yesterday i had a small tournament, 17 players 5 turns, won the tournament with 4-1
Won : 2-0 mono W taxes
Loss : 0-2 Eldrazi Tron
Won : 2-0 mono red skred
Won : 2-0 WB eldrazi taxes
Won : 2-1 5c bring to kiki with nahiri
Went first,so satisfacted, i chose playing Tom Ross top4 mainboard but -1 swamp +1 dismember (so 23 lands total, still fine).
In the sideboard instead, i played :
1 fatal push
2 ratchet bomb
2 shadow of doubt
3 delirium skeins
3 bontu's last reckoning
4 pack rat
to have 4 pack rats in the sideboard was quite embarassing, i never sided them, because everytime i brought in the bontu's last reckoning. Maybe against eldrazi tron i could play them, and if i ever drew a bontu i could discard it, if useless.
Anyway against Eldratron i already brought in :
3 bontu's last reckonings
2 ratchet bomb for chalices
3 delirium skeins for both chalices and to bring them to topdeck
but i still find this a hard matchup, and i am quite worried because for sure there will be many on 2nd December in my next tournament (300+ players).
I am really sad, i can't figure out how to defeat that deck, and Classic tron is still worse (even with 2 shadow of doubt).
What do you play in sideboard for this matchup? to me, it seems the hardest matchup because against all other tiers we are well positioned.
(I repat, maybe should i have brought in also the pack rats?)
Tron is and will always be a very difficult match-up for us because of their ability to spit out huge threats very quickly and to the possibility of replacing themselves. There really not much we can do than bringing in our Wipes and skeins to attack them. I would not be down on Rats at all just yet, you didn't see a match-up you'd want them in as they are mainly placed in longer game-plans against the likes of Control. Overall not bad at all, if you expect a larger field then make the changes to the side accordingly to what you expect you will see.
So against which decks would you side in the rats? And what number do you think is good to play in sideboard?
Control, tron i guess, and?
Control, Tron, and I like to surprise my opponent by playing them Game 3 against Burn. Realistically they are put in against any match-up that turns into a control game. I play 4 in my sideboard, you can drop to 3 if need be but I think the appropriate number is 4.
I like the deck, especially sideboard. I'll give it a try playing some leagues in mtgo. I think it could be a good list against Eldrazi Tron @stebolo93
What i don't like here are the 2 removals in the dismember's slots. Casting Dismember off Mutavault is vital since there are so few ways to use the mana from Mutavault. The Rack, Liliana of the Veil, and other Mutavault activations are the others. Dismember isn't the greatest against Death's Shadow but can certainly get their creatures sometimes. It is the literal greatest against Gurmag Angler or Tasigur.
Realistically they are put in against any match-up that turns into a control game.
for our style of playing the deck, almost every game turns into a control game
my question is : would you put the Rats even when you bring bontu's ? i mean, taxes (W or WB) games go long, but for sure you'll bring the bontu's...would you put also the rats? they'll cut removals, but they will keep flickerwisp.
Edit : realized now that they also play Eldrazi Displacer.....ok, no Rats in this matchup!
This is not necessarily true as I tend to pilot the deck more aggressively trying to dwindle much of their hand as possible; however, playing control you find they draw more so this approach is avoided. Dropping Rats against Control decks forces them to have answers to creatures which they boarded out their creature removal.
I like the deck, especially sideboard. I'll give it a try playing some leagues in mtgo. I think it could be a good list against Eldrazi Tron @stebolo93
This list is very interesting for the White Splash. I'm not the greatest fan because of consistency issues for instance the Courtyard coming in tapped after a Smallpox but again the list can be very good in certain meta's.
This list is very interesting for the White Splash. I'm not the greatest fan because of consistency issues for instance the Courtyard coming in tapped after a Smallpox but again the list can be very good in certain meta's.
well, if your Courtyard enters tapped after a smallpox that means you had already 4 lands in play and you wanna again play your fourth, that is usually avoided in this deck unless some situations (2 mutavaults). This is also the reason this deck tends to play no CC4 drops, reclying the lands in other way, so i can't see the Courtyard to enter tapped very often.
One question: don't you sometimes feel embarassed when you menage to take away their few lands, and they remain stuck with 7 cards in hand and don't draw a land? it happens quite often with affinity for example, and i find hard to choose the game plan : they start having always more cards in hand so your racks/afflictions became useless; in the same time if we don't have a liliana or mutavault we can just draw and play a discard, but we are pretty wasting all the time gained with our opponent in screw.
I really wanna listen what do you think!
This deck does not necessarily mean we win by the effects caused by the Rack or Affliction. It can become multi-tooled by beat down with Mutavaults. The deck can adapt into several things, from dwindling your opponents hand down and slowly sucking their enjoyment of playing or crushing their lands and creatures by effects from smallpox or Lilli and just beating them down with 2/2 lands.
yeah, i experienced those win, but i have to admit that even with mutavault i don't feel 100% in control, i feel like everything could happen from an opponent's top deck :/
Well realistically, can you say you will 100% of the time feel in control of a game. Remember, 8-Rack is considered a tier 2.5/3 build to many. It has some very good match-ups and some very poor match-ups. Of course one can sure up these feelings a bit by mastering the play of this deck against the majority of the meta and with proper sideboarding depending on your meta, but I can safely say there are moments I do not feel 100% in control of a game because an opponent can go off with a top-deck. As a result, I just shrug it off and move on. Magic can do that
I never really felt Surgical Extraction was a very strong and always felt it was overly sideboarded. I'd preferably run the likes of 3 Leyline of the Void instead. I as well haven't jumped on the White splash wagon due to consistency. Fragmentize/Souls can be very useful in certain aspects but I'd rather push the Skeins plan against decks that I'd expect Chalice or Sanctity to be dropped as well.
Hi there. I have a small question, which maybe already has been discussed, but i cant find it:
If i win the roll, should i play first or let my opponent play first?
Regards
The majority of matches you take the draw. Sometimes depending on certain situations you may want to take the play (95% of the time this is wrong IMO) but you can. I personally took page out of the Boss's playbook and take the draw every time.
I ALWAYS draw first, but you could want to start if you are afraid of a drop @1 in the first turn. For 2 cmc drops is always better to draw so you can draw a discard and use it before opponent's second turn (for example with chalice of the void @1).
The majority of matches you take the draw. Sometimes depending on certain situations you may want to take the play (95% of the time this is wrong IMO) but you can. I personally took page out of the Boss's playbook and take the draw every time.
I draw first playing Tom Ross version but not sure if is the right choice in other builds, with Ensnaring Bridge for example. Would you choose play first with this list by default? I usually do but not 100% sure I'm doing right.
Well I'd firstly point out that the list above is mixing two different routes with Bridge and the Non-Bridge Package of (Funeral Charm/Dismember/Fatal Push)... I think firstly removing Affliction is a mistake. Secondly, if you are wanting to run Bridge you need to remove the Package that Ross uses instead of Bridge. I think that might be where it's going wrong first before discussing whether we go on the play or not.
Well I'd firstly point out that the list above is mixing two different routes with Bridge and the Non-Bridge Package of (Funeral Charm/Dismember/Fatal Push)... I think firstly removing Affliction is a mistake. Secondly, if you are wanting to run Bridge you need to remove the Package that Ross uses instead of Bridge. I think that might be where it's going wrong first before discussing whether we go on the play or not.
I haven´t removed affliction, not sure if you were talking about other card.
I usually play 2 Bitterblossom instead of Funeral Charm but I wanted to test the mix you are pointing, I went 2-3 in mtgo competitive league with it. I have tested with Lingering Souls instead too.
Would you play without any removal if you were playing Ensnaring Bridge? I think you need at least 2/3 Fatal Push/Dismember. Not sure about Smallpox in bridge constructions. Would love to hear about the list you would play if you wanted to play Ensnaring Bridge.
Well I'd firstly point out that the list above is mixing two different routes with Bridge and the Non-Bridge Package of (Funeral Charm/Dismember/Fatal Push)... I think firstly removing Affliction is a mistake. Secondly, if you are wanting to run Bridge you need to remove the Package that Ross uses instead of Bridge. I think that might be where it's going wrong first before discussing whether we go on the play or not.
I haven´t removed affliction, not sure if you were talking about other card.
I usually play 2 Bitterblossom instead of Funeral Charm but I wanted to test the mix you are pointing, I went 2-3 in mtgo competitive league with it. I have tested with Lingering Souls instead too.
Would you play without any removal if you were playing Ensnaring Bridge? I think you need at least 2/3 Fatal Push/Dismember. Not sure about Smallpox in bridge constructions. Would love to hear about the list you would play if you wanted to play Ensnaring Bridge.
I haven't ever ran Bridge, but from lists that I do see the optimal option is either you run the Removal Package with Pox or your run Bridge. Fatal Push is necessary at 2+ in either lists, but Dismember/Funeral Charm/CB/Small Pox all become unnecessary in Bridge builds. See the issue for me in playing Bridge is that the card is not as punishing as Small Pox can be and post sideboard, the card becomes almost utterly useless when they bring in their artifact removal heavily because of the Rack as well.
As for lists, it would be similar but imagine a list without Dismember, Funeral Charm, or Small Pox. Bitterblossom is an option to play to along with Ensnaring Bridge. You might also consider upping the land count to 24 if you aren't running 24 lands because of the increase in curve.
the pox of legacy plays with 25 lands. eight are colorless. in modern we could not try 4 muta 2 GQ? 4/4 I know it's very risky
Even with the 4 Urborg's, I wouldn't touch more than 4 Colorless lands. You have to consider the amount of DOUBLE Black spells you play (3 Wrench Mind, 4 Lilli's, 4 Small Pox, Dismember (Possibly)). I've seen a list SB in 1-2 GQ if need be, but wouldn't you rather just play Mage SB then?
the pox of legacy plays with 25 lands. eight are colorless. in modern we could not try 4 muta 2 GQ? 4/4 I know it's very risky
I dont think we can compare these lists,
legacy one doesnt play Rack in the first place. Cursed Scroll, Dark Ritual, Wasteland, Crucible of Worlds all change mana base requirements quite a lot. And Ghost Quarter is not Wasteland, I think its quite opposite for this deck, the latter is a favorable 1-1 exchange, the former is card disadvantage in a deck that tries to avoid card disadvantage.
hi there, with the recent upsurge in the popularity of this deck, do you suspect it will make more appearances? i have always been interested in this archetype, but i've never tried it.
3 Rack players just topped 8 at a SCG classic. I feel like the deck is a good dark horse deck, but could probably use a card or two to really push it to the edge of consideration for t2 or t1.5 in meta decks....The question is, what does the deck need? a more versatile method of discard? or a 3rd rack outlet?
3 Rack players just topped 8 at a SCG classic. I feel like the deck is a good dark horse deck, but could probably use a card or two to really push it to the edge of consideration for t2 or t1.5 in meta decks....The question is, what does the deck need? a more versatile method of discard? or a 3rd rack outlet?
The decks that are top 8ing as well seem to be more unconventional lists as you notice. Running 4 Rats MB or Nezumi Shortfang (Which is a very interesting tech imo). I do feel this deck is a very strong darkhorse; however, it plays a lot into your opponents inability to understand how to play around the deck that makes this so strong. To answer you thought, we need to think about what makes this deck struggle at times and against who? This deck appears to struggle against aggressive board presences or major ramp or enchantment/artifacts like Leyline or Chalice. Even with Smallpox, there really is nothing we can do against a deck that drops Tron on turn 3 or has a swarm of Merfolk/Elves/Affinity. We were granted the cheap sweeper with a "dehydrating" effect in lands not tapping, but what else would we need? If there may be a more versatile method in removing such effects like a cheap black artifact/enchantment removal we could put in rather than splash that might help or if there was possibly another land destruction technique that we could implement (highly unlikely this will ever be produced) that might work.
Nezumi Shortfang seems like a viable addition. It has a similar effect to Raven's Crime, in that you're spending 2 to discard a random card from opponent's hand. The upside to Nezumi is, that 2nd land stays in play, while Raven's Crime requires it to go to the graveyard. A flipped Nezumi also provides an additional Rack effect + a 3/3 body to attack with, if able / advisable.
Triggering the flip effect shouldn't be problematic, as that's the deck's primary goal (emptying opp's hand), and if you're unable to, there's not much that will save you. Yes, it's weak to creature removal, however, Raven's crime is weak to GY hate and your other rack effects are weak to to Artifact and Enchantment removal. This now adds a 3rd damage type the opponent has to be afraid of (Creature; Rack - Artifact; Shrieking - Enchantment). On top of Planeswalker from Lili and your instant/sorcery removal package.
Long and short, yes, it's weak to creature removal and many decks run that MB, but it also means the opponent can't just side out all of their creature removal suite to focus fire your win cons (Rack effects), they have to now play around Nezumi's Rack effect, additional discard potential, and board presence.
I think that last point also encapsulates the weakness of the 8Rack deck in general, too. The deck has a lot of good / even matchups because it can quickly dismantle a hand and disrupt the opp's play style and plan of attack. It suffers because, there are many decks that can outpace the discard or aren't handicapped enough by it to be dead in the water against a solid 8rack execution.
The deck is fairly narrow, MB, relying on that discard package to circumvent threats from the opp. If it fails at that or doesn't do it quickly enough, it's screwed. Thus, the SB becomes very important to fill in those gaps, but 15 cards doesn't give you enough gap filler cards to be strong or even against every deck in the meta, so we end up feeling like a lot of games are "Heart of the Cards" matchups.
Good example would be Burn. It's a good top deck playstyle, as are we. Every card it draws is a likely threat, just like us. Emptying a burn player's hand definitely slows them way down, but it's not always enough, because they can just top deck enough of their threats before our Rack effects can finish them off.
Enter SB Death's Shadow, Nyaxathid, and/or Collective Brutality. Each decklist I've seen devotes 2-3 spots in the SB for copies of 1 or 2 of those cards. DS and CB are definitely there for the Burn matchup, Nyaxathid is more useful in other matchups, relatively speaking, than DS or CB.
Then you have decks like Affinity, Elves, or Merfolk where you can't discard the opponents hand quickly enough, in most cases, to avoid a situation where they have 3-4 threats on the board within the first few turns and those 2-3 SB cards (mainly DS and CB) are useless. Again, you're relying on racing them with Rack effects, unless you have a way to deal directly with the board, which means you need entirely different SB cards that are useless against Burn and other matchups. Enter Bontu's Last Reckoning, Ratchet Bomb, more direct removal like Push, or Ensnaring Bridge. Again, most, if not every, deck list I see has about 4-5 spots in the SB just for board removal / protection spells.
Without getting too lengthy on this, the ultimate point is, there are enough decks in the meta that aren't sufficiently hindered by an empty hand, such that we have many matchups that are even or weak feeling to us. Thus, we have a bunch of different cards in the SB to try and deal with these specific things, but because there are so many, we only have 2-3 cards in the SB that are "strong" in a specific matchup and maybe a few more that are helpful, but then detract from the overall gameplan and muddle the deck. As seen with Tom Ross' lists, there are a bunch of 2x and 1x copies of these SB cards because we have to go so wide with it, to attempt to even have a even footing against some of these decks. If you're in a meta heavy with decks that don't care about the hand state as much, then 8rack is weak, if you have a ton of decks that want cards in their hands to feel secure or carry out their gameplan, 8rack will thrive.
What we need is a solid list of 15 SB cards that not only fill the gaps of the MB, but that are versatile enough that they are useful in more than just 1 or 2 matchups, so we're not running a bunch of 1 - 2 copies of 8 - 10 cards.
Tron is and will always be a very difficult match-up for us because of their ability to spit out huge threats very quickly and to the possibility of replacing themselves. There really not much we can do than bringing in our Wipes and skeins to attack them. I would not be down on Rats at all just yet, you didn't see a match-up you'd want them in as they are mainly placed in longer game-plans against the likes of Control. Overall not bad at all, if you expect a larger field then make the changes to the side accordingly to what you expect you will see.
BB8-RackBB
Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
Control, Tron, and I like to surprise my opponent by playing them Game 3 against Burn. Realistically they are put in against any match-up that turns into a control game. I play 4 in my sideboard, you can drop to 3 if need be but I think the appropriate number is 4.
BB8-RackBB
Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
3 Fatal Push
2 Funeral Charm
1 Murderous Cut
1 Victim of Night
Sorcery
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Raven's Crime
4 Smallpox
3 Thoughtseize
4 Wrench Mind
4 Shrieking Affliction
Artifact
4 The Rack
Planeswalker
4 Liliana of the Veil
Land
1 Bloodstained Mire
4 Concealed Courtyard
1 Godless Shrine
4 Mutavault
4 Polluted Delta
6 Swamp
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Fulminator Mage
2 Disenchant
3 Surgical Extraction
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
1 Fragmentize
3 Lingering Souls
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Engineered Explosives
I like the deck, especially sideboard. I'll give it a try playing some leagues in mtgo. I think it could be a good list against Eldrazi Tron @stebolo93
Agree. I prefer Dismember over Victim of Night (which doesn't hit Gurmag Angler, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, Tidehollow Sculler) and Murderous Cut wich is bad in first turns of the game.
This is not necessarily true as I tend to pilot the deck more aggressively trying to dwindle much of their hand as possible; however, playing control you find they draw more so this approach is avoided. Dropping Rats against Control decks forces them to have answers to creatures which they boarded out their creature removal.
BB8-RackBB
Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
This list is very interesting for the White Splash. I'm not the greatest fan because of consistency issues for instance the Courtyard coming in tapped after a Smallpox but again the list can be very good in certain meta's.
BB8-RackBB
Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
This deck does not necessarily mean we win by the effects caused by the Rack or Affliction. It can become multi-tooled by beat down with Mutavaults. The deck can adapt into several things, from dwindling your opponents hand down and slowly sucking their enjoyment of playing or crushing their lands and creatures by effects from smallpox or Lilli and just beating them down with 2/2 lands.
BB8-RackBB
Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
Well realistically, can you say you will 100% of the time feel in control of a game. Remember, 8-Rack is considered a tier 2.5/3 build to many. It has some very good match-ups and some very poor match-ups. Of course one can sure up these feelings a bit by mastering the play of this deck against the majority of the meta and with proper sideboarding depending on your meta, but I can safely say there are moments I do not feel 100% in control of a game because an opponent can go off with a top-deck. As a result, I just shrug it off and move on. Magic can do that
BB8-RackBB
Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
BB8-RackBB
Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
The majority of matches you take the draw. Sometimes depending on certain situations you may want to take the play (95% of the time this is wrong IMO) but you can. I personally took page out of the Boss's playbook and take the draw every time.
BB8-RackBB
Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
I draw first playing Tom Ross version but not sure if is the right choice in other builds, with Ensnaring Bridge for example. Would you choose play first with this list by default? I usually do but not 100% sure I'm doing right.
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Raven's Crime
4 Thoughtseize
3 Smallpox
3 Wrench Mind
Instant
2 Fatal Push
1 Dismember
2 Funeral Charm
4 Liliana of the Veil
Artifact
4 Ensnaring Bridge
4 The Rack
Enchantment
4 Shrieking Affliction
Land
7 Swamp
3 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Mutavault
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Marsh Flat
1 Godless Shrine
BB8-RackBB
Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
I haven´t removed affliction, not sure if you were talking about other card.
I usually play 2 Bitterblossom instead of Funeral Charm but I wanted to test the mix you are pointing, I went 2-3 in mtgo competitive league with it. I have tested with Lingering Souls instead too.
Would you play without any removal if you were playing Ensnaring Bridge? I think you need at least 2/3 Fatal Push/Dismember. Not sure about Smallpox in bridge constructions. Would love to hear about the list you would play if you wanted to play Ensnaring Bridge.
I haven't ever ran Bridge, but from lists that I do see the optimal option is either you run the Removal Package with Pox or your run Bridge. Fatal Push is necessary at 2+ in either lists, but Dismember/Funeral Charm/CB/Small Pox all become unnecessary in Bridge builds. See the issue for me in playing Bridge is that the card is not as punishing as Small Pox can be and post sideboard, the card becomes almost utterly useless when they bring in their artifact removal heavily because of the Rack as well.
As for lists, it would be similar but imagine a list without Dismember, Funeral Charm, or Small Pox. Bitterblossom is an option to play to along with Ensnaring Bridge. You might also consider upping the land count to 24 if you aren't running 24 lands because of the increase in curve.
BB8-RackBB
Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
Even with the 4 Urborg's, I wouldn't touch more than 4 Colorless lands. You have to consider the amount of DOUBLE Black spells you play (3 Wrench Mind, 4 Lilli's, 4 Small Pox, Dismember (Possibly)). I've seen a list SB in 1-2 GQ if need be, but wouldn't you rather just play Mage SB then?
BB8-RackBB
Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
I dont think we can compare these lists,
legacy one doesnt play Rack in the first place. Cursed Scroll, Dark Ritual, Wasteland, Crucible of Worlds all change mana base requirements quite a lot. And Ghost Quarter is not Wasteland, I think its quite opposite for this deck, the latter is a favorable 1-1 exchange, the former is card disadvantage in a deck that tries to avoid card disadvantage.
G Green Stompy
RG Shamans
UB Mill
UG Infect
WUBRG Slivers!
thanks!
3 Rack players just topped 8 at a SCG classic. I feel like the deck is a good dark horse deck, but could probably use a card or two to really push it to the edge of consideration for t2 or t1.5 in meta decks....The question is, what does the deck need? a more versatile method of discard? or a 3rd rack outlet?
The decks that are top 8ing as well seem to be more unconventional lists as you notice. Running 4 Rats MB or Nezumi Shortfang (Which is a very interesting tech imo). I do feel this deck is a very strong darkhorse; however, it plays a lot into your opponents inability to understand how to play around the deck that makes this so strong. To answer you thought, we need to think about what makes this deck struggle at times and against who? This deck appears to struggle against aggressive board presences or major ramp or enchantment/artifacts like Leyline or Chalice. Even with Smallpox, there really is nothing we can do against a deck that drops Tron on turn 3 or has a swarm of Merfolk/Elves/Affinity. We were granted the cheap sweeper with a "dehydrating" effect in lands not tapping, but what else would we need? If there may be a more versatile method in removing such effects like a cheap black artifact/enchantment removal we could put in rather than splash that might help or if there was possibly another land destruction technique that we could implement (highly unlikely this will ever be produced) that might work.
BB8-RackBB
Pauper:
UUDelverlUU
Triggering the flip effect shouldn't be problematic, as that's the deck's primary goal (emptying opp's hand), and if you're unable to, there's not much that will save you. Yes, it's weak to creature removal, however, Raven's crime is weak to GY hate and your other rack effects are weak to to Artifact and Enchantment removal. This now adds a 3rd damage type the opponent has to be afraid of (Creature; Rack - Artifact; Shrieking - Enchantment). On top of Planeswalker from Lili and your instant/sorcery removal package.
Long and short, yes, it's weak to creature removal and many decks run that MB, but it also means the opponent can't just side out all of their creature removal suite to focus fire your win cons (Rack effects), they have to now play around Nezumi's Rack effect, additional discard potential, and board presence.
I think that last point also encapsulates the weakness of the 8Rack deck in general, too. The deck has a lot of good / even matchups because it can quickly dismantle a hand and disrupt the opp's play style and plan of attack. It suffers because, there are many decks that can outpace the discard or aren't handicapped enough by it to be dead in the water against a solid 8rack execution.
The deck is fairly narrow, MB, relying on that discard package to circumvent threats from the opp. If it fails at that or doesn't do it quickly enough, it's screwed. Thus, the SB becomes very important to fill in those gaps, but 15 cards doesn't give you enough gap filler cards to be strong or even against every deck in the meta, so we end up feeling like a lot of games are "Heart of the Cards" matchups.
Good example would be Burn. It's a good top deck playstyle, as are we. Every card it draws is a likely threat, just like us. Emptying a burn player's hand definitely slows them way down, but it's not always enough, because they can just top deck enough of their threats before our Rack effects can finish them off.
Enter SB Death's Shadow, Nyaxathid, and/or Collective Brutality. Each decklist I've seen devotes 2-3 spots in the SB for copies of 1 or 2 of those cards. DS and CB are definitely there for the Burn matchup, Nyaxathid is more useful in other matchups, relatively speaking, than DS or CB.
Then you have decks like Affinity, Elves, or Merfolk where you can't discard the opponents hand quickly enough, in most cases, to avoid a situation where they have 3-4 threats on the board within the first few turns and those 2-3 SB cards (mainly DS and CB) are useless. Again, you're relying on racing them with Rack effects, unless you have a way to deal directly with the board, which means you need entirely different SB cards that are useless against Burn and other matchups. Enter Bontu's Last Reckoning, Ratchet Bomb, more direct removal like Push, or Ensnaring Bridge. Again, most, if not every, deck list I see has about 4-5 spots in the SB just for board removal / protection spells.
Without getting too lengthy on this, the ultimate point is, there are enough decks in the meta that aren't sufficiently hindered by an empty hand, such that we have many matchups that are even or weak feeling to us. Thus, we have a bunch of different cards in the SB to try and deal with these specific things, but because there are so many, we only have 2-3 cards in the SB that are "strong" in a specific matchup and maybe a few more that are helpful, but then detract from the overall gameplan and muddle the deck. As seen with Tom Ross' lists, there are a bunch of 2x and 1x copies of these SB cards because we have to go so wide with it, to attempt to even have a even footing against some of these decks. If you're in a meta heavy with decks that don't care about the hand state as much, then 8rack is weak, if you have a ton of decks that want cards in their hands to feel secure or carry out their gameplan, 8rack will thrive.
What we need is a solid list of 15 SB cards that not only fill the gaps of the MB, but that are versatile enough that they are useful in more than just 1 or 2 matchups, so we're not running a bunch of 1 - 2 copies of 8 - 10 cards.