MTG Salvation

Many thx for the insight Theau.

Gelid Shackle. It's good against shadows, any company deck, any deck playing mana creature (ponza, kikichord etc...) It's also an extra removal for m/u like Jund/abzan. It's worth to trade your plains for Snow covered ones.

gonna try this out. Btw is Gelid is also good against eldrazi tron ?

Hey everyone I’m running BW eldrazi taxes and I wanted to ask what’s everyone’s game plan against jeskai tempo. I feel like it’s a really tough match up going through all their removal. So I wanted to ask what everyone’s take against this matchup? Good cards vs bad cards against? I also wanted to ask if wasteland strangler is good or bad against? It can’t get Geist but it can kill spell queller. Thanks in advance!

I like strangler in the matchup. You also need to kill snapcasters to get damage through and killing those with strangler feels a lot better than trading creatures with it or using your paths. As for the matchup, it’s pretty rough. All their removal is good against almost all of our stuff, you have to disrupt early and pressure and hope to get there, because our late game is awful compared to once they’re able to leverage lots of mana per turn

What would you say are bads card in the matchup? Displacer maybe? Or sculler since they have a lot of removal to get their card back? I usually took out one path post sideboard but at times I wish I did have the paths to deal with their beater.

Hey guys and gals,

short follow-up on my post from last page. I finally got to play E&T in a small tournament (4 rounds) and it feels great. I really like the deck for what it does and most of my questions have been answered by playing the deck.

Decklist for the tournament:


So I decided to go with 22 lands and added a Thraben Inspector although it didn't feel that great when I played it. I am thinking of replacing it with a 3rd Dark Confidant because I feel like the deck needs the card draw.

For sideboard 1 Orzhov Pontiff was switched for 1 Zealous Persecution.

Games:

Sadly I didn't take many notes so I will keep this rather short. However, I would appreciate it if someone commented on my sideboard choice which felt supoptimal in some cases.

Match 1
1:2 against Grixis Azcanta Control. I really felt like I should have won this match as his threat density was really low.

Game 1: I get to lock him out with an early Arbiter + 2 GQ followed up with a Thought-Knot Seer. He scoops but at least I got to see Tasigur for sideboarding purposes.

SB: +3 Rest in Peace, +1 Gideon, -3 Wasteland Stanglers, -1 Thraben Inspector (I didn't know of Search fo Azcanta, so I didn't board in Anguished Unmaking)

Game 2: I keep a somewhat supoptimal with to few threats and get punished by his removal. He then proceeds to draw tons of cards and flip Search, which I can't keep up with. He wins by using a combination of 3 Bolts and 2 Snapcaster Mages.

SB: -1 Eldrazi Displacer +1 Anguished Unmaking (Really unsure if this was correct and if I should have moved Stranglers back because of Snapmage)

Game 3: I keep a decent hand with Arbiter + GQ, Tidehollow Sculler, Vial and 2 Flickerwisps. Arbiter + QG hits him hard but he manages to rebuilt and prevent Flickerwisp + Sculler via discard. I proceed to draw nothing but lands for 4 turns in a row while he gets off with Search for Azcanta. I really feel like I could have won this game by just drawing 1 RIP.

Match 2
2:1 against Eldrazi Tron. Tough MU, maybe the thoughest on this evening, but I still got there.

Game 1: He keeps a rather supoptimal hand with few lands and 1 Expedition Map, which gets shut down by my Arbiter. Afterwards I can fizzle his Dismember with Flickerwisp and lock him out into doing anything before I bring him to 4. At this point pathing is Matter Reshaper seals the deal.

SB: +1 Anguished Unmaking, +1 Blessed Alliance, -1 Thraben Inspecto, -1 Wasteland Strangler (My sidboard feels quite bad for this matchup)

Game 2: On the play he starts of with a Basiliks Collar on T1, Chalice on 1 on T2, and Endbringer on T3 (3 Eldrazi Temple are just absurd). I kept a really good hand with Arbiter + 2 QG which would have been great if he didn't have Endbringer. I try my luck to hit a Path for some turns but he manages to get this game.

SB: no changes

Game 3: Again I get a great hand with Arbiter, 2 Paths and 2 Flickerwips which help dealing with his Chalice on T2. The game drags on for a bit but I manage to GQ his tron piece and take down a Matter Reshaper. This cuts him of any relevant plays except for 1 Reality Smasher which gets tapped by Eldrazi Displacer for 2 turns to secure the win.

Match 3
2:0 against Burn. Both games were really close, but he failed to find that final burn spell to get me.

Game 1: On the play I get to go T1 Vial, T2 Sculler, T3 Sculler + Thalia which leaves him with nearly no options in hand. He still gets me down to 4 with Lava Spikes and Boros Charms but isn't fast enough with 2 Burn Spells missing.

SB: +2 Burrenton Forge-Tender, +2 Fatal Push, +1 Blessed Alliance, -2 Dark Confidant, -1 Thraben Inspector, -1 TKS, -1 Eldrazi Displacer (I was really unsure i removing 1 TKS and 1 Displacer was the right decision)

Game 2: I keep a 1-lander on the draw and hope to draw into a second land until T2 (which I do). Play Vial on T1 and Thalia + Forge-Tender on T2 is neckbreaking especially since I get to follow up with Sculler on T3. He still finds a way to get me to 6 and I need to sac Forge-Tender for a Boros Charm (in order to no die to Skullcrack) but he has a suprising Deflecting Palm bringing me to 4 followed up by Lava Spike on his turn. However, he didn't manage to find another burn spell on his next turn which is enough for me to close out the game.

Match 4
2:1 against Deaths Shadow. One of the better players at my LGS and the matchup is quite hard in my opinion.

Game 1: Again I get the nuts draw of Arbiter + 2 GQ and get him of the game for long enough to find the answers to his Shadows and Tasigurs. Flickerwip felt great as a 3/1 beater because of him fetching for 3 several times.

SB: +3 Rest in Peace, +1 Blessed Alliance +2 Fatal Push, -3 Wasteland Stanglers, -1 Thraben Inspector -2 Dark Confidand (Removing all the card draw felt wrong but anything else felt too good to cut)

Game 2: He dominates this game quite hard by having all the answers to my threats (several Terminates and Pushes) and discards 2 Paths of my hand. 1 Death's Shadow and 1 Gurmag Angler finish the job for him.

SB: no changes

Game 3: This game I manage to follow up a T1 Vial with a T2 RIP, which shuts down his Anglers, Tasigur and Snapcasters (he kept to 2 Snaps). With 2 Tidehollow Sculler I strip him of a Push and a Terminate, which leaves him without removal for several turns. He still manages to stall the board with 2 Death's Shadow later in the game but I proceed to draw an Eldrazi Displacer which is enough to remove hs blocker and win me the game.


Final thoughts: I am really in love with the BW version of Eldrazi & Taxes and hope to get to another tournament soon. Just gonna practice the Eldrazi Tron and Death's Shadow MU as those two are definitely the hardest for me.

Final questions: Should I get the 3rd Dark Confidant for the deck? I really think the card is great in the deck but I don't wanna spent money for a card which I don't need after all.

Quote from grayson290 »

What would you say are bads card in the matchup? Displacer maybe? Or sculler since they have a lot of removal to get their card back? I usually took out one path post sideboard but at times I wish I did have the paths to deal with their beater.

I guess it depends what your sideboard is like, as mine doesn’t have a ton for this matchup nor do I think we have access in our colours to a lot that is really helpful. As an example I prefer Rest In Peace over relics, but wouldn’t bring in Rest In Peace in this matchup so my boarding ends up being fairly minimal. Generally I swap in two Gideon AoZ for the removal heavy matchups and against Jeskai I drop one path and one sculler to make room for them. I probably wouldn’t drop any displacers as them stumbling and letting you untap with a displacer is absolutely brutal for them, and it can attack through snapcasters or spell quellers which is valuable.

My sideboard is
-2 BFT
-1 graffdiger cage
-2 RIP
-3 stony silence
-2 fatal push
-1 Gideon ally of Zendikar
-2 Pontiff

I usually side in the forge tender, RIP, Gideon,and cage
And take out 3 stranglers, 1 path, Serra avenger, and one sculler
Thanks for all your help I appreciate it

I'm testing Theau MERY's monowhite list. I was devastated by GW Value and 5C Humans... Humans do not sideout thalias, which is hard to get enough tempo to pay 3WW to wrath or dusk. Crusader may take care of GW Value, but they have path to exile and the game lasts enough till they find it.
Somethings I should say with my experience testing the deck is:

• Endless sands is really amazing. I punished very hard an abzan/rock deck. That land won the game all by itself.
• Gelid Shackles is really good. Worths shaving your beauty plains to play the card. Unfortunately, 5C humans is (still) stronger than our disruption
• Gideon of the Trials I didn't like in my most problematic MU's, but the card is good enough to be played.
• Gideon, Ally of Zendikar won most of the game for me. I changed a bit the cards in sideboard, but who doesn't plus GAoZ and blink it with Restoration Angel/Eldrazi Displacer won't know what cheating really is hehehe

I guess that we still need something like Stillmoon Cavalier to last until we wrath their boards. Thing is that spot removal isn't good enough and we need to stay alive to wrath. Our little drops in the deck can't block their stuff... there was a game that I had 2 golem tokens and a big thalia that my opponent didn't matter... I was below 10 life and he had a lot of 4/4's and 5/5's. Perhaps it's aceepting lose to it. Feels 'miserabler' than elves =/

I would like to know your thoughts on having or not wraths in the side and possible substitutes for them.

@Aqua_benta
How you play endless sands against BGX deck ? play the creature and when they want to fatal push it you exile that creature and later in the game u return them all ? Is that really effective ?

you can respond to any removal, actually. It is for grindy games... whenever you chump or your opp tries to kill your creature, you do it. Later in the match, you return everything you put there. I did it with blade splicers and a couple wisps. It just won the game when I did it in EoT. There is no scaping for your opp. It was really nice. The card is awesome, even if it seems mana-intensive. Since it's a land, it's easy to fit in the deck

@Theau - Thanks for posting here. The decklist on Wizards site only has 14 cards in the sideboard - what's the 15th card?

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/rptq-top-8-decklists/paris-2017-11-12

Thx aqua_benta for the explanation. Gonna try that in my LGS I often get match with BGX opponent or Control Blue deck such as Sultai Control (BWU) or Jeskai (RWU)

Quote from TheLegionsArmory »

Quote from eebaf »

Hey guys,
i think about playing Mono White DnT. At my LGS we were talking about Humans and DnT. Is the new 5C Human Deck just a better Version of DnT or is it still worth to play it? I hope you can help me.

Hey 5c Humans is a different deck even if it shares some elements (vial, thalia...). DnT is definitly still worth to play it and well positioned against the current top meta (scape, tron, grixis shadow) and has stable matchups vs some other topdogs. The deck has 3 mayor weak matchups in meerfolk, elves and 5c humans. The first two go to wide to quick to effectivly level your flicker tricks and first strikers while the humans deck often has a few too big to handle creatures like @agua_benta described.

Here is a quick pro and con list between human and DnT for you:

5c Humans:

Pros:

• Nice tribal synergies and capable of REALLY explosive starts
• Acess to Meddling mage
• Basically perfect mana base thanks to ancient ziggurat and the like
• Soft taxing and hand disruption in kitesail freebooter and thalia guardian of thraben
• Humans is one of the (if not the) most common archetypes in magic and that means there a new humans every set witch chance for the deck to grow

Cons:

• Really expensive, last list I saw was over a thousand bucks, which is a hefty price in the currently cheeper modern era.
• Somewhat linear game plan.
• Not really sure about the matchups you better visit the 5c human primer for that

Death an Taxes(mono white):

Pros:

• Makes great use of aether vial, while other decks use it for fixing(5c Humans) or fast deploying (meerfolk) DnT abuses stack interactions with instant speed flicker whisp given the deck a wide array of possiblities
• Rewards skill and meta knowledge to a great extend (knowing the critical turns/cards of the opponents deck and delaying them)
• Highly customisable for your current meta (acces to all the white sideboard options)
• Relativly cheep for a modern deck
• Unparalleled ability to interact with the opponents mana base, giving the deck a pretty unique angle of attack

Cons:

• Not really explosive compared to other decks in the format (but you still get your free wins via leonin arbiter sometimes)
• Susceptible to board wipes
• Meta dependend (as in you need to successfully tailor the deck to the ever shifting meta of Modern instead of being part of it)

All being said both a great decks. If you enjoy pressuring you opponent with fast beats and warding of his main gameplan with light disruption 5c humans is the deck for you. But if you like dragging your cantripping opponent down in the mud with you and fight it out in a arena he is not comfortable in DnT is your choice. From experience I can tell you nothing is more satisfying than beating your opponent down with 2/2 and 3/3 in a format where 5/5 for one mana are a thing.

I will add as an advantage of Death & Taxes, the sheer number of flyers. Right now, 9 out of 10 combat phases goes through the ground and we can use our small land creatures to fortress us while Flickerwisp and Restoration punch the rival's face from above.

Just a note for people discussing Gideon of the Trials, his first ability prevents damage from a permanent so it fogs any valakut in play, which may make him a better choice in the scapeshift matchups over AoZ.

Is there a reason why my tournament report from Saturday got ignored so easily?

I know that a small tournament report from a new player is not very interesting but I could really use some feedback on sideboarding.

I have read all sideboarding guide I could find but I am still really unsure especially on what to board out in certain MUs.

Quote from Nadere03 »

Hey guys and gals,

short follow-up on my post from last page. I finally got to play E&T in a small tournament (4 rounds) and it feels great. I really like the deck for what it does and most of my questions have been answered by playing the deck.

Decklist for the tournament:

WB Eldrazi & TaxesMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Lands(23) 4 Caves of Koilos 4 Concealed Courtyard 4 Eldrazi Temple 4 Ghost Quarter 3 Plains 2 Shambling Vent 1 Swamp Creatures(29) 4 Eldrazi Displacer 4 Flickerwisp 4 Leonin Arbiter 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben 4 Thought-Knot Seer 4 Tidehollow Sculler 3 Wasteland Strangler 2 Dark Confidant 1 Thraben Inspector	Spells(8) 4 Aether Vial 4 Path to Exile	Sideboard(15) 3 Rest in Peace 2 Burrenton Forge-Tender 2 Fatal Push 2 Stony Silence 1 Anguished Unmaking 1 Blessed Alliance 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric 1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar 1 Orzhov Pontiff 1 Zealous Persecution

So I decided to go with 22 lands and added a Thraben Inspector although it didn't feel that great when I played it. I am thinking of replacing it with a 3rd Dark Confidant because I feel like the deck needs the card draw.

For sideboard 1 Orzhov Pontiff was switched for 1 Zealous Persecution.

Games:

Sadly I didn't take many notes so I will keep this rather short. However, I would appreciate it if someone commented on my sideboard choice which felt supoptimal in some cases.

Match 1
1:2 against Grixis Azcanta Control. I really felt like I should have won this match as his threat density was really low.

Game 1: I get to lock him out with an early Arbiter + 2 GQ followed up with a Thought-Knot Seer. He scoops but at least I got to see Tasigur for sideboarding purposes.

SB: +3 Rest in Peace, +1 Gideon, -3 Wasteland Stanglers, -1 Thraben Inspector (I didn't know of Search fo Azcanta, so I didn't board in Anguished Unmaking)

Game 2: I keep a somewhat supoptimal with to few threats and get punished by his removal. He then proceeds to draw tons of cards and flip Search, which I can't keep up with. He wins by using a combination of 3 Bolts and 2 Snapcaster Mages.

SB: -1 Eldrazi Displacer +1 Anguished Unmaking (Really unsure if this was correct and if I should have moved Stranglers back because of Snapmage)

Game 3: I keep a decent hand with Arbiter + GQ, Tidehollow Sculler, Vial and 2 Flickerwisps. Arbiter + QG hits him hard but he manages to rebuilt and prevent Flickerwisp + Sculler via discard. I proceed to draw nothing but lands for 4 turns in a row while he gets off with Search for Azcanta. I really feel like I could have won this game by just drawing 1 RIP.

Match 2
2:1 against Eldrazi Tron. Tough MU, maybe the thoughest on this evening, but I still got there.

Game 1: He keeps a rather supoptimal hand with few lands and 1 Expedition Map, which gets shut down by my Arbiter. Afterwards I can fizzle his Dismember with Flickerwisp and lock him out into doing anything before I bring him to 4. At this point pathing is Matter Reshaper seals the deal.

SB: +1 Anguished Unmaking, +1 Blessed Alliance, -1 Thraben Inspecto, -1 Wasteland Strangler (My sidboard feels quite bad for this matchup)

Game 2: On the play he starts of with a Basiliks Collar on T1, Chalice on 1 on T2, and Endbringer on T3 (3 Eldrazi Temple are just absurd). I kept a really good hand with Arbiter + 2 QG which would have been great if he didn't have Endbringer. I try my luck to hit a Path for some turns but he manages to get this game.

SB: no changes

Game 3: Again I get a great hand with Arbiter, 2 Paths and 2 Flickerwips which help dealing with his Chalice on T2. The game drags on for a bit but I manage to GQ his tron piece and take down a Matter Reshaper. This cuts him of any relevant plays except for 1 Reality Smasher which gets tapped by Eldrazi Displacer for 2 turns to secure the win.

Match 3
2:0 against Burn. Both games were really close, but he failed to find that final burn spell to get me.

Game 1: On the play I get to go T1 Vial, T2 Sculler, T3 Sculler + Thalia which leaves him with nearly no options in hand. He still gets me down to 4 with Lava Spikes and Boros Charms but isn't fast enough with 2 Burn Spells missing.

SB: +2 Burrenton Forge-Tender, +2 Fatal Push, +1 Blessed Alliance, -2 Dark Confidant, -1 Thraben Inspector, -1 TKS, -1 Eldrazi Displacer (I was really unsure i removing 1 TKS and 1 Displacer was the right decision)

Game 2: I keep a 1-lander on the draw and hope to draw into a second land until T2 (which I do). Play Vial on T1 and Thalia + Forge-Tender on T2 is neckbreaking especially since I get to follow up with Sculler on T3. He still finds a way to get me to 6 and I need to sac Forge-Tender for a Boros Charm (in order to no die to Skullcrack) but he has a suprising Deflecting Palm bringing me to 4 followed up by Lava Spike on his turn. However, he didn't manage to find another burn spell on his next turn which is enough for me to close out the game.

Match 4
2:1 against Deaths Shadow. One of the better players at my LGS and the matchup is quite hard in my opinion.

Game 1: Again I get the nuts draw of Arbiter + 2 GQ and get him of the game for long enough to find the answers to his Shadows and Tasigurs. Flickerwip felt great as a 3/1 beater because of him fetching for 3 several times.

SB: +3 Rest in Peace, +1 Blessed Alliance +2 Fatal Push, -3 Wasteland Stanglers, -1 Thraben Inspector -2 Dark Confidand (Removing all the card draw felt wrong but anything else felt too good to cut)

Game 2: He dominates this game quite hard by having all the answers to my threats (several Terminates and Pushes) and discards 2 Paths of my hand. 1 Death's Shadow and 1 Gurmag Angler finish the job for him.

SB: no changes

Game 3: This game I manage to follow up a T1 Vial with a T2 RIP, which shuts down his Anglers, Tasigur and Snapcasters (he kept to 2 Snaps). With 2 Tidehollow Sculler I strip him of a Push and a Terminate, which leaves him without removal for several turns. He still manages to stall the board with 2 Death's Shadow later in the game but I proceed to draw an Eldrazi Displacer which is enough to remove hs blocker and win me the game.


Final thoughts: I am really in love with the BW version of Eldrazi & Taxes and hope to get to another tournament soon. Just gonna practice the Eldrazi Tron and Death's Shadow MU as those two are definitely the hardest for me.

Final questions: Should I get the 3rd Dark Confidant for the deck? I really think the card is great in the deck but I don't wanna spent money for a card which I don't need after all.

Great result.
About the third Confidant: if you have enough money go for it, Bob is a card that will never lose value and will always has market. His quality is unquestionable and the third copy is kinda necessary (not imprescindible) because he is going to receive all the removal as soon as he enter the battlefield.

The only card that feels strange to me in your side is the Burrenton. I believe that I'm Etaxes isn't so necessary in comparison to the mono white version because you have discard effects and your cannons are big enough to survive angers and those red damage massive removal. If you want a card for the burn matchup go for blessed alliance. More flexibility.

Quote from Nadere03 »

Is there a reason why my tournament report from Saturday got ignored so easily?

I know that a small tournament report from a new player is not very interesting but I could really use some feedback on sideboarding.

I have read all sideboarding guide I could find but I am still really unsure especially on what to board out in certain MUs.

I believe the reason is that many people (myself included) after a while stops reading long reports simply because there's so many. When I visit a forum it's much easier to throw in opinions on a discussion that can be answered with a couple lines, while a report is a wall-of-text in comparison. Exception is when someone performs well in a big tournament.

No one dislikes reports tho, so there's no harm in posting Just note that if there's a lot of activity otherwise it might get lost in the convo.
However if you'd like feedback on just a couple things, chances for getting an answer is almost guaranteed if you post just those questions.

Quote from xotug »

Great result.
About the third Confidant: if you have enough money go for it, Bob is a card that will never lose value and will always has market. His quality is unquestionable and the third copy is kinda necessary (not imprescindible) because he is going to receive all the removal as soon as he enter the battlefield.

The only card that feels strange to me in your side is the Burrenton. I believe that I'm Etaxes isn't so necessary in comparison to the mono white version because you have discard effects and your cannons are big enough to survive angers and those red damage massive removal. If you want a card for the burn matchup go for blessed alliance. More flexibility.

Thanks for the response! I think that I will get another Confidant next month.
And you are right about Burrenton. I only ever boarded it in against Burn and that MU was easy to handle even without it.

Also I will stick to shorter posts in future. Thanks for the heads up.