Why would you hold it? If you held it, and didn't counter it, then what was the point in putting misstep in your deck in the first place? What purpose do you have it serving? Personally, I would say absolutely, because it's a tempo deck. If his first move is to remove your delver, you essentially time walked him, or at the very least you are both at 18 life, while you have better board position with Delver. In short, yes. Counter it.
I came in 2nd last FNM at 4-1. I played a few casual matches against a UB control player, and the 0-2 round I lost was to a GB birthing pod. Both of those matches I controlled very well, until they were able to stick a curse on me. Once they stuck a curse on me, there was nothing I could do to pull myself back as I play a build similar to Matt Costas.
Against the GB player, I wasn't quite expecting it. He pulled 2 fast strangleroot geists, so I pulled a SoWaP with 5 mana, equipped and swung to try and stabilize. With me tapped out, next turn he cast curse and proceeded to roll me.
The UB player I knew what I was up against, and tried to just play a slower match taking the small advantages when I could so I could counter his board wipes and counter his few threats (I run dissipates and mana leaks). At one point he played a Liliana that would have destroyed me if I let it resolve, so I countered. He followed up with a Curse that just completely shut me down.
I understand that yes, I should counter it, but I can't always keep the mana open to counter all relevant threats. What do you guys do to get around curse? I considered Oring, but I get less benefit from SCM. My other idea was to run Drogskul Captain instead of stalkers against those match-ups where I expect it.
thanks for the advice. my only other question, when is it worth it to "splash" a 3rd color? what is considered splashing? (as in just 1-2 lands for one card)
Just did my first draft last night (usually play standard) and came in 4th. The thing is, I'm not too sure what I should be looking for and what not.
What I have come to understand, the cards that are very strong in standard, are typically very strong in draft. However, there is a lot of garbage that you would never play in standard, that plays very strongly in draft.
How do I know when there is a particularly strong card that I should draft? I'm not asking for a "WHAT DO I PICK IN ORDER", but more of some general guidelines. Last night I drafted G/U (lots of green creatures and pump spells with blue bounce / creature enchants like the -13/0 and -3/0)
I've been trying to put this deck together as I kind of want to surprise my meta after jumping right back into magic after awhile. I've been looking over the list and wanted to know what you thought about the following changes?
Basically, I feel that with ponder, geist and 3x frost titans, I have control over what's on the board hence the cut to 3 titans. I want to try and improve the board presence however, taking advantage of those plays and control by running some huntmasters. I feel like it IS a very strong card, and feel like working it in is justified.
Additionally, I replaced whipflare with slagstorm. The extra red shouldn't be too difficult with the tweaks to the mana base, however I typically feel like our turn 2 play is a ramp spell anyways, so I feel like it's wasted potential. That is still being playtested though, I'm not very knowledgable on that end.
This is what I plan on running for next Friday, however there is a lot of b/w tokens, delver, and I have seen a mix of both wrr and b/g wrr. Hopefully this deals with it well!
One thing I'm looking for some advice on though, the current decklist I have is 58 cards, but the only red I have is in slagstorm and huntmaster. I have debated dropping 2 inferno titans in, but then I would have 9x 6cmc drops. I could go with 4x huntmasters, but then I delay my titans by a turn, not to mention, I have solemn, geist, and i can snapcaster flash back. This leaves me room to decide on perhaps upping to 4x slags, adding 2 whipflares, or adding in 2 galvanic blasts.
I like the lists, they seem to accomplish more than I thought of. As to the second one, I've been thinking maybe BSZ isn't the best board clear? Considering we play (in this version at any rate) Huntsmasters, bird, glissa, and potentially weakens our titans, I feel slagstorm or spot removal might prove more efficient.
My other question, and my bigger concern, most WRR deals with aggro relatively handily with all the removal / board wipes until we can get titans on the board. How do you handle the control matchups?
I am far from an expert, as I have only recently gotten back into magic after multiple hiatuses, however I pretty much did the same thing you did.
From what I understand, B/G WRR answers quite a few of those issues you discussed, it deals better with the mirror (being R/G that is), and with ratchet bomb/ glissa as well as massacre wurm, you are more than capable of dealing with aggro decks, while doom blade / gftt / bsz can assist you in stabilizing the board.
I understand that wasn't exactly a direct answer to your question, but as I am far from the expert in the matter, I would rather leave that to someone else who knows the current meta and answers better than I.
I love huntmaster of the fells, but I prefer the Jund version of WRR to do better against the mirror. Essentially I am swapping out Grave Titans for Huntmasters since they are mini-grave titans, but they are also lower in the mana curve.
Essentially it's more of a mid-range/ramp aggro deck with the typical win-cons (titans +kessig or inkmoth + kessig). At the same time, I want to a) still be able to handle the typical u/w humans, u/wx delver, typical tokens, and have a favorable match-up to the RG wolf run.
The slagstorms / gftt / galvanic blast give me enough hate during game 1, and if it's any sort of aggro, the extra 2x slag and 2x gftt, handle aggro games 2-3.
The one area that WRR is somewhat weak against is control, hence the karn's, 4-of thrun, and Autumn's Veil.
Just curious to see what you guys think, and what your opinions are on what I should swap out / sideboard because I know it's far from perfect.
The sideboard, I have been toying with the following:
2x Slagstorm
4x Thrun
2x Karn Liberated
2x Go for the Throat
3x Autumn's Veil
2x Naturalize
Meh, after all of that, just looking at it, I feel like I'm trying to get black in there, but then again I'm not doing much with it without running grave titans or BSZ's. Still gotta work on this I guess.
So I need a little bit of advice on how to fill up the last few spots and sideboard material on my MBC that I'm taking to FNM this week. The purpose of the metamorphs is to give me a little bit more variety, I can essentially run 6-7 of each card / lashwrithe.
This only totals 55 cards however, looking to fill up the last 5 spots.
What I'm currently looking at are 2-3x Gatekeeper of Malakir, 2x Grave Titans and maybe 1 more geth's verdict?
For sideboard, the only thing I have so far is 3x Black Sun's Zenith for all the aggro / tempered steel / goblins out there. Other than, i'm thinking of siding 2-3 more discard, 2-3 more destroy effects, surgical extraction? and beyond that.... I really have no clue.
I've got most of the expensive cards for both, but really torn in between which one I like to play. I've never really played RDW or any red all that much but I'm well aware of its current position to do relatively well, especially once M12 rolls around. I have 4x koths and 4x goblin guides, but I dont have any of the fetches -.-
Conversely, I LIKE playing Mono-Black control but I'm not so sold on how it will do post ban because I play more of a midrange mono-b with 4x phyrexian obliterators.
If you were to pick one of those, which do you think would be better suited for this meta-shift?
Just curious as to what your thoughts when dealing with splinter twin?
I have a play set of spells kites and phyrexian revokers that I can sideboard, the revoke rs are kind of a catch all, while the skites specifically can help against jace and some control.
If that's the case, what else should I use sideboard at that point? I'm asking because I've never been good at side boarding but my thoughts are as follows
Where to go from there though and is that even appropriate?
I'm going to take this to Tampa next Saturday. I originally ran u/b control, but I'm really not good with it, and I don't want to play caw blade or calamity or splinter twin at all.
Which do you think stands a better shot of doing well, mono green eldrazi or vampires? (Which I am also tempted to play)
Against the GB player, I wasn't quite expecting it. He pulled 2 fast strangleroot geists, so I pulled a SoWaP with 5 mana, equipped and swung to try and stabilize. With me tapped out, next turn he cast curse and proceeded to roll me.
The UB player I knew what I was up against, and tried to just play a slower match taking the small advantages when I could so I could counter his board wipes and counter his few threats (I run dissipates and mana leaks). At one point he played a Liliana that would have destroyed me if I let it resolve, so I countered. He followed up with a Curse that just completely shut me down.
I understand that yes, I should counter it, but I can't always keep the mana open to counter all relevant threats. What do you guys do to get around curse? I considered Oring, but I get less benefit from SCM. My other idea was to run Drogskul Captain instead of stalkers against those match-ups where I expect it.
What I have come to understand, the cards that are very strong in standard, are typically very strong in draft. However, there is a lot of garbage that you would never play in standard, that plays very strongly in draft.
How do I know when there is a particularly strong card that I should draft? I'm not asking for a "WHAT DO I PICK IN ORDER", but more of some general guidelines. Last night I drafted G/U (lots of green creatures and pump spells with blue bounce / creature enchants like the -13/0 and -3/0)
Any advice would be great!
Basically, I feel that with ponder, geist and 3x frost titans, I have control over what's on the board hence the cut to 3 titans. I want to try and improve the board presence however, taking advantage of those plays and control by running some huntmasters. I feel like it IS a very strong card, and feel like working it in is justified.
Additionally, I replaced whipflare with slagstorm. The extra red shouldn't be too difficult with the tweaks to the mana base, however I typically feel like our turn 2 play is a ramp spell anyways, so I feel like it's wasted potential. That is still being playtested though, I'm not very knowledgable on that end.
This is what I plan on running for next Friday, however there is a lot of b/w tokens, delver, and I have seen a mix of both wrr and b/g wrr. Hopefully this deals with it well!
One thing I'm looking for some advice on though, the current decklist I have is 58 cards, but the only red I have is in slagstorm and huntmaster. I have debated dropping 2 inferno titans in, but then I would have 9x 6cmc drops. I could go with 4x huntmasters, but then I delay my titans by a turn, not to mention, I have solemn, geist, and i can snapcaster flash back. This leaves me room to decide on perhaps upping to 4x slags, adding 2 whipflares, or adding in 2 galvanic blasts.
Any advice on what to do with the last 2 spots?
4 Primeval Titan
3 Frost Titan
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Dungeon Geist
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Sphere of the Suns
Spells - 14
4 Rampant Growth
4 Ponder
4 Vapor Snag
2 Slagstorm
Lands - 25
4 Inkmoth Nexus
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Mountain
2 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Hinterland Harbor
4 Island
5 Forest
3 Copperline Gorge
My other question, and my bigger concern, most WRR deals with aggro relatively handily with all the removal / board wipes until we can get titans on the board. How do you handle the control matchups?
From what I understand, B/G WRR answers quite a few of those issues you discussed, it deals better with the mirror (being R/G that is), and with ratchet bomb/ glissa as well as massacre wurm, you are more than capable of dealing with aggro decks, while doom blade / gftt / bsz can assist you in stabilizing the board.
I understand that wasn't exactly a direct answer to your question, but as I am far from the expert in the matter, I would rather leave that to someone else who knows the current meta and answers better than I.
Essentially it's more of a mid-range/ramp aggro deck with the typical win-cons (titans +kessig or inkmoth + kessig). At the same time, I want to a) still be able to handle the typical u/w humans, u/wx delver, typical tokens, and have a favorable match-up to the RG wolf run.
The slagstorms / gftt / galvanic blast give me enough hate during game 1, and if it's any sort of aggro, the extra 2x slag and 2x gftt, handle aggro games 2-3.
The one area that WRR is somewhat weak against is control, hence the karn's, 4-of thrun, and Autumn's Veil.
Just curious to see what you guys think, and what your opinions are on what I should swap out / sideboard because I know it's far from perfect.
Thanks!
3 Inferno Titan
3 Huntmaster of the Fells
4 Primeval Titan
4 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Go for the Throat
4 Galvanic Blast
2 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Rampant Growth
2 Slagstorm
4 Sphere of the Suns
1 Whipflare
4 Copperline Gorge
1 Dragonskull Summit
4 Forest
3 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
2 Swamp
1 Woodland Cemetery
The sideboard, I have been toying with the following:
2x Slagstorm
4x Thrun
2x Karn Liberated
2x Go for the Throat
3x Autumn's Veil
2x Naturalize
Meh, after all of that, just looking at it, I feel like I'm trying to get black in there, but then again I'm not doing much with it without running grave titans or BSZ's. Still gotta work on this I guess.
Thread Identifier added.
This is what im running.
4x Phyrexian Obliterator
3x Phyrexian Metamorph
4x Vampire Nighthawk
4x Lashwrithe
3x Vampire Hexmage
4x Doom Blade
4x Sign in blood
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Despise
1x Duress
1x Geth's Verdict
23x Swamps
This only totals 55 cards however, looking to fill up the last 5 spots.
What I'm currently looking at are 2-3x Gatekeeper of Malakir, 2x Grave Titans and maybe 1 more geth's verdict?
For sideboard, the only thing I have so far is 3x Black Sun's Zenith for all the aggro / tempered steel / goblins out there. Other than, i'm thinking of siding 2-3 more discard, 2-3 more destroy effects, surgical extraction? and beyond that.... I really have no clue.
Any advice?
Conversely, I LIKE playing Mono-Black control but I'm not so sold on how it will do post ban because I play more of a midrange mono-b with 4x phyrexian obliterators.
If you were to pick one of those, which do you think would be better suited for this meta-shift?
I have a play set of spells kites and phyrexian revokers that I can sideboard, the revoke rs are kind of a catch all, while the skites specifically can help against jace and some control.
If that's the case, what else should I use sideboard at that point? I'm asking because I've never been good at side boarding but my thoughts are as follows
3x phyrexian revoker
3x spells kite
3x terastodon
3x wall of tanglecord
Where to go from there though and is that even appropriate?
I'm going to take this to Tampa next Saturday. I originally ran u/b control, but I'm really not good with it, and I don't want to play caw blade or calamity or splinter twin at all.
Which do you think stands a better shot of doing well, mono green eldrazi or vampires? (Which I am also tempted to play)