I don't think Pull From Eternity is playable, but I do really want to fit a 1x Chrome Mox in the main deck. An extra piece of fast mana would definitely increase the number of same turn kills with Griselbrand. 4x Lotus petal is definitely necessary though.
I think proxies are totally fine in any non-tournament context, assuming all involved parties are alright with it. My friend group runs a legacy league similar to the VSL in which we have unlimited proxies allowed. We all own real legacy decks but being able to play whatever we want in the league definitely adds a lot to the experience for us.
As for in real tournaments, if there was a way for proxies to be played without concerns of marked cards or clear rules text coming up I'd be fine with that given WOTCs continually dwindling support for the format.
I played this deck at a local legacy event yesterday and was very impressed with it. It was far more consistent than I had expected with what seemed like a higher than 50% turn 1 kill, sometimes with discard backup.
I ended up 2-1 beating Jund and Omni and losing to Bug Delver, the Bug Delver matchup felt a lot better than I expected despite the stack of GY hate and countermagic. The Young Pyro's were pretty awful in the board and should definitely something else.
Edit: I picked the deck up expecting it to be a hilarious Tin Fins style deck that actually couldn't win games, because I'd gotten tired of playing fair magic trying to win, but the deck felt legitimately competitive.
I really liked the izzet charms, they started out as the typical spell pierce slot, but I found that pierce just wasn't where I wanted to be against UR Delver. The deck still needed a similar card to fight combo decks in game ones and Izzet Charm ended up being a very versatile interaction spell which was exactly what was needed. I can definitely see going back to pierce if the meta shifts away from all the fair decks.
The Snapcasters were amazing all tournament for me I started off playing 3 so I'm not sure what 2 would be like but I never felt the need in testing to cut any. Dig through time was pretty good and didn't feel very hindered by the snapcaster interaction. In games where I'm casting enough snapcasters to delay digging the card advantage off the snapcasters was enough to extend the game to a point where digging became viable.
Jace was in our first iteration of the deck but just felt very low impact and vulnerable. He just didn't feel good against the expected field of UR delver and Burn. I knew a couple other players in the tournament on UWR with jaces and they had nothing good to say about the card after the tournament.
TLDR: Izzet charm is versatile
Snapcaster, powerful enough to overcome dig anti-synergy
Jace, badly positioned for jersey
Definitely a little disappointed in the coverage quality. Commentators are excellent so no complaints there, but it took most of the day for them to get the stream up and their set up isn't well lit making the cards difficult to see. There's also a lot of white noise in the transmission. It's still watchable but not up to the standards set by the Wizards coverage team or the SCG crew.
I went 10-4-1 with UWR Stoneblade in Jersey finishing 197th so here's my list and the matchups I played. I finished day one at 8-1 losing in round 9 but didn't get enough sleep or food before day 2 and just wasn't in the right mental state to play well. record on day 2 was 2-3-1 which I'm sure I could have done better, none of my losses felt like variance losses which felt good. I've been very happy with the consistency of the deck.
round 1-bye
round 2-beat UR delver 2-0 resolve batterskull, play around smash to smithereens, win the game
round 3-Beat inexperienced burn player who nontheless sequenced pretty much all of his spells correctly, was very impressed with his performance for picking the deck up the day of
round 4-beat osyp lebedowicz playing burn, very grindy games, snapcaster>flusterstorm was excellent
round 5-beat jonathan rubin(?) he was wearing the same team shirt as osyp and was on the same burn list 2-0d him by resoling batterskull and protecting it
Round 6-beat BW helm rock(?) he had lilianas, lingering souls, maindeck chains of mephistopheles, along with a stoneforge package. game one I conceded by derping really hard, casting brainstorm into a chains. postboard I crushed him. Vendillion clique+Karakas against the opponent with chains in play is kind of a combo.
round 7 beat Miracles against a player who I didn't really think played very well, in game 3 I was on the play and he proceeded to play brainstorm on his first mainphase of his first turn, locks himself and proceeds to miss land drops for like 6 turns. waiting a turn to cast the brainstorm makes a lot more sense
round 8-Beat Jamie Parke on UR Delver we went to game three and go to time, on turn 4 of extra turns it's jamie's turn, he's at 8 life and I'm at 4, in play I have three untapped lands, 2 nonbasic lands a large number of basics, and batterskull with a germ token, he has a nonbasic land in play, he decides to mainphase cast his last card in hand which is price of progress, I have snapcaster and land in hand, I cast snapcaster flash backswords to plowshares on my germ token to gain four life, I go to exactly 4 and he drops to 6, I untap, equip my batterskull to snapcaster and exactly lethal him on turn 5 of turns
Round 9-lost to UR Delver with wastelands I had awkward draws with few fetches/basics and he wasted me off my low land draws. I think I was capable of playing this match better but I was very mentally tired after going to time the previous round.
round 10- lost to bug delver, didn't play around stifle and I should have and he killed me with deathrites, krosan grip for batterskull is also brutal.
Round 11-Drew with punishing maverick, it's a very grindy matchup and we both could have played faster
round 12 beat the mirror, jace is really not that great on his side, I just nickle-and-dimed him out in both games with snapcaster bolts
round 13 lost to a uwr delver player whom I'm sure I could have beaten had I played better
round 14 beat uwr delver
round 15 lost against miracles, miracles is an abysmal matchup.
31 players in the tournament 5 rounds cut to top 8.
Round 1 beat RG midrange? 2-0
Player was casual
round 2 beat BG Rock 2-0
Round 3 beat uwr control 2-1
round 4/5 ID into top 8
Quarter finals against three colour burn 2-0
Just barely got there against an excellent burn opponent. The ability to fetch for basics instead of shock lands saved me some life in both games. I would have lost each game had I been a single point lower.
Semis against the same uwr player from swiss 2-1
Finals lost to UWR control 1-2
My opponents deck isn't a typical UWR deck. It's playing close to 16 counterspells maindeck and doesn't have any win cons other than snapcaster and colonnade. This version of the deck felt a lot more difficult than the regular version of the deck.
I'm fixing the manabase up as I acquire windswept heaths but the inoptimal fetchlands haven't caused any problems. The sunblade elves need to be something more functional and less fun, they're basically just as good as kird ape in my experiences although I'm sure there are times the extra toughness really matters. Steppe lynxes have been amazing. I attacked someone for 12 with a pair of them on turn 3 in one of my games.
I'm now 11-2-3 with the deck in a competitive setting although gpts are very different than PTQs or GPs
I haven't been playing Zoo for very long. I put it together a couple months ago to play as a casual modern deck, but never had the intention of playing it at any sort of competitive level. Just finished 1st in an 18man GPT with the following list.
Because the GPT was a side event at a PTQ that we'd all scrubbed out of, the competition was a little soft. I went 3-1-1 in swiss Losing to UWR control but beating BW Tokens, Jund, and Scapeshift. I think I'd be unfavoured against Scapeshift but in game one I outraced him by a turn and in game two my opponent kept a one lander on the play and didn't draw another land.
In top 8 I beat the UWR opponent I lost to in swiss, a UWR Delver/Isochron Scepter concoction, and finally a friend of mine playing Melira Pod. He's a very skilled player and the matchup definitely seems unfavourable but he'd just played an hour and a half long Pod mirror against another excellent player so I managed to walk him into making some misplays. Hushwing Gryff was the most effective sideboard card I had against Pod, Stony Silence and Grafdiggers Cage are both awkward as they dilute the threat density. The Gryff was amazing when my opponent evoked Shriekmaw to kill my Scavenging Ooze and I flashed the Gryff into play in response.
I copied a lot of the list from Jacob Wilson on CFB, unfortunately as I was scrambling to put the deck together 10 minutes before the tournament Horizon Canopies weren't available so I played a Kessig Wolf Run instead which was actually superb against other creature decks. The Molten Rains int the sideboard were really good at disrupting the UWR/Scapeshift decks and I might want a third in my board. The Chokes and Boil were pretty unimpressive although I didn't get a chance to play them against Shift and I didn't play against any Twin decks so perhaps they actually deserve sideboard slots.
The Sunblade Elf was a fun of, definitely not optimal, most of the time functioning the same as a Kird Ape, the 2 toughness vs 3 toughness never came up, that said, neither did the pump ability.
You can't monstrous Polukranos if your opponent doesn't have any creatures. I remember Marshall mentioning that on the Limited Resources podcast, and he's one of the presenters at the GP. Guess he forgot?
I'm pretty sure that you can monstrous it under those circumstances. Polukranos, World Eater reads
"When Polukranos, World Eater becomes monstrous, it deals X damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures your opponents control. Each of those creatures deals damage equal to its power to Polukranos."
I really don't like playing reckoner maindeck in red aggressive decks but it seems like a necessary evil this season. it clogs up the ground and supports a high devotion count for fanatic.
As for in real tournaments, if there was a way for proxies to be played without concerns of marked cards or clear rules text coming up I'd be fine with that given WOTCs continually dwindling support for the format.
4 Griselbrand
1 Sire of Insanity
4 Burning Wish
4 Lotus Petal
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Dark Ritual
3 Unmask
4 Thoughtseize
3 Exhume
3 Reanimate
4 Unburial Rites
1 Faithless Looting
3 Gamble
4 Entomb
4 Marsh Flats
3 Badlands
1 Scrubland
1 Swamp
1 Vindicate
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Pyroclasm
1 Tendrils of Agony
1 Duress
1 Unmask
1 Reanimate
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Stronghold Gambit
I ended up 2-1 beating Jund and Omni and losing to Bug Delver, the Bug Delver matchup felt a lot better than I expected despite the stack of GY hate and countermagic. The Young Pyro's were pretty awful in the board and should definitely something else.
Edit: I picked the deck up expecting it to be a hilarious Tin Fins style deck that actually couldn't win games, because I'd gotten tired of playing fair magic trying to win, but the deck felt legitimately competitive.
I really liked the izzet charms, they started out as the typical spell pierce slot, but I found that pierce just wasn't where I wanted to be against UR Delver. The deck still needed a similar card to fight combo decks in game ones and Izzet Charm ended up being a very versatile interaction spell which was exactly what was needed. I can definitely see going back to pierce if the meta shifts away from all the fair decks.
The Snapcasters were amazing all tournament for me I started off playing 3 so I'm not sure what 2 would be like but I never felt the need in testing to cut any. Dig through time was pretty good and didn't feel very hindered by the snapcaster interaction. In games where I'm casting enough snapcasters to delay digging the card advantage off the snapcasters was enough to extend the game to a point where digging became viable.
Jace was in our first iteration of the deck but just felt very low impact and vulnerable. He just didn't feel good against the expected field of UR delver and Burn. I knew a couple other players in the tournament on UWR with jaces and they had nothing good to say about the card after the tournament.
TLDR: Izzet charm is versatile
Snapcaster, powerful enough to overcome dig anti-synergy
Jace, badly positioned for jersey
4 ponder
3 lightning bolt
3 swords to plowshares
1 forked bolt
3 snapcaster
4 Stoneforge mystic
2 izzet charm
1 umezawa's jitte
3 true-name nemesis
2 vendillion clique
1 council's judgement
4 force of will
2 dig through time
1 batterskull
4 flooded strand
4 scalding tarn
3 tundra
3 volcanic
1 plateau
1 karakas
3 island
2 plains
1 mountain
2 flustestorm
2 pyroblast
1 council's judgment
1 wear
1 keranos, god of storms
2 pyroclasm
3 meddling mage
3 containment priest
round 1-bye
round 2-beat UR delver 2-0 resolve batterskull, play around smash to smithereens, win the game
round 3-Beat inexperienced burn player who nontheless sequenced pretty much all of his spells correctly, was very impressed with his performance for picking the deck up the day of
round 4-beat osyp lebedowicz playing burn, very grindy games, snapcaster>flusterstorm was excellent
round 5-beat jonathan rubin(?) he was wearing the same team shirt as osyp and was on the same burn list 2-0d him by resoling batterskull and protecting it
Round 6-beat BW helm rock(?) he had lilianas, lingering souls, maindeck chains of mephistopheles, along with a stoneforge package. game one I conceded by derping really hard, casting brainstorm into a chains. postboard I crushed him. Vendillion clique+Karakas against the opponent with chains in play is kind of a combo.
round 7 beat Miracles against a player who I didn't really think played very well, in game 3 I was on the play and he proceeded to play brainstorm on his first mainphase of his first turn, locks himself and proceeds to miss land drops for like 6 turns. waiting a turn to cast the brainstorm makes a lot more sense
round 8-Beat Jamie Parke on UR Delver we went to game three and go to time, on turn 4 of extra turns it's jamie's turn, he's at 8 life and I'm at 4, in play I have three untapped lands, 2 nonbasic lands a large number of basics, and batterskull with a germ token, he has a nonbasic land in play, he decides to mainphase cast his last card in hand which is price of progress, I have snapcaster and land in hand, I cast snapcaster flash backswords to plowshares on my germ token to gain four life, I go to exactly 4 and he drops to 6, I untap, equip my batterskull to snapcaster and exactly lethal him on turn 5 of turns
Round 9-lost to UR Delver with wastelands I had awkward draws with few fetches/basics and he wasted me off my low land draws. I think I was capable of playing this match better but I was very mentally tired after going to time the previous round.
round 10- lost to bug delver, didn't play around stifle and I should have and he killed me with deathrites, krosan grip for batterskull is also brutal.
Round 11-Drew with punishing maverick, it's a very grindy matchup and we both could have played faster
round 12 beat the mirror, jace is really not that great on his side, I just nickle-and-dimed him out in both games with snapcaster bolts
round 13 lost to a uwr delver player whom I'm sure I could have beaten had I played better
round 14 beat uwr delver
round 15 lost against miracles, miracles is an abysmal matchup.
4 Steppe Lynx
2 Sunblade Elf
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Path to exile
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Temple Garden
2 Sacred Foundry
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Marsh Flats
1 Windswept Heath
1 Mountain
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Stony Silence
2 Destructive Revelry
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Boros Charm
2 Hushwing Gryff
2 Molten Rain
31 players in the tournament 5 rounds cut to top 8.
Round 1 beat RG midrange? 2-0
Player was casual
round 2 beat BG Rock 2-0
Round 3 beat uwr control 2-1
round 4/5 ID into top 8
Quarter finals against three colour burn 2-0
Just barely got there against an excellent burn opponent. The ability to fetch for basics instead of shock lands saved me some life in both games. I would have lost each game had I been a single point lower.
Semis against the same uwr player from swiss 2-1
Finals lost to UWR control 1-2
My opponents deck isn't a typical UWR deck. It's playing close to 16 counterspells maindeck and doesn't have any win cons other than snapcaster and colonnade. This version of the deck felt a lot more difficult than the regular version of the deck.
I'm fixing the manabase up as I acquire windswept heaths but the inoptimal fetchlands haven't caused any problems. The sunblade elves need to be something more functional and less fun, they're basically just as good as kird ape in my experiences although I'm sure there are times the extra toughness really matters. Steppe lynxes have been amazing. I attacked someone for 12 with a pair of them on turn 3 in one of my games.
I'm now 11-2-3 with the deck in a competitive setting although gpts are very different than PTQs or GPs
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Path to Exile
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Marsh Flats
1 Windswept Heath
4 Stomping Ground
4 Temple Garden
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Forest
2 Boros Charm
2 Molten Rain
2 Choke
2 Hushwing Gryff
2 Stony Silence
1 Boil
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Grafdiggers Cage
1 Krosan Grip
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
Because the GPT was a side event at a PTQ that we'd all scrubbed out of, the competition was a little soft. I went 3-1-1 in swiss Losing to UWR control but beating BW Tokens, Jund, and Scapeshift. I think I'd be unfavoured against Scapeshift but in game one I outraced him by a turn and in game two my opponent kept a one lander on the play and didn't draw another land.
In top 8 I beat the UWR opponent I lost to in swiss, a UWR Delver/Isochron Scepter concoction, and finally a friend of mine playing Melira Pod. He's a very skilled player and the matchup definitely seems unfavourable but he'd just played an hour and a half long Pod mirror against another excellent player so I managed to walk him into making some misplays. Hushwing Gryff was the most effective sideboard card I had against Pod, Stony Silence and Grafdiggers Cage are both awkward as they dilute the threat density. The Gryff was amazing when my opponent evoked Shriekmaw to kill my Scavenging Ooze and I flashed the Gryff into play in response.
I copied a lot of the list from Jacob Wilson on CFB, unfortunately as I was scrambling to put the deck together 10 minutes before the tournament Horizon Canopies weren't available so I played a Kessig Wolf Run instead which was actually superb against other creature decks. The Molten Rains int the sideboard were really good at disrupting the UWR/Scapeshift decks and I might want a third in my board. The Chokes and Boil were pretty unimpressive although I didn't get a chance to play them against Shift and I didn't play against any Twin decks so perhaps they actually deserve sideboard slots.
The Sunblade Elf was a fun of, definitely not optimal, most of the time functioning the same as a Kird Ape, the 2 toughness vs 3 toughness never came up, that said, neither did the pump ability.
Young Pyromancer looks fun though
MTGS Username: Mattsadface
Cockatrice: Matt
Deck Code: 1ans5gfe
I'm pretty sure that you can monstrous it under those circumstances. Polukranos, World Eater reads
"When Polukranos, World Eater becomes monstrous, it deals X damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures your opponents control. Each of those creatures deals damage equal to its power to Polukranos."
"Any number" can be equal to 0 I believe.
Also go Jon Stern!
4x Rakdos Cackler
4x firedrinker satyr
4x Burning-Tree Emissary
4x firefist striker
4x ash zealot
3x Boros Reckoner
4x Fanatic of mogis
4x lightning strike
4x magma jet
2x hammer of purphorous
I really don't like playing reckoner maindeck in red aggressive decks but it seems like a necessary evil this season. it clogs up the ground and supports a high devotion count for fanatic.
Why can't we have pyreheart wolf?