It's almost comical how little the deck has changed since then. The sideboard is outdated for sure; I learned that with the sideboard you go big or go home, and that four mana is too much to pay for sweepers.
I quickly went 0-3 drop. In every single one of my postsideboarded games I was dealing with a Relic of Progenitus or a Grafdigger's Cage on turn 1. What's worse is that I lost three favourable matchups (Skred Red, Blue Moon Breach, Burn).
Clearly you took all the Goryo's Vengeance luck this week!
My list was exactly the same as the one I posted earlier on the page except that I ran 2 Leyline of Sanctity instead of 1 Leyline of Sanctity and 1 Leyline of the Void.
Round 1: GW Company
I've never played vs GW Company. I mull to a 6 card hand with no combo pieces but a bunch of card draw. Opponent opens Noble Hierarch into Azusa as I cast several card draw spells and draw nothing of conseuqence. Eventually I die to *EDIT* Gavony Township and a swarm of creatures.
Game 2 I mull to a 6 with Kozilek's Return, Bontu's Last Reckoning, and card draw. I Kozilek's Return away a Noble Hierarch and a Qasali Pridemage, and when my opponent's followup is two mana creatures, I hold off on Bontu's Last Reckoning. Then my opponent plays Whisperwood Elemental and I die horribly to manifest beats.
0-1 (0-2 in games)
Round 2: Grixis Death's Shadow
Well, I'm in for a long day.
Game 1 I get Inquisitioned and lose a business card but my opponent gives me an opening to Breach. I go for it into three cards in hand and two open mana and get out a Griselbrand. It gets Terminated but in response I fully combo off and kill.
-1 Manamorphose, -2 Cathartic Reunion, -2 Night's Whisper, +3 Chalice of the Void, +2 Leyline of Sanctity
Game 2 I play a Chalice for 1 on turn 1 and settle in for a garbage game. I then punt on turn 4. I cast Night's Whisper and draw the cards to Through the Breach a Worldspine Wurm next turn, and have two open mana and a Chalice in hand. I decide I'm going to Breach next turn and play a second Chalice on 1 since I'm not under huge pressure. I Breach next turn and it gets Disdainful Stroked. If I had waited a turn I could have played a Chalice for 2 to guarantee a kill. As it stands, the game continues and I hardcast a Griselbrand on the last turn I need it to stay alive, but that gets Disdainful Stroked as well and I lose.
-2 Leyline of Sanctity, -1 Nourishing Shoal, +3 Blood Moon
Game 3 on the play, my opening hand is Temple of Malice, 2 Simian Spirit Guides, Chalice of the Void, Worldspine Wurm, Night's Whisper. I play the Temple of Malice and see Through the Breach on top of my library. Top or bottom? How do you play the game from here out?
I get out Chalice for 1 and Blood Moon and my opponent can't stop my combo.
1-1 (2-3 in games)
Well, I'm never going to win against Grixis Death's Shadow again. Not in a million years.
Round 3: Grixis Death's Shadow
Nuts.
Game 1 my opponent only has one piece of disruption and I get out a turn 3 Breached Worldspine Wurm and he loses.
-1 Manamorphose, -2 Cathartic Reunion, -1 Night's Whisper, -1 Nourishing Shoal, +3 Chalice of the Void, +2 Leyline of Sanctity
Game 2 I get out a Chalice for 1 on turn 1 but my opponent gets out a Gurmag Angler and a Snapcaster Mage and beats me to death with those and a Temur Battle Rage for the assist.
-2 Leyline of Sanctity, -1 Nourishing Shoal, +3 Blood Moon
Game 3 the opponent mulls to a hand with only digging. He has to tap out early and gets Breached out by Worldspine Wurm.
2-1 (4-4 in games)
Well, lightning struck twice! Bring on the easy matchups!
Round 4: Eldrazi Tron
My hand has a setup for a turn 4 Breach for Worldspine Wurm, but my Breach gets Thought-Knotted away. I draw a second Breach but I had thrown out a Ritual so I can't cast it (I looted and kept a card draw spell instead) and the second Breach also gets Thought-Knotted away. Facing lethal, I topdeck a third Through the Breach and force a standoff between Wurms and Eldrazi. I then topdeck running Worldspine and the fourth Through the Breach and trample through.
In game 2 my Griselbrand gets Thought-Knotted away on turn 3 and I don't draw a replacement creature and die.
Game 3 I get out a turn 2 Blood Moon and we both draw a bunch of nothing. Opponent beats me down to 9 with a Walking Ballista that keeps growing and I Goryo's a Borb to block it, but the pings leave me at 4. On turn 7 my opponent says "go" and tries to go back and play something as I reach to untap my lands. A judge call allows the opponent to rewind and he plays All is Dust to blow up my Blood Moon. I have scryed into Through the Breach for Worldspine Wurm and hit for 15. However, the opponent untaps with Tron and plays Wurmcoil Engine, Thought-Knot, Thought-Knot. I have two shots to draw Goryo's Vengeance for the kill and miss on both as my opponent adds two Matter Reshapers and Reality Smasher to overrun my Wurm tokens.
2-2 (5-6 in games)
Round 5: Dredge
Game 1 I keep a slow hand I get hit with the god draw as I face down two Prized Amalgams and a Narcomoeba on turn 2. Joined by a Bloodghast, they beat me down and force me to blow my Nourishing Shoal to stay alive. This keeps me off Through the Breach mana and I get beaten to death before I can do anything.
No sideboard =(
Game 2 I have another slow draw and my opponent beats me down with Amalgams, Bloodghasts and Narcomoebas before I have anything of consequence.
2-3 (5-8 in games)
Round 6: R/G Scapeshift
Game 1 I turn 3 Through the Breach Griselbrand and fully combo off.
Game 2 my opponent misses his third land drop, I turn 4 Through the Breach a Worldspine Wurm and R/G Scapeshift can't beat that after missing land once.
3-3 (7-8 in games)
I somehow beat Death's Shadow twice but lost the more reasonable matchups. I think the deck was a pretty reasonable choice today but didn't run hot enough to take advantage of actually beating Death's Shadow twice.
I also think Leyline of Sanctity is useless and would like to try something else. It would be great vs Burn and Scapeshift in theory but those matchups are already good.
Sideboard is all over the place but I rarely bring in more than 5 cards anyway. I'm not sold on Leylines but they're potential haymakers in the right matchup and I can't think of another card for Storm. Any suggestions?
For Storm you could play a graveyard hate card like Leyline of the Void or Nihil Spellbomb. It's narrow but can slow them down enough and also wrecks Dredge if you somehow play against it.
Play Chalice of the Void! I lost to Surgicals until I started playing Chalices, and then hand disruption and Surgicals stopped being as big of a problem. It's not a hard answer but often buys you time and the tech is relatively undiscovered.
Yeah, it's supposed to be all in response to the end step Cryptic Command. I don't think you should let your opponent untap after casting an end step Cryptic Command.
Mulliganing the 7 card hand and keeping the 6 card hand I agree with 100%.
Your play on turn 4 (passing with an 8 card hand with the intention to discard a green card) I agree with 100%, even down to not being sure if discarding Griselbrand is better.
At your end of turn 4 I play differently in response to the Cryptic Command. I think Cryptic Command here indicates either a strong hand (i.e. another Cryptic Command next turn) or a misevaluation of your strength. Based on this I think this is your best chance to kill, as I have a strong feeling that if you let your opponent untap you may have to deal with either another Cryptic or multiple pieces of disruption.
My play from the end of your turn 4 is:
1. Respond to the Cryptic Command with Nourishing Shoal for 11 splicing Desperate Ritual. (RRR floating).
2. Cast the Desperate Ritual (RRRR floating)
3. Nourishing Shoal for 11 splicing Through the Breach (no mana left) and put Griselbrand into play.
4. Draw 35 cards, dropping to 7 life.
Based on your screenshots, you get to the point where you have 7 life and two Nourishing Shoals, two Simian Spirit Guides, the Manamorphose, and a Desperate Ritual in hand. You should have 50 - 35 = 15 cards left in library at this point.
5. Exile Simian Spirit Guides and cast Nourishing Shoal for 8 (pitch Borborygmos Enraged) splicing Desperate Ritual (RRR floating). You'll be at 15 life.
6. Draw 14 cards, dropping to 1 life. At this point, you should have a kill by drawing any two Rituals/Spirit Guides to Through the Breach out Borborygmos Enraged. You'll have one card remaining in library and if it's Borborygmos Enraged, you can draw it by casting the Manamorphose. Mana shouldn't be a problem as you still have two Simian Spirit Guides and at least one Desperate Ritual left, and will draw at least one Worldspine Wurm so that you can use your remaining Nourishing Shoal to splice the Ritual already in your hand and generate one mana. You'll have enough to cast or splice Through the Breach.
I think I did this right, let me know if I screwed it up somehow. Letting the opponent untap seems like it would probably lead to a loss. How did it turn out?
I think you should have gone for the kill immmediately while opponent was tapped out on your end step. I'm on a bus right now but can provide detailed analysis in a few hours.
If you wanted to use mine as reference, I'd probably play a third Pact of Negation in the sideboard and cut the Boseiju if you want to use my list as reference. The decks that have a bunch of counterspells play Tectonic Edge or Ghost Quarter, so Boseiju is already ineffective.
Chalice of the Void is completely and totally uncuttable. Having Chalices gives you a huge matchup swing vs any deck with a bunch of one drops (Burn, Elves, Lantern). I also sometimes board them in vs UW Control as they'll have Path/Dispel/Grafdigger's Cage after board. A Chalice on 1 wins vs random low-curve decks and also can take random things like Living End completely by surprise.
http://www.mtgcanada.com/modern/how-to-not-play-magic-griselbrand-combo-at-the-wmcq-in-toronto-top-4/
It's almost comical how little the deck has changed since then. The sideboard is outdated for sure; I learned that with the sideboard you go big or go home, and that four mana is too much to pay for sweepers.
Clearly you took all the Goryo's Vengeance luck this week!
My list was exactly the same as the one I posted earlier on the page except that I ran 2 Leyline of Sanctity instead of 1 Leyline of Sanctity and 1 Leyline of the Void.
Round 1: GW Company
I've never played vs GW Company. I mull to a 6 card hand with no combo pieces but a bunch of card draw. Opponent opens Noble Hierarch into Azusa as I cast several card draw spells and draw nothing of conseuqence. Eventually I die to *EDIT* Gavony Township and a swarm of creatures.
-1 Manamorphose, -1 Cathartic Reunion, -2 Night's Whisper, +2 Bontu's Last Reckoning, +2 Kozilek's Return
Game 2 I mull to a 6 with Kozilek's Return, Bontu's Last Reckoning, and card draw. I Kozilek's Return away a Noble Hierarch and a Qasali Pridemage, and when my opponent's followup is two mana creatures, I hold off on Bontu's Last Reckoning. Then my opponent plays Whisperwood Elemental and I die horribly to manifest beats.
0-1 (0-2 in games)
Round 2: Grixis Death's Shadow
Well, I'm in for a long day.
Game 1 I get Inquisitioned and lose a business card but my opponent gives me an opening to Breach. I go for it into three cards in hand and two open mana and get out a Griselbrand. It gets Terminated but in response I fully combo off and kill.
-1 Manamorphose, -2 Cathartic Reunion, -2 Night's Whisper, +3 Chalice of the Void, +2 Leyline of Sanctity
Game 2 I play a Chalice for 1 on turn 1 and settle in for a garbage game. I then punt on turn 4. I cast Night's Whisper and draw the cards to Through the Breach a Worldspine Wurm next turn, and have two open mana and a Chalice in hand. I decide I'm going to Breach next turn and play a second Chalice on 1 since I'm not under huge pressure. I Breach next turn and it gets Disdainful Stroked. If I had waited a turn I could have played a Chalice for 2 to guarantee a kill. As it stands, the game continues and I hardcast a Griselbrand on the last turn I need it to stay alive, but that gets Disdainful Stroked as well and I lose.
-2 Leyline of Sanctity, -1 Nourishing Shoal, +3 Blood Moon
Game 3 on the play, my opening hand is Temple of Malice, 2 Simian Spirit Guides, Chalice of the Void, Worldspine Wurm, Night's Whisper. I play the Temple of Malice and see Through the Breach on top of my library. Top or bottom? How do you play the game from here out?
I get out Chalice for 1 and Blood Moon and my opponent can't stop my combo.
1-1 (2-3 in games)
Well, I'm never going to win against Grixis Death's Shadow again. Not in a million years.
Round 3: Grixis Death's Shadow
Nuts.
Game 1 my opponent only has one piece of disruption and I get out a turn 3 Breached Worldspine Wurm and he loses.
-1 Manamorphose, -2 Cathartic Reunion, -1 Night's Whisper, -1 Nourishing Shoal, +3 Chalice of the Void, +2 Leyline of Sanctity
Game 2 I get out a Chalice for 1 on turn 1 but my opponent gets out a Gurmag Angler and a Snapcaster Mage and beats me to death with those and a Temur Battle Rage for the assist.
-2 Leyline of Sanctity, -1 Nourishing Shoal, +3 Blood Moon
Game 3 the opponent mulls to a hand with only digging. He has to tap out early and gets Breached out by Worldspine Wurm.
2-1 (4-4 in games)
Well, lightning struck twice! Bring on the easy matchups!
Round 4: Eldrazi Tron
My hand has a setup for a turn 4 Breach for Worldspine Wurm, but my Breach gets Thought-Knotted away. I draw a second Breach but I had thrown out a Ritual so I can't cast it (I looted and kept a card draw spell instead) and the second Breach also gets Thought-Knotted away. Facing lethal, I topdeck a third Through the Breach and force a standoff between Wurms and Eldrazi. I then topdeck running Worldspine and the fourth Through the Breach and trample through.
-1 Manamorphose, -1 Desperate Ritual, -1 Cathartic Reunion, +1 Shattering Spree, +2 Blood Moon
In game 2 my Griselbrand gets Thought-Knotted away on turn 3 and I don't draw a replacement creature and die.
Game 3 I get out a turn 2 Blood Moon and we both draw a bunch of nothing. Opponent beats me down to 9 with a Walking Ballista that keeps growing and I Goryo's a Borb to block it, but the pings leave me at 4. On turn 7 my opponent says "go" and tries to go back and play something as I reach to untap my lands. A judge call allows the opponent to rewind and he plays All is Dust to blow up my Blood Moon. I have scryed into Through the Breach for Worldspine Wurm and hit for 15. However, the opponent untaps with Tron and plays Wurmcoil Engine, Thought-Knot, Thought-Knot. I have two shots to draw Goryo's Vengeance for the kill and miss on both as my opponent adds two Matter Reshapers and Reality Smasher to overrun my Wurm tokens.
2-2 (5-6 in games)
Round 5: Dredge
Game 1 I keep a slow hand I get hit with the god draw as I face down two Prized Amalgams and a Narcomoeba on turn 2. Joined by a Bloodghast, they beat me down and force me to blow my Nourishing Shoal to stay alive. This keeps me off Through the Breach mana and I get beaten to death before I can do anything.
No sideboard =(
Game 2 I have another slow draw and my opponent beats me down with Amalgams, Bloodghasts and Narcomoebas before I have anything of consequence.
2-3 (5-8 in games)
Round 6: R/G Scapeshift
Game 1 I turn 3 Through the Breach Griselbrand and fully combo off.
-2 Manamorphose, -1 Cathartic Reunion, +3 Blood Moon
Game 2 my opponent misses his third land drop, I turn 4 Through the Breach a Worldspine Wurm and R/G Scapeshift can't beat that after missing land once.
3-3 (7-8 in games)
I somehow beat Death's Shadow twice but lost the more reasonable matchups. I think the deck was a pretty reasonable choice today but didn't run hot enough to take advantage of actually beating Death's Shadow twice.
I also think Leyline of Sanctity is useless and would like to try something else. It would be great vs Burn and Scapeshift in theory but those matchups are already good.
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
4 Temple of Malice
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Blood Crypt
4 Swamp
2 Mountain
Creatures:
4 Simian Spirit Guide
2 Borborygmos Enraged
4 Griselbrand
4 Worldspine Wurm
4 Faithless Looting
2 Cathartic Reunion
3 Desperate Ritual
4 Goryo's Vengeance
2 Manamorphose
4 Night's Whisper
4 Through the Breach
4 Nourishing Shoal
3 Chalice of the Void
3 Blood Moon
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
2 Kozilek's Return
1 Shattering Spree
2 Pact of Negation
1 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Leyline of the Void
Sideboard is all over the place but I rarely bring in more than 5 cards anyway. I'm not sold on Leylines but they're potential haymakers in the right matchup and I can't think of another card for Storm. Any suggestions?
Mulliganing the 7 card hand and keeping the 6 card hand I agree with 100%.
Your play on turn 4 (passing with an 8 card hand with the intention to discard a green card) I agree with 100%, even down to not being sure if discarding Griselbrand is better.
At your end of turn 4 I play differently in response to the Cryptic Command. I think Cryptic Command here indicates either a strong hand (i.e. another Cryptic Command next turn) or a misevaluation of your strength. Based on this I think this is your best chance to kill, as I have a strong feeling that if you let your opponent untap you may have to deal with either another Cryptic or multiple pieces of disruption.
My play from the end of your turn 4 is:
1. Respond to the Cryptic Command with Nourishing Shoal for 11 splicing Desperate Ritual. (RRR floating).
2. Cast the Desperate Ritual (RRRR floating)
3. Nourishing Shoal for 11 splicing Through the Breach (no mana left) and put Griselbrand into play.
4. Draw 35 cards, dropping to 7 life.
Based on your screenshots, you get to the point where you have 7 life and two Nourishing Shoals, two Simian Spirit Guides, the Manamorphose, and a Desperate Ritual in hand. You should have 50 - 35 = 15 cards left in library at this point.
5. Exile Simian Spirit Guides and cast Nourishing Shoal for 8 (pitch Borborygmos Enraged) splicing Desperate Ritual (RRR floating). You'll be at 15 life.
6. Draw 14 cards, dropping to 1 life. At this point, you should have a kill by drawing any two Rituals/Spirit Guides to Through the Breach out Borborygmos Enraged. You'll have one card remaining in library and if it's Borborygmos Enraged, you can draw it by casting the Manamorphose. Mana shouldn't be a problem as you still have two Simian Spirit Guides and at least one Desperate Ritual left, and will draw at least one Worldspine Wurm so that you can use your remaining Nourishing Shoal to splice the Ritual already in your hand and generate one mana. You'll have enough to cast or splice Through the Breach.
I think I did this right, let me know if I screwed it up somehow. Letting the opponent untap seems like it would probably lead to a loss. How did it turn out?
What's your current decklist?
If you wanted to use mine as reference, I'd probably play a third Pact of Negation in the sideboard and cut the Boseiju if you want to use my list as reference. The decks that have a bunch of counterspells play Tectonic Edge or Ghost Quarter, so Boseiju is already ineffective.
Chalice of the Void is completely and totally uncuttable. Having Chalices gives you a huge matchup swing vs any deck with a bunch of one drops (Burn, Elves, Lantern). I also sometimes board them in vs UW Control as they'll have Path/Dispel/Grafdigger's Cage after board. A Chalice on 1 wins vs random low-curve decks and also can take random things like Living End completely by surprise.