I was just putting together a BG delirium list today, and after playtesting a little bit I took a look at the MOCs results... This list is pretty close to where I'm at, and definitely interesting as well:
Rallier is exciting to see in the mb, since I just added one to my mb too; though I'm not sure I'm a fan of the hierarchs. Looking at the list, his 75 is pretty damned spicy overall, and I'm liking quite a few things. Gaddock Teeg is another card I was interested in trying out, so it's nice to see someone else running him.
I goldfished very similar "Abzan Death's Shadow" some time ago, but with 3x Lingering Souls MD in place of one land, Pulse and CB.
Also, what's the opinion on removing "BG Rock" from thread's title? It could free someone to make separate thread for it, since here it is Abzan almost exclusively.
I've always been curious as to why BG rock was included in this thread, as it seems unfair to Rock players imo. I used to play it and it was hard finding good discussion on it via this thread through the abzan discussion.
I've thought about giving Jund a spin, but I just keep picturing Raging Ravine getting Fatal Pushed and how bad it would feel. Ravine was awesome when Bolt was the premiere 1-mana removal spell because you could make it "immune", but using all of your mana in exchange for only one of your opponent's is potentially a problem. Truth be told, that, more than anything, is what's keeping me off of Jund right now.
I think the current lists are actually much better than the Fate Reforged ones, because they have different goals. The Fate Reforged lists tried to be really big midrange, going all the way up to 6 mana Elspeth. They basically started "big", then added what they could to be faster. The current lists start much lower to the ground, and only go as big as they need to in order to win grindier matchups. I think that the FR lists were unnecessarily slow and grindy, and that the current lists strike a better balance of being able to present a quick clock while still having resilient, hard to answer threats for slower matchups (i.e. Gideon).
Well keep in mind that you typically only activate Ravine when you have nothing else to do that turn, and if they remove it then your next threat is more likely to live since you were still able to make a 1 for 1 trade where you otherwise would have likely just passed turn.
So I tested the Traverse + Bobs list from above last night against my buddy first on TitanShift for 5 games (2 preboard/3 post) and then on Grixis Shadow (2/2 pre-post), and the results are about what you would expect. I only won the last of the post board games against TitanShift (1-4) and I completely wrecked Grixis Shadow, winning every game (4-0).
This build just seems custom-tailored to beat Shadow decks, and honestly I felt in control of every game against Shadow even when I was way behind on board. Game 1 of the post-board matches I kept a very sketchy 7 with one land and a traverse, only to have him rightfully Thoughtseize me T1 on the play and take the traverse. I would only drew into my third land some five turns later (and this is after a turn 3 Nihil Spellbomb wiped out my graveyard) and I still won that game. I even said something to my friend when I played the third land about "Thank god this is a Grixis match, if you were playing TitanShift right now I would already be dead."
Which is the bad news: Big mana decks just feel unwinnable. I just don't even know what we do to try and make this a viable matchup. Fulminator Mage feels like a joke. Cutting Surgical Extraction from my board actually makes the matchup worse (though I think Nihil is better vs. Grixis), and the sideboard I used last night was also bad--I lost one game because I did not have a Shriekmaw in my deck that I could have traversed for to kill his Primeval Titan and swing for the win. Bojuka bog in the main deck was great against Grixis all night, but maybe this becomes a Ghost Quarter and we move Bojuka to the sideboard and replace the Spellbombs with Surgical Extraction? I just don't know if it's even worth trying to shore up this matchup, or if we rely on Affinity and Grixis to beat the Big Mana decks and then we prey on those decks? Maybe we forego trying to win Tron matchups completely but add in some dedicated lifegain to try push Scapeshift back enough turns to eek out a few wins? No idea.
Bob felt fine. He wasn't an unbelievable all star, but I was always happy to see and cast him. I need to test him more in matchups that aren't so polarizing to really get a feel for what he does to the deck. One game against TitanShift he drew me like 5-6 extra cards, but I wasn't going to win that match anyway, and it's not like I ever needed him against Grixis DS.
I think next week I am going to try out Spsiegel1987's non-traverse list and see how that feels just to get another data point.
Yeah the traverse build absolutely destroys grixis shadow and a large portion of modern aggro decks. Big mana decks are definitely a problem, but that's going to be the case with any version of BGx. I feel like the traverse version is better against tron variants given it's higher consistency in deploying huge threats (bauble + thoughtseizing all is dust for tribal), and the ability to run just a single sb fulminator that you can traverse for. I've dropped my second copy, since is very lackluster vs tron, but a singleton is useful in a lot of matchups (valakut, inkmoth, naya burn, etc. It's also a 2 for 1 against UW decks if you just keep swinging it at them until they try to remove it, then blow up a land in response). That being said, I am still struggling with my gameplan against urzaland.dec, as that matchup has always been super frustrating for me as a bgx player.
Scapeshift decks aren't as frustrating for me, since we run 3-4 path (i'm on 4/2 atm, feels good) for prime time, and can do a decent job of disrupting them and killing them before scapeshift resolves. Decks like this one, that rely on 1-2 cards to win the game are why I run 1-2 Lost legacy in my sb alongside surgicals over spellbombs. Regarding scapeshift, I was discussing with a friend the possibility of running a 1 of shadow of doubt somewhere in the 75, since BB isn't too difficult to achieve when we're already trying to get it for lily, and it puts an instant in the yard for delirium while being able to protect us from a topdeck scapeshift and synergize with path to exile. It seems pretty situational, but you do get to still randomly win games from stifling a fetch land.
@pizz0wn3d: Thanks for the after-action report. I was definitely looking forward to these from the players who said they were running Bobs last night.
A couple of questions: You mentioned mulling to 5 a couple of times. Was that because of land light hands? I ask because 19 lands and 3 traverse seems a little low. I think the accepted norms are 4-19, or 3-20. I know when I play with traverse in a low-land deck the first Traverse is almost always used to grab a basic (and I'm ok with that. It's a great trade off for the better top deck late). Did you have a hard time with such a low land count?
How was Bob with only one Collective maindeck? OK? I'm trying to figure out how many Bobs to run in the main and I can't quite get it to the numbers of Collective/Maelstrom/Path/Push I want with three Bobs.
Thanks again for the report!
Yeah the majority of my mulligans were due to land light hands, which may be a symptom of cutting the 4th traverse. I have been thinking about trying to find space for the 4th traverse, but the 1 brutality has been fine so far. If I make space for something it's likely going to be the 4th traverse, though i haven't decided what to cut. I considered cutting down to 2 bobs, but I want to draw him pretty often naturally, so 3 feels correct for now. The other option I'm considering is moving the pulse to the sb for the traverse. This version is still a bit up in the air at the moment, and I'd appreciate if anyone else was able to experiment with the list and report their findings back here as well.
Taking my Traverse list to Tuesday Night Magic tonight. Bob has been fantastic in testing so far, so I'm expecting to do well as long as I don't end up playing against valakut, tron, and turns lol. Anyone on the traverse version should 100% be at least testing Bob in their list, no idea why he wasn't in the original version.
Update: Report incoming
I ended up in 3rd place in our 12 man event with this list:
Round 1 - Mono Red Goblins (tokens + lord build)
Game 1 I open up with IoK > Flayer > goyf > goyf > goyf and he concedes to a board full of huge goyfs. G2 I mulligan to 5 and don't see much interaction before he runs me over with 4 tokens and a chieftain. G3 I keep a shaky hand, but topdeck kambal and back to back flaying tendrils to seal the game up.
board out: 3 Bob, 3 Thoughtseize
board in: Shriekmaw, Kambal, 2 Brutality, 2 Tendrils
2-1, 1-0 overall
Round 2 - Grishoalbrand
Game 1 he combos out on t2 after I tapped out for a grim flayer (no path in hand). Game 2 I keep a 1 land hand w/ 2 bauble, fetch, surgical, Lost Legacy, and some other stuff. Greedy, but the bauble scry combo and surgical felt worth. He tried to goryo's a griselbrand on turn 3, but I had surgical to rip it out in response. I then proceed to miss a land drop for 4 straight turns despite the bauble helping me shuffle away a bob. around turn 5 he is able to goryo a borborygmos and smack me down to 3. The turn before I would've drawn my 3rd land (saw it off a flayer trigger), he flashes back his 3rd copy of faithless looting to find two more copies of goryo's vengeance (his 3rd and 4th copies..), and reanimates his 2nd copy of borbo for the kill. oh well.
board out: 2 Fatal push, 3 Lingering Souls, 2 Abrupt Decay, 1 Maelstrom Pulse
board in: kambal, fulminator,2 surgical,2 brutality, 2 Lost Legacy
0-2, 1-1 overall
Round 3 - Bogles (ugh)
Game 1 I thoughtseize his only creature and proceed to play a turn 3 liliana that ticks all the way up to 10 before he finds another creature (wasn't worth ulting to split his 5 lands into two piles imo), he eventually dies when I finally find flayer into goyf. Game 2 He starts w/ leyline in play, then curves bogle > etherium armor > daybreak coronet, vomit. Game 3 he mulligans to 5 with no creature, but has a leyline. He never gets off the ground, and I make sure he doesn't by tutoring for rec sage to blow up leyline.
board out: 2 Fatal Push, 2 Path to exile
board in: Reclamation Sage, Fulminator Mage, 2 Flaying Tendrils
2-1, 2-1 overall
Round 4 - Death's Shadow Jund
Game 1 I curve removal spells into liliana and he never gets off the ground. Game 2 I start off on 5 cards and he IoKs my fulminator, and plays a goyf. I crack bauble on my turn and see a Lingering souls on top of his library (shrine already in play on his side), so I decay + surgical his goyf to force it to shuffle away. Surgical resolves and he reveals 2 other copies of Souls in his hand I lost that game pretty quickly after that. Game 3 I board in flaying tendrils to help mitigate lingering souls and it starts off similarly with him thoughtseizing my fulminator mage.. again. The game grinds out for a long time before I just barely edge out a win when he blocks my flayer w/ goyf while he's at 3 life... and I fatal push the goyf to trample through for lethal.
board out: 3 thoughtseize, 3 IoK
board in: Shriekmaw, Fulminator Mage, Gideon AoZ, 2 Surgical, 2 Flaying Tendrils (game 3)
2-0, 3-1 overall.
unfortunately bob had to be boarded out in round 1, and I didn't see too many copies of him tonight. He did do good work against bogles, but it was in game 3 where I was already solidly ahead after he mulled to 5 and didn't find a bogle. I cast him a couple of times against DS Jund, and he died every time almost immediately, so he did a good job acting as a lightning rod. He's absolutely still staying in the mainboard as a 3 of for now, since I was never disappointed to see him.
Dark Confidant is the best black creature ever printed. I don't understand anyone who doesn't play him in their Jund/Abzan/GB/Traverse deck. Some people seem to think Bob -> Jund, and Grim Flayer -> Abzan. Literally never understood that. You can absolutely play Dark Confidant in Abzan, and playing it alongside Grim Flayer can be sweet. Two cards a turn is almost unbeatable unless you're playing against Burn.
Exactly. I just love this card. People get upset about lifeloss. Our curve is lower than before and lets be honest they will try to remove him asap (unless burn). And if bob and flayer stick around together oh boy
Yeah this is basically how I feel about it too. This deck has a lower curve, and faster clock w/ the larger goyfs, so why was he omitted in the first place? Adding bob does make us a little weaker to Burn (which I'm about to start testing), but CB can offset that pretty well if I can figure out how to add in the 2nd copy. Outside of the burn matchup, however, it feels like straight gas every single time. I'm currently at 3 copies, but being able to traverse for him might mean that the correct number is 2, and the 3rd becomes a brutality. He's also the reason I went back to the 3/3 split on TS and IoK, from the 4TS/2IoK list.
Anyone have a good reason not to play Bob in the Traverse version? I dropped a Lily, Traverse, and Tasigur to squeeze in 3 Bobs and he's felt pretty damn good so far, esp considering how low our curve is (average cmc here is 1.61).
Played a couple of games against mono w hatebears and bob was insane. Might need to add a courser or something else to mitigate the loss of life though, thinking about finding space for the 2nd brutality again.
It's DeFish! Nice, they published your 5-0 with the budget list. Congrats!
Oh man, I didn't even read the name on the list lol. I'm curious, did you play against any eldrazi tron players? I've been playtesting that since I got home tonight and I can't seem to win any games at all mb. Makes me want to mb a fulminator mage in the flex spot.
Took my list to FNM tonight and ended up in 1st place after going 3-0.
R1 Affinity - Not much to say here, g1 I had an early delirium w/ a t3 traverse + cast flayer while he was stuck on 1 land and I closed out the game pretty quickly from there. G2 I IoK him and realize he had boarded in a wear/tear for my stony silence. Nice to see dead cards in my opponent's hand
R2 GW Tron - Wasn't looking forward to this matchup, but g1 I got insanely lucky and managed to win with a durdly hand while he couldn't find tron and drew 2x World breakers, 2x Ulamog, Ugin, Kozilek, and a couple of other expensive spells. Eventually my t2 flayer closed out the game despite struggling to find delirium. G2 he kept a 5 card hand w/ no tron lands and never got off the ground while I play t2 flayer > t3 goyf and end the game ASAP.
R3 Burn - G1 is fairly typical of a gbx vs burn matchup, where I managed to race him to 0 with a big ole goyf. G2 He plays t1 Swiftspear > t2 Guide Guide > t3 path my goyf + bolt + swing. I lost that game. G3 I have 2 lands, an IoK, Goyf, Kambal, and some other stuff in my opener. He gets me to around 8 before I stick kambal on the table and he acts as a forcefield while I bash in and finish him off. Kambal is so good in this matchup, being guaranteed 2+ life through skullcrack is fantastic; tack on the -2 life and it's hard to lose the race w/ goyf.
Taking this to a "Modern Challenger" event tomorrow, and I'm feeling pretty confident.
small note: I ended up purchasing a prerelease promo gideon for my sb over the garruk, so he never got any real testing in. Might be worth it over the 2nd tireless tracker if they're playing RIP though, considering the low land count in the deck. Gonna need some extra testing on it though.
A couple of things I'd like to discuss moving forward, and gather some opinions on: 4 Lily veil vs 3/1 split with Last Hope - I'm having a tough time figuring out which way to go here, putting Last Hope in the MB does free up a SB slot, and give use some extra diversity in our answers/threats/grind potential.
MB Traverse vs Bog(20th Land) vs 10th Creature Flex Spot - I'm currently running an Eternal Witness here, and while she does often have a pretty great impact, the double green can be a bit tough sometimes. Traversing for her to regrow a Liliana/removal spell does feel pretty good though.
SB Surgical vs Nihil spellbomb - Which matchups does one shine over the other? Spellbomb does help us reach delirium while hitting graveyards, but surgical just feels so much more flexible overall imo.
Bog in the SB if not in the main? I'm running Lost Legacy here where bog would be in the SB if I decided to run it, but tbh I think I like LL more.
I'm also on the Traverse version of abzan, and I've been trying out the list from the GP as well. With 2 Brutalities in the MB, the extra TS shouldn't be much of an issue. I've been wanting to MB a pulse, and run 4 thoughtseize since I put the original list together last week, so this version feels great to me. The only real change I've made is dropping the bog for an Eternal Witness, since I feel like it's better in more matchups than the bog. I am running a very similar SB w/ a couple of changes, here is my current sb:
On my choices:
Kambal - Still hoses storm, while being relevant in more matchups. Playing this guy against burn ALWAYS gains you 2 life. They can't skullcrack his trigger, since he'll just trigger in response... I haven't played him against Grixis Shadow yet, but his trigger should be pretty relevant there too, especially if they're on the Ari Lax version w/ 4 Sleight of Hand. I used to run him in Mardu Nahiri and he was great there.
Garruk Relentless - Honestly I've just slotted him in to test out since I traded my gideon away yesterday, but the more I think about him the more I like him. I haven't had the chance to test him yet, but he's easier to cast and makes a 2/2 every turn as well. If he flips, he can sac a souls token or something else to tutor through RIP, and make 1/1 deathtouchers. He does die to bolt, but that card is played less and less these days so it feels like the best time to test him in modern since he was printed.
Lost Legacy - This card is great, and honestly not played enough imo. Beats a ton of combo decks before they can go off (ad naus, storm - usually empty the warrens, scapeshift, etc).
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
Creature (11)
4 Grim Flayer
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Siege Rhino
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Sorcery (14)
1 Collective Brutality
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Lingering Souls
3 Thoughtseize
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
Instant (8)
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Fatal Push
3 Path to Exile
4 Mishra's Bauble
Land (19)
3 Blooming Marsh
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Forest
1 Godless Shrine
4 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Collective Brutality
1 Lingering Souls
1 Big Game Hunter
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Extirpate
2 Flaying Tendrils
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Tireless Tracker
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/690489#paper
edit: I'm curious as to how reliably he has delirium w/ no grim flayers, though.
Rallier is exciting to see in the mb, since I just added one to my mb too; though I'm not sure I'm a fan of the hierarchs. Looking at the list, his 75 is pretty damned spicy overall, and I'm liking quite a few things. Gaddock Teeg is another card I was interested in trying out, so it's nice to see someone else running him.
I've always been curious as to why BG rock was included in this thread, as it seems unfair to Rock players imo. I used to play it and it was hard finding good discussion on it via this thread through the abzan discussion.
Well keep in mind that you typically only activate Ravine when you have nothing else to do that turn, and if they remove it then your next threat is more likely to live since you were still able to make a 1 for 1 trade where you otherwise would have likely just passed turn.
Yeah the traverse build absolutely destroys grixis shadow and a large portion of modern aggro decks. Big mana decks are definitely a problem, but that's going to be the case with any version of BGx. I feel like the traverse version is better against tron variants given it's higher consistency in deploying huge threats (bauble + thoughtseizing all is dust for tribal), and the ability to run just a single sb fulminator that you can traverse for. I've dropped my second copy, since is very lackluster vs tron, but a singleton is useful in a lot of matchups (valakut, inkmoth, naya burn, etc. It's also a 2 for 1 against UW decks if you just keep swinging it at them until they try to remove it, then blow up a land in response). That being said, I am still struggling with my gameplan against urzaland.dec, as that matchup has always been super frustrating for me as a bgx player.
Scapeshift decks aren't as frustrating for me, since we run 3-4 path (i'm on 4/2 atm, feels good) for prime time, and can do a decent job of disrupting them and killing them before scapeshift resolves. Decks like this one, that rely on 1-2 cards to win the game are why I run 1-2 Lost legacy in my sb alongside surgicals over spellbombs. Regarding scapeshift, I was discussing with a friend the possibility of running a 1 of shadow of doubt somewhere in the 75, since BB isn't too difficult to achieve when we're already trying to get it for lily, and it puts an instant in the yard for delirium while being able to protect us from a topdeck scapeshift and synergize with path to exile. It seems pretty situational, but you do get to still randomly win games from stifling a fetch land.
Yeah the majority of my mulligans were due to land light hands, which may be a symptom of cutting the 4th traverse. I have been thinking about trying to find space for the 4th traverse, but the 1 brutality has been fine so far. If I make space for something it's likely going to be the 4th traverse, though i haven't decided what to cut. I considered cutting down to 2 bobs, but I want to draw him pretty often naturally, so 3 feels correct for now. The other option I'm considering is moving the pulse to the sb for the traverse. This version is still a bit up in the air at the moment, and I'd appreciate if anyone else was able to experiment with the list and report their findings back here as well.
Update: Report incoming
I ended up in 3rd place in our 12 man event with this list:
4 Grim Flayer
3 Dark Confidant
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Lingering Souls
3 Traverse the Ulvenwald
3 Thoughtseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Path to Exile
2 Fatal Push
1 Collective Brutality
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Mishra's Bauble
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
1 Temple Garden
1 Hissing Quagmire
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Shriekmaw
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Stony Silence
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Collective Brutality
2 Lost Legacy
2 Flaying Tendrils
Round 1 - Mono Red Goblins (tokens + lord build)
Game 1 I open up with IoK > Flayer > goyf > goyf > goyf and he concedes to a board full of huge goyfs. G2 I mulligan to 5 and don't see much interaction before he runs me over with 4 tokens and a chieftain. G3 I keep a shaky hand, but topdeck kambal and back to back flaying tendrils to seal the game up.
board out: 3 Bob, 3 Thoughtseize
board in: Shriekmaw, Kambal, 2 Brutality, 2 Tendrils
2-1, 1-0 overall
Round 2 - Grishoalbrand
Game 1 he combos out on t2 after I tapped out for a grim flayer (no path in hand). Game 2 I keep a 1 land hand w/ 2 bauble, fetch, surgical, Lost Legacy, and some other stuff. Greedy, but the bauble scry combo and surgical felt worth. He tried to goryo's a griselbrand on turn 3, but I had surgical to rip it out in response. I then proceed to miss a land drop for 4 straight turns despite the bauble helping me shuffle away a bob. around turn 5 he is able to goryo a borborygmos and smack me down to 3. The turn before I would've drawn my 3rd land (saw it off a flayer trigger), he flashes back his 3rd copy of faithless looting to find two more copies of goryo's vengeance (his 3rd and 4th copies..), and reanimates his 2nd copy of borbo for the kill. oh well.
board out: 2 Fatal push, 3 Lingering Souls, 2 Abrupt Decay, 1 Maelstrom Pulse
board in: kambal, fulminator,2 surgical,2 brutality, 2 Lost Legacy
0-2, 1-1 overall
Round 3 - Bogles (ugh)
Game 1 I thoughtseize his only creature and proceed to play a turn 3 liliana that ticks all the way up to 10 before he finds another creature (wasn't worth ulting to split his 5 lands into two piles imo), he eventually dies when I finally find flayer into goyf. Game 2 He starts w/ leyline in play, then curves bogle > etherium armor > daybreak coronet, vomit. Game 3 he mulligans to 5 with no creature, but has a leyline. He never gets off the ground, and I make sure he doesn't by tutoring for rec sage to blow up leyline.
board out: 2 Fatal Push, 2 Path to exile
board in: Reclamation Sage, Fulminator Mage, 2 Flaying Tendrils
2-1, 2-1 overall
Round 4 - Death's Shadow Jund
Game 1 I curve removal spells into liliana and he never gets off the ground. Game 2 I start off on 5 cards and he IoKs my fulminator, and plays a goyf. I crack bauble on my turn and see a Lingering souls on top of his library (shrine already in play on his side), so I decay + surgical his goyf to force it to shuffle away. Surgical resolves and he reveals 2 other copies of Souls in his hand
board out: 3 thoughtseize, 3 IoK
board in: Shriekmaw, Fulminator Mage, Gideon AoZ, 2 Surgical, 2 Flaying Tendrils (game 3)
2-0, 3-1 overall.
unfortunately bob had to be boarded out in round 1, and I didn't see too many copies of him tonight. He did do good work against bogles, but it was in game 3 where I was already solidly ahead after he mulled to 5 and didn't find a bogle. I cast him a couple of times against DS Jund, and he died every time almost immediately, so he did a good job acting as a lightning rod. He's absolutely still staying in the mainboard as a 3 of for now, since I was never disappointed to see him.
Should've already had them
Yeah this is basically how I feel about it too. This deck has a lower curve, and faster clock w/ the larger goyfs, so why was he omitted in the first place? Adding bob does make us a little weaker to Burn (which I'm about to start testing), but CB can offset that pretty well if I can figure out how to add in the 2nd copy. Outside of the burn matchup, however, it feels like straight gas every single time. I'm currently at 3 copies, but being able to traverse for him might mean that the correct number is 2, and the 3rd becomes a brutality. He's also the reason I went back to the 3/3 split on TS and IoK, from the 4TS/2IoK list.
Here's the Current mb list:
4 Grim Flayer
3 Dark Confidant
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Lingering Souls
3 Traverse the Ulvenwald
2 Fatal Push
1 Collective Brutality
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Thoughseize
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Mishra's Bauble
1 Hissing Quagmire (in place of Windswept Heath)
Played a couple of games against mono w hatebears and bob was insane. Might need to add a courser or something else to mitigate the loss of life though, thinking about finding space for the 2nd brutality again.
Oh man, I didn't even read the name on the list lol. I'm curious, did you play against any eldrazi tron players? I've been playtesting that since I got home tonight and I can't seem to win any games at all mb. Makes me want to mb a fulminator mage in the flex spot.
Another 5-0 list today, notably only two lotv
R1 Affinity - Not much to say here, g1 I had an early delirium w/ a t3 traverse + cast flayer while he was stuck on 1 land and I closed out the game pretty quickly from there. G2 I IoK him and realize he had boarded in a wear/tear for my stony silence. Nice to see dead cards in my opponent's hand
R2 GW Tron - Wasn't looking forward to this matchup, but g1 I got insanely lucky and managed to win with a durdly hand while he couldn't find tron and drew 2x World breakers, 2x Ulamog, Ugin, Kozilek, and a couple of other expensive spells. Eventually my t2 flayer closed out the game despite struggling to find delirium. G2 he kept a 5 card hand w/ no tron lands and never got off the ground while I play t2 flayer > t3 goyf and end the game ASAP.
R3 Burn - G1 is fairly typical of a gbx vs burn matchup, where I managed to race him to 0 with a big ole goyf. G2 He plays t1 Swiftspear > t2 Guide Guide > t3 path my goyf + bolt + swing. I lost that game. G3 I have 2 lands, an IoK, Goyf, Kambal, and some other stuff in my opener. He gets me to around 8 before I stick kambal on the table and he acts as a forcefield while I bash in and finish him off. Kambal is so good in this matchup, being guaranteed 2+ life through skullcrack is fantastic; tack on the -2 life and it's hard to lose the race w/ goyf.
Taking this to a "Modern Challenger" event tomorrow, and I'm feeling pretty confident.
small note: I ended up purchasing a prerelease promo gideon for my sb over the garruk, so he never got any real testing in. Might be worth it over the 2nd tireless tracker if they're playing RIP though, considering the low land count in the deck. Gonna need some extra testing on it though.
A couple of things I'd like to discuss moving forward, and gather some opinions on:
4 Lily veil vs 3/1 split with Last Hope - I'm having a tough time figuring out which way to go here, putting Last Hope in the MB does free up a SB slot, and give use some extra diversity in our answers/threats/grind potential.
MB Traverse vs Bog(20th Land) vs 10th Creature Flex Spot - I'm currently running an Eternal Witness here, and while she does often have a pretty great impact, the double green can be a bit tough sometimes. Traversing for her to regrow a Liliana/removal spell does feel pretty good though.
SB Surgical vs Nihil spellbomb - Which matchups does one shine over the other? Spellbomb does help us reach delirium while hitting graveyards, but surgical just feels so much more flexible overall imo.
Bog in the SB if not in the main? I'm running Lost Legacy here where bog would be in the SB if I decided to run it, but tbh I think I like LL more.
1 Kataki, War's Edge
1 Shriekmaw
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Garruk Relentless
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Collective Brutality
2 Flaying Tendrils
1 Lost Legacy
On my choices:
Kambal - Still hoses storm, while being relevant in more matchups. Playing this guy against burn ALWAYS gains you 2 life. They can't skullcrack his trigger, since he'll just trigger in response... I haven't played him against Grixis Shadow yet, but his trigger should be pretty relevant there too, especially if they're on the Ari Lax version w/ 4 Sleight of Hand. I used to run him in Mardu Nahiri and he was great there.
Garruk Relentless - Honestly I've just slotted him in to test out since I traded my gideon away yesterday, but the more I think about him the more I like him. I haven't had the chance to test him yet, but he's easier to cast and makes a 2/2 every turn as well. If he flips, he can sac a souls token or something else to tutor through RIP, and make 1/1 deathtouchers. He does die to bolt, but that card is played less and less these days so it feels like the best time to test him in modern since he was printed.
Lost Legacy - This card is great, and honestly not played enough imo. Beats a ton of combo decks before they can go off (ad naus, storm - usually empty the warrens, scapeshift, etc).