I'm excited about your variant, Darkhelmet, and was testing it last night with an additional land and upgrading the 1 of the nyxathids to a Phyrexian Obliterator. Of note, I was discussing your deck with a playtesting buddy, and he said that if he built Blitzkrieg, he'd follow your design.
What I like most about the build is the dropping of the Ensnaring Bridge (which conflicts with a significant portion of our gameplan: Attack!, but somehow I can't get that crutch out from under my ass) for Bitterblossom. I generally only play that card in a faeries deck, but I like its application here. That said, my testing still came up short on stemming the oncoming tide of attackers last night. It's a limited sample size, so it only means so much. For game 1, I find that ensnaring bridge is just so potent. And, it doesn't interfere with your Bitterblossom approach. I still want to see your approach work, and you said that the initial testing has been positive.
I like the swap out idea on Olivia for Anger. 1 turn earlier, and the sweeping power can be epic - especially against Burn and Zoo...and Affinity and Tokens...and Merfolk. Tee Hee. For your deckstyle, I would keep things capped at 3-cmc with a diminished count on your land base. It's a neat synergy. I understand where you're coming from with the argument to drop Blightning, but I've tried that route. The (8) mind rot spells make all the difference. The 1st one cast hurts. The 2nd one cast is vicious. It's a knockout punch. Discard hasn't been a viable top tier deck since hymn to tourach came out in fallen empires and necropotence followed up in Ice Age. Let history teach us this lesson.
The principal thing that keeps us from being a lesser version of B/G/x Rock or Jund is the synergistic use of Blightning. You diminish its count at your own peril. I truly believe the bedrock for Blitzkrieg is (4) Blightning and (4) Wrench Mind.
That brings us to Kolaghan's command. I get that it can be the right card at the right time, and it offers card economy. It's just really hard to make room for it.....What would people drop to bring it in? Again, I compare it to electrolyze. It's a space filler. And, keep in mind that Electrolyze is generally only run when it can 'double-played' in a deck that has snapcaster mage. I really need my (1) spellskite as it does so much. I also like Chandra, Pyromaster as draw engine, continual source of damage, blocker denier for a lavaclaw reaches that can swing under a bridge, and the ultimate is easily attained (3) turns after casting.
I did test a version where I dropped my Lightning Bolt contingent in favor of Kolaghan's Command. I went (4) terminate and even added Dreadbore to bolster up early creature removal. Also, since I was emptying out my 1-CMC slot I added Temple of Malice. It's a thought. If I added the Command, I'd drop bolts...and, pray I don't come up against a fast deck. Problem is: There are a Butt Ton of fast decks out there!
The demigod moon idea is intriguing. I'd be curious to see if it works out for you, always thought demigod was a really cool card, but never thought to put it in here.
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The answer is purple because ice cream has no bones.
So I've been testing a B/R build that turned into more of a Blood Moon deck. Reason being that 4 racks is too little to compliment with our discard suite so they were cut from the list completely. Phyrexian Obliterator was also cut due to the difficulty in playing them after resolving a Blood Moon.
Testing Kolaghan's Command in replace of blightnings. Can be considered a flexspot.
Oh my god, Demigod of Revenge! THE SPICE! I can't even handle it!
Without The Rack and with the addition of Blood Moon, this is more of a B/R Midrange deck than anything. Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize are strong enough to anchor down any decks with Black in them almost by themselves, which is why they see so much play in Abzan.
While it's not a Lightning Rack deck, I'm more than happy to share my opinions. At first glance, it feels like Exava is the weak link in the deck. While she is a 4/4 for 4 with first strike, decks playing ways to remove creatures all have a target for her right now. Even Twin can use Flame Slash after one swing. Also, her costing 4 mana and not taking a game over feels like it hurts your curve. Tombstalker seems much stronger of a card.
Also, there's nothing wrong with playing unique and spicy cards. This is just sort of a Black-Red Midrange list. Have you tried Mogis, God of Slaughter in the four slot? You can turn it on with only one Demigod of Revenge. I also recommend Purphoros and Erebos. They all make it so your four slot is guaranteed to take a game over if you resolve even one Demigod of Revenge, which this list seems kind of centered around. Another potential card for your deck is Rakdos's Return. Since you are stalling your opponent with Blood Moon, you can literally just remove their hand with one spell after turn four in several circumstances. While this would also make The Rack better, if you decide not to play The Rack in your list, it also makes it much harder for your opponent to turn off Demigod of Revenge.
Last thing is that I still recommend a one-of Raven's Crime. You can target yourself to get maximum value off of Demigod of Revenge. Feels a lot better than using Blightning on yourself. I'm not a huge fan of Kolaghan's Command, so personally I'd definitely swap one of those out for Raven's Crime, even if you change nothing else.
Good luck with this list though. It honestly looks like a blast to play.
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Modern: BR Control BR Standard: Temur Energy RUG Pauper: Fireball Black B Commander: Kaervek the MercilessBR
Alright everybody, I've been a little bit lax on this front, and thank you Raystack for taking care of getting the thread up and operational. It's about 20 posts later than I would have liked, but I want to introduce myself.
My name is Pete Casella, and I'm that guy who finished in the Top 16 of the Modern 5K in Indianapolis last January. While my deck during that weekend needed a bit more fine-tuning, the reason for the strong finish was the metagame in the Midwest region, making the Red splash and the tempo-oriented style of Lightning Rack a very good deck choice for the day. This was not long after the last Modern bannings of Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time, and Birthing Pod, so not only was the format wide open, but nobody was yet expecting a hand-control deck in the format outside of Abzan's 7 or 8 copies of Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize. That was a fun event, as two of my teammates here in Chicago finished 1st place (w/ Amulet Bloom) and 9th place (w/ Elves, another spicy list).
I am by no means a professional player, though I do have several competent finishes in an array of events with many different decks. For Modern, Lightning Rack has been my primary focus since I began playing the format a few years ago. My goal in this thread is simply to provide feedback to all of you, and give recommendations to the best of my ability. I also will promise to be polite as best as possible, since that can honestly be a bit of an issue in other threads.
For this archetype, I have continuously made changes to make the deck as powerful as possible. My goal is not a "perfect" list, but rather a list that is well-positioned in any given metagame. In truth, there is no such thing as a perfect list, at any given time. There is only the best way to play against other popular decks in the format, and utilizing all possible cards to your advantage. The advice I will always give players is that you should always be bold, and never be afraid to try unique and interesting cards. The element of surprise can only be a positive, and just because a player tells you that a card is "bad" or "wrong" doesn't always mean you shouldn't play it. A lot of times, that simply means that player didn't try it themselves, or see it mentioned by a professional player.
I also write articles! While they are on different decks, I made sure to write an article solely on Lightning Rack, specifically for this new article. It fully chronicles all of my changes, updates, thoughts and opinions on card choices in the current metagame. The thread can be found here:
I'm glad to see that the archetype has branched out, as the legacy version of 8-Rack is, unfortunately, outdated for the Modern format. Many feel that deck's list is virtually flawless, but contentment with a list that has yet to perform is a pretty bad sign. This thread is a breath of fresh air to those craving something new. I hope you all enjoy your stay!
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Great article! It's very well written, and goes in depth on all your card choices. Would definitely urge anyone to read it if they're at all interested in playing this deck.
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Modern Active: BGRock/Jund/JunkRW GRTron 0Affinity0 WGRZoo
Adding the blightning to the mix replacing some cheaper spells increases the curve of the deck meanwhile you're running less land than the original 8rack deck. Isn't that begging for mana-depraved fights?
Mathematically speaking, I am never a fan of the 22-land lists, but that is only from bad experiences of flooding. Playing one less Blightning or one less Thoughtseize, or any other decreased number for a 22nd land, is not necessarily wrong. From testing, getting to three lands is usually very doable, and many times that is all you will need.
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Modern: BR Control BR Standard: Temur Energy RUG Pauper: Fireball Black B Commander: Kaervek the MercilessBR
It's mostly built off the list posted in smashpacman's article, but unfortunately my local store doesn't have any Nyxathid in stock, so I upped the land count(still debating on 23vs24) and added Phyrexian Obliterator instead. I'm mostly torn on my sideboard. My meta consist of Infect, Burn, Junk, Tron, Zoo, UWR Control, Mono Green Stompy, Scapeshift and occasionally Bogles and Soul Sisters. Luckily I'm one of two players who plays Affinity, and the other player tends to play Tron instead the majority of the time. There's also a person able to play Twin, but he's been messing around with homebrews for the last month. I'd like to make some room for some more Tron hate in the board either Fulminator Mage, Sowing Salt, or Molten Rain, maybe taking out Rakdos Charm(I don't think I'll need the graveyard hate, Affinity probably won't be there, and the damage is just a cute way to beat Twin), and maybe 1 Surgical Extraction.
Olivia Voldaren Is mostly a card I want to test out, it can ping Spirit Tokens and other X/1, it can steal fools, and can swap out with Phyrexian Obliterator when Blood Moon is a problem. Duress can swap with Thoughtseize against burn, and valuable versus matchups that aren't creature heavy. Anger of the Gods is there for Zoo and Mono Green Stompy, their butts are generally too big for Pyroclasm, and I don't expect Affinity so I opted for this instead. Wear // Tear my artifact and enchantment hate. Surgical Extraction can mess around with combo decks, and might be valuable against Tron if I bring land destruction. Spellskite the 4 toughness makes it a valuable blocker, taking 2 damage from burn is better than 3, and it dominates the Infect, Bogles, and Stompy Matchup.
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Modern Active: BGRock/Jund/JunkRW GRTron 0Affinity0 WGRZoo
It's mostly built off the list posted in smashpacman's article, but unfortunately my local store doesn't have any Nyxathid in stock, so I upped the land count(still debating on 23vs24) and added Phyrexian Obliterator instead. I'm mostly torn on my sideboard. My meta consist of Infect, Burn, Junk, Tron, Zoo, UWR Control, Mono Green Stompy, Scapeshift and occasionally Bogles and Soul Sisters. Luckily I'm one of two players who plays Affinity, and the other player tends to play Tron instead the majority of the time. There's also a person able to play Twin, but he's been messing around with homebrews for the last month. I'd like to make some room for some more Tron hate in the board either Fulminator Mage, Sowing Salt, or Molten Rain, maybe taking out Rakdos Charm(I don't think I'll need the graveyard hate, Affinity probably won't be there, and the damage is just a cute way to beat Twin), and maybe 1 Surgical Extraction.
Olivia Voldaren Is mostly a card I want to test out, it can ping Spirit Tokens and other X/1, it can steal fools, and can swap out with Phyrexian Obliterator when Blood Moon is a problem. Duress can swap with Thoughtseize against burn, and valuable versus matchups that aren't creature heavy. Anger of the Gods is there for Zoo and Mono Green Stompy, their butts are generally too big for Pyroclasm, and I don't expect Affinity so I opted for this instead. Wear // Tear my artifact and enchantment hate. Surgical Extraction can mess around with combo decks, and might be valuable against Tron if I bring land destruction. Spellskite the 4 toughness makes it a valuable blocker, taking 2 damage from burn is better than 3, and it dominates the Infect, Bogles, and Stompy Matchup.
If you are only curving out at 4CMC with a card that has only three copies in your deck, you can easily get away with 23 lands. Granted, I do have a tendency to get a bit greedy with manabases, but generally 23 lands works when the curve is 6-7 copies of 4CMC cards and even 2 copies of 5CMC cards.
I'm a big, big fan of the 3rd Lavaclaw Reaches as an additional land, especially with Obliterator. This helps put the game away very quickly. If you're not playing Blood Moon in the board, then I recommend a 4th Blackcleave Cliffs over one of the fetch lands, especially since you are not playing any Delve spells. Good luck tonight!
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Modern: BR Control BR Standard: Temur Energy RUG Pauper: Fireball Black B Commander: Kaervek the MercilessBR
Agree with smashpacman on the 3rd Lavaclaw Reaches. I ran (3) last night at my FNM in Blitzkrieg, and took home another Gold Medal. That's back to back, baby! 5-0 last week and a 3-0 last night without a single game loss. It was a very small turnout which generally happens after a pre-release weekend. Folks get magicked out. So, I shoed 4C Gifts, U/R Twin, and Merfolk around the room to take home 18 packs.
The deck list that I played was very similar to what I posted in the primer of this thread, so there is no need to put it up again. The deck felt good. I do struggle with the conflict of Phyrexian Obliterator and Ensnaring Bridge, and yearn for some sort of elementary solution. I do take comfort that the bridge is only (3) potentially blanked spots and can serve as a perpetual damnation. The melon is percolating with ideas, and I like some of the new cards being discussed. What I really need to refine is my sideboarding skills. That's going to take some analysis and preparation to nail down my list which is loaded with 1-ofs, and hinges on a transformational modular approach of going Bridge-Game 1 to outright Attack-Game 2. People, you don't know how well that works! I get positively giddy when I repeatedly perform "Sideboard Body Slams" on an opponent: A.) They take out their creature removal spells and add artifact kill // Whilst I B.) Add creatures and remove all of my artifacts. Game 2 becomes criminally unfair.
Brief Match Notes on Last Night's Win:
Round 1 - 4 Color Gifts - Typical construction with Iona, Unburial Rites, Engineered Explosives, Raven's Crime etc. etc. It's a cool deck, and he ran it reasonably well. Round 1 was a long slugfest, but I locked out his Lingering Souls Faeries with a bridge. It was rix maadi, dungeon palace and a shrieking affliction for the win. Game 2, I pull a Curly Shuffle, and it works beautifully. It helped that he never saw one of my four main decked creatures (Obliterator) in game 1. I mow him down in game 2, and he's holding onto a Krosan Grip as his last card. I wish it was a Creeping Corrosion which would have been a chuckle. My sideboarding was off, though. I brought in Slaughter Games and Surgical Extraction, but his deck is so many 1-ofs. Was that the right play?
Round 2 - U/R - Typical construction with a very competent pilot. He commented at the end that it's a bad match up. I agree. Once we empty their hands, kill their Pestermite or Exarch, and put them on top deck draws, they are smoked. In game one, he tried to go off, but I bolted the pestermite immediately upon casting it. I don't wait for it to live, and then try to get a fancy 2-for-1 when he splinter twins it. I don't know if that's right or wrong, but I just don't take the chance. Besides, my power discard suite will have that splinter twin in the graveyard in no time anyway. When he casts a Vendilion Clique during my draw step on a previously empty hand, I pull a terminate. I say 'response to the trigger', and smote the faerie. Mistake. He didn't actually say, "I target you", and he cheeses me out by targeting himself, and cycling a card away. I was a bit put off, as it was implied. But, he is absolutely right, and that's a lesson learned.
Round 3 - Merfolk - Round 1, I go T1-Thoughtseize. T2 - Spellskite. T3 - Bridge. T4 - Liliana and shrieking affliction. That's game over. Round 2: he mulls to 5. I feel bad. Then he drops (2) Leyline of Sanctity. Oof! But, he land stalls. I drop Shrieking Affliction and get a Liliana Discard machine cranking. Since he dropped (2) Leyline, and he was on the play. His starting hand size was 3. Three! Ha. He couldn't recover, and it was Affliction for the win.
@demonboyjr.: That's a strong base of a deck that you're working on (again, it's heavily lifted from smashpacman). It feels like a little creature-removal light. And, I also follow that you had to adjust the land count to accommodate Obliterator. It seems like Nyxathid would be a little better for that construction otherwise. I have to make mention that I, without sounding too dippy, really do appreciate the diversity that this deck engenders. To echo Pete's sentiments expressed in that superb write-up he just did {phenomenal article as well}, let's keep the diversity of this thread unsullied. There is no right or wrong card choice. That said - - you can't play anger of the gods and phyrexian obliterator in the same deck. I'm sure that's an oversight as you planned to run Nyxathid instead. I suggest Darkblast or Drown in Sorrow as a substitute.
For those folks that are just poking their heads in to see what this deck is about, it's fair to proudly note that we've had 4 FNM tourney reports (this deck thread was developed and spilled over from 8rack where it's playstyle is incongruous with what they are doing). Each tourney report was a sweep adding up to a 16-0 record and a top 16 finish at a Modern IQ. It's the real deal.
Damn, didn't catch that. Unfortunately Drown in Sorrow can't reliably wipe Zoos board with all the x/3s they have, perhaps Bile Blight is a decent replacement? It can work as spot removal, and the potential to get multiple value out of it isn't unlikely.
Edit:Maybe Mutilate? Cost the same as Damnation, but is unlikely to kill my own Phyrexian Obliterator, worried it might be to slow though.
Damn, didn't catch that. Unfortunately Drown in Sorrow can't reliably wipe Zoos board with all the x/3s they have, perhaps Bile Blight is a decent replacement? It can work as spot removal, and the potential to get multiple value out of it isn't unlikely.
Edit:Maybe Mutilate? Cost the same as Damnation, but is unlikely to kill my own Phyrexian Obliterator, worried it might be to slow though.
Additional spot removal in the main deck can also solve a lot of issues. Zoo won't always curve out, and when they do, you can relegate them to only their Nacatls and Kird Apes or Loam Lions by Terminating and Murderous Cutting (if you played it) any bigger threats. Lightning Bolt can take out the rest.
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Modern: BR Control BR Standard: Temur Energy RUG Pauper: Fireball Black B Commander: Kaervek the MercilessBR
Congrats on the finish and thx for the report, Ray. Keep up the good work. It's interesting that the bridge bait-n-switch works outside the Tezz shell. It totally makes sense. You got me interested.
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MODERN Blue Lantern, UBx Tezzerator. OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
This is a variant that I'm kicking around on Cockatrice. Although I'm pleased with my tournament version of Blitzkrieg - listed in my primer page, I worry that its inflated mana curve (5 4cmc spells) and relatively high land count (24) can create problems for reaching the critical mid/late game while maintaining control. The synergies of the high land count do matter though: Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace and Lavaclaw Reaches feed off of each other and can be considered spells unto themselves, and a reason why I don't run Blood Moon. One thing to note about this deckstyle is that it does have trouble performing miracle comebacks when it falls behind (no 1-turn combo kill, no life gain, no mass sweepers, no lockdown [except ensnaring bridge] which is why I have such trouble letting go of my favorite 'panic button'). So, it's important to go tit-for-tat as the game progresses.
Scrambles // Fun Variant - Just to introduce different cards and synergies.
The idea is a culmination of different ideas / a Scramble. The critical note is the very low mana cost of the deck. Everything is 3-CMC or less.
Nyxathid could be even better served in this build as there are (9) 2-for-1 discard spells, but it does only have (5) 1-for-1 discard spells with a 'Raven's Crime' Land, whereas most builds in this thread advocate the full complement of (8) Inquisition and Thoughtseize. I don't like that approach as a Thoughtseize do cost us 10% of our life total, so I only run one. I've spoken more about this in the primer. I've been playing The Rack since it was first printed when I started, during Antiquities, and the trick to an effective build is using cards that offer more than 1 for 1 discard....that's why 8rack doesn't win and the Tier 1 decks favor a more diminished role for the 1-for-1ers - there a lot of occasions where they fizzle. Further, the increased high-power discard we employ do diminish the effectiveness of 1-for-1, especially since i added tasigur's cruelty/nezumi/rix maadi. I do respect that they do wondrous work on turn 1 and that other folks in the thread go for the full 8. Just a humble disagreement.
Nezumi Shortfang: This is a pet card of sorts, but it was very effective in the Legacy builds.
Spellskite: It's a terrific 1-of in this deck. It was a superstar last night.
Tasigur's Cruelty: It capitalizes upon the strongest element of this deck, the power discard suite: 2-for-1. It's my only delve card and graveyard poacher (outside of lavamancer), and I had the occasion to rip it and wrench mind with just three land in play - titanic. Also, it's worth noting that it sidesteps leyline of sanctity which is huge. When someone leylines, they generally skirt very close to the edge of a rack cliff. They never expect that a Tasigur Cruelty with a Liliana (non-targeted) and a Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace (non-targeted) to push them right over the side. I fear Leyline, but somehow (even with my 8 Rack variants - and, I've made tons) I find a way to overcome them most of the time // oh, creatures help too.
That Scrambles deck of yours has some interesting pieces, Raystack. It seems you are going all-in with Shrieking Affliction over The Rack completely. I do find it very strange to have Nyxathid and Ensnaring Bridge in the same deck, as once you hit one of them, the other one becomes a dead or unplayable card.
Bitterblossom is a card that I left off of my article, as I am still unsure of its capabilities or implications on the deck. However, outputting damage from turn two until the end of the game honestly seems very, very good.
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Modern: BR Control BR Standard: Temur Energy RUG Pauper: Fireball Black B Commander: Kaervek the MercilessBR
A 2nd Place finish got put up on the big board yesterday at a 13 person, Sunday afternoon tourney. It's bittersweet, as I got tagged with my first loss in a paper tourney (U/W Midrange - v. sharp player/he came in 1st). So, let's look at the tale of the tape when it comes to this new breed of deck. My tournament variant of Blitzkrieg:
March 20th, FNM, 5-0, March 27th, FNM, 3-0 (I did intentionally draw with Merfolk in the final round, but still won 2-0), March 29th, Event, 3-1 // Win-Loss Record: 11-1.
Smashpacman, the originator of the archetype, took his to a top 16 finish in a 250 person event. He said if the pairing were more favorable (he faced dredgevine/gy recursion deck in the final round - atrocious match up), then he truly believes he could have won the whole thing. Then, he took his deck to a local FNM and put up a 4-0. But, and I do love this, our decks have fundamental differences. We are both looking at the other's deck...quizzically. He doesn't understand how I can run Bridge and Obliterator in the main deck, and I don't follow his land configuration/count, high 1-for-1 creature kill cards (bolt/murderous cut), and a desire to cut the bridge entirely from his 75.
It has to do with how you'd like to focus your Lightning Rack Attack. I go Low lightning, Middle rack, and High Attack - with a few, seemingly at-odds (but economical) 'panic button' ensnaring bridges.
CARD ADVANTAGE: In trying to maximize card economy, I try desperately to avoid 1-for-1 spells. Even Lightning Bolt only finds 2 slots in my deck, because the targets in the meta are elusive. So, I'll say no to the 3rd bolt, and add a Chandra, Pyromaster (my own personal spice) instead. I am the guy that runs the least 1-CMC 1-for-1 discard spells in this forum. I finally relented and went from 5 to 6 with a painful loss of a maindeck Spellskite - Overmaster suggested I drop it a few days back, and I am going with his advice.
Ensnaring Bridge is the king of card economy, especially in game 1. If you up your land count, as I've done, then you can comfortably set it up and win off of a classic 8 rack approach with complementary red cards that make all the difference. I recognize that 8 Rack is an overall failed experiment, a one-trick pony. But, it had elements and synergies that we can learn from, and the single most important defensive card in that deck is ensnaring bridge. For game 1 (again, I often take it out in game 2), it seems negligent to ignore its overwhelming power.
WINNING: Even though this deck only runs (4) racks, it still wins by their effects a majority of the time. Some would argue that they are a 'dead' draw and take up space. Sure, unless you earn that space. What do I mean by that? Wrench Mind earns you a free card. So does Blightning, Liliana, Tasigur's Cruelty, and Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace. So, with Blightning, I trade 1 card for 2 cards and a lightning bolt. I use that earned card to play Shrieking Affliction. And, that affliction yields a repeating lightning bolt in perpetuity if I have a recurring discarding machine like Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace or Liliana of the Veil.
SIDEBOARD: I try to remain as aggressive in my win condition enhancement as possible. I don't do the 'pre-emptive answer to an anticipated condition of the opponent'. Examples of this are Surgical Extraction, Sowing Salt, Slaughter Games, leyline of the void, and perhaps most notably: blood moon. I think back to when burn was mono-red, and they had occasions where it would crush certain opponent's game development. Still, the top decks didn't run it. They'd rather further their own win condition. That's my current thinking with my latest developments...
This brazilian guy here waited so long to post him deck here, but now, hefeels he have to do that. My choice for the Blitzkrieg came from the reach of more SB options and to handle better with the variety of decks. You can call me stubborn, but I'm sticking with the 4 bridges in mainboard. I feel that's a small quantity of answers to it in ppl's maindeck (in my field, we have much merfolks, we have zoo, UWR and less abzans than the average, and the only guy who have burn is me). So, I want to post my deck to you, to read what you think of it.
This idea is to bring the creatures to table AFTER the SB... Or not... =)... To dont let the opp know what I'll do, and if I will have or not crits in the board. I think the SB is not closed, and I want to hear your thoughts about it =)
Round 1: UWR Midrange
Game 1: I ended up drawing 3 thoughtseizes and a couple of shocklands. He ended up topdecking a snapcaster mage out and by the time I drew removal I was down too low and the game was over.
I decided not to sideboard anything.
Game 2: The game was very close, but he had a turn 2 Kor Firewalker which completely wrecked my plan. I ended up holding 2 terminates and a lightning bolt for most of the game. The game ended when I had Nyxathid out and he had a Geist of Saint Traft with me at 6 hp and he topdecked an Electrolyze. I felt confidant about that game until Geist came onto the board.
Game 3: Game 3 goes even better, I had answers for all of his creatures and started the beatdown plan with both of my Mutavaults and Liliana of the Veil. He was stuck on 2 lands and ended up scooping.
Round 3: Affinity
Game 1: Plays almost his whole hand turn 1. I play Bitterblossom turn 2 hoping to block until I got some removal out, but it wasn't enough.
Sideboarding:
-3 Nyxathid
-4 Wrench Mind
-3 Blightning
+4 Ensnaring Bridge
+1 Grim Lavamancer
+2 Anger of the Gods
+3 Rakdos Charm
Game 2: I thoughtseize out 2 Etched Champion from his hand and he gets Cranial Plating on his Ornithopter and by the time I get Ensnaring Bridge out, he has me at 4 life and uses Galvanic Blast for the win.
Round 3: RG Tron
Game 1: He mulligans to 3, ends up getting all three tron lands with Karn in his hand. Blightning with The Rack in my hand ended the game.
Game 2: I keep a 1 land hand thinking it will be amazing if I just get two more lands eventually. I thoughtseize out 2 Karn's from his hand and he draws a third one using Ancient Stirrings. After that, there is no going back as he exiles my 1 land.
Game 3: This became a long and grindy game, I ended up getting him into topdeck mode with 2 The Rack out. He gets to 1 life and three cards in his hand and plays Ugin. I had three turns to draw any type of discard and didn't draw anything. He ultimated Ugin and played Ulamog, Karn, and Emrakrul. It was a pretty epic loss. I feel like my sideboarding really screwed me here, as any lightning bolt or Wrench Mind would've helped.
Overall, I had fun with the deck and had some close losses. I ended up using 4 Blightning instead of the planned 3 and I felt like that was a good decision. I found that I was always wanting to draw more discard, which normally isn't a problem with 8rack because of Raven's Crime. I think I am going to add 1 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace and I am getting Kolaghan's Command this week so I want to try it out. I felt like Bitterblossom was good, but never needed in any of my games. Here is the decklist I want to try:
@LucasBayde: With such a defensive posture, I think it's definitely worth entertaining. If you need the R/B mana, why not choose a manland? The drawback is that it comes into play tapped. Well, so does Blackcleave Cliffs past turn 3 and Temple of Malice. I'm not a big fan of the temple in this deck since we run a stout 4-of construction with a lot of 1 drops -- that means that outside of mana floods/droughts, we're basically happy with what we get (discard on empty hands notwithstanding...hmmm, that assessment may be a bit too brash). As for Blackcleave Cliffs, I like it for the speed early on. The manland {lavaclaw reaches} is a possible consideration to go to 4. They don't have evasion like Creeping Tar Pit, so I don't know how much damage they'll turn in (though it could happen - you'd be surprised how empty an opponent's board can get with this style of deck running at full speed). In your deck, they can serve as blockers in a pinch.
As for your build, LucasBayde, it's a defensive shell with strong tendencies towards a Black Rack discard design. I don't know if I'm crazy about (6) racks. I also feel like the locating and successful casting of an ensnaring bridge is very critical to maintaining your survival. Your wincons have gone razor sharp in the direction of turtling up and blasting rack damage at the opponent's face. I guess I'd just look to diversify. Grim Lavamancer? Chandra, Pyromaster? Go goofy: (no, I'm not actually advocating these inclusions in a tournament build) add a Master of Cruelties to swing under the bridge. Add a leechridden swamp with Shrieking Affliction instead of The Rack. Anathemancer is a decent budget Price of Progress. How about Quest for the Nihil Stone, with prayers that you never draw it past turn one? Again, I'm just cracking wise to illustrate that there are any number of options out there.....
.....what I really would love to see is some a lot of folks offering up insights (and judgements). This is a Brand-New Deck Archetype. Get in on the ground floor. Make your voice heard! When I get a moment, I'll read up on Darkhelmet's post. In the meantime....shout it out, peoples.
Monday Night Modern at my store tonight. Played a variant of my list, though I am testing out something very specific. You'll know it immediately. Piloted it to another 4-0 over some very solid players, including one of my teammates who will be playing Pro Tour Brussels in April.
This matchup can be very interesting. In several cases, the matchup comes down to whether or not I have a solid removal spell in my opening hand. Fortunately, I didn't have to worry too much in Game 1, as I won the dice roll and my opening hand was Terminate, Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, Wrench Mind, Blightning and two lands. I quickly emptied his hand and drew The Rack during the four turns in which I was ripping his hand apart, and he bled out that game. I sideboarded in two Blood Moon for his Inkmoth Nexus and Pendelhaven, as well as the spicy one-of Cathedral of War that I saw in the first game, and I sideboarded in three Pyroclasm while removing three Blightning, one Gurmag Angler and the Raven's Crime from the deck. He played a turn one Glistener Elf, and I had the Lightning Bolt in my opening hand to remove it immediately. He did not have a second creature, but he did have two Apostle's Blessing in his hand, which I promptly removed with some combination of Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize. I removed two more creatures as the game progressed and slammed a Gurmag Angler after he used Nature's Claim on my copy of The Rack. He died to the 5/5 beatdown.
Round 2 - Lightning Rack vs. Amulet Bloom
Playing against this list is never easy, but I do know his list backwards and forwards, so I felt I had an edge. This is the type of matchup where you, as a player, realize that knowing the metagame and your opponent's decks (and probable outs) is just as important as knowing your own deck, so that playing Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize and taking the incorrect card will lose you a game. He kept decent hands both games, but neither hand offered protection against Inquisition of Kozilek or Thoughtseize, and he needed my deck to falter for a turn. The first game, I got a Gurmag Angler and The Rack into play after playing a sequence of Thoughtseize into Wrench Mind into Liliana of the Veil, and since he had no Amulet of Vigor, I was able to Terminate the Primeval Titan that he cast on turn six and get there with the Gurmag Angler. I sideboarded in two Blood Moon and two Surgical Extraction for Raven's Crime and three Blightning. In the second game, a turn three Blood Moon prevented his deck from operating, as regardless of player skill or knowledge of the format (and he did very much play around Blood Moon as much as he could), every deck has a hard counter. Blood Moon is just that for the Amulet deck. It was also the type of round that makes me contemplate putting a third Blood Moon in the sideboard.
Round 3 - Elves
At the same 5k where I finished in the Top 16 with this deck, so did my opponent in Round 3, who did so with an Elves deck of his own design. He has been playing the deck as long as I have been playing this. While his deck got a nice adjustment recently, the amount of removal that I pack into my main deck makes this an absolutely brutal matchup for him. There's not a lot of detail to go into on these games, because all you really need to know is that in a two-game span, I cast TWENTY TWO removal spells. There were Lightning Bolts, Terminates, Murderous Cuts, Liliana of the Veils, and even Grim Lavamancers picking off creatures for a large number of turns before The Rack finally won me the round by attrition. Felt really good.
Round 4 - Splinter Twin
Fortunately, I had already won some amount of money, and was looking for practice. This was definitely one of the most practiced players of Tier 1 decks in the room, and I always have fun playing against Splinter Twin. The first game came complete with a hardcore blowout. I lost the dice roll, so he had three mana up on Turn 3. He had three cards in hand, one of which was definitely a Twin and the other was a creature combo piece, which turned out to be Deceiver Exarch. I left up a Bloodstained Mire, and had not yet fetched, and also had two basic Swamps in play. I cast a Wrench Mind, so he flashed in his Exarch and untapped his Island so that he could Spell Snare my Wrench Mind. This was the third card put into my graveyard, the first being Raven's Crime and the second being a fetch land from earlier. I let this all resolve, fetched out a land (putting a 4th card into my graveyard), and Delve + the new land allowed me to Murderous Cut his Exarch, leaving him exposed. After he drew a land for turn the next turn, I cast another Wrench Mind and he was a combo-control deck with no cards and no board state, so I got there with ease beyond that. I sideboarded in three Duress, three Surgical Extraction, two Wear and Tear, and the Rakdos Charm. This all turned out pretty good, as he sideboarded in a Batterskull, two Engineered Explosives just to play around Wrench Mind, and an Ancient Grudge. I wound up with a game two hand of double Duress, double Surgical Extraction, lands, and a Gurmag Angler, so you can imagine that the beatdown was thorough.
Gurmag Angler was definitely an acceptable replacement for Nyxathid. It usually comes out a turn slower, which hurts a bit against the Burn matchup, but it is also missed by Lightning Bolt at all times, Abrupt Decay cannot kill it, and it cannot be taken out of hand by Inquisition of Kozilek. It also will tangle with just about any Tarmogoyf in the format, and if cast beyond turn four (which is likely), can also allow you to leave up removal mana. It was definitely a house and for the time being, will be staying in place of Nyxathid.
Fortunately, I had already won some amount of money, and was looking for practice. This was definitely one of the most practiced players of Tier 1 decks in the room, and I always have fun playing against Splinter Twin. The first game came complete with a hardcore blowout. I lost the dice roll, so he had three mana up on Turn 3. He had three cards in hand, one of which was definitely a Twin and the other was a creature combo piece, which turned out to be Deceiver Exarch. I left up a Bloodstained Mire, and had not yet fetched, and also had two basic Swamps in play. I cast a Wrench Mind, so he flashed in his Exarch and untapped his Island so that he could Spell Snare my Wrench Mind. This was the third card put into my graveyard, the first being Raven's Crime and the second being a fetch land from earlier. I let this all resolve, fetched out a land (putting a 4th card into my graveyard), and Delve + the new land allowed me to Murderous Cut his Exarch, leaving him exposed. After he drew a land for turn the next turn, I cast another Wrench Mind and he was a combo-control deck with no cards and no board state, so I got there with ease beyond that. I sideboarded in three Duress, three Surgical Extraction, two Wear and Tear, and the Rakdos Charm. This all turned out pretty good, as he sideboarded in a Batterskull, two Engineered Explosives just to play around Wrench Mind, and an Ancient Grudge. I wound up with a game two hand of double Duress, double Surgical Extraction, lands, and a Gurmag Angler, so you can imagine that the beatdown was thorough.
Gurmag Angler was definitely an acceptable replacement for Nyxathid. It usually comes out a turn slower, which hurts a bit against the Burn matchup, but it is also missed by Lightning Bolt at all times, Abrupt Decay cannot kill it, and it cannot be taken out of hand by Inquisition of Kozilek. It also will tangle with just about any Tarmogoyf in the format, and if cast beyond turn four (which is likely), can also allow you to leave up removal mana. It was definitely a house and for the time being, will be staying in place of Nyxathid.
How did you sideout VS twin? And the only raven's crime worth it?
I'm caught up to DarkHelmet's tourney report right now (I touched up the primer a little, and will continue to tinker). That said, I am not tech savvy, and appreciate any feedback (positive or negative) about the primer - it won't be the flashiest one in the threads, but I want it to look respectable. I welcome anyone to private message me with thoughts. One cat said that he'd be willing to create a banner if this site gets some traction. 3 pages of discussion for a thread that's celebrating its 1 week birthday today feels terrific to me.
First, the build: The main deck spells are identical to smashpacman's Version 2.0 deck with the swap out of 2 Murderous Cut for 2 Bitterblossom. That seems reasonable, as bitterblossom can act as attack and defense - but, the life loss is very dicey. The land base is a fetch construction. I saw the graven cairns in there, and agree that getting rid of them in your revisions is a wise move. Mutavault versus Lavaclaw Reaches. This debate comes down to time of usage and need for colored mana. Our deck curves so low, that I'd be very surprised if you were attacking with mutavault on 2/3 or really blocking anything with it (maybe dark confidant). You're probably using Mutavault at a time (mid/late game) when you could just as easily be using Lavaclaw reaches, and the reaches (at that time will hit harder). As for the mana requirements, we need a lot of red sources to reliably fire off a lightning bolt and terminate early on. I've tried mutavault early on in my testing, and colorless mana is just so underutilized in this deck. IDK - keep tinkering.
The Report: concise and well-written. Your recall is impressive. It also goes to show that a 1-3 record doesn't really tell the whole story when those close matches don't get recorded as part of the Match Report. I don't disagree, after very careful review, with any of your choices on the sideboarding options that you elected to make in Round 1 and Round 2 and Round 3. Round 4 exhibits the divergence of how a Blitzkrieg deck can operate: Reactive or Proactive.
Round 3: RG Tron
Sideboard:
-4 Wrench Mind
-2 Lightning Bolt
+3 Blood Moon
+3 Rakdos Charm
When facing G/r Tron in game 2, you elected to go reactive (though not totally, as you kept your Surgical Extraction in the SB). Admittedly, this is a very hard matchup. So, do we wall up or go full attack? Well, here's a story for you: one time I cast a blood moon and a sowing salt on a perfect ramp against G/r tron, and I waited for the scoop. It didn't come. But, a wurmcoil engine did. So, did a Karn, Liberated. He late game smashed me - as they always do. If you don't put them away, they will hang in the fight until the end and win.
So, as I look at your revised decklist, I wonder about adding win conditions and cards that enhance your current win conditions. Be aggressive. Consider Fulminator Mage over Blood Moon. You probably would have brought him in against your opponent in round 1: U/W/R Control, while the moon languished away. Think about other high impact creatures that can bust out in game 2 - no opponent is siding in more creature kill against us. On the contrary, most of it is being sided out. I would make other suggestions, but I don't want to be 'that guy' that looks at other decks and simply suggests that it should look more like his own. Again, it's a new archetype with plenty of things to test and develop - no right or wrong - and plenty o' diversity to get to. Finally, I'm looking at your configuration, and feel sorry for any affinity player that finds himself sitting across from you: (4) Kolaghan's Command, (2) Rakdos Charm and (2) Pyroclasm....Lordy, Lordy!
What I like most about the build is the dropping of the Ensnaring Bridge (which conflicts with a significant portion of our gameplan: Attack!, but somehow I can't get that crutch out from under my ass) for Bitterblossom. I generally only play that card in a faeries deck, but I like its application here. That said, my testing still came up short on stemming the oncoming tide of attackers last night. It's a limited sample size, so it only means so much. For game 1, I find that ensnaring bridge is just so potent. And, it doesn't interfere with your Bitterblossom approach. I still want to see your approach work, and you said that the initial testing has been positive.
I like the swap out idea on Olivia for Anger. 1 turn earlier, and the sweeping power can be epic - especially against Burn and Zoo...and Affinity and Tokens...and Merfolk. Tee Hee. For your deckstyle, I would keep things capped at 3-cmc with a diminished count on your land base. It's a neat synergy. I understand where you're coming from with the argument to drop Blightning, but I've tried that route. The (8) mind rot spells make all the difference. The 1st one cast hurts. The 2nd one cast is vicious. It's a knockout punch. Discard hasn't been a viable top tier deck since hymn to tourach came out in fallen empires and necropotence followed up in Ice Age. Let history teach us this lesson.
The principal thing that keeps us from being a lesser version of B/G/x Rock or Jund is the synergistic use of Blightning. You diminish its count at your own peril. I truly believe the bedrock for Blitzkrieg is (4) Blightning and (4) Wrench Mind.
That brings us to Kolaghan's command. I get that it can be the right card at the right time, and it offers card economy. It's just really hard to make room for it.....What would people drop to bring it in? Again, I compare it to electrolyze. It's a space filler. And, keep in mind that Electrolyze is generally only run when it can 'double-played' in a deck that has snapcaster mage. I really need my (1) spellskite as it does so much. I also like Chandra, Pyromaster as draw engine, continual source of damage, blocker denier for a lavaclaw reaches that can swing under a bridge, and the ultimate is easily attained (3) turns after casting.
I did test a version where I dropped my Lightning Bolt contingent in favor of Kolaghan's Command. I went (4) terminate and even added Dreadbore to bolster up early creature removal. Also, since I was emptying out my 1-CMC slot I added Temple of Malice. It's a thought. If I added the Command, I'd drop bolts...and, pray I don't come up against a fast deck. Problem is: There are a Butt Ton of fast decks out there!
Oh my god, Demigod of Revenge! THE SPICE! I can't even handle it!
Without The Rack and with the addition of Blood Moon, this is more of a B/R Midrange deck than anything. Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize are strong enough to anchor down any decks with Black in them almost by themselves, which is why they see so much play in Abzan.
While it's not a Lightning Rack deck, I'm more than happy to share my opinions. At first glance, it feels like Exava is the weak link in the deck. While she is a 4/4 for 4 with first strike, decks playing ways to remove creatures all have a target for her right now. Even Twin can use Flame Slash after one swing. Also, her costing 4 mana and not taking a game over feels like it hurts your curve. Tombstalker seems much stronger of a card.
Also, there's nothing wrong with playing unique and spicy cards. This is just sort of a Black-Red Midrange list. Have you tried Mogis, God of Slaughter in the four slot? You can turn it on with only one Demigod of Revenge. I also recommend Purphoros and Erebos. They all make it so your four slot is guaranteed to take a game over if you resolve even one Demigod of Revenge, which this list seems kind of centered around. Another potential card for your deck is Rakdos's Return. Since you are stalling your opponent with Blood Moon, you can literally just remove their hand with one spell after turn four in several circumstances. While this would also make The Rack better, if you decide not to play The Rack in your list, it also makes it much harder for your opponent to turn off Demigod of Revenge.
Last thing is that I still recommend a one-of Raven's Crime. You can target yourself to get maximum value off of Demigod of Revenge. Feels a lot better than using Blightning on yourself. I'm not a huge fan of Kolaghan's Command, so personally I'd definitely swap one of those out for Raven's Crime, even if you change nothing else.
Good luck with this list though. It honestly looks like a blast to play.
Standard: Temur Energy RUG
Pauper: Fireball Black B
Commander: Kaervek the Merciless BR
"Always Bolt the Bird."
My name is Pete Casella, and I'm that guy who finished in the Top 16 of the Modern 5K in Indianapolis last January. While my deck during that weekend needed a bit more fine-tuning, the reason for the strong finish was the metagame in the Midwest region, making the Red splash and the tempo-oriented style of Lightning Rack a very good deck choice for the day. This was not long after the last Modern bannings of Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time, and Birthing Pod, so not only was the format wide open, but nobody was yet expecting a hand-control deck in the format outside of Abzan's 7 or 8 copies of Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize. That was a fun event, as two of my teammates here in Chicago finished 1st place (w/ Amulet Bloom) and 9th place (w/ Elves, another spicy list).
I am by no means a professional player, though I do have several competent finishes in an array of events with many different decks. For Modern, Lightning Rack has been my primary focus since I began playing the format a few years ago. My goal in this thread is simply to provide feedback to all of you, and give recommendations to the best of my ability. I also will promise to be polite as best as possible, since that can honestly be a bit of an issue in other threads.
For this archetype, I have continuously made changes to make the deck as powerful as possible. My goal is not a "perfect" list, but rather a list that is well-positioned in any given metagame. In truth, there is no such thing as a perfect list, at any given time. There is only the best way to play against other popular decks in the format, and utilizing all possible cards to your advantage. The advice I will always give players is that you should always be bold, and never be afraid to try unique and interesting cards. The element of surprise can only be a positive, and just because a player tells you that a card is "bad" or "wrong" doesn't always mean you shouldn't play it. A lot of times, that simply means that player didn't try it themselves, or see it mentioned by a professional player.
I also write articles! While they are on different decks, I made sure to write an article solely on Lightning Rack, specifically for this new article. It fully chronicles all of my changes, updates, thoughts and opinions on card choices in the current metagame. The thread can be found here:
http://boltsnapbolt.net/petes-magic-mazelightning-rack-vol-8/
I'm glad to see that the archetype has branched out, as the legacy version of 8-Rack is, unfortunately, outdated for the Modern format. Many feel that deck's list is virtually flawless, but contentment with a list that has yet to perform is a pretty bad sign. This thread is a breath of fresh air to those craving something new. I hope you all enjoy your stay!
Standard: Temur Energy RUG
Pauper: Fireball Black B
Commander: Kaervek the Merciless BR
"Always Bolt the Bird."
Great article! It's very well written, and goes in depth on all your card choices. Would definitely urge anyone to read it if they're at all interested in playing this deck.
Active:
BGRock/Jund/JunkRW
GRTron
0Affinity0
WGRZoo
Mathematically speaking, I am never a fan of the 22-land lists, but that is only from bad experiences of flooding. Playing one less Blightning or one less Thoughtseize, or any other decreased number for a 22nd land, is not necessarily wrong. From testing, getting to three lands is usually very doable, and many times that is all you will need.
Standard: Temur Energy RUG
Pauper: Fireball Black B
Commander: Kaervek the Merciless BR
"Always Bolt the Bird."
3x Phyrexian Obliterator
1x Grim Lavamancer
Instant/Sorcery 24
4x Blightning
4x Terminate
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Wrench Mind
4x Thoughtseize
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Liliana of the Veil
4x The Rack
Land 24
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Marsh Flats
4x Blood Crypt
1x Godless Shrine
3x Blackcleave Cliffs
3x Lavaclaw Reaches
5x Swamp
2x Olivia Voldaren
1x Rakdos Charm
3x Duress
2x Wear // Tear
3x Surgical Extraction
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Spellskite
It's mostly built off the list posted in smashpacman's article, but unfortunately my local store doesn't have any Nyxathid in stock, so I upped the land count(still debating on 23vs24) and added Phyrexian Obliterator instead. I'm mostly torn on my sideboard. My meta consist of Infect, Burn, Junk, Tron, Zoo, UWR Control, Mono Green Stompy, Scapeshift and occasionally Bogles and Soul Sisters. Luckily I'm one of two players who plays Affinity, and the other player tends to play Tron instead the majority of the time. There's also a person able to play Twin, but he's been messing around with homebrews for the last month. I'd like to make some room for some more Tron hate in the board either Fulminator Mage, Sowing Salt, or Molten Rain, maybe taking out Rakdos Charm(I don't think I'll need the graveyard hate, Affinity probably won't be there, and the damage is just a cute way to beat Twin), and maybe 1 Surgical Extraction.
Olivia Voldaren Is mostly a card I want to test out, it can ping Spirit Tokens and other X/1, it can steal fools, and can swap out with Phyrexian Obliterator when Blood Moon is a problem.
Duress can swap with Thoughtseize against burn, and valuable versus matchups that aren't creature heavy.
Anger of the Gods is there for Zoo and Mono Green Stompy, their butts are generally too big for Pyroclasm, and I don't expect Affinity so I opted for this instead.
Wear // Tear my artifact and enchantment hate.
Surgical Extraction can mess around with combo decks, and might be valuable against Tron if I bring land destruction.
Spellskite the 4 toughness makes it a valuable blocker, taking 2 damage from burn is better than 3, and it dominates the Infect, Bogles, and Stompy Matchup.
Active:
BGRock/Jund/JunkRW
GRTron
0Affinity0
WGRZoo
If you are only curving out at 4CMC with a card that has only three copies in your deck, you can easily get away with 23 lands. Granted, I do have a tendency to get a bit greedy with manabases, but generally 23 lands works when the curve is 6-7 copies of 4CMC cards and even 2 copies of 5CMC cards.
I'm a big, big fan of the 3rd Lavaclaw Reaches as an additional land, especially with Obliterator. This helps put the game away very quickly. If you're not playing Blood Moon in the board, then I recommend a 4th Blackcleave Cliffs over one of the fetch lands, especially since you are not playing any Delve spells. Good luck tonight!
Standard: Temur Energy RUG
Pauper: Fireball Black B
Commander: Kaervek the Merciless BR
"Always Bolt the Bird."
The deck list that I played was very similar to what I posted in the primer of this thread, so there is no need to put it up again. The deck felt good. I do struggle with the conflict of Phyrexian Obliterator and Ensnaring Bridge, and yearn for some sort of elementary solution. I do take comfort that the bridge is only (3) potentially blanked spots and can serve as a perpetual damnation. The melon is percolating with ideas, and I like some of the new cards being discussed. What I really need to refine is my sideboarding skills. That's going to take some analysis and preparation to nail down my list which is loaded with 1-ofs, and hinges on a transformational modular approach of going Bridge-Game 1 to outright Attack-Game 2. People, you don't know how well that works! I get positively giddy when I repeatedly perform "Sideboard Body Slams" on an opponent: A.) They take out their creature removal spells and add artifact kill // Whilst I B.) Add creatures and remove all of my artifacts. Game 2 becomes criminally unfair.
Brief Match Notes on Last Night's Win:
Round 1 - 4 Color Gifts - Typical construction with Iona, Unburial Rites, Engineered Explosives, Raven's Crime etc. etc. It's a cool deck, and he ran it reasonably well. Round 1 was a long slugfest, but I locked out his Lingering Souls Faeries with a bridge. It was rix maadi, dungeon palace and a shrieking affliction for the win. Game 2, I pull a Curly Shuffle, and it works beautifully. It helped that he never saw one of my four main decked creatures (Obliterator) in game 1. I mow him down in game 2, and he's holding onto a Krosan Grip as his last card. I wish it was a Creeping Corrosion which would have been a chuckle. My sideboarding was off, though. I brought in Slaughter Games and Surgical Extraction, but his deck is so many 1-ofs. Was that the right play?
Round 2 - U/R - Typical construction with a very competent pilot. He commented at the end that it's a bad match up. I agree. Once we empty their hands, kill their Pestermite or Exarch, and put them on top deck draws, they are smoked. In game one, he tried to go off, but I bolted the pestermite immediately upon casting it. I don't wait for it to live, and then try to get a fancy 2-for-1 when he splinter twins it. I don't know if that's right or wrong, but I just don't take the chance. Besides, my power discard suite will have that splinter twin in the graveyard in no time anyway. When he casts a Vendilion Clique during my draw step on a previously empty hand, I pull a terminate. I say 'response to the trigger', and smote the faerie. Mistake. He didn't actually say, "I target you", and he cheeses me out by targeting himself, and cycling a card away. I was a bit put off, as it was implied. But, he is absolutely right, and that's a lesson learned.
Round 3 - Merfolk - Round 1, I go T1-Thoughtseize. T2 - Spellskite. T3 - Bridge. T4 - Liliana and shrieking affliction. That's game over. Round 2: he mulls to 5. I feel bad. Then he drops (2) Leyline of Sanctity. Oof! But, he land stalls. I drop Shrieking Affliction and get a Liliana Discard machine cranking. Since he dropped (2) Leyline, and he was on the play. His starting hand size was 3. Three! Ha. He couldn't recover, and it was Affliction for the win.
@demonboyjr.: That's a strong base of a deck that you're working on (again, it's heavily lifted from smashpacman). It feels like a little creature-removal light. And, I also follow that you had to adjust the land count to accommodate Obliterator. It seems like Nyxathid would be a little better for that construction otherwise. I have to make mention that I, without sounding too dippy, really do appreciate the diversity that this deck engenders. To echo Pete's sentiments expressed in that superb write-up he just did {phenomenal article as well}, let's keep the diversity of this thread unsullied. There is no right or wrong card choice. That said - - you can't play anger of the gods and phyrexian obliterator in the same deck. I'm sure that's an oversight as you planned to run Nyxathid instead. I suggest Darkblast or Drown in Sorrow as a substitute.
For those folks that are just poking their heads in to see what this deck is about, it's fair to proudly note that we've had 4 FNM tourney reports (this deck thread was developed and spilled over from 8rack where it's playstyle is incongruous with what they are doing). Each tourney report was a sweep adding up to a 16-0 record and a top 16 finish at a Modern IQ. It's the real deal.
Damn, didn't catch that. Unfortunately Drown in Sorrow can't reliably wipe Zoos board with all the x/3s they have, perhaps Bile Blight is a decent replacement? It can work as spot removal, and the potential to get multiple value out of it isn't unlikely.
Edit:Maybe Mutilate? Cost the same as Damnation, but is unlikely to kill my own Phyrexian Obliterator, worried it might be to slow though.
Active:
BGRock/Jund/JunkRW
GRTron
0Affinity0
WGRZoo
Additional spot removal in the main deck can also solve a lot of issues. Zoo won't always curve out, and when they do, you can relegate them to only their Nacatls and Kird Apes or Loam Lions by Terminating and Murderous Cutting (if you played it) any bigger threats. Lightning Bolt can take out the rest.
Standard: Temur Energy RUG
Pauper: Fireball Black B
Commander: Kaervek the Merciless BR
"Always Bolt the Bird."
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
3 Nyxathid
1 Grim Lavamancer
Spells
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Thoughtseize
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Wrench Mind
4 Terminate
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 The Rack
4 Blightning
2 Murderous Cut
1 Raven's Crime
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Marsh Flats
4 Blood Crypt
1 Godless Shrine
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
4 Swamp
2 Lavaclaw Reaches
2 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Duress
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Wear // Tear
2 Blood Moon
3 Pyroclasm
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Rakdos Charm
Scrambles // Fun Variant - Just to introduce different cards and synergies.
3 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Shrieking Affliction
4 Liliana of the Veil
3 Nyxathid
1 Spellskite
1 Nezumi Shortfang
1 Bitterblossom
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Terminate
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Wrench Mind
4 Blightning
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Thoughtseize
1 Tasigur's Cruelty
4 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Lavaclaw Reaches
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
6 Swamp
1 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
2 Duress
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Nyxathid
1 Leyline of the Void
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Pyroclasm
1 Anger of the Gods
2 Night of Souls' Betrayal
1 Darkblast
1 Spellskite
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Sowing Salt
The idea is a culmination of different ideas / a Scramble. The critical note is the very low mana cost of the deck. Everything is 3-CMC or less.
Nyxathid could be even better served in this build as there are (9) 2-for-1 discard spells, but it does only have (5) 1-for-1 discard spells with a 'Raven's Crime' Land, whereas most builds in this thread advocate the full complement of (8) Inquisition and Thoughtseize. I don't like that approach as a Thoughtseize do cost us 10% of our life total, so I only run one. I've spoken more about this in the primer. I've been playing The Rack since it was first printed when I started, during Antiquities, and the trick to an effective build is using cards that offer more than 1 for 1 discard....that's why 8rack doesn't win and the Tier 1 decks favor a more diminished role for the 1-for-1ers - there a lot of occasions where they fizzle. Further, the increased high-power discard we employ do diminish the effectiveness of 1-for-1, especially since i added tasigur's cruelty/nezumi/rix maadi. I do respect that they do wondrous work on turn 1 and that other folks in the thread go for the full 8. Just a humble disagreement.
Grim Lavamancer: If he lives, he wrecks.
Bitterblossom: Initial testing is positive.
Nezumi Shortfang: This is a pet card of sorts, but it was very effective in the Legacy builds.
Spellskite: It's a terrific 1-of in this deck. It was a superstar last night.
Tasigur's Cruelty: It capitalizes upon the strongest element of this deck, the power discard suite: 2-for-1. It's my only delve card and graveyard poacher (outside of lavamancer), and I had the occasion to rip it and wrench mind with just three land in play - titanic. Also, it's worth noting that it sidesteps leyline of sanctity which is huge. When someone leylines, they generally skirt very close to the edge of a rack cliff. They never expect that a Tasigur Cruelty with a Liliana (non-targeted) and a Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace (non-targeted) to push them right over the side. I fear Leyline, but somehow (even with my 8 Rack variants - and, I've made tons) I find a way to overcome them most of the time // oh, creatures help too.
I don't know how I feel about this variant, but it's testing can open some new doors. Good luck tonight Demonboy, and I'm pleased to hear that my old buddies (both seasoned players) an ambassador of my beloved U/B Tezzeret Forum http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/developing-competitive-modern/558912-ub-tezzeret-agent-of-bolas-control , radouf, and hardKOrr (both 8rack and Tezzeret forums) have chimed in.
Bitterblossom is a card that I left off of my article, as I am still unsure of its capabilities or implications on the deck. However, outputting damage from turn two until the end of the game honestly seems very, very good.
Standard: Temur Energy RUG
Pauper: Fireball Black B
Commander: Kaervek the Merciless BR
"Always Bolt the Bird."
March 20th, FNM, 5-0, March 27th, FNM, 3-0 (I did intentionally draw with Merfolk in the final round, but still won 2-0), March 29th, Event, 3-1 // Win-Loss Record: 11-1.
Smashpacman, the originator of the archetype, took his to a top 16 finish in a 250 person event. He said if the pairing were more favorable (he faced dredgevine/gy recursion deck in the final round - atrocious match up), then he truly believes he could have won the whole thing. Then, he took his deck to a local FNM and put up a 4-0. But, and I do love this, our decks have fundamental differences. We are both looking at the other's deck...quizzically. He doesn't understand how I can run Bridge and Obliterator in the main deck, and I don't follow his land configuration/count, high 1-for-1 creature kill cards (bolt/murderous cut), and a desire to cut the bridge entirely from his 75.
It has to do with how you'd like to focus your Lightning Rack Attack. I go Low lightning, Middle rack, and High Attack - with a few, seemingly at-odds (but economical) 'panic button' ensnaring bridges.
Consider these 3 pillars when you're building your own creation.
Lightning: Lightning Bolt, Grim Lavamancer, Chandra, Pyromaster
Rack: The Rack, Shrieking Affliction
Attack: Nyxathid, Obliterator, Lavaclaw Reaches ////
ensnaring bridgeCARD ADVANTAGE: In trying to maximize card economy, I try desperately to avoid 1-for-1 spells. Even Lightning Bolt only finds 2 slots in my deck, because the targets in the meta are elusive. So, I'll say no to the 3rd bolt, and add a Chandra, Pyromaster (my own personal spice) instead. I am the guy that runs the least 1-CMC 1-for-1 discard spells in this forum. I finally relented and went from 5 to 6 with a painful loss of a maindeck Spellskite - Overmaster suggested I drop it a few days back, and I am going with his advice.
Ensnaring Bridge is the king of card economy, especially in game 1. If you up your land count, as I've done, then you can comfortably set it up and win off of a classic 8 rack approach with complementary red cards that make all the difference. I recognize that 8 Rack is an overall failed experiment, a one-trick pony. But, it had elements and synergies that we can learn from, and the single most important defensive card in that deck is ensnaring bridge. For game 1 (again, I often take it out in game 2), it seems negligent to ignore its overwhelming power.
WINNING: Even though this deck only runs (4) racks, it still wins by their effects a majority of the time. Some would argue that they are a 'dead' draw and take up space. Sure, unless you earn that space. What do I mean by that? Wrench Mind earns you a free card. So does Blightning, Liliana, Tasigur's Cruelty, and Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace. So, with Blightning, I trade 1 card for 2 cards and a lightning bolt. I use that earned card to play Shrieking Affliction. And, that affliction yields a repeating lightning bolt in perpetuity if I have a recurring discarding machine like Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace or Liliana of the Veil.
SIDEBOARD: I try to remain as aggressive in my win condition enhancement as possible. I don't do the 'pre-emptive answer to an anticipated condition of the opponent'. Examples of this are Surgical Extraction, Sowing Salt, Slaughter Games, leyline of the void, and perhaps most notably: blood moon. I think back to when burn was mono-red, and they had occasions where it would crush certain opponent's game development. Still, the top decks didn't run it. They'd rather further their own win condition. That's my current thinking with my latest developments...
4 Phyrexian Obliterator
4 Liliana of the Veil
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
4 Shrieking Affliction
3 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Terminate
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Blightning
4 Wrench Mind
2 Thoughtseize
2 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Blood Crypt
3 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
2 Nyxathid
1 Olivia Voldaren
1 Bile Blight
2 Night of Souls' Betrayal
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Drown in Sorrow
1 Tasigur's Cruelty
1 Duress
1 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Spellskite
This brazilian guy here waited so long to post him deck here, but now, hefeels he have to do that. My choice for the Blitzkrieg came from the reach of more SB options and to handle better with the variety of decks. You can call me stubborn, but I'm sticking with the 4 bridges in mainboard. I feel that's a small quantity of answers to it in ppl's maindeck (in my field, we have much merfolks, we have zoo, UWR and less abzans than the average, and the only guy who have burn is me). So, I want to post my deck to you, to read what you think of it.
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Thoughtseize
4 Wrench Mind
4 Blightning
Kill and board control machine (22)
4 Terminate
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 Lightning Bolt
3 The Rack
3 Shrieking Affliction
2 Blood Crypt
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Dragonskull Summit
1 Graven Cairns
2 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
7 Swamp
2 Lavaclaw Reaches
2 Temple of Malice
4 Phyrexian Obliterator
2 Grim Lavamancer
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Pyroclasm
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Sowing Salt
1 Slaughter Games
2 Syphon Life
This idea is to bring the creatures to table AFTER the SB... Or not... =)... To dont let the opp know what I'll do, and if I will have or not crits in the board. I think the SB is not closed, and I want to hear your thoughts about it =)
[]'s
Here's the list:
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Thoughtseize
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Wrench Mind
4 Terminate
4 Blightning
2 Bitterblossom
4 The Rack
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Polluted Delta
2 Mutavault
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Graven Cairns
3 Blood Moon
4 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Anger of the Gods
3 Rakdos Charm
Round 1: UWR Midrange
Game 1: I ended up drawing 3 thoughtseizes and a couple of shocklands. He ended up topdecking a snapcaster mage out and by the time I drew removal I was down too low and the game was over.
I decided not to sideboard anything.
Game 2: The game was very close, but he had a turn 2 Kor Firewalker which completely wrecked my plan. I ended up holding 2 terminates and a lightning bolt for most of the game. The game ended when I had Nyxathid out and he had a Geist of Saint Traft with me at 6 hp and he topdecked an Electrolyze. I felt confidant about that game until Geist came onto the board.
Round 2: G/W Homebrew
Game 1: He is playing a deck that has Voice of Resurgence and Fencing Ace and a bunch of enchantments to boost them up. I ended up getting rid of 2 Voice of Resurgence with Inquisition of Kozilek, but got hit turn three with Fencing Ace and Giant Growth. After that, I didn't draw enough removal for all of his creatures.
Sideboarding:
-3 Nyxathid
-4 Blightning
+4 Ensnaring Bridge
+1 Grim Lavamancer
+2 Anger of the Gods
Game 2: Game 2 goes much better, I take out his one creature in his hand turn 1 with Inquisition of Kozilek and play Bitterblossom on turn 2. I ended the game with 9 Faeries, a Grim Lavamancer, and Mutavault on the table.
Game 3: Game 3 goes even better, I had answers for all of his creatures and started the beatdown plan with both of my Mutavaults and Liliana of the Veil. He was stuck on 2 lands and ended up scooping.
Round 3: Affinity
Game 1: Plays almost his whole hand turn 1. I play Bitterblossom turn 2 hoping to block until I got some removal out, but it wasn't enough.
Sideboarding:
-3 Nyxathid
-4 Wrench Mind
-3 Blightning
+4 Ensnaring Bridge
+1 Grim Lavamancer
+2 Anger of the Gods
+3 Rakdos Charm
Game 2: I thoughtseize out 2 Etched Champion from his hand and he gets Cranial Plating on his Ornithopter and by the time I get Ensnaring Bridge out, he has me at 4 life and uses Galvanic Blast for the win.
Round 3: RG Tron
Game 1: He mulligans to 3, ends up getting all three tron lands with Karn in his hand. Blightning with The Rack in my hand ended the game.
Sideboard:
-4 Wrench Mind
-2 Lightning Bolt
+3 Blood Moon
+3 Rakdos Charm
Game 2: I keep a 1 land hand thinking it will be amazing if I just get two more lands eventually. I thoughtseize out 2 Karn's from his hand and he draws a third one using Ancient Stirrings. After that, there is no going back as he exiles my 1 land.
Game 3: This became a long and grindy game, I ended up getting him into topdeck mode with 2 The Rack out. He gets to 1 life and three cards in his hand and plays Ugin. I had three turns to draw any type of discard and didn't draw anything. He ultimated Ugin and played Ulamog, Karn, and Emrakrul. It was a pretty epic loss. I feel like my sideboarding really screwed me here, as any lightning bolt or Wrench Mind would've helped.
Overall, I had fun with the deck and had some close losses. I ended up using 4 Blightning instead of the planned 3 and I felt like that was a good decision. I found that I was always wanting to draw more discard, which normally isn't a problem with 8rack because of Raven's Crime. I think I am going to add 1 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace and I am getting Kolaghan's Command this week so I want to try it out. I felt like Bitterblossom was good, but never needed in any of my games. Here is the decklist I want to try:
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Thoughtseize
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Wrench Mind
3 Terminate
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Blightning
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
1 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
2 Mutavault
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
3 Blood Moon
4 Ensnaring Bridge
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Pyroclasm
2 Rakdos Charm
2 Kolaghan's Command
Modern:
BRBightning RackBR
RGoblinsR
WBDeath and TaxesWB
Legacy:
BPoxB
As for your build, LucasBayde, it's a defensive shell with strong tendencies towards a Black Rack discard design. I don't know if I'm crazy about (6) racks. I also feel like the locating and successful casting of an ensnaring bridge is very critical to maintaining your survival. Your wincons have gone razor sharp in the direction of turtling up and blasting rack damage at the opponent's face. I guess I'd just look to diversify. Grim Lavamancer? Chandra, Pyromaster? Go goofy: (no, I'm not actually advocating these inclusions in a tournament build) add a Master of Cruelties to swing under the bridge. Add a leechridden swamp with Shrieking Affliction instead of The Rack. Anathemancer is a decent budget Price of Progress. How about Quest for the Nihil Stone, with prayers that you never draw it past turn one? Again, I'm just cracking wise to illustrate that there are any number of options out there.....
.....what I really would love to see is some a lot of folks offering up insights (and judgements). This is a Brand-New Deck Archetype. Get in on the ground floor. Make your voice heard! When I get a moment, I'll read up on Darkhelmet's post. In the meantime....shout it out, peoples.
1 Grim Lavamancer
4 Thoughtseize
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Wrench Mind
4 Terminate
4 Blightning
2 Murderous Cut
1 Raven's Crime
4 The Rack
4 Swamp
4 Blood Crypt
1 Godless Shrine
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Marsh Flats
1 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace
3 Duress
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Blood Moon
2 Wear & Tear
3 Pyroclasm
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Grim Lavamancer
Round 1 - Lightning Rack vs. Infect
This matchup can be very interesting. In several cases, the matchup comes down to whether or not I have a solid removal spell in my opening hand. Fortunately, I didn't have to worry too much in Game 1, as I won the dice roll and my opening hand was Terminate, Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, Wrench Mind, Blightning and two lands. I quickly emptied his hand and drew The Rack during the four turns in which I was ripping his hand apart, and he bled out that game. I sideboarded in two Blood Moon for his Inkmoth Nexus and Pendelhaven, as well as the spicy one-of Cathedral of War that I saw in the first game, and I sideboarded in three Pyroclasm while removing three Blightning, one Gurmag Angler and the Raven's Crime from the deck. He played a turn one Glistener Elf, and I had the Lightning Bolt in my opening hand to remove it immediately. He did not have a second creature, but he did have two Apostle's Blessing in his hand, which I promptly removed with some combination of Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize. I removed two more creatures as the game progressed and slammed a Gurmag Angler after he used Nature's Claim on my copy of The Rack. He died to the 5/5 beatdown.
Round 2 - Lightning Rack vs. Amulet Bloom
Playing against this list is never easy, but I do know his list backwards and forwards, so I felt I had an edge. This is the type of matchup where you, as a player, realize that knowing the metagame and your opponent's decks (and probable outs) is just as important as knowing your own deck, so that playing Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize and taking the incorrect card will lose you a game. He kept decent hands both games, but neither hand offered protection against Inquisition of Kozilek or Thoughtseize, and he needed my deck to falter for a turn. The first game, I got a Gurmag Angler and The Rack into play after playing a sequence of Thoughtseize into Wrench Mind into Liliana of the Veil, and since he had no Amulet of Vigor, I was able to Terminate the Primeval Titan that he cast on turn six and get there with the Gurmag Angler. I sideboarded in two Blood Moon and two Surgical Extraction for Raven's Crime and three Blightning. In the second game, a turn three Blood Moon prevented his deck from operating, as regardless of player skill or knowledge of the format (and he did very much play around Blood Moon as much as he could), every deck has a hard counter. Blood Moon is just that for the Amulet deck. It was also the type of round that makes me contemplate putting a third Blood Moon in the sideboard.
Round 3 - Elves
At the same 5k where I finished in the Top 16 with this deck, so did my opponent in Round 3, who did so with an Elves deck of his own design. He has been playing the deck as long as I have been playing this. While his deck got a nice adjustment recently, the amount of removal that I pack into my main deck makes this an absolutely brutal matchup for him. There's not a lot of detail to go into on these games, because all you really need to know is that in a two-game span, I cast TWENTY TWO removal spells. There were Lightning Bolts, Terminates, Murderous Cuts, Liliana of the Veils, and even Grim Lavamancers picking off creatures for a large number of turns before The Rack finally won me the round by attrition. Felt really good.
Round 4 - Splinter Twin
Fortunately, I had already won some amount of money, and was looking for practice. This was definitely one of the most practiced players of Tier 1 decks in the room, and I always have fun playing against Splinter Twin. The first game came complete with a hardcore blowout. I lost the dice roll, so he had three mana up on Turn 3. He had three cards in hand, one of which was definitely a Twin and the other was a creature combo piece, which turned out to be Deceiver Exarch. I left up a Bloodstained Mire, and had not yet fetched, and also had two basic Swamps in play. I cast a Wrench Mind, so he flashed in his Exarch and untapped his Island so that he could Spell Snare my Wrench Mind. This was the third card put into my graveyard, the first being Raven's Crime and the second being a fetch land from earlier. I let this all resolve, fetched out a land (putting a 4th card into my graveyard), and Delve + the new land allowed me to Murderous Cut his Exarch, leaving him exposed. After he drew a land for turn the next turn, I cast another Wrench Mind and he was a combo-control deck with no cards and no board state, so I got there with ease beyond that. I sideboarded in three Duress, three Surgical Extraction, two Wear and Tear, and the Rakdos Charm. This all turned out pretty good, as he sideboarded in a Batterskull, two Engineered Explosives just to play around Wrench Mind, and an Ancient Grudge. I wound up with a game two hand of double Duress, double Surgical Extraction, lands, and a Gurmag Angler, so you can imagine that the beatdown was thorough.
Gurmag Angler was definitely an acceptable replacement for Nyxathid. It usually comes out a turn slower, which hurts a bit against the Burn matchup, but it is also missed by Lightning Bolt at all times, Abrupt Decay cannot kill it, and it cannot be taken out of hand by Inquisition of Kozilek. It also will tangle with just about any Tarmogoyf in the format, and if cast beyond turn four (which is likely), can also allow you to leave up removal mana. It was definitely a house and for the time being, will be staying in place of Nyxathid.
Standard: Temur Energy RUG
Pauper: Fireball Black B
Commander: Kaervek the Merciless BR
"Always Bolt the Bird."
That I did. Should be fixed now.
Standard: Temur Energy RUG
Pauper: Fireball Black B
Commander: Kaervek the Merciless BR
"Always Bolt the Bird."
How did you sideout VS twin? And the only raven's crime worth it?
GWAura-HexproofGW
First, the build: The main deck spells are identical to smashpacman's Version 2.0 deck with the swap out of 2 Murderous Cut for 2 Bitterblossom. That seems reasonable, as bitterblossom can act as attack and defense - but, the life loss is very dicey. The land base is a fetch construction. I saw the graven cairns in there, and agree that getting rid of them in your revisions is a wise move. Mutavault versus Lavaclaw Reaches. This debate comes down to time of usage and need for colored mana. Our deck curves so low, that I'd be very surprised if you were attacking with mutavault on 2/3 or really blocking anything with it (maybe dark confidant). You're probably using Mutavault at a time (mid/late game) when you could just as easily be using Lavaclaw reaches, and the reaches (at that time will hit harder). As for the mana requirements, we need a lot of red sources to reliably fire off a lightning bolt and terminate early on. I've tried mutavault early on in my testing, and colorless mana is just so underutilized in this deck. IDK - keep tinkering.
The Report: concise and well-written. Your recall is impressive. It also goes to show that a 1-3 record doesn't really tell the whole story when those close matches don't get recorded as part of the Match Report. I don't disagree, after very careful review, with any of your choices on the sideboarding options that you elected to make in Round 1 and Round 2 and Round 3. Round 4 exhibits the divergence of how a Blitzkrieg deck can operate: Reactive or Proactive.
When facing G/r Tron in game 2, you elected to go reactive (though not totally, as you kept your Surgical Extraction in the SB). Admittedly, this is a very hard matchup. So, do we wall up or go full attack? Well, here's a story for you: one time I cast a blood moon and a sowing salt on a perfect ramp against G/r tron, and I waited for the scoop. It didn't come. But, a wurmcoil engine did. So, did a Karn, Liberated. He late game smashed me - as they always do. If you don't put them away, they will hang in the fight until the end and win.
So, as I look at your revised decklist, I wonder about adding win conditions and cards that enhance your current win conditions. Be aggressive. Consider Fulminator Mage over Blood Moon. You probably would have brought him in against your opponent in round 1: U/W/R Control, while the moon languished away. Think about other high impact creatures that can bust out in game 2 - no opponent is siding in more creature kill against us. On the contrary, most of it is being sided out. I would make other suggestions, but I don't want to be 'that guy' that looks at other decks and simply suggests that it should look more like his own. Again, it's a new archetype with plenty of things to test and develop - no right or wrong - and plenty o' diversity to get to. Finally, I'm looking at your configuration, and feel sorry for any affinity player that finds himself sitting across from you: (4) Kolaghan's Command, (2) Rakdos Charm and (2) Pyroclasm....Lordy, Lordy!