It's been a couple of months since I've played any Magic but there is a PPTQ tomorrow and I figured I would try my hand at it. I decided to play 4 Color Traverse(maybe 5 Color)because I had the cards and because my only other deck is bad right now(Mono White DnT). Right now, I have 4 colors in the main with the old Godless Shrine action out of the board. I'm not really sold on it because it would open 4 more board slots which I feel would probably be better.
I'm looking for some help and any pointers I can get before tomorrow. I've never played the deck but it plays some of the cards I love in Magic.
Now for some explanations before we move onto the Side Board.(Please keep in mind, I never played the deck before and most is just theory) Ashiok, Nigtmare Weaver and Nissa, Steward of Elements- one of these are in place for a Lillana of the Veil. Let me explain some of the reasons why.
1. From what I've read, UW Control is a very bad match up for this deck. I know LotV can attack the hand, but I always find her so meh at best.From goldfishing the +1 from LotV is just okay(I rarely feel like I have cards I want to discard unless I'm flooding). The -2 is good but I don't feel it's good enough right now unless the field is full of Midrange decks(now there might be tomorrow but I'm willing to risk it). The Ult is amazing i give it that, but the plus never look appealing to me so it probably won't happen. And the big fear with LotV. Double Black. I fear not having access to double black when I need it and really don't want a dead card stuck in hand. It's a small fear I know but its something I don't want to risk.
I think eating away their deck with Ashiok could prove to be huge. If they are on the Terminus plan, it keeps messing that up hopefully. Comes down fairly early and the Ult would be backbreaking I'm sure. Though, it does take a few turns to get the Ult off so it may just be a living the dream moment for me.
Nissa, is something I saw in someone else's list and figured it was worth a try over Jace, the Mind Sculptor or Vendilion Clique. Both the former cards are double blue which scared me off and I think Nissa having the ability to help smooth draws and possible putting creatures and lands into play for free seems good. Not sure how good it really is but I think its worth testing but it comes down early.
Now I know earlier I said I didn't plan on seeing a bunch of Midrange decks so why would I run the Godless and Souls? I honestly don't know! I liked the idea of being 5 Color more but I just don't think it's worth running them which opens up 4 more board slots.
The Alpine Moon were huge in my Mardu Shadow deck I was playing around with. It hit so many lands I don't want to deal with. Celestial Colonnade Tron Lands, Manlands ect ect. They put in work so I don't think I would cut them.
If I do end up cutting the White from the board, my board would look more like this -
-1 Godless SHrine
-3 Lingering Souls
+1 Radiant Flames
+1 Delay
+2 ??
Looking for any pointers I can get before tomorrow. The deck looks super sweet all sleeved up but I'm not sure how well off the deck is right now.
After not playing for over a year, I decided to try and get back into the swing of things after playing a few weeks back. I really love the idea of Death's Shadow and really love the Mardu colors. So I decided to try it out. It always feels like it's missing that "something" but I'm not sure what it is. Looking for some ideas/pointers on what to change. I will explain my card choices at the end.
I originally had Bedlam Reveler in the spot of Gurms, but I found it easier to put pressure out earlier with 6 of any cards in the yard then Instants/Sorcery in the yard. I'm still not sure which one I like more but I do enjoy the faster pressure that Gurms adds to the deck.
Goblin Rabblemaster was included into the main after feeling that I didn't have enough threats in the main. It will probably get cut but he's in there for now.
Kolaghan's Command are still in the main as remnants of me attempting to build Mardu Pyromancer. There are some games where I'm happy to have them main and other games where it just doesn't feel good in my opening hand. I love the card but may move one or both to the board.
Sorry about the Necro, but my girlfriend just picked one of the up and got 2x Ixalan, 1 Oath, 1 BFZ, 1 Aether Revolt, and 1 Gatecrash. Her promo was a Etali, Primal Storm.
The main reason for posting was I am looking for information on the promo Etali. I can't seem to find them on any site like TCG or SCG. Is this the only place to get the promo dragon or were they also released through something else?
So I've been looking around and noticed some lists have included 1-2 Declaration in Stone in there sideboard. What match ups do you want it against and for those of you who have tried it, was it worth it?
I won't touch to much on the Manabase right now, but this is the newest deck I plan to try. I love Maverick in Legacy and always wanted to try it in Modern and feel like it has the cards to be viable. Looking for some other opinions on my first build.
So I plan to keep tinkering around with the deck. But I would like to hear some other people opinion on the deck and certain deck choices.
1. What was the main draw for you to play the WB version instead of going full Abzan? I have seen a good chunk of lists on here of just WB and was curious to know what made you want to not run the green splash. I've only ran the Abzan variants of the deck because I can't see this deck not running Voice or Collected company.
2. I see some lists run Return to the Ranks and some run Rally the Ancestors. I actually ordered 4 Return to Ranks because I see that some people are so I figured I'd give them a try. But I would like to hear some of your opinions on what makes you run Return over Rally? The Rally looks stronger to me in theory because of the instant speed.
3. Do you think the Mana Dorks are really worth running? The ramp felt very lackluster to me. I never really powered out anything of use from it. And it felt real bad to hit 2x Birds of a CoCo. I understand they can help but do they really?
4. Is the combo of Saffi and Rallier really worth running? It looks really jank to me but I would like to hear from the people running it. I'm never against trying new stuff, but I don't like investing money into something that sucks(done this to many times)
5. Are the normal CoCo combo decks really better? It looks like Aristocrats has a better grind game. Sure, the hate for the one hits the other, but I think Aristocrats has better overall grind because we don't just have to roll combo to get there.
I have no plan to give up on the deck, it's what I like to do. Tokens and grind but I would like to hear other peoples ideals on the questions above. I agree with what Shelldell and Dr. Sanchez have to say about the archtype, especially after going to the PPTQ. But I'm not fully ready to just roll over on my deck just yet.
After having a few days to look back on my choice to play Aristocrats at the PPTQ(the list I rolled with was a little different than the one I posted, get to that afterwards)I have no regrets. I did end up going 1-3 with it before dropping, and while it's not the best record, I enjoyed every game I played.
First I will post the 75 I rolled with(sorry its not in tags)
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Doomed Traveler
4x Viscera Seer
2x Zulaport Cutthroat
2x Cartel Aristocrat
4x Voice of Resurgence
4x Blood Artiest
1x Flip Lily
1x Renegade Rallier
4x Catacomb Sifter
I took out the Chord and Eldritch Evo from the main for the following reasons-
Chord of Calling - Only got to playtest a few games before the event with it in the main and I found it stuck in my hand more often than not. The GGGx made it very had to cast most of the time. I love the flex to search something out, but I never felt it had a real spot in this build.
Eldritch Evolution - The main reason this got the ax was GG. I really didnt care it was sorcery speed, but my mana base was very Green light because Green was mostly a splash. I really did like it, but it would force me to fetch awkward. Maybe with more testing I would put it back in as a 1 of.
Now on to the match ups.
Round 1 - Merfolk - Lost 1-2
This was the hardest match up I had all day. The main reason being was the Spreading Seas/Seas Claim(think that's the name). He kept me off the colors I needed right as I needed them. Birds of Paradise was MVP in this round. Game two he drew into 3 Spreading and 2 Seas Claims putting this game bag very quickly. Game 3 was much of the same.
Round 2 - Burn - Lost 2-0
I've never built a Abzan list where Burn didn't just roll me. Game one he keeps a opening hand of 3x Eidolon of the Great Revel and makes my hand turn against me. Very quick game. Game 2 was a little different. I was able to get a board presence and have some good back and fourth action, but get defeated by a turn of Boros Charm, Boros Charm, Skullcrack. I accept the round Burn match up. I don't really feel to bad about this.
Round 3 - Mono Green Stompy - Win 2-0
Not a very fun game because the deck has no interaction. Both games I beat him down with spirit tokens. Nothing to report here.
Round 4 - Grishaolbrand - Lose 2-1
Game 1 he goes off on turn two. Yup. Game 2 I was able to keep him at bay with Thoughtseize, Sin Collector, and Sculler. Game 3, he goes off turn 2 again.
I would have kept playing just to get more testing in but I had to get my girlfriend to work(we share a car right now).
My takeaways with the deck.
I still think this deck has some legs to win games. This deck can grind with the best of them. I never felt like my deck was pure jank by any stretch of the imagination. It's a super fun deck to play and you get to play a really unique Modern strategy.
With that said, after playing my 4 rounds I was able to stay for and getting to look around the room between some rounds, I really feel like you need to have some form of disruption in the main and I can't stress this enough. This deck isn't fast enough to allow the other player to do as they please when you need some time to set up. Most of the time your set up is slower than theirs.
The reason I took the build that I did was because it was the last build I had before I stepped away from playing cards for a while. I was familiar with it and it never let me down before(still don't feel like it did on Saturday either) It's been 7 Months since I had played any form of competitive magic and just wanted to roll with something I was comfy with.
I have a PPTQ coming up this Saturday and looking for any ideas on what to change. I haven't played any Modern for the last 7 months now, so a lot of the ideas I had for the deck were made based on a ton or research. This was the last deck I had up(besides Mono White DnT)and feel the most comfortable with this deck. I know the deck isn't as strong as other decks, but the format looks like it's trying to one for one as much as possible, and this deck is very hard to do that against.
I have 5 open slots right now and I'm not really sure what to fill them with.
I decided to run the 1x of Chord and Eldritch Evo to help find a sac outlet or some of the answers in the sideboard. I'm not sure how strong they will be, but it just felt right to run 1x of each.
I tried to construct the sideboard to suit what I think the meta will be after looking at some recent tournaments in the area. Planning on seeing Death Shadow, Storm, Reanimator, and Ad Nausea for sure. I'm probably going to see burn but I'm not sure if I need to run some Kitchen Finks in the 75.
Sorry I didn't wrap the deck in Tags, but I don't remember how to do that
I've been out of the MtG loop for about 5 months now and looking to get back into it. The new area I play in mostly does Modern so it's time to dust off the old Aristocracy deck!
I had the abzan variant with 4 rally and coco. Looking at the last few pieces new stuff has come out in my time away. It's hard for me to post my deck list off my phone so I will get around to it later.
The question I have is I see some lists are using Dark Confidant. How good is it? And I was running 4 Catacomb Sifter and they were working for me but no one else seems to run them, are they to slow?
I have no clue what Midern looks like right now and have no idea what people in my area are playing.
I really need help on figuring out how to sideboard with this deck. What are some of the things you pull out of the main for stuff in the board? And what should you pull out for which match ups?
I really haven't been playing as much as I would have liked the last few weeks so I'm in need of a crash course
After making a ton of changes to my list(I think it's still on the page back)I removed the white and just run G/B now. The mana base feels much better now but I have another question. How many of you feel like Cavern of Souls is a must? I have never had a game where I felt I needed it because it doesn't help push a Chord of Calling or Collected Company. If my opponent feels like wasting a Remand on a mana dork fine. If they wanna Mana Leak a lord, I will just pull one out with a Chord or Collected once they run out of cards.
I own Caverns but never really felt the need yet to test them out, even if I see most list run them.
And why do most of you run Lead the Stampede over the Chord of Callings? I feel the end of turn putting a dude into play or after attacking is better then adding them to the hand.
I'm looking for some help and any pointers I can get before tomorrow. I've never played the deck but it plays some of the cards I love in Magic.
1x Nissa, Steward of Elements
1x Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Artifacts -
4x Mishra's Bauble
Instants -
1x Tarfire
1x Dismember
2x Fatal Push
2x Lightning Bolt
2x Stubborn Denial
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Temur Battle Rage
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Thoughtseize
4x Traverse the Ulvenwald
Creatures -
4x Death's Shadow
4x Tarmogoyf
4x Street Wraith
Lands -
1x Breeding Pool
1x Blood Crypt
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Stomping Ground
1x Watery Grave
1x Forest
1x Swamp
1x Misty Rainforest
3x Bloodstained Mire
3x Verdant Catacomb
4x Polluted Delta
Now for some explanations before we move onto the Side Board.(Please keep in mind, I never played the deck before and most is just theory)
Ashiok, Nigtmare Weaver and Nissa, Steward of Elements- one of these are in place for a Lillana of the Veil. Let me explain some of the reasons why.
1. From what I've read, UW Control is a very bad match up for this deck. I know LotV can attack the hand, but I always find her so meh at best.From goldfishing the +1 from LotV is just okay(I rarely feel like I have cards I want to discard unless I'm flooding). The -2 is good but I don't feel it's good enough right now unless the field is full of Midrange decks(now there might be tomorrow but I'm willing to risk it). The Ult is amazing i give it that, but the plus never look appealing to me so it probably won't happen. And the big fear with LotV. Double Black. I fear not having access to double black when I need it and really don't want a dead card stuck in hand. It's a small fear I know but its something I don't want to risk.
I think eating away their deck with Ashiok could prove to be huge. If they are on the Terminus plan, it keeps messing that up hopefully. Comes down fairly early and the Ult would be backbreaking I'm sure. Though, it does take a few turns to get the Ult off so it may just be a living the dream moment for me.
Nissa, is something I saw in someone else's list and figured it was worth a try over Jace, the Mind Sculptor or Vendilion Clique. Both the former cards are double blue which scared me off and I think Nissa having the ability to help smooth draws and possible putting creatures and lands into play for free seems good. Not sure how good it really is but I think its worth testing but it comes down early.
Now for the Side Board -
1x Engineered Explosives
1x Collected Brutality
1x Golgari Charm
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Radiant Flames
2x Alpine Moon
2x Stubborn Denial
2x Nihil Spellbomb
3x Lingering Souls
Now I know earlier I said I didn't plan on seeing a bunch of Midrange decks so why would I run the Godless and Souls? I honestly don't know! I liked the idea of being 5 Color more but I just don't think it's worth running them which opens up 4 more board slots.
The Alpine Moon were huge in my Mardu Shadow deck I was playing around with. It hit so many lands I don't want to deal with. Celestial Colonnade Tron Lands, Manlands ect ect. They put in work so I don't think I would cut them.
If I do end up cutting the White from the board, my board would look more like this -
-1 Godless SHrine
-3 Lingering Souls
+1 Radiant Flames
+1 Delay
+2 ??
Looking for any pointers I can get before tomorrow. The deck looks super sweet all sleeved up but I'm not sure how well off the deck is right now.
4x Street Wraith
4x Gurmag Angler
1x Goblin Rabblemaster
1x Dismember
2x Fatal Push
2x Temur Battle Rage
2x Kolaghan's Command
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Faithless Looting
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Thoughtseize
4x Lingering Souls
1x Mountain
2x Swamp
1x Godless Shrine
1x Sacred Foundry
2x Blood Crypt
4x Arid Mesa
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Marsh Flats
Now for some of the "odd" choices for the deck.
I originally had Bedlam Reveler in the spot of Gurms, but I found it easier to put pressure out earlier with 6 of any cards in the yard then Instants/Sorcery in the yard. I'm still not sure which one I like more but I do enjoy the faster pressure that Gurms adds to the deck.
Goblin Rabblemaster was included into the main after feeling that I didn't have enough threats in the main. It will probably get cut but he's in there for now.
Kolaghan's Command are still in the main as remnants of me attempting to build Mardu Pyromancer. There are some games where I'm happy to have them main and other games where it just doesn't feel good in my opening hand. I love the card but may move one or both to the board.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The main reason for posting was I am looking for information on the promo Etali. I can't seem to find them on any site like TCG or SCG. Is this the only place to get the promo dragon or were they also released through something else?
I'm still debating if Dryad Arbor is still worth a slot or not. I never really liked it but it can be a free creature in a pinch
That's true about the Green Sun. I was thinking of trying out Collected Company over the Lingering Souls
I won't touch to much on the Manabase right now, but this is the newest deck I plan to try. I love Maverick in Legacy and always wanted to try it in Modern and feel like it has the cards to be viable. Looking for some other opinions on my first build.
1. What was the main draw for you to play the WB version instead of going full Abzan? I have seen a good chunk of lists on here of just WB and was curious to know what made you want to not run the green splash. I've only ran the Abzan variants of the deck because I can't see this deck not running Voice or Collected company.
2. I see some lists run Return to the Ranks and some run Rally the Ancestors. I actually ordered 4 Return to Ranks because I see that some people are so I figured I'd give them a try. But I would like to hear some of your opinions on what makes you run Return over Rally? The Rally looks stronger to me in theory because of the instant speed.
3. Do you think the Mana Dorks are really worth running? The ramp felt very lackluster to me. I never really powered out anything of use from it. And it felt real bad to hit 2x Birds of a CoCo. I understand they can help but do they really?
4. Is the combo of Saffi and Rallier really worth running? It looks really jank to me but I would like to hear from the people running it. I'm never against trying new stuff, but I don't like investing money into something that sucks(done this to many times)
5. Are the normal CoCo combo decks really better? It looks like Aristocrats has a better grind game. Sure, the hate for the one hits the other, but I think Aristocrats has better overall grind because we don't just have to roll combo to get there.
I have no plan to give up on the deck, it's what I like to do. Tokens and grind but I would like to hear other peoples ideals on the questions above. I agree with what Shelldell and Dr. Sanchez have to say about the archtype, especially after going to the PPTQ. But I'm not fully ready to just roll over on my deck just yet.
First I will post the 75 I rolled with(sorry its not in tags)
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Doomed Traveler
4x Viscera Seer
2x Zulaport Cutthroat
2x Cartel Aristocrat
4x Voice of Resurgence
4x Blood Artiest
1x Flip Lily
1x Renegade Rallier
4x Catacomb Sifter
4x Rally the Ancestors
4x Collected Company
22 Lands(not going to dig to deep into this)
Sideboard
3x Thoughtseize
3x Path to Exile
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Fatal Push
2x Tidehollow Sculler
1x Sin Collector
1x Orzhov Pontiff
1x Fiend Hunter
I took out the Chord and Eldritch Evo from the main for the following reasons-
Chord of Calling - Only got to playtest a few games before the event with it in the main and I found it stuck in my hand more often than not. The GGGx made it very had to cast most of the time. I love the flex to search something out, but I never felt it had a real spot in this build.
Eldritch Evolution - The main reason this got the ax was GG. I really didnt care it was sorcery speed, but my mana base was very Green light because Green was mostly a splash. I really did like it, but it would force me to fetch awkward. Maybe with more testing I would put it back in as a 1 of.
Now on to the match ups.
Round 1 - Merfolk - Lost 1-2
This was the hardest match up I had all day. The main reason being was the Spreading Seas/Seas Claim(think that's the name). He kept me off the colors I needed right as I needed them. Birds of Paradise was MVP in this round. Game two he drew into 3 Spreading and 2 Seas Claims putting this game bag very quickly. Game 3 was much of the same.
Round 2 - Burn - Lost 2-0
I've never built a Abzan list where Burn didn't just roll me. Game one he keeps a opening hand of 3x Eidolon of the Great Revel and makes my hand turn against me. Very quick game. Game 2 was a little different. I was able to get a board presence and have some good back and fourth action, but get defeated by a turn of Boros Charm, Boros Charm, Skullcrack. I accept the round Burn match up. I don't really feel to bad about this.
Round 3 - Mono Green Stompy - Win 2-0
Not a very fun game because the deck has no interaction. Both games I beat him down with spirit tokens. Nothing to report here.
Round 4 - Grishaolbrand - Lose 2-1
Game 1 he goes off on turn two. Yup. Game 2 I was able to keep him at bay with Thoughtseize, Sin Collector, and Sculler. Game 3, he goes off turn 2 again.
I would have kept playing just to get more testing in but I had to get my girlfriend to work(we share a car right now).
My takeaways with the deck.
I still think this deck has some legs to win games. This deck can grind with the best of them. I never felt like my deck was pure jank by any stretch of the imagination. It's a super fun deck to play and you get to play a really unique Modern strategy.
With that said, after playing my 4 rounds I was able to stay for and getting to look around the room between some rounds, I really feel like you need to have some form of disruption in the main and I can't stress this enough. This deck isn't fast enough to allow the other player to do as they please when you need some time to set up. Most of the time your set up is slower than theirs.
The reason I took the build that I did was because it was the last build I had before I stepped away from playing cards for a while. I was familiar with it and it never let me down before(still don't feel like it did on Saturday either) It's been 7 Months since I had played any form of competitive magic and just wanted to roll with something I was comfy with.
I have 5 open slots right now and I'm not really sure what to fill them with.
Creatures - 27
1x Dryad Arbor
4x Doomed Traveler
4x Viscera Seer
2x Tidehollow Sculler
2x Zulaport Cutthroat
3x Cartel Aristocrat
4x Blood Artist
4x Voice of Resurgence
1x Catacomb Sifter
1x Liliana, Heretical Healer
1x Renegade Rallier
Spells - 9
1x Eldritch Evolution
1x Chord of Calling
3x Collected Company
4x Rally the Ancestors
Lands - 19
4x Marsh Flats
3x Verdant Catacombs
2x Windswept Heath
1x Forest
1x Godless Shrine
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Plains
1x Swamp
1x Temple Garden
1x Vault of the Archangel
3x Concealed Courtyard
I decided to run the 1x of Chord and Eldritch Evo to help find a sac outlet or some of the answers in the sideboard. I'm not sure how strong they will be, but it just felt right to run 1x of each.
Sideboard - 15
1x Gaddock Teeg
1x Sin Collector
2x Qasali Pridemage
2x Tidehollow Sculler
2x Fatal Push
2x Thoughtseize
2x Abrupt Decay
3x Path to Exile
I tried to construct the sideboard to suit what I think the meta will be after looking at some recent tournaments in the area. Planning on seeing Death Shadow, Storm, Reanimator, and Ad Nausea for sure. I'm probably going to see burn but I'm not sure if I need to run some Kitchen Finks in the 75.
Sorry I didn't wrap the deck in Tags, but I don't remember how to do that
I had the abzan variant with 4 rally and coco. Looking at the last few pieces new stuff has come out in my time away. It's hard for me to post my deck list off my phone so I will get around to it later.
The question I have is I see some lists are using Dark Confidant. How good is it? And I was running 4 Catacomb Sifter and they were working for me but no one else seems to run them, are they to slow?
I have no clue what Midern looks like right now and have no idea what people in my area are playing.
I really haven't been playing as much as I would have liked the last few weeks so I'm in need of a crash course
I own Caverns but never really felt the need yet to test them out, even if I see most list run them.
And why do most of you run Lead the Stampede over the Chord of Callings? I feel the end of turn putting a dude into play or after attacking is better then adding them to the hand.