh and then played Warden. While he did kill my Warden on his next turn, I managed to draw a Flooded Strand to crack for a Plains and play Anafenza. The next turn, he uses Transgress the Mind to see how bad my opener was. As he had a very perplexed look on his face, I laughed nervously as he whiffed with Transgress (As all I had were Denial's and Stroke, which he couldn't target). This was the second time one of his hand disruption spells whiffed in the set, as second game, he Duress'd me to see that I had all creatures.
Afterwards, I used Trangress the Mind to take one of his Kolaghan's and saw he had Dragonic Roar and Self-Inflicted Wound. He eventually used his Roar to kill a facedown Den Protector I had and eventually answered Anafenza as well. Later on in the match, I had Siege Rhino in hand, but I accidentally misplayed a land sequence where I got a Canopy Vista by accident instead of a Forest, which came into play tapped and would have let me cast Rhino with Stubborn Denial as backup in case he decided to use Wound. So at four mana, and knowing he had the Wound, I passed the turn. Luckly, the worst thing he had for me was a Thunderbreak Regent to protect himself, so I let that resolve. The next turn, I played the Rhino and kept my Stubborn Denial's up in case he had anything to kill it, as protecting my creatures was a bigger priority for me than killing his creatures.. As I kept attacking with Rhino and drawing lands that would let me keep up counter magic, he blocked Rhino with Regent to not take damage, which allowed me to land a Wingmate Roc with raid trigger. As he tried to cast another Kolaghan to protect himself, I killed it with a cut to win the Game Day. He was mad that I "Got rewarded for keeping a sketchy hand" and refused to shake my hand, and proceeded to complain about it to other people in the store. I will admit, I was abit embarrassed that I kept that hand, but at the same time, I jumped the gun and said "Keep" when I should have inspected my hand better beyond seeing Warden and Foothills together. I would have pitched it had I not said "Keep" without thinking and saw what else I had, but it is what it is. I was able to work with what I had after realizing there that I was a fool for keeping that hand, but I still won and that's all that matters.
So yeah, it feels good to win my first ever Game Day playmat, especially after my last round opponent was bragging about how he was going to win the playmat without any difficulties, since he does win alot of Game Day's. But to be fair, him and I have a history with each other, but that is a story for another time.
So noting how expensive the promo foil for Pia and Kiran Nalaar was, I took the opportunity to get a deal for two copies of the intro pack that contained them for $12.99 each. Now with the foil going for at least $12-$13, would it be a good idea to keep/open the packs, open the boosters in them, then sell the promo's or just resell the intro packs as a whole? I have no interest in playing the Pia and Kiran promo's as I was mainly going for the regular versions anyway.
Also, how good is the Fulminator/Surgical Extraction package against them? Worth sideboarding in?
Stuff I'm having trouble with:
-Lines of play
-Keeping in counterspells after game 1.
-What exactly to board out.
-Which creatures we have to worry about the most.
-When to hold up countermagic if we have to, or casting a draw spell like Serum Visions being more important that holding up a counter.
I'm really, really struggling against these decks, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.
How do I fare better against Merfolk, Goblins, and RW Burn? Is there any trick to keep in mind while playing these matchups? For the second one in particular, should I focus less on removing their creatures and more on countering their bushwhackers? For the first one, how do I sideboard properly and what are the proper plays? Also, I was thinking about bumping Timely Reinforcements to 2 again in the board. Is it still a good idea in this meta full of Eldrazi Tron and Grixis Shadow?
4x Warden of the First Tree
4x Anafenza, the Foremost
4x Reflector Mage
4x Siege Rhino
1x Wingmate Roc
1x Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2x Den Protector
3x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3x Oath of Nissa
3x Stubborn Denial
3x Murderous Cut
2x Dromoka's Command
1x Swamp
1x Plains
2x Forest
1x Llanowar Wastes
1x Prairie Stream
1x Sunken Hollow
1x Smoldering Marsh
2x Canopy Vista
4x Flooded Strand
4x Wooded Foothills
4x Polluted Delta
4x Windswept Heath
2x Distainful Stroke
2x Hallowed Moonlight
2x Transgress the Mind
2x Self-Inflicted Wound
2x Painful Truths
1x Dispel
1x Exert Influence
So here's my report:
Round 1: VS Abzan Enchantments
A very interesting deck. It ran Herald of the Pantheon along with a couple of the retreat enchantments and really maximizes it's value off fetchland landdrops. So at one point, he had 2 Herald's out along with two Retreat to Hagra's, and he was draining me pretty fast, and even landed a Siege Rhino soon after. But I was able to have a better board presence as he had no removal for whatever creatures I put on the battlefield. Game two I held a better board presence than he did, as all he had was a Retreat to Kazandu to gain him life, but I kept beating him in with Siege Rhino's and Anafenza's, with Reflector Mage to bounce his creatures so my army can get a clean hit on him. Final score was 2-0.
Round 2: VS U/R Vortex Control
Another weird deck that drew cards and ran things like Molten Vortex along with some other removal and counter's. He kept killing my small creatures, but I eventually landed a Siege Rhino followed by a Wingmate Roc and as he tried to kill them all, I had the Stubborn Denial's to take care of his answers. Game two was more of the same, he tried to combo out when he cast Day's Undoing but I was able to Dromoka's Command in response to pump up my Rhino and get rid of his Molten Vortex. Afterwards, I landed another Rhino and another Roc and went to town from there. Final score: 2-0.
Round 3: Grixis Tutelage
I actually played this same player last night at FNM. First round. Sphinx's Tutelage proved to be a scary card to deal with, but overall not bad as long as you have your creatures to beat down with. And that's exactly what I did. Except I also countered his Treasure Cruise's by stubbornly denying them. Won on the back of Anafenza. Game two was more of the same, except at one point where I had an army and blue mana open, he tried to Crux of Fate but I countered with Disdainful Stroke. I went to town from there. Final score: 2-0.
Final Round: B/R Dragons/Tokens
This was against one of the very best players in our store. But usually when we play, it's always at the last round of an event in which him and I are always undefeated beforehand, so this was nothing I wasn't used to. First game, he played alot of incremental advantage cards like Thoptor Engineer and Pia and Kiran Nalaar. I kind of misplayed when he played Pia and Kiran and he had the engineer out so his P&K tokens got haste. I could have Murderous Cut to delay him alittle, but with my board state and his answers, that's all I could really do as he played Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury. So moving onto the next game, I have no idea how to side in vs this matchup, but I figured the Stubborn Denial's were not good for me on the play, so I boarded in Hallowed Moonlight knowing he gets alot of incremental advantage off his spells that give him tokens. I saw the Hallowed Moonlight in my hand, but my other spells were 3X Gideon and land. So I mulled to six. Had a Warden snapkeep hand and played it out from there. He had answers for my Warden and Anafenza, but I was able to land a Tasigur into play and keep racing him from there. As he tried to land a Kolaghan to save himself, I stroked it and kept the offensive on with Tasigur and Wingmate Roc. Moving onto game three, I realized that Gideon was not good in this matchup, so I boarded back in two of my Stubborn Denial's and both my Dromoka's Commands. This was a weird game. I accidentally kept a pretty bad six land hand after I saw I had Warden and Wooded Foothills but the other cards were just counter's. So I play my Foothills, but I don't crack it right away as I drew into an Anafenza after scrying away a Murderous Cut at the beginning. So knowing I had to get another color, I went to crack at the end of his turn for a Canopy Vista. Luckly, I drew into a Smoldering Marsh and then played Warden. While he did kill my Warden on his next turn, I managed to draw a Flooded Strand to crack for a Plains and play Anafenza. The next turn, he uses Transgress the Mind to see how bad my opener was. As he had a very perplexed look on his face, I laughed nervously as he whiffed with Transgress (As all I had were Denial's and Stroke, which he couldn't target). This was the second time one of his hand disruption spells whiffed in the set, as second game, he Duress'd me to see that I had all creatures.
Afterwards, I used Trangress the Mind to take one of his Kolaghan's and saw he had Dragonic Roar and Self-Inflicted Wound. He eventually used his Roar to kill a facedown Den Protector I had and eventually answered Anafenza as well. Later on in the match, I had Siege Rhino in hand, but I accidentally misplayed a land sequence where I got a Canopy Vista by accident instead of a Forest, which came into play tapped and would have let me cast Rhino with Stubborn Denial as backup in case he decided to use Wound. So at four mana, and knowing he had the Wound, I passed the turn. Luckly, the worst thing he had for me was a Thunderbreak Regent to protect himself, so I let that resolve. The next turn, I played the Rhino and kept my Stubborn Denial's up in case he had anything to kill it, as protecting my creatures was a bigger priority for me than killing his creatures.. As I kept attacking with Rhino and drawing lands that would let me keep up counter magic, he blocked Rhino with Regent to not take damage, which allowed me to land a Wingmate Roc with raid trigger. As he tried to cast another Kolaghan to protect himself, I killed it with a cut to win the Game Day. He was mad that I "Got rewarded for keeping a sketchy hand" and refused to shake my hand, and proceeded to complain about it to other people in the store. I will admit, I was abit embarrassed that I kept that hand, but at the same time, I jumped the gun and said "Keep" when I should have inspected my hand better beyond seeing Warden and Foothills together. I would have pitched it had I not said "Keep" without thinking and saw what else I had, but it is what it is. I was able to work with what I had after realizing there that I was a fool for keeping that hand, but I still won and that's all that matters.
So yeah, it feels good to win my first ever Game Day playmat, especially after my last round opponent was bragging about how he was going to win the playmat without any difficulties, since he does win alot of Game Day's. But to be fair, him and I have a history with each other, but that is a story for another time.