This was the list I sent to a friend of mine last week. I had considered Chalice + SSG, but thought it was too cute. I guess going bigger than GB(x) wasn't necessary after all.
I played in the Columbus SCG Modern Classic today, ended up going 3-3 and dropping. I hadn't gotten any sleep the night before, and it really caught up with me by the 5th round. My list used some strange main deck tech that actually really pulled its weight throughout the day. List:
My matches were:
Round 1: Affinity 1-2. Game 1, I was run over by turn 4. +3 Chalice +2 Disenchant +2 Stony Silence +1 Flaying Tendrils. Game 2, never see any sideboard cards, but aggressive Ghost Quarters and Paths on man-lands get there. -3 Chalice. Game 3, we end up grinding a lot. I steal a bunch of Nexus's with Oblivion Sower, but he gets lethal the turn before I stablize. He had 4 attackers, I had could only animate 2 Nexus to block, then used the rest to gain 4 life off Tomb.
Round 2: GR Tron 2-1. Game 1, turn 5 Ulamog earns a scoop from me. +1 Chalice. Game 2, I take a proactive approach with Ghost Quarters again, keeping him off of 1 Tron land nearly the entire game. Game 3, I play 3 Temples in a row, followed by Crucible and Ghost Quarter.
Round 3: Martyr Proc 2-0. Game 1 is super grindy. He gains ~60 life over the course of the game. Couldn't beat 30 power on board though, including Kozilek with 4cmc in my hand to counter Wraths. +2 Worship +1 Sword +1 All is Dust. Game 2, he doesn't board in enchantment removal, so we spend a good 8 turns going back and forth between him hitting me with a Serra Ascendant (1, 46), and me hitting him with Thought-Knot + sword (4, 40). Eventually, I land Kozilek, with a second Worship to counter Wrath. Fun match overall.
Round 4: Mirror 2-1. Game 1, I get there with Ulamog. (As an aside, seeing the look on your opponent's face when you play Damnation with Ulamog on board is pretty great). +1 Crucible, +1 Sword, +2 Worship. Game 2, I lose to my own Blight Herder. I had worship out with 3 Scions. I sac the Scions and cast a Blight Herder, but realize that he only has 1 card exiled. Herder gets pathed, I get smashed. Game 3, we each Thought-Knot eachother's Crucibles, on sequential turns at that, then start aggressively Ghost Quartering. Lingering Souls and Timely keep me in the game long enough to cast Ulamog, exiling his Eye and Reality Smasher. We go to time, and I get there on the third turn.
Round 5: Zoo 0-2. Here's basically were my decision making went down the drain. I keep a 5 land hand, not knowing what my opponent has. He goes turn 1 Hierach, turn 2 Nacatl x2, Turn 3 Knight of the Reliquary. I'm dead before casting a spell. +2 Worship +1 All is Dust +3 Chalice. Game 2 begins with a mull to 5 (technically 4 because I had an Ulamog in hand), he gets 2 Nacatl on board before I can drop a Chalice for 1, then a Knight of the Reliquary, followed by a Collected Company for Knight of the Reliquary and Loxodon Smiter.
Round 6: Boggles 0-2, drop. Game 1, I never find a white mana to Path his 20/20 Spirit Dancer. Game 2, I take a Boggle on turn 1 with Inquisition, then neglect to Slaughter Pact his Kor Spirit Dancer in response to an Umbra, even though I could pay for it next turn. I tell my opponent my mistake, and scoop it in.
On all but the last two matches, the deck felt great. The worst card the whole day was actually Wasteland Strangler. Best card was definitely Ghost Quarter. The one thing I noticed was that I was cracking Relics in order to dig A LOT throughout the day. Friend of mine is trying Night's Whisper as a 1-of. I might try it as a 1- or 2-of. Tomb of the Spirit Dragon performed well throughout the day. Vesuva was okay, it copied a couple Temples, a Nexus, and a Ghost Quarter at least once.
My local meta is a glut of super linear decks (Boggles, Infect, Burn, Ad Nauseam), plus the occasional Grixis control, Jund, or Delver lists. I own or have access to most cards in modern, and am partial to toolbox-style control decks and rogue combo decks. Currently, I'm playing 4c Gifts. Suggestions?
Honestly, if you're going for big creatures, you have 5 good but limiting build-around-me options. Goryo's Vengeance, but it only hits legendary creatures; Footsteps of the Goryo, which limits you to creatures who have Haste built in, or win as soon as they enter/leave the battelfield (Protean Hulk), Living End, but really is only useful when cascaded into; Breaking // Entering, which you can either cast for 4BR, or cascade into for 1XY; or Unburial Rites, which is decent if you can cast it from the graveyard, bad if you cast it from your hand. I've been trying to get a Legacy/Old Extended style reanimator to work in Modern for at least a year now, and those are the best options.
I wouldn't buy any of those. I'd either buy Return to Ravnica or Conspiracy. They can still be purchased for less than $100(90 for Conspiracy) with shipping.
"Whenever Alesha, Who Smiles at Death attacks, you may pay {W/B}{W/B}. If you do, return target creature card with power 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped and attacking." Jarad has a power of 2 in the graveyard, and Golgari Grave-Troll and Nighthowler have power 0 in the graveyard.
I had read that thread, but I believe the two decks have different game plans. Alesha is more of a blowout card in my build, with the emphasis on the pseudo-Llurgoyfs. It's an argument of combo vs midrange.
With the unbanning of Golgari Grave Troll and the release of Alesha, who Smiles at Death, the potential for Dredge is fairly high. This is my current take on the archetype. I've got it tuned to be a beating against fair decks (Junk, B/W Tokens, Living End, Zoo, etc.), but sacrifices it's combo matchups. The sideboard is tuned to make up for it.
You know, if there was ever a deck to play Glittering Wish in modern, I'd say this one fits the bill quite well. Being able to wish for Harmonic Sliver, Firespout, Necrotic Sliver, etc.
This was the list I sent to a friend of mine last week. I had considered Chalice + SSG, but thought it was too cute. I guess going bigger than GB(x) wasn't necessary after all.
2 Wasteland Strangler
3 Thought-Knot Seer
4 Blight Herder
4 Oblivion Sower
1 Conduit of Ruin
1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
1 Kozilek, the Great Distortion
1 Slaughter Pact
2 Expedition Map
3 Path to Exile
4 Relic of Progenitus
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Lingering Souls
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Damnation
3 Eye of Ugin
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Marsh Flats
2 Godless Shrine
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Wastes
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Sea Gate Wreckage
1 Tomb of the Spirit Dragon
1 Vesuva
3 Chalice of the Void
1 Pithing Needle
2 Disenchant
1 Celestial Purge
2 Stony Silence
1 Flaying Tendrils
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
2 Worship
1 All is Dust
My matches were:
Round 1: Affinity 1-2. Game 1, I was run over by turn 4. +3 Chalice +2 Disenchant +2 Stony Silence +1 Flaying Tendrils. Game 2, never see any sideboard cards, but aggressive Ghost Quarters and Paths on man-lands get there. -3 Chalice. Game 3, we end up grinding a lot. I steal a bunch of Nexus's with Oblivion Sower, but he gets lethal the turn before I stablize. He had 4 attackers, I had could only animate 2 Nexus to block, then used the rest to gain 4 life off Tomb.
Round 2: GR Tron 2-1. Game 1, turn 5 Ulamog earns a scoop from me. +1 Chalice. Game 2, I take a proactive approach with Ghost Quarters again, keeping him off of 1 Tron land nearly the entire game. Game 3, I play 3 Temples in a row, followed by Crucible and Ghost Quarter.
Round 3: Martyr Proc 2-0. Game 1 is super grindy. He gains ~60 life over the course of the game. Couldn't beat 30 power on board though, including Kozilek with 4cmc in my hand to counter Wraths. +2 Worship +1 Sword +1 All is Dust. Game 2, he doesn't board in enchantment removal, so we spend a good 8 turns going back and forth between him hitting me with a Serra Ascendant (1, 46), and me hitting him with Thought-Knot + sword (4, 40). Eventually, I land Kozilek, with a second Worship to counter Wrath. Fun match overall.
Round 4: Mirror 2-1. Game 1, I get there with Ulamog. (As an aside, seeing the look on your opponent's face when you play Damnation with Ulamog on board is pretty great). +1 Crucible, +1 Sword, +2 Worship. Game 2, I lose to my own Blight Herder. I had worship out with 3 Scions. I sac the Scions and cast a Blight Herder, but realize that he only has 1 card exiled. Herder gets pathed, I get smashed. Game 3, we each Thought-Knot eachother's Crucibles, on sequential turns at that, then start aggressively Ghost Quartering. Lingering Souls and Timely keep me in the game long enough to cast Ulamog, exiling his Eye and Reality Smasher. We go to time, and I get there on the third turn.
Round 5: Zoo 0-2. Here's basically were my decision making went down the drain. I keep a 5 land hand, not knowing what my opponent has. He goes turn 1 Hierach, turn 2 Nacatl x2, Turn 3 Knight of the Reliquary. I'm dead before casting a spell. +2 Worship +1 All is Dust +3 Chalice. Game 2 begins with a mull to 5 (technically 4 because I had an Ulamog in hand), he gets 2 Nacatl on board before I can drop a Chalice for 1, then a Knight of the Reliquary, followed by a Collected Company for Knight of the Reliquary and Loxodon Smiter.
Round 6: Boggles 0-2, drop. Game 1, I never find a white mana to Path his 20/20 Spirit Dancer. Game 2, I take a Boggle on turn 1 with Inquisition, then neglect to Slaughter Pact his Kor Spirit Dancer in response to an Umbra, even though I could pay for it next turn. I tell my opponent my mistake, and scoop it in.
On all but the last two matches, the deck felt great. The worst card the whole day was actually Wasteland Strangler. Best card was definitely Ghost Quarter. The one thing I noticed was that I was cracking Relics in order to dig A LOT throughout the day. Friend of mine is trying Night's Whisper as a 1-of. I might try it as a 1- or 2-of. Tomb of the Spirit Dragon performed well throughout the day. Vesuva was okay, it copied a couple Temples, a Nexus, and a Ghost Quarter at least once.
4 Trinket Mage
2 Vendilion Clique
2 Spellskite
2 Hangarback Walker
Enchantments (2)
2 Thopter Spy Network
Card Selection (7)
4 Serum Visions
3 Anticipate
Counters (7)
2 Spell Snare
2 Remand
3 Cryptic Command
Artifacts (11)
1 Mox Opal
1 Aether Spellbomb
1 Pithing Needle
1 Expedition Map
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Codex Shredder
2 Talisman of Dominance
1 Vedalken Shackles
1 Trading Post
1 Batterskull
4 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
1 Temple of Abandon
1 Halimar Depths
2 Tolaria West
1 Dreadship Reef
2 Darksteel Citadel
1 Academy Ruins
6 Island
1 Spellskite
1 Pact of Negation
1 Slaughter Pact
1 Tormod's Crypt
3 Thoughtseize
1 Sunbeam Spellbomb
1 Negate
1 Flashfreeze
1 Hurkyl's Recall
1 Oblivion Stone
2 Timely Reinforcements
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Tormod's Crypt (sb)
1 Aether Spellbomb
1 Sunbeam Spellbomb (sb)
1 Codex Shredder
1 Expedition Map
1 Pithing Needle
1 Basilisk Collar
2 Hangarback Walker
1 Academy Ruins
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Halimar Depths
2 Tolaria West
6 Fetchlands
1 Engineered Explosives
2 Darksteel Citadel
1 Academy Ruins
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Halimar Depths
1 Dreadship Reef
1 Pact of Negation (sb)
1 Slaughter Pact (sb)
1 Tormod's Crypt (sb)
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Stinkweed Imp
4 Golgari Grave-Troll
3 Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
3 Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
3 Nighthowler
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Spells
4 Faithless Looting
2 Murderous Cut
2 Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
1 Darkblast
1 Life from the Loam
Lands
3 Bloodstained Mire
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Stomping Ground
1 Blood Crypt
2 Graven Cairns
1 Copperline Gorge
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Woodland Cemetery
2 Gemstone Mine
4 Thoughtseize
3 Abrupt Decay
3 Leyline of Sanctity
3 Magus of the Moon
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Slaughter Pact
Thoughts? Suggestions?
EDIT: Fixed Card tags
15 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx (52.35)
6 Scavenging Ooze (31.50)
40 Lingering Souls (DKA) (14.80)
Sell:
None
1.35 unused.