I'm back on 4c gifts after a long stint with jund. Took Funeral's proposed list from page 145 and made some adjustments. I used to run a full four color with a snapcaster, 4 gifts, blue manlands, academy ruins package, and a rotating list of fun-of singletons but a lot of that stuff got pretty cute. I like the strategy of basically playing a junk game with gifts for value, silver bullets, and the combos. Made some adjustments based on things I don't have:
I took it to FNM tonight went 3-1 beating a bant exalted deck, elves, and zoo and losing to elves. Based on this experience I'd definitely want some number of push in the deck, probably cutting a scooze and a path as well as moving pulse to sb for 3 total push. The blooming marshes were nice to cast turn 1 discard, turn two goyf/scooze, etc. and would only be better to have painless removal turn 1-3 in push. Seems like my list might be pretty weak to tron, breach, and other combo style decks, but haven't seen much in this meta.
I was excited to try Sun Titan but never got to cast or rites him. Actually sided him out pretty often vs faster decks as it always seemed correct to just go Elesh Norn or take out some top heavy stuff for sweepers, but he's one of my favorite cards.
Played Jund at Indy this weekend. Let's just say it did not go well. Opponents were on Breach Titan, GR Tron, goryos, living end, burn, and burn before I dropped to go drink beer.
Played a fairly standard list with Kalitas and Huntmaster as my 4 drops, no brutality or flayer, fulm/extraction SB and 3/3 split for my discard package.
Got blown out several times through the day as well as just not being able to get ahead fast enough (Tron player had 3 karns and an ugin game 3). Several games had me iok only to see nothing but land the big nasties like Karn/Breach/griselbrand. When I did win vs those decks it was due to the classic discard/fulminator with a clock as you might expect.
In the prophetic words of my buddy, Jund just seems too fair right now. I think we do have the tools to stay relevant but it didn't feel great. I'm sure I made plenty of mistakes and iffy keeps though so have to take with a grain of salt. Buddy was on Breach Titan as well and played the mirror at least twice. Not sure what all I would change but would consider deaths shadow or junk if I was going to do it over again.
I'm at Louisville on Jund, Seems to be quite a bit of eldrazi and aggro. Have played vs UR eldrazi, 2x affinity, infect, and a BUG midrange list (in the losers bracket). Have been hearing from most people playing vs burn, affinity, and eldrazi, with the UW version showing up pretty strong although I haven't seen it. Pretty much as expected for anecdotal reports.
I started off strong then been bricking pretty hard on top decks and made a few questionable G1 keeps, just playing for fun now.
Buddy on UR eldrazi still in it at X-1 but other buddy on UWR control 0-3 drop.
Protection prevents DEBT (Damage, Enchant, Block, Target). So yes skulk wouldn't be targetable by karn or Ugin. However, Ugin's -x ability says "each" and so skulk would still be exiled.
@Fiddlyr:
Can you post a link please? Was there any kind of comment or helpful advice with the deck?
This looks somewhat similar to what I have been playing, but with a lot more 4-ofs and Goyfs, of course. Manabase is a bit intriguing for me as well.
The only interaction I can see is being able to discard Loam as a cost of casting then dredge it back using one of the draws. If that actually works. But it does seem pretty corner case.
Or if you've nothing else in hand and topdeck useless cards. But the extra mana and lack of flashback seem like legit downsides.
It's a Jund Assault Loam that has the option to sideboard into splinter twin combo. The idea being that assault loam is usually pretty good vs. fair decks and then you can switch to all in twin to combat bad/unfair matchups or when you expect grave hate or extirpate effects.
I was pretty intrigued and didn't see it mentioned here. Anyone tried anything like this?
That's literally the top post on this page.
Edit: what luck, lol. Last page.
Whoops. Not sure how I missed that. Been longer than I thought since I visited this thread. At least now I can check off my bonehead move for the day.
It's a Jund Assault Loam that has the option to sideboard into splinter twin combo. The idea being that assault loam is usually pretty good vs. fair decks and then you can switch to all in twin to combat bad/unfair matchups or when you expect grave hate or extirpate effects.
I was pretty intrigued and didn't see it mentioned here. Anyone tried anything like this?
I am not surprised at the no-bans. The only thing I thought should be banned, i know never will (Twin/Blood Moon) but my reasons are beyond their % of meta or win %.
I am slightly sad at the no unbans. I think there are a few safe unbans (SotM, AV, JtMS) but I am not overly surprised, WotC is definitely on the cautious side when it comes to unbans.
So your reasons are "I don't like these cards and don't want to play against them?" You want blood moon banned but JTMS unbanned?
I just don't understand these threads. How can anyone be disappointed when we've seen so much happening in modern lately? The "wait and see" approach makes sense with where modern is at the moment IMO.
I went ahead and took the plunge on the MM mythics I was missing. Blew out the MTG budget for pert near the rest of the year, but I figure at this point I have more to lose from any potential spikes on the big ticket items than I stand to gain by any subsequent drops.
Some people are saying wait and see because the vendors bought out everything and are sitting on it, but I guess I figure that the demand is still going to far outstrip the supply for things like Goyf and Bob, and we're gonna see an eventual spike ala MM1 (albeit probably not as huge).
I really like this trend of gifts turning into more of a sultai based deck. Visions actually seems pretty good when you get into topdeck mode. I really hate that feeling when I'm playing vs. blue decks, we're both hellbent from LotV activations but they visions into business while I flood out or pick up my less-than-usefull one ofs.
I agree that anticipate could also be worth testing here. Jeff Hoogland made some comments lately about how strong it is in his testing in UR archetypes. Would like to be able to hold up leak or decay mana and cast Anticipate EOT if they don't do anything you're interested in stopping.
This deck looks like something I could get into and have been thinking about BUG for a bit. Really like the politics angle of playing people against the current threat/leader using the activated ability. Seems like could make for some interactive games and utilizing the yard without being totally reliant on it is also pretty appealing. Would be cool to see some of the non-Doomsday lists as my play group and LGS tend to frown on that kind of thing but we have been in a bit of an arms race lately so may end up trying it out.
Gasitur, and the Foldem' Gang. Get it? Because he gives you never ending gas and... I'll show myself out.
Was looking at Countersquall for a deck and wondered why we couldn't have something like this in modern:
Counterseize - UB
Instant
Counter target spell.
You lose (2 or 3) life.
I think this might see some play but at the same time is difficult to 4 of and expect to use with snapcaster. An unconditional hard counter for 2 mana that has a very black drawback.
I'm saying that I am fine with them using the banlist to keep power levels within reason. I don't see how the bolded portion really means I agree with his statement? He feels we should just give in to the eventual trend of similar lists. I'm saying the banlist can and should be used to prevent this when necessary. And DRS was anything but knee jerk, they gave it a year and people complained so they acted quicker due to that with cruise. I don't agree with the dig ban, but the rest there has been absolutely responsible.
"By attrition they will look more alike unless the ban list keeps growing exponentially by artificially rotating the format."
EITHER the power level creeps up continuously towards legacy OR the banlist grows and grows as more TC, Dig's, and rhinos are printed. I agree. They don't test for modern, so if they want to keep power level as is, they either have to print deliberately weaker cards or ban anything that oversteps the bound. By the short history of sets designed since Modern's inception, I would say they lean far more towards continuous bannings.
Profane Command. Was in my first homebrewed standard deck I built after Lorwyn came out. Had read about this old deck called Rock and got inspired. Up till that point I had played burn. Profane command taught me a lot about card advantage and making optimal decisions.
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Scavenging Ooze
1 Eternal Witness
1 Kitchen Finks
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Sun Titan
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Spells (20)
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
3 Path to Exile
1 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Gifts Ungiven
3 Lingering souls
2 Thought Scour
1 Unburial Rites
2 Abrupt decay
3 Liliana of the Veil
Lands (24)
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Marsh Flats
2 Wooded Heath
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
1 Temple Garden
1 Breeding Pool
1 Watery Grave
2 Blooming Marsh
1 Shambling Vent
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Wrath of God
1 Damnation
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Life from the Loam
1 Raven's Crime
1 Disenchant
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Dispel
1 Negate
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Celestial Purge
1 Creeping Corrosion
I took it to FNM tonight went 3-1 beating a bant exalted deck, elves, and zoo and losing to elves. Based on this experience I'd definitely want some number of push in the deck, probably cutting a scooze and a path as well as moving pulse to sb for 3 total push. The blooming marshes were nice to cast turn 1 discard, turn two goyf/scooze, etc. and would only be better to have painless removal turn 1-3 in push. Seems like my list might be pretty weak to tron, breach, and other combo style decks, but haven't seen much in this meta.
I was excited to try Sun Titan but never got to cast or rites him. Actually sided him out pretty often vs faster decks as it always seemed correct to just go Elesh Norn or take out some top heavy stuff for sweepers, but he's one of my favorite cards.
Played a fairly standard list with Kalitas and Huntmaster as my 4 drops, no brutality or flayer, fulm/extraction SB and 3/3 split for my discard package.
Got blown out several times through the day as well as just not being able to get ahead fast enough (Tron player had 3 karns and an ugin game 3). Several games had me iok only to see nothing but land the big nasties like Karn/Breach/griselbrand. When I did win vs those decks it was due to the classic discard/fulminator with a clock as you might expect.
In the prophetic words of my buddy, Jund just seems too fair right now. I think we do have the tools to stay relevant but it didn't feel great. I'm sure I made plenty of mistakes and iffy keeps though so have to take with a grain of salt. Buddy was on Breach Titan as well and played the mirror at least twice. Not sure what all I would change but would consider deaths shadow or junk if I was going to do it over again.
I started off strong then been bricking pretty hard on top decks and made a few questionable G1 keeps, just playing for fun now.
Buddy on UR eldrazi still in it at X-1 but other buddy on UWR control 0-3 drop.
The only interaction I can see is being able to discard Loam as a cost of casting then dredge it back using one of the draws. If that actually works. But it does seem pretty corner case.
Or if you've nothing else in hand and topdeck useless cards. But the extra mana and lack of flashback seem like legit downsides.
Whoops. Not sure how I missed that. Been longer than I thought since I visited this thread. At least now I can check off my bonehead move for the day.
Post: https://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/comments/3iezln/modernbrew_jund_assault_loam_twin_transform/
List: http://deckbox.org/sets/1052941
It's a Jund Assault Loam that has the option to sideboard into splinter twin combo. The idea being that assault loam is usually pretty good vs. fair decks and then you can switch to all in twin to combat bad/unfair matchups or when you expect grave hate or extirpate effects.
I was pretty intrigued and didn't see it mentioned here. Anyone tried anything like this?
So your reasons are "I don't like these cards and don't want to play against them?" You want blood moon banned but JTMS unbanned?
I just don't understand these threads. How can anyone be disappointed when we've seen so much happening in modern lately? The "wait and see" approach makes sense with where modern is at the moment IMO.
Some people are saying wait and see because the vendors bought out everything and are sitting on it, but I guess I figure that the demand is still going to far outstrip the supply for things like Goyf and Bob, and we're gonna see an eventual spike ala MM1 (albeit probably not as huge).
I agree that anticipate could also be worth testing here. Jeff Hoogland made some comments lately about how strong it is in his testing in UR archetypes. Would like to be able to hold up leak or decay mana and cast Anticipate EOT if they don't do anything you're interested in stopping.
Gasitur, and the Foldem' Gang. Get it? Because he gives you never ending gas and... I'll show myself out.
Counterseize - UB
Instant
Counter target spell.
You lose (2 or 3) life.
I think this might see some play but at the same time is difficult to 4 of and expect to use with snapcaster. An unconditional hard counter for 2 mana that has a very black drawback.
"By attrition they will look more alike unless the ban list keeps growing exponentially by artificially rotating the format."
EITHER the power level creeps up continuously towards legacy OR the banlist grows and grows as more TC, Dig's, and rhinos are printed. I agree. They don't test for modern, so if they want to keep power level as is, they either have to print deliberately weaker cards or ban anything that oversteps the bound. By the short history of sets designed since Modern's inception, I would say they lean far more towards continuous bannings.