MTG Salvation

Love seeing Kommand play into these write ups. I am going to the SCG Classic in January and Incant decide between this (old faithful) and RG Ponza.

Kommand just blows out most opponents. In the LCQ Saturday, I EOT killed a thalia and an Aether Vial against Eldrazi Taxes, he flashed in a blade splicer, I untapped for GG cascade.

It also killed a Cranial Plating and an inkmoth to knock opp off metal craft AND down to just a dark steel.

Edit: I also won a game at the LCQ where I cast Kommand during combat to deal him 2 damage and reclaim a Street Wraith, cycle into another street Wraith, cycle into a land. One card turned into 10 extra damage because I was attacking with 2 Horror.

Is that the Columbus open? It’s modern if so.

There is a team constructed open in Philadelphia in January. I am going to play in the Modern Classic I believe, since I don't have teammates.

Ah unfortunate. I’ll be at the Ohio event.

Planning to take Living End?

Yup! I’ve been jamming it at every large event around, I always bring Storm and Jund too but I never end up making the audible. I’m both confident and comfortable playing LE, even against hate I feel pretty good.

I’m thinking of putting Anger back in the SB as Dredge starts to pick up popularity and the GWx decks continue to run around. Also great for humans, which is very hit or miss for me.

LE feels like it’s poised to explode, I think if we can master the Humans MU and find a way to consistently jam Storm, we’ll have ourselves a strong shot. Against storm currently I rely heavily on 2 Lost Legacy, considering a 3rd because it’s also golden for Valakut and the Random other combo decks. If you can nail the Vizier or Druid out of counters company then you’ve basically got that game in the bag.

Thoughts?

Honestly, if I expect a heavy Storm/Valakut meta, I would audible to something like Ponza (with main board Trinisphere). If playing LE, I'd be packing Crumble to Dust and the full Faerie Macabre.

I was on the 8 Leyline plan last large tournament, so maybe that is just where I'd be.

I actually don’t think Storm and Valakut are going to be a large portion of the field, simply because there isn’t a ton of “play” to them - meaning most Pros and high-level players won’t pick them up to jam a large tournament. Thankfully lol

I’m expecting large numbers of GWx decks. The Todd Stevens GW Value deck has been getting a lot of spotlight, GWx counters company is a big portion of most metagames right now, Deaths Shadow still has a high turnout and top-tier pullthru, et al

I actually really want to improve my DS matchup, obviously resolving Blood Moon is huge but how else can we put the hurt on them? They’re definitely a deck hurt by us jamming 8 Leyline, but I’ve not been a fan of that in the past - do you think this is the type of meta we want to see that in?

Edit for tonight's report:

R1 Abzan Midrange

** I knew he was on BGx, he always is, so I kept a sub-par hand knowing to beat discard I needed critical mass**

Lost the roll, he opens with Blooming Marsh into Thoughtseize, takes a cascade spell. I've got a Faerie, Beast Within, 2 land, shriekmaw, living end left. I draw a horror, play my own blooming marsh, ship, he plays tapped land and passed. I cycle, land, ship it, he plays a liliana and ticks up. I have a SSG and another Cascade spell now. I elect to discard Beast Within here. He plays a goyf and DOESNT tick up. I cycle Carabid EOT, untap and shriekmaw the goyf. He draws, plays a bob, no tick again. I draw, ship it. He ticks, attacks for 2. Goes like this back and forth, the turn he gets LotV to 6 he also casts the other Lily and EOT I cascade Outburst for GG.

G2 he plays t1 Marsh, I mirror and pass, he whiffs 2nd land drop and casts Thoughtseize. Takes a cascade spell. I exile a SSG on my turn and cast fulminator mage to punish the land drop. He finds a fetch on top, Grabs a Tomb, thoughtseizes another cascade spell. I cast blood moon off the top and we go back and forth a half dozen turns until I have 6 lands and cast a Ceradon that I ride to victory.

1-0, 2-0

R2 Titanshift

This is a friend of mine, we know the MU pretty well. I get G1 on the back of Outburst for +1/0 to all my guys. G2 he had me on t4. G3 I cycled 13 times, had 7-8 draw steps, killed chalice with chewer, had a blood moon in play, any cascade spell at ANY point and I just won the game. Couldn't get there. Super frustrating.

1-1, 3-2

R3 Goblin Aggro

G1 she has me down to 7 by my t3, I cast dread and wipe it all up.
G2 she stretches out because I don't have much leeway, after I LE she put 3 1/1 goblin tokens into play and a Foundry Street Denizen with me at 8 life and a Horror in play. I put a SSG into play, she casts Act of Treason and attacks me down to 4. I ship it back, she casts another act of treason, I cycle a couple times, Faerie away two of her 3 creatures, and Outburst to put lethal on my side of the board. Phew

2-1, 5-2

R4 UB Affinity

G1 he made his Vault Skirge into a 5/5 with Ensoul Artifact t2 on the play, attacks me to 12 (fetch shock) and plays an ornithopter. Has 2 lands, mox, thopter and ensouled skirge in play. I jam on 2 lands for a few turns, use my SSG to cascade for 2 Ceradon and a Horror, start to climb back into the game at 3 life, he's over 30, he casts Tezzeret and makes his Mox a 5/5 for GG.

G2 he goes t1 Overseer and Thopter, I let him grow it for a couple turns (I have chewer in hand), he whittles me to 14, start of his t4 he has a 5/5 Skirge, a welding jar, a 2/4 Thopter, a 3/3 Overseer, he taps out to cast Tezzeret and makes his Jar a 5/5, attacks with everything - I Outburst and put 24 power on the table. GG

G3 he loads everything onto the board by t2, my t2 I have 2 SSG and 2 Wraith so I cycle a bunch, use 1 SSG to cycle a Ceradon, then Dread him out of the Game. He PtE one Ceradon, takes 2 combats to kill him.

3-1, 7-2

Overall I feel really strong with the deck against anyone playing either fair magic or creature-based decks. The other combo decks feel difficult, so I'm considering the 4 Leyline plan and also considering 4 Lost Legacy - not in conjunction but alternatively. Tonight there were only 18 people in the event, most of the "strong" players didn't come out tonight so not much testing to be done. I plan to play in GP OKC here soon!

Would you consider a split of 2 Lost Legacy and 2 Slaughter Games? Uncouterability and the non-artifact drawback can be useful against some decks.

Went undefeated last night for Modern with a 3-0 record. Played against 2 mono red goblins and 1 junk elves.

Normally I would have a ton to say, but I just wiped out the goblins after a single living end. I oddly slow rolled the elves deck due to a turn 2 rest in peace. Every time he amassed a bored I ended up cascading a living end to wipe the board till I grinded him out of resources and I finally beat within for the win.

Not sure if it was the correct route to go by playing control vs elves, but it was super fun and effective. Never played against a living end before it oddly seemed to help me more then him.

If anyone wants more info just ask.

I don’t know that I want 4 of that effect, if I went fully into that I’d probably do 3/1 with a singleton Slaughter Games. Being 4 mana is significant, it’s not likely to “get there” on the draw against Storm - although if they’re slow rolling because they think they’ve got us covered with Remand, it would do wonders.

I’m debating Leyline White again, Black is great for Deaths Shadow but I feel there’s enough play in that MU to just ignore that haymaker. Then again, double Leyline against Storm is just gas.

Quote from moondemon88 »

Went undefeated last night for Modern with a 3-0 record. Played against 2 mono red goblins and 1 junk elves.

Normally I would have a ton to say, but I just wiped out the goblins after a single living end. I oddly slow rolled the elves deck due to a turn 2 rest in peace. Every time he amassed a bored I ended up cascading a living end to wipe the board till I grinded him out of resources and I finally beat within for the win.

Not sure if it was the correct route to go by playing control vs elves, but it was super fun and effective. Never played against a living end before it oddly seemed to help me more then him.

If anyone wants more info just ask.

Turning into a control deck is correct more often than most non-LE players think. When an opponent goes all in to disrupt our combo, we can audible to beating them down with draft chaff.

I go Control pretty often, especially the decks where we just go “bigger”. It’s the right move a lot of the time. I don’t have empirical evidence for a percentage of when you should just jam, but I’d say about 1 in 3 MUs are decided by just simply “not dying” which is classic control.

Hi there,

I've been tweaking a lot with the deck for a few days, kind of preparing for the GP Lyon that I'll participate in but also to get a clear view of the sideboard possibilities.

I've tried main board Shriekmaw and it is bonkers. Currently, there are only two tier 1/2 decks that play zero creatures, and that is Lantern Control and Ad Nauseam. Shriekmaw is very useful against Storm, Humans, Eldrazi Tron and Burn which are from my tests pretty bad MU in general.

As for Kolaghan's Command, I am not a huge fan of it. Mainly because it isn't as versatile as Beast within and cannot kill a land. I really want my 7 land killers.

On the other hand, I love Kari Zev's Expertise, but that's mainly because I don't know why, but something like 75 % of my starting hands containg Living End (even if I only play 3). It also has allowed me to win victories out of nowhere by stealing a blocker and attacking with it.

The main concern is the Sideboard : You can say whatever you want about the main deck being pretty much fixed, the sideboard options are various and hard to choose from.

My Sideboard currently looks like this :

I already have two Faerie Macabre mainboard.

I didn't like Krosan grip over Ingot Chewer at first, but the ability to hit enchantments and the split second that kills Relic and its likes is very valuable. Being able to kill an Arcbound Ravager without the opponent being able to sacrifice anything in response is amazing.

Dead//Gone is very good. With a good starting hand, you can even kill Goblin guides on the first turn of your opponent by exiling a SSG. It is useful against Storm, Humans, Merfolk, Infect and Burn. People may prefer Anger of the Gods but I find it too slow, especially if your goal is to kill Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

As for the Lost Legacy/ Slaughter Games, I tried it just to test a few games. I really like this combination because Lantern Control is clearly one of the most horrible matchups to play against (even post sideboard) only because of Ensnaring Bridge. Lost Legacy can't hit it, but Slaughter Games can. On the other hand, Slaughter Games is too slow for Storm.

I don't think this will be my final sideboard but I really appreciate all the discussion here and wanted to give my experiences trying different sideboards. Keep playing the best deck ever!

I don’t think land destruction is strongly positioned right now to be honest, too many decks are low to the ground. I agree Shriekmaw is absolutely gas, I tried 3 copies MB Tuesday to great success.

Dead//Gone just isn’t a card I like. Too low-impact feeling. Anger really is better for us against Humans, Dredge, and Taxes decks. Dead is cute, shoot a dude, but that dude gets to come back off the Living End - not a fan.

As for expertise - I haven’t tested it, but I can’t imagine I’ll be happy drawing one in a topdeck war... and I win a fair # of games in topdeck mode

Very nice, I hadn’t seen that. I firmly believe Living End is strongly positioned in the current meta, although Eldrazi Tron saw a large resurgence recently.

Jammed the deck to 3-1 finish tonight, pretty typical gameplay. Report following

Round 1: Jund

G1 I get a Dread off for 2 Horror and a Ceradon On t4, gets the job done.

G2 he has t1, t2 and t4 IoK - all of which took Cascade spells, the turn they were drawn. His t3 was a LotV and t4 he also played a Goyf. Very frustrating.

G3 I resolve a t2 blood moon, he plays a t1 spellbomb t2 goyf a t3 rabblemaster and a t4 pia and kiran. I never find my 3rd land to wipe the board, 2 shriekmaw killed rabblemaster and pia but never gets me there.

1-2, 0-1

Round 2: Esper Friends

This is a buddy of mine, he plays the deck pretty religiously but our meta isn’t very kind to it. That being said, he won the die roll, opened with t1 colonnade, I cycled and did the standard stuff. T3 I played fulminator, he leaked, t4 I suspended LE, when it came off suspend all he had was Leak and I promptly knocked him off a white source with fulminator.

G2 he opens with IoK, I have two Cascade spells two lands and 3 cyclers - deck does its thing and even had t4 blood moon with ricochet trap for his cryptic command.

2-0, 1-1

Round 3: Jeskai

G1 I play a very slow game, grinding it out, but I drew 2 of my 3 Living End by t4 and they’re just not potent when being suspended against his deck with Azcanta online. I scoop for time after 15 mins of my dudes dying to PtE and Snap shenanigans. G2 I cast t4 fulminator mage, he logic knot for 2 (one card from yard, tapped one land) and I Ricochet trap to force it through. I nuke his mystic gate, the next turn I jam blood moon and ride it all the way to victory. G3 I catch him slipping, at my EOT t3 he cracks a fetch, going down to Plains, Island, Ghost Quarter - with fetch on stack I Beast Within his Island and he goes on tilt. Grabs a steam vents, untap and pass. I suspend LE, pass, he cast a serum vision and pass. I land Blood Moon and the game is just cake from there. He can’t counter the LE coming down so it puts 14 power into play, closes the game very quickly

2-1, 2-1

Round 4: Storm

My opponent is in my car, he doesn’t have any prize possibility so he concedes to me. Wasn’t happy to see this MU anyway!!

“2-0”, 3-1

Considering -2 Shriekmaw MB for +2 Faerie again, that card is so gas against UWx decks with snapcaster. Ricochet trap is always the trump card, considering a third over something minor.

So I've been facing a lot of Blue decks and a lot of Burn. Unfortunately, I'm not finding my sideboard up to the task of beating both. Thoughts?

interesting idea but i think it will execute poorly.
some of the most common way to die with this deck is because you failed to draw a cascade spell (in this case as foretold) .
the countermagic will buy you time but you still need as foretold to cast living end because your optimal win condition is still living end. maybe the list need drift of phantasm as a way to tutor the as foretold. sure you can always hard cast the creature but with cavern of souls creature based deck clogging up the tier 1, it will be hard just to rely on counterspell to delay and stall.

just played in small modern night, had a rotten luck to be paired against merfolk and grixis death shadow. land screwed and failed to draw cascader same old story well i guess i need more practice because i dont have a lot of chance to play this deck like i used to.

Re: Burn

You have to have a few dedicated burn hate cards if you don’t have the White Leyline plan in board. I recommend the Boar or Finks over Gnaw but it’s preference.

Re: Control

Blood Moon is a game winner, I actually try baiting a counterspell on their EOT with an early Cascade to make sure Blood Moon resolves pretty often. Fulminator mage is also huge, I don’t try to fill the yard with cyclers as much as I try to find and cast Fulminator Mage as many times as possible - if you can nuke 3 lands, the game should usually fold to you. Eot Beast Within, if they crack a fetch you can jam a Beast, it’s all about trying to knock them off balance. Make them spend mana on their turn and jam the important spells on your turn. That’s the biggest key.