I am a massive fan of Surgical Main Board. It is particularly good in the UWR control deck. 1 For cryptics to stop Bridge from being bounced, 1 for Lightning bolt/snapcaster mage/lightning helix.
I haven't looked at my decklist for a while, but I think I run a 2-1 split MD/SB.
I'm not really sold on the Forbidden Orchards. It seems as if you could just as easily have a couple of Reflecting Pools and Grove of the Burnwillows in that slot.
Reflecting Pool is the other land I had been considering. I will give the Orchards a little more time to prove their worth and then see about picking up some Pools if they don't work out. However, at the moment, Forbidden Orchard hasn't been bad enough that I want to drop them immediately. Needs more tests.
I guess I can see why Fabricate is a necessary evil, but having 5 tutor effects (2 of which being Infernal Tutor) kind of scares me in terms of being able to get hellbent quickly.
Actually not that bad, surprisingly. Faithless Looting, which I had been so dismissive of before, has earned its spot. The heavy tutor package works out largely because of the ability to discard unnecessary pieces, and the additional land has made getting to the 5 mana to recur the tutors with a Shredder far easier.
I can't really see Boros Charm being fantastic, as when you wish for it you telegraph it hard. Almost better to just play more discard.
Boros charm has definitely been a tricky one. Essentially I added them in after a match where I had my Duress get Thoughtseized and I was unable to then stop the eventual Creeping Corrosion. This was enough to scare me into have another way to fight against mass artifact removal, which is always going to be around as long as Affinity is a deck. At first it was a 3-of, which was reasonable because it meant I could board them all in and have a solid chance at having one when it was needed. However at the 2-of spot it definitely doesn't seem to serve its purpose in a timely fashion. Given how often I am boarding in the fourth Duress, more discard seems like a grand idea. I'll toy with some ideas.
I find Pithing Needle reasonably good against burn, as you can shut down Grim Lavamancer and Hellspark Elemental.
My opponent wasn't playing Hellspark Elemental, so I didn't really want to keep Needle just for hitting Lavamancer. Which worked out because when he played his Lavamancer all he ended up doing with it was attacking me twice.
I almost never worry about 2cc hate cards like Runed Halo, due to Abrupt Decay, but I know how seeing strange cards like that can put you on tilt. Hell, isn't that what this deck is so great at?
I think it put me off because I had boarded out my Abrupt Decays. I could still wish for one, but didn't particularly want to which led to me making a suboptimal decision.
It seems odd you aren't packing at least one Engineered Explosives, considering the 5c manabase and the Academy Ruins.
Engineered Explosives is actually one of those cards I keep wanting to play and then forgetting about. It scares me a little because I don't want it at 1 or 3 most times, but its value in any other circumstances seems more than powerful enough to include. I will most likely pick one up and then figure out how to jam it in eventually. Thanks for the feedback!
I do believe you overreacted against Ruined Halo (Ignoring the fact that he could LD you by blowing up your opal). What are they going to name exactly? Codex Shredder? Duress? Thoughtseize? You have too many ways to kill them (given some ways are slower than others) that it shouldn't really matter. Worst comes to worst, Wish for that Abrupt Decay you boarded out.
Thank you for the report. They are great to read, especially one with good depth into thought process and sideboarding which you included.
I feel Surgical is a necessary evil. Yes it does not impact board, and rarely gets a 1 for 1 in your opponents hand, but removing their ability to use Cryptic command/Lightning Bolt/Snapcaster Mage/Lightning Helix/Past in Flames/Splinter Twin/Cranial Plating is very good.
I don't feel tuning the deck to become more consistent is where you want to go. You are not doing anything super powerful like Twin or Storm, and you don't have the permission to slow the game down like UWR control. You are attacking the meta in a specific way, and I do not believe the deck is viable without attacking that niche.
Round 7 vs Sir Not Appearing This Round
Sometime between looking at my pairings and walking to my table, my deck disappears. Fortunately, my opponent no-showed, but I had quite a number of valuable cards in the deck. Both Ashioks were Foil, half the Rav Duals (they were Old Rav foils, too), so I'm freaking out, waiting for the 10 minutes to pass so I can go looking. After running like a madman across the tournament floor, both to the Pink area and the main hall and can't find my deck, forcing me to drop. I immediately let the vendors and staff know, but nothing turned up, so I was understandably distraught.
Im very sorry to hear that Its the worst feeling when a day gets ruined by one thing.
People look at me weird when they realize exactly what this deck sets out to do, and then question the fact that this deck is actually 5 colors and that we only run 12 real lands.
Based on the pictures on the front of the booster packs, Sword of Fire and Ice and Vedalken Shackles are in the set (shackles with new art). There are 3 different arts on the front of the packs, the 3rd is the new dark confidant.
Are you sure theres no new art for Sword of Fire and Ice?
I haven't looked at my decklist for a while, but I think I run a 2-1 split MD/SB.
Red for Khans of Tarkir will create hype.
Theros will likely go white and Innistrad black.
Doesnt this leave only 3 more mythic spots? 6 Planeswalkers, 6 for the "Soul of..." cycle out of a total 15?
I do believe you overreacted against Ruined Halo (Ignoring the fact that he could LD you by blowing up your opal). What are they going to name exactly? Codex Shredder? Duress? Thoughtseize? You have too many ways to kill them (given some ways are slower than others) that it shouldn't really matter. Worst comes to worst, Wish for that Abrupt Decay you boarded out.
Thank you for the report. They are great to read, especially one with good depth into thought process and sideboarding which you included.
I don't feel tuning the deck to become more consistent is where you want to go. You are not doing anything super powerful like Twin or Storm, and you don't have the permission to slow the game down like UWR control. You are attacking the meta in a specific way, and I do not believe the deck is viable without attacking that niche.
Is that necessarily a good thing? I had my 1st 4 of 5 opponents have no idea what deck I was playing, even into game 2 last time I picked this up.
Im very sorry to hear that
This is why I run RTFC sleeves
The first time I read the Triad of Fates, I didnt realise it was legendary. It is such an awesome casual EDH card!
Celestial Purge: #13
Flashfreeze: #56
Deathmark: #95
Combust: #135, #136 or #137
Autumn's Veil: #165 or #166
After a multicoloured block, these would be quite hosiers.
Are you sure theres no new art for Sword of Fire and Ice?