In general, it's a good idea to just be nice to everyone. This creates a happy, inclusive environment that's fun to be in. For some reason this is difficult for some people to do, but it's important to always keep trying your best.
I feel very bad for the 'minority' groups that take crap from the establishment, that can't be an enjoyable situation to be in.
In my ideal world, the reserved list goes away and Wizards supports Legacy as the 'official' eternal format. That's obviously not going to happen, so ideally I'd like Modern to be as close to Legacy as possible. At the very least, I'd like a format that's a lot closer to Legacy than to Standard.
Unfortunately it looks like I am definitely not getting my wish.
Board out Deathrite Shaman. It does literally nothing in that match up, except maybe give you a mana boost. Lingering Souls is also a consideration as it is quite slow in combo match ups.
Deathrite Shaman does help under Blood Moon if they board it in. Your new fetchlands are dead, but any already in your graveyard can be used.
They're playing around Rakdos Charm now, so that card's stock has dropped dramatically in the last few weeks. You will not catch any Twin players with their pants down, per se.
I was trying Choke in my Junk'd SB, and it really worked well alongside my combination 4th Thoughtseize & Extirpates. While I don't think you want to change your sideboard that much, you may want to go down to 1 or 2 Rakdos Charms and try Choke or Spellskite (redirect Splinter Twin/Kiki-Jiki's ability to it.)
Worst case is that you can run Sudden Death. It deals with every iteration of the combo, and can't be Dispelled or answered in any meaningful way. The trade-off with this card is that you lose some of the flexibility with your sideboard slots. Actually, Sudden Death/Shock isn't that bad against Infect or Affinity either...
I think I'm going to try this in my sideboard:
-1 Rakdos Charm
+1 Spellskite
I like how the Spellskite provides help against both Splinter Twin and also the Aura deck.
What do you guys generally board out against Twin? Lightning Bolt? Killing a Pestermite can obviously be awesome, but it doesn't do anything against Exarch.
How have people been finding the matchup against Splinter Twin? I've been doing ok against it, but don't feel like I have a great sideboard strategy currently. Here's my list:
Generally I feel ok playing around Blood Moon, and don't often end up color-screwed if I'm careful (Deathrite Shaman is an all-star).
The problem is my plan of Rakdos Charm post-combo seems awesome in theory but harder to execute than I'd expect it to be in reality. Often they hit me a few times with Pestermites or something and get ahead on life - which makes Rakdos Charm a lot less exciting. Maybe I'm just doing it wrong, or have a small sample size or whatever.
Anyone have any good tips on the Splinter Twin matchup?
Has anyone tested against GW Aura? It made a big showing this week on MODO, and Daybreak Coronet is now stupid expensive. If the deck becomes big I'm thinking that Engineered Explosives could go in the SB to help fight it. EE also has applications against Affinity (bad match for us) Infect (set it @ 2) the mirror (set it at 0) and Pod (at 1.)
I played against the GW Aura deck a few times in the MTGO 2-mans over the weekend, and did well but the matches were very close.
Game one can be tough because Abrupt Decay/Terminate/etc. are largely dead cards unless they have the Kor Spiritdancer draw. Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek are all-stars on the play, letting you grab a hexproof dude. I had some games where I'd grab a Slippery Bogle from their hand on turn one and they would literally do nothing for the rest of the game.
I was running 3x Liliana, and the edict ability can be devastating for the aura deck. I had a double Liliana draw in one game and felt invincible. This can be a trap though - be sure to realize they run Dryad Arbor as a way to guard against Liliana's edict.
One of the issues I had is that I have ZERO in my sideboard to bring in and help this matchup. If the deck becomes/stays popular, there are definitely options available: Back to Nature seems strong, and Engineered Explosives/Ratchet Bomb also seem good and also potentially useful in other matchups.
Tell me this. What do you play in Legacy? Personally, I like to not be interactive so I play UR Storm (Pyromancer Ascension). Modern Sunrise is also another decent deck if you just want to sit down and play by yourself.
If you want to interactive, Jund is very much that. It's also the most versatile deck in the format as it has good matchups all around.
I really love interactive decks. In Legacy the last three decks I've played a bunch are Miracles, Stoneblade Control, and Ubgw Pernicious Deed/Jace/Landstill.
I think the fundamental problem lies in that you are expecting to play "legacy with less powerful cards".
That is not going to happen. Modern is completely different format, not only in the power level, but in how the decks interact with each other, in the absence of a powerful control deck.
If you really cant play anything but control, perhaps modern is not for you, but i would still give it a change, the format is fun and diverse.
I'm not expecting to play "Legacy with less powerful cards" although that would be ideal I guess I understand it's a different format, I wasn't expecting to port a Legacy decklist over and switch out duals for shocks and call it a day - but I'll admit I was expecting traditional-ish control to be a somewhat viable archetype. That's been the big surprise in my early investigation.
Control in Legacy is about exercising the best tools available in the game for card selection (Brainstorm, Ponder, Jace, Sensei's Top, etc) to squeeze every bit of utility possible out of a carefully selected stack of 60 cards that is built to address as wide a range of possible opponents as possible, as efficiently and effectively as possible. It's a very rewarding and very difficult and skill-intensive exercise, and playing against it is similarly difficult and rewarding.
Unfortunately Modern is a format in which card selection has been deemed "too strong," because it is such a universally strong utility to have in a deck that there would be few reasons to play a deck that couldn't control it's draws when you could opt to play one that could. This means you either have to play a pile of the best cards, so you have some game against everything (Jund) or you have to do something unfair and hope your deck offers you the opening hands and draw steps that allow you to actually execute your plan. There's no room for card-selection-based control, which is what control is in Legacy, and your best bet is to either start getting friendly with Bloodbraid Elf and friends, or pick one of the immense array of weird combo decks in the format. An all-purpose find-the-cards-I-need-to-win blue deck, that aims to win through skillful manipulation of one's resources to maximize the utility of one's answers, is not really viable in this format because the cards the would make it viable would power up the combo decks to Legacy power levels (almost) and leave everything else in the dust. It's an ugly situation, honestly, but for people who get excited about weird combo decks, or don't mind endlessly jamming Goyfs and Confidants and Bloodbraids onto the field, it's a fine format. (I fall into the former category myself, so I don't mind so much.)
This post is really depressing to me, since your opening paragraph described pretty much perfectly why I love playing control in Legacy.
I'm not a fan of midrange decks, I literally have won 0 lifetime games via casting a bunch of creatues. I have played some combo in Legacy, so maybe that makes more sense for me.
Honestly all of this sounds horrible! How do people play this format =)
I do have almost all of the cards for Jund, so maybe I'll try that but it's not my kind of deck at all. The planeswalker deck sounds like the other best possibility right now.
Legacy has always been my favorite format. Unfortunately I see the writing on the wall with Wizards creation/push of Modern, and have decided to give the format a real chance.
My real question is to figure out which deck to start out with. The only archetype I'm really comfortable with is control - I love playing decks in legacy with Jace/brainstorm/etc. Any ideas for a good deck choice that I might already have a lot of cards for? I own pretty much every Legacy staple.
I know control isn't the easiest type of deck to start off with, but honestly I'm pretty horrible at everything else (other than combo I guess).
Yep, this is how my group plays. We shuffle all of the planes into one big pile, grab a bunch of preconstructed decks, choose between the decks randomly, sometimes divide into teams, and play it out. This style of planechase and EDH are the two best casual Magic formats I've played personally.
Hexproof - Could be ok, but showed up way too often on cards that were too powerful.
Cascade - Felt too random. I understand deck construction played into it a lot, but it just never felt good to me.
I feel very bad for the 'minority' groups that take crap from the establishment, that can't be an enjoyable situation to be in.
Unfortunately it looks like I am definitely not getting my wish.
Deathrite Shaman does help under Blood Moon if they board it in. Your new fetchlands are dead, but any already in your graveyard can be used.
I think I'm going to try this in my sideboard:
-1 Rakdos Charm
+1 Spellskite
I like how the Spellskite provides help against both Splinter Twin and also the Aura deck.
What do you guys generally board out against Twin? Lightning Bolt? Killing a Pestermite can obviously be awesome, but it doesn't do anything against Exarch.
1 Blood Crypt
1 Forest
1 Godless Shrine
4 Marsh Flats
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
3 Raging Ravine
1 Treetop Village
1 Stomping Ground
1 Swamp
1 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Dark Confidant
4 Deathrite Shaman
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Liliana of the Veil
3 Lingering Souls
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Terminate
4 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Batterskull
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Olivia Voldaren
3 Rakdos Charm
1 Shatterstorm
1 Creeping Corrosion
1 Slaughter Games
1 Sowing Salt
2 Stony Silence
1 Thundermaw Hellkite
Generally I feel ok playing around Blood Moon, and don't often end up color-screwed if I'm careful (Deathrite Shaman is an all-star).
The problem is my plan of Rakdos Charm post-combo seems awesome in theory but harder to execute than I'd expect it to be in reality. Often they hit me a few times with Pestermites or something and get ahead on life - which makes Rakdos Charm a lot less exciting. Maybe I'm just doing it wrong, or have a small sample size or whatever.
Anyone have any good tips on the Splinter Twin matchup?
I played against the GW Aura deck a few times in the MTGO 2-mans over the weekend, and did well but the matches were very close.
Game one can be tough because Abrupt Decay/Terminate/etc. are largely dead cards unless they have the Kor Spiritdancer draw. Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek are all-stars on the play, letting you grab a hexproof dude. I had some games where I'd grab a Slippery Bogle from their hand on turn one and they would literally do nothing for the rest of the game.
I was running 3x Liliana, and the edict ability can be devastating for the aura deck. I had a double Liliana draw in one game and felt invincible. This can be a trap though - be sure to realize they run Dryad Arbor as a way to guard against Liliana's edict.
One of the issues I had is that I have ZERO in my sideboard to bring in and help this matchup. If the deck becomes/stays popular, there are definitely options available: Back to Nature seems strong, and Engineered Explosives/Ratchet Bomb also seem good and also potentially useful in other matchups.
Favorite Playstyle (Aggro, Midrange, Control, Combo): Control, control, control!!
How Competitive (For Fun, Local Tournament, MTGO, PTQ/GP): MTGO Events
Favorite Cards/Colors: Blue. Jace, Brainstorm, FoW, Gifts Ungiven, etc.
Budget: Unlimited
Staples Owned: I own pretty much every Legacy staple.
I really love interactive decks. In Legacy the last three decks I've played a bunch are Miracles, Stoneblade Control, and Ubgw Pernicious Deed/Jace/Landstill.
I'm not expecting to play "Legacy with less powerful cards" although that would be ideal I guess
This post is really depressing to me, since your opening paragraph described pretty much perfectly why I love playing control in Legacy.
I'm not a fan of midrange decks, I literally have won 0 lifetime games via casting a bunch of creatues. I have played some combo in Legacy, so maybe that makes more sense for me.
I do have almost all of the cards for Jund, so maybe I'll try that but it's not my kind of deck at all. The planeswalker deck sounds like the other best possibility right now.
My real question is to figure out which deck to start out with. The only archetype I'm really comfortable with is control - I love playing decks in legacy with Jace/brainstorm/etc. Any ideas for a good deck choice that I might already have a lot of cards for? I own pretty much every Legacy staple.
I know control isn't the easiest type of deck to start off with, but honestly I'm pretty horrible at everything else (other than combo I guess).
Any suggestions for decklists to try out?
Yep, this is how my group plays. We shuffle all of the planes into one big pile, grab a bunch of preconstructed decks, choose between the decks randomly, sometimes divide into teams, and play it out. This style of planechase and EDH are the two best casual Magic formats I've played personally.